The Classic Carrot Cake I Love

So finally I bake a carrot cake a few days ago. I can't even remember when was the last time I bake one though. So this time I had to figure out a new recipe for my carrot cake. The original recipe required me to use Pecan nuts but of course this is just an option and since pecan is so darn expensive....like RM 82.90 per KG. I might as well use the nuts that I like better and cheaper like Walnuts which is only RM 48.00 per KG.

And I have been meaning to make some fondant decorative thing for my cake and Carrot Cake is the best opportunity. So I made these miniature carrots from Fondant and it makes the cake looks cute. And this carrot cake recipe is quite good and moist too, although I had to change a few things in the recipe as I find it a bit wrong, such as the flour content was a bit less so I add another 1/2 cup to the recipe and reduce 1/4 cup of sugar. And the cake came out like a winner. I loved it!

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding is one of the easiest dessert that anyone could make or at least this is what I thought before. Until I have to bake one for someone who is willing to pay for it. And therefore no room for trial and error. It has got to be perfect! But this simple dessert really put me to a test yesterday.

So I looked back into my recipe book and look at my little notes of what I have done before. Frankly, most of my recipes are taken from American cook books. But every time I made anything from my American recipe books, somehow they are always too sweet. Most of the times either cake, frosting or any dessert recipes, I will have to cut down at least half a cup of sugar. It is weird that I have to cut down this much of sugar to get the taste to a normal sweetness. I couldn't help but wonder, is this really the sweetness level of general American people? Diabetes much?

So going back to my Bread Pudding, I decided to make the one that I have done several months ago and this one required me to use whipping cream and not milk. My rule of thumb of eliminating problems and complaints is to always use a really good quality ingredients. And therefore the result and taste will be the best and there'll be less dispute of quality after that. It will be the worst complaint if my customer spit out my frosting because I used Margarine or that stupid butter-wannabe Buttercup brand. It happened before and I learned my lesson the humiliating way. Never again. Nowadays I will either only use pure imported butter such as Anchor butter and whipping cream from New Zealand or Tartura butter and cream cheese from Australia.

So for the whipping cream I used a quite expensive Anchor Whippping Cream. The cost really affected the price that I was going to charge my customer. In my opinion, simple dessert like this shouldn't cost so much because its quite simple to make. But I explained briefly to my customer that I used expensive and good quality product and luckily she didn't say anything. At least for now! And I truly hope she liked it and that the ingredients speak for itself.

This 8"x8"x2" aluminium container is just perfect for my one portion recipe and this container comes with a clear plastic cover. Makes it look so neat and clean.

My Bread Pudding comes with a really yummilicious Vanilla Sauce but I didn't take the photo of it. That Vanilla Sauce also I have to reduce the sugar and add more whipping cream inside to balance the thickness. Somehow the original recipe was pretty screw up. 

My bread pudding up close and personal. It looks pretty good to me.

The Story of My RED VELVET

It is unquestionable at this point that Red Velvet is my most popular cake. There is something about Red Velvet that is so appealing to a lot of cake lovers out there. If you ask me, the ingredients for Red Velvet is just a bunch of common things that we normally eat such as eggs, flour, oil, cocoa powder, baking soda, vanilla, white vinegar, and food coloring. But somehow the proportionate combination of the ingredients makes Red Velvet such a wonderful tasty cake. I can pretty much eat this cake everyday and not getting tired of it.

When I first made this cake, I knew that this cake is popular but I have no idea that this cake is that popular. So I started to play around in creating the look of my very own Red Velvet. So below are some of the Red Velvet cake from the first time I made them to the most recent one.

My First Red Velvet. Too white and too plain.

 My second Red Velvet, I put some color on top but seem kind of not enough and too ordinary looking.

 My third design of Red Velvet, still kind of plain although I sprinkle it with some Red-colored sugar to add some creative effect. Somehow still too plain looking for me.

 A customer requested me to create something a bit more colorful for her and this is what I did. Hmmmm! Sigh! But she loved it though. Thank god!

Finally, I managed to create the look that I really like for my Red Velvet. Yeahhhhh!

My Rainbow Cake To Cheer My Day

Rainbow cake is such a fascinating looking cake. Somehow the colors really makes the average Butter Cake taste a lot better and become the talk of the town. I have been making so many Rainbow Cakes before this but just a few weeks ago I realized I have been putting double the amount of butter in the cake than I was supposed to.

