Sotong Cooks - Cooking it my way!

Chinese New Year Cookies Galore

2012-02-03T20:22:00.000+08:00

Hello! It's been some time since I've updated this blog. I've been away to my Hubby's hometown to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival with my in laws. It was good catching up with family members, old and new. Now that the celebrations are over and I'm back to my usual routine ....and also couple pounds heavier, I'm happy to have finally found some time to blog again.

Here are some pics of the Chinese New Year cookies I've made.

I was going to pass making pineapple tarts this year but a trip to the market changed my mind. Pineapples were just so abundant and very fresh. Besides, Chinese New Year just wouldn't feel complete without some homemade pineapple tarts. I tried out a new pineapple tart pastry recipe from an old magazine and I'm happy to say I found THE one! For now that is. Until I find a better one, this recipe is what I'll be sticking to. I like how the texture of the pastry is very short, buttery and milky tasting. It didn't leave that awful floury aftertaste like other recipes I've tried. I suspect cornflour might be the culprit. This because all the recipes which had the floury taste had cornflour. Just my thought. What do you think?

Pineapple Tarts

Pastry:
180g unsalted butter, softened
70g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
300g all purpose flour
50g milk powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Pineapple Jam Filling:
Recipe here

Method:
1) Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract until fluffy and light. Sist the flour and milk powder together, and stir into the creamed butter. Add in beaten egg, mix until dough comes together. Cover with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours until the dough is firm.
2) Preheat oven 170C. Divide into balls and wrap in the pineapple filling. Roll into balls and insert a clove on top each balls. Brush with beaten egg.
3) Bake 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool completely and store in airtight container.

Note: I was too lazy to make balls and made rolls instead. I made a couple pieces of balls and they were really good, better than the rolled ones I must say. I like how the pastry is nice and thin and evenly distributed, enrobing the pineapple filling. Make the balls if you're not lazy. It's worth the effort.

Kuih Makmur/Momo

Utterly rich and artery busting, not for the health conscious! Hence, this is only a once-a-year affair. My Daughter G absolutely loves these balls.

Crispy crunchy Walnut Cookies

Recipe here.

Added chopped walnuts instead of almond.

Festive Year End 2011

2012-01-16T00:20:00.000+08:00

Wow, it's 2012 already!!! Where have I been? This past few weeks had been a blur. There were just so many things to do with the year end festivities. I had been busy baking up a storm for friends and family and squeezing in last minute Christmas shopping. And with the starting of the new school term, more shopping for school supplies ans stuffs for my Daughter G. My Daughter G is now a secondary school student. I can't believe I'm now a mother of a teenage girl! Between all that and the running of errands and chores, Chinese New Year is now upon us! Phew, how time just zipped by! Anyway, here are a few pics of the Christmas celebration and some of the bakes I made.

The Christmas dinner we stuffed our face with. Mom's obligatory roast turkey. Christmas is just not christmas without a turkey. Juicy, moist and utterly flavourful and delicious. Turkey aside, Mom also made buttered brussel sprouts and carrots with bacon bits. The rest of the dishes were made by me. Salmon wreath, roast potatoes and yule log cake.

Smoked salmon wreath with cream cheese and herbs filling inside. Inspired from a dish featured in the Good Housekeeping Magazine Christmas Collection 2011 edition.

My first ever yule log cake. It's pretty easy to make. Just a swiss roll with whipped cream filling and chocolate ganache frosting.

Mincemeat apple tart.

Chocolate cake

Mango Yoghurt Cake.

Mom's birthday on boxing day. I made a simple sponge cake with whipped cream and mango filling with fresh strawberries on top.

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

We celebrated the new year with Durian Mousse Cake. Durians are seasonal and crazy expensive and this is a luxurious treat. This is also the first durian cake I've ever made. I know it's very late, but here's wishing all a Happy and Blessed New Year!

Vanilla Yoghurt Buttercake

2011-12-20T13:16:00.000+08:00

This recipe is a keeper. You know it's a keeper when you've substituted an ingredient and it still works. Here I've substituted milk with yoghurt. This was out of necessity really as I've ran out of milk. It turned out beautifully, moist and tender. The yoghurt also added a bit of a tang and gave it a lift. Really yummy!

My Daughter G couldn't stop eating this cake. Not to toot my own horns, I think this yoghurt version tastes even better than the original one. My dear Hubby on the other hand loves the orginal version. Well, to each his own!

Vanilla Yoghurt Buttercake
(Recipe adapted from Simple Indulgence)

Ingredients:

150g unsalted butter, cut into cubes at room temperature

100g castor sugar
3 egg yolks
1½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
125ml plain yoghurt
175g cake flour
1½ tsp baking powder
3 egg white
40g castor sugar

Notes:
Original recipe uses milk instead of plain yoghurt.

Preparation:
Grease and line a 7” round cake pan with parchment paper.
Pre-heat oven at 200°C.

Method:

Sift the cake flour and baking powder together into a bowl.
In a mixing bowl, put in the butter and 100g of sugar. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the egg yolks, one at a time and beat until it is incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract.
At low speed, add in one third of the flour mixture and one third of the plain yoghurt alternately until done. Stop once mixture is well blended.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg white and 40g castor sugar until stiff. It's ready when the bowl is overturned and the egg white stays put.
Fold in the egg white into the yolk and flour mixture until well blended. The batter may look a little curdled.
Pour out the batter into the cake pan lined with baking paper.
Reduce temperature to180°C - 190°C and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and place it to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before unmoulding. After unmoulding, remove the baking paper and leave to cool completely.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2011-11-27T13:29:00.000+08:00

Here's another cupcake recipe adapted from the delightfully sweet Primrose Bakery's 'Cupcakes' cookbook. This time I chose Pumpkin Cupcakes. I just love to incorporate veggies in my bakes. It makes me feel less guilty and a little wee bit 'healthier'.

These cupcakes were nicely moist and soft. I left them unfrosted as I didn't want to add in extra calories. I bet they would've been even better with a creamy velvety cream cheese frosting. Ah, if only my ever expanding thighs permit!

So far the Primrose Bakery 'Cupcakes' cookbook have yet to dissappoint. I've tried 2 recipes, the Malted Cupcakes (Milo Cupcakes) and this Pumpkin Cupcakes. Both turned out satisfactorily moist and tender. But they may be a tad too sweet and you may need to adjust the sugar to suit your tastebud. I've reduced the sugar for the pumpkin recipe below.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

(Adapted from Primrose Bakery 'Cupcakes' cookbook)

(makes 12 regular cupcakes)

Ingredients:

110g butter
200g soft light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g pureed pumpkin
125g self-raising flour
120g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
125ml buttermilk (or 120ml water mixed with 2 tbs buttermilk powder)

Method:

Cream butter and brown sugar with an electric hand whisk until pale and smooth, which should take 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, add vanilla extract, beating well after each addition. Then add pumpkin and beat until just combined.
Combine and sift self-raising flour, plain flour and mixed spice in a bowl. Add 1/3 of the flours to the butter mixture and beat until just combined. Add 1/2 the buttermilk and beat again, then repeat these steps until all the ingredients have been added.
Spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases, filling them to about 2/3 full. Bake at 180 C for about 25 mins until slightly raised and golden brown. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave the cupcakes in their tins for about 10 mins before cooling on a wire rack.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Baker's #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Milo Cupcakes

2011-11-21T20:51:00.000+08:00

We, especially Malaysians & Singaporeans grew up drinking Milo. It is a staple breakfast drink in most households and is served in all coffee shops. If you're reading and wondering what Milo is, it is actually a brand name of a chocolate malted drink. Heard of Ovaltine? But Ovaltine somehow is not as popular as Milo.

Instead of drinking that mug of Milo, how about eating one for a change ... a Milo cupcake? I made these Milo cupcakes the other day just for this month's Aspiring Baker's cupcake theme. I used a recipe adapted from the Primrose Bakery Cupcakes cookbook and frosted them with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. These Milo cupcakes were soft and moist and very Milo-y. Yummy! One little issue though, the crumb stuck to my teeth everytime I took a bite! I'm wondering whether this is because I've added too much Milo? The original recipe ask for half the amount I used. Hmmm .... anybody knows why?

Milo Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Primrose Bakery Cupcakes cookbook

Ingredients:
110g butter, softened
120g soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
125g self raising flour
60g cake flour
100g Milo powder
125ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs heavy cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and the sugars until pale and smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing into the mixture between additions.
In a separate bowl, sift and combine together the flours and Milo powder.
Mix the milk together with vanilla extract and heavy cream.
Add 1/3 of the flour to the creamed butter/sugar mixture. Beat well until combined. Then, add 1/3 of the milk mixture and beat again. Repeat this step until the last of the flour and then the last of the milk, beating well between additions.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Fill about 2/3 full.
Bake for about 25 mins until golden brown or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes.
Then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.

Note:
I bake the cupcakes in small size muffin tins and yielded 28 cupcakes which took 20 minutes to bake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
(Recipe adapted from Table for 2 or more)

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
100gm sugar
170gm unsalted butter, lightly softened

Method:

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and temperature has reached 65C. The mixture will look like marshmallow cream. Remove from stove.
Pour meringue into a mixing bowl. Beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes.
Now add in add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Mixture will be soupy and maybe curdled. Do not worry. It will come together nicely in the end. Carry on beating on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, approximately 6-10 minutes.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Baker's #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Fudgy Wudgy Okara Brownies

2011-11-12T20:40:00.000+08:00

If I don't tell, you probably wouldn't have known these fudgy wudgy brownies contain okara. Okara is a by product of soy beans, the pulpy mass leftover from straining soy bean milk. If you make soy bean milk at home, don't throw the okara away. Make these and you'll be glad you've saved it!

Well, my Daughter obviously didn't suspect a thing. She enjoyed the brownies so much and even helped herself to seconds. If only she knew. But she did! I accidentally leaked out the 'secret ingredient' while talking to dear Hubby. This fazed her a little but she soon forgotten about it and reached out for the leftovers. Really, these brownies don't taste beany at all and it's really quite hard to believe they contain okara! Hehehe! Who would have thought something so good and healthy can be so yummy (in the form of a brownie of course!).

After much browsing and researching, I decided to use a vegan recipe from Vegan Feast Kitchen as it seems to be quite a popular one where okara brownies are concerned. Being a vegan recipe, it calls for egg replacement glop and for non-vegans like me this is really quite unheard of! So I used REAL eggs instead, and REAL butter in place of the Earth Balance which is actually margarine.

Here it is, the recipe, de-veganised (if there's such a word!).

Okara

FUDGY WUDGY OKARA BROWNIES
Makes 14 cupcake squares

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
2 cups Brown sugar
3/4 cup, packed well-squeezed Okara (soybean pulp from making soymilk)
4 oz (1/2 cup) melted Butter
1/4 cup Water
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plain white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or other favorite nuts)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C. Line a 12 hole square muffin pan with cupcake liners.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs together with brown sugar until thick and foamy. Add vanilla, water, melted butter and okara. Combine well.
In another bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder. Sift into the wet mixture. Fold and stir briefly, just to blend. Do this in batches. Fold in the nuts.
Scrape the batter into the prepared muffin pan until almost full and bake for about 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Notes:

Baking time is just a guideline . Your oven may need less or more time.
If you prefer, use a 9 inch square baking pan and line with non-stick parchment paper (with over hang on the sides for easy removal). Bake for about 50 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack. Do not cut until the brownies are cool. You can lift the whole thing out of the pan, using the parchment liner, onto a cutting board.

Homemade Soya Bean Milk

2011-11-09T00:42:00.000+08:00

I've always thought making homemade soya bean milk is a difficult process and that you must own a soya bean milk maker machine to do the job. How wrong was I! If you have a food processor and a muslin/cheese cloth, you're good to go. It's really not difficult at all, just a little tedious and messy. That's what's great about blogging. I learn new things all the time. Though making homemade soya bean milk is nothing new to most Asian homecooks to shout about, it is a big deal for a noob cook like me. I can now proudly say I make my own soya bean milk from scratch! Haha!

To make soya bean milk, first you need to soak the beans overnight. The beans will swell to double its size. Rinse and drain and then place in the food processor. Add water just enough to cover the beans and blend. Squeeze and strain out using a muslin/cheese cloth. Put the strained pulp back in the food processor, add water to cover and blend again. This is to extract as much milk from the beans as possible. Strain soya bean milk into a pot, slowly bring to the boil while stirring regularly. Skim off any foam. Let it gently simmer for 10 minutes. That's it! Homemade soya bean milk. Thick and creamy and nothing like what you get from outside. You can add as much or as little sugar to your liking and even flavour the milk with pandan leaves. If you prefer a less thick soya milk, just thin it down with more water. Drink it warm or cold as you like. How great is that huh?

One thing to note. While cooling the soya bean milk, it will form a layer of 'beancurd sheet' on top. Do not try to stir it in the milk like what I did. You'll end up with clumpy milk. Just gently scrape it away. Discard the beancurd sheet or you can dry it and save for another use, but I've not tried that. You also need to strain the soya bean milk to get rid of any bits of beancurd sheet that might be left. For the smoothest texture, strain and strain again if you must. Store the soya bean milk in the refrigerator if you can't finish within the day its made. I've kept it for a couple of days and it was still okay.

Go here for the recipe and detailed step by step method. I used 250g soya beans and that yielded somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 litres of soya bean milk.

1st Anniversary Giveaway Winner!

2011-10-27T12:01:00.001+08:00

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Here's the list of participants, numbered according to the date of his/her comment.

1) Janine
2) Small Small Baker
3) Hanushi
4) Lena
5) Yummy Bakes
6) Swee San
7) Anne
8) bebecrebecca
9) Alice Tai
10) Jamie
11) Mixue
12) DG
13) Janice
14) Jess
15) Kayleen
16) Adeline
17) Christine T
18) lvweichin
19) Edith

And the winner is ......

DRUMROLLLLL ........

CONGRATULATIONS

Alice Tai!

You are now the proud owner of this Silicone Madeleine Pan! :)

I'll be emailing you soon!

Bingka Keladi (Baked Yam Kuih)

2011-10-23T22:24:00.000+08:00

Besides being steamed, kuehs also come in baked form. Like this Bingka Keladi I made the other day. It was very dense, a little sticky, a little chewy just like any steamed kueh except it had drier outer crust. It looked plain & boring and rather unattractive compared to other colourful kuehs, but really looks can be deceiving. It was very fragrant and had a prominent coconut and yam taste. It almost felt like I was eating mashed yam in compacted form! This kueh was quite addictive too. Before I knew it, I had eaten almost half the cake!

