Bubble Guppies

Sometimes it's great to be able to repeat a cake. Then you get to do all the things right a second time around (hopefully) and better your effort before. A mummy who found me online gave me that opportunity when she asked if I would do a Bubble Guppies cake for her little girl.

Mummy M contacted me almost 3 months in advance about the cake (thank you!), we waited patiently for this day to come. She wanted a 2-tier chocolate cake featuring her little girl's favourite Bubble Guppies friends. Ever since I got to know these adorable underwater characters, I am hooked to their cuteness. If you recall, it was Lauren's cake back in November last year that probably caught Mummy M's eye. For that cake, I only had the bandwidth to make Mr Grouper, so this time round I was eager to create the lot!

The cast of characters

While I was making these cuties, my trusty iPhone camera failed me :( Frustratingly, it just wouldn't focus on near objects so I was unable to document the fondant crafting in closer detail. But as you can see in the above pic, I made the Bubble Guppies, Mr Grouper, little fishes, starfish, seashells, sea sponges and billowing kelp, all ready to decorate the cake with.

In the process of researching this cake, I came across a few fine examples online. I even found on Etsy.com that you can purchase ready-to-use Bubble Guppies fondant toppers - check it out here. Some of these crafters are charging USD175 for a set of these characters in 3D. Talk about enterprising!

But I decided to make these with gum paste in 2D. They adhere better to the cake and work much better in our weather (yes I've learnt all my baking lessons in 100% humidity). The easy ones to make in 3D are the seaweed pieces (I twisted these into a twirl for maximum effect) and the starfish and seashells. They may not be the main characters but they are totally essential in setting the scene.

Mummy M also asked if I could make the cake a bit more girly since it was obviously going to be a predominantly blue cake, so I had Prudence's name in pink outline and dusted it with edible pink sparkles - when in need of some girly glam, just add sparkles - does the trick every time ; )

What I love most about the cake has got to be the bottom-of-the-sea look. I crushed some digestive biscuit and sprinkled it all around the cake base to make it look like the sea bed. Digestives rock!

Put the biscuit crumbs in a cup for easy sprinkling

Seabed Biscuit

And here's the completed cake... I'm very happy with it and so were the recipients, yay ; )

Mr Grouper leads the pack

Happy Birthday Prudence

Cake Out in Jakarta

Here's another one of my random musings about a baker's life. So I was in Jakarta last month and I've discovered that the Rainbow cake and Red Velvet cakes are hugely popular in the Indonesian capital! My hubby joked that my business would boom if I started baking there. Then I found out from my Indon friends that 2012 was the height of the coloured cake craze. Still, the demand is apparent seeing how many cafes, restaurants, supermarket counters and cake shops offer the multi-coloured cake.

This called for a bit of investigative tasting.

I went to Pacific Place, one of the many upscale shopping malls in Jakarta. There's a lovely cafe there called The Goods Dept Cafe & Diner. It reminds me of the first P.S. Cafe. It's actually a store selling exclusive imports as well as local designer goods from apparel to accessories and lifestyle products, books and gifts. I zoomed into the cafe as the cakes in the display caught my eye!

Here's the Red Velvet cake. Five layers of dense chocolate-flavoured crimson cake with cream cheese frosting in between and topped with cake crumbs.

Flatiron of red velvet

The cake looked impressive and at Rp 60,000 (approx USD6) a piece, it's considered a pricey confectionery. It's got good flavour but a little dry for my liking. The cake is very dense so although it's a modest slice, it was a feat to finish. 

And here's the Rainbow cake (also Rp 60,000). I've made so many Rainbow cakes but have yet to really sit down to eat a piece. The colours were perfect, so I was eager to find out how this tasted. 

Pelangi Pelangi ('rainbow' in Bahasa)

There is something quite artificial about the cake. I couldn't decide if it was my brain playing tricks because the colours were just too vibrant to be food. But I do believe this cake is not butter-based, probably oil-based which is not ideal for taste if there is no other flavour anchoring it - i.e. chocolate, banana cinnamon, etc. Having said that, it's just gorgeous to look at.

The perfect coffee break

I wanted to try out a few more Rainbow cakes, I really did... but I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy baking more than eating cake. Is that possible? If you're curious about how popular these cakes are, you only need to google 'rainbow cake' and 'Jakarta'.

Here's what you'll typically see in cake shops in Jakarta, Rainbow cake by the slice in the top shelf!

Dapur Cokelat Shop

The Harvest Patissier

Dear Zoo

I love going to the zoo, and our zoological gardens is pretty impressive for a small island state. Now that I have kids, the zoo has become the perfect adventure for our whole family. I especially love experiencing the wonder of nature through their young eyes. There is a great book that reinforces our affection for the animals at the zoo - Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo.

This classic lift-the-flap book is a wonderful read to kids as young as 9 months old. It's about a child who writes to the zoo requesting for a pet, and takes you through a gamut of animals beautifully illustrated by Campbell. Next to the Hungry Caterpillar, this is our other favourite book. So I was delighted that a close pal requested for a Dear Zoo cake for her little boy.

Mummy T tells me that Baby Z loves the lion, elephant and giraffe. So for his first birthday cake, the zoo will present him these 3 animals. I made them out of fondant and realise I have a knack for sculpting animals!

Here's a step by step look at crafting Mr Lion...

Ready for the mane event

Fit the mane around the head

Snip snip snip 

Hello Lion

Baby Z is so nice that he gets the cake twice. I made two sets of animals and for a moment it looked like a Noah's Ark cake!

Two by Two

I made a rectangular chocolate cake with Oreo cream cheese filling. The animals sat nicely on top and I made the distinctive red crate for the side of the cake. Then I used colourful M&Ms to line the sides, makes the cake light up instantly! 

