A carroty weekend and burning out

I managed to get a few cake orders out this weekend... thanks to the food processor Jess has lent me, it was a breeze to grate the two bags of carrots all in one go :)

I made a super tall three layered carrot cake for J.C and delivered it to her at the restaurant where she was eating, apparently the restaurant manager had a piece and took my contact details off her... hmm I would consider trading one of these with his mud crabs.

Made another carrot cake with banana without nuts for Elise's aunty, that was half a disaster as I was again in a mad rush, for the first time, I actually wish there were more hours in a day... at least for weekends anyway!! I didn't take a photo of it (mad rush) and the cream cheese icing didn't get a chance to set before I dashed out... getting lost on my way there and the bumpy ride didn't do the already fragile cake any good... I felt horrible that it cracked and was a bit lopped sided when I finally got there... I was feeling really crappy about it until I received Amanda's text message in the afternoon which was all nice saying the crack didn't affect its taste or popularity with the guests. Thank you Amanda (and Elise) for your support!

So it was another baking oriented weekend, I still didn't get as much baked as I had hoped to...but I had a whole body remedial massage, a much needed one, extremely painful as my body has been feeling strained for the last two months from lack of sleep and intensive use of otherwise under utilised muscle groups - knots everywhere! It was a bit torturous during the massage but afterwards, I felt better... I'm also now taking chinese herbal medicine, the really bitter black stuff that mum's preparing for me twice everyday now... I think my body has finally burnt out!

Thus, I've decided not to take anymore cake orders, I got to learn to say no lol... and will just focus on the orders I've got now that is manageable. Although, I'd love to have the time to make all the requested cakes for special occasions, but I simply can't keep up with the demand (with working back late etc...), and it's pretty draining not having time to do anything else. I feel like crap everyday physically, and health should come first. I hope I'll be able to recover slowly, adjust back to a normal sleeping routine, one that I actually get enough sleep!

Just finished making another opera cake, a last minute order from Jess to please her colleagues lol...
It's 2am now...... eeek!!! I'll update the numbers when I get a chance, there were a few donations collected this weekend for cake orders :))

Please, donate for yourselves coz it feels good to give, don't do it for me or the cakes (that would be silly)!!

A wannabe Snow White

no, they don't like cookies mum... they eat rats

My visiting mother has acquired herself some pet kookaburras from all the cake scraps I've been baking up... FIVE in total actually and it's seriously like currumbin sanctuary right in our own backyard!!! She now feeds them once in the morning, and they come back again around 4pm in the afternoon. It's crazy, a few different species of birds all chirping happily around those hours waiting to be fed...(it's not a good thing as I dislike/afraid of magpies and those evil looking ones with the yellow beaks!)

can you spot FOUR kookaburras?!

I warned this wannabe-outback-version-snow-white (yes she sings to the birds too!!!!!) that she's destroying the ecosystem by spoiling them with regular unhealthy food and once she goes overseas again, her newly found pets will probably have abandonment issues, not very nice...

I'm highly suspicious of them all eyeing to nest in the big mango tree now that spring is fast approaching... but I must admit, the kookaburras are really cute, and not afraid of mum at all, they now walk up really close and chill next to mum (apparently they recognise her red jacket which is what she wears to get recognised by them now lol), one would sit on the bench and another one would watch from the peak of the washing line...

choux pastry are most popular!! (less sugary)

I asked her doesn't the birds get thirsty with all the solid food, she said can't give them water as well, they need to do a little bit of exercise and find water sources themselves... but the next day she puts out some water in a container for the birds, so it's buffet style and all... argh! I just hope I won't get sweeped by magpies and crazy little birds next time I go into the backyard!!

crazy yellow beak birds (strongly dislike as they're rude!)

Experiment and Trial

Quick post for Friday, I had some new york cheesecake batter just lying around, so I made some brownies with that... also, I needed to test out hazelnut torte since I've never made or eaten one before and there's been a cake order for that... having done the trial bake, I know to double the recipe and use a smaller mould :)

Total gold coin donations raised was $30.85

Muffin Day #2 @ LandPartners

Yesterday was Muffin Tuesday at LandPartners again :) and I have been thinking about trialling new muffin flavours - I love how versatile and easy muffin recipes are to make and manipulate! So I got a bit carried away with Mocha & Walnut, Maple Banana, Cinnamon Pear with vanilla custard centers and my must make muffin Blueberry & White Choc.. I actually also made Choc Rum and Raisin but I thought four flavours was enough to make up 15 (+1 as thank you).

quick photo in the morning

Despite being fast to make compared to normal cakes, I still had to wait for all the muffins to cool and wrap them up before I can go to sleep, they'd get too dry if left out all night. I remembered to take a quick photo before I rushed out the door this time!

