Snow Flakes Cupcakes for Christmas

This is a backdated post.... I have not been feeling very well lately and thus have procrastinated this upload. These vanilla cupcakes were baked and decorated with icy snowflakes for the Christmas family gathering I had at my house last week.

I had plans for lots of baking during this festive season, but since I have not been feeling so well lately, I have to push back some of the baking projects I have in mind. Hopefully I will feel more upbeat and energetic very soon... as Julian's birthday and Chinese New Year are just round the corner!!!

Christmas Cookies

Julian is having a christmas party in school tomorrow. I baked these cookies for him to bring to the party. These are chocolate cookies decorated with fondant and royal icing, in the festive theme off course.

I am back...

Sorry for the long absence.... I have not been baking because I was away on a family vacation in Western Australia. Visited the Margaret River region. I did not have much time to shop, but when I did get a chance to enter any homeware stores... my eyes would be darting around, hunting for baking wares! My aim was to look for items that are uncommon in my home land... and yes, I did managed to find a few things. I will be baking again very soon.... eager to try out the vanilla bean dusting sugar!

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

This is the first time I am icing a cake, and apparently I am not very good at it. Cake decorating is a messy business, and takes a lot of effort and concentration. I hope practice will make perfect eventually. The cake itself is a black sesame chiffon cake. I was expecting the cake to be totally black, but I guess I did not use enough black sesame for that to happen. Nevertheless, the cake still taste pretty decent. I am definitely going to bake this again.

Chocolate Almond Cookies

Chocolate cookies with almond bits embedded. They are not too sweet and rather crunchy. A nice snack that goes with coffee or tea. I think I will make more of these during Christmas.

Polvorones

I have been neglecting this blog a little for the last few weeks. In between, I was actively addicted to games on Facebook, discussion threads in some forums, as well as shopping sprees at the malls. I was also away on a short vacation. Having realized the seriousness of my addiction to Facebook, I decided I should pull myself away from those games for a while and do something more constructive, like BAKE SOMETHING!!! I also realized that Christmas season is approaching, so I should start thinking about what to bake for family and friends this coming December. As a start, I tried baking these Latin-American and Spanish traditional shortbread called Polvorones. They have a 'melt-in-the-mouth' texture and are usually served during the festive seasons like Christmas. I made a small batch for testing and it was well received by my sons! Now that I am in the mood to bake again, I am going to find a few more recipes and try them out one by one during the pockets of free time that I have in between sending and fetching my sons to and from school.

Matcha Macarons

I have a bottle of matcha ( green tea ) powder that I have always wanted to use for baking something with. Finally, I found some time last Thursday to make a batch of matcha macarons. The matcha powder gave the macaron shells a very nice hue of green. I did not need to add any additional food coloring to the mixture at all. Also, I baked these macarons with a friend in mind. I had promised to bake something for her, but due to my busy schedule, it was always being procrastinated. So I am very glad that I have finally fulfilled my promise.

Baby Full Month ( 满月 ) Cupcakes

Baby shower cupcakes in pastel blue and white theme baked for baby Sheldon's first-month celebration party. The cupcakes were decorated with baby's favorite things, including milk bottles, pacifier, bibs, pram, rattles, booties etc. I had great fun making these cupcake toppers, as they brought back memories of the days when my sons were new born babies. Reaching first month was a big milestone for both my babies and myself. It is great joy to see the baby growing in leaps and bounds within a month's time, and it also brings great sense of pride for parents, especially the first time parents! Happy first-month, Sheldon, and here's wishing you a beautiful life ahead!

Tee Off Cupcakes

These vanilla and chocolate chip cupcakes were for my neighbor, who is an avid golfer. The wife ordered the cupcakes for his upcoming birthday. It took me a while to hand-mould the golf bags, golf clubs and golf balls, but at the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I hope the family enjoys the cupcakes.... and P, if you are reading this... the Poh family is wishing you a very happy birthday, and may you be blessed with everything nice throughout the year! Bon anniversaire!

Madeleines au chocolat

I have some free time on my hand today, and so I decided to bake something for my boys since it is also children's day tomorrow. I know chocolate is the must-have ingredient, but I do not want to bake cupcakes today since I will be baking a couple of dozens in the coming few days. I wanted to make something simple and fast so that it wont take up too much of my time. Chiffon cake and madeleines came to mind, and I decided on madeleines eventually because they are bite-size and Julian can bring some along to share with his classmates when they go for their school picnic tomorrow morning.

This is my first time baking chocolate madeleines. I used unsweetened Valrhona cocoa powder for the batter, which gives the tea cakes great chocolate flavor. However, because I was a bit stingy on the sugar, they ended up to be a little bitter for little children. I rectified it by dusting them with some powdered sugar, and I think they are divine, at least to chocolate addict like me!

