bake-a-boo

Snorlax Loves cake!

2012-03-12T10:08:00.002-07:00

I woke up at 4am this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep..while my mind is wondering around thinking about my long "to do" list for tomorrow, at the same time I just couldn't stop feeling guilty for abandoning the blog. Yes it has been a while that I haven't posted something in the blog.
There is no good excuses for it I know...but, again it is because of me being busy busy busy.

About 4 weeks ago, we finally moved in to our new house. We have settled in well now..took us about 3 weeks to finally finished unpacking etc..well not completely 100% done yet, we still have roughly about 2-3 more boxes to unpack :P
And on top of that, I still got cakes to do...kids to feed...husband to feed...house to clean...wall to repaint (which we just finished on our living room and we are loving it!! love our new wall colour!)...and my biggest project of all..building a new kitchen site for my cakes business!
See told ya I was busy! hehehe

So here it is, my first post after all those craziness...I made this cake last week and client has told me that this cake has gone internet famous!
It has been posted and shared here:
9GAG,
I waste so much time,
Smosh,
Global Geek News,
and more!

How awesome is that!
Unfortunately they don't know who made the cake..it's ME...I made it.. I made it! hahaha
But that's okay I'm happy!

Okay that's it from me now....gonna try to go back to sleep now before the kids woke me up at 7am!
Have a terrific day and happy baking!
xx

I love these Oatmeal and Date Scones!

2012-01-18T00:26:00.000-08:00

I have been craving for some good date scones lately and honestly nothing beats having a good scone to kick start our days! So while the boys were busy playing nicely together...I decided to have a quick stop in the kitchen and made myself these yummy home made date scones. They really not hard to make..try it and you will love this recipe!

Original recipe by Dorie Greenspan but I have tweaked it to my liking by adding some dates and cinnamon.

Oatmeal and Date Scones

1 large egg
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup old-fashion oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
140g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Method:

- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir the egg and buttermilk together.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Drop in the butter, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour.
- Quickly, working with your fingertips or pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between..and that's just right.
- Pour egg mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough (which will be wet and sticky) comes together. Don't overdo it.
- Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.
- Turn the dough out onto slightly floured work surface and divide it in half.
- Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5" in diameter.
- Cut it into 6 wedges and place on baking sheet.
( At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking-just add about 2 min to the baking time)
- Bake for 20-22 min, or until the top are golden and firmish.
- Let cool to room temperature and serve.

Happy baking!

The best gingerbread cookies and Happy holiday!

2011-12-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

Happy holiday folks! I'm sorry I have been away from the blog for a while. Life has been super busy as I have been getting more and more cake orders that I had to turned down some of them. I felt so bad but since I am only doing this part time..I have to put my kids first and caking second :)

However I am now thinking seriously to turn this into a full time business...Yes! I'm going to take that risk and jump into caking business! Hopefully this will happen some times next year! (finger-crossed!)

Now let's talk about baking..I made these super cute and super delicious gingerbread biscuits for my friends and family this Christmas. I thought that would be a lovely gift for them :)

This recipe is great for kids and big kids..and they are also perfect for this holiday time. I tried out few gingerbread cookies recipes and I thought this is the best!
Most gingerbread cookies that I tried tasted either too gingery or too sweet..and sometimes they got soggy within few days.
This recipe however stay crisps longer and they taste as what gingerbread cookies should be..perfectly balance of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Yummo!

They are great for kids to cut into different shapes and decorate with royal icing. You can also use this recipe to make gingerbread houses. Just make sure you don't roll them too thinly or they will become quite fragile after baking.

This recipe makes about 48 cookies if you use big cookie cutter. If you use smaller cookie cutters, you will get around 80 cookies.

Gingerbread cookies
adapted from Bourke Street Bakery book, by Paul Allam & David Mcguinness.

Ingredients:
1.125 kg plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbs ground ginger
2tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp ground nutmeg
400g unsalted butter
400g soft brown sugar
320g golden syrup or honey
1 egg
4 egg yolks

Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170C (325F/Gas 3)
- Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together into a large bowl.
- Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl and mix with hand-held electric beaters on medium speed until pale and creamy.
- Add the egg and egg yolks in a slow stream and mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients, in three batches, until thoroughly mixed through.
- Divide the dough into four even-sized portion and flatten each portion into a disc. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 min, or for up to 3 days.
- Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to soften slightly.
- Roll out each disc between two sheets of baking paper until about 3mm (1/8inch) thick.
- Cut into the desired shapes using cookie cutters or a knife. Re-roll to make use of all the dough.
- Place the cookies on baking trays lined with baking paper and bake, in batches, for 15-20min, or slightly puff and golden. Allow to cool on the tray.

Royal Icing:
250g icing sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:
- Sift icing sugar through a fine sieve.
- Place the egg white in a bowl and add 1 tbs of the icing sugar. Using a wooden spoon, beat to form a smooth paste, then keep adding the sugar, 1 tbs at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in the lemon juice - you should be able to squeeze the mixture through a piping/icing bag. The icing can be divided into smaller batches and a few drop of colouring can be added if required.

The cookies can be eaten when icing hardens, or stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Wishing you a sweet Christmas 2011 and a sweeter New Year 2012!

Romantic rose mini cakes

2011-11-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday all! I just realised that it has been nearly 2 weeks that I have been postponing this post...how terrible I know. The last few weeks I have been busy with family, birthday parties, planning a birthday party for my son, a baby shower..and also being sick (I'm still recovering from it).
Even this coming weekend I have 2 birthday cakes to make and 2 birthday party to attend.
busy busy busy but it is all good!

So yes I made these mini cakes 2 weeks ago and I love them! I love the colours too..so sweet and romantic. The white rose on the yellow cake actually had a soft pink dust on the petals.
It's a shame that the pink colour is not really visible in the pic.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great week!

Happy baking!

I smurf this cake!

2011-11-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

Oh I just love love love making cakes! Last week I had the opportunity to make a smurf theme cake for a special girl who loves brainy smurf and this is what I made for her.
I was told that she is a tomboy so I knew right away that pink or purple cake would not suit her.
I thought a green cake with small daisy flowers would definitely suit her. Something that is cute and still has a girly feel to it without being too girly...And this is a finished cake!

How cute are these smurfs! I had so much fun making this cake! loved everything about it!

I so smurf this cake!

Happy baking and stay inspired!

My birthday cake - Sugar free pink rainbow cake!

2011-10-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

This pretty little cake is my birthday cake that I made for myself last week. It's a sugar free raspberry infused rainbow cake with cointreau cream. For the design I wanted something simple but with a little bit of surprise inside and with the cake..I wanted to make the best, the yummiest and the prettiest sugar free cake in the world. It was something that I've been thinking about a lot and being diabetic myself..I was so excited about this project.

So I planned to make a pink rainbow cake and I also wanted to go all natural...instead of using colouring, I made a home made natural colouring using raspberries.
It wasn't hard to make..actually I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it but it worked!
(see recipe below)

Unfortunately..my mission to find and make the best sugar free cake has failed. Luckily the cointreau cream was super yummy and the cake didn't fail to look pretty :D

Here is a glimpse of the pink rainbow cake inside. As you can see the layers look like like pancake and taste like pancake..but since this is my cake and I am the one eating it..then it's ok! lol!

Originally I wanted to post the recipe here but since the cake failed big time..I will only put the cointreau cream recipe here.

Home made pink colouring:
12-15 fresh or frozen raspberries.

Mash the juice from the fresh or thawed frozen raspberries using a sieve.
Use the juice to create blush pink colour in your icing or cake batter.

