Happy family cupcakes for my Mummy's birthday!

This time round it's my mummy's birthday and we decided to celebrate in advance over a dim sum brunch. I was deliberating over baking her a cake or just buying one from outside as she will be around and there will be no surprise if I were to bake the cake at home. But just nice a day before the birthday celebration, she was out the whole day and thus I grabbed the chance to bake her a cake. However, I had no clue what design to do for her as she does not have any specific hobbies or likings. Then, my ever so full of ideas Er Jie suggested that I make a set of cupcakes that represents each and everyone of our family members. I thought it is really a good idea and it will be really fun to make too! And she also contributed by baking the cupcakes (milo flavoured as my mummy loves milo) while I do the designs. Thus, it is a combined effort from both of us with love for our mummy!

The happy family!

The process of moulding the family members is so fun where I was thinking of the special characteristics of each of them (with some help from my Er Jie and her bf). Er Jie insisted on putting on the spectacles for my bro-in-law who wears specs and it looks really cute and looks more like him. Then my Er Jie wanted polka dot shirt and then she added the dots on. Her bf wanted to style his own hair and created his own muscular hands. We had so much fun creating them!

The final product.

So now is the time for the celebration!

All ready to blow the candle.

The family.

Us with the cupcakes.

Mummy, Daddy and Me!

I think that Daddy really looks quite alike and my Dad so happens to wear blue as well. LOL.

Er Jie and her bf, Ben.

My Da Jie's family.

The characteristic for this family is that they love to dress themselves in the same colour code. Therefore, I made the mother and daughter, father and son, "wear" the same colour. In addition, I made especially big eyes for my niece who has really big eyes.

We attracted some attention from the kids at the next table who were curious and interested in the cupcakes and came over to see. When we started eating the cupcakes, Wayne was so cute and said that he does not want to eat "himself" up. LOL.

And we each took a photo with our look-alike!

We had a good meal and so much fun with the cupcakes. All of us did not eat "ourselves" up and my Dad even ask me to bring "him" home and not leave it at the restaurant for them to clear away. LOL. Happy Birthday Mummy! I Love You!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and cupcakes set...

I guess Mickey Mouse is every kid's favourite and is an essential part of their childhood (including me). So this time round it is another order for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and cupcakes from Sophia for his son, Reyes, birthday celebration in school. I had previously made some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cupcakes too. Check it out below if you have not seen.

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/07/mickey-mouse-clubhouse-cupcakes.html

So for the cake I placed a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on it. And what's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse without the characters?

This time round I wanted to try out different design for the cupcakes and therefore, I came up with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters. But it took my sis a while to guess them. Wonder is it because she had no childhood or the cupcakes are really too abstract? LOL.

Can you guess the characters?

The final set!

So the cake and cupcakes are done and they really look nice together! Hope Reyes had a fun birthday celebration in school!

Basketball cupcakes...

An order from Cindy who wants to give her friend Calvin a surprise on his birthday. As Calvin likes basketball and is celebrating his 29th birthday, she requested for his name and the no.29 on the jersey for the cupcakes.

She also wanted to leave an anonymous note for Calvin thus she left me the message and I wrote it for her (hope my handwriting is neat enough). LOL.

Hope Calvin had a pleasant surprise!

Drum cupcakes...

This is an order from my sec sch cca junior, Bin Li, where she is learning drum and wants to order a set of drum cupcakes for her drum teacher. She specifically wanted 6 female students and 1 male teacher to represent her friends and herself and the teacher. So here's the cupcakes.

So for the girls, I tried to make some variations such as long and short hair, with and without clip, skirt and pants, etc. I also made two drum sets and the students and teachers are all holding the drumsticks which is made of spaghetti. Really like this kind of order which is very personalized. Hope that the drum teacher will like it when he receive it!

Basketball cake...

This is an order from my sis's secondary sch basketball teacher, Mrs Tay, for her daughter's 13th birthday. This is really a family of basketballers as both the parents play basketball and now her daughter, Tabitha, also plays basketball. So I designed a basketball board with a ball on it.

Complimentary cupcakes. 14 is Tabitha's jersey no.

