Photo-less Update

Dear all,

I am so sad, devastated that I couldn't update my blog with photos anymore due exceeded limit of space used. I think I've edited my photos religiously and I think I did not post too many photos in..but well there must be some thing, some where.

Any how, please bare with my inefficient and lack of skill to solve this matter..I may need to ask HELP..

For now, please do visit and like my FB  page and follow my Instagram (zatilscakerylane) on my baking updates.


Till then take care ;)

Funfetti Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Frosting

The reason I baked this was because my Iman had returned home from the last day of school frustrated. He said, they had a party and the cake was too small and he only had a teeny slice. He also said he asked for more but there wasn't any more left. When I heard that I got mad at first..but then, what am I a mommy baker and this is the time to show off to my son that I can bake big one cake for him for no special occasion. Hiksss pretty bad mommy am I ?

I asked Iman what was the cake like..and he said..the cake was almost white with rainbow colour inside. I showed him the rainbow cake photo and he said no. Then I showed him this funfetti cake photo and he immediately said..Aah mommy that's the small cake at school..

Tadaaaaa..I baked this last night and told him in the morning, it's yours! With big gleaming eyes, teeth not yet brushed, he said..mommy terbaikk..

Personally, it's not my type of cake though..but, you know kids..anything colorful, fancied them enough.

Actually, this was my second bake. The first bake was done at 9pm and it was a disaster, the cake did not rise. I used a recipe from a net (cant tell, coz it was a failure). Then..I quickly turned to my one and only inspired baker Kak Yani, and whipped the above. Alhamdulillah, at 12pm I had a pretty funfetti cake.

By 10 am..here what was left. A quarter of the cake was given to a dear friend and the rest were gone into those little tummies.

 Go on bake them your self, the kids loved them!

Till then & take care!

Robocar Poli Birthday Cake

First and foremost, again..it was my utmost fault for being too lazy to update this blog. I was not lazing around, but I was fully occupied with THINGS. Please do 'LIKE' my FB page to get in touch of possible my latest bakes.

School hols is back..yes, that long creepy hols. Nothing much in plan, but I have placed the boys to Al-quran class daily for the entire school hols! In hope, less quarreling, less Ipads time and less watching TV.  They'll get ready in the morning, had heavy breakfast and off to the class till 12 noon. Got home by 1 pm, had lunch..and usually by 3pm-4pm, both were tired and down with their short nap. By 5pm, i'll shoved them outside to play. It just worries me too much if the boys, simply lying in front of the TV or giggling over endless games on the Ipad. 

No new recipe recently. But, I discovered something new! Received an order for a Robocar Poli birthday cake theme. I had no idea what's the character or cartoon was, until I've googled them, HERE. They were Koreans and like all the Koreans superstar..these mini vehicles were indeed were super cute!! 

This was a big 10 inch cake with 4 layers of rainbow. Yes, all the figurines were hand made, I spent an hour on each figurines;)

Delivered this Lightning Mcqueen cake today. The inside was a soft & delicious banana cake. I baked them twice, as my kids pestered me to cut up the first bake. Oh, well..here was the first cake, half were gone in few minutes. I'll post the Lightning McQueen cake later ;)

Recipe was once posted HERE.

Go on..whip the above banana cake this school hols!! Your kids going to love them!!

Till then, take care!

Tiffany Blue Lace Wedding Cake

Dear all..

I do hope and wish I'd have a strong reason for less updates..less of everything. But no I don't have that reason. Those were times when I just love being mute-d and remote-d. I baked, I was occupied with family..there were back to back sickness. Me and hubby spent sleepless nights taking care of first Zarif with his phlegm then Aizam with fever. The morning of Eid Ul Adha was spent at DEMC, lucky Aizam was not admitted. And yes, we did not 'balik kampung', instead MIL came over and spend the 'raya' with us in Shah Alam.

With all the ups and downs I still managed to fulfil few orders. Those who emails were not replied, sorry..too last minute..i just can't..

