Mini Christmas cookies

Mini Christmas cookies in a lovely apothecary jar.  I tied a length of kitchen twine around the jar and added  a peg from Papaya Homewares.  The decorative patterns and icing colours on the cookies can be easily changed to something more contemporary for a wedding, birthday or christening. 

These little morsels of vanilla bean sugar cookies would make a beautiful bombonniere, party favour or simply to say 'thank you'.

Birthday cupcakes: Skis and golf balls

Cupcakes are everywhere these days.  But when they are taken a step up, and designed specially for someone, they become unique presents that tell a story.  These cupcakes came from a lady in London who had them sent to her brother in Brisbane for his 40th.

Enough said. 

Emily's 21st birthday cake

I made this 9" chocolate mudcake for Emily's 21st birthday last weekend.  I have a thing for harmony, and so designed this cake to fit in with Emily's pale pink and gold dress, and her pink, gold and white balloons.  All the gold bits were handpainted with edible gold - an exercise that I find calming, specially when I am alone in the room with my aromatherapy candle burning, guitar music in the background, and my cake paraphernalia left, right and center.

"Thank you so much for the beautiful cake.  It looked gorgeous and tasted delicious!!!"
-  Dani O, Brisbane   

New logo

Yummy cake on a stand, with a cherry on top.

My new logo, designed by Sarah Thompson of Style Me Gorgeous.  Next up is the new website.

Jordan's wigg-e-ly worms

Ever since my son, Jordan, saw Debbie Brown's worm cake, he has obssessed about having it as his 6th birthday cake.  This is my version, on cupcakes (ran out of time to make him a bigger cake). 

He was really excited when he saw his worm cupcakes and kept running up to me to tell me how much he loved his 'wigg-e-ly worms'.  This is the part I find most satisfying with children's birthday cakes - they fall in love with their cakes and bubble over with excitement.  

The worms would look really cute too as caterpillars.  Perhaps for a 'very hungry caterpillar' party?

Dragonfly Dreams

Custom birthday cake, cupcakes and cookie party favours for a 60th birthday party held at Sirromet Winery.  The designs were based on the party invitation from zazzle.com.au.  



Allegra's christening cake and cupcakes

I love it when a client comes to me and presents me with an invitation design that I can recreate on cakes; more so when I can see in my head exactly how it will all look. 

Allegra's christening cake is a replica of the birds, flowers and clouds on her invitation.  We kept the cupcakes simple, and merely carried over the colour scheme on the cupcake cases and sprinkles. 

"The cake and cupcakes were just delicious - thank you!  I have to make a special mention about that chocolate cake though; that was really outstanding and everyone enjoyed all of it.  The figurines were crafted in such likeness to the invitation - it was great."
-  Susan, NSW

Daniela's Kite Party

A kite birthday cake with matching cupcakes for a 4th birthday.  The kite party was held at a park a couple of weekends ago, on a beautifully sunny day.  I also made kite-shaped vanilla bean sugar cookies, and provided tubs and rolls of icing and sugarpaste for the kids to decorate their own cookie.

Susan & Peter's Wedding Cupcakes

Simple and elegant ivory, pink and black cupcakes for a wedding.

Pink roses and pearls are vanilla bean cupcakes;

lace and pearls are orange almond.

Vanilla cupcakes specially for the kids,

in black and white cups,

with spinning pinwheels I had custom-made by Siobhan and Vanessa,

the creative souls behind Details, Details.

  

Photos by Waikay Lau Photography 

Lauri's Wedding Cake

A 3-tier wedding cake that we delivered to Drift Cafe in Milton (that view of the river forms the whole back wall of the room) last weekend. 

This cake was based on an AbFab Cake design.  The original cake had a lot more roses on the top and cascading down the right side of the cake but I was asked to make it a bit simpler and to add lilies. 

The bottom tier was a wonderfully fragrant fruit cake made by Julie, a good friend of the bride's mum and one of the nicest people I know.  This is the third time I have collaborated with Julie and every time I removed the baking paper wrapped around one of Julie's fruit cakes, I would hope that there will be some crumbs stuck to the paper.  So far, no such luck.  Maybe next time...

Kite Cake

A simple christening cake with a kite flying above sugarpaste clouds.  

"The christening was wonderful, exhausting but wonderful.  Everyone commented on how beautiful the cake looked and tasted.  I think people are used to beautiful cakes not always tasting that great and so I got lots of compliments about how yummy the cake was.  Thanks very much for producing something so lovely (and sending me a photo of it)."

-   C Drake, Brisbane       

Simple wedding cake

This wedding cake was based on a photo of a Ron Ben-Israel cake that the bride gave me.  I made the flower spray a bit differently, and spaced out the tiny dots to give the cake a clean look. 

Peonies and Lace

I made this double tier cake at a Jackie Thompson class.  I cannot think of a better person or set-up to learn how to cover a cake this high.  There were only two of us in the class so (at the risk of sounding really cheeky) we had Jackie at our beck and call particularly during the trickiest bit: unrolling an enormous piece of sugarpaste around and over the cake.  

