Cookie Decorating Day

Cookie decorating day at Ewen's kindy

Teacher gets in on the action

Christmas is a time I look forward to. As a child, Christmas was extremely enjoyable. Then again, isn't it for every kid? I now realise that Christmas for adults is a whole different ball game. Yes, it's enjoyable. Yes, it's festive. But it does take a lot of effort on the part of the adult to make Christmas enjoyable for the kids – buy and decorate the tree, buy the presents, make the food.... Since Christmas is usually very low key for us, we do try to keep the spirit alive by doing stuff with the kids. I realised a long time ago that Christmas is what you make of it, and I want to create traditions, sights, sounds and memories for them to remember what Christmas is, and hopefully pass on to their own kids.

For Ewen, this was a great opportunity for me to get involved with his school. Ewen's kindy teachers were very supportive when I asked if they'd like me to conduct a Christmas activity for the class. We decided on a Christmas story and cookie decorating. The kids were enthralled with the Nativity Story but really got excited when it came to the decorating. All sorts of colours and designs, some neat, some messy. For some, the lure of the cookies was too great and was promptly bitten into. Others decided to save it for mom.

I used this simple recipe from Betty Yew's Kitchen Secrets.

225g self raising flour
1 ½ tsp mixed spice
1 tsp baking powder
125g butter
125g brown sugar
1 small egg, lightly beaten

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar. Add egg and a little milk to make a stiff dough. Knead till smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for an hour. Roll out the dough a little at a time and stamp out with cookie cutter. Place on greased baking trays and bake in preheated 190C oven for 10-12 minutes (depending on thickness and size of cookie). Allow to cool slightly on tray and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Decorate with your favourite buttercream, glaze icing or royal icing recipes.

Rum & Raisin Cheesecake

Rum & Raisin Cheesecake - needs more work to make it taste as great as it sounds.

It's CS' birthday. I mulled over for weeks what to buy him. Would I throw him a party? Every year he insists he doesn't want any kind of party. “It's just another day” says he. So, to honour his wishes, I keep it low key. We do, however, throw in a present, a special dinner (pizza!) and a specially made cake. Looking back the past few years, there's always a specially made cake for birthdays. Did we just 'slide' into this tradition? I'd like to think that I made an effort on these 4 very special days in the year and it will be a family tradition. In the years to come, I hope my children will have memories of the tastes and scents of a very special birthday cake, and pass that on to their kids.

On to the cake. Rum & Raisin Cheesecake – an 'adult' cake and had decadence written all over it. Perfect for CS' birthday and if it turned out as well as it sounded, he'd be bowled over. He admires a well made cheesecake. Ingredients were simple, easy to make and took much less time than I had anticipated.

Rum & Raisin Cheesecake (adapted from Ultimate Cheesecakes)

Base
1 cup oats
¼ cup chopped nuts (I used macadamia)
3 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp packed brown sugar

Filling
2 packages Philly cream cheesecake
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp rum (increase to 3 tbsp if not serving children!)
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup minus 2 tbsp flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins
¼ chopped nuts (again, macadamia)
2 tb oats

Combine base ingredients and press onto bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake at 180C for 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, granulated sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Mix on medium till well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Blend in rum. Pour over base.

Cut butter into flour till it resembles coarse oatmeal. Add in sugar and stir. Stir in raisins, nuts and oats. Sprinkle over the cream cheese mixture. Bake at 180C for 45 minutes. Loosen cake from pan and cool completely in pan. Chill overnight (or at least a few hours) before serving.

The result, to be honest, was good, but certainly below expectation. Next time, I shall make the following changes :

Soak the raisins in the rum and dump the whole lot in the cheesecake batter. By sprinkling over the cake, the raisins dried out.

Use 3 tbsp rum!!!

Chop up the nuts into finer pieces, or grind them. The chunkier nuts got a little bit more burnt than I would've liked. Would probably change from macadamia to almonds or walnuts. The high oil content in macadamia's could've been another reason why they got burnt.

