THE ULTIMATE COURSE IN CAKE DECORATING

Me and Chef Heny Sison

Labor of Love!!!

Stringwork/Overpiping Technique

I had a fun and challenging week as I took the Lambeth course at the Heny Sison Culinary School. For those who are not familiar with this technique, the Lambeth style is the ultimate course in cake decorating. As Chef Heny puts it, the Lambeth technique is considered the PhD of the cake decorating world. It covers intricate overpiping borders on royal icing and bevel layers of fondant covered cakes. The cake I made during class was labor-intensive since I had to make hundreds of tiny flowers made up of royal icing. It was a very loooooooooong week but worth it.

BUTTERFLIES & SWIRLS WEDDING CAKE

I made this 4-tier wedding cake for a pictorial web shoot. Thank God, these cakes were all dummies (styro) and the assembly of this cake was such a breeze. I was inspired to use apple green and brown hues and applied butterfly and swirl cut-outs.

I'M FINALLY HOME

It's really good to be back home! After 22 hours of airport stop-overs and back to back flights, I'm very happy to be with my family and friends in the Philippines. I took a week off to manage my jet lag and treated myself to spa and salon services. Now, I feel rejuvenated, I'm back to baking and spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

The very first project I did was a STRIPE & DOT Peony wedding cake. I love the hot orange and pink colors and I used these as my color palette. It's a very simple 2-tier wedding cake, with the ivory white fondant as the base and I just sculpted a big peony flower to accent the whole cake.

BAKING WITH THE MASTER

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am in meeting Chef Nick Malgieri. Chef Nick is one of America's best pastry chefs and he is the author of several notable baking books including The Modern Baker, Chocolate andPerfect Cake, How to Bake, among others. He is also the Director of the Pastry Program at The Institute of Culinary Education.

Overall, I was very impressed and pleased with Chef Nick's techniques. His method of instruction was very organized and hands-on. Each group was tasked to prepare the 5 chocolates cakes and he guided us throughout the recipes.

On the menu:

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Chocolate Bourbon Cake

Hazelnut Cake

Individual Almond Chocolate Cake

Perfect Chocolate Roll

LOU'S BABY SHOWER

It was a fun-filled day as we got to see and celebrate with our friends, Lou & Tong the forthcoming arrival of Sebastian. Friends and family gathered in Livingston, NJ to spring the surprise for the unsuspecting mom to be. As Lou said, "this was not on my schedule!"

We were informed of the shower early this week and of course, I wanted to make something special for her. I made her a simple baby blue cake with a stroller cut out on top. I just added some floral accents at the side of the cake to make it more elegant & dainty.

SUGAR FLOWERS

I was introduced to the world of Cake Decorating 10 years ago and didn't care much about it. For me, it was one of those pastry courses that I should take and learn. Living here in New York and seeing beautiful places of inspiration like Central Park, Botanical Garden, etc. - I learned to appreciate the beauty of nature and I thought to myself that I can turn these flowers into works of art using sugar as my medium. So, here I am with a renewed sense of passion and appreciation for creating sugar art.

THE CANDY CLASS WITH NICOLE KAPLAN

Recently, I took a class with the renowned Pastry Chef Nicole Kaplan at the Institute of Culinary Education. She was named one of the Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America, and trained with best talents such as Pierre Herme, Alain Ducasse, Patrice Caillot and Frederic Bau. She was also the acclaimed pastry chef of Eleven Madison Park, Del Posto and the Plaza Hotel.

On the menu:

* Vanilla Shortbread
* Lemon Cream Cookie
* Cheesecake Brownies
* Triple Death by Chocolate
* Caramel Popcorn
* Chocolate "Oreo"
* Linzer Cookies
* Peanut Butter Cookie
* Buttercrunch aka Almond Roca
* Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
* Dark Chocolate Fudge

POLKA DOT TEDDY BEAR CAKE

This polka dot pink and brown baby shower cake features a 3D hand-sculpted teddy bear & a rubber ducky on top! The flavors include moist chocolate & red velvet cake with vanilla buttercream icing. This cake was delivered to Manhattan.

COMING SOON!

I'm working again on another baby shower this week...It seems like that there's a "baby boom" these past months! Check back again for the finished cake project.

SUGAR PNUT

With the Tri-State area under the threat of weather disturbances from both the West (low pressure area) and the East (Hurricane Bill), the show must go on for the Khetarpaul’s baby shower last Saturday in Stamford,CT. Call time for the baby shower was to be in Jim and Kitty’s house before 3PM. We left our home to deliver the baby shower cake and even with an hour lead time to get to our destination, I was nervous we won’t make it on time because of the heavy downpour that greeted us the moment we got on the 287. Cars were moving slow, visibility was hard and water was starting to build up on the freeway but as we got to the 95 to head to Stamford, the skies cleared and it was smooth driving onwards.

The husband, Ricky, planned and executed the baby shower that really surprised the expecting mother. Friends and family from the tri-state area joined the Khetarpauls to celebrate the coming of their first child, Sugar Pnut.

