Tea Set cakes

A tea-set cake for my tea drinking Mom. The teapot was a carrot cake with cream cheese filling and the little ones were plain yellow cake with cannoli fillings. I spread fig jam on the teacup cake to make it look like tea.

So lets have a tea party (not the political kind) and talk about all good things..... about being thankful for the bounty that God has bestowed us. If we start to catalog our blessings with the ocean water as ink--- all oceans will dry up and we still wont be done with listing our blessings.  

Bubble Bath Baby Shower cake

This was for a baby shower for a young couple and their precious little angel on her way. Since it is the first child, they will probably sterilize everything, make everyone disinfect their hands before holding the baby,  on average take a picture a minute and freak out at every little sound or lack of sounds emmitting from the little bundle of joy.  It is different with the subsequent children...  
"When your baby first drops her pacifier you sterilize it, When your second baby drops her pacifier you tell the dog FETCH"  Bruce Lansky. 

The lower layer was a yellow chiffone cake with raspberry filling. The bath-tub was a carrot cake with cream cheese filling... yum!

People who say they sleep like a baby usually dont have one--- L J Burke

Birkin Cake

The Birkin bag is a handbag by Hermès, handmade in leather and named after actress and singer Jane Birkin.   In 1981, Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas was seated next to Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London. She had just placed her straw bag in the overhead compartment of her seat, but the contents fell to the deck, leaving her to scramble to replace the contents. Birkin explained to Dumas that it had been difficult to find a leather weekend bag she liked. In 1984, he created a black supple leather bag for her, based on an 1892 design. She used the bag for herself then later changed her mind because she was carrying too many things in it: “What’s the use of having a second one?” she laughs. “You only need one and that busts your arm; they’re bloody heavy. I’m going to have to have an operation for tendonitis in the shoulder.” Nevertheless, the bag has since become an icon.

Although the Birkin bag is free of logos, it is one of the most recognized bags in the fashion industry and by the public. It is highly coveted and, for several years, was reputed for having a waiting list of up to 6 years – the longest wait for any bag in history. As a result of the strong demand, the Birkin bag has a high reselling value in many countries.  In April 2010, Hermès announced that the waiting list would no longer exist, implying that it is potentially available to all.

The bag is a symbol of wealth due to its high price exclusivity and usage by celebrities. Price ranges from $7,400 to $150,000.  Maybe I could save up and purchase one of the cheaper varieties, but I would rather donate the $$ to someone in need of a roof over their head.  I prefer this, more delicious version with delightful almond chiffon cake and almond cardomom mousse filling, Très dèlicieux.

Tiffany Gift box cake

“The practice of giving and receiving gifts is so universal it is part of what it means to be human. In virtually every culture, gifts and the events at which they are exchanged are a crucial part of the essential process of creating and maintaining social relationships …”. Anthropologist Terry Y. LeVine.

The purpose of giving gifts is to bring joy to both the giver and receiver, promote goodwill, and make for a closer relationship.  However, if gift-giving goes amiss, there is a likelihood of attics and basements full of objects never used or appreciated. I always ask for "perishable" gifts... I think one can not go wrong with flowers or food, so if the receiver does not like the gift, it will soon wilt or get eaten... thus saving a lot of attic and basement space. 

This red hot little blue gift box was a cake for an engagement party where the bride and groom professed to be a gift for each other. What a lovely gift! hope it is the “non-perishable” kind!  Open this gift box and find a passion fruit cake with passion cream cheese filling. As per request of the bride I made it quite tart....  she loved it.

Book cake

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 1985 is a literary historical cross-genre novel by German writer Patrick Süskind. The novel explores the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meaning that scents may carry. Above all it is a story of identity, communication and the morality of the human spirit.

This cake was for a book club discussing this publication. It was a delightful carrot nut cake that looked exactly like the book.  

Purse cake

A cake the shape of a pretty purse. It was fun to play with textures.   Indeed texture adds beauty.  We can live together in harmony inspite of differences in color, religion, ideologies opinions ...if we celebrate our differences rather than reacting against them. Our differences are the texture that gives beauty to our civilization on this Earth.

My God grant us World peace. 

"Onesie" themed baby shower cake

"Pretty dresses little curls- Oh thank heavens for little girls". Yankee fans are having a baby girl and the theme of the baby shower is "onesie" (an infant body suit). This cake was most fun to make; especially the booties and other accessories. The cake was sugar and spice and everything nice-----in other words simple vanilla with chocolate mousse filling. I do hope it elicited some ooohs and aaahs. 

