Magnolia Lane

Snow Flakes Cupcakes for Christmas

2009-12-29T13:06:00.003+08:00

This is a backdated post.... I have not been feeling very well lately and thus have procrastinated this upload. These vanilla cupcakes were baked and decorated with icy snowflakes for the Christmas family gathering I had at my house last week.

I had plans for lots of baking during this festive season, but since I have not been feeling so well lately, I have to push back some of the baking projects I have in mind. Hopefully I will feel more upbeat and energetic very soon... as Julian's birthday and Chinese New Year are just round the corner!!!

Christmas Cookies

2009-12-17T21:29:00.003+08:00

Julian is having a christmas party in school tomorrow. I baked these cookies for him to bring to the party. These are chocolate cookies decorated with fondant and royal icing, in the festive theme off course.

I am back...

2009-12-11T09:44:00.003+08:00

Sorry for the long absence.... I have not been baking because I was away on a family vacation in Western Australia. Visited the Margaret River region. I did not have much time to shop, but when I did get a chance to enter any homeware stores... my eyes would be darting around, hunting for baking wares! My aim was to look for items that are uncommon in my home land... and yes, I did managed to find a few things. I will be baking again very soon.... eager to try out the vanilla bean dusting sugar!

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

2009-11-09T21:02:00.006+08:00

This is the first time I am icing a cake, and apparently I am not very good at it. Cake decorating is a messy business, and takes a lot of effort and concentration. I hope practice will make perfect eventually. The cake itself is a black sesame chiffon cake. I was expecting the cake to be totally black, but I guess I did not use enough black sesame for that to happen. Nevertheless, the cake still taste pretty decent. I am definitely going to bake this again.

Chocolate Almond Cookies

2009-11-06T18:30:00.005+08:00

Chocolate cookies with almond bits embedded. They are not too sweet and rather crunchy. A nice snack that goes with coffee or tea. I think I will make more of these during Christmas.

Polvorones

2009-11-05T14:52:00.004+08:00

I have been neglecting this blog a little for the last few weeks. In between, I was actively addicted to games on Facebook, discussion threads in some forums, as well as shopping sprees at the malls. I was also away on a short vacation. Having realized the seriousness of my addiction to Facebook, I decided I should pull myself away from those games for a while and do something more constructive, like BAKE SOMETHING!!! I also realized that Christmas season is approaching, so I should start thinking about what to bake for family and friends this coming December. As a start, I tried baking these Latin-American and Spanish traditional shortbread called Polvorones. They have a 'melt-in-the-mouth' texture and are usually served during the festive seasons like Christmas. I made a small batch for testing and it was well received by my sons! Now that I am in the mood to bake again, I am going to find a few more recipes and try them out one by one during the pockets of free time that I have in between sending and fetching my sons to and from school.

Matcha Macarons

2009-10-17T07:23:00.003+08:00

I have a bottle of matcha ( green tea ) powder that I have always wanted to use for baking something with. Finally, I found some time last Thursday to make a batch of matcha macarons. The matcha powder gave the macaron shells a very nice hue of green. I did not need to add any additional food coloring to the mixture at all. Also, I baked these macarons with a friend in mind. I had promised to bake something for her, but due to my busy schedule, it was always being procrastinated. So I am very glad that I have finally fulfilled my promise.

Baby Full Month ( 满月 ) Cupcakes

2009-10-05T17:26:00.007+08:00

Baby shower cupcakes in pastel blue and white theme baked for baby Sheldon's first-month celebration party. The cupcakes were decorated with baby's favorite things, including milk bottles, pacifier, bibs, pram, rattles, booties etc. I had great fun making these cupcake toppers, as they brought back memories of the days when my sons were new born babies. Reaching first month was a big milestone for both my babies and myself. It is great joy to see the baby growing in leaps and bounds within a month's time, and it also brings great sense of pride for parents, especially the first time parents! Happy first-month, Sheldon, and here's wishing you a beautiful life ahead!

