Happy 30th Birthday Pearl!

A couple of months ago my dear cousin Pearl turned 30!  Her hubby organised a surprise birthday party for her, and of course that included cake!  I wanted this 30th birthday cake to be extra special, so I came up with a design that fused her love of the Bulldogs and glamour.  I wanted to incorporate the Bulldogs shield but not make the overall cake too masculine.  I decided some 'pearls' on the cake would help with this {pun intended}, as well as some other feminine finishes.  I really loved the final outcome, and best of all, so did she :-)  And everything was edible so HOORAY!!

Please excuse the quality of the pics...I had no time nor good lighting at the venue!  I'm just glad I got to snap at least a couple of shots for my own record!

Pearl giving the cake two thumbs up! :-D

And for your treat, here's a little peek at my progress...

Painting progress of my bulldog :-)

I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  I will do my best to keep 'em coming your way!  Aiming for at least a couple posts a week.  Thanks for sticking around!  You guys are the best!  :-)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

xo,
Jackie

Pearl Wedding Cake

Hi guys!  I'm baaack!  I hope you all enjoyed celebrating the Queen's birthday :-)  I had a lovely time with my family this long weekend, and I hope you did, too.  I know my last post was a very distant time ago {November 28, 2013 to be exact}, but trust me when I say that I have been here all along.  I have sooo many cakes and DIY projects I want to share with you that's just been sitting in my archives!  Life just kept getting busier and busier for me so keeping you all updated through my blog just became too much of a battle, which was why it came to a temporary halt.  So much has happened since my last post, and I plan on sharing them with you as I slowly get back into it...I will try :-D

Today, I am excited to show you a wedding cake I made a couple of months ago for a beautiful couple, Kerri and Hugh.  They wanted a two-tiered white cake {flavours white chocolate mud and lemon} with lots of pearl detailing.  There were hundreds of pearls I had to 'glue' onto this cake individually, and let me tell ya, that was no easy feat!!  Let's just say I had to go to the mall and get a neck/shoulder/arm massage because that's how sore I was after that!!  But it was truly worth it in the end.  What I ended up with was a beautiful and elegant looking wedding cake!  It was definitely something I was very proud of and was excited to give to the bride and groom.

So, without further ado, here is 'Pearl'.  Enjoy!

And here are some stunning professional photographs Kerri gave me and some kind words she shared...

Kerri Dewe, wedding 8 March 2014

"I had spent a bit of time going back and forth with Jackie on email (she was very accommodating!) and was really looking forward to seeing how our finished design was going to look.  I was very impressed with the finished product - I think it looked amazing and absolutely in the style we had discussed.  Best thing, it tasted just as good as it looked!!  Two different flavours, and both fantastic.  It really was a big cake (yes, it is all cake!), and I was sure that we would have heaps left over, as though we had a set menu, we had a big dessert buffet (as my husband Hugh is a huge sweet tooth - I also arranged Mr Whippy at the ceremony to tide him over until dinner!).  But it was so good that I had a small piece on the night, and Hugh completely missed out - completely devoured!  Thankfully my family had saved a piece for my grandmother who was unable to travel to Auckland, so he managed to share some of Nana's piece and have some of his own wedding cake.

Beautiful Jackie, thanks again."

You are very welcome Kerri and Hugh!  It was my pleasure making this cake for you.  Thank you for choosing me to be part of your special day :-)

I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  I can't wait to share many more with you soon!

Have a toasty Tuesday!!

xo,
Jackie

What's at the end of a rainbow?

Better than a pot of gold.  A love story.

Now, you're probably wondering why that title?  Well, I'm not gonna go into any detail, because I think this particular love story needs to be told by the couple themselves, but what I will tell you is that it involved a Rainbow's End...the theme park :-)  

I am so happy to share with you a beautiful love story I was sooo blessed to have been a part of!  My friend Judith married her husband Colin in the beautiful Rarotonga not so long ago, then had their NZ wedding reception this past weekend at our church.  I absolutely love the story of how they met, and I think it would make a great romantic comedy!  Blue painted toe nails and all :-P {private joke}.  

