Lovely Cupcakes

A picture speaks a thousand words.

What do the pictures below speak of ?

Beauty

Taste

Love

An order for a birthday bash...all for only RM55.00...cheap and lovely. Oreo chocolate cupcakes for a party ; a pretty good suggestion ; different from the norm. When you have a passion for a hobby, it can be quite lucrative as you get to display your creativity and earn a small income.

Proud of Sara.

She now gets online orders.

Achievement.

Cakes Galore !

She's at it again...mooncake craze is over...back to cakes.

She received the order for a carrot cake ; made it and delivered it on time. Aunt Joan said it was up to expectation and Uncle Soon took it with glee...RM60.00 for 2 kg...very reasonable. But more importantly, it was yummy...so we have been told.

Tomorrow, mummy has some guests visiting the school...teachers and students from Lawley Senior High School, Perth, Australia.
So she has been given the privilege to bake for them.

She calls it chocolate rojak cupcakes...why the rojak, I don't know...but Garrett says the best ever...




She also baked vanilla flavoured ones... very pretty, aren't they ?
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow...I will serve them to my visitors...Sara's goodies. I can proudly tell my friend of old that my daughter baked them...proud, proud.

Whee...Holidays Again !

I love the Government of Malaysia !

Rakyat didahulukan

Pencapaian diutamakan !

Tomorrow is a special holiday for everyone who is connected to the Education department !

The perks of being a cikgu !

The very idea brings out joy as the season of celebration is in the air again.

Malaysia Boleh !

After a day of serious meetings, it was a surprise to come home to 2 ladies busy stirring lotus paste making mooncakes again ! I have never seen nor experienced mooncake making in such frenzy. Sara is obsessed ! She is into making mooncakes until she gets it right.

So they stirred and stirred until the consistency was perfect. In good company and camaraderie spirit, the cousins shared their future plans and studies in the UK. Sophie will be leaving next week again to continue her theology pursuits and Sara aspires to join her next year in her law programme. I heard them talking about food and shelter and it is indeed good that someone will be there for Sara when she leaves for the UK.

As I see them stirring and and sharing, I could not help but feel that it is indeed true that you are brave when you are younger. You are not so afraid of failing in your endeavours and I take my hat off for Sara for her insistence in putting things right as well as she can...like making mooncakes right. I would have given up , long ago.

After a successful attempt at agar-agar mooncakes, she took it in her stride to do the real thing - making red bean moonckes.

The red bean ones do look like mooncakes, don't they ? Except...it did not turn out as well as it looked. The fillings were a bit too dry and the skin was not akin to the ones you buy. So, she was a little disappointed. But that did not stop her from trying another version...the snow skin ones !

Pretty snow skin mooncakes , aren't they ?

The taste was not too bad but I told her the consistency of the skin was not there...but generally quite good...edible. so, she told me yesterday that her mooncakes stints are over and that she would attempt other forms of delicacies.

Today, she received an order from cousin Steve...20 pieces for the weekend !

Sara : Ma, I have got an order for mooncakes from Steve!

Ma : No Sara, not mooncakes...you are not ready yet !

Sara : But, Ma...he insists. How now?

Ma : Go call Aunt Christine for help...I heard she makes gaya mooncakes...ask for tips!

She is bold and unafraid because the moment I came home she told me that Aunt Chris says homemade mooncakes no matter how many times one attempts will never turn out to be like the commercial ones. The commercial ones have special formulae...fit for the market. So, she is comforted by the fact that even Aunt Chris can't make mooncakes like the ones sold in the market! I was hoping she will get the hint and not bake anymore mooncakes.

But look...mooncakes in the oven again ! Looks like she is taking up the challenge of Steve's order !

She told me she has found another way of preparing the skin and that this time she was able to do it as right as it should be...I will be able to know after a few days.

Perserverance...she has it. I was with her former Physics teacher this morning and she told me she has learnt of Sara's mooncake making sessions.

Teacher : She must be studying the right course...so much free time to develop her baking skills.

Me : Ya..mistake. Should have forced her to do medicine and keep her on her toes !

Teacher : What does she want to do next time?

Me : I don't know...maybe open a bakery...or a housewife? She tells me her favourite cooking stars are all professionals in some fields first...then turn full time cooks. So...make a good guess.

Whatever the outcome may be of her latest mooncake attempts...I must say she is gung ho in getting it right. May it turn out fine...and Sara...enough mooncakes for the moment. Well done.

The Old Fashioned Taste

Butter Cake

I am afraid I am going to sound terribly old -fashioned again...blame it on my childhood, perspectives of life or even taste buds ! But, of all the many, many, many types of cakes I have tasted in my life time...I truly must say I love butter cakes most ! Butter cakes...or marble butter cakes.

