Tropical Birthday Cupcakes

Got a new order from Chen Yi. She wants to do it for her friend's birthday. Her friend loves bananas and anything chocolate. The colour theme she gave me to work with was green, brown & yellow. Base to be chocolate banana and vanilla topping.

The first thing that came to my mind with all those combination is a very tropical feeling.

I managed to get this really nice coconut trees... which will be perfect for the tropical feel I hope to create. I was hoping to find banana trees actually, but oh well... I think these are nicer!

For the middle part of the cup-a-cake, I added mini chocolate swirls... lots of it because Chen Yi mentioned her friend's love for chocs. And to blend in the yellow colour, I handpicked the yellow round sugars... only yellow to be added around it. I wanted to give it a sandy feel using brown sugar at first but I'm afraid it'd be TOO sweet! Also added mini hearts and silver dagarees - kinda like my signature now...

And to top it off... chocolate biscuit! They kinda look like tree trunks with it's top cut off..

And into the box it goes! I hope they (chenyi & friend) likes this tropical idea!

Happy Birthday _____________!!!

(ps: can give me a name to fill it in??)

Happy Anniversary to June's Parents!!!

My very good friend from States, June whom I've known since Std 1 wanted me to make some fruit cheese tarts & lemon mango cup-a-cakes for her mom. This one in particular is extra challenging for me because like myself, June loves to bake & so does her mom! We can never stop talking if the topic of baking and new ideas come up. She has also been a great supporter for my new baking interest.

She wanted cheese tarts topped with fruits. My 'chef' advised me to select strawberries, kiwis and peaches for a nice colour combo - I'm glad I listened. Seriously so nice!

The 3 fruits give it a very nice combination taste wise as well...

I packaged them in a small box which fits the 12-tarts perfectly! Added ribbons to make it look more like a gift :)

Lemon & Mango base top with up-to-me... So well, for the base, i used fresh lemon zest & mangoes. The mangoes are really sweet! It'll definitely make the cupcakes sweeter.... But the lemon zest really brings out the smell! Yumm yummm..

June only wanted 12 but I made 15 for her... with one jumbo sized as the centre-piece. She has been bugging me to tell her how much all this will cost but Í have decided for this to be a gift for her. She's been such a great support, this is the LEAST I can do! I'm risking not having future biz from her...! I hope not.... She's too nice to do that... Please accept this, ok?

She wanted to keep it simple...

She loves dagarees... I made a heart shaped love using dagarees, heart shaped sugar and to give it the height, I used milk rocky! As for the icing, I did mango icing to blend with the base... June asked me to use as little icing as possible... I left it at a rose swirl. Note: To all cup-a-cake lovers, don't worry about not liking the icing! You can always take it off the top! It's just to make it pretty! But do give it a try... at least a bit. Sinful but Y.U.m.M.Y!

And finally, into the box with a carrier...

The message...

With love from June, the brother & her hubby!

Added some ribbons as the final touch... chill it a while.... and I'm ready to deliver!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY UNCLE & AUNTY!

Pink cup-a-cakes for a lil gal!

My sis-in-law recently gave birth to the cutest baby boy, Jayden... They stayed over our place during confinement together with confinement lady whom I got a long very well with!

Today's her last day and she wanted to make something special for her god daughter who is 5 today. She's been watching me bake and testing em for the past whole month! :)

She requested choc chip with strawberry icing and that's exactly what I did!

I topped it with sugar hearts and round-pastel-coloured sugars to make it more colourful!

And 5 candles signifying her turning 5 today! Used a different packaging this time. This one has no handle and does not need and boards to support. Simple & nice!

Finally, I stored it in the freezer to set for a while before she takes it bake home! A very hot day today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIL GAL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEG's Mummy!

I have a regular customer! Peggen Ewe, all the way from down under - melbourne.... This will be her third order now... and the most special one... for her mummy! She requested for this one to be on the cup-a-cake tree! (only for on-loan tho...)

cup-a-cakes on tree in sepia

Peg requested for 24 cup-a-cakes... with 12 as choc banana and the rest up to me... I wanted to keep it as simple and nice as possible... so i topped it with vanilla cream, hearts, fondant flowers and chocolate shavings. All the same so that it will not look too messy. I mixed choc banana with vanilla choc chip that's why you get a choc & a vanilla base.

Peg's message for her mom....

I've known Peg for more than 10 years now and trust me, her mom still looks just the same! After 4 children... she still looks young & hot!

Happy Birthday Aunty!

Hope you had a great time celebrating your day.

