Majulah Singapore, Award and a Banana Hazelnut Cake

Yesterday was Cooling-Off Day. You might think that the temperatures here in Singapore are climbing to an all-time high and yesterday was a day specially designated for Singaporeans to cool off. Nope. That is not the purpose. Instead, it is the election heat that has been going on for some time. Cooling-Off Day is a day (first time in history) where no campaigning is allowed and voters have this whole day to exercise their thoughts and think of the greater picture for the future of Singapore.

This year, 2011, is a year that marks the turning point in Singapore politics. With the advent of online social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, political awareness spreads like wildfire these days with the uploading of rally videos and speeches. Instead of the latest celebritity gossips about who's in and who's out, the General Election has became the hottest topic in coffee-shop talks.  

What marks the difference between this election and previous elections is that Singaporeans are becoming increasing aware of government policies, affairs of state and the importance of this General Election. This is one phenomenon which I gladly welcome. After all, we need to be more concerned about the well-being of our country as a whole instead of remaining politically apathetic. 

It is the responsibility of every voter to vote wisely. After all, it is our votes that determines the direction that Singapore will head in. As a Singaporean, do you want new amenities for your constituency or would you be more concerned with the bigger issues at hand? These are questions we need to consider thoroughly. Utimately, it is up to individuals to think and decide.    

This was meant to be posted up in my previous posts but it somehow slipped my mind. I would like to thank Angel from Cook.Bake.Love for presenting this award to me. Thanks a lot for the encouragement, Angel. 

Now, back to my baking escapades. I was first introduced to this Banana Hazelnut Cake when Edith brought it along for a bloggers meetup. After savouring a slice of the cake, I was impressed and was full of praises for it. When I have a craving for banana cakes these days, this recipe would come to my mind.

This is the second time I have made this cake. Previously, the cake turned out fluffy but it was slightly underdone. After turning it out of the cake tin, the cake collapsed on one side. I should have baked it longer and let it cool for at least 15 minutes in the tin to allow the structure to firm up a little before turning it out.      

To avoid the same mishap, I used a loaf tin lined with baking paper and ensured that the cake was fully baked before it was turned out. After the cake was done, I could easily lift the cake out without the need for the cake to cool in the tin and to allow for the structure to firm up.

There is a noticeable difference in texture this time round as the crumbs are more tightly packed. Nevertheless it was tender due to the addition of sour cream. I had followed the original directions and mixed the ground hazelnuts with the creamed butter. Previously, the ground hazelnuts was mixed with the flour and other dry ingredients. I also observed that I performed more folding of ingredients by hand previously but relied more on the mixer when it comes to incorporating ingredients this time round. That could have affected the crumbs.

Taste-wise, it is also different from the first attempt since I am using a different brand of sour cream, butter and a different variety of banana. In terms of appearance, I like how the cake bakes to a nice golden-brown hue and the black streaks that are signature to any mouth-watering banana cake. 

Banana Hazelnut Cake (recipe adapted from Precious Moments)
Serving size: 10.5 x 6 inch loaf or 9 x 3 inch round cake. Yields 15 - 20 slices
Taste and texture: Dense or fluffy depending on method of mixing. Carries a rich banana fragrance with a faint nutty note.
Equipment and materials:

• 10.5 x 6 inch loaf tin or 9 x 3 inch round tin
• Balloon/wire whisk
• Spatula
• Handheld/Stand beater
• Baking paper
• Wire rack
• Toothpick/wooden skewer
• Flour sieve
• Measuring spoon set
• Mixing bowls

Ingredients:

• 240g over-riped bananas, mashed
• 225g unsalted butter, softened 
• 220g caster sugar
• 75g ground hazelnut
• 150g eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
• 265g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 200g sour cream, at room temperature

Making the cake:

Preheat Oven - Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.

Mixing dry ingredients - Sift plain flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Add in the ground hazelnuts. Whisk the mixture with a wire whisk to loosen the mixture and to allow the ingredients to be evenly distributed.  

