Jill and Matt

When I got a call from Jiab, Jill’s sister I knew that Jill and Matt’s wedding ceremony was finally confirmed taking place in August and that meant that I would be making them a wedding cake. Everything went so as apparently both Jeab and Jill were very easy going and Jill knew exactly what she wanted: a blue wedding cake. It took us merely one short lunch and one email later to settle with a cake design that incorporated 150 cupcakes along the tiers. And we also agreed that blue would be accompanied with a play of white, yellow, and pink.




Jill was thrilled of having peonies, to be exact giant white peonies as the main flowers for the cake, and suggested plumeria as the secondary flowers as there will be lots of plumeria trees in the garden where the wedding ceremony was planned to take place.




In the afternoon of August 25th I and Ning, my buddy traveled on a one and a half hour drive before we assembled the cake next to a swimming pool in a beautiful, mainly in blue decorated garden at a farm in Nakornpathorm,60 kilometres West of Bangkok. Ning was very handy and briefly worked out an impressive white satin table set-up (Thanks, Ning! You are the best!), while I was concentrating in arranging the flowers and cupcakes. My final touch was placing my very last blooms at the top tier cake. Just as it was accomplished, I allowed myself to exhale in total relief.




The completed cake quickly found many happy faces. Lots of photos were taken. There were cheers and laughter everywhere and guests were so relaxed and into the mood of romance.



I just love weddings, don’t you?

Gold

It has been a long silence here in this blog. If you happened to read my previous posts, you might have guessed what I was up to. Suffice to say, it was a complete break that was filled with exciting competition, learning experiences, tool quest, fun, and new friendships.



Where to begin? After an intensive 3 week preparation of the 2012 Squires Kitchen cake competition pieces, I was finally on my flight to London on 8th of March. My heart was beating hard and my mind went restless. A journey into an exciting unknown event was felt like going to a marvelous yet dangerous fairground. Especially when the flight to London was scheduled to arrive in late afternoon followed by supposingly one-hour drive to Farnham. So I bet by the time I was in Farnham it was already dark. Haunting dark. My worries had set in all at once.



Amidst my worries, I insisted on making the best use of my time during a 5-hour transit in Shanghai Airport. The airport had to entertain the sight of me touching up my miniature wedding cake in the passenger sitting area. Several Mandarin-speaking women couldn't help themselves from approaching and questioning me of what I was doing. My quick smile response managed to send them away but yet each of them was so thoughtful of leaving polite complement for my cake. "Thank you and sorry for declining a chat!" was a grateful message sent back silently as I quickly went back to work on the beads. Hours passed by without notice, the next thing I knew was the loud boarding announcement was fueling my anxiety - I had to stop and embark to the next flight!



11-hour flight to London was daunting. The food was horrible, seat was uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep. The over two hundreds in-flight movies were suddenly so stale and boring, I shut the screen off and tried to close my eyes as long as I could.

Ivory

It was great working with just one color: ivory, a strong color despite its light and humble being. It carried pure charm that didn’t need to shout just to be noticed. And it owned an elegant property that never missed to impress any cake decorator who determined to indulge in this color. I truly had my special moment with it.



It was also intriguing working with a single color and anticipating how it would turn out at the end. Apparently my client was pleased that she got just what she had expected for her wedding. Could it be the fact that a bride just couldn’t resist a cake with accessories on it? A simple touch of silver dust and sheer glaze was all that it needed to turn heads.



Well, January was a month of bliss welcoming the year 2012. And with this joy I present this piece of work to you! Enjoy :-)

London... London

It has been a while since the last time I posted something on this blog. My apology to all of you who have taken the time to drop by only to find the same old post. And my gratitude to all of you who have sent warm regards and concerned emails asking how I was doing. Thank you!



A couple of things happened that took my time entirely away from blogging. First I was so overwhelmed of preparing my entry to the ICCA Wedding Cake Competition in Malaysia taking place end of last September. It was my very first competition so it was understandable how seriously I must have taken it. A three week dedication that consisted of flower preparation, coloring and dusting, and a lot of rolling and folding. In the meantime I also had to worry about the flight, accommodation, and how to carry my cake on board.



