A one in a Minion party

I had the pleasure of teaching gorgeous Erin and her friends, sister and cousins the art of cupcake decorating this weekend for Erin's 5th birthday. Parties like Erin's make me feel so blessed to be able to do what I love, and at the same time be appreciated for what I do. It truly isn't "work" when you have so much fun.

Gorgeous Erin with the minion pirate ship cake that her amazing mummy made her!!

Erin originally requested a Frozen themed party, but decided in the end that she really wanted a pirate minion party. Her very clever mummy created a huge pirate ship cake using wafers, chocolate chip cookies and even rice crispies... It was amazing!

I loved how very specific Erin's theme was, and I tailored my Cake Me! kids class to fit the theme. Erin was turning 5, however her nine party guests ranged from 18 months to 8 years of age. So to suit the age group of my students, I designed two 2D minion cupcakes.

Although we kept the class to 2D decorating and not 3D, to show Erin and her friends what they could make with fondant, I also made Erin a teeny tiny sugar sculpted pirate minion to go into the pirate ship cake that her mum made.

Erin and her guests were so excited and couldn't wait to start. They diligently washed their hands and put their aprons and hats on in record time. As usual, I was blown away by the level of fine motor skills and precision that some of these young kids had, and at the same time, the kids were in awe of what they could create. The mums and dads of the younger ones were fantastic and helped guide their children so they could keep up with the older ones. What also made me especially happy was the wonderful feedback from some of the parents there. I was so pleased to be able to break down the barriers and resistance to using fondant for some parents, so I'm really looking forward to seeing some wonderful new creations from these mums and dads in the future!

At the end of the class, all the wonderful cupcakes were boxed in our take home bonboniere boxes. Poor little Erin was frantically searching for the minion she had put so much love into creating for the past ninety minutes. She was trying to fight back tears at the thought that someone else had taken her prized possession. We opened each of the twenty boxes to search for this one minion, and I was so worried that someone else may have accidentally claimed it as their own. I thought Erin would have been heartbroken, she was probably planning on cherishing this minion forever. I felt this huge sense of relief when we eventually located it, and we quickly got a pen and wrote her name on the box. Erin's eyes lit up, almost sparkled from the tears that were welling in her eyes, she grabbed it out of the box and ran to the couch and devoured it.

“Dearest Liz,

Thank you so much for this morning, you run an amazing cupcake decorating class. You are incredible!

I asked Erin if she was surprised that she could make a minion and she said “I always waited for the teacher and did what she said”. You make it seem so simple.

Thank you for such an enjoyable morning and working with our diverse age range!! I want to do it again!!I hope to get into your booking sheet again in a few years for Melanie and Erin!! I had an awesome time making the minion as well!!! I loved seeing the kiddies have fun. Totally sorted out some mummy guilt there!

xoxo”

— Mei-Ling

“Thank you for a great time. It was also a really good learning experience. I didn’t realise rolling fondant was so easy.”

— Amy

"You find magic wherever you look...."

“... sit back and relax. all you need is a book”

— Dr Seuss

To celebrate Noah's first year we were commissioned to create a Dr Seuss inspired smash cake. Moss17 Photography captured this sweet moment for Noah and his family.

“I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny.”

— Dr Seuss

Noah loved his first taste of white chocolate cake and silky smooth Swiss meringue buttercream. True to the book, "Cat in a hat" however, this clean little boy realised that he was making a huge mess and he started to cry!

“And this mess is so big
And so deep and so tall,
We cannot pick it up.
There is no way at all!”

— Dr Seuss

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Up, up, and away!

What do you get when you put two tiers of love, a woven basket of fondant, together with some dry ice? A hot air balloon cake of course!

To welcome Spring, blue skies and warmer weather, we are so excited to share our latest cake with you all... the hot air balloon cake we created for Olivia's first birthday party.

The theme of this cake was inspired by Baby Livvy's favourite book "I see clouds in the sky" and photos from her recent family photoshoot by Yulia Pavlova.

Although I have competing deadlines this week and am stretched with time to write a full blog, I couldn't resist putting together some photos for this blog.

Baby Livvy's very creative mummy, Sotty (of Little Sotty!) artistically handcrafted all the decorations for the party, including a "design your own hot air balloon" craft station for the kids!

Feeling inspired yet?

“Dear Cake Me!, Thank you so much for making us the most gorgeous cake to celebrate our precious Livvy’s first birthday. Your attention to detail is amazing and I love how you were able to design and personalise the perfect cake for me, based on the party’s “Clouds and hot air balloons” theme while incorporating the colour palette from the birthday invitation. Not only did the cake look amazing but it also tasted devine! It was so nice to be able to plan the rest of the party knowing that the cake was in the hands of someone I trusted and knew would do an amazing job. Thanks again”

— Sotty

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Mums are tops

As a mum of two kids, I can truly appreciate what limited time a mother has to do... anything, really. I remember having just the one child, and returning to work part time. Although the balance between home and work was a juggling act, work itself was like a holiday! Don't get me wrong, I love both my children more than all the stars in the sky, and I did feel guilty for thinking this way, but really, going to work was like a break. Eating lunch in peace (without having to feed my mini-me, whilst at the same time mopping up the spilt milk and scraping melted cheese out of her scalp) was truly a luxury you take for granted. Heck, even the forty-five minute journey on a germy train, just staring into space or eavesdropping on a high school girl's conversation was bliss. Guilt-free bliss at that!

