My 1st attempt in Baking ^0^ (Part II)

Here's my baking of the Vanilla and Chocolate Choux Puffs with fresh whip cream, chocolate and green tea creams ^.~ My attempt in baking these puffs was rather challenging and had two incidents ~ (1) I failed in making the cream mixture as again, I over beat the mixture :( So I had to re do it. Luckily, with good patience and guidance of my baking instructor, we made it through! Phew! (2) Next we then moved on to make the pastry cream. You know what happen? haha! I actually over boiled the green tea cream mixture and burnt the pot! I did not control the heat properly :( My baking instructor has a sensitive nose and smelt the burning of the mixture immediately while I could only smell the green tea cream mixture ^0^ hehe! Gomenasai, Shinni-san.

The batter mixture is done and ready for piping :P

Piping is fun! This is the eclaire shape ^.^

Here is the rosette shape. Nice ^.~

Aren't they kawaii?

Nice presentation!

Choc Rosette shapes ^.~

Oops! The choc choux puffs were in odd shapes but still edible :P

Whisking the egg white till foamy ~ like shampooing :P

Chocolate Pastry Cream ~ Yummy!

Green Tea Pastry Cream ~ Oishii desuyo!

The eclaires are waiting to have their chocolate glaze :P

See ~ this was the nice and correct way to present the choux puff.
Done by Shinni :P

Odd shape done by one of us ~ haha!

Close-up of the Vanilla Choux Puff with Green Tea Cream :P

Close-up of the Vanilla & Chocolate Choux Puff with
fresh whip cream, chocolate & green tea cream :P

My 1st attempt in Baking ^0^ (Part I)

WOW! I really had a great time at the baking workshop which I registered with BakinCalf. The experience was fun, challenging (handle the whisking, heat, measurement etc ~ hehe!), a little messy and lots of washing too. I'm burnt out after baking for almost half a day. It can be tiring but when you see the cakes and puffs that made by yourself ~ It's definitely worth it! Of course, if your passion is into baking, i guess you won't complain about the mess, all the cleaning and tiredness :P Now I can understand why my baking instructor has quit her job and do full-time baking.

Ok, let's come back to my baking workshop which I gathered 6 of my colleagues to join me and had some fun (sort of team building ~ haha!) We requested to learn 2 recipes (sorry not revealing the recipes as promised to my baking instructor) ~ Chiffon Cheesecake and Choux Puffs with different pastry creams. It seems easy to bake but NOT really for a first timer like me :( Anyway, I still manage to bake something edible out of it..haha! I took quite a number of photos so this may be a long post :)

Measuring all the ingredients and sifting the flour

Boiling the mixture

Cooling the mixture

Hand whisking the mixture can be tiring : )

Whisking the egg white

This is the right texture ~ foamy and stiff ^.~

After whisking and folding the cream and egg white mixtures, we pour the batter into the chiffon tin which is in paper form.

Woohoo, now it's ready to set in the oven.

We are so anxious to see how the cakes turn out ^.^

Look like toilet rolls haha ^0^
Upside down to cool the cakes

My cake mixture was over whisked and become dense so it didn't turn out well. However, it still had the cream cheese flavour and EDIBLE! haha!

I will update my Part II post on the baking of Choux Puff. Cheers ~

BARCELOS Flame Grilled Chicken

Oh I miss the Youth Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on TV last night :( and heard it was spectacular especially the fireworks display. I always enjoy watching it.

Anyway, I was out for a dinner gathering with my long time friends :) LT suggested to Barcelos @ Novena which is newly opened and they have 2 other branches at Vivo City and Holland Village. The dining restaurant @ Novena is quite small and their service is not too bad. Barcelos is always compared to Nando's and Kenny Rogers. Roasters I have no comments yet as I have not tried Nando's which is another popular dining chain for its peri peri chicken. I must try it one day even though I always see long queue outside the restaurant at Bugis Junction.

Their menu which serves chicken in salad, pitta pocket, wrap, pasta, skewers, burger or just chicken meal with choices of your side dishes such as garlic bread, corn, coleslaw, salad, soup, potato wedges, fries and rice.

I ordered 1/4 chicken meal with garlic breads and coleslaw; and I asked for mild peri marinade. My friends ordered supa peri (hot and spicy) marinade but they claimed it was not very spicy. Their spiciness level is extremely high ~ they love chilli padi.

We did not wait long for our chicken meals to arrive ^.~ The garlic roll is crispy and delicious. I guess I can eat a whole loaf haha :P The coleslaw is good too. Their signature flame grilled chicken is moist, juicy and not tough (I chose breast meat instead of thigh). The chicken was not overly grilled and cooked. Unlike some which I tried, the skin was overly grilled and turned charcoal which gave a bitter taste. Overall, I am happy with my meal :)

Here's the chicken thigh which my friend ordered. BLINK BLINK *v*. My preference is either chicken wings or breast meat.

OMG, Naughty neko-chan is out to attack the chicken thigh...watch out!! LOL ^0^

Here's another set meal with corn and coleslaw :P

Like I always say, a meal without dessert is not a complete meal..hehe ^0^ so we went to HANS for hot tea and black forest cake. Great satisfaction! Yummy!

There goes my weekend foodie post and I am looking forward to my baking workshop next weekend. WOOooHooOO ^.~

CHEERIOS!

Carrot Cake

I was searching online for baking classes and stumbled upon a blog named BakinCow. It is a home-based baking business and they sell Tofu Cheesecakes and Carrot Cakes. It also conduct baking workshops under their BakinCalf programme brand. You can choose to learn cake decorations, baking cookies, cupcakes, tarts, puff and macaroons. They also conduct parent and child baking workshops too. Well, I have registered for my baking workshop with BakinCalf in August and I am looking forward to it

Below are 2 photos of the American Carrot Cake with Cheese Frosting which I order from BakinCow. Gosh! It is heavenly good Personally, I do not really like the flavor of nutmeg and cinnamon but NOT for this carrot cake. I will definitely ask for my 2nd serving hehe ^0^ The 9-inch carrot cake is quite heavy as it is filled lot of carrots, walnuts and golden raisins. They are really generous with the ingredients ~ just as what they stated in their blog. I must comment that the cream cheese is so yummy and the carrot cake texture is moist ~ unlike some carrot cakes I tried that were dry. This delicious carrot cake is highly recommended to all