Cheesecake Pops: When Cheesecake Falls For Lolly Sticks

Our Daring Bakers Challenge #1


This post should be posted up right on the 27th of April, which is Sunday and shoot, we've just managed to get the baked goods done on the day before. And these dainty looking miniature Popsicles were all gone the next day after. That was fast. Without hesitation and worries for contributing excess calories into our body system, we've grab a few sticks to kick start our pulses. It WAS as good and delish as it claimed to be.


Procrastinating is killing us, and we have just thought it over; well, better late than never. Though we were 3 days late for posting this up. We're very determined now; as this is our first Daring Bakers Challenge to be. Our very first task is cheese on sticks; which were called as Cheesecake Pops to other bakers.


Daring Bakers (DB) Challenge for the month of April; Cheesecake Pops from a dessert cookbook titled "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey", written by Jill O'Connor. April's DB Challenge were hosted by Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasm and Deborah from Taste And Tell. We were totally excited as it was our first DB challenge. Enthusiastically joyful when the lip smacking cheesecake pops were done.


Days before the big day (of messing around in the kitchen), we were strolling around the city in the hope of getting ourselves a humongous packet of lollipop sticks. From bakery stores to big marts, none were to be found. Alas, after searching for days, we've gave up and get down and dirty with a chock full of lean wooden sticks. Let's say, skewers, which were made out of wood or may be bamboo. Each and every single stick were measured and cut into a length of approximately 3.5 inches. We hate to say this, but many were dumped into the bin due to the icky splinters, frustrating. Very frustrating.

Cheesecake Pops (Yields: 30 – 40 Pops)

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

1. Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
3. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.
4. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

5. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

6. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

7. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
8. Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
9.Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.
10. Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

We took more than stated, to bake the cheesecake. An hour plus. We covered half of the pops with white chocolate while the remaining was covered in dark chocolate. A mix of shortening blends perfectly into the chocolate-dipping pool, where chocolate were easily set once the cheesecake pops had finished swimming and swirling. Toppings were sprinkled onto the pops before the chocolate has set entirely. A block of Polytherene was used as to keep the cheesecake pops in an upright position to let the pops set properly. We were afraid that the toppings on the half-set pops might fall off if they were laid onto the tray - lined parchment paper. Toppings include toasted almond flakes, finely milled digestive biscuits, finely milled black sesame and colorful hundreds and thousands.

Since we have some chocolate as leftovers, it was then melted and piped onto the cheesecake pops. A cute-looking rodent was created. A female rodent with a rose bud on its ear, to be exact.

The other two came along; a pooch and a cold fat lard; a piggy. Poor quality shots, because we were in a hurry. The verdict; the cheesecake pops were creamy and its luscious cheese filling is the star in its own form. It may looked unimpressive, but taste wise, the kids are giving in their two-thumbs up.

MADtv : The Funnier Version Of Hit Series

Stumbled upon MADtv, a sketch comedy series based on the latest hit series, after the urge to google for the trailers for Finishing The Game in YouTube. It really kills one's boredom and let's just put it this way, it's the best antidote for curing one's boredomness. It was funny and that's how we like it. Something that we would love to watch every Saturday night - with fizzy Cola and homemade caramelized popcorns. The slow-streaming was worth the waiting though. That's how part of our holidays were spent. Despite of the low-rate streaming, well, it features the comedic version of television hit series like Heroes, Korean drama series and American Idol. Even Spielberg's movie, Memoirs Of The Geisha was not left behind too. The idea was brilliant and to cut things short - one will either in the state of LOL, ROFL, ROFLMAO or LMAO. We were too. Do look out for the amusing Asian Americans in there - the very comical Bobby Lee and Sung Kang. Happy watching and streaming!

