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Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 3 — Bunny Roll Cake (Crafty Gibbon)

The amigurumi for the 3rd week of the Amigurumi Bake Off was... roll cake! To be more specific, bunny roll cake in either carrot or strawberry flavours. The pattern is by Anne of Crafty Gibbon, one of my favourite crochet designers.

I am super stoked to win Star Baker for the 3rd week of Amigurumi Bake Off!!! I've had a full night's sleep already, and I still have to pinch myself. The prize was a choice of any 1 pattern by Anne of Crafty Gibbon. Which is absolutely awesome because I love all her patterns. Actually I have my eye on a few of them...which I plan to buy soon. When I started crocheting in mid-2020, I scowered the Internet for all kinds of crochet information and patterns. And I first got to know about her works when I saw her kawaii bento box (here on IG).

// Born free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows, born free to follow your heart... (Matt Monro "Born Free") (on IG) //

We usually call them Swiss rolls here, and they're one of the first baked items we learn in Home Economics class at school. Probably because they're fairly easy and are a good base for all kinds of flavours and decorations.

As mentioned on IG, I didn't have the yarn colours for the carrot and strawberry flavours, but was inspired to make plain lemon and cream, and (if I had time) chocolate and strawberry. In the end, instead of lemon and cream, I went with a strawberry shortcake bunny roll cake. (Oomph that's a bit of a mouthful....) I did make the lemon slice to go on top, but it was a little too large and was not cute at all.

Strawberry shortcake flavoured roll cake (on IG)

The most challenging part of Anne's pattern was the swirl at the front and back of the roll cake. First time making a 2 yarn magic ring, and having to alternate the yarns as I work each round. I lost count and screwed up a few times, ending up having to unravel and redo the swirls a few times. What I did to keep track was to place stick markers each time I switched yarns. Sometimes, before I worked the stitches, I would count ahead and mark the stitch that I'm supposed to end at. Stitch markers are a godsend; one can never have too many.

First time making a swirl like the bunny's tail too. It wasn't difficult, but it was something new and fun. Just to challenge myself a bit, I decided to alternate the yellow and off-white yarns when working the tail. The look isn't obvious, but my strawberry shortcake bunny's tail has a slight pop of colour from the side.

A bunny isn't a bunny without a fluffy backside and perky little tail!

Had just enough time to make the 2nd roll cake I had hoped to make, but not enough to turn it into a bunny. Some of that time was spent splitting yarns so that I could mix colours into a single strand, one colour for the strawberry cream, and another for the powdered sugar part. The powdered sugar part was made by mixing white yarn and the brown I used in the roll cake (Scheepjes Catona No.157 Root Beer). I used a fluffy acrylic-cotton blend yarn (Puppy Yarn by Tiny Rabbit Hole) for the white yarn because I wanted the texture.

Among my crafting stash, I only have pastel pinks in the embroidery thread stash. So I used that, mixed with Scheepjes Catona yarn (No.130 Old Lace) for the strawberry cream. The cream was inspired by the old school strawberry ripple ice cream sandwiches I had as a kid. For the uninitiated, it's a slab of flavoured ice cream sandwiched between a slice of plain white bread, or rainbow bread. See, for example, on Singapore Travellers, Food Pornographers, Little Day Out, Lincoln In Indonesia, Mothership.Sg.... And God help you if you dare diss it, as a BuzzFeed editor discovered for himself. It was an awesome treat for us kids in sweltering hot Singapore (and still is!), the bread would soak up the melted ice cream. Which reminds me, working on these bunny roll cakes this week was a little hellish because it was a 33oC week!

Chocolate strawberry swirl roll cake... Dark chocolate sponge, filled with strawberry cream swirl, dusted with powdered sugar, topped with a chocolate-dipped strawberry and a spot of strawberry swirl cream (on IG)

Honestly, I am super honoured to win Star Baker for the 3rd bake off. It was far from my mind, as there were so many amazing ones made by other people... All kinds of flavours, all kinds of ideas. Looking at them all, I feel incredibly humbled, as well as inspired and encouraged to improve. 

Working on Anne's roll cake pattern has spurred me on to have another go at the roll cake pattern in Ichikawa Miyuki's Amigurumi Sweets. Bought that book 2 months back, but was not confident to try it yet. The book uses crochet diagrams, which I still struggle to understand and decipher. That pattern uses a different method, and I think Anne's is more beginner-friendly. Still, it would be fun to challenge myself, fun to try both patterns, and to see how the finished item turns out. Time to persevere!

But before that, I am going to satisfy my craving for matcha roll cake! Throughout the week, while working on the roll cake, I had this intense craving for matcha roll cake. So I am off to grab a slice from Matchaya and another from Tsujiri, for starters.

Until then.... matane~ and happy hooking!


Materials Used:

  • Bunny Roll Cake crochet pattern by Crafty Gibbon, pattern here.
  • Clover Amour Crochet Hook 2.5mm
  • Yarn:-
    • Scheepjes Catona No.105 Bridal White, No.130 Old Lace, No.115 Hot Red, No.157 Root Beer, No.515 Emerald, No.522 Primrose
    • Puppy Yarn by Tiny Rabbit Hole, White
    • Anchor Stocktwist Mouliné Stranded Cotton No.1021
  • Embroidery: DMC Mouliné Spécial 25 No. 742 (yellow), No.801 (brown), and Anchor Stocktwist Mouliné Stranded Cotton No.1021
  • Polyester fiberfill

AMIGURUMI BAKE OFF 2021

(This post was edited and updated on 2 November 2021, 10:24pm GMT+8.)

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