Fresh fruit sour cream cake

This blueberry sour cream cake is somewhere between light sponge and typical local (UK) cakes (rather dense)so I would say medium light...lol. Ok, so it was one of the 'ladies who lunch's birthday and I volunteered to bake the cake. It's a simple to do cake with very few steps, i.e. dump all ingredients into the mixer and mix till it drops off the spoon easily and bake! Of course you still have to measure flour, sugar etc and wait for butter to softened which is forever in this climate other than that, how simple can it be? I decided on a fresh cream/mascarpone icing and fresh fruit theme. As I was only baking it the morning for lunch, I didn't want to mess around with smoothing icing so out came the chocolate fingers to go round the sides. I must learn to make chocolate cigarillos, it's on my to conquer list now.

Cross section, baked blueberries turn sweet and lovely!

 

 

 

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Salted caramel chocolate cake

It's other half's 40th birthday, so what cake? A friend was also baking a birthday and she decided on a gooey moist salted caramel chocolate cake. I decided to give it a go too as I've not made salted caramel before.

Oh! It is evil this thing called salted caramel! I'm not the kind who likes to lick spoons when cooking or baking but this salted caramel calls to me and just can't help myself! Consider this a warning for those brave enough to try! And yes, I made some chocolate shards for the first time too but the excitement of the salted caramel overshadows it.

Pure indulgence!

I went for a moist sponge instead of gooey as per my friend

 

 

Chocolate shards and icing

 

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Flooded icing cookies

It's been a struggle getting back into work mode since a great holiday back to Malaysia. So this weekend something to remind me of the whole point of going to work i.e. to pay for the things I enjoy, is much needed. A friend shared a video she came across on uTube ...what else is there than to let myself be suckered in and give it a go. So this is the result of trying out flooded icing and wet on wet techniques. It was fun and not too complicated but as always working with icing sugar, the cleanup is not so fun. And since I'm not a fan of super sweet biscuits, I'm going to need willing volunteers to eat them!

Made some pink ones too

 

 

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Chocolate fudge cake

Chocolate fudge cake Is on the menu this time round, needless to say it's for another potluck, you all know the drill by now. I made this cake before a long time ago for my girl's 1st birthday, that time it was covered ready rolled icing. This time I decided to cover it with luscious ganache and then on a whim because I bought too many bars of chocolate, chocolate covered cherries! This cake is the kind that needs to sit and think about being delicious before it actually becomes delicious for a day or two which is great as it means I don't have to have panic attacks about running out of time before the dinner gong sounds!

There's not a lot I am proud of but this is one of them!

Let is shine!

Dark choc and cherries...match made in heaven!

 

 

 

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Sarcher torte

I first saw this on the Great British Bakeoff, the shiny ganache like topping on a moist chocolate base looks really lush. So when it's other half's birthday, what better time to give it a test. Though I was up at the crack of dawn on the birthday day to make the cake, the first thing I read on the recipe was that this is a cake that is best eaten a day after it was baked...bummer! I don't happen to have a time machine with me so there's not really much I can do but to go with it. We left it till really late at night to cut the cake, poor little one was past her bedtime and only the excitement of getting cake and blowing candles kept her awake. The cake tasted just ok and I had to reign in my disappointment and hold judgement till the next day. As it turns out, the cake was lovely, moist and chocolatey the next day, so thanks Mary Berry for a lovely recipe.

 

 

Fastest way to ruin a cake is with shaky icing writing!

 

Chocolate butterflies

When I was invited to a friend's for lunch this weekend and it slipped out that it was her birthday, I decided to make a cheesecake for her. Since she was not wanting to celebrate her birthday (she claims 'I'm old already lah'), it seemed like a suitable choice as its not too birthday-ish but yet it's still a cake. To make it special, I decided to look into tempering chocolate and making decorations with it. I found a quick and simple method of tempering chocolate using the microwave. The trick is not to be impatient and melt the chocolate in small bursts, once done, to make the decorations it's more of a balance of having to move the hand quickly in order to keep a consistent flow of chocolate to draw with and keeping the movements controlled so we don't end up with blobs of chocolate which is what we started out with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drying out on non stick parchment

 

 

Rainbow birthday cake

 

My little girl's 3rd birthday was coming up and I was looking for something special to top last year's Mickey Mouse clubhouse cake. Just so happened at that time rainbow cakes seemed to be all the rage. As I was browsing at sample rainbow cakes, my little one came up and asked if it was for her birthday, at that time without thinking I just said yes. Since then every time I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, the answer was a rainbow cake and thus I was committed.

First, I tried a recipe from a magazine where I first saw the rainbow cake though reviews said the recipe was not great. After trying it I had to agree with the reviews, it was not a good recipe at all, though the baked layers turned out level and would hold stable stacked up in 6-7 layers, the texture and taste was bad (only was to describe it) and I know it's not due to my baking skills as that was exactly what the reviews said.