Cream butter - In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (as mentioned in how to cream butter). 

Adding eggs to creamed butter - Add eggs to creamed butter in 3 additions, making sure each addition is well incorporated before adding the next. The mixture should be smooth. At this point in time the batter should be wet and creamy due to the addition of eggs. 

Alternating flour mixture and sour cream - Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients to egg + creamed butter mixture. Fold with a wire whisk or use a beater to mix on medium low speed until dry ingredients are incorporated. Scrap sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula and mix in the stray ingredients. Next add 1/2 of the sour cream and fold with whisk/beat with mixer to combine.Scrap sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula and mix in the stray ingredients.

Repeat the process of mixing the dry and wet ingredients alternately, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. It should be as follows:

1. Firstly, add 1/3 of dry ingredients
2. Add 1/2 of sour cream
3. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients
4. Add remaining 1/2 of sour cream
5. Lastly, add remaining 1/3 dry ingredients

Folding in mashed bananas - For the final part, mix in the mashed bananas with a spatula or wire whisk, ensuring mashed bananas are well distributed.

Baking the cake - Bake the cake at 170 degrees C for 1 hr -1 hr 15 minutes. Check done-ness by inserting a wooden skewer into the centre of the cake. When done, the skewer should come out clean. Bake the cake for a further 5 minutes just to 'play safe' since banana cakes tend to be very moist and have weak structures.

Once the cake is baked. Lift out the cake and remove the baking paper. Allow cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes:

1. Use over-riped bananas for best results.
2. If butter is not well creamed, it may curdle when eggs are added. Butter egg mixture may also curdle if eggs are cold or added too fast to creamed butter. 
3. Relying on manual folding using a wire whisk might yield a fluffier cake. 

Notice:

If you wish to post the recipe and instructions online, please give due credit (to me and the original contributor) and do re-phrase the instructions. I have taken quite a bit of effort to construct, edit and type them out. Thank you =]

Orange Cranberry Scones and Awards

These scones were meant for last month's aspiring bakers but somehow I forgot about it. I realised my past few posts were all about cakes. Time to break the monotony before I get back to cakes again.

This was my second time baking scones. Compared to my previous cream scones, these orange craneberry scones are less rich and they need a little jam to boost the flavour, despite the fact that I used good quality butter. Perhaps it was due to the absence of salt, which I was lazy to include as I have to open a new pack.

Once again, I am honoured to recieve this lovely blog award from two fellow bloggers, Alice from I Love. I Cook. I Bake and Bake for a Queen. Thank you ladies =]

Here are rules to abide for accepting this award: 

1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs.
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

Ok, here's 7 random things about myself:

1) I used to have a pet Maltese named Ashley staying with me. He's a male! Most people would associate the name with a female. He's now staying with my brother's family.

2) My favourite colour is green. Green used to be the colour theme for my blog when I firsted started blogging. It was a little dull and hence I changed it to the current blue theme which matches my blog layout. I might change it back to Green if I can find a nice green colour.

3) Of all bakes, I enjoy eating cakes the most, followed by cookies and bread. I'm quite a bread person but I always tend to procrastinate when it comes to bread making. Hence I am very stagnant in this aspect.

4) My favourite baking related show is called Cake Boss ( TLC channel) starring Buddy Valastro, his family and his bakery. He's a really talented cake artist and the show is humorous and entertaining. Wish I could make cakes like him one day. The fondant cakes he make are awesome! Imagine a safari theme cake, a 3D standing dog cake and a moving robot cake. Neat!

5) I am quite a bakecook fanatic. Currently I have around 60 titles. The bulk of it are chocolate, cake and cookie titles. Most of the titles are by asian authors. I even have a long wishlist of about 50 books which I would want to have, all of which are by western authors.

6) I think I am addicted to fondant making. I am not quite fond of eating fondant though. Will be adding fondant books to my bakebook wishlist.

7) When the time comes, I would want to go for professional courses to further my baking skills. At the moment, I can only rely on books, blogs, videos and internet articles.

