Approaching The End

My dad really loved the mango mousse cake that I brought home after my lesson last week so I decided to 'recreate' the experience for him this Father's Day. Glad that it turned out well because I was initially quite apprehensive as it was my first attempt since learning it. And I'm always not very happy with the cakes that I make at home; something just wouldn't 'feel right' for me.

3rd lesson today was great. The cakes were quite fuss free and didn't really require much slaving over. Just wasn't in the mood today and had no patience for a cake that required too much of attention. I was feeling very drained and restless all through the day...felt like a piece of dried prune or something...all shrivelled up inside. Quite sad that next week is going to be m last lesson. Sigh...=(


Pistachio Slices!


Nanachoco Cake! (It has bananas in between and its slathered in sour cream chocolate..hence the name =D)

I was sitting on my bed reflecting on things so far when it hit me that there was only about 2 months of holidays left. But for the first time in my schooling life, I wasn't sad. I was happy that school would be starting soon but not because of the daily grind it tends to drown you in like it or not, but for the fact that it means I'm closer to getting out of there. So many people have told me that life in the University is like no other, but I've never ever felt that way during my first year.

Maybe its premature to say this, but I really don't like it there.

Stuffed!

Its always nice when you finally get to meet up and spend a night out with friends with whom you shared 2 gruelling years of your life with, all through thick and thin, come hell or high water.

So I was extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to catch up with some of my buddies from army yesterday for a 'boy's night out'. Nothing too spectacular, just a crazy dinner at Marche where I was so stuffed that I think my stomach cramped!

It was my first time at Marche, and I was really intrigued and at the same time quite confused at their unique ordering system. Luckily some of my friends were 'veterans' and so I received a short crash course in ordering. Pretty soon I was stuffing my face!


Crepe of the Week with Blackforest ham!


Grilled Chicken with Baked Potato!
Bread and Butter Pudding!!

The dessert counter left me quite speechless...such was the spread available. From puddings to tarts to cakes to breads. It was like heaven set up a counter selling desserts. I could go back just for the desserts! Only had space for the Bread and Butter Pudding after the main courses, though I wish I had tasted a slice of the Strawberry Tart. Sigh...next time maybe...

Had my second baking lesson today, and it was all about mousse cakes! It's been one of my favourite desserts ever since I was 13 when I had a slice of chocolate mousse on holiday at some hotel. The rich creamy texture still lingers at the back of my mind till today...AHHHHH!

Made a couple of blunders during the lesson today but in the end I think it was quite alright. Thankfully!

We made Strawberry and Mango Mousse cakes, and I was especially happy of the Strawberry one because I had to do the decoration by myself! My partner unfortunately had to run off so I was stuck with 2 whole cakes to bring home...not that I'm complaining...

The mango one was abit screwed and there was not enough space in the cake ring to pour the topping over the mango slices top of the cake. It was abit messy looking in the end!


Strawberry Take 1!


Strawberry Take 2!


Mango Take 1!


Mango Take 2!

The 2nd Time Around

Attended the first lesson of my 2nd stint of baking lessons today. I was feeling very apprehensive as I was making the super long journey there by bus...with all the what ifs and buts running riot in my mind.

But I managed to calm myself down with some music along the way and basically telling myself that there was no real way back, the money had been paid, so just GET ON WITH IT.

It wasn't that bad as I was expecting it to be, seemed to have a good mix of novices and experts. Most importantly, the class had about 2 other guys, so at least I wasn't left feeling awkward. Was very fortunate to get a good partner who was a pleasure to talk to and work with. At least she was pretty experienced...she bakes at least twice a week! She can be my teacher then =D

Messed up the egg whites twice...sigh. Didn't have any real effect on the outcomes on both occasions but it was just frustrating anyway.

We made two cakes today: 1) German Chocolate Cake 2) Pecan Loaf Cake

Both were not bad, though the chocolate one was wayyyyy too rich for me. Picked up some new ideas for decoration too...all in all, quite a good, easy paced first lesson. But the chef did warn us that next week would be quite hectic. Very well then...

Managed to grab some pictures before packing them up. The pair opposite me had much better creativity and decorated their cake better...snagged a photo of their cake too!


Ours


Theirs


The Other One

Sigh I really suck at keeping in touch with my friends. Felt pretty very awkward just now as I was sitting on the chair staring at the computer screen. Just didn't know what to say. Hope it didn't get through the wrong way though. That would be a real shame. =(

Pie In The Sky!

I did mention that I had finally become the proud owner of a pie dish some days back...and today seemed like the perfect time to get the first pie out of it. My previous attempt at Pineapple Pie was quite a horrid failure, but I wanted to get that right since it's one of my favourites...so Pineapple Pie it was!

Set to work after lunch, starting with cooking the pineapples down to a soft mush with sugar and some vanilla essence for that heady smell. There's no aroma that comes close to caramelised pineapples cooking on the stove. Heaven!

The problem I encountered the last time around was with the dough for the crust, and I nearly got cornered by that again. Luckily my mum helped me roll it out without breaking the supersoft dough. Guess I must have over kneaded the dough. =X

Pineapple filling all in place and all that was left to do was to put the top on and slide it into the oven...

A good 30 minutes later, its done! Was pretty worried that the sides would get stuck to the dish but thankfully the pie slid right off...






This was my sister's glorious idea and it happened to also be the perfect way to serve a slice of pie in my mind's eye! That's a scoop of ridiculously creamy, tangy and delicious Haagen-Daz Strawberry ice cream sitting pretty atop a slice of the still warm pie.

Gooey. Sweet. Incredible.

Perfect I say!

Wish you were here to have a slice! =)

The Rainbow Connection

Felt like its been a while since I've baked anything, and I had actually decided to make just a normal chocolate butter cake. But as it turned out, I was in the mood for something a little more fancy. So I made Rainbow Rolls!



This is my most favourite roll cake recipe so far because of the bright colours and its also very much easier to do than it looks! Versatility and creativity can be added as you see fit as you can experiment with different colour combinations and patterns



Tried out a different recipe and although it cracked a little when I was rolling it, I think overall it was quite alright. Had 2 rolls in the end, one was duly filled with tangy mango cream filling and the other's insides were smothered with thick chocolate cream...yum yum!

"Trifle Pudding" : Take 2!

Decided to take it easy this weekend as I've still not really recovered from the flu yet. Nasty thing has lasted for a week now! Hope it'll be gone by Monday though...don't want to waste another week sick at home!



So no baking this weekend =( but I did get an idea for making a trifle pudding(again) with the left over cake that I scrapped last week. It wasn't fit to be a cake on its own so I gave it some sort of a new lease of life!



I think this has to be the easiest thing I've done that looks scrumptious. Its still sitting in the fridge though...but not for long!

Black Forest....OOO Scary!

Keeping to my A Cake A Week plan and since yesterday was Mother's Day, I decided to make a Blackforest Cake as it was my mum's favourite and since I wanted to make another cream cake!

One lesson I learnt the hard way over the weekend when making the cake, was that if your heart and mind is not in it, don't even think about starting on a cake. I had to redo the cake on Saturday night after making a mess of it the first time round. Don't know why but I was just extremely distracted!



Anyway, still managed to get a decent cake out past midnight on Saturday but then decided to leave the creaming to Sunday. Let me say that this is definitely one of the more tiring cakes I've done! Even after the creaming has been done, there is still tons more to do in terms of the decoration.

My creaming skills is still not there yet so I had alot of help from my mum again in making the cake look presentable! I would like to work on creaming alone but that would mean quite a load of creamed cakes sitting around the house!