This would be the cake I'd love to have if my husband and I were to get married all over again.  It is simple but the lace panels add a hint of elegance, and the peonies, a promise of romance. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Cupcakes

Laptops, mouse, camo stripes and Call of Duty paraphernalia to celebrate the birthday of a budding video game designer.



Enchanted Woodland Birthday Cake

Remember Enid Blyton?  Remember all her delightful tales of enchanted trees and fairy-folk and lands that come and go?  Looking through photos of Olivia's enchanted woodland party brought all those stories back to me.  Olivia's mum, Sharnel, created a magical setting with fairy toadstools for the children to sit on, an owl sitting on a tree branch, dew drops and woodland berry punch, fairy dust, and live deer wandering around! 

I used Olivia's birthday invitation as reference for her birthday cake, and making it was a truly magical experience.    

To explore more images from the party, see Sharnel Dollar's blog, My Life - My Loves.

Birthday cupcakes for a car lover

Simple cupcakes with customized rego plates to celebrate the 40th birthday of a man who loves his cars.

"The cakes were a complete hit at the party.  Everyone loved them-and they tasted great, too!"
-  D, Mt Tambourine

21st Birthday Mermaid Cake

This cake was specially designed for a girl with a mermaid and roses tattoed on her leg.  Pink, black and red makes an edgy but beautiful and sophisticated comibination.  

"The cake and cupcakes were SIMPLY AWESOME!  They made the day... thank you.  They tasted so good as well.  SENSATIONAL service!  Will definitely be using your services again... and again..."

-  S Barabas, Brisbane 

Jon's 50th birthday cake

This yellow Austin is Noddy.

These mark Noddy's place in Jon's heart.

And this marks Jon's 50th birthday.

 

Photos courtesy of Waikay Lau Photography

"Cake was amazing!  Will have to send you photos.  Dad loved Noddy so much he took it off the top of the cake and says he's going to keep it (straight to the games room) - it is currently living in their dining room on top of a china cabinet - lol."

-  A Lowe, Brisbane   

Rainbow birthday cake

Simple first birthday cake with a rainbow and plaque.  Very pink, very girly.

Super Mario mushroom cupcakes

A last minute job - birthday cupcakes with Super Mario mushrooms.

Soccer birthday cake

A rich chocolate mudcake for my nephew, William's birthday at the Fun House. 

Alice in Wonderland birthday cupcakes

These Alice in Wonderland cupcakes were specially made for Olivia's madhatter birthday party.  The cupcake designs were based on Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland.  The gate I made was inspired by the gate (to wonderland) in the movie, lined by fantasy flowers.  Instead of scrolls and flounces on top of the gate, I piped 'Olivia'.  I love the way these turned out - colourful and vibrant - pure magic.

"Thank you so much for your efforts.  The cakes tasted as fabulous as they looked and Olivia was thrilled.  I have passed your details on to a number of the parents who were at the party.  Thank you for all your efforts."

-  K Hopgood, Brisbane 

A-hoy there, me matey! Pirate birthday cupcakes for Spencer

Cupcakes with pirate ships, canon balls, treasures and sharks for the pirate birthday party of a friend's little boy.  These cupcakes disappeared really quickly, decorations and all.

Harrison's teddy bear christening cupcakes

These teddy bear cupcakes are very popular for christenings, naming days, baby showers and first birthdays.  The blocks in front spell out 'HARRISON'.

Birthday cupcakes and cookies with airplanes, boats and cars

These cupcakes and cookies were made for a joint 1st and 3rd birthday party.  The cookies were wrapped as a set of three so each child received either a set of cookies with an airplane, car and boat, or a set piped with the requisite 'boy' sounds - 'vroom!', 'roarr!' and 'beep!'.

21st birthday cake and cupcakes

The theme was 1920s flapper.   The colour combination is striking on its own merits.  The cutting cake has a bit of boldness with the red bow and the black dots, but delicate too with the small pearls.  Some of the cupcakes had a flower embossed off the side; some had quilt patterns and black pearls; and some had black swirls.  I love how these cakes are elegant and sophisticated, yet has a certain edginess to them.  Perfect for a confident young woman.  

Under the Sea birthday cake

A last minute request from a friend of a friend.  This cake was made to celebrate the birthday of her father-in-law who was an avid fisherman.  Given more time, it would have been really neat to have a fisherman lying on top of the cake holding out a fishing rod!

Peekaboo Magazine shoot: A Circus Lion Cake

Sharnel Dollar, a brillian stylist, asked me to make a circus lion cake and matching cupcakes for the circus party spread she designed for Peekaboo Magazine.  I used the striped paper cups as a reference for the shades of blue on the lion cake.   

 

I *heart* this chocolate birthday cake

The story goes like this.  A little girl fell in love with a picture on one of her books.  The picture was of a heart-shaped cake with ruffly icing and upside-down hearts and lots of tiny coloured dots.  So when her birthday came around, her mum sent me a photocopy of the picture and I made this for specially for her!