Saturday 27 February 2010

dear night, please stay young i have cupcakes waiting to be frosted




when i think about success, i think about is this the life i want to live?

dear today, fly me to..


india or israel..
i miss being a tourist.

Friday 26 February 2010

dear today, i need to bake


im quite disappointed with this semester's result.
i dont know how many years are there until im done with these interior design school sh*t!
i really need to bake today, i just feel like need it.
but i cant, i dont know why.. i just cant.. i feel like i cant bake.
weird'oh!

Thursday 25 February 2010

dear today, please give me good cupcakes


.

dear, why there is almost no good cupcakes in jakarta?
okay, i've tasted the good ones before and really satisfied but it was just two times experience! PLEASE!
just two times good cupcakes experiences!

i bought these cupcakes today from Y&Y restaurant and truth to be told, im disappointed by these.
the cakes were so dry and crumbly.
the chocolate frosting tasted weird.
but okay, the rum raisin frosting was..okay..
the biggest disappointment came from the red velvet cake.
so dry so crumbly, it isnt red velvet cake! its the opposite of red velvet cakes!
PLEASE!

Wednesday 24 February 2010

dear today, dear father

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would you be a brown sugar and let me keep a dog?
i want german shepherd.. and hey, it could be a guardian dog too, right?
please father, please..

Tuesday 23 February 2010

dear today, bye @ayudoescupcakes

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GASP!
oh dear, would you like to try my chocolate cake?
its really good, maybe i could win your heart and take you to my bed?

i deleted my personal twitter account, personal as in i have my friends and family in my friends list.
yes, goodbye, goodbye!

but do follow @sugarcrawler for latest update about my baking activity :D

some like it dark...and ugly: devil's food cake

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made this for my mom since she's an avid chocolate eater
she took a bite and........nothing...
nothing, no expression, no comment, no compliment nor critique

and me? i like it! im in heaven, i beat famous bakeries's chocolate cake!
and the best of all, i like things simple.
so this simple devil's food cake is the right dessert for me.
i dont really fancy a fancy and chic dessert.
i get excited by simple frosted and sprinkled cupcakes, simple frosted layers cake and oh, just keep it simple and classic please.
give me something over decorated or something made with fondant, GAH! no thank you.

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may i say, this cake is the most decadent and chocolate laden cake i ever made.
i used lindt dark chocolate for the ganache, news flash: i bought 2.5kg of lindt dark chocolate yesterday :D
and droste cocoa powder for the cake.
soooo, good chocolate makes HUGE impact on a chocolate cake.
too bad, the oven i used is not in it best.. something i dont really like about the cake's texture.

anyways..
i really think i'll win every chocolate-maniac-men's heart out there with this cake.
oh, maybe just make friends with chocolate-maniac-people maybe?
you know you love me, XOXO chocolate cake girl

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recipe from david lebovitz

Devil's Food Cake
one 9-inch cake


There's a certain amount of discussion about when to use natural vs Dutch-process cocoa powder, which I explain in my chocolate book, if you're interested in the details, but I've made this cake with both kinds of cocoa powder and no one's refused a slice cake made with either.

For the cake:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee (or water)
½ cup whole or low-fat milk

For the ganache frosting:
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup water (or cream)
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

1. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
3. To make the cake layers, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)
5. Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
7. To make the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate with the water (or cream) in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
8. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.

To frost the cake:
Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.

Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome. Just be sure to keep cake out of the sun in the meantime.

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Monday 22 February 2010

dear today, i cooked

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hell yes! i cooked!
and it tasted GOOD, actually!
fyi, im not much a 'cooking girl'
im a 'baking girl'
i hate cooking, it smells bad..
i loathe the smell of raw garlic or raw fish

but i think i'll continue this cooking activity
as long my fingers dont have to meet raw garlic... and nothing with bad smells!
and..only simple things.. low-fat things, fat people's diet things..
i dont want the smell of those ruin my body's already nice fragrance ;p

Sunday 21 February 2010

colourful cupcakes and graduation cupcakes

2 dozens cupcakes i did for kiky..
like always, the flavors are blueberry red velvet and chocolate.
dear, customers.. there are many other flavors in sugar crawler's cupcakes menu and they are really nice also..
how about lemon blueberry? cookies and cream? peanut butter chocolate?

anyway, these cupcakes sets are my favourite so far, i heart the colours :D

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*graduation cupcakes*

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*colourful and sprinkled cupcakes*

Saturday 20 February 2010

oh march please come quick

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im sooo waiting for march to come.
my brother's birthday, my first cooking class, a smidgen of chance about me finally getting my dream KitchenAid mixer, alice in wonderland movie!
can you believe it?
march please come quick.
and lets wish that all good things will happen in march, AMEN!

