Every Cake Tells a Story.

This week, I had the pleasure of creating 2 birthday cakes, for 2 very different women. It's always interesting to hear the client explain their requirements for the cake, and to hear them describe their friend or whoever it is, they are ordering the cake for.

The first cake was for someone turning 40, who had many, many loves. She was very much into her family, skiing, fine coffee, music, and most of all - Yoga and handbags.

Not just any handbags, mind you. It was a Birkin. And the other, an Olympia Le-Tan clutch book bag. Both, very unique in their own right, and both with celeb status.

Needless to say, the person ordering the cake for her, also had a very clear picture of what she wanted the cake look like. I racked my brain for over 2 weeks, trying to accomodate all her requests, and all the little details she had specified.

Finally, after many conversations over Whatsapp (oh, what would I do without you?), we concluded on a cake with yoga silhouettes (they had to be Ashtanga, or nothing else!), the Birkin, the OLT clutch, a Hermes scarf, and I was also going to add a pair of skis as well, on top of the cake. Finished with a ribbon and a single sugar flower.

I think it must have been about 4 days before the cake was due, when I receive a Whatsapp message at 11.30pm. It was from my client. She was at the first birthday bash for her yoga-loving friend that night, and there was a cake there too.

Not just any cake. This cake was 3 tiers, with a figurine on top, in a sitting yoga pose, surrounded by a Birkin, yoga mats, and flowers. Around the cake ALSO had yoga silhouettes.

She was FUMING. I was in DISBELIEF. 

Ok ok, what do I do? 

Keep calm. Think. Of. New. Cake.

So I immediately reassured her, that it's all good. We'll come up with a different idea in the morning, and that I would be in touch.

Sunday afternoon comes, and we are in touch again about the cake. I suggest we move completely away from the yoga/bag theme, and do what I do best, which is something pretty with gorgeous, sugar flowers. 

"Let's do that. All girls would love a pretty, floral cake."

Unfortunately, the birthday girl is all about the yoga. So the cake needs to go ahead with the yoga theme. We finally decide that we will make the Olympia Le-Tan clutch the star of the cake, with a scarf spilling out of it. The yoga silhouettes, are to stay, and I need to make sure they are SPECIFIC Ashtanga poses. Not quite like the other cake, she had seen over the weekend.
 
By the time I was half way through the cake, I knew I had a winner of a cake on my hands. Every element turned out great, even though I had to forego the sugar flower, and I was very happy with the end result. It was classy, elegant, and most of all, it depicted what the birthday girl was about. This was most important to the client, and that is what makes a successful cake.

The other custom designed cake I had this week, was for a doctor who loved shoes and bags. The cake was ordered by a regular client of mine, for her very good doctor friend. 

She initially sent me the photo of a stack of Chanel boy bags, and from there we changed the stack of bags, into a stack of medical books. She also wanted a shoe on the books, and a stethescope draped over it.

We discussed colours and what would work best. She was so open to any suggestions I had, and I love when clients say, "You know what works best. I'll go with whatever you think".

Aaaah....that's bliss to my cake designer ears. 

It gives me full confidence to push ahead with my ideas, with that creative freedom. 

I chose to do vintage medical books with gold trims and detailing, to match the black bag and gold shoe. I love how everything came together, and I think once the cakes were ganached, it took about 5 hours to ice and finish the cake off. 

I had most fun putting this cake together and when I posted the work in progress pic on Instagram and FB, it created a stir! More so, when my client posted it on her Instagram account, it went off the charts! She really generated a LOT of interest to my business from all possible means of communication. It's been unreal.

If you are reading this blog post, thank you SO much for supporting my business. You can also follow me on Facebook by clicking this link www.facebook.com/msshortcakes

xxx Miss Shortcakes

Up close and personal with Faye Cahill

As soon as the Galloping Gus course was over, the next course was a 2 day private workshop at Faye Cahill Cake Design, in Marrickville. If I had to choose my all-time favourite cake designer in Sydney, hands down, it would be Faye Cahill.

I absolutely love her style and designs, using cutting edge techniques and delicate artwork. The private workshop was completely tailored around what I wanted to learn! I couldn't have been happier to do it, even though I was quite tired from the Galloping Gus course :(

Faye and I worked on the course details together via email and we came up with a good game plan. I wanted some fine tuning and polishing on some ganaching and icing techniques (skills which form the most important part of the cake), as well as, learn how to pipe intricate lace and edible beading. She got me to look for patterns on the internet, which would translate well onto cake, and in particular our design.

