The Blue Cake with a Hearty Surprise

So this was my first attempt at working with fondant for a cake and yes I had to do it on such an important occasion as my son's birthday and even more ridiculously ambitious, I decided it needed something more interesting on the INSIDE of the cake! I was doomed for failure right from set go but miraculously it still looked presentable despite the amateurish fondant decorating work :p

All in all, this cake took me one full evening and another half day the next day to complete. Yes, sweat! I cheated and bought an interesting couple of cake pans from B-I-Y. They were designed in such a way that you can get a filled cake in the shape of a heart on the inside. Ok, I've lost you...please refer to iPhone pictures above. Firstly, I bake 2 chocolate cakes in the specially shaped cake pans. While waiting for them to cool, bake another cake, this time a red velvet cake. Crumble up the red velvet and mix in some buttercream (again, I was being a smart arse and did this from scratch). Fill the cavities of the cooled chocolate cakes with the red velvet. Flip one cake over the other. MESSED UP! I didn't put enough buttercream to the red velvet so it was still crumbly and when I flip one cake over, some of the red velvet came loose and spilled out. Yup, I was mortified when that happened but there was no turning back. Next, ice a thin layer of buttercream over the entire cake, sort of like a crumb coat. Next, time to exercise. At least, that's what preparing the fondant felt like. I put in some food colour and started kneading and rolling out the fondant so that it's big enough to cover the entire cake. First two attempts the fondant tore as I tried to put it over the cake, third attempt was successful but trying to smooth the bottom edges was a disaster, some buttercream started oozing out and by then I had about enough and was ready to drive down to Awfully Chocolate and just get a damn cake. But my little boy wanting a blue cake was more important so I persevered and got something half decent after I cut off the excess fondant. Then I thought it looked kinda plain, so i cut out some triangles and rolled two strips of fondant together to form a bunting along the sides of the cake, pretty cute huh? ;) Idea not original of course, Google and YouTube were my assistant designers. For the finishing touch, I poked 3 meringues I baked for the party into 3 chocolate Pocky sticks and they sat on top of the cake. TA-DAH!!!


OH, did you see the inside? When you cut open the cake, there's a red heart shape (the red velvet)! Of course the heart didn't look so good due to the lack of buttercream mixed into the red velvet, so the heart came crumbling out (like mine) :( Not nice? Well, my little boy loved it! That smile was all I needed to take the fatigue away and make it all worthwhile.

I DID IT! *pat pat* :D

The Naked Cake

I made this simple cake for Dylan's early birthday celebrations..................NAH! I wouldn't do that to my little boy! See next post for what the cake really looked like :)

(shot and edited with my iPhone)

The Monster and the Whale

Hahahahahah don't ask me why but this picture of the boys taken last week simply cracks me up! Their stance, their sunnies and their mouths...all that separates them is their height, the monster and the whale :D

Straight to Mummy Jail!

Kayden has perfect teeth and Dylan at less than 3 years old has 4 teeth with decay!!! :(

As I write this, I'm still feeling the guilt of being a terrible mother. Many months ago, I noticed that he had some yellowish stains on his front teeth near the gums. Thinking that it was plague or tar tar, I scraped at them with my fingernails to try and remove them but to no avail. I researched the internet for some answers to the stubborn yellow stains and found out that they were actually early tooth decay! A pang of guilt surged through me as I look back to those nights when I was tired and lazy to brush his teeth, or when he protested to brushing them and I let it go. Now when he flashes me a sweet smile and I see evidence of my flawed parenting, my heart aches like it's been trampled on a hundred times and I can't say sorry enough to my little boy.

We were lucky to get an appointment immediately to see Dr Serene who happened to be a client last year with her newborn baby girl :) I half expected her to tell the nurse to call the police and arrest me for neglecting the dental health of my child but she assured me that it wasn't all that bad and is treatable. I was most concerned about whether Dyl needs to undergo GA for the treatment. Serene proved to be awesomely great with the kids and Kayden went through his check up and cleaning with no fuss :D Dylan reacted well to Serene as well but he didn't open his mouth long enough for treatment so Serene suggested we do it the following week to give him some time to warm up to the event. I was to psych him up for the next visit by reinforcing what a great job he did earlier, encouraging regular brushing and telling him that getting his teeth fix is painless etc :) Promises of toys helped as well haha! I owe him 2 Power Rangers now :s

Our second visit went really well this week! My brave little boy had one tooth filled and no GA was required (big phew!) :) Serene said we will do one tooth at a time so he doesn't get turned off by the treatments. Already he is looking forward to the next visit! Yesterday when I picked him up from school, he asked,"Are we going to take taxi to see Dr Serene?" :D Ok so I got off with a warning (from the husband) for this incident, the next time I commit another mistake, it will be off to Mummy Jail for me :-/

Dr Serene showing Dyl what she will be doing to his teeth


by doing it on his fingernail first


My brave boy!


Ok he stopped opening his mouth, so more demo and encouragement


checking out his decayed teeth








showing off his one filled tooth! 3 more to go over the next few weeks :p




some love for Dr Serene

Teeny Weeny Alicia

Since we came up with the Teeny Weeny newborn package last June, it's been a year of pee, poop and regurgitated breastmilk :p I'm not complaining though, the perks of handling a sweet smelling baby, the touch of velvety soft skin and at times, flashes of sweet dreaming smiles just about put any mess the babies make away.

Here's a session done in January for the Holland family. Thank you for having me in your lovely home and capturing shots of your sweet Alicia :)

the cuties who hopped out :D

Here are some of my favourite shots from our recently ended Easter Hop-Out shoot! Overall I have to say that the weather was very unkind to us but we got lucky on the second day with dark clouds looming the whole day but the rain did not fall till we left :) WIN! As for Joanne, Wen Lin and I, we felt like we have returned from battle with mud, rain, sweat and insect bites all over us. I developed some allergy during the shoot, it was either to chocolate (we only ate a chocolate cupcake each that day) or to the grass. Either way, it would be tragic! I was scratching like a monkey for the next couple of days and developed hives :-/ A client told me today that it must have been the pesticide that was on the grass, aha! Anyway, here are the pictures, more to come as I finish editing them, enjoy! :)

















more on our Facebook.

The Great Easter Hop-Out!

You are invited to our Easter Hop-Out shoot! Happening on 20th April 2011 at a special outdoor location in Bishan which we have dressed up specially for the occasion :) Easter eggs and bunnies, cupcakes, balloons and spring/easter theme decors all around await your kids! It's a tea party so bring along a friend/sibling/cousin for extra fun and laughter :D

We will provide all the props but feel free to bring along anything suitable. Dress your kids in happy spring colours! Children will be given a cupcake each for the tea party. Please bring your own drinks. As this is an outdoor location, there may be insects on the ground, so please get your children to wear covered shoes if possible. We will also be at the mercy of the weather so if it's too hot or raining, we may need to take breaks in between. Hope for your understanding. Selection of photos will be on another day.

Do give us a call if you have more questions or if you would like to make a booking. Only limited slots are available so act now 6235 3696.

More pictures on our facebook album.

cheers!
The Studio Loft

I don't have any pictures with my children!

Many mothers who are also photographers will understand me when I say,"I don't have any pictures with my children!". It's true. We are always behind the lens and the person who has the most shots with the kids is the daddy-o! So last month, I took advantage of a day where I had no shoots and the boys had no school and we took the train down to Sentosa beach with Wen Lin jie jie in tow to help us shoot some mother and sons pictures. I've just finished editing the pictures and I think Wen Lin did a swell job, thanks girl! :)



















more on my facebook.