The colorful Robin Williams

Photo from Parade

It's not like we were friends, it's not like we met regularly for coffee. 

He didn't even know I existed. 

But I certainly knew Robin Williams; through his films. 

Death is never easy. 

And when it's a person who's familiar - even if it's remotely, through a movie screen - the sadness feels a little more personal.

Robin Williams struggled with many inner demons, but he single-handedly brought SO much joy and laughter to so many people who encountered him, on and off-screen.

I just caught Patch Adams again on the movie channel last night, and it definitely did justice bringing the real life Williams to reel life. 

In celebration of this wonderful man's colorful personality, today's post is about a rainbow balloon cake. 

Particularly since the tear-jerker Pixar animation UP, balloons have come to represent hope and positivity.

The skyful of balloons air-lifting Carl's house in search of Paradise Falls... forever etched in our minds as we futilely fought back tears for his missing Ellie...

There's a certain freedom in balloons as they flit and float over everyone and everything, going where no one else goes. 

Their haphazard abandonment carries such carefreeness, just what we're wishing for the iconic comedienne especially now. 

These little fondant figures with their gold shimmer, hold the key to a blue open sky filled with innumerate round bubbles of dreams, as colorful as Williams himself.

Surrounded with fluffy white clouds of royal icing and white fondant cut-outs, the future is always open - for you, for me, for cakes and desserts, for dear Mr Robin Williams. 

More summer colors:

> A summer carousel

> Color me happy!

> A very hungry caterpillar

> A purple green birthday

> Poppin' dots cake pops

> World Cup colors

A summer carousel

The thing about being so near the equator is that we're perpetually in the sun's path, getting the full-scale blazing love. 

Which is why we don't fully appreciate, or even comprehend summer.

We're too busy trying to stay cool and not inflict tropical humidity wetness to the next person to even think about the summer concept.
> How do you stay cool?
> Best uses of beer

Summer fun? 

More like eternal furnace.

But with all the crazy extreme weather happening around the world, I am very grateful for this somewhat normal summer here in Singapore/Hong Kong. 

So dressed in my best summer singlet and breeziest summer shorts, I'd like to invite you to celebrate the summer sun with a dappy day out to the summer fair carousel, with the happiest little birthday girl!

More summer colors:
> Color me happy!
> A very hungry caterpillar
> A purple green birthday
> Poppin' dots cake pops
> Yellow and green, colors of world cup

Don't believe Wilton products that say 'easy to use' in the instruction manual. You usually need an engineer's degree to assemble their showpieces, after which you'll need to spend considerable time decorating them.

This carousel top took several hours to put together, starting with orange and purple fondant panels.

Red, green, blue, pink and yellow accents are hand-piped with stiff royal icing, make sure you have enough time for everything to dry so that it's all nice and sturdy when you put it on the cake. 

A cheery pop of yellow crowning the cake's top tier, 

as the ponies get a-galloping after their royal icing dries off.

20 little fingers eagerly inching closer to the cake, as the finishing touches go up.

Rainbow cake (recipe here): A perennial favorite with kids, and perfect for the summer carousel party!

I love theme parties, the crazy OCD in me just gets such a kick out of 

matching colors and patterns. The birthday girl's mom did a fantastic 

job getting these cute little buckets for giveaways, every 

child was a SUPER happy child by the end of the party.

> Eat kind for kids

Happy birthday, beautiful Ellie!

More happy birthdays:
> A busy day at the construction site
> Dinosaur roarrrr
> Rabbity cake pops

> 10 years young

> A Rilakkuma birthday

> Elmo cake pops

> Curious George, is that you?

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!