A Tribute to LV
December 11, 2011
Audrey and her speedy LV
I love Louis Vuitton – and, to think, I only have one of his purses (…for now). But the craftmanship, the style, the hardiness of the bags are traits that give the company the right to sell them at the enormous prices they go by. They’re classic and they stand the test of time. Oh, the amount of time I’ve browsed their website rivals time I spent on facebook – that much. It took me a while to buy my first LV bag but it was a big accomplishment for me – it meant that now I am a real grown-up, and I can afford to have one thru the sweat of my brows (doesn’t matter if it took me a year to save up for it). 
One of my fave pictures is of Audrey Hepburn carrying her Louis Vuitton Speedy bag. If you can detect how old the black and white picture is, then you can tell how classic that purse is that it stands the test of time and whatever fashion trend comes up. One of these days, I will have one of those, too… hopefully… hopefully.
So enough of my dreaming *dream bubble poofed*. As a tribute to the house of LV, I decided to imitate one of their purses for a friend’s birthday cake.
LV's Monogram Multicolore cake sheet
While I was browsing the site (for the umpteenth time!) I was already beginning to wonder if I can pull off the famous LV logos. Me, whose hands cannot be trusted to do things freehand. And then I discovered that you can actually order cake sheets with images and so I started to look for a company online that does that – no luck. So I phoned my mom and I was about to tell her my predicament. See, my mom also does cakes in Calgary and so if there was a trend about cakes she would definitely know. After the usual mother-daughter pleasantries she started “bragging” (ha ha ha) about her latest cake gadget – a cake photoprinter. She talked about how she can download a picture from the net or use any picture file anyone gives her and my dad and her can print it out on cake sheets and put them on cakes. She said she planned to sell them online also (so anyone who wants one of these, let me know or email me at atesienna at gmail dot com.) I laughed so much in excitement – my mom knows what I need, even before I can even tell her. This was the answer to my problems and it’s just by my fingertips! So immediately while still talking to my mom, I emailed her two jpeg files of pictures of the monogram LVs as how they are on the purses. She and my dad looked at them and told me they’d have it done and sent to me in about two weeks – sweet!
LV Monogram Logo Cake Sheet
And indeed, two weeks after, in a thin, delievery package, I received the sheets, with a loving and funny letter from my dad enclosed. I was soooo thrilled to see the sheets and now I can do a cake and a small purse on top with the two logos combined. My friend would surely be thrilled.
The Speedy bag had always been sculpted on cakes for awhile now. I didn’t want to do that, firstly, because I don’t think I have enough time to order a zipper mold and it would not be easy to do that freehand, secondly, I wanted my friend to have something else. So I decided I was going to do my rendition of the Sologne. It was easier to do, and the Sologne isn’t as popular as the Speedy bag so if I screwed up, it won’t be too obvious.
This being my first time doing cake sculpting, I was really nervous and I was having cold feet that maybe I promised more than I can deliver. But I couldn’t turn back now. My materials are here and I didn’t want to disappoint my friend, nor my Mom who was really excited to see what I can do with her cake sheets. So I baked the vanilla cake in 8″ square cake pans and cut them in half and stacked them with my icing. I then started to trim the front to make it looked tapering at the top and heavier at the bottom. (Hah! So much for the dreaded “cake sculpting”, that was all the scultping I did.) I crumb-coated it and put it back in the fridge to let the icing set.
My LV Bag Sculpture
Ok, it wasn’t bad, and I got more confident that I can pull this off. After about 30 minutes, I took the cake out again and I then traced the shape of the sides onto the cake sheet and cut it. My mom told me to just dampen the back of the sheets with a little bit of water to make them tacky. After that I covered the bag with the LV Monogram cut pieces one side at a time. This was beginning to look so good. I then cut some beige fondant for the trims and the handle and added it to the cake. I cut a buckle and let it dry a bit.
While that was drying, I pulled the other cake I crumb-coated from the fridge and used the Multicolore sheet this time. I wanted the looked of the Multicolore bags with the gold trimmings and so I cut some beige fondant and covered the corners of the cake with it. I pulled out my trusty Wilton Baroque Fondant Mold and used the chain cavity to create gold chains to go around the bottom of the cake. I also put in some gold flower buttons that I created from the Wilton Fabric Fondant Mold to put on the corners of the cake.
The base of the purse cake
Now it’s time to put the finishing touches on the purse cake. I like this part of cake decorating – the little details. Altho I wish I have more time to do them. Sometimes, when I bring the cake over to the event, I feel like it still needed a little bit more bling or a little bit more detail to the final result. Maybe when I really get my timing right, I’d be able to do that. I just can’t get it down to pat. I can be hard on myself, I know. But I’d bounce back right away, and think, “hey, I’ve been doing this only less than a year. I should give myself some slack on what I’ve accomplished so far, and soon enough, I know I’d be able to pull off this wonderful cake hobby perfectly. I just have to keep on going… and learning… and buying more cake stuff. (hah!) Soon enough. Patience is a virtue that’s starting to be my bestfriend these days. I’m really getting to know her really well. (And it pays to know her, actually.)
So there, I’ve finished the purse and laid it on top of the base. I tried to do the House of Vuitton justice with my cake for so many reasons. First because, like I said, I love Vuitton and I love my LV purse, second because my mom and dad are so excited to see me do something with it (I love you, Mami and Doods!), third, because one of my rediscovered friend, Chanel, works in Vuitton (Love-love-love, darling!!!), and fourth, because of my friend, Myra, to whom this cake is for. What’s there not to like about the cake, right? And here it is…
The Vuitton Cake, before I added the flower buttons on the corner.
