Top Ten Cakes of 2016!!!

And here we are again, at the end of another year. 2016 was tough, and I faced many diffcult obstacles, with work going up and down, my health, and some personal issues. But I still got up everyday, faced it, and dealt with it, as best that I could, so I could turn the page.

It was still an exciting year with lots of beautiful and big cakes, that I am so very proud of. My trip to the States in the first quarter of 2016, saw me teach my very first class in New York. Then, I went to Indonesia to teach another class, and that was challenging with 8 students with different levels of experience. I'm not sure I am cut out to be a teacher full-time, but once I see all the results from the students, maybe, just maybe, I could do it all again. 

One of the highlights of my year, was meeting The Cake Boss aka Buddy Valastro here in KL! My dear cake buddy, Su from Delectable, helped with setting up the meeting and from there, it spiralled into 3 radio shows with the HitzFM Morning Crew! I woke up one morning, and the next thing I know, I'm on the radio with Buddy, head to head in a Baker's showdown! It was a lot of fun!

I also turned 40 this year, and although I don't really feel (or act) my age, it's makes one wonder, how earth did I get to 40, so quickly?? Time to step up the pace and get moving!!
Miss Shortcakes is ready for bigger and better things! My humble studio is getting quite cramped, and it's time to move to bigger a premises. 2017, let's see what's in store for me. 

So here are my Top Ten Cakes of 2016!

10. Travel the World
Featuring hand cut 2D buildings of the homes of Amsterdam, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Statue of Liberty. And on the top of the cake, a tram from the streets of San Francisco. All the favourite cities of the birthday girl.

9. Datin Seri Rosmah's Birthday 
When I was asked to make this cake, I had plenty of mixed reactions from everyone. But hey it's still an honour, and to be presenting a grand birthday cake to the Prime Minister's wife! This was a massive 3 tiered cake, weighing in over 20 kg's. 

8. Tun Siti Hasmah's 90th Birthday
To be honest, I didn't know this cake was for Tun Siti Hasmah, until about 3 or 4 days before the event. And what an honour it was, to be apart of this momentous occasion. Tun Siti also launched her biography titled, "My Name is Hasmah", on that same day. My cake was featured in various newspapers and magazines, and all over social media. 

7. Sultan of Pahang's 86th Birthday
This cake was ordered literally 5 days before the event, on a Thursday afternoon!! I had a full weekend of cakes and the pressure was ON. I could not say, no to this client. So I came up with an alternative cake design, and managed to deliver it on time, and up to the Miss Shortcakes standard. Everyone was happy. I was happy. :)

6. Royal Blue and Gold
One of the many royal wedding cakes that I did in 2016, for the Pahang Royals. The top and bottom tiers were both fruit cakes, making it really top heavy and bottom heavy. That blue, was not easy to replicate and we kneaded 15 kg's of fondant by hand to get the colour right. The bottom tier was stencilled with an ornate damask print, then we painted the gold on by hand, section by section. All the crystals were from Swarovski. 

5.Yellow and Silver 
Still one of my favourite weddings of all time. From the moment, I stepped foot into the vicinity of the ballroom, I was moved. The decor was so beautifully done, from the colours, to the flowers, to the crystal vases, the stage, it was all majestic. And my cake, MY CAKE.....it fit right into the whole night perfectly. Decor by Rizalman, Glam Weddings. 

4. Purple Peonies
It took 2 weeks to make all the peonies that were on this cake. Each petal was cut individually, thinned out, veined, then curled and left to dry on trays. Then 2 more days, to tape them all up into full blooms, and finally another full day of petal dusting. The shades of purple made this cake very regal, and "POP" with vibrancy. It was shared over 700 times, and had 3K likes on my Facebook page! My cake buddy, Shawna McGreevy shared it on her page, and it went mental!! Thanks so much, Shawna! xx 

3. Agong's 89th Birthday 
One of the Agong's birthday celebrations, was held on my 40th birthday, 7.12.2016. This was the first time, my cake has been presented to the King of Malaysia. So this was a real treat for me! I couldn't be prouder! The top tier features the State of Kedah's Royal Crest.

2. Poo cake
Where do I begin with this one?!! This was a "retaliation cake", to put it quite simply. The boys from the Morning Crew at Hitzfm rang me one morning, pretending to be customer. It grew into quite a difficult conversation, and really unusual, so I got, Jasmine to record it for me. When the call was revealed that it was a "Gotcha" prank call, I vowed that I would get them back. Oh, and boy did I pull through. 
It hit me the next day, that I SHOULD actually make the Poo cake, that they wanted to order. With my brother's advice, I texted the producer, Basil and he LOVED the idea. We decided that I should come into the studio with the Poo cake, and make RD (the Gotcha caller), eat it. Oh, it was the perfect plan. 

I got to work on the cake, and I made the poop, THE most realistic dog poop, ever. I had so much fun making the cake, and we also managed to film me putting it all together. Hopefully the full video footage will be out soon the Hitzfm website. 

1. Mah Sing's 60th Birthday
When I got this brief, I was somewhat daunted by this task. I had 4 days to construct this cake from scratch. I printed out all the projects completed by the Mah Sing group, and laid them out in front of me. I studied them for hours, trying to work out which developments could translate onto this cake. And then I had to work out, how I was going to create them with fondant. My head was in serious pain. But in the end, with 2 extra pairs of hands, we pulled through and this cake was born. I am quite proud of the level of workmanship that went onto this cake. Every detail on this cake was pretty accurate and I couldn't have done it without the commitment and passion given by my staff.

And there it is, my Top Ten Cakes of 2016! 

This year, I will try to update my blog a little bit more, and also upload the pictures from my classes and travels abroad. I have yet to complete the class posts from 2015! Eeeps!! *facepalm

Meanwhile, do drop me a note if you want to say hey! I'd love to hear from you! See you next time!

xx Miss Shortcakes