Whew...what a busy month! Work had been crazy with some tight deadlines, had some big baking projects almost back-to-back, and also been slacking with my workouts *sigh* But I've almost been consistently jogging with my friends every Sunday...training for a 10km run! So far, progress had been slow...managed ONE time of a 10km run, but with a time of 1 and a half hours and I'm half dead with my knees throbbing. Eep! So, will progressively try and push myself (but not too hard, as to save my knees!) to get to 10km eventually. Fingers crossed that I will get there...the run's in June! o.O"
Anyways, amidst some of my big projects (they will have their separate posts...will update ASAP!), here are my other 'smaller' projects that I've managed to squeeze in over the past month or so:
Fondant sheep figurines...heh! These were inspired by another famous blogger's sheep figurines, but the ones I did here had different expressions thanks to my friend who ordered them. She suggested that the sheep have funny faces, and so they did....*grins*
The cupcakes all lined up for delivery...I had much fun making them! The cake was chocolate cake with a filling of chocolate ganache and Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
One last look at them...I particularly like this little guy. Le blur face is so funny!
Rainbow cupcakes! At a time where rainbow cakes / cupcakes were all the craze in the blogosphere (I think they still are now =P), I just did a random version of it. I tried my best to follow Our Best Bites' version of it, but the colors seem to meld into each other, and didn't seem as bright as it should be =/ I DO love the frosting recipe though (also from OBB's recipe). It's light and airy, so unlike the normal buttercream version...too bad I botched it with my funky piping! That shape of the frosting right there reminds me of something I probably should not mention when talking about food. LOL! Oh well...lesson learned.
Another semi-fail project. These were supposed to be orange cranberry muffins! On the up side (if there ever is one), they look fine - almost tasty-looking - in photos. The down side is, the texture is so off that I didn't want to eat it after one bite. I boil it down to the liners. These paper liners don't fare well with denser cake / muffin batter. With an airy cake batter, they rise beautifully, but put in a muffin batter, they sucked. Heck, even the usual cupcake liners that I used didn't fare very well too with muffin batter. They were a bit better than these paper ones, but still didn't yield as good a result as I'd wanted =/ I don't say this lightly...I've tried these paper liners with the chocolate cupcakes (for the sheep), these orange cranberry muffins and another recipe of orange muffins (which I didn't take photos of). All of which did not have good results =( The only good result it yielded was when I tried it with a light white cake batter. So my two cents' worth: these paper liners only fare well with light cakes....
These were my version of Annie's Eats' Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Hot Fudge Sauce....only I did it in a tart version! *grins* I was a bit lazy to do the big pie version, so I bought some ready made tart shells and just filled them =) I also didn't make the fudge sauce, but used chocolate ganache for the drizzle. I've never had banana cream pie before, so this version was absolute BLISS! The layers of chocolate, peanut butter, banana slices, vanilla pastry cream and whipped cream = deliciousness in every bite. In spite of this version not having banana liqueur in it, the banana flavor did come through from the banana slices, so even without it, they're still great. Though I sure wonder if it'll taste even more amazing WITH liqueur....too bad we can't find them here in Malaysia. I would definitely attempt the big pie version next! I LOVE her braided pie crust! Might try that too...heh!
Going on a spree, these were made on the same day as the peanut butter banana cream tarts...lemon curd tartlets! Again, the shells were ready made shells, but the lemon curd was made by yours truly. I had quite a few egg yolks leftover from making the rainbow cupcakes, so lemon curd it is! I followed the curd recipe from my Mom's trusted lemon meringue pie. So yum! The tarts here were topped with dollops of whipped cream (since I still had leftover)...though I think if we had meringue it would be also just as good (if not better!). Yum!
As if that were not enough (I had leftover from the tarts), I found another great recipe from Annie's Eats (I SOOO love her blog....her recipes always yield successful results for me, and they taste awesome! Love her photography as well!): Lemon curd cupcakes! Okay, her original recipe was called Key Lime Pie Cupcakes, but I figured limes, lemons...they're about the same thing. And I didn't want to waste the lemon curd so I adapted it to fit mine. I used the cupcake recipe, but filled the cakes with lemon curd and topped with more whipped cream =) These cupcakes were fluffy and airy...coupled with the tangy lemon curd, they were quite yummy!
Cake pops! These were made at my friend's house where she gathered a few other friends and we did a sort of 'baking party' =P It was so fun catching up with each other, and also scary coz we experienced not one, but TWO earthquake tremors at her condo! The place was literally rocking side to side and we quickly rushed down to the lobby. Thank goodness nothing else happened! The cake pops? Well, let's just say these were some of the nicest ones =P We got so tired towards the end, the cake pops looked like blobs...LOL! Too much attempted at one go I guess...but I have to mention that using a microwave to melt the candy melts / chocolate makes for a MUCH easier way to make cake pops compared to a double boiler! Less margin for error. Too bad I don't own a microwave....oh well.
My version of Martha Stewarts' Black Forest Cupcakes...I love, LOVE the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes! They were SO soft and moist...goes SO well with the cherries, pastry cream and ganache! My only gripe with this is the amount of cherries used were a bit too little =P Will use lots more cherries in it to enhance the taste....probably add a teeny bit of brandy to give it more oomph next time too! *grins*
And my latest attempt to make bread....this was my version of an Italian bread. =) There were supposed to be 'checkers' on the top of the bread, but I scored the checks a bit too lightly & sprinkled too much cornmeal on it so when it proofed and baked, the ridges disappeared =/ It was surprisingly easy to make though, especially with my handy Kitchen Aid dough hook! It kneads the dough out with such ease I could cry! And when it first came out of the oven...OMG. The crust was amazingly crisp and chewy, but bite into the center, it was hearty yet had a soft texture....SO good! The family finished this in a day...so maybe will attempt another bread tonight *wink* I think I'm getting hooked (no pun intended) on this! Hehe!
Yup, so basically that's about it! Will continue with my two other BIG baking projects...so stay tuned!
