Baking - Cake decoration

We have a birthday dinner for my father every year and this year my mother told my sister-in-law that she don't have to buy my father a birthday cake as I will be baking one. Gosh, where did she came up with that idea I wonder?

Well, I tried out several chiffon cake recipes I got from the web and also from cooking books. My failure rate seems higher than my successful rate. The cake seems to rise very well when it is still in the oven but then it will shrink during the cooling process. I just don't get it. Well, I have not given up yet.

And, I got really nervous as the day came closer and so got some fast thinking to do. Then, I came up with this really great plan. I will bake 2 cakes and if it did not turn up well I could still use half the cake and 2 half will make a complete cake right? Well, as long as I can get the height of the cake right, that will be okay to me.

And, I was glad I baked 2 cakes and well I guess the end result wasn't too bad, see the pictures:

That's my very first cake decorations. I will be trying out more next month as I have 2 birthday cakes on order. One's for my SIL and the other is for my future SIL. Wish me luck!

Baking- Raisin Bread

Following the success of my previous bread baking, I tried another new recipe yesterday. I was glad it turned out really well. See for yourself.....






The surface look a bit dry because I did not use the egg wash. I prefer it that way. My mum and my daughter said it taste very good. The texture is soft and it was still soft the next day.

Here's the recipe if you will like to give it a try too.

Ingredient A: 500g high protein flour, 11g instant yeast
Ingredient B: 60g castor sugar and 8g salt dilute in 250g water, 25g milk powder, 1 whole egg.
Ingredient C: 60g butter (I use the salted ones)
Ingredient D: 75g raisin (I mix both the black and the yellow together), 25g almond flakes

Method:
1. Combine Ingredient A, add in milk powder then the egg and follow by the water solution. Mix until it all clings together.
2. Then add in Ingredient C and continue to let it knead until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.
3. Add in Ingredient D, mix well.
4. Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 1 hour until it doubled in size.
5. Divide the dough into 300g each portion and roll it round.
6. Transfer it to a greased square baking pan and let it proof for another 1 hour.
7. Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 180 degC for 20mins.

I will continue to try something new and will be posting it in my blog.