ICCA cake competition 2011

A brief analysis and comparison of the cakes in the annual wedding cake competition by ICCA in 2010 and 2011. Enjoy the visual feast. The creativity of the contestants were astounding.

By Norashikin 2010

A beautiful peacock compostion. She spent the night in a budget hotel with her cake and she said the the journey from Melaka and then through narrow corridors of the hotel was harrowing. The tail and feathers were very artistically done.

By Norashikin 2011

This time her birds were even more intricate. I spent a long time admiring her delicate work of art. She said she spent long afternoons snapping photos of lotus flowers in her kampung before creating her masterpiece. I can imagine her painstakingly piping each and every feather and the care she must have taken transporting it from Melaka. A very inspiring creation.

Birds and feathers will always remind me of Norashikin.

Mama Min 2010

I love her figurines. the bride and groom look so happy

Mama Min 2011

Yet again she impresses with her figurines. This time she managed to inject humour into her wedding cake.

Louis 2010 - 2 entries

This is the first time I have seen the airbrush technique on a cake and it made his cakes very eyecatching. He is obviously a whiz at it. His jellyfish is brilliant! And take a look at the phoenix and dragon - a work of art indeed.

However, the judges were looking for string work and other finer techniques that were lacking in his creations.

Louis 2011

This year he totally abandoned his air brush for string work, some piping and a flower! I was utterly disappointed. I had gone around trying to identify his work and when JY pointed at this cake, I couldn't believe it.

His creative genius can only be unleashed when airbrushing.

JY could see for herself what happens when you abandon your forte - you get something ordinary instead.

Pauline 2010

Her stringwork is amazing

Pauline 2011

Her beauty and the beast figurines were superb.

3rd place 2011

I can't remember the name of the topsy-turvy stuff but it requires turning the cake upside down.

Kevin 2010

Wonderful painted pixies.

Kevin 2011 -2nd prize

Even more delicate stringwork. Every tier had stringwork, at times 2 layers of it with angels parting the strings.

It was so fine and close together. His hands are really steady to have done such a feat.

His little angels were beautifully done.

It took him a month to complete the cake.

2010 1st by Shahril

He deserved it. Beautiful everything! Composition was perfect.

2011 winner from Bangkok.

A surprise win.

JY's entry 2010

Indian wedding inspired. She started her henna piping since then.

JY 2011

This year her henna piping has improved by leaps - it is finer and at parts she tried to make it look 3D.

All was done freehand.

No sketching or templates were used. And she was astounded when someone would even suggest she used a template. The judges told her that they wanted to see a whole cake with just her henna piping as that was her strong point.

Her roses were the best. Paper thin petals, perfectly dusted and simply gorgeous.

She had gone in expecting a placing and was sorely disappointed when she was awarded "Highly Commendable" in a rather controversial judging.

Thanks to the situation we found ourselves in, we could cover a range of issues..

• The best one does not necessarily a winner make. Example given by Pohpoh was American Idol winners who were not our favourites
• An unfair judging system
• I had wanted to ingrain the value of integrity on JY and told her that she had to do all the caking herself. The contest rules stated 'Individual work only'. At the event, JY discovered that a few contestants had submitted cakes done by their team. This was an interesting topic.
• Learning from her competitors. Each and every cake entry had their strong points and JY should make an effort to learn from them.
• Disappointments only lead to breakthroughs...JY was disappointed for 24hours... she moaned that "she was already 13!! And there was still so much she has not done! She is getting OLD" ...... after a night of heart-to-heart, she regained herself..... and then the breakthrough came...

JY's talent was spotted by a 'Fairy Godmother' who said it would be such a waste to see it go unattended. Fairy Godmother only wanted assurance that JY was serious in caking and if she were she would show her the path to take. And it starts NOW!

Before we could catch our breath, JY was whisked away. JY was one ecstatic girl!

A new chapter in JY's life has begun.

JY's creations 1st Quarter 2011

After putting clay on hold for many months, she finally completed her clay doll.

Her own birthday cake.

An order from one of her Aikido sinsei.

Polar Express cake for a 7 year old boy.

Karen Cuppy Cake booth @ Shangri-la Day 3, 12 dec2010

Last day for JY in Shangri-la. She set her alarm at 5.30am and made a few batches of buttercream as I snoozed in bed. I got up in time to wash up after her and watched her as she packed the buttercream into the piping bags.
Her dad was exhausted after a night of Elvis Presley songs performed by Scot Bruce and we had a hard time coaxing him into the car.
I had the opportunity to see Scot Bruce in action during his warm-up session and he was amazing! Ean was impressed too and was happy to see them jamming on stage.
The boys were up and about as I told them they would be left behind if they were too tired too come along. So Han bounced up the moment I said it was time to get up.
With bleary eyes, I participated in the spouses' programme. Cooking with a Shangri-la chef. He was preparing penne with seafood cream sauce.


Han and Fai took great interest in this. Saute the onions in olive oil, pour in cream. Boil on low heat until it reduces by half. Pour in a handful of parmesan, blend and then add in chopped chives and you are done.


The cream sauce was blended for a creamier texture.
Penne cooked al dente. Soak in salted ice water to keep the pasta al dente if not planning to eat immediately .
The rest quizzed the chef mercilessly for an hour or so after that brief demo. They were especially interested in the Thai Chicken Chop, supposedly famous in Shangri-la.


Ean's breakfast.


After lunch, it was a hand and foot spa hands-on.
We got to use creams, foams, exfoliating loofah bits. It was like having a public bath, fully clothed.
Ean had a good time playing with foamy water.
Fai and Han didn't join me as they were too busy being chased by a friendly and playful Rotarian.
We are proud of JY's achievements. She did most of the planning, baking, decorating herself this time around.
No significant hitches except we could have done better with more marketing. Quite a people commented that didn't know we were there until they saw people walking around with cupcakes in their hands.