Because I didn't get to test taste all the new flavours, I was a bit nervous about the sales, especially the muffins with vanilla custard centers.. they still need some tweaking, but I have a better idea on the dough consistency now :) I think by the end of this campaign I'll have a solid list of recipes that I can refer to (if I remember to write them down..), it's been a win-win-win situation every way I look at it!

Today I got a nice surprise from Andres! He dropped off some brown sugar and cooking chocolate for my campaign! because I'm lazy, I'll just cut-n-paste an excerpt of our correspondence:

.... they were all gone by lunch time so another 15 would be great.

You really should cover your costs from your sales, especially now that you have reached your initial goal. Providing your spare time, electricity and talent is plenty!

I did my shop today and your philanthropic efforts put me to so much shame I had to buy something…

Indeed, I think I will have to do that with the cake orders I'm doing from now on, that way I might be able to last longer. I had to turn down a big wedding cake order coz it's really out of my capacity (180+ cupcakes and 5 cakes!).

Andres, you're too kind! How did you know I needed to get more brown sugar? and the chocolates are staple ingredients that will definitely come in handy, all three varieties too! Thanks again!!!

Meanwhile, I got another wedding cake order! (why is everyone getting married all of a sudden?!!!... and how can they trust me to make their wedding cakes?!!!) Well, this one I'm considering taking... it'll be in November which is after my campaign finishes, but the bride is offering to donate her cake budget first which is cool :)))

A second bake-free night tonight, loving it :D!!! but a busy weekend ahead...

A typical weekend.....

hazelnut opera cake

Guess what I did on the weekend? I baked! ta da~

jess took some cross sections for me last night

I made a hazelnut opera cake for Eric's birthday that Jess ordered last week as a surprise for her brother. It was my first time making an opera cake, quite an exciting process and it wasn't as daunting as I had thought it would be to make :) and the clients were super happy.

six layers :D!

There was some freestyle involved, as an opera cake is not normally round, but this was a birthday cake so I made it round for the occassion, also a normal opera cake doesn't have dusting (which I regret putting on just before I rushed out to see the 15th anniversary demo of my aikido dojo).... I seem to be constantly in a mad rush even on weekends!!!!!!! also, I regret putting on the caramel coated hazelnuts in such symmetrical order, but again time didn't allow me to think..... still, the feedback was really flattering. Jess said "it tasted exactly like the opera cake we had at le bon choix except your layers are spongy and not crunchy wafers"...

a happy birthday boy

Thanks Jess!!! ofcourse mine is not as fancy and pretty as the one at le bon choix but I do prefer spongy joconde over crunchy wafers which was what I didn't like about the opera cake I had tasted. And I was able to adjust the sweetness to something bearable and balanced it with crushed hazelnuts in the butter cream layers :)))

I had a few orders outstanding and thought I could clear a few over the weekend... except my attempts to multi-task failed miserably... I basically passed out on Friday night and got up early Saturday morning to do the mini cheesecakes for Edith, but due to the rush I misjudged the cooking time and the centres weren't cooked grrrrrr it was impossible to fix. Luckily, Edith didn't need them urgently and was very understanding of my situation lol... so I have postponed them for a remake another day....

caramel and chocolate eclairs

Meanwhile, I was mega stressed out that I had to do Winnie's Caramel & Chocolate eclair order by Saturday arvo....in between going out to vote and driving parents around... eventually I got them done, a few hours behind schedule, but it was good to get them out!!! Took a night shot before they were picked up. I'm glad Winnie said they were the best eclairs she's tasted for a long time... !! awwwwwwww~ ok maybe the mad rush panic was worth it. Her mum upon pick-up thanked me for giving them the opportunity to donate to the cause :) it's my pleasure.

But, I still had to postpone a carrot cake order that's been on postpone mode for a month already!!!!! Bad idea to bake multiple things in one day...

Spring Rolls Galore!

forgot to take a photo before all the snatching began!

It's not quite spring yet, but today it was spring rolls galore! The weather was gloomy, the aroma that spread across the office at 10.30am lured my hungry co-workers out of their seats and into the kitchen... there were 47 46 spring rolls of various fillings (I had to try one myself!) beef, pork, veges and custard apple! and yes they were gooooooooooood... and GONE in less than 10 minutes!!! best day of sales speed wise :)

These spring rolls were given to us to try out by a family friend who owns a spring roll factory so it's commercial grade handmade yumminess!!

got rave reviews on these custard apple spring rolls! 