Bingka Keladi (Baked Yam Kuih)
(Recipe adapted from here)

Ingredients

3 eggs
3 cups coconut milk
2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbs butter
2 cups yam (steamed or boiled, drained, then mashed)
1 tsp purple colouring (optional)
sesame seeds for sprinkling on top

Method:

Preheat oven at 200C. Grease a 9 inch square pan with butter and preheat in the oven for a while.
Using a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients together till smooth and combined. Do this in batches if you can't fit everything all at once. Batter will be quite thin & runny.
Add purple colouring and mix til coloring is well combined.
Pour batter into preheated pan. Sprinkle sesame seeds evenly on top.
Bake for about 1 hour, using both top and bottom heat. If you like crusty top, bake further for 10 minutes using top heat only.
Onced baked, remove from oven and leave to cool completely before cutting.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.
Made any kuehs lately? Do join in the fun too.

Pumpkin Huat Kueh

2011-10-22T18:31:00.000+08:00

HUATT ARR!!!
(meaning PROSPER in Chinese)

This was what I was greeted with when I lifted the lid from my steamer.....

Puffy, Voluptuous, Wide Smiling Huat Kuehs.

This made me grinning from ear to ear. The Huat Kuehs had 'prospered' .... this mean I'm going to have good fortune in the coming days. Hehehe.

This recipe from Cherry's Kitchen here is easy and quick to prepare. I made these in just an hour, including proofing the starter dough and steaming & mashing the pumpkin. If I may say so, this is a failproof recipe, because I had missed a step - which was to proof the Kuehs for 10 minutes before steaming. Still they rose and cracked beautifully.

HUATT ARR!!!

Pumpkin Huat Kueh
(Recipe adapted from Cherry's Kitchen here )

Ingredients:

50g Plain flour

Water 50g

1 tsp Yeast

200g Pumpkin (steamed, then mashed),

100g Coconut milk

50g Water

140g Gula melaka (Palm Sugar)

1 Egg

320g Plain flour

2 tsp Double acting baking powder

Method:

Mix together plain flour, water and yeast. Leave aside for ½ hr until the dough has proofed.
In a blender, combine pumpkin, coconut milk, water, gula melaka and egg together.
Pour pumpkin mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sift in plain flour and double acting baking powder. Then add in the proofed starter dough and mix evenly. You'll get thick wet gooey mixture.
Pour mixture over cups until almost to the top. Dip a knife in oil and make a deep “X” across the batter in each cup. Leave aside to proof for 10 minutes.
Steam over high heat for 15 minutes. Do not peak/remove lid while steaming.

Note:

I made half the recipe and got 6 Huat Kuehs using medium sized muffin cups.
You may use Hong Kong flour or cake flour for a softer finer textured Huat Kuehs.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

Yam/Taro Ondeh Ondeh

2011-10-18T21:41:00.000+08:00

Ondeh Ondeh is one of my favourite kuehs. I love the oozy syrupy palm sugar filling encased in the soft yet slightly chewy glutinous ball accompanied by the salty sweet taste of grated coconut. But what I love most is the experience of eating it. You see, eating Ondeh Ondeh is a messy affair. You cannot be demure and take dainty bites. Unless if you don't mind sticky syrup sputtering all over your clothes and whatever that is near you.
Forget about being lady like. To eat one, you have to open your mouth wide, pop the whole ball into your mouth and close your mouth tightly. Bite into it and savour the the sweet filling bursting out! This is the best part and I must say, an absolute joy! I'm sure you all agree with me too. :)

Here's my first ever batch of Ondeh Ondeh. Have always wanted to make my own but just never did as I've always thought it involves a lot of work. And it does! ... at least to me. What I find hard is filling the glutinous balls neatly. My hands and fingers are just not deft or nimble enough. It took me more than 1 hour just filling the balls alone. I'd suggest making these when you have someone to help you. The more the merrier. Anyway, for all the hard work I've put in, I was well rewarded in the end when I pop one Ondeh into my mouth, then another and another .... and another. Yup, I had a gorge fest. Haha!

As for the recipe, I adapted from the cookbook 'Delicious Kueh & Desserts' by Patricia Lee. I have made a little substitution by using yam in place of the sweet potatoes called for and omitted the coloring. The green tint you see came from the pandan juice. And if you're wondering, the yam taste was not prominent at all. I couldn't taste any yam flavour under all that fragrant pandan and coconut. I've also found the amount of palm sugar called for was not enough to fill the dough balls. To get that oozy filling that'll sputter when you bite, you have to be very generous with the filling!

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

Yam/Taro Ondeh Ondeh
(Recipe adapted from 'Delicious Nyonya Kueh & Desserts' cookbook by Patricia Lee)

Ingredients:

300 g Glutinous rice flour

2 tbs Tapioca flour

200 g Mashed Yam/Taro

10 Pandan Leaves

200 ml Water
a pinch of salt
100 g Palm sugar (grated and mixed with 1 tbsp castor sugar)

250 g grated white coconut

a pinch of salt
additional water, if dough is dry

Method:

Mix grated white coconut with a pinch of salt, then steam on 2 pieces of pandan leaves for 10 minutes. Leave to cool.
Cut the remaining 8 pandan leaves into smaller pieces, put into a blender together with the water. Blend, then strain. Add salt. Mix well.
In a large bowl mix together glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour. Add in mashed yam. Pour in pandan juice and knead till dough is smooth and pliable like playdoh. If dough is too dry, slowly add more water into it, a tablespoon at a time.
Pinch a small lump of dough, roll into a ball and flatten slightly. Put a little palm sugar at the centre. Seal well and roll into smooth ball again.
Bring a pot of water to the boil. Gently drop the filled dough balls into it. When the balls float to the surface, keep boiling for another 2 minutes. Scoop up with a strainer and coat in grated coconut. Serve.

Note:

Original recipe calls for sweet potatoes and a few drops green food colouring. As I used yam and my dough was very dry, I had added more water, a tablespoon at a time until I got smooth pliable dough.
The Ondeh Ondeh is best eaten on the day it is made. If you have leftovers, store them in the fridge. Refrigeration though makes the Ondeh Ondeh tough. Reheat in the steamer for a few minutes before eating. They'll be nice & soft again.

Mad about Madeleines! ...and Giveaway Update

2011-10-14T20:10:00.000+08:00

My friends, madeleines are what you'll be madly baking if u happen to be the lucky recipient of my blog's 1st anniversary giveaway!

Yup, I'm giving away a silicone madeleine pan! :).

Thanks for all the comments I've received thus far. I'm a little embarassed and also sad to say I'm ditching my original plan of awarding the gift to the person who dropped in the 50th comment. Honestly, I just can't wait anymore. I want to send out this silicone madeleine pan to the lucky recipient ASAP :). I've given this giveaway a rethought and now I think using an online random number generator is the best solution to pick the winner for the giveaway. For those who have left comments in my previous post here, don't worry, you are still eligible to win the gift :)

Anyone who is interested to participate in this giveaway, please leave your comments in this post or my previous post here by the 23rd October 2011. Please include your email address in your comments so that I can contact you should you be the lucky winner. I will announce the winner within a week after the deadline.

Good luck! :)

1st Anniversary .... and a Giveaway!

2011-10-04T23:58:00.003+08:00

OMG! Happy 1st Birthday to my blog Sotong Cooks! How time flies and I very nearly forgot about it until I saw a post on a fellow blogger's blog anniversary. I just made it in time! It has been exactly one year since I posted my very first entry. I still remember the feeling of excitement and hesitation when I first pressed the submit button - which was a post on Nigella's Brownies.

Over the past one year, I've dicovered many incredible talented bloggers, kept my hands full with new recipes and also learnt some nifty culinary tips & tricks. Not only that, blogging has also spark an interest in food styling & photography. Stuffs like aperture or 'bokeh' would've been so alien to me a year ago. Now when I go shopping, I'm more interested in tablewares and kitchenwares and whatever props that I could use for food styling. Gone are the days of shoes, clothes and bags! LOL

On this day, I wish to thank all my fellow blogger friends as well as readers who has been following and encouraging me. Thank you for all your support, kind words and compliments. I appreciate it very much! Your words of advise, comments and feedbacks whether positive or negative are always welcome as they help me to learn and improve my knowledge. Sharing is caring :)

As a token of appreciation I would like to give away a small gift. Here how it goes. The person who drop in the 50th comment in this post will 'win' the gift. In your comment, you must include your email and a link to your blog (if u have) and ~~complete this sentence "I like Sotong Cooks because ____________"~~ . You can leave as many comments as you like. Everyone is welcome to join. The giveaway ends when I receive the 50th comment! :) I will reveal the gift in time to come. Keep your comments coming! :)

UPDATE (14th October 2011): I've now decided to use online random number generator to pick the lucky winner. Anyone who is interested to participate in this giveaway, please leave your comments and email by the 23rd October 2011.

Carrot Cupcakes

2011-10-02T22:30:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I can be a little mad, obsessed even. You see, I've been on a quest to find the perfect carrot cake recipe for the longest time and this particular carrot cake recipe, I've made it not once, not twice but three times!

The first time, I made it into cupcakes, I was quite happy with the result but thought they were a little too oily and the spice were a little much. The second time round, I reduced the oil and adjusted the spice flavouring, the texture came out a little dry. Not wanting to give up, I gave it a go again. This time keeping the original amount of oil and adjusting the spice only, and instead of cupcakes I made a 2 layer 8 inch round cake. Though the flavour was good, it was a little dry. *Sigh*

Alas this recipe was not meant to be all I'd hope for. Maybe I'm just too fussy. A perfectionist, maybe. Will I ever find that darn perfect carrot cake recipe? All I'm looking for is a carrot cake loaded with carrots which is not too spicy, not too sweet, not too oily, does not reek of bicarb, not too dense and most importantly moist but not overly wet. Am I asking too much? LOL.

Even though this carrot cake may not be the holy grail of carrot cakes in my book, but you know what I'd still give this recipe a go, but in cupcake form only. It seems to have the best texture this way.

P/S - The cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart was perfect. Creamy and just the right level of sweetness.

Carrot Cake
(adapted from Cake Mistress here)

Ingredient
1 cup Brown Sugar (about 150g)
1 cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs
Pinch Salt
1/2 teaspoon Bicarb of Soda
2 cups Self Raising Flour (240g)
2 cups finely grated Carrot (200g)
1/2 cup Walnuts, finely chopped (about 50g)
3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from Martha Stewart here)

Ingredient

250g cream cheese, room temperature

115g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
125g confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

zest of 1 orange, finely grated

Method

To make cake:

1) Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2) Beat sugar and oil until thick, then add 1 egg at a time and keep beating for a few more minutes.
3) Add salt, bicarb soda, carrots, flour, walnuts and spices. Mix with wooden spoon until all combined.
4) Pour batter evenly between cupcake pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until light golden and cake springs back when touched in the middle. Baking time might vary depending on your personal oven.

To make frosting:

Place butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and gradually beat until smooth. Add vanilla and orange zest, stir to combine.

Spongy Banana Cake

2011-09-23T21:13:00.000+08:00

I have been captivated by this Spongy Banana Cake (from Wen's Delight here ) the first time I saw it. It seems this cake is very popular among asian bloggers and has received many prasies. So, does it live up to it's name?

Here it is, fresh out from my oven.

Spongy, yes!

It turned out beautifully. As it cooled, it didn't shrink or sink in the middle as I thought it would - as what happened to most of my sponge cakes. Really beyond my expectation. Spongy, moist and airy. Good to eat with a cup of tea.

Spongy Banana Cake
(Recipe adapted from Wen's Delight here )

Ingredients:
150g Eggs (Room temp - About 4 large eggs)
130g Sugar
200g Banana (mashed)
150g Cake flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
100g Vegetable oil
1/4 tsp Rum
1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 160 degree C.
2) Grease & line a 8" round tin with baking paper.
3) Sieve flour, baking powder & baking soda together. Sieve twice & set aside.
4) Whisk eggs, sugar & banana at max speed till stiff/ribbon stage.
5) Gently fold in flour gradually.
6) Take 1/3 of the batter, mix with the veg oil. Then, pour back into the remaining batter and combine well till batter is shiny & flowing.
7) Bake for 40 - 45mins.
8) Remove from oven. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then turn out, remove baking paper and cool completely on wire rack.

Pavlova

2011-09-10T16:29:00.000+08:00

This is my first ever pavlova. It turned out beautifully... except for the cracks. I didn't know the shell would be so delicate. It cracked easily when I tried to remove the baking paper. In the end, I got scared and gave up, and left the baking paper paper still intact. I just trimmed off the excess baking paper around edges. Anyway, this made a showstopping dessert on a recent family gathering. Dressed up with billowy whipped cream and piled high with strawberries, kiwis and white peaches, the otherwise unassuming plain pavlova shell looked mighty grand. The shell was crisp and the inside soft, light and marsmallowy. I only wish it hadn't been so sweet. Thankfully generously toppings of whipped cream and fresh fruits counteracted the sweetness somewhat. I imagine a tart passion fruit sauce drizzled all over would be fantastic. Or maybe a zippy lime curd, it would go so well with the oh-so-sweet pavlova.

For anyone who's looking to make a pavlova, this is a good recipe to try. Very simple. I guess I also owe it to this helpful tip that my pavlova didn't end up a weeping mess - which is to make sure the sugar is dissolved completely when beating the egg whites. Now I just wonder, how do you remove the pavlova from the baking paper without cracking it. Tips, anyone?

The beaten meringue all thick & glossy and ready to be bake.

Pavlova
(Recipe adapted from Best Recipes here )

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 cup (250ml) sugar
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar ( I used apple cider vinegar)
2 tsp cornflour

Method:

1) Whisk egg whites until frothy. Add all the rest of the ingredients and continue whisking until very glossy and thick and stiff. Make sure all the sugar has dissolved - feel by rubbing between fingers. It should feel smooth and not grainy.
2) On a baking paper lined tray, pile on the meringue, shape the meringue into a large centre with a slight hollow in the centre.
3) Bake in a preheated oven at 130 C for 1 1/2 hours or until crisp on the outside. Turn off oven and leave the pavlova to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar.
4) Generously pile on whipped cream and fresh fruits just before serving. Done!

7 Links Challenge

2011-08-30T15:10:00.000+08:00

I was tagged and invited by Lena of Frozen Wings to play a game called the 7 Links Challenge. The challenge is to publish a list of 7 links to previous posts that I have written that respond to the following 7 categories:
1) The most beautiful post
2) The most popular post
3) The most controversial post
4) The most helpful post
5) A post that was surprisingly successful
6) A post that did not get the attention it deserves
7) A post I am most proud of

Thank you Lena for the invitation. It was fun looking back at my old posts and see how far I've progressed thus far from my baking/cooking to my photo taking skills - man, I want a dslr camera!

Now, I'd like to extend this challenge to all bloggers who are interested to play this game. Are you up for it?

Here are my 7 links.

1) The most beautiful post - Swiss Carrot Cake
The pink color scheme, the little sugar flowers, the simply iced cake. I just love the sight. So pretty.

2) The most popular post - The almost perfect sponge cake
Based on pageviews, this post has received the most views to date.

