The Amazing Galloping Gus

I was just recently in Sydney for 3 weeks with my boy, J and part of the trip, had to be a cakey one too. I organised to join 2 cake courses whilst I was there and one of them was at the Whimsical Cakehouse in Sydney. I knew I just had to do it when I saw it. It was taught by the uber talented cake artist, Kaysie Lackey from The People's Cake Bakery in Seattle, USA. She's a regular competitor in the Food Network Challenge, and has won 3 battles. Her brand new cake class was called, "Galloping Gus" and the class in Sydney would be her very first time, teaching it. Kaysie did also mention that this was one of her toughest projects to date, to teach.

I was one of the lucky few, to be one of her "guinea pigs". It ran for 3 days, from March 15 to March 17, from 9 a.m. to "finish".

This is was the image that was used to promote her course.

Isn't it insane????

Boy, was I in for some cakey nightmares, or what???!!

Day one. The hardest day of ALL. I seriously struggled and didn't think I could get it done. We had to build the skeleton of Gus, from metal piping and tubing, nuts and bolts, using all the tools that you'd find in a hardware store.

This immediately was trouble. My brain does not work when it comes to engineering and using boy tools. Kaysie would yell out, "Take the male connector and screw it onto the 2", then take one nipple and insert that into the 3" and then hand tighten. Make sure this one is tight, the other loose. Use a wrench if you need to". 

Me: "Is this it?", I look at her blankly.
Kaysie : "No hun, that's the 2 1/2", this is the 3".
Me :"Oh. Ok. I knew that."

I think it must have taken at least 4 - 5 hours for everyone one of us to complete the skeleton, prepare and drill boards, and cut bases out of foam core, for the cake to sit on.

Once the first half of the class was complete and we all had lunch, it was a HUGE relief for me. I could finally see a horse skeleton and the image of Gus was looking clearer in my mind.

Kaysie didn't have any reference material for us, and this I found very difficult. It was like working blindly. Hopefully in her future classes, she will have these ready for her students.

The next stage of the class, was carving the cake into a horse shape. This I found a little easier but again, we had no reference material, and had to walk back and forth to her demo cake. 

The shape of the horse itself was very well defined and quite complex. Then, it was time to ganache. No problem here for me, and I even had time to help a few of my neighbours with the ganaching.

That was the was the end of the first day, and we were done by 6.30pm.  I still had an hour's drive ahead of me, back to the apartment.

Day two. We played around with modelling chocolate and fondant, and using modelling chocolate was great fun. It opened up my world into it's endless possibilities and capabilities to a "seamless" way to finish decorations.

We created the neck and prepared all the limbs, made some horse shoes, and most importantly, we worked on Gus' head.

Check out her cake tattoo on her wrist :)

Once all of that were done, we had the most daunting task of icing the ENTIRE horse, in ONE piece, except for the head.

"It's doable", Kaysie says. "Let me show you how".

Ok, you do that, Kaysie.

Lo and behold. She did. It was just a matter of strategically cutting a few seams in the horse, to make it look like it's part of the horse.

While she was smoothing the icing out, I was nervous at the task ahead of us. I certainly did not want to be ripping the icing of the cake, and having to re-roll the icing, patch up the ganache, and clean up the mess. Everyone in the class were gasping and oohing and ahhing over the way Kaysie handled the icing. We were all on edge! Suddenly I had the urge to pee. "Excuse me, I need to go pee", I casually announced to the class. 

LOL! Everyone burst out laughing. 

I felt better after, and ok, I admit it, I psyched myself up in the toilet before opening the door.

It was time. Time to show the icing and the cake, who's boss.

I cleaned my bench meticulously, organised all the tools required, and made sure I would be ready to tackle the horse, once the icing was draped onto the cake.

Knead, knead, knead, roll, roll, roll. I was good to go.

I picked it up in one piece, and carefully draped it over the cake. And there was no turning back now. Smooth, smooth, smooth, cut here, snip there, tuck it in there, tuck it in here, smooth, smooth, smooth. I was FOCUSED and determined to get it done properly. Nothing could distract me at this stage. I worked on it, and eventually, I got there. Gus was iced in one piece, with no tearing or ripping, and he was a smooth looking horse. 

