HSN Cooks Spring Weekend Event

It's been a long break away from blogging again. Try as I might but it's just tough cooking/baking, taking pictures, writing up posts and working at the same time. I'm re-thinking my priorities this year. I had to take more responsibilities at work and back home, demanding as usual. Despite of all the madness, I am still sane, barely, hanging on to the one thing that kept me in place, my love of cooking and baking.

So if you like performing experiments in the kitchen, talk to the onions or chicken breasts, play with sugar and flour, do check out and make time for the HSN Cooks Spring Weekend Event. There's a chance to chat with Padma Lakshmi at 2pm EDT and Chef Wolfgang Puck at 3pm EDT March 27th on Facebook. Personally, I'm a fan of Emril Lagasse. I would like to thank Chris from HSN Cooks Spring Weekend Event for her effort in contacting me about this event. I was practically in hiding. A quarter of a year has almost breezed past and it's time to make some decisions about blogging. To be or not to be, is never a simple question.

Take care.

A Time to say 'No'

Be warned that this post has nothing to do with food. Seldom have I posted negativity in this blog. But I think it is time for me to certain things off my chest. It has been weighing on me too long that I have no will to blog of other stuff at all. I do not know if this post will draw any flak. All I ask is that if you find this post offensive, don’t read it. Allow me to vent my emotions on my own blog. I do not expect you to walk in my shoes or feel how I felt.

1) Have your parents been humiliated by your in laws during the wedding preparation?
2) During the wedding dinner, your parents were being treated as if invisible?
3) Till this day, they had never spoken to each other because your in laws think your parents are holed up in 3 room flat?
4) Have your parents been accused of as snobs when the real snobs are your in laws?
5) Despite meeting your in laws only during Chinese New Year, it can still become a circus act, gossips that followed months and months later?
6) Over a period of 7 years, your daughter met her ‘so-called’ grandfather on 7 to 9 occasions?
7) You do not even know where your in laws live?
8) Have your joy of a first time mother doused with words like, ‘I already have 4 grandchildren’?
9) Have your pride of a first time home owner being trampled upon, just because you could only afford a HDB flat?
10) Your sis in law returned and insisted a bigger ang bao for her kids even though your husband was jobless and relied on your income at that time?
11) Your sis in law gave your kids clothes so worned out that even your helper didn't even want them?
12) Your sis in law gave big packets sweets and chocolates to your kids which were so close to expiry dates?
13) Have your calls for help being answered only a year later when the crisis was over, and that they came questioning if what you said a year ago were true?
14) Despite of all these, they expect you to fulfill your obligations to them when the need arises?

As the verse went, ‘A time to kill, a time to heal’. And this is my time, a time to say ‘No’. A relative from IH’s side said, ‘Do not have pride, forget and forgive and life is all about relationship, do not deprive the kids of their grandparents.’ Well, I would like to tell this self righteous relative, who has never been married, never had in laws like mine and whose womb never nurtured a child to hold her tongue.

Do not have pride - It is not about pride; it is dignity. My parents definitely did not raise me up just be treated like that. I did not receive education to be treated like that. I did not have children just so you could treat them like the way you people did.

Forgive and forget - It is so easy for you to say 'forgive and forget' when you are not at the receiving end. You may request, but the choice is up to me. In the first place, there wasn't any apology.

Life is all about relationship, do not deprive the kids of their grandparents - All their lives, my children have only known and loved one set of grandparents. At the age of 4, Ah Girl told my dad that 'the other old man' is not her grandfather because he doesn't love her. Upon hearing those words, how would a mother feel? My MIL was so indifferent towards Ah Girl and Ah Boy, perhaps they didn't even know she is the grandmother. What relationship? How can one be deprived of something which they never knew they had? My kids don't even want to be carried by them or speak to them. To them, my in laws are nothing more than strangers. Whatever love they couldn't give, my parents gave, my aunts and uncle gave, unconditionally.

There was death in the family recently and so the drama unfolds. I refused to attend the funeral and told IH that the kids are too young to go. It took them 7 years and a funeral to remember that they have a daughter in law and grandchildren somewhere. 冰封三尺，非一日之寒。If they expect instant reconciliation, they are mistaken. I may be married to IH but I am not enslaved to him or his family. I have the same earning power, I stand on even ground. Being an outcast for so long, I refuse surrender my freedom. I do not want to waste my energy on my in laws anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. I am fine as long as they stop bothering me. I am not stopping them to see the kids; that is if they ever bothered to. But don't expect me to play nice, that's hypocrisy. Brand me unfilial, unforgiving, vindictive, I don't care. I insist, call me Madam, not Missus. I do not want to carry his family name for I am my own master.

Start Them Young

Came across this post some days back from Terri of Hunger Hunger and thought it would good to share with you. While I could not load the video (not sure why), but reading what she wrote is enough to convince me. She is a sincere blogger and writes what she believes in. Do hop on over to her blog as the areas covered by her are vast. I am picking out just one of points mentioned as I was astounded by the message Jamie Oliver wanted to bring across. The amount of sugar found solely in milk consumed by a child over a period of 5 years is incredible. After knowing this, it would make any parents think twice about giving out carbonated/cordial drinks, sweets and chocolates freely. Below, are some of my efforts to introduce healthy eating habits to my kids.

Speaking of which, I am guilty of giving my kids cordial drinks like Ribena. Though I did not start this habit but I did not stand firm enough stopping IH from buying it. These 2 months however, I started buying barley and boiled them with some pandan leaves. The kids are getting use to this. It's now either barley water or just water. As for sweets, chocolates and carbonated drink, as long as you don't have them at home, they can't ask you for it. Simple as that. I don't stock sweets, chocolates and ice cream at home. Occasionally, I will buy them sweets and chocolates in smaller packagings or ration out to them. We bring bottles of boiled water when we are out, so no excuse for ordering carbonated drinks.

Being a baker, it is inevitable that there will always be cakes, bread and cookies at home. One benefit of homebakes is that you can reduce the amount of sugar used. That is what I did for most of the recipes I have tried out. With the constant supply of homebakes, I would always ask my helper to share with my neighbours, their kids and helpers. This way, my kids learnt about sharing. In fact, my kids must have gotten tired of my bakes these days.

