"Cute"

I have to say that when I design something I often to gravitate towards cute.  It's difficult, I grew up exposed to the likes of Sanrio - the Japanese stationery, giftware company that gave the world Hello Kitty, My Melody and of course, my personal favourite...........Little twin stars.

Though, I like to think that my style isn't as saccharine, I do admit to having a love affair with the pastel colours! 

Strangely enough, for me this week, there was a bit of that sort of 'kawaii-ness' about a couple of orders.

A birthday cake for Kluay (who's nickname means banana) dreaming on her banana moon, and the cute as a button baby shower cake for Alicia (who is Spanish and hence the red and the hand fan).

It was only natural then, to allow the cuteness to take over and carry it onto classes, starting off with the very adorable Ted on a Pillow cake.

and even more cuteness in cupcake class

Heeehee.... what came first?  The chicken or the egg?  Just in time for Easter!  Enough of the cute already?

Ok, here are other sweet things from the week.  A wonderful dessert table graced by our macarons & mini cupcakes at the blu grill.

A novelty cake for Gary Roberts (MD of Nova 93.7).  Apparently Gary irons all of his own shirts and is very particular about the settings on his iron.  So instead of a fancy new one, we made him his first iron.  Something retro from the 1960s!

Looks like Gary got the joke.  Making novelty cakes is always so much fun!

Love,

Lego at any age

At the beginning of the week, I received a call from a very panicked newly wed bride who needed a cake for her hubby's 40th.  "I know I'm running out of time...." she says.   Naturally, she wanted it to be meaningful and a bit of a surprise, as you do.  So, as he was a big fan of lego, it was an easy choice!

I'm a huge fan of lego too.  When my sister, the UAA, spent hours dressing and re dressing her barbie dolls, I spent hours teaching myself to build little lego houses, with doors and windows on lovely green lego boards...complete with those little pine lego trees out the front.  Ah, life is a lot better when you're young and easily satisfied!

 

Here is Lego-ised Derrick with his big 4-0h sign and some of his favourite building blocks. The cake was a real hit, especially with the birthday boy.  Yes, I definately aim to please!

I hope Derrick forgives me for giving him great 70's hair!!

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Cake Love was also very excited to be at Epicurious again for our winter classes.  Our Classic 101 - Buzzy Bees and Designer Cupcake classes were filled with cheerful cake enthusiasts.  Amongst them, lawyers, dieticians, auditors, mum to be....and the list goes on.

Our weekend in pictures.

Such beautiful cakes.  Makes me sooo happy!!

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Moving onto cupcakes!

The designs UNVEILED......!  Such interesting responses captured!  Beware of the candid camera......

*Contented sigh*  Such beautiful cupcakes!  What a great way to spend a weekend!

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And lastly, a special shout out to Kate

3 days to due date.....and still cake decorating!  What a champion!  I hope by the time this is published Kate will have her hands full with her gorgeous new bundle of joy!  

All for the love of cake

There are certain things that we all do for love.  We may not all love our day jobs, or our families and friends ALL of the time, but there are sometimes when we can do extraordinary things in the name of love.

All I can say is that this weekend truly tested my love for my cakes.

This is the massive cake for Kris and Kirsty's Soutwest long weekend getaway wedding.  It was such a pretty colour to work and one that matched the invitations.  For an events planner, Kirsty was really a dream bride to work with, relaxed and oh so lovely.

This cake, left my hands on an unusually humid Perth morning .  As a result, I fretted about as it sweated the 3.5 hour trip down south to Margaret River.  Luckily the pastry chef at the venue was kind enough to rescue it and fanned it down overnight.  By the time of the wedding, with a little touch up by a reliable sidekick, the cake was ready for center stage.  I will upload the photos from the venue as soon as I have them.

Talk about the stress of providing dessert for 100 people!

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The second cake of the weekend, was a magical theme for Hugo's 5th birthday.  Mum Venus had grand plans on the design of the cake along with the colours to match the theme, complete with a magician and 35 little friends.

I adored making the 2 tiered chocolate cake with a cheeky bunny coming out of the magician's top hat.

The little family arrived early to pick up the cake, along with the birthday boy.  Doting Dad, with the camera at the ready....to capture the look of little Hugo's first encounter with his cake, thinking that we would get something like this.....

(Cake by Sharon Wee Creations - Sydney)

What a great response we got when Sharon & I delivered this awesome cake last year!!

 But instead, little Hugo hid behind is mum and wiped away a stray tear..... I guess there is a first time for everything.  **Sigh**  Very definitely a downward turn on that little mouth!

In consolation, Hugo's little 3 year old brother happily danced around the cake while we tried to get him to tell us what was wrong with his cake.....

Thankfully, Mum reported the next day that by the time he got home, he had cheered up enough to be a fantastic party host and even ate half the bunny.

photos courtesy of Venus via Facebook

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And lastly, this pretty in pink cake for little Anna.

Commissioned by her adoring Uncle, fairies, butterflies and flowers were the order of the day.   Her favourite colours?  Pink, red, purple, white....depending on the day - is the information I had to work with.

Gladly, Anna was happy with her cake - so the weekend wasn't a total loss.....

photo courtesy of Annie via iphone

I hope Anna had an amazing birthday and certainly one with lots of lovely memories!

Making adorable cakes

It's so lovely when you are able to make cute little figurines and decorative sugar work to adorn your cakes. Such was this week's brief when Ann asked to make some cute penguins for a baby shower. 

 Such a refreshing change, that the mommy to be has chosen not to find out the sex of the baby opting for a happy surprise on the big day.  So, pink and blue penguins it was!

All ready and teetering delicately to go off to their new home.

Ann said via email:

  All I could hear was ooooooh and aaaaaaah.  Not only did they look amazing, but they tasted great too!  Thank you so much – they were a real winner!

Penguins at the picnic.  Photo courtesy of Ann via email

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Onto the larger cakes this week.....

There is something satisfying about seeing a table of ganached and ready to be covered cakes.

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It turned out to be a beautiful weekend for Carolyn & Ezra's wedding.  A whole team of friends worked hard to coordinate the reception.  I've never delivered a cake to a venue, with so many people offering to help!

Carolyn initially came to me with a Peggy Porschen designed quilted cake in black and white.   The black was vetoed by the mother of the bride, and so we opted to go for a dusty pink with black details as a sort of middle ground.

I thought that the combination of romantic flowers, dusty pink bows with A diamond brooch fit just nicely into the shabby chic category.

I'm sorry the photo is not very good, but by the time the flowers arrived, the lights had been dimmed and generally speaking, not the best for photography.  Perhaps Carolyn will have a better pic when she returns from her honeymoon!

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Lastly, the touching occasion of Isaac's baptism.

Father Michael presents baby Isaac after the service and the family heads off to celebrate with food, wine and cake!

The Elite Cake inspired design, complete with sugar booties commissioned by his doting godmothers.

And a little rubber ducky for good measure!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!  Less than 3 weeks to Christmas.  Where oh where did the year go??