Happy Teachers Day - A Chocolate Affair

A chocolate cake for a class party celebrating Teachers Day and end of semester and a box of assorted sinful homemade chocolates for the beloved teacher.

Homemade Chocolate Class / Kelas Coklat

Have you ever wonder how artisan or designer chocolates are made? Well wonder no more. We are now conducting homemade chocolate classes where you will learn how to make your own delicious designer homemade chocolates. At the end of the class, you will be able to make delicious homemade chocolates for your everyday desert or as as gifts to friends, family and loved ones. For those who are looking for business opportunity, homemade chocolate business is perfect as you can do it from the comfort of your home with inexpensive equipments that can be found in your kitchen.

In the class, you will learn

- Basic info on types of chocolates

- Differences between Couverture and Compound Chocolate

- Equipments required

- Tempering methods and the Whys

- Chocolate Recipes

and many more....

Course Fee is RM250.00 which includes ingredients to make the chocolate. You only need to bring yourself to the class :) At the end of the 4 hour class, you will be able to make your own chocolates and will bring home the chocolates that you've made in the class, recipes and notes and also a special free gift.

Classes will be conducted in our cozy kitchen every Saturday and Sunday. Participants for each class is limited to 3 participants only. For those interested, please email me at azrina73@gmail.com to book your slot. (First come first serve basis). Please note that once the booking is confirmed, a 50% deposit is required. Please inform us 2 days before the class starts if you wish to reschedule you class so that we can inform other interested participants of the available slot.

For more info on our homemade chocolate, please visit our other site at http://www.chocolate-cravings.blogspot.com

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Salam,

Pernahkah anda terpikir bagaimana coklat terutamanya coklat mewah seperti Pachi dibuat? Berita bagus untuk peminat coklat, sekarang ini kami mengadakan kelas coklat dimana anda boleh membuat coklat mewah berbagai rupa dan rasa dari rumah anda sendiri dengan mengunakan kemudahan yang sedia ada di dapur anda. Coklat ini sedap dimakan untuk keluarga anda ataupun boleh diberi sebagai hadiah atau cenderahati buat sahabat atau orang tersayang. Kepada sesiapa yang berminat untuk menjalankan perniagaan sendiri, perniagaan homemade coklat sangat senang kerana boleh dijalankan tanpa modal yang besar dan dari rumah anda sendiri.

Di kelas coklat ini, anda akan di beri penerangan mengenai

- jenis coklat

- Perbezaan antara coklat couverture dan compound

- Barang- barang asas

- Resepi dan cara membuat coklat

- Kaedah tempering

dan sebagainya.....

Kos utuk kelas coklat adalah RM250.00 termasuk bahan-bahan yang diperlukan. Kelas akan mengambil masa lebik kurang 4 jam dan di akhir kelas, anda akan mahir untuk membuat coklat anda sendiri baik untuk dimakan ataupun sebagai pendapatan sampingan. Anda juga akan membawa balik coklat yang dibuat di kelas dan juga resepi-resepi, nota-nota dan hadiah istimewa.

Kelas diadakan di rumah di Ukay Perdana, Ulu Klang setiap hari Sabtu dan Ahad dan ianya terhad kepada 3 orang stiap kelas sahaja. Sesiapa berminat sila daftar dengan menghantar email ke azrina73@gmail.com. (First come first serve basis). Kami akan memberitahu jika ada tempat kosong dan tempahan kelas hendaklah didahului dengan pembayaran deposit sebanyak 50%. Jika anda tidak dapat hadir pada hari yang ditetapkan, sila beritahu selewat-lewatnya 2 hari sebelum kelas diadakan supaya tempat anda boleh di gantikan dengan peserta lain.

Untuk maklumat lebih lanjut mengenai homemade coklat kami, sila lawati bog khas kami di http://www.chocolate-cravings.blogspot.com

3D Mosque Cake

Can you do a Mosque cake? was the question by my customer. I had never done it before and I was excited to be given this opportunity, The mosque cake was to be a hantaran cake and therefore, I had to consider the size to ensure that it fits in the hantaran tray or box, For the cake, I chose to do the mosque in brown/bronze theme colour which was the theme colour for the wedding.

