HAPPY EID MUBARAK!

Dear bloggers, sorry I haven't been updating my blog...my laptop is not working & I didn't send for repairs till now! So much have been happening in my life since the last time I blog, at present I am back in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Just for a few months...I'll be back in KL to continue with my baking business! While I'm here, I miss my baking so much! I'm torn in the middle...my hubby in Saudi or continuing my business in Malaysia! But, baking is my passion & I believe if I want to succeed I have to make sacrifices (that is being apart from dear hubby, sob..sob...). I'm worried that if I leave my customers in Malaysia for a long time, they will forget about me so wait for mmmmeeeee!!!!!

Open House celebration in Jeddah...but I miss the celebration in Malaysia!

Pavlova oh Pavlova!

My darling niece introduced me to this dessert last month. She wanted me to make her this dessert for her birthday in May. She said the name is 'Pavlova', and I'm like 'whaaatt????' For what I can remember 'Pavlova' is the name of some sport figure. Skating or something? She said her friend's boyfriend brought 'Pavlova' at her friend's surprise birthday party. So I started doing some 'googling' at home. And this is what I found :

Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. Colloquially referred to as "pav", it is a cake similar to meringue with a crispy crust and soft, light inner.

The dessert is believed to have been created in honour of the dancer either during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years, but formal research indicates New Zealand as the more probable source.

~Sources from Wikipedia

How do I make dessert that I have not even taste it? During my research I only found Alexis Cafe, the only place that serve Pavlova in KL...I have only been to Alexis during my 'happenin' days (when I  used to work as a Flight Stewardess for Malaysia Airlines) but now, I don't think so too hip for me. And so, after so much of researching and choosing the right recipe, I started making Pavlova...Bismillah...

The utensils and bowl must be very dry and eggs white have to be separated carefully. The eggs have to be beaten till stiff and when you turn upside down it will not drip. OK so far so good....next the baking part..the recipe says bake for about 1 hour but after 45 minutes I think it's already browned. Ok I think I did it, yes!! After it's cooled completely, time to transfer it for decoration. I was holding it carefully in my hands then...crack!! Arggghhh!!!! Another 2 hours till delivery and I have to make another one! Feel like crying but I have to keep cool..and so I made another one, but I left it in the oven for 1 hour and waited till it's cool  enough to transfer it for decoration, extra careful this time! Decorate it with whipped cream, topped it off with strawberry and chocolate. Yummy!! And delivered it 1 hour later than scheduled. Sorry Era! Based on the feedback that I received the whole family loves it! Alhamdulillah..

Pavlova...what a name, what an experience making it!

The Birthday Girl...

Have a 'GaGa' Birthday!

At the very last minute, my sister decided to organized a 'surprise' birthday party for my niece. I decided to make birthday cake ala Lady Gaga (something funky but not too weird like her!). The flavor was Blueberry Cheese Cake and I used buttercream as the frosting instead of fondant because I knew my family doesn't really fancy fondant. The color was purple based on my niece's bedroom color. We had a nice time (especially my gediks nieces) playing with fondant deco. However, it was not considered a surprise party because my sis end up telling my niece about it 3 hours before the party!

The 'Gaga' Cake in black & white (Note the Chanel sunglasses, the pearls necklace, CD lipstick and the eyeshadow!)

Gediks Cousins :)

Girls having fun with the cake!

Would you like to have your picture on a cake??

Would you like to have a cake that reflects your unique personality and style? Or you want something memorable like your picture or your loved ones on your cake? It's edible so no problem you can eat it if you want too! The image is printed on a rice paper using edible food colors. So it is safe to eat! Lately I have been receiving orders for cakes with edible image. Most of the orders are for kids so they want pictures of cartoon characters but a few years back I received order for pictures from my friend Anna. One was a picture of her daughter and the other one is for her sister in law's engagement. Up to you what picture you want to put on your cake, your wish is my command :) However, I need at least 5 days notice because I need to liase with my printer (how I wish I have the machine to print the image). I wish someone order 'Twilight' image for my birthday cake (hint..hint..for my next year birthday in March)..hehehhe...

Toy Story birthday cake with Chocolate Moist and Strawberry filling

MU Cupcakes

BEN 10 cake for my nephew

Engagement Cupcakes

Edward Cullen Birthday Cake...(dreamy)!! On my wish list, hehehe

MY Galley 1st Booth...

