Cake Central Magazine feature

Wow!  First of all I just want to say how excited I am to share this big news with all of you!  As you may have noticed on my blog, there's a Cake Central badge on the top right corner.  Yes, I was fortunate enough to be featured on their latest issue!!!  But how did it all begin?

Well, a few months ago I received an email from Jackie and the Cake Central team saying that they were interested in featuring one of my cakes on their upcoming pink and teal issue.  Now, this was the first step.  I had to accept their invitation, and then create a cake (from scratch) based on the inspiration board they sent me (which consisted of two photos).  One was of a woman with a white lacy bodice and tulle skirt, with a pink damask printed wallpaper in the background, and the other was of a jar of roses on a teal painted rustic wooden table.  So, I got sketching!  I didn't have much time to work on it, like any task, there's always a deadline.  After a couple of late nights (actually, sleepless nights), I finally ended up with a cake that (to me) best represented the inspiration board.  I took hundreds of photos, and selected several to send to the Cake Central Art Department.  And then the waiting began.

Even though I was invited to take part in this particular issue, there was no guarantee that I would make it as it all depended on the work I submitted - whether it was good enough to be featured.  I prayed about it, because there was nothing else I could do.  I waited and waited.  I waited several weeks.  Because I hadn't heard from them in a very long time, I somehow came to accept in my mind that I didn't get selected this time round and that it was okay because it was a great experience.  Then I got an email that put the biggest smile on my face!!  Here's what it said...(I took a pic of the computer screen, then doodled on it...lol)...

  Who wouldn't get excited, right?  An American magazine wanted to feature MY cake!  It's super duper awesome!!  :-D

Here's a pic I took (off the computer) of my spread (pages 24 and 25)...sorry about the poor quality...

Pretty cool, huh?  I still can't believe it to this day!!

Now, here are the actual pics of my pink and teal wedding cake.  Enjoy!!

Overall, I wanted to create a vintage-inspired pink and teal wedding cake, which was the 'feel' I got from the inspiration board.  I made sure to incorporate key elements, such as the golden pearls, the lace bodice, the teal table, the 'leafy' designs and the old rose colour, in order to best represent the inspiration board.

Here are some close up shots of different parts of the cake for you all to see.  

I wanted give my roses age and character, so in order to do this I had to roughen the edges of the petals and lightly go over them with diluted edible gold (just to give it that lustre).

The following lattice work was inspired by the lace bodice the woman was wearing (from the inspiration board).  I really wanted to portray its intricacy and beauty by dedicating a whole tier to it.  I don't normally work with royal icing, so this was a learn-as-you-go experience for me.  I had cramped hands afterwards (because it took a few hours to complete with all the layering involved).

I'm so happy to have finally shared this with you!  It was hard keeping it from you all this time, but hopefully totally worth the wait.  Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 30th birthday Kat!!

This past weekend I faced one of my biggest cake challenge yet!!  When I say big I mean KING KONG BIG in both scale and difficulty!  I had to create a single pink Timberland boot for my friend Kaati's 30th birthday {because she loves her tims - and thanks to Mark for the great idea!! hehe}.  This baby was huge!!  The cake board itself was 16 inches, and look at the size of the shoe on top!  By the time I was done, I couldn't lift the dang thing off the table (that's when dear hubby stepped in - thanks babe).  What made it even more difficult was my right leg was restricted in a moon-boot {I know, I know, another sporting injury}.  But, this fractured ankle wasn't going to phase me even the slightest bit!  I was determined to make this 'mission impossible' possible.  After a very long and sleepless night, I ended up with a decent looking tim.  You wouldn't imagine the relief and joy I was feeling that Saturday morning!  I was glad I finished in time to watch my boy Jubs play a great game of rugby league :-)

Here are some pics for you all to have a look at.  Enjoy!!

To help you understand just how big this boot was, here's a pic of it in the fridge before it was decorated.

Hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  See you back here soon!!  I'll be sharing with you the cake that got featured in the latest Cake Central Magazine (you may have noticed the badge on the top right corner of my blog).  More on that later!!  Exciting!!

xo,
Jackie

Cupcakes in a flash!!

Literally!!  I made three dozen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on Wednesday evening for a baby shower that same evening!!  I know, it was ca-razy!!  I was rushing around like a headless chicken!!  Thankfully, I got them done and more importantly, the host and her guests enjoyed eating them!  Apparently, they were gone within minutes!  Woohoo!!

I didn't get to take proper pics...just with my phone camera.  Enjoy!!

Simple yet oh-so-delicious!!  Happy Friday everyone!!

xo,
Jackie

Happy 21st birthday Kathleen!!

생일축하합니다 (saengil chukha hamnida) 


That means Happy Birthday in Korean!  Reason behind it is because Kathleen loves watching her Korean drama (aka Kdrama), and recently I've been hooked!  So we are slowly learning how to speak Korean, hehe.  


