All about bundt cakes

Bundt cakes...there's something about these cakes that makes me want to bake them over and over again. The simplicity and the design not forgetting the delicious taste is just awesome. I have been baking bundt cakes for a few days now and it never stop to amaze me everytime the cake comes out of the pan. I have a long list of varieties to try and cant wait for the weekend to come as thats when i bake ...in full force :). For those who want to try baking bundt cakes..an advise ...go get yourself bundt pans by nordic ware...they are definitely the best pan for bundts.

Moist chocolate bundt cake topped with callebaut chocolate butterscotch ganache and banana bundt cake...scrumptious :)

Breads..breads..breads

Who doesn't lurve bread right..some people like their breads soft whilst others love the hard artisan bread type. Well for me I love all kinds of bread. It's a staple in my household especially my kids. As such I made it my mission to gain whatever knowledge I could about bread. I have a number of bread books..oh I love Reinhart...his recipe for artisan type bread works all the time and his knowledge about bread is speechless.

As a Malaysian,  I grew up with the soft kind of bread..I love splashing butter and sugar on top whilst my kids just can't get enough of Nutella. For this kind of bread I had dedicated my time (and money....) to attend bread making classes whenever I could. I have to say that the fees spent to attend these classes were worth every penny. We could get free recipes easily nowdays but the techniques taught by these chefs were invaluable. Now days I am proud to say that I could bake good quality (comparable to factory made or even better I must say..blush..blush) breads for my family. The breads that I bake could not last long in my house...its that good (blushing again here :) ).

Anyway, just to let you peeps out there know that breads are now officially part of our menu..and who knows..you will soon see our bread selling at your local grocery stores (wink..wink :) ). Oh! Before I forget,  we only use unbleached flour and no preservatives in our breads ya folks! :)

Ironman ...Again

Ironman must be kids favourite these days judging from the request that I received from customers for this cake. Nevertheless, this time it was for a teenage girl who simply adores Tony Stark aka Ironman. A simple cake as per request.

Ironman, Ultraman and Spiderman

A superhero cake for Hafiy Irsyad. The cake is chocolate ganache cake topped with 3 superheros: Ironman, Ultraman and Spiderman. Enjoy your celebration at your kinddie lil Hafiy.

Biskut Lidah kucing Rainbow / Pelangi

Biskut Lidah kucing atau katetong adalah biskut popular rakyat Indonesia. Di datangkan dalam pelbagai rasa, biskut yang nipis dan rangup ini memang sedap di makan bila-bila masa. Mengunakan resepi asal dari Indonesia, biskut ini dalam warna pelangi amatlah menarik untuk dihidangkan terutama pada hari perayaan atau majlis hari jadi atau sebagai cenderahati. Sesiapa yang tidak pernah makan biskut ini, kami alu-alukan anda untuk mencuba. Sekali makan pasti nak lagi.

Smoked Beef Risoles

A rissole (from Latin russeolus, meaning reddish, via French in which "rissoler" means "to [make] redden") is a small croquette, enclosed in pastry or rolled in breadcrumbs, usually baked or deep fried.[1] It is filled with sweet or savory ingredients,[1] most often minced meat or fish, and is served as an entrée, main course, dessert or side dish.

At Sweet Cravings, we offer 2 types of delicious Rissoles: Chicken in white sauce and Smoked Beef with carrot and boiled egg. We offer them frozen, 20 pcs per pack at RM22.00 for smoked beef and RM20 for chicken. A delicious afternoon treat for your loved ones or keep them in stock the freezer to serve to your guests especially during the coming Aidilfitri 2013. 

Fried Smoked Beef Risoles - Halal. My absolute favourite. 

Cakes and Cookies for Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2013

Hi

Its been awhile since I post updates in the blog..been posting in my FB which was easier..write, upload photos and post..a bit guilty for neglecting the blog so will try to find time from now on to blog.

Anyway, we are now at our 13th day of puasa and although its a bit late, as usual, I will be offering cakes and cookies for this coming raya. This year, I am concentrating more on Sugee and Kek Buah kukus and 2 cookies ie Lidah Kucing Rainbow and Biskut Seroja. For those who wish to order, do let me know in advance ya. 

Biskut Lidah Kucing Rainbow - a thin and crunchy butter cookies. 

