Phoon Huat Baking School- Part 1

I've always wanted to sign up for baking classes since last year. I logged onto many websites but the classes were either too expensive or not interesting enough (baking ang ku kueh, kueh lapis etc), and some u got to pay $35 for demo classes! I rather watch demo online/TV and spend that $35 on ingredients to experiment at home!

However, i finally came across one cheap and interesting hands-on workshop offered by phoon huat! It's only $36 and the class is on Cupcakes and Swiss Roll!

As you can see from the pic on the left, the classroom is pretty well- equipped. There are about 10 ovens and mixer. The washing area is spacious and clean, with detergent, sponge and hot water provided. Other baking wares are well equipped and the class size is just nice to learn. Not overly crowded like other baking schools.

According to the "frequeners", the class size is capped below 20 and they will usually paired up in 2-3. But ultimately, u still get to take a big portion of yr own product home. The chef, Patrick, is friendly and helpful, pretty handsome too for pple at his age.. hahaa. He will go around checking your product at every stage, to make sure u are still on track. He provides his secret recipe and guides the class step by step. Some students told me that if you have any questions while baking at home, you're welcome to ring up Patrick for help.

This is the swiss roll sponge cake b4 u spread the filling and roll it up. On the left pic, u can see chef Patrick demo how to roll up the swiss roll. Method pretty similar to making sushi.


This is the final product. The pan above can be rolled up into one long big roll of swiss roll!! Looks pretty neat huh? At least it looks like a swiss roll. But tell u all a secret... i didn't roll that... i was spending 5mins rolling back and forth, one aunty couldn't stand it and offer to help me. hahahaha

Breadtalk VS Panaderia- Cranberry Cheese

With the sprout of so many bakeries around, they compete in different ways. For the neighbourhood bakeries, it's a series of price wars. As for the "branded" bakeries, it's about innovation.

Actually i always thought that Panaderia has better quality breads than Breadtalk. However, Bella seems to prefer Breadtalk's cranberry bread. It's hard to compare unless u eat them together. But who on earth will go and buy and eat two similar breads at one go? So Bella and I decided to do a taste test. We bought 1 cranberry bread from Breadtalk and Panaderia, splitted into half and carried out the taste test during Breakfast.

Left(Breadtalk); Right (Panaderia)

Below is my verdict:


Okie.. i know yr verdict is "Joyce is a lousy photographer". Other food bloggers took pictures which made readers drool but mine turns off the appetite right? I don't have the time to adjust and set up "studio lighting effect" for it and usually i don't have the patience to take the picture... can't wait to bite them.

The bread on the left is from Breadtalk and the bread on the right is from Panaderia. Seems like Breadtalk's one is more yummy, with thick chunks of cheese; whereas for Panaderia, it seems like u could hardly see any cheese but bread skin.

As i always say, do not judge a food by it's cover. My verdict will still goes to PANADERIA! Why?? Because that chuck of cheese u saw from Breadtalk is the only chunk of cheese in that whole bread!! (Maybe Bella didn't split it properly and the cheese cubes are in the other half). As for Panaderia, the cheese are spread over the bread so u don't see chunks of it. The taste of the cheese is more even out. For Breadtalk, i have to squeeze and cut and press the one and only cube of cheese to spread over the empty bread.

As i'm not an expert in cheese, i couldn't tell the type of cheese they used. But i do find Panaderia's one tastier and saltier... if i'm not wrong, it's cream cheese, whereas Breadtalk's one is cheddar cheese?

In terms of the amount of cranberries, as u can see from the pictures, Panaderia's contains like 3times more than Breadtalk's. As for price, i can't remember Breadtalk's pricing.. should be around $1.30-$1.40; Panaderia's one costs $1.15, definitely cheaper than Breadtalk in anyway.

Hence, other than the looks of it, Panadaeria win hands down!!! =)

Cupcakes Fever 2- My own cupcakes

Ain't they pretty(left pic)?? I was so amazed and quite satisfied with the result. Why?? Just look at my 1st trial (right pic). What a big difference!!!