Cars Cupcakes for 5th Birthday

This set of chocolate fudge cupcakes were for a boy who turns 5 today. According to his mother, he is a big fan of Cars, and would really like to have his birthday cakes decorated in this theme. The cupcakes were for his party in school, and the school specifically requested parents to prepare cakes that come with less cream. Thus, in accordance with the instruction from school, I decorated the cupcakes with less buttercream and more fondant. The road makes out the number '5', and the individual cupcakes were decorated with cars and chequered flags toppers. Happy 5th Birthday Torsai!

PS: Pardon me for the photos... it was really late at night when I completed this... the lighting was not good, and I was pretty sleepy too.

Happy Teacher's Day

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day. I baked some Devil's Food Cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream and fondant messages for Julian and Justen's teachers. This is just my little gesture to say "thank you" to all their teachers for the love and patience that they have shown to my sons, for the knowledge and guidance that they have imparted on the boys and most of all for their endless effort in making school a fun place to be in every way. Wishing all the teachers a very sweet and happy Teacher's Day!

Flower Blossoms Cupcakes

My customer ordered this batch of flower blossom cupcakes for her aunt's birthday. The cakes are vanilla and cranberries flavor, and topped with vanilla buttercream. I took many pictures of these cupcakes as I was trying out my DSLR camera. In the end, I could not decide which one to post in here... so I am going to put the better ones all here. Flowers make me happy... hope they cheer up your day too!

Princess and Pirate Cupcakes

Julian's classmate, Issabelle, invited her whole class to her house for a pool party yesterday. Initially I thought it was meant to be her birthday party, but I later realized that it was just a casual get-together party organized by her mum so that Issabelle could play with her friends. We were told not to bring any presents, but I did not want to turn up empty-handed, so I made some cupcakes for the kids. These were pistachio and chocolate chips cupcakes, and I decorated some of them in princess and pirate theme for the girls and the boys. I also did some with simple chocolate glaze sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts. I think the adults would prefer them this way! It turned out to be a very nice party, with lots of finger food and drinks. Not only did the kids enjoyed themselves tremendously in the pool, we parents got a chance to get to know one another better too!

Pistachio Brownies

Our family rented a chalet over the last weekend and we brought plenty of snacks along for our two short days of break. Among the snacks were four big packets of pistachio nuts that my husband bought to go with the beer, which we failed to finish. I have three packets of these nuts leftover when we return from our weekend break, and therefore I thought I could use some of them to make pistachio brownies. I think the distinctive flavor of the pistachio nuts will go quite well with the chocolate in the brownies. I used a classic brownie recipe and added two cups of pistachio nuts into the batter. It is common to overbake brownies, so I watched the oven and the timing very closely when I was baking mine. I baked the brownies for 35 minutes and I think I have achieved a crispy top with slightly moist interior in this batch of brownies. However, I wonder if it would be even better if I have bake for a few minutes more? Maybe I could test it out by baking another batch, since I still have plenty of pistachio nuts in my pantry!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

My son, Julian, asked me to bake some chocolate chip cookies for him to bring to school to share with his friends. I gladly agreed. All along I had the impression that chocolate chip cookies are one of the easiest thing to bake. Just mix up the dough, drop them onto the baking sheets and just pop them into the oven, right? Wrong! I search through my cookbooks and decided to give these chewy chocolate chip cookies a try. I followed the instructions on the recipe closely, but I ended up with a batch of very flat and unattractive looking cookies. Determined to perfect these cookies... I searched the internet for more recipes and tips. I found a pretty similar recipe here. I fired up my oven again today, and make another batch of chocolate chip cookies. There were a few things that I have done differently this time round. I used a new bottle of baking soda, and I chilled the dough in the fridge for 30 mins before baking them. This time, the result is more satisfactory. I hope the kids in school will enjoy these cookies!

Pineapple Tarts

My friend requested that I make some pineapple tarts for her. I hesitated for a while... I was not sure I could make tasty pineapple tarts. The last time I bake these was about more than half a year ago. I baked the tarts with commercially purchased pineapple jam, and it was fine. The pastry was pretty alright. Then I attempted the very next day with some home-made pineapple jam, and it was not really edible. I followed a recipe that was quite different from the traditional way of making the jam, and the fillings turned out to be quite awful. This time round, I did more research, and with the right ingredients along with past experiences.... I managed to come up with this batch of pineapple tarts. I did not bake the pastry for too long, thus they are quite close to the "melt-in-the-mouth" sort of texture. My pineapple jam was not too wet, nor was it too dry this time. But I think I could have made it sweeter. As for the pastry, maybe I should try to bake them a little longer next time because I feel that even though the pastry was soft, there was something missing in them...maybe the sweet smell of butter?! Besides these open-styled ones, I have also made a batch of close-styled ones for my friend.

