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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Finally 100,000 hits and a Dulce De Leche Cake to clelebrate

100 000 hits.. took me almost two and half years to get this. Sometimes I do feel embarassed. There are so many newer blogs than mine that have long ago achieved this, and some few month old blogs are already half of where I am.

I admit,
1. I had been lazy, not updating my blog as often as I should, making my bank of drafts getting bigger and bigger by the day. Facebook's Restaurant City took up much of my 2009.
2. I've been very passive. Haven't been reading much blogs, only the handful, and when I do read blogs , I rarely comment. Guess it's a two way thing. People won't know I exist unless I tell them that I do. Well, not that I'm insincere with what I say about their food, I am very sincere, just that if it's good, tell them. Now, I no longer keep the "Good job, Well done, Thumbs up" in my heart, but I will really tell them through comments.

Since I changed my blog's interface(after Surprise Egg), it definately changed my reader's perspectives to stay on. I got a lot lot more hits than before. Maybe due to the bigger pictures (errr... lots of blogs have much smaller pics and they get lots f hits), or maybe due to the pinkish theme now.. makes things seems sweeter :)
But the real fact is that, I've got a lot more linkups to blogs than few months back, and now my 2/3 of my traffic comes from referring sites, compared to 2009 where 60% came from direct traffic.

Statistics based on Mac1-Mac31 2010 and Nov29-Dec-28 2009
Daily visitors on average : 92-256 (now), 30-80 (2009)
Returning visitors per month: 2863 (now), 1098 (2009)

See the difference?? It's just a matter of 3 months and I'm very surprised and at the same time very happy.
Here, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank

(in no special order)

Happy Home Baking
Nasi Lemak Lover
Blessed Homemaker
Excuse Me, Are U a Nurse
Happy Flour
Cherry Potato
HomeKreation
Testedandtasted
Full-timed Housefly
RachelHei
Simply Annes -she's the first food blogger to link me to her blog :)
ChVoon
Sze-Min
Sakura-love baking
Sweetaeration
My Kitchen Snippets
Mylivemylife
bake4fun
wombatmama -Not a public blog
sugabakes-inc
ibakewhoeats
kymkymthelittlebear
jesbakewithlove ----Not a public blog too.  To both private blogs, I know both of you have been following my blog for quite long, I would love to pay your blog a visit, unfortunately I can't access your blog.
findingquietwaters
ladybird8738
ttxy
chengyeelee
cookingmemos
charlotte0107

And not forgetting my dear followers (I won't repeat your name if you have my blogs listed above)
1. Sarah Naveen
2. Leeling Lai
3. Pete
4. Dante
5. Jonathan Ho
6. Doria Robert Kawen
7. Foong Mun Yeong
8. Bear with Me
9. Kavitha
10. Charissa Ho
11. Joanne
12. Shy Kitchen
13. Tony
14. Sing Yin@ Sherene
15. Jo Chiak
16. Maxivelasco
17. My Coach Bags
18. Mia
19. Oilai
20. Tan Wei Hong (Derek)
21. Roy Erol
22. Ellis
23. Michael C.. my husband :)
24. Luke
25. Jenn
26. Khim
27. Heide
28. Greenapple4sale
29. Goofy
30. S L Wong
31. 鬼首
32. Melody
33. WC Chuen
34. Kristy of My Little Space
35. Chuah Zong Yuan
36. Sam Sam
37. Jeffery Chin
38. Haslina Abd. Majid
39. Lisa Rodney
40. Whee Teck
41. ctzm
42. Grace Yip
43. Janei Chong
44. Daniel
45. JC
46. Totoro
47. Sherli Wong
48. Cheryl Lee
49. Emi
50. Esthermation
51. Cheryl Lim
52. Shirley Goh or Kokken69
53. Tracie Moo of Bitter Sweet Flavours
54. Angie of Angie's Recipes


And  also to my anonymous readers. Thank you, thank you.
Did I miss anyone??? Sorry, but I would like to thank you too.

I can't make it to 100 000 without all your support. I might have left out some others, I just derived this information from my google analytics for March 2010.

Thank you everyone!!!!

And with this, Mike asked me to make a cake to celebrate 100 000 hits.



Dulce de Leche... oh what????? Do say the leceh (Do say about the troublesome, leceh is troublesome in Malay)... hahahaha.. nola..joking.
I'll write another post regarding this DDL.

I wanted to do a special cake, not anything fruit related, something exotic(Oh yes from South America, how exotic that is!!!), something not usually seen in our local baking scene. I bumped into the cake while searching for something to do with my almost expiring can of milk goo from Singapore.