MADtv: Heroes

MADtv: Memoirs Of A Geisha



MADtv: Korean Drama Series With Bobby Lee & Sung Kang (Part 1)



MADtv: Korean Drama Series With Bobby Lee & Sung Kang (Part 2)



MADtv: Korean Drama Series With Bobby Lee & Sung Kang (Part 3)



MADtv: Korean Drama Series With Bobby Lee & Sung Kang (Part 4)



MADtv: American Idol With Bobby Lee



MADtv: High School Musical

The Return To Aussieland

Much loved relatives from Aussieland had came to Malaysia, last month to pay grandma and all of the Wong's a visit. There were Uncle Richard, Aunt Liz and the other two young entertainers; Adam and Erica. The days spent was well-worth and memorable, especially with long-distance relatives which were closely related.


Had great fun with the two young adults; Adam and Erica. We do realized how old we were getting when we were with them - with the gap of 10 years. Both were the ones who entertained us and the pooches as well. Well, as we're typing this, Erica reminded us of a game pata pata pon and bee hives. On the other hand, Adam, with his groovy and relentless dance moves.


Futsal matches were held and the match itself might seems to be a little quirky, because dad was part of the players as well. It was funny and at the same time, an enjoyable match to date. One match that my aunts and us all would look forward to. The boys were having a blast on that night, no doubt. And we were surprisingly entertained, it was a fun outing nonetheless.


Having the time to bake some cupcakes though finals is just days ahead, little did we know that Erica do bakes and pipes too. Thus, the remaining mini chocolate cupcakes were left untouched. The untouched were then decorated and piped with colored buttercream - personally by Erica. While the other moist chocolate cupcakes were topped with Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Malteser Cake icing, and hence, the invention of the malted cupcakes.


The icing were malty and smooth, which goes well with any cupcake flavor for the matter. Paired up with the kids favorite moist chocolate cake , and voila - something new. Though the malty buttercream does not taste as chocolatey as we all have expected, it does really come off as a definite keeper for our up-coming cupcaking session.

Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Malteser Cake's Icing (From Feast)

250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
45g Horlicks powder
125g softened unsalted butter
2 tablespoons boiling water

* For the ones with processor: Put the icing sugar, cocoa, and Horlicks, in the processor, and blitz to remove all the lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape down and start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running till you have a smooth buttercream.
* We were keen on using the electric mixer, hence, for the ones with electric mixer: Beat the softened butter until pale yellow in color in a medium bowl. Sift all the dry ingredients; icing sugar, cocoa powder and Horlicks powder, and add into the butter. Continue beating with the electric mixer. Scrape down and beat again for 8 to 10 minutes. Scrape down the cream from the sides of the bowl. Beat again, while mixing, add in the boiling water. Mix till incorporated or smooth at high speed - almost 5 minutes. Buttercream is ready to be used.

The buttercream was yummy. And shall we add in; glossy. Topped off the moist chocolate cake with a swirl of malted buttercream and dusted off with cocoa powder. The last attempt was the decors - decorated with cookie crispies. Cheap-skate-looking but all in all, the buttercream was the headline of the day.


So wanted to top each and every cupcake with a Malteser, but much were gone into the other cake; Strawberry And Maltesers Cake. Since we have quite an amount of edible roses; molded from dark chocolate, the intention to top the remaining frosted cupcakes were highly encouraged.


As for the Strawberry and Maltesers cake, it was a 3-inches tall cake with 2 layers of moist chocolate cake and a layer of vanilla sponge cake filled with maltesers, strawberry slices and cream chantilly. And lastly decorated with toasted halved pistachios and strawberries. The cake was generally part of Erica's idea. The voice of a young and up-coming baker. We were amused by her choice; why maltesers, strawberries and chocolate cake? Was told by her that she loves strawberries and maltesers. It would be a great combo we bet!


Everyone loves maltesers. Well, who doesn't? The outcome of the cake turned out to be good. We're happy for the reviews that we've gotten. Some say that it tasted something like a Black Forest Cake, the only difference is the fruits incurred.


Overjoyed that bad comments failed to exist on that particular day. Good reviews do please us in every way, and we love comments and reviews. Highly appreciated! Now, at least, Erica has proven to us once again that part of her soul belongs to the kitchen. (*Grin*)


These much-loved people flew back to Aussieland on the first week of April. No doubt, we miss them soooooo much. Erica, if you're reading this, Uncle David wanted to say HI TO OBEAST. Take good care and may god blesses you guys in Aussieland. Xoxo.