I breastfed Ah Girl for 6 months and Ah Boy for a year. When they were weaning, the first solids were vegetables puree which I made myself. Pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, chinese spinach, corn, peas are some examples. All of which are unadulterated with seasoning. My mom had advised me to feed them pork bone or fish porridge but I believed that by starting them with vegetables to their untainted palate, they would be more receptive towards vegetables when they are older. Indeed, nothing makes me happier to hear my kids say, 'I want vegetables' or 'I want some broccoli'. Though they are quite picky when it comes to fish, I'd rather that than them picking out vegetables from their plates.

As mentioned before in my earlier posts, I do not offer deep fried food at home. Once in a while, IH will bring them out to McD's. Probably due to the lack of exposure to deep fried food, they usually cannot finish the chicken nuggets or french fries. It is some relief that McD's now offers yoghurt, apples and corn cup in their kid's meal. I believe all kids love McD's for a reason. The same for my kids; its toys. In general, Ah boy and Ah Girl prefer homecooked meals. There is pros and cons about this. They usually can't eat much when we eat out.

A must-have for my kids is soup. Particularly, clear soup. Soup is good for 2 reasons; nutrients in soup are easier absorbed by body and it hydrates the body. There must be soup in 1 of the meals for them. Besides the regular ABC soup (potato and carrot soup), below are 2 soups which I usually cook for them. For soups to be clear, it is important to remove the scums during boiling.



















I believe that all parents want to inculcated healthy eating habits in their children but sometimes, we adults who are 'young at heart' inevitably fall into temptation ourselves. If we as parents do not check ourselves, wouldn't it be hypocrisy to ask our young kids to exercise self restraint?

Febrile Seizure & My Grievance

Okay, so I took an even longer break. I hope everyone had a wonderful Chinese New Year. I was so busy with the preparation, pineapple tarts sale, cake orders and tending to a sick child, I didn't really get to enjoy my break. At the busiest time of the year, Ah Boy fell sick. Just first week of February, it started out with a mild grade fever in the morning. When I was about to leave office for home in the evening, I received a panic call from IH. Ah Boy's fever escalated suddenly and went into seizure. Ambulance was called in and Ah Boy was sent to hospital. The journey from office to the hospital was torturous. What happened to my mischievous and active boy?

Being afraid and uncooperative in an unfamiliar environment is normal for a toddler. Even more scary for him as he was in the isolation ward. Fortunately 1 of us was allowed to accompany him. While he was still very alert after the seizure, he was afraid of the masks and medication time. Later, the paediatrician explained to me that what occurred was Febrile Seizure . It is a type of seizure that usually lasts less than 15 minutes and is caused by a sudden rise in temperature. As the child's brain is not fully developed, it is unable to handle this and thus shut down. Usually, after the seizure, some children will fall asleep. After Febrile seizure, the child will appear normal and alert. According to the doctors, Febrile seizure is unlikely to cause developmental problems or impairment of intelligence. However, when seizures occur, it is important to send the child to hospital to rule out other possiblities such as Meningitis and Encephalitis and to identify the cause of fever. In Ah Boy's case, I was worried about Dengue Fever. Just a day ago before Ah Boy's seizure, I was informed by the people from NEA that there is 1 case of Dengue Fever in my block, just 2 levels below me. Then there is H1N1. Dengue Fever was ruled out. It was diagnosed as viral fever and since Ah Boy was alert, he was discharged that night.

Unexpectedly, the next morning, Ah Boy had another seizure and fell alseep after that. According to the doctor, the recurrence of Febrile seizure is not uncommon (about 30%) but it is not common for it recurr again in 24 hours. We had no choice but to send him back to hospital for another check. He was admitted and tested for H1N1 but was cleared. Still, he had to stay in the hospital for observation. He was alert and played with his toys. Ah Girl was rather shaken by the experience and cried when Ah Boy had to stay in the hospital. Due to my earlier commitment, I had to stay home that night to finish my order. My helper stayed the night with him in the hospital. For once, I hated myself for having to bake and decorate.

I would like to share my experience of handling seizure at home. Not that I have lots of experience but what was taught by the doctors. My hope is none of the parents has to go through this frightening and dreadful experience but it is important to know what to do if it does happen. First, when seizure occurs, turn the baby/toddler to his/her side. Do not attempt to stuff anything into his/her mouth, including your own fingers. Try to stay calm. I tried to talk to Ah Boy in an assuring voice and pat gently on his back. Meantime, observe the duration of the seizure, the child's response such as, clenched fist, twitching body, eyes staring forward or rolled back. Did the child let go of his bladder? What happened after the seizure? These are the questions doctors will ask you when you bring the child in.

The worse was yet to come as after being discharged from the hospital as you have to monitor the child's temperature. Besides Panamol, he was also given Ibuprofen. These 2 medication will manage the fever but will not stop seizure from recurring. I was given some anticonvulsants to be administered through the anus should the seizure last more than 15 minutes. In Ah Boy's 2 instances, they lasted less than a minute. Ah Boy was really cranky and refused fever medication which was understandable. My helper and I took turns to carry him throughout the nights so that he could catch some sleep. What was unacceptable was an adult, acting like a kid throwing tantrums at the slightest thing. I believe that a child can sense the emotions of his/her parents. It is important to remain calm and assuring. It is no wonder, throughout the entire time, Ah Boy refused to be carried by IH. And especially at times like these, I find that a helper is more valuable than a husband. Usually, it took me 2 hours to cook pineapple jam. But having to take care of Ah Boy intermittenly, I took 6 hours. I received no help from him except he kept pressing us to administer medication. Just minutes after I started sponging Ah Boy, IH measured took his temperature again and said sponging didn't work. Then IH blamed me for not being there when the first seizure occurred. I was exasperated. I did not have the energy to deal with IH. A leopard will never change its spots. 狗，始终改不了吃屎。 Ah Boy cried at the sight of medicine. My helper and I wept when he hugged us and cried, 'Please, please, no more medicine.'

Finally, Ah Boy has fully recovered after Chinese New Year, gained back the 1.3kg he lost during his sickness. What I got in return is a healthy and active boy and a cough which tormented me for 5 weeks. Thank you for reading this lengthy and pictureless post. I can't promise that I will be more regular in my posts but I'm glad to be back.

It's been a long break...

