Benjamin's Dinosaurs & Volcano

RAWR!

This must be most challenging cake in my baking career. 

But me being me, I like being thrown a challenge as it gets me 
really excited and jittery, all at the same time. 

Kind of wonderful, that feeling!

Benjamin loves dinosaurs. 

Actually so do I! I don't always share this info, as I do not want to be seen as a nerdy mom. 

I learnt all the dinosaurs names from my boys, and they are quite a mouthful! *laughs*

This cake, which is the 2nd that Elizabeth ordered, will be dinosaur themed. Placing dinosaur models on the cake would be a good way to decorate the cake, this was the request from the birthday boy. Here is the twist - throw in a VOLCANO!

 I have never made a 3D structure for my cakes. At least in the last one and a half years since Dec 2011, that I have been baking and decorated cakes and cupcakes. I have seen how the Cake Boss would mould shapes out of rice crispies. The process looked fun and interesting, so I decided that I should give it a go. I was very frank with Elizabeth, that this would be my first time working with rice crispies and I wasn't totally sure that I would succeed. 

Being very understanding, she said it was no problem if I failed.

The first volcano I moulded was a success! *YAY* I sent a picture of it to my sister. She said it was too small, will need to double up. Oops! I worked on preparing more rice crispies to increase the size of the volcano. I heard that Benjamin was really looking forward to seeing the volcano, so I couldn't fail or make one that wasn't convincing.





The volcano did take a hours to mould and I had to let it harden. Did I mention that I love volcanoes too? Yes, deep down I am the true blue Geographer, volcanoes & lava make me very excited. LOL! 

Typically volcanoes should be grey or dark in colour, which wouldn't look very nice on a cake. I also like to mix colours in my fondant and create a marbling effect, so I opted to cover the volcano in brown fondant with streaks of black and grey. Next was the lava on the top. I mixed 2 balls of orange and bright yellow fondant, twisted and kneaded them to look like lava. I was pleased with the results! 

The cake is a single tier vanilla with reduced sugar strawberry jam, covered with green fondant. The base is lined with icing grass and the sides were decorated with fondant leaves. 

Elizabeth brought the Dinosaur & Volcano cake 

to Benjamin's 4th birthday party at school. 

I heard that he was totally thrilled with the volcano, 

and his friends were in awe. Lovely! 

Sincere thanks for Elizabeth for trusting me, for being a totally cool customer, and also for mentioning me in her blog ;)

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Starry 1st Birthday Cake for Nathanael

Nathanael is One!

When Elizabeth first contacted me, I was surprised. She heard about me and my cakes, through her friends who ordered from me before. Not having tasted my bakes, she went ahead and ordered not 1, but 2 big birthday cakes for her 2 boys.


Truth be told, I was apprehensive. Elizabeth wanted hummingbird cake but I didn't know how to make it. I felt bad. At the end, she said chocolate and vanilla in separate tiers were just fine. I am so fortunate to always meet lovely customers.

We discussed in detail and finally nailed down the design for the 1st birthday cake.

The first cake was for Nathanael. He likes bright colours and stars, hence the use of all the colours of the rainbow (with the exception of indigo!) and generous use of fondant stars for his cake. 

Elizabeth wanted a 2-tier cake as there would be lots of guests as it was a big 1st birthday bash at an indoor playground.

To add the wow factor, I used spaghetti sticks to hold up the big stars. 

I avoid using florist wires as it is not food-safe. This is the back view of the cake.

I was really very happy to hear from Elizabeth, post-party, 
that little Nathanael liked the cake 

and the many stars on it too! The guests liked the cake too! 

That's the best compliments ever! ^_^

Heartfelt thanks from the Queen Bee for Mother Kao 
for writing about Baking Bees 

in her blog post on Nathanael's 1st Birthday. 

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Baby is 5!

Baby, Baby!

My friends and family would know that we called Ascensius "Baby" since birth and it wasn't going to be easy to change it, even though there was another baby in the house.

At a blink of an eye, Baby has turned 5! He started closing the door, when he went to the bathroom and one day, he told us,"Don't call me Baby anymore! I am a big boy now!" 

We decided that we would try our best to stop calling him Baby.

Baby was full of ideas for his birthday party and birthday cake design. Unfortunately, he was born during Chinese New Year, so it was often difficult to organize a birthday party at home for him. Similarly, this year we decided to just have a party at school. At first, he wanted a Power Rangers picture on edible icing. That would have been a breeze to make :P

1 week before his birthday party, he changed his mind and wanted fondant cake instead! 








