It's Christmas!

HEI HEI HEI.... MERRY CHRISTMAS... HO HO HO!

PLIGHT OF A SNOWMAN

TOO MUCH CHRISTMAS CHEER

Missy Giraffe

Missy Giraffe is a chocolate overload cake! Her body is 14 layers of Lindt and Koko Black chocolate mud cake and milk chocolate ganache. Her head and legs are cake pops - mud cake offcuts mixed with dark chocolate ganache and formed into shape. Her muzzle and arms are rice krispie treats. Everything else is edible except for the 4 alphabet blocks which are styro blocks.

I made Missy's necklace using isomalt and Marina Sousa's bead mould.

These made-for-kiddies silicone cups are perfect for melting small amounts of isomalt in the microwave. They're great coz just wait for the isomalt to cool and harden, then just pop them out.

Aren't they pretty? Marina's bead moulds are expensive ranging from $30 upwards but well worth it.

 I also made some isomalt butterflies, here's one of them.

I prepared the cake board weeks in advance. First, I covered the board in white fondant, and left it for a few days to dry out nicely. I then made a template for airbrushing.

Airbrush the pink gingham design.

In the meantime, off to see Mr Bunnings again. PVC pipe with connectors. Also got painter's masking tape. My fellow cakie Lisa Brown suggested using masking tape for delicate surface instead of template to avoid wonky lines like what I got above.

Got hubby to attach the PVC pipe to the cake board, then wrap it up with a layer of baking paper and 3 layers of cling wrap to protect it. Oh, don't forget to run the pipe in the dishwasher and wrap with foil before attaching to the board. This is when I got carried away again. Got preoccupied shaping and cutting the support boards, so no in-between pics again.

The pipe is cut to length, attach a small cake board cut from foam board and cover everything in foil.

This forms a platform and support for Missy's head.

Shape head with cake offcuts and ganache, slice and shape RKT (rice krispie treats) for the muzzle. I attached the underside of the muzzle using ganache and held in place with cling wrap while waiting for ganache to set. While waiting, it's time to ganache the body.

 Body and head all ganached, very rough looking, wait for ganache to set.

Once hardened, smooth out with gloved hands dipped in hot water.

Cover in segments. I cut out a template from baking paper for Missy's chest and belly which will be covered in pink fondant later.

Missy all covered.

Add ears and nose.

Eyes and lids.

Close-up.

Add giraffe spots.

Add arms, legs, tail and horns.

This is the fun bit - Accessories!

Ran out of time to done all sides of the alphabet blocks so letters only on one side. Here's the isomalt butterfly and glossy lipstick.

Batty eyelashes are a must to add to the adorable factor. LOL.

Missy Giraffe all ready for a baby shower party. Message to the expectant mother? It's only a matter of time your baby girl will grow up to play with your makeup and jewellery! Hahaha.

"What's wrong mummy? Can't I play with these?"

Itsa Luigio!

This cake was both fun and frustrating. Fun coz it's a 3D video game character, frustrating coz some bits didn't fit and when they did, they wouldn't stay where they were supposed to. 

I drew out a footprint template for Luigi's kart. To make sure it's symmetrical, I folded a piece of A4-size paper in half and drew out one side of the footprint and cut out the shape.

I then used the template to trace the shape on foam core board. I like foam boards because they're easy to cut, they're lightweight yet strong. Finally, I can push the central dowel all the way into the board.

 Covered the board with foil and here's my cakeboard.

Using Debbie Brown's madeira sponge recipe, I made a 12" square sheet cake, and cut it into rough rectangular shapes.

I cut off some sharp corners...

Using the cakeboard as a template, I rounded the corners.

Stuck layers together with dark chocolate ganache and shaped some more, also added a small rectangle piece at the back of the kart.

After a bit more shaping and also added the front piece. I didn't take pics, but there's another triangular piece I added to the front just to help the nose taper down nicely.

Applied first coat of ganache. Ganache looked really sloppy coz I forgot to make it the day before and I couldn't wait for it to set so I applied it runny and left it in the fridge for a few hours.

This is after second coat of ganache, much less sloppier than the first.

But still looking rough. Again, forgot to take pics after 3rd ganache coat and smoothing out.

Forward fast 2 days later, just to show how I held Luigi's cap rim in place - by tying some cling wrap around his head.....

Luigi in his kart with bits held up using pieces of sponge.

Luigi all glossy after steaming with my trusty Philips steam station. The steaming is a great way to clean up remnants of corn flour on fondant, especially with such bright and vibrant colours.

Luigi the next morning. The gloss disappeared when the steam dried.

Yes, I know... Luigi's kart has 4 exhausts, I have only 2 here. This is where it got terribly frustrating. I initially fitted 4 exhausts, then hubby pointed out there wasn't any space to fit the back tyres. So, I dismantled all the exhausts, fitted the back tyres, then found there were no more space to fit all four exhausts.

Close ups of the styro support at the bottom of the kart to make the kart tilt. Luigi is actually sitting on another styro support to make him tilt the other direction. These two tilts made it look like Luigi was taking a sharp corner.

The end-result is a cake that's suspended in motion... quite pleased with this one.