Cake troubleshooting

Why did my cake sink in the middle? Opening your oven before the minimum baking time may cause the cake to sink because of the air that flows into the oven. It could also be that the oven was too cool, batter was too runny, cake was taken out too soon from oven, too much flour or too much baking powder was put in the batter. 

What can I do next time? Try not to check your cake by opening the oven until at least the minimum baking time stated. Make sure that you check the cake using a cake tester or tooth pick and that it does not come out with any batter or may be with only a few crumbs.

Why does my cake have bubbles? Over doing beating of your batter may cause air to enter your mixture or under mixing, too much leavening agent. 

What can I do next time? Put in your dry mixture bit by bit alternating with your wet mixture. Make sure you follow exactly how much leavening is directed in the recipe. If your recipe mentions to mix the batter until just blended, follow exactly that.

My cake seems overly dense. What could have happened? Too many eggs could cause this. Mixing the batter too much, insufficient baking powder or soda and too much fat also could contribute to why it is dense. What can I do next time? Check if any of your ingredients has expired and make sure you use the right cake pan size.

Why does my cake rise in the middle? Heating the oven too high may cause this or too much baking agent. Wrong type of flour. Pan maybe placed to close to the top heating element.

What can I do next time?Make sure that the oven is not over heated in the early stage of baking or temperature is too high.

Why is my cake dry? During mixing you make have put too much dry ingredients or too much flour is put in the batter.  

What can I do next time?Use a measuring cup and level off your ingredient by using a knife or anything flat. Do not tap down on your counter to level your ingredient.

Why is my cake sticking to the pan? Not enough grease on the cake pan. It is probably not cooked well enough just yet. Just leave it a few more minutes and let it cool completely before doing anything. 

What can I do next time? Use unsalted butter or shortening to grease the cake pan. Layer your cake pan with wax paper.

Less than 5 minutes icing recipes!

Here are some super simple icing recipes that I use to put either on cupcakes or regular cakes (sometimes ice cream:p )

Lemon cream cheese icing

60g cream cheese, softened

30g unsalted butter,softened

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

Beat cream cheese with butter in a bowl.Add lemon juice and icing sugar. Beat them until smooth.

Coffee Buttercream

3tsp instant coffee powder

125g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp milk

Dissolve coffee powder in boiling water. Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy.

Add the rest and beat for 2 minutes or until they are fluffy.

Caramel Icing

1 1/2 cup icing sugar sifted

1 tbsp milk

2 tbsp golden syrup ( I sometime just use some pancake syrup when I don't have any)

30g unsalted butter, softened

Beat everything together with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Super simple chocolate icing

25g unsalted butter

125g chocolate cut into chunks (for better flavour, use the best chocs in town!)

Just place them in a double boiler and stir until well combined. This is one of my favourite chocolate icing. You can put them on your ice cream or popcorn mixture.ps. put in 2 tbsp cream to make it shiny. (Once cooled, it should look like this.Yumm and soo easy!)

Local cake supplier shops and workshops

One of the ways for you to get started making cupcakes is of course is by knowing  where to get your resources from.

You will need to compare prices and quality of items. There is no short cut in doing this. I am listing down some local cake supply shops where you can find items to bake cupcakes. Everything depends on what you need and your budget.

Of course you must already have the recipe that you want ready. It is easy to get carried away in a bakery supply shop, especially if you love exploring and trying new stuff (like me!).

www.2decoratecakes.com

www.bakewithyen.com – go to the website. They have 3 outlets in the Klang Valley.

Chang Tung –just next to bake with yen.

Best baking solution

www.bagus.com.my*

www.wendybakery.com

www.pastrypro.com.my (kepong)*
Perfect Formula* 
8p sdn bhd (at taman midah cheras)www.freewebs.com/8pconcept/ 

Bakeri Vanila Pastri (Bangi)  
Cake Connection (Jaya One)*

* with cake classes

 There are a few in Shah Alam. Bagus has quite a big outlet there. 

Good luck exploring!

Fateeha's party (cont'd)

Here's the rest of the cupcakes I made for the kids to bring back home.

Cupcakes for Fateeha

Fateeha just had a party on Wednesday as her last school day for this year. She was begging me to make cupcakes for her classmates. Here's the product!I thought I make faces of her friends. She taught they were funny!

