long overdue

If ever there was an overdue fine imposed for blogging, I would have lost my entire life savings by now. But, thank goodness no such rule was ever imposed, not now, and I hope, not ever.

However, that still doesn't give me an excuse to not to post as frequently. There were many changes and many still on-going, the thought of trying to juggle many things at once proved even more difficult and challenging than I thought. Since when has life has been a bed of roses? Sure enough there were good times, but it is also the bad times that made the good times seem even better. No?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in some dire situation now nor am I facing bankruptcy. Just my two cents worth after busying around in a entirely different way. And as with all life matters and activities, it's a love-hate relationship. 

Anyhow, I havent been able to bake for leisure and for fun for sometime now, but I have definitely some backlogs that I've yet to clear. A colleague actually asked if she could come over to my place to bake a cheesecake for her boyfriend's birthday. Naturally I'd be more than happy to agree. Not being a cheesecake expert, she actually thoughtfully researched and e-mailed me 2 recipes she carefully selected out of the thousands.

So I decided to bake both at home, let her taste test and see which made her jump for excitement. 

First up! Chocolate marbled cheesecake. I never really had any affinity with beautiful, jaw dropping marble swirls and this was my *ah hem* lousy attempt in doing so. This cheesecake is pretty dense and rich with a distinct sour tang from the sour cream. The recipe actually called for creme fraiche but I decided it wasn't cost effective,hence I replaced it for sour cream. 

Next up! A rich, dense chocolatey chocolate cheese cake. The base was made with digestive biscuits with sugar and cocoa powder. The 100% chocolate cheesecake was a tad too rich for my liking and in my opinion would have scored a better rating if the base was a normal fragrant digestive biscuit base. Despite the full chocolate cheesecake, it was surprisingly better than the marbled cheesecake. 

So, we agreed that if you marry the both, base from number one plus cheese part from number 2, you'd get a winner. Of course we felt the whole chocolate thing was a tad too dull and plain and we played around with ideas such as, to add some ferrero rocher into it etc. 

And obviously, I haven't got to that part. I'm still clinging on to this thought though and hoping that it would materialise one day. =p

Have you ever had friends who known you for a lifetime and have seen your recent craze in this mad indulgence in baking and all that photos you posted on the blog, BUT, have never ever seen or tried your yummy bakes ever?

It's funny how I'm frequently caught in such awkward situations. Friends whom I've known for life have yet to taste a single cake/cookies/anything-i-have-baked. 

Deciding that it was too much for her to bear, and to show her unwavering, loving support she requested me to bake a black forest cake for her. And to be honest, I've never quite got around to baking a black forest cake. Although, it's kinda like THE birthday cake most of us used to get during our birthdays.

Nonetheless, I was happy to have embarked on this maiden attempt and have found this magical kirsch gel thingy that is packed with such strong alcohol content. It wasn't as difficult as I imagined and the chocolate curls really did save my life for the botched sides. They certainly are an easy way out for beautifying a cake =p

More details on the recipes soon! For now, I've gotta run!

Chocolate crunchy mousse

I've been away for a while, but I haven't been idling! I have a few bakes that has been sitting in a folder on my desktop for a while now. If I wasn't going to post them any sooner, it may have been never. 

I wonder how many of you ever had a slice of the Guanaja, a chocolate cake from Rive Gauche. I had mine first at a friend's birthday dinner and fell in love with it ever since. That bittersweet chocolate accompanied with the slightly sweet and crunchy biscuit base was to-die-for. It had almost been forever that I tried to get the praline biscuit bottom right and I never truly succeeded. The next time I had a chance to sink my teeth into these delectable slices was during my younger sister's birthday back in April when I decided it was the best excuse chance to get this as a birthday cake for her. Everyone raved about the cake and as for me, I sat near the cake, chomping down as many as I could, hoping no one had really noticed.

The next few months were pure torture whenever I thought of and craved for this cake and finally my wish came true when my cousin bought that same cake for his sister's birthday in July. 

The attraction of this cake continued to mystify me despite the various attempts are trying out to formulate its composition. Finally! The opportunity emerged when I had much success with the Japanese dark pearl. I realised that the Japanese dark pearl was able to stay nice and moist despite being in the fridge which meant it could be the perfect sponge base for the cake I was dreaming of. Needless to say, the dark intensifying chocolate taste in the cake itself meant that I need not worry about bland chocolate flavours in the mousse.