Initially I wanted to do a wavy look frosting on this cake, the mound it with chocolate shavings. But do u know how hard it is to make pretty uneveness???? Making it ulgy and uneven is easy peasy, but not pretty and wavy. In the end, I gave up and chuck the cake into the freezer for 10 minutes and did a comb effect on it. My first time using a comb on the surface.... love it. Will use it again.

Recipe from this blog. I reduced the portion size and cut down on the sweetness. You should go there and see ALLLLLL her stuff. Mouthwatering indeed, and they make me want to make them all. Will I be hitting 80kg soon??? I hope not :)

Sponge Cake
6 eggs
170gm brown sugar
170gm cake flour
45gm butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon powder (Mike hates cinnamon, so I just put some... original recipe called for 1tsp)

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Prepare an 8 or 9 inch baking pan. Line the bottom.
2. Beat egss and sugar over hot water until light and pale, for 12 minutes (hand mixer, stand mixer will take less)
3. Sift cake flour and cinnamon powder. Fold into (1) in 3 additions.
4. Mix vanilla with butter. Take a few tablespoons of batter and put into butter mixture. Stir to combine, no need to be gentle.
5. Pour (3) into main batter and fold.
6. Pour into prepared pan and once the pan goes into the oven, close the door and adjust temperature to 160C. Bake for 35 minutes or until done.
7. Remove from oven and let it cool down totally.
8. Remove from pan and slice cake into 3 layers and chill (wrapped) until time of use.


Dulce De Leche Cream
350ml whipping cream, cold
140gm dulce de leche (about ½ cup), cold
2/3tsp gelatin
1 Tbsp water

1. Double boil gelatin and water until melted. Or u can use microwave. Leave to cool.
2. Freeze mixing bowl and beaters for 5 minutes.
3. Put dulce de leche into mixing bowl and put in a bit of cream. On low speed, mix to combine, adding more gradually. When all the whipping cream has been added in, turn to high speed and beat until soft peaks.
4. Turn to low speed. Add in gelatin mixture slowly while beating, and beat until stiff.
5. Use immediately to frost cake.
Please keep everything cold while you do the cream, freeze bowl and beaters before you start, and if the day is too hot, keep the bowl (used to whip the cream) in a basin of ice water to keep the temperature low. This applies to all cream made with dairy whipping cream in our tropical room temp. It should take no longer than 5 minutes to prepare this whip this cream.

Syrup:
30gm brown sugar
70ml hot water
Dissolve brown sugar in hot water. Leave to cool down.

Assembly:
1. Slice cake into 3 layers.
2. Place 1 layer onto cake board/plate. Brush on syrup. Spread with 2/3 cup of DDL cream. Brush the topping layer of cake with syrup and place the surface with syrup onto cream. Repeat with another layer.
3. Top with final piece of cake. Brush with syrup. Spread DDL cream all over cake. I used a serrated comb to create the effects on my cake. Top with shaved dark chocolate in the center.


This cake is heavenly!!! The DDL cream was so so good. It has a whiff of coconuttiness(like coconut candy) in it, but it doesn't contain any, could be due to the caramelised milk. If I were to make this again, I'll put in some baking powder to the sponge, so that I can have slightly more fluffy cake. This one is fine.. but I'd like to be be fluffier. One regret tho, I used regular dark eating chocolate for the shavings. If I used Lindt 90% dark on it.... Wooohooo!!! Super Yummy!!!
Oh yeah, and I didn't put in enough DDL cream for the fillings, cos I was worried it won't be enough for the covering. And now I have an extra 2/3 cup of DDL cream in my fridge. Any regrets about that, yeah....... :(

My wish for today:
May I have more and more thousands .. not Ringgit or Dollars, but hits and visitors please :)

*this cake was made few days in advance to anticipate my 100 000 hits.

8/4/10- Neighbour Maria told me that she kept on thinking about this cake after she has eaten this. She commented that the cream was incredible. She thought so much about it that she ordered a DDL Cake for this friday.
So, blogger friends, to try out DDL.

65 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your 100,000 hits - I am still waiting to get there :). And that's an amazing cake to celebrate this milestone. You are really good at making such cakes!

