My 1st ever... 6 years ago...
Was sharing w my frined bout me and my baking stuff... Talk bout the 1st cake I ever design.. hahaa
well frankly I love that cake.. 100% design by me.. think tat time dear also buay tahan me hahahaa
thou design by me.. but it was sent to the bakery to bake n decor...
here goes
Being a ship lover.. or rather can u say navy pro... I took a few days to come up w this design... use up all the potoshop, words program..search the net for pic.. finaly piece them together...
For 21st birthday is always depicted with key to adulthood.. i choose the wheel of the ship instead. Yes.. somethg unusual for a girls' bday... the cake almost din get to my party..baker got prob doing it... anyway its 5kg haaa
Then.. the very following month.. I did my 1st ever cake
This is dear's 26th bday cake... 100% icecream hee... well... I haven learn how to bake back then.. so its quite an achievement.. but.... now i look at it.. i want to hide somewhere... hahahahaa not neat... and minimal tools usage... well not bad for a 1st timer lar ok? give me some credits lorrrrr hehe
Seems like I got some talent here n thr yeah...
Macarons
The craze of macaron is catching up.. after reading up and accumulating tips for almost a mth.. today I pluck up enuff courage to do them.
1st attempt was the Matcha favour
I managed to grow 'feets/skirts' on the macaron which is what is required.
2nd batch, chocolate macarons
I think I overmix this batch..the batter was more runny... and thus the mac were wrinkled and spread a little... still a bit soft...
I was so happy to see the feet/skirts since all my friends say they are a must else they are not macaron. I will try this again.. want to get the hard n firm type!
1 thing thou.. this thing is freaking sweet... and to make it a bit sweeter.. i fill them with icecream..thus makin icecream macaron
Idealy, I think I want some tangy sourish filling for the mac to balance off the sweet taste...
Verdict: will try again...
Footnote: Dear call this.. 'the thing w legs' hahaa.. thou he prob know its call macarons.. but he jus wan to b funnie w my thg w legs heheee
we ate the icecream filling ones... yum yum.. sth different...
Icecream at last
After very long.. finaly I decided to look into making of my non dairy icecream again.. I rem those were the days where I made them weekly.. and once I even made a cake out of the icecream for dear..
LAst night I decided to try.. since I got my pods.. and also got my million dollar strawberry jam...
and TADAHHHH
Strawberry swirl icecream with vanilla base..
Made some into ice cream cupcake with the left over sponge cake as well as icecream...
Texture is good.. no ice particle says dear.. but I need to improve on the flavouring.. not so nice I think... Must polish up my skill since I havent done ice cream for sooo long
Wilton Silicon Cup
Somewehre last year.. during a spree.. my friend got this cuppies... I wasnt really errm... keen on them.. maybe I dont like rubbery stuff..those who know me.. will know I love porcelain, stainless steel and crystalware. However.. for some reason or another which I forget.. thi syear I got these at Sunlik... Cost me like $18plus I think.. for a set of 12..
After I used them.. Now I chg my mind bout this cuppies.. thou rubbery, they are not as soft n wobbly as some silicon stuff.. I love the colours of cos.. =)
Mango Yoghurt Cheesecake
Did this cake many times..alwasy no chance to take any poto...
Maybe also it looks kind of similar to my mango mousse cake... thats why...
Anyway.. I did 3 of this cake last night.. for my class sampling today...
My students love them... really light and refeshing.. for a hot day like this.. and not so fattening =)
Strawberry Pregel
I am no fan of jam.. cos I hate sweet stuff.. yeah I bake alot but... haha i reallyc ant take anythg sweet..
Apart from the Cameron Highland Strawberry Jam (which is quite cheap).. this is 1 jam which I will not resist.. quite expensive too...
This is a product of Italy... cost a whopping $35 per bottle.. Just bought 1 bottle today at Creative with my pay.
I will do my donut and fill it up with this filling... strawberry hearts anyone???
Vanilla Pods
Couple of weeks ago... I spotted someone who can supply me with FRESh pods via USA...
They are the Tahitian pods and the Magagascar Bourbon pods.
