"Not Out Yet!"

Last weekend, I had a cake order from Juwita Ghani (she ordered from me the Mickey & Friends cake last month). This time, she wanted to surprise her husband, Richard Sayer, who was celebrating his 38th birthday on 08th August 2012. She had organised for him a small dinner party on 11th August 2012 and wanted a birthday cake for that occasion. Richard likes sports especially the game cricket. So, she wanted me to make a cricket theme cake for him.

To tell you the truth, I've never watched a cricket game before and I don't even know how it is played. When I received the e-mail request from Juwita, I had to start researching on the web to see the best way to design the cake. To me, a cricket cake would not be complete without the player on the cricket lawn surrounded by all cricket stuff!! After much browsing, I noticed that almost all the cricket cakes that I see have these wordings on them, "NOT OUT" and decided I should adopt the same concept on my cake.

I actually enjoyed making this cake even though I started decorating after breaking fast. I was just too tired to do it in the day as I was also working that day. Turns out that I actually miss doing fondant cakes and had a great time creating this cake despite the fact that I finished the cake at almost 2 am!!

 

When Juwita saw this cake, she told me it was brilliant and Richard was so thrilled with the cake

 As for me, I am always happy when my clients are happy. Richard even thanked me on FB for the cake. Thank you Juwita for your loyal support! Happy Belated Birthday, Richard....

"Pineapple Tarts & Such"

In my earlier post, I mentioned that I have baked two types of Raya cookies. Well, the other cookie that I made for this Hari Raya was the pineapple tarts. This request was made by my other half, who loves the jam tarts. So, I managed to complete one batch this week and have yet to complete another batch. I had to put a halt on my cookies baking this week as I had two cake orders also. Even though I had at first decided to take at least a month and a half break from selling cakes, I decided to take on these orders.  My hands are itching to make some sugar modelling! Crazy, I know but I missed creating my sugarpaste cakes!!!

First, these are my pineapple jam tarts...

The jam tarts just melts in your mouth as you take the first bite!

Pineapple tarts have always been my all time favourite Raya cookie. Been having at least two of these after I break fast! Bad for the waistline!!!!

This year, baking the pineapple tarts was relatively easy and I was very surprised at how fast I was able to finish one batch of these cookies! Hopefully, baking the second batch wouldn't give me any problems.

Now, for my first cake order this week, it was a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache icing. This cake was ordered by Annie, who wanted to try my chocolate cake. She found my FB page, Pink Ellies Novelty Cakes and enquired about an engagement cake. So, after many e-mails, she decided she couldn't wait for her engagement to taste my cake and decided to order one this week. So, I made her a buttermilk moist chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache. Enjoy the cake, Annie and thanks for the order!

The chocolate cake

I added Oreo crumbs, dark chocolate & white chocolate shavings on the cake. I put 3 layers of chocolate ganache on the cake

Looks good, eh!

"Tok Mak's Sarang Semut"

I have not updated my blog in a month!!! Truth is, this fasting month has really taken a toll on me. I started being very sick the first week of fasting. Very, very bad gastric attack and my body is still slowly adjusting to fasting despite the fasting month is already coming to an end. Needless to say, I've just gained my energy in the last week and managed to bake two types of family favourite cookies for Raya. I made my late grandma's sarang semut. This cookie is an all time favourite in my household especially for my son, Haziq. He has been pestering me to bake for him the sarang semut since the beginning of Ramadhan. Hari Raya  is not complete without the cookies, right?? So, I always try to bake at least two to three types of cookies each year and the rest I would order from different suppliers.

The sarang semut cookie is very special to me. I make it every year to mark my respect to my late grandma and also to keep her in our remembrance especially during the festive season. No one in my mother's family makes it anymore as the process is quite tedious but I do it every year despite the fact that its very tiring especially when you're fasting. Its a 4 step process : 1) bake the cookie dough, then transfer to cooling tray, 2) coat the cookie with melted chocolate, 3) cover the coated cookie with chocolate rice and, 4) put cherry on the cookie and place them in cookie wrappers. This year, I had my daughter, Hannah  to help me. She was great help despite her fasting and all that! We made two batches and managed to finish about 120 pieces in one baking session. And of course, my son was the happiest boy when he saw a whole jar filled with sarang semut. The problem now, would my sarang semut last until Hari Raya?? I hope so, though. The way I see it now, the cookies are slowly working its way down in the jar. Hopefully it can last for another 10 days!!!

Tok Mak's Sarang Semut

The sarang semut up close... Looks yummy and taste good too! The butter cookie just melts is your mouth as you take the first bite. Have always love this cookie ever since I was a little girl!!! 

Thanks Tok Mak for this great cookie recipe. I will make sure I pass on this recipe to Hannah and keep the tradition of baking the sarang semut for many, many more years to come. At times like this, I realise how much I miss my Tok Mak's presence in my life. Love you always, Tok Mak....