Saturday, January 30, 2010

I have learnt how to do basic fondant deco

I attended a class today.  I am happy I decided to learn. I did all these myself!

 
 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Cupcakes for a colleague


Hi,

This was the 2nd time I baked cupcakes, and the first time I baked a butter cake.

But the cake turned out to be petty nice.  I plan to keep improving my skill at using the recipe.

And oh, this was the first time I received cupcakes order.

These cupcakes were for a colleague's husband's birthday.

To that dear colleague, thank you for the opportunity.  Hope your husband enjoyed it.

Ta.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

My experiments with cake deco and cake baking

There are so many ways for you to decorate a cake nowadays.

There is the well-known ganache or chocolate topping,
fondant, of course,
buttercream, and, err... err.. well, I guess those are the most famous ones.

Of course, there are SO many recipes for those - I mean different recipes for ganache, different recipes for fondant (or, some may call it fondant but they could mean gumpaste or sugarpaste). (Actually on that matter, I also don't know if they are the same or different (but I believe gumpaste is actually fondant, yes, no?) anyway, I just mention them now).

And yes, for buttercream too, some may call it buttercream but they mean butter icing (i think butter icing simply means you use butter and icing sugar to make it) so they are already different from another buttercream recipes that mean using shortening (vegetable fat) and icing sugar.

And, there are actually many more recipes for buttercream.

Of course there is also the royal icing, deco using piping gel, and using the edible image.

Well, anyway, I was going to list down what are the ones I have experimented and what I plan to learn or practice.

There are just SOOOOOO many experiments with cake decorating I want to do. When I look at the tools for cake deco, I have this excitement and longing to grab this and that, and have all the unfamiliar tools in my collection. But, I brace myself, and put them all (well, almost all) back to their shelves. (Phew, saved some money there..)

Anyway, here is the list of things that I have done:
1. deco with ganache
2. deco with butter cream
3. deco with piping gel for Little Aisyah's 1st birthday
4. deco with edible image for cake orders

Well those are so far the ones I have done.

I am yet to use the Barbie skirt mould I bought last year (planning to bake a standing Barbie for Jasmine's birthday.

In the nearest future, I plan to attend a class on fondant cake deco. I am planning to do it by end of this January 2010. Can't wait to learn that, actually.

And for the cakes that I really want to bake, here goes:
1. Fruit cake
2. sugee cake
3. sponge cake - yes, sponge cake from the box, actually.
4. butter cake - yes, the normal butter cake - but I want to bake one so I know if I can bake a simple butter cake well
5. cheesecake
6. tart shells
7. marble cake

Oh gosh, that reminds me. I sometimes feel like running to the shop and get a new mixer. I had a simple one, just the normal, small mixer. So I used this small, normal mixer for all my baking, until 1 day, my mother gave me her normal, small mixer. Then, for no apparent reason (well, actually, I guess there were some hints that things were not exactly 100% OK with my old mixer), my old mixer just flashed some fire inside the motor, and that was it. That was the end of its life.
Gosh! Thank God I took my mother's mixer!!! (Or, was it because of my mother's mixer that that happened to my old mixer? Well, I don't believe it if you say that was the reason.)

So, I used my mother's old mixer, but for some reason, I do feel that I don't have mixer (so, somewhere in my head, there is a plan to buy a mixer (although I actually tell the voice that tells me to buy a new mixer to shut up)). Maybe it is just shopoholic in that wants to buy that mixer.

Anyway, although I told the voice to shut up (and try to brush the idea to buy a mixer) I do think what is necessary to buy - a good industrial machine (so I can knead fondant with it) or just a good, big machine? I heard of people using 1 machine for like ages, but I don't know if they can do I plan to do with my future-machine. Ehhh??? Did I say 'future-machine'. I did. Hmm.. I guess I will insyaAllah get one.. But I don't know if that is going to be soon. Berangan tak salah, bukan kena bayar ... :))

EARLIER CAKES

My daughter's 5th y.o birthday cake
Recipe: Chocolate Moist Cake Misleha

Birthday cake for my father
Recipe: Chocolate Moist Cake Roha

Birthday cake for my husband
Recipe: Chocolate Moist Cake Misleha
First time I really baked and deco-ed a cake
Recipe: Chocolate Moist Cake Misleha


Birthday cake for my mother
Recipe: Orange Cake Mama Zieza