1 surprised birthday party, 1 promo tartlets & 1 un-surprised birthday party

There are few things need to be reviewed, so I'll combine everything in one post.

Last Friday, Shantini ordered 5 boxes of Blueberry Cheese Tart (BCT) for her brother's surprised birthday party.

Ini antara crust/shells yang telah berjaya disiapkan pada malam sebelumnya.. Alhamdulillah, everything went well semasa baking the crust..

The complete BCT in the houssseee! In blue sarang lagi tu haa...

Delivered to Shantini as promised. The following day, she told me, her brother got home wayyy before the guests came. So, tak berapa jadila 'surprise' nye.. I guess, the guests la kot surprised tgk birthday boy terpacak tunggu diorg datang..hehehe..nevertheless, they loveeeee the cheese tarts.. thanks Shan for your order.. and am sorry about your missing sarang. I don't know where it is - until now.. So, these new 5 sarangs, you keep it ok? nanti-nanti nak order, boleh recycle. Mari kita selamatkan pokok.. :-)

Divert sket..nak cerita pasal  'sarang'...Sarang ni sebenarnya tartlet holder. Initially we wanted to buy ready-made aje..but then, takde dijual. Agaknya kena custom-made kot..yg ada pun size yg amat besar fit for cupcakes only.. Since then timbul byk idea utk hasilkan the holder.

My mom suggested a template - buat siap2 lubang2 dia, just like sarang telur tu (hence, lekat nama 'sarang' :p)  then kita pi la tempah dekat welder (ke tukang besi kot?) utk buat template tu. Then bila nak pakai, tekap je kat manila kad. Yes, we did that. Siap mak balik penang pi tempah di sana lagi tu. Hahaha..semangat! but it was a bit difficult sbb the edges sgt tajam..oh ya, it was made by aluminium..thats why la dia sgt tajam..So, scrap..

Then my sister plak came with a genious idea. She said, similar to the concept aluminium sarang tu, why not we draw the sarang on a piece of paper instead. pastu photostat banyak2..setiap kali nak pakai, glue it to the manila card, then potong je ikut the lines. So, I gave her the precise measurement of my shell's & box's size siap dgn dotted lines kat mana I nak lipat bagai. She drew it on a piece of A3 paper. Walla!! siap! Thank you adik!!

Memang berhasil la teknik ni..sbb tak tajam and tak luka-luka la.. Ceyy, mula2 buat sume sarang in white. Reason being, nak kasik sama kaler dgn kotak..standardization la kengkononnya.. Slowly, my business partner, Nazlin, started guna warna-warna pastel. Like soft pink, soft blue, soft green sebab putih dah sold out. Dia la tu yg memborong kad manila..hahaha.. lepas tu, she started using bright colors plak. Electric blue, fuschia pink.. and it turned out good! cheerful! and lain dari yg lain.. .it really compliments my tartlet..(err..ke aku sorang je yg syok sendiri???) but I really likeeee it.. lepas ni, nak cari color olive green plak..itu official color for Glory Bites..ala-ala corporate color gitu..hahaha..

2nd Story:

Remember few times I quoted Chics or Chics In Red in this blog? saya dah promote Glory Bites to her..hehehe.. go here for her write-up about Glory Bites' Blueberry Cheese Tartlets..

It all started via facebook.. selepas dah bertungkus-lumus bersilat kat dapur semalaman utk siapkan crust (first pic above), I posted the picture in FB..kena pulak masa tu dia tgh facebook-ing..she commented on my pic..on the spot we agreed to meet the following night at McD Equine Park. Kebetulan dia nak gi amik husband dia kat airport, so singgah la ke Equine Park. I handed over a box of BCT in pink sarang..

Close-up sikit..please excuse the quality..tangkap pakai handphone camera je..

Overall, Chics sgt puas hati.. :-) Alhamdulillah..mudah-mudahan Glory Bites dapat melebarkan sayapnya selepas ini..

