Kung-fu Baking

March 2, 2009

Kung-fu Baking

My week has been insane.

My upcoming weeks, will be insaner.

Not cool, not cool.

So imma just do a quick write up about the few cooking/baking episodes I managed to squeeze in between work and visa paperwork hell.

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Cuppacake Attempt #2: Sweet & Salty Honey Peanut Cupcakes

The Pass:

Compared to my previous attempt, the cake finally took on a more cupcake-like shape – thanks to my $18.00 investment in a muffin pan.

*pats self on back*

Also successful was the combination of sweet honey and salted chopped peanuts, which nicely balanced off each other’s taste and flavour without overpowering one another. ^^

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The Phail:

Besides the muffin tin, I also spent (albeit a lot less) on a piping bag and the accompanying plastic nozzles.

Unfortunately, this was one of those times when Cheap does not necessarily = Good Bargain.

The nozzles I had were crooked and extremely small; and coupled with poor icing consistency (the other thing that also Phailed), my frosting job did not turn out quite the way I’d imagined/hoped it to have. T.T

May look half decent if you squint your eyes.

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Cuppacake Attempt #3: Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Cupcake

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To be honest, this is by far my suckiest batch of cupcakes.

I think there’s some sort of lesson in this episode somewhere – possibly something to the lines of “Don’t Be So Bloody Ambitious In Your Third Attempt”. =.=

I was way over my head with this one; which by the way, if done correctly i.e. by someone with a lot more experience, has the potential to momentarily put anyone’s sweet cravings to rest.

It is after all, Chocolate, Banana and Peanut Butter.

That’s like, a banana-infused Reese Peanut Butter Cup – with frosting!

The original recipe called for a caramel glaze; but I’d just bought a new piping set and wanted to use it right away.

And I figured, three rich ingredients were more than good enough for a single cupcake, and if I were to drizzle it with caramel then I’m just gonna inflict everyone at home with diabetes and that’s not good, I think.

So I attempted the next best thing:

It's not extra calories if it's the same ingredient.

Yet despite my new piping set, my frosting once again failed to look anything remotely like what I’d envisioned it to be. And to make it worse, it looks a lot shittier compared to my previous 2 attempts. T___T

I kept adding more sugar to try to thicken it up, and when that failed I even threw in a bit of cream cheese BUT NOTHING WORKED! If anything it kept getting creamier and paler till it no longer resemble the thick, velvety choc ganache frosting that it was supposed to be.

Choc frosting, according to the rest of the world.

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And then I tried disguising salvaging my botched job by sprinkling some chopped peanuts on top; but as you can see, that did not work out too well either.

/faints

To my consolation though, it didn’t taste as bad as it looked.

And although they took a while longer than the previous two batches to finish off, the cupcakes did eventually disappear into the deep, dark oblivion of many a-stomach pits. Plus, the peanut butter + chocolate combination never ceases to make people happy.

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Taking a break from baking to indulge in stove-top cooking

I successfully made roasted pumpkin soup!

No pictures to document the process nor the end-product; but it received 3 favourable reviews from 3 separate discerning pumpkin-soup-drinkers, and I’m proud as anything.

My first ever try, and I didn’t stuff it up despite the stress of having to feed 2 new mouths that I’ve never fed before.

One of whom is Quin, long-lost friend from high school, partner of Awesome Chef Boyfriend Mark.

Awesome Chef Boyfriend Mark is an Aussie ang moh whose Malaysian cooking, apparently, can put Malaysians to shame. *_*

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It was quite strange to hear him talk about roti jala and kuih lapis like they were as common to him as pancakes or pies.

And then there was his endless fascination with the concept of  chicken chop (“Tapioca flour battered-chicken! With gravy!“); which, prior to him mentioning it, had never occured to me as being an exclusively-Malaysian thing.

To me, all the chicken chops and lamb chops have always been Western-food staples. Who would have guessed. =.=

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So yeah, while the Southern Pork Roast failed to impress, at least I had the soup to somewhat save the day.

Oh the stress of cooking for others.  m(_  _)m

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Then there was my Aglio e Olio pasta for Mussels Pig-Out night.

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While Uma, Sy and Val sweated and bled over mussel-debearding, I was assigned the simple task of tossing some spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, breadcrumbs, crushed chilli and parsley. ^^

Ever since the horrible episode with the cupcakes, I decided to adopt the “Keep it simple” motive with all my meal-preparation activities.

More so for this pasta since it was supposed to be an accompaniment to Uma’s Chilli Mussels and Val’s Butter & Leek Mussels – both of which have distinctive flavours of their own that shouldn’t be overpowered by the side dishes.

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Because I was ready to pounce on the food and didn't care about macro function / ISO / exposure anymore.

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Having regained a bit more confidence in the cooking department, I’ve decided to venture back into the baking project – keeping in mind to start simple and fully grasp my basics first.

So. In spirit of All Things Simple, here is:

Cuppacakes Attempt #4: Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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The ground zero of cupcake-making. Just plain butter, flour, sugar, milk and vanilla beans for the base; and cream cheese, sugar and butter for the icing. How could it possibly go wrong?

Well you put me in the equation.

This time around, I was so focused on getting the consistency of the frosting right (which I finally did – look how pretty they are!), that I let slip the process of making the actual cake. =.=

But still, look at it.

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As a result, I ended up with really heavy and moist cakes, instead of light and fluffy ones as I had intended. =/

I don’t know exactly what went wrong, but I have a pretty rough idea that it had something to do with me being too excited about finally getting my frosting the right texture, and must have fished out the cakes from the oven a tad too early. =.=

Seriously, who needs Mr Miyagi’s “wax on, wax off” training to cultivate patience and discipline.

Just send your kid to Patisserie School.

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