Frog Prince Cake, Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Almonds

Happy Birthday Winnie! and Yinshu!

Boy oh boy, I'm so behind on updating my blog.  Anyways, my friend, Winnie's birthday was on the 10th of this month.  I had many cake orders that week, but I managed to squeeze some time in and pulled an all-nighter just to finished this birthday cake for her. For those who knew her,  Winnie absolutely LOVES frogs...[well, tree dwarf frogs to be exact]  I chose to just make her a cute little green frog that's, well...more appealing to everyone. : )  I threw a little crown on and a golden ball in to turn it into a fairytale, after all, which girl won't hope that the next guy she kiss will be her Prince Charming?! However, Fate loves to play games and many girls will kiss many frogs before finding her Prince or sadly just end up marrying a Toad!  I found my prince so I do wish my Princess Winnie will also find hers and have a happily ever after.<3

Ok, back to reality; I had tried really hard to obtain this specific shade of Turquoise/Aqua color that she like, maybe not quite but close enough.  Inside the cake is her absolute favorite flavor; Matcha Chiffon Cake w/ Matcha Mascarpone Mousse!...my favorite too!  I was notified at the last minute that there is another girl, Yinshu, with the same birthday as Winnie who happened to be attending the birthday dinner that night.  I really dont know the girl so I end up making a teddie bear with her initial, so she may feel included.   I havent had anyone remember or celebrate my birthday for almost 10 years, sighs, so I know how bad it feels to be left out and forgotten, wipes tears. 

Yes, the top comes off so she can keep the sugar topper! Me (LEFT) Winnie (RIGHT)

We went to dinner at the Mercat a la Planax, a wonderful Spanish Restaurant with a nice atmosphere and exceptional food.  It's located on the Magnificent Miles of downtown Chicago.  just beautiful.

We had a party of 8 and practically shared everything so everyone can have a taste of everything.

One dish that gave me the strongest impression is the dish called Paella Negra with Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp, Mussels, Cooked in Squid Ink served with Artichoke & Tomato Salad and Saffron Aioli.   It's also the most expensive dish, $75! and that "lobster" is actually half a lobster tail, barely 2 bites of meat.  This is going to be my next experiment, to try and recreate the dish. >.^
However, there is another dish I enjoyed, it's called DÁtiles CON ALMENDRAS - Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Almonds.  I actually did try it out at home, although it didn't quite come out exactly like the ones in the restaurant but I'm definitely trying it out again very soon!

Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Almonds

Ingredients

• 12  (1/4-inch thick) pieces cream cheese or goat cheese ^^
• 12 pitted dates (preferably Medjool)
• 12 salted and roasted whole almonds
• 6 strips of bacon cut in half
• Special equipment: 18 wooden picks

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Stuff 1 piece of cheese and 1 almond into each date, then wrap one piece of bacon around each date and secure bacon with a toothpick if desired. Arrange dates, bacon seam down and 1 inch apart in a shallow baking pan.

Bake 5 minutes, then turn dates over with tongs and bake until bacon is crisp, [make sure its very crisp] 5 to 6 minutes more. Drain on a paper towel or parchment. Serve immediately.

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I actually made another Prince Frog cake like, wow, 2 years ago.  That was the time when I actually just started making cakes.  Boy, you can see the difference right? hahaha

10/08/2010

Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecakes, Domo sugar topper

 

I love going to grocery stores and Whole Foods is one of them.  I don't know if its the piles and piles of neatly stacked fruits and vegetables that fascinate me or it just I love anything in it's natural form, do you get me? hahaha.   So during my recent trip to Whole Foods,  these round oranges piled up at one end of the aisles caught my eyes, I rushed over & start sniffing them. Do you know how much I love drinking fresh squeezed orange juice or the scent of freshly grated orange zest?  You won't know til you've tried.  Anyways, so I start reading all the signs of all these different oranges, then I read Blood Oranges...wow...then mindlessly 4 of these gorgeous crimson fleshed citrus made its way into my cart.  I don't know! I get attracted to non-common things for some reason.  This is going to be made into a sauce for my cheesecakes, Lemon Goat Cheese to be exact.

