Being a cake designer means I have to be familiar with what TV shows/characters kids of all age groups love. A few months ago, I had NO IDEA who the Octonauts were and quite frankly, I don’t really know who they are now but at least I know that they’re sea pilots(?), sea cowboys(?) that solve mysteries(?) or save the underwater world from evil(?) and say, “CREATURE REPORT!” (okay, THAT part I do know! ).
I really love this cake! I made a time lapse video of my putting this together but the camera work was HORRIBLE. That’s the last time I tape my phone to a box! The 30 minutes of filming turned into a 16-second video. If each cake took 16 seconds to make, I’d be stinkin’ rich right now!
You all know how much I LOVE matching cakes and cupcakes! These were SO fun to make. Super detailed but that’s what I love. Taking this photo was worth all of the 3 hours it took to put together!
If my cupcakes committed a crime, this would be their ’side mug shot’!
This hungry dinosaur is attacking Eason’s cake even before the birthday boy gets to see it! This dinosaur guy took me SO long to sculpt but it was definitely worth it because that was Eason’s one request (to have a T-Rex on it!). He looks more like Puff the Magic Dragon, don’t you think? I should stop thinking about him or his song will be playing in my head the whole night!
Made this cutesy pie monkey cake last week and he looks as cheeky as my nephew, The Monkey! I’m starting to like simple cakes with just enough details on it. This is definitely a phase! I’m also trying to use muted tones even though you know I love my *powpow* bold colours!
As I make hundreds of cakes and cupcakes every year for everyone’s special loved ones, I finally get to make something for one of my own… my dear, precious baby Zachary (who is not a baby anymore). Since he came into my life 4 years ago, I finally knew what selflessly loving another human being meant. This boy stole my heart! I see him every other day and we do fun things together like go to the science centre, Ikea (for hot dogs + frozen yogurt), McDs (we share McFlurries), STC, Walmart, Costco (he loves samples — heck, I love them too!) and he’ll always come over and play at my place. He is the smartest and funniest 4-year-old I’ve ever met and we have the best adventures together.
The other day I was putting him in his car seat at Walmart and he goes, “Auntie… can you check my underwear? I don’t remember which one I’m wearing — Toy Story 1, 2 or 3!” (apparently this is very important to him) so I fulfilled my “auntie duty” and checked his underwear. I don’t even know the difference between the 3 movies so I just said 2… He also memorizes bible verses like a pro, reads Chinese and shamefully, he corrects my Chinese when I use the wrong word… (this was when he was still 2! SO embarrassing!). So to sum up… I’m so in love with this guy
3.5 years ago. Super melt!
Last week he said, “Auntie… my birthday is coming up… can you make me a Nemo cake?” and I thought.. sure, of course I can. My original idea was to make a PLAYABLE Angry Birds cake but then I thought that would be way too much work. I still had other orders to do, you know? Then I wanted to do 4 cakes for his 4th birthday. Since I read a lot of bedtime stories to him (yes, after I give him his bath — I should win some ‘auntie of the year’ award!), I wanted to re-create his favourite storybooks into cakes. Clifford, Curious George, Cars 2 and Angry Birds. But then I remember each cake takes AT LEAST 10 hours to do and I still had other orders to think about. When he said “Nemo”, it helped a lot. NEMO IT WAS!!
Or so I thought!
I started sketching, brainstorming ideas and knew exactly what I was going to make. We were up north the other weekend and I stupidly showed him my phone of Angry Birds cakes and he said, “I change my mind! I want an Angry Birds cake now!” and my inside voice said, “Nooooo…. WHY… WHY did you show him the cakes?!”. I tried to persuade him saying that Nemo was cooler than Angry Birds (such a bad argument) and that he wanted Nemo to begin with and “no backsies!!”. Sigh. That DID NOT work. He kept saying that he wanted Angry Birds. I realized at that point that there was NO changing this kid’s mind. So I told him how about I do a mash-up cake with Nemo and Angry Birds? His face LIT UP. He said he wanted Nemo in the slingshot. DONE. This will be fun
Us being “us”, Easter weekend (before the kids went on stage to perform, hence the bow tie!) Yes, he is holding a gigantic lump of multi-coloured Playdoh!
Long story short I made a mash-up cake of the two themes as you will see in this short clip and brought it to his place on his birthday. This video is mostly in Chinese but I will do my best with my mediocre skills (according to Z) to translate. His grandma actually bought him a chocolate cake and he said it was the “best cake he’s ever had” (try living up to that standard!) so you will see that cake in the background. We call that cake the “eating cake” and my cake is the “looking cake”. See see no touch!
… because it’s just SO funny!! (I want a niece so bad — can you tell??)