... And thank you if you are still reading this. I've been experiencing a little fatigue these couple of months. Recently, I have been boring you with cakes. I have baking cakes week in and week out. Not that I have lost my interest in baking or decorating but I have lost my direction in blogging. I cooked, I baked but most times, just too tired to take pictures. Partly because fearing they might ended up in the draft box like, forever.

During this break, I took time to prepare Ah Girl for Primary 1. More than ever, I realised that I had been too lax with her. Her handwriting is atrocious, especially for her Chinese. That also made me feel rather guilty. I didn't spend enought time with her to correct her handwriting.

Ah Girl's graduation day. She performed in one of the skits.






















I took time off to accompany her on the first and second day of school. Everything was a breeze except for a hiccup from the transport company. She was being assigned to the wrong bus. From a supposedly half an hour ride, turned into a near 2 and a half hour journey. I had to sit at the drop off point, worried sick and not knowing when she would reach home as the driver couldn't give me a confirmed time. Call it being Singaporean or whatever, I called up and gave them a piece of my mind. Honestly speaking, if she were to take public transport, it would probably take 10 to 15 minutes to reach home. I thought the arrangement would be more convenient for Ah Girl and my helper. I was quite surprised when Ah Girl reached home without tears. I must say I was rather proud when she said she wasn't afraid, just bored nd hungry. Perhaps she is more independent than I would like to admit. By the time she had her meal, it was close to 4 p.m. She asked if it was her lunch or dinner. Hah.






















The only thing I am worried about is her spending too much at the bookshop and being talkative in class. Thus I wondered if she was made monitoress because of her constant chattering.

At the same time Ah Boy fell sick, recovered and fell sick again over the weekend. He is getting used to Ah Girl's new routine and will ask where is Ah Girl when he wakes up. He used to follow Ah Girl to the Kindergarten but she now has to go off at 6.15 a.m. This is his cheeky self. His favourite TV shows are Pingu, Bob the Builder, Barney, Hi 5 and of course Thomas Tank Engine. Favourite song? 'Happy Birthday'. He comes in really handy at birthday parties.























This is his not-so-cheeky self. I noticed his hidden double eye-lids will appear when he is unwell. If that is really the case, I'd rather they remain hidden forever.


















I enjoyed the company of my kids while slowing down. I think I have been doing too many things at the same time. Finally, I had time to sit down and read. Finished 4 books to be exact. Found time to revisit beading and unfortunately, discovered jewellery making. Argh.

ATM Media Mention

I was nicknamed 'ATM' by Katherine from Chocolate Medley. I didn't realised the title of my blog could be abbreviated so when I chose it. Hopefully, I am my own 'ATM', not others. Ahah. I was approached by a Malaysian magazine a couple of months back. They asked for permission to use one of my blogposts for publishing. So here it is, only thing is; it was published in March. I am far behind my posts, this shows definitely.


















My post was published along with some other food bloggers. It kinda feel strange to see my stuffs in prints.



















The publishers were so kind to send me some copies of the magazine although I told them I reside in Singapore. They actually couriered them out. Heartfelt thanks.



















Recently, I received some nasty comments and emails. I do not understand their hate but to curse my kids are way off limits and uncalled for. Leave my family out of this. I mostly keep to myself and do not think I have offended or attacked anyone online. I don't think I am cocky in any ways. Apart from being busy and reply comments late, I think I am in line with blogger's etiquette. I hope the hostility will stop and please, whoever you are, channel your energy to do something useful. I do not know you and because of that, your words can't hurt me. Go bake or cook something, it will help make you feel better.

A Year Of Blogging...

... is not a big deal. Last Saturday marked my first year of blogging. I was too busy to notice. Time slips away so fast, especially when you are not looking. When I first started out blogging, I had alot of negativity in me. I was bitter and angry. I needed a place where I could express what I felt and what I went through. I started 'All That Matters Not'. In there, I wrote about my unhappiness, things and people that I wished didn't matter to me. But life shouldn't be this way. Whenever I look at my children, I am reminded that despite all that I went through, I am still being blessed with good things. And that, I would want to write them down as well. I like spending time in the kitchen because that is my 'me' time. In the kitchen, my only concern is churning out dishes and cakes which my kids and parents love to eat. I didn't have to think about unhappy stuffs. By doing this, I hoped that I would be spending more time tending to this blog, rather than the other one. After 1 year, I am glad to say; I achieved what I set out to do. Well, okay, most of the time.

During this 1 year of blogging, I attempted many things. Some with yielding results, some not that great. The most important thing I have learnt through these is not to give up, have faith in yourself and not limit your abilities. I learnt alot from fellow food bloggers and am humbled by the knowledge they have and shared. I have made friends, hopefully, no enemies. Those who came in frequently to comment on my blog, those who didn't, those who are too shy to, those who came and went; I thank you. Blogging can be boring at times, not unlike talking to a wall. It is you who has made this journey fun and enjoyable.


















I didn't do anything for blog anniversary (told you I'm not that into anniversary stuffs). But I received a last minute order last Sunday. Sweet lady ordered for her friend's 18th birthday. She specified she wants sun, ocean and sunflowers. Later, she decided she would love to have Elmo for her cousin as well. So the theme looks suspiciously like 'Elmo goes to the beach with sunflowers'. Ahahah~~



















Ladybugs and sunflowers.



















More bugs.


















I really like the brown seashell. Terribly sorry about having to change the pick up venue due to a last minute meeting. I hope you and your friends had a great time.

Joel's Full Month Cake

Yesterday was baby Joel's full month celebration. To mark this occasion, mommy Jullie ordered a cake from me. For Chinese, baby's full month (满月) is a big thing. It is also a way of announcing and introducing the new addition to family and friends. In some traditions, if you have a baby boy, glutinous rice, ang ku kueh, cakes and eggs that are dyed red are distributed to relatives and friends. For baby girls, glutinous rice is off the menu. These days, due to lower birth rates, people don't really make the differentiation. Nowadays, it is so convenient to just give out cake vouchers. Thanks Jullie for putting her faith in me. I hope everyone likes the mango mousse cake. This cake has 3 chiffon cake layers and 2 mousse layers. It weighed 4kg and it was quite tiring holding it while waiting for a cab. Fortunately I had the 'training' required from carrying Ah Boy. I was stoned (from the lack of sleep) at the party so I didn't and forgot to snap any pics of Joel.

