Flaming Pot

Too Beautiful For Earth

2012-11-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

(Image courtesy of the amazing team from Heartfelt)

It has been more than 10 months since I abandon my blog and focusing on other important things in life. So many things happened for the past months. I got pregnant, hubby injured his knee and had a surgery and the most heartbreaking of all is we just lost our baby.

It takes lots of courage for me to write about our beautiful baby angel, Gabrielle. I hope I answer some of your questions on why I've been missing and I would be appreciated if I have no more further questions regarding Gabrielle's passing.. Please bear with me as we are still very much coping and grieving. So here's our story about our beautiful baby girl ..

Our life changed completely 6 weeks ago. I always hear from people, having a baby will change our life to a better and will bring lots of joy to our family but we never expect this will change our life dramatically. Despite of hubby's knee injury, I had healthy 9 months pregnancy all along. Swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome and morning sickness were only my problems. I was 41 weeks and 3 days when I gave birth to our baby girl. On our 2nd last check up, hubby kept asking the doctor to induce me as I was 5 days overdue and the doctor refused to do so to avoid complication and bleeding. Two days before I gave birth, I had bleeding and called the hospital. They asked me how much blood I had, I described to them it was like a first day period and I had no contraction. They told me that my body was preparing for labor and advised me to stay at home since I had no contraction.

The next morning, I went to see my recovering doctor (My usual doctor was away for a week), I told him my problem and he assured me that everything was fine (water, placenta, heartbeat were fine) and therefore I was scheduled to be induced the next morning unless the labor start early. At 3.30 am, my contraction began with 10 minutes apart, we called the hospital and they asked me to rush there. When we arrived, the midwife put me into CTG monitor and she had a hard time to find baby's heartbeat. She called another midwife and heart beat was still nowhere to be found. I asked them whether this is normal as they mentioned earlier it could be the machine itself playing up and I never had slightest thought in my mind that my baby already died inside my womb as we went to hospital feeling happy and relief that finally I came into normal labor, the midwife then said it's not normal but sometimes babies change their position. Half an hour later, the doctor came and they put me into ultrasound machine, then few minutes later, he said "I'm sorry, your baby has passed away". I feel like my heart was being ripped out and sounds like a joke, very cruel joke! I was crying hysterically and kept apologising to my husband. Hubby kept saying it's not my fault but the guilt is unbearable up until today. I was the one who carried our baby for the past 9 months, I should have been extra careful. Million and zillions questions in my head on why this happened to us without any signs or warning. We were feeling angry than ever, only if that fucking doctor induced me few days earlier and listened to our concerns, then the baby would have been fine and healthy, instead we are now losing our little angel and the usual doctor wasn't even there during the delivery! Fuck! Our world crashed since then, everything turned upside down.

I was induced couple hours later. At 7.22pm on 2nd October 2012, I gave birth to beautiful baby girl, Gabrielle. She's perfect like other normal newborn babies, only without heartbeat. During delivery, I still hope for one more miracle that I could hear Gabrielle's cry, instead the room filled with silent and emptiness, the world was at the loneliest place at that time.

A wise friend of mine once told me a birth of child is something very special like no other. During pregnancy, I asked myself or hubby questions many times whether I can be a great mom or whether the baby will like hubby more than me or any doubts as first time mom can be but I figured it would become real once I held our own baby in my arms. My wise friend is always right. There's nothing feeling more joy than holding our baby and laid eyes on her for the first time. An eternal love I could never imagine I have for my baby daughter. There will always be a mother instinct and bond between us. Only if I could see Gabrielle to open her eyes and hear her crying hysterically, that would have been even more perfect.

I am amazed with my husband's support as he also have to deal with his own grief but he pulled everything together up until today for me, for us. He kept saying after delivery that he was very proud of me. I honestly can't get through without his very loving support as well as my brave mother who gave me such a strength before delivery. Despite of the sorrow and sadness that we've been through over the past weeks, Hubby always tells me that Gabrielle is God's chosen one as she was born on Guardian Angel's day, exactly a week before my birthday and her soul will be back again soon, I do believe that. Gabrielle will always be our first child, she's never be a replacement for the next baby and I will always grieve for her forever. I always believe that we can raise a healthy baby, even though I imagine my next pregnancy would be more paranoid but I know I can do it. We have a big faith on us, on our little family. We hope God will send us a baby brother or sister for Gabrielle soon to complete our family fairy tale. Our thoughts for getting pregnant soon and raising a healthy baby will give us hope and reason to smile again.

(Image Courtesy of the amazing midwife "Kate" from St Vincent Private Hospital, Melbourne)

The pictures in my head for the past 9 months, bringing home a baby to a brand new nursery room seems to be only just in my imagination for now. Everything was prepared for Gabrielle, this awful nightmare is not supposed to happen, we supposed to bring her home. We supposed to feel so much joy having her presence around the house. We are not supposed to leave the hospital empty handed without a baby. It's the worst feeling ever as a parent. Funeral then being arranged on the day after my birthday and said our last goodbye to our baby daughter with only very close friends and family attended. It was the hardest thing we've ever done in our entire life. When parents lost a child, they lost their future, time stop, it is for now until pain doesnt' feel as raw anymore. I read an eulogy for our baby girl. I imagined I would break down many times, but I stood and read there and pull myself together until the end. I owe it to our little girl to tell a story about her precious little life. I kissed her coffin many times and let her know that we love her very much, much more than words can say.

We are coping better each days, we take one day at a time. We have good days and bad days. The pain and guilt will always be here. The journey through grief will take shorter or longer process. Only time will heal. We would never got through this nightmare without loving supportive people around us, that's all we ever need it. My sister, Christine who came all the way from London to be here with me during funeral and always beside me when I need the most support up until today. Her presence means the world to us. My mom and My mother in law who's been my saviour and gave me strength. Also our close friends who's always checking up on us every now and then to make sure we are okay. We also would like to thank people for showing their sympathy for us but some words are very hard to digest like "you are still young, you can have another baby" or "she's in better place now". I know they were trying to show their support but some words are actually very heartbreaking to hear, especially they are not in our shoes and they can never imagine how shatter we feel. So, pardon for my sensitivity at the moment.

