The Making: ABC Blocks Birthday Cake

Heya folks! Today I'm gonna write about the making of a colourful bunch of ABC blocks cake. 

First I got a print out of the desired ABC font that I wanted. 

Next I used the pin prick method to trace out all the letters one by one unto the roll out fondant.

This is how it looked like once done. Then I cut them out one by one.

Besides the letters, I also made colourful cut outs on fondant...like balls..

...flowers, apples, bananas...and cute green froggies too  :) All these were made a few days in advance.

Next I made the cake. I baked a 9 inch cake at two inches high, FOUR times to produce 8 blocks of the perfect square of 4' by 4"cakes. I then filled and covered these butter walnut cakes with buttercream and let it set in the fridge for a few hours.

Once covered one by one in fondant, I brushed on some gum paste glue on to the edges ready to stick on the fondant cut out borders.

I just went and cut them out it by feel. Once I stuck it on the cake , I just stretched it out accordingly to fit.

Then I stuck on the letters and the cut out pictures.

I also baked an extra cake with the same ABC theme. Here I demonstrate how to use the crimper to create a pattern on the edges of the fondant cake.

I also made colourful ABC themed cookie pops :)

Here's a look of the extra cake once done.

The back view of the cake blocks.

The lovely client requested that her son's name ABNER be arranged to be seen on the blocks. I think it's a really great way to remember your's child's first birthday...colourful, fun and educational! Thanks for reading!

The Making: Thomas the train and friends (Percy and James) cake

Today my post is about a toddler favourite, Thomas the train and his friends James and Percy. Being a mom to a toddler myself, I understand how much a favourite character on TV can make little eyes grow bigger with excitement and put a smile on their little faces. Lemme tell ya..these train figurines ain't easy to do! I'd take whole lot of pics to show you how I did it but there were so many details that I'm worried that this would be a very long post. I'll just describe the basic process here. Again some people may be worried that sharing my skills will affect my business but really I'm not worried because it all comes down to your own ability to make yourself a success. If you worry about that and is selfish about your knowledge, then you might as well not do anything with your life right? Okay enough preaching :D Let's get on with it!

Well first find yourself a nice clear pic of the trains, like the above.This will help you visualise the design that you are supposed to replicate.

Get the body of the trains ready.I supported the structure using plastic corrugated material as the build up of fondant will make the figurines quite heavy.Once that is done you may start following the details that are on each train with the help of the pics you have of them.

Now this is why I love my Iphone. I swear it's the most useful thing I have. I can store cake pics, recipes, do my planning, contact my clients and answer my emails all in one device. Seriously can't do my business without it. My rule of thumb though is to never let a phone rule my life, there are other things more important and worth putting down your phone for like your family or a LIFE!. Okaaayyy I promise the preaching stops now haha! 

Anywaaaay, I found a pic of the train with clear facial features and tried to follow it for my figurines. It was quite tricky getting the expression just right. Once that was done, I let sit to dry for a couple of days.
This is why you need to confirm your order at least a week before for cakes with figurines because it will take a few days for me to complete even one figurine.This also why it will cost you extra because it is a LOT of work and time taken!

Once the cake was baked and covered with fondant, I prepared the rocks that would surround the entrance of the train tunnel.Basically I mixed some grey fondant and a little black to create a rocky marble effect.

Then I started to arrange it on the side of the cake at the edges of the black fondant tunnel. 

Next I needed to make the train track that surrounded the base of the cake. You can actually use an imprint mat with woodgrain on it to create the look but if you don't have one, you can just use the scallop tool like shown above.

Once the track was arranged, I rolled out some grey fondant to create the metal railing and stuck it on with some gumpaste glue.

Finally, I attached the birthday message and put the heavy train figurines on top and this is how the cake looked like from the top. So there you go..a Thomas and friends custom made cake! Thanks for reading!

Showcase: Shopping Bag cake and Bride and Groom royal iced Cookies

Custom made cakes are getting more and more popular with young couples getting engaged nowadays. In this post, I made a shopping bag cake like the one belonging to Tiffany & Co, complete with stuffed tissues and ring box and bride and groom butter cookies. The only difference is that the name on the bag was changed to the future bride's name so that was cute :) Since the order was a changed to an earlier date, I had to rush to stick on the side panels which was supposed to have one more night to dry to a stiff flat panel so I ended up having a less than smooth surface. That irked me a little bit because I always like to get my designs perfect. Client loved it in the end though! Oh well..things like this can't be avoided and that is one of the challenges of having the custom made cake made on time. We all just have to remind ourselves that it's just cake in the end! (but to me, it's NEVER just cake ;)

What I'd really like to feature in this post are the royal iced butter cookies. My client suggested it and I thought it was a really cute idea. Well first off I made butter cookie dough and rolled it flat after letting it set in the fridge for an hour. Then I took the dress cutter and cut out the shapes ready for baking. After that, I made pure white royal icing and thinned it to a runny consistency, piped the border around the edges and covered the cookie with it once baked and cooled.

