Good Bye 2009

Ordered by staff at a government department for an end of the year tea party at the office. The blue n red dots is the department's logo.

Good bye 2009, it has been an eventful year for me and Bakeryna....

20th Birthday Photo Cake

Everytime Emi, age 21, called me Chik (aunty), i'm reminded how old hubby and I are. Then again, I remember that all my school/uni friends' makcik and pakcik (aunts and uncles who are the second last daughter or son to your grandparents) that I knew were the most fun & hippiest amongst all the other aunts and uncles, lol

Emi ordered this to surprise her friend at Pulau Rebak, Langkawi. I think this 2kg 3 layers chocolate and vanilla sponge cake with raspberry and chocolate fudge filling, survived the long drive and boat ride to that island because I received message from Emi later saying "...everyone loves the cake, delicious..." That coming from those who are so used to eating their 5-star resort' desserts,  i am so very happy :D

My first attempt at making buttercream roses, I think they look more like cabbages than pink roses :(

Friends Forever

Aisyah ordered these cupcakes for her friends and kids, message requested were simply "Friends Forever" and "Ibu Loves You". The order was received around 9am for pickup at 7pm. Cupcakes were packed in boxes of six.
Glad I was able to complete Aisyah's order despite having to send Sue to the orthodontist. Dentists' office are always full in December with everyone trying to make use of their yearly dental benefit; wish that Sue's braces were covered in hubby's family dental plan too, ha! ha! ha! We've been paying for monthly checkup, etc... for more than 2 years.

Cupcakes with Gray(?) Logos

Printing these logos made me notice something new, the printer/CMYK edible ink cannot print gray color. Adjusting the Cyan and Magenta levels did not help either, at least not in the amount of time I had to resolve the issue. This picture makes the logos seem a lot more greenish than they actually were.

The original logo of the campaign on the bank's webpage, white small fonts on textured gray background, provide very little contrast and almost invisible when printed at this size. So, I changed to larger font size on solid gray background.

Thanks Mas for the order.

Netball Themed Cupcakes

First order from Farah, our neighbor living just behind our house. Farah wanted orange color topping with netball theme for her best friend who's a netball enthusiast.
Hmmm.... orange red is the classic color for netball ball, nowadays the ball design has also evolved just like any other sports' balls.
Thanks for the order Farah, now your mystery of the frequent sweet smell of baking in the middle of the night is solved :)

Tiramisu Cake with Barbie Edible Image

The square cake pans with removable base are sold only in odd number square sizes at the bakery supply shops here. I wasn't sure why, maybe it was meant to accomodate the shrinking of spongecake after being cooled; i.e. my logic, bake the cake in the larger even number size pan and assemble it in the smaller odd number size pan, in this case 10" and 9" pans. (I always place a thin layer of chocolate spongecake at the base of the tiramisu cake to ease transferring from the pan base to the cake board).
Making these rectangular chocolate sheets was definitely much easier compared to forming it into a round/ring shape. But, superimposing the the pics of the girls onto two of the musketeers' face wasn't; although the Image-Equalize function in Photoshop did help.
The cheesecake filling was made using a (secret?) method revealed by Chef Khairy, a former chef of SR - white couverture chocolate to replace sugar in all their cheesecakes! The filling seems to set firmer faster this way despite the dairy whip cream being a little runny before mixing in the cream cheese/white chocolate mixture. And, I just love the taste, glad that I've made extra for my kids and their cousins who were spending their holidays here. Btw, I've given up trying to find mascarpone cheese around here, I'm now happy with the Anchor brand, less tangy than Philly, thus suitable for tiramisu.
Thanks for the order Cikgu Husna.

Hearts Themed Cupcakes

From Isma to surprise her fiance, cupcakes in pink, white and chocolate with a small photo of them. The dark & white couverture chocolate hearts were molded in ice cube molds from Ikea. Message from Isma "cantik sgt2....syg nk makan tp menyelerakan... ", thanks Isma.

Anniversary Cupcakes in Yellow and Green

Atie requested for a set of cupcakes with simple deco for her boss' anniversary. Info given was that her boss' favorite colors are yellow and green and his wife likes flowers. Thanks Atie, glad that your boss liked it.

Pink and Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Nani only likes vanilla cupcakes, but I added the chocolate ganache topping to tickle her taste buds; and i really love the two shades pink and dark chocolate color combination.

