I mentioned in a previous post that there were more cookie cutters in the mail. I received them not long after and made a few “test” cookies. But with other exciting distractions like fruit ganaches and new macaron flavours, I never got round to writing an entry about them.

So without further ado, I present decorated cookies, part II:

The design ideas for the teapots and teacups came from Peggy Porschen’s delightful books. Browsing through the book, I immediately fell in love with the roses and leaves design. But when I actually got round to decorating the cookies, I found that I liked the ones with the tiny hearts the best.

Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that it was a little OTT to go for the two-toned design, but I think they look so much prettier this way!

These baby-themed cookies were made after a client asked about decorated cookies for her baby boy’s one-month party. Don’t be deceived by the photographs; these cookies are HUGE!

The baby-themed cutters came in a set of 10 different shapes. My favourites were the baby wagon, milk bottle and pacifier. There was also an adorable umbrella shaped cutter, but the cookies tended to break easily because of the slim umbrella handle.

I loved the way these wedding-themed cookies turned out, except that the tuxedo turned out wrinkley. I suspect that I was too generous with the chocolate in the black icing. Any other ideas on why the tux turned out looking like distressed leather are more than welcome! On the bright side, I guess it could work for a rock-and-roll themed wedding!!

Other than that, I was really pleased with the lovely details like the buttons, pockets and lacey swirls on the tux and gown. Design credit goes to Ms Porschen as always!

These deep red cookies turned out so pretty that I couldn’t bear to eat them. I especially liked the contrasting outlines in the lighter shades of dark pink and yellow-green. I think they’re perfect as a take-home gift for a bridal shower or wedding reception.

All the cookies shown in this post and this other post are available for purchase, inclusive of packaging as shown with the rose cookies above. Each cookie is about 3″ - 4″ large. Pricing is dependent on complexity of design.

I’d been planning on making these cookies since late January, but never got round to it. After teaching a one-on-one decorated cookie class (and dusting off my cookie cutters) just last week, I was once again reminded of the plan I’d shelved in favour of Valentine’s Day macarons.

The wonderful thing about cookie decorating is that you’re free to embellish the cookies in any way you please. To me, an undecorated cookie is like a clean sheet of canvas, just screaming to be painted on. And the icing on the cookie (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) is this: If you’re unhappy with your masterpiece, you can just eat it and no one would be any wiser! Absolutely no waste and completely environmentally friendly too. :o)

A simple heart-shaped cookie can be personalised with the recipient’s name, a simple message or ornately decorated with dots, swirls and curls.

Don’t have much time to mess around with detailed icing? Simply flood your cookies with runny consistency royal icing. This lovely idea for a simple trio of baby hearts comes from Peggy Porschen’s delightful book, Romantic Cakes. I think they make excellent wedding favours!

Preferring something a little more ornate myself, I also made butterflies, decked out in pure white. A pair of these would make the perfect wedding favour! And where there are butterflies, there’d also be flowers.

I went with tulips, complete with leaves and stems. These do take a little more time to make, but the dramatic end results are completely worth the effort!

And since I already had the cookie dough all rolled out and the royal icing all prepared, I didn’t think it would hurt to try out wedding cake and birthday cake designs. My favourite detail on these cookies are the candles on the birthday cake. And once again, I have Peggy Porschen to thank for these wonderful ideas. :o)

If you’re already sick of looking at cookies by now, I’m afraid my cookie decorating madness isn’t quite over yet. There are more cookie cutters on their way in the mail. I can’t wait for them to arrive!

While on vacation last month, I had this grand plan to bake Valentine’s Day themed cookies when I got home: hearts, roses, butterflies, the works. But Chinese New Year celebration (and of course, the mandatory recovery period from all the over-indulgence festivities) got in the way and Valentine’s Day has come and gone with no cookies in sight.

To make up for the slack, I decided to try baking heart-shaped Ispahan macarons, something I first saw on Flickr (at Pierre Hermé) and then again at Carousel at Royal Plaza at Scotts. I also wanted to try out the age-old flavour combination of strawberries and cream with this Pierre Hermé inspired dessert.

In keeping with the original PH Ispahan flavours, I paired fresh raspberries with raspberry cream (instead of the usual rose cream) and lychee bits. For the experimental version, I used fresh strawberries with vanilla cream and buttery shortbread pieces in the middle and assembled this combination with both 3″ heart-shaped and 3.5″ round shells. I even managed to put together a small heart-shaped macaron.