And definitely chill the cake before serving. Tastes so much better.

And so, even after all that technical discussion on how to make the cheesecake better, Etienne gave it a thumbs up and the birthday boy ate every last morsel on his plate. Happy Birthday darling. I love you!

Fishbowl Cake

I'm 4 today!

Goldfish crackers do a good job!

29 August 2009

Ewen turned 4 today. Another baby growing. We've still got another year or two 'baby' years, I think. So we're treasuring it as much as we can. He tries to emulate his big brother, but behind it all he's still very 'manja' (wants to be pampered).

He kept changing his mind about what kind of cake he wanted. We finally settled on a fishbowl shaped one, and he wanted a vanilla cake. It was easy enough to do with the ingredients I had available. And I took the opportunity to try Fluffy Icing. The recipe from an Australian publication and is very much like a Swiss Meringue Buttercream without the butter added. Also a chance to try the meringue powder I bought from home. I dare not try any recipe with raw egg whites as I know the eggs are not pasteurised. The result was great. Soft and fluffy (as promised) and not too sweet. Will be using this recipe instead of buttercream icing in the future, which I find way too sweet. The meringue powder whipped up really nice too.

Fluffy Icing

Egg whites 2 (or make up the equivalent from meringue powder)

Caster sugar 1 cup

Water 1/3 cup

Dissolve the sugar with water, stirring. Bring to the boil, and boil without stirring for 3-5 minutes till syrup is thick. Boil over low heat to avoid burning. If the syrup has turned amber, you will have to start over again. Syrup should reach the soft ball stage. Turn off the heat and allow the bubbles to subside. Once the syrup has started to boil, prepare the egg whites. Whisk in an electric mixer till soft peaks form. Keep on whisking or the whites will deflate. When the bubbles in the syrup has subsided, pour the hot syrup into the whites in a thin stream. If poured too fast, the icing may not set. Pour till all the syrup is used up and continue whisking till the icing is soft, fluffy and glossy. Colour as desired and frost cake. Make the frosting on the day it is to be served. Because this icing is a meringue, it will harden and can't be piped or spread further.

To assemble the fishbowl cake, cut about ¼ across the top of a round cake. Of the remaining cake, spread blue icing on ¾ of the cake and down the sides. Spread white icing on the top ¼ of the cake (the cut side) and down the sides. Sprinkle some cookie crumbs at the bottom of the 'bowl' to resemble sand, dot with some M&M's or jelly beans for small stones. Arrange a few fish shaped crackers in the 'water'. Make small dots with the white icing for the bubbles from the fishes' mouths. If you have available, cut some strips of green tape candy (like sour apple tape) to make seaweed.

Happy Birthday darling. Mom loves you!

Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache, and my first attempt at White Icing

I have been on a roll making cakes for the birthdays of friends' children. Jodi asked me to make little chocolate cupcakes last week for Renee's birthday, which I was glad to do. They were 'bare' as she frosted and decorated them herself. Topped with chocolate frosting and M&M's on the top, they were a chocolate sensation!

This week it's Keane and Zern's birthday. They're friends with Etienne, and their mom YP is a good friend of mine. They're chocolate lovers and so Chocolate Cake it was. This time I simply poured a chocolate ganache over and let it drip down the sides. The combination of the two was chocolate heaven.

I knew I wanted to dress the cake up with more than just sprinkles. So I decided to attempt white icing. I had always felt intimidated by white icing, thinking it would be hard to do, and had to be very careful when handling it. Temperatures had to be right or it would be too soft, too dry or too hard. So with cornstarch in hand, I tackled a pack of ready made white icing, and simply cut the shapes out. Not knowing how they'd feel, I thought I'd keep it simple this time. It was surprisingly easy. Felt like the paper clay projects I used to make way back when. I feel brave enough now to attempt other shapes and figurines. For Keane and Zern, I had just stamped their initials out with a cookie cutter and set them on a circle. KZ looked like it was short for 'Kazam!' and that prompted me to add lighting bolts for that 'superhero' feel.

