Chinese New Year Chronicles: Part I

FINALLY! After some 70 pineapples, 13 blocks of unsalted butter, 4 packets of plain flour, some custard powder and milk powder, D and I finally managed to finish the daunting task of baking close to 1000 pineapple tarts, tangerine style.

I intended to and was supposed to open the new year goodies for sale officially. However, the 3 orders that came along the way proved impossible to take on anymore additional orders. You see, I had previously baked a batch for D to bring to office as a sample, for his colleagues to taste test. I don't know if it was good or bad, but news travelled quite far and some colleagues whom never tasted it actually daringly place an order. So, there was a total of 13 tubs of pineapple tarts, 48 tarts in each tub.

Additionally, the sight of us making pineapple tarts day in day out, night in night out probably tempted my mum to actually order 10 small tubs (24 tarts each) and 2 tubs. Yes, my mum actually did order it from me. She actually paid me.

Baking non-stop for a week after work was no easy task. Especially since, yours truly, needs sleep the most. I ended up sleeping at 1plus, 2 in the morning for almost the whole of January and I'm truly hoping for some good rest during this CNY break!

I tried using ready made paste for the taste-test batch, but the ready made filling only proved too dry and a serious lack of real pineapple taste. Oh! and did I mentione, it was a tad too sweet. Sweet + no pineapple tang = no-go.

I nearly fainted at the thought of having to slave over the hot stove cooking pineapple filling enough for 1000 pineapple tarts! That was just insane. BUT,thank God for microwave invention. I vaguely recalled coming across SeaDragon's blog which showed a way to microwave pineapple filling. And boy! I immediately jumped at doing so! *click here*

I only used his guide for the first time I was doing it, but after getting used to the microwave, I changed the timing and learnt how to judge the doneness and knowing how much longer to cook it for.

As a rough guide, to be on the safe side, microwave your grate/blended pineapples on HIGH for 10 min first, take it out and give it a stir. Pop it back in for another 10 min and thereafter only go at 5min intervals. The doneness of the pineapple filling depends on how moist/dry you like your filling to be. Of course, the moister it is, the shorter the shelf life. The drier is it, well you know, the less tasty it is. But whatever it is, homemade filling is definitely better especially since you could control the amount of sugar!

For me, I added ~45-55g of sugar per pineapple depending on sweet or sour the pineapple began with. Oh! and be sure to drain the pineapple of the juice, this helps ALOT in speeding up the cooking process. OF course, you could leave the juice ALL in, but it'd just take a much longer time to cook, a much long time for the juice to evaporate and dry up the paste.

I have modified the recipe I used for last year's pineapple tarts and found that the addition of milk powder gave the tarts an exceptional fragrance and the addition of custard powder gave the pastry a nice yellow colour. I'm not sure if it contributed to the pastry's texture, but they sure were melt-in-the-mouth. YUMS!

So, without further a-do, here's my version of pineapple tarts - tangerine style for this year! =) Enjoy!

Pineapple Tarts - Tangerine Style

Makes approx. 60 tarts

Ingredients:

A:

180g Unsalted butter, cold and cubed

B:

240g Plain Flour, sifted

100g Icing Sugar, sifted

1 Tbsp Custard Powder

2 Tbsp Milk Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

*Mix well*

C:

1 Egg yolk

1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

*mix well*

Egg Glaze:

1 egg yolk + some water to dilute

Method:

1. Rub A into B until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add in C and mix until a soft dough forms.

3. Measure out leveled 1/2 tablespoonefuls of dough and roll them into balls and set aside.

4. Measure out 1 leveled teaspoon of pineapple filling, rolled into balls and set aside.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 190C.

6. Flatten the prepared dough and wrap the pineapple filling in. Place the completed tart into small paper cases (or directly onto baking tray).

