here’s the menu on Flickr for a larger, clearer view

this is the Bûche de Noël, otherwise known as the French Christmas Log

the sponge was finally perfected (if i may say) after several tries, then spread with a generous layer of buttercream mixed with rum and lovely chopped Provencal glace cherries, and finally tugged at and rolled with painstaking and perspiration-inducing attention

Disclaimer: please don’t worry there were really no beads of perspiration in the log cake…

tastes like Christmas : )

Merry Christmas, my dear Cookiesheen friends!

green tea cupcakes and lavender cupcakes – quite the combination!

a whiff of both sends you down a whirlpool of tingling olfactory and gustatory sensations. yum

my apologies the pictures weren’t very well-taken but… here you have it, the lovely red velvet cupcakes!

luscious and velvety (no other word, really), they are each topped generously with awesomely smooth cream cheese frosting, and finally dusted with cocoa powder

it melts into every corner of your mouth

Do You Know?
the reddish-brown colour of the cake stemmed originally from a reaction of the cocoa powder with buttermilk (it being acidic). people add colouring to make the red colour more pronounced these days. Fun Fact of the Day for you kids!

honestly this Buttermilk Cake With Raspberry Syrup tastes better than it looks here, a million times over!
so satisfied with this hahahah

puréed raspberries atop a moist buttermilk sponge that has a melt-in-your-mouth texture
love how the slightly sour, tangy raspberry syrup sends mini-fireworks around/inside your mouth

and homemade buttermilk! (my fingers still smell of buttermilk yum)

made with pure almond extract and diced almonds, these cookies simply emanate with the distinct aroma of everything almond

crispy and melt-in-your-mouth! and pretty much quite addictive ha ha

these bite-sized almond cookies also actually come close to looking like gold coins
a prosperous treat for Chinese New Year indeed
huat ah!

here’s a close-up of the bite-sized taster

and the real deal

ditched the caster sugar for quality soft dark brown sugar for a less saccharine kind of sweet

this gorgeous carrot cake is moist and packed generously with chopped walnuts, slivered almonds and sultanas, and carrots of course
the sultanas (may i quote) “packed a punch in the taste and gave the cake its personality”!

no marzipan carrots this time round; the cake was instead dressed simply in a luscious, smooth and lovely cream cheese frosting

this carrot cake is a real classic; perfect for a Sunday afternoon tea!
(or any time really, for that matter)

tonight, allow me to present you with the

wait for it…

Green Tea (Matcha 抹茶) Cupcake!

baked, once again, with some very awesome green tea powder from Japan

the muted, yet sweet aroma of green tea abounds from within the semi-sweet/almost-nearly-dark-but-not-quite-so chocolate cupcake sponge
which is all very subtle, moist and undisguised

the green tea buttercream frosting is, everything reminiscent of your favourite green tea cuppa
fresh, luxurious and smooooooooth, like a green tea lover come on over (okay that really doesn’t make any sense…)

in any case, green tea is stupendous. i love green tea. the end

here’s the menu on Flickr for a larger, clearer view