I was well chuffed.

Day two was almost done. The last task of the day was to put on his ears, so they would dry overnight. I was done by 7.30 p.m. that night and completely exhausted and drained.

And there he is, smooth, and looking slick.

The class in action

Day three. 9 a.m. sharp. I arrive and all is well. Gus is still standing and is waiting for his grey coat to go on. This is definitely the most fun part in cake decorating.

Kaysie demonstrated a technique called "dappling" and this was used to create that smokey effect of the horse's coat. Since I chose grey, it didn't have an undercoat like the others. I had to start from a white base and slowly build up the colour.

Kaysie's horse, before the dappling.

After the dappling. Doesn't he look great?

I think I must have spent a good 3 - 4 hours alone, just on the dappling. It was so much fun putting on the finishing touches. Then we created his blowing mane and tail, added on the saddle and blanket, and by that time, it was late. Very late. And I was T.I.R.E.D.

I didn't manage to put on his mask, but I was still very pleased with the entire project in itself. I finished at 8 p.m. on the last day and there were others who were there till 9 p.m. at least, I had heard.

Here's my finished Gus!

Kaysie and I, with our horses.

Kaysie, thank you for sharing your knowledge and being such a wonderful teacher! I am truly, truly grateful that I managed to attend your course. Looking forward to more brilliant projects in the future! xx

And to all the fantastic ladies I met during the course, it was SO nice to meet you and I had such a good time working with you all! xx

Next up....a private wedding cake class with the amazing Faye Cahill of Faye Cahill Cake Design.
 

Starting 2013 with a big BANG!

Ok, I have to admit it - I anticipated Doomsday 21.12.12. I went out to buy candles, batteries, instant noodles, 30 litres of drinking water, and even got my Dad to fill up the spare gas tank for the stove.

My reasoning was, at least I was somewhat prepared for the 3 days of darkness that was supposedly to happen on the 22nd of December. I was warned that it might happen, so I went out and did what I had to do to "ride out" the 3 days.

It obviously didn't happen. And that meant, having to get back to work. 

DAMN.

The end of 2012 was very busy for the business, with loads of preparation for operation BIG CAKE that I had lined up in  the last 2 weeks of January 2013.

The first project was a 5 tier wedding cake, for a sweet girl who ordered it from Australia. She's Malaysian and was having her wedding reception in KL for 700 guests. She wanted something pretty in pink with sugar flowers to suit her Vintage theme. And her other requirement was that it had to be BIG. 

So, this is what I came up with :

The top tier had a full posy of sugar roses, peonies, and filler flowers, and it was lifted on a candlelabra stand, with a beaded trim. The second tier had pearl drape piping, the third tier had a lace stencil, the fourth had swags with bows, and the final tier had pink and ivory stripes. 

I do apologise for the bad photography. It was a horrible day with torrential rain and the hotel foyer that we were in, had dim, yellow lights. So it was not a great day for cake photography. Such a shame, I wish I had better shots. It was such a gorgeous cake!








The second project I had was for a corporate client, Nikon. Their theme this year was, "Going Green" and they wanted a cake to suit this. I made all the sugar leaves on this cake as well, in different sizes and colours, veined them, wired them, and also glazed them to create a shiny effect. The cake flavour inside was green tea.

Each tier was 4.5" tall and the largest tier on the bottom was 11" x 11". It weighed a ton!

The next project in BIG CAKE was for the Royal Family of Pahang. It was in fact a double wedding, held at the The Zenith Hotel, in Kuantan, Pahang. I had to do 2 cakes, for the same night, as well as 22 Mini Wedding Cakes for the VIP table! And on top of that, I had to go to Kuantan to assemble the cakes a few days before the wedding. 

The brief was an elegant wedding cake, to look like present boxes, nothing to "weddingy". 

I suggested one cake to be in squares, and the other in round boxes. The square one was to be in green and yellow with gold embellishments, and the other in different shades of gold and ivory.

