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?

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!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

One of the best thing about kids' characters and books are the eye-poppin' colors.

I love the splashes of fun and the cheery bright hues. 

No excuses, no space at all for the blues. (ooh, that rhymes!)

Check out more cheery day bakes:

> Busy day at the construction site

> A happy present cake

> A very lovely elephant day

> Can oranges grin?

> Stars on trees

Anyone who's spent half a day with a toddler would be well acquainted with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

He chews and chomps his way through an impressive 10 different foods, teaching kids about numbers and the days of the week. 

        More kids' fun:

       > Hello there, Kitty!

       > Tanjoubi Omedetou, a Rilakkuma birthday

       > Never too much red with Elmo

       > Curious George (his distant friend rather!) cake pops

So when the request came for a Hungry Caterpillar cake, I jumped at the chance. 

And the caterpillar's long segmented body was perfect for a wavy line of cake pops.

Double Fun!

I begin with the fun parts (always!): cheery slices of
chocolate cake, apple, watermelon, strawberry, muffin, pear,
ice-cream and of course - a lollipop.

All with their signature holes.

Phew, that Caterpillar can put it away!

While the fondant pieces set,
I get the red velvet cake started

After 45 min in the oven, the batter loses its
bright red for a coat of rusty chocolate -
red velvet's signature color

Caterpillar's food meets red velvet cake - happiness.

Guess what these are? 

Bingo - cupcake toppers! Can never get
enough ice-cream. especially ON a cupcake.Thrilled to
find matching cupcake liners with ice-cream prints all over.

Sitting pretty in summer Caterpillar colors

All ready to meet the birthday boy's friends

Can't wait for my 11 month-old nephew to be old enough to meet the Hungry Caterpillar. They're both tubby and cheery, I'm sure they'll hit it off.

Busy day at the construction site

This has got to be one of my favorite cakes by far. 

• Tell story with cake - check
• Freeform landscaping ie. any shapes and sizes I like - check
• It's messy, and it's alright - check
• Plenty of cute details - check

So. Much. Fun.

After playing architect/baker and planning and designing for a week or so, I started building my construction site birthday cake:

I like using toys on themed cakes, kids get to keep and play with them after. 

Laying foundations: chocolate cake with lemon filling, covered with a layer of crushed graham crackers for sand, and smashed oreos for road rubble.

It's messy and if you crush by hand like I do, your fingers will be seriously cramping up by the time you're halfway through construction destruction. At this point, you have some options:

1) Employ child labour and let the kids in the house do the smashing (my fave method!).

2) Do finger crunches to build up stamina - but I can tell you from first hand experience, that if you're doing the crunches at the time you're making the cake, it's too late. Give up already.

3) Seal the biscuits up in a ziplock bag, throw it repeatedly against the wall. You'll have to do another round of crumbling the pieces further by hand after, but the wall-smashing is superbly satisfying. Highly recommended.

Big pieces go in first - toys, big sign plates. They anchor the landscape, and we fill in the smaller bits after. Stones, pebbles, rocks, stop sign, u-turn signs, barriers, construction cones. Go wild.

There are a lot of details to this cake, but it's the details that make cakes come alive. The teeny tiny pieces take some time and planning, and it's all worth it when it comes together, and you see the birthday boy's giant grin. Time to dig in!

Petite Pops goes to the zoo... dinosaur ROARRR!

Happy Birthday OLPT!

ROARRR!!! Is that the sound dinos make?

I hope so.

Cuz that's going onto the cake I'm making.

More on Petite Pops' animal adventures:

> Hop right in!

> Curious George (... his distant relative!)

> Galloping ponies 

> Canines go upscale

Just back from Japan - rejuvenated, missing the crazy fubuki and superb food terribly, but all ready to work on my OLPT's birthday cake *rub hands in glee*.

> OLPT = Official Little Pops Tester (it's a good job ;)

His Mommy's throwing a dino party this year, and we thought it'd be fun to work in a couple of cake pops into the chocolate cake (seriously... what's a birthday without cake pops?!).

Trees - that's what I'll use the red velvet cake pops for.
Set up a nice jungle backdrop for the dino story.

> How to make basic cake pops

This is from my baking inspiration, Bakerella - she is THE cake pop goddess! The recipe uses boxed cake mix, I use cakes baked from scratch which work just as well. 

