The dance of the peacock - finale

Salam to all ... semuga kita semua terus diberkati and dirahmati Allah....and diselamatkan dari malapetaka dan bencana alam. Takut bila mendengar malapetaka tsunami yg melanda Jepun yg terus merebak ke negara disepanjang lautan Pasifik dan yang paling terbaru ..gempa bumi di Honshu at 6.5 skala richter...and it happened yesterday..28th of March 2011. Banyak nyawa yg telah terkorban...and ia ibarat kiamat kecil...tiada amaran tiada petanda..semuanya menunjukkan kebesaran Allah yng Maha Berkuasa..teknologi secanggih mana pun tidak dapat mengawal keadaan...tua muda...kaya miskin..semuanya tidak dapat bersembunyi or menyelamatkan diri..bangunan yg tinggi dan kapal2 besar tumbang dan diterbalikkan...betapa besarnya kuasa Allah...manusia selama ini mendabik dada..berlumba-lumba menghasilkan kuasa tenaga yang tercanggih dan sekarang ia menjadi mimpi yang menakutkan bukan sahaja kepada penduduk Jepun tetapi kepada penduduk dunia juga apabila kita mendengar radiasi nuklear semakin meningkat..bayangkan makanan segar terpaksa dibuang kerana terdapat kesan radiasi yg tinggi....Anggaplah semua yang terjadi adalah amaran kecil dari Allah bahawa kiamat pasti berlaku dan apabila ia berlaku tiada siapa yg dapat menyelamatkan diri hatta ibu2 yg mengandung sekalipun...and sama2 lah kita cuba perbaiki kehidupan dan amalan kita supaya sentiasa mengikuti perintah Allah dan RasulNYA...amin...

Ok..back to deco story...and let me continue about the dance of the peacock...my participation in ICCA wedding cake competition...Maybe ramai decorators lain kata..alah it's a small competition and tak penting pun..but I tell u, the competition was a great event...where we had the chance to see all the superb work of other decos...and see different techniques of others...if kita rasa our work yg paling bagus selama ni ..ada ramai lagi yang hasil kerjanya lebih menakjubkan...this is the place where evrybody bebas untuk menunjukkan kekreatifan masing...coz wktu inilah kita tidak terikat dgn kehendak customer..we are our own customer...apa sahaja yg terbayang dikepala boleh dizahirkan and tanpa memikirkan kos yg terlibat...



For this peacock design, I wanted it to be a peacock with charisma and gah...maka sebab itu kepalanya dipositionkan begitu..as if it were trying to tell.."i'm feeling great and don't mess with me"...lol...but this is hanya untuk tujuan presentation aje..bukan untuk membanggakan diri...pls do not misunderstand....tiada niat langsung untuk mendabik dada...semuanya sekadar untuk memberi character to the peacock...takkan I nak buat lehernya terkulai layu pula....and balung or jambulnya memang I buat my own version...It's all about imagination...



So finally the whole peacock...and it was brought all the way from Melaka to Sunway Giza...but not the whole thing..the bits and pieces were assembled at tune hotel which was about 5 minutes drive from the venue...but it took us about 30 minutes to reach the venue...kena bawa slow sgt...and we were lucky masa tu ada traffic jam so we were moving at a very slow speed and made some illegal entrance also..in order to avoid long distance....I was afraid it will break in pieces during the journey and my heart was beating very fast and my big hug to my darling muchkin who took the effort to study the condition of the road a nite prior to the delivery...he studied all the bumps, holes and apa sahaja halangan yg ada diatas jalan..sehinggalah keadaan diparking lot pun he studied...he planned everything about the logistic...and I just concentrated on the finishing of the peacock...Alhamdulillah the journey was smooth...and tiada satu pun yang patah...alhamdulillah. Bila tiba aje di venue, my spirit was quite low bila melihat hasil kerja orng lain..semuanya menghasilkan kerja yg sgt kreatif and cantik...and honestly I had this thought in my mind...."kenapalah aku buat peacock ni? It looks so ugly". Infact sewaktu siap aje I dah terfikir kenapa le I uat peacock n bukan benda lain...yup, I'm sure m y deco friends always have that kind of question...we are the worst pengkritik to our own work.


