Inside Out birthday-themed

Celebrating my youngest son who turned 7 with the Inside Out birthday-themed. It is inspired by the Inside Out movie that showcases the emotions inside the mind. There are joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. A very good movie by Disney Pixar, highly recommended.

For the birthday cake, I made a White almond sour cream cake with marshmallow fondant icing. 
To make Joy figurine from fondant, you may find the tutorial here.

For a surprise, I made a polkadot pattern inside the cake. You may find the tutorial here.

Not to forget his birthday bento, with the Inside Out-themed as well :)

Inside the box :
1. Joy onigiri (white steamed rice coloured with tumeric powder, blue egg sheet for the hair and pupil, and also nori for the mouth and pupil).
2. Corn on the cob
3. Roast turkey
4. Roast carrots and celery
5. Red seedless grapes for recess

For the birthday decorations, you may find them here :

   

Minecraft Birthday Cakes

It was my eldest son's birthday last month. He turned 9. As usual, I always ask the birthday boy about his birthday theme. And this time, he chose Minecraft. It is no brainer actually since he really loves this game so much and plays together with his little brother.

So I started my research in the internet, and got some great ideas. I had to make 30 cupcakes for his teacher and classmates. 
I found that the White Almond Sour Cream (WASC) Cake recipe is the best to my liking and so easy to make. You may find the recipe here.
And for the fondant, I made marshmallow fondant, and here is the recipe :

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe
source : Angelfoods.net

Ingredients :
400 gm marshmallows (white for white fondant)
4 tbsp water
800 gr icing sugar
copha, melted

Method : 
1. Place marshmallows in a large microwavable bowl.  
2. Pour water over the marshmallows.
3. Microwave for 1-2 minutes.  
4. Stir until the marshmallows are melted.
5. Stir through 600 gr icing sugar.
6. Pour melted copha (about 4 tbsp) onto your work bench.
7. Put 200 gr icing sugar on the copha and pour the melted marshmallows onto the icing sugar.  
8. Start kneading the marshmallow, incorporating the remaining icing sugar. 
9. Add more icing sugar if it is too soft.
10. Knead for approx 10 minutes until the end result is not sticky anymore.


notes : This recipe makes 1.2 kg of fondant.

And for the birthday cake, I still used the WASC recipe. But this time, I used the chocolate flavour cake mix and replaced the sour cream with plain yogurt, and it tasted so divine!

Skylanders Themed Birthday Cake

My youngest son turned 6 and because he is really into skylanders lately, I made skylanders themed cake for his birthday.
For his teachers and classmates, I planned to give out some cupcakes so that it was easier for the teachers to distribute them and they are mess-free. I did some research in the internet and found templates for 8 elements in skylanders. They are  Magic, Earth, Water, Fire, Tech, Un-dead, Life and Air.
The cupcakes are white almond sour cream cake (WASC) with marshmallow fondant icing.

And for the birthday party, I made a skylanders portal from WASC cake with marshmallow fondant icing. To make it even special, I ordered edible image with skylanders themed (of course) and his photo on it. Not to forget, the eight elements to go around the portal.
To see his reaction when he found out that there was his photo on the birthday cake was priceless!

Here I share the WASC recipe. This cake is so moist and easy to make. Perfect to go with fondant icing.

White Almond Sour Cream Cake (WASC)

originally created by Rebecca Sutterby

Ingredients :

2 boxes white cake mix

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar (I reduced the sugar into 1 cup because it was too sweet for me)

1 1/2 teas. salt 

8 egg whites

2 2/3 cups water

4 Tbls. vegetable oil

2 cups (16oz carton) sour cream

2 teaspoon clear vanilla flavor

2 teaspoons almond extract

Instructions :

Mix all dry ingredients by hand using a whisk in a very large mixing bowl. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees

* Notes :

- One recipe makes: one 14″ round + one 6″ round

or one 16″ round or one 12″ round + one 10″ round or one 12×18″ sheet cake or one 12″ round + one 8″ round + one 6″

- Half a recipe makes: two 8″ rounds or two 6″ rounds + 6 cupcakes

For the marshmallow fondant, You can find the recipe and video tutorial here.

And also for his birthday bento, I used some birthday decoration from All Things For Sale, here is the link :

Inside the box, I prepared :

1. Ham and cheese mini croissant

2. Corn on the cob

3. Fish drumstick ( recipe here)

4. Quail eggs with salt and pepper

5. Strawberry yogurt for recess

Adventure Time

Special bento for my son who turns 8 years old today. It's Jake & Finn characters from the Adventure time. It consists of :
1. Jake onigiri (white steamed rice colored with turmeric, nori, egg-white, and black olive)
2. Finn hard boiled egg (with ham and nori)
3. Stir fried baby corn with mushroom
4. Ham "flower" with julienne carrot
5. "Flower" sausages
6. Kay choi for baran
7. Pear cuts for recess

And for the teachers and his classmates, I made 26 Adventure Time cupcakes. They're white vanilla cupcakes with marshmallow fondant icing.

Bento tools I used for this post :

 

Minions Birthday Cake

I had been so busy last November until I forgot to post this Minions birthday cake. This was a special request from my little one when he turned 5 years old. The cake was white vanilla birthday cake from Add a Pinch blog. And I decorated it with marshmallow fondant. You can find the recipe and video tutorial here.

My little one was so excited with his Minions, especially that he can play with the characters. He loves Despicable Me movie and is never tired to watch it over and over again.

Here are the characters that I made. They all have unique expressions and are so fun to make :)

You can find the tutorial here.

Angry Birds Birthday Cake

It's been a hectic week for me since I was preparing my son's birthday party. Would love to share this Angry Birds birthday Cake. Special request from my son because he loves playing Angry birds so much and I really had fun in making it. It was just like playing with playdough :p

Top view

Front view

Inside, there was a surprise battenberg checker pattern. It was time consuming, but totally worth it!

This is how to make it : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2852685/peekaboo-battenberg-cake

Ironman Birthday Theme

My eldest son is turning 7 years old today.He requested Ironman birthday cake to celebrate with his classmates. So I prepared little portion of bento lunch with Ironman theme as well :) I supposed he will be too full with the cake that he had in recess.

The box consists of :

1. Ironman sandwich (strawberry jam sandwich with eggsheet)

2. Hard boiled egg

3. Broccoli and sausage

And here is the Ironman birthday cake and some Ironman cupcakes on the side.
It's a white vanilla birthday cake decorated with marshmallow fondant.
The kids finished it in no time :)

Birthday Cake

My little one turns 4 years old, so for his school lunch I prepared a birthday cake bento with 4 candles on it. It consists of :
1. "Birthday cake" (sandwich, bread crust for the candle, "angel" nori, and egg sheets)
2. Cherry tomato
3. Grapes & watermelon
4. Sausages
5. Half boiled egg

And for the party, I prepared Superhero cupcakes. He's really into Superheroes lately...

I prepared cupcakes as well for all his classmates today :

It's great to see him so happy. Happy birthday my beloved son! We love u so much.....

Savoury Birthday Cake

It was my eldest son's birthday. We had a great party and he was really happy! On Monday, I made him a "birthday cake" Bento. It consists of :
1. "Savoury birthday Cake" (sandwich, cheese, peas, eggsheet, and Angel hair pasta as candles)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Homemade nuggets with carrots bow (like presents)
4. Lettuce and grapes