Chocolate Fudge Cake

This was a request by my hubby friend for his company's gathering. Initially I thought I just had to write Happy Birthday to you, you & you. In the end it was 3 sentences so I had to do it one way or the other to squeeze them in. Feedback was they enjoyed the cake.

Blueberry Struesel Muffin & Blueberry Cake

Bought 2 boxes of blueberry on offer and I used them to make the muffins and cake on different day. Both turned out YUMMY! Recipes were from joyofbaking. I simply love struesel toppings!

Chinese New Year 2011

Christmas was just over in December and people were already busy preparing for Chinese New Year which falls on the 3rd of Feb. I haven't got in the mood to think through what I should make this year so in the end I decided to begin with a batch of Nastar tarts to get me going. After which there were pillow pineapple tarts, open face pineapple tarts and a big bottle of green peas cookies for a friend.

 

After making the tarts, i thought it would be boring to make the same things every year. Then suddenly the thought of wanting to make something rabbit came to my mind....and kueh bangkit in rabbit shape was the answer cos it's also white.

I'm really not a fan of KB and had never thought this was a tricky cookie to perfect. In the end I had to throw away 3-4 batches of dough and cookies as they were just not what it should be(well I never read what other bloggers had to say about their experience). I was pretty depressed as the idea was good but the skill not....Don't think I will be making KB for years to come....

Recently I had the opportunity to try a Filipino cookies call polvoron (goldilocks brand) and I fell in love with it immediately.To my surprise, it was a very easy to make recipe and no baking required. As I did not have a polvoron mould nor a small oval mould, I made them into rabbits! I took 2 hours just to mould 32 bunnies cos the neck and ear were very vulnerable and they keep breaking when I try to unmould. But all turn out well and I was able to fit 28 rabbits in a box which was so auspicious. I gave it to a lucky friend....

 Almond Polvoron Bunnies

These almond cookies were made in less than an hour plus cleaning. I made them for my hubby to give away(on a last minute request in the middle of the night). It has a melt in the mouth texture but I would have added almond essence, chopped almond and even an slivered almond on top to make it better.

 Almond Cookies

I wanted to try out cheese sticks some time back. Finally I did now. Overall the taste was good.

 Cheese Sticks

My sister's friend gave me a set of animal shaped cookie cutter which she got from Hong Kong some time back and she gave it to me after I gave her some advice on pie crust baking. I made good of the rabbit cutter immediately to cut out coconut agar agar and covered with red agar agar. Brought it to my grandma house and they disappeared in a blink of eyes. My mum didn't even get to see it after they were being cut up into 48 pcs by my aunt.

 Rabbit Coconut Agar Agar

 

This year CNY was good. I made quite a few new items and I can see that my girl has enjoyed herself too with all the nice clothes, food, playmates, toys and lotsa angbaos.

It's a Minnie Week!

 

I promised my friend that I would make her girl's birthday cake and she requested for a Minnie Cake. The 1st thought that came to my mind was how am I going to draw the face nice enough without having it looking like the imitation version?

I decided to adopt this design from the internet as it look so adorably Minnie...I twisted my ingredients/materials based on what I think I would be able to get my hands on and made it my version....The top was covered with chocolate cookie crumbs and the ears were the cookies. I took out most of the cream for the ears so there will not be a whitish layer around them. As I know most people don't really like fondant and this makes a healthier option without the addition of food colouring( if I were to use buttercream). Definitely the taste will be a winner as well. I also crushed some cookies to make cookies n cream filling.

The base cake has chocolate buttercream filling as requested and covered in pink butercream(only colouring i used here)...The mickey and bow chocolates were a timely find...Should I say she is a lucky girl or I'm the lucky baker?

Happy 2nd Birthday Crystal!

*Psss...Crystal's mama maybe next year do a jewel cake for your girl?

My hubby's friend's daughter was also turning 1 last weekend and her party's theme was Disney. They didn't ask me for a cake but as I was making the above Minnie Cake, hubby asked me to make one for his friend too. Since I didn't want to do 2 exact cakes, I decided to do the face in the end.

