My own little tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Photo from Vulcan Post & Chan Chun Sing

It's been a sombre week.

Mr Lee's chair sits empty today.

Around the world, many are feeling the weight of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew's passing, keenly missing the man who impacted so many with his one singular life.

I too, feel tears welling up several times over the course of each day, as I cling furtively to reports and updates online and on TV, never feeling further from home even as I'm a stone's throw away living in Hong Kong.
> Signing the condolence book in Hong Kong

By no means is this meant to even match the gravity of losing one of the most courageous people to have existed; not by a long shot.

But in my own small way, as a baker, I'm remembering Mr Lee with a simple cake - his favorite, chocolate.
> Remembering the colorful Robin Williams

Celebrating a life worth respecting

I'm choosing to celebrate his life and acknowledge the impact and the good he's done. 

I take comfort in his reunion with his soulmate - his wife and tower of strength - Kwa Geok Choo.

With a little cake. 

An unfussy, to-the-point but memorable cake packing a punch. 

Like the indomitable Mr Lee.

Photo from The Straits Times

He valued highly the merits of hard work, and the environment had always been a key focus for him. He pioneered the amazing green powerhouse that tiny Singapore now is, even when the world told him it couldn't be done.

In keeping with his environmental emphasis, I will be making an extra effort to observe Earth Hour this Sat Mar 28, 8.30pm local time.
> Many other ways you can help beyond just observing the hour

I hope you will too.

Mr Lee's physical light might have gone out, but his legacy is an ever enduring sun that never sets.

And it's in our hands to keep it well.

How to make a high heel topper

It's the day after, but I'm still inspired by the pretty-and-sweet of Mother's Day.

Plus, this quote from humorist/writer Sam Levenson just cracks me up:" Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children". 

How true.

And so today's post will still be about moms - three things that wouldn't have been the same without them:

1) The real reason sweaters exist

"Sweater, n: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly" - Ambrose Bierce, writer/jounalist. Don't think I need to say more, the love is evident. 

> Chocolately love

> Baked with love

2) Mastering omni-presence

Moms have eyes front, back, side, underside, overside. Scary, but true. And that is how we have in turn acquired chameleon-vision. There's no other explanation for being able to pound away at the computer, and spot a tiny child-hand swiping cupcakes cooling on the kitchen table behind us. All in one fell swoop. It's just not natural. 

3) High heels

Instruments of torture and of exquisite beauty; most women have a love-hate relationship with these towering shoes. I may not have inherited all of my mother's grace on heels, but I did manage to make one for a cake recently.

How to Cook That has a fabulous video detailing all the painstaking steps of creating a fondant high heel. She's done a marvelous job with a frilly Jimmy Choo, and I've adapted parts of it for a simpler girly sandal that the birthday girl wanted. 

Jumping the gun a little with this picture, but it
shows the process of making the shoe.

Start with the heel, let it dry for a day or two.
Add some sugar paste modelling gum to strengthen
when molding, we need the heel to be quite sturdy,
bearing the weight of the entire shoe.

Follow the steps in the video tutorial for the
(pink) shoe sole.

Here's the inside liner of the sole I've done, indented
with stitch marks running round, made with a
toothpick or a wheel tool much like what
seamstresses use. 

Instead of the strappy front in the video, I made this
sweet peep-toe with a template of the same shape,
and embossed it with a swirly texture mat.

Fix to pink sole with a little water, prop up
with tissues to let it dry in a curved shoe shape. 

Make your ribbon for the front of shoe.
Check out this fab video by Amanda Oakleaf
showing the steps.

Start with a rectangular piece of fondant, trim the
centers slightly, glue the two open ends to the center to
form the bows.

Wrap middle of ribbon with a small strip of fondant,
prop the two bows up with rolled up tissue or rolled
cardboard pieces (like I've done in my picture below).

Let ribbon dry, and attach to front of shoe
with royal icing or melted chocolate.

Paint on any labels or numbers you might
want with edible black paint and the
tinniest paint brush you can find. I love using
a lipstick brush. It's so small, it gives you
the  perfect sharp point you need for lettering. 

