Bittersweet

I think my friends are all going to disown me soon.  I have become this crazy person obsessed with all things sweet and have no time for them anymore.

Well my darlings, I will, just give me a couple of weeks to catch up and you shall have my undivided attention...well, at least until the craziness starts up again.  ;)

So, to keep you updated on the going ons over the last week or so;

First off was out evening cupcake teaser class.  I think Glenda & I are going to be held accountable for turning a whole new group of lovely ladies into Cake decorating crazies......yeah, you don't really need the money for retirement, or new clothes...or food...just spend it all the fancy cake decorating toys!

We looved our cosy little class, huddled up over a batch of freshly baked cupcakes. 

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Moving on to our weekend Marvellous Macaron classes.  Amazingly the spring rain came down in buckets outside us, but even with all that humidity, the stars alined and our macarons all behaved themselves.

So, what do you do when you are waiting around for macarons to cool?

Gather around and drink pink Champagne of course....  We are pretty responsible teachers - so this was in fact, one of our private classes.  

After you've drunk all the Champagne, you start to find all sorts of shapes in your macarons.  Mickey Mouse is in the house!

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And now to the cakes of the week....

A gorgeously styled wedding at the Royal Freshwater Yacht club for Sarah and Matt, as you can see, the theme was a very regal purple.  According to Matt, it rained all day, but the sun came out just as they were married.  Isnt it wonderful when that happens!

And this very pretty cake for lovely Betty who turned a very sprightly 85.  Design inspired by Handi Mulyana.

and last but not least, this little cake for Langdon.

He is a beautiful, happy child with such doting parents.  It was a special birthday and I feel very honoured to be able to make his cake.  The bittersweet part is of course, that Langdon's twin, passed away several weeks ago - like a little angel that was here for too short a time.   As heartbreaking as it was for all of us who knew them and were there when they entered the world, his family thought that his birthday should be happily celebrated with those that he loved.  I am so glad that he got a great birthday and I hope he has many beautiful memories of his day!

I hope you all had a adventurous week and stayed tuned for the tears and tantrums of the Royal show!!

Love,

Winter babies

 It seems that a lot of people I know have birthdays in July, August and September.   I read somewhere that it has something to do with which seasons we are more likely to make babies.... ;) and hence a lot of winter babies.

I had a great time this week making adorable cakes for some littlies turning 1.  Firstly an adorable tiger cake for Jensen.  Jensen is was born in the year of the tiger - which naturally makes him a born leader!

A yummy white chocolate & raspberry cake was made for a lovely family lunch.  

Too cute to eat?  Luckily he's made for keeping and not for eating ;)

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Enough blue?  Well how about some pink?

Well........more like a whole LOT of pink!

This massive cake was made for little Ayda at a big birthday celebration.  And there was enough malted marble cake to feed 50 people!

A lot of pretty girly details and hand painted to match the theme of the garden party, along with astro turf placemats.  The little ladybird was a bit lonely, so I added some friends for her.

It sure was hard to part with the cake!  But yummy mummy Donna, who was so excited about the cake, told us that Ayda loved eating it.  Which really, if you ask me....is what it is all about!

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What is so great about being able to make special cakes is seeing how different we all are.  I love making cakes that show personality and are meaningful to the people who receive them.  We may not always know what we're passionate about, but it is important to have passion in life, be it cooking, singing, reading, dancing, travelling and the list goes on.   It gets us through the day and makes life far more interesting.

So, on that note, it was really interesting to make a Poker inspired cake for Nimitr.

A small cake for a family gathering.  This cake sure had a lot of interesting things on it!

For me who has never played poker, or smoked a cigar, it was kinda fun to do some research on what would be most meaningful for someone who loves the game.

I hope all the cakes were eaten with much laughter and the birthday boys and girl were surrounded and spoilt by the people they love.

Lots of pink

Boy!  It's been a busy week!

Last week I had the great pleasure of making a really happy cake for Deanna, who was celebrating her 21st birthday.  As a graphic design student, she was very keen to design the cake for her milestone birthday.

The brief was simple.  Lots of pink, some bling and lots of flying hearts.  I was a little concerned that we might have too much pink.....but as I added the bits of bling, the cake really looked amazing.  Very happy and bright.........a lot like Deanna!

The lovely 21st pin was supplied by the birthday girl and I hope she had a really memorable night!  As you should when you're turning 21!!

Moving onto another lovely pink cake, this one for little Monica's christening.

We had a few bumps organising this cake, but, we finally made it to the church =)

And then there were some cupcakes for a few lucky recipients.

Seems like my cheeky little monkeys are getting a real reputation!

And then, between all of that.....we hosted out Classic 102 class!

Lots of smiles and really beautiful cakes!  Our cake went to ToyBox International for Tina & her friends at the Centre for Celebral Palsy!  I hope they enjoyed eating it as much as we did making it.

