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

bzzz bzzz beez

and now for the 2nd one for the weekend.

A friend is having a dinner for her birthday. She's cooking for us!!! (don't you love it when the Birthday Girl cooks for you?? :P)

So thought better not come empty handed. (^_^)

This was supposed to be a normal sized cake. But alas!! I haven't practiced this cake for a long time!! And after 2 failed attempts close at midnight and a bed calling.. I thought I better come up with a new plan of attack!!

And attack of the bees it became.

The flavour of the cake is the same (..... okay, similar idea)... And with time running ridiculously short, cute little bees, I decide, will do the job.

2 of our dinner companions who came to pick up one of the savoury dishes saw me mid-making the bees... "Why Bees??" ... "Because I said so..."

So bzzz bzzz beezzzzs they became.

I took along a green wrapping paper for the base of the beez cupcakes. Stopped bythe supermarket to get a bunch of Gerberas to scatter along, to make it sweet :)

lighting up the candles for the official birthday cake blowing :D

and... "fuhhhhhh"

undressing the beez

In the end, I'm glad in a way, that the 2 batches failed that night. Because I am definitely more satisfied with the look of these beezzzz :) Things happen for a reason I guess?

Lia, I hope you like them... Thank you for cooking for us. The food was GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! Why bees? i'm still not sure.. hee hee hee ... but i hope you like them anyway..

and many thanks to monica, for some of the photos :)

Ahoy Matey!!

Who would have thought I said yes to 4 cakes in a weekend. Certainly not me. Not at this stage anyway.. but hey it happened... and I'm kinda glad it did. Test me, tried me, challenged me, pushed me. And I'm happy with how they all turned out

So here's the first from last weekend's order

Luke is turning 3. And he insisted for a pirate birthday party. So, mum Kirsten contacted me for a pirate cake.

This cake take a certain kind of discipline (one i'm lacking for most times :P ) from my part for the week. Especially when there are 3 others lined up behind.

Thank you Kirsten for letting me do cake, to trust and give me freedom with the cake, and my apologies for taking so long to come back to you with the initial concepts :(

Parts of the cakes are inspired by others here and there. With a slight tweak here and there, we put them all together to make a cake worthy of Luke's birthday party.

I'm happy with the way the cake look like.

And if only I can show you what the party decorations like, I'm sure you will agree with me that the cake look the way it did, to match the party!! Kirsten did the house up so SPLENDIDLY!!! It made ME want to have a pirate themed party!!! There are pirate hats, gold coins everywhere, individual serving food in buckets for the kids, jungle gym in the backyard, EVERYTHING you think an amazing party should have, it's there in their house.

Luke is one lucky kid!! :)

not to mentioned, Luke is one CUTE kid also!! He had smiles from ear to ear all morning when i was there, enjoying the day, appreciating everything that his parents have got prepared for him.

Hope you had an amazing day Luke!!!! :) and thank you Kirsten for letting me have a part in it :)

a birdy baby shower

Remember Taylor? Well, he's about to become a big brother. Mum Nicole is expecting another bub soon :)

And to celebrate with her closest friends, here's the cake for her baby shower.

Taking cues from her baby shower invite, this cake consists of all things babies!! From all the cute little things babies have - onesies, little socks, little beanies, little bibs, little soft toys etc etc etc - to the extra washing you need to do :P

And to top it off, is a family of birds, celebrating the new arrival - again keeping the invite in mind - to keep in line with the theme.

and here's an (almost) birds eye view

a combination of tiers of cupcakes & cake.

A rich combination of dark chocolate mudcake on the top, with a combination of vanilla cupcakes w/vanilla buttercream as well as sinful chocolate cupcakes w/ caramel buttercream.

A sweet treat to welcome the sweet new arrival :)

19.07.2010 - i received a very sweet email from Nicole today. It's always a good to hear back from your clients, and especially to know that you have helped make their day in someway or another :)

Hi Cleony,

I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for making us such an absolutely amazing baby shower cake - it was without a doubt the hit of my baby shower!

Taylor's Christening cake was amazing, but the baby shower cake was truly impressive! You followed my brief exceptionally well and perfectly captured the theme of the invitation as well as my idea re the baby 'washing line'. The tiny details in the washing line were fantastic - the leaves, pegs, hearts & bows on the clothes.

Everyone at the shower absolutely loved it and I have happily given your details to everyone who attended. Expect some calls soon as many of our friends have kids as well, so lots of potential for birthdays, baby showers, Christenings and family celebrations!

Thank you again,

Nicole :0)

yeehaw!!

Another long overdue post.

This was when the temperature was high, and there was no need to layered up on clothing to be comfortable.

Not exactly the best time of the year to have a fondant covered cake sitting under the sun though i must say.... The eyes never really left the cake throughout the afternoon. Making sure everything is still sitting where it's suppose to be :P

Torsten is 2, the party was held in the park of his town house complex. Everyone had to dressed up and cowboy was the theme for his birthday.

The base was a chocolate mudcake, whilst the teepee was layered buttercake.

hello little indian girl..

and inside the teepee... colourful!!!

now now... as long as you don't have it everyday, it should be alright :)