Busy November...

I had been kinda busy lately. Hence, the lack of posts and updates as written on my FB page. As I am not working tomorrow, I better start updating this blog before all my readers get bored and stop reading it. Also, before all the backlog posts start to pile up.

Let's see...I shall start with my dearest friend's wedding... :) It was a mini wedding dinner where she ordered some mini cupcakes which were swept away in less than an hour or two I think. =x awesome eh? kekeke...

Late nights with cookies :)

For the past 2 days, I had been working late nights [ermm it is due to my busy schedule with meet ups and some miscellaneous stuff going on during the week. Hence, I gotta 'worked' OT (overtime) for the nights so that I am able to 交货 (aka producing the orders on time)].

I shall summarize to cut this post short, just so that I can rest before going to church (don't wanna fall asleep in church =x). A friend's daughter is celebrating her 3rd birthday. He had wanted 'Dora Themed' sweet treats which.....I don't think I am up for it and just by buying Dora toppers to place on cakes / cupcakes are just so not sincere. Hence, I suggested cookie toppers but it is just too much work to draw Dora on the sugar cookies. So we decided to do some cute cookie toppers to be placed on top of the cupcakes. 

Decoration of the cookies on my dining table, trying to be as tidy as I could. Seriously decorating cookies is somewhat therapeutic at times but also testing my PATIENCE at times.....

'baking' off the list

My 'to-bake' list is always lengthening. No matter how hard I try to 'bake' them off the list, the list doesnt seem to shorten as much as it is being lengthen.

I managed to 'baked' 4 recipes off my list for the past 2 weeks. They are red velvet cupcakes, poptarts, scones and lychee cupcakes.

What's rolling in the kitchen

Earl Grey Chocolate Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cake and Celebration Cakes were some of the creations that were 'rolling' in my kitchen lately.

I was quite surprised to know that Earl Grey works hand in hand with Chocolate. I mean I had read and heard that they go well together but I never really believe that they do. hmmm do you know what I mean =x oh well now that I had made it, I believed. Just like the phrase: 'seeing is believing' but just in this case, 'tasting is believing' lol

The Red Velvet Cake was an impromptu order from Friend A which was quite a success. phew! Sadly I do not have a photo of it. It is the first REDDEST cake sponge I had made. haha..I told my Mom, I am gonna pour the entire bottle of red liquid colouring into the batter and she gave me the look 'OMG! you are NOT serious are you?!' hahaha.. I poured the entire bottle of red colouring, combine it into the batter and showed it to her. She was like 'Yuck! The colour looks disgusting, it is like the colour of pig's liver!' wahahaha how can she compare my red sponge batter to a pig's liver! humph! I guessed the batter colour turned out that way because I was too 'generous' with the addition of the cocoa powder to the batter. =x Thankfully the sponge turned out red after baking. Though I think it should be redder. oh well I will remember that and not be too 'generous'. kekeke.

The next project being Captain America Cake which I had butterflies in my tummy when making. Like really really. I was told to make it long before. I prepared for it (the ingredients, the drawings, the colourings, etc) and even made a tiny sample (as small as a teacup) of it just to be sure I would not screw it up.

The tiny sample

At first I had problem with the royal icing piping. As you can see from the sample the lines created using the star tip was not visible. My icing was to runny!!! TT (NB: the piping on the tiny sample was really tough. hence the crooked and uneven piping.) Not only that, I had problem with the colours as well. I added tons of blue paste, but the royal icing just would not turn as blue as I want it to be. Captain America blue to be exact. :( *sniff sniff* I was about to break down. (haha just kidding) Only to realize, the colour actually darkens if you let it rest in the fridge in an air tight container for a day or two and also the icing will darken further when dried...geez i think i had wasted tons of my colour paste. Another lesson learnt. I redid my royal icing so that it is much much thicker. Thankfully it worked. The lines are visible!

So here is the final product. Ta-Dahhhhhh....

Oh apart from the tiny sample, I also did a tiny celebration cake for the 4th July which looked like a little pressie ^^

All righty I shall end off and head to bed. ;) Sweet Dreams. 

xx,

TBG

Malty Milo ^.^ Happy Birthday Middle O!

Milo lovers, this post is for you!

Milo is a malty chocolaty energy drink that I grew up with. Almost everyday, Mommy will always make a cup of hot Milo for me and my sisters (Morning before I leave house for school/work or at night before I head to bed). There is one habit that I cannot get rid off when making myself a cup of milo and that is to eat one or two big spoonful of Milo powder. You must be smiling and nodding to yourself as you read it right? keke...because you do that all the time as well!!! For those who didn't and have not tried eating Milo powder, don't look at me that way...you seriously are missing out BIG BIG time! The taste of Malty Chocolate is just like heaven! (not that I had been to heaven but it really just feel heavenly when you eat it. try it and you will know what I mean)

This recipe had been bookmarked for many years =x and since it is Middle O's birthday (12 June to be exact and btw she's my niece aka GodChild), I had decided to make milo Cupcakes instead of a fanciful castle that I had intended to make. The recipe is taken from this website. It is really easy to make. Quick and yummy :) You might want to alter the recipe a little as I did where I reduced the amount of sugar to my liking (I have a very low threshold when it comes to sugar). Also, I halved the frosting recipe and it was just right.

One thing I like about this recipe is that, the recipe contains MILO! ok yes that is one of the main reason. Another reason is...the recipe does not contain a lot of butter and sugar!!! ^^V

The cupcake tasted Malty, Chocolaty, Moist, Sugary sweet but not too sweet, HEAVENLY!

Below are the photos I had taken during the mini birthday celebration, followed by the recipe.

It is a tradition to eat eggs that are dyed in red for birthday..hence, Mommy dyed some red quail eggs for the children. 

This is Middle O

This is BB O

 This is Big O

She is 5!

 They love it to the max and wanted a 2nd serving..but...to be honest...Milo is kinda 'heaty' hence you need to drink lots of water after eating it.

Now photos of the Milo cupcakes!!!

MILO CUPCAKES
Time 20-40 minutes

Difficulty - Easy

Serves 12

Ingredients
Cupcakes
115g Plain Flour
140g Caster Sugar
1.5 teaspoons Baking Powder
Pinch salt
40g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
120 ml Whole Milk
3 tablespoons Milo
2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
1 Egg
Milo Frosting
300g Icing Sugar
100g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
40g Cocoa Powder, sifted
40 ml Whole Milk
2 teaspoons Milo
(Adapted from Vanilla Cupcake recipe, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Method
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with patty cases.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer until everything is combined.

In a jug, stir the Milo into the milk until the milk turns chocolate coloured. Add 60ml of the milk mixture to the batter and whisk until just incorporated.

Lightly beat the egg, the pour the egg and remaining milk into the batter and beat until mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

Spoon the mix into the paper cases until two-thirds full. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the cakes bounce back when touched and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting
Stir Milo into the milk until mixture turns chocolate coloured.

Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder with an electric mixer until well mixed.

Slowly add in the milk mixture. Once all the milk has been added, turn the mixer to high speed and continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy (around five minutes).

Have fun :) Try it out and let me know how it goes ;)

xx,

TBG