Let the shoe dry completely for another day or two
if you can. It's a pretty fragile topper, so the more
time it has to dry, the stronger it'll be.

My shoe is propped up on styrofoam here because
I've added a support skewer into the heel
(when I first made it a couple of steps back), to
anchor the shoe when I add it onto the cake,
 and not risk it tipping over.

Let every day be Mother's Day, tell them and show them that they matter to you :)

Some bakes mom would love:

> Summer fruits to beat the heat

> Ombre swirl cookies

> Sugar & spice

> Sweet, sweet strawberries

> Rich red velvet cake

> A very lovely elephant day

> Bunny rabbits at the zoo

Chocolatey love

Friends-giving or Love-giving, Valentine's is a wonderful time to laugh a little, love a lot, be grateful for the people in your life.

I like celebrating with chocolate. 

The decadent molten darkness is just too good. 

I want to crown it Nectar of Happiness.

Everyone should have a bar, a stash, some slivers - on their person at all times. 

You never know when you need to celebrate.  

And if you should ever have excess chocolate lying around (I don't know why you would, honestly), here are a couple of sweet ideas you can use them in:

DECADENT CHOCOLATE PISTACHIO TORTE

Martha Stewart is a kitchen goddess.

I love the glistening, dripping chocolate ganache in this creation, it looks irresistible and tastes amazing. 

But this torte is not for the faint-hearted. 

It packs a decadent punch, and my version below uses bitter chocolate - be prepared for a bit of bittersweet nosebleed (so worth it)!

You can see the greedy baker that I am at work  -
double-stacked cake layers instead of the skinnier
torte Martha meant it to be!

SALTED BAILEY'S MINT CHOCOLATE PIE

This pie needs a bit of an age clearance, a grown-up's pie if you will ;)

I'm not usually fond of Bailey's - as a drink. 

But its signature milky sweetness works beautifully in desserts, imparting a soft richness that works nicely with my usually (deliberately) under-sweetened cake bases.

This luscious pie recipe is from She Wears Many Hats. 

I've just swopped the Bailey's Caramel for Bailey's Mint in mine below, and you can use a graham base or an oreo base - both are equally scrumptious. 

Add whatever toppings/decor you like after
the pie's set in the fridge for a while and semi-firm,
so they don't sink under Titanic-style.

BOOZY CHOCOLATE RUM BALLS

These little darlings make perfect gifts, and are oh-so-versatile.

You can make these out of cake or brownies, just crumble and roll.

And of course, for that special Valentine's day touch - a good splash of rum. 

Mmm yum...

The alcohol acts as the binder in these balls, and I like to add mix it up with a bit of Bailey's as well. The sweetness balances the slightly edgy taste of the rum, and you get a good ball of happiness at the end. 

Substitute with Grand Marnier or Cointreau - all good.

> How to make cake balls

Pick sprinkles/toppings that contrast well with the dark
chocolate. Sanding sugar sprinkles and white sugar granules
are a no-no - they sink into the chocolate and disappear.

In a tin, lined up in a box, on a tray - these
lil' rum balls are delightful and delicious. 

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE (CHIP) SHORTBREAD

I love making chocolate chip shortbread. 

The kitchen smells heavenly as it bakes. 

The recipe is forgiving (dosen't seize up and sulk if my measurements are a bit off!).

Keeps so well.

And I just love the slight crunchy buttery chocolate bite.

Our weather is harsh on desserts. 

Heat and humidity: bitter bedfellows for cakes, buttercream, fondant, trifles - you name it. 

Shortbread though, holds up beautifully. 

Shortbread doesn't sweat it (yes, literally).

The recipe I use is from one of my baking books Mmm Chocolate, a little hard to transport it here. But this recipe from the Food Network is very similar, and will set you straight.

Chocolate chips with chocolate ganache - what's not to like?

Hope you'll get to try some of these out this Valentine's Day - chocolate is the source of universal happeiness ;)

Oh and if you're enjoying these at home, dig in to Spotify's Valentine's playlists to set the mood.
Extra sweet ;)

Other sweet bakes you might like:
> Red velvet cake
> Sweet, sweet strawberries
> Sugar & spice, all things nice

Ombre swirl cookies

I've always loved colors.
Instant perk-me-ups.

