The best cure for Monday blues? Hilarious Pinterest laughs! (ok, this post IS about a rock-climbing cake too)

Unless you've been living under a rock (yes yes, a pun! ;), there's no escaping the magnetic draw of Pinterest.

We've all been inspired by the amazeballs cake pops, jaw-dropping cakes, must-have-'em cupcakes.

We've all looked to the Pinterest Oracle for ideas when we get stumped.

We've all been convinced at some point - we can recreate what we see, just as well!

I love a sense of humor, and a good laugh at yourself is essential - especially when you've "nailed it", somewhat like this:

Photo from Sunnyskyz.com

Check this hilarious post out and you'll see what I mean.
(sagging Cookie Monster has to be my favourite lol!)

I've had countless Pinterest Fails of my own, but since it's a Monday, we could all use a little positive reinforcement.

So here's one of my Pinterest projects for an aspiring sports star, who had an awesome rock-climbing birthday party.

More birthday parties:
> Color me happy, it's 2014
> A very lovely elephant day
> A busy day at the construction site

Left: Pinterest cake (and photo) by SimplyCakesMelbourne
Right: My spin on the rock-climbing cake,
with my little Asian climber to match the birthday girl

Start off with the rock wall base, a 2-layered
chocolate cake covered with white fondant,
embedded with edible candy 'rocks'.

Mold and pinch parts of the cake wall to
create little nooks, mimicking a real wall.

I find it best to push the candy rocks in
right after covering the cake, so the fondant is
still pliable and will dry around the rocks.  

Sculpting humans are kinda challenging -
proportions, color, posture - you don't want to end
up with a Hobbit or an awkward dangling giant.

Reinforce figurines with toothpicks or skewers
for support, especially the limbs and head.
Just remember to remind eager guests
to be careful when they chomp on her!

Black hair made out of royal icing goes on, and
viola - the little girl doesn't look like a psychotic
jawbreaker-on-legs anymore.

Attach birthday girl with royal for extra security,
and pipe on climbing rope with black food gel.

Rock-themed chocolate cupcakes to
match the cake, everyone goes home happy!

Color me happy, it's 2014!

I always think it's nice to start something with colors.

Bright, bold, zany.

Pastel, shades, hues.

Greys and darks, too.

Just a really awesome welcome, a nifty way to start and say 'we can rock this'.

So in honor of a big bright 2014, I'd like to share a couple of color-popping desserts we'd whipped up:

1) My Little Pony Party
Since we're nearly into the Lunar New Year ushering the year of the Horse, I thought we'd start with a galloping party of My Little Ponies for a food-adoring little girl (yes, her biggest wish for birthday pressie was... wait for it... a mountain of Kinder Bueno ;).

     Other cartoon characters: 
     > Hello there, kitty
     > Bee-do bee-do, Minion-alert!
     > The very hungry caterpillar
     > Never too much red with Elmo
     > A Rilakkuma birthday
     > Curious George... or is he?

    Love dessert tables?
    > A very lovely elephant party
    > Weddings... such fairy tales!

Gorgeous manes, luscious tails, plumes in all sorts of cheery.  
These ponies have updated (since my time at least!), and gone all fashionable.

Top: Chocolate-dipped marshmallow pops dressed in festive colors,
They keep well - perfect for kids' parties.
Bottom: Pink popcorn, ready to head home with the little guests.

It's a good idea to make desserts at a kid's party
bite-sized. Individual portions keep the mess
down, and it's so much easier to serve.

From top left clockwise: Mini Chocolate Chip Shortbread,
Baby Chocolate Tarts, Pink Popcorn bags, Rainbow Marshmallow Pops.

No birthday party is complete till the cake comes out,
'pony-fied' and rainbow-strewn (inside and out)! 

2) Ever heard of a Marble Race Track?
So we had a birthday boy's daddy, a friend of mine, who went 'let's do a marble racing track cake for Elliot's party'.

I said," Sure, sounds like fun!"

Of course at that point, I had absolutely no idea what marble racing was.
Not a clue.

I ran to my Mac and checked with The All-Knowing Oracle (some call it 'Google').

Ohhhh... there was a whole universe out there with tracks made just for racing marbles, kids had been playing with these for ages.

Learnt something new.
And like I always say, baking makes me smarter. Lol.

    Read more on little boys' birthdays:
    > Busy day at the construction site
    > Dinosaur roarrrr!

Always a good idea to start with the easier elements
like molding names, we all need a confidence-booster.

So that you're still somewhat sane by the time you move onto the
killer parts - in this case, the rainbow that had to stand on the cake.

Top left: I tried piping royal icing, it was a terrible idea. It stuck
to the baking paper and broke into a million pieces when I peeled it off.

So I experimented with fondant on a cardboard base arch, and it worked
beautifully (top right). Attach the arch (with base support) to cake board
with royal icing, and pipe over top to conceal arch with clouds.

Tada - another rainbow cake full color and cheer, inside and out
(yep, underneath all that white is a happy rainbow cake!)

3) Time to... Say Goodbye

This little project took quite a bit of time, and by the end my fingers had curved into a witch-like grip from piping countless names and little messages onto the personalized sugar cookies (recipe for cookies here too).

Not my most bewitching look.

But the zing-zang cheeriness of the cookies went great with the happy-colored cake pops, and was just what Iris wanted to say goodbye to her colleagues with as she left our sunny island for Hong Kong.

It was worth all the unglamorous hand-cramping. 

Customised cookies: trickiest part was getting the royal icing
consistency just right, so it pipes nicely and the words stay in place.

Cake Pops doing what they were meant to do - putting a smile on.

    Check out more cake pops:
    > Bicycle pops
    > Hole-in-one

Have a glorious 2014 everyone, fill the year with color and life!