3) The most controversial post - NIL
None so far. Anyone wanna debate with me? LOL

4) The most helpful post - Cocodrillo Ciabatta
The embedded video was very helpful to me when I made the ciabatta. From the video, I got to see how the consistency of the very wet bread dough should look like and learned how to handle the dough. Hence, I think it would be useful to others who is interested to try the recipe.

5) A post that was surprisingly successful - Swiss Roll with Stawberry Jam
Now, this is successful because when I posted this entry I didn't expect this plain swiss roll would garner any attention at all let alone praises. It was a surprise indeed. A very pleasant one :).

6) A post that did not get the attention it deserves - Nigella's Molten Chocolate Baybycakes
This didn't get as many attention as I thought it would. Just look at that silky dark molten chocolate! I expected oohs and aahhs, lip smacking sounds and drools dribbling.

7) A post I am most proud of - Mango Mousse Cake
This is the first mousse cake I've ever made and it has made me a convert. In the past, I was not a fan of mousse cakes. I thought they had a weird texture, tasted waxy and just plain awful. I didn't realize then those mousse cakes from bakeries used non-dairy cream until I made this cake (I used full fat dairy whipping cream). It was so delicious. What a revelation! Since then I've experimented and made many mousse cakes (which I've yet to post in my blog).

Food Processor Almond Danish Braid

2011-08-29T19:19:00.000+08:00

Man, I gotta give my self a pat in the back. I never would have thought I'd make danish pastry EVER! Okay, I cheated a little. I used Nigella Lawson's food processor recipe. See even the goddess herself cheats! Haha. This is what I love so much about Nigella. She makes everything simple and approachable to mere home cooks like me. Do try this recipe if the task of laminating butter between layers of dough scares and intimidates u as it always did to me... and still does. I'll never attempt the proper old-school way of making danish pastry - why would I when it is so easy this way!

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink! If you would like to join, please see details here.

Food Processor Almond Danish Braid
(Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' cookbook)

Ingredients:

For the pastry dough:
60ml warm water
125ml milk, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
350g white bread flour
7g (1 package) rapid-rise yeast or 1 tbsp fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
25g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, cold, cut into thin slices

For the filling:
150g ground almond
80g icing sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)
1 large egg white, beaten lightly

For the egg glaze:
1 large egg, beaten with
2 tbsp milk

For the clear glaze:
100g caster sugar
60ml water

For the sugar glaze:
100g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp warm water

Method:

To make pastry dough:

Pour the water and milk into a measuring cup and add the egg, beating with a fork to mix. Put to one side for a moment. Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in the processor, and give one quick whizz just to mix. Add the cold slices of butter and process briefly so that the butter is cut up a little, though you still want visible chunks. Empty the contents of the food processor into a large mixing bowl and quickly add the contents of the cup. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients together, but don’t overdo it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, put in the refrigerator, and leave overnight or up to 4 days.

To turn it into pastry, take it out of the refrigerator, let it get to room temperature, and roll it out to a 20-inch (50 cm) square. Fold the dough square into thirds, like a business letter, turning it afterward so that the closed fold is on your left, like the spine of a book. Roll out again to a 20-inch square, repeating the steps above three more times. Cut in half, wrap both pieces in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Or you can refrigerate one (up to 4 days) to use now (for the Almond Danish Braid) and put the other one in the freezer to use later.

To make the almond filling:
Beat the butter until soft. Mix in the ground almonds and powdered sugar. Then add the almond extract and 2 tbsp of the egg white. You can make this in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to a week.

To make danish braid:
(You'll need only 1/2 quantity of the pastry dough above)
Roll the pastry out to a big rectangle. Slice the left and right thirds of the dough at an angle and parallel to the other side into 1/2 inch wide slices.Spread the filling on the middle of the dough.
Fold the top and bottom flaps over to hold in the filling. Fold the slices of dough from the left and right sides of the middle, alternating and forming a braid.

Place on the baking sheet and brush with the egg glaze. Leave to rise until it doubles in size and feels spongy like marshmallow, about 1 ½ hours. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 175°C. Once risen, bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Remove to a wire rack and make the two remaining glazes.

To make the clear glaze:
Heat the granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil then take off the heat.

To make the sugar glaze:
Add the water to the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time to make a runny icing. Brush the braid with the clear glaze first once it has cooled a bit; then when almost cold zigzag the sugar glaze over it.

Yummy moist almond filling which is not too sweet.

Rustic Free Form Pear Tart

2011-08-26T21:05:00.000+08:00

If you're like me who thinks all things pastry in general are a pain to make, this free form rustic tart may just change your mind! This is one easy and delicious tart to make at home. I especially like the fact that I don't need to line a tart tin let alone needing one, but just roll the pastry into a rough circle and fold up the edges. And it's okay if it's uneven and knobbly, because rustic and homey is what we want. I've got to say, I'm pretty pleased with this pear tart. It didn't get soggy like what I expected - the filling was oozing pear juices and was bubbling away during baking. Instead, the crust was deliciously buttery and crisp. The pears all soft and fragrant and the juices thicken up nicely upon cooling. A delight to eat and eat..... and eat.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink! If you would like to join, please see details here.

Rustic Pear Tart
Recipe adapted from here for the pastry and here for the filling.

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry:
250g plain flour
125g salted butter, chilled, finely chopped
80g icing sugar
2 egg yolks, chilled
1 tbs water, chilled

Filling:
3 medium pears

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornflour

3 tbsps light brown sugar

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

For the pastry:

1) Process flour and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Then, pour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the icing sugar.

2)Whisk egg yolks and 1 tbs chilled water in a bowl until combined, add to flour mixture. Mix until mixture begins to form large clumps.

3) Turn pastry out on to a work surface and knead gently to bring together into a ball. Form into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

For the pear tart:

1) In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220°C.

2) Peel the pears, core them and cut into 0.5cm slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the cornflour, brown sugar and cinnamon and toss until the pears are evenly coated. Set aside.

3) On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a large circle about 23cm in diameter. Line a baking tray with baking paper, and draping the dough over the rolling pin, transfer to the prepared baking tray. If the dough breaks at all patch it up with your fingers.

4) Arrange the pears in a mound in the center of the dough (discard leftover juices), leaving a 5cm border. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even. Brush pastry with egg wash.

5) Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown. Glaze with thick sugar syrup or honey mixed with a little water.

Basic Chiffon Cake

2011-08-22T10:52:00.000+08:00

Great for making layered cakes.

To my dear cousin Feli,

Here's the basic chiffon cake recipe you asked for.

This cake is soft, moist, fine textured and fluffier than other chiffon recipes I've tried. It freezes well too. The trick is to whip the egg whites until glossy and almost stiff. It's ready when the bowl is overturned the whites will not fall off. Bake at the lower rack of your oven and if you find your cake cracking, try baking at a lower temperature.

Have fun trying!

P/S Now, where's that scrummy cornflakes cookie recipe you promised? LOL

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
80 ml water
70g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt (reduce to 1/4 tsp if u like)
120g self raising flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup (125 ml) corn oil
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
70g caster sugar

Method:

Preheat oven at 160C.

Beat egg yolks, sugar and salt until sugar dissolves completely. Then, add water, vanilla, oil and self raising flour. Mix well.

In a clean mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add in the cream of tartar and 1/3 of the 70g caster sugar. Whisk until sugar dissolves before gradually adding in the rest of the sugar. Continue whisking until egg whites form stiff peaks and shiny and would not fall off the bowl when overturned.

Take a 1/4 of the beaten egg whites and fold in to the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites until well combined (until you see no streaks).

Pour batter into an 8 inch round deep cake tin with removable base or springform tin (no need to grease or line).

Bake at lower rack of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when plunged in the middle of the cake.

Cool inverted on a wire rack. Remove cake from tin when cake is cooled completely.

Pumpkin Muah Chee

2011-08-17T14:28:00.000+08:00

I had some leftover pumpkin puree and was wondering what to do with it and toyed with the idea of making pumpkin Muah Chee.

Here it is, my experimental Pumpkin Muah Chee which only took a mere couple of minutes to cook by zapping in the microwave.

As you can see, the pumpkin made the muah chee a bright sunny yellow. However, it was not as pumpkin-ny tasting as you may think. The taste was very subtle. In fact, I can hardly taste it. But it was fun experimenting.

Now I'm thinking of what other muah chee flavor I'll experiment next. I have so many ideas, from sweet potato to green tea to black sesame, I'm having a hard time to choose!

Pumpkin Muah Chee
(serves 2)

Ingredients:
100g pumpkin puree
40g glutinous rice flour
20g water
1 tsp vegetable oil

For coating:
crushed / finely chopped peanuts
brown sugar

Method:
Mix all ingredients into a smooth paste. Put into a microwave safe bowl, microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take out, give it a stir and microwave further for another 2 minutes. The dough would have become opaque, sticky and thicken.
In the mean time, crush or finely chop some ready roasted peanuts. Mix with brown sugar to taste.
Put the microwaved dough onto the peanut sugar mixture. Cut the dough to pieces using a plastic knife, at the same time coating the cut pieces with the peanut sugar mixture. Serve!

Mazarin Tarts

2011-08-12T22:24:00.000+08:00

Mazarin tarts are small Swedish almond tarts, oval shaped with a tender buttery crust and an even more buttery and moist cake-like almond filling, topped with sweet icing sugar glaze. Very fattening & rich but I absolutely love these delectable tarts and eating just one is never enough for me - I don't care even if they add extra inches to my thighs! Unless I fly to Sweden, the only place I could get them is from Ikea Stores in Singapore and KL, both of which are sadly thousands of miles away across the South China Sea from my place. Fortunately, I have a kind aunt who brings these tarts over whenever she comes to visit, but unfortunately, she does not visit often enough. Thus, savouring these tarts is just a once-a-year indulgence for me. Not enough I say.

I have bookmarked this Mazarin recipe for the longest time and had told myself to make many times over, but I just never did. Honestly, to me pastry in general is such tedious work - a real challenge to my lazy bones, not to mention the most unconducive hot weather we're experiencing these days! However much I dread pastry making, I do not want to miss out this month's Aspiring Bakers (everyone is challenged to make pies and tarts and all things pastry), and for my entry I'd like to finally give this Mazarin recipe a try. And boy did all that 'hard' work paid off! My homemade tarts were deliciously buttery and utterly moist with a bright hint of refreshing orange zest. Totally yum! What's more, my opinionated Mom raved about them and said they were better than those from Ikea!

*Smug smile*

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink! If you would like to join, see details here.

Mazarin Tarts

(Recipe adapted from here)

Wish I have oval shaped tins!

Makes about 15 tarts

Crust:
150g flour
80g sugar
110 g butter
1 egg yolk

1 tsp rum

Filling:

100g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs

150g ground almonds
finely grated zest of 1 orange

Glaze:

150g icing sugar

about 3 Tbs water

Method:

Make tart crust:

Using a food processor, blitz the flour, sugar and butter together until crumbly. Add the lightly beaten egg yolk and rum and blitz again, just until dough forms. Tip the dough out, gather into a ball then flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough/disk in cling wrap and place in refrigerator to rest & firm up for at least half an hour. Pinch a small ball of dough and press evenly into each tart tins.

Make Filling:
Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly. Mix in grated orange zest and then gently fold in the ground almonds. Fill the tart shells with the almond batter, smooth surface and then bake in the oven at 175 °C for about 20 minutes or till the tops turn a crisp golden brown and skewer comes out clean when tested. Wait till the tarts cool before glazing - the filling is likely to sink slightly during cooling.

Make Glaze:
For the glaze, mix 3 tablespoons water with the icing sugar to a spreadable consistency. With the back of a spoon thinly cover the the tops of the cooled tarts with glaze. Let the glaze set and harden.

Butter Milk Pau

2011-08-08T16:55:00.000+08:00

Growing up my favorite filled paus were those with butter milk filling. Now they have become my Daughter G's favorite too. She would eat the pau skin first and leave out the filling to slowly savour. 'Saving the best for last', she reasoned. The butter milk filling is made of butter and copious amount of milk powder - very rich and milky. I've search high and low for the filling recipe and have tried a couple but they were not of the consistency I was looking for. This one comes close in taste but still too wet . What I'm looking for is dry-ish and a little crumbly. Oh well, the search continues.

Butter Milk Pau
Ingredients:

Butter Milk Filling
(recipe adapted from I cook I bake I love here)

60g Castor Sugar

60g Butter

100g Milk Powder

20g Corn Flour

40g Fresh Milk

Pau Skin
(recipe adapted from Cooking Crave here)

130 g warm water

5 g instant yeast
300g pau flour
80g icing sugar
30g oil

2"x2" pachment papers for lining the paus

Method:

To make butter milk filling:

Beat all the ingredients of the filling together until smooth. Leave the mixture in the fridge overnight to let it firm up so that it is easier to fill the pau skin with.

To make & fill pau skin:

In a big bowl slowly mix the yeast together with warm water and a tablespoon of icing sugar (from the 80g icing sugar). Cover, set aside and let it prove for 45mins - mixture will bubble up and expand.

Sieve flour and icing sugar together into a big mixing bowl. Combine with the proofed yeast mixture. Add in oil. Start kneading the dough with hand. The dough will be a bit sticky at first, knead until it's soft and smooth. It takes approximately 20-25mins. Cover the bowl with wet cloth or cling wrap and let the dough rest for 15mins.

After 15mins, the dough are ready to be wrapped with its fillings. Cut and weigh the dough into 30g balls.

Take a piece of dough ball, flatten out, make sure the edges are thinner than the centre part. Spoon the fillings on the centre of the skin, fold, pleat and pinch to seal. Put the filled pau on a piece of parchment paper and cover with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying up. Once all the paus are filled, let them rest for about 30-45mins. Do not let them proof longer than the specified time to avoid wrinkly skin. Steam paus on high heat for 10-12 minutes.

Purple, Blue or Black?

2011-07-30T17:46:00.001+08:00


Don't you just love that rich vibrant purple hue?

After the batch of delicious Pumpkin Steamed Buns, I was thinking of what other steamed buns I could make by substituting the pumpkin in the recipe. The first thing that came to my mind was purple sweet potatoes. The buns would look so pretty in a purple hue I imagined, like my Purple Sweet Potato Swiss Roll here.

So purple sweet potato steamed buns I made, or so i thought!

Look what I've got!

Yup, no kidding, those steamed buns were made from PURPLE sweet potatoes! It's just so strange how it ended up blue black. Haha! At a glance they look like bamboo charcoal mantous! Would anyone please explain what happened? Is it because of oxidation?
Despite the undesirable and rather unappetizing colour, the steamed buns tasted fine and were actually good eaten warm with lashings of butter.

