Edible Chocolate Transfer - Transfer A Picture onto A Cake

Edible chocolate transfer is similiar to frozen buttercream transfer.  This is a simple way to get an image onto your cake without buying a printer with edible ink, etc, etc, etc.  When one of our customers came in and asked if we could do a "Hoot The Owl" cake for her daugther's 1st birthday, I was all for it as I would like to try my hands on doing a chocolate transfer of Hoot.

Here's the outcome of my cake and I really hope that they will like it tomorrow.

Here's some photos of the buns which I made at work. Thank goodness it turned out soft and fluffy.

That's all for now...till next time...happy baking!!!

Longan & Lor Hong Kor Drink (Asian Cooling Drink)

When I was a little girl, my Grandma will brew this delicious drink to cool our bodies down during the hot summer season. When one of us gets a sore throat or cough out yellowish phlegm, she will say that we need to cool down our bodies. So, off she will go into the kitchen and brew this delicious drink.

So, what is lor hong kor? The scientific name is siraitia grosvenori and its grown in China and it has been used by Asians centuries ago as it has medicinal properties as it helps with colds, sore throats, cough, etc. As  for longans, its quite a common fruit found in Asian markets. Its scientific name is dimocarpus longan. In SEA, longan is also known as "mata kucing".  Another ingredient which my Grandma will use in this drink is "pong tai hai" fruit. This is a magical fruit as once its soaked in water, it will expand and you will just use the flesh. This little fruit cools down the body too. To sweeten the drink, we use rock sugar. However, I have heard of others who use brown or palm sugar.

The season is changing and my precious family are all falling sick, from the oldest to the youngest. So, since western medicine is not working much, I decided to whip up this simple cooling drink. Thank goodness we always stock-up these ingredients for the "just in-case".

Here's a photo of the ingredients which I used to make the logan & lor hong kor drink.

Check out the pong tai hai....the 1st photo are the fruits. Its like dried buah kana (dried carissa carandas)

After soaking the pong tai hai in water, it expanded and the inside of the fruit is jelly-like. You only eat the inside.

Here's my cup of longan & lor hong kor drink. I prefer to have mine with ice.

Till next time....kam peh (cheers!!!)

Chee Cheong Fun (Rice Noodle Rolls)

We have been yearning for some chee cheong fun and I was searching for a way to make it as quick as possible and opted for the MV version.  I didn't have any wheat / tapioca flour...so, I used cornflour instead.  After mixing the ingredients (rice flour, cornflour, sesame oil, canola oil and salt) together, I spooned it into a MV plastic container and MV for 2 mins. I am not too sure what I did wrong but I find that the sides crust a little ( a little hard). However, beggars can't be choosers. Will it was still hot, we makan kau-kau. As for the sauce, we just used rojak paste, soya sauce, sweet sauce and sugar. Here's a photo of our MV chee cheong fun.

The MV chee cheong fun must be eaten ASAP.  If you let it sit, it will become hard.  Will try the steam version next time....

Homemade Salted Egg

I am so excited to see if my homemade salted egg worked or NOT.....
When I opened the cabinet this morning, I saw the bottle of my homemade salted eggs and realised that I can finally have a taste of my very first homemade salted eggs.  It has been 1 month since I soaked it in the brine.  My other half was so anxious that he took out the 1st egg to test...it wasn't hard boiled yet though. Its kind of like the half-boiled which we may use for mooncakes. We even made some porridge to go along with these yummy salted eggs.

Here's a photo of the half-boiled salted egg.

Here's a photo of one fully boiled salted eggs.

Time to have some Asian porridge...wohoo!!!

Busy, Busy Weekend...

It has been a very busy weekend at my workplace as there was a huge event in town. We have been so busy making cakes, pies, sausage rolls, pasties, etc. One of our regulars order his usual cake for his club and even though I know we are going to be busy, I still took the order as he is our regular customer.  Once the event is over, business will be back to normal and our regulars are the ones who will stick to us and support us. We made more than 200 pies, 200 sausage rolls, 150 pasties....etc,etc,etc.  I worked more than 11 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Besides this, had to make some slices for my boy's school fete. It has been a busy, busy week for me.

Anyway, as I was saying, I made a sponge cake with fruits for our regular customer and I was pretty happy with the results.  Here's a photo of my humble cake. Didn't even had time to display it properly..just place it into the cake box, snap a photo and pass it to the counter girls...haha!

Here's another mudcake which I made for one of our regular customers.  According to science, chocolate is a girl's best friend and it makes her smile. I am so happy to hear that the birthday girl loved the cake. That really made my day. :) Here's a photo of my humble mudcake.

Till next time...happy baking.

Strawberries & Blueberries Fruits Sponge Cake

Sponge cake is a very versatile cake and its a good celebration cake.  Sponge cake is soft and fully and its suitable for all ages.  Over here, lots of people love to sandwich the sponge cake with a layer of their favourite jam and whipped cream. Then, we will coat with it another layer of whipped cream and decorate it with fruits and such.  Since its beginning of spring, I decided to give our customer a touch of spring but colouring the whipped cream light green. I also decided to lavish it with strawberries and blueberries.  Here's a photo or two of my fruits sponge cake.

I showed these photos to a friend of mine and she said...its so Asian...you can find these cakes in most Asian bakeries....

Oh well....as long as it looks nice and taste heavenly....it doesn't matter.... yummylicious!!!

Jelly Cakes, Cream & Jam Matchsticks...is it Aussie?

Jelly cake is pretty similar to lamingtons, I guess. So, is it Australian? What's the history of this little cake? Hmm...am still finding for the story behind this though. I have heard about the history about lamingtons though...pretty interesting.  And what about matchsticks...is it another Aussie made dessert? I have no answers for you guys but in my humble opinion, YES!!!  So, what's jelly cakes? Its a sponge cake baked in a cupcake mould, rolled into a jelly dip (I prefer raspberry or strawberry) and then coat with shredded coconut.  Here's a photo of my jelly cakes.

Cream and jam matchsticks...I really wonder why to call it matchsticks? Does it look like matchsticks? Oh well, its delicious and its easy to do too. All you have to do is to bake the puff pastry which you have cut into ractangular shapes. Once its cool, halve it and fill it with jam and whipped cream. Sandwich it together and sprinkle icing sugar on top. That's how easy it is.  Here's a photo of it.

All these goodies is just awesome for afternoon tea with a cup of brewed coffee or tea.

Enjoy!!!