Marble Cheesecake for my Colleague - Cheesecake Trio # 2

My colleague ordered this cake for her daughter few weeks back before I moved.

I used Alex Goh's recipe and as always it always crack in my oven.

I didn't whip the cream, and instead used sour cream, still it cracked.

Hated it.

So, I hid the cracks with some make up

And here's the cake

Pn Tan, Hope your girl and your family loved the cake

Hannah's 2 Minnie Mouse Birthday Cakes - Cheesecake Trio #1

 

I made 2 cakes for my dear niece to be cut n day 1 and day 2 of Chinese New Year.
She requested for a Minnie Mouse cake and gosh, a Minnie Mouse cake? She must have caught the bug on her trip to Disneyland last Nov. I turned down her request as I can't figure out how to do that just before CNY. As you all know, fridges are stuffed so so full during this period that keeping a cake with cream in a stuffed full fridge is CRAZILY difficult.

But I felt so bad letting her down. Really felt so so bad. So I googled for Minnie Mouse cake and then I got the idea of instead of making Minnie's face, I could just use her trademark, polka dot ribbons as my deco theme. And use chocolate cut outs to make the Minnies. The cut outs have no facial features, but with those ears and ribbons, no one couldn't recognise it's not Minnie. And further more, she has told me before she loved my Strawberry Mirror Cake and would want to have it again this time, and I also turned her down because I don't want to make repeating cakes for the same person. Well, this request was 2 months before the Minnie request. So, I made up my mind to make 2 cakes for her. One oreo cheesecake to be cut at my mom's and the strawberry mirror cake to be cut at my sis in law's parent's house, since they've never had this cake before. A pink cake is perfect for Minnie. Both are gelatin set cakes, as I didn't want to do frosting and worry about getting them smudged when I shove them into the stuffed fridge. Cake rings are there for a purpose. : p

I went around town scouting for suitable ribbons. It was only at an old shop that I could get it. Those popular fast moving art and gift shops carry only the latest designs and these polka dot stuff are infact, quite old. I've been seeing them around since my school days!!! I finally found one that is suitable.

For the Strawberry Mirror Cake, instead of having the mirror on top, I set the mirror on 2 separate pans.
When they were set, I half froze them. Then I made the bavarian cream filling and sandwiched the mirror layer between the bavarian cream. So altogether there was 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of mirror sandwiched with bavarian cream. Haha, if you have no idea, this is the layout from bottom to top:
Cake, Cream, Mirror, Cream, Cake, Cream, Mirror, Cream , Cake, Cream.
I planned to do white polka dots for the cake, Minnie's trademark, but then I was too tired to do that step. A choc cut out is good enough, Haha

I can't get a picture of the interior as the I didn't see the cake being cut. But the reviews I got was that it was fabulous! Yeah with almost 1kg of strawberries in that cake, how can it not be fabulous! Haha. But the actual fact is that, it's not a common cake. The relatives on my SIL's side have never eaten such a cake, and some of them requested for the recipe.

Ok, now about the Oreo Cheesecake. Well, don't know why I came up with the idea of using Oreos and stacked them to make the cake. But then, initally, I wanted to do a dome with Minnie's ears and ribbons on top. Which was why this cake was so short. But in the end, I ran out of cream. I didn't want to do an empty dome, was worried it'll soften and collapse during the 1 hour journey from KK to Kampar, so, no cream, no filling, no dome, no Minnie ears and ribbon. In the end, I made cut outs and hand sewed the ribbons. I didn't have proper Minnie cookie cutters and had to make do with my bear cookie cutter. The ears where smaller than Minnie's but no one realised it until I told them, it's actually a bear's cut out, not Minnie's. It was totally acceptable for those who saw the cake. Hahaha!! That means, the ribbons did a very good job in portraying Minnie.

I concocted my own formula for this cheesecake, threw in whatever I fancy and used lots of oreos for some stacking effect. I could only do 3 layers as that was all the batter that I have. If I used a smaller cake ring, then I could do more layers.

