1st attempt at making a doll cake

We celebrated our youngest child's birthday last weekend, and I made her a doll cake for her birthday party. It was my first attempt actually. I don't have any cake mold for a doll cake, so what I did was that I baked 2 layers of 6 inch chocolate cake and another 2 layer of 8 inch chocolate cake. I then put them together, with cookies and cream filling in between them.

Then, using a knife, I trimmed the cake to make it to look like a dress. I didn't freeze the cake slices prior to trimming it, hence the messy cake with lots of crumbs. I then crumb coated the cake with chocolate ganache frosting, and store it in the fridge for a while before frosting the cake again with another layer of chocolate ganache frosting.  

In then inserted the doll, and did some finishing touches with the chocolate ganache frosting and also buttercream.

I'm glad Nuha loved her doll cake. Happy birthday Nuha!!

Apam strawberry

Made these last week whilst waiting for my husband to come home from work, apam with strawberry filling. Anak-anak suka sangat makan, baru keluar dari steamer je terus semua tak sabar-sabar nak rasa.

Sesiapa berminat nak order, boleh e-mail to shasrine@gmail.com. RM21 for 50 pieces, RM38 for 100 pieces. Kalau apam polkadot RM18 for 50 pieces, RM32 for 100 pieces. Free delivery within Desa Petaling or self pick-up at Desa Petaling.

Newborn handmade gifts

I love making long pants for my children as they love wearing them. I will normally make long pants from either cotton or stretchy fabric. I especially love making pants from stretchy fabric as they are very comfortable to wear. When I was still working, I will spent my lunch hours wondering from one fabric shop to another looking for a good bargain and will usually end up with a meter or two of fabrics. 

Whilst wondering around the fabric shops, I discovered stretchy denim. I bought a meter and started making long pants for my kids. They all loved it, and I can tell that the pants are very comfortable to wear. I then went back and bought a few more meters of the same kind. I still have quite a lot of them in my cabinet, even after making a number of pants for my kids.

My kids have always chooses the pants that I've made over jeans when we go out. I bet they loves them too. 

Coming back to my post title, last Friday, I went to visit my former babysitter's newborn grandchild with my kids. As a gift, I made her a long pants out of a stretchy denim fabric. I've made a few of the same pants to be given to some friends as a gift for their newborn and from the feedback that I've received, they all loves it because of the stretchy material that I used. 

I also made her a flower baby headband, using felt flower and stretchy laces. Hope that they'll like the gifts.

Apam barney, angry birds dan polkadot

It's a repeat order from Fara yang sebelum ni ada order apam polkadot. She asked if I could make apam with barney's face on top and I told her that I will try. I then tried making some and sent her the picture.

She then ordered 50 pieces each of apam barney, apam angry birds and apam polkadot.

Thank you Fara for the repeat order!!

Rainbow cake

I have always wanted to give rainbow cake a try but I just don't know why I didn't. When Amirul requested me to bake a cake last week, I said okay and that I will make a chocolate cake for him. However, he said that he wanted a rainbow cake instead. So, I gave in and made a rainbow cake last Sunday.

I used a white cake recipe for the cake, divided the batter into 6 equal quantity and add a drop or two of coloring gel to each. I then baked them, 2 at a time.

Love the colors, beautiful :)

I then made italian buttercream to go with the white cake... and frosted the cake with simple decorations.

Off white cake, with simple decorations
It might look like a normal off white cake, but wait till I show you the inside..

The kids were excited when I cut the cake and handed it to them..

Pretty isn't it

I love the cake but I think that I could do better.. Yellow cake tasted better than white cake in my opinion, as white cake are supposed to be frosted with something more delicate or when we want the frosting flavor to be predominant.

Maybe to try white cake with cream cheese frosting or a yellow cake with italian buttercream for future rainbow cake.

Order from a customer - apam polkadot

Received order for 100 pieces of apam polkadot with mix fillings, delivered to her place early today. Alhamdulillah.

Thanks so much Fara for the order!

Cookies ordered

Alhamdulillah, still ada order received for raya cookies. 1 biskut snow almond dan 1 biskut semperit pandan.

Ordered by my mum's friend, she requested me to tie ribbons to the cookie boxes. Cookies to be delivered tomorrow.

Oatmeal pancakes

I am supposed to do grocery shopping since last weekend but had not been able to do so... and as the result, barang dapur dah banyak habis and I end up coking with whatever things available in our pantry. Siapa kata duduk rumah ada banyak free time? Seriously, that is soooo not true. Bila dah ada kat rumah tu, ada je benda nak buat. Nak menyapu pun tak tau berapa kali sehari, nampak je ada habuk la, mainan bersepah la etc.

Ok, berbalik kepada cerita asal.. sebab barang dapur dah banyak habis, so saya pon search la untuk  resipi yang guna oatmeal, sebab oatmeal memang ada kat rumah. Lepas tu tanya dekat Amirul pagi tadi sebelum dia pergi sekolah nak makan oatmeal porridge ke nak makan oatmeal pancake for breakfast. Dia pilih pancake. So, hasil dari men'google' saya jumpa resipi ni dari website smitten kitchen.

Kalau nak tengok resipi asal bolehlah refer to the original entry from smitten kitchen's website. Saya dah ubah sikit-sikit cara-cara buat oatmeal pancake tu to make it easier for myself. This is how I made mine:

Bahan-bahan:

1 cawan oat (saya guna quaker quickcook oatmeal, pek yang kaler biru) - dikisar

1 cawan tepung gandum

2 sudu besar gula

2 sudu kecil baking powder

1/2 sudu kecil garam

3 sudu butter, dicairkan (saya letak dalam cawan kecil dan masukkan dalam microwave for 30 seconds)

1 1/4 cawan susu (saya guna susu HL)

3/4 cawan oatmeal, dimasak bersama 1 1/2 cawan air dan sedikit garam (saya campur semua bahan-bahan ni dan masak dalam microwave for 2.5 minutes)

1 sudu besar madu

2 biji telur saiz besar

Campur semua bahan-bahan kat atas tu dan kacau sehingga sebati. Panaskan kuali dan masukkan sedikit minyak + butter. Masak pancake macam biasa.

Pancake ni sedap dihidangkan panas-panas. Saya suka sangat resipi ni sebab rasa lebih sihat (sebab guna oatmeal, walaupun tak berapa nak sihat sebab masak guna minyak dan butter).

Pancake ni sedap sangat, lain daripada rasa pancake yang biasa saya masak. Tak percaya bolehlah cuba :)

Chocolate chips and cranberries cookie recipe

Apart from the earlier cookies made for raya, I also baked chocolate chips cookies for the kids. 

The recipe used is actually a newly invented one, as follows:

150g of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 egg

2 tbs of cocoa powder

1 cup of flour

3/4 cup of self-raising flour

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

Cream the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence. Add in the egg, followed by cocoa powder, flour and self-raising flour. Finally add in the chocolate chips and cranberries.

Drop the cookie mixture 1 tsp at a time onto the cookie/baking sheet. Bake at 160 degree celcius for about 16 minutes.

Note to myself:

Cookie tasted okay and the kids loved it. The texture is also perfect to my liking. However, in future, I will definitely add in more cocoa powder as I like my choc chips cookie darker, with more chocolate flavor.