Melissa J turns 5 - Part 1

She is the reason I got into this cake world. A few years back I wanted my daughter to have a special cake for her birthday, something different. So here I am today with a new found passion for cake decorating.

The long wait is here. After making several cakes for other people, I will finally be able to make a birthday cake for the most special person in my life - for my reason for this passion.

She wanted three cakes: A purse, shoes, makeup cake, a Barbie Fashion show Cake and either Sid the Science Kid or Out-of-the-Box Cake (they are both her current favorite shows on TV).

Her birthday is before the New Year's and after Christmas so we have decided to always have her main birthday party with her friends and classmates in January. However, on her actual birthday, the family will still have a small gathering (just us). Birthday celebration will not be complete without a cake...

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The purse cake is a four layer Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese filling and iced in vanilla buttercream. 

I made the shoes and make-up with a "bling". I used crystals which are NOT edible to make it special.  The shoes, makeup and the purse handle were made of gumpaste. The "blings" on the cake are edible using sugar sprinkles.

I was supposed to make an LV cake but just could not find a store to have the image printed on an edible paper (copyright issue).  Anyway, the next best thing is to have everything in pink (her favorite color).

One down, two to go...I am excited to make her next cake..Barbie Fashion Show Cake and to prepare for her birthday celebration. It will be a busy start of the year for sure.  HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY MY DEAR PRINCESS MELISSA J! MOMMY AND DADDY LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Thanks for looking friends. I wish that the New Year brings joy, beautiful moments and surprises to cherish to you all!

Santa Claus is coming to Town

This is the cake/cupcakes I made for my daughter's teachers and classmates. I did not get the chance to make individual edible cupcake toppers, so I bought the Wilton cupcake wrappers that came with paper decorations. However, I did all the cake toppers using fondant with tylose powder.

When I brought the cake to school this morning, one of Melissa's classmates commented "That is the best cake I've ever seen"...that made my morning.  To be appreciated like that by a 5 yr old, is "PRICELESS". How i wish we grown-ups would be as appreciative as kids then it will be a better world to live in.

Let me close by wishing everyone the best of holidays and wonderful new year to come. Take care everyone.

Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut)

From Wikipedia, "The nipa hut also known as bahay kubo, is an indigenous house used in the Philippines. The native house is constructed out of bamboo tied together, with a thatched roof using nipa/anahaw leaves.

Nipa huts were the native houses of the indigenous people of the Philippines before the Spaniards arrived. They are still used today, especially in rural areas. Different architectural designs are present among the different ethno-linguistic groups in the country, although all of them conform to being stilt houses, similar to those found in neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia,and other countries of Southeast Asia. A nipa hut is an icon of Philippine culture as it represents the Filipino value of bayanihan, which refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective."

This is the cake theme I designed for another Filipino group in Fredericton. They had made a small Nipa Hut that they used in one of their dance and which they also carry in the Canada Day parade. The cake is combination of christmas and birthday.

All the figures were done a week ago using fondant with tylose powder.  If I had lots of time, I would have made more banana leaves and improve the banana fruit.  I  also intended to put more flowers and ducks. I was excited to make this cake. Unfortunately, I started feeling sick thursday night...so it was a bit of challenge finishing this cake.  But I still delivered on time and here it is.

Cakes for a Good Cause

It feels great when you are able to do something out of your interest, your passion and at the same give back to the community.

When I received a call from a good friend Imelda if I will be willing to donate a cake for a fundraising organized by her friend Aileen, my brain started thinking for a great cake design. Excited? Yes, I was. This is a great opportunity for me to put my passion to a meaningful use. Baking and Cake Decorating for charity!

I immediately thought of incorporating Chalmer's Regional Hospital foundation's logo on the cake design - the logo bursting out of a gift box cake design. Perfect!

Originally I thought of putting the same number of hearts as in the logo but when I finished making them, I thought it will be too heavy for the cake to handle.

So I used some at least 20 and here's what I came up with.

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This is a three layer chocolate cake with cream cheese filling and iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing.  This is my first time to make a Italian Swiss meringue buttercream and I'm loving it. It is not too sweet icing compared to the american icing recipe (icing sugar).  But a lot of work.

Italian Swiss Meringue is made of pasturized egg whites, granulated sugar and butter (lots of butter and egg whites).