Oreo Stacked Chilled Cheesecake

Recipe Source : Wendyywy

250gm cream cheese, softened
100gm sweetened condensed milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
300gm whipping cream, cold
1 Tbsp + 1tsp gelatin
50gm water
3 tubes of Oreo (more or less)

1. Separate oreo cookies. Discarding all the cream except for 25 pieces of halves.
2. Finely mill the 25 pieces of cookie halves with cream.
3. Press the milled cookie crumbs into a cake ring on a cake board /springform pan. Keep chilled.
4. Put water into a heat proof bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the water. Let the gelatin sit for 2 minutes. It will bloom. Then melt the gelatin either in the microwave (30 secs on high) or over another bowl of boiling water. (method seen here). Let it cool down.
5. Beat cream cheese until smooth and put in condensed milk and vanilla and beat again. Beat in gelatin solution until just combined.
6. In another clean bowl, beat cold whipping cream until soft peaks.
7. Fold the half the cream into the cream cheese mixture using a large whisk. Repeat with balance of cream.
8. Put in slightly more than half cup of cheese mixture into prepared pan. Spread it out. Arrange oreo halves (no cream) all over the cheese.
9. Repeat step 8 twice. You’ll have 3 layers of cookies.
10. Gently pour all the remaining cream cheese over the cookies and level the “cake”
11. Put into fridge to chill for at least 5 hours before unmoulding.

The Minnies were all ripped off by the kids.

I'm back!

Sorry for being MIA for so long.

Initially I thought, I'd be moving, I mean, moving major stuff the following week after my announcement. But one of my contractors delayed me for a week, and then finished off the job 2 weeks later (he said he'd complete the job within 4 days, but took more than 2 weeks to do so). During this time, I was running to and fro the old and new house many times in a day and it was very tiring. I only started sowly transfering my stuff over when the cabinets were finally completed. The old and new place were just 10 minutes apart, but going few times in a day during 3rd trimester is no fun.

I was lucky to have my in laws helping me clean up the new place. My FIL did my garden for me and most of the drilling. My MIL did most of the new house cleaning. If it's not for them, I'll be dead meat doing all these. Where's my hubby? Haha, diligently working of course and becoming my driver. He didn't allow me to drive much during this pregnancy. Well, I've been having mood swings this time and it sure does scare the hell out of him, hahah!

I finally moved in and had my first night in the new place on 30th April. It sure does feel good that I can finally rest assured that I won't be stuck at my old place when my baby arrives. It's not that I don't like my old place, but it's so bare in the end, and my butt was still there was what scared me. It's no fun sleeping in an almost bare place, with only necessities like my kid's milk supply, TV, Milo and biscuits. We didn't move everything but only the smaller stuff which is like 90% of what we owned. The new place's big stuff were mostly new, like major electrical appliances and furniture, as we have already anticipated to move since 4 years back.

After I moved in, only then I started preparing for my baby's arrival. I packed my hospital bag, collected baby clothes from my cousin, washed them, dried them, folded and kept them in a clean plastic drawer. It took a while to prepare the temp baby room(for confinement lady and baby) as I needed to wait for the tiler to do something there and then get some of the old stuff moved in. And it's finally done now. Another moment of relief.

Now, it's the time to do final arrangements in the house, with all the excess in the store room, still in bags, boxes or whatever to be arranged and put at the right places. I can slowly do this part as there's no rush for it.

Relieved, yes I am. And I can finally blog again....but my laptop is not in good condition now. I had to do a repair thingy everyday before I could luckily turn it on. Hubby's planning to get me a desk top. Well, actually it's an excuse for him to get a desktop so that he can start his games again. LOL. He hasn't been playing much computer games since he got laptops for himself and I.

