Caledonia Place

Farewell announcement

2010-09-06T01:30:00.004+08:00

Dear readers,

First of all, I would like to apologise as this announcement is way way long overdue. I would like to announce that I have stopped baking and selling my cakes since January 2010. Thank you so much for those who have been supporting my baking ever since I first started. I truly enjoyed baking your cakes and posting photos on the web =) Although I am unable to take in orders like I used to, I do try to fulfill special requests for the popular Choc Cheese Wave fans since I'm told they are no where to be found. Forgive me if I've gotten you hooked! LOL =D Last but not least, I would like to wish all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir & Batin! =)

Ira xxx

Halloween update

2009-10-30T12:30:00.003+08:00

My apologies for terribly slacking in updating Caledonia's blog. I have been very very busy lately with work as well as with taking some time off. Just to ensure that I do reply to your inquiries promptly, please either email me directly or call/text me on my mobile.

I've been receiving quite a number of requests for fancy cakes which I was not able to fulfill due to time constraint. I would appreciate if I could get about a week's notice for those fancy cakes and about 2-3 days notice for plain cakes with simple frosting (all subject to availability in schedule).

On a different note, I'm off to Penang today with my family for the Halloween weekend and will be back on Monday next week. Happy Halloween folks! =)

Hari Raya 2009

2009-09-19T11:33:00.003+08:00

Wishing all Muslims a very Happy Hari Raya! I wish to take this opportunity to seek forgiveness from those whom I've offended/wronged in any way in the past. God Bless us all =D

Ira is complaining

2009-09-17T22:03:00.003+08:00

I feel EXTREMELY tired today. Baking in Kota Kinabalu is no fun. I hate the oven. Perhaps I'm not used to this one in my house in KK - I miss my oven in KL. I'm trying to get all KK orders done by tomorrow in hope that I can put my feet up on Saturday. I don't think I have ever felt this tired before. I can bake 20 cakes a week in KL and was still able to jump/smile/run. Now I just feel like dozing off to bed. Perhaps I'm spoilt by my Kitchen Aid in KL which does make life a lot easier compared to my Philips hand-held mixer in KK...or the endless variety of bowls & spatulas I can choose from to bake certain cakes etc. I don't know about other bakers, but these little things do make a huge difference when baking. I mean, mixing a cake in a heavy glass bowl used for fruit punches and trying to pour it into the tin is hard work! *sigh*

I am a creature of habit. When I bake cake A, I will ALWAYS have to use bowl B & C with spatulas A & D, for example. I'm glad that I've given myself a headstart and already baked 8 cakes in KL for orders in KK - all the cake-hand-carrying is way way better than having to bake those 8 cakes. I think I would have gone mental. The only nice element about baking in KK is the kitchen. The family has a beautiful kitchen with lots of marble worktops. If only I could bring the kitchen to KL, then my baking life would have been complete =)

Ok, enough complaining for tonight! I should be thankful for what I have and remember that there are always others who are worse off than myself. Selamat Hari Raya dear readers! =)

Ira x

My three year old birthday princess

2009-09-09T11:17:00.004+08:00

I am overwhelmed by my Raya cake orders. I have to announce that I cannot take in any fancy decorated orders for this period, until Raya holidays are over - only orders of plain cakes are accepted (apologies for this!)

My daughter, Emille Jasmine just turned 3 yesterday =) I baked her some fudgy chocolate cupcakes with Royal Icing flowers for her birthday since she has been asking me for "flower cupcakes" for the past three days. I also took her shopping at Bangsar Village and bought her a Thomas Sabo necklace with a Bambi charm. She was so confused when she saw all the Disney character charms and grabbed about 4 charms when I asked her "Which one does Emille want?" LOL - four charms would be a bit much for a three year old!

A Baby Shower Cake

2009-09-06T11:29:00.005+08:00

This a grand Choc Cheese Wave cake for a surprise baby shower for Aliah's friend. The decoration request of the cake (blue and pink) was specific - a nappy bag, pacifiers, shoes, a pram, a ball, a bottle, and blue & yellow stars at the sides of the square cake. Aliah was overjoyed when she came to collect the cake. I hope the mum-to-be and friends will enjoy the cake =)

Phone back to normal

2009-09-01T14:40:00.001+08:00

I am now contactable through my mobile number. My husband went to Maxis and inquired, and my number wasn't barred/disconnected at all. LOL Maxis said, to check my simcard and restart my phone - problem sorted! Sorry folks! =D

Mobile line down

2009-08-31T20:46:00.002+08:00

Apologies for this inconvenience but my mobile isn't working at the moment. I've forgotten to pay this month's bill therefore am not able to make and receive calls/texts =O I will get it sorted first thing tomorrow morning.

For the time being, please contact me via email for any orders or enquiries. I will announce once my phone has resumed back to normal. Thank you!

Iftar full of cakes

2009-08-30T17:48:00.003+08:00

Amal, a friend of ours when we were studying in Bristol, ordered the Caramel Ruffle Brownie and a petite Choc Cheese Wave frosted with chocolate vanilla buttercream - one for her sister and one for her brother who both share the same birthdate yesterday =) I hope Amal and family enjoyed the cakes during their Iftar =)

[Caramel Ruffle Brownie]

[Petite Choc Cheese Wave]

AKN Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake

2009-08-28T13:56:00.002+08:00

I received an order for a petite Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake a week ago by Datin Kimi, as a surprise birthday cake for her beloved husband. Datin Kimi wanted me to draw a logo of her husband's company (thank goodness it didn't involvle a head of a lion or something of that sort! LOL) with a simple message on the cake. Very minimalistic, my kinda cake =) I delivered the cake on a Monday morning to the office in Shah Alam. I usually look up delivery addresses on google maps and was confident enough that the address Datin Kimi gave me matched the location pointed out on google maps...until...I ended up at the Airforce base! Yes Google directed me to the Airforce base with the AKN's office address. I ought to email google maps to update that error before somebody else, looking for AKN's office gets directed to the TUDM (Airforce base).

Anyway, I always drive with a map in hand and a gps on my phone so getting the correct location wasn't so difficult after Datin Kimi gave me landmarks to look out for that lead to the office. I was there nice and early when I delivered the cake to the Secretary.

Attention to all Kota Kinabalu based customers!

2009-08-26T17:10:00.009+08:00

Hari Raya Homemade cookies and cakes by Hannur Afdhal are available now in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. For orders, please contact 012-8660687 or 019-8526668 (Mimie). Thank you! =)

Message from the promoter:

"Dear Friends! HANNUR AFDHAL COOKIES are now available for orders! Pick up your selection of mouth-watering cookies from the flyer shown below. We now offer 3 NEW FLAVOURS namely CHOC CHIPS, SUJI & MELTING MOMENT!! Wondering whether these cookies are any good? Why dont you give it a try? Nicely packed COOKIE SAMPLES are available upon request! Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information! Thanks!" -Mimie-

Stocking up

2009-08-22T11:13:00.002+08:00

It's the first day of Ramadhan today. I've been quite diligent in my kitchen for the past week stocking up cake orders for Raya. I now have a build up of 9kg worth of sugar-eggs-flour products in my freezer for orders received so far - still having about 4kg more to go before my list gets longer. I hope our sugar shortage issue improves quickly. I would literally buy 2 packs (the current limit per family to purchase in shops) of sugar everytime I go grocery shopping just to avoid myself being in a situation where I would have to desperately look in every corner of KL for sugar.

I will be spending Raya in Kota Kinabalu (thank God!) this year with most of my siblings (except for my always-MIA-brother =P) and parents. It's a good feeling especially after not being able to spend proper Raya with my own family for...about 8-9 years. That happens when all four siblings were studying/working/living abroad.

Kim asked for cake last night so I decided to cut up one portion of what was supposed to be for an order...I don't always do that but last night was an exception. There are so many in the fridge, what is one cake less to my extra effort?? =) Anyway, once again, I wish all fellow Muslim customers and readers a very happy Ramadhan and lets take the opportunity during this month to become better people =) *peace*

Graduation cake went wrong

2009-08-16T12:19:00.004+08:00

I finally have my own laptop which I've decided to name, Pocket =) It's red, it's light, it's so small, I can literally carry it everywhere in my handbag with me =)

Yesterday, I delivered two cakes to Putrajaya for a high school friend Vivien. Vivien ordered the petite Choc Cheese Wave for her sister's graduation day so I made a Karate woman graduate as the cake topping. I went overboard with estimating the size of the woman so ended up with a slightly overweight karate woman graduate. When Kim and I reached her place in Putrajaya, The Karate graduate was already lying on her side!!! aarrgghhh I felt so annoyed with myself for being so careless on the road trip! I should have brought another person to help me hold the cakes.

I gave a generous discount for the cake and was thankful enough that Vivien didn't quite mind since it was just for their own consumption. Next time, I'll literally assemble figurine-cakes on the spot to avoid accidents like this in future! I hope that Vivien and sisters enjoyed their Choc Cheese Wave and their Caramel Ruffle Brownies!

[when the cake was still perfect]

[my 'orang batu' Karate graduate]

Hari Raya information

2009-08-14T09:42:00.001+08:00

First of all I would like to apologise for slacking in updating Caledonia's blog. I have only recently have had internet back to normal at home and my laptop has been hijacked hehehe. I'm still waiting for my new VAIO P to be engraved so hopefully it would be ready in a few days time =)

I will be leaving (again! - don't punch me for this LOL) for my hometown in Kota Kinabalu on the 14th September 2009 for Hari Raya. Therefore, I currently take orders for Raya up to the date of my departure. All cakes (unfrosted) shall be baked in a square shaped pan for the ease of cutting and serving during your Hari Raya open days. Most of my cakes (unfrosted) lasts for quite a while especially if kept in the freezer (except for the cheesecakes that lasts only up to 1 month in the freezer) and this doesn't have any adverse effect when it comes to taste and texture.

Do email/call/text me early to place your orders to avoid disappointment. I do apologise to a few customers for having to turn your orders down as my baking schedule has been quite hectic =O To my fellow Muslim readers & customers, I wish you a very happy Ramadhan ahead =)

Holiday happenings

2009-07-29T12:59:00.004+08:00

I'm back!! Fully recovered and as crispily burnt as a crispy duck! I filled my two week holiday in KK with lots and lots of snorkelling and diving trips! I went snorkelling 3 days in a week and a 3 day dive trip as well...I kept going to the jetty so frequently that I made aquaintences with the boat guys there! LOL They're nice people plus handy especially when you need favours of getting an earlier boat than scheduled or simply to take us to the secret beautiful parts of the island, unknown to tourists, to enjoy the sight of beautiful corals and fish =) heh heh heh I took my Advanced diving course and a Nitrox specialty course inKK which took 3 days and did another 3 leisure dives before that. I experienced horrible horrible seasick when diving and honestly, it wasn't pleasant! As soon as I roll myself back into the water, I felt much much better. Kim says that I'm a fish and that I should just remain underwater hehehhe. It took me an extra 4 days to recover fully from my seasickness and to feel fully human again.