I went downstairs this morning and mum had already finished the massive fry-up, said I should take these to work (I think she's saying I shouldn't eat these all by myself at home.. it's time to start dieting for bridesmaiding in a few months time argh!!!!!)

Anyway, how nice of a "surprise" as I didn't plan on taking anything to work today. I think everyone loved it, especially surprised by the sweet option - Custard Apple spring rolls!!!!!! unfortunately I only tried the vege one... so after work today I harassed mum about getting some more spring rolls :)))))))))

Level 3 people descended naturally, willing to take the walk, totally worth it I thought. Many people missed out on the spring roll mad rush... but maybe there'll be another chance another day...

luke modelling for a good cause :D

It's muffin day again tomorrow, better get back into the kitchen and fire up the oven!!!!!! thinking about trialling out a few new flavours :)

Although still exhausted from the weekend (of baking), I'm determined to get through this week with .... whatever that is left of my will power!

By the way, I have set up a new tab on top, it's an invite to the sugar4water picnic event, some funness! Please help me tell your friends and family and share the love <3

Ricotta in the house

20 August 2010

The past week, I've been waking up each morning super anxious, and getting that really awful feeling of not having done an assignment when it's due. I wake up thinking to myself whether I've baked for the day or not, then I remembered I didn't have to bake everyday anymore... seriously suffering from bad withdrawal symptoms :((((

STRESSED!!!!! for no reason...

I've never baked with ricotta cheese before, but have been seeing recipes calling for it now that I'm constantly scanning through recipes (more than ever). So, I bought a 500g tub the other day and found a couple of easy-enough-cakes to trial it out with.

On Friday it was back to business at work, I didn't set a price per piece because I wasn't really happy with the chocolate raspberry ricotta cake, it didn't have any eggs in it and was pretty "dull". I only managed to raise $30.60 from all items after a week of no baking for the office (I'm still baking elsewhere!!!), so that probably just covers the ingredients...

I actually liked the Lemon Ricotta Cupcakes, the ricotta made it moist and dense with extra lemony icing. A bit of a drama the night before, nearly burnt down the kitchen AGAIN! I wanted to make some fancy decoration with the lemon rind - lesson learnt: never leave the stove unattended when you have syrup cooking!!!!! I set off the smoke alarm and the whole house smelt like burnt charcoal with a lemony scent.... luckily I was awake this time... only walked away for 5 minutes!!!!!!! so the rind was wasted, had to make do with some coconut dusting :(

I also attempted a Bread & Butter Pudding for the first time... surprisingly easy thing to make, and nice served warm (a bit disgusting cold)...

I think I need to start making more fruity things to get more interesting colours for photos.... it's been brown, brown, brown and brown for a while now.....

My calender is suddenly filling up with cake orders, so I'm trying to "clear" my orders as fast as I can... just did a whole day of baking in an attempt to kill several birds with one stone, in between voting and driving parents around and dinner out... must go lift legs up for blood to circulate a bit. More baking tomorrow.... eeek!

A few people have suggested I should get covered for the ingredients now that my initial goal has been achieved or even keeping all the money raised from now for myself!!!! (wow how nice would that be! I can save up to go to mexico!!) but it feels like I'm at the point of no return now that I've donated all baking expenses so far... anyway, I'll see how I go, although a bit reluctant to take on more orders (soooooo tired and a little pove!) I really can't say no to people who want to help out this way.

Also, I've got a bit hyped up about the idea of hosting a Sugar4Water event in September... a water themed picnic perhaps with water balloon fights involved! I think it's a go ahead although nervous about the responsiveness, and I'm suppose to make the invites this weekend......... argh.... how time just slips by when you're constantly baking!!!!!

I would LOVE to sleep in tomorrow, but that may not be an option :(

Muffins @ LandPartners

I've been a little slack the past couple of days, chilling off a bit from the baking, savouring every second of extra snooze time. It's been quite at the office (it's only been two days com'on!) I've already received a few "I miss those cakes amy" and "we miss you amy" comments. Obvious withdrawal symptoms I think! But I haven't stopped baking, as agreed with Andres from LandPartners upstairs, I delivered 10 muffins to his office yesterday morning with one extra muffin to thank him for helping out. It was nice to finally meet the man in person, as well as the mystery man from the lift Adam who made this all possible! (I hope I didn't get his name wrong?! everything happened a bit fast for me!) and I'd forgotten to take a photo of them with the muffins at their front reception - remember to brush your hair next Tuesday for your 5 mins of fame here!

