Hari Raya Cookies 2011

Someone commented this yesterday: "Kak Ainee!!!!!!! You are marketing your Raya cookies only NOW..... EVERYONE has got theirs out a long time ago.."

Well yes ; we are a little late this year. A long story which I dont wish to recap.

Anyway, this year, we still have last year's top seller -- Hazelnut Chocs. We have retained the Biscotti and reintroduced previous years' favourite -- Pecan cookies. We have also introduced new cookies this year -- Chewier versions of the all time favourite -- chocolate cookies and lots more.

However, we regretfully announced that we have decided to do away with our open-faced Pineappe Tarts this year. Not that there is not enough demand but more so that we simply would not be able to cope --- 2 of my 'strong' men  are not with us this year -- one a former staff who has left to seek greener pastures in a new industry and my second son who has called in to serve the nation back home.


Tales aside --- We humbly  present this year's cookies.
 

Hazelnut Chocs (50 pieces)

RM 35.00

A top-seller last year.

2 pieces of biscuits made from
a high ratio of hazelnut sandwiched
between a layer of chocolate cream.

Tat Gulung (40 pieces)

RM 28.00

Made by a close friend. Highly recommended.

The tart dough melts in the mouth with a
generous amount of a not too sweet
pineapple paste filling (homemade).

Semprit
(80 pieces)
RM 30.00

Made by the same friend. Comes
highly recommended by her customers.
An old time favourite.
These are rich in its buttery flavour.

   

Pecan Cookies (66 pieces)
RM 45.00

A favourite of yesteryears.

Tastes purely of nothing else but pecan.
It has a acquired taste. But once you're
hooked, it stays with you.
          

Pistachio Biscotti (500 grams)

RM 50.00

Chock-full of pistachios, these
get you going non-stop.
Had customers buying by the kilos
last year.

Oats & Raisins Cookies (45-48 pieces)

RM 35.00

A renewed version of the regular Oats & Raisins
cookies, these come in a chewier but richer buttery mouthful.
The raisins are everywhere.

                       

Berrylicious (55 pieces)

RM 35.00

As the name suggests, these are delicious.
Rich decadent taste of pure butter oozes with
each bite; combined with the tangy bite of raspberry and strawberry jam.

                                                                                                        

Chewy Chocs (45-50 pieces)

RM 35.00

A close cousin of the all-time favourite Chocolate
Chip cookie -- these come full of both dark
and milk chocolate but deiberately made to taste more chewy versus its crunchy cousin.

Nutty Chocs (45-48 pieces)

RM 35.00

A new invention, these combine the
healthy -- cereal, oats, raisins and
the sinful -- chocks of chocolate pieces.
Chewy and crunchy all at the same time.



Please email me privately at ainee@dchamps.com for orders /queries but do follow up your email with a sms to + 60 17 200 5968.

Orders close on the first day of Ramadhan. 

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Pillow Cake Hands on Class

Hi everyone,

I will be conducting a hands on class on the 'Pillow Cake' as shown below on the 26th February.

This class is opened only to 2 students at any one time and since one seat has already been confirmed; there is only 1 vacancy left for this date. I am limiting the class size so as to maximise the attention given to each student.

In this class, students will be given the full set of dummy foam for a 3 tier pillow wedding cake inclusive of the cake board (20") . (Cost of this alone costs RM 120)

Students will cover two of the 3 tiers.; the second and top tier. For the second tier, you will be given the experience of carving your very own pillow out of real cake and the technique of covering it with fondant. For this tier, you will also learn how to make it look like a real pillow. For the top tier, you will cover the cake in a different style.

You would be given recipes on how to make the cake in the correct porportions (2 different types of cakes in 2 different cake formation) as well as on how to make the fondant ( rain-proof). In fact, you would be making your own fondant in class.

Class starts at 10a.m. and will end when everyone is done and happy with what they have achieved.
Students need only bring along their apron and a box (15" x 15") to bring their cake home. Alternatively, we can also assist you in purchasing the box and you can always reimburse us later whe you come to class.

Please call me at +60 17 200 5968 for further queries. If  your call is not answered immediately, it simply means I cant do so at that moment. I will return your call as soon as I can or alternatively sms me and I will reply soonest. Thank you.

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Thomas & Friends

The instructions that came with this order was simple enough. But as the days came nearer, I decided to add to the intial design  -- 2 tier topsy turvy cake representing a railway track on a mountain with a 'real' TUNNEL (with Thomas coming through the tunnel no less) running through the top tier complete with Harold the helicopter 'flying' on op of the mountain and the name of the birthday boy aka HOLLYWOOD style.  My husband declared that from an engineering perspective, the cake would collapsed but I insisted on having a 'real' tunnel.  And like the 'toy story' cake I did earlier, I came to learn more about Thomas and HIs Friends...

