Sweet Little Baby

My sister-in-law, TH, asked me if I would be able to create some cupcakes for her colleagues as announcement of her newborn. Baby AK was born earlier than her due date, at about 31 weeks, in August. She was in the Special Care Nursery, just like my little JP, for about a month. I am happy to report though, that both baby AK and my little JP are happy and healthy.

My sister-in-law is the girliest girl I've ever known, quite the opposite of me. Therefore, I just knew what to make for her! What could be better than pink and white polka dots cupcakes liners with some sweetly designs little cupcakes to announce the birth of her sweet little AK!

Expansion (and Signing Off)

Our homes just expanded by "two feet" on Saturday! It took us by surprise as we didn't expect the little one would come to this world so soon!

So, in a nutshell here's what happened....

Backpain was just driving me crazy for the past week and massage didn't really help since they can't do too much on the last stage of pregnancy. My due date is about 5 weeks away on Thursday night. My husband and I were just finished catching up on a busy day of TV premieres.. I know, we're TV freaks. RJ, our little one was up around 1-ish and refused to go back to sleep. Oh joy. He finally fell asleep at about 2:30 am and my husband moved him to his own bed. As I was watching him being moved, something felt gushing and I knew it was the water broke/leaked. Sure enough, it was a ruptured membrane.

We quickly went to the hospital and I was admitted right away. Then...., the waiting game started....

The whole Friday was a total waste, no action, we're just waiting and waiting, and waiting for some more. Good thing my dearest hubby bought me the last book of the Millenium Trilogy. That kept me occupied for a while. Late morning Saturday, closer to noon, I started to feel some cramping. I was still laughing and texting my friends at about 1 pm. I would never expect it to be that soon for the contractions to intensify.

By the time I was moved back to the labor room, I have dilated by 8cm. Doctor came on time and man was it was so quick, 5 minutes, he was out! i was in awe. that's it?! i thought.. my hubby was not even there yet! We called this little one, JP.

But the drama did not end there... Since JP was early, the placenta didn't want to pass out. We tried so many things, oxytocin on placenta, on four, and standing up and nothing... They tried and they have no other choice but to send me to the OR to get the uterus cleaned up. They had me on a total anastetic.. and when I woke up, it was all done. YAY!

Without further ado, here's my little JP, still inside the incubator in this picture, about a day old :)

A Heartfelt Letter

A while back, a co-worker (and a dear friend) of mine, S.A., requested us to make a cake with a specific topper for his friend who is going to go to an expedition, to climb Mt. Logan. Everywhere she goes, she would bring her "friend" Pepe along. She sent me this heartfelt email that just touched your heart and brought a big smile on your face.
Here's what she wrote and some pictures of Pepe and the cake:

Thank you very much for the lovely - and delicious! - cake which was a huge surprise to me. And it was a surprise in several ways...

It is awesome to have good friends and share fun, adventures good and difficult times with them. You get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses the more you share together! One of my dear weaknesses is Pepe - my great travelling companion, the little stuffed sheep that has been with me all over the place. Our last big adventure was the expedition to Mt. Logan - Canada's highest mountain. On the eve of our departure we had a little gathering and my (our) friends came with a surprise box.

I was speechless to see the miniature Pepe crowning the cake with the summit of Logan jutting out of the ice-blue icing, just like it does from the glacier in reality. The attention to detail was fantastic - down to the backpack strap, the jacket zipper and the ice axe. It was simply perfect, and this, I learned later, after just showing you a picture of Pepe and telling you about our expedition! Definitely the work of an artist!

Friends and people who later saw the pictures of the cake were quite envious of Pepe; but such is life. If they have good friends like I do, they can always come to you and have their own funny, crazy, tasty and unique cake done! I'm certainly not keeping it a secret, where they can find the awesome cake artist. Keep making people happy through your work and creativity! To turn ideas into sweet reality! That's truly awesome!

MATERNITY LEAVE FOR IVONE

If only all babies were really delivered by storks. Imagine!

It is time for Sugar Penguin Cakery to announce Ivone's maternity leave. Robert's baby brother is due at the end of October so Ivone will be leaving our full-time work place and taking a break from cakes as of September 1st to prepare for her second little one. Ivone and I will keep up with our blog/website to update you on baby news and cake news because it's never been just about cakes. It's about two ladies, total rookies at this cake stuff, and documenting our journey. There has been many ups and many downs since starting our cakery from February until now - all lessons to be learned. We are not exactly sure when we will take orders again but hopefully we won't stay away for too long. When Ivone and I sat down and listed our priorities before starting cakery, family was right up there. As you all know, we both have full-time jobs and do cakes during evenings and weekends so we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. Thank you in advance for your understanding and loyalty!

I will be heading back to BCIT in the fall to further my studies in marketing. I will be aiming to achieve the Marketing Communications Management Certificate while cakery is on hiatus. Talk about both of us keeping busy!

**NO ORDERS AS OF SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2010 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE**

Sold out for all of AUGUST!

Sold out again for all of August!!!!

This month has been tough - the two weddings we just came off of were a LOT of work. Hand cut flowers all over the kitchen, staying up until the wee hours of the morning trying to finish all our orders, driving all around time doing deliveries...but one thing know is that the show must go on and we cannot disappoint! We didn't really have time to take good photos of Lighting McQueen which was delivered today or a wedding order for 150 cupcakes. =( But I assure you. Blood, sweat, tears...all there!

We just took on two more orders at the end of August and that's all our two pairs of hands can do.

A quick but sincere thank you to our husbands. Reza was up with Ivone carving out Lightning McQueen and Adrian ran to Superstore for me when I ran out of ingredients and helped me washed everything when I was done with my tools. Gold stars for both of you!

Two Weddings and a Traffic Jam

This passed weekend, we made not one, but two wedding cakes. Each of the wedding cake are not your typical wedding cake. One is nature-theme and the other one is an East-Indian theme with saree as the inspiration. One is very sweet, with delicate flowers and a hummingbird perched on one of the branch. The other one is quite the opposite, where the color is bold, and the detail is rich and intricate, done in painted and dusted in antique gold. It's a gruelling process, but the end results were gratifying. Though we had the most amazing time making those wedding cakes and delivering them..., a traffic jam almost ruined our day. Let's not get into that and let's keep the happy thought for these wedding cakes! :)

Congratulations to the two brides and grooms!

Here's the detail of the hummingbird

And lastly, here's the intricate wedding cake:

Sold Out Until August 14th, 2010

Ivone and I are so fortunate but we are completely booked from now until August 14th, 2010.

Thank you so much for your inquiries and thinking of Sugar Penguin Cakery! It is an honour to be a part of anyone's special celebration. We will also take on as much as we can but we must not sacrafice our signature quality, freshness, and attention to every detail.

With wedding season in high gear and so many summer babies to celebrate, we have taken on three weddings and three birthdays in a span of 4 weeks. Can't wait to share the photos!

Please remember we need a min. of 2 weeks notice for orders as we need time to design, prep, and make your custom order.