Ade's Baking Escapades

Mr&MrsT

2012-02-19T05:25:00.000Z

Yesterday was Mr&Mrs T's wedding in Kuching. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it there to join in the celebration but I guess I was sort of there in the form of sugar figurines...

Miraculously they survived through the post from here to Kuching and arrived just in time too! Boy, was I relieved to hear from M that they arrived just 4 days prior to the wedding.

Well, that was quite a rush job as the figurines are actually the 2nd set I've made. Last month, I had made the 1st set of these figurines for my Dad who kindly "volunteered" to handcarry it back with him on his flight but sadly, they were crushed midway through the flight. Very disappointing indeed but it happens sometimes. Anyways, am soooo glad they made it to the top of the wedding cake tower minus a few missing strands of hair.

Congratulations Mr&Mrs T!!

Love, love, love

2012-02-09T02:20:00.000Z

My fridge is packed with these at the moment...

heart-shaped macarons with gianduja + dark choc ganache, ready to spread the love around!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-22T12:33:00.000Z

One of the must-haves at home during Chinese New Year is pineapple tarts. Definitely one of my favourites too :)

A new addition to the platter this year are gold ingots and mandarin cake bites. They're made out of red velvet cake + cream cheese which I thought was very appropriate for Chinese New Year since red = prosperity.

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!!

'Melissa'

2012-01-19T11:35:00.000Z

By far the most popular cake design, I've decided to name it after my sis, Melissa. Afterall, her cake was the 'trendsetter'. :)

White & Gold

2012-01-16T23:10:00.000Z

...were the theme colours for Shuen & Aaron's wedding over the weekend. Soon after I returned from France, we met up to chat over the cake design and was kindly provided with photos of their outfits, bouquets and all the important details to be included in the cake. As I'm a visual person, having pictures are definitely a bonus. Yes, I'm guilty of purchasing food magazines just to flip through the pretty photos in them. :)

2 tiers of dark choc mud + dark choc ganache = chocolatey goodness!

Congratulations Shuen & Aaron!

Sheepish

2012-01-16T01:56:00.000Z

Few months ago, Mos mentioned to me that his research buddy was returning to Germany for good. Since they've been working on sheeps for the past few years, I decided it would be pretty funny to bake him these...

With these cakes, I tried out a new chocolate cake recipe and paired it up with raspberry & choc ganache. One can never go wrong with choc + raspberry combo... yum!

Just before Christmas, I made a ski enthusiast couple bound for the UK. They were to go on a snow-themed wedding cake earlier this month. Fortunately the figurines made it there safely and just in time too for the wedding too. phew! What a relief!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:33:00.003Z

First day of 2012 and I was greeted with an egg with double yolks! I've cracked dozens of eggs the past year and have not found one with double yolk till today. Is that a sign of a superb year ahead?

Then I came across a quote which caught my attention... "All Glory Comes from Daring to Begin".

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T11:30:00.000Z

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. How time flies! It feels like only yesterday I was still in France, baking like there's no tomorrow. A change from French pastries & cakes, my oven's been churning out ginger goodies leading up to the festive season. I've not made a gingerbread house before so I thought I'll give it a go this year.

Things got a bit out of control & I ended up with what my friend calls the "Beverly Hills of gingerbread house". hehe!

Adding a bit of girliness amongst it all..

Hope these are going down well at the party tonight..

Thanks to my bro for this fantastic card! Was wondering how he managed to find a card which has exactly the same gingerbread house I made, unbeknownst to me, he drew it all himself. I guess the creative gene sure runs in the family? :)

Merry Christmas!! xx

L'opera

2011-12-15T22:20:00.000Z

Finally got around to making one of my favourites!!

Pillowy soft

2011-11-29T10:20:00.001Z

Chiffon cakes! One of my all time favourite cakes which literally melts in your mouth. As it's super soft and light, one can easily finish an 8" cake in one sitting. Also chiffon cakes usually contains only very little added fat, it is almost a guilt-free cake to me. I suppose I'll come up with any excuse just to have a slice (or more!) of one of these.

Yesterday I made my family's all time favourite pandan flavoured chiffon cake. It's a must-have cake when my Dad's around. Today, I attempted a cream cheese version. It turned out light and fluffy as all chiffon cakes should be but the cheese flavour is rather mild for my tastebuds. I lovee cheese so I guess I'll just have to bake another one soon!

Last minute

2011-11-23T09:37:00.005Z

Over the weekend, the fuschia roses I made were given a home...

Don't they look pretty? Reminded me of a garden full of blossoms!

On Saturday afternoon, I received a text from my sis - "You're invited to Miss T's 2nd birthday on Sunday" - which meant the next day (ie. the day when the wedding cake had to be set up). Well, I had a grand plan on making a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for my niece whose birthday's actually today but it wasn't meant to be. Luckily I've made the characters a week prior so all I had to do was bake the cake & make them pretty.

Here's a photo of my cute little niece marvelling at Toodee. It's amazing how she knows the names of all the characters. In fact, I've been told she's so in love with Brobee (green one) that she's been holding and kissing it till one of the arms fell off today.

X'mas is only a month away which means that the year's nearly over. How time has flown!

Back onboard

2011-11-13T12:17:00.004Z

Yes, it's been too long indeed. I didn't realise there are new templates either so I've spent a few minutes selecting a new one for a more updated look but it didn't turn out as it should be. Oh well, I shall leave it as is for now and fiddle a little more later on.

Let's see what's new on my plate. Roses, roses and more roses. I think I'm blinded by roses now. Am just preparing for this weekend's event.

Some may wonder how long it takes to make all these sugar decos. I usually start making the decos days in advance. This is just to make sure that they are set solid once they go on the cake. Having decos which are not set hard on the day when the cakes are to be assembled spells disaster! A few times I've had to rush a few figurines and it just so happens the few days were rainy and very humid which didn't help at all. Somehow I managed to wave my magic wand and everything turned out well. hehe! Having a dehumidifier in the room sure helps but I don't own one. Also, definitely an air-conditioned room is most ideal for all sugar works as there won't be any temperature fluctuations.

Another project I'm working on is something I've only recently been introduced to.

It's still a work-in-progress though. :)

Bye Bye KongKong

2011-07-26T19:23:00.001+01:00

Kong,
Wherever you are now, I hope you're happy. Though I can't see you, I know you're looking as dashing as ever in your blue suit. I'll miss eating out with you the next time I'm back. :( -26Jul2011

Another week goes by

2011-07-23T22:00:00.002+01:00

Last week it was all about moussecakes in our class. We only had 3 days of class as it was Bastille Day on Thursday, 14 July and an extra day off the following day. That week was just a mad rush trying to complete all the cakes including 2 tarts which we didn't manage to make the previous week. Somehow we pulled it off! Here's the buffet spread for that week:

Every Friday, each class sets up a buffet spread which showcases what was done over the week. Once the table's set up, it's just amazing to stand back and see what we've made for the week. It can be a lot to take in within a week but am really enjoying it a lot as afterall, I'm here to learn and am a step closer to my dream. Hopefully I can continue in this path for a longgggg time.

This week was all about boulangerie and viennoiserie. A very fun class indeed as just before I left Brisbane for this course, I was baking bread almost daily, trying out different recipes. I never knew bread making is all about precision and timing. It involves lots of skills such as slitting the dough correctly, ensuring consistency within the batch and of course, patience. Sitting around, waiting for the dough to proof can take a while but it is definitely worth the wait once you smell and taste the freshly baked goods. Well made croissants just melt in your mouth with its defined layers of pastry and bread crust should be lightly browned and not overly hard. I'll definitely be baking more bread once I return to Brisbane

Our chef mentioned the above restaurant breads are what can be found at 3 star Michellin restaurants. They're just so tasty straight out of the oven! Amazing indeed.

Looking forward to next week!

Testing... Testing...

2011-07-20T16:32:00.001+01:00

I've just downloaded BlogPress from the AppStore on my iPad so hopefully this entry turns out well. Am a noob with all these techie stuff!

2.5 weeks have passed since MelP and I arrived in this little town south of France called Yssingeaux. We're here to learn all about French pastry, bread, chocs... All the sugary goodies!

Classes are 7 hours per week and start at 6am daily. Am still getting used to waking up super early but I must say I look forward to classes every morning. Much like how I'm making sugar figurines or wedding cakes. It's just too fun.

For the 1st week of class, it was all about tarts. He's a selection of tarts made:

Lemon Meringue Tart - A summery lemon cream tart topped with crisp French meringue pieces which just melts in your mouth.

Saint Honore - a pastry in honor of the French patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. A combo of textures in this one - pate brisee base + choux ring + choux balls + pastry cream + Italian meringue.

Apricot Pistachio Tart - hidden underneath the disc of pistachio creme brûlée are superr juicy apricots baked in almond cream.

Chocolate Tart - as per the name, tart's filled with dark chocolate ganache. Decadent? Check out the one below...

Intense Chocolate Tart - really like the clean smooth finish. Choc pastry case + choc joconde sponge + dark choc ganache + dark choc glaze... How more chocolatey can a tart be?

Caramelised Apple Tart - My very 1st time ever to flambé apples! Well, I've never really flambeed anything previously as my kitchen in Brisbane is an electric stove top, so no playing with fire. The apple cubes around the edges of the tart are flambeed with calvados. Yum!

