Birthdays

I’ve never really thought much about them. I do agree it is a special day/date but I never felt that I needed to tell the whole world “Hey! It’s my BIRTHDAY!!” I guess that’s just me. I’m a very quiet, low profile kind of person. I never like to make big celebrations. Only my closest friends and families are important to me. Hence, I’m more comfortable being around the people I love.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a big birthday bash or anything like that. I don’t have any regrets. Sometimes I think birthdays bring a lot of bad memories for me. Maybe because I have high expectations. So, I tend not to hope too much so as not to get disappointed. Birthdays are also a reminder that I’m getting older which is not really a good thing, to me. Despite all that, there were several birthdays that I was very happy and super contented. It would one of the birthdays where I get to have dinner with all my friends and be filled with glorious food and surrounded by stupid jokes, gossips and laughter.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It is quite ironic that I feel the opposite way when making birthday cakes for my customers. Making birthday cakes always make me feel happy and excited. I especially love it when I received orders from husbands who request to put sweet messages on the cakes or that the order is a surprise for the wife. I find it sooo sweet and touching and to be part of something so loving makes me extremely honoured. I'm a sucker for romantic stuffs.

Baking a birthday cake for Yanty has become a yearly tradition. She is a very good friend that I got to know when we were in polytechnic. It was weird how our paths met but it is something I never forget. She was one good friend that I can rely on. Very talented and unassuming and has a very beautiful handwriting. She can write songs and plays the guitar really well. She is also one of the most patient person I know. She's strong amidst all that she went through.

So, every year, Firdaus, her brother will always order a cake from me with a theme or a tidbit that he chooses to be incorporated into the cake. It is like a birthday tradition for me. This year, it was Yan Yan (pic on left). It is a biscuit treat with chocolate dip inside the packaging. I didn’t really have that much idea but I know I’ve been wanting to make this 3 layer cake where one layer is a chocolate cake, another is a cheesecake and a top layer is a cookie dough. So, I incorporated some biscuit bits into the cookie dough and covered the cake with chocolate ganache and chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. I thought it was a pretty cake inside and out. But I would have improved on the cake recipe. You can find the recipe here. 

Do you have a "birthday tradition"? :)

Short and Simple

I’ve been rather intrigued and fond about gradient or ombre designs on cakes for a while now. Last week, I was given the freedom to make a cake for a 10 year old birthday girl. I was told that she likes Pink and Purple, Butterfly and Dragonfly.

I was kinda occupied last week and didn’t manage to create a gumpaste butterflies. Hence, I only played with the colours and decided that simple is best. I’ve been seeing a lot of gradient design on cakes in Pinterest lately. Fortunately for us, a talented lovely baker did a video on how to create the design. Hence, I was really inspired to make the same. 

The design was quite simple to make. I just feel that it has a lot of wastage. But from my experience, I should be able to save more the next time I make this design.

Rainbow cake is becoming a rather popular demand in Singapore. I wonder how long the fad will last. It’s a very pretty cake but it is so time consuming to make. I’ve never really thought about selling it but it seems like it’s one of the hottest cake people are ordering now. I’m not really sure who was the creator of this special cake but for me, I got to know about this wonderful, unique idea from Whisk Kid. She’s another talented baker, photographer and writer. I love her pictures!

Getting to the main point about this post, I’m actually a firm believer of short and simple in every sense. But of course now I’m just talking about cakes decoration, for this post. I love simple cakes with clean, simple lines and chic at the same time. I love flowers but nothing too much. I’m more of a minimalist. It’s hard to market these kind of cakes in Singapore as grandiose and elaborated cakes are more of a norm here. However, I’m pretty sure more and more people younger generation will be more open to simple cakes soon.

Although it’s simple, the cakes should create an impact in some ways. It should be eye catching and very, very pleasing to the eyes. At the same time, it should taste marvellous too. My main concern lies in the taste more.  Sometimes, I wonder how people can just sell whatever they think they can do/make. I pride myself on the quality, quality of work/end product and quality of ingredients. I hope to educate people on why some of my cakes might be more expensive. One have to understand the thought, hardwork, passion and love that goes into one product.

Anyway, these is one of my favourite cakes that I did so far. I hope to come up with more ‘short and simple’ designs. I love the part where it looks so simple outside but when you cut it up, you will be greatly surprise by the cake. I wish I am able to see people's reaction when it happens.

