Cupcakes Workshop for Children at The Little Arts Academy

Some months back, a friend introduced me to the Little Arts Academy. I paid them a visit and decided to volunteer some time with them to conduct children workshop for their Little Chefs Unite! programme. The first session was on 13th Aug and I did cupcakes with the children.  

As I was worried that the 2 hours session would not give me enough time (my usual workshop are 2.5-3hrs), I did some extra preparations from home. The children were wonderful, giving me full attention and did everything pretty well. Everyone was also very cooperative and took turns to do every thing, from measuring ingredients, mixing, stirring, carrying trays and even cleanup! As with any workshop, little incidents would cropped up along the way and I am very glad that past experiences from teaching the homeschool group came in handy. J from LAA also gave me assistance during the workshop and though I was initially worried that we couldn't finished in time, we actually finished a quarter hour earlier.

   

Little Chefs Unite! cupcakes workshop at Little Arts Academy.



The children's creative work in cupcakes decorating.

My next children workshop with LAA will be 29 Oct, doing cookies pops and I am looking forward to that already! For parents who are keen to sign their children on the workshop, please contact LAA through their website at:
http://www.thelittleartsacademy.com/category/workshops/

Oreo Cheesecake

I love cheesecakes but don't bake them much. They taste really wonderful but not many of my family members enjoy them and I usually end up having to eat most of them, which can be too much by myself. This is why I am especially fond of my tofu cheesecake, which is very much lighter and yet so yummylicious that I can't get enough of 3rd or 4th helping!

This Oreo cheesecake recipe is one which I had for years but never get down to trying it as I am not a fan of Oreo cookies due to their sweetness. However, three days ago, a lady requested to have a private class on my cheesecake workshop and she chose Oreo for the baked version. This gave me opportunity to bake this extra for myself and after freezing it that night, I finally took it out to garnish the top and had it for breakfast!! Not my typical breakfast but today is not my typical day either, having been trying to fight off the flu bug for two days.

Oreo Cheesecake, a.k.a Cookies & Cream Cheesecake - I love the extra creaminess which came from the addition of condensed milk. The thicker crust is my typical as I feel that it helps for those who may find the filling too rich and heavy.

Some recipe calls for melted white chocolate, which is made up mainly of milk and sugar, besides cocoa butter. I opted to replace it with condensed milk instead as the taste is very similar and it helped to omit the process of melting chocolate. It helps also for those who like me, do not like eating the balance white chocolate after the baking. I managed to buy cookies without the cream filling for the crust from a baking supply store and that also helped to save time from removing the cream, as well as prevent wastage.

One thing to note when baking, the addition of the crushed cookies should be done only when the cheesecake is half baked as otherwise, you will find them floating to the top. A remedy if you have forgotten this, use a folk to push them down when the mixture is half set during baking.

Mooncake Making Workshop for Adults 2011 - A Charity Workshop

Years back, I had put up some chocolate gifts items and donated part of the proceeds to the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. I had always wanted to do a similar personal project again but it just didn't materialise.
This year, having conducted a volunteer workshop for the Little Arts Academy (LAA) children's workshop, I decided to partnership with them and do some fund raising for their Business Times Budding Artists Fund.

What motivated me in doing this? In my years of academic and professional training, I had been very blessed in receiving one bursary and two scholarship sponsorships. Though the total sum was not huge, they were significant in that I wouldn't have otherwise received the kind of education and experience I have now.

LAA's mission is: "To provide a creative learning environment and a broad-based arts curriculum where all children can discover their artistic potential and develop skills and personal values that will enable them to transcend personal, social and financial circumstances". This fund sponsors arts training for underprivileged children at LAA.

As it was just a few days back that I had the children's workshop at LAA, I had very little time for planning. J at LAA, however, was very fast to put the details on LAA's website http://www.thelittleartsacademy.com/category/partners/ and had also sorted the administrative details for me. I am very grateful to her and also to the Academy for helping me with this cause.

