I did manage to fit in a whirlwind trip to Europe in between cake orders. In 17 days we managed to visit Belgium, Germany, France and Italy. The Europeans certainly know how to indulge, especially in all things sweet.  Their chocolates and desserts are to die for.

Being a lover of Macarons, one of my favorite places was Pierre Hermé Paris. OMG, their macarons are incredible. My favorite flavours were Pistachio, Chocolate and Crème brûlée. My husband and Son liked the Lemon the best. It’s a shame they were gone so fast.

Another amazing experience was my visit to the Lindt chocolate museum in Cologne, Germany. The best part is that you get to taste the Lindt chocolate inside  the museum.  They gave you wafer dipped in melted Lindt chocolate.. Yummm…☺

I also really enjoyed visiting Ladurée on Champs-Élysées in Paris for their petit four and all of their yummy treats. I definitely want to go back to Paris. It’s no wonder so many people want to visit, it’s such a beautiful city.

There was also Fassbender & Rausch in Berlin, Germany. Wow, what a chocolate shop. It was huge, with an incredible selection of everything chocolate. They have some large chocolate models on display of things like the Brandenburg Gate and the Titanic.  I was amazed by the incredible detail.

It’s been a difficult start of the year for the countless people who have been affected by the widespread flooding around Australia. So many states have been affected… Tasmania, Victoria and especially Queensland. It’s been very devastating news for everyone I guess.  I feel very blessed to be where I am at the moment.  My heart goes out to everyone who’s affected by it.  I felt helpless especially watching the TV news.  Looking at the flood victims make me cry.  On that note I’m trying to do my little bit to help… by selling red velvet cake balls.  It’s $25 per dozen and for the whole month of January, all of the profits will go to QLD flood appeal. http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

So far Ma’ Cake has sold 26 dozen, which means $546 will be donated to the QLD flood appeal.  Please help us spread the word and if you wish to order, you can just click this http://ezibuy.it/BR7TXCE?cart

So what is a cake ball you ask?  Cake balls are basically cake crumb that I shape into a ball. For this particular one I’m using red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese frosting and covered with couverture chocolate. The photos show one of the few cake ball production runs I have done so far the QLD flood appeal.  Together we can make a difference.  Thank you for helping me to spread the word and thank you to everyone who already helped by making a purchase.  God Bless you all.

Since starting ma’cake a bit over a year ago, I have become much more aware of the incredible skill and creativity of my fellow cake decorators. Although they are technically competitors, it’s more of a community of peers. Recently my awareness has also been growing of the amazing skill of event stylists who put together beautiful dessert tables. I have tried making a couple myself, which has made me realise the skill required to achieve the amazing results that the professional event stylists achieve.

These are two of my own attempts.

Here is some of my favourite dessert tables by some amazing event stylists. Truly inspiring work.

Halloween dessert table by Mon Tresor

Carnival dessert table by Candy Soiree

Bunny’s dessert table by Mrs A in the Cove

Manchester United dessert table by Fairydust Stylish Stationery

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Caster Sugar
• 1 1/2 cup Plain Flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup water

Steps:

1. Mix sugar, flour, salt, cocoa & baking soda with a fork.
2. Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients.  In the 1st put the oil, in the 2nd put the vinegar and in the 3rd put the vanilla.
3. Pour the water over the entire mixture, thoroughly mix with a fork.
4. Bake in a 175 degree centigrade (340 fahrenheit) oven for 20-25 mins or until the skewer comes out clean from the cake.

Happy baking and hope this recipe help for someone out there with dairy allergy..

I’ve been wanting to teach for quite sometime now.  I just have this urge of sharing my knowledge.  And for quite a while, I’ve been getting inquiry about teaching so I thought I’m going to give this a go.  I can’t describe how happy I am with my decision…  It’s just like s dream come true for me… The photos are of my first two students Nancy (wearing the Ma’ Cake apron) and Dewi (pink top) who both did a magnificent job with the cakes they decorated.

If you want to learn about cake decorating, please feel free to contact me at cake@macake.com.au

Vanilla cupcake (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients :

• 150g unsalted butter
• 160g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 eggs
• 160g self raising flour
• 100g plain flour
• 200ml milk

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven 180C
2. Beat the butter, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest with electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at the time, beating well after each addition
3. Sift the flour together.  Using the wooden spoon, fold the flour and milk alternately into the creamed mixture
4. Spoon into the paper case and bake for 20-25 min or until a skewer comes out clean
5. Leave in the tray for 5 min before turning out onto the wire rack.

Vanilla buttercream

Ingredients :

• 250g unsalted butter
• 125g pure icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp milk

Steps:

1. Beat the butter with electric mixer until light and creamy
2. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar alternately with vanilla essence and milk beating until smooth and fluffy

Pipe the buttercream using star or round nozzle.

You can also use white chocolate buttercream which you can find it here http://blog.macake.com.au/2010/06/red-velvet-cupcake-recipe/ instead of vanilla buttercream..  So the choice is yours..

