New Year Countdown

About 5 hours 50 minutes to go before the New Year arrives. Quite frankly, I'm a bit down in the dumps as I'm having about of food poisining. Anything I eat makes we want to run to the toilet... but you dont want to hear about that.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great New Years party wherever and whatever you may be doing. Here's to a great 2007 and may there be lasting peace and joy. I'm tired about reading of wars, natural disasters and other 'bad things'.

Have a great one everybody!

End of Year

Another year is coming to a close and as the old Lennon song goes, what have we done? Nothing much really. I dont even know where to start in summarising the year.

But I suppose all in all, things went pretty well. There were no untoward incidents - at least not personally. So I suppose it would be right to say that 2006 was a pretty good year.

As far as cooking and desserts go, I was featured again in The Weekend Chef and also contributed a number of feature stories.

I experimented with Poached Pears in Wine as well as Caramelised Pears with Cream and suffice to say that the kids loved them. I also made a lovely Cheese Fruit Flan for my wife's birthday.

2006 also say me make my first 3D cake for my son's birthday and although it was a lot of work, I now have the experience.

Lessons learnt? Firstly, good equipment always helps. To this end, I'm trying to get myself a candy thermometer for tempering chocolates. I learnt that if you dont temper chocolates - even when just moulding them, the chocs tend to melt very fast. It also has a slightly grainy texture.

So yes, I've increased my repertoire of cakes and food dishes. Have a great end of year and a Blessed and Peaceful 2007! As John Lennon sang....

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The war is so long
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun

Christmas Review 2006

So the chocolate cakes were a hit as usual. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised at how good the Chocolate Log tasted. It was basically the same recipe as the chocolate cake but I used a Ganache for the topping and that seemed to make a world of difference. It gave the cake a sort of a 'Ho-Ho' (you know those small chocolate cakes you buy in the US?) sort of taste and texture.

A number of people commented that I should take orders and sell my cakes as a business. Problem is, it takes too much time - as in I dont want to be tied down to having to bake cakes after coming home from work. Maybe one day I'll realise my 'dream' of opening a cafe and then maybe I'll take orders. For now, its more the pleasure I get out of baking the cakes - especially for my kids!

Christmas 2006

Another Christmas is over and the kids had a load of fun!

As usual, I baked the Chocolate Cakes (4 of them!) for our Christmas party. The 'hole' at the bottom left of the cake just shows my laziness as the cakes are served cut so no one would know anyway!

For a change, I also whipped up some Brownies and served them stacked up like a Christmas tree. My wife got the idea from watching a Nigella Lawson episode.





I also made a Chocolate Log that turned out to be quite delicious...






And finally a Chocolate Rehrucken for my son's Godparents.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Formula One Cake

Made this cake for my son's Fifth Birthday. The first '3-D' cake I ever made. Was a lot of work but the result was worth the effort.

Welcome Address

Hello everyone, this is my attempt at blogging. I dont know how long it will last or how intensive I will get with it...but its a start anyway!