Small little gesture...

I had these two little tortoise as a small token of appreciation to my good friend who is nice enough to let me use her apartment (and air-conditioned usage) to keep all of the cupcakes (for my hub's cousin wedding) prior to the wedding day.

Knowing that there will be many guest going in and out of the groom's house, I had to find some place else to keep my cake (safe) till the morning of wedding day. Coincidentally, this good friend of mine owned a unit within the same block...definitely the perfect hiding place for my little precious *grin*

So YL...thank you for allowing me to use your house *smile* Hope you enjoyed the cake (though not much)

Cheers~

December Project: 3-tier Wedding Cupcakes

Year end is always the most busy time of the year…It is the time of the year when people are busy attending gatherings, parties and of course WEDDINGS!

6^th of December was an auspicious day for many weddings events and my hub’s cousin is one of the happy groom to have his wedding on this date. I wanted to give the wonderful couple a surprise wedding gift but was little worried that my ‘wishful thinking’ would not turn out the way I hope it would be. Of course, I’m talking about baking them little cupcakes on a 3-tiered cake stand. I guess this is what I would call as "December Project"

I started to assemble the 3-tier cake stand from raw material, the week before the wedding day. My second attempt finally went success and I am happy with the outcome of my own creation of cupcake stand.

3-tier Cake Stand

Then finally is was D-Day to start working on the fondants to create little bride and groom couple figurines. Knowing I had little time to complete 40 cupcakes with designs, I changed my commonly use recipe from Homemade Rolled Fondant to use Marshmallow Fondant instead.  At least I can save a little time from kneading the MM Fondants. However, I was still contemplating over the look of the bride and groom up to the very last minute till I started to mold them. I was somehow worried that the figurines would fall apart before I can actually put them on display on the wedding day…but I guess all my fears are just worries after all, the outcome turned out well!

Front details of the little bride and groom

 Back details of the little bride and groom

I set up the cake stand in the middle of their dining table the moment when the groom went out to fetch his beautiful bride. The location was so strategic that the cupcakes was the first thing that guest would see when enter into the house. I can see that arriving guest are admiring while at the same time snapping pictures of the cakes for keepsake. The happy me of course glad that the bride and groom loved this surprise gift from me when they returned from the bride’s house. The cupcakes was quickly snatched up and finally left with only five cupcakes for the bride and groom to savor.

Up for display

Little pink flower on heart shape

 Simple daisy cut out

Little pink and white MM Fondant flowers scattered on the base for the final touch

To the newlyweds, wish both of you many great moments with each other and have a wonderful marriage. Cheers~

Wedding Bells

October 17th, a joyful occasion for all of us – a cousin of mine had her wedding on this auspicious day. I wanted to give her something special, so I thought of some home bake cuppies as a gift to wish her and her hubby a long lasting marriage. For weeks I have been contemplating over the sugar paste designs and what-would-be the suitable topper before I finally set my eyes on a cute couple clad in traditional Chinese wedding outfit. That is it! The theme would be red and white, to not complicated the designs with too many colors. As for the cake flavor, they are orange flavored with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest to bring up the fragrant. The center is then filled with home-made orange jam which created a juicy texture when one sunk their teeth in.

For personalized touch, the groom's and bride's initials were added

Close up shot of the cute couple

One big and 7 small sized cuppies all nicely packed

I had another set of cuppies for my in-laws who were in town during the weekend. It was getting late at night and I was a little tired so I just had a couple teddies hugging each other accompanied by six small sized cuppies.

Lovey Dovey teddies hugging each other

Close up shot

I am happy that the cuppies and sugar arts turned out well!

Cheers,

Sweets For My Sweetheart II

I’ve been making lots of cute cupcakes for friends and family but never really did any for my loving hubs. Since I had extras from the cuppies baked for my friends, I thought it would be nice to decorate a few for him….It’s just a simple design but good enough to show my love to him ~grin~

Lemon Lime Cupcakes with whipped cream

Love,

Sweets For My Sweethearts

Days come by and left almost instantly; the hours felt just like minutes passing by …and in just few blinks, days turning into weeks then into months. It is almost time for me to leave my group for someplace else. Oh well, life goes on…people leave for the better. At least that’s what I hope for myself. My two years in this group brings me lots of wonderful memories and not forgetting the awesome friends I found. There were always funny talks, great sharing moments a.k.a gossips, sharing nice lunches and of course not forgetting great work support too (what do you expect….we are at work and we need to work too!). I’m sure going to miss the great times we had together.

I really appreciate the friendship they gave and as my appreciation back, these are the least I could do. Hope you girls love it (though the fondants did not turned out the way it should be…a little disappointed with the outcome)

12 cups of Lemon Lime Cupcakes

The Elephant

Two-hearts Teddy

Cool Penguin

Pretty Piggy

Cheeky Teddy

Love,

3-little friends on mini cake

Couple weeks back my niece MMS me a picture of a cake, asking me to bake that for her. Well, I still have not completed my promise to her, but I think she would definitely love to receive a surprise cake from me. With the leftovers rolled fondant I had from my nephew's little cuppies, I used up all to create three little friends - Ted, Ally & Moo sitting on bed of flowers.

Ted, Ally & Moo

Side angle of the half moon cake

Ted on flower bed

Ally & Moo having fun

She gave me the very first phone call the moment she saw it. She definitely loved the cake!

Cheers,

Teddy cuppies for my little nephew

As promised to my little nephew who turned 4 years old last Sunday, I baked 16 big size cuppies with 4 little teddy bears and his favorite ABC characters all made out of home-made rolled fondant. Instead of the normal chocolate cake, I thought it would be nice to change a little on the flavor of the cake. So this time I added orange zest together with freshly squeezed orange juice to the cake batter. Indeed the cake when bite brings out fresh taste of the orange.

