Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Pink Cakes, Green Cakes, and Yellow Pies

When it rains it pours. Was swamped with cake orders on Saturday, which hasn't happened in awhile. Maybe the novelty has worn out, maybe the increased fuel prices have driven people to austerity, maybe sigh, my stuff is inedible, .... haha, but oh well, yeah, last Saturday, the convection oven must have complained to the microwave who lives in the apartment above, about how overworked it was. And the refrigerator couldn't have been too thrilled about being stuffed to its full capacity.

However, I'm not here to talk about those orders. Last Monday, my mother announced that green apples were cheap in Giant. Those kind of annoucements are usually a euphemism for "apple pie would be nice". Indeed, it would. So for Tuesday dinner, (family dinner night), tah dah.


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I actually love my apple pie very cinnamony, with a hint of clove, and some lemon zest. I also like it with raisins, but unfortunately, I am the only fan of dried grapes and dried up old queens, (sultanas), so they're usually omitted from the party. With Haagen Daz now RM30.90 a tub, I think I shall just have to wait for my birthday month (when I get a 30% discount voucher) and buy a year's supply. Where shall I put the freezer?

After the resounding success of the colorful cupcakes, friend who was at that party asked if I could do a birthday cake for her daughter. Alarm bells ring in my head like a fire drill in the hotel as you're about to enter the shower naked, whenever people ask me to do birthday cakes for children, and my first response is NO. However, she insisted all she wanted was a good old fashioned butter cake with some pink icing, and some princess figurines plonked on top. Okay, that didn't sound too hard, except, by Thursday, I couldn't find ANY princess figurines, apart from those Barbie ones, (eugh). Barbie, now talk about versatility, here is a chick that can be ANYTHING she wants to be. Princess, waif, trollop, mermaid, .....

So I call the friend with a distress signal, and she placates me by saying she'll provide the figurines. Phew. That was one girly task off my plate. Then came the day of the icing. PINK. Argh, I swear by the end of it, I had grown an entire cup size, one letter downwards in the alphabet.

With a shaking hand, as a result of allergy to pinky and girliness, I quickly iced the cake and sent it on its merry way. Why doesn't anyone ever have birthday cakes with Disney Villains? If I had a birthday cake, I'd want all my favourite villains on it. Maleficent, Ursula, Snow White's Step Mother.....that reminds me, have any of you read the "The Story from My Side"....it's a account written by the villains.

I love the evil queen's one. It went something like, "That lousy husband of mine, died leaving me to raise his daughter, without so much as a dime in my name. As the years went by, I noticed Snow White was getting a little tubby, so I decided some aerobic household chores would do her good, afterall, we were short staffed and these palace walls are not going to clean themselves".....you get the gist. When you have children, you inevitably pick up these things.


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Since the oven was already running, I thought I'd try again to make the Kyoto Matcha Chiffon Cake, and see if my first success was beginner's luck. Turned out quite well, although I have to tweak the recipe again for the quantities, coz my recipe yielded 1½ swiss roll tins...which is neither here nor there. And sssh, I did the unthinkable. Look at the snow white cream! One look and you'll know its fake non dairy. Gasp. That's a whole other story, but rest assured, I do NOT ever use fake cream. All my cream is pure thick creamy gobs of fattening milky goodness.

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And yesterday, I thought I'd whip up a lemon meringue pie for Tuesday dinner, since I reached home early, and had time to make it. It doesn't take much time as such, but the waiting time, ie, letting the pastry sit in fridge for 30 minutes, etc....does require chronological time frame. If you had a ready crust, the process will take 10 minutes. (for me that is). Excluding the baking time for the meringue. But once its in the oven for meringue to bake, you can basically go off and perform your chores.

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Lemon Meringue anyone?


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you sold your soul. Pink!!!!

Anonymous said...

You know, now all I can think of is your version of the birthday cake with Disney Villains... Oh do go make one! :D

Dee said...

Ooh, me, me! And a slice of apple pie, while we're at it.

I've never made lemon meringue before, does such a thick layer of meringue actually cook through?

I don't have the secret A&W waffle recipe, but got a couple more from the King Arthur cookbook. Wanna try?

daphne said...

