FIT FOR A KING

One of the downside of baking home made treats is, you can't expect them to look like professionally done store bought cakes. So many things could go wrong in your home kitchen that you'll completely lose any control you have over a host of factors; temperature, equipments, ingredients etc. Ask any baker and they'll tell you that their biggest challenge would be making sure their buttercreams doesn't melt away.

This humongous cake was specially ordered for Fahd who turns 4 last week. His mom (cutesy little thing Aisyah) wanted a chocolate cake with ganache and decorated with baby blocks. Because it was so heavy, I used my grandma's melamine tray to transport the cake coz I felt that the cake board was too flimsy. The extremely hot weather also wrecked my extra thick ganache and made it really drippy as soon as I took the cake out of the fridge to let it set. Probably I should let the ganache sit in the fridge for a while to make it real firm, but I'm not sure if that would solve the problem with the heat wave these days.

It is rare that the baker herself is invited for the party itself, and we had a helluva time and loads of fun at Fahd's picnic style birthday party. Such a sweet memory for me and my daughter. The birthday boy is such a sweet little thing.

"Aunty, if you're in trouble, just come to my house, okay?"

Haha, sure thing dude.

MY VALENTINE

This valentine inspired cupcakes were one of my last weekend's project. A really last minute request from my aunt who needed these cupcakes for an engagement hantaran. 

Thankfully, she only requested for something simple, but still making fondant roses at 3 in the morning is no joke when the order needs to be ready by sun up. Quite lucky for me to find a nice red box to go with the cupcakes since all baking supplies stores were closed for CNY.

And what flavour could be the best match for these red beauties if it wasn't Red Velvet?

Selamat bertunang, Munirah. Thank you Mak Baik and Mak Long Suraya for the order.

BLINGIN' LOVE

One of the best thing of being in this business is seeing acts of love around you.

Valentine's Day is just another day to celebrate the love.

This set was ordered by sweet Samantha for her boyfriend. She was so meticulous to choose his favourite colours and flavours, which was Dulce De Leche cupcakes, chocolate lava filling and DDL buttercream. She even specified all the 'slogans' on the cuppies.

Thank you so much for the order, Sam!

WARM LOVE

When Ieda ordered some cupcakes for a friend's engagement and requested for a brown theme, I was quite stumped. I've done a combination of brown and gold before for her and I didn't want to recycle the same idea. 

A quick search on the net confirmed the existence of something I've seen before. Brown roses, the best kept secret in the world of roses. According to here, these roses come in a wide-range of tones and shades, from russet, to café au lait and from smoky to iced tea. Brown roses are known to have masculine appeal, so since this set of cupcakes are from the groom's/men's side, I think brown roses paired with some blue would be suitable.

Brown roses symbolizes warmth, intimacy and stability.  I think the colour of the rose looks deliciously chocolatey, as opposed to other conventional colours like red and pink that look too pretty to be eaten.

Flavour of the cake was  cookies and cream - oreo chocolate cupcake with a mix of chocolate and vanilla buttercream.

Thank you so much for Ieda, my number 1 customer,  for the order. I do hope Yusri and Huda love your thoughtful gift for them.

PRINCESSES FOR PUTERI

 The Disney Princesses is a great merchandising brand, isn't it? Although I think that the commercialization can go a bit overboard sometimes (come on, RM3.50 for 10 pcs of cookies?), I'm just glad my daughter has decided to be a more girly & acts more princessy when I introduced them to her.

This set of disney princesses cupcakes were for my niece, Puteri. Made this quite some time ago, so I couldn't exactly remember the flavour of the cake. It could be strawberry or peach, I'm sorry I'm so forgetful!

But I'm sure the buttercream flavour was blueberry.

RM50 for M sized cupcakes, plus another RM20 for the edible image.

FOR BELLE

"You! You steal my rose, the one I love the most. You could have taken anything except the rose. For this thoughtless robbery, you deserve to die."

One of my earliest memory of Shelley Duvall's wondrous show Faerie Tale Theater is the story of Beauty and the Beast, the classic French tale. The merchant's daughter asked for only a single white rose from her father who went to the city. He was lost in the woods and encountered an enchanted castle where he saw the most beautiful white rose which he plucked for his daughter.

And you know the rest of the story.

The white rose, the symbol if virtue, purity and innocence. Belle, the kind filial daughter who traded herself for her father's life, and her love for the Beast despite his appearance.

The before photos: Luscious vanilla peach cupcakes with strawberry filling