Party With Cakes

Hearts and roses

2010-08-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

A heart-shaped anniversary cake for a couple celebrating their 48th year together. The roses are gumpaste flowers.

Last minute

2010-07-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am taking a break from making cakes. I made an exception with this cake as my colleague was looking for a vegetarian cake for a friend's birthday celebration.

Not many shops make vegetarian cakes and last minute, that can be a tall order.

Chequebook cake

2010-07-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Another cake for the same client. A birthday cake in the form of a chequebook for her husband. Unlimited love and hugs from his darling daughters!

Hearts of heart

2010-05-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

This cake was made for one of my regular clients. Her family were celebrating their domestic helper's birthday.

Laura Calder

2010-05-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

French Food at Home host was in town sometime back and I had a chance to meet her in person. To read about my experience with the celebrity chef, go to Kuali.com.

Cake Competition

2010-05-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Tropicana City Mall held a cake competition on Mother's Day. My sister-inlaw and her son were taking part and asked my daughter and me to take part as well.

In the beginning I was not too keen but then I said ok as it will be a great Mother's Day outing for the kids as well.

Sprinkle was the name of our team.

Contestants were provided with a 1kg butter cake and were given 40minutes to decorate the cake. The icing was also provided. All the other items including tools and decorative items were brought in by the contestants.

I am always used to working with butter icing and fondant. I didn't expect to be working with fresh cream which was very soft. Oh, no! It was my first experience working with fresh cream.

Somehow I managed to decorate the cake with it.

There were so many creative and beautiful cakes. When they announced the third and second prize winners, I thought to myself, what an experience! Now, we can have our tea.

When they announced the first prize winners, my daughter and I were speechless. Yes, Sprinkle won the top prize. My daughter was shy and reluctantly went up the stage to receive our prize.

We received a hamper worth RM1,000 worth of dining vouchers and products.

My other two kids were very excited. We decided to use the dining vouchers to have tea. We had about RM500 worth of dining vouchers and no we didn't burn all on tea. :)

All in all it was a memorable Mother's Day!

Judges deliberating.

My masterpiece.

Hello Kitty, Kitty!

2010-05-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Made this for a colleague's daughter's birthday. The four-year-old celebrated her birthday with her friends at her kindy.

She's a big fan of cat!

Celebrating a candle

2010-05-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

During one of my visits to Bake with Yen, my son spotted this musical candle and insisted that I get it for him. Since his birthday is only in October, he couldn't wait to use the candle and insisted that I make a cake for him.

Whipped up a dozen cupcakes and he got everyone to blow the candle while it played the "Happy Birthday" music.

That made him a very happy boy. Simple joys in life! Little goes a long way in keeping the kids happy.

Jom Football Challenge

2010-05-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes made for an IBM event.

Sponge Bob and Barbie

2010-05-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

An interesting combination! Actually, this cake was ordered for a double celebration. The birthday gal loves Barbie and the boy loves Sponge Bob.

Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool

2010-05-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Parents are starting 'em young. Here's a cake for a fan who just turned one.

Kuali cupcakes

2010-05-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes were made for Kuali.com's inhouse cupcake demonstration. The cupcakes were given as door gifts to participants. Something very simple.

Here comes Barbie...

2010-03-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

and her three musketeers. A plain vanilla cake for a Barbie fan who turned seven recently.

Sweet and simple

2010-03-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

A simple pink birthday cake.

The famous mouse

2010-03-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

A chocolate flavoured cake for a one-year-old. Mickey Mouse was done using the buttercream transfer technique.

It's the Beetle!

2010-03-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

I love this car and it is the birthday boy's favourite. This cake was made for the birthday boy's 70th birthday celebration.

He used to own a light blue classic Volkswagen.

Football, football, football

2010-03-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

It's football mania! Yet another self-explanatory cake.

Football cake ... bring it on!

2010-03-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another football cake as promised. A cake for five friends who share the same birthday.

