"Island in the Stream"

This weekend, I had the privilege to make the cake for a beautiful girl who's turning 9. Her Mom emailed me that she will be having a Hawaiian party theme... Then immediately I thought of those white sandy beaches, colorful leis, seashells, and beach sandals! But, the birthday girl had something set in mind already! All she wanted was a cake with blue icings, a palm tree, and an orange hibiscus! Simple, right? No....... I decided that I have to up my game with my sugar flower techniques, wiring. So I wired every single of the palm leaves. It was not easy, I have to say. And requires A LOT of patience, which I don't have these days.. After wiring was successful, I had to WAIT..... yes, wait, for a good few hours before I can work on them again. Not too long either because they can just break, thennnnn... you have to do it all over again. Same goes with my simplified hibiscus. 

I delivered the cake to her house and just looking at the expression on her face, I knew that she loved it! That's my reward. My fatique and tiredness were all gone..., paid off by the smile on her face!

Happy 9th Birthday, Sophia!

Now cue that song again, "Islands in the stream, That is what we are, No one in-between, How can we be wrong, Sail away with me to another world, And we rely on each other, ah-ah......"

Learning Curve

The day my art teacher told us to do portrait, I was doomed. I can't draw people. I can draw building, still life, and cute creatures, but not human. The same thing goes with cake decorating, forever I have been avoiding making sugar people. I was just simply mortified of picturing the end result will be. Seriously, I don't want to ruin the birthday party because I made an awful, awful sugar people. Even until I successfully fulfilled the challenge that my dear friend, WP asked me to do (see this post), I still feed inadequate in making them. It's still a learning curve and I am getting more and more comfortable in making them.  

This cake that I made for Ariana for her baptism is on the pastel pink tones. I kept everything dainty and sweet, just like Ariana! Her Mom sent me her picture and I can't help but falling in love with her... she has these beautiful eyes and she is such an adorable little one. I was happy that the sun came out to celebrate her baptism!


Congratulations on your baptism, Ariana! 

Under the Sea

I had lots of fun making this my version of this mermaid cake for Bianca! It reminds me how beautiful the coral reef and how vibrant the under water habitat is. The beautiful blue turquoise blue water, the colorful fish and corals... I loveeee making what I always refer as "nemo" rather than the clown fish. I love painting every single one of them :) I am stil obsessed with dusting colors on my flowers, and Ruth Rickey recently just opened my eyes of layering colors would bring things to "life." What difference it made. I dusted the mermaid's "fish" part with several layers of color, and with colors that I would never think I would use and I am thrilled with the end product! Lastly, thank you to my cake buddies, Siana and Annie for keeping me company during decorating. Love you both!

Happy Birthday, Bianca!

May Flower

It has been a whirlwind of a month!  I was knee-deep in cocoa powder and flour, breathing fondant, and covered in shortening  almost on daily basis.  BUT, it was all worth it!

I love everything about this wedding cake.  The bride designed this romantic, yet modern cake for her wedding for me to make.  The challenge for me was to get the color right and making the sugar roses.  I have been so obsessed with sugar flowers.  I am so obsessed of trying to get them to be "botanically correct."  I can't believe how much work that are put into making them, from making the bud, wiring the bud, thinning the petals, and ruffling them so that they'll come "alive."  I am lucky that with this day and age, I can learn from the best through the internet.  I have to give credits to Jacqueline Butler from Petalsweet Cakes who opened my eyes and showing me proper techniques of making sugar flower.  The other one goes to Alan Dunn for showing me how exactly to place the petals in his book, and lastly to the roses that I massacred just because I want to get it right.
The cake itself presented a challenge in order to get the color exactly right.  I killed about 2 lbs of fondant just because I was not happy with the color, it didn't turn out the way I wanted to be.  But praise the Lord, all was paid off when the bride said that "the color is perfect."  Nothing can make you happier, period.
This beautiful photo was taken by the talented Julin Lee at Athalia's Photography.  I literally nagged her to show me the picture of cake as I was dying with excitement.  We did a themed-photoshoot together back in August (remember the "Enchanted Forest"?).
My dear husband and my Mom-in-law has been so amazing in helping me making this cake.  She took care of my two rambunctious boys for a couple of days while I was intensely baking the cakes.  My dear hubby who helped me loaded the kids and the cakes up in the car during delivery in the pouring rain.  And my dear friend, DH, who made sure that the cake and I were not soaking wet once I reached the site.  God Bless you all!

Congratulations to David and Olivia!

More Celebration! Celebrating My Mom

I was so honored to have been able to make my beautiful and wonderful Mom her first birthday cake!  She lives half the world away from me and during this visit, we got the chance to celebrate her birthday.

I remembered when I was little she used to make my us (my brother, myself, and some cousins) birthday cakes for our birthday.  I still have vivid memory of some of our birthday cakes that she crafted with love.  She can't believe that I remembered vividly some of the details of the cakes she made.  My Mom is truly a woman of many talents: she's a amazing cook, wonderful baker (she makes mouthwatering goodies, from breads to delicate cookies), a fabulous make-up artist, and a businesswoman.  Yet, she is very down-to-earth and humble.

I love you Mom!

(pardon some of the dents on the cake, my little boy can't wait to eat them before I was able to take a proper picture).  


 

Let's celebrate!

Lots of things to celebrate in April!  First off, nobody punk'd me during April's Fools Day.  Then came Easter and birthday celebrations and let's not forget about my obsession with Game of Thrones.

For this post, the first celebration this month is celebrating the first month of cute Baby Vanessa.  The design is based of the Mom's beautiful announcement design of the singing bird.  The color scheme is based on the soft pink with light purple accent that are used in the announcement card.
 
Thank God for my Momma who came for a visit, she helped me boxing up the cakes and the cupcakes in the wee hours, attaching the announcement card, and tying all of the ribbons.  I love you, Momma!
 
Happy One Month Old baby Vanessa!!

March Round-Up

Boy, what a month has it been!  We're so blessed that my dearest Mom came for a 2-month visit and she has been spoiling us with her amazing cooking and baking.  It's almost like she thinks that we're too skinny (which is totally not) and she starts feeding us non-stop with all of her wonderful cooking and baking.  Oh boy.  I might have to not eat for a month after she leaves.

This month, for me, is all about girls and cherry blossoms.  I long to see those beautiful cherry blossoms to bloom, but we haven't seen much due to some extended winter weather.  Hopefully we will see them soon.
I have two boys and making things pink are very much enjoyable to me!
The first cake is the pink themed angry birds cake for a sweet little girl who loves angry birds.
The second cake is for Robert's best friend, Catie.  She wanted a pink ladybug cake.
The last cake of the month is the cupcakes for a baby shower with pastel colors
(for more pictures go to our Facebook page)