Black Forest Cake, Cherry Zabaglione, Chocolate Granache

This is Keith's Black Forest Cake with Cherry Zabaglione and Chocolate Granache that he made for the cake making competition organized by Overclockers Forum Australia.

Ingredients
Making the chocolate cake mix. Melting chocolate and butter over a double boiler.
Flour added
Egg whites beaten to stiff peak and folded into cake mixture.
Cake tin in the oven.
Cooking the cherries with the cherry liqueur.
Start of the cherry zabaglione. 6 egg yolks. To follow: caster sugar, cherry liqueur.
Cherry filling finished.
Chocolate cake out of the oven.
Cherry zabaglione being made on double boiler.
Cake cut in half ready to receive filling. More cherry liqueur sprinkled on chocolate cake.
Cherry zabaglione goes on cake.
Cherry mixture goes on cake.
Chocolate granache under construction Melt dark chocolate and mix cream in.
Finished chocolate granache.
Chocolate granache spread on cake.
Finished cake.

Here is a picture of the cake being served. Luckily we had some guests over for lunch the next day .

Where was I when the cake was artfully done? Sick in bed! haha. So, this is basically Keith's post on the overclockers forum which I conveniently sought permission from to post on my blog. How did Keith go in the competition? He came out 2nd! Yay!

The Dark Knight

I watched The Dark Knight with my colleagues at the Gold Class cinema last night. It was from the funds we raised through our raffle ticket sales so we basically got to watch for free. The seats were very comfortable and the movie itself very enjoyable. I loved Heath Ledger's acting, he played a very convincing joker. I also liked Jack Nicholson as the joker in the older Batman movie. I thought that Katie Holmes should have reprised her damsel role as she is much prettier to look at :P Overall an entertaining movie, good that I watched it in the cinemas to enjoy the full effects.

Oh For the Love of Shopping

I had been waiting eagerly all week for Saturday to come so that I could go shopping in Melbourne. It all started when i was surfing the vogue forum and one of the girls posted the cutest ever cardigan she bought. Not wanting to miss out I called the shop to put it on hold for me. Come Saturday, Keith said he did not want to go to Melbourne because he was taking part in a cake making competition organized by a forum. It turned out he had to work that afternoon too. Undeterred, I told him I'll go to Melbourne alone and caught a train up.

The new summer collections have just been launched in most shops. I find it weird for them to be selling summer stuff at this time of the year when it's right in the thick of winter. I was only suppose to get the red cardi but I ended up with these! :OI would have bought more if not for the "you need to be more responsible and save money for rainy days" thought running through my head :P Feeling happy with my haul, I decided to get a hot chocolate from Koko Black as it was raining and freezing. It was so rich and sinful. I then caught the tram to Spencer St station to make my way back to Geelong.

When I got to Spencer St, I was shocked to see the number of passengers on the train. It was overflowing! All the seats were taken and there were heaps of people standing on the aisleway, and near the doors. I managed to squeeze in because I did not want to wait for another hour for the next train. The journey itself takes 1 hour so I would end up wasting 2 hours if I waited for the next. My poor legs were feeling sore from all the shopping so I decided to sit on the cold hard floor. After about 30 minutes of playing Sudoku on my phone, I decided to stand up for the rest of the journey. Moments later, in came a drunk smelly old man swearing away at everyone with a bottle of beer in his hand. He was spilling beer all over the floor and hurling abuse at people. Being outspoken Australians who do not tolerate such kind of behaviour, he was quickly reported to the train conductor. The train conductor gave him a warning and moved him to another spot. Thank goodness for that!

I was starting to feel faint as it was so stuffy in the train. We were 15 minutes behind schedule as the train could not travel at its maximum speed due to the many passengers. I was so glad to step out of the train when it arrived at its destination. By then, I was having a throbbing headache and my neck and shoulders were aching so much. Keith quickly cooked dinner for me and I tried to eat eventhough my stomach was feeling very stuffed, probably from the hot chocolate. Thirty minutes later, still with a throbbing headache I felt that I had to spew, and so I did. It opened the floodgates of spew it wasn't funny! I think I spewed about 8 times within the course of an hour! I felt so weak and I had to lie in bed but it only made me want to spew more. I quickly took 2 panadols and forced myself to sleep. It stopped my spewing and I slept till 9am Sunday. My muscles and joints still feel weak today but at least the spewing's gone. Phew! So much for the love of shopping :P *sigh*

Richard and Claire's Wedding

We were privileged to be invited to share the coming together of Richard and Claire as husband and wife today, 12th July 2008. They were the first couple/ friends we got to know when we first moved to Victoria. It was they who recommended us to live in Torquay. By chance, we lived just around the corner of each other and there were many good dinners to be had.

It was a beautiful day and the bride looked absolutely gorgeous, while the groom dashingly smart. The speeches were very touching and moving and I can't tell you how happy I am for them. They really are a great couple! :) Now, time for photos. Beware, there are heaps!

The anxious groom waiting for the arrival of his lovely bride
The lovely bride with her parents walking down the aisle
The bride and groom meetThe vows and exchange of rings
Chinese tea pouring ceremony
Signing the marriage certificate
Keith and the groom
Claire and I
Keith and I
Now, for the food. Lunch was at Pettavel Winery. Absolutely delicious! :) First up was the chicken.
Ox cheek dumpling Lamb with ratatouille Confit duck leg with pine nuts
The wedding cakeLook there's Argus their dog! :)
Miniature version of Richard and Claire
Poached pear with honeycomb, caramelised sugar and ice cream. An absolute winner!
Chocolate cake served with ice cream and orange.
Home sweet home. I look tired and washed out thanks to all the wine.