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Macarons use egg whites, ice-cream uses egg yolks. Both are indulgent desserts. They are the perfect pairing! In our Macarons & Ice Cream workshop, participants will prepare macaron batter from scratch, and pipe and bake their own macarons hands-on. Chef Philia will also show you how to make a super easy lemon curd marscarpone filling and a not-so-sweet swiss meringue buttercream, as well as how to make vanilla bean ice cream without an ice-cream maker. Participants will receive a tasting portion of ice-cream and will take home the macarons that they make themselves!
Sign up here Check out the photos from our class two days ago on Saturday! =)
Philia demonstrating and explaining the finer points of macaron making. Such as how to get the right consistency and the all-important frilly 'feet' under the shell.
Then it was time to measure, sift and mix...
...and pipe rounds that were perfectly round! (There's a nice and simple trick to doing that)
I love pastels....I think we all do when it comes to macarons.
It was pure joy when everyone saw their macarons rise up and form feet in the ovens. The above macarons were by the participants and were really pretty. No picture of Philia's macarons as they were eaten as soon as they were filled with the yummy lemon curd marscarpone and nutella swiss meringue buttercream.
Packing and sorting the pretty little things is almost as fun as making them, or eating them.
Click here to find out more about the workshop. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 9 Nov 09 ..................................................................................................................... There's something about Cinnamon Rolls... ...that makes me keep wanting to bake them. The smell is so christmassy and warm and nice, especially on rainy days. This is the 3rd or 4th time i'm baking them within a span of a few weeks. It's pretty obvious why these two ingredients are important in making cinnamon rolls. What if you have no cinnamon at home? No sweat... But no yeast? Forget about it. I have had to abandon mission a few times because I ran out of yeast.
To tell if the yeast is still fresh, mix it with warm milk and a bit of sugar and let it stand...
A thick layer of froth should form on top of the mixture. (I usually also refrigerate the bottle of instant yeast after opening it.) Oh this brings back memories. When I was a little girl my mother told me that the froth meant that the yeast was alive and breathing. I totally freaked out. I think it was the way she said it, which made it sound like tiny alien particles or something. Anyway...back to the baking story.
The flimsy cupcake cases help separate the cinnamon rolls and keep them round-ish as they expand during proofing. It's nice and neat for eating out of hand too.
I usually proof bread in an warm enclosed area like an oven. If you use this trick, the oven must be switched off after a quick 1-2 min preheat. You can put in the bread to proof after that and then go away and do something more interesting such as check your email or attend to screaming babies. I try to do both at the same time with little success.
Here are the rolls looking nice and poufy. As usual, I forgot to add raisins when I was rolling up the dough, so I just poked them in later.
Toink, one raisin popped off, but no matter.
I was very sparing with the glaze. Mom actually wanted more glaze. But for those of us who need to watch our waistlines, less is more. These rolls are soft, fluffy and fragrant, and are really worth making. I baked them yesterday and they're still soft and yummy today. Unfortunately, I can't tell you if they're going to be soft in 3 days time. Reason being, there are only 3 rolls out of 12 left and I think they'll be gone tomorrow. =P To learn how to make soft and delicious cinnamon rolls using nothing fancier than a small mixer and a tiny bit of hand-kneading, sign up for our X'mas Holiday Baking Workshop! Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 4 Nov 09 2-Tiered Stunners... 10 lovely ladies made 10 stunning cakes in the Stunning 2-Tiered Cakes class. I think this time I will let the pictures do all the talking.
They really deserve a round of applause! Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 3 Nov 09 ................................................................................................................... Mini Muffins Workshop... We will be teaching you a very versatile recipe for soft and fluffy Mini Muffins as part of the Baking in 90 min workshop series! In just 90 min, you will be learning how to make Blueberry Muffins and Ham & Cheese Muffins, hands-on. You will be measuring, mixing and baking your own muffins, so grab this opportunity to pick up a new skill!
*Festive season promotion price: $50 only! Sign up here!
Mini muffins are so bite-sized and yummy...I can't stop at just one. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 2 Nov 09 ................................................................................................................... Stunning 2-Tier Cake Workshop... Announcement: Today (28 Oct 09) is the last day to register for this workshop!! There are now Also, thanks to Fiona, we are adding a coffee variation on the cake recipe we will be teaching for this workshop. That means although you learn one master cake recipe, you have three flavours to try at home - namely, vanilla, orange & cinnamon, and coffee. Yay!
Stunning 2-Tier Cake Workshop
........ A few weeks ago, we sat down together and decided to come up with some fresh new 2-tier cake designs as bonus material for the workshop, to add on to the 5 existing designs. The criteria for the new designs were that they had to be both eye-catching and do-able within 3-4 hours, just like the others. I mean, no point providing highly difficult designs that take all day to do, when we intend for you to complete it within the 4-hour session. Right? I'm all for minimum effort, maximum results... After narrowing down some ideas, we cracked our knuckles and got cracking. And at the end of a very pleasant 3-4 hours, we did these new designs using Bakels ready to roll icing. (We got this brand of icing from Gim Hin Lee, Blk 10 Haig Road #01-363/365
Philia's work (above), is really a masterpiece. It's easier than it looks, really! Black and white seem to be her favourite combo now hahah! Here's mine... I'm always using pink and brown...I know, it's the same colour as the rest of this website. But I can never resist this colour combination!
And this design is by Fiona. She's lefthanded and a natural artist. But rest assured, righties can do it too! I can't wait to see what the participants will make in class! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 26 Oct 09 ................................................................................................................... Bananas About Chiffon... Too many bananas at home and not enough monkeys oops I mean people to eat them up, resulted in a banana streusal cake recipe for the X'mas Holiday Baking Workshop, and now a banana chiffon recipe. Overripe bananas are the best for cake-making. They're too mushy and awful to eat, and yet too 'sayang' to throw away. Put them in a cake, however, and...wham! They pack quite a punch. I made the banana chiffon based on the durian chiffon recipe that we give as a bonus recipe in The Art of Chiffon workshop. If you missed the previous round, there's one last Chiffon workshop coming up this Sunday 25 Oct 2009, 2:30-5:30pm. Register here if you are keen to learn how to make soft and fluffy Pandan chiffon cake, vanilla/strawberry/orange chiffon and chocolate chiffon cupcakes hands-on. The next time we conduct this chiffon class will be in 2010, so don't miss this round!
To turn the durian chiffon recipe into a banana chiffon, all I did was to replace the amount of durian puree with finely mashed bananas, and add 1 tsp of mixed spice and 1 tsp of vanilla essence. The cake was cottony soft, moist and just faintly sweet, and some tiny bits of banana could be seen suspended in the grain of the cake. I had a lot of difficulty taking the picture below. The slice of cake was so soft, it kept flopping over every 2 seconds. <FAINT> And my finger was too slow to click the camera button. It was a race to catch the cake before it flopped ... Flip-flop-CLICK, flip-flop-CLICK.. (repeat that about 10 times) before i finally managed to CLICK the button before the cake flopped. Hilarious if you were watching me. Not so hilarious for me.
Move your mouse over the picture! heehee. Anyways, the Japanese chiffon knife I bought from Elyn of Shopnbake came in pretty handy when I unmoulded the cake. It is supposed to be better than the usual serrated knife at removing a chiffon from its pan, as it is flexible and doesn't scratch the pan. Indeed it didn't. And even with my heavy-handedness, I managed to save some of the brown skin at the side. I'm sure if you've got a gentler hand, you'll be able to save even more of the brown skin with a cool chiffon knife like this! I've got four of these Japanese chiffon knives, worth $10 each to give away, so it's time for our... October 2009 Giveaway Contest!!
All you need to do it to leave a comment telling us about: - Your favourite chiffon flavour OR and you stand a chance to win one of these knives. We'll be picking four winners at random using the random.org integer generator. IMPT: Please leave only one comment and do leave an email address or blog URL so that we can contact you in case you win! Winners must reside in Singapore or have a valid postal address (not P.O. box) in Singapore. This contest is open from now til Sunday 1 Nov 2009. So leave a comment now! =) This contest is now over, than you for your participation! Contest Result Based on 16 entries (duplicate entries were not counted), we randomly picked 4 winners:
And the winners are...... Entry #12: Tracy Congratulations! We'll be getting in touch with you through the email/link you provided. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 19 Oct 09 ................................................................................................................... Happy Cartoon Cakes... Announcement: The Cartoon Cakes Workshop on 8 Nov 09 (Sun), 1:30-5pm is now full! I had a happy day trying out new Cartoon Cake designs with Philia and Fiona. We each made an edible chocolate picture using the new and improved chocolate transfer method. The Bake King brand of chocolates were perfect for the job and they tasted good too. Next, we filled and frosted the cakes with our Italian meringue buttercream recipe, which is a very smooth and not-so-sweet buttercream that is sturdy enough for decorating and nice to eat too. Because of the meringue-base, it's a very light textured buttercream.
This was made by Philia. If it were made by me, I would have broken the unicorn's horn and front legs for sure. Philia's got a very good knack for these things!
This one is by Fiona, who is a happy shiny person...so no wonder her cakes always look so happy too!
Here's my fat little fairy cake. Yes, it's supposed to be fat. I like it that way...haha!
