Peach and Cream Cheese Cake

It had been a sort of unproductive day. Resorting to my favourite way to unwind, I decided to do a bit of impromptu baking. My normally well-stocked fridges (Yep! I am having 3 big fridges!!) and pantry had not been restocked after the Chinese New Year.

I moosed around and tried to create a dessert /cake with the bits and pieces I have.

The finished result was  quite good. And it was such a simple cake to make.

PEACH AND CREAM CHEESE CAKE

Shortbread Base
250 gm self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup almond nibs (coarsely chopped almonds)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
 125 gm butter - melted and cooled slightly before using
1 x 454 gm peach slices in light syrup - drained well
250 gm cream cheese
100 gm sour cream
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablsp caster sugar

Method
1) Line a 9'" square baking tin with baking parchment, allowing the paper to extend above the tin. Preheat oven at 170*C.

2)In a big bowl, stir the vanilla essence into the butter and add in the self-raising flour ( which has been sieved with the baking powder and salt) 1/3 cup sugar, almond nibs and dessicated coconut. Mix well and spoon the mixture into the lined baking tin. Use the back of a big spoon to press the mixture onto the base of the tin and level it. Bake in the preheated oven for 18 - 20 mins till slightly golden. Remove from oven  to cool slightly before using.

3) Arrange the drained peach slices on top of the slightly cooled biscuit base.

4) To make the topping,  cream the cheese, sour cream, egg yolks and 1 1/2 tablsp sugar till smooth.
 Spoon on top of the peaches and smooth the surface. Drop the cake on to the table a couple of times       from a height of about 8-10" to  remove any air-bubbles between the peach slices. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool before putting into the fridge to chill. Cut into thick fingers and serve with extra peach slices and whipped cream.

This recipe will serve 8-10 not-so-big-eaters but based on the response from my family, I think people will  come back for seconds!!!

The almonds give the cake a bit of bite which compliment the smooth peach and the creamy topping.

Do try this recipe and let me know what you think.











5
    Spoon over the

A WEDDING CAKE AFTER A MAJOR MAKEOVER

During Wei and Jean's wedding, after the wedding cake had been cut, I had quietly kept the top tier and hidden it in the freezer while the other 2 tiers were cut and served to the guests  It was just waiting for a happy occasion like  their wedding anniversary or something to make another appearance.

After  checking with Jean and Wei, I decided that the grand-babies'  Full Moon Party would be a good time to bring out this bit of the wedding cake.

The frozen iced cake still looked good  but I know it would have to be re-iced with fresh marzipan and fondant. It would need a major make-over!!!!

The fondant and marzipan was scrapped of and the cake now looked like this.......

I had used girlie colours. The blanket was made to look like the one that Kiew Kha ( Peng Sam's sister in Sydney) had made for the babies. It was a very pretty blanket and my replica didn't do any justice to the real thing!!!

Stuff For Babies

Hi, it's been more than a while since I last posted anything.

I have been baking though not as much as I would had love to. The frozen shoulder on the left got better and the next thing I knew was that the right side got frozen too!!! 

I still managed to do a little baking everything now and then, but I miss my  baking marathons.

One of my resolutions this year, is to write more regularly. and to do that, I'll have to bake more!!

Jean, my daughter-in-law  gave birth to a pair of baby girls towards the end of 2012. I've always loved doing girly things and now with two grand-daughters, I don't need an excuse to decorate my cakes with sweet colours and pretty stuff.

Working with fondant is a very fun and addictive.

I use them to make some cutesy things which I am sure my grand-daughters would love. Pity that they are too young to tell me how much they like the stuffed bunny and Mr Bean's bear!

Ting-Ting and Weng Khong's Love Story

These were the flowers Weng Khong gave to Ting-Ting. Contrary to common custom, Ting-Ting declared, " I'm not going to throw them!" and she very coolly took them home wirh her. Ha...ha....

A view of the back of the dress.

When I was planning the cake I decided from the very start that their office would be part of their cake because it was the place  where their  love story began.

