2010 In A Glimpse....

Hmm ....2010, a year that was full of challenges, deaths and baking! One that I will always remember that will shed tears were the memories of the passing of my SIL arwah Azura...the days when she was first diagnosed with cancer, the days when she confided in me of her fears of death and the final moments when I bathed before she was laid to rest.....then it was dear Dalilah....when I saw her last at her death bed, she had died about half an hour ago, and her body still felt warm......and of course the mega challenge raising two teenage children....only God knows....in the office, I have been challenged with bigger responsibilities and more roles to take on, much to my hesitation....most of the times my mind would wonder the thoughts of baking full time at home.....then again, like my gynae said, my work is my space, yeah.....so I have turned into a real legal counsel (stern and firm) during the day and baker by night (I melted (cair) like butter)...especially lately when I bake almost every night! Am not complaining about the baking part, even though sometimes I miss the time for baking for leisure...trying new recipes......

Anyway, here's wishing you A Very Happy New Year, dear readers and supporters who have time and again been reading and ordering my goodies! 

A glimpse of my back garden, where I cook and bake daily!

Bunga Kerak Nasi trailing the front porch!

Hajar's favourite past-time...doing jigsaw puzzles!

I'm now self professed crazy over the moon for Macarons!

Bakes and Cakes

These were probably my last orders before we stroll into 2011!

Fruit cake wrapped in fondant, a Gold and Maroon Themed Hantaran, thank you Azura.

Also some Macarons for Azura, thank you!

Devil's Food Chcocolate Cake with Cream Cheese, Chocolate Ganache and Fresh Strawberries, thank you Liza.

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Almond Macarons with Chcocolate Ganache, Maple French Pastry Cream, Strawberry Swiss Buttercream, thank you Fariza and Lina! 

Hope to offer you with more cakes and bakes, Happy New Year 2011!

Jasmine Tea Macarons

When in Ayer Baloi we usually laze around, while I cook and bake and we feasts ourselves and neighbours and relatives with the food I prepared! It is usally total bliss, and I can't have enough of Ayer Baloi...the house, the people, my stove and oven...the small quaint town.....

So, the last time when I went back to Ayer Baloi, I thought if I found all the things to make macarons, I would give it a shot, using my small humble RM252 Elba oven....and what I can I say.....here's Jasmine Tea Macarons with Cream Cheese Filling.........

Jasmine Green Tea Macarons

Ingredients - which I halved when baking these

110g almond flour

200g powdered sugar

90g aged eggs, I aged in the fridge the night before I went to bed, about 6 hours

30g fine granulated sugar

1 tsp Jasmine Tea powder and a sprinkle green colour powder to bump up the colour!

Weigh all the ingredients, prepare your piping bag, and line your baking tray with baking paper.

I pulsed almond flour, powdered sugar and tea powder in my blender, I don't have a food processor in Ayer Baloi, and sifted twice. Next, beat egg whites until foamy, like shaving foam, then gradually add in granulated sugar bit by bit until you achive a stiff glossy meringue.

Then do the macaronnage part of the batter, fold the almond flour and powder sugar mix in 3 or 4 additions, fold gently at first to get them all incorporated. Then, press the batter gently on the wall of your bowl, until you get a shiny and thick consistency that folds like ribbon. Pour into a piping bag and pipe discs of the size of a 50cents coin. Gently rap your baking sheet on the work top a couple of times (to let the air out), and rest the batter for about half an hour...this all depends on the humidity count that day!

Bake at 150Celcious... 

Happy feet will appear after about 7 minutes in the oven! Happy trying and join me in the love hate relationship with macarons....as I have macawrong and flop days with these morsels babeh! :p

Bakes and Cakes

These are some of the things  that had kept me busy the past two weeks...challenging but yet with unforgettable experiences!

Four 8 inches Victoria Sandwich Cakes satcked and covered with fondant. Thank you Edi!

Devil's Food Chcocolate Cake with Cream Cheese and Strawberries, thank you Ina.

Vanilla Cuppies with Vanilla Buttercream, thank you Zasya!

Strawberry Nesquick Macarons, Almond Macarons with assorted filling, thank you Afiza. 

Strawberry Nesquick Macarons, Almond Macarons with French Pastry Cream, thank you Hana.

Baby Blue and White Hantaran Cake, thank you Fathihah.

It was a 50th Anniversary for Sham's parents, these cuppies were for the other 5couples who were celebrating their joyous occasion together...

A 50th Wedding Anniversary Cake for a loving couple...thank you much Sham, my quirky but full of wisdom friend! (2 ten inches and seven inchesVictoria Sandwich Cakes stacked and wrapped in fondant, since their wedding cake was blue, Sham requested for blue themed cake for their anniversary)

This is not a ckae ha ha...finger snipping along the way...ouch and it's still recovering...I actually snipped off some skin.....no ...there was not a drop of blood in those cakes, in case you wonder if the pengantins would turn into raja bersiong , ha ha!

