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.

Sam's On Project Smitten Magazine

Mother's Day Rose Delight Cake

Haven't thought of what to get for your mother this Mother's Day? Why not try Mother's Day Rose Delight Cake by Sam's. This rose flavoured fresh cream heart shaped cake decorated with rose macarons will make this Mother's Day a floral scented one. So... instead of getting your dearest mother a bottle of perfume, get her this Rose Delight Cake by Sam's this year for a change. Haha.

Latest Sam's Products!

(Left: Baked Green Tea Cheese Cake, Right: Tiramisu)

Sam's valued customers and friends would be delighted to hear of the launch of these two latest products - Green Tea Cheese Cake & Tiramisu.

Green Tea Cheese Cake: Experience this rich cheese cake filled with antioxidants from the infused green tea. Layered with a bed of Japanese Azuki Red Beans, giving you the ultimate taste experience.

Tiramisu: Friends who have tried Sam's Tiramisu love the liquor rush in it. Great for home parties or small gatherings with friends.

Chocolate Cakes

One of the favourite choice of flavour for most customers of Sam's - Chocolate. Well, this is indeed Sam's best seller for cakes of all occasions. Recently, there has been an increased number of requests for special diet cakes. As such, I have decided to showcased how the special diet cakes would look like. In fact, they are identical.

(Left: Picture of a chocolate cake for a class of 40 students).

(Left: Chocolate Fudge Cake, Right: Special Diet Chocolate Fudge Cake - Eggless, Dairy-Free).

Well, currently at Sam's, the highly recommended Vegetarian cake is the Chocolate Fudge Cake. Do note that at Sam's, we provide a range of special diet cakes: Diabetic Cakes (Sugar-Free), Vegetarian Cakes (Egg less), Dairy-Free, Nuts Free, Gluten Free. Contact Sam for the above customised cakes.

Museum of Shanghai Toys

On 29th and 30th March 2008, Museum of Shanghai Toys (MoST) had an open house. Admission was free. Sam was invited to set up a bazaar stall there. MoST is one of two toy museums in Singapore. The toys showcased in this museum are those that were played in the 1960s to 1980s, mostly, wooden or metal clockwork toys. If you have the time, what not pay them a visit at 83 Rowell Road. Visit their website for more details.

Wedding Cupcakes

Recently, I had an order for a couple's 25th Wedding Anniversary and they have decided to order this 3 tiered cupcakes wedding cake. Interested to have such a cake for your wedding / anniversary? Contact Sam.

Barbie Doll Cake

Instead of the usual cartoon cakes which are 2-Dimensional, I had a request for a 3-Dimensional Barbie Doll Cake. Everything from the dress down is edible! Get something different for your kid's birthday this year!

Sam's Bazaar Stalls

Sam's Bazaar Stalls

Sam's Cakes & Bakes will be setting up bazaar stalls ate the following locations. Should you be nearby, do come and support Sam's Products.

Date / Time: 2 March 2008, Saturday, 9.30am to 12.30pm
Location: YMCA Level 1 Auditorium

Date / Time: 8 March 2008, Saturday, 9am to 7pm
Location: NTU Open House (Quad)

Date / Time: 17 to 19 March 2008, Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 6pm
Location: NUS Business School

Date / Time: 29 & 30 March 2008, Saturday & Sunday, Time: 12 noon to 6pm
Location: Museum of Shanghai Toys

Sam's Baking & Culinary Courses: Growing The Passion In You

Sam's Baking & Culinary Courses: Growing The Passion In You

For those who are interested to learn how to bake for your loved ones, visit http://samscourses.blogspot.com/ for the course schedules.

2008: Year of the Rat (Pineapple Tarts)

Left: Normal Pineapple Tarts (For Sale), Right: Mouse-shaped Pineapple Tarts (For Education)

Last year was the Year of the Pig and I created a Piggy Butter Cookie. This year is the Year of the Rat and guess what I have created! Rat or rather Mouse-shaped Pineapple Tarts.

However, this is strictly for education and training purposes. I will be demonstrating how to make this cookie for YMCA Festival of Love 2008 on 2nd February 2008.

Sam's on My Paper

Sam's on My Paper

Food blogs: treats or threats?

Serene Luo & Esther Au Yong
Wed, Jan 09, 2008, my paper

DO NOT buy food from online food blogs. The convenience of buying online isn't worth it when it comes to personal safety.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) says the levels of hygiene maintained by blog sellers are "questionable".