It also features canned frosting, which is a fantastic binder. I'm not such a fan so I use jams, buttercreams, ganache - anything that binds will work. Oh, but no chunks. Those get in the way when rolling into cake shapes.

Ok, back to the dino cake.

What's next?

I mulled over the design for a couple of days and started putting the pieces together:

It looks like a jumble now, but it'll all come together, you'll see!

The cake is taking shape... 

Thin crumb coat of banana buttercream before
the fondant goes on ... or as the Cake Boss would say, "durrrty-ice it!"

Keeping the colors fairly cheery, OLPT is after all only 6.
And my fave detail: the bones!

This little fella found his way into the dino scene. Couldn't help it,
got hold of the cutest little porcupine cutter in Japan and had to use it.

ROAR!!! Finishing touch of dino eggs,
cake pop trees and we're all set.

Happy Birthday Aaron, to many years of Official Pops Testing ahead!

Petite Pops goes to the zoo... Hop right in!

A brand new entry for our Zoo series, and today we're hoppin' right' in!

More Zoo stories:

> Ponies to the zoo

> Canines go upscale

> Curious George... or rather his friends!

Meet Tooth and Friends, bringing the power of pink and a grand grin to the birthday girl :)

Now this birthday girl is not your regular 'child' category, but that's the beauty of cake pops. Never too young or too old, always space in your heart for pops that make your day dance.

Taking inspiration from my baking idol Bakerella's bunnies, I set about creating my own little bunny colony.

Start by shaping the bunny heads into giant tear drop shapes. You won't get these perfectly symmetrical to the next, but just like real live pets - that's why each is distinct and special, so embrace them.

Getting your shapes right - part of the battle won.
Getting your colors right - you can almost start celebrating.

Use light/similar colored cake bases for pale colors
like pink so they don't show up underneath

Don't be scared off by the strong colors candy melts come in.
I kinda like this hot fuschia actually, it's just not very rabbit-y...

Mix and color up or down till you get the right shade
- takes patience, a good eye and lotsa luv

Ta-da just right!

I had these pretty flower marshmallows tinged in yellow, pink and blue - perfect for ears. Cut them up and each petal became a perky bunny ear.

You gotta have imagination when making cake pops. Visualise pieces and parts in unusual ways. 

Oh yes, 'think outta the box' applies to bakers too ;) Add heart sprinkles for noses, white confetti for eyes, pipe on the eyes, lashes and mouth - we're good to go.

 And when you get it right, cake pops are just the best thing to bring on a big, bright birthday smile!

3 cherries in a row, jackpot!

"My aunt loves the jackpot, I want a jackpot-themed birthday surprise for her!"
And with that, I ventured into my first jackpot cake pops.

There's something for everyone, check out some other birthday themes:

> Coming of age: 10-years young!
> Golf for the boys
> Elmo-lovin 2-year old 
> A mom who loves her dogs

I'm no gambling expert, but I do know my three cherries in a row, and when to jump and holler "JACKPOT!"

I decided we also needed to have the 7s in a row, some money bags and poker chips to set things right. It's just not a proper jackpot-do without these.

After letting the rum cake balls chill for a bit, I set to work bringing lady luck to the table.

The money bags were the most challenging.

I molded them to look like big fat teardrops, in hopes they would look like sacks. Hmm, not quite right. No bag of money is that symmetrical.

I pinched the sides a little, indented some parts.

There, better.

Next were the sack tops - molded individually, laid to dry out and stiffen, before getting fixed to the grey-coated cake pops.

1cm wide fondant circles marked with $$ signs left no doubt these were money bags; dusted with lustre pearl for the extra moolah-shine, and added.

Something was still missing.... Rope!

Rolled-out strings of pale beige fondant went round the top of the sacks.
Finally done.

Yay! One design down.... just oh, 3 more different types to go.
Yes, a little ambitions, I'm realising now.

Ah well, if I could get the toughest one out, the rest aian't gonna stop me.

Fondant add-ons waiting to join the party

Teeny cherries (half the size of a 5-cent coin!),
big on luck - 3 in a row, JACKPOT! 

Keep these poker chips in your pocket
for an extra bit of luck when you hit the casino!

JACKPOT WINNER!

The next time you're feeling in need of a lil' luck, head over for a Petite Pops boost, it could well make you a millionaire!