I am selling them at 5 for $10 and 3 for $10 respectively.. They are of cos the better ones than u can get in the local stores... these are all plump are full of pods, while the local stores one are a tit too skinny...
My Pods from USA.
you can see that its very moist looking.. meaning its not dried out..
Used some to make vanila extract.. some to make icecream today...
My ice cream before freezing...
I used to HATE vanila icecream.. becos there is this funny taste... guess its because of the artifical kind of vanila extract they used that put mi off. Using REAl vanilla beans/pods dun have such funny after taste.. in fact they taste heavenly... u will feel like drifting to cloud nine..
The best part about these pods are also.. they give u nice specks of black dots in ur icecream, custard etc...
Heres how the specks look like....
Pretty??
Lets see how they turn out tomolo
Mango
As I revamp my blogs.. I also want to do more write up on food related stuff like fruits.
Mainly becos now I have got a better camera, I can snap the pic of fruits.. I dun prefer takign the pix off the net.. in case the owner of the pic get upset bout it.
Anyway... since mum gave us a mango the other day.. used it for the ice jelly dessert.
Mango fruits are oval and egg shaped with smooth, soft skin. The skin is usually a combination of green, red, and yellow. The interior flesh is bright orange and soft with a large, flat pit in the middle. Most mango turn yellow when ripe..
its rich in vitamin C, and low in calories. It is estimate per serving of mango contains 40 calories
Rip a recipe off the net
Mango-Avocado Salsa
2 mangos, diced medium
1 avocado, diced medium
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate until use.
Are You a good Cook?
| You Are an Excellent Cook |
You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning.
It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire... |
Ice Jelly with Kiwi Seed Topping
I know I have posted this before.. many moons ago.. but I can thelp but do a new post today since I did some ice jelly for dessert tonite due to the HOT weather... reason being I got my new cam.. I know I annouced 100 times but im still so happy with it.. so I snap more pic trying to fiddle w the setting and so on...
Well let mi introduce the ingredient use. Or rather 1 ingredient tats being use..
The Kiwi Seed
Looks like sesame alrite?
These .. if u have gone to food court to eat cold dessert..most of the cold dessert comes with this...
U need to soak them in water for a good 10mins... then.. they will form a coating aroudn the seed like this
Looks familiar???
u onli need to topped them over ur dessert.. and ready to b serve.. no cooking require...
Le mi assemble the ice jelly and get ready to serve... =)
No sugar no lime... cool and healthy...
Lets dig in yeahhhh
Recipe as follows:
25g of ice jelly powder
1 litre of water
Toppings:
fruits such as peaches, mango, soursop, strawberry, kiwi
1tbsp Kiwi seeds (soaked for at least 20 mins)
Direction:
1. Mix water with jelly powder..stir till dissolve and bring to boil.
2. let cool and set.
3.After jelly set.. scoop out with spoon onto bowl, top with ice shavings (I use my blender to crush the ice into ice kacang like txture)
4. Top with fruits ... this time. I topped with home mande strawberry puree.. becos I dunwant to add any sgar syrup or lime to the dessert(for health sake)
5. Top with kiwi seeds.. serve immediately
Shakers
Was posting this for the rest to see...a nd tot it be nice if I can post them in my own blog...
I have a soft spot for ktichen stuff...esp shakers.. Collected quite a few set over the years.. I stopped myself from buying more already unless they r really special... else dear will jump.
This is a stainless steel set.. I got it at the weekend market at Christianstad, Sweden.
This is a mini pair of shaker, wedding gift by Elisabeth, my Swedish friend. The colour is tanishing due to oxidation... wonder how to clean it nicely...
This is a pooh bear crystal shaker from Prague, Czechoslovakia. When I saw it.. I know I must buy since im a pooh fan.. sadly they only have pooh... This is VERY precious to me...
This set comes complete with a dish and toothpick holder... is also from Czechoslovakia.
I have more.. but very common set... dunno where I stashed them... all this I dont use.. I display in my cabinet...
