D e l i s i o u c i t y

It’s weddings-galore for our family this year and what better way, at least for me that is, to give a gift other than a wedding cake! ^_^ I made this all night on Saturday after finishing and delivering my mother-in-law’s cake, and had no sleep at all. This cake itself was slightly impromptu – and even husby was surprised to wake up on Sunday morning to see flowers a-bloomin’ and his wife looking like a panda with a big grin on her face No sleep, but tonnes of joy. Just the perfect concoction for a relatively-costly, madness-driven hobby.

So whilst I was quite happy with the resulting cake, my very anal nature told me that  I was, and should be, barely content with the overall aesthetics because the details weren’t perfect. Firstly, I had forgotten to draw a black line on the ladybugs to indicate wings (and hence they looked like a coupla big-eyed strawberries); secondly the flowers were a bit too thick and created a ‘heavy’ look on the what-should’ve-been very delicate and soft frilly petals; and thirdly, no matter how much I ironed out the fondant cover of the cake, it still had creases and tiny potholes! argh! Am I allowed to blame it all on the lack of sunlight whilst attempting to do all this? But you know, this was after all a first attempt, and we really shouldn’t be glass-half-empty all the time Lots learned that night, which is the most important part of the whole gastroventure

The cake itself was an experimental take on a proper wedding gateau; it was very small and short, and there were only two layers for the bottom cake and the smaller one was torted. Since it was a gift anyway, I suppose it wasn’t cost-effective to make a wedding grandeur out of a small amount of time, cake batter and fondant. My cousin had a tree-tier cake to do just the job ^_^, and standing tall next to my miniscule cake,  it does put things into perspective. First is that I still like my creation over the buttercream-slathered tiers. And secondly, the flowers (and ladybugs) popped out so much in terms of colour and dimensionality, that you couldn’t help but notice ‘that miniscule of a cake’

That’s the way we like it, aha aha.

Cake details, if you’re interested: Lemon & Buttermilk Cake with Lemon White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream. All fondant decorations are edible as always ^_^

I’m not too sure if these can technically be called jacket potatoes, but the concept does not digress too far off from the ones you find at boulangeries et al. One of my sisters taught me how to do this when I was a teen and we loved eating it for a snack. Yes, you read me right. Snack. I suppose it’s “alright” so long as your chosen tuber is not the size of a football And here, I used small potatoes indeed (of which I fail to know the type). The process is pretty straightforward, and the ingredients you can play with for variety. I opt to not tweak it at all when I make these, for madam-nostalgia’s sake

Cheesy Jackies Recipe

• 3 Potatoes – boiled and cored. Save the innards.
• 2 tbspns Cream Cheese spread (Not philly!) You may replace with riccotta, feta or mozzarella.
• 4 tbspns whole milk
• 1 stalk of cilantro, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tbspn butter or cooking spray

Method

When coring the potatoes, make sure that you leave some potato meat to line the skin. Then, mash the saved innards of the potatoes. In a pan, heat the butter and scramble the egg. Add the mashed potato and stir to combine. Add the cheese and pour in the milk. Cook till all the milk is reduced and you get a nice ol’ cheesy-eggy-mess. Add chopped cilantro for some fragrance. Scoop in about a tablespoon (or more, if needed) of the cooked potato into the potato shells and enjoy!

I always make sure that I have extra mashed potato filling so I can just pop that in the fridge and eat that for a snack instead of the whole jackie ensemble. It’s a very filling carb source, and G.I dieters would probably tell you to stay off it. Once every now and then is not too bad I should think So yes, eat the extra filling, or serve it as an appetizer, with water crackers.

I’ve got a confession to make. The past month and two weeks (in which I have done little or no baking) have led me to occasionally think about dreamy desserts that I’d long like to try. The one fixation that I have had for the longest time is for a taste of the fluffiest and moistest banana cake ever. Sure, there have been plenty of good ones found at bakeries… but most of the time they were dry, or too dense, or overcooked, and even at one time, didn’t taste too much of bananas. It was a weird cakey thing that probably had banana essence instead of real bananas (yish!)

