Potluck dinner & birthday boy

This weekend is a particularly busy one, as we're hosting a potluck dinner, which coincides with A's birthday. I wanted to bake him an x-box cake, since he's been wanting one, but the real thing is so costly, so I'd rather give him an artificial one.. ^^, and as if keeping it from him for a few days while I was at it wasn't tough enough, I had to work around Rafael's sleeping times (which, during the day, consist of a few short naps at best), But at the end, thankfully everything worked out well enough. I even got to choose a perfect hiding place for it. (the oven, obviously! hahaha)

The dinner itself was enjoyable. There were 11 of us gathering on our dining table, and since neither A and myself didn't have time to take out another table from the store room, everyone squeezed into this 6-8 seater table; though that didn't affect the appetite, it's winter after all so we were ravenous!

We had lots of food, and everyone's cooking were so yummy, I had trouble choosing what to try first :P. We had home made loh bak (our friend's family secret recipe, nice!!), stir fried seafood, crispy chicken wings, fish maw soup, szechuan soup (hot&sour), shiu mai, an attractive veggie dish, and a steamed pork dish. holey-canoley, we can barely fit the rice bowl in the middle of the table! I'll have to update the food photo later though...

When we came to the end of the dinner, I took out the cake for everyone to enjoy. (and accidentally broke the figurine's arm.. -_-...) Everyone sang a loud happy birthday and A cut the cake before he blew the candle! hahaha, I guess the birthday wish wasn't as effective then! I was glad A was surprised and everyone helped themselves to seconds and thirds. (really can't go wrong with chocolate cake! This was Milo chocolate cake - served with a little vanilla butter cream) At the end of the night, we had only three pieces left; great stuff! I was afraid there'll be lots of leftover...

the knife's inching to get to A,, creepy!!

Well, suffice to say that we went to sleep a fitful sleep with full stomach that night.. Thanks everyone for a great night!

Mermaid & Seascape FREE Cake give-away

After the princess doll cake, I felt like decorating some more dolls, they are so versatile! So, I planned to give this mermaid version away for another little girl's first birthday. It was another fun project, but all cake decorating are usually fun projects, unless you get weird orders, that is.

Unfortunately, the girl's parents have got something planned for the event, and so the mermaid is now up for grabs.. really! At the moment I'm not aware of any other little girl's birthday, and rather than wasting it away, I'd love to give it to anyone who wants it. 

Here's what's included:  

1x 8" (20cm) round dummy/artificial cake with mermaid figurine as centerpiece, and it comes with 16 mini lemon cupcakes, decorated in similar theme. They come in two separate boxes. Below I've included the centrepiece picture (without the cupcakes) 

the octopus is offering a pearl to her...

Here's more details:

For those with genuine interest only, please email me: deemonic@gmail.com or text me on 0421 346 777 in advance, as the cupcakes will only be made then; I'll be more than happy to oblige. (If you want me to send you the pics in more details, let me know too)

Please note that since there's only 1 cake offered, whoever emails/texts me first will get it, and also, I won't be available after 18 December 2010 til' the end of the year 2010, so this offer stands to last for about 2 weeks only! 

We can arrange to meet up for you to pick up the cake. I'm based in South of the River, Perth, W.A. Once again, this cake is completely FREE of charge, you just need to pick it up, that's all...  Hope this mermaid finds its new home soon!!

A Holstein cow

This week was a busy one.. and at the end of it we're invited for a friend's son's birthday. I've been told by many of these married friends with kids that they're attending up to 7 kids' parties in a week! imagine all those cakes & cupcakes you'll be eating in a week!! :) Oh well, we haven't even gotten kids just yet, but we're invited to a few of them, and I think they're great fun (unless you're the one hosting it.. hee hee.. then it'll probably a bit chaotic instead)

Well, the parents of this little boy were making a cake for him, but I just added some cupcakes to it, and the cow-themed cake as well, because I couldn't resist the cute cow theme they're having for the birthday boy!! Underneath the sugarpaste is a moist & finger-lickin' good chocolate cake that tastes like mudcake.. though not as rich... and the doll? I modelled it after my cow doll, "Moo".