Purple Sweet Potato Steamed Buns/Mantou

Ingredients:
50gm sugar
150gm mashed purple sweet potato
6 tbs water (more or less depending on the moistness of sweet potato)
1tsp instant dry yeast
150gm pau flour (or plain flour)
1tsp double action baking powder
10gm butter

Method:
1. Combine sugar, mashed purple sweet potatoes, water and yeast.
2. Combine pau flour, double action baking powder and butter and mix to form crumbs.
3. Mix (1) and (2) together to form dough.
4. Knead dough until smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Let dough proof in a warm place until double in size. Cover it.
6. After proofing, punch down the dough and knead for 2 mins and roll out into a rectangle.
7. Slowly roll up like swiss rolls, cut into equal pieces.
8. Cover and let buns proof for 2nd time for another 45 mins.
9. Steam on high heat for 12 mins. Done!

Purple Sweet Potato Swiss Roll

2011-07-28T23:24:00.000+08:00

It's the end of the month again, just a couple more days before we enter August and here I am scrambling to post my third and final entry for this month's Aspiring Bakers Event. For this month's event, everyone is challenged to try their hand in swiss roll making. Most home bakers are intimidated by swiss rolls. I was too. Though baking the cake itself is easy, most dread when it comes to rolling for fear of the cake tearing. From my own experience and from other bloggers too, I found recipes that use egg white separation method (ie. chiffon cakes) make cakes that are springier and more flexible for rolling.

Here I made a Purple Sweet Potato Swiss Roll, adapted from a chiffon cake recipe. Just look at that lovely soft purplish lavender hue ... it's all natural, no artificial coloring was added. So pretty, so sweet and so girly, don't you think. The more I look at it the more besotted I am with the colour. The swiss roll was yummy too. Soft, moist, and light.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times (July 2011) hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Roll
(Recipe adapted from 'Little House' here)

Note: I have slightly altered the recipe from the original to include an extra egg yolk, and baked the cake in a swiss roll pan instead of a chiffon cake tin.

Ingredients:

100g purple sweet potato

6 tbs milk

4 egg yolks

20g brown sugar

1/8 tsp salt

50ml canola oil

85g cake flour

4 egg whites

50g white sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

- Preheat the oven to 350F (177C).

- Wash the sweet potato well and steam until very soft. Using a fork, mash the sweet potato with milk or alternatively, blend in a food processor until smooth.

- Whisk together the egg yolks, brown sugar, salt and oil until combined. Add the sweet potato mixture and beat until blended and smooth. Sift in the flour and beat until smooth.

- In another bowl, beat the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff and glossy peaks formed. Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the yolk mixture and gently mix to loosen a little, then gently fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites until well combined and smooth.

- Pour the batter into a lined (12 x12 inch) swiss roll pan.

- Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cake is cooked through (test with slewer).
- Lift cake from pan and let cool on a wire rack.
- Once cooled, turn cake on a clean baking paper and remove the lining. Invert it again. Carefully scrape/slice away the skin. Spread filling of your choice. Roll up, trim away the ends. Done!

Black Sesame Chiffon Roll

2011-07-23T01:43:00.000+08:00

I love anything with black sesame seeds. Not only are they a good source of minerals and dietary fiber, they also make your hair thick & black as believed by the Chinese. I personally like the rich earthy nutty taste they impart when incorporated in desserts & confections. Although black sesame seeds are relatively cheap and can be found in every supermarkets & grocers, it is not so with black sesame paste, I noticed- at least in my town. And the black sesame paste does not come cheap either. Anybody has a good homemade black sesame paste recipe to share?

This black sesame roll cake was made from a chiffon cake recipe adapted from Keiko Ishida's 'Okashi-Sweet Treats Made with Love'. I have substituted ground black sesame for the whole black sesame seeds called for, and I used a swiss roll pan instead of a chiffon tin, and adusted the baking temperature and time.
I must say I really love this cake and enjoyed savoring every bite (but of course I'm biased - like I've mentioned earlier, I love anything with black sesame). My Daughter G exclaimed 'Yuck!' at the mention of black sesame but funnily helped herself to not one but two slices! Ah, this daughter of mine!

Black Sesame Chiffon Roll

Ingredients:
70g Cake flour
5 Egg yolks
20g Brown Sugar
20g Black sesame paste
20g Ground black sesame seeds
60g Water
40g Canola oil
90g Castor Sugar
10g Rice Flour
180g Egg whites (from about 5 eggs)

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180°C.
2) Combine egg yolks, brown sugar and black sesame paste in a bowl and mix well. Add water and canola oil and blend together. Add sited flour and mix until batter becomes sticky. Set aside.
3) Combine sugar and rice flour. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and rice flour mixture and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remainder and beat until egg whites are glossy with stiff peaks (the whites will not fall out when the bowl is overturned).
4) Add one third of beaten egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly. Then add in the remaining egg white mixture. Fold gently until incorporated completely.
5) Pour batter into a baking paper lined 12x14 inch swiss roll pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cake is done (test with a skewer). Remove cake from pan and cool on wire rack.
6) Spread cake with whipped cream and carefully but firmly roll it up. Leave to rest in a refrigerator to firm up before slicing to serve. Enjoy!

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times (July 2011) hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Lime Curd & Cream Cheese Swiss Roll

2011-07-14T21:33:00.000+08:00

I had some leftover lime curd and cream cheese frosting from the courgette cake I had made earlier. What better way to use them all up by making yet another cake! But this time I made a simple swiss roll (recipe here). The tart taste of the lime curd intermingled beautifully with the voluptuous richness of the cream cheese frosting. This is one scrummy swiss roll if I may say so myself!

I'm submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Bakers themed 'Swiss Rolling Good Times' hosted by 'Obsessedly Involved With Food' (Details here).

Aunt Flora's Famous Courgette Cake

2011-07-10T19:24:00.001+08:00

Honestly, I've never heard of courgette cake let alone tasted one until I came across this recipe in my favorite cookbook, Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. The only veggie cakes I've ever tried are the classic carrot cake and the sweet pumpkin cake. I was really curious and at the same time a little apprehensive how this courgette cake would turn out. In my mind I was thinking of a very 'green' tasting cake if you get what I mean. But really it was not so. It had a hint of pleasant cucumber-esque taste and was quite delicious really. Like a carrot cake it was moist and refreshing. I would make this again as it was so easy to make. However, next time I'll keep the ingredients secret as my veggie hating Daughter G refused even a teeny bite. Though the lime curd filling was delicious, I think the zippy citrusy tang overpowered the already subtle and light courgette taste - I'll leave this out next time and just make the cake with the luscious cream cheese icing.

For the cake

60g sultanas, optional

250g courgettes, weighed before grating

2 large eggs

125ml vegetable oil

150g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 x 21cm sandwich tins, greased and lined

Method:

If you're using sultanas, put them in a bowl and cover with warm water to plump them up.

Wash and wipe the courgettes with kitchen towel (don't peel them), then grate using the coarse side of an ordinary grater - anything finer or smaller can make them mushy. When they're grated turn them into a sieve over the sink to drain off excess water.

Put the eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and continue to beat until well combined. Now stir in the grated courgette and add the drained sultanas if using. Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 30 mins until slightly browned and firm to the touch. Leave in the tins on a rack for 5-10 mins then turn out and let cool until you're ready to fill and ice.

For the Lime Curd filling

(Makes 350ml)

75g unsalted butter
3 large eggs
75g caster sugar
125ml lime juice (of approx 4 limes)
zest of 1 lime

Method:

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add all the other ingredients and whisk to a custard over a gentle heat. Let cool before filling a jar - or a cake - with it. Keep in the fridge.

For the Cream Cheese Icing

200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar, sieved
juice of 1 lime, or more to taste
2-3 tablespoons chopped pistachio nuts (I used almond nibs)

Method:

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, add the icing sugar, beating well to combine, then stir in the lime juice to taste. Spread on cake and sprinkle chopped pistachio uts on top.

Brioche Breakfast Plait (Dean Brettschneider)

2011-06-27T19:08:00.004+08:00

Here's a recipe for a buttery brioche shaped into a plait from Dean Brettschneider's Global Baker cookbook. I have substituted cranberries for the dried apricots originally called for, and instead of kneading by hand following Dean's instructions, I've turned to my trusty Kenwood to do all the kneading. The texture of the bread was amazingly soft & tender but somehow felt a tad dry on the palate - this baffled me considering a lot of butter went into this bread. I may have overbaked my bread a little, I'm not too sure. Anyway, I like to eat this bread toasted with a spread of jam ... and cream cheese! The leftovers were just perfect made into french toasts and I think would be good for bread & butter pudding as well. If you intend to make this bread, you need to have patience and start preparing the dough a day earlier as this recipe requires overnight refrigeration of the bread dough before baking.

Cranberry Brioche Breakfast Plait

(Recipe adapted from Global Baker by Dean Brettsneider)

Makes 1 plait.

Ingredients:

250 grams strong bread flour

5 grams salt

25 grams sugar

5 grams/1 teaspoon dried yeast

4 small eggs, lightly beaten

125 grams softened butter, cut into small dice

150 grams dried cranberries

50 grams flaked almonds, for topping

Egg wash

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

Method:

Sift the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large bowl - make a well in the centre and stir in three-quarters of the egg to form a soft dough.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes resting for 30 seconds every 2 - 3 minutes until smooth and elastic. This is to develop the protein structure of the flour.

Next, knead in the remaining egg slowly. The dough will move from being sticky & slimy to smooth, elastic and shiny over time.

Once this is done, slowly add in the butter bit by bit while kneading until the dough is elastic and silky.

Finally, knead cranberries into the dough.

Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest in a warm place until doubled in size (may take about 1 hour).

Lightly flour your worktop, tip the risen dough onto it and very gently fold the dough back onto itself 3 to 4 times. Return it to the lightly oiled bowl to rest, covered, overnight in the fridge (for 12 - 15 hours).

The next day, remove the dough from the fridge, cut it into three equal pieces and roll each piece into a rope. Then plait these ropes to form your loaf.

Place it onto a baking paper lined tray, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size (may take 2-3 hours).

Once risen, brush with the eggwash and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Look how much it grew!

Bake in a preheated 200°C/350°F oven for about 20-25 minute or until golden and cooked through. (Cover the top of the plait with foil if it gets too brown).

Once baked, remove the plait from oven and place it on a wire rack to cool.

Done!

I am submitting this entry to 'Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction' hosted by Jasmine of 'The Sweetylicious' (Details here). Have any bread recipe you'd like to share? Do join in the fun too!

Steamed Pumpkin Buns

2011-06-24T02:01:00.000+08:00

I had seen these bright orangey steamed buns from Wendy of Table of 2 and bookmarked the recipe sometime ago. I had actually forgotten about it until I saw this recipe again shared by Lena in her blog Frozen Wings. I knew then that I had to try out the recipe at last, lest I forget again. Just like how Lena decribed them, they were indeed soft & fluffy and sweet, wonderful eaten just plain without any fillings. Somehow mine were not as bright orange as Wendy's or Lena's but it didn't really matter, they were really good and I just couldn't have enough of these. As with all steamed buns, they were best eaten warm. A keeper recipe, this.

I am submitting this entry to 'Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction' hosted by sweet Jasmine of 'The Sweetylicious' (Details here).

Steamed Pumpkin Buns
Ingredients
60gm sugar
90gm pumpkin puree
1tsp instant dry yeast
150gm pau flour (or use superfine flour)
1tsp double action baking powder
10gm butter

Method:
1. Combine sugar, pumpkin puree and yeast.
2. Combine pau flour, double action baking powder and butter and mix to form crumbs.
3. Pour (1) into (2) and mix to form dough.
4. Knead dough until smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Cover and let dough proof in a warm place until double in size.
6. After proofing, punch down the dough and knead for 2 mins and divide dough into 8 pieces.
7. Take a piece of dough, mould it round then flaten into an oblong. Slowly roll up like swiss roll and put it on a piece of parchment paper. Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough.
8. Cover and let buns proof for 2nd time for another 45 mins.
9. Steam on high heat for 12 mins.

About UFOs and Cow Pies

2011-06-18T01:38:00.335+08:00

UFO's, anyone?

Here's my recreation of a popular tart known as UFO, and among the Chinese speaking community Cow Pie Tart! Call whichever way you like, but Cow Pie seems more endearing to me. Haha, I'm crude!

This delicious tart is a specialty originating from Sandakan, an east coast town in Sabah. It is basically a thin sponge cake with a creamy custard topping surrounded by soft billowy meringue. This tart or rather cake is usually sold in old style Chinese coffee shops. One tart is never enough, and growing up, I remember this cow pie tart is bought by the carton. In those days, as styrofoam boxes were unheard of and take away boxes were not common, empty cigarette cartons were used to pack the cow pies! I still remember the smell of eggy deliciousness intermingling with tobacco. Ah, nostalgia.

How about some Cow Pies?

Sponge Sheet Cake
(recipe adapted from Essential Pastries & Cakes by Jimmy Chang)

Ingredients:
5 large eggs
100g icing sugar
30ml water
30ml vegetable oil
100gm superfine flour
1tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1) Using an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar until thick fluffy and pale.
2) Sift in flour and vanilla essence. Fold gently until well combined.
3) In another bowl, mix water and oil together. Add in 1/3 of the batter and mix well. Then combine with the rest of the remaining batter.
4) Pour into a baking paper lined swiss roll pan. Bake at 170C for 9 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested.

Pastry Cream
(recipe adapted from Corner Cafe here)

Ingredients:
500ml milk
4 egg yolks
110g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
4 tbsp cornflour
1 pinch salt (only if not adding butter, or using unsalted butter)
50g unsalted butter, for additional shine and firmness

Method:
1. Whisk together egg yolks, 1/4 cup milk (60ml), sugar and vanilla extract. Mix in cornflour and salt (if using).
2. In a saucepan, bring the remaining milk to just below boiling point. Slowly pour the hot milk in small stream into the egg mixture while stirring constantly with a whisk (very important). Once incorporated, pour everything back into the saucepan.
3. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickens and firms up. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.
4. Pour the hot custard into a bowl and plunge the bottom of the bowl into another larger bowl of iced-water to cool, give it a whisk. (Or you could transfer the hot custard into a wide bowl, then cover with clingfilm pressed against it and leave aside to cool completely.) Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Meringue

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons caster sugar

Method:
Beat egg whites and caster sugar until fluffy, shiny and stiff. Do not overbeat. The meringue should be smooth when piped out.(I had overbeaten mine a little. Hence, the lumpy appearence.)

Assembly:
With a 3 inch round cookie cutter, stamp out individual cake bases from the sponge sheet. Then, using a piping bag, pipe meringue on top of cake base along the cicumference to make a wall to contain the pastry cream. Once that's done, pipe the pastry cream to fill the middle. Turn on the grill function of your oven (upper heat element) and bake until the meringue is lightly browned. You can also do this with a blowtorch if you own one. Done!
Note: There will be a lot of leftover pastry cream and meringue. I'd suggest cutting the respective recipes in half.

