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

Top Ten Cakes of 2015!!

Here we are again, at the end of 2015! As part of my year round up, I'd like to compile a list of my favourite cakes for the year. 

This is a really difficult task to do, because how do I choose from the hundreds that I make every year? Each and every one, mean something to the recipient, and also to me! I put a lot of effort into each and every cake that leaves my premises. They are my babies.

So this list will be based on creativity, level of complexity and also by the number of likes on my Instagram page, Missshortcakes. 

Here we go...

10. Harry Potter, the Chamber of Secrets
My first ever international collaboration cake to celebrate JK Rowling's 50th birthday! 54 cake artists from around the world, teamed together, to form a a group known as Birthday Mischief Managed. Led by Mitchie Curran and Suzzanne from the USA, each artist was hand picked based on their love for Harry Potter and of course, their skills! I was over the moon, when I received an "owl" mail in my inbox. How could I say no, when I was asked to contribute an edible piece? We had a year, to bring this all to life. And boy oh boy, what an effort it was. Our collab was featured in the news, on TV, in print, by international media from all corners of the world! It was amazing!!!

I chose the movie, The Chamber of Secrets. We had to incorporate a few twists as well, in our piece. It wasn't really straightforward, and our brief was very thorough. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of time and effort these 2 ladies put in, to coordinate this international collaboration. We even got nominated as "Best Collaboration of the Year", by Cake Masters UK!

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and show you my piece :)

9. Darth Vader
In ninth place, is none other than Darth Vader!! This was sculpted completely from 3 cakes, using a real Darth Vader mask as a reference. It took almost 6 hours to sculpt it. But once that was all done and ganached, the covering was pretty straight forward and then there were only a few details left to do on his face. It was a lot of fun doing this one!

8. 6 tier Ombre Blossoms
This year was all about big cakes. And boy, do I looooove doing big cakes. They look so majestic and grand! This 6 tier cake, was to match the theme of "Monet", focusing on the florals, by Glam Weddings. The stage was decorated with mauve and lilac wisteria and the cake featured blossoms in mauve and lilacs, going from deep purple towards a soft lilac and finally to white on the top. It took 3 people to cut, shape and colour the blossoms. They were very simple blossoms to make, but we had to make hundreds in different shades to cover the 6 tiers! 

This cake has since evolved into smaller versions and it's turned into my signature design! Love it!

7. Bak Kut Teh
For those of you who don't know what is Bak Kut Teh, it's a herbal broth cooked with pork ribs, belly pork, innards, tofu, mushrooms and served with rice and Chinese crullers. It's absolutely delicious, and can be found mainly in Malaysia and Singapore. 

This was for a birthday boy, who loved Bak Kut Teh! And his wife planned a BKT party, complete with a cake that looks like an actual claypot of BKT! 

I have since done 2 more of these and everyone always has a good laugh, at how real it looks!

6. Marie Antoinette Hexagon
A 4 tiered, French inspired wedding cake for the Royal Wedding of Afzan Shakira, by Glam Weddings. Such gorgeous work. I was given free reign of the design as long as it had white, gold, and white Phalaenopsis Orchids, and carried a French theme. It turned out dreamy and fit into the overall decoration, beautifully.
 

5. Book of Life
The brief for this cake was super tough. The birthday girl wanted all the main characters on the cake! And have you seen what those figurines look like??? I pulled my hair out for 3 days making those things! Hahah!! It was worth the effort though. The colourful rainbow ruffles and tassels just captured the very essence of the fiesta scene.

4. Travel cake
A 40th birthday cake for a couple who loves to travel! I had to include the countries that they adore, and also the ones that were on their bucket list. Each tier and panel, had a different city. I painted the cities silhouettes, then chose one major landmark, to depict each city. There was London, NYC, Istanbul, Warsaw, Paris, Zagreb and Rio. Loved how this cake came together with the bright and bold flowers. Amazing work by Evonn, my intern. :)
 

3. Petal Ruffle
For the Royal Wedding of Tun Putera Yasir and Diyana. Love how this cake turned out and also the depth of colour on the sugar flowers. The bride wanted the entire bottom tier to be covered with petal ruffles. Each petal was wired, thinned out, veined and then set in trays to dry. Some were left on its own, but most of them were taped together to form flowers. I had 3 people working on these ruffles for 8 days straight. We must have used 2 kg of gum paste! 