Tee Off Cupcakes

2009-10-03T20:08:00.006+08:00

These vanilla and chocolate chip cupcakes were for my neighbor, who is an avid golfer. The wife ordered the cupcakes for his upcoming birthday. It took me a while to hand-mould the golf bags, golf clubs and golf balls, but at the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I hope the family enjoys the cupcakes.... and P, if you are reading this... the Poh family is wishing you a very happy birthday, and may you be blessed with everything nice throughout the year! Bon anniversaire!

Madeleines au chocolat

2009-09-30T17:34:00.006+08:00

I have some free time on my hand today, and so I decided to bake something for my boys since it is also children's day tomorrow. I know chocolate is the must-have ingredient, but I do not want to bake cupcakes today since I will be baking a couple of dozens in the coming few days. I wanted to make something simple and fast so that it wont take up too much of my time. Chiffon cake and madeleines came to mind, and I decided on madeleines eventually because they are bite-size and Julian can bring some along to share with his classmates when they go for their school picnic tomorrow morning.

This is my first time baking chocolate madeleines. I used unsweetened Valrhona cocoa powder for the batter, which gives the tea cakes great chocolate flavor. However, because I was a bit stingy on the sugar, they ended up to be a little bitter for little children. I rectified it by dusting them with some powdered sugar, and I think they are divine, at least to chocolate addict like me!

Cars Cupcakes for 5th Birthday

2009-09-10T21:09:00.004+08:00

This set of chocolate fudge cupcakes were for a boy who turns 5 today. According to his mother, he is a big fan of Cars, and would really like to have his birthday cakes decorated in this theme. The cupcakes were for his party in school, and the school specifically requested parents to prepare cakes that come with less cream. Thus, in accordance with the instruction from school, I decorated the cupcakes with less buttercream and more fondant. The road makes out the number '5', and the individual cupcakes were decorated with cars and chequered flags toppers. Happy 5th Birthday Torsai!

PS: Pardon me for the photos... it was really late at night when I completed this... the lighting was not good, and I was pretty sleepy too.

Happy Teacher's Day

2009-08-31T18:05:00.009+08:00

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day. I baked some Devil's Food Cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream and fondant messages for Julian and Justen's teachers. This is just my little gesture to say "thank you" to all their teachers for the love and patience that they have shown to my sons, for the knowledge and guidance that they have imparted on the boys and most of all for their endless effort in making school a fun place to be in every way. Wishing all the teachers a very sweet and happy Teacher's Day!

Flower Blossoms Cupcakes

2009-08-22T15:15:00.004+08:00

My customer ordered this batch of flower blossom cupcakes for her aunt's birthday. The cakes are vanilla and cranberries flavor, and topped with vanilla buttercream. I took many pictures of these cupcakes as I was trying out my DSLR camera. In the end, I could not decide which one to post in here... so I am going to put the better ones all here. Flowers make me happy... hope they cheer up your day too!

Princess and Pirate Cupcakes

2009-08-16T13:22:00.010+08:00

Julian's classmate, Issabelle, invited her whole class to her house for a pool party yesterday. Initially I thought it was meant to be her birthday party, but I later realized that it was just a casual get-together party organized by her mum so that Issabelle could play with her friends. We were told not to bring any presents, but I did not want to turn up empty-handed, so I made some cupcakes for the kids. These were pistachio and chocolate chips cupcakes, and I decorated some of them in princess and pirate theme for the girls and the boys. I also did some with simple chocolate glaze sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts. I think the adults would prefer them this way! It turned out to be a very nice party, with lots of finger food and drinks. Not only did the kids enjoyed themselves tremendously in the pool, we parents got a chance to get to know one another better too!