However I had some difficulties with the ball. At first, I created the ball using cake (with the cake pop method) like what I did for the baby minnie cake. However, the ball cake was too heavy and it started to droop down and pull along the fondant base with it. I had to remake the whole cake and this time round, I mould a smaller ball with fondant and placed it on the basketball board instead. However, as the ball is still heavy, Mrs Tay reflected to me that the ball kind of drooped down while they were cutting the cake. Really thankful for the feedback and sorry that the cake did not look as nice as it was supposed to be. But Mrs Tay is really encouraging and gave me positive feedbacks.

This is really a good lesson learnt and it taught me the importance of building a strong cake structure besides thinking about the design and making it look nice. Ever since I started cake decorating, every cake that I made gives me valuable learning point and I have been learning from mistakes. Really grateful for the people who are so kind and gave me valuable feedbacks instead of complaining about any imperfections. I will continue to work hard and improve on my skills. Thanks a lot for all the support!

Last but not least, still hope Tabitha had a wonderful birthday celebration and thank you Mrs Tay!

Smurfs and Rapunzel cupcakes...

An order from Jenny for her girl, Nivelle's 6th birthday where she wanted Rapunzel theme cupcakes. She specifically wanted the braids and the chameleon. For those who do not know the story of Rapunzel, she is the girl with very long hair living in a tower and has a chameleon as her friend (I think so). So, I started making the cupcakes.

The chameleon.

Long hair braids.

The final product.

So I included the chameleon, the braids, happy birthday elements and the number 6 on it to represent the girl's 6th birthday. In additon, Jenny ordered a set of Smurfs cupcakes as well.

Can you spot the baby smurfs?

She requested for a mix of 2D and 3D smurfs so here's the final product. She also requested for all the cupcakes to be individually packed as it will be easier for people to bring the cupcakes home after the party.

So I found these really nice single cupcake boxes from SKP where it can hold the cupcake in place and have a window for you to see the cupcake. It is really nice to pack the cupcakes in these boxes and give it as a gift and it actually works better with those 3D designs instead of the 2D ones. Another great idea for gift! LOL.

Hope Nivelle had a wonderful 6th Birthday!

Minions cake and cupcakes set...

I'm really going crazy over minions! This is another order for minions cake and cupcakes from Shi Han. I'm really thankful to her for being really supportive where she had previously ordered a Madagascar cake for her bf. See below link if you have not seen the cake.

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/08/madagascar-cake.html

So this time round the cake is for a little girl called Amber who is turning 3 this year.

The minion swimming in the "sea".

The fight between the good and bad minions!

Counting all my previous orders, I think I have made more than 100 minions cupcakes! This is the most no. of repeated designs I have made ever since I started. 1st in popularity! LOL.

Nevertheless, hope the little girl likes the cake and the cupcakes and Happy 3rd Birthday!

Present cake...

Another order from Evonne for her niece's 18th birthday! Previously. she ordered cupcakes for her brother and sis-in law's 20th wedding anniversary. Check out the cupcakes below if you have not.

http://jembakes.blogspot.sg/2013/08/20th-wedding-anniversary-cupcakes.html

So this time round to celebrate her niece's birthday, she wanted a cake that is shaped like a present for her.

Happy birthday Ashley!

She requested to have colourful polka dots as the "wrapping paper" of the present so I used more vibrant colours for the young girl who is just turning 18.

Tried writing on the cake again.

The candle is specially prepared by Evonne.

 Happy 18th birthday Ashley!

I-chat cake for a virtual friend...

My sis ordered this cake for her colleague who she have been chatting with at work from 9am-6pm everyday (she still does her work beside chatting). LOL. They started off as virtual friends where they can talk about anything and everything on their I-chat (the chatting platform their company uses) and so this I-chat means a lot to their friendship. So my sis printscreen her I-chat conversation for me and ask me to make a cake that shows the I-chat screen. And here it goes.

A cake that only the sender and recipient knows the meaning.

This is my first time trying to use edible ink to write on the cake so pardon the poor handwriting. Will try to improve on it!

My sis's message to the birthday gal.

The happy birthday gal!

 Happy Birthday Mildred! With love from Mirror (a nickname that I got from her)!

Little miss and mr cake...

