Trick or Treat ? I pick treat anytime

When I think of Halloween, I am thinking kids, fun, scary or cute costumes, decorations and off course yummy treats.  I would take one if they are not displayed in container with battery operated hand.  You know what I am talking about?

This year, I am not carving a pumpkin, so I make pumpkin cake-pops instead.

cute Halloween faces

Traditional sesame seed rice balls - revisiting (recipe 1)

In my previous article, I showed you this traditional dessert from Indonesia.  They are called Onde-Onde (pronounce: on-de  as desktop).  They are fried rice ball, covered by sesame seeds and stuffed with mung bean.
I found a good recipe :) you might wanna try.

giving Thanks is sweet

Thanksgiving is around the corner so I was eager to make a cake-pop display with Thanksgiving theme.

First, I started with Turkey.  It is not a Thanksgiving without a Turkey, isn't it?

pretty good for a first timer, huh? Oops, I forgot to put the legs

I got confident by then :)

8 different Turkeys, which one is your favorite?

Tres Leches with tropical surprises

Last week I threw a little get-together party at the park.  I cooked 5 authentic Indonesian dishes: Paradise salad with peanut sauce and topped with prawn crackers, Spicy beef in coconut gravy, yellow rice, fried scrambled eggs and Sweet spicy BBQ chicken.  It was a lot of work but well-worth it.  When it come to dessert, I couldn't decide what to make.  So many choices to choose from.   At last, I decided to make 'Tropicana Tres Leches' on the go.  I modified the original recipe as always to make it more island flavor.

Barnyard Bash

... birthday in a HOT AIR ballon.

My daughter is 6 month old today, I already plan for her 1st Birthday.  She likes looking at the picture of a cow with a red barn behind her rocking chair.  I know that would be perfect theme for her 1st birthday.  Instead of the a bunch of animals having a blast in a barn, I want to take them up for a hot air balloon ride.  Here is sketch her birthday cake.

 Feel free to make this cake before I do, but don't forget to send me some pictures.  I would like to know how you interpret my sketch.

To make this HOT AIR balloon cake assembly, you'll need:

Fantastic cupcake wrappers

A while ago, I was browsing the internet and found a website featuring incredibly cute cupcake wrappers.  I wanted to buy some but the shipping cost was pricey.  I wonder if I can make it myself with the help of cricut machine.  Unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost my cricut software.

Flower blooming cupcakes

This is a low calorie version of cupcake. No oil or butter needed.  Originally this cupcake is called Roti Kukus, or Bolu Kukus. ' Roti' means bread, 'kukus' means steam.  so, Instead of baking it, you steam it.

It is very easy and economical to make but lots of people fail to make the cupcakes bloom, including me :)  The cause of failure is not in the recipe, but during the steaming.

The cupcake should bloom bigger :) see TIPS below

Perfect bloom

Here's how to make it.

Beat together with mixer:
3 egg yolks
1 egg white
1 C sugar
1/2 t vanilla crystals or flavor

Add and fold:
1/2 C flour, 1/4 C coconut water, sprite or soda water.

Add and fold:
1/2 C flour, 1/4 C coconut water, sprite or soda water.

Add and fold:
1/2 C flour

Divide dough into 'x' parts. (X denotes number of color)
In my case I make 2 colors; white, green and pink.

Add food coloring on each part.

Line cup or bowl with wax paper. Pour each color dough about 2/3 of the mold height.

These are the original cupcake mold.

Steam for 25 minutes.  No peeking please.  Your cupcakes might not bloom once the water gets into the cake.

TIPS:

• DO NOT open your steamer while steaming. Water drops can ruin your cupcake. Your cupcake might not bloom.
• Make sure your cupcakes have enough room to bloom.  My wrappers were too short for the mold, therefore when the cupcakes didn't bloom big coz. there was not enough room to bloom.

I put wet paper towel around the steamer to prevent water drips.

Cake parade

a new concept of birthday cake

• no serveware
• no serving
• perfect individual portion for kid
• no hungry kids waiting for their cakes
• go green

just need some birthday candles

What do you think?  I love the vibrant colors.   Now that I think about it, they look like Thanksgiving Macy's Parade.

Here are more close up pictures ...

Mickey and Minnie

Bumble Bees

Like my sign?  Bee the first to Try

Toy story character was there too.

Ooooh I just want to grab one right now.

Imagine if this is a birthday cake ... all the kids and grab one and take picture while holding their cake pop, how fun can that be :)

Cake under 5 minutes. I call it 'Instant' cake

If you are craving for sweet close to midnight, try this recipe.

recipe for quick cake

The star, plus and minus sign are my sign to cut down steps :)
Ingredients with star are supposed to be mix together first.
Then, add ingredients with plus sign.
Last, add ingredient with minus sign.
Mix everything in a microwaveable mug.  2 t cocoa can be replaced with other flavors you like.  Cook in microwave for 3 minutes.

Do you like my sign language?  I am not good at reading directions so I come up with the signs.

Anxiously waiting for my cake.

1.22 minutes to go ...  hungryyyy

Finally,

Here's the sneak peak of my 'Mug' cake.

My upside down 'Mug' cake is ready to be eaten.