Predicaments

I baked two cakes for my birthday. But there's a story behind this. I think some people may think I'm a little crazy to bake two cakes, but I'm just a person who refuses to give up and, rather a perfectionist. I'm an Aries, and I saw this on Buzzfeed which are all freakishly correct traits of me; "When things don't go your way, you don't handle it... super well."

I'll give you a silly anecdote. A few years ago, I walked out of my piano exam and I was picked up by my second sister & dad. I was crying all the way home, because I felt like I didn't go as well as I would've wanted to. Next week I found out the result.. My result was an A. To this day, my sister still makes fun of me.

So I thought I had ruined my birthday mango cheesecake with an oreo base, because the sides of the base were a little soggy when I baked it in the waterbath. So I made another cheesecake, a Japanese cheesecake. Next morning, I cut a bit of the mango cheesecake; IT'S NOT ACTUALLY THAT BAD. And decided to go along with that cake for my birthday dinner.

Lessons learned: Double check that your spring-form pan is secure and wrapped around tightly with foil. You do not want soggy cheesecake base. And I don't think I'm going to bake my 18th birthday cake next year.

I cannot believe that I'm already 17, and a legal adult next year.. My sisters have been asking me "How did you grow up so fast?", which I can't answer to. I honestly feel like a fourteen year old... Not someone who is not far from finishing high school and entering the real adult world.

Mango cheesecake

My mango cheesecake was a semi-predicament; it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, but it wasn't horrible. The base was a little hard to cut, and I was basically murdering the cake when I was cutting it to serve. But on the positive note, it was a hit. I really did not need to make another cheesecake...

But then I had another predicament. On Sunday night, my Samsung S2 which I've had for a year DIED. I was using it then suddenly it completely shut off itself. I can't turn it on anymore. I tried charging it, this that.. So I've been quite annoyed and it's extremely inconvenient when all of your contacts have been lost... So this calls for a new phone. But this won't be for a while :(

So I had a Japanese cheesecake to photograph. I used Diana's desserts recipe, the one I used for the cupcakes! But this time I used it for a bigger cake and it was very very delicious. As fluffy as it could be and a little spongy! One thing I would recommend is to strain your cheese mixture before adding the egg-whites, if there are any lumps. And add a tad more sugar because it's not very sweet.

Fellow bakers, what kind of baking disasters have you had?

Asides from these predicaments (small predicaments, I must say), I had a wonderful birthday surrounded by friends and family!

Japanese cheesecake
Ingredients 
140 (5 oz) sugar *I'd increase to about 160 g.
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50 g (2 oz) butter
250 g (9 oz) cream cheese
100 ml/3 oz milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
60 g (2 oz) cake flour/superfine flour *I just added more cornflour since I don't have cake flour.
20 g (1 oz) cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
1. Melt cream cheese & butter & milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, cornflour, egg yolks and lemon juice & mix well.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
3. Add cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into an 8 inch round cake pan (grease and line the bottom & sides of the pan with parchment paper).
4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until set & golden brown at 160 degrees Celsius (325 F)

Adapted from Diana's desserts

Dearest V

Dearest V,
Thank you for being an awesome eldest sister. I love the fact that I'm half a head taller than you, but at the same time, I hate the fact that some people mistaken me as the older one.

More than a decade ago!

Just like everyone in the family, you are an utterly smart, and have definitely set the bar high, as you're the eldest sister. I'm sorry that I tower over you, but hey, if it helps, you are a feisty short person who can really argue (how else would you be a lawyer? Or yell at me.)

REVERSE HEIGHT ORDER: From youngest to eldest.

I must have caught the reading bug from you; I heard you got into some trouble during primary school reading books in class! I would read until late night (past bedtime whoops) during primary school with my reading light on (and to this day, still do that). Thanks for letting me borrow some of your books as well :)

So thanks sis :)

Anyway, asides from my open letter, we celebrated my sister's birthday, just like last year. Over stuffed and stomach aches.. 

Entree: Peking duck from a restaurant take away

Main: Mum's curry laksa 

Dessert: Three cakes.

Yeah you heard that right... THREE cakes. I helped my mum bake a mango cheesecake with macadamias (Star hit of the night), I made a vanilla sponge with white chocolate ganache & raspberries and Aunty SS bought a flourless fig & almond cake. I've been eating far too much cake! 

 I used my vanilla cupcake recipe but doubled it. I made some ganache but whipped it so it was more spreadable. I also made some dark chocolate ganache in the middle with strawberries & raspberries, to counteract too much sweetness from the white chocolate ganache.

The massacre 

Dad's French birthday dinner!

The first time I dined at a French restaurant was a few years ago. I was maybe 10 years old? I'm not quite sure. It was at The Brasserie. I remember the desserts from there; sorbet and chocolate tart. My dad really liked that restaurant, he dined there a few times with my mum and my sister. But, unfortunately, The Brasserie closed and has been replaced with Bistro Guillaume. 

My sisters took our family out for French food at Bistro Guillaume. For my dad's birthday! From what I can remember, the interior hasn't changed much from the Brasserie, but it's quite pleasant. We sat outdoors, which was really nice. It's still spring, and it won't be long until the hot, blazing summer nights, so my dad wanted to take the opportunity of sitting outside. We normally don't, since my mum doesn't like the cold. 

Credits to my dad!

My dad had escargot (snails) as an entree, and I tried one for the very first time. I never knew snails tasted that good.

Uh my sister's finger got into the picture.. But I think Mum and Dad look real great. 

