Iced Gem Cupcakes

When I was a little girl, my mum and dad used to give us iced gem biscuits as a snack on long (often bumpy) car rides to Kuala Belait and Miri. I associate these biscuits with many happy hours in my dad’s bright red BMW, singing to Bonny M and listening to my mum and dad talk about their work while we gaze dreamily out the car window at the scenery whizzing past.

To mark a hundred days since my dad’s passing, we had a family gathering of about two hundred people and to remember my dad, I thought it would be nice to make cupcakes that looked like these iced gem biscuits. I made little bitesize vanilla cupcake and just added a bit of buttercream icing on the top. Here there are compared to the real thing

I did pink and yellow only because they were my dad’s favourites

Just in case our guests wanted to take them home, I packed them in little plastic containers.

And just a little wink to dad, I filled up a few plastic containers with a few iced gem biscuits and served them together.

I can’t believe its been over a hundred days since abah passed away. We all miss him dreadfully.

 

 

Little Fairy cupcakes

A friend was celebrating her daughters’ birthdays and asked if I could make a few cupcakes to mark the occasion. Since she has been away for a few years studying in the UK, this is her first time celebrating her daughters’ birthday with her friends and family. I started to research a few themes that would make two little girls very happy and decided on a fairy theme. Out came the modeling tools and another afternoon playing with fondant. I felt a little more confident this time with all the practice I just had with the bunnies although I haven’t had much practice with modeling people before. It was an interesting challenge.

So here is my first fairy;

Loved the combination of pink and yellow!

Here is the other fairy with the same colour combination reversed;

I love the billowing skirt.

Here they are happily together

Made a few little wands, some daisies, roses and cut out the names of the two little girls and we are done!

 

Did you know that cupcakes are called fairy cakes in England?

This would make them Fairy fairy cakes… heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……

Gong Xi Fa Cai! The quest to Rabbit cuteness..

I had to make a few fondant rabbits for Chinese New Year cupcakes for my sister to give away as gifts. I haven’t made model animals for a while so was terribly rusty. Tried to make rabbit faces like I made the tiger faces last year and I made this;

Had a problem straight away, couldn’t fit in the ears! So I made the face smaller but it just didn’t look right. Infact, it was a tiny bit scary looking!

And it didn’t fit the cupcake either. So tried again and this time made the rabbit face really really tiny.

Better but not quite there. Maybe if I make a whole rabbit it would look cuter..

Love the nose but not quite there. Maybe if I give it a body and legs, it would look better…

I do like it but the face is all wrong! I was getting very frustrated at this point so I stopped to make a cup of tea.

As I sat in front of the tv, I saw Murphy lying in his cat hammock looking at me with his big green eyes and his little pink nose twitching like a rabbit.

I found my model!!

This is an old picture but this is pretty much what I saw.. CUTE!!

After a few more hours of staring at Murphy and a whole lot of kneading, molding, sticking and fumbling, I finally made a little rabbit that was finally the right amount of cute.

Awwwwwww, ADORABLE!!

I made a few more bunnies to keep this one company..

I love how each bunny is slightly different from the next.

This is how they look from the side.

To go with my little bunnies, I made carrots..

oranges

Cherry Blossoms

I also wanted to make a blue and green themed cupcake like the little monster in my last post so I made these..

And here are my bunnies on their cupcakes

And more…

My sister bought these gorgeous cane baskets to give the cupcakes away. Some had two tiers and the smaller ones had just one layer. A few parting shots..

I have to admit, it was quite hard to see my little bunnies go but I do hope all that received a Murphy bunny enjoy them.

And lastly,  to all my Chinese Readers and Friends..

GONG XI FA CAI!!

 

Cupcake Queen Comeback!

Hello world!!

Will freely admit life was hard without Pete for the last ten months. it wasn’t so much work or family obligations but more the lonely days and nights without him just made everything so much harder. I do apologize for my absence but didn’t really have the motivation or the passion to bake or blog..