 

This, my honeys, is the Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecakes, made with half cream cheese & half goat cheese.  My first encounter with these were on the infamous Tartlette's blog, trust me goat cheese is the last thing in my mind to put in a cheesecake.  I'm not a big crazed about anything Lamb or Goat,  I mean I will eat it if it's put in front of me but I wont put it as my first option.  However, I will never say I don't like something unless I try it at least once. [I do give second chances because I'm sure not everything is created equal, let alone cooking/baking skills >.^]

However, these are actually pretty good!  the Lemon comes to the tongue first then followed in by the obvious goat cheese taste, it has a very...ummm...goat-y? taste.  If you like lamb or goat you may like this very much, an adventure for daring/curious eaters & not much for people that don't enjoy the goat-y taste.  hahaha...I know goat-y is not a word but hey! its my expression hehehe.

Today is also Little Eddie's younger sister's 15th birthday! So he came to me asking me to make her a cake, like VERY last minute, all he said was "she likes Domo & chocolate" Then he asked me to make these sponge cakes filled with cream and fruits, like those typical cream cakes sold at chinese bakeries.  I kindly reminded him that its his sister's birthday, she like chocolate, then at least give her something chocolate.  At last, I did a compromised, I made a chocolate cake, filled with whipped cream & fruits, which I topped with a sugar topper of her favorite character, DOMO! <3

Happy15th Birthday Maggie!!

Snickerdoodle Cookies

I always read about people making these cookies with a cute name, Snickerdoodles; finally I get to make some.  Actually it was one day when one of my friends, Little Eddie, calls me up out of the blue and say "hey ----, can we make some Snickerdoodles?"  As always, I said "Sure! why not, come on over" I never say no to a baking opportunity, especially when it comes to making something that I probably put at the end of my long loooooooong To-Bake list, hehehehe.   Well at least now there is one extra check on my list! Yay!

Ok, so we had 2 recipes to try.  One recipe was from Allrecipes.com that he had looked up and mines was from errrr....my baking folder, lol... j/k, it's listed with the recipe.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

To me Snickerdoodle actually is/tasted like sugar cookies rolled in Cinnamon & sugar.  Call me Asian but I might tone down on the sugar used to roll the cookies in because its a tad bit sweet, not overly sweet but enough for me to say no thanks after the first or second one.  I have a sensitive sweetness tolerance, common level for Asians though, gosh so hard to explain or there is no way to explain it clearly, but this cookie is good, enough said.
Try it for yourself if you interested, the recipe is the one I used.  I'll also recommend to half the recipe to try it first.

Snickerdoodles:

makes about 2 - 2.5 dozens 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup salad oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 large eggs

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar & 1 tablespoon cinnamon for rolling cookies in 

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

1.  Beat together butter, salad oil, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Slowly beat flour mixture into the butter mixture. 
2. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, then roll each in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place balls 3 to 4 inches apart on baking sheet. With a flat-bottomed glass dipped in cinnamon-sugar, flatten each ball to about 1/4-inch.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until edges are slightly browned. Cool and then serve. 

Source: Sunset, 1998.

Snickerdoodle Cookies, cant have some without the MILK! 

Sweetened Swallow's Nest Soup w/ Milk

Swallow's Nest Soup sweetened with rock sugar

this is my very first time making this simple yet amazing & nutritious soup.  It started recently with a trip to the grocery store with a friend.  We went grocery shopping and for some reason we stopped by this counter where they sell all these herbal "stuff" [well you know, they all have these hard to remember scientific names! >.<] but more or less, everything that is good and beneficial for your body aka ginseng, dried scallops...errr, and yea swallow's nest. hehehe. 

