Cupcakes for My Dear Friends

In August every year, my close friends and I will celebrate the birthdays of 

the 2 wonderful ladies in our group - Pui Yee and Su Lin. 

This year the celebration was brought forward to end July due to PSLE exams.

Last year, I made a purple rosette cake for the 2 ladies. 

This year, I decided to make something different - chocolate cupcakes with mini rosettes!

I added small Happy Birthday tags just to add some celebratory cheer.

In general, adults tend to prefer less icing on cupcakes. 

While I can't make them less sweet, I can try to use less of it ^_^

In the end, I think the mini rosettes are really adorable. What do you think?

After our dinner buffet, every was too stuffed to eat the cupcake, 

so they all brought them home, to be enjoyed the next day.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Baby Christine First Birthday Cakes and Cupcakes

Baby Christine Turns One!

Baby Christine is my cousin Stella's daughter, she is really adorable. 

When I was asked to make her first birthday, I was delighted!

My cousin wanted a cake in the shape of a Number 1 and 50 cupcakes. After some discussion, we decided on vanilla Number 1 cake and chocolate cupcakes. I was given the go-ahead to design the cake and cupcakes as I desired, and the only criteria was that the cake fondant is to be lilac in colour and cupcake icing also lilac to match.

I love making cupcakes! 

I enjoy making the icing swirl roses which I call the Baking Bees Perfect Swirl.

Lovely cupcakes for Baby Christine. I made 4 designs which complemented the cake design.

 ^_^

The 2 trays of completed cupcakes. C is for Christine!

The Baking Bees signature fondant bees. 

Cute and absolutely adorable, don't you agree?

      

 Floral bouquets with butterflies and sweet letters which spell " HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY",

also a floral border to complete the look.

   

Lots and lots of pretty flowers for little Christine, in harmonious colours - purple, red and pink!

 Top view!

The adorable birthday princess with her parents. 

May you grow up to be a constant joy to your parents and be a great elder sister to your sibling/s, Baby Christine! ^_^

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Cornflakes Cookies - Phenomenal Success

Who Loves Cornflakes Cookies?

Everyone!

This year I decided to bake my Chinese New Year cookies. 

Well, almost all cookies, with the exception of pineapple tarts and love letters. During the festive season, my favourite cookies are the cornflakes cookies and and flower butter cookies. 

Cornflakes cookies also bring nostalgia as my mommy used to baked them when we were young. Each cookie must have a little piece of glace cherry on top as decoration. I have very fond memories of my mommy's baked goods.

I started out making 2 batches for our own consumption and also to share with family members. 

Our whole family gathered around to help make the cookies over a Sunday afternoon. It was good family bonding and we had fun! We made around 8 containers of cookies. 

The feedback for the cornflakes cookies were good! ^_^

As I had the opportunity to meet up with a group of friends for breakfast, I brought some cornflakes cookies for them to try. I was really delighted when my friends said that they were really yummy and asked if I could sell them for Chinese New Year. There wasn't much time and Chinese New Year was barely 2 weeks away. After thinking about it, I took my friends' orders for 12 containers of cornflakes cookies. Thanks to Dolly, Elnie, Susan and Lilian for your support! ^_^ It really means a lot to me! 

The 2nd session was intensive, so only Brendan and I made the cookies together. Fortunately, we had a good helper - Baby D! He insisted on helping us to crush the cornflakes, he was happily occupied for the longest time! ;)

Several weeks after Chinese New Year, I got down to yet another 2 sessions of baking cornflakes cookies! My eldest son was trying to do chores for Scouts Job Week, so I suggested that he could make mini muffins and cornflakes cookies as chores, sell the baked goods and get the donations. We need many many many trays of mini muffins and 2 containers of cornflakes cookies. 

We managed to sell the 2 containers for $40! Thanks Ying Ying & Cheryl for buying them. 

A Japanese friend commented when he read my Facebook postings on the cornflakes cookies. Similarly, his mommy used to bake cornflakes cookies when he was young! I felt that he missed it and I wanted to let him try the Singaporean version of the cookie. So I made 2 containers and shipped them off to Tokyo, with 1 container specially for my friend Kohei and the other for the rest of the team members at his workplace. Many thanks to Janet for bringing the cookies over to Tokyo, I owe you one!

