Quickie  

Posted by: Audrey in

I arrived (very) early today, so I thought I'd sneak in a post =P Gosh, it has been quite a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. I'm still trying to adjust to the new workplace...commuting via LRT everyday is quite tiring, to my surprise. LOL! And I still can't squeeze in any workouts these two weeks. *sigh* By the time I get home, it's quite late already...and I'm always so tired that I don't feel like going for a jog and stuff. Seems like excuses I know...which is why I signed up for boot camp sessions in August. Hopefully that will force me to get off my butt and go for workouts again after work....and also I'll be able to get off work earlier after training has ended.

Right now I'm still in the midst of training to pick up on the systems that I'll be working on with my colleagues....it's been so interesting so far. Can't wait to start getting my hands wet, so to speak, in work. Work culture and environment are definitely different...but so far it's given me a good impression, so I'm content =) Will see what's in store for the future and crossing my fingers that all will be good!

I'm also scheduled to go for another training in September...in the Netherlands! Quite stoked about this of course! And it so happens the week we're going there's a public holiday....I'm raring to go earlier, and trying to get permission to do so. But hit a few snafus *sigh* Will try to blog about that later (if I can). So now I'm still waiting for word if it's still possible...crossing fingers!

Hmm...what else? Oh yes! I did another run! It's Shape Magazine's Night Run a couple of weeks back. Quite fun too...different experience since it was at night =) Will try to blog about this too next, since this IS a quick update =P Okay, guess that's about it from me...watch this space *grins*

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New Beginnings & A Farewell  

Posted by: Audrey in ,

Yes, it'll definitely be a new beginning for me next week when I start my tenure in a new company, but it's also another beginning for me as I've signed up for some cake decorating courses at the International Center of Cake Artistry (ICCA) here! I've recently attended the first course - Decorating Basics, and had a blast!

The class was supposed to be a 4-day course, of 2 hours each day...but there had been some updates where the 4 days have been shortened to a 2-day course of 4 hours each day. So, of course those two days were hectic for me...but I had fun nonetheless! Some hiccups occurred during the two days, but meh...nothing too big or out of the ordinary for something newly implemented *wink* Here are some photos I managed to take:


Bahahahahahaha! I call this my quickest and fugliest cake decorated EVER =P I don't think my first ever decorated cake was even this fugly. LOL! This is what happens when I'm rushed for time...I only had about 15-20 minutes left to finish decorating my cake that had been 'printed' with a piping jelly transfer (drawn freehand because my sample cake was too small for the template given). I didn't want to go home with a halfway decorated cake, so I rushed through the steps and it got fuglier and fuglier as it progressed. *sigh* Not sure if one can tell...but this was supposed to be a cupcake image. Hahahaha! Oh well, one learns from mistakes, no?



Now THESE were much better right? Hehe! No, these were not all made by me. These were cakes decorated by my coursemates on the second day for our 'graduation'. Mine is here too...see if you can guess which one was mine!



And after we'd set up the table for photo taking, our instructor gave out our certificates for completing the course! YAYY!



My coursemates and I with our instructor....it was definitely so much fun getting to know them and learning together with them on how to decorate cakes using buttercream =)



This was my cake *grins* Again I didn't have that much time to decorate (I was slightly slower than my coursemates), so I just put two of my buttercream ribbon roses (which were VERY sloppy by the way!) on top, piped on some rosettes and leaves, and did a border of shells with some pearls that I brought along. Needed to work on leveling better on the frosting looking back at this now, but I did like how the colors turned out...especially the blue. It developed quite well to my surprise! I loved the color contrasts here =)


We also had to decorate the cupcakes we brought along, and these were the ones I did...a shaggy mum (top far left), pompom flower (bottom middle), rossetes (top far right and bottom far left), stars & swirls and just a plain one coz I ran out of time...heh! Yes, I was so rushed for time I just used back whatever colors I had...no time to mix more colors =( Can't wait to start on the second course, but I need to check on my schedule first...hopefully it'll be soon! *crosses fingers*

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Today is my last day at work, and although time and time again I've asked my colleagues to please NOT get me anything (I feel awkward getting presents for leaving!), they got me not just one, but a few! So SO thoughtful of them....I got a lovely Swarovski pen, a handbag and a Starbucks tumbler! Included also were cards of well wishes....got me on the verge of tears, but I managed to swallow them until I got to my car. Will miss them. It's definitely been a roller coaster ride so far, but I cannot say that it had not been fun...so many great memories =) I really hope we'll keep in touch after this and not be strangers!

