Lost my way

I seem to have lost my way in the world of blogging. I'm still baking, just not blogging. Have been so busy with day-to-day chores since school term starts this year that I hardly had any mood to blog. I was reminded of my dear blog when one of my friends told me she had tried out some recipe from the blog and love it.

The last Chinese New Year has been hectic. Endless baking of pineapple tarts as gifts, to the point that I almost dread doing it. As such, I have not even tried a new pineapple tart recipe which I was supposed to after CNY. I guess the mood to bake CNY goodies is just not there once the festive season is over. The remaining pineapple jam is still sitting in a corner in my fridge and will probably sit there for a while longer.

Ever since 3 years ago, it has become a habit to do the Poon Choy (盆菜) for my mum every CNY. As age catches up with her, she can no longer rush through the preparation of multiple dishes for our yearly reunion affair. In the recent years, we no longer go back for reunion on the eve, but change it to the second day of the lunar new year instead. I will bring the Poon Choy over to her before the eve so that she can have a mini reunion dinner with my dad and brother on the eve. Hopefully that lightens her burden a little so that she does not need to prepare too much food.



Besides the CNY goodies and Poon Choy, I have one additional task every CNY, to bake my girl's birthday cake. Her birthday always coincide with the CNY, which explains why I am exceptionally busy during this period.

This year, she wanted a Castle cake. Although my girl is already 7, she has not outgrown from her princess dreams. Last year she had a Barbie doll cake and now, another Fairytale request. My first fondant cake was also a castle cake, for her 4th birthday. How time flies!



I didn't really do a good job for this one. Tried a new recipe and the cake turned out unsatisfactory. It was dry and flat. I never seem to learn my lesson. I keep forgetting not to use new recipe for big projects like this. I ended up having to bake another cake to have that required height. Sigh......



As usual, the decoration took me almost 14 hours to complete. Only managed to sleep for an hour as I needed to wake the kids up for school. Although I had drafted a plan before starting, my end product deviated much from the plan. What's new, right?



This year I used some fondant pattern sheets for the wall and towers. But the effect didn't turn out that prominent. I suspect it was because my fondant was rolled too thin. It didn't help to have a cool weather that day. The fondant was sweating and couldn't hold the design well. Part of the design was thinned till the cake could be seen! Next time I must remember to use a thicker layer to cover the cake.



I wanted to create a garden effect for the castle, but didn't do great for that. It still had that empty look.



I had fun doing the flowers and leaves though. They were easy to make and add a bit of color to the otherwise, plain castle.





My girl was happy with her cake. So I guess it has made all the sleepless night worthwhile. But I was so tired that I practically knocked out at my in law's after reunion dinner.

With the festive season over, we're left with lots of Mandarin Oranges. I had to use some for baking. Choose to make a chiffon cake since I haven't done one for ages.



The cake was moist, but the Mandarin Oranges were not really prominent though you can taste bits of them. Perhaps next round I should use the tangy ones to get a better effect.




Mandarin Orange Chiffon

Ingredients
5 egg yolks
30g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
50g corn oil
130g Mandarin orange pulp (can include a bit of juice)

Sift together
120g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

5 egg whites
50g sugar

Method
1. Cream egg yolk and sugar with a hand whisk until sugar dissolve. Add salt and mix well.
2. Add corn oil. Mix well.
3. Add Mandarin orange pulps. Mix well.
4. Fold in sifted flour mixture with a hand whisk.
5. In a clean bowl, beat egg white till soft peak. Add in sugar in 2 additions and beat till stiff peak.
6. Add 1/3 of the egg white into the yolk mixture to loosen it.
7. Fold in the remaining egg white in two rounds until well incorporated.
8. Pour into 21cm tube pan. Knock pan on table top to remove trapped bubbles.
9. Bake at 170C for 45-55 mins. Tent top if it gets too brown.
10. Invert cake to cool once out of the oven.

Happy 2011!

Time flies! It's already nearly mid of Jan 2011. I've been super busy since school term started last week. Olina entered P1 this year. She's in the morning session and her school bus reaches our place at 6am! I've got to wake up at 5am now, one and a half hour earlier than last year. So I'm now leading a healthy lifestyle of 早睡早起.

I'm still trying to adjust to the new routine. First week was really chaotic. I didn't even have time to watch my favourite K drama. Stepping into the second week, things seems a little better as the momentum picks up. I need to further adjust my routine, as I do not have much time to sit down and supervise the kids on their work. As a result, the two younger ones are still leading a life of school holiday. :) Darren is going to take his PSLE this year. Having a tutor to take care of three of his subjects, no doubt, is a big relief to me. Sometimes we just need to let go and allow others to help.

This year, I have to pack lunchboxes for the two primary school kids, especially since Olina will only reach home after 2:30pm. So I reckon I'll probably do baking at least once a week, though I'm not sure if I can find as much time to blog them.