This is an order from Ruth who wanted to order a cake to celebrate her company's staff day. To recognise the effort and contribution of the staff of the company, she requested specifically 11 characters of the little miss and mr series to be on the cake to represent the 11 staffs. I think this is really a very good idea and can represent the personality of each staff. So the 11 characters are:

1) Miss Helpful
2) Miss Quick
3) Miss Princess
4) Miss Neat
5) Miss Busy
6) Miss Giggles
7) Miss Chatterbox
8) Mr Bounce
9) Miss Birthday
10) Miss Fun
11) Mr Brave

So I started moulding the characters and here they are.

Can you guess who is who?

And the characters are now ready to be placed on the cake.

Sitting happily on the cake.

I had much fun moulding the characters and they are really cute. And tadah, the cake is done!

Happy Staff Day!

Beach theme cupcakes...

This is an order from Xue Ping to celebrate her bf's 24th birthday and she wanted a set of beach theme cupcakes, specifically requested for a bikini on it. LOL. So here are the cupcakes.

This is quite an easy set to do. I poured ground peanuts on the cupcakes to create the sandy beach feel. And of course, bikini, swimming trunks, beach ball, water pail and slippers are the must-haves when you go to the beach. And the set of cupcakes is complete!

Hope her bf had a pleasant surprise and like the cupcakes!

Baby Minnie cake and cupcakes set...

This is an order from Yan Ling who is celebrating her daughter's 1st birthday. She wanted a baby minnie theme and likes to have the cake in polka dots. At first I wanted to search for a baby minnie figurine and place it on the cake but after much effort in searching, I still cannot find it. Therefore, I decided to place a minnie head on the cake instead.

Baby minnie cake with cupcakes.

 I had a hard time making the minnie head. As I wanted it to be dome shaped, I crumbled the cake and sculpted it into a dome shape (using the cake pop method) and placed it in the fridge. However, as the cake is too cold, while I covered it with fondant, the fondant starts to "perspire". And when I place the ribbon and the ears on it, they start to slide off as the head is "wet". Therefore, it took me quite sometime where I inserted lots of toothpicks into the cake to stabilise the structure.

The cupcakes around the cake.

Baby minnie cupcakes.

Nevertheless, the cake and cupcakes are done and hope Yan Ling's daughter had a terrific 1st year birthday party! Check out the party below:

Daddy's 61st birthday...

This year, the important man in my life turns 61! My dad loves to draw (hopefully I did inherit some of his artistic talent) and last year, he actually had a birthday party / art exhibition whereby he invited his relatives and friends to showcase his drawings. We named it 分享 and it literally means to share his drawings. Here are some of the pictures last year where the party/exhibition was a blast!

My dad's drawings where he loves to draw sceneries.

More drawings.

The birthday "boy"!

My family.

If you have noticed, the cake was customized and done by me last year while I was still figuring out how to work with fondant and gumpaste.

My creation.

It was a very big and heavy cake and I specially created the image on powerpoint and sent it to B-I-Y (the place where I had my first lesson on decorating cakes) to have the image printed on icing. So what I had to do is just to cover the cake with fondant and place the icing image on top. However, with no knowledge on how to cover a square cake (and huge one for this), I had some difficulties and struggled with it. In the end, the sides were very untidy. In addition, I placed the cake in the fridge and in the end the cake was "perspiring" when we took it out and it was very hard to cut. But nevertheless, it was my first attempt on such a big cake and at least it still looks presentable (self-comforting).

Enough of the past. This year, we had 分享(2). So once again, it is to showcase his drawings for the past year.

His drawings for the past 1 yr where he focused more on drawing people.

And again, the task of creating the birthday cake lies on me. Besides drawing, my dad loves to play golf. So this year, I decided to make a golf cake for him.

The old man aiming to putt the ball.

Golf cupcakes to surround the cake.

The final product with a hole 61 flag.

My dad invited some of his friends who play golf with him and they think that the cake is funny and ask if my dad really putts this way. LOL.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

My family.

My no.1 supporter first to take the cupcake.

Me and my creation.

How time flies and 1 year has passed. Looking back at the photos last year, we all have changed somehow. My dad's drawings have improved and my cake have improved too (self-proclaimed). LOL. Hoping for a better year ahead with more improvements and progress and wish my Daddy good health and happiness. Happy Birthday DAD!