Banana Pajamas Cake

My son's birthday is on boxing day and we usually celebrate his birthday on Christmas Eve with logcake as his birthday cake.  But this year, I decided to bake a special cake for him.  Initially I thought of just baking a normal quick and easy chocolate cake (like last  year) or go down to the bakery to buy him a cake...but guilt got the better of me.  Even though I am not certain if he knows what or when his birthday is (and he is still rather confused as to how old he actually is), I should still make him feel special by baking one of his favorite character cakes.   I figured Banana Pajamas is probably quite appropriate because whenever you ask him to sing a Birthday Song, he would sing it as "...Happy Birthday B1 & B2.." and not his name or any other person's name...because he is replaying this episode of Banana Pajamas in his mind - of them celebrating their birthday with Morgan, Lulu & Amy with a cake, munchy honey cakes and yellow jelly.. 

This design is taken from Debbie Brown's book. Of course her Banana Pajamas character cake is way way way better than this.  That's because i didn't follow her instructions and I used my own cake base and thus resulted in a not-so-great Banana Pajamas. But inspiration and design is from Debbie Brown.  

Again, i couldn't decide which photo i like better, thus posted up both of them.   Since this cake wasn't exactly planned for and last minute i rushed through, i felt that i didn't really do a very good job in carving or fondant work..but at least they still look like Banana Pajamas since my son is able to identify them..and he seems pretty happy when i completed it.  We have yet to cut the cake, so not sure if he will be upset if we cut it tonight though..

Happy 18th Birthday to my son Joel! Yes, he is 18 already and i can't believe it....i  keep forgetting at times and still sees him as my little boy..  

Updates: [He didn't want to cut the cake at all...probably he doesn't sees it as a cake and doesn't want to destroy it........hmm..maybe i should just bake him a plain cake next time so at least he knows a cake is a cake..hahaha]. 

Wedding Macarons

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my earlier post re the wedding cookies i made for my friend.  All of you are always so encouraging and kind with your words.  Thanks! :D   Without further ado, here's the second installment of the wedding cookies..this time round in the form of macarons.  Macarons are also cookies correct?  Not so sure..but i think so.  As my friend's wedding theme is pink, so pink and white macarons (white looking more like champagne color actually) it is.. I hunted for THE cute ribbon for the longest time and managed to find the one that i like but it's sooo expensive...what to do, i needed to have that ribbon to complete the entire look for the macaron-lollipops, so not much of a choice. 

Tying the ribbons was hard work..believe me..trying to get those little dots facing the correct way was a pain..i actually took 1 hour just to bag and tie 35 of them!  Thankfully only 35 of them in lollipops..the balance 100+ are just normal macarons...*phew*..

I set these up for my amateurish photoshoot..hahaha.  I can't decide if i like the dark background better or the white one. So i posted both here. As you can see, my Macdonald's coke glasses are in action again. Sorry folks, i really don't have any vase or nice flower pots or proper glasses at all.. i only have these free coke glasses..and i have a LOT..yup..i spend every weekend at Macdonalds because that is my son's favorite place.  

In case you all wondering, i baked the shells before i left for my hols to Japan.  I must say macaron freezes very well.  Thus, I just spend the whole of last night after work filling them.  Otherwise, i don't think i can do all 140+ macarons in just a night...and find time to take photos.. :D 

I'm pretty pleased with how my macarons turned out..so sweet and pretty in pink and white.  :D   The pink ones are strawberry macarons filled with strawberry jelly and buttercream. The white ones are rum and raisin macarons filled with "rum-mish" raisin jam and rum buttercream.  Both flavors are the Bride's favorite! :D 

Merry Christmas everyone! :D

Wedding Favor Cookies

Just got back from my hols on Friday and had to rush through my friend's order for wedding favor cookies, so i didn't have much time to comment on blogs or to catch up quite as quickly. I surprise myself sometimes - I managed to bake 120+ cookies on Saturday and then ice them all the very next day.  Oh..as usual, my husband is always at my back nagging as to what time i'm finishing and it's late etc, so i had to ignore him after a while...

My friend's wedding theme is pink, so all the cookies have to be in pink.   Cookies were made in 4 different flavors..and i used different recipe for each flavor (I like to try new recipes...i get bored easily...so i don't always stick to a particular recipe).  They all turned out quite yummy and sweet. :)

Wedding Favors: 喜喜 Heart Cookies

Wedding Favors: Lace Heart Cookies

Wedding Favors: Mini 'Love' Heart Cookies

Mini Cupcake Cookies

Snowflake Cookies

Candy Wrapper Cookies

The candy wrappers cookies imo weren't very well piped as i was rushing through and felt that my piping wasn't as delicate as i would like..plus my arm and hand were tired after icing 120+ cookies.   As you can see, i did the heart shaped cookies first and the rest later..  My friend's wedding is on Christmas Eve, so i added the snowflakes there so she can put on her dessert table.   

So here ends the part 1 of the wedding cookies...i'm working on part 2 tonight....hopefully I get them out on time as per my schedule..