This weekend, we're off to Bali! Mainly to surf and dive...and the rest of the time filled with a bit of everything. I started baking some cakes today for the end of this week and just realised that I left my digital scale in KK! I'm waiting for my sister to bring it over with her when she comes to KL this Friday. I planned to make more of those teddies for some cupcake orders but looks like it'll have to be delayed til I get my scale back *shrugs* I find it difficult to convert back to my normal scale after being so used to precision on my digital scale. But as far as baking is concerned, my old normal scale would do for the time being =)

[One of our snorkelling trips - Manukan Island]

[We found what we were looking for! The blue-ringed Octopus...My instructor told me to prove it to the world that "There is the blue-ringed Octopus in Sapi Island, KK". wwoohoo!]

[when I did my Advanced buoyancy test. Writing on the pad while maintaining position only inches off the sea floor]

[The Kiwi guy with the tattoos? Yup that's Nev Kippenberger, my brilliant instructor from Sabah Divers]

Days off from baking (11th July-25th July) & (1st August-5th August)

2009-07-10T21:41:00.002+08:00

I am officially on holiday as of tomorrow 11th July - 25th July and from 1st August-5th August. I will be spending two weeks in my hometown Kota Kinabalu (for July), so will not be taking in any orders. Although, due to some special request from friends in KK, I might accept some simple cakes for simple orders. Strictly no, fondant moulding and wedding/engagement cakes, Sorry!! =O

I will be spending most of my time easy diving the waters of KK apart from spending time with family and friends =) I wish everyone well and will be back in my kitchen on 26th til 31st July before heading off to Bali for my birthday holiday =)

Ira x

Johan's Akikah Choc Cheese Wave Cupcakes

2009-07-10T14:57:00.010+08:00

A friend of ours from Bristol, Fariza & Eso, placed this order way way wayyy well in advance and I'm truly grateful for that. Fariza has been eyeing on the Choc Cheese Wave ever since she was expecting their son, Johan! So finally, as they made their trip back to Malaysia, showing Johan for the first time to family members, she placed an order of 96 Choc Cheese Wave cuppies which were specially created for her and family. She also requested that I put football/cute little bears/guitars/graduation scrolls/letter 'J' as the cupcakes topping.

I had real fun making the bears especially as they were soo cute!! I felt like pinching each one myself after completing them, but obviously that would mean my hard effort wasted! I must admit that the bears were the hardest among all. It took me days to slowly finish 20 bears in different baby poses. Anyway, I had a mixture of fondant covered cuppies as well as Chocolate Vanilla buttercream frosted cupcakes. I hope that both mummy & daddy will be happy with my creation. Enjoy the photos!

[Choc Cheese Wave Specialty Cuppies]

[thought I'd post a photo of my little helper Emille]

[graduation hats & scrolls]

[I just couldn't wait to pack them up in their boxes!!!]

[my royal icing footballs and clowns]

[my favourite!]

[guitars]

[letter 'J' swirls with blue sugar sprinkles]

[the group of bears]

[football swirls]

[Mr. clown]

[all packed, ready for collection! - yay, I did it!!! now I can go on holiday! =)]

Sara's Friday orders

2009-07-10T14:14:00.002+08:00

Caramel Ruffle Brownie is a melt-in-the-mouth-brownie with a fudgy caramel layer.

The Toblerone Dark Temptation is another version of my existing Dark Temptation cake except that it contains bars and bars and bars and bars...of Toblerone both in the cake and ganache! This cake has a generous amount of Toblerone ganache between the layers of Toblerone sponge cake plus more all over!

Just thought that I'd post a blog about the Caramel Ruffle Brownie, since it's been quite a while since I last baked one. This was Sara's order. The borwnie for self indulgence and the Toblerone Dark Temptation for a friend's birthday. I delivered the cakes quite early in the morning to Sara's office as I had quite a few things to do for the day before I fly off to KK tomorrow for my 2-week holiday =)

Re-announcing, I'll be off to Kota Kinabalu starting from tomorrow (11th July) til the 25th July. So no baking for that two weeks. Have an enjoyable weekend folks! =)

[freshly out of the oven Caramel Ruffle Brownie]

[a Petite Toblerone Dark Temptation]

Two-tiered Choc Cheese Wave Butterfly-Confetti Cake

2009-07-04T10:40:00.002+08:00

A two-tiered Choc Cheese Wave wedding cake for Iza's cousin. This is my 1st tiered cake and the theme was a fun/party cake/butterflies with pastel colours of white/pink/lilac to play around with. I decided to randomly pipe confetti details around the cake to resemble confetti thrown in parties and weddings. The butterflies were specially requested by Iza, so I included quite a number, perched on baby's breath flowers.

My apologies for the not-so-well-taken photos.I had issues with lighting against the bright pastel cake so most of the photos didn't come out as good as I wanted them to be. Nevertheless, enjoy the photos!

[frosted with Choc Vanilla Buttercream]

Thomas the Train Choc Cheese Wave birthday cake for Rooney

2009-06-26T20:07:00.007+08:00

I decorated my first Thomas the train cake for Dolly this morning. Dolly wanted a grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave cake as a present for her nephew, Rooney, who is in Kota Kinabalu. Iced with chocolate vanilla buttercream, I hope the cake will sit safely on the plane to KK. Enjoy the photos!

[my little pink wonky bunny]

[and a couple of wonky fences too!]

Kim said I should have taken a close-up photo of the tree, which I didn't. I'll get that sone and upload it later =)

Nice simple cakes

2009-06-26T19:52:00.003+08:00

I've been slightly under the weather these couple of days so have been slacking with cake photo uploading. Anyway, here are some simple orders I took during the week.

[Dark Temptation for Edah]

[Caramel Apple Cheesecake for Sara]

A plain cheesecake sitting on a lemon sponge base and top with fresh apple pie filling. It's then drizzled/top with a generous amount of caramel sauce and more fresh apples!!

Days off baking announcement (11th July 2009 - 25th July 2009)

2009-06-22T08:35:00.004+08:00

Just thought that I should announce my absence (again!) from my kitchen much much earlier this time. I will be away from 11th July til the 25th July 2009 - spending two weeks in my hometown, Kota Kinabalu. I can say that I've almost reached the maximum capacity in terms of cake orders for what my two scrawny hands can handle, in other words, almost fully booked til the date of my departure. Nevertheless, should you want to make an order, it's still worth checking a I usually will try my best to accommodate especially for simple orders =)

Ira x

A Cheesecake for the Don

2009-06-21T08:13:00.006+08:00

Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake is a creamy cheesecake with a lovely velvet texture that is bursting with the richness of coffee. Sitting on a vanilla-lemon sponge base, *quoting customers* "it's a melt-in-the mouth cheesecake to die for"!

I baked my husband's all time favourite, the Cappuccino Velvet, for Jay's dad. It was meant as a belated birthday gift as well as a father's day gift. Happy father's day to all loving fathers! =)

[perfectly baked, crack-free cheesecaek]

Petite Choc Cheese Wave & Toblerone Dark Temptation

2009-06-16T09:04:00.005+08:00

Choc Cheese Wave consists of a centre layer creamy cheesecake, sandwiched with two layers of melt in the mouth chocolate brownie-cake

The Toblerone Dark Temptation is another version of my existing Dark Temptation cake except that it contains bars and bars and bars and bars...of Toblerone both in the cake and ganache! This cake has a generous amount of Toblerone ganache between the layers of Toblerone sponge cake plus more all over!

I had a wonderful diving trip in Tioman Island last weekend. But before I took off to the island, I last minutely baked these two petite cakes for Li Oi and Hajar. My husband was surprised as to why I accepted the orders as they were quite last minute. I said to him "I don't get orders for simple undecorated cakes everyday". I truly got to enjoy the pleasure of just baking! I find satisfaction in baking cakes for people whom I know, appreciate good cakes and just want to dig in without minding how well decorated the cakes are =) So I baked these two petites in less than 12 hours =)

[Li Oi's petite Choc Cheese Wave]

[Hajar's petite Toblerone Dark Temptation...I found it tricky to photograph this cake at night. I keep seeing light reflection on the rich ganache so I had to hold the cake in one hand, camera in the other and find a suitable spot to take a shot]

Danish's #1 Choc Cheese Wave candle cake

2009-06-12T18:23:00.006+08:00

I made a #1 Choc Cheese Wave birthday cake for my good friend's son. It'll be his first birthday - hence the #1. My friend, Diliana, made it very clear that she wanted a #1 shaped cake. So I walked the whole stretch of Jalan Tar in KL in search of a #1 shaped pan in the cake supplies shop. I found other numbers but not #1. I was already mentally prepared to carve a #1 cake if this special pan can't be found. Until finally Nancy in Jaya One found a #1 pan which she kindly saved for me! It was the last pan available. I must say, Diliana's son was VERY lucky! She wanted the cake to be as colourful as possible! So here it is, enjoy the photos!

[a 2kg Choc Cheese Wave]

[a candle flame, stars and streamers]

Days off baking

2009-06-12T12:54:00.003+08:00

I will be away as of tonight for the weekend, therefore will not be taking in any orders. I will be back in my kitchen on 18th June. I wish everyone a very happy weekend ahead! I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time diving the waters of Tioman! =)

Toblerone Dark Temptation

2009-06-07T12:34:00.006+08:00

The Toblerone Dark Temptation is another version of my existing Dark Temptation cake except that it contains bars and bars and bars and bars...of Toblerone both in the cake and ganache! This cake has a generous amount of Toblerone ganache between the layers of Toblerone sponge cake plus more all over!

I've just finished experimenting on a Toblerone chocolate cake this morning with success =) Kim had the first bite and our little Emille got very excited just by the sight of it! I'll bake a proper one for Kak Hawa tonight perhaps. I reduced a lot on the sugar department as I know that our families are not huge fans of sweet sugary stuff. The Toblerone cake is as usual, very moist, loaded with bars of Toblerone chocolate in the cake itself and in the ganache. One would think that it might be overly sweet but its not. Just nice and dark =) I shall call it the Toblerone Dark Temptation. Enjoy drooling =)

[please excuse my lack of tidiness. I simply couldn't wait to put a slice in my mouth!]

[The Toblerone Dark Temptation has layers of Toblerone ganache in it with more Toblerone ganache all over!]

I discovered the best time to eat it was after it was freshly coated with ganache with just about 15 minutes of chilling in the fridge. The ganache consistency is perfect and the cake is still nice and soft =) Of course, I would always advise friends to bring it down to room temperature or let it sit in on your kitchen counter for about 10-15 minutes before eating the cake. This way, both cake and ganache would have soften a bit.

