This and that...

Been doing a lot of French meringue macarons lately. The thing about my French mac; they are always grainy! I wish they aren't but those who are prefer them don't mind at all. The yellow, chocolate and hazelnut macs were a birthday gift!

And then there's Red Velvet again! Two RVs were ordered, referred to me by Kitchen Guardian - thanks, Yani! Two of the same three-layer RVs to indulge in for an office party.

Yes, I'm in love with French meringue macarons again! And I love it when the bottom doesn't stick to the baking paper! Makes life so much easier!

And below is to me one of the best tasting cakes that I bake - Boston Cream Pie - sponge cake with French pastry cream and chocolate ganache (yes, it's a cake with an identity crisis!) Thanks Soraya for ordering this and thanks for your understanding - the cake layers moved out of its place! I'm glad you think its yummy nevertheless... I sakit perot already ya know!! Next time no more three layers...just two!

 And more French macarons...

I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow! Enjoy your weekend y'all!

Untitled

Yes, untitled. Well, actually this blog post has a title. It's titled 'Untitled'. Hmmm...I think I really have no more creative juice left in me whatsoever..not a single drop! But blog I must coz I have pictures to show and stories to share!

By the way, the photo above is actually of my macaron shells rejects! They did not make the cut - either too small, no same-coloured pair, total lop-sided on one side (redundant?) or burned at the bottom. I was arranging them in the 'rejects' container and thought they actually look good together!

And below are those which made the cut... and as usual, they are not quite perfect either! :-)

Well, in the quest of macaron perfection, I purchased these Mastrad macaron baking sheets below from Bisous À Toi via Kitchen Guardian. Oh! how I dreamed of perfect looking, same-sized macarons!! All my macaron worries would be over, I told myself...when I get my hands on these babies! Then reality checked in and I knew that macaronnage is the most important thing in macaron-making... still I wanted these! And so on Wednesday night I went to collect these from my mac buddy, the Kitchen Guardian (more than the guardian of her kitchen, she is the epitome of a superwoman to me!) Read her post on this here.



What do you know, my macarons stuck to the silicone sheets and I had the shortest feet ever! I am not blaming the sheets, though...I just need to get used to using silicone sheets. I don't own any Silpat, the non-stick baking mat and have always relied on the trusty Tesco brand baking paper. Mastrad oh Mastrad... I hope it won't be a long and stressful relationship between the two of us! He he!! But despaired I am not!

left; the piped mac batter. right; baked macarons...short feet and their bottoms stuck to the sheets!

Well, not only was I excited to collect my Mastrads from KG the other night, I was also looking forward to these... the KitchenCraft kitchen thermometer which KG so kindly bought for me as a gift and...

...this Jill Colonna book, Mad about Macarons!! Aaaah...I can't put the book down..so many recipes, so many photos to drool over!! Thank you Yani!! XOXO!!

And oh boy! am I excited about finishing up my MAD bakes...two more weeks and I'm free as a bird!! That ought to give me back my creative juices!! :P Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wedding Cupcakes for the lovely Nadia...

I am a lover of weddings! Aren't you?

The sweetest bride-to-be Nadia ordered some vanilla and coconut cupcakes to compliment her wedding cake which was to be baked by her mom! Isn't that just so sweet? Nadia is such an unfussy bride...so unlike me when I was one!! LOL...she was open to all suggestions but in the end I followed her order to the tee and we're both glad I did!!

Don't you think the Victoria Sandwich Cake by Nadia's mom look splendid? I love the entire look of free and easy, no-fuss backyard garden wedding. And the little ladies ogling the cake table are too cute!

By the way, Nadia was kind enough to send me a thank you email for the cupcakes and included the photo above taken by her friend!

Here's wishing the newlyweds a blessed and blissful marriage!

Baking with Dorie: Strawberry Cobbler!

It just feels soooo good writing this BWD post. It's been a looong time since I baked with my fellow BWDers. I am guilty of four bakes in a row of no-show!! (cringe)

Well, I'm here now and this has been something that I had looked forward to!

The recipe is originally for cherry and rhubarb but I substituted them with strawberries - I don't like cherries (thank God as they are super expensive in this side of the world) and I know I could look for rhubarb (imported!) but I didn't want to invest my time in getting something I wasn't sure I would like (and I am rather picky, yikes!). So, good ol' strawberries it is!

I halved the recipe and used a 7x5 inch dish. The strawberries fit perfectly but I didn't have enough biscuit to cover the fruit! So I resorted to making another half-recipe of biscuit which made me have more than ample dough. And what I did differently from the recipe - I omitted ground ginger and since I didn't have wheat flour, I used rolled oats! It worked just fine - in fact, I love the texture!

Loved watching this bake in the oven! The juice oozing out from the dish is a sight to behold. We had this warm from the oven. I don't think they would still taste as good at room temperature.

Thanks to Ryan of The Behr Necessities for choosing this recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours for BWD's July bake. For the list of BWD blogs, visit here.