Post#100: My Cake Experience

This is my 100th published post here on BeingMervs, after slightly over a year. Didn't think I'd have the consistency to get this far when I first began. I surprise myself sometimes.

Okay… so this is how the story unfolded.

I skipped Friday evening’s usual gym session in order to make my way to the highly recommended baking supplies shop in Taman Megah. I was definitely not misinformed. You can get practically anything related to baking there. Seriously no joke!

Jo was running a bit late so we met up there. She was surprised to find that I did not have a shopping list. She got skeptical when she asked what we needed and I simply replied let’s just walk around and see. I had a rough idea on what I wanted to make and I kind of pulled recipes from all over the Internet. The problem was I could not make up my mind so I decided to just go with the usual cake ingredients – flour, butter, eggs, chocolate chips, icing sugar, etc.

It was a last minute decision to bake a test-cake in advance, just in case. So I got started that evening itself. Due to lack of supplies (I thought we had some stuff at home, apparently not), I ended up running out to the nearby supermarket for more supplies. As I was doing a quick run around, I noticed my favorite marshmallows sitting on the shelf and couldn’t help but pick up a pack to munch on back home. It wasn’t much later that it became an ingredient in Robert’s cake… another one of those spontaneous things.

Anyway, I finally made up my mind on the how the cake should be. The vision I had in my mind was something like this – chocolate chip butter cake; round 9-inch double-layered; chocolate butter cream filling with a layer of marshmallows in between; white butter cream frosting all over; hardened shiny chocolate glaze over the top with that dripping-down-the-sides effect; and of course the words “Happy Birthday Robert” on top.

The test-cake… something went wrong with the first process of the 2 layers of cake itself. Upon removal from the oven, I found that one layer had gotten very holey beneath the surface, like the cake developed air pockets while baking. And the sides were kind of hard… crusted but not burnt. Not exactly what I expected. Too bad it was too late to do anything.

The marshmallows went on easy enough, except for the slicing part… they’re so sticky on the inside. The chocolate butter cream filling wound up too watery, which was a good thing because it just flowed right down into the crevices of the bottom layer of the cake. Yet it was still thick enough to not make the cake soggy and drip out the sides. I have to admit that got me worried.

The butter cream frosting recipe I pulled off the net had an extremely high icing sugar content but I figured since it was just a test cake, I should just go with the recipe and see how it comes out. The texture was good… soft enough to spread all over the cake, and it hardened well in the refrigerator. I had neither the butter nor the tools to do any more icing & the chocolate glaze so I called it quits there… 1.30am the next morning.

The tasting when I woke up in the morning went alright. Dad and I each had a slice. The test cake was a little hard to cut through right out of the fridge. Dad found the icing too sweet, and the cake texture was a little harder than he would have liked, but still good. I agreed on both accounts. His suggestions were to use less icing sugar, and to mix the batter in one direction only for a longer period of time. My dad is a wise man.

After a quick run to the cake supplies shop in Taman Megah again, I began work on the real thing. The process was pretty much the same, but the baker was just a little bit wiser. I baked each layer of the cake individually and they both turned out perfectly identical. The sides weren’t crusty as before, and both layers didn’t have holes. I was thankful and could only pray that I didn’t fuck up the next few processes.

The chocolate butter cream filling was perfect this time. All I had to do was use a whole lot less milk. I sort of over killed with the milk the night before which led to the whole liquidy texture. It spread over the marshmallows and cake so well I couldn’t resist picking more marshmallows out of the bag and dipping them into the cream for a bite.

The top layer of the cake went right on perfectly and there was this interesting burger-like look… a bit large though. The icing process called for some changes. I greatly reduced the amount of icing sugar in the recipe, but also added the balance icing cream from the night before. End result was still sweet, but not as sweet as before. Jo had a fun time coating the cake in its snowy white frosting. The cake was starting to look presentable, thank goodness.

I left my vision of the complete cake with Jo and let her take over for the decoration portion. She played around with the chocolate glaze a little and decided to drip it across the entire top of the cake. It turned out beautifully. She added some cherries she picked out of a can of cocktail fruits as deco. And the final touches of the words in print were done. I liked the fact that it wasn’t the cursive-styled fonts they usually do at cake shops when writing “Happy Birthday So & So”. We went with the amateur look and printed “Happy B’day Robert” in pinkish icing. That really gave the cake a personal touch. With that done, the cake went back into the fridge for another round of cooling to harden the chocolate glaze and icing.

We were ready just in time for dinner, which was well deserved since I missed lunch being all tied up with the baking. Everyone agreed to delay the cake cutting to much later since we were overfed at dinner. With so much cream in the cake, I didn’t dare serve it after dinner anyway.

We wound up having the cake’s candles lit shortly past 11pm at Chee How’s place. Chee How’s mom was quite impressed just looking at the cake, saying we were very talented. I can’t imagine why. She insisted the same after trying a slice. I still cannot imagine why. She also complimented the fact that I didn’t use eggs for the frosting & icing because that would have made it hard to preserve the cake for more than 2 to 3 days. To be honest, I didn’t even know that people use eggs for icing cream. I just went with the first frosting recipe I came across.

After all said and done, it turned out good enough for people to split and tapau the unfinished portion. They mostly claimed they liked the cake but it’s really hard to accept a compliment as the truth when it comes from friends.

I’m just pleased no one called up to say they’re down with diarrhea or food poisoning. *phew*

The overall cost – 12 hours of work for 2 cakes, about RM140 spent, lots of leftover ingredients. I’ll probably try my hand at it again pretty soon.