Sugar free Cointreau cream:
(enough to cover 6" to 7" cake, depending on the height and layers)

2 cups/500ml of cream
1/4 cup of Splenda
1/2 tsp of clear gelatine powder (this will help to stabilize the cream)
1Tbsp of Cointreau
1 orange or lemon, grated zest only

Method: Whisk together cream, splenda and gelatine. Beat until stiff peaks form. Fold through the orange/lemon zest and Cointreau.

Enjoy and I promise when I found the perfect and yummiest sugar free cake recipes..I will post them here!

Happy baking and stay inspired!

Spring themed cake, mini cupcakes and cake pops

2011-10-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Howdy everybody! I am such in a good mood today!....This morning the weather is just beautiful, cloudy with a bit of sunshine...my kids are in their best behaviour...and also because today is my birthday! Yes today I am officially 33 years old! and yes I am making my own birthday cake. It sounds a little sad I know but I have been wanting to make a diabetic friendly birthday cake.

It's a little project that I've been thinking a lot about it. So watch this space..I will post something soon!

Okay enough about me, let's talk about these scrumptious cakes. Last week was one of my busiest moments ever. A friend of mine asked me to make her 21st birthday cake and I was so excited about it. It was one of those "aaw" moments..I knew her since she was like 11 years old...the last time I saw her I think she was about 15 years old and I haven't seen her since. So when she contacted me and told me that she was turning 21, I just couldn't believe it. Has it been that long? my goodness..time sure flies!

Beside the cake, she also asked me to make four other dessert for her dessert table. After few discussion we decided to go with Oreo cake pops, red velvet mini cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting, lemon tarts and blueberry cheesecake brownies.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take photos of the brownies and lemon tarts. They got pick up before I got a chance to take the shots!

The party theme was light yellow with dark purple. So I tried to incorporate those colours into the cake design and the rest of the dessert as well. I was quite happy with the final result..but as always there were few things that could be better. Oh well.. got to learn to accept what I could not change hehe

Have a great rest of the week all and...Happy birthday to me!

Happy baking!

Princess Belle cake

2011-10-25T02:19:00.000-07:00

Oh who doesn't love this princess? I love princess Belle! well..my number one princess is Cinderella but I also love Belle! She is not just beautiful but she is also intelligent and kind.

So when I was asked to make Princess Belle theme cake I was so excited!

With this cake design, I knew that I wanted to do something that very girly, princessy and also simple because I wanted princess Belle herself to shine. After all she is the star of the cake :)

And also thinking about her character as the cake topper...I didn't want to make her that look exactly like Belle in the movie. I wanted to do a cuter version of Belle and so I did :)

What do you think? Good I hope! ha ha

Again, Happy 5th birthday Caitlyn! Thanks for letting me made your cake!

Mickey Mouse cake, Mad scientist cake and another Lighting McQueen cakes

2011-10-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Mickey Mouse theme cake

This super cute Mickey mouse cake if for a boy who turned 2 last week.
I love everything about this cake, I specially love the look of the Mickey mouse..( I was worried if Mickey would turn out not like Mickey but a mouse ha ha ha )

Mad scientist cake

I also had the opportunity to make this interesting cake, Mad Scientist theme cake. I had quite a few challenges in making this cake. Usually I would make the top part using RKT (rice krispies treat), however my friend who ordered the cake wanted to have it all in cake and I was braved enough to make it out of cake.

Everything went well until when I started to stack the cake together. 5 min after I stacked the cakes up...I was horrified to see a crack on the back side of the cake!
and yup..I have forgotten one crucial part...cake supports! I didn't put any cake supports! How on earth would I forget about that..I just don't know. Anyway cut the story short, I managed to fix it..pheew thank God! Lesson learned and I will not forget about putting any support ever again! haha

Lighting McQueen cake

Lastly, I made another Lighting McQueen car cake for a boy name Joshua, who also turned 3 last week.

That's all from me this week...gotta go back to my kitchen and make more cakes :)
I will update with more cakes and stories soon!
Have a great long weekend to all New Zealanders!

Magical pink fairy cake

2011-09-26T02:29:00.000-07:00

Yes last week I came back from my 3 weeks holiday..I was a little sad knowing that holiday is now over and I had to be back to reality...work, laundry, cook, house chores here I come!
On the week that I was back from my holiday, I was crazy enough to take a cake order (just because the order was for a fairy theme cake and I love making fairies..how could I resist lol!)

So this is the cake I made...even though it felt like my creative juice was stuck and my body was still on jetlag...I thank God that the cake turned out quite pretty :)
Because I was sick for 2 days, the cake making had to be delayed to the last minute..thankfully, a good friend of mine was willingly to come and help me with the cake. She helped me made the flowers..I know it didn't sound like a lot of help, but it was! I thank God for good friend like her!

I hope you are enjoying your week so far..I can't believe that next week is October already! Time sure flies when you are having fun!

God bless!

Tom and Jerry birthday cake and Simple chocolate spring cupcakes

2011-08-29T00:38:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been! it has been super super busy with sick kids, sending off design works, baking, packing (YES I'm going for a 3 weeks family holiday yay!)

We are leaving tomorrow to go Indonesia, Bali and Singapore..woo hooo!
and rather than spending my time packing, I'm blogging away because I want to show you my latest creation hehehe

I made the Tom and Jerry cake for a boy who turned 4 this week.
The inspiration came from Warner Bros, Cartoon cake by Debbie Brown book.
Rather than copying the original design (which I don't like to do anyway), I wanted to do something cuter..and here it is! Super cute...it was lots of fun to make too!

I also made these simple cupcakes for my best friend who turned 34 this year. They were done in a rush, I think I did them in less than 15 min! (decorating them I mean, not including baking time) Didn't have time to let the flowers completely dry either...but they turned out okay! Thank goodness!

Okay, I'm off packing again and hopefully the kids will be well behaved through out the trip tomorrow!

Have a great week all and happy baking!

Kamen rider cake, Lilac mini ruffles cake and Little monster cake

2011-08-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

Last week was my youngest son's 2nd birthday. I still can't believe that he has turned two..oh how fast time flies. I remember when I first held him in my arm...he was so tiny... He was born premature at 32 weeks, he seemed so fragile and helpless. And look at him now, he is so full of personality, very cheeky and super active. He loves exploring, climbing and dancing. Definitely not a helpless little boy anymore! oh how he grows so fast! he will be forever my baby boy!

So this is the cake that I made for him for his special day. A little monster cake for my cheeky little monster! Happy birthday boy...the best is yet to be!

My parents 15th mini anniversary cake - Mini ruffles cake

On the same day as my son's birthday, is also my parent's wedding anniversary. This year is their 15th wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate it together. I wanted to surprise them with a cake. My mum's favourite colour is lilac and because they don't eat much cake so I thought a mini cake would be perfect for them! The look of my mum's face when she saw the cake was priceless..Happy anniversary to my parents!

On the same week, my friend asked me to make her son's 8th birthday cake. His favourite super hero is Kamen Rider ooo. Kamen Rider is a Japanese action figure/superhero..very popular in Asia I heard. When I did my research, I couldn't find many info or something that inspire me for the design, (not much in english anyway hehe) in the end I decided to go with the colour scheme, red green & yellow.
I am not too happy with the final design..I think it needs more personality on the cake. But the boy & mother were very happy...that made me feel a little better. oh being a perfectionist is not easy! lol

Have a great week everyone and Happy baking!

Bumblebee Transformers Cake

2011-08-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

This has been my cake project this week, Bumblebee from Transformers movie...my favourite yellow Autobot!! I made this for my friend's son who turned 4 this week. At first I wanted to make something that's more colourful, cute, and fun..something like Bumblebee coming out of a cake. But somewhere a long the way I had a change of heart and leaning towards something that's more realistic and boyish. Not sure what got into me..maybe living with mostly boys at home did that..LOL!

