loving baking

a bundle of nerves!

2011-05-23T19:17:00.000+08:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I neglected this blog. It was close to being banished away forever and ever more. But fear not, I've always still reminded myself of why I started writing initially. Though I have not been trying out new recipes lately, nor have any exciting new baking experiments or techniques to share, I have still honed my baking skills, just in a entirely different aspect.

Well, it's with GREAT pleasure that I title this post "a bundle of nerves" as I calmly and excitedly announce a piece of news which contributed to my long absence. I'M GETTING MARRIED! Yes, you heard me! I'm getting married in just about a month's time and preparation is at its peak where I start fretting over so many details!

Since we're on the topic of weddings, I'd still love to stick to something baking-related. I had a crazy month of May attending THREE weddings, one after another on the first 3 weekends of May. Its with great pleasure, stress and fun that I had the honour to provide cupcakes and a wedding cake for 2 of the weddings. =D

A really cool, classic elegant wedding held at St Andrews Cathedral. I share a pretty long friendship with this friend of mine which dates back to our Secondary school days =)

She chose to have a cupcake tier with a cake right on the top tier. Design is inspired by hello naomi which featured a post on Brides.com here! I enjoyed every moment of decorating the cupcakes as there almost endless design possiblities!

Really glad that the couple loved it and it was how she envisioned it to be! Congrats to you two lovely peeps! =D

This pair of really cute funky couple whom I knew from a marriage prep class are one of the nicest, sweetest people I've met. In fact, all the couples in our prep class are really really nice and I'm glad to have attended each and everyone of their wedding!

The groom is such a sweet guy, he wanted to surprise the bride with a real wedding cake. If you haven't know, a real wedding cake costs a bomb to have, well at least, here in Singapore. This 4-tiered wedding cake was the "tallest" cake I've made to date as I have only attempted maximum of 3-tiers prior to this!

I definitely had ~~wedding~~ cake-making jitters while I planned and executed the cake making schedule. Do not belittle the stripes! They look simple and gorgeous but they took me half a day to complete!!! I delivered the cake unstacked and only assembled it on the spot. Thanks to my handy tools and lovely assistants, we set it up in under 30 minutes and phew! The cake stood tall and straight for a good 4 hours or so =D

So now, having slogged for 2 of my friend's wedding, should I too slog for mine? I really wish too and D is discouraging me =p Any suggestions? Any experienced baker brides? I'd love to hear a comment or two =D

Till then....

CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-21T14:50:00.001+08:00

Christmas is just around the corner and after all the dazzling goodies and log cakes, I must say I still love cookies the best! Though I haven't really been to orchard road to soak myself in the Christmas atmosphere and pretty lights these cookies sure edged me into the Christmas mood. From the dough, to the aroma when they're baking away in the oven, till the time their out and finally with that icing that makes all the difference (appearance I mean)! I'm so lovin it! =p

I'm ashamed to say that after years of baking, its my very first making a gingerbread man (though not gingerbread flavoured) but hey! it's still a milestone isn't it. haha. And the thought of those few wiggly lines, dots and ribbons making the whole gingerbread come to life, I couldn't contain that excitement and I knew I had to make a few more batches to give away as gifts.

D was also really psyched when he saw those lying on the baking tray and immediately asked if I was free to bake some for his colleagues! Though it meant I had to spend more time baking extras (other than the order on hand), but it also meant some fun time together! Well, now I'm toying with the idea of making these for my friends. Packed nicely in a plastic pack, sealed and tied with a pretty ribbon, just how I love it!

Now, I hope I've spurred YOU (yes, you who is reading this post now) to get crackin and make some homemade goodies for your friends. Though "inexpensive", but sure packs a load of love and sincerity. No?

Recipe below!

Gingerbread cookies

Ingredients:

100g Salted butter, cubed and softened

80g Caster sugar

1 Egg Yolk

190g Plain Flour

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or Vanilla bean paste if you have)

Method:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well combined.

*Mixture doesn't have to be light and fluffy as we do not want the cookies to expand too much

during baking

2. Stir in the egg yolk until well combined.

3. Add in the flour, 1/3 at a time until a dough is formed. If dough is too soft to handle, cling wrap the dough and place it in the refrigerator for about 15-30 min to allow it to firm up a little.

*I usually split the dough into 2 and refrigerate one portion while I start working on the other.

4. Roll out the dough on a piece of parchement paper in between 2 chopsticks (one pair) to ensure uniform thickness.

5. Get your favorite cookie cutter and stamp away! Gather the scraps and re-roll until the dough is used up.

6. Place the cut-out dough on the baking tray and bake at 180C for 10-15 min (longer baking time require for larger cookies) or until the edges are lightly browned.

variations:

Chocolate cookie

*Use 20g cocoa powder + 170g Plain flour instead

Orange/Lemon cookie

*Use 1 tsp or orange/lemon oil + finely grated zest of 1 orange/lemon

Royal Icing recipe

Ingredients:

2 tsp Meringue powder

2 tbsp Water

165 g Icing sugar

Method:

1. In a small mixing bowl, mix together meringue powder and water. Using an electric mixer, whip will soft peaks form.

2. Add icing sugar gradually and mix on high speed until medium peaks. *This consistency is good for piping

3. To colour (or flood the icing), add water, bit by bit until you get a consistency that resembles a syrup.

Bloggers Meet-up!......in KL!!

2010-12-20T17:31:00.000+08:00

I can't imagine how long has it been since I last blogged. So much has happened during the time I was absent and I must say that one of the best things was that I got to meet so many wonderful people during my short short trip to KL! I got to meet so many great bloggers from Malaysia (Wendy from table for 2 or more, Swee San from and me, being REALLY honoured to be the FIRST singaporean blogger some of them have met! *drum roll please* =ppp

photo courtesy of Swee San

Photo courtesy of Pei-Lin

They are such amazing people, it must be one of the best things that happened to me while blogging! Travelling up north and meeting a bunch of strangers isn't the wisest thing to do. But, boy, was I glad I took the "risk"!

Pei-Lin was really nice and wanted me to have some real authentic malaysian food. Well, if you know Singapore and Malaysia well enough, you'd find it hard sometimes to distinguish the local hawker fares. We have much in similarity when it comes to food (with the exception of the price ) that sometimes it's a little difficult to trace the authenticity. But I learnt one thing on my trip up north this time is that, Hokkien Mee in Singapore = White and Malaysian Hokkien Mee = Black. Hang on, while you try to say "but". I know we do serve black hokkien mee in Singapore. However, the noodles used in Malaysia to fry the hokkien mee is different and somehow, it looked like udon to me when it was first served. Now, THAT'S a difference, right? One other thing I realised is that I think we're heavier on the seasonings here in Singapore. Despite calls to healthier eating habits, I think we do add a tad too much salt into our food.

photo courtesy of Pei-Lin

Don't be fooled by the colour appearance of this dish, if you think it packs a punch of salt, you're wrong, but it does indeed pack a punch of flavours! What's really amazing is that it actually doesn't come with that bitter noodle after-taste you often get (if you know what I mean). To top off the goodness, the tiny pieces of fried pork lard, fried to crispy perfection was the oomph! you'd get in a mouthful! Well, of course, as the cardiologist would advise, we'd better stay away from lard for the better of our hearts. But hey! it's ok to indulge once in a while isn't it? =X

After the wonderful meal and relaxing trip, I was back to busy busy life as usual, typical city people and *ah hem* of course, with a tiny lazy bug planted deep within, this post got neglected and so was my poor blog. Besides the fact that I was lazy, the conversations that revolved around blogging, baking, food and more baking, made me ponder alot about the nature of blogging. The unspoken rules, manners, must-dos, don't-dos, suddenly made blogging seem like a daunting and scary thing to do, start or continue.

And of course, I concluded on my own that blogging has evolved over the years and what initially started out as a "online diary", "personal log book", "personal journal", "a place to keep track of fill-in-the-blank", sometimes evolved into a responsibility (not for oneself, but for others) or even as a marketing tool.

I have to admit that at some point in time, I felt pressure to increase readership and to make it more "happening". But at the end of the day, I want to still be able to enjoy blogging as much as I did before. I did not want blogging to become a pressure, a "homework" that I had to hand in every other few days, nor did I want it to be a burden of some sort. I don't doubt the internet as a very useful, fast and efficient tool, but I still do believe in blogging with sincerity and honesty.

Note:

This post is purely based on my personal opinions and generalisation and no particular person, blog or organisation were intended at. Any similarities, likeness are purely conincidental.

A prelude..

2010-11-16T20:24:00.000+08:00

Well, before I get crushed under the amount of fondant I'm dealing with, let me sneak in a quick post. A short, quick one before I get busy and have no time for my blogoversary.

I haven't been treating this blog very well for some time now, but I still want to thank every single person out there who has came and who are still coming to read my shout-outs and ramblings. I hope those who have found my blog helpful in some way or another, be it related or non-related to baking, continue to spread and share the knowledge , tying in with the spirit of Christmas (which is to come).

There are just a few quick "announcements" I have to make =) Firstly, after struggling for months at my job as a laboratory executive, I finally made a decision to leave my footprints in the laboratory and continue my journey elsewhere. Here comes the exciting part! I am officially baking at Whisk and Fold (as a community baker) and my goodies are officially, legally up for sale!! We're now operating from a NEA licensed kitchen which is also halal certified!

Visit our website (www.sweetcouturecakes.com) for more details on how to place your orders!

Continuing on this piece of news, we're also about to launch our christmas goodies in a week or two, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates!

Till then, an early happy blogoversary to loving baking! =D

long overdue

2010-11-04T17:46:00.000+08:00

If ever there was an overdue fine imposed for blogging, I would have lost my entire life savings by now. But, thank goodness no such rule was ever imposed, not now, and I hope, not ever.

However, that still doesn't give me an excuse to not to post as frequently. There were many changes and many still on-going, the thought of trying to juggle many things at once proved even more difficult and challenging than I thought. Since when has life has been a bed of roses? Sure enough there were good times, but it is also the bad times that made the good times seem even better. No?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in some dire situation now nor am I facing bankruptcy. Just my two cents worth after busying around in a entirely different way. And as with all life matters and activities, it's a love-hate relationship.

Anyhow, I havent been able to bake for leisure and for fun for sometime now, but I have definitely some backlogs that I've yet to clear. A colleague actually asked if she could come over to my place to bake a cheesecake for her boyfriend's birthday. Naturally I'd be more than happy to agree. Not being a cheesecake expert, she actually thoughtfully researched and e-mailed me 2 recipes she carefully selected out of the thousands.

So I decided to bake both at home, let her taste test and see which made her jump for excitement.

First up! Chocolate marbled cheesecake. I never really had any affinity with beautiful, jaw dropping marble swirls and this was my *ah hem* lousy attempt in doing so. This cheesecake is pretty dense and rich with a distinct sour tang from the sour cream. The recipe actually called for creme fraiche but I decided it wasn't cost effective,hence I replaced it for sour cream.

Next up! A rich, dense chocolatey chocolate cheese cake. The base was made with digestive biscuits with sugar and cocoa powder. The 100% chocolate cheesecake was a tad too rich for my liking and in my opinion would have scored a better rating if the base was a normal fragrant digestive biscuit base. Despite the full chocolate cheesecake, it was surprisingly better than the marbled cheesecake.

So, we agreed that if you marry the both, base from number one plus cheese part from number 2, you'd get a winner. Of course we felt the whole chocolate thing was a tad too dull and plain and we played around with ideas such as, to add some ferrero rocher into it etc.

And obviously, I haven't got to that part. I'm still clinging on to this thought though and hoping that it would materialise one day. =p

Have you ever had friends who known you for a lifetime and have seen your recent craze in this mad indulgence in baking and all that photos you posted on the blog, BUT, have never ever seen or tried your yummy bakes ever?

It's funny how I'm frequently caught in such awkward situations. Friends whom I've known for life have yet to taste a single cake/cookies/anything-i-have-baked.

Deciding that it was too much for her to bear, and to show her unwavering, loving support she requested me to bake a black forest cake for her. And to be honest, I've never quite got around to baking a black forest cake. Although, it's kinda like THE birthday cake most of us used to get during our birthdays.

Nonetheless, I was happy to have embarked on this maiden attempt and have found this magical kirsch gel thingy that is packed with such strong alcohol content. It wasn't as difficult as I imagined and the chocolate curls really did save my life for the botched sides. They certainly are an easy way out for beautifying a cake =p

More details on the recipes soon! For now, I've gotta run!

Chocolate crunchy mousse

2010-10-15T16:43:00.005+08:00

I've been away for a while, but I haven't been idling! I have a few bakes that has been sitting in a folder on my desktop for a while now. If I wasn't going to post them any sooner, it may have been never.

I wonder how many of you ever had a slice of the Guanaja, a chocolate cake from Rive Gauche. I had mine first at a friend's birthday dinner and fell in love with it ever since. That bittersweet chocolate accompanied with the slightly sweet and crunchy biscuit base was to-die-for. It had almost been forever that I tried to get the praline biscuit bottom right and I never truly succeeded. The next time I had a chance to sink my teeth into these delectable slices was during my younger sister's birthday back in April when I decided it was the best ~~excuse~~ chance to get this as a birthday cake for her. Everyone raved about the cake and as for me, I sat near the cake, chomping down as many as I could, hoping no one had really noticed.

The next few months were pure torture whenever I thought of and craved for this cake and finally my wish came true when my cousin bought that same cake for his sister's birthday in July.

The attraction of this cake continued to mystify me despite the various attempts are trying out to formulate its composition. Finally! The opportunity emerged when I had much success with the Japanese dark pearl. I realised that the Japanese dark pearl was able to stay nice and moist despite being in the fridge which meant it could be the perfect sponge base for the cake I was dreaming of. Needless to say, the dark intensifying chocolate taste in the cake itself meant that I need not worry about bland chocolate flavours in the mousse.

I had, on many occasions, tried searching for a good praline feuilettine base to to no avail. I read that people replace feuilettine with cornflakes and I've tried and failed. The cornflakes were too hard to bite into and the corn taste was just too overpowering. I knew that if I didn't try it soon, it'll never happen. So, I went ahead, searched for various recipes and mixed and match, altered this and that.

TA-DA! Here it is! My very own version of "Guanaja" which I call, "chocolate crunchy mousse". Now, I've got the taste right, but the presentation failed. The ganache topping cracked real badly over a night in the fridge. I have desperately tried searching for an answer but have found nothing really helpful. All I could speculate now is the temperature of the cake, ganache and fridge. The only logical explanation I have is that, the cake shrunk whilst in the fridge which caused the semi-set ganache to be "torn apart" during the contraction.

Does anyone out there meet with similar problems? Hopefully someone could point me to the right direction =)

Till then...

Japanese Dark Pearl Cake

2010-08-24T15:52:00.005+08:00

For some unknown reason, baking with chocolate always seems like a whole new science to me. Sometimes the recipe works, sometimes it doesn't. And as such, recipes with melted chocolate always leave me procrastinating, longer than usual.

This Japanese Dark Pearl cake is no exception. I recalled being soooo intrigued by Bee Bee's post, that I jumped right at trying it out. Baking chiffons has always been a challenge to me, and I dare say, many other home bakers as well. Heard of those horror stories of cake collapsing, shrinking, fell like a bomb from the chiffon tin, I've been there, done that. Having had much success with an orange chiffon, then a pandan chiffon, I wondered if I could move on to the chocolate chiffon.

Well I thought with a scoff, that's simple, just substitute part of the flour with cocoa powder. Ain't that easy? No. Not until I saw aunty yochana's post of this mysterious Japanese Dark Pearl Cake via HoneyBeeSweets.

I saw the texture and colour of Bee Bee's cake and it was simply screaming "chocolate overload!!!". How else would you get such deep, intense chocolate flavour with just cocoa powder in a chiffon?! Duh, melted dark chocolate!

I jumped right at the chance to try it out, it was the ~~moment~~ recipe I was waiting for. Then I read the comments at aunty yochana's and saw a number of "failures" and the debate about whether there was enough flour. I left a comment at Bee Bee's and her success was an assurance to me, so ahead, I went. I can't remember exactly what was I trying to bake or assemble, but I recalled being totally defeated while mixing the batter. The flour was soooo little, the chocolate relatively more and the egg yolk/cocoa batter was so thick and gooey, my arms ached while mixing them together. Even my whisk threated to fall apart because of its sticky pressure. For some very odd reason, I can't recall what happened after that. I couldn't even remember if the batter made it into the oven, and if it did, did it even made its way to our tummies. I could only conclude that the failure was so disastrous that my memory had even refused to recall that sad episode.

I chanced upon this Dark Pearl Cake back right where I first saw it last night and was determined to make it right this time. I must say that the bad experience hit so hard, I had trouble sleeping. Wondering if it would be a success and wondering if I would be wasting a good 150g of Valrhona chocoalte. -_-'''

By the time I gathered enough courage to go ahead with this once-failed-cake , I had to realised that:

1. my cream of tartar expired. Just great

2. I had ZERO baking soda. even better

I was stunned and literally stared at the bowl of melted chocolate. I thought "It's might not work anyway, just do it. And if it works, all the more better isn't it?" . How naive isn't it? Read on..

Since the failure of the last attempt, I decided the batter had to be much much lighter for it to have a slight chance of succeeding. So I decided to whip the egg yolks till ribbon stage and fold in the rest of the ingredients of the "cocoa batter". Things started to look a little optimistic when I saw a familiar "egg yolk batter" density. Being afraid that it would deflate fast, I rushed to wash the mixer attachment and went on at lightning speed with the whites. uh-oh. Mistake. No cream of tartar remember?

