Oreo cupcakes for a birthday

Another busy day today. It's also Lynette's birthday so went to her hse to bake cupcakes to celebrate! (ikr, what a weird situation, going to ppl's hse to bake their birthday cake but I wanted to try baking at her hse with the coolass oven at least once! :) )

Met Miss bday girl at tampines interchange at about 12pm, where we decided to go to Toast Box at Tamp1 as we've been talking about eating there for quite some time :)

It was packed as it was lunch time~

I think its my first time eating at toast box- they have this interesting ordering system where you are given a device as shown and it will light up when your order is ready so you just go to the counter to collect it yourself

All of the 'Asian Delight' set meals come with a tall glass of barley ( cold/hot) Quite diluted though ):

Ordered a mee rebus set ($5), initially wanted to order their speciality, curry chicken, but i just didn't feel like eating rice ( and the layer of oil on the curry looks...highly artery-clogging)

Yum yum look at that thick gravy and fresh-looking eggs! And the cubes of tau kua :)

Well mee rebus being mee rebus, it doesn't vary much so the taste is pretty much the same everywhere. The thick sweet sauce is yummy though and I love the crispiness of the tau kua :)

Lynette ordered the curry chicken set though ($6.50)

Fussy girl didn't want her tau pok so she gave it to me. Some of the curry was soaked up by the very porous tau pok and it tasted good, but wayy too oily for me sigh ): My whole mouth felt so oily after that..

Bday gur gur

Tried looking for a cover for her new itouch later but it was either to expensive or shops didn't sell them, so we waited for a good 30mins for the shuttle bus to arrive ):

Rich girl lives in such a pretty condo!!!

Lynette's very active dog, Marco greeted us at the door, and immediately started sniffing me and barking very loudly. He'll make an excellent guard dog haha.

Finally, started making Oreo Cupcakes!! :) Lynette's house is so well stocked with ingredients and everything a baker would ever need i tell you, it's like baking paradise <3 pity she doesn't bake ):

Set up all the ingredients needed~

Never been so organised in baking in my life but when there are stakes involved ( and Lynette's mom watching my every move) one has to 'act' abit ;)

PART ONE: Making the chocolate cupcake!

Mix the dry ingredients well!

Add the wet ingredients!

Mix like your life depended on it!

It should end up looking something like this :)

Divide the batter into the pretty cupcake cups I brought along :)

Made 15 exactly, just like the recipe said!

Forgot to take a pic of them baking in the cool oven argh dumb me ):

PART 2: Making the frosting~

What you would need ( her snack store is limitless i tell you so i could easily find oreoos~)

Sift me baby one more time~  I had to do a bit of estimation here as the weighing scale got a bit wonky halfway and started counting BACKWARDS.

Mix the butter and sugar till no lumps remain, with hand 

This is quite the jump forward but this is after mixing with a hand mixer at high speed till light and fluffy and adding the crushed oreo bits. ( Note: Be sure to crush the oreo w/o cream VERY finely, if not you'll run into problems which i will elaborate on further later)

Looks kinda like mcflurry eh? The buttery super unhealthy and sweet version.

Load em' up into my new cupcake froster! ( which looks like a gun haha)

By now the cupcakes should have been done and cooled

Luv the paper cases <3

Unfortunately the piping nozzle was too small and the crushed oreo bits too big so it jammed up the whole thing= we couldn't use it properly!! ): ( problem mentioned earlier on)

resorted to the unprofessional caveman method of smearing it on ourselves ):

damn they look ugly

It's supposed to be a T btw

But after a bit of touching up, they don't look so bad eh? :)

Beautiful background<3 Kudos to Lynette's pic-taking skillz

# instagrammified

# mickeymousified White backgrounds are beautiful too<3

HAHA SPOT THE WHITE FURRY DOG IN THE BACKGROUND

White wall shot :)

I realised that there were 15 cupcakes, it's Lynette's 15th birthday, and its the 15th of nov. Cool eh? So i had to take a shot :)

PEACE OUT HOMIES. Sorry for the spam but it's my blog so i can post as many pics as I want. Even if they are pics of ugly oreo cupcakes :/

Oreo Cupcakes ( recipe adapted from here):

Cupcakes

225g plain flour
75g cocoa
280g caster sugar
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
60ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
180ml whole milk
180ml hot water( doesn't neccessarily need to be hot, i used lukewarm and it turned out fine)
15 Oreos

Frosting

400g Icing Sugar

100g butter {softened}

1tsp vanilla extract

4 tblsp whole milk

6 tblsp Oreo cookie crumbs

Mini Oreo's to decorate

Preheat oven to 180c {350f} gas mark 4. Put your shelf in the middle of the oven. Line two 12 hole bun trays with 15 paper cases. Place one full Oreo cookie in each paper case. ( I forgot to put in an oreo in each case!! but it doesn't need more calories anyway)

In a large bowl, put the flour, cocoa, sugar, bicarb of soda, baking powder and salt. Mix by hand with a whisk until all the dry ingredients are well mixed and are a sandy consistency.