And all of them, yes, you guessed it right, are Man United fans.

Three's a crowd

2010-03-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

This clover-shaped cake was made to celebrate three birthdays. Each petal of the clover signifies the different interests of the birthday boy/gal.

This one's for the babe

2010-03-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a baby shower cake for little Kenisha. I was quite surprised with the outcome of this cake, as I was really cracking my head on how to get the design right.

The figurine was store bought.

Football fever

2010-03-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

Just like I promised earlier, here's another football-themed cake. This cake was for a one-year-old fan.

Last minute cake

2010-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

I have done wedding and anniversary cakes but this takes the cake. Why? This order came in at the 11th hour.

The bride's sister found out that there was going to be no cake for the reception. So came the order. I have not done a cake in such short notice but I felt a bride should have a cake for her wedding and also because the bride's sister is such a sweet lady.

The order came in just the day before the reception.

A simple cake, a simple design. The cake topper was provided by the bride's sister.

Product launch

2010-03-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

These cupcakes were made for an IBM product launch. All 100 of them. They were individually packed. A mix of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.

Cake of the year: Football cake

2010-03-03T19:24:00.000-08:00

Maybe everyone's gearing for World Cup 2010 or there are just too many football fans out there. Need I say more?

Watch this space for more football cakes in coming weeks.

Barbie and Princess Pauper

2010-02-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

For a Barbie fan who loves blond barbies. This one's from the Barbie Princess series, Barbie and Princess Pauper.

Four-year-olds sure know what they want.

I what?

2010-02-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

iCarly. I what? That was my first question when I first heard it from my kids a few years back. Found out that iCarly is a television series on Nickelodeon.

My first iCarly, two tier cake. This was for a nine-year-old fan. Plain vanilla flavour for both cakes.

Just blast it

2010-02-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

BlastMaster, the people who bring lovely fireworks for major functions, celebrated their 21st anniversary recently.

This was a last minute cake. A two tier. The top layer was a fruit cake and the bottom a vegetarian chocolate cake.

Happy 21st Anniversary, BlastMaster!

I am a Gerrard fan

2010-02-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

There have been so many request for football cakes and I am beginning to believe that I must be the only non football fan around.

This cake was for a Steven Gerrard fan. I don't think I have to mention his team...

On second thoughts, don't want Man U fans to think I am supporting their club either, it's a Liverpool cake!

Simple as can be

2010-02-26T15:51:00.000-08:00

One of my simplest birthday cake I have ever made. For a young lady who celebrated her 29th birthday recently.

A Dibo cake

2010-02-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

Did you know that there is a cartoon called Dibo the Gift Dragon? I didn't until I was asked to make this cake.

I learn something new, well at least on Astro's cartoon channel, whenever I am asked to do such cakes.

The birthday gal wanted a heart-shaped Dibo cake with lots of candy on it. The person who placed this order was her aunt who said that the family wanted rich moist choc cake with fudge.

I would have made the cake even more colourful if not for the choc fudge topping. Nevertheless, it was colourful!

Ferrero Rocher cake

2010-02-26T15:34:00.000-08:00

I made this for a Ferrero Rocher fan. Even though it is decorated with FR, the cake itself is the rich moist chocolate cake.

To tell you the truth, I almost wanted to have this cake all to myself. :)

Man United again!

2010-02-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

My latest football cake. Yet another Man United cake! Looks like there are lots of Man U fans out there. :)

This cake was for a 30-year-old fan.

Yeah Mickey!

2010-02-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

One of my all-time favourite cartoon characters, Mickey Mouse. I still love Mickey Mouse until this day.

In fact, when we went to Disneyland in LA two years ago, my kids just couldn't understand why I was so excited to see Mickey Mouse. They were even more puzzled when I wanted to take photo with Mickey Mouse. I guess they are not fans of the mouse.

Anyway, it was a joy making this cake for a little boy who turned two on Monday.