I stayed up pretty late on Monday night, a bit nervous as I was essentially baking for strangers without a middle person like in Jess's scenario last time. I was going to email Andres that the muffins will keep well in the fridge for a few days. But shortly after I got back to my desk, he wrote me this:

Hi Amy,

The muffins are all gone, I’ll take 15 next week thanks. Just so you know, as I already donated $40 to your charity, I sold them off at $2 a piece allowing me to donate $22 elsewhere (I paid for mine!). That’s $62 to charity and at that rate I’ll be happy to keep buying them until you stop baking.

Cheers,

Andres

Andres runs a self funding charity fridge at his office, I think it's a pretty cool idea! He keeps the fridge stocked with naughty foods and the profits made are put towards charities of his choice. He even sent me another email asking to donate pre-printed labels for my muffins as I hand wrote on all of them (was faster than figuring out how to print it on the machines...). But I thought since this is going to be a regular thing, it made better sense to put out a small sign about my campaign and the cause next to the muffins in future.

Thank you Andres for making my dream of expanding out to neighbouring offices a reality :P

On a random side note, the stats are interesting today, getting a lot of visitors from Brazil!!!!! Olá!!

Mango & Passionfruit Cheesecake

mango & passionfruit cheesecake

I was planning on a no-baking weekend... but received a random cake order late last night from Frank who doesn't like to give me any notice, and I couldn't say no to him. One, coz he's a loyal fan who's been helping me spread the word about my campaign. Two, he's been very encouraging the whole time. Three, the pavlova I made for him last time fell apart during transport and I felt I needed to make it right.

Frank & his mum wanted a cheesecake - "a light cheesecake with mangoes".... I said it's not mango season so there's not going to be fresh mangoes. Instead we kind of agreed on passionfruit over the phone. Then I went ingredient shopping this morning and walked by the fruit store, miraculously there were mangoes selling for $1.99 each... nice things keeps happening :)

Anyway, I made this 10-inch cake, way too big I thought... cos I don't have a 9-inch mould, and 8-inch short cheesecake seemed too stingy. Took me all morning coz I enjoyed tweaking the recipes I've found... also chilling time, and then I decided the cake was too ugly with just mangoes placed directly on top of the lemon mango cream cheese filling. Rushed out to get some passionfruit jelly powder and did the top layer. Some more chilling time... when it came to un-moulding, the sides were all pretty... but it was impossible to remove the bottom plate without crumbling the whole cake... NOOOooOOOoooOOOooo~~~~~~ I had forgotten to switch the base upside down for the crust to be easily transfered after setting - I blame it on the rush!!!!!!!!! I tried slicing a piece out, but still it was the damn base.... sigh, I'm really sorry!!!

So, Frank was unlucky again getting a defective cake :( but I made the effort to drop it off at his place again... an excuse to visit Alexa in the area :)

Hope the cake tastes alright... I think I didn't puree the mango enough so the marble effect probably didn't work out... nonetheless, thanks for helping out the cause, raising another $50 towards my second goal :)

There goes another weekend, time to face the week ahead!

On reaching $5K

My starting point was quite simple minded, perhaps even a little selfish. I just thought it would be mega-cool to build a well for a village of people who need it - because I can!

Having not done any solo fundraising before, I'm still amazed at how quickly everything fell into place once I got into it. I still remember the day after I started this campaign, I had butterflies in my stomach waking up worried about what I had gotten myself in to... where was I going to find US$5000 in three months?!! I really didn't have that many friends!!!! and how was I going to handle baking everyday?!! Will people be responsive at all?!! Am I going to be buying the well myself?!! Fears of uncertainty took over as I didn't plan anything properly, it was really a spontaneous decision one night after I stumbled through some links and got inspired by the videos on charity:water that I felt I needed to start straight away!

I wasn't the only skeptical one, nearly all the friends I told were saying I was crazy and baking everyday was impractical. At first I doubted my sanity as well, but my mind was constantly thinking about all the different ways I can spread the word about the cause. If I didn't know about the global water crisis, chances are people around me wouldn't be either.

After a couple of weeks of sticking to the plan and focusing on baking for colleagues, people around me started to take me seriously and I myself began to believe I might just be able to make the goal I had set. It wasn't easy business either, but bit by bit it all added up. I felt there was nothing to lose, and everything to gain if I just keep at it.

To my surprise, nice things started happening, nice people started appearing, everything just worked out! I was able to attract and sieve out the people who I'd love to be associated with not just within my social circle but also strangers :) I am glad I was able to inspire and share with others what I find meaningful and worthwhile.

