Baked a Cake

In the craziness of December, what with work deadlines, the Boy’s birthday and you know, that little thing we like to call Christmas, I also managed to squeeze in a cake for my boss, Linda. 

Last month I knocked up this quick cake for the Boy’s brother’s girlfriend, Alex.

11 countries down, just one to go! This month’s cake served a dual purpose – as well as ticking off another country off the map it was also my sister-in-law’s birthday and with the Japanophile back in town for a whirlwind trip the obvious destination was Japan.

Last month my little blog and I celebrated our birthdays – me 27 (did I just say that out loud?) and she, a whole ONE year old! It still feels surreal that Baked a Cake exists and that maybe, somewhere out there, people are actually reading my random thoughts and sharing this often panic inducing, stressful but oh so enjoyable ride of my cake decorating journey.

October was well and truly birthday month at work which gave me an excuse to try out a few techniques including a fluro pink ganache and brown sugar buttercream – so I decided to make a donut cake, which ended up resembling the Simpsons donut, complete with sprinkles.

The colours, the polka dots, the banner, the monkeys – I love everything about this cake. This is one of those my sister’s, cousin’s, best friend’s, daughter’s cat kind of stories so here goes… My clever Cacti buddy Kim, designed a super cute baby shower invitation for her friend Kat’s sister Ashley’s baby shower – phew! Kat then asked me if I would make the cake. So with invitation in hand I set about sketching some ideas down for Kat to choose from. After a couple of emails the main cake was decided on and I had the cupcake and finer details set in my head but wanted to keep them a surprise for the day.

It’s hard to believe that this time two year’s ago, the boy and I had not long returned from our first overseas trip to Sri Lanka. We spent an amazing 3 ½ weeks gallivanting around the Sri Lankan countryside on a motorcycle and Jeep tour with my brother Lee and sister-in-law with the same tour company that Lee know works with over in Vietnam – the fabulous Hoi An Motorcycle Adventures.

To celebrate the anniversary of our trip I decided to make a delicious Sri Lankan Love Cake (recipe taken from Peter Kuruvita). 

Last week I had the pleasure of making a special naming day cake for our friends' little girl, Olivia. The boy was best man at Olivia's mummy and daddy's scorching hot wedding day almost two years ago - thankfully the naming day was much cooler. Olivia's mum Gemma asked if I would be free to make Olivia's cake, and I of course said yes. I love being asked to make cakes for friends, the fact that they trust me with such an important part of their special day means a lot, and having the opportunity to make a pretty, girly, pink cake was too good to pass up. 

A couple of weeks ago I made probably my favourite cake to date for one of my favourite little girls. Some of you may remember the Nanna Teddy cake I made last year for Ayla. Well this year her lovely mum Ali set me a great theme, a Snugglepot and Cuddlepie cake fit for a foraging party. Almost instantly I had an idea for a cake. I went home and sketched up a design - a cute two-tier cake with a tree stump look for the bottom tier (inspired by Sharon Wee) and a hand painted top tier with Snugglepot and Cuddlepie illustrations.

It's hard to believe that we are already 3/4 around the world (well in bakedacake world that is). This month I decided to take a trip down memory lane to my Year 7 German class and make a mini Donna Hay inspired black forest cake.