Decorating Cupcakes

I am not an expert of decorating cupcakes. But I always want to try. And tonight, this is the best shape that I got...

*We found a great recipe for the buttercream. It's in French.

Funny Cake Balls

Funny? Why? Because the cake itself was not as good as I wanted. Not moist, not yummy. But I believe it's healthy since the ingredients are healthier than usual. For the sweet taste, it used honey. For the red color, it used beet. Check the original recipe at Weelicious site, ok? It's about beet cupcake, I think.

I made a mistake in preparation. I can't tell you more, too ashamed :(. So the result was not okay.

Then I mixed all with some nutella to make cake balls. And here was the funny part. My girls and I made a trial with the decorating color ~ white chocolate, melted, then mixed with red & yellow food colorants. After we pour it on the meat-look-alike balls, Hahaa! All the cake balls looked like meat balls with sauce. My big girl said: "Hm, suddenly I want spaghetti with meat balls".

Ok then, I decided to add some sprinkles on those balls. Prettier now.

Well, anyway, it was fun.

I Know What I Did Yesterday :p

Here are the things that I did yesterday when my lil one slept like a angel (three hours napping, yey...!).

First, making a needlebook. I saw the one belongs to my mother-in-law, a simple needlebook with waterproof cover. It looked nice and very useful, especially with a toddler running around & taking everything she sees (for example, a pin cushion). Another thing, lately I like to take my sewing projects to my in-laws' house during our visit. So, it would be great to have one needlebook in my bag, but of course, I didn't want to buy (LOL).

Then I made one with all fabrics that I had at home. I used a piece of cotton fabric in polkadot as the outer, felt fabrics for the inside parts, and ribbons. I also used a piece of carton paper from a book delivery package to be put between the cotton and the red-color felt (note. used cardstock, pake karton bekas).

Second, I finished the little tote that I made for my lil one. This is the second tote bag I created from the scrap of jeans pants (see this blog). I started to sew the bottom part couple weeks ago, then put the pinky felt straps (handsewing) last week-end. It already looked pretty, actually. But too simple. So I added the polkadot fabric to cheer up the day :p

After, I cooked for lunch. It was not too special but healthy: rice, veggies and tofu (no photo, sowry :) ). At the same time, I prepared all things for baking some carrot cupcakes. I decorated a bit with pink almond paste (pate d'amande) in Mickey's head shape. Hm, that was a trial session, for the real Mickey-Minnie theme party in 2 weeks :D

Ok, done... :p

Wall Deco Changing

Summer lalu, kami memasang stiker Vertbaudet ini di bagian kepala tempat tidur si kakak. Dan dia senang sekali dengan hasilnya. Beberapa bulan kemudian, si adik mulai 'kreatif' memindah-mindahkan potongan stiker ke tempat-tempat lain. Sebagian yang terkena kotoran akhirnya tidak bisa digunakan lagi. Dan saya pun kapok beli wall sticker. Namun berhubung kedua anak saya perempuan, tentunya saya ingin kamar mereka ada nuansa feminin dan girly.

Saya dan kakak mulai memikirkan cara menghias dinding kamar yang hasilnya bisa 'tahan lama'. Mengingat tingkat kreatifitas si adik masih tinggi, jadi kami sementara ini menghias dinding bagian crib adik dengan ketinggian di luar jangkauannya. Dekorasi ini mengambil stiker kakak yang masih tersisa dan hiasan dinding bergambar burung. Sisanya, kami mencoba mengikuti tema warna yang sama dan memberdayakan stok kain felt dan pita yang ada.

Hasilnya masih blm maksimal. Saya sebenarnya merencanakan untuk menambah cantik bagian bunga felt pink dengan seed beads or kancing-kancing. Namun belakangan ini urusan di rumah sedang agak berantakan. Target awal penyelesaian dekorasi kamar ini pun sempat mundur. Kemudian, saya berpikir, biarlah seperti ini dulu. Jika di lain hari ada kesempatan, kami akan mempercantik lagi. Itu pun kalau kami belum keburu pindah :)

Our New Year's Dinner

Everything was simple since we had limited time for the preparation and cooking. Still, it was fun!

So, these were all the food that we enjoyed during New Year's dinner, my first with my little family. In 2007 & 2008, I celebrated it with my hubby's friends in Paris. In 2009, with my Indonesian friends in Lyon (I was pregnant!). And then, 2010 was with my in-laws family in St. Martin d'Auxigny.

I love the simple event we made. And I really enjoyed working together with my family in preparing all of these. Next year, I hope it will be the same :) I know it doesn't look special, but it was very special for us.