The story is Bumblebee emerged from rubble after almost got defeated by Decepticons. (This is my version of the story)..This is the scene where he got back up to fight back Decepticons..In the end of course he won! hehe

Honestly I didn't think it was possible to make this character..I'm a pink..roses..girly girl type of girl..what do I know about robots! but I did it and it was lots of fun to make him too! :)

Happy Birthday Theo! it's a shame that we can't make it to your birthday party..hope you have an awesome party and hope you like the cake too!!

Threadcakes Competition 2011

2011-07-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Old school Nitendo games theme cake

Yay I just finished uploading my entry to Threadcakes competition!
This is my first year entering this competition. The idea of the competition is to design a cake based on t-shirt design on Threadless Tees. You can find out more about it on Threadcakes.

So, this is what I made for the competition..an old school Nitendo Games theme based on their original design. You can see the design on Threadcakes site.

I'm sooooooo excited and I hope they like it!

My 4 year old son's favourite character, Super Mario :)

Here is the link to my entry:
http://www.threadcakes.com/entries/view/1128

Wish me luck!

Ham, cheese & tomato baked eggs

2011-07-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

I love cooking breakfast for my family and this is what I love to do in my spare time. To me the best breakfast are (beside pancakes and waffles) eggs and toasts ....mmm I love eggs...crunchy toast soldiers dipped in soft runny egg yolk...so simple yet so delicious. Yummo!

This recipe is very easy to do and super delicious. I made this for my family this morning and they love it! well everybody except my 1st born son who is a very picky eater..so I made him a grilled cheese instead..oh the thing I do for love hehe

I got this recipe written in my recipe book but I'm pretty sure it was taken from Jo Seagar's book "It's easier than you think"..anyway here is the recipe:

Ham, cheese & tomato baked eggs.
serve 4

1/2 cup chopped ham
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 tomato, chopped (I used cherry tomatoes chopped in half and I put 2 cherry tomato into each dish)
4 eggs
4 Tbsp cream
salt and pepper
1/2 grated cheese
toast soldiers to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C. Coat 4 individual 1/2 cup capacity ovenproof dishes with non-stick baking spray.
Divide the ham, spring onions and tomato evenly between the dishes. Break an egg into each dish and let it sit on top of the ham mixture.
Spoon 1tbsp of cream into each dish over the egg and season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle the top with grated cheese.
Place the dishes on an oven tray and bake for 8-10 min until the eggs are just cooked.
Serve with toast soldiers.

Notes: To make toast soldiers, cut bread into thick strips. The bread should be cut quite thick so that it is toasted on the outside but still soft in the middle so it can soak up the yolky goodness.
Place the cut up bread into an oven tray together with the dishes, spray with oil baking spray and bake. They should be done at the same time with the eggs.

Happy baking!

The world's easiest chocolate ice cream - no machine required!

2011-07-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

If you ever thought that making a homemade ice cream is too much work or impossible because you don't have one of those fancy ice cream machine...then you are wrong...Introducing to you..

....The world's easiest chocolate ice cream that you can easily make at home..with no machine required! Thanks to David Lebovitz for sharing this recipe on his blog.

I do have a little warning that this recipe ask for quite a lot of liqueur (not that is bad hehe)..the liqueur taste is a little strong in the ice cream but I don't mind it at all :)

I have made a little adjustment in the recipe and here is my version of this recipe:

Chocolate and Banana Ice Cream
Four to six scoops
From Ready for Dessert (Ten Speed) by David Lebovitz

2 ounces (55 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped ( I like Lindt 70%cocoa or Whittakers Dark Ghana )
6 tablespoons (80 ml) cream ( you can also use milk, whole or low-fat )
6 tablespoons (80 ml) Baileys liquor
1 medium-sized ripe banana, peeled*, and cut into chunks
1 tablespoon (15 ml) dark rum

Method:

1. In a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave), melt the chocolate with the cream.
2. Blend the melted chocolate the Baileys, the banana, and rum until smooth.
3. Pour into a plastic or metal container, cover, and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Notes:

You can easily increase this recipe to make more than it calls for. I haven’t tried it with any other liquor, but for those of you who want to experiment, you do need to include a similar amount and percentage of alcohol to prevent the ice cream from freezing too hard. The banana gives the ice cream a smooth, creamy consistency and provides the sweetness, so use a nice, ripe one.

I found that this keeps for weeks in the freezer and maintains it’s absolutely perfect consistency. Cheers!

Stork and Baby Birthday Cake

2011-07-04T03:34:00.000-07:00

Ooooo I'm so excited to show you this cake. I made this cake last week for a good friend of mine but I have to restrain myself from sharing this, well not until she shared the good news of her pregnancy to her family and friends.

This cake may look like a baby shower cake but it is not...it's actually a birthday cake.

My friend wanted to surprise her family and friends about her pregnancy on her birthday. What a perfect and lovely way to do it! I'm so super excited for her!

The best thing about making this cake was that she gave me total creative freedom to do it..how awesome is that! Thank you my friend for trusting me :)

The colour theme was inspired by Cath Kidston and the gift boxes represent her birthday :)

Happy Birthday my friend and congratulations too!

10th Wedding Anniversary Cake and Thomas The Tank Engine Cake

2011-06-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

When my best friend asked me to make her 10th wedding anniversary cake..I was so excited! I had so many ideas in my head of what the cake would look but I knew from the beginning that I want to make something cute that has lots n lots of flowers (but no roses...she is not roses kinda girl :))

My best friend and her husband (who also our very good friend) are not the romantic type..they are the fun type who enjoy each other laughter and they are so young at heart. So as much as I was tempted to make pretty and romantic cake..I had to hold myself. I had to make a cake that suit their personality :)

I wanted lots and lots of flowers, and I thought white blossoms would be perfect. I must have made over 100 blossoms to make this cake..thank God for flower plunger!

I have to say this is one of my favorite cakes that I've made so far!

In the same week, I also made this famous character, Thomas the Tank Engine.
Honestly I don't know any children who don't like this character..well maybe the girls haha

I really feel so blessed to be able to make these cakes...my dream that one day I could have a cake studio and shop that has a very spacey kitchen with big oven :p

Let's dream, then do!

Generator Rex Cake

2011-06-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Generator what? Rex who? yep that was first thing that popped in my head when my friend requested me to make this character for her son's 4th birthday. I never heard or seen this character before in my life before I made this cake. Anyway I said yes to her and I was happy to do it!

After few research and googling, I found this pic..and I thought...perfect!

And here it is...presenting to you Generator Rex cake..! So glad I could made a 4 year old boy a very happy birthday-boy!

How to make Minions cake pops from Despicable Me movie

2011-05-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

Oh I just love this character..they are so adorable!
I made these little guys last week for our little minions. To match the birthday cake theme I thought it would be cute to make little minions cake pops.

I have to say that they were not the best and smoothest cake pops out there.. but they definitely tasted really good! The problem was because I put too much frosting in my cake batter. So when I dipped the cake balls into the melted candy coating, they fell off the stick and crumbled :(
Luckily I could save some good ones!

If you notice in the picture, there are 2 odd ones...Those are my 1st two trial pops. They didn't fall off the stick or crumbled but the texture was not smooth because the candy coating was too thick. So I added shortening until it was thin enough to work with.

