Sanrio Characters cookies

These are the first batch of decorated cookies that i have made in my new kitchen.  I had a hard time finding all my decorating stuff.. that's the problem with moving to an entire new place.. i can't remember exactly where i unpacked my things to and took a while to locate them all.  *roll eyes*

Decorating cookies is hard work!  I took 2 hours just to make the icing and to color it to the right colors and getting it to the right consistency. Not to mention bagging the colors and then the washing up after...and I have not got to decorating the cookies yet!  So for those of you who complain why decorated cookies and cakes are expensive.....think again.  A lot of effort and time is put into them...from the design stage right up to the end product....

..but I disgress, so here are my cookies.....

Keroppi Cookies 

Keroppi is my son's favorite character.  He adores anything frog! :D 

 My Melody Cookies

My Melody is my favorite character when growing up. 

Somehow i find it cuter than Hello Kitty and i still do ..(sorry Hello Kitty fans!)

Purin Cookies

Purin is a golden retriever.  

This is my daughter's favorite character.

Cinnamoroll Cookies

Cinnamoroll is a white puppy.  Very cute!  

I like it because it reminds me of my favorite food - cinnamon bun..LOL!

 Hello Kitty Cookies

 Hello Kitty Cookies

 Not the entire Sanrio family but enough for me..LOL! 

All packed and ready to go! :) 

Thanks for visiting!

T-Rex Cake

Thank God for helping me through this cake and also for safe delivery too.  I was so stressed out as i'm packing to move and i can't find most of my decorating tools cos they are either in boxes or over at my new place.  So i really had to make do with whatever i had on hand.  I thought our move was postponed so i took this assignment, but after my husband told me that we are moving soon.  Not fun to have so many things going at the same time. 

Many thanks to Paul Joachim of Art Edibles for advising me on the cake structure.   I learnt a lot about cake structure working on this cake. If i were to do it again, i will do it slightly different..using a stronger structure. 

This cake was a family affair..LOL! My husband helped me out with the structure - sawing and drilling.  He doesn't trust me with any of the powertools.  My daughter is having her vasity hols now so she helped me with moulding the facial features, feet, arms, teeth, eyeballs and also for calculating the proportional measurement..:)

I had so much fun airbrushing..that was the fun part!! :D  Not so fun after when there's color everywhere on the floor..wall, etc. LOL!  I'll totally do this again just for the airbrushing part. :p

Oh..during the delivery, the upper lip of the T-rex was dented slightly..and after touch up the t-rex looked like it had gotten into a fight with a bruised upper lip!  

Feet moulded by my daughter. Close up of chocolate fossil bones. 

My cake against my kitchen backdrop. This is my last cake in this kitchen.

Mickey & Minnie Gingerbread Cookies

Based on Tokyo Disneyland 2010 merchandise design.  My daughter bought the earrings version while i bought the cookie cutters needless to say. :)

Just having some fun with left over icing..no design in particular. :)  Probably looking at it now..good for Mother's Day cookies.  LOL!

Party Logo Cookies

General Elections is around the corner.  I'm stressed (I don't know why either..or maybe it's anxiety?)...yes....this is my first time voting. This year is unusual, not the usual 'walk-over' and feels like everyone is experiencing a political awakening including me. I've been doing my 'homework' so much so that i even dreamt of the coming elections the night before..not sure if it was a nightmare or not but i dreamt that i was decorating cookies relating to this election.  I woke up, decided that i should be making some and spent last night after work decorating these cookies...

These cookies were piped free-hand. As these cookies were last minute impromtu decision to make them...and also because I didn't plan properly, I ran out of cookies before I could go on with other party logos..LOL!  :p   

I'll be eating these cookies while watching the results this weekend.  :)

Pink Carriage Cake

I am very pleased with how this cake turned out esp I had soo many problems with this cake.  

Looking at this photo, you can't tell that I had to re-cover, re-make the wheels & lines.  I made the wheels & lines so many times (i lost count) as they kept breaking and just didn't work out with pastillage or gumpaste as they couldn't dry hard in time in our humid weather.. ok, that serves me right for not making them in advance. :p   A lesson to learn for me not to do things last minute and to give ample time for such items to dry first.   