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!

More Chanel and a Big brief case

This week I had the great pleasure of making this giant cake for WAC - otherwise known as Perth Airport.  

French vanilla tea cake with dark chocolate ganache, DEI (digitally enhanced image) printed on edible fondant in the likeness of the annual report.  Handpainted finish with gold accents.

Pardon my ignorance, but up until last month, I didn't even realise that the airport was a public company.

The new general manager is a bit of a Planet Cake fan, and wanted a cake for the launch of their annual report.  Planet Cake were kind enough to refer them onto me, talk about pressure!

 

 The CEO of Perth Airport & Mayor of Belmont, with the big cake!

The cake took 2 to carry and fed 220 guests gathered at the WA Museum for the evening soiree.

Anna (who commissioned the cake) said via email:

The cake was fantastic - thank you so much for making such a great cake and our event went really well.

photos courtesy of Anna via email  

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It appears that Chanel is once again the height of fashion.  With several orders this month for Chanel themed cupcakes, all of a sudden, I seem to be seeing C's everywhere!

 

Chloe's cupcakes for her birthday dinner.  Hope you had a marvelous birthday week!!

 

Just goes to show, that understated elegance is timeless!  Viva le Chanel!!

Pretty in pink

Only a short post this week.  My little brain cells this week are being dominated by the real world rather than the much more colourful and enjoyable cake world. *Sigh*  Some times real life just gets in the way.....

This week I had the pleasure of making this pretty pink cake for Betty. 

Betty turned a 85 on Friday and is simply the most charming lady I know!

The cake was a taro & white chocolate top tier and dark chocolate bottom tier.  Design inspired by Lorinda Seto and the Pink Cake Box.

Betty loves nothing more that pottering in her butterfly filled garden and has been collecting turtle figurines for the last 40 years.  I believe her collection tops more than 5000 individual figurines from all around the world, with no two alike.  I hope this Sugar by Winz original adds to the collection!

A week of cakes for little ladies

Cake decorating is fun regardless of how you look at it.  The creative process of creating something pretty and delicious looking, is always special.  If you cook a fabulous meal, people will eat it, thank you but it doesn't compare to the sort of response you get from someone receiving a beautiful cake.  There is something about sugar and eggs and butter that make people extra happy!  Such was the case this week when Tracey ordered a cake for little Lucy's first birthday.

 Yummy mummy Tracey fell in love with Koko the cupcake fairy from Paper Eskimo and as every woman knows, there is always a little girl inside of us who secretly wants a pink fairy cake!

Tracey called me afterwards to tell me how wonderful those few seconds of anticipation were as her hubby opened the lid of the cake box to show her the cake.  Luckily for me, it was how she had imagined it!! To be exact, she mentioned something about almost having tears in her eye......it just made my day!
I hope Lucy had lots of lovely memories of the awesome party her mum organised for her!


Post script 2/9/10

I'm so glad Lucy enjoyed her birthday cake!!
Photo coutesy of proud mum Tracey via email

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 Moving onto more lovely ladies this week, was the Delectable & Sugar collaboration of a Rainbow pony carousel cake.  Requested by the birthday girl's best friend, the cake was a surprise to celebrate her 22nd birthday.   As this young lady is graduating this year, the cake also marked a special milestone.

Putting the finishing touches on the cake.  We worked and worked on this cake.....until the wee hours of the morning!
Thanks so much Jo!  I couldn't have dreamed for a better partner in crime!!  

We wish Diana an unforgetable birthday!

Postscipt: 2/9/10
From Shiyu via email:
It was awesome! Thank you so much for helping out! She was very very happy, and she keep hopping back and forth her room and fridge peeping the cake!  Thanks for everything. BTW the cake looked so good when the candles were lit! They literally looked like a glowing merry go round with real lights on! :))

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And then of course there was the lovely Elaina, who turned a very impressive 15 years young!  Ah....what you wouldn't give to be 15 again!  *sigh* 

I learnt all about pokemons and pokeballs for you Elaina!!  Pichu or Pikachu....that WAS the question!!

This one is definately Pichu.....I hope he can do some sort of impressive magical thing!  It sure looks like it was a really fabulous party!  Happy 15th Birthday Elaina, I hope it was Electric!!

photo coutesy of Leona via facebook

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And last but not the least, was Claudia's confirmation.  

Such a lovely tradition of celebrating the holy occassion with family, friends, food and cake!

All with matching cupcakes too!  Congratulations Claudia, hope the joy you feel on Confirmation day remains with you for a lifetime!

It was such an amazing pleasure to produce all these pretty cakes, so, a special thank you to the wonderful mums and best friends with such lovely ideas and made the special effort to make a difference to their loved ones this week!