Speaking of the very well-known Aussieland, which partly one of the preferable educational hub in the nation, there was once a special request for an airplane cake with Australia's flag from a dear friend. Was also informed that it was a gift to a girl which will be setting off to Aussieland soon, for furthering her studies. Dear friend insisted having the cake in 2D as 3D airplane cake will be time-consuming and troublesome. The thought of baking a 3D cake kept bugging the mind of one who've always had the intention to mold a 3D model out of a cake. Thus, came to a great conclusion, with a favored win-win situation, to 2.5D; which is an airplane cake that does look like one in some perspectives.


The request sounded simple and just right, an airplane cake with durian mousse and cream chantilly as the frosting - buttercream, marzipan and sugarpaste are definitely not welcomed in warmth. Mind kept wondering, if there's a need for a 3D mousse cake that needs to be frosted with sweetened whipped cream and refrigerated as it's filled with durian mousse, is there any possibility that the so-called airplane cake can be molded smoothly into a 3D piece of art? Plus, is there any chances that the set-up cake will melt and fall off into big chunky airplane-parts since the weather here is undeniably hot and warm. Can the airplane cake withstand the heat if chantilly cream were used?


We googled for reliable sources and information, none were applicable and mostly, fondant or our least favorite food of all, sugarpaste were highly recommended for most 3D cakes. To hell with it, we tried our hands on the chantilly cream. Crossed fingers were there all the time, and we remember that getting a smooth finish on the cake's surface was very stressful but fun; in a challenging way. First off, to kick start things, we baked the vanilla sponge and whipped up the durian mousse the day before - this includes the assembling of sponge layers and mousse into 2 square springform pan. We also molded the Australia flag, windows and logo for the airplane with colored white chocolate, since sugarpaste/marzipan/fondant were not in favor.


On the next day, the cakes were taken out from the fridge and from the springform pan. Then, the cutting and arrangement begins. We do not remember the details of how we got the shape of the airplane, but there's this tutorial which we found it really helpful when it comes to making a 2.5D airplane cake. 2.5D? Hmm... We've started off with crumb coat which is the first coating, with cream chantilly. Back to the freezer (not the fridge) for setting up period - almost 30 minutes. Then, here goes the second coat - with generous amount of cream chantilly to cover the imperfection and unfavorable flaws. Back to the freezer for 30 minutes again.


For the entire coating process, we tried to be very patient and at the same time, gentle. Then, after setting up for 30 minutes (approx) in the cool freezer, we smoothened the airplane surface with long spatula - that was the time when we got all stressed up. After a long hour, we proceeded to the molded from white chocolate's pieces.


The logo were adhered onto the airplane's tail, while the Aussie flag were placed onto the top of the tail. The Grey windows were placed onto the place that they should be in. Then, the piping of a pink fine line were piped in a horizontal line on the airplane's body. The remaining cream chantilly were tinted with blue coloring and piped with rounded tip nozzles to resemble the puffy looking clouds.


We were told to pipe the word "One yatch wind smooth" onto the 2.5D airplane cake. After everything were done, we quickly bring the fragile 2.5D airplane into the fridge. The good news was we got great reviews about the airplane cake. And now, the bad news, the airplane's tail had slipped off, might be the softened chantilly cream since the cream started to melt when it was exposed in room temperature. As for us, we might try our luck using buttercream the next time - for a change. And here's the 3D airplane cake tutorial; click here.

The Mohawked Alien

As we're typing this, we're kind of frustrated over Picasa Web Album for letting us down once more. We have been uploading the similar shot to this blog, over and over again. Sad to say, we uploaded the lost shots once more, but to no avail. We convinced ourselves, maybe it might be our PC; got laggy when the transference of uploading images were in the mid of the process. Or maybe, it's Streamxy. We googled and seek for advice. Aha! Knew that Picasa Web Album and Blogspot were the culprits. It's time for us to back-up the shots though; Photobucket, rather than jumping to another blog host, since we hardly can adapt to changes. That is the major reason why we are still advocating Barisan National until today. Passe', like most of the people might say. Doubt it, we say.


