Officially the first cake of 2016: God Bless Zoe! And she was just the c-u-t-e-s-t little girl!

And I have to say that I am so happy that it was a cake for a girl! If you look back at cakes I've done, boy cakes are definitely more often requested than girl cakes. I hope that's not saying something about Australia's population...

Okay, so I really like pink as well and Caz (Zoe's awesome mommy) had great eye for detail in what she wanted - I love it when people know what they want as it definitely makes my job easier. So really, all I had to do was bring it to edible cake life.

As with anything else, the decorating is the most fun. I like the baking bit too (to me, it is therapeutic) and the stuff in between are just steps in the process. Not boring but not necessarily fun either. Constructing the cake... now that's fun and the sense of accomplishment at the end of every cake makes it so worth it. 

My favourite bit here? The pearl cross and the flowers around the cake. Kind of whimsical and beautiful at the same time. Helps bring everything together and I think so much more appropriate than the big gumpaste roses or flowers you see on other Christening cakes. They remind me more of wedding or engagement cakes rather than Christenings and cute things for young ones. 

Another rainy day (did you know Sydney got hit by a freak hail storm late yesterday afternoon?!). Thank goodness it was a beautiful day up to that point for all the ANZAC day celebrations (of course, I made some ANZAC biccies too) and march. And so, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees today and it was definitely a day to stay indoors for the most part. It was fantastic baking weather! We did take the my two dogs out later on in the evening to the local wharf for a bit of fishing - no luck, no fish were biting today...

I had another challenge recently. What to make for a lady who LOVES shoes?? Why, a cake with a pair of stunning shoes on top and rightfully named "The Gina M"... just like Christian Louboutins. You can't see if but I promise that the soles are red too! And then I sort of just had a lot of space to play with. And I haven't nearly experimented enough to gumpaste flowers so this was a great time to try. And I've always wanted to play with mini flowers and having some falling off the sides of the cake so again, got to try that too! I think it has come well together!

Happy Birthday Gina!

These are for a special friend of mine who turned 30 over the weekend. I didn't really know what to do with these Vanilla bean & Passionfruit cupcakes until the very last minute! I just knew I wanted colours, pretty things and flowers.

A very dear friend of mine from Melbourne was visiting Sydney this weekend as it was his godsister's 30th Birthday. Got to catch up a little this afternoon with some authentic Viet food which was awesome too :)

There's something about turning 30... a special milestone in one's life and he actually had the wicked thought of making her a clown cake instead. She is petrified by clowns and thought it would be funny. Maybe... but perhaps for a 16th or 21st! Lucky we went for the sweet and elegant!

Lately, it has been baking on the weeknights and free on the weekends. Don't get me wrong, that is absolutely fantastic as it gives us back our weekends! Hooray.

Was asked by my colleague this week to help her with a close friend's Kitchen Tea Cake (it was going to be a surprise). A whole lot of research and lots of discussion later, we decided that for the size of the cake, a tea cup and some little pretty things on the side would be best.

So a tea cup and saucer were forged / created / crafted on Monday and left for 24 hours to dry before painting. Antique and classic gold traditional look.

This was followed by a 4-layer White Chocolate Mud Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream. Finished this off on Wednesday evening with Red, Pink and White pleats, little daisies, butterflies and sticking a name to the cake.

I can't help but think of the motifs behind it all... the pleats symbolise tablecloths, flowers and butterflies are pretty and spring items and a tea cup to symbolise a Kitchen Tea??

Was quite funny weather this afternoon and poor Miss Colleague was afraid of damaging the cake on her trek home. Would rather get wet herself! But the clouds cleared up and the rain and wind held back enough for it to be safety transported to its destination. Must have been the rainbow I saw this afternoon from the office's window.

It has been a surprisingly busy baking week.

And so stoked with how this test cake (that was gifted to Miss Madison for her birthday) went. 

Smooth fondant. 

Nice edges. 

Tall cake. 

Ruffle flower.

And the inside is Red Velvet & White Chocolate Mud Cake with Raspberry Buttercream.

Not nearly as extravagant as the french pastry chefs and the traditional french wedding cake but pretty good for a very very first attempt! Although did burn a couple of fingers in the process. Ouchy! No pain, no gain, no hard lessons learnt! Definitely won't be making the same mistakes twice...

Would love to try making a larger version of this! Too bad these towers don't last a long time (they are quite perishable as the pastry becomes soggy) so very exclusive for us to make... :)

We've had a pretty productive weekend here. Dished out a couple of yummy moreish cakes and experimented with a lot of new things. Even dabbled in some sugar art from toffee to delicate flower making.

Had our kitchen smelling awesome and then some!

Lots of prep work for our next big things over the weekend, huge three-tier wedding cake! so we spent a very relaxing morning doing some sugar art and making petals for peonies like the one below. productiveness = time well spent without the stress, and we spent our time well this weekend!

 Ruffle flowers and pink icing... what's not to like??? WE LOVE THIS CAKE!

Sour cream chocolate sponge with layers of Oreo buttercream. Yep, cookies and cream and chocolate. Are you going to say no??? Smells good AND looks good!

A couple of tricks with the cake. We baked the layers separately as the cake is quite soft. And the more oreos you add, the better it tastes! Take time to pipe each row and let the buttercream sit of a while if it gets too soft.

And the key to making flowers...? Toothpicks are your best friend!

Very excited for the birthday girl. Hope she has an awesome birthday dinner with her friends tonight. :)