Christenings and 30th's

At the start of the week I was asked to make 2 cakes for Sunday. A christening cake and a surprise 30th birthday. For the christening cake what instantly came to mind was doing a quilted patten. I'd seen so many nice quilted cakes out there that I've always wanted to give it a go, and this was the perfect occasion to do so! As for other parts of the decoration I thought a plaque with the baby's name was perfect and some sort of edible decoration on top. For the 30th birthday cake I had no idea! Luckily I was informed that the birthday boy participated in Jiu Jitsu so we agreed on the idea of a rectangle cake that looked like the Jiu Jitsu uniform.

To save time both cakes were made with the same recipe. I have a fail safe chocolate cake recipe that I have been using for the past year but am looking out for newer recipes to expand my selection base. Therefore with these cakes we decided on a marble mud cake recipe (will be waiting reviews on the taste!). 

Through the whole start of the week I thought about what sort of decoration I should add on the christening cake. I went from rocking horses to monkeys to teddy bears. I tried to stay away from doing an actual baby because I didn't think I could make one but low and behold, thats what I ended up doing! 

Here was my peaceful sleeping baby boy I left to dry overnight. I actually wanted him to be on his tummy but I couldn't get the arms and legs right so sleeping on his back it was. I also made a half moon and left to dry overnight. 

The next day I woke up to RAIN!!!!!!! Rain as most decorators know is the devil!  It creates too much moisture in the air and everything gets sticky. So yes, poor baby was sticky and my moon was nowhere near dry... not good as it is supposed to stay upright on the cake.

For the quilting I used a lovely tutorial provided by Sharon Wee Creations on her facebook page. The only problem was my fondant was sticky and my stencil kept sticking to the sides ruining the perfect fondant covering I had done. Oh wells I said and persisted on. Sigh, nothing ever goes to plan! haha

I used royal icing to pipe the baby boy's name and thought adding a cross was a nice touch for a christening cake. 

Baby boy christening cake

As you can see in these pictures of the cake the moon is standing. After these pics were taken it bent over because it was still too wet! So now it is off the cake lying flat hopefully drying out before tomorrow morning. If not the cake will survive without it :(

As for my second cake, the 30th birthday cake, I didn't spend nearly as much time as the christening cake. I really wanted to create a 3d collar but due to the silly weather I felt it would never have worked and opted for no collar. Any fondant to fondant touch would have stuck forever therefore there was no room for any mistakes. It was a really simple cake but I still managed to ruin even a simple cake...

Jiu Jitsu Cake. Can you see the slight shine? Cake is still sticky due to the weather!

So the black belt was supposed to be blue according to my brief which I totally missed! But the black belt is technically a higher title so hopefully the birthday boy can now focus on getting that black belt during his next 30 years! 

I've been making a cake a week for the past few weeks it feels. I need a mini break! Hard to juggle everything by myself since I also work full time during the day.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading. Have a great day :)
Dee