My new favourite thing to make

If you still haven't seen or heard about decorated roll cakes, then you must have been living under a rock in recent times!  Deco roll cakes were created and popularized by a famous Japanese food blogger named Junko.  As with anything Japanese-made, these cakes are just oozing with cuteness!

Image credit: kao-ani.com

Image credit: japanrollcake.com

I have been wanting to buy Junko's books since early last year but they were written in Japanese.  I really didn't want to go through the struggle of translating so I had to forego buying them and content myself with just admiring photos of deco roll cakes online.

Just over a week ago, while looking for books on the internet, I accidentally discovered that Junko's books have already been published in English!  Of course, I wasted no time in ordering them!!!

So far, I have tried making three of the deco rolls in the first book, all of them incidentally featured in the cover.

Strawberry print roll - vanilla flavoured cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

Teddy bear deco roll - chocolate flavoured cake with whipped cream, mangoes and strawberries.

Arabesque motif deco roll - matcha flavoured cake filled with whipped cream and sweet red bean paste.

The cakes are chiffon-type so as expected, they are very soft and moist.  However, unlike the chiffon cakes that I am used to making, these ones have less cake flour and have no baking powder.  I think the lower flour content makes the cakes easier to roll.  They do not crack at all!  (And they are not even rolled while still hot.)

As you know, my family isn't all that crazy about eating cake so while I hope to try all of the designs in the books (as well as make my own), I really have to control myself.  At first, I thought the cuteness was enough to convince my kids to keep on eating the cakes one after another, but now I realize that no matter how light and delicious they are, I cannot keep on making them every single day!  I should really consider giving these as gifts!

You will definitely see more of these cake rolls here in the future.  I really wasn't keen on making cake rolls before but now that I've tried and found the process quite easy, I think my next move would be revising my own chiffon cake recipes so they would be more suited to be made in this manner.  Hmmm,,,I reckon I'll start with an ube cake roll. :)

Till next time.

TUTORIAL : How to make a (super adorable) USB Flash Drive case

Yes, you are in the right place.  And yes, this is not a recipe!  It's sewing-related!!!!

Remember this? Can't believe it's been more than two and a half years and still no tutorial.  I must really apologize for my lack of commitment to that promise.  To my readers who originally came here for the sewing, I am so sorry that you have found no sewing activity here for so long!

Since it's the school holidays, I made this plan to finally make the tutorial.  It seems I got too excited to sew, that yesterday, in between breakfast and lunch, I finished the whole thing!

Isn't that absolutely adorable?

This is in fact a one-sitting kind of project.  It's pretty easy.  However, I would still recommend it for people who have some sewing experience particularly in bias binding and sewing over multiple fabric layers and around curved seams.  I have had no practice in tutorial-making for sometime now so I might be making unclear instructions here and there that beginners will find hard to understand. Still, if you are new to sewing and are interested to make one of these cases, just consider it a challenge!

HOW TO MAKE A USB FLASH DRIVE CASE

Materials:

fabric scraps

small piece of fusible fleece

small piece of plastic

25" long two-inch wide bias tape**

one 2" long velcro

one key ring or swivel hook

**It is best to just make this yourself as you are only going to need a small length.  If you don't know how, learn from here.  You need to cut 2" wide strips.  Keep the tape open for now (no need to fold it).

Procedure:

1.  Download the pattern from here.  Print it out in Actual Size.

2.  Cut out the pattern pieces then use them to cut out your materials.

     A: Cut two pieces from outer fabric for the flaps .

     B: Cut one piece for the lining.

     C: Cut two pieces from fusible fleece.

     D: Cut two pieces from plastic.

     In addition, cut three 2"x 2" squares from outer fabric.

3.  Iron on fusible fleece to the back sides of the flap pieces.

4.  Take one of the 2" square pieces,  Fold it in half to create a crease then open again.  Fold two opposite sides towards the center crease then fold again to end up with a 1/2" wide strip. Iron.  Do this for the other two 2" squares.

