A girl's dream..

Every child has a dream, a character that they fantasize about or a picture of a perfect day in their life. To this girl who is turning 5, her fantasy is to be a princess with her sparkling tiara, residing in her very own castle on her special day. Having done several superhero themed cakes, I am just ready to be connected to my inner girlie power..:) Attention, pink, purples and all the sparkly, glittery stuff...Here we go!

Cheers to our birthday girl! May this dream continue to live in heart!

Power Rangers

Its funny how, I have been doing pretty much everything related to girls and Abby, and suddenly, I am switching gears to superheroes.. Well, Superman, is an easy feat, but power rangers..seems like familiar characters, but it was somewhat a learning curve for me..Things that popped in my head are..Is it 5 or 6 individuals, and what colors exactly?? i thought i remembered pink and yellow being my favourite colors, but wait, isn't that voltus 5?? hmmmm..so, i decided to seek "counsel" from my very reliable friend..Goggle..and i got even more confused! why are they wearing different shirt designs and head gears?? Are they more than one series of power rangers..*think*think**..at this point, i wish there is a power rangers dummy guide..summary page explaining everything about this characters for me..ha!

So, to simplify things, i had asked the mommy for her son's 3 favourite colors, instead of playing guessing games as to which ones are the main characters. Red, blue and Yellow..and while i was doing all these characters, came along Abby and after taken a look at the colors, she frowned and said, there is no green color mommy, i want green color robot, that's my favourite...kids, will forever be kids..its all about ME and mine! :)

So, here's to our power rangers cake in a downtown skyscraper facade! Cheers to being 3!!

Superman on Marina Bay Sands

This cake was our gift to our dear friends from Chicago, who was celebrating their son's 40 days old celebration. When I inquired about the any preferred theme or character, the wife quickly responded with "superman"! Now, I haven't done any cake for 40 days old celebration, but i was thinking more like little cute animals, or pacifiers or pram, but definitely not a superhero theme! I couldn't help, but said, are you serious? ha! at that point, i must validate that request for a fact. :) She said, it is the dad's fav character! alright then! Let's embrace baby peter future as our superhero in the next generation~! And while brainstorming more on the cake, Wijaya, exclaimed what about marina bay sands! since it is the grandest and latest development here in singapore, it is definitely a landmark here. Let's localise this cake to our singapore flair! I was definitely excited..I am about to build the marina bay sands..:)i have always loved buildings and architecture, and it has always been my aim to be able to build a skyscrapers of some sort or building facade to appease my love of buildings. And the opportunity has arrived! ..
For those who know me, I come from a big family, with many many members...and it happened so, that my parents and my sister's 2 families are visiting singapore and staying with me. So, the juggle with this cake was to balance my sanity with the crowd at our house with 5 children spinning around the house as if on sugar high, spending time with them as well as forking time out to get the cake done.:)
But i managed to get it done in time according to what i had envisioned, amidst the zara sale and the last minute zoo trip temptations too. :)

Ball time at the carnival!

As a kid growing up, I have always fancy the idea of carnivals and seeing those cleverly trained animals doing tricks. Not that I have been to a lot of these events, actually I think i have only attended ONCE! :) but well, it was enough to carry a sweet memory growing up, that's all that matters, rite? :) so, for my cousin's son's 2nd birthday, since the only description i got from the parents is that he loves balls, I decided to adapt the carnival theme ball party! Balls..balls..There are to be seen everywhere! So, with this cake, I have the birthday boy emerged in a pool of balls and surrounded by an elephant and a clown juggling balls.
When i looked at this picture, i couldn't help but recount a rather nerve wrecking yet funny incident. Of course, this story is not far from mischievous abby! typically, I am pretty good about warning abby along the way, that she is not supposed to touch the cake that i am preparing, and I would set the finished cake in a plane beyond her reach. No, its not the cake that was in jeopardy, luckily, phew! While we were waiting for my cousin's arrival, I had set the tent canopy and a candle in a paper bag on the floor by the door, so I would not forget to bring them. And while i was in the room preparing myself, I had noticed that I haven't heard much of Abby in the past 5 min. Now, based on my experience, the most dangerous moment is when she is the quietest. :) when i come out of the room, i saw her on the floor, next to the bag totally unraveled, and there she was trying hard to jab the candle into the canopy, and she did it several times with such frustration that it won't penetrate!! That was such a scary sight! No!!! luckily, this was not a successful attempt, it only made several indentations on the canopy. Oh my, I should never take chances with anything, around a curious toddler. :)

CookieTime!

