"Cakes I Made Before Bangkok"

I haven't been blogging for the last two months. Truth is, I've been so busy with the preparation of Ramadhan (fasting month for Muslims), the celebration of Eid and preparing for our move to Bangkok, Thailand. Yes, as am blogging this entry, I am no longer in Kuala Lumpur but am now based in Bangkok. Our family have moved to Bangkok earlier this month. Although I look forward to experiencing my new life here, I will surely miss my old life back in Kuala Lumpur.

 

The first adjustment for me is not being a working mom anymore. Yes, am now a full time mom and wife and I do hope with more time in my hands, I can pursue my love of cake making in this lovely Land of Smiles. I did however, make two cakes before I left.

 

The first one was for my son, Alex's or Haziq's 13th birthday celebration. I couldn't decide what cake to make for him as it was supposed to be a surprise. In the end, I decided to make a replica of him lazing around in his room.

  

Alex and his mobile phone lazing on a bed

 



Side view of Alex in his jeans



My dad says the sugar figure is a replica of my son

 



Aerial view of the cake



The cake was a hit with my family and we organised for him a small tea party and invited only immediate family members. I was happy because I made my son happy. The smile on his face is worth the time spent making this cake.

 

Happy Belated 13th Birthday, Alex. I hope being thirteen will turn you into a more balanced, matured, intelligent and wonderful young man you already are. I love you to bits and wish you the best experiences in life as you make your journey towards adulthood. I know you will definitely love your new school in Bangkok!

 

The other cake I did was a dinosaurs themed cake ordered by a family friend, Juwita. Her son, Ridthuan is fascinated by dinosaurs and she had organised a dino themed birthday party. I asked Juwita to pass me Riri's dino toys so that I could replicate them. It was quite a daunting task as dinos are not that easy to make and its very time consuming to make them. I know this as I have made a dino cake before and I spent most of my time on the dinos. With this in mind, I started on the sugar dinos earlier and even though I promised Juwita that I would only make two sugar dinos, I actually managed to pull off three dinos for Riri. An accomplishment for me. Yeay!

 

Full view of the dinosaurs themed cake for Ridthuan

Side view of the cake



The T-Rex up close all made by sugar and airbrushed to create the colour tones on the T-Rex



I managed to make the T-Rex stand!!! An achievement for me :)

The stegosaurus with the spikes on the body was quite tedious to make but I wanted to replicate the dino as close as I could get the dino toy I had

This dino species is called the triceratops

 Juwita was so thrilled with the cake and so was birthday boy. Her party guests were amazed that the dinosaurs are actually made of sugar! This was what Juwita wrote on my FB page, "This was the best cake ever! Not only it was breathtaking to look at (a lot of Ooh Aaah when we unveiled the cake), it also tasted amazing! Thank you so much! It was riri's dream cake!"

 

Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment, Juwita. I guess that's all from me for now. I will be updating my blog from Bangkok from now on and hopefully am able to continue my cake making here. Wish me luck, peeps!!

 

Till the next time,

Elinna Bahrin

xoxoxo

"Drum Snare"

My cousin, Liza, ordered this drum snare cake for her eldest, Faris' 14th birthday last on 17th May 2014. The cake was a replica (sort of replica) of Faris' drum snare. She wanted me to make the cake the same colours as his drum set complete with the brand - DW Drums.

 

This was actually a last minute order and even though I have slowed down from making cakes, I decided to go ahead and accept this order. I've known Faris since he was a baby and I felt really bad if I couldn't make a birthday cake for him. Mind you, Faris has some very high standards and I had to make sure the snare looked real enough.

 

This was actually a simple cake and I completed in just a few hours. The only challenge I had with this cake was my airbrush machine. It sort of failed on me. As a result, I had to brush the sides of the cake with edible red lustre dust to create the shiny effect. I guess I was quite happy with how it turned out, but using the airbrush would've have created a nicer effect. 

 

I also made the drumsticks which was actually 2 chopticks wrapped in gum paste. The gum paste was the coloured with dusting powder to create the wood effect. I loved how the drumsticks turned out! They looked realistic enough to pass as the real thing!

 

Whole view of the cake
 

Closer view of the cake

 

A close-up of the drumsticks

The cake itself was a rich chocolate cake with dark belgium chocolate ganache. Happy Belated Birthday, Faris! Hope you had a great time celebrating...

 

 



"Captain America"

A friend of mine, Nurbiha or Nur, as I call her, ordered this Captain America themed cake for her son's 8th birthday last Saturday. I managed to squeeze in this order before I left for my hub's hometown, Batu Pahat over the weekend. The cake was a chocolate cake with Belgian milk chocolate ganache. Since time was not on my side, I only made the base of the cake in Captain America's colours and theme. The figurine, unfortunately was a toy! I usually try to make these figurines with sugar paste but I didn't have the luxury to do so this time. However, I was quite happy with the cake and so was birthday boy, Raimi.

 

Birthday boy, Raimi at his birthday party!



