My 1st Baking Experience!

Chef Judy Koh is the owner of Creative Culinaire & Cafe Pralet. Her cafe, which is located just next door to her school, is regularly patronised by me, my friends and even my in-laws.

You might not know this but Chef Judy is my neighbour and I've always wanted to take baking lessons at her baking school ever since I got married and moved in to live with the hubby and in-laws. Unfortunately, I also did not have the time or the money to do so (the school fees are not cheap!).

So you can imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to attend a special baking class last Sunday organised by Rolleyes and taught by Chef Judy herself!

Our master chef & teacher!

I have always said that I'm not a good cook and most likely will never be one because it's just not in my blood. But a baker? I might still have some hope because baking is more of a science than we think. As Chef Judy started explaining the baking process to us, she even went as far as to write out chemical symbols on the whiteboard behind her.

Ah Science. Now that, I understand.

Chef Judy explaining the process of baking a batter type cake,
with the mirror above strategically angled so that we can see all the action from the top view.

She wants to inspire us to fall in love with baking by teaching us the fundamentals on how to make her signature chocolate zucchini cake, which is exactly what you are thinking. A vegetable cake. But it tastes amazing ('cos the other ingredients hide the veggie-ness of it) and most importantly, it has half the calories of a regular cake! What's not to love right? *laughs*

Demonstrating to us how the end product is supposed to look like

After learning the basics, we were off to make our own batch in our special aprons and with the pre-prepared ingredients by the staff of Creative Culinaire (we're so spoilt right? *laughs*).

All prepared to start!

Ingredients (for a batch of 16 cupcakes)

230g butter

172g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
308g self raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
224g grated zucchini
90g chocolate chip
50g toasted walnuts

The Method
Step 1:  Cream the butter, light brown sugar & salt till light.

Susan & Sandra in charge of doing a great job with the creaming

Step 2: Add in the eggs, one at a time (we each took a turn to do this).

Me trying hard to crack the egg without causing the shell to fall in!

Step 3: Toss the chocolate chips, walnuts and zucchini with about 1/2 cup of the flour.

Delphine was in charge of mixing the zucchini while I was in charge of seiving the flour =)

Step 4: Mix in the remaining flour into the butter mixture (a little at a time).

We spent most of our time watching this thing spin and commenting on how weird our batter looks while trying to look like we're so busy and professional

Step 5: Fold in the zucchini mixture.

We each took turns to scoup the mixture into the piping bag..

..and pipe it into cupcake containers (for easy transportation home).

We called ourselves 'Bakerlicious Mummies'.
It was supposed to identify our tray but who can resist a chance to boost their egos?! *laughs*

Step 6: Bake in oven till cooked at 175 degree celcius.

Our creations baking in the ovens

And since this step would take a while, we spent the waiting time taking pictures with Chef Judy..

Singapore Mom Bloggers (left to right): Me, Chef Judy, San, Delphine, Susan, Rachel & Kyle (our youngest chef)

..and having tea and pastries at Cafe Pralet next door, with complements of the chef =)

We had to quickly finish our tea break because it wasn't long before our cakes were ready for the final step!

Yay they didn't turn out so bad!

Step 7: When the cakes are cool, glaze them with chocolate and decorate! This is my favourite part! *grin*

Mad-Made especially for my hubby & family =)
(LOVE the heart-shaped design!)

I had an awesome time baking, thanks to the amazing team work of my group and the kindness of Creative Culinaire and Rolleyes.

If you would like to get more recipes and tips from professional chefs or find out more about F&B restaurants in Singapore, visit Rolleyes which is a new online platform that is dedicated to showcasing video clips of food for the food lover or chef in you.

In addition, become a subscriber and you will also receive special vouchers or discounts to the F&B establishments featured on Rolleyes.

Now go. Eat and be merry! =)


Disclosure: An invitation to this event was received from Rolleyes and Creative Culinaire. No monetary compensation was received; all opinions & text are my own.