Shop front

When I arrived at 9.30 a.m., I was greeted by Mav, the senior cake decorator, who was going to be my instructor for the first session. Mav has been with Faye for 5 years, and started there doing work experience. 

Mav made me feel very welcome from the moment I stepped foot into the studio. My notes were laid out, along with my chocolate cake, ganache was ready, and all the tools required were kept neatly in a little basket on my work area. I even had a little packet of popcorn to nibble on :).

We began with the basics - ganaching and torting. The cake that I was working on was a 7" round, and it was going to be 26cm tall. Mav was very good in explaining how the support system would work with a tall, 2 tiered cake.

We ganached and torted for a good couple of hours. By the time our cakes were ready to be iced, it was almost lunch time. I must say, I did pick up some new tips and tricks on how to ganache properly. Skills which I will use with each and every cake that I ganache from now on. 

After lunch, it was time to ice the cake. Icing a tall cyclinder is not an easy job, hence the request by myself. Faye's studio was kept at a cool 18 degrees, and it was perfect conditions for cake decorating. The icing was firm and the ganache set beautifully hard. If only I had those conditions here in KL, life would be so much easier (and faster!).

Mav demonstrated on her cake first, and she did a marvelous job. Once she was done, it was my turn. The icing was firm, and so easy to roll - a far cry from what I work with in KL. I knew I wasn't going to have any trouble with it the moment I rolled it out. I draped it over the top and began easing it down the cyclinder. Slowly, slowly, the icing covered the cake and then I had to make a long, straight slit down the cake, to create a seam. This would prevent it from tearing and would be the easiest way to remove the excess of the cake.

Mav assisted me when it came to this section, and together we finished it. Once the icing was on, it was time to smooth the cake, and to get those razor sharp edges. Again, this was another skill I had wanted to perfect. Mav showed me that it just a slight adjustment with my smoothers and it made a world of difference! 

Happy days!

I think I must have spent at least 20 minutes just smoothing the icing and getting those edges sharp. Then it was time to pearl lustre the cake. A beautiful finish to the ivory icing. I chose a champagne colour and Mav mixed up the colours and demonstrated how it was done. 

Then it was time to mark the cake, for the edible beading. Faye had already prepared a template and this would help with the positioning of the beading.

I marked it carefully with Mav's guidance and it was such an easy method! Then we covered the board with icing and that was it for day one. 

The next day, it was decorating day with Faye Cahill herself. I walked in at 9.30pm and the studio was in full swing already. There were numerous cakes being cut and ganached, flowers being made, it was busy, busy, busy.

Faye had set up all the equipment required and we talked about our design. She explained what we had to do first and showed me the different decorations that we could use.

I had my eye on the edible beading the moment I saw it, and was keen to learn how it was done. Mind you, I was so wrong when I tried to guess what it was! It'll be unfair to myself if I shared with you what we did, so all I can say is that, it took 2 and a half, back breaking hours to create that look that I wanted. And it was only on a 7" cake! By the time I was done, my eyes were sore and my back needed alignment :). 

We worked on applying the silver leaf after that, and that in itself was a delicate operation. It would take lots of practice with the silver leaf, before I could get it all on without tearing. 

Finally, it last job - the piping. Faye is known for her piping skills and it she does a lot of it. She piped the first few goes for me, and it looked so easy when she did it. I struggle when it comes to piping on a vertical surface. I'm more used to piping on a flat surface. It's a lot easier for me to control the piping bag.

So the practice I got there, and the tips I picked up with Faye, were very helpful and made a lot of sense too.

I was doing it the hard way all this while! 

The finished cake

Edible beading and piping work

From the left : Mav, Faye, and myself

Me and my cake :)

 
Unfortunately Faye doesn't allow work-in-progress shots anymore in her studio. This is due to some students taking step-by-step shots, and posting them online. It really defeats the purpose of paying a lot of money for a class with Faye, and then someone on the internet could easily pick up how it's done, for free! So fair enough - I could only snap a few when the cake was complete.

I kept my wedding cake and Gus cake for approximately 2 weeks, just so I could admire them everyday :). When the time came to leave Sydney, I had to painfully take them apart. All I have left is this blog and a bunch of photos, but the skills I've gained, with last me a lifetime.

Time for more big cake adventures!


 

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 :)