Originally I thought of having a striped design just like the ribbon around the cake board. But due to the lack of time, it did not happen. Why? It was about 8PM and I have not started on the second cake. Yes, I was to make another cake for another association.

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It was for the Filipino Association of New Brunswick (FANB), Inc. for their Christmas in November Party. I partlially donated on this cake in order to achieve the design I was aiming for.

This is a two tiered chocolate cake, three layers 10 in cake and four layers 6in, chocolate cream cheese filling and iced in swiss meringue buttercream.

I was thinking of having the North American scene in the front and Filipino scene at the back (nipa hut and coconut tree). But again due to the lack of time (got the order a week from the delivery date), I was just able to make North American theme.  But I am still happy with the result.

My airbrush is a big help in acquiring this deep blue color. Mind you, I should have known that airbrushing will leave a big mess on everywhere. After I finished the two cakes (well half finish) around 2AM, I was scrubbing everything, countertops, floor, things covered in blue food color...another arghh!

The next morning I did the finishing touches on the cakes and finished around 2PM...in between preparing meals for my family.

I bought snowflakes sprinkles to make the snow scene and I used the Martha Stewart puncher for the tiny stars. The trees, cottage, snowman, FANB Logo and letterings were made using gumpaste.

It was so much fun and tiring making these two cakes in one night. Getting great compliments from friends and family after I posted the photos, makes the effort all worth it.

Thanks for looking and visiting my site. Cheers.

Flower Pot Cakes

I have done at least five flower pot cake designs in my not quite long cake life (10 months and going). It seems that flower pot cake has been a favorite. Here's how my flower pot cake evolved.

This is my very first flower pot cake  I made for my mother-in-law on Mother's Day. If my mother were closeby (she lives thousands of miles away), I would have made  a cake for her too.

This is a five (5) layers chocolate cake filed with chocolate cream cheese icing. crumbcoated with buttercream and covered in fondant. The three dozen roses were made of fondant. I used popsicle sticks to make the stems which were the only non-edible part of the cake. 

A lot of learning experiences on this cake. I put way too many roses and not enough support. The cake will not support the flowers  - duh!!! LOL! I took this photo right after I assembled this cake. I left it on the table and worked on another cake. After an hour this cake was still standing except that the gap between each flower started to widen. I pulled all the flowers and placed them in a vase and arranged the flowers again when we got to my in laws.  It was indeed a struggle getting this cake to the destinaton which is about 3 hours travel by car and ferry - the cake made it there in one piece, thankfully!

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Sue, a co-worker, saw my previous flower pot cake and ordered this cake for her Mother-in-law's 60th birthday. This is a 5 layer chocolate cake, filled with chocolate cream cheese and crumbcoated/iced with buttercream.

The pot (the cake) is covered with fondant and I used the Wilton Terracota color gel.  The flowers and leaves were made of fondant as well. I really did not have any problem making this cake, the whole process went smoothly, the stress level was low. I think because I really prepared well. I bought styrofoam and dowels to support the flowers. I left this cake overnight on the table and the next morning it was still perfectly assembled, no movement! Yay!!! 

Love this cake!

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Karen, another co-worker asked me to make a cake for her sister's 30th birthday.  Her sister's name is Susan, so she asked me to make black-eyed susan for the flowers instead of roses. This is her sister's favorite flower as well.

It should have been a breeze making this cake since I have done it before. You think? I had terrible experience on this cake. Firstly, I ran out of terracota color gel and then when I started putting the dowels the cake  just crumbled.

So I made another set of cakes, waited to cool, filled, crumbcoated and placed it in the fridge. While waiting I tried to calm my nerves - did the yoga humming (breath in, breath out). Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit...but seriously my stress level was really high. Because it's already 12 midnight and I have to start all over again? Anyway, all's well that ends well...despite the disastrous start, I was very satisfied at the result of this cake.  This is now one of my favorite cakes.  Love the color of the pot, which is really white fondant brushed with bronze luster dust.

I also made the gardening tools out of gumpaste beforehand, except I accidentally dropped the fork and broke (see photo). Oh well, my co-worker still loved it plus really the garden tools are just additional accents I made.

Thanks for the visit everyone.

Memorable Creations Part 1

I was a little heistant at first to accept request from friends to make them a cake since I feel I'm so behind amongst the great cake decorators out there. But every successful cake artist had to start somewhere. Right?