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Cakes, Pastries & The Like  

Posted by: Audrey in

A way long overdue post, so this will be a photo-heavy one as I cram in my latest projects to date =P Been very busy at work since I'm still in the midst of a project and had to do some hand overs before I leave (more on that later). So, here are more of the stuff that I did the past month or so:


Lemon cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting...these were made on a whim for me to try out these new fondant flower cutters and flower formers for another project due in a couple of weeks. While I loved the colors, I didn't really like the way the flowers seemed like it was curling sideways instead of up. So I found another method and it worked like a charm!



This was made for my friend who ordered a cake for Father's Day. She wanted a cheesecake, so I suggested this caramel apple cheesecake pie which I absolutely loved the few times I've tried it out. Loved the lighting of the photo when I took this...natural light is awesome! Heh!



And the result of the 'experiments'? This wedding cake! I was very honored when my friend Shayne asked me to make her wedding cake. It was my very first wedding cake, as well as my first two tiered cake. Very tiring, especially with making the tiny flowers and decorating it, but thankfully it all worked out albeit the flaws (that I tried to hide with different angles and stuff...heh!) Yeah, as you can see the flowers were not the daisy flowers. Shayne wanted these kind of flowers but at first I couldn't find the cutters so I opted for small daisies. Luckily I managed to find these pretty cutters about 4 days before the cake was due, so I switched to these pronto!



 
Here's another view of the cake while it was placed in the church to await the cake cutting ceremony...*grins* The cake was a lemon orange cake with a raspberry puree filling in the bottom tier and lemon buttercream all over (and inside the top tier).



That very same day I had another cake due! It sure was a hectic weekend! Let's not mention also the fact that the next day was the KL Marathon, and I barely had 5 hours of sleep to finish these cakes...=P This was for a birthday girl who absolutely adores dogs, so my friend Yen asked for a dog themed cake. I tried to do a dog park cake...=) The doggies were not easy to make...but I had fun doing these! The cake was a coffee cake with caramel in between the layers and topped with fresh cream and fondant figurines. 



After the 10km run, I rested a while and then started on these as they were for my friend who wanted some doggie cupcakes to celebrate her dog's 7th birthday. I definitely enjoyed making these =) I even made extra so I could give Scottie & Kenji some...it's been a while since they had these cupcakes. These were meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting, and decorated with cheddar cheese, ham, nori seaweed and dog treats. The doggies went nuts for these, as I was told...which was always great news! *grins*



 
These were more recent...made these tarts last week for a friend who ordered these for her colleague's party. Strawberry cream cheese tart and fresh fruit tart with vanilla pastry cream...my two favorite tarts so far! I had a little boo boo though with the strawberry tart =( Made the chocolate ganache a little too runny and didn't manage to let it set a bit first before drizzling it on the tart....result? It SPREAD all over, resulting in a tart looking like I poured a layer of chocolate over the strawberries. *Sigh* Not a pretty sight indeed =( The photo here was taken right after I'd drizzled the ganache. Notice the streaks had already start spreading....now imagine the streaks combining together after a while. Yes, that was how bad it spread. =( Oh well...luckily the reviews were good for the tart, so it wasn't TOO bad I hope!



Made these for a pot luck at the office a few days before my last day at work....these were roasted cherry tarts with chocolate. These have become my favorite kind of tart when cherry season comes! The cherries were roasted until they were even more juicy than before...combine them with freshly whipped cream and drizzled melted dark chocolate: BLISS! I devoured them like crazy...and even my colleagues gave me the thumbs up! So it's definitely a keeper *grins*


More baking projects to come, hopefully! I'm liking the way things are turning out for my quest to save up enough money to get a bigger oven =) The responses from my friends wanting to order baked goods from me were very encouraging indeed *grins* Here's to more baking in the future! Heh!

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