Friday 19 February 2010

blue and white cupcakes

these are 2 dozens of cupcakes i did for linda this morning, 1 dozen of chocolate and 1 dozen of blueberry red velvet, geez, people do love my blueberry red velvet, dont they?
the color is blue and white with a dash of black :D

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*man, i should improve my decorating skill, SOON!*

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ps: im sooo becoming a cupcake girl, like you know.. that girl you know because she bakes cupcakes? like "hey, that's the girl who bakes cupcakes" yeah, like that.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

thick and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies

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well, these cookies are from weeks ago. like weeeeks ago even before my macbook crashed, i just forgot to post this :D

do you mind if i talk about millie's cookies?
like the BEST cookies i've ever tasted?! like my first oatmeal raisin cookies?
like the first decent food i had after more than 20 hours journey to london?
okay, i lie about 'the first decent food' because i had two cinnabon rolls before in dubai and also, i had very nice desserts on plane..so yes, i lied.
whatever!
oh heathrow..

back to millie's cookies.
i ate my first oatmeal cookie in like, whoosh, two seconds! no kidding
it was the best, chewy and soft and buttery goodness cookies. frankly, i like the oatmeal cookies better than the chocolate chip.
it was all so buttery and vanilla-y without any hint of cinnamon nor spices.

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as always, i tried to recreating that cookies and i failed misserably.
its a nice cookies, really. its just not the one i craved.
its so spicy and too soft.
not the buttery chewy i wanted, i expected, i had in my mind
sooo yesss, the search is still on for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookies

ps: i should invest on fancy rolled oats, yes, i should!

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i got the recipe from the always awesome smitten kitchen

Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (I often use a half teaspoon, but I like more salt in my baked goods)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slighly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

crunchy oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies

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TeeHee! told you im craving crunchy chocolate chip cookies.
well, i made them this morning, this early morning and guess what? i 80% literally created the recipe.
and it worked! :D
sooooo crunch just how i want them, although i think i still have problem with the baking time because somehow the cookies are slightly underbaked while the look are just perfectly golden brown.
the ones got overbaked slash too brown surprisingly dont have the slightly underbaked problem.
so i think, the baking time isnt right yet.
anyway.. i'll definitely make them again!

and oh yeah, talking about the recipe.. i used some old-skul cookies recipe and tweaked it here and there until this crossed my mind "its not even the basic recipe anymore, this is my recipe! hell!"
and oh, fancy my lego people mit? its really cute isnt it?
wanna know a secret? i never use it for the actual baking, too cute to handle hot pans :p

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crunchy oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies

ingredients
150g unsalted butter
50g confectioners sugar (i think i'll use granulated sugar next time)
40g brown sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk (you can omit this, really)
1 tsp vanilla extract
210 cookies flour
25g powdered milk
1/4 tsp sea salt
40g ground almond
100g quick oats, process to fine ground using food processor
chocolate chips depend on your taste (i used about 100g)

directions
*preheat the oven to 150C, line cookie pan with parchment paper, mix together flour, powdered milk, ground almond and salt
*using mixer on high speed cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy, mix in egg and yolk, mix thoroughly. add vanilla
*mix in the dry ingredients using wooden spoon (i used spoonula) and do not overmix. add in the ground oats and chocolate chips
*form balls of the dough using two teaspoons and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Monday 15 February 2010

ugh man! that's a lot of XOXO

still in the mood for valentine's day? well, im not!
valentine's oh valentine's.. what is it with valentine's anyway? have i told you that the only thing i like about valentine is the colors? oh, have i? yes, i have..

so these are valentine's day cupcakes i did last weekend, blueberry red velvet remains favorite, ick! why do people love that blueberry red velvet? ick! i dont get it!

anyways..enjoy the pictures :) and crumbs and doilies is my inspiration

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*minnie mouse valentine's day blueberry red velvet cupcakes*

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*valentine's day blueberry red velvet cupcakes*

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*classic blueberry red velvet (with cream cheese frosting) cupcakes*

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*valentine's day chocolate coated tie-dye vanilla cupcakes*

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*valentine's day cookies and cream (with cream cheese frosting) cupcakes*

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*home sweet home chocolate filled red velvet cupcakes, i know.. not valentine's!*

so let me explain here..
blueberry red velvet cupcake is red velvet cupcake filled with blueberry preserves, chocolate coated tie-dye vanilla cupcakes is colorful vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate, cookies and cream cupcake is, well, your ordinary oreo cupcake and finally, chocolate filled red velvet cupcake is red velvet cupcake filled with chocolate ganache, it makes your red velvet cupcakes even more chocolatey :)