Most of these popular blogs - many of them peddling dessert items like chocolates, cupcakes and other pastries that may contain uncooked butter cream - do not have the required NEA licence to prepare and sell food.

Last year, the NEA warned two such blog owners and made them remove all mention of their wares from their blogs.

Businesses that want to sell food must satisfy several criteria, such as typhoid inoculation for all food handlers, and have premises with the facilities for food preparation.

It is also illegal to sell home-cooked food to the public.

A spokesman said: "NEA takes a serious view of such unlicenced food sales as the conditions under which the food is prepared are questionable, and NEA will not hesitate to take enforcement actions against such individuals."

What's more important is whether the product is safe, said veteran food writer Sylvia Tan.

"PrimaDeli was a licensed food handler, and even then, people got sick," she said.
Recently, over 100 people came down with food poisoning after eating chocolate cakes from PrimaDeli bakery outlets.

Ms Tan advised my paper readers to be careful of where they purchase their goodies.

"Home sales have been going on for the longest time. Everyone knows someone who sells cookies or tarts. Personal recommendations are very important," she said.

Food bloggers say they will continue plying their wares

Licensed or not, customers will continue buying treats like cupcakes, pineapple tarts or fancy macaroons from "casual" home bakeries, they say.

At the same time, food bloggers selling their wares say they will continue their trade - because most of their customers are their friends.

Concern over hygiene standards kept by food bloggers hawking their wares had arisen, following last month's PrimaDeli food poisoning incident.

One blogger, editorial consultant Cheryl Chia, said that she knew about the National Environment Agency regulations and that "food poisoning can kill, it's scary".

"That's why I am now only baking for family and friends," she said.

The 23-year-old behind She Bakes & She Cooks said that she first started selling because readers wrote in, asking her to sell her baked goods to them.

Basic food hygiene is always observed, said Mr Samuel Chan, 22, of the blog Sam's Cakes and Bakes.

However, getting a licence is too costly, mainly because of the need for a commercial space, he said.

Under the law, homes cannot be used to cook food to be sold to the public.

First-time offenders could be fined up to $1,000.

"While we can't use our home kitchen, I feel that a home kitchen is clean enough and adequate when it comes to small-scale production," Mr Chan, a food technology student at a local polytechnic, said.

Undergraduate Julius Chen, 22, who runs the website Julius Truffles, suggested licensing home premises for small-scale baking.

"There can also be courses for home bakers. Perhaps awareness and education campaigns too, when it comes to concerns like food safety," he said.

In any case, many home bakeries come recommended by friends and should be reliable, said consumers whom my paper interviewed.

Marketing manager Ng Aik Kiat, 32, says he has been buying pineapple tarts and love letters from his neighbours for many years because he found the quality of their baked treats to be high.

"After all these years, there is a certain level of trust and confidence," he said.

"They might not be licensed, but it's almost like my own relatives making (these cookies) for me."

Account executive Jaslin Poh, 28, said she would still take this "calculated risk".

"As long as the website doesn't have a bad record, I will still go ahead," she said.

"I'll stop only if I get sick."

2008 Chinese New Year Goodies!

2008 Chinese New Year Goodies!

Chinese New Year is round the corner (about 1 month's time). This year, Sam has a wide range of cakes and goodies for you to choose from. Including the launch of Sugar-Free Cakes & Cookies. For more information, kindly email sam@sams-cakes.com for more details.

Items includes:

1. Orange Butter Cake (Sugar-Free available)

2. Melt-In-Your-Mouth Pineapple Tarts

3. Almond Blossoms (Sugar-Free available)

4. Kueh Lapis (with Prunes available)

Sam Wishes All a Happy New Year 2008!

Sam Wishes All a Happy New Year 2008!

First and foremost, I would like to wish all my friends, customers, fellow blogger and readers a very Happy New Year 2008! There are lots of things to look forward to this year! I will be graduating by the 1st of February 2008 with a Diploma in Chemical Process Technology (Food Technology) from Singapore Polytechnic and will be going full force in fufilling my passion.

Here are some of the things to look forward to at Sam's:
1. 2008 commemorates Sam's Cakes & Bakes 5th Anniversary. Look forward to delicious bakes coming up in the months to come.
2. Sugar-Free Cakes and Goodies will be launch this coming Chinese New Year, do enquire for more details.
3. Baking & Culinary Courses by Sam will start running from February 2008. Do enquire for more details as well.
4. More bake journal articles featuring new food finds and new food developments will be published.