New Apron==Forever Friends
Last week at a gathering... a forumer friend "I" gave me this as a gift.. Was really surprise by the gesture since we probably dun even know each other well. But she say its to thank me for all the effort on the sprees and such... Thank you very much my friend. Its nice to get to know allof you
I went home and take out the gift, it was an apron.. "Forever Friends' print... looks really sweet.. and the best part is, its pvc backing.. so I dun hav to worry my clothes get wet fr the wet apron.
I did not open the hwole thing up till todaywhen I finaly got my chance... and guess what....
See... so pretty.... the sunflower is actualy a pocket... hehe
The bigger surpise came... the back of the apron looks like this
The typical jap/korean kind I like but cant find.. Now.... I dunno if i can bear to use it.. for its very light in colour.. so scare i stain it leh...
Thanx again my friend... I hope to meet up with all of u again
Donut Crazy
At my donut class...
u can learn all this
Strawberry filled donut ring
Strawberry chocolate heart
Piaaza Donut
Chocolate jewel donut.
Wasabi mayo Donut
Picture not ell taken as this are all squashed after keeping in box... will do more of them to take pic nxt week =)
Lofty--Updated with my creation
UPDATE
This is what I have done...
I hope little Jordan like it... I saw him today for 1st time.. so cute... hehe
******
I volunteered to do this cake for sale.. someone online looking for homebaker to do it.. and thus I offered my service.
I dunno how it will turn out.. i hope its good... else i can go Bang wall liao...
After Photoshoping it,, it should look like this.. but on a cake.. hmmmm
Korean Jab Chae
Go healthy.. go korean... tonight's dinner
Tada....
Anyhow cook..still nice heheee...
Before I forgot how i do it... let me record this down...
Ingredients:
2 portion of tang myun- soak in water till soften
2 medium carrot- shreded
1 medium onion- shreded
2 scallions- sliced
1 packet of caixin- blanched, cut into thirds
1/4 cup thinly sliced frozen beef/pork, chicken works too
6 dried mushrooms- soaked and sliced
Fish cake in beancurd skin slicely thinly
Tang myun marinade
1/6 cup light soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp water
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic- finely minced
3 tbsp mirin
some jap seasoning which i found in the kitchen.. cos i dont have mirin
sesame seeds
fresh ground pepper
Direction:
1. Add sesame oil in pan, fry the garlic till fragrant, add in the carrot, mushroom, cai xin.. then fish cake.. Fry till semi cook.
2. Add in scallions, then tang myun.
3. pour in the marinate... add some water if desire...
4, Serve hot.
***
Did this again today for a gathering...
Hokkaido Milk Loaf
Tried this today... wow weet... so nice...
This time round.. I managed to get a nice loaf with nice side.. bcos I went an extra mile to line my loaf pan... else i will have a hard time taking it out of the pan... this looks as good as Bread talk ones.... I just cant stop praising... hahaaa
After coolign it down, with my not so good knife...
I slice it thickly, for im afraid if i do it too thin... there will be alot of left overs... looks like im wrong .....
Even dear say it VERY soft.. he say he want to eat it after dinner hehe... with my home made kaya of cos! if not.. just dip in cold milk.... hmmmmm
Before I knew it.. we already have 1 piece each before our dinner... and its realy good.. I tot of making 1 more loaf tomolo since caca is coming by .. she can bring home for dad n mum to eat.... with my kaya of cos.....
GoodWood Park Durian Puff n Wafer
Out of Curiosity, we went to buy the durian puff today.. since I made some the other day.. and I had some very good reviews. I thought, since GWP hotel ones are soooo famous-licious..maybe I shld try and copy .... so enthusiatiscally, dear and I went to buy.. 1st i ask for 6 pcs of puff and a wafer. The wafer is actualy 2 piece of wafer biscuit and sandwiching a piece of ice cream alike durian pulp. Actualy i tink the ice cream man along orchard road sells better durian wafer if u allow mi to call that wafer instead of ice-cream. and it only cost a dollar.. those at GDP.. the wafer is like 6.50 ok... wah piang..can buy 6 icecream and 2 packet of tissue lor...