I was just super busy. There were times when I thought it was just too tiring joining such overseas event and should just quit. But then T was always there to comfort me and put me back on track thinking positively that it was a worthwhile journey of experience, either win or lose at the end. Due to the number of things we need to hand carry into the airplane, T finally decided to accompany me for the trip. A great support came just right in time, one week to the competition day.

Shopping Bag

T landed a birthday cake order, for his company who runs a stylish shopping center in Bangkok. He was very excited about it as he was in charge of organizing the party and keen on making it extraordinary.



He thought I was the right person who could make the cake that fitted the occasion. I asked him what he had in mind and he firmly conveyed that the cake had to represent the company's business. So after throwing a few ideas, T settled on a fondant cake in a shopping bag shape. That would be the first customized fondant cake for such birthday event in his company and he was sure everyone would be delighted about it.



Apparently I was just as excited as him about the cake. Took the initiative to do a sample cake one week before the actual event. Just wanted to make sure that it would be the right size and decoration that would fit the theme that he had planned out for the party. It was also a good practice to get all the things right for the real cake.



Everything went smoothly with the sample cake, and the real cake in the following week. It was so much fun watching the company's staff who attended the party taking turns in photographing the cake. And as for the next day, I had seen at least two or three persons including the cake photos in their Facebook. Cool!



My conclusion is as everyone likes shopping, everyone seems to like a shopping bag cake too. Thanks T for having the confidence in me! And hope you all enjoy the photos of the pink sample cake and the purple real cake!

Mich and Gerbera

Sometimes we are surprised of how simple things could please our eyes and bring us happiness. I guess some great cake decorators understand and practice this concept occasionally. The other day I was decorating my cake and thinking hard what design I should create to go along with my Gerbera sugar flowers. So there Mich Turner came into picture.



A London’s top cake designer who are well known for her creations, Mich Turner has written many inspiring cake decorating books. One that is in my collection and has become an important source of ideas is “Wedding Cakes” published in 2009. In that wonderful book on page 78 Mich, who is famous for her chic and contemporary design showed that when a grid of ½ inch lines running in random direction are piped on cake, and then dots of pearls are added at random spots on those lines, the result is a very cool pattern.



It took me just a short while to complete such seemingly detailed pattern. And I could not wait to quickly compose my Gerbera flowers on it. These blossoms are made in various colors and sitting in the air-proof container for quite some time now. The moment has arrived for them to strike a pose.



Thanks to Mich for the wonderful pattern, and wish to read and enjoy more of her books in the near future. I am sure if you are fond of fondant cake decorating, you might have some of her books in your collection too. Which one is your favorite?

Cattleya

Cattleya is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after Sir William Cattley[2] who received and successfully cultivated specimens of Cattleya labiata that were used as packing material in a shipment of other orchids made by William Swainson (wikipedia.com)



Cattleya is definitely the queen of orchirds. Due to its size and beauty, Cattleya represents our visual idea of all orchirds. Typically recognized by its showy flowers, there are hundreds of species around. Recently my observation in the orchird exhibition concluded that there were almost no color limits to this flowers – white, yellow, light green, purple, orange, you name it!



I had so much fun forming and shaping these flowers. And if you notice well, Cattleya is in Top 5 of flowers to be used in decorating Wedding Cake. I can’t agree more, once these flowers are up there on the cake, they turn the creation into magical beauty and elegance. I wasn’t sure about which colors to start with but yellow and purple could never go wrong.



Satisfaction was all I had once they were up there on the cake. With their charm, they made my photo shoot into a fun but indecisive session – I had to photograph them in almost any angle possible instead of just stick with one best.I promised myself I would continue making them in the future.



My next attempt would be lime green and white orchird, even though frankly speaking the orange ones did catch a lot of my attention.

The Flower Spray

What could be more interesting than decorating cakes with flowers? In this case, gumpaste flowers. While before I found my passion for fondant decoration, my cakes were mostly decorated with either fresh fruits, chocolate pieces, or buttercream piping.