Barbie and the three musketeers

2010-02-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Since when Barbie became part of the Three Musketeers? And that's exactly what I thought when I was asked to make this cake.

Apparently, Barbie and The Three Musketeers is 2009 movie and part of the Barbie film series. It was released on DVD on September 15, 2009.

This cake was for little Tarisna who's favourite colours are pink and purple.

Arsenal cupcakes

2010-02-03T22:35:00.000-08:00

Yeah!!! Finally, I get to do something other than Man United and Liverpool cakes. Like I have said before, I am no football fan but I am just like anyone else. I want to do something different.

These Arsenal cupcakes were requested by Radha for her 15-year-old sister.

Hey, Spidey!

2010-01-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

If you have ever baked using a character mould like I did for this cake, you know it is quite simple. Simple because all the details of the character will be on the cake and you just have to ice it accordingly.

It can go wrong as well! It is any baker's nightmare if the details are not retained after the cake is baked. And that's exactly what happened to me.

When I removed the cake from the pan, a very thin layer of cake was stuck to the pan. The part that was stuck was Spidey's face and hands. Basically, the main part of the character. Arrrgghhh!!!

Due to this, I had a hard time trying to figure out the bumps and the lines on the cake. Luckily, I had the picture of Spidey in colour.

It took me awhile to ice the cake, much much longer than it should have been, but eventually I got there.

The birthday boy's parents were happy with the cake. And I was delighted! Only if they knew what I had been through!

BTW, this cake was for a three-year-old Spiderman fan.

For a rugby fan

2010-01-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

This cake travelled all the way to Singapore. My sister inlaw's nephew is a rugby player in school. They wanted something simple to celebrate his brithday.

New year cakes

2010-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

The two cakes that marked the new year were for my kids' taekwondo friends.

Three kids shared the Manchester United cake while the taekwondo character cake was for a young lady. The cakes were cut after a taekwondo award ceremony.

Happy 2010!!!!

2010-01-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am slightly late wishing everyone a Happy New Year. I have been busy with a new commitment beginning this year. But that's not going to stop me from doing what I love.

I was actually planning to just chill and do nothing on Jan 1. But I had committed to deliver two cakes on Jan 2 and I was baking and decorating on new year's day.

My mom and grandma used to say that if you start the new year by doing something, either positive or negative, you will be doing it throughout that year.

What a lovely start to 2010! :)

The last cake for 2009

2009-12-29T00:15:00.000-08:00

TV3 Kid's School Attack program had its 3rd anniversary Splash Bash Party at the Sunway Lagoon last weekend.

I was invited to join in the fun as well as make the cake for the celebration. My kids had a great time in the water. There were lots of activities: face painting, clowns entertaining the young ones, beach soccer, water polo, and cheerleaders doing their thing.

Food and drinks were provided.

Also present were characters from Upin and Ipin, the Milo and Sunway Lagoon mascots.

The cake was cut by Upin and Ipin.

Festive greetings!

2009-12-22T23:12:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Have a great year ahead of you.

Orders for next year

2009-12-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

I have stopped taking orders for 2009. But I am taking orders for next year. Plan early to avoid disappointment.

Do keep checking this space for updates. There will be some new things lined up for the coming year.

My favourite

2009-12-20T23:25:00.000-08:00

I love cake and cooking books and I have not bought any for sometime now.

Recently, my favourite online book store Acmamall was having an offer I just couldn't resist. They were shipping for free!

I ordered three books, Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Debbie Brown's Enchanted Cakes for Children and Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef takes Off.

These are going to keep me busy for awhile.

All that treasure

2009-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed making this cake. This cake was for a 'young' man who celebrated his 70 birthday. He deals with gold bars and his daughter wanted to make the cake more interesting with a treasure chest full of gold coins.

The gold coins are chocolate coins that you can buy. The rest are made of cake and covered in fondant.

Keeping it simple

2009-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

A simple cake for a small birthday do.