I started 2011 with buns. During the Popular 20% member sales, I went to grab a few cookbooks, one of which was "Bread Magic" by Alan Ooi. This has been one of the books I wanted to add on to my collection. I use the basic sweet bun recipe from this book to make these 莲蓉面包.





Packed into lunchbox


The texture is ok, but not as fluffy when eaten on the second day. The next time, I'll try his dough recipe.

I'm now constantly on the lookout for things which can assist me in my lunchbox journey. Unlike my hubby who thinks that it's ok to let the kids bring butter and jam bread, I try to make the lunchbox varies. Recently I found a sandwich maker from Isetan NEX which can be used on the stove. It's a perfect choice for me. I used to have one electrical sandwich maker, but hate to use that as I can't wash it and the melted cheese always ended up stuck in the machine. This new toy addresses my previous concerns and I love it so much! The kids love toasted sandwiches with melted cheese. Hubby complained he's getting fat and asked me to stop making him these though I know he loved them too. ;)



I'm ending this long entry with the backlogs of 2010. After my first two log cakes trial, I went on to do a few more. I find Chiffon base to be the best among all the different bases tried. I'll probably stick to that in future.

Chocolate logs




Mango logs

Merry Christmas......too early?

Is it a bit too early for Christmas bakes? Well, at least this year I'm not late. :)

I've always been a fan of log cakes when it comes to Christmas food. Hubby said that log cake is just a cake covered in cream in the shape of log. True, but log cakes always has that magic to attract me to take another look at it.

I have never attempted to bake a log cake all these years because I'm really terrible at rolled cakes, especially using the whole egg method. Although egg separation will yield a higher chance of success, I refuse to give in to the idea that rolled cake can only be made by that method. That's some kind of unnecessary stubbornness??

This year I finally decide to attempt it, partly because I saw this baking event - Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010) from Small Small Baker's blog. Seems like a different blogger is taking turn to hold the event each month. This month's event will be held by Passion About Baking. It just gives me some good excuse to bake. *grin*

I did a bit of research on the net regarding log cake. It seems to be commonly named as Bûche de Noël (pardon this mountain tortoise here, but this is the first time I've heard of this term). I'm not sure if there's any difference between this and the conventional swiss roll I'm familiar with. Bûche de Noël does not seem to have any oil in it. The swiss roll recipes that I've been trying contain melted butter. If you know the difference, please let me know.

I've attempted 2 logs so far, both using the cake recipe from Elegant Swiss Roll - Christmas Log by Kevin Chai. It uses only 4 eggs, as compared to some which use as many as 7 eggs! The recipe calls for the whole egg method. I learnt from this video to warm the egg mixture before beating to achieve a greater volume, a good tip indeed. However, I've yet to achieve a good cake texture. I could very well have over mixed when adding the flour and butter.

Presenting to you my 2 Chocolate ganache logs.

The first log...




The inside of the log


The second log...it's starting to snow :)



Oh yes, if you have any tip on how to achieve a smooth edge when carving the lines, please share with me too. I suspect it has got to do with the consistency of the ganache. I always get a rough edge. :(

Time to do some blogging

My pictures have been piling up. If I do not clear them, very soon, they will go into the Recycle Bin.

After my last attempt of moist brownie, I wasn't really satisfied. So I went on to search for more brownie recipes to try.

Attempt 2 - Jamie Oliver's brownie


Great taste, but my pan size is obviously wrong to be able to yield this super thin brownie.

Attempt 3 - White brownie


A self-experiment which turned out to be a disaster! I wanted to make a white brownie using white chocolate. So I tried to modify the moist brownie recipe to use white chocolate. I ended up with a super sweet dense cake instead. Yucks!

Attempt 4 - Back to Jamie




I decided Jamie's recipe is worth trying again. This time I adjusted the ingredient and amount and got my own version of perfect brownie. Don't you think so? LOL... This will hence be the recipe to use whenever I feel like baking brownie.


Besides brownie, I also tried Jamie's Banana and Honey bread.



Although I really love his brownie, can't say the same with the bread. It's best eaten fresh from the oven. Once overnight, the texture is compromised.


Did some Naan for dinner one night after seeing the easy-to-follow recipe on Gina's FB. I did two versions, onion and cheese. Both were good, the kids love the cheese ones.



It's 11:55pm now. My eyes are threatening to shut down any minute. Must be the effect of the medication starting to kick in. I shall let the pictures of my bake today end this session.

Waiting to be transformed...


...into this!


My forever lousy deco skill...


我很丑，但是我很好吃



Trivial... I sliced off the top of the cake for deco reason and had a big piece left (almost 9"). My girls who were eyeing the cake were happy that they can finally lay their hands on something. I told them not to finish the whole piece of cake as it was nearly lunch time. They really listen to what I said and left this.



When I questioned them, one of my girls answered, "we didn't finished the cake what". *fainted!*

A slow death

I'm slowly killing my blog. Haven't been posting for months and I wonder if anyone still bothers to read. My passion for blogging has been reduced to almost nothing. At times I just don't feel like posting something for the sake of posting. Moreover, I haven't been baking new things. It would have been boring for you guys to read the same thing over and over again. I guess I'm one of those whose passion in something always cool off after a while, 三分钟热度, which can be quite bad.

