Bye Uncle Yee Thong

From a bunch of office buddies for their fave 'uncle' who was leaving the company.

I put each of their names on one cupcake, and the design theme was 'Paul Smith' - apparently Uncle Yee Thong's fave designer brand! I tried to recreate the signature Paul Smith wave design in the eclectic designer's palette. Hopefully, 'Uncle' loved my take on Paul Smith!

Incidently, I was told everyone was a little 'reluctant' to eat their very own cupcake! It was like a personal dedication as it had their names on it!

Little Erin's 1st Birthday!

Pink, pretty and everything nice - I love creating these oh-so-pretty cupcakes for sweet little babies like Erin!

This is one of my typical 16-pc birthday cupcake-cake - a perfect size for small celebrations, and adaptable to 25 or 36pc squares, or 20/30pc rectangles ... depending on the number of persons in the party. The upside? Great portability, fuss-free, more flavours in one 'cake' (I usually propose a 2-flavour combi)... all you need to do is bring extra little boxes to conveniently pack home the leftovers (if any)!

I was really happy with the design I created for this particular 'cake' - it's one of my faves. The idea came from a cute baby card I spotted at my fave scrapbooking haunt - Papier - a line of baby laundry drying in the sun! I added a trail of yellow duckies at the bottom, complete with bubblebath and all! All little kids love yellow duckies, don't they?

Sweet Surrender!

Right on the dot of my 40th birthday, I received a surprising call - a journalist expressed her interest to interview me and write about my cupcakes! Apparently, her editor - Poh Lin had the opportunity to try some and thought they were heavenly! I was absolutely flattered!

So in a frenzy, I toyed with the various types of cupcakes I think will make a good impression. I finally decided to show off my decorating skills since there will be lots of pictures! So I proceeded with piped roses, a new set of piped designs themed along the lines of 'Spring Brocade', and my lovely fondant butterflies. I also did a set of 'Party Petites' - my petite size party bites cupcakes (more on that later).

Then, I remembered my luscious cheesecakes - the journalist must taste it! So I made 2 - Racy Raspberry and Durian Lime.

On the day of the interview, I felt really fluttery! I took out my fave silver tier tray, some of my best china, and brewed a pot of rose tea... kind of an English afternoon tea.

I have to say, both the journalist and photographer (Kamariah and Lim) were the nicest people ever... and I was really glad they loved the cakes. And the article... wow, it came out earlier than I expected (a slew of phonecalls came in even before I had a chance to flip thru the paper) - a full colour double-page spread! I felt soooo honoured! I totally loved it (except maybe the large photos of my face plastered on it! - would rather if the pics were all of the lovely cakes!)

In any case, my sincere thanks to Kamariah, Lim and Poh Lin ... and to NST of course! This was my best birthday present ever!

Spelling Bee!

This was made for my son's school party, and he requested it pretty late! So, I quickly whipped up the Oreo Crush with a white choc glaze and the Moist Choc with a choc ganache glaze - kids' favourites!

I wanted to keep the decor fun - he was in primary 3 - so I opted for a 'Spelling Bee' theme - alphabets complete with little bumblebees!

The kids loved it... and so did their teacher ... so much so that I was invited to participate last minute in the school's fun fare with some more cuppies!

Salabianca's Cupcake Giftboxes

My dearest old friends - Allan and Tino of Salabianca (a fabulous homegrown fashion label) - held a new year's party at their hip pad. When they found out I bake, they immediately showed their support with an order of 80 boxes of 'door gifts' for the guests! That's 320 cupcakes!

I was given a free hand - so I decided to make the cupcakes very 'Salabianca'! The label is well-known for it's lovely embellishments, intricate embroidery, luscious fabrics ... ready-to-wear mix-and-match occasionwear that's totally utilitarian. So I opted for piped swirls depicting feathers and ornate embroidery, with fondant pearls and flowers.

The cupcakes were boxed in Salabianca's signature silver, and it fitted perfectly into their 'oh-so-chic' Graffitee bag. Only Allan and Tino would think of 'door gifts' for party guests... sort of an adult party pack!

Luckily for me, they invited lots of people from the press. They loved the cupcakes and this event led to me being covered by The New Straits Times. The editor - Ms Poh Lin loved them and promptly sent her writer over! Thanks a million - Allan, Tino and Poh Lin - you all made my 40th birthday a real celebration!