5.  Take one of the strips and stitch along the two long sides, about 1/8" from the edges.  Insert your key ring (or swivel hook) then bring the raw edges together to make a loop.  Sew the raw edges together.

6.  Center your key ring loop on the straight side of one of your flap pieces.  Baste.

7.  With right sides facing (with key ring loop inside), sew the two flaps together.  Sew right where the end of the fusible fleece is.

8.  Open up your flaps, right side up.  The seams will naturally fold towards one side (in my case, downward), in the opposite direction of the key ring loop.  Topstitch very near the center stitching where the two flaps were sewn together, catching the seams at the back.

9.  Insert the remaining two 1/2" wide strips (from step 4) into the straight edges of your plastic pieces.  Topstitch close to the inside edges.

10.  With wrong sides facing, baste together your assembled flaps and lining.

11.  Position your two plastic pieces on the two ends then baste.  If you are having trouble with sewing over the plastic, stick a small piece of magic tape on the underside of your presser foot so it will move smoothly.

12.  Position your velcro 1" from the top of the curve on both ends. Stitch along the long sides of the velcro.  Cut off the excess velcro, following the shape of the curve.

13.  Fold one end of your open bias tape 1/4" in, then fold the whole length of the tape in half lengthwise and iron flat.

14.  Pin your bias tape to the plastic side of the case, aligning the raw edges.  Using a 1/4" allowance, sew the bias tape all around. (I did not find pinning necessary but I sewed very slowly.) When you reach the end, overlap the tape by about 1" then cut off the excess.

It doesn't really matter where you start sewing.  However, if you have a preferred front flap for your case, start sewing the bias tape on what would be the back flap.

15.  Turn the bias tape over to the other side.  If it seems too tight, trim a bit off the seam allowance.  Iron this if you need to but just remember there's plastic underneath!

16.  Slipstitch the bias tape by hand, making sure you are concealing the raw edges and any stitching.

Yay!  That's it!  Now put your flash drives into the plastic pockets. Secure with the velcro closure.

You can attach this to your bag, use it as a keychain or hang it somewhere near your computer.  Never misplace your flash drives again!

Hope you will have fun making this simple project!

Flower pot cakes

I'm really sorry I didn't get to greet you mums out there on Mother's day.  I hope you all had a wonderful day and that you were truly spoiled by your loved ones! 

What extraordinary thing did your kids do for you? It's usually the girl(s) in the family who's the thoughful one, isn't it?  With boys, what can you really expect? My sons greeted me as soon as they woke up in the morning then off they went about their own business for the rest of the day.  My daughter, on the other hand, really went all out to make the day special for me.  She bought me flowers and sour lollies (which I love).  And she cooked for the family from breakfast till dinner!  She couldn't get the older boys to do anything but managed to "coerce" her (not so) little brother to somehow help her.

As for me, I made some flower pot cakes for a few of my mum friends.

I've been thinking about buying those silicone flower pots I've been seeing online lately but they seem to only come from the UK or US and are very, very expensive.  So instead, I went to our local home improvement store and bought real terracotta flower pots!  I bought twelve 9cm pots for only 74 cents each!

After cleaning with soap and hot water, I seasoned the pots by greasing each inside and out with oil, and then I put them in a 190 deg C oven for 30 minutes.  When they cooled, I repeated the process one more time. I read that seasoning seals the pores in the pot, prevents future cracking and somehow creates a non-stick surface for the pots as well.

Before baking, I greased and floured the pots first.  Then I filled them about 3/4 full with my chocolate cake batter. I baked the cakes at 180 deg C for about 40 minutes.  One cake was about 2 1/2 times bigger than a standard cupcake.

After they had cooled, I tapped the cakes out of the pots.  They cooked beautifully and came out really easily.  I trimmed the tops so I would have a level surface to put my frosting on, after which I placed them back in their pot.

I covered each cake top with chocolate frosting just enough to have a flat surface to pipe my flowers on.  I whipped up a batch of  Swiss meringue buttercream, made small portions of different colours, and then I was ready for the fun part!

First flower: chrysanthemum.  Used tip #81 for the petals, tip #3 for the center and tip #352 for the leaves.

