My First Fondant Cake

20 Jun 2010

Yesterday I attended 2 food workshops from 10.30am - 3pm learning to make `Jiao Zi' & Cookie Decoration conducted by Shira in her estate's Multi-Purpose Hall. After class, I borrowed from her a set of alphabet to cut the fondant (sugarpaste) lettering for the Father's Day Cake. Came back to prepare the steamboat ingredients for dinner & baked an easy-to-make 10" square sponge cake using Optima flour at night. 

Was eager to experiment with fondant for the 1st time so this morning I tried to create a shirt that I had seen in Jane's blog recently. Initially I was having problem rolling out a big flat sheet as my rolling pin is not long enough. Was attempting a few times with meimei before I could successfully get a sheet big enough to cover the entire cake. We then cut off the excess along the edges with a pizza cutter. Next we rolled a long strip of fondant for a stand-up collar but the fondant was too soft. We finished off with pasting on the lettering and the buttons.

Gege is going out to attend a friend's birthday party so we cut the cake after lunch. Usually my cream cake disappeared very fast but the fondant is too sweet for my family liking. Not wanting to waste food & effort, I tried to eat a few more slices, the high sugar content irritated my throat.  Had to brew & drink many cups of chrysanthemum herbal tea to clear my sore throat & phlegm.

Hiax! Is there a special cake recipe for fondant decoration? Heard from Gina that most locals would throw away the fondant & eat the cake only. That's a waste! Probably I should stick to making cream cake.

Steam Vegetable Bun (Pau) Demo

Friday, 18 Jun 2010

Engaged the ex-YTPS PSG Wendi to do the Steam Vegetable Bun Demo in the estate when I attended her session at YT Z9 RC abt 2 mths ago. 23 residents came for the hands-on session held in Function Room.

Wendi started with mixing the ingredients for the pau dough & knead till it's smooth. I usually make use of my KitchenAid dough beater to knead. She showed us to apply the correct strength cos I always have aching hands when I do manual kneading.

While waiting for that dough to proof, Wendi brought out another ready sample for us to practise. All had a good laugh when someone brought out a big heavy metal rolling pin. Everyone had a fun time rolling the skin & folded with vegetable filling. Well, practise makes perfect! After a few try, our pleats are neater & resemblance the popular `xiao long pau'. When done with the steaming, we enjoyed eating the hot & yummy buns.

Wendi is very patient in repeating the folding steps to each & every one of us. She readily shares her knowledge & showed us 2 other pleats for dumpling. Participants also share their skills on pleating curry puff. Will be engaging Wendi to do more cooking demo in the estate.

Unfortunately except for the above photo, I had accidentally deleted the rest of the photographs from the memory card. There is no way I could retrieve or re-take them. So sad. :-(

South West CDC Briskwalking Training

Sunday, 13 Jun 2010

The Briskwalking Training for South West Funwalkers Club leaders & co-ordinaters was held in JTC Summit. There were 2 groups of abt 20 attendees each on 25 & 26 floors. The Proage trainers are engaged by Health Pomotion Board to design the exercises for flexibility, balance & muscle strengthening.

We learnt the 2 ways to measure the heart rate, the 12-exercise in the warm-up routine, the correct briskwalk technique, the 9-exercise in the cool-down routine & lastly to calculate the fitness index.

It is indeed a very good & beneficial training. I am keen to arrange for the trainer to come to my estate or YT to train the Funwalkers Club members on the proper way to walk iso their usual strolling which has no health benefit.

YT INC Peranakan Museum Tour

Sunday 13 Jun 2010

I volunteered to help YT INC in taking care of 1 busload of New Citizens & family on their outing to the Peranakan Museum as I have yet to visit this new local museum. We assembled at YT CC to board the bus. There were some absentees. I tried to call them but most of their mobiles were off on Sun morning.

We set-off abt 10am. There were 2 English / Mandarin speaking tour guides on each bus. Majorities in my group joined the English speaking guide. Our 1st visit was Emerald Hill 翡翠山, a neighbourhood & conservation area located near Orchard Road to see the unique designs of the Peranakan houses.

We then proceed to the Peranakan Museum housed in the Old Tao Nan School building at Armenian Street. It has 10 galleries spread over 3 floors, with intricate displays each of the important rituals, practices & material culture of the Peranakans. We were told to avoid the 7th gallery which has a big coffin if we are uncomfortable. Meimei & her friend went in & she accidentally hit the wall. Both were shocked to hear the sudden loud wailing that they quickly dashed out in fright.

After the tour, we have a better understanding of who the Peranakans are & their culture. We were all hungry by 12nn & were glad to proceed to Thomson Village Wok for a Peranakan lunch.

