after a long hiatus, due the fact that blogger hates me and i can't upload pictures, i've finally got tiffy to help me upload them! so yayy thank you.

here's a strawberry-toblerone cake that I made for my sister's birthday. it's basically a basic yellow cake cut into layers and sandwiched with ganache made from toblerone, and topped with a white chocolate icing and sliced strawberries. this was really good and nice tasting, although i had been rather displeased with the white chocolate icing.

here's a step-by-step tutorial on cake-making:

this cake is really easy because all you need to do is throw all the ingredients in a bowl. as you can see i just measured and threw it into the bowl. i love these one-bowls. i absolutely abhor washing up.

here's the recipe! it's rather good, and you'll find it makes a rich butter cake that i cut up for my parents to eat neat.

mix it gently but thoroughly into a smooth batter,

and toss it into a greased and bottom-lined pan.

this bakes up into a lovely golden-brown yello cake. with a slight bump and crack on the top. i cut away the sides and corners for my parents to eat straight, as mentioned. i used the middle of the cake to create the layers! those lovely charred sides are wonderful.

cut that middle up into three layers, as even and as straight as you can. i use a choice of a serrated and a straight bread knife to create my layers. the serrated one cuts better as you first go into the cake, but the straight one cuts better even layers. tip: line the bottom of your rack with paper towels or something to catch the crumbs. it lessens the clean-up after!

and if you line your butting board with parchment before cutting your butter cake, it won't become all nasty and oily.

made a simple ganache out of toblerone, and tried to make an opaque white chocolate ganache to cover the cake, but it didnt! and that bothered me like crazy, even though it tasted nice. my original plan was to line and ice the cake before layering strawberries, but because the ganache couldn't cover anything, i just lay the strawberries over.

An attempt at pizza, this time with NYC-style thick crust. Perhaps a little TOO thick.

Recipe taken from Reinhart's American Pie, where he obsessively lists all the pizza doughs you could ever conceivably make and gives the best way to flip, top and bake them. While my baking stone makes the dough blister spectacularly, I have to work on getting the timings right- evidently I put them in too long. Healthy choice toppings (apart from 1/2 cup of oh-so-fatty-but-gorgeous mozarella cheese) such as spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes with a base of tomato paste (w/o any salt) make this pizza savory with a tinge of natural sweetness and barely any oiliness at all.

I love handling different types of doughs and pizza dough, with its silky elasticity, is certainly no exception. I just wish I could do the toss-and-spin with the kind of finesse you see at real pizzerias. Until then, I'll be satisfied eating these strange, misshapen pizzas.

Chunky red bean paste with sponge layers!

I am frustrated that even after doing this several times (check history), I still can't get the roll cake to be picture perfect! I swear, one day I will bake a whole day's worth of roll cakes until I get the right balance of fluffiness, thickness and flexibility. The red bean paste doesn't look very flattering, but it tastes nice :)