Kogepan & Flowers

What has Kogepan got to do with flowers? Nothing. Except that they were birthday cakes from sister to sister. The one with flowers was ordered by a customer. These flowers were manually rolled and shaped. The process was tedious. I had wanted to get a sugarcraft gun but it was quite expensive. Took me quite awhile to make them but the result was satisfactory. My sis commented that it has a little Peranakan feel.


























































This cake was however done in record time. I took 1 and 1/2 hour to bake and decorate. The speed is relative to the design as well. I am not sure if anyone is a fan of Kogepan (burnt bread-man) but both me and my sis are. I still possess handphone lanyards, handphone charms, stuffed toy, pencil case, etc., all well-kept and unused. Earlier this year, I had promised her to bake her one. What's worse was I had orders that day. Good thing was that Kogepan-san's lines were simple and straight forward. Here's a brief introduction about Kogepan. Kogepan always has this sad and empty look. As he was slightly burnt in the oven, it was left on the shelf. He drowns his sorrow in milk. But this Kogepan should feel happy. It was baked with love and his destiny of being eaten was fulfilled.

Soar The Sky

Just passed the 35th year mark of my life two Thursday ago. Do bakers bake their own cakes on their birthday? Not this one. I had an almost cake-free day, except that I had to bake in the evening for an order. As for birthday presents, I received a recipe book which 2 of my sis S's recipes were in it, a 'voucher' to get a haircut which I badly need, some recipes books from friends and a fridge. I picked practicality in place of a jewellery piece. It was a tie, between a new mixer and a fridge. I figured I could wait for the next sale season for the mixer, weheras the fridge was already offered on sale. Thank you for all the birthday wishes I received on mobile, emails and Facebook. I appreciate the reminder of me approaching 40 in another 5 years' time.


Well now, back to this blog post where a fortunate boy whose loving parents ordered 2 airplane cakes for his birthday celebration. Kids these days are so lucky. Often, they get 2 cakes for their birthdays. With the permission of the loving mummy, I am allowed to post her boys' pic on my blog. The control tower and plane were assembled on site. They decorated their home with a departure/arrival hall. This is the pilot and his co-pilot, complete with uniform. Smart looking.


















Another cake to celebrate with close relatives. As the cake was not delivered to the venue, I made it safer for transportation.


















Personally, I liked the birds.

Wedding Cake

When I was asked to make a wedding cake, I didn't know what ran through my mind. Was it, 'Oh shit, how am I going to pull this through?' or was it, 'Wow, thanks for having faith in me.' Making one for a friend and making one for a client is a totally different experience. For the former, I was all relaxed. However, as time goes by, knowing more about fondant, reading all the horror stories about how the cake could go wrong, I am all nerves.

I made plans a month before the wedding to learn how to make gumpaste roses from a book. Sad to say, with my clumsy fingers, they were not realistic enough thus not up to par. I had to scrap the idea of using roses. The thing about this client was that she left the design all up to me, as long as the cake was purple and that she wanted a traditional wedding couple topper. There's good and bad about this. The good thing was that I had the liberty to do whatever I want with the cake. The bad thing was that; it was not my cake afterall. Without understanding what she wants, I could never know how she had envisioned her cake to be. So upon seeing the cake, we could be devastated or delighted. I was glad that the former didn't happen.
























The wedding was held at a church and the reception was at a place that looked like a canteen. So there wasn't really a place where I can set up the cake against a nice backdrop. It was drizzling then but was glad that my homemade marshmallow fondant decided to behave and didn't sweat. I had a mild scare while transporting the cake though. Despite my warning to the cab driver to drive slow, he made a sharp swerve. I thought I heard a small 'thud' at the back. Fortunately, the cake was unharmed. I was told by the bride later that the relatives thought that the cake was a dummy. Honestly, when I married, I didn't have a wedding cake. I had to cut into a dummy and thought that was funny.