2015 - 2nd Q Orders

3 months have gone by in a flash and I just realised half a year has already passed!

Each and every month, it's always interesting when I got new orders, and such fun to customize each order based on the preferences from different customers. Indeed, I'm blessed to have trusting customers who went along with my proposals!

Here's a summary of some of my baked goodies :)

After I introduced the Mango Chantilly Cake, I sent messages to friends and past customers informing them of the new flavour. This was ordered by a friend who has been very supportive, and glad that his family gave positive feedback about the cake.

The sweet and lovely cake was ordered by a new mummy for her baby girl's First Month celebration. She went for a dense and rich Valrhona Chocolate Cake, and requested for pink ombre rosette piping which I did with White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Loved how the colours and rosettes turned out. Rosettes are always very fun to work on :)

Ordered by dear friend WH (who's also my most supportive friend for my bakes) for Mother's Day celebration. He wanted something dainty and sweet-looking, so this lychee ombre cake was created for him. The addition of dried rose petals and fresh mint leaves were a refreshing finishing for the cake.

This was my tallest and biggest cake to-date, made for a couple's ROM celebration. A 2 tier, 7-layer red velvet cake frosted with cream cheese and decorated with rosette piping of themed colours blue, creme and coral pink.

A cutesy little cake ordered by a lady who has been so supportive and ordered quite a few cakes from me already. Her daughter loves strawberries, so besides fresh strawberries, the fillings was homemade strawberry jam, instead of just chantilly cream.

Another Mango Chantilly Shortcake, made for my yoga teacher's birthday celebration.

A second strawberry shortcake ordered by the same lady for her daughter's celebration in school. This time I proposed a 2-layer sponge cake with lots of chantilly cream and full strawberries as fillings.

A lychee shortcake ordered by a sweet lady for her twin brothers' birthday celebration. It's always gratifying to hear that the cake was well-enjoyed by everyone, not too sweet and light enough for the palate.

Nowadays I hardly bake rainbow cakes using white cake recipe anymore, because white cake is much heavier, sweeter and dense as compared to the sponge shortcake. However, to get really vibrant rainbow colours for the cake, a white cake is necessary. This was a special order by a friend for his son's birthday who specifically requested for a vibrant rainbow cake with marshmallow decoration.

This has got to be my favourite cake design so far! Ordered by a lady for her mum's birthday; she wanted something light and not so sweet, and as her mum loves flowers, she also requested for some rosettes. Very pleased that the ombre colours of the cake layers turned out nicely. The cake was frosted using chantilly cream which was very light and piped with reduced sugar swiss meringue buttercream for the rosettes. The feedback was positive, the cake was light and not too sweet overall, and the whole family enjoyed the cake very much!

Looking forward to more orders in the coming months!

Mango Chantilly Cake

New cake open for order - Mango Chantilly Cake

This was the cake I baked for my hubby's birthday in April :)


It's mango season now, and we see lots of juicy and plump mangoes on sale at fruit stores and supermarkets. The mangoes are mostly sweet with a slight tinge of sourness which is perfect for making desserts. The tangy flavour adds a depth to the sweetness of cakes and cream, and makes the cake very refreshing and appetising.


The texture of this genoise sponge cake made using Nissen violet cake flour, Jyohakuto sugar, fresh milk, eggs and unsalted butter is moist, tender and light. The chantilly cream is whipped using dairy whipping cream, mascarpone cheese, fresh mango puree and icing sugar (optional, sweetness level can be adjusted).

Size of cake can be customised, along with the number of layers, as well as colour of the layers (rainbow or ombre).

Please drop me an email at megtan@singnet.com.sg if you are interested to order this cake!

2015 - 1st Q Orders

Wow, time really flew by. 3 months of 2015 gone by just like that! The past 3 months have been fun as usual; once again very grateful to my friends and customers especially those who have enjoyed my baked goodies previously and ordered from me again =D

Here's a summary of some of my baked goodies :)

First of all, dear son's 5th birthday celebration at his childcare centre. After discussing with his teachers, instead of just the usual birthday song/cake-cutting, we decided to let all the children be involved and have fun decorating their own cupcakes!

There were close to 40+ children in the childcare centre, so I made 50 vanilla-chocolate marble cupcakes and prepared 50 mini bags of buttercream frosting, as well as M&M chocolates and assorted marshmallow. The celebration was a blast! We started off with a simple birthday song/cake-cutting. Then dear son took over and demonstrated to his friends how to frost and decorate the cupcakes. It was hilarious to watch as he looked really serious during the demo, just like a little teacher. Anyways, all the kids had fun and they were so proud of their own work, which they got to eat too :) Very grateful to the teachers who were so supportive!

The cupcake DIY decor kit is available for orders and can be customised accordingly. Do drop me an email if interested :)

And so, since the children already had their own cupcakes, I just baked a simple Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting for the cake-cutting. This version of Red Velvet is moist, dense yet tender with a subtle taste of chocolate, and perfectly complemented by a rich cream cheese frosting.

