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About us

Sugar Inc™ Baking Workshops are designed to help you create delicious and beautiful baked goodies at home. Workshops involve hands-on baking and/or cake decorating, so that you get the most out of your learning experience!

To join the mailing list and receive updates on classes, please subcribe here

All images and content on this website © 2004 Anna Chan, unless otherwise stated. Do not reproduce in any form without written permission.

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Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker

An exciting and easy-to-follow cupcake recipe book written with the home baker in mind. Only S$5.95

Buy now!


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Links

Lazy Susan (accessories)
7th Manna (gourmet cake)

Sugareverythingnice

 

Where to find baking supplies

Phoon Huat (tools, equipment, boxes, decorating supplies)

NTUC (basic ingredients)

SKP (plastic packaging)

Cold Storage (gourmet ingredients)

 

Visit my church

Trinity Christian Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New workshops for Jan 2009!

We've got some exciting new workshops lined up for you come January 2009!

I'm very pleased to welcome Chef James Fong as one of our contributing Chefs - he graduated from Academy At-Sunrice and is skilled in the pastry department. If you meet him in class, you will find him very friendly, approachable and knowledgeable on pastries and baking in general.

Chef James will be teaching the art of simple dessert pastries in Petite Tartlets as a hands-on workshop at Function Room 1, CSC Club at 60 Tessensohn Road (near Farrer Park MRT). In response to popular request, I have also come up with a new home workshop Easy Cookies, featuring some of my new cookie recipes!

With Chinese New Year just round the corner, bite-sized treats like tiny tarts and cookies are just the thing you will want to take with you when you go visiting, or have ready on your coffee table for when your friends and relatives arrive. =)

Places are limited, so do sign up and reserve your seats now!

FONDANT CUPCAKES by Anna Chan
Venue: Block 936, Hougang St 92
Featuring butter cake, home made rolled fondant and fondant techniques

27 Dec 2008 (Sat) 9 am - 1 pm
28 Dec 2008 (Sun) 3 pm - 7 pm

Find out more and register at Fondant Cupcakes

PETITE TARTLETS by Chef James Fong
Venue: Baking Studio (Function Room 1), CSC Club at 60 Tessensohn Road (a 5 min walk from Farrer Park MRT)
Featuring Raspberry custard tart, Valrhona chocolate and orange tart, Caramelised apple crumble tart

15 Jan 2009 (Thurs) 7:00-10:00 pm

Find out more and register at Petite Tartlets

COOKIE ART by Anna Chan
Venue: Block 936, Hougang St 92
Features butter cookie recipe and variations, safe royal icing and 3-step piping technique

3 Jan 2009 (Sat) 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
4 Jan 2009 (Sun) 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Find out more and register at Cookie Art

EASY COOKIES by Anna Chan
Venue: Block 936, Hougang St 92
Features Ginger lemon shortbread, Crisp chocolate chip cookie, Chewy white chocolate & macadamia nut cookie, Mild cheddar biscuits, Piped flower cookies (rosette and drop flowers)

10 Jan 2009 (Sat) 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
11 Jan 2009 (Sun) 3:00 pm - 6:30 pm
17 Jan 2009 (Sat) 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
18 Jan 2009 (Sun) 3:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Find out more and register at Easy Cookies

Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 1 Dec 2008

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Gingerbread House Contest 2008...

To celebrate the 4th anniversary of our website, we are giving away some attractive prizes for the most beautiful home-made gingerbread houses!

Here's our challenge...

Can you turn this plain gingerbread house into an edible work of art? Create a beautifully decorated gingerbread house and stand to win the following prizes:

1st prize:
Wilton Pedestal Cake Dome worth (worth S$75) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker
"

2nd prize:
A pair of Wilton Silicon Oven Mitts (worth S$39.80) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker"

3rd prize:
An 8-pc set of Wilton icing colours (worth S$15.79) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker"

Find out more and see some creative entries at Gingerbread House Contest 2008!!

Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 11 Nov 2008

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Bon Voyage to a childhood friend...

