#ThrowBackRecipe Four Tier Chocolate Cake --> *BAM* Poop Cupcakes

Ah...does the new layout look good? I thought the previous layout was weird. I mean what do street lights have to do with this blog? That I need a light in times of darkness? Well, I guess... that is true. Okay. I shall stop here and move on...

I have made this cake 2 years ago. I was watching Masterchef Australia Junior version. This was some sort of a challenge for the kids. HEY! Don't undermine the simplicity of the recipe. Fine. It was easy. Anyways, I remembered it being a hit with my family. This time round, I decided to make them into cupcakes.

(Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/four-tier-chocolate-layer-cake.htm)

Splash of vanilla extract here and there. 

Les Ingredients (I'm pretty sure that's not French for ingredients)

I just want to say - I went ingredient shopping at Wegmans, this supermarket in US, online and things are cheap. You see that vanilla extract? It costs me $5.10 SGD for 30 ml at Cold Storage. It costs around $5 for 60 ml at Wegman's. FIVE DOLLARS. Cake mixes are about $1.50 - but here, it costs about $4.50!!!! If i could, I would just retire in America and bake the crap out of Wegman's and give it out to people for free. Then, go broke. I am procrastinating...right?

MOVING ON, I pretty much followed the recipe strictly. I don't think I made much variations on this recipe except I added 20 g less of icing sugar for the frosting. I would recommend you not to as well because these babies were pretty moist when they came out...almost like human ones. ( Say what?) Well, I will just let the pictures do the talking since I am so annoying, right? Haha..just kidding..I think...

Opened a new batch of coca powder - it was so soft ...like clouds. Yes. I do believe I can touch clouds. SSHHH - I won't believe you otherwise. *LALALALA*

Before...

Sorry, I had to pierce the cakes thus the marks. 

Wheeeeee - moist!!

Making the cream cheese. Awesome. POSSUM. 

It was so soft and incorporated the right amount of air *sound so professional*

By the way, chocolate cream cheese frosting is good. Like really really rich ...and good. Hence a tip, if you are all sad and depressed because you watched a really sad movie or nobody loves you (I..don't do that..'ahem') - make this frosting. It will make you feel better. In an instant. However, if you are planning to pipe like pretty decorations, I would say cream cheese is the wrong icing. It melts easily. I tried it with my newly bought Wilton decorative piping tools *thanks my dearies who bought it for me* - it did not stay up for a long period of time. If you do want it to, I would recommend buttercream icing although it's a tad sweet. Alternatively, I have heard Swiss Meringue Buttercream works as well and is less sweet but I have yet to try it out. If I do, you will know...because that's what I do...homie. (What?)

I know - Hilarious, right? Especially the top cupcake. 

Let's be honest, it looks like poop but it doesn't taste like one (: wheeeeeee

Yes. I have named the cupcake version of this: "Poop Cupcakes". I think it looks apt? Oh well.

That's all folks. (I miss cartoons. WHY DID I GROW UP?)

Good Night.

Café Salivation... say WHAAAAT...

Heyy you..awesome..person whom I do not know. How you doin' ;) 

Fine. I will cut the crap. No...I didn't cook or bake this time but I did EAT. That's right. I am one of those annoying people on a social media platform who all they do is take pictures of food. Am I ashamed? NO. Alright, it is a bit annoying. I have to pull food away from people before they eat it so I can take a snap of it. Should I just stop talking and talk about the food? Sigh. Fine.

Restaurant: Cafe Salivation (100% Veggie Friendly)

Look at the position of the garlic bread. You know the chef was like "Wait..before you go out with this plate, let me put this one horizontal"

I was catching up with some JC friends and while waiting for the rest to show up, some of us ordered appetizers: potato croquettes and garlic bread. The garlic bread was good. I wouldn't say little garlic cloves were dancing around my head when I bit into it. However,(whoa..fancy much..'however'?),the potato croquettes were served piping hot. We dipped our croquettes into the yogurt and ate them. Honestly, the croquette and the yogurt were meant to spend their lives together. Too much? I thought so.

Ravioli stuffed with Spinach. Drenched with cream and cheese. Did I hear an artery pop?

Please go with friends. If you don't have one, make one or share it with the waiters. There is just a lot of cream,cheese and ...cream. And cheese. Luckily, we all shared these dishes. The spinach ravioli was really good but I could only have one. After a while, the cream gets a bit too overpowering.