Apart from tarts, we also manage to make chocolate bonbons filled with caramel. Again, my 1st attempt at making choc bonbons by hand. I've seen them being made many times at Cadbury's but in the factory, it's all mechanized so it was pretty fun filling the choc moulds by hand. Very tricky though as one has to work fairly fast if it's a cold day. Perhaps this would be something I'd make on a regular basis in future?

Well, that was 1st week at pastry school for me. Quite intensive but fun nonetheless. On orientation day, my camera fell out of my pocket and the screen hasn't been working since. I was left in a lurch without a proper working camera. Until today, I was snapping photos without being able to see what I was capturing. Luckily my cousin in London was kind enough to post me a new camera so now I'm back to taking proper photos. yay!

Oh yes, I've nearly forgotten to mention that prior to France, I had the opportunity to take up a short wedding cake decorating class with Peggy Porschen. I was sooo excited when I managed to get a spot in one of her classes as I've always been a fan of her very pretty yet elegant work. We spent 3 days baking and decorating a 3 tiered cake with royal icing flowers.

Fwd: Mish mash

2011-07-08T20:54:00.001+01:00

Oh no! How annoying that my post didn't show up properly. All my pics are misaligned and my entry's cut short. Here's the missing bit:
>
> Just before I left for the Europe was my lil bro's birthday. He's very particular with cakes and only has a liking to certain flavors. So to be safe, I baked a traditional chiffon cake with a slight twist to it. Pandan and choc chiffon with choc drizzle and topped with strawberries. Am really liking the colour contrast.
>
> I nearly forgot to take a photo of the cake so took a quick snap before we finished it all.
>
> Bro had another cake a few days later...
>
> Yes, another chocolatey cake. Hidden inside is choc sponge, white choc mousse and dark choc mousse. I've been wanting to try out the dotty sponge outer so this is a perfect opportunity!
>
> Also in the works was a wedding cake. My friend, Shiho's wedding is not until August but I won't be around then so I made a fake styrofoam cake for her instead. I think it's one of the prettiest cake I've made thus far or maybe I'm just biased since I love Sakura flowers myself.
>
> Congratulations, Shiho & Alex! Have a lovely wedding day!
>
> Apart from cakes, I was also baking bread almost everyday since my nieces love their breads. After many trial and error, I've finally settled with a pretty easy recipe whereby the dough is left overnight in the fridge to proof. So much easier than waiting around for hours during the day for the dough to double in size. No photos of the bread though. Oopss!
>
> Anyhows, just a quick update on my whereabouts, I am currently in France living my dreams by masquerading as a 'pastry chef'. I'm enrolled in a 2 months pastry course here and so far it's been pretty good. This whole week concentrated purely on tarts. Unfortunately, my camera slipped outof my pocket just a day before classes started so am left with a broken screen. Photos can still be taken but I can't see what I'm taking hence, most pictures turn out rather blurry. I shall post some decent photos here soon. Am quite tired from the week. I think age is catching up to me!
>

Mish mash

2011-07-08T20:51:00.000+01:00

Before leaving Brisbane on my big adventure to the other side of the globe, I managed to bake a few cakes which I've been meaning to post on this blog. I think I'm losing track of what I've baked lately so hopefully I'll get back into the routine of updating this blog regularly.

I tried a few recipes to recreate the super light paper-lined sponge cakes which are sold at the Chinese bakeries. Have always been so fond of them as it just melts in your mouth. Finally got it right after 3 tries. 3rd time lucky! :)

Bonjour!

2011-07-06T21:04:00.001+01:00

Hello all, I'm finally in France on my dream course!
Just found out that I can't post anything directly on my blogsite as i'm using an iPad so I've resorted to this method whereby I have to email my entries to be uploaded onto my site. How odd!
Anyhows, this is just a trial entry so hopefully it'll show up but probably the fonts will be very bland. Shall be blogging more of my pastry journey here if this entry works out.

More for the boys

2011-05-09T08:00:00.007+01:00

My friend, Bron, is due to give birth in a week's time (though she's hoping baby will be out earlier!). Her baby shower was held 2 weeks ago and MelP & I were requested to bake some cuppies for the event. "Something simple" was Bron's request. So simple it is...

Can you spot the babies?

It's so fun making all these baby cuppies as everything is just so adorable. In fact, my Mum, MelP and I attended a homeware/babyware sale last weekend and we bought quite a few super cute items for my nieces. I also managed to pick out a 9m long soft cotton fabric with leaf motifs for only $20. Bargain! Will definitely be sewing again as one of my nieces, Allie, has outgrown her bolster. Poor lil baby curls up gripping onto her tiny bolster I made for her when she was only few months old. She's turning 1 in a few weeks time. How time flies!

Last weekend, I also managed to make..

a 30th cake for a white, black, gold themed party. Mini cake was a little gift for the birthday boy to keep. Hope it went down well :)

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Naughty & nice

2011-05-01T01:36:00.003+01:00

Warren's birthday was last week. Unfortunately, Mos & I couldn't make it to his party but I managed to whip up something rather cheeky for the birthday boy...

Somehow this cake reminds me of Moulin Rouge :)

Happy Birthday, Warren!

Blue for boys

2011-04-28T00:29:00.004+01:00

Hidden in the box are....

Mini cuppies for baby Damien.

Congratulations to Alicia & Keong on their lil bundle! Damien celebrated his "full moon" last week. Well, Damien was soundly asleep throughout the dinner but we adults feasted through the night. hehe!

Those who aren't familiar with the term "full moon", it is when babies turn 1 month old. Similar to the Western tradition whereby baby showers are held prior to the baby's birth, Chinese tradition celebrates the "full moon" occasion instead. I suppose it's also a celebration for the mummies as they complete their 1 month "confinement" period. During the confinement, mummies are to stay indoors (with quite a few restrictions) and load up on ginger-y food.

Surprise!

2011-04-27T04:08:00.001+01:00

Guess what's in the box?

Caramelised

2011-04-03T06:32:00.003+01:00

I find that yellow's such a happy colour to work with. Let me tell you why...

Mel & I worked on a range of mini bites for a friend's event yesterday. Theme was sunflower and anything caramel. On the menu were,

Caramel chocolate slice

(with a touch of gold leaf to go with the theme!)

Sunny fruit tarts

Salted caramel macarons

Sunflower pots

(filled with chocolate, caramel and Italian buttercream goodness)

Looking back at photos of what we've created reiterates why yellow's a happy colour. :)

****

Earlier in the week, I had some leftover egg whites sitting in the fridge from making the almond croissants. When it comes to egg whites, there's only one thing in mind...

Yes, macarons! These are pistachio shells with passionfruit white chocolate ganache. Sourness from passionfruit tones down sweetness from the shells. I think it needs more passionfruit though as the white chocolate is quite overpowering. This is all still a work-in-progress.

That reminds me, there's more egg whites in my fridge from vanilla cream which I made for the fruit tarts!

Green beans

2011-03-28T12:19:00.001+01:00

My substitute to baking weights!

Almonds

2011-03-26T15:33:00.003Z

My latest craze!

Macarons, almond jelly, almond Kit Kat (yes, I found them in Japan!) and today, I made....

Almond croissants!

Ever since Mos and I had almond croissant from Chouquette, it's turning into our weekly treat. The rich almond cream encased in a light, flaky croissant topped with more almond cream and flakes is just perfect to start off the day. Yes, it can be a bit too rich for one person to have a whole one though.

Mos bought some plain croissants earlier in the week so I thought it's about time I attempt at making almond croissants. They didn't turn out too bad at all for a first go. Bonus: super duper easy + only takes a few mins to make. Guess this will not be the last time I'm making them. Next challenge, homemade croissants!

Happy Harmony Day!

2011-03-25T13:24:00.003Z

Harmony Day this year goes by the theme 'A Taste of Harmony' to celebrate cultural diversity through food from different countries. In celebration of this day, my workplace organised a luncheon whereby each of us contributed a dish from our heritage. Perfect opportunity for all of us to get together and enjoy a wide selection of cuisine.

I decided early on that I'll bake curry puffs as I've only made it once prior. Plus, it's one of my favourite food and I've not had it in a long time. I remember the pastry skin was pretty tricky having to work with the oil dough and flour dough. One has to be pretty precise when rolling out the dough to ensure there are alternate layers of oil and flour dough to get the flaky, puffy end result. My Mum's a pro when it comes to curry puffs so naturally I went straight to Mum for her expertise.

A nice golden, flaky skin puff with mild spicy curry filling. yum yum! I would prefer it to be a lot more spicy but had to hold back on the chilli considering some may not cope with chilli.

It's just gone past midnight and here I am, looking up inspirations for what to make next. Hmm....

A picture speaks a thousand words

2011-03-21T10:26:00.003Z

Mos & I were in Japan earlier in the year. We had the time of our lives tasting all the delicacies in different cities we visited. Everyone was just so polite and friendly which made our trip even more unforgettable. How horrifying it is to see the unfortunate events that have unfolded over the past few weeks. It is a reminder to all of us how blessed we are for what we have right now.

Lake Ashi in Hakone (our 1st stop in Japan)

Flavour of the day

2011-03-20T10:25:00.004Z

Mel & I decided to try out a new macaron flavour this weekend.

