Caged

 

OK, so I was asked by Pantry Magic to do a class next month.  I had decided to do icecream cupacakes (in a cup, not cone like everyone else is doing).  Had even designed a pretty icecream cup wrapper template for my students.

Then the July lessons were announced, and lo and behold, someone else is already doing the icecream cupcakes (cone version).  So scrap went my idea (which would have been sooo much better cause it would have focused on icecream-like buttercream flavors), but I had to think of something else, like the original artist that I am.

  

I was contemplating my Threadcakes design for this year's competition, which I was going to work with a technique with royal icing and thought, why not do something similar for my lesson.  I found that no one else (at least I couldn't find any online) had done bird-cages before, so I literally invented the technique over last weekend so I can teach my class.

I discovered birds are my thing, a little while back.  And edible glitter.

 

So there you are.  If anyone wants to join my class, it's Sat. Aug. 20th. It's HK$300, you also get a $100 coupon to shop at Pantry Magic.  

Stay tuned for my upcoming Threadcakes entry...

A390 Plane Dissapearance

 

For my Hubby's birthday, I was a bit exhausted.  What to do about his cake?  Good thing I had some leftover cake pieces from the Bear Cake, so cake balls were a good idea (similar to Cake Pops, but without the sticks).  Commercial airplanes are his major interest, so I decided to make him a whole fleet.  It was midnight when I was scrounging around my kitchen for materials (i work pretty late for those who don't know it).  I found out I didn't have enough white chocolate, needed to coat the cake balls, so I ended up only being able to make 4 planes. 

My sister had just given us some square cookies from Disneyland and after covering the tops of those with chocolate, I piped a runway with Blue Royal Icing.

  

A lot of people saw the 1st photo and thought the cake was bigger, so I had to post this picture to show the actual scale to my husband's protest for his bed head look.  My Hubby said the cake was his best ever birthday present, even though I got him an iPad2!

Tiffany's 100th Day Birthday Cake

 

Hey baby!

So it was our best friend's baby Tiffany's 100th day celebration (a Chinese traditional thing). We were commissioned a month ahead to make a girly-girl baby cake. I like to keep everything a surprise, so even though "Mom" kept asking me what it'd look like, the cake was only revealed when it needed to be.

 

We also made 70-ish baby cakes with little pink flowers on top.  (Sorry, no closeup cupcake photo - was too busy (and tired) to take pictures.)  They were so cute though.

 The chocolate bear had chocolate cake inside and covered with chocolate fondant, and the rest was Vanilla cake with Strawberry frosting & pink vanilla fondant. Yummy...

I just love sparkly letters and pink roses. So girly!

 

There's mommy Vanessa on the left (hey, it's not your birthday!), me, Wing (what are you doing in this photo?) and Miranda.  Where's the baby? - Sleeping.

A Sunday Cupcake Party

 What a fun way to spend a Sunday with a room full of old & little boys, cupcakes and a lot of candies! (Wendy, I am so glad you had this at your place).

 The morning started with the girls having a nice ladies brunch at Feast (at East Hotel in Taikooshing).  Lovely food, lovely company. Then we headed over to my house to bake.  We made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for Wendy to take back to her house for the kids to decorate.  We also made Pineapple, Strawberry & Chocolate Whipped Buttercreams for the boys to ice their cupcakes with.

I couldn't go since I was just recovering from a long lasting flu bug (didn't want to get the kids sick), but it looks like they had a blast.

This monster cupcake was made by the little pink cupcake monster above.  Too cute!

 Mommies, Daddies, Kiddies (and my husband "Uncle Felix") all enjoyed eating the creations.  All the little boys had one cupcake each, while the older "boys" each had 2!

 :0P

Baby Brian Turns 2!

 I've been feeding Baby Brian ever since he was in mommy's tummy.  Now he's 2!  

Mommy had requested a special "first cake" since last year he only had a cupcake. I'd been watching too much TLC's Cake Boss recently and was all fired up to do something awesome. 

Mommy said ABC's were Brian's current thing, so after sketching all the details out, I started working on the top pieces a couple days before.  Luckily, that period of time was rather dry, otherwise I would have been cursing a lot.  Wing (aka Mommy) wanted to see the sketch but I wouldn't let her cause it was going to be a surprise!

