This Valrhona Dark Chocolate Cupcake was learnt during my very first baking workshop at Shermay's Cooking School last year. The simple preparation method and ingredient list boasted my confidence; most recipes at the school are almost foolproof. I got hooked and also realised that baking is very therapeutic for me.
The buttercream itself is easy to make. Once ready, it's up to one's imagination to decorate the bare cupcakes. Realised that much patience and meticulous labour is actually involved in the decoration part.
While I have yet to master the decoration skills that of Chef Joycelyn (not sure if I could ever), I guess with some effort, results could be pretty good looking as well.
This "instant" fudge is quite easy to do and can be made in advance. Only tedious part is cutting the fudge into individual cubes and wrapping them in gold foil. As our weather is very humid, the fudge tends to melt quite quickly, so I have to wrap them fast yet neat and presentable enough.
Biscotti is quite easy to bake as well, only catch is the slicing of the biscotti into fine slices after the first bake. The slices tend to break easily. As I have some leftover candied orange peel in my fridge, decided to add some into the biscotti instead of just pecan. Result is not bad.
After baking all the 3 items, carefully packed them into clear plastic envelopes and into pretty boxes.
White Wine Jelly with Strawberry & Rasberry. Instead of wine glasses, I used plastic wine goblets (available from Cold Storage). Had wanted to make the bubble jelly effect on the top layer but ran out of gelantine mixture and too lazy to make another batch. Really liked the festive colours of this dessert. The white wine is a nice addition to the otherwise sweet jelly and tangy fruits.
This was my first attempt on Sticky Date & Toffee Bundt. Specially bought the cathedral-shaped silicon mould as I love the whole presentation when Chef Joycelyn demonstrated this recipe during her workshop. The pudding was totally yum; texture was dense and moist. The cake itself is not too sweet; for added sweetness, just top with more toffee sauce. 
Bountiful table! Most items were ordered from Crystal Jade Festive menu, with a few home-mades by W - Country Veggie Soup, Whipped Butternut Squash and Veggie Sticks with Seafood Sauce Dip.
I love these greens by W! Was munching non-stop on celery and carrot sticks and dipped with the lovely seafood sauce (brand: The English Provence Co., from Cold Storage)
Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcakes and Valrhona Dark Chocolate Cupcakes - undecorated. They looked so bare without any frosting! These were customised for a colleague's house party - kids and adults could do some hands-on frosting on the cupcakes.
Bags of Swiss Meringue Buttercream with different piping tips - vanilla and chocolate flavours were prepared for self-frosting.
Some decorating samples and ideas for reference.
The Colombier could also be baked as a cake and decorated with sugar glaze for very Christmassy feel.
The smooth Glacage Au Chocolat (Chocolate Glaze) is a perfect canvass for decoration. Handwritten wishes with chocolate glaze, silver candy balls, gold dust and there we have it, the rich and luxurious Opera.
All participants went home very happy with a box of goodies - one portion of each recipe! Chef Keiko was so generous; she must have spent a lot of time preparing all these.
Chef Yeo's paus were perfectly wrapped with at least 18-21 folds in less than 10 secs. Must have taken years of practice.
My ugly looking flaky egg tarts. The skin turned out uneven and hard as we didn't beat and fold the skin well enough.