Rose & Lychee

We've been in a bit of a macaron frenzy ever since her wedding. It's rather addictive I must say. Experimenting different flavours, seeing the pied/'frilly feet' appearing is just so satisfying. I've made black sesame + black tea cream combo earlier in the week but silly me forgot to take photos of them. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be more to come. :)

An exciting news to share... Lilibets of Paris has just launched her new website this week. Gorgeous intricate wedding cakes + wedding favours available now too.

Choc-ful

2011-03-13T03:35:00.003Z

For a guy who has travelled around Europe satisfying his super sweet tooth, naturally, a triple chocolate bavarois would go down well on his birthday (so I hope!).

It was one of the cakes which I've learnt to make during my time at Lilibets of Paris. As I've not made the cake in over a year, I was rather nerve-wrecking preparing it. Never once did it slip my mind the thought of when the mousse would curdle or split mid way through or maybe the chocolate glaze not setting. Fortunately, it turned out pretty well.

'Bavarois aux Trois Chocolats', brings back all the fond memories. :)

Happy Birthday, Bernie!

Vendetta

2011-03-12T09:12:00.003Z

The day after M&D's wedding was Jeremy's birthday, which means another cake to make! I was requested to make the birthday boy in his birthday suit whilst strumming his Vendetta electric guitar. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn't it?

Armed with photos of the birthday boy and his guitar, I set myself to work...

A dreamy looking birthday boy laid on a dark choc mud cake + raspberry compote coated with white chocolate ganache. Yummo!

Happy birthday, Mr Jeremy! Hope you're not too disappointed with what's underneath the guitar.

Smoochy smoochy

2011-03-11T12:23:00.006Z

Congratulations Mel & Dean!

High school sweethearts who spent most years apart throughout their relationship. A week ago, they finally got hitched! Days leading up to the big day, Mel and I spent several hours preparing their wedding bonbonierres - heart-shaped macarons.

Dark chocolate citrus

White chocolate raspberry

It was rather tricky piping the heart shapes let alone regular sized hearts. We finally got it right after a few trial runs. Now I'm left with a big tub of egg yolks in my freezer as you may or may not know, macarons only use the whites of eggs. Perhaps an ice cream maker should be added to my wish list. hehe!

As for the wedding cake, Mel was inspired by Debbie Brown's giant rose cake. With that in mind, we decided on a 2 tier rose dummy cake topped with mini Mel & Dean.

Another fun yet romantic wedding cake 2 weeks in a row. :)

Yellow

2011-02-26T14:36:00.004Z

With minimal sleep throughout the week, this is the end product...

The 1st non-traditional, colourful wedding cake I've made. It was definitely a feat to cover the whole cake with sugarpaste as it was much taller than normal cakes. phew!

Somehow the theme colour, yellow, reminded me of the yellow carebear with sunshine on its tummy. So bright and cheery! Congratulations David & Andrea!

Another wedding event coming up this weekend. Indeed it is much like a wedding marathon. This time round, there'll be more than just a wedding cake. :)

Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

2011-02-10T13:17:00.004Z

When Chinese New Year comes around, I'm always on the look out for pineapple tarts. These tiny buttery goodness are just to-die-for! It's much like Pringles to me, 'once you pop, you can't stop!' hehe!

Not only are they so yummy, they're rather nostalgic to me too. I used to help my Mum bake these years ago. Since I was very little then, I was entrusted to rolling the jam balls only (not the most exciting job - imagine sticky fingers covered with jam - but smelling them fresh out of the oven is just so satisfying!). For years, jam rolling was my task when it comes to pineapple tart making sessions. Eventually, I was 'promoted' to rolling the dough and stamping out the mini floret pastry. woohoo! Since then, I've been baking these tarts whenever the odd cravings come about. It's one of those food which I'll never get sick of, much like curries. :)

My most recent pineapple tart making session was with my friend, MelP, who's as mad a baker as I am. We've both been baking fairly regularly on weekends, hopeful that one day, we'll be baking daily. Photos of our creations to follow.

Happy Chinese New Year to all.. Wishing you a prosperous and jolly bunny year ahead!

Made with love..

2011-02-09T21:26:00.005Z

As cheesy as the title may be, cookies, anyone?

Yes, I'm back onboard. More updates to follow...

Summer's here

2010-11-24T21:24:00.004Z

Tiny little treats for summer...

So dainty & pretty :)

Baby cakes

2010-09-27T11:30:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, I made a sugar version of my niece, Allie. Tomorrow, she'll be going into her parent's office to present these to their colleagues...

Hopefully Allie remembers to wear her cupcake bib and a pink wrap to match the cake! A fun, whimsical cake perfect for babies. *hehe*

Amongst all that, I've also made some strawberry tarts mid week as I thought I should make something with strawberries as they are going out of season soon.

Sweet, juicy strawberries with vanilla pastry cream sitting on a shortbread pastry shell. yum yum! I've got a huge bowl full of lemons so maybe lemon tarts will be next on the list. Am getting into a tarty mood lately.

Remember Dorothy and her sparkly red shoes? Well, they made it all to the UK in one piece (minus losing a small chunk of hair from her pigtails) and Lilibet's done her magic once again...

A perfectly iced cake with precise royal icing piping.

Mid morning today...

2010-09-20T12:29:00.004+01:00

I received a lovely surprise in my inbox...

Photo courtesy of Eilen's husband, Quop.

Thanks to Eilen who kindly sent me this photo of the "dressed" cake. Very nicely taken too. :)

****

Every so often, whenever I see or hear about French patisseries, it brings back fond memories of my time in Southport, UK. I've often mentioned Lilibet on my blog as if it wasn't for her, I would still be piping funny shaped blobs of macaron shells. Yes, that was what I did when I first made macarons. *hehe!* During my time there, I would look forward to macaron-ing on Thursdays, pastry shells on Wednesdays, Bavarois on Mondays, KK's special orders and the list goes on.

It is just over a year since I left the UK and until today, I am still dreaming of Lilibet's very exquisite-looking, red granite shop. Anyone who walks past her shop will definitely take a second look or stop for a while poking their faces against the display window, mesmerised by the array of cakes.

Since being back in Brisbane, I've been on a quest to find a shop similar to Lilibet's. Once in a while, Mos would remind me of when we used to have Lilibet's cakes almost everyday for dessert after dinner. Indeed, we were very spoilt then. Well, I think I've found something as close to Lilibet's the moment I stepped into Chouquette at New Farm. Fraisier, Bavarois, Tarte au Citron, Tarte au Fraise, I was so smittened by the familiarity. The croissants are just sooo flaky and melt in your mouth. Yummy!

Grandeur

2010-09-19T13:21:00.006+01:00

Yesterday was Felicia & Alvin's wedding which also marks a significant day in my baking escapades. A 4 tier white chocolate mudcake (minus bottom tier which was a dummy) coated with rich white chocolate ganache and covered with ivory sugarpaste. This cake is by far the biggest I've made so far. *phew*

A bouquet of roses has yet to go on top of the cake + a few roses on the side. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the cake with roses as the florist arrived at the venue after I left.

On Friday, I started early on the decorations and being quite the perfectionist, it sure took me a while. By the end of it, my fingers were aching from hand piping the intricate details but it was well worth it upon seeing the end results. As they say, hard work pays off. Though for me, it's more of a passion rather than work as I am always on a high when it comes to designing/baking/decorating cakes. Perhaps one day I can turn this passion into my career.

It was indeed rather nerve-wrecking throughout the whole process especially having so many eyes *ahem! you know who you are* "supervising" my work. Needless to say, I wouldn't have done it without the many assistants I had leading up to the day and also to deliver the cake safely to the venue. Thanks to my lil elves! :)

Congratulations Felicia & Alvin! Thanks for entrusting me with your wedding cake. Hope you liked the cake as much as I have enjoyed making it.

Cheeky

2010-09-11T12:46:00.004+01:00

A Hens cake for a gal who's known as Fish to her friends, was a mission given to me months ago. When one mentions 'Hens Do', it usually involves naughty bitsies but I was told to do something different. Something unusual. Well, my inspiration came in the form of Manneken Pis or known by the French as petit Julien. For those who aren't familiar, he's the little naked pee-ing boy statue in Brussels.

Instead of the little boy in a pee-ing stance, I've turned him into this instead...

As people say, there are many fishes in the sea. Looks like A's caught his Fish!

****

Another fun task I had to do last weekend was Wizard of Oz figurines. Let the pictures speak for itself...

Miss Bonnie & Clyde

2010-08-22T13:44:00.003+01:00

When I was asked to make a cake for a Miss Bonnie & Clyde theme, that was the 1st time I've heard of Miss Bonnie & Clyde. As usual, Google's my best friend so I spent a fair few hours 'researching' as well as asking around those who are more familiar with the theme. Several emails later, the day arrived to deliver the cake...

Underneath all that is an extra rich combo of chocolate cake + dark chocolate ganache. Now let's hope that it's lived up to expectations :)

****

This is starting to be a monthly update from me. I don't seem to have much motivation these days to blog as I'm either preoccupied with daily routines or just plain lazy.

Today, I made a trip to Spotlight to stock up on more cake/craft stuff as the following few weeks will be cake-packed. Yes, most of my weekends are spent baking with some late night bakings on weekdays after work. Funny enough, I've just recently been told that I should consider going for "Bakers Annonymous".

In a fortnight's time, I'll be making a rather interesting cake which I hope will turn out as I've planned. Not giving away too much about it as it's meant to be a surprise.

The week after, it's all about baby cakes. I've already got a sketch in mind of how the cake looks like. It's something which I've not done previously so will be a nice challenge for me. Can't wait!