Nurul's Dark Temptation engagement cake gift

2009-06-06T18:59:00.005+08:00

Dark Temptation is an absolutely rich and moist chocolate cake made with real good quality chocolate with a generous spread of chocolate ganache filling between cake layers and then covered with more ganache all over! A must-try for those chocolate sinners!

A Dark Temptation engagement cake gift ordered by Nurul. I made this version of the Dark Temptation for Fara a few months back in purple. Nurul wanted the white/silver/pink combination. She later text me to say that the bride and groom to be and their families enjoyed the cake! That made my day, so enough said. Enjoy the photos! =)

Tomorrow I will experiment on a Toblerone chocolate cake for a cousin, Kak Hawa, who sounded quite desperate to get hold of one in Kuching! I shall rebake the proper cake for Monday's collection. I just LOVE experimenting and am a very happy bunny today =)

Sara's Choc Cheese Wave wedding hantaran cake

2009-06-03T17:25:00.003+08:00

A petite Choc Cheese Wave wedding hantaran cake for Sara. I was thrilled to find out that Sara was hooked when she had a taste of the wedding Choc Cheese cake and Caramel Apple Cheesecake I made for Ayu. She wanted the same for her akad with white/pink/moss green to play around with. So here it is, Simplicity & Elegance! Enjoy the photos!

Aliah's Sister's Chocolate Orange Volcano Birthday Cake

2009-05-31T13:41:00.004+08:00

A birthday cake for Aliah's sister - Chocolate Orange Volcano

[mini accessories]

[Jay's Mint Slices ordered by Ayu...I may need to reduce the amount of sugar in the Mint Slices]

Endless moulding

2009-05-28T19:18:00.003+08:00

I'm in my 'relaxed' mood as I like to call it. I've been keeping myself busy preparing flowers and other decoration stuff. I've made a mini handbag with matching ballerinas, a lipstick, a necklace, a key, pink violets and apple blossoms, and I just finished moulding a man for next month's orders. I still have a girl, a big ass laptop, some stars, and perhaps books to make. Hhmmm...it doesn't help that I feel like going to the island to dive! Oh dear!! focus focus! Kim, Jay, and myself will be visiting this dive shop to look at/try on masks this Saturday =) I'm eagerly waiting for my Cressi Subs to arrive and try them on to see which fits best! ohhh bestnya!

Now diving and cakes just don't gel do they? Weirdd.... but it's alright *shrugs*

Baby Joseph's Safari Choc Cheese Birthday Cake

2009-05-22T16:21:00.006+08:00

I've just 90% finished decorating a grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave cake ordered by Mrs. Yeoh for her son's first birthday, baby Joseph. When I received a call from Joseph's mum, about a week ago, she requested that I make the KLCC Twin Towers and the monorail. To be honest, I was quite taken aback as we all must admit it is a rare choice for a 1-year old. I couldn't promise Mrs. Yeoh that I'll be able to take the order with that extravagant decorations as I only had one week to make everything on top of the existing orders I've already taken from other customers. However, at the same time, I was excited about it as it would have given me the chance to further test my humble construction skills. I had already planned a city theme for the cake with buildings and all in my head while strolling along the corridors of Bangsar Village. Even my husband got a little excited! LOL

Anyway, I didn't think I'd hear from Mrs. Yeoh again, but she did call me the next day and confirmed that she wanted me to bake her son's cake with baby animals on it. Since I just bought a #1 cake pan for an order in June, I suggested that she has the #1-shaped cake with animals on it. So I came up with more or less a Safari theme. I tried introducing as many colours as possible as I know babies Joseph's age would appreciate that. This was what happened when I let my brains run a bit wild - a pink monkey, and a supposedly Zebra but actually looks like a cross breed between a cat and something else. My husband calls it Wolverine! LOL Plus a couple of palm trees and ladybugs and snakes.

I really hope both mother and son will enjoy the fun decoration and cake. Looking forward to delivering the cake over to their house tomorrow! =)

[this is still a work-in-progress cake. It's missing the pink monkey and 'Wolverine' plus other finishing touches. I'll add more photos of the finished cake tomorrow]

[The completed Safari cake]

[the rare species...a pink Ape and my cross-breed Wolverine]

I just received a call from Mrs. Yeoh. They love the cake and decorations! =) Only problem is, it's too big a cake for just two adults and a baby! She said even Joseph was still half asleep when asked to blow the candle LOL Bless! =)

A Birthday cake gift for mama

2009-05-21T21:37:00.005+08:00

These are some photos of the unfinished cake for Aliah's mum specially for Aliah and family's viewings. The cake is missing a sitting lady, numbers 6 & 0, and some ladybugs, which I will put on just before pickup.

[a petite Choc Cheese Wave covered with freshly whipped cream and Vanilla buttercream leaf & floral borders]

[Just one quick snap of my busty lady while Aliah's sister was waiting downstairs!]

The Diver and his Boat Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake

2009-05-17T09:47:00.004+08:00

It was my husband's, Kim's, '23rd' birthday yesterday. We had an initial plan to go up to Cherating and have some sort of BBQ with friends. However, Kim's mum and aunt wanted to make Sarawak Laksa for the birthday, so we canceled Cherating and did like a small gathering amongst family at home.

I last minutely baked Kim's all time favourite cake, the Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake with a sail boat topper. Since we just got out diving license, I decided to put a diver's flag and name the boat Kim's Divers just for fun =)

I also made some Inside-Out-Profiteroles. I must ad mit that I didn't enjoy the profiteroles a single bit as I changed the type of chocolate to this new one that I found in PJ. It really made a huge difference in taste! I'll go back to using the beautifully rich and dark chocolate I'm used to (even though it's slightly more expensive). Anyway, here are some photos of the cake and pastries and my boat which looked like it belongs to a dive centre in Perhentian Kecil LOL.

[the cake and our daughter, Emille in the background mixing ice-cream!]

[my not so satisfying Inside-Out-Profiteroles. Lesson: Do not substitute good quality chocolate for inferior ones]

[the birthday Papa and his daughter =)]

Jay's Mint Slices

2009-05-14T08:53:00.004+08:00

I had a baking afternoon with Jay yesterday. Being a chocoholic that she is, Jay wanted me to experiment making these chocolates - they're like After Eights with the soft mint centre. We made our version slightly different - there were 3 layers i.e. an Oreo cookie crust at the bottom, a sweet mint filling at the centre, and a beautiful rich dark chocolate as the top. It was relatively easy to make, just that Jay couldn't bear the waiting-chilling time. She said suddenly out of the blue, "I just can't wait to put those things in my mouth!" (while checking her emails on the laptop!). Jay made the first cut and taste...she said, "there is heaven on earth!" hhmmmmmm....She ate most of the chocolate in my house, and I packed the leftovers for her to take home. Jay said they will last for another 3 days...hhmm...I'm sceptical, I don't think they'll even last the car journey home!. I'll check later today when I see her =)

[I made Jay pipe her name for the first time]

[Jay literally cut her way through the sides of the chocolate as you can see. My mum-in-law who was sitting in the corner said "Mak hairan tengok Jay makan chocolate banyak sangat!" ("I was shocked to see Jay eat so much chocolate!")]

[soft sweet mint filling sandwiched by an Oreo crust and rich dark chocolate. Beautiful!]

[the proud consumer!]

I will list/offer Jay's Mint Slices on Caledonia's menu. I don't know what category this will come in under. It's definitely not cake nor is it pastry. It's simply Chocolate!

Patricia's Caramel Apple Cheesecake Birthday Cake gift

2009-05-12T19:29:00.004+08:00

I managed to get hold of photos of the Caramel Apple Cheesecake ordered by my friend Patricia for her friend's birthday, Kay. Since Pat didn't wanted a message on the cake, I changed the caramel apple pie topping as the filling and topped the cake with caramel sticks instead. I found it a bit difficult to write nicely on the rough surface though. Nevertheless, Patricia and friends enjoyed the cake, which was the most important thing =)

[I have no idea why this photo refuses to be rotated!]

[Patricia and friends]

A tale of two postwomen

2009-05-10T21:15:00.003+08:00

I made a Mother's Day delivery to my friend's house, Puteri, earlier today. It was quite a drive through the unfamiliar area, i must say. It didn't help that I made life more complicated by choosing to go through one route instead of the one suggested by Puteri's dad! LOL

When we got to Puteri's house, Jay and myself were invited to come in for tea. I was quite malu at first but Puteri's dad insisted. So we had iced tea which was nice and refreshing andddd....MY CAKE!!! It's wrong!!! Puteri, it's wrong! hahahah to serve a cake that I baked for someone's mum, to myself! Oh dear. Anyway, I had the tiniest slice and Jay had TWO slices! She even swallowed all the fondant and buttercream! At least now I know what a fondant covered cake tastes like! I'm glad that both parents enjoyed the cake.

Getting out of the place was another story. I left navigating to Jay, and ended up making another tour around Sungai Merab! LOL I should have just gotten hold of the map and did it myself. Nevertheless, it was a good drive! I was thankful that I delivered in broad daylight =) So next time, in about eight years time, I will return to Sungai Merab and eat Aunty Kobkua's durians without getting lost!! muaahahahahahaha

My head was all over the place with Mother's Day's orders and deliveries that I've forgotten to take photos of Patricia's Caramel Apple Cheesecake birthday cake and Rima's Inside-Out-Profiteroles for her mum. *sigh*

A cake for mum from her most favourite daughter

2009-05-09T17:16:00.005+08:00

This cake is a surprise Mother's Day cake from a friend, Puteri, for her mum. It's a petite (1kg) Choc Cheese Wave cake. Puteri liked the Rose Bouquet Cake I made for Hajar. She requested that I made something similar but less extravagant, not too girly with flowers around it and a message to beloved mum on the cake. I managed to fit everything onto and around the tiny cake. Puteri, I hope the cake's up to your expectation and most importantly, something that mum and the rest of the family will enjoy =)

Days off from baking

2009-04-28T19:20:00.001+08:00

I will be away starting from 29th April - 3rd May 2009. I will only start taking orders on the Monday, 4th May 2009. Hope everyone will have a great Labour Day weekend ahead! =)

Hajar's Rose Bouquet Choc Cheese Wave Wedding Cake

2009-04-25T23:02:00.005+08:00

I spent two days assembling Hajar's cake. It consists of two petite (1kg) Choc Cheese Waves stacked together. The first day of assembly turned out disastrous. I thought I was done. Only to come back home and find that the chocolate buttercream frosting was melting!!! At 12.30am, I decided to rip my 7-hour worth of labour. I must admit it wasn't a pleasant feeling. I was exhausted, frustrated, disappointed, sad...every unpleasant feeling you can think of was present. I slept on it and continued the next day (today) from scratch. Honestly, earlier this morning, I was so demotivated that I felt like hiding under my duvet and do nothing (perhaps waiting for Hajar to find me!). Then I thought "you have a situation (problem). Acknowledge it, accept it, and deal with it!". That was what got me started.

