My new site will continue to showcase the Cakes and Cupcakes that have made Coco Cakes famous, as well as share the many Sweet Inspirations that come with doing something you love.

Thank you for being a part of Coco Cakes!

Thank you to Rica Antonio Palma for the photo!

Starting October of 2011, Coco Cakes will be choosing one lucky person to receive something special from Coco Cakes every month. It may or may not be the same cakes or cupcakes but it’s something I’m sure whoever gets it will enjoy.

There are many reasons why people give. Sometimes it’s out of obligation. Sometimes we give out of guilt. Sometimes it’s to celebrate and commemorate an occasion. Even sometimes, and this is the saddest reason of all, it’s to try to impress people. The reason why I would like to give back is simply because I am so so so so so so grateful to God for Coco Cakes. Though it is not without its challenges, Coco Cakes has been a dream business. It’s been God’s way of answering my prayers to provide for my 3 kids and to see my life be involved in something I’m passionate about. It’s been a confidence booster, and there was a time when I was trapped in constant discouragement. I believe that God has even used you, through your simple likes, comments and orders, to show me that I do have something special to offer. It’s only been a little over a year and the growth has been amazing because of your support.

More than giving cakes and cupcakes, since I can’t give everyone something for free, I’d like to leave with you something more incredible that a baked goodie. I’d like to share 3 things I’ve learned from my Coco Cakes journey.

1. He bakes everything beautiful in its time. Actually the verse is, He makes everything beautiful, but I just thought I’d put a baking theme. Like with every cake, it gets placed in an oven where it’s hot and where we’re forced to stretch. But again, just like a cake, there’s a perfect time for it to come out of the oven, and when we’re done with the baking we’re now fit for decorating.

2. There’s more fulfillment in serving the cake than just eating it. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat my cakes. Haha! But the fulfillment for me has really come from seeing you happy whenever you enjoy a Coco Cake. If I had just thought about trying to eat everything I baked I would a) not have a business and b) miss out on the joy of seeing people’s moments made sweet. It really is better to give than to receive.

3. There’s a different Coco Cake for everyone but they’re all special to me. There’s a different role for everyone but we’re all special to God. Some people order birthday cakes, some for weddings, some for company events, some just because they love to eat! But whatever the occasion or the reason there’s a Coco Cake for you. Similarly, there’s a path for each of us. It won’t be the same as mine. It may cross sometimes and have similarities with others but it will be uniquely yours, and while not everyone may appreciate it, I hope you remember to embrace it – because our lives are a gift from God, and even if no one else thinks so, you are incredibly special.

I really ENJOYED making these toppers.

You know why? Because I never really appreciated sushi, except recently. I had a bad experience with sushi as a kid so I never liked it growing up.

Recently my kids learned how to eat sushi (of course not from me) and they super duper LOVE it!!! They can finish one order of Salmon Sashimi and California Maki each…for their appetizers. They would always ask why I don’t eat them. I never know what to say. I’ve improved though. This year,  I’ve learned to like salmon sashimi.

But THIS kind of sushi I can definitely eat. Any. Day.

I made sushi toppers for a client a few weeks ago. When my kids saw me making these, they said “Finally, mom, you can eat sushi!” Indeed, I can!

SUSHI CUPCAKES

One day at a time. Maybe next year, I’ll try the real California Maki. But for now, these would have to do!!! Not bad. Not bad AT ALL!

We all agreed to make them a 3D cake version of the shoe that pretty much molded their businesses.

One was the EARTH shoe and one was the CATERPILLAR shoe.

This was very interesting to make. I had to do it how shoemakers did it. Part by part.

First I had to carve the cakes and shape them into shoes.

Then I had to round off the edges.

This is another one of my favorite cakes. Obviously, all my cakes are pretty much my favorite. It’s really hard for me to choose just one among many beautiful things. Like I don’t have a favorite color. It changes every month, or every week, or is it every day? Like for a wallet color, my favorite would be a red or orange. For notebooks, I usually prefer black or something with  nice print. For pens, I usually buy all colors but the one I use most is the chocolate brown.

My friend once told me that when everything is your favorite then nothing is your favorite. I guess that makes sense for other things, but my cakes are like my babies, they’re all uniquely special. And this Rainbows and Butterflies cake is one of them.

