Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to all the hardworking Mommies out there!

Layers of almond Dacquoise and chocolate cake alternating with caramel Sabayon (an egg yolk based mousse). In other words, the best cake to let Mom know she's the best thing ever. 

 

I baked the additional Dacquoise into little rainbow pin wheels with whipped white chocolate ganache in the middle. It is absolute crunchy deliciousness. 

GOD BLESS!

She is more precious than rubies. Proverbs 3:15

Remembering a very special day from a year ago with an abundance of gratitude and prayers. Our daughter Sarah received her First Holy Communion a year ago and I got to design and make this very special cake for her. A cake filled and frosted with all our LOVE !

 

Here is an up-close photo captured by our talented friend Jecco Jose Irimpan, thank you !

 

 

Spring !

When spring blooms all around you, there is no dearth of ideas to decorate a very special Birthday cake ! Enjoy the season !

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forever Young!

For a gorgeous friend's 50th birthday. Her love of red and unfading beauty inspired this poppy cake.

 

You look brand new
Half a Century looks good on you
You're oozing flair, you're so debonaire
With your 50 years of savoir-faire
© Andrea Carter

Erupt with Joy!

My little monkey turned 5 some months back!
And like most little boys his age, he's a huge fan of dinosaurs and volcanoes.

The most fun part about this cake is the smoke coming out of the volcano made using dry ice and warm water. The volcano is carved out of a 6" cake and rice krispy treats with a plastic cup at the top to hold the dry ice.

It was a lot of fun to watch the smoke waft down. you can have a lots of fun with the remaining dry ice at home. THere are a lot of crazy experiments you can do with it, but remember to ventilate your room. It is CO2 after all.

One!

A #1 cake I made a while back for a little boy's First Birthday.

This was my first time making a shaped cake in all buttercream and I mistakenly assumed it would be a breeze. Boy, was I wrong. Sharp corners are the toughest things to get right on a cake and this one had sooooo many. But it came together in the end.

 

Stripe It Up!

Last post of 2016! A striped birthday cake I made sometime back for a dear friend's daughter.

I LOVE stripes. On anything. And I have been wanting to try a striped cake but couldn't trust myself to pipe so many straight lines. Well, lets be honest, I couldn't pipe even one straight line. Until I discovered buttercream texture combs.

The combs are quite simple to use. Slather on your base color like you would when you frost a buttercream cake, run the comb of your choice around the cake just like you would a bench scraper. Chill the cake between passes and once the grooves are just like you like it, chill it for at least an hour. Now take your contrasting color and slather it on. Make sure all the grooves are well filled with your contrast color. Then scrape off the excess with a bench scraper. That's it! And the result is so extraordinary!

Go give it a try and let me know how it turned out.
And wish you all a Happy New Year!

Wafer Paper Flowers

I have always been a big fan of the paper flower trend and when I saw the trend follow into cakes, I was thrilled. I have been waiting to try my hand at making wafer flowers and what better reason does one need than a dear friend's 50th birthday.

It was a learning experience. I learnt that when it comes to wafer paper, water is your friend. And your Enemy. In the right amounts it is the perfect and very permanent glue, but a little too much and the wafer will dissolve in seconds. So make a few spares. Piping gel is a very good alternative to water, especially if you want some wiggle room to re-seat your petals.

And I learnt a lot about what type of colors work and what don't and most importantly that I need to buy an airbrush! I'm thinking of making a tutorial on how I made these flowers and if you are interested, leave a comment below. If there's a lot of interest I'll try and get it done over my Christmas break. Have a nice day!

PS: Oh and for those of you who haven't found your roots when it comes to fondant, try Liz Marek Fondant (LMF). It makes covering cakes so much easier. With this cake I was running late and decided to use the Wilton fondant and I regretted it. I had to actually peel the whole thing off. I had to make LMF on the spot and the best part, I could use immediately! Give it a try and I promise you won't regret it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

A very Happy Birthday to our art loving girl! The cake design is a  nod to our shared love for Monet series on Water lilies. I spotted my first one on a page of a Reader’s digest magazine when I was about her age, she found her first stuck to an art board at school. The love was instant, and it will last, we all know that :)
 

A Buttercream Watercolor Cake!

 Another buttercream floral cake that I made for a dear friend's baby shower.

I loved the water color effect on the sides of the cake. It was so fun to do. And there was a little sleeping princess in the buttercream garden.

And some matching cupcakes to go with the cake.