Alas Retirement

To my faithful followers and supporters of Esther’s Cake Adventures, it is with great sadness to announce my retirement. The reason being that I am quite ‘baked out’ as cake decorating can be exhausting whilst maintaining a full-time job. Although I thoroughly enjoyed making all my cakes in the past couple of years, I just need a break. From now on although there will not be decorated cakes, I will still continue my passion of baking ordinary cakes. Thank you for joining in on my adventure. Love Esther

Lucas’s 1st Birthday

It was Lucas’s birthday party last Saturday. I had ample notice for this cake as Lucas’s mum, Shelley asked me to make her son’s first birthday cake last year. This was by far the most extravagant novelty cake I have ever made. When I was first told that the theme of the party was Super Mario I was a bit nervous as I was not very familar with the game. Shelley asked for a big 1UP mushroom cake with the scene of the game around the cake, and also 24 cupcakes.

She provided the plastic figurines which looked great on the cake. For those of you who don’t know the Super Mario game, the 1UP mushroom is green and gives whoever eats it an extra life and the scene of the game changes as each level is passed. I thought it was quite cute and novel to signify Lucas turning one I think these days, parents are finding more interesting party ideas and there is a growing trend towards decorated kid’s cakes. When I was young I didn’t get any decorated novel cakes – just simple cream and lolly cakes.

The cake was chocolate marble mud cake and the cupcakes were vanilla and lemon flavour. The whole 1UP mushroom is made from fondant icing – all edible. I wonder what Shelley did with it after the party

Buddy Valastro’s Cake with the Boss

Buddy Valastro, the cake baker and decorator extraordinaire is finally in Perth and I am going to his show tomorrow at the Perth Convention Centre! You probably have seen my earlier post about his show about a year and half ago. This show was cancelled last May so I have been patiently waiting to meet Buddy. I hope to get my book signed and learn some tricks of the trade. I am so excited!

Chrystalbelle’s 4th Birthday

It was Chrystalbelle’s 4th birthday on 16th January and this is the cake I made for her. Her parents, Dave and Geraldine told me that Chrystalbelle likes Peppa Pig. My first reaction was what is Peppa Pig? I soon found out it is a popular British children’s programme and was quite excited to make it. Chrystalbelle also personally asked for cupcakes with lots of flowers and pink as it is her favourite colour. With these requests I decided to place Peppa Pig in a garden with different types of flowers. Chrystalbelle provided the patty cases and cupcake toppers.

The cake was a 6 inch chocolate marble cake covered with fondant, and cupcakes were vanilla flavour. The cupcake icing was Dream Whip cream. Peppa Pig was made from fondant icing.

Chrystalbelle’s party was at Maylands Waterland and as you can see she had a great time and loved Peppa Pig

Bec & Lance’s wedding

Bec & Lance’s special day has come and gone and this is the wedding cake I made for them. It was a lovely New Year’s Eve day with the weather being not too hot that my cake survived the journey to Swan Valley. It was hard work making my first three tier cake but it was all worth it to see that Bec loved the cake and that her guests enjoyed eating the cake. I had a great time at her wedding and it was fun to countdown to 2012 at a friend’s wedding.

Two Days to Go!

You would be pleased to know that Bec’s cakes are ganached and covered with fondant icing! It is hard work making a three tier cake and roses. I think fresh flowers is the way to go – I did that for my own wedding cake Next, is the assembling of the cakes and putting the roses on. It is difficult to know how many roses I need till I put it on the cake and see how it looks. Time will tell!

Dark chocolate was used for the ganache: 1 part cream to 3 parts chocolate. Ganaching cakes before icing it helps to get a nice smooth and leveled fondant cover over the cake. I need to improve on my fondant covering as I still get blemishes here and there.

Progress report on Bec’s cake

So it is only days away from Bec’s wedding and here is a sneak peak on the roses I have made. I think I still need a few more but there is time. The ivory roses take the longest as I need to impart dye into the flower modelling paste with the centre of the roses darker than the outer petals. I will dust the white roses with some shimmer