News, news, news

2009-12-17T01:36:00.000-08:00

I will not be taking any more orders for the year. However, I will be fulfilling orders that were booked in advance for this month and taking orders for next year.

Do keep checking this space for updates. There will be some new things lined up for the coming year.

Thank you all for your support!

For the Liverpool fan

2009-12-17T01:15:00.000-08:00

This cake is different from all the cakes I have made for Liverpool fans.

My friend wanted players on the cake wearing red jerseys. The cake was for her brother. The only Liverpool players' names used were Torres and Gerrard. The rest of the players were the birthday boy, his wife and two daughters.

Here comes the bride and groom

2009-12-10T03:06:00.000-08:00

Chitra and Vijay tied the knot a week ago. I was asked to make their wedding cake for the reception. It was a three tier rich sugee fruit cake.

Chitra wanted a pink theme for the cake to match her saree. I used pink ribbons and pink orchids for the cake deco. Didn't want a 'in your face' pink, so I used white as the base colour for the cake.

Chitra is a baker herself. She would have loved to have baked her own cake but as a bride she had other important things to do. :)

Miss vanity

2009-12-10T03:01:00.000-08:00

Little Tanitra celebrated her 7th birthday last weekend. She loves anything in pink and glitter. Her mom wanted the vanity kit on the chocolate cake.

TV3Kids

2009-12-10T02:56:00.000-08:00

This cake was made for TV3's Jom Heboh event held at the Bukit Jalil stadium recently. Orange cake with butter icing.

Announcement!

2009-12-01T22:36:00.001-08:00

I will not be taking any more orders for the year. However, I will be fulfilling orders that were booked in advance for the month of Nov and Dec.

Do keep checking this space for updates. There will be some new things lined up for the coming year.

Thank you all for your support!

My first birthday

2009-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Here are cakes for little Sadana who turned one last weekend. Her party was a big one with 100 people on the guest list.

Two cakes; a Number 1 with a puppy for the cake cutting moment and another with small pink flowers.

Both were butter cakes with butter icing. The puppy is made of gumpaste.

Sweet and simple

2009-12-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

My friend told me to keep it simple. This cake was for her dad's birthday.

Announcement!

2009-11-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

Pretty in Pink

2009-11-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was my kids' taekwondo grading. It was also the instructors' daughter's 5th birthday.

I was asked to make two cakes; one for the birthday girl and the other to celebrate birthdays of all students who were born in the month of November.

The celebration started after the grading. Dr Clown entertained the kids. There were games, lucky draw and prizes for all the kids and lots of food. It was a potluck do. I made an extra cake for the potluck.

Announcement!

2009-11-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

It's a cheesecake

2009-11-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

Here's another personalised football fan's birthday cake. The only difference ... it's a cheesecake. This is the first time I am applying an image icing onto a cheesecake.

Long live Man United!

2009-11-18T23:55:00.000-08:00

Another addition to the Man United cakes. This pull apart cake was made for a fan who turns 25 today. The logo is made of image icing.

The big 50

2009-11-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

My uncle celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday. He had 'two parties' that day.

The first party for family and relatives started at 3pm. Just the usual tea time treats and I made 80 cupcakes for this do. The cupcakes were vegetarian chocolate.

The second party, latter in the night, was mainly for close friends and colleagues. This is where the whiskey bottle cake was brought out. I used the Jack Daniels label for this cake. Orange cake with chocolate icing.

Moist chocolate cake

2009-11-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

This plain moist chocolate cake was requested by a friend for the Precious Children's Home in Petaling Jaya.

My superhero

2009-11-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

Made this cake for a three-year-old Ironman fan.

Surprise! It's Hannah

2009-11-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

My daughter Reshnu and her friend Sara were planning a surprise birthday party for their classmate Ramya. They decided to do this as Ramya has never had a party for her birthday.