On the last month, we were put to good use. One of the assignment were almost due. And hence, camera tags along to snap a picture or two of the recent new wing of UCSI for the assignment. It was just a stone throw away from our home. Nevertheless, the car does tag along too, for the ease of not getting burnt by the scorching hot sun. It was HOT. And we can't really stand the weather though the AC were switched on to the maximum. We bet that not even our long-haired fuzzy, fluffy, curly Rufus can stand it too. Rufus were scratching all over, and red bumps and rashes can be seen when one snuggles him. Not even a second, plans of shaving his curly white fur has struck into our minds. From a long-haired fuzzy, fluffy, cute and chubby monster...


To this...


Mohawked Alien to date. That is only the back view. The side and the front full view was shocking. He looks pathetically weird with that cockatoo mohawk. Hairy; only on the head but bald on other sections. He does not look like a sheep nor the very protected wild life; polar bear, anymore. We were shocked too when we picked him up from the pet shop on the same afternoon.


Ma and the helpers were all stupefied by his new urbanite-look and appearance. They insisted that we shouldn't have the mohawk hairstyle on him because he's simply beautiful and adorable with that sheepy look of his. We couldn't even take our eyes off him. He looks completely different.


We were all in awe when he stared strangely back at us. He had encaptured the looks of an alien. Scary. But true. Molly tagged along and kept silence once the mohawk hairstyle on Rufus was shown to her. Spooky and it was uncanny to watch Rufus staring blankly in front of our sliding door - reflections can be seen. We felt so sorry for him for getting the mohawk haircut. Truly sorry... But boy, he was raised to fame for that day itself. Caregivers were being attentive to him, feeding him junks which we would crave for days. Love sums it all.


After sending Rufus home and letting him run freely within the house compound, we set off for our cupcaking session. We managed to get about 50 medium-sized and 30 minis of moist chocolate cupcakes. The first 18 piece which is in medium range were used for the devil's food cupcake with ganache topping and chopped salted pistachios. The extra cupcakes were mostly gone down into our hungry stomachs since those cupcakes were overflowed.


We were too lazy to get the raw pistachios from the grocery. Thus, one of our junk; the salted pistachio with the shells intact were put to good use. Peeling off the shell and blanching the rough skin off from the green pistachio kernels by bare hands and dry towels were painful. Painful to the hands.


The intention to toast the pistachios in the preheated oven were gone when we found out that we favored the very contra color that the green pistachio kernels gave to the devil's food cupcakes. The colors were just right - vibrant!


We whip up the chocolate ganache and buttercream for the extra cupcakes which were all scattered on the trays and table. When the chocolate ganache were too little to be spreaded onto the surface of the cupcakes, we frost the remaining reserved cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and drizzled them with the chocolate ganache leftover. The final task to be done before the devil's food cupcake with ganache topping and chopped salted pistachios were all set to queue up in line in the cupcake boxes was the sprinkling of the salted and chopped green kernels. They were given away as gifts; forgot who got them though, cause the day itself were busy - loads of cupcakes waiting to be frosted.


Then, the remaining unfrosted cupcakes were reserved for the special someone. People; the very friendly and lovable group of kids. The medium-sized cupcakes were divided into two boxes, with 16 chocolate cupcakes each. The first box of medium-sized cupcakes were frosted lightly with vanilla and strawberry flavored buttercream. Colorful sprinkles were sprinkled onto the cupcakes to finalize the whole batch of cupcakes.


The next box, which also contains 16 medium-sized cupcakes were the ones; frosted with strawberry buttercream and heart-shaped edible sugarpastes, and the other one was topped by a swirl of dark chocolate buttercream and sprinkled with hundreds and thousands.