Swiss Roll with Stawberry Jam Filling

2011-06-13T01:38:00.000+08:00

Out of the blue my Daughter, G requested for a swiss roll cake. Peculiarly she dislikes cream filling in swiss rolls and insisted that the swiss roll I make is filled with strawberry jam. And mind you not any strawberry jam will do. It has to be ARTIFICIAL strawberry jam; you know, those cheapo bright red coloured jams with zero fruit content. Yes, my G is quirky sometimes. But I can see why she preferred the artificial strawberry jam. The cheapo jam does not contain any fruit pieces and hence, no seeds will get in the way, so to speak. The jam is just basically a strawberry flavoured jelly and it is also what I suspect most bakeries are using in their filled donuts and cakes. I've to admit I quite like it myself, reminds me of the donuts I used to eat by the bagful during my student days :P

Here it is, simple swiss roll recipe (adapted from Baking Library here) with artificial strawberry jam.

Ingredients:

80g egg yolks, room temperature
25g castor sugar
2tbs + 1 tsp corn oil
2tbs + 1 tsp water or milk
75g cake flour
160g egg whites
60g castor sugar

strawberry jam, or any jam or filling of your choice

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 °C and line a 12 x 12 inch tin or 10 x 14 inch swiss roll tin with baking/parchment paper.

2) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 25g castor sugar, vegetable oil and water until combined. Sift in cake flour and mix until smooth.

3) In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs whites starting with low speed. When the egg whites turn frothy, slowly increase the speed to high and wisk until egg whites reach soft peaks stage. Gradually add the 60g sugar and continue whisking until egg whites are stiff but still not dry. The egg whites should stay intact when the bowl is overturned.

4) Fold one third of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to lighten the mixture. Then incorporate the rest of the egg whites one third at a time. Fold in gently and scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula until batter is well combined and uniformly coloured. Becareful not to deflate.

5) Pour batter into the prepared swiss roll tin. Level the batter and bake for 8 - 11 minutes. Cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow sheet cake to cool.

6) Carefully turn the baked sheet cake onto a piece of baking/parchment paper. Slowly peel off the attached baking/parchment paper from the cake. Place a new piece of baking/parchment paper over the sponge. Invert the sponge again, carefully. Now, peel of the top piece of baking/parchment paper. The skin would be stuck to the baking/parchment paper and would be removed.

7) With the shorter side/breadth facing you (if using 10 x 14 inch pan), make a shallow slit across the breadth of the cake with a knife, one inch from the edge. Spread on the strawberry jam. Roll the cake up tightly and trim off the ugly ends. Serve.

Baked Doughnuts

2011-06-08T01:37:00.000+08:00

You'd be surprised how soft & moist these are!

Baked doughnuts, anyone? Personally I prefer the deep fried ones, heck anything deep fried is yummy in my books, but if you're looking to save on cooking oil and you loathe cleaning up greasy mess, these baked doughnuts are for you! One thing though, if you're watching your calories, these may not be as low fat as you may think and in my opinion certainly not that much healthier. For sure you'll feel less guilty but don't be fooled just because these doughnuts are baked instead of fried. They are really in fact not much lower in fat if you look at the butter content in the recipe and furthermore, these doughnuts need to be brushed with additional melted butter once baked to keep the crust tender. If you're watching your weight and every little calorie counts, you shouldn't be eating a doughnut in the first place anyway! But who's counting? Certainly not me, not now ... later maybe. Haha!

I am submitting this entry to 'Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction' hosted by sweet Jasmine of 'The Sweetylicious' (Details here).
Baked any bread this month? Do join in the fun too!

Baked Doughnuts
(Recipe adapted from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni)

Makes 10 to 14 doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 egg
¼ cup (60gm) granulated sugar
1 cup milk, heated to 115 °F (46 °C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ to 3½ cups (300gm to 420gm) all purpose flour, divided, plus more for kneading
1 stick butter (4 ounces or 115gm), cut into 1″ cubes

Method:

In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the egg and sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add in the milk, yeast, salt, and vanilla. Turn the mixer to low, and then add in 2 cups of the flour. Attach the dough hook and then on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time until smooth. Reduce the speed to low, and then add the rest of the flour until the dough sticks to the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be soft and moist, but not sticky.
Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Place in a mixing bowl coated with cooking spray and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough and roll it out to about ½” thickness. With doughnut or cookie cutter, cut out 3″ circles with 1″ holes.
Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place the doughnuts 1″ apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Bake until light golden in color, 5-8 minutes. Brush with melted butter and then coat with icing sugar or glaze of your choice. Serve immediately. Doughnuts are best eaten while still warm.

Note:
I let my stand mixer do the kneading using the dough hook on medium speed. I used a mixture of bread flour and all purpose flour just because I didn't have enough of all purpose flour on hand. I used a total of 3 1/2 cups flour. I also needed a longer baking time for my doughnuts to turn light golden brown about 12 minutes (but that's just my oven).

Chinese Roast Pork (Siew Yuk)

2011-06-07T11:43:00.000+08:00

Ready to be devoured!

Woohoo, my first ever Chinese roast pork! I've been wanting to make this for ages. Crispy crackling skin and juicy moist meat, can you see I'm in porky heaven?! What's more, this coming from my own humble little cheapo oven. :)

There are so many versions of this Chinese style roast pork. Some use vinegar to glaze on the skin and some use fermented red beancurd (nam yue) in the marinade. Some even call to fry the pork skin side down prior to roasting while some advise on blanching the pork in boiling water. Naturally, being a lazy shortcut cook I chose the simplest recipe which involves the least steps & handling, from Ancoo Journal here. Who would have thought, Chinese roast pork can be this easy!

Chinese Roast Pork

Ingredients:

1 kg pork belly
1/2 Tbsp coarse salt
1/2 Tbsp Chinese 5 spice powder
1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine or Shao Xing wine

additional salt to rub on skin

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix marinade together. Rub marinade on the pork belly (which has been scored lightly) EXCEPT THE SKIN. Place the marinated side down on a container so it can sit and absorb the flavors. Pat dry the skin with kitchen paper, then with the sharp point of a knife prick holes all over the skin. Generously rub and pat salt on the skin.

2. Place pork in the fridge over night, SKIN SIDE UP, uncovered to allow skin to dry up as much as possible.

3. The next day, preheat oven at 180C. Remove pork from the fridge and pat dry if there is any moisture left. Place the pork on a grilling rack with an aluminium sheet lined pan underneath to catch drippings. Roast pork for 45 mins then switch temperature to 200C for another 20 mins or until the skin is a little burnt and charred ( this is how you know the skin is crisp all the way through and not chewy on the bottom). Remove pork from oven, scrape off any blackened burnt parts with a serrated knife and leave to rest for 10 mins before chopping. If you find the pork skin is still not crispy, you can turn on the grill (top heat only) and grill further until you get crispy crackling skin. Or do what I did, place the pork near the top heating element during roasting to speed up the crackling process.

Note: To ensure the skin will not come apart from the meat during slicing/chopping., turn the pork over upside down (skin side down).

Black Magic!

2011-05-31T15:37:00.001+08:00

This is one super easy chocolate cake, one of the easiest I've ever made. I only needed a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and with a few quick stirs to combine everything together, I'm done! The best thing is the cake turned out moist, velvety and very soft! And because the texture was so soft it felt fluffy light on the palate. I couldn't believe it because I had my doubts, and was actually expecting a kueh-like flop as the batter was really thin like pancake batter. What a pleasant surprise it was!

The only complain I'd nit-pick about is the presence of a strong bicarb pong. As you can see from the recipe, it calls for 2 teaspoons of baking soda. Maybe my tongue was not as sensitive as my nose, though I could smell, I couldn't taste any unpleasant soapy alkaline aftertaste. The baking soda must have been neutralized by the acidity of the natural cocoa powder. The reaction between the two also explains how the cake got its fabulous deep dark hue and its name. Black Magic indeed!

On a side note, in baking especially chocolate cakes, it is very important to use the type of cocoa powder specified in the recipe. Recipes that are leavened with baking soda usually require natural cocoa (Not Dutch processed!) so that the alkalinity of the baking soda can neutralize the natural cocoa's acidity. On the other hand, those that are leavened with baking powder would require Dutch processed cocoa powder. In case you really need to make substitutions from what is called for (bearing in mind the results will most likely differ along with the substitutions), try the formula here.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011), hosted by Doris of Tested & Tasted.

Black Magic Cake

(Recipe adapted from Allrecipes here)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong brewed coffee (or use 2 tsp instant coffee granules disoolved in 1 cup water)
1 cup buttermilk (or use 1/4 cup buttermilk powder dissolved in 1 cup water)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 ° C. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center.
Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake at 175 °C for 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and finish cooling on a wire rack. Fill and frost as desired.

Notes:

I've baked mine into cupcakes which took about 20 minutes to bake and frosted them with Chocolate Ganache.

Chocolate Ganache
(from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp instant coffee granules

Method:
Cook the chocolate, heavy cream and coffee granules in a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

Rich Shortbread Apple Crumble Pie

2011-05-24T17:45:00.000+08:00

Rich & buttery, not your traditional kind of apple pie!

Last week, I made an apple pie using homemade apple pie filling from my Mom. If you ever get apples which turn out bland tasting, don't waste and throw them away. Do what my Mom did, make apple pie filling. Unless of course, you have rotten apples!

I don't have a proper recipe for the apple pie filling but here's a rough idea on how my Mom made it. Cut the apples into even chunks. Big or small chunks, it's up to you. In a saucepan, put in the diced apples, add water just enough to cover the apples. Add sugar and spices (cinnamon & nutmeg) to your taste. Simmer until the apples are cooked to your desired firmness and the juices are reduced. Add cornflour and cook a while more to thicken (It should not be watery!) That's it, there's your apple pie filling.

Now on to the crust. I'd like to share a very easy recipe (adapted from Allrecipes here) which makes a rich shortbread crust and the most scrummy crumble topping for an apple pie ...or any fruit pie really. My Daughter G couldn't stop telling me how much she loved the pie and everyone I served the pie to raved about the cumble topping. This recipe makes enough crust mixture to cover the base & sides of an 8 inch pie pan and for the crumble topping. But if I were to make this again next time, I'd most probably omit making the crust for the base & sides and use all the crust mixture for the crumble topping! We just can't have enough of the delicious crumble topping!

Rich Shortbread Apple Crumble Pie
(recipe adapted from Allrecipes here)

Ingredients:

about 600g apple pie filling - more if you prefer! (either homemade or store bought canned filling)
250g all-purpose flour

100g white caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

170g chilled butter, diced

2 egg yolks, beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 °C.
Sift four, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Fold in egg yolks (mixture will be crumbly). Remove 1/4 of mixture, and set aside. Press remainder onto bottom and sides of an 8 inch tart shell or pie pan. Using the tines of a fork, poke holes all over the crust base. Then bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the half baked crust from the oven. Reduce heat to 175 °C.
Place apples onto crust, and sprinkle reserved crumb mixture evenly over the top.
Place pie on a baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown and filling is bubbling.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard sauce. Enjoy!

Black & White Mousse Cake

2011-05-21T12:04:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered how the oreo cookies got their deep dark black colour? Well, the secret lies in the use of black cocoa powder. It is essentially a super alkalized cocoa powder. Normal alkalized cocoa powder which is known as Dutch process cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that have been treated with alkali solution to neutralize their acidity, and thus, creates cocoa powder that is darker in colour and milder and less bitter in flavour as compared to natural cocoa powder which is simply made from ground roasted cocoa beans. The more alkaline it is the darker the cocoa becomes. Hence, from super alkalizing or extreme Dutch processing you get black cocoa powder. The black cocoa powder is used mostly for its color and not for its flavor. On its own the black cocoa powder has very little cocoa flavor and it leaves a soapy aftertaste - and in my opinion it also tastes like charcoal. Therefore it is recommended that the black cocoa powder is used mixed with another cocoa powder either natural or regular Dutch process in your bakings.

Sometime back, on a regular haunt at my local baking supply store I had come across this black cocoa powder for the very first time. It's the darkest blackest cocoa powder I've seen. Coming from a small town some baking ingredients can be really hard to come by. Fearing that it may not be restocked, I grabbed a packet eventhough I had no idea what to do with it. Needless to say it remained stashed away in my kitchen pantry with no purpose until now. Blame it on impulsive (kiasu) buying! Heh. Thanks to Aspiring Bakers I've finally used the black cocoa powder - though I barely made a dent. I made a black chocolate sponge cake, split then layered with white chocolate mousse before finishing off with a covering of shiny black chocolate glaze. I really love the how the cake looked. The visual contrast of the black and white was so striking and mesmerizing. Love it!

This will be my entry for this month's Aspiring Bakers#7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted. Do join in the fun and show off your gorgeous bakes!

Black Chocolate Sponge Cake (Adapted from here)
2 large eggs
67g caster sugar

1/2 tbs liquid glucose

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbs vegetable oil
5g cocoa powder
5g black cocoa powder
53 g cake flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbs milk

White Chocolate Mousse (Adapted from the cookbook Baking Code by Alex Goh)

50g milk

20g sugar

1 egg yolk

60g white couverture chocolate (melted)
2 tsp gelatine
30g water
140g whipped cream

Chocolate Glaze
1/2 tbs gelatin powder
60g heavy cream
60g granulated sugar
50g water
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
10g black cocoa powder

Method:

Black Chocolate Sponge Cake: Preheat oven to 170°C. Prepare a 6 inch round baking tin with removable base.Gently warm up vegetable oil, mix in the cocoa powder and the black chocoa powder. Set aside. Whip eggs,caster sugar and salt at high speed until sugar dissolved. Add in the liquid glucose and continue whipping till ribbon stage- (Very important! The mixture must be well beaten till very fluffy and thick. When the beater is lifted, it leaves a riboon like trail that will dissipate into the batter after a count of ten). Sift in flour and baking soda, mix at medium speed for 20 seconds until just combined.
In another bowl, take some batter and mix with the cocoa mixture together with the milk until well blended. Pour back into the batter and fold in until well combined. Pour batter into tin and bake for about 25 minutes or when skewer comes out clean when tested. Remove from oven and cool upside down on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove cake from tin.

White Chocolate Mousse: Bring milk to boil. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolk and sugar. Gradually pour in the boiling milk, mix well. Then pour back into the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Mix in the melted white chocolate and set aside. In a separate bowl, sprinkle the gelatine over the water and set aside for the gelatine to soften. Then place over double boiler and cook until gelatine has completely melted. Now combine the dissolved gelatine with the white chocolate mixture.Cool over ice water to 30°C. Fold in the whipped ceam.

Chocolate Glaze: In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 & 1/2 tablespoon water. Set aside to soften. In a saucepan, combine heavy cream, sugar, water and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add in the softened gelatin. Mix well then sieve. Let cool a while. Once the mixture has thicken, use immediately.