This buttercream gives an ultra smooth finish. I always use it for when I want my cakes to look professionally done. The Cartoon Cakes Workshop will be a fun and fulfilling class as the participants will be making their own edible chocolate pictures, filling and frosting a chocolate sponge cake and piping borders individually. I can't wait to see what they will come up with! As always with our classes, it's not at all difficult to achieve once you try it hands-on. You'll be surprised at how easy it is! =) Make a date with us on 8 Nov (Sat) 1:30 pm! Register here for Cartoon Cakes Workshop. Oh yes, you can choose to bring your own cartoon picture for doing the edible chocolate picture. Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 15 Oct 09 ................................................................................................................... White-Black-Pink-Green Handbag Cakes... Today, Philia tried out some colour variations on the designs in the Design-A-Handbag Cake workshop. What a difference the absence of colour makes. I love the effect.
Here's the polar opposite...it just screams colour and vibrancy. It reminds me of my favourite handbag brand, Juicy Couture. I hope my husband is reading this and taking a hint. Heehee!
The Design-A-Handbag Cake workshop is coming soon on 24 Oct (Sat) and we're really looking forward to it! Check out what the participants made during the last round back in May! Would you believe that for some of them, it was their first time covering a cake with fondant?!! I think their work was amazing. We're probably not going to repeat this workshop until 2010, so do grab a seat if you want to learn how to make these hands-on! (There are still a few seats left)
Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 13 Oct 09 ................................................................................................................... New Workshops!... What's new on the workshop menu this season? =) BAKING IN 90 MIN Each hands-on workshop is only 90 min, so it's perfect if you want to pick up a recipe and a new baking skill - fast! You will learn a master recipe with easy flavour variations, and then bake your own goodies from scratch, hands-on.
Fees: $55 for any one workshop, per person.
Mini blueberry muffins
Mini brownies
Mini cheesecakes
Mini fruitcakes Find out more or register here
X'mas Holiday Baking In this special X'mas workshop, you will learn how to make soft and yummy cinnamon rolls with lemon glaze, moist banana cake with crunchy almond streusal and crisp gingerbread biscuits. (That's a bread recipe, a cake recipe and a cookie recipe all in one workshop!)
Usual Price: $112 per person.
Cinnamon rolls with lemon glaze (move your mouse over for a different view!)
Spiced banana cake with crunchy almond streusal (move your mouse over for a different view!)
Crisp gingerbread biscuits - my FAVOURITE! Find out more or register here
Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 8 Oct 09 ................................................................................................................... An awesome time at the Classic Sponge Cakes workshop... We had an awesome time at the Classic Sponge Cakes class on Friday. The participants were really great and their cakes turned out so beautifully! Here are just a few photos of the action in class.
Group photo courtesy of Lay On a separate note, Carly gave me some delicious homemade mooncakes that she made herself. They were so cute and my family enjoyed eating them. I was really touched to receive these!! It was so sweet of her.
Mooncakes by Carly Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 29 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... A Castle for a little Princess... I have no daughters but I do have a lovely niece! I made this castle cake for her 9th birthday on the weekend. Before the little pink rosettes and lilac drop flowers were added, you wouldn't believe how dreary the cake looked... it was almost gothic! I was pretty worried. But after I piped on the flowers and randomly creeping vines, the castle really looked alive and much more cheerful. My niece was happy when she stole a peek at the cake (in spite of my best efforts to hide it from her)... and her mom surprised me by giving me a super nice girly handbag. (Thanks Sis!) It was a really fun birthday for the little girl and I had fun making this super tall cake.
Swiss meringue buttercream castle cake with pink rosettes and lilac drop flowers Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 29 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... Cookies too pretty to eat... Last week Philia and Fiona and I hung out and basically did what little girls would do - play masak masak and do some colouring! (at least, I used to do that when I was young.) Except that it was real cookie dough and food colours of course. In our line of work, food, play, and work come together in one big Actually, Philia and Fiona are very neat and organised people with wonderful taste and expert colour sense. The so-called mess disappeared before I could ask what happened and I wished our little play-cake session hadn't ended so soon. This is what we made together...well Philia and Fiona did most of work while I just hovered around trying to be Aren't they so lovely? If you've attended our Cookie Art workshop, you'll know that all these designs are easily accomplished with a simple 3-step piping technique. The possibilities are endless, so go on out there and grab some cookie cutters and piping bags and be creative!
Postscript 1 Oct 09: Today, I gave some of these cookies to two adorable little girls who came by our door to say hello to Amos. It really made my day to see them so happy. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 28 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... On intellectual property... All our recipes, images and workshop materials are original, and it's a saddening to occasionally discover websites/blogs who copy our work and pass it off as theirs. One or two people have gone so far as to conduct workshops using our recipes and images. We've had to warn them, and I didn't enjoy that, but it had to be done. It's perfectly okay to bake for your own consumption using our recipes. =) That is the whole point of teaching recipes, isn't it? But to make money from repackaging and reselling our recipes in some way or another, or using it to teach your own workshop, or 'sharing' the recipe online without our permission... Well. That's not very nice. I hope that it doesn't keep happening, because then we would have to take action again. Thankfully most people will still go for the original =) To our wonderful customers, thank you for supporting us through these two years. We are continually inspired to write new recipes and come up with new workshops because of you! =) And we love doing that! Do keep supporting the original Sugar Inc™! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Sun 27 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... A Basic Sponge Cake...
I love going back to the basics. While premixes and storebought cakes have their place in our hectic lives, we mustn't lose the skill and art of baking at home. That's why we decided to have this basic baking series, with classes like Classic Sponge Cakes and The Art of Chiffon. Sponge and chiffon are cakes that are notoriously difficult to make well, and yet, should be part of every baker's repertoire. One of the cakes that we are covering in Classic Sponge Cakes workshop is the good old Génoise sponge cake. The traditional kind that has an airy and soft texture and a short ingredient list - eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, melted butter or oil and sometimes milk. Although they are considered 'basic', Génoise cakes have a terribly fickle reputation. When they are made well, they are light and ethereal. When they flop, (and we've all been there) they can be rubbery, dry, sunken, lumpy, burnt and still gooey inside etc.. After Philia's chiffon class last friday, I'm a firm believer that its possible to be successful with chiffon or sponge even if you are a beginner. I'm still amazed at the success of all 11 participants - who i must say, worked really hard that day. There was not a single failed cake among the groups. So if you've struggled with sponge or chiffon cake, or would like to learn how the correct techniques hands-on, come join us this Friday 25 Sep for The Art of Chiffon and next Friday on 2 Oct for Classic Sponge Cakes! Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 22 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... What happened at The Art of Chiffon Workshop...
The Art of Chiffon workshop last Friday 18 Sep 09 went so well, I just had to blog about it. =) Philia did her demonstration of the chiffon recipes, then each group made a pandan chiffon in the traditional tube pan, a vanilla/ orange/ strawberry chiffon in round pans and a (very full) tray of chocolate chiffon cupcakes. Amidst the happy chatter during the participants' hands-on section, and the oohs and aahs when the participants tasted Philia's freshly baked cakes, we were running up and down helping with the ovens and cooling the cakes. It was such a hectic day... But oh so fruitful! Everyone brought home a box full of different flavoured chiffon cakes - all of which were baked by themselves. Every last cake was well-risen, even-textured and pillow-soft, with not a single dry or collapsed cake. I am so very impressed by the participants work. Well done everyone! =) Oh why oh why did not I not take more photos!!?? If you want to learn how to make soft and light chiffons hands-on, We still have room for a few more participants in this Friday's (25 Sep 09) class, so do sign up here! You can also read the participants' reviews here.
Posted by Anna Chan, Sun 20 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... All the best... We are happy to have had the chance to work with Jane Lim, but we regret that she will be moving on. We would like to wish Jane all the best in the future. Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 16 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... New Workshops for Sep-Nov 2009... Announcement: The long-awaited Stunning 2-Tier Cakes Workshop is now open for registration! Don't miss it! There's nothing like hands-on when it comes to learning to bake or decorate. Here at Sugar Inc™, we are unwaveringly committed to making our workshops a great hands-on learning experience! =) We are now teaching at a few different venues, so as to be able to continue to provide maximum hands-on learning, while catering to an increasing demand for our classes. To read more about our venues, click here.
@ CSC Club | 25 Sep 2009 (Fri) | 2-5pm Fees: $110
CLASSIC SPONGE CAKES
Fees: $90
FONDANT CUPCAKES
@ The Central #B1-43 | 4 Oct 09 (Sun) | 4-7pm FULL
Fees: $77
PRETTY FLORAL CUPCAKES
@ CSC Club | 10 Oct 09 (Sat) | 9:30am-12:30pm FULL
DESIGN-A-HANDBAG CAKE
@ Gim Hin Lee | 24 Oct 09 (Sat) | 10am-1:30pm
STUNNING 2-TIER CAKE WORKSHOP
@ CSC Club| 1 Nov 09 (Sun) | 2:30-6:30pm Fees: $150
MACARONS & ICE-CREAM
@ APS | 7 Nov 09 (Sat) | 10:30am-1:30pm
Fees: $120 Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 11 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... Cream Cheese Pound Cake...
