Cupcake Falls in Love with Squash in 'Sweet Dreams'

I found this animation video about a cupcake goes on a journey away from its world of candies and sweets and accidentally ends up an unknown land of naked fruits and vegetables... yes, I know it sounds weird... but some people may find it's cute...

White chocolate mousse ~~

I just got this picture back from my colleague, it's the birthday cake that I made for my colleague. My first White Chocolate Mousse Cake with oreo base and fresh strawberry decoration.

Irresistible Tiramisu

I've been working in a new department for 5 months already, and I'm very happy that I've made many new friends (co-workers). As all of us are in similar age, so we get along very well that we like to do lots of activities outside of work hours... like golfing, tennis, dinner, shopping etc..

Moreover, I can practice my baking skills by making birthday cake for my co-workers, and I really treasure this opportunity which it'll help to improve my skills! Last month, I've made a Banana Oreo Cheesecake for the birthday guy, and this month, I've made a Tiramisu for my trainer! I'm very happy that they enjoyed it alot! and I've promised my co-worker to post the recipe here, hope you'll enjoy making it and your friends will like it!

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup (250ml) mascarpone cheese, 1 cup whipping cream, 1 cup of expresso or strong coffee mix with 1/4 cup of kahlua or coffee liquor, 36-40 lady fingers (approx. 3 pkg), good quality cocoa powder.

Tool: Big bowl, Whisk or electronic hand/stand mixer, Measuring cup, Deep dish or cake ring.

Steps:

1- In a big bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar until sugar has dissolved. Then add the mascarpone cheese and mix well. Set aside.
2 - Use another bowl, beat the whipping cream into stiff peaks. When done, gently fold into the cheese mixture from step 1.
3- Spread the layer of cheese mixtrue over the bottom of the dish.
4- Dip the ladyfingers into the coffee and coffee liquor (Don't over dip it, you only need to coat both side, don't oversoak it)
5- Arrange a layer of dipped ladyfingers close together in the dish (You may need to break them to fit the shape of your dish)
6- Cover with another layer of cheese mixture, then another layer of ladyfingers. Repeat the layers, finishingwith cheese mixture on top, smooth the top and chilled for at least 4 hours.
7 - Before serving, dust with cocoa powder generously.

Fun Baking with cousin

Today my lovely cousin had came over to our place to do some baking with me. As she doesn't have much baking tools, therefore we chose the very simple recipe to work on. We've made a Iced Cappuccino Cheesecake in a cup/ramekin, and Macaroons in 3 different flavours: Coconut, Chocolate and Lemon. We'll bake something BIG next time for sure... haha... can't wait!

Macaroon was invented in an Italian, it is a common treat during the Jewish holiday of Passover, because they are unleavened and can be made freshly without leavened flour. It often use egg white, sugar, chocolate and nut, and it is a close relative of the meringue.

Lemon Almond Cake

This is the type of cake which everyone loves, because the aroma of the fresh lemon and egg with light and soft texture.... I can't resist it and I've already made it twice this month!
All my co-workers, friends and family loves it, and why not give it a try!??

Ingredients:

250g Butter, 2 Cups Sugar, 6 Eggs, 2 1/4 cups Flour, 1/4 tsp Baking Soda, 200 g Sour Cream, 2 Lemon zest, 1 Lemon juice, 1/2 cup Almond flakes, optional Icing sugar.

Steps:

1- In a mixing bowl, use mixer to cream butter and sugar until light yellow cream

2- Add eggs one at a time

3- Add stifted flour, baking soda and sour cream

4- Add lemon zest, juice and almond flakes

5- Butter and flour the loaves or cup cakes mode

6- Pour batter and top with almond flakes to decorate

6- Preheat 325 F, Bake 50 to 60 mins for loaf pan size, or 30 to 40 mins for cup cake size.

7- Remove cake from pan when cooled, dust icing sugar lightly.

Baking class week #12

Today is my last 'Baking Basic' class, I'm so proud of myself that I have completed my first formal cooking course! The 48 hours of happiness flies away so fast! I'm so happy that I've took this course as it brings me lots of things. It helps me to learn lots of baking techniques from a professional chef, it gives me lots of enjoyment and satisfaction, it allows me to experience the beauty of cooking in a professional kitchen with all students who share the same interest, it leads me to understand more about myself and much more... I'm so glad that I've made this move to take this course, honestly I wasn't really sure if I could handle it and if it's worth to drive all the way to downtown every Sunday, but now I'm 200% sure that I'll continue to take another course about Cake! Since the Chef's school is going to renovate until end of summer, I'll continue in fall term! Yeah! See you later chefs!

Today we've made 2 cakes: Strawberries Shortcake and Fruit Flan. Of course, I was enjoying the whole 4 hours today because I love to make cake! They taste as great as they look!!! Hehe...

Baking Course week #11

Swiss Roll ~~

Today I've learned how to make a swiss roll, and I've decided to make a lemon flavoured one. First of all, I need to make the 'sponge sheet'. The ingredients are simply eggs, bread flour and sugar, but the magic of baking is when you're using the same ingredients but with different measure and process of making, the outcome will be totally different! Like this sponge sheet, it's sooooo flexible that I can roll the sheet back and forth without making cracks or lines!!!

Swiss Roll is pretty simple dessert, it's tasty and quick and I'm sure I'll do it again at home. =)

Happy Birthday to my friend!

I've made my first Napoleon cake today! It's a special request from my birthday friend! I hope I didn't disappoint him too much! haha...
I made a mini one for myself, here's the picture of the mini version of my Strawberries Napoleon. Does it look cute?

Banana Oreo Cheesecake

As some of you may know, I didn't continue my food cell group this year. So, we joined another functional cell group - 'Travel' cell this year. Tonight we went to our cell leader's home for our first gathering, he and his wife are very nice that they had prepared a dinner for us. Therefore, I've made a Banana Oreo Cheesecake for our dessert.

Originally I have baked the Cream Caramel that I've learned from the baking course a night before, however I've over baked them as the temperature of my home oven is different from the school one, so they turned out pretty dry... I'll lower the temperature for my next try for sure.

Happily, all my 'white mouses' enjoyed the Banana Oreo Cheesecake a lot! I got the recipe from one of my dessert book from HK, so the desserts are pretty light, tasty, pretty and easy to make in general. I highly recommend this book to you, it's named 「日嘗甜品」