Also, my blog analytic device tells me that in the last month, I had 2056 views of which 919 of them were unique views (eeeks, sorry I'm not that great of a writer)... the reason for setting up the blog was to let my loyal supporters follow my progress and so I don't spam people emails every morning, but it also served well as a great vehicle for spreading the word across the globe. Got to love technology!

so many Serbian visitors! (thanks to ksenja I think!)

I never anticipated the impact running this campaign would have to friends and family and I didn't tell my parents about it until they found out through a friend recently. I was planning to use family as a last resource if I wasn't able to reach my goal at the end lol.... but I can see now they are proud of what I'm doing she even stayed up to help me with Jess's muffin orders now she's visiting me.

To be honest, I'm not feeling as excited as I imagined I would be, the US$5k goal was just a number to me. I'm grateful I am able to give that amount away with a little sacrifice that I can make up for in time. I can't believe it all happened and I'm only half way through the three month campaign. Maybe I'm a little disappointed at a few people or friends I thought I had lol, or maybe humanity in general... this is something I'll have to try and get over. It has certainly been an eye-opening if not life changing experience?! What am I going to do next?!!

I know there are a lot of worthwhile charities out there, but somehow I related to this cause at a more personal level. Perhaps I died of thirst in my past life or something?! It's such a simple idea though, and 100% of all the money raise will go towards these water projects.

There were probably things I could have done better, but I'm very happy with how things have panned out naturally. So now that I've reached my initial goal, I have decided to run with the campaign until the end of September. There's still much work to be done! a second well is probably achievable in the time frame, except it might be a bit greedy (Confucious advises against greediness!) so I've decided what ever extra amount I raise I will put towards a second well. For now, I've set myself another US$1000 goal to help me stay on track.

Thank you for your encouragements it means a lot to me and I hope this whole multitasking business will continue to flourish until the end :) I'm flattered people seem to like what I bake, but I hope everyone is able to see past the sugar and realise the difference they are actually making by helping me out and contributing to my campaign. X.

Give because you can!

Day 29 - Thank You CGA

13 August 2010

cupcakes and brownies - still a favourite

I felt a bit out of place not having to bake at night after work, it was like stopping cold turkey (I was craving a piece of cake at morning tea myself argh!...) although my initial goal of raising funds to build one well has been reached way ahead of schedule, it feels like there's much more that was planned but hasn't happened yet. They say it takes around 21-28 days to develop a new habit, I proved that theory correct! Baking after work everyday has become my routine, it's no longer a drag like when I was first starting out not to mention my efficiency in the kitchen has also improved tremendously after one month of intensive "training". All for all it's been an excellent experience so far!

thanks everyone at work! 

To thank my colleagues at CGA who has been on a constant sugar high the past 6 weeks, I made some cupcakes, peanut-butter-cookie-topped brownies and remade the charcoal cake apple cake for morning tea. There's no such thing as sugar overload at work it seems.... and I couldn't have done it without their daily encouragement :)

Clearly, I have gotten into the baking momentum, and I now feel peaceful again when staying up late baking and also getting up early to make cake toppings, de-moulding and finishing touches. Baking was therapeutic to me before I started this campaign, it became draining because I had to bake everyday. Now that I've reached my one-well goal, I need to set another goal to stay on track. Probably not another US$5000, but something more achievable.

successful apple cake

Right now I'm experiencing my worst ever skin breakout in my adulthood!!!! (yes, don't hate me but I normally have "perfect" skin!) and I'm keen to get fit again (and slowly get my social life back would be good). I hope to be making more things I actually want to make that are more labour intensive and hasn't been feasible to make on a week night. Really am looking forward to that!

Day 28 - [Guest Baker] Elise the Superstar!

raspberry and coconut white chocolate mud cake!

It's Ekka public holiday today, and I took a REAL day off as prescribed by Elise - the girl I met only once at a friend's wedding!

A month ago, after finding out about my campaign she already generously donated US$44 towards sugar4water but that wasn't the end of it! I received another email from her shortly after about her wanting to bake her own birthday cake for her family and donate another $50 towards my campaign so I could have a day off - HOW NICE IS THAT?!

Seriously, how nice is that?!!!!!! 

I nearly forgot about it until Monday morning when I got her email which cheered me up immensely with delicious photos attached of her birthday picnic!! Here's a cut-and-paste of her email:

Hey Amy!

How are you? Hope you had a great weekend.

I made cake for my picnic as promised…. Photos are attached.

The cake is an adaptation of a few women weekly recipes… it is a Raspberry and Coconut White Chocolate Mud Cake. It was yummy and as you can see, people at the picnic gave it a pretty good go!!

