MY BIRTHDAY

 So yesterday was my 17th birthday. It was great and I went around all day.

Here are some of the pictures of what happened:

We went to the buffet restaurant "WASABI" for lunch.  Now, I thought I was smiling here.   Guess not. :P

Buffet food.  Yum :)

WASABI is known for their green tea ice cream.

Where I bought my birthday cake.

MY BIRTHDAY CAKKEEEEE. <3

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Hey guys!
So I want to surprise my friend by baking her a cake for her birthday tomorrow!  Oddly enough, her birthday is 3 days before mine.  But what's really odd is my bff in Montreal, whose birthday is exactly one month before mine.  Her's is Dec. 28, while mine is Jan. 28.  Even though we're only one month apart, we're one whole grade apart.  And according to the lunar calendar, we're born in the same year.  So unfair. :P

So anyway, I'm not allowed to bake anything big for a few months because of an incident....
So I just stuck to a simple chocolate cake (recipe here>>>) topped with buttercream frosting.  Simple.  But I kind of got off topic on Youtube.  I started off with "how to make icing flowers" to a ton of other baking stuff.
So anyways, here it is!

FROSTING:
2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract (real vanilla makes the frosting so much better)
6 fluid ounces heavy cream


Ingredient Tips:
-1 1/2C shortening & 1/2C butter
-6oz of cream for thick frosting
-2-3oz more of cream for fluffier frosting

1. Cream shortening (and/or butter if used) until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

Links:

Special Buttercream Frosting: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/special-buttercream-frosting/Detail.aspx 

CINNABONS

Hey guys!  It's been awhile!
Well, I'm making cinnabons today and I realized I never put the recipe up before.
The first time I made this was w/ a friend for a bake sale.  We tried the recipe out before we used it for the bake sale, and it was DELICIOUS.  The original recipe is called "Clone of a Cinnabon".  Not exactly and cinnamon roll, not exactly a cinnabon.
And I'm going to try to put up all the recipes I tried out for Christmas last month.  It takes a lot of time to time them all up, so I've kind of been avoiding it...

*View photo gallery here>>>http://sweet-patissiere.blogspot.com/p/photo-gallery.html*

CINNABON:

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
•  
• FILLING:
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
•  
• FROSTING:
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BREAD MACHINE:
1. First put your oven to 200F (unless you have some other area that's warm.  When ready, turn off the oven (this is need to make the dough rise).
2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl (you can add the some or all of the sugar if you want) and wait to see if foaming. 
3. Mix in the sugar (however you prepared it), margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour (you may need to add more if you're using all-purpose flour) and mix well. 
4. Knead the dough (around 12 times) into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. 
5. Put in a bowl and cover it with a wet paper towel.  Place the bowl into the warm oven/warm area (that's turned off) and let rise about 1 hour until doubled in size.
3. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise in the warm oven/warm area again until nearly doubled, about 20-30 minutes. 
5. After, take out the rolls and preheat oven to 350F.
6. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

TIPS:

-Make sure to read all my notes in "(...)" in the instructions

-I like to put the unbaked rolls on parchment/wax paper rather than directly on the pan.  It's easier to take out that way and the rolls won't get stuck.

-After the rolls were baked, it's good to flip them over to another pan so the cinnamon syrup can drip back onto the top of the rolls

LINKS:

Clone of a Cinnabon: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/clone-of-a-cinnabon/detail.aspx 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Wow so it's already 2012.  And the world hasn't ended.  LOL

Does anyone have any new 2012 goals and dreams?  I definitely do.  Such as getting better grades, cleaning up all my messes, and most importantly, to bake better!  

I may be moving to Vancouver this month, we're still thinking upon it.  But if I do move there, the local high school offers culinary courses!  I've been thinking a lot lately, and I really want to consider baking as a major life career.  I'm still between baking, vet and English major.  The others may sound better, but baking is my pride and joy, the passion in my life (after art of course).  My parents strongly disapprove this choice, but hey, it's my life. 

So moving on, I baked a TON for the holidays.  Of course. :)

This includes new recipes I tried out including chocolate mint cookies and mocha cookies.  I'll be putting up those recipes as well, along with a new cheesecake recipe I tried out!  So many things are to come.  I just have to take the time to type it all up.

Thanks for reading guys, and happy New Year!!