Sayonara, My Blue-sky Holidays

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here
You'll wish that summer could always be here

These cuppies were so much fun to make!

I think these are the best cuppies I've made so far. I think they look so nice! Haha... Ok I should stop bragging about my babies.

Made this on the last day of my summer hols. I was actually quite busy and again it was a last-minute notice. But I took it up cuz i guess what better way to conclude my summer hols than to bake a batch of summer-themed cuppies.

At first Sophs just told me to have a beach volleyball theme. i had to rake my brain as to how to make the volleyballs. I didn't want to have a plain cuppies with volleyball pattern on top, like what I did previously with my ball-themed cuppies. That'd be too plain. Besides the bday girl is a grown-up girl. So that wouldn't do. So google google google, get some idea, included my own idea, sketch, scratch, sketch and scratch some more and in the end came up with these designs.

Acutally I came up with a nicer design, but factoring in my time availability and my fondant-sculpting skill, I decided against that. Figured, those weren't feasible. You may think those cuppies are easy to make. Maybe they are, but since I'm still quite an amateur, it took me quite a long time to make. Like almost whole day. The cupcakes itself take less than an hr to bake. It's those decorations that took forever.

The volleyball, especially, was quite hard to make. At first I used fondant ball, but the stupid fondant took forever to harden and by the time it get slightly hard, it wasn't a ball shape anymore. Cuz it was soft, it became somewhat oval-ish in shape. Luckily I remembered that I still have some white choc balls in the fridge. So I just covered that in fondant so I can make some pattern, cuz the choc ball itself was quite hard. Took me 3 balls to get it right. The first and second choc ball melted in my hand and had to throw them. Took me sometime to get the stupid pattern right also. haiz... so noob right.

But anyways, I'm quite satisfied with the final product. The design is quite simple now that I think about it. But it's got all the things I love about summer. The blue sky, the sun, the sand, the flip-flop, the water, and the starfish. And am glad when Soph's told me that Dans like all those stuff also. Again, great minds think alike! *grin* :D

Ball-themed Cake and Cuppies

Basketball Cake!

Aunt N called me few weeks ago and asked me to bake for her son's 3rd birthday. She wanted a cake and about 30 cuppies. And she told me only 3 days in advance!

I was quite busy with work plus when I called Soph (my partner in crime heh...) to bake the cake, she couldn't cuz she was busy with school. Oh gosh, I wasn't ready to bake a cake! I only bake cupcakes. My cakes so far were rather pathetic. The last time I tried to bake a sponge cake, it was super bitter and oily, I tossed the whole thing into the bin. And the last time I tried baking devil's food cake, it was so thin and tasted kinda weird too.

Was pretty stressed out cuz time was really tight. I didn't have time to experiment with cake recipes. Moreover, just like last time, she wanted the cakes to be vegan. I only had a little left carob left and was afraid it wouldn't be enough. So far I haven't found a place in Sg that sells carob. Even the organic aisle in the supermarket doesn't carry it. And asking Aunt Di for more carob was out of qn. Paiseh lah... cuz she most probably wouldn't wanna be paid again.

But Aunt N really wanted the cuppies cuz I spose there isn't anyone selling cute vegan cuppies. Sigh... So i just measure everything and make sure I've enough of everything, my time, my carob, my olive oil etc. And then I just used the vegan cupcakes recipe to make the cake and hoped for the best.

Soccer, Basketball and Softball Cuppies

Thank goodness the cake went rather well. Nothing great, but still ok lah. I decorated it as best I could. Took quite awhile to get the icing rather even. At least Aunt N said it was cute. She even added some little balls and colorful candles on top and showed the pic to me. It indeed looked cute. Too bad I don't have those pics. And what's great was that the mini ball decoration she bought was exactly the ones that I made - basketball, softball and soccer ball. We didn't even tell each other. Great minds think alike, I suppose. Haha...

