Naughty and Sweet....

The wedding day is one of the happiest day of a girl's life. That I would agree on, but any bride to be should not walk down the alter without having the proper celebrations with her nearest and dearest girlfriends.

 

There are a many ways a bride can celebrate her hen's night, it could be from an elegant sophisticated bridal shower with canapés and sparkling wine to something a bit more wild like a hens' night.

 

This story is about the latter in March 2014, a order was given for a Chippendale model cake. Now this was interesting. this was going to be one of my first 3D cake of a human body and it also was the first time I was making a naughty cake.

 

The cake was chocolate covered in chocolate ganache. Easy peasy, the challenge to come was how am I going to get perfect six pack. After quiet a bit of brainstorming and coming up with crazy ideas such as adding cereal treats inbetween to painting six packs on the fondant, I decided my trade was going to be was to ensure that every part of shi shi's cakes was going to be edible. So I was going to carve out the six pack from the cake. Easy at sounded, I had to make sure each pack was equal to the other and at the same time keeping a vigilant eye to see that my mother doesn't pop a piece of cake that I had set aside for the other parts of the cake. An interesting task indeed, when I have plenty of family members always ready to eat the crumbs.

 

The end result was better than expected. The whole cake took 5 hours to complete at the end of which you got this.....

 

Despicable Miiinion....... a life lesson

      Hello everyone, I know it has been a looooooong time. Not to worry, the good news is that Shi Shi's Creations has been super busy the last year and business has grown.

 

  If you can recollect your childhood days. What was one of the questions your parents would ask? a) what would you like for your birthday (of course) b)What would you like for your birthday cake? and most of time we would always want it to be in the shape of our latest favorite cartoon/movie character.So every year your parent would go through this cycle to figure out what you would like.  In March 2014, I was approached by a father wanting a Minion cake for his son.

 If you ask yourself the question 'what is a Minion', I would highly recommend, that you go to your local DVD rental shop and grab a copy of Despicable Me 1 & 2. This is one movie that will entertain people of all ages. I even caught my big tough father having a good laugh watching the movie ;) 

   The cake was very simple. It was a rectangular vanilla sponge with a Minion on top decorated with buttercream icing. A very simple cake indeed but like every person I meet through my cake making, this father taught me the importance of giving to others. Every year for his children’s birthdays, his family chose to celebrate the day by providing a meal to a children’s orphanage and only cutting a cake at home with the family. He wanted to teach his children how important it is to remember those less fortunate to us.

   It made think how important whilst being successful in life to also share that success with others that are in need. Thank you to that specific father [you know who you are ;-) ] for a great a lesson and another creations to add to my collection.

 

 

 

 

For the love of Basketball

It has been a great start to the year 2014, where many orders have been coming in for Shi shi creations. My chocolate cake being the most sort after.

Most of the orders have been for the cake alone without any special decoration. Then came an order for a customised cake. As always the requests become more and more interesting.

 

This time the order was for a basketball jersey with a basketball on top. Easy it seemed, but my question was how was I going to get a  miniture basketball model on top of a cake. So I went through my options, should I make another cake, or should I cover a plastic ball with fondant. Then, thanks to the many cake shows on television I decided to make the ball with rice treats.

For those who haven't heard about rice treats, it is cereal bars made combining sugar, butter and rice bubbles. Instead of sugar I decided to use marshmellows to combine the cereal together. It is the perfect solution to creating models which are edible. 

For the Jersey, I baked a 4lb rectangle chocolate cake which I cut into the design of a Jersey. The cake was covered with chocolate ganache and then covered with vanilla fondant. The colors used on the Jersey (Blue, Yellow and White) are the colors of one of the big boy schools in Sri Lanka,
St Peters College.  

 

 

Another successful cake and another happy customer...Thank you for ordering from Shi shi creations

Lemond Curd Meringue Treats

Happy 2014 to all !!!

Meringues a simple treat but a challenging enterprise to make. As always I enjoy experimenting and taking on these challenges, so I decided to make a batch of meringues.

Personally I love to have the meringue crispy on top with a chewy centre, so with a bit of trial and error came up with golden crispy, chewy meringues.

So to make this creation a bit more interesting I made my first homemade lemon curd. Lemon curd
is a thick creamy spread that can be used on scones or to make lemon cream frosting.

So to make these delightful meringue treats I combined the lemon curd with some whipped cream and garnished it with a strawberry. Enjoy !!!

For all the soccer fanatics

This was an opportunity that I couldn't refuse. The order was for a soccer ball on a green field, with the Manchester united logo attached. Simple it did sound but I had no clue how to cake a round dome shape out of cake. It would have been simple for me to have found a cake tray that was a semi circle, however the order was for a ribbon cake.