Assembly: Line a 6" removable base cake tin or cake ring with a piece of sponge cake. Pour in half the mousse then lay another piece of sponge cake before topping with the remainder of mousse. Cover and chill in the fridge until the mousse set. Once set, remove the cake tin/cake ring. Make the chocolate glaze then pour over the whole cake to cover. Leave a while for the glaze to set then keep in the fridge to chill before serving. Decorate as desired.

Swiss Carrot Cake

2011-05-09T18:53:00.000+08:00

My mom is a big fan of carrot cake. In honour of Mother's Day I've baked her a carrot cake using Sonja Watson's winning recipe from the People's Cookbook, a British TV cooking show. Believe it or not, there's no oil or butter in the recipe! The cake turned out to be tender and very moist. It was also lightly spiced and tasted refreshing with a hint of lemon.

As I was busy capturing pictures of the sliced cake, my Daughter G couldn't wait to tuck into the cake and kept pestering me. For a person who never fancied carrot cake before, I was surprised at her eargerness to eat the cake. To my amazement, she even helped herself to a second piece! I guess that says alot about this cake.

Swiss Carrot Cake
(Recipe from The People's Cookbook)

Ingredients:
5 eggs, separated
250 gm sugar
1/2 lemon, finely grated zest and strained juice
100 gm plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 gm carrots, grated
250 gm ground almonds

Kirsch Icing:
200 gm icing sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp kirsch
50 gm almonds, dry roasted and finely chopped

Method:
1. Grease a 22 cm springform cake tin.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl with a tiny pinch of salt until they are stiff, then set them aside. Mix the egg yolks and sugar in another bowl until smooth, and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, carrots and almond meal and mix everything together well. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites.
3. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put it into an unheated oven. Set the oven to 180C/350F, and bake the cake for 50–60 minutes until it is baked through. Test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake and removing it; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. For the Kirsch icing: sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix it with the water and kirsch until you have a smooth paste. Pour this on to the cold cake and spread it evenly over the top and sides, using a warm knife. Finally coat the sides and rim of the cake with a 2–3 cm wide band of the almonds.

Happy Mother's Day!

Where's the butter?

2011-05-04T12:06:00.000+08:00

That's precisely what you'll be thinking when you're told that there's no butter in this cake. This cake smells buttery, tastes buttery and looks buttery just like any butter cakes. But instead of butter it uses whipped cream. The texture is very tender and velvety, way better than any butter cakes. You can even take a big greedy mouthful bite and that wodge of cake will glide down your throat ever so pleasantly. You don't need to reach out for a cup of water. My hats off to Rose Levy Beranbaum for such a lovely cake. Do check out my fellow blogger Jess's (Jess Kitchen) perfect looking cake here. I swear you'd definitey be itching to try out the recipe after looking at her beautiful cake.

Whipped Cream Cake

(adapted from 'Rose's Heavenly Cakes's by Rose Levy Beranbaum )

Ingredients:

225g cake flour

2 tsps baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

348g heavy cream (or uht dairy whipping cream with at least 35% - 40% fat content)

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

225g superfine sugar (reduced to 175g)

Method:

Grease and flour a 10-cup fluted pan or bundt pan. Preheat oven to 175C.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and then sift them together to make the mixture easier to incorporate.
In another bowl, whip the cream, starting on low speed, gradually raising the speed to medium-high as it thickens, until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla just until lightly combined.
On medium-high speed, gradually beat the egg mixture into the whipped cream. The mixture will thicken into mayonnaise consistency (unless high-butterfat cream is used).
Gradually beat in the sugar, it should take about 30s to incorporate it.
Add half of the flour mixture to the cream mixture, and with a large spatula , stir and fold the flour until most of it disappear, continue with remaining flour mixture.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-35mins, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10mins before unmolding and cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Philly Cheesecake

2011-04-26T15:10:00.001+08:00

After some Hot Cross Buns, Easter wouldn't be complete without a cake too .... okay, I'm just using Easter as an excuse to bake. Haha! Well it was a long weekend, it would have been wasted not to bake!

This recipe was copied & scribbled down on paper from the net and filed away in my recipe folder some years ago. I don't even remember how long it has been sitting there. Thanks to Google I found the source of this recipe from Allrecipes (here). Instead of a cookie crumb crust I've used a thin sponge cake for the bottom layer.

This Philly Cheesecake is lighter in texture but still remain as creamy as its richer and denser sisters. It is not too cheesy which I think is perfect for the Asian palate. Also, this cheesecake is tender enough to be eaten straight out of the fridge unlike other some other cheesecakes which you have to sit out a while to soften. It is fairly simple to make and since it's just a basic cheesecake, I think it'll adapt well to whatever flavoring you fancy.

Here it is.

Philly Cheesecake Recipe
(makes an 8 or 9 inch round cake)

Ingredients:

340 g cream cheese
150 g white sugar

4 eggs

2 tbs or 15g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
475 ml heavy whipping cream
thin sponge cake about 1 or 2cm thick (8 or 9 inch round)

Method:

Grease an 8 inch springform pan with butter. Place the sponge cake in the pan.

Preheat oven to 150 °C.
With electric beater, beat cream cheese with sugar till smooth. Add egg yolks. Beat thoroughly. Then sieve in the flour and salt. Mix in the vanilla. Turn mixer to slowest speed and slowly pour in the cream. Sieve the mixture if batter is not completely lump free.
Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Add to the above mixture and fold the whites in by hand, lightly but thoroughly. Pour mixture into the sponge cake lined pan.
Set pan into a large pan containing 1 inch hot water and bake at 150°C for 1 1/2 hours. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving. To ensure water don't seep in and make the cheesecake soggy at the bottom, wrap the outside of the pan with aluminium foil or set the pan in a slightly larger normal baking pan before putting in the waterbath.
Serve as is or topped with whipped cream or fruit topping of your choice.

I will submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April2011) hosted by Jean of 'Noms I Must'. Do join in the fun too!

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-25T22:19:00.000+08:00

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons
One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns

I remember I used to sing this nursery rhyme to my Daughter G when she was just a baby up to toddlerhood. Now at the awkward age of puberty and soon becoming a teenager, I can't help but think, man, how time flies! I really miss that cute cheeky little girl who would gladly receive huggles & cuddles & kisses from mommy anytime. 'Sigh'.

Alright, enough of my ramblings now.

It's a little late but here wishing you all "HAPPY EASTER!" Hope you all had a good Easter weekend.

To celebrate Easter, I made these cocolate chip hot cross buns from Dean Brettschneider's cookbook - 'Global Baker'. These buns were lightly scented with orange zest and were loaded with chocolate chips which made them deliciously chocolaty - I didn't need to slather on butter or jam at all. They were good eaten on their own. If you like chocolate but don't like spices, mixed peel or raisins, these buns are for u. I personally like these buns but my Daughter G on the other hand didn't fancy them as much. She didn't like the orange zest which I thought was wonderful. No buns for dear Hubby who's a carbo-phobe. He avoids bread like the plague! Ah well, more buns to myself!

The aptly named 'Global Baker' cookbook has many interesting & inspirational recipes with influences from around the world. What caught my interest most are the 'east- meets-west' fusion recipes which Dean had developed for the Asian tastebuds. He is currently residing in China and thus the Asian influence with the use of tofu, red beans and green tea. There's even a macaron recipe incorporating Chinese five spice powder - normally used in savoury dishes, I wonder how this spice would work in sweets?! This is one cookbook that will whip out the adventurous baker in you. So far I've only tried two recipes from the book and they didn't disappoint. I'm already eyeing a few more recipes I'd like to try, heck I'd try them all if I could!

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

(Recipe taken from 'Global Baker' by Dean Brettschneider.)

Dough

300g strong bread flour

30g cocoa powder

5g salt

25g butter

25g sugar

zest of 1 orange

5g (1 tsp) active dried yeast

1 small egg, weighing no more than 50g when cracked

150ml water

140g chocolate chips (chilled in the fridge)

Cross Mixture

(Note: I've halved the recipe here. The original recipe yielded too much than what needed)

75g plain flour

25g vegetable oil

75ml water

Sugar Glaze

40g sugar

100ml water

zest of 1 orange

Method

Make dough

Place all the ingredients except the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon, combine to a dough mass. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes, resting for 30 seconds every 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic (Note: I used my stand mixer to do the kneading). The dough will be sticky to the touch and soft, don't be tempted to use excessive amounts of dough during kneading. Finally, add the chilled chocolate chips and continue to knead very gently until they are incorporated into the dough.

Place dough in a lightly oiled large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise for 45-60 minutes. Gently knock back the dough in the bowl by folding it back onto itself. Cover again with plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Place approximately 2cm apart on baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to prove for 30-45 minutes, depending on room temperature.

Make cross

Place flour and oil in a bowl and whick slowly, adding just ebnough water to make a smooth lump free paste. Cover with plastic wrap until required.

Preheat oven to 190C.

To make the crosses, put the cross mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain 3mm piping nozzle, pipe crosses onto the buns.

Bake for approximately 15-18 minutes, until golden brown.

Meanwhile, make sugar glaze. Heat the sugar, water and orange zest to boiling, remove from the heat. Brush buns with sugar glaze after removing from the oven. Place on wire rack to cool.

Torta alla Gianduia

2011-04-19T14:03:00.002+08:00

As I've mentioned in my earlier post, April is a month of birthdays and that includes yours truly here. :) This year I have specifically instructed my nearest & dearests NOT to buy a birthday cake for me as I wanted to bake my own. You see, there are just so many recipes - too many! in my to-try list (which gets longer & longer everyday), I doubt I'll ever finish trying all in my lifetime!

After all that mousse (here) and cheese (here), I wanted something simple. For my cake, I've chosen Torta alla Gianduia or plainly known as Nutella Cake from none other than the domestic goddess herself, Nigella Lawson. Mind you, though simple & easy to whip up, this flourless cake was nothing short of decadent! A WHOLE jar of nutella is required, imagine that! It was dense yet soft, gooey-ly rich, nutty and moist with a texture of a cross between pudding and fudgy brownie. Mamamia!

U only live once -INDULGE!

Though a year older, I still feel as young as when I was 18 years old! Now, if you're wondering how old I am - well I'm sorry, I'm not going to divulge my age. I had no problem a few years back but now it has become a little sensitive for me, more so with each passing year! I hate to think I'm growing old, so let me be forever 18! Hahaha! Here's a quote I like very much which I think is very appropriate to share with u all - Growing old is compulsory but growing up is optional! :)

Cheers!

Torta alla Gianduia @ Nutella Cake
(adapted from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" Cookbook)

Note: Recipe is halved to fit a 7 inch round cake tin. Please keep tab on the baking time for this size, u may need less than the baking time called for. Mine needed exactly 40 minutes.

For the cake
3 large eggs -- separated
small pinch of salt
60g soft butter
1/2 jar of Nutella (200 g)
1/2 tablespoon water (use Frangelico or rum, if u have)
50g finely ground hazelnuts
50g dark chocolate, melted

For the icing
70 ml double cream
60g dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.

Prepare a 7-inch springform pan or a loose base pan: grease and line with parchment or wax paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, then add water (or what you're using), egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time. Pour into the prepared pan and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides (or when skewer comes out clean), then let cool on rack with cake still in mold.

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, add the cream and chopped chocolate and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice just the top of the cake. Unmold the cooled cake carefully. Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and decorate with hazelnuts if u wish. Serve with a whipped cream or ice cream.

Chilled Mango Cheese Cake

2011-04-17T00:02:00.001+08:00

Ah, April .... it is a month of birthdays in my maternal family. Seven members of the family including my Grandma was born in April. My Grandma, the matriach of the family whom we the granchildren fondly call 'Popo' just turned 86. We had a potluck dinner to celebrate the occasion and I volunteered to make the 'piece de resistance' of the birthday celebration - the birthday cake! It was a little risky as I wanted to make a Chilled Mango Cheesecake which I've never tried before. Fearing my attempt would fail, my Mom suggested I buy a cake from the bakery instead. But I was not ready to be dissuaded, I held firm to my decision and luckily my risk paid off. The cake was impressively tall and was well received by the family members. Some even went back for seconds including the birthday girl. My Mom being my number one critic praised how lovely the cake was and this made me really pleased.

As you can see, the cake had 2 layers of sponge and 2 layers of cheese filling topped with mango puree. I have adapted & tweaked the Sponge Cake recipe from 'Delicious Cakes' by Amy Heng and the Mango Cheese Filling recipe from 'Fantastic Cheesecake' by Alex Goh.

Here goes the recipe.

Chilled Mango Cheese Cake

Sponge Cake Layer

5 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla essence

100g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

125 ml milk

125 ml veg cooking oil

175g cake flour/superfine flour

2 tsp baking powder

5 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

100g caster sugar

Method:

1) Prepare a 9 inch loose base cake tin. Preheat oven to 170 °C.

2) Sift cake flour and baking powder. Then combine together with egg yolks, vanilla essence, caster sugar and salt. Gradually add in milk and oil and mix till smooth.

3) In a mixer bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy.Gradually add in sugar and whisk till stiff peaks.

4) Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter to loosen. Fold in the rest of the egg whites till well combined.

5) Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested.

6) Invert the cake and let cool on wire rack. Once cooled, remove cake from the tin.

7) Trim and slice cake into 2 even layers.

Mango Cheese Filling

500g Cream Cheese

80g Caster Sugar

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

400g Mango Puree

200g pouring cream

3 Tbs Gelatin

120g water

300g whipped cream

cubed Mango (from 2 medium sized Mangoes)

Mango Puree Topping

Flesh of 1 medium sized Mango

2 Tbs Piping Gel

Method:

1) In a mixer bowl or a food processor, beat the cream cheese together with sugar until smooth and sugar has dissolved.

2) In another bowl, mix mango puree together with the lemon juice. Set aside. (Taste the puree and if it's too sour add more caster sugar 1 tablespoons at a time until the desired sweetness is obtained)

3) In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin on water and let it bloom for a few minutes. Then zap in the micowave for a few seconds and stir to dissolve. When the gelatine powder is fully dissolved, add to mango puree. Then add in the pouring cream. Mix well.

4) Gradually pour the mango puree mixture into the beaten cream cheese. Blend well. Fold in whipped cream. Gently mix well till incorporated and smooth.

5) Use a round cake ring or a deep cake tin with removable base or springform tin, place a layer of cake and pour in mango cheese filling. Add half the mango cubes and cover them with some cheese filling. Lay another cake layer, add the remaing mango cubes and pour in the remaining cheese filling. Make sure the cheese filling covers the mango cubes. Let the cake chill for at least 3 hours to set before removing the cake ring.
4) After the cake has set and the ring removed, make mango puree topping. Blend mango puree together with piping gel (add more piping gel if a thicker consistency is desired) and pour on top of the set cake carefully. Done!

This is what I love to see!

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by 'Noms I Must'. Do join in the fun too!