Oh yes, before I forget to tell you, I absolutely love bananas! Yes, I am bananas about bananas (shamelessly cheesy pun begging to be said, i know i know). So at times when my husby was sleeping/went out, I’d sneak about websites to browse around for tried and tested banana cake/cupcake recipes to try. [By the way, sneaking? = not exaggeration. I was banned from blogging because I had "more important stuff to finish". Practically was nannied whenever I had my laptop on (which I am not complaining about! He does provide me the much-needed oversight sometimes )]

Anyhow, I found at least two recipes that promised the type of texture and taste that I wanted. It doesn’t take much searching anyway till you find a good recipe, and I am sure there are more sources out there with slightly different ingredients or proportions. However, I did add a few touches of my own to the recipe I used here: I added 1 tspn pure vanilla, and a handful of chocolate chips for some dimension. Also, I incorporated methods learned from last year from my baking class in Singapore. Probably not something completely unfamiliar to you (like creaming and gradually adding the sugar; temperatures and oven settings – I switched to fan-force; etcetc). I guess any amateur or professional baker will tell you that the techniques employed in preparation of the final product is just as important, if not slightly more, as the recipe itself

The results were a stunning and yes, dreamy taste and texture! Now how’s that for a simple cupcake? But like last time, as mentioned in my previous gastroventure post, I wonder what buttermilk will do to the overall texture and taste. I will have to try that next time As for the cupcake topping, I used a simple dark chocolate frosting and piped it much to the effect of a Monte Blanc dessert; and topped the cupcakes with fondant hearts, calla lillies, and yes, bananas.

Oh yes! I found these chic square cupcake liners at a pvc-container specialist store. And whilst they are uber-cool and quite non-conformist (I think, at least,) the cake proportion that can go into each case is a mere tablespoon’s worth. Not too bad depending on where you stand – it’s either a nice amount for dietiers, or you may think that it’s a tad too little. Either way, I assure you that eating just one of these will surely not suffice!

When your loved one writes you a recipe, then by all means, start heating up the pan!

It just so happens that this particular instruction produces the yummiest pancakes ever! So stay off those readily-mixed boxed flour that you just add water to; this is the pancake recipe you won’t want to miss

I replaced the white sugar with ‘cinnamon sugar’ instead, by the way.  You can just imagine the scents coming out of the kitchen right about now, can’t you?  Oh and the little specks you see there in the pancake picture below are pure vanilla beans. Absolutely divine!

These pancakes  are filling, moist, and dense – makes me wonder what buttermilk will do the recipe, actually! They also have the potential of getting even fluffier if it weren’t for my particular fear of bloating-effects of the baking powder towards my tummy (hehe). Also, I have a habit of patting the pancakes to flatten them out while they’re cooking on the pan… so you can see the thinner edges there. Next time I’ll just leave them alone because these actually remind me of the Japanese dorayaki :p But all in all, the results was a nice little homey breakfast.

Don’t forget the honey/maple syrup!

(and thanks to my husby for the recipe-writing!)

Last week I was on leave from work and had the best time ever No, it wasn’t because I had some time out or lazed about doing nothing. If anything, I was so tied up with a lot of stuff (2 days of baking, and a bakesale included!) and barely even had any shut-eye. For instance, for the two days of baking, I was up all night without any sleep. So bushed I was! But there was one thing that made my spirits lift up throughout the whole week, and that was having my mum sleep over at our home! ^_^

My mum is a fun person to be around with. She loves watching soaps/dramas and would talk on and on about the latest stuff that goes on in the lives of the characters in the shows. The funniest bit is when she goes really ‘emo’ about the dramatic acting and happenings of the actors, that she’d really be loud about it, whilst watching the show . Well, it’s quite an undertatement to say that thanks to her, I myself got into the whole emo-soaps thing! We also chatted a lot in the last week, starting from first thing early in the morning at around 5.30, up to late night before bed It was never-ending, and I absolutely love her for being such a great company. She’s like a big warm splash of sunshine and a burst of colourful spring buds!

During her stay, we went out for meals quite regularly (and I’ve gained so much in such a short span of time!!). I really like her to stay just like she would on a vacation, and while I love her cooking, I’d rather not subject her to all that at our home. I also wanted to take her out much (which didn’t turn out quite as planned because the weather had been SOOO hot).

On Sunday we went to the fresh fish market and got a whole bunch of seafood items: crabs, prawns, fishes. I made her current favourite, hot fish assam, in addition to inroducing to her an Australian rice produce: whole wheat brown short grain rice.

The rice took such a long time to cook, an hour actually, for it to really puff up from absorbing water. And I’d have to say that I am not gonna be getting used to its fibrous texture anytime soon x( But she loved it though! And I’m happy to report that after years of almost failed attempts, my mother now happily consumes my cooking! Don’t get me wrong though, but ‘traditional’ cooking isn’t exactly my forte and I always tend to tweak recipes and she would always detect that But the Assam fish that day was well recieved

Assam Fish
(adapted from mum’s cooking. And it’s quite possible that I’ve missed out some things!)

