Eight Birthday Cakes - October 2008

It was a wonderful learning experience as we made eight birthdays cake in last 10 days. Some were made during late evening while some were made during weekends. Interestingly the themes requested were different, so it was a good learning curve for me to play with fondant and marzipan and make different types of sugarcraft cakes such as chocolate, madeira and vanilla. My friend Christine and sometimes my hubby helped me a lot in idea generation, visual impact, aspects of ratio etc. Due to constraint of time, perfection as i would like it to be were not achieved in some of them but i gained the knowledge on how to do better next time.

As my second year final MBA examinations have started, i will now stop cake works and concentrate on academic works. I was working on the last wedding cake, prior to examinations, which i shall upload in my next post.

I hope you all like our effort. Below are the eight cakes that i have posted as separate posts.

Birthday Cake: Scroll - October 2008

This scroll cake was especially made for an elderly person and was a gift from his neice on his birthday. The cake was taken to Gaborone, where the gentleman resides. The photographs were taken, prior to docorating the base with a fondant design.

Birthday Cake: Dartboard with darts - October 2008

This dartboard cake was requested by a lady, who wanted to celebrate her husband's birthday. The order was at a very short notice but we could not refuse it and made this for her. The round edges did not come out very well but it was a good process to go through.

Birthday Cake: Bows - September 2008

The two-tier birthday cake was made for a girl, who wanted to celebrate her 21st birthday. She had requested a square-shaped cake with bows and this is what we did.

Birthday Cake: Car - September 2008

This car cake was made for the birthday celebrations of a two-year old boy, who is fascinated with cars.

Birthday Cake: Flower Box - September 2008

This cake was requested by a person for his mother's birthday. This cake has a filigree flower box. Unfortunately, the picture taken does not show it very clearly.

Birthday Cake: Purse - September 2008

This purse cake was made for a girl who was celebrating her 21st birthday. She wanted a purse cake after having seen my earlier creation of the red leather purse. This was made in four hours on the same friday night, when we also made the hat cake. All fondant work including the red cloth with folds.

Birthday Cake: Hat - September 2008

This hat cake was made for a lady who wanted to celebrate her 40th birthday at Sua Pan. This cake was made in two and half hours on a friday night. The lady had requested a simple hat with some floral decorations.

Birthday Cake: Pilot's Cap - September 2008

This cake was made for a budding pilot, who is attending the course at Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This cake was made in the afternoon in four hours to be taken to Port Elizabeth in the evening. All fondant work including the base cloth . The shape could have been better but it has been a good learning experinece.

Four-tier Wedding Cake: Electric Green Shade - September 2008

This cake was made for a young Botswana couple, who had requested a square shaped wedding cake with specific electric green shade to match the bridal marriage theme with few red roses and ivy leaves and a simple floral royal icing design on the three tiers. The cakes are all fruit cakes, which were matured over time and this is my first square shaped wedding cake. I found it difficult than round cakes, especially with maintaining the straight contours and how to avoid the clutter effect of the designs and to have a pleasant visual impact. My friend Christine and I worked on the cakes and the couple were fairly happy with our work.

The week had been busy with several birthday cakes and ensuing week will follow with another wedding cake. Will soon post the cakes in my further posts. I hope you all like this cake !

Four-tier Wedding Cake: Turquoise Blue Drapes

After attending lectures on regression analysis and company mergers and acquisitions and elements of corporate finance, I heaved a sigh of relief, when i returned home and picked up my sugarcraft tools to finish the wedding cake, that was requested by a young Botswana couple. Turquoise blue was the wedding theme and i had to match the colour of the drapes to the wedding dress. As usual, I worked along with my friend Christine to meet the specifications of the cake (all fruit cakes) requested and here it is ! The couple were happy with the desired cake and i hope you will all like it, too !

Three - tier Wedding Cake: Roses - August 2008

This three-tier wedding cake was made during the last week of August for the Botswana bride and groom, whose wedding theme included the colours of pink and white. Roses, i have seen, are almost always the choice for the new couple and here i was, making this cake. The fruit cakes were matured in brandy and after the roses and blossom flowers were made, i sat down with my friend Christine on a late evening to decorate the cakes. We worked over the night to give the finishing touches and then finally sank on the couch at 4 a.m. to relax over coffee.

The couple came in the morning to collect the cake and i felt happy when i saw a satisfying look on their faces.

I could not post the cake earlier, as i have been very busy at work and now am off to Jo'berg for MBA classes but decided to post it prior to my leave. I hope you will all like it !

Three-tier Wedding Cake: Arum Lilies - August 2008

First of all, i cannot thank you enough for all your support and confidence you have showered on me as a blogger. The comments overwhelms me !

This three-tier wedding cake was made for an young and beautiful Botswana bride, who is getting married on the next weekend. She loves arum lilies and leaves on the cakes.