After that, I proceed to Jurong East for the SWCDC Briskwalking Training by Health Promotion Board. Ya, must exercise after consuming too much yummy food to keep fit! :-)

YEW.ni.TEE (Unity) Day

Sunday, 6 Jun 10

We were tasked to organise a family day for YT members to get-together. First met at IMM to spearhead the event. The theme YEW.ni.TEE (Unity) Day was conceived. We then proceeded to racee the venue Bristro in Changi Beach Park, a sandy beach with scenic sea-view.

Buses were provided from YT at different timings. I took care of the 3pm transport. My kids had a great time paticipating in the Scavenger Hunt & the free bicycle ride b4 GOH's arrival.

Swimming is discouraged nonetheless we were excited to see the sailing boat passing by & the many aeroplanes from different countries flying in as they navigate for landing into Changi Airport. Emcee played the game `guess which airline the next plane from' whenever we spotted a plane from afar.

Meimei brought her kite along. However at their 1st attempt to fly, gege threw the kite up but it dosed down to hit the ground & a wooden cane broke. Meimei kept mending the broken frame with lots of masking tape & was happily running around the beach trying to get it up.

It was an enjoyable day with fine weather. All of us were having a good time enjoying the sea breeze, romantic sunset & yummy food. Looking forward to more YT family day! :-)

BBQ at my Estate

Saturday Eveing, 5 Jun 10

My estate is 10 yrs old. The council & committee members organised a BBQ for family members to interact. Invited an ex-resident, Su family to join us.  I was attending a fondant miniature figurine class next to their blk that afternoon & had arranged to meet at their place after my class. They surprised me by appearing at the trainer's gate at 6pm. When I walked down, they were already waiting in the car & looking forward to see the old neighbours.

Thanks to the estate manager who helped to order the sumptuous food & 2 BBQ support guys to do the grilling. All of us enjoyed trays of hot & perfectly grilled yummy food without sweat & there was no wastage of burnt or undercooked food.

Mrs Su gave us a tin of wafers, each with a special message. She started the monthly potluck in each other's house when we were new in the estate. Her family shifted to Hougang to be near her church in Bartley after she gave birth to her son abt 5 yrs ago. Her boy was very excited whenever he saw a Malaysian KTM Train passed by, he kept asking why the train is not here yet.

Called some of the old neighbours down, there was so much to catch up amongst all of us that we were still chatting past 11pm.  As usual, when ladies are yapping together, it's difficult to stop la..

Fondant Miniature Figurines Workshop

Saturday Afternoon, 5 Jun 10

I attended Cake Making till Level 4 at Bishan East CC 12 yrs ago in 1988 where I learnt to bake various type of cake, creaming & piping. Was introduced to the beautiful creations of fondant when I 1st viewed them on Shira's blog in Apr 10. After seeing more food bloggers on their cake decorations with fondant, I'm eager to learn more abt this sugarpaste. Hence I registered on-line at Kitchen Capers for the 3-hr workshop on Miniature Figurines moulding conducted by Chef Gina at her residence in Hougang.

After the Women Eco Training in Jurong West, I proceeded to Hougang Ave 7 & reached Gina's place abt 2.30pm. The other 3 ladies were already there. My 1st attempt with fondant decoration. A lady, busygran showed me photos of her beautiful fondant cakes & roses, wa.. she is already so good yet she's attending the class.

All of us enjoyed the session very much. Gina gave clear explanation when she did the demonstration. I crafted a bear, bowl, sheep, penguin, goldfish, sleeping baby under a blanket & 2 roses. Times passed very fast & we had already extended by half an hour. The 3 ladies rushed off & Gina showed me how to craft footwear.

Gina is friendly & chatty, feel some familiarity after reading her blog. Realised that we both grew up in Kim Chuan. Her family shifted to Kallang Bahru, now she lives in Hougang. Her store is in Kallang Bahru near her mum's place. I had shifted to Sim's Drive, then Bishan & now I am in the west (old friends said my place is further than going to JB when they visited me).

I had arranged to walk over to an ex-resident's place in the next blk after class but her family was very excited to attend the BBQ at my estate that I was surprised to see her & her 4 kids at Gina's front gate. I had to pack & said bye-bye to Gina, thanks for your generosity in sharing your moulding skills.

South West Women Litter-Free Ambassador Training

Saturday Morning, 5 Jun 10

Had 3 events to attend today. Whilst on the bus to pay respect to the ex-DPM Dr Goh Keng Swee at Parliament House last month, mdm told me there's an Eco Training to be conducted nearby. Since my estate had just started on the recycling program, I am interested to learn on the know-hows of handling recyclable materials. When was told the day b4 that the venue is Gek Poh Ville CC, I was undecided (dun know the way there) but mdm gave details of the bus transfer from Boon Lay MRTso I proceeded.

