Animal Picnic for Nadya's First Birthday

These are really old but I haven't had the time to put these photos up. My baby niece turned 1 in January. My sister-in-law made the cake and I make the toppers. So, I decided to make miniature replicas of her 3 favourite stuffed animals/doll having a picnic - Sophie the giraffe, Harriet the Hippo, and Charlie the doll. Both Harriet and Charlie were actually knitted by my mom! All the figurines were made out of fondant and other details painted on.

The finished product

The replicas and the originals

The making of Harriet and Charlie

I have to say that I wasn't too happy with Charlie. She got a little chubby. It was hard to get her to stay sitting up without compromising her girth. I used a garlic press to make her hair - easy and already available in most households!

Harriet the Hippo

Sophie the giraffe

Sophie was made out of a single piece of fondant. I have to say she's my favourite. Spots, hooves, and other details were painted on using AmeriColor Gourmet Writer Food Decorating Pens(one of my favourite and most used purchases).

Available at Iced Affair in Camperdown (http://www.icedaffair.com.au/)

Close up

Nadya and I

The three wise pink apes for my dad's 60th birthday

My dad turned 60 today and I wanted to make a cake that was really special and really represent my Dad. For some reason, my dad LOVES pink apes. He loves anything to do with them. Pink ape key chains, pink ape t-shirts etc. For my graduation he even gave me a pink ape soft today in a graduation gown which he had got specially made. I had previously made 2 pink ape cakes for my dad so I really had to up the ante this time to outdo myself. So, I was inspired by the three wise monkeys and personalised it.

Ta da!

(Click on the photos to view larger photos)

The finished cake

Now to break it down...

The apes were made with fondant and is all edible except for the toothpicks I used to stabilise the limbs and props. Funnily enough, the camera took up most of my time. I had to make 6 lenses before I was able to fit "NIKON" on the lens cap (see above).

Now, let me explain ...

1. The ape that hears no evil
My dad is pretty hard of hearing so often his response when you speak to him is "WHAT?"

2. The monkey that speaks no evil
My dad collects degrees and one of his degrees is a Masters of Linguistincs which isn't in this photo but is in the final product

3. The monkey that sees no evil
My dad is an avid photographer

I was pretty proud of the finished product... I'm becoming more and more comfortable creating with fondant. But the most important thing to me was that my dad absolutely loved it. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Nadya

2010 has been quite a busy year, and we're not quite halfway through it yet.

1. New job.
Working as a medical intern doesn't really leave that much time to make and especially decorate any cakes, which has undoubtedly left me with a big hole. Hopefully, I'll be able to make up for lost time when I go on annual leave in just a few weeks!

2. New niece.
My brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl, Nadya in January. She was the inspiration for my most recent fondant adventure - a miniature Nadya. I'm still very much fiddling around with fondant and learning as I go. I've stayed away from trying to make human figurines after my first attempt back in 2008 was a dismal disaster. I tried to look for old photos to put up just so you can see how bad they were but I couldn't find any. Oh well, saves me the embarrassment! :)

So this is Nadya at her 1 month full moon celebration ...

And this is how miniature Nadya came to be...

And voila...!

I was pretty surprised with the outcome. Granted, she's actually only 4 months old now and I may or may not have taken some creative license with her age to make it easier on myself... I don't think she looks too bad. ;)

P.S. I was in the San Fransisco/San Jose area recently and found heaven in Barbara of Pauline's Cake Decorating Supplies. There is so much more choice in the states and things are so much cheaper too! Barbara is a hoot and won't let you get away without imparting some of her wisdom. It is almost worth flying all the way back to San Fran again even if it means getting stuck at the cash register for 20 minutes when all I want to do is to pay for my shopping!

Barbara of Pauline's Cake Decorating Supplies

1093 Malone Road,

San Jose CA 95125

(408)978-9740

Naughty cupcakes for a friend's hen's party

A friend of mine is getting married in less than a month, so we had a perfectly sophisticated and polite (and fun!) picnic at Centennial Park followed by dinner to celebrate. To rock things up a little bit, I made some naughty cupcakes. Leave it to me to corrupt her poor and innocent soul ;) I had lots of ideas in my head but I decided to keep it a little more subtle so as to not mortify her too much.

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Do not scroll down if you are easily offended.

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The cupcake is a standard vanilla cupcake with American buttercream icing. The "goods" are made out of fondant. Instructions? Mould to desired size and shape. Lol.

My army of penises

It was hard to get a closeup shot because it was too small.

In retrospect, I would have picked a different colour for the icing. I was not expecting to be asked if I meant for the genitalia to be "lying on a bed of......." Ummm...how about you use your imagination for that one. :P

Eeyore cake for Nikki's 23rd

Eeyore cake topper on a chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache icing

Eeyore cake topper

The making of Eeyore...

"Oh, dear..." ~Eeyore

"It's not much of a tail...but I'm sorta attached to it" ~ Eeyore

"After all, what are birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow" ~ Eeyore

"Thanks for noticing me" ~ Eeyore

Danish flag cake + seal cake topper

My first made to order cake. I was asked to design a cake that included a Danish flag and a very cute seal + a sign saying "Don't Kill Me".

Step 1: Making the cake toppers

The Danish Flag

The naked seal on an iceberg

The little seal all dressed.
He's all edible except for his whiskers which are made out of wire used to make sugarpaste flower sprays.

With his 'Don't Kill Me' sign - Does he look mopey enough?

Step 2: Putting it all together

I made a yellow butter cake and froze it to facilitate carving.
Cut the cake to size and cover in buttercream
Place flag cake topper carefully

Pipe the borders using a star tip

Place the seal topper on top

Save the seals!

Arsenal T-Shirt Cake Topper

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A cake topper made out of fondant for Izzy's boyrfriend's birthday. I didn't make the cake for it to go on, though. Everything is made out of fondant except the word 'Majesty' which was painted on with food colouring.