Friday, December 31, 2010

Fondant Bertunang Cuppies for Pn Maya



Maya my colleague ordered these simple cuppies for her sis-in-law's engagement. The colour theme was purple and white. I added the little pink flowers so it won't look too monotonous. I thought they would look sweet when displayed on the dulang (dowry tray) together.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Transformers Birthday Cake for cousin Nabil




This was the speediest cake I have done so far. Baked the cake at 11pm, left it on the kitchen table (covered with tea cloth, of course) to cool, woke up at 6.00am to ice and decorate to finish in time for office at 7.30am. My uncle Pakchu ordered a simple vanilla cake for Nabil's birthday and the rest was up to me. So I thought I'd give it as a present. I baked a 9" round cake, decorate it with buttercream and Transformers edible image as above. Happy 11th birthday Nabil!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Ben10 (Edible Image) Cake for Pn Aishah





I received a frantic call on Sunday afternoon from my aunt, Indok, telling me that her friend Pn Aishah had tried to reach me many times to make an urgent cake order. So I traced back my missed calls, indeed there was a missed call from Pn Aishah (not that many at all!). I quickly called Pn Aishah who persuaded me to make her another birthday cake for son Amin, to be delivered Tuesday (today). This time a larger choc moist cake with buttercream icing. I was reluctant as I had another cake to finish for Wed morning pickup. In the end I gave in, hence the hectic evening I'm having today (gotta take daughter Alysha for her 9pm dentist appointment shortly, but blog first before I go hehe!). The cake turned out well, baked it last night, I started icing immediately after I reach home from work at 5.30pm, finished a little over 8. Thanks to my superbibik who assisted me in the kitchen and Sham who helped to deliver the cake. We make such a great team!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Simple Buttercream Cupcakes for Pn Marina Lau



"Hello, nak order cupcake, ini anak Kak Marina". I was thinking which Marina? I've got a sis-in-law by the same name too. Finally the young lady explained that she's the daughter of Pn Marina Lau from the office. She ordered 24 medium sized vanilla with simple buttercream cupcakes, "Untuk makan-makan aje...". The cupcakes were fun to make because there was no expectation for perfection such as for hantaran or birthday cuppies. I did the flowers freehand, and let my imagination go wild. And... voila! The blooming beauties as I call them appeared before my eyes! What do you think?

3-Tier Fondant Wedding Cake for En. Nasir




Pakcik Nasir is a colleague and also an acquaintance of my parents. He ordered this fondant 3 tier vanilla and orange butter cake for his eldest daughter's wedding. The theme was purple and white. The mother of the bride chose a previous design with draping "cloth", but the sample was a single tier hantaran cake. I tried to create a cascading "cloth" design on the top and second tier but the design didn't go very well with the bottom layer. So I rolled out a smaller piece of fondant to make the draping "cloth" for the top tier and filled out the rest of the cake with little pressed flowers to give the cake the "lacy" look. Lastly I arranged the purple roses on the bottom and top layers and finished with royal icing trimmings. Sham came back from work when I was halfway done, stayed up with me, was the critique (very hard to please that man!) and photographer. The cake was finally completed at 4am in the morning and I had to deliver it at 9am! Went to the reception (yes, I was invited too) that same noon with panda eyes. But it was all worth it when I saw the satisfaction on Pakcik Nasir and wife's faces.

Dora the Explorer 3D Cake for Mdm Janet Ng


Aunty Janet's grandaughter is crazy about Dora the Explorer. So the doting grandma asked me if I can make a Dora cake for little Isis. Such a coincidence because my dear cousin Zue from Atlanta had recently given me a Dora mould which I had been wanting to try out. I was very happy with the end result, a special cake for a special little girl.

Ben10 2-Tier Birthday Cake for Pn Wawa



This 2-tier chocolate butter cake with Ben10 edible image was ordered by Pn Wawa of Kota Kemuning. Her son Aqim had wanted a 2-tiered birthday cake, like the birthday cake that I did for another customer, Yasmine. The top layer was 8", the bottom was 10". I finished the cake with drawings of Ben10 themed silhouettes and gadgets on the sides. Apparently they were a hit among the children who wanted only the outer portion of the cake, so they can have parts of the "gadgets".

Fondant Hantaran Cake for Pn Farah



"Less is More", is how I describe this cake. Pn Farah ordered this for her bff's engagement. She sent me an MMS of the sample cake she fancied and explained that the theme was green and cream. The cake was my premium butter cake (I used the more expensive SCS butter), iced with buttercream and covered with cream coloured fondant. This time I decided to make my own gumpaste flowers. I made the bouquet one week earlier, left it to harden in an air conditioned room. As it turned out, self made flowers are very fragile when exposed to humidity. It was raining heavily on the night I decorated the cake. The flowers, although were left to dry for many days became easily broken. I managed to arrange the flowers with extra care and was pleased with the result. The next day the cake was delivered safely (with lots of post-it notes!) in double boxes to Puan Farah, who took it for a long drive to Perak for the engagement kenduri. Note: DIY gumpaste flowers are not suitable for outdoor functions.