The LV Cake with the candles and the purse buttons on the corner.
And Last But Not the Least, the Cute Letter from My Dad.
Angry Birds
December 3, 2011
A Group of Angry Birds
You’ve played that game, right? That game where you toss these birds onto a group of pigs sitting on structures aiming to make them go *pop*. Where at the end of a level you have to have at least no pigs left when you run out of birds?
Fun game! I first got introduced to this by my brother at the same time he introduced me to Plants Vs. Zombies. I have to admit, I’m not so good at it. I had better luck with getting rid of zombies thru zombie-killing plants. They’re both addicting.
But my friend, Veck, isn’t really into games and still her husband told me to make an “angry birds” cake for her. I’m not sure if we understood each other when he said “angry birds”, but I prefer to be “decent” in assuming these are the birds he was referring to. 
They’re sooo fun to do. But they challenged my not-so-good-vision and stubby hands because of the tiny details I had to put in. Considering how tiny they are, can you imagine how small the eyes and the eyebrows would be? Exactly.
This time, I used a cakesheet to do the cake. I don’t actually know why I did. I think in hindsight, I was preparing for the next cake I was going to do. Plus, I just realized I don’t have a cake sheet pan. They were on sale at Michael’s so I grabbed two.
Those Testy Birds and Teasing Pigs
I didn’t realize tho that I had more cake than characters on the cake. I thought about just icing in the usual “happy birthday, Veck!” on the front, but I have to admit, this is my waterloo – I suck at cake writing. I still have to order those Tappits to make decent lettering. I know Veck would understand. Maybe next time I’d be able to put in some texts on my cakes. Baby steps.
So now that I’m staring at the cake, the only thing I didn’t do was the lettering and this would’ve been perfect. But when I did this I didn’t have the right tools to do it… just yet. So stick around. I’m now armed with something good. I’m so excited to tell you about it, in another entry… or two.
But yeah… Happy Birthday, Veck! You’re my sister-friend and I love you to death!
Veck and Her Angry Birds
Girlie Designer Cookies
December 1, 2011
Busy as ever. Hubby and I prepared for a HS reunion trip to Las Vegas. I haven’t been there for one month short of 6 years that I was so excited to go. Coupled with the fact that this was our chance to see high school friends who we haven’t seen for a long, long, long while and have only reconnected thru Facebook. This was also the same weekend of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight in Vegas and I had a proud heart seeing all the huge billboards with Pacquiao’s face on it. I don’t care what they say about the actual fight, he’s still Filipino and he would always make me feel proud of what he has achieved for the Philippines.
Aside from that wonderful reunion trip, hubby and I were just busy with everyday things… not to mention, yours truly being preoccupied with cakes, cakes, cakes… and cookies and cake pops.
The "Naked" Cookies
I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve so wanted to create designer cookies. I’ve seen them on the web, I’ve seen my teacher Joanne’s sooooooooo beautiful designs and I just had to make some. So since I volunteered to bring some desserts for an auction at work, I thought this might be the best opportunity to make those cookies. I’ve been buying cookie cutters online and at the nearby cake store and I haven’t used them yet and I also have this wonderful but easy sugar cookie recipe from my Cookies and Treats book that I always wanted to try. I have no more reasons so postpone this project any longer.
So I baked the cookies as instructed. I think the reason why I always delayed making these was because I had to go thru stages to get them just right – mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough, flatenning them out, putting them in the fridge, wait for them to stiffen, cut out the dough, knead the remaining dough, flatten them again, and if they were getting soft, put them back in the fridge, cut them, repeating the steps until you have no dough left.
My Favorite Things
But the taste was worth it! Really creamy cookies. Making the design was the fun part. Of all the methods of decorating cookies, I am aware of the two most popular methods - the color frosting or flooding method and the fondant method. Color flooding is where you use watered down royal icing and filing in the whole space with it. I opted to make them with fondant this time. Only because it took me less time to prepare the icing. In a nutshell, this is what I did: first, roll some fondant on your mat, cut them with your cookie cutter, paste them onto your cookie with corn syrup thinned with a tiny bit of water, and start decorating! As usual, I will have to point you to YouTube for the complete instructions on how to do them and ways to decorate them. The handiest tool for me while doing this was my ball and veining tool and some of my baking tips. Plus all the texture mats that I got from that same cake expo I went to a few months ago. (Note to self: Must attend ICES convention next year for more discounted goodies!)
Purses!
The lustre dust was also a big help in making the cookies have that classy sheen. I just recently discovered how cool lustre dusts are. Add a bit to a small amount of vodka, mix them and brush away. I was enjoying this sooo much, most specially when I get to see the finished products. P-R-E-T-T-Y. (As usual, thank you, Teacher Joanne, for the tip.)
I might as well quote here what the different dusts are from a site called Sweet Dreams by Stacy (for my own useful purpose as well):
Petal Dusts are used to achieve deeper hues with a matte finish. When brushed on petals of white or pastel gumpaste flowers, a realistic effect is created. Add a blush of color to gumpaste flowers or emphasize a feature with a tiny brush mark.
Pearl Dusts produce a shimmery luster. Use Super Pearl on flowers made from colored gum paste. When dusted on white petals, the other pearls in the range exhibit a subtle colored sheen by reflection, although displaying no apparent color. Add an iridescent hint of highlight color.
Luster Dusts give subtle color with a sheen finish. In the dry form, use them for dusting. They may be used on their own, or mixed with similar colored dusts to create a lustrous sheen without lightening the color. Brushed on white, they exhibit color and sheen. Mix with alcohol or lemon oil for painting or highlighting.
... and Shoes!