3rd Story:

Kak Safura (my regular cake customer) ordered a Durian Cheese Cake for her daugther's 15th birthday. No hal la nak buat cake tu..tapiiii..masalahnya..dia mau tulis2..adoiyaiii..tulisan saya ni haa, kadang2 saya sendiri pun tak blh baca..inikan pula nak tulis cantik2 atas cake.. but, customer's request must be fulfilled by hook or by crook.. I won't tolerate any excuse from myself..hmm...I think I need to enroll myself in cake deco class lah.. Insya'Allah..soon..mmg ada dlm perancangan..cuma tinggal persoalan, 'bila' dan di mana' je..hehehe..

I dare not take the risk now because someone's birthday is at stake. My handwriting is OUT! tak blh pakai.. so I asked for my friend's help. He is very good in this design thingy. His writing, MasyaAllah..cantikkk.. very artistic..so, heret dia ke kedai aunty (the shop I regularly buy all my baking stuff).. I mixed the butter and sugar and coloring. Put in piping bag, kasi dia satu cake board, hah, prektis la di situ..sambil I feeling-feeling jadi cikgu tunjuk ajar cara-cara nak pakai piping bag..ajar org pandai, nak buat sendiri takut! apa da... He is a fast learner indeed. After few trials, jadi dah.. memang dia buat sungguh-sungguh..penuh khusyuk dan tawaduk ..berpeluh-peluh la jgk dia tahan panas kat dapur aunty tu.. :-)

Buat, padam, buat, padam.. Each time padam, sume icing tu masuk mulut dia..hahaha..lawak.. tp takpe lah..asalkan dia mau buat.. thanks darlin! Love you to the max!! Upahnya apa? belanja makan nasi tersedap di cyberjaya.. Saba Restaurant.. Lamb Hanith Rice.. senang je nak jaga dia ni.. :-)
Maka dgn ini, rasmilah dia sbg Creative Art Director for Glory Bites...hahaha..eh, jgn tak tau, member siap nak bukak kedai dgn I lg tu haa..takpa..semangat dah ada..itu yg penting..

Cake durian ni, is chilled cheese cake. Tak bake langsung. So dia very 'fragile'.. I mean it must be refrigerated at ALL times and tak blh simpan lama..karang ada yg jadi tempoyak pulak.. and nak buat dia pun tak blh awal2 sgt..so that in case customer nak simpan after party, blh la tahan at least 2-3 hari..takkan la nak paksa org habiskan cake tu dlm masa satu hari je kan..so, I started making it awal pagi around 4.30am mcm tu. Siap sume kul 6.00am.. I chilled it for approximately 10 hours before pick up time (minimum 6 hours to set properly).

This is the Durian Cheese Cake. It weighs around 1.8kg, and size = 9inch. The base is made of digestive biscuits and cornflakes. I use brown sugar to sweeten the base. Must not be too sweet though, or else, it will camouflage the natural taste of durian on top. And nanti cake bukannya jadi lemak-lemak manis, tp akn jadi super ultra manis..Org Penang ckp, 'manihh melecaihhh'.. so, must strike a balance di situ..

The filling is made using pure durian..takde pakai2 flavor ni..sebab tu la cake ni tak blh simpan lama-lama.. :p ..custard is used to give yellow tinge to the filling..and gelatine is used to hold them together..kiranya mcm binding agent la..mesti guna yg halal punya ye..I used gelatine from fish.. more about halal gelatine here
Last but not least, mesti kena pakai Cream Cheese..baru lah namanya Durian Cheese Cake kan..

Selalunya org yg order with me, takde deco2 ni..my concept is 'less is more'..(yg sebenarnya, saya yg tak pandai deco)..I will sprinkle snow powder on top and thats it. Refer picture above..

Jika ada request utk deco, baru lah kami buat deco..seperti gambar di bawah:

Amacam? ok tak? boleh la kan? First time deco tulis2 ni..siap ada ladybird lg..hahaha..

Thanks Kak Safura for your order..harap puas hati ya..

To birthday girl, Alya:

Happy 15th Birthday..May today be filled with sunshine and smiles, laughter and love.
Hope you enjoy your birthday cake albeit an unconventional one.. :-)