Hari Raya Cupcakes (Buttercream & Piping Jelly) for Pn Ida





Puan Zakiyah@Ida is my sis-in-law's sister. Her office was having their annual Hari Raya potluck on the last day of Syawal, this year she decided to bring some Raya themed cuppies. I made 50 pcs of vanilla and chocolate chip (butter cake) cuppies, iced with buttercream. Some I decorated with piping jelly, some with edible image and some with buttercream flowers. Since her office is only a stone's throw from mine, I agreed to send the cuppies there during lunchbreak just before the party starts. Pn Ida told me afterwards (which made my day!) the cuppies were the first to finish, I would think it's because of the attractive colours. Ooohh... I love Hari Raya...

Son Imran's 3D Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake




This cake was Imran's dream come true. Imran is an avid Thomas fan. He loves everything Thomas! A few weeks before his party, my husband suggested that I make Imran a Thomas 3D cake, he even did some research online and suggested some useful websites on how to make a Thomas cake. I borrowed a Thomas toy from Imran's collection as the model (the cake was the actual size of the toy) for my project and used 4 layers of dark choc orange cake. I've always loved the combination of chocolate and orange. The face was made out of gumpaste a few days earlier, was really proud of it, a split image of Thomas, don't you think?

As I was busy shaping the cake into Thomas, imran came into the kitchen and exclaimed,"Aiii? Mama buat Emiyiii (Emily)?". Emily was a blackish engine. LOLs! He thought I was making Emily because the chocolate cake was not yet covered with icing then. When I finally finished the cake, Imran excitedly asked for a knife, he wanted to immediately cut it! Haiiyak!

The party went well, the kids went crazy over the cake (the adult cringed at the amount of icing on it!), one of Imran's schoolmate (who's also a Thomas fan) was speechless when he saw the cake, he was so cute! Imran was the happiest boy that day indeed. Thank you to all the guests who came and made him feel special.

Cupcakes with Custom Edible Image for my son Imran's Birthday Party



One of the party favours for Imran's 3rd birthday party.

Hari Raya Cupcakes for Pn Yasmine



Min is one of my regulars. For her Hari Raya open house she ordered 100 vanilla + choc chip cupcakes. She asked me to make some with Ultraman image and some with Thomas other than the usual Raya images. They were for her sons, so cute!

Upright Princess Cake for my little niece Lana



This was made for little miss Tyra Banks Rawang - Lana. My niece Lana loves everything Princess and pink. My SIL Julia ordered this cake as a surprise for Lana's 5th birthday party back in June 2010. For this cake, I baked pineapple flavoured sponge and covered it with buttercream. I love making doll cakes, I let my imagination run wild designing the dress. The finished product reminded me of Mary (of Mary had a little lamb rhyme), in her white frilly frocks without her shepherd's stick. :)  I added the pink swags and tiny purple roses to make it look more "princessy". 

When we finally revealed the cake, Lana went silent for a second (she usually talks non-stop, mulut rice pops!). She had, many months before her birthday, "ordered" this cake for her party from me. I got a great big hug from the birthday girl who then said,"Lana dah lama nak cake Barbie ni. Thank you Maklong!". Awwww... She melted my heart...

Pandan Chiffon Cake


Upright Mermaid Cake for Pn Mas



Choc Moist Birthday Cake for A'ainaa

This Chocolate Moist Cake was ordered by Auntie Shah for her daughter's eleventh birthday. Aainaa is a sweet tween whom my children adore. I decorated the cake with colourful Smarties and chocolate rice at the sides. Yummy!

Chocolate Moist Cake is my all time favourite homemade cake. I just love the intense chocolatey-ness and the soft texture of the cake. This secret recipe is very dear to me, it all started with this very recipe 20 years ago. I found this recipe in a women's magazine, tried it for the first time on the day before Hari Raya, it turned out alright but the topping was a bit lumpy (with much practice and some modification, I made it into one of my trademark recipe). I brought the cake to my grandma's place where all my relatives assembled and received many compliments for it. It was a proud day for me :D.. 

I started receiving orders from that day on from my uncle, aunts and cousins. It's sparked my interest in baking, I started trying out other recipes, took over my mother's old recipe scrapbook (and added more recipes I collected over the years). I baked for pocket money during my teenage years, my family were very supportive and encouraging. Those were the days... 

Fastforward til TODAY, I am still learning this trade (there's still so much to learn!) and now own an online "cake shop". It has always been my dream to own a bakery, GG Home Biz is another step to achieving my dream. I am very thankful that I am finally able to do something that is very close to my heart.