So I redid everything from mixing fondant to buttercream to royal icing and laying everything out properly and most importantly, as calmly as possible, in another 7 hours. I kept saying "don't panic, don't panic", and manage to stay very calm (calmer than normal!) whilst assembling the cake at my own pace. At 6pm today, I stuck the last stalk of roses onto the cake, took a step back, and managed a sigh...looking at the cake made me breathless. The feeling that I know I did everything correctly made me so satisfied, and I'm proud of what my humble scrawny hands have created. Hajar's bouquet of roses wedding cake. Enjoy the photos! =)

[my favourite! It could have easily pass off as a hand bouquet!]

[a grand Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake and a two tiered petite Choc Cheese Wave Wedding cake]

Now I'm officially off on holiday to Perhentian Island for a diving course =)

My rose journey...

2009-04-20T13:57:00.004+08:00

*relaxes and puts her feet up* I'm done with roses today...I just finished moulding about 15 pink roses for 4 hours straight. I can now feel the strain behind my neck. I have about a total of 29 full bloom roses and 4 baby roses to cover the top of a wedding cake due this coming Saturday. If I'm up for it, I'll get some calyx done for those flowers of mine and a few leaves. If not, I think I'll just buy them from the shop! Who would have thought that decorating can really wear a person out! I'm really looking forward to our diving trip next week! That will a be a good break for me from work...I need it! All of us need it =)

I still have some baking to do. A grand Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake and a dozen of my cheese cuppies I promised Tania. All by Thursday. I seriously DO NOT feel like doing anything else but sit and do nothing. I'm also dreading the thought of rolling fondant over the wedding cake on Friday...It always makes me nervous! But the best part is, minimal (perhaps next to zero) pipework. So the worse part (moulding roses) is over. I'm left with the easy arranging and assembling of the cakes and roses =)

[I did 14 last week, and 15 this morning]

Mr. & Mrs. Green's green Wedding Cake

2009-04-10T19:09:00.006+08:00

I spent 7 hours decorating Ayu & Kyle's wedding hantaran cake today. I'm feeling quite tired I must admit but satisfied =) Mrs. Green wanted a green cake so we agreed on moss green to suit the green and white colour scheme. I must admit I felt quite nervous when rolling the fondant onto the cake. Colouring a whole 1kg worth of sugar mass was definitely a workout!

I decided to pipe some free hand embroidery at the sides of the cake and top the cake with some yellow/green Orchids and cream filler flowers. All's well, ends well. So here are the photos...Enjoy!! =)

[this is how they all start...Chocolate buttercream frosted Wave]

[freehand embroidery at the sides]

[the finished green cake]

Check out a video of Kyle secretly massacering his green cake:

Ayu's green cake

2009-04-08T16:21:00.004+08:00

I thought this week would be a cake-free week where I can just chill and not have cakey dreams...NOT! A friend of ours, Ayu, last minutely wanted a wedding hantaran cake for this Sunday 12th April. I was going to bake her a cake anyway (obviously without the wedding decorations) and take it with us on our roadtrip to Penang Saturday morning for Ayu and her husband-to-be, Kyle,'s wedding. Luckily enough for Ayu and myself, the baker still has time to come up with a wedding cake. I feel really honoured that Ayu has asked me to bake her cake for her special day =)

Moving on, I'm taking a breather from today's cake-tasks. Ayu wanted the grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave decorated with a green and white/cream colour scheme. I know dark grass-green is the official colour, but, please correct me if I'm wrong, I can imagine it to look beautiful on a dress...but maybe not so much on a cake! I was a bit unsure, and gave Ayu some shades of green options - Moss green it is! I know to some, moss green might sound a bit yucky...but I can honestly see it becoming a very beautiful cake!!! =)

I shall continue with Ayu's cake later, with photos...I should get started to making some mean yucky fondant...

p/s as I was typing the title of this blog...It suddenly clicked!!!! Ayu's green cake = Ayu & Mr. Green (Kyle)!!! betul tak Ayu?!!!! =D

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

2009-04-03T13:34:00.004+08:00

This cake was baked for a friend of mine, Jay, for her younger sister's, Rin's, 18th birthday. We didn't quite know what she'd (Rin) would like as a cake so Jay decided to give this cheesecake a try since Rin's a huge fan of Caramel.

The Caramel Apple Cheesecake consists of a plain cheesecake sitting on a lemon sponge base and top with fresh apple pie filling. It's then drizzled/top with a generous amount of caramel sauce and more fresh apples!! Let's hope the birthday girl likes the cake! =)

[the finished cheesecake..honestly, I felt like pinching a tiny bit of the cake!!!]

[Happy Birthday Moinks!...the script was not as clear as I wanted it to be on a very rough appley surface!)

[The blue bird nestling nicely among all the apples, flowers and leaves]

[the birthday girl is a fan of birds]

A Cheesecake, A Brownie , and A Bird (or duck?)

2009-04-01T15:38:00.005+08:00

I've been baking since morning. Finally, all cake-related stuff are done and the clock shows it's 3.40pm. First, i baked the Caramel Apple Cheesecake for Jay which I mentioned in my previous blog. Then as soon as that came out of the oven, I got on with baking for a last minute order, a Caramel Ruffle Brownie for later today's collection. Both cakes are cooling happily in the kitchen.

[Freshly out of the oven Caramel Apple Cheesecake]

[Is it a duck or is it a bird? I hope it is a BIRD]

[Cakes I baked from morning til 3.40pm - left: Caramel Ruffle Brownie, right: Caramel Apple Cheesecake]

A Sunday thought

2009-03-29T12:16:00.007+08:00

I'm slowly..gradually..going down with flu =( I promised Kim that I'll bake some of those divine Cheese Cuppies as I like to call them tomorrow. They're not on the menu because I don't know whether or not people are prepared to pay about RM3-RM3.50 per cuppy...a VERY DIVINE, full of goodness, cheese cuppy. So I only make them if throw parties/BBQs or simply as presents to family & friends. Since Kim has been craving for it, I'll bake some tomorrow. I might give some away (if Kim lets me!) to friends I'll meet within the next few days. I'll post photos of those beautiful little cuppies soon (decorated if I feel up for it).

Oh, Jay has decided that she wants the App-mel Cheesecake for her sister's birthday this coming 3rd April. I'll get that sorted on Wednesday =) Have a beautiful Sunday my dear readers!

[Cappuccino Cheese Cuppies topped with softly whipped Vanilla cream]

[I took out three cuppies which we had for breakfast!]

[please excuse my over-exposed photo]

[my loyal cake critique]

Baby Alya's Choc Cheese Wave Birthday Cake

2009-03-28T14:09:00.007+08:00

This is a Grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave Birthday Cake for a two-year old Alya. I covered it with chocolate buttercream and decorated with lots sugar flowers + Apek the monkey & Miss Elephant. Enjoy!

[Chocolate Buttercream iced Wave]

[Apek the monkey]

[Miss Elephant]

Cake experiment quest

2009-03-19T09:41:00.005+08:00

I'm on a quest to finding the ultimate birthday cake for a good friend Jay's sister, Rin, on the 3rd April. A clue was Alexis' Tiramisu (I have yet to taste their Tiramisu), and sherbet. Today, I shall expeiment on a Tiramisu-like-cake that it shares more or less the main ingredients of making a Tiramisu i.e. coffee and mascarpone, except that I'll put nuts in them + plus other stuff. I'm baking a mini version and shall give Jay a slice to taste to gauge the flavour category.

Anybody who wants to taste/get a free slice of cake (provided that it's still available), just let me know, I'll save a slice for you to pick up =)

[Coffee Macadamia cake - I wanted to give some away, but Kim loved it so much, he insisted that I kept everything!!]

I'm planning to bake a Lemon-y Cheesecake with Lemon custard and lemon sponge layers next week. I'll update on that once it's done.

Dolly's Choc Cheese Wave Wedding 'hantaran' Cake

2009-03-18T18:31:00.006+08:00

I've completed my first Wedding-related cake ordered by my former highschool mate, Dolly, as a hantaran for her wedding. She has a Cream & Gold theme for the ceremony/function. So I decided to keep the fondant Cream/Ivory and the pipework Gold. I started covering the grand Choc Cheese Wave with a layer of chocolate buttercream and Ivory tinted fondant yesterday. Today, I did the decoration for about 7 hours since 10am. I'm now feeling very satisfied from what I've achieved for the entire duration =)

I mainly wanted to play around with Royal Icing, hence, the embroidered flowers + brushwork. The sides of the cake are covered in an endless stream of Cornelli Lace (which I found was quite labour intensive to keep that even pressure for a complete circumference!). Anyway, just like any fondant iced cake orders, I did warn Dolly to push the icing aside when eating the cake. The Wave is just too a beautiful cake on its own.

[my sugarpaste flowers]

[the grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave frosted with chocolate buttercream]

[a completed 'hantaran' cake]

For some reason, the cake looks very Malay! Not that it's a bad thing =P

Embroidered flowers

2009-03-15T23:54:00.004+08:00

I've already started my preparations on Dolly's wedding hantaran cake for Thursday 19th March. I baked a Grand (2kg) Choc Cheese Wave cake this morning and have left it to perap (a Malay term for soaking/marinating) in the fridge. I'm being more adventurous with the deco this time. Since Dolly specially requested that the cake be iced with rolled fondant, I plan to decorate the cake with embroidered flowers all over. I did a practice session with embroidery techniques this afternoon and it turned out quite well. I can't wait to cover the whole cake with it on Wednesday! I am, however, quite nervous about covering the cake with fondant since I felt quite ill from it the last time. Given ample time to prepare and do my homework on what to do and not to do with fondant iced cakes, I'm keeping a positive mind about the whole thing which I will start on Tuesday.

Fondant flower making/moulding will commence tomorrow (Monday) after I've had a good cycling and pilates session in the afternoon =) Oh talking of which, I must not forget to buy myself from MidValley, a brand new sponge for the flowers (since my existing one somehow ended up in the sink!) and also a cream coloured ribbon to wrap around the cake board. Ok, enough cake thoughts for today. I shall continue thinking tomorrow. Good night!

[apologies for my poor out of focus photo taken using my camera phone. Just to show you my first embroidery practice attempt =)]

Dark Temptation Engagement Cake

2009-03-12T17:43:00.009+08:00

Dark Temptation is an absolutely rich and moist chocolate cake made with real good quality chocolate with a generous spread of chocolate ganache filling between cake layers and then covered with more ganache all over! A must-try for those chocolate sinners!

