Friday, October 20, 2006

My Baby Has Arrived

After much scouting around, I decided that the "SPECIAL BUY" from Southern Bank's Direct Access was the best deal. RM1599 for this baby, at interest free instalments of RM133 per month. Now the problem is looking for a place to house this baby, considering the kitchen is more congested than a Singaporean HDB.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that you can fit all kinds of trendy attachments, from sausage maker to blender to processor. Of course, the attachments probably cost an arm and a leg. Now, if anyone can enlighten me, when we beat normal cake batter, which do we use? The K beater, the balloon whisk, or the dough hook? (obviously not the latter la). In Alex Goh's creative cake mixing, he uses the balloon whisk to mix the sponge mix. How? This is more exciting than getting a new car, and is singularly one of the most expensive appliances I've ever purchased. Heck, my TV is 11 years old, my dvd is the chiplak RM119 one. My stereo (or amp), is also 10 years old, and is falling apart. I use the chiplak dvd player as a cd player....


Godma unloaded a tonne of very ripe bananas on me yesterday, so I decided to try out a new banana cake recipe, ie, the Chocolate Banana Cake from AWW. However, after mixing the milk & lemon juice mixture, (I guess this is a form of buttermilk), I FORGOT to add it into the final batter. Anyway, it turned out okay, sans chocolate icing, coz brought it to in-laws place and no time to cool the cake.


These mini loaf pans I bought from Carrefour are a real boon. Now I can have a few experimental loafs on the side, by making extra batter. And they're non stick, so only need to grease a little bit, and they plop out easier than a baby from a woman who's had 6 kids.



The other experimentation was using fondant/sugarpaste icing to make lettering. I bought the lettering set from Pasaraya Bagus, in Shah Alam. I haven't touched fondant since the wedding cake episode, and it was with trepidation that I tried. Anyway, I intend to do what everyone's doing with cupcakes, and using these banana cupcakes below, putting a letter of the alphabet on each, to form the words HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILIE.



These are the colors of the fondant that I made. I discovered that one batch of 500gm can probably go a LONG LONG way as far as lettering goes. Can probably write a short essay with it.

Further to the comment by Snowdrop in the previous post, regarding auctioning cookie cutters, well, keep your eyes peeled, I have been known to lose interest in certain hobbies, ...... like guitar lessons, so if that day comes, EVERYTHING, from cookbooks, to baking pans, will be on sale.

14 comments:

Karen said...

congratulations! you're a proud daddy! :)

*now waiting for things to be put up for adoption....* heehee

Anonymous said...

my mom has one of these kenwood chefs .. she told me a few days ago that the K-shaped thingies can be used to make ur pastry ie the rubbing in the butter part. haven't attempted it though but that's a real mean-looking machine!

Karen said...

oh, forgot to mention, my nigella.com friends use the K-beater for mixing cakes. The ballon whisk is for whisking egg whites and the like, and the dough hook is for your kneading needs (not the massage kind).

i want the kitchen aid because it's pretty, but by all accounts, the kenwood is the stronger baby.

oh. and we're also making cupcakes this weekend! frog ones! can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Hey u beat me to it. I was going to suggest to the grp to get this baby for ur bday. Hiyah now got to crack head again...KSL

Karen said...

with prior apologies for hogging your comment box but - eer... does THIS baby get a dip in the pool at 6 months? hee ;)

Cakes n Nosh said...

Congratulations on your baby. You won't regret it.
My mom has one and its 32 years old still working! My sister's is 24 yrs and mine is 21 yrs old!!!
THe k is for the batter, of course. Have fun experimenting.

Wandernut said...

WOW! Now only I discover your blog! Sigh.

I bought my cake mixer a few months ago but it was quite ciplak wan. Faber brand. But stainless steel bowl and body and all. So macam like so nice. As long as it works I suppose. RM129.90 cannot complain lor...

When I grow up I wanna have a baby like your Kenwood.

wandernut-eats.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

my mum has a braun and a kenwood. kenwood's about 20+ years old, and the braun, even older. kinda think of it, haven't seen the braun for a while.
the K beater, i use it for most stuff - cakes, cookies - tak payah tukar-tukar the beater when you make cake-la.
the wire beater is when i use a sponge mix :-P
cookie cutter pix will be sent to you after this post. looking at them, not that many-la. just felt like a lot cos i paid a lot.
i luv mamamin's elephants. http://lauraadam.blogspot.com/2006/10/happy-deeparaya.html

Anonymous said...

terlupa nak cakap
i also hang out at pasaraya bagus. it's near my opit. and during ramadan, they were open till 9pm. they usually close at 6:30, so i'd usually have to rush over after work.
have you checked out bake with yen at puchong? also very big, and a lot of "toys"

fatboybakes said...

thanks everyone for your kind wishes on my new baby. i've had great fun playing with it, BUT, have still to get fully used to it. i find that it doesnt beat the bottom of the bowl properly so i guess i got to every now and then use a spatula to stir it. also, i am not sure what speeds to use, and have had stuff fly into my face.

i still resort to my trustee hand held mixer for smaller cake orders, somehow i feel i have more control. and the fact that the kenwood has the one bowl...hmmm, a bit of a pain if you need to fold in egg whites etc from somewhere.

Karen said...

hi there - check the manual. i think you can change/adjust the height of the beaters. or maybe that's the KA... can't remember.

Rarebeet said...

hwaahhh...Evidently not just a pretty face! You want anything from UK?

fatboybakes said...

paprika dear, who are you talking to? u off to the UK? well, thanks for the offer (presumably directed at moi), but i cant afford anything from there.

What A Lulu said...

sakit hati... you know how much it costs now? rm2099!!!!
aiyoh... i want one.....