Happy Birthday Zach

For the second cake, I made a rainbow cake covered in pale yellow fondant. It has a smaller surface so the animals sat closely and actually made them look bigger too. For this cake, I used yummy fruit gummies to line the sides.

Happy Birthday again!

The birthday boy was totally taken by the elephant. After blowing out the candles, he would grab Mr Elephant and nibble on the ears. Well, it's his birthday, he can do whatever he wants to... well almost (bedtime is still 7.30pm).

Zach's Dear Zoo

Baby Needs a Change

When I gave birth to my second child, my dear colleagues came by to visit and brought me the cutest cake ever - a diaper cake! Made of individual diapers that are tightly wound up and decorated with newborn essentials like lotions and bath soap, the cake is such a great idea and wonderful gift! And since I'm in the business of cakes, I gave it a go!

A neighbourly friend who lives in the block across from me is expecting her second child, a baby girl! She has an elder girl who is friends with my boys (they often say hello to each other from the window - I love our little kampong). Little M always gets to see the cakes I'm working on from her window. "Mummy, what is Aunty Debbie doing?" she will ask. My neighbour also has front row seats to my fondant-moulding projects late at night (especially when she has gestational insomnia). I kinda figured I'm probably the only lighted house at 1:00am when I'm working on a delivery for the next day. So I decided to surprise her with a cake she can use!

Here are my ingredients for a diaper cake...

Doll topper, stickers, ribbons and rubber bands

You can also include travel size lotion, soap and powder that baby can use. And of course you'll need diapers!

Roll up each piece of diaper and band it up

Bind it together with a ribbon

I bought this super cute fairy doll from Lamaze, one of my favourite brands. A soft toy makes a great  topper; much like the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae.

This is the top tier

Two tier diaper cake

To complete the 'cake', I got some themed scrapbook art paper and made the 'Baby Girl' tags with glittery stickers and paper cutouts!

Congratulations!

I got a message this morning that the little bub has arrived! Congrats D&T! Welcome to worthwhile sleepless nights all over again.

Hello Kitty #3

There you go... Hello Kitty is requested again. This time it's from a thoughtful bride-to-be who ordered this cake for her baby niece who turns one on the wedding day. I thought it was really sweet of her to take the time to plan a little birthday surprise for her niece in the midst of all that wedding preparation. She saw my Hello Kitty #2 and knew it was just the cake for the occasion. Her wedding theme is rainbow and the birthday girl's mummy (bride's sister) loves Hello Kitty.

Here's Hello Kitty with a wedding touch

Happy Birthday Cordelia

Congrats Felise & Brian and all the best!

Laser Tag 'Em

Believe it or not, I've never played Laser Tag or the more physical Paintball games before. It's been the rage for young boys (and girls too I'm sure) and even the not so nimble enjoy a good tag, as seen at many company team-building events. So when I was asked to make Laser Tag cupcakes, I was like, "Okaaay... what do we make?"

Did you know the creator of Laser Tag drew inspiration while watching Star Wars. It's no surprise that Laser Tag is one of the game choice for sic-fi fans. Well, the recipient of the Laser Tag cupcakes is for a friend's son who turns 8! The birthday boy and his buddies will be playing a round of Laser Tag to celebrate and his mummy thought matching birthday cupcakes would be cool!

She was right, Laser Tag cupcakes must be one of the coolest cupcakes I've made so far. So here's what I decided to make - target points, laser guns and those military-style vest you kit out to play the game.

Warren's Target

Fondant combat

I had fun making these fondant toppers, especially those little guns. Given a little twist, it could be a hairdryer even...haha! The birthday boy's name was also in focus as I spelt it out on the target points. 

Then my ultimate stroke of inspiration came when I was thinking about those laser beams. I wanted to recreate that for the cupcakes. At first I thought of using long thin candles that can double up as birthday candles but he is after all just 8, how many candles can you possibly stick into the cupcakes right? So here's what I did with Twizzler candy sticks instead.

Beam beam beam

I love these rainbow Twizzlers. My creative blogger mummy friend Eve introduced it via her blog when she prepared her hubby's rainbow-themed birthday. I'm using them here as my shooting coloured beams, they were just perfect for the job. Here's how...

All you need are a pack of Twizzlers, scissors and some toothpicks ...

Look at those colourful candy sticks

Simply cut to length required

Insert a toothpick for support

Beaming cupcakes

Happy Birthday Warren

Now for some real action, Laser Tag with me anyone?

Numtums No.3

Have you heard of The Numtums? It's CBeebies (BBC kids) super cute series on 10 little characters that help young children learn their numbers. This weekend, I got the chance to make Numtum No.3!

There are so many great resources out there now for teaching numeracy to kids. Sesame Street has always had a great number programme (remember the 123 song with the pinball), who could resist counting with Count Dracula! There's also NumberJacks, Baby Einstein 123 and a whole lot at YouTube. I should come up with a number programme with fondant for kids!

For birthday boy Luke who turned three, it's a cupcake affair with an assortment of "3" designs. There are many ways to use fondant on cupcakes but I think making fondant disc toppers are the way to go! They can be made in advance, they sit nicely on top of the frosting swirl and you can hold on to them if you're not eating it.

Before making the Numtum fondant toppers, I went to the official website for a look at the colour scheme and I totally love it! Check out the blues and yellows...

Fondant disc toppers

Here's the making of Numtum No.3...

Cute little creature

Hooray No.3!

Numtum set on a disc

I had the cupcakes packed in 3 dozen boxes...

Mummy tells me the kids at school loved it! Yay ; )