White and Silver HAntaran Cuppies, thank you Rohaida!

And..tis is the season to be jolly....Vanilla Cuppies and Choc Cuppies (I couldn't find the pics to post here!) for a X'mas party, thank you Vida (whom I considered all time Miss Malaysia)! 

Victoria Sandwich Cake for two birthday kiddos, thank you Huda!

A Shabby Chique Butter Cake with Vanilla Buttercream, thank you Kak Inah!

And now, I can put up my feet a bit while thinking of new recipes to explore.....Happy New Year you alls, thank you for your support, thank you for reading, muahhhsss....

Super Busy, But Please Bear With Me!

Pecan Macarons with Maple Swiss Buttercream

It's the time of the year, where people in my corporation would utilise their budget, hence, them scrambling for project approvals , hence, contract documents, hence ME....rushing and squeezing my already tight schedule to meet their deadline! Also, it's the time of the year where people mate, bertunang, nikah kahwin, be merry have parties and celebrate...hence me and my oven.......

Macarons with Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Swiss Buttercream, French Pastry Cream and Strawberry Sunquick Macarons...thank you Hana!

I will update soon...yes those recipes, those classes, those friendship! XOX

Marble Nutella Cake

What's not to like about this cake....the texture was dense and yet soft, the taste....buttery with a mixture of chocolatey taste and the gooey hazelnut paste in between....tq Rima who got the recipe from bro rozzan.

I decided to bake this during my break in Ayer Baloi, as much I'd love to try mant different varieties of cakes, but what really satisfies my taste bud is pure simple cakes such as this and Butter Cake! The flavors are not cluttered! And, the verdict after I sandwiched the cakes with Nutella....half were gone in a blink...everyone in the family loved it and Khadijah couldn't stop eating them!

Marble Nutella Cake

Ingredients

270g butter - I used Tatura salted

250g Hong Kong flour

230g caster sugar

10g cocoa powder

6 large eggs

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 tbsp ovalette

1 tbsp water

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla/vanilla powder - I used 1 teaspoon each of vanilla extract and powder

1 tbsp chcocolate paste - I added

Nutella spread

Method

1.Beat butter, milk, vanilla together until fluffy, set aside (A).

2.In another bowl whisk eggs, ovalette, water, baking powder, flour and sugar. Beat until fluffy and thick (B).

3.Combine batter A and B, mix well.

4.Remove 1/4 from batter and mix with cocoa powder and chocolate paste.

5.Prepare cake tins, since I was using my small oven, I used two 7x7 inches tins.

6.Marble the batter, use 3 scoops of plain batter and 1 scoop of cocoa batter.

7.Bake at 150C for about 30 minutes.

8.Let cool and spread Nutella in between.

Even though we finished half the cake for tea that day, it definitely tasted much better the next day...I had them for breakfast and tea before I pushed off for KL! 

Oh Ayer Baloi!

It has been quite a while since I went back to Ayer Baloi....since my inlaws were returning from their holiday in New Zealand on Thursday, and FIL wanted to meet his grandchildren, we decided that we should leave for Ayer Baloi immediately after work on Friday. We got there around 9.30 pm.....MIL and FIL were still jet-lagged and were in JB (they went and arrived via Changi Airport), but got home around 1 am!

It was a good break for me...and it was more of a baking weekend for me! Here are some shots!

Vintage lamp at the entrance of the house.

Some old sketches on the wall, picture was taken by Ibraheem.

MIL working on the pictures that she took during her hols.

The landing....

On Saturday after I cleaned the house, I headed straight to Chan Guan, my regular baking haunt! I was looking for Hong Kong flour to make brorozan's Marble Nutella cake, but found all ingredients and things enough for me to make macarons! Ahah!

My regular kedai supply lauk pauk! You can see Hajar backing the camera! 

It was 12.20 pm and what was left were Kuah Assam Pedas, Ayam Masak Lemak and Kangkung Goreng Belacan.. 

Once arrived I tidied my catch of the day and started making Jasmine Tea Macarons (got the powder from Chan Guan)...see those happy feet....my RM200 Elba oven never fails me! Recipe in another post!

Pak Ngah (FIL's only brother) came from JB to spend the night with us and bought this yummy goreng pisang from Pekan Ayer Baloi for tea, they finished in a blink...I ate mine with the Sambal Kicap that MIL made!

This was the Marble Nutella Cake that I made (recipe in another post), half were gone the minute I put on the table.....think this received a no 2 rating after Victoria Sandwich cake amongst my family! Woot!

This is not to be eaten (maybe I can dry them and grind them in my macarons batter!)...Bunga Kenanga!

