Bicycle pops: challenge... accepted!

I've neglected writing about my pops for a bit.

Time to make amends.
The cycling type.

The type that involves supreme hard work, extreme endurance, will of steel.

Presenting... the bicycle pops!

I did these a while back - a request to commemorate a very special book launch.

The author is a brilliant mind with strong insights, and has just completed his book tour, bringing Floating on a Malayan Breeze to the US.

> For more on author Sudhir Vadaketh: sudhirtv.com

If you do a quick search for bicycle cake pops, you'd find there aren't too many options that come up.
> Another sportsy cake pop outing: Hole in One

To the obvious 'why' question: Bicycles aren't meant to balance on a stick.

Humans riding and staying atop bikes - that in itself is a skill.
Balancing 2 wheels and a frame on a lolly stick - near madness.

Highly risky business.

Simple physics.

Still, I enjoy a challenge every now and then.

If Sudhir could cycle round every state in Peninsular Malaysia with nothing more than a bike, daily allowance of US$3 and two changes of clothes, I could darn well create these bicycle pops and make them stay up on sticks.

Yes, I do know these are 2 vastly different challenges.
But hey, whatever does the job of motivating, right?

Wheels made of cake pops, bike frame
painstakingly fashioned by hand. Nearly went
blind assembling the tiny parts. Many were broken
along the way, snapped in pieces - much patience
needed... just like writing the book.

Told you there were similarities ;)

Hand-painted flags (yes, edible too) of Singapore and
Malaysia, ethos behind  the book.

Making it personal: a personalized note
upon a trusty 2-wheeler

Sudhir is starting research on his next book, so catch up quick and get a copy of Floating on a Malayan Breeze on Amazon.

More cake pops you might like:
> A very lovely elephant day
> Hello, 2013!
> Rabbit pops
> Pony pops

Hole in one, anybody?

I'm not much of a golfer. I've been to the range, hit a few balls, but that's about it. The growing corns on my palms were a pain, I wasn't a fan of squinting after a speck into the far horizon. Handicaps still made me think of  hobbling on crutches, getting torched by the midday sun made me see double.

Don't think golf's my calling.

That didn't stop me from getting all excited about last week's golf-themed birthday though.

It was a trilogy April birthday celebration - 2 golfer boys + 1 non-golfer girl.

The order was for 50 cake pops, and I got ambitious as I planned and started drafting the designs.

The plain cake cardboard base morphed into an actual cake-layer golf course. Chocolate cake spiked with raisins, covered with pale green fondant. Mmmm...

Read more about Bakerella's fondant creations here.

Don't try tinting white fondant green from scratch,
the trouble's not worth it. Get Green colored fondant,
there's plenty else for you to do

A darker green path across the course to add definition, and a little 18th hole flag at the corner. Let's hope someone makes it to the flag.

Much as golf isn't the easiest game around, the golf-theme was great for cake pop creations.

In went some lemon-vanilla golf balls, indented with a dogbone tool.
Some green trees around for effect.

You need the bigger dogbone tool to
create the right-sized holes for the golf balls

 What else, hmmm...  Of course: golf bags.

These needed detailed fondant work. Cut white rectangular and rounded corner strips to form the bag trimmings, made some holes with a pointed cornice tool. Bag pockets for the front, and orange bag handles molded.

Then came the tricky part: the golf clubs to stick out of the bag. These were tiny and after I tinted the fondant gray - the first few I sculpted kept breaking off. It took a number of tries to get the club shapes and proportions workable but I finally got it.

Keep the fondant add-ons light
so they don't fall off or drag the pops down

I added the birthday names to tshirt-shaped pops scattered all across the green.

Almost there.

Except the birthday girl - who didn't golf!
So I added a 'refreshments' stand for her.

All things pretty and nice!

Decked it out with chocolate covered chocolate pops, each with something sweet that she likes.
Cupcakes, sweets, gifts, ice-cream cones, tiny cups of cuppucinos (her fave!).

All done. Phew.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

ps. If you're looking for sumthin' special for Mother's Day (May 13), come this way...