Sparkle Dusts have a larger grain size with a sparkling finish. Gives gumpaste flowers a wet or dewy look with just a touch of color.
Disco Dust (or Pixie Dust) add sparkle & flashing highlights of color to your pieces. Use this when you REALLY want to sparkle.
Highlighters are non-edible and have a high sheen finish. For decorative use only.
If you’re thinking about using them, do so. I definitely recommend it. They add depth and interest to your designs. I’ve gotten quite a few of them lately – mostly from Crystal Colors and Wilton. Some people don’t care for the Wilton brand of dusts but as far as I’m concerned, they also give really satisfying results. I guess, it’s just a matter of preferences.
My friends told me that I got a lot of bids on these babies during the auction, and also for my cupcakes with sugar flowers on top. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take pictures of the cupcakes. I got busy at work and didn’t have time to visit the auction. Good thing, I get to make those again for another occasion (I have an order for them next year, as a result of the auction – woohoo!!)
It was so much fun doing the decorations. I got to use a lot of my tools, plus, it was a way to spend some time in front of the TV with my Filipino soaps. I had a lot of catching up to do and this was my chance to do so. There was no stress, no deadline.
Light as a butterfly!
Some more of the cookies:
Ruffles and Frills
A Sunday Walk
Dresses Galore!
The Gorgeous Ballgown
Posted in Designer Cookies, La Elegancia | 
Tags: Crystal Colors, Designer Cookies, Lustre Dust, Pearl Dust, Wilton | 
2 Comments »
A Fairy Garden
October 21, 2011
Trying to get all the fairies in the cake - at 1:00pm!
I’ve always wanted to make a fairy cake for a little kid. There’s something about fairies that I have this enchantment for. So since my good friend, Lani, has a daughter and she’s having her 2nd birthday coming, I readily agreed to make her cake. And as soon as I did, I knew there was nothing else I wanted to do but a fairy-themed cake.
So I scoured some sites to give me ideas on how to make the fairies. Altho I do have the PME People Mold, that I got from the cake convention (again!), the 5 year-old child face mold unfortunately isn’t perfect, so I have to find a simple way to do the face. I did find one in the Dreamers Into Doers website by Martha Stewart and got inspired with the way one of the contributors did her fairy cupcake toppers and that’s where I drew the inspiration from.
I actually recommend that Dreamers Into Doers site because there’s just soooo many things that you can get from them as far as ideas are concerned. Just right now my head is spinning because I’m already thinking about the bake sale that I am joining this week and I wanted to make some toppers from the ones I’ve seen at this site. The women contributing to Dreamers Into Doers are all so talented. I don’t have the nerve yet to contribute any. Maybe when I get better… (uh-huh!)
So back to my cake. I got a little tensed because all the while I thought the party was going to be at 3pm. So even if I already started doing the fondant fairies as early as Wednesday, I still got stressed because my fairies still didn’t have hair and I still have to make a lot of flowers to make them cake look like a garden. Not until my husband woke up at 9am and reminded me that Kamille’s party was going to start at 12 noon! And of course, my only reply was, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!” So that’s when my whole world started getting stressful. I still had to put the cake into the oven, and then make the icing. Considering that the cake was half vanilla and half chocolate, I had to make two rounds in the oven for that.
The fairy at the top of the cake
Not to mention that I still had to put the cake in the fridge after to cool it down, take it out of the fridge to put in the icing, then put it back into the fridge to get the icing a little bit stiffer so that it won’t melt and blend in with the cake and then put it out again to cover it with fondant. Naturally, in-between the trips to the fridge, I had to add in more flowers, put the hair on the fairies, make the mushroom figures, etc… etc… etc… I really love my husband at times like this. How he puts up with a woman who transforms into a witch who acts like a bat from hell, I don’t know. I have to remember to give him something extra nice for Christmas for all the things he goes thru with me.
By the time the whole cake was done, it was already 1:30pm. Talk about lunch!
As soon as it was done, I rushed myself into the bathroom for a quick shower, then off we went. It’s a good thing that Lani’s house was only 10 minutes from where we live. We got there while there were still guests and I had to apologize to her so many times for being late.
The finished cake
Despite my being late, I think my cake all made up for my shortcomings. I was a two-layered cake with 3 fairies siting on each level. I made the whole cake look like a small cliff. I actually ran out of the green fondant that I had to improvise and use my chocolate fondant on the lower tier. So the whole cake had greeneries and some “soil” under. I put in a lot of flowers and vines and leaves with mushrooms sprouting all over. It was a garden!
I really enjoy it when people would take pictures of my cake. That, for me, is a huge compliment. And when they don’t have the heart to cut the cake because it’s all “so pretty to be cut”, I laugh and cut the cake myself. I know. It’s only a few hours between me finishing the cake and them eating it, but I don’t care. I’ve given them a gift that pleases their senses, that makes them feel special that I’ve put in a lot of effort to make it for them. That, you can’t equal. That makes me happy.
Of course I’d get stressed sometimes (or most of the times???) and there are instances where I don’t even think I’d make it, but once I get it done, my heart is filled. I’ve created something for a friend that nothing I could buy in a store can compare. It’s something that makes me proud, it’s something that puts a smile on their lips and the joy in their eyes. That’s enough for me. And I’ll do it again and again…
I just have to learn not to stress my husband out too much…
She's not scared of the cake, just the candles 
(Kamille with Mommy and Kuya Jan)
Posted in Kiddie Cakes, The Manilena Cakes | Tags: Dreamers Into Doers, Fairy Fondant Figures, Martha Stewart, PME People Mould | No Comments »
Seventy and Thirteen (Oopss… Twelve, I Mean)
October 13, 2011
Birthdays should be celebrated – whether you’re in your 70s or in your tween’s. And that’s what I’m blogging about now – I had the opportunity to make two birthday cakes – one for my sister-friend, Veck’s, aunt and another one for Beth’s eldest daughter.