I had, on many occasions, tried searching for a good praline feuilettine base to to no avail. I read that people replace feuilettine with cornflakes and I've tried and failed. The cornflakes were too hard to bite into and the corn taste was just too overpowering. I knew that if I didn't try it soon, it'll never happen. So, I went ahead, searched for various recipes and mixed and match, altered this and that. 

TA-DA! Here it is! My very own version of "Guanaja" which I call, "chocolate crunchy mousse". Now, I've got the taste right, but the presentation failed. The ganache topping cracked real badly over a night in the fridge. I have desperately tried searching for an answer but have found nothing really helpful. All I could speculate now is the temperature of the cake, ganache and fridge. The only logical explanation I have is that, the cake shrunk whilst in the fridge which caused the semi-set ganache to be "torn apart" during the contraction.

Does anyone out there meet with similar problems? Hopefully someone could point me to the right direction =)

Till then...

Chinese New Year Chronicles: Part III - better late than never

Okayyy, blogger just played a prank on me and the carefully composed blog post at the expense of my beauty sleep rest had just disappeared. just like that. Bummer! I've given up on re-loading the pictures that took forever to load and my brain cells which were all half-dead half-asleep while waiting.

But lucky you! I just couldn't bring myself to miss out on this post since it is also going to be my first baking video debut. yea yea, no biggie, especially since youtube has TONS of them. But no! it's special to me and I obviously hope it'd be of some help to you, you and you!

I know I know, its wayyy past CNY but hey! that doesn't mean I can't blog about CNY related stuff anymore isn't it? Well, as the saying goes, it's better late than never.

As you can tell, I've been having a serious procrastinating problem. And now, it is even affecting how much I bake. I got the kueh lapis done up just on the eve of chinese new year and D came over and helped me with the first half. Thanks to him, I've finally managed to take my our very first baking video.

Although it is just a very short video showing how to layer the kueh lapis, I thought it might come along handy for those who are trying it out for the first time. Well, at least I appreciated having videos to watch when I was figuring out the recipe the first time round. Five rounds of failed attempts was no fun at all.

A little introduction on this cake, some call it a thousand layered cake because of the multiple layers you see in there and mind you, each layer is grilled one by one which explains it being pricey if you were to buy it off the shelf. The process is not only laborious, but pretty tiring and tough in some sense. You practically have to sit and guard your oven the layers and make sure they don't burn.

If I'm not wrong, this cake is traditionally of Indonesian origin and there is some apparent debate as to who holds the real roots to the invention of this wonderful rich, sinful cake. Word has it that the lapis spice (which is a combination of spices like cinnammon, cardamon, etc etc) were obviously, asia origin (in this case, from Indonesia) and that the "cake" was actually of Dutch descent. As the story goes, Indonesia was once colonised by the Dutch and that the Dutch that settled there probably missed they way of live back in Holland and wanted to re-live the moments of sipping tea and eating cakes in the afternoon. So, poor Indonesians probably didn't really made any cakes in their lives (maybe other than kuehs) and someone possibly decided to marry the spices (Indonesian origin) and cakes (Dutch style) together and wala! you get LAPIS LEGIT. Hmm I don't even know if I got the malay terms right. But that's not the point.

The point is, this cake is special, at least to me, not because it is a festive goodie, but rather the knowledge of ingredients that go into this cake made me realise I should only make it when the festive occasion calls for it. Not only is it high in fat/butter but the amount of egg yolks that goes into it is jus scary. twenty-five yolks. Imagine the amount of cholesterol and fat that's going into your system, you'd probably have to exercise more than a lifetime to run away (pun intended) from the clingy heart disesases and wrestle with obesity.

Nonethelss, everything could be eaten. Because the key lies in moderation. Therefore, I will not hesitate to urge you to try out this recipe although I highly recommend coming up with a list of friends whom you could divide and give the cakes away to. Surely you don't wish to consume 25 egg yolks and 500g of butter, do you?