The last 25 minis were given a simple swirl on its surface. Vanilla buttercream with colors infused just to get the theme right. The blue frosting were sprinkled lightly with purple crystallized sugar. Once everything were done, we pack the cupcakes into the boxes. The 3 boxes were not stacked together as we were afraid that the turning of the car into another junction will probably, mostly leads to a batch of fallen cupcakes. So, off we go, we got back into our vehicle and set off to the children's shelter. The kids over there were extremely polite and friendly in person. Greetings and hand-shakes were given; by the kids. They were all tiny tots, cute lil fellows with very good manners. Speaking of the existence of ethics. There's this kid with a charming and evil grin, with his bandaged and injured hand, speak to us in a boyish mannerism of his, "Hai kakakssssssssssss..." which means "Hi sis....." It melts our heart though. It does.


The lil fellow was so sweet, with his cheeky and at the same time, his charming grin imprinted on his lips. We had a fun-filled time on the day itself; rushing for cupcakes, delivering cupcakes to the tiny tots to savor on, and last but not least, demanding a new mohawk haircut for Rufus the alien-looking pooch. We do still love you poor poochie.

Churn, Baby, Churn!

"Aww, bread machine perleasssseee...." We do remember the times when we tried to please our dad just to get us a bread machine. Why bread machine? We found out that most of the home kitchen appliances which were already laid in the kitchen and store, getting infested with webs and dusts varies from waffle pan, the very old popcorn machine, sandwich toaster, noodle machine etc. We wanted something different and more sophisticated - let's just say hi -tech. There's only two that we wish to lay our hands and paws on - the ice cream maker and the bread machine. One was granted; the ice cream maker, and now awaits the bread machine. And hopefully, in a year time, we'll make use of the kitchen appliances more than once. It's such a waste to put them aside as displays, that's what we have just realized.

{Shot lost, no thanks to Picasa Web Albums}

Recently, we have got back on our hands and paws on our brand new ice cream maker. Brand new? The usage does not even exceed 2 times and oh well, guess that it's time to churn something up before the icy maker gets rusty. We were searching for the simplest recipe of all, easy yet very creamy. Googled and lady luck was with us, the recipe was short and nicely summarized, and of the ingredients that we have in excess; white chocolate and macadamia nuts. Think of white chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts toppled into a big bowl of the very creamy vanilla ice cream. Sinful, isn't it? The after-churn of the second product was pure white and smooth. The first was a failure, devastated by the clumpy custard - we ate some of it though, and it tasted like scrambled eggs in hot soup. And it was "overheating" to be blamed. It was gone for good, into the bin, after our stomachs called for the urgency of diarrhea pills... Gotcha!

{Shot lost, no thanks to Picasa Web Albums}

Plights shed; we prefer chunky bits of white chocolate and nuts being seen on the scoops of ice cream though but it doesn't turned out to be what we have wanted. It might be the amount of nuts and chocolate chunks, it might be too little. The other alteration we have made was substituting the vanilla beans with 1 generous tablespoon of vanilla extract. After the custard almost freezes while churning in the ice cream maker, we quickly add in a pack of macadamias (a pack would be 250g) and handfuls of chopped white chocolate which will be... Approximately 200g, I guess. (*Smacks face*)

{Shot lost, no thanks to Picasa Web Albums}

The recipe stated that it will yield 6 servings, but somehow, there's more than stated. We've scooped the ice cream from the ice cream maker (after chilling in the freezer for some time) into a tight-lit Tupperware. The ice cream itself was creamy and the additions were the specialties. We have fun chewing off the frozen white chocolate chunks (approximately in 1-inch cubes) and snacking on the nuts.