We are now still waiting for mild autopsy result to come back. Even though we don't really expect much from the result, but it'll be great to know the cause why our Gabrielle is gone and also a pre caution for my next pregnancy. I may never understand and comprehend why God took our baby girl so soon before us but I hope one day, I will. Life is such a mystery, never take anything for granted and always appreciate what we have before it becomes what we had.

The Wedding Cake

2012-01-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Apologise for missing last week, I had very busy and interesting week as I prepared for my first wedding cake order for my friend's high school's friend who only came to Australia just for a wedding. As this is my first post for 2012, I thought that I prepare something exciting and very interesting to share.

If you have been following me since last year, you may remember how exciting I was doing this wedding cake. Initially, the wedding cake was to cater for 50 people and it was supposed to be 2 tiers but the number changed just few weeks ago to 70 people, so I made 3 tiers instead.

I made the sugar flowers since New Year's Eve, yes! you read that right.. I spent my NYE making these flowers. I rather be prepared early than last minute, incase anything goes wrong as I wanted to be as special and the best for someone's special day. I also have to say Thank You to my Hubby who assist me in last minute moment.. Speaking of the wedding cake, I still remember vividly our wedding cake 4 1/2 years ago.. It was 8 tiers cake and they were very beautiful. I remembered my brother in law saw it first on the reception and he rushed into the room and told us how beautiful our wedding cake was and they were, here's the below picture of our wedding cake...

Okay, Enough Said about me.. Let's talk about the wedding cake that I made for Andy and Mira..

The base flavour of this cake is Chocolate Orange Cake. You can find the recipe here. As the couple are living in overseas, they decided not to keep the top tiers, so all tiers are served for the guests.

I must say this is one of another epic cake after Minnie Mouse Cake that I did last year for my high school's friend's daughter 1st birthday and I have one more epic cake coming later at the end of the month before we go to USA for holiday in less than 2 weeks time. I can't wait.. 3 1/2 weeks in USA... Last but not least, Happy Wedding to Andy and Mira.

For anyone in Melbourne, Australia interested in custom cake and dessert order, please contact me on flamingpot10@gmail.com

Toy Story Cupcakes

2011-12-29T02:14:00.000-08:00

Just before the year ends, I thought I share this toy story cupcakes that I made for order for my friend, Adina. If you have been following me from last year, you may remember that I made the birthday cake for her son, Lachlan's 1st birthday cake. They had small birthday celebration in his prep before they went back to Indonesia for holiday. Last year, Lachlan was a big fan of winnie the pooh but this year, he's into Toy story especially Buzz Lightyear. As there are quite many characters in Toy story, it's perfect to make different kind of character for each cupcake.

The base flavour of the cupcake is Milo Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting and desiccated coconut. They are one of my favourite base flavour for the cupcake. Who doesn't love Milo cupcake? Even I'm as an adult still love Milo, lot and lots of Milo. Okay, enough said.. Let me share some recipes for Milo Cupcake. Last but not least, Happy 2nd Birthday Lachlan and Happy New Year 2012 for all of you..

Milo Cupcake

(Makes 12 Cupcakes)

Ingredients

100g Plain Flour

20g Cocoa Powder

100g Milo

140g Caster Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

40g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

120ml Whole Milk

1 Egg

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 170ºC. Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, milo, baking powder, salt and butter in a mixer with paddle attachment. Beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together then slowly pour about half into the flour mixture, beat to combine and turn the mixer up to high speed to get rid of any lumps.

3. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture. Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

250g Icing Sugar, sifted

80 g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

25ml Whole milk

Few drops of Vanilla Extract

Desiccated Coconut

Green and Pink Food Colouring

Method

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together in electric mixer on medium-slow speed until mixture comes together and is well mixed.

2. Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoon at a time.

3. Once the the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

Assembling the Toy Story Cupcake

1. Divide the desiccated coconut into 2 bowls, dyed coconut into green colouring on 1st bowl and pink colouring on 2nd bowl.

2.Using an ice cream scoop full of frosting to get the right shaped and then dipped in coconut. Press the coconut on and tidy up the shape.

3. Place each toy story characters on top of the cupcake.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lachlan!

Christmas Butterscotch Madeleine

2011-12-25T00:39:00.001-08:00

As we are still celebrating festive season, let me share another christmas treats which I gave to my colleagues this year. If you have been following me since beginning, you may remember Lemon Curd Melting Moments from last year christmas treats. This year I was thinking to make something different and I had so many christmas ideas but at the end, I ended up with something simple, yet very christmassy. Well, simple is more. I have to admit that I love sprinkles, they really do wonders and gives a wow factor on the final product.

I have the madeleine tray since mid this year. As I have been busy doing cake and cupcake orders, I just didn't have time to use them. I used the butterscotch madeleine recipe from Bills Basic by Bill Granger. They are very simple to make and turned out very light and spongy. Once they are cooled, I dipped each madeleine into White Candy Melts and colourful christmas sprinkle and leave them on the baking tray until dry. If you don't have white candy melts available, you can also use white chocolate compound and put them in the microwave for few seconds until they are melted.

I had a really fun time making this christmas madeleine. It was always a great feeling when receiving great feedback from colleagues. Once again, Merry Christmas and hope you have a wonderful time with your loved ones..

Butterscotch Madeleines
(Adapted from Bills Basic by Bill Granger)

Ingredients

100g Unsalted Butter

2 tablespoon Golden Syrup

2 Eggs

60g Caster Sugar

75g Plain Flour, Sifted

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170° C. Grease a madeleine tray and dust with flour, shaking off the excess.

2. Melt the butter in a small pan. Remove from the heat, stir in the syrup and leave to cool.

3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, sugar and a pinch of salt until pale and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and syrup mixture and fold everything together.

4. Spoon the mixture into the madeleine tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

To decorate

Christmas Sprinkle or other colourful Sprinkles

White Candy Melt from Wilton or White Chocolate Compound

Method

Melt the candy Melt or White Chocolate Compound on the microwave for few seconds until melt but not overly burn. Dipped each madeleine into the melted white chocolate and then into the sprinkles. Leave them on the baking tray to dry. Once they are ready, put them in the bag and wrap them with christmas ribbon and lovely christmas cards made by my hubby.

Ta-da.. There they are.. Christmas Butterscotch Madeleine...

Christmas Themed Cake

2011-12-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! Although I wish for snow and white christmas but it is so impossible here in Australia. Oh well, I have to wait another month when we visit USA and think that it's still christmas.. I really miss christmas being around with the family and it's sometimes hard when it's only two of us here (me and hubby). Therefore, our close friends here is our surrogate family..