If you want to make these guys, here is what you need:

Firstly, Follow the basic instructions for cake pops and use the following to decorate:

Wax paper
Yellow candy melts(1 lb. pkg.)
Lollipop sticks
Edible ink pens
Queen Writing Icing set, you can get this from local supermarket.
Large diameter straw, I used this to cut the eyes.
Fondant icing
Black gel food colouring
Toothpicks

When you get into the stage of shaping the cake, first shape them into balls around 5cm in diameter. You can also weight them to get the same size of balls. Then with both your hands roll them to capsule-like shape. As you can see in the picture, I made few longer ones and few more rounded ones.

Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours.

TIP: You can speed this up by placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals), stirring in between.

Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway). If you can't find lollipop sticks, you can also use ice cream sticks. They are cheaper, just less pretty :)

Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.

Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.

Place in a styrofoam block to dry.

Once dry, you can start to decorate them.

For the goggle/eyes:

Take a small piece of fondant icing and mix a tiny amount of black gel food colouring into white fondant icing to make grey colour fondant. Add more black if the colour is not grey enough. Just keep adding small amount of colour until you get the desired colour. Mix colour until it's well mixed.

Roll grey coloured fondant about 4-5mm thickness and cut out a round shape using the straw. Then carefully flatten the cut out fondant so you make a slightly bigger round shape.

Roll white coloured fondant thinly about 2mm and cut out a round shape using the straw.

Brush back of fondant with water. Attach smaller shape to larger one.

Brush again back of the eyes with water then position the eyes approx near the top.

Press them onto cake; hold until decoration feels secure.

Wait until the eyes are dry, draw the eye balls with an edible ink pen. Allow ink to dry!

For the goggle band, hair and mouth, originally I was going to use edible ink pen, unfortunately my pen was running out of ink..so I had to improvised.

I decided to use the green colour writing icing and they turned out quite good!

For the clothes: Draw the clothes using the blue colour writing icing. Use a toothpick to help spread the icing evenly.

Let the icing completely dry.

Happy baking everyone!

Little Minion from Despicable Me Movie Cake, Cake Pops and a Whimsical Cake

2011-05-22T04:08:00.000-07:00

Finally, here is the surprise cake that I've been working on this week...Little Minion character from Despicable Me movie. And no it's not for a little boy's birthday..I made this cake for hubby's birthday yesterday. I guess he is young at heart hahaha. I did think the cake looked a little kiddy at first so I added an opened bottle of champagne..and that did the trick..not too kiddy anymore!

Oh this little guy is almost too cute to be sliced!

The mini cake is actually a cake dummy. Originally I was planning to use Rice Krispy Treats, but I didn't have much time because I still had cake pops to make, dinner and etc.
This was also because I made 2 birthday cakes for hubby...yep 2 cakes, cake pops, and a party...plus 2 little monkeys to look after. I don't know how I did it... but I did it!

Yes I love him that much that I made him 2 cakes. Am I the best wife or what hehehe. But maybe it's also because I just love making cakes? Ha ha... He wanted to bring a cake to share with his friends at work. So I made him this whimsical cake..I think that's what it's called.

Since we celebrated his birthday with our playdate group, I thought these guys would be a great treat for the kids. Little minion pops for our little minions...

If you notice there are 2 different kind of minions in the bunch, well they are actually not minions, they are 2 little cake pop monsters. There is actually a story behind it, will tell you about it in the next post.

I'm also going to post a tutorial how to make these guys.
I have been thinking to do a tutorial post for a while and I think this would be a great start!

Happy baking to all and Happy birthday to my darling hubby..!

Black and White theme Cupcakes

2011-05-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

Presenting you the beautiful black and white cupcakes I made last week. This post has been sitting in my draft inbox for few days. I've been abandoning it...no particular reason apart from my laziness and also I'm focusing my energy on planning hubby's birthday :)

Oh I just love cupcakes...aren't they so adorable? I made 2 different flavour for these cupcakes, one batch of dark chocolate flavour and one batch of banana flavour with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Since I made these cupcakes, I can't stop thinking about making more cupcakes! I have tons and tons of idea running through my head...and I can't stop it! I'm even having trouble sleeping thinking about it. Looks like I've been hit by cupcakes fever! lol! so...watch this space, there will be more cupcakes craze in the coming posts!

One cute Mickey Mouse theme cake

2011-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest cake that I made. One cute Mickey Mouse theme cake. It has been a busy week here in Bake-a-boo's kitchen, and I'm loving it!

This week particularly is an exciting week. Hubby's birthday this weekend and I'm making him a special cake. A character theme cake from his favourite movie. I'm not telling you what it is..it's a surprise. ooh I can't wait to show you the cake! :)

Have a great week everyone!

Aurel's Unicorn and Fairy Cake

2011-05-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

A magical fairy theme cake for Aurel's 4th Birthday, complete with a sparkly unicorn and a sparkly fairy. It's a shame that the camera didn't capture the sparkles..otherwise it would have looked more magical!

Everytime I do a girly cake like this, it gives me a special joy. I just loved every minute of it.
My challenge with this cake was the fairy. Sculpting the fairy's face was a whole new experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it. Aurel's mum has requested a big eyes fairy with dark hair, wearing a crown and purple dress. She gave me a picture of her favourite fairy. And I'm so glad that she was happy with it! Most importantly Aurel was very happy with it too :)

Have a great week everyone!

Romantic Green and White Roses Anniversary Cake

2011-05-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

Okay I think I'm falling in love with making roses from buttercream icing.

Making roses from gum-paste is also fun but they do take more time and a lot more patience.

These roses only take couple of minutes and voilà..they are done!

How I wish that they could be less delicate and more solid as gum paste roses..just a wishful thinking :)

Chocolate-Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns

2011-05-02T01:29:00.000-07:00

The best part of Easter, aside from the 4 day long weekend is of course Hot Cross Buns.
And there is nothing better than a smell of chocolaty and cinnamony smell of freshly baked hot cross buns in the morning. I made these buns on the Easter weekend and oh boy they were delicious!

The problem was I love both cinnamon and chocolate. I couldn't decide which one I want to make..then crazy idea came out, why not combine them! If you are like me, then these buns are perfect for you :)

This recipe makes about 16 Hot Cross Buns:

Ingredients:

1sachet (8g) Edmonds instant dry yeast
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp salt
50g butter (melted)
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1Tbs Cinnamon
4 cups high grade flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Combine the yeast, milk, hot water, one tablespoon of the brown sugar and the salt into a large bowl. Stir until the yeast has dissolved.
Add 2 cups of the measured high grade flour into the yeast mixture. Cover and leave in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
In another bowl mix the melted butter and remaining brown sugar, then beat in the egg.
Add the risen yeast mixture and the cocoa powder, cinnamon and remaining flour and mix to make a dough just firm enough to knead, adding a little extra flour if necessary.
Knead with the dough hook of an electric mixer or by hand on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes or until the dough forms a soft ball and springs back when lightly pressed.
Add the chocolate chips and knead for a minute longer.
Divide the dough evenly into four pieces then cut each of these into 4.
Shape each piece into a round ball and arrange the balls in non-stick sprayed 9x13 baking pans, leaving about 1 cm between each bun.
Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place until double in size, about 30-45min.

For the pastry crosses:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cold water

The easiest way to do this is to place flour and cold water in a small Ziploc bag, seal and squish it together to form a sticky paste. Snip one corner of the bag and pipe out crosses onto the buns. A little trick I learned from Jo Seagar book :)

Bake at 200C for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Glaze immediately as they come out of the oven with a syrup.

For the Glaze:
1/4 cup sugar & 2 tablespoons water, mix well.

Happy Baking!