 

1964 Ford Mustang cake

In April 1964, the Mustang was first introduced to the public at the World’s Fair in New York. Before the day was over, Ford had secured 22,000 orders for the vehicle at dealerships across the country. As such, the Mustang was considered an instant hit with consumers.

This was one of my most challenging projects. In addition to construction issues, red fondant was not easy to work with, for some reason it dried up and cracked- the more I tried to fix it the worse it got. So I ended up with a beat up old 1964 Ford Mustang cake.  Everyone still liked it and enjoyed the chocolate cake with Chocolate mousse filling. 

My face

This cake was for a project presentation by a company that owns several smaller companies. The name of the project was "My Face". The logos of all the companies are on the first tier and silhoutes of "my face" all around and a-top the smaller tier.

I was especially instructed to make sure it did not look like a wedding cake.

The cake was a carrot cake with generous sprinkling of walnuts and a cream cheese filling. It was so HEAVY.  

Dholak (Drum) Cake

 A cake that looks like a "dholak" a double-sided barrel drum played at weddings in South Asia; similar to the larger “Dhol” played in Punjab.

 Dholaks can be found in varying shapes and sizes and made with different woods and materials (fiberglass, steel, plastic). The drum consists of a wooden barrel with animal hide or synthetic skin stretched over its open ends, covering them completely. These skins can be stretched or loosened with a tightening mechanism made up of either interwoven ropes, or nuts and bolts. Tightening or loosening the skins subtly alters the pitch of the drum sound. The stretched skin on one of the ends is thicker and produces a deep, low frequency (higher bass) sound and the other thinner one produces a higher frequency sound. 

I made this for a friend's wedding a few weeks ago. Half of it was chocolate cake with Chocolate mousse filling and half was orange cake with orange mousse filling. The cake was very soft so I left it upright rather than turning it on the side as is the traditional way of playing it. It was quite a hit at the party; it was fun to see everyone march to the beat of a cake drum.

Pea in a pod cake

This was a chocolate chocolate chocolate cake. I love making cakes for baby showers; everyone is just so excited. Themes for baby showers are seldom "cutsie" now; the sophisticated Moms-to-be like contemporary ambiance, and request for educational gifts.  I have seen baby showers with very interesting and creative themes like baseball theme, library theme, a high tea affair, carnival/circus theme, backyard BBQ theme, daiper theme and my favorite; girly theme with handbags all over.  This was a "pea-in-a pod" themed party where everyone wore green with a peas in pod decorations all over.

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."
-- Vincent van Gogh

 

London Cab

A London cab cake for my brother's birthday late February, 2013. He likes antique cars, but wanted a cake that looks like a London cab. A bit of a challenge to make a black vehicle look appealing as edible art; so I placed fondant flowers all around it to brighten it up a bit. The cake was an orange cake with orange mousse filling- very popular indeed. 

The iconic London black-cab model, the Austin FX4, entered service in 1958 and is the longest surviving British vehicle after the Land Rover. It was replaced in 1991 by the TX1, a more modern car that reflects the shape of the traditional FX4. Manganese Bronze, the company that has been making black cabs since 1948, is, based in Coventry, England. The gleaming black cabs that grace the streets of the British capital have become a London icon; a sign of all things British. 

Cheers

Tabla cakes

Tabla is a percussion instrument (similar to bongos), used in South Asian  classical music. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres. The term tabla is derived from an Arabic word, tabl, which simply means "drum".  Playing technique involves extensive use of the fingers and palms in various configurations to create a wide variety of different sounds. The heel of the hand is used to apply pressure or in a sliding motion on the larger drum so that the pitch is changed during the sound's decay. 

I made this pair of cakes for my brother's birthday; he can play these too. The left elongated piece was a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling and the short and stubby one was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling. Everyone who passed by these cakes tried to "play" them by banging on the surface. But these are the quietest drums. 
Enjoy!

Thomas the tank

Thomas the Tank cake; from the British television series. This was again a very simple vanilla cake with raspberry fillings. Most people request simple cakes, which is not much of a challenge since I like to try interesting new flavors. The palates of most children in the party are not adventurous about taste. It is amazing that the child who is open to exploring new worlds is averse to trying a second bite of a delightful new dessert flavor. On the contrary---- the taste of that dirty object picked off the floor---- now that’s yummy!!!

So could I interest a child in a funky mango-passion fruit filling?? I think I could............... I think I could………….