from my teeny tiny kitchen

Plum Frangipane Tart

2011-11-08T18:08:00.001-08:00

OMG. I can't believe it's been almost one year since my last post. I can't believe how many things have happened to me and how much my life has changed.

Anyhoo, I just installed the Blogger official app on my iPhone and I am ready. Ready to post more. Yes, I said it.

Here's a plum frangipane tart that I made recently. Fresh and simple. Kinda like the way I feel about life.

homemade marshmallows

2010-12-19T21:22:00.001-08:00

I still can't believe how easy it was to make marshmallows from scratch. I followed Martha Stewart's recipe except peppermint extract which I don't have in my pantry. I used coconut extract instead.

By the way, this picture was taken with my brand new iPhone - Hipstamatic App, to be exact. Oh, I love my iPhone.

Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake Ver. 2.0

2010-11-14T09:59:00.001-08:00

Here's a great opportunity to review what I learned at baking school a while ago. Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake, as per my friend Mrs. HT's request. Slices of chocolate sponge nestled in luscious chocolate mousse, topped with rich chocolate ganache.

I could have skipped the decorative sponge part, but... why? That's the fun part of this cake! :D haha I piped the word 'friends' in mirror image with decorating paste and froze it while prepping biscuit joconde. Spread the biscuit joconde over the chilled decorating paste and bake it at quite high temp quickly... and there you have it. The most difficult part might have been finding the right font in right size for the template to pipe on!

Almond Crème Caramel

2010-10-30T19:10:00.001-07:00

Mrs. SP kindly gave me a bottle of Orgeat syrup for me to try. I tried mixing it with cold unsweetened soy milk, and voila! Drinkable 杏仁豆腐 :D YUM!

I love the Orgeat flavour so much that I wanted to use it in non-beverage recipes... Thanks to Google, I found this recipe at FOOD & WINE.

This was my second try to make crème caramel (the first time was at baking school a few years ago...). I used various smaller ramekins, so I got 12 servings in total. I baked (cooked?) 4 at a time. The first group totally failed - a perfect example of custard cooked at high temp. I blame my finicky oven :p

Luckily, the following groups turned out pretty well. No ugly holes. Nice, silky, smooth texture. Caramel was spot-on, I must say :) hehe

Turducken Roulade (minus Duck)

2010-10-10T21:07:00.001-07:00

In Japan, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day the way it is celebrated in North America. I usually don't feel either need or urge to eat turkey this time of the year for that reason, but I just happened to crave it this year :)

So I made no-duck turducken roulade, or should I call it turcken roulade? Brined chicken thighs wrapped in turkey breasts, roasted in the oven. Served with carrots, potatoes and brussels sprouts.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

insalata caprese look-alike

2010-08-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

Mrs. S graciously shared a shiso plant with me - actually two; the green one and the purple one. I love, love, LOVE shiso!!

I had some well-ripened tomatoes, so I made this insalata caprese look-alike. Drained medium-firm tofu instead of sliced buffalo mozzarella, shiso leaves instead of basil, and seasoned with soy sauce and rice vinegar for a Japanese touch :)

when life gives you plums

2010-08-05T10:58:00.001-07:00

Mr. & Mrs. S invited me over for the BC Day weekend. Their hospitality is amazing. So is their beautiful residence. They have a lovely backyard garden where they grow various veggies and fruits, which always makes me sigh admiringly and enviously.

They had a good (more than just 'good'?) harvest of plums this year, and I got to have a share of it. I made a plum jam. This one is for you if you like the natural tartness from this type of fruits.

Also I made a plum clafouti (recipe) which tastes much better than it looks :)

Kimbap (or something like that)

2010-07-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

It had been over two years since the last time I made makizushi...

This is my first attempt at Kimbap. The ingredients are not as authentic as the real deal, but it was pretty tasty :9

Cream Cheese Crostata with Orange Marmalade

2010-07-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

The recipe is from Epicurious.com, and is very easy to make. I added a teeny bit of Grand Marnier to the cream cheese mixture for extra orange-y flavour ;)

"Chick Love" Threadless Cake

2010-07-01T12:34:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited that Threadcakes is back!! Here's my "first" entry this year :) The design I chose this time is very cute "Chick Love".