Am yet to add my donation from this to your blog links, but I will do today or tomorrow. Also got some extra contributions from picnic attendees. And my Mum wants to order a cake when she is down in a few weeks! We are all big fans of your project.

Don’t forget to take your day off!

Ciao

Elise

Elise the superstar  :D!

I just came back from my day off on the coast, came online to update Day 26 and added up my latest numbers.... Elise helped me raise another US$82 from her birthday picnic with extra donation money from picnic attendees!!!!!

I am so proud to have a fan base at her household!

So after some adding up with all the money I've recorded - OMFG! the goal... THE GOAL that seemed impossible 6 weeks ago has been reached already!!!!!!!!!!!!! (even with today's shitty exchange rate!!!! taking into account bank fees. I added in the ingredient donations people had given me so I could get to the US$5000 on OANDA). And I have 50 more days until my campaign deadline!!!!!!!!!!! I considered going for a second well, but decided not to be greedy I've decided to keep on raising funds to go towards a second well with Well Wishers. But it's definitely time to get fit... I think after one month of cake eating, I see double chin.....amongst other things like breakouts all over my face from lack of sleep and stress... That said, I am going to continue with the baking theme and still hope the people who wanted to host events and high-teas etc are still excited about the campaign, we never know how much we can potentially raise by the end of September!! not to mention the other mission of spreading the word about the cause! I think I'll need to do an official post with this big milestone. OMG! OMG! OMG!

I'm lost for words..... 

Let's look at a couple more pretty cake photos from the picnic shall we?.....

half eaten cakes by happy picnic-ers mmmmm

pretty cross section of the layered cake - looks real yum!

Thank you so much Elise for doing what you did (original idea!) and campaign promoting for me (I didn't even have to do anything!).

I'm able to write about Day 28 even before the day coz Day 28 tomorrow is DAY OFF DAY :)

So, soon when the currency rate gets back up a little, I'll be uploading the rest of the AU$ donations onto my campaign page.... exciting!!!

Day 27 - Mocha Cupcakes

10 August 2010

fugly coffee buttercream icing :( 

The coffee and chocolate flavour were pretty intense in these cupcakes! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take better glamour shots at the office yesterday... I made the coffee butter cream in the morning and took it to work to pipe in case they smudge all over during transport, except I got busy and left the buttercream in the fridge after I got to work and it hardened up... by the time I got back into the kitchen to serve them, I had to microwave the icing a little to work it and the piping tip was pretty useless so I took it out - the result was a bit messy but I hope the taste wasn't compromised! (I imagined nicely piped spirals grrr). Grant came over and requested a birthday cake order to this flavour for September, he said the mocha cupcakes were "beautiful" (a few weeks ago I heard him complaining about cake overload!) - guess I'll be keeping this recipe! Even though I'll be down scaling soon after I reach my goal, it's nice to have people still making cake orders and putting the money towards my sugar4water campaign :)

remake of almond pear cake :)

I also remade the Almond and Pear cake with Passionfruit glaze, now that I'm more confident about my butter creaming process it made a big difference with the "cake growth", and I used the canned pears as instructed in the original recipe instead of the fresh ones I used last time. I can't really compare since I didn't get to taste the first attempt, but I like the almondy taste of this cake, not too sweet to eat for breakfast :)

I think I'm really closing the gap towards US$5000!! (might even be tonight after I get the latest numbers together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Day 26 - Chewy Choc Chip Cookies & Co.

today's offerings... a little ugly but choc chip has its fans!

I thought cookies would be a no fuss menu item to bring, but now that I've gotten into the routine of baking, it doesn't really make much of a difference. And I was concerned about the proportion of cookies as compared to its cake counterparts. I feared people might feel they're not getting the same value for money eventhough the effort and ingredients are just as wholesome - I used nice butter and chocolate!

I made a variation with walnut and the darker one is peanut butter, museli and choc chip. These cookies are all pretty sugar intense, but to be chewy with no artificial additives, lotsa sugar is the key... when I have more time, I'll be looking into natural fat and sugar substitutes like applesauce and honey etc... fun! (but nothing beats full fat full sugar for sure! *heart shivers*)

These cookies really spread out a lot and I was only able to bake six on each tray, some spread out so much they became "sextuplets"... siamese ones joined at the hip.. had to cut them apart so there were a few funny shaped cookies that were ofcourse neglected next to the round ones. Who said cookies needs to be round?!

walnut bumps

Anyway, I dropped the price to $1.50 each or $2.50 for two cookies today, concerned about the response from my picky customers... but the reaction I got from many including Naomi was "they're massive! you should charge $2 each! but you can't change it now haha!"... that's alright I thought, I was going to be content as long as I sell all the cookies I put out, and there were plenty today.

