Treat at Triple Three

I'm exceptionally happy this December because I have a lot of leave to clear. That also means I can have lots of time to do BAKING! Yippee. But of course, each baking session must be planned so that I don't waste my precious time when I'm on leave. There are still so many things to be done-buy P1 & P5 books, prepare for my children's birthday celebrations, prepare for my family's X'mas celebration etc etc.

This December, there was no overseas holidays for us mainly because my spouse was out of job for more than six months, and he just found a job. Also, the twins' graduation concert etc. That was fine actually. So that I can spend more time planning for my workshops, and also for CNY goodies.

Since my eldest boy's birthday is this weekend, I've decided to bring him out for a good lunch. I brought him to Triple Three at Meritus Mandarin for buffet lunch.


The spread was really good. There were at least 10 different sections to choose from- fresh seafood, salad, Sushi, Teppanyaki, Baked food, Cooked food, Tempura, Tim Sum, Fried Rice, Noodles, Cheese, Desserts, Kueh and Fruits. The choice was just - endless!




The buffet was really fresh and good. There was just not enough stomach space to try all the food, even though I've already avoided almost half the sections! The overall experience was really. I read somewhere that they have just re-opened the cafe after a major renovation. It is now located at level 5, together with the reception. Chatterbox is also on level 5 now.

These were what I had...only six rounds. =)




The damage to the wallet is:
Adult Buffet Lunch - $45+++
Child Buffet Lunch - $30+++
Opening hours- 12.00noon - 2.30pm

As for me, I used my EAT@Meritus Card, which gives a 50% off for two diners. If not for the card, I would not have gone there. How to get this card? Apply for OCBC Titanium Credit Card and get this EAT@Meritus Card free for a year! Get it now!
[Disclaimer: This is not an advertisement for OCBC nor Meritus Mandarin. The opinion is purely of the writer.]

Chocolate Valentine's Workshop by PALATABLE

Soon, it will be Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Followed by Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day! It’s a season of joy and giving. Therefore, whether it’s for gift or a treat, bake a cake and decorate it to impress your loved ones and friends!

With its simplicity to make, you’ll be able to show them how good your home-bake treats are!

Course Details:

Course fee: $85 per person

Date: 3 January 2010, Sunday or
17 January 2010, Sunday

Duration: 3 hours, 1300-1600hrs

Venue: Trainer’s residence @ Hougang Street 11

Class size: 4-6 persons

For more details, check out at Chocolate Valentine's Workshop.

Chiffon Cupcakes

I've been wanting to try chiffon cupcakes for a long long time. There had been many recipes from various food blogs. I've had them but just too lazy to dig them out. It happened that I had this recipe printed out with me, and so I tried it. I didn't want too complicated bakes, merely just want to bake! The cupcakes turned out to be really soft and nice and good! I love it lots! I made 12 of them using the original recipe portion. Do try this out-Clear Water Cake (Sponge Cake).



I baked a banana black sesame chiffon for my in laws last weekend. I hope they like it.

Experimenting

I was experimenting with some pound cakes and decorations for my new workshop for Valentine's. I was glad the combination turned out to be perfect - Almond pound cake with chocolate ganache. I was pleasantly surprised that my children almost finished up the whole mini cake! The almond pound cake was really fragrant and nice, especially when it's chilled! I also like it very much. It will also be a good cake for any ocassions!



Watch for it coming up soon!

Tarty

Since last week, I've had this craving to eat chocolate tarts. I prepared the dough, left it in the fridge. Then the next day, I baked the tart crusts. Then I kept it in the air-tight container. Then, came Tuesday...Wednesday...Thursday. And I haven't gotten the chance to add my chocolate! Finally on Friday, since it was a public holiday, I finally decided to add my chocolate.

Initially, I wanted a dark chocolate tart. And thought of adding some Bailey's Creme Caramel. However, it ended up I used the leftover Strawberry ganache from my chocolate workshop on Tuesday. It turned out to be really nice. My sister liked it very much, and bought some home too!


My parents and sister came over to my place for dinner on Friday. I prepared some simple fare - baked pasta and oriental salad. The recipe for the oriental salad was given to me by Amy, who was our instructor for our Wedding Cake Decoration in BITC. She has given us quite a number of recipes for salads and dips. She's really very good.



To backtrack a bit, I baked pita breads last week. It was a bit too thick. My sister requested for it for her hummus. I've not heard of, or taken hummus until she made it. It was supposed to be taken with pita bread. It was really healthy and good! It wouldn't be my last try too!

Blueberry Chiffon

Lately, there seemed to be abundant blueberries on sales in the supermarket. I bought a few packets of blueberries. Seeing that they had not been touched in the fridge, and turning soft, I decided to bake blueberry chiffons. Once a while, I still preferred to reuse the "tried & tested" recipes. I just realised the last time I baked a blueberry chiffon was at least half a year ago! I used this same recipe again.