7. Bake in pre-heated oven for 6 min. Take out tray and brush on egg glaze and return to the oven for a further 6 min.

8. Allow the tarts to cool completely before storing.

forever twenty-one

I just had, not one, but two 21st birthday orders within just a week apart! To add on to the fun, this is my 100th post YAY! And of course, I hope my blog would remain as happening  as possible and just like the fashion label, forever twenty-one.

Many say that time seems to move twice the speed once you hit the age of twenty-one and I somehow got to agree with that. However, upon deeper reflection, I guess the magical fast forwarding of time doesn't happen when you hit the magic number 21, but rather, as you progress, responsibilities pile up and with that comes investment of time to maintain those responsibilities.

Just take for example, when we were young, all we had to fret was, studies, test and grades and probably how to prevent my classmate from stealing my notes or worse still, stealing my eraser or crossing over to my "territory" marked by an invisible line on our tables. Other than that, we lucky brats of this age practically had to worry nothing about food and clothing. Now that I've those who have crossed the 21 boundary, suddenly find themselves struggling to find an ideal job and managing their finanaces and increasing responsibilities. In a split second, the list of things to do gets longer and longer and you start finding that time is zooming by faster and faster.

And... I am reminded of how long ago was my 21st birthday whenever I come across someone else who has just turned 21.

Many thanks to my secondary school classmate, Eunice for introducing me to her friend, QY to order her 21st birthday cake from me =) It wasn't too difficult for me to conceive the idea of how the cake should look like because QY already had something in mind and even had a picture of how she wanted it to look. Of course decisions like sizes and colours and other minor details had to be made and THIS was what the final product was.

The cake was a simple vanilla butter cake sandwiched with yummy yummy nutella buttercream for the bottom two tiers and nice, tangy lemon buttercream for the top most layer! It was a pretty huge cake which was REALLY REALLY heavy. Cake sizes measured, 10" - 8" - 6". Each layer was a little more than 3" tall so you could just imagine how heavy the cake was with the fondant =XX

To complete the sweet pink, floral 'feel', I added a "tiara" and a fondant key since she was celebrating her 21st. Although I don't quite know the true significance of a key, but I do believe it's somehow symbolic of your key to the gates of adulthood.

And so, if you're wondering who's the next lucky one who's just turned 21, it's none other than Eunice's sister, Evon.

                 

Eunice saw my "chirstmas" cookies post and wanted those cute 3D cookies and in my opinion, I think those made perfect door gifts and not to mention, they are cute, even when plain!

These cookies are pretty huge so don't be fooled by the photo. Eunice actually asked how big a plate was needed to display the cookies so that the guests could jus take and eat them (like buffet style). I told her she'd need something that's at least 30" x 30" for 60 cookies.

Several days later, she increased the order to 70 cookies! 35 of pooh and 35 of mickey! Although no decoration needed to be done, assembling and packing the cookies were more time consuming and laborious than baking them! Not to mention, I had to bake extra because of my mighty strength I broke a few legs, necks and ears =X So I had to re-do almost 5-7 of mickey and pooh =(((

I had no idea how should I get the body stuck to the legs, so i used royal icing to "glue" them together. I guess the humidity in our Singapore air kinda softened the cookies a little and on hindsight, I think I should have placed a packet of oxygen absorber thingy in each packet. oh wells, lesson learnt! The cookies were a breeze to make, especially when I kinda memorised the ingredients after the 300 wedding cookies. BUT bending and rolling them out were a PAIN, literally and mentally. Especially if the ears broke off while transporting it from the table to the baking tray.

But nonetheless, I managed to get the cookies all packed, sealed. All tags cut and attached. DONE, before the scheduled pick-up time. PHEW! I think this is one of my rare orders that I need not rush and for once, I could breathe a sigh of relief and snap away while waiting for the cookies to be picked up! =DD

Like flowers which blossom and wilt and die, so do humans blossom, age and pass on. I guess it's not a matter of how long we maintain our youth or even "feel youthful" in our golden years. But rather, what have we accomplished in the days of our youth that is worth remembering. The period might be short-lived, but as long as it was spent meaningfully in an worthy, impactful manner, we could be, potentially, forever twenty-one.