So here's presenting to you my very 1st cartoon character face cake (drumroll pls.... =p)

Drrrrrrr..................................................................................

TA DA!!!!

Hehehe...Not too bad for a 1st timer huh? I'm smiling as wide as Minnie now....
Think my secret to success is......NO pressure to deliver!

I was so into making these 2 Minnie cakes that the moment I woke up at 9am I worked all the way thru to 3pm...and only took my 1st meal of the day after that...But it was a satisfying day for me as both cakes turned out beautifully!

Now I'm so into the white polka dots with the pink base that I even got a bag in that print yesterday =] What a great way to end off my Minnie weekend isn't it!

Fest Chocolate Cake & Lychee Martini Cake

 

Hubby's friend love the fest chocolate cake I gave him for Christmas so much that he placed an order for his parents' wedding anniversary. I decided to twist the cake design (Charlotte style) to give it a more refine look. Writing on the cake was really a challenge for me as I usually can't even write straight on paper w/o lines. I was pretty worried that I would ruin the whole cake with my piping....luckily I read some tips on using the same icing to pipe the wordings, so even if there is a mistake I could just smudge it out. I also practiced on paper couple of days before the actual feat. Surprisingly, it turned out rather decent on my 1st attempt! (*grin*) added some designs to the sides too...Hope it will be a pleasant surprise for them!

 

This coming Wednesday is my sis birthday and I already had in mind what cake to make. I'm going to attempt lychee martini cake! I cured my canned lychees in vodka with some syrup and lychee essence (would prefer to use lychee juice but turned out it's not easy to get) 2 days back. Chopped them up and put them in my filling together with whipped cream. Simple and yet potent...hahahahhaha.....

I chanced upon lychee pocky a couple of weeks back and thought it was a pretty interesting flavour but didn't get it there and then to try. When I decided to make lychee martini cake, I knew I just have to have that to top my cake to give it the extra Ommphhh....so before heading to my sis house for the special surprise delivery my hubby drove me to the shop just to get it (end up buying 2 lychee, 1 blueberry, 1 choco banana pocky)...the 2 sticks were placed on the cake at her void deck(the rest of the opened box was given to her so that at least there's something for the kids to enjoy), which explains the bad lighting for this photo.

Not sure how the taste will come together...sure hope this is a good effort....1st time baking a sponge cake using a sponge mix too....again the suspense is killing me!!!!

My 1st Gingerbread House

I made my very 1st (or should I say 3rd? cos the other 2 collapsed) gingerbread house this Christmas! Yippee finally I hand built a house which I had always wanted to (but lack the enthusiasm to push it thru)!!! And I made it to put on top of a birthday cake...simply love the cheerfulness from the colourful chocolates and am glad it was a hit with the kiddos!

Thanks Shirley for the opportunity to make this cake for the birthday boy! Happy 12th birthday Kevin Richard! Also, thanks for inviting me to join in your BBQ party, your mum's curry chicken was tasty and was happy the Vadais were to you and your mum's liking....

Had a lunch invitation on boxing day from my hubby's fren and I made my very last batch of gingerbread men for 2010 to give to the children....added scarfs for the 1st time and it sure made the men look more suave = ]

Time to say goodbye to Xmas and hello to 2011!

Dad's Birthday - Green Tea Chestnut Cake

 

It was dad's birthday and my sis asked me to make a more masculine cake with green tea when I suggested a strawberry cake...I'm fine with the idea since I have baking green tea powder at home. We were stucked with what filling to pair it with when I remembered I had candied chestnuts. It was a good match with the green tea. So here it is...Green tea cake with chestnut cream filling!

I made the wordings out of gingerbread to give it a festive combination. The cake wasn't too sweet and I love the texture of the cake. Soft & fluffy...Bro was my good supporter as he went for 2nd slice while my hubby gave up his slice to me readily as he struggled with the bitterness of the green tea powder. I kind of miss the cake already the very same day....