Pastel Butterflies

This cake had one layer of chocolate and one layer of chocolate chip while the top a dummy layer which had to be light. My friend, Christine, said she loved the chocolate chip cake! I agree with her. I love chocolate chip cake too, my second favorite after banana chocolate chip. Another example of my many favorites.

Violet's 1st birthday cake

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Check out her reply:

More than enjoying decorating it’s really a great feeling when I know I’ve contributed to the success of someone’s celebration! I know how much effort you put into making your family’s moment special, so I love it when my cakes fit in perfectly. Some of you know that feeling. I know you mom’s know what I mean. It’s that feeling when your children love your cooking, or tell you they love you. It’s knowing that you’re appreciated.

And I just want to thank all of you for appreciating my work. You don’t know how encouraging each “like” or comment or email or message has been. I’m so grateful to God for readers like you who are generous with your kind words. It makes me want to get better with each cake, knowing that there are people like you who send me rainbows and butterflies in return.

I was so excited to start making the asparagus spears. I thought it would be easy. It looked really easy. How hard could an asparagus cake get? Just roll out a piece of gum paste into a thin log, then cut and snip the sides and top for the details of the asparagus.

Roll, cut and snip

But was I wrong! It was super duper duper duper hard! I ended up making over 300 asparagus spears to fill up an 8″ cake..and to top it all off, I had a wedding cake due the following day for a morning wedding in Tagaytay! Talk about a full kitchen!

150+ gum paste asparagus spears

To make the story of a long weekend of baking short, I had another few days of almost no sleep. I try to give myself as much lead time as I can but sometimes, as in life, things don’t go according to plan. I made about 150+ asparagus spears 3-4 days ahead but when I was assembling them the night before it was due, I was short of almost 200 asparagus spears.

I need more asparagus!!!

I had to mold 200 more asparagus spears all evening. I barely made it on time! But I did!!! Thank you for my Starbucks Venti Cafe Americano. It really kept me up until 6am.

The cake came out really, really nice! This is now one of my favorites, second to Natalia’s stacking teacups cake!

I made it just in the nick of time!

The Asparagus Cake

This cake was very tedious to make but it was all worth it. The response from my friend and her family was priceless. One of the things I’ve learned running Coco Cakes, is that many times our greatest achievements are simply a moment of persevering away. How many dreams or goals have we missed simply because we didn’t try hard enough or long enough? Who knew baking could teach us so much?

Enjoying Two of My Many Blessings: My Daughter Natalia and Coco Cakes by Little People Lifestyle Photography

Not very long ago, I was always worrying, very fearful, unconfident, angry, and just trapped in a situation from bad decisions of the past. But God somehow made a way to change all of that and he used you to tell me a very simple thing: “You can do it Michelle. I believe you can.”

So I’m taking the time to return the encouragement and say:

“You can do it. _____place your name here______. I believe you can.”

Sometimes we browse the blogs of other people, we see their work, read their stories, and think, “What an amazing life this person has. I wish my life were like that.” I know because this happens to me all the time. We wish we were as thin as them, or as pretty as them, as white or as dark, as rich, as successful, as traveled, as secure, as loved, and etc. etc. But I hope that as you read these things, you are not discouraged or envious but are inspired by the fact that you can be just as successful or even more. For me, after living in a cage, I really had very little confidence in myself. I had actually given up my dreams and resigned myself to my unfulfilling life. But I’ve learned that God really does listen, He listens to even the silent prayers of my heart, and now, a little more than a year of Coco Cakes, I’m even more hopeful that something great is waiting for me.

This is why I believe we can, not because we’re anything special, but because we’re loved. So go out and take a step of faith. Live an amazing life. I believe you will. I believe you can.

I recently made another iPhone cake. The black version.

And it had different personalized Apps.

B Hotel

His initials

The Bellevue Manila & The Bellevue Bohol

Guitar

Nike Golf Ball

And the standard Apps.