Was feeling bored after staring at the computer all day for the past week, so I made 3 little loaves of cream cheese pound cake last night. Two to give away and one for the family. I've been using every chance to test recipes in the new Rowenta Gourmet oven. I find that this particular oven gives very nice colour at 170deg Celsius. I try to remember the individual quirks of my ovens because every oven behaves a little differently. It's almost as if they were human. Part II I tried a 2nd version of the cream cheese pound cake. I added slightly more baking powder in a bid to make it lighter, but concluded that the first version was nicer. The first version was more interesting because it had slightly more bite and the crumb held together well. The 2nd version (below) was still nice and moist but the crumb was a little, how should I say it, loose?
I asked a couple of friends what they thought about the cracking on top of my cake. Both said cracking was normal. One of them said that cracking is considered desirable for a pound cake (in loaf form) - and some folks even take to slashing the top of the cake to make it crack. I understand that chiffon cakes are supposed to crack too! Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 8 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... Announcing the winner of the "Weekday or Weekend Workshops" Contest!... Thank you all for your partipation in the "Weekday or Weekend Workshops" contest! We appreciate your taking the time to fill out the survey form and giving us a better idea of which days are preferred days for attending baking workshops. As it turns out, the survey confirmed that weekends are overwhelmingly preferred, with a smaller number preferring weekdays. And the winner, chosenly randomly out of a total of 129 entries, is... Entry No. 74: Ms Lyn Lim
Congratulations!! We'll be in contact with you soon to present you with your prize, a 55-piece piping tip set. =) Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 7 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... Macarons with Lemon Curd Marscarpone Cream...
Met up with Philia and made macarons. We filled them with lemon curd marscarpone cream. It was worth it. Every calorie! Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 3 Sep 09 ................................................................................................................... The Elusive Macaron... This was one tricky bugger but I finally perfected the recipe after 7-10 tries (I lost count) over the last year or so. In my first attempt, I had beginner's luck and got it more or less right. Then in my 2nd to 9th attempt, I made all the mistakes that various recipes and food bloggers cautioned not to make. HAHA! Which just goes to show that you can't be too careful when it comes to making macarons. Macarons are pretty unforgiving and temperamental. And because they are unforgiving and temperamental, it's unusually satisfying when everything turns out just right. With some good advice from Philia, who herself has made macarons many many times, I finally achieved the frilly feet + smooth surface + dry bottoms + moist interior and crisp shell in the same attempt. These are some photos from my macaron-making journey over the past year. Here's a not-so-clear picture of feet developing under the shells at the halfway mark.
Smooth surface and feet.
WOOops! This is what happens if you remove the macarons before they have cooled completely.
This is what happens if you remove the macarons when they are completely cool. Nice dry bottoms - like Pampers newborn diapers... Sorry.
Swiss meringue buttercream is the usual filling of choice. I've also tried using marscarpone cheese to make a light and barely-sweet cream filling. It goes very well with the sweet shells.
My latest and best attempt to date: candy coloured macarons paired with a not-so-sweet Nutella swiss meringue buttercream. Yum.
My mother and husband both enjoyed the macarons and my brother's girlfriend found the sweetness just right too. [Happy!!] I also discovered another use for the macarons. My two-year old boy squashed his foot in the hinge of the door and to cheer him up I let him have a macaron. Later on, I managed to stop two more of his crying fits with the same trick. I just let him choose the colour of the macaron he wanted and the crying stopped immediately. He nibbled a bit and the pain/anger must have gone away. Ah, the power of desserts. There were some leftover egg yolks so I made a custard-based vanilla ice-cream. The egg yolks are cooked so it's perfectly safe!
Seeing that my husband likes the ice-cream so much, I should have thought of making my own ice cream with leftover egg yolks long ago! (The thought of all those egg yolks down the drain weighs heavily on my conscience now.) I must buy more eggs, whipping cream and ground almonds soon! Yay, another excuse to hit the supermarket for no good reason at all. Posted by Anna Chan, Sat 29 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Catch this Sunday's episode of "Yummy Yummy Lunchbox II" on Channel 8, 30th August, 10 am... Philia's on TV this Sunday! She will be teaching the kids on the show how to make a classic Quiche Lorraine, in perfect lunchbox-sized portions. The pictures unfortunately can't capture it, but Philia's got a very deft hand when it comes to making those pastry shells. I was admiring how quickly her hands moved when she was shaping them into the little tart pans.
Sally, the talented director who was in charge of our episodes was very kind and helped me compose this shot below.
Photo courtesy of Philia
Photo courtesy of Philia Ng A Big THANK YOU goes out to the Sally Poh and Dahjui from The Moving Visuals Company for giving us a chance to be on Channel 8, and thank you Ben and Jiahui for being so warm and friendly to both of us! Don't forget to catch Philia in action this Sunday 30 Aug on Channel 8 at 10 am! The quiche recipe will be available on the Mediacorp website a few days later. Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 27 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Hands-On Baking Workshops in Sept-Oct!... Announcement (20 Aug 2009): New Fondant Cupcakes workshops have been added! We received many requests for weekday workshops, so we are starting a new series of workshops on Friday afternoons in September and early Oct! For those of you who still prefer weekend workshops, we will continue to conduct workshops on Sunday afternoons. (We are also working hard to bring you a new Saturday timeslot in the coming months, so stay tuned!) Here's the Sept-early Oct workshop schedule in brief! To find out more, please go to Baking Workshops , or click on the titles below to go straight to the registration page.
PRETTY FLORAL CUPCAKES
11 Sep 2009 (Fri) | 2-5pm
FONDANT CUPCAKES
13 Sep 2009 (Sun) | 4-7pm FULL
COOKIE ART
13 Sep 2009 (Sun) | 12-3pm FULL
THE ART OF CHIFFON
18 Sep 2009 (Fri) | 2-5pm GOING FAST
CLASSIC SPONGE CAKES
2 Oct 2009 (Fri) | 2-5pm
See you at the workshops! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 11 Aug 09, updated 20 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Dermott's First Month ... On Friday, I was trying to make Dermott's first month cake without most of my usual equipment. It was an exercise in 1) favourite Daiso rubber spatula Actually I had a spatula but I burnt it on the stove a few days before and threw it away. So I had five problems to work around. <Sweat> 1) Since I was spatula-less, I had to improvise by using a rice scoop to do the folding while making the Golden Yellow Sponge cake (scroll down to read the earlier post on this cake) A rice scoop is actually not so bad, but I still prefer my Daiso rubber spatula as it scrapes the bowl so well. Did I say I love Daiso!? I love Daiso. 2) Because I only had one cake pan in the right size, I had to make the sponge three times to get 3 layers. (Thank God for giving me that bit of extra strength or I think I wouldn't be writing this now.) On the bright side, the layers baked much more quickly and evenly. Also, because they were only in the oven for a short time, they were extra soft and moist too. Each 10 inch round layer only took around 12 minutes in the oven. No wonder Rose Levy Berenbaum, author of the Cake Bible, recommends dividing the batter into two pans for baking. 3) Because the sponge was already in 3 layers, I didn't suffer for the lack of a cake leveller. I would otherwise have used it to split the cake into layers. Hurray! 4) For the lack of a cake ring, I had to make do again. I lined the 10" round pan with clingwrap. Next, I placed the cake layers inside the pan, alternating the layers with strawberry mousse. After letting the mousse set overnight (kiasu mah), I turned the cake pan upside down onto a cake board, lifted up the pan and peeled the clingwrap off the cake. Thank God the mousse had set properly. The only imperfection was that the mousse was patchy because of the clingwrap. But it worked. This was my first attempt at a mousse cake so I am quite satisfied. 5) Somehow, the cake turntable was unnecessary. A very thin layer of cream over the mousse layer solved the ugliness. It was all a little bit stressful! I was feeling pretty tired out by the time I was done. But the cake wasn't quite done with me yet. It still looked very plain. Desparate for a quick fix, I went and toasted some leftover sunflower seeds and dumped them on top of the cake. I piped the words in melted chocolate. And stuck some strawberries on. It looks kinda traditional, not the way i usually like my cakes. But....
My first strawberry mousse cake ...my folks really liked it and some asked for second helpings! I'm really pleased. A mousse cake should only be kept for a day or two. The next day, I told my family I was going to throw the rest of the cake away by midnight. So they ate most of the remaining cake without complaint. This is the last slice. I'm definitely making this cake again.
Part II I felt bad that we couldn't invite the extended family and our friends this time, so I've ordered boxes of cookies (will upload more pictures later!) from Fiona at lovingbaking.blogspot.com and some Awfully Chocolate cakes as 1st month gifts. Fiona is excellent at detail and I love her work. Awfully Chocolate is just a personal favourite of mine and their service is always very good. I already ordered one cake for myself a few weeks ago as a treat hahah, and because my mom wanted to try the cake first.
Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 24 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Golden Yellow Sponge Cake... Dermott's first month is a week away and as usual, I have a slight problem when it comes to deciding what to have for the first month celebration cake. Should I bake it myself or order from a shop? Should I decorate with fondant or a light cream icing? Should I make a sponge or butter cake base? (Let's not even begin to talk about flavours because my mind is already in a tizzy.) The last question is the hardest because the family is divided into several camps - some love sponge cakes while others, preferring the butter/pound type of cake, don't like sponge cakes at all. Some of us like mousse but not everyone. My husband likes nothing but cheesecake. My grandmother, mother and I are fence-sitters as we like them all. Sounds like I need to draw a Venn diagram to see where the overlap is. *Arrgghh!* As I was experimenting with (yet) another sponge cake recipe, the solution presented itself. The sponge cake turned out to be a cross between a soft sponge and a light butter cake. Hmmm, how shall I describe it? It was a moist, light and fluffy sponge with a rich buttery fragrance.