I baked 2 butter cakes in 2 sizes: 10" for the base and 6" half round cake for the dome. The cakes were covered with fondant and sprayed in edible bronze for the dome and pillar. The doors were cut-outs fondants. It was really challenging doing the cake since the weather was not kind to me. It was quite hot and humid and the fondants decorations kept falling off. When it was done, I kept the cake in air conditioned room and thankfully, the decorations stayed glued to the cake.

Here's the pictures of my first 3D Mosque cake for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Susan Boyle - Britain Got Talent 2009 Phenomenal

There's a saying that goes to never judge a book by its cover. Well, at Britain Got Talent 2009 last Saturday, the judges especially Simon of American Idol and the audiences got a taste of the saying themselves. I just have to post this link to all of you because to me Susan Boyle is an icon and a reminder to all of us to never judge someone just because of her/his looks. Give them a chance and hear them out and then you be the judge. AND finally, dreams really come true ...sooner or later, as long as you believe in your dream. Click the title above which will bring you to the video at YouTube. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I do.

Fruit Tart

Some time back, I told myself that I will bake my own tart especially cheese tart but I never got to doing it until recently. I baked some cheese and fruit tarts for my family and I'm glad to say that they love them. I am now offering blueberry cheese tart and fruit tart for order. The minimum order is 16 pieces and prices as folllows:

1. Cheese tart - RM 1.50 per piece / RM24 per box

2. (a) Fruit tart (kiwi, grape and apple) RM1.80 per piece / RM28.80
(b) Fruit tart (Kiwi, grape, strawberry) RM2.00 per piece / RM32.00 per box.

The picture above shows the blueberry cheese tarts and fruit tarts (kiwi, grape and strawberry). Also, for readers info, the tart casings are homemade and not store bought :)

Classic Funky Engagement cake

I received an order for an engagement cake recently and what was interesting was that the bride-to-be wanted a clock cake with the hands showing 3.00 pm and the colour to be in blue and pink, which was the colour of her engagement dress. I did asked why the 3.00 pm and was told that the event would start at 3.00pm..... A very symbolic cake indeed for a once in a lifetime experience :)

My initial sketch for the cake was to have a base to hold the clock and they would be in either pink or blue or something in between that would go with the blue/pink clock. But later, the design changed as they wanted the base to be something in white or cream as that was actually the theme colour and for the clock to maintain the blue/pink colour concept. Hmm... so i have the base in white/cream colour and the clock in blue/pink...so how do i design this???.... well, the result - something very very different for an engagement cake -i call this a classic funky cake .... here's the picture. ...................

Cinnamon buns

I've always wanted to try my hand at baking bread or buns and so yesterday, I decided to give it a try. I decided to bake cinnamon buns/rolls and was quite surprised that its quite easy. I did both cinnamon buns and rolls but decided not to top them with the cheese frosting since my kids and hubby love them without frosting. It was really fantastic and delicious eating them hot out of the oven :)

I'm happy with my first attempt and will definitely do this again in the future. For the next round, I will definitely try topping some of the buns with cheese frosting, just like those at cinnabon. Yummy! For those who are interested in baking their own cinnamon buns, here's the recipe. It's a fairly quick and easy recipe as far as cinnamon buns go, and you definitely DON'T NEED A BREAD MACHINE to make them. Happy Baking!

Ingredients

for the bun
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 packet (around 8g) of yeast

for cinnamon sprinkle
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

for the frosting
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk. Leave the mixture until the mixture becomes foamy at the top (around 10 mins)
2. Mix all wet ingredient incld the yeast mixture in a mixing bowl.
3. Add dry ingredient cup at a time and knead in the mixture using dough hook until mix.
4. Cover them in a bowl with damp cloth.
5. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
8. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. For those who wish to spread cream cheese frosting on the rolls, while rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.