Candice's nonpareils-coated 21st birthday cake

So time really does fly! 

It wasn't so long ago (well, it feels that way) when we made Candice's 18th birthday cake:

a Pollock-inspired funky little number - a cake we truly had fun doing!

This year she has asked us to make another cake, she's 21! 

We must say, it's one of our most favourite cakes so far - It's beautiful! 

Just like the cake three years ago, this one still spells "vivacious, strong-willed, fun, and full of passion for life" - a few of the many traits Candice is known for... only this time this also says, "oh, wait, I'm a grown-up now."

  here's the plan:

Twenty one ombré butterflies and hundreds of nonpareils later - here is the outcome:

...and here's the birthday girl with her cake:

A very belated happy 21st, dear Candy!

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

Mharcus' Spiderman birthday cake

In August, we were asked by a friend if we could make two cakes for her sons. Mharcus is turning 6, and Mikhail is being christened. They were having a combined celebration. Fun, right?! :) This Momma bakes and decorates cakes for friends and family, too, so we were especially surprised and flattered (if that's the right word) that she would even trust us to make the cakes (she left the design & details all up to us). Thank you, Rio (and Mark!).

Mharcus wanted us to make a Spiderman-themed cake... so that's exactly what we did!

Meet Spidey --- we went for a younger version of Spiderman... closer to Mharcus' age (",)

"Do you know who I am? I am Spiderman!"

The cake at the venue:

And here's a photo of the beautiful family:

A very belated happy 6th birthday, dear Mharcus!

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

Mikhail's christening cake

In August, we were asked by a friend if we could make two cakes for her sons - one for Mikhail's christening, the other one for Mharcus' 6th birthday. They were having a combined celebration. Fun, right?! :) This Momma bakes and decorates cakes for friends and family, too, so we were especially surprised and flattered (if that's the right word) that she would even trust us to make the cakes (she left the design & details all up to us). Thank you, Rio (and Mark!).

Now, Mikhail's christening cake is one of the sweetest cakes we've ever made. :) You'll see...

Ain't he the sweetest baby? *sigh* 

We were told on the day of the event that hydrangeas are Rio's favourite flowers, too. Win! We love that they loved this cake! :)

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

Samara's "Jake and the Neverland pirates" birthday cake

Months ago, we signed up for Operation Sugar Ltd, a NZ-wide charity that provides free custom birthday cakes and photography at the birthday celebrations of children who have life threatening illnesses and/or require frequent hospitalisation. Cakers/bakers donate cakes, photographers donate their services. If you love baking/styling cakes or are into photography, check it out, it's an awesome way to share your talent pro bono – you get to do what you love doing, while bringing a ray of happiness to a very sick child at the same time.

In July, we set to bake & decorate our first ever project (and hopefully not the last one!) for Operation Sugar – we had the honour of making Samara’s 5^th birthday cake. Samara has been battling with b-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) for more than a year now, such a strong a brave girl she is! Click here to know more about her story.

Samara loves "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", this was her birthday party theme. We must confess - we had no idea what it was initially. But, thanks to the world wide web, we got to meet Jake, Izzy, Cubby and Skully... and soon we were experts on it! 

Samara was going to dress up as Izzy during the party - so we tried to make our "Izzy" sculpture to look a bit more like Samara, than Izzy. :)

Meet Izzy... aka, Samara :)

... and the rest of the crew: Jake (centre), Cubby (on the right), and Skully, the parrot

...and a couple more photos of the whole sweet-art:

We got to meet sweet Samara when they came to pick up the cake... that was the icing on the cake for us! When she first saw it, she recognised Jake, Izzy, Cubby, and Skully immediately (a big fat WIN! for us) --- then she saw her name: SAMARA. "It's for me!" she says, and the rest is sugary-sweet history! :)

Dear Samara, it was great to meet you and your lovely Mommy and Daddy! We were so happy to hear from your Mommy that you had such great fun at your party!

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

Melodie's 5th birthday cupcake tower

We caught the cake-bug (a very pretty bug!) when our friend, Christia of Take the Cake, invited us over one day to help her finish Larissa's babyshower cake. I'm not sure if we were of much help then. Haha! Since then, we have not stopped making cakes! Thank you, Christia! ;) One of the very first cakes we made was Melodie's first birthday cake. Melodie is Larissa's daughter. Yes, the "baby" in the "babyshower".

Melodie turned 5 this year, which means we've been baking and caking for the past 5 years! :) 

Mommy, Daddy, and Melodie are now based in Melbourne but this year they decided to fly back to Auckland to celebrate her birthday! We were stoked to be making her birthday cake! Melodie & Mommy wanted a cake that incorporated all these details: red & black, a handbag, a pair of shoes, and ladybugs!

And, so, we delivered just that! :)

And the cupcake tower at the venue:

A very belated 5th birthday, Melodie! (",)

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

Shelley's leopard ombré birthday cake

Three years ago, Shelley turned 18 and we made her a ruffles & rose cake. Sweet and pretty! 

This year, for her 21st birthday, she has asked us to make an ombré cake with leopard print accents! Quite a stark contrast to the one she had for her 18th, we must say... but this cake we were digging!

It's still pretty and classy, of course! 

But it's edgy. It's clean.

And it says, "Twenty one!"

We loved making this cake! We always love doing cake designs we haven't done before!

A very late Happy 21st, Shelley! :)

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

Special Mother's Day cupcakes... a gift from us!

For Mother's Day this year, we decided to do something special for
 the mothers in our lives... well, here in New Zealand anyway 

(sending them overseas isn't very feasible!).

So we decided to do what we do best, besides cakes: 

CUPCAKES, 

especially packaged with all the love in the world! :)

As we were collating our photos for blogging, we found out that we don't have a 

photo of the cupcakes (minus the packaging). *sobs*

Fortunately one of the recipients of these cupcakes took a beautiful photo of it! 

*she saves the day!*

Thank you, Miss. Available Light Ltd. ;)

A very late happy Mother's Day to all! *LOL*

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

Love to you!

Franz & Kristin's babyshower cake

Two years ago, we had the honour of making Franz & Kristin's fun Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head wedding cake. A year and a half later, we were commissioned to make their baby shower cake! :) We especially love it when we get return customers. :) 

Thank you, Franz & Kristin for your continued support!

This is the brief for the baby shower cake they had in mind: unisex colour (green, white), a cot, and a baby. They decided to "not" know whether they were having a boy or a girl.

This is the cake we came up with:

The cake is banana mud cake with white chocolate ganache frosting.

Here's a few close-up shots:

The Baby!

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

ps. The baby is now almost 5 months old... 

a very healthy and beautiful baby girl named Azariah. :)

Joyce's Safari-themed 21st birthday

Joyce turned 21 in March. We, along with some of her church friends, decided to throw her a party right here in our (Joy's) backyard. Joyce is from Tanzania. So it was only fitting that she gets to have a Safari-themed birthday party!

Here's a photo of her invite - by Milbreé Moments, aka Jane:

And, of course, we got to make her a cupcake tower:

More photos:

 

The birthday girl:

And... the guests!

Our Princess! :)

There was so much laughter because of games like these... We won't tell you what they were doing. Just that it was a whole lot of FUN. :)

 

There you have it... Joyce's 21st!

Thank you for joining us in this Safari (but still sugary-sweet) journey!