A Farewell Cake

The girls & I had a farewell party at the poolside of Radiant Tower last Saturday for the Korean family, Ryuks. They're going back to Korea after 3 years in KK.

It was actually a farewell cum Christmas party before the term ending next week. So the chocolate cake had a farewell message with a Christmas decoration. We ended the party with gifts exchange & probably dancing for the mums (we left early !).




JF with some of her friends by the poolside. CJ was in the pool enjoying herself. This little girl doesn't like swimming........

Boobs Cake

It was Denise's birthday last Friday & she got the boobies cake that she's always wanted !

This was a small cake, almost the right size for boobs (!!!) I guessed the only stuff missing was the tits, hahaha... She had me left them out, too naughty maybe because the cake was being cut in the office !
It was vanilla sponge frosted with butter cream.

I sent my sister the picture of this cake, she asked me if they were longevity buns (寿桃）?? Hubby & I had a good laugh about it. What do you think, ChicKyEgG ?




Someone else celebrated his birthday on the same day too. This is a mango cake that K ordreed for her partner. She has requested for picture of a muscle man to be drawn on the cake. Designer came up with this cute picture, there was a tattoo on the arm but I've forgotten to place it on the cake when I was taking picture of it.

Christmas Cakes

For Christmas this year, I'll be baking the usual fruitcake, logcake, stollen bread & cookies.

This year, my logcake flavour will be chocolate dark cherry. It's chocolate sponge filled with chocolate fudge, studded with pitted dark cherries & covered in chocolate ganache. The weight of a logcake will be 1kg.

Designer & I spent our lunch time making some decorations using sugar paste. I've long wanted to make holly leaves & berries but couldn't find the holly leaf cutter until I saw it last year after Christmas, so I've waited 1 year for this !

Ball Themed Cakes

Chocolate Banana Cake

Chocolate Cake



Enough of meats & seafood at the moment, let's get on to some cakes.......

The chocolate banana cake was for a celebration dinner. Janice wanted to congratulate a friend for hole-in-one.

As for the football themed chocolate cake, it was for 13 year old Elie's party at a futsal court.

The grass for both cakes are piped with tinted buttercream.

Roasted Garlic Chicken

This is one of the mains on Friday night too. In case anyone wonders if I'm out of my mind, 3 mains in a meal !! Yes, I just love to cook & feed my guests well, I only get the chance to have friends over once or maybe twice a year !

The secret to a perfectly roasted chicken is to brine the chicken before roasting as brining makes the chicken so moist & flavourful even if roasted breast side up ! I get perfect crispy, moist roast chicken every time !


Roasted Garlic :


Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the outer layers of 3 garlic bulbs, leaving the skins intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Place the garlic heads on a baking pan. drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to amke sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

Allow the garlic to cool, use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.


Roasted Garlic Chicken

1/2 Cup roasted garlic cloves
2 Cups water
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Lemon, cut into 4 wedges
2 Bay leaves
1 x 1.5 - 2 kg chicken


Prepare the brine by combining garlic, water, salt, pepper & olive oil in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedges into the brine, bland. Stir in the bay leaves.

Place chicken in a large, resealable plastic bag. Pout the brine all over the chicken in thebag. Add the (already squeezed) lemon wedges. Squeeze out all the air from the bag & seal. Refrigerate overnight, for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Remove the chicken from the brine & pat dry with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle salt & pepper all over the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack, in a roasting pan, breast side up. roast for an hour or until the juices run clear from the thigh when pierced with a fork. Let the chicken rest for 10mins before carving & serving.

Paella

I love starchy rice, especially risotto & paella because it has plenty of seafood in it & the flavour is fantastic but the preparation & cooking time is tedious though !

This is not an every-day meal, too indulging even though deep in my heart I am hoping I could have this frequently & get an over dose of seafood, yummy yummy.......
The last time I cooked this was in March so I decided I should cook ourselves another pot last Friday. I planned my time well, was shopping for the seafood last Tuesday & I got Tina to chop all the ingredients accordingly after I've done the shopping.

Ingredients :

12 Mussel halves, scrubed (I've used frozen ones)
300g Prawns, peeled & deveined
150g Calamari, cut into rings
150g Fish fillet, cut into pcs
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 Rasher bacon, finely chopped
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Small red capsicum, finely chopped
1 Can diced tomatoes in juices
1/2 Cup Frozen peas
90g Chorizo or pepperoni, sliced
1 Cup short-grain rice (calrose)
Pinch saffrons strands
2 Cups hot chicken stock
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Infuse the saffron strands in the hot chicken stock for the flavour & natural colour to develop. I never use tumeric to cheat & I hate it. So I make sure I'll always have a little boc of saffron strands in my pantry.

In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter, add prawns, fish & calamari to the pan & cook for a min. Remove & set aside.

Add bacon, onion, garlic to the pan, cook for 5 mins or until onions are soft & bacon browned. Add the chorizo or pepperoni, salt & pepper to taste, add the tomatoes & capsicum. Add the white wine & rice, stir to mix well.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock to the rice, bring to boil, cover the pan & reduce the heat to low & simmer, stirring occasionally & adding more stock until it's absorbed & rice almost cooked. At this point, add the frozen peas. With the last addition of stock, place the prawns, calamari, fish & mussels on top of the rice, continue to cook over low heat until rice is cooked through. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks

I am not a fan of lamb but when you have friends over for dinner, you cook what the guests like not what you like ! Well, I did cook what I like but I'll start with the lamb shanks first.

The dinner was on Friday night & I had a cook-out session at a friend's house on Thursday, Friday was my girls' sports day so I had to cook these lamb shanks on Wednesday, let them cool down & into the fridge they went, so the flavour could develop.

Ingredients :
Serves 4

1/2 Cup Flour
Salt & pepper, to taste
4 Lamb shanks
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Large onions, sliced
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Cup Beef consomme
3/8 Cup red wine
2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp cornflour
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 180C. Place flour, salt & pepper in a shallow dish. Lightly coat shanks with flour. Heat oil in a saucepan over high heat, cook shanks for 3-4 mins or until browned, transfer to a large roasting pan.

Add onions & garlic to saucpan, cook over medium heat for 2-3 mins or until soft. Add consomme, wine & maple syrup, stir ro combine & bring to boil. Season with salt & pepper, pour over shanks & cover pan tightly with foil. Roast for 1 1/4 hrs, remove foil, turn shanks & roast for another 45 mins or until tender.

Transfer shanks to a platter, cover to keep warm. Strain cooking liquid through a sieve & discard onions. Return liquid to pan. Mix cornflour with water in a bowl until smooth, stir into liquid & bring to boil, stirring, over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low & simmer for 5 mins or until reduced slightly. Serve shanks with gravy.

* I didn't strain the cooking liquid & kept the onions so the gravy will be chunky & more flavourful with the onions in it.