Outside is store-bought chocolate fondant with homemade marshmallow fondant decorations.

Inside is Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake (yes, I *do* use box cake mixes occasionally), Smucker's orange marmalade and homemade orange custard cream.

Samurai Blue(berry) Pancakes

2010-06-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

2010 is such an exciting year for all sports lovers with the Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup South Africa! The Samurai Blue has been playing remarkably well in the Southern Hemisphere and hopefully will continue to make us proud in the next game against Paraguay, whatever the final score is.

In the morning of June 24 (the game day against Denmark), I made some blueberry pancakes for my pre-game(watching) breakfast. Yes, BLUE.

I added some fresh blueberries to my fave Sunny Boy Complete Buttermilk Pancake Mix. Served with more fresh blueberries and blueberry syrup from Summerland Sweets = triple blueberry!

I'm thinking of making more of these again on June 29, the next game day... Am I being a bit superstitious?

Yuzu Muffin

2010-05-29T20:52:00.001-07:00

Inspired by the hassaku loaf my sister in Tokyo made with my mom's homemade hassaku marmalade, I baked some Yuzu muffins today.

They are super easy & quick to make, packed with intense yuzu flavour, AND contain no added sugar. All the sweetness comes from Korean Yujacha.

Strawberry & Chocolate Trifle

2010-05-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

last-minute invite to a dinner + fresh berries in season = trifle

layers of...

chocolate sponge
strawberry slices
strawberry preserves
white chocolate pudding

topped with...
- whipped cream
- white & milk chocolate shavings
- strawberries

Note to myself: next time I make a trifle, I'll definitely make each layers really nice and clean... :(

Cakelettes

2010-05-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

Leftover cupcakes and marshmallow fondant from the book cake project turned into these cakelettes. The bottom two in the photo have names of my friends in Japanese. I used たのしメール from Arnest Inc. to cut out those Japanese characters.

Book Cake for Book Talk/Signing Event

2010-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

There was a book talk/signing event for my friend EK's parents, and I had an honour, privilege and pleasure to make a cake for them.

Spirit of the Nikkei Fleet: BC’s Japanese Canadian Fishermen was nominated for this year's Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award.

The 'body of the book' cake was supposed to be the same size as the 'half title page' sugarpaste piece on top of the cake :( and that's one of many, many shouldas & couldas...

The top line was piped with black royal icing and the bottom was written with FoodWriter.

Pacific Dogwood is the provincial flower of British Columbia.

I always have a hard time figuring out cake serving size... a dozen of cupcakes to the rescue!

Icebox Cookies

2010-04-23T21:52:00.001-07:00

Here are two kinds of icebox cookies that I baked a little while ago.

p-p-p-poker chips p-p-poker chips

baker of a lonely heart

Chocolate Truffles

2010-04-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

I made chocolate truffles. Just because.

Clockwise from top right: vanilla truffle with toasted coconut flakes, grand marnier truffle dipped in milk chocolate, s'more truffle, grand marnier truffle rolled in cocoa powder. Middle: grand marnier truffle dipped in white chocolate and topped with dried cranberries

Here's a cross section of s'more truffle. Mini marshmallow in vanilla truffle, rolled in graham cracker crumbs. Ohhhh, yeahhhh.

Zucchini-Parmesan Loaf

2010-03-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

This zucchini-parmesan loaf I baked on March 28 is still moist and yummy as of April 2.

The recipe can be found here at Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I added a pinch of cayenne pepper, which I think worked out pretty well.

Mango Pound Cake

2010-03-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Sunday. My day off. I was hoping for another beautiful day but the weather decided to ignore me :( *boooo* Craving for sunshine, I made something sunshiny in terms of colour and flavour.

The original recipe can be found here. I substituted orange juice with mango pulp and omitted orange zest. Ingredient ratio for the glaze had to be changed a bit because I was running out of icing sugar...

