20th wedding anniversary cupcakes...

This is an order from Evonne where she wanted to order a set of 30 cupcakes for her brother and sister-in-law for their 20th wedding anniversary. She saw some of my previous cupcakes designs and she wanted the cupcakes to be something similar to the ones below.

Garden theme cupcakes.

 So I incorporated the number 20 into the cupcakes and the final product looks like this.

Wanted to have a more elegant feel thus added some champagne and gold lustre dust to make the cupcakes shine.

The whole set of cupcakes for the 20 years couple. Happy anniversary!

Wayne's gingerbread man cupcakes...

For your information, Wayne is my cute little nephew who is 5 this year. He loves to draw and is my no. 1 cake fan. One fine day while I was at home making cake, he came up to me and said that he wish he is a cake-maker like me. I guess it is because he loves to eat the cakes (mostly the fondant on top which is sweet) where his eyes will sparkle when he sees them. LOL. So from then on, he calls me Xiao Yi, the cake-maker.

So one day when I came back from work, my mummy told me that she got a new order for me and it is placed on the whiteboard that we use to write down the orders. Thinking that who can she get the order from, I thought the most possible one will be from my neighbour. However, I was wrong and my order looks like this.

Wayne's order.

This is the first time I got a drawn design for an order and Wayne ordered specifically 4 for his family of 4. LOL. If you are wondering what this is (it looks quite obvious, he is quite a good artist), this is the gingerbread man in Shrek and here's a picture of it.

He has a gingerbread man plushie from USS and he loves it. Ok, so now I have to work on the order.

Tadah! I made the fondant and the designs thinner so that he will not be eating too much of it (although he loves it but it is too sweet). I also added the gold balls cause he loves it and was eating most of it from the cake I made for my grandma and we had to stop him in the end. LOL.

The cupcakes based on his design.

He was so looking forward to the cupcakes and was hurrying me when I was doing it. When I finally finished them and asked him for payment he said he paid to my mummy. My mummy told me he wrote a $8 on a piece of paper and passed it to her. Oh well, I guess that is a form of payment too. At least my cupcakes are worth $8 in his eyes and I got a satisfied customer! LOL.

Another longevity cake for a hip grandma...

If you have read my previous post, you will know that my last order was not delivered and I made some changes to it instead and gave it to my friend for her grandma's birthday. If you have not read and want to know what happened, you can check out the link below:

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/08/21st-birthday-gone-wrong.html

Ok so my friend, Wan Jia came back to me and this time she want to order a birthday cake specially for her grandma who is celebrating her birthday at a chalet. And she said that her grandma requested to have a party at a chalet and invited her siblings and friends. Her grandma is so hip and cute! So this time round, I make sure that the cake is made custom to her grandma's age and something like the previous cake I did for my own grandma.

I love to make the "shou tao" and thought it is more appropriate for birthday cakes for the elderly. LOL.

Cake plus complimentary cupcakes.

Added some cupcakes to go along with the cake.

Her grandma at the party!

Hope Wan Jia's grandma likes the cake!

21st birthday gone wrong!

This is my first encounter whereby I've made a cake order and it was cancelled at the last minute. This is actually 1 of the 3 cakes that was rushed out in the 3 days span. Wasted effort but no one is really to blame for it. The story goes like this. Jolene contacted me a few months back to order her own 2-tier 21st birthday cake. I marked it down on my calendar and thinking that she won't forget her own birthday, I didn't contact her till the cake is done. Here's a look of the cake.

The key for 21st birthday.

I have been searching online for the key for quite sometime but couldn't find one so I had to make it by myself. 

Teal-coloured ribbon on the cake to make it look more elegant.

So when the cake is done and I msg her, her sister called instead and told me Jolene got into an accident and is now in hospital ICU awaiting surgery. My heart totally sank when I heard that as it seems like a serious issue and it had to happen during her birthday. I think it happened a few days back and her sis told me that they actually tried to contact me to cancel the order but somehow the line didn't get through. Anyway, obviously there isn't going to be any party and the cake won't be needed. I just hope that Jolene will be alright and wish that she will get well soon!

And so what am I going to do with the cake? With no cancellation policy and anything, this cake is totally wasted and unpaid. But, no one is to blame for this to happen. Apparently I'm not going to cut up the cake and eat as my family and I have been eating cupcakes for the past few days and we are really tired of it. LOL. But I'm not going to just throw it away either as it is really a waste of food (and my effort). So, I contacted my friend, Wan Jia, to give away the cake and see if she wants to have it for supper/breakfast or whatsoever. Thank god her grandma's birthday is next week and she doesn't mind having a birthday cake for her and celebrating it earlier this week! However, the design will have to change as the name and key will not be appropriate for her grandma's birthday.