It was a fantastic experience for me to pack up all my tools and equipment, cakes, supplies etc for 4 nights away on a job. And not just a job, it was for a Royal Wedding! 

I started all the preparations a month in advance and trust me, I spent many, many long hours through the night, planning, designing, and creating these 2 cakes.

A driver was sent for me and we transported all my supplies in an air-conditioned van, safely. There was only one small accident on one of the cakes, which I cleverly disguised later. No one knew.

My workstation for the stay there was in one of conference rooms at the hotel, and a stainless steel bench was brought in specially for me to work. It took around 3 hours to get there, and another 2 hours to set up my space, and check into my room.

Work began immediately that day and went on every night till around 10pm. There were tons of people about everyday, working on the wedding. Staff for the flowers, decorations, gifts and favours, drivers, security, hotel and palace staff, and little ol' me, working by myself on the cakes. 

There was a conference room set up for all the wedding staff, for meals, 24/7. It was a nice touch. I was well-looked after by the hotel staff and spent a few hours with the pastry team too, demonstrating my craft. I managed to get some help for one day from the pastry team, and they helped me with some gold painting and icing the Mini Wedding Cakes. I wouldn't have been able to finish without their help. 

Here are the photos from the event.

The Ivory and Gold Round Present Box Stack

Close up

The Square Present Box Stack

Close Up

On the stage

Yay! I'm finished!

My cake being wheeled into the ballroom by the Pastry Team

Safe and sound!

Mini Wedding Cakes for the VIP table

The ballroom

VIP table for the Royal Family

The stage

Interesting fact : Some of the gold dust that I used on the Royal Wedding cakes were made from 24 K gold! 

What a huge month it was for me, and now it's time to kick back, and relax for awhile... :)

Thanks for reading and until next time...

3 days to go...

Another year has passed, another year older. In 3 days, I'll be 36. 

Yup, 36. How the heck did I end up here so quickly anyway? I can remember turning 17 so clearly, and jumping on my parent's bed, that very morning, 19 years ago. "I'm 17! I'm 17! I'm 17!", I screamed so excitedly.

Will I be doing that in 3 days time? 

I think not.

What I will be doing is visiting the biggest and baddest book sale, the world has ever seen! It's going to go for 63 hours straight, from Friday Dec 7 at 6.30 a.m. to Dec 9 till 9.30pm. We are supposed to going on Friday night some time and hopefully the  Big Bad Wolf Books are going to worth the trip. My uncle reckons he will be bringing a pallet, and how he plans on transporting this home, I have no idea.

December also is the time when I reflect on the year that has passed, and remember all the good and the bad.

2012 has been a hell of a year, with loads of major changes in my life. I for one, am calling KL my home now, after having being away for 15 years. It's been a struggle in the beginning to adjust, and honestly I am still adjusting to living at home again. But, as they say, home is where the heart is. 

I've left Sydney behind me, after being there for 12 years. It's had it's up's and down's, and certainly left a big dent in my heart. But, I am stronger and only looking forward to great things to come.

As Paolo Coehlo once said, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." 

This is so true. KL is proving to be just that. All I need to do is, to get to it, and I believe it will happen. 

2013, look out! I am a coming!

 

The Custom Cake Making Process

When I tell people that I am a professional cake designer, I usually get a range of responses. The most common is, "Do you make sponge cake? Or can you make ice cream cake? What about Tiramisu, do you do that?" 

Me: "Erm. No."

I try to be as polite as possible and point them into the direction of my website Miss Shortcakes
or to my Facebook page www.facebook.com/msshortcakes as the first point of entry, into my world as a cake designer.

They can view the sort of cakes I create there, and it should give them an idea as to what is expected from a cake by Miss Shortcakes. From there on, if they ask me again, "Can it be ice cream cake on the inside?", that's when I politely direct them to the nearest ice cream parlour.

Cake designing is pretty unfamiliar territory for a lot of people. Most do not realise how long it takes to create a custom cake, from start to finish. I thought this week, since I designed a cake from an invitation card and theme, it would be a good idea to share the entire process.

