
A beginner's (sugarpaste artist) journey in pursuit of a perfect cake


In one post, Gloria http://www.canelakitchen.blogspot.com/ mentioned 25 April 2008 as her wedding anniversary date. So, here's to you, Gloria ...a beautiful mind.., wishes for a very happy wedding anniversary ! May you both always keep shining in glory ! The butter cake was made by my friend, who bakes wonderful cakes and decorated by me.

This four-tier wedding cake was made for a Botswana couple, who wanted the drape woven cakes with roses on the top. I had started the process in March by first making the four cakes with marinated fruits and nuts in liqor and then letting them mature and ripen with time by brushing them at regular interval with brandy over a period of four weeks.
When i posted the cakes for my marriage anniversary and my husband's birthday,one of my blogger friend Archana Pritish(http://archysrecipes.blogspot.com/)had commented: 
Here's something i came up for you .... a teddy bear hug for your birthday ! I was working on a wedding cake, have several knocking deadlines for submission of assignments for MBA and the long office hours but i could not forget your words. I must and always try to find space for smaller happiness (choti choti baatein..as said in hindi), but do forgive the imperfections ! Teddy Bear has buttercream icing work, fondant work and chocolate cakes. Happy days ahead to you !



One of our dear friends, who is in Indian Army has been blessed with a baby girl on 13 March 2008. On that day, the congratulatory calls with the new mom and dad evoked pure joy and the impromptu telly conversations, as usual, evoked memories of their time spent in Botswana. The beautiful angel is Gayatri and I welcome the adorable darling's arrival in this world with this cake ! 

This two-tier chocolate ganache marble cake was made for a very good doctor friend from Indian Air Force, who is in Francistown. This birthday, we all wished for a fairy in his life, as he is still a bachelor and we could not think of a better theme of combining his birth with a wish for a lovely girl in his life. He was happy with our warm gesture and we captured the moment in a camera of him blowing the candle and making a wish. The party was organised in a Indian Restaurant with the perfect ambience among severals friends. 


While working on the wedding cake project on 25 January 2008, a request came to make a cake for a five-year old kid's birthday on 26 January 2007. As i cannot refuse anything for kids, i said 'yes' and off i went on a spree to spent two hours in the evening to make the cake. The kid's mom just wanted the letter '5' but i had just casually asked, 'what does the kid love ?' and he loves animals. Well, it gave me an idea and this is what i could do - a buttercream icing cake with the theme of the animal farm. Except for the animals (which i purchased in a rush-rush moment from the supermarket), everything else was made using buttercream icing. After i had made the cake, then i realised..hey, i should used a little more of orange colour to qualify for pooja's theme of the Republic Day http://creativepooja.blogspot.com/ Anyway, there is always the next time, isn't it ! Will soon post the pics for the wedding cake.
What a wonderful way to start the year. One of my close friend's daughter is fascinated by powerpuff girls cartoon and wanted blossom, bubble and buttercup - the three kindergarten girls,who have the mission to save the world, for her birthday.
4. The closer view again

This cake was made using the sugarcraft, modelling, painting and icing techniques. It was my first experiment to make a wedding cake using an African Theme, as this is what was expected of me to do. The wedding couple from Botswana love the traditional wedding cake and I tried to use my imagination, after having lived here for 10 years. The masks, the quills, the woven pottery, the giraffe and zebra skins are an important theme and I tried to make them using fondant and marzipan, from what ever i know till now. Everything was edible.

It involved making 65 roses, over 250 little blossom flowers & 35 leaves
The flowers bloomed after 15 years on a bonsai plant (species still unknown to me) here in Botswana in November 2007. I manged to capture few shots digitally but what awes me is it's pure sheer pristine beauty ! My camera could not capture it's perfection enough ! The edges kept on blurring even with very high resolution..such is Nature's perfection.
With examinations over and festive mood in the air, it's creativity time again. Made this tiger lily with roses and ivy creeper and little blossom flowers. Soon will post the 'how series' on how I made the different flowers and foliage by drawing inspiration and understanding from different books and online information available. At this time of the year , Botswana blooms with lilies of different hues and you can draw inspiration from them. Made this reception cake with lilies for recently married young vibrant couple of NIIT, Botswana. 


I made this yellow cake with orchids to add colour to jesty and upwardly mobile young generation. Well ! lot of youngsters came to the stall and wanted me to make similar cakes with bright and bold colours ! I was happy with the experiment !