Moomy's Search for The Perfect Frosting

I've always thought that year-ends are special. That's when schools in SG go on a longer break, the weather becomes a tad cooler and come December, there are always plenty of year-end sales!

But! We're not quite there yet for its only November! 

Nowadays, year-ends are more special to me because November is the birth month of my darling hubby.

I remember being delighted when I found out that our birthdays are close to one another. No special reason or significance really. It just made my year-ends something to realllly look forward to! *grins*

Anyhoo ... early this year, I had decided that I will try and bake cakes for all of our birthdays. I can easily manage the baking bit so the frosting should be easy, right?

WRONG!

I didn't know making them frosting could be such a bloody nightmare!

This was my first take at frosting on lil Aidan's birthday in June. 

Even the birthday boy wasn't too happy with

Moomy's grainy and insufficient chocolate frosting …

A throwback Thursday moment.

I don't remember why we baked a cake that day (in SG) but

my darling hubby made this cake (with boxed mix & canned frosting).

His cake looked so much better than my pathetic attempt above ...

My darling MiL and dear aunts in SG & Malaysia made it look so damn easy. My dear mum has also rolled out fondant several times to make wedding cakes … and if you know fondant, you know it ain’t a piece of cake.

My darling hubby and his parents celebrating his birthday in November 2012.

Look at that perfectly covered, frosted cake my darling MiL had made!

My Aunt Hawa's Red Velvet Cake - another beautifully frosted cake!

(for orders, please check out her FB page "Hawa D's Sweet Temptations")

My darling hubby with his Blackforest birthday cake in

November 2009, courtesy of my Aunt Azkiah in SG :D

Now I could never re-create that! The chocolate will just go everywhere …

My dear mum made this cake for a wedding reception. Gorgeous, isn't it?

Mum has always been creative with food, crafts and almost everything really.

I don't think those creativity genes came down to me hehehe

Marl Hausmann of Haus Bakes made these for us:

Salted Caramel Whipped Cream on delicious chocolate cupcakes!

I have to say that her gorgeous swirly frosting

was my inspiration for my darling hubby's buttercream.

But Marl can definitely frost. And make plain ol' cupcakes look sinful.
Me? Well, I started the frosting process but had no clue on how to end it muahahaha

So I did my research and fell in love with the technique of whipping up Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Not just any buttercream but Swiss Meringue too!! I know right? 

I am being ambitious but hey, I was totally inspired by my newfound friend, Marlina Hausmann. She baked and created some damn fine cupcakes that tasted o-so-out-of-this-world! Plus, she gave me this squeezy contraption that would help me squirt frosting to make pretty rosettes and shells on my desserts. 

Excited? Boy, was I ever! So here’s how my frosting adventure began:

 Egg whites and sugar = the beginning of something delicious!

Into a glass bowl went 3 egg whites and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Then very carefully, I set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and started to whisk it continuously until all the sugar has completely dissolved.

Whisk, whisk, whisk till the sugar's all dissolved and your mixture looks opaque! 

If you're not sure whether the sugar has dissolved, dip a clean index finger into the bowl and rub it against your thumb. If you can feel that its still grainy, continue whisking for a minute or so.

 Lil dots of vanilla goodness!

Once the sugar has completely dissolved, take the glass bowl away from the heat, add half a teaspoon of vanilla and whip, whip, whip it on high until the mixture has completely cooled.

Looking at that reminded me of whisking them egg whites for a chiffon mix ... 

The more you whip it, the glossier the mixture will be and it'll remind you of marshmallow. O man!

The butter turned that whiteness into a sweet light-yellow color ...

Once the mixture has completely cooled, slowly add in a cup of softened, unsalted butter, a tablespoon at a time. Whip, whip, whip it until the mixture becomes thick and fluffy.

Finally, you fold in 4 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate. Once you've got all that melted gooey chocolate nicely incorporated into your whipped butter-marshmallowy yumminess, you're all set to frost!

Ta-daaaa!! The Barefoot Contessa's Beatty's Chocolate Cake

with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream*

I can follow instructions and bake a decent cake but

as I've said once before, I shall say it again … I can't frost for nuts!

But this turned out quite pretty, eh? *winks*

*Here's the link for the original recipe:
bakingamoment.com/simply-perfect-chocolate-swiss-meringue-buttercream/

Hehehe my first prettily frosted birthday cake!

I spread some in between the cakes and used the rest to decorate the top. I had wanted to make pretty rosettes but the minute I squeezed the frosting out, I realized I couldn't figure out how to stop the twirl so around and around the cake I went until I got a pretty huge rosette topping!! LOL :D

But of course, I didn't make enough frosting to fully cover (the sides of) my 8-inch diameter (double-layered) chocolate cake.

I totally suck at estimating this frosting equation.

But hey! I did it! My darling hubby loved the buttercream; he said it was silky and very velvety :D:D:D Very. Good. Frosting.

 My darling hubby's birthday cake and lit-up candles!

The lil boys were excited to sing Happy Birthday for Daddy

blow out the birthday candles for Daddy!

 I tried to re-create this delicious prawn in pumpkin sauce

which my darling hubby often enjoyed at
Enak Rasa Thai Seafood Restaurant near our old place in SG.

For my take on that dish, I had battered the prawns and added

some mashed salted egg into the pumpkin sauce. Delicious!

Next time though, I'll cook the prawns into the sauce itself.

I paired this pumpkin prawn dish with a simple stir-fried assorted veg.

We ate this with freshly steamed Jasmine rice :D:D:D

So good he was tempted to spread some in between slices of bread and eat it like a sandwich. *shakes head*

Happy birthday, my darling Poomba.

May The Almighty bless you with longevity, prosperity,

health and joyful goofiness always.

Love, Timon xxx

Now whose birthday is next? *winks*