Happy 5th Birthday Ava!

Finally catching up on my posts!  So much has happened that all the blogging has been neglected put aside.  But, I'm gonna try my best to give you something each week...fingers crossed :-P

Today's cake feature was from back in August!  I know!  {Don't judge me :-D}

I made it for my wonderful neighbours Adam and Rad's daughter, Ava, who turned the big 5!  The cake was inspired by a paper plate!  Here are some pics for you to enjoy xo.

Some lovely details xo

And here's the beautiful Ava with her cake!  Happy fairy five Ava!

I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  It's been a long time coming, I know, but I'm just glad I finally got to share it with you!

xo,
Jackie

Katrina's Princess Sofia Birthday {Part 2}

Hello!  I'm back.  I know I left you with a promise that I would return with Katrina's second birthday cake when I showed you her first one last week, but blogging gets neglected when much more important matters come up.  My boys have been unwell {and are still unwell but waaaay better than a few days ago}, so blogging was definitely out of the question.  Of course, in my down time {which I had very little of} I managed to squeeze in some DIY projects that I'll share with you next month.  My aim for now is to clear my back log of things to post for the months of June/July/August.  I'm getting there...let's hope I get heaps done before the weekend!  That'll all depend on my boys' progress.

Anyway, back to Katrina's second birthday cake!  As already mentioned, her first birthday cake I shared with you last week was Umizoomi's Milli!  Today, I am happy to introduce Katrina's second birthday cake - my {second} Princess Sofia the First cake!  The first time I made this Princess Sofia the First cake was in April this year, for a sweet girl named Emma.  It's always scary trying to recreate something, because my cakes really are just one-offs.  Surely, there's no way I could exactly replicate another one of my cakes, but I definitely wasn't gonna say no to trying!  I think in some ways, the second one is even better!  Or the same?  Well, definitely not worse, so I'm glad.  

Here she is.  Enjoy xo

   

 And for some lovely details and angles...

And a progress shot just for fun...

 I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  I'll do my best to get you some cupcakes tomorrow, Gatsby style!  Til then, have a safe and wonderful Thursday!

xo,
Jackie

Katrina's Umizoomi Milli Birthday {Part 1}

Last month I had the pleasure of making not one but TWO cakes for a very lucky girl named Katrina.  She turned four and her aunt Moka always buys not one but at least TWO cakes for her very lucky nieces and nephews, no matter what age they turn.  I wish she was my aunt, hehe.

Anyway, the first cake I'm gonna share with you is Katrina's Umizoomi Milli birthday cake.  Like a lot of my {girly} cake requests, I have NO CLUE what or who the characters are.  So, I turn to my good friend Google :-)

So, without further ado, here's my cake version of Milli.  Hope ya like it!
{Note: I ended up finishing the cake in the evening so my lighting was poor...:-(}

And here are some progress shots...

Chocolaty haven...nom nom nom

I hope you liked today's cake feature!  Come back tomorrow for Katrina's second birthday cake!  Have a gray great day!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 5th Birthday Selah!

So, as promised, I was going to feature two big cakes today that I made recently.  The first one I want to share with you is Selah's 5th birthday cake with a Spiderman theme.  The lovely Shaye {who I made the Sesame Street themed 'Elmo Cookie' cake for a year ago} contacted me again from Oz for another big and fun cake order.  I was so excited to work with this theme because, strangely enough, I have NEVER made a Spiderman cake before!  It's strange because I know a lot of my nephews {and trust me I have PLENTY} love this character, but when it comes to making their cakes they choose a different theme!  Now, I'm not gonna lie, I experienced some challenges with this cake, but this I absolutely LOVE because that means there's opportunity for me to learn and grow :-)  In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, let's just say there was supposed to be a big spider where the number '5' is.  It took me ages to cut it out of fondant, then I had to wait for it to dry for a couple of days, and when it was finally time to apply onto the cake, the {brittle} legs broke to what looked like a million pieces :-(.

Anyway, 'nuff said.  Time to meet SPIDERMAN!  Enjoy xo

I just realised that some of the pics on the gif below was cut :-/ so you won't get to see the whole thing...oops!

Oh, and before I forget!  I also made a dozen Spiderman themed cupcakes to surround the cake.  I had fun making these fondant toppers...however, my hubby wasn't too keen on the spiders {they totally freak him out!}.

And underneath the fondant toppers were delicious chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream in blue.

I hope you enjoyed today's {very late but oh-so-worth-it} cake and cupcakes feature!  I'll be quickly working on the second big cake I wanted to share with you, so hopefully it'll be up before midnight! LOL

Have an awesome Friday guys!!  See you soon!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!!

Three days ago I made a special birthday cake for a special girl named Emma.  Her parents weren't planning on doing anything 'big' for her fourth, but li'l Miss Emma had other plans.  When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she asked for a Princess Sofia the 1st cake, like the Pocoyo one I made for her sister Alexis earlier this year.  As parents, we do our best to grant our children's birthday wishes {within reason}, and so that's how this cake request came about.

Of course, I was absolutely clueless as to who/what this character was!  I didn't even know it was a show on Disney Junior, until good ole Google informed me.  I have three boys, so I don't really know much of the recent girly characters and shows around, other than the ones I grew up knowing and loving {like Pocahontas, Cinderella, and so on}.  So, this cake was pure excitement for me and also a rare opportunity for me to really be girly :-D

Emma's Mum knew what she wanted.  A glittery girly cake with Princess Sofia's full body.  Oh, and underneath had to be red velvet with cream cheese buttercream.  Talk about an awesome combo!!  I must say, I really enjoyed making this cake because it was magical, royal, and just girly!  I hope you like it xo

Lovely details...