Lest you're getting impatient, I'm moving on to the recipe, NOW! This time with pictures and a short video to accompany! =D

Kueh Lapis (makes one 8" x 8" x 2.5" lapis cake)

Ingredients:

A:

25 egg yolks

100g sugar

B:

5 egg whites + a pinch of cream of tartar

100g sugar

C:
500 gm butter (Golden Churn)
1 tin condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 ½ tbsp brandy or rum
1 ½ tbsp mixed spices

D:
170 gm plain flour

Method:
1. Sieve Flour (Group D) and set aside.
2. Cream butter with condensed milk, vanilla essence, golden syrup, brandy & mixed spices (Group C) till well mixed and set aside.

Group C Ingredients ALL IN!

Creamy mess

3. Beat egg yolks with sugar (Group A) on high for about 10 mins until thick and creamy (i.e. ribbon stage).

The sinful indulgence - 25 Yolks

With 100g of caster sugar

Beat it baby!

See how it tuned pale?

Ribbon Stage

A slow thick ribbon falls on itself when the beaters are lifted and does not dissappear right away.

4. Add beaten egg yolk mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix well. Fold in sieved flour.

All ready to mix.

Fold in gently (not TOO gentle) but you don't wish to deflate all that air you beat into the eggs earlier on.

5. Beat egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar and sugar (Group B) till stiff and fold in the mixture. [Beat egg whites with pinch of cream of tartar till frothy on medium speed (speed 3 on kMix) for 1 min. Add in 1/3 of sugar, continue beating for 1-2 mins. Add in the second 1/3 and continue beating 1-2 min. Add in the rest of the sugar and beat for 1-2 min. ]

My assistant for the day ever

okay okay, I just wanted to show off my shiny red mixer.

Now this is what you wanna achieve. Stiff peaks. (NOT dry though) be careful there!

6. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. (baking mode: top + bottom heat) Grease and line an 8″ square tin and preheat tin [Just preheat for a few mins to make the tin hot, making it easier to spread the batter]. Grease bottom and line base only.

7. For first layer, spread 3 - 3 ½ tbsps of mixture in tin and bake in oven at lower middle/ lower rack at 180 degree C for 10-15 mins. Or until lightly browned. [timing may differ depending on individual ovens. Just bake till surface is lightly browned] Use a satay stick, prick holes (if there are air bubbles) into the lapis and gently press the lapis with a lapis press to ensure the layer is even.

8. Switch oven to grill mode. (i.e. top grill only)For subsequent layers, grill each layer at lower middle/lower rack for about 3 mins. Or till lightly browned. [timing may differ depending on individual ovens. Just bake till surface is lightly browned. The darker the surface, the darker the layers will be later. The brown surface is what defines each layer.] After removing from the oven, use a satay stick, prick holes into the lapis (if there are air bubbles) and gently press the lapis with a lapis press to ensure the layer is even. Repeat this for each layer.

Make sure the oven is on GRILL for the second layer onwards.

Here's a really short demo on how to bake a layer. The video starts of with a previously cooked layer and that's the kinda brown you wanna get before moving on to the next.

9. When top most layer is completed, switch oven back to baking mode (i.e. top + bottom heat), cover with a metal tray or a piece of foil and bake at middle rack at 180 degree C for a further 5 min. It will take longer if the sides are still wet.

10. When the cake is done, turn cake out onto a metal grid. The lapis with 'fall' out on it's own. Let it cool on the cooling rack completely before cutting. If cooling rack markings are not wanted on lapis surface, flip it right side up after cake has 'fallen' out and let cool completely before cutting.

adapted from Rose's Kitchen

Related Post: Kueh Lapis a.k.a thousand layered cake (千层糕)

I hope this small little post with guided pictures and a short short video urges you, (yes! you) to give this a shot. =)

forever twenty-one

I just had, not one, but two 21st birthday orders within just a week apart! To add on to the fun, this is my 100th post YAY! And of course, I hope my blog would remain as happening  as possible and just like the fashion label, forever twenty-one.

Many say that time seems to move twice the speed once you hit the age of twenty-one and I somehow got to agree with that. However, upon deeper reflection, I guess the magical fast forwarding of time doesn't happen when you hit the magic number 21, but rather, as you progress, responsibilities pile up and with that comes investment of time to maintain those responsibilities.

