Sponsored Art: Juliana's 1st Birthday Cake

Honey, my colleague, ordered cake and cupcakes for her little princess' first birthday.  She was kind enough to order in advance that I had more than enough time to prepare for it.  However, something unexpected sadly happened.  Little Juliana got sick, she was confined in the hospital on her birthday. :(

The huge party was cancelled, so Honey asked me to continue making just the cake only.  She opted for a simpler design since they will only let Juliana blow the cake in the hospital.

The toy toppers were given to me ahead of time so it was very easy for me to conceptualize the design.  Since I have already made several mickey mouse design supposedly for cupcakes, I just incorporated it around the cake.

I'm glad Honey liked the taste of the cake.. I guess I have finally found my ideal chocolate cake. :)

Sponsored Art: Gabby's Christening Cake

Last September my husband's former colleague Donna, asked me to make her daughter's baptismal cake.  She was the lucky girl who was surprised with these cupcakes on her baby shower party.  

Her being hands on made it easy for me to put the cake together.  

I enjoyed this project as she was very helpful with the design she wanted.  So far, this cake is my favorite above all the other cakes I have made.  It turned out really colorful and cute and I had so much fun making it.

I hope I get to make a lot of cakes as cute as this... and a client as easy to deal with as Donna. :)

Remake of SuperMom Chocolate Cake

Two days after my birthday, it was a former colleague's mom's birthday.  He asked me to bake him a chocolate cake with the design I made for mama last mother's day.  It was supposedly just an 8" round cake.  But since I was feeling generous at the time ;)),  I added another tier which is a small heart-shaped cake.  He was specific with the message that I attached around the cake.  It says "YOU ARE THE BEST MAMA <3".  Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture since we were in a hurry that morning (we were already late for work).  Anyway, here was the top view..

Thanks Tan for trusting me, I'm glad you liked the taste.  You're a certified guinea PIG. :D

Handmade Flowers for 18th Birthday Cake

One of the requirements in my Organizational Behavior (OB) class was to attend a team building activity.  Several of the activities that our professor prepared required  large groups in each team, but there were also some that involved only partners.  One such activity was something about trusting someone, wherein you are asked to cover your eyes with a scarf while trusting your partner's instructions into leading you to the finish line.  This activity was no joke since you were not allowed to be touched by your partner, and the trail wasn't just on an ordinary and even terrain, there were slopes that involved climbing and going down a flight of stairs.  My partner then was Jelyn.

It seemed that that activity was effective since Jelyn trusted me enough and requested me to make her niece's 18th birthday cake!  She said that their color preference was violet and pink so I thought of flowers immediately.

I tried playing with my brother's camera and the following photos were the result.

I just chose the pop art feature and the colors became more prominent.

Jelyn liked the design so far, but I intend to improve more on making sugar flowers. I hope I have more time and patience to practice though. ;)

Cream Puffs for Dads

Pictures below are the latest cream puff orders I made for my colleagues...

  Enjoy browsing! <:-P

Sex and the City Chocolate Cake

I had a very busy baking life last week. There were orders everyday that my normal sleeping time was way past midnight. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I was in fact grateful that I was able to practice baking and making different fondant designs without adding up inches on our bellies. :D

Along with the baby shower party was a birthday surprise for their friend. They didn’t ask for any design so I volunteered to include it. I didn’t ask for extra charge just so I could have the freedom to implement whatever design I had in mind. I was only told that she like the color pink so I thought, why not “Sex and the City”?

I got the most of the cake ideas from the internet except for the dress which was inspired by Carrie’s iconic dress.

(Picture courtesy of CNN.com)

I got lucky my pretty cousin Nadja visited that we got to have her model the cake. I couldn't have picked anyone better!

I hope I get to recruit her into baking as well! ;))

Baby Shower Cupcakes

A friend of my husband asked me to bake banana cupcakes for a baby shower.  I was in the mood to make designs so I made all the designs the hard way, especially the small baby booties.

