Bake for charity

Took a day off work work to do marathon baking for charity. Because i love baking and it feels good to give back to the community. Made new friends and learned new tricks. Thanks to Leza and her team at The Baking Studio. 

Thanks to Haryani, Nina, Azilah and all new found friends for teaching me baking tricks that I can't learn from the internet. That's on top of all the Kuih recipes they shared. I'm now equipped to bake goodies this coming Chinese new year! 

We will be selling our pastries or "kuih" this Sat at the studio itself. Address at their website below.  Proceeds will be used to help the less fortunate and the remaining unsold goodies will be given to families at Circuit Rd. 

I am physically exhausted but all worth it.

In the studio's cover photo.

My baking profile. 

 

Studio is well equipped. 

Our arsenal

Some of our finished product. French macarons done by yours truly.

Baked 10 containers of these and non a single one cracked! I prayed and hoped for my macaroons success. Answered prayer!

With Leza Parker. Founder and owner of the baking studio.

With the Thursday team.

More of this at the studio's website:

http://www.thebakingstudio.sg/bake_for_charity

I made my first Ice cream and it's Avocado of course!

And it's sooo yummy I cannot just not eat it all!!

Im a great fan of avos and seldom you can find avos ice cream here in SG ao when a friend posted a pic of herself enjoying Avocado ice cream, i said to myself in all cases I will eat that! 

So goes my first ice cream creation. Thanks to food network for the recipe. I modified it a little bit by adding more avos  coz I want it to taste more of Avos and not of milk.

This is the whipped cream in stiff peaks

That's the avo/milk and whipped cream side by side.

Folding both mixture. Try to fold slowly ao as not to remove as much air bubbles as possible.

Totally folded and mixed!

Sitting pretty in containers

And here's my model Blanj enjoying it! She love it too! 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/avocado-ice-cream.html

Multiple celebration deserves yummy bake goodies

Hello Royals! Today is father's day and a post belated birthday for my husband and advance birthday for me! Soooo i baked my heart's content today and these are the yields! Tired but very satisfied and happy!

So what I baked:

1. Chocolate almond cake in swiss meringue frosting. Used the black magic cake recipe and just added almonds

2. Black bottom cupcakes - will post recipe soon. This is very very yummy which i should say one of the best i created so far.

3. French macarons in white chocolate ganache and nuttela - always the hot item and best seller. Perfected in one go. Birthday luck I guess. :)

4. Butter Spritz cookies. - nice softness and consistency this time. Used sprinkles for a color pop. 

Here's me slicing my cake. Supportive mother in background. :)

Here's me and daddy blowing our candle! 

Thanks for all our good friends who came and bravely tried my baked goods! 

Swiss meringue buttercream to perfection

Hello Royals! You missed me? I know.Been  trying to spend most of my free time to the little boss lately. Priorities you know. :)

As today was raining and we cant really go anywhere, I squeezed a bit of baking time when little boss was napping.  Today's project is swiss meringue buttercream's road to perfection. 

Because - i was never ever satisfied with all the frostings/icing I made in the past. Its either runny or grainy or too sweet. So I promised myself to find time to make just this in full focus. Adapted a Martha Stewarts recipe but modified a bit to withstand SG's hot and humid weather. The result: a fluffy, creamy and sturdy frosting that's not too sweet - just the way I like it! Recipe posted in my blog as well.

Melting sugar with egg in double boiler

Cubing butter. Also help cooling it to room temp faster

Consistency of the mixture. Piping grade.

Squeezing piping bag a bit to break air bubbles

Swirls and roses. 

Tried tilting it to see if its strong enough to hold position and it did! 

Did the tilting again after leaving icing for 15 mins in room temp to check any melting and... Nada! So here's me, happy and proud with my creation! 

Now go and try yourself! If you dont have a double boiler, use a heatproof bowl on top of a pot with simmering water. You can also make do with a hand mixer with just a little price of arm workout! No candy temperature? No problem! Just gauge when mixture is about to boil, thats the indication that its good to go! Importantly - have fun! :)

Chapter 12: Failed Cheesecake

One day Emperor Meng wanted to eat cheesecake. Very seldom the Emperor request for something made by the Queen so just imagine how excited she was of the thought even though she's already looking forward to baking either souffle or molten lava cake. Off she bake cheesecake for Her beloved, but never realized she's doing it half-heartedly (because her mood is set to baking somethin else). The result: A very ugly halfcooked cheesecake. Lesson learned: the ultimate ingredient in all recipe is love.  "Make love with your baking" 

 She have to put it back to oven but the thing being very temperament, didnt turn out great despite. It still taste like cheesecake though and the emperor refer it as a cheesecake biscotti (having to bake it twice).

Prepping ingredients

The brand of cream cheese used. Will make a review of it soon if i get to use another brand. 

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. 

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.