Messages

Mail

Safari

Weather

iTunes

Camera

Clock

Contacts

Calculator

Notes

Calendar

Phone

iPod

I will never tire of making iPhone cakes and cupcakes. First, because the iPhone is my most favorite electronic gadget (I know my friend will disapprove of the redundant use of most and favorite, but what the heck? I have different levels of favorites). It has everything I need, from my books, my photos, my music, my emails, my games…name it, it’s there. Well I don’t have a drawing app because I find the screen of the iPhone too small for drawing. Maybe if and when I get an iPad, that will be my new favorite. And second, they’re really fun for a cake artist like me to make, especially when I have to make personalized apps. I get to know my clients a little bit more. And I love making memorable moments even more memorable.

They didn’t realize that I was making a tank when I was sculpting the cake. If they had known, they would’ve stayed and watched…and helped for sure. Gone are the Play-Doh days. They’re now into anything about soldiers, G.I. Joes, Nerf guns and Modern Warfare. Boys will be boys.

It started with this.

Banana chocolate loaf cake on top of a rectangle cake

Sculpted cakes are kinda challenging to decorate because once you make a mistake of slicing off the wrong part, it would be difficult to put it back. And you have to make sure that the different areas are proportion to each other. But then, I still had fun making this.

Sculpted

Iced

Covered with bottle green fondant

Ready to be decorated with details

Almost complete

When I was in the almost-complete-stage, I realized that the tank looked too spic and span, too clean-looking for an army tank. I decided to dirty it up with cornstarch mixed with black food coloring. It turned out really cool.

Dirtied up Army Tank

True enough, when I showed my boys the picture of the Army Tank cake, they were so amazed (and kinda mad that I didn’t wait for them before delivering the cake). They now have an idea for their next birthday cake.

Army Tank Cake nestled on top of buttercream icing "mud"

Are you familiar with this kiddie show? It’s one of my favorites. I also love this song! Sometimes my daughter and I just play this over and over in youtube.com. I particularly like this show because it’s different from other kiddie shows. In this show, there are four kid explorers who would go about their missions while learning about classical art and music. I used to watch it with my boys when they were younger and we really enjoyed it. Occasionally I would let my daughter watch from youtube.com or from DVDs, since they canceled it almost 2 years ago. I thought I was the only fan left but apparently not. For this year, I already got two orders for a Little Einsteins cake. One around April and one just last week.

Unfortunately I only got to take a picture of the second one. This was another fun project.

Little Einsteins Cake

A fun, and memorable one. I had so much to do that weekend that I had to make the toppers while in a business meeting. Good thing it was held at a friend’s house. Imagine me, molding gum paste while discussing business models.

Leo, the Little Einsteins leader

June, the dancer

Quincy, the musician

Annie, the singer

Rocket, the Little Einsteins' friendly transportation

Sometimes my schedule can be pretty hectic especially when a lot of orders come in..(but I am not complaining!) I do ALL the work, from answering emails, drawing the designs, looking for inspirations, sending quotations, baking and decorating the cake, making the toppers, assembling them, packaging them, and delivering them. Sometimes I wonder how I do it, but I manage and still get things done on time. And the secret, really, is simple…efficient time management and mega multi-tasking skills. I’ve been getting so many orders I find myself doing non-baking work in the car while bringing kids to school or delivering a cake.

In conclusion, I want to share with you four things I’ve learned (ever since Coco Cakes started) when it comes to making things happen:

1. I’ve learned to be disciplined by making my schedule ahead of time and actually sticking to it. It’s not always so bad to give up wants for needs.

2. I’ve learned to prioritize my duties. Of course, God always comes first. Next comes my kids. Then, Coco Cakes. If there are things, like working out, other business opportunities, meeting up with friends, and other stuff that come up, I usually check first with the first three.

3. I’ve learned to be grateful and content. Grateful because sometimes when I feel like complaining that I’m too tired already, I just look back to how I started and I’m reminded of the many things that I’m blessed with. Content because it teaches me to not be envious of others’ success. I’ve learned to focus on my set goals and work hard in achieving them.

4. I’ve learned to be more open. Open to new ideas, new discoveries, new techniques, new recipes, new ways of doing things, new everything. Think out of the box. Like in the Little Einsteins’ theme song, we should “get ready to explore, there’s so much to find!” There really are endless things to explore. We just have to be patient and willing to climb aboard, step out of our comfort zone and zoom through the sky. And of course it won’t hurt to have great friends tag along, too.

The Little Einsteins