Cute Carriage Cake for Baby Eva :)

Baby Eva's Sweet Ride :) :) 

Cute Carriage Cake for Baby Eva... She's all set to ride !!

 My friend (Bindiya Fernandez) and I, were anxiously waiting for the news.... It was three days past our friend's ( Irene Joseph) due delivery date !! 

We had planned well in advance that we would surprise her with a IT'S A BOYYY or IT'S A GIRLLL cake !! Needless to say .. we were restless to start the preparations .. but we couldn't do so ... coz well.. we didn't know the Gender yet !! 
We were sure that we were going to make a Baby Carriage Cake .. but it was the decision of the cake colour/ colours that really got us stumped. 

After mulling over the situation, we thought of settling for unisex colours - baby blue, baby pink, light green and pale yellow. 

Our friend Irene was already admitted in the hospital by then, and was experiencing the usual stress that comes with childbirth. It was  then that we decided to postpone the cake surprise until after she was back home from the delivery. (As we knew she wouldn't be in the frame of mind for surprises.. let alone havin' cake !)

So... little Eva was born in the wee hours of 02/05/2013 and we were finally Exxcitteedd !!! It was Cake Time !! 

The Carriage Cake .... In Progress ... 

We immediately set in motion and decided on the universal colour for baby girls - PINK ! 
Bindiya agreed to make 2 round 9 inch vanilla cakes and I brought 2 bowls of coral pink and ivory frosting to her residence. 

We wrapped our cake board in tin foil and I covered one of the vanilla cakes completely with the pink frosting for the crumb coat. 

Only when Bindi pointed out that we were supposed to cut out the quarter of the round cake and carve out the wheels, before crumb coating, I realized that I had made a major mistake !!

Love the intricacy of the work :)

 We refrigerated it for 10 mins and hoped that we wouldn't run into a mess for carving the wheels. The little fridge time was enough for the top coat to firm up and pave way for the final layer of frosting. 
We then carefully measured and cut out a quarter of the cake and make 2 smalls circles for the wheels from it. Two half circles were cut from either bottom side to place in the wheels. 
WE had the basic design for the Carriage Cake now, and it was looking GOOD. 

A close-up of the wheels and the basket-weave design

 With renewed energy, we did the piping work on the top half of the cake. The parts with the ivory frosting were finished first in order to get the outlines correctly for the pink design. 

The round tip was used for the spokes of the wheels and the top and side designs. Petal tip marked the center of the cake with some ruffles.  Bindi used the small star tip to fill in the top and bottom halves with uniform tiny stars. 
It was looking more and more like a cute carriage and our excitement knew no bounds !!

All plated and ready for the cutting ceremony ... Oh ..breaks my heart  to see it gettin' sliced into  :(

 However, we were confused whether to include Eva's name on the cake or not, and we brainstormed on a lot of ideas. 
Finally, we decided against it and went in for a Basket-weave design in a contrasting violet colour. 
After some practice, I piped the design very carefully taking a good amount of time. 
The effort paid off and we were thrilled at the final outcome !!

Each photographed angle picks out the different detailing done ... :)

We planned on surprising Irene at her residence and went on our way. It sure worked and it was great to see the look of surprise on her face. She was really touched by the gesture and said that she couldn't cut into such a pretty cake :) :) (At least not the same day !)
We were all smiles when she informed us the next day that the cake not only looked great but tasted delicious too ! She and her family thoroughly enjoyed it and we wished Baby Eva could have had her share too ;) ;)

Safiya Turns One ... 01/03/2013

Safiya Turns One

When my best friend Summi asked me to make a cake for her cute daughter's first birthday, my skeptical side totally took over and I denied the opportunity instantly. I must say, that it was her total faith in me, that finally made me even consider the idea. After all, I was completely new in the gigantic world of baking and I had made an amateur attempt with a cake made for my 2nd anniversary .. on 02/02/2013. 

Summi, herself, is a pro at baking and has made absolutely gorgeous creations on many occasions. The cake that she made for her little angel, was Stunning.. to say the least .. and of course .. Delicious !!So, she finally convinced me to make a small cake; in addition to the grand one that she was preparing. 

And .. I found myself warming up to the idea as I formed a mental picture of what I wanted the cake to look like. I consulted with her and decided that white and baby pink would be a suitable colour combination for the cutie's celebration.
I made a chocolate marble cake with a vanilla whipped cream filling and whipped cream frosting. The most difficult part was smoothing out the frosting, to make it a canvas to spell out the birthday greeting. The frosted cake was then chilled in the fridge for about an hour to set.

Then I took the pink frosting from the fridge to pipe some borders and side decor. After some test runs and a messy tray, I carefully made the decorations. Sure I faced hiccups and bumps, mainly due to the air pockets in the piping bag; but managed to do a decent job at the decorating.I had made a bowl of chocolate cream the previous day which I would use for piping the festive message. 

To my dismay, the chocolate icing was not firm even after a day's refrigeration. As I was short on time, I didn't have have much choice but to go ahead with the message. With shaky hands and a little glitches, the message and the side flowers were done. Even though Safiya's name on the cake was distorted during transportation, everyone still appreciated the end result and I was quite pleased with myself. It was an amazing party and my friend's cake stole the show. 

Safiya's B'day Cake - Top view