"Hi, I am back!"

I haven't been blogging for a while now. Actually 4 months to be exact. I have been busy and plus I haven't been making any cakes lately.

I have been wanting to blog about this cake I made for our good friends, who visited us from Jakarta last April. Coincidentally, Pak Halim's birthday had just passed and I thought it would be nice to surprise him with a birthday cake.  I knew right from the beginning what cake I wanted to make for him. I decided a tuxedo cake as I have always known Pak Halim to be one of the most distinguished gentlemen that I've ever met. The cake was simple but elegant and suits him perfectly.

 

The tuxedo cake

The cake was lemon flavored



The black of the tuxedo was airbrushed to achieve the perfect shiny black colour




A nice red flower to complete the tuxedo

This is one of my favourite cakes and boy was the birthday man surprised! I am happy that my simple gesture meant a lot to Pak Halim and his family. We had so much fun with them and we played the tourist around Bangkok city with them.

 

Another cake I made was for a friend's daughter on the occasion of her 9th birthday. Ediana's daughter, Aressa wanted a Teen Beach Movie theme cake. How I wish I was in KL, where my edible print supplier is so easli accessible but alas am in Bangkok and we had to make do with normal printing for the sugar frame.

 

The whole view of the cake

Side view of cake with the sand decorated all around the cake



Aressa wanted a surf board on the cake

The sugar frame with inedible printing

The cake was a vanilla bean cake. I had fun making this cake as it was a fun theme. I hope Aressa loved her cake and her guests enjoyed the cake too!

 

Those were the only two cakes I did from the months of April to August. Am quite sad actually that my business hasn't taken off here. For one thing, I have not done enough marketing and another the people here (at least the one I meet) are just not willing to pay for the cakes like my clients in KL are willing to. Its difficult trying to explain that the cost of making these one of a kind cakes. The time I spend on each of  the cake itself and the design will never be the same as another cake.

 

How I miss my busy cake making days in Malaysia, whereby there's always an interesting cake to meet each week. But hopefully my drought season will end soon. I will be conducting classes for the Adult Education Program in ISB as part of my PTA contribution to my children's school. At least then I will still be practicing my cake making.

 

 



 

 

"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...

 

 



"Bridal Shower for Jesrina"

Another order from Raja Johanna and this time its a cake! Celebrating the upcoming nuptials of her younger sister, Raja Jesrina, Johanna had organised a bridal shower for Jess. She wanted a cake to celebrate the occassion and she wanted the cake to have all of Jess' favourite things.

 

The mandatory items on the cake were HP laptop, white Chanel bag and makeup, especially eye makeup. The cake was a vanilla bean cake with white chocolate ganache. I started off the cake with sculpting the laptop. Mind you, a closed lap top actually looks easy but somehow it didn't out that way for me. For some reason, I had so much problems with my fondant. Due to the current hot and dry spell happening in Selangor, my fondant was so dry and started to crack almost immediately after I covered the cake. It was indeed a very challenging cake for me.

 

I was quite frustrated with the circumstances but I couldn't give up. Even if it meant that I had to recover the cakes again because the cracks on the fondant was so bad that I couldn't accept such  standard in my work. The make-up part was the easiest but I couldn't spend more time on that part of the cake as I was running out of time. I am glad though that I still managed to finish the cake but it wasn't my best effort.

 

The aerial view of my cake

I actually had the eye makeup cover printed on sugar paper but it couldn't be seen from this view. The laptop turned out okay and it was my favourite part of the cake.

 

The white Chanel Classic handbag

The back view of my cake

And the makeup with the brushes

Jess loved the detailing I did on the cake but I wished I could have done a better job for her! Now, am busy preparing for Jess the cupcakes doorgifts for her akad nikah ceremony this month. Its going to be a hectic first half of April for me. Do stay tune for that post later this month!!

"One Direction"

A cake ordered by my friend, Sarah for her daughter's 11th birthday celebration. Sarah's only daughter, Alysha, is the biggest fan of One Direction. Hence, the 1D theme cake requested by her. Its actually a fairly simple cake to execute. I designed the cake with these theme colours of red, black, white and silver. I made a two tier cake, with the first tier made to look like a platform for the upper tier. I had chosen a few 1D images and had them printed into a film strip and placed this strip around the upper tier cake.

 

The main item I had on the cake was an edible cut out of the One Direction boys popping out of the top tier cake. I also added a few stars as an added decoration on the cake. The cake is all vanilla bean flavoured with vanilla buttercream and coated with white chocolate. Happy Belated Birthday, Alysha!



The One D boys popping out of the cake



The many images of One D, which I have arranged into a film reel 





The overall view of the 1D cake
 

This was my last cake before I took a hiatus from baking and making cakes. Am currently on a month break and hope to return to my cakes in March 2014. I had to undergo a minor carpal tunnel release surgery for my right hand two weeks ago and am currently resting my hand. I hope the surgery will solve all the numbness that I have been expereiencing in the last few months. Wish me a speedy recovery ya!!

I look forward to a great 2014 and I hope this year will be kind to me :)

Take care peeps!!

xoxo
Elinna
Pink Ellies

"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

"The Librarian"

I made this cake at the request of my cousin, Anis, who wanted to surprise her mom. Her mom is fondly known to us as Auntie Yan and she is one of my mom's closest sister. I love her just like my mom! So, despite the fact that I'm maidless and have tons of housework to do, I still made time to bake and make this cake for my aunt. It was an honour to have been given this responsibility.

 

My aunt wrote a boigraphy of my late my grandfather, Dato' Ahmad bin Mohd Yunus, for our family. She wanted to have a book launch commemorating this occassion. She had the biography printed and distributed to all her siblings and she wanted the whole family to be at the event. Anis thought that it was a great idea to have a surprise birthday cake for her as her birthday was the very next day.