I’m completely thrilled with the results; the visual impact of both raspberry and strawberry versions is undeniable (in my opinion anyway)! I’m also very glad to report that both versions are equally wonderful tastewise! Afterall, how can one go wrong with strawberries and cream?

I definitely won’t be waiting for Valentine’s Day to roll around before making these gorgeous little desserts again!

With Chinese New Year baking completed and no baking schedule for Valentine’s Day, I finally had some time to make caramel fleur de sel, something that I’ve been wanting to try for the longest time.

I used Chef Pang’s recipe, found on Chubby Hubby’s blog, but found the resulting caramel way too salty on its own. It might have something to do with the accuracy of my digital weighing scale (I rounded up the amount of fleur de sel from 3.75g to 4g), but the next time I make this, I’m definitely cutting the sea salt down to 3g or maybe even 2g.

I really couldn’t bear to throw all that caramel away and turned it into a buttercream filling for macarons instead. I also used vanilla flavoured macaron shells made with hazelnuts instead of almonds.

I have to say that I loved the resulting flavour; slightly savoury with a deep caramel flavour that still shone through the buttercream. I included them in a box of macarons I’d made for a dinner party at WL’s and they quickly became the most sought-after macarons, beating even the ever popular dark chocolate and opéra flavours!

These are definitely going onto the menu!

Caramel Fleur de Sel Recipe (adapted from Chef Pang’s version)

Ingredients
200g sugar
Sufficient quantity water
1/2 tsp pure vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla pod
200g whipping cream, warmed
3g fleur de sel
140g unsalted butter, well-chilled and cut into cubes

Method
1. Place the sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Add just enough water to dampen the sugar.
2. Cook the sugar to 160 degrees C without stirring. The sugar syrup should take on an amber hue.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the vanilla bean paste or the scrappings from the vanilla pod.
4. Add in the warm cream a little at a time - be very careful here as the caramel will foam up and sputter. I recommend wearing an oven mitt.
5. Add the fleur de sel and stir to make sure that all the caramel has dissolved.
6. Allow the mixture to cool to around 40 degrees C.
7. Add the cubes of butter and blend in the butter using an immersion blender until you have a smooth glossy paste.
8. Line the surface of the caramel with cling wrap to prevent a layer of skin from forming and chill in the refrigerator until needed.

When I received my first enquiry back in August about Christmas baking, I thought it’d be a great idea to come up with limited period macaron flavours just for the Christmas season.

I was pretty excited about the new flavours I’d dreamt up, but the steady stream of orders for macarons and cakes meant that I never had the time to actually try them out until this week.

All three new flavours have a hidden centre, which I thought was wonderfully appropriate for Christmas; biting into the macaron to find a hidden surprise in the middle would be like opening up a beautifully packaged Christmas present to get to the gift inside. Well, almost…

Peppermint Shells with Mint Tea White and Dark Chocolate Ganache

After all, what would Christmas be like without peppermint candy canes? While I love mint, I didn’t want the flavour to be overpowering and decided to go with chocolate as a filling. Even my husband who isn’t a great fan of mint likes the occasional After Eight thin chocolate square. For a subtler mint flavour, I went with mint tea infused white chocolate ganache as the main filling and a dark chocolate ganache in the centre. For those who don’t fancy white chocolate, there is also a mint tea dark chocolate ganache only version.

Christmas Spice Macaron with Ginger Rhubarb Buttercream and an Almond Paste Centre

I’ve always associated the smell of freshly baked gingerbread cookies with Christmas. It was easy to come up with just the right mix of spices for the macaron shells, but the filling was a little more difficult. I finally settled for a mildly tangy ginger rhubarb buttercream and a wonderfully aromatic homemade almond paste centre. Inspired by the deeply coloured macarons offered by Pierre Hermé and Ladurée, two of the finest pâtissieries in Paris, I went with a deep pink (almost red) colour for the shells. It wouldn’t be Christmas in a box without a touch of red now, would it?

Ginger Macarons with Ginger Rhubarb Buttercream and Candied Ginger (pictured in the first photograph above)

My sister had told me many months ago about a ginger flavoured macaron that her colleague had tried. While I was mildly intrigued, I wasn’t too sure if it’d be well-received. Then I remembered those blistery cold winter nights in Sweden and how wonderful that cup of firey hot ginger tea I’d shared with WL and SH had felt then. While Christmas in Singapore isn’t quite as cold, there are days when it’s cold enough to make me wish for that extra bit of warmth. I suppose it was worth a shot.

The results were surprisingly good. I kept the ginger flavour in the shells and buttercream on the mild side and added candied ginger to the centre for a stronger flavour. It made for a mildly tangy macaron until you hit the slightly spicy candied ginger centre.