Nachos. O yeeeaaahhh. 

The nachos was good... the cheese is just omggggg...where do they get it from? I know.. it's a cow but this cow is ... God-sent. Why am I talking about cows? Part of me believes that I have ADHD. Unicorns.

Spinach Lasagna, Part of me is loving this vegetarian diet. Really. More than 2 servings of veggies in 1 meal!

 The tomato sauce they used for both the lasagne and the enchilada had a hint of Indian...spices. It was not too strong but just a hint and it just..complimented the dish so well.

Veggie Enchiladas...I loooove veggiesss wheeee

 The mushroom burger was ..alright. I wouldn't say it was fantastic but what was really good were the fries. Surprising, right? I mean the fries did not taste like those frozen ones. It was like..the fries were carefully sliced from the potato and ... well I think you can taste the love and dedication that was put into this dish. Yes.. too much.

Mushroom Burger

 You can keep your paramgiano reggiano, cheddar, red leicester, mozarella..okay maybe not mozarella, but vat I lowve iz da paneer. Beri good. *Cutting the accent away* The paneer pizza was sooo heavenly. I was not excited to see olives and tomatoes because they are not my favourite toppings but I couldn't give a damn. I have had paneer like in palak paneer and tandoori paneer...but I have not had them melted. That. was. amazing. UH-MAZING. Melted cheese..amazing.. just fantastic. Too good yar. Just too good. Alright, I am done with the accent.

Paneer Pizza

Café Salivation - you got me good. 

 Well, after this, we went to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves, to chilll...They had their new Birthday ice blend and I wanted to try it so badly. Why? There were sprinkles on top. I am not even going to pretend that I love vanilla or crap. You put sprinkles on something - I will eat/drink it.

Birthday Ice Blend, my ass. It's JUST MILK I TELL YA. 

Anyways, I digress. It was bad. I mean I paid $8.10 for the drink and it was crap. I could have bought a bottle of milk...PERHAPS EVEN TWO. 

Ooookay I am done ranting. Wheeee. 

Have a nice day you awesome possums. I love Vampire Diaries by the way. I have become one of those obsessed girls who love vampires. It's embarrassing, I know but I thought I should let you know. Please don't leave. YOU ARE ALL I HAVE. 

Okay I am done. Maybe I do have ADHD. 

Alright. Good night (: 

P.S: Do check Cafe Salivation out here - http://www.cafesalivation.com/ (Head to Farrer Park, and take Exit F, it's a pink signboard. You can't miss it. I am actually imagining that I am whispering this information to you...okay..just being weird... bye!)

Grilled Chicken. Fun. Laughter = This week

WOW. It has been a crazy week! An enjoyable one since the weekends have started - does that even make sense? It doesn't. Don't even bother. 

This week I COOKED. AGAIN.
(No, it's not pasta but I am going to attempt to make ravioli from scratch...one day!)

I made Sweet Sticky and Spicy chicken inspired by the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-sticky-and-spicy-chicken/

I was disciplined and stuck to the recipe...SOMETIMES.

oooh....a close up shot of the ingredients. *yawn*

In the above picture, I did not use the Tabasco hot sauce. It smelled funky and god knows how long it has been in my fridge. Instead, I used Nando's Extra Extra Hot Peri Peri Sauce. If you want this to be spicy, I would recommend you add another tablespoon of hot sauce. The chicken turned out more sweet than spicy but it was flavourful and juicy.

Looks like puke - YUM! 

According to the recipe, you mix the chicken with all the ingredients then grill it right after. However, I decided to do it as a 24 hour marinade. Also, I added a pinch of flour to the marinade. I recommend you coat the chicken with flour FIRST then add the ingredients. This, according to some of the reviews in All Recipes, is to make the chicken more sticky and crisp. I must say the marinade smelled a bit funky but trust me-it's just the overwhelming smells of soya sauce, hot sauce and honey...but it's worth it!

The next day was hilarious. At least I laughed.

You would think, a box of marinated chicken should be in the fridge so the juices will penetrate into the chicken but brilliant me...O SO BRILLIANT me, left it in the freezer. I was panicking  because I had to make dinner quick since my sister and dad were reaching home soon. I was running between the microwave oven to defrost the block of marinated chicken and making the stir fried French beans!

oooh Beans. Bet you have never seen them before. So I took a photo.  I HAVE A LIFE. 

