Wonderful Christmas Treats

I'm having the best Christmas ever! My students and i had a blast baking cupcakes, Gingerbread Houses and cookies...
Let the Pictures do the talking!

My Winter Gingerbread Cottage


A Sweet Cottage by Winnie


'Fun Gingerbread House' by Salwiyah



Priscilla looking like a pro... It's hard work to build a 'house' in 2 hours...


My gingerbread man and ladies (nope, they didnt run away...)



Cupcake Ladies

Checkout my student's cupcakes. Don't they look too pretty to eat!?

These pretty cupcakes are made by Beatrice, my youngest student so far..She's only 11!!

The Christmas tree cupcake is made by placing an inverted ice ceam cone

Zesty melt-in-your-mouth cookies

Designer Cookies by my students

(It's their 1st time baking these cookies, looks like i'm facing some competition here...)

Just showcasing some 'Tools of the Trade'

Colourful Royal Icing

Merry Christmas and New Year!

God Bless all with Joy, Love, Peace and many Sweet treats to come!

Recipe of Fruitcake ‘Delite’

Recipe featured in MYB on 19 Dec07


This recipe is take a little more effort to bake but it's really worth it!
Yield 9 inch loaf tin

I love baking this lite fruit cakes as a Christmas gift for my love ones. Traditionally, fruitcakes are very rich and dense cakes made with lots of butter, sugar, eggs and dried mixed fruits. At 300-500 calories a slice, it is a very 'naughty' cake. I'm so glad i have created a lighter version by reducing the amount of sugar, eggs and sweet dried fruits. Instead of the usual blend of mixed fruits, i have my own medley of dried fruits such as apricots, raisins and cranberries plus some walnuts. One other trick here is to whisk up a meringue and fold into the cake mixture at the last step. The result is a lovely light fruitcake that’s bursting with fruity fragrance and bound to delight till the last bite!


To make it a great Christmas gift,
wrap your fruit cake in dolly paper
for a simple and elegant look

A close up look

These beauties just came out of the oven




Tanning in process




Ready to bake




Folding in egg white meringe is the key to a fluffy & light cake



Ingredients:
40g Raisin
40g Dried cranberry
40g Dried apricot (sliced thinly)
Juice and zest from half an orange
85g unsalted butter (at room temp)
40g Sugar
5 Egg yolk
5 Egg white
90g Sugar
170g Cake Flour (sifted)
1/4 (Quater) teaspoon Baking powder
60g Walnut (coarsely chopped)




Method
1. Soak dried fruits and zest in orange juice for about 1 hour

2. Pre-heat oven to 175°C and line the bottom of the loaf tin with grease-proof paper

3. Cream butter and sugar until white and creamy. Add yolks one at a time(make sure each yolk is well incorporated before adding the next one) and fold in the dried fruits

4. Put flour, baking powder and walnuts in a bowl

5. Whisk egg whites and 90g of sugar until firm peak stage (meringue)

6. Gently fold in flour mixture and meringue alternately into the creamed mixture. Pour into loaf tin and bake for 35 to 45 mins (until cake turns golden brown



Tip:
Create your own unique fruitcake by concocting your own medley of dried fruits such as dried apples, figs or prunes.

January's baking workshops schedule

After all that busy Christmas feasting, we'll need to give our stomach a 'break' and get ready for CNY and Valentines!
January's baking workshops will feature 'deliteful' recipes and CNY goodies!

‘De-liteful’ Bakes - 5th (Sat) Time: 2pm ( approx 2.5 hrs )
(i) Home-made muesli bar
(ii) Fresh mango yoghurt parfait
(iii) Camomile Panna cotta (Italian dessert)
The nutritious muesli bars are ideal snack (keeps you from biting into other naughty stuff) or a ‘quickfix-breakfast’ item. Parfait and Panna cotta are lite soulful desserts that will still give you bliss with every mouthful.

Make your own Pasta and Ravioli : 11th (Fri) Time: 7pm (approx 2 hours)
(Demo workshop with dinner & drinks)
(i) Basic Pasta dough
(ii) Home-made spaghetti
(iii) Home-made cheese ravioli
It takes less than 30 minutes to make your own pasta. After you learn this basic recipe, you’ll able to churn out all sorts of beautiful pasta from your very own kitchen. Hand-made pasta taste much better! We’ll have the fresh pasta and my home-made pasta sauce for dinner. Can’t get any fresher than that!
*Special Couple's Pasta and Ravioli workshop (with dinner, wine and Chocolate fondue) on 18th (Fri) Time: 7pm (approx 2hrs)

Low-fat Fruit Tarts and Rolls - 12th (Sat) Time: 10.45am (approx 2.5 hrs )
(basic hands-on workshop)
(i) Apple and cranberry filo tart
(ii) Caramelized banana walnut filo roll
(iii) Fresh crème anglaise (hot vanilla sauce)
Tarts made from puff pastry are often high in fat, filo pastry has no trans fat and up to 20 times less fat than puff pastry. The filo pastry is so easy to handle and we’ll be enjoying some perfect puffs in no time. Creme anglaise sauce is simply the ‘icing’ on the tarts/rolls.

