Surprise - Guitars Birthday Cake

I have some friends in Namibia. One day, one of them sent me email thru Facebook. She asked if I can help her to make surprise birthday cake for her husband. Her husband will be working at Consulate of The Republic of Indonesia in Cape Town. He'll be in Cape Town the day on his birthday. She'll send the money.

I love (happy) surprise and love to help to make the surprise come thru :)

So I answered her email and asked what kind of birthday cake she'd love me to make? Does he like chocolate cake or perhaps something else...cheesecake, maybe? And when I should be deliver the cake?

She replied my email and made me a bit shock when I read. She wanted me to make guitar cake because her husband love guitar. Chocolate, of course. Send to Indonesian Consulate.I shocked because I have no idea how to make a guitar cake. I don't want to make a cake with guitar tin. It's not a kind of cake that interested me. So I decided to make fondant cake.

I browsed to find out any ideas about guitar cakes. All of them made it from cake that carving into a guitar.

I took my husband's guitar and made a sketch. Even though I made

the smallest one, my cake base didn't fit with guitar sketch.

I don't want to make too small because it won't be enough to share with everybody in the office. The

problem was not the body of guitar,

but the guitar handle is too long.

At night, I talked to my husband.

He told me why don't I make regular cake with the small guitar on top. That was brilliant! I kissed him to thank for the idea... well to be honest, even he didn't give me the idea, I would still kiss him...hehehehe...

Then I made a copy of guitars from my husband's music book. From there, I carved the body of guitars. Never thought it was sooooo difficult. Like I told you, I never take fondant baking course, besides I don't have knife carving.

Finally I could made 2 guitars. For the string, I used nylon string from my beads project..you need to be creative, when you had dead end..hehehe... For cake, I made 2 stuck cakes layer with chocolate ganache.

I thought about my friend and suddenly have an idea that she should be "there" to congrats her husband. Yes, she would be in the cake. As she used to wear "kebaya" (Indonesian traditional clothes) so I put her in Kebaya.

Frankly I didn't satisfied with my worked because it as not perfect for me. I must take fondant baking course when I returned to Indonesia.

The next day, the cake brought to the office by my lovely husband. The cake put on the birthday's person.

He came directly from the Cape Town airport to the office and got surprised to see the guitars cake in his desk!

One of friends in office took his pictures the 1st time he saw the cake. Later, his wife said it's really priceless to see his husband's expression...hahahhaha..

His husband thought the cake was ordered from a cake store by one colleague who asked to helped by his wife. He got surprised (for the 2nd time) when he knew it was made by me :)

He said the cake was beautiful and the taste so delicious. Even the "wife" so similar with is wife *blushing*

Glad to know I could met my customer's order and they satisfied with my worked :)

In 2 or 3 months ahead, my husband and I will be back to Indonesia for good. Because my husband's duty in Cape Town has finished. If you'd like to order cake/cupcakes and send to someone for her/his birthday surprise, just let me know. I'll be glad to make for you. The money can be transfer by bank or ATM :)

Rabbit's family birthday cake - My 1st Order Cake

Lagi asyik baca novel, tau-tau ada temen nelpon, minta tolong bikinin cake ulang tahun buat ponakan pacarnya. Temanya terserah aja, kata dia. Jadi deg-deg an... ini order pertamaku untuk bikin fondant cake. Bisa gak ya??? Aku kan belum pernah kursus..

Suamiku ngasih semangat "kamu pasti bisa, sayang... " aiiiihhhh senangnya ada yang ngasih semangat. Baiklah, aku akan berusaha. Aku bikin cake coklat lapis fresh cream.

Apa yaaa...tema buat anak kecil? Nyontek ajah di buku keluaran NCC, sama di modifikasi dikit.

Setelah kue dijemput, gak berapa lama temanku sms bilang semua gak mau potong kue-nya, karena sayaaaang buat di potong....hahaha... tapi at the end ya dipotong juga dunk, semua sukkkkaaa tampilan dan rasanya.. :)

My 1st Cupcake

Liat di lemari dapur banyak bahan kue nganggur. Pengen bikin apa yaaaa? Hmmm...kayaknya cupcake lagi trend. Cobain ah bikin blueberry cupcake. Eh tapi bikin cupcake doank cepet banget selesainya, padahal masih pengen ngudek-ngudek di dapur. Gimana kalau bikin hiasan fondant diatasnya? Itung-itung belajarlaaaah... learning by doing

Bikin roti keju aaahhh...

Pengen bikin roti keju tapi gak mau yg gede-gede. Akhirnya adonan rotinya aku masukin ke dalam loyang muffin, setelah dialasin pake kertas cupcake. Kejunya aku ganti pake mozarella.