My old childhood buddy Jules has taken a job overseas, so I made this cake for her. We've known each other for almost all our lives! I have memories of her making peanut cookies at my mom's place when we were still undergrads. (I only helped as I was not much of a baker then! LOL)

I'm going to miss her but where she's going isn't far, so we're going to find an opportunity to go visit her in the near future.

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 18 Nov 2008

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Madeleine Experiment...

I was at my mother's place that day, and we were having a glorious time playing with her tiny kueh bolu maker with cute little flower and fish shapes and suddenly we realised that our Asian Kueh Bolu has some resemblance to its French cousin the Madeleine!

......Anyway I've been working on madeleines. The texture was pleasant but they're not as golden as I would have liked so probably I'll have to try a higher temperature.

Posted by Anna Chan | Fri 7 Nov 2008

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Molten Lava Cake...

Once attempted, this little chocolate cake with the delicious molten centre is so easy to make you will wonder what the mystery was all about. I confess I had often wondered how a chocolate cake could be baked with a distinctly underbaked centre that didn't taste like cake but like melted chocolate filling.

How does it work? It's all in the proportions. Unlike a typical cake, it has a far greater amount of chocolate compared to flour. Only a little flour is needed for the sides of the cake to set. When baking this cake, that's all we need. As soon as the sides and top of the cake are done, the cake is removed from the oven and served shortly after.

With a short prep time of 20 min (at a leisurely pace) and only 8-10 min of baking time, this is one of those things that fall into the instant gratification category. To bring these to a friend's party or potluck, don't make them beforehand. Instead, check if they have an oven, bring the chilled batter with you and bake them there and then at the house.

I am giving away this recipe as a freebie for subscribers =) Existing subscribers will receive the new freebie URL in their mailbox shortly.

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 29 Oct 2008

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Notice to the Public

I appreciate my customers' business and treat all customers professionally. Those who pass through my doors will attest to that and I am grateful to have met so many wonderful people.

Recently, I encountered a minority who turned verbally abusive when when they were politely offered refunds due to a full workshop, or told that a workshop was fully booked. This is behaviour that will not be tolerated or accepted and I am probably one of the few local businesses to make a public stand for this.

For the record:

I am non-discriminatory and will continue to assign seats to those who pay first while offering a full refund if a person pays for a class that is already full. All others who had registered and not yet paid will also be informed that the workshop is full as early as possible.

I will also not hesitate to bar abusive people from joining my workshops and will subsequently drop them from the mailing list.

To all you nice folks (almost everyone) whom I have had the pleasure to interact within the space of a workshop or over emails, I thank you and will continue to happily discuss all baking and workshop related questions with you.

Posted by Anna Chan | Friday 17 Oct 2008

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How to bake in stealth mode...

I had to make this cake in stealth mode as it was meant to be a surprise for my better half. This was not so easy as he has the nice habit of coming over to see what i'm doing at the most unexpected times. I could have done it during the day while he was out but I was busy with other stuff.

I baked the cake when he was taking a nap. I then hid the cake under a towel as it was cooling, in the corner of my kitchen that he doesn't bother to go to as it only contains my decorating equipment.

Then I shooed him out of the house on an errand so that I could make the icing and decorate the cake. This was done in a terrible hurry as he doesn't dally on errands. He finally realised what I was up to something when I told him to get away from the fridge. So I was only half-successful. Haha!

Easy White Chocolate Ganache
Recipe and images © 2008 Anna Chan

80 g light sour cream
125 g white chocolate (I used Valrhona)

  1. In a small saucepan, bring light sour cream to the boil over low heat. When there are bubbles all over the surface of the cream, remove the saucepan from the heat.
  2. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate. Wait for a minute and then stir with a spatula.
  3. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for a few hours until the ganache has set. Whisk until fluffy and use immediately to decorate the cake.

To make the ganache softer like what you see in the picture, mix in 1-2 tbsp of light sour cream. I regretted it at first as it was a little runnier than I liked but the effect was quite rustic, which was a nice change.

Posted by Anna Chan | Tuesday 23 Sep 2008

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TY's Birthday Cake...

My niece TY had a birthday party and I racked my head for weeks thinking of how to do a barbie doll cake that moves a little away from the norm.

