But there have been two cakes.
First was for my friend's little girl who was coming to Sydney for a very special trip with her mum and who would be celebrating her 7th birthday while she was here. I wanted to make something with a Sydney theme, showing some of the sights that she would be seeing on her trip.
The toppers were made from mexican paste and I hand-painted the pictures on to the pieces of hardened icing with Wilton gel colours mixed with vodka. The outlines were done with a black edible pen. I made all the toppers in advance and iced the cake and poked them in in a record fifteen minutes in the morning as with waffles for breakfast and a trip to Taronga Zoo, time was a bit tight!
Gwenda's monochrome cake...
Then yesterday I put the finishing touches on this cake that I have been making for a friend's mum who is turning 70 today. There was a moment of high drama last night when I transferred the white fondant to the cake successfully, only to have it split around the top edge and fall off the cake! That's when I muttered a few expletives under my breath and made a cup of tea to think about plan b. That's when I decided to do the louvres on the cake (using what fondant I could salvage).
I'm glad I had that little disaster because I like the finished product so much more with the vertical louvres. The bow, rose and tag I made in advance by using some fondant mixed with Tylose so they would harden.
And, in completely unrelated news, we just finished renovating our rental in New Zealand and I thought you might like a nice little "before and after" bathroom pic.
I have some other exciting news to share, but that will have to be in my next post...
