Graduated!

Something which i would like to share aside my baking adventures..Finally! After 5.5 years of night classes and struggles, I am a "Da Xue Sheng" aka Graduate from B.Eng!

I am overwhelmed.. never thought I could come this far. I still can remember my ultra poor grades in secondary schools.. and my turning point in Poly which eventually led me to NTU. Nothing is Impossible~!

I am very lucky to have very supportive parents who gave me education and impart me values which are far more greater than what you can learn in school. And of course my Bro and Sis who are the greatest company a sister could have.And my hubby, who always gave me his support in anyways he can. Last but not least, my family, friends and professors who have helped me along the way one way or another.. Deeply appreciated! Thank You and I luv you all!

Before continuing with my learning journey in years to come..let me enjoy and savour this moment with all of you!

BreadTok?

Finally... I am able to upload my pics and type my blog nicely for all of you out there..
It was a bread week for me...I love bread and rice very much! Therefore, how could I miss out these 2 favourites from my blog?!!! I have been trying to make bread ever since I read Coraine's blog, but ended up throwing a lot of doughs away.. *sadz* Recently , all thanks to dear coraine's detail explaination on how to get the correct texture, I finally got it right! And to make me more proud, I did my kneading by hand, as I could not locate my mum's bread hook attachment for the mixing machine.. (of which i found at the end of the day... dame..)Anywayz, I was really happy and found it more fulfilling to do it manually..

I got the recipe from Baking Mum, really nice.. is a must try for all! Here is the link to it: http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/2006/10/bread-paradise.html

Got home and found a notice mailed to the residents of LP, there will be a Charity Sales held at the multi-purpose hall this 23rd Aug. And I have decided to work on my bread to sell on that day. Have my MIL to submit the form.. Yeah!! I will be selling Hotdog Buns with a variation of big and small ones.. hope anyone of you who is reading can come support.. ok? For charity and also see if my bread can make it or not.. hiak hiak...

Anyone of you who wants to know more information of the charity flea market do leave your contact and I will contact you personally..

Now, I have to plan for the big day and will be doing bread again for the coming weekend, so bear with me ok? Probably I will post more pics..

Another project on hand would be to come out with a green tea layer cake for 2 special person who will be having their birthday soon.. anyone?any suggestions? I am still hunting desperately for a good recipe.. not too sweet and not too hard to do.. how???
Oh well.. will continue to google.. and will update all later on this as well.. till then..

Something is WRONG

Has been trying for the past 2 days to enter my newest bake, but seems like there is something wrong with the blog..
Hmmm.... I will try again later.. do stay tune ok? I have prepared the pics ready for all the see...

Till then...

OreOOoo...

Have been wanting to try out the non-bake cheesecake for quite sometime and so here it is..I used the recipe from Krafts website and also heeded some suggestion from http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/to add in some lemon zest to the mixture. By adding some lemon zest, it can really increase the amount of flavour in the cake. And also you will be able to eat more as you wun have the bloating feeling that cheesecakes usually gives.

Ingredients as follows:
Base:
1 cup crushed OREO Original Cookies(white cream removed and set aside)
50g butter, melted
Filling:
500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese,softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup cream, lightly whipped
50g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, extra,roughly chopped
Garnish for the top surface(Optional):
100g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, crushed

As this recipe was meant for an 8" springform which i do not have, I re-adjusted the amount for the butter and oreo to fit my 9" springform. Also I double up the ingredients in order to make 2 cake at 1 go. 1 for my collegues and family to taste and the other for my husband's friend, who invited us over for a surprise party for their cute daugther SY - Happy Birthday SY!. Thanks ZT and H for the wonderful lunch and the sweet and thoughtful door gifts and thank you gifts.. (PS: H, I love the frame a lot! ) I really hope they would like the cake, if I know it was their daugther's bdae, I would have bought something else... haha.. Do give me your feedbacks!

I am now looking forward to my first blood donation next Thurday! and also the things I am going to make next! Till my next entry!

Zesty Sugar Cookies..

This is the third time I am baking cookies. I remembered the first time JP and me baked those ready mixed chocolate cookies which turn out to be ultra sweet and sinful. They actually taste like those cookies you can buy from Subway but only what we baked was harder. My second attempt was during Chinese New Year last year. I copied a recipe from http://big-girlicious.blogspot.com/ . Which was also chocolate flavoured cookie. (PS: Thanks Coraine! Really nice recipe!)

This cookies I am making this time round of which the recipe was copied from a library book I've borrowed. Ingredients as follows:

200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter
1 egg (lightly beatened)
400g plain flour ( a little bit more for dusting)

To create the zesty taste, I added in orange zest from a large orange. I like this cookie very much as it is not sweet and easy to make. These type of cookie are actually good for doing sugar art due to it's flat surface. By making royal icing and adding different edible colourings, we can get really nice effects! Will try it the next time I make these cookies again. As I have limited time for baking this time round, I omitted that part.. hehe... My only concern is that with the addition of the royal icing probably the cookie will taste too sweet?

We *hearts* NUTELLA!!

I wonder if you have notice that recently in all the major supermarkets there is a huge mountain made out of a lot of super large bottles of Nutella!? I don't know about you, but Nutella has always been a favourite spread among my siblings and I. And I am so lucky to find a man who also love Nutella as much as I do!And so, I happily bought the super big bottle of Nutella and along came a free gift - 250ml of Nutella!

As I was having a little gathering at home with my family, I wanted to do something easier and fast so that i would have time to prepare the other food. And so I found this recipe online which came in handy and also a good way to use up those Nutella that I have bought! Muahaha!

Adopted this recipe from http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com

The ingredients is super simple:

3 eggs

65g caster sugar

80g cake flour

20g unsalted butter (melted)

2-3 drops vanilla extract (which i omitted as i have none left at home.. )

The hard part is the baking time as not to overbake the mixture if not rolling it will be difficult and end product will be full of cracks and ugly! That is what happen to a third of my roll. I still manage to roll it by hiding the crispier portion in. Oh well, guess i will still need to try a second time. As for the taste... hmmm.... nothing can go wrong with Nutella!! muahaha!

Berries Berries

I am a 100% strawberry lover, therefore I would definitely not miss the chance to try out this cake - Strawberry Shortcake. This is also my present to my dearest little brother - JE on his birthday which is also in June. Happy Birthday my dearest brother!! Sister loves you! Hope you like the cake!

Well the problem with cake making is not the process, there is always new things to discover and learn in the process in making cake. It is the cleaning up which is a killer! The "oily" feel just won't come off those mixing bowls and pans! Arghh...

I really like the taste of this sponge cake although it is kind of sweet but still acceptable. Luckily this sponge does not use any ovalete, if not - MORE cleaning..
The problem I face with this cake is beating the cream. The cream contains plainly whipping cream, sugar and mascarpone cheese. After mixing, the cream just wun hold it's fluffiness and start becoming runny, making it really hard for me to apply on the cake. The conclusion my mummy drew was that, I should have added gelatine to the mixture, which I think makes sense.. but wouldn't the mixture become mousse instead of cream? Hmm.. will have to read up more on this.
Anyway aside these technical stuffs, this cake after much refridgeration turn out quite solid and nice.. I like it more than the cheesecake as a matter of fact..
I will definitely make this cake again, maybe for my own birthday! Yay.. Prolly try out another recipe for the sponge as well.

Was thinking what's next to try this weekend, went to Seng Siong during lunch and bought one whole big bottle of Nutella. Then it strikes me that I have a recipe copied from the internet that uses Nutella as the filling. - Nutella Swiss-Roll ! Well, so that is what I am making this weekend ! =D