Usually, a 3D barbie doll cake comprises of a full sized doll inserted into a cake baked in the shape of the doll's skirt - and the birthday girl gets to keep the doll after the cake is eaten. Because it's a stand-up cake, a butter or pound-type cake is the usual recipe of choice. My problem was, my relatives are none too keen on that sort of cake, preferring the melt-in-the-mouth softness of sponge cakes.

Besides, I wasn't too keen on giving her a large barbie doll as she already one or two. And I wanted the doll cake to reflect her age, so it looked like a Kelly doll cake would be more suitable. (Kelly's the name of the little sister of Barbie, i think, do correct me if I got the name wrong!)

In the end, I made a large square sponge cake in two layers and iced it the usual way. Next, I made little sponge cupcakes, and pushed the kelly dolls into the cupcakes. Then I iced them to make them look like skirts. It was a bit of a fiddly job because their hair was getting in the way of the cream. I especially liked the doll with short hair for this very reason.

(But the short-haired girl managed to elude my camera...)

I was slightly worried after putting the dolls on the cake as there was no room for the Happy Birthday wording. As you can see, I resorted to writing the words on the side.

The poor dolls were given a proper warm soapy bath after the cake was all eaten up. My niece, knowing me very well and being a very smart girl, knew that the doll clothes were in the gift-wrapped box we gave her separately.

Posted by Anna Chan | Tuesday 23 Sep 2008

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A Peek into a Cookie Art Workshop...

I'm so pleased with these pics as I'm always too busy during workshops to take photos. These photos were taken by Pauline Chan. Thank you Pauline!

We baked those cookies.

Decorated them with a meringue powder royal icing (no raw egg whites!)

I think the participants were way more creative than me! Oh and can you spot half a gingerbread man somewhere? =)

This workshop is continuing its run in October. For more information, please go to Baking Workshops and click on the link below the Cookie Art workshop.

Posted by Anna Chan | Monday 8 Sep 2008

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A Peek into a Yummy Muffin Workshop...

Photos are courtesy of Selene Goh. Thanks Selene! =)

After watching a brief demo, everyone gets involved, measuring, mixing and folding.

Next comes the baking....

There! These are the muffins they made and that's me serving up different flavours for tasting. (I did not know I was in this shot until Selene showed it to me haha!)

For more information on this workshop or to register, please go to Baking Workshops and click on the link below the Yummy Muffins workshop.

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 4 Sep 2008

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October Baking Workshops...

Thank you for the amazing response for the September workshops! I'm pleased to announce the October workshop schedule, and also a new online registration system.  Now, it will be even easier for you to sign up for a workshop.

PRETTY FLORAL CUPCAKES
4 Oct 08 (Sat) 9 am - 12 pm
5 Oct 08 (Sun) 3 pm - 6 pm

COOKIE ART
11 Oct 08 (Sat) 9:00 am - 11:45 am
12 Oct 08 (Sun) 3:00 pm - 5:45 pm

YUMMY MUFFINS
18 Oct 08 (Sat) 9:00 am - 11:30 am
19 Oct 08 (Sun) 3:00 pm - 5:30 50pm

For more information and to register for the workshp, please go to Baking Workshops and click on the link below the workshop.

In other news, I made cheese biscuits for myself, as a reward for finishing 6km at the Safra Bay Run. Haha my run is wasted now after eating almost a whole tray of biscuits by myself.

Cheese & Garlic biscuits

Cheese & basil biscuits

Posted Anna Chan | Tues 26 Aug 2008

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Happy Birthday Singapore!...

What one wants on the National Day weekend, Saturday up to Monday for those of you who have a day off in lieu, is to kick back with the family and not do anything too strenuous.

A perfect leisurely activity to do together as a family would be to bake some crispy little cream cheese cookies like these cuties below...and enjoy eating them while watching the NDP on TV!

From today til 11 Aug 08 (Monday), I'm putting up this illustrated tutorial here as a National Day holiday giveaway:

[Link removed]

Beyond Monday, it'll be available on the URL provided to mailing list members.

Posted by Anna Chan | Fri 8 Aug 2008

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Quiche is not quick...

After making quiche a few times, I thought I would pick up speed as I went along.