Above is my own effort in publicity and I hope there is enough participants to help raise a reasonable amount for the whole effort. To register, please email: enquirieslaa@toph.com.sg or call 6513 3013.

Friends, if you are reading this, my heartfelt gratitude to you for lending your support in signing up for the workshop or in helping to pass on the massage to any of your friends who might be keen.

A Very Special Thank You Received

 The day before National Day, I finally got to visit an ex-colleague, K and her family at their colonial terrace house at Portsdown,  a remote area near Commonwealth and Queenstown district. It is an old neighbourhood where you would get train running behind your backyard, which I had missed waving to bypass trains since the visit is way after the train line had closed.

I brought them a tofu cheesecake with mixed berries compote and we had it for tea. They really enjoyed it and had second helpings, leaving two slices to enjoy the next day. It was a charming afternoon at the nostalgic old house, all the more nicer with the very friendly and hospitable hosts. K's french husband, P, shared with me many nice information and little stories related to baking, cooking, travelling and all the other good things that one can do in the French countryside, with it's abundance fresh quality produce and wonderful scenery.

K and P also showed me the numerous home made stories books which they had created for their daughter when she was younger. Daddy wrote the stories while Mummy did the illustrations. I love all the imaginative stories and the charming water colour illustrations that went with them. What is really special is that the character, Shushana is an Asian girl and the drawings were all drawn in Asian context. They even gave me a set of four story books which got published some years back. They have a blog http://draw4children.blogspot.com/ which shares their inspirations on what motivated them to create these stories books and the books may also be bought through their mail order.

All this while, their daughter, Gaia, was drawing at our table side. When I tried to take a look, she hurriedly covered it up. I thought she was just being shy and left her alone.

The set of lovely story books I received, which was written and illustrated by the couple.

As evening came, K invited me for dinner and also offered to show me how to bake her quick baguette, which was very much enjoyed by her family and has become a staple at their meals. As we set down for dinner at the table, I noticed that Gaia has tucked a piece of folded paper under my napkins. As I picked it up, I realised it was the piece of drawing which she was working on earlier and she had made it into a card for me. As I went through her drawings, my heart felt a touch of warmth and I was deeply moved by this almost 12 years old (she turns 12 by this month end) way of showing her appreciation for the cake I made for her family.

The sequence of drawings on Gaia's Thank You card. I never expected such a heart warming gesture from a child and I was also greatly impressed by her drawing skills and had specially ask her to autograph the card. I also got to know I have been affectionately nicknamed 'Magde-lin' because of the madeleines I baked for them earlier on.

Thank you Gaia! Your little gesture is a great source of encouragement for me to continue working and improve my baking. Thank you too for letting mummy know that you would love a raspberry cake for your upcoming birthday instead of a chocolate one, it is definitely coming your way soon!

Eggless, Dairy and Gluten Free Cupcakes

My success with mixing my own gluten free flour mix makes me want to experiment more with this mixture. Unfortunately, it is currently limited to chocolate sponge cake only. For some reason, without the addition of cocoa powder, the taste, texture and end result is very disappointing for a eggless, dairy and gluten free vanilla sponge cake. My guess is that the fat content in the cocoa powder somehow enhances and improve the overall result. Either that, I need to readjust the ratio of all the other ingredients. It is definitely something that I will continue to work on, so that I can create more cake flavour combination.

For these cupcakes, I also tried something new - making a chocolate ganache icing without cream. It is somewhat less tasty than the dairy version but on its own, I would say it is very good, especially for people who can't enjoy the regular version. For easier spreading, I left the ganache to set outside at room temperature, rather than in the chiller.

Dairy, Egg and Gluten Free Cupcakes! Due to the low rise of the cake mix, I needed to put more in order to have a decent height for the cake. This resulted in 8 cupcakes per recipe, instead of my usual 12.


The overall verdict? They not only looked good, but tasted yummy too! I ate one and the rest, I was very happy to give to the Angels.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

I was invited to join the home school group for their National Day celebration on Mon. J and I thought it would be most appropriate to have a birthday cake for our  beloved country and what better way than to have it in the form of our national flag!

