Log Cakes 2011

Merry Christmas! :)

It's christmas again and the log cakes start "rolling" out! This year I discovered SNOW on log cakes...

 

Santa please tell me I've been a good girl this year. I've been asking for the same thing every year, but you never do seem to realise it. How do you expect me to bake better cakes without my fuel for inspiration?

The mistletoe is always too crowded.

Who gives Santa christmas presents?

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

I did it, the 3 kg chocolate cake for Ying Quan's birthday party! He's really quite an awesome guy, and by inviting me to bake his 21st birthday cake really means a lot to me. It took me a whole night and half a day, but it was worth every moment of it.

Almost 70 slices and a whole bunch of happy people enjoying the cake. I can't describe how I felt when they came up and said the cake was awesome. Some moments that really melted my heart were: 1) When a guy came up and asked if I was going to open up a shop, because he felt that I would succeed.2) When another guy told me I'll put awfully chocolate out of business.3) When the few came up to ask for second helpings.4) All the random comments such as: I wish I could have this cake for my birthday every year.5) Everyone who came up to me and told me it was good.Realised that all I needed was just someone to understand how this meant so much to me. To remind myself to have a little more faith that I can take on such projects and accomplish it. It's another milestone and another learning journey for myself.For the next attempt, I'm going to get the crispy thing right. Cause now it's "the chewy chewy thing"...You know what, right now, I'm so damn happy :)

Marbled Brownies

Realised I haven't baked brownies for a couple of years! Wanted to do marbled but the effect didn't really come out. I guess I got too carried away swirling the mixture that it got all mixed up. Whatever the case, it tastes pretty good! My mum said it tastes good, what a rare compliment...

Life's like this brownie, messed up. Black or white? Maybe if I bake more I'll figure things out. Don't judge me because I like to play with fire. Even when it burns the biggest hole.

Christmas and vanilla twilight is my deadly combination. 

Fondant Birthday Cake

 On 11/11/11, a very special day, we celebrated yuting's birthday with a very special cake!

The vines were probably one of my greatest impromptu ideas that night. Green tea leaves.

And we baked the night away, slowly but steadily. Midnight baking, like cakes, is never healthy but it just about one of the most satisfying :)

I don't know how we came together,
I wouldn't ask for forever.
Let me just keep all of these memories in a pretty glass bottle.

Strawberry Cheesecake

It's an amazing discovery of how Mascarpone and Cream cheese can work together to produce a perfect combination that's light, yet thick. And it's all because I bought the wrong cheese. I tried a 3:4 ratio and a 1:2 ratio. Both worked out fine, but the more Mascarpone, the more fragile the cake.

This recipe bakes beautifully, without cracks. It's heart-warming to bake this after a long baking drought. Though the exhaustion really did set in after!

It was supposed to be Strawberry, but I guess the flavour didn't really set in. Next time, I'll add more strawberry puree since the cheese overwhelms it so easily. I really thought my design was artistic, but now I can't look at it any other way after what those guys said...







































Possibly one of the happiest moments of this year. In the years ahead, can we keep these smiles on?

Just something to remember things by. I guess it's never too much when you can love like this. :)

2am

2am

Name of a dessert bar
The aftermath of a run
Realisation
Of a self-fulfilling prophecy

Remembering this last time the heart smiled
There were cookie crumbs on faces, on teeth, on hearts

A reminder to never lose sight of what we call love
In this crazy whirlwind of what we call life.

There is no telling how many miles you'll have to run in chasing a dream

Shortbread Cookies

The first time I baked since I started school! And it was part of my campaigning process for ABC business manager. So shortbread cookies shaped into 'F', to win votes. But I think a little less butter might be better. Still though, it tasted good! As they say, the way to anyone's heart is through the stomach!

I really want to thank my roomie for helping me and for being so awesome! Most days I think about how lucky I am to have met her and to have her as a roomie. When she returns to Denmark, I guess I'll be a lonely soul again in hall 16. :(

It's amazing how adorable my friends are. Never thought I could make such great friends in university. Thanks guys, for coming down and for singing the songs. Like I said, it's friends like y'all that gave me the bizmag position. And honestly, if not for Mario and all, I'll be nowhere near the 383 votes. Campaigning was crazy tiring, but the amount of love I felt, is enough to make up for anything.

