Sue turns 40!

Welcome to the fabulous 40's club Sue!

This is such a cool banner, I just had to show it! Great party too.




Boy, did she have her share of cake to eat! Bet you don't want to see another for a long, long time, huh?

Jia Yi is 8

Her Mommy surprised her on the morning of her birthday with this cake. I hope she liked it.

Double celebration

Around this time of the year we celebrate the birthdays of 2 of the most intelligent, beautiful and sexy women I know, Sue & Michelle. Always good food, fun and laughter when we get together, this time at our fave hangout Saffron. We had these chocolate hazelnut & apple cupcakes for dessert.







Then the girls got to take home these carrot cake with cream cheese frosting cupcakes.

An eggless affair

Made eggless double orange cupcakes and a walnut butter cake for Shyamala. Am anxiously waiting the verdict on this.

Update 4th Oct 2006 : Shyamala gave me the 2 thumbs-up! Here's what she had to say:-

Dear Ivy,

Thanks again for coming up with the scrumptious cakes at the last minute ( I know I always keep doing this to you..) Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but have been caught up with work and exams (mine as well as my son's !!)

The eggless cakes were a hit... even the kids whacked the eggless cupcakes.

The walnut cake went down very well with all... despite being eggless, the texture was soft and springy... (I usually find that eggless cakes tend to be dry and rather crumbly).

I personally preferred the earlier one you did (the carrot cake with, I think, the cream cheese topping) but this was good as well...

If you want to try another new eggless recipe will not mind getting it for the deepavali period...

love,

shyamala

Passionate Producers

Passion Pictures had a party for all the producers in town. I'm sure it was a blast! I heard my cake was a hit too. Thanks Karen... yew mah fren!

Cupcakes for school

I made cupcakes for my neice's class party today. She said they finished so fast she didn't get a chance to taste one herself nor the lasagne one of her friends brought. I promised to make both for her. Aunties *sigh*.... are such softies.

One of the teachers asked for my cupcake recipe. Should I....? Naah... aunties should have some secrets!

Seconds anyone?

It seems Baldish and some of her girlfriends did not have enough orange n coconut cake. So I had to whip this up very quickly the very next day. It was one of those what I call 'buttercream unfriendly' days... to darn hot! These little frosting peaks took everything it had to stay perky!

Baldish turns 50

And you don't look a day older from the day we first met! Must be all that fresh Kg Tunku air!

Fab party.... loads of yummy food and of course, cake!

High School Musical

What Sarah wants, Sarah gets... most of the time, anyways! And Sarah wanted a High School Musical themed cake. Oh boy, this one had the grey matter moving about quite a bit.

I nervously awaited her approval... and I got it!

My first online order

It was from Nini. She ordered all chocolate cupcakes for her friend's birthday. How sweet!

Nini, if all your friends are as young and slim as you are, you need to eat more cake girls!

Thanks Nini, hope you had fun last night and hoping to hear from you again.... and often!

Barenaked ladies

This is how the cuppies look fresh from the oven.








And this is how they look all dolled up.
These were for Rachel and Mazlifa. Thanks ladies!

D'Cupcakes gift boxes

Rachel's last day at work today.







Nothing like giving cupcakes to leave a sweet lasting impression!

Happy Birthday Jia Ping!

Wow... 38 today... congrats! Soon you'll be in our 40's club ;)
Hope you enjoyed the cake.

Cakes for Rachel

Made these orange n coconut cakes for Rachel last week.
Did not post them until now. Was too busy being lazy!

This week

The only baking I did this week. A couple dozen cupcakes for my brother's kids. I rested a lot so time to get crackin' again!

What a weekend!

Another 1-2 finish for Ferrari, Michael's hattrick win and I baked almost 200 cupcakes! Phew... and that makes me a happy bunny!




























Here's a peek at more or less all that I made this weekend. Drool away...!

My friends at McCann's

Isn't it wonderful to have nice friends? And I tell you it's so nice to bake for nice friends! And I'll tell you a secret, I think I've landed the McCann's account without even pitching for it!






Thanks Michelle and Tony.







Thanks Szu (that's your cupcakes on the left) & Hwa.

Curious

I made some cupcakes for Norma Hashim last Friday.







Then Kimmy (my 12 year old niece) wanted to see what happens when we pipe leftover coloured frosting together. Kimmy's first attempt at frosting a cupcake (right). Not bad, eh?

Pretty in pink and purple

Amanda is 6. She likes pink. I hope this was ok.

Happy Birthday Gajendra!

You lucky boy! Look at the amount of cake Aunt Shyamala ordered for your birthday party! I must admit I had a lot of fun doing this.


Winnie the Pooh Coconut orange cake.... Shyamala's fave!






Eggless carrot & walnut cake topped with cream cheese frosting and chocolate spider web.

The little critter was made from chopped walnuts and shredded coconut covered with chocolate and 2 yellow Smarties for eyes. I hope someone ate him!



And now, the cupcakes... some with borrowed ideas, some mine and some by fluke!

Vegan cupcakes... almost

Sue wanted to give her neighbours something to apologise for the racket her little house renovation was making... she's so sweet. Hmmmm... what better gift than a box of D'Cupcakes! But, but, one of the neighbours are vegetarians! How-lah?

Like I read on Post Punk Kitchen's blog, "Replacing eggs is the most challenging aspects of vegan baking. Those suckers bind, they leaven and they give structure to our baked goods. However, like a bad boyfriend, they can be replaced, and with pleasing results."



Almost vegan cupcakes... I used vegetable margarine, soy milk but I couldn't find soy yogurt so I used sour cream, that's why it's 'almost vegan'. Didn't taste too bad, I must say.






These are the 'normal' cupcakes that went to the other neighbours.

Leftovers

What does one do with leftover smarties and nuts, leftover anything for that matter? Make cookies, of course! I wished I remembered where I found this choc chip cookie recipe from so I can give due credit. It's simply marvellous... crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside... mmmmmm!

Bad buttercream day

Most bakers would know what I mean. This one went especially wrong for me. First I used I used the wrong size baking pan. When making the orange buttercream I knew something was not right; it was too 'runny'. No amount of added icing sugar helped. I blamed the humid weather. Then I trimmed the sides because I wanted more space to decorate. That was a BIG mistake! I couldn't crumb coat properly as the frosting was pulling away cake.

Kids like their cake colourful but I did not dare mess with the buttercream anymore. I read that a sign of a good baker is knowing how to make the best of a bad situation and this was all I could do under the circumstance and the short notice. At least I know for sure it tasted good as I had the cut sides for tea! Happy 3rd birthday Priyanka Saira. Hope you and all at home enjoyed the Chocolate Orange cake.

I love white

White is so clean, fresh and pure... it goes with just about anything. And as you can see, I like to keep my frostings white. Eventually when I learn to make buttercream roses, should I keep them white too? I think maybe not.. then again I might be starting something new!

Carol, how was the choc orange cake? I can do it with white frosting too if you like! Something to think about (psst... cheaper too!)



Rachel's mom's 71st birthday cake.









Vani, I did spell your name with a 'V' .... although it looked like a 'Y'. Hope you had a swell birthday albeit a belated one!