Bridal shower.... two months too late?

The original title read, "Bridal shower.... one month too late?"

Apparently, I've had this in my 'draft' folder for sometime now.. not realizing that it has not been 'posted' yet! 

*facepalm* 

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It seems that most (if not all) of my GFs are already married, some with kids on tow. So it comes as no surprise that everyone was really excited when the 'youngest' in the bunch is finally tying the knot! We say 'youngest' mostly because her birthday is the last of the year (December)... and because, well because she's Drog. 

*muahs!*

I remember clearly those London days when we used to countdown to her birthday, a MONTH in advance. Yes, during our uni days. Yes, in London. She enjoyed it and we all definitely enjoyed pampering her so. Ah, don't let her looks and demeanour fool you. As her then-boyfriend-now-husband perfectly puts it..

"She's a BEAUTY with a BRAIN"

 

Yes, so smart one this girl. Despite her 'ultra' vain'ness, this is one keeper. Probably the most humble, kind-hearted and thoughtful person I've ever met. 13 years of friendship and counting (Damn I'm getting old) 

So ANYWAY, since she's getting married (NOW happily married!) pretty soon, we had a bridal shower cum birthday party to celebrate. Wonderfully organized by Azz and Jidons, it was one perfecto affair. Close college-uni-work friends came to join in the fun. The deco was perfect, prepared by EventsbyAzzwaa (Instagram acc)

Oh and of course, cake by NHomeBakes, who else? Haha. Took a bunch of photos that day. Konon nya Sha and I were the 'photographers' laaa.. haha but most of mine turned out a tad dark. Still, have not bought a proper flashgun. Still... ahaha

 

Happy Belated Birthday D'rog!!!!! Biggest congratulations on your wedding and may you have a long-lasting beautiful marriage with TONNES of smart kids (since you both so hebat!!) haha 

Love,
Natte'

xx

p/s: Haha.. wedding photos to come yah! 

Customized

So, as of late.. I have been trying to push the envelope, in terms of my baking adventures. Well, I have always wanted to be able to make em' fondant figurines etc. But I have been lacking in cake covering in fondant skills.

They always tend to appear.. 'bubbly'.

I kid you not. See here is a cake I did for a colleague at work. Bubbly. Grrrr.... But I'm definitely having fun with fondant toppers! So covering cakes aside, I think I'm quite content with my development re: fondant toppers. 

The ones below are customised toppers for my husband's relative. I'm loving the mini fondant cupcakes, don't you? Oh yeah.. My handwriting still needs a whole lot of improvement, LOL! 

I think I needed to let these dry more before putting on the cupcakes. They kinda wilted a bit upon touching the cold frosting! 

Haaaa, these (below) were made for a friend's son's birthday party! Loved the opportunity to make these toppers. She only had to tell me the theme, and I... went crazy! Haha.. You gotta have matching toppers with the cake, no? 

Note the dim looking picture. When did you think these were made? In the middle of the night of course! Haha! 

Also made macarons for the event!  

Finally... a smooth covered cake! Weehooo! I was so excited with the finishing. The mini make-ups on it were definitely a plus point too! Have always wanted to make this design, so who better to make it for, than ze bestfriend who can never have enough make-up. She has a good stash at her work desk. I can definitely rely on her for make-up supplies should I need to get ready at the office for a wedding! 

I think I've learnt a thing or two from my past mistakes. But I definitely still need more practice!

xx

A taste of ice cream!

Remember how I was telling you about my new frosting recipe?

Tried it again for my red velvet.. this time doubled up the cream cheese and used a different brand. 

Wah lahh!! It tastes so good, almost ice-cream'y like nyumminess! Less sweet too! (plus point!!) QC was supposed to only take one of the 3 I left him and gave the other 2 to my sisters-in-law. It wasn't in the fridge when I got back from Tawau (another story, another post) so I assumed that he had.. 

It pipes well too! Look... FLUFFY!!

But I had a feeling that I should probably ask him. You know, just to be sure.

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He at all three cupcakes by himself....

(-__-)

xx

Ride off into the sunset

Figuratively speaking, of course.

So about 2 weeks ago, Yas' cousin contacted me to place an order for a red velvet cake and 40 chocolate macarons.

Ah but wait. It's not JUST a red velvet cake. It's fondant red velvet cake... with a scooter on top! Oh yeahhhhh... apparently the birthday girl had just got herself one and her colleagues decided to get her a helmet for her birthday. 

When we were discussing the theme of the cake, I wasn't quite sure whether or not I would be capable of making a helmet cake. So we agreed that we (I!) would probably just get a toy scooter and plonk it on the cake. 

