Football Cake

When my work colleague asked if I could bake and decorate a cake for his football club, I jumped at the chance to strengthen my cake creativity. He asked for a football field with his clubs crest for their 125th Jubilee party.

 I received a lot of ooohs and aaaahs when I delivered but was secretly disappointed at a large crack that had appeared from the weight of the cake during my walk with it across the football field. It was hardly noticeable but to me it was heart-breaking. Safe travelling with a cake like this is so important! I had to travel with it in my car, uphilll, downhill, through roadworks and potholes, it survived the drive but not the walk!

 I started with the crest, it turned out great! I was even more impressed with it, when I was told the crest has been kept and put on the wall to remember the evening. How flattering!! I ordered a football set from Kiwicakes.co.nz. The goals and the players really made the cake "come alive".

Strawberry Shortcake Cake!

 This cake was for a 1 year old gorgeous girl, her mum requested this strawberry shortcake cake like one she had seen online. The top tier was really easy to do, to my surprise! I used a polystyrene ball bought from Spotlight, then decorated it according to the picture online. The middle tier was a dairy free chocolate cake. The cake itself was very light but moist. I used a round tin and then cut the edges, my attempt of cutting parallel edges looks a little lopsided! I am sure I will do better next time. The bottom tier was a dense chocolate cake, covered with pink fondant icing. I used an impression mat for the first time, it was a bit difficult to use so any requests for a cake with impressions would be kindly accepted so I can practice this art!
Now, in New Zealand some toys are actually hard to get, a proper strawberry shortcake doll was very difficult to find. I eventually found the perfect doll on Trademe but to my disappointment, it did not arrive in time. I ended up searching the (3) toys shops we have in Dunedin and bought a Lalaloopsie doll, which I took home and painted to resemble Strawberry Shortcake. I hope you like it!!

Lady in the Cake

My work colleague wanted to something a little bit different for her sister in laws 50th birthday, she found an image online and I tried to recreate it. It turned out great, the lady was cake free so they could all hand it around the dinner table and look at it! I will definitely make one like this again.

Christmas Cakes!

This year I made the department Christmas cake, someone is nominated every year and although its the busiest time of year I thought why not! So two weeks before Christmas I am crazy in the kitchen making Christmas cake for the first time! I used Tui Flowers Christmas Cake recipe which had 20 or so different ingredients in it. The cakes worked out ok... a little bit crumbly but that's what you get for such late notice. These cakes need at least a month or two of feeding and tending to its needs, so just two weeks was cutting it pretty fine! I had fun making them, they looked good on the table so I cant complain.

Dairy Farm Cake

Dad is currently working on a dairy factory, he is responsible for all the stainless steel pipe work for a spray drier that produces baby milk powder. He thought it would be a really nice treat for his hard working team mates to have a cake that represented what they do. This dairy farm/factory cake was slightly bigger than the others, approx 50cm x 40cm and boy was it heavy! It was placed on 12mm board and when lifted it sagged in the middle almost causing the cake to break in half. Luckily it survived the 2 hour drive to Cyldevale, thanks to Dads cautious driving! I have since heard that the little cows happily got eaten by one of the workers 10 children! (Message to him : If you need birthday cakes...you know who to call!)

Janets Retirement Cake

Our work colleague, Janet retired recently. As a gift from "the second floor crew" Jo, David and myself decided that a cake - of course, would be the perfect symbol of our celebration for Janet achieving such a milestone. Two tiers seemed the best way to do this cake, one for the staff to consume at the party and one for Janet to take away to share with her friends. The bottom tier was black forest cake and the top tier chocolate mud cake. I received a lot of positive comments about the liquorice allsort look of the bottom layer, it wasn't my intention at all. It seemed to work and everyone was happy.

50th Birthday Airport Cake

Feeling relief after finishing the hardest exam of my study career, I turned to Bryce (my partner) and said "Yay now that exam is over I can bake!" I was looking online for cake ideas and happened to check my email. A request from a workmate asked if I would make an airport cake for 150 people as a 50th birthday surprise for four male friends which was needed in two days. Well, I turned to Bryce and said "I just ate my words" Gobsmacked and excited, my cake ideas began flowing and this is what I came up with :

Then I decided that one cake wasnt enough for 150 people and proceeded to make 50 cupcakes small and large. Yes they are clouds!

So the 50 cupcakes and a very large airport cake travelled to Christchurch, luckily they all survived the 4 hour drive!