Cars and Animals Cupcakes

These are for a gathering among few mommies and some kids.   Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and fondant toppers.  

Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

These Mickey Mouse cupcakes were made specially for a friend of mine.  We used to be colleagues working together in the finance department in a company under the oil and gas industry.  A very helpful and patient man.  He had given me alot of guidance during those days when I was still very much a green horn in the working world.  He made a career switch about three years ago to devote himself to childcare education.  Although it sounded like a very risky move, but I think it is admirable and it is also a wonderful thing to pursue ones true passion in life.  He is now a principal in a newly set up childcare center and I paid him a visit this afternoon. 

Back to my Mickey Mouse cupcakes....  My recent trip to Hong Kong Disneyland has given me the inspiration to make them.  I was looking for ideas in the souvenir shops in Disneyland Resort and it suddenly dawned on me that I could try to put all the signature icons of Mickey and Minnie onto my next cupcake project.  So I drew out the icons and pipe them out with royal icing.  Together with the matching colors red, yellow, white and black... ta-ta... a bunch of nice looking Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcakes!  

Lavender Cupcakes

I was given some dried lavender flowers a few weeks back, and I used them to bake some lavender cupcakes this morning.  Lavender are often grown commercially for their medical and culinary uses.  Essential oil extracted from the flowers are known to have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.  They are also often used as fragrances in bath products and toiletries because of the soothing and relaxing effects.  Chefs in France and United States like to use this herb in their cuisines.  Lavender is the key ingredient in the herbes de Provence mixture, and it is also a popular herb used in seasoning lamb.  Other than savory dishes, it is also used in sweet things like cookies and scones.  These pale purple flowers and flower buds give a floral, slightly sweet and elegant flavor to the cupcakes and they go really well with a nice warm cup of tea in the afternoon. 

Pandan Jade Agar-Agar

I made these Pandan (also known as Screwpine Leaves) Jade Agar-Agar today.  

Agar-Agar is a gelatinous substance derived from seaweeds.  Historically and in modern context, it is chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Japan.  Based on the definition on Wikipedia, the word "agar" comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly).  In Malay and Indonesian, it is known as agar-agar. In Japanese, it is known as kanten (寒天) meaning "cold weather," referring to the fact that it is harvested in the winter months. In Mandarin Chinese as yángcài (洋菜) meaning "ocean vegetable" or "foreign vegetable." In Taiwanese Minnan it is known as chhài-iàn (菜燕) meaning "vegetable swiftlet," i.e., similar in texture to the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet used in bird's nest soup. In Korea, it is known as hancheon (한천). In China, it is known as hǎizàoqíongzhī (海藻瓊脂) or dòngfěn (凍粉).  In the Philippines, it is known as gulaman in Tagalog, Apayao, Bikol and Pangasinan, guraman in Ilokano and gurguraman in Sambali.  In Thai, it is known as wóon (วุ้น).

Agar-Agar has always been one of my favorite desserts.  It is very easy to make and taste really yummy when chilled.

Cherry Blossoms, Roses and Ribbons

These cupcakes are for my husband's colleague, a really nice lady that I admire very much.  She has a great family with four wonderful children and a great career.  I have only two kids and already my hands are quite full as it is.  I understand from my husband that she is a cupcake fan... I hope my cupcakes will not be a let down.  

Birthday Cupcakes for Chris

A very good friend of mine ordered some cupcakes for her friend's birthday.  I have to make something really nice for her, so I spent many hours deciding on the designs of these cupcakes.  These butterflies were hand-made by myself and it took about two days to finish.  I think they looked beautiful... and really hope my friend would like them too.  Happy birthday Chris... !!!

Sesame Street Cupcakes

I have seen many different versions of Elmo cupcakes from the internet, and have been very tempted to try doing some myself.  Since I am visiting my friend tomorrow, it gives me the perfect chance to make some of these Sesame Street cupcakes for her two daughters.  I made quite a lot, so Julian get to bring some to school to share with his friends too.    

Pandan Chiffon Cake & Banana Cupcakes

I did some fair bit of baking this weekend.  Both my boys were down with flu and thus we stayed in the house with nothing much to do.  I took the time when they were napping to bake.  I made one pandan chiffon cake and baked lots of banana cupcakes over these two days.  I had always wanted to bake some banana cupcakes from scratch.  Some years back, I attempted to make some banana muffins from scratch but failed in achieving the desired texture I wanted.  Since then, I have been baking my banana muffins from muffin mixes bought from the supermarket.  It does not give me much sense of accomplishment baking with mixes.  So I have to try my hands on this recipe again.  This time round, everything turned out well, and I produced a batch of fairly good banana cupcakes topped with chocolate frosting.  Chocolate and banana goes very well together!