With loveee...

Marriage has always been an issue of debate, even in the past. I believe that unhappiness and divorces did happen in the past, though probably not as prevalent and short-lived as the present.

My friend was just lamenting the purpose of the marriage certificate and questioned if it's existence is ultimately only a tool for self-protection. Without the cert, there's no argument for alimoney fees, without the cert, there wouldn't be any say in co-ownership of a flat/house. Without the cert, there probably is no reason to stay legally binded. Having said that, the binding power of the marriage cert is fast losing it's grip in today's time and society. Marriage as an institution is collapsing fast and the only one's who'd suffer are our future generations.

While getting married is truly something worth rejoicing and celebrating, it is really only but the beginning of a long, ardous journey together. I am not married, yet. But after witnessing the fall of many marriages of people around me really saddens me and makes me question the integrity of this institution.

However, I do believe that happy and ever-lasting marriages do exist. But those don't come easily and of course, effort and hardwork has to be put in to keep the love flame burning.

So, here's me wishing Philia and Xavier a happy, ever-lasting marriage. May the both of you work hard at keeping your love for each other burning!

I was tasked by Philia to bake her wedding favours and I was really excited as it's really, the first time I've done anyone's wedding favour =p It was easy to get it done because she knew what she wanted exactly and even showed me a picture. I was worried of not being able to get it done (especially when work zaps half your life) but she made things simple yet sweet. 3 small hearts in one packet, coloured white, pink and red respectively. With vanilla, chocolate and lemon cookies. Thank goodness she asked for small cookies if not, I wouldn't dare imagine how late I'd go to bed, slogging to finish baking these cookies.

Even so, baking them was no mean feat. Especially when 100 packs were order, which mounted to 300 cookies!! A day to bake, a day to ice, a day to pack. It was not easy, but D was sweet to help me out every single night. Seems like he's unofficially my business partner now =O Packing seems like something easy, but hey, it ain't easy when you have 3 different cookies to pack, seal and tie up complete with a tag. Not to mention, printing and cutting the tag needed time too!

It's a pity that I don't have a picture of the completed look of the wedding favour, but I hope you'd get an idea from the picture above.

Anyhow, here's wishing Philia and Xavier a blissful, happy marrige! Congratulations!!

Durian, Episode 2

Gee.. I hadn't realise it'd been so long since I posted anything until Jane actually asked if my bakings were coming along fine. =X

You people must be thinking that I just totally busted my "new year's resolution" of wanting to post more recipes etc etc..Well, aren't resolutions meant to be broken? So, that's why you make them? no? =p

Work's keeping me busy busy, not because I have loads to do but because working hours just sucks up 3/4 of your waking hours. Coupled with recipes to try, CNY and orders, I'm starting to feel that 24 hours is seriously not enough. Not that I wish a day had 48 hours for I would have collapsed before the day even ends. This crazy schedule landed me sleeping at past 1, sometimes even past 2 in the morning and poor D had to suffer with me =X Not to mentioned, I baked through the night till 5.30 AM one Friday to deliver my dad's company cake the next day. The story, of which, I'll leave it to another post..

Now, concentrate.

I have a love-hate relationship with durian. They're so pungent they make thinking there's a leaky gas tap around the house, yet they can be oh-so alluring when that creamy yellowish flesh melts in your mouth and slides down your throat and what you have left is the smell in your mouth that lingers for hours, sometimes making you beckon for more.. I'm not one who truly appreciates eating the fruit itself, but I must admit that my knees go weak when I have a good durian dessert.

Most durian desserts are mixed with cream or added with some other ingredients which to durian purist, is crap. But for people like me? It's perfect. The cream tones down the otherwise sharp, pungent taste yet preserving the unique taste and smell of a durian. As such, how could I say no to a workshop that covers a variety of durian related dessert? Most of all, what lured me to signing up what a durian chocolate truffle cake. I was instantly reminded of Spike-D from Big O.