This is one of my favorite moment...the judging process..Tears were in my eyes by just looking at how the judges commented on my peacock..The way they looked at my creation and chatted to each other about it was one of the moment yg I will never forget...tak tahu mcm mana nak describekan perasaannya ketika itu..hanya yg memasuuki pertandingan tersebut tahu apa yg I rasa...By the way, judges bukan sebarang orang...Eddie Spence..to me he is the Godfather of Royal Icing..Debbie Brown..nama yg tidak asing lagi dalam figurine model...Rose from Wilton USA..and Rosalind...head of ICCA...And another one of the best moment was...memerhatikan spectators looking at our creation...n not to mention the feeling when cameras and flashlights were focused on our creations...I was sitting down at a corner with my munchkin looking at people admiring my creation and at the same time the song "flying without wings " was aired ..and my munchkin..while holding my hand...dedicated the song to me and this what he said to me " I'm very proud of u and definitely u deserve all the attention..and this song is right for u..u are really flying without wings now" ...no words can described my feeling at the moment..except tears in my eyes...tears of happiness...

And what are the judges comment..yup, we had a chance to listen to them directly after the results were given out...Mesti ada yang nak tahu apa yg judges told me..and please bear in mind I post the comments bukan untuk menunjuk2 or bangga diri..but supaya dapat dijadikan perangsang kepada semua decorators lain




Eddie :
Yr peacock is the most creative....the flow of the tail is very beautiful...but it will be more beautiful if u can create a very bushy tail..more tails will definitely give u ...the point for the highly commended award..yrs is just one point away...other than that yrs is very beautiful....nice piping job ..."OMG Eddie..more tails? Oh with the current tails pun I dah nak pengsan.."



Debbie :
i love everything especially the cakeboard..very nicely painted...(actually the cake board is not my original idea...it's mitch turner's..and had to do it coz the cake board was not even...covering up strategy)



Rosalind :
Nice piping work...but u should have hidden t joints....(she was reffering to the joint of the wings...(yup..that was my biggest losing point...but actually i was so afraid that the wings might pecah..those two were the last set i had..i had four sets...8pcs altogether..the wings was supposed to be floating and after i broke the first 3 sets..my munchkin suggested do not take any more risk...he asked me to attach it to the base of the wing..and am i glad i follow his advise...)

Kelvin chua (he is the judge who made me so nervous)..this is straight away from his fb msg to me...KC..hope u don't mind
shikin dearie... i was having long chat wif shah, about ur work. we can see tat u r very different. if u ever hav the chance to enter ur future creations to overseas competition, it would be another advantage for u....

as a first timer like u, u able to create something so brave ( ok, tats my style, tak kisah orang macam mana tengok u...lol ), normally people will start wif tier cake, flower, cutters, so boring ( but judges like that ok )...but u, wow, ayamas straight away! kepala ayam tu lagi mau stare at the judges...patutlah mreka takut! lol

heres a little advise: should hav made a pair of peacock, one is too lonely...so, next year, do peacock again, one pair, n advance lagi, with no paste attached, just pure royal icing piping n run out! nice challenge huh !...but hor, peacock again, too boring kan?... so better scratch ur head from now on, challenge new thing...

So those were the comments from the judges and also my sifu..Kelvin Chua via FB...And alhamdulillah my creation was chosen as one of the commended category...and I was one of the top tens...but winning is not the target..Everybody who entered the competition was a winners for daring to to show their masterpiece to to the world...and should be proud of with all the creations...



Notice the tails sudah rosak..due to the humidity in the hall during at night time..infact banyak creations yg rosak...but what to do...






Well..before I pen off..to all my dear decorators friends ..jom kita ramai2 memeriahkan this year competition...It's not about winning..it's about showing the world of our creation..trust me...u will know what I meant if u join the event...lots of funs, lots of xperiences...lots of sharings..and lots of new friends...so see u guys in this year competition..but before I pull down the curtain to my peacock entry..i will like to thank all the wonderful and dearest people in my life who had always believe in my work...who always encourage me..and who always push me to the highest level...my big hugs of thank you to...my dad, my MIL, my sister and brother..my BIL ans SIL, my IU8 friends, my UGCAU gang...u know who u are, my bibik, my staffs...and the most important of all...to my dearest wonderful kids and my darling mucnhkin...Thank you Allah for giving me these wonderful people..