As the top was browning too quickly in the oven, I covered it with a piece of alumimium foil halfway through. This is a neat trick if your oven can hold a stable temperature. (Don't be tempted to open and close the door more than once though!)
I let the cake cool in its pan for a few minutes, then I inverted it onto a wire rack.
After a while, I turned the cake so that there would be a criss cross pattern on top. I don't own a criss-cross rack (is it called a wire mesh?), but if you do, it'll do an even prettier job of getting a neat pattern on top of your cake.
Although the cake was very soft, it was easy to cut neatly. I really love the golden crust and fluffy yellow interior. I'm also happy with the height as it stands at 2 inches tall.
Three quarters of a slice went into my mouth before I knew what I was doing. I shoved the last quarter of a slice into my husband's mouth and he wanted more for the next day's breakfast.
I think this cake will please most people, so I'm going to make this for Dermott's first month. I'm also throwing it in as a bonus recipe for the Classic Sponge Cakes workshop. Now I need to decide what to put in between the cake layers. The clock is ticking away ... Any suggestions? Posted by Anna Chan, Sun 16 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... A Cake Named Madeleine... I don't know why Madeleines are called Madeleines, but it's such a pretty name. Too bad I have no daughters, or I might name one Madeleine (or Madeline). A long time back, I tried making this sea-shell shaped cake. My very first attempt back then was spongy but too light and did not have the characteristic hump. I actually thought it was ok until my publisher told me that Madeleines should be buttery, and should not be like kueh bolu, the Asian equivalent of sea-shell shaped cakes. I love kueh bolu... but a distinction has to be made between the two. My subsequent attempts were rubbery, like doorstoppers. You could throw them at the wall and they would bounce back and hit your face. After some research and a few more attempts, I finally settled on a method and formula that gave me a result I liked very much. The requisite hump was there, for one thing. The cake texture was tender and it was tasty and buttery but not oily. The madeleines were a joy to eat freshly made, and were still soft and yummy many hours later. Best of all, it had a very short ingredients list: butter, sugar, eggs and flour and baking powder. I didn't even bother with adding vanilla or lemon zest. The flavours of the four basic ingredients shone on their own - any additions would be superfluous and distracting. And the smell... wow. If only there was some way you could click on a button and smell the Madeleines as they were baking through your computer screen.
We'll be teaching our Madeleine recipe as part of the Classic Sponge Cakes hands-on baking workshop, alongside my personal favourite Almond Genoise Sponge cake (a round cake that's suitable for making birthday or celebration cakes) and Chinese style Paper Sponge cakes. There'll also be a bonus Pandan Kaya Sponge cake recipe for participants to try at home. If you would like to learn how to make light sponge cakes using the Génoise or egg separation method, Classic Sponge Cakes is the perfect workshop for you =) Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 13 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Happy Birthday Singapore!... With the whole family at home for the National Day weekend, and National Day songs playing in my ears everywhere I go, I was feeling pleasantly nostalgic. As I had a little spare time on my hands, I decided to make a distinctly Singaporean cake for my family - a durian chiffon. As a baker, and a Singaporean one at that, I am constantly ashamed at myself for not liking durians. Whenever there are durians in the house, I'm hiding out in my room fanning my face to clear the air. My parents swear that I ate a lot of durians as a child, and they have the photographic evidence to prove it too:
Maybe I just had too much of a good thing too early in life. Haha! But I digress as usual... To make the durian chiffon, I used my pandan chiffon recipe as a reference point and made some changes. I took the durian flesh and pressed it through a sieve to remove the fibre, as I worried that the fibre would weigh down on the billowy soft texture of the cake. Next, I reduced the sugar to compensate for the natural sweetness of the durian and also added milk and oil to make the batter runnier as the durian puree made the batter quite stiff. The cake rose well and was soft and even-textured, and it retained the sweetly pungent aroma and flavour of the durian. Somehow the flavour was strong enough to please my durian-mad family - but mild enough for a non-durian lover like me to enjoy too.
When it comes to durians, I guess nothing beats eating the real thing, but as far as chiffon cakes go, this recipe is a keeper. Happy Birthday Singapore! I'm grateful to call this place home. Posted by Anna Chan, Sun 9 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... Do you prefer weekday or weekend workshops? ... Tell us whether you prefer weekday or weekend workshops and stand a chance to win this beautiful 55-piece piping tip set!
This contest is open to anyone with a valid mailing address (not P.O. box) in Singapore. The deadline for submissions is 31 Aug 2009, 10 pm Singapore time *The winner will be chosen via random.org's integer generator and will be announced on this post on 7 Sept 2009. All you have to do is fill up this form and click submit! Please submit only once. "WEEKDAY or WEEKEND WORKSHOPS" This contest is now closed. Thank you for your participation! The results will be announced here on 7 Sept 2009. Contest Form Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 4 Aug 09 ................................................................................................................... "Please stop baking!" ... ... begged my husband last night. There wasn't anything wrong with the bread, in fact, it's just getting better and softer and fluffier with practice. It's because the bun in my oven will be out in 6 days or less. Not the bread, the baby! Well here are the buns I made using the shiny new Rowenta Gourmet oven. See our Featured Oven on the left! These were plain buns but I cut out some heart-shaped seaweed pieces and stuck them onto the egg-washed surface. Come to think of it, I should have put some tuna filling in them. Tuna and seaweed seems like a nice combination.
The ones with cheese on top had mashed potato and bacon bits inside.
I think I need some of those nice waxed paper cups so that the bread will be nice and round instead of triangular!
You can see how nice the texture of the bread is when it's messily torn into two. I confess to taking a bite before tearing it for the picture.
This is a neater cross section.
Each one contained about one and half tablespoons of filling. I didn't dare to put more for fear of the filling squeezing out. I'm really enjoying kneading by hand. I have found my own style of kneading out of necessity, as my legs feel wobbly after a while. I'm not sure if it is orthodox, but it works and is not at all tiring. I sit down, make myself comfortable and use my palms to roll and press the dough in a circular motion until it becomes smooth and elastic and reaches 'windowpane' stage. That's the stage where you can stretch out a small piece of dough until light can be seen through it. This means that the gluten has been properly developed. If the gluten strands in the dough are well-developed, the dough will be able to 'grow' well when you proof it. My ever stoical dad who will eat anything but really prefers to eat something nice, asked if the bread was homemade or from a shop. When he asks that, it means that he can't tell the difference, which means that it's there, or almost. Hurray! Anyway, I promised my husband I wouldn't bake today, although I can hear the flour calling my name. I love this short excerpt taken from 'Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt who, sadly, passed away on Sunday. "You can tell when Nora Molloy is ready for the asylum when you see her children running around white with flour from poll to toe.... She bakes day and night...There's no use talking to her. Bake bake bake. If she had the money she'd bake all the flour in Limerick and regions beyond. If the men didn't come from the lunatic asylum to take her away she'd bake till she fell to the floor... My father says, Do they take her away because she's gone mad baking bread or does she go mad baking bread because they're taking her away? " Read it one more time. Don't you think the last two lines are pure poetry!? Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 23 July 09 ................................................................................................................... More Cookie Art!... Jane showed me some of her decorated cookies some time back and I thought they were so creative! She used royal icing and our 3-step decorating technique (featured in the Cookie Art workshops) to decorate these. Don't they look too good to eat?!
She's going to be teaching the Cookie Art workshops starting from this Sunday and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she and the workshop participants will come up with! These workshops are fully hands-on, so we're bound to see lots of creativity when the participants get down to decorating after they bake their cookies. The first two classes are fully booked but seats are still available for: COOKIE ART @ The Central #B1-43
Click here to register. Hurry as there are not many seats left! Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 22 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Bread and butter and herbs... I'm really not sure if it was a good thing. I was heavy-handed with the butter and mixed a lot of butter into my bread dough, so much so the dough became a wet mush! =( Then I had to knead in more flour to dry it up a bit. After that it seemed okay. I love the smell of herbs so I also splashed my favourite herb blend on top of the loaves before baking.
I don't own a proper loaf pan so I made two loaves in a square pan. Don't they look kinda strange... Who bakes bread like that!?
These siamese twins look better when they're apart, I think.
The fun part is in the cutting! So enjoyable.
