Mothers Day Special

Mothers’ Day Special

I’ve been wanting to make these cakes long time back, but it was just a project in my mind waiting for an occasion. Mothers’ Day seems to be perfect for this project. 

Originally the project was mini cakes covered in fondant, but I personally don’t like the taste of fondant icing, however they really look neat and majestic.  I’m more considering of the consumption of the icing rather than seeing the icing on the side of the plate uneaten. That would break my heart to see that.  Of all the effort you’ve spent making the cake beautiful, they are not eaten in most cases.  This is why I prefer tasty icing on my cakes and try to make them look beautiful as I can. But for this project, I have put myself up to the test of making my own fondant flowers. This took so much of the time making individual flowers but it was worth the effort when I saw them on the cake!  I searched high and low on how-to videos how to do them, some are really great instructional videos in YouTube.  Thanks for that.  I really plan to make my own how-to videos one of these days as some of what I’m doing I’ve learned from other crafts in other medium like soap moulding and most of the time playing with play-dough with my daughter.

The idea of small baskets is inspired by the theme, mothers day.. I just think a bouquet of flowers is just wonderful for every woman, hence I made these little basket filled with fondant flowers of carnation of different shades, roses, drop flowers and calla lilly.

The cake is made of madeira cake, as it last long without the need of chilling, iced in butter cream.  The handles are in fondant.

Where do these cakes ended up? Nope I didn’t eat all of them.  I gathered some mommy friends around, had tea at home and gave each one edible bouquet of flowers in a basket.  We had one of the cakes to go with the tea, I kept the pink rose basket for my daughter and gave them the rest.  I can't be happy enough for this project.

Doll Cakes and Butterfly Fairy Cakes

A cake marathon

 

My daughter just celebrated her 3^rd Birthday and she’s so thrilled to have doll cakes on her special day.  Since I love making doll cakes,  I intend to make her 3 on her third birthday.  I searched high and low for new designs to make.  I have seen how to make a butterfly cake from  HOWDINI. (video here) and gave it a go. 

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The first inspiration was Leila’s birthday dress, which I tried to imitate the design but couldn’t really get the right color.  Somehow, its similar to that dress.

Second inspiration was butterfly cakes, like that of Barbie Mariposa as it’s her chosen theme.  So butterfly fairies tickled me.  They turned out good and its something new for me to do as well.  The pleasure of making them was such an adventure.

In total, her birthday cakes were 2 doll cakes, 2 butterfly fairy cakes, 60 cupcakes. 1 Doll cake and 30 cupcakes for school. For home party there were 2 butterfly fairy cakes, 1 doll cake and 30 cupcakes. 

1 dollcake for the school and 30 cupcakes

All were made in two days despite the normal day-to-day activities. I can tell that I have improved my speed!  Sigh!

It was fun to do especially the cupcakes with different flowery designs.  The most detailed one is the embroidery on the doll cake for school.

Cupcakes for take-away.  Guest choose any of the designs
and packed in a plastic box at the lower left photo

The chocolate cake is just perfect for a doll cake as it is stable and firm. I’d like to thank my friends, Gwen & JC and Fritzielou for their generosity in sharing my new favorite chocolate cake.  I just love the moisture at the center and soft texture.

Here is the original recipe, but I prefer to reduce the sugar because I like it slightly bitter than sweet. Instead of 4 cups, I put 3 and it was fine for me.

Cookie Monster

3 1/2 c. flour

4 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. cocoa

3 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

4 eggs

2 c. milk

1 c. oil

4 tsp. vanilla

2 c. boiled water

1. Pre-heat oven 350 F
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
3. add remaining ingredients except boiling water, beat at med speed for 2 min.
4. remove from mixer and stir in boiling water
5. pour in baking pan
6. bake at 350 F for 30-35 min.  For cupcakes, 15 minutes per tray, at the middle shelf.

Birthday Girl Doll Cake - A cake the resembles the celebrant's birthday dress.

I used the same recipe for the cupcakes as well. I personally love its texture. I love it with coffee.

For Buttercream, It is based on the recipe of SERIOUSCAKES but I don't like the taste of the shortening that I could find it here in KL. It has a weird odor and aftertaste, so i used buttercup luxury spread and butter.  It turned out good and the crusting as well works great in this proportion. I'm more concerned on the taste and texture.  I use usually use salted butter to cut the sweetness.

Buttercream: 

1 Cup Buttercup Luxury spread

1/2 Cup Salted Butter

4 cups icing sugar

4 Tablespoons corn syrup 


Beat the buttercup luxury spread, add butter and beat 1 minute more, slowly add the icing sugar whilst continue beating. Add the corn syrup. Note that Butter and Luxury spread should be at room temperature before starting. Should be soft but not melted.