I will be passing the award to the following bloggers: 

1. Eelin from The Batter Baker
2. Allie from Sweets and Loves 
3. Sheryl from Life is too Short, Eat Desserts!
4. Shirley from Kokken 69
5. Fatmum from FatmumBaking
6. Aimei from My Baking Cottage
7. Josephine from Sugar & Everything Nice
8. Blessed Homemaker  from Blessed Homemaker
9. Wendy from Wen's Delight
10. Jess from J3ss Kitch3n
11. Jesslyn from Bakericious
12. Pei-Lin from Dodol & Mochi
13. Swee San from The Sweet Spot
14. Wendy from Wendyinkk

 

Orange Cranberry Scones ( recipe adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet)

Serving size: about 12 scones
Texture: Crisp and crumbly on the oustide; fluffy and cake light, moist in the interior. 
Equipment and Materials:

• Measuring spoon set
• Flour sift
• 1.5 inch round cookie cutter
• Mixing bowl
• Parchment/baking paper
• Wire rack
• Weighing scale
• Wire whisk
• Flexible spatula

Dough:
185g plain flour
30g castor sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 tsp + 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
80g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
60g dried cranberries
homemade buttermilk => 120ml milk  + 1/2tbs lemon juice, (leave to stand for 10 mins)

Making the scones:

Combine dry ingredients - Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sugar, zests and salt. Use a wire whisk to aerate and disperse the mixture evenly.

Blend in butter - Tip in the cubed butter into the flour mixture. Use your hands and rub the chilled butter into the dry ingredients. The result should be that of fine and coarse flour-coated butter crumbs. Work fast to prevent the butter from melting.

Alternatively, use a pastry cutter or 2 knifes to cut the butter. If using 2 knifes, cut the butter into the flour mixture in a criss cross manner.

A food processor can also be used if you have one. If using a food processor, whisk the dry ingredients together for about 15 seconds. Add in the cubed butter and pulse a few times with 1 second intervals until fine and coarse flour-coated butter crumbs are obtained.

Adding the cream and cranberries - Add in cranberries to the coarse flour-coated butter crumbs and stir to distribute the berries evenly. Pour in the homemade buttermilk into the flour-coated butter crumbs. Use a fork and stir to obtain a moist sticky mixture. 

Shaping and chilling dough - Lightly flour a work surface. Turn out the moist sticky mixture onto the work surface and gently gather the mixture together, pressing in stray dry ingredients into the main dough. There is no need to knead the dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and flatten it to obtain a disk 1 inch in height. Chill in the refrigerator or freeze till it is very firm. Dough must be very firm else it will be difficult to work with.

Prepraring the oven - Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210 degrees C (recipe asked for 220 degrees C).

Cutting out rounds - Once dough is chilled, turn the flattened disk out onto a floured work surface and cut out rounds using a round cookie cutter dusted with flour. Arrange the cut out rounds 1 inch apart on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Gather the remaining scraps, flatten them into a disk 1 inch in height and repeat the chilling process. Repeat the cutting of rounds for a second time.

Gather the remaining scraps after the 2nd cutting and flatten them into a round disk 1 inch in height, for a final time. Cut the disk into wedges.

Chill all the cut-out rounds and wedges for another 20minutes or give them a quick freeze to firm them up. If the dough is too soft, it will lose its shape in the oven.

Baking the scones: Bake the scones for 14 -16 minutes or untill the surface is golden brown. Remove to cool on a wire rack.

Notes: 

1. These Scones taste best when served warm.
2. Dough can be prepared beforehand and chilled overnight (one night maximum) or frozen for weeks. The dough may not rise as much as when it is freshly made on the same day.
3. Store remaining scones in an airtight container. Warm them in a toaster or oven before serving.

