.my break from cake.

For lent this year, I gave up rice.  Being Filipino, it's not an easy thing to do, especially since I like to cook saucy Filipino dishes that just isn't the same without it.  I've been eating more pasta dishes, sandwiches, naan bread, and tortillas.  What I'm learning so far is there is NO substitute for the white starchy carbohydrate. I realize how much I really do love and appreciate that staple in my diet.  I've also dreamed about it and woke up wanting to eat some!! But this is what lent is all about right?? self discipline and restraint from temptation.  I have about 4 more weeks to go...

Anyways, last week in between cake decorating, I prepared dinner.  For some reason, on this Tuesday evening, I got carried away and cooked up a feast.  I had a whole Costco size pack of tilapia fillets in my freezer (around 8 total).  I felt like once I defrosted it, I had to cook it...ALL OF IT. So I decided to prepare it 2 ways, fried and baked...don't know if there's a real name for the baked one.  I've never made it like that before.  I kinda just added ingredients that I thought would taste good together, and guess what?? It was DELICIOUS! I was so impressed with myself that I took a picture of it.  It was pretty simple really...here's what I added to the fillets:  heavy cream, garlic, juice from a whole lemon, lemon pepper, sea salt, lemon slices, and rosemary.  Can't you just imagine eating that on top of a nice hot bed of rice??? well, too bad I couldn't :( but luckily I had potatoes, so I mashed some up to eat with it.  

One of my cake recipes calls for buttermilk.  After making that cake, I had leftover buttermilk that was approaching its expiration date.  There was also a whole package of cut okra in my freezer.   So rather than throw out the buttermilk, I used it to make fried okra.  I dredged the okra in the buttermilk then rolled them in corn meal, fried, and voila...I had fried okra. 

For dessert, I had spumoni ice cream. Great way to end my dinner....then back to cake decorating.  Just an update from the Lakers cupcakes...they were a SUCCESS!! Word got out and one of my sorority sisters asked me to make a cake for her son's 2nd birthday.  They're having a sports themed party and asked to include Yo Gabba Gabba and Disney Friends characters in the design.  This will probably be the most fun, yet most challenging cake because I really need to get those characters just right.  I've already started sketching some ideas, so stay posted for that cake blog.  Thanks for stopping by.

~Abs of Cakes~

some of my earlier work...

I must say that writing this blog and thinking about what to post is a bit daunting...it exposes a piece of me and my thought process to be judged by you the viewer (whoever you are...stranger, close friend/family).  People typically show off their final product....that's why editors are hired, but I choose to share with you all the steps that led me there. I got a lot of feedback from "My VERY First Blog" and a lot of you really liked that I included the process of my work. (Thanks again to those that viewed it, those that left me nice compliments, and to YOU who's reading this now!!)  Unfortunately, I am not clairvoyant and had no idea while making my earlier cakes that I would one day blog about them, so I did not  take pictures and document the process like I did with the Lakers cupcakes.  Fortunately, I do have sketches of some of my ideas and pictures of the how those cakes turned out , so that's what I will share with you here.

For New Year's Eve, I celebrated with my Damn Good Friends.  We had a Black and White party, so easily I had a color scheme to work with.  All I had to think about was the design and flavors of the cake.  To go with the Black and White theme, I decided to go with Chocolate for the "Black" and Confetti to represent the "White" with a splash of Celebration for the  New Year...that idea was my favorite concept :)  The thing I learned from making this cake was you can't turn white icing into black, no matter how much black icing color you add to it!! I should've known better, huh! It's just like mixing paints...What you do get is a funky tasting really dark grey color.  To get black, you should use a dark chocolate or fudge icing.

 

My Godson, Khyle turned 11 years old on January 9.  Khyle looooves skateboarding, so I wanted to surprise him with a skateboard cake and put all his favorite skateboard brands on it.  Brands and stickers are usually stuck on the bottom of the deck, so I originally wanted to make the cake with the underside showing.  However, this was not the case.  I did not yet have the expertise to pull that off.  If I had learned how to work with fondant by that time,maybe I could've made this cake exactly how I first envisioned it.  I'm sure his next skateboard cake from me will be a lot better.    