I've just completed a 2kg Dark Temptation Engagement cake between Fara's friend, Suriyani & Ahmad Salleh. The theme was white & purple, so I iced the chocolate ganache covered cake with softly whipped Vanilla cream. As written in my previous blog, I started making/drying the royal icing Violets & Purple Blossoms since Monday. It was definitely enjoyable especially once I was able to successfully remove them from their parchment backing. Here are some photos of the cake and I do hope both bride and groom to be and their families enjoy the cake =)

[Fresh Vanilla Cream frosted Dark Temptation chilling in my fridge]

[the engagement cake decorated with Royal Icing flowers and buttercream leaves]

Caledonia offers the Dark Temptation at RM80 for a 8" - 1.3kg cake. Please inquire for other sizes.

All about flowers

2009-03-10T22:22:00.005+08:00

I'm in the midst of completing an engagement cake due on Thursday evening. It's the Dark Temptation with additional whipped Vanilla cream frosting to make the cake white. I've just finished piping some Violets and not-quite-there purple blossoms. I think I will re-do the blossoms tomorrow. This is my first floral pipe work using Royal Icing. I think it will be best if the kitchen was air-conditioned so that the icing will remain of the same consistency. Tomorrow I shall 1) bake the cake, 2) make a trip to Bake With Yen to get lots of cream, board, box etc etc, 3) hopefully ice the cake, and 4) make more proper purple blossoms. I have a very understated design for this engagement cake. I always think less is more. We'll see how things go, and I hope that the bride-to-be will like my cake =)

[left: my not-quite-there purple blossoms. I piped them first before doing the Violets.]
[right: my Violets after I realised that I needed to stiffen the Royal icing]

[Violets left to dry]

[bottom left corner: purple blossoms re-piped with stiffer icing]
[top right corner: already dried Violets. I found them VERY fragile compared to the blossoms so ended up having quite a number of breakages]

Double Twilight-Tania-Bites episode

2009-03-09T13:23:00.004+08:00

I baked about 2kg (as usual, I forgot to weigh!) worth of Twilight Bites for my gonggok friend Tania. It's basically my Choc Cheese Wave without the 'Cheese Wave'. Yes, it's a chocolate cake Tania style i.e. Twilight Bites as I like to call it (the Twilight-craze was booming the first time I baked this cake, hence the name). See, the last time I baked for my gonggok friend, the whole cake only lasted her a good 3 days!!!!! I cut them up into little molex (petite bite-sizes) and had 2 containers full. So this time, I decided to bake double and lump everything into an 11x11 inch tin. The mistake this time was to use the 11x11 inch tin to bake the T. Bites. When I turned the cake out, the bottom looked slightly soggy. So i knew that water had seeped in through the bottom sides of the tin. So next time, I'll use two 9x9 inch tins (they're better tins compared to the 11") instead of one big one. Plus the smaller tins gave me more molex Twilight Bites =)

[lets see how long this lasts Tania...last time round (3 days) was only 2 of the smaller containers]

[this actually makes a quite yummy chocolate cake especially when frosted with chocolate fudge! I'll experiment when I have less cakes to bake/decorate]

...let the Twilight Bites marathon begin!...

Dark Temptation Birthday Cake

2009-03-07T15:09:00.004+08:00

Dark Temptation is an absolutely rich and moist chocolate cake made with real good quality chocolate with a generous spread of chocolate ganache filling between cake layers and then covered with more ganache all over! A must-try for those chocolate sinners!

A 1.3kg Dark Temptation ordered by Kim for her 2-year old nephew, Cheng-Cheng, and sister, Joanne. I took my time making the clown, being very careful not to let myself feel dizzy. I feel perfectly fine =) Enjoy the photos!

P/s Kim and family, I hope you'll enjoy the cake! Bon apetit!

Caledonia offers the Dark Temptation at RM80 for a 8" - 1.3kg cake. The taste is worth the price, Trust me!

Aliah's 3kg Choc Cheese Wave Birthday cake (that left me ill!)

2009-02-28T21:18:00.007+08:00

I spent a good 3 days baking and decorating this 3kg Choc Cheese Wave birthday cake ordered by Aliah for her bestfriend, Fara. The theme was for a girlie girl who adores shoes and bags (plus an elephant!). To be honest, today was my first time covering a cake with fondant. There was a point today when i nearly gave up and just hoped that the cake wasn't a whopping 10-inch square cake! My dislike towards fondant still remains, hence, told Aliah to warn her friends to simply push the icing aside when eating the cake.

Firstly, I made my own fondant & gumpaste. It's dead easy with my KitchenAid at my service! Not funny when I had to make using a hand mixer and hands! So I started offw with the shoe heel and pink duffle/tote on Thursday, and left them overnight to harden. Then continued making the sole & in-sole + the back + the front on Friday together with the brown tote and an elephant! I spent the whole of Friday baking, moulding and drawing sketches and measuring. At times, I did wish that I was first a cobbler, then a tailor, then an artist! Reality is such that I'm an accountant who turned into a housewife-baker.

Today (Saturday), I tried assembling the cake. I will not lie and boast that it went a breeze. I've never felt so pressured in my entire life! I guess that goes to every baker dealing with their first fondant experience! Anyway, finally i managed to finish the job which left me feeling VERY nauseatic/dizzy/faint (not to mention throwing up in the toilet!) i.e. VERY ILL - my mum asked me "Ira, are you sure you're not expecting?" LOL No, mum I'm not! I'm feeling much better after popping in an anti-nausea pill prescribed by the doctor earlier today.

However, I'm very proud of moulding the shoe, bags and ELEPHANT! Yay! So here are the photos of my humble creation.

P/s Aliah, hope you enjoy the photos! Fara, fiance & friends, hope you enjoyed the cake. Please ignore the icing! =)

[the pink duffle was the easiest! just a bit of imagination was all it took!]

[Kim said that my baby elephant looked scary with the eyelashes]

[so I took them off and painted her eyes brown =) please excuse my props]

[I was too nauseous to take photos of the work in progress so just a couple of shots of the final product would do]

[the end]

Brownie Bites Cheesecake

2009-02-20T10:32:00.006+08:00

I've finally finished decorating the Brownie Bites Cheesecake this morning with a potential headache feeling in my head. A sign that I musn't overwork myself! Brownie Bites Cheesecake consists of dark chocolate brownie base with more brownies squares arranged in a plain cream cheese filling. Anyway, here are the photos. I got my Mum to have the first taste.

I plan to offer this cake in two sizes. The one I baked was a Petite (apologies for forgetting to weigh the cake before cutting!). I think one adjustment ought to be made especially for the Petite version. That the proportion of Brownie:Cheesecake should be adjusted. I feel that the Brownie Bites in the cake should be smaller in size for the same amount of cheese filling. What do you think? Judging from the photos, any comments how to make this a better cake?

Experimenting a cheesecake

2009-02-17T09:02:00.003+08:00

I just realised that I haven't been baking cheesecakes that much. Initially i felt like baking a Tiramisu Cheesecake. Then I thought of putting my little Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies into a cheesecake...Like that ice-cream of Ben & Jerry's...was it Cookie Dough?? Something like that =) I will need to go over to Bake With Yen to get some ingredients and a 6-inch cake tin since I plan to bake a Petite cake. I will post photos once that is done, and if everything is well, I will add it to the menu =) Happy Baking!

My Bread & Butter Pudding

2009-02-14T20:19:00.002+08:00

So here it is! Due to the stitches in the area between my upper lip and my teeth, I only had about 3 small rectangles of the pud. My mother who is a huge fan of b&b pudding, ate nearly 1/4 of it and has now dozed off ! It's only 8.20pm! I usually add some pecans in my b&b pudding to give it that extra crunch. I felt a bit stingy today and didn't bother getting any pecans at Carrefour =( After my husband footed my huge "Valentine's gift" bill as I like to call it, at Damansara Specialist Hospital, I think I should be a little thrifty this month. I am still a bit disappointed at Kim's insurance agent friend who sold us insurance 2 months ago and said my surgery wasn't covered simply because we haven't hit the 3 month minimum period (or whatever you want to call it) of joining. It's annoying because everything were 'yeses' and 'okays' before taking up the insurance. But after that, if anything happens and it would be beautiful if you could benefit from what you took up from the insurer, everything becomes a 'maybe not'/'i don't think so'/'no's'. If the result of my operation comes out as something more serious than just merely a growth, and i still can't use the insurance, I don't think I would want to look at that husband's of mine friend's face ever again!

Anyway...getting back to my baking, all is beautiful except for the odd white layers of bread visible in the pudding. I just cannot see a single layer of bread in my bread & butter pudding. Every bit has to be fully soaked up with custard. That would be a must..anyway, I still enjoyed it heh heh heh No more cravings =)

Post-surgery cravings

2009-02-14T16:25:00.004+08:00

I'm craving for Bread & Butter Pudding! I went to Alexis and tried theirs...uurrgghhh not up to my expectations. Since I had to deal with some matters at MPH, Midvalley, I decided to buy the ingredients and bake the B&B pudding myself...I hope I don't faint in the midst of baking! I still feel slightly light-headed after the operation. But the will is strong =) Ok, I'm off to cutting some bread now...

Strictly-No-Icing Choc Cheese Wave Birthday Cake

2009-02-09T19:57:00.004+08:00

This was Reen's order as a gift for a friend on her birthday. She particularly insisted that she didn't want any icing at all. Just the writing, plus I thought of adding some tiny flowers just to soften the bareness.

Caledonia offers the Wave in two sizes. Grand (2kg) for RM80 and Petite (950g) for RM55. Caledonia's BEST SELLER by far!

Days off from baking

2009-02-07T00:10:00.002+08:00

I would just like to announce that I cannot accept cake orders for 11th February 2009 onwards, for about 1 week. I should be back in good health, insyaAllah after that =)

I made a visit to Damansara Specialist Hospital this morning only to find that I have a polyp (growth) which has blocked my entire left sinus cavity (area). So I can't quite breathe comfortably with my left nostril. The only way to remove it is through surgery. I might spend Valentine's day in the hospital/at home with lumps of cotton wool in my left nasal passage. Not very romantic! So, that's about it. Just wanted to share this little piece of information in case friends/family suddenly find me missing in action =) Happy Valentine's Day in advance!

Aliah's Choc Cheese Wave Birthday Cake gift

2009-02-05T19:14:00.004+08:00

This is my proudly produced Choc Cheese Wave birthday cake for Aliah's special someone. Everything was decided (type of cake, by Aliah)/bought cake supplies/baked/decorated/delivered (11km away) within 8 hours! I started as early as 9am and was done by 4.30pm the same day. I suddenly realised something, I think when I don't give too much thought about the decoration, then will it be produced nicely. Yes, I ALWAYS over-think things and keep changing them at the 11th hour.

This cake was ordered by my sister's friend, Aliah, who is in Leeds with Mimi (my sister), for someone who means a lot to her. Aliah gave me one single clue "lovey-dovey". So I decided to play around with those sugar hearts and coincidentally found a suitable butterfly to go with the cake. The cake is iced with yummy softly whipped Vanilla cream all over. I was glad that Emille (my mischievous 2 yr old daughter) was asleep throughtout the entire duration I was decorating the cake. Suddenly having a random object thrown onto an iced cake would set me on flames! (yes it HAS happened before!)