Add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, milk and hot water to the dry ingredients and mix together with a hand held electric mixer on high speed until well mixed. The mixture will be a very liquid consistency. Pour the mixture into a jug then pour it into the paper cases until they are three quarters full. 

Pop in the oven for 18-20 minutes. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cupcake will come out clean when they are ready.

Leave to cool in the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, first whizz the Oreo's in a food processor to make a fine crumb.

Put the softened butter into a large bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Mix together by hand with a whisk until well combined and there are no lumps. Add two tablespoons of the milk and mix with a spatula until combined, add the other 2 tablespoons of milk and now mix with a hand held electric whisk. Whisk for 5 minutes on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Tip the cookie crumbs into the frosting and fold in with a metal spoon.

Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the cookies and top with mini Oreo's or use a regular sized Oreo cut in half.

Spent the rest of the day watching paranormal activity 4, and Lynette's mom ordered pizza for dinner~

Omnomnom

Look at that cheesy fattening goodness!!

Alyson came to 'surprise' Lynette at around 4+ too and it would've been more successful if not for the stairs being locked haha.

sidenote: I got mah chickenpox vaccination!! Means I'll (hopefully) never have to go through the torture of having it in my life!! :))

Ok i'm very tired and there's a long day tomorrow so I'll end here. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONCE AGAIN LYNETTE, AND ENJOY THE LAST FEW MINS OF UR BDAY<3 XOXO

kbuhbye~

Triple S ( Suprise, Strictly Pancakes and Skyfall)

The reason for my title is that the highlights of my day all start with a letter S: Suprise, Strictly Pancakes and Skyfall, which i will further elaborate in this post :) ( Warning: lengthy post)

Today met Lynette at tanah merah mrt station at 12, as we planned to meet Alyson at Dhoby Ghaut to try out the much talked about Strictly Pancakes. I was really excited for it was the first time trying savoury pancakes :) The restaurant was located at Prinsep Street which we had no idea where it was, so we had to rely on the very confusing google maps to find our way around which took up quite a lot of our time. But finally we managed to find it whoohoo!!

See that orange sign, that's the sign for Strictly Pancakes!!

We had to cross an overhead bridge to get here~

When we reached the shop, there was a queue in front of it ( which i kind of expected as i had kiasu-ly read some reviews before coming to this place and they all report the place to be full house at lunch time)

This humble looking store ( with alyson at the side haha)

It had a 2nd storey though :)

At first the waitress asked us if we mind sitting outside, and since Lynette was hungry and the queue wasn't budging I actually didn't mind, but Lynette said she wanted to wait to go inside as there was air-con, which kind of suprised me but I didn't say anything. 

After a while the waitress came and said something about 'table of 5...we have a place for 3 people upstairs' and gestured us to follow her upstairs. I was suprised as there were still people waiting in front of us in the queue so I didn't understand why we could go up first.

So up the stairs we went~ When we reached the 2nd level it turned out to be quite cozy, with a few tables and chairs lined up against the wall along with some cushions and chairs. There was also a huge mirror at the end which i was just staring blankly into when I heard laughing. So I turned around and.. saw Shihui and JianYi on one of the couches!! ( with a stack of pancakes already in fron of JY) At first it totally did not occur to me that they were intending to suprise me, i thought it was such a concidence to bump into them here!! But I noticed that Lynette and Alyson didn't seem suprised at all and when Lynette mentioned something about a cake i understood.. it was supposed to be a belated birthday suprise for me! :P Dumbass me, I can't believe I didn't suspect A SINGLE THING but on the other hand, you guys are really good suprisers and planners <3 I'm really touched that you all went to such lengths to plan this!!!<3 :'))

And here are a few factors that contributed to this successful suprise:

1) It was such an unassuming date, and it was even almost cancelled due to my chicken-pox scare

2) I didn't hear it when the waitress ( who is a bad actress) said ' oh are you the group with the table for 5...', I only heard the back part.