Following week, is Alvin & Felicia's big, big day which means a big, big cake for the day. So far I've almost everything I need for the cake. Silly me forgot about the ribbon for the cakeboard whilst I was at Spotlight today. My memory's failing me these days, unfortunately.

Cakes aside, I keep reminding myself that I've a backlog of crafty things to do. Just bought fabric to sew pillows for my nieces which I've been meaning to make since months ago. I'm still searching for the right fabric for our cushions (we've moved in almost a year ago now and I've still not got around to decorating our place). ahh....If only there's more than 24 hours a day.

Busy bee

2010-07-26T15:18:00.004+01:00

Last Satuday was meant making these:

Mish mash

2010-06-25T14:49:00.007+01:00

Another overdue post! Last I mentioned in my previous post, Mos and I were preparing for our trip to Melbourne. I had a few places on my must-go list which includes...

Little Cupcakes (http://www.littlecupcakes.com.au/) shop which seems to have a queue whenever we walked past. Since I'm a huge cake fan in general, I think I went past the shop at least 5 times within the few days being in Melbourne. hehe! Yes, I can get quite obsessed about certain things.

I love every bit about the shop. It's just so rustic looking and hand painted pictures of the variety of cupcakes sold in the shop. Very charming and cosy feel to it too. I guess that's probably one of the reasons why passer-bys are drawn to the shop apart from its delicious little cupcakes.

One morning when Mos went off for his conference, I wandered around the city on my own and guess what I stumbled upon? Cake Deco shop! It's like heaven to me. If I was not pressed for time, I definitely could have spent one whole morning there.

Anyhows, all in all, Mos thoroughly enjoyed his conference and I had a wonderful time exploring the culinary wanders of Melbourne. Mission achieved! A big thank you to Missy T and hAdrianus who kindly spared their weekends to entertain us. We are waiting for your arrival in sunny Brissie :)

*****

Shoes, shoes and more shoes. Few weeks ago, I was asked to make some cupcakes for a gal who loves high heels. Bright coloured heels to be exact. As it was a last minute request, Mel and I decided to work as a team. Mel baked whilst I decorated and we ended up with...

Very Sex and the City isnt it? hehe! Had a few people mentioning SATC when they saw the cupcakes.

*****

Not too long ago I found out that Debbie Brown (http://www.debbiebrownscakes.co.uk/) was organising a few workshops in Brisbane! I was soo thrilled that I almost instantly signed up for one of the workshops. Fast forward to today, having spent 1 full day with Ms. Brown, I came home with...

Took me one whole day to make this but I truly enjoyed every moment of it. Seeing the guru at work and learning a few tricks of the trade was time well spent I must say. :)

*****

Belated news: May 22nd marks the birth of my niece, Alexis Goh. Sucha cutie pie!

Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Goh on your big bundle of joy!

Of Chanel & ladybugs

2010-05-05T12:25:00.005+01:00

When my sis, Ji, mentioned to me about a Chanel themed cake, straightaway I thought of subtlety and elegance. In in my mind, black and white are a must with a touch of gold or silver. Oh.. and the signature camellias which add feminity to it all and not to forget, quilted pattern. Combining all that, here's the end product:

Black? check. White? check. Silver? check. Camellias? check.

Quilted pattern? check.

Chanel-esque? check!

***

Last week, came another opportunity to do a fun cake. On Friday, as soon as I came home from work, straight to the kitchen I went and was 'crafting' the the wee early hours of the morning. ah! What a satisfying feeling when everything came together just as I imagined.

Miss Ladybug was the main star of the cake. Along with its crawly creatures, the 2 tier Victorian sponge cake sure was a hit at the party.

tada!

It is indeed a joy to be making cartoony cakes as those are the times when the little kid in me comes out to play. :)

Soon, I'll be off on a trip down south and hopefully, I can stock up on a few cake goodies. I've made a list of must-go places, not surprisingly, most of them are cake-related. hehe! How exciting!

Also, in a month's time I'll be on a major sugar high once again. yayyy!!

Just in time for Easter!

2010-04-02T12:31:00.007+01:00

Wow! I didn't realise it's been so long since my last entry. Sure am getting very slack!

Much has happened since, though not as much baking as I would have liked though. Here's a run through of what's been out of my kitchen the past few months...

Few months ago, I received an email from Brooke asking if I can make her figurines of herself + husband + pet cats. What a surprise indeed! Totally thrilled as this would be the first time making cats and also, it's been a while since I've made wedding figurines. It took me a good few days to finally create the piece albeit the horribly humid weather which got me worried right fom the beginning. Humid = moisture = bad for sugarcrafting! Despite that, I think they turned out pretty well. :) phew!

This weekend was yet another sugar-filled few days. Last night, Kimmy celeberated her birthday with white chocolate mud cupcakes with alternating blue and white bows. Very chic indeed.

Before After

Mr Willy made an appearance too..

This morning, I woke up to icing more cupcakes. This time around, it's Thu's birthday.

Happy Birthday to all April babies!

Have a safe and happy Easter! :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T05:03:00.006Z

Merry Christmas everyone!
A quick recap on what's been happening over the month...

Meet Tiffany, my sis Ji and Kevin's bundle of joy. We just had her 'full moon' party as she turned 1 month old on 23 Dec 2009. :)

Caramelised onion and tomato tarts to tempt your tastebuds?

What about some rich, creamy caramel cheesecake bar?

Green tea and rose macarons, perfect colour combo for the festive season. Making these will always remind me of my time in the UK. :)

One big happy gingerbread family.. Mel's brilliant idea!

Our miniature Christmas trees with furry Ozzie friends.

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year!

Up & away

2009-11-17T08:23:00.010Z

AstroBoy as promised...

I think he looks like a lil kid who wants to be AstroBoy. In fact, I was told that the b'day boy looks similar to the figurine itself. How adorable! I've not met him but I've heard many times he's super duper cute.

On the same day, I also managed to make a green tea sponge with fruit cocktail + whipped cream. yum yum!

****

X'mas is only 5 weeks away! Wonder what I should make this Christmas? I'm missing the Christmas Markets in the UK and definitely the cold weather there now that it's steaming hot here. It's so hot that my brain's melting. If only it snows in Brisbane.

More roses

2009-10-25T22:51:00.007Z

"It's about time you update your blog!" says my Dad.

So here it is, a decadent 2 tiered chocolate mud + mocha cakes topped with handmade sugarpaste roses, specially for Anita's big day.

Being such a tall cake, it was a mighty effort to cover the whole cake with sugarpaste. It was quite a scene in the kitchen, for sure. Thanks to my Mum and Mel who kindly lend me a hand to put this together. We were basically covered with icing sugar at the end of the night! hehe.. Very fun indeed. We were up till the wee hours of Saturday morning putting the final touches on the cake and being the paranoid me, I woke up extra early to ensure all was in order and not forgetting the all important photo session. :)

***

Moving on, I've been told a lil boy's turning 1 in a few weeks time and the theme of party is...

Astro Boy!

I'm not too familiar with Astro Boy so it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. Nonetheless, another fun cake to come and back to the drawing board for me.

Hmm...If only I can still wake up to baking and decorating cakes everyday. Lilibet, any plans for expansion to Brisbane soon?

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Goh!

2009-10-03T13:12:00.011+01:00

20-09-2009 marks the date when my sis, Val, took on the title of Mrs Goh. What a whirlwind day it was, indeed! Once again, I had the opportunity to work my brains and came up with these little beauties...

Little cuppies to match the wedding cake. :)

Glad how they turned out as I imagined them to be. Most importantly, the Gohs were happy too. yay! Another success.

***

A week later, it was Alvin's birthday.

Giraffe-themed cakes were in the works.

Whilst I was forming the giraffe faces, I had people asking me if I was making cows, monkeys or rhinos! hehe! How funny. Kept people guessing for sure.

***

Admittedly, I have been pretty slack at updating this blog of late. Well, no excuses from me but the big news is, I'm currently working on a wedding cake for this coming weekend. It's gonna be a biggie!

Seeing red

2009-09-04T03:39:00.011+01:00

After days of non-stop mixing, rolling and forming, these pretty blossoms graced the world...

*phew* I was definitely seeing red when all 200+ roses were made, having walked around with red tinged fingers and palms for the few days. hehe!

Now they're ready to be shipped across the ocean to MissyK who will having these roses for her wedding. Can't wait to see how they look like perched on top of the cupcakes. Next task...Hunt for boxes to fit all these little beauties.

Sunshine state

2009-08-23T23:08:00.004+01:00

Yes, I'm back in Brissie! More updates to follow...

At last

2009-07-21T15:42:00.010+01:00

The internet's up and running again! yay!! So here goes, way overdued photos of Miss Jones's farewell cake.

First, I started off with 2 huge sponge cakes baked by Lilibet. I slapped on some vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam onto the sponges, turning it into a Victorian sponge cake. yum yum! A classic British cake.

Hours later, wala...!

Miss Jones was Lilibet's home economics teacher back in school years ago. Hence, the fully equipped kitchen which is almost a double take of Lilibet's own kitchen at her shop.

I also made a mini Tommy with his usual white overalls + baseball cup outfit. A decorator by trade, he's always seen zooming around Southport in his red van, very hard at work indeed.