The workshop was pretty relaxing and the pace was ok, and the recipes taught were elegant yet simple. I haven't found the time to re-create any of the recipes at home as im still in the midst of racing against time.

Verdict? A pretty comprehensive workshop as I learnt some other techniques and learnt how to handle fruits in bakes. As for the taste, you either love it, or hate it.

mini treats

Some two to three weeks back, I received an SMS from a uni classmate to bake some stuff for a taste-test session. My friend got to know someone who works for an organisation which intends to start a nice chill-out cafe. They're looking for home-bakers who could possibly in the future, use their kitchen facilities and supply yummy home-baked treats to the public. I said YES! immediately.

I had not much idea what the concept really was and so, I decided to and was tasked to start with something small and simple and that'd be muffins. Muffins are extremely easy and versatile and the combinations are endless once you've found a real good base recipe.

Since it was going to be a taste-test session, I made them mini, so the testers could taste it whole, without feeling really bloated, not forgetting that there are other items to be tasted as well.

 I had previously had an order for some cookies and cheesecakes. So, I took the opportunity to bring some of the cheesecakes for the taste-test session as well. Too bad, no pictures of the cheesecake as I was in a hurry to leave before any photographs could be taken. I baked the cheesecakes in cupcakes cases which:

1. Is small and easy to eat, hence people might be more receptive to buying it off to just satisfy a craving

2. It takes ALOT less time to bake as compared to a whole cake which means you can whip up many many more batches as compared to baking whole cakes.

Well, I have no business experience and I can safely say I'm a total noob at such marketing and branding stuff..but those were my two points  two cents worth of opinion..

Nonetheless, my sister's boyfriend managed some really good pictures which were taken right outside my house at the small mini garden. Muffins are traditionally breakfast foods, so what better way than to photograph it in a garden accompanied with some milk? Sounds like a really nice and relaxing way to start a fresh,crisp morning.

The verdict? The boss liked it because of the nice, permeating buttery fragrance! I recalled trying this recipe sometime back with canned blueberries. My sister complained of the lack of blueberry flavour. So this time, I experimented with using blueberry pie filling and I think I'm almost there. Probably a little blueberry jam would do the trick? The chocolate chip was as usual, as always, a hit. Everyone loves chocolate, don't they? But of course, as with everything else, there are always exceptions.

In any case, I'm geared for more taste-testing sessions of what might sell in a nice chill-out cafe..and of course, I need to find my signature pastry. I've been thrown this question more than 3 times now "What's your signature bake?" and all I could revert was a jaw-dropping, blank face. I think it's high time I perfected and created something unique to ME.

Wish me luck.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

It's 2010! In fact, it's the second day of 2010 and days are already going by in a flash! I was on a unintended mini hiatus for blogging for various reasons and I felt I was losing my mojo for writing. Not that I write with exiciting content and flowery language, but I felt the flow. It was nice to be able to vision what I'd be writing whilst photographing certain things and nice to write in an honest, "me" way.

I've had friends coming up to me saying I write pretty well, but seriously, I don't. My english ain't fantastic and my grammar is just terrible. But I guess what makes my posts readable is that I type what I think. Or rather, you'd probably be able to imagine me talking to you, in real person. ok ok, I'll cut praising myself.

Well, just as I thought I lost my blogging spirits, each visit to my own blog, yes, I am that lame to visit my own blog several times a day, reminded me of why I started out this blog initially. I wanted to share my experiences and hopefully my experiences will help others who just sparked their passion for baking. I don't think I've achieve much of that in 2009 but rather, I detoured. So with the coming of 2010, there are as usual, a truckload of resolutions. To keep things simple and realistic for the nth time, I am going to work hard on posting more recipes and tips for baking. Not that I'm a guru of any sort, but rather, I just share what I learnt along the way.

Work has definitely slowed my baking stints but it is not, and i'm not, going to let it diminish forever. Several events have taught me hard and I believe it's all because I jumped on the band wagon too fast than I could have caught up or handled. I fell, I tripped and lost sight of it, but I am not going to let it affect what I set out to do. It's back to basics in 2010.

