Today I'm wearing a chef shirt

Me and the scrub suit cake

It has always been my dream to wear a chef shirt.  Well I got to fulfill that dream today, even for a short while...   

Months ago when I found this chef suit from the Op Shop.  Instantly grabbed it off the clothes rail and placed it in my shopping basket.  I knew I found a treasure.  

Since the day I got it, I've been waiting for the perfect time to wear it on but never had the chance to do so due to time constraint

Today, because I don't have to go to work... That's right, my six-week holiday has started!  I decided to finally put it on while the cake on the table is waiting to be picked up.  

It felt so good having it on.  It looked so neat, so dainty.  I know I have no right to consider myself a chef, a pastry chef for that matter, but I just need a moment to feel it.  

The crisp white shirt gave me a certain feeling of fulfillment and self-confidence.  I believe that my dreams and aspirations are not too far away.  I will do my best to make it happen.

Project: Scrub Suit Cake

This is the probably the biggest cake I have ever made and decorated so far.  It measures 43.8 cm length, 27.3 cm width and about 8 cm thickness.  I didn't realize how huge it was until I rolled out the fondant to cover it.  Unluckily, the first attempt wasn't successful.  It was way shorter.  So I had to knead and roll it all over again.  The second attempt turned out fine, perfect actually.  I  just worked my way to smoothen the surface and edges at the sleeves part.  

The size of it may seem intimidating but decorating it in general was on of the easiest.  

Project: Bellisima Birthday Cake

Made this for my beautiful Italian friend/workmate who is celebrating her birthday today.  I call it "bellisima"  because the word simply describes her and how pretty she is. 

She loves red velvet and the cream cheese frosting that goes well with it.  So in making her cake, I used red velvet instead of the usual chocolate mud.  For the filling and crumbed coating, cream cheese was much more handy than I thought it would be.  

25th Family Day (June 17)

A very short Sunday gathering. Dinner was as good as it has always been. Apart from the two photos (of food) which I have posted here, Chad also prepared "sinaing na tuna" and "itlog na maalat with tomatoes". One minute they were spotted on plates, the next minute they were gone. *laughs*

Click link for photos: http://s929.photobucket.com/albums/ad136/sherylsantos31/25th%20Family%20Day%202012/

Project: Lion Cake

Got asked by my boss to make a Lion Cake for his son's birthday.  The next day, at work, he gave me a print out image from the web.  It looked like this.  Of course he didn't want chow-mien noodles on the cake.  He made clear though that I'm free to come up with my own different version.

Searched all over web to find the best-looking lion cake but most of them were technically difficult for my skills.  I've seen some that were made in the shape of a lion face which looked quite easy decorated with butter cream but who knows where on earth could I get those baking pans.  Then there were the regular cakes with 3D handcrafted lion figure on top them.  Panic mode.  Running out of ideas at very little time left.

Thought I might give it a try once more, another search... and right there I knew I have found what I was looking for.  

The facial features I got from the guide, the rest from my own bits of creative ideas.

smiling lion face

I love how this detail complete the overall look

24th Family Day (June 10)

Sunday night dinner with foods to make us feel warm... 

There's nothing else I could say in detail about this album, but we did have a wonderful time.

Click link for photos: http://s929.photobucket.com/albums/ad136/sherylsantos31/24th%20Family%20Day%202012/

Project: Love Love Love Cake

It's a wedding anniversary cake for a lovely couple I recently got the chance to know more.  They live in Albany and both work at the same company as my husband but for some obvious reason we have never bumped into each other in the past, if my memory serves me right.  Or we may have but we weren't formally introduced.  Quite odd to think of but truth to that is the fact that I still don't know a lot of Pinoys in this little town.  

Now going back to the cake, so the husband, Erning, came to our home the other day to have their desktop computer fixed.  Don't get confused, it's my husband who knows all sorts of restore for any computer problem, definitely not my line of interest.  While he was here waiting, he mentioned about the cake I made for Emily's baby (the 3-tier Princess crown), that it looked amazing and tasted so good as well.  He also said that his wife, Elsie, really liked it and even had a photo taken beside it.  That was so overwhelming.  Then he blurted out that they were going to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary very soon.  A perfect occasion to have a cake and eat it too, I said.  When he said it will be the day after tomorrow, I almost fell on my seat.  He did say very soon though.  

As soon as he left the house, I started baking the cake.  Didn't finish until 11 in the evening but at least I've got them all ready for icing the next day.  While baking I was searching the web for design that would suit their extraordinary love for each other.

Although short notice, this cake was made with so much passion and effort to create the perfect theme for one beautiful marriage.  That's why I gave it the title, Love love love cake.

