Friday, December 16, 2011

Sofia's Basket


A basket of fruits for Sofia's birthday

Last September, a young Filipino family arrived and occupied the house (approximately) 70 meters south of my accommodation.  Yes, I finally have a neighbour in the chook farm compound.

Edwin- the head of the family, has been helping me with the poultry farm operation since then.  His wife Zuzette, coincidentally, was born and grew up in a town 36 kilometers southwest of my hometown.  The couple has two daughters named Sofia and Ezra.

Ezra is 4 years old, and Sophia turned 8 yesterday.  The family invited some friends to dine with them, and because it's a local tradition to bring a plate, I decided to make a cake for Sophia.  I heard from Edwin that Zuzette loves chocolate cake so I baked one... but frosting and designing it for an eight-year old girl was simply a mountain to climb.

I love to personalize my creations but this time I couldn't think of a cake that would fit the birthday girl.  Sofia loves telling a lot of detailed stories, she has a torrent of words!  Though she speaks and understands Filipino, she expresses her thoughts and feelings in English.  Her name reminds me of my Philosophy subject back in the uni- exactly the time when our professor said, "...Philos means love, and sophia means wisdom."

To make the story short, I ended up with a basketweave design.

The chocolate basket cake, left lateral view.


I am glad Sofia loved it, she and her parents were very happy and grateful!  The guests had literally dropped their jaw upon seeing it, and I am thankful they all said, "Hmmm... beautiful!"- the Australian way of saying delicious

Sofia realized she forgot to make a wish before blowing the candle.

After cutting the cake... (Photo taken using my mobile phone.)

I was happy with the outcome of this masterpiece, my plans were executed well and the cake turned out as what I had actually imagined.  To prove that the basket was really a cake, I made sure to take a photo after it was cut (Since I arrived in Australia, I have learned to use the word 'cut' in place of the preferred Filipino term- slice). 











A slice of the basket cake.



















Unlike the photo above, weaving the creamy chocolate frosting was NOT a piece of cake; but it was fun!  I didn't post it last October, but I also made a chocolate doll cake for Ezra's birthday!  Somebody up there tells us to love our neighbour, I hope my gestures count.


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7 comments:

BlogusVox said...

Anak ng tinapa, doc, may talent ka sa baking! Hone it up and maybe someday mapagkitaan mo yan.

Ang galing ng "fruit basket" cake mo!

bertN said...

Galing sa isang creative mind yang cake na 'yan. Impress ako. Kamusta naman ang lasa?

RJ said...

BLOGUSVOX
Dami nga po nagsasabi na pwedeng mapagkakakitaan. Sana nga po.
Thanks for appreciating it.



BERTN
The cake was perfect, I've used the same recipe for countless times already.

FROSTING. I used two kinds of frosting for this, the first coat was, I would say 8.5 out of 10. I have another recipe for chocolate frosting that was really good but I didn't use it because of the weather that day. And the frosting I used for weaving was only 7.5 out of 10 for the taste. It was the piping/nozzle consistency that pushed me to use it, otherwise, pangit ang weaving kapag hindi mag-hold ng nozzle design ang icing.

But the looks, it exceeded my expectations, so I can give this cake 9 out of 10.

Sardonyx said...

OMG, you're so creative and talented! I was staring at the first picture and thinking if it was really a real basket or frosting until I saw your picture when you really cut the frosting hahaha, ang galing mo! Iniisip ko nga paano nagkasya yun cake sa basket e masisira yun cake? hahaha yun pala yun weave basket e frosting super galing mo naman, I can't believe it! More cakes hahaha

Anonymous said...

I am speechless, doc rj!
YOU ARE AMAZING! ang ganda ng cake, i am so sure masarap din...

i wish i could bring my family to oz one day and meet you tapos oblige kita mag bake din ng cake for us. hahaha! wonder what design and flavor would you think for us. :) *wishful thinking*

Anonymous said...

I am speechless, doc rj!
YOU ARE AMAZING! ang ganda ng cake, i am so sure masarap din...

i wish i could bring my family to oz one day and meet you tapos oblige kita mag bake din ng cake for us. hahaha! wonder what design and flavor would you think for us. :) *wishful thinking*

iyassantos said...

a pretty cake for a pretty girl!