you have reach the mailbox of....

just letting you know, (not that you asked) , that i'm away for the next 3 weeks.

so will let you know when i'm back in the kitchen!! :)

**again?? some people say..

Horyuken!!

Irene approached me for her boyfriend's birthday cake sometime ago. The options scares me slightly. But I appreciate her trust, by putting her name down for the date anyway. ^___^ thanks Ai!!!

We met up at Ton Ton to go over the design about a week an a half before the due date, when a new option was presented. It excites me, this new option.... but one i know would take careful time management, especially with the other cakes already lined up for that week too.

Lucas loves his Street Fighter game. His buddies and him gathers for a game or so every weekend (is this right Ai?) . So... for his surprised birthday party, we thought a Street Fighter inspired cake would excite him.. as well as his Street Fighter buddies..

here we go....

Ai wanted a smaller cake amongst the cupcakes, one that Lucas can take back home to have with his family on his actual Birthday. And we thought that a mix of standard mini cupcakes as well as the standard sized, fondant covered, character cupcakes will do the job.

She also asked if I can make a Lucas figurine to sit on top of the cake - as one of the character. She asked if we can do Lucas as Ken, with spiky hair and a pair of glasses... Sure!! anything you want Ai!

So here's Lucas as Ken.. **and it's pecks.. not chest hair okay..

Enjoy!!!

Horyuken!!! Bogem Bogem!!

Baby sleeping on a wicker basket

I first met Joey when I was still working shift on one of the coffee shops. She often came in for a coffee, and when the gang went out for a karaoke night out - she often joined us.

Who would have thought how fast time have past. She now have 2 kids.

*i'm feeling old

Her little boy Theo, was 1 month last week. Joey first asked if I can do a cake for Theo's 1 month dinner. She asked if I can do one cake with a baby sleeping on top like one I did yongs ago...

I said "of course!!"

But as the brain thought about it, I thought how nice it would be to have the baby sleeping on some sort of crib - especially when Joey can keep this figurine. So i decided to do some sort of wicker basket, on styrofoam base.

As I sat there on the kitchen bench, one very late Sunday night, weaving fondant to the styrofoam - i thought to myself - WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!!!! I now know to always think twice before deciding to weave fondant. It's bloody hard!!!

But if you persevere... it gives you result.

Baby Theo is sleeping soundly on a wicker basket bed. He has a teddy & cookie monster as company as he dreams of little duckies.

The cake is double stacked, dark chocolate mudcake - with cream cheese buttercream filling. It is then covered with baby blue fondant, adorned with simple white circles (meant to be clouds... yes.. not quite.. but i like it anyway..)

The letter blocks on top, just round up the overall look nicely :)

The cake is not perfect. Far from it... But I'm very happy with the overall look of the cake. Joey, i hope you and your family loves it as much as i do :)

taste of Indonesia - a Macaron experiment class

so i have been severely slacking off in the blog-writing-sphere. Soooo sorry.... I really should be writing more often, i know!! It's been hectic lately, however here's what I've manage to squeeze in somewhere in there ^___^

"30 days of home and entertaining" was on last month in Sydney. It was such a big event, with various classes/ demonstration from lots of well known named companies in the country.

One of the demonstration we were fortunate enough to attend was the Macaron making demonstration run by the guys from Baroque in Sydney's the Rocks. As we sat nicely watching Jean-Michel Raynaud made his perfect macarons (with help from a few guests), S and I joked that we should have our own macaron making class at home. *giggle, giggle, giggle...

Well..... we actually did end up doing the class in my kitchen the following week.

Inspired by Jean-Michel's oh-so-adorable french accent, we thought it would be interesting, to make new flavoured macarons that are inspired from our background. So, we then start the brainstorming - what would be a typical "indonesian" flavour profile.

Out of the many crazy ones that we put on paper, 3 we ended up making.

"taste of Indonesia" Macaron # 1
Klepon Macaron

here's what wiki says :
"Klepon (pronounced Klê-pon) is a traditional Indonesian rice cake, from Javanese cuisine. It is a boiled rice cake, stuffed with gula jawa (palm sugar), and rolled in grated coconut. Klepon is green because it is flavored with a paste made from the Pandan plant whose leaves are used widely in South East Asian cooking."

So the macs have pandan buttercream filling, with a small dollop of palm sugar in the centre.

The Pandan has a soft sweet taste, while the palm sugar centre makes it really different and interesting.



"taste of Indonesia" Macaron # 2
Ketan Hitam (Black Sticky Rice) Macaron

Indonesia may not be the only country in South East Asia to be serving this dish. But it's definitely one of those things that reminds me of home.

To make "Bubur Ketan Hitam" (black glutinous rice porridge), you would cook the sticky rice as you would with rice porridge, you then sweetened it with sugar, and pour a serving of cooked coconut milk just before eating it.


Trying to stay true to the original, this mac has a coconut custard cream, with a generous portion of bubur ketan hitam folded into the filling.

*p.s. if i may say - i'm loving this one a lot!! and look at the colour!!

"taste of Indonesia" Macaron # 3
"Mac & Cheese" a.k.a Cheesecake Macaron

apologies in advance for the cheesy-ness (no... no pun intended)

Like the Ketan Hitam Macaron, i'm not actually sure if this is an "indonesian" dish per say (i'm reliving the "pendet dance" drama... whatever happen to that at the end btw? Pendet belongs to Bali bebeh!!)

so here's my disclaimer : "i am not saying this is Indonesian only..."

But as we expats thought of home, and what we crave for, this cheesecake that we always quite easily get, pops into mind.

The cheesecake - is made up of a few layers of sponge cake, they sandwiched a cream cheese buttercream & a little bit of grated cheddar cheese. It is then covered and topped with LOTS and LOTS of grated cheddar cheese. *OH THE YUMMY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!

and yes... your eyes are still good. I did write CHEDDAR CHEESE....
Most people would balk at the thought of having cheddar cheese in dessert. "Its salty!!" one would say, but that's what makes this cheesecake extra special!!

So, the above is my take on the cheesecake - in Mac version.
And I put a "secret" ingredient, just to remind me of home a little bit more. What is it?? I mixed a little bit of blueband when i'm doing the buttercream. It made it that much more fragrant :) **ok.. not so secret anymore now

So there you go, my 3 indonesian inspired macs. *scroll up for the disclaimer..
I hope you enjoy reading it , i know i don't write enough. I hope you feel the flavours are interesting enough to try, i know i was proud of them :)

**now i'm hungry.. and have no macaron to munch on. Disaster!!