 Apparently, Baby Brian couldn't take his eyes off the cake for a whole 15 minutes while everything was being prepared.  Even Aunty Leki's bunny present was flung aside so as not to obstruct his view. 

Here's the Bunny - squeaky toy that should have been the love of his life.

 Kids and cake. The joy of not having to use eating utensils or napkins. I wish I could still do that.

F.O.O.D. C.O.M.A

Pantry Magic Competition - March 20th, 2011

 

Cora entered a cake decorating contest last Sunday, here it is what she says.........

"My colleague forwarded me an e-mail to enter a cake decorating contest at Pantry Magic in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Since my birthday is coming up, I thought it'd be fun to make something for myself for once. One of my favorite themes is Alice in Wonderland, so I designed a mini 3-D cake.

I decided on something colorful, since the winner gets featured in Hong Kong's Lisa Magazine.  I'm sooo commercial to a fault.

 So here I am, at the contest.  I've never participated in a live contest, and this is really only my 3rd fondant cake I've ever attempted. When I first received the e-mail, somehow, she thought the contest rule was to complete the decorating in 1 hour.  So a week before, I made a "practice cake" to see if I could finish my ambitious design. 

Of course I couldn't, and it also ended up a disaster in more ways than one.  I didn't use enough fondant (I was being el cheapo), and I thought  I'd skip the support part (who needs dowels?). I was also rushing, and you could see it in the details.  

I was mulling over whether to redesign but work and the sad news in Japan left me sleepless, tired and unable to dwell on such small issues.  I hope this cake brings some distracting happiness to others, and hope all my Japanese friends and family are all safe.

 So I worked into the wee hours the night before the contest, getting a little nervous, but mostly really tired.  I get to the contest and find out we have 2 HOURS!  YAY!  So I got to take my sweet time doing everything calmly, orderly and methodically (which are not my usual traits). 

I was a little displeased that my "teapot" came out a little lumpy, but otherwise was pretty happy with my design.  It was incredibly humid yesterday, and the buttercream melted a little.

  The other 2 contestest had really pretty cakes too, so talented!

 There was also a kid's cupcake contest at the same time, and at times I wished I were over there eating candies and decorations with them over at their table. Their cupcakes were so cute and colorful!  While only one kid won, I wanted to eat every single one of them. The sunflower one won and was made by the sister of my fellow competitor.  Lovely!

I was thrilled to win.  My mom and sister immediately helped me spend 1/2 of the $2000 cash voucher that was the prize.  I also got a free cooking lesson.  Can't wait to see my cake in Lisa Magazine!  Other contestants also got vouchers for doing such a wonderful job. Thank you Pantry Magic!

 It was a really fun event.  Can't wait for my real birthday tea party next week with the girls."

Appearance on "Home Sweet Home" - March 6th 2011

Photo Source: Metro Daily

I have been baking and decocating cupcakes every morning for a famous cafe in Hong Kong since August 2010.  It's name is Holly Brown which is a 2-story cafe located on Stanley Steet in Central.  I am very honored serving this "gossip of the town" cafe where I met a lot of nice people and enjoyed many happy moments with their freshly brewed coffee.  Recently, my cupcakes was shoted at the cafe and appeared on an episode of a TV show, Home Sweet Home, hosted by Mr. Lawrance Cheng.  I am very excited about it!

Spring Wedding

Ahhh, Spring is in the air.  And what better what to start it off with a lovely wedding.  Sally and Tim are good friends of mine, and I enjoyed attending their loverly ceremony at the Island Shangri-la in Hong Kong.

This dessert table is inspired by Amy Atlas -it's our first one, and I couldn't believe how quickly everything disappeared. I had to squeeze my way in just to take these photos.

These little morsels were very tasty. I kept justifying eating them myself by saying "I'm a guest too". Chocolate Cups surround a dark chocolate cake with 3 whipped buttercream flavors: Green Tea, Vanilla Bean and Tart Lemon. These were a pain in the ass to make since I only had ONE chocolate cup mold of 6 cavities (of which I broke one)!

Here's my whipped buttercream tip: Add the flavoring to the buttercream first, while it is still really stiff. Then add whipping cream and whip until you get your desired consistency. To add tartness, add citric acid granules. De-lish!

 

We worked together in conjunction with Graceful Decoration. Hi Ivy :0) It is always a pleasure working with you.

So pretty!

These were done by the hotel, it was massive, but a glorious arrangement.

Enjoy!