Pistachio Brownies

2009-08-03T17:37:00.005+08:00

Our family rented a chalet over the last weekend and we brought plenty of snacks along for our two short days of break. Among the snacks were four big packets of pistachio nuts that my husband bought to go with the beer, which we failed to finish. I have three packets of these nuts leftover when we return from our weekend break, and therefore I thought I could use some of them to make pistachio brownies. I think the distinctive flavor of the pistachio nuts will go quite well with the chocolate in the brownies. I used a classic brownie recipe and added two cups of pistachio nuts into the batter. It is common to overbake brownies, so I watched the oven and the timing very closely when I was baking mine. I baked the brownies for 35 minutes and I think I have achieved a crispy top with slightly moist interior in this batch of brownies. However, I wonder if it would be even better if I have bake for a few minutes more? Maybe I could test it out by baking another batch, since I still have plenty of pistachio nuts in my pantry!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-07-22T15:35:00.005+08:00

My son, Julian, asked me to bake some chocolate chip cookies for him to bring to school to share with his friends. I gladly agreed. All along I had the impression that chocolate chip cookies are one of the easiest thing to bake. Just mix up the dough, drop them onto the baking sheets and just pop them into the oven, right? Wrong! I search through my cookbooks and decided to give these chewy chocolate chip cookies a try. I followed the instructions on the recipe closely, but I ended up with a batch of very flat and unattractive looking cookies. Determined to perfect these cookies... I searched the internet for more recipes and tips. I found a pretty similar recipe here. I fired up my oven again today, and make another batch of chocolate chip cookies. There were a few things that I have done differently this time round. I used a new bottle of baking soda, and I chilled the dough in the fridge for 30 mins before baking them. This time, the result is more satisfactory. I hope the kids in school will enjoy these cookies!

Pineapple Tarts

2009-07-13T22:05:00.006+08:00

My friend requested that I make some pineapple tarts for her. I hesitated for a while... I was not sure I could make tasty pineapple tarts. The last time I bake these was about more than half a year ago. I baked the tarts with commercially purchased pineapple jam, and it was fine. The pastry was pretty alright. Then I attempted the very next day with some home-made pineapple jam, and it was not really edible. I followed a recipe that was quite different from the traditional way of making the jam, and the fillings turned out to be quite awful. This time round, I did more research, and with the right ingredients along with past experiences.... I managed to come up with this batch of pineapple tarts. I did not bake the pastry for too long, thus they are quite close to the "melt-in-the-mouth" sort of texture. My pineapple jam was not too wet, nor was it too dry this time. But I think I could have made it sweeter. As for the pastry, maybe I should try to bake them a little longer next time because I feel that even though the pastry was soft, there was something missing in them...maybe the sweet smell of butter?! Besides these open-styled ones, I have also made a batch of close-styled ones for my friend.

Durian Puffs

2009-07-07T20:32:00.005+08:00

After reading about the Durian Degustation party organized by Leslie from his blog, I can't help but crave for some of these delicious fruits myself. Following his recommendation, I went to Ah Loon and Ah Teck (their store is along East Coast Road, opposite Jago Close) for my durian fix. They were very good in what they do, and most of the durians that they have picked for me were superb. I think Mao Shan Wang and Golden Phoenix were really yummy and well worth the price! Beside buying about 8kg of durians to feast with my parents, I also packed 1kg of Mao Shan Wang durian pulp. I used the pulp to make these Mao Shan Wang durian puffs today. Thomas will be back from his business trip tomorrow, and this is my little surprise for him.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2009-07-02T20:42:00.005+08:00

The last time I bake a Pineapple Upside Down Cake was about twenty years back when I was in secondary school. We had to bake this cake during our Home Economics class. I remembered teaming up with one of my classmates and we made a small Pineapple Upside Down cake of about 6 inches in diameter. It was one of the most interesting lessons then. All the cakes in our class turned out great. Recently I have been thinking about revisiting this recipe. I did not keep the original recipe from my old text book, but I found an equally good one from one of my cookbooks. So, after twenty years... today I tried making this very classic, very old school Pineapple Upside Down cake again! I had some hiccups along the way. The recipe called for a 10" cake pan, but I find that to be a little too big for the amount of batter I had. I think I would bake it using a 9" cake pan the next time round. My caramel toppings was not too nicely done too... I should reheat the syrup before putting in the pineapple rings so that the toppings would spread out more evenly on the cake tin. I baked this cake in the 350 F oven for about 50 mins and took a slice while it was still warm. The cake was quite yummy, and suddenly I was overwhelmed with a nostalgia for my schooling days!!

