2013 Recap

2013 has been a busy year. My caking activities took a new turn this year and I discovered my love for bobblehead cake toppers. To my utter delight and amazement, it turns out I'm not the only one loving those bobbleheads. As a result, it's been a steady stream of orders through the year and almost every weekend has been a bobblehead weekend, hence why I've neglected my blog. 

In addition to bobbleheads, I also discovered a fitting name for my little hobby-turned-small-business, Cakicature, which is a play of words combining "cake" and "caricature." I set up a Cakicature Facebook page and a website as well. Do click on the links and check them out. 

To all those people who have been a great source of support to me this year, I'd like to say a big Thank You. My hubby Greg for being so patient, my fellow cake decorating friends on Facebook, whom I fondly refer to as "my cakey friends" - an uber thank you.... yes, you know who you are! Thanks for all the invaluable support, advice and awesome tips. And of course, to all my customers, thank you muchly for giving me the opportunities to make such a variety of bobbleheads and cake toppers. They each have their own unique challenges and I've learned so much more from them. 

Finally, I'd like to thank the master cake artists whom I've been fortunate enough to meet and learn from by attending their workshops - Peggy Tucker and Dawn from Dinkydoodle. The skills I learned from you have greatly expanded my capabilities. Oh, and all those Craftsy video lessons have been truly priceless as well. 

I still have one more person to thank, and that's Gary from Oldvision for his "how to pack fragile items" youtube. If not for this youtube video, I wouldn't have a clue how to pack and ship my bobbleheads safely. Check out his video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4X-8a2YVtw

That's my oscar-wannabe-speech done. Hahaha! Here're a few pickies from 2013. First, the bobbleheads....

And I made some cakes too...

Catching up!

I haven't posted in a while. Been a busy year. Don't know where to begin so I'll start with my latest bobblehead - here's Slash made for Noah's personal groomer's birthday.

Skateboarder

This is how I made a skateboarder from modelling chocolate and fondant.

Start bottom up. Make shoes and socks. Skewer through one shoe and build up the legs. I inserted a toothpick in the other leg just to keep it straight. I used a mix of 50-50 modelling chocolate and fondant. This takes advantage of both worlds - the workability and springiness of fondant and the strength of modelling chocolate. Usually with just fondant, I'll have to leave this to dry at least overnight if not a few days. 

But with modelling chocolate in the mix, I can keep working and build up the pants as well. Would you believe it, this is standing on its own, no propping up. Can't do that with pure fondant. And... no cracking, no elephant skin wrinkling. Gotta be happy with that!

Oh, this is how I made the pants... one leg at a time. Shape a sausage, insert a skewer and roll the skewer around to hollow out the sausage and make a pant leg. Make 2 of these and stick them together to form a pair.

I kept going, no need for drying time, added the t-shirt and neck. Just about complete at this stage. The Mambo name and logo are hand-drawn on white fondant and stuck on the t-shirt.

Next, sleeves were attached. I then made the arms and hands, left l for about 1 minute and attached to the sleeves, again no need to prop up. They basically stayed where I intended them to. Attach head and he's ready to partay!

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?"