MINNIE MOUSE CAKE

Minnie Mouse has a soft spot in my heart.  I think she’s my favorite Disney character because of her fabulous fashion sense.  What can I say, she had me from her big bows, polka dots, platform shoes, and those ruffled undies... oh hello. 

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So I was quite excited when I was commissioned by Heartmuch Weddings & Events  to make not one but two Minnie Mouse inspired cakes for two little sisters celebrating milestones in their lives.  One sister is having her baptism and the older sister is celebrating her 3rd birthday.   

This Minnie Mouse party has a different twist to the theme.  I was told that it would be a vintage Minnie Mouse and instead of the usual black, pink and red polka dots, the colors used were softer shades of pink and peaches.  Hot air balloons were included as well to add to the vintage feel. 

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Vintage Minnie Mouse Cake with Hot Air Balloon

The main celebration of the event was the little sister Viera’s baptism.  For her cake I made 2 tiers of red velvet cake.  I made the hot air balloon out of gum paste in advance so it would get firm and solid.  I printed an image of a hot air balloon and traced it from there.  I also made a ribbon banner at the same time as well and I just did it by hand, no templates needed. 

I was shown a picture of the canopy that they were going to use for the dessert table.  The fabric used had stripes, so I incorporated the stripes on the bottom tier.  I used one of my favorite cake decorating tools, a fondant ribbon cutter to cut out the stripes. 

For the top tier I used this rounded petal flower cutter to make the clouds, just cut the bottom part and voila, instant clouds.  I attached the hot air balloon to the cake with some royal icing.

Before attaching the ribbon banner, I wrote the celebrant’s name with a black edible marker.  The bottom part of the banner is actually long enough so that it can be attached to the cake so that it will hold better.  So the backside of the banner is attached with royal icing to the cake and the front is attached to the hot air balloon. 

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For the silhouette of Minnie Mouse I simply used round plunger cutters of 2 different sizes, a big one for the face and a smaller one for the ears.  For the bow, I lucked out because I found these heart sprinkles and I just used two of those hearts to make a bow. 

Vintage Minnie Mouse had a hat with a flower.  I made the hat out of rice krispies and covered it in fondant.   To make the lip of the hat, I cut out a strip of fondant and attached it to the bottom part of the base. 

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I also made the flower in advance so that it will dry.  I just free hand cut the gum paste then attached the wire by sandwiching it with the flower and another small ball of gum paste.  I use black edible marker to trace the outline of the flowers. 

For the baby blocks, I covered plastic blocks with fondant and used Tappits to cut the letters.

Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

For the bigger sister’s birthday cake, I went for the classic polka dot Minnie Mouse bow.  I made a fondant bow and simply added dots. 

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I used a number 3 template (I just went on Word program and looked for a number 3 that I liked), and cut that out of gum paste as well.  I also cut out a ribbon banner similar to the other cake and let those dry as well. 

I used a beautiful stencil that I got from The Stencil Closet. I used the pattern called the Curvy Herringbone and I used royal icing to do the stencil on the sides of the cake.  I just love how it turned out.  I used a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter to do her silhouette but you can use circle cutters as well.  

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I finished the cake with some blossoms cut with these flower plungers.

Oh, and I also made cupcakes and decorated those with blossoms too. 

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Vintage Minnie Mouse Party

Here are some images of the party styled by Heartmuch Weddings & Events.  They did such a great job on creating the dessert table and the decorations of the event.  I especially love the hot air balloon centerpiece. Pictures taken by Adi Photography. 

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MY NEW CHINA COLLECTION

I have always been a caring and family guy type of person, that is one of the things I love about him. Last week when I came home from the Philippines, he surprised me with super neat and clean home with sweet-scented room fragrances hanging all over our home, he even bought some new addition for my bone china collection. Plates and bowls from St. James and cup from Narumi. Lovely isn’t it?

Fyi, this post has nothing to do with China in terms of country. The word ‘china’ is commonly used as generic name for all dinnerware mostly are ceramic / porcelain. It doesn’t mean that the dinnerware are made in China, it was named ‘china’ to in honor of those who made it first.

Japanese instant pasta sauce we bought from Japan

EGGO WAFFLE JAKARTA

I have always been a huge fan of pancakes and waffles, not to mention cakes, breads, pastries oh shit that's everything! I heard about this snack from a friend but it wasn't this particular brand that I am talking here and for some reasons I got excited to try it and I did last week! I have heard amazing reviews from some of my friends telling me that this might be the best in town, but rumors are rumors before I actually tried it.

As you can see on the title, I am talking about EGGO Waffle! They have several outlets spread in Mall of Indonesia (MOI), Living World Alam Sutera, Summarecon Mal Bekasi but I went to their outlet in Mal Kelapa Gading 3, not because it's the closest but it's more like...the only option -.-". It's located just below Zara on the LG level, for some it might be isolated, but I think they're genius with the location. It's located strategically in between the entrance and access from the LG parking area and also the first thing you'll see smell right when you take the escalator down to the LG, smells annoyingly delicious everyone's going to cheat!

The venue wasn't spacious but it's not small either, and FYI this is their only outlet where you can actually dine-in, the others are more like island-outlets. The reason behind the naming (Eggo) was the fact that egg is the main ingredient used to make the waffles and you can't have too much eggs (well at least me). They currently have 10 flavors but since I finally realized my tummy actually has a freaking limit so I tried four...and four is quite a lot. If you want to customize your creations you can add up an ice cream topping for IDR 25k/scoop, they're using Spiky Smooth ice cream and you can choose between Hazelnut, Cookies and Cream, Matcha, Peanut Butter, Durian, Cream Cheese and Choco Milo.