Treats For Kids - 19th (Sat) Time: 2pm (approx 2.5 hrs)
(A workshop for Moms)
(i) 10 minute info talk on ‘Fundamentals of Children’s nutrition’
(ii) Raisin scone, Cranberry and Walnut scone, Chocolate chip scone
(iii) Banana and Chocolate chip Bread and butter pudding + 1 variation
In this workshop i will be featuring recipes that contains calcium, a mineral needed for your child’s bone health n growth. Women and children often don't consume enough calcium in their diet. Learn 2 simple recipes to help boost you and your kid’s calcium intake. It's a perfect treat for mums and growing children!

The “Dark side”- For Chocolate Lovers: 24th (Thur) Time: 7pm(approx 2 hrs) (basic hands-on workshop)
(i) Chocolate molten cake
(ii) Fruit and Nut rocky road + 1 variation
Chocolate molten cake needs no introduction. The sight of chocolate oozing out of the cake will melt any cake lover’s heart. The fruit and nut rocky road is a simple chocolate bar that you can make at home. It’s a perfect party nibble or a sweet gift for friends. All u need is awesome dark chocolate and some sweet ‘accompliments’.


CNY Cookie Treats - 26th (Sat) Time: 10.45am(approx 2.5 hrs)
(Festive hands-on workshop)
(i) Pineapple tart ‘delite’
(ii) Home-made pineapple tart filling
(iii) Strawberry Jam drop cookie
(iv) Marmalade jam drop cookie
We’ll be having fun baking these sugar-reduced cookies. Pineapple tarts are the absolute festive favourite. I’ll show you how easy it is to cook your very own fresh and not-too-sweet pineapple filling (no sweet filling that sticks to your teeth!) If you're looking for new goodies to enjoy this year, the Jam drop cookies are gonna to be a hit!


Decadent Mini Loaf Cakes - 31st (Thur) Time: 7pm(approx 2 hrs)
(basic level hands-on)
(i) Carrot & walnut loaf
(ii) Sweet potato & pecan loaf
(iii) Zesty cream cheese icing
These loaf cake recipes one of my favourite bakes. It’s absolutely yummy and not to mention gives a new meaning to eating vegetables...! You’ve gotta learn to make the icing that goes with this cake, it’s oh so important in bringing the cake to a ‘higher’ level. These treats are perfect for any time of the day, from morning tea to the evening slice!

Pls email me at sylvia_kang@hotmail.com to secure a seat!

'Huff and Puffs'!

Ready to bake puffs and eclairs


Stirring custards


An aromatherapy treatment; filling eclairs with luscious lavender custard



I named this Vanilla cream puff and Lavender éclair workshop ‘Huff and Puff’ because it reminds me of my intern days in Grand Hyatt’s pastry kitchen.

As a newbie, i was given ‘simple tasks’. One of my main duties for a couple of months was to make cream puffs & éclairs. Making hundreds and sometimes thousands of cream puffs/éclairs is a daily affair and i was soon weary of my ‘mundane task’. I huffed and puffed my way through the first few months of my internship... I was made a ‘puff expert’ through these training, I’m an one-women cream puff n éclair machine!

To get a perfect puff, the piping technique is crucial. A good puff has gotta to be hollow, crisp on the outside and moist inside It’s amazing how a thick gluey butter, flour and egg paste can puff up in less than 15 minutes in the oven.

The ‘proof’ here is also in the custard. Nowadays it’s hard to find good puffs with decent fresh custard. Many establishments use cheap instant custard, a pre-mix powder that requires a bit of mixing and some water... Instant custards often taste flat and have either too watery or hard texture. Making your own custard is a breeze. All u need is a few pantry items such as milk, sugar, custard powder and a natural favouring. In this workshop, i used vanilla pods and lavender flowers to impart flavour to my custards. Simply infuse the vanilla pod/ lavender flowers by boiling it with milk for a couple of minutes, let it stand and use this aromatic milk to make the custard. Try other flavours such as camomile, coffee or earl grey, the options are endless!

Oh one more important point, I've made healthier puffs and eclairs by using low-fat high calcium milk. Just so that we dont have to "Huff and Puff' in the gym the morning after! ;)
Enjoy!