Butterfly Fairy Cake

Butterfly Fairy Cake

IMBUTIDO

Imbutido is a Filipino meatloaf made of minced meats,vegies and spices. It is one of the mostly loved occasional recipes at all times.

Imbutido can be prepared ahead of time that's why I love making them because I can make it in advance. It is a big job of chopping the ingredients finely but with a food processor, it does the job well in no time therefore saving a lot of my energy. I prefer to buy lean meat and grind it with the food processor together with onion and garlic. It makes the meat well flavored before I add in other ingredients. Another advantage is you choose the meat that goes into it, rather than buying minced meat that has plenty of fat in it.

For shaping the imbutido into a log shape, you will need aluminum foil (10" x 12" per log) and sushi mat for easy rolling up.

This mixture yields 12 logs about 2.5 diameter each.

Ingredients:
3 pcs. Onions
1 whole head of garlic
½ kg. minced beef
1 kg minced pork
6 pcs. Chorizo (bilbao)
1 jar (180 g) pickles (baby gerkins)
¼ kg carrots
¼ kg green and red bell pepper
5 pcs eggs
¼ kg flour
100 g. raisins
Salt and pepper

For filling: boiled sausage or hard boiled egg (sliced into quarters)

Procedure:

Finely chop onion, garlic, chorizo, pickles, carrots, red and green peppers. In a large mixing bowl, mix the finely chopped ingredients with the minced beef and pork until well combined. Add eggs and mix well, add flour and mix further until well combined. Season with salt and pepper, add raisins and mix well.

On a flat working surface, place a sushi mat and lay aluminum foil flat on the mat. Place a portion of meat mixture about 3 inches wide leaving at least 2 inches at the end of the length of the foil for sealing the ends. Place the filling either sausage or hot dog at the center of the mixture along with its length. Roll up the sushi mat making the mixture round making sure that the foil is tight as you roll. Start sealing the ends after the first roll and continue rolling up until the end of the foil. Seal the ends by pressing and twisting the ends of the foil taking care not to make it overly tight so that foil will not break up.

Set up the steamer and steam the wrapped imbutido for 45 minutes.


To serve: slice imbutido into rings. Remove the aluminum foil and serve. It can be served warm or chilled in cold cuts.


Storing: Imbutido can be stored in the fridge for 1 week.

Mango Cheesecake

Mango Cheesecake

This mango cheesecake is so yummy that I can’t pass to post here in my long time sleeping food blog. The ingredients are so simple and it’s darn easy to make. I’’m going to make this recipe a standard and play with other flavors by substituting mango with other fruits. Compared to cheesecakes I’ve done before, this is lighter and less creamy but the right combination of acidity and creaminess makes a mild contrasting flavor, yet it still blends in your palate. I’ll make it simple here because I am following a Chinese cookbook that is quite complicated for first timers. I think the author assumes that the reader of his book had experience of making cheesecakes. If you follow the cookbook exactly, you’re likely to get lost in the middle and fail.

First of all, basic technique for cheese cakes is to use the ingredients at room temperature, as I am in Asia, my kitchen’s temperature would mean around 20 – 30 degrees C to avoid confusion on the term “room temperature”. It is important to make sure that the cream cheese, whipping cream, eggs and mango are at room temperature. The purpose of which is to have a fluffy, smooth and homogenous mixture as we are dealing with acid and cream which usually separates when mixed cold. I have failed my cheesecake before I knew it.
Ingredients:
Digestive biscuit (for cake base)
500 g. cream cheese
120 g. sugar
30 g. corn flour
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
1 lemon zest, grated
150 g. mango, sliced
3 eggs
150 g. whipping cream
Mango slices (for topping)

Procedure:
1. Crumble the digestive and press it onto the bottom of a greased round 20-cm baking pan and refrigerate for 15 minutes. I recommend not use spring form pan to be sure that no water can get into the mixture during baking as it will be in a water bath.

2. Using an electric beater, beat cream cheese until light and smooth, add sugar and cornflour.

3. In a blender, blend lemon juice, lemon zest and mango until well blended.

4. Add the mango mixture to the cream mixture. Beat until well combined.

5. Add eggs one at a time while beating until smooth. Add whipping cream until well combined.

6. Pour the mixture onto prepared biscuit base. Cover and seal the top with foil.

7. Place the baking pan in a larger baking pan with hot water, assembling a water bath. Bake in a water bath at 160 degrees C. for 60-70 minutes.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and refrigerate. To remove the cake from the tin, trace the sides with a knife or spatula. Submerge the bottom of the pan in hot water for about 2 minutes. Prepare a plate lined with cling film and place it on top of the tin, flip at once, now transfer it to a cake tray by flipping over so that the case base is at the bottom.

