Mommy Makes My Birthday Cake

It's holiday season. After making so many cakes in 2012, we at Mom & Daughter Cakes would like to slow down our pace and plan for 2013. We would like thank the support of all our clients, fans and friends for the past 3 years.

From baking cupcakes to birthday cakes and then wedding cakes, it's a journey of learning which is full of 

trials and errors. We appreciate the comments, compliments and even critics from our clients, you guys have brought us to where we ar today, thank you.

In 2013, we would like to start sharing some techniques of baking and cake decorating with you. We hope that more moms, mm..not necessary moms, it could be daughters or anyone with a loving heart to pick up basic skills of cake decorating such that they can make unique and personalized cakes with their own hands for their loved ones.



Look at these three cakes for little ones, if you could make them yourself for your kid, how nice, isn't it? "Mommy makes my birthday cake!" Your kid would be so proud of you.

So, stay tuned for our plan to come true in 2013. *smile*

Owl Cake For 1st Birthday

I nearly miss out this owl cake. Not ordinary for a 1st birthday, Aurelia's mom asked for 'something different' for her daughter's 1st birthday cake. She thought of an owl at last after considering various whimsical choices.

Well, I was so excited to read that in her email. The owl must look beautiful, girlish and pinkish. The mom put so much hope on my creation. I told myself I wouldn't disappoint her. From the reference given, I tried to tweak and include other elements in the design. Colours play an important role in bringing out the design. I was cautious on that and hoped that the colours chosen not only matching with the theme but playing the magic.

The end result was pleasing and undoubtedly it is one of my favourite cakes thus far.

Lovely Bears Birthday Cakes For Children

Do you love Forever Friends Bears? I guess the answer is yes for most of the girls and some boys too, hee..

They are not only our forever friends but they are forever young. Recently I've made a few cakes with the  Forever Friends Bears theme, they were mostly commissioned  for the 1st birthdays. 

Besides the main bear, some would like to have extra bears to put around their cakes or sitting on top of cupcakes, I think they are equally cute :) What do you think?

More Indian Wedding Cakes And Our Appreciation

I really like to do Indian themed wedding cakes. They are usually bold, vibrant and colourful. I like their concept of feeding each other, parents and relatives cake as part of the wedding reception, it's a symbol of love and sharing of the sweetest moment in life with their loved ones.

Many have enquired about the peacock themed wedding cakes since I blogged about it. I found the video of the wedding reception taken by Digimax Video Productions, the cake was featured in the video, so as the cake designer, that's me, hahah! Wanna have a look?

Yay! Let's check it out.

I'd like to share 2 beautiful wedding cakes with you that I did back in July. They are challenging, I have to make 50 pcs of roses, arranged in cascading form from top to the bottom of cake besides the lovely couples standing on top.

Another cake is a saree themed cake. It was my first trial doing a fabric effect fondant deco, thankfully everything run smooth. I dusted the roses with gold dust and made a pair of bride and groom in their traditional wedding suits too.

Have a closer look at the adorable figurines.

The bride texted me right after the wedding reception:

"Thanks 4 the cake. It tastes good n the design was superb."

It really made my day and I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity given by Indian friends and clients to be part of their big days. It was really special to me!

Fun Photo Session

Hi, long time no see. Sorry for the long absence. Not that I was lazy but was thinking of presenting something special for our blog or site. Besides showcasing our cakes and cupcakes, I wish I could share some beautiful outdoor pictures with you, just like what you see now, not only cakes but people in the pictures.

Do you play Tap The Frog game? If you do, you would recognize who they are, :)

Who doesn't know them? I made 2D version of Mickey and Minnie for my cupcakes, both were given to the kid models, a 3 years old boy, Pherng  and a 7 years old girl, Lina. They loved them, hehe......

They are laughing, so cute, just like.......

......the kids, thumbs up for the cupcakes, haha, thanks dearies......

Can't help to put up another picture of Mickey and Minnie, :)

After a session of 'hard work' in the morning,

Pherng: Let's eat!

Lina: Okay, hehe......

Special thank to Egg Photography for the brilliant shots.



Cupcakes: Mom And Daughter Cakes

Photography: Egg Photography

Model: Pherng & Lina

Venue: Taman Gemilang Playground, BM. 



Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore And Piglet 1st Birthday Cake - Fully Cropped

Cake photography is as important as cake designing. Good picture enhances the beauty of a cake and vice versa. A gorgeous cake may appear to be less sensational if the picture quality is poor. Average cake would look below average if it is not captured under proper lighting and set up.

Again, I don't have a good camera to take good picture. Hence, I always need to adjust the brightness and contrast of the picture. This is called basic editting I suppose. My photo editting skill is so limited that I didn't even know how to crop a picture.

I told myself I gotta learn it as I don't always have time to set up a proper background for the cake. Yes, I'm  always in a rush!