I almost freaked out when I saw the once familiar lumps of egg whites, turning from a cloud of white to a puddle of almost deflated foam. Yikes. I stopped immediately and knew it was over-beaten. It's either gonna rise super high and collapse like the twin towers or it's not gonna rise at all. But I can't afford to dump all of it into the bin now! What a waste it'd be. So I went ahead with it, folded it in with much difficulty because overbeaten whites are so lumpy they are hard to incorporate without trying to break them up with more force. I ended up with a more watery batter than the usual chiffon batter, said my prayers and off in the oven it went.

Surprise surprise! It rose, and almost to the brim in fact! But, the battle ain't over until the cake is out and cooled. And so I waited, and waited. The cake came out, though badly cracked, I couldn't care less. Not in comparison if it would survive the cooling. overturned.

The cake shrank, no doubt, but not terribly or badly, just the way some chiffons shrink upon cooling. and yay! It hung on until it was time to unmould and my my, look at that tender crumb.Boy! was I glad I did not give up. As adventurous as it may sound, I start to wonder if it would have overflowed if I had baking soda and if the whites to beaten to perfection..hmmm

Nonetheless, the recipe proves to be a bake-able one.

Looks can be deceiving so the ultimate test still lies in the taste buds. And this sure is a winner. Though, I must say it's quite unlike most chiffons. It's not as light, it carries a certain body to the cake but definitely very very flavourful with a deep, dark intense chocolate sensation. Contrary to belief, the chocolate in the cake did not make the texture dry. In fact, the cake is so moist, I could literally hear the "whoosh" as my fork went through the cake as I ate.

And of course, don't take my words for real. Try it yourself and be convinced!

Japanese Dark Pearl Cake

Cocoa Batter:

150 gm. Chocolate - chopped (I used 70% Valrhona Chocolate)
90 ml. water
100 gm. corn oil ( I used sunflower oil)
25 gm. cocoa powder (I used Valrhona Cocoa powder)
65 gm. cake flour
1/2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda (substituted it with double action baking powder)
115 gm. egg yolks (I used 6 egg yolks)

Egg White Batter:

225 gm. egg white (~257g egg whites which is approximately 7 egg whites)
100 gm. castor sugar (I used raw sugar)
a pinch of salt (forgot to add it)
1/8 tsp. of cream of tartar (omitted it)

Method:
(1) Melt chocolate and stir till smooth. Add in cornoil slowly, stirring all the time till smooth. ~~Fold in the rest of the ingredients and stir till smooth.~~ Whisk the egg yolks with ~30g of sugar (from the 100g) until pale and fluffy (ribbon stage). Whisk the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and mix together with the chocolate-oil mixture. Fold the beaten yolks slowly into the mixture, taking care not to deflate the mixture.

(2) Whisk egg white with cream of tartar till frothy, then pour in sugar gradually and then add in the salt. whiks till a soft peak is formed.

(3) Fold egg white into the egg yolk mixture and then pour into a ~~23" to 25~~ " 21" round chiffon cake pan.

(4) Bake at ~~175C~~ 170C for about 45 40mins. or ~~till cooked~~. till skewer inserted emerges with loose crumbs attached.

(5) Invert cake onto a cooling rack until completely cooled. Remove cake from pan and serve.

*Changes I made are in Italics.

An apple tart with some appreciation

2010-08-18T23:03:00.001+08:00

I written and re-written the start of this post, yet I still couldn't find the best way to start. It feels like I've lost my writing and communicating skills after retreating into the moutains and living in the caves for too long a time.

Anyhow, I got inspired to bake with apples by bakertan who very kindly shared a little knowledge on the various apple types. As stupid as it sounds, I've never really baked with apples before. And even if I did, they were playing much of the supporting role or just being a fill'in when I was lazy to prepare something more elaborate. Well, a perfect example would be when I first started out trying to make my own puff pastry. The easiest filling I could think of and whip up in a jiffy would be, chopped apples with some butter, sugar and cinnammon. What's more, my helper did it all. I just took the credit of that glorious moment when the freshly bubbling hot apple turnovers came out of the oven. Ashamed I was not, but now, yea, well, a little.

As if that wasn't enough, I soon found my really close friend, someone who journeyed her junior college and university life with me, asking me to bake apple pies. I always told her with a mark of confidence that it would be as easy as a pie (pun not intended). While the truth was, I never really did bake a proper one, ever.

For some odd reason, pursuing the basics and fundamentals was not in my book of interests and it wasn't till bakertan's post that jolted me to my senses. The way he described his knowledge on the different apple types made me really curious about apple baking, I mean, baking with apples.

So, the word "golden delicious" was somehow stucked with me pretty much the whole day. Just that fateful day, I happened to be at Carrefour and decided to look out for these "infamous Golden Delicious apples". Lo and behold, there were right in front of me, sparkling in their pretty packaging. I hesitated, thinking, if I would ever cave into procrastination and end up having to toss these apples into the bin. Alas, the greedy me won over the battle of the apples and I grabbed, not one, but TWO packets and marched to the cashier.

And so, as if I could read my own future, the procrastination queen reigned and the apples laid in the fridge, untouched, for 2 days. Finally, I decided that the apples wouldn't and couldn't wait any longer for Her majesty so I decided it's time I got some apples ~~going~~ baking. While in between the procrastination, I gained much encouragement and regained my determination from everyone who left comments on my previous post. I'd like to take the chance to say a BIG THANK YOU to all have been ever so supportive and encouraging! =D

I had been reading up a little. As a I stared at the bookshelf of baking books, I can't help but notice one of the heaviest and thickest ones, Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. Several pages later, I decided that there were TOO many apple tart recipes in the book to choose from. So, being the lazy me, I chose one with: 1. The simplest ingredients needed, 2. all the ingredients I already had.

And of course, one that specified for the use for my oh-so-precious "Golden Delicious". I had only made one tart prior to this apple tart, which was the chocolate tart. So my tart-experience isn't that much and I vaguely recalled a mini frenzy then.

As simple as the recipe had stated its steps and so it was, minus the estimation I had to make as I baked mine in a smaller tart pan. If there was anything I would warn anyone about tart-making, it would be TIME.

Though armed with simple ingredients, simple steps but it sure took a LONG time to bake, and cool, and bake again. But that of course, are the ramblings of a not-so-freuqent tart baker. Don't get me wrong, the recipe was a crazily simple one. I didn't even have to cook the apples in butter,sugar and cinammon. Yet, the end results was a tart that was Mmmm, yummy.

All I had to do was slice the apples, arrange them prettily, prepare the custard and pour it over. And...there you have it! As unappetizing as it may seem, the taste was simple, yet delicious. Something rich, yet not overpowering. Perfect for a lazy afternoon, with a steaming cup of tea. The tart had cooled completely by the time I could "stomach" it so I re-heated the slice in the microwave and my! it was bursting with flavour! And the thing which amazed me the most - the apples retained their crunch! It was soft yet textured, sweet yet with a slight tang which complimented the sweet custard so well. YUMS!

Verdict: The "Golden Delicious Apples" certainly lived up to its name. Delicious it is!

I don't think I'm at liberty to share the recipe, but if you're interested, and if you have the book, refer to page 314 "Alsatian Apple Tart".

Surprise! ...not

2010-08-16T23:58:00.000+08:00

I promised in my previous post that I'll be back soon and I'm trying hard at keeping my promise!

I've been back blog hopping these days and I must say, as usual, as with almost all food bloggers, there's simple TOO many recipes to try out.

It was not until I saw Happyhomebaking's post that compelled me to try it out almost immediately! It was really heart-warming to see how she grabs every opportunity available to show her love, care and concern for her dear husband whom is working hard for the family overseas. Yet, it also jolted that guilt in me and reminded me to shower a little care for my darling D.

Part of my long absence from baking and blogging stemmed from me starting work coupled with my lousy stamina and well, some unhappiness having to do something which I didn't exactly enjoy. It was only then I realised how pampered I was, when D would take time out almost every evening to pay me a visit and slog through the night baking and washing up for me.

Amongst the many other commitments he's got, every other spare time he had, he spent it with me. I not only not show my appreciation but still, I complained at times.

HHB's gesture dug out that guilty conscience in me and I thought what better way to start with something, simple, easy and tasty. Another guilty chord struck when HHB's post was on Oatmeal Cookies. If there was any favorite cookies D loved, it's be Oatmeal Raisin cookies. It's a shame that after all these years baking and doing all that fancy stuff, I neglected the simplest of all.

Wouldn't then it be perfect to give a shot at an Oatmeal cookie recipe and make that a simple surprise? No. D surprised me instead when he sneaked into the kitchen just when I was scooping the balls of dough. Nonethless, when D peered over to see what was I up to, he broke into a HUGE grin as he recognised the rough looking textured heaps of dough on the baking tray and said "Oatmeal raisin cookies! My FAVORITE!!"

When the cookies cooled off, he popped one into his mouth. After 2 of them, he went "I think I can finish off the whole tray soon."

Now, do you consider that a successful surprise?

The cookie yielded quite a special texture. Not quite crispy, yet not quite chewy either. But it tasted great nonethless, with the fragrant buttery aroma, coupled with healthy rolled oats, some chocolate chip, raisin and walnuts, a great tea-time, any-time snack in fact!

Here you go!

Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
(makes about 32 cookies)

90g butter, softened at room temperature
25g raw sugar
25g brown sugar
1 egg (weights about 60g with shell), lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g cake flour (or plain flour)
100g rolled oats
50g walnuts, coarsely chopped
35g raisins

75g chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 190degC. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
With manual whisk, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture turns pale and fluffy (alternatively use an electric mixer if desired).
Dribble in the egg gradually. Mix well after each addition. Add in salt and vanilla extract, mix to incorporate into the batter.
Sift the flour over the batter, fold in with a spatula.
Add rolled oats, walnuts and dried cranberries. Mix well with the spatula.
Drop heaped teaspoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray. Leave some space between the cookies to allow for spreading (actually, they don't spread too much). Flatten each cookie dough slightly with the back of a fork, keeping the shape as even as possible.
Bake for 8~10 mins or until golden (my oven took 12~15mins). If necessary, rotate the baking tray halfway through the cooking time to ensure even browning. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in air-tight containers.

Recipe source: adapted from 好想为你亲手做出美味的甜点! 检见崎聡美

adapted from HHB with modifications in italics.

Enjoy!

I'm WOW-ed!

2010-08-09T00:34:00.000+08:00

Before you think I'm back with more recipes, energised and ready to blog blog blog, well, you're not entirely wrong, but not quite right either.

I'm WOW-ed and left speechless when I actually made it to attend the food blogger's party that Pei-Lin organised. It was almost like a dream come true, getting to meet this virtual friend whom I've know over the past 2 years. It felt almost unreal when Pei-Lin dropped an email sometime back asking for a meet-up.

Well, I'm terribly guilty for my inactivity as I listened to the other bloggers chatting away. And I thought to myself, gosh! I've been away for SO long, I seriously have little idea of who and what they were referring to. But that enthusiasm and that same passion for baking, blogging, writing and taking pictures blew me away! I felt ashamed at some point in time for not being able to keep up with my blog which I started out with much passion and drive for.

When I got home, I immediately started checking each and everyone's blog, to put a face to the blog and I must say, that knowing the face behind the blog skins makes reading that someone's blog feel so different. It's as if you've upped one level.

Though I have no pictures to boast of, nor goodies I made to contribute my portion, I was blown away by each and everyone's warm and friendliness. Though it was just then that we met, but we chatted with so much in common.

It was REALLY pleasant meeting everyone there and I'm SO glad I managed to make it there in time to enjoy the company.

For more pictures, blogposts and a glimpse of who made it there, hop on over to:

Bee Bee (http://honeybeesweets88.blogspot.com/)
Grace (http://gracekitchencorner.blogspot.com/)
Jane (http://passionbaker.blogspot.com/)
Shirley (http://kokken69.blogspot.com)
Zhuoyuan (http://bakinglibrary.blogspot.com/)
Edith (http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com/)
Jess (http://bakericious.blogspot.com/)
Ai Mei (http://mybakingcottage.blogspot.com/)
Yan Ee (http://sweetaeration.blogspot.com/)
Jo (http://sugareverythingnice.blogspot.com/)
Pei-Lin (http://dodol-mochi.blogspot.com/)

I'm WOW-ed! That I CAN'T wait to write this post!

A big thanks to everyone whom I met that made this meet-up so lovely!

I'll be back...

Since I've been gone...

2010-04-18T17:22:00.000+08:00

..not for the first time. Please pardon my long absence. Activities just got more and I just simply didn't have the time, energy and mood for taking and editing photos, much less updating the blog.

I very much wish I had the time and enthusiasm I once had in updating this blog. Don't get me wrong! It doesn't mean I'm gonna lock this blog away in the safe forever but the updates will just come at a much slower rate. As the lack of time has affected my blog updates, so has it affected my baking schedule. Much as I wish to be baking away like a mad woman and updating this blog with tons of pictures and recipes, that's gotta wait.

On a happier note, let me catch up on what I've missed for the period of time I've been gone..

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who came to NUS to support Sweet Couture. My siblings, D and I had a fantastic time selling our goodies to you people and we hope you enjoyed eating them as much as we enjoyed selling them =D Of everything I made, I loved the macaron the most. Experimenting with earl grey and chocolate macarons was somehow quite a breakthrough for me. And, I'm glad it worked out perfect.

Being a chocoholic myself, I couldn't resist putting The Chocoholic cupcake on the menu and it was just as well-received. Needless to say, the cookies were the first ones to be sold out and it was nice knowing that people actually came back the following day to buy MORE! =)

While I thought I needed a break from baking madness, I cam across pictures of cupcake bouquets by chance. They looked SO captivating and I told myself I HAD to make one. Wouldn't it a perfect gift for mother's day? How sweet isn't it?

I caught the flower cupcake making bug that I decided to open a "class" for my friends and invited them over for a session of cupcake flower making!

Check out the variety of flowers we made during our baking session. I love making cupcake bouquets! They're simple to make and to top it up, simple to eat as well! No fuss over having to cut up the cake!! =p

If you havent got an idea what to get for your mother for this Mothers' Day, why make a cupcake bouquet and impress her with edible flowers?

I had meant to post these pictures up a long time back but I got lazy and tired and the pictures were just stored away in my laptop, waiting to be uploaded. Now that I am back from a really GREAT break/holiday, I thought to myself that I shouldn't procrastinate further.

At the boarding gates at the Singpore Budget Terminal. Just before we left for sunny Phuket!

D and I and a bunch of friends took the weekend off and had a really GRRREAT time in sunny Phuket! It was a nice break from work and all other things and now I'm pretty much recharged to be back baking and taking photos and uploading them, I hope. The fantastic shots my friend took with his DSLR captured really nice memories of the trip.

So, I shall let the photos do most of the talking.

Beach fun @ Patong Beach!

Street Food

What's visiting Phuket, Thailand without having a taste at their street food. Superb grilled chicken, with just the right doneness. YUMS!

Singha

Not forgetting a taste of their local produced, Singha Beer. I'm not a fan of alcohol nor do I even don't mind drinking. But Singha beer has sucessfully made it to my list of permitted alcohol beverages. =D

Preparing ourselves for snorkelling!

Lush Sea Anaemone

Sunset @ Bangla Street. One of the most happening streets in Phuket.

Fried rice.

Mixed Vegetables sauteed with garlic

The fried rice and mixed vegetables were something familiar, but the great company and a day of fun at the beach made the food seemed especially nice! =)

Clear tom yum soup.

Having tried Thai food in Singapore, I dare say that the Thai food standards in Singapore is as close as it could get as the authentic ones in Phuket.

The SUPERB fish

The fish was REALLY good. Nicely done with fantastic-tasting sauce. They even separate the meat out so that you don't even have to remove the bones! One of the advantages of having a friend who's a chef travelling with you is that he can ensure the freshness of the seafood. Especially so when you get to choose your own seafood in Phuket!

Fresh seafood

Beakfast @ Bodega

Museli @ Bodega

In case you were wondering, Bodega is the place we stayed in during our time in Phuket. An extremely affordable place with SUPER friendly staff. A very very nice place. Plus, it's close to the beach!

Eve of Songkran

To end of the wonderful trip, we managed to catch a glimpse of the Thai New Year, Songkran just before we left. And yes, we got drenched while walking along Bangla Street and went home in the plane with wet clothes!

If' you've persisted reading to the end of this post, I applaud you and thank you for reading this long long post. As with every blogger's wish, I hope to be back more regularly, posting more bakes and recipes!

Bake Sale!!!!

2010-03-19T18:36:00.000+08:00

I believe the poster is pretty self-explanatory. Apologies for the last minute notice!

If you'd like to try out the goodies I bake, come on down to The Forum @ NUS on the 22nd or 23rd March 2010.

Sweet Couture Fans are entitled to a 10% discount so Be a Fan today! =D

See you there!!

Chinese New Year Chronicles: Part III - better late than never

2010-03-06T11:27:00.002+08:00

Okayyy, blogger just played a prank on me and the carefully composed blog post at the expense of my ~~beauty sleep~~ rest had just disappeared. just like that. Bummer! I've given up on re-loading the pictures that took forever to load and my brain cells which were all ~~half-dead~~ half-asleep while waiting.

But lucky you! I just couldn't bring myself to miss out on this post since it is also going to be my first baking video debut. yea yea, no biggie, especially since youtube has TONS of them. But no! it's special to me and I obviously hope it'd be of some help to you, you and you!

I know I know, its wayyy past CNY but hey! that doesn't mean I can't blog about CNY related stuff anymore isn't it? Well, as the saying goes, it's better late than never.