The downside of having waited so long to make these Christmas macarons is that I only have a few slots left for anyone wishing to try them.

Available for Purchase: Christmas in a Box @ a Price of S$45. Includes 28 macarons (3 Christmas flavours or any other flavour you fancy from the list here) in a long glossy red custom made box with fat green or gold ribbon.

The thing about using fresh strawberries (or any fresh fruit for that matter) in cakes is that one is always at the mercy of the latest shipment that arrives from where ever it is that the local supermarkets or grocers at the wet market get their fruit.

The truth be told, I get just a little nervous whenever I receive orders for strawberry cakes because I never quite know what I’m going to find on the supermarket shelves. This is especially true in the period between the end of the US season and the beginning of the Australian / New Zealand season. There have been days when I almost cried tears of dismay at the awful state of the strawberries that were available - over-ripened ones that were already beginning to turn to mush, under-ripened ones that were 1/3 greenish white, monsterously huge ones and sad tiny ones (both kinds in the same punnet) - I’ve seen them all.

These days, I get my strawberies from the fruit stands at the local wet markets and they’ve been great so far. I believe it’s because the grocers are more fastidious when picking produce for their stalls. Now if only the supermarkets could afford the time to sort their produce…

The cheesecake pictured here is the 1st cheesecake order I’ve received. Many thanks to L for giving me room to experiment with a new recipe!

I’ve received many requests for chocolate muffins in the last few weeks, but since I wasn’t completely satisfied with the recipe I had, I was very reluctant to make them, much less put them up for sale.

I finally found some time this week, not only to tweak my chocolate muffin recipe, but to try out the oft-recommended flavour marriage of orange and chocolate.

These orange dark chocolate muffins contain Valrhona Manjari (64%), a generous splash of Grand Marnier and orange zest. While the domes here are not as dramatic as the blueberry muffins, I love how the crisp, chocolate chip studded tops give way to a delicate cake-like crumb. My favourite part about these little pillowy treats is the aromatic citrus overtone.

I’m really pleased with the results and even more delighted that I won’t have to say “no” the next time someone asks for chocolate muffins.

Available for purchase: 12 Orange Dark Chocolate Muffins made with Valrhona Manjari @ a Price of $25. Chocolate Only Variation @ a Price of $24.

I’ve been busy with other non-baking/cooking related matters these last couple of weeks and haven’t been baking as much as I’d have liked. This particular order had been placed several weeks in advance and I was glad to have an excuse to fire up my oven. Since I’d made this particular cake only once prior to this, I thought it would be prudent to get some practice in first.

Both cakes here have 3 layers of sponge cake (instead of 4) and were sandwiched with strawberries and cream. The one above is the trial version.

I’d toyed with the idea of using non-dairy whipped cream since it’s supposed to hold up better in our warm climate, but decided against it once I’d read the ingredient list. Dairy cream might contain fat, not give as smooth a finish and be difficult to pipe, but at least it doesn’t contain a whole list of chemicals whose names I can barely pronounce.

Available for Purchase: 9-inch French Strawberry Cake @ a Price of S$50. Variation with Ladyfinger Sponges around the Cake @ S$55.

I’m on some sort of “breakfast food” roll at the moment. These were made using my favourite blueberry muffin recipe. In an attempt to make a more healthful version, I tried these with wholemeal flour once, but ended up with really dense muffins. So this time, I stuck to the original tried-and-tested version.

I like these muffins best fresh out of the oven because of their crusty tops and moist insides. But the best thing about them is that they are still fluffy and moist after 3 days, even if stored in a not-so-air-tight container - that is if they make it to the 3 day mark.

I’m glad to be home after a short work stint in KL. As fun and interesting as it was to work in a new office environment with some very nice people and as wonderful as it was to have such gracious hosts as C and WS, I have to admit that I missed messing around in my kitchen terribly.

Which was why I was really excited to receive a special request for this strawberry chocolate cake from a customer early this week - just before I was to fly back home. Her timing couldn’t have been better! It gave me a reason to get back to my kitchen almost right away without having to think too hard about what to bake.

I was a little concerned initially about whether strawberries would still be in season, despite the fact that they were still abundant when I’d left for KL. As it turned out, the supermarket shelves were still full with punnets of Californian strawberries.

Thank you for your order, S! I hope everyone enjoyed the cake as much as I enjoyed baking it!

Available for purchase: 10″ Strawberry Cake @ Price of S$55.