RM28 per container (abt 60 pcs)

Kek Kukus Buah 

Size: 4" x 8" - RM30

Kek Sugee 

Size: 4" x 8" - RM35

Pure butter

Pillow Cake with Crown

One day I received an email from a customer telling me that she wanted me to do an arabian theme cake for his 1 year old boy birthday bash. She gave 2 options: either a castle cake or a pillow cake with crown on top.

After emailing the necessary details she opted for a pillow cake with crown on top. I was excited to do this commission as I had only done pillow cake once and that was just 1 tier and not 2 tiers plus a crown.

With my limited experience in doing pillow cake, at first I thought of buying the wilton pillow cake pan as they look gorgeous when done but considering that the design was quite straight forward ie cut corners and do the necessary carving to resemble a pillow, I decided to take the challenge and do the cake without the pan.  The carving was quite tricky but as long as you have a dense cake, sharp knife and if possible, a template, carving the cake was manageable. 

Since the theme was arabian, I decided to go with bold colours ie orange, blue/purple,  green and a bit of red. The crown was hand painted in gold (oh how I wish for an airbrush machine :) ) with no 1 glued in the middle. I decorated the crown with plastic gems that I have from my charm bracelet craft to make it more regal. All in all, it took me whole night and a bit more to finish decorating the cake. I was quite happy with the result and wish little Prince Meshal a very happy birthday. Enjoy the cake and the birthday bash.

Teddy Bear cake

3.3.13 - My youngest,  Marissa is 2 years old. I cant believe that it has been 2 years. Time really flies.

On 3.3.13 my family decided to do majlis aqiqah for adam, marissa and my super duper chubby niece, Aisha. Since it was Marissa's birthday, I decided to bake her a cake and celebrate her birthday together with the aqiqah. She loves teddy bear and hence, I decided to do a 3D bear cake for her.

There is a wilton bear pan in the market but since I do not wish to purchase the pan, I decided to just bake a round cake and carve the cake into a bear shape.  The carving and decorating took me roughly 5 hours to do and finally when she woke up and was ushered into the kitchen by her brother and sister, her first remark was "ooh! Besarnya bear, takuttttt" ("ooh! Big bear..I'm scared"). That lasted for 5 mins and after that I had to shoo her away before she start to hug the cake :)

The aqiqah cum birthday celebration went smoothly. Thank you for those who attended. Your presence had made the event merrier.

Thomas and Friends

I received an urgent request for a Thomas and Friends cake for his son's last minute small birthday party cum family/close friends meet up. She wanted a 3d one. This is my first doing a 3d thomas train cake and I was pretty satisfied with the outcome..will need few more practice for a perfect thomas. Hope she and her son likes it. My daughter marissa was crying.. "want train..want train" when she saw the cake...so the resemblance is there :)...

p/s: I thk thomas' s face should be a little wee bit bigger :)

Portugese Egg Tart

Welcome 2013 and wishing all a happy new year with hope that 2013 will bring happiness, prosperity and good tidings to all.

One of my favourite dessert is the famous Macau egg tart aka portuguese egg tart. Since today is a public holiday, I took this opportunity to bake some for tea. This is a very easy dessert to bake especially if you use ready made pastry.

For the egg tart, I used Kawan ready made puff pastry that is easily available in supermarkets. For the custard filling, you just need the following ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. Combine milk and whipping cream with 1tbsp sugar and heat them in a pot under slow fire.
2. Mix throughly the balance of the sugar, corn flour, egg yolks, vanilla extract and salt together in a separate bowl.
3. Once milk mixture comes to a boil add half to the egg mixture and mix together and add to the pot of milk. Stir until it becomes a custard. Set aside to cool.
4. Heat oven to 175C.
5. Place the pastry puff in muffin tray that have been greased and fill the pastry with the custard , 3/4 full.
6. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
7. Serve the egg tart once cool.

Enjoy!