Just take for example, when we were young, all we had to fret was, studies, test and grades and probably how to prevent my classmate from stealing my notes or worse still, stealing my eraser or crossing over to my "territory" marked by an invisible line on our tables. Other than that, we lucky brats of this age practically had to worry nothing about food and clothing. Now that I've those who have crossed the 21 boundary, suddenly find themselves struggling to find an ideal job and managing their finanaces and increasing responsibilities. In a split second, the list of things to do gets longer and longer and you start finding that time is zooming by faster and faster.

And... I am reminded of how long ago was my 21st birthday whenever I come across someone else who has just turned 21.

Many thanks to my secondary school classmate, Eunice for introducing me to her friend, QY to order her 21st birthday cake from me =) It wasn't too difficult for me to conceive the idea of how the cake should look like because QY already had something in mind and even had a picture of how she wanted it to look. Of course decisions like sizes and colours and other minor details had to be made and THIS was what the final product was.

The cake was a simple vanilla butter cake sandwiched with yummy yummy nutella buttercream for the bottom two tiers and nice, tangy lemon buttercream for the top most layer! It was a pretty huge cake which was REALLY REALLY heavy. Cake sizes measured, 10" - 8" - 6". Each layer was a little more than 3" tall so you could just imagine how heavy the cake was with the fondant =XX

To complete the sweet pink, floral 'feel', I added a "tiara" and a fondant key since she was celebrating her 21st. Although I don't quite know the true significance of a key, but I do believe it's somehow symbolic of your key to the gates of adulthood.

And so, if you're wondering who's the next lucky one who's just turned 21, it's none other than Eunice's sister, Evon.

                 

Eunice saw my "chirstmas" cookies post and wanted those cute 3D cookies and in my opinion, I think those made perfect door gifts and not to mention, they are cute, even when plain!

These cookies are pretty huge so don't be fooled by the photo. Eunice actually asked how big a plate was needed to display the cookies so that the guests could jus take and eat them (like buffet style). I told her she'd need something that's at least 30" x 30" for 60 cookies.

Several days later, she increased the order to 70 cookies! 35 of pooh and 35 of mickey! Although no decoration needed to be done, assembling and packing the cookies were more time consuming and laborious than baking them! Not to mention, I had to bake extra because of my mighty strength I broke a few legs, necks and ears =X So I had to re-do almost 5-7 of mickey and pooh =(((

I had no idea how should I get the body stuck to the legs, so i used royal icing to "glue" them together. I guess the humidity in our Singapore air kinda softened the cookies a little and on hindsight, I think I should have placed a packet of oxygen absorber thingy in each packet. oh wells, lesson learnt! The cookies were a breeze to make, especially when I kinda memorised the ingredients after the 300 wedding cookies. BUT bending and rolling them out were a PAIN, literally and mentally. Especially if the ears broke off while transporting it from the table to the baking tray.

But nonetheless, I managed to get the cookies all packed, sealed. All tags cut and attached. DONE, before the scheduled pick-up time. PHEW! I think this is one of my rare orders that I need not rush and for once, I could breathe a sigh of relief and snap away while waiting for the cookies to be picked up! =DD

Like flowers which blossom and wilt and die, so do humans blossom, age and pass on. I guess it's not a matter of how long we maintain our youth or even "feel youthful" in our golden years. But rather, what have we accomplished in the days of our youth that is worth remembering. The period might be short-lived, but as long as it was spent meaningfully in an worthy, impactful manner, we could be, potentially, forever twenty-one.

Durian, Episode 2

Gee.. I hadn't realise it'd been so long since I posted anything until Jane actually asked if my bakings were coming along fine. =X

You people must be thinking that I just totally busted my "new year's resolution" of wanting to post more recipes etc etc..Well, aren't resolutions meant to be broken? So, that's why you make them? no? =p

Work's keeping me busy busy, not because I have loads to do but because working hours just sucks up 3/4 of your waking hours. Coupled with recipes to try, CNY and orders, I'm starting to feel that 24 hours is seriously not enough. Not that I wish a day had 48 hours for I would have collapsed before the day even ends. This crazy schedule landed me sleeping at past 1, sometimes even past 2 in the morning and poor D had to suffer with me =X Not to mentioned, I baked through the night till 5.30 AM one Friday to deliver my dad's company cake the next day. The story, of which, I'll leave it to another post..

Now, concentrate.