On Sunday morning MIL asked me to bake this Cheese Scones (I'll post the recipe later), she got the recipe from hubby's cousion whom she went to visit in NZ. Apart from this MIL made Bubur Air with all the complete condiments and we had these and Murtabak Singapore for breakfast.....

Can you imagine how difficult it was for us to drag our feet to go back to KL with all these....well, we left after solat Maghrib and now we are all immersed in the hustle and bustle of KL life again......

Btw...my passion fruit tree is doing very well, according to my neighbour it wsa in full bloom but none turned to bear fruits...maybe because we were not there!

Blackberry and Hibiscus Macarons, Coffee Macarons!

Nope, they are not Laduree's, I made them last nite, for Zura and Norli! I used Tartelette's basic recipe and decided to give it a twist by infusing Blackberry and Hibiscus's Organic Tea Leafs (got one bag when I attended a seminar in Marriott, two weeks ago!) and Coffee (I used Nescafe!) into the batter. The whole house smelled of sweet blackberry and coffee last nite...mmmm...

Basic Recipe For Shell

50g egg whites (I aged in the fridge for 3 days)

25g granulated sugar

100g icing sugar

50g ground almond

1 sachet of Blackberry and Hibiscus Tea, grind together with almond meal and icing sugar, sifted, twice.

or 5g Nescafe, grind together with almond meal and icing sugar, sifted twice. [The green ones were Green Tea Macarons (added 5g of Green Tea powder, I made the shells on Tuesday].

Prepare your baking tray with Silpats or baking paper, I used Silpats last night. Prepare a piping bag and tall mug, to pipe the batter later.

Whisk egg whites until foamy (like shaving foam). Gradually add in granulated sugar, and continue beating until stiff peak meringue is formed but not dry, when lifted the meringue could hold at 90 degrees! Be carefull not overbeat .

Add in the almond meal icing sugar mix in three portions, fold in gently and scoop from the bottom of your bowl and turning your bowl every 45 degrees. When all mixture is well mixed, do macaronnage...this is to break the air in the batter, until you get a nice shiny batter that flows like ribbon. try not to overbeat or you will get a runny batter....I have done alot of boo boos here before, he he!

Pipe the batter, imagine a 50 cents coin, rap on counter top a couple of times, and let it rest for 20 minutes to an hour....depending on humidity....I find that when it rained, it took about an hour to dry the shells.

Bake at 150C for about 20 minutes...my ovenlah! you know your oven is like your husband, only you know his temperament!

Happy trying!! 

Bakes and Cakes

I have been busy and lazy (as well...ah well, think this is allowable at this time of the year, when everyone else is on holiday, but I'm still slogging at work and in the kitchen!), hence, the quietness and no reply of your comments.....thank you for support, wonderful people! Here are the bakes and cakes of last week and yesterweek....

Thank you Zira and Huda for this order! Congo Bars!

Moist Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese, Chocolate Ganache and Fresh Strawberries...thank you Zira! This is her childrens' favourite!

If only I can have this real thing for my birthday! Oreo cake wrapped in fondant! Thank you Lorina!

Yellow and Pink Macarons for Hanini's hantaran. Feedback that I got from her was that there were ants (?, from my car?) and the shells cracked quite easily...I insisted on returning her money, she refused, I will send her some macarons to make up for this! Thank you Hanini!

Fruit cake wrapped in pale pink fondant, ordered by my Mak Long (she does hantaran!). Thank you Mak Long!

 My all time favourite...Victoria Sandwich Cake, ordered by Idzan. I couldn't take her order for a cutting cake and she ordered this instead, thank you Idzan....waiting for your macarons order! 

 Putih and merah for hantaran, thank you Huda!

Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache, Rasberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, thank you SHP, my Amber Chia!

Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Rasberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, thank you Nik!

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

It was Maal Hijrah yesterday, and it was a public holiday, yeay! It was a breather, so I cleaned the boys' room and made some Green Tea Macarons and this cake! Shared this cake with Amli and Suhaila, Tina (she bakes, too) and Bad and Liza and their girls who came for dinner with tapaued food from Johnny's...great, wonderful, life is a blast!

Got this recipe from Rima's blog !

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

240g good quality butter (I used SCS salted)

90g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

304g condensed milk

3 tsp vanilla paste

240g cake flour (I used Hong Kong flour)

11/2 tsp baking powder (I used double acting)

4 large eggs

Preheat oven at 170 Celcius. Prepare your cake tin. I used a loaf tin. Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add in condensed milk, and beat until well incorporated. Beat in eggs one at a time, until just combined. Add in vanilla paste or essence, wahtever....Fold in flour mixture...and bake at about 40 minutes....VOILA! To taste nicer enjoy with your best buddies:p

At the end of the day before I slumbered into snoozeland, all the cakes were gone, and that's the way it should be, kan!