Friday 30 January 2015

Christmas Goodies


I made a few Christmas treats for my friends' orders and also for my children's classmates and teachers at ISB.
 
1) Mini Christmas tree cupcakes with a shiny gold star on the top. These cupcakes were ordered by Rose, whose daughter attends the Shrewsbury International School Bangkok was a having a Christmas party in school to mark the end of the school term. She wanted these Christmas trees as what represents the joy of Christmas more than these cute little trees with its colourful ornaments. I made the ornaments on the mini tress in gold and silver sugar beads with one thousand and one colourful pieces. The cupcakes are French vanilla flavoured with vanilla buttercream.
 


 

 

2) There was also another order of Christmas themed cupcakes in December. This time its by Meg, whose son also attends the same school as Rose's daughter but in different year levels. Meg's son, Rayyan also had a Christmas party in school. The cupcake design was inspired by snowflakes and snow. I made these really nice snowflake cut outs in two sizes and airbrushed them in pearl white to achieve the shimmery effect. I then airbrushed the icing on the cupcakes in icy blue to create a bluish tint to the icing base. I also enhanced the cupcake by adding silver and pearl sugar beads and a dusting of silver edible dust. The cupcakes are chocolate flavoured with vanilla buttercream.
 


 
 
3) For my finale Christmas goodies, I made French vanilla butter cookies for my children's teachers and friends in celebration of Christmas and the last day of Term 1. I decided to make the Christmas tree, star and snowflake themed cookies as they were the easiest to make! I was running short of time as it was a very busy week for me as I was running back and forth to school for events. I am glad I still managed to complete 32 cookies in time for my children to bring to school. I had individually packed them and completed each pack with a Christmas theme ribbon.
 






 
With these treats, I was done for year 2014. It was a difficult year for me. For one thing, I have slowed down a lot on my baking and cake making. I also had my carpel tunnel surgery in February 2014, my husband had a major neck operation in July due to his upper spine slip disc and after that in August, we all had to pack up and move to Bangkok. Uprooting my kids and enrolling them in a new school went quite smoothly but I had trouble occupying my days in a new country especially with the language barrier. However, I am still very thankful with all that have been bestowed upon me and my family. My new home now feels like home but no matter what my heart will still be in Malaysia. I do miss my house in KL and wish that I could bring my house here to Bangkok.
 
I hope that in 2015, the carpel tunnel on my right hand will improve and am able to create more beautiful cakes. I do have some difficulties with getting my baking supplies here in Bangkok as I am very used to dealing with my suppliers in KL. I guess I still am adjusting here plus I don't have a client base yet, Hopefully, Pink Ellies Novelty Cakes will continue to flourish in year 2015. Wish me luck, peeps...
 
xoxo
Elinna Bahrin
Bangkok, Thailand


Thursday 29 January 2015

Hannah's Owl

My daughter, Hannah celebrated her 10th birthday last October 14th. She shares the same birthday as her daddy, and that's why she will always be Daddy's Little Girl. Hannah has been pestering me to make her an owl theme birthday cake since the beginning of 2014 when she started going ga-ga over anything that are owls. I always look forward to making birthday cakes for my kids. I love their reaction when they see the finished product.
 
So, when we were in Kuala Lumpur last September for a visa renewal visit, Hannah and I found this cute owl paper clips at Typo. The owl paper clips were in light teal and white. Of course Hannah was so happy as teal is one of her favourite colours now. Since purple is another of her favourite colours, we both decided to make her birthday theme this year light purple, light teal and white.
 
I made butter cookies for her classmates and used the owl paper clip as my source of inspiration. I had the fondant owls painted white at its eyebrows and tummy. The cookies turned out great and Hannah's classmates were very happy with her birthday treat.
  
Hand painting the sugar owls in edible white paint

The purple and teal owls

The butter cookie with the owl and the owl paper clip
that I used as my inspiration

For Hannah's classmates

I managed to get the basket at the Chatuchak weekend
market at a bargain! I love them 
 
For Hannah's cake, I basically made a bigger version of the sugar owl and airbrushed the cake with a pearl shimmer. The cake was quite easy to execute and I managed to complete the cake and cookies all on the same day. I guess not working does have its perks! I can spend the whole day taking my time instead of always having to rush my time and fighting for time.
 
My baby girl with her cake



 
I can't believe that my baby girl is 10 already and this year she will be 11. How fast time flies! I wish I could just slow down the time and treasure every moment of her childhood as long as I could. She is almost a teenager now and acts like she's going on 16! Don't grow up too fast, baby girl! Treasure each and every childhood moment you can. Time passed will never be recaptured. I wish her only the best things in her life and hope she will grow into a beautiful young lady that I see her becoming each day. Love you to the moon and back, my baby girl....