Random: Orchard stroll with lovelife

Me and my little precious again strolling along Orchard road last Sunday. :)

Random: Meet Sugar!

I am very happy to introduce to you the new addition to our family, Sugar! My raspberry ice kitchenaid artisan. We both will defo share happy and inspiring moments together and her being sturdy, might be able to pass her to my daughter or granddaughter in the future! Happiness!

Random: Moi and the little prince

A selfie with my little prince. Glad to be just home today to play with him.

Chapter 9: The mooncake

The Kingdom of SG is celebrating mid-autumn festival this month and its a tradition for the Queen's mother in law, Impress Alice to make Mooncake. This year she wanted to share to the Queen the craft of making this oriental pastry to pass the tradition to the Queen's generation of family. This is the first time the Queen was into this challenge and she was enjoying it to the fact that it's a family affair where mother and father in law altogether helped unlike her usual baking conquests where she has to do it by herself.

Random: Isn't she pretty?

It's every homebakers dream to own a great mixer that help eases out most of the tedious process in baking (kneading, whisking etc) and I too share the same dream. This kitchenaid is not only pretty looking but functions as beautifully that help makes all your pastry dreams into reality. Hoping to see this beauty in our kitchen soon.

Random: Two toned macaron in matcha ganache

Order: Customized Butter cookies $10 for a pack of 20

Order: Cupcake $1 each

Order: Fondant covered cake

$40SGD 11" 

$90SGD  (9" top tier, 12" bottom tier)

Order: Macarons $10 per pack of 10

Chapter 8: The big day

August 16 was the Queen's most awaited day, her little Prince son's birthday. This was the day the Queen showcased all her preparations and efforts done prior. From the backdrop, pompom balls, accordion flowers, cakes, cookies, invitation, souvenirs and even the tiniest details like the cupcake toppers and cake banners;  all were handcrafted by the dear Queen. She was all hands to almost every party element that she felt so accomplished after, doing what she never thought she could. These didn't come easy, she almost didn't sleep days before finalizing every details. 

Here's the backdrop and the ballon and accordion details

Front view of the buffet table

Pastry Buffet Table

Mallowpops with fish sprinkles

Pompom balls

The cake

Agar-agar

Food buffet by Orange Clove

Buttercookies

Cupcakes

Of course, the Queen needed extra hands and was thankful to have very supportive family members and friends; like Lady Jeannel for example who helped the Queen with the yummy cupcakes, mother Alice for the delicious agaragar (jellies) and her best seller Ngohiong, Fel for the yummy Embutido and Chicharon, for Ate Mikay/Kuya Mike for bringing Japanese paper all the way from Cebu and of course the Queen's beloved half, Emperor Meng for sponsoring the dinner buffet. :D

Above all, she was very thankful for having Prince Zedric. The little Prince changed the whole course of the Queen's life into something fantastic she never imagined before. 

Random: Flagship ribbon

I was so excited to get my first flagship stuff for this blog that i travelled far away just to collect it same day! the item is a personalized ribbon with my sites name in it. Planning to use it to add a personal touch to my creations for presentation. The shop is located in Pasarbella Grandstand. The owner of the shop is very kind to wait for me even though she's suppose to close earlier. I admired her for bravely putting up a business for something she's passionate about- arts and crafts. Her creations are awesome. U can visit her at www.undertheskyshop.com

Random: Birthday cupcake for Anecita

my friend from Brisbane visited SG and happens to be her bday month too so baked cupcakes for her.

Recipe: Brazo de Mercedes

Yields 16 regular size cupcakes

For filling:
8 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch
300ml condensed milk
300 ml water

For Meringue:
9 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions (Filling):
1. Pour condensed milk in a small pan
2. Mix water and starch together, add to condensed milk and heat up the pan.
3. Add egg yolks gradually, while it's still not too hot
4. Whisk continuously until thick

Directions (Meringue):
1. Beat egg whites till foamy and add cream of tartar
2. Gradually add sugar and mix until it can form stiff peak
3. Pipe to cupcakes, leave center open for filling
4. Bake at 350F for 5-7 mins until it's nicely brown on top.
5. Let it cool a bit before filling
6. Dust the filled cupcake with powdered sugar.

*from Bakehappy.com. 

Recipe: Sturdy buttercream (crusting) frosting

I was looking for a buttercream frosting that can survive Singapore humid weather and here it is:

Ingredients:
900g icing sugar sifted
115g butter softened
345g cup solid vegetable softening
1.5 tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 to 1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:
1. Cream butter, shortening and vanilla until smooth around 3-5 mins (medium speed in electric mixer)

2. Add about 1/4 of icing sugar. This needs to be added gradually to prevent sugary snowstorm in your kitchen.

3. Mix in low speed until fully incorporated. Pause to scrape the sides of the bowl.

4. Add another 1/4 of the icing sugar. Continue the mixing and pausing in between until you've mixed all the icing sugar. Consistency is quite thick.

5. Add 1/8 cup of whole milk and mix at low speed until incorporated. At this point it's up to you whether you like to add more depending on the consistency you want to achieve. (More milk = more runny / Less milk = drier)

6. Ice your cake and let it sit for 20/30mins to form crust.

Matcha Ganache

* Best for filling macarons

Ingredients:

2 tbsp (30g) heavy cream

2.1 tbsp (60g) white chocolate

1 tbsp matcha / green tea powder

pinch of salt

1. Mix the cream and matcha. Let the mixture rest for 10mins

2. Warm up the matcha/cream mixture in medium heat

3. Pour the warm mixture over white chocolate and stir with whisk until everything is well incorporated

4. Set aside to cool for 1-2 hrs at room temperature. 

5. Refrigerate until the ganache is slightly hardened

Recipe: Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
300g cream cheese, softened
75g butter, softened
165g sifted confectioner's sugar or icing sugar
3 ml vanilla extract

Directions:
In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioner's sugar. Store in fridge if not in use.