To all my followers who aren't aware of what a ribbon cake is, it is basically a light pound cake with one layer colored in pink and the other layer colored in green and the frosting is an almond flavored butter cream. 

So after quite a bit of research and viewing many videos on youtube, I got the art of carving a basic round cake into a curvy round ball. 

2 Tier ribbon cake with almond flavored butter cream, covered with vanilla fondant

Ladies VS Musaeus Regatta

For any Ladies and Musaeus girl/oarswoman, past or present this is one of the biggest events in their sporting calendar. Being the sister of the current Ladies' College captain, as a tribute to both teams I created a 1lb cake and two toned mini cupcakes.

I do need to warn that my attempt at making the oars was not a success due to the lack of time and humidity, so they unfortunately did not keep their form.

The cake was a mini rainbow cake, you must be wondering what I mean about a mini rainbow cake, well the fact was this was a four layer cake, themed around the Ladies' College (Red and White) and Musaeus College (Blue and Yellow) colors.  To cover the surprise inside was was a white cream cheese frosting.

The cupcakes were vanilla flavor with with vanilla butter cream, colored to the same theme. The reason for  having all the four colors was because my sister wanted to send the message that out of the water both teams can create a close bond among each other for the future. Congratulations, to both teams on yet another great regatta.  

Bows and Polka dots

This order came all the way from Australia from a dear family member that wanted a surprise cake made for her cousin. I was quite excited to take on this order because it would have been the biggest order I had done. It involved the baking of a cake plus 48 mini cupcakes. Additional to the quantity of baking I needed to create a bow out of fondant for the first time.

The color theme was to be red and white with a bow on top. So after many pictures and ideas being exchanged the final order was placed. So putting my baking hat on I started creating and adding my twist to the cake.

Red Velvet cake and cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting, covered with Vanilla fondant

Picture taken by Shivani  Kobbekaduwa

Picture taken by Shivani  Kobbekaduwa

Picture taken by Shivani  Kobbekaduwa

Flowers and Rainbows....

One of the most exciting cakes I have done was a rainbow cake  for my sister's 18th. Waking up at 6 am in the morning every day was so worth it when the end result was this;

  
I wanted to go for a more simple look for this cake so that when you cut into it there was a surprise in store.

The frosting was a delicious cream cheese icing that gave it that additional moisture and sheen. It is advisable to keep this cake in the refrigerator and take it out 15 minutes before serving because in the humid temperature such as in Sri Lanka the icing tends to melt quite a bit. So to avoid a pool at the base of the cake it is best to keep the cake chilled.

Strawberry Delight !!!!

So in November last year  for my birthday, I wanted to create something a bit different and because  so many of my friends have already tasted my chocolate cake I decided to change it up a bit. I’am generally not a person who likes the the spotlight to much so I decided not to go for the traditional concept of singing “happy birthday” and cutting a cake. Instead I decided to make a cake that could be served as a dessert and still can be appealing to the eye.

This was definitely one of the less challenging cakes I have made. To start, I baked a simple vanilla sponge which I cut into three layers. Then covered the first two layers with sweet vanilla custard. You can chose to make the custard from the custard powder or make it from scratch. I chose to cheat a bit and went for the pre-made powder which is available in any supermarket. On top of the custard layer, freshly cut strawberries is placed. For the final layer of cake, instead of covering it with custard it is covered with light fluffy whip cream and decorated with whole strawberries.

So there you go everyone, this is my strawberry delight.

Rock n Roll

My first official cake order came from a family member. He wanted a customized cake for his son's 21st birthday, which was to be a decoration of a guitar, but I wanted to challenge myself so I decided to make this a 3D electric guitar cake.

To make the design I cut the cake in a form of a guitar with a stencil. Then came the tricky work of covering the cake with fondant. The initial plan was to make a blue colored guitar but as I was mixing the colors the fondant changed from a light sky blue to an amazing Teale color. As many of you cake makers maybe knowing working with fondant  is quiet a tough job but with constant practice and a tad bit of help of some measuring tools I got the design i wanted . These tools can be purchased from Cake Decorating Central in Australia (www.cakedecoratingcentral.com/)‎.

The inside was my famous chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and to get the shimmering effect I  brushed the fondant with teale luster to give that finishing touch. This was to be the start of many unique cakes to come.

 

Sugar Flowers

When you go for a wedding what is the first thing that gets you attention?  For me it is the wedding cake structure. I love analyzing the flower on the cake and seeing how it has been made. This curiosity lead me to join my first sugarpaste flower modeling class. It was during my time in Australia where I thought I should take this great opportunity and refine my skills. So for two consecutive weekends I attended a class where I learnt to make tulips, orchids, roses, lilies and sweet peas. Below are some of the roses I made and used on a graduation cake for my cousin.