I am very pleased with the way the entire cake turned out. The cake was just the right chocolatey sweetness, and the ganache simply highlighted that flavour. Dark and delicious. The colours of the white icing stood out against the chocolate. The white icing was merely for show and we peeled it off before eating.

Prior to this I wanted to (and still do) learn more about white icing. I tried to look for information but could not find the answer to my question. What's the difference between fondant, sugarpaste and white icing? Is it the same thing by a different name? If not, what's the difference and how should it be treated? When modelling figurines, must I use only sugar glue or will water do? What's the best type of food colour to use? Answers very much appreciated. Thanks.

Chocolate Cake (adapted from Betty Yew's Kitchen Secrets)

Makes 1X8” square cake

Butter 180g
Sugar 360g
Eggs 3 large
Instant coffee 1 tsp
Hot water 1 tbsp
Vanilla 1 tsp
Water 1 cup
Plain flour 240g
Cocoa powder 75g
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1 tsp
Salt ½ tsp

Grease and line an 8” square cake pan. Sift the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Dissolve coffee in 1 tbsp water. Stir in vanilla and add the remaining cup of water. Fold in the coffee mixture alternately with the dry ingredients in 3 batches, starting with the flour. Blend well and pour into the tin. Bake in preheated 175C oven for 55 minutes. Test with a skewer. Leave to cool in pan for 20 minutes and then turn onto rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate 200g, broken into pieces
Whipping cream 150ml

Place both ingredients into a bowl and set it over a pot of simmering water (double boiler style) do not allow the water to touch the bowl. Allow the chocolate to melt. Stir till the mixture is smooth and shiny. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little. When slightly thickened, pour over the cake allowing the ganache to drip over the sides.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ginger Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cupcake with Ginger Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting for my 40th birthday

Tea-time spread

It's my birthday!! The big 4-0. Yup, I'm a grown up. Grown up as in the people who were my parents' friends when I was 7 years old. The 'Uncles' and 'Aunties' who were the parents of my friends. The grown ups who seemed worldly. I'm one of them now. A grown up. Can't believe it though – I still feel like I'm 20-something. I don't feel any wiser. I feel more stressed, but not wiser. Strange feeling....

The posse of friends – and I dare say the best gals I'll ever encounter, helped me celebrate with a lunch at Dream Herb, a Taiwanese style restaurant. It was a joint birthday celebration with YP, whose birthday falls in early July. Since we'll all be away for the summer holidays then, we decided to do this together.

Dream Herb grows their own herbs and uses them in their dishes. My favourite is the Chilli Chicken with Lavender. Annie, the Manager always serves us their wonderful pot of herbal tea. A tad bit minty today but still very good. We then, as usual, adjurned to someone's house for what we call tea break laughs. You can identify the house from the shrieks, squeals and outright booming laughter.

Jodi prepared a wonderful spread of brownies, fruit salad and ice cream and Blian made Konnyaku jelly. And it being my birthday, I made Chocolate Cupcakes with Ginger Lemon Cream Cheese frosting, the recipes I got from Cupcake Bakeshop. If you haven't been to her site, you should! It's a gorgeous menu of tried and tested cupcakes with every frosting imaginable to suit every occasion. I've been baking 'kid' cakes and cookies for a few weeks and was so ready for an 'adult' dessert. Cupcake – adult, and very stylish. Ever since Carrie Bradshaw and Miranda Hobbs bit into one, it's been the iconic dessert for women. So, very suitable for a gathering of my best lady friends.

