To infinity...and beyond!

Howdy partners?  Guess what cake we're checking out today from my BLAST FROM THE PAST cake creations?  The title probably already gave it away, and possibly the greeting.  If you are a parent then you'll definitely know what this is going to be about.  Do you need a couple more seconds to work it out?  (one...two...)  Okay, time's up!  If you guessed Toy Story, then you're right on the money baby!

I am thrilled to make my last post for the week on my twins' 2nd birthday cake I made this February.  This cake was huge!  It was also my first attempt at a tiered cake, so a very special (and scary) time for me.  Top tier was banana, middle tier was chocolate, and bottom tier was carrot.  By the time this big boy was stacked and decorated, I couldn't even lift it off the table!  And by this time I was so tired and ready to hit the hay.  It was HEAVVVY!  That's when my macho hubby came to my rescue.

Now, this cake is very special to me because of my Twins' story.  If you are wondering what I'm talking about then you might like to read this previous post so you're in the loop.  Since my boys are absolute die-hard fans of Toy Story, I thought it would be cool to personalize this cake to TWINS' STORY.  It was such a fun cake to make!  However, I did have more plans for it, but as it goes, time did not allow for all my ideas to come to life.  But, what I ended up with was pretty cool and it made my boys happy, which made me one very proud Momma!  xo

Here are some pics for y'all to enjoy!

I took this shot as soon as I finished the cake!  Followed with a victory dance, courtesy of  Katherine Heigl in her movie 'The Ugly Truth' (can't believe I just shared that with y'all...embarrassing!!)

LOTS MORE fun pics after the jump...

Snow White & the Seven year old

Sorry for the late entry today guys.  Was out and about with my boys, seeing as it's the last week of the school holidays.  Trying to make it as fun as possible for my eldest boy.  :-)

Anyway, today we continue our trip down Jackie's BLAST FROM THE PAST cake creations, and I'm thrilled to show you my first doll cake made for my lovely niece Chanel.  Coming from a family where girls are greatly outnumbered by boys, I really get super excited at the prospect of making a GIRL'S CAKE!  And to make it even more girly, a DOLL CAKE!

Snow White was the theme chosen by my sister and Mum (well, come to think of it, it was more Mum, being the Grandma of her ONE & ONLY granddaughter) months before Chanel's seventh birthday.  In our culture (or perhaps just our family) turning seven is a significant milestone.  I wish I could give you a more insightful explanation as to why, but it escapes me!  I really can't remember however many times I go through the archives in my head.  My only guess is that it has something to do with the bible... but I will ask my Mum to be sure and let you all know!

Well, back to the cake, my beautiful niece definitely wanted a Snow White doll cake because she was going to be dressed up as Snow White herself.  What kind of an Aunty would I be if I didn't make her birthday wishes come true, right?  So here I was driving around trying to find a Snow White doll.  I found a pretty cool one from the Barbie Disney range, but of course, being an avid bargain hunter that I am, I searched far and wide to find the best deal of the same product.  YAY TO KMART!  For the same doll I managed to take Snow White home at half the price of some of the other retailers!  I was sooo stoked about this!  I was definitely off to a good start.

Now, the fun really begins.  I had to work out how to actually make this doll cake.  But first, I wanted to get truly inspired, so I went over to my pal GOOGLE and looked at other doll cakes.  I just want to say that there are SOOO many talented people out there!  Some of the cakes I saw were just breath-taking!  This really got me pumped to attempt my first doll cake.  I'm not sure if I've said this before (and maybe I have) I usually 'wing' my cakes when it comes to decorating.  I don't think there really is a WAY to make novelty cakes, you kind of JUST DO IT Nike styles.  I say trust your instincts and go with it.  You definitely need to take risks in order to push yourself out of its comfort zone.

After hours of fiddly work, I ended up with a pretty good-lookin' doll cake.  Here are the pics for you all to enjoy!  And remember, tomorrow I will be sharing another (maybe two if you're lucky) of my BLAST FROM THE PAST cake creations.  See you then!