         More of our colorful bakes: 
         > Minion cuteness!
         > The very hungry caterpillar
         > A purple green birthday
         > How do you wink at an orange?

Add to that, the power of ombre.
Life can be so sweet ;)

When I came across I Am Baker's Rainbow Rose Cookies, I knew I'd found my vehicle for ombre goodness.

So I adapted her rainbow colors for swathes of pink, the little pretty swirls on each cookie peeking just above, showing off their graduated hues.

         Pink's one of our most popular dessert colors!
        > A fairy tale wedding
        > Sugar & spice!
        > Sweet strawberries
        > Bunnies at the zoo

Love colors!
Have I mentioned that already?

Started off baking up a big batch of the sugar cookies, here's the recipe I adapted from I Am Baker:
                 ===========================================================

SUGAR COOKIES
(makes about 48 cookies)

Ingredients
224g butter
300g sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
4 tspns vanilla extract
2 tspns almost extract
600g flour
1 tspn salt
1 tspn baking powder

Instructions
- In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until well combined, about 2min
- Add in the eggs and egg yolks, mix until combined
- Add in vanilla and almond extract, mix until combined
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Slowly (about 1 cup at a time) add the flour to butter mixture and combine. You can use a mixer or not, just depends on how strong you are. Don't over mix the dough, it will get tough.
- Put dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour
- When ready to bake, heat over to 180 degres Celsius. Roll dough out, cut out cookies and bake for 12min.

===========================================================

I'd adjusted mainly the butter and sugar amounts and the baking time to suit my oven, I prefer my cookies less sweet and not too buttery. For I Am Baker's original recipe, click here.

This is a pretty sturdy cookie recipe, great for storing and handling.

Just make sure you cut them fairly thick so they don't break apart so easily when decorating. They also keep well and you can make them in advance, freeze them and pop them out when you need some.

You can make the cookie frosting out of buttercream, much like how you would top a cupcake - just a thicker consistency so they'll hold their shape.

I made mine out of royal icing as they had to stay out quite a while for a mom who ordered them for her daughter's Teacher's Day gifts, and royal holds up much better in our heat and humidity.

I experimented with colors and tips - this was a Wilton 2E:

And decided I liked the open-tip #827 better:

Another obsession of mine - washi tape, a serious contender for a girl's best tool. 

Don't forget to whip them out when you need to dress up a plain box or kraft bag, they can take a million shapes and forms. 

> Check out our cute cupcake bags

What I did forget, was to take a photo of the boxes I decorated with washi tape before I gave them out, so shall have to settle for the next best thing: a picture of the tape I used instead!

Have fun experimenting with ombres and washi!

Weddings - also known as Fairy Tales with Cake and Dessert...

Fairy tales exist.
They really do.

Especially when they involve lots of cakes and more desserts than you can count.

Oh wait, think we call those weddings! ;)
> Check out how we 'bake with love'

We had a chance to get involved with one of those fairy tale weddings recently, with a very apt 'Fairy Tale Knights' theme... bliss!
         > Get some sweet treats:
            Sugar & Spice
            Sweet, Sweet Strawberries

The couple chose a lovely silver, pink and white as their wedding colors, and we were thrilled to play a part creating their church luncheon dessert table, and the wedding gala dinner at night.
> More on a very lovely Elephant dessert table

The Wedding Dessert Table

We had their theme colors accentuating the cute mini desserts

And itty-bitty personalized tags with the couple's
names and wedding emblem 

A little kerfuffle of panic when the air-conditioning
didn't work (humidity is dessert's worst enemy!),
but it got sorted and everything turned out perfectly.

Dessert world's definition of 'living life on the edge' LOL.  

The color-themed candy bar piled high with happiness
in all sorts of pink and white shapes and forms

Spot the Knights & Castle centerpiece, with
hidden mini cupcakes scattered around ...

Do you feel dreamy yet?

