a birthday, a birthday

sonya's been baking lots of cakes, but I've been doing breads. This is my first serious cake, that involves decoration and some kind of design! In the past, I've done butter cakes, sponge cakes and Japanese-style cheesecakes, but I have never tried decorating them before.


This should be familiar, because it's what sonya made a few posts back, for another birthday across the ocean. It was really rewarding to make such a gorgeous cake, and it's inspired me to try baking more desserts, not just breads. I'll be on the look-out for not just new bread recipes but also desserts now!

It was a fantastic group activity, because of all the people involved. The person who lent me the electric mixer, my wonderful helper in the kitchen, and the talented cake decorator who gave advice and oversaw the attempt to decorate the cake.


The coolest part was covering up the uneven surface with chocolate ganache, which despite its fanciful name, is just melted chocolate in butter... it makes the cake look really cool! It reminds me of nail polish... apply a coat, let it dry and watch it shine unnaturally... only, it's edible.


Of course, no cake is done without strawberries on cream, and the usual frosting for decoration! I got a chance to practice my calligraphy, which I have not used since I've started uni... I guess because I'm not doing a course that requires handwriting. It's really a pity, that nowadays we tend to buy things instead of making them.

So, challenge yourself to bake your own cheesecakes, instead of buying them! The best part about this was being able to control the amount of sugar going into this thing, and being able to work on perfecting the cheesecake, the brownie and the cheesecake crust instead of settling for whatever Costco/TOPs is putting for sale on the shelf. Most importantly, people appreciate it if what they're eating was handmade.

Enough ego boost, back to work. Happy baking!