Madeleines

2009-06-28T11:17:00.003+08:00

Madeleines are small shell-shaped sponge cakes originated from Commercy of northeastern France. I received two pretty good quality madeleine baking pans from the States last Wednesday and it was just in time since I have friend visiting me on Thursday. I made about two dozens of traditional madeleines, and my friend and I together with our kids had them for tea on Thursday afternoon. These little cakes are pretty easy to make and my sons love snacking on them, so I am definitely going to be making more madeleines soon.

Embossed Cupcakes

2009-06-19T22:51:00.004+08:00

Tomorrow is my birthday... I baked these cupcakes for myself. Happy Birthday to me... and this year I only have one simple wish... TO BE HAPPY.

Vanilla and Cranberries Cupcakes

2009-06-09T20:22:00.004+08:00

There will be a few hours of power interruption at my house tomorrow, so I decided to use up as much items in the fridge as possible. What's a better solution then to bake some cupcakes! I can use up the eggs, butter, milk and my buttercream. I made some vanilla cupcakes and added dried cranberries and blueberries into the cake batter. These cupcakes are for some of my new friends i met at Juilan's enrichment class recently. They are all mommies of Julian's classmates. Sometimes we will have coffee together while waiting for the kids, and I have always wanted to bake some cakes for them and their children. I didn't have much time today so these were just simply decorated with buttercream swirl and some fondant flowers and butterflies. I hope my friends and their kids will like them.

Justen's Birthday Cupcakes

2009-05-31T20:37:00.007+08:00

Today my younger son, Justen, turns 2. I baked some red velvet cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream and decorated them with his favorite things. Justen has always been a very easy child. He eats most kinds of food that I cook for him and he loves to eat fruits. He likes reading books, knows the pronunciation of a few of the alphabets and his first song is 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars'. He is a very independent boy and does not requires a lot of my attention as compared to his elder brother. He is often contended playing by himself and only fuss when he is sleepy or soiled his diapers. Because of the vast difference in the characters of my two boys, I tend to focus more of my energy in meeting the demands of Julian, so much so that I have friends who commented that I love Julian more than Justen. I was a little taken aback when I heard that but I know this is definitely not the case. I love them both equally. I spend more of my time with Julian because he is growing and is sensitive about our attention and love. Justen is still small and thus I let my helpers takes care of his daily needs like bathing and feeding. Not being hands-on does not mean I love him less. I bond with him by reading and singing to him. A gentle caress and a doting kiss on the cheek says my love for him. I believe he knows that I love him very much because only his mommy can calm him down when he cries uncontrollably. Motherhood is not easy and being a mother to two little boys can be quite taxing at times, but I would not exchange them for anything in the world. They are my joy and my happiness. Soon, Justen will be talking, debating with me like Julian does.... the challenge would be to devote my attention and time equally between the two of them such that they will not feel that there is any sort of favoritism involved. Meanwhile, I want to treasure the baby phase of my little boy. He is still very much like a baby, chubby, cute and innocent, and he still smells so good like a new born baby! Happy birthday Justen....don't grow up so fast.... !!!

Orange Chocolate Cookies

2009-05-27T20:57:00.007+08:00

Someone gave me a hamper from Duchy Originals last Christmas and I fell in love with their orange biscuits coated in dark chocolate ever since. It is one of the most yummy cookies I have ever tasted. The combination of the aromatic yet slightly bitter flavor of orange and dark chocolate makes this a heavenly treat. I had some free time yesterday and decided to try baking some of these delicious cookies myself. These are definitely not as polished looking as the ones from Duchy's, but the taste of the combination of butter cookies with orange zest, orange marmalade and bittersweet chocolate came pretty close. I find them quite irresistable and finished off at least a dozen in one afternoon. I am feeling very guilty now. I need to go on a diet.

