Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Little Yoghurt and Orange Blossom Hearts for my Valentine!


"How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways.." Have you ever heard this one before? or how about this one, " Love is... Never having to say you're sorry". Whoever wrote this crap probably never ever had a relationship. Our wedding theme song was 'Never gonna let you down' (yeah, how naive were we?), just in case you've never heard it before, here's some of the lyrics..




Forever, I will love you
Forever, I will be true
Forever, I'll always be right here by your side
and every morning I'll be there when you open your eyes

Never gonna let you down
I'll always be around
I'll be there for you
because I love you
Ohhh...
(Never no never will let you down)



Have you had enough? Since that song was sung at our wedding almost 15 years ago, there's been countless times that Ming and I had let each other down and there were times we wondered if we did love each each other. What IS Love exactly?
Is it that warm fluttering feeling one feels in the stomach ? Nope. That sounds more like an early warning for food poisoning.




I don't know how Valentine's Day came to be a day of celebration for lovers and frankly, I'm not interested. Just hearing last Sunday's sermon on 'LOVE' and the staggering statistics of the divorce rate in the U.S. tells me that WE ARE ALL VERY DISILLUSIONED ABOUT WHAT LOVE IS. Marriage vows are spoken mindlessly and Pre-nuptual agreements are on the rise. Couples who go into marriage with pre-nupts are really setting themselves up for a Marriage break up, because a pre-nuptual agreement spells DISTRUST.




I have come to understand that we are all here for the one purpose of learning to Love. Sadly, some of us will never grasp the true meaning of 'LOVE'. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 of the Holy Bible ( New Living Translation) states;

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand it's own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.





I have a lot to learn. How about you? I guess, when we can change the sentence from "I love so and so because of..." to " I love so and so in spite of... we are on the right track. As for Ming and myself, we are soldiering on, I hope that you will too. With that thought in mind, I made some Little Yoghurt and Orange Blossom Heart Cakes for my Darling Valentine, Ming Chong. I'm also submitting these little Love Hearts to Zorra's 'A Heart for your Valentine' event. Thanks, Zorra, you are a true romantic!

Little Yoghurt and Orange Blossom Cakes
(Adapted from Gourmet Traveller Annual Cookbook 2007)
Makes 6 Love Hearts

300 g (2 cups) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
300 g vanilla yoghurt
60 ml (1/4 cup) buttermilk
200 g salted butter, softened
220 g (1 cup) white sugar
2 tsp ( rind from a whole medium sized navel orange)
4 eggs
100 g vanilla Persian Fairy Floss

Orange Blossom Icing

50 g butter
250 g pure icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp orange blossom water
1 tbsp vanilla yoghurt



Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius, fan forced. Grease and line the bottoms of two sponge pans, allowing some baking paper to hang over the two sides of each pan for easy removal of the cake. ( sorry, I don't have the measurements). Sift flour and baking powder and set aside. Whisk yoghurt and buttermilk together in a bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and orange rind until pale and creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating briefly between each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add one-third of the flour and mix to combine, then add one-third of the yoghurt mixture and mix to combine. Repeat with remaining mixtures, alternating, until incorporated. Mix till the batter is smooth, then pour into the lined sponge pans, tapping the base to level the batter. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted draws clean. Cool completely in pans on a wire rack, then loosen the edges of the cakes with a spatula and then lift them out of the pans by holding on to the 'hanging bits' of baking paper.

Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many hearts as you can. Keep the heart shaped cakes in an air tight container until ready to fill.

For the Orange Blossom Icing, beat all the ingredients in an electric mixer for 1 minute or until smooth. Add more yoghurt if necessary to adjust the consistency of the icing. Spread some icing on one heart shaped piece of cake and top that with another heart shaped piece of cake. Spread icing on the second piece of cake as well and top with a final piece of cake. Spread some icing on the surface of the cake and top with some Persian Fairy Floss just before serving. Enjoy!

30 comments:

Finla said...

The heart shape cakes are just looking gorgeous.
I loved the pharase 'Never gonna let you down' and thay you were naieve

daphne said...

Sweet. What lovely cookies- so delicate as well.
Whoever says marriage is easy and all butterflies and love hearts? Mine hasn't even started yet and we are hard at work making it happen, going through the preparatory process. Still, I'm looking forward to this journey of roller coaster ride. =)

zorra said...

No, I'm not so romantic. ;-) You are completly right what you wrote about love.

