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:)

Kids and Novelties

Other than kids birthdays, I do find myself making lots of 30th birthday cakes, especially for Kids at Heart. Take, for example, this Lego cake for a friend who's also my son's best adult friend (other than his own dad of course!) because of their shared love for Lego.

Made lots of kids cakes last year too: 

 

I often find myself decorating cakes til the wee hours of the morning, and the cake below was no exception. Even though I had a darling friend who helped me punch the tiny circles, I still only completed the elephant-themed cake above at 3 in the morning. Mostly because we had to do the middle strip THREE frickin' times because it kept falling off due to its weight. That's THREE HUNDRED TEENY WEENY CIRCLES to cut out, people, THREE HUNDRED!

But it was worth it, I was really pleased with the result when I looked at it with fresh eyes the morning after (albeit having had only 4 hours of sleep!) and I think the client did too!

Hi Sarah,

I just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for the beautiful cake and cupcakes! They looked absolutely exquisite, and tasted just as good! It was Henry’s first taste of chocolate, so I am afraid that we have now set the standard very high!!!

Thank you again, and I hope that you and your family have a very happy new year.

Best wishes,

Brigid

FYI, I'd based the cake on the invite Brigid had created for her 1 y.o., Henry, who's a bona fide rock star. The invite had a photo of him rocking a pair of baby sunnies, I could imagine him cruising the park in his Bugaboo!

Rosettes and Ruffles

OK I admit it.

I'm a terribly inconsistent blogger. So much has happened in the past few months - in caking and in my personal life - that I haven't had time to post pictures of cakes! But they're all up on the Buttercup Bakeshoppe facebook page, and that's probably where I'm most consistent in updating information and pictures.

Here're an edit of Buttercream cakes I've had the pleasure to create since the last time I blogged:

 

 

This last ruffle cake's one of my favourites, not least for the fact it's for a gorgeous girl whom I've watched grow up - I still remember bobbing for apples on her 5th birthday and now she's turned sweet 16! (The little birdie's a 3D rendition of the cookies I've made before here and here.)

Handbag cake

I've always been a little afraid to attempt 3D cakes, what with the carving and balancing, but after finding this tutorial on the incredibly talented Jessicakes' blog, I thought I'd give it a go for my friend's daughter's 8th birthday!

Made the cake with red trim because it's her favourite colour (at the moment!) 

The "J" is for Jodee, the birthday girl (looks a little like half of the Chanel logo, maybe? No? lol)

 

The "fold" of the bag...I carved an indentation into the cake 

and smoothed with ganache before covering in fondant

Cross-section of the cake!

It's actually not as dense as it looks, really yummy and moist

I have some happy snaps of the girls having the cake (which I'll put up when my SD card-reader eventually starts to work again - sigh! Technology!)

The girls were SO adorable though, some of them covered their eyes just as the birthday girl was about to cut the cake! "Don't cut it!", "I can't watch!", "No! Don't!" a couple of them yelled out; they were SO CUTE! But Jodee eventually sliced into it, and the girls dug in. YUM!

Peppa and Ellie

More cakery from the last few weeks...

Drippy chocolate ganache over a vanilla-bean frosted cake

Another elephant & spots-themed baby shower!

I matched the ellie's ears and the tiny spots to Rachael's baby shower invitation.

A rich, dense and moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Peppa Pig themed, for a little girl's 2nd birthday!

Girly baby shower

Here's a little something I did recently for a girly baby shower :)

Girly pram cookies

Birdie cookies - these have got to be my most popular requests, they come in all sorts of colours!

Ruffle cake with hand-stamped & hand-written placard in edible ink.

 

These are actually buttercups (regular-sized cupcakes), 

for which I've tried a slight variation for the petal blooms

Don't forget, I'll be teaching BUTTERCREAM TECHNIQUES at Thread Den next Tuesday (9th October - click here for details) and MAKE YOUR OWN FONDANT OWL the following Tuesday (16th October). Classes include tips, handouts and a Kit of your own to take home with you!! What are you waiting for? ;)

Cookie monster cupcake tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial for the Cookie Monster cupcakes I did for my son's 5th birthday party - they're super easy, and all you need is this Grass/Hair piping tip.

I started with my super-moist choc fudge cupcake...

Since the cupcake's top was flat, I made a "mound" using a crank-handle palette knife 

to get a rounder shape for Cookie's head.

Start at the base and pull-up and out towards you. You'll get the hang of it pretty quick!

Furry cupcake!

These are white choc buttons you can get at any supermarket

Pipe some black buttercream using a No. 2 piping tip for the eyes

 

Pop the eyes in at an angle to make the all "googly"!!

Break a cookie in half and stuff it in!

Voila! Cookie monster!

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!