Made this Tiffany blue lace wedding cake. The cake was moist chocolate cake. More bakes are here in my FB page..

Made this blue velvet again..for MIL. Every one said it was so sedap.. ;)

Have been 'playing' around with Instragram.. Come search and follow me @ zatilscakerylane ;)

I made my first rendang for the 'raya', having my mom on the phone with every single details..like, lengkuas sebesar penumbuk Zarif, kerisik semangkuk yang putih tu (well that mangkuk putih my mom remembered in my drawer)..hikss.. It was nervous as Iman was so used to my mom's rendang. As I served to everyone, Iman said.."Mommy your rendang and Nenek's, terbaikkk".. pheww.. ;)

Till then everyone..take care!

A Simple & Delicious Corporate Gift

It was true what they said about the law of attraction. And it was also true what they said about, good news permeates by it self. And how true how you must get it right the first time.

Being in this baking business is never easy, with a lot of great bakers growing like mushroom after the rain, including me. I do hope I'll be one of those who survived to meet a rainbow one day. And I thanked full for every trust and support received ;)

Had fun baking & packing these brownies and mini red velvet cake for a gift from my regular customer for her bank clients.Thank you Kak!

Take care all & don't forget to drop by http://www.facebook.com/ZatilsCakeryLane to LIKE the page!

A Vintage Flower Box Wedding Cake with White Lily

Assalam all,

What a week last week was..everyday was THE day. Everything I did was slow, real slow. There were bakes, there were a gathering 'tying' the two families..and knowing my mom..there were endless dishes to prepare, and there were my Iman's concert day and also there were weddings to attend.

And my bad to not keeping this blog updated as it should be. It was much easier to update my bakes via FB and recently via instagram. The Iphone was such a real super tool to easily get connected..

There were bakes made last week which updated in the FB page, but the highlight would definitely be the wedding cake I made. I purposely decided to re-apply the same technique I did the previous one i learnt and here it is another version of a similar vintage box cake. Only, that i omitted the ribbon which supposed to be at the front. The white lily was requested from the bridegroom for the bride, for her favourite flower. Many happiness to Taufik & Laila!

I only did the wedding cake..while the cup cakes were baked by my sister. I must say, that the cupcakes indeed added classic and elegant look to the whole set up. We were happy for how it turned out. And I was surprised that my ivory colour almost matched the table drapes ;)

I haven't bake for us for some times and the kids kept on nagging to have this and that. We stopped for a dessert and bought blueberry cheese cake and strawberry shortcake, and they only ate a spoon each. "Not like your's mommy.." Ended, me and hubby had to stuffed ourselves..

Till then, take care and be happy with your loved ones!!

Vintage Flower Box Wedding Cake

'I cried once this cake was finished', was my FB status on Wednesday. Here, let me allow the following picture do the talking. No, you dont need a tissue like what happened to me..I was being over-sensitive that day.

It was a huge experience. Something I've always wanted to do, something I craved for. Very intricate artistic work with a lot of creativity involved. Patient & passion. Pride. TQVM Anissa & Anita from Confetti Studio for sharing their expert knowledge in cake decoration to someone so little like me.

Interested? Do email me ;)

Alhamdulillah, below are all the bakes collected/delivered today. TQ lovely people!!

Have a great weekend to all! Take care..

Marie Cheese Layer Cake

I am not sure to call this a cake or not..and of course it looks like a cake but since no baking was required the name cake was rather inaccurate for this supper delicious and decadent dessert. Let make things easy and follow what everyone have called it..the Marie Cheese Layer Cake ;)

This is the 3rd batch I made within few weeks of time. I made it first here, and this is 3rd tray and specially requested by my son and was clearly mentioned to me not to give away any of them to any one.