Generally a safe time frame to book a novelty cake is around 2 - 3 weeks prior. This gives me enough time to conceptualise the cake, design and plan, liase with the client, start making any decorations which need time to dry, and make purchases for special items if need be. 

So, the initial contact obviously comes from the client with the theme of the party. I receive the invitation card which contains the picture of the vampire girl, that she'd like as the cake topper. I also get information on the theme of the party, which is " In the Spirit of Halloween". She also tells me that the kids will be watching the new Sony movie Hotel Transylvania at the start of the party. The "must haves" on the cake are the usual Halloween suspects of bats and blood.

Invitation card

With all that information at hand, I can now start to look for ideas and references on the internet. I search for Halloween cakes, pictures from the movie Hotel Transylvania, anything at all that will give me inspiration for this cake.

Once I shortlist the pictures, these get printed out to create my "Mood Board". Then, the designing process begins. Some designs can be as quick as a couple of minutes, and some cake take up to 4 days to draw up. It really all depends on how all the elements work together on cake.

My Halloween Mood Board and rough sketches.

I toyed around with a few different shapes for this cake - Madhatter, tapered, extended tiers etc. A fun cake design like this, usually works best on a non-traditional shape (single tier or 2 tier, one on top of ther other).

After 5 or 6 rough sketches, I decide on a 2 tier cake, with the bottom tier, extended in height. So this means, the bottom tier will have 2 cakes stacked together, then iced, to make it look like one tier. Not only will this make it look tall, it will also give me the room to create the silhoutte of the hotel from the movie. 

The "mock" cake, set up in cake tin form

Final Artwork

Using the colours from the invitation card of red, black, and white, the top tier is iced in a deep red icing. The bottom tier is white, with a black silhoutte of the hotel and around the entire cake, there are scary looking trees, graves and bats flying in the moonlight. 

Vamp girl stands proudly on the top tier, with lots of bats flying around here. And to finish off the cake, blood is oozing out from the cake.

I get this scanned and emailed over to the client, and fingers crossed, all will be approved.

Thankfully this time, it's all good and I get to start work. If there are changes, then it's back to the drawing board. So this is why, it's always good to organise your cake at least 3 weeks ahead of time.

The most time consuming element on this cake, is the figurine of Vamp girl. If I'm lucky, I'll get to work on her over a period of 2 days. Parts of her need to dry overnight, before I can finish her off, as neatly as possible.

Then, it's the bats on wires. These also need a good 3 - 4 days to dry for them to hold up on the wires, in this humidity. The bats are cut out from a template I made using a picture of a bat, I found on the internet. Then the wings are thinned out slightly using a ball tool, then a wire inserted into the body. I have a cardboard setting tray which I made myself to lift up the wings on an angle. This makes the bats look like they are flying, rather than a flat one.

Then I move on to making the other bits and bobs that can be made in advance. And a couple of days before the party, the baking begins. The cakes are then cooled overnight in the fridge, before they are prepared for the ganaching process.

This is where the cakes trimmed, filled with chocolate ganache, then masked with more chocolate ganache, to create a near perfect foundation for the rolled fondant icing. I must stress that the ganaching process is THE most messy and important part of cake decorating. Some cakes can be ganached in less than 30 minutes, whereas the more complex shapes can take up to an hour and half alone!

If your foundation is rough and wonky, then when the icing goes on the cake, all the flaws will show. And this will make your cake look totally unprofessional and all your hardwork making the beautiful decorations have gone to waste.

I know I need to take pics of the cakes being ganached, but honestly it gets so messy, I don't really want to stop and get the camera out with my mucky hands. LOL! But I will, one day. I will.
Once they are ganached, they are rested in the fridge for a few hours, so that the fillings can set properly before the icing goes on.
 

There's the cake, iced and ready to be decorated. Fun time!

I also like to dry the cake overnight in the air conditioning before the decorations go on. This gives me a harder and drier cake surface to work on, and more often than not, the end result is always neater.

There she is!

Side view

So, the million dollar question would be....How long did it take?