Moving on to the birthdays celebrated since my last entry. One of our dear friends in Liverpool, Gaik Min, was treated to Lilibets of Paris's summer cake, Fraisier. Packed with fresh strawberries and rich mousseline cream with layers of sponge, topped with Italian meringue. To-die-for!

Also, a triple chocolate, Bavarois, with a message for the birthday girl.

Oh.. not forgetting, Mos's birthday! Strawberry cheesecake made specially to match his top. hehe..

Only a few more days left of packing and we'll be making our way to the other side of the globe!

Flower power

2009-06-29T20:21:00.003+01:00

Seems like the internet's behaving itself today more so than the past month. Since I've now been connected for half an hour without being disconnected, I thought I'd try uploading some photos of the cake which I've decorated last week.

A very yummy Victorian sponge cake baked by Miss Lilibet and decorated by yours truly...hehe!

With matching cupcakes to boot!

Alrighty, better keep this short and sweet in case the connection dies on me. Another cake waiting to be 'dressed' tomorrow. yay!! If the connection still holds up, more photos to follow for sure.

Internet down

2009-06-27T13:03:00.002+01:00

I've been wanting to post an entry but the internet's been extra temperamental of late. How annoying! The connection only works for a few minutes at a time. Don't know what's happening but when it gets better, I shall upload photos of the recent cakes I've decorated!!

Am working on another one this weekend. I think it'll be my last one before leaving here. boohoo...

Nostalgic moment

2009-06-16T14:22:00.006+01:00

Last Saturday, one of my old classmates from St Mary's Kuching, Malaysia came to visit me. It was all very exciting to see Cindy as I have not seen her since I left Kuching for Australia about 13 years ago! It's been a while but we had such a great time catching up over her 2 days here. Guided her on 'Mos's Grand Liverpool Tour' route, which is possibly the last time I'll be going through the route myself before leaving here. On Sunday, we had a nice stroll around Southport and I ended up with rashes due to the heat. boo!

Anyhows, take care Cindy and come visit us in Brisbane next time!

Rugby wedding

2009-06-06T10:51:00.005+01:00

I just realised that I haven't posted photos of the wedding cake which I've been mentioning in the past few entries. It's long overdue but here it is.

Being a huge rugby fan, Steve and Ursula decided on a rugby themed cake. The supporters donned jerseys of various teams which are supported by both the newly married couple. Such a fun loving cake, definitely one of a kind!

Weekend in Welshpool

2009-06-02T13:52:00.007+01:00

Welshpool is definitely a destination for a mini getaway. Only 2.5hrs away from Southport by car to the cosy little cottage somewhere near Welshpool which we rented over the weekend. The drive through very narrow roads around the area itself sure takes a lot of skills though. Good thing I'm not driving. phew!

The roads are so narrow that only one car can go past at a time and just like in the movies, we stumbled upon this..

I thought that was pretty funny. hehe!

First touristy stop was Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall, the highest waterfall in the UK. Just amazing!

Crisp fresh air abundant, surrounded by lush greens with sheeps scattered around. Much like NZ. Gotta watch out for the blobs of sheep poo along the walking trails though.

Lake Vyrnwy was just as spectacular. It was packed with people and looked like there was a bikies convention too. Everyone's out and about, soaking up the sun just like us. We came across a boatshed with kayaks for hire and decided to give that a go. It was so fun, despite going round in circles most times. hehe! Amateurs afterall!

Guess what award this man made lake won?

Must say, the loo was very clean and well maintained. Well deserved title indeed!

We also checked out the Sculpture Park located by the lake. Some rather interesting wood sculptures by various people all around the world, especially this one..

What an enjoyable weekend! With perfect weather and great company, what more can one ask for?

Happy Birthday Pui Pui!

2009-06-01T23:41:00.002+01:00

*huggies*

Croeso I Gymru!

2009-05-28T14:08:00.003+01:00

Wales, here we come this weekend! Mos and I will be setting off to Liverpool in a bit to fetch Munky, then tomorrow we'll be driving down to Wales. Another of Mos's childhood friend, Dean, will be meeting up with us there too. woohoo! Should be a great weekend ahead. Fingers crossed, weather holds up, sunny skies please!

Shall report back when we return from our trip. In the mean time, here's a snippet of THE wedding cake...

Not giving too much away as the wedding's this Saturday.

Heartiest congratulations to Ursula & Steve!!

Something fishy

2009-05-18T19:31:00.006+01:00

Oh, I am so excited to post up what I've been up to last weekend!! Finally, I am on a sugar high again!

Feels like ages since I've made anything out of sugarpaste. So to stop depriving myself from what I enjoy most, I got my hands dirty making this...

and this.

It is Lilibet's Dad's birthday tomorrow, hence, a mini Mr Connard happily fishing away by the river amongst the mountains in the Lake Districts. Something he enjoys doing when he gets time off his busy schedule. I've been told he doesn't usually catch anything but well, it's his birthday so why not a fish in his bucket as a bonus!

Not forgetting also his other favourite things - watches, eye glass (very important indeed for his work!), Southport Football Club (http://www.southportfc.net) and auctions.

Ursula, in case you're wondering how your wedding cake's going, it's nearly completed! Everything's going really well, perhaps I'll post up a sneak preview sometime this week. :)

Alrighty, I'm pooped out for today. Been having a sorethroat for days and since yesterday, my nose's blocked. puhh! This morning I woke up with an ulcer in my mouth. Booohoo.. I wonder what's next.

Once again,

Happy Birthday, Mr Connard! Hope you have a lovely time up in the Lakes with the family!

Long weekend

2009-05-05T16:09:00.005+01:00

The first Bank Holiday in May has just came and gone. Since we didn't make it to Leeds last weekend, Munky made his way down south instead. Weather on Sunday was lovely and sunny so we decided to venture out to the nearby Formby beach. As we were driving (yes, the car's fixed!) towards the beach, we weaved through the very pretty Formby town itself. Apparently Formby's quite a popular residential area amongst the football players. I was told Liverpool FC player Steven Gerard lives in one of the many huge houses we drove past. Not that I know much about football but I can see why they choose to live in this coastal town.

Ladies & gentlemen, may I present to you...Formby Beach.. and your tour guide for the day, Mr Mos.

Hmm....look closer and you'll see Southport Town Centre

Woohoo! I'm on top of the world!

Formby beach stretches from Southport all the way down to Liverpool. There were sand dunes all along the beach which reminded me of parts of Tangalooma in Queensland. Despite the awfully cold wind gusts, we were definitely impressed by the magnificient views. We didn't spot any red squirrels though, maybe it was a bit too windy for them to pop their heads out. Oh well!

If only we brought along the beach ball

On the way home, we drove past a mini go kart track by the pier. Next thing you know, Mos has pulled by the parking bay next to the track and off we went. Boys and their toys...hehe! What can I say hey? It was a weekend well spent, for sure!

Catch me if you can!

As I'm typing this right now, I'm also waiting for my buns to rise before popping them into the oven. This time round, I've made butters buns and fish floss + mayo buns. My lunch for tomorrow.. whoopie!

Oh yes, I've received the fruitcake from Ursula's Mum earlier today. I've been kindly given the opportunity to decorate the cake for Ursula's wedding which is in a few weeks time. Oohh... how exciting! Another cake to work on. *clasps my hands in glee* hehe! It's not the conventional sugar coated wedding cake with flowers/bows/etc but something very unique indeed. Ursula's given be a few pointers on how she'd like the cake to be so hopefully all goes well. We shall find out in 2 weeks time. :)

Just not meant to be

2009-04-25T22:03:00.007+01:00

... in Leeds, that is. Mos and I should be in Leeds this weekend for what could possibly have been our last trip up north before leaving the UK.

Yesterday afternoon, we loaded the car with our bags and set off for the much anticipated drive. Also joining on our trip was this special package for our food connoiseur friend, Munky...

The journey to Leeds usually takes 1hr45mins but on this occasion, it only only took us 30mins. Well, we only made it to as far as Chorley before having to turn back home on tortoise speed. Not quite the road trip we were both looking forward to.

Being the designated driver that afteroon, I had a funny feeling about the car especially having to struggle to overtake a campervan which was going at 40mph on a 70mph zone. At the time, I thought maybe we packed a wee bit too much in our little weekend bags, hence, straining the car. hehe! Surely the package for Munky isn't that heavy.

So I continued driving, struggling up small slopes, making the engine work harder. Gradually burning smell hit my nostrils which I initially thought was just fumes from outside. It got more intense as I drove on and eventually the smell woke Mos up from his nap too. Without much thinking, I quickly pulled over by the road side just in front of a fire rescue station (how appropriate!). We popped up the bonnet and lo and behold, the smell was definitely coming from near the engine. Boohoo.. we had all sorts in mind (especially me, with my paranoia about cars breaking down), thinking if we're lucky enough the car's probably just low on fluids. Mos called up for roadside assistance through RAC, who arrived an hour later. Much to our dismay, we were told it's safest for us to drive back home as the car will not make it on the motorway due to slipping clutch disc. Boohoo! There goes our Leeds picnic-y weekend.

So what's in the nicely wrapped package, you may ask? Something Munky has requested for quite sometime...

Sorry, Munky but you may have to wait a little longer before having a taste of these luscious creations. Not to despair, Mos and I will gladly help you devour them. hehe!

There goes our very eventful start to the weekend. Our poor car will be seeing Dr Clutch early this week and all will be well again. Not sure when we'll be attempting another trip to Leeds again though.