Happy Pi Day

2010-03-14T21:16:00.001-07:00

March 14 is Pi Day. I am no math enthusiast but decided to celebrate it anyway by making a mini coconut cream pi(e)!

Garnished with the rum-flavoured whipped cream and a milk chocolate pi symbol.

Mango Mousse Cake & Egg Tart

2010-02-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

There was a get-together at The T Family's. I knew we're having a Chinese dinner, so I decided to make something along the same line... You say Chinese desserts? I say mango pudding & egg tarts!

Instead of pudding, I went for a mousse cake.

Mango mousse, topped with mango jelly, nestled in sponge fingers. I used a canned mango pulp for both mousse and jelly. 850g for only $2! Yay, Walmart! :D

My fave dim sum: egg tart. When at a dim sum restaurant, I have to grab a plate (or two sometimes) of egg tarts as soon as I see them even before my actual meal starts... Here I cheated with store-bought tart shells *gasp* Sprinkled with cinnamon à la English custard tart or South African Melktert.

Olympic Cupcakes

2010-02-18T21:28:00.001-08:00

On my day off today, I had a quite strong (almost uncontrollable for some reason) craving for cupcakes. So I made some.

Watching the Olympics almost all day made me do this: 5 M&M'S to represent Olympic rings - they are not interlocking like they should, but they will be completely together later in my tummy. Maple leaf and Hinomaru are cut-outs of Fruit To Go.

Milk Chocolate Cream Pie

2010-01-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

Milk chocolate mousse in a blind-baked pie shell, topped with caramelized banana slices and milk chocolate shavings.

PPP

2010-01-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

PPP stands for Piggy-shaped Pocket Pie. It's filled with quince jam made by my friend VL and baked in the oven (not deep fried).

"Ambrosia" Cake

2010-01-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

I had an honour to make a birthday cake for my friend UW. It's a quadruple layer cake with white sponge and orange mousse filling. Sponge was drenched with coconut-flavoured simple syrup. The outside is coconut-flavoured whipped cream and coconut flake coating.

It had been quite a while (6 months?!) since the last time I made something out of rolled fondant, which made it even more enjoyable to make these frangipani/plumeria decoration. Also, this wonderful tutorial made it so much easier!

UW's husband PW asked me if the cake had a name and all I could come up with was "uh... orange mousse coconut cake?" Lame, I know. That got me googling for some info and I found this wiki article; hence the name "Ambrosia Cake"!

Here's more interesting fact! I'm pleasantly surprised how appropriate this flavour combo was for a birthday party ;)

"In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia (Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it."

Teeny Tiny Quiche

2010-01-01T20:33:00.000-08:00

A 3-1/2-inch pie dish from Yokoyaya made its debut today! Pie crust was prepared the night before using leftover dough from the teeny tiny apple pies. In egg/cream mixture are bacon, peas & carrots, green onions and cheddar cheese.

A perfect bite-sized slice of quiche :)

Teeny Tiny Apple Pie

2009-12-31T23:34:00.000-08:00

(Super flaky pie crust + apple & raisin compote) x baked in muffin tins = the very last thing I made in 2009!
Happy 2010, everyone!

Gingerbread Cake House

2009-12-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

I decided to make something fun for the nabe party hosted by my friends Mr. & Mrs. T... and here it is! My version of Gingerbread Cake House from Martha Stewart Holiday Sweets 100.

Since I don't have two 9-inch square cake pans, I used two 9-inch round pans instead and cut round cakes into squares... so the final product was much smaller than the original one in the magazine.

5 gingerbread kids represent my friends' kids - S-kun & K-kun of the T family, T-kun, L-kun & L-chan of the A family. It was so rewarding to see them excited to find their own gingies!

L-chan is in charge of decorating their Christmas tree ;)

Wishing you all and your loved ones a happy, safe holiday season from my teeny tiny kitchen!!

Christmas-y Bread Pudding

2009-12-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

I used a day-old panettone instead of French bread that's called for in this recipe, which added extra Christmas-iness to this bread pudding.