Putting a few longevity buns on top in replace of the name and key.

This is the best I can do to alter the design to suit her grandma better although I think it's still a bit girlish and modern for an elderly's birthday. Check out my grandma's birthday cake below if you have not.

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/08/longevity-cake-for-my-grandma.html

But anyway, at least the cake have not gone to waste! This is really something that I have not expected but well, there's always lessons learnt from all these happenings. Hope Jolene get well soon!

Madagascar cake...

If you do remember, my first two-tier cake was made for Shi Han's 21st birthday ordered by Wenqing. If not, you can check out the link below:

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/07/two-tier-retro-theme-21st-birthday-cake.html

So why am I mentioning this? Cause this time round, Shi Han contacted me and wanted to order a Madagascar cake for her Bf's birthday. I'm so glad that there is repeat customers and word starts to spread around for Jembakes! She initially wanted just the zebra (which is called Marty or what if I remember) on the cake, but I suggested a full set of the Madagascar toy figurines on the cake instead. And the first thought that comes to my mind is to get into USS (Universal Studios Singapore) to get the figurines since there is a Madagascar area there. For your info, I got an annual pass to USS from my dearest Da Jie on my birthday this year as she knows that I love the roller coaster rides there, especially Human and Cylon! So, I thought this is a good chance for me to get in there and have some fun while getting the figurines for the cake. But, it wasn't a very fruitful trip as both rides, Human and Cylon, were closed for the day and there isn't any Madagascar toy figurines selling in the theme park at all! Not even Toy r us sells these figurines. Luckily I got my hands on the figurines while searching online and the seller is very prompt in the delivery as my cake is only due in a few days time. Really happy with the buy as the figurines are very nicely done and not out of shape. Check out the figurines below.

The Madagascar characters on the cake.

I have to admit that I suggested putting toy figurines on the cake as I'm worried that I will mold the characters out of shape. And also, it will be more practical to use toy figurines as it can be kept as an ornament or toy while the gum paste figurines will have to be thrown away instead (to sweet to be eaten for some people) as it cannot be kept for long.

Madagascar cake.

And tadah, the cake is done with a jungle feel to fit the Madagascar theme. And Shi Han also ordered 10 minions cupcakes for the party. Minions again! LOL.

Minions invasion!

Hope the party went well and her Bf likes the cake!

Minion 2D cake...

This is a very quick order which was ordered just one day in advance by Jen Yang. Judging by the requirement and simplicity of the cake, I took up the order despite my tight schedule this week where I have to make near to 200 cupcakes + 3 (including this new order) cakes over a span of 3 days. Nevertheless, this is yet another great challenge for me!

2D minion cake.

I just blew up the proportion of my minion cupcakes to make this minion face cake with some slight changes. I think I had enough of these minions over these few weeks and to think that some time back I was still telling my sis that I do not have a chance to work on minions yet cause there is no order for minions related cake. Now all of them came together. LOL.

A box of complimentary 3D cupcakes for him.

 But, still hope Jen Yang likes the cake and cupcakes!

Jembakes does charity again!!!

As my friends know, I'm not a full time baker although I will sometimes proclaim that I'm a full-time baker, part-time worker. LOL. So, I'm actually working in a foreign bank that doesn't sleep (although I do get to sleep a lot). And our department is having a charity food sale this week to help the needy and I've volunteered to make cupcakes for the sale as that's my forte (and only thing that I know how to do). There comes the minion cupcakes which I have previously made for this charity event that I have been saying. My boss suggested sending out emailers for pre-orders to test the "market" and to our surprise, the response is really good and we managed to collect up to $1000 donations for the needy. But, that aside, it will also mean that I have to make 100 plus cupcakes for this event. Therefore, I started making my minions a few days in advance everyday after work, with the help of my mummy. Thanks a lot!

My workplace for the week!

 Minions eyes staring at me.

So after getting the minions ready, it's time to assemble them!

Minions in their new home!

The different expressions of the minions.

2 big boxes of orders!

And finally I'm done with all the orders! A huge relief and tiresome week with orders all packed together again. But nevertheless, feel good that I've done my part for charity!

Check out our last charity event here :
http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/07/barclays-charity-bake-sale.html