Sweet buns

2009-04-14T22:57:00.004+01:00

It's 11pm and Mos & I have just gorged on these freshly baked buns! Oooh.. such gluttons!

After so much chocolates over the Easter weekend, we're supposed to be eating 'proper' food again, but it was not to be! Temptation came in the firm of these soft, fluffy buns as they were baking in the oven. Who can resist freshly baked goods?! Not us for sure, as we waited all day for them. I started making the buns in the morning and left them to prove the whole day instead of just a few hours as we were out running some errands. Luckily, they still turned out OK.

Cream cheese + chives, raisins, nutella, fish floss and pork floss buns to keep our tummies happy for the next few days. heheh! I'm on cloud 9 and so is Mos!

I'm back

2009-04-11T22:10:00.003+01:00

Wow, I've just realised it's been more than a month since my last entry! Yes, I'm back from the whirlwind Euro trip. Parents + aunts came and left too. So much has happened since and I've yet to sieve through the many photos we took throughout the trip. It'll probably take me another week or so to get that done.

In the mean time, check out these Easter decos I came across during the trip. Some are just so adorable..

Somewhere in Rhineland, Germany these cute bunny-shaped bread were baked

Innsbruck, Austria (my fav!)

Fluelen, Switzerland

Gruyere, Switzerland

Happy Easter!

Pink elegance

2009-03-09T23:35:00.007Z

As I will be away on Lilibet's actual birthday which falls on 26 March, I thought of surprising her with a few cupcakes before I leave. So I got busy over the weekends conjuring up some sugary goodies for this lovely young lady.

To complement Lilibet's taste in all things pink and elegant...

vanilla cupcakes dressed with pink and white sugarpaste as well as some of her favourite items. I've been told these cupcakes are very 'Sex and the City' (definitely didn't think of that as I was making them). What do you think? Pretty chic yea.

Hope you'll have an awesome birthday, Lilibet!

***

Exciting news: I will be off on a tour around Europe till early April. yay! No updates till then but there'll definitely be lots of sweet/pastry tastings along the way. :)

Farewell Dan

2009-02-28T13:23:00.009Z

As Mags bid goodbye to her good friend Dan, another set of cupcakes came to life. Each one had items which reminisced Dan's time here in Southport. Distance is not so much a physical separation when you have friends like Mags :)

Attention manic golfers! Familiar sights of your playground. ahem!

Goodbye, Dan! Bon voyage...

Here's wishing you all the best in your future undertakings!

Birthday gals

2009-02-25T20:53:00.003Z

For Julie, something lovely similar to a bouquet of flowers but edible, of course. A tricky cake to make as I wasn't quite sure where to start. Good thing I had a brief chat with Audrey (Julie's sis) who gave me a fair few ideas on how I should go about with the cake. Well, I guess it didn't turn out that bad at all. :) Fingers crossed all's OK with Julie.

Moving on to something kiddy for lil Grace who specifically requested for a High School Musical themed cake. First thing came to mind were the theme colours red and yellow, apart from musical notes. I've only ever watched the 1st of HSM sequels and can vaguely remember a lot of singing in the midst of teenage high school drama.

Surely can't miss out the 2 main stars Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens, cartoony versions that is.

Another set of cupcakes are in the making as I'm typing away. Can't believe I'll be baking all week long. Sounds pretty crazy but I'm actually enjoying all these non stop baking and decorating. hehe!

Happy Birthday Julie & Grace!

Strawberry fields

2009-02-24T23:29:00.003Z

Over the weekend, Dardu made his way here from up north anticipating a sugar overload. We appropriately called it "Get Fat Dardu" weekend. hehe! On Friday night, we tucked into a nice Italian dinner in Liverpool bearing in mind that a strawberry + fresh vanilla cream tart (courtesy of none other than Miss Lilibet) is awaiting for us in the fridge at home. Though strawberries aren't in season at the moment, the tart sure tasted superbly good. No wonder it's a hit over summer time when strawberries are extra sweet. yum yum! I love strawberries!

We also had a raspberry and white choc mousse tart the following day but it was so good that we ate it all before I had a chance to snap a photo. :)

It's nearly midnight now and I've just finished putting together a cake. phew! Seeing doubles at the moment so will leave the photos till tomorrow morning. Working on another cake early tomorrow. Looks like the next post may be a double cake one.

Lovey dovey

2009-02-14T17:08:00.006Z

It's that time of the year when people's feeling loved up. I see 'red' everywhere today. Red balloons, red flowers, red clothes.. somehow it reminds me of Chinese New Year with all the redness around.

For all I know, a very lucky young lady is indulging in all these...

TOP (L-R): 'Bavarois' - Triple choc mousse, 'Passionata' - Passionfruit + raspberry mousse

BOTTOM (L-R): Raspberry macaron + rose cream filling, French meringue + fresh vanilla pod cream

MIDDLE: Passionfruit & raspberry mousse in mini chocolate cups

Special 'limited edition' Valentine's Day treats from Lilibets of Paris!! They are soo pretty, Lilibet and I were so thrilled over these cute lil numbers as we were making them.

Mos and I will be attending friends' birthdays dinner later tonight in Liverpool. Guess what we're having for dessert? Opera Cake which has been made specially by Lilibet for the birthday girlies!! The cake box is now sealed so no photos of it for now. Perhaps later :)

Hmm... Tell me how not to get fat being surrounded with all these yummy sweet treats??!

Anyhows...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Evelyn & Carrie!

Historical finds

2009-02-07T16:25:00.004Z

Happy Birthday, Elaine!

Ever watched Indiana Jones? A self-confessed movie buff once proclaimed it to be the most thrilling action adventure film of our generation. Well, this week I've been tasked to design and make something of a historical theme much in keeping with Elaine's fascination of all things nostalgic.

Lilibet single handedly picked various items of her best friend's likings, namely, Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume, Costa (http://www.costa.co.uk/) & Les Deux Magots (http://www.lesdeuxmagots.fr/). I had a fun time crafting these sugar items.

Notice the red seal of approval. Very official! And beneath it all, a yummy English favourite, Victorian sponge cake with jam + buttercream.

Another cake in the making this coming week. It's for a little gal's birthday. Will have to wait and see how it turns out!

Pretty little treats

2009-02-03T15:44:00.009Z

fresh from the oven of Lilibets of Paris (http://www.lilibetsofparis.com). Let the pictures do the talking...

Raspberry macarons with rose cream filling

Lemon tarts

Raspberry and white chocolate mousse tarts

Operas (layers of sponge, coffee cream & chocolate)

****

It was snowing almost the whole day yesterday. I woke up to this..

Towards the evening, it started snowing again, quite heavily too. The back deck was all covered with snow. Nice and white!

At night, I had a peek out the lounge room window and it was still snowing..

To cap off the day, Mos and I tucked into something healthy for dinner to balance out the cakes we've been having. On the menu was stuffed giant mushrooms, greens, pan fried mackerel + leftover mish mash of noodles + veg + seafood.

I was expecting this morning to be snowing again or at least see remnants of snow on rooftops but it was so sunny. Oh well, if only it's snowed enough to make snowmen!

Surprise, surprise

2009-01-29T11:39:00.004Z

Upon my return to the UK, I was in for a VERY huge surprise. Firstly, Mos baked me a very yummy vanilla sponge cake drizzled with raspberry topping! For a first time baker, I see a lot of potential there. Secondly, he popped the Question!! *hehe*

We have yet to decide on the all important date but Ji has already started planning it for us. As she deems herself the 'very experienced wedding planner', she has came up with quite a few suggestions on dates, venues, photographers (with quotes too!), dresses, etc.. Valuable suggestions which Mos and I are taking notes along the way till a date is set. She sure knows what she's on to. I suppose she's just had her wedding so she knows what to look out for. :)

Here's the proud baker and his masterpiece..

Thanks, Mossy!

Not only did we have the vanilla sponge to indulge, we also received a very tasty heart shaped (how appropriate!) chocolate cake courtesy of Margaret's 11 year old niece, Rosie. Baked and decorated all by herself. Isn't she a talent? I don't think I could have done that when I was 11. When Rosie found out that Mos was proposing, she whipped out her apron and got to work straightaway. How cute!

Thanks, Rosie..

It's very yummy! We're still in awe how you did this all by yourself.

Happy Chinese New Year to all... Gong Xi Fatt Chai!

Cheesy goodness

2009-01-16T06:52:00.004Z

I realised there's a block of cream cheese sitting in the fridge, untouched. Since nobody will eat it (sadly, most of my family members are anti-cheese!), I better put it to good use. Great opportunity for me to bake a cottony soft Japanese cheesecake which I've been wanting to make in a while. hehe!

Here's how it turned out. Very light and fluffy texture which just melts in your mouth, literally.

With a bit of leftover cream, I whipped it up and piped a tiny 'flower' on top of each slice so it looks pretty. A mini heart on top for contrasting colours. I thought that was pretty cute, at least it yummy-fies the cheesecake.

I think this will be my last entry here in Brisbane before heading back to the UK. Don't see myself baking in the coming week as I've used up all the sugary leftovers in the fridge, unless of course, I find more treasures in there. Yes, our fridge's always packed with goodies! Can't see the back wall of the fridge most times. :)

Wedding topper

2009-01-14T11:23:00.006Z

...completed today. phew! Time well spent. Let me introduce to you the soon-to-be newlyweds.