The loaves were finished by the next next day...but my family actually didn't have much choice =P. I requested everyone not to buy any bread from the store so that my loaf wouldn't have any competition. Yup, that's how to ensure the family eats the stuff you bake. HAHA! (Tip: Always make sure no one else is bringing a cake when you make a cake for a family celebration. Heehee.) But I really think the bread turned out alright. The bread was soft even after two days but I would have prefered a finer-textured grain in my bread, coz i grew up with Gardenia like everyone else... This recipe may be worth trying again with a reduction in butter. Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 15 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Catch this Sunday's episode of "Yummy Yummy Lunchbox II" on Channel 8, 10 am!... This Sunday at 10 am will be my very first time baking on TV! I will be a guest chef on "Yummy Yummy Lunchbox II", a children's cooking programme on Channel 8. This is really an exciting honour for me! In this episode, I will be teaching the children how to make pound cupcakes with cream cheese icing and fondant ducks and bears from my book Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Homebaker:
The kids were great to be with and they worked so hard to learn the recipes in spite of some surprises. All I can say is... this episode will be nothing less than interesting! So if you're home this Sunday morning, do turn on the TV at 10 am and watch Yummy Yummy Lunchbox II on Channel 8! Philia will also be starring in an upcoming episode of this programme! She made these super delicious quiches today in preparation for her shoot. Yummy yum yum yum...
After I took this photo, I inhaled the palm-sized quiche in less than 60 seconds. It was that good. The crust was crisp, and the filling was creamy, savoury and substantial. I would have eaten the other one too, but the husband specifically requested to have it for breakfast. I really really wanted to eat it myself but a good wife must share goodies with her husband, no? Can't wait to visit Philia on the set in a few days time... I'm supposed to be on hand to help here and there but I'm really there so that I can eat more quiche. Boy, I've never tasted such nice quiche. Philia I hope you're reading this! ;) Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 14 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Time to make bread!... (Part 2) Note: This recipe is now available among the free recipes for subscribers! =) Hope you enjoy it! Afternote: It may take 15 minutes to bake these buns in a fan-assisted oven, or up to 18 minutes in a conventional oven with no fan. I thought the previous experiment went ok, but today's result was quite a lot better. The difference was in 1 more tsp of yeast and 20g more sugar. And what a difference it made! Today's dough grew so much more. The previous dough seems a bit small and pathetic in comparison. To think that it is almost exactly the same recipe. (Move your mouse over the image to see the difference)
In the last round, I managed to fit all 11 buns into the round tray because they didn't expand so much. This time, the same round tray could only hold 6, so I had to start another tray. And there were 12 instead of 11 pieces. Yay!
For the round tray, I brushed the buns with a simple milk-and-honey glaze before baking. The glaze was made from 1 tbsp of honey and 1 tbsp of warm milk, mixed together. The effect was like using egg wash.
For the square tray, I went with what Ah Ma would like. Shredded cheese with a sprinkling of coarse sugar on top.
15 minutes in the oven was enough time for the cheese to brown and the bread to finish cooking too. Strangely the sugar stayed in its crystalline form. Cool!
My husband really liked today's bread experiment and requested more for his breakfast next week, so he lifted the baking ban. Oh goody! =)
The bread was fluffier than the last time. I'm really pleased and encouraged to make more. Hope that I will be able to improve some more. I think my folks won't mind eating bread everyday as opposed to eating cake everyday. Also, I realised that I can sit down and knead the bread. I want to make more bread! So fun! Posted by Anna Chan, Sat 11 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Time to make bread!... (Part 1) Home made bread is better than storebought as it doesn't have any of those un-decipherable additives and preservatives. I can't even pronounce half of those words in the nutrition information on the label. I've always wanted to learn to make bread properly, and patiently plow my way through a bread recipe book from start to finish. But cake has always distracted me! Haha! Cake just offers instant gratification, unlike bread. A cake can be mixed and baked in under 1 hour. Bread on the other hand, can take 2-3 hours, including mixing proofing and baking time ... It was time to make bread and no excuses this time! We were running low on bread in the house, the baby was sound asleep, and there would be hungry people asking for bread tomorrow morning, so I really had every good reason to dig out the old bag of bread flour in the cupboard. Goodness. There were not one but two unopened bags of bread flour in the cupboard. That means that at two different times, I bought flour with an intention to make bread - but never did. Then I heard a whiny little voice inside me say, 'But I don't want to wash the mixer...' and I thought I'd better quell this last lame inhibition. Mind over matter right? So I did it by hand. (I have much to be thankful for. The weather today was nice and cool so it wasn't hard work kneading the dough. Hardly broke a sweat.) When I started kneading away the dough was ugly and sticky at first (stress!) but I finally got it to be smooth and elastic. Then I covered the bowl with a towel and placed in a briefly heated oven to proof. I wasn't at all confident that the dough would rise because my kneading skills are not that great, but thankfully it did. Phew! Here it is:
Next, I divided the dough into little balls, arranged them in a greased foil pan...
And proofed the dough for another hour or so until they doubled in size again.
...and then I brushed the top with milk. Usually you're supposed to be brush the top with egg wash as it will make the bread really golden and beautiful but I really didn't want to use another egg. I need those eggs for my next cake!
The baking time was really short, only 15 minutes in the oven. I understand that you have to allow the bread to cool completely before cutting it... I find that really hard because I love piping hot bread just like anyone else.
Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 9 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Japanese Souffle Cheesecake... I started out wanting to make the famous Japanese cotton soft cheesecake that everyone seems to have made so successfully... and I was full of hope that I would succeed myself. But I was torn between the cottony spongy type and the souffle type of Japanese cheesecake. I love both! When my husband and I visited Osaka last year, I remember eating the souffle-type of cheesecake. It was light and very creamy, a sort of cross between a rich mousse and a sponge. Hard to describe, but wonderful! My first attempt turned out to be too dense. My 2nd attempt was somewhat better but a bit too cheesy. My family ate some of it and told me quite kindly that I was getting there. In my 3rd and most recent attempt, I had some measure of success. It turned out to be something like the souffle-type of cheesecake I fondly remember eating in Osaka. It cracked very badly on top =( (probably because my water bath was too shallow?), but it tasted really creamy and delicious!
I'll have to work on that cracking problem but now I want to try to make the cotton soft spongy type... My husband begged me to stop baking and to please pack my bag for the hospital, since I am now already 37 weeks pregnant. Heehee...to please him and please myself, late last night I packed my bag in 15 minutes flat so that I can get back to baking today. Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 9 July 09 ................................................................................................................... Bite-sized Brownies for Baby... Yesterday, my big-headed toddler bumped his head on the toilet door frame. The sound was so loud that I scrambled out of my room to see him. Wah the lump on his forehead was so big. I felt so sad I tell you. =( Thank God it wasn't anything serious. I know bumps are a normal part of growing up. =/ I just hope he doesn't bump his head too often. To comfort myself and him, I made a small batch of brownies from an old recipe from my book! =) It's been a long time since I made brownies and I forgot that brownies should be slightly underbaked. In my first batch yesterday, I made the mistake of overbaking the brownies and the brownies tasted slightly crumbly or powdery. (Yuck.) I decided to try again. In my 2nd batch, I underbaked the brownies making sure that when I tested the brownies for done-ness, the toothpick still had sticky gooey batter on it.
I'll admit that it's a bit worrying, because most of the time, the usual indicator for done-ness is when the toothpick comes out clean. But let me try to explain why this works. Brownies contain such a lot of chocolate and chocolate is actually a very dry ingredient (drier than flour, even). Whenever chocolate or cocoa powder is used in a cake batter, care has to be taken not to bake until the toothpick is very clean. This is because the chocolate cake or brownie will continue to cook after it leaves the oven and the chocolate will keep drying up the moisture in the cake/brownie until it is cool. Later on, when the brownies had cooled down, I tested the brownies with a toothpick again. The toothpick came out clean, not sticky. Evidently, the brownies really had finished cooking upon cooling. The 2nd batch of brownies were pleasantly moist and dense, and not at all crumbly. I was really glad I tried again.
You know, Jane was telling me that brownies without walnuts are no fun and she was right! My little boy picked out all the walnut bits in his piece, leaving the brownie behind. (He really likes nuts.) Then, my family ate all the brownies with the walnuts, leaving the plain ones behind. That leaves the plain ones for me. Not that I mind. Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 7 July 09 .................................................................................................................... Birthday Cookie Cake recipe in this week's 优1周UW... P.S.: The English version of this recipe is now available for download in the subscribers' freebies. Enjoy! =) I was very honoured when 优1周UW magazine approached me a few weeks ago to contribute a cookie recipe to their recipe segment. They wanted a cookie recipe that would be delicious and different, so the reporter and I chose my chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, and we decided that it should be a decorated "cookie cake". Since then, I've been excitedly waiting for the issue to come out... and now it has! You can buy this week's issue at newstands almost anywhere in Singapore and the birthday cookie recipe is on pg 93. The recipe comes with step-by-step photography of the cookie making and decorating process too! So do grab a copy of this week's U Weekly! =)
Read the earlier part of this story here... Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 29 June, updated 6 July 09 .................................................................................................................... Pandan Cake again... Part II (continued from here) Almost a month later, I tried my recipe again with a major adjustment to the amount of coconut milk and a slight increase in temperature, and the result was much better. It was a bit shorter than I had hoped but the colour was a much deeper shade of brown and there was that brown skin at the side. From listening to the cake "squoosh", I think the cake was moister and softer too. However, I'm not entirely sure because this cake went missing!