It was her birthday yesterday and we celebrated with the whole family at Genghis Khan (this Mongolian restaurant in Northcote).  I wish I had eaten more but I really didn't have any room in my tummy!!!  Gosh, I'm sure we were the loudest there!  With kids running around turning the restaurant into a playground by the end of the evening (lol) and us adults yarning away as if we were in our home.  Surely they wanted to kick us out, hehe.


No birthday without cake, right?  So I quickly whipped up a cake for Kathleen that day, and only put it together moments before we had to leave for the restaurant.  It was stressful!!  Haha.  Because I didn't know what I was going to do with the little time that was available to me.  My cousin Criselda and I originally thought of making a cartoon version of Gu Jun Pyo (this character played by Lee Min Ho in the Korean drama 'Boys over flowers')...

{Source}

{Source}

{Source} - 'Boys over Flowers'

...but we only had minutes so that wasn't going to happen.  Instead I went for something more simple but 'wild' :-)  Here it goes...a zebra patterned chocolate cake sprinkled with rainbow dust for some glitz and glam!!  Perfectly suited for our birthday girl.

Kathleen with her cake

Love this shot!  She looks like a star!! :-)

Hope you enjoyed today's post!!  See you back here tomorrow!!


xo,
Jackie

Happy 1st birthday Jaden!!

It was my nephew/Godson's first birthday last Friday and we celebrated this special day with the whole family on Saturday.  Such a milestone to reach the big ONE.  There was laughter, games, lots of yummy food, and of course CAKE!!

I remembered asking my sis-in-law Ruthie what Jaden was into.  As soon as she mentioned Mickey Mouse I instantly knew that that would be the cake's theme :-)  I haven't made a Mickey Mouse themed birthday cake before, so it was definitely a 'go' for me.  I wanted something simple but cool at the same time.  Hope you like it!

Hope you enjoyed today's post!  See ya back here this week!!

xo,
Jackie

P.S. A very special birthday shout out goes to my cousin Kathleen who is 21 today!!  
생일축하합니다 (saengil chukha hamnida) - that's 'happy birthday' in Korean, reason being is because she loves her Kdrama...and I must admit, since finishing 'Boys over Flowers' I, too, am addicted...lol {can you blame me, though?}

44th Golf birthday

Last Friday I made a cake for a friend's Uncle's 44th birthday.  She sent me a picture of a golf themed cake she liked that she found online and marked the areas that she wanted me to incorporate on her Uncle's cake.  It included a fondant figurine of a man lying on his tummy staring at his shot about to go in, a golf bag with clubs and a flag with the number 44 on it.

I really enjoyed making this cake for her!  Although the design of the cake was pretty simple, it was equally just as challenging as a more detailed one because achieving clean fondant work is actually pretty hard to do.  I know it seems crazy but achieving a clean and seamless look is difficult because you instantly see the 'flaws' on such designs.  In this case, I think I did pretty well on achieving that especially without sleep {thank you Lord for giving me the strength, because there was no way I could have done it on my own!!}

Here's the cake, I hope you enjoy it  :-)

I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!!  Come back tomorrow for my nephew/Godson's first birthday cake that I made on Saturday!  

Have a lovely Monday!!

xo,

Jackie

June 2012 in a glimpse...

So, we are well into Winter now.  Hope you're all keeping well and staying warm and cosy.  Let's take a moment to look back at what we got up to in June, shall we?

We kicked the month of June off celebrating my sis-in-law Kat's birthday with a sprinkles cake...

Shared my weekend with you with more cakes...

 oh...and a torn tendon :-( {boohoo}

We said goodbye to my son's awesome teacher Mr. Fletcher...

...then celebrated even more birthdays -

Tita Adora's...

and my cousin Gjon's...

Then finally a project that was long overdue!!  A burlap memo board...

And then we ended our month with some delicious cupcakes!!  Red velvet and Chocolate!!  Yum-oh!!

Let's hope for an even tastier July!!  Have a lovely day and see you again soon!!

xo,

Jackie

Happy {4th} Birthday Kaavin!!

Last Friday I had the pleasure of making a little boy's dream come true!!  His name is Kaavin and he loves ninjago, so a ninjago cake was definitely a must!!  Just as well, my son loves his lego and has collected all the ninjago characters {or most of them anyway} over time.  I borrowed 'Kai' {the red one - ninja of 'fire'} to help me create this cake.  I really had no idea how I was going to make it {just like most of my cakes, haha} but that's the fun part, isn't it?

I wish I had taken some progress shots for you, but at 3 in the morning?  I wasn't exactly in the mood.  I just wanted to keep going until it was done.  Thanks to a few comedy flicks, and playing 'Draw Something' with my sister and random people around the world, I managed to stay awake.  I must say, it's getting harder and harder to do all-nighters now.  My body is just not like it was a few years ago when I would stay up days in a row working on assignments and choreographies...must be 'cause I'm getting older {lol}.

Anyway, enough chit chat and let's get to the cake shall we?!  Kaavin's 'ninjagawesome'  {thanks Tamara} birthday cake!!  Enjoy!!

Tried to create the 'spinner' with the mini cupcakes

Mini 'fire' cupcakes

Hope you enjoyed today's post!!  Have an awesome Monday!!

xo,
Jackie