However, I realise that the resting time for the dough (at least 30 min in the fridge) and blind-baking (20+ minutes) should not be compromised. They are absolutely essential in ensuring that the resulting pastry turns out crisp and flaky. Some things just shouldn't be rushed!

A few days ago I made a tuna, tomato and onion quiche, but just didn't manage to capture it on camera before the family gobbled it up. It was lunch and lunch was late - thanks to yours truly. Today, I made an all-vegetable quiche for my husband who tells me that he wants to go vegetarian for a few days. This time, dinner was late also because I took so long once again... but it was a labour of love well worth it.

The crust crisped just as it ought to, and stayed crispy even after the quiche cooled down (though I ate my half long before it did), and the filling was savoury, creamy and light at the same time. By part-instinct and part-fluke, the vegetables that had gone in half-cooked became nicely tender and not mushy after the long baking time.

Although quiche is not what one would consider diet food... but it's as healthy as a quiche can get. =)

The next one will be bacon or something of the sort...enough veggie already...

Posted by Anna Chan | Monday 4 Aug 2008

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Cartoon Invasion...

We just celebrated a combined birthday in the family. It was a noisy family affair with lots of laughs... good thing we had a private room in Long Beach Seafood Restaurant to ourselves - thanks Mom and Dad! =)

I had fun making the cartoon cakes, which were strawberry shortcakes with Italian meringue buttercream - my favourite type of buttercream. After doing the buttercream transfer picture, filling and covering the cakes, I ran out of buttercream so I had to finish off the cakes with strawberries and toasted almonds instead of piping the usual borders.

...and the new Cartoon Cakes class kicked off to a great start yesterday. These two cakes were made by Jane and Yiling. They've really got quite a knack for it!

Great job there! =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Monday 28 July 2008

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The Sponge that was Square...

I started work on a new sponge recipe and just didn't feel like eating vanilla or chocolate sponge or even anything round this time. So I decided to add a bit of pandan essence for fun and I baked the batter in a square pants, i mean pan. Next, I layered the cake with storebought kaya. This is because I have yet to beg my mother for the homemade kaya recipe she's got lying around at her place and I was in a BIG hurry.

My husband liked it a lot and ate 3 slices. He even ate the slice that I reserved for the baby. This is a man who doesn't like cake too much so it meant something! In case you're wondering, it's not pandan chiffon because that's a different recipe altogether. This is just a basic sponge...but it had a nice soft texture I liked and was very quick to put together - that's a plus when time is not on your side.

We ran out of bread yesterday and I grabbed the chance to make parmesan and herb bread using my darling Rhino and Moffat (those are the mixer and oven brands I use.) I call them by name because they're almost my best friends haha!

It puffed up beautifully after 2 hours of proofing, and browned and rounded itself so nicely in the oven. It was very dark golden on top because of the egg wash I brushed over the top. Freshly baked, it was fantastic but the real test is when it's cooled down....

Just ate a slice for tea today and it's still good and soft and chewy - like the bread we eat at good deli's. Feel like eating more, but I'll spoil my dinner if I do. My helper made her super delicious mushroom soup....think I'll eat the bread again later.

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 23 July 2008

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If you didn't get a reply to your email...

It could be due to a server problem with Yahoo. Although I respond to every one of your emails promptly, my Yahoo email has been very erratic. Sometimes the recipients say they received my email but at other times, the email took 2-3 days to arrive or else not at all. =(

While waiting for Yahoo to resolve this problem, I do apologise for these strange delays.

If you would like to reach me regarding a workshop, please check the vacancies at Classes and email me at my new email address sugarinccakes@gmail.com. Thank you!

Posted by Anna Chan | Sun 20 July 2008

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New Workshops!...

Thank you for the great response to the current round of workshops (July-Aug)! For the month of September, we'll be having four different workshops going on:

Cookie Art

Pretty Floral Cupcakes

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Yummy Muffins

Fondant Cupcakes

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To cater to the increasing demand, I'll be opening the group size to 5-6 participants instead of the usual 3.

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 15 July 2008

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Hoping for cooler days...

There are days where nothing seems to go right. The cake flops, the cookies taste strange and the you can't pay attention to the oven because something keeps distracting you. And to make things worse, the heat is getting the better of your temper.

