over the past few days i learned to pipe a ton of new flowers. it was really fun so i'm here to spam some pictures! i actually had plan to make a round cake but i thought cupcakes would be more interesting since i've never tried making flower cupcake before. they all turned out very romantic shabby chic, it reminds me of an english rose garden! the pic above shows ranunculus buds and english/david austin rose.


to be honest i have no idea what this flower is but the koreans do it, ALOT. it might be another type of ranunculus or ribbon rose. i also did baby's breath as a filler, for the first time. previously i did larger buds but i think the smaller ones are way prettier.


my favorite - open rose, hydrangea and apple blossom.


pink and white (actually very light minty green but it doesn't really show) hydrangeas. i love hydrangeas and these have become my favorite flower to pipe now.


full shot of all the cupcakes


packed in a kraft cupcake box. i think some of the flowers were too huge to use on a cupcake. thats because i originally made them to be placed on a cake. definitely needs some scaling down.


i'm not really adventurous when it comes to the color combination, choosing to be in the safe zone still, such as using pink, white and green shades. i did experiment with different tone so i think the flowers look more life-like now. i've seen the dark red, blue and turquoise flower cake on instagram and they look amazing. can't wait to try experimenting with more flowers!

i had a couple of orders for these buttercream flower cakes for the month of nov, and because this is not something i do on a regular basis nor did i openly say i'm taking orders for them, i'm surprised people would ask. i also felt the need to tell my customers i have very limited knowledge on piping flowers so i'll not be very good at it. heck, i'm not even good at frosting whole cakes but my customers were really nice about it, so i went ahead. it must be a good 6 months since i practiced piping any flowers, and i was a little apprehensive to be honest.


for this bouquet cake i did roses, ranunculus and some buds/berries. having gone overboard with the leaves for my first attempt on my wedding anniversary cake, i learned that "less is more".


for this wreath cake, its several styles of roses plus chrysanthemums and buds. not being very satisfied with the previous leaf color, i simply added matcha powder to the buttercream this time, its a lot lighter in color but also more natural.


another perspective.



and finally, a buttercream tulip cake. this is the first time i'm using such strong colors in cake decorating but i think it turned out pretty well.

if anything for these couple of attempts, its that i'm really getting better at piping roses (i think). i also realized that piping flowers is really more about the technique, variety and color combination than "which tip to use". its a challenging thing for me since i don't attend any classes for these, not even the wilton method. not 100% happy with my attempts of course, but with constant practice, i know i can be better.

a new japanese grocer/live seafood place called "emporium shokuhin" opened in town and i was there a couple of days ago. basically its a high end japanese supermarket with a huge live seafood section that houses crustaceans like the alaskan king crab (it was humongous and probably costs $400 each), blue abalone, brown crab etc. theres also a very cool aged beef facility, plus restaurants/bakery littered along the perimeter of the place. friends who've been there said it was "nothing much" and that there "wasn't much to buy". on the contrary, i bought lots of stuff like octopus leg for takoyaki, king crab legs, mentaiko, hokkaido milk, beni shoga, yuzu yokan, ume plum somen and even macarons. i also bought these fresh yuzus. i find it less expensive compared to isetan's which is $9.90 a pop. these go for 2 at $7.80 which i think is pretty reasonably priced.


the first time i made yuzu chiffon i did it with a friend at her place so i didn't take a photo of the fruit. its a japanese citrus that is yellow skinned and very perfumy. the smell is like a cross between a pomelo and tangerine but the taste is extremely sour, like lemon. there is also a ridiculous number of seeds. i counted like 20-25 seeds in one small yuzu. i like that the recipe uses both the zest and juice and also utilizes the korean yuzu marmalade called citron tea. the marmalade i used is more expensive (gold grade) as there aren't any seeds or membrane in it, plus the peel is finely sliced. appreciate that there are no seeds, but not the thinly sliced peel as i prefer mine with more of a bite.


since i was meeting a friend, i made two cakes and one of it was for her. i used two different chiffon tins and mine (the taller slimmer one) turned out horribly. the sides were charred and due to the height/thinness of the cake, it was hard to slice and it kinda threatened to collapse. i have no idea why since the tortoise shell chiffon i made before actually turned out quite nicely. maybe that cake was drier and this is more moist. luckily the one i made for my friend turned out pretty ok as you can see from the first pic.


for my friend. happy she enjoyed it! the recipe is taken from junko's chiffon cake book. since its from a book, i won't be posting it, as usual.