Notice:

If you wish to post the recipe and instructions online, please give due credit and do re-phrase the instructions. I have taken quite a bit of effort to construct, edit and type them out. Thank you =]

My First Blog Award and Not-Quite-Mango Mousse Cake

I would like to thank Jean and Esther for passing this award to me. This is the first time I'm receiving an award related to blogging and I find it rather interesting. Usually, awards are given out to recipients to acknowledge their contribution in their respective fields. In this case, I think of this award as an encouragement, friendship and goodwill between two bloggers.  

Now that mangoes are in season, it means time to buy and use them for baking. On my mind, I have been thinking of making either a mango-upside down cake or a mango mousse cake. After reading Allie's post, I decided to use Florence's mango mousse cake recipe for the 2nd time.

In the previous attempt, the mouse turned out horribly bland when I used Malaysian mangoes. This time round, I used Thai honey mangoes (my mangoes were over-riped) and it did turn out better, but still not up to my expectations. The recipe works perfectly well and I am sure the problem (taste-wise) lies with the variety of mangoes that I have used.  

In local supermarts here, the varieties of mangoes available are quite limited. We have:

• Malaysian mangoes (Chanakran mangoes, if I did not recall wrongly),
• Thai honey mangoes
• Thai rainbow mangoes
• Thai ivory mangoes
• Pakistan mangoes (pricey)
• Taiwan mango king (pricey) 

Out of these varieties, I find that malaysian mangoes are both bland in taste and lacking in sweetness while Thai honey mangoes are sweet but lacking in fragrance. I will probably not be using these two varieties of mangoes in any of my bakes again, using them for cake decorations at most. Maybe fellow bakers and readers out there might to want to share your experience with mangoes.

My other regret for this mango mousse cake is the appearance. I had been careful while filling up the perimeter of the cake (in the cake ring) with mango mousse, pushing the mousse down as best as I could but the cake still turns out with big gaps at the sides.

Mango Mousse Cake ( Sponge recipe adapted from 超人气香港蛋糕56款, Mango mousse recipe slightly modified from Do What I Like and Mango gelee layer recipe adapted from All that Matters)

Taste and Texture: Firm mango mousse layers with moist and light sponge, topped with soft mango jelly.
Serving Size: 10 slices
Equipment:
1) 8 inch round pan
2) 8 inch round cake ring
3) 9 inch round cake board
4) Cake leveller or palette/serrated knife longer than 8 inches
5) Balloon whisk
6) Rubber spatula
7) Handheld beater/Stand beater
8) Baking paper
9) Wire rack
10) Toothpick/wooden skewer
11) Flour sieve
12) Mixing bowls

Sponge cake ( Sponge recipe adapted from 超人气香港蛋糕56款)
70g egg yolks, room temperature
40g caster sugar
4tbs vegetable oil
3 tbs water
95g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
140g egg whites, room temperature
40g caster sugar

Making the sponge cake:
Prepare Oven - Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Prepare flour mixture - Sift cake flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk to combine and distribute the ingredients evenly.

Making the egg yolk batter - Place egg yolks and 40g caster sugar in a large mixing bowl. Briefly whisk the egg yolk mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Add in oil and water and stir well.

Folding flour into egg yolk batter - Add the flour mixture to the yolks + oil + water mixture and mix well. Use a spatula to scoop sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure flour mixture is evenly incorporated.

Beating egg whites - Next, whisk egg whites on low speed. Increase speed slowly to medium and beat until egg whites are foamy. Gradually increase speed to high and add the remaining 40g of sugar gradually. Beat until egg whites are almost stiff but still moist. This is when the beaters are lifted, the egg whites will form peaks that are upright and not drooping slightly. Egg whites will resemble whipped cream.The entire bowl of whites will not drop out when the bowl is overturned.

Folding in egg whites - Using a balloon whisk, fold one third of beaten egg whites into egg yolk batter gently to lighten and combine. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites to combine. Final batter should be foamy and uniform in colour with no streaks of egg white present. Folding egg whites gently using balloon whisk will prevent egg whites from deflating too much.

Baking the sponge cake - Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 inch round pan and bake at 160 degrees C for 25 -30minutes. Test doneness using a skewer or toothpick. Cake will shrink from edges on cooling. Unmould sponge cake and leave to cool on a wire rack upright.