Of all sugarcraft work, i love making wedding cakes the most, where the bride or the bridegroom will suggest you the flowers they want and how many layers of cakes they desire for their wedding. And the conversation will also include the theme and the ambience and the colours et al. It challenges your mind to do in accordance with the promise you make and then wait to see the reaction. It helps one to improve further and the journey continues...

Often, fruit cake will be the choice and you sit down to do some calculation on size/height aspect, then bake them and mature them with brandy over time, then cover with marzipan, followed by wrapping them with fondant icing and start doing the decoration, as wanted. I love to go through the process.

I hope you all like this cake.While making this cake, there were some requests and as you see, i have posted them separately.

Birthday Cakes:Purse & Train - August 2008

While making the wedding cakes, one request came from a doctor for a surpise gift for her doctor wife and my friend Christine and I thought about a red-suede leather purse. So, she baked the chocolate cake and we sat down yesterday at 12:00 in the afternoon to make the cake. Amidst laughter and ladies gossip, we managed to give the finishing touches at 4:30 for the party at 8 in the evening.

I hope you like the purse with bold and red theme.

The train cake was made in two hours on friday for the kid and i had received the request in the morning, whilst at work.The train-set are toys, which got from a friend. Did not have time to make sugarcraft train but will attempt it in future with time on my side. I hope i have not done it badly.

Blogger friends give me strength to carry on in my journey and here a few among others who feel that i can make the journey to perfection ! I sincerely feel honoured and humbled. I will surley pass them on, as it should be, in my later posts.

Ivy of http://kopiaste.blogspot.com/ had passed this gesture a while ago.

Kitchen Flavours of http://kitchenflavours.blogspot.com/ had passed this 'Wylde Woman

Award' award

and then further 'Best Blog Darts Thinkers & Beautiful Site Award'.

Indranee of http://spicesandcurries.blogspot.com/ had passed me this magic lamp and earlier frienship awards.

Thank you !

Sugarcraft : Celebrating one year of journey on Blogspot

It was on 14 August 2007 when something stirred my hubby to urge me to post my first cake on the blog world. I was not very keen to tread out in the unknown world but gave in to his encouragement and published my first post of wedding aniversary and birthday cakes that i had made for my friends in March 2007. I had received two comments from unknown bloggers but it changed my world from then on...and i began feeling comfortable in the blogging world. As i look back on the journey that i have taken so far and pause, i feel the road less travelled is worth taking further and remember the words of Robert Frost

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before sleep

And miles to go before i sleep !

As i read again several comments and the words of encouragement that have come from you all, i feel so happy..the journey is difficult but you led me the hand, cajoled me, coaxed and helped me to rise again and again...a beginner's journey is not easy, especially with studies, full-time job and family but i will not give up, i promise you all !

When i take account of what i have done....17 birthday cakes, 7 wedding anniversary cakes, 8 wedding cakes, 1 each of engagement cake,celebration cake and wedding reception cake, i ask myself.. could i have done better ? maybe by next year !

In this journey there have been sad times, interesting times and amusing times.

A sad occassion

One of my blogger friend wrote to tell me that i have been accused of copying a blogger's title in a certain forum. When i read, instead of being angry, i felt sad that without verifying the facts, can i be accused and my worth or creativity be questioned. When i told my hubby, he had simply stated to leave it and remember the Indian national emblem engraving "satyamev jayate"or 'truth alone triumphs'. However, he indicated that his hypothesis has failed again that all good creative persons will always have good hearts.

Well, as i look back , i feel my pride is still intact and you all have appreciated my uniqueness. I had created the blog way back but had uploaded my first post in August 2007.

An interesting occassion

When i wrote an e-mail to a sugarcrfter of 20 years to critique my work, she told me that your second cake of the four layer cake is not straight and now i have a spirit-level, which i use and it was a tip for a lifetime ! I have purchased tools from USA, UK, South Africa and have some indigenous tools , which my hubby made for me to make my work easy.

An amusing thought

Whenever i make wedding cakes, i always seek input from my hubby and it helps to make work easier. One of the remarks he makes is never to make butterflies and gives an strange connotation that butterflies remind him of people, who are selfish and self-indulgent and who do not come to a flower because it is beautiful but because it can feed on it. The flower may think that the conjugation will remain forever but when the butterfly has fed itself, it will fly away to seek another, and it will find excuses to break that trust and faith. Well i dont agree with his analogy and will make butterflies.

Reflections

All the cakes that i made so far were made in accordance with what the clients wanted. Never had really the chance to practice or experiment on what i feel i should make...maybe will get chance in ensuing year. The journey to perfection is long but i will keep on moving, with your support, with you judging me when i go wrong or lifting me up when i require you all. Thank you ...I feel so happy that i have over 7500 profile views till now. Thank you for your time that you give to me !