Lingkaran kasih

salam semua....finally i can gantung my apron for a short while...had been busy baking cuppies...hundreds of them for the past few days..and honestly, I prefer baking cakes compared to cuppies. If setakat 25 biji tu ok sangat le..but if dah beratus-ratus rasa mcm nak pengsan..kerjanya leceh sgt..kena isi satu persatu...if big cakes..tuang aje semua dlm acuan terus aje bakar..and boleh buat kerja lain. When it comes the time to decorate lagi haru...1000 cuppies..1000 kali kena hias...if big cakes senang aje..but I still enjoy doing it...maybe salah satu kebagusannya membuat cuppies..the whole family members have to help me....my 2 youngest tolong isikan cawan kertas, my eldest tolong sapukan cream n my munchkin...kena pegang piping bag tolong I decorate... ;)



Ok...this entry is my showcase for a work which had been done long time ago..sorry ye Farah..aunty is so busy...cuma ada masa sekali seminggu saja nak update my blog..This cake ditempah khas oleh Sis Farah dari Seremban istimewa untuk kejutan kakak kesayangannya yg bernama Farah juga..ha..ha...ha...me too having the same problem..I have two adorable and lovely Farahs too..Farah Diyana...and Farah Eeman..n they go to the same school..and bila cikgu cakap pasal Farah..I have to ask them which Farah. And the best thing my sister lagi besar masalahnya nanti..she has 4 lovely Faqihas..my beautiful and lorat nieces in Kemaman. Oops..I dah mula melalut...So according to Farah, she wanted something very sweet and English...So in my head terus terbayang..small roses yang melingkari sekeliling cake..pink and white...laces n butterflies..



So my roses kali ni memang small roses...with different hues of pink...senang aje nak buat ros ni..and tak ambil masa yg lama...and the green lingkaran I gunakan royal icing...begitu juga dengan daunnya...gunakan piping nozzle utk daun...nozzle no 67, 66 and 65...and ada yg lebih kecil lagi..65s...and of course the daun will be small...sesuai untuk cupcakes...



Oops..jangan tertipu..itu bukan lace dari royalicing..ramai yg ingat royal icing...I gunakan lace mould bought from sugarflours...Phew,berpeluh membuatnya masa mula2...habis semua rakan2 bakers i kacau that day ertanyakan mcm mana nak dapatkan hasil yg terbaik..including Kak Nor Zalina..tq kak for yr willingness to teach me via FB walaupun masa tu u sedang dalam percutian..tq kakak ;). What I did was..campurkan sikit CMC pd fondant...and sapukan icing sugar pd mould..then gelekkan fondant atas mould tu...be very careful bila keluakan fondant dari mould coz it will be so small and nipis and mudah koyak..it took me the whole morning to master it..if susah guna pin untuk removekan fondant tu and terus tampal pada kek...once u dah master the technique, it will be easy then..so to make it very english looking, I tampalkan keliling kek..which took me the whole afternoon to do it..but hasilnya berbaloi..cantikkk....

So this is the bottom tier...keknya memang besar..a 14 inch cake...and kali ni susunannya I buat sebaris kebelakang...coz i nak menampakkan lebih lingkaran dibahagian hadapan...as if bunga2 tu terkeluar dari celahan kek....


And as for the second tier...I used bigger size lace and different design too...but tiada bunga menghiasi tier ni..i just wanna a white tier yg romantic...sebab tu ada white butterflies..I love butterflies and as usual...semuanya diairbrush dgn white pearl Americolor sheen..



And for the top tier..or maybe i boleh panggil topper kot...actually it was a dummy
So it was filled with bunch of roses yg dikelilingi butterflies...




And here is the final rupa of the whole set..ans as usual the tier separators were done by my darling munchkin...


This cake was sent to Seremban and alhamdulillah the pengantin and her sister..both Farahs love the cake..Alhamdulillah...






