Eid Cakes!

Eid was slightly different this year because I opted not to make any cookies. I baked cakes instead.

This was the coffee sponge cake I made the day before Eid. The cake was torted into two and I layered them with coffee buttercream in between. The outer part is also coffee buttercream and I plastered some chunky peanuts onto it sides. The piled up truffles were simply Ferrero Rocher, The white truffles are actually coffee flavoured truffles which I made earlier in the morning and were then covered with melted white chocolate and left to set in the fridge. The coffee buttercream was wonderful, I have to say. Eheh..

And this one is my Oreo cheesecake. This was easy to whipped up. Doesn't require any baking and i got it all done in less than half an hour. Easy peasy. It doesn't taste too cheesy (which is perfect to me.., I don't like cheesecake that is too cheesy to the throat) because I used gelatine powder to make it firm instead of just cheese.

So that's for Eid. I'll have birthdays to deal with next month and I hope I'll be able to make more whole cakes.

Here I Go Again...

Last week, I had another quest of making three types of cupcakes in a day. They were Carrot Cupcakes, Lemon and Coconut Cupcakes and the Strawberry Swirl, again.

My sister insisted on me doing this lucky ball theme for the Lemon and Coconut Cupcakes. So, yatta! I did it..

The Carrot Cupcakes went with the standard garnishing for any carrot cakes globally. The frosting was cream cheese and the tiny carrots were made from sugarpaste.

Here's the Strawberry Swirl with a different look.

Another Addition

I received a request for some strawberry swirl cupcakes and peanut butter-filled cupcakes not too long ago. As usual I was busy with daily work and so I ended up with more simple finishing for my cupcakes.

This one here is the Strawberry Swirl... I had some extras so I decided to gave some to my ex-Human Resources Director. Hope she enjoyed them.

And this is the usual, made those fondant flowers quickly. It was indeed the easiest garnishing I could think of at that time. Not so attractive, but super easy.

An Experiment

This was an experiment of Peanut Butter cupcakes. For this I mixed the peanut butter into the batter and not filled the cakes up like I always did.

After that coffee frosting attempt, I made the frosting for this one by adding some peanut butter into the frosting mixture.

I've made the chocolate triangles many weeks ago when I was bored and I decided to use them here.

I kinda prefer this one more than those vanilla cupcakes with peanut butter fillings.

Not So Recent

I have not posted anything new for quite some time. I've had a number of cake projects but I haven't got much time to dispose in front of the computer. I can't remember when I made this one, two months ago, I think. I made them for a girlfriend dedicating the cakes to her boyfriend. I resorted for simple frosting with skewed chocolate ganache effects on the cakes. The words on the cakes were suppose to have some %^&*# meaning which I shall not reveal for the sake of the couple. Heheh..

I flavoured the frosting with coffee and white chocoloate. My first attempt of flavouring frosting this one, but nevertheless, it's delicious!!

Here's putting in the truffles into the hollowed chocolate cupcakes.

Pearl's Vegetarian Bruschetta

Pearl finally made her bruschetta. Here are the ingredients she used for the snack :

1 whole baguette
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 very huge onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons basil
a dash of salt to taste
some grated mozzarella

The baguette was first sliced and dabbed with olive. In another bowl, she mixed the diced ingredients with basil and salt.

She then topped the baguette with the mixed ingredients, then the grated mozzarella. I would have preferred feta instead of mozzarella, but Pearl insisted on the latter.

Bake the bruschetta in the oven at medium heat (approx. 100C) for 5 minutes or till the cheese melted.

Jenny Ratna's Birthday

For Jenny's birthday, Farrah ordered 9 birthday cupcakes.

The top right corner would be the most challenging design up to this day. :) Still what customers want, customers get.

They are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate truffles for fillings.

These boobies are also made for Jenny. Another challenging conquest yet I manage. The usage of sugarpaste was necessary for this sculpture cake. Saty who were helping me with the sculpture, was very detailed in sculpting the...excuse me, nipples. Mom helped with the coloring of the sugarpaste and she was a genius in combining colours that results in truly real hues.

Sugarpaste is just too sweet for me, but it gives a smooth realistic finish to the cake. It is normally used for wedding cakes and cakes that needs perfect finish.

I bought the sugarpaste readily from the store as making it would be too time consuming. I'm happy with these boobs. They are mini chocolate cakes.