Later , as we 'bore' through the cake, we held our breaths. A cheer went up as soon as we got through to the other side. (We really felt that real engineers digging through underground tunnel). But fate wasnt going to let me have it that easy. As we worked on the other parts of the cake; the top was slowly but surely collapsing. And that was at 2.30 in the morning (of the collection day). I decided to take the risk and went to sleep; secretly praying that the cake would hold itself but at the same time mentally prepared to start all over again if necessary. Later that morning; half an hour before customer was to pick up the cake; a stroke of creativity struck and the tunnel and the cake was saved. Whew !!!!!

All the sleepless nights and worry vanished as soon as I got the reaction from the birthday boy's mother. She even offered to pay more than what she had paid extra. Later that day, she told me that the birthday boy could not stop saying 'thank you' and that her hubby was just staring at the cake  with 'OMG'. Her own words....'Thank you very much. It's an awesome cake'.

This cake was another milestone for me ; being able to get the tunnel done was a real achievement for me (it may mean nothing to others but well............) . Thank you very much Shikin for the vote of confidence.

And also many many thanks to my team ..... hubby and my sons..... thanks guys..

       

Happy Birthday to you Rayyan.

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Baking Class -- Upon your request

I am finally able to resume the baking classes -- February 2011.

But this time, there are 2 major changes :-

1---  classes can only be conducted over the weekends.

2---  the classes are strictly going to be upon request - that means YOU tell me what you want to learn and if I think Im able to give you a good lesson on what you request and we can gather the minimum number of 4; the class is ON.... That means if you want to learn all about Puff Pastry, then we have a class on Puff Pastry ............. how's that?????

A general guideline on the fees (actual fee will depend on number of items and ingredients costs):-


Hands -- On  Class  :-  One Day :- RM 250 per person.
                                    Two Days :- RM 400 per person. 


The average number of items taught will be between 4 to 8 items (for 2 days)

Demo classes --  upon request...

Hope this will help encourage/motivate those who have been wanting to join but wants to have their own choices.  BUT a word of kind advice; for those with those with little / no experience in baking; it woud be of great help to YOU and ME if  we start with the Beginners' class first... then you can make your request....just a piece of advice.....

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Mad About Chocolates!

These pictures are way overdue. They were done for a good friend who gave me her FULL support once she knows we were doing chocolates.


These were done over a few days and nights..... some were made from compound chocolates; some from couverture and the premium ones were made from the Origin range which were hell of expensive but worth the price as the chocolates were really GOOD.


A very important fact to add --- hubby was the main player here -- he was the one who tempered the couverture; mould them ...... --- in other ways... a chocolatier in the making. ME ? -- I did the appraisal and the packing... hee hee..... As usual, my sons chipped in as well. In a nutshell ; we hereby present a family effort... enjoy.................

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A Thousand Apologies

Assalamu'alaikum to all my muslim friends and a very good hello to everyone else.

First of all ............I am SOOOOOO SORRY..... for having 'vanished' from the blog world since July.

One project after another... challenges after challenges...... struggles while trying to catch the rainbow..... time flies and suddenly I realized that I have abandoned my blogspot for the past few months..... Once again .. my apologies and my sincere thanks to those who have remain loyal and sometimes send me a gentle reminder.... 'No new post?'..... a gentle reminder but a good wake up call..... Anyway..... we at D'Champs are BACK.... and boy do I have lots and lots to share....... so please bear with me..... I will upload story by story.....


THE  TOY  STORY  CAKE .......


One day, I got a cold call from someone called Noorasykin ( I think that was her name ) enquiring about birthday cakes..... and she did mentioned that she would be passing my number to another friend , Nora, who was looking for a novelty cake for her son's birthday..

To cut a story short, Nora's order came in with the question, ' Can you do a cake that looks as close as this?" .... A 3 tier birthday cake with toy story figurines......

I always go into a panic when customers ask that question coz you have to copy someone's work and you better be able to do the SAME if not BETTER...... especially if you want to put in your 2 cents' worth of creativity.....

But as usual, I took the order and panicked later ...... what's new with that right? as far as  Ainee is concerned.

A good thing about it is ... the customer wanted actual figurines.... I cannot imagine producing them from fondant.... I would probably have ended up with a new set of characters for Toy Story 4 .... with different looking
Buzz.... donkey.....

Bad thing about it ... I had a baking class that day ... that means the cake HAS to be finished the night before.

The funny thing about it is that when I went shopping for the figurines, I did not even know which were the good aliens and which ones were the bad ones..... I felt so dumb, so outdated and so old.... for not knowing the new story ... Toy Story 3...... "Kak, those are the bad aliens~!!!!!!' Nora chuckled when I described to her over the phone the figurines I had picked up.  Told myself .. must watch more movies....

Anyway , this is the cake......

and the exclamation from Nora..... "Wow, this looks even better than the photo I showed you"....... that comment made my day....... I rest my case.

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KId's Chocolate,Cookies, Lapis Class, Cake & Pastry Class

My very first chocolate, cake and pastry class at my very own place finally took over after soooooooooooooo many challenges in merely getting the classroom ready.