I thought I paced myself quite well when I made this cake but in the end, there were a few hiccups. First, there was a health-scare and my dad went for an operation. Fortunately, the doctors cleared him for cancer. I waited for the op to end before heading back to bake. I slept at 4 a.m. and woke up early to visit my dad so I could catch the doc-in-charge when he was doing his rounds. Rush back at 1 p.m. and decorate the cake, have it delivered at 5 p.m. and went back to the hospital again. It has been a stressful week; from knowing my dad's suspected condition, to the tests and scans then the operation. There were problems at work. I thought I could heave a sigh of relief and steal some air after holding my breath for so long. But no, IH, had to come and remind me that I am an incompetent mother. You need not stand by me, walk with me or stand behind my decisions to do certain things. But you don't have to run me down like this when I am exhausted and at my weakest. I know where my heart is and my conscience is clear. You cannot and will not break my spirit. Seriously, I do not know what to make of this post but I need an outlet I guess. I'm sorry it had to end with a sour note.

Pineapple Tarts

So, what makes a good pineapple tart? It must be bite-size so that you won't feel wozzy after going through 1 or 2 (face it, pineapple tart lovers can't stop at 1). It must have a good ratio of pineapple jam to tart shell. When the flavour of the buttery tart and the jam comes together, it should strike a blissful balance. The tart shell must be sturdy enough to hold and soft enough to crumble in your mouth. The jam flavoured with cinnamon and cloves, though sweet, must have a hint of sourness to entice you to reach out for the next tart, another, then another. Well, this is my idea of a good pineapple tart.

Pineapple tarts are the only festive cookies I look forward to during Chinese New Year. For as long as I could remember, it is the only cookies I attacked when I went visiting from house to house. I used 'is' because I still do. So, you might want to guard your pineapple tarts when I visit.

My mom used to bake pineapple tarts and sell them during Chinese New Year. She has since stopped baking her 'melt-in-the-mouth' killer pineapple tarts. We had to make-do with store boughts. After a few horrid pineapple tarts, I decided to make my own. There is this perculiar trait that runs in my family. Whenever we eat something that tasted awful or not up to mark, we will search frantically for an 'antidote'; same food but of course, a known, delicious one. Armed with my mom's recipe, I got the taste and texture I like. My mom used to shape the tarts in closed-tart type, a very pretty 'leaf' shape. I had clumsy hands and couldn't shape them like hers. So I made them into open face tarts. 1 good thing about baking your own tarts is that you can take 1 off the tray and pop it in your mouth, all in the name of quality check (uh-oh, the calories! *gasp*)



















These are what I have to offer this year. From top; almond cookies, pineapple tarts, peanut cookies and cornflake cookies. I would like to thank those who placed their faith and ordered from me. I am glad that the taste that I love has found a way to your home. I hope you liked them. Order is now closed. Thank you for your support.

祝 ：新年快乐 身体健康 万事如意

Merry Christmas!!

This fruitcake was baked some time back. I have always used my aunt's fruitcake recipe and have not tried others. The dried fruits are soaked in rum for more than a month. I am usually busy during Christmas, mostly because of work. But this year, I had to rush through a cardigan for Ah Girl. On top of that, I have some orders to fulfill. Then, there is Christmas dinner and I totally forgot making a log cake for the family. Not that we have a tradition celebrating Christmas but it's my mom's favourite festive season and I need an excuse to indulge. Ahahah.. And kids do love Christmas.

I'm glad that I have delivered my fruitcake orders and they are now in good hands (remember to feed the frutcakes). Sort of free up my baking schedule a little. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all readers; silent readers, those who left their comments on my blog and those who took time to write to me, those who I have met, those who I have not. I have made new friends and update my old pals of what I have been up to through this humble blog. It's been a great journey so far and thank you for making it enjoyable. Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a blessed year 2009.

じゃね～～

Wedding Cake For A Friend

Judging by how many shots I took for this cake, shows how proud am I of this cake. I took a total of 58 shots of it. Scary huh? Well, pardon me for overindulging and self-bragging because this is the first wedding cake I have made. My first attempt on making gumpaste from scratch and of course, my first gumpaste flowers and butterflies. The review came back; the couple loved the design (well, I think the bride will love it more than the groom. It's a 'girlish' cake afterall) and the family enjoyed the cake as well.



















Thanks to the vast information online, I am able to make this cake a reality. If you are into cake decorating, do join this new community. There, I learnt the importance of lining a fruitcake with marzipan before fondant. The fruitcake recipe is from my aunt and I have yet to have her permission to post it here. My apologies. If I were to do this over again, I would try to roll out the gumpaste as thin as it would go. I am still not too satisfied with the results yet.



















This part of detailing took me quite abit of time. I was afraid that the whole thing will not form a proper sequence, but I guess my 'guess-timation' was spot on this time. In case you are wondering, they were sugar pearls, difference sizes of dragees and gumpaste cut-outs, glued together with royal icing. I did not purchase expensive flower or butterfly cutters for this project. The Sakura flower cutters were actually from Daiso. They are vegetable cutters meant for my bentos really. The butterfly cutters are those cheap plastic cutters for cookies. So if you are new to decorating, do not go out and kill your wallet by buying those expensive cutters. Like me, I do not know how long my interest in gumpaste and fondant would last. Start with the cheapest tools you can get your hands on first. In my opinion, if you could use the simplest tool and make something grand; you will get much more satisfication out of it.



















Another view.



















Close up on the butterfly and flowers.

Okay, this is one of my backlogs. This cake was done in September, that's how far behind I am with my posts. Anyway, 1 down, a few more to go. I need to find some motivation. But now, it's back to the hooks again.