Imprint on base

The final result - 16 cuppies

Big Brother teddy

Teddy with heart

Playful teddy

Lazy teddy

Birthday boy's favorite characters "ABC"

It was nice to see my little niece and nephews eyes glow up when I open up the box full of cuppies to show to them. The older kids picked on cuppies with teddies on but birthday boy grab on the cuppies with Alphabets and within seconds, the character A is gone...ended up in his mouth and a cheeky smile from him! Well, I'm happy that the kids enjoyed eating the sugar and cake.

 

Cheers,

My Birthday Gift

I received the perfect birthday gifts from my friends in office to add to my collections of fondant/sugar paste cutters. Just can't wait to try on those new shapes....

Assorted cutters

To all my Friends....Thank you for the wonderful gifts and celebrations! - xoxo

Marshmallow Pudding Princess

Don't you think she is pretty?
(Picture taken 2 years ago for a close friend's farewell)

Do not be confused with the name of 'marshmallow pudding'. There are no marshmallow in the ingredients, instead just the feel of marshmallow texture when you sunk your teeth on the layers of wonderful colors. The ingredients were pretty simple but needed quick and fast hands to add on the food coloring then to pour the layers into mold before the pudding get hardens, but at the same time ensuring each layers does not mixed up with the earlier layer when it is still too soft. Gosh, you probably have to work like an octopus with 8 hands *grin* Oh, I love to add coffee flavors at the very bottom layer to give a very nice fragrant to the pudding. Yumms~~

Cheers,

Absolutely Amazing Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

By the name of the cookies, you can figured how the taste should be. Well, I wanted to bake something, but was a little lazy to work on the fondants or cakes. So, I figured it should be nice to bake something else for a change....hmmm, cookies instead!

I went on browsing the WWW again for a recipe and found a site with many wonderful cookies recipes. I guess it was the name of 'Absolutely Amazing Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies' that attract my attention first. I went on reading...Difficulty: MEDIUM - hmm...won't take too much of my time then. Ingredients: chocolate chips and pecans/walnut - yumms...my favourites! Additional ingredient that caught me is blended oat - now, this is something new and healthy too. So this is it! This is the cookies that I am going to bake today.

Here's the outcome and I'd say the level of difficulty is EASY! :-P


A friend of mine is looking for wedding favors ideas. So to show her a sample, I wrapped two pieces of the cookies with colored wrapping paper and add on with some ribbons. Simple and perfect for gift too!

Design #1

Design #2

Cheers,

Royal Icing Recipe

I was browsing the WWW to read a little more on Royal Icing as well as to get the recipe, perhaps to try on it maybe for my next baking session.

This is what I found from a website:-

Royal Icing is a pure white icing that dries to a smooth, hard, matte finish. Besides its lovely finish it also colors beautifully which makes it a favorite of professionals who use it not only for frosting cakes and cookies, but also for intricate piping of decorations (flowers, borders, and lettering). It is simply a mixture of powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar, lemon juice, and raw egg whites but due to the risk of salmonella when using raw egg whites, I have also included a recipe using meringue powder. Meringue powder is a fine, white powder used to replace fresh egg whites and is made from dried egg whites, sugar, salt, vanillin and gum. When beaten with water and confectioners sugar it has the same consistency as icing made with fresh egg whites. However, I do find that royal icing made with meringue powder does not taste as good as icing made with egg whites, so I suggest adding about 1/2 teaspoon of extract (vanilla, almond or lemon) when making the icing.

Hmmm, I never knew there are two types of Royal Icing recipe.
Royal Icing Using Egg Whites (makes about 3 cups):
Ingredients:-2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juices
3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Method:-
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use


Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder (makes about 3 cups):Ingredients:-
4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla, lemon, almond)
1/2 - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water

Method:-
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add the water and beat on medium to high speed until very glossy and stiff peaks form (5 to 7 minutes). If necessary, to get the right consistency, add more powdered sugar or water. To cover or 'flood' the entire surface of the cookie with icing, the proper consistency is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for a few seconds before disappearing.

The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

So I guess I would try on the recipe with egg whites -- One, because it taste nicer as what the article mentioned, and two, I don't have to run to store for merinque powder. LOL~

Cheers,

Tips to store sugar paste figurines

The below tips might be helpful for you to keep the figurines made of fondant/sugar paste from melting. With proper ‘care’, you can keep your cute figurines for very long time. Isn’t that cool?

• Always keep in cool and dry place – best if in air-conditioned room
• DO NOT keep in refrigerator – the sugar paste will sweat once it is out from the refrigerator due to the different temperature
• If you have already kept inside the refrigerator by accident, immediately move the figurines to air-conditioned room once out from the refrigerator – this will keep the moisture away
• Sugar paste will be completely dry after few days – minimize touching to prevent your figurines going out of shape

Cheers,

Two-tier Mini Birthday Cakes

Coincidentally my cousin's birthday is just two days away, hence I decided to give her a little surprise gift. The two-tier mini chocolate cake filled with buttercream icing and covered with rolled fondant. As topper, it's a teddy with long ears. The whole cake is fully edible, except for the candle, of course.

I created another similar cake for a friend's 3 years old daughter. Similarly, it was a two-tier mini chocolate cake with buttercream icing, then covered with rolled fondant. I had different colors and little birdie (or perhaps looks more like duckling) as topper and accompanied by baby teddy in diapers.

Glad that they loved the cake!

Cheers,