Sorry this didn't turn out to be a surprise...

special 2-tier birthday messages cup-a-cake

shortly after receiving elaine's call, ying called to order a 2-tier cup-a-cake for her boyfriend. same day of pick up with elaine. 2 in a day! Now, this is a new challenge for me.... she wants to do it for him together with her friends. she's keen on the messages idea. so I thought it'd be quite nice if for this cup-a-cake, we have lots and lots of messages on the cup-a-cakes to keep the birthday boy busy! :) ying wanted chocolate chip, some hershey's kisses and no other preferences! hmmm...

so, i started with the basics. I chose gold, silver & black to maintain a boy-ish feel... made the choc chip base and tried arranging them first before i start with the topping

then i added the hershey's kisses choc - milk & choc chip flavors! yumm! also added some dagarees & sugar hearts...

added on a long special candle signifying longevity...

and added on the messages! with a colourful mixture of bright colours coz those are the colours ying said her boyfriend will like.

hmm... i just realized i do not know what the birthday boy's name is! except for "leng zai" & "ah-boy"!

And finally - the 2-tier birthday messages cup-a-cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY leng zai!

note: i received a text late last night from ying. apparently the cake got damaged while travelling from gurney - queensbay. the icing smeared on the messages! My worst fears! I feel so responsible for it... :(

ying, will make it up to YOU & ur friends....!

choc peach cup-a-cake for Elaine's Mom!

I received a call from a gal wanting to do something special for her mom... So at first, she wanted the basics... choc chip and she left most of it to me then. I explained to her how it would be better if she could give me more idea of what her mom will like!

But as we got on discussing through sms, she told me her mom loves peaches & choc and she wants purple to be part of the theme! I can do quite a bit with peaches! But purple? Hmmm.... Only way I could help her achieve that is her board!

So, for her base, i made choc cupcake with peaches as the fillings... and before I top it with icing, a added another big cube of peach to enhance the peach's taste!

It actually looks quite nice even without the icing!

Up goes the lemon-y orange-y peach topping with peaches, sugar heart & dagarees!

OPPS! I forgot to tell them that all of it are edible! I hope they know..

and finally, i added her message for her mom... the candles & it's done! I'm always very excited and worried when I do orders. This is so because I know they really want to make the birthday person happy! And now, I am quite responsible too! Elaine is so sweet to make this for her mom. I really hope the mom will enjoy what élaine's doing for her!

All together now...... Choc Peach cup-a-cake for elaine's mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Elaine's MOM!

NOTE: I need to think of a better way to package these cupcakes especially when they need to travel. I have yet to find boxes with holders for cupcakes. I might have to do them myself.

Elaine, i'm sorry some of the cupcake's icing got smeared... will make it up to YOU soon! Keep you posted.

Cup-a-cake for Peggen's God-Ma

An order all the way from Melbourne! Peggen, my god-sis wants to give her god-ma (not related to me tho) cup-a-cakes for her birthday! She wanted vanila base with mango topping.

And her colour choice was pink & yellow! SO.. i decided to tie pink ribbons around each cupcake as I am using yellow & mango paste for the topping..

I added a cube of mango in each of the cup-a-cake just to enhance the mango's flavor..

The finale.... i added chewy mango sweets for the topping instead of fresh mango because I do not want the mango to go black... Added little red hearts to bring out the colour and dagarees for decorating! note: both the hearts & dagarees are edible!

The personalized birthday tag

I remembered my god sis saying that her god-ma loves anything pretty... so i added a pretty little butterfly to her birthday tag!

The back of the tag...

And finally... into the box before delivering it! I havent gotten any feedback yet but I really hope the god-ma will enjoy them! :)

Poh Sim's Birthday

I made some cup-a-cakes for my very dear friend's birthday celebration. Her birthday is actually on the 16th Oct 2007 but we could all only come together on the 4th of November to celebrate with HER! It was a double celebration because she just came to know that she is going to have a baby BOY!!! Yea!!!!

I asked her hubby for flavors suggestion and he wanted me to do tiramisu at first but i'm afraid coffee is not good for preggers. So we opted for strawberry! :) I added some chocolate ones too!

For the top part, i added baby booties - Blue ones as she will be having a baby boy!

Because it is from all of us, i asked each couple to give me a personalized wish to add more meaning to the cup-a-cake! I also added a special candle which eeling picked when she was in KL! Very nice and long. I hope to be able to use for everyone's birthdays... re-cycle!

Her reactions when she saw the cake and as she was going through all our messages...

The cup-a-cake in detail... with all our messages!

The special candle i mentioned earlier...

The birthday gal & hubby - soon to be daddy & mummy!

Poh Sim with our messages & her cupcake!

My very own hubby enjoying the cup-a-cake! *grin*