Bite－Size Desserts

2009-05-21T09:35:00.006+08:00

I had desperate cravings for lemon tarts again, so I baked a small batch on tuesday afternoon to snack on. Made them in tartlet form so they are bite－size and therefore less sinful. Just for the fun of it, I also made some non-bake chocolate tarts with bittersweet chocolate. They are not too sweet, and comes with a tinge of bitterness, which is the way I like it.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie

2009-05-17T13:19:00.004+08:00

This is my first time making cheesecake. A few friends of mine asked me why didnt I make any cheesecake before. Well, actually I am not really a big fan of cheesecakes and therefore never had the motivation to try making one. But I came across this recipe and it sounds quite yummy to me, so I decided to give it a try. It has a brownie base, with cheesecake in the middle and topped with raspberry whipped cream. I made a big pan, and gave all my loved ones and neighbors some.

Mother's Day Cupcakes (2)

2009-05-10T13:23:00.006+08:00

Mother's Day cupcakes with message in chinese wordings ordered by Thomas's colleague. Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Cupcakes (1)

2009-05-08T21:39:00.005+08:00

A good friend of mine ordered these chocolate cupcakes for the upcoming Mother's Day. A bunch of flowers to express the gratitude and love for the very important person on this special day. A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional and endless. To all the mothers that I know and all the mothers who are reading this post... here's wishing you a very happy Mother's Day too.

Housewarming Cupcakes

2009-05-02T20:08:00.005+08:00

Thomas's colleague invited us to her house warming party on Labor Day. I baked some cupcakes and decorated them in the house warming theme and brought them along as gifts. Thanks for having us, Susan. Julian had some great time playing with Jayden! I hope we did not mess up your house too much though.

Spring Themed Baby Full-Month Cupcakes

2009-05-02T17:18:00.009+08:00

These cupcakes were ordered by a mommy for the 1st month celebration of her new born baby girl, Emma. As Emma was born in Spring, mommy requested for the cupcakes to carry the theme of Spring. Thus I decorated them with buttercream in pastel shades of pink, lilac, yellow and green topped with fondant flowers and butterflies. However, baby shower cupcakes won't look complete without some nursery items in there... so I included two lovely white teddy bears resting on pink quilts to complete the look. Welcome to the world, Emma... may you have a sweet life ahead.

Finally.... Kitchenaid...

2009-04-27T20:28:00.008+08:00

I have been considering getting a stand mixer for quite some time. I finally got one two weekends ago. Some of my friends were quite surprise that I was actually baking with just a wire whisk and a small hand-held mixer all these while. When I first started baking, I was not too sure how long this interest would last, so I thought I should really hold back on buying a bulky machine to take up precious space in my kitchen. It has been close to a year since I baked my first batch of cupcakes, and I have come to realize that the initial interest has since developed into a passion. There are so many interesting yet challenging recipes that I have been wanting to try... and I know a simple hand-held mixer is no longer adequate. So I started my research on stand mixers... reading all the reviews on the different brands that are available, both locally as well as overseas. If I am residing abroad, I would have consider Cuisinart, but since this model is not available locally, I figured servicing this in the future might be difficult. Therefore my search was narrowed down to just Kitchenaid and Kenwood, the two popular stand-mixer brands we have here. After many weeks of further research and comparison, I finally set my heart on Kitchenaid Artisan stand mixer. The main reason is because this model looks less bulky on the countertop, and comes in the color I wanted to match my kitchen. Yes, it does occur to me that this is all very ironical that I eventually based my decision solely on aesthetic factors when I had spent so much time reading up on the features, functions and capacities of the mixers. Well, I guess I followed my heart yet again and I certainly hope it is not a mistake! I will be using my new machine a lot going forward... so maybe I will do a review on this product in a few month's time, for the benefit of those might be going through the same decision-making dilemma as me. So far I have made some chiffon cakes, italian meringue buttercream, and these chocolate cupcakes with my new mixer.

So far so good, and I am so glad that I now have my hands free to do other preparation work while the mixer is doing the whisking and beating on its own!

Birthday Cupcakes for my Dad

2009-04-19T19:57:00.004+08:00

This coming Monday will be my dad's 66th birthday. I made this set of orange and passionfruit cupcakes to wish him a very happy birthday. The golden coins on the cupcakes denote longevity. The chinese words came from the chinese idom "福如东海长流水, 寿比南山不老松", a blessing used commonly on elderly's birthdays and it can be simply translated to mean: (May your) happiness be as boundless as the eastern oceans and your life as long as the long lasting southern mountains.