I guess I can never hit that pause button for baking even though life is rushing by me like a bullet train. University made me know a lot more people and at the end of the day, I realised that passion is everywhere. You know it'll never leave you once you find meaning in doing what you love. Sometimes though, I wish that we could all dare to love a little bit more. Then maybe we could all smile a little bit more.

4 years to learn to love again. Family, Friends, Food. :)

Chocolate Fudge Cake

I think this is my last order for quite some time already. A 3kg Chocolate Fudge Cake for some army boy's birthday!

It was really crazy doing such a big and heavy cake, felt like I was doing weight-lifting everytime I lifted up the cake! But hey, thank goodness I go to the gym. :) But it was an experience and I really hope the cake is fine, though my friend didn't give me constructive advice and he is too nice to me to throw in negative comments. In any case, I was sure I could've done better with a better recipe.

Other than doing Hazelnut Praline for the first time, I printed out my own receipt too! So fun, can't wait to really have my own company next time!



SOLD

 In the month of June to July, these were SOLD:

Chocolate Lava Cakes!

 Cinnamon Cookies!

Durian Cakes!

It has been fun, but it's time to take a break. Welcome back to school!

Green tea swiss roll

Made a swiss roll to thank my aunt for becoming my surety for my scholarship. Pulled this together with an empty fridge and in a little over an hour! Added whipped cream and chocolate chips and rolled it up. But usually green tea go with red beans though. I think I've reached the stage where I can bake when I want to, without having to plan beforehand and just checking what's in the fridge. In other words, my confidence and versatility has upped level! :D

Ok so I finally signed the deed. That's 2 years of my life after graduation and 4 years of achieving expectations crafted in black and white. A minimum cap of 4.0/5.0 and submission of results every test/exam. For someone whose parents have never really bothered, I feel claustrophobic now. I lost part of my freedom through the flick of a pen, and truthfully, the fear is there.

But after the Tioman trip, a little like heaven on earth, I realised I don't want to be like anyone else. I want to try things that others may not get a chance to, I want to have taken risks, I want to be known to have failed and proven myself again. That way, on my deathbed, I would've lived the life I wanted to.

The safe path is a boring one. Gather up your courage and move along.

Durian Cake Bakesale

With the durian season, comes the durian cake bakesale!

$15 for a 20cm by 20cm cake as below:

$8 for a 10cm by 20cm cake:

 

 $5 for a 10cm by 10cm cake:

 

Orders are open for the whole month of June. Place your orders by email, or send me a message on my handphone!

Mango Mousse Cake - Limei's Birthday Cake

It's limei's birthday so I baked her a mango mousse cake! (Mango is the national fruit of phillipines, her 2nd hometown. :D) Happy Birthday Dance Goddess!





Here's the cake. Wasn't what I had in mind though, was planning on a striped mango mousse cake but in the end the stripes didn't work so I had to improvise with chocolate. Now it looks like a dog bowl. But hey, at least now I know how to make a cake that looks like a dog bowl!

The layers were really neat though! So pretty. I learnt my lesson from my banana chocolate cake and hence, big thanks to the cake ring. And I've been working quite a lot with gelatine recently, so now I'm quite confident using it. So glad, cause it does make beautiful cakes.

The cake tasted much better than i thought it would. So good! Definitely makes my A-list. Limei says, "it was the best mango cake ever... seriously heavenly mango goodness and the best sponge cake I have eaten. Priceless cakes on my birthday is enough to keep me happy every year :)"

These friends are priceless. I can't even describe how lucky I feel to be able to make you guys smile like that. I'll make cakes; we'll make memories. Love ya'll :)

Croquembouche

This is my challenge of the year: Croquembouche for my brother's 24th birthday!

See, I have a brother who dislikes cakes, so every year, my task is to bake a birthday cake for him, that is not a cake. So, maybe a french wedding cake can suffice this year?

I made the choux puffs.

Then I did the chocolate custard. (First time I made my own custard successfully!)

Then I made caramel, for the first time! It was an eye-opening experience watching sugar behave like that! But I got burnt a few times with the super hot caramel and now my blister is huge!

And slowly, I built my own Tower of Puffs!

Finally, I wrapped it in caramel threads. So fun to do!

It tastes so good. The custard is simply delicious!

The hours of hard work are just worth it. Happy Birthday Gor! I hope every year, I get to bake unconventional cakes for you. And you shall have birthday cakes that is unique and special to you only :)

With love,