Fresh fish, cleaned and gutted
About 1.5 tspn tamarind (use less for the smooth paste version)
4 cloves of garlic
3 cloves of shallots
2 thin slices of ginger
1/2 a fresh chilli
Salt to taste

Pound the garlic, shallots, ginger and chilli using a mortar and pestel. I wouldn’t recommend using a food processor because you should aim to achieve a very coarse but flattened texture. Add tamarind and some water, and heat up your sauce pan. You may use some oil, or skip it and just sautee the pounded ingredients with water. Add fish, and cover. Add some more water, and salt to taste.

If anyone has a great assam fish recipe/secret, please share ! In the meantime, I’m gonna catch up on some snooze time and give my mum a call.

I never really know what to give little kids when it comes to desserts and sweets. Somehow I’m stuck in the genre of “desserts for adults” which often either end up being classic cakes (or petite macarons that not many here really appreciate ), or stuff spiked with espresso (thanks to my cofeeholic husby). I know that chocolate-type desserts, on the other hand, are sure winners and just any age group can and often will appreciate in a heartbeat. So when the opportunity came up to re-acquiant myself with my kitchen and re-establish my baking mojo, I immediately thought of chocolates. But ahhh, what form do I translate these brown beauties into?? Tough, I thought, because I was baking for a charity event that was held at a school. So the products had to be cost-effective and sellable to little kids. Not exactly something I’m used to, unfortunately. So far my clientele have been of a particular demographic group – ones who do not mind the extra cost derived from imported pure vanilla or couverture chocolate, for example. So with much tweaking and planning ahead, I managed to come up with options for the event that didn’t really hurt the purse for both the baker and the little kiddy customers (and their parents, to some extent )

Use cheaper chocolates, and make do with a basic buttercream recipe
Fondant topper? Simplicity is the way to go. You can also make your own fondant of course.

Much ‘a-Moussed’ about chocolate nothings?
Make mousses with whipping cream instead of heavy cream. Same effect, less cost.
Topping: Ganache, or feuillete. You can easily mimic the latter with cheaper options like Nestum or Cornflakes Special-K instead of Gavottes.

Teddy bear Chocolate Sugar Cookies. Well ok,
these take plenty of man-hours (or rather, baker-hours!) to make. But they’re so fun and cute!

You can find these till tomorrow, Saturday 7th March at this school. There’ll be other desserts available too, such as my niece’s gargantuan chocolate chip cookies If you visit and buy our desserts, 20% of sales go to the needful in Palestine. So go on then! This is one ‘moment on the lips’ that’ll not just stay ‘forever on the hips’…. it’ll also stay forever in your list of good deeds 2009 And while you’re browsing the school’s website, do check out their volunteering programmes, or fill in their form here.

*Update 7th March 09*

More stuff from the last day of the bakesale!

More chocolate & sprinkles abound on these easy doughnuts and cheesecake choco chip truffles

…and finally! A non-chocolate entry: A Pina Colada Blizzard cupcake. Moist and dense coconut cake (using coconut cream), white chocolate & cream cheese buttercream with a chunk of crystallised pineapple on top

At last, I’ve finally been able to finish a Daring Bakers Challenge after so long! I’ve been so tied up the past two months and missed the Buche Noel challenge for December and the Tuilles challenge for January… (Sorry DB!!) For the month of February, a flourless cake recipe from the infamous Chef of pot-pet, Chef Wan (of Malaysia) had been chosen. A big thank you to Wendy at wmpesblog (Arizona) and Dharm at Dad – Baker and Chef (Malaysia) for hosting this delightful challenge which opened up plenty of possibilities for some creative work

“Sandwhiches”:Chocolate Valentino & Homemade Buttermilk-Mocha Ice Cream

I chose to bake the cake in a jelly roll pan, which produced this thin layer of *ehem* cake that I used to make a valentino and buttermilk-mocha ice cream sandwhich. Oh yes, did I tell you? As part of the challenge, we were supposed to also make our own ice cream! Making ice cream is always a challenge for me because I am yet to own an ice cream machine (boooo~) and so have to resort to other means of production ^_^ For an ice cream recipe that doesn’t require a machine, head over to David Lebovitz’s website (here I’ve provided you a link for the vanilla ice cream recipe. You can improvise on that one for any flavour you wish).

