Singing the notes!

Hi and peace be unto you,

I first saw the word "Opera Cake' on the Taylor's College part-time course brochure sometime back. And ever since then I've never stop wondering, what on earth is Opera Cake. How would it taste like? Is it nice? Is it worth it? And I've yet to go to their advance course. Then after a while, I let it go coz looking at the recipes makes me wanna weep.

I recently bought some very very good pastry books and my curiosity got fired up again. I looked and I looked and I sized myself up. It's a challenge. It's not the recipe's how to, but to get all fired up over something indefinite, isn't something I want to do alone. But looking at the pictures made me longed for it, even if it's only for slice. I need an accomplice.

So, I braved myself for a class on Opera Cake and Pavlova, something I'm quite familiar with by now. Someone took the bite and went further as to request a Sugee (semolina) cake. I didn't even blink when I clicked YES on the send button. Sugee Cake is an old, old cake recipe, which only, older generations are familiar with. Plus, it's waaayyyy too fattening.

Needless to say, I've not only took up the Opera Challenge, but I've tripled the pressure in one day, by having it as a class plus the intimidating Sugee Cake.

Pavlova! What can I say?

Buttery and nice, the coarse texture of semolina and almond made it taste rather nice. To be taken with precautions!

Singing the to the Opera tune, at last. It's a bit smudgy coz we were impatient and didn't refrigerate before we cut the first two slices. Heavenly slices, yummssss!!!

Good job Cik Mastura!! 

We had a slice of each cake we did for tea after class. Those and cups of black, thick piping hot coffee. Mas and I were like kindy kids, giggling and laughing our heads off, high from sugar and caffeine rush.

I must say, eggs and sugar, they do make me happy.

So, now that I've conquered my fear over singing to the Opera tune, I'm opening more classes on these 3 lovelies. Only for those who has done basic bakings please!!!

Sing to me at farida71@yahoo.com

Have a nice weekend!!

p/s : After posting photos on FB, Mas got loads of orders for all three cakes! Wonderful!!!

Berry berry Pavlova

Berry berry Pavlova

Salam and hi,

Like the pavlova? I was feeling unusual energetic yesterday, prolly excited bout the prospects of new projects and classes. So I made some pavlovas... And a friend (new-found) who dropped by in the afternoon (with lunch, of course, thank you very much N!!), get to sample the delicious ( if I can say so myself, ekhemm..sorry!!), Berries Pavlova.

I've this peculiar craving for Pavlovas, even before Hajj and I've been satisfying it bit by bit, at a favorite restaurant. But I'm quite disappointed by the downhill quality and taste of their pavlovas. Plus, per slice is not cheap ok, RM14.50.

A good meringue should be a bit crusted on the outside and chewy, marshmallowy like on the inside. And it shouldn't have any grains of sugar felt on your tongue. The meringue and cream should have enough sweetness to balance the tartness of the berries...

Wow, I soooo love pavlova. Plus it's the only way to get Zaim to eat some fruits, coz he just loves the chewy meringue and the oh so lemak whip cream..

I know I said no baking class at home, but I change my mind, ahaksss!!

I'm going to have baking classes at home, but only limited to 2 persons at one time. And, I'm gonna include Pavlova in one of the series. We'll start in February, coz I'm saving January for class planning and doing some samples of cakes and sugar flowers.

So, if you're interested in a private session with me, for baking and cake decorating plus of course, Sugar Flowers, do drop me a note.

In the mean time, my 18th February class now has about 7 participants. Waaayyy over my head! They're all friends and wants to be together in a group. I'm expecting a hurricane like 'gamatness' over that 3 days in Sugarflours...

I've done the Sugarflowers course outline in the NeoOffice but I've trouble converting them into JPEG files. I want to convert them so I can upload them nicely on the blog. Well, maybe I'll convert them from the MS office, I've done it before, and it's waaayyy easy. So, sorry if the class page is still not updated. We'll see how it goes in the next 2-3 days...

In the meantime, overdosing on Pavlova is what I'm gonna do.

P/s: if you notice something funny bout the pages and layout, ignore it, coz I'm trying to re-do the blog :)