Last Fri, I went to see my doc and my baby. He's at 2.6kg now. At 38 weeks, it's quite small. Small in comparison to my girls. Lyanne was almost 4kg when she was born! Yikes! So far, I've gain only 3kg. Yes. 3kg ONLY. The least so far. Both Lydia and Lyanne's time were like 5kg only. Yes, only 5kg. Haha. I'm weird, where people gain weight and size during pregnancies but I shrink. I have always been heavy, yes, very heavy. And during pregnancies, one can see my arms and thighs shrinking. My family and friends have always found this to be humourous. Some even like to look at my still deep belly button and laugh at it, saying "Oh, u still have belly button". LOL. Whenever I go to buy herbs for my confnement, I always get asked, "Why buy so early? You still have a long way to go.", But I'm oredi in my 9th month!!! So, you can actually guess how I look now. I only look like 5 months preggers, according to most ladies telling me.

Ooohhh... I've been talking so much. Maybe it's been so so long since I've shared anything.

We only finalized our boy's name lately. The Chinese name was selected by my hubby with the middle name following the family's poem. And the Christian name was shortlisted by me and selected by Lydia.

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Now, a little fun.
Correctly guess the name of my boy and I'll send u something. A can of Nestle Dulce de Leche (only for Malaysians as postage is very expensive) or 3 pods of Tahitian Vanilla Beans (anywhere in the world).  One gift for the first correct answer for each name.

Tips:
Christian name starts with "R"
Chinese name has less than 7 strokes. The middle name is 尚. Ask your friends if u know NO Chinese. It's a common word that is easy to write.

If u get both names correct, you get 2 gifts from me.

Happy guessing and the answer will be given when you see his face on my blog :)

Simple rules to the game:
1. Giveaway is open to anyone from anywhere.
2. Two Chinese names and one Christian name per person. Any extra guesses and the whole submission will not be counted.
3. Absolutely anonymous guesses will not be counted. Leave me a name.
4. Closing date is.... before I announce the answer.

I won't be posting daily anymore, but I'll try my best to post weekly trios.
I promised pics of my new kitchen, that'll have to come later, I've not fully settled everything.

 : )

Mashed Potatoes with Eggs - Potato Week #3 and an announcement

Roughly about 12 years back, during uni's 2nd year, my housemates and I held a pot luck at our newly moved in student house. We invited friends and seniors over. One of my seniors, Peggy, brought a fantastic mashed potato and it was mashed together with hard boiled eggs. The egg yolk lent a wonderful aroma to the mash. Yummy!! That was all I can say.

Allan CCM, if you're reading this, please tell Peggy, ok!!

It's not difficult to make...
The rule of thumb that I abide with whenever I make this is

1 Russset Potato : 1 hard boiled egg : 1 Tbsp butter

Easy and nice!

Mashed Potatoes with Eggs
Recipe source: Wendyywy
Inspired by: Peggy

4 russet potatoes
4 hard boiled eggs,
4 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a pot of water to boil (won't need to big a pot,  5-6 cups of water will be sufficient)
2. Peel and cut potato into chunks.
3. When water has come to a boil, put in 1 tsp salt into the water.
4. Put in potatoes and boil until soft.
5. Drain potatoes and put into a mixing bowl.
6. Put in peeled hard boiled eggs and butter into the hot potatoes. Put in 1/3 tsp salt and some pepper.
7. With a mixer, whip the potatoes until they look all mashed up.Taste and adjust if not salty.
8. Serve with roast or just eat it on its own. Yummy!!!

All these pics were taken during the period of time where my dearie set the ISO to 1600!!!

And I was just stupid stupid taking ugly pictures not knowing why

Very high noise problem and super hard editing them.

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Announcement

Dear Readers,
This will be my last post for potato week.
I need to take another break, this time, for much longer.
I do not know when I'll be back, probably 3-4 weeks time, maybe sooner, maybe later.
I'm moving, yes I am. Finally!!!
The house has been renovating since October 2010 and it's time to move in and I'm busy with the final fittings and packing and unpacking stuff.

I'll still be checking email from time to time and the comments section too, just in case some of you have questions, but I cannot promise prompt reply.

Thankyou and I'll see you again with pictures of my new kitchen.

