December 4, 2007

Party down by the Shores of Home

Mom and Dad get invited to many fun events and dinner parties; and I as lucky lil~'Junior' gets to tag along for good wine and yummy food too~
Mom had set aside a couple of gifts from their last Hong Kong trip for the family and I didn't exactly want to show up empty handed either. There wasn't much I could do given how I had limited tools and sugar crafting equipment. I had shipped them home from Sydney; but they will take about 2 months to get here. Instead of attempting an outrageously challenging cake design; it made more sense to frost a small batch of golden mini cakes with minimal decorative topping to give focus to the flavor of the cakes instead of its appearance.
Cream cheese frosting seems to be a winner in hot weather; it kept its piped form without needing much sugar... but for extra reinforcement (just in case) mom had intelligently found a cool tupperware for me to transport my cakes in a freezer bag equipped with ice packs for the hour drive to the beach.

Citrus almond mini cakes(cupcakes)
3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup ground almonds
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup glazed citrus peel (available from baking stores)
rind from 1 orange
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer till light and pale; add in eggs one at a time alternating with almonds. Add in the orange juice and rind. Reduce speed of mixer and add in citrus peel gradually till just combined. Gently fold in the flour till incorporated. Divide mixture into 12 hole standard muffin trays lined with paper cases. Bake in preheated 180degree oven for 20-23 minutes or till tops turn golden and skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center.
I chose to frost my cupcakes with cream cheese frosting mixed with a tiny bit of marmalade; but these cakes are pretty good without its icing tops too~As we pulled into the driveway; there were already many guests seated happily; licking their fingers as they dug into mussels, prawns, succulent crabs and fresh fish! We couldn't wait to dive in ourselves! Everything looked so good! ... My personal favourite were the crabs! I didn't mind getting my hands dirty in all that deliciously fresh caught seafood!

A full belly later; I made my way down to the shore to have a glimpse of the sandy beach and yachts parked nearby. I hadn't had much sunscreen on and the sun was excruciatingly painful on the skin... I had to duck back into the cozy beach house not long after. I'm still finding it difficult to adapt to the warm and humid weather in Malaysia, all that sweating has been making me uneasy. Air conditioning really is a god send. *laughs*
I've been cooking and baking a fair bit since I've gotten home; but have yet to find the time to speak about my musings in the kitchen... there have been lots of unexpected changes to my plans and it's been pretty stressful trying to work everything out. At this point... it's still my little secret *wink*
For all coffee and walnut lovers...lookout for my next yummyliciouz~ post ;)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey there..
i was just wondering how to make the icing/frosty looks fluffy??
i once watched nigella feast and she only used white eggs & sugar.. is this the best way?
i'm planning to make vanilla cupcakes with blueberry filling for sleepover nxt weekend..

need ur advice,
nurul :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Su'
Wanna chk out,u stated 3/4 cups butter in ur recipe. How many grams is it equavalent to, any idea?

Cintia Listenbee said...

Thanks for the news Su! You have a beautiful country. It's summer time in Brazil and a cold, cold fall in the US. I keep saying I miss the Brazilian weather but it's gonna be interesting to see my adaptation :) I pray your plans will work out for your good. Don't shoot for the sky, dream beyond it!

KWF said...

Hi Su, how did yu manage to achieve a pipeable form of cream cheese frosting? Mine always turn out runny. Got a not-so-sweet cream cheese frosting recipe to share? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

It must be a big change moving back to M'sia.
I'm still stuck somewhere in the middle of Europe. Lucky you :)
Have to keep in mind that Su is in M'sia now when reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I just came across your page looking for a ddeokbokee recipe and started browsing all of your other creations. I too have a passion for cakes, especially beautiful ones. I think that your creations are AMAZING! an maybe someday I can be as good as you. Do you do everything in your own personal kitchen?

Anonymous said...

Your recipes are always interesting tasty and look great.

Wanda
www.only-cookware.com

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

thanks guys...
erm..nurul: there are lots of different types of frostings, nigella used a royAl icing form of icing but there are other types you could try; check out my post on cupcakes ;)

cintia: wow..thanks for the great advice.. :) you've inspired me

kwf: it will tend to sweat in our hot weather; i just use it straight out of the fridge..and when im done; i pop them to store in an airconditioned room

quasimoron: it does take abit to adapt; but somehow..im happy to be back

anonymous: definitely!@ haha thanks so much for the encouraging words

wanda: thanks wanda :)