Homemade Puppy Buttercream Cake

I have been wanting to make puppy buttercream cake but haven't got the chance to do so. 

Finally I did it!!! Its holiday, no exam, got free time 😅 so I made a special birthday cake to celebrate my mom's birthday😁😁

since I'm still an amateur, it took me around 5 hours to finish the whole cake 😂 but it took only 5 minutes to cut and finish the whole cakes😱 

The hardest part was to keep the buttercream on shape..so I have to put it back in the fridge each time after decorating for a while... I haven't found the perfect recipe for long-lasting buttercream I guess, but still so happy to actually made this cake 🙆

The tips.....just make sure to put it in the fridge so that the buttercream stays in shape. For the piping, it really just about the practice. The more you practice the better the shape and of course the faster you can make it 😁

Ciel Patisserie

....I have never been curious about lemon meringue tart until my friend express how much she loves the tart💭

After doing a little research about the tart, 

I decided to visit one of the best place for the tart (according to google)😁 

This humble cake shop is located quite far from the central, which is in 124 Hougang Ave 1, #01-1444. To be honest, I never thought that it is actually located in the HDB building with a quiet environment. But, it has a simple and nice exterior like a usual cafe.

The moment you come closer, you will be attracted to go in as those cakes in display are calling you through that big glass  👀👀

 Even though it can be considered as a small patisserie shop since they only have some tables (6 inside and 2-3 outside), but they sell quite variety of cakes.

When I reached there it's already 7 pm, so I didn't manage to take a picture of all the cakes. But, thankfully there remains 2 lemon meringue tart. Since I have come all the way there for it.....😀

But first let's look at the interior.....

The simple frame decoration on the wall....

Two wooden tables inside....

And some table with a marble pattern 

I personally like to eat cake in such cafe with a simple design accompanied by classical music inside. It is also suitable for studying as it is quiet and not crowded. Most of the customers came to buy the cake and take away, not eating inside. 

Now let's talk about the cake...

It appearance is simple and pretty since it has those golden meringue on top. As I mentioned earlier, this is my first time trying lemon meringue tart. As you might have wondered, this tart belongs to those tart with stiff crust. So just bite it and don't tried to break it using the fork or spoon like what I did 😂😂 

The lemon paste inside has a very soft texture and strong flavour. Accompanied by the perfect level of sweetness of the meringue and a crunchy tart crust, I think this tart deserves 7/10.

Homemade Klepon Cake

Klepon is one of the best traditional cake in Indonesia. It was originally made from glutinous rice flour which is shaped like a ball. I have never been able to forget them ever since I tried those in Bali for the first time. With a soft skin and a runny fillings, it can suddenly spurt out of your mouth when you bite it, which I feel as the best part of eating this balls 😍😍 

The sweet and runny palm sugar on the inside, covered with some grated coconut makes this ball have an especially good taste.

So with those ingredients in mind, there have been so many innovation out there. After I tried the cake and look at their layer. I decided to make this unique cake. Even though the palm sugar is very sweet but when you eat this cake as a whole, it actually complements each other.

I used a soft Pandan cake base to make this cake (can use sponge/castella) which is similar to a soft skin of the Klepon ball. Then, each of the cake layer will be covered with grated coconut. This is repeated until the cake finished, and also topped with a lot of dried grated coconut.

Some tips is to mix the palm sugar mixture with the dried grated coconut so it doesn't make the cake in between become soggy. Also, you may use fresh grated coconut instead of the dried one. I actually also used fresh grated coconut as it is very hard to find the dried coconut in Indonesia. 

So..here it is...the final looks of the klepon cake

It tastes so good (they said) but I didn't manage to give you a clear look on the inside. Cos I personally feel it doesn't looks so good on the inside. It could be that the cake is too soft so it does not really hold its shape.

But still I posted this cos its a success as long as the taste is good rite? 😋😋

All in all this is just the beginning... I'll try again another time and let you know the result 😄😀

Homemade Nutella Stuffed Cupcake

For this cupcake, I tried the recipe from cupcake Jemma's recipe in youtube. The results are satisfying. Though a bit oily just right from the oven, but after it cools down, it's not oily.

The flavour comes out nicely. The texture is also perfect as it is soft and moist, yet not oily.

I also tried out another buttercream recipe for this cupcake. At first, I wanted to make a rose out of this buttercream, but this recipe failed to make those shape. It melted so quickly, so I decided to shape the flower directly on top of the cupcake. 

...

and I feel that the results were not that bad, though not so neat. (FYI I'm still an amateur 😁)

Here are some pictures of LaRose's Nutella Cupcakes with homemade buttercream

I asked two friends to give ratings for my cupcake. One of them gave 7/10 and the other gave 8/10.

The tips of making a nice cupcake is to use butter rather than margarine, cos it will make it more oily.

Since it is very useful for decorating cakes, for the next posts, I will try out another buttercream recipe that doesn't melt quickly 😊