Finally out of desperation, i made the wheels & lines out of pull sugar! My first time pulling sugar and I did burnt my finger a little.  But even that wasn't smooth sailing and i had to re-make a few times to get to the correct shape for it to stand!  At least i know it will be rock hard and doesn't need time to dry.   

I'm so glad that i pushed myself to pull sugar. I've always wanted to do it but have been procrastinating.  But the next time i pull sugar, i will have to read the instructions..this time round, i didn't really have time to digest and just jumped into it.  Yes..and i did burnt my finger.   But it is so worth it as i love the outcome of it.  

Slept only at 5am!  And after all the hard work, so sad to see it go! :( 

Tiffany Box Cake

This cake is not without problems..lol!....not so much the decorating of it..but also that the devil food cake i baked 'shrank' from the sides of the pan quite considerably that i had to really spend a LOT of time trying to get the perfect square.    Then i had a hard time covering it as the square is the hardest to cover esp. when it is 4.5" high.    Fondant coverage not as perfect as i would like it to be, but i'm quite happy with the end result. :D 

More photos to show off how sharp the sides are...;)  After i spend soo many hours trying to perfect the sharpness of it.. i guess i have to show off right? LOL!

Thanks for visiting! :D

Mini 4" Cake

Mini Cake. Looks like a hat doesn't it esp. when i place my plate upside down. LOL! "D 

Princess & Pirate Castle Cake

Many Many thanks to my friend Angela of Sweet-Tooth-Fairy for lead again and for hearing me rant about the trouble i had with this cake and all..and also for the cupcake boxes she gave me. Those were life savers..otherwise i won't know how to transport the 30 cupcakes. :)   If it weren't for her i won't have made it..she's always the one encouraging me to take on the challenge and i am the type that want to take things easy..(esp. when it's suppose to be a hobby right?)..hahaha... So how to say no to a wonderful friend who even provided me with cupcake boxes! 

Set up the cake at the venue, hence the poor lighting for photo.  

Inspiration from Sarah's castle cake ( www.flickr.com/photos/crazycakes-eu/4723338211/ ) and BCakeNY's pirate & princess cake ( www.flickr.com/photos/bcakeny/3504688597/ )

I had lots of problem with this cake..took me ages to finish and i was practically pulling my hair out!  This is the first time I'm using Satin Ice fondant and it's sooo hard and dry.. i had a hard time rolling it out.  But i've heard some had great reviews of it.  So i'm not sure the ones i had were just off or lousy batch.  Covering the 11" x 4" square cake was a really tough job..took me 1.5 hours to get it covered...i covered it a total of 4-5x (i lost count even!) and even so, the last time i tried wasn't even great..i still had cracks but i had to move on.  However, Angela's client was very happy...so all the effort is worth it in the end. :)

cake set up at the venue

hand molded sugar princess to match the invitation card

hand molded pirate boy to match the invitation card

Look what i found and bought? Pirate candle - so suitable for this cake!

Flickering lights with cartoon cards inside the turrets so the kids peep into it. :) 

My very last min design for princess cupcakes. It just came up as i was working on it. Literally....last minute.   I thought they looked like Princess Leia from Star Wars.

Pirate cupcakes - design taken from planet cake book.

Thanks for visiting! :D  

Autism Cookies

I made these cookies for my son's school teacher. As you all know by now that i have a son who's autistic.  He's now 18 and in a day care centre.  I've always wanted to do this design but never quite got the chance to.  My friend Angela (Sweet-Tooth-Fairy) brought this ribbon cutter back from US and i kept it for a year before finally using it. :p  

I tried very hard to pipe the puzzle effect but after connecting 4 puzzles, i kind of lost what i had in mind and the puzzle became out of shape! LOL!  Doing the puzzle effect on that narrow space on the ribbon is so difficult..at least for my skills right now..

Bikini Cookies

Inspired by Peggy Porschen's design.

Star Wars Cake, Cupcakes & Cookies

These are what i have been so busy with. My friend Angela (Sweet-Tooth-Fairy) asked me to take on her client in her absence and she "pushed" me to accept it...knowing that i need to stop watching too much TV and get some work done. LOL!   