Nevertheless, the classes went well and here are the pictures :-

Kid's  Chocolate  Class  :-

The chocolate class for kids was planned for the school holidays but coz of the numerous challenges in getting the classroom ready, I did not push the marketing very hard.

But one day, I had a phonecall (while I was in Singapore) from a father pleading with me to have the chocolate for his daughter. Because it was only for one child, I declined but he kept on pleading saying that his daughter realy wants to join the class.  In the end, I agreed and I even agreed to send the daughter home right after the class. Later, thinking that the child was only 9 years old and she will be the only students in the class, I called up a few friends and offered them to send the children to join the class for free. But due to the lateness of the hour, only one could send his daughter.

And so the day arrived, I prepared the smaller room for the class and waited....... and waited......and waited.
Finally , I recieved a phoncall but it was from my friend's daughter, asking whether I would be picking her up for the class .... How could I say no to her?  And thus I had the chocolate class...( the father of the so-called student who very much wanted to come for the class did not even have the courtesy to call and say that she could not attend.)

Nevertheless, Alishah and I had lots of fun.... And Im glad that I did not cancel on her.



Cookies  Class :

Initially, I had wanted to cancel this class since there were some who had emailed/called to request that the class be postphoned to July but there was a call from a Homechoc member who wanted to join the class but could not make it for a July date... And thus the class was confirmed...

It was suppossed to be a demo class for 10 cookies and 4 participants.

In the end, it turned out to be hands-on class still with 4  participants.... BUT it ended at 10 p.m.!!!!!!

The class had strated more than one hour late coz 2 participants were 'on the way' for the first hour.... and because there were only 4 participants, I had decided to get them to join in the making as well; thinking that it would speed up the process but in all the excitement, I had forgotten to tell them to halve the recipe portion... and in the end , the demo class turned out to look a mini biscuit making factory with trays and trays of cookies everywhere.....And at the end of the night... (YES night) ... there were lots and lots of cookies to bring home...

And guess what, NOBODY remembered to take pictures.... so sad to say, there is no concrete proof to remember the day by ... but Im sure all of us involved will NEVER forget that day...

Linda (one of the participants ) called a few days later to ask if I did make any money out of that class... considering the time, amount of cookies and the ingredient costs... so sweet of her to do so... Dont worry about that.... the important thing is my students are happy with what I have taught them.


Kek Lapis Class :

At last, I could become a student...... this class was conducted by the one and ony Nomie of the book,'Rahsia Membuat Kek Gulung Lapis Sarawak' fame.

There were 4 of us ; 2 so-called 'veterans'... me and Chef Fauziah and 2 more young ladies.

It was a mixture of a demo and hands-on class...

During the hands-on, the 2 'veterans' sat down and merely observed the 2 young ladies struggling their way through.... albeit with jokes and guidance from the 'sifu' as well as the 2 of us... So the young ladies were actually blessed.. they had the feedback and guidance from the experiences of the 3 of us. Nomie remained the sifu, Jie was nominated the CEO and I was just the busybody.... but the important thing is ... we ALL learned what we needed to .... even the CEO and me picked a few important pointers from the sifu.... so THANK YOU Nomie...

Cake  Class :-

Ilham has never baked a cake on her own before.... but she did a fantastic job.
For a total beginner, her first efforts at icing a cake are far far better than my very own efforts when I first picked up a spatula to ice a cake at baking school. 

She went home with Chocolate Butter Cake, Marble Cake, Genoise Sponge, Emulsified Sponge,Black Forest Torte, Blueberry Cake, Peach Torte and Chocolate Swiss Roll.  The picures speak for themselves.

Pastry  Class  :-

Fiza was the very first person to respond to the flyers sent around the neighbourhood. She signed up for the pastry class way back in May but I could only have the class for her last weekend.

She is one of the most eager students I have ever met. She was thrilled to bits everytime she takes out a tray of the tarts she had just baked. We joked and laughed admist the teaching and learning that was taking place.

Fiza eventually got 'cross-eyed' with all the tart shells she had to make --- she was so focused on getting the thickness of the pastry shells right ... not too thick ; not too thin (says her teacher... ME) , that she became giddy..... poor thing..Her husband had been very supportive of her efforts and had enecouraged her all the way --- he voluntereed to do he babysitting and some of the household chores for the weekend while she was in class; at the end of the first day, he called to remind her to buy home dinner coz he and the children were starving.... but in the end when she got home with dinner, he 'attacked' the blueberry cheese tarts first... declaring his approval..

By the second day, Fiza had understood the processes of tart making that she could make the tarts by herself; I ended up making the tart shells for her....

Eventually, her effors were not in vain at all...... All in all, she had produced Fruit Tartlets, Chocolate Tarts, Banana Cream Tarts, Strawberry/Blueberry Cheese Tarts, Egg Tarts, Coconut Tarts, Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie and Apple Crumb Pie.

That night, she messaged to say that her husband approved of all that she had made and gave special thumbs up for the Apple Crumb Pie...

In conclusion, I like to say a big 'Thank You' to all the students who have been very supportive...... Thank You.

 

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