Lion cake pops and more

This was my second attempt to make cake pops, and I was excited to contribute them to my friend's son's, Jeremiah's birthday party. The planning was nervous and exciting. First, it was my second try and I was nervous if anything bad would happen. Second, I decided to make a bold move to create some lion cake pops. Due to my busy schedule, I ended up using cake mix and instant frosting. Would definitely make a more gourmet version next time! The project turned out to be wonderful and I am proud to say I learned a few more tips on how to make it successfully. 

One thing I like about cake pops is that you have million ways to create and infinite ideas to make. For the lions this time, I use chocolate color candy melt as the face, peanut butter chip as hair and chocolate coated pomegranate as nose. I am excited to see what other ingredients I can use for my next lion creation and other animals!

Prepare time: 30 minutes    Decorating time: 3-5 hours 

Make 24 cake pops (8 lions, 8 sprinkles, 8 glitter)

Ingredients:

Peanut butter chip ~1/2 cup

Color sprinkles ~1/2 cup

Color glitter sugar ~1 bottle 

Yellow candy melts 1 bag 

Chocolate candy melts 1 bag

Fudge chocolate cake mix 1 box

Betty Crocker whipped vanilla frosting 6 oz 

Edible candy decorating marker (black)

Cake pop sticks 

Chocolate coated pomegranate/raisins 

Steps:

1. Preheat oven 350 F, follow instructions of the cake mix you select
2. Put candy melts in separate bowls. Microwave them according to instructions or boil in a water bath until it melts. Stir constantly until it becomes a smooth texture. 
3. When the cake is ready, crumble it into fine crumbs. Cut off the sides to avoid stiff chunks get into the mixture. Scoop 1/3 cup of frosting to the cake crumbs and mix well with your hands in plastic gloves. Add more frosting if the dough feels dry and falls apart easily, combine until it's almost like wet sand and easy to shape
   
4. Roll cake balls into table tennis ball size. Dip stick about 1/4 inch into candy melt (Lion will be chocolate and others can be yellow/chocolate). Gently poke the stick into the cake ball half way in. Place on baking tray side by side. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes or until firm
   
5. Take out from fridge and start decorating. Dunk the cake ball into the melt mixture and gently swirl in a circular motion until it coats evenly from top to bottom. Stick cake pop upwards on foam board to dry
6. Lions: Once the coating is dried, start dipping the peanut butter chip on same color melt and stick it gently around the edge to form a ring of hair. Dip a bit of candy melt on the chocolate coated pomegranate/raisins, stick it on as nose. Once it's dried, use edible markers draw the eyes and mouth
   
7. Other cake pops: Dip in yellow/chocolate color melt, sprinkle color sprinkles/glitter sugar before the coating hardens. Stick them on foam board to dry

Tips:

1. Make sure you use a bowl that's deep enough to dip the cake pop more than 1/2 into the coating. This allows less movement and prevent the cake balls from breaking apart
2. Candy melts tend to solidify when there's liquid or it's too hot
3. If the candy melt solidifies for some reason, add 1 tbsp of shortening at a time and stir until the texture becomes silky again
4. Make sure the cake balls are in room temperature, or else the coating will crack overnight due to temperature differences
5. To secure the cake pops, dip a bit of candy melt on the stick before placing the cake ball. And refrigerate them until firm

たらこパスタ/spicy cod roe pasta

Hello everyone! It's been so long since I posted last time. Long story short, I had to put down my blog for a while due to a major move out from Chicago back to Asia! I have to admit it's no easy feat to move with a baby – sleepless nights, night feedings/crying rebound, adjustments to new surroundings and people...but definitely fun to be close with family and friends again. What's more, we are now in another foodie city and I am real excited to try all the new cuisines and snacks I cannot try in America!

To start off this new page of life, I am introducing this Asian popular dish (a long overdue post that many of my friends have requested) mentaiko pasta (sorry about the typo on my photo!) This is one of my quick recipes for a lazy dinner without compromising your health. For one instant pack of mentaiko pasta sauce, you have to pay for at least US$3.99, while a box of fresh mentaiko is good for more than 10 packs. 

Prepare time: 5 minutes       Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients (2 person):

Thin Spaghetti 1/2 cup 

Mentaiko (明太子）1-2 sticks

1/4 onion, chopped

1 soft boiled egg

2 button mushrooms

1 tbsp mayonnaise 

1/4 cup of cream/alfredo sauce

pinch of salt and pepper

a dash of scallions, optional

Steps:

1. Take out the frozen mentaiko and thaw to room temperature. Carefully cut open the roe sac and scoop the roe out using a spoon. Set aside. Chop up the onion, green onions and mushrooms.
2. Boil water for pasta and add a pinch of salt. Cook the spaghetti until al dante. 
3. Preheat pan in medium heat with olive oil.  Sauté onions and mushrooms until golden, add mentaiko then mayo.  Immediately add alfredo sauce and combine the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Boil egg with 1/4 water, leave about 1/3 of the egg above water level. Bring it to a boil for 5 minutes. Let it rest for 1-2 minutes. Take the egg out and rinse under cold water, peel off the egg shells. Cut open the egg but not all the way.
5. Add pasta into sauce, mix well. When ready serve warm and top with scallions and soft boiled egg.

PERFECT pizza crust. Thin and Crispy!

I love pizza. (Who doesn't love pizza?) That's right! One of my best childhood memories was the time my parents brought me and my brother to Pizza Hut after exams or at any occasions which were worth celebrating. The salad buffet bar which doesn't exist now and the atmosphere there just makes every kid in the world crazy. Also, we don't have pizza very often so that's why I asked my parents to bring me there every week.

Most of you know that we have thin, crispy or thick,soft crust for pizza and they make a difference when they are with the same topping. Personally I prefer thin crust because to me, pizza is quite a heavy kind of food so I like to keep it light and simple. The other night I was craving for pizza and I wanted a really crispy and thin one so here it is the dough recipe! What makes this recipe stand out is the preparation time. It requires NO RISING TIME! You hear me? Yes! It takes less than 10 minutes and you're good to go!

NOTE: This recipe yields 2 12-inch crusts so what you can do is:
1) Easily halve the recipe!
2) Put the extra dough in the freezer. It keeps well for up to 2 weeks.
3) Make TWO 12-inch pizza

Easy right? I like to keep things simple so as my pizza. I lightly spoon tomato paste and top with simple ingredients. Most important is the mozzarella cheese!

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon of active-dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups (6 ounces) of lukewarm water

Directions

Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes and rotate it halfway after 4 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220 degree celsius. Add the yeast to the water and stir well. Set aside to allow the yeast to dissolve and activate.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour and salt together and mix well. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the water-yeast mixture. Use a spatula or your hands to combine them together. When it roughly comes to a ball, turn it out onto the lightly dusted counter and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. It should feel elastic to the touch and it is okay to feel moist. If it feels sticky to your hands, knead in flour a little at a time until it's smooth.

Divide the dough in two. Spread the dough with the heel of your hand on a parchment paper.

Spoon sauce of your choice and spread evenly and thinly. Top with ingredients of your choice. DO NOT put more than 1-1.5 cups of ingredients or it will get soggy. Sprinkle with cheese and continue baking for 5 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.