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Mothers’ Day has come and passed.

This is the FIRST year in which I am qualified to celebrate Mothers’ Day. I was busy that Day, delivering cakes and making desserts for my family.

What a day. What a year!

Ever since my little one came into my life, I begin to understand joy, the purest joy…

… of having his little head lying snugly on my shoulder and gently drifting into sleep

… of having his wet, saliva-drenched, chubby little hand scratching my face

… of smelling the cutest breath in the whole world, better than any perfume money can buy

… of seeing that cheeky smile and that twinkle in his eyes

… of seeing him blinking his eyes when I ask him, “Show mummy your beautiful eyes.”

… of that proud moment when he learns recognises a new flash card

… of feeding him a new food and looking at his reaction

… of watching him drink milk and marvelling at how fast he grows

… of seeing him crawl towards me to greet me when I get home

… of him crying out for my attention, I feel so loved

… of sharing every single day with my little one

Motherhood.

I lose a part of me when I became a mother but I gained a whole new world.

 

Lots of Colours, Inspirations, Chocolate… annnnnnnd CUPCAKES!

Remember the little cupcakes we used to eat when we were younger – those artificially buttery, one-dimensional vanilla-scented and outrageously yellow cupcakes?

I used to love love love those but now cringe at the taste and the awful aftertaste of the cupcakes that lingers on and on. I thought the memories of those yellow cuppies will remain well, as fond memories, but who knew, cupcakes have become the IN thing these couple of years. I can’t remember when cupcakes became hot again, perhaps it was the effect of Carrie Bradshaw nibbling at a Magnolia cuppy. It’s so hot that some cafe and restaurants charge 4 bucks for one nutella topped cupcake! C’mon, they’ve got to be kidding.

Anyway…

 

My partner in crime L sent me an email a couple of weeks again, inviting me to join her at Shermay’s Cooking School for a cupcake course, level 1. I was hesitant at first but I am so glad I went. It was really FUN and the course opened my eyes to the possibilities of cupcake decoration and to the versatility of icing sugar toppings, colourful decorating sugars and of course, my favourite – marzipan - it is so much easier to work with that than fondant!

Of course, the best thing the course did was to rekindle my love for these little beauties and gave me the inspiration to make some for my Rui’s birthday coming up in June!

I can’t wait! 

 

Rui…

…because who can resist a happy baby!

 

 

…or a curious one…

Of Sleepless Night and Chocolate Cakes

I seldom blog at this hour, either I am home late from my yoga session, busy with Rui, or simply too tired. Well, I am not feeling most energetic this evening, having two bowls of green bean soup sitting heavily in my tummy.

Sleep is not quite possible as well because I can’t help feeling lonely as the other side of the bed is empty. Yes, my poor baby CH is working late this evening.

Get the work done and come home early, baby!

Since I am not in the mood to do anything, I thought I might as well plan the logistics for this weekend. For our family gathering this Mothers’ Day, I am, for the first time, in charge of desserts. That domain belonged to my dad for the past years but since I have taken a serious interest in baking, my kind extended family members have gallantly trusted me with the delivery of the cakes.

In addition to that, SM and XJ have also entrusted me with their Mothers’ Day cake, so I have quite a bit of baking to do this weekend and I am really looking forward to it.

As most of my family like cakes with a clean and fresh flavour, I am planning to make, maybe, a fruit charlotte or a fruit based mousse cake. That, and a chocolate cake for the diehard chocoholics among them.

The past week had been a relatively productive week for me as well. I have delivered two cakes for friends. Both are incredibly dark chocolate mousse cake.

This one is a 1kg cake I made for J’s father-in-law’s birthday. From bottom layer to top, it consisted of – almond and hazelnut genoise, chocolate royaltine, chocolate mousse, a luscious coco sponge made with muscavado sugar that is as good as it comes, and topped with another layer of deep dark chocolate mousse. The cake is decorated with fresh strawberries and almond praline.

 And this one is a 2kg affair, made for CH’s ex-colleague DJ’s son. Its composition was almost the same as the one above. I must say, I am not great at cake decoration. When I asked DJ for her son’s favourite theme of sorts, she mentioned that he was just like any other boys. Hmmm… so this is what I came up with. I know… hardly impressive. However, I am proud to report that a party-goer – a parent, ate three pieces of the cake! Well, the cake must redeem itself with some positive qualities, right! 

Rui’s New Friend!

J came to visit today with her four boys – Hang, Xiang, Xuan and her big “boy” TH.  

Xuan was born about one month before Rui. Though he’s smaller in size than Rui, Xuan is an active and alert baby, with large, round and inquisitive eyes. He seems more aware of his surroundings and is more agile than my big baby. J said that’s Xuan’s survival instinct – he needs to be more alert and aware, so as not to be bullied by his two older brothers! Haha…

Don’t the babies look adorable together!?

How time flies! Both babies will be celebrating their first year birthdays soon.

Two naughty babies tearing the house down!