aaack!

Look at how cute this is!
Photo courtesy of this blog

cheese cake with white chocolate and raspberries.

November 23, 2011.

So, cheese cake has been the new curiosity for me. After succeeded in making Oreo Cheese Cake, i want to make more! This time is a classic cheese cake with white chocolate and raspberries on top. Want to try? It's so easy to make and it's not a time-consuming kind of recipe. Give it a try!

Ingredients:
4 packages cream cheese (908 g or 2 pounds)
4 tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 cup sour cream
1 pack fresh raspberries
1 pack wheat biscuit

Optional:
1/2 cup white chocolate buttons
1 cup heavy or whipping cream



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (or 170 degrees C)
2. Mix cream cheese and sugar until soft, add vanilla extract
3. Add eggs one at a time while still mixing the cream cheese mixture
4. To make the crust, crush the biscuits until it forms little crumbs. You can do this with a food processor. Add melted butter. Press this mixture into a spring form tin, press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge.
5. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula
6. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 270 degrees and bake for another 1 hour. It doesn't necessarily have to be bake for 1 hour, but do check the oven every 20 minutes to make sure it has set and not over-baked.
7. Cool the cheese cake for about an hour.
8. Meanwhile in a medium heat in a pan, mix together heavy cream and white chocolate buttons until they mixed perfectly. Pour the chocolate sauce on top of the cheese cake. Let it cool.
9. Decorate with raspberries.
10. Serve.
    

carrot cupcakes with cheese cream frosting (Martha Stewart's)

November 20th, 2011.

I got this birthday present from my soon-to-be sister, mother, and father-in-law. They know that I'm crazy about baking cupcakes, so they bought me Martha Stewart's Cupcake book for my birthday. There are sooo many variations of cupcakes that i would like to try to make, so i started out on carrot cupcakes first. I didn't use some of the ingredients in the recipe due to the short time that i had last week. And i forgot to take the picture of the carrot cupcakes (do'oh!!). Here's the recipe, it's delicious!

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

• 1 pound carrots (about 450 g), finely grated
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 cups sugar (i only use 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (you can use sour cream or plain yogurt to substitute)
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved (simply use vanilla powder)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (i didn't use this, cos many people don't like raisins)
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (didn't use this)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (also didn't use this)

Ingredients for the frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (additional)
• 1/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
  

Directions

1. Make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla-bean seeds, and raisins. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.

2. Divide batter among liners, filling 3/4 full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes, rotating tins halfway through. Transfer tins to racks to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from tins; let cool completely.

3. Make frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar. Continue to beat while adding remaining sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Add vanilla, and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes.

oreo cheese cake with chocolate ganache on top.

November 19th, 2011.

Here i am back in the kitchen again. I was really nervous prior to my engagement day, so i spent like soooo much time in the kitchen. Finally i had made something other than cupcakes. I've always been curious about how do people make cheesecakes. After searching and searching for the most simple recipe, i've finally made this!

Ingredients for the Cheese Cake:
4 packages cream cheese (908 grams) or 2 pounds
1 package of oreos 16 oz or 450 grams
4 Tablespoons butter (45 grams)
4 eggs
1 cup sugar (200 grams)
1 Tablespoon vanilla (15ml)
1/2 cup cream (whipping cream, heavy cream) (180 ml)
1 cup sour cream (230 grams)

Directions:

1. Crush 1 pack of Oreo until coarsely chopped. You can do this with a food processor or you can beat the cookies with meat beater. Add melted butter and put this as the base of your cheese cake. After you put it in the cake tin, pop into the fridge for a bit while.
   
2. Mix cream cheese in a bowl, add sugar
3. Add eggs one by one while the mixer is still mixing
4. Add heavy cream and sour cream. Always remember that you can use plain yoghurt as a substitute for sour cream.
5. Add crushed oreos into the mixture. Mix well.
6. Put the mixture into the cake tin.
7. Bake 350 (170C) for 15 minutes, then lower heat to 250 (121C) and bake an additional 1 and 1/2 hours. When it's almost 1 hour, do check the oven to prevent overbaked cake and to avoid the smell of burnt cake.
   