With so much plans in the pipeline, do constantly visit Sam's Bake Journal at http://samsbakejournal.blogspot.com/ for your daily reads and should you feel hungry for cakes & bakes or need to get that special customised gift for that special someone, visit http://www.sams-cakes.com/.

Sam's Cakes & Bakes - Baked with Love & Sincerity.
Baking & Culinary Courses at Sam's - Growing the Passion in You.
Sam's Bake Journal - The Science of Baking Revealed.

SHF #38 - The Proof is in the Pudding! - Panna Cotta

SHF #38 - The Proof is in the Pudding! - Panna Cotta

Firstly, Merry Christmas to All! Its Christmas Eve and special thanks to Zorra of Kochtopf for her invitation to participate in yet another Sugar High Fridays. The theme this time round is Pudding. As many of the participants may post recipes on Christmas Puddings, I have decided to post an Italian Dessert which is easy to make and can be served at parties - Panna Cotta.

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. An Italian phrase which literally means "cooked cream", it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is eaten all over Italy where it is served with wild berries, caramel or chocolate sauce. It is not generally known exactly how or when this dessert came to be, but some theories suggest that cream, for which mountainous Northern Italy is famous, was historically eaten plain or sweetened with fruit or hazelnuts. Earlier recipes for the dish used boiled fish bones in place of gelatin; however, sugar, a main ingredient, would not have been widely available as it was an expensive imported commodity. After years this treat evolved into what is now a gelatin dessert, flavored with vanilla and topped with fruit or spices, and served chilled. Similar versions of this dish are also found in Greece and France.

(Blue Text Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panna_cotta)

Here is the recipe...

Panna Cotta (Makes 17 Shot Glasses)
600 mL Milk 600 ml
3 tsp Gelatine

150 g Cream
90 g Sugar
1 Tbsp Almond Essence (Optional)

Toppings:
Strawberry Jam, Sliced Strawberries.

Method:
1. Place 5 times the amount of gelatine of milk in a small bowl & sprinkle with gelatine. Allow the gelatine to bloom for 5 minutes.
2. Put the remaining milk in a pan with the cream & sugar & heat gently while stirring, until almost boiling (when you see small bubbles appearing).
CAUTION: Do not Boil or the mixture will overflow.
3. Remove the pan from the heat & whisk in the gelatine into the cream mixture until dissolved.
4. Stir in the Almond Essence & leave it to cool for a while.
5. Pour the mixture into the glasses & chill until set (about 4 hours).
6. Serve with strawberry jam and decorate with sliced strawberries.

Recipe By Samuel Chan

February 2007

http://www.samscakes.blogspot.com/

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YMCA - Festival of Love 2007 (Christmas Cookies)

YMCA - Festival of Love 2007 (Christmas Cookies)

With Christmas round the corner, I was given the opportunity work with YMCA on one of their charity events - Festival of Love. This is apparently the 3rd and final run for this year. Earlier this year, they made pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year and rice dumplings for Dumplings Festival.

For Christmas, they requested me to teach the members, staffs and volunteers how to make gingerbread man cookies for a children's home. As gingerbread may not appeal to the children, I decided to teach them how to make a simple cut-out cookie that they can then decorate with royal icing, topped with hundreds and thousands, M&Ms, etc.

Despite the time constraints, we managed to complete the required number of packets of cookies.

Special thanks to Angeline and Annie for providing the necessary ingredients and equipments and I hope to be part of future events such as this organised by YMCA.

Baking Demonstration at Robinsons Centrepoint

Baking Demonstration at Robinsons Centrepoint

Thanks to Mayer Marketing, I was given the opportunity to do a baking demostration to promote their KitchenAid mixer at Robinsons Centrepoint. With kaya kindly sponsored by Fong Yit Kaya, I decided to do a Christmas Log Cake with a twist - Kaya Christmas Log Cake. Here is the recipe for you to try this christmas!

Kaya Christmas Log Cake
Log Cake Ingredients:
3 Nos Eggs
75 g Caster Sugar
85 g Self – Raising Flour
40 g Water
40 g Corn Oil
½ tsp Vanilla Essence
1 bottle Fong Yit XO Kaya

Chocolate Ganache:

100 g Chocolate
60 g Dairy Cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to about 200C.
2. Whisk Eggs & gradually add in the Caster Sugar whisk till ribbon stage.
3. Mix Water, Corn Oil & Vanilla Essence together.
4. Fold in Self – Raising Flour, Water, Corn Oil & Vanilla Essence.
5. Bake at 200C for 12 to 15 mins.

Recipe By Samuel Chan
December 2007
http://www.samscakes.blogspot.com/