Mumm Champagne Cake

It's been a while since I blogged, been slacking off lately. This is actually my first cake of 2013 done in January and I've been put it on hold for so long.

In this project a friend of mine asked me to do a champagne bottle cake for her mum's 50th birthday. I have to copy Mumm champagne bottle with edible prints etc. I've done a bottle cake with Johnnie Walker Blue label cake before so I was kinda know what to do with the edible prints.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, even though I would love more rounded cake but all in all it was a great cake.

Thanks for checking my blog, will update you with more projects. I got plenty that I haven't blogged yet.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label Cake

One of our daughter's carer in CC saw the photos of Alana's birthday party and praising the cake and all the sweets that we made. Before we know it she approached BakerzMum and asking us to make a cake for her partner's 30th birthday.

She picked Johnnie Walker Blue Label as the theme and we accepted the challenge. We've done 3D cake before and I think this project is not really difficult. However there some technique and material that we never used before and it makes the project more interesting.

One of the new material is modelling chocolate, which I've been dying to try. After watching so many episodes of Cake Boss I've been curios on this particular material. I found a simple recipe on the internet it turned out quite hard to work with and not as easy as fondant but I think people prefer eating chocolate rather than pure sugar so it was a god try. I used the modeling chocolate for the neck and cap of the bottle.

The other technique/material that we never use before is edible print. I've been wanting to try on edible print before but it's not cheap so I put it on hold. Receiving order less than week from delivery time makes finding printer for edible printing a challenge. I leave it up to BakerzMum to do the research and she found it not in the internet but in a place I never thought would do it. She went to the local cake shop that does edible print on cake and surprisingly their willing to do just the print without the cake and it's cheaper than the internet price and they can have it done in 2 days which is perfect. Applaud to BakerzMum and her 'think outside the square' thinking.

I begin with carving the cake and shaping the modeling chocolate and cove them with ganache. And then I cover the cake with dark chocolate fondant and the cap with beige color fondant which I painted god with gold lustre dusk, and I painted the chocolate fondant with pearl shimmer dusk.

The cake floating on top of Pyrex container

Once it all done I placed the cake on top of cake board and applying the edible prints and voila it transform from normal bottle cake into Johnnie Walker Blue Label cake.

Close up on the edible label

Secret message on the bottom label, I hope they notice it

Well honestly the edible prints come a little bit smaller than it suppose to. I've already instructed them not to scale the file but the obviously did but at least it's still looks good.

Another view

Another angle

This project is super fun and I'm doing it while seeping on aged whiskey hehehehe...just kidding. I wish Damo a very happy birthday and hopefully this cake marked one of his milestone. Thanks for checking guys.

House Cake

I was driving for a business trip out of town when BakerzMum told me that we had a last minute cake order. A friend of ours was texting BakerzMum if we could make her a cake for her husband's birthday in 2 days, that means we have limited time to finish the cake. So we took the challenge and ask for instruction how the cake should look like.

Our friend didn't have any idea what it should look like and asked for our suggestion, and we came with basic simple question: 'What is his interest/hobby?'. She replied that he has many hobbies and interest, so we dig deeper, does he like cars? footbal clubs? anything? At the end we settle with house, because he is a property developer. It was quite exciting because I've never done house cake before, and I saw many of great examples in the internet.

So we didn't waste any time and start working on the project that night by building the walls, door and windows. Since we're in a hurry I didn't got a chance to take pictures of the process. Our friend picked Lapis Surabaya for the cake and actually it's not my ideal cake to shaped, but I didn't see any problem using Lapis Surabaya for this particular design. I built the walls and roofs in advance and I made them in pieces so I won't need to roll and cover the cake with fondant like normal cake, so the Lapis Surabaya won't need to bear too much weight.

The only process photo I could snapped

I used a lot of butter cream for this project, at least I used 750grm of vegetable shortening. I need the butter cream to cover the cake and to shape the roof. I pre-measured the walls and roofs so it's not the fondant that follows the shape of the cake but the cake has to follow the measurement from the fondant. And I happened to over estimate the length of the house, this is where butter cream take charge, so I slapped at least 1.5 cm of butter cream on each side of the cake. But at the end everything works perfectly.

Facade

The other thing that's time consuming is the roof, because I have to cut and placed the roof-tiles one by one. If I got a chance to do another house cake I will consider simpler method. This is quite a last minute project and ideally I would love to add more details on the house but with the time constraint I think I've done quite a decent job.

Bird eye view

The birthday boy was turning 35, so I put number 35 as the number of the house. I hope they notice it when they cut the cake hehehehe.

View from the top

East Elevation

West Elevation

Rear elevation, I didn't have time to make another door hence the ugly back of the house

Detailed View

BakerzMum told me that our friend was quite happy when she picked-up the cake, I hope her husband appreciate her thoughtfulness and enjoy the cake. Thanks for checking out, I will update you with my next project.

Pooh Bear Cake

A friend of mine asked me for a Pooh Bear cake for her wife's 30th Birthday. At first I thought he wanted a cake with pooh figurine because he requested pooh and piglet together so I said no problem. Then he explain that he wanted it to be special and request whether I can create a cake in the shape of pooh bear like a doll, I was intrigue and quickly explained that I could give it a go but I never done full on 3D cake before. It will require serious carving and possibly using Rice Krispie Treat which I never done before. My friend told me to give it a go and so I did it.

I was so busy that week and didn't get a chance to do the step-by- step guide I think it's because I've never done it before that I'm not really confident to make a tutorial. So I went to the internet to find out how to work with Rice Krispie Treat, most of the video tutorials  I found didn't really show how to mold RKT by hand. So I turned to written tutorial and decided to give it a go. It wasn't as hard as I imagined but the key is you have to work fast with the right amount of Rice Krispie Treat.

