Connor's 1st Month Giveaways - part I: Cupcakes & Red Eggs

It's been a very busy week preparing the party giveaway boxes to celebrate baby Connor's 1st month! The goodie boxes contained 2 red eggs, 2 mini peanut ang ku kueh, 2 cupcakes & 2 macarons. It is Chinese tradition for hard boiled red eggs to be given out during important celebrations, such as the Full Month or 1st birthday of a baby. The eggs symbolize new life and the colour red symbolizes prosperity and good fortune. 

1st Month Party Giveaway Boxes

I guess most of us are familiar with how to dye Easter eggs all sorts of fun colours. Well, making red eggs is pretty much the same thing. First, hard boil the eggs. Sounds like an easy feat, except when you have 17 dozen eggs to boil. I did them in batches of 15, in a big pot, with about an inch of water covering the eggs. After the water had come to a boil, I pulled the pot of the heat and set the timer for 12 mins, leaving the eggs in the hot water, with the lid on. I found that this gives the perfect hard-boiled egg, without the ugly grey ring on the yolk which comes from over-cooking an egg.

Goodies inside 1st Month Giveaway Boxes

After 12 minutes, I dunked the eggs in cold water to stop the cooking process. To colour them red, I prepared a large red water bath containing 4 cups of water, 2 tsp of SugarFlair Extra Red food colouring paste and 1 tbsp of vinegar. The vinegar helps to get the waxy surface off of the eggs and let the colour penetrate the shell. I coloured the eggs in batches of 8, leaving them to soak for about 7 mins to get them a nice red colour.  Let them dry on a rack afterwards so that you can pick them up without getting your fingers all red. 

Lucky Red Eggs

The mini ang ku kueh I purchased from a shop in Marsiling estate. I love the soft texture and the ground peanut & sugar filling inside. It is best to eat the ang ku kueh the same day that they're made to enjoy the soft texture. They can be kept overnight in aircon, or longer in the fridge, but they must be re-steamed for 5 mins before eating to soften them up again because the skin gets hard from the cold. 

For the cupcakes, each giveaway box contained one strawberry cupcake and one chocolate cupcake. The strawberry cupcake was frosted with fresh strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and topped with a heart sprinkle. The chocolate cupcake was frosted with chocolate French buttercream and topped with dark chocolate shavings. A tray of the same strawberry and chocolate cupcakes were also served at the party itself, except the strawberry cupcakes were topped with slices of fresh Korean strawberries instead of the heart sprinkle. 

Chocolate & Strawberry Cupcakes

Please continue to part II of Connor's 1st month giveaways for the details on the macarons. Thanks for reading!