Cupcakes @ The Tea Republic, Bangsar Shopping Centre

Life has taken a small twist recently .. for the better. Have been positively buzy on weekends to meet some cupcake orders for The Tea Republic @ Bangsar Shopping Centre. Its a quaint new F&B outlet that recently opened in Dec 2010.

Sharing with you some cupcakes I did for them and it will be available for the entire month of December.



















Do drop by TTR for a cup of tea. My recommendation would be their tea blossoms .. such a sight to see the bright flowers popping up into a full bloom right in front of you!
























For a sincere review of my cupcakes, do drop by eatdrinkkl.blogspot.com. Am really surprised a reknown food-blogger actually dropped by for a review.

If I'm not back by 31 December, here's wishing every single one of you
A MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

1Malaysia cupcakes anyone?

Last Friday was a public holiday and coincidentally, I had some ex-colleagues visiting the country from Sweden, so we decided to have a pot-luck party at one of our ex-colleagues houses. As usual, we prepared/bought local food like siew yoke, roasted duck, satay and some really delicious home cooked hainanese chicken rice for them. And not forgetting "lou sang" cos its still Chinese New Year mah. Boy! Did we toss them high alright!!!

We all loved the times we had at this ex-company but due to unforeseen circumstances, most of us headed our own way but we do make it a point to meet at least once, if not twice a year for a gathering with our families.

Bryan behaved quite well simply because there were tonnes of toys for him to play (nevermind if they were Barbies!!) and thank god there were 2 hamsters to keep him occupied too.

Albeit all the fun and laughter, we got to know towards the end of the party that, the ex-colleague who was hosting the meet, has decided to migrate to Australia for the sake of his kids. We were happy for him, but sad to have another friend leaving the country. Sad that we have less one friend in town. Sad that our group is really parting in more than one way. Life is such right. He has been a really wonderful friend to all of us and I am sure we will meet again. After all, Australia is not THAT far away .. only 8 hrs flight mah ... hahaha.

For dessert, I made some cupcakes. I baked a chocolate cupcake (my first time) and had no idea how to decorate it. I didn't want to tint the icing into too many colors, so I stuck to the original and thought it would look great by just decorating it with sprinkles. And they turned out like ...... 1Malaysia cupcakes, dont you think??? I had a good laugh when I completed it, but sorry, too late to bake again.

My visit to Q Jelly .. pretty!!!!

Last weekend, I also decided to check out Q-Jelly, the much talked-about bakery that specialises in jelly cakes. Oh my god! They are just so pretty! Especially those barbie doll cakes .. they all have such a lovely colourful jelly gown!!!!

From their display counter, I saw so many lovely jellies in such beautiful and cute designs. Hubby suggested we buy some to get a taste of their cakes. So we choose a pack of mini-animal themed jelly pieces that comes in both chocolate & strawberry flavours. Hmmm... yummy lah! But not cheap at all lah.

I went through their album to see if there is a Blue's Clues charactered jelly cake which I thought would be perfect for lil one's birthday next week. Unfortunately, they only have the rights to Disney's characters ..what a pity.

I went home thinking about jelly cakes and I was wondering how on earth people can sell such cakes for so much when the ingredients cost so little! I, therefore, tried, doing one on my own that same afternoon! With limited ingredients at home, I embarked on my jelly cake journey ... to some disappointment *sob sob*.

I must say I loved the texture of my own jelly cake attempt. Sweetness was just right and texture and "chewiness" was just right for me.

The only thing not right was it lacked the "vibrant" colors as I was too afraid they would turn out too "bright" and might look artificial if I added too much food coloring. I also did not have any milk or coconut milk to add to the "in-between" layers, so the colored layers looked as if they are all combined into one. And also, I dont have the proper moulds to mould them into cute little art pieces like the ones we bought lar. So many excuses eh?

Nevertheless, I was not demotivated. I vow to learn to make these lovely desserts to something more presentable someday! I promise!

But can someone show me a really good method to keep the remainder of the boiled jelly warm while the individual layering cools down? Should I maintain them over low heat in the pot? Waste gas wor ... Someone told me to place the boiled jelly pot into a larger pot of hot water and when the hot water cools, down replace with more hot water. But practically, I find it more troublesome since I need to boil more hot water every 10 mins or so to refill the pot right? How? How? Any easier fool proof method?

Konnyaku Jelly

Mom wanted a butter cake but I told her, aiyoh, dont want lah, very tired lah. And then she highlighted to me that I still have a pack of konnyaku jelly and it has been some months gathering dust in the cabinet.

And since I have not baked for a long long time, I decided to just make this quickie instead, to replace the baking itch in me ...*smile*.

Konnyaku Jelly

1 packet of konnyaku jelly powder

160gm castor sugar

800gm water

a drop of coloring (if you prefer)

1 can of pineapple rings (cut into bite sizes)

• Bring water to boil.
• Shut off fire and add in castor sugar and the jelly powder.
• Stir till sugar melts completely.
• Let cool for a while.
• Place pineapple pieces into jelly moulds.
• Pour prepared jelly into moulds.
• Let it harden and cool down.
• Refrigerate.
• Serve it when its nice and cold.

I like my jelly nice and hard (not too soft) and not too sweet. You can use 180 or 200 gm of sugar if you have a sweet tooth. Or you can also use up to 900ml of water if you like. Its all up to individual preference.

This is one easy dessert that you can make anyday!