9. Arrange mango slices on top of the cake. Chill and serve.

Handy tips: Do not open the oven every now and then to check. To tell when the cake is done, shake a little bit and if the mixture is not moving, meaning it has completely set. It’s done. Do not remove the cake right away from the oven, sudden change in temperature will cause it to crack on top, instead turn off the oven and leave it open for few minutes until it cools down.

Original source: Fantastic Cheesecakes by Alex Goh

Chocolate Cappuccino Cake

This post is long way overdue. I made this for hubby’s birthday last week, along with the PORK TERRINE. But, I count on the saying "better late than never". I just don’t have the time to compose this post until now.

Well, this cake may seem complicated when you look at the recipe but if you had been making cakes before, things become simpler. I love the flavor, its mild and creamy with the bitterness of coffee and chocolate that melts the mouth with a sip of coffee, ohh so heavenly.

If you are a coffee lover, there is no reason why you wont like this with your favorite cup of coffee. I’ve bookmarked this in the recipe book waiting to be done for quite a long time. Just waiting for an occasion. Birthday calls for a cake; what is birthday without a birthday cake after all? Source of the recipe is my book which I had for quite a long time and I just flip the pages when I’m looking for some inspiration when there is an upcoming occasion. The book “Cakes and Cake Decorating” by Angela Nilsen, Sarah Maxwell and Janice Murfitt. Below is the recipe that I have copied from the book for this post, but I didn’t follow everything as I have to consider the portion for just the 2 of us. I used a circular pan and cut in half and layered it. If you are wondering why the cake is just half the circle, its because I’m limiting the portion. I don’t want to have big extra cake sitting in the fridge after because I’m sure I will keep on coming back and have a slice and this cake is rich and creamy with lots of goodness… too good for my belly, that is. (winks)

Another alteration for this recipe, I don’t have coffee liqueur, so I just used coffee powder instead. Any coffee powder will do, not necessarily espresso powder.

Chocolate Cappuccino Cake

Ingredients:

175g plain chocolate, chopped
2 tsp instant espresso powder; dissolved in 3 Tbsp boiling water
3 eggs, separated
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

Cocoa powder

For the coffee cream filling:

¾ cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup mascarpone or cream cheese; softened
2 Tbsp. coffee flavor liqueur
25 g. plain chocolate, grated

For the Coffee Buttercream:

3 egg yolks; at room temperature
5 Tbsp. Light golden syrup
¼ cup sugar
1 cup butter, cut into small pieces and softened
1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 Tbsp boiling water
2 Tbsp. coffee flavor liqueur

Procedure:

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F/ gas 4.

Grease a 40 x 27 cm baking tray. Line with baking parchment. Grease the parchment.

In the top of a double boiler, over a low heat, heat the chocolate and dissolved coffee powder until melted and smooth, stirring frequently. Set aside.

In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar for 3-5 minutes, until thick and light colored. Reduce speed to low and beat the chocolate mixture until blended.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer with cleaned beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks begin to form. Do not overbeat. Stir a spoonful of whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin, spreading into the corners and smoothing the top evenly. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cake springs back when touched lightly with a fingertip. Sprinkle a clean dish towel with cocoa powder to cover and turn the cake out on to the towel. Peel off the paper and cool.

Prepare the filling:

In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. In another bowl, beat the mascarpone or cream cheese and liqueur until light and smooth. Stir in the grated chocolate and fold in the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the Buttercream:

In a bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the yolks for 5-6 minutes until thick and pale in color. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the syrup and sugar until the mixture boils, stirring constantly.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly pour the hot syrup over the beaten yolks in a slow stream. Continue beating until the mixture feels cool, 5-6 minutes. Beat in the dissolved coffee and liqueur. Refrigerate until ready to use, but bring to room temperature before spreading.

Assemble the Cake:

With a serrated knife, trim off any crisp edges of the cake. Cut the cake crosswise into three equal parts. Place one cake on a cake plate and spread with half of the coffee cream filling. Cover with a second cake and the remaining filling. Top with the last cake.

Spoon about one third of coffee butter cream into a small piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Spread the remaining buttercream on top and sides of the cake. Pipe this around the cake with the design. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Pork Terrine

Pork Terrine

This pork terrine goes well with salad. It can be made ahead of time, at least a day before you are planning to serve it. It can be served as an appetizer or as a main course, depends on what you serve with it. I think potatoes would go well with this as well.