After nearly 3 years into baking and decorating cakes and cupcakes, finally, I learned it! Hahah......how slow am I. I used a software downloaded from the internet to crop this picture, ya, it's not photoshop, I'm yet to touch photoshop, it looks too sophisticated to me, :p

So, presenting to you my very first fully cropped cake photo, hope you like it, :).

Love,

Amy Teoh

Minnie And Friends 1st Birthday Cake For Hayley

Hayley is 1! We did her full moon cupcakes when she was 1 month last year. How time flies! Justina is the proud mom of Hayley and a very friendly client of MND Cakes. She told me that Hayley had become a small fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoons, especially Mickey and Minnie.

We decided to make Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy for her 1st birthday cake. I made the baby version of them as Hayley is still small.  They would appear like her peers.

I can't  stop staring at them after assembling them on the cake. I wish I could keep them for myself, hehe!

Hayley and mom were having a good time with friends and family. Look at Hayley, how happy she was!Thank Justina for sharing the picture.

Minnie and Mickey, they are forever young in every kid's heart.

Cheers!

Amy

Pastel Colours On Children Birthday Cakes

Recently I start to fall in love with the ussage of pastel colours in children birthday cakes. They tend to leave an ever lasting impact on the cake design. You simply can't get bored of it by looking your cake pictures over and over again.

On health basis, pastel colours leave lesser colour pigments in icing too, though edible and FDA approved, these pigments are still considered chemicals, lesser is better, especially to the kids.

Hence, you may see a series of children cakes from us in pastel colours from now onwards.

Trying to do little flowers painting on the sugar fonts too. It adds girliness to the cake for Klaire, a 1 year old girl. Here's the whole cake, the toppers mimics Klaire's favourite soft toys, adding personality to the cake.

If you agree with the use of pastel colours on cakes for small kids, let me know by leaving a comment., ok?

Malay Wedding - Kek Kahwin Dan Kek Hantaran

As Malaysians, we appreciate the cultural rich society where our traditional costumes, food and festivals are distinctly different and unique among each others. Yet, we are able to live harmoniously as we respect each other.

Last 2 weeks, I was blessed to be given the opportunity to make Malay themed wedding cakes after doing quite a number of Chinese and Indian themed wedding cakes.

For Malays, the bride and groom need to prepare hantaran or gifts for each other during akad nikah ceremony (when marriage contract is done legally and religiously) which is held a few days or weeks before the elaborated celebration of bersanding ( similar to Western wedding day) when friends and family are treated.

I did 3 cakes with different theme colours each for the wedding ceremony (2-tiered turquoise wedding cake with a pair of bride and groom in Malay traditional costumes) and hantaran gifts (purple hydrangea cake for the groom and pink roses cake for the bride).

I tried to incorporate new elements in the cakes such as the Malay couple and the stripey side design on both the hantaran cakes. Purple hydrangea are also my first trial :)

My special thank to Zainab.for giving us the opportunity to make these lovely cakes for her cousin's wedding. Thanks!

Love,

Amy



Umbrella Cake - Hope It Rains Tonight!

Hi reader, long time no see, hope to catch up with you more this week.

Will it rain tonight? Emm..I don't think so. But, I truly like the idea of my client who had given me the idea of making an umbrella cake. It's for her best friend's birthday.

The umbrella was crafted using styrofoam, the rest was cake and sugarcraft.

This cake is so personal and full of character, her friend likes it very much, so do I, hehe......

Winnie The Pooh And Friends Cake For 2 Years Old

Never get tired of making Winnie and friends, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore, I like them all to present together on my cake.

Usually handmolded 3D figurines take time to produce. Each part of the figurine, including the black little dark eyeballs need to a pair of hands to work out. Sugar arts, people call it, talent, skill, subtle heart and patience are needed to produce life-like creatures in sugar form.

This is the reason we are unable to take mass order for fondant cake and cupcakes, so as 3D cake toppers. Usually I need 1 day to make a round cake with  one or two pieces of 3D cake toppers. Slow ya? Indeed.

So please place your order as early as possible, 1 month or 2 months earlier would be good, especially if your celebration falls on a weekend though our lead time is only 1 week. Please bear with us and we apologize on any disappointment caused thus far.

Vibrant And Fun-Filled Indian Weddings And The Cakes

We happened to cater 3 sets of Indian wedding cakes in a row from March to early April. These cakes include a peacock themed wedding cake, calla lily wedding cake and cream and gold blossoms wedding cake with a pair of bride and groom cake topper.

From the delivery of cakes to the venues and attending of Indian weddings, we got to know how important the wedding cakes meant to their weddings.

Different from Chinese wedding, the cake cutting session of Indian wedding started right after the wedding couple walked into the hall. The groom cuts the cake and feeds the bride and both of them would feed their parents respectively. It was a very warm session.

Chinese wedding pays less attention to cake cutting session, just cut and take picture, no feeding, so there're room for the usage of dummy cake which is a common practice within local Chinese community.


Anyway, at metropolitans like KL and Penang, more Chinese are influenced by the Western culture and start to use 'genuine' wedding cake or at least cupcakes tower for their cake cutting session.


