The Woodlands

Od has been a Quintbelles customer multiple times already and it's always a joy when she orders. She usually let us know her budget, her theme and an idea of what she's interested in (birthday cake, cookies, or mini cakes). Her youngest celebrated his first birthday recently and they threw a party in 8 Waves Hotel in Bulacan.

Her theme for this part is the woodlands. We had a couple of ideas for the main cake but what we knew for sure was we're going to make the cake 3D! The problem though is the party is 1.5hrs from Manila and the cake has definitely got to withstand the transport bumps and breaks. We finally decided on a 3D owl! :)


The Cake

Surely an Od party needs more than just a spectacular cake! So we set up a woodlands background from cupcakes. Each cupcake has a two-dimension topper based on Joachim's party decorations.

If you look closer, there are Woodland Mushrooms sprouting all over. My mom said that red and white mushrooms are poisonous but these are totally edible because inside are chocolate kisses with almonds! Covered in red gumpaste and piped with white royal icing. The stems are then made out of gumpaste.

Owls. Squirrels. Trees. Frogs. Turtles. Nuts.

Setup of cupcakes.

To make the set up complete, we made 3 bird houses in 3 different colors!

The cake set up was a hit! Yey!

Why We Bake Cakes

I don't know how many cake decorators there are in the country but there are about 45 members in Filipina Homebakers Online -- a group that fosters camaraderie of Filipina bakers. Sometimes, I wonder why we'd bother with the long hours, sticky and tired hands, the washing of a mountain pans and stuff,and the increasing prices of ingredients. Really, these are just some of the issues we deal with. Cake decorating isn't always as fun as they show in Ace of Cakes.

At 2am, while still working on a cake that I would have to deliver in 6 hours time, I continue to wonder if it's all worth it. Sleep? Maybe just nap. The cleaning? Those can't wait, you know...'Coz the icing will harden, then, it'll take even longer to wash off.

So why do we bake cakes? I think all the downside are overshadowed by one fact: we will be part of a special event. It could be a monthsary, the baptismal of the 4th child, or her job promotion. We may not know the celebrator, we may never ever meet them but one thing's for sure-- we would be on one of the photos they will take. The cakes we make get to be a star even for a few minutes. We spend multiple hours on a cake, and it'll be a quick birthday song but we still think it's 10 hours well spent. We may not even be recognize by the celebrator, but if for one moment, the cake made them happy-- that's all that matters to us.

And sometimes, what's amazing is you get to do a wedding cake and a 50th wedding anniversary cake on the same weekend!

To celebrate the beginning of their lives together.

To celebrate their 50 years together.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23893156@N07/

So if you ask me why we bake cakes, I'll show you the photo above and say, that and everything that happens in between.

Christmas Cakes

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Christmas is always a busy time for homebakers like us. Sugary confections abound this time of the year with boxes and boxes of cookies, bars, and cakes!

Quintbelles specializes on baking Food for the Gods and cupcakes but sometimes, there will be special orders-- like Christmas Gift Boxes and the Santa Gift Bags (pictured above).

These colorful creations are covered and decorated in fondant and gumpaste.

What's your favorite confection this year? Leave us a comment :)

Iron Man Cupcakes

Did you watch Iron Man? It's Ravi's favorite character!

Each cupcake topper was designed by hand because there's no cutter for Iron Man. We started by doing the red base first then put in eyes followed by the gold mask.

36 chocolate Iron Man cupcakes

The 3D head was a lot harder to make. Made out of cake, we carved the shape of the head then covered it with red fondant. Another layer of fondant with eyes cut out was place on the front side. Accents were done and then finally, the front face was painted in gold.

Do you like this cake? Let us know! :)

Transportation Month

This was definitely a month of transportation cakes. Cars, trains, and trucks! All for little boys!

This cake is made of chocolate and covered in red, yellow and blue fondant :)

I love the photo above because it looks like multilevel parking.

These cupcakes are for Karan's 4th birthday. We did his 3rd birthday cakes and they were 12 pieces of the same designs. This year, he attends a bigger class thus his mom ordered 36 pieces! These cupcakes look easy, right? They're not! Each truck has a lot of details so it takes time to do them.

This is Karan's candle blowing cake. It's the same design as the previous year! Only in a different color :)

Thomas and Friends cake for Elijah.

We've done these cakes many times but every time's like the first time! :) We look forward to do more car cakes next year! :)