I think of it as the Mexican version of Halloween or All Hallow's Eve. Or some people think of the cartoon or some similar children's show. No matter, it is the day that Mexican's celebrate those who have passed away.

Amazingly, it is not at all "scary" but more about colours, flowers and things to celebrate their loved ones.

A very important customer of mine recently asked for a cake for his daughter's 18th birthday in the theme of the day of the dead. It was an interesting challenge and I couldn't be happier with the way the cake (with one whole tier being VEGAN) turned out!

I've never done a black tier before so I was really happy that it wasn't anything majorly different to a white or ivory tier (well duh, it is just coloured fondant right?). And the skull.. it's pretty much freestyle. 

I can count the number of times I've been invited to a baby showers with the fingers on my right (or left) hand!

I made some mini cupcakes with baby themed marshmallow fondant and a super cute (almost Disney's Belle-esque) tummy cake for mummy! I personally find it a little weird to 'cut' a tummy cake but at the same time it is so delightfully cute. I mean, it is the mother who bears the child from almost 10 months isn't it? So why can't we also honour her as well as bubba!

A tummy cake is amazingly easy - so long as you have the right pans. Two smaller semi circle spheres and a larger one. I used two silicon chocolate moulds and one of the semi-spheres of the Wilton Sports Ball Cake Pan. Perfect sizing. And here's a tip, if it's not, just use more ganache to reshape so the proportions look okay. The great thing is that there is no right or wrong!

And you can pretty much design the "dress" however you please. I just did some really easy pleats with ribbon of fondant, finished with a little flower.

I've seen buttercream roses, elaborate lace designs, sequins, pearls, etc. I guess this is where it's easy to design the cake to suit the mum-to-be.