Mommy Nene's Birthday Cake
I wanted a classy cake for Veck’s aunt, who we fondly call Mommy Nene. I wanted to try out the textured mats that I bought at the convention here in MD as well as the Fabric Fondant and Gum Paste Mold from Wilton. I planned on using just two colors on the cake and I liked the yellow fondant from Satin Ice. I figured white would bring out the yellow a lot more and that’s what I used to create the roses and the trims on the cake. This time, I made two layers of the cake – 6″ and 8″ – enough for us to feast on for dessert.
As for the cake itself, I had been having this huge craving for that mango cake from Red Ribbon and I had this grand idea in my mind that it won’t be too hard to copy that – what with my latest discovery of the LorAnn’s flavorings. It even excited me since mangoes are yellow and my cake’s yellow. What better combination! I even bought mango yogurts to add more flavor to the cake since there were no mangos at Mar’s that time that I went shopping. I should’ve known that I was having delusions of grandeur. The cake was so lacking in mango essence and aroma that I can hardly taste the fruit even in the meringue icing. In hindsight, I should have made a reality check that if that cake was that easy to recreate, everyone would have a Red Ribbon outlet even in their own garages.
But nevertheless, the cake, despite the unmango taste, was still a success! (I just said it didn’t taste like mango, but I didn’t say it didn’t taste good, right?) I have to admit, this is my most elegant cake so far and I was so touched that Mommy Nene loved it! The kids enjoyed it, too and I promised my friends I will still get that mango cake perfected. Even if it would mean that I would buy a whole plantation of mango trees to practice on. I am not giving up! I am scouring the internet and will continue to search until a find a better way to make that mango cake that would, at least, approximate the Red Ribbon one that I miss so much. As they say in Pilipino, “habang may buhay, may pag-asa”, literally translated, while there is life, there is hope
The Dress Cake
Two Sundays after Mommy Nene’s birthday came Beth’s daughter’s, Le-Anne’s, birthday. I promised her that I was going to make her cake after she saw the Dora cake that I did for her baby sister. Her mom said that she was inviting some of her classmates just for pizza and some snacks and so we decided an 8″ cake would be nice plus about 2 dozen cupcakes. I made the cake in two layers – vanilla and chocolate with one dozen vanilla cupcakes and one dozen chocolate ones.
Now this time, I wanted the cake to be pastel-colorful. At first I was going to make a fondant figure but something went wrong with the figure and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. But I was running out of time, so I took out my cookie cutters and the textured mats again and cut out dresses from fondant. I decorated the dresses and made bags and buttons and I was actually happier with this last-minute decision. It was more apt for a 12-year-old girl. Yeah… the cake says “13″ because I really thought she was, seeing that she’s really tall for her age. Only to find out that when they picked up the cake that she was just 12! I had to quickly find a way to change the 3 to a 2 without making too much mess on the side of the cake. Good thing that the “3″ was in 2 pieces so I just inverted the lower half of the number and ta-da!!! 2!!!
I actually had enough time to do this cake, by the time I was done putting on the last flower on the side of the cake, her Dad was on the phone letting me know they were already in front of the house! Such timing! And I love the way the cake turned out… And even the cupcakes looked good. I decided to make the icing look like roses, do they look like it?
Bye for now!
Vanilla Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes!
Posted in Hello There, Cupcake!, La Elegancia, The Manilena Cakes, Tween Cake | Tags: Mango Cake, Wilton | No Comments »
Hello, Kitty!!
September 9, 2011
My Hello Kitty fondant figure with some of her friends' body parts behind her
I’m crazy about Hello Kitty stuff!
I know… I know… Some people cannot understand why even grown women (tsk, ok, ME, for instance), go gaga over it. I don’t really care wearing my Hello Kitty apron when I bake, or that my car has a Hello Kitty plushie (in a ballet outfit, of course) swaying left and write while hanging on my left rear window or that my contact lens case has her picture on the cover that tells me where to put my left and right lenses. I just love her. I didn’t have any of those Sanrio items that my rich friends had when I was a kid so that explains the whole psychological side of it. Yes, I had childhood issues. Enough said.
So when my new friend, Mavic, who happens to be my bestfriend Ojie’s sister-in-law, who I discovered lives near us here in Maryland, wanted a Hello Kitty cake for her soon-to-be six-year-old girl, guess what I said? (Can you say “Yes!!!” doing cartwheels and landing on your feet after a quadruple somersault 10 feet in the air???? I think I could’ve done that!)
I wanted a special cake for Madison (Mavic’s daughter). One that she would remember with fondness. Something that, hopefully, would make her say when she grows up a bit, “Oh yeah, I remember I had this Kitty cake!”
And so I met up with Mavic, her husband, Jek, her mom and Madison and baby sister Morgan about a month before her birthday and we planned on what to do for her cake. I wanted to include some of Kitty’s friends, and I wanted the cake and cupcakes decorated with tiny flowers and pearls. I was going to make her a chocolate cake (Madison’s favorite) and red velvet cupcakes (Mavic’s favorite??? ha ha ha). It doesn’t get any better than that for a birthday party!
Kitty and Friends
And so I started doing the figures a week prior to Madison’s birthday. But even ahead of time, I already ordered her Sweet Inspiration fondant. The ad on the website said it was white chocolate fondant and I wanted to try it. I’ve ordered a couple of fondant already from Caljava and I know that this one was going to be good, too.
