Flashback Monday: Pirate Ship Cake

About a year ago, I made a special birthday cake for my friend's son.  The theme was pirate.  She send me photos of what the cake should look like.  This was a huge challenged for me cos I'm not really good at this. However, I gave my heart and time in making this cake.  I even cried cos I was really afraid that it will not turn nice.  No worries no tears fell on the cake.  At first, I felt satisfied and proud of what I've accomplished.  My kids liked it.  They said it was nice, even my other friends said that.  I've heard congratulatory remarks :-P   Sadly, I felt less appreciated by the one who requested it...I dunno.  On a side note, I didn't even charged her cos at first when she asked me to, she asked for a charged. Since then, I wasn't inspired anymore to make theme cake :-(  

I browsed a lot of pirate ship cake in google and pinterest of how I would go about it.  And here's the result of my hard work :-P

My friend was the one who prepared the paper flag / paper standing.  According to her, it was his son's choice. Oh well...

P.S. the images were just a phone shots.  

Homemade Dinosaur Cake

I would like to share here my first ever made 3D cake for my son on his birthday last year.  He chose dinosaur as his theme.  He really likes dinosaur, so he got lots of toys.  For this reason, I was eager to try a 3D cake using his toys ;-)  I washed and sanitized all the toys as topper for the cake, by the way.  The best part, I let my kids designed the cakes ;-)

Actually, I made two cakes.  The one layer cake was just a chocolate ganache filing.

And this was the second cake...

My hubby prepared the banner ;-)

 

He had a party at Chili's. They have a small function room located at Tanglin Mall.  The room is good for less than 30 pax.  Since the place is small, games for children's party is not ideal.  We made a reservation weeks before the party.  No deposit was required only confirmation.  The food is consumable for SGD1,000.00 and can use the function room for three hours. There's additional charge for extensions.    

Red Velvet Cake

I made red velvet cake more than a week ago.  Planning if it works, will bake again so I can give  to give it to my friends.  I promised them that I will make a cake for their birthday, that was October and now its near Christmas, haiz!  Sorry girls!   I want to try other flavor and since it’s almost holiday, I thought why not a red color cake, also perfect for the occasion.   I prepared a two small layer cake.  I overlooked the time, I thought I over baked it.  Removed immediately from oven and did not test the cake if its good by inserting toothpick in the middle. Worst I did not wait to cool completely, it was still warm when I inverted the pan.  The first pan was good but the second was a disaster, the middle did not cooked well. I made it worst and cannot tell the whole story here, in short I was really stupid of doing it.  I did post a pic of my disaster cake on my FB account. 


The taste was okay, it was moist and soft.  I liked it.  But my other problem, I haven’t tasted red velvet cake before.  So I really don’t know how it really taste.  Another stupidity.  So how?  I can’t find time to search where I can buy a red velvet cake in our area.  Besides I’m not with my good self lately.  Hay, me and my big mouth!!

Chocolate Cake

This was specially made for my daughter :-)

I love making this chocolate recipe, inspired by Hersheys.  I made a few modification on sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.  Here's my version :)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven 350F or 175C.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes.  Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).  Pour batter in prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pans to wire rack. Frost with chocolate ganache.  Refrigerate.

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This recipe is also good for making cupcakes, same recipe and procedure except you bake it for 22 to 25 minutes and pouring the mixture to muffin pan with paper bake cups.  Also refer on how to crumb coat a cake.

How to crumb coat a cake

What is crumb coat?  According to Baking Bites

A  crumb coat is a term that comes up fairly often for those of us who like to bake cakes, but it is not often well defined in recipes. Sometimes, it isn’t mentioned at all, although anyone who has ever tried to frost a cake and ended up with lots of crumbs stuck in the frosting would certainly find that knowing how to apply a crumb coat is handy skill to have.

A crumb coat is name of a very thin layer of frosting that is applied to a cake before the final frosting is put on. This coating essentially traps all the loose crumbs on the surface of a cake in a thin, sticky layer of frosting. With the crumbs secured, your final layer of frosting will glide on smoothly and cleanly, without picking up a single crumb from the cake itself. The crumb coat is made from the same frosting that will go on the rest of the cake, so there is no need for a special batch of frosting or an additional recipe. There is no special technique in applying it: just use an offset spatula or knife to apply the frosting and smoothing it down until you can see the cake underneath. I like to allow the crumb coat to set up for a few minutes (although it doesn’t make that much of a difference in the end), then apply the rest of the frosting, pulling it lightly across the base layer. The coat will work with any spread-on frosting (pour on glazes and ganaches don’t generally need a crumb coat) and dedicating a small amount of your frosting to it will usually make a big difference in the presentation of the finished product.

 Well, just see it yourself.  Refer to this video:

Preparing cake pans

How to prepare your cake pan for baking?  I used Crisco no-stick spray with flour. 

I

Here are other options of preparing your pan for baking, refer to attached video:

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

How to make a Chocolate Ganache Frosting?  You only need two ingredients, a mixture of cream and chocolate.

• 2 cups chocolate chips 
• 2 cups heavy cream 

Put chocolate in a mixing bowl, set aside.  Put cream in a saucepan and bring to boil.  Add the boiled cream immediately to chocolate and let sit for a minute and stir until smooth.  Refrigerate while preparing for the cake. 

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By the way, I'll be making a chocolate cake. :-)

Brazo de Mercedes

At last! I was able to make meringue, weee! :)   

Few weeks ago, I came across on the cooking video of how to make Brazo de Mercedes by Panlasang Pinoy.  Since then I was craving for it and really want to try.  Click here for the ingredients, procedure and video. I don’t want to make a big one yet so I lessen the ingredients in half.  Then I followed all his instruction  

And here's the result . . .


My problem in small size meringue, it can't make a nice roll (nothing to roll actually), or I should have rolled it on the other side? haiz :p  It almost cracked.  But the taste was really good, not so sweet.  I better bake it in a big tray :p  Till next time!

A Very Fine Day

We attended a birthday party, my kids had a blast and parents got home with full stomach, it's like non-stop eating - too many food hi hi <:-p  We were there on time (after lunch) til late night.

Here's the birthday cup cakes =p~

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My hand painted \m/