 More pics after the jump...

Autobots, roll out!

My ALL-TIME  favourite Transformer has got to be the one and only...
BUMBLEBEE

He is cute and sexy at the same time!  That's right, I said sexy - when he is in car form...I likey that Camaro, woweee!!

Okay, enough of that...let's talk CAKE!!  Yesterday I told you that everyday this week I will be posting up my BLAST FROM THE PAST cake creations...even though I only started this yesterday, we could count Monday's Mid-winter Christmas cake as DAY 1, meaning this would be DAY 3!  I hope that made sense to you...it did in my head, hehe.

This beastie cake was made for Joaquin for his 4th birthday last December.  I didn't have an actual helmet to work off, so it was pretty hard to get all the details around the cake.  I think I made some of them up!  Well, the face was my priority.  I wanted to replicate Bumblebee as best I could, working off pictures I took of an actual toy helmet from Toy World.  I couldn't get shots of the sides and the back because of the packaging, and I wasn't about to pay $100 for one either (that's how much it was at the time).

I didn't really know how long it would take for me to complete this cake.  However, I can remember not sleeping. It took a verrry looonnnggg time (yawns), but super pleased with the outcome!  The birthday boy was sooo happy with his cake that he didn't want to cut it - that's gotta be worth-it!

Enjoy the pics guys!  And remember to stay tuned for more of my BLAST FROM THE PAST cake creations this week!

 More pics after the jump...

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

SPONGE-BOB-SQUARE-PANTS!!

Over time I will be uploading some of my BLAST FROM THE PAST creations to share with you all.  To start it off, here's one I made for my nephew Tristan who turned 9 this February.  Like most kids, he was a Spongebob fan.  But we didn't want just any ol' spongebob for the occasion...we wanted a CELTICS SUPPORTER one!  His Dad is a Celtics fan so my sister wanted to incorporate this as well.  He turned out to be a cutie!  Enjoy the pics guys and stay tuned everyday for more of my BLAST FROM THE PAST creations.  I plan to share one everyday this week!  Should be fun!  xo

Now, here's a pic with the birthday boy cutting Spongebob...

Mid-winter Christmas Cake!

Here is a cake I put together last month for my Mum's mid-winter Christmas lunch at work.  She requested a 'simple' cake, but I think she forgot it was ME she was asking, hehehe.  No, I really just wanted to play around with some design ideas I had and practise some techniques.  Now, this cake was such fun to make!  Ever since I was a little girl I had dreamed of being in a place where snow would fall from the sky during Christmas! And I would wear beanies with them fluffy pompoms on top!  Ah, love!  The closest I could get to making this dream a reality is by incorporating snow somewhere on (in this case, all over) the cake.  I think I will call this cake 'love, snow and candy canes' - ENJOY!

My new Iron Man

IRONING BOARD

I have another before and after pic for you guys!  It's my old ironing board that I've been too embarrassed to take out of my room...hehe.  It now looks so good that it's still leaning against the wall by the kitchen!  I know, it doesn't belong there, but I'm not quite done admiring it.  Stay tuned for the pics...still have to upload them, then do my little before and after magic to save y'all from scrolling up and down.

Here you go guys, the much awaited ironing board makeover!  I shall call it my new IRON MAN!

More after the jump...

Vintage inspired birthday cake

Good morning guys!  Sooo happy to be waking up to a sunshiny day, it really gets me in a chirpy mood.  :-)  Just wanted to share with you all a small cake I made for my dear Mother's birthday a few days ago.  Now, I wish I had more time to decorate this wee beauty because I had all these ideas for it - but time wasn't on my side (with only about an hour to work with).

Hmm...what to do, what to do?  I definitely wanted a vintage theme, so had to have ruffles somewhere there...perhaps some brown-y, gold-y tones?  Ruffle flower?  Buttons?  Okay, I think this might just work.

