Spring is almost here!

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

May the year of the bunny bring you health, wealth and most importantly, happiness!

Indian Inspired Eggless Cupcakes

After frequent requests for eggless cupcakes, I have decided to give it a go. This is quite a tricky one because I wasn't quite sure whether egg substitutes will be able to bind the ingredients together. First try was a major disaster! The cakes sunk so low, they looked like bowls (Bowlcake? Start a trend, maybe? Maybe not).

Round 2 turned out much better, although, for some reason (and maybe it's my imagination), they're not as tasty (but were still moist). Anyway, doesn't really matter I suppose, considering a cupcake isn't just about the taste, but how it looks like as well!

Round 3 was the first order I got for eggless cupcakes. Since it was for a Hindu Temple, thought I attempt to give it an Indian touch. What do you think?

Almost fell asleep on my cakes

Yesterday was a super-rubbish day. Woke up with joint pains due to the changing weather, missed BOTH trains to work and had zero attention the whole day. Trip home was no better as well, with a cancelled train and freezing weather (not quite, but it was REALLY cold).

When I finally got home, I had to make 3 dozen cupcakes. It would've been okay if they were all the same, but I had to make ONE dozen strawberry cc, ONE dozen chocolate and ONE dozen red velvet and ALL for different occasions. It would be quite terrible if I cancelled the orders at the last minute, so I forged on make them. Finally finished about 1am, but caught myself on time from falling into the frosting bowl.

On the bright side, I think they turned out quite well!

Birthday - Red Velvet with Vanilla Frosting



Strawberry Glory



Spring Chocolate

Honey Loaf

Decided to bake something a little different. Tried this Honey Loaf recipe from Rachel Allen's bake book. Panicked a little because the recipe asked for 3oog plain flour, but i only had 200g. Tried to be smart and add self-raising flour, and overdid it as well. The taste of the honey really came out nicely, but due to my flour mishap, was a bit dry :(. Oh well, still went well with a nice cup of tea :).

Birthday...again

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Recently, I got an order for a dozen cupcakes for a birthday. I had to make them quite late in the evening due to trains and bus delays (that's London for you :P) after work. Almost fell asleep making them, so was slightly nervous about the cakes not turning out right. Luckily, all went well! Only thing is, my kitchen was a bomb after that and I couldn't be bothered to clean it up. Bleah.

This Little Piggy...

A friend of mine saw FrostyD's piggies and squealed with excitement (pun intended!) and ordered a dozen for a kid's birthday party. My other half helped me with the ears, then declared to the world that he made them! The cheek!

30, Flirty and Thriving?

Seems like only yesterday when I turned 30. Sigh....30, not flirty, and definitely not thriving! I had an order for 30 cupcakes to celebrate a 30th birthday and the birthday girl actually had TWO parties to celebrate this special day. I don't think I can even last through one, much less two parties. Old before my time :P.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Diwali / Happy Deepavali

Happy Diwali / Deepavali! Had an order for the Festival of Lights. Thought I should give the cakes some bright colours to make it more festive.

Feeling blue...

Bye Bye K!!!

A good friend and colleague, K, is off on maternity leave from today. Sigh...no more gossips over coffee and breaking out into weird dance moves in the pantry. Will miss you!!

Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting

Never had red velvet cupcakes before so I thought I give it a try. The cake was a little dense for my taste but my Client loves it! I guess different people have different tastes.

Birthday Cupcakes for a Little Girl

I had a last minute order yesterday for a dozen cupcakes for a 3-year-old girl's birthday. Since it was sooooo last minute, I stuck to tried and tested vanilla cupcakes with flowers and butterflies. Can't go wrong with flowers and butterflies when it comes to little girls right?

Cupcakes to Get You Hot and Bothered?

I was wondering over the weekend...if you were to give your other half (or someone you REALLY fancy) a box of cupcakes, what would they be like? Vanilla or chocolate? Swirls? Heart-shaped sprinkles?

What you really want is to get the receiver hot under the collar, and flavours play a big role. So I think chocolate and strawberries are perfect (someone suggested oysters, but I thought oyster-flavoured cupcakes would be a little disgusting...and expensive!).

According to aphrodite-chocolates, "Chocolate's reputation as an Aphrodisiac originated in South America over one thousand five hundred years ago, where it is known that it was thought to have mystical and aphrodisiac qualities by both the Mayan and Aztec cultures - the Aztec emperor, Monteczuma drank fifty golden goblets of chocolate a day to enhance his sexual prowess".

As for strawberries, according to Love Potion, "Touted as an aphrodisiac fruit since the times of ancient Rome, the strawberry was a symbol of Venus. In the French countryside, there was once a tradition of seving newlyweds cold strawberry soup to help promote the aphrodisiac of honeymoon romance. There's also a legend saying that if you break the strawberry in half and share it with a member of the opposite sex, you will soon fall in love with each other."

So - with all that in mind, I think a box of chocolate roses and strawberry hearts should do the trick. How you eat them with your chosen partner is up to you (this is a family-oriented blog, for goodness sake! Can't go any further than this!)

Full Moon Cupcakes

It was my baby niece's full moon and sister wanted to give cupcakes as favours for the party. So, together with sisters from Jakarta and London, we made a total of 125 cupcakes on the day itself. Have to say, it is A LOT of work. Furthermore, oven in my house kaput so had to lug EVERYTHING to my sister's place to make the cupcakes.....sigh.....somehow it seemed more work when you are not doing it in your own house.

Pink Birthday Cupcakes for a Guy?

A colleague ordered a dozen cupcakes for her boyfriend's birthday. Her dilemma? She was dying for vanilla cupcakes, but the boyfriend really likes strawberry cupcakes, and ordering two dozens will be too many. Her solution? Make the frosting pink to give the illusion of strawberries!

I thought I should make the cupcake slightly more 'manly' by adding some black icing on the letter 'Z'. Quite 80's, don't you think?

Spring Garden

Made these for BF's office to announce our engagement. Since there are loads of girls in his department, I decided to make the vanilla cupcakes a little girly, with flowers and butterflies.

Polar Bear Express

Express because I had some leftover icing and thought I should experiment rather than waste it...at 11.30pm. Not bad for a 3 minute job?