First, I "blanch"-ed the beans. Wow. Fancy. "Blanch". Basically I boiled the beans in a pot of salted water for 3-5 minutes although I should have left it in a bit longer (this is up to your discretion). When you think the beans is ready, switch off the stove and immediately submerge the French beans into ice cold water. Did you read that? ICE COLD water. This is so that the beans will stop cooking. Basically at the end of this blanching process, you want crunchy cooked green beans. It should be eat-able. Oh wait. They have a word for that, "edible ".*Insert epic face palm *

Cool Beans - get it? hahaha. Fine. I don't have a life. 

Stir Fried Beans!

 At this point, you can eat the beans by itself or add flavour to it. I added about 1 tbsp of olive oil to a heated pot (I just used the same one I boiled the beans in). Then, add crushed garlic about 4-5 cloves. Please make sure the oil isn't too hot so when you add the garlic, it turns too brown and becomes bitter. No one likes a bitter garlic. Yuck. Then add about 1 tbsp dark soya sauce or whatever amount you prefer. ( More sauce does not equal (!=)  to tasty - there are LIMITS!). Don't leave it too long for the beans to cook because you still want to maintain that crunchy texture you painfully obtained from the fancy "blanch"-ing process. I would say leave the beans in about 2 minutes tops.

After I made this dish and prayed for the chicken to defrost, it was time to get the chicken on the skillet!
(Part of me felt I was on MasterChef, you know that show? With the amazing Gordon Ramsey? Sigh. I can never do that. I will go into a nervous breakdown first. Then, lose. Depression. Death. Wow - let's get back to that chicken!)

They see me grillin' They hatin' ... 

 This was my first time using a skillet. To be honest, when I flipped the chicken, I got super excited when I saw the lines on the chicken breast like those burger patties at Burger King. I was fighting the tears of happiness. Haha. Just kidding. Ahem.

I kept flipping the chicken breasts because I was afraid they would stick to the skillet and some did. Oh and make sure the pan is not too hot. You don't want the chicken to look cooked when the inside is still pink because that means the meat is uncooked. Duh. So just keep flipping and flipping for about 7-9 minutes? To check, I took a piece and cut a bit in the middle - if it's white, it's alright :) (<--So many racist jokes. I shall refrain)

Unlike the recipe, I did not pour the sauce over the chicken and cover the skillet but I did brush the sauce over the chicken. This is so that 1. It moist the chicken 2. I don't waste the sauce.


Here are some pictures:

Seriously - Instagram just makes food look good. I mean wow.
Am I glorifying myself? Maybe.

My precious...

Please wipe that drool on your laptop. Please. I do not want to be the cause for some spoiled laptop.
I won't be able to forgive myself! Too dramatic? Perhaps.

I should have cleaned up the plate and plate it more nicely but it's the best I can do! And that was store brought garlic bread. I can do it home made but how much can I do from scratch! Perhaps one day I shall write a long ranting post about garlic bread. 

This has been quite an interesting week so far. Meet ups with some random friends did good for my mental health. It didn't improve of course. I mean, I am still nuts but I am sure you guys knew that from my posts. I make it sound like I have a mini fan club and maybe I do in my own little world :) I am going to be making Thosai and Coconut Chutney tomorrow. Wish me luck. Seriously. Gawwd.

Good Night.

No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

(This was inspired by the recipe at http://www.bakersroyale.com/cheesecake/oreo-cookies-and-cream-no-bake-cheesecake/)

It's SUNDAY!

Evidently-you would know because this post is dated so.

As I said in my previous post, I would write about the Oreo Cheesecakes I made if they turned out good - they were not so bad, so ta-da!

I didn't stick to the recipe strictly and made some minor changes. Instead of using graham crackers, I used Oreo cookies but in the same amount. I also baked the crust first because I wanted a firm crust (this came out a bit too tough :P hahaha). So here are some pictures:

Gahh..I had to remove the cream

That's brown sugar with smashed Oreo bits and a waterfall of buttery goodness

I could just eat this with the cream cheese and be satisfied  - it was so goood! 