Hopping over to the next calorie-plus goodie; a batch of cupcakes and a cake for a birthday girl that we love, Pohsan. The cupcakes were vanilla cupcakes (Billy's) with strawberry jam fillings, peppermint ganache filling and lavender cream filling. The pink buttercream is the one with strawberry fillings, which were then topped with slices of fresh strawberries. Nah, we don't grow the berries. The term fresh indicates boxes of berries that just got out from the freezing cold aisle; the fridge. The green buttercream were flavored with mint essence , drizzled with melted chocolate and decorated with Alpine mint chocolate slices. The purple buttercream, a vanilla cupcake with lavender buttercream as filling, topped off with crystallized sugar flavored lavender (the sugar were mixed with a little drop of purple coloring and a sprig of lavender leave were stored together with the sugar, thus, the lavender sugar!).


The birthday girl requested for a strawberry and chocolate flavored cake, decorated with pure strawberries. A chocolate and strawberry fanatic, we should say. We came up with this very tall cake, with 2 strawberry sponge cake (in pink) and 2 moist chocolate devil's food cake (in dark brown). Each cake sponge was brushed lightly with a simple kahlua-infused syrup. Seven layers in total, following by the first layer, which is the chocolate sponge. Second layer - fresh cream with a layer of strawberries slices. Third layer - strawberry sponge. Fourth layer - chocolate ganache. Fifth layer - strawberry sponge. Sixth layer - fresh cream with a layer of strawberries slices and the last layer will be the chocolate sponge.
The entire cake was then frosted thinly with the remaining fresh cream, and placed into the freezer for almost 30 minutes for the coating of fresh cream to set. While waiting impatiently, we worked on the strawberry sticks. The long flimsy wooden stick were used. The strawberries were caramelized for sometime - on pan, with butter and some sugar. The caramelized strawberries were let dry on the parchment paper as it was soaking wet. It seems to be.


Back to the cake, we took the cake out from the freezer and topped the cake's surface with chocolate ganache and the sides with chocolate curls. After the chocolate ganache has begun to set, the skewed strawberries were placed onto the cake. We have much trouble on the issue of how the skewers will look good on the cake. And we managed to make it look better by putting them in cross-wise. The piping of "Happy Bday Pohsan" were done with buttercream. The last thing to be done was arranging the cupcakes around the cakes. And we were glad that the girl likes it as much as we did.


Next up, we, which now includes Molly, has brought a batch of devil's food chocolate cupcakes with extra dark chocolate buttercream frosting for Mamin, another birthday boy last month (shot taken above). We ran out of ideas on what decors and flavors to go for as we wanted to give him a big surprise. Surprise. The cupcakes were slightly bigger than the usual mini ones - thus saves time. The cupcakes were filled with 2 different fillings; peanut butter cream cheese and the other one would be thick chocolate ganache.


We'd realized that piping pretty swirls is pretty hard and intense when it comes to larger cupcakes. From the statement made, complete swirls basically equals dollops of buttercream slabbed onto the cupcakes. Very high in calories and VERY creamy. That is why cupcakes are eaten together with the cream, not alone. But oh well, the fact is our cupcakes were loaded with too much frosting. That was Mamin's comment and comments are mostly welcomed - where alterations leads to improvement. We molded the roses with cooking white chocolate and used it as the cupcakes' decors. White roses were chosen; that's the rose that Mamin is using as his display picture in his msn, and we had not seen any other display pictures other than that gray-scaled shot of a white rose.


The center of attraction, amount of 4 cupcakes, were cupcakes decorated with chocolate flakes and chocolate-molded coffee beans. The coffee beans were made out of dark chocolate where tempering is involved. Then, this comes down to pouring the melted dark chocolate into the coffee-bean mold and let it set at room temperature. Our conscience told us to put them into the freezer. And within 10 minutes, those coffee beans chocolate popped out easily from the coffee-bean mold. The cupcakes (4 of them) were not done yet. We've pipe words with a beige-colored buttercream; Happy Birthday Mamin!


Without mercy, the remaining piece went down to our stomachs. Ours were more like it, dollops of dark chocolate buttercream piped in dainty swirls (shot above). Upon the visit to give Mamin a surprise, we felt so excited in meeting him, and that was the first time seeing him ever since we finished our A-Levels. Enjoyed the way he ate the cupcakes, which was part of a token of appreciation presented to us. And we miss him greatly. =)