Last week I had the opportunity to set up a booth at Malaysian Rubber board in Jalan Ampang, KL. I was told not to expect a large crowd because the booth is set up only for seminar participants. And so yours truly who had such a busy week with the orders five days in a row baked just a few variety of cakes for the booth. I decided to bake Red Velvet (the 'in' cake of this year!), Rainbow cakes with buttercream topping, Vanilla and Chocolate Moist Cupcakes. I don't mind if my cakes are not selling well because the objective of setting up the booth is to introduce MY Galley Artwork to public. And I am able to distribute my flyers and meet up with potential customers. 

And so, I woke up early in the morning (which I don't usually do!) packed my things and head to USJ to meet up with my niece (she's selling clothing by JEMARIKU Collections by the way) and faced traffic jem all the way to KL (gggrrrr!!!!). By the time we reach KL, we are about one hour late but it was ok because the rest of the stall operators arrived at the same time as us. I shared my booth with Mida, my long term good friend who is an Insurance Agent and part time promoter for MY Galley, hehehehe....The response was good, Red Velvet was the top selling cake (as I predicted). And in the future, I hope to set up more booth, hopefully...InsyaAllah...

Pic courtesy of Nazilla

Pic courtesy of Nazilla

My Booth

Nazilla & Asmida at Jemariku Booth

My junior promoter

The Making of Singer Gazelle Series IV

When we hear the name 'Singer' we often associate that name with sewing machines. I thought so too...I received FB Message from my dear niece to make cake for her hubby's birthday, she wanted me to make a vintage car cake. This is my first attempt to make a car cake let alone a vintage car! So I said bring it on...e-mail me the picture of the car! The car name is 'Singer Gazelle', it has many series and this is the IV one...she wants the same color and exactly like in the picture. I googled it and I found this info on the car :

Launched in 1956, the Gazelle was an reasonably attractive car, typical of the new look British built cars of the mid 1950's. The Gazelle managed to rack up just over 100,000 sales before it was replaced by an entirely new shaped car in 1967.

The day before the delivery I started to make the cake. The flavor is red velvet with buttercream filling.The cake is baked in a square tin cake so I have to cut it in the shape of a car then smooth it with buttercream and covered with fondant. That's no easy task! U need to be patience to make this cake because if the fondant is not smooth you have to redo it all over again...arrrggghhhh!!! And so I spent about seven hours just to decorate the cake, based on the picture as I have to check all the minor details such as the car plate no, the side mirror, the logo, etc, etc...
The end result is as you can see from the pics below but I think I need to improve myself, well..practice makes perfect. Hope to get more order for Classic Car Cake (or Sports Car?).... For my niece, Ina I hope you and your hubby like it, thank you for believing in me :)

The original car pic

Red Velvet cake covered with fondant

The front view

With additional side mirror and plate no

Ready for delivery :)

Why Do I Like to Attend Wedding Functions?

Hi y'all...school holidays already started so kenduri kahwin (wedding parties) pun semakin banyak...for me, I enjoyed attending kenduri kahwin because I get to eat the delicious food (nasi minyak, nyum..nyum..) and the door gifts for guests! Err...I also like to see the pengantin (bride & groom), yeah..that's right must not forget them, they are the centre of attraction, hehehehe...It doesn't matter whether the doorgift is expensive or not, it's the thought that counts. And I have been approached by a few people who wants a few samples from me for their wedding. The price is according to your own budget. Here's a few samples :

Fancy Cookies with Cinnamon flavor

This is the door gift done for a meeting for my dear sis.

Variety of gifts according to your budget and preference

Door gifts done for an engagement party

Nurses lurve Cakes!

My niece who works as a nurse at Pusrawi, KL is my new agent of MY Galley Artwork! For KL Branch anyway...hehehe (I don't even have a shop but I have branches in a few areas, berangan tak?). The order is kind of last minute but for the love of money and good creations I am willing to pull an all-nighter! I have to do the delivery before 12 noon on 23rd February because their party start at 12 noon. So, the day before the delivery I am pulling all my energy to finish the order of 2 dozens Cheese Tarts, 16 pcs Fondant Cupcakes and Creme de la Creme - 1 kilo of Red Velvet Cake! Cheese Tarts is ok, I've done this before but the fondant cupcakes with 'man'ly design as requested by customer? Hhhmmm....so what does a working man needs? Mobile Phone, Laptop, Shirt & Tie and a watch! Colors? 'Macho' colors such as dark blue & turquoise...and the result is ttaaddaaa!!! (Check out the pics below). Hope to get more requests such as these so I can get my creative ideas flowing....So, Ria thanks for the order and hope to get more and more order from your lovely friends, cheers!!

