Red is Love (Kloé-cake's 10th month celebration)

 Is it Valentine's Day yet? 

 Well, it doesn't matter what day of the year it is...

These red velvet cupcakes say "love, love, love"!

As you may all have read from our previous posts,

on the last weekend of every month (the weekend closest to the 29th) 

we bake for the local hospice as our way of giving thanks

and celebrating the month that has passed in our princess' life.

We have enjoyed this since the beginning and the joy that we get out of it

is far more than what we put in.

 

Thank you for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!

 

Kloé-cake is 10 months old (Pink & Blue Owl Cake)!

Along with little cousin Nathan's 3rd birthday, 

we also celebrated our Kloé-cake's 10th month.

We wanted her Tito Nathan to be able to bring his Chugginton cake to preschool

to share with his friends and teachers, so we decided to bake a mini-cake

for our princess too, so we can have something to enjoy with coffee.

 

 The chocolate owl topper we made a few weeks ago was perfect for it, don't you think?

Here is our little princess on her 10th month birthday...

helping her to blow the candle are Tito Nathan & Amang Lakay:

 Thank you for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!

Nathan's Chuggington 3rd Birthday Cake

Our dashing little cousin Nathan has just turned 3!

How the time flies by, it wasn't long ago when we created our very first cake-scape -

a Winnie the Pooh - inspired ensemble for his first birthday party.

Nathan is very much interested in anything to do with transportation.

And the Chuggington series definitely tops the chart.

Because he is 3, we made 3 sculptured toppers of his 

3 favourite characters from the series:

Wilson (red and yellow gold), Brewster (Blue and lemon yellow), 

and Koko (green and purple)

And here is Nathan, looking as adorable as ever next to his Chuggington cake:

And for a last look...

We love you, Nathan! 

Thank you for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey.

Wooooo-hooooo! Modeling Chocolate - our first try.

It's been a long time coming...

And now, we finally got to dabble into the world of modeling chocolate.

Last Sunday, we happened to stumble upon a free demonstration class

on how to work with modeling chocolate. Sweet!

We then came home in a state of "wonder-if-we-could-do-it-too".

There was only one way to find out - TRY.

So, here is our very first modeling chocolate creation:

Jane named her 'Kloé'...

just like our very own little night owl. ;D

 Modeling chocolate has it's pros and cons compared to our usual medium (fondant)...

The down side is that it's so pliable, it's eternally 'fixable' and never firms up. 

So if you're a bit clumsy, whooooops! And you can't have warm sticky hands. 

Ohhhhh, but it is certainly much more scrumptious than fondant - by a mile!

While Jane is preoccupied with her newly purchased tub of specialty

gum paste,  Joy is now hooked on modeling chocolate! So, watch this space.

Thank you for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!

Kloé-cakes is 9 months old!

Fresh from her Hong Kong trip, our little princess is slowly settling back

into the cold and grey Auckland winter.

On Saturday, she turned 9 months old. Gosh, time is going too fast!

 Kloé, you have taught us so much in the short time you have been with us,

thank you for filling our home with laughter and warmth.

We look forward to seeing you grow in grace and strength.

We love you all the way around the world!

 Yesterday, after baking and icing 39 banana-caramel mini-cupcakes

(for 39 amazing weeks of her young and blessed life),

Kloé came with us to the hospice place to deliver them 

to the patients, families, and volunteers there.

Then off to the local mall to check out a cake competition exhibit

by some of the big-wigs in our little part of the world - North Shore City:

 

The cake below is not our cup'atea, but it's worth noting that it's apparently

entirely edible and made up mostly of chocolate:

 

This one below is simply elegant! Easily our favourite for being so chic 

and and 'un-literal' interpretation of 'haute couture':

 

We finished the day off with coffee at our new favourite spot: Takapuna Beach Café.

Always a great soy decaf latté! 

 

 Thank you all for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!

Chris' 40th Birthday Chocolate Cake

We are grateful for this family's support of our cake adventures. 

So far, we have made a cake for Chris' dad Keith, wife Paula, and daughter Ella. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 Here are photos of Chris' 2-tier chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate panels:

 

And make no mistake, those chocolate flakes strewn all over the top of the tiers?

No pre-flaked packets here... They were hand-carved with a potato-peeler. Hahah!

 All boxed up and ready for pick-up (even our boxes are custom-made by hand):

Feedback:

"The cake was very yummy thank you. The colour was perfect. 

The Chief from the catering company was asking where I got it made." 

Thank you, Chris, for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!

Barbie Haute Couture

Joy has recently come back from a short pre-birthday break in Hong Kong.

The little princess, of course, went along too. 

We thank God that Kloé-cake has coped 

with her first ever long-haul/overseas trip exceptionally well!

While there, Joy had the privilege to work with the wonderful Lady D

of Kwun Tong, HK on one of her projects... Here is the end result:

 But of course, there is more to it than the picture-perfect result.

When Lady D was telling Joy about her plan/concept for the design,

Joy didn't really get the picture, all she knew was that it was going to look awesome!

This was her inspiration by Joseph Massie Creative:

 Here is Lady D herself, working fastidiously on the Barbie cake:

   Lady D is a bowl-full of inspiration! She is a loving wife, and mum to a witty boy.

For a 'grown-up job', she enjoys being a flight purser for Cathay Pacific.

In between flights though, she really is just like us - 

a big kid lost in the wonderfully enchanting world of cake styling.

 Check this out - we needed some rhinestones to accentuate 

the neckline on Barbie's bodice,

so Lady D did the only thing that made sense - sacrifice her own top!

But wait, there's more... If you think this cake was baked in a dolly vardem,

well, you've thunk wrong ;D Lady D moulded it by hand!

This is her very obliging 'instant sous chef', Carmella, 

who learned to make perfect fondant rosettes in a flick:

Barbie's full skirt took up hundreds of these flowers shaped into frills/ruffles.

It almost felt like a losing battle.

Joy arrived at their place at 9pm, Carmella went to bed at 2am.

Joy took a nap at 3am. At 6am, when both Carmella and Joy re-joined

the work-table, Lady D was still going - no break whatsoever,

straight through the night and up to 11:00am the next day.

Talk about dedication!

In Joy's mind at the time: "I know this drive very well, 

sure, it's just a cake... but oh, the adrenaline rush! It was well worth it.

To work alongside someone who speaks the same language - 

of fondants, and frills, of frustration and then freedom... Bliss!

We take no credit for the amazing creativity and skill

as you've seen in the images above. We are grateful indeed to have shared

a journey with another kindred spirit.

More power to you, Lady D!

Thank you, for joining us in this sugary-sweet journey!