Enough of nostalgia and I-don't-know-what-you-are-saying riddles. To end off 2009 (yes, I know it is already over) and to welcome 2010, I've decided to finish up my 2009 backlogs and welcome 2010 with open arms.

I envisoned baking up a storm last Christmas but once again, fell short of what I plan to do. What's new anyway. I still managed baking, but it was a mini baking class for a church mate, JiaJia, who planned to bake on her own to be given away as Christmas gifts. Why would I not jump at igniting a spark of baking passion in someone else? I did, and I almost regretted. It was a busy weekend and weekends were all I had to rest and recuperate for the next working week. Since it was a promise, I had no choice but to force myself and I was glad, she made it. Almost all by herself. I was a bad teacher as I was busy making macarons for a friend's macaron order while I left her all by herself, struggling with the hundreds of cookies =X

That's my church mate JiaJia

I am always amazed at how things turn out with unexpected rewards and I guess these are little things in life that provides you with the zeal to move on and venture into more exciting fields. Right, I was kinda exaggerating. All I wanted to said was that, I finally got the chance to use the Disney cookie cutters that I bought during my Taiwan/HK trip. HA~

                 

                                                                        3D Mickey

3D Winnie

Jiajia spent a total of 2 days, baking and decorating those cookies. I wanna take this chance to apologise for not being able to give my utomost guidance during her cookie baking/decorating session and am really thankful for her independence during which I kinda 'neglected' her. I hope she had fun and will definitely continue baking!

Enough of Christmas, the year end is always jammed pack with activities, not only because New Year follows closely after Christmas, but also because my Ah Ma's (Grandma) birthday follows closely. The dates are different every year as she celebrates her birthday according to the Lunar Calendar. This year, we had it right smack in the middle, after Christmas and just before the New Year.

I probably forgot to mention earlier that, I received an order for EIGHT durian cakes from my aunt of which she intended to give away as gifts to her clients. I was up to my neck baking those cakes but thank God for D who help me ALOT. Well, I shan't dwell into details, but yea you get the point. I had made 6 in total and *ah hem* was tasked by my mum to make one for my Ah Ma's 85th Birthday.

I think it's no mean feat to be able to live so long, especially since she is diabetic and I've always admired her for being able to raise 10 kids in those tough times. My mum didn't come from a well-to-do family, but they survived. My mum is often being applauded for giving birth to 4 kids and I just can't imagine how my Ah Ma managed 10. Anyway, I agreed, almost immediately when my mum requested and once again regretted. Yes, yes, poor time management. I asked for it. So, I took urgent leave to make it up. Right, which do-do in the right state of mind would do that yea? Well, I did. Yes, I'm that do-do.

But it was well worthed. Once again, I had to engage the help of my holidaying sister and her boyfriend to do up the final touches of the cake. And I must say, it was during this big celebration that I felt my worth as a "baker" coming back and yes! I'm all geared for more kitchen experiments in 2010! Woo Hoo!

You can never go wrong with a Durian cake, in Singapore, at least.

Making the cake was a breeze but it was the decoration that was a headache. fresh cream decorations are the most challenging, while at least to me, in Sunny Singapore. Even though it has been raining cats and dogs these days, it just doesnt seem to help. Whipping cream over a big bowl of ice certainly helps (i've tried) but it wasn't justified for using so much ice just for cream. -_-'''

So let me just say, that I got the cake all covered and as smooth and perfect as I could managed. But, the cream quit on me when I was just about to pipe it. I finished every last bit of cream I had and it seriously pissed me off. Thank God for the packet of sponge fingers lying around and sisters lying around (oops I meant sisters who were free and watching tv) to help. I got the sides settled. So now what? I decided to sprinkle a pathetic amount of cocoa powder (just like how Jane's Cake Station does it) and use my gold and silver dragees to form the phrase "Happy Birthday Ah Ma". Halfway through, we had to abandon the idea. The wet cream seems to be seeping the colours out of thsoe sugar balls and the words would probably become all blurry and gooey the next day.

okok, to cut the long story short, we decided on sprinkling crushes oreos and somehow designing it. I was tired, moody and pissed with the cream (yes, I was pissed it with the whole night) So I left the design to my sister and her artistically talented boyfriend. And so, that explains the durian cake which totally doesnt look like one. I remember reading that oreos goes well with durian from HHB and so, readily agreed on that idea. After all, what else could I do?