Napa Cabbage Mille Feuille

2009-11-19T20:36:00.000-08:00

Winter has come! This is one of the dishes perfect for a cold winter night. Leaves of Napa cabbage and ground beef are layered alternatingly à la mille feuille.

The sauce is seasoned with soy sauce and dashi. I love the "warmth" given by the thickened sauce.

Spuma di Mele Cotogne (Quince Mousse)

2009-11-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

Here's my quince experiment part II: sweet.
The recipe is from Chef Mario Batali.

Quinces.

After 50 minutes in the oven.

The skin and cores, removed. The flesh, sieved and cooked with brown sugar and lemon juice. I just love how the colour changed after heated/cooked.

The cooked quince + whipped cream + a bit of rum = spuma di mele cotogne a.k.a. quince mousse, served here trifle-ishly.

Quince mousse, quince jam (made by my friend V!), and plain white sponge in layers on spoon.

Chicken Tagine with Quinces

2009-11-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

My friend V kindly shared several quinces with me. (Thanks, V!) This is my first time in the kitchen with quinces - part I: savoury. I tried this recipe I stumbled upon online a little while ago.

It was very tasty!! A bed of couscous plays a supporting role really well here.

The dish is supposed to be "pretty darn hot", but I didn't find it so at all. My tolerance for spicy food might have changed a bit lately... wonder why?

Apple Cinnamon Muffin

2009-11-03T23:21:00.000-08:00

Apple compote, cinnamon and toffee bits - together they made my entire apartment smell very autumn-y.

California Roll (Ver. D)

2009-10-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

"D" as in Deconstructed (breaking down a dish into its essential components, then serving the parts as a whole) and/or Donburi.

Cucumber, imitation crab, avocado, nori, and toasted white sesame seeds on sushi rice.

Tiramisu Eclairs

2009-10-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

I moved from Vancouver to Coquitlam two weeks ago, and here's the very first thing I made in my *new* teeny tiny kitchen. Filling is made from mascarpone cheese, whipping cream, icing sugar, and instant coffee granules. I wanted to add some vanilla extract but couldn't find it (I'm still unpacking & organizing...). Eclair shells turned out pretty well, I think.

Green Tea Chiffon cake

2009-09-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is the first chiffon cake I baked in almost 12 months, and probably it'll be the last chiffon cake made in this teeny tiny kitchen...

I used the instant green tea powder from Itoen.

Avocado Coconut Ice Cream

2009-08-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

When it comes to avocado, it was all about savoury application for me, such as california roll and guacamole... until my friend Eli introduced me to the sweet side of avocado, and now I'm totally hooked! (The recipe is from YumSugar. I added some coconut flakes to the mixture for extra flavour and crunchiness.)

Mini Cake for Yoyo

2009-07-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

On the last day of my work experience (practicum) at Luscious Creations, my classmate and I got to design and decorate mini 4" cakes... on the spot à la Food Network Challenge :) We decided to make ones for each other, which made this assignment even more like FNC where you have to design a cake for a client you'll meet just before the challenge begins!

This is the one I made for my classmate Yoyo. I wish I could have made a Transformer cake for her but there's no way I could make it without some reference to look at :( So I combined her favourite colours: pink & black, one of her favourite decorations on cakes: a bow, and "Frog Prince" :)

Lime-themed Cake

2009-07-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

I had an opportunity to work on a "free reign" dummy cake during my work experience (practicum) at Luscious Creations. It was meant for some charity event and their theme colours include lime green. I took the word 'lime' literally and designed this very lime-ful cake.

Each tier is 'double-height' (approx. 6"-7" tall) and I had a hard time covering those with rolled fondant :(

"Revenge Of The Sushi" Threadless Cake

2009-07-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's my second entry into Threadcakes. This time I chose "Revenge Of The Sushi". Check out my entry here :)

The cupcake batter recipe is from シンプルスポンジケーキ (Simple Sponge Cakes) published by Daiso.

