Sunday, August 29, 2010

Married Couples' Mini-workshop

Last Saturday about 17 couples from our church came together for an evening of food, fellowship, fun and a short inspirational talk given by my dear husband.  Since it was going to be a hectic day with a few errands to run as well as worship band rehearsal in the afternoon I quickly baked a chocolate sheet cake (Chocolate Delight), frosted it, cut into pieces and left them in the fridge for the dinner meeting.  Sorry I didn't manage to take photos of the process because I was in a hurry. 

I decided to bake the cakes lower than normal since it's a rich cake and people nowadays enjoy smaller helpings.  The cakes contain butter, cocoa powder, sugar, eggs, buttermilk, flour and a little baking soda.  While the 3 cakes were in the oven, I went ahead and made the frosting which had butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla essence. I poured the frosting over the warm cakes and left them to cool.  I also added Hershey's chocolate chips on top of the frosting.  Two hours later, I used the Wilton cake cutter and cut perfectly rounded edged rectangles.  Very nice bite sized pieces.

The frosting doesn't really harden but keeps the cake moist and tender.  I brought 48 pieces and they were all eaten with great relish!  I had very good feedback and needless to say some had more than three pieces!

I've a baking order this Wednesday and will probably bake Chocolate Delight, coffee cupcakes and my mini pizzas (by special request).  Will post photos when I'm done.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Universal Studios Singapore

After a wait of more than six months, we managed to find a weekend to go to Universal Studios Singapore to celebrate Ethan's 18th birthday (6 months late!) and Alethea's 15th birthday (10 days early).  Everyone was in high spirits and we made it to the Studios when they opened at 10am.  We spent the day trying out the rides (just the three of us because someone didn't want to get "dizzy"), catching the shows and of course, eating!  Which is why I'm blogging about that today.

Alethea wanted to buy popcorn because the smell was just so alluring!  However, she exercised self-control and had her photo taken instead.  So proud of her!

Since it was a birthday celebration, Alethea chose Mel's Drive-In for lunch while Ethan chose Louis' Pizza Place for dinner.  They had the LARGEST pizza we'd ever seen!  Not only was it huge, it was also the BEST pizza we'd ever tasted.  Moist, meaty, not too much cheese and a crispy thin crust.

This is just ONE slice!  Check out the meaty slices... generous!


We managed to find the Hershey's store outside of Universal Studios and everything was INDUSTRIAL size!  Check out the syrup!

Oh my goodness...

Suffice to say we had a great time.  Next week will be occupied with a couple of baking orders so I hope to post some photos for you.  Till then, have a great weekend!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Marshmallow M & M Brownies!

Hubby and I were away for three days attending an Emotional Freedom Technique workshop, hubby's 40th school reunion and a funeral.  We were glad to be home knowing that our teenagers would have torn the house down and rebuilt it into another shape!!  Fortunately my mum came to keep a close eye on them.  Thanks, Mummy!

Anyhows, my son's Ultimate Frisbee team had a party yesterday and I had promised to bake something for him to bring along.  I made coffee cupcakes without the frosting and Marshmallow M & M Brownies.  Since I've posted photos before on my coffee cupcakes here's the Brownie photos:

I used M & M Crispy candy


and the milk chocolate covered candy for the topping.


I used my favourite brownie recipe and baked it for 10 minutes.  Then I added these cut marshmallows (I was supposed to used miniature marshmallows but they didn't have them at Fairprice where I went) before popping them back to the oven for another 10 minutes or

until they look like this, golden brown and all puffed up.
I then took the pan out of the oven and quickly added the candy on top.  The marshmallows would flatten out when it cooled.


I added a chocolate syrup to finish it off.  It's colourful, appetizing and best of all, simply yummy!


I tried making miniature brownies in my mini cupcake silicon pan.  I felt it took too long since I only had one pan and had to wait until everything cooled before de-panning it so I gave up!  But the size is really good.  Maybe I will get another pan...

I've got a large baking order for October when I have to cater desserts (4-5 varieties) for 50 people.  I'm looking forward to planning for this occasion and trying out new ideas in the meantime.  Will post photos as and when.  Meanwhile, do check out my jewelry blog at http://www.rebeccayam.blogspot.com/ and have a great week ahead!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Pillow Cookies

One of my favourite websites on baking is http://www.bakerella.com/.  She was featured on Martha Stewart's show and has just completed her first cake pops book!  I simply love her practical cake decorations.  Today I tried her pillow cookies.

First I used my favourite brownie recipe.

After baking, cut into small squares.  The missing pieces?  Oh, I was making sure the brownie was okay...

Then I used my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Since the brownie is to be put inside the cookie, I had to use quite a bit of dough.  I flattened the cookie dough and placed a piece of brownie on top.  Then I covered the brownie over with the cookie dough.

Here's what it looked like before hitting the oven.

Out of the oven!  Smells wonderful!  I placed a dinner spoon next to the cookie to show you how huge it is!  Definitely not for the fainthearted.  Beware of extreme sugar rush!

Doesn't this look simply wonderful?  Will I sleep after eating this (after all it's called "pillow cookie")?  Definitely not!  The first reason is because of the sugar rush I'll probably not sleep the whole night and secondly, it'll probably be wise of me to hit the gym immediately for the next one week!  Excuse me while I indulge...