As you can tell, I've been having a serious procrastinating problem. And now, it is even affecting how much I bake. I got the kueh lapis done up just on the eve of chinese new year and D came over and helped me with the first half. Thanks to him, I've finally managed to take my our very first baking video.

Although it is just a very short video showing how to layer the kueh lapis, I thought it might come along handy for those who are trying it out for the first time. Well, at least I appreciated having videos to watch when I was figuring out the recipe the first time round. Five rounds of failed attempts was no fun at all.

A little introduction on this cake, some call it a thousand layered cake because of the multiple layers you see in there and mind you, each layer is grilled one by one which explains it being pricey if you were to buy it off the shelf. The process is not only laborious, but pretty tiring and tough in some sense. You practically have to sit and guard ~~your oven~~ the layers and make sure they don't burn.

If I'm not wrong, this cake is traditionally of Indonesian origin and there is some apparent debate as to who holds the real roots to the invention of this wonderful rich, sinful cake. Word has it that the lapis spice (which is a combination of spices like cinnammon, cardamon, etc etc) were obviously, asia origin (in this case, from Indonesia) and that the "cake" was actually of Dutch descent. As the story goes, Indonesia was once colonised by the Dutch and that the Dutch that settled there probably missed they way of live back in Holland and wanted to re-live the moments of sipping tea and eating cakes in the afternoon. So, poor Indonesians probably didn't really made any cakes in their lives (maybe other than kuehs) and someone possibly decided to marry the spices (Indonesian origin) and cakes (Dutch style) together and wala! you get LAPIS LEGIT. Hmm I don't even know if I got the malay terms right. But that's not the point.

The point is, this cake is special, at least to me, not because it is a festive goodie, but rather the knowledge of ingredients that go into this cake made me realise I should only make it when the festive occasion calls for it. Not only is it high in fat/butter but the amount of egg yolks that goes into it is jus scary. twenty-five yolks. Imagine the amount of cholesterol and fat that's going into your system, you'd probably have to exercise more than a lifetime to run away (pun intended) from the clingy heart disesases and wrestle with obesity.

Nonethelss, everything could be eaten. Because the key lies in moderation. Therefore, I will not hesitate to urge you to try out this recipe although I highly recommend coming up with a list of friends whom you could divide and give the cakes away to. Surely you don't wish to consume 25 egg yolks and 500g of butter, do you?

Lest you're getting impatient, I'm moving on to the recipe, NOW! This time with pictures and a short video to accompany! =D

Kueh Lapis (makes one 8" x 8" x 2.5" lapis cake)

Ingredients:

25 egg yolks

100g sugar

5 egg whites + a pinch of cream of tartar

100g sugar

C:
500 gm butter (Golden Churn)
1 tin condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 ½ tbsp brandy or rum
1 ½ tbsp mixed spices

D:
170 gm plain flour

Method:
1. Sieve Flour (Group D) and set aside.
2. Cream butter with condensed milk, vanilla essence, golden syrup, brandy & mixed spices (Group C) till well mixed and set aside.

Group C Ingredients ALL IN!

Creamy mess

3. Beat egg yolks with sugar (Group A) on high for about 10 mins until thick and creamy (i.e. ribbon stage).

The sinful indulgence - 25 Yolks

With 100g of caster sugar

Beat it baby!

See how it tuned pale?

Ribbon Stage

A slow thick ribbon falls on itself when the beaters are lifted and does not dissappear right away.

4. Add beaten egg yolk mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix well. Fold in sieved flour.

All ready to mix.

Fold in gently (not TOO gentle) but you don't wish to deflate all that air you beat into the eggs earlier on.

5. Beat egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar and sugar (Group B) till stiff and fold in the mixture. [Beat egg whites with pinch of cream of tartar till frothy on medium speed (speed 3 on kMix) for 1 min. Add in 1/3 of sugar, continue beating for 1-2 mins. Add in the second 1/3 and continue beating 1-2 min. Add in the rest of the sugar and beat for 1-2 min. ]

My assistant for ~~the day~~ ever

okay okay, I just wanted to show off my shiny red mixer.

Now this is what you wanna achieve. Stiff peaks. (NOT dry though) be careful there!

6. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. (baking mode: top + bottom heat) Grease and line an 8″ square tin and preheat tin [Just preheat for a few mins to make the tin hot, making it easier to spread the batter]. Grease bottom and line base only.

7. For first layer, spread 3 - 3 ½ tbsps of mixture in tin and bake in oven at lower middle/ lower rack at 180 degree C for 10-15 mins. Or until lightly browned. [timing may differ depending on individual ovens. Just bake till surface is lightly browned] Use a satay stick, prick holes (if there are air bubbles) into the lapis and gently press the lapis with a lapis press to ensure the layer is even.

8. Switch oven to grill mode. (i.e. top grill only)For subsequent layers, grill each layer at lower middle/lower rack for about 3 mins. Or till lightly browned. [timing may differ depending on individual ovens. Just bake till surface is lightly browned. The darker the surface, the darker the layers will be later. The brown surface is what defines each layer.] After removing from the oven, use a satay stick, prick holes into the lapis (if there are air bubbles) and gently press the lapis with a lapis press to ensure the layer is even. Repeat this for each layer.

Make sure the oven is on GRILL for the second layer onwards.

Here's a really short demo on how to bake a layer. The video starts of with a previously cooked layer and that's the kinda brown you wanna get before moving on to the next.

9. When top most layer is completed, switch oven back to baking mode (i.e. top + bottom heat), cover with a metal tray or a piece of foil and bake at middle rack at 180 degree C for a further 5 min. It will take longer if the sides are still wet.

10. When the cake is done, turn cake out onto a metal grid. The lapis with 'fall' out on it's own. Let it cool on the cooling rack completely before cutting. If cooling rack markings are not wanted on lapis surface, flip it right side up after cake has 'fallen' out and let cool completely before cutting.

adapted from Rose's Kitchen

Related Post: Kueh Lapis a.k.a thousand layered cake (千层糕)

I hope this small little post with guided pictures and a short short video urges you, (yes! you) to give this a shot. =)

Chinese New Year Chronicles: Part II

2010-02-14T17:02:00.001+08:00

If there's Part I, there ought to be at least a Part II right?

So, here it is, pineapple tarts, nastar style. I was really excited to try out this new style of pineapple tarts. And I must say, I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out, especially since it is my maiden attempt.

For some reason, it seems like many people are attempting this style of pineapple tarts this new year which really made me geared up to try these little rolls.

Some time last year, I came across a biscuit pump and I just had to buy it. I told myself I would I want to get the biscuit pump, so when the time comes, I'd have no excuse not to try. Right? Wrong. I nearly gave up the chance of opening my brand new biscuit pump especially since after a full week of pineapple tart making.

What made me press on (pun intended) was the remaining balls of pineapple filling and that I was tasked to bake at least one bottle of tarts for ourselves.

I was reluctant to search for a new recipe and so I decided to modify my previous pastry recipe to hopefully, make it work for the nastar type. Since I knew that the pastry had to be soft enough to be piped out, yet firm enough to retain its shape and pattern during the baking process, I simply added more yolk to the pastry dough.

Although the tarts turned out acceptable, it wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. The pastry had a little melt down and the patterns were not as visible =( However, my mum's friend loved it and said it was simply "melt-in-the-mouth".

With the amout of hard work involved, it is no wonder why these type of pienapple tarts are a tad pricey. The laborious action of having to pipe the dough, roll it up and cutting off the excess is jus simply time-consuming. My mum took a liking to how pretty each one looked when lined up on the baking tray and asked why didn't I sell these instead. Well, I guess it is pretty obvious, because of the amount of time spend laboring over each and every single tart, this is an absolute no-no for large scale productions, in a home kitchen.

Without further ado, here goes the recipe! With step-by-step pictures which I hope will inspire some to try this out. Next CNY perhaps? =p

Pineapple Tarts - Nastar Style

makes ~150 or more

Ingredients:

360g Unsalted Butter, cold and cubed

480g Plain Flour, sifted

100g Icing Sugar, sifted

2 Tbsp Custard Powder

4 Tbsp Milk Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

*mix well*

3 Egg yolks

1-1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

*mix well*

Method:

1. Rub A into B until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

2. Add in C until a soft dough forms.

3. Using a biscuit pump, attached with the desired pattern, fill the pump with pastry dough. do not attempt to fill it to the brim as you will encounter difficulty pumping the dough out. Fill it just 1/2 full.

4. Pipe out a strip of dough approximately 10-12cm long. It's better to have it longer than shorter, as the excess could always be cut away.

5. Roll 1 level teaspoon of pineapple filling into a small sausage. approximately the width of the piped dough. And place the filling on one end of the piped dough.

6. Starting from the end with the filling, roll up the dough swiss roll style.

7. Cut away the excess dough with a knife. The excess dough can be gathered and used again and again until all the dough has been used up.

8. Place it on a baking tray. Pre-heat the oven to 190C and bake for 12 min.

9. Remove the baked tarts from the oven and allow it to cool on the baking tray. Store it only when they have cooled completely.

Enjoy!!

恭喜恭喜!!

2010-02-13T23:43:00.002+08:00

Here's wishing everyone a very Blessed Lunar New Year! Happy 2010 everyone!

恭祝大家新年蒙恩！恭喜恭喜！希望大家在这虎年里顺顺利利，心想事成！

Chinese New Year Chronicles: Part I

2010-02-13T23:39:00.000+08:00

FINALLY! After some 70 pineapples, 13 blocks of unsalted butter, 4 packets of plain flour, some custard powder and milk powder, D and I finally managed to finish the daunting task of baking close to 1000 pineapple tarts, tangerine style.

I intended to and was supposed to open the new year goodies for sale officially. However, the 3 orders that came along the way proved impossible to take on anymore additional orders. You see, I had previously baked a batch for D to bring to office as a sample, for his colleagues to taste test. I don't know if it was good or bad, but news travelled quite far and some colleagues whom never tasted it actually daringly place an order. So, there was a total of 13 tubs of pineapple tarts, 48 tarts in each tub.

Additionally, the sight of us making pineapple tarts day in day out, night in night out probably tempted my mum to actually order 10 small tubs (24 tarts each) and 2 tubs. Yes, my mum actually did order it from me. She actually paid me.

Baking non-stop for a week after work was no easy task. Especially since, yours truly, needs sleep the most. I ended up sleeping at 1plus, 2 in the morning for almost the whole of January and I'm truly hoping for some good rest during this CNY break!

I tried using ready made paste for the taste-test batch, but the ready made filling only proved too dry and a serious lack of real pineapple taste. Oh! and did I mentione, it was a tad too sweet. Sweet + no pineapple tang = no-go.

I nearly fainted at the thought of having to slave over the hot stove cooking pineapple filling enough for 1000 pineapple tarts! That was just insane. BUT,thank God for microwave invention. I vaguely recalled coming across SeaDragon's blog which showed a way to microwave pineapple filling. And boy! I immediately jumped at doing so! *click here*

I only used his guide for the first time I was doing it, but after getting used to the microwave, I changed the timing and learnt how to judge the doneness and knowing how much longer to cook it for.

As a rough guide, to be on the safe side, microwave your grate/blended pineapples on HIGH for 10 min first, take it out and give it a stir. Pop it back in for another 10 min and thereafter only go at 5min intervals. The doneness of the pineapple filling depends on how moist/dry you like your filling to be. Of course, the moister it is, the shorter the shelf life. The drier is it, well you know, the less tasty it is. But whatever it is, homemade filling is definitely better especially since you could control the amount of sugar!

For me, I added ~45-55g of sugar per pineapple depending on sweet or sour the pineapple began with. Oh! and be sure to drain the pineapple of the juice, this helps ALOT in speeding up the cooking process. OF course, you could leave the juice ALL in, but it'd just take a much longer time to cook, a much long time for the juice to evaporate and dry up the paste.

I have modified the recipe I used for last year's pineapple tarts and found that the addition of milk powder gave the tarts an exceptional fragrance and the addition of custard powder gave the pastry a nice yellow colour. I'm not sure if it contributed to the pastry's texture, but they sure were melt-in-the-mouth. YUMS!

So, without further a-do, here's my version of pineapple tarts - tangerine style for this year! =) Enjoy!

Pineapple Tarts - Tangerine Style

Makes approx. 60 tarts

Ingredients:

180g Unsalted butter, cold and cubed

240g Plain Flour, sifted

100g Icing Sugar, sifted

1 Tbsp Custard Powder

2 Tbsp Milk Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

*Mix well*

1 Egg yolk

1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

*mix well*

Egg Glaze:

1 egg yolk + some water to dilute

Method:

1. Rub A into B until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add in C and mix until a soft dough forms.

3. Measure out leveled 1/2 tablespoonefuls of dough and roll them into balls and set aside.

4. Measure out 1 leveled teaspoon of pineapple filling, rolled into balls and set aside.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 190C.

6. Flatten the prepared dough and wrap the pineapple filling in. Place the completed tart into small paper cases (or directly onto baking tray).

7. Bake in pre-heated oven for 6 min. Take out tray and brush on egg glaze and return to the oven for a further 6 min.

8. Allow the tarts to cool completely before storing.

forever twenty-one

2010-02-12T01:38:00.000+08:00

I just had, not one, but two 21st birthday orders within just a week apart! To add on to the fun, this is my 100th post YAY! And of course, I hope my blog would remain as happening as possible and just like the fashion label, forever twenty-one.

Many say that time seems to move twice the speed once you hit the age of twenty-one and I somehow got to agree with that. However, upon deeper reflection, I guess the magical fast forwarding of time doesn't happen when you hit the magic number 21, but rather, as you progress, responsibilities pile up and with that comes investment of time to maintain those responsibilities.

Just take for example, when we were young, all we had to fret was, studies, test and grades and probably how to prevent my classmate from stealing my notes or worse still, stealing my eraser or crossing over to my "territory" marked by an invisible line on our tables. Other than that, we lucky brats of this age practically had to worry nothing about food and clothing. Now that ~~I've~~ those who have crossed the 21 boundary, suddenly find themselves struggling to find an ideal job and managing their finanaces and increasing responsibilities. In a split second, the list of things to do gets longer and longer and you start finding that time is zooming by faster and faster.

And... I am reminded of how long ago was my 21st birthday whenever I come across someone else who has just turned 21.

Many thanks to my secondary school classmate, Eunice for introducing me to her friend, QY to order her 21st birthday cake from me =) It wasn't too difficult for me to conceive the idea of how the cake should look like because QY already had something in mind and even had a picture of how she wanted it to look. Of course decisions like sizes and colours and other minor details had to be made and THIS was what the final product was.

The cake was a simple vanilla butter cake sandwiched with yummy yummy nutella buttercream for the bottom two tiers and nice, tangy lemon buttercream for the top most layer! It was a pretty huge cake which was REALLY REALLY heavy. Cake sizes measured, 10" - 8" - 6". Each layer was a little more than 3" tall so you could just imagine how heavy the cake was with the fondant =XX

To complete the sweet pink, floral 'feel', I added a "tiara" and a fondant key since she was celebrating her 21st. Although I don't quite know the true significance of a key, but I do believe it's somehow symbolic of your key to the gates of adulthood.

And so, if you're wondering who's the next lucky one who's just turned 21, it's none other than Eunice's sister, Evon.

Eunice saw my "chirstmas" cookies post and wanted those cute 3D cookies and in my opinion, I think those made perfect door gifts and not to mention, they are cute, even when plain!

These cookies are pretty huge so don't be fooled by the photo. Eunice actually asked how big a plate was needed to display the cookies so that the guests could jus take and eat them (like buffet style). I told her she'd need something that's at least 30" x 30" for 60 cookies.

Several days later, she increased the order to 70 cookies! 35 of pooh and 35 of mickey! Although no decoration needed to be done, assembling and packing the cookies were more time consuming and laborious than baking them! Not to mention, I had to bake extra because of my mighty strength I broke a few legs, necks and ears =X So I had to re-do almost 5-7 of mickey and pooh =(((

I had no idea how should I get the body stuck to the legs, so i used royal icing to "glue" them together. I guess the humidity in our Singapore air kinda softened the cookies a little and on hindsight, I think I should have placed a packet of oxygen absorber thingy in each packet. oh wells, lesson learnt! The cookies were a breeze to make, especially when I kinda memorised the ingredients after the 300 wedding cookies. BUT bending and rolling them out were a PAIN, literally and mentally. Especially if the ears broke off while transporting it from the table to the baking tray.

But nonetheless, I managed to get the cookies all packed, sealed. All tags cut and attached. DONE, before the scheduled pick-up time. PHEW! I think this is one of my rare orders that I need not rush and for once, I could breathe a sigh of relief and snap away while waiting for the cookies to be picked up! =DD

Like flowers which blossom and wilt and die, so do humans blossom, age and pass on. I guess it's not a matter of how long we maintain our youth or even "feel youthful" in our golden years. But rather, what have we accomplished in the days of our youth that is worth remembering. The period might be short-lived, but as long as it was spent meaningfully in an worthy, impactful manner, we could be, potentially, forever twenty-one.

With loveee...

2010-02-05T20:49:00.000+08:00

Marriage has always been an issue of debate, even in the past. I believe that unhappiness and divorces did happen in the past, though probably not as prevalent and short-lived as the present.

My friend was just lamenting the purpose of the marriage certificate and questioned if it's existence is ultimately only a tool for self-protection. Without the cert, there's no argument for alimoney fees, without the cert, there wouldn't be any say in co-ownership of a flat/house. Without the cert, there probably is no reason to stay legally binded. Having said that, the binding power of the marriage cert is fast losing it's grip in today's time and society. Marriage as an institution is collapsing fast and the only one's who'd suffer are our future generations.