I know many other bakers have posted this cake long time ago. Yet it was my mom who made me want to try this out. Mom visited her friend in Sarawak and was served with this cake. Mom called me immediately and said.."there's a 'new' sedap cake, go bake them".. What ever tasted good to Mom, would always be good to me too..and indeed it was true. Light, cheesy and the lemony taste gave an additional kick to the cake. I loved it cool ;)

Thanked to Peek Freans who created this super-useful biscuit in 1874, where many recipe had been using this biscuit in baking and cooking. And of course I am one of the many fans of this Marie biscuit. Here is the recipe for this Marie Cheese Layer Cake, thank you for sharing kak Yani.

Ingredients:

1 packet of Marie biscuit

1 packet of coffee Marie biscuit (trust me, tasted so good)

250 gram philly cream cheese

300 ml anchor whipping cream

250 ml evaporated milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

125gm shredded philly cheddar cheese

Method:

Lined an 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper.

Ensure cream cheese at room temperature.

Whipped cream cheese until smooth.

Add in milk and stir.

Add in lemon juice and stir.

Add in 300 ml cream and beat till creamy and fluffy.

Arrange biscuit/cheese mixture/biscuit until all were used.

Shred cheddar cheese on top.

Cover with a cling wrap and chill over night.

Enjoy!

And these were some bakes made last week, where all photos have been uploaded in the FB page..thank you all!!

Have a good week!

What a week that was..

I thought I wouldn't survive last week but Alhamdulillah that I did. If not, I wouldn't be writing this very post today ;)

I've always hate my self for being so hard to disappoint others. As a result, I have been baking till almost 4am for the entire last week. Yet, how sleepless you are, once you see those smiling faces receiving their cakes and bakes, I'd be so happy and eventually more energetic to bake more! When 'that' thing involves love and passion, nothing was impossible.

With all the bakes, yet I still manage to squeezed in to some open houses, weddings, meeting 'old' time friend. It was such precious time spent because you'll be talking endlessly to recall old good memories..something that could never be erased. Love you all my friends and we should catch up more often girls!

Half of bakes for the week. Some were with no photo taken :(

For next week I'll be away from home and only be taking few orders only. I am sorry to those I've declined to.

Take care all and again thank you for the continuous support & trust on my cakes and bakes ;)

Happy Merdeka!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! I could hear fire works explodes through the night as I baked all the goodies for all the lovely people I met.

Open house invitations as well as open house order flooded my inbox/sms/watsup. Only 2 orders were refused but the rest were accepted with open heart. However, I had to declined almost all open houses this week as hubby is again away for work, except to 2 of my neighbour's invatations.

I've had enough rest during Ramadan and here all orders made for the Merdeka weekend. Love the adrenaline rush ;)

A total of 150pcs moist chocolate & buttermilk vanilla cupcakes.

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Fudge Oreo Brownies

Chocolate Fudge Oreo Brownies

Chocolate Fudge Nuts Brownies

Chocolate Fudge Walnuts Brownies

Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese

Moist Carrot with Cream Cheese & Red Velvet with Cream Cheese cupcakes

Chocolatey Batik Cake

Thank you all lovely ladies ;) And thank you ALOT to my sis & SIL for keeping me company at night. Love u both!

I baked the yogurt cake again on Wednesday for the kids as they loved it so much..One huge slice gone in minutes. This time around, I omitted the strawberry, instead slapped the cake with my super-licious chocolate ganache. Since I was fully occupied with orders, instead of making cupcakes for his class as planned, only 3 choc-candies + RM1 were place in cupcakes casing for Aizam's Merdeka & Raya celebration at school on Thursday..

Have a great Sunday tomorrow, as I know mine will be because my other half will be home ;) 

Moist and Dark Fruit Cake

"Yang, sedap nya kek ni. Mak suka.."

Mom would usually SMS me once she's safely reached home. Instead, yesterday she called and told me how the cake was :)

Well, made this for mom to bring home yesterday, of course one of her favourite cake too. No more us, being her helper..then, she could easily serve this to any guest who came for Raya by next week and good thing, this cake could last up to 2 weeks, kept cool in the fridge. Initially, Mom requested for a steam fruit cake, but with that tiny steamer of mine..instead i decided to give this a try.