Judith knew exactly what kind of cake she wanted.  Simple.  White.  And it had to represent Rarotonga.  That's where the yellow and pink frangipanis come into the picture.  She also wanted a yellow ribbon around the bottom of each tier, to incorporate her chosen theme.  I was sooo excited to make another wedding cake!  My second Rarotonga-inspired frangipani cake!  It's been a while :-)

So, here you go peeps!  I hope you like Judith and Colin's wedding cake!  I really enjoyed whipping up this sweet creation for them xo

Top

Side

Left

Right

And now, the beautiful couple and their cake!

If you like seeing progress shots, here are a few for your viewing pleasure...

The cakes were red velvet with cream cheese and moist chocolate with ganache...YUM!

I hope you enjoyed today's wedding cake feature!  I'm so glad that I finally got to share it with you.  That's all I wanted to do but had to wait!

Have a lovely day and I'll see you again back here soon!

xo,
Jackie

Manuia lou aso fanau Cynthia!

Talofa!  To those of you who have no clue what that title is all about, it says 'Happy birthday Cynthia!' {in Samoan}.  Let me tell you, I was beyond excited when I received this cake request a month ago.  My friend Lupe emailed me requesting a cake like the Pasifika one I made for the lovely Asa's 70th birthday last year.  That cake was truly one of my proudest and most defining moments as a self-taught cake artist.  It's something that I haven't seen before and I'm just so proud to call it my own.  

This cake is very similar, but with more of a Samoan twist.  What makes my Pasifika cake so special is 

the woven basket and hibiscus flowers {all handmade and edible}, which I definitely had to include in this cake.  Having to work with two tiers, I needed another design element to bring this cake to full life.  So, I decided to include some Samoan patterns in the mix, and my inspiration came from the 'taulima' {which is the Samoan tattoo} and 'tapa cloth'.  I also included a Samoan necklace that I draped on the side of the bottom tier.  I own this particular one {being married to a Samoan I was bound to have one in my jewellery collection hehe}, so it was really great to have on hand to work off.  

Cynthia actually went to my high school, so I know her, which makes this cake that much more special.  So much heart went into the creative process of this cake, so I really hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to life! xo

I also made a dozen chocolate cupcakes and decorated them with edible images.  Now, I don't print on edible sheets {I don't have the equipment for that}, so I had to order these in {and Lupe provided me with the photos}.  What I did have to do was cut the pictures out individually then adhere them onto a piece of white fondant so that they don't just melt into my chocolate buttercream.  Please excuse the blurry photo below :-/

Here is a collage of the cake's progress for those of you who like to see these sort of details...

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's second post!  I'm so happy to have finally shared these two cakes with you before the weekend!  I've been so busy with my own family that trying to get these two posts out today were a real mish.  But, never mind that!  The important thing is we got there in the end and I hope it was worth the wait!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Stay warm and dry and keep smilin'!  God bless you all!

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 16th Criselda!!

Last weekend my dear cousin Criselda turned sweet sixteen!!  She is addicted to KPop and Anime, more specifically BIG BANG {Korean boy group} and Sword Art Online character Kirito.  This cake had to incorporate these two things that play such a big part in her life right now.  After watching countless music video clips of Big Bang, and browsing through images of Kirito, I came up with a mash of shapes and colours that I felt best portrayed these two things.  It was such a fun cake to put together!!  Hope you like it just as much as the birthday girl did :-P

Rainbow batter paint :-P

Baked rainbow layers

Sketch of Kirito

And now, the FUNKY SIXTEEN cake!!

My gorgeous cousin Criselda with her birthday cake xo

Family photo :-)

Let's not forget our fluffy Mango to complete this family photo :-)

Inside the top tier...rainbow goodness!!

Click 'Read More' after the break to see the rainbow cupcakes I made {and forgot to bring to the party} lol...

Farewell Mr. Fletch!!