To combat the heat, I've been baking in the mornings instead. Today there was peace and quiet and the sun wasn't quite as blazing as usual. And when it's not so very hot, everything seems a little easier...

I've been working on some recipes, hopefully for a new book, and these piped flower cookies are one of them. I used orange oil because it has a summertime fragrance...the smell was quite subtle and the cookie had a dainty light crispness too.

These little flowers are going to my mother in law's!

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 1 July 2008

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Crunchy Almond Cookies ...

I made 3 batches of almond cookies yesterday. The first two batches were disappointingly hard. I then realised that I should not have shaped the dough into balls for baking. After fiddling with the proportions, I made a 3rd batch of dough, rolled it out thinly and cut it into rectangles (and hoped for the best)

They turned out very crunchy and remained crunchy and yummy the next day! Here's a picture...

I am giving this recipe away in my freebies! =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 25 June 2008

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Cartoon Cakes ...

Announcing a new class and workshop schedule:

CARTOON CAKE
A new class packed with useful techniques for the baker who wants to move on from cupcakes to the next stage, decorating whole cakes!
(Suitable for intermediate level bakers)

Please see Workshops for more details!

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 19 June 2008

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Happy Birthday Baby & Ah Kong! ...

My baby boy (the one some of you have met in class =) just turned one a few days ago. His grandfather's birthday is only a week later so we decided to celebrate their birthdays together. They both love fish and always spend time watching the fishes swim around in my grandfather's koi tank.

I thought it would be cute to make some birthday cupcakes with fondant fishies on top. It took me 3 hours to make 21 fishes. I used the marshmallow fondant recipe to make the fishes and cream cheese icing (the same one in my book) to frost the tops of the cupcakes.

My family really liked the cream cheese icing and some of them ate the fishes as well. My baby made a grab for one of the fishes and promptly bit off the head. I tried to retrieve it from his mouth but it disappeared.

I have reproduced some of my family's priceless remarks which made me laugh for days afterwards.

Baby's Grandfather: Anna, what breed of fish is this? It's a kind of hybrid between a Koi and Fighting fish. Haha.
   
Great-grandfather: [in dialect] Very pretty. I'm going to wash them under the tap and keep them.
Great-grandmother: [in dialect] They'll melt. Whatever for?
Great-grandfather: [in dialect] They'll be ok in the freezer. I'm going to put them in my coffee.
   
Baby's Grandmother: I'm going to eat this one that looks like a lizard.
Baby's Uncle: Yes, it does look like a lizard. This one especially. It's the eyes; one's looking the other way. And the fins look like legs. Lizard cake.

I love my family. =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 28 May 2008

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Cream-Cheese Brownies ...

I've been working hard on a different brownie recipe. I've already got a super fudgy brownie recipe in my book. I want to have the cake-like type of brownie as well. The former is very close to fudge candy and is best eaten chilled, and the other is like a very decadent, moist and chewy chocolate cake that is nice to eat warm with ice-cream. I kinda like both! Plus, I wanted the nice cream cheese swirls on top.

In today's experiment, my brownies were far too sweet even for me, but the overall taste and mouthfeel was complex and quite pleasant. Due to a mistake I made with the oven temperature and the pan size, it was a trifle overbaked at the sides and underbaked in the middle after a whole hour of baking.

I did my best to cut and rescue the evenly baked portions. And this was the best looking one. [Guffaw] It was dismal!

Next time, I will (1) bake the brownies in shallower layers because it takes such a long time to cook, (2) use a lower oven temperature so that the outside won't become overbrowned while the inside remains uncooked, (3) try reducing the sugar content.

Postdated Thurs 15 May 2008: My 2nd experiment was much better in all respects. It was rich, soft, evenly baked and the sweetness level was just about right. The cream cheese had a slight tang and complemented the chocolaty flavour nicely. It didn't matter that it was not a tall brownie because it tasted great. It was also very easy to cut with a serrated knife after I chilled it for several hours.

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 13 May 2008

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"Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker" is out!

