Strawberry Buttercream Cake

Light and refreshing. Everybody loved this cake.

I like to make flavoured buttercreams by using the cooked buttercream method because I can incorporate flavours without worrying about making the buttercream way too runny.

Cooked buttercream is also lighter in taste but it is not as stable as meringue based buttercream. 
Just keep this cake well chilled, and it will be alright.

Strawberry Tunnel Cake

It was for Lydia's Birthday in 2015.

My MIL was around and will be flying off two days before her actual birthday. So, I made a 'less-cream' cake to suit the taste buds of the elderly family members. I brought the cake over to my in law's that night.

Princess Belle Doll Cake with Mango

*All photos are taken with my phone Iphone 4s

My 2nd girl, Lyanne was once crazy about all things yellow... and that makes Belle her favourite Disney Princess.

Back in 2013, I made her this cake to celebrate her 5th Birthday.

I do try my best to make cakes without food colouring and the best way to make a yellow princess cake, is to use mango. And the mango slices made a nice frilly dress..... I love the outcome of this cake.

Sweet Vanilla Cake

I call this Sweet Vanilla Cake as it looked sweet to me... sweet feeling, not sweet tasting.

I saw my friends making Korean Style Flower Buttercream deco and they were so pretty. I can't pipe like that, and so when I saw these fresh edible flowers in Cold Storage Sunway Pyramid, I quickly bought them. I planned to make a cake once I get home few days later.

Mango Mille Crepe Cake

Mango season is almost here. Almost.

I haven't been posting a nice crepe recipe here since the not so nice Durian Pancake Rolls. After that, I read up on a few other recipes and then, I found this recipe. I used this recipe and then changed it to metric, and kept it this way for more than 3 years, making breakfast crepes exactly the same way. My kids love it.

Budapest Roll ~ Budapestrulle

I tried baking dacquoise once. It came out so beautiful, and so I let it cool down for a few hours, thinking to attend to it, later. But it sweated and melted in the humidity. Sigh!

I didn't realise that the cake base for this, is actually almost a dacquoise, yes just almost, or maybe it is still considered as one. It is baked much quicker, only 15 minutes rather than 1 hour. It was only after I ate it, I realised what type of cake did I bake. Hahahah.

Fruit Pie Cake, Frozen themed for my Lyanne

Happy New Year!

A last minute decision to bake. Her birthday was on 31st Dec, just few days back.

I celebrated Lyanne's birthday few days earlier with a red velvet snowflake cake (to be blogged next time) ... and when it was her real day.... I felt bad not making her a Frozen themed cake. She had been asking for an Elsa cake as well weeks before. I had a meeting until 4pm and rushed to the shop to get something related to Elsa or Frozen. I only managed to get these mini figurines at RM18.90. Plastic and so expensive. But thinking they can play with it after the cake was gone, I bought it.

I had 2 hours to get it done.
Now a Frozen themed cake... there must be snow. A quick cake with white snowy look..... so I made this cake that I once made for my niece.

Crema de Fruta - AFF Philippines , Pinoy Bakes #2

Creme de Fruta is a popular dessert in Philippines. It's sponge fingers (known as broas in Philippines)  with custard, topped with canned cocktail fruits and clear jelly.

You can choose to make this with a homemade sponge or store bought sponge fingers, and I also saw some using graham crackers. I used a recipe I previously used to bake sponge fingers and baked this in a sheet form and cut out the sponge according to the size of my serving cups. Usually creme de fruta is set in a large glass tray, but I also saw some in individual servings. I also chose to spoon the custard over the sponge while it's hot, because this way, the custard will set better. I don't want to disturb it too much, afraid it will turn runny, and warm custard hydrates the sponge much better.

Filipino Caramel Cake -AFF Philippines~ Pinoy Bakes

After a week of simple cakes.. this week, we indulge in more indulgent ones.

Caramel cake is quite a common thing. But in Philippines, they have a version of their own that uses evaporated milk.

One of the most famous Caramel cakes in Philippines is from Estrel's.

I made this cake in  a large tray, instead of a round cake because I wanted to skimp on the baking time, hehehehe.

Inipit - AFF Philippines- Merienda cakes #1

Inipit is a specialty from the region of Bulacan of Philippines.,created by Eurobake bakery.
It's like a sandwich, made with chiffon cake layers and filled with a potato custard.

When I saw the video on how it's being sandwiched.. it seems that the cake is very thin. And the custard mixture was kind of brownish orangey... something like as if it's made with sweet potatoes or has hints of caramel. Oh well, I just followed some online recipes and made it. It may not look the same as the one from Eurobake, and I couldn't get a taste of the real thing, so I can't comment much about how close it is.

Orange Cream Cake - Orange #3

This recipe is from one of my cookbooks that I have to use with caution.
I like the idea of this cake and wondering how will the taste be like... with that amount of cornstarch.

Actually I used a combination of meyer lemons and orange for this cake. The meyer lemons had been with me for a very very long time and I am soooo sorry Alan, LOL. I finally used them up in this cake. I do find meyer lemons to taste similar to a sourish orange, that's why I combined them. The original recipe used orange only.

Blueberry Yogurt Mousse Cake - Mousse Cake #3

If you don’t like yogurt you will HATE this cake. That was the reaction given to me by my brother’s neighbour’s kid. “Yucks, this cake tasted horrible!”. Well, later my mom told me, this boy doesn’t even eat cheese on his pizza. Ok, so that explains it.

Another kid exclaimed to my niece when she saw the cake , “Eh, why your cake has nothing one”. I think they are pretty used to elaborately topped cakes from local bakeries. Some bakeries here will use plastic toppers like toys and such to visually enhance it. Adults instead found this deco to be elegant and beautiful.