Mango Mousse layers: (recipe slightly modified from Do What I Like)

350g fresh mango puree, at room temperature
350ml whipping cream,
3 tbs icing sugar (vary to your liking and the sweetness of the mangoes)
17g gelatine powder soaked in 4 tbs water
about 180g mango, cubed (not too big)

Making mango mousse:
Whipping the cream - Whip cream until it is at mousse state (roughly 70% stiff). Add in icing sugar and whip on low speed to dissolve the sugar.

Making gelatine solution - Soak gelatine in water and allow it to bloom for 5 minutes. Heat the gelatine mixture over a double boiler untill gelatine dissolves completely. Leave to cool.

Making mango mousse - Combine gelatine mixture and mango puree. Fold in whipped cream to obtain a smooth pale-orange mango mousse.

Cake Assembly:
Slicing sponge cake - Slice sponge cake into 2 even layers using cake leveller or long serrated/palette knife. Slice off the part that has domed.

Preparing the sponge and mousse layers - Place one sponge layer into a 8 inch cake ring supported by a cake board below. There should some allowance surrounding the sponge layer. Spread 100g of cubed mango over the first sponge layer. Pour half of the mango mousse over the first sponge layer. I measured the mousse by weight and divided it evenly into 2 portions. Level the mousse as evenly as possible.

Place the second sponge layer over the mousse layer. Spread remaining 100g cubed mango over the second sponge layer. Pour the remaining mousse mixture over the second sponge layer and level the top as evenly as possible. Place cake ring in the refrigerator and allow a chilling time of 4 hours or until mousse is firm.

Mango Gelee layer (recipe adapted from All that Matters)
100g mango puree
2 tsp gelatin
3 tbs water
100g mango, cubed

Making mango gelee layer:
Making gelatine solution - Soak 2 tsp gelatine in 3tbs water and allow it to bloom for 5 minutes. Heat the gelatine mixture over a double boiler untill gelatine dissolves completely. Leave to cool.

Making the mango gelee - Combine cooled gelatine solution and mango puree. Pour it over the chilled and assembled mango mousse cake. Scatter 100g cubed mango over the mango gelee layer. Allow cake to chill until mango gelee layer is firm.

Unmoulding finished cake:
To unmould, wrap a warm kitchen towel around the ring or use a hairdryer to briefly heat up the exterior of the cake ring. Take care not to apply too much heat using the hairdryer. Remove cake ring slowly and steadily. Bring cake back to the refrigerator to firm up before decorating and cutting.

Notes:
1) There is a risk of the mousse oxidizing when exposed to air for some time.
2) Use good quality mangoes for this cake.
3) Do not omit diced mangoes for mousse layers.
4) I'll probably cut down a little on the gelatine for the mango mousse.
5) The mango mousse tends to 'stain' the sponge layers.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

Baking Library Turns Two - 2nd Blogoversary

2009 was a year when I hit the lowest point of my life. My sense of direction, motivation and confidence were lost. I felt that I could not handle any task properly. It was a period of gloom and uncertainty. My fatigue was getting the better of me and I desperately needed a good break. In April that year, I took a hiatus from blogging. It was so long a break that I thought this blog would be closed indefinitely. Meanwhile, I didn't stop baking. I was still trying out recipes and reading my bake books. Sometimes the bakes turn out fine. Sometimes they don't.

Feeling fully recharged, I returned back to blogging in March 2010. The hiatus lasted almost a year. Taking a long break proved to be a wise choice. After the break, I gained a stronger momentum in blogging. Apart from that, I baked more regularly than before and had more confidence to challenge myself and stretch my limits.

I am glad that I made it back to the blogosphere. Blogging has given me a new perspective. Since young, I have never liked writing. The main reason could possibly be attributed to the fact that I don't have a habit of reading books, hence the lack of exposure to various writing styles and techniques. Through blogging and my passion for baking, I learnt to appreciate reading, writing and even food photography better.