    P.S. : something wrong with my blogger - I am losing comments. Saw your last comment coming in but it vanished on me when I tried to publish it.... very frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wendy, Congratulations on your 100k hits, you deserved for this achievement. Nice to know you via blogging and Thanks for your lovely cake!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations to your 100,000 clicks and its not easy to reach that level. Btw, your dulce-de-leche cake look so fluffy and with a classic finishing touch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations and may your wish come true, Wendy! Your cake is stunning. I wonder where you get your Dulce de leche? I have to make my own I guess! Have a lovely day.
    cheers, KRisty

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations, you're sure to have my support. You have one nice and tempting blog. ;p Hehehe...and I will click your blog more often!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shirley,
    You are the one that I meant about few months old, but half of where I am.
    When my blog was 1 year old, I was only having less than 15k hits :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sonia, SamSam , Happy Flour,

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kristy,
    I made the DDL. Since u stay so near to Singapore, get ur supply of sweetened condensed milk from there and make it yourself. I'll post about my DDL on friday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good to hear this great new.
    I am really happy for you.

    but can you do me a favour that...

    i havent take my breakfast until now...11am at istanbul airport.

    if you dont might, please send this one piece of the cake to me. i am very hungry now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats on your great work!! I like reading your blog, your photos are great and your are such a good cook and a talented baker :) Looking forward to your million hit soon :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations on your 100,000 hits! I still have a long way to go :P

    Coincidentally, I've shortlisted a dulce de leche duo recipe.

    Your cake never fail to impress me, always so perfectly done. I've got this comb thingy too but never get a chance to use it. Thanks for the reminder. And I've got similar problem too, worrying that I might run short of cream for the covering but always end up with extras that goes into the bin.

    ReplyDelete
  12. BTW, I'm just curious, you mean there is no sweetened condensed milk in Msia?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Voon,
    I've sent you one piece oredi. Have u recieved it yet?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy Homebaker,
    Thanks. I hope for that too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Blessed Homemaker,
    Yes, there are no true Sweetened Condensed milk here, due to price control by the government, producers have resorted to sweetened creamers instead. There's no milk indicated in the labels, and if the can of goo is not labeled as sweetened creamer, but just "Vitaminzed" or whatever, u can see some milk in the ingredients, but majority of the thing inside is creamer.It only sells for RM2-2.50 per 500gm can here. What to expect? Real milk?

    Few years back, they were labled as Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk, that means, milk mixed with creamer. Now, they no longer put the milk word on the label, cos the content of milk doesn't even qualify it to be one. If that can of creamer can be called milk, then my bakes using real milk can be called milk too.

    You can read more about my milk complains here
    http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2009/09/sweetened-condensed-milk-pound-cake.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. MnHL,
    Your comment went missing after I authorized it.
    Anyway, thanks for dropping by my blog. Hope to see you more often.

    ReplyDelete
  17. congratsss i so jealous hahahaahah jealous of u can make such a mouthwatering looking cake lar (psssttt.....secretly tell you i oso jeles u got so many hits...maybe i shud start making cakes oso ar? HAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH) happy blogging

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your cake is so beautiful! I love how you decorated it - stunning presentation and gorgeous photos, too. Thank you for linking me and for your lovely words, I appreciate it!

    Congrats on the big 100,000! Here's to many more!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Congratulations to you and your blog. I love your blog, recipes and all your photos. I never fail to drop by everyday. That is a lovely cake. If I show it to my husband I am sure he wanted me to bake it for him because of the Dulce De Leche :) Since he is from Argentina he grew up eating it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Patrica Scarpin,
    Thanks for the recipe. It's your picture that inspired me to do this cake:)
    I really lurrrve your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Manglish,
    Oh, I don't know u will visit food blogs.
    Aiya, I know u know how to make cake. You make cake everyday what.

    If ever you are back, I'll make u a tooth cake, but please come to collect it yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ICook4Fun (My Kitchen Snippets)

    Wow, everyday? Thanks alot!!! Muah muah!!!
    Oh please show him the picture, so that he'll pester you to make it for him, and I will be able to see your version of DDL cake.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Congratulations! More post to come :)

    The cake looks lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  24. congratulation! You have such a lovable blog! A pleasure to read :D The cake looked really professionally done, the sponge cake looks really soft!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Congratulations to you! Actually i feel that's no surprise la, i like your blog so much! You taught me so much about cooking and baking...though i still can't bake coz don't own an oven!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Congratulation Wendyy..
    U deserve it!!!

    Nak sikit cake.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. WOW! This cake looks beautiful. I'm very curious how you make the decoration so professional. I used the serrated comb to make the effect before but not as good as yours. Beside, may I know what is Dulce De Leche Cream? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anne, Sweeter Side of life,
    Thanks.

    Meldylocks,
    Quickly get an oven then, and don't forget a hand mixer.