That species of butter cake originates from good old Muar found in most Hainanese coffee shops and they really look humble .

I mean if I were to ask Sara or even any of her contemporaries to attempt the cakes shown above , they will probably give a second thought... a gap between the old and young.

However, if they really, really need to taste butter cake, they would probably choose one that at least looks like that one above. They go for looks. Another gap.

Who will think that the cake above really is my favourite cake? I love the consistency and the butter- after- taste feeling in the mouth.

Yes, I look forward to receiving the cakes when my dear friend from Muar gets it from a particular shop and supplies me...in whatever shape. It makes my day.

Do you know it is the ultimate when I sip Muar Kopi O kau together with the butter cake? A beautiful evening break with my favourites. My girls will laugh at me. "Ma, like that also nice, ah?" Yes, it is the best. The girls do no take coffee like I do...another gap.

Sara received another order from an old classmate for his mum's birthday and baked a chocolate banana cake. She gave me orders ( another gap? I don't give orders to Por Por) to pick up the ingredients whenever convenient and in 2 evenings she invented the new concoction .

Beautiful, isn't it? It tempts the eyes and the taste buds. It will attract many. I am sure it tastes good...I must remember to ask the birthday girl.

But, I still will not trade the world for the coffee and butter cake in the picture above...not even the chocolate banana cake.

I am old fashioned and I must change...but they say tastes die hard.

Happy Birthday, dear Puan Chuah.

Mango Mania

The mango tree.

It was planted behind the house some many years ago by dear Kong Kong who then lamented that what was a house without a mango tree. So he personally bought a mango plant and made sure it grew well...how ? Everytime he made a visit he would unashamedly and very naturally do his business there , the small one by the way.

So the tree grew tall and well...but alas it did not seem to fruit and got us to conclude that it must be a male species? But patience has its day too when lo and behold, it started to bear fruit ... abundantly. We do receive many fruits seasonally and it would take us days to finish its harvest.

Last week saw the abundant harvest again and it was mango in the day and evening...everyday.

The tall mango tree has been pruned to avoid gross mess and the lower part of the tree has its function too. Lovely mango tree trunk as a device for hanging plants.

The diligent one of the home decided that it was time to be creative again. Mooncakes for the season...mango yoghurt mooncake to be precise...alien to my ears and despite the protests, Sara was adamant that mango mooncake it shall be !

Mama was amazed that she was into mooncake making and with some doubt , I decided to watch her at work and humbly chronicled her baking.

There were two parts to the cake ; the fillings and the skin.

To prepare the fillings ;

she first mixed agar-agar powder and sugar with some water and brought the mixture to boiling point.

Then she added 2 egg yolks to some fresh milk after which it was added to the previous agar-agar mixture.

Meanwhile, some fresh mango was blended.

The blended mango was subsequently added to the mixture again.

It was stirred till well mixed...some lemon juice, mango puree and fresh cream.



The well done mixture was then poured into tart moulds for it to set.




Some fresh slices of mango were again cut into cubes to be added to the filling.


The fillings were then fridged for proper setting.

The well set fillings were then removed from the moulds ... look... pretty, yellow mango fillings.

Next, the skin.

Some water, sugar and agar-agar powder were cooked till boiling point. The heat was lowered before fresh milk mixed with custard powder was added.

The custard mixture was then poured into the agar-agar mixture and stirred till smooth.

Yoghurt, mango puree and if need be some yellow colouring were added. Sara did not add any colouring.


The final skin mixture...mango puree, agar-agar, youghurt, milk and sugar.

Much as I have seen and gone through, I still would not agree to buying mooncake moulds and making them. I felt it was too much of a trouble. Why need to ? Just buy ready made ones from confectionaries.

But I could not stop her... no right to, I suppose. Her passion must have an outlet.

This is the first ever time I have seen plastic mooncakes moulds invented for jelly mooncakes. Strange, but it evoked a very Eastern feeling and the words in the mould say "yuet yuan wah how" which when interpreted may mean when the moon is bright and round, the flowers bloom to their best... I think la.

So to assemble the final product, some of the mixture concorded was poured into the moulds...then left to half set in the fridge.

The half set mixture was then taken out and the fillings placed on top of it.

The moulds were further topped up with the mixture and left to set it in the fridge again.

When set, the jelly mooncakes were removed from the moulds. The picture speaks for itself?

The good saying..."yuet yuan wah how"...yes, my fortunate friends in my home fellowship are going to have a taste of them this friday.

Want to be part of my home fellowship? You are cordially invited.

Super Sara.

p/s: for the recipe, please visit http://www.ubersuperbakes.blogspot.com/