2010 is a rather bakeful year for me (cakeful in fact). My first layer cake was born. It was a great feat judging from my own standards. Subsequently, more layer cakes were churned out. I even attempted making a mini teddy bear cake and tried my hands at making log cakes. Although there were other successful bakes like tarts and cookies, cakes dominated my bakes most of the time.

I am thankful to my family members and close friends for being supportive of me baking all this while. Without their encouragement. I would not have come this far. I am also glad that I have made friends through blogging and I have a baking buddy now. Many thanks to my blogger/baker friends for the constant motivation, tips and advice. All of you have truly made my baking and blogging experience an enriching and enjoyable one.

After two years of baking trials and experiments, I am ever more certain of my passion for baking. Baking is an aspect which I would associate myself with in the long run and I would definitely work towards my goal of becoming a pastry chef or a career closely-knitted to baking.

2010 is coming to an end. For me, it is ending on a beautiful note (this is not my last post of the year, lol). With the mood of festivity filling the air, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers, friends and family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! For the coming year 2011, I hope to buy even more books and increase my baking collection (my collection tripled this year from 20 to 60 books). Most importantly, I hope it will be another fruitful year of baking and blogging. Same goes to all you bakers out there!

Today is the day when Baking Library turns two. Happy 2nd Anniversary (my 1st anniversary crept past quietly since I was taking my break) to Baking Library, my beloved blog! Hope that there will be more anniversaries in years to come and I can keep my momemtum for blogging going strong.

Where is the Cake?

Frankly, I have a confession to make. Over the weekend on saturday, I was in the midst of a battle in my kitchen in the wee hours. The cause that broke the peace at such late night ? An upside-down apple cake. It was'nt just any apple cake. To be exact, it was Rose's upside-down apple cake.

Who is Rose you may ask. She is none other than Rose Levy Beranbaum, a name I have learnt to remember by heart, an established baker and cookbook author. Among her works are The Cake Bible, The Pie and Pastry Bible and last but not least the highly acclaimed Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

Before the cake was done, I was expecting the cake to be good. When I took my first bite into the cake, 'good' was probably an understatement. It was mind-blowing. I was amazed at the ultra-light texture of the sponge and the caramel baked apple top. Lovely~! Once again, I forgot to include an ingredient this time - vanilla. The exclusion of vanilla did not mar my experience. Even without vanilla, the cake had tasted so superb. I helped myself slice after slice and stopped at my third serving. At that moment, I wish I had my camera around. Sorry folks! I will re-cake this soon.

The Meaning Behind Baking Library

Baking Library was born on 12 Dec 2008. I was racking my brain for a name that represents me or my ideals. One thing I knew for sure is that the first word has got to be the word 'Baking'. After some deliberation, I decided on the name Baking Library.

Why Baking Library of all names? Since my birth month is in October, my horoscope is Libra, thus that making me a Libran or Librarian. At the same time, I am also a bakebook collector, trying to grow my library of bakebooks. Hence, I started out with my blogging persona as the Baking Librarian. As time past, the name changed as my friends started to call me Bakertan, which signifies who I truly am, a homebaker with the chinese surname 'Tan' and at the same time an aspiring baker/pastry chef =].

Most importantly, this blog was created to serve as a platform to impart and share knowledge with others. My idea back then was to transform this blog into a comprehensive library where readers can refer to for tips and techniques, preparation of ingredients and baking pans, things that can go wrong during baking and how to prevent them and an array of usuable recipes to select from.

When I first started out baking, I realised that it is not easy to figure out the instructions on cookbooks and online references. There would be some baking terminologies which only experienced bakers would understand. After searching high and low for the answers online and from bakebooks, I learnt to overcome the knowledge barrier. With this in mind, I hope to be as precise as possibly when explaining the instructions for my recipes so that the occasional baker or first-timers would have an easier time to grasp. Do bear with me if I end up being long winded though.