PS: The creations already include one scoop of ice cream as the serving side and you can choose not to include the ice cream and get some "k"s waived off your bill.

Cherry on Top
IDR 42k
What makes this waffle special was the fact that they're using the Black Forest infused flavor with choco chips, completed by rum and raisin with literally cherry on top. Okay, I gotta give it to the texture of the waffle: AMAZING. For normal Belgian waffles, I usually love the crispier ones but as the physical appearance of this particular waffle was different, I like the round ones chewy and moist and that's what they are. The rum, black-foresty flavor was pretty rich but not overpowering. In default, this was served with cream cheese ice cream, but you can change it if you want and I did change it to Choco Milo flavor, the ice cream wasn't bad but I need bolder chocolate flavor I guess.

Half and Half
IDR 43k

The Half and Half was unique because there were two flavors in a portion: chocolate and vanilla egg waffle. However, there were chocolate chips inside both waffles, topped with skippy jam, almonds and dressed in chocolate sauce (the chocolate sauce was so good, premium-like) and served with peanut butter ice cream! I prefer the vanilla flavor to the chocolate, because remembering the condiments on this portion, the vanilla flavor really evolves that one whole bite of waffle, peanut butter jam, chocolate sauce, and peanut butter ice cream to a burst of flavor, and for some reasons, the vanilla waffle smelled so damn good, and yes better than the chocolate. I am not saying that the chocolate's bad, not at all, also yummy but I love the mixture of vanilla and chocolate. Recommended!

Firefloss
The Firefloss waffle was the more from the savory side of the creations and this was very simple, literally spicy floss inside the vanilla waffle and as simple as that resulting this very yummy moist chewy unforgettable waffle, and you might think that I rave so much about the waffles but I am not lying right now (not even an ad wtf), it's just simple but tasty (and quite spicy).

Pandan Waffle
The pandan waffle had this rich and bold pandan flavor which I quite like, but if they could tone down the pandan flavor just a little bit this would be even better for me. I adore their instinct of putting in kaya jam inside the waffle because the mixture of the pandan flavor and kaya jam felt just right! Shit I am getting hungry right now typing this!

The society (or life in general) is really funny because what's trending is really fast growing. I don't really know who bring this trend to Jakarta but I don't really care about trend as it comes and goes, but I do care about those who put more effort with the quality so they could have loyal fans who don't get too starstrucked with the trend. I could see good things happening to Eggo as quality wise, I think they have it, they just have to maintain it.

Either for the sake of bonding with the trend, Instagram purpose or whatever that is, you should try Eggo, at least for once.

Eggo Waffle
Mal Kelapa Gading 3 - LG level
Jl. Boulevard Kelapa Gading
Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara 14240
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM
Price: $, ranging from IDR 25k - IDR 45k

From honey to cinnamon: different ways to spice up your coffee

Good Morning guys! Unless, of course, you haven’t had your morning coffee yet and if that’s the case, then we can only imagine the cartoonish cloud floating over your heads. Most of us have become caffeine addicts –whether psychologically or factually. Coffee by itself though, isn’t always the yummiest.

Masking its bitterness by adding milk, cream or sugar can sometimes get taste-dull –not to mention calorie-full. So why not get quirky with your pick-me-up drink? It does so much for you, maybe it’s time to return the favour by giving it a sweet new flavour!

Recipe from Saveur.com and Photography by Christopher Hersheimer

If dairy isn’t your thing but you’re into its texture, then Saveur suggests opting for a Swedish Egg Coffee where the creamy stuff is replaced with an egg to maintain the substance –without any of the bothersome bloating. The magazine also shares their exotic Café Brûlot (Creole Coffee) made out of orange liquor, brandy and cinnamon. Food52 offers another lactose-free alternative through theirDry Ginger Coffee/Chukku Kaapi. The original mix includes black pepper corn and cumin –and is sure to get your palette out of its comfort zone.

Fruit-lovers, Taste of Home encourages you to blend in some juicy nibbles and make yourselves a Citrus Spiced Coffee, which includes lemon peel, cinnamon and pineapple juice. If you’re more into nuts, then stick to their Vanilla-Almond Coffee.

Recipe and Photography by TasteofHome.com

For a floral brew, A beautiful Mess submits a Lavender Iced Coffee recipe that will transport you to the south after just a single sip. The herbivores should try ModCloth’s refreshing Mint Iced Coffee, ideal for the sunnier days.

Got milk? If you’re a lactose-fanatic but you’d like to branch out, then we recommend you taste The Little Epicurean’s Sea Salt Coffee(the recipe’s name says it all). Bake Love Give prefers coconut milk and concocts a Tully’s Iced Hawaiian Coffee by smoothly adding it to the blend.

A final treat for anyone who isn’t keeping track of their calorie intake: Yummly’s Coffee and Donuts Milkshake pretty much seems like the ideal way to start any day.

Recipe and Photography by ABeautifulMess.com

If you’re a coffee-connoisseur yourself, get in touch to discuss the possibility to showcase your brew for thirsty bloggers to sip and taste some of your own mixes at the upcoming Food bloggers Connect event this October!