I used Cupcake Bakeshop's Devil's Food cupcake with Ginger Lime Cream Cheese Frosting. I didn't have lime and so substituted with lemon. I didn't use as much icing sugar either as I was afraid it might be too sweet. The icing was very soft, and I used for swirling. Sadly, the hot and humid weather was unforgiving, and even though I refrigerated them when I got to my destination, it melted. Fortunately everything was contained within the cup. Next time I shall add the full amount of sugar and only, ONLY try this when I don't have to transport the cupcakes, or during low temperatures. Still, I'm so glad I tried it out. The cupcake was moist and dark. On its own, I have to say I've tasted better chocolate cake. But the combination with the Ginger Lemon frosting was divine. I am happy with this combination, just have to work on the consistency of the frosting.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wizard Cake - Etienne's 9th Birthday

It's Etienne's 9^th birthday. I can't believe it. My baby's all grown up. I still remember his birth and the cute things he used to do. Now he's 9 and tormenting me with his 'tween' behaviour. I remember that behaviour (when I was a struggling tween) and the things that used to go through my mind. Oh, how I must've tormented my mother. And now I understand why my mom put up with all my growing pains – just as I am trying to guide Etienne on the path of life. It's not an easy thing – being a guardian.

While going through a Harry Potter spell (get it? Harry Potter. Spell.) Etienne wants a Wizard Cake. Errr.. wizard as in wave my wand and a cake appears, or a wizard theme cake? OK, wizard theme cake. I tried my best and spent many sleepless nights and poring though books to see what I could achieve with the tools at hand. I came up with this cake, which is a basic vanilla butter cake and vanilla buttercream frosting taken from my Vanilla Cupcake recipe. I spread on the uncoloured buttercream and used a toothpick to draw the outline of the wizard. (Figured I could 'erase' any mistakes easily). Then coloured the buttercream and filled in the picture. Then coloured the remainder of the buttercream with cocoa, and piped in the outline. A few sprinkles and we were set.

When he's 19, will he appreciate a homemade cake by mom. Or will he think that's juvenile and rather spend the day partying with his friends?

Happy Birthday darling. Mom loves you very much!

No Cake for Mother's Day

Happy Belated to all Moms out there. Surprised that there's no cake today? I am. I had planned on baking a wonderful Only-Moms-Allowed dessert on this day and sharing it, but I think you can guess, it did not happen. CS and I spent the day at B&Q, looking at floors, tiles, paint, wood and sanitary ware in gazillion options for our new home. We're in the midst of doing up our new apartment (which, those close to me will know is way long overdue). Still, I didn't want to miss wishing all Moms a Happy Mother's Day! I hope the kids behaved.

Chocolate Fudge Easter Cupcakes

Easter is not a big celebration for us. It's pretty much another day. But I couldn't just let it pass without even the smallest chocolate treat! So I baked these absolutely yummy Chocolate Fudge Easter Cakes that I found at the The Goddess's Kitchen. It's a simple recipe, where all the cake ingredients are mixed in one go, and you can decorate the cupcakes anyway you like. I believe in the original recipe the cupcakes were made smaller, but I had Easter design paper liners, which were regular size, so I used them instead. With this size, I baked them for 25 minutes. I don't have golden caster sugar, so used regular caster sugar, and reduced the amount a little. I used hundreds and thousands to sprinkle and topped them with a small chocolate egg, which I got at the bi-monthly Farmer's Market.

You can find the original recipe here.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Soft butter 140g
Caster sugar 130g
Eggs 3 medium
Self raising flour 100g
Cocoa 25g sifted

For the frosting:
Baking chocolate 85g, broken
Soft butter 85g
Icing sugar 130g, sifted
Hundred and thousands
Chocolate Eggs

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and line a muffin pan with paper liners. Tip all the ingredients for the cake into a mixing bowl and beat for 2 mins with an electric hand-whisk until smooth. Divide between the cases so they are two-thirds filled, then bake for 12-25 mins until risen, depending on size. Cool on a wire rack.
For the frosting, microwave the chocolate on high for 1 min. Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the melted chocolate. Spread on the cakes and decorate.