Apple Raspbery Cheesecake For Khalid

Last Ramadhan, I baked an apple raspberry cheesecake as a trial and I shared it with my colleauges and last week, Yusrina ordered this cheesecake for her boyfriend birthday on 22nd Nov.

I gave this cake an extra oommphh of cream cheese and less sugar...because the apple raspberry fillings are bit sweet and slightly sour to my taste. Initially this cake is pinky in colour but...this cake is for her BF.. (I assume that her BF don't like pink cake!!) ... so I cover it up with fresh cream , side with one of my favourite orange tang flavour chocolate and topped it up with mandarin slices, grapes and red cherries!! Recently.. I love to use mandarin slices because I myself is in love with its juiciness and sweetness.. Just love it!! So You will find it in most of my cakes!!ahahah

Yusrina commented that the cake is PERFECT!! (but still i cannot kambang..mesti got room to improve!!) for everyone in the house, not sweet and the family finish all the cake.. (which is a good news!!!) Her Bf also like the card I made for him and Yusrina said her BF was impressed with my creativity....

OOHH my gosh.. I am so touch and Happy to receive her comments as it was such a great compliment for me...I remembered I could even smile in my dream!!! Thanks Yusrina for your support and comments!! I am glad this is such a happy ending!! You happy... I pun happy...

Tiramisu

Siti Fatimah, my informal part time art teacher ordered Tiramisu for her birthday last week;21st Nov. She ordered 10 cups and I free her another small one as a gift from me. I also handmade a card for her. As I know she was busy dancing for the annual dinner.. so I made a sexy lady dancing on her birthday card..

She commented that the tiramisu taste cheesy and creamy and not so strong coffee aroma..and she love the card, leaving her friends jealous..hahah..

I am glad to have her comments as it is a bridge for my improvement in baking... Thanks Ckg Fatimah..

Cocktail Cheesecake

My colleauges ordered cocktail cheesecake from me last two weeks after showing them the picture of Estella birthday cake....

It is the same cocktail cheesecake as Estella's one..just that for my colleauges I top it up with mandarin slices, fresh grapes, strawberries and blueberries!! The fruit toppings may not be the same all the time because this is Brunei and KB..Not everytime you drop by Supa Save.. you will find those fresh berries!!! Depends on your luck though!!

I personally do like the 'look' of my cake...hahah.. and my colleauges.. they all love it!! Thanks ladies!!!

Chocolate Terrine

My boss bought me an Easy Baking cake cookbook during his last trip. Went through most of the recipes and types of baking, it indeed looks simple. So my 1st assignment from that book is Chocolate terrine. The velvety texture from the picture shown attracts me the most!!

The first attempt in baking the cake already got me wasted with 400g of chocolate..But not to give up..I melted another 400g of chocolate and continue with the process...Not so lucky, because I misunderstand the term used in the book..Bain Marie...Instead of steam-baking the cake, I bake it straight away...When done, I took the first bite and it was super sweet so I left it on the table till the next day, Try again.. not that sweet compare to last night...
So, I cut all the cake and share it with my colleuges and friends..do not waste food.... to my surprise.. They all like the cake!!!

2 days later, I try again baking the cake, remembering the mistakes I made from previous attempt..Took me nearly 1hour 45 minutes instead of 1 hour 15 minutes.. may be my oven is too old!!hahah.. And.. tadaa...I love the cake but still I need to improve on its appearance....May be because I used dark chocolate instead of plain chocolate!!

Cocktail Cheesecake for Estella

Got an order from Estella last week for her 1st year wedding anniversary and birthday. She would like to have a cocktail cheesecake with special request that the cake will not be sweet and strictly no Kiwis!!

Decorated the cake with Red DragonFruits, mandarin and grapes...

So, I baked her a nearly 5lbs cocktail cheesecake with slight lemon twist and decorated with red dragonfruit, grapes and mandarin slices!! I also did 2 handmade cards for her; one for her birthday and one for her wedding anniversary...