It is my first time trying to make terrine and without any recipe to follow. I just imagined how things would go and with what consistency I was looking for and it worked just right and I'm so pleased with it, especially when you slice and it reveals the black olives and tiny green leaves of thyme. In fact I’m going to explore some more flavors with terrine. Some interesting ideas came up during dinner; hubby suggested fish terrine but use smoked salmon instead of bacon. Hmmm… quite a challenge to figure out how it would work out.

Ingredients:

500 g. minced pork

1 large onion (finely chopped)

4 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper

100 g. black pitted olives

1 Tbsp. Corn starch

1 Tbsp. flour

fresh thyme

300 g. bacon

Procedure:

Preheat oven at 250 degrees C. or gas mark 6.

In a mixing bowl, mix pork, onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Using a food processor or blender, blend the mixture until fine. Remove from the blender and add flour and cornstarch. Lastly, add fresh thyme Mix thoroughly by hand. You may want to use gloves as it will be messy.

Line a loaf pan with foil with 3 inch extra on the sides to overlay. Arrange the bacon on top of the foil leaving the ends overhanging the tray.

Put the meat mixture in the lined tray using a spoon. Randomly put the pitted black olives with the sides lying down. Push the mixture with the back of the spoon to make it compact.

Fold inside the remaining bacon that is exposed to cover the meat. Make sure the meat mixture is fully covered with bacon; add extra bacon if necessary

Fold the foil inside to cover the bacon.

Place the pan in a large roasting pan and add boiling water until it reaches half of the loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 250 degrees C.

Remove the pan and drain extra fat from the bacon by tilting the loaf pan to the sink, but do not remove the terrine just yet.

Put some weight onto the terrine so to keep it pressed and compact and leave overnight in the fridge until ready to serve.

To reveal the terrine, carefully remove the foil on top and turn upside down and completely remove the foil. Serve in slices with salad. If served as a main course, potatoes would go well with it.

French Chocolate Cake - A father's day special

When baby was still a week old.

Taken today on Father's Day. Leila is 3 months

French Chocolate Cake

I’ve been marking this recipe from my one of the cake recipe books I had, waiting for an occasion. I think father’s day is just perfect for it. French Father of my baby and a French Cake, and its his first time Dad, so it calls for a little celebration. Or a little indulgence.

A decadent heavily dense chocolate cake with the Father’s favorite whisky Jack Daniel. Especially made for my French Hubby, this French cake has the same consistency as the Cheese cake, in fact the procedure is quite similar to that of Cheese Cake. The bitterness of the whisky is just perfect accompaniment for coffee. I made it on the night before Father’s Day; left it in the oven to cool until morning and had it with the morning coffee served with whipped cream. Then, had it as afternoon coffee which was even better after it is chilled well and served with lots of whipped cream! Whew! I feel so guilty afterwards of all the calorie intake, but hey, Father’s day is not everyday huh! Nice alibi…(winks)

Note: Must be served chilled for at least 1 hour.

Ingredients:

250 g. Dark chocolate, chopped

225 g. butter, cut into pieces

½ cup sugar

30 ml whisky

3 eggs

2 Tablespoons all purpose plain flour

Icing sugar for dusting

Whipped cream

Procedure:

1.) Line a 23-cm round baking tin with a baking paper. Generously grease the baking paper and the sides of the pan to avoid the cake from sticking into it.

2.) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. or gas 4.

3.) Place chocolate in a small sauce pan and put it over a bigger pan with simmering water or assemble a DOUBLE BOILER. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has completely melted. Add butter and sugar and stir until all the butter has melted. Let it cool down a little bit for 5 minutes. Add the whisky.

4.) In a mixing bowl, beat eggs lightly with an electric mixer. Beat in the flour and slowly beat in the chocolate mixture. Continue mixing until everything is thoroughly combined.

5.) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

6.) Place the tin a big roasting tin (must be bigger than the cake tin) and pour boiling water into the roasting tin as a water bath for the cake. Water must come at least ½ of the thickness of the cake tin.

7.) Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until the cake has set but still soft in the middle.

8.) Switch the oven off and let the cake cool inside the oven to avoid the middle of the cake from collapsing. At least 3 hours. This is best made at night and leave the cake inside the oven until morning. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

9.) Run a knife on the sides of the tin so it would be easier to detach. Using a cake tray or plate, invert the pan and tap the center so the bottom of the cake becomes the top. Remove the baking paper.

10.) Cut 6 strips of baking paper about 2.5 cm wide and place randomly over the cake to resemble a lattice design. Dust with icing sugar and carefully remove the paper.

With paper strips randomly placed to make a lattice -style pattern

The strips of paper has been removed after dusting icing sugar

11.) Cut into slices and serve.