Anyway, the wafer is no big deal.. forget it.. its dear who wanted it anyway.. at 1st wanted the durian slice but out of stock. so no choice let him have the wafer. I can do a better job... except that I dunno where to buy wafer biscuit lor... anyone can tell me where????
Now... back to the puffy puff. Since Rachel's colleagues commented that my puff is hard... hahaa.. let mi tell u all.... I think thou mine is not as soft as those selling say maybe at angie's choice. But definitely better than most of them.. why????
Look at this
This is what I paid for, at $1.80 per piece.
Taste: the puff are HARD, and dry. when I say hard, they are really hard... probably when u drop them they will break into 2. errrr.. almost like egg shell. The filling..thou they are BIG, however, there is no texture of creaminess. Its just 1 whole lump of pulp and a little cream mix into it with little taste at 1st.
What I think is, either I so sway, got some left over puff from 2 days ago, which is already froze bitten. Or they really add somethg to it to preserve it till someone comes along to buy it. Basically the whole thg is dry. for $1.80.. which prob u fin in 2 bite.. and leaving no sense of satisfaction.
What I feel: is that durian puff shld be creamy, the cream of the durian should taste wonderful rich, and yet satisfying. With no sense of guilt(fromt he whatever cream u mix it with).
I think for now.. Im still giving my own durian puff 2 thumbs up (which is very rare).. I will priced my puff same price as GWP. I think its a close match if not better than them.
Im glad i did not proceed to buy the durian mousse cake which is priced at $6.90 a piece, or $45 per 1.3kg. MY OWN durian cake is more worth the money. DEFINITELY.
Spikey Love
A Durian cake order..
"Happy" is requested on the cake..
Tried to make it look a little like durian... after all.. durian have got its sweet and bitter side.. just like Love... I hope my friend and her bf are happy after eating this...
Durian Crazy
Last night went to buy durian.. they are sooo rich... pureed them and did this
Mini Durian cake upon dear's request
Durian Cream puff... my gf(s) will get to eat these tomorrow.
And this
Durian puff..the difference between this and the above.. is this one is pure durian paste... no cream added.. so rich n creamy..I keep popping them into my mouth...
Kaya
In preparation of making my Seri Kaya Cake.. I made some kaya just now.
Using my breadmaker.. rather easy except that u need to blend it till smooth with a blender after that. Very thick! Was actualy tempted to try out durian kaya.. looksliek gotto try another day since the durian came home too late. Will update on my seri kaya cake again
Miso Brinjal
Running thru my list of cooking stuff..cant decide what to cook.. I always must cook somethg which dear like... fearing he will eat till sian then ask mi dun cook anymore.. Brinjal.. his favourite.. keeping my finger cross no complains from him.
well.. I bought wrong brinjal.. should have bought the angmoh kind.. end up with the asian kind.. there fore over grill it... My lousy camera of cos did not help much...
Ingredients:
2 brinjal, sliced lengthwise.. and cut to short length
2 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mayo
olive oil to drizzle
Method
1. mix miso, sugar and mayo together into a paste.
2. Drizzle oil on brinjal cut side up, and grill for 10 mins.
3. Turn it opp side.. and cont to grill for 10 mins...
4. turn it bk again.. apply paste on brinjal and continue to grill for 10 mins.. Serve hot.
Japanese Baked Tofu
Dear came back w a recipe booklet fr NTUC the other day... Printed by Unicurd Tofu.. inside there is a jap tofu recipe which dear req to try n here goes
Ingredients:
1 box of chinese tofu
1 white onion
1 stalk of spring onion
1 tbsp of bonito flakes
1 tsp of sesame seeds
Sauce ingredients
1/2 cup japanese soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
Method:
1. Cut tofu into 4, drain off excess water.
2. Slice white onion thinlu and place on top of tofu.
3. Mix sauce together... and pour over tofu. Bake at 180 degree for 20 mins. U can op to steam it instead as I see thr is no diff in texture.
4. Sprinkle sesame seed and spring onion on top.. Top with bonito flakes. Serve hot.
Tip: Meat/fish floss maybe used instead of bonitos.
