Aspiring Bakers Last Theme - Rainbow and Ombre Party!

If you have not read my previous announcement, YES, Aspiring Bakers is ending this month. Let's not be sad. We want to end our last theme with the HAPPIEST food on Earth - Rainbow and Ombre Party!

Photo from The Baking Biatch

We welcome any bakes/desserts that are rainbow or ombre (with at least 4 colours). Cookies, cakepops, cakes, tarts, cheesecakes, pushpops, jellies, agar agar are all good, anything that you can think of! Sounds good?

If you have been waiting to try but still procrastinating, this is it! Make it once and you will be addicted. If you have no ideas or inspiration, check our our host's blog - She has plenty of recipes and tutorials to get you started.

Do join us for our last party! Looking forward to a colourful month!

Marina Bay Sands Hotel MBS

My family booked a room at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel during December last year. So I dropped by, if not dunno when will have the chance to visit this expensive hotel. Haha!

This is the hotel lobby with a large Christmas tree.

Past by a cafe and spotted this Christmas tree made of cookies and candies.

The room.

View of Gardens by the Bay from the room.

Got up to the Sands SkyPark observation deck at 57th Floor for the beautiful view of Singapore City. It is free access for hotel guests. It was noon time, skies was clear, weather was good!

We went for lunch and planning to come back later for the Infinity Pool. But the weather turned bad and started raining. :(

The infinity pool was awesome right! Looks scary, like going to fall over anytime? Haha!

Look at the side view of the pool. Nah, you are not entirely at the edge of the building. No worries at all!

Back to room for rest as the rain was getting heavier and impossible to swim.

The view of Gardens by the Bay as the sky darkened.

We drove to Satay by the Bay. A lot of local food over there, steamboat, BBQ... Think we got BBQ chicken wings, popiah, pizza and of course SATAY!

Ordered satay from 2 different stalls, this was our preferred one.

Back to the hotel. We went up again to the Sands SkyPark for the night view. Still drizzling at that time and couldn't take much photos.

While my family went back to their room, I returned home. It was a great experience!

Hidden Heart Chiffon Cake

I should have posted this yesterday, but just too lazy.

Few days ago, I did something that nobody has ever done before, or at least I have never seen anywhere online. Hidden heart in a cake is not something new. You probably have seen hidden hearts in pound cakes and cupcakes. But in a chiffon cake, it is just me daydreaming about it! So I daringly TRIED!

There's a HEART in my chiffon cake! It looks amazing right? But I can't say I succeed cos not every slice has a nice heart shape. Haha!

This is how I do it. I just use a chiffon cake recipe for a 17cm tin - 4 eggs (or any recipe that you like). Prepare the egg yolk batter as usual. Divide the batter into 2 portions. One portion I add strawberry powder to make it pink. The other I add cocoa powder to make it a chocolate chiffon cake.

Then beat half of the egg whites, for my case I beat 2 egg whites to peak first. Mix egg white to strawberry batter and bake in a square or any flat pan at 180 deg C for about 8-10 minutes until the top brown evenly. Set it aside to cool down, then cut the cake into as many pink heart shapes as you can. (Aiya, I should have used a smaller heart cutter.)

Next, I continue to beat the other 2 egg whites to peak. Another wrong estimation, I should have used extra white cos I end up not quite enough batter to cover the pink hearts. Then, mix the egg whites with the chocolate batter. Pour some chocolate batter into the chiffon tin. Place the pink hearts inside the tin all around - remember to place hearts upside down cos the chiffon cake will be turn over after baked. Try to place them as close as possible to avoid too many large gaps. Cover the hearts with the rest of the chocolate batter, then bake as usual.

And that's how I got the heart shapes in, although not perfect. My daydream comes true! LOL!

CNY Cookies 2014

After baking for the charity bake sale, I managed to bake a few more types of cookies for my family just before the New Year.

The Chinese Peanut Cookies that I already bookmarked very long ago and I needed to use up the peanut oil leftover from the mooncake making few months ago. I went for the easy way of using readymade peanut powder. Maybe next year, I shall blend peanuts on my own.

I'm going crazy about flower design this year. Just so in love with the cutter!

The recipe is taken from Do What I Like. I wonder why I took so long to try making peanut cookies, cos it is so easy, just mix, roll and bake and only need a mixing bowl that's all! And it just crumbles in the mouth full of peanut fragrance. I like!