According to Nur, he was so thrilled with the cake! Thank you for the order, Nur and a happy belated birthday to Raimi!!

"Let's Go Bowling"

Last Saturday, one of my good friends from my Jakarta days, Hanie, threw a birthday party for her son, Danish's 9th birthday. The theme of the party was bowling. So, Danish wanted a birthday cake that has the bowling theme. Hanie actually sent me a sample photo of a cake that she would like to have for her son. I played around with the original cake design and came out with a cake that has the bowling elements mixed with some of the colours used in the party invitation. The cake was 3 tier with only the top and middle tier being real cakes. The middle tier is chocolate and top tier is vanilla.

 

It was quite a smooth process making this cake even though the cake was 3 tiers. Way much smoother than the Harry Potter cake!! I had the cakes bake on Friday morning and frosted Friday evening when I got back from work. Since only 2 tiers were made of cakes, I only had to bake 2 types of cake. I  covered all 3 tiers and had the cake airbrushed to a deep black with a tinge of silver in the colour. I can't get this lovely shade using just regular icing colours. Airbrushing a cake always make the cake look better and the colours are more vibrant.

 

I had the template of my bowling pins all cut out and ready. I used these templates for my gumpaste and I loved how they turned out. I actually managed to sleep at midnight on Friday and continued my cake the next morning. I was very surprised with how smooth things were with this cake. Syukur!! The only difficult part was actually driving the cake all the way from Shah Alam to Bukit Kiara and I managed to arrive at the destination with my cake in one piece!!

 

 

My 3-tiered bowling cake for Danish

The 2D bowling ball and pins

The bowling pins from the middle tier

The cake was decorated with the 5 colour circles that was part of the party 

 

The party invitation

More bowling pins

Danish and his friends (my kids included) at his bowling party

Happy Birthday Danish!! Thanks for having us at your party!

"Harry Potter"

One of my clients, Eliena, introduced her friend, Beverly to me as she was looking for someone to make a cake for her son's 11th birthday celebration. After discussing with Beverly on the cake theme, her son, Max decided on a Harry Potter theme. She also wanted a lemon flavoured cake. I topped off the cake with vanilla frosting. Her budget was not that much but since she was trying out my cakes for the first time, I decided to accept the order based on her budget as an introductiory price.

 

Instead of giving her the 8' diameter cake I agreed, I actually made her a 9' diameter cake as she was worried the cake won't be enough to feed 20 or so people attending Max's birthday party. Max only wanted 4 things on the cake: the scarf, the wand, the broom and the train station no sign. I thought the cake would be relatively easy to make as there are not that many sugar modelling involved. I was so wrong! I just couldn't get the modelling right the first time. I had to spend more time than I had anticipated on this cake. Max wanted Harry Potter's broom on the cake, which I didn't really agree as the broom is not in proportion to the other things on the cake. But I still made one. Bigger than the one I agreed as I just felt that it was wrong to make such a small broom.

 

All in, this cake turned out to be a difficult cake due to also the humidity in KL. The sugar was starting to go soft and I worried that it wouldn't last before the party. I had to actually make last minute adjustments on the cake prior to cake collection as the train station sign was starting to fall off the cake. In the end, I used up more fondant than I intially anticipated. I am glad though that the cake turned out alright and Beverly was happy with it.

 

The whole view of the cake from the front

The train station no signage

The wand and scarf

My version of the Harry Potter broom! LOL!

I actually used a pasta maker to make the long strands in the broom to get the effect. I also airbrushed the broom and wand to get the colours to stand out and make them look realistic.

 

 

"Another Minecraft Cake"

I made another minecraft themed cake for my friend, Ila's youngest son, Shane. The cake is actually a simple cake to execute but its quite tedious because of the many squares that I needed to use to decorate around the cake. The first minecraft themed cake I did was in the form of cupcakes and it was even more detailed than the bigger cake as the sugar modelling had to be scaled down and I had to do more sugar work, hence the more expensive charges for the cupcakes.

 

For this cake, however, I planned my time better (to anticipate should there be any mishaps!) and I actually managed to finish my cake on time and I wasn't even frazzled! The last minecraft cake took me ages to finish due to the detailed modelling and I actually stayed up the whole night to finish the cupcakes. I am so glad that this time around that didn't happen.

 

I started decorating the cake with the square fondant tiles first before I attempted the figure and animal modelling. This way, I wouldn't have to rush on my cake, if any mishaps were to happen to my modelling! Its no joke making a cake when you've already put in about 8 hours of working time in the office during the day! But I work better at night plus its always cooler to do my cakes at night.

 

I had the cake airbrushed green and bronze and I was very happy with how the tiles on the cake turned out. For the top of the cake, I made a boy with the sheep and the TNT. The cake was vanilla flavoured with chocolate frosting.

 

The whole view of the cake

The minecraft boy with his very square sheep

Side angle of the cake

The mini fondant suqares in different shades of green and brown

Happy Belated Birthday, Shane! I sure had fun making this cake and I hope you enjoyed the cake with your friends!

