The Princess and Buttercream Frosting

I have been wanting to do this. Dressing up a little princess with buttercream frosting! :)

A lot of reasons why I kept on delaying it. I don't have the right mould, I'm not sure on how much bc (buttercream) I should use, I am not confident I can do it...bla bla bla. All that I could actually brush aside if I really HAVE TO do it.

Let me tell you what really stopped me doing it. I've got sooo many things I want to make & bake until I don't know which one I should do first. Many times I go to the confectioner shop and putting a lot of things into my basket. After which I try to reselect them and usually more than half of the content will go back to the shelf, because I know that those items will not be used until perhaps a week or even a month later. That means the expiry date is getting nearer without me using it.

Yesterday, as any other Tuesdays, I dropped Qinan off at Kumon. Then went to Popular with Raqi to satisfy his crave to look at all the toys there. After that we went to Poon Huat, the nearest and price friendly confectionery shop. Going round the extended shop [yes! It eventually extended to the next door unit and they bring more items in - getting me even crazier and stay longer on every visit :)] and thinking what I should make/bake yesterday. Since there were too many occasion that I forgot what should have really be bought, I stood up and recalled what were my abandoned plans. *Tuing...tuing...* Aha!! Than I remember about my little princess that's been waiting to be dressed up. So I ended up buying nothing, because I have all the ingredients available at home.

After Q finished her Kumon session, we went home. I let the kids watched TV and played. I was off to the kitchen and preparing ingredients. I baked a chocolate cake which I divided into two small moulds (6" diameter). One of the mould is for the upper part of the skirt. It's 6" at the top around 2" at the bottom. The bottom will be the skirt's waist.

The process was a normal one, interrupted by this and that. Including picking up my hubby from the airport after a meeting there, leaving my baked cake cooling down in the meantime. Came back frome there I made the buttercream. Soon it was dinner time, had to make the dining table.

When everybody were in the living room watching TV after dinner, I took out the princess from her 'cave' (been putting 'her' in a box) and washed her. I stood her up beside the two stacked cakes...ayayyy...how could the princess have become so tall? Meaning I can't dress her up that night because I need to bake more cake to cover her long legs. :)) Well what to do, just went to sleep and this morning I baked another cake. This time round is a steamed cheese brownies (Brownies kukus keju) that I sourced from Radin Cake [Thanks for the recipe Nia!]. Never made this before, and I did not steamed it. I baked it instead. Put some into mini cuppa for tasting, and...hmmm...delicious.

So, what's left to do is to dress up the cake...oops, I mean: The Princess.
I'll update again when it's done, together with the pics. Wish me luck!

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11 July 2010

Hello again!

Promised to update with the pics of the dressed princess. Didn't know it will take another fortnight just to log in to the blog again :(. Anyway...I shall present it to you now...

Peanut Butter Eggs

This little thingy has created madness in the house. At least for the kids and me. I was searching the web for something different to nibble on, and it happened during Easter time, till this Peanut Butter Eggs caught my attention.

It's small and easy to make. After the first time, we had made it again and again for countless times. You can try to make it for yourself with the recipe I got from http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Easter-Eggs. You can adjust the sugar level to your liking, as long the dough can hold together it should be alright.

Well, needless to say. Just dip it and indulge! :))

Gateau L'Opera

I really didn't know how I ended up making this exclusive cake. I name it exclusive, because the process is somehow complicated. However, I am glad that I have passed the test.

It started when a far relative of mine asked me if I could make tiramisu or gateau africain. Tiramisu isn't a problem, but gateau africain I had not done it yet. She said that she has a few occasion in May, including her birthday and her sis', her wedding anniversary and the arrival of her new baby boy just one week before her birthday.

During the week before her birthday, I was so tempted to make this masterpiece called L'Opera. I had been reading and comparing recipes from different web sites. Somehow my choice fell onto Dorie Greenspan's The Splendid Table whom adapted the recipe from Dalloyau, the Parisian patisserie. I proposed this cake for her birthday and she said okay! Tamtaraaam.....

I started two days in advance by making the joconde (almond cake). In fact all parts of the cake can be made in advance. You can either keep it airtight in the fridge up to a week or in the freezer for up to two months.
After making the joconde I made all the fillings, coffee syrup, coffee buttercream and ganache. I leave the chocolate glaze to do it at the very last minute when the cake is assembled.

What I can tell you, since it was my very first opera, I kept on looking at the recipe and (still) comparing it to others :). So, i ended up quite late since I started. Fortunately, I have to leave all the ingredients in the fridge before starting to assemble them into one piece. Hufff...

The following day, after work and after dinner -hehe- I started assembling the cake. Doing it layer by layer. It was such an exciting process (well, at least for me though :)). I can feel my adrenaline hurried down my spine and I feel the excitement in my blood.

Well, enough said. I'll let you peep into my excitement ;)

Here it is >>



Another thing that I can say is: it is worth the try. Really worth.

[Special thanks to Meita for the challenge]