STRIPES, babies, buttons – I thought I had exhausted the whole chocolate-cake-with-fondant-cut-outs design. But then D wanted a birthday cake for her mum and sis (who share the same birthday) and showed me a website with a chocolate cake with cute, retro circles on it. She wanted me to copy it and have the circles

IT WAS very clear to me that my husband Z (who, by the way, is the designated photographer of this blog) and I are meant to be the day I wanted this cupcake photographed. Finally, I’d found a modelling fondant recipe that wouldn’t melt at room temperature, and was able to make roses and leaves

I had grand intentions for S’s birthday cake. It was to be a two-tier chocolate ganache cake with pink and aqua fondant buttons attached to the sides. She is, after all, co-owner du jour of Swirl, a gorgeous boutique of very pretty clothes. But I was lazy and decided not to cut off the dome

ONLY a beginner like me would have the courage (or is it the lunacy?) to make a chocolate ganache cake for an outdoor wedding. All the pastry chefs I asked said the chocolate would melt into a cataclysmic mess. But I thought there’s nothing a little gelatin can’t fix. In fact, when L the bride

LET it be put on record that my very first wedding cake was a disaster of volcanic, Mount-Pinatubo proportions. G was getting married, and he was very brave to let me – a complete novice – bake his wedding cake. How hard could it be? I have a great recipe for a butter sponge, so

Teo Pau Lin is a former journalist with The Straits Times in Singapore who takes her baking hobby a little too seriously. She loves Thai food, Amy Winehouse, making tiered cakes and hearing the sound “ding!” whenever she opens her inbox. paulin@crummb.com