"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,

Being passionate

At the great risk of sounding like Oprah...... you have to have passion in your life.  Whether it be love, sports, shopping, fast cars or, perhaps, Sugar, spice & all things nice.

I've always had a sweet tooth.  Ever since I was toddler......

Yes, sweets always made me very happy!  (that is a lolly in mum's hand...)

So, how important is it to have passion for what you do?  I belong to GenX, we were brought up by our parents to have a steady job, work hard and that someone was always watching.  If you were willing to work hard, you could afford the nice things in life.  There wasnt all that much about creativity or 'living the dream', let alone being passionate about what you do.

Gladly, the world has changed somewhat since then.  The likes of Steve Jobs, Jerry Yang, and Bill Gates and a whole horde of Hollywood actors that gained overnight success and fame, lectured on the importance of following your passion.  So now, instead of just plain working hard, I work hard at doing something I love.  Although the money has yet to follow - it's not always easy to hold down a regular job that pays the bills as well as finding the energy to follow your passion!  Its rewards are great, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Here are the passionately made cakes and classes over the last couple of weeks.

Starting off with some cupcakes, footy themed...already!  Gee, I wouldn't mind some footy weather right about now!

pic ourtesy of Naei via FB

And these cuties headed off to a birthday party...in Bangkok.

As did this topper for an 80th birthday celebration. 

Fabulously done by Lauren.

A big cake for Alana's Grecian inspired 21st at the beautiful surrounds of the Claremont Yacht club.

White, gold, drapes columns and laurels to fit in with the theme.  21 exploding hearts and the Effiel tower (Alana's dream destination) in purple (her favourite colour).  Alana had a great time and  loved her cake, which was the most important thing.

Another very popular Giggle & Hoot cake for little Luke's first birthday

Many thanks to Vicki for doing a lot of the hard work :)

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Moving onto the bigger cakes, is this romantic wedding cake for Jess.  Delicate princess stencilling and sugar pearls, resulted in a timelessly elegant design.

Jess was delighted that the cake turned out as she envisioned, but only got to look at it fleetingly.  She must have been a busy girl that night.  I hope the photographer took some lovely pictures for her to look over when she's not socialising with 120 people.

Something a little more modern for Sarah,

With dogwood blossoms and pretty ribbon.  This cake travelled down to Margaret River with the father of the bride, with strict instructions to keep it nice and cool - and no stopping for lunch!

Lastly, this understated but classic cake for Kim. 

There is a little bit of excitement in regards to what happened to this cake, but I will keep that a secret for now and upload the pics when I have them.

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And then of course the start to our Cake Love classes for 2012.

Classic 101

and Marvellous Macarons, and they really were marvellous!

 And then there was cupcake teaser thrown into the mix for a bit of variety

our May classes will be listed soon.  And dont forget all the great classes when Handi comes to town to do the amazing stiletto, advanced figurines and teapots!

At the end of the day, working hard at what you are passionate about beats just plain working hard!

So, as someone once said to me, if you had a spare sunday to do what you want, what would that be?  That is more likely to be what you're passionate about!

Me and my darling sis, the UAA, drooling away at a box of goodies (circa late 70s)

Mwah!

More caking adventures

We had such a slow start to summer, but it very quickly caught up with us!  With the hottest January on record in Perth, sweltering through caking projects was certainly a challenge.

I know I say it every summer, but seriously, how do you turn down really great clients?

 

This pretty cake for Wendy & Rob for a beautifully styled event at the Blu Grill.  Cake design by Sweet & Saucy and is all the rage in NY at the moment.

Macarons & Mini cupcakes to match the colours of all the gorgeous flowers, including Irish bells fresh off the plane!

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And this happy, retro, slightly whimiscal cake for Steve's 40th.  Doting wife Stella designed the cake to match polaroids of Steve from his invitation.

Apparently great fun was had by all the nieces and nephews tucking into Steves ears, and eyes and head.......  Life is so lovely when you are 6 years old!

