Another Day, Another Year

The time of year has come again when I light the (many and increasing) candles, close my eyes, make a wish, blow a (long and getting longer) breath of air and voila - I am a year older.

This year I requested a cake from Flute Bakery, a shop well known in Canberra for its beautiful cakes. I told the hubs this year to go early, to have cash in his pockets(for they do not accept anything BUT cash) and to choose an interesting cake. So he chose this.

All I can say is that it is stupifyingly (for lack of a better word at this moment) YUMMY. Its name? TRIO. Is that cool or what? Its not called - Many layers of chocolate-y goodness sitting atop a layer of chocolate-y cake but a single word to represent a triple entity - TRIO. See this is why I do not have a job naming cakes. If it was left up to me I would just describe it as I have above and I'm pretty sure that very long name won't fit into any of the labels sitting in the glass display cabinet.

We cut into it and for someone who is a little OCD about balance and straightness of lines, this cake is perfection. Equal layers of chocolate-y goodness ( I am at it again aren't I? Maybe the chocolate-y goodness got to my head) increasing in chocolate-y intensity from the top to the bottom. I love gradient of color.

I have decided that we need another excuse to get another cake from Flute Bakery. I have heard that the Jaffa cake is awesome as well. Their cakes are so good, they don't even have a webpage. In this day and age, what business does not have a webpage to promote their goods? Their cakes are so good, they dont allow photography of anything in the shop. You are free to photograph your purchases at home. I guess it protects their creations from being copied and made available to the masses.

So is '3 months post pregnancy' a valid reason for another cake from Flute?  :)  Hmmm...... 

The Age Old Question

Mommy: Little A, how old are you now?
Little A: 2 months
Mommy:(Laughing) You are not 2 months! Little C is 2 months. One more time, how old are you now? Say 2 years old.
Little A: 2 old!
Mommy: 2 years old Little A. Repeat after mommy...
Little A: 2 old!

Dabbling with Marshmallow Fondant

When Little A turned 1, we didnt have much a of celebration for her birthday. In fact, I didnt bake a cake nor did I purchase any balloons. The one thing I did do however, was to ask Grandma if she could bake Little A a simple cake and we would just cut it before dinner. Grandma of course did her bestest, baked her a nice little bunt, stuck a sparkler on top and bought her two balloons to go with it.

In my defense, I was back to working full time then and between sleepless nights, (Little A was waking twice each night, crying and still feeding) waking early, showing up to work looking like a zombie for months on end, I was too tired to slot in baking and planning a birthday party. Any downtime I had was zzz time. Since then I have been simmering in guilt, feeling very un-mommy like for failing to put in some effort into having a birthday party for my child. But I digress, more on mommy guilt in a separate post.

This year after giving birth to Little C, I was set on making Little A's 2nd birthday special for her. The event itself wasnt much to shout about, just a simple party for a few kids and family with some nibbles. But my planning and effort went mostly into the cake.

I decided I wanted to make a beautiful cake for her. I had heard about how easy it is to use marshmallow fondant to cover a cake and how tasty it is compared to regular fondant. I know I have skills when it comes to arts and crafts so I decided to google and to accomplish what my mind had set out to do.

Little C was just born then and I decided to use his little "coming out" party (he turned 1 month old) as a trial run for playing with the fondant. I googled the recipe for marshmallow fondant - which was simple enough to follow.

Ingredients

1 pack of Marshmallows

1kg pack of icing sugar

1 tsp of water

Method

Put marshmallows in a bowl, add one teaspoon of water into the bowl, chuck them in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until the marshmallows have melted. It should take about a minute to melt depending on how much marshmallows you are melting down. Remove from the microwave and stir in icing sugar until you can stir no more. Cover your hands with copious amounts of icing sugar, turn the contents of the bowl out on a sugared surface and using your hands, knead, adding icing sugar continuously until you get a dough like consistency. You stop when the dough can be stretched for roughly the length of one feet. If the mixture gets too dry or you have gone too far with the icing sugar, add a teeny spoonful of water and knead it again.

At this point you can add colors to batches of the fondant and store them for later use. It must be wrapped up to prevent it from drying and kept in air tight containers. I kept mine double wrapped in plastic and stored in Ikea containers in the fridge. I used gel colors to color my fondant. Do not use food coloring on the fondant unless you dont mind washed out colors.

I bought some fondant supplies from a baking supplies shop to get me started. A Wilton mat, roller, gel colors, pizza cutter, shaping tools (which I barely used) and an edible ink pen. 

I did a trial run of shaping objects with Little C's cake. Mom and I played with the fondant for a little bit to get a feel of it. Together we made little booties, a milk bottle and a pacifier. The yellow beneath the booties is meant to resemble his yellow blanket but its also to break up the white surface of the cake. 

This is the picture of Little C's finished cake. I made simple little squares to resemble alphabet blocks to spell his name and used an edible ink to write the letters on the blocks. I wasnt too happy with the effect of the ink because the pen seemed a little dry. I had to rewrite the lines a few times because the ink wasnt flowing very well. The cake is not the work of a professional but I think it passes muster for a first attempt. When covering and decorating the cake, I was more concerned about finishing what I had started in between Little C's sleeps. 

A week later we made Pooh Bear and Piglet for Little A's cake. These figures for Little A took more time to shape than Little C's but since we already got the feel of the fondant the first time around, it was easier to work with.