Ingredients
200g ground peanut powder
200g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g icing sugar (I reduce to 90g still a bit sweet)
1/4 tsp salt
100g - 150g coarsely chopped peanut bits (or more)
100g peanut oil or more/corn oil (I added more than 100g)

Egg wash:
1 egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Method
1. Put 200g peanuts in a wok and dry fry over low heat till crunchy. Remove the thin membrane and put into a blender and blend till powder form.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, ground peanut powder, icing sugar and salt in a big mixing bowl till well combined. Toss in the chopped peanut bits and mix well.
3. Add in 100g peanut oil or more and mix till a piable dough is formed.
4. Shape as you wish. (I make 10g each, I feel a bit too big as I prefer small bite size)
5. Apply egg wash.
6. Bake on a lined tray at 165C for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

Notes:
1. Don't add in all the oil in one go. If dough is too dry, you can add more oil. If dough is too wet, you can add more flour.
2. For the shaping, you can do it in the round balls style or use a bottle cap instead. Put a piece of glad wrap over the bottle cap and press in enough dough - about 9g for this Watson's cap. Lift up the glad wrap and release the shaped cookie onto the baking tray.
3. Use corn oil if you are a "waist-watcher".
4. Use icing sugar instead of castor sugar to get a finer textured cookie.

Recipe is taken from Do What I Like

Next, I made the egg white crisps using the extra egg whites. I made them few years ago. They are originally called Almond Crisps posted by Elyn. I just made the plain version. They are paper-thin and very crispy! Super addictive to eat!

Ingredients
1 egg white (about 40g)
25g fine sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla essence
20g self-raising flour (or plain flour with a pinch of baking soda)

Almond flakes for decoration.

Method
1. Mix egg white, sugar and vanilla essence till sugar is dissolved.
2. Add sifted self-raising flour and mix well.
3. Spread a small amount of batter on the baking paper using the back of the spoon as thinly as possible (almost see-thru). Thinner, crispier.
4. Sprinkle a few almond flakes on top.
5. Bake at 170 degrees for 5 mins or until golden brown.
6. Remove from baking paper immediately. Once it’s cool, keep in air-tight container.

Notes:
1. Do watch the oven during the last minute as it may burn fast.
2. If it burns too fast, lower the temperature according to your oven.
3. Please use non-stick paper, if not your cookies will be stuck (Use Glad baking paper).
4. Please store as soon as it cools, or else it will turn soft.
5. Feel free to add anything u like. Almond, sesame seeds... I tried green tea powder before, also nice!

Playing with different colours for German cookies using the strawberry powder, yam powder and charcoal powder from my Hong Kong trip.

Lastly, my favourite cookies that I have to make every year.

Feeling quite sad. I lost my mini cashew nut cookie cutter after baking this batch of cookies. Left it beside the basin after washing. And it was dinner time, I think someone accidentally throw it away with the rubbish. Couldn't find it anymore. Super sad. This cutter was more than 20 years from my mum. Now I lost it. Don't know where I can find same shape and same size cutter again. My cashew nut cookies will never look the same anymore. :(

Chinese New Year Cookies Bake Sale 2014: Thank you for your support!

Today is the first day of Lunar New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I would like to thank everyone who has supported my CNY bake sale. This year, I have made a total of 26 containers of pineapple tarts and German cookies. Thank you Mary, Jesslyn, Jessie, Nan Lau, Marissa, Jamie, Fen Fen and Meifeng for buying my homemade CNY cookies. I hope you all like the cookies. I'm also sorry that I had to reject some orders. Hope there will be a bake sale next year.

In addition, I also received a last minute order from my blog reader Meek. This is my first chiffon cake order! Thanks for giving me confidence in my chiffon cakes. I decided to include this in my bake sale as well.

This year, I did not indicate how much to donate (unlike last year, I donated $1 for each container sold). Instead, I will donate a sum of $50 to "Make-A-Wish Foundation® (Singapore) Ltd" which helps make wishes come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions and bring them hope, strength and joy. Thank you Mary Ng for donating an extra $14 in addition to the cookies bought and support my bake sale for the second time!

So on the first day of the Chinese New Year, I contributed $50 in the name of "Small Small Baker" through sggives.org charity donation portal. Although it is only a very small amount, it's the heart that counts. Hope everyone can start doing more for the less fortunate.

I wish everyone a Horse-picious Year!

May all be safe and healthy!!

祝贺大家：新年快乐，出入平安，马到成功，马年大运!!

Pineapple Tarts with SCS Butter

I finally start my CNY baking yesterday!

