Opera Cake with Gold Flake

The first time I made this cake last year, I didn't know that it would steal people's heart by the taste. Not only that, people also appreciate the time and effort I put in making this.

Last year just before Christmas, I made an Opera Cake to enjoy it ourselves at home. However, I did put aside some for an officer at my office building and some for a dear friend. To my surprise, both got back
to me and said they wanted to order one for their special occasions!

My friend ordered straight away for the following week, and the officer said that her niece wanted it for 26th January 2011. That was quite an advance order so far :)

Today I have delivered the cake and really hope that they will enjoy the cake and whatever celebration they may have.

Ryan is 4

Vanilla Sponge Cake + Butter Cream and Edible Image

Repeat order is always encouraging. Knowing that someone is giving you another opportunity to brighten his/her special occasion with your creation will give you the spirit of giving your best in it.

Thank you Lynda for trusting Ryan's birthday cake to me. Having in mind that the cake will be consumed by Ryan's grandparents as well, she told me that she just wanted a simple two-layer cake with only butter cream on it, including the filling. What makes the cake special is the Power Rangers Operation Overdrive edible image that is put at the top of it. No chocolate, no fancy things....hehehhh... Actually, I should feel relieved that it was a simple cake to make. But somehow I feel that to make a simple cake look attractive is even challenging.

I used an eight-egg sponge cake with little dry ingredients. It turned out quite well ( I said quite because I can't judge on 'look' only). Even though I had done this a lot of times and always get good commendation of it, I really hope it had also pleased my little customer and his family today.

Happy 4th Birthday, Ryan! Keep smiling, Sunshine...

A 12th Birthday Black Forest

This cake has quite a unique request. My fellow parent volunteer in school ordered a cake almost at an instant after she saw my cake pictures.

Why is it unique? Because she wanted to have a birthday cake with edible image for his 12 year old turning-son, but she wanted me to put a picture when her son was 1+ year. I need to tell you this because if I don't, you may think that I made a mistake putting his age on the edible image.

I made this cake with passion and threw a lot of things on the cake. People trust me to make something on their special days, so I would put my total effort to do it.
One of my good friends said, I make cakes with TLC...Tender Loving Care, she told me. If I think I need to put more tid bits I will just put it eventhough it was not included in the budget. Well, not excessively, though.. My satisfaction is more
important than the price of a cake, I suppose.

Well, here are a couple shots of the cake.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

A Continued Family Tradition

It's end of the year. The weather hasn't been good for the past few days, making me feel gloomy.

We had a half-day out yesterday and when we came home it was time for me to cook dinner. The choice fell on spaghetti bolognaise, a quick and simple pasta dish that has been my mother's signature dish for every birthday occasion in the family when my siblings and I were young, until now. Yes, I am continuing the tradition, however, there's a minor change in the way of cooking the sauce. If my mother cooked and serve the minced meat separately, I would put all of them together. And if some Italian family that I know during serving would mix the pasta with the sauce, I would let people take and put it themselves on their plate so they can have as much as they want. It is quite interesting, though, how people treat the sauce. Some think that it is a kind of soup so they would put as much as they could on the spaghetti. In the end, they have a lot of left over of sauce in plate. What a waste!

The fact is: the tomato sauce is meant to be thick, especially when it is cooked together with the meat, because the meat absorbs almost all the liquid. But it doesn't mean that it is dry. It is just a rich meat sauce. Therefore you should only put a scoop or two of the sauce for a standard size of pasta plate. If you haven't done so, try it. You can't be less than agree with me, I have done this all my age...

Some 17 years ago, I had once learned from a dear friend in Verona, when serving the dish he would put the spaghetti that's already mixed with grated parmesan cheese, put the sauce on the pasta and top it with a cheese slice (because we didn't have mozzarella at that time). Then he put it in the oven until the cheese melted. Wow! That's how the restos do it, isn't it?
Until now I sometimes do that way, but very seldom of course...because nobody in the house could wait even a single minute more. They will keep on coming back when I am cooking the sauce and once I put it on the pasta dish, it will 'disappear' from the kitchen... :))

Rendang Kotogadang

A West Sumatra-Indonesia Delicacy

It's end of year holiday season again. It's time to prepare all your needs for the season irregardless where you are heading to. Holiday is just a season to celebrate. Part of the preparation is to cook Rendang for the family to bring for the holiday. Our holiday destination has limited places of halal food, so we usually bring our own cooked meat and we would have it during dinner time or before we go for an outing. During the day time when we were out, we would normally take vegetarian food that is definitely free of any kind of meat.

This dish is quite a saver. Everybody in the family likes it. I will share the recipe with you in my recipe page. Hope you guys will love it as much as we do.