Not just a pretty face

The institute's student club is having our Christmas party today. A whole range of activities had been organized and one of them is baking contest. I made this cake last night after browsing many wonderful blogs and recipe sites. The design is nothing new, but I did make some changes to the basic recipes mainly due to catastrophes like having the chocolate curdle. I'd like to acknowledge some blogs that I drew inspiration and ideas from: Happy Home Baking and Scent of Green Bananas.

So what exactly is this stuff then? The base of it is thick short crust pastry with crushed peanuts baked into it, topped with peanut butter chocolate mousse and strawberries and fenced with sponge finger biscuits that had been brushed very lightly with the syrup from canned mangostene.
This is my favourite entry, a butter cake shaped like a mouse and so well decorated. The icing was so impressive, it just melted in your mouth. This entry won most creative cake.

My cake won best taste. (^_^) The party was really fun. I'm so glad to be surrounded by such fun and great people.

forgotten photo

gina's 23rd

tomorrow gina (the nem) turns 23. above is the nem and her cake( blackberry cheesecake, topped/garnished with strawberries)

chocobomb

Lagi ngantuk pas selesai bikin kue ini. menurut rencana tadi maunya mocha mousse cake, tapi akhirnya error mulu. moussenya nga jadi karena tadi coklatnya kiki masukin ke microwave (karena males dipanesin pelan-pelan). begitu kuning telur dimasukin kok coklatnya tiba-tiba jadi keras...! nothing ever goes according to plan. telur yg udah disiapin buat mousse akhirnya buat quiche bawang. kemudian, kue ini jadi mocha cake bersandwich whipped cream dan dilapisi hazelnut ganache. yg bulat diatas itu hasil coklat yg dimicrowave tadi, dihiasin biji kopi.

l'ennui

i decided to bake, at 8.58 tonight. it's peanut butter cream sandwiched between layers of mocha sacher. i accidentally added too much ground coffee... happy birthday, chére blier.

Selamat Ulang Tahun, Mama

If I could go up to the sun and take a morceau of its light to brighten everyday of your life, I'd happily burn and roast. But I'm not an astronaut, nor do I have wings to take me there. But I have hands, eggs, butter, sugar, fruits, jelly and knowledge of biochemistry and cakery to create something delicious yet healthy. ^^ Hehehe. Happy birthday, Mama. 祝你永遠幸福,永遠快樂, 永遠看起來象25歲的美女.

crystal

Crystal 生日快樂!!!

mamamia macadamia

Selamat Ulang Tahun Stevana!!!

what you see: crème ganache blanche, strawberry fans, white and dark chocolate walls, macadamia nuts & pink ribbon.

what you don't: chocolate sponge cake, strawberry cake, macadamia whipped cream, 2 days worth of Bengawan Solo song playing over and over again and a happy family gathering. (^^)

Gelap

These are low sugar hazelnut brownies. I've decided that feeding people with artery clogging food stuff isn't really going to help my karma. The centre square is topped wtih ganache and roasted hazenut. The rest are completely glazed with ganache and topped with pecans and lindt's dark chocolate.

NOIRE

looks familiar? I wanted to experiment with chocolate curls. I made a mini one so that I could do a miniature Noire but Phillip ate a chunk of it... we worked around it and covered it in white but I forgot to take pictures before he ate it for real. maybe next time. Hehehe.

Luna de la lune

Welcoming 中秋節 (Chinese MidAutumn Celebration) or also known as Moon Festival.

I wish I'm home. It's a pity that Phillip doesn't like peanut.

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

Cakes are cold tasteless ornaments without the warmth of laughters of friends and family to celebrate the occassion with you. The surprise party was very nicely planned; I'm glad i took that extra double shot espresso to attend it. Hahahahaha. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Miguel!

Sunday Night