Pretty Cupcakes

I have long resisted using icing that is loaded with lots of sugar and colouring. However, two recent requests for those ever popular pretty cupcakes from friends have made me give in. The reason? My usual wholesome no nonsense chocolate and fruit glazes just won't fit the bill for the occasions!

The first was to a friend's request. She wanted some cupcakes to give away to her colleagues on Valentine's Day. I did some planning and decided that I really would want a pink colour theme for this. Also, the cupcakes really won't look nice without the swirl of icing topping. But instead of using the usual butter and icing sugar, I decided to go for Italian butter icing, which would give a smoother and lighter mouth feel. Besides doing my own special tags, I was also fortunate to find heart-shaped strawberry marshmallows for decorating.

All pink coloured Valentine's Day Cupcakes

The latter was for my neighbour's two daughters, who were celebrating their 1st and 5th birthday together. I duplicated the valentine cupcake, minus the tag and did another light orange design, with jelly beans representing eggs sitting atop the cakes. These were then carefully displayed on my tiered cake stand, which I couldn't resist using it for the occasion.

The cupcakes sitting pretty on my tiered cake stand

Pink colour theme which is both the birthday girls' favourite

Trio of jelly beans representing eggs sitting on top the cakes

Tofu Cheeecake

Two to three years ago, tofu cheesecake became popular and is touted as a healthier version for cheesecake lover. For myself, I love it simply because I love soya. The love degree increases further when I adjusted my version to include lemon and pairing it with mixed berries compote. Hence, the actual name for my cake should be, "Lemon Tofu Cheesecake with Mixed Berries Compote"!

I have also made a much lighter version by adding layers of vanilla sponge in between. This is to cater to people who don't like heavy cheesecake or for first timer who are new to cheesecake. This version is so light and refreshing that I can't resist eating 2-3 big slices at one go myself!

I like the versatility of this cake in that it is easy to vary the design presentation, on top of adjusting the inside content to suit individuals needs. This include optional cookie base, vanilla sponge, lemon juice and zest. Having said this, if there's an order to have all the options, it is also a cake which requires much work due to the different components.

This cheesecake is a simple presentation, without the usual digestive cookie base.

This cheesecake is with birthday wordings and digestive cookie base.

This cheesecake is what I would call a classic presentation, with big piping of cream encircling the mixed berries compote. 

A cut view of the cake showing all the differen layers. It is a lot more time consuming to prepare but the result is awesome! 

Waffles

I love waffles, especially the pandan ones. The combination of coconut and pandan is so irresistible that I never fail to like any desserts or pastry with these two ingredients. Naturally, I was very delighted when we had a school lesson on it during my course. As fate would have it, I fell sick during that lesson and missed it. Nonetheless, I was comforted that I had the lesson material and recipe with me.

Since then, I had been debating whether to buy my own waffle maker... what's the use of having the recipe and not having the tools to make it! A decent one from a reputable brand is not cheap however, and so I held back my buying urge.

Two years later, I finally had the chance to make a very special batch of waffles - dairy and egg free for the Angels, to go with the special ice cream I made for her (I had posted this in an earlier blog: http://little-bake-shop.blogspot.com/2011/01/little-hall-of-fame.html). The waffle machine belongs to the Angels' mum. Today, it sits in my home, short term adoption while the Angels' family is away for a year plus. The first opportunity I had, I made a batch of my favourite of pandan waffles.

Pandan Waffles - first batch of waffles I made specially for myself. Ate 2 big slices of it for brunch on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Some weeks later, I hosted a tea and waffles party for two of my friends family. The kids are overjoyed, especially when they get to choose their own favourite ice cream to go with the waffles.

Tea and Waffles Party - the children really enjoyed their waffles with ice cream more than anything else!

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.