Gosh, you can really call me a ABC [American Born Chinese] half the things the man at the counter tells me just leads to a big question mark "?" But all I heard was Swallow's Nest, good for body, beautifying abilities for women, nutritious for young and old.  OK! You got me on the Beauty part!

oh, did I tell you it also gave me a heart attack? I was all excited and forgot about the price until checkout...
1 ounce for $100!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well, for my families sake I guess a nice treat once in a blue moon is all worth it. 

Swallow's Nest is actually the bird's saliva or their spit.  The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as the bird's nest soup.  Many other countries get disgusted by the word saliva, but the nests actually have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium, so its not eaten for nothing.

Swallow's Nest Soup [sweetened version]
- serves about 3-4 
 

4 pieces Swallow's Nest any brand, but be cautious of fake ones
4 cups of water for soaking
2 cups of water for the soup, I use filtered water, bottled water is fine also
rock sugar/candy add a big block or two depending on preferred sweetness
milk or evaporated milk optional

1. soak the Swallow's Nest in the water for 4 hours.  The proportion of swallow's nest & water is 1:1, adjust, as you may or may not need more.
2. Pour out water, put the Swallow's Nest in a steaming jar with the 2 cups of filtered water & your preferred amount of rock sugar, I put 3 big chunks, since I'll dilute the sweetness with added milk.  
3. Carefully place the jar in a bigger pot with water up to half the height of jar and let water boil for 1 hour, steaming the jar [like a water bath for your cheesecakes]
4. I like mines chilled so after cooling I have it sit in fridge and have it for breakfast ^^
   and I added some milk in there for a delicious smooth dessert like soup that's actually good for your body! My baby gobbled it up in no time! >.^
   
   I LOVED IT! wish I can have this every day for breakfast, lol!

Royal Wedding Cake Recipe

Today is my 2nd Wedding Anniversary (a date that my wonderful husband never seem to remember), and as I sat here angrily tapping on the keyboard, the rest of the world is rejoicing on the wedding of the century, the fairytale matrimony of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Here I am as a baker, the first that I wonder about is "OMG! what does their wedding cake look like?"
I somehow obtain the recipe that official baker of the royal wedding cake, British pastry chef Fiona Cairns had used for the Royal Wedding Cake! I'm wonder why they have the recipe posted for the whole world to see...anyways here it is!

Ingredients for the Cake:

• One 6-inch square (3-inch deep) square cake pan
• One 8-inch square (3-inch deep) square cake pan
• One 10-inch square (3-inch deep) square cake pan
• Double the recipe for Rich Tamarind Fruit Cake batter (recipe below)
• 6 tablespoons brandy, plus more to feed the cake
• 1 cup apricot jam, gently warmed and pushed through a sieve
• 6 3/4 pounds marzipan
• confectioners' sugar, for rolling

Sizes for Cake Boards and Drums:

• One 8-inch square thin board
• One 10-inch square thin board
• One 12-inch square thin board
• One 6-inch square (1/2-inch thick) cake drum
• One 8-inch square (1/2-inch thick) cake drum
• One 10-inch square (1/2-inch thick) cake drum

Preparing the Rich Tamarind Fruit Cake:

Single cake makes 25-30 slices

A Note from Fiona Cairns About the Recipe:

I started my business using this particularly moist, dark recipe as a Christmas cake, producing hundreds of miniatures cooked in baked bean cans from my kitchen table. It has been tweaked by adding tamarind -- my husband's bright idea. Make it up to three months in advance, or at least a week before you want it, to let it mature and absorb the brandy.

Ingredients for the Fruit Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups candied cherries
• 2 cups golden raisins
• 2 cups dark raisins, preferably Thompson
• 1 1/4 cups mixed candied citrus peel
• 2/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 3 tablespoons bitter orange marmalade
• 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
• finely grated zest of 1 organic orange
• finely grated zest of 1 organic lemon
• 1 heaped tablespoon apple pie spice
• 6 tablespoons brandy, plus 3 tablespoons to feed the cake
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup blanched almonds
• 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
  Preparing the Fruit Cake Batter:

The day before, rinse the cherries, then dry them well with paper towels and cut each in half. Place the golden and dark raisins, mixed peel, ginger, currants, cherries, molasses, marmalade, tamarind paste, zests and spice into a large bowl. Pour in 6 tablespoons of brandy, stir well, cover with plastic wrap and let stand overnight.