I added cocoa powder to the 'nori' (black) frosting to avoid using too much black gel food colour.

Rolled fondant was used only to make 'Gari' and the weapons (a knife and a pair of chopsticks).

Chopsticks to eat a cupcake...?

"Hey, Mr. Blue Sky" Threadless Cake

2009-07-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

I entered this cool online cake-baking contest called Threadcakes. The t-shirt design that I chose is "Hey, Mr. Blue Sky"... Check out my entry here :)

I cheated a little bit and used Betty Crocker Super Moist :) I picked Rainbow Chip because I thought it would be cute some rainbow colours underneath the blue sky, yet underneath the dark, gloomy sky.

Frosting is homemade :)

Grey rolled fondant isn't very appetizing :(

Strawberry Chips

2009-06-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

Since my oven was set perfectly for slow roasting, I decided to make strawberry chips. The recipe is from (yet again) Wild Sweets Chocolate.

Slow Oven Roasted Tomatoes

2009-06-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Roma tomatoes were on sale, which urged me to try this simple yet wonderful recipe. I might have given them more than a few twists of black pepper, but they still taste great. I've been fighting temptation to eat them all at once.

Plated Dessert Diagram

2009-06-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is my plated dessert diagram for the final practical test. I wish I could have taken a photo or two of the finished item :(

The red tuile was not a coil on the plate. It was more like a group of the big alphabet C's.

I used the Almond Glass recipe on Wild Sweets Chocolate which I love!

Please click on the above photo to read descriptions of the dessert...

Wedding Cake Ver. 4

2009-06-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

The fourth and final wedding cake that I made at school was a part of the practical test. I gave myself a plenty of time (two hours, excluding time to make a batch of rolled fondant), and this time I swore to myself (as well as St. Honoré!) that I'd finish the decorating within the self-allotted time. No overtime. No mistake should be made again.

Just like the last one, there were quite a few criteria that needed to be met and, of course, the time constraint. I wish I could have a pastel-coloured cake with all-white decorations, but the cake itself had to be white. (Thanks for reminding me of the criteria, EU!) Besides, colouring rolled fondant takes long, and colouring rolled fondant the way I really want takes even longer; hence all white.

Trio of Summer Berries

2009-06-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

Each student was assigned to present a summer-themed plated dessert to Ms. M, our instructor, as well as the entire class.

L to R: dark chocolate strawberry ganache, fresh strawberry slices, roasted almond slices, tuile rounds; white chocolate mousse, raspberry compote; mini fresh bluberry cake with lemongrass-flavoured whipped cream.

The recipe for dark chocolate strawberry ganache is from this awesome book called Wild Sweets Chocolate. (Thanks UW!)

I was aiming to achieve the flavour transition from rich ganache to lighter mousse to super light cake...

Wedding Cake Ver. 3

2009-06-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

The third wedding cake that I worked on at school - all on my own this time. Well, this wasn't the first time to work on a wedding cake by myself, but I must say it was pretty challenging due to all the criteria to be met and the time constraint...

I'm happy with the crimped edges... (Thanks a lot for your books, Chiho!)

I'm happy with how the colours worked out, too.

There's always something to think "shoulda woulda coulda" about, but I had a great time overall :D

Banana Split, Reinvented.

2009-05-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

From front to back: banana foster with walnuts (my very first flambé experience! FUN!), strawberry granita, mocha pot de creme in dark chocolate cylinder (with maraschino cherry on top, of course), white chocolate covered vanilla ice cream topped with candied pineapple chunks and mango coulis.

* didn't like the plate :( * white chocolate was so thick that nobody could eat/break it! * chocolate tempering took forever... ugh

(untitled)

2009-05-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

White chocolate bavarois on rum-soaked ladyfinger base. Served with mango coulis, kiwi/pineapple mini cubes and white chocolate decoration. (The bavarois was actually leaning like The Tower of Pisa!)

Layers & Streaks

2009-05-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

From top to bottom: chocolate decoration, raspberries, whipped cream, chocolate mousse, whipped cream, chocolate mousse, sweet short paste disk.

