Monday, April 4, 2011

valentine's day 2011 tie-up with 8flo.com




These Madagascan Vanilla Buttercream cupcakes were made as part of a tie-up with online lifestyle portal 8flo.com to celebrate Valentine's Day.

[Many thanks to Chris from 8flo.com for the photographs and the publishing work!]

the one with the book launch by dr. K. K. Seet

The Book Made of Cake


The Book and The Cake


Dr. K.K. Seet autographing the books and the cake beside

On the 11th of December 2010, Dr. K. K. Seet, theatre doyen, NUS senior lecturer and often dubbed as “Singapore’s most glamorous academic” launched his fairytale for all ages - A Single Tear and Baker Brian is proud to have been part of the festivities with a handpainted (using edible food gels) Jaffa Orange cake.

Congratulations Dr. Seet on another page!


the tie-up with Bio-Essence


When Bio-Essence launched its Radient Youth Essence skincare line in July 2010, Baker Brian was the official baker with a Madagascan Vanilla cupcake tie-up package that included the dyeing of red eggs to commemorate a "baby shower" press conference celebrating the arrival of the product.

Congratulations Bio-Essence!

bites from a dessert table

Made these Nutella Macarons after an accident dislocated my shoulder and I did not yet have strength to chop chocolate couverture.


Below 42 Vodka Jello Shots with a Cheesecake base


The Cosmopolitan Cupcake with a Cosmopolitan Buttercream and Limes Marinated in Fleur de Sel


Korean Strawberries Dipped in Valrhona Chocolate


"Eat Me" cakes inspired by Alice in Wonderland

a series of happenings

"Cast Your Nets Into the Deep" - farewell cake for a friend who is now happily living in Australia


Super Elmo birthday cake


Moo Birthday Cake

a cupcake collage

I was digging through my files and I found these - a documentation of a series of cupcakes, piped and fondant covered I made:

 The experiment with the almond dragees from Harrods

Piped Madagascan Vanilla Buttercream


Simple Fondant Poppies


one of the first piped experiments - this one had candied strawberries in the buttercream

a 34 year old girl's birthday cake


A two-tiered cake with a return to whimsy to celebrate a girl who was turning 34.

lady kitty



A two-tiered cake for a 21st birthday celebration. Lady Kitty stands on the top looking regal.

pirates and octo-minions




Cupcakes made for a dear friend's birthday. Hahahah the pirate needs work to make him a little fiercer!

moo cake


The birthday cake for my niece who was born in the lunar year of the cow.

rainbow dreaming



A birthday cake for a girl turning 5 and who wanted a rainbow theme for her birthday party. Valrhona Chocolate cake covered in made-from-scratch fondant.

the wedding anniversary gift sent from a lady in warwick


A sweet friend who was at that time still studying in Warwick, wanted to surprise her parents for their wedding anniversary, so she ordered this cake. Double Valrhona Chocolate Cake in a Luscious Valrhona Ganache. The Heart is made-from-scratch fondant and the flowers, commercially bought marshmallow flowers.

a first wedding cake


The first wedding cake I made for my friends S. and P. The roses were all made by hand in the wee hours of the night using fondant. To say that this cake was a challenge was an understatement. The first two tiers were supposed to be dummy cakes and the last tier, the real cake, however the Grand Manier Buttercream could not hold the structure needed for a stacked cake, so the whole cake become a dummy cake with the real cake sitting in the pantry. However the use of commercial fondant created an entire slew of challenges from crackage to drooping flowers. Thank goodness the wedding venue had very cold air-conditioning and I was able to work on the cake, covering the cracks with royal icing.

whimsical cake pops



These were the forrays into whimsicality and very much inspired by the esteemed Bakerella. Candy melts for some strange reason do not seem to work very well in Singapore. The ones on the top were covered in buttercream and non pareils for children and the ones below in Valrhona Equatorial for the adults.

white forest

white forest

The notion of pine forests covered in acres of galciers and snow was romantic and too alluring not to make a cake out of. This is my take on a timeless classic, a tribute to the Snow Queen -  Valrhona Ivorie Cake sandwiching an Ivorie ganache slathered over cherries marcerated in Grand Marnier.

I need a cupcake, with generous lashings of chocolate and I need it now

Valrhona Chocolate Cupakes with a Valrhona Ganache and topped with Nutella

After a long and stressful day, this was the "I need a cupcake, with generous lashings of chocolate and I need it now" cupcake. Something luscious, rich, smooth, velvety... so it was made and it was gone in two bites.




a first post

Life has been so busy that I completely forgot that I had this blog going, until I decided to create a blog to document the baking adventures, or misadventures - that's how it is and it was a pleasant surprise to discover that, "oh... I have a blog... already..."

Seeing that this is a re-start of sorts on a blank slate, the first couple of posts will feature the cakes already done and hopefully these pages will begin to fill with more delicious posts very soon. I suppose it is appropriate to begin this new chapter with the very first cake that begun all the sugarpasting madness - sugarpaste or fondant is quite a pain to work with in Singapore, due to the humidity and heat. The commercial brands I used either had crackage or melted into gloops when I left it out to dry, so I learnt the hard way and it was a blessing in disguise that it was inevitable that I had to find ways of making fondant from scratch, of which the results seem to hold pretty well. *fingers crossed* and they taste better than the store-bought ones too. For that I am thankful, although a lot of work goes into making fondant from scratch.



the first fondant covered cake


the second fondant cake that was made


2d Thomas the Train engine fondant cake - one of the pioneers in this cake-making shenigans thingamagig

Until then, here's to savouring the best that life has to offer!