While getting married is truly something worth rejoicing and celebrating, it is really only but the beginning of a long, ardous journey together. I am not married, yet. But after witnessing the fall of many marriages of people around me really saddens me and makes me question the integrity of this institution.

However, I do believe that happy and ever-lasting marriages do exist. But those don't come easily and of course, effort and hardwork has to be put in to keep the love flame burning.

So, here's me wishing Philia and Xavier a happy, ever-lasting marriage. May the both of you work hard at keeping your love for each other burning!

I was tasked by Philia to bake her wedding favours and I was really excited as it's really, the first time I've done anyone's wedding favour =p It was easy to get it done because she knew what she wanted exactly and even showed me a picture. I was worried of not being able to get it done (especially when work zaps half your life) but she made things simple yet sweet. 3 small hearts in one packet, coloured white, pink and red respectively. With vanilla, chocolate and lemon cookies. Thank goodness she asked for small cookies if not, I wouldn't dare imagine how late I'd go to bed, slogging to finish baking these cookies.

Even so, baking them was no mean feat. Especially when 100 packs were order, which mounted to 300 cookies!! A day to bake, a day to ice, a day to pack. It was not easy, but D was sweet to help me out every single night. Seems like he's unofficially my business partner now =O Packing seems like something easy, but hey, it ain't easy when you have 3 different cookies to pack, seal and tie up complete with a tag. Not to mention, printing and cutting the tag needed time too!

It's a pity that I don't have a picture of the completed look of the wedding favour, but I hope you'd get an idea from the picture above.

Anyhow, here's wishing Philia and Xavier a blissful, happy marrige! Congratulations!!

Durian, Episode 2

2010-02-02T23:57:00.001+08:00

Gee.. I hadn't realise it'd been so long since I posted anything until Jane actually asked if my bakings were coming along fine. =X

You people must be thinking that I just totally busted my "new year's resolution" of wanting to post more recipes etc etc..Well, aren't resolutions meant to be broken? So, that's why you make them? no? =p

Work's keeping me busy busy, not because I have loads to do but because working hours just sucks up 3/4 of your waking hours. Coupled with recipes to try, CNY and orders, I'm starting to feel that 24 hours is seriously not enough. Not that I wish a day had 48 hours for I would have collapsed before the day even ends. This crazy schedule landed me sleeping at past 1, sometimes even past 2 in the morning and poor D had to suffer with me =X Not to mentioned, I baked through the night till 5.30 AM one Friday to deliver my dad's company cake the next day. The story, of which, I'll leave it to another post..

Now, concentrate.

I have a love-hate relationship with durian. They're so pungent they make thinking there's a leaky gas tap around the house, yet they can be oh-so alluring when that creamy yellowish flesh melts in your mouth and slides down your throat and what you have left is the smell in your mouth that lingers for hours, sometimes making you beckon for more.. I'm not one who truly appreciates eating the fruit itself, but I must admit that my knees go weak when I have a good durian dessert.

Most durian desserts are mixed with cream or added with some other ingredients which to durian purist, is crap. But for people like me? It's perfect. The cream tones down the otherwise sharp, pungent taste yet preserving the unique taste and smell of a durian. As such, how could I say no to a workshop that covers a variety of durian related dessert? Most of all, what lured me to signing up what a durian chocolate truffle cake. I was instantly reminded of Spike-D from Big O.

The workshop was pretty relaxing and the pace was ok, and the recipes taught were elegant yet simple. I haven't found the time to re-create any of the recipes at home as im still in the midst of racing against time.

Verdict? A pretty comprehensive workshop as I learnt some other techniques and learnt how to handle fruits in bakes. As for the taste, you either love it, or hate it.

mini treats

2010-01-10T23:26:00.000+08:00

Some two to three weeks back, I received an SMS from a uni classmate to bake some stuff for a taste-test session. My friend got to know someone who works for an organisation which intends to start a nice chill-out cafe. They're looking for home-bakers who could possibly in the future, use their kitchen facilities and supply yummy home-baked treats to the public. I said YES! immediately.

I had not much idea what the concept really was and so, I decided to and was tasked to start with something small and simple and that'd be muffins. Muffins are extremely easy and versatile and the combinations are endless once you've found a real good base recipe.

Since it was going to be a taste-test session, I made them mini, so the testers could taste it whole, without feeling really bloated, not forgetting that there are other items to be tasted as well.

I had previously had an order for some cookies and cheesecakes. So, I took the opportunity to bring some of the cheesecakes for the taste-test session as well. Too bad, no pictures of the cheesecake as I was in a hurry to leave before any photographs could be taken. I baked the cheesecakes in cupcakes cases which:

1. Is small and easy to eat, hence people might be more receptive to buying it off to just satisfy a craving

2. It takes ALOT less time to bake as compared to a whole cake which means you can whip up many many more batches as compared to baking whole cakes.

Well, I have no business experience and I can safely say I'm a total noob at such marketing and branding stuff..but those were my ~~two points~~ two cents worth of opinion..

Nonetheless, my sister's boyfriend managed some really good pictures which were taken right outside my house at the small mini garden. Muffins are traditionally breakfast foods, so what better way than to photograph it in a garden accompanied with some milk? Sounds like a really nice and relaxing way to start a fresh,crisp morning.

The verdict? The boss liked it because of the nice, permeating buttery fragrance! I recalled trying this recipe sometime back with canned blueberries. My sister complained of the lack of blueberry flavour. So this time, I experimented with using blueberry pie filling and I think I'm almost there. Probably a little blueberry jam would do the trick? The chocolate chip was as usual, as always, a hit. Everyone loves chocolate, don't they? But of course, as with everything else, there are always exceptions.

In any case, I'm geared for more taste-testing sessions of what might sell in a nice chill-out cafe..and of course, I need to find my signature pastry. I've been thrown this question more than 3 times now "What's your signature bake?" and all I could revert was a jaw-dropping, blank face. I think it's high time I perfected and created something unique to ME.

Wish me luck.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

2010-01-02T02:17:00.003+08:00

It's 2010! In fact, it's the second day of 2010 and days are already going by in a flash! I was on a unintended mini hiatus for blogging for various reasons and I felt I was losing my mojo for writing. Not that I write with exiciting content and flowery language, but I felt the flow. It was nice to be able to vision what I'd be writing whilst photographing certain things and nice to write in an honest, "me" way.

I've had friends coming up to me saying I write pretty well, but seriously, I don't. My english ain't fantastic and my grammar is just terrible. But I guess what makes my posts readable is that I type what I think. Or rather, you'd probably be able to imagine me talking to you, in real person. ok ok, I'll cut praising myself.

Well, just as I thought I lost my blogging spirits, each visit to my own blog, yes, I am that lame to visit my own blog several times a day, reminded me of why I started out this blog initially. I wanted to share my experiences and hopefully my experiences will help others who just sparked their passion for baking. I don't think I've achieve much of that in 2009 but rather, I detoured. So with the coming of 2010, there are as usual, a truckload of resolutions. To keep things simple and realistic for the nth time, I am going to work hard on posting more recipes and tips for baking. Not that I'm a guru of any sort, but rather, I just share what I learnt along the way.

Work has definitely slowed my baking stints but it is not, and i'm not, going to let it diminish forever. Several events have taught me hard and I believe it's all because I jumped on the band wagon too fast than I could have caught up or handled. I fell, I tripped and lost sight of it, but I am not going to let it affect what I set out to do. It's back to basics in 2010.

Enough of nostalgia and I-don't-know-what-you-are-saying riddles. To end off 2009 (yes, I know it is already over) and to welcome 2010, I've decided to finish up my 2009 backlogs and welcome 2010 with open arms.

I envisoned baking up a storm last Christmas but once again, fell short of what I plan to do. What's new anyway. I still managed baking, but it was a mini baking class for a church mate, JiaJia, who planned to bake on her own to be given away as Christmas gifts. Why would I not jump at igniting a spark of baking passion in someone else? I did, and I almost regretted. It was a busy weekend and weekends were all I had to rest and recuperate for the next working week. Since it was a promise, I had no choice but to force myself and I was glad, she made it. Almost all by herself. I was a bad teacher as I was busy making macarons for a friend's macaron order while I left her all by herself, struggling with the hundreds of cookies =X

That's my church mate JiaJia

I am always amazed at how things turn out with unexpected rewards and I guess these are little things in life that provides you with the zeal to move on and venture into more exciting fields. Right, I was kinda exaggerating. All I wanted to said was that, I finally got the chance to use the Disney cookie cutters that I bought during my Taiwan/HK trip. HA~

3D Mickey

3D Winnie

Jiajia spent a total of 2 days, baking and decorating those cookies. I wanna take this chance to apologise for not being able to give my utomost guidance during her cookie baking/decorating session and am really thankful for her independence during which I kinda 'neglected' her. I hope she had fun and will definitely continue baking!

Enough of Christmas, the year end is always jammed pack with activities, not only because New Year follows closely after Christmas, but also because my Ah Ma's (Grandma) birthday follows closely. The dates are different every year as she celebrates her birthday according to the Lunar Calendar. This year, we had it right smack in the middle, after Christmas and just before the New Year.

I probably forgot to mention earlier that, I received an order for EIGHT durian cakes from my aunt of which she intended to give away as gifts to her clients. I was up to my neck baking those cakes but thank God for D who help me ALOT. Well, I shan't dwell into details, but yea you get the point. I had made 6 in total and *ah hem* was tasked by my mum to make one for my Ah Ma's 85th Birthday.

I think it's no mean feat to be able to live so long, especially since she is diabetic and I've always admired her for being able to raise 10 kids in those tough times. My mum didn't come from a well-to-do family, but they survived. My mum is often being applauded for giving birth to 4 kids and I just can't imagine how my Ah Ma managed 10. Anyway, I agreed, almost immediately when my mum requested and once again regretted. Yes, yes, poor time management. I asked for it. So, I took urgent leave to make it up. Right, which do-do in the right state of mind would do that yea? Well, I did. Yes, I'm that do-do.

But it was well worthed. Once again, I had to engage the help of my holidaying sister and her boyfriend to do up the final touches of the cake. And I must say, it was during this big celebration that I felt my worth as a "baker" coming back and yes! I'm all geared for more kitchen experiments in 2010! Woo Hoo!

You can never go wrong with a Durian cake, in Singapore, at least.

Making the cake was a breeze but it was the decoration that was a headache. fresh cream decorations are the most challenging, while at least to me, in Sunny Singapore. Even though it has been raining cats and dogs these days, it just doesnt seem to help. Whipping cream over a big bowl of ice certainly helps (i've tried) but it wasn't justified for using so much ice just for cream. -_-'''

So let me just say, that I got the cake all covered and as smooth and perfect as I could managed. But, the cream quit on me when I was just about to pipe it. I finished every last bit of cream I had and it seriously pissed me off. Thank God for the packet of sponge fingers lying around and sisters lying around (oops I meant sisters who were free and watching tv) to help. I got the sides settled. So now what? I decided to sprinkle a pathetic amount of cocoa powder (just like how Jane's Cake Station does it) and use my gold and silver dragees to form the phrase "Happy Birthday Ah Ma". Halfway through, we had to abandon the idea. The wet cream seems to be seeping the colours out of thsoe sugar balls and the words would probably become all blurry and gooey the next day.

okok, to cut the long story short, we decided on sprinkling crushes oreos and somehow designing it. I was tired, moody and pissed with the cream (yes, I was pissed it with the whole night) So I left the design to my sister and her artistically talented boyfriend. And so, that explains the durian cake which totally doesnt look like one. I remember reading that oreos goes well with durian from HHB and so, readily agreed on that idea. After all, what else could I do?

I went to the dinner place right after work and was greeted with nothing but praises regarding the cake. Like I said, how wrong can we go with Durian in Singapore? But I'd really like to give credit to my sister and boyfriend for all that help they put into the decoration, for without it, the cake would probably be lifeless. A cake can look good naked, but not all cakes suit that style. Some cakes look better complicated, but some simple cakes are enough to bring a smile. Pardon my lousy attempt to rhyme. But yea, nothing beats a merry joyous birthday celebration.

I managed to get a picture of the insides because we were simple too full from the 9 course dinner and we "da-bao-ed" the cake. If you're wondering, this picture isnt taken by me. Well actually, the cakes pictures weren't taken by me, but by my sister and her boyfriend. And I must say, he's got a knack for taking photos. And why didn't I realise such a sexy background that existed in my house? *doinks*

Two thick layers of pure, creamy durian sandwiched between 3 layers of light vanilla chiffon. Simple, unpretentious and ultimately goodddd

I'll leave you with another alluring picture of this durian cake and the recipe for this winner durian cream recipe before I retire to bed. I am not at liberty to disclose the recipe for the vanilla chiffon, but any good sponge would suffice.

Rich, Creamy Durian Filling (Good for cakes or puffs alike)

recipe enough for an 8" round cake

Ingredients:

1 kg Durian Puree

10-15 tsp Heavy Cream

Method:

Blend durian puree and heavy cream together until well combine.

Spread even layers for durian cake or simply pipe filling for durian puffs.

notes:

The more cream added, the less thick the filling will be. For a lighter taste, whip 200-300ml of heavy cream and fold into the durian puree.

A daughter's love for her mum and brother..

2010-01-01T13:16:00.001+08:00

This is a real back-dated post. I had done up this cake on 5th December 2009 and now, in a blunk of an eye, it's already 2010.

What could a pink and blue cake possibly signify? Either a brother-sister cake or a boyfriend-girlfriend cake?

Well, a church mate, P, approached me to ask if I could bake a birthday cake for her mum and brother. And that they both shared the same birthday! Hmm could you imgaine giving birth on your own birthday? I wonder how that felt..=p

I agreed almost immediately and regretted as the days drew near. (as always) But this time it was worse! You know, it really is harder when specifications to the cake design are not spelt out, and things were made complicated when the same cake was intended for 2 people. not brother-sister, not boyfriend-girlfriend but mother and son.

How on earth do you decorate a cake meant for a mother and her son?! I was almost desperate and it seems the design could only lean towards either party, meaning, either a real feminine cake OR a boyish cake. But that's not the way it should be!

I frantically searched all over and recalled CherylShuen designing a cake meant for a twin. A boy and girl twin. There I have it, separate the cake! Time was running and I only had in mind for simple designs and this was the best I could have come up with. And someone, working on inspiration is wayy faster than you think. I torted, filled, crumbcoated, covered and decorated the cake all in 1 hour. I was almost amazed at myself. Of course that didnt include cleaning up haha!

I wasn't at home on the day of delivery so I had to trouble my sister again, to do it for me. I was really really glad that the cake was well-received when P's mother got "jealous" over the cake as everyone started snapping photos of the cake and kinda "ignored" the birthday stars. hahahah!

Whatever it was, the greatest reward is not having a beautiful, flawless cake, but rather, the reward lies in the appreciation of your hard work, no matter good or bad, pretty or ugly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

And the Winner is....

2009-12-30T16:22:00.000+08:00

....PEI - LIN

Sorry all for the terribly long wait. Christmas week was kinda a mad rush with church activities and numerous durian cake orders. I'm not complaining, but rather, grateful that orders were sorta pouring in when I least expected. Things were tough, but thank God for D who took leave to help me bake the cakes while I was away at work.

I know I said I wanted to mail out the gift before Christmas, but hey! There are 12 days of Christmas, so it is techinically still christmas!!

Anyway, congratulations to Pei-Lin, I'd be mailing you soon for your address before I sent out the package. In the mean time, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

christmas, blogoversary and a giveaway (updated 11.12.09)

2009-12-11T10:51:00.003+08:00

HI EVERYONE!

I've been trying hard to keep up with baking while staying healthy and sane.

Don't think I've been scoring well in that area. Nevertheless, I'm hoping that the coming Christmas holiday would be a good rest for me =D

Since christmas is coming AND my blogoversary in 4 days, what better time to show some appreciation to anyone and everyone who has been reading, has read and is still continuing to read my blog?

And since Christmas is about remembering Jesus's birth (well, also to remind me to be more like Him) and its the season of sharing, I'd like to take the chance to have a

CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!

If you haven't reaslied, I'm quite a fondant-decorating person. So, I've decided to giveaway some brand new flower plunger cutters to encourage and increase fondant popularity wahahah!

only ONE set up for grabs!

TO WIN:

just leave a comment saying if you like christmas and if you do, what you like about this season. Also, as a fondant advocate haha! Do say if you'd like to see / purchase fondant tutorials that has step-by step photos as to how to mould those cute little figurines =) If so, what kind of figurines would you like?

Please remember to leave your name and e-mail so that you may be contacted if you are the lucky one! Oh! and this giveaway is only valid if you are living in Singapore or Malaysia =)

Each comment will be tagged with a number and D will have the honour of picking out that lucky winner!

Hurry and leave your comment now! I hope to be able to send out the cutters before christmas and so leave your comments by:

SUNDAY, 20th DECEMBER 2009, 2359 hrs

**winners will be notified via e-mail and if response is not received within 24 hours. A next winner will be selected. **

Update 11.12.2009:

I have decided to delay the launch of the fondant tutorials due to personal reasons. For those who are really interested and can't wait to get their hands on those tutorials. I have 2 websites to recommend. =)

1. http://www.cupcakeobsession.com/how-to-online-tutorials/

2. http://www.extraicing.co.uk/#/welcome/4530751764

This website has both "free How-Tos" and online tutorials sold. Check out the link above for more details.

I do not know when will I be launching my first fondant tutorial, so if you are still interested, just drop me a comment (at the chat box) or e-mail me on what kind of tutorials you are interested it. I may consider putting them up for FREE =D

But no worries! The giveaway is still on!

new job = piling backlogs!