15 years of blissful marriage

Two-tone hearts around the sides of the bottom layer

Project: Pilipinas Flag Cake

There might have been a little bit of drama about this recent project but I'm glad that it did turn out as a success, which truly made my day better than yesterday...

Just to give you a brief story of what happened.  About a week ago, I got a message from a friend saying that there's a Filipina who wanted to order a cake.  In response gave her my mobile number so the latter could contact me.  Being in this business, I prefer personally getting in touch with my clients whether through phone conversation or text message to discuss details about their order.  But until yesterday morning there was no word from the client herself.  I was left hanging.  I've got to confirm before leaving for work.  When I finally had the chance to speak to my friend who passed the message along, she was very certain about the order.  As soon as ingredients were sorted, I hastily  baked the cake. 

Coming home from work, I was ready to get my hands working when an unexpected message interrupted me.  Apparently, the lady wanted to cancel the order.  What the heck?  She can't just call it off and put all my ingredients to waste.  It's so unbelievable.  Never thought I'd encounter anything like this.  She should have been reasonable.  I was so disappointed.  I'll get over this soon, hopefully.

Waking up this morning was a completely different story.  Got a call from the person who gave me a sleepless night; she sounded defensive and best part of the conversation was when she said she wants the cake done this afternoon.  Glad she actually made an effort to reach me.  Somehow it lighten up my mood.

Spent all morning decorating the cake.  This is my first Philippine flag project.  Making the eight rays of the sun was actually more complicated than the main flag itself.  But I love the outcome.  The colors were also precise, which is quite surprising.
 

Three stars and a sun

 

Project: Pink and Lavender Castle Cake

Fourth castle cake project in my file.  Third cake order in the last weekend.

Could you guys imagine how busy I had been.  Coming home from work I would find myself rolling out fondant while baking more cakes in the oven.  And do dishes in between.  It seemed endless.  Exhausting.  Hours go by faster than normal that I choose not to pay attention to it anymore.  The only force that keeps me going is my motivation to complete every project with confidence.  Knowing how much effort I put into it makes me proud. 

23rd Family Day (June 3)

Days go by really fast, now the year is almost halfway over. I'm just so happy God has been truly generous to us and to our family in so many ways. I have no reason to feel sad about anything because life is just getting better and better.

Family days are always fun. The best part will have to be dinner *laughs* It is really. We get to taste various dishes each of us prepared with so much effort and passion. Then we have the chance to catch up with kumares. Be it a plain conversation; nail polish session or anything in between, we all get along pretty well. No wonder this has become a relaxing Sunday habit.

Click link for photos: http://s929.photobucket.com/albums/ad136/sherylsantos31/23rd%20Family%20Day/

Project: Chocolate Fondant Bow Cake

Second project that I made over the weekend.  Thank God I've successfully managed to finish all three cakes.  Sleep deprived yet so fulfilled.

Doesn't it look pretty already?

The design was given by the client.  I just had to make a few changes to it. 

Photo filtered by Instagram

 Photo above was taken from my phone. Quite disappointed how photos that I've taken from my DSLR came out.  None of them did justice to my hard work. *wink*

Can't find a better shot than this

22nd Family Day (May 27)

Overdue upload... Though I can still recall every single thing that happened that Sunday evening, the photos I have taken can describe, in more than words can say how quick and quiet it went.

We had a lovely dinner, as always. As shown on photos down below, these foods were so inviting and equally delish. After dinner, we all found our way to the living room to watch TV. But unlike the previous Sundays, we just had to call it a night. It's one of those days when you just wanna have a good sleep to wake up to a new day, new week.

Click link for photos: http://s929.photobucket.com/albums/ad136/sherylsantos31/22nd%20Family%20Day%202012/

Project: Trophy Cake

The client wanted the cake to resemble the shape of this trophy.  How am I meant to do that? 

Can trophy (from Google)

As the due date was getting nearer, I started to panic.  Haven't really thought of  how to make this project.  I have never been so blank with ideas.  Maybe I shouldn't have said yes to this, in the first place.  There are times when I just wish I have a special power or a fairy godmother of some sort that could help me do magic.  

Work it out.  Kept telling this to myself, just so I can focus and finish the project.  Moments later, rolling pin literally started rolling.  The original plan to make the trophy out of sculpted cake did not seem to work.  Because the cake is moist chocolate, it kept crumbling.  Last option I had before running out of time to run to the supermarket was ice cream cone. The shape is similar to the trophy.  I was crossing my fingers that this won't be a waste of time and effort after all.

God is just so good.  He helped me finish this project.  

my version of a trophy cake

Award title that goes with the trophy

Very happy I managed to survive the test.  Nearly lost my patience while getting too concerned with other details.  One thing I learned about this project is that there should be a work plan drafted ahead of time.  

"When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out".