Sam's Cakes & Bakes is on Facebook!

2013! Sam's Cakes & Bakes have been established for 10 years! In commemoration of these past 10 years, Sam's Cakes finally decided to incorporate social media as part of its ongoing tools for marketing. Do keep a lookout on our upcoming promotions! Most importantly, invite your friends to "like" our page!

Sam's Cakes & Bakes Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/samscakesandbakes

Sam's at Yule Market

Hello Everyone!

Sam's Cakes & Bakes will be at Singapore First Farmer's Market again on Saturday (11th December 2010) from 8.30am to 2pm. There will be lots of christmas cakes and goodies at the Yule Market. Do come down and support!

The stall at this upcoming Yule Market is a joint collaboration between Sam's Cakes & Bakes and Sarah's Loft.

You could also read Notabilia's Blog on her experience at the previous Farmers' Market here.

 

Do check out Sam's Christmas Catalogue 2010 as well. Place your orders early to avoid disappointment!

Sam's at Farmers' Market

Hello Everyone!
Sam's Cakes & Bakes will be at Singapore First Farmer's Market this Saturday (20th November 2010) from 8.30am to 2pm. There will be lots of cakes and goodies. Do come down and support!

Sam's on Manawatu Standard Page 4

The Manawatu Standard is the daily paper for the Manawatu region based in Palmerston North, New Zealand with satellites in Feilding and Marton.

Bread Baking Day (BBD #30) - Round Up

Here is Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies round up on twisted bread. Check out the multi-post round-ups (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4) Natashya made.

Bread Baking Day (BBD) #30 - Cranberry Almond Plait

BreadBakingDay is a monthly event for passionate and to-be bread bakers and was started by Zorra of Kochtopf way back in July 2007.

This month's theme of twisted breads is hosted by Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. I have decided to participate in this event with a recipe that I have recently taught.

Cranberries are full of antioxidants and are the "in" thing to use in baked goods these days. They can be use to substitute raisins, sultanas or any dried fruits in the recipes. Given its tartness and colour, it will make any product appetising!

For this event, I will be sharing with you a Cranberry Almond Plait. Alternatively, you could also make them into buns or rolls.

Bread Ingredients:
350 g Bread Flour
50 g Almond Powder
15 g Milk Powder
½ tsp Salt
50 g Fine Sugar
11 g Instant Yeast (Gold)
140 g Water
56 g Egg (1 No)

50 g Butter

175 g Cranberries, conditioned

Egg Glaze:
1 No Egg
1 Tbsp Water

Toppings:
Almond Flakes, Pearl Sugar

Method:
1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl except butter. Knead till the side of the bowl is clean. Add in the butter and knead till well developed. Add in the conditioned cranberries.
2. Round the dough and rest for 2 hrs.
3. After resting, turn the dough bottom side up and punch down to flatten. Divide the dough into 15 X 60g pieces. Roll out each dough piece into rod shaped strands. Take 3 strands and plait (See Demo) and place the plaited dough onto a baking pan.
4. Proof the bread till double in bulk, approximately 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C. Brush the surface lightly with Egg Glaze and sprinkle the top with Almond Flakes & Pearl Sugar.
6. Bake at 200C for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Brush with oil when baked to give a glossy finish.

Chinese New Year & Valentine's Day Catalogue 2010

Sam's Christmas Online Promotion with eGuide (Singapore) and Singapore Shopping Guide

Christmas is just 7 weeks away and Sam's Cakes and Bakes is proud to sponsor 10 Healthy Carrot Log Cakes for a Christmas Online Promotion with eGuide (Singapore) and Singapore Shopping Guide. Special thanks to Tracy from RBI-Asia.

So what are you waiting for? If you happen to stumble upon Sam's Bake Journal and have a love for healthy cakes and goodies and hope to win the healthy carrot log cake this christmas to share with your family and friends, visit the following (link) and fill up a form (takes you less than 5 minutes!). Good luck!

Visit Sam's Cakes & Bakes website for more christmas goodies! Sam's Healthy Carrot Log Cake (Sugar-Free) is also available, kindly enquire for more details.

Customised Cake at Sam's (Halloween Themed Carrot Cake)

Besides being able to customise cakes for special diet needs (Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Nuts-Free and Eggless Cakes) at Sam's. Occasionally, we receive orders like this Halloween Themed Carrot Cake. This cake was specially ordered by one of Sam's customer for her husband to celebrate his birthday with a halloween theme. Should you like to have customised cakes, please do feel free to make an enquiry with us.

Sam's on Y factor (October 2009)

Sam's on Food-4Tots Blog

Photograph courtesy of Food-4tots.

I am very happy to see that more people are gaining an interest in baking. Food-4tots.com is a blog by one of my student who attended one of my bread baking sessions recently. Not only did she took down notes in my class, she went home and practise tirelessly to successfully make this healthy multigrain bread for her family and friends. Click on this (link) to view the recent blog entry that she wrote about her experience in baking this bread. There are also other recipes that she writes that are healthy and easy to do for your loved ones.

Wedding Cupcakes

Recently, I had another order for a couple's solemnization and they have decided to order this 3 tiered cupcakes wedding cake. Interested to have such a cake for your wedding / anniversary? Contact Sam.

