Happy Birthday Yah Lan

A steam moist chocolate cake specially for Yah Lan's birthday. =)

Atalie's 1st Birthday

The day has finally come and IT is finally out and completed. Yes, Cuen is satisfied with the work. thou there is quite a few hipcups along the way. I think IT has scored 99 marks. I'm talking about the birthday cake for my darling, Atalie. It is her 1st birthday party. I have planned over a period of 2 months on just the cake itself and made it over 3 days. It was really tiring but worth every single bit of effort.

My sketches

I want to thank Lee Lee and Ginny for helping me out on the birthday cake. Thanks so much for sharing with me your precious knowledge. And not to forget my Daddy Hubby who help to take care of Atalie while I'm busy preparing the cake.

Caihui has helped me to prepare a montage but the projector is not working. Hope to post it up on youtube or facebook for viewing.

Process of making the cake.
Day 1, I had to mould all the figurines to ensure it drys on time.

Day 2, I baked the cake and frosted it with chocolate ganache.

Top tier: 6 inch cranberry butter cake. Bottom tier: 8 inch steam moist chocolate cake.

Day 3, assembling of the cake with fondant.

The figurine was tough as the joints of the girl refuses to stick, keep coming on. If you notice closely, as the end of the day, the girl has got no more nose. It dropped off and I'm too tiring to doing anything about it. The sugar paste recipe calls for gelatine foil but I couldn't get it then, hence I replace with gelatine powder. The effect turn out bad, as I was rolling the fondant, I could see the un-dissolve gelatin still there. It was somehow patchy. As my based fondant is white, I had to be very careful as I've used chocolate ganache.

This is the finished and final product.

Cupcakes for Mummies

This is the cupcakes made for the mummies. Used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipes. With the help of Shan and Caihui, these are the finished products.

Mixed fruits Butter Cupcakes

Updated with recipes. Almost forgot about it.

Week after week, my schedules are very packed! From weekdays to weekends, with lotsa things and agenda going on. Last Sunday, we have the leaders' thanksgiving party at Regency House, followed by thanksgiving service. In between Saturday and Sunday, I gotta prepare desserts for the party and cupcakes as Xmas gifts for colleagues and friends. Thank God for the capacity and wisdom to manage everything.

I modified my buttercake recipe slightly and add in mixed fruits and baked them into small cupcakes. The cupcakes are dense yet soft and moist. The mixed fruits goes very well with it. I decorated them with some fondant.and packed them into the decorated containers.

 

 

Makes 30 small cupcakes (Base diameter is abt 4cm)

Mixed fruits Butter Cupcakes

250g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g caster sugar
4 eggs
335g self-raising flour
90ml milk
60ml whipping cream
250g dried mixed fruits

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree.Prepare the cupcake liners.
2. Beat butter, vanilla extract and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg one at a time
4. Sift the flour for 2 times. Mix in the flour and milk alternately in 2 batches.
5. Fold in the mixed fruits. And fill the liners with batter till about 3/4 full.
6. Bake in the preheated oven 170 degree for about 15-20mins.

For Caihui & Ivy's birthday

I specially made for the cake for Caihui's and Ivy's birthday.

Shan, Eileen and Caihui came over for steamboat on Sunday evening. The steamboat was good and yummy except with a few hipcups along the way. Thank God, everything still went on well. I've used the steamed moist chocolate cake recipe and cover with chocolate gananche and some fondant decor.

Today, I baked another one for Ivy's birthday using the exact same recipe. However the chocolate gananche didn't turn out the same it was rather watery. I will indicate the methods in detail that I used to make in the next post. First chocolate gananche work very well, it didn't melt even thou it was put outside for a long while..

Hence, I had to redo the fondant for Ivy's birthday. Thank God, there is enough time and it actually turn out even better. I use the chocolate favor fondant from Bakels and my own made sugar paste for the rest of the decor.

For IVY

For Ivy (1st try)

For Ivy (2nd try)

Darren and Rachel's Wedding

Exams finally finished but it is not over yet. I've got assignment to rush, going back to school on PH.

Anyway, just came back from Darren and Rachel's wedding at Regent Hotel. I specially made these for this lovely couple. When I know Rachel, she was still a school girl and now she is somebody's wife. How time really flies?

I've made some of my favorite vanilla cupcakes for Rachel. Covered with chocolate ganache and fondant.

 

Fondant Cake learning with Lee Lee for Atalie's Birthday

I was so blessed to be able to learn from Lee Lee over the weekend. I approached her to teach me how to make a 2 tier fondant cake for Atalie's birthday. As a baker myself, I must feel the birthday for Atalie myself instead of buying. Lee Lee was so generous to teach me a lot of things and give me a lot of tips and ideas.

Thanks so much Lee Lee for the lovely scones, I am coming to your class on 12 Dec ya. =) So thankful, your maid even help me to take care of Atalie while I am learning with you. I even got a ride home. How blessed can that be.

Talking about the cake, it was really a lot of work to do. Lee Lee had already prepare 1 x 6inch and 1 x 8 inch steam moist chocolate cake, sandwich and cover them with chocolate ganache. And not to forget the marshmallow fondant and sugar paste. We spend 4 hours together just making figures and decorating the cake itself.

These are the figurines that we have made. They are all made using sugarpaste. They hold better in humid weather like this. And dry much faster as well.

I love this. I always think that these cupcakes faces look great. I made the girl and the baby and boy were done by Lee Lee. Girl is me, baby is Atalie and boy is Ricky. Hee, my family.

This is the star for today. As there are 2 layers of cakes, Lee Lee covered 1 with marshmallow (pink layer), and 1 with sugarpaste (yellow layer). You can see from the picture, the yellow layer was matt, smooth and nice, while the pink layer was glossy/sweating. Marshmallow will definitely taste better but doesn't holds well. So see what is your objective then?

Ricky's favourite Vanilla cupcakes

This is Ricky's favourite. Been a long time since I bake it. This time I bake it for my cg botanical gardens outing. Replace some white sugar with brown sugar.





And not to forget my pretty darling at botanical gardens that day. Look! So pretty, hee. Despite the hot weather, it was so much fun. Great for photo taking! =)