What happened was, after making the cake and cooling it, I hastily left the house for an appointment and sms-ed Mom to tell her there was pandan cake at home. When I came home much later, Mom was out and my brother told me he had eaten two slices - and he had only found two slices. The rest of the cake was nowhere to be found. Mildly frantic, I called Mom. She told me she had brought the rest of the cake to church. There were no leftovers, so I didn't get a chance to get a shot of the inside of this cake...but on the bright side, there were no leftovers! =) I only had anecdotal evidence to go on. My brother thought it could have been a bit lighter, and mom wanted it slightly sweeter. The only solution was to make it again. Probably, it would require a bit more egg white for added height and lightness, and a teensy weensy bit more sugar. So, with sweat pouring down my face (thanks to the weather and my extra pounds), I made the cake again. And forbade anyone from touching it while it was cooling upside down. Daddy was very bemused that the cake had to be hung upside down and made a science joke I didn't quite understand.... But I digress.
I was happy with the colour, height, texture and flavour of this latest version, and I managed to retain most of the brown skin - I lost some due to rough handling but it was my own fault. This time I managed to get the picture of the inside. Whoopee!
Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 25 June 09 .................................................................................................................... Stained glass cookies... Aunty D was very kind to teach me how to do these pretty stained glass cookies when I went over to her house a few days ago. First we rolled and cut out the the cookie shapes and used smaller cookie cutters to cut out smaller pieces. (I hope you know what I mean) Then we baked them for three quarters of the total time or so until the cookies were just starting to brown. I always thought the sweets (she used Fox sweets) had to be pounded into small pieces but she simply chopped them into quarters and placed them into the cut-out spaces. In fact, Aunty D told me that if the sweets were in very tiny pieces the stained glass effect will be more bubbly and not so smooth. I guess smaller pieces of sugar boil faster and more furiously in the oven... Each little space needed around 1-2 small quarters of Fox sweets.
We baked them for the rest of the baking time and the sweets magically melted into place.
Aunty D had some little gumpaste flowers that she bought from a baking supply store and she stuck them on the melted sugar while it was still sticky from the oven. We had to work fast because the sugar would harden quite quickly as it cooled.
She told me that the right amount of sweets would result in a perfectly filled centre, like this one below. Too much and they would sort of leak out from under the cookie. (See cookie on top right hand corner in the picture above)
This is the front view of the cookie. So cute and shiny and pretty. Looks like jelly, come to think of it.
The little hole in the top of the cookie was made on purpose, so that a string could be threaded through. I didn't do that because I couldn't be bothered =P, but it's definitely do-able. And I learned that lining the baking sheet with silicon paper is a must for this project. Ordinary baking paper may not release the stained glass part easily. When we put a few cookies on a piece of kitchen paper to cool, the kitchen paper promptly stuck to the sugar. So now I know and you know how to make these lovely stained glass cookies. You could use any rolled cookie recipe, really. I had fun! Thanks Aunty D! Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 25 June 09 .................................................................................................................... Jun-Aug Workshop Schedule... The Cookie Art Workshop is back, along with Fondant Cupcakes! What's great about Cookie Art is that the cookie recipes are yummy and a snap to make, and the 3-step decorating method is not at all difficult to master. Best of all, the results are picture-perfect...we were really honoured that Mediacorp felt that our decorated cookies were good enough to be used as edible props for one of their drama series. We're very happy to have Ms Jane Lim of Passion Baker join us to teach some of our workshops. Jane's got a wealth of baking experience and she's so willing to share what she knows. She will be teaching Cookie Art this season, guiding you through the process of baking and decorating cookies that are both beautiful and delicious. The seats for the Pretty Floral Cupcakes workshops taught by Philia were snapped up so fast that we have opened some new classes! There will be an additional session in Aug, and then Philia will be teaching Fondant Cupcakes. Fondant Cupcakes is a follow-up workshop to Pretty Floral Cupcakes that focuses exclusively on decorating with fondant - the perfect type of icing for our warm weather or outdoor parties. There is no prerequisite for either of these cupcake workshops and you can choose to attend either one first. Both workshops are suitable for beginners to either baking or cake-decorating. So here's the Jun-Aug 2009 workshop schedule you've been waiting for... COOKIE ART WORKSHOP (Hands-on)
To find out more or register, please click here
PRETTY FLORAL CUPCAKES WORKSHOP (Hands-on)
To find out more or register, please click here
FONDANT CUPCAKES WORKSHOP (Hands-on)
To find out more or register, please click here Registration is easy and instantaneous. Simply go to Baking Workshops, click on "Find out more or register", fill up the form and make payment online to reserve your seat. See you at the workshops! =) *IMPORTANT: Kindly do not register at the Asian Bakes Culinary Studio as they do not have the latest information on seat availability. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 15 June 09, updated 7 Jul 09 .................................................................................................................... I have always admired the cookie cakes that Famous Amos and Mrs Fields have on their display shelves. Finally, I had a chance to make one of those myself. (As for how that chance came about, I'm dying to tell but it'll have to wait for next time...) Anyway, I got out my usual chewy cookie recipe, and found it was even easier than making regular sized cookies. Instead of measuring little balls of cookie dough, all I had to do was squish all of the cookie dough into my usual cake pan and bung it in the oven. Actually I made it in two cake pans because I wanted to keep one and give one away.
Here's the cookie sitting in its pan, cooling down. You will need to line the pan with baking parchment, just in case. This sort of cookie is better if it is chewy so don't overbake it. The centre of the cookie should still be a little soft. You wouldn't want it be too brittle and dry in places.
I piped a border with royal icing, my icing of choice for warm weather. Buttercream is well and good but you will need to refrigerate the cookie if you use it.
It was a nice and thick cookie with a chew. I've been pinching bits of it to eat. I hope someone comes along and rescues me before I finish it all by myself. Help? Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 12 June 09 .................................................................................................................... Part I The very name gives me mixed feelings. If you've failed or never tried making one before, the words pandan chiffon are like a undefeated challenge. If you've succeeded in making a really good one, it's like a notch in the baker's belt and even the oldest member in your family would beam upon you with pride and say, 'My _______ [fill in the blanks] makes very nice pandan cake.' And if you're like me and you've both succeeded and failed, you will probably feel torn between a vague sense of happiness that you can in fact make pandan cake, and yet bewildered as to why you can't always get it right. Today I managed to turn out an okay looking one. It rose beautifully in the oven...
and didn't crack when it was done...
and it hung suspended over an inverted glass without dropping out...(yes that's the free coke glass that comes with your Mac's Extra Value Meal =)
...and the little brown crumbs tasted nice. I didn't manage to retain the brown outer skin but that isn't bothering me.
It even made a little 'squooshy' sound when I lightly pressed the top with a fingertip. (The squoosh sound is an indicator that the cake will be moist inside.) But I have no idea if it is going to be everything it promises to be. I can't cut it because it's meant for my dad. I can't even pinch off a corner to try because it's not going to be dressed up with cream and things. So I'm scared. I hope it turns out well and he likes it.... (2 days later...) I must give a little background to why I chose to make pandan cake for Daddy. He had specifically hinted about whether it was possible to not have any cream on the cake, so this cake was chosen and presented completely au naturel - as pandan cakes usually are. Yet, it was with a little embarrassment that I told my family that Dad's cake wasn't a dressed up cake this time. No one seemed to mind. In fact everyone was very encouraging and made a lot of nice noises about not wanting to eat the extra cream anyway.
I took this picture at the restaurant with my phone camera on macros mode and the picture just isn't so good as when I use my husband's big old camera...but at least you can see the grain of the cake. In the end, the objective was achieved. Daddy did like it! He had two slices and so did Grandma (actually, so did I). In my opinion this particular version still wasn't everything I was hoping for. It was moist and light and tasted nice but somehow, I felt it could still afford to be a little richer... and the brown skin should at least be intact on the top surface. Oh well, back to the drawing board... Writing recipes is hard but I really like it! Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 28 May 09 .................................................................................................................... Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshops... Ms Philia Ng, an accomplished baker and blogshop owner, is our guest trainer and she will be conducting our "Pretty Floral Cupcakes" Workshops at the AsianBakes cooking studio located at The Central #B1-43. Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop (Hands-on)
To find out more or register, please click here *IMPORTANT: Kindly do not register at the Asian Bakes Culinary Studio as they do not have information on seat availability. Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 26 May 09, updated Wed 10 Jun 09 .................................................................................................................... Baby's birthday... We are having a little birthday party for Amos tomorrow so today is cake-making day. I decided on something safe and simple - a cartoon cake featuring his favourite character, Mickey Mouse. My mom had given him a jigsaw puzzle, and the picture of baby Mickey happened to be the right size for the 8 inch cake I intended to make.
I traced it on baking parchment and used the chocolate transfer method invented by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen in their book Whimsical Bakehouse. It really is a great method. The authors recommend using wafer chocolate (candy melts, I think) but I use bakeable white chocolate chips and the results are very good. As for the cake itself, I made the chocolate chiffon sponge recipe from my book Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Homebakeras an 8 inch round cake. (In case any of you feel like doing the same, the baking time is 40 min at the same temperature.) After torting the cake into three layers instead of the usual two, I happily filled and covered it with white chocolate meringue buttercream and fresh strawberry slices. And then I ran out of buttercream before I could pipe any other designs or borders. ACK. I knew I should have stuck with 2 layers of cake... Oh what to do? What to do!? Thank God for that packet of almond nibs in the fridge. They're always so handy for cake decorating emergencies. I dry-fried them in the frying pan (you can also toast them) until they were lightly browned and when they were cool, plastered the sides of the cake with them.
