Whimsical yoga, balanced desserts

I have a love-hate relationship with the sun. 

There's definitely something to be said for skies streaked with bright rays.

Kids get to gander about outdoors, cold drinks and ice-creams galore, fantastic days out at the beach.

And as wiser-than-we-give-credit-for Steve Martin said: 

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." 

Sunshine makes for happy days.

There's just this slight problem in the tropics. 

HUMIDITY.

Oh. The. Humidity.

An unbearable permanent state of wretched drench-ness that wraps around like a persistent soggy fur coat that wouldn't come off.

> Desserts for a hot day

> Awesome ways to use beer

Well, since sunny days are here to stay, we decided to make the best of it with a happy day Partner Wellness Workshop! 

Win-sie - the marvelous force behind Whimsical Yoga - brought everyone together with light-hearted stretching, bending and balancing, with an unplanned bonus of a roomful of laughter as everyone relaxed and self-consciousness fell away.

We shook off routine stresses and swapped it all out for the openess of a morning's whimsical yoga.

And with all that hard work, we had to get in a bit of sustenance - of course, right?

The Petite Pops dessert table had Chocolate Fridge Cake full of crunchiness and texture,  completely addictive Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) Granola and Raw Peanut Butter Oat Balls bursting with nutrients.

'Balanced Desserts' were the order of the day - you need a bit of naughty, to go with the nice. 

No one wants to eat food that doesn't taste good.
Dessert's got to make you sing, got to make you want to come back for seconds. And thirds. 

Try these balanced desserts out for yourself:

> Treats for the arduous journey

> Chocolate Almond Sables

> Sometimes YOLO = Granola

> Sesame Matcha Cupcakes

And we got right to it - hands on, all 10 fingers, diving right in.

 

We carved yoghurt-filled strawberries, had a go whipping up no-bake Oat Balls, and built our own parfaits - heaping on tons of natural, tasty toppings that were just that little bit wicked, and a lot nice.

Set aside a little time to live well, eat well each day if you can. 

A bit of away-from-device time, a smidge of exercise, a smattering of good eating - desserts, of course. 

And when you can, ramp it up a little.

Labor Day's next week and there's no reason not to live well, eat well across that nice long weekend. 

Kick it up, balance life!

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*

A summer carousel

The thing about being so near the equator is that we're perpetually in the sun's path, getting the full-scale blazing love. 

Which is why we don't fully appreciate, or even comprehend summer.

We're too busy trying to stay cool and not inflict tropical humidity wetness to the next person to even think about the summer concept.
> How do you stay cool?
> Best uses of beer

Summer fun? 

More like eternal furnace.

But with all the crazy extreme weather happening around the world, I am very grateful for this somewhat normal summer here in Singapore/Hong Kong. 

So dressed in my best summer singlet and breeziest summer shorts, I'd like to invite you to celebrate the summer sun with a dappy day out to the summer fair carousel, with the happiest little birthday girl!

More summer colors:
> Color me happy!
> A very hungry caterpillar
> A purple green birthday
> Poppin' dots cake pops
> Yellow and green, colors of world cup

Don't believe Wilton products that say 'easy to use' in the instruction manual. You usually need an engineer's degree to assemble their showpieces, after which you'll need to spend considerable time decorating them.

This carousel top took several hours to put together, starting with orange and purple fondant panels.

Red, green, blue, pink and yellow accents are hand-piped with stiff royal icing, make sure you have enough time for everything to dry so that it's all nice and sturdy when you put it on the cake. 

A cheery pop of yellow crowning the cake's top tier, 

as the ponies get a-galloping after their royal icing dries off.

20 little fingers eagerly inching closer to the cake, as the finishing touches go up.

Rainbow cake (recipe here): A perennial favorite with kids, and perfect for the summer carousel party!

I love theme parties, the crazy OCD in me just gets such a kick out of 

matching colors and patterns. The birthday girl's mom did a fantastic 

job getting these cute little buckets for giveaways, every 

child was a SUPER happy child by the end of the party.

> Eat kind for kids

Happy birthday, beautiful Ellie!

More happy birthdays:
> A busy day at the construction site
> Dinosaur roarrrr
> Rabbity cake pops

> 10 years young

> A Rilakkuma birthday

> Elmo cake pops

> Curious George, is that you?

Home is where Mom is...

Supermoms, happy moms, working moms, crazy busy moms, just plain crazy moms, absent-minded moms, moms-who-need-36hours-in-their-day, glorious moms.

They're all part of our lives, and Home truly is where Mom is. 

Celebrate your mom/grandmom with a bit of cake happiness (it's May 11 for those who've lost track of time!), everyone loves a bit of love. 

> Click image above for bigger popup 

More sweet treats Mom might like:

> Fruity chiffon cake

> Sweet, sweet strawberries

> Ombre swirl cookies

> Fairy tales with cake and dessert

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!