Mango Mousse & Yoghurt Layer Cake

2011-04-16T15:34:00.001+08:00

It was dear Hubby's birthday two Sundays ago. As the self appointed baker in the family, it was my duty to bake him a cake to celebrate the occasion. I could have just bought one from the bakery to make things easy for myself - but nah, I wanted to try a new cake recipe!

Here it was, Mango Mousse & Yoghurt Layer Cake!

This cake had 2 layers of yoghurt sponge cake and 2 layers of mango mousse filling and a topping made of mango puree. I've used a mish mash of recipes adapted from 'All That Matters' for the mousse filling and 'My Story' for the sponge cake layer. In the end, I got to try 2 new recipes and I'm very happy how well the whole cake turned out. It's my first ever successful mousse cake. The mousse was not too rich or sweet, light yet firm enough to hold it's shape and one can eat a huge slice without feeling queasy.

Mango Mousse & Yoghurt Layer Cake Recipe

Yoghurt Sponge Cake

4 medium egg yolks

10g castor sugar

4 medium egg whites

60g castor sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

120g natural flavour yogurt

70g superfine flour

10g corn flour

40g canola oil or any veg cooking oil

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven at 160°C. Lightly grease or line a round 8 inch deep pan with parchment paper.

2) Beat egg yolks with sugar until the colour lightens and turns slightly pale. Sift the flours and fold into the egg yolk mixture slowly. If it gets too dry, it's time to add in the yogurt and canola oil. Mix until all the flours are well blended and the batter is smooth & lump free.
3) Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add in sugar and continue to whisk until fluffy and soft peaks form.
4) Fold 1/3 of the egg white batter into the egg yolk batter. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites without deflating the batter.
5) Pour the batter into the baking tin, give it a couple firm taps on the table to release large air bubbles and bake it for 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
6) Once baked, remove cake from the pan and leave to cool on wire rack.
7) Trim and slice cake to 2 even layers of 2 cm thick each.

Note: The sponge cake will shrink a fair bit upon cooling.

Mango Mousse :

17g Gelatin Powder
60g Hot Water
350g Whipping Cream
3 Tbsp Icing Sugar
300g Mango Puree (if refrigerated, bring to room temperature)
1 Tbsp Rum
200g to 220g Cubed Mango (or use 2 medium sized mangoes)

Mango puree topping:

150g mango puree (or use1 medium sized mango)(bring to room temperature)
2 Tbsp piping gel

Method:

1) In a small bowl, dissolve gelatine powder in hot water. When the gelatine powder is fully dissolved, add to mango puree. Add rum to the mixture. Mix well.
2) In a mixing bowl, whip whipping cream with icing sugar to mousse state. Add the mango mixture to whipped cream. Mix well till incorporated.
3) Use an 8 inch round cake ring or a cake tin with removable base or springform tin, place a layer of cake and pour in mango mousse. Add half the mango cubes and cover them with some mousse. Lay another cake layer, add the remaing mango cubes and pour the remaining mousse. Make sure the mousse covers the mango cubes. Let the cake chill for at least 3 hours to set before removing the cake ring.
4) After the mousse has set and the ring removed, make mango puree topping. Blend mango puree together with piping gel (add more piping gel if a thicker consistency is desired) and pour on top of the set mousse carefully. Done!
Now, sing a birthday song and cut the cake!

Make a wish and blow out the candles!

Coriander Pesto

2011-04-13T15:26:00.072+08:00

Here's a variation of the traditional basil pesto using coriander. Fragrant and very versatile, this coriander pesto sauce can be used with anything your imagination permits. Tossed with pasta or smeared on bread, drizzled on salads or topped on grilled meat, used as dips or marinade, really the uses are endless!

Coriander Pesto Recipe

Ingredients:

2 handfuls coriander leaves

1/3 cup toasted almonds

2 cloves garlic

4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoon grated parmessan cheese (optional)

salt & black pepper to taste

Method:

In a food processor, blitz toasted almonds and garlic first. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and blend .

Done!

Easy peasy.

Tossed with pasta.

Topped on my open-faced tomato, avocado & onion sandwich.

Braised Mushrooms

2011-04-13T10:57:00.001+08:00

This dish is inspired from Rasa Malaysia's Japanese Braised Mushroom. I've 'Chinese- fied' (is there even such a word? haha!) the recipe as I don't have some of the ingredients called for.

Who would've thought such super simple dish can taste so super delicious! So easy to prepare, this dish will definitely be staying on the family's weekly menu.

Braised Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
4 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced

Method:
Add all the ingredients (except the mushrooms) into a saucepan with a low to medium heat. As soon as it bubbles, add the mushrooms into the saucepan.
Cook until the chicken stock has reduced and slightly thickened. Remove from heat, let cool. Done!

No-bake Eggless Green Tea Creme Caramel

2011-04-11T20:38:00.000+08:00

Seeing how well my No-bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel turned out, I was feeling rather bold and wanted to try a green tea version.

Voila!

No- Bake Eggless Green Tea Creme Caramel

Green Tea Custard :
2 Tbsp powdered gelatin
1250 ml full cream milk
80 gm castor sugar
3 Tbsp custard powder
2 Tbsp green tea powder

Caramel :
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water

Method:

Make caramel first

Put sugar and water in a small pot and heat on medium flame until it starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it carefully and don't turn away (not even a sec!) when you're doing this because once the syrup turns golden it darkens very quickly after that and will continue to do so after removing from heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar/caramel turns a light golden brown, remove from heat, swirl the pot a little to let the colour even out and then pour directly into your mould or ramekin dishes. Swirl the mould around so that the caramel covers the bottom and reaches up the sides a little. Let cool and harden. Do this quickly as the caramel hardens in no time.

Make custard

Pour the milk into a medium pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the gelatin soften a little. Meanwhile mix the sugar, green tea powder and custard powder in a bowl, then add into the milk/gelatin mixture. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer STIRRING ALL THE TIME with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Sieve the custard. Pour the sieved custard into the mould over the hardened caramel and chill in the refrigerator overnight or until set.

No-Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

2011-04-07T00:59:00.000+08:00

Creme caramel is one of the most popular dessert around. You'd easily find them on the menu in any restaurants or cafes. It is essentially a custard baked in a mold with a layer of caramel at the bottom. When inverted out for serving, the silky custard pudding sits beautifully presented in its pool of sweet syrupy caramel sauce. What's not to like?

As much as I like creme caramel, I rarely make this dessert at home. It was probably years ago the last time I made one. I remember it came out one pockmarked ugly looking pud! Creme caramel is not as easy to make as it seems, at least to me. I always wondered how other people seem to make such beautiful and perfectly smooth looking creme caramel.

When I saw this divine looking Creme Caramel from 'Cherry On A Cake', I couldn't believe that it was EGGLESS and required NO BAKING! It really piqued my curiosity - maybe this is THE secret to silky smooth caramel. I wasted no time at all and was in the kitchen right away.

Well, what do you know, I ran out of milk and had only chocolate flavoured milk. I didn't want to drive out to the store just to buy milk, so what the heck, chocolate creme caramel it was! My gamble actually paid off. It was lite, silky, chocolaty and yet surprisingly creamy. While my Daughter G and I agreed the pud was yummy, it definitely could do better without the bitter taste (I had overcooked the caramel!), my dear Hubby thought otherwise. He liked the slight bitterness and said it balances the sweetness of the pud.

From now on, this no-bake eggless version will be my (secret) go to recipe for creme caramel! Purists may frown and scoff at this fake pud but who cares when you can eat to your heart's content and put your cholesterol concious mind at peace! Anyone who is also averse to the slightest whiff of eggy smells would surely welcome this fake version. But what I like best about this recipe is the no-bake part ... which means no tedious water bath and no fiddling & poking about to check if the pud is baked. I can rest assured that my creme caramel comes out smooth & silky every time .... and not a pockmarked flop!

No- Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

(Recipe adapted from "Cherry on a Cake" here )

Chocolate Custard :
2 Tbsp powdered gelatin
1250 ml chocolate flavoured full cream milk
80 gm castor sugar
3 Tbsp custard powder
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Caramel :
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water

Method:

Make caramel first

Put sugar and water in a small pot and heat on medium flame until it starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it carefully and don't turn away (not even a sec!) when you're doing this because once the syrup turns golden it darkens very quickly after that and will continue to do so after removing from heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar/caramel turns a light golden brown, remove from heat, swirl the pot a little to let the colour even out and then pour directly into your mould or ramekin dishes. Swirl the mould around so that the caramel covers the bottom and reaches up the sides a little. Let cool and harden. Do this quickly as the caramel hardens in no time.

Make custard

Pour the milk into a medium pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the gelatin soften a little. Meanwhile mix the sugar and custard powder in a bowl, then add into the milk/gelatin mixture. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer STIRRING ALL THE TIME with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Sieve the custard. Pour the sieved custard into the mould over the hardened caramel and chill in the refrigerator overnight or until set.

Cocodrillo Ciabatta

2011-04-05T00:13:00.000+08:00

Do they look like crocodile slippers?

These are ciabattas I made following an interesting recipe (Jason's Cocodrillo Ciabatta) I found from 'The Fresh Loaf,' a website forum on anything and everything about bread. Cocodrillo Ciabatta literally means crocodile slippers!

Traditionally Ciabatta bread is made using the sourdough method which requires the preparation of a pre-ferment dough; and this can take days before you can put a loaf of ciabatta on your table.

The Cocodrillo recipe on the other hand uses the straight dough method and eliminates the need of a sponge dough. This speeds up the bread making process and you can now enjoy a rustic ciabatta within hours.

Here's a video to accompany the Cocodrillo Ciabatta recipe. I found this video very helpful and have used it as a guide when I made my ciabattas. The video shows the Cocodrillo Ciabatta making process, from the mixing of the dough to the final baking.

Credits to jenmenke .

Jason's Cocodrillo Ciabatta

Ingredients:

500g bread flour
450 - 490g water (I used 450g)
2 tsp instant yeast
15g salt

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients roughly till combined, let it rest for 10 minutes.
Be prepared for a very wet dough which has the consistency of a gloopy pancake batter. The high water content is essential to produce the large irregular air bubbles characteristic of a ciabatta bread. Having a stand mixer to tackle the very wet dough is definitely a life-saver and a necessity.

2. After the resting period, turn on the mixer and beat for 10-30 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Mine took the full 30 minutes to transform from pancake batter to a sticky dough using a medium-high speed on my Kenwood Chef mixer. Do not despair if after much beating your batter hasn't changed much in consistency, the mixer speed is probably too low. So be brave and crank up the speed. The dough would be stretchy and feel very wet and sticky. Do not be tempted to add more flour, just go along with it.You'll know it's done when it separates from the side of the bowl and just coming off the bottom of the bowl, and your mixer shakes like crazy as if possessed!

3. Place into a well oiled container and let it triple its size, about 2 hours or more. It must triple!
For me, I let the dough double it's size and then kept it in the fridge to slow down the proofing process. It was very late when I did this, I was too sleepy and couldn't possibly be making bread until the wee hours, so I thought I'd continue in the morning. The next morning, I took the dough out from the fridge and left it to come to room temperature. By then it had tripled.

4. After tripling in size, use a spatula to scrape the dough from the bowl onto a heavily floured surface. Cut into 2 or 3 pieces, spray with grease and dust with flour, and allow to sit for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 260 °C while the loaves are resting.
I just tipped the container and let the dough fall out onto the work surface, then cut in half and separated the two pieces just like how it was done in the video. I didn't bother greasing them, just dusted them with plenty of flour, then covered them with a clean kitchen towel (which has been dusted with flour of course).

5. After resting 45 minutes or so (dough will be puffy and spongy), pick up one piece of the dough and stretch into your final ciabatta shape (~10" oblong rectangle) and flip them upside down (this redistributes the bubbles, so you get even bubbles throughout), and onto parchment or a heavily floured peel.
I followed the video and used two dough scrapers to scrape the dough off the work surface and turned it upside down on a lined baking sheet. I tried to do this as gently as I could in one quick motion. The dough will look as though you’ve deflated it. Fear not, it'll puff up as it bakes in the oven. Repeat with the other piece of dough.

6. Bake at 260 °C about 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 96 °C.
I don't have a thermometer so I baked the ciabattas a little longer to be safe, about 25 minutes. Better err on the side of overbaking than underbaking as the dough is so wet anyway.

EAT me!

I'm pretty happy how my ciabatta turned out. The texture was chewy and the crust thin and slightly crackly. As you can see, it had the desired irregular large bubbles throughout the loaf. I realy like how the large bubbles collect the juices in my sandwich. It tasted even better toasted.

Custard Powder Cookies

2011-03-31T00:18:00.000+08:00

The other day, in between dinner preparations, I had a sudden crazy urge to bake. I was in the mood and needed to bake something. Something simple would do. I pulled out my tattered little recipe notebook and found this Custard Powder Cookies recipe. Easy and quick, these golden yellow cookies were churned out in no time at all. Of course I cheated a little, I had free child labor to help me. My Daughter G enjoyed doing all the rolling and shaping of the cookies. Good for her and good for me. Haha!

My dear Hubby liked the cookies a lot and thought they were butter cookies. Again and again I've repeated to him, "No, they're custard cookies!" Yet he still calls them butter cookies. Well, they were indeed buttery. And with a sandy texture that melts into a paste in the mouth, they remind me of a lighter version of shortbread.

Do give this recipe a go when you find yourself wondering what to do with your stash of custard powder. Let me know whether this makes custard cookies OR butter cookies. You be the judge. Let's see who wins.

Press down criss cross.

Custard Powder Cookies

(Recipe taken from 'Food, Fun & Farm Life' here)

Makes 90 cookies.

Ingredients:

100 gm Icing Sugar

100 gm Custard Powder

300 gm Plain Flour

300 gm Butter

Method:

Don't they look like mini corn hobs? :)

Beat butter and icing sugar together till pale & fluffy. In another bowl, sift custard powder and plain flour together, then mix into the butter mixture until just combined. Shape dough into small walnut sized balls. Place on a greased or lined baking tray. Dip fork in water, press down to flatten slightly. Bake at 200 °C for 10 to 15 minutes. Once cooled, dust with icing sugar if you like.

Angel Biscuits

2011-03-25T15:28:00.000+08:00

"YUM, VERY YUM!" was what my 11 year old G said. As soon as she devoured the last piece of the batch, she ordered, "U should make another batch of these!". I am with her 101%! These have got to be the lightest and scrummiest biscuits ever. Just heavenly. These are in a league of their own and befit the name Angel Biscuits indeed. Unlike any regular biscuits, yeast is used and overnight resting in the fridge is required. So if you ever want to taste a piece of bread heaven, you gotta be patient and prepare the dough a day ahead. Patient pays - in this case, divinely!

Thanks to Happy Flour who tried out the recipe and shared the wonderful result in her blog. Original recipe from Fresh with Anna Olson- Retro 50's Meal (season 2).