Chocolate Ganache:
2 cups chocolate chips 12 oz or 240 grams (semi-sweet) or (milk chocolate)
1 and 1/3 cups cream (320ml)


Directions:

1. In medium heat, heat up the cream for a while
2. Put in the chocolate buttons or chocolate chip, stir until they combined well and produce a nice and glossy chocolate sauce
3. Sit the chocolate ganache for a while
   
4. Pour chocolate ganache on top of the cheese cake (you don't have to use them all)
5. Pop the cheese cake into the refrigerator and serve while still cold. Yum!!

Ok, this one (above) with the Oreo crust is burned. It sat too long in the oven.
Luckily i made TWO of these! I bought this Graham Cracker's pie crust at the local supermarket and i just poured in the excess cheese cake mixture and chocolate ganache.
It tastes ghhhh--hh--hood!

cupcakes saga.

November 19th, 2011.

Hello!

It's been too long since my last post. I've been very busy taking cupcakes orders for birthdays and family events. So, here are a few of them :)

fourth order: cups of coffee.

September 18th, 2011.

Another order for a little girl's birthday. This time only 16 cupcakes but the client wanted me to make coffee and chocolate cupcakes. The coffee cupcakes are still the bomb, though. They smell great and they taste gh-h-hood!! Find the recipe here.

third order: bees! bees! bees!

September 17th, 2011.

Another birthday party with a theme! The theme is bumblebee! So the client wanted me to make bumblebee cupcakes in my own creation. The idea is to make a beehive with one bee sticking onto it. Making 75 cupcakes isn't much of a hassle, but making the bees is! But they turned out quite cute and beautiful.

angry birds birthday cake.

September 15th, 2011.

My nephew, Adhetta, is having a major major crush on Angry Birds. Everything he talks about is Angry Birds, everything that makes his eyes shine is Angry Birds. And he begged me since two weeks before his birthday is for me to make him an Angry Birds birthday cake. Actually i was intended to make the birds from a fondant, but it turned out very hard to do. So luckily i found a set of Angry Birds cake decoration, so Adhetta can have his Angry Birds birthday cake. He helped me organized the birds with a huge smile on his face. His expression was priceless!

Still learing so hard to make nice wordings.
As you can see i couldn't do it properly (not yet) hehe.

You can purchase the Angry Birds decoration set at your local baking store.

Ta- daaaah!

second order: the 60 cupcakes.

September 15th, 2011.

Yes this is my second cupcake order, that is to make 60 cupcakes in medium size. It's not really complicated, the costumer wanted half vanilla cupcakes and hal chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting in four different colors: pink, blue, purple, and yellow. So here they are! Love the colors :)

chocolate cupcakes with mint buttercream frosting.

September 15th, 2011.

It's my nephew and niece's birthday today. My sister, who is the most loyal client asked me to make an Angry Birds - themed birthday cake, 60 cupcakes, and a few of chocolate cupcakes with mint butter cream frosting. Let's star with the last one first, shall we? I'm using a different recipe this time for the chocolate cupcake.

What you need:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tsp chocolate extract
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

For the icing:

• 1 cup butter (unsalted)
• 1 cup Australian butter
• 1 cup soft cream
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
  
• Green
• Sprinkle, or cocoa powder (sifterd)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and chocolate extract. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Add chocolate powder. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.
4. For the frosting, mix together butter, Australian butter, and soft cream until smooth. If you like sweets, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of icing sugar to the frosting mixture. Add two drops of green food coloring and the mint extract. Put the mixture into the piping bag and decorate the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Finish the decoration with sprinkles or sifted cocoa powder.
   

first order!

September 9th, 2011.

Hello, it's been a long time :)

Now that the holy Ramadhan month is past and Eid is over, it's time to get back to the kitchen. Fortunately, my office mate's girlfriend is having a birthday and he wants me to bake some cupcakes for her. So, i baked her chocolate cupcakes with butter cream. As she loves the color purple, i mix sku blue and salmon food coloring to produce a pale purple icing. Happy Birthday!