じゃね～～

Snowskin Mooncakes

I know I'm terribly late posting mooncakes here. But I would like to dedicate this post to my mom and my best friend, H. A guy who has a sweet tooth for mooncakes. H's affair with my mom's mooncakes started 13 years back. Back then, my mom started a little venture selling her mooncakes. They were well received by friends and relatives. Then it started the ball rolling when they in turn, introduced the mooncakes to their friends and relatives. Then, my mom stopped selling after a couple of years, as she hurt her wrist. H was rather devastated. He wanted to know when he would be able to taste those mooncakes again. He would come reminding me every mooncake festival. I guess I was hated at some point. Ahahah~~

To be honest, I wasn't very keen to pick up my mom's skills as her method took like forever to knead the dough. This year, I finally made the effort. But I found that the water and flour ratio had to be adjusted. Probably due to the water absorption of the flour. H was elated when he received the mooncakes. He was kind enough to say they are very close to my mom's version. I know there's still room for improvement. I promise you, H, next year, it will be better. I will try to supply you mooncakes until you are 60 and beyond. Ahahaha~~ I promise you mom, that I will upkeep your standard. Thank you for passing the recipe to me. I took a bold move to sell the mooncakes this year and the feedbacks have been good. After a long, long hiatus of 13 years, all my mom's client base is gone. I hope to rebuild mine slowly. Clients said they will be back next year. Shall see then. Ahahah~~

Vanilla Apple Cake

ただいま～！It's great to be back! Well, it's great that my helper is back. I had to work from home for the past 2 weeks when she was not around. First, Ah Girl cried for the first 2 days because she missed her. Then she fell sick. Next, Ah Boy fell sick too, with me following suit. Work has been crazy to start with. I thought I had it planned. Turned out that I overlooked certain areas and miscalculated production quantities required (instead of 1,200 sheets, I wrote 120 sheets! What the ...!). The production line was chaotic, I have to apologise to my staff, especially my colleague who covered for me while I was away. Sorry! Morale was real low and it didn't help that I had to stay up till 4 or 5 in the morning to get some of the office work done. I was coughing, sneezing and lost my voice for a couple of days.

Anyhow, I survived. I worked, I cooked, I cleaned, I didn't die of exhaustion, yet. However, I apologise to those who left comments for me. I was unable to reply due to 1) I didn't have time to blog, 2) I log on at night but those little hours I have, I need to do work. I also learnt a couple of things during my helper's absence. 1) I really, really enjoy being with my kids. A part of me wants to stay at home with them. 2) I can be really, really naggy. So much so that Ah Girl said it is better for me to go to work so that I do not nag at her that much. 3) Time management is important. 4) Sometimes, things appeared impossible because you see them as so.

Okay, back to this cake. This is an entry for this month's Sweet and Simple Bakes event. I had a couple of backlogs to cover but as the deadline's today, I have to publish this first. I just had time to bake this Vanilla Apple Cake this morning. While baking this, the aroma that filled the kitchen could kill you (in a good way, of course!)! How can something so simple, be so satisfying? I couldn't wait for it to cool completely to have a slice. IH commented that it would be great to have this cake, warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. For once, he was right. I didn't make any ice cream but I would definitely try it out when I bake this cake again. This recipe is a keeper! I did a couple of changes and here's my version.

Vanilla Apple Cake
Ingredient
6oz Salted Butter, softened
120g Fine Sugar
30g Molasses
4 Eggs, beaten
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
250g Self Raising Flour, sifted

3 small Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
¼ Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Method
1) Preheat oven to 170 degree C. Grease a 7 inch loose base round tin.

2) In a mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the caster sugar and butter together until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually and add vanilla essence.

3) Add in sifted flour, dampen it and turn on the mixer on low speed and mix till batter is smooth. Pour batter into the prepared tin and arrange the apple wedges on top. Press them slightly into the batter when you are done. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

4) Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until skewer comes clean. Leave to cool for a few mins, then release the tin and cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

*Note : I tented the cake and only removed the aluminium foil in the last 10 minutes.

**Note : The batter is rather thick but the cake will be moisten by the apples and sprinkled sugar during baking.

じゃね～～　I have to go deal with those backlogs and reply to some comments.

Absence

Hi folks,

Happy Mooncake Festival! I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates, slow response to replying your comments and questions. I was caught up with work, mooncake sales and a wedding cake. Plus, my helper is to take 2 weeks urgent leave to resolve some family matters. I will have to work from home in the meantime. I will make an effort to update this blog when time is permissible.

Till then, take care!
Rei

Castle Cake For My Girl

I am so, so behind my posts. And I identify this as the culprit. I want to publish this post first among those backlogs as it is Ah Girl's 5th birthday today. She had requested for a castle cake earlier (initial choice was Ben 10, *faints*). Before this, I was clueless about fondant, royal icing and let alone decorating a cake. All my past bakes have been 'naked'. But to make Ah Girl's wish come true and a cake for her to remember, I decided to try make it for her instead of ordering.

Having accomplised this cake marks a milestone for me. So now is the time for me to give a 'thank-you' speech. Please bear with me. A couple of months back, I wrote to KWF and Edith for their advice. They responded and that gave me an idea how to proceed. Gina not only gave me tips but also gave me some colour gels. My sis, J lent me her silicone mat and Moss Green colour gel. The green colour would be impossible without it. And there is Yuri who cheered me on. The credit is not solely mine. Most importantly, I would like to thank the blog owner of Cake Journal. I followed her tutorials on Royal Icing and Marshmallow Fondant.























So this is supposed to be a 'Sleeping Beauty' castle. I left the space on top for the Princess Aurora figurine. But I forgot to put it there when I took these pictures. Tsk. Can't blame myself too much, I took these pictures at 3 in the morning! Prior to this, I made alot of planning and even wanted to do a trial run on this but couldn't find time. I made the fondant last Sunday at my mom's. I used my Chocolate Pound Cake recipe to bake an 8 inch and a 5 inch cake in the morning. This part was the easiest. After cooling, I crumb coat them with chocolate ganache. Most of the time spent was cutting out the flowers. I discovered that 1 of the plungers broke but still usable. Kinda slowed me further. By about 8p.m., it was time to cover the cake. I got abit worried as I have only 1 shot. Fortunately, all went well. The turrets were made of 'Smarties' Chocolate marbles. I wrapped the fondant around the bottle. I had to saw 1 cm off the ice cream cones as they were slightly too big. The middle piece was made of chocolate wafer, wrapped with fondant. The sides were covered with royal icing and sparkles.























Though tired, I had fun. I am thinking of doing this for a friend already! When Ah Girl woke up and saw the cake, she was elated! I got a hug and she said, 'I love you mommy!'. That was all I need, it made my effort seemed worthwhile. The cake was not perfect, I know because I hid the flaws. But to her, it was something she could show off to her friends and proudly declared it was made by her mommy. Her own special cake. Happy Birthday my dear girl, I love you too!

