Friday logic: Eating chocolate is like eating a salad

This is how it goes: Chocolate comes from cocoa, which makes it a plant.
So that makes chocolate = salad.

I didn't come up with that, but I'm buying it - it's genius!

And with that gleeful thought, let's dive headlong into chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

First up: a good ol' chocolate cake.

Plan, simple.
A slice or two for dessert with the family.



There are so many ways you can go with a chocolate cake.
Light and fluffy, dark and decadent.
I like mine moist and earthy, not too heavy.

The Italian Dish, Food 52 and Bon Appetit have great fail-safe recipes, not too fussy, easy eating.

Nigella does a kickbutt Guinness Chocolate Cake that's my go-to, packing flavor and warm fragrance. If you prefer a super dense version that's really more like a torte, Martha Stewart  does it really well (but of course).

For friends or family who are gluten intolerant, Jamie Oliver and A Girl Defloured have you covered.

All these recipes can have their sugar, butter, creams reduced so experiment and find the right proportion for you.

You can stop right there if you're keeping balanced on a lean-eating week, chocolate cake tastes just fine on its own, and you get to sneak in a few more slices. It's all about keeping the intake even.

But if you're buying the whole chocolate = plant spiel and looking for some frosting to be the icing on the cake, check Williams Sonoma's recipe out, it's da bomb and so easy to make.

Now - on to more chocolate matters.

I love giving little packages as gifts. Small desserts are much more tedious, but so darn cute it's totally worth it.

Chocolate Cake Balls are absolutely gorgeous little chocolate gems, "double-chocolated" in a creamy chocolate coating. YUM.

Use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, roll them into smaller balls of fun and dip them in good quality melted dark chocolate.

If you're talking to an all-adult crowd, I strongly recommend turning them into Chocolate Rum Balls - the same way you'd make regular cake balls, but using rum as your binder when you roll them up.

These little bombs are quite indulgent, so just make sure you run a couple more minutes or keep lunch light so you have some caloric space for these sweet babies. It's all about the balance.

That's it for today's episode of Friday logic, I know it all made perfect weekend-sense ;)

My own little tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Photo from Vulcan Post & Chan Chun Sing

It's been a sombre week.

Mr Lee's chair sits empty today.

Around the world, many are feeling the weight of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew's passing, keenly missing the man who impacted so many with his one singular life.

I too, feel tears welling up several times over the course of each day, as I cling furtively to reports and updates online and on TV, never feeling further from home even as I'm a stone's throw away living in Hong Kong.
> Signing the condolence book in Hong Kong

By no means is this meant to even match the gravity of losing one of the most courageous people to have existed; not by a long shot.

But in my own small way, as a baker, I'm remembering Mr Lee with a simple cake - his favorite, chocolate.
> Remembering the colorful Robin Williams

Celebrating a life worth respecting

I'm choosing to celebrate his life and acknowledge the impact and the good he's done. 

I take comfort in his reunion with his soulmate - his wife and tower of strength - Kwa Geok Choo.

With a little cake. 

An unfussy, to-the-point but memorable cake packing a punch. 

Like the indomitable Mr Lee.

Photo from The Straits Times

He valued highly the merits of hard work, and the environment had always been a key focus for him. He pioneered the amazing green powerhouse that tiny Singapore now is, even when the world told him it couldn't be done.

In keeping with his environmental emphasis, I will be making an extra effort to observe Earth Hour this Sat Mar 28, 8.30pm local time.
> Many other ways you can help beyond just observing the hour

I hope you will too.

Mr Lee's physical light might have gone out, but his legacy is an ever enduring sun that never sets.

And it's in our hands to keep it well.

Give in and indulge, give me chocolate!

After a heady few weeks of continuous cholesteral-busting mooncakes celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival's full moon, a detox is in order.

> More summer treats    
- A summer carousel
- Awesome ways to use beer
- Desserts for a hot day
- Color me happy, it's 2014!
- Ombre swirl cookies
- Sweet, sweet strawberries
- Summer day out on the golf course

But because I'm greedy and itching for some good chocolate, I decide to ditch good sense and take the path of indulgence instead.

'Indulgence' (noun): Liberal or tolerant treatment

Yep, that about sums it up.

So gingerly (guiltily... same thing) edging my gym shoes under the shoe cabinet, I reach for my valrhona chocolate and stealthily cart my Kitchenaid onto the kitchen table.

Let the indulgence begin!
> Another indulgent treat: Rich red velvet cake

This is truly a freeform cake. 

Embellish as much or as little as you like, go all out or cut back like a good girl.

All up to you.

All depending on how indulgent you want to be.

Start off by building the layers. 

Bake up some good chocolate cake (Martha Stewart's amazing recipe here), and while it's cooling off, get the frosting going.