Another Lighting McQueen Cake from Disney Cars movie

2011-04-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

Another Lighting McQueen Character 3D cake from Disney movie Cars. I have a strong feeling that this cake will be even more popular when Cars 2 movie is out later in June :)

Baked NYC Chocolate Almond Truffles

2011-04-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Baked is a well known bakery that is located in NYC. I first heard about them from the Oprah show, for their famous brownies. She recognized their brownies as a "favorite thing".

They has been featured on the Martha Stewart Show, the Today Show, the Food Network, and the Style Network. Baked has also received awards from Time Out, French Culinary Institute, Citysearch, and America's Test Kitchen.

Their first book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking was published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang in October 2008, and became a best-seller and was a favorite of NPR, People Magazine, Martha Stewart and Oprah.

So when I came across their book in the library, I couldn't resist to not borrow it and try their recipes.

The first thing that I tried, happened to be these truffles. Just because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen :) These truffles are to die for!...they are super yummy and they are easy to make...a little messy but very worth the mess and the calories!

So here goes the recipe:

Milk/Dark Chocolate Almond Truffles

For the truffle centers:

8 ounces milk chocolate (you can also use dark chocolate)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1tsp almond extract or Amaretto liqueur

For the truffle coating:

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Tempered milk/dark chocolate

To make the truffle centers:

Place the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl.
Place a fine-mesh sieve or strainer over the bowl and set aside.
In a medium-sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the cream just to a boil. Add the almonds, cover the saucepan, and turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer the almonds in the covered saucepan for 20 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and pour the cream through the sieve directly over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for 2 minutes.
Gently stir the mixture from the center outward until it is smooth and shiny.
Add the almond extract or liqueur and stir to combine. Cover the entire bowl in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 5 hours or until firm.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop the truffles with a small melon baller or tablespoon, and drop onto parchment paper in balls. (it's okay if they are not perfectly round)
Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Rolling the truffles:

Place the almonds on a large plate.
Remove the truffles from the freezer and use fondue fork to dip each truffle in the tempered chocolate.
Drop the truffle in the almonds and turn to coat with almond pieces.
Put the almond-coated truffles on the baking sheet to set.

Notes: For more variety, you can coat these truffles with icing sugar or chocolate sprinkles. Of course I found the almond coating was the best.

Truffles can be store in an airtight container, between layers of wax paper for up to 1 week.

Happy baking!

Pink Piggy Birthday Cake

2011-04-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

Another dose of cuteness...a Pink Piggy theme cake for a16th birthday. The bottom is a 7" vanilla cake and the pink piggy top is also a cake.

I had a lot of fun making this cake! This is definitely one of my favourite cake. I just wished that I could take better pictures of this cake during the day so that I could get a better lighting. But unfortunately, the cake was done in the evening and there was no time to do it in the morning.
O well..it's better than no picture at all :)

Sour Cream & Rhubarb Cake

2011-04-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for my Dad's birthday cake few weeks ago. Since he loves rhubarb, I thought this cake would be perfect for him. We grow our own rhubarb, and it was perfect timing as they were ripe and ready to use.

I can not remember where I got this recipe from...whoever you are thank you for sharing this recipe.
This rhubarb cake is scrumptious and beautifully rustic! and now I'm sharing it with you :)

This is the original recipe:

Sour Cream and Rhubarb Cake

2 1/3 cups Self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
60g butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
3 tsp vanilla extract
240g sour cream
4 cups rhubarb (cut 1cm chunks)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 cup caster sugar (you can reduce this if you prefer, it will just be less crunchy on the top)
1/3 cup flaked almonds (optional)

Pure cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve

Preheat your oven to 180C and grease a 26cm round cake tin.

Mix together the flour, salt and 1 and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in a bowl with a whisk and set aside.

Put the butter and brown sugar into a separate bowl and beat till the mixture resembles (and feels like) wet sand.

Once the butter is fully incorporated, add the egg and beat will till the mixture is fluffy and creamy and there are no more lumps of sugar.

Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat in till well combined.

Mix in the flour on low speed till combined, then add your rhubarb chunks and stir briskly to make sure that the rhubarb is completely coated in batter.

Once the mixture is combined, scrape it into your prepared cake tin and sprinkle the top liberally with flaked almonds and caster sugar.

Bake the cake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or till a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Playing around:

I have added some chopped apple into this batter and it's easily turned into Apple-Rhubarb cake. Instead of 4 cups of rhubarb, reduce it to 3 cups of rhubarb and add 1 cup of chopped apple.
Yummo!

Happy Baking everyone!

Three Special Birthday Cakes

2011-03-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

Dark Chocolate Cake with Strawberry and Chocolate buttercream fillings.

Last Saturday I made three special birthday cakes for three special birthday parties that we were invited to. It was a very hectic week, 3 cakes to make..a sick little boy..and 3 parties to attend on the same day...I don't know how I manage to get through the week, but I did! :)

Here are the three cakes I made. The first cake is a dark chocolate cake with strawberry and chocolate buttercream fillings. This cake was specially made for my best friend and her cousin, they celebrated their birthday together. My bestfriend has her hair high lighted hot pink recently, so I thought I matched her hair colour with the cake colour theme. I thought they matched really well!

Scooby Do theme cake

The Scooby Do theme cake was for a special girl name Emily for her 5th birthday. She is my bestfriend's daughter and they actually share the same birth date. You see that's why there were few birthday parties to attend :)

Instead of fairies and castles, she loves Scooby Do. Her face expression when she saw the cake was priceless! She was really excited and happy! ...and then she told me that she loves me..aaaaw This is why I love making cakes :)

I love making someone's special day more special with beautiful cakes that I made and I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to be a part of someone's special day.

My Little Ponies theme cake

Have a great week and happy baking!

Cupcake Pops!

2011-03-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I made my 1st Cupcake Pops and I think I'm hooked with these little cake pops!

Not only that they are easy to make but they are also sooooo much fun!

Aren't they so cute? I made these without the lolly sticks because they were my first and these were for grown ups :P

If you like to try making these cute, adorable little cakes...you can find the recipe here, Bakerella.

I wasn't really prepared making these so I didn't have most of the ingredients. I didn't have the candy coating so I decided to use chocolate melts. I was a little scared that it wouldn't work but it did.

Although it is not recommended to use chocolate melts because it does not set as hard as candy coating does.

So if you can't find candy coating, this is what I read in the book: Melt regular chocolate and use paramount crystals or shortening to make it easier for dipping. Start by adding about a teaspoon per pound of coating until the coating is fluid enough for dipping. This method is best for making cake balls only.

Happy baking!

Chocolate Gourmet Cake

2011-03-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for a friend, who ordered it for her dad's birthday.

This is the ultimate chocolate cake..the most devilish chocolate cake that I've ever made!...Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and dark chocolate ganache, top with few raspberries to balance the chocolate flavour :)

Gorgeous Black and White Cake

2011-02-27T15:29:00.000-08:00

This gorgeous cake is for a gorgeous girl who turned 17 last week. The birthday party was actually on Saturday. I have just been sooo busy lately that I only have time to post this today...as soon as my boy went down for his afternoon nap, I grabbed my MacBook and start uploading photos and typing away!

The gorgeous birthday girl has specifically requested a black and white birthday cake to match her black and white birthday party. She has also asked for a soft pink rose to go on the cake.

I have made few buttercream roses before but I never made a gum-paste rose.

Surprisingly it was quite easy to make...the result was not that bad for my first gum-paste rose :) The one I used on this cake was my 2nd rose, the first one was way too big.

I think it could be better next time..definitely need more practice :)

After the busy week last week....yes it will be another busy week ahead. Few more cakes to bake for few more birthdays. I even forgot that it's my dad's birthday today! luckily I have my mum to remind me so I didn't forget to wish him a happy birthday when I met him this morning :)

I'm ending this post quickly now, so I can start baking his surprise birthday cake!