This is the new recipe I tried form the same book..seems the recipes were foolproof (till now) and simple to follow. Looks like, i'll be trying all the recipes in the book soon. :)

The cake looks dry on the outer, but if you touch it down it was soft! I'll probably be making another of this soon for me to taste too.

Recipe as follow;

175 g raisins

175g sultanas

175g pitted prunes

150g halved cherries

50g dried blackcurrants

50g dried cranberries

50g pitted dates

Grated zest of 1 orange

250 ml orange juice

175g pure butter, SCS

175g soft brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

200g SRF

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
A handful of toasted almond on top

- Soak all dried fruits into the orange juice over night.

- Take 1/2 of the soaked fruits and made to puree.

- Pre-heat oven at 150 Celsius and grease an 8 inch square pan.

- Beat butter & sugar till fluffy.

- Add in beaten eggs, mix well.

- Add in fruit puree and remainder soaked fruits.

- Add in vanilla. mix well.

- Pour in flour and stir well until well combined.

- Pour into pan, bake until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Before baking, I've arranged some leftover toasted whole almonds on top of the cake.

Sharing the cake page from the book. I omitted the butter cream topping.

Happy baking and let me know how'd you like it.. :)

Almost Famous Amos Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tomorrow school starts, meaning our daily routine to resume and busy like usual. What an enjoyment to be a stay home mom. The Raya, the weekends, the school holidays..everyday were incomparable to the days we used to encounter during my working days. But I guess, different people do have different opinion and variable life style in living their life. I am just as good as what I am now, smelling the best essence of life :)

I baked these cookies on Thursday night and by the time I had the chance to update this entry, only 1/3 of cookies were still available in our cookies jar. I used the same recipe  as this one as posted earlier. But this time around I added 10 gram of cocoa powder + 1/2 cup of dried blackcurrants + 1/2 cup of dried cranberries + 1/4 cup of toasted almond nibs. To my surprise, the cookies were still crunchy and worth all the effort!!

My recent visit to the Pantry Magic in Bangsar, with these cookie cutters to add to my collection! Do email zsyakirah@gmail.com to order custom-made cookies to brighten up your special day.

And here too, home made vanilla essence from Pantry Magic. Having to bake almost weekly, I've been experimenting with different type of ingredients to achieve a delicious and delectable bakes, not only i'd like but to all. Thank you too Kak Farida for sharing her experience on how much difference can a pure ingredient, affect to your bakes. Like always, I'll be using pure butter (anchor or SCS) only and now will be using pure vanilla essence in my bakes. No more All Star brand vanilla flavour. Bake it, then u'll smell and taste the huge difference. Fida Vanilla, RM30 per 100 ml, u can still see the vanilla seeds in the bottle :)

Have a great week ahead all!

Strawberry Yoghurt Cake with Vanilla Cream

My parents, sisters, brother & SIL, came for dinner yesterday. As usual, the menu would be simple but decadent to everyone. If I'd cook something complicated, at the end no one will eat or even look at as, mom's cook were incomparable. Therefore, without thinking further, BBQ (hubby's special marinate) & fried mee hoon were the menu alike usual..and of course, I'll bake something different to be the centre of attraction.

I had leftover strawberry from last's week lassi..and while flipping the old cook book i had (Delicious Baking Magazine), and decided to try the Strawberry Yoghurt cake with Vanilla Cream.

Delicious..light..moist and soft & so refreshing with the lemony twist and most important, not that sweet! Just perfect after whacking all those oily lamb, chicken and salmon.

175gram butter 

200 gram SRF

200 gram caster sugar

150 ml low fat yoghurt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Lemon zest from whole lemon

A box of strawberry, thinly sliced + a hand full of sugar to sprinkle on top

- Pre-heat oven at 160 Celsius and grease an 8 inch square pan.

- Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.

- Add egg, one at a time, mix well.

- Add vanilla & lemon zest, mix well.

- Pour in yoghurt and flour, mix well.

- Pour batter in pan and arrange strawberry accordingly on top. Sprinkle sugar on top.

