Rescue Bots?

Never knew what Rescue Bots were until Susan called me. The Blue "tower" is main section of the firestation. Mark even has the toy. He looked pretty excited to see the cake and the huge smile on his cute face... and I guess that's why I do what I do. :)

Again, I learn tons in making 3D cakes and cakes that need proper structural planning. I guess there's a reason why I never became an Engineer right?! :P

Mater - Vroom Vroom!

Adam is my boy boy. He loves trucks and cars and trains.
I couldn't help but make him a 3D Mater cake when I see him play with his Mater cars day in and day out. I actually thought I'd be good enough to make a smooth looking Lightening McQueen. Mater was much easier given he is so rugged and boxy.
Not a lot of small detailing as I had 24 hours from baking to completion. Talk about procrastination.
He was quite upset when he saw me slice up Mater. He said Mater had died. So sad.

Safari

Tiffany called with a request for a friend's baby shower. They wanted the cake to match the Safari Fisher Price plates and napkins they chose for the party. Love giraffes. They remind me of my Dad. He's a really tall man and had a long neck and when I was young, I called him a giraffe often and he was not pleased. :) I didn't think there was a problem with that!
I hope this is not my last cake with a giraffe. They are too cute.

Handy Manny

I love how I learn about new shows and cartoons only when a cake is requested.
It's been a while since I've sat down and watched Treehouse. Maybe my kids have outgrown the shows or either I've just been too busy to notice what's on the TV!
Handy Manny characters make a very attractive cake due to all the lovely bold colours.
A red tool box would have made an even better cake.

Hello... Kitty Kitty!!

I have always been a Hello Kitty fan. Here we are! My first Hello Kitty cake.
Thanks to Rosanna for requesting this for her little Princess Chloe because I have been waiting a while to make this.
Hello Kitty is like Dora. They have big heads. So big that it is hard to dry keeping it's shape. I don't know how many times she fell over creating dents and flat areas on her head. I ended up drying her head on a bottle of food colouring which worked. I must get appropriate materials/tools to make big headed characters. Happy Birthday Chloe!

The Cake of a thousand flowers...

Congrats to the gorgeous couple Melissa and Joseph! A couple with class and beautiful taste. They fell in love with Maggie Austin's valentine cake and had their minds stuck on it. I was kicking myself for taking the order and for under pricing myself for the amount of work involved. I kept sayin this would be the last wedding cake I make. EVER!! After it was done and looking at the pictures I then enjoyed its beauty and felt I could do it again. But BETTER next time. My Mom said like child birth, Mothers all say their first is their last with the suffering and pain, but we soon all forget and want to have more.
Thanks to Winnie and my Sister Bonnie for their help and support. Thanks to the talented Amelia Monis and Maggie Austin (the original cake designer) for their advice and support.

Every time I make a cake, I learn new things and also reconfirm that some methods are indeed the best.

What I learned:
1) don't procrastinate. For big projects, leave yourself with lots of time and more. Have a schedule and follow it.
2) always have enough decorations. Better to have too many than not enough (right Winnie?)
3) Refridgering fondant isn't necessarily a bad thing. When applying and decor to cover any cake completely, the condensation might not be a bad thing as it creates a tacky surface. Adding piping gel to glue them will allow for a better adhesive. Using a fan also helps with drying.
4) always assemble multi-tier cakes at the venue (it always works like a charm).
5) don't be afraid to ask for help from family and friends if you need it
6) for cube or higher cakes, it is best to have two support levels (two cake bases) in each tier with dowels supporting each. A dowel will also need to pierce though the centre of the whole tier.

I love Winnie

Why? Besides her being her and one of my closest friends.... She came over and helped me two nights in a row with hundreds of flowers!! Thanks Winnie!
Let's hope these 1100 flowers all stick to the cake!

My first course... And I chose the shoe

This high heel makes you want to put on a fancy dress and dance around. I bet they will make your feet smell so sweet. Too bad you cant wear them!! If so, then move aside Manolo! I'd be making my own creations every night.

Course was at Flour Confections and taught by Wayne Steinkopf and Chuck Hamilton, from Swank Cake Design (from North Carolina)! It was awesome!

Yay!!! My cupcakes were featured in Cake Central Magazine!

In May I received an email from Cake Central asking if I would be interested in making cupcakes for a specific theme in one of the upcoming issues. I was ecstatic!! They said as long as the cupcakes look good and the photography was professional that there shouldn't be a problem. I then asked a friend (thanks again Arthur Li) on shooting with light boxes. He offered to build one and then also did the photoshoot and it turned out great!
The theme I had to follow was purple an blue theme weddings. They gave a few inspirational photos and here's what I created.