For THIS design :
Cake design and consultation : 4 days, more or less
Decorations made in advance : 2 days
Baking from start to finish : 3 hours
Ganaching and icing : 3 hours, then overnight to dry out
Cake decorating : 4 hours, thereabouts

Not as easy as it looks, eh? But it's oh so much fun :)

How to make a sushi cake

One of my other fun projects the other week was to make a sushi cake for a little boy, who loves to eat, sushi! 

His mother sent me 3 photos of his favourite types of sushi, and then I had to turn it into a cake design.

So, we decided to go with the usual side kicks of sushi - soy sauce, chopsticks, wasabi dollop, and sliced pickled ginger.

It turned out really cute, I must say. The sushi was so fun to make, that I had to take a few photos to show you a step by step process.

Unfortunately my camera was AWOL the day I was making the sushi, so I had to use my Iphone to snap the pics. Apologies for the poor quality.

First step. Make the rice. I had to make ikura gunkan-maki (salmon roe), salmon nigiri, and tamago sushi (egg sushi). So, knead a small amount of white gumpaste into a pliable consistency. Then roll it out into thin, long strips about 1/2cm thickness. Try to get it even, then cut away 1/4 cm pieces (or smaller), with a small paring knife, until the entire strip is used up.

Then, to shape the rice, you will need lots of patience here. Take each piece, place in the palm of your hand. With your fingertip, roll the end bit of the piece into a tapered shape, with a backward and forward movement. Repeat on the other side, until you are satisfied that it resembles a grain of rice.

To the right, the original bits of icing I started out with. To the left, the rice grains.

 So, when you think you have enough. Start again, and make some more. Whenever I make fiddly, tiny things like filler flowers, or buds for flowers, I always keep going and going, until I can go no more. You always need more than anticipated.

Sorry. With the rice grains. This is a rule of thumb here. Make as many as you can, then leave them to dry for 30 minutes or so.

Next step. Making the sushi centres. The 3 different kinds of sushi have similar shapes. So instead of packing a whole bunch of fondant rice together to form the shape of the sushi, I formed a ball of white fondant into an oval shape. This acts as the "bulk" of the sushi rice. Do this for all 3 types. Then, use sugar glue to stick the "rice grains" all over the ball of fondant. This creates the illusion that it really is a ball of rice.

The egg omellette was made from pale yellow fondant, then rolling it out quite thick. Cut it into a rectangle shape, round of the corners, then use a sharp knife to create lines all over it. Stick it onto the "rice" with sugar glue, and let it curve over the sides a little.

The salmon nigiri was made with a thick piece of orange fondant, rolled out. Then cut out into a rectangle shape, and on one end, I cut it into an arrow-like shape. Secure it on the rice, and again, let it drape over the sides. It was then painted over with a deep, red, coral colour to add depth. Then, the bits of "fat marbling" on the salmon was painted on again, with white food colouring. 

Now onto the last sushi, the salmon roe. With a deep, orange fondant, make tiny balls, enough to cover the top of the final sushi. Let it dry. Then, it's time to make the nori sheets.

To get that deep green, almost black colour, I started off with a dark grey fondant, then added leaf green and black fondant, while mixing it to the colour I wanted.

Then roll it out thin. I mean, really THIN. Then use a clean teatowel, and roll over with a rolling pin, to create a textured finish.

The nori sheet. You can see it's so thin, you can clearly see the shapes of palm of my hand and fingers.

Then cut out a thick strip and measure around the final ball of fondant for size. It should wrap around the ball to fit perfectly. Use a leaf cutter with a jagged edge to "texturise" the strips of nori on the edges.

Then secure it around the ball of fondant. Use more sugar glue to attach more rice grains to the top of the sushi, then glue on the salmon roe balls on top. Make sure you cover the entire top.

With the remaining strips of nori sheet, cut out a thin strip, and using the same method for jagged edges, cut out a small piece to wrap around the egg tamago sushi.

The finished sushi decorations, let ot dry.

The rest of the elements were all made with fondant and gumpaste, including the chopsticks, plate, and soy sauce dish.

Here's the finished cake.

What do you think?