Friday, April 27, 2012

Assembling an Ice Cream Cake

As promised, here is how one can easily assemble an ice cream cake at home.   There is no hard & fast rule and no proper recipe.  Just use how much you feel you want and of course also depending on the size of your cake ring. I mentioned cake ring because its easier to remove the ring after the cake has frozen compared to removing it from a cake pan.   Its basically a bottomless cake pan LOL!!

For a 7 in round cake ring (as per my photo), I used 150gm of crushed oreos mixed with 60 gms of melted butter.   Oh!  Did I tell you I found pre-crushed oreos in the bakery store - walau, so convenient now!!     Place your cake ring on a cake board or a plate that you would be using to serve the whole cake.  Which means, once the cake is done, you  dont need to transfer it onto another board or plate for cutting ceremony :D

Place the mixed crushed oreos inside the cake ring and use your metal spoon or bottom of a glass/cup and compared the oreos to the cake board.  Freeze it for 1 hr.   Yes, inside the freezer. 

While freezing that, remove a tub of ice cream and let it melt slightly in room temperature.   Once you can mix it with your spoon and its spreadable, you can the spread the half-melted ice cream onto your oreo base.   Level them properly and do ensure you fill up all corners properly.   Freeze again for 30 mins.    If you would like to try more than one flavours (mine had 4 layers), repeat this step with other flavours.   Once all done, freeze it overnight.  IMPORTANT cos it really melts easily if its out of the fridge.

















You can top/decorate it with whatever you like ie chocolate chips, oreo biscuits, fruits and I choose fresh strawberries & a bit more of the crushed oreos.   Then again, you can either have the berries on top fresh or like mine - frozen as well.    For toppings, add it to the cake once you are done layering the last layer of ice-cream.      But if you like your toppings/fruits fresh and not frozen, what you can do is - after its frozen overnight, and just before serving, use a knife, run it over hot water and slowly swipe over the top layer of ice cream.  As soon as a thin layer of the top melts, you can stick your fruits on it.

This is really good after a heavy dinner :D  Cold & refreshing!

Do check out the race car themed cake I did for his school party :D

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Orchid la!

Do you remember the TV advertisement way back where the toddler's father was trying to teach his son to pronounce the word "flower" a couple of times and suddenly, the toddler snapped back saying "Orchid la!"??   It was darn funny rite??

Well, I got my "orchid la" moment last weekend when my little brainy at home decided to outsmart the mother!  

We were driving back after his UCMAS class that afternoon and I saw a chicken crossing the road - yes, crossing the road.  Then I quickly called him to see and said "Bryan!  See chicken!  Quick quick!    He scrambled up from the car seat and took a look and then snapped back .. Mom, its Rooster la!


Both hubby and I really had a good laugh I tell ya!   Smart little fart!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Race Car Themed Party Packs

For Bryan's 5th bithday party at school, other than the race car themed cake I baked for him, I also prepared 15 sets of party packs for his classmates & teachers.

To start it off, I googled for some free clipart images and copied them into powerpoint (cos I dont know how to use publisher or similar).   From there, I design based on what I want and fit into the size that I want).   After several attempts, I was happy with what I have designed and proceeded to print them out into ordinary A4 paper.   Used paper glue to stick them onto the bags.  You can also use double-sided tape but you will need quite a bit.

The whole idea of party packs came after I realised I had a big bunch of paper bags I saved up from my frequent takeaway lunches from this sandwich place.  


With the bag planned, of course I have to fill it with something right?  So instead of party hats & toys, I decided to try my hand at preparing some customised mineral water bottles and also some food/snacks.

Needed food/snacks that could last a couple of days as I needed to prepare them over the weekend, so ended up with a box of snacks (candy, chocolate, sweets) and another healthier box of store bought mini cakelets which could last up to a week.  Perfect!


















Seems like a lot of work, but really, I had quite a bit of fun doing.   All it takes was just cut & paste job.   Of course does not look as professional as those that actually supply/cater for high-class parties but I was very happy with how it all turned out.   Did a little each night and it worked out well.

Bryan was very very proud at school at the day of the celebrations.   His teacher was also very excited that each & every kid in his class had a chance to take home a bag of goodies of their own.   Am so glad the kids & teachers enjoyed it & appreciated it so much!!   Am sure I will make them again for his next birthday since next year will be the last year at this kindy :D

Monday, April 16, 2012

Race Car Themed Cake

Months earlier, I have already asked Bryan what kinda cake he wants in terms of the theme.  One day it was Mickey (again!), then it was Supa Strikas and another it was Ben 10 (again!!) and on some days, it was race car or Transformers.   Make me headache only.     

Knowing my limited skills in cake decorating, I decided to psycho him to stick to race car theme, hehehe.     I was surfing the net for some ideas and then I realised that it was also pretty easy to make party packs with the same theme too.   So off I went started on this project a month before his birthday :D

I actually planned for 2 cakes.  One for the school (lots of icing) and another simpler one for the family (without icing preferably).    Below is the shot of both cakes.  

















Rectangular choc moist cake covered in lemon flavoured buttericing with fondant "5" decorated with race flag toothpicks and other minor deco.


Oreo multi flavoured ice cream cake topped with fresh strawberries!  This one is actually pretty easy to "assemble" .. yes, me love assembling food.    Will do a post on how to assemble this soon okie?

Friday, April 13, 2012

Chee Cheong Fun Sushi

Although I enjoy baking & cake decorating, Im totally hopeless when it comes to cooking.   My MIL used to ask me ... when are you going to cook some real food for my son?  LOL!   Well, after almost 7 yrs of marrying her son, she has stopped asking edi .. muahahaha.

We recently celebrated Bryan's 5th birthday with a small family dinner at home and I decided to try  my hand at assembling food.   I'm not good in cooking ma, so I assemble ready made food instead lor!  

Remember this from one of the blogs many moons back and here is a look at my try at it.   It's real easy to assemble food LOL!!

Just unroll a few rolls of CCF from your morning market, cut into strips whatever you'd like to fill it with and just roll.   For me, I made 2 versions as mom & I dont take seaweed.

Version 1 - seaweed, carrots, japanese cucumbers, immitation crabsticks + fresh salad and a dash of mayonaisse.

Version 2 - thinly pan fried eggs, carrots, japanese cucumbers, taiwanese sausages (fried them first) + fresh salad and a dash of mayonaisse. 

Do give it a try .. its pretty easy and actually, looks quite attractive on the dinner table too :)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Mothers' Day Promotion - Flora Cupcakes

Never too soon to plan for Mothers' Day in May.    Show your love & support to that special woman in your life.     

There are so many mothers in our life actually - our own mother, the mother of your child or even the nanny who nurtured you and took care of you or your child .. they all play the important role that we all call "Mothers".

















Bringing back my popular cupcake design for Mothers Day - Flora Cupcakes - roses & carnation designed cupcakes.    Specific colors can be requested on order to order basis. 

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