So I reverted to a trusty sponge recipe that I know and used that instead with fingers crossed that stacking 6 layers would not be too much. Another thing that I tried new was to freeze the baked layers, I read that it would not impair the quality of the cake and its true. On the day it was cut, the layers tasted as they were freshly baked and this freezing method saved me a lot of time as I had to bake 6 separate layers and now I could do this ahead of time and spread the baking over two days (yes, I was being El Cheapo and only used a single tin to bake all 6 layers).

Then it was decision on fresh cream or buttercream icing, I opted for buttercream as the cake will be rather big and buttercream will last longer than fresh cream. Then after more browsing for decorating ideas and how to do buttercream icing, I took the plunge.

As is reported by those who have made a rainbow cake, to see the surprise and delight on people's faces when the first cut is made to reveal the layers is very satisfying indeed and makes the effort of baking the layers worth it....I totally agree!

Rainbow made out of smarties

 

 

The first cut

Almost gone!

Good look at the layers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pandan angku (tortoise cake)

Time for another potluck, this time it's to say farewell to a fellow Malaysian who will be leaving for Brunei. I remember she mentioned that she liked eating angku and since I bought mini angku moulds the last trip I was home, I decided it was time I learnt to make this kuih. Angku is normally bright orange in colour though 'ang' really means red and 'ku' means tortoise as this kuih is shaped liked a tortoise. Angku also has its significance as it is usually given by the parents of newborn babies when they reached the month milestone as well as eaten during birthdays to signify good fortune and longevity. Mine however, was green from pandan as I love the aroma of pandan as well as it is a natural colouring rather than an artificial colouring. Anyway, good luck to you Gaye and your family and may you have good fortune in your new home!

The ladies at Gaye's farewell

 

 

Sarah's 2nd Birthday lunch

After as small family lunch on Sarah's actual birthday, its time to party with friends and neighbours on the following Saturday, so its finger food galore!

In the line-up we have :

Marinated figs with mozzarella and prosciutto
This little kebab is described as the modern version of pineapple on a stick. Laced with basil infused olive oil for a dressing, it really does get the taste buds going!

Baked goats cheese with honey
Little medallions of goats cheese lightly baked and drizzled with honey, served on a bed of spinach leaves. I'm generally not a fan of large chunks of cheese but the combination of flavours here (this includes getting a mouthful of spinach) is just right!

Smoked Salmon with fennel slaw on toasted spelt bread

To tingle the taste bud further, there is smoked salmon given a sophisticated twist with fennel slaw, sprinkled with fried capers (who would have thought to fry capers! When fried, they become little salty crispy nuggets, yumm indeed!). All this served on toasted spelt bread. Oh yes, don't forget, topped with avocado too!

Chicken and mushroom pastry puffs

And there is something for the less adventurous, triangles of puff pastry filled with chicken and mushroom pie filling. Get them while they are hot!

Sausage, cheese, tomato ciabatta squares
This is one for the kids and the kids in adults, I mean who doesn't like sausages, right? Since this is a finger food party, the sausages are sliced and placed on top of ciabatta squares, spread with tomato sauce (proper sauce mind you, not maggi tomato ketchup) and topped with mozzarella. Pinned in place with a cocktail stick and then toasted till the cheese is melted and golden!

 Bread Salad and Apple Coleslaw
To accompany the food, there is of course the salad. I made two types of salads as I've noticed that there are two kinds of vege eaters, one that goes for the green leafy variety and the other that eats vegetables but not the floppy green kind! So the two selected to cater to everyone's perference are a bread salad with an Italian dressing (the green leafy one) and a simple apple coleslaw ( for those adverse to all things green and leafy)

Vanilla ice-cream with balsamic blueberries
To end the meal, a nice creamy vanilla ice-cream topped with balsamic blueberries and a piece of wafer. The balsamic blueberries were made by simply heating blueberries with sugar and balsamic vinegar till just the berries are just about bursting. And no, I did not make the ice-cream but I did grow the mint!

Pineapple rolls
And lastly, something to keep the hand occupied while we talk away, pineapple rolls. This is a typical cookie during festivities at home. Made with melt in the mouth pastry and homemade pineapple jam.

And that is the end of one of the biggest solo cooking feat I have attempted this year, now to put my feet up and let someone else feed me for a change! :)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Chocolate Fudge Cake

It's Sarah's 2nd birthday and now that she is old enough to have favourites when it comes to eating, the menu will have to be filled with her favourite things.

First up, the all important birthday cake and its no contest that it will have to be a chocolate cake. That was the easy part, the hardest part was deciding what shape and theme it would be. Since she practically eats and breathes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it did cross my mind to make a Mickey cake but in the end I decided to bite the bullet and go for the whole thing. So after a few weeks of looking a MMCh cakes, my head was spining and I practically saw Mickey and co everywhere I looked but I digress so back to baking and cooking. After having spent a fortune on ready rolled icing, I was raring to go, unfortunately the little lady did not go to bed till 11pm, which meant I could not start till then. So it was in the middle of the night till the early hours that I was crafting away in the kitchen and guess what, there is a certain peace to the stillness of the hour which made it very pleasant to work.

My biggest challenge to date

The sliced cake ..yummy!

Closeup on the front door detail

My shaky attempt at writing

 

The uncovered cake

The bits n pieces prior to assembly