Going to the ball

My husband's niece is turning one today! She is such a bubbly character and always full of smile, it's adorable..
Getting back into decorating cakes has its perks.. one of them is the fact that we get to eat the left-overs ^_~, usually I make a bit more than required so we always end up with some extra bits & pieces.. repeat this for a few times and you can easily gain a couple of kilos, so there you have it.. :P

Something simple and girly, without so much pinks, but purple instead, I opted for the Barbie princess option. Also, I had fun deciding what dress she gets to wear. Underneath the ball dress, we've got lemon & poppyseed cake, very light in texture and a little crumbly, perfect for those cholesterol conscious adults (less eggs!).. but the cake still holds pretty well for sculpting.

Be-ribboned tea cakes

I have been away from the kitchen way too long now.. It's been months since I last decorated a cake, and I'm getting rusty at it ~_~... Well, anyway, this one is for an 18 yr-old girl's birthday. Cupcakes are indeed cute and fun to decorate, and with these ones, I was having a ball painting 'em! Underneath the white caps of icing lie soft & fluffy vanilla cakes, topped with lemon-y sugar syrup.

Baby cakes

So here's baby # 1

I'm dead tired! Last night I was touching up these baby cakes & I wanted them to look as perfect as they could be, especially because they are for my nieces' first birthday souvenirs... edible souvenir is better, right? :)

My dear sis requested the richest chocolate mudcake for the base, and I couldn't remember just how much chocolate I ended up using. All I know is that they're a nightmare for people on a diet...

Anyways, since my nieces are identical twins, I wanted to have two different looks for the baby figurine. I'm glad that this was a small order, otherwise I'll be burning the midnight oil for the next day as well ^_^

Packing these small things sure was a finicky job! Luckily she sent someone to pick it up in the morning, I'd probably have a nervous breakdown if I still have to deliver it (3 hours on the road... give or take the traffic jams!!)

... and baby # 2

Finally I can catch up on a much needed beauty sleep now!!

Roses

Roses are always a popular choice for weddings... I rarely see one wedding where roses aren't present. This bride obviously loves the red ones and want them on her wedding cake.. And she asked for her dress details to be piped on it too.. it was a pretty dress with dainty details.. :) I love it when brides know what they want and be specific about it! Congrats to you both!

Come to think of it, just for fun, let's look up the meaning of different coloured roses..

Red - love & respect; passion
Pink - grace & gentility
Yellow - Jealousy (this was the meaning during the Victorian era); friendship, joy
White - purity, confession
Lavender - enchantment; majestic
Orange - passionate desire; enthusiasm
Blue - impossible; unattainable
Black (very dark red) - new beginnings; rebirth  


Now I know why people don't ask for blue roses in their cakes ^_~ they wouldn't do too well for wedding cakes, huh?

Blocks of colours

Turning one today! I just love making cakes for kids, they're never boring like the adults' ones. Sometimes I feel cakes get too sophisticated they lose its quirky/cute edge.. Well, anyway, for this birthday boy, our friend wants chocolate mud cake. It's a good base cake & very easy to work with as it rarely crumbles.

Sunny yellow in colour, tall #1 figurine with candle insert, colourful building blocks all around it and a couple of bears, tiny rabbits peeking out from the grasses & mother duck with her little ones feeding on.. the cake? ;) Happy b'day Richard!

A basket of flowers for mum

The cute, country look of basket-weave never really goes out of date.. Especially for Mother's day/ birthday. I don't know why, but there's something classic and appealing about it that suits mothers/ grandmothers in general. This cake is simple yet cheerful.. ^_^ it's made up of White chocolate mudcake covered in vanilla buttercream. 

Normally I don't eat that much of white chocolate, I like milk/ dark chocolate better, but I  like this white choc mudcake, I can eat lots of it 'cos it's light and moist.. yum!