Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas at Genting

Christmas here near! Tons of baking, therefore have not been blogging. Recently went for a quick holiday in Genting Highlands, Malaysia's integrated resort up in the mountains.

The unbelievable crowd at the outdoor theme park. Unlucky to have gone there while they were having their employee day. Longest cue was the Corkscrew Roller Coaster, one hour cuing in line.

The lobby of First World Hotel, the largest hotel in the world in terms of number of rooms, 6,000 plus. Why does the lobby always look like it is night time even though during the day? Answer: to confuse the gamblers and show off their lobby decorations.

There are 6 hotels all over Genting, each decorated for Christmas. This stall selling Christmas goodies is at First World Hotel.

A Gingerbread House in Genting Hotel.

Mr. Frosty

Santa





Me with giant sized cookies.





Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cakey or Chewy Brownie Recipe


Some say Brownies originated from a cake recipe which baking powder were omitted, resulting in a cake that didn't rise but taste great. Others described it as a cross between cake and cookie, a cake with a crust on top. Brownie fans are divided into 2 groups. One group preferring the cakey type, the other, fudgy or also called chewy types. Using a simple recipe below, and baking them a few times for 3 days, I have discovered how to tweak it to convert into either cakey or chewy brownies.

100 g dark chocolate
125 g butter, softened
2 medium eggs
150 g soft brown sugar
60 g plain flour

1. Preheat oven temperature 165 C. Grease silicon mold with butter or corn oil.
2. Melt chocolate in a bowl (either bain-marie style or in microwave: two 20 seconds burst at high, take out and stir after the first burst). Add in butter and stir until melt.
3. In a separate bowl, lightly stir to mix the eggs and sugar. Do not whisk as whisking will incorporate air into batter and result in brownies full of holes (not compact). Pour in chocolate mixture and stir. Gently fold-in the sifted flour.
4. Pour mixture into molds, half full.
5. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove brownies from mold only when completely cool.*

*Silicon mold can withstand extreme changes in temperature, for example direct from oven to freezer (too cool brownies super fast if you want to bake another batch but have only one mold), and vice versa.

This recipe gives cakey brownies. For chewy ones, reduce the amount of eggs or use smaller sized eggs.

Brownies are not complete without toppings. Toppings can be whipped cream, chopped nuts, powdered sugar, fudge...etc. Feather icing technique is used to decorate the flower shaped brownie below.






Thursday, November 5, 2009

How to Give Your Doll Cake A "Barbie" Look

A doll cake...one of the popular type of birthday cakes for girls. It is important for it to be of 'Barbie' proportions as little girls play with Barbie all the time and has an expectation on what a doll should be like.

This is the mold I used to bake the cake. Its Wilton's Classic Wonder Mold. It comes together with a Teen Doll Pick. I have inserted it into the mold so you can see the outcome after baking. The effect is a Victorian style of ballroom gown, Cinderella type. However, it could do with a little more height.


Here is an idea for the cake and filling. Its chocolate butter cake. I have this thing about chocolate and blueberries...so I have given it alternate layers of chocolate ganache and blueberry buttercream filling.

Next, place an upside down cupcake on top of the cake. The cupcake here is a normal butter cake to give a clear colour contrast for this tutorial. Two advantages here...you get a tapered waist as well as add height to the doll. The height problem might be caused by cake not raising or cake recipe insufficient to fill up the mold. The sharp edges from the cupcake bottom need to be trimmed before covering with fondant.

Once dressed up, this is what you will get. A doll cake with Barbie's statistics. It makes designing and creating the doll's dresses much more enjoyable. Have fun!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Cookie Decorating Class


Date : Saturday, 31st October 2009

Venue : Wah Seng, Ipoh
Time : 10:00 am - 12:30pm or 2:00pm - 4:30pm

Fee : RM100.00 per person

Syllabus : 1) make and bake basic Sugar Cookies
2) Color Flow icing recipe
3) hands-on decorating 6 different types of cookie
cut-outs with Color Flow and Fondant


Bring back 6 decorated cookies on that day.

6 Free Wilton cookie cutters worth RM3.80 each for each participant, courtesy of Wah Seng.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wilton Course 3 - The Wedding Cake


This is the completion of my first Wilton Course 3 class, which is also the first batch of students graduating from Wah Seng, Ipoh. Have a closer look below at some of the wonderful graduation cakes done by students of this class.


Congratulations to everyone! And keep on baking and creating more beautiful cakes!


Related post:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Squires Kitchen's 24th Annual Cake Decorating, Chocolate & Sugarcraft Exhibition

ICCA will be organizing a Malaysian entourage to attend the Squires Kitchen Annual Exhibition 2010 from 12th to 14th March, 2010.

Highlights of the event includes:

  • The Wedding Cake Showroom
  • Meet the Experts
  • 5-Day International School
  • Have-A-Go
  • FREE Demonstrations
  • FREE Goody Bags!
  • Competitions
  • Mini Classes
  • Workshops
  • Displays
  • Show Offers
  • Chocolate Area
  • New Products
  • Trade stands
  • NEW Book
The Malaysian entourage under ICCA will be looking forward to additional benefits such as:

  • Free 3 Day admission tickets worth 26 Sterling Pounds
  • Special Table Space for the Malaysian entries at the Exhibition & Competition
  • A free specially customized Chocolate class with Mark Tilling, the UK Chocolate Master 2006-2009 for just the Malaysian entourage.

Google searches for happenings of past years' events have not been successful. Most post are on pre-event promotions and pictures of individual cakes submitted for the competition. Would love to do a blog post on post-event here...guess I'm signing up to go! Will be making it my 2010 goal for further development of skills and exposure. So much to see, learn and just soak-up the happenings there!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Wilton Course 3 - The Fondant Ribbon Cake


The first half of Wilton Course 3 includes covering of the cake using fondant, making the fondant ribbon, flower cutouts and bead border. The above is done by me in class specially for a friend who just delivered a baby boy...that's the reason for the blue ribbon.

Class finished late as it was the first time for some working with fondant. Part 2 of the class this Saturday would see us completing a 3-tiered dummy wedding cake, incorporating all that was learnt in Course 1, 2 and 3. How exciting!