I don't cry. I bake...Devil's Food Cupcakes

Pretty Little Devils

I've always been a little obsessed with books. Cake books that is...before you think I'm some kind of Amazon.com-holic let me clarify that I seem to receive cake books from friends and family (when it's not even my birthday!). I think I must have the words "I LOVE CAKE" written on my forehead or my obsession is so blatantly obvious that whenever friends and family see a cake book they think of me...and then proceed to purchase it...for me. Not that I'm complaining, of course! I'm just getting a little worried I might be a little bit too transparent...

My mum collected cake books when she was younger so I think it's only natural that I do. My parents thought this little cupcake book called '500 Cupcakes' was super cute and decided to add it to my collection (bless them!). Updated and revised by Fergal Connolly and Judith Fertig, this book contains your simple vanilla cupcake to your decadent florentine cupcakes. The last few pages have a bit about decorating too which is a bonus! And the recipes look simple enough to follow so it's a great little present for any starter baker or budding child baker.

I've been playing around with chocolate cake recipes recently so I decided to give the Devil's Food Cupcake a go. Growing up I've never been a huge fan of chocolate cake and recipes cos my experience with them has either been too dry, too chalky or too dense. I've been "studying" a lot about cake textures lately and how ingredients affect the taste and texture of cakes so I decided to test my knowledge on this one. Judging from the recipe it seemed to be quite a light fluffy texture in the cake seeing as beaten egg whites are added separately in the end....and here's how the recipe goes!

Shanghai Part III - Death by Dumplings

DUMPLING ALONG IN SHANGHAI

"Dumplings!" was my answer for every "What should we have for lunch today?" during my trip in Shanghai. My enthusiasm for dumplings was usually responded with "Again??" My 2 travel buddies may love dumplings but they don't LOVE dumplings like I do. For me, being in the epicentre of Xiao Long Bao, how could I not have it every chance I get??? Back in Sydney I was already a little XLB crazy for my friends' liking so imagine me in Shanghai!

I had to compromise a little so it was only dumplings for 4 meals during the trip. Ok, fine I do admit dumplings everyday was a little out of control but who can resist these sweet little amazeballs full of hot soup and meat especially during a freezing Shanghai day?? The first place we went to was a little 3 storey establishment where the food is super cheap and the service was...well....you get what you pay for. RMB7 (about US1) for 6 XLB? At that price I didn't really notice the non-smiling waiters and my change being thrown at me across the table. And I came back to this place the day after.

This place was known for their suzhou tangbao. Pretty much a normal XLB the skin is very thing and delicate which is a sign of great XLB cos no one wants a chewy doughy XLB. Another thing that this place does well are the pumpkin cakes. Custard-like goo made of pumpkin ooze out of  these deep fried balls which was a perfect companion to the XLB.

The sign was in Chinese which I can't read (the shame! the shame!!!) but it's on the corner of Nanjing Dong Lu and Fujian Lu. You won't see the restaurant on street level so you'll just have to try and spot the adjacent corner shop which sells local goodies such as hot breads, beefballs on a stick, confectionary and packaged foods. After some dumplings I decided to try some of the meat balls on a stick:

I don't cry. I cakexperiment!

JUST CAKIN' AROUND

If you're a baker/caker/cake designer/sugar artist/sweets creator I'm sure 'cakexperiments' are just part of your routine. I mean, practice makes perfect right? Plus it provides an opportunity to practise the important skills in cake decorating like layering, ganaching, rolling fondant (which gives my arms some major exercise!).

Unlike some lucky people I don't get to do my cakes full-time so I pretty much have to home-school myself on a lot of things. Thank goodness for the amazing cake bloggers out there who are so comprehensive with their tutorials and are willing to share their cake knowledge and skills.

YAY for meringue!

One of my favourite bloggers is Sweetapolita who not only has the cutest blog design but post some useful tips and recipes when it comes to cake decorating- one of her specialities? Swiss Meringue Buttercream. SMB for short, it involves egg whites (eek! you all know how I feel about making meringue) and using a candy thermometer (eeeep!).  After much "study" of her SMB post I decided it was time to confront my fears. I have been in the search for the perfect buttercream and this just looked divine! And as though I was in a pastry chef's practical examination I woke up at 10am on a Sunday morning (that's way early for me, ok?) got all my tools and ingredients out and got straight into work....

SMB success! Glossy and Satiny!

Shanghai Part II - La Creperie

AHOY! LA CREPERIE AHEAD!

Bonjour, peeps! Welcome to Shanghai Part Deux. It may seem a little strange that this post is a little francais but as I had mentioned earlier in Shanghai Part I  I was amazingly surprised with the diversity in people and food. Coming across La Creperie was such a delight. I don't think in my 19 years of living in Australia have I tasted such authentic crepes or experienced such a cute nautical theme restaurant. 

Founded in 2007 in Shanghai by French natives, Thomas Courbiere and Phillipe Ricard (don't their names just sound so uber cool?) La Creperie is located at a very busy area of the beautiful French Concession of Shanghai. If you ever visit Shanghai, this area is a must-visit. Beautiful, quaint and rich is history you can walk around the French Concession for hours and lose yourself while being mesmerized by the amazing architecture. It is rather appropriate that La Creperie is located here to show off the "new" French of Shanghai. I found the interiors to be absolutely adorable: Classy mahogany furniture teamed with navy and white nautical striped crockery and topped off with bright red lamps. Tres french, non? 

Me spying on the chefs- love their uniform!

Shanghai - Part I

Une fille Chinoise en Chine

"A Chinese girl in China"

Happy New Year, readers! I hope you celebrated the new year in style~ I sure did. And by style I mean Shanghai. Being a Chinese and having never set foot in China it was a rather strange experience to set foot on the Mother of all motherlands for Chinese around the world. Like an American in Paris I really felt like a complete foreigner constantly looking around trying to absorb every sound, every smell and every taste of the amazing city in just 6 days. I chose to celebrate the new year here cos my bestie had just moved here about 6 months ago and has been raving about the place. To be honest China was not high on my "must visit" list for a long time and after hearing all about it from my bestie I just had to come visit. 

East Nanjing Road:

My impression of Shanghai was that it was a super corporate place with not much character. I was expecting grey and dull office buildings, a few shopping centres and maybe some side street dumpling stalls. Despite having heard much about the wonderful restaurants my bestie has been to I thought maybe there weren't so many of them around. Boy, was I wrong. Shanghai is literally bursting with life, diversity and most importantly for me, culinary delights! Every corner offered something: a dumpling store, a cool shopping district, a cute little bakery (I literally would run off leaving my bestie behind every time I saw one). My first few days I was just taken in by the lights. Being the festive Christmas period Shanghai lit up for the world to see. My favourite was The Bund which sits on the "old" side of the Huangpu River which divides the old and new Shanghai. I just LOVE old school shizz so when I saw The Bund for the first time I was just mesmerized. As my bestie says "You just never get sick of this place".

The Bund

Waldorf Astoria Hotel - yes the one from NYC!