Stunning 2-tier cakes...

If you're wondering whether work have been keeping me really busy, then you're wrong. In fact, I haven't started =( I really want to come back to blogging, but the break is so comfortable. Especially when you don't have to compose shots, edit and write a story. =p

Nonetheless, I'm happy to say that I'm coming back soon! Probably with less frequent updates, but, you'd still be hearing from me =))

So anyway, sometime back, Philia and I met up with Anna and we had a great time coming up with new ideas for the "Stunning 2-tier cake" class. I always look forward to group baking/decorating sessions hehe! And many thanks to D for always bringing my masterpieces  to work. =p Thank God for that or imagine the extra calories on me. yikes!

The one above is Philia's handiwork and don't you think black and white simple says "timeless"? It's such a simple yet absolutely beautiful combination. Classy and elegant. Nice. The ruffles may seem daunting, but you'll find out how easy it is to put it together. Randomness is the key. If you're a perfectionist, or a mathematician in the making, you'd probably have to lock your symmetrical side away while you venture into art and decoration. ha~

Next up! We have Anna's beautiful beautiful design. This is something I've ALWAYS dreamt of trying out. Cherry Blossom. Don't they just reflect serene romantism (If there's such a term), complete with an asian-touch?

Once again, don't be put off by this seemingly elaborate design, it's far more simpler than you think it is. Look at the stumpy, fat branches. Guess what? They're piped melted chocolate. Chocolate is such a brilliant substitutute. Its yummy, easy to pipe and the branches will be done in no time. As for how to pipe them nicely, I couldn't stress enough, randomness brings out the beauty in it. 

I guess that's probably why I love decorating. No rights and wrongs, just go..with the flow..=pp

And then comes mine!! Well, although I was part dying to try out the romantic cherry blossom design, I was also eager to make a really cute, happy, childish child-like cake. There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to accomplish this.

1. I wanted to let people know that tiered cakes aren't just meant for weddings. They are perfect for birthdays too! In fact, they're really good for children's parties. =D

2. A cake like that looks seemingly more difficult than the cake with flowers with the amount of details, but no! It too can be accomplish in that wonderful 4 hours.

3. More importantly, I want people to know that the skills that they'll learn in this class can be applied to almost any cake design they might ever have. Be it sweet, loud, whimsical, or romantic. Who says wedding cakes are just about flowers and who says birthday cakes are not meant to be as pretty as a wedding cake?

So, I decided on this simple hmm...garden theme. I deliberately had 2 different colours for the 2 tiers so that I could exhibit the contrast and I was pretty happy with the out come. Very happy in fact. Thanks Anna for suggesting to me to make that pot of honey =p It added a really sweet touch to it (pun not intended hehe!)

So, if you're itching to learn how to decorate a cake AND making a tiered cake, why not make an appointment with us at Sugar Inc this coming Sunday (1st November 2009) and let your creative juices flow. From timeless, to romantism to happy and child-like. Take your pick or simply be inspired by the people around you that day itself =)

Hurry now as there are only two seats left for this workshop!

To register, hop on over here!

See you on Sunday!

my first wedding...

...cake.

I previously mentioned that I'd  be taking a break from blogging but this occassion warrants a special blog entry. =)

Like I said, I made my first wedding cake, not MY wedding but my cousin's wedding. It isn't worth mentioning just because it is my FIRST wedding cake, but rather it is special to me, at least, as I witnessed and learnt much from this whole cake making experience.

Let me first give a little background before the question marks in your brain discourages you from reading further and your hand just scrolls the mouse to have a glance at the pictures. ha~

Well, my aunt, my mum and my dad have casually mentioned on different occassions to ask me to bake a little something for my cousin, Adeline. Prior to that (like many months ago), Adeline did ask if I could make a wedding cake for her, but later dismissed the idea. I struggled a little with what should I bake and somehow settled with decorated cookies in the shape of wedding cakes. Isn't that cute? I mean, it IS a wedding cake and it's small and..something..new!

I had cookie dough ready in the the refrigerator and I thought things were going my way. I happily rolled and baked them on Thursday. Wanted to flood them on Friday and by Sunday, they would have dried, nice and hard =)

But, no! That wasn't my dad's idea of an ideal gift. He wanted a nice grand wedding cake.