It was a light feeling doing the figures. Kitty and her friends didn’t have much nuances on their faces or figures so it was pretty much easy street to do. I mixed gumpaste and fondant in all the figures to make them harden faster. This made making the decorations go faster. I did a lot of blossoms (the medium and large one) from the Wilton flower kit that I bought last time and I planned to scatter them on the sides of the cake and on top of the cupcakes.
Unfortunately, come Sunday, while I was starting to roll the fondant to put on the cake, I noticed that the fondant was having air bubbles while I was using the Mat. I really thought it was because of the fondant itself because it was made of chocolate and softer than Fondx, But later on, I discovered from researches and asking around, it was the Mat that did it. I had to cure the craters as much as I could, but sadly, you can only do so much curing if the fondant is already on the cake (my bad). So lesson learned – I might have to scrap using the Mat (or figure out why it was making craters on the fondant) and go back to using cornstarch and confectioners sugar for the meantime, until I find out what I was doing wrong.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Secondly, I have to take note to use the rolling pin guide that I have. These are rings that you insert on both ends of the rolling pin so that you know how thin the fondant should be rolled. (Tsk, stupid me… I’ve always had it and never thought of using it.) I have those for both my small rolling pin that I use for my embellishments and the big pin that I use for the cake cover. Well, now I know better.
As for the cupcakes, I was trying to figure out how to make the swiss meringue icing taste like creme cheese (it isn’t red velvet without the cream cheese icing). So browsing thru the flavoring shelves in my nearby cake store, I discovered LorAnn Oils. They’re extracts and flavorings that are 4 times more potent in taste and flavor than the regular McCormick extracts. I grabbed the cheesecake flavor oil and with some instructions from the lady at the counter, I was on my way. And sure enough, they tasted so good and so right with the red velvet cupcakes. I am now a fan.
And this time there was no pressure at all. I baked the cake one day ahead, iced them the following morning, refrigerated the iced cake to stiffen the meringue icing, baked all the cupcakes and it was a breeze. I finished the cake just in time. Hubbie and I drove about 5 minutes to Mavic and Jek’s house where Madison was already waiting for me. I have a feeling, Kitty has her light hands on everything this whole week.
When we got to their house, it was soooo difficult to suprise Madison with what I made for her because she was peeking at the cake while we were setting them up. And when we finally showed her the cake on top of the cupcake tower with lots of cupcakes all around it underneath, she loved it! I was telling Mavic that this was made with so much love – for Madison… and for Kitty. I would gladly do it all over again.
All set up on the tower
Me and Lovable Madison, the Birthday Girl
Happy Birthday, Mother!
August 29, 2011
In the middle of all the preparation going on along the eastern coast of the United States for the coming Hurricane Irene, there was a simple and loving woman who was celebrating her birthday with the same namesake – my mother-in-law! I was telling her that she’s the same as the hurricane – “malakas ang dating” (someone with a very strong presence). Of course, I was just kidding. My mother-in-law is a very sweet and humble lady. Not to mention that well into her “senior years”, she’s so serene and low-key. So serene is she that her hobbies reflect this side of her personality - her flowers and fishing. It would be a joy to make her a cake as sweet as she is.
Wilton's Gum Paste Flower Cutter Set that I got for 50% off.
A few days before my MIL’s birthday, on our way in a shopping expedition, my sister-in-law, Edna, and I were talking about “halo-halo”, a dessert in the Philippines. (To know what “halo-halo” is, check it out in Wikipedia). Edna said that we should come up with a cake that’s similar to the famous snack – some macapuno (sweetened coconut milk), a leche-flan (egg custard) filling, an ube (purple yam) flavored cake, on top of a jackfruit-flavored layer cake – the works! So I thought about this experiment on the cake I was planning to do for her mom.
I had some ube flavoring and a bottle of macapuno left-over from the last birthday cake I did. And what else would I do with so many egg yolks from the egg-white only meringue? Bake leche flan! So why not a layer of ube cake with ube icing mixed with macapuno, plus another tier of pandan cake with a filling of ube icing and leche flan? I wanted to try my newly-acquired jackfruit flavoring from McCormick for the other layer, but I was more excited to use the pandan flavoring from Ferna that it got the best of me. I couldn’t wait to try this halo-halo cake experiment. The jackfruit cake just has to wait for its turn.
Not only did I want to try out the new flavors I have, I also wanted to play with the new toy I got from Wilton – the Gum Paste Flower Cutter Set. They were having a sale of it at A.C. Moore. Why not… this same set costs more at the Wedding and Cake Cottage by our place. The only caveat was that, aside from that set, you also have to buy their Flower Impression Mat separately. Fine. That was a sizeable dent in my pocket. (Thank you, Wilton, for making me poorer.) I’m just going to think that this is an investment I have to make for my Manilena business soon.
Notice the label at the right? Thank you, Wilton!
Frankly, I was impressed when I saw what was inside the box. The pieces were made from hard plastic and very colorful. So now they’ve labelled the parts so you actually know what goes with what and what it’s for. They’ve color-coded the cutters that go together/are alike and they’ve named them together with their sizes – small, medium, large. Really good thinking and most helpful for someone like me who’s very forgetful it’s so not funny! Whoever thought about this at Wilton’s corporate research should get high marks on her next employee performance rating. Excellent!
This time around, I wanted to take my time making the cake. I started baking early Saturday morning. I made two 9″ pans of pandan cake and two 6″ pans of ube cake. Once they were done, I took them out of the cake pan, wrapped them up with cling wrap (to lock in the moisture) and stowed them right away in the fridge. Why? Remember when I made my father’s day cake for hubbie and because of the heat, most of the icing melted into the cake? Well, reading up on the internet plus a lot of good tips from the Caketress, I learned that putting your cake in the fridge right away locks in the moisture and makes it easier to cut and crumb. This also prepares the cake so that the icing won’t melt – which was my whole problem to begin with.