3) My birthday is almost 1 week over so i thought there would be no more celebrations till next year

So anyway, back to the food. We were supposed to order a set which came with maple syrup and choice of butter:

1) Salted (Alyson and I ordered this)

2) Unsalted (Lynette ordered this)

3) Herb and garlic (Shihui ordered this)

4) Rum and Raisin 

Our group tried all except the last one, which is weird but maybe I'll try it when i come again~

Butter and maple syrup~ 

In case you're wondering why the cup for the maple syrup appears like it's falling, it's actually made that way which makes it seem artistic and cool! :)

Before we came, JianYi already ordered Strawberries and coulis to 'stall for time'

$10

Shihui also ordered before we came, the highly recommended Garlic buttered prawns

$14

She let me try a bite and I must say, the thick and fluffy pancakes pair suprisingly well with the garlic and herb sauce! The garlic taste is pretty obvious but not in a bad way :) Shihui spammed hers with maple syrup and even ordered extra! It tastes better with maple syrup though suprisingly :P

Shared a chocolate oreo shake ($5.50) with Lynette and Alyson

The shake is REALLY thick and creamy and as oreo-ish as one can ask for. It's like someone blended oreos and added milk into it, too sweet for me but great for oreo/chocolate lovers ( ie. Lynette)

Potatoes Leeking Cheese ( $12) that Lynette ordered. If you're wondering where the potatoes/ leeks/ cheese are, they're stuffed into the pancake itself which makes it thicker that usual! Comes with a side of sour cream and mushrooms :) 

Tried a bite of this too and it's not bad at all!! :) The cheesy taste is quite obvious but its a good combi~

Shared Crabcake Pancakes ($14) with Alyson, we were debating between this or the pancake-wrapped hotdog ( snuggle up) but decided this was more unique :)

Well the pancakes are the thickest amongst all, hence the small size, but still manages to retain its fluffiness :) There's nothing very special about the crabcake though, although it tastes good with the pancakes, and i won't order this the next time i come ):

*RANT ALERT*While we were waiting for the food to come, the couple in our neighbouring table left and their pancakes were left half-eaten!! Plus it still looked so tantalising and edible, and the waitress who cleared the table threw all the leftovers into a nearby bin right in front of our eyes.( not blaming her though)  The wasteful attitude of Singaporeans really irks me. If you can't finish it, share/ don't waste your money by buying it lah!! Geesh.

Ok rant finished. Overall Strictly Pancakes is quite worth it and I won't mind visiting it again, just to try out the other interesting flavours. But I think reservations must be made prior for larger groups of people, otherwise good luck queuing up for a table inside~ ( Thanks so much guys for the treat<3<3 :* )

the wall deco of Strictly Pancakes nyehehe

Next up, we went to The Cathay to watch Skyfall!!

Many of my friends had watched it and it has recieved raving reviews so i was quite excited to watch it. Purchased our tickets and thanks to Alyson's ntuc card, we got a discount for 4 tickets ( $9.50 instead of the usual $12) and 4 free portions of popcorn!! Whoohoo~

Funny notebook from Totallyhotstuff, one of the more interesting stores in Cathay

Popcorn!! Really small compared to normal popcorn portions but its free~~

Lynette ordered this whooping huge cup of Fanta grape which she shared with Shihui ( for a whooping $4.90!!!)

Da ticket

THE MOVIE WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!! At 143 min ( 2h23min), i initially thought it would be draggy but it totally isn't!! Action-packed practically every second and though this is the first James Bond movie I've watched, it doesn't matter at all and I was still able to get the plot perfectly well. An awesome exhilarating movie where the plot just fits together perfectly and the underlying themes remain constant throughout the whole movie. I am so in love with it and have nothing but praise for it, great movie choice!! <3 <3 My only complaint is that James Bond looks so old hahaha. But even then its just a comment, not a complaint! His skills and loyalty are commendable~Two thumbs and two toes up!! ^^

Movie ended at about 6+ pm and we went to the steps outside SOTA to cut the cake bought for Lynette and I by the rest :)

Brownie from Polar Puffs and cakes!! 

It may look small but its actually really thick at the sides O:

Birthday gals~

<3

The inside of the cake!! It's really yummy and has walnut bits inside, pity Lynette doesn't like brownie/ nuts ( ikr, what a strange person) but the rest of us enjoyed it all the same :) ( though more than half the cake was left over)

Sigh sigh are they bored or bored ( and they threw the cup away!! ): )

Then finally went home whoohoo where i had some sushi waiting for me ;)

Awesome day spent out and thanks so much guys for planning the suprise!!! <3 Really really appreciate it and I'm glad & honoured to have friends like you :') I'm sorry if I haven't celebrated your birthdays this year but we MUST MUST next year :) :) and I'll get mega nice presents to compensate hehheh

Thanks Shihui for the homemade chocolate+ marshmallows !!! :)

And the mini cutlery set hahaha they're really cute!!!<3

And the pretty box it came with <3

Thanks Jianyi for the cat ring and the card, I'll use it as often as I can!! :)

kbye~