 

My good friend, Eileen (Hi Tei!) is one of the biggest Disney fanatics I know.  I used that as inspiration for her birthday cake.  This too was a surprise cake that was revealed during her birthday dinner at BJ's.  I wanted to somehow incorporate the infamous Mickey logo. Simple right? One big circle cake with 2 smaller circles for the ears.  But that seemed a little too simple for me, plus that shape did not fit in my cake carrier to deliver to her.  Ultimately I came up with a Mickey Ears hat cake.  I made the ears out of colored gumpaste a few days before so that they would harden and stand on their own.  I deliberately left the crumb texture to give it that felt fabric look.  I added a gumpaste fantasy flower to make it more feminine and sophisticated.  Good thing I took pictures of it right after because it ended up melting during delivery :( oh well, lesson learned.

I got so carried away with my sketches that I even came up with potential wedding cake designs for her and she's not even engaged yet ;) ssshhhhh, don't tell her. hehe.

Some of my favorite shots are of the CUT cake...

 

      

When I finally learned how to work with fondant I decided to use that new found skill for my 4 year old cousin's birthday cake (on my sketch it says "5" but found out later that she was really turning 4, oops).  All that my aunt said was that she wanted chocolate and Barbie on her cake.  For this cake I used the "Wonder Mold" to get her dress shape....and No, that's not a whole Barbie in the cake.  It's just the torso of a doll (not even a real Barbie) on a pick  that is made specially for cakes like this.  A little piece of me had to become a fashion designer to make this one. Shout out to my friend Limbert for helping me take pictures of this cake.

During the same week as the Barbie cake, I decided to make a sneaker cake for an event that my cousin Ron hosts every year called Sole Assassins (www.stayloded.com).  It's a convention where sneaker heads unite, so I made a cake that was inspired by a shoe that my cousin painted for my dad.  This was one busy week, so I didn't really take many pics of this one, but good thing Ron's wife, Joy took a few with her iphone (thx Joy!). I really wish I got shots of the details because that's what really made this cake special.  This is probably my most creative cake that I've made so far.  I'm sure I'll get to make more like it, but better since I've had a chance to learn from this one.

 

 What I hope you take away from this blog is an appreciation for other artists/designers and the work involved to create their masterpieces to inspire others. Thank you for viewing.

~Abs of Cakes~

My VERY First Blog: Lakers themed cupcakes

This week I had the honor of making 6 dozen cupcakes for a Lakers themed party. Those that know me know I am a DIE HARD lover of the Purple and Gold, so you'd understand how stoked I was to be able to make and design these tasty treats.  The night before these cupcakes were due, my good friend Christine came over and convinced me to start a blog about my cakes...it is something I had been thinking about doing especially after viewing other people's interesting & inspiring blogs, so no doubt I thought it was a good idea.  My friends and family were also asking where they can view photos of my edible works of art, so due to popular demand, I am starting this blog and letting you into my world of cake making. enjoy.

My friend Keena (Hi Keena) celebrated her mom, Angie's 70th Birthday and came to me for an order of "Lakers" cupcakes. She ordered 3 flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, and Red Velvet, so I felt I had to make 3 distinct designs to distinguish one flavor from the other. Not to mention give me liberty to play with the Lakers theme.  

As with all my cake ideas and designs, I first start off with sketches that help with my plan of action.  If there's anything I learned (or that was drilled in our heads) from Design school, it's that DESIGN IS A PROCESS...the final product does not happen in an instant. And more times than not, the final product is usually quite different from the original idea, but I believe the process is where you learn, and the final product is what inspires.  Something I wanted to do was make a cupcake stand in the shape of the Larry O'Brien Trophy aka NBA Championship Trophy, but it was too expensive....maybe I'll get to one day.

Before any baking began, I worked on the edible decorations. I used fondant, gumpaste, and colored icing. I had to mix purple icing color into blue fondant to get it just the right Lakers Royal Purple...or close enough. For the gumpaste basketballs, I had to mix the right amount of orange and brown to get the Spalding color.

Then it was time to bake, frost, and decorate. First, I baked the vanilla cupcakes...I intended to make them purple to making them more authentic to the theme.  Instead, they looked ube flavored and that batch turned out puny.  I was not satisfied....so I re-baked the vanilla and stuck with its normal color.  You can see the first batch of purple vanilla at the bottom of the final vanilla cupcakes.

My favorite part...putting everything together.  The 5 Lakers starters and Coach Jackson were in purple, the 8 retired jerseys in gold, and the bench players in white. My favorite one is the Chick Hearn jersey :) 

 

Last thing....packaged and ready for pick up ;)

 

Thanks for viewing....Stay posted for new AND older creations of mine ;D

~Abs of Cakes~