Baker Brian

luscious red velvet

2011-11-25T11:45:00.000+08:00

So I made a Red Velvet cake with a Nutella-Cream Cheese frosting for my sister's birthday. It was so good, I had almost finished half of it, before remembering to take a photograph.

A Flurry of Wedding Daisies

2011-11-06T15:37:00.001+08:00

I started baking these at 8pm and at 7am, was still piping on the icing. Wedding madness indeed! Congratulations Cousins M. and L. I hope you enjoyed these Pretty in Pink cupcakes.

Sticky, Messy, Chewy Brownies

2011-11-06T15:33:00.000+08:00

These began as a meringue into which I folded Valrhona cocoa and flour and these became the most delectable brownies I have ever made. You would never imagine that these are butter-less. A definite keeper recipe.

Cupcakes from Lilliput

2011-07-28T17:52:00.001+08:00

Inspired by Kristy Lynn's micro cupcakes, I made these:

Placed beside a 20cents coin for scale

The one from Lilliput beside the normal sized one

While these are cute for a themed party, say an Alice In Wonderland or Gulliver's Travels theme, these took triple the time and if you are hard-pressed for time, these whimsicals, while adorable, can be a tiny bit (no pun intended here) irritating to do. So here it is, putting the word "bite" into "bite-sized".

of cars and strawberry cake

2011-07-18T21:06:00.001+08:00

Carved Car Cake

Final Cake on #4 cake with toppers provided by the client.

Three sleepless nights, amidst the frenzied happenings of work during the weekends, and this came into fruition. The final cake comprised of the carved car from cake (above) placed on top a number 4 made of strawberry shortcake with strawberry compote and puree I made and Madagascan Vanilla frosting, for the lovely child's age, with added Disney Cars toppers provided by the client. I can't say that this is an exact replica, more like a simulation of Lighting Mcqueen. Hehe.

Learning lessons:

I think I should have just left the car separate from the number 4. Putting it together made it too complicated and busy

I wanted to carve this out of baked honey rice crispies treats, but the honey sank to the bottom of the cake tin, (making it extremely difficult to dislodge) and while the resultant caramel was lovely, it made the rice crispies soggy and too saccharine, so I eventually carved this out of cake with fingers tightly crossed. As you know I've always been afraid of Disney Cars as the last time I did this, the fondant, made wet and heavy from all the red colouring and the humidity, melted into a gloop just an hour before the delivery. Thankfully, this one survived intact with a few superficial cracks.

The weather was lovely and the humidity low which made it the perfect day to work with fondant in the morning. However, the humidity rose steeply around 2:30pm and this resulted is some crackage, although I had enforced the fondant with gum trac! Grr!

of mascarpone and strawberry fields forever.

2011-07-01T18:08:00.000+08:00

I had some extra batter and frosting for the cake I was doing, so this is a prelude of the flavours in the cake. A crumbly shortcake topped with a mascarpone and strawberry compote frosting on top.

all's a splash with blooms of red and white

2011-06-04T14:39:00.002+08:00

In line with the chosen theme colours of red and white for the wedding, this series of red and white Madagascan Vanilla cupcake blooms was made. Congratulations L. and A. on your blessed day!

The Red Blooms

The White Blooms

A Close-up of the Piped Red Roses

The Cupcake Tower - for some strange reason the wonky camera created this lomo-saturated effect, which is quite nice, so I'm keeping it.

Last but not least, the view of the cupcake tower from the top.

ben10 alien force and gum tragancath

2011-05-25T17:24:00.000+08:00

To circumvent Singapore's humidity, this sugarpaste Ben from Ben10 Alien Force was made with a pinch of gum tragancath, a natural very rather expensive gum and it held! (Thank You Adrienna for bringing the gum trac all the way from Oz!!!) Here you can see Ben drying with a dehumidifier blasting at it as an added measure.

*Tada*! The final cake - Ben about to hit the omnitrix, on the Omnitix. Valrhona Chocolate Cake and made-from-scratch fondant. The fondant alone took hours to make as the lumps had to be removed by hand. It took days for this cake to finally to come to frution and I am tired out, but well satisfied. Thank you advanced orders (three months no less!), dehumidifiers and Gum Trac!!!

the world's aflutter with macarons

2011-05-20T20:30:00.001+08:00

After a baking hiatus, this was the cake that got delivered today. Working on the given theme of "pink" and after hearing that the client wanted to put a macaron tower on a cake base, this Valrhona chocolate cake was shaped in the guise of a giant pink macaron with macarons made out of sugarpaste (these were a blast to do!) put on the top.

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

2011-04-04T14:36:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T14:31:00.001+08:00

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

2011-04-04T14:19:00.001+08:00

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

2011-04-04T14:10:00.003+08:00

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

2011-04-04T13:59:00.000+08:00

"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

2011-04-04T13:50:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T13:33:00.000+08:00

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

lady kitty

2011-04-04T13:30:00.000+08:00

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

pirates and octo-minions

2011-04-04T13:25:00.000+08:00

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

moo cake

2011-04-04T13:17:00.002+08:00

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

rainbow dreaming

2011-04-04T13:14:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T13:09:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T13:00:00.001+08:00

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

2011-04-04T12:47:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T12:38:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-04T12:27:00.001+08:00

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

2011-04-04T11:42:00.007+08:00

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!