Cakes!

Ahhh… another day at the office with little to do. With my departure announced and handover activities underway, I am slowly left with less and less to do. By my estimates, handover will likely be completed before the end of this month. That leaves the entire September with absolutely nothing to do. Bummer!

In the recent days I’ve been kept company by my newest best friend – the Internet. With bouncing interests, I look up something new every day. Different themes covered so far include fitness, Herbalife, various known nutritional foods, diving, videos, daily news, etc.

I think I shall proceed with a different theme every day. Today’s theme – baking. Yeah, you didn’t misread that. We’ve had very little experience so far with the RM1.6K oven we have built into the kitchen cabinets. I figure if it cost my parents that much, I might as well put it to good use. Jo & I will be baking a cake (hopefully a nice one) for one of my bestest buddies – Robbie!

Quick interruption to announce – Robert turns 30 this Sunday. Old fart! *cue sinister laugh* Anyway, Happy Birthday man! Love you enough to bake you a cake so you better eat it, even if it kills you!

Back to the research on baking cakes. I’ve spent most of my morning so far looking up interesting cake recipes. The resources I’ve come across are fascinating. From the infinite ingredients and recipes, to step-by-step guides, and even tips & tricks and advice on substituting ingredients, there seems to be just no end to it. I’m going to have to continue my research and read up cake decorating too.

I just hope I don’t end up killing the 15-odd people who have the misfortune of being the quality & safety officers tomorrow night. Hmm… come to think of it, if the cake doesn’t kill them, my foot-long parang will if they even dare think a rotten comment. Same fate for those who refuse to try.

I appreciate advice on where to hide the bodies. Please leave comment.

Rescue Me!

It's been a while since I blogged about diving. No doubt I am still as passionate about it as ever. The problem is that I have to put aside my desire to dive for the time being in order to focus more on developing some means which will allow me to dive whenever & wherever I want in the future.

Earlier plans to join Dragonet's Project Aware at the end of September will be dropped since it's around the same time I draw my last salary. Thrifty is the key here.

Nonetheless, the passion remains. I have a strong desire to develop my diving career further. The following chart shows the different courses offered by PADI.

(click on the flowchart to find out more about each course)

My current certification level is Advanced Open Water Diver. I am hoping to get to Divemaster sometime in the near future. Next course of progression will be Rescue Diver, targeted to be completed in April or May next year.

Yea... rescue diver. Sounds over-glorified. I probably wouldn't even be able to rescue my own ass if shit were to happen. But I figure the knowledge and experience gained may one day make a difference between life and death.

In any case, I will first have do the pre-requisite - Emergency First Response... basically a 1 day comprehensive course on first aid. I'm eager to accomplish this before the year comes to a close. Can't wait! Can't wait!

Ahh... the excitement of being a diver. Can you feel it?

Random Thought: Moving On

It is done. After a short discussion with my boss and a lengthy interrogation by my GM last Monday, followed by a few days of waiting for my boss to inform me how soon I can leave, I submitted my letter of resignation to my GM last Friday.

25 September 2007 will be my last day employed at NMM. That’s approximately 1.5 months notice, more than my statutory requirement but I figure I don’t dread this job that much to have to leave immediately. Besides, at least I’ll still get a full month’s pay. The only sad part is that it means I’ll have to suffer an extra 2 weeks of doing close to nothing in the office.

Looking on the bright side, I have already started the ball rolling on my next business endeavor. My plans are falling into place and I am wasting no time with putting everything into action. I have little over a month to get myself prepared and adjusted to my new, longer (but more flexible) working hours. It will be an entirely different thing for me and definitely a great deal more challenging. It scares me a little, and yet I am so much looking forward to it. I am comforted by the thought that as long as I do my part, I will not fail.

Success is a road I must walk with my own two feet. I am grateful to have family & friends as guides, to point me in the right direction and keep me from getting lost. And I have my buddies Attitude & Determination to get me there!

Toilet-train Your Cat

I remember being the child who always came home with all sorts of weird creatures & critters, driving my mom & dad up the wall. Seriously... from the garden - worms, spiders, grasshoppers, birds; from the drain - tadpoles, frogs, fishes; from the streets - kittens, puppies, etc. Yea, I've always been fascinated by nature.

My parents mostly never allowed me to keep any of what I brought home. Apart from my childhood asthma, it was just too much hassle to feed and care for any pets. I especially remember there was once I was allowed to keep a stray kitten I brought back from primary school. It was amusing to see the dread on my parents' faces each time they could smell kitten poo. We'd end up turning the house upside down to locate it. I was forced to put kitty up for adoption within a week. If only we had known any better.

Those of you who have cats/kittens trained to use the cat litter, here's an interesting read for training your cat to use the toilet. Pity there's nothing in there about teaching your cat to flush.

http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.html

I wonder if the same works for live-in house dogs.

Making Decisions

Sometimes it doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on. The important thing is to get off the fence. You cannot make progress without making decisions.

And thus, I shall not sit on the fence any longer. I've made my decision. As with many of the recent forks in my path, I am opting to go down the road which looks more challenging.

Bring it on!

Random Thought: Quitting

Quit (http://thesaurus.com/):
Abdicate, blow, book, bow out, check out, chuck, cut out, decamp, depart, desert, drop, drop out, evacuate, exit, forsake, get off, give up, go, leave, leave flat, leave hanging, pullout, push off, relinquish, renounce, resign, retire, surrender, take off, throw over, vacate, withdraw, yield.

I certainly feel like it.