Last minute Birthday Cake : Patchwork Roses

The second cake of the two cakes I did in a day. This was the first time I did two in a day, It was a bit taxing especially with my existing problem. In the end I didn't end up finishing and detailing as I would have liked to have done :-(. It was last minute vegetarian cake for a lovely friend .

A Literary Themed Birthday Cake.....

This was one the hardest cake I had to make in terms of coming up with the idea. I was supposed to finish the birthday cake by Thursday and by Tuesday afternoon I was still huming and harring  and tossing about ideas on what to make. The problem was for me the person I was going to make it for, I didn't know what he would like or whether he would like a cake at all  or how he will take it( It was supposed to be a surprise, My hubby's friend had asked a while back to make it for this person who was coming here for a literary/religious function from overseas and staying at his place )!!!

So finally I tried to work out in my head what he is involved in and got my hubby to give me some hints too. He is a person very involved in and quite a famous religious and literary orator in our community and well versed in Tamil literary classics of Thiruvalluvar (celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher) and the works of  Kambar (medieval Tamil poet and the author of the Tamil Ramayanam). Based on this I finally decided to do a book with a picture of Kambar on it, then I had doubts as to whether he would be happy to cut into picture of a person he has placed on such high esteem. So I decided to do another dummy book with the picture and place it on top of the cake book. The rest of the bits and pieces sort of flowed on from there based on the literary theme.

So here is the final outcome of my war with ideas and my hands. The first cake of the four cakes that I needed to this year before my self imposed rest( which has actually become five cakes instead of four 'cos It was also on Tuesday that I found out that my hubby's friend's(who had asked me to do this cake) lovely wife's birthday was also on Thursday. So how can I not make one for her too and quick one :-) ( my hands willing !!) A first time I did two cakes in a day , It was a bit daunting.

A full vegetarian chocolate cake, with chocolate filling and covered with butter cream and fondant. By the time I did the painting ( based on a picture of Kambar I found on the net) my hand started playing up, must be the repetitive strokes :-(.

Hope it was appropriate and you all like it too.

Rose Vines: A 60th birthday Cake

 

My first cake since I have been diagnosed with mild Carpel Tunnel Syndrome on both hands a week and a half ago ( the nerves on the wrist get pressed which causes numbness and pain ). Not in the best of moods these days. Best part is not to do anything  ( a good excuse... ;-)) and the worst part is I have to learn the hard way what I can do and not do by doing it ;-). the laptop seem to be a definite no no especially the touch pad, piping on cakes (which I hardly do anyway)  also seems to be one but doing fondant cakes I would put it under maybe….with this cake middle of my palm and wrist are were aching after doing the tiny vines and roses on the 60 but the rest of work felt okay even though it did take a lot longer to do( having rest in between) . Even cooking is a yes and no.....like cutting something for a long period of time is a bit painful. I guess anything repetitive  and involves the wrist is not good!!!

Did any of you have this problem and how did you overcome it?....cos I am still passionate about doing cakes and also getting on the laptop. I am trying to avoid surgery as of now and trying to rest my hands as much as possible ( but sometimes the temptation gets the better of me like now :-).....and have four more cakes I have promised and need to do before end of this year hopefully it is not too much of a load!!)

I should be talking about the cake instead of talking about me so sorry about that… Chocolate cake with chocolate filling covered with orange flavoured buttercream and then fondant. Wanted to go subtle this time with the colours. Hope you like it . Got the idea of doing the vines when I went to the display garden at hunter valley and saw all the lovely roses there.

Thank you for looking and for all the lovely support, encouragements and comments that have come my way since I started this blog.