no longer zen
To say the my summer has ended surely isn't an exaggeration even though it's only the first week of the new semester (and well I seem to have all the time in the world to blog).
I feel like a month or two has passed, am knee deep in the exams (yup, not even the ankles) and have already aged from too many sleepless and restless nights - quite tragically a stark contrast against the bright eyed chirpy other school mates who... for some reason look perpetually more awake at me - could very well be that I pull off the tired look very well (or easily)
I suppose it's only fair for me to end off with what I last baked for the holidays given that.. I travelled, did yoga.. and baked.. (as everyone visited raffles place..)
the final cake of the summer, a request from my mum for her friend's birthday
It's a 6 inch, two layer vanilla cake filled with vanilla bean (yes fresh from the pod) swiss meringue buttercream and dark chocolate ganache.
I try as much as possible to avoid artificial colouring (alas I could find nothing pink in powder form for the hydrogenas so I had to use food paste colouring for that) - so I used matcha swiss meringue buttercream for the leaves at the side (alas my only regret is not dumping in more matcha powder) and the top rosettes + hyrdogenas (probably spelling this wrongly) are made up of the good ol' vanilla bean SMB.
In case anyone has been wondering why I bother with SMB when cream is so much lighter, gorgeous to pipe with and generally a great frosting/ garnish for cakes - my reason is really really simple... trust me, I'd love to whip up some cream and get over the pain of separating egg whites, cooking them up til 70 degrees, whisking my arm off and of course worrying that it'll all split and mark the waste of a lot of expensive ingredients - but alas, i live in eternally sunny and humid Singapore, where leaving a cream cake out for any longer than an hour or two would mean an almost immediate death (or meltdown more aptly) of the beautiful creation that probably took hours to make.
The solution then would seem simple - the refrigerator-- duhhhh.
Once again, my refrigerator is tragically small and I am limited by the fact that my family, much like me, is very much obsessed with grocery shopping so our fridge is quite always filled to the brim with random finds we decide to purchase (like we have... 5 different bottles of balsamic vinegar, 4 different kinds of japanese sauce, a chocolatier's dream range of chocolate.. the works really). So the refrigeration method is eliminated... leaving me with a need for a frosting that can sit out, not spoil, not cause anyone any tummy ache and hold a perfectly beautiful and stable shape...
here in comes the world's hardest frosting to make.. but also gloriously creamy, stable and so very perfect: Swiss meringue buttercream
Now that I've wasted perfectly good time, that I dearly needed to finish the heap of work I have, justifying my regular choice of frosting... to almost nobody... here's a little about Antoinette at Mandarin Gallery
Although the place has been widely talked about and very much hyped about I have never had the chance to visit me because my near eternal craving for korean stew (as I just had for lunch) always means I walk away and find a korean place instead.
So Mark and I headed there during the last week (actually i dont even remember the date now) of the holidays
eggs Ben
Blueberry pancakes with chantilly cream
The Antoinette
SO, after a very expensive and overpriced pot of tea (had I known their tea prices were going to be like that, I would have stuck some tea leaves into my hair and gone there and asked for a cup of warm water instead and conveniently dunk my own tea leaves in), a good serving of eggs ben, a decent serving of blueberry pancakes, and a dessert my conclusion is as such:
1. Antoinette serves decent food - I have tragically found 2 places with better eggs ben, cheaper parking and cheaper prices (of course with cheaper coffee and tea too) in Singapore and I shall share my finds when I actually take photos of the food
- alas, the past few brunches I've had were extremely rushed... so terrible pcitures with a dying iphone 4
2. One must eat desserts at Antoinette - in my humble opinion, you can skip the tea in the fancy china (go buy yourself a good pack of tea leaves for like $9 - same price as one serving in Antoinette - from wherever u want and pao your own tea) and potentially the food too.. but don't skip the desserts, because that chocolate raspberrry dessert was glorious
3. Anotinette has terrible lighting
NOW. BACK TO REALITY - i.e., the huge heap of readings i have to finish :(
I feel like a month or two has passed, am knee deep in the exams (yup, not even the ankles) and have already aged from too many sleepless and restless nights - quite tragically a stark contrast against the bright eyed chirpy other school mates who... for some reason look perpetually more awake at me - could very well be that I pull off the tired look very well (or easily)
I suppose it's only fair for me to end off with what I last baked for the holidays given that.. I travelled, did yoga.. and baked.. (as everyone visited raffles place..)
