Barbie Cake

I made this barbie cake for my niece's 2nd birthday. I've never made a barbie cake before and I thought this is the perfect time to try on one. I was planning to spend my whole saturday to make this cake (the party is in on Saturday evening), but something always come up. I got a call from the office, asking me if I can go to work that day. I have to say yes, since there was a problem with the current big project and they need me to come to help them. I thought it would take maximum 4 hours, but it turned out that I stayed for 8 hours!!!. The party was at 7 o'clock and I got home at 6 something. Luckily, I baked one batch of vanilla sponge cake and a small pandan sponge cake in the morning. I was planning to bake another batch of sponge cake but I had no time. So, I just went with what I had. I made the buttercream, carved here and there, decorate, and tralaaa....

I started to decorate this cake when the guest came. So, they watched me doing it and it made me nervous. As you can see in the picture, it's not perfectly smooth and everything, but I'm somewhat satisfied with it. Not to mention that the cake tasted great!!. It was brought to the Sunday School the day after and everybody loved it!. It was gone in a count of seconds and the kids just couldn't stop starring at the cake.

The cake was made out of vanilla and pandan sponge cake, alternating, vanilla buttercream and shredded cheese. For the pink buttercream, I used a little of red food colorings and grenadine for flavor and color too.

Fruit Tart

Durian Cream Puffs & Pastry Cream Cream Puffs

Japanese Cheesecake with Fresh Fruits and Apricot Glaze

This style of cheesecake is completely different from the usual New York Cheesecake that we've always known. NY cheesecake would use 3-5 blocks of cream cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and sometimes a little flour and sour cream. This Japanese style cheesecake only use 1 block of cream cheese. NY cheesecake is very creamy, dense, and heavy, while JCC is very soft, some would say cottony.

Some people would probably like the classic NY Cheesecake better than the Japanese one, since the term "cheesecake" is identical to a creamy and dense type of desserts. But I really like this kind a lot better thatn the class NY cheesecake. Don't get me wrong though, I like NY cheesecake, it's just that I always love something that's light and soft in texture (mousses, light cake). It's not filling and most of the time, it would make you less "guilty" of eating it :P.

I made some modifications to the original recipe since most people say I'm very picky, but here's the original one:

Japanese Style Cheesecake

50 g cornstarch
50 g all purpose flour
60 g unsalted butter
250 g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
120 ml heavy whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
2 tsp. lemon zest
5 egg whites
1/8 tsp. salt
125 g sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Glaze:
2 Tbs. apricot jam
2 Tbs. water

• Line a 9-in springform pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  
• Preheat the oven to 325 F
• Sift together the cornstarch and the flour. Set aside.
  
• Combine the butter, cream cheese, and whipping cream in a saucepan and boil with low heat until the butter and the cream cheese have melted and smooth.
• Add the sifted flour and mix well. Add the egg yolks, the whole egg, and the lemon zest, and whisk until well-combined. Set aside.
  
• Whisk the egg whites until frothy, add salt and lemon juice. with the whisk still running, add the sugar a little at a time until it forms a soft peak.
  
• Fold the beaten egg white into the cheese mixture in addition.
• pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared pan and bake in waterbath for approximately 1 hr 15 minutes until the top is golden and dry to the touch.
• Let cool on a cooling rack until the cake is completely cooled.
• Unmold and glaze.
• To make the glaze: Combine the apricot jam and the water, and microwave or boil to soften the jam.
  

Ispahan Cake

Inside 1:















Inside 2:
















Ispahan was first created by a world famous French pastry chef Pierre Herme. He was the one who first put the three ingredients, raspberry, lychee, and rose together in a macaron. It wasn't famous the first time he created it but now, it is one of his most best selling pastry.

I tried to recreate the masterpiece in the form of a cake. The cake consists of two layers of vanilla sponge cake, moistened with raspberry and lychee simple syrup , and filled with subtle yet fragrant rose mousse. Fresh raspberries and lychees are also added in the middle of the mousse.

Mini Sponge Cake w/ Cheese

Mini Tiramisu Cake