I thought it was so sweet of these friends. Ramya is a fan of Hannah Montana.

School Attack!

2009-11-05T00:09:00.000-08:00

TV3 Kids School Attack was at SK Taman Tun Dr.Ismail (1) yesterday. Naufal, a student, requested for School Attack to come to his school on his birthday.

I baked a cake for this event. Here are pictures of students waiting for the event to kick off:

Taking it easy

2009-11-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

For the month of Nov and Dec, I will be taking it easy. Still feeling overbaked from last month.

I won't be taking too many orders. For those who booked me in advance for Nov and Dec, your orders will be delivered. No worries.

No bake day

2009-11-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

I officially declared No Bake Day on my birthday. No way was I going to bake on my birthday. I was just going to relax. And that's exactly what I did.

I told my best friend, Sakthi that I will not be baking her a cake as well. Yes, we were born on the same day, same year, this month.

We still had cake ... a friend of ours who is in Australia sent us a Blueberry cheesecake through another friend.

Simple cupcakes

2009-11-03T22:39:00.001-08:00

Made these for my daughter's Tunas Puteri party at school.

Happy sweet 16

2009-11-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

My cousin turned 16 recently and her mom wanted to surprise her with cupcakes. The theme for her party was BLING BLING. She loves T-shirts, jewelleries and handbags.

The world of words

2009-11-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

I was asked to make a cake based on the Word World series on Disney Channel. In Word World, words come alive, words save the day, and words become a child's best friend.

I have not watched the programme but it seems like an interesting show for kids.

This cake was for a boy who turned two last weekend.

I am no MU fan

2009-11-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Two celebrations in the same office: The receipent of this cake is a diehard Liverpool fan. His colleagues decided to play a prank on him by getting him a MU cake for his birthday.

I didn't get the tyre thingy for this cake but I was told that the birthday gal's name means tyre in Cantonese... oops maybe Hokkien. I forget.

Walking tall

2009-11-03T01:40:00.000-08:00

I was asked to reproduce Melody Ehsani's Asjai Heels for a 21st birthday celebration. Here's my version of the stilleto heels. The shoe box is chocolate cake with chocolate filling.

Yeah Mickey

2009-10-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

This cake brought back childhood memories. Never missed the Mickey Mouse Club show on TV. What I remember most is the closing song which my brother and I used to sing...

.... Now it's time to say goodbye to all of our company, M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E...

Anyway, this was for a little boy who turned one. A chocolate walnut cake.

Just one more...

2009-10-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

... I think. My friend Manjeet was going to present this cake as a gift to her guests over the weekend.

Just before that, it was her birthday. Since she is observing a special diet, I baked her some gingerbread cupcakes. Just plain ones.

The monday after Diwali ...

2009-10-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

I have still not recovered from Diwali baking. I think I overbaked myself. Wish I was still at home sleeping.

Here are cakes that I made for orders as well as the ones I gave as 'gifts' when I went visiting.

I also made three chilled lemon cheesecakes and cupcakes ... no frills.

Dora the Explorer

2009-10-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is Dora, the main character from the TV series, Dora the Explorer. The show features the adventures of Dora, her monkey Boots, her Backpack and many other animated characters.

The Dora cake was made for a little gal who was celebrating her third birthday.

Happy Diwali

2009-10-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

Party with Cakes would like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Diwali to all who celebrate this joyous festival.

Party with Cakes will not be taking any more orders for Diwali. We will start taking orders from Oct 20 2009 (Tuesday) onwards.

Have a great celebration and a wonderful weekend.

Sugee oh sugee

2009-10-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Made these sugee cakes for a customer who wanted to serve them for Diwali. She ordered two cakes, 2kg each and wanted them cut into four and wrapped individually in foil.

This blog turns one

2009-10-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a little over a year since I started this blog. Sept 15 marks the actual date. The date came and went without me realising it.

This is how I found out:

I have been looking for stainless steel measuring cups and spoons for some time now. And I put the word out to my friends all over to buzz me if they ever came across one.