Last Friday my son Javaughnn's teacher left NZ to move to Tunisia.  It was a very difficult time for him and his classmates.  They absolutely love Mr. Fletcher so it was heart-breaking for them to say goodbye.  Javaughn considers him his best and most awesome teacher ('learning coach' as he calls it) so far...and he's only had him for half a school year - that's gotta say something!!  Fortunately, I've had the pleasure of also getting to know {Dave} and he is definitely one amazing and inspiring person.  I was gutted at the news because I knew how much of an impact he has made on Javaughn, not just with his learning, but his positive outlook on life.  I also believe that he is one of the reasons Javaughn is excelling at rugby league this year, which is fantastic!!

Javaughn wanted to express his gratitude to his teacher on his last day in cake form!  So he asked me to make him a special two-tier cake for Mr Fletcher (and of course the rest of the class).  Even though I was beyond exhausted that Thursday, I knew how important this was for my son, so I sacrificed my much needed sleep in order to get it done.  So, without further ado, here is Mr. Fletcher's thank you and farewell cake!  Enjoy!!

{top tier: rainbow, bottom tier: chocolate}

Javaughn (below Mr Fletcher) and the rest of Team 17 

Hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  See you back here for more cakes!!  Stay tuned!

Have a marvellous Monday!!

xo,
Jackie

  

Happy 1st birthday Hosea!!

Today's cake feature is one I made for a boy named Hosea who turned the big ONE this past weekend.  His Mum Shaye ordered his cake from me all the way from Brisbane!  She had seen one of my cakes at our mutual friend Ashleigh's facebook page and wanted to know who made it.  Soon after, she sent me a private message asking if I could make her son's birthday cake.  As my week was clear (with only one other cake to do) I happily accepted the challenge.  She knew what she wanted and sent me a pic for inspiration.  Such a fun theme - Sesame street's Elmo and Cookie Monster!!  I was sooo excited to make this cake!!  

I actually had to make sure she didn't expect me to 'airmail' the cake over...lol.  She confirmed that she and her family were coming over to NZ to celebrate with family and friends.  Phew!  I know it seems crazy to think that, but you can never be too sure...hehehe.

So, without further ado, Hosea's Elmo Cookie birthday cake!!  Enjoy!!

Click after the break to see close ups...

Happy 3rd Birthday to my twins!!!

A couple of weekends ago, my family and I celebrated a very special third birthday - our twins' Javier Stanley and Carlyle Micah.  We partied it up at our house Cars styles!

Each year our boys have their birthdays, we take the time to watch this video I made for them.  It's a nice reminder of where they began, and how much they've grown wonderfully since then.  It's also a great testament to our awesome God, who answers prayers and is a miracle worker!  I cry every time I watch this because it brings back very challenging memories during a very surreal time of our lives.  I smile, too, because it is also a reminder of the great joy we experienced throughout this extraordinary journey.

So, without further ado, here are some highlights from their third birthday!  Enjoy!!

The dessert table with all its handmade decor and edible goodies.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Gaile for helping me set this up.  I was running outta time!!

Best buds Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater

Now I experienced a bit of grief with this cake.  I didn't plan on spending too long on it to be honest, until things turned to custard!  And I ended up having to strip the fondant off and start over.  Not really what you wanna do past midnight.  But I'm glad I did, because it looked a whole lot better after the strip.  Sure, it's a bit rough here and there, but overall I was pleased.  The fondant for Tow Mater, for some reason, was cracking and doing all sorts of weird stuff, but after I stepped back to take a look, I thought it looked quite cool with all its flaws.  Definitely suited Mater because he's supposed to be worn and rusty anyway.  Don't you just love it when things work out?!

Thanks to Andrea Sullivan for the inspiration.  Her version of this cake is amazing!

Some decor I made to add some colour to the party.

This is by the entrance, where guests take their party hats from.
I pixelated the mirror so you can't see me taking the photo, hehe.

Jubs copying Tow Mater lol

Click 'read more' below to see more highlights from my boys' party...