I have a love-hate relationship with durian. They're so pungent they make thinking there's a leaky gas tap around the house, yet they can be oh-so alluring when that creamy yellowish flesh melts in your mouth and slides down your throat and what you have left is the smell in your mouth that lingers for hours, sometimes making you beckon for more.. I'm not one who truly appreciates eating the fruit itself, but I must admit that my knees go weak when I have a good durian dessert.

Most durian desserts are mixed with cream or added with some other ingredients which to durian purist, is crap. But for people like me? It's perfect. The cream tones down the otherwise sharp, pungent taste yet preserving the unique taste and smell of a durian. As such, how could I say no to a workshop that covers a variety of durian related dessert? Most of all, what lured me to signing up what a durian chocolate truffle cake. I was instantly reminded of Spike-D from Big O.

The workshop was pretty relaxing and the pace was ok, and the recipes taught were elegant yet simple. I haven't found the time to re-create any of the recipes at home as im still in the midst of racing against time.

Verdict? A pretty comprehensive workshop as I learnt some other techniques and learnt how to handle fruits in bakes. As for the taste, you either love it, or hate it.

A daughter's love for her mum and brother..

This is a real back-dated post. I had done up this cake on 5th December 2009 and now, in a blunk of an eye, it's already 2010.

What could a pink and blue cake possibly signify? Either a brother-sister cake or a boyfriend-girlfriend cake?

Well, a church mate, P, approached me to ask if I could bake a birthday cake for her mum and brother. And that they both shared the same birthday! Hmm could you imgaine giving birth on your own birthday? I wonder how that felt..=p

I agreed almost immediately and regretted as the days drew near. (as always) But this time it was worse! You know, it really is harder when specifications to the cake design are not spelt out, and things were made complicated when the same cake was intended for 2 people. not brother-sister, not boyfriend-girlfriend but mother and son.

How on earth do you decorate a cake meant for a mother and her son?! I was almost desperate and it seems the design could only lean towards either party, meaning, either a real feminine cake OR a boyish cake. But that's not the way it should be!

I frantically searched all over and recalled CherylShuen designing a cake meant for a twin. A boy and girl twin. There I have it, separate the cake! Time was running and I only had in mind for simple designs and this was the best I could have come up with. And someone, working on inspiration is wayy faster than you think. I torted, filled, crumbcoated, covered and decorated the cake all in 1 hour. I was almost amazed at myself. Of course that didnt include cleaning up haha!

I wasn't at home on the day of delivery so I had to trouble my sister again, to do it for me. I was really really glad that the cake was well-received when P's mother got "jealous" over the cake as everyone started snapping photos of the cake and kinda "ignored" the birthday stars. hahahah!

Whatever it was, the greatest reward is not having a beautiful, flawless cake, but rather, the reward lies in the appreciation of your hard work, no matter good or bad, pretty or ugly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

a chanel handbag...

...cake. Yea, if only I owned a real Chanel handbag. haha!

This was a pretty last minute order and I could have very well rejected it. But since I figured I'd probably won't have the chance to do something like that once I've started work, so I took it up!

It's been a while since I made a handbag cake. The last was....hmmm...during class. Bahhh...But I'm really glad I managed to put what I've learnt to use. I explored with using a different handbag strap this time, but hmm..not too good a result. I tried making a real zipper but my hastiness got the better of me and the zipper was too ugly. I refused to put it on. Besides, the real bag didn't have a zipper!

Karen requested for the bag to be pink because black seems a little dull for a birthday. What a thoughtful friend Karen is. She chose this Chanel bag as this was something they all eyed just some days ago. What better idea to present her a birthday cake in the shape of her dream bag =p

While I had alot of fun decorating this cake, I hope Karen, the birthday girl and their friends had a fun time together!

Happy Hatchday!!

my first official food review...

I've never really thought if I'm a serious foodie or some sort. As a Singaporean, I'm sure many of you would agree we ALL love food. Being born in a place with plentiful of different types of food, it's hard to watch your waistline, especially so when the exercise rate goes downhill while your age reaches for the sky.

Enough of depressing weight issues. Life is short, so enjoy while you can. haha! After making Royston's chocolate birthday cake, I was kinda dying for some real good chocolatey cake. I vaguely remember having some real, darn good chocolate cake from Jane's Cake Station, located in the ulu part of Singapore, deep down at Jalan Kayu.