Thirty four years ago my dad became a first time father when I was born. He was about thirty-two years old then. He devoted the next thirty over years taking care of his family. He worked hard to provide for us and never complained no matter how tough things were. A calm and steadfast man is what I known him to be. Strict but never loses his temper or raise his voice on me except on instances where I went way over board. I respect my dad a lot and I love him so much. But ever since I started my own family, I tend to neglect him a bit due to the busy life I have now. Many times, I took him for granted, and always procrastinate in making that phone call to check on him. I do understand that for elder folks like my dad, material things no longer weigh as much as compared to the love and concerns from family and children. I must constantly remind myself to always be there for my folks...

Today, I spent a whole afternoon with my dad. We watched F1 on TV, enjoyed the company of my sons, his grandsons, and we had a good meal together. I feel really happy, and i think my folks are happy too. So once again, 生日快乐, 老爸!

Macarons: Second Attempt

2009-04-16T20:52:00.003+08:00

This is my second attempt at baking french macarons. My first attempt produced some imperfect looking macarons with pointy shells. Took some tips and advice from my friend and so this time round, I gave the batter a few more stirs to make sure that it is more runny. I used the same recipe as the previous time just for experimental sake. This batch of macarons definitely turned out with smoother shells after having paid more attention to the consistency of the batter. I did not add any food coloring to the shell this time since it was meant for own consumption. I filled them with dark chocolate ganache again... cos that's just the way I like it. Yum!

Easter Cookies

2009-04-11T20:41:00.003+08:00

I was in the mood for cookies today, so I baked some easter cookies for friends and relatives. These are just simple vanilla sugar cookies, but I added some whole wheat flour to the recipe for additional nutrients and texture. Happy Easter everyone!

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

2009-04-06T19:43:00.004+08:00

I love drinking tea, and one of my favorite blend is Earl Grey tea. I like it for its very distinctive flavor and scent that is derived from the addition of oil from the rind of the bergamot orange. I usually like to drink one cup of Earl Grey tea every afternoon, and one day while I was having my tea, an idea came to mind. I should bake some Earl Grey tea cupcakes! One of the method to incorporate the Earl Grey flavor into the cupcake was by infusing the milk with the Earl Grey tea. The other option was to simply add the tea leaves directly into the cupcake batter. I chose the latter. I used 3 tea bags of Earl Grey tea for 2 dozens of cupcakes. The Earl Grey flavor in the cupcakes turned out to be rather subtle. I think I will use more tea bags the next time round and maybe I will infuse the milk with more Earl Grey tea too. I topped the cupcakes with lemon buttercream and fondant flowers. A nice afternoon tea delight that goes perfectly with Earl Grey tea.

Macarons: First Attempt

2009-04-02T21:09:00.002+08:00

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

I love everything French, therefore I thought I should try to figure out how to make the traditional french pastry, macarons. This delicate dessert is made up of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. Although the ingredients are simple and few, the techniques and skills involved in making a perfect macaron, are not. I have yet to taste an original macaron from its native country, thus I do not actually know what exact texture I am aiming for in this project. I did some reading up from the internet on this subject, and after gathering all the information and tips I needed, I proceed to make my first batch of macarons based on a recipe I got here. I did not have much of an expectation on the final outcome.... in fact I had even mentally prepped myself for a possibility of total failure. Thank God that that didn't happen. I managed to produce more than 2 dozens of macarons, and non of the shells collapse/crack in the oven. However, I do not think I did a very good job still...my shells are not in a smooth dome shape, and they all have a little peak that do not fall back down after I pipe them on the baking sheets. My guess is that I have under-mixed the batter... so I will try to make adjustment on that for my second attempt. Taste wise, they are crisp on the outside but tender on the inside. The dark chocolate ganache compliments the sweetness of the shells, and even my husband who does not have a sweet tooth says he likes them. And for that reason alone, I give myself a pat on the shoulder! LOL.