Upon reaching there, I was quite disappointed that the trainer was speaking on Women Litter-Free Ambassador instead. Mdm came during tea-time. Luckily after tea-break, the session was quite enjoyable.

We watched NEA staff performed a short skit. Then we formed into groups of 10 to practise. There were 6 of us from Yew Tee, a lady from Pioneer joined our team. As majorities in our team are Chinese speaking, we translated the script into Mandarin.  Each group was asked to to perform on stage. Our Mandarin team was the last to perform.

We will be performing to pre-schoolers & in primary school to create the awareness of anti-littering. South West Major will officially launch the Women Eco Champion on next Sat 12 Jun 10 at Jurong Point.

I will be liaising with the NEA staff to have a recycling exhibit to educate the residents in the estate during our forthcoming event.

Water Cress Soup

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

I shop weekly at Fairprice for all my groceries. Seeing the water cress on offer, I selected 2 bunches to boil soup. LOVE Water Cress Soup when I 1st tasted it at an ex-neighbour's place in Sim's Drive. My late-mum was forbidden to cook any cooling food at home. Late-dad threw the water cress away when I asked her to buy. Dear hubby & jiejie love it too so I cook it quite often for dinner.

Whilst working at DBS in Clifford Centre, I had ordered Water Cress Soup at the old Boat Quay. The stems were long, hard & very difficult to chew. With a pressure cooker, it's very easy to boil this soup. The water cress are soft & so yummy that I need at least 2 bunches of them.

Here is how I cooked them.

Ingredients
2 bunch  Water cress
500 g  Spare rib  (I use PorKee prime rib)
1  Honey dates
9  Red dates 
3 Tbsp Kei chee
5 slice  Ginger
Abt 3lit  Water
1.5 tsp  Salt  (can vary to your liking)

Method
1.  Rinse the watercress twice & cut into shorter section.
2.  Blanch the pork bone.  Soak honey dates in hot water to soften.
3.  Rinse red dates & kei chee.
4.  Heat up a big pot of water, add all the ingredients.
5.  Cover & pressure-cook for abt 20 mins.

Note
I'm using a pressure cooker on induction hob, you may need to cook for abt 2-4 hrs if using a normal pot on gas stove.

Meimei's 12th Birthday

Sunday, 30 May 2010

My youngest daughter is 12 today, she self-invited few good friends home to celebrate her birthday. She used to invite so many that I've set a limit. She had also requested for her fave Chilli Crab Noodles.

A neighbour, JTS rang in the morning asking what time the party is. She bought her son over & give meimei a big kite. Meimei was having much fun trying to fly a kite with her son at Marina Barrage the day b4.

I took out the 12" square cake which was baked the night b4 & sliced it into 2 layers to apply blueberry filling. Had always used Redman (non-dairy) Cream but got a packet of Millac Gold from Shira recently. 1st time trying dairy cream, unfortunately while I was pouring it into a big bowl which was on a small weighing scale, I accidentally toppled the bowl & the cream spilled onto the table, chairs, cupboard's doors & floor. Hiax! Busy with wiping & mopping a few times to remove the grease. Lesson learnt, always work on the flat counter top only.

I whipped up whatever balance cream there's left in the box. Piping with a no. 20 star nozzle (missing after all the washing), I find that the flow is not as smooth as the veg cream &amp. It melt quite fast & became watery when I'm piping the last row at the top edge. Luckily the cream was just sufficient to cream all the 4 sides.

Don't have cherry so I diced a few strawberries, placing them onto the piped flowers along the edge & covered the top with chocolate rasps.  Finished it off with the `Happy 12 Birthday' wordings using 2 coloured piping jelly.

Prepared a big Tupperware container of cold drink for some early-bird friends who came at 3pm to play basketball. The rest came at 4pm. Asked jiejie to register them for snooker in the games room at Clubhouse. Meanwhile I was very busy in the kitchen, heating up fish balls & hotdogs in the oven, slicing veg & mixing coleslaw, frying shoestring fries, popcorn chicken & the chilli crab noodles. 

The friends were running all over the estate playing Treasure Hunt. They came up hot & sweaty for many cups of cold drink & started eating. The chilli crab noodles was quite spicy for 2 but they continued to have more. Nobody want the rice. Served the cut jelly with fruit cocktail. Need to make more cold drink so I brought some food to my neighbour's house to ask for some ice.

A friend's parents came early to fetch the siblings home. After all had left, called a neighbour whose sons loved my cake & she was happy to pack the leftover chilli-crab noodles too.

The next day, gege asked whether there's anymore chilli-crab noodles. Hence I bought the ingredients while shopping with Shira at Sheng Siong Supermarket on Wed & fried again for lunch on Thu with longan & mango desert. Shiok!