The upper tiers were pearl white and I matched the flowers according to the arrangements at the hotel ballroom. It truly was a cake fit for a princess! :)

2. Geometric Stripes
This cake was designed by an architect, FOR another architect celebrating his 60th birthday. The design was professionally done on a computer and had all the stripes perfectly aligned, from every direction. I had to make sure, all the stripes lined up, and that they were exactly 2" wide, and 6" tall. The colours, were chosen by myself, and it was a superb combination (if I do say so myself ;)). It's one of my most liked pics on Instagram! 

1.Gold Sequin and Hexagon Black and White 
And here we are at the number one spot! Made for Charvie's special birthday celebration, at the very beginning of the year. This caused a lot of excitement on my Instagram page as well as Facebook page. I will do another reposting of this cake soon. It has gold sequins, all hand cut in different shapes and sizes, a floral print on the second tier, and black and white stripes, on a Hexagon tier. Y'all know I have this love for hexagon cakes?! :)

Photo courtesy of Mint Events and Soirees

 
And there it is! 2015! It's a wrap!

Looking forward to more exciting times in 2016! And we are off to a damn good start already!! yeeeehaaaa!!!

xx Miss Shortcakes 

Cakes for Hantaran 2015

Wedding and Engagement cakes are my specialty, especially if they adorned with sugar flowers and all things pretty. Brides will send me samples of their trays and decorations, and I will match the cake to the colours and theme.

Some brides will go for feminine, some will go for contemporary, and there's also some brides who want minimal decoration. This year seems to be the trend for 2 tier hantaran cakes, as well as the rustic wedding approach. I love it!

The modern Malay bride won't spare any expense, to ensure their wedding day is as perfect as can be. And I am honoured to be chosen, to contribute to this elaborate affair.

Below are a few of the Hantaran cakes, that I have done this year, so far.

 

 

Kindly email me at jessica.ting@miss-shortcakes.com to find out more about hantaran cakes or wedding cakes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

xx Miss Shortcakes

Vera Wang Ruffle Tutorial

I'm back!!!

And with a new Youtube tutorial!!

It's been a long time since I have had the time to produce a tutorial, so finally, a small window appeared before me. And I decided to take it.

Here it is, the Vera Wang Ruffle Tutorial....I'm sure many of you are familiar with this technique and would love to know how it's done. I won't be demonstrating the popular "Rosette" look, as there are many tutorials out there already. But, essentially, it's done in the same manner, but just placed on the cake differently.

 Vera Wang Ruffle Tutorial by Miss Shortcakes

Please feel free to send me any questions and photos of your Ruffle cakes! I can't wait to see them!

 xx Miss Shortcakes

My Top Ten Cakes of 2014!

Well, here we are again, at the end of the year of 2014. I absolutely cannot believe how quickly this year has flown for me.

I have been SO busy with my  business that my last blog entry was in August 2014, when I filmed my very first video tutorial on Youtube.

2014 marked a beginning of opening my business to the help of others. Since 2008, I have been a one-woman show and now being back in Malaysia, the business has just grown so quickly that I cannot possibly do it all by myself anymore. I decided to hire an intern, to assist me with my day to day duties. It's been the best decision ever. An extra pair of hands makes so much difference!

I was also featured on a local television programme, Women's Zone on NTV7! The crew came over my home studio and filmed a 7 minute slot of me, baking, icing, and decorating a 4 tiered cake. It was such a fun experience! You can view the episode on www.tonton.com.my if you are in Malaysia. Go to Women's Zone and I am in Episode 13 Season 6. 

So if you are based in Kuala Lumpur, have some basic cake decorating experience, be reliable and highly motivated, please email me jessica.ting@miss-shortcakes.com
 
So today is the 31st of December 2014, and I would like to share my Top Ten Cakes of 2014. It's going to be a hard one, but I can already pick a couple which were just stellar designs and took me out of my comfort zone.

10. Butterfly and Blossoms

The cake that started the Floral Ball trend amongst my clients. Love this one for the subtle colours, textures and details.
 