It was a two tier cake with the first base being my signature chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting and the second tier was a chocolate chip vanilla cake with pink butter icing frosting made in the form of a graduation hat. The roses were placed to add that little bit of girliness. The cake was a success with my cousin's guests and even the roses. I am guessing quiet a few people were on a sugar high after all that sugar consumption.

The second flower was one of the lilies I made for my sister's birthday cake.These flowers took me three days to complete with the high humidity level in Sri Lanka I had to begin my work by 6.00 am in the morning and be done before the sun is up to melt everything away. This was my first flowers made in this humid conditions after returning back from Australia and happy to see the outcome. 

About Shi Shi's

To Start of this blog an introduction to myself. Ever since I was 6 years old I have had the love for baking. This love started from the moment I found out Santa Claus's favorite food was cookies, so with the excitement of looking forward to Christmas and presents, I decided to make a special treat for good old father Christmas. From that day forward I have never looked back. 

I can't really say that I come from a family of bakers, but the one person that shared my passion for baking is my grandmother. Many times we would be in my mother's kitchen trying out one of her famous recipes or learning the skills of curling the rose petal to make it that little bit more special.

So now as an adult; I have specialized my talents to create unique customized cakes for family and friends. This blog will contain all my creations to share with you all.  Enjoy !!!

I feel like a Red Velvet Cupcake

One famous cake that many people are making and eating a lot these days is the "Red Velvet" . I first heard about red velvet cupcakes /cakes was by watching Masterchef Australia, an amazing show which always inspires me to create something.

So putting my chef hat on I made my first batch of red velvet cupcakes for a dear friend of mine.

I have come across instances when others have used butter cream for the top, I believe this is done because it is more cost effective, but I still prefer to use the cream cheese frosting as it is less sweet and gives just that little kick of sourness that makes the cake all the more delicious. Cream cheese is available in Sri Lanka, under the "Happy Cow" brand, however you will be looking at spending around Rs 430/= per 250g container and stocks do run out quickly (that story will come up later). Enjoy !!

Trial an Error

So this post is about, the challenge I had with working with fondant icing. Yes, this may seem strange, when I have worked with fondant before. However previously, my work has all been in the cool temperature in Australia, but returning back to my home country came with it the challenge of the warm tropical weather.

Thhe order was for a friend who wanted to surprise her big sis with something special for her birthday.  The cake was my usual chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. So to explain the story behind the fondant....my first batch of fondant unfortunately due to a lack of too little binding ingredient (Glycerine) the consistency was not of rolling ability, therefore the batch had to be discarded.

The second batch was a success, as the fondant was of roll-able consistency (Tip- the quantities of each ingredient has to be exactly correct). Then came the next challenge of coloring the icing, at the same time I was running against clock to make sure the cake was done in time. In Sri Lanka, as the day goes by the humidity increases therefore the fondant begins to melt, which makes it a challenge to roll. To avoid this it is always advisable to scatter some corn flour/ starch on the rolling area. The reason for not using icing sugar on the table is because it can easily melt and also can cause the fondant to dry out. So with a lot of kneading and many sticky moments the cake was completed.

The cake was covered with Sky blue fondant and Teale luster dust was brushed on top to give it a sheen. Then it was decorated around with colored flowers and topped off with a large Dark Pink fondant "26". The edging was covered with pink butter cream icing to add the last bit of girliness.

Go the mighty penguins !!

Many may read this title and assume that I will be creating a penguin shaped cake but sorry to disappoint you this wasn't the plan. To explain the title a bit, " The Penguins" otherwise better known as the "Pittsburgh Penguins" is an Ice hockey team from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and one of their biggest fans use to sit right next to me at work. This was none other than my assistant manager at the time. She was a strong follower of the team and I don't believe during the time I was working with her that she ever missed watching one of their matches.

On the day of her farewell party I made a cake revolving around the theme  "her favorite team". The cake was  chocolate cake on the top which I covered with a white fondant. Unfortunately this time due to the time constraints of my job I had to cheat a little bit an purchase some ready made fondant from my favorite cake shop, "cake decorating central" -( http://www.cakedecoratingcentral.com/).

Each piece of  "The Penguins" logo was individually cut out and stuck on to the white fondant layer. The glove and beak outline was with butter icing and to finish it off the red maple leave to symbolize her new home. To complete this cake it took me 2 days with the demands of working in a hotel i would come home to complete my piece of art. K.Z  you were an inspirational leader and a great role model.