I didn't have anymore time for another cake for the teachers but am glad that the teachers liked the cake too. Putting the cake together took longer than I expected. They thought it was store-bought. Ahahaha.. I still have Ah Boy's cake done earlier coming up next. Stay tuned.

じゃね～～

Mom's Birthday Cake

Baked this cake for my mom's birthday. Unfortunately, the feedback wasn't that great. Probably because I omitted the egg yolks. The cake is soft but not chiffon kind of soft. But still, it looked pretty, right? In my quest of searching a 'fresh cream' recipe that doesn't include fat for mom, I came across Swiss Meringue. Well, it shouldn't be categorised as cream but it functioned very much like one. It's actually cooked egg whites with sugar, marshmallow tasty. The only thing is that it tastes too sweet. As this is my first trial, I did not reduce sugar. It spreads easily on the cake and sets/holds it shape pretty well. It has a glossy look too.

I used orange and yoghurt in hoping to offset the sweetess of the meringue. I thought I had it covered but I didn't expect the cake's texture and coyly sweet meringue. I still went ahead with it as it was too late to bake another one, even more so to decorate. In the end, my mom scraped away the meringue and ate the cake with lemon curd instead. The swiss meringue method was found on Taste Goblet's blog. Hers was actually a swiss meringue buttercream but I stopped at the meringue part. I actually did the buttercream for my first covered cake. It is light, fluffy and hold its shape quite well too but not under hot sun and definitely no place at a BBQ (that's where the first cake went to!).

I will not be sharing any recipes this time unfortunately as the experiments are incomplete. Till then!

じゃね～

My Japanese Girl

Ah Girl's kindy celebrated Racial Harmony Day last Friday (the actual day is on 21 July). So instead of the regular 4 hour session, she only had to attend school for an hour. Maybe our government or school, thinks that the racial cohesion can be promoted within an hour. Talk about 速食文化. Anyhow, the children were supposed to dress in their ethnic traditional clothes. To be honest, Ah Girl is growing quite fast, Her traditional Chinese New Year Sam Foo has become three-quarter pants (I exaggerated, but you get the point). There is no way I am letting her wear that and I am not buying a new pair just for that purpose. So usually I will dress her in other countries' costumes (courtesy of my mom and sis). Last year, she was a Korean girl. Photos by the courtesy of anyhow point and shoot IH. His photography skills are worse than mine. And it shows. I have to edit the photos like crazy.


The reluctant model. Angle no good, 'kena' my bum.


Finally a smile. But angle also no good, 'kena' the head.

This year she's a Japanese. My mom bought her this Yukata (浴衣) during her trip to Japan. Yukata, as suggested, is worn after baths. However, they are also worn during summer in Japan. I was told it costs 100 plus in Sing dollars. Should have gotten a cheaper variety. Look at the hem! She's going to outgrow it soon! (*faint + heartache). I must convince her to wear it more often. Ahahaha~~ I asked her to smile for the camera and she showed me this instead.



I warned her not to let her classmates pull and tug her clothes. Last year, her classmates (boys) pulled at her Hanbok till one of the buttons gave way. I was really upset (authentic from Korea and expensive!) but fortunately, the Hanbok was alright. This time, her classmates (boys again) pulled her obi. The bow I tied for her was gone when she returned from school. They are going to get it from me one of these days! She is just too friendly and so not like me when I was her age. Perhaps I should teach her what my parents taught me; if boys disturb you, hit back (wrong, I know ). Throughout my school days, I earned myself the nickname, '恰查某' (in hokkien). Should I impart my 铁砂掌/Karate chop skills and Uppercut to her? Contemplating....

Chocolate Yoghurt Cake

One of the many challenges in motherhood is getting your kids to eat the food you cook or bake. I think I am quite an adventurous when it comes to food. I do like my experiments in the kitchen too. However, my dear Ah Girl is not adventurous at all! Is this what they call, '物极必反'? Once she has set her mind on something, she is unlikely to change. I would rate her daily menu as boring. Steamed egg custard, broccoli and carrots, fried udon/noodles, steamed fish, salmon with teriyaki sauce, egg drop soup with fish and veggies, egg omelette with long beans and repeat. I am glad that she does not like deep fried food but her menu... Not that I did not try to expand it.

Likewise for baked goods. She likes chiffon cakes and only in chocolate flavour. Another one would be Cornflakes Honey Joy which she can pop a few at 1 go. So far, all the chocolate cakes and cookies or rather most stuffs I have baked, were not enticing enough for her to take another bite. I have given my bakes to neighbours' kids and watch them gone in a flash. How come my 3 or 4 tiny cupcakes are still stuck in the airtight container? Haiya~~ so demoralised... Okay, maybe she does not have a sweet tooth, but she does love ice creams and lollipops. It is hard to convince myself that she doesn't like sweet stuffs.

Previously, I baked some cakes and used paper cups meant for muffins. She said it was too big for her to finish. So this time round, I went down to the baking supply shop to get some smaller cups. Guess what, she told me that the cupcake was still too big and only managed to finish half of it. Whether if the cupcake too big; you be the judge. She would also complain that my cakes are too sweet; which is why she was unable to finish. But my dear girl, I have reduced the sugar alot, some tasters even complained that my cake recipes are not sweet enough! Haiya.. haiya...

I spotted this recipe from Zu, 'Quick & Easy Treats' sometime ago but only tried it out last week. It is a fairly easy recipe to follow and yielded lovely texture. Thanks Zu for sha ring! Original recipe taken from 'Best Ever Chocolate Cakes & Slices' by Periplus. I made some modifications.

Chocolate Yoghurt Cake (yielded 28~29pcs, using mini cups of 38 x 28cm)
Ingredients
(A)
120g Melted Butter, cooled
200g Plain Yoghurt (I used Marigold's)
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
Pinch of Salt

*Mix together

(B)
6 oz. Self Raising Flour
50g Cocoa Powder

*Sift together

(C)
180g Brown Sugar

Method
1) In a mixing bowl, add in (B) and (C). Pour in (A) and stir briefly to wet the dry ingredients.

2) Using a mixer, mix for about 1 min till well combined.

3) Pour into individual cups and bake at 160 deg. C for 20 mins or till the skewer comes clean.

That's all for now. Going off to think of something again.

