Wedding Cupcakes - Part 1

I was overjoyed when WH & J announced their engagement. I have known them for many years and have witnessed how they have grown as a couple. However, the engagement news was not the only surprise from them. First, WH asked Dan to be his best man. Then, they approached me to make their wedding cake.

Honestly, I have never really thought of venturing outside of simple home-baking. I love baking simply because I love to eat the produce. However, a wedding cake is out of an amateur baker’s league.

With great reluctance, I did a few practice bake just to see if it is good enough to be presented to the couple. I found the perfect White Chocolate Mud Cake recipe from my favourite Exclusively Food site.

My confidence started to build up after several practise run. Special thanks to those who became my guinea pig in the process of perfecting the wedding cupcake: in-laws, cell members, colleagues and friends.

Decorating is another challenge for the cupcake. Not only it has to taste good, it has to look good too. After all, it’s a wedding! After several sessions of YouTube cake decorating tutorials, the rose swirl became the chosen style.

The rose paper doilies were used to add a touch of vintage look.

The bride-to-be was happy, so decision has been made.

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Valentine's Day 2011

Dan decided to cook up a storm to ‘surprise’ me on Valentine’s Day. I felt so blessed to come home to a beautifully cooked meal. Two Valentine’s ago, Dan prepared a memorable 7-course banquet before popping the ‘big’ question. Since then I have been teasing him about cooking another banquet meal. Well, my wish came true. So, here it is:

Sour dough with lemon infused olive oil and bush spice dukkah

Thai fish cakes with sweet chilli sauce

Rare beef salad with lime chilli dressing and crunchy noodles

Singapore chilli prawns

Chicken kiev with potato gratin

Sticky date pudding hearts with butterscotch sauce, double chocolate icecream and double whipped cream

A wonderful meal and another year of memories....

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Baby Shower Cupcakes

This is one of my recent creations for a friend’s baby shower. Since the mum-to-be did not reveal the gender of the baby, we had to use ‘neutral’ colours. Therefore, the conventional pink for girls and blue for boys were crossed out.

There were two types of decorations:
a) Baby in pram

b) Baby under the blanket

The only problem was that the milk chocolate buttons I used was too dark for Asian baby skin tone. I should’ve used white chocolate buttons instead. Well, have to remember that for next time.
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Baked Cheesecake

I love baked cheese cake. It is not too rich but still tastes good. This simple ‘mix-everything-in-a-bowl-and-bake’ recipe came from my previous Japanese housemate. I have slightly modified it to my liking.

Dan had it almost every year for his birthday and hasn’t complained yet. :-) So, I guess it must be really good or he is being very polite.

Birthday 2008

Ingredients:
1 box of Philadelphia cream cheese
200ml of thickened cream
80-120 grams of castor sugar
1 tablespoon of milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoon of flour
* Fruit is optional: Passionfruit, mango, berries, etc

1. Preheat oven at 170°C.

2. Beat cream cheese and castor sugar until light.

3. Add in thickened cream, milk, eggs, flour and fruit (optional) and continue mixing until well combined.

4. Pour mixture into a greased cake tin a bake for 30-40 minutes.

5. Let the cake cool before removing from the tin.

6. Refrigerate for at least ½ hour before serving. Top with any type of fruit or cream to your liking.

Birthday 2010

Birthday 2007

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Tiramisu

Tiramisu is definitely one of my favourites. Not only it is easy to make, it is very tasty too. What can go wrong with mixing coffee and cream?

I found pictures dated back in 2005 where I made the first Tiramisu for Christmas. Since then, it has been my tradition to have it every year....almost! Here are some pictures of Tiramisu I have made recently.

I am quite pleased to see the improvement in the cake presentation.

This is the adapted recipe from Y3K Cookbooks.

Ingredients:
1 packet of sponge fingers

Coffee mixture:
75 grams of instant coffee granules
500 ml boiling water
50 ml of Kahlua liqueur

Tiramisu Cream:
5 egg yolks
250 grams of castor sugar
250 grams of mascarpone cheese
500 grams of whipping cream

1. To make coffee mixture, dissolve instant coffee in boiling water. Mix in Kahlua liqueur after the mixture has cooled down.

2. To make the Tiramisu cream, beat egg yolks and sugar on high speed until soft peaks form. Add in mascarpone cheese and beat on medium speed until well-combined.

3. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until firm.

4. Fold in whipped cream into no 2.

5. To assemble the cake, dip sponge fingers in coffee mixture. Place in a single layer over the loose-bottomed baking pan.

6. Spread half the tiramisu cream over sponge fingers.

7. Repeat layers with sponge fingers dipped in coffee mixture and tiramisu cream.

8. Refrigerate overnight and decorate as you wish.
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