Happy Birthday Amos! Papa and Mommy love you. Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 22 May 09 .................................................................................................................... Win a prize in our May Giveaway!... We have something absolutely delightful to give away to our readers! But first, the story.... I fell in love with this local online shop called Shopnbake owned by Elyn! Elyn has got a beautiful catalogue of unique baking products that you can't find in Singapore. The products mostly need to be pre-ordered, but she is really prompt and friendly in answering queries and it's so easy working with her. I can't wait for my things to arrive. Anyway, I've been admiring her stuff for months and got excited when she added a cookie letter press to her catalogue. I just had to order it. Soon I will be able to imprint names on cookies. Boy will my family be surprised when they see their names professionally embossed on cookies. Not to mention it will make a cool, albeit edible, calling card for meeting people. I'll upload pictures of the cookie press later and the imprinted cookies later when i have time to make them! I actually wanted to buy some more goodies from Elyn to give away right here, but she was kind enough to sponsor them! ...So nice of her! So here's the deal for our... May Giveaway Contest! We'll be giving away a set of music-themed cookie cutters (worth S$22.90), generously sponsored by Shopnbake, to one random lucky winner residing in Singapore!
To enter this contest, simply:
Deadline for comments is 22 May 2009, 10 pm Singapore time *The winner will be chosen via random.org's integer generator and will be announced on this post on Monday 25 May 2009. So leave a comment, and stand a chance to win this cookie cutter set! Sorry, time's up! This contest is now over. The winner will be chosen via random.org's integer generator and will be announced on this post on Monday 25 May 2009. And the winner is.....comment #19 by beabea!
We'll be getting in touch with beabea soon to give him/her the prize! Thank you for your participation, everyone! Posted by Anna Chan, Sat 16 May 09 (Updated Mon 25 May 09) .................................................................................................................... Baby turns 2!... He turns two next week. I still call him Baby. It is amusing that he seems to know what to do with with the cookie dough... Maybe one day he'll inherit all my pots and pans and cake-making things, if he wants them.
Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 14 May 09 .................................................................................................................... More handbag cakes!... We made handbag cakes again yesterday! I really like putting these on display...they're so pretty, don't you think? I love the versatility of fondant and how it can be made to look so smooth on a cake.
Made by Serene
Made by Michelle (Serene's sister)
Made by Sufiani
Made by Michelle
Made by Carly
Made by Larry Great work everyone! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 11 May 09 .................................................................................................................... What we did during the 2-Tiered Cake Workshop... It's time for another line-up of dazzling beauties! The workshop participants really did an amazing job with their 2-tier cakes. Wow...
It's no good seeing their masterpieces from so far away. Let's go closer.
This one was made by Jean...
and this was by Siti...
and this was made by Melissa...
...this was by Suzanah...
this, by Michelle...
and this one was by Oni.
(I managed to complete mine after we had finished cleaning up.) And this is the 2nd instalment!
By Aida
By Raiha
By Fiona
By Jane
By Jaslynn
By Philia Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 4 May 09 .................................................................................................................... Design-A-Handbag Workshop... Just a quick announcement... Design-A-Handbag Cake Workshop
Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 1 May 09 .................................................................................................................... Play that funky music... My old buddy Angie's having an uber cool (wait, what does uber mean?) 80s-themed birthday party and I didn't know what to get her, so I offered to make her a cake. In the end, we settled on cookies. It's going to be an outdoor party and with our inhibitive weather that will wilt any class of a cream cake, royal iced cookies are the perfect fancy treat to have instead. She had no problems deciding on what she wanted. (I love this girl!) And here the cookies are, all dressed up for the party.
This box is actually from a Marriot chocolate hamper we got recently. I'm sorry I recycled the box Angie dear, but it's a real solid looking box and it was the perfect size. =P
I wrapped the cookies in individual little ziploc bags because I'm terrified of the lethal combination of food + outdoor events + unpredicable weather. The bugs!! and the HEAT and the DAMP! It's time to think about what to wear to her party to look prettily preggie instead of frumpily fat. Happy Birthday Angie! Posted by Anna Chan, Fri 24 Apr 09 .................................................................................................................... Peanut butter blessings... Waking up on Easter Sunday morning was difficult and I complained inwardly about having to go to church so early in the morning. =P But God had a little surprise for me.
Usually I have to do a whole string of experiments before I arrive at a recipe that I like. This time, after attending the Easter service on Sunday, I went home and tried a simple formula for peanut butter cookies that dawned on me while I was listening to the sermon. The formula worked on the first try, resulting in delicious crumbly peanut-buttery cookies that are sturdy enough to be packed closely into a box and yet melt in your mouth. I was amazed as I almost never succeed like this on the first trial of a new formula. I don't doubt for a moment that God was trying to make my life a little easier - even in a seemingly trivial matter like coming up with a new cookie recipe. =) So kind of Him, especially after I complained about going to service! Thus, I've decided to put up this recipe and call it Peanut Butter Blessings because the recipe literally dropped into my lap. I'm still sitting amazed as I write this. The recipe is now on the subscribers' freebies page. If you had already subscribed before today, the link has not changed yet so you can still download the recipes from the link I sent you in the latest newsletter. Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 14 Apr 09 .................................................................................................................... Humidity is my nemesis... For my beloved grandma's birthday, a traditional but pretty cake was in order. I had decided to make an orange sponge cake, and had already made a bunch of royal icing flowers two days ago. Royal iced flowers are great as they can be dried at room temperature. Only, they have to be left to dry for a day / overnight. Buttercream flowers were out for me because I have no more freezer space. [You can do all these flowers with a #104 petal tip, some piping bags, baking parchment, a flower nail (it looks like a nail with a large flat round top) and stiff consistency royal icing.]
Then, I realised I had a dilemma. Royal icing flowers need to sit on a dry type of icing like fondant, not a creamy icing like fresh cream or buttercream, or they will absorb the moisture and become soft and shapeless. On the other hand, sponge cakes shouldn't be covered with fondant as fondant is too heavy and will crush it. (A chocolate-based icing/ganache posed some uncertainty for me as I had no idea how royal icing decorations would behave on chocolate. Perhaps it would be ok or perhaps it wouldn't, but I couldn't risk it this time as it wasn't an experiment.) Finally, I decided to go with a thin donut glaze over the orange sponge as the glaze would dry nicely and the royal iced flowers would behave themselves atop a dry surface. Everything was going fine when I made the cake yesterday, and the flowers on the glaze were looking perfectly okay. I knew the cake would be fine at room temperature... but I was suddenly consumed by a terrible fear of ants crawling into the cake box and all over the cake during the night, so I transferred the cake to the fridge. MISTAKE. This morning, I took the cake out to take a photo and the poor flowers, being very cold from the fridge, began collecting condensation from the warm air. You know how water vapour collects on your spectacles when you come out of a cold car into warm weather? The little flowers wilted very slightly and looked wet. And the words began to dissolve a little. It's not obvious in the photo though. Can you see a light sheen on the roses? It's not on purpose!
To dry up the flowers, I am right now using an old trick: letting the cake sit under the aircon which is going at full blast. The flowers are looking drier now. Phew. Moral of the story? Humidity and temperature changes are a cake-decorator's worst enemy. Afternote: The cake was an 8 inch round and was just enough for 20 people to enjoy a thin slice each. I'm so happy that I got the sizing right this time. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 6 Apr 09 .................................................................................................................... On 'maternity leave' from 18 May 2009 onwards... If you've looked at the baking workshop schedule, you may have noticed that that there's no new classes after 17 May. Well that's because... ANNOUNCEMENT: From 18 May 2009 onwards, I will be going on my own early 'maternity leave' to prepare for baby number 2 =) IMPT: Don't worry if you are attending the upcoming April and May classes. Classes will go on as normal as I'm not in any danger of giving birth until late July - yup, I'm still in great (pear) shape as it's still only 2nd trimester. WHAT'S NEXT?: Although I won't be conducting cake classes for a few months after 18 May, I will be putting up some nice new recipes for everyone to try in the subscribers' freebies, as and when I've perfected them. Do drop by to visit this blog as I will continue announcing new stuff here. Feel free to contact me through email, as always! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 1 Apr 09 .................................................................................................................... Plain Sponge Cakes... Part I I woke up on Monday morning with two ideas in my head. One, I just had to try making a new sponge cake, and two, I just had to visit my grandma who had just been discharged from a thankfully brief stay in hospital. (Also, I had to go the market to buy groceries for the home but that thought had to be shelved.) My grandparents appreciate a good old plain sponge cake, so I decided to go out on a limb and try a new untested recipe i had and hope that it would be good enough to take with me as a little present for Grandma. The batter was easy enough and the cakes rose well, but one never knows with sponges until you bite into them. With a little trepidation I turned them out of the deep silicon mould, packed them into a box and got going.
Thankfully they were perfectly soft, yummy and well-risen, and Grandma thought I had steamed the cakes and asked if they were some kind of japanese cake. (which they aren't but I was just happy she liked it.) But as my grandfather suggested, and I agree, they should be a trifle more golden on top. "You need a bigger fire" he told me. That's exactly what I'll do, increase the oven temperature by 10 deg the next time and see what happens. Part II For my next try, I increased the temperature by 10 degrees, used lined paper cups and the result was even better. The texture of the cake was spongy and soft as before, but now they were taller thanks to the paper lining and slightly more browned on top.
