Haven't made a custom-cake in a few weeks so it is very exciting to get back into it! ;)

I had eagerly done my research on gummy bears and more specifically the little mascot. Apparently, there is a song and TV show decided to it??? Not sure if that's available in Australia but we have the Haribo Gummy Bears in the shops everywhere. Yummy. Got a bunch of them left over and if I was younger, I would totally make vodka bears out of them!

Made a 1.5 batch of vanilla cake today. Decided to be clever and used two baking tins to bake the bigger cake so that they baked and cooled much quicker. It worked! And it just so happened that I put all three cakes in the oven at the same time and they all took the same amount of time to bake - so was perfect. Happy with the result. Even happier with the thin perfect layers that I cut from them. There is just something about thin layers of cake.. more delicate, elegant and refined.

Not long into the cake prep, I realised that what i was most looking forward to was actually just to stick the gummy bears onto the cake (duh... the easiest part!). And as I hadn't really planned ahead, I had to make Mr Gummy Bear as the cakes were cooling. Luckily, it's cool and dry today so the fondant held its shape quite well. And thanks to toothpicks, Mr Gummy Bear is sturdy and intact. And he was quite easy to make too. Chucked in butter, icing sugar, passionfruit and homemade lemon curd for some tartness into the kitchenaid and out came some delicious buttercream... :) Easy peasy!

I amaze myself sometimes... all up, this cake didn't take long at all. I fluffed around a bit this morning and took my time baking the cake but it was only probably another 90 minutes or so to assemble the cake and make Mr Gummy Bear. Efficiency makes me happy.

My paternal grandmother hasn't been feeling very well as of late and we had actually planned a big dinner party for her a few weeks back. However, those plans were put on hold as she was admitted to hospital about 10 days before the event. Luckily, it wasn't anything too serious and we still managed to go out for a celebratory dinner albeit it was on short notice (most of the us finding out dinner was still on about midday on the day!).

Originally, I had planned to make this extravagant multi-layer Chestnut, Coffee Mousse and Meringue cake with layers of chocolate sponge. It would have required lots of notice and well time to actually prepare everything! Wasn't going to happen with 4 hours notice... so I will have to save it for another time. 

So... time to improvise. Ever prepared, I came up with this white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry mousse and chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries. The freezer really helps at times like these!!! Kind of looks like a neapolitan cake. Still had its layers and more importantly, still brought a smile to her eyes.

I had actually originally envisioned this cake with lashings of Irish Cream mousse piped into a dome towards the centre so it gives this cake a little bit of height and more character. Instead, I opted for classic strawberries & a sprig of rosemary for colour. 

The inside is white so I think the contract would have been lovely.

This recipe calls for a quarter of a cup of coffee beans (whole) to be simmered with 1 cup of cream for about 15-20 minutes. The shortcut I suppose would be to add a shot or two of coffee directly into the cream cheese mixture. However, I think that this additional step provides a more subtle flavour and a nicer colour! (Looks just like the New York Cheesecake but packed with coffee essence - it literally warms up the whole kitchen).

A second technique that is unique to this baked cheesecake is that the eggs are separated and yolks and whites used in two separate steps. Usually, the whites are beaten to soft peaks in a no-bake cheesecake for added volume and to aerate the mixture. However, this step is usually omitted in a baked cheesecake as these cakes are usually suppose to be quite dense. So it is very interesting  (and highly risky) to do this in a baked cheesecake. I think more times than not, the additional volume causes the cake to crack upon cooling. I wouldn't say it definitely gives me volume to the cake once cooled and refrigerated - and certainly not as much as the Japanese Cheesecake - but perhaps provides a subtle yet different texture?

The soft, chewy centre old fashioned kind. And delicious straight out of the oven on a cool winter's day. . . 

A few people were in need of this today. Chin up, tomorrow is another day and it looks brighter already! :)

What's a long weekend (and a partially wet and miserable one at that) without a bit of baking?

Had a load of family and friends come by for the weekend and thought of dishing up something different! (As in... not a cheesecake, pavlova, ombre cake, custard related, etc).

And its winter... so we brought back the Sticky Date Pudding.. served with warm butterscotch sauce. It made the kitchen smell amazing! Warm and inviting (because my house isn't warm and inviting enough... ;)!)

I think we had a couple of people who were quite uncertain about this dish. It looked rather boring and it doesn't have the air of elegance of a lot of other desserts (also highly likely that my plating skills are ordinary, not extraordinary...). And it was warm! Anyways, taste won over and there wasn't much left even though I made sure to make enough for everyone plus leftovers! Leftovers all taken away in boxes. That makes me happy!

Personally the butterscotch sauce was a little too sweet for me but everyone else thought it was really good so not sure if i should tweak recipe or not. Will have to do a few more trials...