Due to the children's special diet, it has to be dairy, egg and gluten free again. This definitely called for my chocolate pudding cake, which is dark brown in colour. As I do not want to have icing made of shortening and margarine, I decided to cover the whole chocolate cake in another layer of white soya pudding. The result? A hefty 7 layers, 8inch square cake which weighed 2.4kg !

The crescent and stars were painstakingly cut out from thick cardboard and 'dicast' out from the red coloured pudding. Once the layer set, it is then filled in with white pudding.

The different layers can be seen here, with a much thicker outer layer, due to two different size of cake rings used and I didn't want to create wastage by trimming it off.

I wasn't confident of the end result initially but was well pleased with the end result. I also had a wonderful time with the children and parents - singing our national anthem, reciting the national pledge in both English and Mandarin, a parade around the estate and a party with good food. As the group gathered around the cake to sing Happy Birthday to Singapore, I couldn't help but felt proud... to be a Singaporean.

Buffet Dessert on Tier Cake Stand

I have always wanted a cake tier stand to add to my collection of kitchen and bake wares. However, finding one which is pleasing and yet at the same time affordable has not been easy. Thus, the search continued after a year on... till I received one recently, from a very dear friend and her partner as a belated house warming gift!

I couldn't't hide my joy of delight as I carefully unwrapped and opened the gift in front of her, at her insistent that I opened it immediately. Yes, it is beautiful, classic looking and of the colour I had wanted! It may not be of expensive high quality porcelain or bone china, nor is it branded. But because it was from two very dear friends who took time and effort in searching what my heart desire, it is all the more precious than ever.

So I told her, one day I would like to bake an assortment of pastries and present them on their gift, and we would have afternoon tea together, just like what hotels or high end cafes do! Well, one and a half month have gone since I got this precious gift and I have yet to invite them for tea. But I had a chance to present it to another group of dear friends last Saturday, when we had a gathering over at my place. I specially made three different dessert for the occasions and served them buffet style.

My precious 3 tier cake stand, a gift from two very dear friends.

Black Sesame Ice Cream, one of my favourite ice cream flavour.



Durian Mousse Cakes and Chocolate Slices. The latter is dairy, gluten and egg free - the same cake which I made for the Angels while the durian mousse is an improved version of my earlier attempt - richer and more texture as I kept the pulp instead of pureed them.



Chiffon Cakes

I love chiffon cakes for their super soft, fluffy, moist texture and light taste. Of late, I have baking them quite often for family gatherings, especially orange chiffon cake.

It took my a long time before I bought my first tube pan for my first attempt, mainly because I don't like baking cakes which requires whisking separated egg yolks and egg whites. Further more, chiffon cakes requires quite a big amount of eggs, which gives it it's eggy fragrance. I do not own a high end mixer and what I have takes me a long time to whisk up the yolks and whites separately. But after that first attempt, I never grew tired of making it, simply because it taste so good and it is often well received.

Orange Chiffon Cake, an all time favourite with my family and friends

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake, an attempt on a new flavour

The grounded black sesame gives this chiffon cake it's unique colour

It is only after my attempt that I then realised why established bakeries charge so much for their chiffon cakes. Chiffon cakes takes quite a fair bit of time, from preparation of ingredients, to whisking, mixing, baking and cooling. The key factors to successful chiffon cakes:
- fresh quality ingredients, to gives it's good taste as well as healthier choice (I squeezed and zest my own oranges, used canola oil instead of palm oil)
- properly whisked eggs, so that proper aeration can be achieved to give the cake its rise
- avoid over mixing, so that air bubbles is not deflated
- correct baking temperature, to help the cake achieve it's rise
- correct baking time, too long a time the cake will dry out while too short a time, the cake will not be fully bake through

I guess my next attempt would be either a banana or pandan, the latter if I can get around to juicing my own pandan juice as I do not own a blender for that at this moment.