However, it was a bit disappointing to see people still taking tester bites... no one's watching anyway and the cookie is broken so it wouldn't matter if I took a corner off.... luckily, I'm finding humour in it all and will not send out another angry email, I'm happy enough with my loyal supporters. I forgot to put a smiley face at the end of my note so it might've sounded angry, but I do hope whoever is taking tester bites - next time please just take the whole piece, no one will find out anyway! :))))))))))

missing smiley face :D!

I love how the half eaten cookies gets smaller each time I revisit the kitchen for water... and look how all the funny shaped cookies got left over lol... humans are such strange beings!!! This is like a big social experiment, quite interesting...

So, I was very impressed with level 3 these past few days - no left overs!All in all, my first cookie day wasn't too bad donation return wise.. approximately 50 cookies were put out, 7 were rejected/tested. Amount raised was $46.70 - less than the minimum expected return but that's okay, I am drawing so close to my goal!!!

My day was brighten up by Elise again, and I'll dedicate a post to her tomorrow :)

Also, I stayed a little later at work tonight when the boss shouted to me "Amy! Go home to cook!" then he came around all chirpy and commissioned me to make his birthday cake in September. I said I take a donation of $50 for a cake so he wrote down on a piece of scrap paper he grabbed from the piles of paper on my desk, just like a contract with a signature, too... $150 for his birthday cake! Thank you Bruce :D! I'm looking forward to making it! He reminded me to save him a piece since he's never in the office when things are on...

I was thinking today, my earliest memories of fundraising were those in primary school when we first moved to Australia. We were delegated chocolate boxes to sell door to door, cake stalls for each class and at school fetes, red cross appeal, girl scout cookies.. Fundraising is like a national activity in the Australian culture, and kids here are taught to give at a young age.. I never really thought much about it before, but now I do see the importance and benefits of these activities being implemented into the school curriculum! It just becomes a natural part of your life if you start early :) and it's evident in people all around me!

I'm also slowly appreciating some words of wisdom passed down by my grandparents that I never used to pay much attention about either - giving is receiving... and being taken advantage of is taking advantage... some deep Confucious scholar type stuff lol...

This is enough...
Sleepy time!

Day 25 - Chocolate Zucchini & Banana Walnut Cakes

06 July 2010

with handy post-it labels!

Another week gone by... for Friday morning tea, I thought I'd go healthy with the key ingredients ZUCCHINI & BANANA... but I didn't think I would get everyone's attention without the additional CHOCOLATE & CARAMEL!

Choc Zucchini with choc ganache

In fact, I baked the cake bases at night, and in the morning I thought they looked quite plain and unappealing. So before work, I quickly whipped up some dark choc ganache for the choc cake and caramel sauce for the banana cake, they complimented each other quite well I thought.

choc zucchini section - no green bits!

I've been wanting to try out a chocolate zucchini cake for a while. But unlike a carrot cake, you don't really see or taste any evidence of the vegetable amongst its chocolate surroundings. 


I liked the cake as it's not too sweet, the zucchini moistened the cake and the bits of chocolate chunks in there adds interest. Colleagues were also looking for zucchini bits and don't believe there's actually two grated into the cake! 

caramel sauce drizzled on top 

The Banana Walnut cake was a variation of the banana bread recipe I made last time. I wanted something moister and cake-like and the additions of walnuts made it even more wholesome I thought. So there was a bit of tweaking with flour and sugar consistency, I was lucky the cake didn't turn into a disaster. 

banana walnut section

This cake was more popular than the Chocolate Zucchini! I think I'm definitely going to make this again for myself in the future... if I can remember the changes I made to the original recipe...

a very good tasting butter cake!

Also, there was this Butter Cake kindly donated through reception. It's actually one of the best Butter Cakes I've ever tasted! with subtle citrus scent and pretty cross-section - simple but delicious. Although it didn't get the attention during morning tea time next to its competitors. But they were all gone by the end of the day when people looked past its humble exterior!




The three cakes together were able to raise over $75 with the help of level three again :)



I'm really getting close to reaching my goal! For the past week, people have been asking how long to go?! I didn't have a solid answer as I was contemplating whether I should stop when I reach my goal or continue baking for the whole duration of the campaign (which is until end of September). 