9. Hungry Caterpillar

From the iconic children's story book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake. Something I can totally relate to, because my son is a huge fan and so are millions of children all over the world. I had so much fun painting the colour palettes and creating the shapes and decoration. Comments on my Instagram were, "Best Hungry Caterpillar ever seen". *grin*

8. Nursery Rhymes

This cake was based on invitations designed by my favourite girls at www.mint-events.com
I created this 3 tiered Nursery Rhymes cake for a regular client of mine, who's daughter was turning 1. It had Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and Humpty Dumpty as they were Daevinna's favourites.


 






















7. Emerald Ombre

Gorgeous, gorgeous cake!! This was a Maggie Austin design originally, and I changed the arrangement and type of sugar flowers, to include a Magnolia, frilly Ranunculas, and Tulips.
The colour was a mixture of black, green, blue and then it was shimmered with pearl. Loved this colour. The beads were placed one by one with edible pearls and dragees in colours to suit the cake.

6. Black and White Striped Mad Hatter

This cake was for a wedding anniversary, ordered by one of my regular clients as well. She left the design completely up to me and wanted sugar flowers as a must. I decided to do something out of the ordinary with the addition of edible wafer print on the surface of this cake, accented with black and white stripes AND a Mad Hatter shape. The bold colour of the orchids just brought this cake to life. It is my most liked photo on Instagram to date. 

 5. Ivory and Gold Ruffle 

An elegant ivory and gold wedding cake created for Sharmiah. Her theme was vintage and set amongst the beautiful gold and bronze ballroom at Cyberview Resort. This is the cake that started the ruffle trend and led me to create my first Youtube tutorial on how to make these simple, but effective scrunch ruffles. You can view it here Scrunch Ruffle Youtube Tutorial


4. 4 tier Hexagon 

Created for the TV show, Women's Zone, for NTV7. They wanted something tall and elegant, and basically a showstopping showpiece. This design is based on a wedding cake created by Simple Sweet Cakes and Cupcakes from Toronto. I changed the artwork and sugar flowers. Still one of my favourites.

3. 7 Tiers!!

Enough said. I still can't believe I did this all by myself!


2. Watercolour Flamingo

Photo courtesy of Jokee Tan of Coochicoo Lil Mama

Jokee from Coochicoo Lil Mama, and I came up with this Flamingo cake for her Tropical Paradise wedding event. She wanted something very unique and showed me a photo of a wedding cake that had this shape and the orange marbling effect. The artwork that was used at the reception had parrots and flamingos. So I suggested this watercolour effect flamingo, surrounded by gold scroll work. Jokee made paper flowers with crepe paper, to finish off the cake. It was so slim and heavy, that I was so nervous delivering the cake to the venue. Thankfully, it arrived in tact.

It was a marriage made in heaven, so to speak. The cake was stunning!! I loved making it and this also created a big stir on my Instagram page.

And now for the Cake of the Year...

1. Grand Piano 

It is without a doubt in my mind, that this is it - the Cake of 2014. And what a way to finish off the year! Just created a few weeks ago in December 2014, for a lucky man turning 60.

The client wanted a 3D Grand Piano cake, and it had to be as realistic as possible. This is the first time I created a cake on a platform base and upped the ante for complex novelty designs!

I was so nervous and anxious leading up to the cake and it took almost a month of planning to ensure, that this cake would make jaws drop.

My friend, Rob, who's a product designer helped me cut the MDF and base needed for the support of this cake. Thank you thank you thank you!!! Once that was done, everything else fell into place.

It took me 13 hours in one stretch, to decorate and finish the cake.

And here it is!

There will be a blog post to follow this that will show you how I created this masterpiece. My Instagram went nuts as soon as I posted the work in progress shots! This must be THE proudest moment of my entire career. 

2014 Wild card Cake

Only because I couldn't keep it to only 10 cakes, I threw in a wild card. This was a corporate  cake for a jeweller in Malaysia, turning 100. Edible jewels and black scrolls  framed the gold company logo. 

 

Thank you to all my amazing clients who entrust me with their wedding and birthday cakes. I can't tell you how honoured I am to be a part of your special day. Most of all, thank you for allowing me to have artistic freedom. And of course to all my fans who religiously like, comment and share my work from all corners of the world. It is you, that gives me the motivation to keep up the posts.

I'm so looking forward to 2015 and to more exciting projects. Watch this space.
More cake adventures and bigger steps to a brighter future.

xx Miss Shortcakes