I made this christmas themed cake for my husband's long time client as a a gift. My first idea in my head making this cake was actually totally different on how the cake turned out at the end. To be honest, I was almost gave up on the cake as it was a terrible covering a cake with fondant on humid hot weather but luckily hubby came up with different idea. Ohh.. Thank god for that.. How lucky I am to have him on my back as always who never give up on me..

The flavour base of this cake is Caramel Mud Cake with Caramel frosting. I made the holly leaf the day before and placed them in the apple tray to give the effect on the shape when they dry. I am very happy that hubby's client loves the cake very much and I received a great feedback from them. Meanwhile, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Thank you for all your support for this year. Looking forward for another interesting sweet year of 2012.

Christmas Themed Cake

Caramel Mud Cake

(I made 2 batches for this cake)

Ingredients

250g Unsalted Butter

200g White Chocolate

450g Brown Sugar

375ml Water

300g Plain Flour

100g Self Raising Flour

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs, beaten lightly

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease 20cm cake pan. Line base and side with baking paper, extending paper 5cm above edge of the pan.

2. Combine butter, chocolate, sugar and the water in a medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, cool 15 minutes. Whisk in flours, then essence and eggs.

3. Pour mixture into prepared pan, bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until skewer poked in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan until cool.

Caramel Frosting

Ingredients

125g Butter, chopped

200g Brown Sugar

80ml Milk

250g Icing Sugar

Method

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and milk, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, simmer and uncovered 3 minutes to cool. Gradually stir in the icing sugar until frosting is spreadable consistency.

How to assemble

1. I cut each cake into two layers and spread them with caramel frosting.

2. Ganache the cake with dark chocolate ganache. You can find the recipe here

3. Cover the cake with fondant and decorate with holly leaf and some pearl sprinkles.

Large Sugar Flowers

2011-12-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

Recently, I enrolled the Large Sugar Flower Class with Handi Mulyana at The Cake School. Handi is awarded for cake decorator of the year 2011 and known for his outstanding quality for his sculpted cake. Handi is actually based in Sydney and I missed his classes when he was in Melbourne back in August as most of his classes were fully booked. So, I've been waiting for his next visit to Melbourne. Fortunately, The Cake School, that just recently open in Ringwood, Melbourne invited Handi Mulyana as a guest teacher. My dream comes true!

For the past 3 months, Hubby has asked me many times on what I really wanted for my 30th birthday present. I know, I know.. my birthday was actually 2 months ago and I keep changing my mind every time hubby asked me those questions. When I found out that Handi was coming to Melbourne, I finally made up my mind and Hubby bought me "Large Sugar flower classes with Handi Mulyana" as a birthday present and early christmas present. It is a great investment for my cake decorating knowledge after all. At the end of the day, If I want to learn some techniques and tips about the cake decorating world, I should learn from the best and Handi is proven to be one of the them!

For 2 days classes, we learned on how to make Large Open Peony Rose, Classic Roses and Large Magnolia and some hydrangeas. I'm really glad that I took this class as I never make sugar flowers before and I need to learn this for making wedding cake next month. I have lots of room for improvement but I guess for my first attempt making sugar flowers, they are not that bad and even Handi mentioned to me at the end of the class. Hubby and friends are also quite impressed on my flowers turned out. At the moment, I have started making few sugar flowers at home to practice and It is becoming addictive hobby now.

I can not rate Handi high enough as a teacher, He is an amazing and fun teacher and learned a lot from him. I guess this is not going to be the last class that I'm going to have with Handi Mulyana and The Cake School, there will be more to come. Last but not least, Thanks to Hubby for a great birthday and Christmas present!

Boobs Cake

2011-12-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

Beware children.. It's an adult only cake..:)

First of all, I apologise for missing last week. I had the busy week with cake/ cupcake orders. Great to be back again..

I made this cake for my colleague who recently resigned and he's a also a very good friend of mine.He decided to open his own business in Mornington area. It was quite sad that he had to leave the company but I guess people move on at some point and they had to do what they have been dreaming to do for such a long period of time. I admired for his decision, I hope that I have the guts to do the same thing one day.. However, I was browsing for farewell gift for him and thought making a boobs cake would be a great idea.. He really loved them and can not stop laughing when I presented the gift to him..

I used Sports Ball Pan by Wilton to make the boobs and used the fondant to finish off the cake. The base flavour of the cake is the mud cake. You can find the recipe here.

Also for anyone in Melbourne, interested in custom cake/ dessert order for birthday, wedding or other special occasion, please contact me on flamingpot10@gmail.com

Just to share my little excitement and a hint as well.. I am making first wedding cake order in January 2012.. I can not wait to start and of course will share more info on this blog...

Last but not least, Bon Voyage, Gary.. I really wish you all the best for the new journey...

2 Tiers Minnie Mouse Cake and Mickey Mouse mini Cupcakes

2011-11-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

Okay.. Here's another Epic cake that I was talking about last week. I made this special order for my high school friend's daughter who turned one. Who doesn't love disney characters when we were a kid? I still find them adorable as an adult and when I went to disneyland in Japan, it was so magical! So, here we go.. Thanks to my friend and gave me a chance to make this minnie mouse cake as well as mickey mouse mini cupcakes for her daughter's 1st birthday.

Since I started doing cake decorating, I have a dream to make tiers cake or a wedding cake. I'm always up for the challenge and can't tell you how exciting I am on every cake that I made for every order. As always I have my loyal and helpful extra hand from hubby to assist me. I can't be more thankful..

I saw lots of minnie mouse cake on google. The one that really caught my eye is from Lesley from The Royal Bakery. Thanks to Lesley's tutorial on her facebook page for Minnie Mouse cake. She gave the tips on how to make a bow and the frill for underneath minnie mouse skirt. My friend also mentioned that she requested the blocks for the name, so I wrapped each block of cake with coloured fondant.

The flavour of the cake is chocolate orange cake. You can find the recipe here and I used the chocolate orange buttercream for each layer and finishing with chocolate orange ganache.