Cuppies for Mashimaro

A very belated present for Viny aka the Mashimaro of Statz Farm Family! :D

She only celebrated the bday last sunday cuz well, even during hols i guess it's still hard to get everyone together. I used Vahlrona chocs for the choc cuppies. If you know your chocolates well, you'd know Vahlrona is THE chocolate, it's like the Tiffany's of chocolates.

But as with all things, quality comes with a price, which is why to be honest, I've never used it on my cupcakes before. If i were to use it, it's gonna inflate the price of my cuppies by a lot. haha... Was waiting for a chance to use it and find out what's so great it. Wanted to use it for some special occasion, and I guess Vins is special enough to be the first to try :)

When I opened the packet, sure enough it has the characteristics of a good choc. You see, a good choc has a very sweet chocolatey smell that just with a sniff, you can almost taste it. The first time I got a good whiff of a good handmade choc was when I bought some pralines and truffles froms Sinz choc. So expensive, but omg so so so good! It got the similar smell. And when i taste the Vahlrona choc powder, it's got this nice bitter that tho it's bitter, it doesn't make you scrunch your face and doesn't have that yucky acidic after-taste. Okay, I'm not tt great at describing things, but it's definitely quality stuff. Just take my word for it.

But then again, maybe I'm exaggerating. I think I'm the kind who'll be as happy if you give me a bar of Kit Kat or Godiva (um... ok, Godiva makes me happier :P). In fact, I'm planning to do some choc powder tasting soon. I've got a few brands at home. I'm no choc expert but I'll try to be objective and will tell u the result soon :)

Cuppies for PING.SG

This is such an outdated post. But then again, when I think about it, my posts are always outdated. I've a lot of things that I wanna post, but whenever I turn on my lappie for the purpose of updating my blog, I end up watching a drama, read manga online, or my recent activity - reading, replying, deleting emails in my constantly-flooded inbox.

Anyways, 2 weeks ago I got a cuppie order from syls. It was for the anniversary of this online community that she's a member of. I almost rejected the request cuz the organiser wants it to be for the event which falls on Saturday and wants to take it like in the afternoon. As you noe, I got church on Sat and usually i stay in church the whole day cuz there's a lot of activities. Besides I was busy working too, so was afraid that I wouldn't have enough time to bake.

But in the end I took up the job, partly cuz syls my friend, and I always find it hard to say 'no'. Secondly, it was actually quite a new experience since it was the first time i bake for a total stranger, a community at that, called ping.sg. Usually I just bake for like a birthday party of a friend or friend's friend. So they're just casual party and they know I'm an amatuer baker, so they won't be mean if the cuppies don't turn out so well (altho I always ensure they turn out good (; )

So yea, baking for a community... it's like for a corporate. And I needed to really ensure the quality cuz my reputation was at stake. It wasn't just some baking favor that I do for ppl I know, where I can just bake for fun, you know I mean? So yea, was kinda exciting but was a bit apprehensive also.

I had to bake 64 cuppies and need to make some fondant letters to write the happy birthday thing. It's not hard to make fondant topping, but the thing is I only had shape cutters, not letters and forgot to buy cuz there were other things that I needed to buy and I didn't have much time. So in the end, I had to cut the letters one by one using an x-acto knive. A very long and tedious process. Spent a few hours just cutting those letters, such that I work into the Sabbath. Felt a bit bad about it.

But in the end, everything turned out fine. Well, great actually. I was really worried about what ppl would think about my cuppies. So i asked syls to gather their opinions. And my, I had such good reviews. Heheh.... so flattered. Thanks for all the comments!^^

The cuppies were rather simply decorated (cuz I spent most of my time on those damn letters). But I guess they didn't mind :)

People have been telling me that I should start a home bakery and market my cuppies. But I bake not cuz I want to make money (trust me, I don't earn much from my baked goodies). I just like baking. And it's always nice to see people enjoy eating my cakes and hear compliments from them. Besides, I realise from past experiences that I can't mass produce. I get stressed out if I get too many orders. Haha...

Anyways, here's a pic of the cuppies, courtesy of claudia. I've got my own pics, but not uploaded yet. Kinda lazy hee....