R2-D2 CAKE

Front View of R2D2 Cake

Side View of R2D2 Cake

R2-D2 & R2-M5 CUPCAKES

mini R2-D2 & R2-M5

mini R2-D2 & R2-M5

These are my diy cupcake wrappers in case you all are wondering..:) 

I downloaded a file on papercraft from a Japanese website and edited them in photoshop and adjusted to the size that i wanted for my cupcakes.  

STAR WARS  CHARACTER COOKIES

Star Wars character cookies. 

These cookies are harder to ice than i thought! I had a hard time trying to ice them esp. Boba Fett..took me a really long time that i almost tear my hair out..lol!

Many thanks to Angie (another friend name Angela..lol!) who carried the cutters all the way back from US. 

Misc Star Wars logo cookies

Just playing around with some designs with my extra cookie dough

These are totally inspired by Angela of Sweet Tooth Fairy and Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle. 

Cookies packed.  I did the labels on my own. :D 

Now i'm taking a break from baking...and a break from Star Wars...

Even though i didn't join HCB this week for the Genoise Tres Cafe, i did bake part of the cake and cupcakes from HCB recipes.  For cupcakes, i had to experiment & weigh the batter to the exact grams a bit to get a dome..and realised that flour (cake or all purpose) makes a difference to the texture and the density of the cake and the shape as well!

The only thing that didn't work from Rose's recipe was the pastillage taken from Cake Bible.   Not sure why but i made it twice and it was too wet, and i add lots of icing sugar before it even become a dough and it became crumbly later so i had to discard. 

Banana Pajamas Cake

My son's birthday is on boxing day and we usually celebrate his birthday on Christmas Eve with logcake as his birthday cake.  But this year, I decided to bake a special cake for him.  Initially I thought of just baking a normal quick and easy chocolate cake (like last  year) or go down to the bakery to buy him a cake...but guilt got the better of me.  Even though I am not certain if he knows what or when his birthday is (and he is still rather confused as to how old he actually is), I should still make him feel special by baking one of his favorite character cakes.   I figured Banana Pajamas is probably quite appropriate because whenever you ask him to sing a Birthday Song, he would sing it as "...Happy Birthday B1 & B2.." and not his name or any other person's name...because he is replaying this episode of Banana Pajamas in his mind - of them celebrating their birthday with Morgan, Lulu & Amy with a cake, munchy honey cakes and yellow jelly.. 

This design is taken from Debbie Brown's book. Of course her Banana Pajamas character cake is way way way better than this.  That's because i didn't follow her instructions and I used my own cake base and thus resulted in a not-so-great Banana Pajamas. But inspiration and design is from Debbie Brown.  

Again, i couldn't decide which photo i like better, thus posted up both of them.   Since this cake wasn't exactly planned for and last minute i rushed through, i felt that i didn't really do a very good job in carving or fondant work..but at least they still look like Banana Pajamas since my son is able to identify them..and he seems pretty happy when i completed it.  We have yet to cut the cake, so not sure if he will be upset if we cut it tonight though..

Happy 18th Birthday to my son Joel! Yes, he is 18 already and i can't believe it....i  keep forgetting at times and still sees him as my little boy..  

Updates: [He didn't want to cut the cake at all...probably he doesn't sees it as a cake and doesn't want to destroy it........hmm..maybe i should just bake him a plain cake next time so at least he knows a cake is a cake..hahaha]. 

Wedding Macarons

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my earlier post re the wedding cookies i made for my friend.  All of you are always so encouraging and kind with your words.  Thanks! :D   Without further ado, here's the second installment of the wedding cookies..this time round in the form of macarons.  Macarons are also cookies correct?  Not so sure..but i think so.  As my friend's wedding theme is pink, so pink and white macarons (white looking more like champagne color actually) it is.. I hunted for THE cute ribbon for the longest time and managed to find the one that i like but it's sooo expensive...what to do, i needed to have that ribbon to complete the entire look for the macaron-lollipops, so not much of a choice. 

Tying the ribbons was hard work..believe me..trying to get those little dots facing the correct way was a pain..i actually took 1 hour just to bag and tie 35 of them!  Thankfully only 35 of them in lollipops..the balance 100+ are just normal macarons...*phew*..

I set these up for my amateurish photoshoot..hahaha.  I can't decide if i like the dark background better or the white one. So i posted both here. As you can see, my Macdonald's coke glasses are in action again. Sorry folks, i really don't have any vase or nice flower pots or proper glasses at all.. i only have these free coke glasses..and i have a LOT..yup..i spend every weekend at Macdonalds because that is my son's favorite place.  