My friend also requested for mini cupcakes for the kids at the party. These mini cupcakes are also chocolate and orange flavour based and using the same recipe as the cake. I cut out black fondant to make the mickey mouse's ears and using small ice cream scoop to shape the buttercream. Making this cake, took me one whole day to decorate the cake. Luckily, I had a day off from work to make this happened. Every time I made an epic cake, I have this imagination in my head that I will drop the cake before the day. Oh thank god, that only stay in my imagination.

Here's the closer image for the mickey mouse cupcakes. Aren't they adorable?

Overall, it was a successful party and I received a great compliments from my friend and the guests at the party. Just really made my day..

For anyone in Melbourne, Australia, interested in custom cake/ dessert order for birthday, wedding or other special occasion, please contact me on flamingpot10@gmail.com

Last but not least, Happy 1st Birthday, Cadence! Let's enjoy a slice from minnie mouse birthday cake and mickey mouse mini cupcakes army!

Thomas Tank Engine Cake

2011-11-14T01:45:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for this? This is one of an epic cake I've ever made so far. The last 2 weeks have been awesome for me with the cake order! So, to give you a clue, the next post will be another epic post! Can't wait to share more..

Initially, my lovely customer wanted to order Elmo Cake for her grandnephew then she changed her mind as the little one's current favourite character is the Thomas Tank Engine. So, train cake, that is! It was an exciting challenge after all.

Thanks to You Tube, lovely Thomas Tank Engine Cake Tutorial and Favourite Character Cakes book by Debbie Brown to give more insight about the technique and all the things I need to know to make this cake happened. I wouldn't lie making thomas cake is harder than they look, they are so much details and best to prep them at least week in advance. I am very fortunate to have an extra hand from my husband who assist me, I can always count on him. The base flavour of the cake is mud cake and ganache with dark chocolate. You can find the recipe here.

Here is the cake before I ganache. I showed below undecorated train cake picture to my best friend and she can not see any resemblance to thomas train cake. Hmm.. wait till I started decorating them...

Here it is once I ganache the cake...

Ta-da... I present you Thomas Tank Engine Cake..

4 Layers Marble Cake with Thick Chocolate Ganache

2011-11-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you have an exciting week ahead of you.. As for me, I am preparing an epic cake this week for an order and I can't wait to share with you on the next post. There will be some techniques I will share with you all as well.

A few weeks ago, Me and Hubby celebrated our 14 years together. Time really does flies.. We've known each other since I was 16 and he was 19. Oohh.. Memory...

I had lots of leftover egg whites from my last order, I could make another meringue but I thought making marble cake would be a great choice. Yes, I made 4 layers of cake! I must have lots of leftover egg white from my previous order!

In the meantime, let's enjoy the marble cake with thick chocolate ganache while I am preparing my next exciting cake challenge...

Layer Cake with Chocolate Wafer Stick and Dipped Strawberry

2011-11-01T00:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post in the middle of busy week while preparing on my next cake challenge. A week ago I received an order to make Layer cake for a birthday. I made other type of Indonesian Layer cake before but never make this kind. The cake consist of 3 layers. The good thing about this kind of layer cake recipe is much quicker to make as the other kind of layer cake may take up to 4 hours to bake.

I borrowed the special tin from my friend who happens to have one to make this layer cake.

So, this is how the single cake turned out. Once the cake is cooled completely on the wire rack, we spread each layer with Strawberry Jam. I made another batch and attached them side by side together with Strawberry Jam.

This is one of Indonesian Signature's cake and very common for birthday and wedding in Indonesia. I used simple and delicious Mocha Buttercream and added the chocolate wafer stick, maltesers and Chocolate dipped Strawberry for the final touch. So here they are..

In the meantime, for anyone in Melbourne, if you are interested in custom dessert orders, please contact me on my email flamingpot10@gmail.com.
Stay tune for my next exciting cake post.. I will have some more cake to celebrate.. xoxo

Rosette Cake

2011-10-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, Here we go.. Remember the Elmo Cake I made for my best friend's son couple months ago? This time I made the birthday cake for her mother in law, who turned 60 this year. The first time I saw rosette cake was from the talented I am Baker and Sweetapolita and they look very daunting and beautiful at the same time. I was waiting for the perfect time to try this rosette challenge and yay I got it.. Thanks to my besties.

The cake is Chocolate Orange Cake cover with Chocolate Orange Ganache, using the recipe book from Bake (Essential Companion) by Alison Thompson. Chocolate and Orange are perfect combination and you can't go wrong with the flavour. As for the tip, I used 1M Wilton Tip to create the Rosette. After all, it was a beautiful day at the party!

Chocolate Orange Cake

Ingredients

150g Unsalted Butter

600g Soft Brown Sugar

Finely Grated zest of 3 Oranges

6 Eggs

150g Dark Chocolate, melted

375g Plain Flour

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

300g Sour Cream

110ml Boiling Water

Method

1. Preheat ove to 160º. Line the cake tin with baking paper.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and orange zest on high speed for 3 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and mix well, then sift in the four and bicarbonate of soda and add the sour cream. Mix on low speed until well combined. Slowly add the boiling water and mix well

3. Pour the batter into prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate- Orange Ganache

Ingredients

250ml Pouring Cream

250g Dark Chocolate, chopped

Finely Grated zest of 1 Orange

Method

1. Bring the cream to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Add the orange zest and mix well.

2. Once the cake is cooled, Spread the chocolate- orange ganache over the top of the cake.

Orange Buttercream

(I used 2 batches of this recipes)

Ingredients

375g Unsalted butter (at room temperature)

300g Pure Icing Sugar

Finely grated zes of 3 oranges

Method

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter, icing sugar and orange zest on high speed for 5 minutes until pale and creamy.

Assemble the Cake

1. Split cooled cake into two layers.

2. Spread the cake with orange buttercream and put the top cake layer on top and press gently to ensure it is level. Chill the cake for 1 hour.

3. Have the chocolate orange ganache ready, then pour it over the cake using the palette knife to spread it over the top and sides of the cake.

4. Fill the pastry bag with decorative tip (Wilton #1M) and orange buttercream. Pipe the rosette on the top of the cake. (I used the Wilton tip #3 to decorate the sides of the cake)

Tatty Teddy Cupcakes

2011-10-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

Remember Horse Themed Cupcakes that I made a month ago? The ones with Horse Butt and Horse faces. Well, this time is Tatty Teddy Cupcakes for baby shower."The mother to be" kept the gender surprise, so the theme colour for baby shower is blue and pink. To be honest, I don't really know much about tatty teddy when I was younger (shame on me) but making them for an order was so much fun. I made different character to those 6 of tatty teddy, they are cute, aren't they?