This lovely rainbow cake was ordered by a mum for her daughter's sweet 16 birthday. Instead of the usual fruit decoration on top of the cake, I piped some pink and purple rosettes using buttercream to make the cake look more dainty and girly.

This Captain America theme cake was ordered by my Secondary School friend for her son's birthday. When she approached me for a themed cake, I was hesitant because I usually don't do themes or fondant. At most, I would go along with a colour scheme that's close to the theme and get cake toppers. So in the end, after taking reference from Instagram, decided to pipe the cake with Captain America's signature shield and do a miniature shield using fondant. As I used cream cheese, I couldn't achieve the supposedly white colour of the shield so it became an off-white/beige colour. Nevertheless very glad that my friend and her family liked the cake.

This pretty Frozen themed cake was ordered by a mummy whom I met at a playgroup few years back when I brought dear son for lessons there. She managed to source the cake toppers so I designed a base cake with the Frozen theme. The sponge layers were rainbow colours and the chantilly cream tinted light blue. The piping was done using buttercream so it was beige/off-white instead of pure white. Unless I use non-dairy whipping cream, pure white couldn't be achieved. But I don't do non-dairy so have to make do with the off-white colour. (Couldn't use chantilly cream which is close to white because it melts more easily and the piping designs wouldn't be able to stay visible). I also added some fondant snowflakes and dragees to make it closer to the theme. Had to borrow the snowflake fondant cutter from a friend as the bakeware shops I went to were out of stock for the cutter. Thank you to E for the loan!

Anyways, I think the cake turned out well and the birthday girl liked it :)

A sweet little cake ordered by my Uni/Hall friend for her daughter's birthday. Her daughter likes the Butterfly character from BabyTV and she asked me if I could incorporate the character onto the cake. Initially I proposed using cut-outs and stick the cut-outs onto the cake (using satay sticks). After some discussion, she asked me if I could just make a simple fondant figurine of the number "3" (from BabyTV). Although I used fondant to cut out names once in a while, this was my first time making a proper figurine so I wasn't confident. In the end I decided to make a butterfly as well. I certainly need more practice. Glad that my friend didn't mind how the figurines turned out, and they enjoyed the cake very much.
 

A simple strawberry shortcake with chantilly cream frosting ordered by a very supportive friend for his office's monthly birthday celebration.

This was ordered by an ex-colleague cum friend who is an avid baker herself. She would usually bake the birthday cakes for her family members. But this time as she was curious about the taste of my rainbow cake, she decided to order one from me :) Feedback was that the cake was indeed very tender and moist, but the tenderness made it difficult to cut and serve. This point is something that I have been and still pondering about, to make the cake more firm, yet tender enough and without resorting to any added chemicals. Hmmm...

This cake was ordered for an office birthday celebration. A simple and elegant red velvet cake with rosette cream cheese piping.

This cake was ordered by a mummy for her son's 3rd birthday. The cake layers were ombre shades from beige to pink (I forgot to take a photo!). Once again, enjoyed by all the children.

This cake was ordered by a hubby for his wife. His wife, Kelly had actually ordered the same cake from me a few months back for her hubby and now it's his turn to order. They liked the previous cake very much and so ordered the exact same cake!


Looking forward to more orders in the coming months!

2014 - 4th Q orders

Merry Christmas! It's nearly the end of 2014 and Meg's Pastry Studio is officially closed for the year!

This has been a fulfilling year, never expected to receive a steady stream of cake orders throughout the year. Well, not really a lot, but at a comfortable pace that I can handle confidently.

Big thanks to all my customers and friends, some of them even ordered cakes repeatedly. Really appreciate the trust, given that I'm just a homebaker without any retail shopfront. Nevertheless, I make sure that the ingredients I used are of quality and no preservatives or additives are added.

For the final quarter of the year, besides the ever-popular rainbow cake and ombre cake, I had orders for chocolate cake as well. At the moment, I'm only baking the super rich, dense and heavy Valrhona Chocolate Cake. Hopefully I could explore more recipes next year and come up with a light, tender and moist chocolate cake; and also other types of cakes.

Looking forward to a brand new year ahead! Please continue to support Meg's Pastry Studio! For orders and enquiry, please drop me an email at megtan@singnet.com.sg.

The largest size (in terms of area) of cake that I'm able to bake, this was 5 layers (can go up to 7 layers or more). Rainbow-coloured vanilla sponge cake with chantilly frosting, sandwiched and topped with assorted fruits.

Sweet looking cake ordered by a loving mum for her daughter's birthday celebration. A 5-layer ombre vanilla shortcake, decorated with lots of marshmallows and ribbons.

Valrhona chocolate cake ordered by the same mum who ordered the marshmallow ribbon cake. This cake was for their private celebration and birthday girl requested chocolate cake. Did rosette piping to make the cake look prettier.