                                 

*pat pat pat*

Folding in the crushed oreos - do not blend unless you want grey cream. Like really grey.                                  

Scooped in the cream cheese mixture

I had some cream cheese left so this one is crust-less

Uh..some angling to Instagram it (I have no shame)

This was the outcome but the cream cheese part is more sturdy now because I left it in the freezer. 

That's All Folks!

Aglio Olio

Heyyyyy...... there.... you.... handsome...pretty person!

It has been a while - I won't deny that...but I have no idea who reads these posts anyways. I mean - who cares? (Pleasestaypleasestaypleasestay)

Anyhoo! My mum is overseas and dinner is always a question. "What are we going to have for dinner? Do we have ingredients? Did Mum leave us any food behind? No? She didn't? Alright, let's call Pizza Hut" - You know, that sort of thing. I would like to clarify though that I do cook well when a blue moon appears but two days ago - it didn't. Let me show you:

Don't you just love Instagram? It makes crappy food look good. 

It was a funny story. Really. Sort of.

My sister had bought WHOLEMEAL spaghetti. Those brown ones? She asked me to cook dinner with that and so I did. I basically sauteed (<--fancy;) ) garlic, mushrooms and red bell pepper. Then, I added the cooked pasta into this mix. It was .. how do I say it.. .gross. The pasta itself was a tad hard although it was boiling for more than the stated time and wholemeal pasta cannot absorb flavour. I have no idea who invented this pasta and maybe I am just lashing on this pasta because it turned out really bad for me but I am just going to go ahead and blame it on the inventor of wholemeal pasta. It tastes gross, dude. Stahp. 

ALRIGHT, FINE. The seasoning was off too! I didn't add enough salt but honestly nothing could have helped made that pasta better. My sister had an "ingenious" idea to add mayonnaise. Apparently, adding mayonnaise to pasta is a quick fix. It definitely did not help in this case unless you are a big fan of puke then, please by all means - go ahead. 

Although it was just pasta, I felt like I have been having a series of unfortunate events (Lemony Snicket would understand) in the kitchen. I decided it was time for basics. Aglio Olio is supposed to be a simple recipe but you can screw it up easily.. like I did. 

THUS, I made Oreo Cheesecakes and attempted Aglio Olio (with normal WHITE Linguine pasta) again! I will write about the Oreo Cheesecake tomorrow.. if they turn out good (I added a bit too much salt for that because  my brain thinks salt is more essential in a dessert than a cooked dish). This time round I asked for my dear dear friend Seok Han for the recipe. I remembered eating at her place during Chinese New Year so I got the recipe from her. I don't know whether she minds me sharing the recipe so I probably won't but you can contact me personally or something. ( + I am just lazy to type it out :P ) 

I guess you can see what ingredients I used here from the pictures below. I did not have red chili so I used green but it's supposed to be red. 

Oooh....Pizza Hut's Parmesan sprinkled on top... (I take great pride in being cheap)

Today seems to be a "salty" day (I am definitely imagining crickets here) . The dish turned out to have a bit too much salt but it had an awesome flavour. I might have thought this was great because my previous pasta was like crap, but who the hell cares?

On a personal note, it has been 4 weeks since I have started internship and it is pretty okay so far. I like the other interns, the colleagues and my bosses...So far, it's been good and I am glad about that. 

So...I am going to go and catch up on 2 Broke Girls - I love Kat Dennings. She is so gorgeous! 

Toodles!

 (Get it? Because I made noodles? So it's like.... toodles? No? Alright. Good Night)

Wheeeeeee

Exams are over. So what?

Why hello world,

My exams are OVERRRRR. Awesome,right? You would think I would feel liberated and want to paint the town red but I don't. For some reason, this summer seems different. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I am starting a 3 month internship from next Monday. Maybe I have not ended my school term on a good note. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows.

Well today I went to catch Iron Man 3! It was a free ticket too but too bad I did not manage to catch the last scene! I googled when I got home and there was one!! Which means I have to go again, I must. After the movie, I immediately went back home and decided to cook dinner and bake...like a nice traditional wife should....BUT IT SUCKED. hahahaha. Seriously. Let me show you what I made:

Oh my God...wow... It's a f*cking sandwich.