But don't judge a cake by it's look. Although those on the left are much prettier, they were actually unbaked and dry. The ugly ones on the other hand, is chocolaty and moist... thanks to Betty Crocker (i used the pre-mix flour).

I wanna start an online cupcakes shop!! (Dear friends who are reading this, i'm counting on u for sustainability) With the current standard, i can only give it out for free. I have just signed up for this cupcakes baking workshop with Shermay's cooking school. It's $110++!!! Wow, that's the investment i need to make (free cupcakes for friends and baking workshop). This workshop is so popular that the available 5 classes were all snatched up and i have to be put on the waitlist.

Why cupcakes and not cookies or whole cake? Cupcakes are easier to bake as compared to whole cake (which mine often turn out to be volcano shape due to uneven heat), they are pretty and small. Friends can buy them for different occasions such as Valentine's, Christmas, friendship day, birthdays and even during normal days...

I'm going to invest my salary on some cupcakes decor... hopefully this biz idea won't be like my past ones (which evaporate into the air within a few months). I have recruited Gene as the logo and website designer; Esther/ Xinjie as the photographer; Bella as the... erm.. she volunteered to be the cleaner- help to clean up my kitchen?; Jas also the cleaner but help to clean up my cupcakes into her stomach... Hopefully this dream can realli spin off into a successful biz =)

Hong Kong 之茶餐厅

Slogan for Hong Kong tourism-- (direct translation from chinese)--> "shop and eat, shop and eat, shop and eat....

My slogan when i went hong kong ----> eat and eat, eat and eat, eat and eat...

Day 1- lunch

After our check in, my parents couldn't wait to try the HK food. So i brought them to this 《大家食》茶餐厅where newspapers were pasted all over the glass, almost becoming their wallpapers. With all the photos of celebrities publicizing and the crowd in the cafe, i thought it would be good, so we went in. Mum and dad shared the the fried pork cutlet rice(right). Hong Kongnese do not add thick gravies, unlike Singaporeans, who like our rice to swim in the gravy sauce. Despite so, their gravy is light and tasty. Something i noted during my trip was: Hong Kongnese love rice and the portion is huge!! However, their people are not fat. Guess the calories are lost through their fast- paced lives...

Day 2- breakfast- Ice Ovaltine + butter toast with condensed milk.

I need my daily dosage of milo. However, this cafe doesn't offer, so i got the closest substitution- ovaltine... hmm.. milo is still the best. As for my toast... doesn't look so appetising in the picture right? It tastes not bad but the ones at crystal jade are much better.

My parents food are always more exciting than mine... more fattening too. They ordered glutinous rice<荷叶饭> and century egg porridge. The 油条were nice- big, fat and crispy. The others were normal.

Day 2- Lunch:

The two children that tagged along in this trip wanted to eat Mcdonalds. Hello! Come all the way to HK to eat Mcdonalds? No way! Hence we left the two kids in Macs and skipped to a cafe nearby.

Dish: 餐蛋公仔面 Price:HK18? (SGD $3.60)

Description: What u see in the picture is what i ate. nothing hidden. 2 fried eggs+ 2 luncheon meat+ veg+ maggie mee. However, the soup stock is pretty delicious. Think it's specially brewed instead of using those msg powder.

Rating: 3.5/5

Why do i give such a high rating despite that it is such a simple dish which one can make at home? I'm a maggie mee lover but the maggie mee i ate at home were plain ones without extra ingredients. Hence i always find HK maggie mee damn tasty when i saw the actresses eating in the dramas.

Day 3- Dim Sum Breakfast

How could we not have dim sum when we are in HK? This restaurant is located in our hotel- Shamrock. Did research online before we come to HK and there were people recommending it. Was abit disappointed that it was served in the push carts style.