Sam's on Y factor (June 2009)

In the subsequent issues of the quarterly Y Factor, I will be contributing easy-to-follow recipes. Do look out for them! I would like to thank Ms Priscilla Leong from YMCA Corporate Affairs for this opportunity.

Sam's On MediaCorp Channel 8 (Yummy Yummy Lunch Box)

Kids, if you’re looking for some culinary inspiration, then help is here! My Yummy Yummy Lunchbox is back with more delicious recipes! This season, 2 teams will learn basic recipes from professional culinary teachers. From pasta to omelettes and fried rice, these dishes are the basis for more to come. Once having mastered the skill, the teams then go head to head by turning the simple dish into something deliciously new! Be inspired as they cook up a storm in the kitchen - who will come up with the most creative and mouth-watering version? (Adapted from MediaCorp Channel 8 Website).

I will be featured on the 4th Episode whereby I will be teaching the kids how to make Choux Pastries. 

This episode will be televised over Mediacorp's Channel 8 on Sunday 28th June 2008 @ 10am.

More details can be found on the following website.

Special thanks to the producer Ms Ng Lee Yi and screen writer Mr Dah Jui Hoon from The Moving Visuals Company for this opportunity.

Sam's on Y factor (February 2009)

Sam's on Straits Times (Home Section, Page B8)

'Tis the season for helping the less fortunate by Seow Kai Lun

Volunteer groups planning host of activities to raise funds for old folk and children

ECONOMIC gloom is not clouding the Christmas charity season. At least 30 outreach groups with volunteers from all walks of life are helping those less fortunate. 

Ms Lisa Li, 28, is an organiser of a 65-strong group distributing hampers of toiletries and biscuits, in partnership with the Kreta Ayer Residents' Committee. 

She and a group of friends distributed 300 gift bags for the first time last year.

This year, on Dec 21, they are distributing 1,200 hampers to elderly folk living in one-room flats in the Chinatown area.

The hampers, worth about $10 each, will reach those who do not receive public assistance.

'We raised funds by asking people we knew to contribute to the cause. Many are affected by the downturn and retrenchment but they still gave generously,' said Ms Li.

The Young Men's Christian Association of Singapore's Festival of Love, a group of 60 volunteers, makes various holiday goodies for different homes.

To add to mouse-shaped pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year and most recently ondeh ondeh for Hari Raya Aidilfitri, they will round off the year with 400 Christmas cupcakes for the Dover Park Hospice.

The festival's head chef, Mr Samuel Chan, 23, who operates online business www.sams-cakes.com, has been leading the creation of all the Festival of Love cooking sessions for the past two years.

'Doing this, I not only get to know more people, but also spread my love for cooking and help others in the community,' he said. 'It's like killing three birds with one stone.'

Some volunteers have become friends and now sign up for sessions together. So much so, said Ms Sivian Look, manager for YMCA Corporate Communications, that 'we have had to increase the number of slots for people to come and cook'.

Glad tidings for the year-end are also coming from students. Volunteers from National Junior College will organise a Christmas party for children from Daybreak Family Service Centre next Saturday.

They also put together a last-minute visit to the Newater centre for children from low-income families.

Volunteer Joycelyn Chua, 17, a first-year student, said: 'Everyone deserves to have some fun during the festive season.'

And students from the Singapore Management University have joined the Raleigh Society to organise a fund-raising walk next Saturday. Participants pay a registration fee of $20 for the 10km route and $60 for the 50km and 100km overnight route.

The group hopes to raise $80,000, half of which will go to the Movement of the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore. A group of 35 people from the movement will be invited to a party on Dec 27, during which they will be presented with the funds raised.

Sam's on Y factor (November 2008)

Sam's On Lian He Zao Bao (Page 12)

Sam's On MediaCorp Channel U (MoneyWeek)

This programme was televised over Mediacorp's Channel U on 10th August 2008 @ 11.30pm.

For those who subscribe to MediaCorp's MobTV, you can click on this link, Choose Episode 19 and download to watch it. Special thanks to the producer Mr Charles Chow for this opportunity.

Sam's On Straits Times (Main Section, Page 4)

Diploma icing on the cake for baker by Jane Ng

MR SAMUEL CHAN, who graduates from Singapore Polytechnic with a chemical process technology (food technology) diploma at the end of this month, has been running an online bakery set up even before he joined the school.

The 23-year-old was also conducting baking classes for his schoolmates while getting his diploma.

Now that he is graduating, he is homing in on the niche market for healthy cakes which contain no eggs, nuts, sugar and gluten.

He said: 'I do not want to be just another chef.

'With my diploma, I have learnt the science behind food, healthy recipes, new ingredients and new techniques.'

His five-year-old online bakery started out as a catalogue of items in his baking repertoire, which now also includes sugar-free confections for diabetics.

His final-year project involved creating a high-fibre roti prata using wheat-resistant starch containing soluble fibre.

He has applied for a degree programme in food technology with Massey University in New Zealand.

Another Singapore Poly graduate, Mr Jonathan Samraj, the top student in the diploma in information technology course, has also had a taste of selling his skills.

He set up his own information technology company at 16, and has since provided Web solutions and design services for 15 firms.

Making profits was not his priority, he said, adding that the insights into how different industries operated were more rewarding for him.

With 30 distinctions and As in the bag, he hopes to read computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology next.

Singapore Poly will send off 4,896 students next week.