Project: Barbie cake and cupcakes

I was recently given the privilege to do a cake and some cupcakes for one of our friend's daughter who turned seven on January first.  It's a common knowledge that Filipinos love celebrating birthdays, most especially kids birthdays.  But it still remains unclear to me why the 7th for the girls is always given as much importance as the 18th.  Could someone please explain that to me?  

Hazel, the mom, personally came to our house a few weeks back to discuss with me the kind of cake they would like.  Barbie was the chosen theme for the party so somehow I could already picture out in my head some bits of ideas.  A 3-tier cake with barbie sitting on top would be the main design, while pink being the primary color. 

Another 3-tier would then be added to my portfolio.  Praise the Lord!  

Monday, the 31st, while most of you were probably busy preparing for medya noche, I, in our own little kitchen, was working under pressure.  Had two cakes to decorate, cupcakes to bake and a myriad other tasks to do.  Sigh.  

Surprisingly, covering this cake went all smooth and easy.  Stacking didn't give me any trouble this time. 

I certainly had fun working on this project.  The combination of pink and white gave it a very feminine touch. 

And Barbie, isn't she the prettiest in her deep black hair?

As for the cupcakes, I had to waste one batch of red velvet cupcakes of about 18 pieces because for some reason they didn't rise properly.  It might have been caused by the warm weather that day or there could be any other.  But when I tried another batch lowering the oven temperature from 170 degrees Celsius to 150, somehow the cupcakes came out much better than I expected.  

Didn't get the chance to take some nice macro photos of these cupcakes.  I was too busy working all day trying to finish these projects and then cooking for our New Year's Eve party. 

Coming home at 1 o'clock in the morning, I still had to frost these cupcakes.  Went to bed at 3AM and started work at 8AM.  Such a great way to start a new year!