Nani also asked for a colorful "hantaran" cupcakes, which I settled for red, blue and pink color combo to symbolize two hearts joined together thru an "akad nikah' ceremony. Selamat Pengantin Baru Nani & Akmal!

My favorite wedding song is "Selamat Pengantin Baru" by Anita Sarawak, here's a few lines

"selamat pengantin baru
semoga kekal abadi
bahgia ke anak cucu
sentosa murah rezeki

alhamdulillah bertemu jodohnya
berkat kesucian akhir terlaksana...."

To listen, go here Youtube - Anita Sarawak's Selamat Pengantin Baru

With Love from Elsie

Elsie placed these 2 orders for her mom and little sis.

First order is for a hamper with a list of items she would like to give her mom & nieces together with some photo cupcakes. I especially like this image of in b&w, I think it captures the feeling a daughter who dearly missed her mom during hari raya. sob..sob..

Second order was for a bouquet of lilies (i was really surprised how expensive these madonna lilies were!)  together with a graduation bear and a box of cupcakes. Farrah's full name is intentionally blurred in these pics. Congratulations Farrah!

Thanks Elsie, i was really happy with the new experience of adding the hamper and flowers to your order.

Fresh Fruits Cupcakes for Joint Birtday Celebration

How do you fit name initials with happy birthday message onto a cupcake loaded with fruits topping? Use chocolate mould and write the initials with royal icing.
These cupcakes were ordered for a december joint birthday celebration at a govt office in Komtar tower. Thanks, especially to Zul, Yanie and Siti.

I read this article that made me go hmmm........

 The Latest Entrepreneurial Fantasy Is Selling Cupcakes

By ELIZABETH OLSON Published: November 26, 2009

The small-business world is going cupcake-mad, and not just in meccas like Los Angeles and New York. Read it here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/business/smallbusiness/26cupcake.html

Purple Wedding Fondant Cake

I could sense the worry in Reen's voice when she called me to order a full fondant covered hantaran cake for a purple & white themed wedding. My only assurance to her, I've attended the fondant cake decorating class and have a bucket of ready to use fondant for the job.
No gumpaste roses were made since I was overwhelmingly concerned about how to roll and transfer the rolled fondant onto the cake. My solution, roll it on a 14" cake board and slide it onto the cake. Didn't do it so well I must admit, so the ribbon and fondant ruffle were used to cover the bottom edges.
When I saw the smile on Reen's face and heard her short response "cantik...", I was so relieved, so is she, I think. Thanks Reen!

Aidil Adha

Today is 13th of Zulhijjah, the last day of Hari Raya Aidil Adha. Cikgu Salwa, my daughter's class teacher ordered these boxes of cupcakes to be given to her neighbors. Thank you Cikgu Salwa.
I am happy that Malaysia's KLK Cocoa / Barry Callebaut's chocolate has been given halal certification by Jakim. Their Selbourne bar was  used it to make the choc ganache for these cupcakes.
The green cake boxes that I used are a little too large for the 6 cupcakes, so folded carboards were inserted to fill the void.

Edible Image Orders

I receive many cany calls asking for samples of edible images available for immediate ordering. I'm sorry, I don't have it because most of my customers are also other home based bakers, and they provide me the file of the image they would like to be printed.
Anyway, here's some of the edible images I helped to edit and/or 'collect' (i.e. taken without asking) from the millions of images available on the internet.

Birthday Cake.... with Wedding Picture

I've always printed the edible image as it was sent to me, i.e. shoulder height, waist height or full length. Looking at this cake I can't help thinking I should have cropped the picture to waist height and framed it. It would have saved me a lot of time removing the original background and finding a frame template for it which are available mostly in landscape orientation.
The dark chocolate ganache is poured over a thin layer of chocolate fudge covering on this cake, with a layer of strawberry puree and cream filling in the middle.
Thanks Mona for ordering; sorry I couldn't get you the fresh strawberries because it wasn't available at the only one hypermarket in Kulim... :-(

Joint Birthday - Barbie n Ultraman

Mas ordered this chocolate cake for a joint birthday, wanted edible image of Barbie for Awish and Ultraman for Danial. The most appropriate form of Barbie to match Ultraman Max is definitely her character in Barbie & the 3 Musketeers.

It is always a bad idea to try something new when you only have 3 hours to decorate the cake; I tried a new brand of better tasting whipping cream for the cream layer underneath the ganache and it just would not set. To stop the chocolate ganache from overflowing on the sides of the cake, I scrape off a thin layer and piped some buttercream instead.

