The snare drum - carrot cake

Part 1 of the Drum cake series

I've baked another type of carrot cake before, which I truly loved, but that version crumbles very easily so the thought of perching it high on a stand makes me quite queasy. I had another version I kept in my "must do" folder, so decided to give that a try. And I am glad I did. The cinnamon that was missing in the 1st version made it oh-so-delish and being a cinnamon lover, the aroma of this baking was heavenly. I have always wanted to try cream cheese frosting, but since it's a set of same coloured frosting (i.e. Choc Ganache), I skipped the frosting this time.

Baked this cake on the Thursday leading to the birthday and froze it. Surprisingly upon defrost, the cake stayed really moist and flavourful. Since I only needed a small amount for the snare drums, I baked the remaining mixture as cupcakes. I so love the cupcake polka-dot liners! I've never baked in them before and I was pleasantly surprise that they were so easy to bake with and presentation was fab as well! Right out from the oven, the cake "felt" very wet (as if uncooked) and the cake got stucked to the liners. I immediately assumed the lines were hard to use! But the next day proved me wrong when the cakes came out beautifully in one piece after the liners were torn apart. I'll definately get more of these liners on my next visit to the baking store :)

Oh, please do give the carrot cake a try... It's so heavenly delicious! I will definately bake this again (together with the cream cheese frosting) once I muster enough will to grate oh-so-many carrots!

I am (Officially) Seven

I just realised that I don't have that many photos of Noel's 7th birthday. Perhaps I wrongly focused on the not-quite-successful birthday cake? I'd normally pass the camera to my brother, but don't know why this year I kept it in my pocket instead... So will have to make do with the few that I have. Popong - you got any photos to share with me? :)

Anyway, here's the cake...

The bass (kick) drum was a fruit cake (mom made this)

The snare drum was carrot cake

The right tom - tom was a steamed choc cake

The left tom - tom was a butter cake

The cymbals was a butter cookie

The drum stick were bread sticks (a.k.a. Grissini)

I'll run through the recipes throughout the week, so stay tune!

Note 1: Tengah mengalami kemalasan maksima to write up anything. But will push self. *will TRY to push self*

Note 2: After a week, Noel asked me - Mummy, why my drum cake didnt have Floor Tom and HiHat? (Aduhmak...)

K.N.I.F.E.

K – Know ye
N – Not
I – I
F – Feel
E – Excruciating pain

Was making some ganache using chopped chocs (will post about making ganache some time soon). Then Noel pointed out that the chocs was heart shaped. I didn't even realise this - it was not done purposely.


Sometimes it feels like this doesn't it? Words, actions, etc can pierce one's heart pretty deep. And the pain... ooucchhh....

I'mmmm dreaming of a whhiiittteee Christmassss

Yeah, yeah... the grass always seems to be greener on the other side, and home is best... I know, I know... but it ain't wrong to dream eh?

And right now, I'm dreaming off faraway lands, cold and chilly, off being huddled up against warm lights and the festivities warmth.

Of this...


Or this...

Maybe... one sweet sweet day.... Sigh... It IS okay to dream.... *while listening to Boney M's "The 20 Greatest Christmas Songs".

Images courtesy of http://www.centraleasteurope.com/offers/krakow_christmas_market.htm

When life gives you lemon...

I've baked these pretty often... including many orders or for own consumption. So often up to a point where I thought... well, at least I THOUGHT I didn't have to refer to the recipe anymore.

One day, I mixed the dough without looking at the recipe and the buns turned out harder than usual (and it was SO salty). The first thoughts would be - the yeast went flat. And those buns were for orders!!! Yikes! Made another batch, and again - harder-than-usual+ salty. I thought perhaps this time I didnt knead them long enough (but it passed the window pane test leh....) So took out a new packet of yeast, mixed another batch.

Scratching my head, while waiting for the dough to proof, I went back to the recipe and reread word for word. Then.... *hitting head with hand* SUGAR!!!! I FORGOT TO PUT IN SUGAR!!! Haha... Super sillyness if you'd like to call it that!

Anyway... sticking true to the cliche of "when life gives you lemon...", my mom and I didn't want to waste another batch of 500grams of flour so we cracked our head and TADA... these came out :)


That's right... doughnuts (a.k.a. Donut). For the longest time ever, I've wanted to make donuts but the long process detered me... So this was a pleasant re-route. The donuts were fluffy (yes, the yeast is proven to still be alive) and crunchy and the saltiness didn't bother us as we have Icing Sugar covering... YUMMY!

We really enjoyed these and I must say... the same goes with our lives eh? Sometimes (well, most of the time), things don't go exactly the way we plan it to be... and when that happens, we just need to make the best out of it and enjoy it to the best that we can... perhaps, it will too, turn out to be crunchy to the bite, soft on the insides, sweet with the sugar we coat it with and oh, a yummy experience we can smile from...

