Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Annike's Ballerina birthday cake

Happy 8th birthday to my daughter Annike. This year her birthday fell on Melbourne cup day so she was quite pleased that she had an extra long weekend to celebrate her special day. The theme for this years cake was ballerina, specifically it had to be 3 tiers (eep!) and be pastel colours. Since 3 tiers would probably feed a whole army I decided to make th top two tiers from foam dummies covered in fondant and just make the bottom tier the real cake (raspberry buttercake).
 I saw a ruffled cake design in Jacki's (From Blissfull Sweet) magazine, she made a similar ruffle cake for an autumn cake and I loved how she created her ruffles. I then mirrored the ruffles from the cake on the ballerina's tutu to make it look more "fluffy".
The ballerina figurine is a mix of styles, but the main idea came from one of Debbie Brown's cake books, I loved how she painted on the hair instead of using fondant.

Along with the cake I also decided to make some desserts like ruffle cookies, Oreo pops, ruffle cupcakes, home made marshmallows, coconut ice and glitter macarons. Some flowers from my neighbours garden, a painted drawer unit and viola I had a mini dessert table :-) Annike had a wonderful time unwrapping her presents and admiring all her sweet treats.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

October cakes and sweets, modern or vintage?

 
Well October is nearly gone and we are quickly speeding towards Christmas (although I'd like to pretend that Christmas is still AGES away lol). This is what I have been busy with cake wise (along with all the packing since we are about to move house for the gazillionth time this coming two weeks). One of my good friends from my school coffee group is celebrating her birthday today (31st October) and the brief for her cake was...you choose :-) I love those kind of requests :-) Mind you I know Amanda well enough by now to know she likes modern, bright and funky so this year I decided to make her cake bright orange with pops of hot pink and teal. The flavour is orange and almond, a new version of an old recipe that I have in my stash and I must say I am in LOVE !! Sunglasses anyone?
 


A completely different style of cake that I made for Mel's nan (The Sweet Society) who was celebrating her 70th birthday today is this super adorable petite 3 tier vintage roses, blossoms and hydrangea cake. The entire cake was white mud, a favourite with everyone covered in white choc ganache and pale blue fondant. You all know how much I love making flowers (NOT!), but I actually had fun making these and they turned out pretty good in the end.

 
Then there was Branden's 1st birthday cake, cupcakes and cookies. The design is from Style Me Gorgeous (her shop has the whole printable package) and I just copied the cute design. How cute is the elephant with balloon?
 
 
I also created a simple vintage girly Christening cake, mind you I had sooooo much trouble with the buttercream! I was supposed to ice the cake in smooth buttercream, but after 3 failed attempts (I just could not get it smooth enough) I restrained myself from throwing the cake against the wall and covered it in pale pink fondant.
 
 
Then there was some super duper detailed wedding pops, cupcakes and cookies. I think my poor neck was permanently bent into a U-shape after I finished decorating these! The brief was vintage brooches and cameo's in white/pearl and pale grey. The pops were made from Oreo's then dipped in white or grey chocolate x 2 before being given a pearl sheen with some lustre dust.
 
 
 
My favourite was the tassle cupcake, mind you the tassle and diamonte button on the cupcake is not edible, it was purely for photographic purposes :-)
 
Anyway I better get back to my packing and I must design my soon to be 8 year old's birthday cake as it will be her birthday on the 6th November. I think I vaguely saw her draw a 3 tier birthday cake with lots of ruffles and heard her mention ballerina....
..........help!!  :-O
 

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Some bright coloured cakes

I've been lucky enough to have been asked to do several bright coloured cakes recently. From a super cute (and super tall!) owl cutting cake and
 
 
 

a triple stacked cheesecake with lemon choc panels for a First Holy Communion. Last but not least a super bright engagement cake with various flavours.


 
Don't forget that this is also the last week to vote for my Owl Baby Shower which was showcased below and on the Tomkat Studio blog as part of the Aussie Designer Challenge. To vote, simply go to this link http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/owlbabyshower/ and put your comment under my baby shower. Each comment will count as one vote and will go in the draw to win a $100 store credit to The Tomkat Studio shop.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tomkat Aussie Designer Challenge - Owl Baby Shower


To say I was excited to enter the The TOMKAT Studio Challenge would be an understatement,  since I’ve always loved all things Tomkat when I came across their website about 3 years ago.

Over the next week or so you'll be able to see 8 gorgeous parties by 8 fabulous Australian party planners, the printables they chose for the challenge and what ideas they came up with.

Choosing the printable package I wanted to showcase for this challenge was the hard part, so many gorgeous designs to choose from, but I finally chose the “Owl design package” as I love the versatility of this design. I asked one of the designers to custom change the colour for me to yellow and aqua with a touch of grey as I wanted to create a gender neutral baby shower that was both bright, funky and unique.