Time check: 09.10.09, Friday, 3pm

Wedding date: 11.10.09, Sunday, 7pm

RIGHT. 2 days. a grand wedding cake. and no time. 

Oh before I forget, I promised my sister to help her out with her friend's birthday cake due, 09.10.09, Friday 6 pm. HELP!!!

I scrambled to work things out in my brain. No cake recipe. No filling in mind. No design. What could be worse than scrambling to work on nothing?! Thank God, Anna loaned me Peggy Porshen's book and I immediately chose the designed inspired by the "pink wedding cake".

Design, settled. No fondant. Gosh, thank God, Dennis called Kitchen Capers and they waited for us for 10 mins just for us to rush and get the fondant. I had marshmallows and icing sugar, but I figured ready-made fondant would buy me much more time and boy, was I glad Dennis made that call. =D Thanks dear!

NO CAKE RECIPE! I experiment on many cakes, to only realise, 90% of them aren't suitable for tiered cakes! =((( I always fell back on Rei's pound cakes recipes, not that they were particularly good to eat or anything, but those were the only ones I've ever tried. I had no time for mistakes, no time for risks, I just had to make do with whatever I've done so far. Now, the filling. I needed something that would hold up for a good 8 hours and not taste yucky. I wanted to go with chocolate ganache. The hard kind. (ie. more choc than cream) BUT, my sister reminded me that the cake was already chocolate. So, we scrapped that idea. I finally settled on Italian Meringue Lemon Buttercream. Very reluctantly. Read: Very reluctantly. I had a few unhappy episodes with making italian meringue and I've stayed away from it since a long time. But but, it went on SUPER well that day and I do believe it's God's guidance. =D

When I finally finished baking the cake, it was already past 12 am. -_-'' Thank God for Dennis and my sister, Sandy who struggled to keep their eyes open and still painstakingly cut out the fondant flowers. In order not to complicated things, I decided to go with white flowers =pp While we were at it halfway through and the clock pointing at 2, my sister said my mum mentioned we shouldn't be making cakes cos they're unhealthy. I got kinda pissed that here we are, slogging out, and there she goes complaining.

We decided to abandon the operation wedding cake, packed up and went to bed.

Early next morning, I helped out at the last pretty floral class for this year at CSC club. With my eyes barely opened and brain hardly awake. I'm glad all the participants were happy and learnt something new. The tea ceremony was held on Saturday, 1pm and I obviously couldn't make it. My mum dropped a bomb on me when she told me that my dad happily told my aunt (my cousin's mum) that I'd be make her a wedding cake!! YIKES!

We scrambled to get things done, and thank God, my other sister, Freda, offered to make the wedding figurines. OH, I couldn't thank her enough =D

We made more flowers and by the time all of us surrended, it was past 3 in the morning. And, we still had to attend service the next morning at 8.30am. O.o

We still manged to drag our sleepy heads to church and struggled to pay attention to the sermon and rushed home after service and a quick breakfast. My sister only got started with making the groom on Sunday afternoon and I'm glad we all made it in the end =) Thank God for her perserverance and her creativity! I was so busy with the buttercream and other stuffs, she handled the fingurine all by herself, with a little help from Sandy. I'm really proud of them!

My brother decided to join the force, partly to skip studying for his 'O's and look at his creation. -_-''' Of course, this wasn't what went up in the end, this was! (see below)

If there was a time I feared covering cakes with fondant, it was then. All the past attempts didn't have very good results. The fondant cracked and wasn't smooth. But this time, It was all well. VERY well instead. Even my sister mentioned that this time, it was the best of all. =DDD If there was any tip about covering fondant cakes, it would have to be not to roll the fondant too thick. The weight of the fondant weighs down on the cake and the edges will start to crack and be unsightly =)

All ready, just missing the bride and groom toppers which were still giving us problems. =( The groom's arm refused to stick on nicely. But we were glad it eventually did. =D

This shot was taken at the hotel itself and I was glad we managed to surprised my cousin and cousin-in-law. Wishing them a really blissful marriage ahead as they learn to continue to love one another, as they have promised.

Although they are not christians, I still want to leave them with one of my favourite verses.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...."

-1 Corinthians 13: 4-8-