Did you know.....?

....that there is an Arsenal female football team?

You don’t? Shame on you, Arsenal fans! There is, and their team logo is exactly like the original, but in pastel shades to reflect their faminity.

Heheh.......kidding, people!

I definitely don’t want to get into trouble with the Arsenal fans nor Arsenal themselves, so, I’d better apologize.

Of course there is only one Arsenal team, but, I am not to be blamed for the Arsenal Birthday Cake that I made for my nephew that did not turn out with the right colour. Blame it on the cake and baking supply shop for running out of the right red, blue and gold colouring and running out of supply of the white vegetable shortening just when I needed them most! *sulking*

Heheh.... *wink*

Sorry! Drama sikit. *grin*

Ok, but, the reality is that I really could not get the right red, blue and gold colouring and the shop did run out of supply of the white vegetable shortening which would help in getting the colours closer to the actual Arsenal logo colour.

My SIL, Eina, had initially ordered a Carrot Cake for her family as a Raya Cake. It was initially supposed to be decorated as a normal Raya cake or just plain Carrot Cake, and in my head, I was trying to plan how to decorate the cake with some sugar flowers and raya decorations when she sent me a message on FB a few days before the 1st of September, asking me if I could decorate it with something to do with football or Arsenal since her whole family is a great Arsenal fan, and since by coincidence, the day that she was to pick up the cake, it was her son, Amirul’s birthday.

Can I blame my SIL for telling me late about wanting it to be an Arsenal Cake instead of a normal Carrot Cake? Yeah! Blame it all on everyone else but myself! LOL! *wink*

Kidding, Eina!

Thank you, Eina, for entrusting in me a ‘project’ which I am sure you thought I’d deliver successfully, but which I must apologize, as I think I failed miserably in the decoration part. BUT, I assure you, the taste of the cake is GREAT! LOL! *wink*

Honestly, I thought that I could find time earlier in the week to get the things I needed, like the colouring and white vegetable shortening for the frosting, but fate has it that it was a busy week at home and at the office front.

I ended up not being able to find time to go to the usual cake and baking supply shop I frequent in Kota Damansara where I am very sure I would be able to get the right food colouring and other stuff I needed to make the cake.

Instead, when I find myself simply short of time, I had to settle to drop by a small cake and supply shop in USJ. My alternative plan or Plan B if I am not able to get the right food colouring was for me to buy a decorating set of football players and goal post, which, again, I know, in the shop in Kota Damansara, they would have.

I had plan on making a cake of a football field as an alternative. Alas, the cake supply shop in USJ did not carry the football decorating set either. :(

I did, however, managed to get a bottle each of red, blue and gold food colouring, but it was a brand that I am not familiar with, but it got me all excited anyway to do the Arsenal logo as the logo did not look too difficult to do. Alas, they did not have the white vegetable shortening.

I bought the normal yellow shortening anyway, hoping that I could whisk it until it turns white and fluffy, but while I was whisking it for some time, I remembered a baking friend telling me that over whisking the shortening could take the butter cream too soft to pipe. So, I stopped whisking it before it could turn totally white, and added in the colouring.

That’s when I realised that I am no to going to get the right colouring to match the logo as the yellow base colour of the butter cream made any food colouring added to it turn a pastel colour.

Even after I added so many drops of the red and blue food colouring, the colours remain pastel.

I wanted to call my SIL to tell her that I wouldn’t be able to make a cake with the Arsenal logo in the right colour, and to ask her if I should proceed or should I just decorate it with something else. But, it was already past midnight on the 31st of August when I got to the point when the colours simply did not turn out right. I had actually only started on decorating the cake at close to 11.30pm.

Yeah! I think I will blame my boss (kidding, Boss! *wink*) for making me start late on decorating the cake, as I had to help out at my boss at his daughter’s wedding rehearsal.

My target was to start decorating the cake after dinner at about 8.00pm. But, when one thing lead to another at the rehearsal (through no fault of his, actually), that by the time I was done at my boss’s daughter’s wedding rehearsal (I am honoured that my Boss has asked me to help out at his daughter’s wedding), I ended up arriving home only at 10.30pm (after we stopped by for dinner on the way home).

By the time I got all the things ready for me to start on the decoration, it was already close to 11.30pm.

I did not want to wake up my SIL at 12.00midnight only to tell her the not so good news. So, I decided to proceed anyway, as I think that at least I got the logo almost right, and also, if it is of any consolation, I know for sure that my Carrot Cake tastes good and almost all my nieces and nephews would swear by it that even the top most cake shop in town can’t beat it! LOL! *wink*

Right, Sarah and Kuyana? *grin*

I finally finished decorating the cake at 1.30am. The result?

An Arsenal cake for the female team! LOL! *wink*

Again, I apologize to my SIL, Eina, and to the birthday boy, Amirul, for failing to deliver the right Arsenal cake, but I hope you all will still enjoy the cake.

HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, Amirul!

Next year, I think, if my SIL orders a Birthday Cake from me again (Who am I kidding? You think she will order from me again after this blunder? LOL!), I am just going to make a cake of a football field. And, this time, I think I am going to buy the things early in the year for just in case! LOL! *grin*