Wanna-T Baker

My close friend, Chad and I have an ongoing joke, which has now stemmed into a rivalry, as to who is more talented. This rivalry has even developed a vocabulary. We fight over who should have the title of “T-1” - “T” standing for top. Being the competitive Asians that we are, neither of us is now willing to back down. A number of people have begged and pleaded to be a part of our T- competition, but they simply couldn’t handle the heat of competing for the T-Crown and as the saying goes, if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen (sorry Wanna-T Hini and Rach)!

Putting our T-differences aside, I decided to make Chad his birthday cake last year. He demanded that an epic cake be made in his honour. So I thought long and hard about what I could make my fellow T-competitor.  The only thing I thought that could do him justice was a cake of him!

 I firstly created a photo of him in pop art form, and then used that image as a template for decorating the cake. I baked an A3 size sponge cake and decorated the cake using fondant. Once again, this was around the time I found fondant, so I was keen to explore the ways it could be used.

If I had my time again, I would ice the sponge cake before layering the fondant on top. As you can see, the fondant started to warp on the left hand side. I think the moisture from the cake seeped through the fondant and this caused it to warp.

Wanting to be me (I don’t blame him, after all I am the number one T) Chad challenged me to a hotdog eating and bake-off competition. The hotdog competition was fairly straight forward - who could eat the most hot dogs. Given that the bake-off was held on the same day as the hotdog competition, we had to both make baked goods that resembled hotdogs. I thought I could be smart and cheat by making cupcakes with hotdog themed fondant toppers. I ended up making a topper of Chad and I eating hotdogs and burgers. Chad - on the other hand - followed the rules and made a hotdog cake. Despite being penalised for not following instructions, I still came through with the win!

I am sure a large number of you are holding your breath in anticipation as to what Chad's hotdog cake looked like. With out any further a do, please find Chad's cake below.

Realising that he is a Wanna-T baker, he asked me to help make his mum’s birthday cake this year. Initially we decided on a two tier cake – nice and simple. So on the day of his mum’s par-tay, I woke up early to put on the finishing touches. Brendyn wakes up a few hours later and broke the news to me that it looked a lot like a wedding cake. So, in a state of panic, I decided to make mini pink cupcakes to place on each tier of the cake. And it turned out alright.

Sorry to expose you T2! I feel as though I should part with you with some wise words of advice from some very wise women:

If you wanna-T a T1 baker,

you gotta, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta,

slam, slam, slam, slam
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down zigazig ah
If you wanna-T a T1 baker.