LTA Gallery Tour & Marine Barrage Walk

Saturday, 29 May 10

Bought a busload of the estate's Funwalkers members for our monthly walk today. 4 Korean & Filipino joined us on this outing. My family came along except jiejie. All of us gathered at the roundabout abt 2pm to collect water & bun b4 setting off.

1st visit was the LTA Gallery at the site of the old KK Hospital. We had abt an hour of free interesting guided tour of the past & future transportation. Recommended to visit if you've not been there. Booking is thru email LTGallery@lta.gov.sg for group of 40.

Next the bus dropped us at The Verge nearby, we crossed over to opp Blk 668 & took the new enternal glass lift up to top 20th floor for a bird-eye view. Having height phobia, I hid behind dear hubby with closed eyes when the elevator was going up. Relief when it's down again.

We had an early dinner at the revamped Tekka Market. Walked back to Verge & shopped at Sheng Siong supermarket. We bought many food in preparation for meimei's 12th birthday party the next day. Our regular bus driver loan me a freezer box FOC.


















The coach then brought us to Marina Barrage which is celebrating its 1 million visitors the next day. All of us had enjoyed walking in the breezy sunset & admiring the surronding breath-taking views. As it's a fine day, there were crowds having picnic & flying kites. A young couple was resting & they're happy to let us play with their kite. The kids were having a fun time trying to tug the kite up in the air, esp meimei who kept running but the kite dosed down quickly.

All too soon the sun had set & it's time for us to leave. We thanked the young couple & handed them a LTA souvenir. We quickly headed out & I checked that all were there b4 calling Ang to pick us.

Upon reaching home abt 8.30pm, I was busy with baking cake & cooking jelly for the next day's celebration.

No Bake Mango Cheesecake

Tuesday, 25 May 10

Whilst the Cheese Chiffon Cake was baking in the oven, I surfed the Net for a recipe to clear the mango puree left-over from the Mango Mousse Cake for Mothers' Day. Saw Florence's `Do What I Like' blog on her easy-to-make No Bake Durian Cheesecake. With cream cheese at home, I adapted her recipe, replacing the durian puree with mango puree to make this No Bake Mango Cheesecake. I reduce an egg & increase the cream cheese for cheesier taste which my kids prefer.

I used a 22cm (8.5") spring-form pan for this cake.

Ingredients:

Base
110 g (7pcs) Digestive biscuits, crushed
40 g Melted butter

Filling
200 g Cream cheese  (original 160g)
80 g Castor sugar
3 Egg  (original 4 eggs)
200 g Non-dairy whipping cream
25 g Gelatin powder
120 ml Hot Water
150 g Mango puree (my balance)

Topping
10 g Gelatin powder
40 g Mango jelly powder
240 ml Hot Water

1. Wrap aluminium foil over the base & side of the spring-form pan to prevent leakage.
2. Mix biscuit crumb with melted butter & press it firmly onto the base of the pan.
3. Mix the whipping cream till mousse state. Chill for use later.
4. Melt the `filling' gelatin powder with hot water.
5. Beat cream cheese with sugar till soft & smooth.
6. Add in the mango puree, then the whipped cream.
7. Add in the gelatin solution.
8. Add in the eggs, 1 at a time. Beat well.
9. Pour mixture into the cake pan.
10.  Chill in the fridge for abt 30 mins.
11.  Mix the topping, remove cake from fridge & pour topping slowly onto cake.
12. Chill overnight to serve.

Cheese Chiffon Cake

Tuesday, 25 May 2010

3rd time I'm making this Cheese Chiffon Cake.  Earlier 2 attempts of Florence `Do What I Like' recipe had several large holes & sunken top. Very busy last Sat, attended Cyber Awareness Workshop in YTPS, went market then home to cook lunch, out to YTCC for INC Ceremony then back home to prepare dinner. At night, attended the Pandan Chiffon Demo at Z9 RC & learnt an very impt tip, ie `bang the cake pan to remove the trapped air b4 baking'.

Came back, surfed the Net & read Rei's `All That Matters' blog on her very indepth write-out on Chiffon Cake; an interesting note is `egg white cannot sit around for too long, they do not like to wait, like some men after marriage'.  I had made a serious mistake of creaming the egg white 1st, should begin with the egg yolk.

Went on a shopping spree with Shira to IMM & QB for frozen food on Monday, had NC meeting at night so I could only bake this Cheese Chiffon Cake again today.

Finally the cake came out soft & nice from the oven but after over-turning the tube pan to cool for a while, the cake drop down a little at the top of the pan. It's slightly moist & tastes good. Will try again, probably need to adjust the recipe by reducing the liquid content to make it lighter.

Publish delayed due to problem in copying the picture, have to re-create this blog.