Glorious blooms adding zing to every table

The Gala Dinner

The amazing dinner ballroom, just minutes before the guests arrived

Our pride and joy - the 2-tier wedding cake
awash in pink and white blooms

Every one of the 130 guests received a
hand-wrapped slice of wedding cake to bring home

It was a mad day with too little sleep and too much to do,
but a beautiful note of thanks wiped all that away in a snap.
So. Worth. It. 

Sugar & spice

It's been a girly couple of weeks, filled with sugar and spice, and all things nice.

Little divas love being princesses for their birthdays, and big divas too - we had a mommy turning 60 with her sparkly best.

It's lovely making pretty dreams come true, and I wanted to share some of the pearly pops we made.

Never too old for sparkly birthdays

Ringing in 60!

Birthday mommy's full of life, lovin'
the spunky colors of life pink, red, purple!

The magic of 'pretty' - applicable and accepted all
across the world. Enquire with your favorite baker
for your very own 'pretty'.

Desserts: the perfect way to celebrate life

> Baked with love

> I love birthdays

Fairytale Princess

I made these little sweetheart cake pops for my physiotherapist's
daughter who was turning 4, and at that age when she wanted
EVERYTHING to be pink and pretty

She especially loved the teeny butterflies!

More pretty in pink desserts: 

> Sweet, sweet strawberries

> Pink rabbit cake pops

> Pony cake pops

Razzle Dazzle!

A forest of green & pink cake pops for a birthday princess

Behind the scenes: just half an hour before the
serene picture above - the unruly bunch running amok!

Jimmies, confetti, dragees, sprinkles &
pearls - the stuff of princess dreams

Sparkle, sparkle, toil & trouble... that's what little
girls get up to, especially on their birthdays

Read about A Very Lovely Elephant Day

Never stop dreaming everyone, never stop feeling like a princess, carry that sparkle through life!

Is it time for Cupid yet?

TGIF everyone!

We're halfway through January - ie. February, the month of lurve will be here soon.

Valentine's is really every day, not just on that particular Feb 14 that was decreed (probably by some enterprising entrepreneur ;) across the universe. But it you're planning to put an extra smile in someone's day for Valentine's anyways, we've got some ideas for you (click above mailer for clearer pop up).

Part of the fun at Petite Pops is being able to customize the bakes. And if you want to keep your Valentine's a little different and need more ideas, always feel free to get in touch at PetitePopRocks@gmail.com.

Have a good weekend y'all, start thinking about cupid!

xoxo,
Petite Pops

10 years young - that's a whole decade! (Part 1)

Happy decade, Gabby!

10 years is a big deal. It's a whole decade, you gotta give it respect. 

Respect spelled OTT-c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e.

That was the reigning flavor in Gab's 10-year birthday celebrations. She loves chocolate, and the oozy gooey goodness is really the only fitting flavor to mark a decade.

We start off in the kitchen, mixing up a batch of chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips. 

My pink mixing spoon somehow managed to sneak into shot...

You won't see these choc chips after they're baked in, but they're well worth adding - they make the cupcakes extra rich and chocolately.

Before hitting the oven: See how ooey, gooey they are?

Oh, there was a pool theme too, since it was a poolside party. 
I wanted something fun and cheery for the kids, since these cupcakes were going to be the take-home bags.

Sunshine!

I started forming little sunbursts, stacking the yellow centers atop each lick of poppin' orange. 

I love the buck-toothed ones best!

Then the little faces went on. Eyes and mouths do wonders in upping the cute factor. 

Not all though... I've done some failed ones that looked more like maniacs and malformed witches, I shall spare you the horrors. 

Next: swim rings.

These look deceptively simple, but man oh man, did I see stars cutting each color ring out.

It's hard to tell the scale from here - let me assure you - cutting and picking up many half cm pieces does something to your fingers, and your mind. By the time I fixed all the pieces on, I felt confident I could perform surgery on ants.

Warning: these swim rings will NOT save you in a storm,
unless your waist is the size of a polo sweet

Sun and Swim Rings meet cupcakes!

Bagged, tagged and ready to go!

It made my day when the birthday girl told her mom," Look at the details, even the length of ribbons are matching!"

More on Gabby's birthday cake next week, stay tuned!