Last cake for 2012 - Angry Bird

Time flies and we are just few hours away from 2013. 2012 was an unforgettable year with many moments that not only cheers me up and offer my thanks to the Almighty but also events that shapes me and make me ponder about life in particular. One thing for sure, perseverance wins and I hope that 2013 will be a much better year for me and my family. I do also hope that 2013 will be "the year" where my dream will finally come true. :)

Before we celebrate the new year, I would like to offer my deepest thank you to all my friends/clients for supporting me. Who would have thought that my "accidental cake making" had gone this far and its going stronger by the day. The experience and knowledge that I have gained throughout this journey would not have been possible without you guys supporting me. Thank you again for making the impossible,  possible. Now, if only I can make "the other dream" possible?. Hmm...only time will tell. Cross my fingers and pray to God for the "door" to open up in 2013 :). Last but not least, let me share with you the last decorated cake for 2012 that I did for a lil girl - the much loved game in 2012 - Angry Bird. Happy New Year and see you in 2013.

Pink Roses Engagement Cake

Another order for engagement cake from Kak G. The cake itself is red velvet cake and the main deco are the pink roses on top of the cake. Thks again Kak G for the order and also, do enjoy the red velvet cake ordered for the family.

Ombre Engagement Cake

An engagement cake with yellow ombre effect with yellow/orange roses. The cake is our own best seller, Red Velvet Cake. Thank you Kak Je for the order.

Bottle Cake

This is another order for a bottle cake. The cake itself uses 4 cake recipe and weighs about 4kg. A Manchester United logo is included as requested for his son who is a fan of the Red Devil.

Durian Crepe Class

Durian Crepe/Pancake

Alhamdulillah, durian crepe is finally here. For durian lovers out there, this dessert is a sure winner. 

For those who has yet to taste durian crepe, it is actually a bite-sized (or slightly bigger in our case) dessert made famous by the dessert house in Hong Kong, Honeymoon Dessert and Malaysian dessert house, Sumptuous Desserts and Bzee Bakery.

Sweet Cravings Durian Crepe consist of only the best durian flesh in particular D24 and velvety custard pastry cream wrapped in a thin crepe made from 5 types of flour. It is best eaten cold and can last for up to 7 days when kept in refrigerator.

Our durian crepe is available once a week (or as frequent as possible during durian seasons) priced at RM10.00 per pack (4 pieces per pack). 

Current promotion for November is "Buy 4 Packs and Free 1 Pack". Available until 30 November 2012. Do not miss this one out and grab one fast now.

Japanese Crispy Cream Puff

Hohoho...finally! Japanese Crispy Cream Puff aka Beard Papa puff in the houseeeeeee!. I love cream puff and I absolutely lurveeee Japanese Crispy Cream Puff. What's the difference you might ask - well...its the crispiness of the outer layer and the soft inner and when eaten with the pastry cream - oh! heaven!!!!

Valrhona Vanilla Mille Crepe Cake

It's been quite some time since I updated the blog. Been busy with work and baking, of course :). If you notice lately, the net had been buzzing with all kinds of crepes. Not wanting to be left behind the hype, I've been busy myself with baking crepes. My entry this time is the delicious Valrhona Vanilla Mille Crepe cake.

What is Mille Crepe Cake?. For those who had yet to taste this delicious crepe cake, its actually a cake made of no less than 20 pieces of thin handmade crepes layered with various flavours of light pastry cream. The combination of crepe and pastry cream made from valrhona white chocolate and finest vanilla bean are deliciously sinful which melts in the mouth leaving you with wanting more of this crepe cake.

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The crepes comes in one size only ie 9" round cake and are currently available for ordering. Apart from Valrhona Vanilla Mille Crepe cake, we also offer Duo Chocolate Mille Crepe cake, Tiramisu Mille Crepe Cake and our special Durian Mille Crepe cake. These are made to order so please allow at least 3 days advance notice. 

Kek Lapis Surabaya

I have been blog walking for the past weeks searching for the best recipe for kek lapis surabaya and I have tried few recipes but none was able to please my tasting bud. As I was getting "tired" from trying all these recipes (not forgetting the trays and trays of eggs!), I decided to play around with the recipes that I have and added/omitted some ingredients as some tasted bland to me. Am happy to say that my "test" was a success as I finally "found" the taste that I really like. Kek Lapis Surabaya looks plain compared to its sister, the layered cake but the taste is delicious. It is soft and biting into it is like biting into a cross between a sponge cake and a custard!..maybe its because of the eggs...the 30 eggs used to make this cake!!!! :)