I was really determined to try it again since it was years, probably almost 10 years, since I had the chocolate fudge cake from Jane's. I somehow recalled having a fantastic durian cake from Jane's as well. It was one of the FIRST durian desserts I conquered that led me to accepting durian in desserts. (recall: I started hating durian at some part of my life)

So, with high hopes, I drove down specially at 11+ am just to make sure I get my slice of cake.

ta-da! Yummilicious - looking cake. The cake defintiely looked chocolately and fudgy. But the smell wasn't appealing. One sniff and I could tell it wasn't a good quality chocolate. I started doubting my memory. It was either "memories always tasted better" or my taste buds got sharper after all that baking.

Nonetheless, the chocolate cake was okay, but really, not fantastic at all. If given a choice, I wouldn't go back there anymore for the chocolate cake. But! the cake has it's merits. The cake itself was really light and fluffy and stayed soft and moist after 5 days in the fridge. The fudge on the other hand, seemed lacking. Of what, I am not sure. It was not like what I expected a dense creamy fudge. But rather, a more jelly-like kind of topping. It was horrible, but just fell short of what I expect.

So, I thought, surely the durian won't disappoint! Hmm..it didn't exactly, but surely it still didn't taste as good as it used to be. I am also pretty sure durian essence was used in the cake layer. Why so? I bought a durian essence, wanting to use for mooncakes, but I couldn't accept the fact the essence was really really really too fake. and yucky. The smell is SO strong, it lingered in the room for at least a day. As such, the smell is engraved in my head.

The cake comprised of one THICK layer of durian cream encased in two thin layers of durian sponge (which was, "as light as air" - quoted by my Dad). The durian cream was not chunky durian, but smooth and creamy it was with tiny durian fibres. the durian taste good.

And as D put it, as long as the durian used is good, how bad can a durin cake taste? There! you have it. The durian cake IS good, but not THAT good that will warrant me a special trip down to the ulu jalan kayu just for a slice of durian cream cake.

Jane's Cake Station

265 Jalan Kayu S799493
Call 6481 1322

Mon-Sat 12pm-6.00pm,

Sun & Public Holidays 12pm-4pm

Closed on Wednesday

8-inch Chocolate Fudge Cake : $30.00

8-inch Durian Cream Cake : $38.00

*Other sizes available. 8-inch is the smallest*

Gribbit!

Pardon me for the quality of the photos. My mum's gone for a holiday and so has the lucky camera. Hence, this picture was taken with my sister's iphone, which, I unfortunately is such a noob in taking photos with it.

Another order, by a uni classmate, Nick. He asked if I could do a "Keroppi" cake for someone whom he doesn't wish to disclose to me. *heh heh* must be for a girl lah. I obviously agreed right? No insides of the cake for obvious reasons. It's a simple chocolate sponge cake with cookies 'n' cream filling, frosted with non-dairy whipped cream. He requested the picture to be decorated with piping jelly. It was really simple and i loved the effect except for the not so perfect eyes =( I wanted to pipe a shell border, but thought it'd make the cake very "old fashion" looking. So I piped a bead border with the shell method. The tip was a little too huge and my poor piping skills showed. sigh..Nonetheless, I hope nick doesn't mind and the lucky girl would be impressed =p

A close up on the cute cute frog, Keroppi!

All pretty in pink!

It's Phi's 3rd birthday and Ian's mummy (which obviously is also Phi's mummy) asked if I could make a doll cake for her. I haven't attempted a doll cake before as there were simply no occasions for me to embark on such experiments! haha~

If you are one who quite as crazy as me about cakes and cake decorating (in some sense), I'm sure you'd have come across a doll cake. These cakes are usually pretty tall and "big" in order to fit in barbie's never-ending long legs. So, after exchanging a few questions and answers with regards to the details of the cake, Ian's mummy was looking for a doll probably with a garden as a "background". So I thought, that'd be pretty nice..Without thinking much, I agreed.

After giving it a little thought, I realised it seemed like a pretty difficult theme to match. A doll cake itself would be pretty large and with a large doll on a small patch of "grass". hmmm...looks a little weird and wrong.