2009-11-27T09:43:00.001+08:00

For those who are still not in the know, I have finally started my new job. And have been into it for almost 3 weeks now. I haven't been slacking from baking, in fact I just got a HUGE HUGE oven =DDDD

Backlogs are piling and I have on hand, one of the most exciting recipes to share thus far in my baking life. hahaha! If you've been following my twitter, you'd have guessed it and YES! it's the SUPER DARN spongy chocolate sponge cake which can be made in a breeze. Even muddled-headed D could do it, so I believe anyone else out there can hehe =p

So, let me post 3 posts in one breathe, before more gets piled up! First up!! PIGGIES ENCORE!!!! I received another cupcake order for the same piggies theme and decided to mould the piggies a little more differently. But, due to work and all, I only managed to think of one new design and the rest remained similar. So here it is!

Mango and Peach Yoghurt cupcakes with lemon swiss meringue buttercream =)

Flower pig?!

Truly piggy!

Party piggy =p

NEW! Hot Pig! (both *ahem* literally and figuratively)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAERAH!! I hope you love the cupcakes as much as how I enjoyed making them =D

Next up! D and I made a birthday cake for my sister's 21st. I gotta admit it was kinda like a last minute decision, so the cake was done in a jiffy and the design was, erm...kinda simple. BUT, I'm glad she liked the cake and she was surprised!! So, without saying, it was made with the darn good chocolate sponge sandwiched with fresh blueberries and whipped cream filling. Some thought it was a black forest! haha.

This was the second time D and I made this cake in hmm a week and a half? D even boastfully said he can now memorise the weight of the ingredients heh... T_T

We themed the cake spongebob as we knew my two younger sisters were fanatics of spongebob and friends. Ok, maybe just spongebob himself. But oh well, I wanted to mould spongebob out of fondant but was seriously running out of time! D was brilliant and remembered he bought small little sponge bob figurines for my other sister. So we told her that we would borrowed it just for the cake (since it's gonna go back to the same house isn't it? hahaha!!) so there you have it! A sponge bob cake!

Well, come to think of it, D did 95% of this cake. Inclusive of baking the cake, whipping the cream, filling and coating the cake and also the decorations!!! I only helped with piping of the words which was bleahhh. I'm so proud of him =D

Spongebob on shore haha!

Last but not least was little Chermaine birthday! My church friend JM asked if her colleague could do a cake for her daughter and I'm sad to say that this cake ended up in a mess =(( I am SO SO SO terribly sorry and to make up for it, I decided not to charge for the cake. I still hope little Chermaine was happy nonetheless.

Little Chermaine is a HUGE fan of mickey and minnie so I was asked to do a normal cream cake with mickey and minnie fondant figurines. It was raining cats and dogs every other day for the past week that the figurine barely had time to dry =( So the hands dropped off by the time it was delivered.

What's worse, lesson learnt. No.1: NEVER paste fondant on whipped cream. Whipped cream is so moist, it practically melt the fondant and it just became GOOOEYYY. EWW!

My sister was supposed to deliver the cake for me when she called and told me about the horror. She quickly whipped up another batch of cream and re-creamed the cake. But, it still didn't make it in the end =(

The cake was in dire straits when delivered and I was almost tempted NOT to deliver the cake. But upon fearing that little Chermaine would be really upset, I decided to just do it.

Many apologies for the terrible cake, I am still thinking of taking time out to compensate the terribly done cake. Hopefully I have time to make a new one this time. maybe a smaller one?

But, for viewing pleasure, I snapped photos of it while it was still...hmm.. presentable. So this was how the cake looked..while still o...k...

Mickey and minnie dried ok in my tupperware container but fell apart almost instantly when i transferred them to the cake board. SIGH...this was how they were..on the tupperware..

Oh well, HUGE lesson learnt. I hope little Chermaine's parents don't hold it against me =XX

As for something with a lighter note, I actually translated the darn good chocolate sponge cake recipe from Grace's blog. I saw many comments that they didn't understand the video. So, hopefully this is of some use to someone hehe..

Here's the darn good chocolate sponge which has NEVER creacked in the oven despite me NOT shielding it. =D IT is super moist and spongy and has a nice, chocolatey taste to it. Try it and you'll not regret!

Don't be surprised at how she man-handles the cake hahaha! I admit i was really skeptical with the way she mixed the cake it was as if she was beaten the heck out of it and the bubbles were all going to heaven. haha! I admit I still wasn't as daring as her. but yep! IT WORKS. Mixing in flour WITH a electric mixer. haha!

DARN spongy Chocolate Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

203g Whole eggs

32g Egg yolks

135g Caster sugar

21g Glucose

1g Salt

32g Vegetable oil

21g Cocoa powder

106g Cake flour

1g Baking soda

21g Milk

Method:

1. Warm vegetable oil and mix in cocoa powder until well mixed and dissolved.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add in whole eggs, egg yolk, caster sugar and salt and beat on high speed until foamy and about doubled in volume and salt and sugar have dissolved.

3. Add in glucose and beat on medium speed until ribbon stage.

4. Sift flour and baking soda over beaten egg mixture. Mix in flour on low speed for 3 seconds just to combine most of the flour. After which, mix at medium speed for approx 20 seconds (or even less) just until mostly incorporated. Fold in any remaining traces of flour with rubber spatula.

5. Take some of the beaten egg mixture and add it into the cocoa powder-vegetable oil mixture to lighten the mixture. Add it into the egg mixture, together with the milk and fold until well incorporated.

6. Pour into an 8” tin and bake at 170C for about 35 minutes.

7. Invert onto a cooling rack after removing from the oven.

a chanel handbag...

2009-11-07T00:53:00.000+08:00

...cake. Yea, if only I owned a real Chanel handbag. haha!

This was a pretty last minute order and I could have very well rejected it. But since I figured I'd probably won't have the chance to do something like that once I've started work, so I took it up!

It's been a while since I made a handbag cake. The last was....hmmm...during class. Bahhh...But I'm really glad I managed to put what I've learnt to use. I explored with using a different handbag strap this time, but hmm..not too good a result. I tried making a real zipper but my hastiness got the better of me and the zipper was too ugly. I refused to put it on. Besides, the real bag didn't have a zipper!

Karen requested for the bag to be pink because black seems a little dull for a birthday. What a thoughtful friend Karen is. She chose this Chanel bag as this was something they all eyed just some days ago. What better idea to present her a birthday cake in the shape of her dream bag =p

While I had alot of fun decorating this cake, I hope Karen, the birthday girl and their friends had a fun time together!

Happy Hatchday!!

my first official food review...

2009-11-02T13:38:00.000+08:00

I've never really thought if I'm a serious foodie or some sort. As a Singaporean, I'm sure many of you would agree we ALL love food. Being born in a place with plentiful of different types of food, it's hard to watch your waistline, especially so when the exercise rate goes downhill while your age reaches for the sky.

Enough of depressing weight issues. Life is short, so enjoy while you can. haha! After making Royston's chocolate birthday cake, I was kinda dying for some real good chocolatey cake. I vaguely remember having some real, darn good chocolate cake from Jane's Cake Station, located in the ulu part of Singapore, deep down at Jalan Kayu.

I was really determined to try it again since it was years, probably almost 10 years, since I had the chocolate fudge cake from Jane's. I somehow recalled having a fantastic durian cake from Jane's as well. It was one of the FIRST durian desserts I conquered that led me to accepting durian in desserts. (recall: I started hating durian at some part of my life)

So, with high hopes, I drove down specially at 11+ am just to make sure I get my slice of cake.

ta-da! Yummilicious - looking cake. The cake defintiely looked chocolately and fudgy. But the smell wasn't appealing. One sniff and I could tell it wasn't a good quality chocolate. I started doubting my memory. It was either "memories always tasted better" or my taste buds got sharper after all that baking.

Nonetheless, the chocolate cake was okay, but really, not fantastic at all. If given a choice, I wouldn't go back there anymore for the chocolate cake. But! the cake has it's merits. The cake itself was really light and fluffy and stayed soft and moist after 5 days in the fridge. The fudge on the other hand, seemed lacking. Of what, I am not sure. It was not like what I expected a dense creamy fudge. But rather, a more jelly-like kind of topping. It was horrible, but just fell short of what I expect.

So, I thought, surely the durian won't disappoint! Hmm..it didn't exactly, but surely it still didn't taste as good as it used to be. I am also pretty sure durian essence was used in the cake layer. Why so? I bought a durian essence, wanting to use for mooncakes, but I couldn't accept the fact the essence was really really really too fake. and yucky. The smell is SO strong, it lingered in the room for at least a day. As such, the smell is engraved in my head.

The cake comprised of one THICK layer of durian cream encased in two thin layers of durian sponge (which was, "as light as air" - quoted by my Dad). The durian cream was not chunky durian, but smooth and creamy it was with tiny durian fibres. the durian taste good.

And as D put it, as long as the durian used is good, how bad can a durin cake taste? There! you have it. The durian cake IS good, but not THAT good that will warrant me a special trip down to the ulu jalan kayu just for a slice of durian cream cake.

Jane's Cake Station

265 Jalan Kayu S799493
Call 6481 1322

Mon-Sat 12pm-6.00pm,

Sun & Public Holidays 12pm-4pm

Closed on Wednesday

8-inch Chocolate Fudge Cake : $30.00

8-inch Durian Cream Cake : $38.00

*Other sizes available. 8-inch is the smallest*

Royston turns FOUR!

2009-11-01T13:03:00.001+08:00

Royston's daddy sms-ed me earlier in the week to ask if I could bake a cake for little royston. When I asked if he had any design in mind, he replied, no. So I suggested using his favorite cartoon character as a theme. However, after some discussion, Royston's daddy decided to go with something plain. Either a chocolate or carrot cake. I figured that chocolate would probably be a more popular flavour with kids, so I went ahead.

I guess it was one of the most difficult cake I worked with. Reason being, I had no theme! It was supposed to be plain and kiddy. *scratch head* I really got stuck for a moment. Luckily, D was around to tolerate my nonsense and gave me some suggestions. And if you've guessed it, he was the one who suggested making a rainbow. hehe..I think he's picking up a little in the art department and probably will soon surpass me bahhhh....

The cake was a small 6-inch cake just enough for 6-8 decent slices. As such, I could only fit 3 colours for the rainbow. Sigh...if only I had mini M&Ms...

To make it a little more kiddy, I piped stars around the edge and once again, not too very well done. But but but, I'm really really pleased with how smooth the frosting was. Even though it wasn't perfection, it was as close to as I could get.

I used Anna's velvety chocolate cake recipe for the cake and whipped honey-dark chocolate ganache for the filling and frosting. And I must say, the ganache worked beautifully!

I decided to pipe some words in a more kiddy font and again it was piped with the ganache. How useful isn't it? =ppp The consistency of the ganache was really nice to work with, it was one of those times when I piped pretty nice words. HAHA~ What a brag..I know I know..I was just happy I managed something simple yet kiddy.

Wishing little Royston a happy 4th birthday!

Stunning 2-tier cakes...

2009-10-27T15:53:00.001+08:00

If you're wondering whether work have been keeping me really busy, then you're wrong. In fact, I haven't started =( I really want to come back to blogging, but the break is so comfortable. Especially when you don't have to compose shots, edit and write a story. =p

Nonetheless, I'm happy to say that I'm coming back soon! Probably with less frequent updates, but, you'd still be hearing from me =))

So anyway, sometime back, Philia and I met up with Anna and we had a great time coming up with new ideas for the "Stunning 2-tier cake" class. I always look forward to group baking/decorating sessions hehe! And many thanks to D for always bringing my masterpieces to work. =p Thank God for that or imagine the extra calories on me. yikes!

The one above is Philia's handiwork and don't you think black and white simple says "timeless"? It's such a simple yet absolutely beautiful combination. Classy and elegant. Nice. The ruffles may seem daunting, but you'll find out how easy it is to put it together. Randomness is the key. If you're a perfectionist, or a mathematician in the making, you'd probably have to lock your symmetrical side away while you venture into art and decoration. ha~

Next up! We have Anna's beautiful beautiful design. This is something I've ALWAYS dreamt of trying out. Cherry Blossom. Don't they just reflect serene romantism (If there's such a term), complete with an asian-touch?

Once again, don't be put off by this seemingly elaborate design, it's far more simpler than you think it is. Look at the stumpy, fat branches. Guess what? They're piped melted chocolate. Chocolate is such a brilliant substitutute. Its yummy, easy to pipe and the branches will be done in no time. As for how to pipe them nicely, I couldn't stress enough, randomness brings out the beauty in it.

I guess that's probably why I love decorating. No rights and wrongs, just go..with the flow..=pp

And then comes mine!! Well, although I was part dying to try out the romantic cherry blossom design, I was also eager to make a really cute, happy, ~~childish~~ child-like cake. There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to accomplish this.

1. I wanted to let people know that tiered cakes aren't just meant for weddings. They are perfect for birthdays too! In fact, they're really good for children's parties. =D

2. A cake like that looks seemingly more difficult than the cake with flowers with the amount of details, but no! It too can be accomplish in that wonderful 4 hours.

3. More importantly, I want people to know that the skills that they'll learn in this class can be applied to almost any cake design they might ever have. Be it sweet, loud, whimsical, or romantic. Who says wedding cakes are just about flowers and who says birthday cakes are not meant to be as pretty as a wedding cake?

So, I decided on this simple hmm...garden theme. I deliberately had 2 different colours for the 2 tiers so that I could exhibit the contrast and I was pretty happy with the out come. Very happy in fact. Thanks Anna for suggesting to me to make that pot of honey =p It added a really sweet touch to it (pun not intended hehe!)

So, if you're itching to learn how to decorate a cake AND making a tiered cake, why not make an appointment with us at Sugar Inc this coming Sunday (1st November 2009) and let your creative juices flow. From timeless, to romantism to happy and child-like. Take your pick or simply be inspired by the people around you that day itself =)

Hurry now as there are only two seats left for this workshop!

To register, hop on over here!

See you on Sunday!

my first wedding...

2009-10-16T15:35:00.000+08:00

...cake.

I previously mentioned that I'd be taking a break from blogging but this occassion warrants a special blog entry. =)

Like I said, I made my first wedding cake, not MY wedding but my cousin's wedding. It isn't worth mentioning just because it is my FIRST wedding cake, but rather it is special to me, at least, as I witnessed and learnt much from this whole cake making experience.

Let me first give a little background before the question marks in your brain discourages you from reading further and your hand just scrolls the mouse to have a glance at the pictures. ha~

Well, my aunt, my mum and my dad have casually mentioned on different occassions to ask me to bake a little something for my cousin, Adeline. Prior to that (like many months ago), Adeline did ask if I could make a wedding cake for her, but later dismissed the idea. I struggled a little with what should I bake and somehow settled with decorated cookies in the shape of wedding cakes. Isn't that cute? I mean, it IS a wedding cake and it's small and..something..new!

I had cookie dough ready in the the refrigerator and I thought things were going my way. I happily rolled and baked them on Thursday. Wanted to flood them on Friday and by Sunday, they would have dried, nice and hard =)

But, no! That wasn't my dad's idea of an ideal gift. He wanted a nice grand wedding cake.

Time check: 09.10.09, Friday, 3pm

Wedding date: 11.10.09, Sunday, 7pm

RIGHT. 2 days. a grand wedding cake. and no time.

Oh before I forget, I promised my sister to help her out with her friend's birthday cake due, 09.10.09, Friday 6 pm. HELP!!!

I scrambled to work things out in my brain. No cake recipe. No filling in mind. No design. What could be worse than scrambling to work on nothing?! Thank God, Anna loaned me Peggy Porshen's book and I immediately chose the designed inspired by the "pink wedding cake".

Design, settled. No fondant. Gosh, thank God, Dennis called Kitchen Capers and they waited for us for 10 mins just for us to rush and get the fondant. I had marshmallows and icing sugar, but I figured ready-made fondant would buy me much more time and boy, was I glad Dennis made that call. =D Thanks dear!

NO CAKE RECIPE! I experiment on many cakes, to only realise, 90% of them aren't suitable for tiered cakes! =((( I always fell back on Rei's pound cakes recipes, not that they were particularly good to eat or anything, but those were the only ones I've ever tried. I had no time for mistakes, no time for risks, I just had to make do with whatever I've done so far. Now, the filling. I needed something that would hold up for a good 8 hours and not taste yucky. I wanted to go with chocolate ganache. The hard kind. (ie. more choc than cream) BUT, my sister reminded me that the cake was already chocolate. So, we scrapped that idea. I finally settled on Italian Meringue Lemon Buttercream. Very reluctantly. Read: Very reluctantly. I had a few unhappy episodes with making italian meringue and I've stayed away from it since a long time. But but, it went on SUPER well that day and I do believe it's God's guidance. =D

When I finally finished baking the cake, it was already past 12 am. -_-'' Thank God for Dennis and my sister, Sandy who struggled to keep their eyes open and still painstakingly cut out the fondant flowers. In order not to complicated things, I decided to go with white flowers =pp While we were at it halfway through and the clock pointing at 2, my sister said my mum mentioned we shouldn't be making cakes cos they're unhealthy. I got kinda pissed that here we are, slogging out, and there she goes complaining.

We decided to abandon the operation wedding cake, packed up and went to bed.

Early next morning, I helped out at the last pretty floral class for this year at CSC club. With my eyes barely opened and brain hardly awake. I'm glad all the participants were happy and learnt something new. The tea ceremony was held on Saturday, 1pm and I obviously couldn't make it. My mum dropped a bomb on me when she told me that my dad happily told my aunt (my cousin's mum) that I'd be make her a wedding cake!! YIKES!

