Tink Cake and Cupcakes

I am always, always iffy about creating gum paste dolls. I turned down several projects already because of this. I don't want to do injustice to the characters the client is requesting, whether a cartoon character or the recipient of the cake/cupcake. Last thing I want to hear/receive is that "This is not me!" or "Waaahhh, this is Pocahontas, not Belle!"

I do something about it by looking for figurines or action figures. I did an Ariel cake using a figurine.

This Tinkerbell came out as a print out.

Daddy Ogie was okay with Tink being a print/cut out. (Probably because the celebrant is just 1?)

I just made sure that all the other elements were nicely done, and would not drown the Tink print out.

The same thing happened with Aya's cupcakes:

Tip: I made sure the cupcakes  stayed in place by using royal icing

 I was so stressed out, until Daddy Ogie said they liked the cake and cupcakes. And it didn't matter that Tink is a print out. 

*Whew! Another mis-adventure averted!

Themed Mini Cakes for Geminis

I enjoy making fondant cupcakes than cakes. I can easily tweak the toppers for it because they are small, and because it takes a shorter time to finish them.

I got an order for 4 mini-cakes (4 inch round, 3 inches high) last month. Different personalities, different interests. I thought it was going to be a challenge, but as I went through the motions of doing it, I caught myself enjoying. Probably because you can put the toppers closely with each other that in just one look, one would get the whole picture (I hope). 


Being their former office mate, I immediately understood the client's brief on the cakes per person.

The first one calls herself a Paterosian (someone who resides in Pateros). In fact, we call her the Queen of Pateros. With just that as brief, I made my first ever Princess (well Queen) cake.

It wasn't that obvious but the scepter is supposed
to be egg-shaped (to symbolize balut)

I was told that everyone got so excited that took pictures of the cake, but was not able to take one with her :)

The second one is a newbie in the office, who loves to travel, with family and friends. She's been to many places but I was told that her favorite place in the world is -- Cebu. And she grew up in Bacolod. 

The third cake is for the only guy in the bunch, who's into fitness. So we came up with a gym cake for him. 

This last one is my favorite. We called it the Music & Lyrics Cake. It's kinda obvious why. She's diggin' the song and she never forgets her iPhone, and always, always, with the earphones. i kinda got carried away, assuming she has someone special in her life, thus the hearts :)

I was happy with the turnout. And I was told that stories, ribbing and laughter ensued right after they opened their cake gifts :)

Elmo Cupcakes with a Twist

You see, I just started working again. I mean an 8-hour office work. And the past week was my first week back in the rat race. So I was kinda worried if I would be able to finish these order for the client's son. 


The client wanted an Elmo-themed party. So we have a cake and cupcake tower. 

Thought that was the end of it? She wanted a separate set of cupcakes with a twist. Still following the theme, she wanted something with different flavors and texture. I got inspiration from the book I recently bought, "Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh My!" The book puts together different candies to create a sweet treat. Here's what I came up with:

I covered these chocolate cupcakes with a red butter cream. Coloring the butter cream red helps enhance the color once you sprinkle the red sugar crystal. I cut large marshmallows into two for Elmo's eyes. Orange gum drops were used for his nose and Oreo cupcakes for his mouth. 

When eaten, there is an overwhelming sweet flavor. Good thing that my I used dark chocolate cupcakes for this, so as an advise, it is best that you go easy on the sugar on the cupcake recipe itself. Texture-wise though, you will surely get a lot of it! I was told that there was a clamor for these cupcakes. (uh-oh, kids will be running around due to high adrenaline a few hours after eating just one)...

So here are the photos of both the fondant and candy cupcakes:

And here's a photo of the special Candy Cupcakes got it's highlight during the party.

Beer Mug Birthday Cake

I initially thought it's going to be hard to make this cake, that was why I was hesitant to take the order. Turns out, it was easier than I thought!

The client told me that her husband likes this particular beer brand. She missed ordering this for Father's day, so she made sure she'd surprise him on his birthday. This is one big mug of beer!


The challenge was making the foams of the beer. I first thought of using fondant and cut waves. It will look clean, but will not capture the foam-iness of the beer. Another peg I saw also used butter cream but just made spikes using a spatula. A friend suggest to use a round piping tube instead, to make dots in different sizes.

And so here it is! This beer can even feed the whole family without getting tipsy! :)

BBQ Grill Cake for Father's Day

This is a late post. 


I was asked to make a cake for Father's day who loves to grill. Grills almost everytime there are visitors in the house. But, almost, everytime, it takes a loonngg time before he can start the fire. 

And it was raining in Manila last Father's Day. Upon seeing the cake and the note that came with it, he decided not to have a BBQ, he already has one!

I was told that his three kids decided to divide all the meat and shrimp "grilling" amongst themselves. He was left with the bell peppers :)

The PinkPrincess Created a Crime Scene

No, I am not a crime felon. I didn’t witness a crime either. I baked it.

This is for the 35^th birthday of a former officemate. Ordered by her best friend, the theme came up when she said they are best friends and partners in crime. That was the insight! 

The famous yellow crime scene tape

Complete with the caution orange cones

Here's the witty birthday message:

I made use of the evidence tag numbers to indicate the celebrator's age. 
I just made sure it's the one nearest the  candles.

I was told that during the celebration, it spawned another extra line: "Best Friends bring a shovel." LOL. 

 The Little Mermaid Who Almost Didn't Make It

This is a blog about a cake order that happened so fast I didn’t know what hit me!

