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Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Saturday, October 27, 2012
And now for the three-tier birthday cake
My now assertive 6-year-old has requested for a three-tier cake for her birthday. Not a Barbie or princess cake, she says. But something like a wedding cake. Hmmm.
She has been excitedly looking forward to her 6th birthday, and sees it as a milestone for many things. She'd been struggling with reading as she's dyslexic. She then declared that she would be able to read when she turns 6, a target she'd sort of set for herself as a way of coping with the difficulty. The proud mummy in me is therefore just as keen to throw a big celebration to mark her achievement ;-)
Since she loves ice-skating, we (more like she) decided to hold a party at The Rink, with an after-party at Nando's. I immediately began worrying about how to transport and store a three-tier cake... But more about that later.
Having experimented with a two-tier cake, I'm now ready for my first ever three-tier cake. ;-)
After looking through many recipe books and getting increasingly undecided, I finally told myself to keep things simple and focus on Katrien's Cakes, a beautiful book which I had already bought and obsessed over.
The cake I finally made: A three-tier chocolate cake coated with chocolate frosting, with hand-made pink chocolate paste fences all round, and topped with colorful chocolate candies and hand-made pink chocolate hearts.
Transporting the cake was quite daunting though. I couldn't chance it by moving a fully assembled cake, so we packed the three tiers into three separate boxes, and all the toppings and chocolate pieces into a fourth box. There was no storage at The Rink, but the manager and staff at Nando's were very kind to let us store everything in their chillers and later gave us space in the restaurant to assemble the cake. Absolutely superb service I must say!
And yes, it was all worth it 'cos she loved the cake and we all had a wonderful party! ;-)
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| Helping to make her own birthday cake. |
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| The pink chocolate paste fences threatened to fall apart, but thankfully stayed up for the photos! |
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
A two-tier birthday cake for my princess
Amelia is turning 6 and boy, is she getting assertive! ;-) Well, I can't really grumble about it because just 3 years prior, I was fretting over why she was still babbling in her baby language.
So now that she can express herself a lot more clearly, she turned to me one morning on the way to school and said in all seriousness, "Mummy, I don't want a princess or Barbie cake. I want you to make a three-tier cake for my birthday!"
And so began my baking adventure. I'd never created a three-tier cake, so I had to learn everything right down to stacking the cakes. I found this really inspiring book titled Katrien's Cakes which is filled with beautiful pictures and easy-to-follow steps.
I'd already planned two parties for her: a small one at her kindergarten for her classmates and the main event at The Rink in J Cube.
Obviously, I couldn't chance it for the main event. So I decided to bake a two-tier cake for her kindergarten party as an experiment and for practice ;-)
For the two-tier cake, I baked a vanilla cake with white chocolate frosting. Of course, everything had to be home-made for my princess, so I made pink chocolate paste ribbons and chocolate hearts, butterflies and flowers in pastel colors. Plus cake pops to top off the cake. It turned out to be less challenging than expected. Phew! I'm now ready for the three-tier cake...
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| The 8" x 8" bottom tier before inserting dowels and stacking the top tier. |
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| Cake pops to top off the cake. |
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| The final two-tier birthday cake with white chocolate frosting! |
Thursday, October 4, 2012
10 Scotts, Grand Hyatt
Whenever I'm looking for a place to spend a slow lazy afternoon, 10 Scotts would usually be top of mind.
The high tea spread is not huge by any standard. But the quality is really good. Although the tea starts at 12noon and you can technically lunch there, there aren't many staples on the buffet. What you get is a pleasant light lunch.
There's a nice cheese and cold cut station to start with. The staff will then serve you an elegant two-tier caddy with yummy canapes and the fabulous crab cakes. And I must add that the ice cream is usually served in very pretty presentations! There's also free flow gourmet coffees, teas, juices, etc. So can't complain really.
There are two seatings for tea: 12 noon to 2.30pm and 2.30pm to 5pm. For weekdays, the tea starts at $38++ and for weekends $48++, depending on whether you choose to have champagne with it.
I'm not able to share many photos though as I was stopped from taking photos due to "copyright issues", according to the manager/supervisor. Strange in this day and age of social media... In any case, many others before me have posted photos on review and blog sites. So here are the photos I did manage to take ;-)
10 Scotts
Lobby Level, Grand Hyatt
www.singapore.grand.hyattrestaurants.com
The high tea spread is not huge by any standard. But the quality is really good. Although the tea starts at 12noon and you can technically lunch there, there aren't many staples on the buffet. What you get is a pleasant light lunch.
There's a nice cheese and cold cut station to start with. The staff will then serve you an elegant two-tier caddy with yummy canapes and the fabulous crab cakes. And I must add that the ice cream is usually served in very pretty presentations! There's also free flow gourmet coffees, teas, juices, etc. So can't complain really.
There are two seatings for tea: 12 noon to 2.30pm and 2.30pm to 5pm. For weekdays, the tea starts at $38++ and for weekends $48++, depending on whether you choose to have champagne with it.
I'm not able to share many photos though as I was stopped from taking photos due to "copyright issues", according to the manager/supervisor. Strange in this day and age of social media... In any case, many others before me have posted photos on review and blog sites. So here are the photos I did manage to take ;-)
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| The selection of canapes changes regularly. |
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| This is actually ice-cream! |
10 Scotts
Lobby Level, Grand Hyatt
www.singapore.grand.hyattrestaurants.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Princess Cupcake Gifts
So it's Children's Day and I decided I'd surprise Annette by baking cupcakes for her to bring to her school party.