Bikin kesian ini anak eating near drain! Pintu dapur bah ni... :)

Basic Butter Cake

This is almost like a staple in our family. We bake this at least once a week. Very easy and versetile. This is a lame photo of my bekal today - taken in a hurry, in discretion in the office and with my humble mobile phone. I won't say that this is the best butter cake recipe in the world, but it's easy enough (and yields a nice, soft, porous buttery cake too!). Beats any bakery bought cake anytime I'd say. And the aroma of the cake baking... pheeewwwww... You won't wanna miss it! As I baked this last night, my nephew waited not-so patiently near the oven - he got the 1st piece hot & fresh from the oven ;) I got this from Agnes Chang's book - Baking Made Easy. Give it a go!

Basic Butter Cake

Ingredients:

250 grams butter - soften to room temperature
200 - 250 grams sugar - I used 200 grams
4 eggs - at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
250 grams self raising flour
4 tablespoons milk - I used Dutch Lady UHT milk

How to do it:

Put butter and sugar in mixing bowl. Beat on low speed till well mix. Then, beat on medium speed till creamy (sugar not fully dissolved yet).

Crack in 1st egg. Mix till creamy. Repeat this till all 4 eggs done - egg - mix till creamy, egg - mix till creamy.. you get the idea ;)

Put in the vanilla essense. Mix.

Divide the flour to 3 portions and dump in this sequence - flour - mix well, flour - mix well, flour - mix well.

Then pour in the milk and give it a final mix.

Pour in lined baking tray and bake in oven @ 180C for 40 minutes.


Here's a few tip from not-so-pro-me:

* All throughout the mixing process, make sure you stop every now and then to scrap the sides of the mixing bowl, to make sure everything is mixed up along with the rest. Everyone needs love :)

* To make the butter soften faster (like you suddenly have the craving to bake in the middle of the night *ahem, ahem, speaking from experience*) - cut them up in small cubes. I usually can bake after 15 minutes ;)

*If you wanna make orange cake, substitute the milk with orange juice - freshly squeezed from an orange fruit please :) And also make sure you grate some zest from the orange (to make 1 teaspoon) and put into the mixture. No zest makes the cake too mild (you can't taste the orange-ness). When you grate the orange, make sure you don't grate the whitish layer - that's bitter.

*If you want some bite to this cake, throw in anything you like - I've done raisins, choc chips, blackcurrent - anything and everything goes with this simple cake :)


*If you wanna make marble cake, pour 3/4 of plain batter into the baking tin. Then put the remaining 1/4 aside. Next, mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons HOT water till well mix. Pour into the 1/4 mixture. Mix well. Then, put dallops of the chocolate mixture on top of the plain one in the baking tray (like 1 tablespoon per dot - creating a polka-dot cake). Then, take a sharp knife and swiiirrrrlllll... Swirl as you like.

*On the lining of the baking tray, I am usually a slacker on this on - my mom does it too perfectly so I normally do not bother. What I would do when making for own consumption is to grease the baking tray with butter (just take any paper and take some butter and rub all over the tin). Then, throw in some flour and "powder" the whole butter layer - all around the tin (even the sides). This creates that "lining" layer so your cake does not stick. Well.... a BETTER alternative would be - get a none-stick baking tray!

*All ovens are different. It says in the recipe to bake at 180C but if I put my oven at that temp, my cake will be burnt within 15 minutes. So I keep mine at 110C. It's better to start at lower temperature :) Another thing will be - heat up the oven before you put the batter in. I normally heat the oven up @ 150C for 5 - 8 minutes. Nice and warm for the cake mixture :)

*Oh, and Agnes says this - all flour except sponge cake mix needs to be shifted. I shift mine all the time (erm, I take that back - Noel shifts flour for me all the time. Haha.)

Dinner @ Delizze*Mummy's birthday*

This is a typical pre-birthday conversation between mom and me (every year without fail). Please excuse the language / grammar :)

Me: This Friday we go out for dinner k?

Mom: No need lah. No need to spend so much money. We just makan at home.

Me: Everyday also you cook bah. Go out once a year to makan.

Mom: No need. Wasting. Every body so busy with own work. No time. Just eat at home.

Me: Everybody said OK liao mah.... just go! *blood simmering*

Mom: No need. Don't waste money. Pay bills better.

Me: Bills every month also got come! *blood boiling*

Mom: Later end of the month Noel's birthday - you need to spend some more.

Me: Noel, Noel lah. You, you lah. *give up and walk away before blood comes out of nostrils*

Hehe... anyway, this year, after much persuasion, my mom finally relented and allowed us to take her out for dinner for her birthday. I pray that I won't get that stubborn when I'm old :)

So... we went to this "not-so-new" establishment called Delizze last Friday nite (a day earlier). It's located in Premier 101 - the owner I heard is an Caucasian married to a local lady. (sorry, no pix of the exterior). It's been there for quite some time now, but I've not had any chance to give it a try. I know that one of my close family friend loves this place to bits. Worth mentioning that this place serves halal food. Delizze is actually a combination of a deli and a restaurant. They have a bakery section, followed by a cold cut / sausages / salami section and finally a restaurant - all attended by very attentive crew.

On towards the food we ordered!

Prawn and Orange Salad - RM 14.50.

The prawns were deep fried - but it was surpisingly light and went well with the citrus concept. Refreshing. Noel enjoyed this (more like enjoying the prawns!) 3/5.