the final cake of the summer, a request from my mum for her friend's birthday
It's a 6 inch, two layer vanilla cake filled with vanilla bean (yes fresh from the pod) swiss meringue buttercream and dark chocolate ganache.
I try as much as possible to avoid artificial colouring (alas I could find nothing pink in powder form for the hydrogenas so I had to use food paste colouring for that) - so I used matcha swiss meringue buttercream for the leaves at the side (alas my only regret is not dumping in more matcha powder) and the top rosettes + hyrdogenas (probably spelling this wrongly) are made up of the good ol' vanilla bean SMB.
In case anyone has been wondering why I bother with SMB when cream is so much lighter, gorgeous to pipe with and generally a great frosting/ garnish for cakes - my reason is really really simple... trust me, I'd love to whip up some cream and get over the pain of separating egg whites, cooking them up til 70 degrees, whisking my arm off and of course worrying that it'll all split and mark the waste of a lot of expensive ingredients - but alas, i live in eternally sunny and humid Singapore, where leaving a cream cake out for any longer than an hour or two would mean an almost immediate death (or meltdown more aptly) of the beautiful creation that probably took hours to make.
The solution then would seem simple - the refrigerator-- duhhhh.
Once again, my refrigerator is tragically small and I am limited by the fact that my family, much like me, is very much obsessed with grocery shopping so our fridge is quite always filled to the brim with random finds we decide to purchase (like we have... 5 different bottles of balsamic vinegar, 4 different kinds of japanese sauce, a chocolatier's dream range of chocolate.. the works really). So the refrigeration method is eliminated... leaving me with a need for a frosting that can sit out, not spoil, not cause anyone any tummy ache and hold a perfectly beautiful and stable shape...
here in comes the world's hardest frosting to make.. but also gloriously creamy, stable and so very perfect: Swiss meringue buttercream
Now that I've wasted perfectly good time, that I dearly needed to finish the heap of work I have, justifying my regular choice of frosting... to almost nobody... here's a little about Antoinette at Mandarin Gallery
Although the place has been widely talked about and very much hyped about I have never had the chance to visit me because my near eternal craving for korean stew (as I just had for lunch) always means I walk away and find a korean place instead.
So Mark and I headed there during the last week (actually i dont even remember the date now) of the holidays
eggs Ben
Blueberry pancakes with chantilly cream
The Antoinette
SO, after a very expensive and overpriced pot of tea (had I known their tea prices were going to be like that, I would have stuck some tea leaves into my hair and gone there and asked for a cup of warm water instead and conveniently dunk my own tea leaves in), a good serving of eggs ben, a decent serving of blueberry pancakes, and a dessert my conclusion is as such:
1. Antoinette serves decent food - I have tragically found 2 places with better eggs ben, cheaper parking and cheaper prices (of course with cheaper coffee and tea too) in Singapore and I shall share my finds when I actually take photos of the food
- alas, the past few brunches I've had were extremely rushed... so terrible pcitures with a dying iphone 4
2. One must eat desserts at Antoinette - in my humble opinion, you can skip the tea in the fancy china (go buy yourself a good pack of tea leaves for like $9 - same price as one serving in Antoinette - from wherever u want and pao your own tea) and potentially the food too.. but don't skip the desserts, because that chocolate raspberrry dessert was glorious
3. Anotinette has terrible lighting
NOW. BACK TO REALITY - i.e., the huge heap of readings i have to finish :(