> More chocolate goodness

- Chocolatey love

- 10 years young

I've been on the hunt for a good buttercream recipe for a while, and I think I may have finally found THE ONE from the amazing I Am Baker.

My issue with most buttercream recipes is the cloying sweetness it usually involves. 

I treasure my teeth - that's all I'm sayin.

But this recipe has the right balance of stiffness (for piping), and tastes absolutely heavenly. 

I mean, serious pillowy silken-ess.

The very first buttercream recipe that I actually enjoy eating by the spoonfuls, on its own. 

I'm in love.

Spend some time whipping up the egg whites (5-6 min) till they reach a fluffy almost-whipped-cream firmness. That's key.

I also prefer using the double broiler method for melting the chocolate, gives a more uniform heating and no lumps in your mixture. The microwave method works better when you're working with very small amounts, like in cake pops.

After that, freeform as you like assembling the cake.

I'm on an indulgence spree, so I nestle chocolate chips between chocolate frosting layers.

Time to ramp things up.

Enter stage left: Chocolate ganache. 

Any and everything tastes good with ganache. It's a synch to make, and you need just  3 basic ingredients which you'll probably have in the kitchen anyways. 

Let it cool to the right pouring consistency (just a couple of minutes after taking it off the stove), and work fairly quickly drizzling it down the sides of the cake before it starts solidifying. 

I find the best way to do this is to start pouring onto the middle of the cake and slowly edge your way out. 

Use a spatula to guide the ganache down the sides, tilt the cake as needed to encourage 'lava flow'. Just make sure you hold on tight to the cake, I've had a couple of butterfinger slip ups and the cake came crashing down arghhh.

Heart-breaking.

And because we're on a rampage, we need more chocolate.

Enter stage right: Gold chocolate rocks that go round the cake border, chocolate buttercream from earlier that gets piped onto the top.

Each buttercream rosette is crowned with a chocolate malt ball, and I could have stopped right there and we'd have a perfectly scrumptious cake.

But we're in the mood for indulgence, right?

No room for unadorned cake real estate. 

More rosettes go on, more malt balls. 

Think our job here is done. 

I present 'Death by Chocolate': Chocolate cake with velvety chocolate buttercream and chocolate chips, covered with chocolate buttercream, sprinkled with gold chocolate rocks, drenched with dark chocolate ganache, topped with chocolate rosettes and malt balls.

Who says you ever need to stop?

*dust hands*

The colorful Robin Williams

Photo from Parade

It's not like we were friends, it's not like we met regularly for coffee. 

He didn't even know I existed. 

But I certainly knew Robin Williams; through his films. 

Death is never easy. 

And when it's a person who's familiar - even if it's remotely, through a movie screen - the sadness feels a little more personal.

Robin Williams struggled with many inner demons, but he single-handedly brought SO much joy and laughter to so many people who encountered him, on and off-screen.

I just caught Patch Adams again on the movie channel last night, and it definitely did justice bringing the real life Williams to reel life. 

In celebration of this wonderful man's colorful personality, today's post is about a rainbow balloon cake. 

Particularly since the tear-jerker Pixar animation UP, balloons have come to represent hope and positivity.

The skyful of balloons air-lifting Carl's house in search of Paradise Falls... forever etched in our minds as we futilely fought back tears for his missing Ellie...

There's a certain freedom in balloons as they flit and float over everyone and everything, going where no one else goes. 

Their haphazard abandonment carries such carefreeness, just what we're wishing for the iconic comedienne especially now. 

These little fondant figures with their gold shimmer, hold the key to a blue open sky filled with innumerate round bubbles of dreams, as colorful as Williams himself.

Surrounded with fluffy white clouds of royal icing and white fondant cut-outs, the future is always open - for you, for me, for cakes and desserts, for dear Mr Robin Williams. 

More summer colors:

> A summer carousel

> Color me happy!

> A very hungry caterpillar

> A purple green birthday

> Poppin' dots cake pops

> World Cup colors

The softer side of the World Cup

Sports is amazing.

Team loyalties are crazy fierce, fans go to the ends of the earth to support, defend and rally their players.

And as far as beautiful games are concerned, football is king.
> Awesome ways to use the football beverage - beer!
> What to do when things get hot (under the collar)!
> Get through the late nights, with chocolate

Sports can divide, sports can unite.
As certain as politics and religion can.

In this World Cup season, I want to celebrate the joys of sports, and the happiness it brings.

Presenting... The green, blues and yellows of.. Henry Hugglemonster!
> Who's Henry Hugglemonster?

> More yellow desserts
- Busy day at the construction site
- Minions at work
- A Rilakkuma birthday

Right: The real Henry

Left: My version!

I know it's not what you'd associate with football. But besides the colors of Brazil, Henry also does his part rallying little kids in the challenges of life, teaching extermination, diversity and drive.