So after much research and looking around online for inspiration, I finally settled on what you saw in the picture earlier one. I reduced the doll size by ALOT. to the point, the skirt was the size of a cupcake, shaped to look like a dress. I made a "castle" to go with the Princess and of course, a carriage to complete the princess theme =).

It was my first try in embarking on such a huge assignment that I wondered then and now, during the process of making the cake, if I actually made a wrong decision by wanting to add in tons of details. =X I finally convinced myself that if i do not try it now, I wouldn't know when will I next get the chance to.

It was my FIRST making a doll cake.
my FIRST making a carriage. (I had no idea how to)

But praise God, He gave me the wisdom to figure them out somehow. Everything on the cake is edible except for the 3 little crystals that I've stuck on to the tiara and of course, the doll itself. The carriage, the castle and the 2 towers are all cakes draped in fondant.

As mentioned earlier, the skirt/dress is sculpted from a cupcake. As for the castle towers, they were cupcakes that were trimmed to fit the ice cream cones. I baked the "carriage cake" in 2 bowls and trimmed them to fit together and formed a carriage. (not as round and nice as I'd have liked it, but this would suffice for a first try)

A close-up on the details. There were alot more minor details that I'd have wanted to add on, but due to miscalculations and pure laziness and procrastination, I didn't managed to make the cake exactly how I envisioned it to be. Still, I received nice reviews about the design. Heng arh.

Of course I'd like the cake to taste nicer, but I've yet to find a very yummy chocolate cake that is heavy and "sturdy" enough for fondant covered cakes. Well, the search goes on...

I recently bought quite a few cookie cutters and was estatic to realise that my tiara cookie cutters could be used! I though it'd be just perfect and fitting with the theme. hehe..

Ian's mummy didn't request for this and I meant it as a surprise. After all, they could be doubled-up as birthday cookie favours or a small little party pack for the other kids right?

Although it isn't my first time using royal icing to decorate cookies, my previous attempt was incomplete. So I was never really able to have a real feel how should I go about decorating cookies. Whatever knowledge I had about cookie decoration was from the internet. Thanks for flickr.com, I manage to find some inspiration as to how I should decorate the tiaras. I very much wanted to personalise each cookie by writing the guests names, but i didn't know who would be going! Yet, I couldn't ask as it was meant to be a surprise. So I ended up writing "Phi" on every cookie instead.

I packed it in whatever favour bags I had. Things wouldn't be complete without a nice little gift tag. So I made a really simple one to go along and am pretty pleased with it =p hehe. I hope everyone liked it. Only 1 complaint! I realise the cookies go soft after flooding it with the royal icing and I got pretty upset. The cookies were nice, crunchy and buttery. But after flooding, they turned soft, though still nice and yummy nonetheless. Anyone knows why?

I baked a total of 29 cookies but some broke under my rough handling and so here's some of them, waiting to be dried and packed.

Here's a close-up on the design. I varied very very little amongst the cookies and here's one of the designs. (actually they all look about the same ha~) I'm glad I didn't give up the thought of baking the cookies. I finally got to decorate fully with royal icing and boy! was it fun and really simple. =DD

I didn't get a chance to attend the party but I really hope Phi enjoyed herself. Happy Belated 3rd Birthday Princess Phi!!

Getting to know Bob

I've been waiting to share the biggest ever cake project of my life and here it is, finally. Completed and delivered. I'm praying hard nothing went wrong with the cake and the kids would love it.

It all started out when Ian's mummy very very very kindly referred me to a wonderful nice mother, Judy. Judy was looking for someone who takes cake orders. And like all lovely mothers out there, she wanted a very nice, memorable birthday for her son, Wen Bin. So, plucking up my courage, I took her order. It was indeed a great learning experience for me, and lucky for me, Judy was very clear with what she wanted the cake to be and all the specifics she provided helped me along with decorating the cake easily.

More imporatantly, I'm super grateful to her for trusting me with this huge order. It was fun, tiring and frustrating as well, hand moulding these figurines. And fo course, many people helped along the way. Like D, who helped along with the moulding (he moulded 95% of the red one - "muck") and of course my brother, who, by the way is in the mids of his 'O' levels prelims =X (I'm sorry mum!) He was earnest in giving his opinions and helped me along with touching up the tiny details. Thanks bro!

