looks like christmas

I've been meaning to write this post for a while but i've gotten so busy lately, i'm not sure i'll even get a break this christmas. I love my job and love it when all the things i love doing come together into one project. 

smells like christmas

As some of you may have noticed, i love pancakes. I can put almost anything in my pancake batter and its always accepting and gets along with everything. 

downside up

Pineapple upside down cake is a popular American cake i've never tried. I knew i'd love it even before i tasted it, even the process was really delicious. 

honey, i'm back!

Hello everyone! I apologise for my absence and am grateful to have readers who still visit my blog, you're all so amazing.

I recently started drinking my tea with honey instead of sugar and i love it. Honey is healthier than regular white sugar which is a default sweetener and does nothing but sweeten. Honey not only sweetens but gives its own flavour to whatever its in. Late night tea time with my mum has become one of my favourite times of the day and we always have something sweet like a cake or cookie to go with it. So i decided to make my new favourite sweetener the star of the whole show by putting it in the pastry too. Honey muffins!

rum pop!

I apologize for the long break i took. I've been trying to have a healthier diet and lifestyle in general so i've been running in the morning, making delicious fruit smoothies or oats, strawberries and raisins for breakfast and adding vegetables to all my meals. Honestly i've really enjoyed it and intend to keep at it but i must say i've missed baking. A while ago, i was out with a good friend of mine and she introduced me to gourmet popcorn. It's called 'Joe & Seph's' and comes in several flavours like toffee apple & cinnamon(which i got), salty caramel and strawberry cheesecake. It is completely different from the popcorn we eat at the cinema and worth the money because it's such a delicious snack.  Coincidentally, we came across a cookbook that had a recipe for whisky caramel popcorn and i knew i had to give it a shot. I read through the recipe and it looked simple enough. Yesterday, i bought popcorn maize and made my own version of it. I must say it was pretty awesome!

 

not breakfast

I had the most inappropriate breakfast today.

welcome baby!

My beautiful friend Rachael(the one we threw the baby shower for) finally had her baby last Sunday. Words can't describe how excited i was that he was finally here and i couldn't wait to meet him. I went there today and had an amazing time just staring at the baby. He's so cute and tiny, with the most beautiful hair. Babies are really fascinating creatures. It's amazing how they are able to keep your undivided attention by not doing much. I made his mama a triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream to congratulate her.

pick me up

I had Tiramisu for the first time last year for dessert at Jamie Olivers italian restaurant. I loved it and knew i had to make it. Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese, and flavored with Marsala wine and cocoa. Tiramisu means 'pick me up' and it does just that with all its rich flavours. After whisking the egg yolks and sugar, the mascarpone cheese(which has a very neutral taste) was added and then the some whipped double cream. Lastly, the whisked egg whites were folded in.

 

Coffee in desserts is always amazing but coffee and alcohol together is a guaranteed win. I don't drink a lot of coffee so when i bought a tin of esspresso coffee as the recipe requested, i didn't realize i'd need a coffee machine to make it. I decided to boil some water and make it like instant coffee since the flavour was all i wanted out of it. I then mixed it with the marsala wine and started the dipping and layering process.
 

After a night in the fridge, it came out looking like ice cream and i couldn't wait to dig right in. Finished off with a generous dusting of cocoa powder, it was heavenly.
 

 

cake in a pan

I made a key lime pie yesterday and i only needed the egg yolks. I hate wasting things so i covered the egg whites and kept it in the fridge determined to find some use for it. This morning i woke up and to made pancakes or were they crepes? Usually, baking powder is added to the batter to make thick American-style pancakes while crepes are flat and made using just eggs, sugar, milk and flour. When baking, eggs can be used as a raising agent if air is beaten into it so why not when fried? I beat the egg whites with some sugar till stiff peaks formed, i whisked in some milk and then folded in a little flour. Turned out light, lovely and the best of both worlds.

 

 

the twenty four hour process

It literally took me twenty four hours to make these croissants. I started at about 1pm yesterday and ate them today at 12:30pm for brunch. The dough is rather basic but the technique makes the difference. Butter played a major role in making them light and flaky. I rolled out the dough, rolled out the butter into a rectangle, folded it in the dough and chilled for an hour.

 

I brought it out of the fridge, rolled and folded again then returned it to the fridge for another hour. After doing this two more times, the butter was evenly distributed neatly as thin layers of butter and dough.

After leaving it to rest overnight, i baked it for just ten minutes. I think i can do with a bit less butter next time but overall it was worth the wait, i had a lovely meal.

 

 

baby omisore

My beautiful friend Rachael is having a baby soon and i'm super excited! Not just because i love babies(a lot) but she is an amazing person and i'm excited to see the amazing mother she would be. There is nothing more precious than the relationship between a mother and her baby. She's one of the first friends i made in my life and it's strange when your childhood friend is having a baby. You're suddenly made aware of how old you are. It was my pleasure to help organize her baby shower and for the past month I've had the best time looking at decorations, tableware and all things baby. Myself and the three other amazing girls i organized with chose a theme called 'baa baby shower' which had a cute little sleeping lamb. We got cups, plates, napkins, a banner and much more in this theme. I made cupcakes to go with the theme. 

 

I also made star cookies to give the guests along with the mini favour bags we gave out.

