Sugar-Rocks now has an order form! Thanks to my aunt.

In my last post, I mentioned that I made some Nutella swirled butter cakes for my aunts. However I only managed to get hold of one of them and I do love people to eat my cakes within two hours of baking! Optimal cake eating timing turned out to be terrible timing because I found my aunt in her living room staring at two computer screens and her TV screen. Yup she was multi-tasking, writing her thesis and watching some sappy serial at the same time. The conversation went roughly like that

Oli: Hey Ee Ee remember how we used to eat Nutella together? I made a Nutella cake!!!

Auntie J: Did you make a cake for my neighbour? I owe her a gift.

Oli: Why don’t you buy a cake from me for her?

Auntie J: No, you make the cake for her for free.(very fierce voice and starts eating the cake eyes still glued on the screens)

Oli:  I can’t make things for free for you to give away to your friends anymore! My friend and manager  L----s said NO MORE FREE CAKES. Hey I wanted to show you my website, remember how you told me I should market my cakes online? (grabs a computer that looks seemingly idle)

Auntie J: (For the first time her head turns towards me) : DON”T TOUCH THAT!!!

Oli: Just wanted to show you my website. (quickly types the sugar-rocks website before screaming unfolds)

Auntie J: Where are these pictures from? You took them off the internet?

Ryan : Muahhahahahahaa

 Oli: (stunned) Sheesh, these are my cakes, I took those photos! Look carefully can’t you even recognise our friggin house and plates!!!!

Auntie J: Hmm, actually you should start selling these cakes.They are really nice!

Ryan is just rubbing his head in his hands at this moment

Oli: EeEee I am selling these cakes. Just like you told me to a month ago!!! You are staring at the website where I am selling my cakes. That’s why no more free cakes for your random friends!

Auntie J:You sure you didn’t take them off the internet.

At this point I started to get slightly paranoid, not just because of my Aunt’s little faith in me, but also because perhaps people are unaware that I am selling these cakes. So I got Ryan to make an order form for me (thank you thank you thank you). You can access it from here so just click here. It is also on the top bar of the blog, under the header order. At the moment here are the following cakes available

1)      Some Like it Hot—Chilli Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and a candied chilli padi (hot!)

2)      Like a girl—White cake filled with raspberry jam topped with cream cheese and a strawberry  (12 for $35)

3)      Roomantique—Lemon and Lavender cake with chocolate ganache filling and topped with a toasted meringue (8 for $25)

4)      Cruella De Vil—Natural Red Velvet Cake with Cream cheese frosting and chocolate chips sprinkles

5)      My Fav Bunny—Classic carrot cake with walnuts and raisins, cream cheese frosting and a little fondant carrot as a topper

6)      Guilt in a mini cake—Dark dark chocolate cake with a surprise centre, topped with a glossy chocolate ganache ( we can pipe words on the cakes)

7)      Where hasn’t Vanilla bean?—Vanilla bean cake with vanilla bean buttercream frosting

8)      A Chocolatey Affair—Dark Chocolate cake (brownie consistency) with a chocolate buttercream frosting

9)      Cococonut—Chocolate cake topped with a Marshmallow frosting and chocolate coconut ganache, grated coconut is sprinkled on the top (something like Rocky Road)

10)  Nutellen’ ya—The cake I brought my aunt.. Nutella swirled rich butter cake with Mocha and baileys frosting (baileys optional)

Sugar- Rocks does vegan cakes too, so please indicate if you have such a request. All cakes can be customised and made into whole cakes.

Oh to end that story with Auntie J, she sent Ryan running out of the house with the following words, “I think I want to do my last semester for my Masters in Melbourne but I will wait till you re-locate there then I CAN LIVE WITH YOU!

Here is an example of packaging I do for my cake orders. Enjoy! (BTW it is a “I Love Malaysians” cake complete with the twin towers)

card for the cake

Spot the Cupcake !

Cruella De Vil—Natural Red Velvet Cupcake

    

I love a red velvet cake frosted with cream cheese. However I am just appalled at the amount of red colouring iused. Was watching the Cupcake Wars and I also noted that everyone just dumped red colouring in their batter. Gosh even Magnolia Bakery’s recipe requires tonnes of that stuff. 

                                                   Soft peaks of cream cheese with chocolate chips.. yummy

I have thus been spending the last few days trying to find a way to make a red velvet cake without colouring. I suck at chemistry but basically red velvet cake is a devil’s food cake dyed red. However because of the acidity of lemons, the cocoa in the cake also takes on a red sheen, hence the bright red colour. I decided to incorporate beetroot in this cake, so as to give it a natural red. Why beetroot? Erm basically the stuff never comes off your clothes, could be a great dyeing agent. The truth is I LOATHE beetroot. I hate the taste! I used to cry so bad when I find them in my food. So for the first time in my life I actually purchased beetroot from the grocers. I thought it could not be so bad, sugar does come from beetroot and it would possibly keep the cake moist. Plus beetroot supposedly lowers your cholesterol! A healthy red velvet, who would have thought?

After a few trials, I finally came up with a good batter for this cake. A certain Miss M tried the cake (I did not tell her it was beetroot). Miss M was a good choice because she has zero affinity with beetroot too. She was quite surprised when I told her it was beetroot and was quite delighted with the taste. The truth is, the cake isn’t as red as I envisioned it to be (more magenta with red sparkles under yellow light) however the taste was so moist and it was velvety smooth alright. I like beetroot now…only in my cakes though.

                                                      Cruella De Vil baby cake

Why is this called Cruella De Vil? I am preparing for the Halloween season (quite wussy, cruella is scary enough for me). Red velvet cake is essentially devil’s food cake  with red colouring, I have paired the red velvet cake with its traditional cream cheese frosting. I have also added drops of chocolate chips onto the pipped cream cheese stars—Now doesn’t that look like a cake Madame De Vil would approve of!

Please contact me if you would like to order these cakes. The baby cakes go for $1.80  a piece with a minimum order of 24. All orders come with a gift box and a card. Pricing for standard size cupcakes depends on customisation , so please email me for a consultation

P.S. I can use red dye if you really really want that RED look heh 

                                         how cute are my IKEA liners (email me for a quote!)

Like A Girl-- A new flavour for Sugar Rocks

Like a Girl!

My younger brother, Frans is currently studying in Melbourne. Even though I have been complaining about him all my life, I do miss him terribly now. We just do real silly things together and I just love to tease him for his rather contradictory nature. So vain, yet so simple. So “himbotic” yet at times so wise. My mother’s favourite phrase for him was “like a girl”, which is really quite funny because Frans is a real “macho, I go to the gym, man vs wild” kind of guy.

Frans celebrated his 21st birthday last year and I recently dug up this photo of the three of us taken by my sister-in-law.

Every year, Frans gets the same cake for his birthday, a strawberry short-cake! It is Frans’s favourite or rather my mum has designated it as his favourite. She would say. “Get Frans a strawberry cake, it is his favourite, He’s like a girl!”. I guess this has inspired my new cupcake flavour—Like a girl!

This comprises of a moist white butter cake with tangy lemon zest, filled with raspberry jam in the centre, frosted with cream cheese and topped with a fresh strawberry. I bet Frans and all berry lovers would approve.

I am selling these in a gift box, $35 for a box of 12. This includes a handmade gift card. Isn't this a perfect way to tell that special someone how much they mean to you! You are able to customise the cupcake toppers and the frosting at a small fee. Please contact me for a quote!