Lemon Curd Tartlets

2009-04-01T13:47:00.006+08:00

I made some tartlets today and filled them with lemon curd topped with candied lemon zest. Lemon has always been one of my favorite flavors when it comes to baking. I like it for its appealing color, aroma and tangy taste. In fact, I usually have a lemon or two in my fridge all the time. For the tartlet shells, I used a sweet tart pastry (recipe adapted from carolwalter). Lemon curd can be store bought or you can make some yourself. I used this recipe. Refrigerate the tarts overnight or 8 hours before serving.

Cars and Animals Cupcakes

2009-03-30T23:32:00.003+08:00

These are for a gathering among few mommies and some kids. Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and fondant toppers.

Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

2009-03-26T19:10:00.004+08:00

These Mickey Mouse cupcakes were made specially for a friend of mine. We used to be colleagues working together in the finance department in a company under the oil and gas industry. A very helpful and patient man. He had given me alot of guidance during those days when I was still very much a green horn in the working world. He made a career switch about three years ago to devote himself to childcare education. Although it sounded like a very risky move, but I think it is admirable and it is also a wonderful thing to pursue ones true passion in life. He is now a principal in a newly set up childcare center and I paid him a visit this afternoon.

Back to my Mickey Mouse cupcakes.... My recent trip to Hong Kong Disneyland has given me the inspiration to make them. I was looking for ideas in the souvenir shops in Disneyland Resort and it suddenly dawned on me that I could try to put all the signature icons of Mickey and Minnie onto my next cupcake project. So I drew out the icons and pipe them out with royal icing. Together with the matching colors red, yellow, white and black... ta-ta... a bunch of nice looking Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcakes!

Lavender Cupcakes

2009-03-23T20:59:00.005+08:00

I was given some dried lavender flowers a few weeks back, and I used them to bake some lavender cupcakes this morning. Lavender are often grown commercially for their medical and culinary uses. Essential oil extracted from the flowers are known to have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. They are also often used as fragrances in bath products and toiletries because of the soothing and relaxing effects. Chefs in France and United States like to use this herb in their cuisines. Lavender is the key ingredient in the herbes de Provence mixture, and it is also a popular herb used in seasoning lamb. Other than savory dishes, it is also used in sweet things like cookies and scones. These pale purple flowers and flower buds give a floral, slightly sweet and elegant flavor to the cupcakes and they go really well with a nice warm cup of tea in the afternoon.

Pandan Jade Agar-Agar

2009-03-19T22:06:00.005+08:00

I made these Pandan (also known as Screwpine Leaves) Jade Agar-Agar today.

Agar-Agar is a gelatinous substance derived from seaweeds. Historically and in modern context, it is chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Japan. Based on the definition on Wikipedia, the word "agar" comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly). In Malay and Indonesian, it is known as agar-agar. In Japanese, it is known as kanten (寒天) meaning "cold weather," referring to the fact that it is harvested in the winter months. In Mandarin Chinese as yángcài (洋菜) meaning "ocean vegetable" or "foreign vegetable." In Taiwanese Minnan it is known as chhài-iàn (菜燕) meaning "vegetable swiftlet," i.e., similar in texture to the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet used in bird's nest soup. In Korea, it is known as hancheon (한천). In China, it is known as hǎizàoqíongzhī (海藻瓊脂) or dòngfěn (凍粉). In the Philippines, it is known as gulaman in Tagalog, Apayao, Bikol and Pangasinan, guraman in Ilokano and gurguraman in Sambali. In Thai, it is known as wóon (วุ้น).

Agar-Agar has always been one of my favorite desserts. It is very easy to make and taste really yummy when chilled.

Cherry Blossoms, Roses and Ribbons

2009-03-12T17:27:00.004+08:00

These cupcakes are for my husband's colleague, a really nice lady that I admire very much. She has a great family with four wonderful children and a great career. I have only two kids and already my hands are quite full as it is. I understand from my husband that she is a cupcake fan... I hope my cupcakes will not be a let down.