P/S I learned from a baking class last weekend that spreading a layer of whipped cream on the cake and chill it before pouring the ganache on top will give you a smooth thin layer of ganache.

Soccer Field Cupcakes Cake

It's been months since I last made pull-away cupcakes cake. Since the order was for a soccer field shape, I opted to use 36 square mini cupcakes to form the 'field'.
Forgot to apply a little buttercream to the base of the cupcakes to stick them to the cake boards, I was lucky that my daughter Sue helped to hold the cake in place during the delivery trip to Sg Ara. The journey in my little perodua kancil with dead absorbers on the potholes ridden BM roads was indeed a long and bumpy ride...
Mieza also ordered another 25 regular cupcakes, thanks Mieza.

Mickey & Friends Cupcakes

Zul informed me that his son's favorite Mickey's friend is Goofy, but we agreed it wouldn't be appropriate to put goofy's pic on the cake. I rarely received cake orders from a daddy, so when Zul mentioned it was for Hazim's 2nd birthday I was quite puzzled since his earlier query was for a number 3 cake. It was 2am on the delivery day when I realized this, so I went ahead to print "2nd".
Hariz indeed was going to celebrate his 3rd birthday, so the edible image was reprinted and overlapped on the previous one; the quickest fix within half hour since they are rushing to grandma's house to celebrate. Thanks for ordering Zul.

Swirl Roses Cupcakes

Miza sent a pic of the cupcakes she would like for her hantaran and confirmed her order about a month ago. The weather has been quite chilly since the last few weeks (due to La Nina?, Artic ice caps melting?), so I was not really worried how far these buttercream topping cupcakes would travel to the groom's place. ( I usually advise my customers to order fondant topped cupcakes for hantaran)
When Miza saw these cupcakes her reaction was "Cantiknya...." Thanks Miza, Selamat Pengantin Baru!

Cheesecake Cupcakes, Fondant Teddy Bears

Last week I was reading my first few posts when I started this blog about 9 months ago and remembered that my initial excitement to start cupcakes decorating was from making those tiny fondant bears, pooh, eeyore, tigger etc... I haven't done those for a very long time mainly because I don't really enjoy molding with tightly gloved hands.
Anyway, when Niza ordered some blueberry and zebra cheese cupcakes for her anniversary, I suggested adding these little mom, dad & baby bears for the decor. Thanks Niza, Happy Anniversary!
I'm still reluctant to try the chocolate fondant widely sold at the shops; so I made mine by adding softened chocolate bar to the fondant dough.

30th Anniversary Cake

When I agreed to this order for number 30 cake weighing only 1 kg+, I was more concerned on getting the cake to fit on a 12" cake base. After I've assembled the cake, it's obvious that putting the two number pieces side by side was a bigger challenge; no wonder most 2-number cakes I googled were covered with fondant. When I slide the chilled & frosted number 0 piece to be aligned to the partially pre-piped icing border drawn on the base, it fell apart; arghhhh.... Luckily I need not worry so much about the decor since message from Firah was "....decor camna tak pa, yg penting bentuk 30....".

Thanks Firah for the order and congratulations on your parents' 30th anniversary. My hubby  & i will be celebrating our 20th next year ..... ;-)

As for the heap of  the 30% cake scraps, the kids finish it with drizzle of chocolate ganache and whip cream. Here's a pic of the naked cake formed using 2X4" ring pan, 1X4" round pan and 1X4" square pan.

Yna's Kindergarten Graduation

Yna has stopped going to her kindy since mid August; mostly due to Asyraf's 3-month hospitalization and Yna's nocturnal behavior that is so difficult to break (she sleeps after 3:00am, wakes up at 12:00pm). For the last few weeks I kept thinking that she won't be getting her first scroll to add to her personal file and what would my answer be when she asks about it in future. ( I still keep my kindy scroll from 35years ago, and of course her bro & sis have theirs too)
I was so relieved when the Cikgu Nab, the headmaster at Tadika Fitrah Ehsan invited us to join the graduation ceremony. Well, I think Yna deserves it too, since she's exceeded pre-school adequacy level of reading/writing/arithmetic. My regret however was that she was unable to join the performance, much to her disappointment too.

As a thank you gesture for the teachers and all the 4/5/6 years old kids at the kindy I baked these mini cupcakes for them. I didn't affix any labels on the individual cupcake plastic cases, thus was very happy that a few of the parents personally aprroached me and will become my customers soon.