Hot Weather vs Ice Cream

The weather has been extremely hot the past few weeks. Not just in the day but throughout the night too. It can be so unbearable at some point that it spoils my mood and not just mine. I see a change in my husband's mood too. It's just so distractingly hot and humid that you do not want to go out, you do not want to get close to anybody fearing to get hotter and you just wanna bathe like 5 times a day. Nooo, I am not exaggerating. Welcome to Singapore everyone!

Well, because of the weather, it has inspired me to make ice cream with the leftover egg yolks that I have. Why do I have that many egg yolks?? It's because I kept getting rainbow cake orders the past few weeks and all my filling and frosting is my favourite swiss meringue buttercream. Hence, the unused yolks. I wish they sell egg whites in a carton just like I saw in Sweetapolita's blog. That would be so useful and less wasteful. But I tried searching for it at supermarkets here but to no avail. Maybe I should try Jason's or Marketplace. However, it would not be worth the money to buy it given the price of my cakes. 

Yeap! Ice cream! The hot weather make you wanna dip into any cold dessert available. I felt so good eating a cool silky, soft beancurd yesterday. It was like the nicest thing when the weather is so hot. Why am I digressing to beancurd now?

Anyways... I had leftover yolks, leftover vanilla sugar, almost-expired chocolate orange. I decided to make an Orange Chocolate Ice Cream. I stole some oranges from my mom, just to take the zest of it actually. :) So, it's not technically stealing. I just took some parts of the fruit which she won't be eating anyway. The chocolate came from my sister who bought it when she went overseas, I forgot where. She bought so many flavoured chocolate but didn't eat it and abondoned it for the longest time. Some of them were really nice and tasty and you couldn't find it in Singapore. But it has a low melting point; melts easily in our weather. What couldn't be better when all my favourite ingredients added together.

I actually put aside 8 egg yolks. I made 2 batches of vanilla ice cream and divided it to make 2 different ice cream. Since, I already made a refreshing ice cream, I decided to make a more flavourful kinda savoury ice cream for the other one. That's how I  always decide on my 2 scoops of ice cream. One chocolatey or flavourful, the other have to be contrasting where it has to be refreshing. 


I went to buy a small bottle of peanut butter and blackcurrant jam. I kinda foresaw that putting spoonfuls of peanut butter just like that would make the ice cream cloying. Unfotunately, I was tired and running out of time to make peanut butter caramel sauce. So i just dump spoons after spoons of peanut butter into it. The ice cream looks really good though. True enough, it was definitely very very cloying. Well, I learnt my lesson. Hopefully I can finish the ice cream. 

 

The recipe for the basic vanilla ice cream is:-

Vanilla Ice Cream

4 egg yolks

75g/3oz/6tbsp caster sugar (I used vanilla caster sugar)

5ml/1tsp cornflour

300ml/1/2pint/1 1/4 cups semi-skimmed (low fat) milk

5ml/1tsp vanilla extract

300ml/1/2pint/1 1/4 cups whipping cream

1 vanilla pod (optional)

1)  Keep the ice cream bowl in the freezer for at least 15hrs. (If you're using KA ice cream bowl.)

2)Heat the milk over low heat until almost boiling in a saucepan. 

3) Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour together in a medium size bowl. 

4) Pour 1/4 of the hot milk over the egg mixture and whisk simultaneously so as not to cook the eggs.

5) Slowly pour the remaining milk in while whisking slowly. Then, pour the whole mixture into the saucepan. 

6) Cook over low heat until it becomes thick and smooth. Do not boil it. 

7) Add the vanilla and let mixture cool.

8) Store the mixture in the fridge for at least 8hr

9) Beat the mixture in the ice cream maker for about 15-20min at Speed 1 until it becomes melted ice cream consistency. 

10) Put whatever topping you want into the mixture in the last 5 min of the mixing. (You can also fold in the toppings of your choice by hand. Much easier for me.)

Here's to the sunny weather in Singapore!

Romantic

What is your favourite romantic comedy? I'm a sucker for romantic comedy. My favourites are usually played by Sandra Bullock; like While You Were Sleeping or/and Two Weeks Notice. Yes, it's more exciting to watch action movies but I wil never get sick of watching romantic comedies and some chick flicks. I love A Walk to Remember alot. Never fails to make me cry. I like A Cinderella Story just because I like Hillary Duff and that tall guy.. He's so hot! Ok, I like tall guys. hahaha.. But don't ever ever give me Twilight! I HATE that pale guy and that expressionless girl. BLeargh~

Lately, I've been receiving quite a number of anniversary cake orders. Okay, maybe just 3 anniversary orders so far.. And it just brought back all the feel good romance movies.. Weird rite.

I've been hooked to Pinterest and I keep seeing all the great cakes other bakers are making and I'm really inspired by them. You should join Pinterest and you'll enter a whole new world, seriously.