Happy baking…

As you can see in the picture above there is too much of vanilla crème chantilly on the side.  When I cut and first slice I got a slice of vanilla crème chantilly, nothing else, which on its own it is not balanced at all.  But if you eat the middle part, the flavour is actually very nice.  It’s a very  well balanced and my favorite layer is actually the vanilla almond crunch… Love that layer very much…

So, this is my verdict for the cake.  Is it a nice cake??  It’s a very nice cake.  But is it a type of cake that I want to go back and reorder??  I would say no.  In my humble opinion, I think this is like a one off cake that you would order only for the experience but it’s not  the type of cake that  I would scream for more and more…   By all means try it and see what you think…

Oreo Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Makes 30

• 180g unsalted butter
• 350g brown sugar
• 250g dark chocolate
(I use couveture chocolate)
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 200g plain flour
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 Oreo cookies, smashed to bits
• 1 3/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C
2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside in the room temperature.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks one at the time, beating well after each addition. 
Add the vanilla and the chocolate and continue to mix until the chocolate mix well with the mixture.
4. Beat the sifted flour, baking powder, alternating with the milk.
5. Stir in the smashed Oreos until evenly distributed.
6. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until peaks form.
Fold in the egg whites, until no more whites show.
7. Spoon into the papercase and bake for 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before icing.

Cookies & Cream Icing

Ingredients:

• 300g unsalted butter
• 450g icing sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup vanilla marshmallow (melt them in the microwave for 15 seconds)
• 12 Oreo cookies, smashed to bits

Directions:

1. Beat the butter, then add in the sifted sugar gradually and mix well.
2. Add milk and vanilla and continue to mix.
3. Stir in the melted marshmallow with a wooden spoon.
4. Add the smashed Oreos until the texture is even.

The icing is a bit sticky so please make sure that the cupcakes are fully cooled.  I normally use the round tip to decorate the cupcake because sometimes there are still some big chunks of smashed oreo in the icing.

Happy baking and looking forward to hear some feedback from you…

I’m very proud how far I’ve come by looking at some of my first few fondant cakes… So if I can so can you…

Back to MMF, out of many recipes I’ve tried, this one is the best after I made some changes…

Ingridients:

• 450 gr white marhsmallow (pascall brand I normally use)
• 900 gr pure icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp water
• melted Copha

Instructions:

1. Grease a microwaveable bowl with melted copha.  Add all marhsmallow, vanilla and water

2. Microwave for 45 seconds.  Remove from microwave and stir until completely melted with fork.  (Put melted copha on the fork)

3. If the marshmallow doesn’t melt after stirring, return to microwave for 10 seconds and stir (repeat intervals if necessary)

4. Add sifted pure icing sugar and process at low speed until well incorporated then increase speed (if you don’t have stand mixer, mix with the fork until well incorporated then knead)

5. Pour some pure icing sugar, knead marshmallow mix (please be careful, it might still be hot at this point)  Grease your hand with melted copha to avoid marshmallow sticking to your hand.

6. If the mix is too sticky, add some more sifted pure icing sugar until it becomes firmer

7. Knead into a loaf (it will be a little bit soft at this point but don’t worry).  Wrap it in a cling wrap and cool for one hour (it will get firmer then)

8. You can store in dry place or refrigerator (it will store for weeks)

Happy making  and have fun with the marshmallow…

I can’t believe Masterchef competition is over…  I just love every single series that they have… I watch them religiously.  But I can never watch them live..  I always have something on..  Let it be cake decorating or baking… Mostly my work is in my way so I can only watch the recorded show… Having said that also made me already know sometimes who’s in or who’s out even before I watch them but that’s ok..  I still watch them. lol  Anyway this show has inspired me a lot.  Not only the dessert but also the main course since my husband is a meat lover.  Talking about the dessert there is 2 particular desserts that drive me crazy and make me keep on trying until I succeed…  One is the crème brulee and two is the French macarons.  These are the two of my favorites dessert at all time.  It took me 3 goes for each of the recipes until I succeed…   The crème brulee I made from Masterchef recipe so if you’re interested you can have a look at http://www.masterchef.com.au/creme-brulee.htm

As for the macarons, I’ve tried 3 different recipes each with different results, which taught me a lot. This recipe is the result of those lessons, in a way it is a combination of the best of the techniques and ingredient mix of the 3.  I will give you the recipe in the minute but I just want to point it out to you what’s the most important things in baking macarons.

1. You have to use the right temperature.
2. Use aged egg white will give you better result (Age egg white by leaving your egg white in the room temperature for 1 day)
3. Please make sure you leave the piped macaron in the room temperature for 15 minutes before you put them into the oven.

Here is the recipe:

Makes 35 macarons

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 large aged egg whites, room temperature
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup caster sugar

MACARON VARIATIONS

• Chocolate: Substitute 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder for 1/4 cup of the almond flour.
• Vanilla Bean: Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use.

SUGGESTED FILLINGS FOR MACARONS

• Chocolate: Dark Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate ganache recipe that I learnt from Planet cake…

- 50ml pure cream

- 100gr dark couverture chocolate ( I use couverture chocolate but you can substitute with

cooking chocolate)

- Put the chocolate pieces in the stainless steel bowl.

- Put the cream in a saucepan and bring to boiling point.  Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and mix with hand mix until the ganache is smooth.

• Vanilla Bean: white chocolate buttercream (You can find the recipe in my red velvet cupcake recipe).

Directions

1. Put icing sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 3 times.
2. Preheat oven to 140 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add caster sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.
3. Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain round tip, and pipe 2cm round and 2.5cm apart on baking sheets, dragging piping tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Put the macarons in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. (If the macarons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macarons.)
6. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with the filling.

There are a few photos from my experiment.  As you can see below that the macarons cracked since I lost track of time I didn’t leave the piped macaron in the room temperature for 15 minutes.  That’s what happens when you’re trying to do multi-tasking… lol…  So make sure you time it.

Happy baking and don’t forget to let me know how you go.