Next, I made an 8″ pan of leche flan as my filling for the pandan cake. I wanted it large enough so that I’d be able to pipe the circumference of it with ube icing once I place it on the bottom layer of the pandan cake.
Veined Butterfly Cutter from PME
Since it was already starting to rain hard and the hurricane was doing a fiesta outside with its strong winds, there was really no way for us to see my mother-in-law that Saturday. Which actually was better because it gave me more time to make a gardenful of flowers for her cake. At around mid-afternoon when the cakes cooled down and the leche flan was now also in the fridge, I started to fill in the layers. I wanted a thick slab of ube icing with macapuno and a thick slab of leche flan filing also. Once I got those on the cakes, I again wrapped them in cling wrap and tossed them back in the fridge to let the icing stiffen. (I learn fast…)
A little sidenote: putting on the leche flan filling was not how I wanted it tho. Since I couldn’t cut a layer of the flan and put it whole onto the cake, I had to make slices of it and placed them one by one. That wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it. Next time, I should just make a 1/2 inch thin leche flan so that I can just turn the pan upside down right smack into the cake. That would make the flan filling one whole piece. Next time…
Happy Birthday, Mother!
And in-between the stages of prepping up the cake, I was able to make 3 roses, 3 dogwood blossoms, 3 big daisies and 3 small ones, a lot of small blossoms, and a lot of butterflies. I was in a very good mood – most specially when I got the roses done. They were so pretty. I was really aiming for a garden-like decor that would remind my MIL of her own. I always have this picture in my mind, year after year, of her garden in full bloom – with so many butterflies around. Her flowers are always so “heartfully happy” to look at (if that’s even a description).
And just lke that, at around two o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday, hurricane Irene was gone. The sun was out, the people flocked to the malls, like nothing even happened. I was able to finish decorating the cake and was waiting for my MIL and SILs to finish shopping so that I can deliver the cake. It was my first ever cake that I didn’t rush to finish. That cake was so stress-free, it almost felt like an exercise in zen meditation. Imagine what you can do when you have time by your side. Now I have to find a way to do that with my next cake project. (Hello, Kitty!)
So when I got to their house, my niece, Jenna even came by the car and helped me bring the cake up. We had fun taking pictures in front of the cake and Edna wasted no time sending them up to facebook! I hope I made my MIL happy. She so deserves the best in life now. She’s brought up 5 kids on her own, so unselfishly, so full of love. My cake was a tribute to this very remarkable woman.
Happy birthday, Mother. May you have many more years filled with happiness, serenity and love – with a lot of fish and flowers in between. We love you!
Mother with Jenna, Judy and Edna
Posted in La Elegancia, The Manilena Cakes | Tags: Birthday, Mother, Wilton Gum Paste Flower Kit | No Comments »
Character Cakes
August 29, 2011
Some cakes are fun to do – challenging, but fun still.
Two of my friends asked me to make their kids’ cakes last weekend. That was actually the first time I ever had a back-to-back order of cake. Kinda toxic but you learn…
The Lacrosse Topper
The first one was for my friend who lives in Hagerstown. She wanted one for her son who plays lacrosse and another one for a friend’s son who swims. First off, the cons – the bigger mistake I did was that I made 2 separate cakes. I should’ve just made a two-layered cake and have one layer for her son and another layer for the friend. It might have saved me a lot of time and I would be able to make the cake look aesthetically more pleasing. Altho I enjoyed every moment that my friend was at our house, and she was even able to meet my other good friend, it was still not cool that she had to wait too long.
The pro – I enjoyed making the lacrosse player. I scoured the internet for what the gear is like. I was a little proud of myself (excuse me for sounding so *nauseating* for saying that!) because of all the detail that I put in the figure and the racquet. I still have to tighten the details of the figure a bit tho also.
The swimmer cake, I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of anymore. I was kinda scared that the figure won’t withstand the long ride back to Hagerstown that I just asked my friend to put it on the cake once they get home. So I’m just going to wait for her pictures (hopefully).
The Final Dora Figure
That Sunday, I was busier than Saturday. My other friend wanted a Dora cake for her three-year-old baby girl, and I was so excited to do it. This would be my second character cake (the first one was a Mario cake).
I first made a Dora freehand, but it didn’t turn out really good. My husband took one look at it and said, “she doesn’t look like Dora at all!” That was all the comment I needed and I scrapped that right away. I decided to use my human mold instead. It wasn’t the same portion as the real Dora, but it looked better than my first one.
Character cakes are sooooo hard to do. Only because you have to make sure that you’d be able to copy the original. Which is a big hit and miss. Either you can do the character or not. I was lucky I got Mario and Luigi right. But I have to admit, Dora was more complicated than I expected. Maybe it’s the expression on her face, maybe it’s her color or the nuances of her hair, but she was not a walk in the park to do.
Ate Janelle Helping Out
Boots was easier to do. I guess because when you look at the way he’s being drawn, there’s not too much quirks. Even Backpack and Map were easy. Really straightforward. But Dora??? I would have to think twice, next time.