The first anniversary cake I made was a rainbow cake with chocolate buttercream as requested by the customer. I decided to make a Ruffles cake. I really love this design. It's so sweet yet has a vintage touch to it. Perfect for an anniversary! I used Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I love the silky smooth look of smbc and the not overly sweet taste of it AND it goes very well with this Ruffles Design.

The good thing about doing this design is that I don't have to be so stress about how to make the cake look so smooth. Another advantage is that I love to pipe. The top reason is I LOVE the design! The cons is that it uses quite an amount of frosting but it's not that much actually but more than what you will use if you were to smooth the smbc over the cake. 

Coincidentally, the next anniversary cake is also a 3rd year. Since I was given a freedom to decide on the decoration, I really wanted to the rose swirls cake. I didn't want any wordings to spoil the cake and there would be no space for wordings anyway because the swirls will be all over.. I custom made a tag to write the words.. And here is it is.. 

 

I'm glad that the customer chose to stick with white because it looked so pure and elegant. Again, perfect for an anniversary! She wanted a red tag.. I really love it. Maybe I'll do a smaller swirls next time so that I can make 3 layers of swirls and in ombre. That would be so cool!! 

 

 Till the next anniversary! :) 

Cake, Jar and Sprinkles

A number of people often asked me "How do you learn to bake?" or "When did you started baking?" I always fumble on that question because I always try to think what is the most humble way to answer. I guess I'm just a person who thinks too much about what I say to others. 

I learn baking on my own. I remembered how I helped my sisters baked during Hari Raya. I was always made to do the 'dirty' job like sifting the flour, releasing the cupcake liners from the stack. It was those pesky little jobs that most bakers hate.. I should say some.. HAhaha.. And I still remembered how my 3rd sister and I used to bake through the night. We had those flour sifter where it looks like a big metal cup and there is this pusher thingy at the handle where you have to push to sift the flour inside. I guess my description is bad eh.. It was the most tiring thing we had to do but I had a blast and enjoyable time with my sister. 

Back to the question, I learn to bake on my own. By trying out recipes. I was really inspired by one blog. Her pictures and recipes were so fascinating. I was in love and I just knew I had to bake. You can visit her blog. Her blog led to other awe inspiring blogs where they are so committed to take nice pictures and bake such good stuffs. 

I started in 2009 if I'm not wrong. I bake for fun. To try out recipes and I really wanted to decorate those cupcakes. Some bakes went really bad and awry and some turn out good. My decorations started really simple. Then, I went for Wilton courses to learn more decoration. It was all trial and error. 

Through time, I realised that baking was therapeutic. It makes me happy and de-stress. And best of all, the happiest moment is watching someone eat my goodies and seeing their reaction and telling me from the bottom of their heart that it's really good. I bake in hopes that people can appreciate flavours and the goodness inside the cakes. 

It's been 3 years now since I first started baking. Being able to sell my cakes and goodies is a great feeling but I really want to ensure that I'm selling quality cakes. Flavour-some cakes. I hope people can appreciate it one day. 

I was asked to make wedding favours for a friend last week. It was really a cool idea of cake in a jar. It was Red Velvet in a Jar. It's really something new and unique in Singapore. However, there is a shop that sells cake in a jar. They are called Grin Affair. I have yet to try it. Hope I can try it one day. I rarely have enough time for myself these days. 

It was really an enjoyable experience. Something new for me. Inventive. I really love it. And I knew I had to give my best for this. I made 2 kinds of cream cheese frosting for the red velvet. The ones in the middle is cream cheese mixed with mascarpone to give it more creamier and tangy flavour. The top cream cheese frosting is basic cream cheese frosting which taste really good but not so sweet and has a good consistency to be piped. The minor details inside that jar were mini chocolate chips in the middle layer which was purely experiment-ational. It was actually for aesthetic reasons BUT it goes really great with the red velvet. It adds texture while you're eating it which increases your enjoyment, honestly. And I managed to get some cute sprinkles from Artistiq Sugarcraft. I bought quite some time ago and was saving it for this special occasion. I knew this special sprinkles had to make its debut with something unique.

We went to the venue and tied the spoons to the jar with the help of the bride and groom's friends. The completed work looked really good!! I totally love it. I wished it could have been my wedding favour. Haha.. 

I love the spoons. It was imported from USA, I think..The bride and groom bought it. It's compostable. How cool and green is that? I love any ideas that are environmental friendly. At the end of the day, it was all worth it when people came to me and tell me that it was "the bomb"! hahahaha.. A lot of people complimented the red velvet, even the groom.. I was really relieve and happy. 

