Cakes for an alumni 25th anniversary celebration

Two weeks ago my brother-in-law, one of the members of the organising committee who were arranging a major celebration, for the 25th anniversary of their medical college alumni in Malaysia, asked me if I knew anyone who could make a cake for them for their D&D. Of course, I immediately thought of the Academy, where I am studying pastry making... and, more specifically, thought of the two young ladies who have JUST finished their full 9 month course, have completed their final week-long assessment and who have PASSED their assessment! They are in fact the first two to graduate from the full 9-month course offered by the Academy, and they are both very accomplished in pastry arts (though both say they still have a lot to learn). Anyway... talked to the chefs at the academy and talked to the two girls, and the upshot of it was - Yes, they will do it! With advise and guidance, if needed, from the chef trainers, and with the use of the academy's equipment, and their help in ordering the ingredients, and other materials needed (all of which I would be paying for, of course!).

The basic premise was:
- CHOCOLATE CAKE (but not a typical boring sponge!)
- EDIBLE ICING (not the normal 'icky' buttercream icing)
- LOGO

Then, a week later, an added request to 'jazz up' the cake by adding figurines! Hmmmm... OK... the two girls were definitely up to the challenge!

The final outcome:
1) 4 moist chocolate cakes, 12" by 10", 2-layer, with vanilla buttercream in between, and topped with buttercream vanilla buttercream - with decorative items on each cake as below:

- Check out the lab coat with the stethoscope, the pen in pocket, and the scissors! Quite realistic looking stethoscope isn't it?

- Next up, surgeons scrubs and mask, 2 cheerful little molars (inspired by mymilktoof.blogspot.com) and a syringe.

- ECG monitor output, a heart, fixed with plaster, and loads of meds!

- and the 'main' cake, with the logo, and a cute doctor standing next to the cake, with more meds scattered across the top!

2) 4 moist chocolate cakes, 12" by 10", 2-layer, with chocolate ganache in between, and topped with chocolate ganache and then finished with chocolate glaze. Only chocolate shards (with the small logo of the university) and gold dust as decor, as below:

- Nice and shiny with the glaze topping, with choc shards and gold dust!

We had to deliver the cakes to the Holiday Villa Subang and have them set up before 6.30pm... so the girls and I loaded the cakes into my car - 4 cakes in the boot, 2 on the back seat, and the last two on the laps of the two girls :-) - and headed to the hotel. Had to carry everything up ourselves, managed to get the hotel people to arrange a big enough table to put everything on, and here we are, cakes organised on the table, and the two young ladies who did all the hard work, standing (with me in the middle) with the cakes! They did an amazing job, and I totally enjoyed working with them.

Xiao-Ly and Li-Yin a big THANK YOU for a truly wonderful job done, and a great learning experience for me!! I really learnt a lot from both of you.

Also a huge THANK YOU to the Academy of Pastry Arts for helping me to get this organised, to order everything for us, to allow us the use of the facilities, etc.

So, till next time, have a great day, every day!