Just like sports and football do.
You see the similarities I'm sure :)

Happy splash of colors paying World Cup homage 

The starting point: Base cake layers decked with surprise fillings (crushed oreos, chocolate
chips, mango), and chocolate and vanilla buttercream. These get stacked and covered with
blue fondant, before a smaller 2nd tier goes on top.

With a fairly flat top tier, you can try and cover the entire cake with a single piece of fondant
like I did here. If your top tier is high, you should cover the 2 tiers separately and stack them.

Recipe for the cake base:

> Martha Stewart's delectable Chocolate Torte

> Bakerella's amazing Chocolate Cake

Handpainting takes a steady hand, and good spelling.

Practice, practice, practice till you get good at it, like sports!

Final touch: Cake pops for a poppin' backdrop, they add such a wonderful cheer!

> Bicycle cake pops 

> Hello Kitty cake pops

> Elmo cake pops

> Pony cake pops

Ole World Cup!

It's hot out there!

It is crazy hot outside.

The haze is gone for now, so I really shouldn't be complaining.

But it is HOT.

So here are 5 ways I recommend staying cool, and sane:

1) Walk around with ice packs in your shirt

This works, I'm not kidding. The only problem - the weirdest looking wet patches, which confines this idea to people who work from home. Or a cave. Or in permanent darkness.

2) Build a nice little igloo and never step outside

Theoretically a good idea, but your food will soon run out. Plus you'll have to take a course on How To Build Igloos first. A little more commitment than I'd care to make in this heat.

3) Put your bedsheets in the fridge

This one's not from me, it came from Lifehacker. You pop your sheets into a bag, leave them in the freezer/fridge, viola - nice cool bed linen for some sweet dreams. The cold is very temporary though, which makes this too-much-work-for-very-little-rewards.

4) Run away

North pole, Estonia, Russia, Canada - take your pick. You just have to be able to afford the ticket. And like to eat pickled or smoked food all the time. And love skiing.

5) My fave - load up on fruits

This is probably the only sensible idea on the list. 

Hey, I bake - don't claim to be a rocket scientist :)

Vitamin C is a fantastic way to build up immunity. 

You'll need it in this insane heat, help your body fight the soaring temperatures and not fall ill.

As I said earlier, I bake. 

So of course there must be a way to infuse fruits + desserts.

These are guaranteed ways to have your cake (or vit C in this case), and eat it!

FRUITY MILKSHAKE

Two best things about making milkshakes: they're SO easy to do, and use ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. 

So many, many variations you can have, and you don't really need a recipe, really. Ok, but it does help with estimating proportions, so here's a quick recipe from TwoPeasAndTheirPod.

All you need is good quality vanilla ice-cream, strawberries, milk and a blender - super easy. Blitz till smooth, and it's ready to go!

Top L: Upp the indulgence, add velvety Nutella for a chocolatey treat. Chocolate cheers all hearts and makes the world a better place ;)

Bottom L: Everything tastes way more fun in a cute cup or adorable bowl. Truth. 

R: Use up those super-ripe bananas, throw them in and viola - you got yourself a potassium-packed shake, so good especially as an after-exercise boost.

CHIFFON CAKE WITH FRUITS AND CREAM

I love the light, bouncy texture of chiffoncakes, it goes fantastically with fruits. 

So wonderfully summery.

And though I'm usually not a fan of cream, with this cake it acts as a rich, moist blanket bringing the chiffon and fruits together in a merry mouthful. 

For a superb chiffon, try Martha Stewart's fail-safe recipe. It's pretty good as is, I've just cut the sugar to 1 1/3 cup for a lighter taste. I didn't have cream of tartar on hand so I replaced with same amount of white vinegar, which worked as well in stabalizing the egg whites when whipping. 

The lovely dark specks from the vanilla bean gradually break up as the egg whites build volume, giving the cake its aroma and depth.

L: The cold heavy cream needs to hold up to peaks, that's when it's ready. Since this is a smaller 7" round cake (Martha's is a 9.5" tube), 1 cup is sufficient to fill and top the cake.

R: Don't skip this step. Letting the strawberries stew in a bit of lemon juice and sugar lessens the sour bite. Unless you're using super sweet Japanese berries, in which case you should definitely use them as is.

Vitamin C - dotting the world with antioxidants, one berry at a time!

DEEP CHOCOLATE GANACHE CAKE WITH FRUITS

Much as I like light chiffony cakes, my true love lies with deep, dark chocolate. 

Like an unyielding siren, it calls out to me. 

I find it extremely hard to say no to chocolate.

I may need help.

But I digress.

So of course, I have to make a fruity chocolate cake.

Martha Stewart has a solidly inky dark torte that you can use to build this cake on, so good for special occasion oomph. But if it's something lighter you're after, Bakerella does a mean everyday chocolate cake version. 

Keep hydrated, eat lots of fruit (on cake!) and stay healthy!