Let’s talk about the cake first! Here’s the recipe for Chef Wan’s flourless chocolate Valentino. Prior warning though: this cake will truly reflect your choice of chocolate, so it’s gonna be bitter bitter sweet if you choose to use that option. Also, ensure you use good quality cooking chocolate, or if you can muscle out the extra dosh, a pish-posh couverture chocolate

Chocolate Valentino by Chef Wan
Preparation Time:  20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated
*optional: 1/2 C almond meal

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

You might have noticed the sheer simplicity of the recipe and method. Don’t be fooled though, you really need to be weary of the beating process for the egg-whites. Do not overbeat or your cake will flop in the middle (as tried and tested by our many DB members!) Also, watch over the baking time.. naturally, if you spread the batter over a thin jelly-roll pan, you would significantly reduce the amount of time taken for baking. I did some minor adjustments for this by reducing the temperature to 180C and baking for about 10 minutes (perhaps I should have gone less really, because the cake became biscuit!) It also depends on the reliability of your oven. As a general rule for my Ariston, cakes I bake use the fan-forced setting.

As you can see, I also baked the batter in tiny tartelette moulds for the base of a different dessert presentation:

Chocolate Bombe: Valentino, Feuillete, Homemade Buttermilk-Mocha Ice Cream, Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Ganache, and Mocha Beans

I used the valentino to act as a sable or a dacquoise even, and it worked quite well. The bombe structure is quite easy to make, and really you don’t need a special mould to do it Just a little ingenuity with a metal ikea bowl does the trick! Just make sure you line it with saran wrap, and freeze as you go. The hot weather here has NOT been nice at all mind you. Anyway, for the chocolate bomb, here is the breakdown of the innards (which I spent half an hour drawing!):

I was itching to try out the feuillete that was featured in the Buche Noel challenge which I missed out, so I went ahead and made it. I am pretty lucky to find that some stores here in Brunei actually do sell the authentic French gavottes for the feuillete, but if you can’t find it, I am told that Rice Krispies will also do the trick. If you are familiar with the Nestum product, it is possibly the closest I can think of to what the gavottes are in terms of taste and texture. So you may also use that

The resulting feuillete is the one featured in the above picture, on the bottom left. It is so delicious on its own!! I pressed the same tartelette case on it, and got the round shape that was to be inserted in the bombe.

Ingredients for the Feuillete:
3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) butter
2.1oz (60g) lace crepes(gavottes) or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K or Nestum

1.    Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2.    Add the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.
3.    Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

So there you go. I had fun making these, but only wish that I had some extra heavy cream to make a shiny glaze for the bombe’s outermost skin layer (instead of the matt effect I got up there. boooo~) Perhaps another day then, after all, this dessert is through and through decadent chocolate What’s not to re-make?

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*A little formality that needs to be done for the blog auto-checking process for the DB group:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Since I’ve been piping down, blog-wise, an awful lot lately,  thought I’d put up stuff that fall under a theme that I rarely touch on nowadays. One that doesn’t require me to bake anything or subsequently feel guilty about. And that theme, my fellow food-lovers, is ‘dieting etc’. The past year I’ve packed enough weight to account for the daily nutritional requirements of a whale/rhino/woolly mammoth; thanks to those evil things known to mankind as cakes and confectionaries. Sigh. It is indeed time to re-evaluate a much re-evaluated stance on food and calories.

During busy times, meals somehow magically transform into what is often a  cornucopia of calories derived from gargantuan portions of takeaways or tapaus. God knows I am in a much-needed doze of detoxification from not only the things that come out of my kitchen’s oven, but also these tapau quick fixes (ok, ok, full-blown meals then!) from the shops/restaurants. So I’m now trying to clean up my act by eating only sarnies for lunch. It’s at least portion-controlled, and I get to choose better and healthful choices The sarny here is a very quick and easy one.. a lunch to go if you like. Ideally, I’d use soft white bread any day, thank you. But I’ve been getting used to low GI breads – wholemeals with plenty of roughage and fibre in the form of mixed seeds. I’m not sure if it’s an acquired taste sort of thing, but it might take you a while to get accustomed with the brown muck of a bread ^_^ I used only one slice of that, with chicken toast pastrami, add about 1 to 2 ounces of mozarella cheese (light, if you insist!) and slices of fresh tomato. I just adore the two tomato colours that came in that one box I found in the vege aisle!

Enjoy with a cup of hot creamy chicken soup from the pack, and off you go! Funny how I was quite satisfied with such a light light lunch. But this arrangement is not bad at all for my much-needed calorie-counting exercise. For now that is. hehe.