I would really like to thank the bride and groom for giving me the honour of helping them and my husband and friends for being so supportive to me and that keeps me going. 

I love Ruffles and Anything Sweet.. on Cakes

I chanced upon this blog while I was surfing the net quite a while ago.. She had a very interesting blog where she will teach you different techniques to decorate cakes and cupcakes. It was really interactive. You could even pay to watch video tutorials. But there was one cake I fell in love with.. which is the petal effect cake.. You can see it by clicking here..I knew I had to do it one day. 


When someone wanted to order a rainbow cake and it was the birthday of a pretty lady.. I decided to make a pretty cake.. :) I was quite nervous about it because it should be done with a stiff/frosting buttercream. I was never a fan of the very very sweet buttercream. I always like my cakes with swiss meringue buttercream. The only thing bad about SMBC is that is gets kinda melt-y very fast especially in SIngapore's weather. SMBC doesn't melt on the cake but it melts in the piping bag when I am piping it. Maybe because of the warmth from my palms. So, fridge is my best friend and I had to do everything very fast. 


This is how it looks like:

I found out that it is possible to do this design with SMBC but you got to be patient and not fuss about some messy parts. I have a lot more to improve on it though. I couldn't get the joining end to blend that well. So, I covered with some pearl dragees. It looks kinda empty on top but I think a nice big flower would look good! 

Oh, if you're wondering how the insides look like.. Hmm.. 

Well, this was the layers before I manage to put the SMBC filling in between. But the cake makes you smile doesn't it? :)


~Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high..~

Gradients and New Knowledge

I've just recovered from all the body aches I got from my class with Sharon Wee... Don't get me wrong, she's a wonderful teacher but I just didn't know a double barrel cake would require such great amount of physical strength... ;D 


I had the privilege to attend a course by the talented Sharon Wee from Australia who came all the way here to Singapore... Wish I could attend all the courses but my schedule and financial means only allowed me to attend one class... I was attracted to it because of the Peony flowers that we get to learn and also the skills to cover very tall cakes... There are so many things you can learn technically from Sharon. The most stress that I got from making the cake was contemplating on the design of the cake.. The next stress was covering the 2 tiers of cake.. Hahaha.. The last stress was making the flowers...


The design was killing me since the past few days even before class.. I was going through pictures of beautiful cakes in the internet like an addicted person every night before I sleep... Im not kidding you. I think even my husband was lazy to entertain me. Hahaha.. Poor him.. I just know I wanted to do something simple yet eye-catching.. Colourful yet subtle.. Fascinating yet clean.. Modern yet vintage-y.. See what I mean.. I'm contradicting myself at every thoughts and imagination I have.. In the end.. I decided on a colour scheme which was not so common but had the vintage feel to it.. But actually I got the inpired by a lady who wore the colours that I chose... It was just one random morning where I was walking behind a random lady who was wearing a 3/4 teal coloured skirt with a sleeveless peach-salmon coloured top.. I just knew there was no turning back.. As for the designs, I wanted to do something modern and clean.. I kept thinking over and over again whether my white peonies will go with the colours I chose.. I was ultra stress!! But I just did it and guess what.. It's beautiful and unique! 


While watching Sharon demo how she covered the double barrel cake, I actually held my breath until she finished covering the sides in one swift movement.. I was thinking to myself, can I do that?? Suddenly, my palms became sweaty.. It is usually not.. Hahaha.. I was really nervous.. Hence, I covered the smaller cake to warm myself up for the challenging task ahead... When I had to finally cover my tall cake, I took a deep breathe and stood straight.. I was really scared something bad would happened.. But I was really paranoid as the cake is ganach-ed all around.. Any mistakes would mean I would have wasted the fondant which was a lot of hardwork to roll.. Well, I still manage to cover it with no problem.. 

It's been a long time since I make wired flowers.. Honestly, I'm still not good at curling the petals and the peonies needs to be really curved to be nice.. I was initiall having problems wiring the petals. I had to the each petal over and over again as none of the petal I did was good enough.. I hate being so critical of my own work and such a perfectionist at times. I just like to stress myself... Finally after some time, I just had to not bother about being perfect.. I realised I was wasting time and I was really lagging behind everyone.. 

