Novelties

It's been a deluge of Novelty Cakes recently. Ok maybe not a deluge, but these cakes have been keeping me busy, and I hope you like them!

This was a cake I made for a friend's two year-old, who loves trucks!

We popped his favourite dump truck on top and I created the uprooted tree out of fondant,

and made soil out of crushed Oreo cookies!

"Now...what are we gonna do about this mess?" 

 

Another friend liked the look of the previous cake so much she asked me to make one for her son, 

who was turning two as well! We popped his favourite Duplo men on top, and I created the Lego brick wall.

I love creating stories out of their favourite toys!

This one was a doozy.

I'd been planning this for months for a client's order. 

It was for her daughter's birthday, which had a magic theme!

Guess how old she's turning? ;-) 

And these tiger cupcakes were for her school classmates.

It was a massive week!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

A few weeks ago I made this lovely Tiffany box cake for a client. She wanted something classy and elegant for her mum's birthday, and after a few sketches we finalised it with the iconic box and its ribbon, plus a string of pearls around it.

 

Handmade fondant pearls

Here's the thing though...once she removed the box lid (which was a single 2-inch layer of cake, covered in ganache and fondant)...

 Surprise!! A pearl bracelet to match the pearl necklace!

 

I loved making this cake and seeing it come to fruition from sketch to reality. And just between you and me, I'm waiting for a clever man to contact me so I can make it as a proposal cake! Won't it look gorgeous with a diamond ring in the middle of it? (Don't take my word for it, take hers:)

More than meets the eye

Well, then! Here's a quick recap of what I've been up to lately; I've been baking so much it's been hard to keep up with posting them on the blog! Good problem to have though, I reckon ;-)

A simple RVCC cake (red velvet & cream cheese) for a last minute order.

 

And last weekend was my son's 5th birthday!

He wanted this:

Um, no.

So I made this instead. I really wanted a black cake board for the backdrop, but didn't have enough black fondant, or even black construction paper in the house! In the end, I just settled for baking paper.

I'd printed out the logo, used it to cut out thick fondant pieces, 

and bevelled the edges for more dimension. Big thanks to hubby for the suggestion!

And for his kinder party the next day I made these cookie monster cupcakes that have been popping up on cake blogs everywhere! Here's my take:

Meee....wantt....COOOKIEEE!!

 I'll post a tutorial on it soon, it's super easy!

And since we're on the topic of Super heroes...

All the designs were supplied by the client; I believe the cake pops were from Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats, and cake from Unique Creations by Angie.

And something different - a red and gold themed Oriental cupcake tower!

RVCC cake with encased in white chocolate ganache, and sprayed in edible gold paint

 Made the branches from chocolate fondant; hand-cut flowers and hearts.

The cake atop the tower - 200 RVCC babycups!

I loved making this cake, I think I really am at my happiest sitting at the bench molding fondant and creating things...anything fiddly that I can make with my (blessedly small) fingers I just love to do! Fine motor skills FTW!

Owl buttercups and Gymnastics cake

Finally! I have time to post these pics from a recent party I did for a little girl's 6th birthday. Thanks to the recent teeny mention in The Age recently, I got a call from Erica, who asked if I could make some goodies for her daughter's birthday.

She decided on a cupcakes for her daughter's class on Friday, and a gymnastics cake for Saturday's group of friends. And as an afterthought, she asked if I could make owl cupcake toppers for the cupcakes too.

"Sure!" I said, and off I went to research. I googled some images, drew up my design, cut out a template and after painstaking effort made 40 of these babies:

 

I'll do a tutorial on how these were made soon.

And here's the Gym cake - which matched the birthday girl's leotard!

The headless gymnast strikes again...

 There! Much better...

 

Rhythm gymnast with her balance beam.

Erica was sweet enough to write this:

 Thank you so much...husband is super impressed, as am I, I know my girls are going to be so excited when they see the cakes tomorrow! Even the gymnast matches my daughter's special party leotard. She is going to feel very special.

And after the party:

Thanks again Sarah. Party was a huge success and the cake looked fabulous but also tasted fantastic!

Wow. Nothing like two messages to make you feel extra special! Heh!

Joy

Before I go ahead with the latest post, thanks to the lovely Kate & Rose, I just found out we had a teeny tiny mention in yesterday's Sunday Age!

You can read the full article here: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/about-town/ware-to-go-20120602-1zof3.html (scroll down to the "Arts and Crafts" section). Our friends from the Southside Vintage market and North Melbourne Market got a lovely mention too!

Now back to cakery!

I got a lovely "thank you" recently from a lovely client, Shikha, for whom I made cupcakes for her mentor as a goodbye present.

"Your cupcakes were amazing, they were a HIT and all the teachers were so impressed that they've taken your phone  number...I've passed out your number and your website as well to them. Thank you so much!"

It's ALWAYS SO GREAT to get positive feedback, and NOTHING makes me happier than to make something I love for people who appreciate them as well! 

 These cupcakes were Red Velvet with cream cheese, and topped with black & white fondant birdies.

Nothing says Thank You better than a baked treat don't you agree?!


Ooh and in case you're wondering, these are the cookies-and-cream babycups the article was talking about!

 

Cookies and cream soldiers! Tennnnn HUT!

Of Princesses and Planes

It's been a month since my last post! Geez!

If you've been following the bakeshoppe's Facebook page you'll know what I've been up to lately... if not here's a quick pictorial rundown:

Jeremy the Jet Plane cake for a little boy.

I marbled the fondant for a "sky" effect (it's clearer in the first pic)

My Cake Pop class with family and friends!

Uber Oozy Chocolate mini cake.

With hand-stamped edible ink text.

 Princess cupcake for my 4 y.o. niece, thanks to a tutorial from The Cupcake Gallery.

A friend of mine said she kinda looks like a Kardashian!

(The cupcake, not my niece...although Anna can be a diva sometimes!)

Who's ready to go a-huntin for some Easter eggs?

And Cartoon Easter Bunnies!

I was experimenting with Sweet Sugar Belle's 20-second icing method.

So! That's what I've been up to the last couple of weeks, in between ferrying my visiting in-laws around town. And this week's a busy one as well, can't wait to get started!