Periwinkle

What a beautiful colour. It's soft without being too feminine. Afterall, wedding cakes aren't just for girls.
Jane the bride wanted a flower that looked like a rose but wasn't a rose. This flower was in her bouquet along with hydrangeas. We searched online to finally find it "flowers that look like roses but aren't roses".

Italian Meringue Buttercream

My new best friend. I have decided to use this buttercream from now on for cupcakes and most of my cakes (unless someone says they love "American Buttercream" with the sweet, grainy icing sugar consistency). It is so creamy, melt in your mouth, easy to flavor and is so delicious and not too sweet. Not to mention it comes out nice and smooth when you pipe it. It takes more time to make but is well worth it. The only problem I find is myself eating spoons of it as I am using it (no double dipping my spoons, don't worry!).
I made these cupcakes for my "soon-to-be" colleagues and they were a hit at the meeting. A new favorite might be my chocolate strawberry cupcakes. I made a fresh strawberry freezer jam (recipe below) for the buttercream and added a little extra tartness, filled the centers with fresh strawberries and a bit of jam. Yum!!

Recipe:
Strawberry Freezer Jam
4 cups strawberries (hulled)
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

I use a hand blender to break up the strawberries (depending on if you want your jam very spreadable or chunky - I like mine fine). Boil strawberries and sugar on medium-high, stirring. Boil for 25 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Add lemon juice and stir, boil another minute. Take off heat and cool to room temperature and chill in the fridge over night in a tight container. You can use this on ice cream, toast, waffles. I even made fruit roll up and it worked! (just a little too sweet).

It must be the year of the Calla Lilly

Look what we have here! Another Calla Lilly cake. Is that the trend? Maybe! This time the flower looks a little different. This cake was done for charity. I had donated a cake and my colleague Juliet bought it. She wanted a last minute cake for her brother's small wedding reception. I was told the cake was a huge hit and was perfect for them. So happy to hear! I made Italian Swiss Meringue Strawberry Buttercream for the filling. I made the strawberry preserve so it would have a fresh strawberry flavour with a bit of tartness. A nice option for those wanting a less grainy sugary type of buttercream (they apparently call it American Buttercream - lol) . I think I must have consumed a cup of buttercream that day myself.

Mmmmmmango Cupcakes!!

I have done several mango cakes (chinese bakery style) but have never done mango cupcakes before. I couldn't believe I got the perfect mango cupcake with one try (well always room for perfection, but you know what I mean). This may be my new favourite! (Sorry Lemon Meringue!!).
Fanny loves mango and she ordered 12 mango cupcakes from me this weekend. She said if they turn out then she'll take a dozen. Still haven't heard from her so I hope she liked them.
I ordered a mango extract/flavor (from Bakto Flavours in the US) for the buttercream which added a subtle flavour on top of the fresh Ataulfo mangoes and mango pulp (which helped add some colour). Secret ingredient here? Citric
Acid powder. It added a mouthwatering tartness which balanced with the diced sweet mangoes that were used to fill and top the cupcakes. Mmmmmmm !!

My 3rd Wedding Cake - Calla Lillies

Wedding cakes are stressful. I don't think they will ever not be stressful. But I'd have to say I am getting better at it everytime. Aisha had a very specific image in her mind. It was a 3 tier ivory fondant cake with cascading Calla Lillies with purple satin ribbon. It turned out beautiful.
We (Me, my husband AND my two kids) delivered this cake from Markham to Etobicoke in a freezing rain and high winds. I had to move the cake into the hall and set it up all by myself as my husband watched the kids in the car. Thank goodness for a trolley cart. These cakes weight a ton! I'd say the cake was probably close to 50 lbs. The "stage" of the reception hall was impressive. It was decorated like it was for Aladdin's wedding. Stunning..

It was vanilla cake with a rich white chocolate ganache filling. I now understand why wedding cakes should cost $600+. Time to re-think my pricing?! Yes, I know many close friends have told me numerous times... :)

Fresh New Look! Thanks to Leah at Cutesie Blog Designs!

Months have gone by and I have stopped blogging on Wordpress. I have been working with Leah (super super nice lady with easy interaction) to re-design my new page for Blogger. I had a hard time deciding if I should switch but apparently it's much cheaper, easier and simplier to re-design for Blogger. I hope you like it. Now, I just have to figure out an easy way to transfer my Wordpress pages over to Blogger. :)

Yup, so I figured out on how to transfer it. Super easy, super fast!!! For anyone looking to do the same.. go here: http://wordpress2blogger.appspot.com/