Three Weddings and a Birthday

I can't believe it's the end of Nov/beginning of Dec already. Where has 2012 gone? Maybe it is true what they say after you turn 25, time just flies! lol!

To give you an update about whats been happening at The Dainty Baker is just one word - "Weddings". It's definitely that time of year! .. and upon lengthy conversations with my cousin, who is in the process of becoming a bride, I was educated as to why this is the popular season for them. I'm going to share this newly found knowledge with you guys incase you're like me and clueless about weddings - I just do the cake part!

It is currently Spring (although only for a few more days), so the weather is warm enough yet not too hot yet. Summer is too hot (Dec-Feb), Winter is too cold and Autumn tends to rain too much... so there you have it! Sept -Dec seems the best time to get married in Australia :)

Here's the first one:

Croquembouche - This is probably the biggest croquembouche I've made to date. It was especially ordered by a bride from Hong Kong who was coming over to Sydney for her reception. It had a whopping 180 puffs. Each filled with pastry cream then constructed together with golden toffee.

Spring Delight - The top tier was a vanilla bean custard flavour, second tier - lemon curd and vanilla and the 3rd tier was a Mango, Lychee and coconut combo. The bride had peonies for her flowers, so I used this to incorporate into the design of the cake.

Isabella - The cute stripe top tier works well with the elegance of the second tier. The second tier was based off the lace of the brides wedding dress. The 3rd tier adds a bit of edge - covered in edible silver leaf. Gumpaste peonies were also used to top off the cake. Flavours of this cake include - "Little Red Riding Hood"- Red Velvet, "Americ-Amel" - Caramel & "Gianduja" - Hazelnut. 

Also, a few weeks ago... if you didn't see on my Facebook Page... my Croquembouche wedding cake got featured in Colin Cowie Weddings! I was sooo excited!! :) :) :)

In addition to these wedding cakes I also had the honor of making this veryyy cute and adorable birthday cake. It was a combination of Minions from 'Despicable Me' facing off with Pikachu from Pokemon. Each little figurine had a different expression and it was so awesome to see it come together so nicely!



Another announcement is, with the Festive season coming on we are starting to take orders for Gingerbread Houses!!

Place your order at The Dainty Baker Shop or alternatively drop me an email. But remember to hurry as there is only a select number available and you don't want to miss out!

Happy Caking!!

♥

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Around comes another year on the Chinese calendar and this time its the year of the almighty.... DRAGON!!!

I've been looking forward to the turn of the new year since the start of last year. Why? Because (us Asians are so damn superstitious) last year was the year of the Rabbit, which was the year that I was born in and they say that if its your 'year' you're meant to get alot of bad luck... which I admit, happened to me (be it that I was sensitive to it happening due to my superstition or not!)

Either way, start of the new year means a new beginning... something I've needed :D So, sending happiness and prosperity to everyone!! Gong Hei Fat Choy!!!

I was quite festive this year actually. To bring in the new year I made a Chinese New Year themed cake and cupcakes. 

Lol see all that "Choy" aka gold and prosperity!! Only thing now is for it to turn into reality muahahhahaha

Flowers for beauty and a new beginning


Olden day coins for prosperity


Kumquat for luck


Olden day gold nuggets (equivalent of notes today)


Firecrackers to scare away evil/bad spirits and welcome in the good ones!


Mum commented that this little girl looks like me when I was younger....


Little Boy with "Choy Sun Yeh" (God of Prosperity) Hat


I had to make a special note of this, it is REALLY HARD to pipe curves upwards!! lol


HAHAHA because I'm a "fake" Asian as Wobbles puts it, I actually wrote this word wrong.. until corrected by mum lol I missed one tiny stroke .. oppsies!


Since I was getting all Asiany and Chinesey I decided to invent some new flavours for my cakes too!! This one is Lychee, Coconut and Vanilla. OMG not to blow my own trumpet but this is GOOD!!! The smaller cupcakes had different flavours: Coconut and Chocolate, Pandan and Coconut and Vanilla and Lychee.

 Also a very warm welcome to my lovely... now, I'm not too sure what I'd call her? My second cousin? or my "niece". I think its different in Asian and Caucasian culture. She's my cousins baby, lovely little Adeline! She was brought into the world just a few days before CNY. A beautiful baby girl, very cute! Wishing Mum and bubba the best ♥

Adeline and Me 

And look what arrived in the mail the morning of CNY! The business cards I've been patiently waiting for!!! 

A special Announcement:

I'm starting to take on cake, sweets and cupcake orders. Every order is specially designed and personalised for you. If you are interested please do not hesitate to pop me an email at thedaintybaker@gmail.com, I'd love to hear your fabulous ideas!

♥

I'm Back!!!

So, I'm back from the USA!! :) What can I say? It was an experience both of good and bad. Being away made me realise just how much I missed home and all the little things we take for granted. Cliche, I know, but too true.

In summary, I left home wanting to take on the world, travel and learn as much as I could in the 6 months I was in school. I wouldnt actually say that I did take on the world but I sure coped a beating from it.

I was admitted to hospital twice, lost $4k due to the Hilton having the worst security ever (which they of course did not take responsiblity for), lost my passport, flew home for a funeral and back again which in turn stuffed up my visa, had issues selling my car because the dealer had been shady and there was a typo regarding the amount of mileage on the title and most recently, the new Kitchen Aid that I had bought and blinged up "popped" which lead me to finding out that we cant use USA bought kitchen aids in Australia because the US are one of the only ones in the world that runs on 110V and 60Hz...... anyyways! Thank goodness this year is almost over and thank God I've made it home in one piece.

Having said all these downers there have been good times! I was fortunate enough to go to the Bahamas, travelled around pretty much the whole of the East Coast of USA and I ticked off what I wanted to do most, which was learn to bake professionally. It feels almost weird being back and not being in a 'commercial' kitchen everyday. I have also been lucky enough to meet some amazing people whilst I've been away and formed friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime :)

So what have I been doing since I've been back? Why, baking of course!! :) I realised that alot of the things we learnt in school needed to be refreshed, especially since I was replicating the recipes in my home kitchen. My first proper project was the Croquembouche Wedding Cake.

The swirl decorations are made out of pastillage, which is a sugar dough that dries really hard. I had the recipe for it but as it was only demonstrated to us in school and I came across a premix for it, I decided, 'why make life hard for myself?' and went with the premix. The premix is from a company called Cake Art. It comes as a powder form and you need only add water. It was really really sticky at first so I added some more of the powder, then after letting it sit for a few minutes you were able to knead it until it was elastic. It was still a really soft dough. The pastillage when demonstrated at school pretty much dried up instantly but this premix stuff takes a while to dry, you need to let it sit overnight or even a few days depending on its thickness.

The roses and small blossoms were made out of gumpaste. I used the brand Satin Ice. The gum in the gum paste allows it more flexiblity and stretchablity so that you can roll out the dough very thin without it ripping, therefore creating more life like flowers.

I've always had problems with using sugar and ever since I took sugar class at school my confidence was boosted with being able to blow and pull sugar. HOWEVER! Alas my old enemy is back! I had the same problem of the sugar melting on my croquembouche. I dont know if its because of the blasted few days of torrential rain we've been having lately that has saturated the atmosphere with moisture or that my method of cooking sugar is incorrect? I even used the sugar casting recipe that Chef Notter uses for his show pieces for the sugar on the pate a choux but it still melts!! If anyone out there knows the solution to my problem PLEASE! email me I would love to hear from you!