Push the little daisies

This was one of the first wedding cakes I had the pleasure of cakeing this wedding season. What a nice opener - strong bold purple on white. Purple seems to be the colour of the season, in various hues. (More purple-themed wedding cakes to come!). The decision to be made here was whether to let the butterflies stand out or the mini daisies. In the end the daisies won out as the butterflies take the cake top anyway. Nothing flat about this cake, everything pops out!

Bunny for your thoughts

My friend requested a bunny for her cake. Trying to avoid it looking like a kid's birthday cake (I did consider a giant bunny or a 2D bunny face) since it was a 30th, I kept the bunny small but still centre stage. I never usually use more than 3 colours in combination (unless it's a realistic cake) but I loved the various shades of purple here with red and neutral white. I wanted them to make the statement keeping the rest of the cake muted. Tiny flowers and bows added a soft touch especially the flower in the paws of our cute lil bunny.

Self-raising flower

I've always loved baby pink, mint green and latte brown together. This was a love job for a 60th birthday. Simple flowers make a statement when placed strategically and not overdone. I much like the pop-out look of the mini daisies scattered diagonally around the middle of the cake. A few little details in royal icing piping and voila! One birthday cake to go.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I haven't been uploading many cupcakes lately but they're definitely still gracing my countertop. This is one of our favourite Sesame Streeters with his favourite snack. Didn't have to think of how to fashion cookies out of fondant... I just used actual (mini) cookies! Cookiieeeeeee.....

Bakin' a Birkin

I thought it was about time I uploaded another handbag cake. This is an Hermes Birkin bag, supposedly one of the most sought-after bags according to SATC! Instead of making a giant bag to feed everyone at our relaxing lunch party, I decided to keep it small and complement it with a dainty lil cake on the side in matching colours, using the buckle from the bag itself as an embellishment. This way we could tuck into the lil cake and let the birthday girl take home her Birkin. Each girl there also got to take home their own little LITTLE Birkin (top right) - I just couldn't resist!

A tall storey - five storeys of cake!

My first 5-tier wedding cake, constructed with columns no less! Deep red always looks striking on white - an incredibly romantic colour scheme that will always be in vogue.

Thanks Joanne for lending an extra pair of capable hands on the day, rolling fondant and setting up!

Wheel you carry me?

Vroooom! Still love cakeing the big boys' toys! With all the details a Harley has, the challenge was in deciding how many to include to make it realistic without overcrowding the cake. Feel like you could ride this bike? Well you'd have to be a tiny 2" cake figurine but I hope the answer was a 'yes', even if just in good spirit!

Tiffany boxed up

I've lost count of the number of Tiffany boxes I've caked so recently for a Tiffany-lovin' girl I decided to put a little twist on the design with a mini Tiffany box inside the larger gift box - all cake. And because who wouldn't want their own piece of Tiffany, separate mini Tiffany cakes for the guests, each packaged individually in tiny pail boxes. Cake for everyone and some for the birthday girl to take home! (However I was later told that she couldn't bring herself to cut up the cake hence didn't 'open' the cake to find the lil Tiffany inside till a few days later!)

Hats off to the chef!

A small thank you to the chef who single-handedly cooked for my entire birthday party. I love occasions that allow me to show some gratitude to the people who have done me kind favours through the years. Also lets me show them what I think of them. When I see this birthday boy I will always see 'chef''! By the way, this was a tiny hat and I thought I could get away without dowels but note to self, aaalways use dowels. Especially with a soft (yet oh-so-delicious) flavour like white mud.

Hues of engagement

Two friends of mine - a lovely couple - got engaged recently and ordered a cake but gave me no direction on design *yay* my lucky day! Like any cake decorator who dreams up more designs than she can cake, I turned to my scrapbook (powerpoint) of cake pictures I've admired over the years and immediately a yellow, black and white cake caught my eye - three colours I would never have used together before but I loved the b&w of it with just a tinge of yellow to bring it to life. Moreover it matched the elegant b&w invitation - the only hint of the party theme I had to go on. The third layer was hand-painted - a technique I've taken a liking to especially with the finished product looking a little like it's been printed on and a sunny yellow flower topped it off, taking the hard edge off the b&w and straight lines.

Hats off for a kitchen tea

Boy did I jump on this one with spatulas ready to fire! It was an understatement to say I was more than a little excited by the proposed cowgirl theme. We looked at various incarnations of the cowgirl hat on a cake and the customer who ordered this eventually went for a bold statement - the whole hat being a cake itself, atop a cowprint base, to feed up to 80 people. In shaping the hat, I realised the contours of the hat needed to be well-defined and in the correct places to look realistic, so I paid special attention to that. The customer requested the upturned sides. The little flowers I thought added a soft feminine touch. After all, don't we always imagine cows in the meadows surrounded by daisies? Maybe that's just me...

Olive to have another martini

This 30th birthday was a classy martini affair. The cake was designed to closely tie in with the theme, a mosaic collection of squares and lil mirror tiles in black, white and silver. An extremely detailed concept on the birthday girl's part and a fun challenge for me to extend her ideas into cake!

Mauve and lavender

Inspired by a cake I saw on an episode of Ace of Cakes, I chose this lovely soft colour scheme for a sweet birthday gal who always has a smile on her face. I tried to keep everything understated and simple but when allowed free rein, my problem is knowing when to stop. I couldn't resist adding the lil bows, butterfly and tiny flower. I think little details are the icing on the cake if they don't overpower it!

A shoe-in for the job

The ultimate cake for me - er, for my shopping/shoe/SATC-loving twin, here to visit me in Oz for the first time. In a no-contest, she HAD to have a Manolo, the closest either of us have ever been to one! Needless to say, the research for this was pure fun.

Honey I blew up the doll

There's a range of Kimmidoll accessories out right now which are just too cute to behold. They are all miniature sized collectible figurines. Usually when I cake something, I'm making it small. This time, I blew it up about 20 times its usual size. It was quite funny to see my Mum's reaction when she saw this cake when you're usually used to seeing them tiny, but not so funny when we chopped it up head first. :(

Kick it to me!

They asked for a life-size rugby ball... this turned out to be a little larger after it got the fondant treatment! A challenge first in covering the entire ball, even underneath, in fondant - a true 3D experience. Another challenge in making it stand. If footballers played with a ball this heavy, they'd never make it to either goal!

Have her dress and eat it too

Another princess cake, this time modelled on Cinderella. Which little girl didn't want to have her flashing pink-and-blue dress in the very last dancing scene! What a lucky girl, Cinderella didn't have to make a choice that could've taken her hours, but fondant is not that magical - yet. :)

One slice to share nice

I was given a 'slice' of cake for my birthday one year (by my cousin the pro cake decorator!) and I loved it... the look, the design, and the enormous size of my one slice of cake!! I decided to re-create it for a special gal who turned 25 last year. However with the number of friends she has, one slice is not enough! So the bottom layer is for her to share :)

Oh my mod!

I loved cakeing this! The Vespa was the must-have; we created a mod theme around it. I loved the simplicity and the statement it made. I've seen so many cool mod designs in fashion, stationery, furniture, etc, but never had to cake one so I relished the chance! It is the spot on the target (mod for 'icing on the cake'?) that the birthday boy got a nice surprise when he saw it!

Roses are red, cupcakes match too

An elegant affair for a 30th anniversary. This is the largest cake I've created to date. Every layer is double the height and supported by columns. As you might guess, this sort of cake needs to be assembled at the venue! Matching cupcakes made up the placecards.