Happy Valentine's Day and Mini Strawberry Friands

2011-02-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

If you want to make something special for your loved one on this special day but you don't have lots of time, here is something quick and easy to make...Mini Strawberry Friands.

Makes 10. Preparation 10 mins. Cooking 20 mins.
Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly.

2 egg whites
60g butter, melted
1/3 cup (40g) almond meal (ground almonds)
1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar
2 Tbsp plain flour
2 small strawberries. sliced thinly

Preheat the oven to moderately hot 200C or 180C fan forced.
Grease 10 mini muffin pan holes
Place egg whites in a small bowl, whisk lightly, add butter, almond meal, sifted icing sugar and flour. Whisk until just combined.
Spoon 1 Tbsp of mixture into each hole. Top with strawberry slice.
Bake about 20 min.
Turn onto wire rack to cool, right way up. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with extra sifted icing sugar.

Happy Baking!

IFGF GISI Auckland 4th year Anniversary Cake

2011-02-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I made a cake for my friend's church anniversary and here is the cake.
The colour theme is to match the invitation. But I have made it simpler with few less colour.
Overall I'm happy with the cake design, just one thing that bothered me is the number 4. I think I could have made it better. They were very happy with the cake and that made me happy too :)

Ashley's Barbie Princess Cake

2011-02-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Finally I had the opportunity to make a girl's birthday cake...not just any girl's birthday cake, a Barbie princess cake! This special cake is for a special girl, Ashley.

I think most of every little girl's dream is to be a princess..I was once one of those girls :)
I wanted this cake to capture that....fairy tale, big pink princess dress and butterflies. A very girly girl cake indeed! and I'm glad that Ashley likes her cake. Happy 5th Birthday Ashley!

Plum Clafoutis

2011-02-02T02:04:00.000-08:00

I never actually like plums much, well...not until the day my mum brought me fresh-picked plums from a friend's orchard. Oh my my my they were very sweet, juicy and super delicious. I think I can say now that I love plums!

The plums my mum brought me from the orchard were red plums and she also brought me some apricots. The red plums were different sizes, there were small ones and big ones...not sure what the difference are. My theory is maybe they came from different trees...(lol) not a really smart theory but who cares both were very delicious :)

So I had few plums left and they would be perfect to make Plum Clafoutis for my family.

This dessert is very easy to make and delicious straight from the oven when it is puffy and warm.

Plum Clafoutis

Serve 8.

1 Tbsp melted butter
10 ripe red plums, halved and stoned
4 eggs
6 Tbsp raw sugar
5 Tbsp flour
500ml cream, plus extra for serving
1 Tbsp Cointreau or Brandy
70g flaked almonds
Icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Brush a large china ovenproof quiche dish with melted butter. (You can also use souffle dishes or baby ramekins)

Place the plums cut side down in the dish.

Beat the eggs with the sugar and flour until well blended.

Add the cream, beating lightly to make a smooth mixture.

Stir in the Cointreau or Brandy.

Pour this mixture over the plums and sprinkle the top with flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven for around 40min until the batter is set and puffs up.

Remove from the oven, dust with sieved icing sugar and serve with whipped cream.

Notes: In New Zealand, red plums can be found at the beginning of the summer stone-fruit season and towards the autumn.

Happy Baking!

Skinny Cinnamon scrolls and Cheesymite scrolls

2011-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

I love the smell of fresh baked bread in the morning. This morning the weather was so yucky that we all just wanted to stay home. And as usual, whenever I got free times..I love spending it in the kitchen.
I've been craving for cinnamon scrolls for a while..and this morning was a perfect time to make them! The recipe was adapted from my-tartelette blog and I have altered it to healthier and diabetic friendly version. You also probably notice that there was no icing in my photo, and yes... I had to skip the best part..the yummy cream cheese icing :(

You can find the original recipe here: Cinnabon

Here is my version of Skinny Cinnamon Scrolls:

Makes 12 rolls

For the basic dough:
1 pkg. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. size or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 cup warm skim milk (105º to 110º F.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup /75gr canola spread or low fat margarine, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour (for a even healthier version, 3 cups all-purpose flour + 1 cup wholemeal flour)

For the filling:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar or Chelsea low GI cane sugar.
1/2 cup Splenda
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup low fat margarine at room temperature

For the icing (optional):
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup (2 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the dough:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.

Mix together the sugar, butter, salt & eggs. Add flour and milk and mix well

Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands lightly dusted with flour. Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide. It should be about ¼ inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400º F/200 C and position a rack in the middle.

Prepare the filling:

combine the sugars and cinnamon in a bowl.
Spread the softened margarine evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.

Form the rolls:

Working carefully from the top (a 21 inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

Cut the rolled dough into 1 ¾ inch slices and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan.

Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 min.).

Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden on top.

You can also make cheesymite scrolls from this basic bread dough. My oldest son is a very fussy eater, but he loves cheese and marmite scrolls. I used to buy them from Baker's Delight, but they are so pricey. Now that we make our own, we can save a lot of money.

To make this scroll, use the above basic bread dough recipe and change the filling to:
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup of marmite or Vegemite
1/2 cup of grated chesse

To prepare the filling:

Mix butter with marmite/vegemite.
Spread mixture evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle grated cheese evenly over the surface.

Follow the rest of instructions as directed above.
I like to sprinkle more grated cheese on top of the rolls. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 min.). Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden on top.

They also freeze well so you don't have to use them up at once.

Cakes I made for Christmas

2011-01-16T23:27:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of baking during Christmas..but I have not posted any of the pictures here. So here they are! The above cake is a simple chocolate cake dusted with icing sugar.

I used bought gingerbread baby cookies for the topper and I made the Christmas trees from fondant icing. It's a winter wonderland in my chocolate cake world! :)

Brownies is a must have dessert on Christmas. To me a good brownie should have a shiny crust top..soft and chewy in the middle. I do have a confession, I am obsessed with brownies! This little dessert is very simple to make but yet very tricky to get it right.

I can talk on and on and on about brownies..so I wont write too much about brownies in this post, I will save it for another post :)

I love Tiramisu! It's definitely one of my weakness..once I start eating this, I can not stop! I have to finish the whole plate and lick it if i have to! There something about it that is just so deliciously inviting and addictive. Maybe it's the mascarpone..or the cream..or the beautiful taste of coffee..that makes you want more and more of this dessert. All the combination just perfectly complimenting together. Whoever invented this dessert..thank God for you :)

I have made a lot of Tiramisu in the past but I have only taken pictures of these two Tiramisu.

The top picture is what I made for 2009 Christmas and below it, is the one I made for last Christmas.

Chocolate Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Custard

I was invited to a friend's New Year's Eve family dinner and of course I didn't want to come empty-handed. So I made this Chocolate Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Custard filling and glaze. I hope they like it because I didn't get a chance to taste it as I left early before they started on the dessert. I wished that I could stay till midnight but my boys were tired and looking very sleepy...maybe next year we could stay a bit later and watch the fireworks with my boys :)

Oh holiday season is over...but baking season is still on!

Happy baking everyone!

Johnny and Willow's I Do I Do I Do Wedding Cake

2011-01-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

First of all I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I can't believe that a year has passed and it is now 2011! wow time sure flies when you are having fun :)

New Year for me is a time for reflection and thanksgiving. I feel so thankful for everything (good and bad) that has happened in the last years and hoping for better year ahead.