We scrambled to get things done, and thank God, my other sister, Freda, offered to make the wedding figurines. OH, I couldn't thank her enough =D

We made more flowers and by the time all of us surrended, it was past 3 in the morning. And, we still had to attend service the next morning at 8.30am. O.o

We still manged to drag our sleepy heads to church and struggled to pay attention to the sermon and rushed home after service and a quick breakfast. My sister only got started with making the groom on Sunday afternoon and I'm glad we all made it in the end =) Thank God for her perserverance and her creativity! I was so busy with the buttercream and other stuffs, she handled the fingurine all by herself, with a little help from Sandy. I'm really proud of them!

My brother decided to join the force, partly to skip studying for his 'O's and look at his creation. -_-''' Of course, this wasn't what went up in the end, this was! (see below)

If there was a time I feared covering cakes with fondant, it was then. All the past attempts didn't have very good results. The fondant cracked and wasn't smooth. But this time, It was all well. VERY well instead. Even my sister mentioned that this time, it was the best of all. =DDD If there was any tip about covering fondant cakes, it would have to be not to roll the fondant too thick. The weight of the fondant weighs down on the cake and the edges will start to crack and be unsightly =)

All ready, just missing the bride and groom toppers which were still giving us problems. =( The groom's arm refused to stick on nicely. But we were glad it eventually did. =D

This shot was taken at the hotel itself and I was glad we managed to surprised my cousin and cousin-in-law. Wishing them a really blissful marriage ahead as they learn to continue to love one another, as they have promised.

Although they are not christians, I still want to leave them with one of my favourite verses.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...."

-1 Corinthians 13: 4-8-

a new job, new plans and a break

2009-09-27T22:59:00.001+08:00

Nope. No pictures today.

Haven't been really updating this blog as frequently as I would like to, but I've been pretty busy with the mooncake orders. Orders are now officially closed and big thanks to everyone who ordered from me.

While the blog entries have stopped for a while, things have in fact been busy busy and pretty "hectic". Though busy and tired, I really find joy in doing what I do. I am also really glad that my passion in baking is taking me to a whole new level. Though exciting, and being something I could never dream of, it encompasses a whole new dimension in my perception of baking. I am taking on a new role, with new responsibilities and with a different approach. Sounds like a riddle? All will be revealed in due course =p So stay tuned...

Another thing worth mentioning is that, yes! I finally got a job. After months of procrastination, thinking and baking, I finally found myself a job. Things would get busy and I am expecting to bake lesser and lesser. Well, at the same time, I have been toying with the idea of going on a hiatus. The job came at a right time, giving me more reason to take a break from blogging. But but! I will be back! Soon, I hope =p

With a job and more new responsibilities, I thought I'd take a break from blogging to sort things out. Certain things that have happened made me a little weary of others and disappointed too. Seeing blatant "plagarism" of people's photos and recipes made me wonder whatever happened to "integrity".

okay okay, before I get all too philosophical and trying to act cheem, I just want to thank everyone who has been reading my blog, whoever you are, whether or not you are existing. I hope my blog has been of some help to you or anyone and it's my regret for not being able to post up more recipes. I'd work at that in time to come when I have settled down more, and get used to being busy with work.

Thank you for all your order enquiries, I will still be taking orders but my schedule will be more tight and less flexible. So if you are keen or interested, do e-mail and let me know early. I will try my best to meet them =)

Thanks! and see you soon!

Any last orders?

2009-09-24T13:32:00.000+08:00

I want to extend a huge thank you those who have ordered mooncakes from me this year.

For those who have not placed your orders, hurry now and do so at SweetCouture.

We have added many more flavours to our existing range. Download the order form today!

Due to overwhelming responses, we are closing our orders soon. So, hurry, place your orders by 27th September.

Once again, a BIG thank you!

Durian Chiffon

2009-09-16T01:46:00.002+08:00

I would be helping out at Sugar Inc.'s "The Art of Chiffon" Workshop this Friday. To help me get prepared, Anna sent me a copy of the recipes to get myself familiar with the recipe. If you have been following her website/blog, you'd know that she has included a durian chiffon recipe as a bonus recipe for participants to try it out at home.

Okay, okay, before I digress, I actually bought a tub of durian puree to continue more mooncake experiments and increase the variety of flavours and also because Ian's mummy has been asking about durian mooncakes =p. So, with the tub of durian puree and a durian chiffon recipe, I couldn't help myself but tried out the recipe.

Although you seldom see chiffon posts in my blog, but truth to be told, I've been trying it out again and again for quite sometime. Somehow, they just don't get photographed before it's cut up into pieces and disappeared into someone's digestive system. I've only used Rei's chiffon recipes and nothing else. I do remember having attempted a durian chiffon recipe sometime back, but that was baked in a round pan. It actually kinda failed then and ever since, I was a little petrified with baking durian chiffon. (the last attempt turned out like kueh )

However, I really trust Anna's recipes and they've never fail. Not only so, people are usually full of praises when I make cakes using her recipe. So, without thinking, I measured the puree, strained it till it was really smooth, creamy and nice. Thank God I get to skip the step of removing the flesh ha~ The egg yolk batter was done in a jiffy and the egg whites whipped so beautifully. But boy! The batter was ALOT and my arm ached halfway through while folding in the whites.Phew! I persevered and sent it into the oven for baking. It rose really really nicely and high. I tent the cake right from the start as I know my oven always browns the tops too quickly. I usually remove the baking tray (which I use to tent the cake) ~10 min before the end of the baking time. The cake rose so high, it took with it a patch of brown skin. (see above picture) Or maybe because it liked the smell of durian too? bahhh~

The time came for me to unmould the cake and, yes, I was rough. Very rough indeed. The browned sides were lovingly stuck onto the chiffon tin and my jerky hand movements made holes and tore some edges off the chiffon. The cake was SO soft, I really had to handle it with care. It was really moist that I could hear the squish-y sound as I sliced into the cake.

To be honest, I'm not a durian lover. I don't eat the fruit, but i do eat anything related. Durian ice cream, durian cream puff, ...I took a bite off a slice and fell in love with it immediately. The durian fragrance was subtle yet substantial, present, yet not overpowering. I asked my sister to have a bite to try. (she's a durian fan by the way, she wanted to scoop the durian puree out of the tub to eat -_-''') I asked if the durian was too mild for her, she said no and few seconds later, she asked for the whole slice. And told me she likes the cake =D

Mild enough for non-durian lovers, fragrant enough for durian ~~monsters~~ lovers!

Although I really hope to be able to post this recipe, I'm afraid I won't be able to. But! You can always sign up for "The Art of Chiffon" class right here! A variety of chiffon recipes will be covered and learn the essentials to making a good, yummy, fluffy chiffon!

Mooncakes Part III

2009-09-14T11:38:00.002+08:00

Here's part III of this year's mooncake series. If you're wondering where did part II disappear to? or if I've made a mistake, it's actually here. I kind of forgot to name it proper (as I was obsessed with the "MORE" theme =S) but I suppose that constitutes as a part II too right?

So, I've finally finally started on the snow skin selections and ta-da here they are! All the mooncakes in this post were made in a day. yes, 3 flavours and 2 kinds. It was pretty tiring but satisfying too! I had fun playing around with the different mooncake plates and changing the designs. The headache comes when you've got too many flavours and you gotta start identifying them amongst the sea of mooncakes.

But but, snowskin ones aren't much of an issue. The colour tells it all isn't it? I love the deep hue of green on the pandan snow skin. Believe it or not, the gree came entirely from freshly blended pandan leaves. Nope extract, essence nor colouring added! Completely Au Naturel! (I think my spelling's wrong, but you get the picture) The mango snow skin was a little disappointing though, the nice golden yellow I was expecting didn't turn up! Though there was a slight subtle mango fragrance penetrating the skin thanks to the mango juice I used. =D The Mango Lotus was perfect this time after the horrible perfumy experience the last time round. yay!

The texture of the snowskin is great! But it was a little difficult to work with. I suspect it's due to the higher content of liquid. Anyhow, I'd just have to practice wrapping them nicely and make it look real pretty =)

Now this may look or sound odd to some (including myself). I embarked on this combination of flavour and "type of skin" as:

1. I wanted to see if I could wrap a salted egg nicely.

2. Know how to make mooncakes with salted yolks

I told D my plan and he kept quiet for a moment. We continued and finally he popped the question. "Are you sure you wanna put the yolk in a snow skin mooncake? I like mooncakes with salted yolks, but not when it's with snow skin!" I thought for a few seconds, and replied, "But I saw people doing that!!" I ran through the imaginary memory store in my brain (which doesn't function too well) and alas! I ~~found~~ remembered where I once saw it. It was from a mooncake recipe book, I quickly whipped it up and show it to D and went "There! They make salted yolks with snow skin leh". D had no choice but to accept the fact that this experiment was to be carried on. muahaha!

So since the yolks were to be placed in snow skin ones, it had to be thoroughly cooked before wrapping and thank God it was cooked and tasted nice. (I don't eat salted yolks, but a friend's mum loved it =D)

Note: These were mini mooncakes (~60g) and so the yolk was HUGE. My mum feels the yolks are too big and too over-powering. but hey! Everyone has different preferences right? I'd still be using full yolks for mini mooncakes. I though of making them half the size, but that wouldn't give you the nice round shape and beatiful innards anymore.

Enough of snow skin and crazy try-outs, let's go back to tradition. I was really excited to use this particular plate design you see here and it obviously proves useful in identifying mooncake flavours. Especially the baked ones because they all have the same skin! So quite obviously, this particular moonie had a Lotus filling. The only boo-boo is that I wished I had the "白连" plate design instead. I love lian rong, but prefer bai lian much more anytime! I learnt from the auntie at Sun Lik that the difference is actually just the lotus seed skin. White Lotus paste is cooked with the skin removed. Normal Lotus Paste is cooked with the skin intact.

Here's the cross-section of the white lotus paste ones =) The skin, a tad to thick but I'm not sure if I should reduce it. Any suggestions? Would you eat a mooncake with skin this thick or a mooncake with slightly thinner skin? Leave a comment and let me know! =D

The challenge! Wrapping salted egg yolk in baked mooncake. This time, I cooked the yolks partially before wrapping them in. I've read that some cook them partially and some leave them raw. I felt uneasy about having them completely raw though I know they'd obviously be cooked in some way or another whilst ~~basking~~ baking in the oven. It seems like it looks a little over-cooked and appears a little dry. But D re-assured me that this is normal! How? Please advice a non-salted yolk eater. bahhhh

Just bear with me for the last one. Baked Pandan Lotus. I love pandan. Anything pandan. Pandan chiffon, barely cooked with pandan, pandan jelly, ...The smell of pandan Ahhh! its just so intoxicating. Don't you agree? Anyway, this pandan lotus paste is pretty good. =) Not too sweet and a nice real pandan fragrance. YUM!

So that's the end of Part III of this mooncake series, next up..probably...durian??

*I've received requests for mooncake order and I am very glad to say these will all be available for orders! Just visit sweetscouture.blogspot.com for more info on how to order. =)

*the above mooncakes are ~60g. Some are a little larger. I would only be making standard sized mooncakes upon special request. Book your order soon! These are entirely home-made, so please understand there's a certain amount that I can make in a day. =)

cupcake order!

2009-09-12T00:49:00.000+08:00

Got this pretty last-minute order and was really glad I was able to pull it off. I'm thankful for people I've "known" through flickr and that I'd been able to draw many many many inspirations from their works.

The lady who ordered from me asked for a simple birthday cupcakes for her best friends =) So sweet! She added she quite like ribbons and piggies too. Immediately, ccyhan's piggies cupcake photos popped into mind and I showed her the link of those cuppies. She liked them and so, I replicated them. Though probably not as nice and pretty as ccyhan's, but I thought it was passable =p

Thank God my younger sister was home and she was helping me with some of the moulding and cutting out fondant flowers happily haha!

Pretty obviously, these cupcakes were "From Leander". Really want to thank Anna for loaning me those cookie letter press and I put them to good use on these fondant! yay!!

Leander orded 12 cupcakes and so with the Blogshop Promotion, she got 3 flavours! Yummy Oreo, Nutty Nutella and Zesty Orange =) The Yummy Oreo and Nutty Nutella were frosted with Swiss Meringue Latte Buttercream while the Zesty Orange ones went with cream cheese frosting. yum!

I had some extra cupcakes from baking and well, my brother is having is CCA's sec 4 farewell party tomorrow and he had trouble thinking of what to give his juniors. haha! So, these extra cupcakes came in handy and i just frosted them all with sinful, rich chocolate ganache =DD [p.s: I got them from the pretty floral cupcake class (as there were extras hehe!)]

A close-up on the piggies! I made 4 of them each with their own "activity" and "character". I quite like how things turned out =p

Leander requested last minute for one cupcake to be decorated with another friend's name "Don" as he was also celebrated his birthday. She mentioned that she wasn't sure if he'd turn up and if one of it was with his name she could pass it to him the next day. So, to accomodate for the uncertainty, I made one cupcake with "happy bday don" so it'd seem "whole" to be given individually =) I made a rabbit to go along as Leander said that he's born in the year of rabbit! A pity that the rabbit couldn't really be seen =(

I had fun overall and was really really glad to pull off yet another order. phew! The night was spent viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls at the art house. hehe..pretty interesting facts and amazing truths =D

MORE mooncakes!!

2009-09-11T22:56:00.000+08:00

This is a delayed post as well =XX I actually got these baked last Friday. And as usual, I was lazy, tired and had a thousand and one excuse before I got these photographed, edited and posted!

My younger sister asked if I could make mooncakes with her as a birthday gift for her friend. I thought, what better excuse for me not to make it with her? =p So, with the new mango lotus paste and pomelo lotus paste we tried three different kinds of "flavours". Some were mango lotus, others were pomelo lotus and the rest mango and pomelo lotus mixed together. Sounds pretty interesting and yummy right? NO! To my dismay, the moonies turned out a little odd? With the pomelo tasting like....perfume? It was good if you nibble it and eat it bit by bit but not when you chunk it down your throat like no one's business.

Anyhow, we concluded that these would probably taste ALOT better with the snowskin ones, so experimenting that now fills up my free Saturday. (you'd know what I'm saying if you had followed my previous post)

These were the mango-pomelo ones. The paste looked so similar, you can't see the distinction between them after baking =( Worse still, they taste hmmm really special. =p

BUT but but, I had tried a slightly different ratio on the skin and adjusted the baking temperature and timings and yipee! They were thin and soft now, right after baking! No more hard, rock-like biscuits! I can safely conclude that I have highly over-baked them the previous time round.

But, no fret! From this mini mistake/experiment, I can conclude, mooncakes are resiliant to overbaking! muahah..but of course not when they're over baked to the point of being burnt and black. I don't think anyone would still want to eat that. haha!

So, my advice is (an advice from a mooncake novice..how odd) if you overbake them (i.e. hard like a rock and taste more like crunchy biscuits rather than mooncakes) just leave them in a airtight container for 2-3 days and ta-da! Nice yummy, soft mooncakes. If you don't, good for you, just pop them right into your mouths =p

Due to poor calculation, I had leftover mooncak pastry and I took the chance to make some small little piggies a.k.a 猪仔饼. They obviously turned out a little wrong ha~ My dad thought they were mouse -_-''' and D thought they look more like crocodiles rather than pigs. sighh.. Despite they're dubious appearance, they taste pretty good =) Just like good'ol piggy biscuit =D

graduation piece

2009-09-11T22:20:00.001+08:00

I'm a little late in this post (What's new), I've actually completed this last Saturday and the pictures were sitting in my camera until I decided to take them out late last night. =p

I don't recall having mention this before, but yea, I've been attending Cake Decorating Classes at BITC (Baking Industry Training Centre) for the past 8 weeks.

As a course requirement, everyone was supposed to make a "Sugar Plaque" (Not sure if I got the spelling right) at the end of the lesson as a piece of assignment. In case you were wondering, the plaques were made of sugar paste which were left to harden and dry up. On the other hand, the pictures/flowers were made up of a combination of royal icing and fondant.

Each student had to complete two plaques and we sorta agreed that one would be a floral one and the other would be something with a picture or some sort.

Here's a collage of the sugar plaques my other classmate completed! Aren't they pretty? Although made up of entirely edible ingredients, I don't think anyone actually eats them. They become more like pieces of art. Frame them up and I think they'd make a good decorating ornament haha! Or better still, some speacial design to go along with your pretty cake. Perhaps, a wedding cake =p

After 8 weeks of burnt Saturdays, I suddenly feel a little lost having my Saturday free, but I'm not complaning! More time to try new recipes and more time for rest!

Blogshop...opened!

2009-09-09T12:44:00.000+08:00

This may come as a surprise to some of you as it was for myself! I've finally decided to officially open a "blogshop" to take in orders officially after various e-mail enquiries.

I hope to be better organised and systematic as well as work to cater a larger crowd. So, having said that, I didn't realise what a special day it is today. 090909. With that said and with the official opening of my blogshop, I've decided to hold a mini promotion valid for a limited time!

Hop on over to check it out!

MORE macarons...

2009-09-04T17:05:00.002+08:00

I love love love this picture! =DD BUT, i'm not the photographer. Remember my last macaron post, when I'm supposed to pass them to a friend? Well, those pink sweet things never quite got to where it was supposed to, so I made another batch, experimenting at the same time, since we had a dinner gathering last night! (phew! what a long sentence)

I started the day feeling a little lazy and eventually still got around making these little things. I didn't know where I got the courage from to venture into trying some new flavours other than my usual plain shells + chocolate ganache. So, I tried making some coffee flavoured shells by just adding 2g of instant coffee granules. I'm not sure if it was a mistake or a "blessing in disguise". I naive-ly thought the the granules would break up into powder form when I blended the nuts/sugar mixture, but not they didn't! I was looking for a slight brown tint from the coffee, but it never quite appeared as the granules refused to be grounded fine. And since it WAS intended to be an experiment, i continued. In my urgency to finish baking quickly, I decided to warm the egg whites which were taking forever to reach room temp. And stupid me warm them too long in the microwave and I got half-boiled egg whites. twice. So I finally got the hang of warming them after wasting 70g of egg whites.