I am pleased to announce that my first cupcake recipe book "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker" is out! Please click here to find out which stores currently stock the book. =)

(front)

(back)

Acknowledgements: Thank you to everyone who has emailed me with your kind wishes and supportive words since the beginning of this year! Also, I'd like to say that without my mother who first taught me how to bake and without my husband's support, this book would never have come to fruition. Finally, I am grateful to my Father in Heaven for His grace in my life and for blessing the work of my hands. Praise be to God!

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 30 Apr 2008

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Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes...

When I went shopping today at NTUC Extra, I was very excited to find Dairy Farmer's 98% fat free buttermilk! So for tea, I made blueberry buttermilk pancakes. I didn't want to be overwhelmed by a massive stack of pancakes so this recipe is only enough for 4 pancakes. =)

Healthy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Recipe and images © 2007 Anna Chan

80 g self raising flour
20 g fine white sugar
100 g buttermilk (98% fat free)
50 g egg
1 tsp canola oil
Some canned blueberies

1. Whisk self-raising flour and sugar together.

2. Add the buttermilk, egg and canola oil and whisk the batter until it is smooth.

3. Pour the batter into a frying pan (I used a tiny frying pan) and arrange blueberries on top. Cook over low fire for a minute or two, until bubbles cover the surface of the pancake.

4. Flip the pancake (not too high! =)

5. Cook for another minute or so.

5. Enjoy with honey or on its own!

The pancake is tender and fluffy due to the buttermilk and the self-raising flour. I just find the golden softness of the pancake and the sweetness of the blueberries so very appealing together. It was so very easy to make and really tasty!

Do try this recipe and let me know how it turns out!

Posted by Anna Chan | Fri 25 Apr 2008

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Corn muffins...

Happy because I succeeded in making corn muffins in the "Kenny Roger's" style. Hurray!

I ate them with bacon and portobello mushrooms at lunchtime today. (Yum.) The muffins are savoury with a full-bodied corn flavour, a soft munchiness and a craggy crust. Will be including this recipe as a bonus recipe in the muffin workshop!

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 21 Apr 2008

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Why we make muffins...

Because they make great breakfast food. Or teatime food. Or supper food. =)

Muffins evolved as a kind of quick bread and have a lower butter-and-sugar ratio to flour than cupcakes. Because of this, they are a little healthier than cakes. Traditionally, they are made by stirring the liquid ingredients (eggs, melted butter and milk) into the dry ingredients. Not so traditionally, they can be made by the creaming method, which is used for butter/pound type cakes.

Having done my homework, I wanted to arrive at a versatile recipe that would give muffins that were:

  • crusty, golden and either rounded or peaked on top.
  • soft textured inside (but not too soft that it's like a cake),
  • not too rich (or it would be like a cake!) or oily (eww.)
  • not too bland nor too sweet, so that it would pair well with both sweet and savoury fillings/toppings.

Was satisfied with my recipe after a few tries. This recipe will be featured in a mailing-list only Muffin Workshop =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Fri 18 Apr 2008

 

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Fondant Cupcakes Workshop on 27 April (Sun)...

Due to a cancellation, I have 1 seat left for Fondant Cupcakes Workshop on 27 April (Sun) 3-7 pm. If you would like to attend this workshop, please email me at sugarinccakes@yahoo.com.sg with your name and contact details.

Posted Thurs 10 Apr 2008

 

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Cake Decorating Workshop ...

For those who have caught the cake-decorating bug in a serious way, the Cake Decorating Workshop is back and starting again on 30 April and 2 May! In a nutshell:

1) It is a series of 4 hands-on cake-decorating sessions. Participants will be doing Decorated Cupcakes, 2D Cartoon cake, 3D Novelty cake and a 2-tier Wedding Cake.

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2) The recipes include 8 different icings to make in class and 4 recommended cake recipes for you to try at home.

3) You will need to bring your own cake to class every week. All other equipment and materials will be provided.

For more details, please see Workshops. As there are only 4 places left, please reserve early to avoid disappointment.

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 7 Apr 2008

 

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Let's get dotty ...

If you've attended one of the recent Fondant Cupcakes Workshops, it's been all about darling little dots, ribbons and roses on cupcakes. I felt like seeing them on a two-tier cake, so I decorated a small one on Friday.

