Kueh Lapis Baking Class

I went for a baking class today.  I’ve learnt how to make Nonya Kueh Lapis and Nonya Prune Lapis, and I realise that it is actually quite simple to do.  The only problem is that it is very time consuming!  The class lasted about 3 hours!

I couldn’t wait to taste the Kueh Lapis when it was baking.  It was oh so fragrant!

I had actually registered for the class with Cat, not knowing what to expect as the information was very hush hush.  I had emailed them for their address but all I was given was to make payment first, and then they will provide the information!  The class cost $80 for both of us (Early bird discount) and I thought, fine, if she ran away with the $80, I can still earn the money back.  Thank goodness, she emailed me with the full address when she received my payment!

The class was held in a HDB flat, and I was shocked to know that there were 27 of us there, waiting to learn the art of baking Kueh Lapis!  Cat and I were there before 7pm, and there were people cracking eggs, separating the egg yolks, chatting amongst themselves.  And I realise, these people must be regulars!

I found the class to be informative, except for a few aunties asking the same old questions, again and again and again!  We were recommended to use Golden Churn butter, Sunsweet Prunes (as they were sweeter than Del Monte), and also reason for using Hong Kong flour, instead of others.

Overall, I think I did enjoy the class.  And I WILL sign up again if there is a class that I am interested in.

Browning My Pineapple Tarts

I tried making pineapple tarts last Monday.  It was a semi success.  Well, the pineapple tastes great, so did the pastry, BUT the tarts didn’t brown nicely and the pineapple was still very much in chunks!

I realise that making the tarts isn’t that tedious, its only the preparation like the scraping of the pineapple was the worst!  But once that is done, the rest just falls into place.  Thank goodness I had mum do the scraping for me cos I said that I had to work, so I’ll have no time to do that! :D  3 pineapples later, she was complaining of sore fingers and burning sensation on her fingers, despite using gloves!  Oops….

Cooking the pineapple took me close to half and hour to get the right colour and dryness.  Preparation of the dough, including chilling, took me another half hour.  I had a hard time getting the dough and pineapple into a consistent size too!  The recipe stated to glaze the tarts with egg, half and egg yolk and abit of water.  THAT was where the mistake was!  I baked for more than half an hour, and my tarts still looked so pale!

Its only after doing the first 2 batches that I confided in a friend about the glaze and she said, use only egg yolk!  SO… today, I will be trying it again and hopefully, this time, it will turn out much better.  I’ll also have to cut the pineapples again cos when I bit into the tarts, the whole chunk of pineapple came out!  Its not fine enough!  Besides that, the tarts tasted great!

Watch this space for my successful tarts!

Ultimate Butter Cake

It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you…. the Ultimate Butter Cake!  The recipe was given by my aunt and she used the ‘agaration’ method, meaning, ‘it usually takes about this much of flour and this much of sugar’ and I MADE her show me on the spot, then measure it in measuring cups!  Of course, next is to convert the measurement into grams!

 Imagine, she told me that I should use 1 1/2 blocks of butter, which we normally buy from the supermarkets.  Which, through my calculation, works out to about 375g of butter!  But then, I have seen blocks of butter at 200g!  Her standard is the 250g blocks!  So as I mentioned, this is, to me, the Ultimate Butter Cake. Why?  Because it is so sinful!

Just baked this yummilicious cake today and it was so buttery!  Imagine the amount of butter and egg yolks I used!  This cake was give to my lucky uncle, together with a fruit cake which I baked today, too!

I made him and his family try the cake on the spot so that I can look inside the cake and also get the comments straight off the oven.  Well, from the response I got, my head is still swelling!

Now, I realise that I have like…. 14 egg whites with me now and I dunno what to do with them, besides cooking boring omelettes which would taste so bland without the egg yolks!  So, I have now found a recipe for cookies using just egg whites!  How cool can that be?  The cookie is called ‘Cat’s Tongue’.

I got the recipe from this book entitled, ‘The Best of Singapore’s Recipes: Tea Time Delights’ written by Mrs Leong Yee Soo.  Inside this book, I can find favourites long forgotten through the years.  One good thing about this book is that is has their ingredients in both grams and oz!  They have favourites such as Kueh Lapis Beras (Rainbow Layer Cake), Banana Cake, and Spicy Prawn Rolls (Hei Bi Hiam Rolls), to name a few.

Unfortunately, the book is not mine, it belongs to my cousin, Grace.  She’s got loads of books from Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, and other kinds of books, like books on Cupcakes, Muffins, Old Singaporean favourites!  I don’t even need to buy or borrow from the library!  She’s got her own library of books!  The best part is, most of her books are on baking, which suits me to a T!  The set back is, I have to return the books sooner or later!  So, I would usually type out the favourites which I would consider doing!

I think I should start collecting recipe books!  OK, I think I have a new resolution this year!  Stop spending money on unnecessary things like drinking at pubs, instead spend the money wisely on recipe books and hopefully, a Kenwood mixer!  YEAH!!  Ultimate!

Weighing My Ingredients

I love baking but I hate some recipes!  Not because it is hard to do, but more like the measurements required!  Take me as a close to perfectionist person when it comes to baking, but I’d prefer my recipes to be in metric units!

