31/5/2011

WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE DECORATED WITH MARSHMALLOW

One of the joys of having a big family is that there are birthday celebration(s) every month of the year. I always looked forward to the chance of getting together for:-

1. Food of course top the list- sometimes we get creative to bring new dishes or it would be food that we have misses for so long
2. fellowship and bonding- each of us with our busy lifestyle, its difficult to get together and days certainly pass too fast.
3. catching up on news of those who are overseas
4. chance for me to try out different cakes and to polish my skill on the decoration



Today is my sister-in-law, Evon's birthday. She is the most helpful and obliging person. She has been cooking dinners for my daughters since they were small and taking care of them. She is creative and resourceful sending her kids for contests or workshops.

So for this lovely young, petite and feminine lady, a cake befitting for her:).


It's a white Chocolate cake with cranberry filling. I used some pretty marshmallow flowers for decoration.
Roll the marshmallow to flatten them.

I have used the dusting powder to decorate the sides of the cake and also lightly dusted the top as well to give it a pinkish hue.

WALNUT SPONGE WITH MOCHA CREAM FROSTING

28/5/2011
According to Chinese culture, for the first year of marriage, the bride's mother will have to give a birthday celebration for the son-in-law. She will give him a pair of new trouser ("fu") which in Chinese means "prosperity" and also a new wallet to wish him prosperity and wealth throughout their marriage. My niece's husband, Mr. Lim celebrated his birthday on Saturday. The young Mother-in-law did what was required of her and besides she also invited us along for a buffet dinner at the newly opened Hotel Central in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.

The camera shy Mr. Lim

The happy family- Mr. Lim, my niece Ing, Ging, the young Mother-in-law Serena and my brother KK.

My sister-in-law ordered a birthday cake from me and I baked for him a Walnut Cake with Mocha Irish Cream Frosting. Its a Walnut Sponge layer cake. I brushed the layers with Bailey's Irish Cream liquer and more Irish Cream were added to the Mocha Frosting too. The cake is then topped with chocolate ganache and Hershey's Irish Cream Kisses and hearts-shaped sprinkles were added as decoration. Keeping with the theme of Hershey's kisses, white chocolate is used to write the words:

"Lots of Hearts and Kisses from Ing"

May they both have many more birthdays togethers till old.

(No, that's not their baby- but my grand niece- Chloe in the picture with them)

Happy invited guests for the evening.

Cross section of the cake.

SPRING ROLL NIAN GO

2/5/2011

My sister-in-law gave me some "nian go" from the Chinese New Year.

My favourite of way of cooking them is to sandwich a piece of nian go with a piece of yam and sweet potato before dipping into thick batter and then deep fry. I remember my late Mother cooking this Chinese snack for us. She used to dip it with just batter and pan fried them till they are melting soft and slightly burnt. She would also steamed them and then rolled them into a soft ball in grated coconut (which we picked from the Indian Temple down the road).

Sarah's friend gave her some wrapped like spring roll.

I know that I had to try this way myself.


The yam and sweet potato are cut into square pieces and then steamed till soft.



Using the spring roll wrapper is much easier work. I had bought the small size, so I had to make use of 2 pieces of the wrapper instead of one.

Place the nian go between the yam and sweet potato and wrap them up neatly
Secure the ends with a bit of cornstarch solution or egg white.

Fry them on medium-low heat till brown.

Whatever it is cooked, I like them melted and gooey. Now even though this does not look gooey enough, it tasted delicious.

GOLDEN RAISIN BISCUIT

15/5/2011



My son has gone back to Australia for a short holiday and I misses him.

So, I baked this biscuit for him

If I am not mistaken, he liked this variety of biscuit when he was small.
These biscuit were a bit more expensive than the usual commercial biscuit on the market then. The commercial biscuit are also much thinner.



The biscuit dough or shall I call it pastry- is easy to handle. The texture is a cross between pastry and cake. After resting the dough, its then rolled out and brushed with beaten egg and then raisins (well you can chopped it up, but I prefer it whole) are scattered. Top with another piece of the dough. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle some brown sugar on top.
The addition of the coarse brown sugar top adds a crunchy top but it does not make the biscuit too sweet.

Sarah and Esther like them too.

PEACH CHEESECAKE FOR BROTHER'S BIRTHDAY

30/4/2011


I baked a Peach Cheesecake for my brother, Yue Leong's birthday on 30/4/2011.

I know its backdated post. I planned a surprise birthday party for him. He is the most obliging brother- forever taking us to and from the airport on our trips abroad; helping me with the plumbling and minor works which requires a man to handle and even to the extent of fetching my girls from school when they were young. So a big thank you brother for all your help.

We planned a surprise party for him. Each of us cooked a dish for dinner.
Besides this cake and I also cooked a dish which seemed to be everyone favorite- Braised Pork Belly with Salted Fish Head. This is an old fashioned dish as you seldom can find good salted fish and fish head at that. But I did not choosed the fish head. Instead, I used fish belly, lots of dried chillies and taufoo pok as well- yummy.

Anyway, we cooked the dishes at our own place and brought them to his house when he had gone out for hiking in the evening. When he came in through the door (yes he must have seen the shoes and thought we are just going out for a normal Saturday dinner) we shouted "Surprise" and his daughters presented him with the cake! hahahappy.

Behind every successful man, there is great woman- his wife!

Happy Family
He is just as playful !

May all your wishes come true. God Bless you.

The proof is in the eating. Light and not overly sweet.

GEN JAPANESE BUFFET DINNER AT THE LEGEND HOTEL

Jeremy will be going back to Melbourne on Saturday after 2 weeks of short holidays. As a farewell dinner plus to celebrate an early Mother's Day with him, we went for a Japanese Buffet dinner at Gen, Legend Hotel.

We arrived at The Mall early and it was a trip down memory lane for them. Sarah remember the dinner we had at Kenny Rogers there. Esther and Jeremy remember the playground - the spinning Space Wheel, the Rocking Ship, the Merry-go-round and most those cars -knocking into each other.

For me, I remember most the walk from Jalan Raja Laut to Yaohan (as it was known then) because the road was jammed on the opening day ! It was the first major shopping centre back and those Saturday nights when we took them out- good times and I am glad that they had these happy childhood memories with them.

We were seated near the window and this is nice view of the city before the sun sets.

There are individual rooms too but these do not have the city view.

Trays of fresh, plump and juicy sashimi- tuna, salmon, squid, octopus

Plentiful of Appetizers- marinated baby octopus, crunchy jelly fish, crispy fried prawns head(?) and marinated mushrooms and creamy potato.

Mouth-watering oysters - refreshing and delightful slurping!

View of the city lights

The food is good, the service is good, the view is good, but the best is the time together with the kids. Thank you for a lovely Mother's day.

Here is a toast to you, Jeremy, All the best in yur future endeavours.