MY JOURNEY AS A CAKE DECORATOR (part 5: figurines)

On Friday I had to make and bake few things:

1. Cupcakes for Ayin’s birthday

2. Cupcakes for Gabby (farewell + 2010 + 2011 b’day gift)

3. Dessert for Ayin’s open house dinner

4. Cake pops for Eqa’s bday at mommy’s crib

For Ayin’s cupcake I went for butterfly theme. She loves butterflies and I thought it’ll be a good practice for me to make one. Gabby I decided to go for roses. The real reason is that I have to practice making roses for this upcoming wedding event (SIL’s friend). Dessert I chose to make Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate Pear Pavlova.

Birthday Gal!

Gabby's farewell cupcakes

Cake pops is my new favourite party gift. I found this recipe from Bakerella website http://www.bakerella.com/dont-lick-bite%E2%80%A6/. Its soooooo cute, tasty and creative! So I decided to give it a go. FYI this is not an easy thing to do. You have to make the red velvet cake, and then once that’s done mix it with the cream cheese icing and make small balls out of it. Once that’s done, freeze it. Prepare the melted chocolate or white chocolate (with colouring). Take lollipop sticks and poke in the cake balls and dip in the melted chocolate. Use a Styrofoam so that you can let the cake pop stand. You can go nuts by drawing on the cake pops like what I did (I just follow Bakerella website). See? Lot of work but it was worth it. Children didn’t know how to eat it! They thought it was lollipop and start sucking but then they realise nothing’s happening so they chuck it aside. Hehehehehehe... the moms had to show them how to eat it. Once they know.... there goes the cake pops!

HAPPY EID 2010!

Eqa getting her 'duit Raya' from Atok and Uncle Adil

This year the whole family decided to celebrate eid at home. Usually we travel back to my mom's hometown and celebrate eid there and probably stay 2 nights and then we travel to my dad's hometown which is not that far. Me and my mom we plan to do an 'open-house' where we invite relatives, friends and neighbors to enjoy eid with us. We prepare the usual Raya food - nasi himpit and kuah kacang, lemang and beef rendang, serunding. And at the same time we cook non Raya food like Shrimp Scampi with Farfalle, my mom's delicious fried beef popiah, SIL bowl (bole / boal... i dunno how to spell the name of this dish), chicken caesar salad, roast beef and fried chicken. I baked some cupcakes as well. The open house went on from lunch till almost dinner time. By then there was almost no food left! For me that shows people enjoyed the food and all the preparation and hard work was worthwhile.

To all my muslim friends and everyone celebrating eid......

'SELAMAT HARI RAYA & MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN'

SHRIMP SCAMPI WITH FARFALLE (i love this recipe! AWESOME-NESS!)

· 500gm farfalle pasta

· 4 tablespoons butter

· 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

· 2 cloves garlic, minced

· Pinch red pepper flakes

· 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (extra)

· 1/4cup seasoned plum tomatoes (chopped fresh Roma tomatoes, basil, oregano and garlic butter)

· Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

· 1/2 cup chicken stock

· Juice of 1 lemon

· 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves

For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil, cook for about 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is not quite done. Drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil. When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta. Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.

Tip: Scampi butter sauce: seafood stock, butter, lemon, basil, garlic and onion

At the same time i manage to make a birthday cake for Mei's b'day. This 'Naughty Chocolate Cake' ... O M G! D... wait for it..... LICIOUS! hehehhehe..... I made something that was completely unexpected....

NAUGHTY CHOCOLATE CAKE

175g Self raising flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 Tsp Bicarbonate soda

150g Caster sugar

2 Eggs Beaten

150 ml (1/4 pint) Sunflower oil

150 ml (1/4 pint) Semi skimmed milk

2 Tbsp Golden syrup

For the Coating and filling

75g Unsalted butter

175g Icing Sugar

3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

Drop of Milk

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 18cm (7 inch) sandwich tins.

Sieve the flour, cocoa and Bicarbonate of Soda into a bowl. Add the sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the centre and add the syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well with electric whisk until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the two tins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from oven, leave to cool before turning out onto a cooling rack.

To make your butter icing, place the butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder then add enough milk to make the icing fluffy and spreadable.