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A couple of smaller cakes for Mr & Mrs King's wedding anniversary - a very thoughtful gift from Chef Noon for Mrs King.

And this really cute one for Ngee, who I made miniature Chanel bag and monkeys for last year.

 

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And then of course there was the Everything Baking Expo in Perth, with special guests Buddy Valstro and Debbie Brown.   I was so excited to be in Masterclass with Debbie, and felt like such a groupie!

Debbie who has 14 books to her name, and a real pioneer in the techniques of modern cake decorating.  I can certainly say that her style has influenced more people than any other cake artist in recent times.

My cake.....

and Debbie's cake, taking shape.

 

Voila, after 6 intensive hours,

 

After enjoying it for a day or so, this is where the Dragon castle ended up.

In front of a group of excited year one students at Rehoboth Christian School.  How wonderful to see all those toothless grins, I love how cake makes people so happy!

Hope you're having some cake love in your life too!

2011 and into 2012

Wow!  What a year it's been!

2012 is definately going to be a very exciting year!  More about that later, but let's catch you up on the cakes over the last month or so.

This 2 tiered Hoot cake for Issac's 2nd birthday featured, the apple trees from the show and a Hoot with lots of presents.  I'm getting quite a lot of requests for Hoot... so now I know him quite well!

A more exciting theme for Jarrad's 4th birthday.  Spiderman!  Not the easiet superhero character to make...so I thought I would do a sort of 'cartooned' version - as long as he's recognisable..... how do you think I went?

Little Jarrad and his friends seemed to like the cake!

Pic from Elaine via facebook

Happy birthday Jarrad!

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We love getting requests for interesting cakes.  There is nothing like cakes that showcase personality and are meaningful to the people who receive them.  Here are some great examples.

What do you think this became?

A yummy white velvet cake with rose infused white chocolate ganache huge enough to serve 60 people as a replica Royal Albert teapot for a surprise 80th birthday.  A real team effort on this one, with artist Vicki stepping in to painstakingly paint the English country rose design on the scuplted cake (by yours truly)

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We adored it and it was so hard to part with this one!  Rebecca who commissioned the cake had this to say " Thank you Winnie and Vicki for the fantastic teapot! Nanna didn't believe it was cake to start off with, you blew everyone away with the replication. And taste- devine!"

We're delighted!

And then there was this cute surprise groom's cake

 A present from the bride, it débuted at the rehearsal dinner.  For a rugby loving groom and his beautiful bride who loves singing.  

On the topic of singing, there was also this one for Scot's 40th birthday.

An antique book trader and talented opera singer by night.  This cake was to showcase his greatest loves.

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And then because summer wedding season is not over yet, 

This elegant cake for Maria & Gino, who's engagement cake I made last year.  A gorgeously transformed venue at the convention centre, with chandliers and magnificient lights.  The design originally inspired by Sharon Wee, sat proudly centre stage.

Then this positively dreamy setting for Veronika & Beau at the Sandalford Winery

and these cute cupcakes for Jess & Chris at the Pagoda in South Perth.

We adored the cheeky customised toppers with their impressive likeness.  A beautifully styled event by Blissful Affair, complete with a lolly bar (all the rave this year) and a photobooth.

When you are making Italian meringue buttercream and fresh out of the oven cupcakes (in vanilla, chocolate and red velvet), well.......let me tell you it is simply irresistable!!

 Nom.. Nom nom nom......Slurp slurp....drool drool...... Deep breaths......!

Last out of the kitchens before Christmas break, was this divine design for Stephanie and Alan.

For the lovely Caversham house in the Swan Valley.  This cake inspired by a renowned Faye Cahill design, with pure silver leaf, pearl lustre and stencilling detail.  The sugar flower was lovingly handcrafted by our flower artist, Lyn.

And that concluded the year for 2011.   For the new year we have so many exciting plans and some really fabulous cakes coming up!  I look forward to sharing with you the adventures of the new year, in the meantime, it's time to sit on a beach somewhere (Margaret River to be precise) to recharge!!

 

Happy new year and all the best for 2012!!

Love,