I was really happy with the end result.. Im very very proud of myself.. Although I was really tired and my back was aching like crazy from kneading and rolling strips of fondant, it was all worth it.. I'm not really sure I can repeat all this task or this cake after this class.. Actually, I'm more worried about whether the chocolate ganache will set if I do not have the luxury of having aircon at home unlike in class.. I really need to experiment.. I also learn from Sharon that beautiful looking cakes and flowers can be achieved with the simplest tool that you have at home.. You don't have to buy special cutter from different flowers.. All you have to have is imagination and creativity.. And being happy with what you do.. "Do what you like, don't have to follow others".. That's what she always says... 

A friend I made in class who has the same taste as me.. How cool is that? I love her falling petals idea..

I'm definitely going to work towards making this kind of modern, clean cakes because it's very me.. It's what I love and it makes me really happy.. 


~Love me love me..
Say that you love me~

Active Dry Vs Instant

March school holidays had just ended. No holidays will be fulfilling to me without me baking some goodies. I searched my pantry for what I could find and I found an almost expiring bread flour. It's been a while since I made some bread and I have been pretty discouraged to make bread with the results I keep getting. Hard and not so pretty looking. 

Nevertheless, I recently bought active dry yeast while grocery shopping last week too. Adding to that, I wanted to make some special breakfast for my in laws when they come back from their 10 days travel/pilgrimage to Madina and Mecca. Hence, it was like a calling for ma to make bread. I've been craving for some Cinnamon Roll with some cream cream cheese frosting. 

Before I start on the recipe, I will talk elaborate more about the different type of yeast. Yeast is a leavening agent where it converts fermentable sugars inside a dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Typically, normal home bakers will use Instant Yeast or Active Dry Yeast. Most commonly found in the supermarket here like NTUC Fairprice is Instant Yeast. Active Dry Yeast can be found at most Cold Storage and selected Fairprice. There's a slight difference between these two yeast. 

Active Dry Yeast
Active Dry Yeast needs to be proofed and rehydrated before using. The yeast granule is longer and coarser. To rehydrate the yeast, you have to soak them in warm water (41-46 deg C) with sugar. Let it stand for 10 minutes til it is bubbly and looks creamy. 

Instant Yeast
Instant Yeast looks almost the same as active dry yeast. However, the granules are smaller. Because it is smaller than active dry, it absorbs water liquid faster because it has a larger surface area. Unlike active dry yeast, instant yeast does not need rehydration. Thus, you can directly add the yeast to the dry ingredients. In cases where you need to substitute active dry yeast with instant yeast, just lessen it by 20% because instant yeast is more potent. However, make sure you add the same amount of water as the recipe require when using active dry yeast. 

I've been keeping this recipe for over a year now. I fell in love with the picture in one of my go-to blog. She has the one of the nicest pictures and one of the most creative young bakers out there. The recipe can be found in the link above too. I did change a bit of the cream cheese frosting. I want a more cream cheese taste in the frosting.

It was also the first bread recipe that I left in the fridge to proof overnight. It turned out to be the most successful bread. Soft and fluffy and delicious. It was also easier to handle after the first proofing. I assume it can be the cause of 2 factors - 1)Active Dry Yeast 2)Proofing in the fridge. I can't tell just yet because I need more experimentation on it. But I'd go with no. 2. :)

Cream Cheese Frosting 
(my adjustments in red)

3 oz (85 g) cream cheese, room temp (I use 100g)
1/4 c (50 g) butter, room temp
1 1/2 c (234 g) confectioners' sugar (may need more or less depending on desired consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbls maple syrup (optional - my addition) (omit)  

Refreshing New Year

Happy New Year to all!! This new year is quite special to me. I'm starting this year as a wife, I'm starting a new job which is a total switch to my previous job and last of all, I'm hoping for a new outlook on everything.

To start this new year, I wanted to share with you guys a refreshing cupcake recipe. It is refreshing to me because of 2 reasons. 1)It uses citrus. 2)It is the first cupcake/cake recipe that I made using heavy cream instead of the normal milk or buttermilk.

I'm actually staying at my husband's place while waiting for our own house to be ready which will be in the next 2 years. The best thing is, my lovely mother-in-law has the same interest as me which is baking. She shared with me her Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.It has a lot of awesome pictures of cupcakes and interesting recipes. One that caught my eyes was the Orange-Vanilla Bean Cupcakes. I always thought that it was a waste of money to buy the book as all her recipes are actually on her website. BUUUT.. It's totally different when you have the book. The pictures in the books are better for one thing. However the recipes and steps are easier to see in the book. ANND there are some information in the book that is not on the website. Hence, I still think it is a great buy. 

I was deeply curious about how the cupcake would turn out like or taste like with heavy cream as a liquid medium. I've tried using milk, buttermilk and sour cream but never heavy cream. I assume that it would be more moist and dense. The thought of the orange and vanilla just lingered in my mind the whole day. I knew I had to try it. 