It was assembled and decorated in one evening, and it helped that I had already made the roses beforehand. Making sugar decorations ahead really does speed things up if you've got very little time on your hands. =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 31 Mar 2008

 

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Simplify! ...

In a world that seems to be getting more and more complicated, I deliberately choose to simplify. My design style is usually simple and either cute, elegant or just plain fun.

For the same reason, I am constantly trying to de-mystify cake-decorating for the workshoppers with practical recipes, easy-to-make icings and straightforward decorating techniques. That way, once you've got the building blocks, the possibilities are endless.

In other news, I made this cake the other day. Was thinking of my little cub at home.

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 27 Mar 2008

 

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Low-Sugar Chilled Cheesecake ...

I will be sending this no-bake low-sugar cheesecake recipe to the mailing list members, so do look out for it.

Instead of sugar, I used white grape juice (with no added sugar) to sweeten the cream cheese filling. The only sugar is from the digestive biscuits, but that can't be helped unless you make your own no-sugar biscuit base.

It tastes good on its own, and the hubby gave it an 8 out of 10. I felt it could benefit from a dash of honey or a serving of fresh fruits, but I was in a hurry to take this picture, because the sunlight streaming in at the window was fading fast.

Posted by Anna Chan |Wed 19 Mar 2008

 

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Class Photos Page ...

The class photos are now up! Please click here. Yippee =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 11 Mar 2008

 

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Fondant Cupcakes Workshop ...

Just a quick announcement to say there are 10 3 seats left for this workshop. Please check out Classes for the dates that are still available.

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 27 Feb 2008

 

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Cupcake Boxes...

Aren't these so pretty?! My friend Oilin designed these good-looking, decent-sized and decently priced cupcake boxes. This is a real need being met!

I'm switching to using these for my cupcake workshops and got a bulk consignment from her. I'm really happy with them because they look good and are a good fit for standard cupcakes that are 2 or 2.5 inches wide. The red one holds 6 cupcakes; half a dozen is always a nice number. The blue one holds 4 cupcakes. Really good if 12 cupcakes is too much for the person you are giving them to.

They're really affordable at $4.95 for a 3-pc set. The boxes are now available at Bake It Yourself (www.b-i-y.com) and they should be available at Carrefour soon! Workshop participants can buy boxes from me when we meet.

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 25 Feb 2008

 

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What's cooking...

When it's quiet up here on the website, it means that a storm of butter-sugar-eggs-flour is brewing in the kitchen! I've been working hard on new classes lately... hence the lack of posts.

My chocolate chiffon cake has gone through close to 10 experiments. Being a little neurotic, I have been documenting exactly what I did for each and every experiment and recorded the results. I have recently found out (how embarassing) how to use MS Excel spreadsheet and it really helps with the recipe calculations. I used to use a calculator or pen and paper. Ha ha! Anyway, this time, I think I finally have a breakthrough! My chocolate chiffon cake stands tall and yet stays soft and fluffy - and no need for the tube pan!

Read more

If you have struggled with chiffon cake (like me)... let me know what happened. Or if you have succeeded with chiffon cakes, please share with us your tips for making them successfully! =)

Posted by Anna Chan | Fri 22 Feb 2008

 

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Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshops are now full...

[Postdated 18 Feb 08] I have removed the announcement about the last 2 seats for Pretty Floral Cupcakes, as they have now been filled. Thank you for the great response!

Here's a couple of pictures from the latest class!

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 14 Feb 2008

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New Cupcake Workshop!...

Hope you all had a good break over the Chinese New Year holidays!

The Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop is finishing a very successful run. So far, it's been full house for all the 5 workshops! The participants had lots of fun making their cupcakes as well - according to Suzanah, "I had a great time during the lesson and starting to bake cake from scratch (no more Betty Crocker!)". Thank you Suzanah and to everyone who attended the workshops =)

If you missed this workshop, it's not over yet! The next cupcake decorating workshop will be on Fondant Cupcakes. It will feature light butter cake and home-made rolled-fondant, and how to decorate the cupcakes with hand-moulded fondant ribbons, dots and roses. (see pictures below) And yes, the class is fully hands-on, so you will go through the whole process of baking and decorating. It's going to be a whole lot of fun!