I already have two sets of plastic measuring cups and spoons but I just love the metallic look and feel of these kitchen utensils. I first fell in love with them when I saw pastry chef Anna Olson using them on her show, Sugar.

I finally found them at Bake with Yen in Puchong and I hesitated buying them. Why because I already have two sets.

I was relating my story to my friend, Manjeet, and she encouraged me to get them. She said, 'Let it be an anniversary gift to yourself for starting your blog. When did you start your blog?'

Well, the rest is history. I am now a proud owner of three sets of these baking tools. And I love my latest addition the most! :)

Vadivellu who?

2009-10-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a cake for a guy whose colleagues liken him to Vadivellu. Tamil movie fans will know who Vadivellu is. He is a Tamil movie comedian.

The image shows the birthday boy on the left and Vadivellu beside him. Check out the poses. Aren't they similar?

Of course, the birthday boy would dispute this. He would like to see himself as the next Will Smith. :)

Slam dunk and Miss Dainty

2009-10-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

We usually celebrate our youngest daughter's and son's birthday together as their birthdays are only three days apart.

My son is into sports especially any kind of ball sports. This year he wanted a basket ball cake. This cake was inspired by Creative Cakes ... with a Touch of Grace. This is a cake book by my teacher Grace Mariasoosai.

Initially, my daughter wanted a fairy themed cake ... the main cake on Grace's book cover. But due to my health issue, she just had to settle for a princess cake (also an inspiration from Grace's book). Sorry dear.

The kids had a great weekend with their friends!

Who is this fairy?

2009-10-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

These cakes were made for a five-year-old whose party theme was five fairies. Her favourite fairy is Tinkerbell. The cupcakes were made for the celebration at her kindy while the big cake was for the do at home.

The fairy figurine was store bought. Small drama/story behind this fairy. More like an emergency. Phew! Got that sorted out.

Shark attack!

2009-10-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

The month of October seems to be a busy month for me. Cakes, cakes and more cakes. I really enjoy myself when I make a certain design for the first time. And this is one of them.

This shark cake was for a seven-year-old boy. He celebrated his birthday by going to Aquaria KLCC with his friends.

Sugar flowers and chocolate demos

2009-10-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Cake Connection (CC) had two demos as part of its first anniversary celebrations. The first was on sugar flowers and the other on chocolate making.

I love the beautiful flowers at CC and this demo was conducted by the lady (sorry, I forget her name) and her team who makes those flowers. If you want to make flowers, you must have patience and time. And that I do not have.

Patience is needed to mould, tint and colour every tiny detail of a flower. And time to dry each petal and leaf. By the end of the demo, I learned how to make the flowers, bunch them together and place them on a cake. But what I learned more is to appreciate the effort and work put in by the people who make those lovely flowers.

Let me tell you this .... if you think sugarpaste flowers are expensive, they are not. The price is worth every bit of effort that you are not putting in to make those flowers. :)

If you are a chocoholic, then the second demo would have been perfect for you. The chocolate making demo was conducted by Jay Wong of Baker's Choice.

Jay explained the difference between couverture and compound chocolate. He showed us how to melt and mould chocolate. We learned how to make the filling for the chocolate. Jay localised the flavour by creating a durian filling. Everyone got to take back four pieces of chocolates. I loved the durian filling. It was yummy! (I love anything durian!)

Jay also showed us how to make chocolate curls on transfer sheets. As I had to leave early, I am not sure if I missed anything else. But what I do know is Jay and CC had a very good offer package for all participants of the demo. The offer was only for that day!

A princess' party

2009-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

I made this for a three-year-old 'Princess.' The theme of her party was Disney Princesses. The bottom two tiers were vanilla butter cakes while the top tier was a chocolate cake.

Mooncake celebration

2009-10-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

The birthday gal celebrated her birthday on the same day as the mooncake festival. This was a vanilla butter cake.