I have never been a great fan of sugar cookies, however, I do love shortbread cookies. So, one week, I decided to bake a batch of shortbread cookies and to have fun with it. Of course, this effort does not get unnoticed by our curious toddler, Abby. So, I decided to recruit her as my little cookie helper. She quickly ran to her little kitchen set to put on her apron and chef hat, and aimed for the rolling pin even before i offered. I gave her a chunk of dough and she started rolling and making her cookie shapes. That was a very fun first experience for her. We put the cookies to bake and while Abby takes her nap,, i began to ice my cookies!Icing may look very easy to do in picture, but in reality, there is so much hand control that is needed to produce delicate lines. I couldn't help but really appreciate the nice cookies that i see in the store fronts, its definitely a skill to be acquired. Overall, this was a fun baking session and most of all, I loved the taste of shortbread in my mouth!!

What a weekend!

Even though Singapore maybe a little more like home to me than Jakarta, I have never visited the Singapore Zoo, in spite of the fact that the infamous, notoriously cute Ah-Meng is a mega tourist reel-er..

So, it wasn't till last weekend, many years after Ah-Meng has deceased (RIP), that we got a chance to visit the zoo..It was a busy day for us, with 3 separate events lined up back to back. So, our very nice friends picked us up bright and early, and we had breakfast at Han's on the way to the zoo. Looking up at the weather, we are all filled with sense of wary...Is it going to rain today? Is it coming? Prepared to face what comes our way, we continued our way merrily to the zoo...There was such a crowd at the zoo regardless of the weather, and we headed straight to watch the shows. There are 3 shows, the Safari, Elephant show as well as the Splash show. There is something pleasantly surprised about the animals here...THey are so SMART and entertaining! I was just laughing and clapping away happily with every antics those animals showed..Could it be that they come from some super GENIOUS Lineage or is it the DHA fortified animal food that they are fed with? or maybe it's the trainers that are just very diligent in training the animals? WoW!!! I was just very entertained!! Bravos to all the elephants, and the sea lion that was so spectacular! After the elephant show, Abby remarked " Mommy, I want to bring home the elephants!" Imagining the sight of Abby and her 4 humongous elephants in her tiny crib...i could only shake the thoughts off...:)

After the enjoyable Zoo trip, we went home to shower and rest for a while before getting ready for the next event line up "Birthday party at Grace Kids Gym! This event was no more entertaining than the Smart elephants and Sealion!...The instructor got the kids moving and jumping to the different beats and rhythm with tamborines and drums. And the highlight of the party, that Abby enjoyed most was when the lights are dimmed and disco lights and smokes filled the room, and they get to dance with the neon lightsticks to the beat of I gotta Feeling..oh wow! the kids had so much fun bouncing and dancing away with the colourful sticks in their hands..
Abby was such a dancer that one dad, stretched out his arms ready to catch her any moment, she loses her balance! :)

Right after the dancing, we had to quickly moved on to our very last event of the day, Wijaya's Hwa Chong JC Reunion. We went to Marche at Somerset 313, and we were greeted with a long table of 20 other people already chattering and laughing away in the room. Luckily, I had recognized several of Wijaya's friends, so, it wasn't that awkward for me. Since it has been a while that Wijaya met his ex classmates, this was a fun reunion for him. Abby, just like a star, bonded right away with several of the kids in the room, and they are running around with balloons, and smacking the head of the other diners with balloons as well. Oopps!! Sorry...

After the events, we all headed home and crashed in our beds..We have exhausted every part of our energy..But it was a truly enjoyable and fun filled day with great companions! However, maybe we could only afford 2 events and not 3 in a day...

Handbag Gift

My next challenge came on a very short notice, just 3 days before the pick up date!
It was one lazy afternoon when I was browsing the internet, and my phone rang with a request for a handbag cake for a girlfriend's birthday. When I was asked if this is possible, I checked my calendar and jumped to my feet and readily said YES! I could almost feel the sudden adrenaline flowing through my body as I hanged up the phone.
I am very excited about this handbag challenge! I have never done a handbag cake and this will be my first!

I laid out my game plan to attack this assignment and got into work almost instantaneously! Talk about efficiency! Waste not the time, idle not..

Having done several carved cakes, I am beginning to enjoy the process of it, and the sense of gratification from working on a plane other than a circular cake or a square cake. It feels like you can grab the cake and sling on your shoulder! :)
To further personalized the cake for our career minded recipient, i have added a blackberry phone, an over sized sunglasses as well as bag tag with her initials on it.

Overall, it is one delicious edible HANDBAG!..Happy Birthday to you!