I asked them to select 2 of his favourite Power Ranger toys, which I could use as cake toppers. I started designing the cake, incorporating the 2 toys. Since there were 30 kids and 3 teachers, I decided to make a 10" square cake.

 

Ascensius' favourite colour is green, so his name is in green letters. 

Ascenius waiting patiently for his teacher to light the candles. The real baby looks on.

When we first took the cake out, his classmates said,"WOW!" The best thing is that the kids managed to eat more than 3/4 of the cake! We also cut a few slices for the school principal, administrator, and other teachers who taught the elder boys previously.

Happy 5th Birthday, Baby! 
We wish you will always be happy and cheerful, seeing everything and 
loving everything in technicolour.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Chinese New Year Cookies Galore!

Cookies, Cookies Everywhere!

Every Chinese New Year I have grand plans :) Hey, no harm in trying to be ambitious right? I would think that I could bake 3-4 types of cookies, all to be completed before Chinese  New Year.

This year, I only managed to make 2 types - Cornflake Cookies and Cornflake Clusters. Personally, I like cornflakes and so do my kids. This year I roped in the hubby and kids to help out, indeed many hands make work light. We had fun working together!

 Ascensius decided to be my model for my Cornflake Cookies, isn't he cute?

I let some friends try my Cornflake Cookies after I baked the first batch. Very thrilled to receive good reviews and friends asked if they could order. I was happy to oblige! I sold 12 tubs of Cornflake Cookies.

The Cornflake Clusters are quite addictive. My kids love them, so did my nieces and nephew. Even my Godma loves it! :)

After seeing my Facebook posts of my Cornflake Cookies, my Japanese friend Kohei told me that his mom used to bake Cornflake Cookies when he was young. I was curious if it was be a similiar type of cookie and I decided to bake some for him to try. In total, I sent 2 tubs.

I was overjoyed to hear that the cookies were very well-received by my Japanese friends too! *thumbs up* ^_^

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

My God-Daughter Eliza's 1st Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

My God-Daughter Eliza Claire is 1!

My good friend Gwen ask me to bake a cake for my god-daughter's 1st birthday. 

Of course, I was delighted to do so! ^_^

It was decided that it would be a 10" square chocolate cake and the only request was for bold colours as the little princess was attracted to them. 

We used pink for the base fondant and added a few little blossoms to add a sweet touch.

Godpa (Brendan) and I both did the decorating together. It was nice working together for someone special to us.

Along with the birthday cake, her parents also ordered 50 cupcakes with white icing and pink letter E, to give away to colleagues as tokens for Eliza's 1st birthday announcement. 

I love making cupcakes as I love making my favourite rosettes!
Eliza's parents came by before the cake was ready, so they came up to our place and helped out too! :P It was indeed nice to catch up.

Thanks Gwen & Aaron for letting us be part of Eliza's first birthday celebrations! ^_^

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Lego Blocks for Caden's 2nd Birthday

Baby Moo turns 2!

I started off the year with 2 Lego blocks for little Caden, in red and yellow. 

My long-time friend Regina, who was incidentally also my first customer who gave me my first order back in Nov 2011, wanted me to make blackforest cake in the form of Lego blocks.

Some of you  may remember one of my first posts - C is for Caden, where I baked cow-themed cupcakes for Caden's 1st birthday last year. In a blink of an eye, this cute little guy is celebrating his 2nd birthday! ^_^

I love a good challenge, it keeps the baking and decorating interesting and I stay motivated. Although I first made Lego blocks cake last year, this order was different as it's a blackforest cake and I wanted to use chocolate buttercream and dark cherries as the filling.

Regina came by to my place to collect the cake while I was out. In the middle of Ignatius' violin class, I started smiling as I read her Facebook message saying that the birthday boy loved the cake. 

This photo for Caden really warmed my heart!

I heard that he enjoyed it very much!

Sincere thanks to Regina, for her support! ^_^ 

Also thanks for the mention on her Mummy Moo blog.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Under The Sea Birthday Cake

Shortly after completing the Dora cake for Stephanie, I received a call from her cousin Teresa. She requested for a Under The Sea Theme birthday cake for her son's birthday.

Although Teresa was going to pass me some small sea creatures, but I wanted to make the cake more thematic. I bought sea creatures cookies cutters and began working on the design.

Teresa also wanted the cake to have jelly beans and M&Ms, which I managed to incorporate into the design as the borders.

  The sides of the cake were adorned with whales, sharks, dolphins and fish. On the top, the sea was recreated with blue coloured edible gel.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

www.facebook.com/bakingbees

http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html