The base flavor of these cupcakes are vanilla cupcakes with dollop of strawberry jam filling and chocolate cupcakes with dollop of nutella filling. I made the vanilla frosting for both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Macaron on Cupcake and vanilla frosting recipe from Horse Themed Cupcakes

I also made another dozen plain vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for an order without tatty teddy character on the top. I am so in love with those bright color.

For anyone in Melbourne area interested in custom cake and dessert orders, please feel free to contact me on flamingpot10@gmail.com

Tatty Teddy Cupcakes

Please click here for Vanilla Cupcake recipe (add the strawberry jam for the ingredient for the filling)

Chocolate Cupcakes

(makes 12)

Ingredients

100g Plain Flour

20g Cocoa Powder

140g Caster Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of Salt

40g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

120ml Whole Milk

1 Egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hazelnut Spread (Nutella) for filling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170º. Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and butter in freestanding electric mixer with paddle attachment and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined

2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug, then slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

3. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Once both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes are cool, core the the cupcake and fill with strawberry jam filling (for the vanilla cupcake) and hazelnut spread/nutella (for the chocolate cupcake). Then frost both cupcakes with vanilla frosting (please click here for the recipe)

Top each cupcakes with tatty teddy figurine using fondant.

Here is my favorite ones

Geelong Cats Footy Cake

2011-10-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

If you are in Australia and a big fan of Geelong Cats, you must be very thrilled with the result of the grand final yesterday. For me, I'm very honoured to make this cake order for my customer. You may notice that I made similar cake few months ago for Hawks Footy Cake. This Geelong Cats cake is actually half size smaller and using the same buttercream frosting and sugar cookie recipe from Hawks Cake.

The base flavour of this cake is Chocolate Orange cake and finishing with the chocolate orange ganache. I used the recipe from Bake by Alison Thompson. I think the balance sweetness from the chocolate and the citrus essence from the orange are perfect. I can not be anymore happier than received a great feedback from my customer this morning, she mentioned that people in the party thought that the cake was bought from the shop. That just really made my day!

Please feel free to drop me an email, flamingpot10@gmail.com for anyone in Melbourne area interested in custom desert for special occasion. Looking forward for more orders in the future.

Geelong Cats Footy Cake

Chocolate Orange Cake

Ingredients

150g Unsalted Butter

600g Soft Brown Sugar

Finely Grated zest of 3 Oranges

6 Eggs

150g Dark Chocolate, melted

375g Plain Flour

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

300g Sour Cream

110ml Boiling Water

Method

1. Preheat ove to 160º. Line the cake tin with baking paper.

Chocolate- Orange Ganache

Ingredients

250ml Pouring Cream

250g Dark Chocolate, chopped

Finely Grated zest of 1 Orange

Method

1. Bring the cream to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Add the orange zest and mix well.

2. Once the cake is cooled, Spread the chocolate- orange ganache over the top of the cake.

How to assemble:

I used the same buttercream and same technique as the Hawks Footy Cake.

Spring Themed Cake (1 Year Blog Anniversary and Product Review)

2011-09-26T04:03:00.000-07:00

This week I marked one year since I started this blog. How fast the time flies! Looking back a year ago, I remember I kept staring to the blank white screen, thinking about the words I would share with the world. Oh memories... This blog has been a big part of my life ever since... Thank You to my lovely reader who have been supported for the past year.

For celebrating my one year blog, Kitchenware Direct generously gave me Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan to product test. I own few bundt cake pan before but I must say that is nothing like this nordic ware product, not only they create one impressive looking cake, they are also made from thick cast iron which will last long and keep the cake moist and give a nice crust on the outside. I was actually worried at first that the cake would stick into the pan (like my other bundt pan) when I turned them on the wire rack, in fact the cake was easily slid out of the pan, they are just simply gorgeous with deep ridges and swirling design. This explains a lot that the nordic ware products are selling very well in kitchenware direct with their high quality reputation.

I decided to bake the orange and poppy seed cake for my first nordic ware bundt pan. The cake alone without the glaze and the spring decoration have already giving the "WOW" factor and beautiful presentation on the dining table. Since this week is my blog birthday and it's a spring time here in Australia, so I thought that I add a spring theme with lots of colour to the cake. The result of this cake when they came out from the oven are amazing! I felt like I was a little girl on the christmas morning when I unmold the cake from the pan and feeling stunned on how the cake was turned out! My next cake project for this pan is butterscotch cake or coffee cake or gingerbread cake? Ooh.. Many to choose from.. For sure, I definitely going to use this pan for many cakes to come.

Orange and Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

200g Unsalted Butter, plus extra for greasing

225g Self Raising Flour, plus extra for dusting

200g Caster Sugar

4 Large Eggs

2 tablespoon Milk

Grated zest of 2 Oranges

2 tablespoon Poppy Seeds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160º. Grease and flour the base and sides of the pan. Ensure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat with whisk for 8-10 minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

2. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the cake has shrunk away from the sides of the tin and is springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

3. Cover with lemon glaze icing and decorate (if you wish) or you can serve with the icing alone.

Lemon Glaze Icing

Ingredients

Juice of 2 Lemons

500g Icing Sugar, sifted

Method

1. Pour the Lemon Juice into a medium bowl and add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time, stirring well to remove any lumps.

2. Gently stir the sugar and juice together until you achieve a white icing that is glossy and not dry or stiff. Pour the glaze over the cakes.

Car Cake

2011-09-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday Everyone! I thought I share a quick post in the middle of preparing something special and sweets for celebrating 1 year old of my blog. How fast the time flies!

This car cake is one of the cake orders that I made for colleague's grandson. The base flavour of this cake is a mud cake using the same recipe as the Elmo Cake. For the letters, I used the Sugar Cookie recipe from Hawthorn Footy Cake and using the fondant to shape the car.

Stay tune everyone for the next sweet birthday post! I can't wait to share them with you in couple more days! xoxo

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

2011-09-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

Another week, another order.. Yayy for me.. This time is the cookie monster cupcake. Who doesn't love Cookie Monster when we were a kid? They are such a cute character, aren't they? The base for this cupcake is Mocha flavour with coffee cream filling and vanilla frosting.