This new year for me feels a little quieter..maybe because my brother and his family went overseas so now it is just us and my parents.
However I did get the best present for New Year, I got a new nephew! he was born on 31st Dec..same birthday as my late grandfather. I wish to be able to go and see him but unfortunately when you have 2 little monkeys under 5..traveling long distance would not be such a good idea :)

The first week of 2011, I also have the opportunity to make Johnny and Willow's Wedding Cake.
They wanted to match the cake design with their invitation and I love the idea. They also wanted to put a vintage record disc of Abba, I Do I Do I Do, on top of the cake. Interesting..I thought..and different! love that idea too!

The wedding was on 6th Jan and I supposed to deliver the cake on the 5th. So I did finish the cake and asked my husband help me delivering the cake.
Half way to the venue, something unbelievably horrible happened! a nightmare of all bakers! I accidentally knocked over the cake!! ...it didn't fall on the floor (thank God!) but it made a huge crack on the bottom tier and yes I had to remake the cake :(
Oh boy how I wanted to cry when that happened but I decided to smile about it and looked for the bright side. Firstly, thank God the wedding was on the next day! that means I got time to remake the cake. Secondly, the top tier was not injured. That means I could save it and just need to remake the bottom tier...yay..!

I can also say that I think I have the best husband in the world! he's been looking after the boys for 2 days without any complain and let me do my work.
Thank you so much darling..you're the best!
Anyways I managed to finish the cake and with my husband's help (again)..we delivered the cake safely on the wedding venue in one piece!

The I Do I Do I Do Cake completed with cake toppers, Johnny, Willow and Abbey the Dog.

Congratulations Johnny and Willow! With warmest wishes for the best in life as you both look forward to a shared future of love, friendship, and the wonderful closeness that is marriage.

Here is a Special Wedding Cake Recipe:

1/2 lb good looks
1lb sweet temper
1lb butter of youth
1lb blindness of faults
1lb of wit
1lb good humour
2lb of sweet argument
1 pint of rippling laughter
1 wine glass of common sense
a dash of modesty

Put the love good looks and a sweet temper into a well furnished house.
Beat the butter of youth into a cream,
and mix well together with the blindness of faults.
Stir the wit and good humour into the sweet argument
then add the rippling laughter and common sense.
Work the whole thing together until everything is well mixed,
and bake gently forever.

Raspberry-Lychee Cheesecake, Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T02:14:00.000-08:00

My two beautiful boys

Christmas is my most favourite time of the year...I love everything about Christmas, I love Christmas tree, Christmas lights, the holiday, the decorations, the food, the songs, the shopping, the gifts, all of the Christmasy stuffs... but most of all I love the gathering of families and friends.

One of my favourite dessert for Christmas is Raspberry and Lychee Cheesecake.
It's a very easy dessert to make and can be made in advance.
Christmas in New Zealand is summer, so for me this is a perfect chilled dessert that embodies the flavours of summer and Christmas :)

Raspberry and Lychee Cheesecake

To make this cake you need:

23cm sponge, recipe follows, or use bought sponge.

Basic sponge:
3 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1 Tbsp boiling water
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tsp vanilla essence

Filling:
1 1/2 Tbsp gelatin
1/4 cup water
500g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
500g fresh lychees or 550g can lychees, well drained
1/2 cup caster sugar
250g mascarpone
250g creme fraiche
1/2 cup cream, whipped
2-3 Tbsp Cointreau

Method:

Basic Sponge:

Whisk the egg and caster sugar together until thick and creamy.
Drizzle the hot water, melted butter and vanilla essence around the edge of the bowl and sift the flour on top.
Fold together gently.
Spoon mixture into 23cm greased and lined springform tin.
Cook at 180C for about 40 min or until risen and cooked through. The sponge will have shrunk from the sides and the centre will be firm to touch.

Filling:

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and allow to swell. Then dissolve by standing over hot water until melted.
Sieve 3/4 of raspberries to make a smooth puree. Sweeten with 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Peel half lychees and remove the stones. Chop half the fruit finely and place in a bowl with any juice from the lychees along with the mascarpone, creme fraiche, whipped cream and remaining caster sugar and orange liqueur. Stir together well.
Gently stir in the dissolved gelatin and carefully fold through the raspberry puree.
Cut the sponge cake in half horizontally and place one half into the base of a baking paper-lined 23cm cake tin. Pour raspberries cheesecake mixture into the tin and level off. Sit the remaining sponge half on top and press down firmly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight.
Remove the sides of the cake tin and peel away paper. Transfer to a serving plate and decorate with icing sugar, remaining raspberries, lychees and toffee shards.

Toffee shards:

Place 1/2 cup sugar in a heavy-based saucepan with 2-3 Tbsp water and stir gently over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, stop stirring and boil rapidly until the sugar syrup begins to turn a golden colour. Pour out onto a baking paper-lined tray and leave to set. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Happy baking and Merry Christmas everyone!

Apple and Walnut Cake

2010-12-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

Few people have asked me the recipes for some of the cakes I baked and I'm happy to share the recipes here. I will be posting the recipes in the blog..so watch this space!

Here is one of my favourite recipe, my version of Apple and Walnut Cake.
The original recipe is from Woman's Day Kitchen, but I have altered it to my liking.

Recipe Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1⁄4 cup apple juice
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1⁄2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 large Granny Smith (3 1⁄2 cups), peeled, cored and slice, I like to use Braeburn or Pacific Rose.
1 1⁄2 cups chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180ºC. Coat a 10-in. tube pan with removable tube insert with nonstick spray.
2. Spread half of the apples and all the walnuts on the bottom of the pan.
3. Whisk sugar, oil, apple juice, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until blended.
4. Stir in flour until blended. Stir in the rest of apples.
5. Scrape mixture into prepared pan.
6. Bake 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes.
7. Let cool in pan on wire rack 1 hour. Remove sides of pan. Cool completely before lifting cake off bottom of pan.

Happy Baking!

Lighting McQueen 3D Cake and Cookies

2010-12-12T00:38:00.000-08:00

So last week I was busy and this week it was super busy!
This week both my boys were sick. my youngest boy was sick first and on the day he got better was my oldest boy turned. So yes the birthday boy got sick on Friday and his birthday party was on Saturday. I thought of postponing the party few times, but I thought I would wait till Saturday morning and see how he was. Because the party was all planned out, I thought it would be a shame to cancel it..especially that the weather would be sunny and warm on Saturday. So Friday evening, I made the decision to keep going, make the cake, prep everything...I prayed and hope for miracle that he would feel better by the next day!

7am the next day, he still had a fever! and I thought..oh no I have to cancel everything..the birthday boy is sick. Amazingly, just when I was about to cancel the party..at 9am, he was all better! Yay..! the party is still on!

I managed to finish the cake at the last minute..I'm not too happy with the patchy stony desert. It was supposed to have some grass and cactus, but I only had 5 min to complete the base...oh well..at least it is finished right?

Thank God the party went well..the kids were happy...and it is always great to be surrounded with good food and great companies!

Finally here it is, my son's 4th birthday second cake. He loves cars and I thought a 3D Lighting McQueen cake would be perfect for him and it was! He loved the cake!
.

These are the cookies I made for the guests to take home.
Cars were never my thing, but when you have 2 boys.. you gotta to learn about cars!
Have a great week everyone!

Farm Animals Mini Cupcakes and Lighting McQueen Cake.

2010-12-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

What a week! It was so busy that it went by so quick...Yesterday was my oldest son's birthday. He turned 4 yesterday...it is such a blessing to watch him grow and.. oh how fast time flies. We didn't plan to have a birthday party for him this year, I thought a small celebration in his pre-school would do. But being a 4 year old..he requested to have a party and he even had a guest list! Now I had to organise 2 parties and make 2 birthday cakes for him! One small celebration in pre-school and one on the weekend for our family and friends.
One down, and another one to go!