We ordered century egg porridge, 2 chee cheong funs (char siew fillings and shrimp fillings), har gow, char siew pau, glutinous rice

and this special bun called 流沙包 ( i might rmb the name wrongly). Actually i requested for custard bun but they don't have. The manager recommended this signature bun which is quite popular with the hong kongnese. So what is 流沙包? Basically, it's custard with salted egg. The fillings are much tastier and savoury as compared to normal custard bun. Very fragrant and smooth. However, none in my family knows how to eat custard... one basket comes with 3 buns... as u can see in the pic, i ate one...and one more towards the end as the manager seemed upset that his recommendation wasn't appreciated. I have a zoom in photo of the inside of the bun. Very blur tho... as i felt very pai seh to take picture of every food... and i have to hold the bun with one hand, so couldn't stablilize the camera.

That's all for HK 之茶餐厅. Coming next will be the 路边小吃 & Disneyland (with cute mickey mouse waffles)!!!

Cupcakes fever 1~ Room for Desserts

I know the fad has died off... it's the doughnuts fever now... not so much of cupcakes anymore. But i must not let those photos which i have taken go to waste!! For my habit of taking pictures of the food before i eat, i would like to thank my friends and family for their patience to wait for me and the food. But normally i would just take a quick snap as it's pretty embarrassing to do so~ Hence that explains the quality of the photos u'll see in this blog+ the photos are taken with a 2mp camera w/o processing thru photoshop. Alright, go ahead and read my 1st posting (pls mind the grammars and sentence structure... conc on the food):::

These might not be the most beautiful cupcakes but never judge the food by its appearance. They are the signature cupcakes of this small little shop called "Room For Dessert". I have lots of room in my stomach for their cupcakes!! The two available flavours are: Chocoholic Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache frosting & Carrot Cupcakes with White-choc Cream Cheese frosting.

These are my virgin cupcakes (pic above) which i received on my 20th birthday. I never try cupcakes before but something along that family line- muffins. A little frosting on top really make a huge difference in the taste and the calories!

Initially when i saw this box of cupcakes, i was eyeing on the carrot ones. I love carrot cakes ever since i tried those from NYDC and Cedele.. those fattening cream cheese piling on top drips off the cake as u warm them up in the microwave. However, for these cupcakes, i prefer the chocolate cupcakes!! I'm not an avid chocolate fan. Usually i will choose cheese over chocolate. But these chocolate cakes were awesome!! There are made of dark chocolate... bittery sweet... whoo~~ when the melted frostings go together with the dense moist chocolate cake, u won't feel like swallowing it down the throat so soon!

Their cupcakes come in two sizes: Mini size (approx 5-6cm dia.)Regular size (approx 8-9cm dia.) The pic on the right are the mini size ones~ They were given by my project groupmate Wensi! I went to collect with her, not knowing that it's for our group. But the owner opened up the box for her to check but i kaypoh and peeped in... spoilt her surprise for us~ hahaha. Cupcakes make a simple and perfect gift, don't they?
Below are some pictures taken from the website of Room For desserts: http://roomfordessert.com.sg/index.htm



U can either design your cupcakes with ribbons, smiley faces or names. They once had a piggy head designed cupcakes for CNY. The cupcakes are packed in a neat white box, nicely presented as a gift.

Pricing: 8mini cupcakes - $22.40; 4 regular cupcakes - $16

Ratings:
Taste: 4/5
Look: 3/5
Price: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Room For Dessert
Blk 261 Waterloo St #01-42
Waterloo Centre
Singapore 180261
T: (65) 6337 7637 or (65) 8123 3851

Upgraded to "Get- Fatter"

Hello to my fans of "www.get-fat.blogspot.com". Some of you might be asking why i have a new one named "get-fatter.blogspot.com" (thanks to my dear sister Bella for this new name). It's because i lost the account for the old blog... hence got to "upgrade" to this new one... it's FATTER now!!!

For the old post, pls log onto www.get-fat.blogspot.com. But for now... pls log onto www.get-fatter.blogspot.com daily... nowadays food bloggers are appearing on Sunday Times Life columns... if my "hits" reaches the quota... next time u will see my face on the newspaper!

Okie... that's all for the clarification of my new blog name.. i'm going to blog soon!! Stay tune!!!