The next day, preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan with brown paper and tie with string, to protect the cake from scorching in the oven.

Spread the nuts on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven, shaking once. Cool slightly, chop coarsely and set aside.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. In an electric mixer on high speed, beat the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes until it turns pale and fluffy. Add the ground almonds, then very gradually the eggs, mixing well between each addition. Fold in the flour with a large metal spoon and then the soaked fruits (and any liquid) and nuts.


Spread the batter into the pan. Bake on an oven rack in the lower third of the oven for about 2 1/2-3 hours. If a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, it is ready. If it browns too much before it is fully cooked, make a circle of foil a bit larger than the cake, pierce a hole in the center and open it up, then place it over the pan.

Lt cool in the pan. Pierce all over with a wooden toothpick and evenly sprinkle over the remaining 3 tablespoons brandy. Remove from the pan and discard the paper. Wrap in fresh parchment paper, then aluminum foil, and let stand for a week or up to three months. Unwrap and sprinkle with with 1 tablespoon more brandy every other week, if you like, for extra succulence and booziness!
Here is the original the recipe!

Boy Oh Boy!

        It was just yesterday that I was talking about life's little miracles, then today Hubbie gave me a call saying that our friend Steven's wife Cecilia is going into labor! The horrible contractions started 5am in the morning and carried into the late afternoon, they tried going to the hospital a few times but were sent home everytime because they say she's only 3 cm dilated and not ready yet. But she is in so much pain! Sighs, though I know every mom went through that. So, what happen was Steven gave me a call saying if I can accompany them to the hospital and talk with them in case they don't let her stay. Though when we got there, they checked her right in. (Yessss!)
        There I sat, holding her hands as the contractions came and go leaving her gasping with pain each time. I start wondering how do women in the olden days cooped with the pain?! Most of them have the babies right in their own home and bed! Sometimes with no help at all too!  I remembered there are some cultures where the woman at labor isn't suppose to utter one sound during the whole labor process, wow wow WOW! I definitely cant do that, I remember I was screaming like there is no tomorrow because somehow the epidural only numbed one side of my body.
        Did I mention how much I just hate needles?! Ouch! I flinched as the RN insert the IV needle in her arm and drew out at least 3-4 vials of blood and finally connect it to a bag of IV fluid. Oh my goodness! I don't want to think about it. To cut the story short, I sat with her for a couple hours until after she got her epidural...then I went home.  It's like around 11pm at the moment and I received news that Cecilia is now 8 cm dilated!! Yay! Baby Eric is on the way!!! Yup its a boy!! I can't wait to meet the little one tomorrow!

My Lil One's Lady Bug Cake

Wow it's been a while since I wrote in this blog! Well, to this day I'm still trying to get over the fact that I'm a mommy, sometimes I just stare blankly at my little precious mini-hubbie (gosh, an exact copy of my husband!) standing right in front of me, wondering how miraculous life can be.  This little being that came from my tummy...made from my own flesh and blood, yet I wonder how can something this little and this innocent can drive you up the wall, and could melt my heart with a simple hug or kiss the next minute. ^^

My baby girl, her name is Evelynn, will soon turn 2 in just about a month & 1/2!! wow! I cant believe how fast time flies! (I bet every mom says that, hehe) Anyways...I'm just very excited because I'm planning to organize a birthday party for her with a UNDER the SEA theme w/ mermaids & treasures, I just feel sad that I haven't celebrate her 1st birthday! I regret it so much. I'll try to make this year's birthday extra special to make up.  I cant believe I only made her a cake once,(shown below)  its to honor her 6th month in this world.