Some of what I've done recently, nothing spectacular though.

Green tea Azuki buns - not a favourite with the kids


Blueberry Chiffon - can't say it's totally successful with the blueberries sticking together


Plain swiss roll - something I'm still trying to master. Yet to get the right texture. I'm really bad at swiss rolls!



One of the nights, I decided to cook something different for dinner. It was well received by hubby and kids. Effort worthwhile. :)

Grill fish for the kids. Sides are creamy mashed potatoes (too creamy though) and mango prawn salad.


Steak for the adult


Ever since I learn the tips from KC members, I was able to get the perfect medium rare which hubby and I like.



Lastly, luncheon buns for today's breakfast, kids' favourite.



I'm looking for a not so sweet brownie recipe to try. If you have one to share, do let me know. TIA.

Flower Power

My little girl turned 6 this year. How time flies! I still remember making her a Barbie doll cake last year to celebrate her birthday.

This year we had a little party at home before she enters formal schooling next year. She'll probably be too busy to have parties next time. She invited just a few close friends over. And guess what? She requested for a Barbie doll cake again. Girls are girls, they never seem to get tired of Barbie and princesses, do they? My youngest girl also requested for a princess cake for her birthday this year (again?).

This is the what my little princess got this year. Little princess requested for flowers, so she got lots of them. I didn't do much planning for this Barbie, as compared to the last one. Just not my style to plan, as usual...lol...




This year I decided to have something different for the top of the dress. Made a sleeveless one last year and wanted to challenge myself to do something different this year.









So which Barbie doll do you like? :)

I am bad

I've been neglecting my blog (and almost everything else) ever since I got hooked on Facebook games some 3 weeks ago. I'm still playing them now, but have learnt to slow down a little (or have I?). It's very addictive. I used to set timer for baking, now I set it to remind myself to login the game when time is up to collect the game money. Yes, that was how bad I have been.

As such I haven't been baking much these few weeks, except for the recent Chocolate cupcakes for the kids to bring to their teachers for Teacher's Day. I still had two outstanding "old" bakes done in early August which I have not put up in my blog. I reckon I had better put them up now before I really forget about them.

I tried my hands on bread roll.



It wasn't too difficult except that I probably should have underbaked the bread a little so that it doesn't crack during rolling.



I rolled in some cheese and ham slices with a mixture of tartar sauce and mayonnaise. Simple and yummlicious.

I bake this during the National Day period, for hubby's birthday. Can you guess what it is?



It was actually an Oreo Durian Cheesecake. Hubby has been mentioning the Oreo Durian cake from some hotel quite some time back. Maybe he was hoping I would do one for him. I didn't want to do a sponge cake (I still have inconsistent result with sponge), so I twisted it into a sinful cheesecake instead, with chunks of Oreo in it.



And one final happy news to share with all of you. I've finally bought my KitchenAid! Yes! A bright Orange fellow that sits on my kitchen top everyday. Had it for $599 at the recent Robinson sale, a good deal.



Am going to churn out some goodies with this fellow now so that it justifies the cost.

Busy, busy...

These two weeks are the exam weeks. I haven't got much time to indulge in baking though I still tried to steal some time here and there.

Did my favourite Chocolate Cake last week.





Tried another easy stir and bake recipe this morning while the kids are at school.

Potato Cake




Anything simple is a beauty in times like this. The only "complain" I have is, the recipe only yields 4 little cakes (I've used the paper muffin cups for these). Not very long lasting for the effort spent.

Potato Cake (recipe adapted from "Easy Stir 'n Bake Cakes")

Ingredients
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
110g sugar
90ml corn oil
150g grated potato

Method
1. Combine plain flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
2. In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar and oil. Stir into flour mixture with grated potato until well blended.
3. Pour into cups and bake in preheated oven at 175°C for 30-35 mins. Stand for 10 mins before turning onto wire rack to cool.


At the beginning of the month, I saw some shots from the TV that Hana Yori Dango (Korean version) will be shown in Singapore in May. I couldn't wait till they start, so I started watching that online whenever I can find some spare time (usually at nights after the kids were in bed). This is probably the 5th version of the story that I'm watching including the original Manga, animation, Taiwan and Japanese version. I'm a big fan of this story and it just doesn't bored me to watch another Korean version though I was never a fan of Korean drama.

The Korean version wasn't too bad, but my preference is still the Japanese version as I found the casts closer to the original characters who are supposed to be high school students. The female Korean lead looks a bit old for the role though her acting is acceptable. The cast who plays Hanazawa Rui in the Korean version is Kim Hyun Joong (Japanese version played by Oguri Shun, Taiwan version played by Vic Zhou), a very pretty boy indeed. The character, Rui, never fails to capture my heart though he's not the main lead. Lol...so here's one obasan who's still pretty gaga over pretty boys like any 17 year old.