Sweet 16

2009-10-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

I have been very slow in updating this space due to orders. There's more to come. :) This was a last minute cake for my neighbour. She wanted a moist chocolate cake for her son's 16th birthday. She wanted it real simple.

Here comes the bride and groom

2009-09-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I attended the Bride and Groom figurine making class at Cake Connection. It was a hands on class. The class was conducted by cake guru Mama Min. Min's classes are always fun.

The couple you see above is a sample done by Min.

There was so much to learn and do that four hours was just not enough. I stayed on another hour or two. I had to leave before completing the figurines as there were three hungry kids waiting for dinner. I wish there was more time. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. Below are my unfinished bald figurines and the groom is missing an arm. :)

There is definitely a Part 2 to this. So watch this space!

Vegetarian chocolate cake

2009-09-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is a vegetarian chocolate cake. It was requested by a friend who is in Australia for a friend who celebrated her birthday yesterday.

Moist and it's chocolate

2009-09-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

Made this rich moist chocolate cake for a colleague's mom's 83th birthday celebration.

My daughter was eyeing this cake when I was decorating it. She was disappointed when she learned that it was for someone else. Later, I surprised her by baking the same cake for the family. We shared it with the neighbours and some friends.

The wedding cake decorator's bible

2009-09-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

During the long weekend, we decided to do some shopping for Deepavali at One Utama. We wanted to beat the crowd, so we went early.

We had two shops in mind. We arrived at 10.30am only to be greeted by a sign that said the store will open at 12pm and the other at 1pm. Sigh, so much for coming early.

It won't go down well with the kids, if we went home. So we decided to kill time at MPH ... one of my favourite places.

Alan Dunn's The Wedding Cake Decorator's Bible: A resource of mix-and-match-designs and embellishments jumped out right at me when I walked in.

I love Dunn's beautiful work but I don't have the patience to make real-looking flowers. I have had two minds about buying his books only because I know it will be left untouched on the book shelves.

But when I saw this book, I immediately decided to buy it. I know I will use this book. This is the Asian edition. This book has been on the market for sometime with a different cover.

It is an all-in-one book with techniques and basic recipes that are fundamental for creating a well-decorated wedding cake. You will find techniques such as embossing, stencilling, piping, gelatine work, brush embroidery, moulds and of course the main sugarflowers.

You will find step by steps for making roses, the arum lily just to name a few. Not too complicated ... I can deal with that.

Part 2: Strawberry cupcakes

2009-09-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Long weekends are never enough. Sigh! Didn't do much.

The only baking I did was for the family. I still had two packets of dried strawberries. I made strawberry and plain vanilla cupcakes. This time I flavoured the Swiss Meringue buttercream with the dried strawberries.

Nice!

Wanna play pool, anyone?

2009-09-18T02:13:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have covered these cupcakes with fondant as fondant would have given a more realistic-look to the pool balls.

But the client wanted butter icing as many of her guests are not very fond of fondant. Anyway, this is as real as it can get.

Happy holidays!

2009-09-18T01:36:00.000-07:00

I would like to take this opportunity to wish Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim readers, clients and friends. And all those who are travelling far, have a good and safe trip back home.

Strawberries and more

2009-09-18T00:28:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my mom-in-law's birthday yesterday. If you are a member of my family, no prizes for guessing what cake we had for the do. She loves plain vanilla butter cakes and cheese cakes.

I made my family's all-time favourite, chilled lemon cheesecake. I am not going to post the picture of the cake because I have posted it many times.

But here is a picture of the strawberry cupcakes I made for the do. Actually, my youngest gal has been asking for strawberry cupcakes for some time now.

I must thank a baker friend of mine, Mathi, who bought me a few packets of dried strawberries from Cameron Highlands. The dried strawberries taste sweet and sour. All you need to do is puree them and add the puree into a basic cupcake recipe. The cupcakes were yummy!