Now that simply won't do.

After that discussion, I immediately looked up fondant/gumpaste scooter/vespa online. Ahhhh.. Seems doable enough. Discussed the engineering and design bit with my ever supportive QC/Manager/Deliveryman husband (Haha!) and the production began! 

Look at em' tabs open in my browser! Always trying to beef up knowledge on baking basics, always! 

Step 1. Get the parts ready. I read somewhere that it's easier to let the parts dry separately before putting them together.

Step 2. Try to assemble (TRY, being the operative word). Yeah, the day after Aaron came up to me with the headlights (only) *facepalm* He 'claims' it fell off the bike. OK, I believed him.

Oh the sponges aren't just there for decorative purposes.. they're actually HOLDING up the bike so it won't fall over whilst it dries.

Step 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... Try to muster up engineering skills (which I don't have, AT ALL!) to put it back together again. Not to mention skills of constantly reminding my son to NOT TOUCH THE BIKE, on repeat! Up to a point that he doesn't even dare to look at it or else this parrot of a mother would start membebel again! 

Oh, did I tell you that I came back from the office the day after that to find it scattered into pieces and NOT where I left it? Yeah, the maid 'picked-up' up the bike. &$%#@#!!)*%#*&$#!!!!???!!!!!! Why?? Why?? Why?? Fuhh Fuhh Fuhh! ... So yeah, managed to piece it back together again, reinforced the structure. At first I tried to mimic the 'curved' design of the real scooter and guess what, it won't stay that way! You can see it collapsing slowlyyyyyy, like a slow motion video. I swear, this has more engineering in it than design! Regretting not taking physics in high school?

NOT!

So yeah, there it is, parked on top of what supposedly is a motorcycle tyre. Bear with me yah? Used mom-bought cookie cutters for the letters and wah lahhhhhh! 

Ok, so it doesn't look THAT realistic.. but I'm so proud of it nonetheless. He calls it my masterpiece (awh, shucks!). We spent years in the UK (and Malaysia) watching cake/cupcake making competitions, because this one just loves putting on the food channel, just because. Doing it for real now seems, surreal!

So focused on the motorcycle that I ALMOST forgot about the macarons!

Here's to more (better looking!) novelty cakes to come! 

xx

A Royal Tea Partayyyy

Over the weekend, we had a royal tea party.

The purple kind. Oh wait, it was lilac. It was a Princess Sofia themed birthday party for my niece! She LOVESSSS Princess Sofia. Well, I guess most girls her age do too! At first she was torn between wanting a Fr0zen theme, or a royal tea party. It just so happens that Fr0zen is 'the' birthday party theme of the year! Fortunately, her momma (and aunt) were able to persuade her that a princess party is MUCH MUCH BETTER! 

 

AND IT WAS!!

 

Haha.. but you've gotta give credits to Walt Disney for doing such an amazing job with Fr0zen. A lot of people (including my brother-in-laws AND husband) got confused and asked "Where is Olaf?"..

Salah theme la oi! 

But anyway, my sister-in-law did a FANTASTIC job for getting all these decos and planning the layout, the party, etc. It looked wonderful! The birthday girl was so happy as she came down the stairs, she started imitating Mei Mei from her favorite show, Upin Ipin, "Saya Suka Saya Suka!" whilst dressed in her perfect lilac costume.

Oh the cake! No, I did not make this one. I supplied the Macarons, lilac (chocolate) and white (salted caramel). 

How I wish one day I will be good enough to be able to produce such a beautiful and amazing cake! The push pop cake were marvelous as well! It's red (purple) velvet with cream cheese icing.  

   

Everyone really had fun that day! Although a particular little boy cried because he lost at musical chairs. Sigh, how la! 

 

His birthday is coming up realllll soon. And yes, I HAVE NOT thought of anything yet! Initially did not want to hold a party at all. Aiya, costly la... But this is probably the first of his many parties where he actually asked for a party... and he made sure I know this time that he wanted an aeroplane themed party..

Who am I to say no to my firstborn ;) 

xx

Straight Sheet

By now I think you'd guess that I do have a little bit of OCD in me..

Just a tiny bit, I think?!

So anyway, a few months ago mom bought me these lovely silicon macaron mats from australia and paris, respectively. Love them! They have those ridges to help me pipe em' into more or less the same shape! You can definitely do without though, just draw circles on parchment paper using a round cookie cutter as your guide, flip the paper over (so you won't bake on penciled markings) and you're good to go! 

Source = google

I'm just too lazy (no time) to draw circles lah! 