Subscribe here for the recipe! Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 31 Mar 09 .................................................................................................................... Orange Sponge Cake... When I first wrote this recipe, I tried making it using the usual genoise method - where you whip the eggs and sugar until ribbon stage, then fold in the flour, followed by oil and milk/water. It deflated and I thought it was because I had put in too much liquid. After several changes to the proportions, I finally went back to the original one I wrote but used the chiffon method. It turned out that this was the answer to my problems. In the chiffon method, eggs yolks, oil, liquid, flour and baking powder are whisked together. Separately, the egg whites are beaten with sugar until soft peak stage and folded into the wet batter. (For an idea of what soft peak stage looks like, see the picture of the egg whites on a whisk on the left.) Somehow, the whipped egg whites did a great job of holding up the wet batter - and because the balance of ingredients was right, I was able to make it in a round pan. In the end, I got a sponge cake that was airy and moist, thanks to the chiffon method! A final tweak turned it into an orange sponge cake. I love that perk-me-up flavour that grated orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice give to a cake.
I will probably make this for my grandma's birthday....it's the sort of cake the folks can still enjoy after a gut-busting 8 or 9 course chinese dinner. Afternote: This recipe is now among the freebies for subscribers to our newsletter. Enjoy! Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 25 Mar 09 .................................................................................................................... Our cookies on TV!... I was very excited about making these decorated cookies as they were going to be used as props for a Channel 8 drama serial. I don't want to give the plot away but you can tell that it's something to do with demonstrating love through cookies. =) The episode will air sometime at the end of this year.
Sorry, I don't make these to sell, but if you are interested in learning how to make cookies like these, the Cookie Art Workshop is where I teach these recipes and techniques. =) As the Mediacorp executive I worked with told me, setting up a little shop and selling decorated cookies seems like a viable business to do -- especially now! For one thing, cookie dough is inexpensive and simple to make, and leftover dough can be frozen well (provided you seal it properly). Icing is also very cheap if you make it yourself. Cookie cutters are readily available (the novelty ones can be purchased online) and can be bought one piece or one set at a time. And the shelf life of both cookies and icing is 1-2 weeks, unlike cakes which only have a shelf life of 3 days. So, the thing that really makes a decorated cookie worth the extra dollar to the customer is your labour and skill with the piping bag. You could actually make a market niche for yourself selling cookies as edible pieces of art. Now, if only I had the time! What with one toddler and one baby on the way and a workshop business to manage...this sort of venture is probably out for me. But it isn't -- for anyone who is hardworking and loves to bake. Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 19 Mar 09 .................................................................................................................... Mar-May 2009 Baking Workshops... Here's the Mar-May Workshop Schedule! *updated as at 14 Apr 2009 Tues Fondant Cupcakes Workshop Mini Muffins Workshop
Cookie Art Workshop Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop Simple 2-Tiered Cakes Design-A-Handbag Cake Workshop To find out more or register, go to the Baking Workshops page and click on the links below the workshops. Posted by Anna Chan, Thurs 12 Mar 09 .................................................................................................................... Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop... Pretty Floral Cupcakes is such a popular class that we've decided to add another session for the month of March! This hands-on class will be co-taught by blog shop owner Philia Ng (Ophilia.Treats) and Anna Chan. Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop @ CSC Club Baking Studio
To find out more or register, click here. *This class is now full. Thank you for the great response! Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 19 Feb 09, updated Thurs 12 Mar 09 .................................................................................................................... Cookie Art with an Easter spin... When I was a child, I looked forward to every public holiday, mentally ticking off the days until my parents would be free to hang out with us for the whole day and take us out for an excursion. (Not that they didn't do that on weekends, but it just seemed more special when it was a public holiday) Now I look forward to public holidays because D will be home for the day and we can have a leisurely breakfast (hopefully at a good hawker centre) with the baby and then we can take baby out for a spin and perhaps go see the grandparents on either side. Good Friday and Easter are coming and that holds an extra special meaning for us as we remember Jesus' death and resurrection....and I just had to think about Easter-themed cookies! So on Sunday, I spent a happy afternoon working on some Easter designs to include as decorating suggestions in the upcoming Cookie Art classes. During Cookie Art classes, we mix and bake the cookies hands-on, make royal icing, then decorate the cookies using a 3-step icing decorating technique. Generally, everyone has free rein in decorating their cookies in their own style - I just provide the techniques and a few suggestions to get their ideas flowing. For the Easter season, I'm going to include the following designs:
An easter egg with a marbelised swirly pattern...
Chicks...
Carrots...
Piped daisies... The registration for Cookie Art on 28 Mar 2009 (Sat) and 4 Apr 2009 (Sat) has already begun. To register, click here. Posted by Anna Chan, Wed 11 Feb 09 .................................................................................................................... Pretty Handbags made in Design-A-Handbag Workshop... We made handbag cakes in class on Sunday. What beauties these cakes are! The next Design-A-Handbag workshop is on 22 Feb 09 (Sun)
Pretty handbags in a row...
made by Anne
made by Oni
made by Philia
made by Nancy
made by Fiona
made by Josephine And here's a picture of the moist and velvety chocolate cake that was inside the handbags. (To cut a cake neatly, chill the cake in an airtight container to keep in the moisture, then cut with a serrated knife.)
(Small boy eating cake after everyone leaves.)
Posted by Anna Chan, Tues 10 Feb 09 .................................................................................................................... Feb-Mar Workshop Schedule... To register or find out more, please visit Baking Workshops Design-A-Handbag Cake Workshop
Cookie Art Workshop
Pretty Floral Cupcakes Workshop
Fondant Cupcakes Workshop
Mini Muffins Workshop
T is for TIRAMISU Workshop
21 Mar 2009 (Sat) 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
.................................................................................................................... Congratulations, Gingerbread House Contest Winners!... After the voting which ended on 31 Jan 2009, 12 am, three winners emerged! The 1ST PRIZE goes to Ms Suzanah Amin! (pictured with her three boys).
She won a Wilton cake stand, a tube of pearl lustre dust (total value $75) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker" for her entry:
The 2ND PRIZE goes to Ms Cindy Quek!
She won a pair of Wilton Silicon Oven Mitts (worth S$39.80) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker" for her entry:
The 3RD PRIZE goes to Ms Pauline Chan!
She won an 8-pc set of Wilton icing colours (worth S$15.79) and a copy of "Gorgeous Cupcakes for the Home Baker" for her entry:
A big thank you goes out to everyone who took part in the contest and to the many many people who voted for the gingerbread houses!
.................................................................................................................... Chinese New Year rush... The days leading up to Chinese New Year seem to be incredibly busy, what with stocking up the larder in typical 'kiasu' (i.e. neurotic) style in case NTUC closes on certain days and baking boxes of cookies in case friends or relatives want to visit us. Today I made 3 batches of pineapple tart pastry for my mom for our big bake-off on Thursday. I've also bought her the pineapple tart filling - we're not making it from scratch this year as mom and I are up to our ears in other work. I've always loved assisting her in baking and I still do! So mom and I will assemble the tarts at her place. Probably, my little boy will also want to play pat-a-cake with us so I will have to find him a clean cardboard tube to pretend to do rolling. Which reminds me, I think my mom has no rolling pins so I better take a couple with me. On an unrelated note, I made mini muffins on a whim and used meat floss to top them. Instead of using cupcake liners, this time I greased the pan with butter and as a result they became so beautifully golden even around the bottoms. The edges of the mushroom tops were crisp and contrasted nicely with the muffins' soft and fluffy interior. I know putting meat floss on a muffin is unorthodox [giggle] but these little babies are always eaten up really quickly... and besides, it is sort of in the spirit of Chinese New Year, no? =)
If you don't fancy or can't find meat floss, use bacon bits, small pieces of cooked ham, or shredded cheese. They're all delicious on a plain muffin (*Do omit the flavoured extracts/essences if the recipe calls for them. They will taste a little strange with the meat.) Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 19 Jan 09 .................................................................................................................... Jan-Feb 2009 Workshop Schedule... Happy New Year to everyone! We've got an exciting line-up of workshops for you from Jan-Feb 2009...
Visit Baking Workshops to find out more and register!
.................................................................................................................... . The cupcake boxes we've always wanted but couldn't find (until now!)... Tired of plain white cake boxes that are a loose fit for your cupcakes at best? The answer is these specially made cupcake boxes that come with flexible inserts to fit 6 standard cupcakes. You can even remove one or two inserts to put something else - like red eggs or a small gift or pretty embellishment to go with your cupcakes! Think of all the possibilities!!! (Photos reproduced by permission of Boostprints.)
The retail price is S$2.35 per piece. Discounts apply for bulk purchases. Comes in pale pink and blue from this online store: Boostprints. Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 14 Dec 2008 ...................................................................................................... Vote for your favourite Gingerbread house! Curious about the entries we've been receiving for the Gingerbread House Contest? Visit this page and vote for your favourite Gingerbread House! Or if the creative bug bites you, submit your own edible Gingerbread House before the closing date: 31 Dec 2008. (Recipes are provided on the contest page) Don't wait! =) Posted by Anna Chan, Mon 14 Dec 2008 ......................................................................................................
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