Chocolate Collar

I made this sometime back for my aunt's 79th birthday.  It's just chocolate cake sandwiched with chocolate ganache but what I wanted to showcase here was my 'innate' ability to make a chocolate collar :P

Close friends will know that from a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being Sylvia Weinstock (see http://www.sylviaweinstock.com/), my dexterity with cake frosting, decoration and such falls somewhat below 1, so what was I thinking when I thought of making a chocolate collar ... then again, how hard can the following steps be ?

1/ Melt chocolate
2/ Spread chocolate out on parchment paper (measured to fit the diameter of your cake)
3/ Let chocolate harden slightly but not too hard
4/ Wrap cake with it
5/ Carefully peel away parchment paper

Fast forward to a messy kitchen and a messier me ... ta-dah ! Chocolate collar it is ...

Salted gula melaka yoghurt cheesecake

Hey all

It's been awhile since I last wrote... or even visited this blog of mine :P

Thought I will start off again by showcasing last weekend bakes.  First up is this salted gula melaka yoghurt cheesecake that I chanced upon while trawling the internet.  Credit is given to https://themeatmen.sg/pandan-gula-melaka-yogurt-cheesecake/ for the delicious recipe.  I kinda changed the name of the cake from pandan gula melaka to salted gula melaka to give it a little twist.

The texture of the cake is light unlike normal cheesecake due to the use of yoghurt.  One colleague said the texture is like creme caramel, and another said its soft as tofu.  Try it -  it's sort of everything you want in a cheesecake - creamy but not too creamy, sweet but not too sweet.  As for me, heck, I like anything and everything cheese :)

Fruit flan

This is another something that I made over the weekend for a friend's birthday.  This is just a simple pâte sucrée with crème pâtissière.  Trying to show off my French :) but seriously, its just a simple sweet shortcrust pastry with pastry cream.

The trick however is to use the best butter you can find for your crust.  As for the pastry cream, please make your own, its very easy.  Sorry, but I detest those yellow powder custardy thing that comes out of a box or can.

Simple and rustic and yet it makes a big impact on the table.

Happy birthday Hock! Hope you had a swell one.