I've Been Dreaming of a True Love's Kiss .. lalalala

24 January 2008 - well... I did it ! I made the 'Enchanted Princess' birthday cake on the 20th of January !! I'm so happy I managed to do it. Wouldn't have liked to see the dissappointed look on a child's face if I didn't fulfill my promise ! The base of this cake is made of 10 inch (diameter) styrofoam, the middle level is my ever 'popular' chocolate cake (8 inch cake) and the top layer is butter cake (6 inch cake). Didn't want the bottom layer to be cake as there were only about 20 adults and if I made a 3 tier cake we wouldn't have been able to finish it. Since this was a cake for a 5 year old I also didn't want to cover it with too much flowers but used hundreds and thousands and some flower shaped sprinkles instead. The patterns on the bottom layer were inspired by a story book which had patterns like these for its fairytales !

I scanned the pictures of the Disney princesses into my computer (from some stickers I bought) and printed four princesses. Also changed the 'heads' of the same four princesses to be those of my friend's daughter ! Altogether I put 8 princesses on the cake !

But.. I think the birthday girl was a bit shocked to see her own face on the princesses. She preferred the real princesses instead of those with her face ! But her mom liked it though !

Note : Children might not see the fun side of having their faces superimposed on characters or bodies that are not theirs !

Two Birthday Cakes and a New Year Cupcake !

09 January 2008 - Happy New Year!! It's time for resolutions and maybe I should put mine as .. to bake better cakes, better looking cakes and to update this blog more often. But then again, I seldom make resolutions anyway ! Hahaha! Oh well, just to update this blog on what I did before the new year .....

15 December 2007 - my mother in law had a 60th birthday party and yes, I baked the cake. Was not too happy with it though. Had some problems and also not enough time (yes, I am still slow) so this is the result ..

29 December 2007 - then my aunt had a birthday and my cousin sister asked me to bake a chocolate cake for the dinner. Yes, the ever famous chocolate cake! I made it using the same recipe that is posted in this blog but this time in order to make it more moist, I tried something different !

First I pre-heated the oven while I was mixing the ingredients, then once the cake was ready to be baked, I put it into the oven and increased the heat to 200 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

After that I lowered it to 160 degrees celcius and for the last 10 minutes I increased it back to 180 degrees celcius.

Outcome : VERY GOOD ! The cake was moist, texture was soft (but not too soft).... I was very happy with the results. Here's what it looked like.

05 January 2008 - finally the new year and I attended a Puppy Cupcake class with a friend. Class was supposed to be held on 30 December but I think because of the holidays many weren't able to attend. So, the class was postponed to 05 January instead. The class was fun, we learnt how to use modelling paste to decorate 2 cupcakes and make it into a 'puppy' cupcake. I had problems trying to attach the ear to the puppy. It kept falling off ! The paste also kept drying very fast. I think it was because of the air conditioner that was right above me. Maybe that's why the paste for the ear couldn't stick onto the puppy's head. Anyway, it stuck in the end but alas, it dropped off when I got home. Sigh !

Coming up next would be a cake that I would be baking for a friend whose daughter is turning 5 and the theme that I'm working on is Enchanted Princesses. Hope it turns out good ! Till then... adios !

Baking Starts Tomorrow !

05 December 2007

It's been eons since I updated this blog!! Hmm... what have I been doing ... ok...

Baked some mini cupcakes for my nieces' childrens' day at school. She insisted that her mother bring it to her when it was time for the party because it would be stolen if left in the classroom ! I tried to assure her that no one would want to steal the cupcakes that her aunt baked! heh heh

Anyway, I tried my hand at making glazed icing. Didn't know that it would harden so fast. If you look at the photo I've attached you'll see the outcome ! I could not even put the decorations on in time ! Wonder how other people do it.

And... I attended a Christmas Cupcake workshop on Saturday (01 December). It was quite fun and it set me in the mood to start baking again! Another reason is also that I have to bake a birthday cake for my mother in law's 60th birthday party next weekend. Gotta do a 2 tier cake with decorations and all. Another piece of good news is that I'll be baking a cake for a little friend's birthday in January too. And the theme will be Princesses !

Here's the Recipe for the Chocolate Cake

12 November 2007 - haven't been updating this site for a while now. Just came back from an extensive eating holiday to Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. I think I might have eaten enough to last me through this whole month !

Anyway, here is the recipe for the chocolate cake which is long overdue....

CHOCOLATE CAKE
(recipe for an 8" cake)

1) Beat

165gm butter
300gm castor sugar
2 tsp banilla extract

2) Add one at a time

3 eggs

3) Add and mix together

65gm self raising flour
200gm plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4) Add alternately

70gm cocoa powder
250ml buttermilk

5) Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 1 hour and 10 minutes

Happy Birthday !!

14 October 2007 - Made this pink birthday cake for the October babies ! My younger niece loves pink that's why ! Oh yes, this is my first try at baking a chocolate cake. Got some good reviews and I decided to try again for our gathering with friends the next day. Here are some pictures of the pink birthday cake. It is chocolate cake covered with fondant and it also has some white flowers painted on. Also tried cornelli lace for the sides of this cake.

15 October 2007 - Just as I was baking the chocolate cake, my friend called up to reschedule our gathering as her son was not feeling well. He had vomitted throughout the night so neither he nor his parents had enough sleep. Poor thing. Hope he gets well soon. Anyway, since the cake was already baking in the oven, I decorated it anyway ! Decided to practice my cornelli lace again as you can see in the pictures here too. The chocolate cake recipe is really good. I will post it so that anyone can give it a try !

19 October 2007 - My elder niece came over to spend the day as she did not have to go to school (Hari Raya Holidays). She wanted to learn how to bake a cake and so since it was her cousin's birthday the next day we made one! My sis in law wanted to get her a Hello Kitty cake so my niece and I decided to decorate it 'Hello Kitty' style.

20 October 2007 - EMERGENCY !! The Hello Kitty cake melted ! Wonder how it happened. Was it too warm last night ? Anyway, I saved my niece's icing of the Hello Kitty cat and re-covered the cake with new fondant.

Delivered a Fire Truck cake to my friend whose son's birthday party is today! Personally, I thought it didn't look good enough but my friend was saying that she wanted a 'homey' looking cake so that was it ! Think I need more practice on icing the cake. Still not smooth enough ! I hope the party went well as it was raining very heavily this afternoon.