Ordered by a friend who requested for "Minecraft" theme cake. After researching on various versions of "Minecraft" cake, came up with this version. Basically put together with 3 layers of chocolate cake and white chocolate buttercream tinted green and brown.

Ordered by son's Childcare Centre Director for one of the teacher's wedding celebration. Made a chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream and piped rosettes for a pure and romantic look.

For a friend's daughter one-year old birthday. The cake fitted just nicely with the party decorations put up by my friend.

Another birthday cake ordered by the same friend for her elder daughter's birthday. Proposed the chocolate cake with rosettes. This time the rosettes were tinted in 3 gradual shades.

Ever-popular rainbow lychee cake.

Rainbow fruit shortcake ordered by my Uni/hostel friend, for her housewarming cum christmas party. Decorated with some simple store-bought christmas decor.

My friend also ordered a Sticky Date and Toffee Bundt cake, which was very apt for Christmas.

My final 3 orders for the quarter, Christmas log cakes. Hadn't intended to bake but 2 of my customers asked if I could bake any Christmas cakes. So came up with something simple and elegant. Vanilla genoise sponge with chantilly cream frosting and decorated with some christmas decor.

Thank you to everyone for all the support given! See you next year :)

2014 - 3rd Q orders

Wow, I can't believe we are now into the 4th quarter of 2014 already! And as usual I think the last 3 months of the year would fly past so quickly that I wouldn't even have time to realise it.

For the months of July, August and September, once again I am blessed to take orders from friends, referrals and those who chanced upon my blog :) And I had a great time creating each and every of their cakes.

This is a 4" cake, the smallest cake that I sell, but with 5 layers it's relatively tall. Serves about 4-5 slices of cake. Made a cake bunting upon request from customer too.

 Another petite cake order, this time 4" with 4 layers.

 

Order from a Uni friend for her daughter who likes Doc McStuffin. Proposed this rainbow cake for her that's "un-frosted" at the sides because her daughter doesn't like cream frosting and got the topper separately. I love how the cake turned out, colourful and sweet.

 

Rainbow cake in vanilla flavour for a joint birthday. Left an empty space for a cake topper.  

Very excited to create this cake because it's the first time I made a heart-shape cake. Glad that the cake turned out well. Made a double-layer cake bunting as well.

Order from a friend for his company/colleagues' birthday celebration. This is the largest dimension that I can make (number of layers can be up to 7 layers) suitable for large group servings, up to 40 pax depending on size of the cake slice.

Upcoming this month, I have 3 orders, 2 of which are chocolate cakes which I seldom do. So, pretty excited about what's lined-up for me :) If you are interested to order any pastries, feel free to drop me an email at megtan@singnet.com.sg.

For the month of December, I'll be travelling quite a lot so probably the window for order is only a week or 2. For enquiry, please drop me an email as well :)

2014 - new namecards and 2Q orders

Before I realised it, it's also July, the second quarter of the year has gone by in a flash once again! So, it's timely to share some of my cake orders in the 2Q (April to June). Didn't take as many orders as I could and had to turn down a few requests as I was busy and travelling a fair bit in June.

Anyways, before I begin, here are my new name cards that I made in May and only started giving out during the more recent orders. Initially I thought of doing a simple design and mass print the name cards but on second thoughts, I wanted something more personalised. Therefore, each and every piece is handmade :)

Basically there are 3 components to the name card. I made crochet hearts and flowers so that the name card could be used as a bookmark. I have some yarn left over from my crochet projects, this is a good way to use them up.

On one side of the card is a photo of one of my bakes.

And on the other side is a hand-drawn logo with my website and email. So hopefully those who receive my name cards cum bookmark will keep and use it.

On to my bakes. Yes, mostly sponge, ombre or rainbow cakes :)

This was an order from a dear friend, C, who has been ever so supportive of my cakes. Looked simple and elegant on the outside, but inside were 5-layers of rainbow :)

This was an order from a friend I got to know from my yoga class. The cake was celebrating her daughter's birthday.

This was an order from hubby's former classmate. She wanted something simple for her son's birthday. So I made a 3-layer sponge cake and helped her get a batman topper which his son likes.

Made this for my yoga teacher's birthday. A slightly different design with 2 orange-pink ombre sponge layers and sandwiched with chantilly cream and strawberries, decorated with blueberries.

This was quite a large cake for a lady's 21st birthday. The theme for her birthday was blue so she requested for blue ombre shades for the cake. I also made a cake bunting for her. Usually I'm very reluctant to do blue shades because the cake batter doesn't take blue colouring very well. In fact, I re-did 2 layers because the colours didn't come out well.

Another lychee ombre cake order. I like the top view of this cake, the piped frosting looked like lace scallop here.

This was an order for a lady celebrating her son's birthday. I made a cake bunting for her as well. As the Korea strawberry season was long over, I could only get USA strawberries which were big and not so pretty. These few were the nicer of the lot. I should have gotten Japanese strawberries or raspberries instead.

A big thank you to all my friends and customers who placed their orders with me and trusted me :)