Cakes n Cupcakes for the Girls

This order was from my daughter's friend. My swirl roses have slightly improved, many thanks to KamalinaCakes for sharing her method, use Wilton nozzle 224 and 103

When my friend Ti asked me to bake some fun cupcakes for her friend's 3 year old daughter I immediately chose Fifi and the Flower Tots and Strawberry Shortcake, although they're not that popular in Malaysia because it has not been aired on Astro for quite some time.

Another order from Ti is a tiramisu cake for one of her best friend at school. I think this is probably the 5th tiramisu cake ordered by the teachers at SMKM. Ti and her friends are hardcore fans of the Twilight series, and I think they are definitely anticipating the Twilight Eclipse screening in June, in 3d! The initial plan was to put Edward's pic but received an email just a few moment before I print, to have Kecum's newborn 'prince' and Kecum's other half pic instead.

There are so many variants of Tiramisu out there, this is the recipe I have been using
Cream Cheese                200g (mascarpone preferred, otherwise use Tatura, it's less acidic than Philly)
UHT Whipping Cream    200g
White Couverture Choc   150g
Sponge Cake                   300g, sliced into two
Savoiardi Lady Fingers    enough to cover one layer
Nescafe 3in1                   2packs
Nescafe Regular              1 tsp
Hot water                         1 cup

Beat cream cheese till smooth set aside

Whisk UHT Whipping Cream until about triple the volume (not too stiff) set aside
Melt courverture chocolate using double boil/ bain marie method and add fold into whipping cream.
Take about 3 tablespoon of cream cheese add to white choc/whip cream and fold the mixture into the cream cheese.

Mix the two kinds of nescafe with hot water to dissolve and set aside to cool in a bowl

Put a layer of sponge cake on bottom of removable base cake pan, and spread half of the cream cheese mixture.
Dip the lady fingers half of its side and flip it onto the other side, so that it won't become soggy
.
Arrange the dipped lady fingers on the cream cheese layer

Spread another layer of cream cheese. Place the spongecake piece, or sieve some cocoa powder.
Top the spongecake with whipping cream or choc ganache, voila !

And... for Ti who's recuperating at home after a kidney surgery, I bring her these.... for her kids

Take care Ti! Advise from Ti to everyone, drink more water, eat less meat. Hmm...I still can't hit the 3liter per day target set by my Herbalife consultant

Cheesecake Cups / Cheese Cupcakes

I'm not sure what is the correct word for cheesecake baked in cupcakes liners.

I tried this nice recipe by Chef Asma recently. The pics above really do not do justice for these wonderfully creamy, not too sweet cheesecake cups. Here's the half recipe

CHEESE CUP CAKE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST :
240 gm Marie biscuits crumbs } Combined crumbs and melted butter.
250 gm melted butter } Press onto bottom of cup cake cases / liners

INGREDIENTS FOR CHEESE CAKE :
( A ) 250 gm cream cheese
38 gm castor sugar
75 ml UHT whipping cream
2 nos egg yolk
1/4 nos lemon rind
45 gm cake flour

( B ) 2 nos egg white
38 gm castor sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
10 gm corn flour 

METHOD :
1. Beat cream cheese untill smooth, add in sugar and beat until creamy.
2. Add in UHT whipping cream and beat until smooth.
3. Add in egg yolk and mix well.
4. Add in all ingredients, mix well and leave aside.
5. Whisk egg white,sugar and lemon juice untill stiff. Add in corn flour into the
egg white.
6. Combined A& B , mix together, . Add in flavour or decoration.
7. Pour mixture onto biscuit crust and bake ( steambaked ) for 20 minutes - 30 minutes 

Yield 12 pieces of size M Solo cups. 
Top the cheesecakes with chocolate ganache or ready made fruit filling.

Fondant Making

This is how I make fondant, following Yasmin's technique taught in her class, adjusted to yield 500gm (thank you Min, visit her at http://bakingproject.com/)

Ingredients:

10gm gelatin powder (from Halagel)

30ml water

90gm liqud glucose

15gm crisco

10 gm glycerin (from Mudah Mart, Sg Limau, Kulim)500gm+100gm icing sugar

Combine gelatin+water, wait to thicken. Dissolve gelatin completely using double boiler, then add glycerin, then shortening (careful not to turn shortening into oil)

Put 300gm icing sugar to mixer (I use Kenwood KM) Create a well, add the gelatin mix. Let the machine knead, add sugar little by little.

After well mixed (and before risk breaking the knead attachment) transfer to working surface. Apply a little shortening to hand & work surface, knead in remaining sugar (I had to add abt 70gm more). This is the hardest part....glad I have a helper at home.

After dough formed, keep in plastic bag and let stand for an hour before use. Add flavor and colors, then roll or form your design

p/s I write this to explain that I make my own fondant, sign up for Yasmin's class to see the details