PASTRY BASKET GENERATION 2 HOMECLASS on the 26th of JANUARY, 2011

Today's blogpost in on the Pastry Basket, but with a twist: Chef Baini calls it The Pastry Basket Generation 2, or The Pastry Basket Gen 2, for short (with due apologies to Proton, the Malaysian National Car maker). This latest creation of Chef Baini is different from the original Pastry Basket from Chef Baini. Maybe you have already spotted the difference already, but more on that later.....

Today Chef Baini welcomed the terrific threesome of Kak Leen, Kak Sharizat or Kak Jat for short and Kak Jie. They came all to way to Chef Baini's humble abode to learn about pastry baskets....And like all other Chef Baini's homeclasses, they hit it off almost immediately.

Which makes it such a pleasure for Chef Baini to host a homeclass every time! Okay, so what exactly is so new about this Pastry Basket Gen 2?

Why, the  Gen 2's bouquet of flowers and leaves are made from the same pastry as the basket itself! It is baked with the basket and after the basket has cooled, the bouquet is hand painted. When the paint (edible paint, of course) is canvassed against the browned skin of the basket, the effect is very artistic! It is the latest of many Chef Baini's innovations in improving the products of Norbaini Cakes!

Here you can clearly see the curling of the flower's petals and leaves. In the picture below, they are laid out to rest (just like all pastry) before going in the oven.....

See how the Gen 2 basket comes together in the picture below.....

The Gen 2 Baskets are ready for colouring and embellishments! Here they are:.....

This one in the picture above is by Kak Leen......

Kak Jie did this one. She excluded the rose that crowns the handle of the previous one.

The last piece is by Kak Sharizat, She opted not to have a rose at the apex of the handle also.

But wait! Chef Baini had innovated the tarts that accompanied the basket as well!  Here Chef Baini added the corn and the carrot in her repertoire of tarts... Following this are some close-ups of the hand painted flowers and tarts...you can see for yourself how different the overall effect is from the first generation of Norbaini Cakes Pastry Basket.

It is like painting on part of the wooden frame of a painting!

Ultimately, the Pastry Basket Gen 2 will look like these pictures below. Its how all the pieces are assembled together and properly painted ought to look like.

Now you can see why Chef Baini made the Corn and Carrot Tarts. The oblong shape with its segmented texture plus the bright yellow colour make for a stunning visual contrast juxtaposed against the context of the brown, baked character of the basket.

All too quickly we have reached the end of today's blog, dear friends! Chef Baini truly hopes that you have enjoyed today's blog featuring the Pastry Basket Gen 2, and will be kind enough to visit Norbaini Cakes Blosgpot again! Take care, OK?