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.

Silver Blue Cupcake

Recently I purchased a flower veiner from an online store in Australia after reading rave reviews about it by fellow decorators. Few days ago I finally got to use the veiner for an engagement cupcake that I was commissioned to do. I love how the flowers came out and this is absolutely one of my favourite tools. Below is the cupcake that I did. The flower is the one in blue. Love them to bits :) By the way, Happy Valentine's day to all.

Kitchen Aid Mixer

I am pleased to annouce that I am now selling Kitchen Aid mixer for those interested in owning them. I have been using the mixer for about a year now and am really happy with the performance. This is THE MIXER to own and now, you can own a mixer celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson have been using by ordering from the comfort of your home. We offer 2 models as follows:

1. Artisan series KSM150

*Specifications
Wattage : 300 W
Maximum dough capacity : 1.2 kg of all-purpose flour or 1 kg of whole wheat flour
Flat Beater
Wire Whip
Dough Hook
4.8 L Bowl with ergonomic handle
Tilt head design
10 speed slide control
Pouring shield
Available in following colurs (subject to availability)
(White, Empire Red, Pink, Majestic Yellow, Imperial Grey, Cobalt Blue, Tangerine, Grape, Ice Blue)

2. Heavy Duty Series K5SS

*Specifications
Wattage : 325 W
Includes Pouring shield
10-speed variable speed control
Bowl-Lift model
Dough Hook
Flat Beater
Wire Whip
4.8 Litre Bowl
Available only in white
How to order

1. Email us your order including your 2 colour choices for Artisan series.
2. Please wait for our confirmation. Once confirmation received, bank-in the payment. We can only order the mixer for you once full payment is received.
3. Mixer should be available from the supplier within 1 week from the date of your payment.
4. Mixer can be picked up from our place in Ampang or can be delivered to your place at a minimum delivery charge. We use reliable courier service. We can also deliver free at certain areas. Please enquire on this.

- Mixers have 12 months warranty against defect directly from the supplier in Malaysia.
- Prices for both Artisan and Heavy Duty series is RM2,400 per pcs.

We are currently having a promotion on Kitchen Aid Mixer at a very attractive price. Please enquire via email.

Twilight Saga

It's been quite some time since I last posted an update to the blog. I've been quite busy with work, baking, my kids and many more that I could not find time to even check out my blog. Anyway, I'm hoping all this will change as I'm having a much better breathing space now.... Hopefully :)

Anyway, for the past few weeks I've been baking some cakes and cupcakes and will upload pictures as soon as I could find where my card reader has dissapeared to :). I've also taken up some reading lately and the latest book that I'm reading is the Twilight Saga which consists of 4 books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn) and this partly contributes to me not updating my blog. :)

I picked up the books after hearing much rave review from my collegues and I decided to read and see what the hype was all about. After reading the first few pages, I was hooked. I could'nt put the book down as the story was really captivating and very very addictive. The storyline was really good. It makes you tingle and feel warm and fuzzy all inside when reading the book. It's very hypnotising and it makes you yearn for such love to exist in this sometime cruel and harsh world.

For those who loves a good love stroy, I truly recommend reading Twilight. It's actually an International bestseller and the movie just came out last December. Its about a vampire (Edward) falling in love with a human girl (Bella) and there was a conversation between both of them referring to their situation in the book that was so cute that goes as follows:

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb ...." he murmured

"What a stupid lamb," I sighed.

"What a sick masochistics lion"...he replied.

Do get hold of Twilight the book and read them. If you can get hold of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th series, get them too coz believe me, you can't get enough of their love story and you would want to read the books until the end to know the conclusion. You won't regret them. :) This is the best love story so far.

For those interested in watching the trailer, go to http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

Happy Reading.

P/S: New Moon movie will come out this November 2009. Can't wait to see it :)