the girl next door... an engagement...

now.. 3rd of the 4

okay.. this request came in on a Wednesday, whilst I was midst "being disciplined" and doing decorations on parts that don't need baking/ to be eaten

"are you busy??? can you speak??"

"errr... yea?"

"i need to order a cake from you for Sunday. Can you do it?"

"yeah, what do you need" (*uh oh..)

"Marie's getting engaged, so i need an engagement cake, sorry about the late notice, cos we only just found out too"

"oww congratulations!! (read : shoot!!! i'm dead!!!) how many people, what do you have in mind?"

"oh about 60 people"

(O_____________o;;) stared into the wall in disbelief.....

I know I had 3 already to do, but how do you say no to your neighbour? (;____;)

immediate panic hits, and after texting my half panic half swearing moment to a friend, a message came in that says "deeeeeeppp breath.. you can do this"

well.. kinda have to make it work now eh? But he's right... I CAN DO THIS!!!! I NEED TO DO THIS!!!! PRACTICE FOR WHAT MAY COME!!!! :P

(X________x)

On Thursday afternoon, we had a quick meeting over the fence on what they wanted to cake to be.

Tiers of mini cupcakes (ok, i can handle it)

Top cake.. "can you make it big?" (hih hih huhh.. hih hih huhh... breathee.. )

Other than that, they gave me complete freedom of what I do with the cake. I sketched up a rough look on how the tier works, and how big they will be roughly.

Now, to be completely tight to a detail is hard. Because you don't want to disappoint your client and not deliver the cake that they've imagine and have in their mind.

To have complete freedom, whilst it's a good thing, can also be a double edge sword, as you have all the choices in the world of what you can do with that cake. And you can be your worse critic, as you know all the flaw and nothing is quite good enough.

I know the cupcakes shouldn't be an issue and will be quite easy to make. Not having any ideas on how the overall cake (and the top cake especially) will look like, make it just that much challenging.

All the concept built in the head, all the soft pinks and soft browns and soft golds i had in mind, came crumbling down at midnight, 14 hours before it's due. So other than the base 2 cakes... and the tiers... i don't have anything else.. i could not imagine a better way to spend a Saturday night. :)

@2.30am and 2 changes to the topper. I had enough, i'm completely stuck! so decided to sleep it off.

@5.30am, the cupcakes batter are being mixed, and @7am they are done.

The sleep, and making the cupcakes first help the process immensely.

The cupcakes are chocolate with caramel buttercream , as well as vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream, covered in shaved cheddar cheese.

@8am The topper cakes changed to a soft yellow to suit the new colour scheme, and concept.

@9.30, a quick drive to some cheese needed for the cupcakes, and ribbons and flower for the topper cake. And it was at the florist when its all finally came together :)

The topper cakes are 2 tiers, made up of mudcake and red velvet. A single green orchid sit elegantly on one side. whilst dotted vine twines between the two tiers.

The colours tie nicely together now, the top is simple, but works out really really well. It evens ties in very nicely to the green fence in their house, where party is being held. :P

This only makes me believe more that 'things happened for a reason'. That one thing led to another. You just have to take that first deciding step, and follow on, make it work, and it will point you to the right directions.

Congratulations Marie!!! Wishing you all the very best !! xxx