Looks amazing? Let me tell you, my mum was forcing herself to swallow half the sandwich. I guess it's the raw out-of-can tuna aversion which everyone in my family loathed and I can't blame them. Honestly, I hated it too. It was pretty fishy (<---unintended pun !!! *pats self on back,* good job Shanaaz, good job) Anyways, what I learnt from this is... Instagram is an amazing photoshop tool. This looks attractive but sure as hell doesn't taste as good as it looks.

 Apart from that, I also learnt that adding beans to your tuna does not make any difference..any freaking difference. Fo' sho'(<--gangsta'..alright I will stop). Neither does lemon. Really. Would I make this again? I might because I need to finish up the beans and another can of tuna. Pffft.

After I made this atrocious dinner, I baked. Due to my financial circumstances and baking depression (that I get whenever some cupcake/cake/pie/cookie does not turn out right), I cheat-baked. I bought instant. I pretended to be fucking Betty Crocker and baked. You might say to me -"Hey Shanaaz, that's okay. The cakes will turn out nice and you will feel good" and add a semicolon and a closing parentheses at the end to make me feel better.

Well, I didn't feel better.

The cupcakes I made sucked. I don't know why either. I try and try but seems like I am getting worse and worse at this baking thing. People say practice make perfect. Evidently, it is not applicable to me because I am abnormal. Damn it. (WHY GOD WHY).

However, I have not tried frosting from a can in a looong time. It's not too bad. I might get one of these bad boys whenever I am depressed and dip chocolate chip cookies into it. *Bookmarked* My mind.. bookmarked that thought...so that I.. yeah.. okay. You get the point.

Well, a stupid bug has flown into my room now. That's why I always close my windows in my room- No one ever understands why. Gawd. So annoyingg. Alright, bimbo Shanaaz seems to be crawling out as well. I would say I am going to head to bed-but I am not. I am just going to lie down and google/youtube weird facts that I want to know...or a good tuna sandwich recipe.

Till then...Good Night.

I'm ALIVE..sort of--> Failed Confetti Cupcakes

HIHIHI.

I don't know who I am even talking to but hello.

It has been a crazy. hectic semester like all the other semesters. I make it sound like I am relieved that school is over but bitter truth is.. it is NOT. I have got 2 more research papers due and exams start on 15th April !!

So the moment the last presentation was over, I did what I felt I had to do.

I baked.

Just like the checkerboard cookies--they were a failure. I don't even know why I do this but I still do. I guess it is because I like rainbows...and unicorns. What? Yeah. Okay.

Sue me-I cheated today and even then it was baadddd :(

You would think since I used an instant cake mix, this would turn out to be a success. Well guess what, the cake mix cover lies... LIES. Grrrr. Anyways, I made these a bit different, I added nonpareils/ hundreds and thousands (Big whoop). In the first batch, the cupcakes looked like they had an early stage of rainbow chicken pox. As shown below: (<--been writing reports)

uh.. because this would be an artistic angle. 

Before....

After...wheeeee

This batch was not very colourful. Heartbroken, I was. Whoa-Yoda came out of no where. I digres (again). I had to add more of the nonpareils and you have to make sure you STIR. Don't ever EVER mix it alot- then you will get a brown cupcake. Why? Well, it's kind of like if you take all the paint colours and mix it in one paint can? Yeah, that colour you get? That would be the colour of your cupcake. Just don't mix.

Looks like it still wasn't enough, even after adding more of the nonpareils..!!

 You see the problem here is not the cake! It's that DAMN frosting!!! I wanted to make a vanilla butter cream frosting:

Looks amazing, right? Looks professional? Well, it tastes like diabetes in a bowl . It was way way way way too sweet!!!  Actually, the whole purpose of this baking session was to try the new piping tool my mum got from NTUC and it was pretty useful. See:

Look at that peak--LOOK AT IT.. IT'S FREAKING PEAK. 

After this, I went to sit down and reflect about life. It's crazy how a bad baking session can pull me down... very badly. Evidently. Like what's wrong with me? Okay...that's a whole new different post. Eventually, my sister came back home and she told there was cream cheese so I just blended it together. However, the frosting became a glaze-it became too THIN.  There was no point using the piping tool.

After which, I was forced to clean up :( grr hate that part.

Well I just realised I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before and I am still awake! gooddjobshandfadlkaf;jlz

Haha. Kidding. (Am I?)

Alright,

Good Night!