A Healthy Snack

Yesterday, Pearl and I made some healthy snack. It was an inspiration from Nigella's.

We crumbled some Mc Vitie's wholemeal cookies (around 4 to 5 pieces). I bought some frozen strawberries from the supermarket a couple of days ago, so we pulsed the whole 500g pack with 1-2 tablespoon/s sugar in a blender/food processor. It has to be frozen strawberry so it will give you some coarse chunks, not soggy ones. I also had some plain low-fat yogurt which is best for this snack. I was tempted to use whip cream, folded with some melted white chocolate (the variations you can have), which will definitely be tastier, but I had to say no to that. So next, we layer the ingredients in some clear cups. First, the cookie crumbs went in, then the strawberries and then the yogurt. Repeat the layers until the cup is full, making sure that the final layer will be the yogurt. Sprinkle some cookie crumbs again on the yogurt for garnishing.

Moving Out

These were made for a friend's mom who is moving out to a new house.

I made 50. And that took me all day!

SimpliciTy

I decided to go simple over the weekend, baking some cupcakes for friends.

Here's what I did. I don't want to mention this but it's the peanut butter cupcakes again. It's the safest bet to give to friends other than the usual chocolate flavour. Everyone loves chocolate, I know, but nobody really hates peanut butter too.

The chocolate lattices and sticks was a courtesy made by Pearl. Pearl did some R&D on a new flavour. She made coffee cupcakes soaked in espresso syrup which was terrific! They tasted strong in coffee, bittersweet, a must try for coffee lovers.

This one here was made for our household consumption. I hope to turn it into cupcakes presentation real soon. At the mean time, I would have to look for some coffee lovers to be the victim.

More..With Strawberry Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

My latest attempt was in making some chocolate truffles and placing them in vanilla cupcakes. This one here is made for a birthday girl.

So happy birthday!

This one made in different design, is made for a girl, to be presented to her boyriend. The design for this, was solely her idea.

I'm kinda satisfied with my two latest produce. A little different from what I've done most of the time, yet I'm liking it.

Recent Works

I made these recently. Nothing new in the recipe department, here is the ever favourite Peanut Butter Filled Cupcakes again in different looks.

I made these for Wanie's cousin's engagement day.

The variations..

Also made some 100 pieces of cookie favors for the engaged couple. I am bad in tying ribbons. So Saty helped with all 100 pieces. Her ribbons are perfect.

These, are the Lemon Coconut Cupcakes. Again, nothing new. Just a simpler look for the cakes because I was not in the mood for playing with colours. I think this is much better as it is simpler, more contemporary and nice.

Deciding on Price

I have adopt a temporary price scheme for my cakes and cookies, which, if proven reasonable and if proven that the price nicely covers the cost of the goods, will be adopted for quite some time. Here's what I have at the moment..

Decorated Cookies

Price :
RM 1.50 each for 1.5 inch cookie
RM 3.00 each for 3 inch cookie
(minimum order 50 pcs)

Flavour :
Butter cookies
Gingerbread cookies

Cupcakes without Filling

Price :
Available in box of 9 (RM30), 16 (RM50) and 25 (RM75)

Flavour :
Chocolate
Strawberry swirl
Carrot
Apple spice
Lemon and Coconut
Orange
Lemongrass

Cupcakes with Filling

Price :
Available in box of 9 (RM36), 16 (RM64) and 25 (RM100)

Filling Flavour :
Peanut Butter
Chocolate truffles
Strawberry
Orange marmalade
(Cake choice of either vanilla or chocolate)

Whole Cakes

Price:
RM60 for 1kg cake (decorated)

Flavour:
Chocolate
Strawberry swirl
Carrot
Apple spice
Lemon and Coconut
Orange
Lemongrass

Delivery Charges:
Additional RM10 to RM30 within KL and Selangor

Mars Bar Crispy Rice

I ran out of paper cups and was not in the mood to get personal with the oven. And so I made these. Easy as it comes out of a pot, or pan, or wok. Whatever you use to cook it over fire.

I used..

5 Mars bars (the usual 40 g bar, not the tiny snack size)
4 tablespoons butter
3 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
7 ounces melted milk chocolate (you can use dark chocolate if you don't want it to be too sweet!)
Some snack size Mars bar for garnishing, if you wish.