In case you all wondering, i baked the shells before i left for my hols to Japan.  I must say macaron freezes very well.  Thus, I just spend the whole of last night after work filling them.  Otherwise, i don't think i can do all 140+ macarons in just a night...and find time to take photos.. :D 

I'm pretty pleased with how my macarons turned out..so sweet and pretty in pink and white.  :D   The pink ones are strawberry macarons filled with strawberry jelly and buttercream. The white ones are rum and raisin macarons filled with "rum-mish" raisin jam and rum buttercream.  Both flavors are the Bride's favorite! :D 

Merry Christmas everyone! :D

Wedding Favor Cookies

Just got back from my hols on Friday and had to rush through my friend's order for wedding favor cookies, so i didn't have much time to comment on blogs or to catch up quite as quickly. I surprise myself sometimes - I managed to bake 120+ cookies on Saturday and then ice them all the very next day.  Oh..as usual, my husband is always at my back nagging as to what time i'm finishing and it's late etc, so i had to ignore him after a while...

My friend's wedding theme is pink, so all the cookies have to be in pink.   Cookies were made in 4 different flavors..and i used different recipe for each flavor (I like to try new recipes...i get bored easily...so i don't always stick to a particular recipe).  They all turned out quite yummy and sweet. :)

Wedding Favors: 喜喜 Heart Cookies

Wedding Favors: Lace Heart Cookies

Wedding Favors: Mini 'Love' Heart Cookies

Mini Cupcake Cookies

Snowflake Cookies

Candy Wrapper Cookies

The candy wrappers cookies imo weren't very well piped as i was rushing through and felt that my piping wasn't as delicate as i would like..plus my arm and hand were tired after icing 120+ cookies.   As you can see, i did the heart shaped cookies first and the rest later..  My friend's wedding is on Christmas Eve, so i added the snowflakes there so she can put on her dessert table.   

So here ends the part 1 of the wedding cookies...i'm working on part 2 tonight....hopefully I get them out on time as per my schedule..

Baby and Laces Cookies

We had long weekend holiday and I thought I had ample time to bake the cakes for ABC, HCB and cookies for my friend.  However, my daughter had a minor 'accident'  - she cut her finger (quite badly!) while doing her project and i had to rush her to a 24-hr clinic at night.  The doctor attending said it was minor and didn't give us anything and told us just to monitor. He didn't even have bandages in his clinic to dress up the wound and told me to go to the nearest pharmacy to buy and dress it up on  my own.  The next day, the cut on my daughter's finger was still red and bleeding, so i rushed her down to A&E and the doctor opened up the wound, examined it and said cut was quite deep and needed stitches!!  I can't believe that the earlier doctor just brushed it off so lightly.  

After all the worrying and rushing to the doctors, my baking plan went awry.  I didn't have time to bake anything.  However, i need to ice the cookies i've baked on Thursday...as I know i will be occupied the week later.

Hence decorated these baby shower cookies & lace cookies from Sunday night & over the next 2 nights till very late (or shall i say early morning..lol!). As usual, my husband nagged at me constantly (every 30mins interval after 10pm) if i'm done as it's getting late, that i needed to get to work the next day...otherwise, i will not have enough sleep and can't concentrate at work..and bad for my health..blah..blah..blah...

Baby Shower Cookies

Made these baby shower cookies for a friend. Her sister will be having a baby soon and because of some very Chinese tradition, she can't see her sister or baby till a month later after baby is born . I thought if my friend could give her sister some pretty cookies, that would be nice.  

Heart-Shape Lace Cookies

Round-Shape Lace Cookies

These heart & round lace cookies are just my "practice-to-pipe" cookies.  Saw some lovely lace cookies by my 2 flickr pals (Rosey Sugar & Jill Sugar) and thought i'll give it a go. Of course mine is no where near their standard..theirs are perfect and their piping always so delicate and pretty - I adore their work! I needed to practice piping round, so i made lots of round cookies.  However, i didn't really do a very good job..my round outline turned out quite terrible..some jagged edges, some diamond shape, some oval..some just out of shape round.. These above that you see are the 6 best rounds that i've done! LOL!  Gotta practice more!