Second flower: sunflower. Used tip#352 for both petals and leaves, tip#4 for the center.

Third flower: hydrangeas.  Used tip#103 for the petals, tip#3 for the dots, tip#352 for the leaves.

And lastly, roses. Used tip#104 for the petals, tip#352 for the leaves.

Here they are all together. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Sadly, I gave them all away!  I didn't leave even one for myself.

But that's ok.  I had a lot of fun and I know I made some friends pretty happy :).



PS.  I have a new recipe to share! It is for a really unique kind of cake. I'm just super busy till the end of this week but will do my best to do so really soon. Watch this space!

Lengua de Gato Cookies

As far as I remember, there were only a few cookie varieties being sold at my aunts' bakeshop before.  They specialized mainly on pastries.  However, especially during the Christmas season, the cookie orders were abundant.  I can still picture those plastic jars with yellow lids on the bakeshop counter in my mind.  I cannot imagine how my aunts managed to press, pipe, bake and pack all those cookies!

If I am not wrong, their bestsellers then were the spritz, arrowroot and lengua de gato (cat's tongue) cookies.  As I have been in cookie-making mode lately, I decided to give these cookies (using the bakeshop recipes) a go one by one.

Spritz

Arrowroot

I loved making these two using the KitchenAid cookie press I recently bought from Costco for only $14!

Yesterday, as I had a cup of eggwhites stored in the freezer, I excitedly tried making the lengua de gato cookies.  These are Filipino butter cookies but considering how it's called, it's probably of Spanish origin.

Since these cookies are very thin and light, I kept on "testing" them after every tray came out of the oven.  I don't know just how much I ate but I had to skip lunch as I was already full!

Before I share the recipe, just a last note.  I tried using baking paper and silpat to line my baking trays and also tried putting the cookie dough straight onto non-stick baking trays (without lining).  The resulting cookies had different looks.

As seen from the photo above, I had the best results with the silpat-lined.  The cookies had straight edges.  The ones baked in baking paper all had wonky edges while the ones baked with no liner spread and browned more but were still as easy to remove.  Taste and crunchiness were the same for all. 

Here now is the lengua de gato cookies recipe so next time you have leftover eggwhites, you would know what to do with them.  

LENGUA DE GATO COOKIES (makes 300+ pieces)

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks, 1 pound, 454 grams) salted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup eggwhites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange flavouring

3 1/2 cups cake flour

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (325F).  Line baking trays with baking paper or silicone mats.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer at high speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Lower mixer speed to medium then add eggwhites gradually followed by the vanilla and orange flavourings.  

Slowly mix in the flour.  Beat until everything is well combined and batter is smooth.

Fit a piping bag with a plain round or star tip (#12 or #21).  Spoon cookie batter into the piping bag.

Pipe out thin strips of batter onto lined baking trays, about 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookie edges start to brown.

Loosen cookies from the trays while still warm.  When completely cool, pack them in airtight containers.

Enjoy!

Jacket for the cutest little girl

I know this girl...she's the most adorable little thing ever. She is the kind that makes you wish you had small kids again. When I learned she was going to turn 3 in April, my first thought was that I wanted to make her a special birthday cake.  But of course, I wanted to give her some other present apart from the cake and when I found this pattern on Etsy, I knew this was going to be what I would be making for her.

My first try was supposed to be some sort of practice jacket, using only remnants and other materials that I already had in my stash but it turned out beautifully that I would say, it's more than good enough to be a gift.

Pink polar fleece lined with a floral Japanese cotton fabric.  Perfect for the coming winter!

Heart applique with fabric matching the lining

I ditched the ribbons (as with the original design) and instead, added a couple of heart appliques to match the lining.  The jacket is no longer reversible but that's perfectly ok.  It all came together very easily.  The only tricky part was sewing the outer sleeve to its lining along its small opening.  It took me a while to figure out how to correctly do it.  Overall, I would highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to make something like this.

Now, I'm thinking of making another one.  Or should I do one with a hood this time?