LIKE FINALLY!

OMG! After so long and various ding dong mails to google I managed to log in my blog. Haiz.......now I have a lot of back logs or should I start afresh?

Super Loooong break!!!

Wow! It has been like what, 3 years since I last posted here. Hah! Basically I am a biiiit lazy. Teeny Weeny Bit. But bcos I had to start preparing for a new baby in the house after 6 years. Yes! It's back to diapers and bottles again after 6 long years. But it was a nice experience when it is a girl!

It was very daunting as I was the only female in the house of four people. Now I have a daughter to back me up. Hehehe......

Also I wanted to make major career changes and busy with the new kid. No! Not setting up a bakery as I have always wished for. But hope that someday it will become true, like after I retire!

Anyway, with the support of family and frens, I have embarked on the journey of studying. My goodness! After don't know how many donkey years, I am touching books again to study, not to read. Though I was very hesitant, at first, given my age and family situation. But with constant support and motivation and the need to upgrade in Singapore, I decided to go for it.

I have just completed 1 year of my studies and another 3 more to go. It is very tuff juggling studies and family commitments. But I hope to stay positive and look forward to achieving my aim.

Along the way, I did still try to find time to continue with my passion in baking. I have invested in it quite a bit to just give it up. And I also realise that it is something I cannot give up easily. I either got no time to take pics or post them. Will try to do some collage or something post when free.

I envy those baking frens out there who work, take care of family and pursue their baking. I feel like I need eight hands like an octupus to multi-task. But perserverence is necessary. I am still trying to cope everything and baking is a stress reliever for me. That's it for today and I hope do regular updates.

Cupcake Decorating 1

After much deliberation and managing to secure a place, I went to Shermay's Cooking School for my 1st class. I really had no idea of the place and was very surprised of the small space. It was very tiny, that they not only managed to have a retail shop, but also a demo area and a workspace area. It was a very nice looking place though.

Jocelyn is as pretty and slim. I didn't expect to see a super slim person for a baker.....hehehe (mental note to myself; not only bake and eat but must exercise!!!) She was very clear with her explanations, of course we were all too anxious and cannot wait to get our hands on the cuppies. We prepared the chocolate cuppies, while we will be given the vanilla ones that were pre-baked. So everyone gets 12 cuppies!!! (drools)

After showing some of her ideas for the decorating we were all set to get on the table and do our stuff. I mean decorating. May I present to you my cuppies....(drumroll please)

Birthday Cake for da Hubby

Finally managed to bake a cake and got to use my betty crocker tools. Yipee! But unfortunately, time was not in my hands. I did the simplest deco that can come to my mind and learnt some things by making mistakes.....hehehe

I wanted to create the two tone effect for the stars and managed to show a little bit at least. But the wording kind of messed up. Guess i didn't squeeze out all of the blue out. 'I am trying to save the earth by not using so many bags lah'. : P

Anyway, maybe I was too fast or too hard, when i tried to imprint the wordings, the lines of the stencils came through as well. So using my spatula tried to clear the lines and ended up with a not so smooth top. You can still see the lines faintly. So using freehand, made the ugly wordings which was supposed to be in brown, but some blue showed thru as well.

But for a firstimer with no piping skills I think I am good. (Yah, I need to be thick skin here....)

So presenting my delicious cake. I started out using a Hershey's chocolate cake recipe. But decided to add some nonsense and believe me it was good. It tasted even better after keeping in the fridge longer. I had extra batter so baked it and froze it in the fridge. Only ate it last weekend and it was superb and rich!!!!

Close up....

Blueberry Cheesecake for da hubby

Baked my very first cheesecake! I was so scared of so many things. Will it be creamy enough? What if there are lumps? How about the temp, can my antique oven handle it?

But hey, if you keep worrying, you can never get your task done right! So I went about following the recipe to the dot. You see the problem I am not able to post my recipes is because I refer to not one but many variations. In the after I am done and finished, I kinda just stash it away in my file and forget which one I used. I have actually labelled a few files. I think I should start organising my recipe files. Sigh! Another task in pending.

Back to the cheesecake. I didn't dare to take a bite. Cos I am not the cheesy creamy person. :P So I shall leave it to the food critic to throw the arrow at me. Surprisingly, he said it was not bad. Creamy and the sugar was just nice. Maybe, I could have added more blueberries and not be stingy with it. I distributed some to my colleagues next day, and was on cloud 9 when I had good reviews. Till to day I have not mangaed to set my recipe collections right. I need to find that recipe before I forget about it or lose it.

Again, lighting is not good as my photos are always taken at night.

My New Toy

Finally! After months of waiting, waiting and waiting. I got my hands on the Betty Crocker set. It's a 100 piece cake decorating kit. I shall use it for trial for my hubby's birthday, which just around the corner. I will have to start thinking of recipes and colours to blend.

Dad's Cake

My Dad's Birthday was coming and I wasn't really prepared. I just came up with something very simple using Hershey's recipe. Using my silicone pan, I was facing some difficulties. I can't seem to have an even bake. Even after lengthening the baking time, it still produced some underbaked areas. Than when cut it to frost, it became dry. This is my 3rd time trying the silicone ware and still cannot get the promised results. I'am thinking it could be my oven also. I cannot play with my temperature, so I guess wil have to stash my silicone till I find my ideal oven. I really have to replace my ancient oven soon.

Anyway, here is my almost first frosted cake. (I spoiled the chocolate deco, as I got carried away)