Books and more books

2009-09-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

When I came home on Wednesday night and there was a package waiting for me. Yes!!!, it has finally arrived. My books!

Like I said before, you can never get enough of books ... my case, cake books. I ordered the Martha Stewart Cupcakes, Spectacular Cakes by Mich Turner and The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. I know what I am going to be doing during the long Raya weekend. :)

Let's play guitar

2009-09-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for my friend's niece who turned seven yesterday. She is a Hannah Montana fan who wanted something different for a cake.

So I decided to make Hannah's best friend on stage, her guitar.

According to my friend, all the kids at the party went berserk when they wheeled out the cake. Wish I was there to see their expressions! I am glad the birthday gal loved her cake.

Happy birthday, Sneha dear!

Happy Birthday, Amma!

2009-09-14T22:57:00.001-07:00

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Saturday. My family members are my guinea pigs when it comes to cakes. It's the right time to try out cakes from my books. For mom's birthday, I made the carrot cake from one of Peggy Porschen's books.

It turned out very nicely. It was moist, not too oily. Love the cinnamon flavour in it.

I did not use the famous cream cheese frosting that usually goes with carrot cakes. I used butter icing with lemon juice and rind to frost the cake. The combination went very well with the cake.

Am I a supporter? No, I 'm just a baker

2009-09-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

I was asked to make this cake with the Liverbird image.I am guessing the recipientof the cake is a Liverpool fan.

My son, a Man U fan, sat in front of me while I was decorating this cake. He sat quietly for awhile before asking, 'Do you support Liverpool?' I told him no. He was very happy with that response.

I knew where he was coming from and told him that this was someone's request to have the Liverbird image and not because I am a Liverpool fan. (Me no football fan!) With that, he said ok and ran out of the kitchen.

Just like playdough

2009-09-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

I had leftover fondant which I was going to throw away. Instead, I gave them to my kids and told them to unleash their creativity.

My eldest girl, Trishala, was not too interested in doing so but my younger two were eager to start.

Here are Akshay's masterpieces: A big Smiley, stars, a heart and a face.

This is Reshnu's artwork: Patrick, Spongebob's friend. She didn't complete it as she had to finish her school work. I think she has something going here. Reshnu loves to make figurines with clay and she spends quite some time working on her creations. I like the details on Patrick's face. The teeth, the eyes...

Just wondering how Patrick would look like when he is completed.

Happy belated birthday, Appa!

2009-09-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Made my dad's long overdue birthday cake over the long weekend. His birthday was last month but I was away in Penang on that day and the following weekends were filled with orders... Sorry, dad. It's better late than never, right? :)

This is a peach cream cheese cake with sponge cake at the bottom, middle layer is cream cheese and the top layer is peaches covered in jelly. This is one of the recipes which was on my to do list.

Peggy Porschen is in town

2009-09-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Peggy Porschen is an international cake designer, teacher and author who is well-known for her contemporary and modern designs. She already has two books to her name, Pretty Party Cakes and Romantic Cakes. Her latest book is Cake Chic.

I had the opportunity to meet Peggy yesterday evening at the International Centre of Cake Artistry (ICCA) and got her to autograph my copies of Cake Chic and Pretty Party Cakes.

I got a chance to chat with her before the event and she came across as a very friendly, approachable and down-to-earth person.

Also present were Peggy's husband (sorry, I forgot his name) and Rosalind Chan (founder of ICCA):

Peggy also conducted a demo on how to decorate petit fours; a small cake generally eaten at the end of a meal or served as part of dessert. I have never tried making these before but after this demo I will definitely try it as Peggy made it look so simple to do.

Everyone who attended the signing event left for home with a goodie bag:

Besides promoting her new book, Peggy will be conducting a three day hands on course starting today until Sept 5, 2009. The course is being conducted at ICCA in Kota Damansara .

This is Peggy's first trip to Asia. And I hope this will not be her last.