I had a hard time creating these designs since the weather was weird. Because of the weather, I learned that there are several ways to treat fondant, which is highly dependent on the weather. On hot summer days, you need to have it air dried for the fondant to harden. When it's raining all day you can't do the same thing as it will melt (this puzzles me :-/). So it has to be stored in an airtight container if you want it to harden. 

I had to redo all the designs since the first one I made earlier melted.  I have also put a lot of fondant in these goodies since I made a huge batch and I don't want them to stay in my kitchen.  But I realized after that I should have left something for my cream puffs, especially when our client commented that the fondant was too sweet.  Of course it is sweet, it is made up of sugar icing! LOL!  Thin covering should be enough next time.  I hope there will be a next time. :D

The baby booties were the superstar, but I think the "rubber" duckies are cute too!

Don't you think so?

The best thing about this hobby is that you can literally eat your way out of a bad situation!  That is, when the outcome of the design doesn't satisfy your criteria and you start getting a little frustrated.  You can simply eat it (thankfully it doesn't happen often, otherwise I'd have bigger problem loosing weight).  How can you not feel good again once you tasted the fondant's sweetness? ;)

Wonder Woman Chocolate Cake

I recently had the opportunity to bake for a very good friend of mine, Kat. She was a former classmate who happened to live near one of the apartments I used to stay at.  We started seeing each other even after class to compare notes and sometimes to answer assignments together.  Our friendship had evolved from going to and from school together into having a day at a spa and some other fun activities.  Most of it involved eating in our school cafeteria while sharing stories endlessly.  What I loved most about her are her cool and unique ideas, wholesome jokes, and sometimes extending her motherly instinct towards me.  She might never realize how she had encouraged me into gaining enough confidence and be able to speak in front of a class for the whole 45 minutes, so I am going to share it.

I remember exactly how I prepared for my report in one of our classes.  The subject was Business Ethics and our professor was also a practicing priest who required us to speak before our class for 45 minutes.  As if that was not enough for me to be nervous, I was the first to report since I got the number 1 from the draw lot.  :-SS 

I had a lot of concerns.  I was having problems with my throat.  I couldn't speak that long, especially not in front of a whole class of professional and intelligent people.  I had no idea about the subject matter and one week preparation was not enough!  I can't be number 1, I needed a benchmark!  There were endless concerns happening in between my ears, but I prepared anyway.

Before the class began, I had a sick feeling in my stomach.  I'm pretty sure I was also shaking at the time.  While our professor was checking our attendance, just a few minutes away before I began to speak, I whispered how I felt to Kat.  I no longer remember the exact words she whispered back, but what I remember is that it was full of encouraging words.  She mentioned one by one all the things that I have accomplished already, and the potential that I had and what I could become.  But the best motivating words that she said was that... "If I could only stop thinking about the impression that I might impart and focus more on what I will have to share, she believed that I can deliberately do it".

I didn't know what happened but I felt like I was Popeye who just got a dose of spinach.  To cut the story short, I enjoyed speaking in front of the class that the appointed student-to-monitor-time had to signal me to wrap it up since I had consumed more time than expected!

Thanks to Kat's motivating powers I was able to gain enough confidence and was able to do something I haven't done before.  And for that I am forever thankful to Kat...

I just recently learned that she was promoted to being a manager. I was actually teasing her about it when we met again and she admitted that she already is a manager. I wasn't really surprised since I knew she had great potential. With how diligently she works and how effective, efficient, and dedicated she is, it really was no surprise. It was a well deserved promotion and I am very proud of her.

Anyway, she asked me to bake her a chocolate cake. when I asked her what kind of design she would like, she just said the simplest one since it was just meant for personal consumption. I, however, decided that I would surprise her with a Wonder Woman cake since it totally fits her.

Although I know how successful she is professionally, her success in keeping her family is much more commendable. I have high respect for any woman who still has the energy to do household chores despite the fact that they have an 8 to 5 job. Even more so if they can still manage to stay glamorous just like her!

Amazing right?

Now that is Wonder Woman in real life. 

"She is not afraid of the snow for her household,

For all her household are clothed with scarlet."

                                                                   ~ Proverbs 31:21