Only when I embraced the muse of fondant world, the decorating ideas became truly limitless. And I enjoyed every design and color possibility - it is like pushing myself back into graphic design all over again - only now I fiddle with fondant and gumpaste as my media.



For those who love flower gumpaste, mostly are big fans of Alan Dunn, the author of uncountable cake decorating and sugar flower books. Alan is a true inspiration for many of us who admire the natural beauty of flowers and plants, and make an attempt to mimic them into cake decoration.



I am sure his upcoming book "Tropical and Exotic Flowers for Cakes" that will be published in August this year will become a big hit. Can't wait to get a copy of it!



Meanwhile, I was spending my free time developing this set of birthday cakes for my boss' birthday celebration. Apparently he was very excited about the flower spray - he started pulling the blossoms out from the arrangement and giving to the female staff in the office. The white rose which was the centerpiece, was given to his assistant. All in all, it was a wonderful celebration and everyone seemed to enjoy his or her slice of chocolate cake.

Brush Embroidery and The Queen of Macaron

Besides the sugarpaste and flower gumpaste, one of the things that a fondant cake decorator has to familiarize himself with is the royal icing. While at first I was merely aware of royal icing conventional piping, as I get to learn more about fondant decorating, I find out there are so much more I can fiddle with such as broderie anglaise, lacing, filigree, extension work, embroidery, etc. So many things to learn ... so little time.



Brush embroidery is the decorating technique which involves imprinting, outlining and brushing. The decorator usually imprints a pattern on the cake, then outlines the design following the imprint by piping the royal icing starting from the deepest or most internal layer. A damp paintbrush is then used to pull the edges of the outline piping inward leaving brush strokes pattern. The whole process is time consuming especially if the design is elaborate and extensive, but normally the end result is worth the effort as brush embroidery gives an elegant look to the cake.



As I was practicing Brush Embroidery, meanwhile at the other side of the world the Queen of Macaron, Thip of the inspiring Bonbini informed me that she would be visiting Bangkok. It was totally delightful to receive her email a few weeks ago and arranged an appointment to meet up one of these days.



My respect and admiration for her were earlier established in her very first year of blogging when she introduced her irresistible range of macarons and exquisite pastry. It was intoxicating, I should admit that I had entirely dedicated my time in baking macarons through and through. Into these days, while any presence of macaron is in my sight, I would instantly think about Thip.



It was mainly her that shed the lights into exotic, adventurous, and sophisticated desserts such as basil-lime sorbet with basil gelee, coconut vanilla bavarois with hibiscus gelee, and many more…. And not to mention her fabulous feuille d' automne. Sensational… Do check out her blog, Bonbini :-)

I am sure meeting up with Thip would be pleasant and exciting…. So look forward to it!

Sunflower

Regularly used to depict the sun, sunflower is a true symbol of energy and power. It is perhaps the biggest in the family of flowers in the world. Or wait.... maybe not, now suddenly I remember what I have seen in Discovery Channel about this flower called Rafflesia Arnoldii found in the rainforest of Indonesia and Malaysia. Well, as this flower produces the odor of decaying flesh, it is just eerie to even talk about it. Let's drop it for sunflower then :-)



Sunflower is the most outstanding flower that never stops impressing me. I could vividly recall how once had brought these flowers for a date and greatly mesmerized him. A big smile on his face said a thousand words.



Again, I like to use sunflowers for something creative - no, not for creative dating or anything like that, but more for fondant cake decorating. Having borrowed the sunflower cutters from Kate of Artisan Sweets by Kate, I thought I might as well put them in good use, and at the same time dedicate this cake to her. Thanks Kate, will send these cutters back to you soon :-)



My sunflowers are more in graphical form, I don't think I could go into the meticulous detailing as what has been described in Wikipedia: "The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base". I am happy with the simple and cheerful form.



This 4 tiered cake took a couple of days of preparation and is exhausting. But at the end of the day, it is worth the effort. You can definitely see my big smile that says a thousand words...