But all this while, the cookie sheets that I have were a tad small for the mat. More often than not, 2 rows of circles (vertically and horizontally) would not fit and would have to be left empty when baking. Sayang space! This also means that I would have to use 3 trays, 3 mats, 3 baking times.. 

Had to put up this picture from my previous post. Ignore the marshmallows.. LOOK AT THE MATS!! Such an eye-sore kan? Hahaha... tskk tskk

too long, tskk tskk.. too long! Always by the time I get to the 3rd tray, ze little one would be awake. So I'd have to rush upstairs, (try) to put her to bed, and rush down before I burn em' macs! 

I need a bigger tray for this! So went to look at flat baking sheets. Never thought of them before until I saw them being used in the Zumbo macaron tutorial on youtube! Hmmm.. I bet that'll fit my mat! So off I went to search.

Source= Google

Ohhh found one at sp0tlight, Ampang Point! If you haven't been there, rugi weh. Lots of imported cool stuff. Yeah, when imported.. you can bet the price is also err... yeah.. let's just not go there. But anyway, I saw this cool one from the cakeboss line. The price? Yeah, enough to make me think twice. Thought maybe I'd just use the cheap aluminium ones I see at the baking store. Try to get the biggest one! At RM15.50, I thought I was being smart! 

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Ok, not that smart. It still wasn't big enough! Even though it measures 15x15x4, the biggest one there... I still had to waste 1 row of circles (vertically and horizontally). Still, 3 trays..  Worst part, it was soooo thin that I burned the bottom of the entire tray! Such a waste! Felt down and husband suggested that I just buy the cakeboss sheet and be done with it. It's the price of time, he says. 

So excited la this woman to go to ampang point the next day only to find that it's SOLD OUT!! Rasa mcm gah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Should have bought it then. Should have bought it then. Should have bought it then!', I was cursing inside for the entire day. I guess it was not meant to be. So I told the guy to call when new stocks arrived... but of course lah, I cannot wait. So went online..

None..

Until I saw THIS! 

Excuse the bad quality picture. Had to take a shot of this so that husband knows exactly which one to get !

OH YEAHHHHHHHHH.. a FRACTION of the price of the one I initially wanted. Score!! Luckily husband's office is just next (close by lah) to Ikea.. and he swears off the place during weekends.. sanggup go and buy during weekdays....

Ahhhh... Straight mat. 

I could fill EACH and EVERY circle.... 

I slept soundly last night.

xx

PInata Cake!

No, not a cake that needs bashing! 

It's supposed to be a pinata cake so when you cut it open.. the goodies inside should flow out, as below (pictured cake is not mine! source=google)

So that is how it SHOULD look like. Yeah you guessed it. Mine did not FLOWWWW like how I imagined, and unfortunately, how I explained it to husband. After the cake was cut he turned to me and said... 

"where's the (insert hand gestures describing explosion)?" Yeah.. that was how I described a pinata cake should be. Grrrrr.. But before that, let's go through my experience making it (with joy and full of hope!!)

As usual, watched a bunch of tutorial beforehand, before actually attempting to make this. Even envisioned the cake to be covered in HOME-MADE marshmallow fondant. Yes, very ambitious this woman. So the cake took no time to bake. Even managed to squeeze-in dinner after whilst waiting for it to cool. Well, after the kids went to bed is when mummy started to partay!!

Out comes my spatula. 

Efficiency is key. Remember how we had dinner before? Yeah, at the same time I took out the butter and cream cheese to let them come to room temp. This is so when I actually wanted to start completing my cake, everything is ready! Made strawberry cream cheese this time, and it tastes... OH SO LOVELY!! (if I do say so myself ;).. ). So cake cooled, and I started to make it into a sort of pinata like, using M&Ms assortment bought earlier.

Don't you just LOVE the look of M&Ms in the cake?? 

I think I'm getting a hang of slabbing frosting on cake, and covering it like how I see it done on TV/Youtube. Good times. Done frosting, to the fridge it goes! (12.00am)

Proceeded to make my marshmallow fondant...

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1.05am - Chucked the whole lot into the bin...

(-____-)

Could not get it to work. So sticky. So gooey. Sooooo.. Tiring! I kneaded and kneaded and it looked fine! It wasn't until I started rolling it that everything went downhill. Thankfully I have other fondant on-hand. Decided to just make the best out of it... and went to bed...

at 3.00am..

Kesimpulan, NEVER making my own marshmallow fondant again! Yes, I love the idea because apparently it tastes so much better than normal fondant. But..... I think I need to try again.. and NOT the night before. 

Well, I loved how it turned out (outside). Will need more M&Ms for next time though. But definitely one I'll add to my list. 

The guests loved it so that's important ;) 

xx