OCBC, Jln Tun Perak, 50050 Kuala Lumpur. That is where the both of them are working and that was where they met.

Ting-Ting looking so happy and beautiful here.

Here Comes The Bride....

 This is the other figurine for the wedding cake. Isn't she gorgeous?

Ting-Ting will be wearing a peach-coloured dress. I saw a couple of pictures and I thought the dress was lovely; simple with very elegant lines. And she looked a million dollars in it.

But when I tried to replicate it on the figurine, the dress did not turn out nice. The gathers on the side of the bodice were clumsy and unflattering. I was trying to pull here and tuck there but it was no good.

And then Yee Juinn walked into the  kitchen, took one look and said, "Ma, the dress is making the bride look fat!" 

Oh, no!!  Ting-Ting  had looked fabulous in the real dress!!!  So I decided to make some changes.

I stuck to the peach colour and made a halter-neck neckline just like the real dress. The rest I sort of "designed" as I went along. I also decided not to let the figurine wear her veil because I think she looks fresh and young with her hair showing.

These shoes were an afterthought. On the cake, the bridal couple are sitting down to share a very special moment. They have just got married and will be together for the rest of their lives. The bride has been on her feet for hours and when she sat down, she would, without thinking, bend forward and removed her shoes. Next to follow was the veil. But she is holding on to the flowers that the groom has given her because they are  so pretty. Besides, she loves their fragrance.

Weng Kong the Groom-to-be

So cute!!!

Who is this??  He is soooo...... super-cute!!!

Well, he is Weng Kong, the groom-to-be.

Before I started on the figurines for the cake, I did a little detective work with a lot of help from my god-daughter, Wei Yi.  She was good. Now I know to a certain extent what the bride likes and does not like.

I found out  that he'll be wearing a white suit for the wedding.

OMG!!!  I don't  know about you, but I think  Ting-Ting and all the females (irrespective of age or  marital status) will be swooning.  Must remember to tell the non-females to bring lots of smelling-salt along: --- to revive their  female companions lah...

Ha...ha.... White suits him so well, don't you agree?

Have to go again. There are still some details I have to add when this is dry. I will post another photo later.

Wedding bells are in the air

1st of September, third day of the Hari Raya celebration......

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to all our Muslim friends and their loved ones.

Hari Raya is a lovely time for everyone, me included. It is not possible not to be caught up in the excitement, especially when we see  the kids  so happy looking for their new baju and songkok and shoes. Go to any baking shops and you would find all these mak ciks and ciks  filling up their baskets with loads of stuff that would end up as the most yummy kuih-kuih, kek-kek and biskut-biskut. The menfolk would inevitably  be hovering at the cash-counters with their wallets out on the ready. And funnily, these guys looked more than happy to spend their money!!!

My neighbours from across the road, Shariza, Gwei and their two lovely boys  had an open house for the neighbours on the first day of the Raya. Shariza is a great cook. The dining table looked like it was going to crash with the weight of chicken curry, prawn and coconut, vegetables in coconut milk, tempe with chicken liver and so many, many other sumptuous-looking dishes. She was incredible. She had cooked all these delicious dishes herself and she  appeared to greet us at the door with not  a hair out of place. PHEW!!!  Talk about superwoman!!!

The house looked lovely too with all those baskets of petunias Gwei and Billy had hung up  in their porch. I couldn't resist taking a picture to share.  Don't they look pretty?

I guess I better stop admiring those flowers and get down to some serious work. I have offered to make a cake for Ting-Ting and Weng Kong this Saturday. They will be registering their marriage and I thought it would be nice to make them a cake although the Chinese ceremony will not be till 25th. December. Yep, the chu-men (getting out of the door, literally), tea ceremony and wedding dinner will be on Christmas Day!!


Saturday is only, what? two days away!!!  *panic-panic* I am going......

Hello Kitty

The past week had been kind of busy.

Mun Wai, my niece from Brisbane arrived on Tuesday. She is spending a few days in Malaysia before leaving for Beijing where she will spend the next six months studying Mandarin.