I managed to deliver the cake without problems and reached home as a happy baker =) Aliah, if you're reading this, I hope you like the cake presentation as much as his Mum does =) Enjoy!

Cakes menu

2009-02-05T00:57:00.018+08:00

[please click on title for details]

Caledonia Quartet
4-Quartet (4 x 1kg) @ RM250 / 2-Quartet (2 x 1kg) @ RM150

Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake
Grand (2kg) @ RM100 / Petite (1kg) @ RM75

Caramel Apple Cheesecake
One size (1.5kg) @ RM85

Caramel Ruffle Brownie
One size (700g) @ RM50

Cheese Fluff
Grand (1.5kg) @ RM60 / Petite (750g) @ RM45
[decorations excluded]

Choc-Cheese Wave

Grand (2kg) @ RM80 / Petite (950g) @ RM55

Chocolate-Orange Volcano
One size (1kg) @ RM75

Choc-O-reo Mousse Torte
One Size (1.2kg) @ RM85

Dark Temptation
One size (1.3kg) @ RM80
[decorations excluded]

Inside-Out Profiteroles
One size (40-45 pcs) @ RM35

Jay's Mint Slices
One size (9"x9" tray) @ RM50

Midnight Fruitcake
One size (1.65kg) @ RM85
[decorations excluded]

Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies
One size (600g/48pcs of 1"x1" squares) @ RM40

Specialty Cupcakes: Cappuccino Cheese Cuppies
12 Cuppies @ RM55

Specialty Cupcakes: Choc Cheese Wave Cuppies
12 Cuppies (1kg) @ RM55

Toblerone Dark Temptation

Grand (1.3kg) @ RM100 / Petite (700g) @ RM70

My revised Choc Cheese Wave birthday cake

2009-02-05T00:06:00.007+08:00

Choc Cheese Wave consists of a centre layer creamy cheesecake, sandwiched with two layers of melt in the mouth chocolate brownie-cake

I woke up at 6.20am this morning with my full intention of demolishing the decor of Wani's husband's birthday cake as in my previous blog. I looked at the cake and thought "I wouldn't be happy to receive this as my birthday cake!", hence carefully lifting all the white chocolate patterns/writing on the cake.

I stuck to the hearts-idea since Valentine's day is less than 2 weeks away. I obviously could not remove the large candles off the cake without cracking the Wave, so working around them, I carefully drew mini hearts with white chocolate, close to each other, to fill up the entire cake surface. I was done at about 8am with the dark cholate writing to finish off with. I then decided to outline the text with micro bead-sprinklers to make the dark chocolate writing stand out...that took me a good 2.5 hours. My neck took the strain the most. But at least I was happy enough to pass the cake on to Wani, so it's worth it.

After being busy for the last 24 hours, I only managed to check my mail tonight after I got back from spending time with my Dad in Parkroyal Hotel. I received a birthday cake order for tomorrow, 5th February, from my sister's, Mimi's, friend. I might be able to just squeeze baking & decorating the cake tomorrow and get it delivered the end of the day. It all depends on which cake the person orders. Let's just hope that I get enough time to think & dream of the decoration since I'm the most undecisive baker who exists on planet Earth when it comes to decorating! I'll update on that after it's over and done with! For the time being, here's my revised 4th February 2009 birthday cake for Wani's husband, Chor.

Caledonia offers the Wave in two sizes. Grand (2kg) for RM80 and Petite (950g) for RM55. Caledonia's BEST SELLER by far!

Choc Cheese Wave

2009-02-03T19:18:00.012+08:00

[a petite - 950g Choc Cheese Wave consisting of a centre layer of creamy cheesecake, sandwiched with two layers of melt in the mouth chocolate brownie-cake ]

I just finished decorating Wani's cake for her husband's 30th birthday. She ordered a petite Choc Cheese Wave cake with the writing "Happy 30th Birthday Chor". My initial plan was to cover the cake in dark chocolate ganache and drizzle white chocolate over. However, after I turned the cake out of its tin last night, I decided to leave the cake bare for a change - no ganache, just to give the cake more character as the chocolate and cheese layers are visible. So I marked overlapping heart shapes using a cookie cutter around the cake edges and traced them with melted white chocolate. The writing was meant to be RED but I forgot that WHITE (from the white chocolate) + RED = PINK. So I had to make do. I finished the cake off by tying a black and white ribbon around the cake and stuck two huge number '3' and '0' candles. I hope Wani & her husband like the cake.

Caledonia offers the Wave in two sizes. Grand (2kg) for RM80 and Petite (950g) for RM55. Caledonia's BEST SELLER by far!

Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies

2009-02-02T19:08:00.006+08:00

I experimented on some fudgy brownies today, which I called my Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies. Bursting with the richness of dark chocolate with additional milk-chocolate chips in them plus more scattered on top. Delicious! Only complaint was that it was too sweet!! I didn't realise those chocolate chips were made from milk chocolate! For some weird reason, I assumed they were bitter-sweet ones. O well, I'll just have to reduce the amount of sugar I put in them next time =)

[One tray (7"x10") of Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies yields about 48 pieces of 1"x1" (approx.) squares]

Caledonia offers the Mini Fudge-Chip Brownies at RM40 for 600g/48 pieces of 1"x1" squares

Mixer episode

2009-01-31T08:46:00.004+08:00

My apologies for away from my blog for quite a while. Thanks and no thanks to TM, we now have our internet connection working back to normal after living in the stone ages for about 2 weeks! My good old Kenwood handmixer ended its life last wednesday while I was mixing the Choc Cheese Wave. The plastic bit on one of the paddles broke =( I panicked, initially as I had all ingredients out/weighed and some were half mixed i.e. definitely no chance of me pushing them back into their packets/containers. I thank my aunt-in-law for leaving her Cornell stand mix in the pantry so I used that as backup. I had to strain the cheese mix twice to make sure no plastic bits end up in the batter. Thank God i did!

Since Chinese New Year just passed a few days ago, some/most Chinese-owned shops are still closed til the 8th day into their new year. That includes Bake With Yen, the cake supplies shop I usually go to to fulfill all my baking needs. Having not anticipating this earlier, I had to resort to Carrefour for my butter and cheese for orders end of the week. I'm glad I have the habit of keeping extra cake boards and boxes in my kitchen. Going back to my broken mixer, my first instinct at that time was to get into the car and take a short 7 minute drive to The Gardens to buy every-serious-baker's essential kitchen tool, The KitchenAid stand mixer. Fortunately, I still had a tiny bit of willpower in me to restrain my erratic conduct. I bought it two days later, on the Friday heh heh heh in RED. My justification was that I needed one and that it'll last me throughout my baking years. My mum-in-law owns a white one, which she bought 10 years ago when it only cost about RM1600!!! My KitchenAid is still beautifully boxed, as I have yet to find a suitable nook for it to sit in.

I think I'll use it on Monday when Bake With Yen has opened, to bake a birthday cake for Wani's husband - a friend we met in the UK. I'm about to enter my experimenting-mood so I'll probably bake a tray of Chocolate Fudge Brownies next week. There goes my KitchenAid-semangat! (semangat=enthusiasm) =D

Caramel Ruffle Brownie

2009-01-14T17:08:00.003+08:00

My fridge died on me last night. I still had about 600g++ of Philadelphia Cream Cheese in the fridge and a couple blocks of Tatura butter. I was hoping that the technician would come over and get it fixed today, but, as slow as most Malaysian services are, they will only come in the next 2-3 working days! So I decided to bake two trays of Caramel Ruffle Brownies. I've announced the quick sale of the Brownies on my Facebook profile just in case someone might be interested, although in truth, I was actually baking them for the house. Since I haven't blogged about the Ruffle as I call it, so here is a descriptive entry of it.

The Caramel Ruffle Brownie consists of fudgy real chocolate that makes the base, and about 1/3 of Caramel Cheese, 'ruffled' with more chocolate brownie to make the top. It is made into perfection by not over-baking, so the Ruffle stays soft, moist and simply melts in your mouth. Nothing can be more horrible than a dry, crumbly brownie! The height of the Ruffle makes bite-sized portions possibly which adds to the ooohhh-aahhhs of indulgers.

Caledonia offers the Caramel Ruffle Brownie in one size only - 700g for RM50

M&Ms Temptation

2009-01-12T10:48:00.002+08:00

I have a dear friend who is besotted/addicted or much simpler, just cannot see a packet of M&Ms without making her eyes bulge, gasp, and ending up with a satisfying smile on her face as if her life's goals have been wonderfully achieved =) That would be Jay, my psycho-Roxy-M&M-yoga instructor-friend who once upset her tummy by popping in a whole extra-jumbo-sized packet of Christmas' Limited Edition M&M in one go LOL!

So this M&Ms Tempatation (based on my Dark Temptation), as I call it, was created specially for Jay, by adding half a packet of crushed peanut M&Ms with the other half arranged around the cake and absent-mindedly dotted on it, hence the I-don't-quite-get-the-smiley-face on the cake according to Kim. This cake is loaded with chocolate, definitely not for the faint hearts! - extra amount of chocolate in the genoise, double portions of chocolate ganache between each three layers of sponge plus more chocolate ganache poured over the cake. Unbelievably, Jay still wanted to eat the cake with chocolate chip ice-cream!

The amount of M&Ms in the cake is nothing compared to her extra jumbo sized packet but I couldn't help but write the message "Dear Jay, please do NOT consume in one sitting". She ate half of the 1.2kg cake yesterday and that the remaining half will be gone today. I'll wait and see if she asks for emergency MC from work. Bet all the members will be anxious thinking that she's left mYoga again!

My 1st Engagement cake

2009-01-02T18:12:00.008+08:00

I finally managed to decorate my first engagement cake that I've been worrying about for the past 2 weeks. It was the Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake made into an engagement cake. Like I said again and again, I've always been a baker, not a decorator. Decorating doesn't come as naturally as baking does. Although, I do try to decorate when need be =)

So I finally executed the cake decor yesterday. I started at 10.30am (it doesn't help that the night before was new year's eve! - lack of sleep) and finished my mess at 2.30pm - a good 4 hours of torture! The Velvet was iced with freshly whipped cream. I couldn't bring myself to ice it with buttercream or even fondant which would leave a nicer finish. I thought it would significantly affect the taste of my beautiful Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake! So whipped cream it was, like it or not!

I took longer icing the cake as I would with buttercream. The leaf borders, vines and writing were buttercream plus some sugarpaste flowers and a couple of hearts. My main challenge was piping the leaves. They keep breaking and didn't have a pointy tip. I got so frustrated on trying for 1/2 an hour until I finally managed to figure the problem out. I thinned my buttercream consistency with more water and added some piping gel, hoping that it would help with the tip. It did! Thank goodness! They weren't the perfect leaves I wanted, but they'll do! So I started piping the borders, assembling the flowers and hearts and did the vines on the cake.