 I had steak frites. Simply delicious. The meat was cooked to perfection (my favourite, medium rare!) and the fries were really nice and crisp. However, I won't say that they are the best fries I've ever had. Believe it or not, I personally find that the best fries come from Charcoal Chicken, a take-away chicken shop. I think they use chicken salt. And they produce the best, thick, crispy and just-enough-salt chips. Anyway, the chips at Bistro Guillaume were still very nice! Ooh, the bearnaise sauce went well with the steak. Just enough tang.

You know it's a good meal when you polish the whole plate. 

My second sister had the half a roasted chicken with jus and Paris mash. I tried some and quite liked it! I really liked the jus and the mash was extremely creamy. 

 My mum had the duck, but I didn't try it. She said it was quite good though.

OF COURSE, we had to get dessert. After all, the French are known for their patisseries. 

We got the special of the day, the Valrhona chocolate tart with lavender ice cream. A chocolate tart starts off with high-quality chocolate; this chocolate tart certainly delivered the standards of what a superb chocolate tart should be. The pastry was buttery, crisp and matched well with the intense flavour of the Valrhona chocolate. The lavender ice cream was surprisingly nice. I thought it would taste like soap.

 We also got the profiteroles with vanilla bean and hot chocolate sauce. I wasn't able to get a shot before the waiter poured over the hot chocolate. Heavenly.

 It was a really nice day. I love it during evening in the city. Especially during spring and autumn.

 I made a masterpiece. No, not really. Just a vanilla cake with coffee buttercream. My mum did all the decorations. The coffee buttercream is so, so, so, so yummy! I will sure do a post of cupcakes with coffee buttercream. You see, I don't like coffee itself. At this age, I find it horrible, icky and bitter. I tried a cup from the Nespresso coffee machine we have at home, and I nearly spat coffee out after I had a sip. Though, I'm quite certain that my tastebuds will change in the future.

 Happy birthday Dad! I love you so much, thanks for being the typical Asian dad (studies, studies, studies), being always so hilarious when you mishear things (e.g, we were talking about pasta on Masterchef, and the judge dropped a plate of pasta because he was being dramatic about it being 'disgustingly good' and then Dad's ears perked up and he said "Char kway teow?? He dropped char kway teow??!??" ), but most importantly, for being my role model. I hope that one day, I will become somewhat similar, to the super-nerdy-genius you.

The croquembouche

I just wanted to feature this blog post on my dear friend, Kelda! And her extremely cool birthday cake. Happy birthday Kel!

She wasTinkerbell!

  Yesterday, I went to her Disney princess-themed 15th birthday party. I was Pocahontas.. I had to borrow a dress from my second sister! The party was SO much fun, she threw such a wonderful party! Every girl from our original year 7 form class (except for one and there's my Kiwi friend who just came this year!) came. We're all in the same friendship group, always sitting down together for lunch. And when you have a house party with 12 girls, it's noisy alright! So thankful to have these girls in my life!

Some of the girls

Kelda told me that the birthday cake was going to be a surprise..It really was! You see, she and I have very similar taste in food. We both love macarons, cupcakes, you name it! She ordered a croquembouche, which is a French dessert. It literally means in French 'crunch in the mouth'. 'I've seen this before on Masterchef Australia, and it looks terrifying to make. It was my first ever taste of a croquembouche.

  A croquembouche is made up of profiteroles. Profiteroles are cream puffs, made up of choux pastry. These profiteroles are filled with cream. And then, the whole thing is stacked up together, whipped with generous amounts of caramel. It's rather hard to dissemble it, but it taste amazing! Think crunchy caramel, soft profiteroles with cream filled inside. And then, on the bottom, strawberries and blueberries; only my favourite fruits.

We also had other food of course, for the tea party. SO MUCH FOOD! 

Hehe

She baked these brownies and they were amazeballs.

Macarons baked by her sister!

Cacao green.

They have Starbucks here in Melbourne. Very few of them.

No new travel posts at the moment,soon I will be posting about Salzburg (Where I visited Mozart's house!).

My new obsession: frozen yogurt. My first taste was in Malaysia,over the summer. One of my closest Malaysian friend's, Wan Xin took me there. I've known this lovely girl for years, I remember how we first started talking in standard 1 (Grade 1) in primary school and using our animal pencil cases to play with each other. Anyway, we went to Tutti Frutti, which is a frozen yogurt place. Definitely going back there the next time I go back!

I had frozen yogurt in Melb a few weeks ago, with my friends in the city. We came across this place, it's a really cute, neat place. It's opposite Starbucks, and we were dying to sit down (Starbucks was over crowded..For some reason. Starbucks isn't even that popular here?) and wanted some froyo. I did not expect it to be full of incredible goodness. Cacao green, I think on Swanson street in the city, has some pretty good organic frozen yogurt! I had the pomegranate, since I have a slight obsession with it... And the price is reasonable too. By Australian standards I mean. Melbourne has been listed as one of the most expensive cities to live in. But yes, speaking in Australian terms, it's quite reasonable. It's $4.50 for a junior serve, and it's pretty big! It is $6.70 for a regular and $8.20 for a large.

I didn't put any toppings this trip, but I plan to put cheesecake next time. Toppings are at $1 each.  Highly recommend Cacao green for some froyo. Their menu also includes organic yogurt smoothies and gourmet waffles.



My Taylor-Swift-loving, generous, game-loving, nerdy, shorter-than-me, second sister, just recently celebrated her birthday! We had our traditional kind of family birthday dinner. Asian dishes like curry, noodles, pork belly and Laurent cake as usual. Le gateau- c'est fantastique. Layers of mousse, and walnuts, very chocolatey.

My mum made her tiramisu! Mum's baking and cooking is always the best.