Let It Snow...flakes!

I finally got to make my cookie donation for work's United Way bake sale this past week: snowflake gingerbread cookies. I'm glad they sold out, as well as most of the other baked goodies; more money for the charity!

My other set of snowflake cookies were for a colleague's university alumni event. She wanted half the order gingerbread, the other half sugar. They were so cute and enjoyed by all!

My last snowflake item was for little girl's party. Blue and white cake pops with snowflakes; sounded like a simple order at the time. I had problems with the quins because they didn't want to stick onto the chocolate (too much chocolate coating resulted in the quins drowning; too little chocolate dried up quickly and the quins wouldn't stay on). The snowflake quins were also a bigger sprinkle, so it made it harder to work with. If I had more time, I would've attached each quin individually onto the pop.

Blue pop: chocolate cake; white pop: vanilla cake; both pops have Swiss meringue buttercream mixed in the cake, then dipped in white/coloured chocolate and snowflake quins

Christmas is less than one month away! Let all the bake-a-thons begin! :)

Something Blue Manolo Blahnik Shoe!

This was my first completed shoe ever... fortunately, it only took me the second try to get it right! Researching online, I encountered someone who made as many as nine attempts before she was satisfied. I do not have that sort of patience.

So, my colleague turned 24 and wanted me to create a shoebox cake (she's shoe-crazy). She decided to challenge me to make Carrie Bradshaw's satin "Something Blue" stiletto from the first "Sex and the City" movie. And challenging, it was! If the shoe was a sandal, instead of a closed-toe full pump, it would've been a breeze.

For structural purposes, it had to be made out of gumpaste, with a bamboo skewer in the heel. The blue parts were brushed with pearl lustre dust to give it a satiny look. The blue shell and the beige lining were on top of each other so that it would match up when it was cut. I cut a rectangular opening in the insole, then wrote the label onto a frosting sheet to appear under the opening (because my research showed the label in inset in the insole instead of on top of it). Finally, all the edges were finished with stitching marks, including around the label.

The shoebox is made up of three layers of chocolate cake filled with ganache, iced with ganache, then topped with marshmallow fondant. The real shoebox is just plain white, so I wanted to give it some flair with some contrasting striping, which was also brushed with some lustre dust.

I truly enjoyed the process of making this shoe (not the first attempt, though) and the results. I could not find a template for closed-toe pump, so it was only by trial and error that I was able to form the shape. At least I know now to use a sole pattern that is slimmer in width to achieve a slender toe box.

Bring on the next shoe order!

Happy Birthday, Vasiola!

Buttercream Galore!

19 years is a long time... it may feel even longer, if you're talking about marriage. Well, my colleague's wedding anniversary was this past week, and she specifically requested for it to be a heart-shaped vanilla and chocolate cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream icing. Other than that, it was up to me to do whatever design I wanted. My intention was to colour the icing orange, but it turned out peach instead (because the buttercream was originally a pale yellow due to the butter).

I decided to make buttercream roses. I haven't done that since my first Wilton class, so I was kind of rusty and this was my first time creating flowers with real buttercream (Wilton's class buttercream is made up of icing sugar and shortening - also known as "American buttercream.") It was very melty because of the butter, so I had to work quickly. After a few tries, they managed to resemble roses. The goal was to put 19 roses on the cake, but they didn't all fit within the heart. I was told that everyone enjoyed the cake with the not-too-sweet icing.

Happy 19th Anniversary!

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The movie "Sixteen Candles" was the theme of this birthday cake, for a teen turning 16. She loves all movies of the 80s (for now) so I surrounded the cake in pink ruffles and rosettes. Did I mention the cake was six inches wide and six inches high? Yes, you heard right... due to the three cake layers. The cake box lid had to be propped open.

The cakes were chocolate with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream filling. I dressed up the border with sugar pearls and made chocolate transfers for the text. I hope she'll be happy with my cake rendition of a frilly pink party dress.

Happy Birthday, Celeste!

Something Old, Something New...

Yes, it's been a while since my previous post... made even longer because Blogger did not want to upload my images (WARNING: this will be a long update)... I was busy with my latest order, which is now complete!  So, here were my projects over the past few weeks:

 Maple Leaf Gingerbread Cookies

Fall Gingerbread Cookie

These not-too-spicy cookies were made from my standard recipe which produce soft and chewy results. My boys love them (especially Owen).