This was the cake for the pre-school party.

On the same day.. was also my friend's daughter birthday. She has the same birthday as my son. I was requested to make Farm animals theme mini cupcakes....and I was delighted!

Here is Farm Animals Chocolate Buttermilk Mini Cupcakes.

Vintage Inspired Mini Cakes

2010-11-29T00:38:00.000-08:00

This week I was inspired by Vintage design. I love anything vintage, there is something about it that is so intriguing. The story started when i bought this lovely vintage cake stand last week...I wanted to do something special to put on my new cake stand....and I didn't want to wait till Christmas to use it! So I decided to make mini cakes and ..... here they are my inspired vintage design mini cakes! They are perfect on my new vintage cake stand..aaaw...

These are chocolate cakes with vanilla buttercream icing.

Very healthy blueberry smoothies!

2010-11-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

Good morning! I love smoothies for breakfast in the morning. This is my version of healthy smoothies and it will fill you up and give you energy to start a busy day.

Very Healthy Blueberry Smoothies

1 small tub/ 125g of low fat any flavoured yoghurt you like. (I use Yoplait Delite)
1 piece of weetbix
1 1/4 cup of soy milk or regular low fat milk
1 bobby banana
1/4 cup of frozen blueberry (if you use fresh blueberry, you need to add some ice to this recipe)
couple of strawberries (you can also use any berries you like)

Blend all ingredients in the blender and voila!

Cenil, Traditional Indonesian Sweet

2010-11-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

Rolls Tapioca Dessert or Cenil is Indonesian traditional sweet/dessert. It is definitely one of popular dessert in Indonesia. It is sweet and slightly salty, seasoned with grated coconut...oh it's just beautiful!
I have been craving for this dessert for a while...so I braved myself to try making this beautiful dessert.
The recipe looks simple but it's actually not an easy one to do. The same also with many other Indonesian dessert recipes...they look simple but they are not! .... anyway I did it and it was not too bad! But it could be better. Will try again next time!

Ingredients :

250 gram Tapioca flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Red and green food coloring
200 gram grated coconut
125 cc boiling hot water
100 gram Sugar
Salt

Instructions :

Mix the tapioca flour with sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, mix well.
Add the boiling water, mix it until smooth.
Divide the mixture into 2 parts, add green and red colouring to each batter. Mix well.
Boil water in a pan.
Take a pinch of dough, shape with your palms to form a long round shape.
Drop them into the boiling water.
When the rolls float on top of the surface, they are done.
Remove and drain, rinse with cold water so they won’t get sticky.
Roll them in grated coconut that has been seasoned with salt and sugar.
Ready to serve

Tips :
You can use desiccated coconut from local supermarket, however these need to be steamed first. Steam desiccated coconut by adding some water and salt. Steam about ½ hour and you get moist grated coconut, ready to use.

Kaloo Bear Cupcakes for Baby Caitlin 1st Birthday

2010-11-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

Time sure flies! I can't believe that baby Caitlin is now 1 year old...children sure are growing up so fast, makes me feel old every time the kids have their birthday! For baby Caitlin's birthday, I had the privilege to make her Kaloo Bear Cupcake theme that Caitlin's Mum has requested.
These are mini Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry buttercream icing.

My first chocolate soufflé

2010-11-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

I made my first chocolate soufflé last night and yes it was successful! I searched for few soufflé
recipes on the internet and found this one, Easy Chocolate Soufflé from www.realepicurean.com.
Since this was my first soufflé I decided to try this one...and the title says it all...it was easy and also delicious! Since I can't eat too much sweet..I shared this with hubby. I had few spoonful and he had the rest. You know what they say, everything in moderation!

Easy Chocolate Soufflé Recipe – Ingredients

Serves 4

100g (3.5 oz) good quality dark chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence 50% Cocoa solids)
50g (1.75 oz) Golden Caster Sugar
4 Egg Whites
2 Egg Yolks
Butter
Single Cream, optional

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees c (300 degrees f), and rub the inside of 4 ramekins with butter. Set to one side.
Place your chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of heating water. This will allow your chocolate to melt without burning; stir it to help the process along.
Whisk the egg whites in a bowl. If you’re using an electric whisk (as I did) then start off slowly, speeding up once the eggs start to thicken – at this stage you should also start to slowly pour in the sugar while whisking. Stop once the eggs form a glossy, thick mix which forms fairly stiff peaks (they do not wilt when you stop whisking).
By this time your chocolate should be melted; take it off the heat and mix in your egg yolks, then stir in one spoon of your egg white mix.
Take your chocolate mix and add it to your egg whites. Fold until combined but do not stir fast or over-stir – this will beat the air out of the mix.
Spoon into your ramekins and smooth the edges with your thumb (this helps them rise evenly).
Put the ramekins straight onto your shelf for 25 minutes. Don’t open while they’re cooking or they’ll collapse.

Few extra tips I learned from watching Master Chef:
Grease soufflé moulds well with slightly softened butter. Butter base and sides with a pastry brush, then brush up the sides - you want an even coating of butter. Refrigerate for 5 minutes to set the butter, then repeat the process - for the second buttering, be a bit more generous with the butter. Sprinkle sugar into each mould and roll ramekin around so the sugar coats the butter, tipping out any excess. This forms a lubricated crust so the soufflé can rise easily.

Cakes cakes cakes!

2010-11-16T23:41:00.000-08:00

I made few birthday cakes in the past, thought I share them here in the blog.

I made this cake for my son's 3rd birthday...his 4th birthday is next month and he asked for Disney Lighting McQueen car birthday cake...that would be a challenging one, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I love a challenge!

This was a birthday cake for Tristan's 5th Birthday.

A jungle themed cake for my youngest son 1st birthday with rainbow layered cake. Sadly due to the bad weather...rain and windy day...I decided to run to the party room while carrying the cake on my hands...and yup the monkey and the palm tree collapsed! So from this experience I learned 2 things: Firstly, never run while carrying a cake no matter how bad the weather is. Secondly, always take photos of the cake right after it's finished! :)

This was a cake for a good friend of mine for his special birthday.

Hello Marble Chiffon Cake

2010-11-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

Here it is my first post..say hello to Marble Chiffon cake...
Chiffon cake is one of my favourite cake in the world.
Moist...light...and very delightful :)
So I found this old recipe in my Mom's old cook book (what i meant with old is 1978 cook book..this book is a little older than me!)..and really wanted to try it and so I did! The cake came out beautifully..and almost perfect.

For those who wants to try this, here is the recipe:

1 cup of egg whites, about 7-8 eggs (room temperature)
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup cooking / vegetable oil
3/4 water
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

mix together and set aside to cool:
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 sugar
1/4 boiling water

Sift together into a bowl:
2 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Make a well in center of dry ingredients, add the oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and set aside.
Beat the egg whites until frothy. Beat in cream of tartar, add gradually, beating well after each addition 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat until round peaks are formed.
Slowly pour egg yolk mixture and gently fold together until just blended.
Pour half of batter into another bowl, pour cocoa mixture gently folding until blended.
Immediately pour alternate layers of dark and light batter into 10-in tubed pan, rotating pan as you pour. Cut through batter with knife or spatula to give a marble effect.
Bake at 325F / 170C for 55min, then at 350F / 180C for 15 min, or until the cake surface spring back when lightly touched.
Immediately invert pan on end of tube, wait until completely cool before removing cake from the pan.

welcome

2010-08-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

thank you for visiting my blog, i am new to this, so i will start posting my baking journeys here... watch this space! : )