So, being lazy, again, I'm still with the french method. Although it did cross my mind to try the italian one again, but the thought of boiling the sugar syrup, plus, a dinner appointment later in the evening kinda just made me blow that idea. So, it's still french. I can safely say I got the hang of whipping just 35g of egg white in my kitchenAid mixer pretty well =))

Surprise surprise! While folding the nut/sugar mixture into the whites, the nice pale brown i was looking for sufaced! While there were still some granules not broken down, they actually became quite a pretty sight with speckles of brown scattered randomly in the "macaron batter".

Since I was on a coffee theme, I decided to do "opera macarons". So I made a coffee swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate ganache. I piped a ring of coffee buttercream and filled the hole with dark chocolate ganche.

I'm glad it all went well and the shells were more "sturdy" this time though I didn't try out on myself personally. I've actually been trying to make heart-shaped macarons but sad to say, my piping is a little irregular and I always can't find a match size! So, no pics and no filling for those heart-shaped ones =(

Nonetheless, I really like that I've ventured into flavouring the macarons and hmmm maybe I'll try....hazelnut shells next?

imitation apple pie

2009-09-01T23:49:00.005+08:00

Nope no mistake in the title. Imitation apple pie. I read Rei's latest post on Apple cinammon muffins and that sounded so tempting I couldn't resist not baking it. Moreover, D was all for it cos he lovessss cinnamon.

I just tried one (yes, that's why I'm getting fat) and it tasted like Mac D's apple pie minus the crunchy pie and apple sauce. The combination was superb and I liked how it wasn't too sweet without an overpowering scent of cinnamon.

I decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and halved the recipe and turning the other half into orange cinnamon muffins. I haven't tried the orange cinammon ones as D has packed them for his colleagues tomorrow. I managed to try the apple ones as we had extra batter for it, which meant we had extra muffins.

I omitted the ground nutmeg as I didn't have any on hand. Other than that, the recipe's a keeper =) oh! I also didn't have enough raisins, but the muffins still came out great!

I have been very much inspired by flickr contact RATUkek with all her cupcake flags/picks and very very very lovely packaging that I decided to make some muffin picks. Well, they can be used to tell the flavours apart too right? I love how the picks worked out on the muffins..I'm lovin them! =pp

For apple cinnamon muffins recipe, click here.

Orange Cinnamon Muffins (makes 6 muffins that are 5.5cm in diameter)

Dry Ingredients:
150g Plain Flour
1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
75g Brown Sugar
20g Raisins
Grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange)

Wet Ingredients:
63g Butter, melted and cooled
1 egg (~50g), lightly beaten
93g milk
1/2 tsp orange oil

For the topping:
30g Plain Flour
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
15g cold Butter, cut into small pieces

Method:

1) To prepare the toppings, in a bowl, add all dry ingredients and rub in butter till it resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can use a fork to break up the butter for you. Chill in the fridge for later use.

2) Preheat oven to 170°C. In a bowl, add flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and brown sugar. Use a whisk to whisk the dry ingredients together.

3) Throw in orange zest and raisins, mix well.

4) In a measuring cup, whisk milk, eggs, orange oil and melted butter together. Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir with a whisk, spoon or fork till just combined. It is important that the ingredients are only just combined. Do not overmix.

5) Spoon the mixture into muffin paper cups till about 2/3 full. Top with some streusels prepared earlier. Bake for 15 to 20 mins or till golden brown and when tooth pick inserted comes out with few loose crumbs. (mine took around 18-19 min)

Recipe adapted from Rei

sweets for the very sweet-toothed

2009-09-01T15:11:00.004+08:00

Anna's recent write-up on her macaron making journey made me think of mine. Like her, I went through many many macaron making attempts in search that perfect macaron. A macaron with 'feet', slight crispy shells with moist, slightly chewy interior and dry and smooth bottoms.

I must say I have quite a little 'luck' making macarons as my very first attempt already had feet! Well, sad to say the oven temperature was too high and they brown SO quickly, they almost got burnt so I was left with no choice but to pull them out. As a result, the bottoms weren't dry enough and they left their sticky bellies on the parchement.

A quick check at my macaron picture folder did I realise it was almost a year ago when I first attempted to make these temperamental, fussy little sweets. I very much believe I went through almost all the various problems anyone who attempted making macarons would have came across. Cracked tops, fat feet, no feet, sticky bellies, air pockets, you name it, I did it.

I have since tried the italian meringue and french meringue method which oddly, I very much prefer the french meringue method! For some very very odd reasons, italian meringue-made macarons left me with either with no feet or very small feet. No only that, the shells were a tad chewy and SUPERLY sweet. Not to mention a HUGE mess to clean up with the sticky sugarly pot and tons of perspiration =X

However, the french meringue method seems the most vulnerable and most often leaves me with air pockets. But, i guess that could be solved when it's filled with filling isn't it?

I'm pretty satisfied with today's attempt after a horrible, demoralising one last night. Though not perfect, but I think it's one of the best to-date. The shells were a teeny weeny bit too soft in my opinion (which i think will further soften with the filling filled) but i liked how the interior was soft and so very slightly chewy. I had quite a bit of leftover cookies and cream filling so I decided to fill them all with that. It was a pretty good combination i must say IF you like cookies and cream.

Although I did leave the macarons out to dry, they didn't really form a "skin". I didn't really bother and just chucked them into the oven and boy was I glad that the feet bubbled away and no cracks! The feet was a little high in my opinion, which might be because I underfolded it by just a few strokes, i think.

Other than the pretty feet and nice dry, smooth bottoms, it's my first successful attempt at making coloured macarons! So, I'm pretty satisfied despite the shells that are a tad too soft. Probably bake them longer..? I don't know!

I know I kinda promised a friend some macarons a LONG time ago. So, here they are, all packed and awaiting collection. =D

Mooncakes Part I

2009-08-31T00:59:00.003+08:00

I made my very first mooncakes last Mid-autumn festival and that experience taught me alot. I even tried cooking my own lotus paste. Somehow, I couldn't get it to taste like those you buy outside. =( This year, to start off some simple mooncake experiments, I decided to buy a packet of White Lotus paste from Sun Lik while I re-stocked some cake-making items for an order. To my surprise, the paste tasted really good! It wasn't too sweet and still retained the paste's fragrance. Not too oily either. =))

I was pretty psyched to start my mooncake making experiments so I refered, once again, to Aunty Yochana's blog for some mooncake recipes. I remember using her baked mooncake recipe last year but forgot how long i baked it for. I couldn't follow the temperature and timing stated in her recipe as I made smaller mooncakes. Speaking of which, I finally used the mooncake moulds I ordered from Elyn last year to good use! And they were REALLY easy and GOOD to use. The imprints were SUPER clear and stayed clear even after baking. I vaguely remember that when I was using those old-fashioned wooden moulds last year, the imprints were good before baking but were all blur and "smudged" when out of the oven. So, I was really really happy and glad with the result this time. HOWEVER, the mooncakes came out of the oven like a ROCK. seriously. It was like...HARD biscuits. Naturally I'd think I over-baked it.

Although I read up on various bookes and websites that baked mooncaked have to go through a "maturity" period for the oil that's in the skin to seep back in which will soften the skin. Again, vaguely remembering that aunty yochana's recipe need not this "process". So, was really pretty upset about the mini-experiment. Since I wasn't desperate to gobble up the moocakes, at least not in that rock-hard state, I decided to let them "mature"....

2 days later...

The skin is now soft! And they tasted like mooncakes! HA~ D gave it a thumbs up and my sister who tried the rock-hard one, now said this scores 100 points! haha..must be the vast difference in texture that led her to such an exaggerated score. =p

Although I used ~33% weight for the pastry and ~66% for the filling, my mum said the skin a little thick. But I like thick skin lehh (though i'm NOT thick skin)..okok bad joke.. in any case, I'll probably try 25% pastry or something, if my pastry wrapping skills allows me. =XX

More experiments coming my way!

*No pictures of the whole mooncake cos D happily gobbled 3 out of the 5 left. (I thought he took pictures of the whole mooncake). Now, there's only 1 left.

Gribbit!

2009-08-28T14:17:00.002+08:00

Pardon me for the quality of the photos. My mum's gone for a holiday and so has the lucky camera. Hence, this picture was taken with my sister's iphone, which, I unfortunately is such a noob in taking photos with it.

Another order, by a uni classmate, Nick. He asked if I could do a "Keroppi" cake for someone whom he doesn't wish to disclose to me. *heh heh* must be for a girl lah. I obviously agreed right? No insides of the cake for obvious reasons. It's a simple chocolate sponge cake with cookies 'n' cream filling, frosted with non-dairy whipped cream. He requested the picture to be decorated with piping jelly. It was really simple and i loved the effect except for the not so perfect eyes =( I wanted to pipe a shell border, but thought it'd make the cake very "old fashion" looking. So I piped a bead border with the shell method. The tip was a little too huge and my poor piping skills showed. sigh..Nonetheless, I hope nick doesn't mind and the lucky girl would be impressed =p

A close up on the cute cute frog, Keroppi!

ah goo goooo...

2009-08-26T13:57:00.001+08:00

Anna had just recently gave birth to her second little prince, Dermott. I was pleased to have received her order for baby shower cookies. I belive it's pretty common to give out cookies as baby shower favours in the West, but not here in Singapore. It was a pretty novel idea and i was glad, because that means i can use many pretty and cute cookie cutters.

Each box contained 10 cookies, with a total of 30 boxes. Each box include, letters: "B" "A" "B" "Y", a milk bottle, rocking horse, rattle, baby pram, teddy bear and a small little ducky.

Too bad I didn't manage to capture any photos as I was too engrossed in finish baking, packing and sending it off. A little tired, but glad that I managed to pull it off on time.

If you've been quite an avid baker, you'd realise the lack of pretty packing here in Singapore and so when I was searching high and low for a suitable box, I pretty much gave up and decided to "customised" the boxes myself.

I printed a "baby themed" border and paste it around the boxes together with a personalised cute label, with Dermott's face! =D The baby themed border took me a while as I vectored each and every baby-related item and coloured it with photoshop to avoid infringing copyright laws. But I was really pleased with how the box turned out. Unfortunately, the pictures of the boxes is all i've got for this huge cookie project..I shall wait and see if Anna's got any pictures to offer =)

update: Anna has very very kindly sent me the photos of the cookies and I've uploaded them! =) Thanks alot Anna! =DD

rich and creamy

2009-08-13T17:39:00.005+08:00

If there's anything I learnt about blogging, it is never to procrastinate. I had meant to post this up earlier and when I finally got down to taking the photos, half the cake was gone! That explains my one and only photo I have here. I'd like to think it's a blessing in disguise as I managed to have some fun with photo editing websites.

I had been wanting to try out this durian cheesecake recipe ever since I saw it here. As usual, I procrastinated till the day came my block of cream cheese threatened to jump right into the bin. No reason why I'd let a block of yummy cream cheese go to waste right?

The durian cheesecake was quite a new twist to the usual cheesecakes we're used too. Durian being the king of fruits practically overwhlems any other flavours that it is combined with. If you'd taste very very carefully, you might be able to taste the super duper mild, faint taste of cream cheese. A pretty nice durian dessert =) I'd say...perfect for a nice and simple, rich and tasty birthday cake. Sprinkle the top with some cocoa powder, pipe some whipped cream rosettes and top it off with a "happy birthday" sign, don't you think it's just pure elegance? haha~

If you look closely, you'd realise the "topping" layer. I might very well do away with the topping the next time round i attempt this cake. Not that it isn't nice, but the amount of durian in this cake is TOO evident that the topping only served to cover up MORE of the cheese taste. BUT but but, the topping seemed really really similar to 榴莲糕. Like those you get at some shops in one block like a "sweet" kind of thing? Either that, or I might have overbaked the topping layer.

Nevertheless, it still tasted great. Warning weight watchers, this is so NOT the dessert for you. Cream cheese + Durian = lethal calories combo. But then again, how much harm would a tiny slice do? hehe..

I halved the original recipe and baked it in a 6" pan instead. Timing and temperature was based on pure estimation and I guess timing really depends on what kind of texture you're looking for. I remember reading somewhere that for a more dense texture, baked it longer. For a softer, more moist texture, don't bake it as long. (don't quote me on this though for i'm no cheesecake expert)

durian cheescake recipe
makes one 6" cake

Ingredients:

Base:
140 gm Digestives Biscuit - Crushed finely
55 gm Butter , melted and cooled

Filling:
175 gm. Durian Meat - mashed finely
250 gm. Cream cheese - softened at room temp.
60 gm. sugar
20 gm. cornflour
90 gm. evaporated milk
50 gm. whipping cream
1.5 eggs (beaten)

Topping:
80 gm. Durian Meat
33 gm. fresh milk
23 gm. whipping cream
15 gm. sugar
1/2 whole egg + 1/2 egg yolk

Method:

(1) Mix all the biscuit base ingredients together and press into a 6" springform tin. Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
(2) Blend durian flesh together with evaporated milk until smooth. Leave aside. Cream cream cheese and sugar till well combined. Add in corn flour followed by the rest of the ingredients. Mix till smooth.
(3) Pour cream cheese durian mixture onto the chilled biscuit base and then steam bake at 160C for about 50-55 min.
(4) Blend the topping ingredients together until smooth and pour on top of the hot baked cheese cake. Bake for about 10-15 mins.
(5) Turn off the oven and allow cheesecake to cool in the oven with door ajar for ~30 min. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack. Chill for at least 4 - 5 hours before serving.
(6) Sieve some cocoa powder on top before serving. (I omitted this)

recipe notes:
1. I did not use a springform pan. I used a pan with removable base. Make sure the pan is well wrapped to prevent the water from the water bath from seeping in.
2. To unmould the cheesecake, wrap the sides of the pan with a hot towel for about 10-20 seconds and run a hot knife around it and unmould.
3. I wrapped the romovable base with aluminium foil for easy release of the cake.

Enjoy!

All pretty in pink!

2009-08-10T01:49:00.003+08:00

It's Phi's 3rd birthday and Ian's mummy (which obviously is also Phi's mummy) asked if I could make a doll cake for her. I haven't attempted a doll cake before as there were simply no occasions for me to embark on such experiments! haha~

If you are one who quite as crazy as me about cakes and cake decorating (in some sense), I'm sure you'd have come across a doll cake. These cakes are usually pretty tall and "big" in order to fit in barbie's never-ending long legs. So, after exchanging a few questions and answers with regards to the details of the cake, Ian's mummy was looking for a doll probably with a garden as a "background". So I thought, that'd be pretty nice..Without thinking much, I agreed.

After giving it a little thought, I realised it seemed like a pretty difficult theme to match. A doll cake itself would be pretty large and with a large doll on a small patch of "grass". hmmm...looks a little weird and wrong.

So after much research and looking around online for inspiration, I finally settled on what you saw in the picture earlier one. I reduced the doll size by ALOT. to the point, the skirt was the size of a cupcake, shaped to look like a dress. I made a "castle" to go with the Princess and of course, a carriage to complete the princess theme =).

It was my first try in embarking on such a huge assignment that I wondered then and now, during the process of making the cake, if I actually made a wrong decision by wanting to add in tons of details. =X I finally convinced myself that if i do not try it now, I wouldn't know when will I next get the chance to.

It was my FIRST making a doll cake.
my FIRST making a carriage. (I had no idea how to)

But praise God, He gave me the wisdom to figure them out somehow. Everything on the cake is edible except for the 3 little crystals that I've stuck on to the tiara and of course, the doll itself. The carriage, the castle and the 2 towers are all cakes draped in fondant.

As mentioned earlier, the skirt/dress is sculpted from a cupcake. As for the castle towers, they were cupcakes that were trimmed to fit the ice cream cones. I baked the "carriage cake" in 2 bowls and trimmed them to fit together and formed a carriage. (not as round and nice as I'd have liked it, but this would suffice for a first try)

A close-up on the details. There were alot more minor details that I'd have wanted to add on, but due to miscalculations and pure laziness and procrastination, I didn't managed to make the cake exactly how I envisioned it to be. Still, I received nice reviews about the design. Heng arh.

Of course I'd like the cake to taste nicer, but I've yet to find a very yummy chocolate cake that is heavy and "sturdy" enough for fondant covered cakes. Well, the search goes on...

I recently bought quite a few cookie cutters and was estatic to realise that my tiara cookie cutters could be used! I though it'd be just perfect and fitting with the theme. hehe..

Ian's mummy didn't request for this and I meant it as a surprise. After all, they could be doubled-up as birthday cookie favours or a small little party pack for the other kids right?

Although it isn't my first time using royal icing to decorate cookies, my previous attempt was incomplete. So I was never really able to have a real feel how should I go about decorating cookies. Whatever knowledge I had about cookie decoration was from the internet. Thanks for flickr.com, I manage to find some inspiration as to how I should decorate the tiaras. I very much wanted to personalise each cookie by writing the guests names, but i didn't know who would be going! Yet, I couldn't ask as it was meant to be a surprise. So I ended up writing "Phi" on every cookie instead.

I packed it in whatever favour bags I had. Things wouldn't be complete without a nice little gift tag. So I made a really simple one to go along and am pretty pleased with it =p hehe. I hope everyone liked it. Only 1 complaint! I realise the cookies go soft after flooding it with the royal icing and I got pretty upset. The cookies were nice, crunchy and buttery. But after flooding, they turned soft, though still nice and yummy nonetheless. Anyone knows why?

