"Captain America"

A friend of mine, Nurbiha or Nur, as I call her, ordered this Captain America themed cake for her son's 8th birthday last Saturday. I managed to squeeze in this order before I left for my hub's hometown, Batu Pahat over the weekend. The cake was a chocolate cake with Belgian milk chocolate ganache. Since time was not on my side, I only made the base of the cake in Captain America's colours and theme. The figurine, unfortunately was a toy! I usually try to make these figurines with sugar paste but I didn't have the luxury to do so this time. However, I was quite happy with the cake and so was birthday boy, Raimi.

 

Birthday boy, Raimi at his birthday party!



According to Nur, he was so thrilled with the cake! Thank you for the order, Nur and a happy belated birthday to Raimi!!

"Shimmery Ivory Cupcakes"

I was commissioned by Raja Jesrina Tan Sri Raja Arshad or fondly called Jess to make another order of cupcakes. This time its for her Wedding Party, which was held on 19th April 2014 at the Shang-ri La. The concept of the wedding party is elegant, luxurious & ethereal. The colour she wanted was a combination of white and light ivory. The flowers were fantasy flowers and filled with sugar pearl dragees in the centre. I had the flowers and cupcake base airbrushed a pearl sheen so in order to create the shimmery effect. The lace cupcake wrappers were also custom made in light ivory and ordered from overseas. The cupcake itself is lemon poppy flavoured with vanilla frosting.

 

The ivory base of the cupcakes were airbrushed a pearl shimmer as Jess wanted the shimmer and lustre effect

The cupcakes with the fantasy flowers in ivory and pearl dragees

The wedding cupcake up close. Looks ethereal and classy and just the way Jess wants them to be!

I had these flowers airbrushed too

  

I had the cupcake lace wrappers custom made in ivory to match the theme of the wedding party

  

Congratulations again Jess on your marriage!! Thanks for the 2 big orders for this year. I guess with these two big orders, I am sort of done on big orders for the time being. I will see how the future pans out for me and then decide if I should really continue. For now, I will only make special request cakes and on a smaller scale as my hands are still not a 100% healed!

 

 

 

"Pizza Crazy Kids"

My kids are absolutely crazy about pizzas. They can eat pizza every day and not get bored of them, I tell ya'! I decided to make my own pizza from scratch, which I haven't done in a long time. I usually use the pre-made pizza base bought at my bakery supply store, which is not too bad. However, I wanted a pizza base like the Italian pizza, not too thick and crispy.

 

Basically, I used Annabel Karmel's really simple pizza dough recipe from her book, Mommy and Me Cookbook :-

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for oiling
1 cup warm water
21/4 cups bread flour, plus extra for sprinkling,
A pinch of salt

This is how you make it:

1. Mix the yeast with 3 tbsp water. Set this aside for 10 minutes or until it is frothy.
2. Sift the flour and add the sugar, salt and pepper. Then make a well in the center.
3. Pour the yeast, water and oil into the well. Use your hands to mix everything together.
4. Sprinkle the flour over a clean work surface. Then knead the dough for 8 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic.
5. Oil a large bowl, put in the dough, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Is it ready? Poke holes in the dough. If the holes stay, it's ready.
7. Knead the dough again. Then cut it into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 7 inch circle and place on a baking sheet.
8. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spread sauce and place toppings on pizza. Bake for 13 minutes.

 

My dough

It has risen and doubled in size

My homemade tomato sauce, made with garlic, tomatoes, stewed tomatoes and basil



My homemade pizza base brushed with olive oil, pardon the shape! Its not a perfect round shape

Margherita pizza for my son ready for the oven

We were too excited when the pizza was out of the oven, that I totally forgot to capture a photo of the cooked pizza. It was good and I have been making these pizzas for my kidsa few times already! I will never buy the pre-made base again after this. The base is so easy to make!!

 

Do try this recipe! Its really fun to make with your kids in the kitchen!