Thursday, November 11, 2010

TTT Cake

Yesterday, while I was baking and decorating this cake for my youngest grandson, it brought to my mind how time had fleetingly flown by. It was just a year ago, after baking a Mr Men cake for my grandson, I was admitted into hospital. The baking had nothing to do with the cause.
A few days before my grandson's birthday in 2009, I experienced the worst headache of my life. It came so swiftly and the pain was so excruciating that tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. It happened at night and I went to a clinic nearby. The doctor referred me to CGH. There the young medical officer made me do some tests to ascertain whether it was stroke. Later he termed my problem as in his exact words, "Auntie, you have tension headache!" Ok, you're the doctor, you know better. With that, he gave me a jab, some panadol and sent me home.

Within the next ten days, I experienced three more attacks, consulted another doctor whose prognosis was the same. The third doctor, I saw, felt that I ought to have a scan done. The result was alarming. My brain was bleeding. A blood vessel had popped. The medical term was subarachnoid haemorrhage.

For the first time in my life, I rode in an ambulance from CGH to SGH. CGH referred me to a neurology specialist in SGH. I was placed in an ICA ward, confined to the bed. I went through more scans. All that while, I was as normal as before except for the headaches.

During those few days, I was in despair. I turned to God and prayed fervently for healing. I'd never prayed so hard and so much in my entire life. God is merciful and full of grace. I felt at peace then.

The results of all the scans showed that the bleeding had stopped. Alleluia! God be praised!


It was yesterday, my youngest grandson turned two. His current favourite toys are trains which he calls them 'choo-choo'.



Naturally I baked him a train cake. Time and weather weren't on my side when I began to bake and decorate after lunch. By the time the cake cooled, I had about three and a half hours to complete the cake before the arrival of my daughter's family for a simple birthday celebration dinner.

I used marshmallow fondant which I had prepared some time ago and refrigerated. (I don't like using store-bought fondant as it has a 'plasticy' kind of smell.)

The cake base was vanilla butter cake and the cylindrical shape was a chocolate swiss roll.
At 2.30 p.m, I began my task of cutting and kneading the fondant to cover the various shape. The tough part was trying to cover the parts with fondant. After crumb-coating the cake , I should have cool the cake to set the cream. Due to time constraint, I attempted wrapping it immediately. The creamed cake parts were difficult to handle, the cream got to my hands, the rolled fondant got messed-up! Ugrh!! The weather was hot and the buttercream began to turn runny!

Finally by 6 p.m, the cake was completed. The finishing wasn't as refined as I wanted it. But I consoled myself that it did look like a toy train.









20 comments:

  1. Oohhh what a gorgeous train cake!! Thomas the Tank Engine!!

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  2. Your "Choo-choo" cake looks great! If you buy this kind of cake can cost a boom, you can start to taking order liao :)
    Btw, take good care of yourself.

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  3. J, life is full of unexpectancy. I am glad that you are okay now.

    I think this train looks lovely, I am still figuring out whether I can ever bake something so lovely like this one.

    Happy Birthday to your grandson.

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  4. Busygran ~ I am so sorry this happened to you but glad you are OK now. Must take care ;))

    The birthday cake train looks perfect, wish I can do something like that.

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  5. Nice train.
    My daughters will surely call this cake, Thomas!!
    Thank God that you are well now.
    God bless you always.

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  6. Luckily you have recovered and able to make this wondeful Birthday cake for your son, his is lucky to have you. God bless you!

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  7. Hi Kimberly,
    Thanks for dropping by.

    Hi DG,
    Yup, nowadays, fondant cakes cost a lot. A friend of mine paid $300 for one. Thanks for concern.


    Hi Edith,
    It's a day to day thingy for me now. Can't look ahead too far. Thanks.
    I'm sure you can do such cakes. Give it a try!


    Hi Ann,
    I'm better now. Thanks. Taking it slow.


    Hi Wendy,
    Thanks. Going slow, not as active as I would want to.


    Hi Sonia,
    My grandson was thrilled. Thanks.

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  8. Busygrand, sorry to hear what had happened to you and glad you are ok now. The cake looks gorgeous, you can take cake orders already, your grandson must be so happy to see this beautiful birthday cake.

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  9. hey judy,

    this is a fabulous looking cake. definitely infused with lots of effort and love.

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  10. This cake looks so perfect to me. You are really good at fondant. It's so scary to hear what had happened to u. Glad that you are well now. Take good care ok. :)

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  11. Hi Jess,
    I've stopped taking orders a long time ago. Pressure at work then. Thanks for concern.


    Hi ZY,
    Thanks, took a while to figure out assembling.


    Hi Small Small Baker,
    Still learning to cope with fondant. Better with buttercream. Thanks for concern.

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  12. God is good all the time! Glad to know that you are well now! How I wish I had a modern granny like you who can bake lovely cakes for me when I was young. Lovely train cake!

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  13. Your Thomas train cake looks so GOOD! I bet your grandson is going to be thrilled to receive this.
    Angie

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  14. Sorry to hear what happened to you, but glad that you're fine right now. Please take care!
    This train cake was done from your heart and looks gorgeous.

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  15. Hi Wen,
    Amen to that! Thanks.


    Hi Angie,
    He enjoyed it very much!


    Hi Christine,
    Thanks. I enjoyed doing it even though there were some snags.

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  16. Thanks for sharing your story. That's really scary but really glad you have fully recovered. The worse is when doctors misdiagnose.

    Love that birthday cake....sooooo beautiful. I'm sure your grandson loves it very much. I would! :D

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  17. This is such a classic cake for the little boys' birthday. You did very well!!

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  18. I'm glad you're all right now. wow, a 3D cake, you are good!

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  19. I'm sorry to hear what you've gone through.

    My youngest daughter will love this. I wish I can attempt a fondant cake one day.

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  20. Glad to know that everything is fine now. Do take care! This is a very gorgeous Thomas train cake! Very nicely done! Any little boy would be overjoyed to get it. :))

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