Close up on Sofia the First...

Sparkle and Shine!!

Hand-painted 'Emma' xo

And here's a quick progress gif...just for fun :-)

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  I can't wait to show you more cake creations!!  You'll just have to wait and see in the next couple of weeks...I'm super excited!!  :-D

Have a lovely weekend guys, and see you back here next week!!

God bless!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 2nd Birthday Alexis!!

Good morning peeps!!  Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  Just been enjoying my time with my boys that by the time they're tucked in bed, I'm super exhausted!!  Plus, I recently joined the gym...need I say more?  Haha.  No, but in all honesty I love it and although it feels like I'm dying each class I attend, I feel more energised and alert.   Maximus Fitness is amazing!  The trainers really push you to your limits, and are very friendly and encouraging.  It has a very family and community feel to it, too, which is not like your typical gym.  I know I've only just started, but I'm so excited for this new journey that I had to share it with you!!

Anyway, the main point of today is to share with you a really fun cake I got to make last weekend for a girl named Alexis.  She recently turned two and absolutely loves the cartoon POCOYO.  I actually wasn't familiar with Pocoyo, but it was definitely no excuse for me to turn this cake request down.  Thanks to Google I was able to learn about this cute li'l character and his friends.

So, without further ado, here's Pocoyo!!  Enjoy :-)

And here are some details...

My hand-crafted 'Alexis' stencil

 I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for another one!!  Actually, another TWO!!  Have a terrific Thursday!!

See ya soon,
Jackie xo

Happy 5th Birthday Eleanor!!

Good Monday everyone!!  I trust you all had a lovely weekend?  I sure did, even in its ca-razy busy-ness!

Now, remember the Lion King themed birthday cake I made on Thursday?  Well, that was the first of three cakes I'm making for one of my most loyal clients, Moka, who's been keeping me busy in the past week with her fun cake requests.  Today's cake is the second of the series {lol} and the third is coming  at the end of this week, so be sure to stay tuned!!

Let me present, Eleanor's "Fifi & the flower tots" themed birthday cake!!  {Thanks to Instagram for the photos!!  My poor Canon is still unwell, so my phone will have to do for the remainder of this year.  If you'd like to buy me a new camera, I will GLADLY bake you a cake!!  Hehe}.  Enjoy x

And here's a progress shot of Fifi herself...

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  Can't wait to show you the third one later this week!!  Have a sweet day and see you back here tomorrow!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 1st Birthday Hunter!!

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba...
Sithi uhm ingonyama
{Source}

Like my intro?  It's the actual Zulu words from the Lion King intro song {yes, I googled it because trying to work out how to spell the words is just too much for my sleepy brain today, hehe}.  I am sooo excited to share today's cake feature!  I made it yesterday for my friend Moka, who by the way has been one of my most loyal clients since I first started caking!  I swear she's so wonderful and always keeps challenging me with new themes for her very lucky nieces and nephews.  Today's cake is for her nephew Hunter.  She is travelling to Taupo {by bus} with his cake, so fingers crossed there aren't too many bumps along the way!

Moka originally asked for a farm theme, then changed it to Lion King, featuring Simba.  She didn't say what she wanted, so I really enjoyed sketching out ideas and seeing which one would be the best.  I think what I came up with was pretty cool!  Hope ya like it!!

And here are some close ups of the details.  The silhouettes took forever to cut out, but totally worth it!!

And here's a progress pic of the tree silhouette...

And different angles of the cake...

Hope you liked today's cake feature!!  Got more in store for you next week guys, so stay tuned!!

xo,
Jackie

By the way, a big congratulations {again} to Pauline and Angelica {winners of my Pinkalicious October event for The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation}.  They get these yummy chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting today!!

The Amazing World of Caylan!!

Last weekend I worked on two cakes, one for Friday night and one for Saturday morning.  It was definitely crunch time for me, which meant two sleepless nights in a row.  I was exhausted but sooo relieved I got them both done!!  Today, I am thrilled to share with you the first cake I made {Friday's one} for my friend Carissa's daughter's 2nd birthday.  You may remember Carissa?  I made her frangipani wedding cake earlier this year.  So, when she contacted me to make her another cake, I was over the moon excited because this particular theme was sooo much fun!!  

Presenting the character Anais, from the cartoon "The Amazing World of Gumball"!! Enjoy!! 

{Pictures courtesy of Instagram}.

Inside we have Red Velvet with cream cheese buttercream filling and frosting!!  Yum-oh!!

And here are some more pics {progress & details} for you to enjoy x

Hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  Come back tomorrow to see the second cake I made on the weekend, this time for a 50th birthday!!  Have a lovely Monday!!

xo,

Jackie

Happy 3rd Birthday Dante!!

Good morning guys!!  Today I am sooo thrilled to share with you a cake I made yesterday for a boy named Dante who turned three.  His Mum Christina contacted me last week regarding this cake.  She really didn't have any specific designs in mind, but knew it had to be Iron Man and red velvet :-)  I couldn't wait to make this cake because it's my first Iron Man cake ever!

Here's how it went down...

Originally,  the cake looked like this...

...but then the following morning I decided I wanted to add some buildings around the cake, which led to...

Hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

xo,
Jackie

Update: I received a txt from Christina this morning: "Hi Jackie!  The cake looked and tasted amazing and my boy absolutely loved it so thank you : )"

Thanks Christina!  I'm glad your boy liked his cake!  I had fun making it!!  xo