"Haziq Turns 12"

My son, Haziq Iskandar Bahrin turned 12 last Saturday, 15th June 2013. This is a big year for Haziq. He will be eligible for his own identity card and that's already one step towards adulthood. I can't believe how fast time flies and he's growing up so fast. He's fast turning into a teenager with the way he talks, dress, the music he listens to and the smart answers he gives me! My husband, Bahrin and I knew he was really growing up when he told us that he has a crush with a girl in his class. I think we both aged overnight when he told us!! Our son is already talking about girls!!! What's next, we wonder???

He also listens to music that I've never heard of (signs that am getting older and out of touch with the younger generation) and is getting very vain about the way he looks. He refuses to have his hair trimmed at the barber but instead insist that we take him to a proper hair salon. His clothes must be colour coordinated and so on. To me, even with these changes, he's still my little boy.

Haziq has always been a compassionate boy. He gets that from my side of the family... Hehehe... He loves his grandparents dearly and I always consider him my parents' third child. He looks forward to every weekend so that he could sleepover at my parents. His bond with my parents started  from the day I brought him home from the hospital and stayed at my parents during my confinement period. Let's just say, even though he lives with me, his heart will always remain at my parents' home.

On the occasion of your 12th birthday Haziq, I wish you all the best for your coming exam in September, wish you all the joy and happiness in the coming years, wish you good health and I know you'll grow up to be a responsible and matured person with good manners, good etiquette and good religious foundation. May your life be blessed always, my boy... Love you always....

Early morning birthday breakfast of buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup

He chose to spend his birthday with 9 of his closest classmates at Galactic Laser, Sunway

Bahrin and I decided to let him spend his birthday with his closest buddies from class playing laser tag at Galactic Laser in Sunway Pyramid. I made a simple birthday cake for him with the Team Fortress 2 theme for him to share with his friends. We also had simple party favours for his friends after the game. All in, it was a good day for him. Simple but meaningful.

Haziq's TF 2 birthday cake

TF 2 is Haziq's favourite computer game at the moment

The party favors for Haziq's friends

Happy 12th Birthday, my dear Haziq.... I wish only the best for you and I know you will succeed in all your future endeavours...

xoxoxo
Mama

"Sports Champ"

I've been really behind on my blog posts. I haven't had the time to actually sit and write about my cakes in the last two weeks. This cake was actually ordered by my neighbour in May. I totally missed out this cake in my last entry. Fida wanted a smiple cake for her son, Aidan's 1st birthday celebration. The theme was sports and she wanted the cake to be in 2D.

I actually made the cake to have a mix of 2D and 3D designs. The cake was very simple to make and I managed to finish it on time before I left for a short vacay with my family to Penang. The three sports theme that I chose was soccer, basketball and baseball. I also had a trophy cup incorporated in my design to signify Aidan as a sports champ!

Overall view of the cake

I had stars decorated on the sides

Basketball in the net

Baseball bat with the gloves and ball

Soccer ball with the grass

Aidan's trophy

Fida was very happy with how the cake looked and told me that the cake was super delish! I was very happy to hear that!! Yeay!! I look forward to your future orders, Fida... Thanks so much!!

"Ninjago for Hussein"

My bestie, Sheila wanted me to make for her youngest son, Hussein a cake and 30 cupcakes to celebrate his 6th birthday last week. This was a very simple cake as she just wanted me to put the edible image on the cake. Since Hussein is so into Ninjago, Sheila had him choose his favourite images and I had these images printed into edible form.

The cake and cupcakes were made of rich chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

The main cake with brown sugaras requested by the birthday boy

Close-up of the Ninjago image

The cupcakes for the celebration in school

The cupcakes in 2 cupcake wrappers in red and black

I hope Hussein had a great celebration in school and also at home with his family... Happy 6th Birthday Hussein...

"Another Lego Cake"

Last weekend, my friend Salmi requested that I make for her son, Azri's 8th birthday, a lego themed cake. Don't know why, but kids are so into lego these days, especially boys. Must be due to our very own "Legoland" theme park that just opened last year in Johor. Well, back to my cake, I accepted the order even though I was down with a nasty migraine for the better part of last week.

This was my second lego cake. I had done one last December for Oleen's son, Naeem's 8th birthday. So, I decided to change the concept of my cake as I do not like to repeat my designs. For this cake, I worked around the "Contruction Lego" theme, where I had the cake look like a lego building site and the lego men were in the construction get-up. I made a square base cake this time around but I still retain a round shape for the second tier.

All in all, this was a fairly easy cake to make. The only tedious part was making the lego blocks. The cake turned out quite nice and I was quite happy with it. 

The overall view of the "Construction Lego" cake...

Lego contruction man no 1...

Lego construction man no 2...

The building site with the lego blocks...

Lego blocks up-close...

Birthday boy's name in lego logo colours...

Thanks for the order Salmi and thanks for having us at your function. Am so glad that Azri loves this cake :)