The sides of the cake was quite bare initially. Kim suggested that i extended the vines, cascading down the sides to fill them up. It worked. Hence my proudly produced masterpiece. It was my first proper cake decor, looks amatuer-ish, but I'm proud enough to have produced it =) Thank you to Ridayatul for having faith in me to decorate her engagement cake. Enjoy!

[A Grand (2kg) Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake iced with softly whipped Vanilla cream, decorated with Vanilla buttercream borders and sugarpaste flowers/hearts]

New Year's Eve Projects 2

2009-01-02T09:39:00.007+08:00

These were the cakes/pastries I made for our new year's eve BBQ dinner =)

Kims calls them the inside-out profiteroles. I didn't have the correct flour, hence the not so puffed up profiteroles. Nevertheless, they disappeared in the fridge! I didn't get the chance to take them out!

This was Hidayah's birthday cake. It hasn't got a name yet. But it's basically the Dark Temptation with an extra layer of dark chocolate mousse in between sponges. Beautiful!

This is the Cheese Fluff made into another birthday cake for Bang Bad's son. It's a sponge-cheese cake, with a soft, creamy melt-in-the-mouth texture.

New Year's Eve Projects

2008-12-27T16:26:00.005+08:00

I'm worrying way too much. I have the word CAKE CAKE CAKE stuck in my bloody head all the time! Not even my new Twilight Saga books can lure my thoughts off CAKES!

I've got a few cakes lined up for new year and first week of January. Kim also requested for me to make profiteroles for new year's eve. One Dark Temptation (with extra chocolate mousse) for Hidayah's birthday, one Cheese Fluff (this is new and haven't been blogged on yet) for a family friend's daughter, and 4 Caledonia Quartets for Kak Ina's order. My biggest worry is the Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake which will be transformed into an engagement cake due on 1st January. It's the decorating part that's been bugging me. I keep re-thinking..revising..re-thinking..revising of ways to decorate the Velvet. I've finally (hopefully) made up my mind on how to ice the cake. I'm going for a coffee whipped cream icing, piped onto the cake as little stars, top and sides. I bought some beautiful white and light yellow baby sugarpaste roses from Cake Connection in Jaya One today and will perhaps place them on the bottom of the cake. It cost me RM22.40 for 16 baby roses. Totally blew my budget as I'm charging RM20 for the deco stuff. Then again, with my little creative deco skills, I don't think I should be charging a whole lot just yet. To me, it's still those early learning stages so I don't plan to make any profit out of decorating.

I haven't, however, decided on the colour of the text on the cake. Should I go for a darker shade of yellow? Also, I'm not risking writing freehand on the cake. I might pre-write on parchment paper and trace out with piping gel and try to stick it onto the cake before finally writing on the cake. As this is all very new to me compared to baking, I'm not too sure if that method will work on whipped cream =( I'm lucky enough to be able to test and try the deco and method on those two birthday cakes for this new year's eve. Decor mistakes are less severe on birthday cakes compared to engagements. I'll post up photos once the cakes are done. Wish me luck! =)

The Dark Temptation

2008-12-26T09:14:00.009+08:00

[10-year old Birthday Boy, Kimin]

[Before]

[a few minutes later!]

This is a continuation of my previous post (Sinful Chocolate Cake). We went to the party and had a slice of the cake to share between us. It was an absolute divine! One adjustment applied. I will try to slice across the cake in 3, instead of 2, to have more chocolate ganache between the cake layers. In terms of taste/richness/moisture - perfect. Kim especially loved the hint of dark chocolate in the cake.

The stabilised whipped cream borders i made were perhaps slightly overly whipped. I dunno. I initially wanted to do a leaf border but the leaves wouldn't come out pointed. It had a blunt-broken tip =( So I went for a shell border at the bottom and a star bottom on top. I will have to experiment more with piping whipped cream since that might be my favourite in terms of taste. Buttercream is just too sweet! Fondant is absolutely disgusting! Royal icing? No no! Marzipan? ahahha yuck! I think it'll have to be chocolate ganache and whipped cream it is =)

And the name of the cake - Dark Temptation sold at RM80 for a 8" - 1.3kg cake. The taste is worth the price, Trust me!

Description: An absolutely rich and moist chocolate cake with generous good-quality dark chocolate ganache filling between layers and then covered with more ganache all over! A must-try for those chocolate sinners!

Sinful Chocolate Cake

2008-12-24T22:19:00.012+08:00

I've finally finished baking my 2nd birthday cake today. The chocolate cake has been trimmed, cut into half, sandwiched with dark-chocolate ganache, and topped off with more ganache. A friend, Wani, ordered a chocolate birthday cake this morning for his 10-year old brother, Kimin, for tomorrow afternoon. I initially panicked coz I thought Wani wanted the Velvet, as it might be a tight squeeze for me to get the cake prepared on top of completing other orders. How relieved was I when she mentioned the Chocolate Orange Volcano with a twist. She wanted the Volcano without the orange, and not to look like a volcano. Basically she wanted a simple chocolate cake =) So I gave her a rough price of RM80 for a 1.2kg chocolate cake. That included candles & knife, deco, and delivery (since we're also invited to the party).

Talking about candles, I bought 10 'Magic Relightable Candles' from Bake With Yen, without thinking much of the name of the candles. Afterall, candles are candles. It was when I reached home that I suddenly realised that those candles might not be suitable for birthdays as they automatically relight themselves after being blown out! The only way of putting out the flame is by dipping the candles in water! *DUH* - slaps herself on the forehead! I'll have to see if Cold Storage, next door, has NORMAL candles. Most shops are closed during Christmas. If not, poor Kimin will just have to make do with those magic candles! You never know, the kids might get excited over it! hehehe

Going back to the cake, I baked the chocolate cake more or less like how I would bake a Volcano with a few alterations so that it wouldn't form a 'crater'. I would imagine it to have the same richness of the Volcano, if not, more. It was my 1st experience playing with Ganache. Well, actually my 2nd, but 1st on a cake. The last time I made chocolate ganache was when I made Valentine Praline Truffles for Kim in Bristol. I made sure I used good quality chocolate as well as good quality cream. I must admit that it was rather messy trying to smoothen out small bare patches at the sides of the cake while turning and making sure my wire rack and cake doesn't topple onto the roasting tin I used to catch the drippings.

When I was assembling the cake, I had my mum-in-law as my 1st audience, followed by my sister-in-law, Hidayah, and Kim's aunt. I'm the type of person who gets nervous when being observed where things may highly likely turn out wrong!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to bringing the cake over to Wani's house in Putrajaya. I'll probably also have a slice of my own cake (how weird, especially in public!) to taste the goodness (or not) of it. If it turns out good, it'll be added to the menu =) Talking of which, I need to come up with a name. I like the word 'Sin' to be in it as the amount of good quality chocolate is sinfully generous. Kimin Chocolate Sin? Sinful Chocolate? Any suggestions?

[please excuse my poor whipped cream writing. That was my 1st writing-on-a-cake attempt!]

Caledonia Quartet

2008-12-23T12:20:00.008+08:00

I baked these festive Caledonia Quartets as gifts to friends earlier this month. It consists of 4-quarters of different cakes - Choc Cheese Wave, Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake, Midnight Fruitcake, & Caramel Ruffle brownie with partitions in between.

[Left-Right, Top-Bottom: Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake, Midnight Fruitcake, Choc Cheese Wave, & Caramel Ruffle Brownie]

Ideal as gifts or for those cake lovers who simply fancy a little variation =) Other cake-combinations available upon request (subject to nature of cake). Please contact for quotes.

Caledonia offers the Quartet in sets:

2-Quartets - RM150 (total of 2kg)
4-Quartets - RM250 (total of 4kg)

My 1st birthday cake

2008-12-22T21:00:00.014+08:00

Last week, Kak Ina ordered a 2kg Choc Cheese Wave for her husband's birthday - with "Happy Birthday Boss" as writing on the cake. I didn't want to spoil the cake with horrible icing, so I opted for whipped chocolate Ganache. I personally think, you can never go wrong with Ganache - slightly expensive compared to other types of icing.

As written in my previous post, I'm not a fan of decorating cakes but am making some initiative to learn nevertheless. Icing the cake wasn't a problem at all. I think that was the easiest part of the decor. I made a shell border for the bottom of the cake and had to work quickly as the whipped ganache warmed up rather fast in my warm palms which makes it difficult to pipe with. After tossing the remaining ganache to set in the fridge, I decided to make dots for the top border of the cake. Really, I think I should have stuck to shells instead of dots as it made the cake quite bare. My plan of dusting the car (I put a MB SL on the cake as the husband deals cars) with icing sugar to imitate snow didn't quite work out as the sugar immediately dissolved into the ganache! LOL

O dear! I also experimented making rolled fondant for the lettering. I didn't enjoy every second of the fondant-making. The amount of icing sugar used to get the correct pliable fondant is just appalling! I cannot imagine how one person can enjoy eating a fondant-iced cake. I think it is definitely pleasing to the eyes only. Having said that, I did enjoy making the alphabet cut-outs. They were rather cute!

O well, there goes my 1st cake-decorating experience. I have 2 more cakes to decorate by new year. Hidayah's birthday cake for 31st Dec, and Ridayatul & Khairul Anwar's engagement cake for 1st Jan. Wish me luck as I think I would need lots of it. Like Nancy said, the art of cake decorating comes with practice. So here's to practising!

Twilight Bites

2008-12-13T21:32:00.006+08:00

I'm listening to Supermassive Black Hole by Muse from Twilight's Soundtrack. I'm absolutely high on everything about Twilight! Anyway, lets not go astray and stick to cakes =)

Yesterday afternoon, Tania, my gonggok friend, requested for a Choc Cheese Wave with a twist. She wanted something without cheese and not so cruel to the waistline. So she asked if I could make the Wave without the cheese. She just wanted the chocolate bit, perhaps thinking the cheese is the fattening bit (dude, you've got it the other absolute way round!). So, since I didn't have plans that immediate afternoon, I went into the kitchen and did some magic throwing things together, not really sure of what I was doing. But I had a good feeling while throwing the ingredients together, so I wasn't worried as that normally meant I was doing something right.

