glam-rock .. in green?

happy twenty-first to kim ^__________^

sucha beautiful girl~ she loves the colour green and loves abit of glam-rock :] hope you had a splendid night!!! kudos to my sis for her help agn :]



off to be delivered!

"i wish i had this many tiffany&co....." umm "cake." ♥

happy twenty-first birthday to sophie ^_______^

a lovely young lad orders a tiffany&co. cake from me for his girlfriend's birthday; how sweet! this was a pretty big project for me! turned out pretty well! :]


all packed and ready to be delivered! ^_______^



set up @ silk roads~

chocolate & orange mud cake

happy birthday to aunty anne ^______^

got an order from her husband for a surprise cake! we had to take this cake with us from 6am in the morning till 7pm (so it was in the car whilst on our car-trip to venus bay, it survived luckily!) =D

i thought id make a mud cake so it will hold! and not able to use chocolate or sugar for garnish (as it will melt in the car) i thought of using tuile :] ive always wanted to make flowers with tuile .. so i attempted it. first attempt. i will continue to practice making better blossoms!!!! a goal for 2010 shall we say? =P

this was a donna hay recipe. awesome stuff! :]

chocolate & orange mud cake

ingredients:

• 375g butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• Zest of 2 tangerines ( i used oranges)
• 300g plain flour, sifted once
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 80g cocoa powder, pass through a tea strainer
• 200g good quality bitter dark chocolate, melted over a double boiler
• 3/4 cup (180 ml / 6 fl oz) milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Grease a 10'' springform pan and line the bottom and sides with baking paper.
3. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture is light and creamy.
4. Gradually add the eggs and beat well.
5. Add in the zest and beat again.
6. Fold through the flour, baking powder, cocoa and melted chocolate and stir in the milk.
   (i actually like to stir in my melted chocolate after the eggs .. mix the cocoa in milk to form a paste - just a thing i have! XD)
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 75 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
8. Cool in tin completely.
   
   

happy 11th birthday mags!

happy birthday to my little sister Maggie! ^_____________^

made some personalised cupcakes for her friends! everyone was happy! turned out a great successful the party! love you lots mags xox

salmon-tuna & herbs quiche

i was bored at home the other day: so i thought 'why not bake amanda?' hahaha :] looked through the fridge and cupboards to see what i could find .. so i made some quiche! yumyum in my tum! always loved quiche!!!! and still do ^________^

merry christmas!

god i cant remember how relaxing it is to sleep in, no work, eat, laze around @ home : *thumbsup* ^________^ christmas period was crazy!!! my sister's bf was comin over for xmaseve dinner so i thought id whip up a dessert plate for everyone :] i didnt have time to "plate it up" nicely bec everything was melting so fast -_______-

-portugese tartlet topped with fresh raspberries
-chocolate mousse with cocoa dust
-greentea icecream bedded with white chocolate almond meal and chocolate ganache
-black sesame meringue biscuit

these took me a good 4hrs! doesnt look like much but the process is long!





my speciality: banana cake for xmas :]




day before xmas eve: apparently its a big celebration day for chinese ppl. so we made homemade 'tong yuen' :]




my catchup class on the week of xmas (geez!) hahaha this was all the way from stage three week one .. so like last term!! i had to do a re-sit prac bec i missed out on this class.

petit fours:
-glaces
-cresents
-lang de tangs
-sable biscuits
-macaroons

just decorated with some marzipan~

recipe request: macaroons :] as we had no demo for this day, i was panicking bec i didnt what to do with the macaroons .. luckily i search up a quick 'how to make macaroons' on youtube before class and it saved my life! hahaha i find the trick is to have:

• a smooth batter - but not to knock out the air in the egg whites.
• temperature is important (and esp ur ovens, you may have hot spots, so be careful)
• the batter should not be a very runny consistency - just enough to hold its shape
• once its piped out, allow it to rest on the tray for at least 20mins to dry out

i looked up my classmate's photos from last term when they had made macaroons, the recipe didnt look very pretty = the teacher said this recipe wasnt a good one, but i reckon they turned out nice!? (go youtube!) so give it a go:

macaroons

ingredients:

• 150g very finely grounded almonds (almond meal)
• 200g pure icing sugar
• 120g egg whites (4x55g)
• 50g caster sugar
• few drops of vanilla essence
• pinch of creme of tartare (this will help to hold the meringue in shape ;])

method:

1. sift almond meal (make sure its lump free)
2. sift icing sugar
3. place egg white and creme of tartare in mixing machine and beat to soft foam
4. sprinkle caster sugar and vanilla essence (this is the time to add any flavours you want to your macaroon)
5. whisk till light and firm
6. sift icing sugar and almond meal into the egg whites. fold carefully~
7. spray a tray and line with baking paper
8. place a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain tube and pip even sized half-spheres (2.5cm in diameter)
9. leave macaroons to dry for 2omins
10. bake in oven at 185degrees for 15mins (i put mine on 180 - took less than 15mins!)
11. allow to cool and dry then remove from baking tray
12. store macaroons in an airtight container - can last for 5days unfilled.

with the filling, i just made some rich chocolate ganache.

goodluck!! :] i cant wait to make my next batch soon!!

mini chocolate & berry tartlets

little sister asked me to bake her something for her school project. she had to construct a model of her 'business'. she made a sweets cafe called 'sweet sweet haven' :] so i thought why not try some little chocolate tarts? kids love chocolate :] i baked an extra batch, hoping to bring it along to my frd's 21st dinner, but unfortunately it was cancelled =( but everyone at home is loving them!!! great hit! ;] i might make these for christmas!! they look pretty christmasy ^________^

the ones for my little sister. they dont get 3berries =P