Karen Cuppy Cake's cake booth @ Shangri-la, KL Day 1 10Dec2010

After a week of baking and preparing decorations and icing, JY packed her mini cakes and cupcakes, dressed into our beach wear since it was a 'Hawaii' themed night and headed for Shangri-la hotel in the heart of KL.
The Ballroom was a hive of activity.
We quickly unloaded and went about displaying JY's cakes on the vendor's table.

Swathy (our neighbour) came to give a helping hand. She was put in charge of the accounts - handling the cash.

The dummy cake on the left was from her Wilton Course 3 graduation. She took off the last tier, added in a few more roses and did a bit of touch up to the leaves and borders. It was eye-catching and quite a few ladies came to take a closer look to marvel at her artistry.

We were informed that the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak was in our midst. The foyer outside the ballroom was filled with Koreans in black suits and security was tight. We had to go through an airport-like scanner at the main entrance of the hotel. The cakes had to be put on the conveyer belt and x-rayed.

The boys were restless and the crowd made them uneasy. So I whisked them off to the hotel lobby in search of food and entertainment.

We found a lovely bakery and a wonderful maze in the courtyard.

This setting of pies and greenery reminded me of Perth. If only the mosquitoes had left us alone, this place would have been perfect.


Gingerbread house XMas tree.

*photo by Fai*
Fai and I built this keep cut out from a book bought at the big Bad wolf sale for RM3 by the koi pond while Ean and Han did a nature hunt and came running back with bread fruits and an assortment of leaves.

It was a short first day. We were there for about 3 hours.

We had to conserve some energy as more baking had to be done when we got back home.

Cake Booth @ Shangri-la, KL

For the third time, JY will be selling her cakes and minicakes at a Rotary conference. She is full of confidence now. Planning far ahead and is well prepared.
She picked a chrismassy theme for her cakes.
The picture above is her royal icing snowflakes.

Chocolate cupcakes baking in the oven. While waiting for the cupcakes to bake, JY and Swathy had a few rounds of Screaming Scrabble - a game I love to play too. It's noisy and with bouts of laughter and an occasional tussle thrown in, you have got to love it. All you need are scrabble tiles and another player that can spell.

Chocolate cupcakes perfectly baked.

Vanilla Cupcakes cooling on the rack.

JY had researched the recipes and implemented certain improvements that she learnt on a caking forum. It was a baking success this time around with no sunken middles or peeling cups. She was delighted with the results.

JY's mini cakes topped with her adorable fondant penguin surrounded by presents.

JY's peony mini cake.

Note to self. Points to remember when selling cupcakes at Rotary events

1. At Rotary District Assemblies, there will be very few children around. So reduce the number of cupcakes to 100 pieces.

2. During District Conferences, spouses and children will be around, however I feel that the number of cupcakes should be 100 pieces as it was really difficult getting people to buy the cupcakes, thus the cupcakes would be more of a showcase of Jianyi's talents. Speaking of which, Jianyi would have to do the icing and make the sugarcraft models on-site. As it was attention grabbing and pulled in a crowd.

3. Need to search for vegetarian cakes and diabetic cakes.

4. Display a dummy 3-tiered wedding cake.

5. The butter cake slices sold really well. Samples of the chocolate cake helped to boost the sales of the cake significantly. In all we made 4 10inch butter cakes and 2 10inch chocolate cakes. Next event we will double the volumes for both the types of cakes.

6.We need more posters and flyers. Perhaps a nice banner.

7. I had great fun experimenting with the carrot cake. It feels good working with a new recipe and having to rectify the cake and try to turn it into a presentable cake. I am glad it was well-received.

8. We need to issue receipts as proof of payment. The lady that ran away with someone else's cake was a bad experience for the girls.

9. Cake that are reserved should be paid for in full and bagged and tagged with the name and handphone numbers of the purchaser.

10. We will need to ensure that the vendors get to be FED! The girls were practically starving and the walk from the Sunway hotel to the shopping mall is no joke!

Wilton@ICCA

Before we enrolled Jianyi in her Wilton course, she took a few cake decorating classes in Cake Connection, located in Jaya One. They were a good introduction for her but after going for the Wilton classes in ICCA she noticed that the tutors conducting the Wilton course are more informative and disclose more trade secrets.

So if you want to get into cake decorating you should consider their classes. Fees are a bit steep though...so are their merchandise.

Fai is 6

Fai with his Transformer Mega Sword. One sword with lights and goes Ka-Ching. I expected lots of grabbing and tears of defeat. However I was pleasantly surprised that Fai gave in to Han and let him play with his sword every now and then. And he wisely use it as a bargaining chip.

Fai's negotiaion with Han this evening after dinner went like this , " I will let you play with my sword, if you let me help mummy wash the dishes " So Han ran off happily with the sword and Fai got to wash dishes by my side.
Yes, helping mummy wash the dishes is not a chore in my house. My boys like nothing better than to assist me in the kitchen cutting, washing, cooking.... Perhaps it is the only time they get me to themselves.

Jianyi doing the finishing touches on Fai's Transformer Cake. Autobots for the teatime guests and Decepticons for the Dinner guests.
Decepticon logo on cake2

Fai cut the cake and scrapped off the icing upon request.

Fai's grandmothers had the task of removing the wires that secured Optimus and Jetfire to the box.

Fai was impatient and tried to help Pohpoh.

Mama hard at work. The 2 toys still firmly in place.

Fai is exceptionally creative. He used the wires that came with the toy and masking tape to make a jellyfish.

Jianyi and her cousin, Caryn in the foam pool.