Firstly, the bride, Nicole, who was the wedding coordinator for Ji's wedding. She has requested for this cake topper for her wedding in May. Being a super organiser that she is (hence, the wedding coordinator title), we sat down together about a week ago to discuss details of the figurines. About an hour later, we came up with this.

The all important groom, Sean. He's a New Zealander and is known to hang the NZ fern leaf flag out on the balcony whenever the All Blacks are playing. hehe!

Summer (blondie-ish) and Ollie (dark brown) are Nicole and Sean's much loved doggies. Unfortunately, they won't be at the wedding on the day itself so Nicole decided to have them as part of the cake topper. What a fun idea! At least they're present in the form of sugarpaste.

All together the bride and groom standing tall on a red carpet laid over a patch of grass with Summer & Ollie right next to them. Lovely family :)

Hope all goes well at the wedding & have an amazing time, Nicole!

Tooty Fruity new year

2009-01-12T11:45:00.008Z

First cake for the new year was a special request by my eldest sis, Che. Topped with an assortment of fruits, a creamy white & dark chocolate mousse + orange chiffon sponge. yum yum! I really like how the colourful fruit pieces all come together, making it such a cheery looking cake. Birthday gal's happy, so I'm happy too. yay! Great start to the new year.

Yesterday marks my 2nd cake for the year. Specially for Selma & Selvin, a simple light vanilla chiffon sponge covered with fresh cream and lychee bits. Decorated with a variety of fruits, sponge fingers all around and finished off with a bow. Figured this would be a nice combo for the sweltering summer here. :)

Happy Birthday, Che & Selvin! ..... Happy Belated Birthday, Selma!

***

Looks like I'm kept busy right till I leave Brisbane. Working on a set of bridal figurines at the moment which I'm hoping will be completed by end of the week. This one's gonna be an interesting one to do. Sketches are done, just need to sit down and start moulding them. We shall find out how they turn out soon!

Weddings etc.

2009-01-04T10:20:00.009Z

A very belated Christmas and Happy New Year!

Been a while since I've last updated this blog. As soon as I touched down into Brisbane, it's been sleepless nights, rushing with preparations for my sis, Ji's wedding. Everything turned out well minus a few hiccups here and there but all in all, it was a very grand occasion, especially for the newlyweds. A simple yet elegant cake as requested by Mrs. Lim-Lam. hehe!

An assortment of desserts to end the night.

I also made a few sugarpaste figurines as giveaways for the night.

Whilst I was making the figurines, Dad had his first attempt at sugar crafting. He stayed up all night till morning making this. Comical one, isn't it? Just like himself. hehe! A commendable effort, indeed.

Congratulations, Kevin & Mel!

***

For my birthday last year (hmm.. a bit funny to say last year as it was only a few weeks ago), my eldest sis, Che, kindly made me this really awesome smurfs cake. Incredible! Everyone was in awe when the cake was brought out. Nobody ate the cake as it's too nice to be eaten, hence, it's still sitting on the kitchentop on display.

The whole Smurfs family...

Thanks, Che! Now I shall start thinking what cake I'd like to have this year. :)

***

Just before I left for Brisbane, I was given the opportunity to decorate a few cakes. Thanks, Lilibet! Since I was given the freedom to do as I wish, I decided to try out the snowflake cutters which I bought recently. Was informed that one is to be slightly more funky than the rest so cheeky bunnies it is for the one.

Saints Rugby Club

2008-12-16T22:19:00.005Z

Have a guess at what's Mag's Uncle's favourite rugby league team? (PS: UK rugby, not Aussie NRL.) Here's a hint...

St Helens Rugby Football Club! Apart from being a local rugby league team, I had absolutely no idea who the Saints were when Mags initially mentioned it to me. Little did I know, they're currently the leader of the league table! Must be a pretty good team which reminds me of the Brisbane Broncos of yesteryears. In search for some ideas to design the cake, I decided to check out the Saints website (http://www.saintsrlfc.com/). Much to my delight, I spotted a few familiar faces in the Saints team. Aussie players which I used to watch on TV every weekend back in Brisbane. :)

Mags bought a fruit cake base and I was given the fun task to decorate it! With only a few days to complete it before I leave for Brisbane, I am so glad the cake's nicely dolled up with the mighty red and white colours.

Just as I was finishing this cake, I received a call asking if I'd like to make some sugar thingies to go on top of more X'mas cakes. phew! Excitement never ends, does it? hehe! More photos on the next post.

***

Update on Mag's Sis's (Cath) birthday handbag cake... I was told everyone was really pleased with the cake. whoopie! Cath was so kind to also send me a Thank You card for the cake. hehe! How nice of her. Thanks, Cath & you're most welcomed :)

A girl can never have too many bags

2008-12-14T19:18:00.007Z

So says the lady who loves her bags. And I concur. hehe!

A moist, rich chocolate cake smothered with chocolate buttercream shaped into a girl's living essential - handbag. She likes her leathergoods so Radley it is, a British brand well known for its funky coloured handbags. (Scottish terrier from previous post is Radley's logo)

When there's handbag in mind, there must be shoes. Then comes chocolates, cakes and particular tastes for lattes and teapots.

Keeping mainly to the lady's liking for strong colours such as deep red and brown, I hope the colour combinations have worked well. A tinge of green here and there to add an interesting tone to it too.

I'm hoping to hear back on how the surprise turned out. Hope it went well. Last I heard, the cake survived its journey from Southport to London. phew! I was so worried it might topple over or shift during the travel.

Next cake in the works is a very boyish one. For all you rugby league fans out there, be on the look out.

Happy Birsbay, Cath!

Woof woof!

2008-12-09T22:05:00.004Z

Progress on the cake for the week...

Scottish terrier, an icon for a famous brand in UK. Can you guess which brand? All shall be revealed on Friday. patience...

Add a touch of X'mas spirit...

Bows & ribbons, have you wrapped up your X'mas pressies?

Cake in progress

2008-12-05T00:52:00.005Z

Another cake is in the works as you're reading this. Only at a designing stage now but I sure hope this one will be a pretty little number too! Shall drown myself with more sugar over the weekends, all will be revealed in a week's time. How exciting!... tata! I'm off to work!

Cake baubles

2008-12-02T01:37:00.009Z

Cake cut-offs? Hmm... turn them into cake baubles!

They aren't exactly round, more of a mushroom shape but when put together, they remind me of X'mas baubles. hehe! So pretty. Makes a yummy treat too.

***

Check out this very chic French patisserie where I've been spending most of my days - http://www.lilibetsofparis.com/. (Bewarn, lots of extremely gorgeous cake photos which will make your tummy growl!!) Lovely owner, Elizabeth, spends hours in the kitchen baking those yummy morsels all by herself. Sucha talent!

Angels Parade

2008-12-01T01:10:00.005Z

Finally, my little angels are all dressed up ready for debut.

Took me a while but they're now nicely coloured and varnished set for X'mas. What a jolly bunch!

Happy Retirement

2008-11-26T22:52:00.007Z

Buckets, mops, detergents, tissue fillers, gloves... all essentials of Peggy's job. As Peggy is finally calling it a day at work, her colleagues decided to surprise her with a whimsical cake which details her daily work routine.

Everything's squeaky clean...Covered with bubbles and more bubbles!

I'm so glad I managed to complete this cake within the 2 days I was given. phew! Quite a rush but all's good.

Happy Retirement, Peggy!

Sidetracked by Christmas yule log

2008-11-25T00:55:00.005Z

Great news! My clay dough angels are now rock hard solid but instead of painting them, my itchy fingers ventured into making a Christmas yule log today. hehe! Well, I can't let the tub of brandy cream in the fridge go to waste! Also, I've finally found 'cake flour' which I've been looking all over since arriving here in the UK. It took me ages to find cake flour back in Brisbane and I was just as overjoyed when I saw it at the Asian grocery shop in Manchester. :)

For the yule log, I've made a light, fluffy vanilla sponge (wonders of cake flour) rolled with heavenly brandy cream. On the outer is a luscious layer of white chocolate ganache, topped with dustings of cocoa powder and icing sugar for the wintery effect. yummmy! Since there were some white chocolate bars sitting in the pantry, I've decided to use them as the coating instead of the usual brown-coloured chocolate cream outer for yule logs. Works out perfectly fine!

Initially, the log was to be left plain with no decorations as I didn't plan on making any fancy ornaments. It will be eaten as dessert after tonight's dinner so I wasn't too bothered about it. BUT... I kept looking at the poor log thinking it looks too bare so I decided on to spice it up with a small family of bunnies gathering around a Christmas tree. Yes, my itchy fingers at work again.

Even greater news came through this evening. I was asked to do a 'Happy Retirement' cake for this Thursday! woohoo! I've made a rough sketch of the cake just now so I'll be starting on it tomorrow. Looks like the angels may have to wait a few more days.

Delay

2008-11-22T18:35:00.007Z

2 days have passed since I made the angel clay doughs and they're still fairly soft. It seems to be taking a wee bit longer to harden. Hm... I think it must be due to the cold weather we've had for the past few days. Today's only -2 to 3°C! Looks next week will be much the same. brrr...

I've painted the baked angel with some food colouring yesterday. The colours didn't turn out as strong as I would have liked them to be and the angel kept toppling over due to her uneven bottom. She tipped over to one side as she was in the oven, hence, a puffed up bottom. So, today I've decided to give her a pair of feet. Looks like it will be days more before she's completed. Oh yes, I've since bought some kiddie arylic paint to give her a good coat of colour when she's totally dried. yay!