Birthday Cupcakes for Chris

2009-03-11T20:47:00.003+08:00

A very good friend of mine ordered some cupcakes for her friend's birthday. I have to make something really nice for her, so I spent many hours deciding on the designs of these cupcakes. These butterflies were hand-made by myself and it took about two days to finish. I think they looked beautiful... and really hope my friend would like them too. Happy birthday Chris... !!!

Sesame Street Cupcakes

2009-03-04T21:29:00.004+08:00

I have seen many different versions of Elmo cupcakes from the internet, and have been very tempted to try doing some myself. Since I am visiting my friend tomorrow, it gives me the perfect chance to make some of these Sesame Street cupcakes for her two daughters. I made quite a lot, so Julian get to bring some to school to share with his friends too.

Pandan Chiffon Cake & Banana Cupcakes

2009-03-01T16:25:00.004+08:00

I did some fair bit of baking this weekend. Both my boys were down with flu and thus we stayed in the house with nothing much to do. I took the time when they were napping to bake. I made one pandan chiffon cake and baked lots of banana cupcakes over these two days. I had always wanted to bake some banana cupcakes from scratch. Some years back, I attempted to make some banana muffins from scratch but failed in achieving the desired texture I wanted. Since then, I have been baking my banana muffins from muffin mixes bought from the supermarket. It does not give me much sense of accomplishment baking with mixes. So I have to try my hands on this recipe again. This time round, everything turned out well, and I produced a batch of fairly good banana cupcakes topped with chocolate frosting. Chocolate and banana goes very well together!

Rose Water Cupcakes

2009-02-26T00:01:00.004+08:00

I have always wanted to make some fondant roses to decorate my cupcakes. Therefore today I made a batch of pink roses for some rose water cupcakes. I covered the cupcakes with poured fondant. The smooth texture and the roses make these cupcakes looked more like some display ornaments rather than food!

Cupcakes Montage

2009-02-25T10:02:00.004+08:00

These are the collages of some of the cupcakes I made in the past. Most are of simple designs, but I had great fun making them cos they are all in different flavours.

Chocolate Chips Cupcakes

2009-02-22T21:49:00.003+08:00

I had some chocolate buttercream in the fridge and therefore decided to make some plain cupcakes with chocolate chips for Julian to bring to his afternoon class. Decorated with moulded candy and sugar flowers. I think red goes very well with chocolate, therefore I used the same colour scheme again.

Disney Cars Cupcakes

2009-02-20T10:18:00.002+08:00

These were baked specially for my son, Julian, who loves Lightning McQueen so much. His clothes, shoes, water bottle, even his toys and computer games are all about Lightning McQueen. In fact, his classmates are all fans of this spunky red sports car. So I made this batch of cupcakes and brought it to the school and gave them a little surprise!

Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-02-19T19:46:00.007+08:00

An old friend who loves to bake just as much as me came over for a visit this morning, and we made these chocolate cupcakes for our kids. Chocolate are the children's favourite and true enough the cupcakes were very well received. My boy ate 3 cupcakes in one afternoon! And my personal favourites are:

the starfish

the crimson rose

Wedding Cupcakes

2009-02-15T10:13:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was my nephew Jonathan's wedding. I baked some simple cupcakes and decorated them in the Groom and Bride Theme as a small gift for him and his wife, Vivi. It took me more than 3 hours to bake and decorate the cupcakes but I am very happy with the way they turned out. I did not design the cupcakes myself, but saw them on pictures once. However, I made some modification to the tuxedo. Hope the newly-wed couple enjoy the cupcakes as much as I enjoyed making them.

The Bride

The Groom

Today I started this blog

2009-02-11T20:07:00.006+08:00

For quite some time, I have been posting photos of my bakings on facebook to share with my friends and family. It was convenient, quick and really easy. But one day a friend asked me whether I have a blog. It set me thinking....maybe I should start one. I need a formal place to document my baking experience and journey. Furthermore, a blog is probably a better place to put up photos of my bakings. I am not much of a writer, so this blog will be mainly about photos. I don't know how far this will go... but this is a beginning, and I hope it will get better with the passing of time. Well I guess I have to keep baking to keep this blog going.... =)