Chiffon Cake Tips and Trouble II

Pardon me for not putting this up sooner. I was caught up with other stuffs and could not collect my thoughts enough to do this. Appreciate your patience. In this post, I will be posting the problems faced in baking a chiffon cake and how things work. For the detailed step by step process, please refer to here.


Understanding chiffon cakes

First, I need to analyse my chiffon cake recipe for you to understand how I arrived to my calculations. Like some of you, I have encountered and baked, using some recipes which don't work. It is very frustrating testing out recipes which don't work and which were written half-heartedly or without checks. Thus, I worked out a simple formula that helped me determine if the recipe is worth the time and effort.

Take my usual 4 yolks, 5 whites recipe for example, the amount of flour used is 120g. The amount of liquid used, including oil is 180g. Therefore, the flour over liquid ratio is 120 : 180. That is 2 parts to 3 parts or 66.67%, if you prefer. The higher percentage you have, will result in a more stable cake but it will have a drier texture. If the flour versus liquid ratio is lower then 60%, say, 50%, the chances of the cake collapsing is high. Reason being; there is too much liquid in the cake and the structure is not strong enough to hold it. In this case, usually after removing from the pan, or after slicing the cake, the cake will start to shrink. A good chiffon cake, as my mom taught me, should be able to hold its shape after cutting. The cake will spring back after you press it.


Whisking Trouble

Still, things can go wrong even if you got the first part right. Remember to ensure that the bowl you are using to whisk the eggs white is clean and grease-free. Any traces of grease or egg yolks will hinder the proper whisking of egg whites. A common problem is whisking the egg whites to stiff peak. Either you underbeat it or overbeat it. Tricky? A little, but when you get the hang of it, it is easy. 90% of egg whites are made up of water, the rest are made up of protein, mineral and glucose (source : Wikipedia). When you whisk the egg whites, air is being introduced to it. Sugar is added to it to reinforce the structure of the egg white. That is why it appears to be white and fluffy. However, this structure does not hold well at soft peak. The egg whites tend to separate into protein and water. If you stop at this stage and start mixing with the yolk mixture, the egg whites will deflate easily. This will cause more moisture and resulting the cake to collapse.

If the egg whites are overbeaten, you will see it becoming foamy and some liquid collected at the bottom of the bowl. There is no way to salvage this. You have to discard and try again. The correct texture of the egg whites at stiff peak has a glossy look, it does not swirl about in the bowl. At this stage, the air incorporated, egg whites and sugar are most stable. That is why you can do this!



Do understand this state is short-lived though. You cannot let the egg whites sit around for a long period of time. They do not like to wait (like some men after marriage). That is also why all chiffon recipes wrote the preparation for the yolk batter first, whisking of egg whites, last. After whisking them to stiff peak, you have to fold the mixtures together immediately.


Mixing Trouble

In fact to me, I much prefer making a chiffon cake than making a traditional sponge cake. For traditional sponge cake, you have to whisk whole eggs till fluffy and then fold in the flour. If you are not careful, it is easy to deflate the eggs. However, some smart people have devised the 'egg separation method' for sponge cake. This method is almost the same as chiffon cakes except that they add in melted butter last. For chiffon cake, egg yolks, flour, liquid and oil are all added to 1 bowl. This in my opinion, has already minimised the chances of deflating the egg whites.

While the yolk batter is laden with flour and all, the egg whites are whisked till light and fluffy. If the whites are added directly to the yolk batter or vice versa, it will be difficult to incorporate as the density of the two are so different. This will call for more stirring, which you do not want, to mix the batter well. To lighten up the yolk batter, about 1/3 of the egg whites are added to it. 1/3 because, should you deflate this amount, you still have 2/3 of it to save the day. As mentioned earlier, egg whites do not like to sit around too long, nor do they like to be pushed around for too long. When folding egg whites, always be decisive, making swift but light strokes. You should be scooping the egg whites up and fold. Do not press.


Pan Trouble

Baking chiffon cakes does not necessarily need a chiffon tube pan. A normal round pan will work fine too. I have also tried baking them as cupcakes, which worked equally alright. However, perhaps, baking a chiffon cake in a tube is what makes it a chiffon cake. It is its signature. I have seen paper mould for chiffon cakes. It is interesting but I have yet to try them myself, thus unable to share the experience. My guess is that the temperature control would be slightly different from the aluminium pan.

By far, my personal preference would still be using an aluminium tube pan. I feel that the more you use the pan, the more seasoned it gets. This helps to ensure even browning at the sides and bottom. The only thing to note for pan is that it does not require any preparation. In other words, do not grease it, do not line it, do not grease and flour it. The hydration of the cake makes it difficult to hold its structure during baking. Thus it relies on 'clinging' onto the pan to achieve its height. If the pan is greased, the cake might not be able to rise properly and will slip off the pan when you overturn it for cooling. Your cake will start to deflate. I would advise against using a non-stick pan. As I have yet to venture into silicone bakewares, I do not know if it will work with pans made of silicone.

Here's a guide of choosing a chiffon pan size.

1 egg recipe : 14 cm mould
2 eggs recipe : 17cm mould
4 eggs recipe : 21cm mould
6 eggs recipe : 23cm mould
8 eggs recips : 25cm mould


Baking Trouble

All the chiffon cakes baked here in this blog is using my relatively new oven. The first cake that was baked in this oven is none other than a chiffon cake. I have been told that baking a chiffon cake in a convection oven with a fan that I cannot turn off is difficult. I acknowledge this. My oven browns to fast, that is why I need to tent it. Also, I need to position the cake on the low rack. In my previous recipes, I had to open the oven to check if the batter sticks to the aluminium foil. Lately, I really could not be bothered. I left the foil there and only removed it towards the last 10 minutes. This leaves the top slightly 'disturbed' but you are going to overturn the cake anyway! This way, the oven temperature is also more stable. Let's tackle some of the problems then.

1) If the cake slip off the pan after you overturn it, the sides and the bottom are unlikely to be browned. This means you have underbaked it. Do check the oven temperature or prolong the baking time to a further 10 minutes. If the top is already sufficiently browned, tent the cake.