- Bake till done.

Once done, serve with whipped fresh cream & vanilla as well as toasted nibbed almond. 

Scrumptious!!

Though it was the same menu all over, but this delicious strawberry yoghurt cake had steered to perfect & sweet dinner for everyone.

Happy trying & baking. Cheers and enjoy your weekend!

At home at last..

Only today, we finally be at home and resting after days of visiting and eatings to both sides of the family. And, I still havent resume on any baking yet..rest till you can :)

Us, on the first day of Aidilfitri. It is so hard to really capture decent photos of the boys. They just cant stay still.

Below are some photos of bakes delivered on Saturday, a day before Eid. The rest of cakes (fruit, butter, orange, red velvet) were delivered without being captured..anyhow, thank you all!!! And again, Salam Aidilfitri!

Chocolate oreo cake with oreo cream & chocolate ganache.

Moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache as layer and buttercream for decorations.

Rainbow cake with buttercream.

My cookies ran out fast and so glad my family loved them and of course i'll be baking our own cookies for every Eid!. I have made another batch of the Almost Famous Amos cookies (tightly wrapped in the fridge), but havent have the time to bake them yet. 

Till then all..eat in moderation (telling my self too!) & be safe..

Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bright day all! Here is the other Raya cookie that I mentioned earlier. The best crunchy chocolate chip cookies and how true as was pro-claimed as, Almost Famous Amos! Bake it then you'll know it. It's light, crunchy and not too sweet alike Famous Amos..hence you can munch with half the guilt..hiksss

The recipe was taken from Kak Rima .

And...my favourite Raya delight..my mom's popiah gulung, with sweet peanuts fillings. My mom would make tins of these when we were small and we'd spend hours to roll these crunchy popiah. And now, when me and my sis were married, mom would still make these on her own, but just enough for us to munch. Yes, she 'll made it only for us!! Lucky hubby and kids wasn't too keen..and yes, they are all mine..hehe

People are flocking back to their kampung already..have a safe journey!

Eid Mubarak..

I am so sorry for the long silence. I've been fully occupied with the kids lately plus, all those eid preparations. Finding a boy's shirt is a headache, let alone shirts & pants..for 4 boys (including hubby), certainly drove me crazy.

My eldest son, have been fasting at his own will almost daily. And please dont imagine the request for Iftar, from the drinks to the main meal. By night, I was so exhausted and snuggling next to my baby, simply shoved me to the neverland till my morning alarm shouted aloud.

On the other note, my first year of being a stay home mom during Ramadan was really satisfying. So far, only 2 days of Iftar outside and the rest were all home cooked. And believe or not, I havent step a foot to a Ramadan Bazaar at all this year! And I missed my long queue and crowd at Restoran TTDI Jaya  for a decent Iftar meal! A good thing I've realized that..less wastage.

I managed to squeeze in some night time to bake these cookies for us. Only after all where arranged in their boxes I've realized that mostly where chocolate base..these were mainly requested by my sons.

Crunchy Almond London. Yes, this recipe is definitely to keep.

Recipe was from CMG.

Butter shortbread with chocolate. Nice!!
Recipe from Kak Wan, where i omit the cocoa for the cookie base..

Crunchy Snow Almond. Delicious!
Recipe was from Kak Azlita

Rolled pineaplle tart.
I did another version of tart using this recipe..nonetheless, I personally prefer..the previous version I did.

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I have 2 more cookies to share..but too lazy to take them out of their sealed boxes and take photos..insyaallah will do share soon.

And this cake was ordered last Sunday..sorry for such long delay to share the pic. Butter cake with chocolate chips and coated with chocolate ganache = chocolatey butter cake..perfect! We had some Maltesers in the fridge and simply arrange them on the cake.

To all, my valued customers, blog readers, friend, family and all the muslims..may His blessings are upon you & family for now and as always.

Be safe..eat in moderation..travel safe and take care. And dont forget to hug your loved ones :)

Happy Eid Ul Fitri all!!