Fantasy cakes in 3D

I was flipping through some old copies of the The Sunday Times and the featured article on the Lifestyle page on 31 October 2010 caught my eye - Fantasy Cakes. 

Cakes, 3D ones, are not new in Singapore but in recent years, have been gaining popularity.  It could partly be due to the showing of the Cake Boss on TLC that piped the interested of many or the novelty of having a center piece at parties that will wow your guests.

To me, it is the art of creating the 3D pieces and every piece looking like the real stuff that wowed me. The creativity of the people in coming up with themes for the birthday cakes and how the bakers, or should I say designers, go about creating them. Really really amazing.

The thought of making such a masterpiece has been twirling in my head but I have not gotten down to doing it for numerous reasons. Perhaps when the time is right, you will get to see my masterpieces here J 

I have extracted some of the useful information in the article summarizing where you can buy or customized your elaborate 3-D cakes. Information that may come in handy should I need to customize some 3D cakes in the future J

Cake Avenue

Price: From $55 a kg

www.cakeavebue.com

Et Artisan Sweets

Price: From $150 a cake

www.etasweets.com

The Icing Room

Price: From $45 to $90 a kg

www.theicingroom.com

E-Creative – Creative Floral and Cake Design

Price: From $90 for a 3D cake.

www.ecreative.com.sg

Metrocakes

Price: From $190 a cake. Minimum order of 2kg

Metrocakes.com.sg

1 Caramel

Price: Between $85 and $120 a kg

www.1-caramel.com

The Pattiser

Price: From $120 and onwards for a 1kg cake

www.thepatissier.com

Pine Garden’s Cakes

Price: From $150 a cake

www.pgcake.com

Prima Deli

Price: Novelty cakes start from $42 a kg while 3D cakes start from $65 a kg. Cakes must be at least 3kg and up.

www.primadeli.com

Smiling Orchid

Price: From $300 a cake and upwards.

www.smilingorchid.com

Day 7 - Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center – Issan Thai Food - Tom Yum Seafood Soup With Rice

1st Friday of 2011 and the last day of my food theme “Something with Rice”. Had to think really hard as to what I can eat to fulfill this theme. After much debate, I walked to a stall that I have never frequent before, Isaan Thai Food (#02-23) at Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center and ordered something with rice. :p

While waiting for my food, I am really tempted to change my order. Seeing plates and plates of Phad Thai being dished out, I kind of hated myself for setting the theme this week.. Argh.. I will be back for the Phad Thai for it looks too delicious! Even Ang Mos are queuing for it!

Back to my lunch, I finally got my Tom Yum Seafood Soup ($4.00) with Rice ($0.50).

Close up of the rice 

 A close up of the ingredients inside my Tom Yum Seafood Soup. There were 3 fishballs, 2 prawns some squid rings, straw mushrooms and basil - simple ingredients easily available and suitable for people of all ages. The soup was quite sour and a little spicy, strangely addictive though it felt like it was made from a paste. I had missed out on the cooking process as I was distracted by the plates of Phad Thai :P Will have to verify it the next time round :P

Day 6 - Amara Food Court – Lotus Roots and Pork Rib Soup

4th working day and I am running out of ideas for this week’s theme. :P  We decided to head out to Amara  Food Court for lunch and my brain was already mentally scanning through the stalls for an appropriate meal to fit into the theme - "Something with Rice".

To make things simple and similar, I looked around at what the rest of the patrons were eating and settled on my lunch for today. 

My Lunch – Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup ($3.50) with Rice ($0.50) J

I opted for white rice instead of Yam rice to keep to this week’s theme. 