I loved how this design turned out and incorporated the gorgeous colours and owl motif throughout the baby shower design process, without going overboard.

The Baby shower invites were encased in plain white CD boxes that I found in the Dollar shop for 50 cents each, which I jazzed up with some paper doilies and bright yellow ribbon. If you have to send yours via the post think about making or buying some hessian fabric pouches/pockets to slip your invites in to, this creates a bit of intrigue for the recipient.

 
To keep my budget in line I decided to make most of the dessert treats myself as well as buying most of my props and furniture 2nd hand from Op shops and Ebay giving some items a lick of paint to tie in with my theme. The main dessert buffet table had treats such as mini choc nests (mini cheesecake in a handmade choc nest and topped with sugar eggs), passionfruit and vanilla macarons, Oreo and lemon pops and Peach and banana smoothie.

 
For the cupcakes instead of using the Tomkat cupcake topper design as a cardstock topper I opted to have the Tomkat design printed on edible wafer paper and made some fondant toppers for the cupcakes instead.



I custom designed these two adorable cakes for the shower, I wanted something simple and vintagy that wouldn't be too hard for other people to replicate.

Peach and banana smoothie 

I also opted to have the owl shaped gingerbread cookies displayed separately in mini aqua birdcages hanging from a white decoupaged birch tree instead of just placing them on plates. The owl cookies  was a real hit amongst the guests and provided a focal point on the favours table.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Each adult guest took home some handmade Robins egg soaps (Shea Butter Soap) in an egg carton instead of the customary sweet favour treat while the children took home some homemade owl shaped cookies.
 
 
 
Lovely flower wreath by Velvet Lily Florist
 
 
Gorgeous Macarons by Macaroon Moments
 
 

Thank you The Tomkat Studio for letting Just call me Martha be part of this wonderful experience.

At the end of the week, you'll have the opportunity to VOTE for your favorite party and be entered to WIN a $100 credit to the THE TOMKAT STUDIO shop to create your own fabulous party!
Details here: http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/aussiepartychallenge/


Vendor list:

 

·       Photography by Coco Miss Jane Photography http://www.cocobymissjane.com.au

·       Printable party and stationary by The Tomkat Studio http://www.TheTomKatStudio.com

·       Event styling, cakes and treats by Just call me Martha http://www.justcallmemarthaa.blogspot.com

·       All floral designs by Velvet Lily Florist http://velvetlily.com.au

·       Macarons by Macaroon Moments macaroon.moments@hotmail.com

·       Background banner by Emma Smith {Event Stationary} http://www.emmasmith.com.au

·       Aqua plates, straws and paper cups by Shoppe with Lily http://www.shoppewithlily.com.au

·       Liandra’s yellow Pettiskirt and romper set by Pettiskirt Princess http://www.pettiskirtprincess.com.au

·       Robin’s Egg soap favours in egg box by Shop Stella’s http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopStellas?ref=seller_info#
 
·       All frames by Frame it by Jill http://www.etsy.com/shop/FrameItbyJill?ref=seller_info 

Friday, August 24, 2012

Babushka and bright cakes

(August 2012)Two tier Babushka cake, top tier caramel mudcake with caramel buttercream and salted caramel glaze, bottom tier vanilla bean butter cake. This baby was HEAVY!! I had free reign to do this cake and had so much fun with the design. Bottom tier I used a lace ribbon and hand placed edible sugar pearls and sugar flowers to emboss the pattern.
3 tier birthday cake for my eldest daughter Anya. She wanted something bright and inspired by a peacock (without being obvious). Top tier choc sponge, middle tier white caramel mud and bottom tier foam :-) I was inspired by Blissfully Sweet's ruffle cakes and decided to give the ruffles a go on this design, actually wasn't that hard just very time consuming.
 
Contemporary Moroccan birthday cake set for a 50th. The client ( a very good friend of mine) is a ceramics artist who likes bright colours, I'd say this is classed as bright lol The pattern was hand drawn using edible markers, fondant and edible sugar pearls. It took me AGES to complete!!! :-)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Little Red Ridinghood party - 4th birthday

This past weekend my youngest daughter Liandra turned 4, I didn't want a massive party for her just something small and intimate so we created this cute Little Red riding hood themed lunch for her. My biggest inspiration came from the Anders Ruff "Little Red" printables, isn't it cute? I love the aqua, red and green combo rather than having the whole theme being predominantly red. I had a lovely lady at Lily Sage and Co make her Little red costume which consisted of a cute aqua pinafore, matching white lacy apron and warm wooly red cape. This was my favourite part of her birthday, seeing her all dressed up :-)
Look how cute the Anders Ruff bottle labels turned out!
Here is the birthday cake, simple double choc mudcake with Little Red topper, she matched my daughter's outfit. The cute baskets (they were used as take home favours) and mini bottles came from Little Big Company.