It was a fun thing tho that when one of our dear friends came to visit us one night with her family, her daughter helped me make Dora’s backpack and some of the flowers I was going to put on the cake. I promised her that next time she comes around, I can teach her some more cake things to do. Honestly, she really made things easier for me. I’m so proud
I also promised my husband that we were going to the party early because he was only going to drop me off and then he had to go to work. And so, that Sunday, I had to wake up early and get going with the cake decorating as soon as I could. By 4:3o we were on our way out the door. I decorated the 8″ cake except for Dora, the tree and Boots. Since it was going to be a drive to the party, I didn’t want to risk putting the figure on top of the cake and then transport it. They might not survive all the bumps on the road. I had to bring some of my fondant glue, my brush, and some fondant. I was going to set them up at the venue instead.
Dora and Boots and Backpack
We got there just in time – before most of the guests came. I was able to set the figures up and the celebrant was so wide-eyed to see her cake. Thank God, she recognized Dora. I was afraid she wouldn’t – that would’ve been it! That would’ve been an epic fail. Kids aren’t really very hard to please ever.
All in all, everyone was happy. The little girl came back a lot of times to grab a cupcake… or two. By the time I left, there weren’t too many of the chocolate and ube (purple yam) cupcakes left. They were a hit with the kids.
That weekend, I learned some more about how to put up figures, and trees and not to overestimate what I can do and cannot. All these I am storing in my little archive inside my brain. That episode sure was a chunk of knowledge to store. Just like:
1. Not doubling up the icing recipe cause I can’t seem to make it work the way I have the original amount of the recipe. That was an big failure.
2. Corollary to no. 1, no more using the meringue powder from Wilton. Ever. Again.
3. Plus don’t to get excited too much with the cakes and really think it over and always do a reallity check on limitations.
It’s true, you won’t learn anything until you’ve made the mistakes you need to make. Painful, but needed. But I’m not discouraged by it. I’m enjoying all these learning and baking and decorating. I enjoy it best when I see the celebrants with a wide smile on their the faces the first time they see their cakes. That alone is priceless for me. That makes me strive to be better.
For now, I’m leaving you with a happy picture of the birthday girl and her sisters.
Happy Birthday, Lindsey!!
Next, a flower power experience!
The Cake on my new cupcake tower.
Posted in Hello There, Cupcake!, Kiddie Cakes, The Manilena Cakes | Tags: Dora, Lacrosse | 6 Comments »
So What Has Happened Lately?
August 25, 2011
It’s been a while since the last post. Hubbie and I went to the Philippines last June and July for our very happy and memorable 30th HS reunion and a trip to Puerto Princesa in Palawan and when we came back to reality it was so difficult to shake the jet lag off (as in, toooo difficult) and I had to push myself to get back to the grind of things by cleaning up the house and putting everything back in order. The cleaning helped a lot plus a phone call from a dear sister-friend and a visit from her woke me up from a deep slumber-like stage.
A bouquet of flavorings from the Phlippines
So as promised I brought some stuff back from the Phlippines. Mind you, for the first time ever, I didn’t go to the usual shopping places – Divisoria was not in my agenda, altho Greenhills was since it was just a few kilometers away from our house in New Manila. I got more curious with the baking stores there – Chocolate Lovers in Cubao and Sweet Crafts in Mandaluyong. Are my priorities changing – from shoes and clothes to baking supplies? Hmmm… NOT! It’s just that prior to this vacation, my husband and I were just home last year and nothing changed much in the fashion scene. And since we only had 2 weeks and a half this time, I spent it with family, friends and my old classmates – and I have no regrets.
I did buy a LOT of flavorings like I told you, guys. Everything that I wouldn’t be able to get here, or would get expensively, I bought – Jackfruit, Cantaloupe, Mango, Ube, Buco Pandan, Pandan, Buko, Pineapple, Orange, the works. And now that I’m looking at them, I’m actually kicking myself in the butt because I should’ve bought more. Specially the “Ferna” brand because they really are good.
Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Fondant Frosting
When I had the get-together with 3/5 of “The” girls (the best sisterhood ever for 20 years running!), Ojie and I thought of having a bakefest at their house while waiting for Alitte and Gemma, to arrive. For both the times we all saw each other, we were in a baking trip that made Ojie’s “piggery” (a.k.a. her kids) very happy. We made pandan cupcakes and banana cupcakes with nutella frosting during the first get together. Then on the second time we had a get together, Ojie’s one and only daughter, who happens to be my godchild, had this “wonderful” idea that maybe a fondant cake would be nice. Of course she got a lot of teasing from me, but who was I to say “NO”?? So there we were – Ojie and I, this time with Alittle early, too, making the chocolate fondant roses that went to the red velvet cake. Talk about an impromptu cake with neither a rolling pin nor mat on hand. But it’s still doable, we just needed a bit more imagination, like a wine bottle for a rolling pin and lots of wax-paper to cover the table.
But I’ve been busy since the jet lag wake up. I was finally able to order some fondant brands that I wanted to try out. Did two cakes last Saturday for another dear friend from Hagerstown and another cake last Sunday for another good friend whose youngest daughter had her 3rd birthday. I was able to buy a cupcake tower from The Cupcake Tower
that I can use for display. It already had it’s grand debut last Sunday. A bit heavy tho, considering that the biggest tier is about 22 inches (not to mention pricier than the regular acrylic towers) but oh so worth it because they’re very flexible to use and very pretty. I can even decorate the edge of the tiers which puts all my ribbonettes to good use.
Pictures of the cakes tomorrow when I post a new entry in this blog.
For now, savor these… More to come tomorrow.