  

I'm so glad that the baby shower was a great success. Rachael had fun and so did everyone who was there. I can't wait to meet the baby!

cinnagoo

The best cinnamon rolls i've ever tasted are Cinnabons and nothing has come close since. The satisfaction i got from eating those Cinnabons is etched in my mind and i felt that soft, chewy, gooey, warm, yumminess today when i brought mine out of the oven. They were amazing and everything i thought they would be. Butter really is the heart of baking. It is what made these cinnamon rolls melt in the mouth. I generally like to make things as healthy as possible but it would be impossible to make these cinnamon rolls as good as they were without all that butter. The dough was left to rise twice. It was rolled out(was like rolling clouds) and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon after the first rise then rolled up, cut into slices and left to rise for the second time, brushed with butter every step of the way. This is that annoying part of the cooking show where the person tries to explain to you how amazing the food tastes, smells and feels but can't do it justice, I'm sorry all i can do it pictures. When the rolls rose the second time, they all fit so snug in the baking tin.

 

 

 

valentine at CSM and beyond

Happy valentine's day! I was at school today but luckily my school is an art school so there is always something quirky and artistic going on.

 

 

 

I went home early and made a lovely dinner for two and a swiss roll. It wasn't exactly roll up tightly like you know swiss rolls to be and i think that's because i modified the recipe a bit. Instead of whipping the cream alone i put in a few raspberries and that added to the volume. I shouldn't have(or i should have but not put as much in the roll) It tasted great though. Raspberries are quite grainy and my lover didn't like that very much but i did! With a sponge base, raspberry jam and whipped cream, i'll be making this again.

 

nothing wrong with a little something sweet

After dinner today, i felt the need to eat something sweet. Like the meal wasn't over till i got something sweet. I've been feeling like this a lot lately and i've been feeling guilty about it. Growing up, dessert wasn't a normal part of a meal so i guess thats why i feel like its an unnecessary extra but on further thought, in other parts of the world dessert is a normal part of a meal. So i wonder; are these desires for something sweet after a meal natural? I mean i've been baking so much and have probably gotten used to having a pie or cake in my fridge at all times but is that why or is it simply a natural urge i just realised. According to wikipedia, 'Desserts were first made using natural ingredients that were locally available. In ancient civilizations people enjoyed dried fruits, honeycomb, or nuts. These were considered the first candies. When sugar began to be manufactured in the Middle Ages more sweet desserts became available. Even then sugar was so expensive usually only the wealthy could indulge on special occasions.' After reading that it remembered that once in a while we did have fruits after our food. It must be natural. 

I decided to make a chocolate cake. I gathered all the ingredients i had in my reach and made an experimental session of it. With the absence of milk, i used water for the batter and was not able to make buttercream. I whipped up the little double cream i had left with a pinch of sugar and topped with dark chocolate shavings. I also put some of these chocolate shavings in the batter to make it richer. 

flash of lightning

Growing up, there was a very popular toffee in a purple wrapper called cadbury eclairs. It is a caramel toffee with a chocolate centre. I was not a huge fan simply because i don't have a sweet tooth but it must have been good because it was and still is very popular. It was only recently that i discovered the pastry called éclair. At first i was confused but after a little research i found they are two different things. Why are they called the same thing though? According to wikipedia, the word comes from French éclair 'flash of lightning'. The connection is quite unclear.

Éclair is made from choux pastry filled with whipped cream, topped with a chocolate icing. Choux pastry is such a fancy name and has alway sounded to me like something that would be hard to make but quite the opposite. The methods used to make choux pastry are very unique. Making pastry in a pot is something i've never done or thought about before. With basic ingredients; flour, water, butter and eggs, a smooth, light and glossy dough was cooked. This dough was piped out onto the baking sheets and when it was baked and cooled, without cutting it open, the whipped cream was piped into the hollow centre through one end of the éclair. I really enjoyed this new approach to pastry making and it does deserve the fancy name choux pastry.

fruit.dough.dairy

Lately, i've been trying to eat healthier so last week, i stocked up on lots of fruits like grapes, oranges, apples and have been enjoying them very much. Its actually not hard for me to eat healthy because i love fruits and vegetables but i have to make a bit of an effort to do it right. After a lovely homemade dinner tonight, i didn't feel like eating an apple and i thought i deserved some dessert so i decided to make apple crumble like i've never made it before. I've made crumble so many times but i kept having flashbacks of the apple pie i made a while ago. The method of  cooking rather than baking the apples beneath the crumble gave them a texture which i like. I baked the crumble alone then poured it over the cooked apples. Finally topped it all with two scoops of green&black's vanilla icecream. Apples minus the dough and dairy for me tomorrow.

dinner: sweet'n'spicy roast ribs, potatoes and carrots

tourbillon exclusive

I've decorated several cakes in the past but this is the first time i've had to replicate a design. It was my fiances birthday a couple of weeks ago and it was a big one so i had to do something special. He is in love with watches and i'm probably ahead of them in that department by just a few points. He also designs watches, this was one of his first designs and i think it is absolutely amazing. To be honest, it wasn't entirely my idea to make this cake. He gave me the challenge a little while before his birthday. After thinking through how i'd go about it for a while, a finally got started the day before his birthday. For a cake i made a couple of months ago, i had used some ready-to-roll fondant so i knew that was what i would use this time too. Shopping for this cake was actually fun as i got somethings that were new to me. I got silver edible glitter spray and gold dust along with some writing icing. I printed out the design, had no idea how it would turn out but just started and hoped for the best. I baked a chocolate cake sandwiched and topped with chocolate buttercream, rolled out grey coloured fondant and covered it. Using anything i could find like small bowls, covers of things, knives and forks, i create all the shapes of this very detailed time piece. It was quite time consuming. The writing gel however, was very disappointing. I had hoped to use it for the black parts of the design and also to write the message but it was quite disastrous. The final thing didn't quite do this watch design justice but i gave it my best shot. Better luck next time!