Since hers is an all-girls school, I settled on princess cupcakes with daisy and pearl sprinkles. Only question was how to pack them individually so she could gift them to her classmates and teachers.
Going online, I came upon a great idea to place the cupcakes into a clear plastic cup and then bagging them into treat bags with a twist/ribbon tie. See http://www.cookiemadness.net/2011/04/packaging-cupcakes/. I bought pretty treat bags and twist ties easily. But for the life of me, I couldn't find the right size cups! The ones in Cold Storage were too big. And the ones in Phoon Huat were too small. I almost gave up as I dwelled on mental images of my precious cupcakes being smashed up in transit.
As I despaired over what should have been a very easy part of the cupcake process, I decided to make another trip to Phoon Huat, this time to the Clementi store. And somehow I was guided to this rack where lo and behold right at the top shelf was the most perfect cupcake packaging ever ;--)
The best part is: the delighted squeals of my girls when they saw the final cupcake gifts!
Since hers is an all-girls school, I settled on princess cupcakes with daisy and pearl sprinkles. Only question was how to pack them individually so she could gift them to her classmates and teachers.
Going online, I came upon a great idea to place the cupcakes into a clear plastic cup and then bagging them into treat bags with a twist/ribbon tie. See http://www.cookiemadness.net/2011/04/packaging-cupcakes/. I bought pretty treat bags and twist ties easily. But for the life of me, I couldn't find the right size cups! The ones in Cold Storage were too big. And the ones in Phoon Huat were too small. I almost gave up as I dwelled on mental images of my precious cupcakes being smashed up in transit.
As I despaired over what should have been a very easy part of the cupcake process, I decided to make another trip to Phoon Huat, this time to the Clementi store. And somehow I was guided to this rack where lo and behold right at the top shelf was the most perfect cupcake packaging ever ;--)
The best part is: the delighted squeals of my girls when they saw the final cupcake gifts!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
One-dish wonders: Cajun Seafood Conchiglie
Sunday nights are mainly a family affair, with moi at the helm planning and cooking (mostly supervising) dinner. This is the night I'd experiment with new recipes. I'd spend the day browsing through recipe books or www.allrecipes.com for ideas, and make special effort to go to the supermarket to select the ingredients (even though I'd have to sometimes will myself away from an afternoon nap!).
1 cup baby spinach
Optional:
1/2 cup dry white wine (exclude vinegar if adding wine)
I found a super easy one-dish recipe for a warm homey dinner - Cajun Shrimp Orecchiette - through the allrecipes app, but I've made some changes based on personal preferences. Also, although the original recipe described how spicy the dish would be, my Asian tastebuds didn't quite think so, so I've increased the amount of Cajun spice ;-) But it really is up to each individual...
Here are the photo and recipe.
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups conchiglie pasta
3 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Cajun seasoning (adjust to taste)
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tomatoes, diced
12 medium prawns, shelled
1 squid, sliced into rings1 cup baby spinach
Optional:
1/2 cup dry white wine (exclude vinegar if adding wine)
Directions:
1. Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes, until almost al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots and onion, and saute for about 1-2 mins.
3. Add olive oil, Cajun seasoning and black pepper, and stir for another 2 mins.
4. Add in vinegar (or white wine), tomato paste, tomatoes and seafood. Cook and stir till seafood is almost cooked.
5. Mix in pasta and spinach. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes until pasta is al dente.
1. Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes, until almost al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots and onion, and saute for about 1-2 mins.
3. Add olive oil, Cajun seasoning and black pepper, and stir for another 2 mins.
4. Add in vinegar (or white wine), tomato paste, tomatoes and seafood. Cook and stir till seafood is almost cooked.
5. Mix in pasta and spinach. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes until pasta is al dente.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
It's my birthday! And dear hubby organized dinner with my gal pals to celebrate... and to get together to bemoan our advancing years ;-)
Since all of us had recently gotten our RWS Invites membership, we decided to have dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Posh enough for the not-so-young us, but still casual enough to have a lively in-denial dinner.
The restaurant ambience is really nice. Bar-height tables, plush seats, lighting that's just right and attentive servers who make good eye contact (in part because of table height) provide a great setting for a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, the menu offered by RWS Invites was disappointing.
You know how some people joke about having to go for supper after a posh meal because of the pretty but tiny portions? Well, it's the case here. I can't fault the presentation, flavors and quality, and in fact the chocolate sphere dessert was tres magnifique! But oh, we were still hungry after dessert so we had to go to St James to sup and party... and we aren't exactly teenagers on a growth spurt ;-)
Since all of us had recently gotten our RWS Invites membership, we decided to have dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Posh enough for the not-so-young us, but still casual enough to have a lively in-denial dinner.
The restaurant ambience is really nice. Bar-height tables, plush seats, lighting that's just right and attentive servers who make good eye contact (in part because of table height) provide a great setting for a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, the menu offered by RWS Invites was disappointing.
You know how some people joke about having to go for supper after a posh meal because of the pretty but tiny portions? Well, it's the case here. I can't fault the presentation, flavors and quality, and in fact the chocolate sphere dessert was tres magnifique! But oh, we were still hungry after dessert so we had to go to St James to sup and party... and we aren't exactly teenagers on a growth spurt ;-)
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Hotel Michael, Resorts World Sentosa
Tel: +65 65777888
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