So that's why we think it's absolutely incredible of those mums who insist on taking the time and love to make their own children's birthday cakes. Now I mean absolutely no disrespect to the amazing mums who order their children's cakes, especially because without those mums who love our cakes, there would probably be no us. Those mums are probably slaving away at other things, and pay us their hard earned money so that we can create their dream cake for their child. We are truly grateful and honoured that you trust us to make your beloved children's cakes. But back to the mums who do make their kids cakes, there is something truly special about it. It really takes a lot of effort and time and love, and even motivation to go and grab that spatula, wipe down the kitchenaid and pull out all the ingredients. Even for us, the "cake people", after our hiatus from cakes, it was daunting making our own kids' cakes. Just the thought of creaming eggs with sugar took a lot of psyching up to do.

“I need a week to recover from that!! Who knew kids parties were so exhausting!”

— a recent customer who shall remain anonymous ;)

I'm proud to say that quite a few of my girlfriends who choose to make their own cakes often use us as their 1800-cake-hotline. Over a span of a week, they would call or message me, most often after ten o'clock at night.. First, to ask for a good recipe. Then the next night to ask about the consistency of the ganache, then the following night about air bubbles in the fondant. Then almost without fail, at the party they would be highly critical of their creation and tell me how they stayed up past 2am and that they will just order a cake from me the next year. But the following year, I get the same call for a recipe the week before the party. I truly admire you mums and I think that the cakes you all make for your kids are beautiful and from the heart. I'm sure your kids, even if not now, but in twenty years time, will look back on the photos and appreciate all that you do for them.

Over the years we have had numerous orders for cake toppers only. The mums (and dads!) who love to make their own cake, but just want that extra "awwwwwww" or wow factor. We love doing cake toppers as it means that the parents can still do their thing, and we can also play a part in their magic. Most of our topper orders have been local orders. We've had some from interstate but there was always a relative who would be travelling from Melbourne, so more than happy to help transport the precious sugary works of art. We've sculpted fondant teddy bears (miniature versions of a child's best friend), large fondant bows, roses, fondant letters and names to personalise a cake, and even fondant goldfish!!

This brings me to what I've personally been juggling between kinder runs and swimming lessons this week. This week we have completed two separate orders for toppers. One for a little girl who's all time favourite princess is Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, and another, a boy from Cairns who is crazy about the Smurfs. The little girl who loves Princess Jasmine is the youngest of four kids. I can't imagine how busy that household would be, but her mum still says "I try to make all their cakes every year". What a champ!

The mum from Cairns trawled the internet and Pinterest for inspiration for her son's cake. We are so grateful that even though we are in opposite ends of the country, the lovely mum found us on google and that she had chosen us to create her son's Smurf toadstool house and have it couriered 2982 kilometers to them!!

After ensuring that the Smurf house was as dry as possible, we carefully packaged up the house and prayed that it would arrive in one piece to that very excited little boy up in Queensland.

"All have arrived in perfect condition. They are truly magical. Thank you so much for such beautiful creations" - Sharee

So to answer many of your questions, "Yes, we can do fondant cake toppers only!" If you love making cakes and want us to assist with adding the final touches to your cake, please don't hesitate to contact us.

To all mothers and fathers, cake makers or cake order-ers, to our own mothers and fathers, to the amazing father of my two monkeys - I applaud you.

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Here are some of the photos sent to us from our gorgeous customers, of the cakes they created themselves, using our toppers.

“I’m actually still mesmerised over how beautiful and delicate they all were – my favourites were the bees and ladybugs of course. But then there was the apple barrel…..really all just absolutely beautifully mesmerising. Thank you again for such beautiful, lovely, wonderful cake toppers and for being so accommodating and helpful. It certainly made the birthday a highlight.”

— Sharee

“Thank you so much - Jasmine is amazing!!! The detail is incredible - she is going to LOVE it!!!

The cake was a BIG HIT!! Thanks so much!”

— Amelia

Cake Artist?

A common request from followers of this blog, is for me to write about what happens behind the scenes. People seem to be interested in the design process and how we get to our finished product. I've ummm-ed and ahhhh-ed about blogging about this as I am frankly quite embarrassed to show you what goes on, especially for a self-confessed perfectionist this is a bit difficult to digest... but for the sake of a bit of humour, I will swallow my pride! Here it goes...