I am very happy because I am invited by SCS butter to try out and feature some of their newly created recipes for Chinese New Year using SCS Butter. I think I mention before, I grow up eating SCS butter. I love spreading my bread with SCS butter since young! My mum was using SCS when she baked CNY cookies last time, and until now, I still continue using SCS butter, especially for all my cookies during CNY!

I was given a list of recipes, both sweet and savoury. I tried out two of their recipes yesterday - the open and closed pineapple tarts. A good warm up for my upcoming baking for bake sale. :)

Coconut-Dusted Golden Pillow Pineapple Tarts

This is a very special recipe that is worth trying! I never thought of coating the pineapple tarts with desiccated coconut before. It makes the pineapple tarts more fragrant!

Ingredients (I make 80pcs cos I like mini tarts)

250g SCS Salted Butter
100g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cold milk
400g plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup desiccated coconut, more as needed
650g pineapple paste

Method

1. Cream butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg yolk, vanilla essence, salt, baking soda and cold milk. Fold sifted flour into the mixture and mix until the dough just comes together. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
2. While the dough chills, divide the pineapple paste into balls of 8 g each. (I skip the steps of making pineapple filling on my own.)
3. Take a heaping teaspoon of dough and use hands to flatten it. Put the pineapple filling in the middle and wrap it with dough. Remove any excess dough and mold it to your preferred shape. Dust with desiccated coconut.
4. Preheat oven to 180C. Arrange the tarts on a lined baking tray and chill the cookie dough pieces for 10 mins.
5. Bake tarts for 25mins (I bake about 20 minutes) or until the dough has turned golden brown, rotate trays halfway through baking time.
6. Allow pineapple tarts to cool before storing them in airtight containers.

This is how the tarts look before they go into the oven. Pretty! The dough is quite soft to handle. So do put it back to chill if it becomes too sticky.

Tada! My pineapple tarts look great and unique after dusted with the coconut!

At the same time, I also did the second type of pineapple tarts.

Flower Pineapple Tarts

The ingredients for this recipe is really simple. It is actually an eggless recipe too.

Ingredients (I make 38pcs)

230g plain flour, sifted
50g caster sugar
90g SCS Salted Butter
35g SCS Spreadable Butter (I use all salted butter)
2 tbsp evaporated milk, more as needed
300g pineapple paste

Method

1. Combine flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix using your hands. Once crumbs are formed, add the evaporated milk one tablespoon at a time and knead until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
2. While the dough chills, divide the pineapple paste into balls of 8 g each. (I skip the steps of making pineapple filling on my own.)
3. Dust the working surface with flour and roll out the pastry to about 0.5cm thick. Use a flower cookie cutter to cut out each piece of dough. Arrange them in small baking cups on a lined baking tray.
4. Preheat oven to 180C. Place the pineapple balls on top of each piece of cookie dough. Make a small flower using a mini flower cutter. Place on top of the pineapple balls (optional).
5. Bake tarts for 20mins or until the dough has turned golden brown, rotate trays halfway through baking time.
6. Allow pineapple tarts to cool before storing them in airtight containers.

The flower pineapple tarts before baking, so pretty right!

I love them so much! Take a piece!

Thank you SCS butter for sponsoring the butter! I will like to try out other recipes if I have the time after my CNY baking. Do check out their Facebook page for more ideas!

Chinese New Year Cookies Bake Sale!

Have a few requests asking me if I'm selling CNY cookies this year. I have been considering whether I can go through the mass baking again. Haha! So here it is! The mini charity bake sale! As usual I will only bake during the last 1-2 weeks before CNY cos I like all my cookies fresh!

Some of my last year's bake sale.

This year I will not be selling my signature Cashew Nut Cookies. Only 2 types of cookies will be on sale.

Pineapple tarts

Buttery and melt in mouth
* Container full: $10 (about 25pcs)

German cookies

Buttery and melt in mouth
Choose
- plain
- chocolate
- mix plain and chocolate (not marble)
* Container full: $8 (about 35pcs)

Please note that the container I'm using is same as last year.
Top diameter 11.5cm, Height 6.5cm

Last order: 20 January
Baking schedule: 20-26 January
Collection: 25-29 January

Confirm your orders before 20 January.

Again it will be a very mini bake sale. Quantities will be very limited. :)

Email to: smallsmallbaker@yahoo.com.sg

All to be self collected from my place at Toh Guan Road (near IMM). No meeting up and home delivery.

***

Same as last year, I will be donating part of the sales proceed to charity:

"Make-A-Wish Foundation® (Singapore) Ltd"

which helps make wishes come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions

and bring them hope, strength and joy.

(Through sggives.org charity donation portal)

A Big Thank you and please support!