Chocolate Clusters

If you have left over of chocolates (unlikely is it?) or you have bit and pieces of chocolates which you don't think is "interesting" enough for you, melt them all and customize into something you like. For me, I had a few pieces of dark chocolates of different brands which I used for baking different things previously. And I was also in a mood of combining a few things to make them into my idea of chocolate, I decided to make this.

If you really want to make some chocolate clusters, here's how simple it is to make...

First melt some chocolate of course. Dark chocolates are easier to set then milk chocolate by the way. So, melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a bowl/ pan of hot water - no need to be simmering, just hot will do.

Then prepare whatever you would like to have in your chocolate, I chose raisins (which have been soaked overnight in Brandy), roasted almonds and some digestive biscuit to make the chocolate clusters crunchier. Basically, you can add whatever you like to eat into your chocolate. This is the beauty of making your own chocolate.

How much to put into the chocolate? Depends if you want to eat a lot of the extra stuff you put in, or a lot of chocolate. I would go for really thick mixture. So, just mix everything into the melted chocolate.

After mixing everything evenly, spoon the chocolate mixture either into little paper cups, like these...

Or just spoon them onto baking paper like so. Then put them into the fridge to set.

Make them as after dinner treat or all time snacks. They are real good indulgences.

Otherwise, use them as cake decorative items or cupcake toppers.

TeaRoom signature Chocolate Cake goes two tier!

I was actually the one request to make a birthday cake for TA's wife and since I've got a special invitation to the birthday bash (and sis and bro in law were also invited) I've decided to make the chocolate cake a two-tier.

I'm not very expert in making tiered cake, therefore, seriously requiring some good tools. So we went to Wilton to shop for something suitable.

And this is what I got after going through a few options. This cost RM38 plus, plus a plastic cake tray to hold the top tier, the bill for the "construction" of this 2-tier cake was about RM55.


The box comes with 4 globes and hidden pillars.


The instructions were clear but since this was my first time dealing with 2-tier cake, I was over eager with measuring of the pillars that I actually measure them before the icing. Which I later found was a mistake of course. But since I've already cut the pillars, they were a bit shorter than they should be.


Followed by placing the globes over the pillars.


The consequences of short pillars? The top tier squashing down onto the globes hence the cake was not as tall as it could have been.

But still looks ok, no?

Finished with my recent chocolate cake decoration.

Cake at the event.

Happy Deepavali

I don't have many Indian friends. I do have a few Chindian friends though. If you are celebrating and reading my blog, Happy Deepavali! Have a great celebration and a very prosperous year ahead!

Chocolate Moist Cake - Soft Candy with Leaves

Got the idea from this...




The original look, with fresh raspberries on a white cream frosted cake.

I've got these soft candies that looks like raspberries (don't they?). Not only they are not as expensive as the real berries, they are also easier to handle, no need to glaze or preserve.

If you want to pipe a few different designs from a same colour icing, the best is the use the coupler, that allows you to interchange nozzles.

Pipe a bed of "leaves" and "stick" the candies on them.

Pipe some veins and more leaves randomly. I tried not to overdo the cake. Haha... Trust me, piping leaves can be quite addictive.

Drop some veins and leaves to the side if you want to decorate the cake more. I couldn't stick the candies on the side of the cake because my icing will not hold anything. Besides, the candies are too heavy.

So I had the candies resting on the base of the cake board.

There! The final look, complete with birthday tag - There's no more space to write birthday message anyways.

Pat's Birthday Cupcakes

Specially for my loyal cupcake fan! Have a great birthday celebration ;)

Pineapple Tarts

Baked these for Raya orders, and presents.

Mini Cupcakes with Marshmallows & Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Have been making really cute cupcakes, I'd to say. These would be the more "adult" version.

Chocolate coated coffee beans drizzled with dark chocolate sauce.

Marshmallows drizzled with dark chocolate sauce.

Mini Cupcakes, congratulating her on her little one

Congratulations to the soon to be Mummy.



Thanks Lady Nina for placing the order with The TeaRoom. This is such an honour :)

Like a Wedding Cake

Most of the time, cake decorating skills can be enhanced by special tools. I've recently enrolled a class at The ICCA (International Centre of Cake Artistry) and the tools available are just great to perfect the cake decoration, and well, makes decorating cakes, a piece of cake. :)

Violet roses which reminds me of wedding cakes

After arranging the roses on the cake

Final touch to the edges - violet tulips

Chocolate Moist Cake - Clowns

There was a birthday cake order. The request was chocolate moist cake and the design requested originally was 2 stick man, one fat and the other thin. But erm... The Baker is not good in free hand drawing. So at the end settled with random design that look fun.

However, so happened I just got to learn how clowns are created, I've asked if my "customer" would like having clowns on the cake, one thin, one fat perhaps. Haha...

So here are the clowns!

I've also put one of my new tools in use - the cake leveler. It makes spliting cakes evenly a very easy job and we are talking about extremely even, even.

The cake leveler:

Adjust height of the layer (of the cake you want to cut) by changing the location of the catch:

Just "saw" the cake with the leveler, supported by the working surface:

Perfectly even cake:

A piece of cake!