But now Pete is back!! He has completed his Msc and is slowly getting use to life in Brunei.  It is so true that you truly appreciate someone when they have gone. Everyday is full of joy again! Menial tasks like washing the dishes is fun especially when Pete is there to have a water fight with. We are spending a lot of time together before he starts work and with so much time together, we are falling in love all over again.

So now, I am back and will make regular entries in my blog so I hope you will comeback to me dear readers! I have missed you terribly!!

Anyway, back to the business of baking…

My nephew had his second birthday a few months ago and my sister wanted me to design TWO cakes (it is his second birthday) for that special day and this is what I came up with.. base cakes are from Le Apple but I did the decorations.

An Elephant cake with mummy and baby elephant

A Fish Cake with daddy and baby fish

I also did a couple of cookies to put in the gift baskets of assorted land and aquatic animals

Animal Cookies

Here is an adorable picture of Adam with his cakes.

Whoops, can’t really see cakes in this picture… oh well

I did this order of cupcakes a few months ago, it was such an unusual request that I had to put this in! The client requested a ‘MONKEY NERD’ theme?? After a few panicked phone calls, found out that it meant a monkey with spectacles! Hehehehe…

Decided to put in a few bananas in different stages of unpeeling and this is what I came up with..

ADORABLE!!

Before I log off, I must share some terribly adorable photos of Toulouse and Murphy! Enjoy!!

Dying Laptop/ Chinese New Year Cupcakes

Apologies for not updating for the longest time but my laptop is dying! It overheats  and dies every five minutes!

Made these gorgeous Chinese New Year cupcakes for my sister and she had this brilliant idea of using baskets to give them out to her chinese friends.. Genius!

Year of the Tiger

Cosy in a basket

Bigger baskets

I do apologize to some people who tried to contact me through email, with my laptop dying every 5 mins its been hopeless to get back to you. I am typing this on Pete’s laptop but when he leaves at the end of the month, it will be back to typing really fast! Please just call me directly at 8989313 for orders.

Food Glorious Food

I am so sorry for not writing for so long ! There really has been two main reasons why I have been neglecting you and mind you, they are very good excuses!!

1. My first BIG assignment is due soon! I have been reading up on Coherence and Cohesion non stop for the last three weeks and it still doesn’t make sense!! Forcing myself now to write the first draft, then want to re write that three more times before I hand it in… My course is 100 percent coursework so every single assignment is VITAL!!

2. As usual, as soon as it gets colder…. I GET A COLD!! Sorethroat, headache, runny nose, fever – THE WORKS!! Pete has been nursing me back to health with large amounts of TLC and huge spoonfuls of cold medicine…

See!! I have very good reasons for neglecting you but I had absolutely nothing to talk about as I have been under voluntary house arrest for 10 days now! I guess I could have blogged about cohesion and coherence but then …. that would just give you a headache and I would lose you forever…

Okay, lets get on with this food blog….

I haven’t really had time to bake anything but Pete ( I guess being so excited about being home and surrounded by all the food he loves) has regularly been churning out many amazing delights night after night.. His regular expeditions to the supermarkets (stopped only by a small budget) brings back many hidden treasures that he unveils with gusto every dinner time!! In the short time we have been here he has made roast duck, a wide variety of stews, many many bakes, pancakes, burgers and pasta… Once in a while, I would give him a break and make uda’s chicken curry that reminds me of home… Right, PICTURES!!

It’s a big chilli!! Hehehe,

Not really, it’s a gorgeous red pepper that we now love because it tastes so sweet!

Chicken pasta bake

This was an amazing lamb burger with spinach  and roasted peppers!

Ooops, just realised I haven’t been very good at taking pictures of everything he has made mainly because of a very greedy wife who devours every yummy meal even before it reaches the table!

We have also been exploring the high street a bit more and found the most AMAZING bakery!! It’s called Ottolenghi (i’m sure I spelt that wrong) and even though it is TINY, it produces the most mouth watering desserts! Have a look!

I bought the blueberry vanilla cupcake, the meringue with passion fruit tart and the flourless orange almond cake…. As Bruneians say NYAAAAMAAAANN!! Definitely going back for more and more and more and ……….

