Recollection of good times.....

Yes! Strawberry cheesecake! One of the many I made during my SG hols. I made this esp for my dearest xw...glad she and her finace enjoyed it. =)

This is a collection of what I did in the kitchen over the few months in SG. Being completely out of my element and having to adjust to a more asian setting kitchen, I learnt to be more flexible and creative with tools that I never thought ahve more than one function to create the gorgeous creations you will see below. One thing for sure, I had made more non baked strawberry cheesecake than ever within the short period of these two months due to 2 biggest reason. Firstly, my mum does not own a proper oven (nope! A microwave oven is not an oven!). Secondly, strawberries were everywhere! So why not just adjust and create! voila! Strawberry cheesecake! I have never ventured into the cheesecake areana since Josh is never a big fan of anything that is sweet, rich and cheesy. But many seem more than happy to try a slice or two in SG.

So if there's demand, why not supply? I actually made so many cheesecake that my sisters flatly refused to trial taste (even with me on my knees looking at them with pleading eyes and a spoonful of the batter grasped tightly in one hand directing purposefully at their mouth) and were very (yes, they were indeed) happy when I finally moved on to pineapple tarts.....which they eventually begged me to stop. Eventually, my dearest cousin got a new oven (and yes, its not a microwave oven!) and I practically spent the rest of my holiday at her place....baking.

Anyways.......a recollection of good times

I was planning to make a stack of these babies (profferioles with orange infused pastry cream) for Tashy's b'ade party but had no confidence on how they would react to SG's humidity. Thus I abandon this plan for the following.

Tashy wanted a butterfly theme and thus I made these mini butterflies fruit tartlets as part of the dessert for her party. They are actually orange infused pastry cream with chocolate layered pistachio shell tart. The tartlets were really yum except for being a tad overbaked.
Tashy's chocolate mud cake with strawberry and cream filling covered in dark chocolate ganache topped with blueberries and strawberries butterflies. It was a slightly dense cake with a rich chocolate flavour which was complement by the floral taste of korean strawberries. It was quite well received amongst the younger people. The older generation still prefer their soft sponge cake topped with fruits served asian way.

I made (or decorated, really) another butterfly cake for a birthday picnic for Tashy a day after her b'dae to be celebrated at the botanica gardens. My cousin made this banana cake and I topped it off with a strawberry (yes, i know strawberry again) creamcheese frosting and a cute butterfly with hundred and thousand coated wings, blueberries for a body and chocolate sticks as antenna.

With the approach of CNY, I churned out about an approximate amount of 5kg pineapple tarts which was quite crazy when I think about it now. But the production process,though it takes about 3hours for me to make 1kg, was quite addictive i have to admit. I know of many people who loves to have a pineapple tart that has a melt in the mouth texture and a buttery taste. On the other hand, I always love mine to have a slightly hard crust, lots of pineapple filling and a less buttery taste. And I made my pineapple tart dream come true.

okay okay.......enough of my baking adventures in SG and coming back into present........

I'm craving for ondeh ondeh. I want it to explode in my mouth and fill it with the sweet gula melaka as I bite into the chewy coconut covered ball with the excess syrup dripping off the sides of my mouth. I love how the slight saltiness of coconut outside complements the intense sweetness of the goodness within. Its been ages since I had attempted to make ondeh ondeh here. And since my dearest SIL, Becky, is staying over tonight (Josh is away for another out field weekend till Sunday) I'm going to rope her into helping me out in this upcoming baking session. Can't wait.