We're official!

I hired a friend to take my R.O.M. pictures. Check her out.

Our Chinese wedding: his heng dais and my ji muis after games.

Happy Twenty.

She baked for me red velvet cuppies for my birthday, but I realized I had no time to prepare anything posh for her as I got back.

And I had to deliver one to Jeremy to make up to his belated birthday present the day before her birthday.

I divided the amounts used in the recipe by 4 and got 4 regular cuppies outta it.

Topped with pineapple jam.

Mother's Day: very dry banana yogurt muffins.

Going bananas.

Remake of my favourite recipe from Lebovitz (not that I tried anything else he'd shared), but this time in muffin cups with a dash of imported chocolate chips sold at a newly opened local cake supply plus help from a best friend of mine featured here.

I love these square muffin cups! I used to have those flimsy paper cups that were not waxed on the inside, had to use two layers back then to make brownies.

After that...

The muffins were quite moist, which I liked. But his mom told him that the cakes would have shorter shelf live because of that and they should be baked longer, as I altered the actual baking time for a tinned cake to a short 25 to 30 minutes.  Once they looked dry from the surface I would retrieve them from the oven.

There were no pretty cracks by the way. I only used baking powder for this, but baking soda was already out of stock since a long time ago.

The tester looked like this...

I also followed the mom's advice to bake it (which kinda disrupts the process of baking since they were already cool) but all I got was a drier surface, and nothing brownish. :(

But anyways, our effort was there. It was also his first time to bake a cake.

Happy mother's day in advance!

Angry Birds x Oreo Cheese. Cupcakes, love from Kuantan.

(Photographed using GXR P10.)

I stumbled upon Fadzilah's Facebook profile about a year ago, and the decision to purchase from her hadn't occurred until last April. I was always away from home.

It was the fondant decorations and mountains of comments on her photos which attracted me. The cupcakes below would be appealing enough for anyone to do an impulsive purchase.

 

Source: FadRizals.

These are my favourite pieces made by her. :) But I didn't choose them over the ones I had because I thought they were rather girlish for a guy's birthday cake. Since I knew he liked Oreo cheesecake, and she also made them, thus the birth of such idea.

Angry Birds was one of the first few applications he's downloaded after iPhone reached him.

My customization request was to make figurines based on all the birdie roles with 4 words (she suggested to use fondant instead of cream) and then top the cakes off with chocolate ganache.  She also advised to add on a few heart figurines instead of leaving the rest of the cupcakes looking plain, and I thought they were a cute addition!

I placed my order with her a week before, and she was having a packed schedule but we made it.  On the appointed day, we had to travel to her house, which luckily isn't very hard to find.

A close-up shot before condensation becomes visible.

The bomber chick would be my favourite bird. There were wires installed to hold some of the beaks and combs (look more like hairdo's to me) in place.

The cute cupcakes came in an elegant package.

Eating them was pretty troublesome until I figured a way to dissect the cupcake cleanly for a clear cross sectional picture.  You have to open up the folds at the side of it to separate it from the container.

From the display above you could compare the thickness of the two constituents.

The taste was average, its heavenly taste was spoiled a little by the excessive ganache. :(  But seriously the cheesecake was good.  It'd be better if my budget was enough to increase the serving size of the cheese.

I also find it cruel to eat the birds, even crueler to dispose them.  But I had to perform the latter to the last one standing because frankly, I just didn't like how sugary they were. :(

The baker was friendly and helpful, she's got all the good qualities you could ask for from a home-based baker.  

Additional link: "Angry Birds" Figurine Cupcakes

Birthday party preparation.

Introducing you: the creepy birthday girl!

Enough of her.

The food served at the party weren't much. Here are a few that we've prepared in the afternoon.

Her boyfriend making mashed potato.


Tadaa!


The mom made gravy :).

And guess what has driven this cat crazy?...

Oh, the cans of tuna now sandwiched between two pieces of bread!

Plus cake of the day. White-dark chocolate cheese from... (Hint: bag's on the top left corner.)