This hexagon cake was made of dark, moist chocolate cake layers filled with rich buttercream. This is a very apt design for anyone anticipating for their new bundle of joy. As you can see, I added the name on the clouds of steam from the train.

BABY SHOWER CAKE & CUPCAKES

I delivered this cake today to Lighthouse Park in Roosevelt Island, Manhattan. I surely enjoyed making these cupcakes and cake! Thanks to my dear friend, Apple, who always remembers me in her cake needs!

This teddy bear cake will make a striking centerpiece for your christening celebration and is equally suitable for boys or girls.

ROMANTIC BIRTHDAY CAKE

I disappeared completely from the web again to work on an interesting cake project. I had a client order a 3-tiered birthday cake who celebrated her 50th birthday last Saturday at the Polonaise Center. It was an exhausting job but the cake turned out elegant & beautiful.

I started making the sugar flowers the week before. I colored the roses in shades of lilac, deep purple, pink & mauve and sculpted them in their various stages. Here's a shot of some of the sculpted flowers:

I must admit that I struggled assembling this cake. Since I crumbcoated it with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, the fondant didn't adhere as strong enough as I expected. I was kind of intimidated by the whole thing. I was a little worried too because the deadline was getting closer.

I finally made it to the events place 10 minutes before the start of the reception. The catering head and I managed to assemble the cake onto the table as quickly as we could. I even got to take some pictures before running off to my hungry hubby who was equally tired as I am!

FATHER'S DAY 2009

Wishing all dads, grandpas, brothers & uncles a very Happy Father's Day! Thanks for making our lives a smooth sail!

* Dart Board Cake - 9" red velvet cake, cream cheese icing & marshmallow fondant

TIFFANY GIFT BOX

Just this week, a friend of mine asked me to make an engagement cake. Since it was a rush order, I just bought a fake ring instead of making it out of sugar! (Oh well, next time!). This was a simple cake, with the Tiffany blue colored gift box as an inspiration. The cake was made out of moist red velvet layers filled with a rich buttercream!

SESAME STREET CUPCAKES

Yummy cupcakes were decorated with Sesame Street inspired buttercream icing (Elmo Red, Big Bird Yellow, Cookie Monster Blue & Abby Caddabey Pink). A sure hit among kids and adults alike!

CONCORDE INSPIRED BIRTHDAY CAKE

A different take on the usual fondant finish cake. This cake is made of vanilla cake layers, filled with dark chocolate mousse and artfully decorated with chocolate meringue sticks. The number cut-outs and the stars are gumpaste.

MUSIC THEMED COOKIES

Made these cookies for a friend in California, whose daughter just celebrated her 7th birthday last month. Her theme was CAMP ROCK (by Disney) and my original plan was to decorate these cookies with the CAMP ROCK logo! Unfortunately, the shipment of edible icing images arrived late so I had to think of PLAN B. So, I came up with these designs...electric guitars, half-quarter music note and colorful star cut-outs!

GUMPASTE PEONY CLASS WITH CHEF RUTH DRENNAN

Last weekend, I was so excited to go to the city and attend a sugarpaste class by Ruth Drennan. I met her years ago thru my good friend, Faye, who worked for Gail Watson. Now, both of them have established their own businesses here in New York and Pennsylvania respectively. I admire Ruth for her elegant style on cakes and her amazing sugar flowers.

Chef Ruth demonstrating how to attach the large petals

CAKE PROJECTS, ETC.

Hi Everyone! I'm still here...I've been very busy for the past months, hence, I apologize for my late post. March has been a very hectic month for me since I had a lot of cake projects and not to mention, I had to ship decorated butter cookies to California :-) I'm not complaining though! I always have fun decorating and making cakes for people.

I've made 3 cakes last month. The first was a Spring-Themed Debutante cake which was made up of 2 layers of chocolate and red velvet cakes alternately filled with vanilla buttercream and chocolate mousse (9"& 6" respectively). I decorated it with polka dots, some flowers, butterflies and bows. The second cake that I made was a Christening cake which I called the Delicate Rose Crib because of the baby sleeping on the rose flower (like Thumbelina). It was a simple yet elegant cake because of its monochromatic color (white) and a large rose attached to the side of the cake. The third cake that I made was a dark-chocolate glazed cake decorated with white hand-sculpted roses.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Love is in the air! Say "I LOVE YOU" with a cake this Valentine's Day! Visit our shop at Mary Santos Artcade Building, # 48 West Avenue, Quezon City and check out our complete Valentine cake selection. For details, call (632) 415-0108.

Red Velvet

VDAY FONDANT CAKE

FIRST CAKE FOR 2009: "SPONGEBOB"

A nephew of mine celebrated his sixth birthday at Fish and Co., Shangri-la. Being a Spongebob fan, Nigel, my nephew wished for a Spongebob character cake for his birthday. I made this 3-D cake made up of moist chocolate cake layers filled with buttercream icing and covered with marshmallow fondant. It's a hit among the guests especially the kids present.