I wanted chocolate mousse rounds to be the same size (diameter) as other components :(

Mexican Feast for Two

2009-05-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Taco shells (sweet short paste), black beans (almond clusters), sour cream (whipped cream), salsa (strawberries), lettuce (mint leaves), & cheese (mango). Served with frozen strawberry margaritas (strawberry granita).

Spot the difference? The glasses were rimmed with medium sugar.

Tropical Duo

2009-05-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

FRONT: Coconut & ginger sorbet in a cocoa-flavoured coconut tuille cup, with the inside brushed with white chocolate.
BACK: Créme caramel with a pineapple ring. Grill mark + green sugar pieces = pineapple-y look...?

No contrast in height or colour :(

Where's the coffee?

2009-05-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Chocolate mousse (cubes; ~~hidden~~ not shown) in a chocolate cup, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. Served with a brandy roll.

There's nothing "coffee" about this dessert but it says "Café"...

Sphere Surprise

2009-05-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and pieces of ladyfinger are hidden inside the chocolate sphere. Served with warm créme anglaise.

* inspired by this beautiful recipe that I found online...
merci beaucoup :)

Vacherin, Reconstructed.

2009-05-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is the reconstructed version of Vacherin I made a little while ago. Chocolate ice cream pyramid is masked with whipped cream, topped with two meringue hearts, sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

ikura (salmon roe)

2009-05-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

Fresh salmon roe from Steveston, processed and salt-pickled by me. These beautiful gems are safely stored in the fridge...

Marzipan Modelling

2009-05-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Bananas, eggplants, zucchinis, and tomatoes. All were made with marzipan.

I've always liked playdough since I was a kid, and I'll never grow out of it.

VCC Positive Space Campaign Cakes

2009-05-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Two full-slab carrot cakes decorated by me & Nicole for VCC's Positive Space campaign.

6 colourful squares and 1 big black square were made with marzipan. Letterings were made with rolled fondant...

times two.

Affogato

2009-05-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Vanilla ice cream (semi-homemade - made with créme anglaise that I brought home from school)...

drowned in a shot of espresso...

A little heaven in a demitasse.

Japonais Pastry & Almond Bars

2009-05-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Japonais (meringue with ground almonds) oval disks layered with praline buttercream and chocolate ganache, coated with ground almonds. They look like コロッケ before being deep-fried.

Piped Japonais sandwiched with chocolate ganache.

Vacherin

2009-04-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

French meringue disks alternately layered with vanilla ice cream, decorated with whipped cream, meringue hearts & cocoa powder.

Wedding Cake Ver. 2

2009-04-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the second wedding cake decorated in class. I teamed up with one of my teammates whom I worked together with on the first one.

Wedding Cake Competition

2009-04-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Wedding Cake Competition was held as a part of Congress 2009 by the BC Chapter of the Baking Association of Canada. There were many beautiful cakes by both professional pastry chefs and pastry arts students...(photos @ Flickr) and here's my cake:

I'm so ecstatic and humbled to come in third place in Student Division *hurrah* I'd like to thank Ms. B whose guidance and support I couldn't have done it without.

Here's to the happy couple!

update: prize & bronze (glass) medal

Ganache Cake

2009-04-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Alternating layers of milk chocolate ganache filling and chocolate sponge cake, pressed into a bowl & coated with dark chocolate coating ganache.

Just so you know, the white chocolate thing on the cake is a butterfly, not a moth!

Sacher Torte

2009-04-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

My first sacher torte. The lowercase 'h' is not my favourite alphabet to pipe especially with chocolate. Neither is 'a'.

charlotte à la mangue

2009-04-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

Biscuit charlotte sponge shell filled with mango-flavoured bavarois, topped with mango-flavoured miroir, white chocolate decoration, whipped cream & fresh mango slices.

Raspberry Yogurt Cake

2009-04-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a cross section photo of this cake... It's a kind of roulade cake - a pistachio sponge cake thinly baked in a shallow sheet pan, rolled up with raspberry yogurt mousse filling inside, and masked/decorated with whipped cream.

update: here's the cross section of another raspberry yogurt cake.

