Cupcakes and Cakes and Awards! Oh My!

Hi all!

Boy does it feel weird to have been away from the blog for so long! It's been less than a month but it feels like eternity! That's a compliment to my talented and supportive fellow foodies -- definitely missed you all!

So while I've been away and getting into the spirit of being back to school, which is proving to be much more stressful than I'd anticipated, I baked! (Surprise, surprise!)

First up, the cake I baked for Lail t'ul Qadr at khane. It's triple-layered and pina colada inspired. I decided to try and convey the whole pina colada idea through a pineapple cake with vanilla buttercream and coconut layered in between. Next time, I think I will try to switch it up with a pineapple filling and coconut cake. I suspect that since pineapple is not quite a stand-up kind of a flavour, that it might have gotten lost in the cake, though I didn't get a taste!
Next up, inspired by my dear uncle and therefore, aptly named "Alnoor's Spicy Apples". The name is quite fitting since my Alnoor Masa has quite the spicy personality, himself!

I had a talk with Alnoor Masa the other day and he ran the idea by me to create an apple-crisp inspired cupcake just for him: so here it is! The Spicy Apple consists of a plain cupcake with a spicy apple filling in the centre, topped with my famous apple crisp topping! Since the cupcake is so decadent, I decided to cut the sweetness with a spiced cream cheese (idea courtesy of mum) for that little bit of contrast. They are garnished with an extra bit of the spicy apple topping.

Finally, I would like to thank fellow blogger Shabs (shabscuisine.blogspot.com) for my first set of awards! (look, mom!) I'm so honoured!

Since the stress is mounting as the semester progresses, I'm sure I will be blogging soon so, till soon!