To Farah senior..semuga rumahtangga berkekalan hingga ke Jannah and to Farah junior..when yr time comes do contact me...;)

Seputih salju

Salam to all....and i'm very sorry for the long missing..had been so busy with orders and for the firat time this year..i'm taking a break...a wonderful break...and for the past 24hours I had finished reading two novels...yup reading is another one of my biggest passion...I love to read since I was at a very small age...ha..ha..ha..during my days there way this one hot news about a little boy from trengganu if i'm not mistaken...a big coverage for his reading ability at the age of four...My late mum thought I should be in the highlight too..coz her daughter was already reading standard six books at the age of four..and that little girl was me...bila i dah mula membaca..I will be in another different world..tiada siapa yg bole mengganggu...I will just forget about everything including my meals...the more I read..the more i will be in my own world...No offense..but I seldom read malays novel...mybe because some of them really nak terikut2 dengan gaya penulis barat..novel melayu selalunya pasal cinta..cinta..cinta...ughhh boringnya...However, I do love books by Khadijah Hashim, Shanon Ahmad and my most favorite is Bila Saroja Bertaburan..lupa siapa penulisnya..but a very good novel..penuh dgn pengerttian dan nilai kemanusiaan...

Ok back to cakes decorating....this time is something which I jarang buat..cupcake tower...and the tower has to be White and look elegant...


Oh dear, bila I dengar semuanya kena putih rasa mcm ughh...for someone who loves color, white is something yg sukar untuk I.....but I was ready to give my best as usual..I imagine the tower had to be tall ...and on the top of it there would be a small cake..small but elegant n different...So I as for the cupcakes..white theme..ut with simple design...a big heart shape and few flowers...everything was airbrushed with pearl sheen .


I decided not to use the souffle white souffle cup..Instead, I gunakan silver paper cups..co I need the "kilatan" for my tower...and maybe some of the new decorators tertanya2 macam mana ye nak gunakan paper cup untuk buat cupcake..bukan ke bila dimasukkan the cake batter , the cup will collapsed..Well to my new decorator friends, ada dua cara..cara mahal tapi sedikit demi sedikit or cara murah tapi banyak sekaligus...Cara mahal ...u hv to but the muffin tray..and selalunya boleh muat 12 sahaja...so if u need to bake 100 cuppies just imagine the time u hv to take...and merugikan eletrik sahaja..So I gunakan cara yg murah tapi boleh muat banyak sekaligus....All what u hv to do is, beli paper aluminium cup ikut size paper cup kita...so..arrange all the aluminium cups onto the tray...then susunkan pula paper cup kedalamnya...and tuang kan batter...Sebab tu I cakap ..size aluminium cup kena sama dgn paper cup..if the aluminium cup is much bigger than the paper cup..u will have cupcake yg cacat sizenya...and selalunya for a 14 inch tray, I can fit at least 25 cuppies for one single bake...




As for the cake...ha..ha..ha..since I sedang sibuk membuat life size flowers, I decided to buat butterfly orchid..actually before this I dah pernah buat..but smaller size...by the way, bunga yg kat atas tu bukan bunga yg I buat..tu model bunga I ..Yup..now I have few orchid species yg dibeli khas untuk i dapatkan real life model...Memang boleh dapatkan dari internet...berlambak..but I prefer to do as closed as the real flower..By hving the real flower infront of us, we can observe all the details n also texture...mcm mana tebalnya..Those things are very important for me to do the best in my work..

And normally, I will cut the flowers..belek satu persatu all the details..every inch and corner...And this is also how i do my templates...I do not use cutter..if I nak tunggu cutters, maksudnya tergendala le kerja I...lagupun cutter mahal juga..and sometimes we need bigger size...so mana yg boleh i buat sendiri, I buat sendiri..

So, apa yg I buat...i ceraikan setiap kelopak...letak atas kertas ..trace down the area...and after everything is drawn, I will transfer the pattern onto a very thick cardboard..boleh guna kertas lembut tapi ia akan menyukarkan kerja kita bila nak dipotong...And for this flower..cerita menyedihkan untuk I..mungkin kebetulan kot..tapi after a week I ambil bunganya untuk dijadaikan bahan study I...all the flowers drop..mybe merajuk kot..sebab I potong betul2 "dihadapan" bunga2 yg lain..hmm..next time I won't do like that..tak kiralah kebetulan or not..

This flower is very big..sebesar tapak tangan orng dewasa....taklah susah sgt nak buat bunga ni...just have to remember each petal on the left side..is the mirror image of the petal on the right side...and it has to be frilled as natural as we can..senang cerita..bila diletakkan dgn bunga yg sebenar side by side..people won't notice it's a fake flower.....