Ideas on how to get started on your cupcake business

There are many reasons how a person starts their cupcake business. Most local people start their cupcake business due to the motivational factor of creating more money, and some like me, started out simply for their love of cakes or because they think its adorable :)

If you love to bake, then this idea is not too far fetched. The more passionate you are, the better your creation will be over time. Practise makes perfect!

1.Practise your baking skills. Whether you just started baking or a seasoned baker, start practising. Take down the time you start baking until you finish the entire process. This is crucial during the later part of your business.
2. Scout around for bakery supply shops in your area and others. Surf to find out on online purchases too. Different shops may have different products that others do not carry. Find out which one is suitable for you and your budget.
3.Check out websites, blogs, articles and pricing of cupcakes sold online and those physically.
4.Do some research on equipments needed such as oven,mixers, cupcake liners and pans and ingredients. Find out on the prices on the things that you need to get started. Some shop offers discount for those who join as members.
5.Decide on the time and day you are able to bake and if you would have sufficient time to bake for customers.
6.Decide how many orders you can take at any given day.
7.Do a list of whom you wish to introduce your cupcakes to.
8. Do some calculation. Make sure that at the end of the day, you will get some profit out of it, after all it is 'business'. Your effort and time spent should be compensated fairly.
8. Start small and start with an open mind.

There are many ways to start a cupcake business, this are just some ideas for you to ponder on.

Turning cupcakes into cash?

It's been a while since I baked because someone ordered. Not like I didn't have any, I had quite a few but I since I got pregnant in June with my second one and I was so occupied with Teuscher Chocolates and the fact that Fateeha (my 4 year old daughter)seems to gobble up most of the cupcakes I bake, doesn't really help.
So now I bake for fun, back to basics. I bake when someone wants to taste or because I want to try something new. I still take orders whenever I feel like though. Now that I bake only for family and friends, I thought I should write on other cupcake bakers around town and the rest in the cupcake world since I truly support and understand the effort that they put in to succeed in this business.
Starting a cupcake business is not as hard as you think but it doesn't come easy as well. But then how did all these people succeed? Bake with passion. Don't just put money as your main goal.
I started baking cupcakes just out of fun because I thought they were cute. Then one day my friends in the office started ordering and I had a good number of orders for Eid 2007 and that is when it all got started.

Vanilla cupcakes with Teuscher 77% chocolate icing

Finally I made some time to try the Teuscher 77% cacao. Boy...boleh tahan gak the richness. I was contemplating nak buat chocolate ganache or fudge...and since I was lazy to get some cream,I just used whatever I had at home. I think they dissapeared within the 1st hour I left them...

The cooking chocolate is of course very high end absolutely yummy...and can be pocket damaging. Kalau teringin nak buat untuk some special occasion rasanya perfect! 100g =RM57.75.

Yummy chocs!

Chocolate info:

www.teuscher.com

FK1, Level 1, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Jln Maarof, 59000 Kuala Lumpur
03.2772 8661

Updates,updates and more updates!!

Hi everyone!

Sorry sangat2 I have not updated anything for a bit. I am currently sooo occupied with running Teuscher, Chocolates of Switzerland in BSC. No, it's not my shop!

Now that things are running a little better I have a little bit more time I get to do my own stuff.

What is Teuscher?For me its one of the best chocs, ever. Some people ask me what is it compare to Patchi...please. Patchi is not even listed in the 10 best chocs in the world. For me Patchi is probably MNG as to Teuscher is Hermes...no its not because i run the shop ok?

Drop by and ask for me coz i give great corporate discount price:) What so special about them? Well besides being the number 1 chocolate in the National Book of Geographics, these chocolates are hand made and do not contain preservatives, colourings etc. They are made to order and only last up to 6 weeks.

Yes, i love all food that are cute, yummy and makes me happy.

Drop by one of these days. 100g =RM65.00. Another idea utk engagements, baby shower, birthday, wedding present, anniversary etc.

PowerPuff!

How can you not love them????:)

School Cupcakes

Sending these to Cheras.Only RM1.50 if you purchase them there!

For Imran and Amyra's daughter cukur jambul - Baby Nabilah

Happy New Year!/Selamat Tahun Baru!!!

Happy New Year!May 2009 be a better year for us all.Pics of cupcakes for class of 1996 New Year Barbeque. Thanks for the invite Dan!