    Zeta,
    Nak cake kena cepat, yang sedap sedap mesti cepat habis.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi, congratulations! Like you, I rarely write comments too. But I think I should let you know that I have been following your blog for quite a while and I really like reading all your posts. Keep it up and I'm linking you up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Kitchen Corner,
    Freeze the cake for a while before you comb it, should be no problem.
    I'm posting about Dulce De Leche this afternoon.
    Do come back and read about it

    ReplyDelete
  31. Small small Baker,
    Thanks for reading my blog and for linking me up.
    Would love to see you more often.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Congratulation! You deserve this. :) You inspire us (beginner) ;D with your generous sharing of your cooking and baking.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Congratulations !!!!!
    You finally made it !!!!

    I will continue be your royal follower.

    Hey...The colour of the Dulce De Leche made me thought about your mum's yummy kaya jam. I love it, but can't find any from my place.

    Will you post the kaya jam recipe on your blog???

    ReplyDelete
  34. Foong Mun,
    Thanks!!
    My mum's kaya!! Hahaha!! You still miss it eh. I will post it the next time she does it, not me.
    And she will only do it for fun raising events, or for some relatives who request for it. It's a rare event now. But unfortunately, it will be a huge amount, something like 40 eggs????

    ReplyDelete
  35. Ohhhh!!! Wonderful ! Thanks for doing that !!!
    Tell your mum, her kaya jam is best that I have ever eaten.
    40 eggs....No problem!!! Eggs are not that expensive here. Haa haaa :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Foong Mun,
    I don't know when that'll be. No promises. Just that my mom also wants to record down the process properly too.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Not a problem.... I can't wait. No hurry !!!

    I want my kid(s) eat the toasted bread with your mum's yummy kaya jam and butter for every breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hi!

    We have been trying your recipies and boy, we LOVED them. Its easy yet delicious, thanks so much for sharing your yummy dishes with your readers. May you hit 1 million hits soon! =)

    Bin and San

    ReplyDelete
  39. Bin and San,
    Thank you so much for loving my recipes.
    Love to see you around more often.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hey Wendy CONGRATS!!!

    Wow... I couldn't even dream of one day having so many hits. Thanks for your tips in my blog. Will definitely keep it in mind.

    Btw, the DDL (I can't spell it without scrolling up!) is so professional. I wish I could be there to order a bite. ;P

    Cheers,
    Ronni
    from Cooking Memos

    ReplyDelete
  41. Ronni,
    Good to see you again.
    You'll get your 100k hits.
    Don't worry about that, just need to work on it a bit :)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hi Wendy,
    Guess what i've already tried baking yr DLL cake.
    You must be laughing reading such a beginner like me trying yr hits master pc for my son's besday recently.
    Anyway, fyi, the cake jadi very well.
    Now the frustrating part..the DLL cream
    The whipping cream did not turn soft peak nor did did it turn hard peak after adding in gelatine..
    Did i use a wrong whipping cream?
    I bought a pack of whipping cream brand 'Emborg'.
    Should i use the can one?
    First time using whipping cream....
    Fyi,that whipping cream curdled after beating up for quite some time.

    Pls help.Really need yr expert advice here

    Thanks a million.Zai.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Zai,
    Glad to hear you made this.

    Emborg is a nice cream to use here.
    You have definately overbeaten the cream.
    Yu can use any brand, as long as u check the fat level to be over 35%. Canned ones are lower,I think, therefore not suitable.

    Dairy whipping cream is not easy to use.
    Easily overbeaten compared to non dairy topping cream, but taste absolutely better, and healthier.
    It should look like a mayonnaise at soft peaks.
    When you start to beat, it is very watery, then as u go on, it will start to thicken.
    Then, it'll take on the texture like mayonnaise, then that's the time u add in the gelatin. Anything more than that, then you'll get butter and whey. Do not discard the curds, that's butter. You can spread it on bread and eat.

    ReplyDelete
  44. congratulations on the hit! Your cake looks so wonderful. I am definitely definitely bookmarking this. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Congrats on such a wonderful milestone, and the beautiful way in which you celebrated it. Bookmarked the cake! It looks SO GOOD!!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi Wendy,

    I made this cake on yesterday. I use coffee chiffon as the cake base. It was so good especially the cream. Yum yum. Anyway, can i know why my gelatine mixture turns into small bits when i poured into the whipping cream? I only noticed the small bits when the whipping cream reached stiff peak and i was about to decorate the cake. I have to throw the whole batch away and make a new batch without gelatine. Please advise. Thanks!