After letting it dry for a bit, I iced on the details.

Even down to the Tiffany blue bow..

I did the same with the groom cutters except I iced them with black icing.

This is the view of the cake from the top. You must be wondering how I did the tissues. Well I basically cut out little thin squares of fondant, crumpled them up and let it dry for a bit before arranging them on top of the cake.

So there you have it, a refreshing idea for an engagement cake!! I wish the ring was real though!

Showcase :Pretty Pastel Tiered Birthday Cake

Hi all! In this post I will be featuring a custom made pastel tiered cake. Yes this was made according to a client's cute sketch (pic shown below). I just wanted to give y'all an idea that your visions can come alive too so don't hesitate to submit your designs if that is what you'd like me to do. :)) Always remember that it is better to confirm an order at least a few weeks before to avoid disappointment. Thanks all!

The Making: 21st birthday Key Cake

Yeeppeedeedoodah! Today I will be writing about a key cake.Simple but meaningful. In the olden days it used to mean that at 21 you are old enough to hold the key to your parents' house. Although the legal age of adulthood nowadays is 18, the older tradition is still practised today. What a better way to celebrate it than to give it in the form of a cake right?

Figurines oh figurines..like I said in my earlier posts..not my strongest skill but I will continue to improve myself. Like everything in life, it takes practice. Spaghetti sticks..yeah you need em' for figurines. Just like skeletons, they act as a supportive system for your little sugar people.

Facial features, shoes and down to the tiny white buttons were done.

The hair strands were glued on to the head one by one and then the magical number 21 unto the shirt :)

How did I do the cake? Nope there was no special key shaped pan for this one. I had to bake two separate cakes, a round one and a square one at 2 inches high. I then carved the square cake like so and laid both cakes side by side to resemble a key and then crumb coated it with buttercream.

Originally, the client wanted to order a 3D car resembling a red Toyota Vios but like I said 3D cakes can be quite pricey so they decided to order the key cake instead. Later on, I decided to incorporate the Toyota logo unto the keyhead. I hope they noticed that hehe

The attention to detail like painting silver on the tiny buttons, is what makes custom made cakes a work of passion.

Even down to the tiny key that the guy figurine holds..

You can't see it in this pic but I airbrushed some pearl sheen and got some star fondant cut outs stuck on some wire ready to be presented unto the cake. My conclusion for this cake is that, you don't have to make a fancy, super expensive custom made cake to make it special (though there's nothing wrong with that!). Sometimes a simple meaningful one is worth more than the price itself...:))

The Making: Aeroplane on top of the World cake

This was one of the more complicated cakes that I've done. It looks simple but a lot of planning and brain squeezing went into decorating this cake. At first I thought," Can I do this??" I never refuse a challenge so I went ahead with it hoping for the best. Yeah you could say I'm crazy. LOL!

Well first I had to make the body of the plane. I had to make it waaaaay in advance in order for it to stiffen and dry well enough to support the wings. I stuck in a wooden rod in the middle of the plane to maintain it's shape.

Once dry, I put the wings on top. The wings were made of plastic corrugated material covered with fondant. If it was made entirely with fondant, the wings would have ended up being too heavy to be put on top of the body of the plane. Same goes for the tail. I didn't want to have droopy looking wings in the end. The wings were held up with a lot of gumpaste glue and royal icing.

After drying completely for a few days, I painted on the details. The name painted on here is of the lucky birthday cake recipient. Colours were all custom ordered by the the client.

Next up, the world! Okay I could have made a round ball like a globe shape but yeah that would have been a 3 D cake and would have ended up costing more for the client because of the carving work. This shape would have been better for the plane as I needed to keep the plane flat and steady on the cake.

I then attached some clouds, the birthday message and was done!

Top view of the cake. It really does look like the aeroplane is flying right? Proud of this one because I didn't think I could actually construct a plane. But I did it! Top that boys!!