What Tania wanted was a chocolate cake really. Maybe a bite-sized one since she asked me to cut it up in 'moleks'. So I dug int my pantry and found some left-over chocolate chips. I contemplated between using those chocolate chips (although there were only a handful left) or putting in chocolate chunks? Since I was too lazy to get my hands messy and chop the chocolate bar into chunks, I went ahead with the chips instead. It was only Tania the gonggok. A friend whom I can experiment my cakes with =) So I baked the cake/brownie different from how i usually do...again experimenting different baking and mixing techniques. It turned out perfect! The cake was as moist as ever, with the killer melt in the mouth texture. I would imagine it being yummier had i had more chocolate chips or chocolate chunks in them. It could be something I would add to the menu later. Not yet tho. I;m still thinking of a name. I have Twilight in mind. But I thought I'd save that for a promising chocolate cake that I'm about to experiment for Hidayah's (my younger sister-in-law) birthday the end of this month =)

My mind has been too occupied with this Vampire move Twilight that I've been quite distracted from my baking & updating my blog. I read the 2nd book New Moon and managed to borrow the 1st book Twilight off my cousin's, Efie's, girlfriend, Elle, who is perhaps as crazy as I am with Twilight or maybe more! It's been keeping me up til 2-3am. I'll get back in focus once the obsession in me dies down. After all, I am only human =)

Distributing flyers

2008-12-03T15:16:00.003+08:00

Two days ago, I had a 2nd batch of flyers printed out at The Mall, next door. It cost me RM0.80 a piece for 300 pieces. Collected the flyers the same day, and decided to distribute them within Villa Puteri's buildings yesterday while Emille had her afternoon nap.

I started off on level 4 and worked my way up. There are 34 floors in D block and 40 floors in C block with connecting fire escapes between the two blocks. One would think slipping flyers under every occupied apartment would not be such a big deal. At least that was what I thought! I decided to give up til the 22nd floor. I felt like I just finished one session of my dance classes in mYoga with sweat patches on my top and all!

It was a very weird feeling giving out those flyers. At that time, I really feared bumping into people as don't want to be seen as the cake lady who is busy chucking her flyers in your apartments! When I did bump into tenants, I would just walk pass as if I was heading for a friend's/relative's house! DUH! My PR memang fail!

Anyway, out of those 18 floors I did yesterday, I received 3 calls enquiring about my cakes. The 1st person was a bit weird. God knows where he's from, but definitely not Malaysian. He placed an order and 'deleted' it (that was his term of cancelling) a few hours later. I could barely hear him with his funny accent plus noise of kids/women/whoever they were shouting/talking in the background. I'm quite glad i didn't get to do business with him. Now I understand Kim's reluctance of dealing with outsiders because not all customers are normal/nice.

The 2nd person was a Singaporean dude who was quite interested in the Midnight Fruitcake. He was very well spoken, polite and friendly. He kept asking if my Midnight Fruitcake was, what they call it at home as, Kek Kukus (which means steamed cake)? My Midnight Fruitcake was quite similar to his description of Kek Kukus except that i don't steam it, i bake it. He also asked me whether my Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake is nice. Of course I said 'Yes'. I am not a person of many words. So promoting my cakes verbally is slightly a problem. As Ruby once said, the first time I wanted to sell cakes to her, I had this my-cakes-are-not-that-nice-but-I-am-saying-that-it's-nice kind of look. Get it? She said that I should sell it more confidently because they are absolutely-orgasmicly delicious. I prefer to let people judge my cakes for themselves, i.e. where the samples come handy, then again I can't afford to be making samples all the time!

Ok, moving on...The 3rd person was a lady married to an Englishman. She also enquired about the Fruitcake, asking it whether it's a steamed or baked one? What is it with steamed fruitcakes? Maybe I should do some research on it. She was thinking of ordering for Christmas, but will have to ask her husband as to which cake they should choose. She's quite keen on the Choc Cheese Wave. I think all the cakes looked so yummy on the flyer, she's having a hard time choosing! But I did say that the bestsellers are the Caramel Ruffle Brownie and the Choc Cheese Wave. I also promoted my to-die-for Velvet Cheesecake and felt like dying because selling is just not my thing! Why do you think I've got resellers to sell for me?!

So that was my story of my 1st few interations with my own customers. I actually felt quite good as it reminded me when I was working in retail for eSCENTials while expecting. I totally enjoyed my time there in Bristol. The only problem question will be the "Is it nice?" question. If only I could say "Have a taste?" *offers a small slice of cake* =)

Midnight Fruitcakes

2008-12-02T17:39:00.008+08:00

I baked a couple of Midnight Fruitcakes this morning. One for Kak Apeng and the other one will be quartered into what I'm about to call, the Christmas Quartet. The Quartet is basically 4-quarters of different cakes put together on one cake board - Midnight Fruitcake, Choc-Cheese Wave, Caramel Ruffle Brownie, and Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake. Making one batch of the Quartet will give me 4 'cakes', and I'm planning to give them out as gifts to 4 close friends as a Christmas/New Year's Eve presents =) I will take a photo once I've assembled the cakes.

Going back to the Midnight Fruitcake, I'm, honestly, not a fruitcake fan. The reason I even attempted baking the fruitcake was because of my Dad who loves fruitcakes, hence I thought of baking something he likes. My Mum, like me, isn't a fan of fruitcakes. However, she absolutely LOVES this Midnight Fruitcake. Possibly the only one she'll ever eat! I am still a non-fruitcake lover hehehe =P

The Midnight Fruitcake isn't like the ones we usually get in shops (or at least like the many that I've tasted). For one, which is the most important element for a cake, to me, is it is very moist. Secondly, it's packed with fruits! - Prunes, Golden Raisins, Currants & Oranges. There's barely enough cake/flour to hold the fruits together. I don't use the pre-mixed fruits you get in packets. I think they just downgrade your cakes. Then again, that's just a personal opinion. Thirdly, like all of my cakes, it's not overly sweet. I think there's a good balance between the sweetness, tanginess, and spiciness of the cake. The cake/dough/flour itself is like a chocolate-mocha mix.

Tania once said that there's no colour since 3/4 of the fruits used are black. But I told her "Why do you think I named it Midnight Fruitcake?". I have a thing against glazed cherries, especially the typical green & red ones. That's why I don't use it in the cake. I could put in nuts, then again it all goes down to cost and how much people are willing to pay for a fruitcake.

Caledonia offers the Midnight Fruitcake at RM85 for 1.65g.

[Photo: The two fruitcakes I baked this morning, about to sit in the fridge. I have a habit of wrapping cakes in cling film to avoid fridge odours!]

Caledonia Flyer

2008-11-30T23:58:00.004+08:00

This is our official flyer (please click on photo to enlarge).

Orders and enquiries can be directed to:

Phone: 012-2171785 (Ira)
Email: caledonaplace@gmail.com

Collections are to be made at Villa Puteri Condominium, Jalan Tun Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake

2008-11-29T18:40:00.008+08:00

Just felt like taking a photo of the Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake which I baked for Diliana. If you are a cheesecake fan, this is cake is a must try!! It also captured the hearts(or tongues?) of non-cheesecake lovers.

Instead of the traditional biscuit crumb base, I opted for a Vanilla-Lemon sponge which compliments the bursting richness of coffee in the cheese filling. The cake as a whole, has an extrememly smooth, satin-velvety texture that simply melts in the mouth. Quoting a customer's response after receiving a Petite Velvet as a present, "It's a cheesecake to die for!"

Caledonia offers the Velvet in two sizes. Grand (2kg) for RM100 and Petite (1kg) for RM75.

[Photo: A Grand (2kg) Cappuccino Velvet Cheesecake - RM100]

Choc-O-reo Mousse Torte

2008-11-29T10:59:00.007+08:00

Three days ago, I decided to experiment on making mousse for the first time. Since Kim had to go to Indonesia for 3 days, I invited Ruby and her cousin, Wani, to stay over while Kim was away. That was when I said to Ruby that I'm about to experiment on making mousse and needs her opinion (plus tummy!) on the invention on Friday.

This new 'cake' that i made, consists of 4 layers. Working from the bottom as the 1st layer, bottom layer - Oreo cookies crumbs as a base, like in cheesecakes where you have the biscuits crumbs. 2nd layer - Caramelised chopped pecans. 3rd layer - a generous amount of bitter-sweet chocolate mousse. 4th (top) layer - Pecan halves with layered with more caramel.

I wouldn't want to call it a cake as it could be misleading, hence, torte. It is very different from my 5 cakes sold, especially in terms of texture. Kim says it's very un-cake-ly. Well, that is true as it isn't a cake. It's mousse! Ruby had the honour to have the first taste. 5 seconds later, I couldn't get anything out of her as she was in some orgasmic/out of the world state, with eyes shut and all! Verdict was good! with a few alterations of course. The top layer could do better with less caramel. Perhaps just glazed. And the Oreo base needs to be less crumbly, more intact. Both aren't hard to adjust =) So I was a happy baker and concluded that the torte passed the QC stage and will be included in the flyer at some point.

My initial concern was it might be costly due to the expensive ingredients used - Pecans, good quality chocolate, and Oreo cookies to name a few. I don't believe in substituting for inferior ingredients just to cut cost as it will definitely alter the quality of the torte. If I were to substitute, maybe the pecans to slivered almonds? Slightly cheaper, maybe still yummy although I'm a huge pecan lover =) I managed to work out the cost and came to a price of RM85 for a 1.2kg Choc-O-reo Mousse Torte. Ideally, it should be sold at RM90. But, I am unwilling to cut costs of ingredients, therefore I'll cut a bit on my profit for quality's sake.

I'll upload a photo of an eaten Choc-O-reo Mousse Torte. I might look a little messy but it'll give viewers an idea to what nonsense I'm talking about =) I will not include it on my flyer just yet. But orders are open to Caledonia's blog readers plus to those who know about it.

Decorating

2008-11-29T10:18:00.003+08:00

I initially thought that I could get away with decorating but still continue baking lovely cakes. I was wrong. I was able to avoid fancily decorating my cakes only up to a certain point until you keep selling more cakes and customers keep asking whether or not I could possibly decorate for special occassions e.g. Birthdays/Anniversaries/Weddings and list list goes on.

Doing the simple touch-ups e.g. smoothing the sides of cakes/dusting icing sugar or cocoa powder/chocolate shavings/sprinklers isn't a problem for me as it doesn't take too much time to do those things. BUT. creating flowers/patterns and icing the whole cake is not really my cup of tea. I find it too time consuming plus I myself am not a huge fan of heavily decorated cakes. To me, cakes have to satisfy my palate, not the eyes. I could eat the simple buttercream icing/ganache but never ones with Royal icing/fondants. Too stiff not to mention sweet!

Having said that, ever since opening Caledonia, I think I will have to put aside my personal preferences and try to fulfill customers' needs/requests. Perhaps I need to give myself a chance to venture into this whole decorating area. Who knows, I might get hooked? So that was what I did yesterday, trying to find a good book in Decorating in Borders, The Gardens. The thing with Malaysia, we don't actually have a huge selection of good books on anything for that matter! I always find myself ordering online from UK/US and getting them posted over to KL. I think I will have to ask my brother, Reza, to post over a good book by Wilton at some point.

Wish me luck! I think I need lots of it!