And your hearts are divine! Thank you for your participation.

Big Boys Oven said...

Lovely, delicious and perfect! the cake or the lover? both I think!

Barbara said...

This is a wonderful entry - and wonderful little cakes! :-)

SIG said...

That's gorgeous. Love the fairy floss. Love the post. :) Happy Valentine's Day. :*

Rasa Malaysia said...

Carol -- awww they are so adorable and lovable. Love the fairy floss...and those litte tiny red hearts...:)

food makes me happy said...

Hahaha at first I thought the furry things are cottons...
Dumb dumb,
They look awesome by the way,
It's nice to be your valentine!

kezia*anastasia said...

Hi Carol!

Just dropping by to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Valentine's Day!

I know exactly what u're talking about, not that I have been married before though HAHA. but seeing my parents' marriage with all those up and downs I'm beginning to see that there's no such thing as a happily ever after.

But thank goodness that's God's love is real in our lives :)

Hope you're enjoying your dvds!

xoxo

Renee said...

Good thoughts! Learning how to love selflessly is so hard. But your cakes are delicious and cute without being so valentine'sy-pink-gag-me-with-a-spoon.

tigerfish said...

Love the orange blossom! It looks like fluffy cotton wool. Yes yes...now i remember...candy floss!

Happy Valentine's Day!

mommy j said...

Thanks for reminding me what "love" is all about in marriage. It's an ongoing process and not just found in the beginning when we say, "I do". Happy Valentines Day EVERYDAY to you and Ming!

Chibog in Chief said...

big kisses from kitchen and my warmest message of love, happy happy valentine's day to you and your family!!

ps, as always stunning photos and of course soooooooooo delicious goodies

Anonymous said...

Loved your post, very accurately written! And those little heart shaped cakes look wonderful!

Nora B. said...

Carol, that is just absolutely perfect! No wonder you get to teach baking classes :-)

Relationships are hard work, but hopefully love can be the fuel that drives us to continue to work hard, and also enjoy the fruits of our labour. 15 years count for something, right?

p/s: I love the look of Persian fairy floss

Anonymous said...

hi mum its me paige i miss u today is the 15th of feb and i'm at kisarns place and i'm having so much fun i miss u luv ya!!!!!


hi its kisarn thankyou for letting paige come she misses you heaps and heaps were having heaps of fun i will always come on to your blog and look at your cooking it looks yummy
any way have yo go having lunch now ok bi luv ya say i aid hi to everyone for me plz
xoxoox all my love kiasrn

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Wow... Beautiful blog! I found it through the DMBLGIT event that you won in December with the macaroons.. they looked great so I had to come see the rest of the blog. Very nice photos. I had to add you to my favorites! Great job!

Liska said...

It's so beautiful!

Patricia Scarpin said...

When it comes to love, aren't we all naive, my dear friend?

These cakes are so adorable, Carol!!! And I absolutely love using yogurt in baking.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

How many ways can I say I love this Orange Blossom hearts?

Anonymous said...

I can finish all that in a second! When am I going to get a taste of your delicious cookies, chocolate desserts and everything else you make? :-)

I agree with what you said about love. 1 Corinthians 13 is also one of my favourite passages.

Hope you, Ming, Paige and Chloe are well.

Have a nice weekend!

joy
A Pinay In England
Your Love Coach
The Goddess In You
Norwich Daily Photo

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

They've got to be the cutest things I've seen for this year's Valentine's Day. Fantastic!

Daniel Indradjaja said...

Carol,

Your blog puts LOTS of other blogs to shame (mine included, ha!)

I haven't updated mine for sooo long, I don't know where to begin. C'mon motivate me!! Hahaha

The cakes look amazing and the philosophy on love is on the money. Is there anything that u cannot do?

Kajal@aapplemint said...

Hope your valentines was good. Adore these yogurt cakes and that candy floss makes it so much more special.

Ming the Merciless said...

After being married for so many years, you and Ming are still so cute for each other. But honestly, you grown-ups should stop letting the hormones control your body. :-)

Belated Happy Valentine's Day.

Chloe Chong said...

I LOVE YOU, MUM!!

^.^
xoxo

Cakespy said...

How sweet! And I doubt I even have to say how photogenic! Gorgeous work!

Dwiana P said...

I enjoy these pictures, very pretty!!

Helene said...

Perfect little cakes!! I need me some Persian Fairy floss!!
That prayer was the one we printed on our wedding programs. I love it and read it all the time.

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