A busy week in the world of Planet Cake

Front of cake

Back of cake

What came back with me to Auckland

I took a week off from life in Auckland and headed across the ditch to Sydney, Australia to do a week long course in cake decorating at Planet Cake with 2 brilliant teachers - Jessica and Luigi.

This course was a birthday present from my husband - I'm so spoilt! So, I bought the top tier back to share with him :)

It was 'hard work' but I enjoyed every single minute of it my time in class and have learnt so much from the 2 very talented teachers I had. I had Jessica teach me in the beginners course and was secretly hoping she'd be teaching me again in the intermediate course - luck was on my side and I did get her again :)

I designed the cake in the pictures and had a bit of help from the teacher with putting it all together. It took 3 full days from design to completion and I enjoyed every part of it - except of course for the back pain from standing most of the day. This cake is made out of 5 cakes. All the flowers are hand made with love!

This course has given me so much more confidence in designing cakes and putting it all together. I hope to be doing more cakes like this in the future. I would love to just sit in the kitchen and practice making more of those jumbo roses and peonies!

Enjoy!!

Dora - The Explorer

A work colleague came up to me late last week and asked if I could make her daughter's birthday cake for preschool. It was a chocolate cake - I omitted the coffee to make it a bit friendlier on the wee lil' toddlers. I don't think the day care is going to appreciate any cakes which gets the kiddies zooming around for the rest of the day.

I made a 2D Dora to go with the cake - as requested by my colleague. My attempt at making the 3D version of Dora failed miserably so I made a last minute decision to make a 2D Dora. If that failed, I would have been driving out to the shops to get a plastic figurine of Dora to stick onto the cake.  I think it's about time I practiced making more figurines or perhaps take a course on making figurines so I don't get myself into these dilemmas!

It took me a good 2 hours of cutting bits of fondant out to put Dora together...I'm not 110% satisfied with it but I hope Anushriya is happy with it. She is after all, THE customer.

Next project on the list? Vegan mango cupcakes! I'm going to try with gluten free flour too!! Cross my fingers this will work.

Enjoy!

Present Box Cake

Chantelle's celebrating her 40th this year - it's been and past but she's going away with some of her closest friends and family to celebrate over the long weekend.

The colour of this cake is no doubt one of her favourite colours and what more fitting than a cake as a present.

The cake is a moist chocolate mud cake covered in a rich layer of dark chocolate ganache. I'm getting hungry just thinking of the cake - yum! I know she would have loved the red velvet but the cream cheese icing will definitely not last until Saturday unrefrigerated. Notice it's a 'red' cake she was originally after!

Happy 40th Chantelle!

Happy Chinese New Year! 恭喜發財!

Happy Chinese New Year to all my family & friends! May the year of the water dragon bring you an abundance of luck, wealth and good health!

恭喜發財！ 龍年快樂。祝各位 身體建康，心想事成，萬事如意。

Less reading and more gawking. Here I present my Chinese New Year cupcakes.

I'm about to head back to my parents place for dinner tonight so I thought i'd squeeze in this little post first before I run out the door.

Enjoy!

Fire, Fire, Fire

It's little Jack's 4th birthday today and his mum had asked me to make some fire engine themed toppers.

Jack is right into his fire trucks and police cars. For his dad's birthday last year, Jack got him a police car toy to share. How cute!

My first attempt at the fire truck looked more like a caravan! I'm not brave enough to put those pictures up - I'd be mortified if it ended up on Cakewrecks.

As you can see, I got a little side tracked by this project and my Chinese New Year cupcakes have yet to make an appearance. Don't fret - I will get them done this weekend as it is Chinese New Year on Monday 23rd January.

Enjoy!