Chocolate Box

2009-04-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

dark chocolate box painted with edible gold dust

Chocolate Figurine

2009-04-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Green streaks were painted inside a chocolate mould with coloured cocoa butter. Melted white chocolate was poured into the mould, and 10 minutes at room temp + another 10 minutes in the fridge later... the funky bunny was born.

I brought the bunny home and there he was greeted by one of my dogs.

Easter Marzipan Plaque

2009-04-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

My marzipan plaque with Easter design. I channeled my inner 5-year-old self who loved Sanrio stuff... Wait. I still love Sanrio stuff!

Easter Chocolate Eggs

2009-04-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

Made as per customer's request by Daniel, Eli and myself :) Little chicks, flowers & butterflies were made with marzipan.

The curious one.

The cool one.

The chubby one.

Tia Maria Chocolate Truffles

2009-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Chocolate truffles filled with Tia Maria-flavoured ganache.

crostata di ricotta con pinoli

2009-03-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

The recipe is from イタリアのお菓子 (Italian Desserts) published by Daiso. The black/dark brown stuff between the filling and the shell is chocolate. Well, the tart shell was actually made for some other purpose...

Buttercream Cake ver. 2.0 & Cupcakes

2009-03-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe that I took my sweetest time enjoying decorating these DURING THE PRACTICAL TEST. Time management? What time management?

The Chewy

2009-03-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

I felt a sudden urge to bake chocolate chip cookies... The recipe is from Good Eats with Alton Brown whom I loooove *blush*

A meal-sized, big cookie because of the #14 disher that I used (bigger than #20 that's specified on the recipe).

I was looking for a good recipe for soft and moist cookies like Fujiya's Country Ma'am, and I think I found the winner :)

24 Fruit Tarts

2009-03-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

12 plus...

12 equals...

24.

Ebi Chili

2009-03-08T19:28:00.001-07:00

Ebi Chili for E(bi Chi)li...
It might be a little too spicy for you, though!

Birthday Cakes ver. 3.0 & 3.1

2009-03-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

I had an opportunity to take over the cakes that my classmate was working on. (Get well soon, D!) She did all the hard parts such as assembling, masking, rose-making, etc.

A spring-y cake decorated in wasabi green and gari pink!

pa rum pum pum pum...

Soccer Themed Cake

2009-03-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

A 1/2 slab cake decorated with buttercream and chocolate by Natalie and myself :)

- soccer theme
- light blue cake
- white roses
- inscription: Shooting Stars
as per the customer's request...

Birthday Cake ver. 2.1

2009-03-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

What I don't like about this cake:
- Inconsistency of top border.
- Use of different colours on top (mocha/choco) and bottom (plain) borders.

What I like about this cake:
- Daisies.
- mocha flavour/aroma! ;)

Birthday Cake ver. 2.0

2009-03-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

I used mocha paste again because it smells soooo gooood... :)

mocha butter cream icing + mocha pastry cream filling + mocha/choco butter cream decorations = dirty uniform

Woody Birthday Cake

2009-02-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

An 8" two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream (coloured vanilla buttercream for a star) and rolled fondant decorations for my friend's daughter's 4th birthday.

Mini rope border on top - hoping for "cowboy lasso" feel...

A huge yellow star is (supposed to be) Woody's sheriff badge... (it was a cocoa star on the test-baked cake)

24 cupcakes with a "J" and 4 stars representing 4 amazing years!

I told you it's not a Christmas cane! XD

Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake

2009-02-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

There were supposed to be 12 rossettes with chocolate silhouettes (piped decorations)... Oops.

Fruit Flans ver. 2.0

2009-02-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

A little too much yellow this time???

Butter Cream Cakes

2009-02-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

"trad" = plain butter cream + plain pastry cream filling

Vines and leaves are very hard to make look good!

