Happy Australia Day!!

So what are your plans for today? Heard the weather would be perfect for a visit to the beach. Or if that's not really your thing, a picnic or a bbq seems to be popular activities on Jan 26th.

If you need to make some sweets / dessert / snack, why don't you try this..

... macarons ... (hehehe... yes) - but don't fill it with your standard ganache or buttercream. Use Jellies!!!

The beauty of macarons and jellies are that they come in all different colours and flavours. And if what you want is not available, you can easily create what you're after in your own kitchen :)

Tell me the first flavour that comes into your mind...

In my case , whilst we're in the spirit of Australia, I got some green and gold macaron shells. You can either as per normal - or alternate the shells on each side.

You can get any jellies you want... You don't have to do anything fancy - there's enough celebration today, you don't need to spend hours doing this.. You need to go have fun!! I used Aeroplane Jelly for this. This time round - colours where chosen to represent the OZ, however the flavours happens to also be perfect in representing our Summer's beauty.

This one's Lime - imagine cool tangy lime on a hot summer's day.. hmmm yum!!!! :)
Lemon is good too.. (hmmm.. lemon lime bitters..... *oops.. sorry.. digresing...)

Set the jelly in a shallow tray - that way you will end up with the right filling thickness - just as you would with any other type of fillings. Experiment - try and freeze the jellies, and scrape it off as you would a granita ... and see what you come up with :)

Alternate the shells, play with the colours, the possibilities are endless - for any events of any colours and themes.

This is my first Jelly Macaron actually - it has a different texture to the standard macarons. The "crisp" & coolness of the jelly is a nice contrast to the shell - I like it :) Make sure you have it straight out from the fridge - it's better this way :)

And you know what else like about it? The jelly is jewel like... so pretty!! :)

Sweet things for Rilakkuma

When I was growing up, I am "good friends" with all the hippest of characters.. hello kitty, little twin star, my melody, kerokeroppi, etc etc etc..

But recently when I was asked if I can make Rilakkuma... I said "who?".... I really need to catch up and update myself :P

Luckily, Alicia sends me photo of Rilakkuma, and from then on, Google was a great help!!

Rilakkuma likes eating sweets and cakes, so we surround Rilakkuma with all things she loves, as well as a stack of macarons along the side - this time, the macarons are real and not fondant

A colourful cake for the ever so cheerful Regina (from what I can see from Alicia's facebook... ) I think it might have rubbed off Alicia's happy personality :)

Australia Cake!!

What's Australia Day? Well, according to Wikipedia :

"...Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and ANA Day)^[1] is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.^[2] ......."

The cake I've got here is for a friend's brother. When I asked Lia what she wanted for the cake, she said "Australia!!" She got me stunned for a while there. She then continues by explaining that her brother hasn't been back to Australia for a while, and while he's in Sydney for his birthday this year, what better way to give him an "Australia" cake!!??

With Australia Day just around the corner, I thought it's quite appropriate to put this post up. It is afterall, like Australia's "Birthday" (^___^)v

So, what's Australia for most people? With Oprah's visit not too long ago, all things touristy and what's the first image that pops to mind (well... my mind anyway..) when Australia is mentioned, I decided to go with a few of the obvious.

1 - the Sydney Opera House (no, not Oprah house).. and the beaches (big expanse of blue) that Australia is famous for.

2 - Who doesn't know Koala? Cute (yes) and cuddly (no, not really.. have u seen those claws?), and in about every marketing material about Australia :P. And what's this about the colours?? Eventhough it's not exactly the colours of our flag, oz-s are easily identified in 'green & gold' clothing, especially in sports events.

3. and let's not forget the artistic side of things. The Aboriginal Drawings are one of the oldest part of the Australian culture. They tell stories and thus form part of the history.

Now, put all that together... and (in this occasion), this is my version of the "Australia" cake

p.s - it's almost Australia Day!! Wait for my upcoming "green and gold" post (^__-)

Estie & Mark's wedding cake

It is funny how you meet new people.

I met the bride, Estie through my friend Sisca. And another one of my friend, Ngel, just told me that she used to go to school with the groom, Mark. WHOA!!! what a small place the world is!!

Estie is just the sweetest person. She's really easy going, meeting up with her for the first time to discuss cake, is like we've known each other for a long time. We talked not only about cake, but about other things you wouldn't normally include in first time conversation.

We decided on a simple 3 tier cake, of Estie & Mark's favourite flavours - chocolate & mocha. A cascading set up of little flowers is inspired by Estie's wedding dress details as well as a refrained colour scheme for the day.

left: cake @ home ; right : cake @ the venue, little snail.

The florist sets the flowers on top afterwards.

Their wedding photos by Allan Hoang are very representative of Estie's personality, she looks so happy and relax, taking in and enjoying each part of her special day :) You can see her happiness in every single photo!!! **two thumbs up for Allan for capturing these!! :)

And I have to say the same about what professional photography does to your cake... hee hee hee.. Allan, thank you again!!!! :)

the cake complete with the fresh roses on the top

credit : Allan Hoang Photography - http://www.allanhoang.com

is summer here yet?

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Hope everyone's holiday was fun and memorable :)It's time to go back to work again now!

Think summer is finally here, we have spots of hot days (and still spots of rainy days). Haven't been able to go to the beach yet this year though, as the weather is still a little unpredictable.

So what do you like to do in days when the sun is hot, and/or when that option is unavailable?