If the cake has risen a little to high then use a serrated knife to even off the top, now sandwich the two cakes together with the butter icing and cover the sides and the top of the cake with more butter icing.

MY JOURNEY AS A CAKE DECORATOR: MASS PRODUCTION

Every year during fasting month, me familia we tend to organize a break fast for our neighborhood mosque. Last year i baked carrot cakes, so this year it was cupcakes. I followed Billy Reece's recipe for vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. Yummmyyy and soft!!! Check it out.... p/s: i made this with an injured left-hand

This was the leftovers from Pooh's cake. Cut 'em into squares and pour melted colour icing on top of it.

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes about 30 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Chocolate Cupcakes by Billy Reece
Yields 24 to 27 cupcakes

• 2 sticks unsalted butter (8 ounces)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
• 1 cup light brown sugar (7-3/4 ounces)
• 4 large eggs (one at a time)
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chocolate should be melted, then cooled for approximately 15 minutes before being added).
• 2 cups cake flour (9-1/4 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Cream unsalted butter and both sugars. Add eggs (one at a time) and the melted unsweetened chocolate. Add and alternate flours with buttermilk / vanilla

Place cupcake paper into each cup of 2 muffin pans (each pan yielding 12 muffins). Then fill each cup with 1 leveled off scoop of an ice cream scooper.

Bake at 350 degrees in regular oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

(ok this post is way overdue. The event happened during fasting month)

THE GOOD.... For today’s break fast I thought of cooking Soto Ayam (Indonesian verision) for my family. Never attempt to cook this dish before so I’m thinking I got to do this right! The recipe I took was from http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/mom-series-soto-ayam-fid-478535. Now, the process of making this dish was not that hard. I recommend to anyone who would want to have a go to try out this recipe. Ones the spices kicks in, the aroma is just fantastic!

Mom Series: Soto Ayam

Soto Ayam is an Indonesian chicken soup. Very traditional and very delicious. Basically it's a yellow lemony chicken broth eaten with rice and a load of condiments. Apart from maybe a couple hard to find ingredients, depending on where you live, it is actually really simple to make.

This Mom classic might trump all others. I don't think anyone has ever disliked my Mom's Soto Ayam. Native Indonesians ask for the recipe because it is so good. Even when I started the "Mom Series" recipes I started to get requests for the Soto Ayam. Now believe it or not but Mom was a little apprehensive at first to blast her revered Soto Ayam secrets across the world wide web. I told her that if I post it will never be lost and generations from now our family can still make the best Soto Ayam ever. So here we go. (Note: All ingredients and quantities are as per Mom's recipe, however I did change the cooking technique very very slightly).

Recipe: (Serves 5-6)

4-5 lb whole chicken

4 cloves garlic

1 onion medium sized rough chop

2 kemiri nuts or candle nuts (macadamia nut can be used as a substitute) (optional)

1 large stock lemon grass

2 inches ginger cut or broken into 2 or 3 chunks

4 fresh kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 beef bouillon cube

2 tbsp canola oil

salt to taste

Remove skin and halve the chicken. Chop skin in to quarter sized pieces and dry with paper towel and salt liberally. Using a food processor puree kemiri, onion, and garlic. Heat a dutch oven or soup pot to high and add canola oil and chicken skin. Render the skin for 2 - 3 minutes and remove. (If you want chicken cracklings as a condiment reserve the rendered skin, deep fry at high heat 375 degrees F until crispy brown).

Add puree and stir, scraping up all the chicken bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cook until the puree begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. Then add turmeric, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, and bouillon cube and cook for about a minute. Salt chicken liberally and add to the pot. Then add water until chicken in completely immersed. Turn heat down to a simmer once the water has come to a boil. Simmer until the chicken easily pulls away from the bone, about 1 hour .

Remove chicken from the soup. When chicken is cooled pull all the meat from the bones. (At this point the soup is done. It is your choice to serve the chicken separately as a condiment or add it back to the chicken. Mom always adds it back to the soup. I think it's better because the meat stays nice and moist.)

Add chicken back into the pot and add salt to taste.