This is the picture of the completed cake. A Pooh Bear themed cake. I was planning on making a honey pot to go with it but decided the cake was crowded enough. A simple Happy Birthday and a number 2 candle finished the job nicely. For future cakes I think I will be getting alphabet cut outs from the baking supplies shop so I can make letters out of fondant.

I think if time allows, I will be playing with more fondant in the future  :)  I set out the challenge for myself to make pretty cakes for my kids and I think I aced it for a novice armed only with a googled recipe for marshmallow fondant.  I have pretty much decided that the next cake for Little C's birthday shall be a rainbow cake. Maybe I will cover that with white marshmallow fondant but I dont think I will be shaping any figurines or objects for that cake. Baking a multitiered, multicolored cake will be the challenge there for me.

Little A turns 2!

My oldest turned 2 this week. She has been the loveliest child to care for - smart, funny, obedient and sweet. Happy Birthday Little A!

This was her birthday cake. She has loved Pooh Bear and his friends for the longest time. She loves the story books and she loves the cartoons. I premade the figurines for her cake 3 weeks before actually making the cake for her birthday and as you would have it, she switched her obsession to Minnie Mouse the week before her birthday party. I decided that if she still loved Minnie by the time she turns 3, she shall have a Minnie cake then.

Curry Puff

This is my first attempt at making curry puffs. The way I cook is simple, I do it by estimation, by instinct and by using ingredients I already have in my pantry. Basically I taste and I make. So if you have just stumbled onto this blog entry by googling 'recipe for curry puffs', hopefully you find the details I am providing below helpful.

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry (I use super market bought frozen ones - as Jamie Oliver says, 'unless you have lots of time or own a baking/food business, you have no reason to make your own pastry'
150g chicken mince
1 large potato
1/2 diced onion
1 tbsp curry paste
Cooking oil
Salt

Method

First you peel and cut the potato into small cubes. Cook in boiling water until it is soft then drain the water. Next, sauté the onion in some oil until it smells wonderful. Add the curry paste and fry until its fragrant. Be careful not to burn the paste or the onions. If you prefer the curry puff to be on the spicier side, add more of the paste. Lastly, add the chicken mince and cook until the mixture is dry. While it is cooking down, add salt to taste. After cooling, store in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to make the curry puffs, defrost the shortcrust pastry to room temperature and cut into circles. I used mugs for the shape of the circle. I did say I opt for the simpler method of doing things. :) If you want a bigger curry puff, use a bigger mug. Spoon the mixture of chicken mince onto one half of the circle and fold over. Press all sides down to seal. Then complete the seal with a rolling and folding motion. It is difficult to explain this action through words. Do google for a video demo on YouTube. I didn't do a google and basically did it my own way. It's not as pretty as it could be but it is acceptable.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Place the curry puffs onto an oven tray that has been sprayed with oil. Egg wash the top of the curry puff and cook for 15-20 minutes until the pastry turns brown.

I will be making this more often in the future for afternoon teas or office morning teas. It is so simple and definitely quick to do. I am always on the lookout for tasty recipes with no fuss and this has definitely made the list.

Development: 8 weeks

This week has been a little tough with the little man. He was a really good sleeper up till now. I think it's wonder week for him. It's too early to be teething and he seems to be getting enough milk so it must be a learning leap that is causing his change in behavior.

I just spent every hour of the last two nights getting up, rocking him, putting him back down and then having to repeat the same sequence again within 30 minutes or so. It was a really tiring night. The days have not been any better with him constantly waking and not sleeping as much.

I googled wonder week and read that the best way to deal with it is to give him as much comforting as I can. It can supposedly last up to a week. It doesn't help that the entire household is down with colds and sore throats thanks to Little A bringing home the virus with her from day care. I have been constantly watching out for the little man hoping that he won't catch it too. Winter hasn't helped in the slightest with the onset of dry noses even though the humidifier has been going nearly all day.

This too shall pass. I just need sleep!

Conversations with a nearly 2 year old.

It's a wonderful time when your toddler starts stringing 2 to 3 words together in her conversations with you. It was a sudden jump for little A who only a month ago was still using only single words to express herself. Here's a little bit of what our conversations are like now.

Me: Mommy will be going shopping later today.
Little A: Nana, mommy.
Me: You want mommy to get some bananas?
Little A: Yes, mommy. Pear.
Me: Pear? Ok.. We will get some pear.
Little A: Apple mommy.
Me: (just to humor her request) Ok apple too.
Little A: Orange too mommy.
Me: (surprised that she picked up on the use of the word too) You want oranges too? Oh alright.

We often walk the shops at the mall closest to our home and we call it Woden after the township it is in. One day I was having a chat with her grandma when we mentioned the word Woden and we were very surprised when Little A piped up and started her conversation.

Little A: Elmo car, mommy.
Me: What did you say?
Little A: Elmo car, mommy. (nods enthusiastically)
Me: Oh you want a ride on the Elmo car? (there is one in the mall-the sort of ride that goes round and round with coins)
Little A: Yes mommy.
Me: What is the color of Elmo's car?
Little A: Red!
Me: Ok.
Grandma: Shall we go to McDonalds too?
Little A: Cino! Babycino!

Turns out grandma has been taking her for a babycino whenever they stop by McDonald's for lunch.

Little A has been surprising me with her increasing understanding and vocabulary of words. She is very observant and picks up on the little details around her. Very astute. Very very astute. We are going to have to watch ourselves around her. :)