Pete of course pointed out that my cupcakes are better (see how awesome he is!)

I have to say, the high street is brimful of yummy places to eat! There are lots of restaurants selling a variety of cuisine from all over the world and many little bakeries and cafes serving the most wonderful desserts! The thrilling thing is… it is just outside our door!!

Oh dear, all this talk about food is making me terribly hungry! Think I will leave my desk for a while and go out for a while on the hunt for food… Will write more tomorrow!! See you soon!!

Garage Sale: Sunday 10th August 2008

My little sister is selling a lot of her stuff to get ready for her year in Japan. She is an avid collector of shoes, branded bags and little trinkets so do come and check it out!

To help her raise her ‘Japan fund’ I will be setting up a small table with cupcakes, cookies and muffins at a discounted price.  Lots and lots of  delicious flavours, all sinfully delicious! I promise it will be worth your while!

Time : 9.30pm to 2pm

Date: Sunday 10th August 2008

venue: No.13, Spg 52/74, Kg Mata Mata

Hope to see you there!

Hantaran Cupcakes – handmade roses and daisies

The roses took a lot more time than I expected but it was my first time making them.  Each rose took me about ten minutes but they came out so very beautifully, I didn’t mind! The daisies are pretty simple but very very delicate and I need a proper cutter for my leaves but these are definitely the prettiest cupcakes I have made.! I really hope Kim likes them. They are to be packed very very carefully later, carried down the stairs and off to Jalan Kebangsaan. Get ready for many many pictures of cupcakes!

White Daisy

White Rose

Side view

Yellow Rose

Side View

The biggest rose I made looked much better by itself!

Two white roses

A bouquet of cupcakes

I actually made 16 but the dish only had roome for 9.. sigh…

Cupcake in a pretty container ready to be ribboned and transported.

I have to say this time, I am quite sad to see these lovely cupcakes go. Must make more!!

Rainbow Cupcakes

Finally! An excuse to really go wild with my piping bags again! I really wanted to try this with all seven colours but since my customer only wanted 40 small cupcakes – I had to stop at four bands of colours.. In the end it needed 63 cupcakes but that’s okay! A small price to pay for such a pretty project! These gorgeous cuppies are for a sweet one year old birthday girl – I really hopes she likes them! This project made me happy!!

Adam’s Papat Jambul

My 3 month old baby nephew had his papat jambul yesterday and it was a lot of fun but very exhausting! Papat Jambul is a old Bruneian custom where a bit of the baby’s hair is cut and he is blessed with coloured powder mixed with water and pandan leaves. The cut hair is then placed in the centre of the young coconut. He was such a good boy through it all, he only started crying when he went out in the sun and I guess it was a bit too hot! I guess this celebration is similar to a christian christening but the little spoilt baby had three costume changes because so many peo[le bought him outfits to wear! (*Mean sister wont let me post pictures of Adam but take my word for it, he was so heartwrenchingly cute!)

Coloured powder, young coconut and pandan brushes

Now, it wouldn’t be a celebration without cupcakes! I took out my animal cookie cutters for this one, bought these cute little containers and tied them to the 150 bunga telurs to be given out to the guests! They look so cute hanging on those beautiful flowers!

Then I decided to make another batch to put on the tables! Also bought lots of watermelons so that people feel a bit more comfortable in the heat!

Picture taken from Amar’s blog

Pete also saved the day by sticthing two loose carpets together so people won’t trip over them as the tiles were quite slippery underneath. My HERO!

Finally, we both got dressed in the usual traditional ensemble. Pete doesn’t need any help now with his sinjang but it is still hard to get him to wear the compulsory songkok. He says it gives him headaches in the heat.

Songkokless Pete

It was a wonderful day! We are so happy to be aunt and uncle but we can’t wait to be parents. Seeing little Adam in the arms of his loving parents makes me wonder what we are missing. Still, we will wait patiently for our turn and pray it comes soon. No luck yet.. I guess the cats will have to do for now.