I was glad and happy that she loves the card and the feedback from her for my cake was indeed positive and motivating me!! She commented that the cake is not sweet and very nice. It was also the first time that the family was able to finish the whole cake in a short while!! Such a motivating comment for me.. Thanks Estella....

Cocktail Cheesecake

The first cheesecake that I learnt to bake many years ago...and it is still a hit in the family.. I used Hobnobs and Digestives as my cake base and layer.. I personally prefer two layers because I love Digestives and at the same time, the biscuits are able to slightly balance off the thick cheese!!

Cocktail Cheesecake

This time I baked a big one weighing nearly 2.5kg!! I did not put too much gelatine in it coz I could not stand the beefy smell of the gelatine!! Should look for alternative gelatine and my colleuge suggested me to use the jelly powder!! A good way though...

Even I said I did not add much gelatine in it... that doesn't mean this cheesecake can't hold it shape...but still if you leave it outside the refrigerator for quite sometime, it will slightly like melting... Most chilled cheesecakes are like that!! Unless you put lots of gelatine and the texture of creaminess is lost!!

Left in the room for about 15minutes.....

As for most of my chilled cheesecake, the texture is more to creamy and soft...not to that point of dripping cream!! As you can see, if you want your chilled cheesecake to be harder.. you add more gelatine...less gelatine will be more creamy...it actually depends on individual likes!!

For my cheesecake, if you take it out from the refrigerator, it is presentable and texture is fine!!! who is going to eat warm cheesecake???hahaha

Tiramisu

Have been browsing through several references of making Tiramisu online and on books, buying few sample tiramisu from some bakery to try out...some investment needed... and finally I gathered all the ingredients that needed to make this Italian dessert, Tiramisu. This is my first trial and it is a Halal version of Tiramisu with no eggs involved. So, it is not really consider the original Tiramisu, but My own way of tiramisu..

Tiramisu

Layered with Saviordi sponge fingers soaked with Expresso coffee and Mascarpone cheese in cute cup and then sprinkled with some cocoa powder on top.....So everyone will have their individual cup, no fighting...hahahah..

Let my food critics to try and most of them love the taste of my Tiramisu and gave me quite good comments. But, I dare to say that my tiramisu taste much better than one of the bakery in the town where I got most of my supplies from...oppsss... Despite this, I will still need to improve by trying out alternative recipes...involving in eggs and may be some Kahlua!!

Lesson learnt

October was not a smooth month for me.. and only in this week.. I was slapped by two persons' words for thoughts!!'. It was good to have someone to give you some words for thought once in a while.. though those words may make you feel uneasy ..feed bad...but in long term.. it sure brings out the best in you..all depends on how our little and yet powerful brain!!

"Why do you always like to talk until the whole world had done something bad to you??"
This statement helps me to reflect the way and style I talk to someone during a conversation and is it true that the way I think is too perspective?? Too narrow or negative?? Hmm.. got to be beware of it..She said I have to be more positive in my thinking!! For me, I will think that it is good to think positively but to what extent can a person think and act positively if something had happened??? A person who only think positive is a person who do not dare to face the reality!! In reality.. there is always pros and cons!! For me, We should learn to find positive thoughts in every matters!!!

'Talk less, mind your own business,look at yourself before you talk about others,what goes around comes around"
This statement had a real impact on me..OKie.. I agree I have to learn to talk less and minding my own business more....So this will be my focus for this month...
It is true that we got to mind our own business, but if there is no one minding your business, you will find that you actually will miss out something!!
I always agree that 'The mouth is the most dangerous part of the body!!' It is true indeed.... But, the mouth is on people's body, you can't stop and prevent people's talking.. but you have the choice to accept it or not!!
A person who cannot accept people's criticism is difficult to have self improvement!! Hence I open my ears and arms to welcome all criticism on me!!
Do you ever wonder why people will have comments on someone??