However, with the level of experience I have at hand currently, I cant really impart but can only share my knowledge with others. The section 'Baking Tips and Techniques' was created recently for this purpose. In time to come, I hope that I will improve by learning from the online community and my valued readers. Do feel free to comment or provide advice along the way as I embark on this learn and bake journey.

Its going to be a long road ahead for the transformation. In a few years down the road, I hope to see my blog heading in the right direction. Pray that I dont lose my momentum for blogging in the meantime.

For any use of the pictures, recipes, instructions and information found on my blog, please give due credit wherever possible. Thank you.

Any queries or feedback may be forwarded to my mail at wings_heero@hotmail.com.

Crazy About Bakebooks

It is hard for me to resist the urge to browse at bakebooks whenever I am near a bookstore or a library. Somehow, I can hear the books calling out to me. Reading was never my hobby. The only publications I was willing to read are magazines and comics. Things changed when I took up baking. Ever since then, I enjoyed reading up bakebooks and online baking articles.

Being a self-taught baker, books and online sources are my best reference materials. There is an endless library of publications for me to refer to. Nowadays, collecting bakebooks is fast becoming one of my hobby. Whenever there is a book sale, I will very much look forward to getting a good bargain at the cookbook corner. Well, there is one coming up soon, the Borders sale at Expo. Hopefully it will not disappoint. One day, I am going to stuff my bookshelves full with purely bakebooks. When that day comes, I think my room will become.. hmm...what shall i call it - a baking library.

Looking For A Baking Buddy..

Its been a long long while since I blog. I have'nt given up on baking. Been reading bake books and trying out recipes in the meanwhile. Sometimes the goods turn out fine but sometimes it doesnt. Nevertheless, I feel that I have gained more experience, confidence and knowledge. It feels like playing video games and levelling up after picking up experience.

A thought struck me suddenly few weeks back. I thought it will be cool to find a baking buddy to share our experience, knowledge, tools and passion for baking. We can meet up for baking sessions and share our bake goods. Hope I can find one, preferably near my area so that I do not have to travel far.

Taking A Hiatus..

Whew, feel rather bogged down with my committments in sch during this period of time. Currently, I am having my exams and do not have much mood blogging. Hope I can settle down and recover from my committments and resume blogging and sharing my baking experience soon..

The Baking Dream

Its been slightly more than half a year since I took up baking. I could still remember my first few attempts ending up in disaster. Being a novice i did not know how to plan my baking schedule and had tons of stuff to learn regarding baking. After trying 4 attempts i managed to get my very 1st oven baked cake done - a pandan chiffon cake. That took me quite some persistence and each time i failed, i would review my mistakes and do more research on the net.

Having gone through a not-so-smooth-sailing time on baking a chiffon cake, I gained much valuable experience, knowledge and confidence. Ever since then, I have never failed in chiffon cake making. Looking back, I think maybe I should have started out baking cookies which are much easier.

The reason why I wanted to pick up baking was because it seemed fun being able to produce mouth-watering treats. Its such a rewarding feeling when you see your loved ones enjoying the fruits of your labour. A simple compliment or word of encouragement would make you feel that all that hard work is worth it.

Soon, I realise I actually bothered to do 'researches' on the blog for recipes and baking tips and even visiting the library where i hardly step into. Never knew that the addiction would grow on me so much to and extent that I would consider making it my career. I think i found my 2nd love in life after Stefanie Sun.

Someday, I hope to become a pastry chef and spread my joy of baking to others. It is a long road for me to take, for now I have to complete my studies, clear my tuition loan and save up before enrolling in a baking school. In the meantime, I will just continue to do self-learning on baking. Look forward to the day when i don the white uniform. Wish me luck!

Busy with school!

Whew! Seems like i haven been updating my blog for nearly 2 months. This is a crucial and most tiring period of my sch life. However in the meanwhile, i have not stopped baking, not a bit. Looking at the pictures i took, i think i have tons of backlog to clear. There is the CNY bake, chocolate truffles for my best friend's farewell and the eclaires. Will try to publish these posts soon...