 

My late grandfather's biography. Kudos to my Auntie Yan for a job well done!

The theme of the cake is simple, She wanted to have books as my Auntie Yan was a librarian and spent most of her working life surrounded by books. I thought the idea was brilliant and set out to design the cake. I had envisioned in my mind to have the boigraphy as one of the books. Unfortunately, Anis couldn't get me a good image of the book cover. So, instead I opted for their family photo and made the book look like an album.

 

The cake was a 2 tiered stacked cakes depicting two books and I made the bottom tier an orange cake and the top tier a chocolate cake. This cake was an interesting cake to make and I'm amazed that I managed to finish the cake on time and without help too! Well, except for the cleaning up part. Hannah did a good job helping me tidy up the kitchen.

 

The whole view of the cake

The top book/album with the Hazers' family photo

View of the book pages

Side view showing of the books

The biography cover in a frame depicting her achievement

My aunt was really surprised when they took the cake out!! Good job to Anis for this wonderful surprise for her mom! To my Auntie Yan, Happy 61st Birthday and I hope you will have many, many more years filled with love, happiness, prosperity and of course, good health!!

 

Love,

Elin

 

 

"Its A Girl"

A baby shower cake for mommy to be Dina, who's expecting a baby girl. Ordered by her sister, Jesrina Arshad, the cake is a 2 tiered cake with the theme colours of pink, yellow, white & mint green. The lower tier of the cake is vanilla bean with vanilla frosting and top tier is orange cake with belgian chocolate ganache. The concept is mostly geometric patterns with a sleeping baby girl on the top tier as the main centrepiece of the cake. Also ordered along with this cake, 20 cupcakes decorated with 3D sugarpaste pieces. Cupcakes are  vanilla bean flavoured with vanilla buttercream.

 

Its A Girl caption at the side of the cake

A pink bow ribbon for the baby girl theme

Look at how angelic the baby girl looks asleep!

 

 

The cupcakes I made tie with the main cake in the same theme colours and I did a few 3D sugar pieces such as the baby under the blanket, pink teddy bears, rattle, bibs, daisies and the baby girl wordings. I also tied a ribbon individually on the cupcake casing to create the soft and sweet effect. This was indeed a fun project and I enjoyed making this order very much!

 

The 20 cupcakes that goes hand-in-hand with the main cake

The details on the cupcakes up-close



Thanks again for the order, Jess and I hope you had a great baby shower last Sunday.

"Joey's 33rd"

Last week, I had a last minute order from Jess (Raja Jesrina Raja Arshad), who is one of my best customers. She wanted to surprise her fiance, Joey for his 33rd birthday party. She contacted me on Monday for a cake on Thursday. I usually don't accept last mniute orders and if you've been following my blog, you would've realised that I've slowed down quite a bit from taking cake orders this year. The reason being my son will be sitting for his national Malaysian Upper Primary examinations or better known as UPSR here. I have been very busy being the driver to my son as he has extra classes almost every day since the beginning of the year. Now, I only have to survive another 8 days and his exams will be over!! Am sure I'll be more relieved than him!! I will get my life and normal routine back!!! Can't wait actually!!!

Well, back to Jess' request, I told her the truth and that I couldn't really make elaborate cakes as the time given to me for planning and executing the cake was only 2 days! I work full time, so I had a bit of time constraint. Nevertheless, I still accepted the order on the condition that the cake is not that dificult to execute. The theme of the cake was golf and Joey's favourite colour is orange. He's a fan of Rickie Fowler's golf accessories. After looking at different options, I decided to make a cake that has a sugar figure of Joey on a golf course with his orange golf bag. This was how my cake looked like:

The overall view of the cake

The sides of the cake was decorated with fondant circles and airbrushed with green and silver

Doesn't really look like Joey but the closest I could make with the time constraint I had

The sugar figure us quite cute actually, and I was quite happy with how it turned out

 

The orange PUMA cap, which I hand painted and the orange PUMA golf bag

The cake was vanilla bean flavoured with vanilla frosting. This was what Jess had to say when she saw the cake, "Hi Elinna I love the cake! Thanks for pulling it together in such short notice :)" I was very happy to see that message and makes all the hard work really worth it! Thanks again for the order Jess and Happy Belated Birthday, Joey :)

"Green"

This cake should have been made for my husband!! He's really into golfing and this cake would have been perfect for him. Instead, I made my first golf themed cake for someone else or to be precise, this cake was ordered by Raja Johanna, who happens to be Raja Jesrina's sister (my blog entry on Jess' 30th birthday). She wanted the cake for her husband's 40th birthday party last month.

Actually this is the second 40th birthday cake I made for Tengku Datuk Zafrul. The other cake I did was the arty cake with his favourite painting collection on the cake (my blog entry "Art Lover"). Johanna wanted a golf course with the hazards, such as the sand bunker and water hazard. She also wanted the buggy and a golf bag as part of the cake. No figures required! Thank goodness for that!! Hehehe... Johanna also wanted the base of the cake to be bigger instead of stacking the cakes in tiers. The cake was lemon flavoured with vanilla frosting. So, this is what I came up with :)

The overall view of my green cake

I so love the green colour of this golf course. I had the base airbrushed in different shades of green to achieve this colour

The golf bag and buggy

Sand bunker

The green and sand bunker at the 1st hole

The green and water hazard at the 2nd hole

The golf buggy I made from gumpaste

Happy 40th Birthday, Tengku Zafrul and I hoped you liked my green cake. May your coming years be blessed and filled with more happiness and joy :) 

I hope I'm able to make for my other half a golf theme cake too when he turns 40 this year...