21st birthday is an occasion that many holding high regard. It celebrates one’s new chapter of life into adult hood and it is interesting to see how 21st birthday parties have evolved over the years. 16 years ago, my sister had her 21st celebration at a chalet. Back then, birthday parties were much simpler and straight forward. Unlike the past, today's 21st birthday parties are much more elaborated, incorporating themes, setting up photo booths with fanciful props and balloon bouquets, desert tables and spending big bucks on 2-3 tiers birthday cakes. As for me, I had a 21st birthday celebration as well, but a smaller scale one as compared to many others. I’ve enjoyed myself thoroughly and really thankful for my family and friends (especially those who came earlier to help me out) for making this birthday party possible. The theme was flora and so everyone was recommended to come in anything that relates to the theme. I was fortunate to have Ivan to bake my birthday cake. I am a great fan of his bakes and I am glad that the cake and cupcakes received good reviews during the event. Through my sister and brother-in-law, I have tried many of his bakes and I am sure his bakes are definitely comparable or even better than than some of the cafes and commercial bakeries.
These gorgeous cupcakes are delicious. There are two flavors, lemon olive and chocolate cupcakes. Both cupcakes are soft and moist. Personally, I prefer the lemon olive cupcakes. For the lemon olive cupcakes, the cake itself is not sweet and in fact, it was good to eat on its own. But the combination of the three: cake, lemon curd and butter cream tasted even better because the lemon curd gives a sour twist to the sweet butter cream. The chocolate cupcakes are slightly sweeter. Chocolate fans would love this because it is very rich and the chocolate butter cream tasted like ice-cream. Even someone like me, who usually scrapes majority of the butter cream away, finished the entire cupcake without any hesitation. Every sugar flower decoration was patiently and meticulously made by Ivan. Each cupcake costs $4.50.
Apart from my birthday, Ivan has baked for several occasions such as Christmas and my nephew, Zachary’s full month celebration as well. They are smaller in size and hence cost cheaper. Each of the customized cupcake for the full month celebration has Zachary's initials carved.
I am always looking forward to festive seasons like Christmas, because we will get to eat his bakes again! Those who have sweet tooth will probably fancy the fruit cake. There is a generous serving of dried fruits like apricots, raisins which are well infused with rum. Last Christmas, he baked some cupcakes for us and yes, they tasted fantastic. That was when I fell in love with his cupcakes. I love the combination of the ginger bread cookie, curd, cream and the cake.
2 weeks ago, he brought a tray of home-baked fruit tarts over to my sister’s place for a family gathering. They were too pretty to be consumed. I thought they were slightly sweet but my sister feels that the sweetness level was just nice.
For one of the Chinese new year, he baked a tiramisu which was really yummy. The proportion of coffee and rum and were great. I love his layered chocolate mousse cake as well. It is a pity that I do not have a picture of it but they were really amazing. That is one of my favourite of his bakes and they tasted like River Gauche Guanaja. Chocolate cakes are definitely one of his forte.
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