Close up of the lotus roots and pork rib in the soup. There were 3 pork ribs that literally melt in your mouth and plenty of thinly sliced lotus roots which were cooked so nicely that it still retains a little crunch when you bite into it. The soup is sweet and savoury, having been boiled with red dates and some cuttlefish. It felt like home made lotus root soup which is nutritious and delicious. J

Day 5 - Thai Tom Yum Seafood Soup with Rice

With back to back meetings today, we had no choice but to grab a quick lunch. Today only being the third day of the working week and it seems like my themed food post will be short-lived. Undeterred and after some brainstorming, I managed to change the theme into “Something with Rice” instead of the original “Herbal Kitchen Stall” ;P

So for lunch today, it is Tom Yum Seafood Soup with Rice ($4)

Close-up of the fish slices and prawn in the tom yum seafood soup. The soup is neither too tangy nor spicy and you get generous slices of fish, 2 prawns and some canned button mushroom in the soup. This soup has been adaptable to the local palette and is suitable for folks who are not used to eating too spicy food. 

Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center - Herbal Kitchen Preserved Vegetable Chicken Soup

Today, it is back to Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center for lunch. I was thinking of the theme that I should be doing this week. Since I started with Herbal Kitchen yesterday, I thought I might as well do the theme - “Herbal Kitchen Stall”, and sample all the different dishes the stall offers. The food that this stall sells is all very nourishing stuff. The main ingredient is chicken in some sort of Chinese herb.

Browsing through the menu, I found one that does not have herb in it – Preserved Vegetable Chicken ($3.50). It has been a long long time since I last ate preserved vegetables and thought that this dish would be a nice change to the soup I had yesterday. 

From the menu, I thought the dish would be a dry one but was surprised when it turned out really soupy.  

The rice ($0.40) that I add to the soup that came with some braised peanuts and drizzled with sauce.

There were plenty of preserved vegetables surrounding the chicken drumstick. The soup was a little sweet, quite a contrast to the taste I had in mind.  To me, this is a well balanced meal as you get fiber from the vegetable, protein from the meat and carbohydrate from the rice.

First Working Day in 2011

Off to a good start on the first working day of the year by starting it with a sumptuous breakfast from Burger King (BK). Decided to make a detour to BK on the way to office and ordered a breakfast set that I had never ordered before – Turkey Bacon Croissan’wich

My Croissan’wich – Turkey Bacon with Hashbrown ($5.45). Good to see that BK has come up with new initiative such as the sticktogo which acts as a stopper for the takeaway cup.  They could have made it more environmentally friendly by lengthening the stick such that it can double up as a stirrer.

The croissan’wich with the cheese, egg and crispy bacon is simply the best one can have for breakfast to kick start the year! J

For lunch, I really pampered myself by ordering a Ginseng Chicken Soup with Rice ($3.80) from the Herbal Kitchen Stall (unit #02-11) at Tanjong Pagar Market.

Close-up of my rice drizzled with some sauce and braised peanuts.

Close-up of the Ginseng and chicken drum in the soup. The soup was pleasantly light and the flavor of the ginseng was not overpowering. The chicken has been cooked so well that it takes very little effort to break it away from the bones. Yummy J

Best of all, the rain prevented us from returning to our office and we ended the meal with desserts from Dessert Hut!

My Gingko Barley Dessert ($1.50)

New Year , More Fun Food Ideas/Places?

As I was walking home from work today, I contemplated if I should continue with my lunch blog posts. To be very frank, it is easy to eat and take pictures of food but not so easy to maintain the food blog. It takes a lot of effort to really sit down, sort the photos, and organise your train of thoughts. I have also wanted to revamp the layout of the food blog but just have not gotten down to doing it. Perhaps with the start of a new year, I should really get my butt working on it. :p

As I walked, an idea came into my mind. Instead of the usual post of the random food that I eat, I can, perhaps, themed the food that I will eat each week. Eg: trying out all the dishes that one particular stall sells, trying out the same type of food sold in the food center, eating food prepared with a certain ingredient, etc... Sounds like a fun thing to do but this may need a little effort on my end and to get my lunch kakis going to where I want to go. I do wonder if I will get sick and tired of the food, get too “heaty” from all the tonic, or grow extremely fat after being on a high fat or high cholesterol diet for the whole week. LOL..  Cannot help chuckling at such a thought but I think I am still gonna give it a try in order to inject some food fun into my daily routine.. Hee hee... work life is boring enough hence this should give the mind something interesting to work on :)