I went to the dinner place right after work and was greeted with nothing but praises regarding the cake. Like I said, how wrong can we go with Durian in Singapore? But I'd really like to give credit to my sister and boyfriend for all that help they put into the decoration, for without it, the cake would probably be lifeless. A cake can look good naked, but not all cakes suit that style. Some cakes look better complicated, but some simple cakes are enough to bring a smile. Pardon my lousy attempt to rhyme. But yea, nothing beats a merry joyous birthday celebration.

                 

I managed to get a picture of the insides because we were simple too full from the 9 course dinner and we "da-bao-ed" the cake. If you're wondering, this picture isnt taken by me. Well actually, the cakes pictures weren't taken by me, but by my sister and her boyfriend. And I must say, he's got a knack for taking photos. And why didn't I realise such a sexy background that existed in my house? *doinks*

Two thick layers of pure, creamy durian sandwiched between 3 layers of light vanilla chiffon. Simple, unpretentious and ultimately goodddd

I'll leave you with another alluring picture of this durian cake and the recipe for this winner durian cream recipe before I retire to bed. I am not at liberty to disclose the recipe for the vanilla chiffon, but any good sponge would suffice.

Rich, Creamy Durian Filling (Good for cakes or puffs alike)

recipe enough for an 8" round cake

Ingredients:

1 kg Durian Puree

10-15 tsp Heavy Cream

Method:

Blend durian puree and heavy cream together until well combine.

Spread even layers for durian cake or simply pipe filling for durian puffs.

notes:

The more cream added, the less thick the filling will be. For a lighter taste, whip 200-300ml of heavy cream and fold into the durian puree.            

                                            

A daughter's love for her mum and brother..

This is a real back-dated post. I had done up this cake on 5th December 2009 and now, in a blunk of an eye, it's already 2010.

What could a pink and blue cake possibly signify? Either a brother-sister cake or a boyfriend-girlfriend cake?

Well, a church mate, P, approached me to ask if I could bake a birthday cake for her mum and brother. And that they both shared the same birthday! Hmm could you imgaine giving birth on your own birthday? I wonder how that felt..=p

I agreed almost immediately and regretted as the days drew near. (as always) But this time it was worse! You know, it really is harder when specifications to the cake design are not spelt out, and things were made complicated when the same cake was intended for 2 people. not brother-sister, not boyfriend-girlfriend but mother and son.

How on earth do you decorate a cake meant for a mother and her son?! I was almost desperate and it seems the design could only lean towards either party, meaning, either a real feminine cake OR a boyish cake. But that's not the way it should be!

I frantically searched all over and recalled CherylShuen designing a cake meant for a twin. A boy and girl twin. There I have it, separate the cake! Time was running and I only had in mind for simple designs and this was the best I could have come up with. And someone, working on inspiration is wayy faster than you think. I torted, filled, crumbcoated, covered and decorated the cake all in 1 hour. I was almost amazed at myself. Of course that didnt include cleaning up haha!

I wasn't at home on the day of delivery so I had to trouble my sister again, to do it for me. I was really really glad that the cake was well-received when P's mother got "jealous" over the cake as everyone started snapping photos of the cake and kinda "ignored" the birthday stars. hahahah!

Whatever it was, the greatest reward is not having a beautiful, flawless cake, but rather, the reward lies in the appreciation of your hard work, no matter good or bad, pretty or ugly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!