The 'Macho' Cupcakes

What Men Needs

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Topping and Strawberry, I have repeat order for this :)

MY Super Duper Fabulous Family

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family:

Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
-Jane Howard, English Novelist

When you are living aboard most of the time, you tend to miss out family event such as gathering during 'raya' (Eid ul-Fitr), wedding or Family Day, so whenever we get a chance we will try to meet up. I have such a big family (I have three brothers and three sisters and all with their own family so you do the math!) so it is not easy for everyone to meet up. But when we do meet up we created such a havoc with our gossiping, laughter and karaoke'ing. This month I had the chance to attend both family gathering; one is karaoke session with my sister, cousin and nieces (just us girls, the usual suspects according to my brother) and another one is a birthday party for my sister in law and niece. I had the chance to make them cakes and desserts during both gathering. This is also the time for me to get feedback and comments from them on my creation, they are very supportive in giving me motivation to continue with my dream. What can I say, through the good times and bad times, they are always by my side and good or bad they are my family :)

My sis, cousin & her daughter; our usual gang for Karaoke activity

My Blueberry Cheese Cake

My sister promoting the cake, hehehe..

Birthday cake for my sis-in-law and my niece

Cheese tart

Cake cutting ceremony

Two models promoting my cake, thank you girls! A big wedding cake from me when you gals get married :)

Mad about Bread & Pastries

I have to admit given a choice I'd prefer bread and pastries compared to cakes...maybe because I don't have a sweet tooth.

There is no denying that bread baking as with baking anything is a delicate process.

Bread baking involves so many things that first time bakers are often discouraged after a few failed attempts to turn out professional looking and tasting loaves. Before this, a few of my friends who had the experience in baking bread told me it is very tiring to make bread because you need to knead the bread. But when I attended the Bread Making Class last week, I find it not as complicated as I was told and it was very interesting...

My next mission is to learn as many pastry recipes as I can but for now I've been taking order for Apple Pie, Blueberry Cheese Tart and Chicken/Beef Puff.

Kopitiam Style Bread

Shanghai Cheese and the famous 'Mexican Bread ala Roti Boy'

Cheese Stick

Apple Pie

Blueberry Cheese and Fruit Tart

Err...MY Galley Artwork? Apa tu? How did you get that name?

This are some of the questions that people asked me when I mentioned my Company's name....
For those with Aviation experience they know the meaning of 'Galley' but for those who don't, here's the meaning according to Macmillan Dictionary :

 The kitchen on a boat or airplane

I spent most of my time when I was working as a Flight Stewardess aka Cabin Crew, Flight Attendant (it's all the same meaning but different names) in Galley preparing food and beverages for passenger. Hence, the name "Galley". And I consider what I'm baking, cooking and decorating as a work of art therefore this is my ''Artwork''. So there you are Ladies and Gentleman I hope this clarify your curiosity towards this name that I choose to represent me. However, if you still have doubt about this matter you can still ask me personally, I would happily explain it to you as long as you order my cakes, hehehehehe.....

My Logo designed by my nephew, luv it :)

My friend, the Make Up Artist

Anna and myself met while we were working with AirAsia for Hajj flights. From then on, we kind of 'click' though we have different personalities. We went through so many life changing situation and so many arguments and miscommunications but somehow we managed to keep in touch. Before I left Malaysia to be based in Jeddah, Anna was so busy with her Make Up classes. That was a few years ago, now she is quite an established make up artist. Anna is also one of my loyal customer, she was the first to order cupcakes from me when I first started this Cakes Business a few years ago. Now that I am back in business, we have made a pact together, for a limited time only...

FOR ORDER MORE THAN RM100 FROM MY GALLEY ARTWORK, YOU WILL GET 

A DISCOUNT VOUCHER FOR MAKE UP SERVICES OR MAKE UP CLASSES BY ANNA SHA 

Sound interesting? For more information on Anna's work and how to contact her, kindly log on to http://annashahana.blogspot.com.

Anna in full concentration!

Cupcakes with Vanilla & Chocolate flavor

Cupcakes for her daughter's birthday two years ago.