And what a journey it has been! I did not realized that I had made more than 50 cakes in the last 10 months. I must say that every cake is a learning experience, a challenge. The stress level varies on each creation. I know, I know, it's just a Cake for crying out loud...but it's me. I've always thought of my being a perfectionist both an asset and a flaw. When you've got high(er) standards, you'll tend to work more.

Anyway, I would like to feature some of the most memorable cakes I've made - memorable because it's either the stress level was very high, tried to fixed quite a bit of disaster, my firstime or it's just special.

This is the very first ordered cake requested by a co-worker for her husband's birthday.  This is a chocolate cake with cream cheese buttercream filling and iced in buttercream.  I just learned making flowers out of royal icing when I made this cake. Oh man, I will never go back to making flowers out of royal icing again, my hand and wrist were numbed and hurt so bad after piping more than 80 flowers.

However, seeing the look on my co-worker's face when she saw the cake made it all worth it. So she ordered another one for another friend of hers after seeing this. Did I say, I wouldn't make another one of this?

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This is the very first figures I made out of RKT (Rice Krispie Treats). They were not  perfect but for a beginner, I was proud of this accomplishment then.  The cake is chocolate, filled with cream cheese chocolate buttercream icing and iced in chocolate buttercream. The figures were covered with fondant. I made this cake for my daughter's teachers at the daycare during the Appreciation week.

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My friend Karen ordered this cake for a Baby Shower Party she was hosting.

A lot of first on this one, very first tiered cake, very first baby shower cake and first time to mold animals and a baby. I really enjoyed making the cake and seeing it come together. Really very proud of this creation, my original design and most especially when Karen message me that everyone at the baby shower loved the cake.

This is a three tiered chocolate cake - the bottom and middle tier represents a tree and the top tier the sky.  The accents were made of fondant.

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Okay, I know this is a simple cake. What is the story behind this cake? A friend asked me the night before to make a small cake for our friend Dexter. He loves tigers. So I made an 8 in chocolate cake, filled with cream cheese chocolate buttercream and form the head of a tiger. I was basically in front of my computer holding two icing bags (white and black buttercream) and started piping a tiger face. And voila! Not bad for a beginter I find.

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Go Diego Go!  A co-worker asked me to make a birthday cake for her son Logan. It was so much fun making all the animals. My biggest challenged on this cake is making Diego. kept on asking my daughter if it looks like Diego, but my greatest critic kept on saying no...but in the end I think it wasn't too bad. I love this cake.

Thanks for looking...watch out for the next part!

Turning 13

Lucky girl for having a wonderful mom. Tara asked me to make a cake for her daughter who is turning 13. She said that "Logan loves the Cake Boss show and his cakes made with fondant. She is a typical teen, loves color and anything to do with shopping, hair  or make-up."

So this is what I came up with. The cake is chocolate filled with cream cheese buttercream, iced with vanilla buttercream adorned with fondant. Everything on this cake is edible made of fondant with tylose powder, well except for Logan's glasses which is made of jewelry wire.

Happy 13th Birthday Logan!

Christening Cake for Isaiah

Hi Friends, I hope everyone is doing great.

I would like to share the latest  cake/cupcakes I made for the christening of a friend's son. It was actually my first time to create a cupcake/cake stand.  The Baby Topper was inspired from a ceramic figurine I saw online and just started molding the figure. I think I created the figure close to the original (I hope). The boot is a trial of the template I got from Cakecentral.com. For the decorations, I used fondant and gumpaste on all the decorations.

Thanks for looking everyone and have a wonderful day.

 

 

New Passion - Delicious Work of Art

In February 2010, I decided to get some basic cake decorating courses to learn how to decorate cakes. I wanted to be able to make my daughter's birthday cakes. Little did I know that I am on my way to an interesting discovery. A new passiion, a new hobby.

I have been interested in arts, in fact when I finished high school, I had intented to take Fine Arts but ended up getting a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree which paved the way to my career in IT for more  than 20 years now. 

My new hobby, my new passion - Cake Decorating is a way for me to show my artistic side. I must say that I am self-thought, researching online, joining other cakers site to get a great deal of information and tips about Cake decorating.

I started this website to share what I have created and at some point share what I have learned. I hope you will enjoy your visit to my site. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and I am always very grateful for your time and hoping to eventually pave to friendship.

Have a wonderful day everyone.