KimChi
Kimchi making today. As usual. bug Pris many times bout it.. finaly she send mi a recipe out of agaration.. and so i 'jelly jelly' do it...
Its not difficult actualy.. U just need to convince urself to eat the raw fermented veggies (which I hardly ever did) and so. no choice.. I make myself buy veggies from CS instead of NTUC.. their veggies always seems nicer, fresher, cleaner..and of cos MORE expensive. Came bk with a big wong bak, some spring oniong... carrots...
After 4 hours of salting the wong bak.. they are soft enuff to proceed to applying the chilli paste on them... I try to use a spatula.. alas.. spatula.. garang gabok... some part of leaves no paste..end up with using my hands.. and Out come my big glass jar. which Dea got me for making rice wine.. now it come to good use again.. to make these yummy kimchi.
After i rolled them nicely (ok quite nicely to mys tandard ok) I ask dear if they do look like kimchi.. He reply: a little.. come come smell I said... smell like kimchi?? he say YES hahaha... Yeahh.... He very helpful.. the next thing he said was.. put in the storeroom lar! haha.. ok ok in to the storeroom u go kimchi.. I see u in a day's time...
Meanwhile... heres how it looks like just after I roll and put them in the jar
After 4 days... this is what i get from the fridge
Gave some to Ginny.. and she smsed me to tell mi they r good. her colleagues enjoyed them alot. Im so happy.. Thanx Pris for recipe. If u want to try... the recipe is
here
*******
this is done on 20th June
BiBimBap
Our korean dinner... my 1st attempt...
Thanx to Pris who let mi bug her so many tiems askign this n that... thou not as nice as hers... but well.. reallybetter than some shops hahaa.. no bragging....
Just a rough guide to how to cook it.. since I also agar agar...
for the meat marinate:
2 tbsp gochujang(korean chilli paste)
some sugar to taste,
1/4 grated korean pear,
garlic
onions
sesame seeds.
Marinate them together and bring to cook.
Fry an egg and top it on ur rice.
Stir fried some chye sim and carrot. No salt needed.
Stir fry some mushroom, sprinkle some salt (Pris say it makes the sappy taste fr the mushy go away)
U can also stir fry soem big bean sprouts..which I cant get...
Arrange them nicely on the bowl ..toss and eat!!
Happy Mother's Day
Well.. order time!!!! As usual.. Mango mousse cake.. why so?? bcos its YUMMY!
JT ordered a cake from me last min.. I got only less than 24 hours to prepare... but well.. I did it!!!! just that ran out of mango puree.. gotto get dear buy for me.. luckyhe got it right..thanx dear =)
Here is Jt's cake... Im quite stress when i do thisorder.. not becos I have no confidence in myself.. Rather.. JT have never tasted my cake.. and thus I dunno if my standard is up to his expectation anot. Every new client I get.. I keep my finger crossed... else there goes my reputation.. I hate it when Ppl keep bugging me to do sth I have no confidence in. arghh ... but forget it.. Im never doign anythg I am not confident again! hehe
Thankfuly, JT allow mi to do watever cake I am ok with.. hehe...
He just told me his ma say the cake is a gd cake.. wowowowoww.... I so happy... Never easy to do a nice cake of old ppl esp when I know she gt HBP.. cant do too rich n sinful things...
Anyway here is the simple design cake JT's ma got... Im glad I make her happy hehe
And this is Bao's order... tomolo will send to her.
This is for my own mama... its the brownie cake which A kindly shared with me.using my own v special ganache with alcohol... well.. alot of 1st for this cake.. 1st time using ganache for this cake, 1st time aft sooo long i touch sugar paste... I knead n knead like siao.. mix colour so hard.. just to get this perfect pinkish red colour for mum. I HATE sugar paste cos alwyas gotto be wary of ants... today very heng.. with me improve skill hehe.. not too bad...
Put the words Sweet Mama.. instead of Happy Mother's Day ... tooold fashion lar.. and I hope she will always remain in her sweet mood hahahahaha... I bet my sisters will not fail to agree with me...
And all other cakes I will be doing... too exhausted already... phew...
Happy Mother's Day!