Photos:

• starter: emping manis, spicy fried tofu, pumpkin soup
• main course: veggies fried rice, hot spicy egg (balado maksudnya), abon, emping, tofu
• dessert: mini cakes, decorated by my daughter :)

Barbie Cake

*copas dari blog saya yg satu lagi, per 5 Desember 2010*

Yah, segini deh maksimal usaha yg bisa saya lakukan. Di sela2 semua keribetan krn kondisi cuaca, kondisi kesehatan dan kondisi eneng kecil yg ampun deh ahh... akhirnya lewat juga hari ini dgn senyum lebar mbak Rara yg senang melihat kue permintaannya di depan mata.

Once again, happy birthday my big girl. Lots of prays for you, Dear...


PS. Bahan utk covering cake-nya dari pâte d'amande, cetakannya dari Wilton.

My First Choco Macarons

Awalnya kurang yakin utk bisa membuatnya sendiri. Kenapa? Krn resep andalan suami ini dalam bahasa Perancis, saya khawatir bhw pemahaman saya tidak tepat. Dan pâtisserie sendiri bukanlah sesuatu yg mudah. Namun, berkat panduan terjemahan dari suami, akhirnya saya benar2 belajar membuat macarons ini.

Hasilnya? Not bad... Cuma bentuknya saja yg blm seragam :)

Sisa Ganache bisa dibuat Cake Pops Look-alike dengan bahan: cupcakes dan butir2 gula dekorasi kue. Thank's for the idea, Sukie!

Update: Resep dan foto2 pembuatan Chocolate Macarons ada di link ini.

Decorating Cupcakes, finally...

Kenapa saya tulis 'finally'? Karena niat utk menghias cupcakes sudah ada sejak tahun lalu. Momentnya sama, menjelang ulang tahun my big girl, seperti yg saya tulis di blog ini. And today, baru deh terlaksana... latihan menghias cupcakes :).

Tahun ini, dapat ide dari teman, Liz, untuk menggunakan pâte d'amande sebagai pengganti fondant. Melihat Barbie Cakes yg dibuat Liz dgn pâte d'amande, saya makin ingin coba, apalagi my big girl suka sekali dgn Barbie Cakes. Seiring berjalannya waktu, ternyata dia suka berubah pikiran. Emaknya pusing. Ya sudahlah, cupcakes dulu aja yg dihias yah... Dan ternyata dia suka!

Saya mencoba dua macam hiasan, dgn pâte d'amande dan dgn buttercream. Yang pertama, saya terbantu dengan bbrp bento stuffs yg saya bawa dari Jakarta. Oke banget untuk cutting pâte, jadi tidak perlu membeli cutter khusus (hm, yg 2 thn lalu saya beli masih ada sih, tp kegedean). Kemudian, banyaknya video tutorial di Youtube juga sangat membantu. Semakin ada bayangan, dan lumayan dapet bbrp tips.

Yang kedua, menghias dgn buttercream. Senada dgn sebelumnya, saya juga terbantu dgn Youtube utk tutorial menghias cupcakes menggunakan buttercream, serta mendapat ide2 dari bbrp foto karya orang lain di internet. Awalnya saya pikir ini akan lebih mudah dibanding menggunakan pâte d'amande. Ternyata... Namanya juga tidak pernah hias kue dgn buttercream, hasilnya tidak spt yang saya harapkan. Berkat taburan gula ^_^ dari Scrapcooking Kit, tampilan cupcakes menjadi lebih baik.

O iya, saya membeli Scrapcooking Kit ini tahun lalu menjelang ultah my big girl. Tapi... baru dipakai sekarang, kecuali paper cups-nya yang sudah habis utk membuat muffins.

Utk project ini, saya berterima kasih sekali kepada hubby karena membantu browsing resep buttercream yang terenak (kata yang punya resep :). Juga terima kasih kepada anak2 yg sangat menghargai jerih payah mama-nya, apalagi eneng kecil yang sudah teriak2 histeris di depan oven, "Gâteau! Gâteau!"

;)

PS. Gâteau= kue

My First Cake Decoration

I never did cake decorating before. But for my daughter's birthday, I wanted to surprise her with a nice fondant cake. So I had to try.

At first, it was not easy for me to find the Wilton fondant. And, after browsing around, I found this site, www.mora.fr, which sells many things for baking, including Wilton products. Yuppie!

My husband helped to bake the cake and fill it with peach + nutella. So, I could focus on the decorating. For decorating tips, I tried to find many information from friends, Wilton's site, Youtube, etc. Please check these out:

• Catatan di Dapur
• Multiply FiFang
  
• Wilton - Decorating Fondant
• You tube
  
• Cake Stylist
  

Since I ordered only one Wilton icing color (rose color), so I added some Smarties to make the cake more colorful.

Voila, this was the cake! Yummy and pretty...!


So, thank's to Ria, Ellen, Fi Fang, Mbak Lina, and also, my husband, who helped to make my dream came true!