Rocher Toffee Cake aka THE ROCK

The inspiration of this cake comes from Gateau Alhambra that I had learnt in LCB. The visible changes would be the removal the chocolate galcage which was replaced with a Rocher 'cover' and the inclusion of toffee between the layers :) 

Speaking of Rocher, it brings me back to the days at Melt's kitchen. I remembered vividly, the smell of yummy chocolate, the cold air (it was autumn, almost winter back then), trays and trays of freshly made chocolate bars, chocolate sticks, truffles, bon bons, etc. Of course there were Rochers as well and one day I was told by Chef to make some. So I did as I was told. Mixing toasted silvered almonds with tempered white chocolate, spooning them on parchment paper as quickly as I could. Hopefully to finish spooning the bowl of almond chocolate mix before they set due to the cold weather. 

Banana Bread

Banana Bread is one of the many cakes that I had always wanted to bake. Same goes for my Mom. Whenever I mentioned that to her she was like: 'Oh yeah....Banana Bread. We kept saying that we wanna bake it, but we just didn't.'. Well not anymore. Hehehe! I finally baked it. THE BANANA BREAD! ^.^V

In Singapore, we have many species of bananas. Hence, I was unsure which bananas to get. For this recipe, adapted from the book Flour by Joanne Chang, I had decided on Cavendish bananas as I recall only seeing them sitting on the shelf in London without their relatives - other species of bananas that is. And subsequently, I guessed it might be the case in the US too. So, I presumed, the recipes calls for Cavendish bananas.

Bread - it is a little complicated

I am no expert when it comes to Bread. Hence, I am in no position to explain in details except to share with you the little information that I know. Basically, bread is a plain dough that is made special by yeast action. Yeast fermentation to be exact is the reaction of yeast to sugar / starch which produces carbon dioxide (that created the air pockets you see in bread) and alcohol (which I presumed it evaporates during baking).

It's TOTORO!

In continuation of the bread making session the other day, I made another batch of bread using a different recipe. Something I am familiar with which my mom kept pestering me to make.

This recipe is taken from LCB which I quite like because no eggs are required. Just water, flour, butter, sugar, salt and of course YEAST!

Baking bread without machine :)

One random fact about me: I <3 Bread :) I am being remembered by a friend as 'the girl who hugged a loaf of bread to work and have it for lunch'. hahaha..

Skip that randomness. This post is on bread making which I did WITHOUT the use of bread machine. hehehe! power right? =x The bread turned out edible and my mom loves it. She thinks they tasted yummehhhhh ^^ This isn't the usual white bread dinner roll. It is a bread with a surprise! PANDA BREAD!!!! I know you must be thinking OMG this girl is so SLOW... -.- the hype about this bread occurred like long ago. I wanted to try it out back then in London but green tea powder is just too expensive for me to make an investment on. In fact I did try to do another version in London. A simpler one - the Mickey version. hmm I thought I had an entry on it posted on my London Edition blog. oh well take a look at the photos here then.

An accidental heart-shaped version. wonder if I can replicate that =x

So now for the Panda version.......

......

.........

............

okay my Panda bread looks...HORRIBLE! The presentation is a very far little off. The 'Panda' looks distorted. =x You wouldn't be able to tell that it is a panda if I didn't tell you right? TT

Decorated Sugar Cookies Attempt #2

This is my 2nd time working with sugar cookies. They turned out much better than expected ^^V I usually do not have much luck when it comes to baking cookies. They either melt in the oven or turns out something unrecognizable. =x But this time it is all good. Ahem. :D

Slow with the baking?

It has been quite a quiet month due to the limited baking orders. If you are worried that I am doing something illegal, do not worry. I do not take in public orders at the moment. I do not wanna break the law, do I? If you do not know, it is illegal to sell home baked goods to the public in Singapore. Yup many people have been asking me to market and sell to the public but no no...I can't do it unless I own a kitchen / shop.

Lately I had been working on a cake - fusion of Chocolate and Mango. It was an accidental thought that was worth a try. I got 'by far the best cake made' compliment from my friend's colleague who tasted the cake. (jumping for joy as I received the whatsapp msg. kekeke)

Composition (from bottom to top): Chocolate sponge, dark chocolate mousse, mango mousse with mango chunks, dark chocolate mousse and chocolate glaze.