The most difficult part is to do the lips...silap buat boleh patah..ut alhamdulillah it never breaks on me...So here is the closeup of the lip..every details ada disitu...insyaAllah..and paling susah nak dapatkan misai yg halus tu...



And this is the close-up of the real lip of the butterfly orchid..


So the butterfly orchid was placed on the top of the cake..but people won't be able to see the flower if ia diletakkan diatas kek yg rata ..so what I did was...potongkan bahagian atas kek menjadi senget...and I hiaskan juga dengan sepasang "sesungut" as what my good buddy Roslinah panggil...ha..ha...ha...sesungut of loves...so nampak class lagi..if just the flower..sure boring...



Sebenarnya, tak rancang pun untuk buat kek senget...hanya bila dah depan mata baru I noticed if i put the orchid on a flat cake, people won't be able to see it...Sebab tu, bila my customer order cake, I will tell them that I can't give them exactly the design..sometime kita rancang lain but lain yg jadi..but I can give my assurance..insyaallah I will give my best..I won't want to make easy money and I do not want people to be dissapointed on their wedding day..Each of my cake is different n every design...So far sepanjang ingatan I, there was only one customer yg very dissappointed with my design and infact she told me she cried when she saw the cake...and she told me a month after that...I felt really bad when she said kek tu mcm kek tk siap..The whole day I was "terperanjat" and I showed the pictures of the cakes to my professional friends..and they said the design was fabulous...tupun masih blum dapat hilangkan sedih I...until my munchkin cakap straight to my face "U might think Picasso and Van Gogh paintings are beautiful....but to some people, those are rubbish...Art is very subjective..some people can appreciate the beauty in an art...but some people don't..so don't let it discourage u...I know u had tried yr very best..the way you carved the design really made me impress ..u put yr whole heart into that cake..." Yup...my darling munchkin always knows how to bring me back when I'm really down..well i'm not either Van Gogh or Picasso but i do really hope, my work of art can make other people happy but if it does not..my sincere apology from my heart coz there is never any slight intention of me to ruin yr great day..coz yr special day is my special day too...My sincere apology to the sister who cried on her wedding day because of my cake...I'm deeply sorry...from the bottom of my heart...

Ok..let put the sadness n frustration away n continue about this "snow white " as what my sister called it...So everything was arrange into a tall tower..n as usual..my darling munchkin made the tower for me..he decided of everything for the tower n what a beautiful n elegant tower he made..I always feel I'm one of the luckiest woman in the world to hv such a very supportive hubby...I do not know what will happen to me if he is not around..n it always brings to my eyes whenever terbayang hari salah seorang dari kami dijemput pulang...and I always pray to Allah, ambillah nyawa kami berdua serentak kalau boleh...coz i know it will be a big blow to either one...semuga Allah panjangkan umur kami berdua...amin..and also to all the loving couple of hubbies n wives out there...semakin lama kita bersama, seharusnya semakin bertambah lagi rasa kasih dan cinta kita pada pasangan kita..alway give our full love coz we never know bila hari kepulangan kita akan tiba...


So finally the tower were set up..and I was happy with the result...it loos white and elegant to me..and I rally hope the pengantin won't shed her tears when she saw the tower..if menangis kerana gmbira tak apa...Well ..mission accomplished...one of my cupcake towers...




Ok..till we meet again..salam kasih sayang to all readers..semuga hidup kita sentiasa dilimpahi dgn rahmat dan kasih sayang Allah...and always give our est in what we do, walaupun sometimes mungkin orng tak akan menghargai kerja kita..jgn diharapkan pujian orang, kerana pujian mngkin akan membuat kita lupa tentang rumput2 dibumi..and if kita dikutuk atau dicaci orng..bersyukur pada Allah kerana ia akan mengingatkan kita..kita manusia yg punya banyak kelemahan..so perbaiki kelemahan kita...jgn sampai kelemahan tersebut mematikan kita....To all my decorator friends, there are times when our design tidak dapat memuaskan hati customer kita...don't think much of it...the most important thing is get back on yr feet and start to decorate...and always give yr best effort and yr heart to it....no matter what..nad with that, happy decorating this week since this is the week of minggu orang kahwin...As for me, i'm taking a break since i will be attending a special wedding in Sedeli, Mersing...salam kasih sayang sekali lagi untuk semua... ;)