I did the head of pooh with RKT, it looks alright from the front but it's actually a little bit flat if you see it from sides. But for a first attempt I'm quite happy with the result. The hardest part doing this cake is covering the RKT head with fondant, I had to cover it 2 layers to ensure smooth finish. If you let me be critical I think the shape of the Pooh could be better, yes it looks like bear with pooh t-shirt but other than that it's just yellow bear with red  pooh t-shirt. But to my own defense this is my first attempt creating 3D cake and I think I've done pretty well.

Pooh from the side, notice the flat head?

didn't notice the flat head? How about now? LOL

View from the top

Another view of the cake

So I heard the birthday girl was thrilled by the cake to the extend that she refused to cut the cake. At the end the only cut the honey pot leave the pooh alone. And finally they cut the pooh the next day hehehehe. This is such an intriguing cake and I've learned so much doing this cake. I hope you enjoy my post.

Lego Head Cake

A friend contacted me to make a cake for her son's birthday and decided to get Lego as the theme. I have to admit I found quit a number of beautiful Lego cake in the net but nothing tickle my fancy as the Lego head idea. One of the brief is to make it not too cute because the birthday boy was turning nine and not to keen on the idea of cute cake. I hope he didn't find this too cute.

Unfortunately I didn't get a change to take some photos of this cake in the making. But as summary, I used polystyrene as the 'neck' and I placed 2 layers of 6 inch cake on to of 6 inch cake board. To get the rounded effect on the edge of the head I freeze the cake and carved is slightly. The round bit on top of the cake is fondant, I used blue fondant from my other project and cover it with yellow fondant. All the decorations are fondant. to secure the cake I used sharpened wooden dowel to pin the cake to the polystyrene neck.

 Lego Man

Details on the top bit

Birthday boy's name in Lego style font

View from the top

This was quite a fun cake to make and the only think that worried me is that the cake might fell off the polystyrene neck during transport. But I haven't heard anything from Travis' mum so I assume the cake traveling alright. Thank you all for checking, I will update you with my next project.

Pregnant Dress Cake

I've seen a lot of tutorial and pictures of princess or Barbie cakes and I found it quite intriguing. All I need is a little girl who's dream of a birthday cake is a princess or Barbie cake. Unfortunately the chance is not looking to come soon. Another thing that intrigue me is the bridal shower cake with the same concept but instead of barbie they used headless mannequin which can be done with fondant.

Long story short, I got my sister in law coming along, she might not be a girl with a dream of princess or Barbie birthday cake but I think the dress with mannequin might be more appropriate for her. So I took the chance and creating this dress cake with a twist because she's pregnant with her first child.

I had days of preparation with this cake and managed to do a step-by-step tutorial, I hope you enjoy it and find the tutorial helpful.

I started with a sketch of how it should look like. I saw a lot of dress cake with mannequin in the net but none of them depicting pregnant lady. So I did the sketch to give me a rough idea how it should look like as a guide when I carve the cake.

First thing I did is the mannequin as it will take long time to set, so I shaped black fondant mixed with tylose as the mannequine upper torso with pregnant belly and let it set for 2 days.

My sketch along with the mannequin torso, I used a handwash bottle to give the curve contour to the mannequin's back

Next time is the cake, I had Bakerz Mum baked me 1 x 6 inch cake and 2 x 4 inch cake, I sandwich them with butter cream, put it in the freezer and let it freeze over night.

The cake frozen and ready to carve

I placed the smaller cakes on the edge of the 6 inch cake to follow my sketch and give definition to the pregnant belly. I placed the mannequin torso on top of the cake with dowel as support and start carving.

Mannequin torso standing tall supported by dowel inserted to the cake

I started carving the cake following the shape of the mannequin

The cake carved and ready to be coated with buttercream

Once I'm happy with the shape of the cake I covered the cake with buttercream, actually butter cream is also good to help me shape the cake.

Start covering the cake with buttercream

I covered the cake all the way to the torso part, and put extra buttercream on the belly to give it more definition

The cake completely covered with butter cream

Side view so you can see the belly

Once the cake covered with butter cream, I covered the front part of the dress with white fondant. I was planning to use the petals technique for the front part of the dress. The first time I did the petals technique I didn't get a chance to do a tutorial so I'll do a tutorial for the dress.

Step 1: rolled fondant to desired thickness

Step 2: using round cutter cut the fondant

Step 3: cut approx. 1/3 of the circle

This is what it should look like

Step 4: using ball tool thin the edge

 Step 5: apply fondant glue to the dress

Step 6: placed the petals on the dress

The finish front of the dress withe petals

Once the petals part finished I covered the rest of the cake with pale yellow dress and add yellow sash

Pale yellow dress, it's a bit tricky putting the dress on I was successful on my fifth attemp.

Yellow sash and bow attached

It was really late by the time I finished this step so I leave it to Bakerz Mum to finish the cake with royal icing lace the next day.

View from the top, gorgeous lacing by Bakerz Mum I added the pearl necklace and royal icing trim on the dress.

Side view to show the pregnant belly

Back side with the bow

It was a nice surprise for my sister in law and she really appreciate our effort creating this cake for her birthday. I'm just hopping the this cake will be memorable for her because this is her first birthday away from home, first birthday as a wife and last birthday before being a mum.

The birthday girl with her cake

It was a really fun cake to make and love love love the challenge. I'm really satisfied by the result and would love to do a project like this soon. Thank you all for checking by, will update you with my next project.