My cousin went to the extend of going to a supermarket quite far from her place which sells international produce to find out how much is ‘a stick of butter’!  Why can’t it be converted to ounce or grams?  Some recipes calls for half cup of butter, so do I melt the butter first (doubt it) or do I squash the butter into a measuring cup to measure it?  Well, I usually cut the butter into smaller pieces and squash abit into the cup to measure it, and its usually a guessing game that ‘that should be just about half a cup’!

In fact, the best solution is, the recipe book should state both kinds of weights for the ingredients, E.g., grams/ounce.  This would cater to more a wider and international audience.  I can just imagine the Americans finding trouble with manually converting grams to cups, or for the British, ounce to cups, etc…!

For me, I have to just search the web for conversion of baking ingredients!

Thank goodness I have a measuring cup which states measurements in oz, cup and ml, maybe even pints!  But the 1 stick of butter is still confusing!

So to future recipe book authors, can you cater your books to more an international audience?

Fruitty Over Fruit Cakes!

I know its abit late to BROADCAST to everyone but, MY CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKES WERE A BLAST!  Fine, I’m a show-off!  So what?  I’m proud of myself.

I know that Fruit cakes are usually sweet, but for health conscious Singaporeans, they’d prefer the fruit cakes not too sweet, so from my original recipe, about 250g of sugar was needed, I had actually cut it down to 180g!  But still, the comments from some were still, Shanna, it’s still a teeny weeny sweet, it would be good to cut down abit on the sugar!  My my, people are so hard to please huh?  So my next try, I will cut it down to about 150g, hopefully, it will be just right!

Surprisingly, I’ve never really tested my fruit cakes!  I don’t like fruit cakes.  To be more precise, I love mangoes, I don’t like mango cakes.  I like strawberries, but I hate strawberry cakes! Get the drift?  So the list goes on and on, banana cake, black forest cake, etc…

I’ve already broadcasted out to my guinea pigs who have tried my cakes, I’m selling my cakes for Chinese New Year! So if you want a cake, you’d better order early, cos I’d have to prepare the ingredients and soak the fruits.  I find that fruit cakes are easy to prepare, but very time consuming as you have to soak the fruits, baking time is pretty long and I would still need the cakes to mature!  So I have told everyone that if they want, they’d better place an order way in advanced, and surprisingly, I have to make sure that I have to have approximately 10 cakes to prepare now!  Is that a good start to a New Year or what???

I think my cakes are priced right.  I was comparing my cakes to my favourite chocolate cake shop and they are selling a plain choc cake for $21 per half kg, and they had a rum and cherry version selling for $26 per half kg.  And I’m only asking for $25 per half kg!  In fact, its slightly MORE than half a kg, approximately 550g or so.  IS THAT A STEAL OR WHAT?

On top of that, I’ve also added walnuts and am using premium XO brandy!  My Chinese New Year cakes will be loaded with Remy Martin XO.  (Hmmm…. maybe I should increase my price!) Heh heh! Just joking!

I’ve had a relative asking me if I could give a discount to them.  Well, I have quite a HUGE family, relatives from my mum’s side, my dad’s side, my step-mum’s side, not forgetting my husband’s side!  If I had to give a discount to all, I think I’ll be going bankrupt very soon!  So, sorry babes!  Relatives or friends alike, its the same price!  (Pai seh, sorry, thousand apologies!)

Years ago, my mum used to order fruit cakes from a lady near our place.  From my recollection, she was selling it at also about $25 per half kg, and that was like,….. 10 years ago?  And I’m selling MY cakes at the same price she was selling 10 years back! (Shanna, you damn dumb! Push up your price lah!)

Furthermore, during the Chinese New Year period, prices of Bak Kwa and other chinese goodies are so highly priced as we get closer to Chinese New Year, so I MAY consider that if your orders are late.

If you require delivery, I may consider if its near where I live.  Definately no delivery to other parts like Sembawang, Bukit Timah, Bukit Panjang, or worse still Tuas!  If you do REALLY require delivery, than of cos the usually statement, delivery charges shall apply!

Lastly, stop being a commoner, everyone is buying Bak Kwa and the usual goodies to give to others! For once, give a Fruit Cake!  Let’s go Fruitty Over Fruit Cakes!

My Love of Baking

I realise ALOT of my friends and family can’t believe that I can bake!  It has been a tiring Friday for me!  Spent the whole day baking 4 fruit cakes, some cup cakes and soft rolls!

Unfortunately, my soft rolls was more of hard rolls!  I think I may have knead the dough too much or not enough!  I’d better stick to my baking cakes!  As you can see, my cakes turned out pretty good huh?  Now to practise decorating it as presents!

I have to admit that baking cakes can be quite therapeutic!  Doing it alone makes it more fun and peaceful, at times!

Well, for those who can’t believe I can bake, I’ll prove it to you one day!  I’ve just gotten a wonderful fruit cake recipe from a friend who loves baking as much as I do.  So let me finish up what I have now and embark on this new recipe!

Since X’mas is round the corner, I’ll be baking fruit cakes day and night! YAWN! Speaking which, I think I’d better get to bed and get ready for tomorrow’s baking!

Wonder if anyone’s interested in buying my cakes?