My 100th blog post :)

Time to celebrate my 100th blog post!

As I write this, part of my house is being repainted, 

with the aim of creating a more conducive idea inspiring environment.

The 100th blog post...need to make it a good one.

This cake is done for a wedding planner sometime late last year...instruction given was champagne, cream and white showing tone effects.

Here's a look at some behind the scene cake work. 

Doing the pleats. 

Rectangular cut-outs and folds of the same size...assembled to form pleats. 

Second tier, flower cut-outs and royal icing piping at boarders and lines to make lace effect.

More pleats at the top tier.

Assembling the flowers, calla lilies and sweetpeas. 

Sweetpeas to provide some ruffles to straight lined calla lilies.

Just playing with the lines of flowers...abstract art using flowers,

another idea I want to grow for my designs.

Green and Red Wedding

A green and red wedding theme at Indulgence, Ipoh.

The cake...a ruffled design by Cotton & Crumbs in the Wedding Cakes A Design Source (Issue 44),

in supposedly ombre green, with some red, in the form of butterflies.

Each guest gets either a red or green apple,

and a clothes peg, hand-made personally by the bride.

A closer look at them. 

One in Western bride and groom costume,

the other in the traditional Chinese wedding costume.

Creative!

Simple dining room set-up.

A Ferrero Roche tower made by the bride and friends.

A sweets and fruits display table at the reception, also by bride and friends.

Red and green eggs, unique!

A closer look at the cake...ordered by bride's aunt and mom.

The insides of the cake,

some green (pandan flavour) in it too.

My first wedding cake for 2013.

The Steveson Wedding • September 16, 2012

My daughter Erica got married. This cake was inspired by Erica's love of glitz. Each tier had a different design; rosettes, ruffle  nd smooth, which gave the cake an edgy-chic element. The touch of glitter gave the cake an enchanting glow that changed with the light of the day... It's was spectacular. It was a yellow butter & chocolate cake, with a whipped creme filling. This cake is yet another one of my favorites... for obvious reasons :) Cheers!

An All White Wedding Cupcake Tower

The wedding cupcake tower for

Shiau Ferng and Jone Thau 

at Royal Perak Golf Club, 17th Nov 2012 .

My first video (created on YouTube) of a wedding set-up, 

full photography credits to my friend Celia Chai.

As I see it, photography is somehow like making cakes too.

First, you must have the equipments and tools,

then you need the skills (know-how),

lastly, you need "the eye".

Watch the video and see the set-up of the wedding through Celia's eyes.

My cake pictures are so much better than any I have taken before.

Thank you, Celia!  

What I did in 2012

Happy New Year 2103!

I'm late in wishing, as they say, better late than never!

My wish for my blog this year is the same as last year...to ensure regular and quality postings every month, so simple and yet so difficult...the simplest things are the most difficult, unappreciated too, because they can't easily be seen...but can only be felt. Here's to more "HEART" in 2013.

2102 has been good to me.

I get to design and implement my cupcake syllabus.

Thanks to Wah Seng, the local retailer and authorized centre for Wilton, the venue where I conduct my classes.

Sharing some photos of students in Cupcake Class Level 1.1.

This syllabus is designed for beginners, from the baking of cupcakes to decorating using buttercream.

Simple piping techniques like swirls, rosettes and identifying tips and their functions.

This is for Level 2 which uses fondant as the decorating medium. 

Level 2.1 shows the using of cutters to create 2D designs

Level 2.2 extends to 3D items which explains the usage of gum tragacanth or CMC (a man-made substitute).

I will be working to further expand my cupcake syllabus this year, that is why they are simply called by their levels, which a theme, or any cupcake theme depending on season can be adapted according  to the syllabus in the levels.

Wishing one and all a progressive and productive 2013! 

Wilton Course 4: Advance Gum Paste Flowers

A review of what is taught in the syllabus of 

Wilton Course 4, the Advance Gum Paste Flowers.

Six types of flowers: 

left top to bottom; Gerbera Daisy, Blossom, Briar Rose

right top to bottom; Stephanotis, Sweet Pea, Stargazer Lily.

The Course Kit and the Course Book.

What you will find in the course kit,

cutters, impression mat, florist wires, stamens, florist tape

and shaping foams. 

Blossoms and Briar Rose

Gerbera Daisy

Sweet Peas

Stephanotis and Stargazer Lily

Arranging them on a log made of chocolate fondant.

A Five Tier Wedding Cake

 A five tier wedding cake...all real cake!

For the wedding of Liyana and Hafis in Jubilee Ballroom

at Royal Perak Golf Club.

A pale pink cake with white laces and a big black ribbon.

That's the theme of this wedding.

Cakes all baked and fondant covered.

The heights are not all uniformed, they are adjusted to suit the design.

So one needs to know the portion of cake recipe for each size of baking pan and adjust accordingly to effectively use oven space and baking time.

Hope I'm not confusing you with all the baking technicalities. 

This is going to be one tall cake, therefore it has the normal dowelling on the bottom tiers as well as a straight one going through the middle. 

The black tier is a dummy covered with black wrapping paper. 

Both the cakes sandwiching this black dummy are of the same diameter, the 8 inch.

Lace effect from Patchwork Cutters tool.

A quick and easy topper, the calla lilies.

Did them in just one hour as I had trouble with the ribbon.

Overall look. 

That's the ribbon that took me 3 hours, partly due to it's weight and the placement, suspended in the middle of the cake. Must make a note to roll thinner to lighten it. 

A flower arrangement on the main dining table.

With the black ribbon, off course.

Love the black and white words.

A good wedding favor idea, marshmallows in cupcake cups. 

Thanks to Faizal, the wedding planner, and our first collaboration.

1st Sept, 2012.