I was under the weather the whole week leading to Mother’s Day. It didn’t help that I had orders I had to finish and deliver a day before Mother’s Day. My condition didn’t improve right after. By Tuesday, I got an inquiry about an Ariel (of Little Mermaid) birthday cake for Friday. I hesitated for a while, and I jokingly asked if it is they’d accept a little mermaid figurine instead of a hand-rolled fondant. The client immediately agreed.

And so it was a frenzy from that day forward! Confident that I would be able to find an Ariel action figure easily (we have Toy Kingdom and Toys R Us here in Manila) I decided to rest that Tuesday. Wednesday is for buying the raw materials; Thursday is for baking and decorating. Friday 12 noon is the delivery schedule.

To my dismay, only Disney Princess Barbie dolls are available. They are too big for a one layer, 9-inch round cake. I was running out of time... I need to think of something.

The Ariel dolls available in toy stores;
imagine how  she'd look like over
 a one layer, 4-inch round cake?!

I was ready to pull an all-nighter that Wednesday to make hand-rolled fondant mermaid. Until I was told that another client friend is willing to part with her daughter’s Ariel figurine. It was the theme of her daughter’s 1^st Birthday. She excitedly rummaged through her boxes that she broke... the Flounder figurine. (if it were Ariel, I wouldn’t know what to do) Haaay... 2 disasters averted. I was promised that it will be safely delivered to me Thursday evening.

The 6--year old Ariel figurine, as MMS-ed

I waited for the figurine to arrive before I can start decorating. Turns out, she’s about 5 inches high! Even higher than the cake itself! Images flashed through my mind : how will it stick in the cake, what if it fell and breaks, am going to make tall coral background to get the under the sea fell, etc., etc., etc.) I froze for like 15 minutes.

Then I decided that I have no choice. This is better than a huge Barbie doll on top of the cake.I have to make do of what I have, or else by tomorrow, I will have a cake, but no Ariel. Imagine the trauma of the 6-year old sweetie. And so I started working... Covered, rolled, cut, glued, etc., etc.

When I stopped working, it was 3am. And here she is...

I covered the coral Ariel was sitting on with fondant to refresh the color;
Adi is short for Daddy, which is their term of endearment for
Alexie's grandfather, who turned 62 the same day

The cake details; I always want all sides/angles
of the cakes I make are decorated.

P.S.

A few minutes after delivery, I got a message from the client saying that Alexie was "shrieking in delight" upon seeing the cake :) That made my day and I was suddenly not sleepy and tired anymore. 

The Happiness Project and the Rose Bouquet Cake

I have been wanting to make a Rose Bouquet Cake but I keep putting it off, finding reasons not to do it. It’s the “rose” part that I get intimidated in. The intricate details of the petals, how labor-intensive it is, and to actually make 20-30 pcs., in different sizes. Aysus!

Here’s a photo of the Rose Bouquet Cake in one of my bake books:

So you see, this project is not as easy as the other ones I previously made.

A friend kept on encouraging me to try new designs, and to conquer this monster fear. I told her I will get it done once I finished taking the Gum Paste Class at the culinary school where I usually take classes. We were hoping that I take it this month but turns out, they’re not offering it. So I said, “Maybe next month.”

I got new bake books from Singapore and was too excited to start on new projects when I was reminded by the book I am currently reading (The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin). One of the things that can evoke happiness is to tackle a nagging task. So tackle the nagging rose bouquet cake. Get it done and over with before you move on to dreaming, I mean, making new ones...

Today, I had an extra 4-inch Choco Decadent Cake sitting around the kitchen that immediately I decided, “Let’s do this!” I will just have to settle on the rosettes I did from the Garden Cupcakes I made:

And the quest begins...

I covered the cake with green fondant so that in any case I messed up the stems, it won’t be as noticeable. Next comes the stems. Rolling them was kinda tricky. A consistent stem diameter should be achieved. I initially used a chocolate lollipop mold but since it was taking so much time, I just rolled away like there’s no tomorrow! I made sixty 4-inch stems.

For the rosettes, I combined Christmas Red and Burgundy gel color. It’s easy to make. Just make rectangles, fold and roll with the overlapped portion at the top. I made 55 rosettes.

I started covering the cake with the stems. Make sure that the stems have the same length. And since I didn’t level the cake, I had to cut the stems at the start of the cake dome.

Using royal icing tinted with green as glue, I started covering the cake with my red rosettes starting from the ends of the stem.

Beginning the second row until the topmost portion, they should be placed in between 2 rosettes.

 

See how the green royal icing made the difference instead of using just white?

Since the rosettes I made were of different sizes, there were spaces that needed smaller ones. And I ran out of fondant that I had to prepare new ones. I used a different brand of gel that I got a different colored rosette. Learning: check availability of materials you will use before embarking on a project. Good thing it was on top of the bunch that the color difference didn’t matter much.

After 5 hours, here’s my finished product:

Way far from the one in my bake book, but garnered a lot of likes on my FB account. More than enough that I get to practice making some more this coming week..

And yes, this project brought me that satisfaction that I can do things if I get myself to focus, and believe that I can do it. Yes, it wasn’t as pretty as I hoped for, but pretty enough to make me feel better, and get that boost I needed when it comes to my decorating/design skills.

And I got 2 check marks today: tackle a nagging task; go to sleep happy. This is definitely the day’s highlight!

P.S.

I got orders for Mother's Day, and here's a photo of another finished product. The other one sent by the one who ordered :-)