Love ya all,
Wendyywy

Fork Pressed Purple Potatoes with Pinked Shallots and a Corelle Set ++ - Potato Week #2

Purple potatoes, yes. Not sweet potatoes. They are purple spuds. I never thought that I'd be able to get them here, until I saw in Tesco's brochure (less than 1 month back). I was very very ecstatic about it.

The purple colour in the potatoes are due to the pigment anthocyanin, which is the same pigment found in blueberries, red cabbages, roselle and of course, purple sweet potatoes. But it's not the same as beetroots or red dragonfruit. If anthocyanin comes into contact with acid, it turns pink and with alkaline it turns blue.

I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen before I even saw the potatoes in Tesco, thinking, will I ever get a chance to try it out? And when I really did get similiar potatoes (hers were another variety and were much much higher in anthocyanins), I was so so so so happy!!

I didn't really follow the recipe, but just recreated something based on how Deb's dish look like, visually.

Fork Pressed Purple Potatoes with Pinked Shallots
Visually inspired by Smitten Kitchen
Recipe source: Wendyywy

500gm purple potatoes
2 Tbsp butter or more
1/4 tsp salt
Handful of parsley, chopped

Peel and steam potatoes (whole) until soft (can be poked through easily with a chopstick or with a dinner knife). Remove from heat and place potatoes onto serving plate. Press potatoes until they break apart, but not mashy. Heat small saucepan and melt the butter. Put some salt into the butter. Pour melted salty butter evenly over potatoes. Sprinkle pinked shallots over potatoes and lastly top with chopped parsley.

Pinked shallots
5 shallots
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar or more
1/3 tsp salt

Peel and slice shallots thinly.
Mix with lemon juice and salt. The adjust the taste with sugar. Let it sit for 1 hour before using. Before use, fish out shallot and do not use the remaining liquid.

Verdict:
The potatoes tasted OMG. I mean, the dish itself. I'm a lover of all things sweet and sour (but I don't take dried pickled fruits, like sour plum. Not that I hate them but I don't really think of eating it, even when I'm pregs) The potatoes were slightly sweetish.. err.. or was it due to the pinked shallots.. kekeke. The pickled shallots were a perfect contrast to the buttery steamed potatoes. All I know is that I love love love this potato dish and if I were to see these purple spuds again, I'll definately get my hands on more. The colour actually turned nicer an hour later, compared to what you see in the pics, which was fresh and still hot.

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Ok, here, straying away a bit from my blog...
I have, actually not me, I'm just helping someone. But it's non profit for me.

A Corelle dinnerset.
If you've heard about this brand, I need not say more.

picture from Shopworldkitchen.com

•Callaway 16-pc Set includes 4 each: 10-1/4" Sculptured Dinner Plates, 7 1/4" Sculptured Salad Plates, 18-oz. Sculptured Soup/Cereal Bowls, and 10 1/2-oz. Stoneware Mugs
•Dishwasher safe for long lasting patterns
•Microwave and oven use for versatility
•Patterns won’t wash, wear or scratch off
•Break and chip resistance for carefree durability
•Stackability for cupboard space efficiency
•3 Year Limited Warranty (US)


Price:
Local department store (Jsc's) price : RM599
Featured price on this blog : RM 380 (36.5% discount)
This design is not available in Malaysia.

picture from Shopworldkitchen.com

Purchase with Purchase Option

Product: Callaway dinner plates, 4 pieces  (picture above)

Local department store (Jsc's) price : 4 X RM66 = RM 264
Featured price on this blog : RM 158
Special Purchase with Purchase price : RM50




Summary:
RM380+50= RM420
and you'll get the 16 pcs set and additional 4 dinner plates.


Purchase information:
Deposit : RM 50, balance upon delivery.
Delivery: By hand on either only 25 March or 26 March 2011 in Klang Valley or any other day if Ipoh or anywhere near Ipoh.
First come (deposit), first served.



Interested parties, please email me for more information
wendyinkk@yahoo.com