Hasilnya cantiiiik dan kejunya meleleh saat di santap hangat-hangat :)

Peanut butter cheesecake

Resepnya aku dapat dari browsing ke website-nya Nigella Lawson. Rasanya? Ueeeeenaaaak.

Sepotong gak akan cukup :D

Bakso, otak-otak dan batagor

Saat rasa kangen rumah melanda... makanan-makanan ini membuat rasa kangen ke Indonesia sedikit terobati. Membuatnya mudah, menikmatinya sambil chatting lewat skype dengan keluarga di Indonesia :)

Jadi pengen bikin lagi....

Nyobain bikin roti ,croissant dan curry puff

Suatu hari, koq ya pengen banget makan roti... Di Cape Town, gak ada yang jualan roti kayak di Indo, misalnya roti coklat, roti keju, roti srikaya, dll... gak ada! Yang ada roti-roti bule yang model keras-keras itu loooh...yang bisa buat mentungin orang...hihihi...Temanku sih ada yang doyan, kalau aku tetep doyan roti empuk ajaahhh. Oya disini ada croissant butter dan chocolate. Gak ada tuh croissant isi pisang, atau sosis seperti di Indo. Aku pernah tanya kenapa? Kata mereka, pakem-nya dari "sana" emang gitu... oooh ya sudah. Bikin sendiri aja deh!

Bikin roti itu yang bikin males nguleninnya. Kalau lagi summer, ogah banget deh bikin roti. Summer kan hot banget, ditambah harus ngulenin roti, dijamin rotiku akan berasa asin, karena kecampur keringet! hihihi...

Saat roti di panggang, harum bau roti membuat gak sabar menunggu. Akhirnyaaa...roti matang dan siap di santap ditemani segelas teh hangat, dinikmati sambil duduk di taman... :)

Dilain waktu aku coba juga membuat croissant. Pakai pastry yang udah jadi aja. Selain susah bikin pastry croissant, males juga bikinnya...lamaaaa...padahal kan dah pengen makan...hihihi...

Aku bikin croissant isi keju dan coklat. Croissant imut yang bisa dimakan dengan sekali caplok :D

Pernah sekali waktu, aku diundang ke rumah teman orang Malaysia. Temanku itu, membuat curry puff, semacam pastry isi ayam dan bumbu curry. Waaaahhhh enak bangeeet! :) Beberapa hari kebayang-bayang terus itu curry puff. Akhirnya aku browsing resep dan menemukan yang ku cari. Voila! Jadilah curry puff yang ku impikan...hihihi...

Cemilan - Pastel

Suamiku suka makan, terutama makan bikinan istrinya, akuuuu *wink wink*

Jadi, aku mulai mencoba bikin cemilan ssehari-hari. Iya, mencoba...karena sebelum-belumnya gak pernah bikin. Hmmm...kenapa ya? mungkin karena di Jakarta aku sibuk kerja, sementara disini aku gak kerja, jadi full time housewife, alhamdulillah :)

Cemilan yang aku bikin ganti-ganti. Ternyata setelah dijalani gak sesulit yang aku duga, bahkan aku mulai menikmati.

Kalau sedang gak ada acara di KJRI atau kegiatan Dharma Wanita, setelah suamiku berangkat ke kantor, dan semua udah beres, mulai deh aku di depan komputer browsing resep. Aku heran sama sebagian besar orang yang sibuk dengan minta resep sana sini... Andai mereka mau meluangkan waktu sebentar aja untuk browsing, akan ketemu deh buanyaaaaak sekali resep-resep masakan yang menarik. Lagipula, nyebelin juga sih kalau ada temen yang udah bertahun-tahun gak pernah menyapa, tau-tau muncul minta kirimin resep...pliiiiiis deeeeeeehhh kemaren-kemaren kemane aje neeeeng.. :D

My 1st fondant cake

It's been long time since I wrote in my blog. I had busy times and well...sometimes too lazy to write..hehehe...

Have I told you that I (suddenly) found I love baking? Yes, I love baking! :)

Actually I started to bake, such as making cookies when I was in Junior high school, but I never thought that I love to bake :D

Now, in Cape Town, I have lots time to spend. I started to bake from the simple ones, cookies! My husband and friends love them *blushing* Then I tried to make a cake, fondant cake. I didn't know how to make, so I browse You Tube and learned from there.

Here's the 1st fondant cake I made for my friend's birthday. Very simple fondant cake, but at that time I was so proud of myself that I could make it even though I never take baking course! And the best thing was everybody love the taste! :)