joy of baking

Ok, when I was on instagram searching for some pictures of cupcakes, I became envious of the different piping techniques they did. I really dig the whole baking thing, I love pastries but I'm not really a fan on eating them, just the making part. In school, I wasn't the best pastry student there is. I even got punished during our wedding cake class for making a black colored cake with a tombstone on top and two skulls. I won't take the credit of making the skulls due to the fact that I'm also not a good artist. It's such a shame really but I think when I practice more, I can achieve it. So back on the wedding cake I made, I think it sends a beautiful meaning about how true love never dies. It takes away the statement " til death do us part ". I'm kind of a romantic guy on the inside, I just don't feel like showing it. The punishment was two weeks of mopping the kitchen. In my side of the story, the punishment was kind of unfair. I just wanted to be creative, the cake doesn't really look good but the message is.

Back to the cupcake madness, Today i made a carrot cupcake with buttercream frosting. I was planning on making a different kind of frosting but the only thing we have on stock was butter. The last time I made a carrot cupcake, it was a failure due to the miscalculation of the measurements. It didn't rise as expected but the taste was good. My sister even told me to make more but I used up all the ingredients and I need to have another recipe. Today I googled up a recipe for it and luckily, it was a success. Got it to rise like how i wanted it to and the texture and color is ok for me. 

This is the pic of the cupcakes fresh out from the oven. The picture is crappy cuz it was taken from my phone. 

The frosting on the other hand, I made two batches. The first one, I planned was a lemon buttercream frosting but unfortunately the butter I used was salted and it was too salty for me. I was a bit disappointed with that. The second batch, I finally used unsalted butter but no lemon. So it's just a simple buttercream frosting. Piping it was the nerve wrecking part. I'm kind of a perfectionist in my own way, I don't want something to fail. If it does, I will keep practicing it until it's good enough to look at and good enough to eat. I used a 1 M tip to make the fancy swirl that I loved. Right now, due to the meds I've been taking, my hands were a bit shaky and maybe it's also from the fact that I haven't done it in a long while. I don't think the last one counts as an experience. LOL

This is the final product with the buttercream frosting piped in a fancy swirl.

That's also what I loved about making these adorable cupcakes, the idea of different techniques and crazy designs that may come up. You can just imagine thousands of ways to design it. Also, the taste. Which makes it a bit tough. Now that I'm just beginning to practice, I'll just stick to the basic techniques. Who knows, maybe next time I can invent something new. It's just a matter of exploration with your creative side. I'm finally happy with the end result of this. Hopefully this can get me a good night's rest. I'll post the recipe soon. My eyes are tired and needs rest. Cheers!

It's kind of a Curry story part 2. .

. . After making the curry sauce yesterday, time to add the meat. So I added the chicken tenders to it. The good thing about chicken tenders is that they cook easily and in a short amount of time. Just try to make sure you don't over cook the chicken meat cuz it tends to break and I don't really like the whole shredded chicken in my curry.

This is simmering for about 5 minutes waiting for the chicken tenders to cook properly. Don't wanna have pink colored chicken in it.

And then the finished product, added all the sauce in a bowl and the chicken.

Nothing like a good old curry to spice up the taste buds on a cold rainy night. Also the best thing about curry is that you never know what to expect on how the spices would blend. In this case, there are a lot going on with the flavors of the ginger, the sweetness of the onions and the thickness and rich flavor of the tomato sauce and the milk. The picture might not look as much but once you can get a spoonful of it with rice of course, it will tingle your taste buds in ways you can never imagine.

So that's about it, my version of the famous curry as what I like to call it. Maybe next time, when I can improve this recipe, hopefully I can find some curry leaves, coriander seeds and maybe add some lentils and see what it tastes like. I think there's another name for it if you add some lentils but overall, it's still curry. 

For those curry lovers out there, who have never tried cooking before, try this recipe and tell me if it suits your style. After all, I'm still new with this kind of cuisine. 

Cheers!