Click on Classes for more information.

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 11 Feb 2008

ps: I had some unsolveable problems with the comments html that follows every post, so I had to delete the whole thing. So, for now, there's no comments function until I figure out how to solve the problem. Shoot! If you have any queries about the workshops, please email me directly.

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Freebies!...

Want to learn how to bake cupcakes and make fondant cakes? Join my mailing list and receive two FREE illustrated tutorials:

How to Bake Cupcakes - An Illustrated Tutorial by Anna Chan

How to Make a Fondant Ribbon Cake - An Illustrated Tutorial by Anna Chan

Simply email me with the subject header "SUBSCRIBE" and I will forward you the link to download the files! =) (Workshop participants will also have access to these tutorials.)

Posted by Anna Chan | Thurs 31 Jan 2008

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A Nice Day...

The cupcakes were lovely, but the ladies who made them were even lovelier! =) Thanks for attending the workshop and I'm glad you all had a great time on Saturday!

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 28 Jan 2008

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Pretty Floral Fun...

Here are some photos from one of our Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshops! After baking and tasting a batch of super fresh cupcakes, we had a little demonstration to get everyone's creative juices going...

Then, everyone got their hands dirty...(you'll often hear me saying, don't worry about the mess!)

Next, they admired their masterpieces...

Then, everyone went home happily with a boxful of little beauties...

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 21 Jan 2008

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Fun with Cupcakes...

Just look at what one of our students managed to do on her first attempt at cupcake-decorating! She's really good at making those sugar flowers!

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 14 Jan 2008

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Closing date for Workshop Registration is 2 Jan 08 8 Jan 08...

Our hands-on Cake Decorating Workshop will be starting on 13 Jan 08 (instead of 6 Jan as earlier announced).

The closing date for registration is 8 Jan 2008. We still have 1 seat left, so if you would like to attend, please email me with your name and contact no. as soon as possible.

For our first session we'll be baking and dressing up cupcakes - the confection on everyone's lips these days!

See you at the workshop! (PS. The next Cake Decorating Workshop starts in February - Thanks for the great response everybody

Posted by Anna Chan | Tues 1 Jan 2008   

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Registration for Workshops in 2008

Our January 2008 Cake Decorating Workshops are now open for registration! Click here to find out more!

Posted by Anna Chan | Mon 31 Dec 2007   

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Last order for 2007...

This was made for a lady whose family loves giraffes and chocolate cake. I hope she and her wedding guests enjoyed the cake! This cake was the last order for 2007.

POSTDATED: The wedding couple just sent me an email to say: "The cake was much admired, particularly by the kids.  Our son, Tom, made lots of noise about bringing the cake-cutting forward in the schedule, and we saw him running after a waiter carrying slices of cake out to our guests. Thank you for everything."

From now on, I will be concentrating on conducting baking and cake-decorating classes. Actually, my husband convinced me that my real forte is in teaching (my previous job) although I love baking and cake-decorating. It just made sense to combine the two.

This is a much anticipated new direction for Sugar Inc.!

Posted by Anna Chan | Sun 23 Dec 2007       

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3 years of cake-making...

I am concluding 3 years of selling decorated cakes (from Nov 2004 - Dec 2007) and moving on to a new chapter -- teaching baking and cake decorating!

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all my customers who have given me the opportunity to create special cakes for them. I have absolutely enjoyed this labour of love for the past 3 years.

We've conducted a couple of 'one-off' classes before upon special request, but this will be a continuing effort to share our experience in cake-making. So that people who attend these classes will have the pleasure of making beautiful cakes for their loved ones or friends also!

Posted by Anna Chan | Wed 19 Dec 2007

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Book release...

After much research and experimentation, I'm happy with most of my recipes and realise that some cakes are intended for unpretentious beauty, while others are destined for greatness! In any case, several trusty and yummy recipes are going to be featured in my upcoming recipe book "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker".

The book is slated for release in early 2008 and I am so excited! Thank you Oilin (she's my publisher) for all the guidance you gave me in writing it.

Posted by Anna Chan | Saturday 15 Dec 2007       

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"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:16)

 
 
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