"Going into 2014 - Final Curtain for 2013"

Happy New Year 2014 to all my blog readers!!

It has been a very busy start to year 2014 and yes, am still MAIDLESS!! My maid is currently on a 3 months leave and she has gone back to Indonesia. So, despite my promise to her that I would not overtire myself by making cakes on my own, I actually managed to complete 5 orders since she left in early November 2013. So, am feeling quite proud of my achievement that I actually managed to fit a full time office job, housework, my family and my cakes in the last 2 months or so. I still have another month to go before my life is back to being completely normal!!

 

The end of 2013 also marked my last year in the 3 series. I turned 39 on 27th December and I had a good time catching up with my cousin, Amy on my birthday. Plus my hubby also treated me to a wonderful Japanese dinner and my besties came to my house to surprise me with a mini birthday celebration on New Year's Day. All in all, I had a great ending to my 30's and even though I don't look forward to the big 40, I hope to remain young always at heart.

 

The beginning of 2014 also marks new beginnings for my kids. My eldest is now in secondary and my youngest is now in upper primary. I am getting OLD!! I do feel my age everytime I'm done with housework. The ache and pains are more pronounced now than it was 5 years ago!!! Hahaha...

Back to my cakes, I had two last orders at the end of December. The first one, which I haved named, "By the Beach", is ordered by my college mate, Patricia or as we fondly call her Pat, for her son, Rohan's 2nd birthday celebration. She ordered a Rob the Robot theme cake, refer to my blog entry Last Order for December 2012, last year for Rohan's 1st birthday. For 2013, the theme of the cake was a beach holiday theme with the cake having a sand castle and surrounded by all beach/sea themed items. I actually made the sand castle out of cake and had the whole palm tree beach effect on the cake. I also added elements such as fishes all around the cake to show the underwater effect. I had handpainted each of the underwater element with edible colouring. That was the best part in making the cake! I forgot how much I used to love painting.

Overall view of the cake complete with the beach sand and a palm tree too!!



The sand castle and beach stuff

The fishes and turtle

The blue fish

The cake is a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganche frosting. Happy Belated 2nd Birthday, Rohan!! Thanks again for the order and support, Patricia!!

My second cake order was from my cousin, Liza or fondly called Liz  for her daughter, Iman's 11th birthday. I call this cake, "Hoo Hoo Says The Owl". Its an owl cake but not a real owl! I copied the owl from the photo of Iman's stuffed owl toy sent to me by her mom!

This cake was quite fun to make and I loved the overall effect of the cake. Liz left everything to me and I added my own elements into the owl cake. I even textured the body of the owl to have the hair or fur effect on the cake. I started the cake by baking a basic 9" square cake, which I then shaped into the owl based on the photo sent to me.

The cake is again chocolate with dark chocolate ganache, a popular flavour with the kids.

Iman's stuffed toy owl made into a sugar treat!

Aerial view of the cake with the starry night background

Its just plain adorable

The side view with the owl perching on a tree branch with leaves and flowers!!

Thanks again for the order Liz!! Happy Belated Birthday, Iman!! We're both Capricorns!! Hurray to us as our birthdays are at the end of the year when everyone is going to turn older by celebrating their next birthday already but we've just only celebrated our birthdays!!

Happy New Year 2014 again and may this year be kinder to us Tigers and not to mention bring more prosperity to Pink Ellies Novelty Cakes too!! May I also be more creative in the coming year and produce more beautiful cakes!!!

Thanks for reading my blog in 2013 and I hope you will continue doing so in the years to come :)

xoxo
Elinna Bahrin
Pink Ellies Novelty Cakes