Cupcakes

I experiment, I bake, I decorate, I buy, I blog and I eat cupcakes. Friends had asked me why cupcakes?

Simply the reason being, because I love cupcakes. The cakes; the perfect frosting; from silky smooth ones such as seven minute icing to creamy gritty, the light and sweet Royal icing; and the sweet American buttercream icing. My favorite-can't-resist flavour has to be pound cake cupcake with pink american buttercream frosting. This is followed closely by red velvet cupcakes topped with light pink american butter icing; and chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate american butter icing or peanut butter frosting. That's my top three, tho, there is no telling that I would not resist any other combinations.

My passion for cupcakes cultivated not just recently, but when I was young. My first memory of cupcakes was at my grandmother's home when during Eid she would, along with the house longtime help, Mak Yoh baked a batch of pound cake cupcakes. Back then, it was simple. The only adornment used was half cut red marachino cherries, placed in the center of the unbaked cupcakes. This became a tradition in the household when every year, during both Eids, we would have cupcakes. The simple recipe was passed on to my mother.

I have to give credit to SATC for making cupcakes the craze it is today. In one of the episodes; Amanda and Carrie sat outside on a bench in front of a bakery in NYC deliciously eating a delicious looking pink citrus coloured cupcakes. It made the bakery a must-visit for cupcake fans when in New York. That bakery was Magnolia Bakery. The bakery and how it started made headlines across the media and the internet. The owners Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey who started the bakery and wrote a book together, but have since went their separate ways. With one of them setting another bakery of her own named The Buttercup Bakeshop, also in New York City.

During my visit to London in Spring of 2006, I came across a bakery in Portobello market area of Nottinghill. To my greatest delight they sell cupcakes. The bakery, has about 5 delicious flavours and some seasonal ones. I opted for red velvet with cream cheese frosting; while my beloved partner then decided to go for lovely chocolate with white frosting (and was the first to ask, how much calorie do you think this is?) :)

Over the years, I bought and now own 90% of cupcake books printed and sold on Amazon and Kinokuniya. Haha... what a way to spend my money :) I have tried at least one recipe from each. Each one of these books have been my source for inspiration to not only bake new cupcakes but also for me to create new combination of flavours.

I started blogging on cupcakes. The list of bloggers are endless. My favorite is Chokylit's Cupcake Bake Shop. The rest are as inspiring and they came from many different locales, mostly from the US. We have since established contact with other thru emails. I went down to Singapore to attend one of the cupcake workshop conducted by one of the bloggers. We share tips, recipes and stories. It's positively crazy out there. We are nutty bunch who are just nuts about cupcakes.














Cupcake Blogs














Cupcake Businesses














My Cupcake Photos














Some of my cupcake books

My first search on cupcake in the internet was for the the bakery I visited in the queen's city. The next search has taken me to Sprinkles Cupcakes. A business was started by two investment bankers who due to the dot com doom, decided to explore pastry baking and went into cupcakes. My research on cupcakes has virtually taken me to over 50 different cupcake businesses around the world. Virtually. I have to give credit to the writers of Cupcakes Take The Cake for contributing to that increase of that number, because their blog is different. No recipes. They had uniquely created a space for cupcake bakers and enthisiasts to share their experience, photos, and establishments.

My baking and exploration of cupcakes continues. I tested few family cake recipes and turned them into cupcakes. One had asked, don't you get tired or bored? Sure, I get tired but never bored. Cupcake baking is slightly different from cake in which the earlier would require you to scoop and drop the batter into the paper case - a task which takes slightly longer from baking a cake.

I bake cupcakes for others, I would also order and buy when I feel like having others, too tired from my day job and don't feel like baking. We have many cupcake home businesses. I have not tried all of them but my favorite has to be Abrina's (Section 16); Bijou (Mont Kiara) and Marmalade (Mont Kiara). Tinkerbell Cupcakes will become BIG. Delicious Cafe by Ms. Read (Bangsar Village 2) make fine no frills cute and simple royal icing cupcakes. Chinoz (KLCC) should improve theirs while Heistand Bakery(Bangsar Village) should stop selling them until they definitely improve. Though I have not tried, I admire work done by Cuppacakes, My Vanilla Pod and So Sweet Pliz. They make beautiful cupcakes.

Wish me well on a cupcake dream.