Angry Bird Birthday Cake

It's SMALL FAN's 6 years old birthday and he requested for an angry bird cake for his birthday party.  I kinda check out the market and it cost $100 plus to $200 to ordered one.  So I thought maybe I can try making one myself.  First of all I cut down on the $$$$ and I also get to control what goes in the cake. 

I'm not a really good baker, not too confident of making fondant angry birds, so decided to buy the angry bird toy to use as the decoration.  I killed 2 birds with one stone on this, first of all, I can cut down on the time making the birds and also, I won't end up with a few coloured, sugar birds that I don't know what to do with it (don't think I will let my kids eat it since it will be loaded with sugar and colouring) but best of all, the angry bird toy can be clean up and given to SMALL FAN as his birthday present. 

Bought this angry bird toy set from Gmarket, the cataput comes with the angry bird theme song and sound...really cool.  Check in out below.

Here's what I did to make the cake. I use my favourite Chocolate Oatmeal Cupcake recipe to make the cake base. I make about 3 portion of 7 inch cake.  Then I cut out the desired shape and cover it with my buttercream frosting which I coloured green.  Then I use whatever remaining cakes I have and form it into a square block using buttercream frosting as the glue. Then I covered the block with a brown fondant that I bought from Phoon Huat, they have their own house version call REDMAN fondant, which cost $7 for a 500g pack.  Finally I decorated the cakes with the angry bird toys, some kitkat and a lovely happy birthday candles, and use a little of the brown fondant to make my SMALL FAN's name.  Wah lah...my proud creation!



I think the kids really love the cake, cause this is what is remain of the cake.


To complete the angry bird theme, I also made an Angry Bird Pinata for him.  The kids have a great time destroying it!

Mini Nobaked Cheesecakes with Mango Sauce

Wah...it's been almost 2 months since I last updated my blog...guess I'm really getting lazy.
Well, here's a nice recipe that I stumble recently will looking for a dessert to bring over for a family dinner to celebrate our national day.  Really simple but it was a real hit with the kids, I have to stop my son from eating more so his cousins can have it. Guess what I made?  Nobaked Lemon cheesecake with Mango sauce.  YUM.

Mini Nobaked Cheesecakes with Mango Sauce

For the Cheesecake

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups or 105 g digestive biscuits
• 1/4 cup or 125g margarine, softened (thought the butter was too much as my crust turns out a little soggy, I'm going to use 80g next time)
• 1/4 cup or 50g sugar (thought it's a little too much cause it's a bit on the sweet side, next time I might reduce it to 30g)

Filling         

• 1 (8 ounce or 250g) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup or 125g powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream, whipped (the cake turns out a little soft, so I would cut down the cream to 1/4 cup next time I'm doing it to see if it hardens better)

Directions

1. Put digestive biscuit in a ziplock bag and get the kids to smash it until it resemble fine bread crumbs. Mix the crumbs into melted margarine and sugar until well incorporated. Press into individual cupcakes mold.
2. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth and spreadable. Whisk whipped cream.  Then fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour cream cheese into cupcakes lined with the crumbs. Smooth the top with a spatula, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.  Pour Mango sauce over and served.
3. I made about 25 super mini cupcakes.

Mango Sauce Topping

 3 cups mangos, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon orange juice

some water

Directions

1.  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the mangoes, butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, and a little water. Stir until the mixture thickens. Add more water to the right consistency. Remove from heat and serve or keep it in the refrigerator  and serve it cold.

Chicken Shepherd Pie

Ok, I admit, I have been neglecting my blog lately, having lots of problem with my laptop so I wasn't able to load any pictures and stuff.  But this recipe, I just have to pen it down cause it's really yummy and relatively healthy.

It's Chicken Shepherd Pie, ok, you might be thinking hey....Shepherd Pie is Shepherd Pie, a pie made from Lamb, so what do you mean by Chicken Shepherd Pie?   Well, it's basically chicken pie but made like a shepherd pie....ok....it's rather complicating, let's get on to the recipe.



Chicken Shepherd Pie



Ingredients

• 5 large red or any coloured potatoes, peeled
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 stalk of leek, diced
• 300g mince chicken
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I actually run out of this cheese, so I use mozzarella instead)
• salt to taste
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 pkt of button mushrooms
• 1 can of proceed green peas
• ground black pepper to taste
• Oyster sauce to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter, diced

 Directions

1. Boil potatoes until tender. Mash with 3 tablespoons butter or margarine and milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Saute garlic, onion, carrots in olive oil until soft. Stir in mushrooms and minced chicken. Once chicken is almost browned and broken up, add salt, pepper and oyster sauce to taste. Stir in green peas. Stir in flour.
3. Divide mixture into ramekins or  pie crusts. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese over mixture. Spread potatoes over all with a spatula. Dot with butter.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, sprinkle remaining cheese on top of the pie 15 minutes before you take it out of the oven.
5. Bonn Appetite!

Persimmon Cake

My Dad gave me a whole box of Persimmons, I have been trying really hard to finish it before it spoil, but it's just too much.  So, I search the net for a recipe to help me make use of these ripe persimmons and I found this. The recipe was relatively easy to make and the cake actually tasted quite good, however, it tasted a litlle too chewy for my liking. Will probably make it again if I have lots of persimmons to get rid of.

 

Persimmon Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar (I reduce the sugar to 1 cup and it's still a little too sweet for me)
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch loaf pan.


2.Whisk together the flour baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a bowl, set aside. Whisk together the eggs, persimmon pulp, milk, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl until smooth. Fold the persimmon mixture into the flour mixture until no dry lumps remain. Pour into the prepared pan.

3.Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.  I make the cake into cupcakes and baked it in the oven for about 20 minutes instead.

Birthday Cupcakes

Ok, I haven't been updating my blog for quite a while.  Getting really lazy and proscatinating.  So here I am updating what I have been keeping in my picture file of recipes for the pass one month.   First of all, celebarted my girl's birthday with a nice pink birthday cupcakes.  I used my carrot cakes recipe from my old post, then top the cake with a super tasty cream cheese frosting which I dyed it pink and use the nice pink cups that I bought from Phoon Huat, sprinkle some colured sprinkles and wa la....a sweet birthday cupcakes.

 

Here's the recipe for the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 package of cream cheese (250g), soften
• 1/4 cup of butter, soften
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup of icing sugar

1. In a bowl, cream cream cheese and butter until creamy.
2. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3. Fold in the icing sugar.
4. Now you can start piping.  Store leftover in refridgerator.