A Choc Cake for Seth's Teacher

After The Rascal's birthday, my sis asked me to prepare a cake, not cupcakes, for The Rascal's teacher. I wasn't confident with baking a whole cake since I've been baking cupcakes for some time already.

So I bought a pre-mix of Betty Crocker's Choc Cake instead of baking one from scratch.

The ingredients are simple; just eggs, corn oil and the pre-mix pack.

I tried the pre-mix before and it has never failed me.

The batter could make 2 layers of this size of the the pan.

Cooling the cake on the rack.

For the frosting, I melted 50g unsalted butter with 1o0g dark choc in a metal bowl over a pan of boiling water.

I'd some left over of Chockylit's vanilla and choc butter cream. Vanilla butter cream was used to sandwiched between the 2 layers.

I covered the top of the cake with the melted choc and the side with choc butter cream.

It's the first time I tried piping words on the cake. So... it's so fugly!

I mixed the remainder of both butter cream and piped out the rim of the cake.

My sis's feedback from the teacher was that the cake was very well-received by the teacher and students.

A Bone, A Paw and Cupcake for Ah Wang

I was prepared to have a baking marathon for these birthday treats for our dear colleague, Ah Wang. He's our 'dog' in the office. Yes, we bully him quite alot as we treat him as if he's one of the sisters too.
So what did I intend to bake? A dog bone biscuit for our dear 'dog' and some cupcakes as well.

Preparing the aluminium sheet for easy rolling of choc dough.

Without bone cookie cutter, I used a knife to cut out the rectangle shape, and rolled 4 small balls before flattening them.

I know they weren't the best-looking dog bones but it was still hard work to make them. My partner at work commented that they looked like flatten lizard!

Now for the dog paw. Using free-hand as well.

It was time to rest after these cookies were done. Another round of baking awaited the next evening!

On 2nd evening...

I started with baking Nigella's Vanilla Cupcakes.

Looking bouncy and full, didn't they?

Now for Chockylit's Vanilla Butter Cream.

I simply love this piping.

Finally, choc butter cream. What do ya think I was gonna do next with?

I piped another round of choc butter cream on top. Something different I would say.

Now for the cookies...

I melted strawberry choc for piping Ah Wang's initials on the cookies.

These would be Ah Wang's present and should last him for the next few days.

As there were a few extra cupcakes I baked with some batter, I decorated with the choc butter cream and strawberry choc. Hmmm... maybe this might be a source of design for my next cupcakes.

Coffee Swiss Roll - My Successful 3rd Attempt!

I'd been fearing when I decided to try my hands at Swiss Roll again.
Though it looks as easy as the simple ingredients used, you may not get an easy cake to roll as you want it to be.

You know I'll get persistent if I failed at something once and wana go for it again. So I checked up Aunty Yochana's blog and found a few recipes for Swiss Roll, which I tried the Coffee Swiss Roll.

Whisking eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy.

The batter after the addition of flour and coffee mixture.

I split the batter into 2 trays as the batter seemed alot.

Praying as I stood by to watch.

It looked and smell like a giant rectangle omelette to me.

Now for the rolling.

I spread vanilla butter cream from Chockylit and roasted almond flakes.

I was too anxious with the 1st roll and had toppled it out from the tray to cool immediately from the oven. The 'skin' had gotten stuck to the wax paper.

But I was still happy with the result that I could finally roll a swiss roll!

I sliced them up into 4 for my gathering later.

For the 2nd Swiss Roll, I let it cool in the tray itself before I flipped it on the rack.

The skin was intact, and had a smooth sheen on it.

I decorate each slice with the buttercream and roasted almond flakes.

These are for Pig. Yes, 1 big fat guy can eat all these by himself.

Coffee Swiss Roll (http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2006/10/coffee-swiss-roll.html)

Ingredients:
5 eggs
90 gm. castor sugar
1 Tbsp. instant coffee (Nescafe) mix with 1 Tbsp. hot water (I used left over mocha powder I that I bought from Phoon Huat)
100 gm. Plain flour
60 gm. melted butter or 120 gm. cornoil (I used cornoil)
Butter cream ( I followed Chockylit since Aunty's will take more patience to whip)
1 Tbsp. instant coffee powder mix with 1 Tbsp. hot water
80 gm. chopped roasted walnuts (You can use whatever nuts you have. Like me, I used almond flakes)

1. Whisk eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy.
2. Add in coffee mixture and gently fold in sifted plain flour, add in melted butter and mix well until combined.
3. Pour into a rectangular tray of 10" x 14" and bake at 200C for about 8 - 10 mins.
4. Remove from oven and leave on wire rack to cool completly.
5. Mix butter cream with cofee mixture.
6. Turn sponge cake onto a piece of greaseproof paper, spread coffee butter cream on top and then sprinkle chopped roasted walnuts on top (leave some walnuts for decoration - optional).
7. Roll gently from the wide end into a swiss roll using paper as a guide to lift cake.
8. Put into the refrigerator to let it set before slicing.

Cheery Cupakes for the Oct's Gals; My 1st attempt with Buttercream!

It was my 2nd attempt at a fruity cupcake, and this time it's cherry cupcakes for my dear Oct gals from my Uni group. Ms A had also came back from KL for this important gathering, but you could never get a complete group as there're bound to have 1 or 2 MIA-rianz. Another great recipe by cupcakeblog - Cherry-Vanilla Cupcakes

I started with creaming the sugar into the beaten butter.

The batter after addition of eggs, flours, milk and vanilla.

I scooped them into this small white cupcases that I got them from Sunlik.

These cupcakes are the types that won't rise to a dome shape but will still rise alittle.

As per previous cupcakes that I baked, I cut out a cone from the cupcakes.

A tsp of cherry filling (that I made earlier) went into each cupcake.

I prepared these cupcakes the night before our gathering so tucked them away in a tupperware into the fridge.

The next morning...

Morning! I worked up my lazy bones to the kitchen and prepared the vanilla buttercream for the cupcakes I baked the previous night. It was my 1st trial and I was excited about it.

I didn't know it's so easy to prepare buttercream. What I had in mind was the hassel of whipping it up and piping it.

Not to mention, it's my 1st trial at piping too!

Not all perfect, but I'm getting the hang of it.

I sprinkled little colourful teddies on top of the cupcakes.

I love my first piped vanilla buttercream cherry cupcakes! They looked way tooo cool...

Cherry-Vanilla Cupcakes (http://cupcakeblog.com)

Cupcakes
Makes 22-24 regular cupcakes / 375-350 degree oven

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Add the milk and vanilla. Mix to combine.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to two-thirds full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes).
6. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Blogger's note: These cupcakes tend to rise quite a bit and will overflow if you put too much batter in the cupcake paper. Keep it under two-thirds full. They also tend to pull away from the papers as they cool. It should be minimal if the cupcakes were baked enough and shouldn’t be an issue. (At least it isn’t for me.)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
6-8 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment
2. Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy
3. Add half of the sugar, the vanilla and the milk. Beat until combined
4. Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Cherry Filling
2 cups cherries, pitted, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Add cherries, water, and vanilla to a pot. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
2. Stir together sugar and cornstarch then stir into the cherries.
3. Cook until thick, about 20 minutes.