To my pleasant surprise, Kohei told me that the cookies tasted like what his mommy used to make!  I was elated to hear that all the other Japanese friends in the team enjoyed the cookies too. They said that the cookies weren't too sweet and was suitable for the Japanese palate.

Cornflakes cookies transcend all boundaries, it seems!

I am much encouraged by all the positive feedback which I have received. Cornflakes cookies will be available anytime if someone wants to order. Otherwise, I will be taking orders in the first 2 weeks of January 2014 for Chinese New Year.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

www.facebook.com/bakingbees

http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Tutti-Fruiti for My Dad

Pa's Birthday Cake

My dad is a fan of cakes with fruits. Every year we would buy cakes topped with fruits.

This year I decided to make a big cake topped with strawberries, blueberries, peaches and nata de coco, just for him. I used whipped cream for the whole cake.

This is  a 10" x 10" cake. It was sufficient for 8 adults and 10 kids. 

See all the happy children with their grandparents!

^_^

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Heart Shaped Cookies as Party Favour

Pretty Sugar Cookies

This post is quite overdue, it's about the sugar cookie order which I received from my friend Emily. Her cute little one Emmanuel was celebrating his first birthday last May (2012), 

and it coincided with Mother's Day weekend. 

My sincere apologies, my friend! It is not that I didn't want to write about your cookies but it somehow fell through the cracks. ^_^

Emily wanted a sweet design for the mommies who were coming to the birthday party. 

We talked about the shape of the cookie, the icing colours and the fondant decorations. 

Finally, we nailed down the design.

Cookies may look simple to some. In fact, they are not and they need a lot more time. There are also more steps in the entire process.

I am very particular about making very flat sugar cookies and I must keep them in airtight containers after baking to ensure they stay crisp.

Icing is a 2-step process - a thin outline first, then flood the cookies. Next lie them out to dry in a cold air-conditioned room. Our humidity is very bad for cookies and they will soft too soon. 

Fondant decorations are cut and fashioned by hand, piece by piece. 

Messages are also stamped one  by one. 

After which, they are attached to cookies, following the agreed design.

When everything is completed, cookies are sealed in small individual bags to maintain freshness! ^_^

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

Dillon's Cute Lion Cake

Little Dillon Loves Lions

One day, I received an email from Amelia. 

She wanted to order a cake for her son's 1st birthday. 

After discussing with her, I was really excited to get this order as it was a buttercream cake.

I love it when I can work wth buttercream, and I love to pipe icing.

Little Dillon is very adorable, according to his mommy, he loves pictures of cute lions. Amelia wanted me to put a picture of a cute lion on the cake. 

The best way would be to print the selected imagine on edible icing. I managed to incorporate the birthday message into the image, so the whole cake a a clean and neat look.

Amelia very kindly allowed me to share pictures from Dillon's first birthday party. She also told me that Dillon was very happy to see the cute lion on his birthday cake and he liked what he tasted too.

 I am glad to be able to out a smile on that little boy's face! ;) Thanks Amelia for trusting me.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

www.facebook.com/bakingbees

http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html

I love Rainbow Cake!

Rainbow Cake Number 2!

Within a week, I decided to make another rainbow cake. This time it was for my niece Joanne and again for Aloysius, as they are both born in April and we would have a family gathering to celebrate birthdays yearly.

I didn't want to decorate the rainbow cake that was exactly the same as the first one. That would be a tad boring for the birthday boy too.

I had to get creative. How so? I thought about it for a couple of days.

This is what I came up with! ^_^ Cute?

It's the same 6 coloured layers of cake with cream cheese frosting but this time, I used jelly beans to form the names of the 2 birthday kids and also to line the base with Disney gummies.

As the names had to be shortened to fit onto the cake, I opted to use their pet names instead.

Baking Bees Contact Information:

bakingbees@yahoo.com.sg

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http://queenbeebakes.blogspot.com/2011/12/baking-bees-contact-information.html