This is a good sign for us as we got to make more wedding cakes which are so challenging yet interesting!



 

Back to Indian wedding, the whole event which is packed with cake cutting, buffet dinner, dvd show, champagne toasting, singing, stage dancing etc.is just like a vibrant and  fun-fillied carnival.

 

Hopefully I got the opportunity to make more Indian wedding cakes and time to attend more Indian weddings in future.

Little Miss Sunshine No.1 Birthday Cake

Hi, I'd like to introduce you to Miss Sunshine. She is adorable, round like a sun, with freckles and smile always, just like Abigail, our client's daughter who turned one not long ago.

I smiled all the way while making Miss Sunshine as it was fun to create this roudish and cheerful figurine. Perhaps I would share with you how I 'gave birth' to her one day, hehe......

This is the invitation card of Abigail's birthday party, cute ya?



3D Longevity Peach Cakes - For Your Beloved Parents

Since we made the first 3D Chinese longevity peach cake or Chinese bun cake, this cake design has become so popular. I would say it's our best seller so far.

I made one recently for a dad's 6oth birthday. His daughter, Cheryl ordered the cake from United States for his dad living in Bukit Tambun, Penang......that's the beauty of internet, it bonds family members around the world.

The dad loves calligraphy and having tea at his vegetable farm. I thought I could incorporate these elements into the main cake design of a 3D longevity peach.

The dad was so delighted receiving such a precious gift from his heartful children and Cheryl's kind words  (email) had made my day:

I really want to thank you for makign such a beautiful cake, especially in such short notice. I know my dad loves it because he announced it on his own facebook page to share with his friends (something he rarely did in the past & he's not a person who celebrates birthday a lot). He's keeping the ink stone & tea set as long as they can last. Thank you again for such lovely cake. When my mum reaches 60 years old (still a few years lahhh), I'll definitely look for you again. :)

Another longevity peach cake for a dad too. Figurine of an old man was handsculpted to represent the dad and 8 pieces of mini peach written with longevity wishes were enclosed.

This longevity peach cake was made for a mom in Penang, her daughter commissioned us the cake all the way from Australia. Instead of human, I made 2 bears to represent the mom and the daughter. A spoonful of love was fed by the daughter, :)

Our most popular design would be the portray of family members besides the birthday dad or mom as above. Each time I make these family themed peach cakes, I feel so touched to see how an old aged parent is treasured and remembered. It reminds me to love my mom and other family members too.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

Dora And Boots Birthday Cake

It's my first time making Dora The Explorer and Boots cake. I didn't really watch the show before though my niece is a big fan of Dora. Dora is different from all those princess cartoons, she is adventurous and outgoing. I like her character and the scene in the show is very much like our country, Malaysia outskirt area. Dora looks very Malaysian too, don't you think?

The cake is 6", Dora and Boots are handsculpted with fondant and gumpaste. It was really fun making Boots!

Little Jayden's 1st Birthday Cake

Jayden's mom commissioned us a cake for his son's first birthday. She was so sure that she wanted her baby's figurine to be the cake topper. I told her that I could only try my best to mimic the topper with Jayden's actual look. She agreed and mms his picture to me.

What a cute and healthy baby his son looked in the picture! He looked like a grown up kid in fact. I like his red socks and dress too.

Since Jayden's Chinese horoscope is a rabbit, the mom liked us to do some rabbits to accompany him, so here's the picture of the cake. We were so happy with the result, I'd say Jayden looked 80% alike with the sugar figurine made.

Ok, I have been off to blogging for quite a while. I know I should blog more often. Will try to put up more pictures this week before I engage with more cakes next week. Stay tuned......

Cupcakes Baking And Decorating Workshop - Mom In Action

Upon request, we include baking in our latest workshop at our studio. I drag mom to be my co-tutor as she bakes better than me, :)

Since we were very small, mom started to bake butter, sponge and chiffon cakes to feed her little ducklings - me and two younger brothers. Cupcakes had yet to be 'invented' at that time. To entice us, mom would slice the cake into small pieces and sprinkled with choc chips, raisins or smarties.

Today, kids are luckier to have these little cakes baked in small cups. Mom has since turned into baking cupcakes for her grandchildren. See, she can really bake beautifully!

I started to decorate cupcakes in 2008.



I sold out my very first set of cupcakes in April 2009. I had a sort of strange feeling -- a mixture of joy and contentment I guessed when I collected the payment from my client and looked at her smile.





I knew I should continue to bake, decorate and bring joy to the neighbourhood then.

                                                   

These are parts of our students' work. I always believe everyone can bake and decorate. I tell my students so. Their work don't have to be perfect to touch the heart of whoever receives their handmade cupcakes.

It's the love channelled into the making of each cupcake that matters.

There is always joy to see the fruit of your own hard work.

 Cheers~~~



When the cupcakes are presented to your loved ones.......tee hee.....

If you're interested to join the fun too, please check out our  Workshop  section for latest schedule. Thanks.

*Picture courtesy of Egg Photography.