How expensive haagan diaz ice-cream is now! Atrocious!

and howww cuteeeee..and pinkkkk and girly the cake is. ;p

can i hv the slice of the lemon meringue pie please? pretty please?

Anonymous said...

Where are all the mothers of the boys? I want to see some villains.

fatboybakes said...

myfoodsafari, i think boys usually go for transformers, ultraman etc...not the disney villains. they are underrated unpublicised victims!

daphne, shudder. sssh!!!
help yourself to the pie ya.

dee, opcors it cooks thru. slower heat. actually, when i plonked it on, the meringue looked so flat...surprisingly it seemed to have risen.

kenny mah, which villain are you?

lemongrass, theoretically i didnt sell my soul la, as the cake was a gift, and i received no payment.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

u sure got such a book or not? sure big seller man!..among the parents that is..

barbie apparently has spawned diff names..even my 3 yr old cousin can pronounce but i got no idea..wat it is..

Henry Yeo said...

Hagen Dasz: I am with you, now to find some authentic chocolates without any vegetable oil in the ingredient list.

villains: i prefer antiheros, much more believable. If you mentioned the Disney Villians book, have you tried the Wicked Witch of the East? no many male disney villains worth mentioning, but Kenny would make a good Cruella De Vil (always trying to look good :P)

Henry Yeo said...

pie: Me too! I want a slice!!!

Ciki said...

my fav villian is Captain Hook! lol.. which reminds me of this riddle i use to ask adults when i was a kid - which annoyed the be-Js out of them, but which i really got a kick out of.. ready? "what is worse than kissing count dracula? ... shaking hands with captain hook!" hurhur.. not farnee meh :P nice princess cake btw.. are those figurines solid cream or do they have a mould underneath?

Anonymous said...

FBB: Oh I'll be Scar from The Lion King if I could be any Disney villain I want. C'mon, can you imagine anything cooler than possessing Jeremy Iron's voice? And having CLAWS? Lol.

Henry: I doubt I'd make a good Cruella De Vil --- fur is so not me, not this season anyway. :P

HairyBerry said...

why didn't anyone think of a matcha flavoured shrek birthday cake? and having tasted your matcha chiffon, i must say it was refined. nice!

you did well with pink. you are a brave man.

fatboybakes said...

ah, hairy berry, how bout we do a green shrek matcha cake for your birthday?! green, hmm, that always reminds me of this riddle: what's green, wet and slimey, and smells of pork?

answer: kermit's finger.

kennymah, oooh, scar's fantastic. so deliciously evil. jeremy irons is fab!! but having just watched batman recently, i think the Joker is probably right up there la, as villains of villains.

ciki, no la, them figurines are plastic. dunno where the mother got them from. they're probably much like the princesses in real life, hollow underneath. heh heh, captain hook eh? well i cant STAND wendy and tinker bell.

henry yeo, are you talking about the book WICKED? found it a tad dark and depressing.

nipples, got la. its called "my side of the story" or something laidat.

Rarebeet said...

my my, you've been a busy girl haven't you?! I'd like a tour of your fridge actually. Sounds like a glutton's wet dream come true. Sara Lee French Vanilla is pretty good too. Although I hardly see it around anymore. My favourite Disney Villain is the Queen from Snow White. She kicks ass!

fatboybakes said...

paps, ya, i lurve the Queen too. if she had a name, wonder what it would be. however, my favourite is Maleficent, gorgeous and horny. Check out http://www.ultimatedisney.com/countdown4/index3.html
My favourite line, ""Now you shall deal with me oh Prince, and all the powers of HELL!!" Sigh, cartoons those days, so deliciously innocent.

Argus Lou said...

All your cakes look so yum, FBB. If I were to order a cake from you, can I have the Dominatrix theme? ^_^ Let's see where you'll source those little whips and masks and handcuffs, hee hee.

The Caked Crusader said...

The pastry of your apple pie looks absolutely perfect! I am salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs!

none said...

Hi,

Could you assist where I can find Ultraman cake moulds?

hahah a bit um unusual but certainly not rare i think.

Thanks
Reily