Now Soto Ayam isn't Soto Ayam without the condiments. The condiments in a way make or break the soup. They add texture, flavor, and heat. Beside rice and sambal, every family in Indonesia has their own favorite combo of condiments. Below is a list of our family favorites.

Condiments:

Nasi himpit

fried red onions (buy at any oriental supermarket)

fried garlic (buy at any oriental supermarket) (optional)

bean sprouts

lime quartered

chicken cracklings (optional)

sambal oelek

Place all the condiments on a big platter next to the soup. Then assemble with all or non of the condiments. Any way you like it. That is how it is traditionally served.

Make it! Eat it! Enjoy!

THE BAD..... We had like 4 minutes till we break fast. I quickly laid out the condiments for the Soto Ayam and grab a cloth to carry the pot to the table when suddenly the cloth got stuck on the stove and causes the pot to tip to the left and spilled all over my hand! The only thing I did naturally was screamed. My SIL screamed as well and quickly grab toothpaste to swab my injured hand. Now at this moment it hasn’t sting so I manage to sit down and break fast. But within few minutes I felt it. The inflammation or burning was overwhelming so my SIL quickly drove me to the nearby clinic. The doctor cleaned up my hand and applied cream. She gave me pills for the pain and I went back. I couldn’t really finish my dinner so I cleaned up and went to sleep with one hand sticking out of the bed.

THE UGLY..... Woke up the next morning and ta-daaaaaa...... I’m now partly an elephant lady. The inflammation causes bubbles to appear on my skin which usually happens to burn injuries. Ok, it was pretty ugly bad looking and the pain was unbearable. So I ended up not fasting and continuously popping pills.

Had to go back to the doctor to pop the bubbles.

Now going back to THE GOOD..... the soto ayam tasted awesome. But don’t think I’ll be making another one anytime soon. I’ve gotten a bit paranoid cooking soupy dishes. Probably once this hand heals completely I’ll start cooking it again.

p/s: my recovering hand.....

MY JOURNEY AS A CAKE DECORATOR (PART 4: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME & EQA)

I wanted to try my hands on baking a 2D cake for my niece. I had few cartoon characters in mind. There’s Dibo the Gift dragon, Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Kungfu Panda (yes she loves Po!). But at the end it was Pooh. I chose Madeira cake coz it tastes nice and wasn’t that hard to make. I prepared two 8” square cakes. Once I’ve baked the cakes I let it cool and put it in the freezer and leave overnight. The next day took it out and placed it on the board. I’ve already cut out an A3 size Winnie the Pooh and stick it on the cake. Using a sharp knife, I cut the shape of Pooh using the cut-out as a guide. I crumb coat Pooh using buttercream icing and shove it in the fridge. Leave it for a few hours, took it out and start designing it. It was hard getting the right colour for Pooh’s fur. Honestly it came out as tanned Pooh. But the finish product came out not bad. I do surprise myself sometimes. Didn’t really expect it will come out almost similar looking to the original Pooh.

Eqa with her new bicycle. Cutting cake ceremony!

Waitrose

Madeira Cake

This cake improves with time, so can be made in advance. It also freezes well.

Preparation time	15 minutes
Cooking time	1 hour plus cooling
Total time:	75 minutes, plus cooling

Serves: 8

Ingredients

170g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
170g caster sugar, plus extra to serve
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
4 eggs
170g plain flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
50g chopped candied peel (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Butter a 225g non-stick loaf tin (about 12 x 20cm) or a 20cm-diameter round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter, sugar, orange and lemon zest in a food processor and whiz until fluffy. Still beating, add one egg at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the lemon juice, then the flour, salt and baking powder, followed by the chopped candied peel, if using. Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about an hour or until golden and springy. If the cake is browning too quickly, loosely cover the top with foil but remember to remove it shortly before the end of cooking. Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
3. Put the cake tin on a wire rack and leave for 15 minutes. Then remove the cake from the tin and sprinkle generously with caster sugar. Leave to cool. Madeira cake tastes best if not eaten on the day of cooking, so when cold, tightly wrap in foil and leave for a day or two.

Celebrate my b'day with SIL's family. Thanks for the present!!! LUV IT!

Aunty Mei's present I LOIKE! thank you... x