Soup of the day - Chicken and Vegetable Soup - RM5.50

Erm... didn't really fancy this. Whole family "shared" one and we couldn't even finish it. Do not expect a smooth soup for this one - rather sand-ish. The garlic bread was soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside though. But I heard their other soups are nice. 1/5.

Garlic Butter Prawn - RM 14.50

Now, this is something really worth mentioning. The prawns were "many" (for that price) and they were fresh and there's a crunch when you bite into it. Sweet. Combined with that buttery / garlicky goodness.... YUUMMMMMMM!!!!! This wasn't in the main course page - but we're happy we got this. Definately a winner. 5/5.

Cold Cuts Sandwiches - RM9.50

The portion for this was huge - impossible to finish alone. Came in 4 not-so-mini buns, with 4 types of variety of cold cuts. While the cold cuts were not too thin / thick of a slice, I thought the buns were a tad dry. It would have been better if it's served warm? I'm not too sure. The accompanying fries - hmmm... mediocre. 3/5.

Lamb shank - RM32.00

The lamb was nice and came of the bone easily. It was of a "healthy" portion too - so the price was good. It came with a huge helping of mash potatoes. I've always been a fan of mashed potatoes (rather than fried ones) so I was really happy when I was this. Again, do not expect a smooth version - it pleasantly had chunks in it - yum. But my only complaint would be, the potatoes were a tad too dry. Well, I of course could have asked for more gravy - but I didn't. My fault. The accompanying veg - not too sure how these were prepared - but a tad sourish. 4/5.

Australian Tenderloin - RM29.50

SIL ordered this well done. It was alright - kind to the jaw - as it's not those kind of tough pieces. This one came with roasted potatoes. Nice variety in comparison with the mashed ones. I'd give this a... 3/5. But then again, I didn't eat too much of this to develop and opinion - it could have been a 4 for my sis.

Roasted Chicken - RM 15.50

Very well priced. Half a chicken - moist and juicy - not the expected "dry-prepared-hours-before" kinds. Came with mashed potatoes as well (again, I should have asked for more gravy. 3.5/5
We also had some fruit pastries, which were gobbled up before I could take any photos. Those were nice. Priced at RM4.50 (eh, wait a minute - I think they didn't charge us for this??? ggeeee....). This I believe is the pride. The pastry were so carefully and delicate layered with chocolate, before the custard was pour in. The custard was light and smooth and cooling. The fruit - fresh. Definately a 5/5.
The drinks - well, nothing to shout about. Most of the family kept to the cold / warm water served free flow. Noel had ice blended chocolate - medicore.
I'd definately visit this place again - more to sample and more pictures to be taken really.
Happy birthday Mummy!

Happy Deepavali

I don't recall having too many Indian friends.... Even in my Uni days, there was no Indian in our class of 56 people. Hmmm... I wonder why... But there were 2 friends I was blessed to cross paths with during the later days of my stay in Kajang. Sadly, I'lve lost contact with them.

There was one Deepavali, a friend and I went home with G to her home in JB to celebrate. We had such a good time going into another culture, breaking coconuts at the temple entrance, getting up at 2am to go to the fresh market with her mom and oh! all those glorious food!!! I miss miss miss her prawn masala, her green chicken curry, and of course her muruku!

Even if Kuching does not celebrate Deepavali, come this day, every year without fail, I will think of these once close friends. Happy Deepavali G and Chan. May our paths cross again one of these days.

Happy Bun

Been getting lots order for my mini buns lately... am ecstatically happy :) As happy as my new bun keychain so thoughtfully given (you, yes you - thank you!) :)

Little Chapel on the River

I get to pick up some books from her "shelf" each time we go out on our monthly date. This time, I picked up some Jodi's work and this... The Local (the title seems to be Little Chapel on the River in the original version - kenapa ah tu Gou? )


When I asked what this book was about, she said it was a true story after the events of 9/11 - and that the writer was a lesbian. Haha... what an info. While muttering "besar bah sudah kita ni", I picked up the book and made a mental note to make it the first book I will read when I got home.

It's been more than a week now since I'm done reading the book and I have yet to pick up another. Instead, I've hungrily re-read and re-read the book again (yes, I'm on my 3rd round now), while devour the blog, glad that I am able to see the real Guinan and to learn more about them. My weekness has always been for true stories and somehow, this one left such an impact in me, that I am reluctant to read another book so soon after in fear that it will somehow burst my "zone".

A pub, a town and the search of what matters most - that's the description on the book cover and I get caught up with how in the spirit of oneness, of acceptance, of loving freely and fiercely, of extending kindness even when it's not due, of just letting a person be what they want to be, of the human duct tape seals a community tight. Ain't it nice to belong to such a place? Or rather - wouldn't it be nice to own and run such a place - be it a bakery, a photo studio, a Bed & Breakfast, a resort, a bookstore, a jamming place, a home - anything - a place where people can find naive acceptance and love.

There's a real Guinan family. There's a real Garrison. A real Gwendol. This entry, is a silent tribute to Jim and John Guinan - for reminding me that there's still such thing as naive kindness in the world today. Just trust and love - peduli lah if itu orang kasi break your heart.