I made each cupcake different to add bit character to the finish cake. I used the wilton candy melts and black colouring gel for the eye. Making this Cookie Monster Cupcake was so much fun.

Please let me know for anyone in Melbourne interested in custom dessert orders, feel free to contact me at flamingpot10@gmail.com

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Mocha Cupcake

Ingredients

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

60ml Hot Water
125g butter, softened
165g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

150g self-raising flour

80g almond meal

125g dark chocolate, melted

180ml buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 12-hole, 1/3-cup (80ml) capacity muffin pan with paper cases.

2. Combine coffee granules and hot water in a cup. Stir until dissolved.

3. Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions.

4. Fold in half of the combined sifted cocoa and flour, all the almond meal and then the chocolate. Fold in the buttermilk, remaining flour mixture and the coffee mixture.

5. Divide mixture among paper cases. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked Cool cakes on a wire rack.

Coffee Cream (for the filling)

Ingredients

3 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1½ tablespoons hot water
185g unsalted butter, softened
2¼ cups (360g) icing sugar, sifted

Method

Combine coffee granules and hot water in a cup. Stir until dissolved. Beat butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until as pale as possible. Gradually beat in half the icing sugar, all the coffee mixture, then the remaining icing sugar.

Once the cupcake is cooled, fill a coffee buttercream in pastry bag with small tip. Push a tip through bottom of paper liner to fill each cupcake.

Assembling Cookie Monster Cupcake

Ingredient

Blue Colouring

Desiccated Coconut

Black Decorating Gel (For the eye), I used the one from wilton

2 Batch of Vanilla Frosting (from Horse Themed Cupcakes)

Pack of Chips Ahoy Cookies

White Candy Melton, from Wilton

Method

1. Dyed the coconut into blue colouring

2. Using an ice cream scoop full of frosting to get right shape and then dipped in coconut. Press the coconut on and tidy up the shape. Trim the cookie little or make his mouth further up and put the cookie pieces around it.

3. When frosting has firmed a little, cut a slice out near the bottom and push the cookie in

4. Add 2 white candy melt for the eyes for each cupcake and then pipe the black decorating gel in the middle.

5. Decorate each cupcake with different character and have fun with it.

Horse Themed Cupcakes

2011-09-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

It's good to be back after being away sick for a week. I meant to write this post last week but I was feeling worse than ever. Just a thought that I can catch up on my blog and relax after busy week from cake and cupcake orders, instead I was stay in bed and sick. Oh well, this is always happen to me every time the season change from winter to spring.

Back to the horse theme cupcake, they are cute, aren't they? My colleague gave me a few ideas for horse theme cupcake for her daughter's 11th birthday. I love the challenge for every order I received. As usual, I showed my colleague's idea to my hubby and he came up with these lovely varieties of horse theme cupcakes. I am indeed very lucky to have a hubby who always give me an input. So we finally have 6 horse's butt and 6 horse's faces. The comments that I received from my colleague was simply made my day, she mentioned that the result of this horse theme cupcakes is exceed her expectation.

The flavour base of this cupcake is Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcake and vanilla frosting with green leaf colouring for the grass. The fun began when shaping the horse's faces and horse's butts using the fondant.

Thank You again to my lovely colleagues and friends who ordered cakes and cupcakes from me. For anyone in Melbourne interested in custom dessert orders including (but not limited to) cakes, cupcakes, cookies, tarts, please feel free to contact me with your request at flamingpot10@gmail.com

Horse Theme Cupcakes

Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

100g Plain Flour

20g Cocoa Powder

140g Caster Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

a pinch of Salt

40g Butter, at room temperature

120ml Milk

1 Egg

120g Hazelnut Spread (Nutella)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170º. Put the flour, cocoa powder, hazelnut spread (nutella), sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a electric mixer on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

2. Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well.

3. Spoon the mixture into the paper case until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the ray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Frostings

Ingredients

250g Icing Sugar, sifted

80 g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

25ml Whole milk

Few drops of Vanilla Extract

Green Leaf Colouring

Method

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together in electric mixer on medium-slow speed until mixture comes together and is well mixed.

2. Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoon at a time. Add the green leaf colouring.

Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe the frosting with wilton tip #233 and top the green frosting with the horse's faces and horses's butts made by fondant. Here are the variety for the horse theme cupcakes

Hawthorn Hawks Footy Cake

2011-08-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

After the success of Elmo Cake and Elmo Cupcake, My good friend/ Colleague requested me to make a birthday cake for his son's 18th Birthday. His son is a big fan of Hawks and the theme for his birthday is going to be a footy theme as he shared his party with his friend as well. Being almost 14 years in Australia, I know very little about footy and they are a very big influence of Australian Sports. Oh, shame on me.. All I know at the moment about Hawks is they are doing very well close to the grand final in a few weeks time. Well done Hawks!

I am very excited to make this Hawthorn cake as this is my first paid cake order (My next few blogs will be more about cakes and cupcakes ordered from friends/ colleagues). I gave my colleague few options and he choose this one. One of my favourite too! He requested for chocolate mud cake for the base of the cake, so I used the same Mud Cake recipe as Elmo Cake and ganache recipe from Winnie The Pooh Cake. Hubby gave me a few ideas as well to make this cake more interesting such as using the sugar cookies for the Hawks logo and the letters. I am very lucky to have a husband who assist me with the shaping the logo of Sugar Cookies and the cake process.

I made 2 batches of Mud Cake using the 22x27 cm cake tin. The original recipe for mud cake I used for Elmo Cake is for 22 cm cake tin. It was very exciting process and always looking forward to come home after work to prep the cake.

Thank You again for my friends and colleagues who ordered cakes and cupcakes from me and gave me the opportunity for exciting challenge every week. Drop me an email, flamingpot10@gmail.com if you'd like me to make the cake for special occasion. Looking forward for more orders in the future!

Hawtorn Footy Cake

Dark Chocolate Mud Cake

(Made 2 batch for 22x27 cm Cake Tin)

Ingredients

220g Butter

220g Dark Chocolate, chopped

25g Coffee Granules

125g Self Raising Flour

125g Plain Flour

50g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

480g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs, lightly beaten

7 teaspoon Vegetable Oil

100ml Buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease the tin and line the base and sides with baking paper that extends 2cm above the top of the tin.