Lime Watermelon Charlotte with Mint Basil Glaze - Mousse Cake #1

I came home from the competition and made another one.... to take proper pics for the blog...and also for my hubby's birthday.

My girls were crazy for this cake. We blew candles that night and had a slice each and then scoot them off to bed. The next day, when I picked them up from kindergarden, the first thing they said to me was, "Mom, let's go home and eat cake". My hubby called them monsters because they ate half the cake in less than 24 hours. Hahahaha, my husband rarely calls them this, but usually it's me calling them names, hahahah. We are a family of humour. I never thought Lyanne will love a fruit flavoured cake this much. But Lydia, yes, I know she will.

Au Naturel Rainbow Pancake Cake - Pancakes #3

My pretty, kawaii niece Arianna was going to have her first birthday and I'm in charge of her cake! Haha, as always, the favourite aunt of all my nieces, LOL. I do try to use natural colours and pigments whenever I can and am always excited to experiment.

Once during a tea party at Swee San's, she made a beautiful natural rainbow cake and it made all of us WOW! It was from her creation that I was inspired to try making mine, au naturel.

Mocha Checkerboard Cake - Caffeine Cakes #3

It was my hubby's birthday. Last Nov.

My hubby loves chocolate and each year, I'll think of something chocolate for him. 2011 was Chocolate Enigma Cake, 2010 was German Chocolate Cake. 2009 was..... a failed mango baked cheesecake that he told me to dump after blowing candles because it smelt and tasted like grass. And before that... nothing.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake - Rasps Whole Cakes #3




  This was the first birthday cake that I made for ME. My birthday was months ago, more than half year ago... as you all know, I post very slowly.

Personally I felt awkward making a cake for myself. But it's because my kids now understand that birthdays are something special for a person, then I can have my own cake and blow it too. I can't wait for the day when my kids will bake me my cake because no one will buy me one ... get it? LOL.

Coconut Raspberry Lemon Cake - Rasps Whole Cakes # 1

Actually… I made this cake based on Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. But, somehow cakes calling for the method that mixes butter with flour and lastly with eggs just never finds favour with me. They refuse to rise well. I was slicing the cake, preparing to frost it....... hesitating..... whether I should continue with or not with a not so fluffy cake. In the end, I decided, NOPE. So, I dumped the cake into the fridge and quickly made another cake, with a trusted method that I am comfortable with. Make a sponge using the chiffon method. There's only 2 hours left to serving time. It was my FIL's birthday.

Torta Dulce de Las Tres Leches - DDL Week # 1

Recipe tried out in March 2011.

Long fancy name huh, LOL. Simplified, translated it's a 3 milk cake with Dulce De Leche. Refer here if you want to make your own DDL.

I modified the recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I love the idea of a sponge soaked in milk, muahahahaha! So so sinful. Usually this cake is soaked with evaporated, fresh and condensed milk. But Rose's version ditched the evaporated milk and used cream. I love cream!!!! And I on ther other hand ditched the condensed milk and used DDL. Muahahahahah! I think by now non dairy lovers would have scrammed from my blog.

Peach Sorbet Vanilla Ice Cream Cake - Stone Fruits # 2

Gosh, I wasted so many peaches when I planned on making this. I bought some, didn't have time as it was CNY. Some grew mould before I had the chance to use it. And I bought more and more peaches, each time telling myself ,"get ur butt moving!!". I finally made it in April this year.

Australian peaches were selling for RM4.99 per fruit that time. Recently I saw in Jusco, American peaches are at RM3.99 per fruit. But you can use canned ones for this, but the taste will be somewhat stronger. But if you like the taste of canned peaches, I don't see why not.

Fresh Black Forest Cake - Fruit Week #5

 

I'm so so happy that cherries are getting more affordable here each year. This season (southern hemisphere's), the lowest was RM8.99 for 250gm at Tesco.

I grabbed 4 punnets when I saw it at this price because my mother's birthday was coming up and I want to make her a Black Forest with fresh cherries.
Why use canned ones when fresh ones are available? No doubt it is far far more pricey, but fresh ones still have nutrients in them, it's worth it. And I never scrooge when it comes to baking birthday cakes for family members.

For the cake, I used Rose Levy Beranbaum's chocolate cake base for her Designer Chocolate Baby Grands that doesn't harden in the fridge. I've also used the same chocolate cake recipe for my Chocolate Hidden Banana Cake. And all the cakes turn out lovely and soft, direct from the fridge. I made 1.5 portion of the cake and baked in a 8 inch cake pan. Cut the cake into 3 layers and then I prepared the rest.

I pitted 2 punnets of cherries using a chopstick, as seen here in this post. Then I halved the pitted cherries.
Kept the cherries in the fridge while I whipped the cream. And I also froze a block of chocolate at this point.

As always, I try to use dairy cream, and then stabilized it by using gelatin. I filled each layer with cream and pitted cherries, generously : )
Made a crumb layer, and chilled it.
Then I covered the whole cake with cream.

I looked for my serrated comb....................but it's no where to be seen! Yikes! Comb, please don't treat me like this, please don't. In the end, I used my zigzag jelly knife to comb the cake. The effect was different. The grooves were wider. But then, sigh, had to make do.

Then I piped ugly dots of cream around the cake, top and bottom. Piped small mounds of cream to attach more cherries on the top
I then grated the half frozen chocolate and sprinkled them on the cake. And top each mound of cream with a cherry.

Phew, cake done, and now, in the fridge it goes until it's time for dinner.

Verdict:
Everybody except my eldest brother enjoyed the cake. My eldest brother said, he cake texture is different, like a choc moist cake, he prefers sponge. But the rest felt that this cake taste better than sponge. With a better mouthfeel. The cherries also made the cake very very moist. Cakes with fruits are best chilled for a few hours before serving so that the juices will soak the cake.