    Sally

    ReplyDelete
  47. Sally,
    I'm so glad you liked the cake. Coffee based chiffon sounds good.
    Are the gelatine bits like sugar or like soft jelly bits?
    If it's like sugar granules, it wasn't melted enough.
    If it's jelly bits like then you weren't fast enough to beat it after pouring in. Pour the mixture in with beaters running.

    ReplyDelete
  48. The gelatine bits are like soft jelly bits. I poured the mixture in with my beater running. I use KitchenAid K5SS speed no. 2. Could it due to warm gelatine? Because the gelatine set after i melted it so the gelatine bowl on another bowl with hot water to melted it again. Please advise.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Sally,
    Warm gelatin will not cause it to be soft jelly bits, but will cause the cream to melt if too warm.
    You should drizzle it as near as possible to the beaters. Maybe the gelatin was pushed to the side by the motion of the mixing and the beaters didn't reach the sides. Since you said you only found the jelly bits when you were about the frost the cake, chances are, you found them after you scraped the sides to gather the beaten cream. They were pushed to the sides where the beaters can't reach. I suggest after you pour the gelatin in, mix for few seconds then quickly scrape the sides to prevent this. You have to be careful with how u pour in the gelatin.
    Hope it works for u

    ReplyDelete
  50. Wendy,

    Thank you for your advices. Will try making it again on tomorrow. The whole cake was gone already.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Sally,
    Wow, another DDL cake so soon?
    Woah, how many mouths are you feeding?
    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  52. WOW! What a gorgeous cake! :) Thanks for sharing!

    I went ahead and made the Dulce de Leche Mousse...followed the tips for keeping the bowl and mixers in the freezer + went ahead and keeped the dulce de leche and cream in the freezer till i was ready to use it, and it whipped up beautifully!! AMAZING taste!!

    To see the Mousse cake it went into: The americanpalate.com

    Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  53. I am unamature baker. Please answer this silly question" What is Dulce de Leche?" I want to bake this cake for my husband for Valentine'sday. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Anonymous,
    I have a post in my blog regarding how to make Dulce de Leche. U can use the "search" button to find it, or just click "newer post" right under the comment box, because I posted it right after this cake.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Wendy,

    Why do we need to beat the eggs and sugar over hot water?

    If using stand mixer, how to put over hot water?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Poh Lin,
    That is to create maximum volume.
    You can warm the eggs in your mixing bowl over a bowl of hot water while whisking it with a whisk to prevent the base from cooking. When your eggs are warm, then only you place your mixing bowl back onto the mixer and whisk as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hi, I have loved this recipe for a long time. Never made it. Will do now. Hope I do this cake justice.

    ReplyDelete
  58. How do I make this cake using cups instead of grams?! I made it and they came out like pancakes! I used 2 cups flour and brown sugar, and 1/4 cup butter. That is what a conversion chart said. What did I do wrong?! Please help!

    ReplyDelete
  59. rage,
    2 cups of flour is too much,as 1 cup of sifted cake flour is 105gm only. And I'm not sure about your conversion chart. But standard conversion of 1 cup of sugar is 200gm. This recipe calls for less than 1 cup.

    Baking a sponge cake needs special care. The eggs must be beaten well and must not deflate when you FOLD in the flour.

    Refer to my source's recipe if you need it in cups. Her recipe uses 1-1/3 cups sugar and 1-1/2 cups flour and it's for 8 eggs, supposedly yielding a much larger cake than mine as I've reduced mine to a 6 egg recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hi Wendy, I made this cake yesterday, but the cake is rough, like eating sand :) . Can u please, help me to figure out the cause? For ur info, I used room temperature egg, Half palm sugar and half granulated sugar. And why should we mix egg over hot water? Thx..

    ReplyDelete
  61. Yin,
    Beating eggs over hot water will help increase the volume.
    Whole eggs method sponges are drier than egg separated method since there is no liquid involved. Which is why you must baste it with the syrup later on.
    Palm sugar is also more acidic and hence increase the dryness of the cake.
    If you compare this cake's texture to those made with ovalette or those made from sponge mix, I am sure it taste a lot more coarser.
    But tasting like sand? Did u chill the cake exposed?

    ReplyDelete
  62. Yes, I do chill the cake for one night. And I think I do overbeat the egg too. Thanks for your reply . I like your blog so much :).

    ReplyDelete
  63. Yin,
    Chilling is ok, provided you covered the bare cake. If you exposed the unfrosted cake, it will be dry. Frosted is ok.

    ReplyDelete

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