Durian Puffs

After reading about the Durian Degustation party organized by Leslie from his blog, I can't help but crave for some of these delicious fruits myself. Following his recommendation, I went to Ah Loon and Ah Teck (their store is along East Coast Road, opposite Jago Close) for my durian fix. They were very good in what they do, and most of the durians that they have picked for me were superb. I think Mao Shan Wang and Golden Phoenix were really yummy and well worth the price! Beside buying about 8kg of durians to feast with my parents, I also packed 1kg of Mao Shan Wang durian pulp. I used the pulp to make these Mao Shan Wang durian puffs today. Thomas will be back from his business trip tomorrow, and this is my little surprise for him.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The last time I bake a Pineapple Upside Down Cake was about twenty years back when I was in secondary school. We had to bake this cake during our Home Economics class. I remembered teaming up with one of my classmates and we made a small Pineapple Upside Down cake of about 6 inches in diameter. It was one of the most interesting lessons then. All the cakes in our class turned out great. Recently I have been thinking about revisiting this recipe. I did not keep the original recipe from my old text book, but I found an equally good one from one of my cookbooks. So, after twenty years... today I tried making this very classic, very old school Pineapple Upside Down cake again! I had some hiccups along the way. The recipe called for a 10" cake pan, but I find that to be a little too big for the amount of batter I had. I think I would bake it using a 9" cake pan the next time round. My caramel toppings was not too nicely done too... I should reheat the syrup before putting in the pineapple rings so that the toppings would spread out more evenly on the cake tin. I baked this cake in the 350 F oven for about 50 mins and took a slice while it was still warm. The cake was quite yummy, and suddenly I was overwhelmed with a nostalgia for my schooling days!!

Madeleines

Madeleines are small shell-shaped sponge cakes originated from Commercy of northeastern France. I received two pretty good quality madeleine baking pans from the States last Wednesday and it was just in time since I have friend visiting me on Thursday. I made about two dozens of traditional madeleines, and my friend and I together with our kids had them for tea on Thursday afternoon. These little cakes are pretty easy to make and my sons love snacking on them, so I am definitely going to be making more madeleines soon.

Embossed Cupcakes

Tomorrow is my birthday... I baked these cupcakes for myself. Happy Birthday to me... and this year I only have one simple wish... TO BE HAPPY.

Vanilla and Cranberries Cupcakes

There will be a few hours of power interruption at my house tomorrow, so I decided to use up as much items in the fridge as possible. What's a better solution then to bake some cupcakes! I can use up the eggs, butter, milk and my buttercream. I made some vanilla cupcakes and added dried cranberries and blueberries into the cake batter. These cupcakes are for some of my new friends i met at Juilan's enrichment class recently. They are all mommies of Julian's classmates. Sometimes we will have coffee together while waiting for the kids, and I have always wanted to bake some cakes for them and their children. I didn't have much time today so these were just simply decorated with buttercream swirl and some fondant flowers and butterflies. I hope my friends and their kids will like them.

Justen's Birthday Cupcakes

Today my younger son, Justen, turns 2. I baked some red velvet cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream and decorated them with his favorite things. Justen has always been a very easy child. He eats most kinds of food that I cook for him and he loves to eat fruits. He likes reading books, knows the pronunciation of a few of the alphabets and his first song is 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars'. He is a very independent boy and does not requires a lot of my attention as compared to his elder brother. He is often contended playing by himself and only fuss when he is sleepy or soiled his diapers. Because of the vast difference in the characters of my two boys, I tend to focus more of my energy in meeting the demands of Julian, so much so that I have friends who commented that I love Julian more than Justen. I was a little taken aback when I heard that but I know this is definitely not the case. I love them both equally. I spend more of my time with Julian because he is growing and is sensitive about our attention and love. Justen is still small and thus I let my helpers takes care of his daily needs like bathing and feeding. Not being hands-on does not mean I love him less. I bond with him by reading and singing to him. A gentle caress and a doting kiss on the cheek says my love for him. I believe he knows that I love him very much because only his mommy can calm him down when he cries uncontrollably. Motherhood is not easy and being a mother to two little boys can be quite taxing at times, but I would not exchange them for anything in the world. They are my joy and my happiness. Soon, Justen will be talking, debating with me like Julian does.... the challenge would be to devote my attention and time equally between the two of them such that they will not feel that there is any sort of favoritism involved. Meanwhile, I want to treasure the baby phase of my little boy. He is still very much like a baby, chubby, cute and innocent, and he still smells so good like a new born baby! Happy birthday Justen....don't grow up so fast.... !!!

Orange Chocolate Cookies

Someone gave me a hamper from Duchy Originals last Christmas and I fell in love with their orange biscuits coated in dark chocolate ever since. It is one of the most yummy cookies I have ever tasted. The combination of the aromatic yet slightly bitter flavor of orange and dark chocolate makes this a heavenly treat. I had some free time yesterday and decided to try baking some of these delicious cookies myself. These are definitely not as polished looking as the ones from Duchy's, but the taste of the combination of butter cookies with orange zest, orange marmalade and bittersweet chocolate came pretty close. I find them quite irresistable and finished off at least a dozen in one afternoon. I am feeling very guilty now. I need to go on a diet.