The graduation robe & caps are pipings of choc fudge. Earlier, I made a batch of robes and caps using royal icing but they did not hardened; the reason was too much gel coloring added to make them black. To make matters worse, the cupcakes peeled away from the paper liners. I didn't want the cuppies to go to waste, so the liners were peeled off and the cupcakes were put into paper souffle cups. I googled about the peeling cupcakes problem, most i think was due to high butter/fat content. I think mine was due to the repacked "buttercup" blend i purchased after Raya when the original 1kg cans or 5kg tubs were not available. Or maybe, it could be the rainy weather too. Hmm...

Fresh Fruits Cupcakes

Deciding suitable cupcakes for a guy can be tricky. My hubby for instance will only eat chocolate cupcakes with a dollop of chocolate fudge, nothing fancy schmancy.

Intan ordered these 16pcs fresh fruit cupcakes for her hubby's 30th birthday; her choice of fruit was strawberry, grapes and peaches. I ran out of cling peaches, replaced with canned mandarin orange segments instead.

Cupcakes topping was half/half dairy fresh cream/non-dairy whip cream. Reason being, most non-dairy cream are too sweet, dairy cream tastes better but has very little whip volume and turns watery too fast in our tropical weather.

Message from Intan later that night, "Tq...sedap n my husband luv it......." Thanks Intan.

Cheesecake Cupcakes

Cheesecake cupcakes, that's what I decided to call  these tiny guilty pleasures.
Baked them last weekend, for the kids to take with them to their weekday hostels; since mommy's trying to stick to her herbalife diet plan; with only one or two (most of the time) cupcakes a day(shh... my 'wellness consultant' doesn't know that cupcake part yet) She's coming over tomorrow for my weekly progress charting. Errr...my progress??? i only lost 1kg in over a month! And no, i won't mention what the weighing scale (so called body composition monitor) says about my metabolic age.

Strawberry/raspberry and chocolate topping this time; there's a long list of other flavors i'm planning for future projects....and still wishing to shed a few more kgs along the way

Dora Cupcakes and Princess Cake

Elsie called from Perth to order these for her nieces. Cupcakes with Dora images for Kakak (older sister), and a pink princess cake for Adik (younger sister); both sets with the girls' pics too. I arrived at a spacious apartment with the doors wide open. The wind was blowing softly, smoke and noise from the busy Penang streets just disappear at this top floor of the apartment block.
I was greeted by Elsie's mom, standing beside her was a very sweet little girl which I immediately recognized as adik was also waiting, and... she was wearing a Dora t-shirt! I felt my heart skipped a beat, did I swapped Elsie's instructions? Alhamdulillah... i found out later that i didn't.

Later in the evening Elsie called again just to inform me that the girls and her mom liked the cakes very much. I've also started building Bakeryna pages on Facebook as suggested by Elsie. Thanks so much Elsie!

P/S Adik's pic was superimposed with Snow White's black hair wig, tiara and princess dress

Cheesecake Cups / Cheese Cupcakes

I'm not sure what is the correct word for cheesecake baked in cupcakes liners.

I tried this nice recipe by Chef Asma recently. The pics above really do not do justice for these wonderfully creamy, not too sweet cheesecake cups. Here's the half recipe

CHEESE CUP CAKE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST :
240 gm Marie biscuits crumbs } Combined crumbs and melted butter.
250 gm melted butter } Press onto bottom of cup cake cases / liners

INGREDIENTS FOR CHEESE CAKE :
( A ) 250 gm cream cheese
38 gm castor sugar
75 ml UHT whipping cream
2 nos egg yolk
1/4 nos lemon rind
45 gm cake flour

( B ) 2 nos egg white
38 gm castor sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
10 gm corn flour 

METHOD :
1. Beat cream cheese untill smooth, add in sugar and beat until creamy.
2. Add in UHT whipping cream and beat until smooth.
3. Add in egg yolk and mix well.
4. Add in all ingredients, mix well and leave aside.
5. Whisk egg white,sugar and lemon juice untill stiff. Add in corn flour into the
egg white.
6. Combined A& B , mix together, . Add in flavour or decoration.
7. Pour mixture onto biscuit crust and bake ( steambaked ) for 20 minutes - 30 minutes 

Yield 12 pieces of size M Solo cups. 
Top the cheesecakes with chocolate ganache or ready made fruit filling.