After bouncing ideas around in my head, then realizing I was cutting into my precious time, I had to just start making it happen...whatever IT may have been...I was still changing my mind IN my mind - OH EM GEE!  Now, I wasn't too worried about the imperfections at this stage because I really had no time to make it perfect PLUS I thought it suited the whole vintage theme anyway, so it was sweet as!  The family didn't care so much about how it looked anyway because they were too busy devouring this rich chocolate goodness!  Here are some pics for y'all to enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed this post and don't forget to share it with your family and friends!  Have a fab weekend guys!!  See you again soon!  xo

Designer Handbag

Want a designer handbag without the price tag?  Why not get it in cake form?  You get to adore it and indulge in it all at once.  Here is my first designer handbag cake.  I made this Louis Vuitton cake last Thursday for a birthday.  And yes, I did yet another all-nighter!  I swear sleep is like a luxury to me because I don't get much of it - LOL.  Anyway, the details were very time-consuming and fiddly, but oh-so-worth-it in the end!  I must say this little beauty made me very proud.  And once it was off my hands, I was able to rest...or so I thought.  Who am I kidding?  I have twin toddlers that also need my attention.  Oh well, another day!  Enjoy the pics guys, and feel free to leave a comment!

P.S. Who else is loving this sunshiney day!?  It's definitely a treat if you live in Auckland...and often short-lived so soak it up while you can!!  Get all those whites out because the sunshine is what makes them extra bright!!

Sprinkles sprinkles sprinkles!

Hi guys!  I am super happy right now because I will be going on a little 4day vacation with my family as of tomorrow, so I thought I'd post something that expresses how I'm feeling inside - COLOURFUL SPRINKLES!  This is truly making my heart go giddy-up!

Another reason why I'm sooo happy is because my brother's second son was finally born yesterday!  YIPEEE!!  Still haven't met him, and it may have to wait til I get back next week, but I couldn't resist making these cute little cupcakes and a tiny cake to go with it, to celebrate his arrival.  It's also a treat for my brother's wife who has been phenomenal throughout the entire pregnancy up until baby's arrival.  Funny story about the cake though...I was taking pics of it last night and as I was packing up I accidentally dropped it!!!  AARRRGGHHH!  Luckily it landed on my dining table, so I was able to save it.  It didn't end up looking like the first one, but I think the little sprinkle explosion did the trick.  Hehe.  Enjoy the pics and have a fantastic weekend!!

Before I dropped it -

After a quick fix (and not bothering about putting the cute balloon backdrop anymore) -

As you can see I didn't bother with piping a rose design on top anymore, nor did I bother with the lines around the cake.  I simply used my offset spatula and smoothed everything out and chucked a whole lot of sprinkles.  I even added a candle to it.  :-)

Here's a close up of the cupcakes that I also made to accompany the cake.

Thanks for looking and hope to see you all again next week!  xo

NSW shield inspired birthday cake

So last Friday I made a big cake for my cousin-in-law's surprise 30th birthday party.  He is a big league fan!  NSW State of Origin Blues to be exact.  I wanted to replicate the shield but also personalize it for the occasion. Just as well the invitation was also the shield and it was already personalized, so all I had to do was work off it.  Well, little did I know how much work was involved.  From colouring the fondant to four different shades of blue (and mixing colours to achieve the right ones) to filling, frosting and carving this mammoth of a cake!  Since I don't own any fancy helpers, like cricut, I had to HANDCUT each detail with my xacto knife, and mostly by eye.  This was a huge challenge, especially around 3am in the morning!  My neck and back and hands were aching!  But I kept going.  I did not want to give up now after losing sleep.  Long story short, I worked on the cake til the next day and arrived at the party sleepless but with a pretty good looking cake.  I was very proud of it and so was my hubby.  He reckons it's one of the best cakes I've made to date.  That's gotta be worth the sleepless night, huh?  :-P  I could not wait to sleep...but first I wanted to celebrate the birthday and enjoy the party.  Here are pics of the cake - ENJOY!

More pics after the jump...