Layered Cakes.

As much as cupcakes are beautiful (not all of them), however, recently I have been attracted to layered cakes. Layered cakes look so indulgent and generous. They stand proud on a footed cake stand which makes a great feature piece on a lunch or dinner spread. It's a pity that three weeks back when I baked a strawberry shortcake, I didn't manage to take any photos of it.

Bake Sale for Charity.

Yesterday, I've been busy with baking cupcakes for a bake sale that was on today. The ladies at church are raising money for our missionaries at Laos who run an orphanage and we want to give the children a Christmas to remember. A few of the church ladies and I baked a variety of cookies, muffins and cupcakes which sold out completely. Thank God! 

I decided to make it look more professional by packaging them in a box with a label "Tutto Bene..." which means so good in Italian. In each box there are both a vanilla and a chocolate cupcake each. I've decorated the chocolate ones with pink icing and a sugar button each and the vanilla one with a sugar flower each.

Red Velvet Cupcakes.

This weekend, I've decided to bake a batch of red velvet cupcakes. It is a Southern US (think cajun, buttermilk biscuits and fried chicken). The cake has a light cocoa flavour and it has the texture and colour of red velvet (as the name suggests). It is topped with a butter roux icing.

There is a story attached to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City that has been turned into an urban legend. A woman is reported to have asked for the recipe for the delicious red velvet cake she was served at the hotel restaurant, only to find that she had been billed $100 (or $250) for the recipe. Indignant, she spread it to all her friends as a chain letter to stop the hotel from profiting further.

The pictures of the cupcakes are those decorated with rose pashmak (Persian Fairy Floss). It may be Persian but it originated from an Iranian shop selling Persian sweets.

The Hummingbird Bakery, London.

To set the record straight, cupcakes are an American thing. The term was first used in a cookbook written in the early 19th century. The British version of this is a fairy cake. The name cupcake was coined to describe it's size, the size of a teacup (although nowadays cupcakes can get rather big). For that same reason, it is also named fairy cakes by the British (the size of a cake for a group of fairies; tiny).

The Hummingbird Bakery was started because they wanted to give the Londoners an alternative to the supermarket cakes and french patisseries. They specialise in the American styled cakes and sweet treats like brownies, pecan pies, and pumpkin pies. They are popular for their red velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes are made of flour, cocoa powder and red colouring, topped with usually a white frosting. Unfortunately, we are not able to get our hands on their lovely cupcakes and treats here in Singapore, but the good news is that they do have a cookbook which helps poor folks like us whip up some of these diminutive treats at home for our own selfish consumption or maybe to share with some very lucky friends.

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Thou Shall Recycle: Leftovers.

Every year an estimated 6.7million tonnes of household food waste is produced in the UK. Imagine how much household food waste is produced globally. The amount of food we throw away is the major contributor to the greenhouse gases.

If we can cook the amount that we can finish eating (not in excess), or buy grocery and make it a point to finish them, we can help save our earth, save some money and  therefore reducing our carbon footprint.

Everyone who entertains over the festive season will suffer the same problem as us, leftovers. This year, we tried to keep our leftovers to a minimum and also try to make our leftovers into new dishes. In that same spirit, I encourage you to take a look at your leftovers and be creative, think what you can make out of it, instead of throwing it out.

I have photographed what I did with our leftover fruitcake. I took that and with some old bread, made bread and butter pudding for dinner.

Our leftover fruitcake.

The pre-baked break and butter pudding.

The end product with a little chocolate sauce to eat it with.

Whole-meal buttermilk pancakes with grilled cinnamon bananas and salted butter caramel. Absolutely heavenly.

This is made from 2 old and very ripe bananas, butter milk (which I have saved from making butter a few days ago) and the home made salted butter caramel in the fridge. 

Cake Stands.

Anyone who hosts an afternoon tea tête-à-tête with friends must never go without her own cake stand. Today, I realised that there is a need for my very own vintage cake stand. Criteria? It must be unique, have a strong foot and feed the eye. Singapore is hopeless when it comes to hunting for such beauties. 

If you are hunting for cake stands too, Don't just go for one. Have two or three of them in different colours or heights. Put your home baked dessert, a bowl of flowers or curios on a pedestal. Put some pride in exhibiting your work.

Caramel Au Beurre Salé (Salted Butter Caramel)

I'll admit right now that I have never been a fan of caramel. Icky-sweet, sticky caramel. Last Saturday, Sean and I came across a new creperie at Seah St, Entre Nous. I don't know what possessed me to try their butter caramel. After taking a bite out of their sweet crepe with butter caramel sauce, I was in a trance. It was as though I died and went to heaven.

I needed to replicate this food of the angels. I started craving for the buttery, velvety flavour straight after I was done with the dessert. The craving drove me mad, mad with a strange hunger for butter caramel. 

The next day, I decided I had to make my own. I did a little homework and decided that I was going to make a jar of salted butter caramel. It's not the easiest to make but with a little kitchen sensibility, good ingredients (the French always emphasize on quality) and technique, I was licking the back of a hot spoon coated with salted butter caramel in no time. This was even better than the day before's. I just had to make a batch of cupcakes with them. Sean thinks that they were the best.

I must emphasize that I am not into normal caramel but now I am obsessed about caramel au beurre salé.

The jar of Salted Butter Caramel and the cupcakes served with Griottines cherries. Delicious.

Another variation. Caramel cupcake with vanilla ice-cream, topped with more salted butter caramel and Griottines cherries.

Dark Chocolate and Griottines Cupcakes with Lemon Icing.

I love black forest cake so this is my version of it as a cupcake without the cream. Don't be deceived by the different icings. They are all the same cake. Thought I'd practice my decorating skills.

Lilac Icing with gold cachous.

With the Griottines Cherries on the top.

A batch for my colleagues with green and red sugar sprinkles.