The Pandan Feel-Good Cupcakes
Posted in Flavor Finds, Hello There, Cupcake!, The Manilena Cakes | Tags: Chocolate Lovers, Cupcake Tower, Ferna flavorings, Pandan, philippines, Sweet Crafts | 1 Comment »
Baking In The Summer
June 23, 2011
I surprised hubby with a Father’s Day cake last Sunday. I took him to work that Saturday night and while I was looking at him driving, I decided he deserves to have a cake he would surely enjoy. So without him knowing, when he got off the car at the hospital and I took over the wheel, I decided I was going to do a special mocha cake for him. He loves coffee and no matter if he’s not supposed to have too much beans because of his gout (yes… coffee are made of beans. Coffee beans, remember?) a little indulgence for his day won’t be too much.
A Mocha Cake for the Daddy of the House
So I stopped by Starbucks – I wanted a special coffee tp use for the cake, plus I wanted a shake, too, just because it was too hot that day. I was supposed to order a capuccino and use that for the cake when I saw those Ready Brew Instant Coffee by the counter. I got the French Vanilla one, paid for that and my shake and off I went. Oh, the lady at the counter forgot that I wanted my coffee shake decaf and she told me I could have the caffeinated coffee and she was just going to make me the decaf one. She didn’t want to waste the coffee. I was so embarassed because I didn’t want to make it look like I wanted a freebee (Oh, I like freebees, but I want legit ones, of course). I offered the shake to the guy behind me in line and he gratefully accepted the very cold brew and gave it to his wife who looked really, really bothered by the heat. And as I went out of Starbucks she gave me a very warm smile and wave while she was surely enjoying the coffee. I felt nice about that. Made one person smile despite the heat.
So home I went and I felt a tinge of heat already as I opened the house door. I remembered we lowered the air conditioning because altho it was hot, it wasn’t anything that the fan won’t be able to solve. I didn’t want our electric bill going up too high too early yet in the summer. (When you get a bill as high as ours, you’d think twice before you get the air conditioning full blast). So I turned on the ceiling fan in the kitchen and started working on the cake.
Dear husband was going to get a mocha cake iced with caramel flavoured Swiss meringue icing. Hmmm… mocha and caramel, can anything be more heavenly? On a sidenote in my brain, I was also going to use this cake to practice a flower-making technique with royal icing I learned from Wilton.
So while the house was being filled with the sweet aroma of mocha, I started making the swiss meringue icing. Maybe because of the humidity, my meringue was having a hard time rising! And even when the egg whites and sugar rose to a stiff peak, it took much longer to curd and form when I added the butter to it. I really thought it was going to be a disaster. I left my KitchenAid mixer on high while I washed the dishes and all the tools I used while waiting. I also cleaned the top of the oven, swept the kitchen floor, and it was only during then that the icing began forming. I therefore conclude, it takes a while more to prepare icing in humid weather. I have to take note of that.
When my 2 10″ pan of soft mocha cake was ready, I took it out of the oven to cool. Alas, my icing still wasn’t done with me because now it decided it wanted to melt (how selfish can it get!). I started my mixer on again to keep mixing the icing. I couldn’t put it in the fridge because then it would be hard to make it flow on the cake. That lasted awhile until my cake was ready. Took the two 10* round cake, iced the top of one before I laid the 2nd one on top of it. I wanted a thick layer of carmel icing in-between. Then I started smoothing icing on top of the cake and then used my decorating comb to ice the sides. I have to tell you, those decorating combs are a joy to use! You don’t have to smoothen the sides of your cake. just put in slabs of icing on the side and run the comb along and ta-daaaaa!!!!! Iced sides with a decore. You just have to make sure you have a lot of icing around and that you don’t scrape the cake while you do. I had to redo the sides a couple of times because I’m O/C that way. So when that was done, I immediately placed the cake inside the fridge because I don’t want to melt the icing any much longer and then I started on my flowers.
Where did all the icing in-between go???
I was going to follow this tutorial on youtube (by a very sexy Latina) on how to make royal icing petunias but maybe because of the heat or maybe I don’t have the right consistency for the icing (it became a tad too runny), it wasn’t turning out well. I couldn’t remedy that anymore because I ran out of confectioner sugar! (Imagine that, the sugar I least like has struck back by making itself scarce inside our home! ha ha ha!). So I decided to do those beautiful petunias some other day and just made primroses instead. Once I had about 20 of them I placed them all in a cookie sheet and stacked them in the fridge to harden. I knew that if I left them out, it won’t dry soon enough for tomorrow morning when I pick up my husband from work. I probably got to bed at around 3:00 am. Tired but excited for hubby to see his cake.
Half past the hour of seven the next morning I was on my way to the hospital to pick him up. He without any clue what I did last night. ;P I went ahead of him inside the house and took the cake out of the fridge and waited for him to come in.
“Happy Father’s Day!!!!” I said as he entered the house. “I made you a mocha cake!”
My husband is a man of few words, he just said “Uy!” laughed and gave me a hug. I like surprising him. I love seeing the smile on his face when I do something for him unexpectedly. I put the cake back in the fridge while we had breakfast. I was going to put the flowers before I serve it to him for dessert.
Bad news, the flowers weren’t hard enough yet. So I scraped and used spatulas to put some of it on the cake. At least the ones that would let me. I only placed some of them and had to put the flowers back inside the fridge because the hot temperature was quickly making them too soft again. Another surprise was the icing in between the cakes. They melted onto the cake. I probably didn’t cool the cake longer enough. I guess it was this part of the cake that I should have put in the fridge.
It didn’t seem to bother my husband, tho. He enjoyed his mocha cake, even had seconds. I had a lot to pass around to friends and even a small 8″ round cake to give my mother-in-law, just because.
But lessons were learned that weekend. The biggest lesson of all – your husband won’t fuss or sweat on any imperfection on that cake you lovingly made for him. He’s just happy and contented you fussed and sweated enough for him
Hope your week is good!
The Yellow Primroses