My god-daughter, Wei Yi arrived yesterday. She is also spending a few days with her extended god-family in KL before leaving for London early next month. She will be studying to be a chemical engineer in UCL.

In between I have been doing a bit of baking. There is one cake that I must mention because I had so much fun doing it. It was  a birthday cake for a little girl who would be two and the mother had requested for a HELLO KITTY cake.

People who knows me would surely remember how Hello-Kitty-mad I was about eighteen to twenty years ago. I remember queing up at MacDonalds for their Happy Meals because I wanted the Hello Kitty dolls. My young sons would have their Happy Meals while I would keep the dolls! It was a most amiciable arrangement.

I would buy Hello Kitty stationery, Hello Kitty bags and Hello Kitty watches. I had been given storage boxes, lunch boxes, mirrors, costume jewellery with Hello Kitty. The list goes on.

The years came and went and in the daily busyness of living, Hello Kitty became something I only stop to have a quick look in the shops.

So when this request came in, can you imagine my delight. I have always made the cakes for all the birthdays of my children but with three boys and no girl, a Hello Kitty cake has never made an appearance. My god-daughter? Nah, she is not really into Hello  Kitty.

"Yes, of course! Of course I will make a Hello Kitty cake." I assured Ashley's mother.


I started looking again  and realised that despite the years, I have remained a true Hello Kitty fan. There is something appealing in her mouthless face adorned with her trademark red bow.

Baked Raspberry Cheese Tartlets

Took me a while to get out of bed when the alarm clock rang. Breakfast was noodles which I cooked and then added to some stew left over  from dinner last night. Not exactly fine dining but Yee Juinn and Yee Hou said it was good and went for seconds. Hmm.... not bad for something that was made while the cook was still half-asleep.

Once the cob-webs had cleared, I remembered this piece of cream cheese that was "expiring" in a couple of days' time.  "Better that it ends up in someone's tummy than the garbage-bin", I thought.

I also had half  a cup of coulis which I made from fresh raspberries a few days ago.  That was expensive stuff and I wanted to use it  before it expired too.

With a little digging around, I found a fat juicy lemon, some kampung eggs and an unopened packet of oat biscuits. Now they were enough to get me started on my little impromptu project which was to use up a piece of cream cheese.

By mid-morning I had 15 pieces of  Baked Raspberry Cheese Tartlets which were real  beauties with   their bright pink  and pale yellow swirls.  And the smell......!

I knew they tasted best chilled but hot or not, I was in no mood to wait!!!

When I bit into one just  after it came out of the oven, my tongue felt like it was being scalded. At the same time, the taste of the tart raspberries and the tangy cheese together with the biscuit crust was amazing!

Suffice to say, I gleefully gobbled two with my second mug of coffee for the morning. *grin*

Verdict:-  Peng Sam, Yee Hou and Yee Juinn agreed that they were "very, very good"!!

HELLO EVERYBODEH! :)))

So I have been giving quite a bit of thought as to how I'm supposed to kick start this blog... 'cause I just can't seem to find the right words to tell you just how goooooood my god-mother's deserts taste, and how mouthwatering it makes me, just thinking about it!

Oh dang, now I've gotten myself hungry. *Craves!* :DDD

But seriously! From chocolate eclairs to crème brûlée; from lemon meringue pie to strawberry tartlets; this lady here never fails to get me fattened up each time I visit. Together with her strive for perfection and her gusto for baking, she'd whip up the crème de la crème of treats for you and your tummy, any time of day!

Fancy a rich chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries dipped in premium dark chocolate? She's got it for you, coming right up!

Not hungry yet? Well, here're some pictures to whet up your appetite. If that doesn't work, I don't know what can! ;)

 

Okay. End of tour! Hehe. 

If you're interested in ordering her premium quality home-made cakes, you can visit facebook.com/sugarymoments for more info! 

If not, stay tuned for more updates and various insights into the mind of one creative and passionate masterchef of Malaysia, Sharron Woo, personally at MOREsugarymoments.blogspot.com! 

<3 her god-daughter

PS. Yes, she's MY god-ma. Be very envious. Teehee~