"mod" = mocha butter cream icing + mocha pastry cream filling

I'm not liking how this one turned out... The design on paper looked better :(

Boston Cream Cake

2009-02-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

I made two but the other one was not very photogenic... Flowers are supposed to be mayflower, Massachusetts State Flower :) As for writing, I modeled after the Party font.

omurice

2009-02-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

You gotta draw a heart or a smiley or something with ketchup on omurice. You gotta.

Angel Food Cakes ver. 2.0

2009-02-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

Lots of "shoulda woulda coulda" :(

Howdy, Woody!

2009-02-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

It...

took...

3 hours.

Colouring each icing and drying time between colours probably took most of the time spent.

It's fondant time!

2009-02-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Approximately 200 g of Wilton Ready-To-Use Rolled Fondant + 3 hours = 24 J's (not Christmas canes), 113 stars and a blue plaque with a red ribbon.

to be continued...

Wedding Cakes

2009-02-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

We designed and decorated our very first wedding cakes at school. Everybody was teamed up with two others.

Work in progress...

Accidents, like this one, are definitely a part of learning.

Ta-da! (more pictures on my Flickr set)

Oh, by the way, this is a styrofoam cake dummy, masked and decorated with edible icings.

Black Forest Cake

2009-02-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Since it was Valentine's eve, marzipan hearts were used instead of maraschino cherries. See those uneven gaps between whipped cream rosettes? *LOL*

Fruit Flan

2009-02-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Made by me and Janice :) I liked its fun, flowery design. Too bad it didn't fit in a regular cake box! Lesson learned!

I love the colour red, but this has a little too much red, maybe? Hmm... I'm not very good with colour :(

(Supposedly) Birthday Cake

2009-02-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Lemon curd pastry cream inside, hence the lemon-y yellow frosting.

wobbly lines... orz

I was supposed to write "Happy Birthday" in the centre... but I didn't :( oops

Valentine-y Cupcakes

2009-02-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

We decorated a dozen or so of cupcakes each for Valentine's Day. I wasn't as creative as my classmates were :(

Writing with Chocolate

2009-02-09T18:03:00.001-08:00

I did some ~~doodling~~ practicing.

test bake - ver. 1.0

2009-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Two layers of 8" chocolate cake with PC's dulce de leche in between.

(In the voice of Gordon Ramsay from The F Word) Crumb coat. Chill.

(In the voice of Gordon Ramsay from The F Word again) Decorate. Done.

Can't tell you why the cake had to have a huge star or what the test bake is for. All I can say now is, the final product will look quite different from this one.

Mini rope border on top. Mini bead border on bottom. Five rosettes on tips of the star. Finally I started getting hang of combing, I think...

I had a slice. I might try different icing recipes next time. I'll use something else for filling, too.

*LOL*

Don't Eat This Cake

2009-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

You could lick the icing, though. Just don't bite into the cake because underneat the icing is a cake-shaped block of wood.

It was really difficult to pipe roses with softer-by-minute icing :( So was transferring them from the flower nail to the "cake" :(

Well, at least it's showing some progress compared to the very first cake that I decorated, I think :)

Carrot Cake w/Cream Cheese Icing

2009-02-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

The second cake decoration at school. It's a 13cm x 15cm carrot cake with cream cheese icing and 3 mini marzipan carrots. The border on top is supposedly Shell all the way, not Rope here and there unintentionally. Note to myself: Consistency!

Now I want to go back in time and make them more cartoon-ish, cute carrots.

No matter what, it's been packaged and delivered to our in-school bakeshop already...

Angel Food Cake w/Italian Butter Cream

2009-02-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! We finally got to do cake decorating at school! Here's the very first one: Angel Food Cake with Italian Butter Cream.

There's a "Dots" border on top outer edge. It looks so simple but quite hard not to have such spiky tops as seen here. On top inner edge is a "Bead" border wanna-be. The "Shell" border on the bottom and 8 (4 larger ones and 4 smaller ones, in fact) "Rosettes" are okay compared to "Dots" and "Bead". Each "Shell" could have been a little bit longer, though.

The hole in the middle is supposed to be nice and round... It's not, I know.