Kitchen Mishaps!!

i must confess...that ever since this blog was started, i have rarely cooked the same thing twice...so i do get a bit nervous when bringing food to parties and social gatherings...cos it's usually a recipe that i've never tried before..
alot of friends and aquaintances have heard about my passion for cooking...so they tend to assume that whatever i cook will be really good...and i feel the pressure to 'perform' or at least not disappoint...

one of the cakes which didn't really turn out very well at all is this chocolate mint tofu cheesecake...

side view


view from top...


it looked ok but tasted medicore...and in order to 'protect' my so-called reputation, i cut out two very petite heart shapes, hoping that the small portions would prevent too many people from eating it...how wrong was i..the two birthday girls were very generous and shared the cake with at least five other people...and the expressions were on their faces were quite funny to behold... :P

this next one was my first cake 'orphan'...it's a green tea cake with red bean konnyaku jelly...

Weiqin, my most faithful and trusted taster, agreed that it's quite bad....so we decided that yes, we will still take it along with us...but we will disassociate ourselves from it...and just leave it on the table and deny any links..
I made up the recipe as i went along...and it turned out to be a disaster...

Unfortunately, a very loyal reader of this blog saw us trying quietly leaving the cake in the fridge and she was extremely excited about trying it...i kept telling her: "It's not nice.....it's really not nice..."

And she went: "But i still want to eat it!!!"

me: "Ok.....if no one else eats it, can you please bring it home??" (in my illogical mind, it's alright if someone elses throws food but i cannot bring myself to do it...)

And guess what? Everyone loved it and kept complimenting it...(??!!!) I think it's the layer of cream that saved the day...Thanks to Emi who brought along some extra cream for her chiffon cake...and kindly agreed to give me the lot! (I hate to whip cream..for some unknown reason..)

And no, there weren't any leftovers for Pat to take home and she was really crestfallen..! Poor girl... hee..

Finally...here's how the cake was made...more or less... :)

ingredients:
1 Woolies vanilla cake mix
2 tsp green tea powder
1 cup sweetened red bean paste (boil 1/2 cup dried red beans with water til soft, drain excess water, add sugar to desired sweetness...and mash)
1 sachet konnyaku powder

method:
make cake according to instructions on sachet. Add 2 tsp green tea powder.
Pour into a lined cake pan. (Don't make the mistake that i did..greasing and flouring produces a very crusty cake...and i had to cut the edges right off)

Bake and cool completely. (At least an hour)

Slice cake into half with dental floss or a bread knife (I used the latter). Slather on some red bean paste in the middle and on the top. Assemble cake again and slather more green bean paste on the sides, covering the cake completely with red bean paste.

Make up konnyaku jelly with red bean paste and around 450ml water. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. (This was also a on-the-spot innovation..)

Put cake into a spring form pan.

Pour konnyaku mixture onto cake. (At this stage, i was ready to give up...I had no idea whether it was possible to pour konnyaku onto a cake...and was wondering...would the cake become pudding??!!)
Leave aside to set. (There were quite a few big bubbles and I pierced them with a metal skewer...the konnyaku took less than an hour to firm up, i think.)

Chill in fridge.

Invert cake carefully and serve with chantilly cream.