So when I made the cake this time, somehow it become less moist and less soft. I got the recipe from a renowned Chef from the USA. I won't reveal what recipe I use for my Rainbow Cake but anyone can just Google Rainbow Cake recipes on the internet and you'll get one. There are just so many versions of the recipes. However, in my quest to become a perfect baker I must first satisfied with my own Rainbow Cake. Or maybe I should start experimenting with several different recipes. Too lazy though and too much effort. Sigh!!

In KL, lots of my customers prefer to order the half size of the actual cake. Meaning I cut the recipe in half and make it into a smaller cake. It's cheaper and for a small group of people, this half size is convenient and just enough. However the small little problem that I got from baking this small cake is that the challenge to make it as moist and as soft as the original full size.

At this point I prefer to just make this cake in full size only. This way I can be sure of the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" motto. Moist and Soft cake will make anyone happy. Dry and hard is a complaint guaranteed. No No No!!!

Baking Is the Way!

I was so unhappy with my previous business as it went nowhere after a year the tsunami tragedy hit Japan. But somehow sometimes the one that we least expected is the one that gonna saves us.

I have always been very passionate about baking. Watching Martha Stewart show on the TV is always such a delights even for the reruns. There's something about her that really makes me feel wanna bake. I love her books as they are very detail in explanations. Martha pretty much fuel me to become excellent in baking and always wanna do more.

But with what is happening to me lately, I have my best friend Kamizi to thank to. He recognizes my talent in baking and when everything fell apart, Kamizi immediately asked me to start baking and sell them to his friends and colleagues at MAS Holidays, Subang.

His colleagues immediately become my training ground to test my baking skills and recipes. But of course I did my best not to humiliate Kamizi to his colleagues. And so far they are still ordering cakes and pies from me on weekly basis. And that count for something right? I must have done something right. And I also think that they know that it's okay to make mistakes as long as I listen to their comments and improve it the next time.

I sure hope this new career path will be the one for me this time. Something that is enough to make a living and pay the bills.

I sure hope that baking is the way......

All the best to me, myself and I.

My PAVLOVA Evolutions

Ever since I started selling my cakes to friends and friends's friends, request for uncommon desserts just pouring in. And Pavlova is one of them desserts that is so rare to be seen sold at bakeries around KL. 

To tell the truth I know what Pavlova is and I have seen it many times before. But I have never eaten one or made one myself. However since there were orders for Pavlova from my customers, I figure might as well learn how to bake it. How hard could it be right? Well, it's kind of hard! 

The first time I made it the Pavlova came out okay, but since I have never made one and there's no teacher around to tell me whether it's good or bad, I decided to bake another one. Then I realized the first one I baked was the better one and I sold my very first Pavlova to my customer and she loved it. And I ate the second one, the bad one with a bunch of friends and they loved it too. 

Below (pictures 1 to 3) are my first Pavlova (with Strawberries, Blueberries n Kiwis) that I sold to a customer a while back. The one with Cherries on top (Pictures 4 to 6) was made yesterday for a customer and she loved it too and regretted that she didn't order 2 of it. 

 PAVLOVA 1

 PAVLOVA 2

PAVLOVA 3

 PAVLOVA 4

 PAVLOVA 5

PAVLOVA 6

White Snowy Coconut Cake

Coconut is such a tropical fruit. The fragrant smell of coconut is so intoxicating that it will reminds you the last beach vacation you had. I am such a cake lover but I hardly see a lot of varieties for Coconut flavor desserts and cakes.

I have been keeping this idea for a Coconut cake for quite sometimes now and finally last week I came out with a recipe of my own with Coconut as the dominant flavor. The basic for this cake is just a White Cake so it is quite easy to turn such a plain cake into another hit of delectable dessert. When I made it, I know that I wanted it to look so white and frothy and almost like a cloud. So I decided to use a white fluffy frosting made from egg whites, sugar and light corn syrup. The result from this frosting is so perfect to serve the idea that I had. But the only problem is once the cake is frosted, it must be consumed immediately for best result.

The white color from the frosting brings out the gorgeous taste of coconut in the cake and so I named it WHITE SNOWY COCONUT CAKE.

STRAWBERRY LOVECAKE...... My Latest Creations

As I look at all the cakes out there I thought I should create something with my name to it, so I decided to create my own original cake. I love cakes very much and I thought I should create a new Strawberry cake that will do justice to this fruit of love. Below is the photos of my Strawberry Lovecake as I call it as....