*yield can frost 32 regular size cupcakes

Chapter 7: French inspiration

When the Queen was out for lunch one sunny day, she passed by this fancy pastry shop and saw nice colorful cookies behind the glass display. The queen got shocked to see the price: $2.50 for a piece that's just as big as a 50cent coin! "Ridiculous!", The Queen exclaimed. This piqued the Queen's curiosity and didn't manage to sleep that night. She's still wondering why that tiny little pastry are overly damn expensive for it's size! So she researched again and figured that those tiny fellas are called French Macarons (not the coconut macaroons with double O). She was told that these dainties are very fiddly and quite challenging to make even though it's only consisting of 3 main ingredients: almond flour, egg and sugar. The Queen just can't accept to spend $2.50 for a tiny macaron cookie so she challenged herself to bake them! ...and failed 12 times until she got it right (recipe here)

The very first batch the Queen made. Undermixed. 

Next one that still cracked. No picture of cracked shells as the Queen is still in denial.

Tried using a silicon macaron mat but still failed. 

With feet but cracked on top. Still tasty though.

The queen got it right this time but not all as some shells are still cracked/no feet. 

The perfect  batch after modifying the recipe! 

Tested the same recipe for proof of concept and it raised beautifully in all Glory! Achievement.

Chapter 6: Perfecting fondant cake

The queen wanted to perfect Prince Zedric's cake. Looking back at the first one she made, she realized she should get better. She asked around if anyone of her friends is needing a custom cake and her friend Yesselyn, said she needs one for her husband Eds. The queen used 1kg of Satin Ice fondant and Americolor/wilton coloring for the rest of the design. Not the most perfect fondant cake but a level up from the Queen's first one: 

Recipe: Butter Cookie

Ingredients:
1 pound butter, softened
1.5 cups white sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
4.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar. Best if you use an electric mixer.
2. Add egg yolks, vanilla and mix well.
3. Beat in the flour and salt.
4. Knead the dough and chill in refrigerator for 30 mins.
5. Preheat your oven to 350F
6. Roll dough and cut into desire shapes (you can use cookie cutter for this)
7. Bake for 10mins. Check in between to achieve a nice brown color. Cookie should be soft to touch
8. Take out from oven and rest for 10-15 mins. Cookie will be harder after resting.

*you can also decorate your cookie by putting sprinkles, choco chips etc on top of the cookie before popping it into the oven. 

Chapter 5: Inspired by the Danish butter cookie

Its very ironic to say that the Queen only got a handful of sweet favorites despite her utmost interest in baking. Because of that, she is determined to try to recreate those favorites at the comfort of her kitchen. So she decided to start with the timeless Danish butter cookie. Its her favorite not only because its delish but also because it reminds her of those rare and special moments that the Queen's father is home (he works on a ship that sails in seven seas you see). She only gets to eat butter cookies brought back by her dear father overseas. So now the Queen prepared her arsenal, and that includes owning a set of cookie cutter as she wanted nice figures to form. Here are the Queen's cookie butter stars to jumpstart the challenge: (recipe here)

Recipe: Macaron Recipe that works in SG weather

• 35g of egg white at room temperature

• 30g of granulated /castor sugar

• 58g of icing sugar

• 30g of extra fine almond ground

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sift icing sugar and almond flour.

2. Beat egg white and granulated sugar until stiff peak (around 8-12mins). Make sure your bowl is dry and clean and no traces of oil else you won't achieve the stiff peak.

3. Fold in the sifted icing sugar/almond flour until you reach a consistency that's like a flowing lava. This takes practice to perfect. Start experimenting with an overmixed batter (runny consistency) than undermixing. Undermixing gives you a crack shell. Overmixing gives you smooth shell but no feet. I'd rather have a smooth shell even without feet to begin with. 

4. Put your batter in piping bag and cut the tip with no more than 1cm hole. (At this point you can start preheating your oven to 160deg Celcius)

5. Pipe them into your baking tray line with Parchment paper. It should be PARCHMENT paper. Not greaseproof paper. I tried silicon mat as well but I can't remove the macaron neatly from it. Make sure your tray is flat. You can create little circle template of the macaron size you want to make them uniform, just make sure you put an inch gap in between them as they tend to spread a bit when rapped.

6. Very important step: RAP/BANG your piped macarons multiple times until you see bubbles pop on top of the macaron shells. If you forget this, you'll end up with ugly cracked macarons. 

7. Pop them straight into the oven (no need resting!). Make sure you put your tray in the middle and if youre oven have a top/bottom heat function use that. 

8. Bake for 7-8mins. Check in between to see if batter is still wet. It is ready if it doesn't spring back when you press the shell down the tray. 

9. Let it rest for 5-10 mins before removing from parchment paper. 

*derived from: http://blurrq.blogspot.sg

Chapter 4: Queen's very first fondant covered cake

After the Queen's success making the big cake, she didn't wait long to realize her next dream - fondant covered cake. The Queen remembered in her past life wanting to initiate making fondant but didn't have enough courage and resources to do so. Shes also very much occupied with work and other stuff that time. Now, the timing is more than perfect. With Mr. Googles guidance, the Queen created her first fondant covered chocolate cake. This is hard work. There's plenty of kneading and precision in blanketing and crumbcoating. There'sroom for improvement but its not bad for a first-timer. The queen is pleased with her creation... :)

Random: My little precious

Here's my reason for breathing and everything! I wouldn't have discovered my love of baking if not because of my precious little man. because of him, i made things i thought i never could and pushed myself to bring out the best in me. He made me understand what a real love is about. He's an answered prayer. I love him far more than anything in this world. :)