-muck-

I'm sorry to everyone whom, if i had lost my temper along the way with preparations of this cake. As mentioned of course, it's my maiden attempt at moulding with fondant so i had to have practices and practices and MORE practices. even with that, accidents still do happen when you're into the real deal. Something I learnt about moulding. "you can mould the same thing 1001 times over and probably come out with slightly different variations of it every single time." That's how unpredictable it is. (or maybe it's just that i'm a novice and, *ah hem* not very doing very well in it)

-bob-

-scoop-


for deco

Last but not least, I really want to thank God for giving such an opportunity and gift. Once again, I experienced how real He is. The story goes...



The fondant figurines were left to dry in an air-conditioned room overnight (I was afraid Bob couldn't stand right up =X) Things dried up a little and boy was I excited. 1st miracle: NO ants. =D


I was super tired last night and fell asleep while saying my prayers before going to bed. Really worried about the cake as well. It's my first time covered such a huge cake. It measured 12" x 9" on a 16" cake board. and Judy requested the board to be covered in fondant as well. *sweat*

Thinking back on my "experiment" attempt to see how things would work out. (i experimented on a 6" x 9" cake) and it was quite a bit of a disaster and i thought the experience would help me a little better when the real thing came. NO. it did not.


Happily, I rolled out the fondant and got worried as it didn't seem like there was enough to cover the cake AND the cake board. starting to panick. time ticked by..the collection was 1.30pm at the Searangoon MRT. by 12.45pm, I was still rolling out the fondant and figuring out should I cover the cake. =XXX No choice, gotta roll it thinner to make it bigger. yikes! would it tear and crack and give way while i "drape" it over the cake? HOW? I was suffering from a mild panick attack. I was taught at Anna's classes to roll up the fondant with the rolling pin and unroll it over the cake. Easy I thought. but no! the fondant was rolled out so BIG, the rolling pin wasn't big/long enough at all! It was thin AND heavy. I was practically screaming "help!" in my head. My brother re-assured me that things can AND would work and I gathered myself, said a small prayer and rolled it. a quick glance at the clock. 1.00pm. Ahhhh~


Somehow, we did it. BUT with a bald patch on one corner of the cake board. how?! ( i managed to mend that at the end =p) So anyway, my mum was using the car, so i had to get my own transport to the MRT. I had a good mind to get a cab to zoom to the MRT. Just then...my friend who was going to go out with my sister soon came (who, btw, DRIVES). I begged for a ride to the MRT and he gladly obliged. Phew! they too helped in the final touches of the cake and with their help I finished the cake. YAY!


A quick check on my HP and i realised Judy's hubby who was supposed to collect the cake said he'd be 15 min late! double YAY! I had time to mend the cake, get changed and compose myself. but, NO! i couldn't find a plastic bag big enough for the cake and no way was I going to let her hubby carry the cake box in his hand.


I offered them a free delivery and hence, managed to get it delivered on time. =) I'm still waiting for her comments and photos. Hopefully everything turned out great. The weather's been humid and I'm sure the fondant is sweating =X I just hope nothing on the cake falls off or something. *cross fingers*


-the finished piece-


I'm sorry that you had to bear with me for the long-winded story and thanks for reading it. (well, that is if you DID read it) haha~ I really hope Wen Bin loves the cake. I'm pretty satisfied with it, despite the nerve-wrecking hiccups along the way.



HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY WEN BIN!

I've managed to get her permission to share the photos taken during the birthday celebration.

update: mummy Judy was really really nice and sincere in giving her honest opinions on the cake.

"Few pics to share taken in my boy's childcare with his friends. They loved the Bob cake. Personally, i find the cake too soft but i like the taste though. Not too sweet, just nice. My hubby find it nice too compare to some other chocolate cakes we ate, either too sweet or bitter. Loved the taste of sugar moulded fondant too. Not too sweet either. As for the outlook of cake, vehicles are nice moulded. I like the muck. Scoop looked exactly the same too. But find that all the figurines looked wet though, texture abit different and some of them fall off easily but we used water to stick it back. I saw the teachers had 2nd servings, guess they liked the cake too. "

-Judy-

Got to admit that the figurines weren't given enough time to dry out completely, which explains the "dropping off" and "looking wet" part. =X Will do much better in future! =p