well well.. so that's it.. and im now craving crunchy chocolate chip cookies

Sunday 14 February 2010

sunday love day *vomit*

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found via cup of jo

have i told you about santiago? hmmm..no.
okay, i'll tell you now.. santiago was really gorgeous i met him in paris last summer, the first time i saw him..all i wanted to do is run to him, stay in his deepest hugs and use his chest as my every night pillow.. all i wished for is money, so i could fly back to indonesia, pack all my stuffs and move to paris so i could be with him forever and ever (NO! i would move to paris anyways even there's no santiago for me)
it was a heavenly two hours of my life, fell in love with an angel. too bad, i didnt have the guts to just go and tell him "je tombe amoureux de toi" or "im falling in love with you" no, i didnt have the guts.
he was really beautiful, curly dark hair, olive eyes, body as great as the sculptures you find in louvre, cute lips i wanted to gobble :p

sometimes, i think one of many reasons why i really want to back to paris as soon as i can, is to go find santiago and tell him those words i was too afraid to say. je t'aime

Saturday 13 February 2010

linzer cookies

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dear,
i love cold pizza
i love the smell of book store
i love nutella and salted margarine, TOGETHER!
i love messy bedroom
i love older men

those are few of strange things i love, oh.. and my macbook is back sane :D

i love linzer cookies
i love linzer torte i had in lucerne
i love that small bakery in lucerne
i love lucerne, cold snowy lucerne :)

i love martha stewart :)

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i dont like valentine but i love pink, although my mom said female my age shouldnt fond pink, pink is for little girl, cute little girl with round eyes and thick long black hair or me years ago, years ago like YEARS ago! whatever mom, seriously!

i dont like valentine but i love baking something valentine-y

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i love these cookies, these are GOOD! i used blueberry jam instead of cherry..

(almond) pecan linzer cookies with (blueberry) cherry filling

Ingredients
* 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 cup pecan halves, toasted (i used almond)
* 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, plus more for sprinkling
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 cup cherry jam, strained (i used blueberry filling)

Directions
1. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl; set aside. Pulse pecans, confectioners' sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely ground (but not wet); transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Add butter and granulated sugar; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Cut out squares with a 2-inch fluted cutter. Cut out centers of half the squares with a 1/2-inch heart cutter; reroll scraps. Space 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake squares and hearts until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.
4. Meanwhile, heat jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced and thickened, about 7 minutes; let cool.
5. Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread jam onto uncut squares; top with cutout ones. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

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Saturday 6 February 2010

Chocolate covered coffee mini cupcakes, with valentine's day decoration!

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soo yes I'm still using iPhone to do this blog update, embarassing I know.. The pictures are way too big because I had to use iPhone's Photoshop with no resize tools, I'll change the pictures immediately when I get my MacBook back sane, so please just enjoy these oversize pictures :(

I made these mini cuppies specially for my friend dinda, dinda the coffee addict and dinda the sweet treats addict, so consider this as my early valentine treats.
The cupcakes recipe came from my favorite baking book, cupcakes from the primrose bakery cookbook, the cupcakes were great! Spongy and rich although the coffee flavoured wasn't really strong, so I'll definitely increase the amount of espresso powder next time. Yes there will be next time because this is definitely my go-to coffee cupcakes!
As a finishing I dipped them in melted chocolate so it is coated with chocolate, I actually wanted to do the classic way with caramel frosting but then this thought hit me "man! Valentine is coming!" soooooo bye bye caramel frosting and welcome pink buttercream.

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Aaaaand the recipe

coffee cupcakes
yields 48 mini cupcakes

ingredients
110g unsalted butter at room temperature
110g demerara sugar
120g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
125g self raising flour, sifted
120g plain flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
125ml whole milk

preheat the oven to 180C or 350F and line 12 hole mini muffin tray with cupcake cases

in a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars until the mixture is pale and smooth, which should take 3-5 minutes using an electric hand mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for few minutes after each addition.
Do not worry of the mixture splits a bit after adding the eggs, this will not affect the outcome.

Combine the flours in a separate bowl. Mix the vanilla extract and espresso powder with the mill in a jug and stir to combine. Add one third of the flours to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and mill have been added.

Carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about two thirds full. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until slightly raised and golden brown. To check they are cooked, insert skewer in the center of one of the cakes, it should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in their tons for about 10 minutes before carefully placing on a wire rack to cool.
Once they completely cool, coat them with chocolate and decorate

to decorate
melted chocolate to coat
pink buttercream to decorate

Friday 5 February 2010

Banana muffins

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damn I love technology!! I love iPhone! If you've been following my twitter you must've notice that my macbook is crashed and I've been out of non-blackberry internet for few days and that sucks! Now I'm posting this using iPhone. I baked this banana muffins few days ago, now these are hit! My family raved about it and me......well, me LOVED it! Oh okay then.. Gotta go now, i just finished baking chocolate covered coffee cupcakes with valentine decoration and now my mom's kitchen is a disaster, gotta do the dishes Now and also cleaning the buttercream mess.

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so click here for the recipe :D