I'm a fan of citrus recipes. I love vanilla and vanilla beans. And I simply adore Swiss Meringue Buttercream. So, this cupcake was awesome to me. The buttercream complemented the moist yet light tasting cupcake. It was not too dense but was just nice. And as you bite, you can see the speckles of vanilla bean in the cake which is so pretty and heart-warming to me. It was also my first try making the candied orange. I learnt a lot in the process. So, I heart heart heart the cupcakes. The recipe can be found here.

~A new year is unfolding – like a blossom with petals curled
tightly concealing the beauty within~

Vibrant Scallops Project

My latest project. The design is inspired from a book I just bought (I will update what book when I get hold of it). This is one of the designs that I fell in love with. I am just happy my customer liked the design too. 

I was intimidated to do this design, the usual feeling that I get everytime I start a new project. It's also been ages since I made gumpaste gerberas. I think the last time I made gerberas was when I was learning it in class. I was really excited that she wanted a gerbera. It is one of my favourite flowers. But the challenge was to figure how to make it without wires. The hard part was doing the centre shorter petals, to make it stand. It was hard to dry it as I was not able to hang the flower upside down with the help of wires. I was pretty successful eventually. But I know I can make a better, more realistic looking gerberas. 

Decorating the sides of the cake was scary at first. The most important tool was a ruler. Without a ruler, you will never get the correct overlapping size. After a while, I got the hang of it. Truth be told, it was quite fun. Then I had to the the words. I am still trying to improve a lot on my wordings. Hence, this is my first hand custom made fondant words. I made strings of fondant with the claygun and free form the letters. The white dots are made from Royal Icing. Dots and Royal Icing are my forte. The most important tip for dots is to use PME tips. I use PME No. 1 tip. 

The new project received quite a number of compliments from my family members and I really love it a lot. It's e type of design I like. I like contemporary designs, vibrant colours. And the flexibility of this design is quite commendable. I can imagining some colour schemes that will give it a vintage look.  

New Cake and New News..



Yes. That's me. That's the reason for my busy-ness and silence. I'm married to the most wonderful person I've known for so long. :) And this picture is my most favourite photo of all the nice photos taken on my DIY wedding. Thank you friends, family, emcee and photographers for making it happen. It will always be one of the days that I will never forget.  


I think I've taken quite a bit of a break. Now, I have to start work. Made this gumpaste gerberas for my new order. This is one of my favourite flowers and red is my favourite colour. But I love Pink Gerberas. Can't wait to show you teh final product. It's a gift cake for an engagement if I'm not wrong. But I totally dig the design of the cake. Hopefully everything will turn out well.. 

Aishah's Hantaran Cake

First of all I would like to congratulate Aishah on her wessing today! May she be blessed with lots of love and have a wonderful marriage..

She ordered this cake from me.. It's a hantaran cake where she will be giving it as a gift to ze husband.. :) The cake design and colour scheme was requested by her.. Overall I had lots of fun doing this cake and I learnt a lot... yeap.. alot..

I realize that my work now is so much faster.. I guess I'm use to all the work and I get more efficient as time goes by... Which is good, because it gives me more time on my decorating.. I really love the design that she gave me.. Simple and clean, yet the main attraction is the lace border which is made entirely by piped Royal Icing makes it so pretty and interesting.. Not the ribbon border at the base of the cake but the top of the cake..

I think I've come to realise that I love piping and working with Royal Icing.. And I learnt that, in Royal icing, you just have got to have confidence.. Lots of confidence!! Y? because you can't erase your mistake.. You can, but it's not gonna be easy.. And of course your most important tool is a good quality tip.. PME tips are the best!! You have to have lots of patience too.. But I think everything needs patience anyway... :)

At first I was quite skeptical about myself and whether I can pull this off.. And I did it!! Well.. I thought the borders were fabulous.. I'm so proud of it.. However, the challenge is always writing.. It's easy to write on the table.. But when your hands have no support.. I don't know how.. I need to practise my writing skills.... alot alot alot..

The weather here has been harsh lately.. Rain, sun, Rain, Humid, Rain, Humid.. AAarrrghhhh~ It took 3 days for my simple flowers to dry.. And when I put it on the cake.. It fell on me.. very frustrating.. But thank god it's still looks ok.. And thank god to the person who invented silica gel.. I would have died without it... My flowers will never dry..