I used a 9" tube pan and found that the chiffon was actually quite nice on top, at least it didn't crack. Then I realised that all these time, I've been pouring too much batter on my tube pan, that prevented it from rising too much and causing it to crack, and have a layer of moist batter on top!


These were some lessons I learnt again from this baking.
1) The previous recipe used 2 egg yolks + 1 tbsp milk. This recipe, I used 6 egg yolks without increasing the quantiy of the milk. Thus, the egg yolk batter was very very dry. It made folding very challenging.

2) I didn't smash the blueberries. I threw them in as it is. This also made the egg yolk batter drier. By smashing the blueberries, it will at least have some liquid to make the egg yolk batter more foldable.


Fortunately, the overall chiffon still looked alright and presentable. Even though foolproof recipe can be used again and again, the experience might not necessarily be the same all the time. Don't you just agree?

Rose Decoration for Valentine

With Valentine’s Day on Chinese New Year, what best to give to your loved ones, then to self bake a cake and decorated it with roses?

Learn to make roses using different types of sugar paste for your cake decoration. Transform your homemade cake, into an impressive cake with your modelling roses! The best part is, no complicated tools are used!

Book now to secure your seats!

Course Details:
Course fee: $65 per person
Date: 10 January 2010, Sunday
Duration: 3 hours, 1300-1600hrs
Venue: Trainer's residence @ Hougang Street 11
Class size: 4-6 persons

Course Programme:
Fully hands-on learning the following:
1. Fondant Roses
2. Royal Icing Rose
3. Modelling Chocolate Roses
Includes demonstration of:
1. Daisy using Royal Icing
2. Fondant flowers using flower cutters

What you'll acquire:
1. Your knowledge of making edible model roses.
2. Your roses, including all the spares that you are left with from the fondant or modelling chocolate paste.
3. Pipping nozzle and piping nail that you used in the workshop.
4. Simple recipes.

Rose tea will be served during the workshop.

Registration and Payment:
Register with Jane @ thepalatable(at)gmail(dot)com by 4 January 2010. Payment is made via internet transfers to POSB Savings account 017261398. Confirmation will be given once payment is received.

Enquiries:
For further enquiries, please contact Jane at 9824-4954.

Chocolate Baking Workshop

My baking friends and I had been discussing to have another chocolate baking workshop from one of our ex-instructors. Let's call her LA to retain her privacy. It was agreed that we shall have two chocolate cakes for this workshop-Praline Chocolate Cake and Strawberry Chocolate Cake.

I managed to gather a total of four people for this workshop. Zai, my baking friend, Sharon, who replace my baking buddy Doris, Rachel, my friend and of course, myself. The workshop was conducted at LA's house. I like small group workshops as I found it more personalised. The place was very conducive, and spacious.

This is LA's oven. I like it so much! It's so huge!

LA was slightly too fast for us as we tried to catch up on what she taught. She demonstrated to us the various steps of preparing the ganache, praline, paste, glaze and the sponge cake.

The Amarena Cherries used for our Strawberry Cake.

There were so many steps to making the Praline Chocolate Cake and the Strawberry Chocolate Cake. I think I'll probably make it for special ocassions only. The work involved are just tedious and tremendous! However, the taste was really good.

We got to try the chocolate sponge on its own. The taste was just “OMMPH”! The additional of ground hazelnut really made a difference to the chocolate sponge. I'm sure my baking buddy Doris would have love it! Unfortunately, I'm unable to share the recipe here.

Even though this wasn't a hands-on session, we had fun going through the series of the preparation, and getting to sample the sponge cake and the praline. Despite lots of preparation work, and had to be done over a few days, I'm sure I will try out the recipe real soon!

These are our take-aways!

Rum BARS

The fad is in? Lately, I noticed that Rum Balls seems to be rather popular? Because there were a couple of failed bakes? Heehee... Most of the (home) bakers knew that they won't throw away any (cooked) failed bakes because we can turned them into Rum Balls. Or perhaps, there are some who loved Rum Balls so much, they probably baked a cake just to make Rum Balls? Yes? No? The recent bakers who made Rum Balls are Eat and Be Happy and Baking on Cloud 9.

There are many ways to create rum balls. One of the recipes is given by Baking on Cloud 9. For my department's bbq on Friday, I did some Rum Bars. I decided balls were too much work, so I made bars.


This was what went into my Chocolate Rum Bars:
- cake sponge: vanilla & chocolate;
- unsuccessful chocolate macarons;
- baked tart crusts
- 2 tbsp Rum
- chocolate ganache
Mix them all together using a mixer, till soft and blinded together.

Then I spread them out on a 10"x10" square pan, about 1" tall. Pour melted semi-sweet chocolate on it, and sprinkled with desiccated coconuts. Put them into the fridge to harden. The following day, I cut sliced them up into bars before my event. So there you go, presenting my Chocolate Rum Bars. I must admit, my "lazy" way somehow tasted really good. All my colleagues just raved about it!


My domestic helper cooked some truly good fried bee hoon!