My intention was to donate two dozen cookies for a United Way bake sale at work. Unfortunately, the event was postponed and there was no way that the cookies would still be fresh a month later. So, I gave them all away to my colleagues, but I didn't have enough. I had to bring the extra circle cookies I made for the people I missed in my department. Hence, two different designs.

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Piano Keys Birthday Cake

A colleague's husband's birthday was coming up, and I was asked to make a cake in the shape of piano keys. Keeping in mind that she commutes by transit, I made it 4"x12" to fit inside a 12" square cake box. The keys were white fondant/gumpaste mix and black chocolate fondant/gumpaste mix, and the moist chocolate cake was surrounded by chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.

Happy Birthday, Mr Pianist!

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Louise & Ken's Wedding Cakes and Cupcakes

My good friend got engaged two years ago, and at the time, we were working at the same office. She asked me to make her wedding cake, and of course, I didn't refuse! She wanted 50 cupcakes and a small bride's cake. In addition, she wanted to surprise her husband-to-be with a Batman-themed groom's cake and 50 cupcakes. All the cakes were red velvet with cream cheese icing.

I was also invited as a guest, so it made delivery of the cakes pretty tricky. Her venue, Old Mill Inn, could not guarantee fridge space and would only allow me to set up at 4pm (the reception started at 6:30pm). I had to scrap my original plan, which was to drop everything off before the 2pm wedding ceremony, then return to the venue to set up. So, to ensure the cream cheese icing wouldn't get spoiled, I had my husband buy 10 bags of ice to put in the trunk to act as a fridge (and thankfully, the weather wasn't too warm).

Set-up took longer than expected, but everything was completed on time, thanks to the help of my husband (<3). Oh yeah, the boys were with the in-law's, so that was also a bonus (who wants noisy kids at a wedding?). I was disappointed with the lack of lighting at the cake table (you can barely see the bat) but I guess the room wasn't designed to spotlight certain areas.

Bride's Cakes

Groom's Cakes

All the decorations were made out of a fondant/gumpaste mix. The bride requested mini calla lilies, roses, orchids, and hydrangea's - all in white. I made these to top the cake, as well as for the cupcakes (orchid only on cake). The groom's cake consisted of chocolate fondant buildings and bat on top. The bat cupcake toppers were made up of black royal icing transferred to a fondant/gumpaste mix disk.

I made the cupcake stands and the cupcake wrappers. It wasn't the brightest idea to start the projects the night before delivery, but they turned out OK. The beautiful bride and handsome groom loved their cakes, and that's exactly the reason why I do the things I do for my clients. :)

Congrats, Louise and Ken!

Running Graduate Birthday Cake

This request is for a guy who is a runner and has also completed his Master's degree. Yay, for higher education! :)

I thought it would be great if I merged the two things... I made a dark chocolate transfer of a graduate, running, and also sporting shorts and sneakers. White chocolate was used to outline the figure and it was placed on top of a dark chocolate disk.

This was a very moist, 3-layered chocolate cake with whipped vanilla icing.

Happy Birthday Uncle Marc!

Just Because... Cookies

What do you do with leftover royal icing? Since I hate wasting food, I baked more cookies and topped it with the icing. Usually, I make more than I need for an order, because it's a pain to make another batch when you're already "in the zone."

The patterns were not inspired by anything in particular. Just random dots and linework.

The next set, I plan on bringing to the boys' daycare. The edges were rolled into red coarse sugar and I iced numbers for learning purposes. I stopped the colour-alternating at 10... because I forgot... but that's OK, because I don't think the kids will care. I hope they don't have favourite numbers, because I only made one of each up to 16!

Ooh La La, Baby!

My friend didn't know what to get a new mommy-to-be, so she decided to bring a cake. A vanilla cake with blue strawberry-flavoured Swiss meringue buttercream (blue for baby boy). My simplified version of a "diaper" cake:

Congrats, Pearl, and welcome to the club! :)

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My other project due today was for a dinner party. A Paris-themed dinner party, to be exact. So, I used some of the most obvious French icons: the flag, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe.

The flag was the easiest one. The Tower was, too, due to its smaller scale. It was the Arc that took the most time to do but it was also the most fun. I am pleased with the results and so was the client. :)