I have decided to continue baking until the end of my campaign - because that was the deal from the start. Perhaps I won't be baking every single day for the office but as I'm still looking forward to holding a Sugar4Water event with my friends and also a few other requested catering offers, I think it makes sense to continue till the campaign deadline. 

the boss showing some support :)

Also, there are more things I want to bake and haven't been able to as my focus for the past month has been to have something baked EVERYDAY!! I hope to make the other more labour intensive items and build up my confidence even more with recipe tweaking :)


I'm looking into putting all the extra donations I raise and receive after I reach my US$5000 goal towards Well Wishers - an Australian based charity doing essentially the same thing as Charity:Water. 


Hoping for your continuous support!

Muffin Day @ Queensland Treasury

Since I mentioned to a few friends about expanding my "market" into their offices in order to give my colleagues a break from the sugar high, muffins have come into the picture. Jess has managed to obtain pre-orders from her colleagues and we were both surprised by the responses she received from colleagues she doesn't even know very well! I think one of the great things about running this campaign is the new friendships formed :) I also think the Australian culture of people's generosity when it comes to fundraising for causes is something to admire. 

54+ muffins transported by luggage trolley!

Pulling this one off was much more tedious and physically straining than I had expected. To individually wrap and package them so the muffins doesn't dry out too much and be aesthetically pleasing as well, family members were dragged into the production of these! I'm quite thankful mum is visiting me, she pedantically ensured batters were equally dispersed for equal sized muffins! 


Jess printed out labels for me and stuck them on this morning and was muffin lady for a day. From the feedback Jess passed on from her colleagues, I think this first venture outside my realm was a success! (I was quite worried about a couple of flavours as I didn't get to test taste some batches since I tweaked the recipes a bit... at least it wasn't disasterous...)

team meeting with muffins

I'm going to keep this post short, as I'm really writing this half asleep!


Look at this happy serious looking bunch at QTC! (the guy in the dark suit top left corner seems to be the most camera-un-shy person!). Seriously, thank you so much for your support!  


Your donations should be uploaded directly onto my campaign page by Jess soon. To get notified when the well is built within 12-18 months from the end of my campaign, check back here or leave your contact details to be notified. I should get GPS coordinates to view on Google Earth. Hopefully also photos taken of the communities the water project will serve :)

Thank you Jess for doing the hardwork with promoting and lugging the muffins around... (your meeting looked like it needed some excitement though!). 


Oh, I will post up the total sum raised from these muffins once Jess checks her excel file (as expected with numbers people...)


P/S the muffins are better when heated up in the microwave, I'm sure store bought muffins have additives that keeps them softer for longer...

Day 24 - Blueberry White Choc Muffins and friends

my favourite kind

This is my favourite muffin flavour of all time when I'm not craving for chocolate. Throughout the duration of my obsessed baking life I have been trying to bake the perfect cafe style crunchy tops, but I think the secret lies within industrial ovens. One of these days I'm going to have to get myself one!


So it was "Muffin Day" at Queensland Treasury today - Jess has done some hard work to give my campaign more exposure outside of CGA. I was up late last night baking the 54 pre-ordered muffins she had organised for me. Naturally, I had to make extra muffins for work. I much prefer my muffins baked without paper casings so the base gets a crunchy outer layer as well. I received a call from Helen shortly after morning tea asking what secret ingredient I put in these muffins :) As mentioned in a previous post, buttermilk is my new best friend. It does make cakes and muffins fluffier, this is not a secret, but I'm sticking to it!

a shot of blueberry white choc muffins with friends

And because I had to bake four different flavours for QTC, there were a few odd extras to add to the offering today. They all disappeared by the time I re-entered the kitchen. People seem to like muffins! 


Also, business up on level 3 has been steady as well. I will continue to bring small quantities upstairs now that people have caught on about sugar4water.


Yesterday, while I was on the lift down from level 3, a guy from Land Partners asked me about my donation jar I was admiring (with the extra $50 note donation in there). I briefly told him about my baking everyday for fundraising. Now I can't remember what he said exactly, but I guess I hear what I wanted to hear... Something along the lines of them being interested at helping. When I got back to my seat, I wrote them an email straight away and it turns out Land Partners does regular charity morning teas and even has a "charity fridge" which sounds really cute/great idea. So Andres who seems to be in charge of charity events in the office has pre-ordered some muffins from me in a couple of weeks and we'll see how that goes :) I think my lucky stars have been aligning lately, and wishes have been coming true. Thank you - man from the lift! (whose identity is still a mystery).


Quite exhausted, just finished baking two quick cakes for tomorrow's morning tea. Another week gone by, I'm going to move my campaign deadline one day forward to 30th of September as Charity:Water is doing a big collection then to get water projects built faster.