2. Put the butter, chocolate and coffee in a saucepan with 160ml water and stir over low heat until melted, then remove from the heat.

3. Stir the flours, cocoa, and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make well in the centre. Add the combined egg, oil and buttermilk and the chocolate mixture, stirring with a large spoon until completely combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin until cold.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
350g Butter, Softened
450g Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
625g Plain Flour
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt

Method
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least an hour or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Roll out dough on floured surface to 1/4 to 1/2 thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter. Place cookies one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Hubby helped me printed the template for Hawks jerseys and assist me in cutting the dough for Hawks logo.

3. Bake to 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

500g Icing Sugar

160g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

50ml Whole Milk

a Couple of Drops of Vanilla Extract

Food Colouring (Brown and Golden Yellow)

Method

1 Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment on medium slow speed until mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to slow speed.

2. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoon at a time. Once the milk has been incorporated, add the food colouring and turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

How to Assemble

1. Once you have the cakes, sugar cookies, buttercream frosting, Ganache ready. Start cutting the cake into shape like Sport Jersey.

2. Start Ganaching the cake. Once the ganache is set hard, start the piping process.

Happy 18th Birthday, Michael!

Lemon & Strawberry Cheesecake

2011-08-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

Quick dessert in the middle of the busy week is something that comfort me the most. I made the lemon curd on sunday, so on the weekdays they are all ready to assemble. Sweet!!

Lemon and Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

50g Butter

50 Blanched Hazelnuts

8 Ginger nut Biscuits

1 Lemon

4 heaped teaspoon Lemon Curd (I used the Lemon Curd recipe from Taste)

1 Punnet of Strawberries

250g Light or low fat cream cheese

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Milk

1 tablespoon Icing Sugar

Good Quality Dark Chocolate, for grating

Method

1. Put the butter into a frying pan on a high heat. Wrap the hazelnuts and the biscuits in a clean tea towel and quickly bash with a rolling pin. Turn the heat off under the melted butter. Tip in the bashed nuts and biscuits and stir. Finely grate in the lemon zest and mix well. Divide the mixture between 4 glasses, gently patting it down until firm.

2. Put 1 heaped teaspoon of lemon curd into each glasses and top with a few strawberries. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl and add vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of milk. Stir, then add the icing sugar and mix really well. Divide between each glasses and garnish them with dark chocolate gratings. Chill them in the fridge until ready to serve.

Elmo Cake and Elmo Cupcake

2011-07-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

Elmo Cake! Elmo Cupcake!

I am very excited to write this post and can't wait to share with you all. Since Winnie The Pooh's cake I made last year, I thought that I gave myself another challenge. I asked my best friend whether she would like me to make a birthday cake for her son. She asked me whether I can make Elmo Cake? I thought I can give them a try!. I did lots of research on this. I also received lots of tips and advised from my other besties who made this Elmo cake before on her son's 1st birthday. It was an exciting process after all.

I baked Dark Chocolate Mudcake for the base cake of the elmo and used 3 milo muffins for eyes and the nose of the Elmo. I didn't want to waste the rest of milo batter, so I made the Elmo Cupcake and they were a big hit at the party! The smile and the excitement of the children eating Elmo Cake and Elmo Cupcake were absolutely priceless and that was exactly what I was looking for. Happy Children!

The whole process of making this cake took about 3 separate days of preparation. I do think that you could do all this work in one day. Although It would take very long hours. On the first day, I baked the mud cake and the muffins. On the second day, I prepared the buttercream as my friend advised me to achieve the very red colour of elmo, it was best to do the night before. On the third day, I did the ganache (used the same ganache recipe from Winnie the pooh cake) and piping the cake.

Thank you to my hubby for helping me ganaching the cake and shaping the face of the Elmo. It was a success party at the end. Last but not least, Happy Birthday, Dwayne!

Elmo Cake and Elmo Cupcake

Dark Chocolate Mud Cake

(For 22 cm or 9 inch round Cake)

Ingredients

220g Butter

220g Dark Chocolate, chopped

25g Coffee Granules

125g Self Raising Flour

125g Plain Flour

50g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

480g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs, lightly beaten

7 teaspoon Vegetable Oil

100ml Buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease the tin and line the base and sides with baking paper that extends 2cm above the top of the tin.

2. Put the butter, chocolate and coffee in a saucepan with 160ml water and stir over low heat until melted, then remove from the heat.

4. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin until cold.

Elmo Cupcake

(From Milo Cupcake recipe)

Ingredients

100g Plain Flour

20g Cocoa Powder

100g Milo

140g Caster Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

40g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

120ml Whole Milk

1 Egg

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method

2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together then slowly pour about half into the flour mixture, beat to combine and turn the mixer up to high speed to get rid of any lumps.

3. Turn the mixer down to a slower speed and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture. Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

5. When the cupcakes are cold, spread with chocolate ganache and decorate with butter cream. (I used Orange and White Wilton Candy Melts for the eyes and nose for the elmo cupcakes)

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

500g Icing Sugar

160g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

50ml Whole Milk

a Couple of Drops of Vanilla Extract

Food Colouring

Method

How to assemble

1. Once you have the cake and muffin ready, have the Elmo Template ready and start to cut the round cake and shaped an Elmo's face. (I wish I had the Elmo tin, so I can skip this part and begins to ganache and pipe the cake). Placed 2 muffins with ganache on the bottom of muffin for the eyes of the Elmo and 1 muffin for the nose of Elmo.

2. Start ganache the cake and the cupcake. Once the ganache is set hard, spread the buttercream over the nose and the eyes of elmo cake and start the piping process.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Dwayne!

This is what I was aiming for! The red mustard on Dwayne's face while eating Elmo Cupcake

And I've also got some more fans at the party eating my Elmo Cake and Elmo Cupcake. Grace was one of them!

Irresistible Lemon Loaf

2011-07-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Our Lemon Tree grow enormously in this cold winter season. As usual, we give away to our friends, neighbours and work colleagues. They are still plenty spare for us as well and I am already getting sick of drinking honey and lemon everyday, so I made lemon loaf. It was simply delicious. The balance between the zingy lemon flavour and the sweetness of the glaze are perfect!

Sometimes things in life comes from simple things and this lemon loaf is one of them, they just made my day...

