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