1. Chop the Mars bars coarsely.

2. Placed the chopped bars and butter in a pot and stir over low heat until they become smooth and creamy.

3. Stir in the rice bubbles. Make sure they are coated with chocolate thoroughly.

4. Press mixture into a sheet pan, or alternatively you can press them into individual baking cups, paper cups, that is.

5. Spread the top with melted chocolate, top with the snack size Mars bar (cut into smaller slices) and refrigerate until set.

Have fun!

First Cupcake Order

Farrah ordered some cupcakes. So, hurray to me because that was my first cupcake order. She wanted the Classic Vanilla with Peanut Butter Filling Cupcakes with decorations like the one I gave Zac for her daughter's birthday. Farrah however, opted for a different colour scheme, white, purple and pink.
I didn't have any royal icing flowers in stock for those colours she wanted. I thought I was going to made some for this project,but I decided against that because royal icing would take a few days to really be hard and ready. Therefore, I made some simple chocolate piped flowers instead. And I think they are just cute..
I melted some white chocolates using the double boiling method, divide the whole batch into three smaller batches and coloured them purple, pink and white. I then piped the coloured, melted chocolate into small flowery shape onto some tracing sheets and placed them in the fridge to set.
For the rest of the frosting, the Perfect Buttercream Icing came into action again. And then they are ready to go!

Coconut & Lemon Cupcakes

A friend is throwing a party for his child's birthday today and I made some cupcakes. At least that was about all I could give since you know, I'm not working...

I modified the recipe to make it less sweet. Too much sugar ain't healthy, see. Here it is.

Coconut & Lemon Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
2/3 cup sugar (make it 1 cup if you want them sweet)
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Beat the butter, lemon peel, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.

2. Stir in milk and coconut.

3. Fold in the flour.

4. Bake them for like, say..half an hour. Don't forget to check on the doneness.

I iced the cakes with the frosting from the Perfect Buttercream Recipe. And they're done! Easy peasy..

Saty's Lemon Cheesecake

Saty made a lemon cheesecake yesterday. She used some secret recipe which I can't publish without her consent. The only thing I could tell is that she used some wholemeal biscuit for the base of the cheesecake. The cake do not require any baking, you just have to refrigerate it. It gave a good lemony taste to pair up with the crispy biscuity base. Tasty!

A Belated Birthday

I made a carrot cake yesterday. It wasn't the best carrot cake recipe but I tried it anyways. I won't be writing recipe for this, because, like I said, it is not the best. Still, I like the taste of the cake.

I love the topping which was cream cheese. And because I think the topping is one of the best I've ever tasted, here's the recipe.

Yummy Cream Cheese Topping

1 cup cream cheese (at room temperature)

1/2 cup butter (softened)

2 tablespoon whip cream

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2-3 cups icing sugar (depending on how much you need to flavour and to reach desired consistency)

1. Cream the cheese, butter, vanilla essence and whip cream together in a bowl.

2. When the cream turned fluffy, add in the icing sugar, a cup at a time until you get the type and taste that work best for you.

I decorated the cake especially for my sister, Saty, whose birthday was a week ago when I didn't have the time for baking.

Devil's Food Cake

It's a marathon! After completing the birthday cake, I decided to bake a Devil's Food for our own consumption. I've been pestered by my sister, my mom and also, my boyfriend.

So here's the devil..

Devil's Food Cake

165 g (1 cup) cake flour

90 g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

250 g (1 1/4 cup) caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

125 g (1/2 cup) softened butter

1. Mix the butter, egg, milk and essence in one bowl.

2. Mix the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa, sugar and soda in another bowl.

3. Combine the two mixture and beat them up with a mixer for 5 minutes or until the mixture is fluffy and all the clumps are smoothed out.

4. Bake for an hour or until the cake is totally done at 180 C.

Chocolate Ganache

60 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

60 g dark chocolate

60 g white chocolate, melted

As usual, I sliced the cake into two horizontal layer. I whipped up some 4 fl oz of whip cream and simply spread the cream on top of one layer and put the other layer over.

The dark chocolate and the butter are melted together and then spread onto the cake. And before the dark choc set, I piped circles with the melted white chocolate on the cake, starting from the centre. With a skewer or a toothpick, quickly drag the skewer from the centre to the outside of the cake. Do it all around like a clock.

And then I placed two Hershey's nuggets at the centre. :)