You will see James in the background trying to get attention from us by sticking his stinky foot on the table (he knows he’s not suppose to do that). Zach watches all Disney movies in Chinese and Nemo’s Chinese name is “Ah-mo”… as in… ‘Mo. I’m guessing that’s his street name too if he was ever in a gang. Some clownfish gang thing. You can’t really hear him at the beginning when he sees the cake cause he’s just so happy that his voice is a little distorted but he says, “Angry Birds and Mo-jai” which is I guess Nemo’s nickname? Then he makes a comment that the pigs stole the bird’s eggs. I’m so glad he noticed these little details I put in!
Enjoy!
(PS. I know you can see the back of the cake which is BARE… since this was a non-paying cake made from the goodness of my heart, I had to save on fondant. Sorry you had to see that)
Hi everyone! Happy MONDAY! It’s been such a productive day today. Monday is always synonymous with CLEANING DAY and clean-out-my-inbox day. My second batch of sugarcane soup is simmering on the stove and I can’t stop drinking it! It’s so delicious and reminds me of my holidays in Hong Kong where I used to drink it in copious amounts. It’s a nice comforting companion on this cold, snowy afternoon. WHY IS IT STILL SNOWING?!
I got to make Adrian’s 4th birthday cake this weekend and when his mom e-mailed me her idea of a Minions cake, I was ECSTATIC. I made a list of all the designs I wanted to do for 2013 and MINIONS was on the top of my list. It was interesting because I did not know what minions were and quite honestly, I still don’t. But they’re so cute and yellow and wear cutesy little overalls! How can I resist?
This guy is an itty bitty one. 4″ in diameter and approximately 5″ tall. My favourite part was painting his goggles in a nice silver luster paint. My hands were shaking so badly and the paint got all over the place. I had to go back with a paintbrush and erase all the ‘mistakes’. I love how he’s holding a little fork and knife here waiting to devour into his birthday cake. Cross-eyed, gotta love it! There’s a photo of me when I was a baby with the exact expression (minus the fork + knife!) looking at my bottle of milk. I’m sure drunks look at their alcohol that way too. Either way, you get the pic
Baby announcement cake from this weekend I had troubles letting this one go! I want to make one for myself and not eat it but stare at it. And take selfie pictures with it and post it on Instagram. And every other social media outlet available.
Happy Thursday, everyone!
There’s going to be a snowstorm today but it’s all sunny skies and bright colours inside. It’s going to be one busy day today with lots of cakes going out this weekend but I get to be a sculptor and watch The Biggest Loser while drinking my favourite tea so… it’s really win-win!
Someone asked me what I would do if I won the lottery today and I said, “I would do EXACTLY what I’m doing now because it makes me happy!”
Happy February, everyone!
Did your January pass by in a flash as it did for me?
I just love it when my cakes turn out the way I see it in my head. Nothing brings me greater joy than to know that it was exactly what the client wanted and it was exactly what they got! I had the privilege of making circus-themed cakes for twin girls last year and it put my sculpting skills to work.
My heart is in the details.
Their mom wanted two identical cakes which sounds easy, right? It was and it wasn’t! My cakes are never identical. Each design is customized to the recipient and even though someone saw a photo and wanted exactly what I had done before, I still tweak the details so that it remains a one-of-a-kind cake. What’s the point of a designer cake if there’s another one out there exactly like it? But I guess I could make an exception for identical twins… If they were fraternal, then I would have to think about it
The party planner sent me the cake photo the client wanted (top left) and I had replicated it for her. Exact colours, exact font with a touch of “cartoony” added to it! I love how it turned out! And she was happy with it… *phew!*
Happy first birthday, Lola & Astrid! You may not remember anything but one day you will look at photos and remember it then!
You see Toopy’s shirt? I was cursing the whole time asking WHY the artist who drew him opted for a striped shirt as opposed to a solid colour one. I didn’t make too many but each one took me a LONG time to put together. You see those stripes? I cut them out individually and measured them before I stuck it on. Wee into the late hours, I wanted to ‘take a shortcut’ and omit a few stripes but then I realized it looked like a belly shirt… and that’s too scandalous for a kids’ TV show!
I had a super busy weekend with work, attending Canada’s Baking & Sweets Show and meeting with different people. Can’t wait to post the pictures
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The 30 minutes of filming turned into a 16-second video. If each cake took 16 seconds to make, I’d be stinkin’ rich right now! 
Then I wanted to do 4 cakes for his 4th birthday. Since I read a lot of bedtime stories to him (yes, after I give him his bath — I should win some ‘auntie of the year’ award!), I wanted to re-create his favourite storybooks into cakes. Clifford, Curious George, Cars 2 and Angry Birds. But then I remember each cake takes AT LEAST 10 hours to do and I still had other orders to think about. When he said “Nemo”, it helped a lot. NEMO IT WAS!! 