Overall, I am happy with the product and I hope Aishah loves it too.. Although I know I could really improve on the writings... Ooh.. And I love the embroidered ribbon that I source for the cake too!! You have to give me credits for the wonderful border right?? :)

~But that's the way that it goes
And that's what nobody knows..
And everyday, my confusion grows..~

Rainbow Cake

My mom was hinting to me whether I would be making a cake for my niece's 3rd birthday. I was just recovering from making a 3 tier 1s birthday cake from last weekend. But I guess I couldn't disappoint my own family and my niece. 

My mom mentioned that she wanted something with flowers. My niece is this vainpot who likes pink. She looks like the younger version of me. But I was a tomboy, unlike her. I didn't really like pink. I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Mighty Max. Hahaha... She likes Dora and Barney. 

Since I made a 2 pink cakes for 2 little girls previously. I decided to go with a white covered cake and I made a edible pink crown using gumpaste and patchwork cutters. For the cake, I decided to make the Rainbow cake that I've been wanting to make as really inspired by 2 of my favourite bloggers.. Sweetapolita and Whisk Kid. You should check out their blogs. Very inspirational. 

I realised kids only get excited blowing candles and seeing how colourful the cake is. So, it was a perfect opportunity for me to try making this cake. 

It turned out really pretty. I thought the colours would be too dark cos I was quite generous with the colour paste. I decided to play around with gliters too. I wanted to put glitters on the flowers but I was to tired running around and cleaning up all the glitters that I stopped at the crown and the butterflies. Anyway, I was so anxious, waiting for the time to cut the cake. I wanted to see if the 7 layers worked very well and whether it tasted as gorgeous as the cake.

The cake was layered with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I didn't dare to put too much buttercream in between because I was worried it wouldn't hold the weight of the fondant. But judging after cutting the cake, it was just nice enough for me. My sisters said it tasted yummy too. I was proud of this cake although I think there's some improvements I can do on the cake. 

Rainbow Cake (taken from The Whisk Kid)

White Cake (but not really)

2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
2 1/3 c (426 g) sugar
5 egg whites, room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 c (426 g) flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 1/2 c (355 ml) milk, warmed for 30 sec in microwave to bring to room temp
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring. Liquid will not be vibrant enough!

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Oil and line how ever many 9” cake pans you have (I have three and I just reused them). (I used 8" pans instead)

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg whites (I cracked them all into one bowl) and add them a little at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Then, alternating between wet and dry, add the milk and flour mixture in two parts.

Divide the batter amongst 6 bowls (It's about 1 c each, but I did it by weight. Weigh your mixing bowl before you begin adding ingredients and then subtract the weight of the bowl from the final measurement after the batter is completed. Divide that number by six and add that weight of batter to each bowl), and then whisk a fair amount of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Keep in mind that the color of the unbaked batter will be the color of the baked batter. Pour into the pans and bake for 15 minutes each.

When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.


Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream 
(This recipe makes more than enough for me)

To fill and crumb coat:
9 egg whites
1 ¾ c (350 g) sugar
4 sticks (452 g) butter, room temp
2 tsp lemon extract

To frost:
5 egg whites
1 c (200 g) sugar
2 sticks (226 g) butter, room temp
1 tsp lemon extract

Cook the egg whites and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved (test by rubbing some between your fingers. If it's completely smooth, it's done). Pour into another bowl (a stand mixer is preferable) and whip on high speed until room temp. Then, on a medium-slow speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is completely incorporated before adding the next. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer back to high speed and whip until it has come together, about five minutes. Add the extract, beat briefly and then use.

If the buttercream seems soupy after all of the butter is added and does not come together after whipping, refrigerate for 5 to 7 minutes and continue whipping until it becomes fluffy and workable.

Assembly
Stack the layers in your preferred order and fill and frost as you would any other cake.

Once frosted, the cake can be left on the counter without any problems, but feel free to refrigerate it. Just be sure that the cake is at room temperature when serving or the frosting will be hard, not smooth. (Cake is taste nicer/better at room temperature when cutting and serving)


~Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true~

KTM - Keretapi Tanah Melayu

I'm feeling really sad to see KTM Tanjong Pagar and the stretch of railway will be gone.. No more trains... No more lunching at KTM.. No more dates... No more Maggi Goreng.. One more nostalgic building/area erased in this country...

Truthfully I don't really lunch at KTM that often... But that place holds special memories for me.. The first time I step foot at KTM was when I was quite young and ignorant.. I remember going to Johor with my family for dinner.. It was during fasting month if I'm not wrong.. I have no idea why we decided to take the train.. But I can't recall much of those memories because I don't think I know where I was back then...