The options for fillings of an opened-face sarny is endless! Above is from another day’s lunch: same low GI bread, slices of beef with pepper, tomatoes and avocadoes (which, I realised was getting old and oxidizing away in my fridge). And the wonderful thing is that these lunches are within the range of 250 to 300 calories.. or probably less!

Thought I’d put up a post to tell you that I’m having a temporary freeze on baking activities because of work and life commitments. So much going on and so little time!

Quite aptly too, here’s a picture from my sister’s place in Paddington Square, London. Apparently the snow/blizzard was paradoxically beautiful. She made the snowman and posted to us all so we can cheer up from the foul rainy/stormy/floody (?) weather we’ve been experiencing here lately. Thoughtful! ^_^

Praises to Allah that the rains have stopped and we’re now back to sunny, humid and hot Brunei. I hear a drought is coming next.

To sis, I hope your timberland boots and new Chanel valentine’s edition are keeping you cosy in what appears to be a wretchedly cold winter ^_^

Oh my! Drool-worthy indeed.

My best friend’s son’s 1st birthday and I was on my feet for 14 hours making these and his two cakes. Could I feel my soles anymore? No. Was he a happy bunny? Yes. Apparently Amshar loves Cookie Monster and he ‘sings’ with his granny:

“C is for Cookie… it’s good enough for me…“.

Aww! Too cute huh? ^_^

These are Madagascar Vanilla Sugar Cookies, and made customized with a couple of cookie cutters. Cookie’s face is made of royal icing. I think I get utterly possessed when I get my hands on royal icing, piping and flooding the cookies with uninterrupted determination. Almost trance-like really ^_^ Anyhow, the birthday boy loved these and wouldn’t let go of them and had a resultant blue mouth. hehe. The rest of the cookies are my signature hippos and chicks, which were apparently a big hit:

And some white chicks ^_^

These were packed in an aluminium bag, and heat-sealed. My husband had lots of fun in this area, stamping the bags with the sealer and putting on the sticker We had a proper production line at home over the weekend! Woot!

As for the cakes, I made the Death By Chocolate cake (which my best friend’s husband dubbed as “Bladi hell delicious”; yes, in these exact words), and Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. The latter is beautifully soft and white, but after layering and decorating, it turned out tooo sweet with the buttercream and jam filling. So I’m seriously reconsidering her much well-recommended cake for events such as this. Here’s the recipe nonetheless, which you ought to tweak for the overall level of sweetness:

Perfect Party Cake

From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours” (and hijacked from Ezra Pound Cake)

Makes 12 to 14 servings

For the Cake

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing

• 2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
• About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or  whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

To Make the Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake: Using a sharp, serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with the third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream left over). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving: The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but it’s best to let it set for a couple of hours in a cool room. Serve it at room temperature with anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing: The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to 2 days.

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The cake is decorated with rolled fondant, which I planned to adorn with muppets’ faces on the surface. I made the muppets the night before, which apparently wasn’t enough time for them to dry. So they broke. And it was SUCH a stressful thing to have happened!

So what happens when your friendly muppets decide to screw you over at the very last minute? You rummage through your royal icing stash and hope to God that your mediocre piping skills will save your baker’s rear end ^_^ This all happened, of course, at the 13th hour of my baking marathon. Like I didn’t have enough time and energy already. Sigh. The results:

So many lessons learned from this experience, such as starting the whole project earlier or preparing each component in multiple phases; and not using royal icing for the cake decoration (it was too darn sweet already!) I did manage to save Big Bird and Cookie Monster which dried good enough to lift off. But they did break anyway, and left a siginificant amount of undried sugar on the acetate. It’s beyond me that I had forgotten to use rolled fondant to make the muppet heads in the first place (but not so much fondant figurines though). I could’ve easily gone hopping mad right there and then. I did hop a little bit though. All in all, what a gastroventure!!

A note to Amshar:

Dearest Amshar. It will be a few years more till you can read (or allowed to read) auntie Nikki’s website. But I want to tell you that I’m sorry that your birthday cake wasn’t as perfect as Dorie Greenspan claimed it would be. I’m also sorry if you got sugar-high yesterday because of the rolled fondant, royal icing, buttercream filling, jam filling, and brush of simple syrup. I know I make no sense to you right now, but please be assured that Auntie will strive to excel even more in her baking adventures ^_^

Love always, and big Muppet Monster hugs.

hehe.