Some of the sketches we provided our client

I've mentioned in previous blogs that I'm no artist on pen and paper, and that I'm almost always hesitant to send a client a sketch of our cakes. I'll have beautiful visions and images in my head, but when I try to put pen to paper, it never comes out the way I intend.

The recent Lego Superheroes cake... thankfully it turned out how we had pictured it in our heads and not what was on paper!!

We also enjoy having the freedom to make changes to the design of the cake whilst we are making it as we are often able to create an effect that we didn't think was possible, whilst designing it (for example Domo with one arm up and the other down, or the weight of the sun topper floating above the cake instead of sitting on it) or improving the overall look of the cake (displaying the Hello Kitty cake on a rectangular cake board instead of a round board as quoted).

I take pride in having real attention to detail, and at the same time, our cakes have clean lines, look fresh and have an uncluttered finish. But somehow my pictures always look like a scribbled mess and even I can't decipher what I've tried to transcribe from my head. Even my eleven year old niece critiques my sketches and tells me that she'll have to teach me how to draw one day.

With cakes like Genevieve's Winter Wonderland themed cake, she was happy for us to design the cake whichever way we wanted, as long as it was not a "Frozen" cake. So originally we had planned a more "busy" cake that was round and unsculpted. Having the flexibility in design meant that we were able to sculpt the cake into an actual iceberg, and then decide to keep the lines clean and uncluttered, and not over-complicate the cake with the igloo or polar bear up top.

Having the liberty to change the design gives us the flexibility of making the cake look better than what we are confined to by our drawings

Quite often, clients get so excited about their cake, they ask to see a sketch of what to expect. I'm always happy to provide a sketch, but always pre-warn them so that they won't doubt our cake-making abilities.

So here I am exposing my vulnerabilities to you all... please don't judge me!!!

Admittedly we now have a new design studio which helps the sketches look slightly more acceptable. But for a great laugh, and for the ultimate mind-blowingly embarrassing picture... here are two I drew when designing my kids' cakes. Amazingly though, I showed them to my four year old and asked her what the sketches were of, she confidently exclaimed "Ohhhh that's my bucket cake, and that's Xav's digger cake!!". So there you go, it can't be that bad? ;P

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The blanketed crusader

This cake is one that is extremely close to my heart.

Waz, the Blanketed Crusader and his cake. Designed by Khanh of Cake Me!, this cake perfectly sums Warren up.

I remember taking the bus home one winter's evening after uni. It was bucketing down, very cold and very dark. Kind of scenario where you'd prefer to just stay on the bus and not get off, even though you couldn't wait to get home. But there, waiting in the rain by the unlit bus stop was my brother, on his little bicycle, with an umbrella. He's always been like that.

Fourteen years later, my brother Warren founded the charity organisation 300 Blankets, to keep those who are less fortunate in our community warm. Waz works a full time job in Merchandising at the Myer Headquarters, but after work and on weekends, he directs a team of over 70 volunteers to provide warmth to the homeless. 300 Blankets raises awareness, funds, buys, collects and distributes blankets to the homeless. His work isn't just about providing tangible materials, it is also about providing warmth through friendship. Every Wednesday night, rain, hail or shine, Christmas Day, his birthday or just any regular Wednesday, you would find Waz out with the Vinnies Soup Van distributing food, a hot drink, blankets and friendship to those who need it most.

Waz and some of the awesome 300 Blankets volunteers — Waz and some of the awesome 300 Blankets volunteers

The stories and experiences that Waz shares are moving, heart wrenching and more often than not, puts a lump in your throat or fills your eyes up with tears. Listening to my brother speak at a recent event and looking around at an audience of over a hundred people, you can see how his work and anecdotes pulls at people's heartstrings.

So that's Waz as a brother and as a member of the community. What makes Waz extra special is that he is your normal, average person. He loves his fiancee, his family and his close group of friends. Waz is our everyday superhero. He's a man with many hats (or lego heads, as this cake suggests).

Superhero Lego heads, Chocolate mud cake and Red Velvet mud cake with chocolate ganache

The other Waz we know and love is "Uncle Wazzie" as he is affectionately called by his niece and nephew. Waz is a big kid at heart, an awesome uncle, and our kids adore him. He loves toys and for years, worked in the toy department at Myer, and then later, in the Buying Office for Toys. Waz has especially loved Lego and made sure he rubbed his passion for these coloured bricks on to his niece and nephew. Another of Waz's childhood loves is Raphael, the red teenage mutant ninja turtle.

Warren. Our brother, friend and uncle. Hero in a half shell. Friendly neigbhourhood spider. We couldn't be more prouder of you, Waz. Happy 30th birthday to our Blanketed Crusader.

Lego minifigure Waz cake, complete with his signature mole, 300 Blankets tshirt, and CAPE!

Everything is awesome. You are everything AWESOME.

To learn more about 300 Blankets or to volunteer/donate to the charity, please go to www.300blankets.com.au.

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