Dinosaur Fondant Cake

Baked on early Feb 2012.

Thanks to Internet video tutorials and lots of good information on how to decorate the fondant cake, finally my first 3" high fondant cake is born. Initially I thought I'll never have a chance to try on fondant cake since I don't have the luxury to attend baking classes, I was wrong. 

This is supposed to be a trial run for Gabriel's birthday cake which is end of next month, but to bake a 2 kg cake and cover it with fondant decoration really need times, I still not sure whether I'll make it again with a better decoration. See how it goes!

When Gabriel saw this cake, he was so happy that mummy baked a dinosaur cake for him, he kept asking "will you bake the dino cake for me on my birthday"...Hmm...yes!

Just a note:

1. To prevent fondant from sticking to the work surface while rolling, apply some powder sugar on the work surface and fondant. 

2. Never flip the side of the fondant, as the bottom surface will not be as smooth as the top.

3. To keep cake moist and fondant able to stick to the cake nicely, apply a good layer of buttercream.

4. Crumb coat is good to not just cover the cake crumb but the imperfection of the cake too.

5. The cake with fondant is very heavy, need to make sure it sit on a cake board that is able to withstand the weight.

6. Hot whether really no good for fondant, to prevent melting of fondant keep it in air conditional room as we are in tropical country!!

The brown fondant is a mixture of dark chocolate with white fondant, it tastes so yummy with the chocolate flavour. The rock is a mixture of the brown fondant with more dark chocolate added, it created two different tones of brown.  

The single dino figurine really looks lonely, but what to do, Gabriel already woke up from his nap and I've to leave all this behind...

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #16: Fun with Fondant! (February 2012) hosted by Yvonne of iceamericanos

Chocolate Yam Cake with Buttercream Roses

I've chosen to go without a domestic helper since I came back from Melbourne.

My house didn't turn upside down without the helper, I'm that kind of person who love my home to be organized and neat. That's mean I need to devote lot of daily time on housework. I'm blessed because WT helps up a lot after he comes home from work, he bathe Gabriel every night, play and read to Gabriel before he goes to bed. 

Rosemary Focaccia: 65C Tangzhong Method

Have you ever tasted the bread from Modesto's Restaurant? If you love bread with herbs then this is a must try. We had dinner there recently, the restaurant served the bread as starter which filled with flavour of olive oil and rosemary, the bread was supersoft and it was cut in small squares to dip in the balsamic vinegar. 

I'm not sure whether the bread was focaccia because no dimpled was spotted on the small square bread surface but I just couldn't resist myself in baking focaccia today. 

The original recipe is without using tangzhong but I wish to have a soft focaccia, adding tangzhong or water roux starter will ensure I have a soft and more elastic bread texture with a long lasting of freshness.  

The focaccia is rich with flavour of olive oil and rosemary, it tastes so good just by eating the bread without dipping the vinegar. 

Recipe for tangzhong, please refer to here

Recipe adapted from  松本洋一（Soleil 面包教室）

Ingredients:

200g bread flour

4g instant dry yeast

10g caster sugar

3g salt

20g milk powder

124g water (I added ~60g, substituted most of the water with tangzhong)

100g tangzhong

15g fresh rosemary, finely chopped

20g olive oil

deco:
olive oil
cheese powder

Method:

1. Add tangzhong and all ingredients except the liquid and olive oil in a bowl, gradually add water and knead well. Add olive oil and knead to form smooth elastic dough.

2. Spray water on dough and place in a container. Cover and let it proof for 60 mins.

3. Punch down the dough, and roll into a ball. Let it rest for 10 mins.

4. Flatten the dough into a round shape (I used 6" cake pan)

5. Place the dough into grease pan. Let it proof for another 30~45 mins. or the dough will double in size.

6. Coat one finger with olive oil and poke into the dough to make as many dimpled as possible. This is to ensure the bread is flat after baked.

7. Brush some olive oil on the dough surface. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in the pre-heat oven at 200C for 25 mins.

Happy Baking!

Blog Awards

A lovely Versatile Blogger Award generously shared by DG from Tested and Tasted. Thank you for the awesome award! (personally think that I'm yet to consider as a versatile blogger:))

I would like to forward this beautiful award to the following great blogs:

Anncoo Journal

Nasi Lemak Lover

Precious Moments

From My Lemony Kitchen

My Kitchen Snippets

My Little Space

Table for 2 or More

Kitchen Flavours

Quay Po Cooks

Baking Dairy

A sweet Liebster Blog Award pass on to me by Lite Home Bake. Thank you for the friendship and encouragement!

 

Liebster is German and translates to

the English word “dearest”or” favorite”. It’s meant for up-and-coming blogs with less than "200 followers".

Here are the rules:
•Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
•Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
•Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
•Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed. (Some say just 3 or more blogs of less than 200 followers each).
•Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

I would like to share this award with:

Vivian Pang Kitchen

Helena's Kitchen

Not the Kitchen Sink!

Pineapple Tarts and Present

This year CNY I only baked three bottles of Pineapple Tarts. It was created on the eve of day seven of CNY, I baked it until 4 a.m! I didn't prepare for this bake, my previous baked needs QBB Ghee which I didn't have at the point of baking, then I remember Sonia's Pineapple Tart recipe which require only four ingredients: butter, flour, condensed milk and egg yolk. Well, it is indeed a very tasty buttery tarts! Thanks Sonia!

Chasing Dreams: Myuna Farm and Enchanted Maze Garden

Thinking for very long on what should be the title for this post. Finally is this one, direct to the point I want to share with you, the life over there and the environment which we hope our children can get to grow up in.

I fall in love with Melbourne, not the city but the space and the life there make me wanted to stay longer. In year 2005 I was there for nearly a year, under a special campany mission, I was very depressed then. This round I was with family members and only 3 weeks, I fall in love with this big piece of land, I'm still asking myself is this real? 

The most valueble gained from this trip is ... friendship! Yes, through my sister, I met some new friends. Well, I'm a simple woman who want a simple life.

I promise myself to record down this trip for Gabriel, so bear with me, it will not end in one post :) Most of the photos were taken by WT and my brother-in-laws.