2) If the cake slips off the pan but the sides are browned. Check the recipe's hydration ratio. If there are too much liquid in the cake, the cake will be too heavy. When you overturn it, it will be pulled down by its own weight (I have encountered this before!). After slipping off the pan, very soon, the cake will start collapsing and you will have pancake for breakfast, tea or supper.

3) If the cake caved in from the sides, there is a possibility that the egg whites are overbeaten.

4) If the cake's top (overturned, previously it was the bottom) is sunken in (like a small groove), the oven temperature is too high. If the oven temperature is too high, it will cause the cake to over-expand. So when the cake relaxes after cooling, it will cause this effect.

5) If the cake top splits, this is normal, don't fret.

6) If the oven temperature is too low, the cake will have problem rising, reaching its optimum peak. The cake will be heavy and not airy.

7) If the oven temperature is unstable, the cake will not rise properly and might collapse.

8) If the cake starts to deflate in the oven, this is due to the oven temperature. Either the temperature is too high; causing the cake to peak too fast too soon or the oven temperature is unstable.

9) Overturning the cake immediately is what most recipes call for. If you do not overturn it, the cake will collapse on its own weight when the cake structure is still unstable. However, if the temperature outside the oven is very low (cold draft), the cake will shrink very fast. I would suggest open the oven door slightly to circulate the air abit before taking the cake out.

10) If there are alot of big holes in the cake, air might have been trapped when you poured in the batter. Bang the tube pan on a flat surface to rectify this. If you did not fold the egg white properly, you will get uneven holes as well or you can see speckles of whites in the cake.

11) It is normal for chiffon cakes to lose its height after cooling. However, if it collapsed to half of its original height, check if the egg whites are beaten to stiff peaks or if you have deflated the egg whites during folding.


Removing and Storing Trouble

It is most frustrating when you baked a pretty chiffon cake and ended messing it up at the final stage. Use a sharp thin blade and run along the side of the pan. You need to use a thin blade because you need to run it along the tube as well to remove the cake properly. I did not do that in the past. After running the knife along the side and bottom, I just twist and yanked the cake out. I forgot that chiffon cakes are such delicate bakes, of course I ended up with a torn cake.

I would suggest eating chiffon cakes the next day after it is baked. The cake structure is more stable and the flavours are properly infused. For home baked chiffon cakes, especially when you are using my recipe, please note that it is best to be eaten within 3 days. I have reduced the sugar and oil in my recipe, therefore, the cake will not keep well. If you would like to store them in the refrigerator, you will have to wrap the slices up in sandwich bags and keep them in an airtight box. Leaving them open in the fridge will lose the moisture and the cake will absorb other smell in the fridge.

I hope I have covered most of the topics and they would be useful to deciper the problems you faced during baking chiffon cakes. The above mentioned are based on the best of my knowledge and understanding. I do not claim to know all and would be grateful if you could enlighten me if you have other tips or point out my mistakes.

じゃね～

Chocolate Sponge Cupcakes

Erm.. no.. these are not muffins. As the title suggests, they are sponge cakes baked in a cup. Well, a muffin cup to be exact. And, do not ask me how the dome happened, it just did. I came home rather late, about 9 p.m. Ah Girl requested chocolate cake for breakfast so I had to bake (good excuse, no?). I realised I have not been baking sponge cake for a long time. So, instead of the usual chiffon cake, I baked a sponge cake. This recipe is shared by my younger sis, S. She is an avid baker who has achieved much more than me, in my opinion. During my younger days, I went crazy over J-drama and Japanese food. I was more into cooking. She was very much into baking. I started to explore into bakes such as bread only recently and she could already bake sweet buns then, kneading by hand. She was probably 14 or 15?

I would say she’s an expert in sponge cake and had an excellent sponge cake recipe which she perfected and proudly called her own, the ‘S-sponge cake’. In recent years, we swapped; she went crazy over Japanese food, I’m into baking. Ahahah~~ My youngest sis, J, is baker too. Among the 3 of us, she has a flair in art. I am envious of her cake decorations skills, especially her piping skills. Like the 2 of us, she has no formal training but her cakes look store-bought. It was a dream of mine to set up a café. S, will be in charge of the baking, J will take charge of decorating and me, the beverage (I used to brew siphon coffee at a café). I admit I've been reading too many comics.

Back to the sponge cake, this is not ‘S-sponge cake’ but S likes recipes which are simple to follow without complicated steps, which also means, less utensils to wash. This cake is very ‘airy’ and light-weight as she would describe. Ah Girl loved it when S baked it. Thus, there is no reason why I would not want to bake it. Especially late at night, I do not want to bake a too complicated cake. Baking them into cupcakes make sense as I do not have to wait for 40 minutes for a whole cake. Also, this is the first time I am using this oven for sponge cake and I am simply too tired to make notes. Having said that, Ah Boy woke up for milk when I sent these into the oven. I was nowhere near the oven so I did not know how they progressed. When I emerged 15 minutes later, they were done and I was rather surprised with the dome top. Other than that, the texture is light and fluffy. Most importantly, Ah Girl took a bite this morning and identified it to be ‘Ah Yi’s’ (阿姨) cake and ate it without much fuss. This recipe is using whole egg method.

Chocolate Sponge Cupcakes (yields 10 cupcakes depending on size of cups)
Ingredients
(A)
4 eggs
120g Sugar

(B)
80g Cake Flour
10g Corn Flour
30g Cocoa Powder
2 Tsp Baking Powder

*Sift together 2 x

(C)
40g Melted Butter

Method
1) In a bowl, using a electric whisk, whisk (A) till thick and creamy (ribbon stage)

2) Add in (B) in batches and fold in carefully, do not deflate (A).

3) Stir in (C) till incorporated.

4) Pour into individual cups (80% full) and bake at 170 deg.C for 15 to 20 minutes or when the skewer comes out clean. Open the oven door, slightly ajar to cool the cake slightly before removing to the cooling grid.

*Note : Do not dump in the flour onto the egg batter as this will deflate it. I slowly sifted the flour (2nd time) in batches and fold.

**Note : I pour in the melted butter along the side of the bowl for step (3). Alternatively, you can take out some of the batter out and mix with the butter stirring into the rest of the mixture. This is to ‘lighten up’ the melted butter so that it will not deflate the batter.

***Note : It is normal that the batter will deflate a little when you add the melted butter. The cake will deflate slightly after removing from the oven.

Easy peasy? それじゃ～～