Lemon Loaf

Ingredients

95g Plain Flour

95g Self Raising Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Bi-Carb Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

225g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs, at room temperature

1/4 Cup Grated Lemon Zest

1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice

225g Unsalted Butter, Melted and Cooled

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 180º C. Spray the sides and the bottom of the loaf pans. Line the side and bottom with baking paper.

2. Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

3. Put the Sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the motor running, drizzle the butter in through the feed cube. Add the sour cream and vanilla and pulse until combined. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

4. Sprinkle in the flour mixture. one third at a time folding gently after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix.

5. Pour the butter into the loaf pan. Bake for 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 165ºC and bake for another 30 minutes or until skewer inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.

6. Brush the side and the tops with lemon syrup. Once the cake is completely cool, add the glaze.

Lemon Syrup

Ingredients

1/3 cup Lemon Juice

75g Caster Sugar

Method

In a small saucepan, over a medium heat, heat the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

125g Icing Sugar

2-4 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice

Method

Whisk together icing sugar and 2 tablespoon lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. If the mixture is too thick, add another 2 tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk again until you get the right consistency. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of the loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon juice gets harden, about 15 minutes before serving.

Matcha Cookies and Cream Ice cream

2011-07-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

I may be crazy to crave ice cream in the middle of cold winter season. I've been dreaming to try to make this Matcha/ Green Tea ice cream since I got back from Japan until one day I read the tweets from Kyoto Foodie on Twitter about Haaggen-Dasz Matcha Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, Oooh.. How incredible! Then that's it.. my mind just can't stop thinking about it. I have an ice cream maker which I rarely use it during this crazy unbelievably melbourne cold weather and I can't wait until summer time to make this.. When you crave, you crave.. Just gotta find a way to fulfil those needs..

I added some mini oreo onto the mixture but it was hardly to see on the picture and I should have wait until the ice cream was really set when taking the picture. Oh well.. this ice cream was satisfying enough for my craving moment and I never can't get enough of this..

Matcha Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients

200g Full Cream Milk

3 Egg Yolks

80g Caster Sugar

10g Green Tea Powder

100g Heavy Double Cream

Mini Oreos Cookies

Method

1. Heat Milk in a saucepan until almost at the boiling point, then remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolk and sugar until pale yellow in colour. Add Green Tea Powder and mix well.

3. Add warm milk and mix well. Return mixture to the same saucepan and heat very gently, stirring constantly, until thicken to form a custard.

4. Transfer custard into mixing bowl. Place bowl in a larger bowl half- filled with iced water to cool.

5. In a chilled bowl, whipped the cream until stiff peaks form. Add whipped cream to custard and fold through. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Add the mini oreo while the motor running).

6. Store in the freezer or serve immediately. I serve mine with sprinkle Caramel Crunch.

Indonesian Layer Cake (Kue Lapis Legit)

2011-07-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

I admire this cake to bits since I was growing up. When I was living back home in Indonesia, I remember asking my mum about the unique of this cake that make the baker charge them quite expensive. She said the time consuming of making this beautiful layer cake is one of the factor. Well, I can now totally understand the reason behind them, I spent 4 hours to make this cake but I can tell you that is all worth it! Love the spice aroma that comes from this cake, they just bring back to my childhood memories..

However, my mum mentioned on my last trip to Indonesia early this year that they are now making this cake in pandan flavour! oohh Imagine that.. If you have been following me from the beginning, you may aware that I have big addiction to Pandan leaf. My mum made an attempt to buy the layer cake in Pandan flavour for me on my last visit but apparently they are selling really fast and we had to order far in advance. I guess this would add to my things to do list on my next visit to my hometown.

So, here they are, I present you the original flavour of Layer Cake (Kue Lapis Legit).

Indonesian Layer Cake (Kue Lapis Legit)

Ingredients
6 Egg Whites
15 Egg Yolks
250g Icing Sugar, sifted
390g Dutch Butter
120g Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoon Five Spice Powder (Bumbu Spekoek)
3 tablespoon Condensed Milk

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180º and grease 20-22 cm square cake tin.

2. Whisk Egg Whites to soft peak. Gradually Add Icing Sugar till stiff peaks form.

3. Add Egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each yolk. Add butter and condensed milk, beat till well incorporated.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder and five spice powder together. Fold the flour mixture into batches.

5. Put about a third of a cup of the cake mixture onto the base of the cake tin and spread it evenly over the base. Place in oven and bake for about 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

6. Turn the oven to grill function. Add another third cup of the cake mixture for the second layer. Repeat the same process and keep going until you have finished all the batter.

Caramel and Apple upside-down Cake

2011-07-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's winter time! We all need comfort food during this season.. I know I do! I have some admiration with upside down cake, they just look impressive and it's actually quite easy to make until at last minute, I realised that I wasn't suppose to use the spring form pan to bake the upside down cake as the caramel syrup may leak out from the base during cooking. So I changed immediately to the available pan I have that was not spring form (I guess this was the sign that I need to update my kitchen equipment). The square pan happened to be my lucky charm, even though the size is quite small but still works for the cake. Just as I thought this was supposed to be an easy simple baking on one Sunday afternoon.

After all the hustle, I love the result of Caramel and Apple upside- down cake. I know my husband loves it, he already requested for me to bake this again next weekend.

Caramel and Apple upside-down Cake

Ingredients

5 Royal Gala Apples, cored and cut into wedges

495g Caster Sugar

300 Unsalted Butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

300g Plain Flour

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

75g Almond Meal

1 teaspoon ground cardamon

7 eggs, at room temperature

80ml Milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°. Grease and line the base of a cake pan. Starting from the edge of the pan, tigthly pack apple skin side down in a pan, then pack remaining wedges into the centre.

2. Place 220g Sugar and 180 ml water in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil then simmer to a dark caramel. Pour into the pan, pouring around the edge first, then the centre. Working quickly, arrange apple over caramel.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, vanilla and remaining 275g sugar until pale and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, almond meal, cardamon into butter mixture. Add eggs and milk and beat on low speed until smooth.

4. Spoon batter over apple and level the back of the spoon. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 30 minutes, then cover with baking paper to prevent over browning and bake for a further 45 minutes or until cake comes away from the sides of the pan or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool into the pan for further 15 minutes, then run a knife around the cake and turn out onto a plate.

5. Serve the cake warm at a room temperature.