because I’m too lazy to do a proper post…

 

Vegetarian birthday cake for dearest Banu… When she was ordering it, Zhen told me, “Must be a death by chocolate experience ah.” So I frantically went online and started to look for a fudgy chocolate frosting that would be rich, vegetarian, and most importantly, chocolatey enough to kill someone. Half an hour of weeding thorugh seemingly lacklustre recipes, I spotted this. It was a godsend. I made the frosting with pure Varlhona Guanaja… 6 full ounces of highest grade 70% cacoa- you can only imagine how it tasted. I almost expired after doing the mandatory taste test…which kinda gradually upgraded itself to an entire meal of chocolate frosting. It was really out-of-this-world. Everything about it was great: the dark “lick-me” color, the meltingly rich mouthfeel, the thick consistency which meant you can both spread and/or pipe it on, and the shiny, glossy texture. (I’ll post the pictures of the how-to of this amazing frosting soon.)

So, together with vegetarian chocolate cake layers, fresh strawberries and million-dollar chocolate frosting, I think this was enough to count for at least, a chocolate-induced comatose state, if not death. I hope I made you proud Ah-zhen…

To quote the birthday girl, the “after of Chits’ debauchery”…

Birthday cake for my uncle. This was a plain butter cake, frosted with meringue buttercream. I liked how it turned out. Simple and sweet. This was my first time trying to pipe a shell border and I’m happy with the outcome… I used a star piping tip with fine lines so that the shells would have more detail and after a bit of practice, I got the hang of piping the patterns out. The M&M border was for his 5-year old daughter who is just starting to discover the wonders of chocolate.

Pretty shell pipings…

 

This was a fun cake to make. It was for two boys, aged 11 and 12, and their mothers asked for something “very chocolately because both the boys love their chocos”. Okay then! Let’s get to it. I didn’t want to overdo the chocolate, because really, sometimes too much of a good thing can really be too cloying. So instead of a cake that used real melted dark chocolate, I baked a moist cake that used Varlhona cocoa and sandwiched the layers with fresh berries, meringue buttercream and dark chocolate shavings. To top it off, the chocolate fudge frosting (in a mini-shell border as well!), a rim of M&Ms and caramelized almonds. I loved how fun it looked at the end… perfect for a kid’s party I thought. 

Before make-up

After some sartorial help