Good thing I made a mouse too whilst I was making the angels. He was baked together with the angel in the oven but he managed to stay upright in the oven he's slightly bigger/heavier than the angel. With a nice layer of acrylic colour topped off with a coat of varnish, here's Mr. Mousey...

He is dark brown in colour though the photos turned out closer to black which reminds me of Mickey Mouse, especially his back. I was hoping to hang him somewhere but the holes I made on the top of his head closed up whilst he was being baked. Silly me forgot to leave toothpicks in the holes! Oh well.. I guess I'lll find some place for him to sit.

Just to show you how small he is...

I think these clay dough sculptures would make very nice gifts for all occasions. Think X'mas tree ornaments, candle holder, photo frame, name plate, paper weight, etc. It'd be fun for the kids (or in my case, big kids) too since it's easy to handle and non-toxic (apart from acrylic paint).

Hopefully next post will be of my pretty little angels.

Clay dough & German X'mas Markets

2008-11-20T20:33:00.008Z

Guess what I've been playing with all day? Nothing sugary but salty for a change... Clay dough! It's a mix of flour, salt and water. Warning: Not edible unless you're fond of rock solid salty bread!

After much research on clay dough recipes, here's a very simple and straight forward one I used:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Gradually add water while stirring until a firm but soft dough is form. (Less water may be needed depending on humidity)

When all the mixing is done, fun part begins. The dough is very pliable and can be shaped into anything much like sugarpaste. It dries up when left exposed to air so it is best to keep it in a sealed plastic bag and work with little chunks at a time. This is what I've came up with today. My funny-looking, fat angel.. hehe!

Now the angel is ready for hardening. It can be left to dry in the air by itself for at least 48 hours or to speed up the drying process, it can also be baked in the oven at 160-170°C. I've baked one of my angels (with missing hands) in the oven and it turned out looking like this...

Rather funky white marble colour and slightly cracked. boohoo! I think it could do with a nice coat of colour. I'm leaving the rest to dry over the next few days. Shall see if they turn out any better than the oven baked one. Fingers crossed. :)

***

On a different note, I just remembered my first visit to a German X'mas Market in Leeds over last weekend. All sorts of handicrafts, food, beverages (alcoholic & non-alcoholic) were available. Me likey! Sampled a bit of honey and honeyed cashews as well as some extremely smooth and creamy chocolates. For brunch, it was goulash soup with gigantic bread dumpling and an extra creamy cup of hot chocolate. Certainly the creamiest/milkiest hot chocolate I've ever had. I came home with my tummy making 'flip-flop' sounds for the rest of the day. Hmm.. perhaps the hot chocolate a bit too milky for my tummy's liking. But it was good!

Just read in the papers today that Southport's X'mas Markets is on from 11-14Dec. Will definitely check it out though it's possibly a small one. I'm really looking forward to visiting the markets in Manchester too as I've been told it's hugeee!

Cake International 2008, Birmingham

2008-11-18T16:43:00.014Z

I'm still thrilled over the awesome cake show!! Though it took Munky, Mos and I 4 hrs to get there and back, it was sooo worth it. We marvelled at all the pretty cakes on display, some were just jaw-dropping. Lots to see and learn but unfortunately not so lucky for Munky who was hoping for more tasting. Sugarpaste on its own don't go down too well. hehe! Treated myself to a few new toys which adds to my tiny collection of tools. Shall be busy, busy over the coming days, trying them out with my newly learnt skills.

The cakes and sugar flowers on display were made by professionals, amateurs and even little kids! Cakes were based on many different themes and made up of sugarpaste, flowerpaste, chocolate, marizpan, etc.. I must say, the creations one can come up with using sugar is just endless!

I took so many photos till my camera battery went flat. Some turned out pretty blurry, thanks to my shaky hands. Must be the overwhelming excitement. hehe! Here's one for the fantasy creature lovers... (please click on photos for larger view) Pui, dragons galore!!

More of the kiddie selections. The Spiderman seems to be one of the most popular display, people were constantly crowding around it to get a better view of the masterpiece. Don't you think the tiger on the bottom left looks pretty real?

Moving on to more feminine displays. Some of these flowers are so life-like. They're of the size of real flowers too. Details, details, details...

Wedding cakes of all sorts. Cartoony, girly, romantic, modern, simple, elegant...

Something cheery for the coming festive season. Super shiny red-nosed Rudolph of the bottom right is made by a 14 year old! Amazing, isnt it?

We also attended a few demos throughout the day. Firstly, Stephen Benison's 'Wedding Cakes by Design' followed by international demonstrator, Bart van Vliet's 'Marzipan Animal Parade' which was very entertaining. He managed to make 7 animals within less than an hour! Lindy Smith then showed us how to make her designer cookies with a X'mas twist and finally Alan Dunn displayed his prowess in flower making which was just exceptional. Throughout all demos, I was kept at the edge of my seat anticipating what's to come next! If only I was this excited during lectures in uni.

After much ooh-ings and ahh-ings as we weaved through the massive crowd, I think this is one of the most exquisite piece of creation I've seen at the show...

Monkey business

2008-11-16T21:51:00.014Z

Yes, I'm finally back from a whirlwind weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, highlights being the cake show (details on my next post) and ...

to celebrate Munky's birthday, of course! This is the much anticipated monkey cupcakes project which I've been doing alongside the hamsters.

Though Munky's actual birthday falls on this Thursday, Mos and I had planned for this trip since a few months ago. Since then I've been 'diligently' designing a cake fit for the food connoiseur. Knowing how particular Munky is with his food, making these cakes is much like being in the exam hall all over again.

What would be more appropriate than monkeys for the self-acclaimed Munky King? A reflection of Munky's life journey.

THEN... Young and naughty teen, a 'sensation' on the b-ball court.

Always wanting to conquer the world, King G.

Booze-y days most days.

Love sick, at times! aww...

NOW... chomp chomp chomp! Munky lives for his food.

Notice the 'slight' weight gain overtime? hehe! Munky's now determined to return to his slim, fit-looking yesteryears. For the umpteenth time, he said "I'll start exercising" :)

A while ago, Munky mentioned that he cooks kolomee which rivals the ones from Kuching kopitiams. So I figured kolomee in a rooster bowl is a must feature too.

To top it off, a matching monkey card!

Despite the long drive to Leeds, the monkeys got there intact minus a few bumps. Oh and most importantly, birthday boy was happy with the chocolate caramel cream-filled cakes. phew!

Happy Birthday,Uncle G!

Cake show road trip

2008-11-14T14:54:00.014Z

Hammies are finally ready for show!

I was commisioned to make these hamsters for Sarah who's awfully fond of hamsters and all things cute. All packed up in a box which I've made out of old cereal boxes (great way of recycling!), ready to meet their owner.

Mos and I will be on a road trip this weekend firstly to Leeds to visit Munky then we'll all be heading to a cake show in Birmingham on Saturday. yay! I am super duper excited about the event since we signed up for it months ago. Might come back with new toys to play with. hehe!

Now I have to rush off to avoid peak hour traffic! Will post the rest of the photos when I return. In the mean time, I'm off for another cake delivery...

Have sugary sweet weekend!

'7-11' Hammies

2008-11-10T14:12:00.011Z

The '7-11' which I mentioned previously are...

hehe! I can't help but giggle whenever I look at these funny looking creatures. To add a touch of girliness, I've hand rolled some tiny flowers to accompany the hammies. Still have a few more to go to complete the set by end of this week!

***

Come end of the week, these will be ready too...

Happy Free Slurpee Day!

2008-11-07T15:24:00.019Z

Progress on my project for the week. Everything's coming along very well and I'm almost done. yay! Few more days to go...

***

I've also started on another set of sugary goodies, let's call it 7-11 since today's 7/11/08. Keep checking back for progress on these..

Coincidentially, my baby bro, Pui has kindly informed me it's 'Happy Free Slurpee Day' today. He along with his accomplice, Che (eldest sis) have happily claimed their slurpees from 7-11. hehe! If only there's a 7-11 around here too.

Happy Free Slurpee Day!

Next project

2008-11-03T22:28:00.005Z

This week marks the start to a new project. A little hint on what's keeping me occupied over the coming days. Shall keep you updated as I go though it'll be quite slow.

Yummy collection

2008-10-31T21:26:00.001Z

As suggested by my sis, Ji, I've decided to document all my bakings from now on. Having always been keen on pretty cakes all these while and baking ever so often, here's a snippet of what I've made previously..

Earlier in the year, Ji's given me the green light to design and make her wedding cake come December. Ohh... pressure's on! I'm a newbie at cake decorating so a few months ago, I attended my very first sugarcraft session on how to make roses hoping to pick up a few tips to prepare me for December. Woke up bright and early, excited Ade drove close to an hour to the venue. Throughly enjoyed the day spent making roses after roses out of sugarpaste, chocolate and flowerpaste.

I must say after the session, I wouldn't mind fiddling with sugarpaste for days on end or perhaps for life! Baking and cake decorating can be very satisfying indeed. So engrossed was I that as the days passed, I was thinking of signing up to some sort of pastry course but realised that they cost a bomb! Much to my dismay. Oh well.. Hopefully in time to come I'll be able to attend more mini classes instead and learn along the way. Happy happy joy joy!