True memories started when my boyfriend brought me there for dinner one night.. Back when we were still awkward and dating... When I was still shy to even eat properly in front of him.. I didn't know even know what to order... So, I let him chose for me.. He told me that they have one of the best Mee Soto there... I was fascinated by the building and the surroundings... It was like... " Woahhh.. So this is the Tanjong Pagar KTM.. This is where all the cool ppl hangout at night.. (Like real!) hahaha.. And this is the famous Mee Soto??" I was like a mountain tortoise; just that I didn't really show it... It was a lovely date.. I always love to see new (old) places... And my love for historical buildings...  

Then a few years later, I worked nearby... I remember the long arduous journey I had to take just to get to my office from Tanjong Pagar MRT... Seeing the KTM building is like a sign... "Ooh.. my office is just a few minutes away!"... And by then I knew I had to rush because I was late.. hahaha.. 

Then came the virgin longest ride on KTM itself.. I remember always telling my significant other how I never took the train before... And how I've always wanted to take a sleeping train to somewhere.. Besides the insignificant train ride to JB when I was young, I think my first real train ride (MRT is not a real train to me) was at Europe... Lucky?? However I still long for the trains here.. In my very own mother-land or should I say neighbouring country... And so, my other half decided to take me on a short but meaningful train ride to Kluang... I was really excited although it was not a sleeping train... Kluang is like less than an hour away from Johor.. We sat on the train.. Walked here and there... We stood near the connector... I don't really know what the parts are called but it was where the exits were... Then, he opened the door while the train is moving and told me to stand near at the edge of the door and feel the gush of wind as the train travelled passed.. Scary but it was thrilling... Hey, I love cheap thrills!! haha.. He showed me where we were as the trains went by Singapore... It was really cool... Seriously.

Then, I changed job and KTM wasn't where I frequent except passing by a few times when we travelled to Vivo City by the motorbike... Until now, a few months being in my current job, I realised that I was just about 10 minutes walk away from KTM.. I went there to satisfy my craving of Maggi Goreng.. Seriously, it's so hard to find a decent tasting Maggi Goreng in Singapore.. I wonder why... Food (most of it) at KTM is cheaper and satisfying... And the place always reminds me of good memories.. Of me and my other half.. I don't think he feels the same way as I do.. But I guess it's just me.. ;)

KTM just officially closed its doors on 1st Jul... I had my last dinner there with my boyfriend 2 weeks ago... I just observed the surrouding for the very last time.. Sat down there wishing that they didnt have to close that place... I love History... I love historical/old building... Buildings like this are hard to come by these days, in Singapore.. Moreover it has so many memories that I hold so dear... It was sad to see it go... I am sad to see it go... Even if they decide to preserve that building, I don't think it would have the same aura... I don't think I would have the same feeling if I enter it again...

It may be a beneficial agreement between 2 countries.. It may be the time to move forward... To use the land more productively.. But to me, I think some things should just be left alone... Cos money cannot buy the memories I have of KTM..

My mother was telling us the other day, while walking to my house from my sis's house from Senja, she would have to cross Stagmont Ring, where the train passes by... If she does bring my Ariff (my little nephew) with her, he would stopped there just to watch the train pass.. And he would not leave until the train disappear from his sight.. I was moved to tears to hear that (I don't know why).. I hope that when he grows up, he would still remember what KTM is.. I just feel that it's this kind of historical things that we need to preserve to show our future generation what is history... to let them appreciate beautiful, simple things in life.. Sadly, we live in a world of greed and technology... or should I say country? 

On a lighter note, I would like to share a recipe.. Maybe, it would suit this vintage theme of KTM... Nothing is more traditional than a Pound Cake.. I decided to make a Chocolate Pound Cake... maybe cos I was feeling chocolate-y that day... But I would pick the original vanilla pound cake anytime over chocolate... This recipe came out drier than expected and I didn't really enjoy it.. Maybe because I've always found comfort in Sara Lee moist, dense, smooth, delicious Butter Pound Cake since the day I started eating Pound Cake.. hahaha.. 

Chocolate Pound Cake (taken from Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour or 1 3/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 deg F. (est 160 deg C)

2. Butter 9 x 5 inch pan or 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan (I used a 7x10 inch pan). Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or 2 regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other.

3. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt. (I sift it altogether).

4. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes.

5. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 - 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you're working, scrape down the bowl and beater often.

6. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer to low and add flour, mixing only until it is incorporated - don't overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula.

7. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top. Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45minutes. If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you're mixing 9x5 pan, you'll need to bake the cake for 70-75 minutes; the smaller pan need about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

8. Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes. Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

~And that's why I smile
It's been a while, since everyday and everything
Has felt this right...~