Weekend Fuel: Buttercream Botanicals

I came across these cakes on the web site This is Colossal. Just the look of them alone enchanted me and seemed perfect for my weekend fuel column -- inspiration that refuels us for the week ahead, like the weekend itself. But upon learning more about Iven Kawi, the Jakarta-based baker responsible for these amazing works of art, I realized she is a 24/7 source of inspiration.

A self-taught baker, she began in 2013 by making decorated cookies for her daughter's school. Kawi now runs a bakery out of her home in Lippo Karawaci called Iven Oven where she creates these elaborately decorated baked goods and takes orders from around the world using Whatsapp. Among her specialties are cakes decorated with terrarium environments using buttercream frosting to create an abundance of cacti and flower petals. Her husband, a food photographer, beautifully captures her work.

In the blog post that follows, she writes about her daily routine (which I've kept in her own words), revealing the passion that ultimately drives her ... "I do what I love and I love what I do." Weekend fuel for every day of the week!

I bake the cake in the morning everyday. Start from 05.00 until 09.00 in the morning, using four mixers, with each different character. Oh, i'm still using one old oven from my mom and two bigger oven from my husband.

And then 09.00 to 09.30 prepare some meal for my family, take my kids to school and prepare the cakes to be delivered by the courier.

Starting at 10.00 until 17.00 i would take my time to sit down and have fun mixing color and make flower from buttercream.

Many times, my husband and i only take 15 minutes fast lunch break then continue to decorate the cake until 18.00. Sometimes i have to wrap up at 20.00 if i need to buy some ingredients at baking store or groceries. Yes i still do my own groceries shopping :)

In the mean time, i use some little time to answer customers' whatsapp, so please pardon my late reply :)

It's been a pleasure to do what i love to do everyday. However I always looking forward to have some family time with my kids and husband. So, Saturday night and Sunday would be the perfect time.

Thank God for my awesome team now, together we could decorate up to 20 cakes a day. They are talented pastry bakers from Sydney, Melbourne, Seattle, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur and of course from Indonesia.

I love what i do and i do what i love :)

Follow Kawi on Instagram.