I baked a total of 29 cookies but some broke under my rough handling and so here's some of them, waiting to be dried and packed.

Here's a close-up on the design. I varied very very little amongst the cookies and here's one of the designs. (actually they all look about the same ha~) I'm glad I didn't give up the thought of baking the cookies. I finally got to decorate fully with royal icing and boy! was it fun and really simple. =DD

I didn't get a chance to attend the party but I really hope Phi enjoyed herself. Happy Belated 3rd Birthday Princess Phi!!

simple and good

2009-08-09T23:55:00.000+08:00

I was supposed to post this up a longg while ago but the lazy bones in me prevented me from doing so. It's so long that I kinda forgot what I wanted to include in this post. bahh..

I titled this post "simple and good" for obvious reasons. It's always nice to get back to the basics and bake good'ol cookies and cupcakes after ploughing through with all the fanciful cakes.

My brother actually requested for this chewy chocolate chip cookies. While I remember the recipe being really simple and quick, I was apprehensive with how the cookies would turn out. After all, the skill with baking chewy cookies are the temperature and accurate timing. Pull them out too soon and they'd be too soft, pull them out too late and they become crispy. =S

I've used Anna's recipe (subscribe here!) for the chewy cookies and I must say they were really pretty good. What I love about cookies are that you could flavour it any way you like it! Don't like nuts? Omit them! Love more chocolate? Up the choc chips! Love a little citrus kick to it? Add some orange or lemon zest. Looking for something colourful? Add some M&Ms. See? The combinations are endless. These cookie dough yielded cookies approximately the size of those at subway. Having said that, it wasn't as successful an attempt as my previous one but still nice, crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle. I'd have liked it a little more chewy though. So you see, I must have either baked it too long or at too high a temperature.

Nonetheless, the gooey choc chips dispersed amongst the cookie made up for everything. How wrong can chocolate go? The colour was great and not overly sweet. YUM!

Next up! CUPCAKES! If you noticed, I mentioned having to bake 210 cupcakes for an order. I was terribly upset with the way those 210 cupcakes turned out and am really glad that the people who ordered were alright with it. *phew*

Feeling indignant about it, I decided to try it out again. The same problem persisted, but manifested in a smaller scale. Maybe I haven't got to know my oven well enough. Yikes! The recipe I used yields 16 cupcakes. With so many cupcakes, I intended to flavour some so that it wouldn't be so boring to eat 16 cupcakes of the same flavour. Being the forgetful me, I happily filled the 12-hole muffin pan and popped it in the oven. Only to realise after 5 mins that they were ALL plain! I had intended to flavour them with some piped strawberry jam on top and some others with sprinkled chocolate chips. Sigh..I was only left with 4. So I went with chocolate chips with all 4 since the bag of chocolate chips were already sitting on the kitchen counter.

The cupcakes definitely tasted as good, with a slight improvement in the appearance. Great for snack, decorating and dessert! Despite it being a pound cake recipe, the cake was still soft and fluffy and more importantly, moist!

Again, this recipe was taken from Anna and it can be found in her book. This recipe is also featured on a TV program aired a while ago on channel 8. Hop on over here to get the recipe! (episode 7)

Simplicity.

happy happy!

2009-07-23T10:53:00.000+08:00

This post got delayed a little while. I left it as a draft, thinking of completing the post when i get home. But obviously, that didn't happen cos i fell sick that very night. Thank God I managed to recover just in time for a giant order of 210 cupcakes *sweat* I pray that everything will go on smoothly tomorrow =X

So anyway, this is my very very first blog award! haha..I must really really thank honeybeesweets for passing this award to me =)) I'm really flattered and will do my best in keeping up with the blog. Hopefully, my experience in baking will benefit someone out there =)

The Kreativ Blogger Award comes with some rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

Right..so..7 things about myself that people might find interesting..I think I'm a pretty boring person to begin with..so that's quite tough, but I'll pull through =p

1. I have 2 younger sisters and 1 younger brother. So that makes 4 of us in total. I guess that's pretty rare since the society is pretty much "nuclear family dominated"

2. Chocolates are my first love. Milk chocolates actually. (not the white ones..the lighter brown ones) However, I've learnt to appreciate dark chocolate every since I went on a baking frenzy =p

3. Local (Singaporean) Hawker Fare is something I can't give up. I have a LONG list of favorites and just to name a few: fried hokkien mee, satay and rojak.

4. I love watching HK dramas, not ALL though. I'm pretty selective too. =p

5. I don't quite like to shop cos I hate to walk.

6. I like to spend relaxing afternoons at a high-tea buffet or a nice cafe with good company and just talk about anything under the sun =)

7. Been a "chaffeur" in my family ever since i got my driving licence. bahh

So, the other 7 bloggers in my list goes as:

Simply Anne's - I love her take on food and that one should still enjoy and indulge, with control of course =D
Grace - She's like the chiffon master to me. Check out the number of chiffon flavours she's done!
Happyhomebaking - I love her earnesty in sharing recipes and the efforts she puts into answering queries =)
Pei Lin - Love the recipes she shares =)
aimummy - Her perserverance and beautiful works always leave me in awe
Baking cottage - Nice nice person who loves to bake too!
Elin - Yummy food and lovely pictures!

I hope to do even better after receiving this award and many thanks once again to honeybeesweets =D

Getting to know Bob

2009-07-10T15:14:00.004+08:00

I've been waiting to share the biggest ever cake project of my life and here it is, finally. Completed and delivered. I'm praying hard nothing went wrong with the cake and the kids would love it.

It all started out when Ian's mummy very very very kindly referred me to a wonderful nice mother, Judy. Judy was looking for someone who takes cake orders. And like all lovely mothers out there, she wanted a very nice, memorable birthday for her son, Wen Bin. So, plucking up my courage, I took her order. It was indeed a great learning experience for me, and lucky for me, Judy was very clear with what she wanted the cake to be and all the specifics she provided helped me along with decorating the cake easily.

More imporatantly, I'm super grateful to her for trusting me with this huge order. It was fun, tiring and frustrating as well, hand moulding these figurines. And fo course, many people helped along the way. Like D, who helped along with the moulding (he moulded 95% of the red one - "muck") and of course my brother, who, by the way is in the mids of his 'O' levels prelims =X (I'm sorry mum!) He was earnest in giving his opinions and helped me along with touching up the tiny details. Thanks bro!

-muck-

I'm sorry to everyone whom, if i had lost my temper along the way with preparations of this cake. As mentioned of course, it's my maiden attempt at moulding with fondant so i had to have practices and practices and MORE practices. even with that, accidents still do happen when you're into the real deal. Something I learnt about moulding. "you can mould the same thing 1001 times over and probably come out with slightly different variations of it every single time." That's how unpredictable it is. (or maybe it's just that i'm a novice and, *ah hem* not very doing very well in it)

-bob-

-scoop-

for deco

Last but not least, I really want to thank God for giving such an opportunity and gift. Once again, I experienced how real He is. The story goes...

The fondant figurines were left to dry in an air-conditioned room overnight (I was afraid Bob couldn't stand right up =X) Things dried up a little and boy was I excited. 1st miracle: NO ants. =D

I was super tired last night and fell asleep while saying my prayers before going to bed. Really worried about the cake as well. It's my first time covered such a huge cake. It measured 12" x 9" on a 16" cake board. and Judy requested the board to be covered in fondant as well. *sweat*

Thinking back on my "experiment" attempt to see how things would work out. (i experimented on a 6" x 9" cake) and it was quite a bit of a disaster and i thought the experience would help me a little better when the real thing came. NO. it did not.

Happily, I rolled out the fondant and got worried as it didn't seem like there was enough to cover the cake AND the cake board. starting to panick. time ticked by..the collection was 1.30pm at the Searangoon MRT. by 12.45pm, I was still rolling out the fondant and figuring out should I cover the cake. =XXX No choice, gotta roll it thinner to make it bigger. yikes! would it tear and crack and give way while i "drape" it over the cake? HOW? I was suffering from a mild panick attack. I was taught at Anna's classes to roll up the fondant with the rolling pin and unroll it over the cake. Easy I thought. but no! the fondant was rolled out so BIG, the rolling pin wasn't big/long enough at all! It was thin AND heavy. I was practically screaming "help!" in my head. My brother re-assured me that things can AND would work and I gathered myself, said a small prayer and rolled it. a quick glance at the clock. 1.00pm. Ahhhh~

Somehow, we did it. BUT with a bald patch on one corner of the cake board. how?! ( i managed to mend that at the end =p) So anyway, my mum was using the car, so i had to get my own transport to the MRT. I had a good mind to get a cab to zoom to the MRT. Just then...my friend who was going to go out with my sister soon came (who, btw, DRIVES). I begged for a ride to the MRT and he gladly obliged. Phew! they too helped in the final touches of the cake and with their help I finished the cake. YAY!

A quick check on my HP and i realised Judy's hubby who was supposed to collect the cake said he'd be 15 min late! double YAY! I had time to mend the cake, get changed and compose myself. but, NO! i couldn't find a plastic bag big enough for the cake and no way was I going to let her hubby carry the cake box in his hand.

I offered them a free delivery and hence, managed to get it delivered on time. =) I'm still waiting for her comments and photos. Hopefully everything turned out great. The weather's been humid and I'm sure the fondant is sweating =X I just hope nothing on the cake falls off or something. *cross fingers*

-the finished piece-

I'm sorry that you had to bear with me for the long-winded story and thanks for reading it. (well, that is if you DID read it) haha~ I really hope Wen Bin loves the cake. I'm pretty satisfied with it, despite the nerve-wrecking hiccups along the way.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY WEN BIN!

2009-07-10T10:55:00.001+08:00

I've managed to get her permission to share the photos taken during the birthday celebration.

update: mummy Judy was really really nice and sincere in giving her honest opinions on the cake.

"Few pics to share taken in my boy's childcare with his friends. They loved the Bob cake. Personally, i find the cake too soft but i like the taste though. Not too sweet, just nice. My hubby find it nice too compare to some other chocolate cakes we ate, either too sweet or bitter. Loved the taste of sugar moulded fondant too. Not too sweet either. As for the outlook of cake, vehicles are nice moulded. I like the muck. Scoop looked exactly the same too. But find that all the figurines looked wet though, texture abit different and some of them fall off easily but we used water to stick it back. I saw the teachers had 2nd servings, guess they liked the cake too. "

-Judy-

Got to admit that the figurines weren't given enough time to dry out completely, which explains the "dropping off" and "looking wet" part. =X Will do much better in future! =p

Cookies Galore!

2009-07-06T11:36:00.004+08:00

I'll have to admit that this blog post title is a little mis-leading. There's only one kind of cookie flavour featured here. BUTTER COOKIES. Its funny how we're usually more pre-occupied with the "pro" stuff that we come to realised we don't even have a good, basic recipe.

Fortunately for the invention of the World Wide Web, I don't have to rack my brains and squint my eyes all the way through shelves and shelves of books in the library for tried and tested good recipes. I fell back on the ever reliable HHB for the recipe of yummy, easy butter cookies.

The recipe was a breeze and the recommended way of rolling and cutting it out was brilliant. i loved it. It was time for the taste test. And.. it passed with flying colours under the examination of my younger sister and her friends' taste-buds. Not to forget, my brother as well. I actually did the first batch earlier, but without any high expectations. (as i had terrible experiences with cut-out cookies previously) Hence, no pictures of the first batch.

Not to mention, what's the fun in butter cookies when you don't decorate them! Many people start of baking with the simple stuff like cookies and decorating cookies. Ashamed of myself, I've never ever decorated a cookie before! So, whipping out my meringue powder, i made some royal icing. Thanks to the great tutorial here, I managed to grope my way around decorating cookies a little better. Here's just part I. The outline. I'm praying hard that the flooding succeeds and hopefully you'd get to see the end-result soon!

*I added cocoa powder to the royal icing to get a dark shade for the outline instead of trying to get it tinted black. (it's an experiment anyway =p)

Up next! Stained glass cookies. Do a quick search and I'm sure you'd find many people having attempted stained glass cookies. They're such a beauty, but I'm afraid I spoiled them =S The sweets bubbled like crazy in the oven and now they all look bubbly and "hole-ly". I comforted myself and well, isn't that a new cool design? HA~

To save resources, in case this fails, I only experiment on 3 cookies. Yes, 3 only. All the cookies above came from the same batch of dough. I figured that the temperature was too high for the sweets to melt nice and evenly, so I'm gonna try it a a lower temperature in future. Until I succeed...

Here's an attempt to see the "transparency", stained glass effect. Sad to say, I think the bubbles are obstructing that view. sigh. Till then..

Here's the recipe used for the butter cookies, with a tiny admendment and that is, the addition of pure vanilla extract.

Vanilla butter cookies (makes ~20 cut out cookies about 3" in diameter)

Ingredients:

100g butter, softened at room temperature

80g caster sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

180g cake flour

20g corn flour

Method:

1.Sift cake flour and corn flour together and set aside. Line baking tray with parchment paper, set aside.
2.With an electric mixer, add in sugar to the butter in 2 ~3 additions and cream till the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
3. Add in egg yolk and vanilla and mix well.
4. Add sifted flour mixture in 2 ~ 3 additions, stir with a spatula to form a soft dough.

5. Place dough in a plastic bag and flatten with rolling pin. Refrigerate the dough for about half an hour.
6. Remove dough from fridge. Roll out dough on slightly floured work surface and cut out with slightly floured cookie cutters. If the dough appears to be a little to hard and breaks into pieces while rolling, leave it at room temperature for a few minutes. The dough will soften up and can be rolled easily.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 15 mins.
8. Let cool and store in air-tight container.

*I placed a ball of dough in those big transparent plastic bags (people used to put bao/curry puff/etc) and rolled the dough. This way, the you have a less messy work space and need not flour the work surface or rolling pin.

*I rolled the dough to about 1/4" thick.

*Do flour the cookie cutters lightly as it will help release the cut-out dough easier.

*I split the dough into smaller mounds and rolled it in several plastic bags. That way, the dough won't soften up too much/fast. You can work on each dough slowly without worrying the dough softening and having to refrigerate it again.

*gather the scraps and roll them out again until you finish using the dough.

recipe adapted from HHB

double chocolate chip chiffon cake

2009-06-30T18:36:00.002+08:00

Pardon me for the lack of posts recently. I've been baking, still, but not as much, not as often. Somehow getting real lazy after my holiday trip. Plus I've been doing certain experiments along the way, which I figured wouldn't be appropriate to be posted up here online.

I nearly gave up on this post as well when the cake slipped right out of the pan not long after I overturned it. For some reason, I decided to go ahead and take photos after realised how tall the cake had been. I'm pretty sure it slipped out due to underbaking. Plus, it shrank a little on the sides. A quick check on Rei's Chiffon "handbook" left me concluding that the egg whites were probably a little over-beaten.

Furthermore, I probably did not do a good job mixing and all the chocolate chips ended up at the bottom (now, after overturning, becomes the top)

Nonetheless, the texture was great except for the not so nice appearance. Itching to try out this recipe? follow me here!

another try

2009-06-05T12:40:00.003+08:00

another try at the recipe I've posted previously. This time, I decided to bake it in a smaller pan and following the original recipe to the T. that is, a pure, simple, butter cake.

The original recipe called for baking in an 8" cake pan. I thought to myself, since it would be some sort of an experiment/try-out, I decided to half the recipe and bake it in a 6" cake pan. This way, less ingredients used, less damage to my wallet + waistline. Sounds pretty good huh?

This time, I managed to whip the egg whites to soft peaks stage (or so i THINK it is the correct soft peak stage). My oven played tricks on me and the temperature was really not what it was supposed to be. As a result, the cake split open at the top while the interior was still underbaked. =X

It really turned out to be an experiment of some sort as I had no idea how long should I have baked it for. I'm still in the midst of figuring out my oven's temperment (big sigh) and wondering if my oven thermometer is calling for a retirement soon. (I dropped it once, and i'm not unsure if it functions as well as before)

Whatever factor it was, the cake turned out pleasing, soft and fluffy, moist and buttery. I felt, however, that there was a tinge of sugar overdose in there. *shrugs*

p.s: comparing to the butter cake I had at some hotel, i can safely say, I like mine alot better. I think D has to agree on this..right? haha!

Yummy Butter Cake

Ingredients:
125 gm. Butter
50 gm. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Essence
45 gm. Egg Yolk
1-1/2 Tbsp. Evaporated milk
100 gm. Cake flour
2.5 gm. Baking powder (about 1/2 tsp)
a pinch of salt
80 gm. Egg White
50 gm. Sugar

Method:
(1) Grease a 6” cake tin. Preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter, margarine, sugar, salt and vanilla essence until light and creamy.
(2) Add in the egg yolk one at a time and beat until creamy. Add in evaporated milk.
(3) Fold in sieved cake flour and baking powder.
(4) Whisk egg white and sugar to soft peaks and fold gently into the creamed butter mixture. You can fold in 1/3 of the egg whites first to lighten the creamed butter mixture followed by the rest of the egg whites.
(5) Bake cake for 1 hour in oven at 180 deg.C or when the skewer comes clean. Turn the cake onto wire rack to cool.

adapted from aunty yochana

Some tips..
1. Do not over/under cream butter sugar mixture. Over creaming results in a cake with a sunken center. Under creaming results in a dense, heavy cake
2. Do not over/under bake. Over baking results in a badly cracked, dry cake or cake that shrinks upon cooling resulting in a cake with less volume. Under baking results in a heavy, wet cake.
3. Turn over the cake immediately after removing from the oven to prevent it from sinking and shrinking from the sides.