Note:

I've made 2 batches of these Angel Biscuits in one week. The first batch I used Golden Churn Butter and the second batch with Anchor Butter. I must stress that the quality of butter you use will make a mile of difference in the taste of these biscuits. In this case the Golden Churn Butter wins hands down! I think from now on, I will use only Golden Churn Butter for my bakes.

Angel Biscuits Recipe

(yield about 8 biscuits)

Ingredients

2g instant dry yeast (about 3/4tsp)
30g sugar
1tbsp warm water (body temperature) (Omitted this)
190g plain flour
1/4tsp baking soda
1/4tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt (reduced to 1/8 tsp)
60g cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I used salted butter)
120g buttermilk (I used 120g water + 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder)

Method:

1. Stir yeast, a pinch of the sugar and 1 tbsp water (I used 1 tbsp water from the 120g water) together and set aside while preparing other ingredients.
2. Sift flour, remaining sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. (I've added buttermilk powder in this step)
3. Cut the butter into the flour until it’s a rough crumbly texture.
4. Stir the yeast mixture into the buttermilk (120g water minus 1 tbs) and add it all to the flour.
5. Mix until a sticky dough comes, wrap and chill overnight.
6. The next day, preheat oven to 220 deg C.
7. On a generously floured surface (dough will be sticky), roll out dough to 1cm thick and fold dough over in half, pressing down gently.
8. Using a 5 cm round cutter, cut out biscuits and place on a greased tray (I didn't grease. Instead, lined my tray with non-stick baking paper).
9. Bake 10-12 mins, until just lightly browned.
10.Remove from tray and cool on a wire rack.
11.Serve biscuits warm or freeze and re-heat to serve later.

MacaWRONGS!

2011-03-24T18:09:00.001+08:00

There are Macarons and then there are MacaWRONGS. I had envisioned pretty dainty sandwich shells with perfect smooth pearlescent tops and fancy frilly feet - perhaps a tad ambitious on my part. Actually, I was way too arrogantly ambitious! To think I would get it right the first time round! Hah. Even professional patissier like David Lebovitz had to endure seven times of failure to produce a good batch of macarons.

Ah well, all was not lost with these limbless deformed babies of mine. They may not have the looks but surprisingly they do taste good when dunked in my coffee. Fragile crusts that break with the lightest of touch and soft marshmallowy chewy centres were delightful and addictive to eat. These qualities have redeemed and saved them from the fate of ending up in the dreaded bin. Well most failed bakes of mine rarely do end up in the bin anyway. They mostly reincarnate as 'treats' for my fur-kids. Lucky them. Haha!

My cutie pie Jessie (she's actually a pig disquised as a dog) and darling Sandy would gladly and eagerly gobble up any 'treats' that I occasionally present to them.

Except for this fat boy. He'll have none of the sweet 'treats'. This jelly belly carnivore only goes gaga for meat especially raw chicken.

Now back to my macawrongs. I confess I do feel humbled and at the same time somewhat intimidated by these macawrongs. But I will not give up, I'll try again. Until I manage to perfect my skills & technique and tame these fussy & temperamental little divas, there'll be no more macaron posts from me. Till then. Fingers crossed.

Now, please excuse my ramblings.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

2011-03-23T11:23:00.000+08:00

Simple homemade creamy mushroom soup made from scratch. Taste better than canned ones if I may say so myself. Dear Hubby exclaimed. "GOOD!" after slurping in a mouthful. My Daughter G agreed but complained there were too much mushroom pieces getting in the way. But that's how I like it, mushroom soup with lots of chunky goodness. As long as I have all the ingredients in my pantry to make this soup I will not be opening that can of mushroom soup in a long while, unless of course laziness calls for it. Haha!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

(serves 2-3 persons)

Ingredients

6 larges pieces of fresh shitake mushrooms (add more or less if preferred)
1 tbs butter
1 tbs cooking oil
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaped tablespoons all-purpose flour (add more if a thicker consistency is preferred)
2-3 cups chicken broth (or just use water and add chicken stock cube)
1/2 cup light cream (add more if you like richer soup)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley / dried parsley or chives to garnish

Directions

Slice the mushroom caps and the stalks, discarding the tough ends.
Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan and cook the leek and garlic stirring, for 1 minute, or until the leek is soft. Add the mushroom. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mushroom just softens. Add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and add the stock, stirring continuously. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whisk the cream into the soup, then reheat gently, stirring. Do not allow the soup to boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with the chopped parsley or chives.

Calamansi Yoghurt Cake

2011-03-16T11:26:00.000+08:00

Satisfyingly moist & tender!

This was originally a lemon yoghurt cake recipe but as I didn't have any lemons on hand I used calamansi limes instead. Lo and behold, a Clamansi Yoghurt Cake is born! A very delicious moist one too!

Calamansi Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients:

110g butter

100g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp grated clamansi rind

30 ml calamansi juice

125 g plain yoghurt

140 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

2 egg whites

1/8 tsp salt

40 g caster sugar

Icing:

55 g icing sugar

1 tbs water

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 170 deg Centigrade. Prepare a greased and floured ring pan. Sift together plain flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda. Set aside.

2) Beat butter and 100g caster sugar until light and fluffy.Slowly beat in yolks. Blend well. Add calamansi rind and juice.

3) Fold in yoghurt and plain flour itermittently in batches. Combine well.

4) In another bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Still whsiking, gradually add the 40g sugar and salt. Whisk until soft peak forms.

5) Gently combine egg whites with the flour mixture.

6) Pour batter into prepared pan, bake 30-35 minutes or till cooked.

7) Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

8) Icing: Beat icing sugar and water till creamy. Put into piping bag and pipe on top of cooled cake.

Note: I baked mine in a 4x8 inch loaf pan and a few cupcakes. Adjust baking time accordingly.

Calamansi Yoghurt Cupcakes, anyone?

Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake

2011-03-11T18:00:00.000+08:00

So moist & soft!

The Chinese New Year celebration has come and gone over a month ago, and believe it or not, I still have a basketful of Mandarin oranges left sitting in my fridge! When I found out this month's Aspiring Bakers' Challenge hosted by Jess of Bakericious is themed Fruity March (details here), I quickly took up the challenge. What better way of disposing those oranges than to bake a delicious citrusy cake with them. Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Heh.

Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake
(Recipe from "My Kitchen Snippet" here.)

Ingredients :
(A)

1 3/4 cup Self Rising Flour

1/8 tsp of salt

(B)

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup of sugar

3/4 cup Mandarin orange juice

zest of 1 orange

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

(C)

3/4 cup of sugar

6 egg white
1 tsp of cream of tartar

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degree F / 165 deg Centigrade. Sieve all the (A) ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined.
2. Mix (B) ingredients until well blended and then add in ingredient (A) and mix until smooth. Set aside.
3. Beat (C) ingredients using a mixer on high speed until stiff peak. It should not fall out when you turn the mixing bowl over. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to loosen the mixture, then fold in the rest of the egg whites. Remember to fold in gently until well mixed.
4. Pour batter into ungreased 10" tube pan and bake for an hour. Use a bamboo skewer to test the cake for doneness.
5. Remove from oven and invert cake (in pan still) and leave to cool completely. When completely cooled, loosen the edge of the pan and remove cake from pan.

Butter Cake AGAIN!

2011-03-06T23:51:00.000+08:00

Yup Vanilla Butter Cake again (recipe from here)! Made just to satisfy my Daughter G's incessant request for this cake.

This time I used premium (read pricey) ingredients. Instead of the usual block of Anchor New Zealand Butter, I used the tinned Golden Churn Butter. Instead of the common vanilla essence, I used vanilla seeds from 1 whole vanilla bean. Instead of the usual round cake, I made dainty square cupcakes.

I've got to say, it PAYS to use quality ingredients! Yup, pun intended. :)

Vanilla Butter Cake

2011-03-03T18:45:00.001+08:00

Vanilla Butter Cake from the Australian Women's Weekly Cake & Slices Cookbook. This is one good ol' recipe that my family like and praise everytime. Tender and moist this butter cake uses a different method of mixing unlike the usual creaming method where the butter is beaten with sugar till fluffy. Instead, in this recipe, the eggs are beaten with sugar and the butter is melted before incorporating into the batter.

My Daughter G's favourite kinda cake!

Vanilla Butter Cake Recipe

(Australian Women's Weekly Cake & Slices Cookbook)

Ingredients:

125g Butter
3 Eggs
1 Cup Castor Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Essence
3/4 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Cup Self- Raising Flour

Method:

1) Grease a deep 19cm square cake pan, line base with paper, grease paper. (I used 8" round pan)
2) Combine butter and milk in saucepan, stir constantly over heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature.
3) Beat eggs and vanilla essence using electric mixer until thick and creamy; gradually add sugar, beat until dissolved between addition. (I beat until very thick & fluffy ribbon stage)
4) Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in half the sifted flour and half the butter mixture, then remaining flour and butter mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in 190° C oven for about 45 mins. Stand 2 minutes before turning on to wire rack to cool.

Note:

1 Cup = 250 ml
1 Tablespoon = 20 ml

Blueberry Hearts

2011-03-02T16:18:00.001+08:00

A quick bake using a batch of cream cheese dough leftover from the Pineapple Tarts here. Topped with blueberry jam, these delicious little hearts were very addictive. It was impossible to restrain myself to just one piece. I had another and another and another ... until the guilt sank in! By then I had probably eaten 10 pieces. To heck with calorie counting! Haha!

Just as good plain!

Self imposed challenge - Pineapple Tarts!

2011-03-01T17:11:00.003+08:00

This post was originally planned to be published during the Chinese New Year season. Ah well, better late than never. Haha!

Here's my crazy self- imposed challenge in making pineapple tarts from scratch. All in all I've made 3 batches of pineapple jam and tried 4 pastry recipes for the tarts! Talk about madness!

Cooking my first ever batch of pineapple jam, it wasn't as hard as I imagined it to be and I enjoyed inhaling the heady aroma of spices (cloves & cinnamon) and sweet pineapple lingering throughout the house. I've got to say, the hardest part in making homemade pineapple jam was peeling the thick skin and digging out the eyes from the pineapples, more laborious than grating and cooking itself!

I'm very pleased with the final outcome of my pineapple jam. Not too bad for a first timer eh? Dry and sticky enough for rolling into balls and fibrous enough like how traditional pineapple jams should be. It was also not too sweet with some pineapple tang just the way I like it. This pineapple jam recipe adapted from 'Food-4-Tots' is a keeper!

Pineapple Jam

Ingredients:

2 half-ripe pineapples, grated
200g granulated sugar (adjust according to your preference)
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick (5 cm long)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

Skin pineapples and remove the “eyes”. Cut each pineapple into quarters lengthwise.
Grate the pineapples until the core (the tough centre). Discard the core.
Cook the grated pineapples, half portion only of the sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks and lemon juice in a large heavy bottom pot under moderate heat until it begins to boil.
Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.
When the mixture start to look almost dry, reduce the heat to low. Add the remaining sugar bit by bit until the desired sweetness is achieved. Keep stirring until the mixture is sticky and caramelized with a golden-hue. This will take about 1 hour or more (or less if you use a very wide pot).
Remove cloves and cinnamon stick. Set aside to cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Here's my stash of baking tools all ready for making the pineapple tart pastry. I couldn't decide which type of pineapple tarts to make - the open faced ones or the rolled ones or the enclosed covered ones. In the end, I made all 3 types! Haha!

The rolled type also known as Nastar. I used Agnes Chang's recipe. The pineapple rolls somehow deformed after baking (though they looked pretty fine because I took pictures of the better looking side!). Tastewise the pastry was very short and melt-in-the-mouth but was bland eventhough I used salted butter and it has a slight floury taste which bugged me.

Agnes Chang's Pineapple Tart Pastry Recipe

(Taken from her book, "Baking Made Easy")

Ingredients:

250 g unsalted butter (i used salted butter)

50 g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

360 g plain flour

2 tbs custard powder

1/4 tsp salt (omitted this)

Method:

Preheat oven at 160°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cream butter and icing sugar until light.
Beat in egg yolks, one at a time.
Add in salt and beat until fluffy.
Fold in sifted ingredients in bathches and mix into a firm dough.
Leave aside for 30 minutes.
Put the dough into a pineapple roll pastry press/mould, and then press out into a strip of 5cm length.
Place pineapple filing at one end and roll up the pastry, as in a Swiss roll, enough to enclose the jam. Do not overlap the pastry. Cut off the excess pastry.
Put the rolls on the baking tray. Brush with egg wash.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes and turn the baking tray 180 ° and continue to bake for 2 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave to cool before storing.

I made the enclosed type using this rich pastry recipe which calls for cream AND cream cheese from 'Table for 2 or More' here. The inclusion of cream indeed gave a very fragrant dairy aroma and the cream cheese though not so prominent gave the pastry some edge which was really delicious and the pastry was very very tender. I couldn't stop myself from eating the remnants of raw dough stuck to my mixer paddle. It was so good. Handling the dough was a nightmare though. It was really really soft and took a lot of time, and if handled too much it oozes oil; this knocks off some brownie points for this recipe. I've also added 1/4 teaspoon salt for more flavour. I'd suggest chilling the pastry dough in the fridge and only take out a portion at a time when shaping the tarts.

The open faced tarts. Recipe taken from 'Greg & Nee' here. This is the simplest pastry recipe amongst all. The result was very short & melt in the mouth fresh out of the oven but once cooled down and kept overnight it wasn't so.

These are made from using Amy Beh's recipe copied from 'My Culinary Journal' here. This recipe is meant for the rolled type (Nastar) but I wanted to experiment to see whether it can be used for open-faced tarts. The dough was very soft and it must be chilled to firm up before rolling between 2 sheets of clingfilm or wax paper. Quick hands were indeed required as the dough softens quickly once rolled out!

Simple Mushrooms & Leek Stir Fry

2011-02-21T08:35:00.000+08:00

My Daughter has taken a liking to mushrooms ever since we had a simple mushroom dish served in a restaurant. It was shitake mushrooms simply stir fried in butter with garlic & black pepper. Here's my recreation with leeks and parsley added.

Simple Mushrooms & Leek Stir Fry

Ingredients:

Mushrooms (Any type or combinations, sliced)

1 -2 Leeks

1 Tbs Garlic

1/4 tsp dried Parsley

Salt & Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

1 Tbs Butter

1 Tbs cooking oil

Method:

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon cooking oil together in a pan. Saute garlic on low heat till fragrant but not brown, add leeks, stir fry till leeks are half cooked. Add in the mushrooms, season with salt & cracked black pepper, add a little water if necessary and stir fry until fully cooked.

Simple, simple, simple!

German Potato Cookies

2011-02-13T17:28:00.000+08:00

These cookies have been popping up in blogs everywhere lately and being 'kiasu' (a Hokkien phrase which literally means scared of losing out) I didn't want to get left behind and jumped in the bandwagon too! Haha!

Sandy, melt in the mouth and at the same time light & tender with a buttery potatoe-y taste. Reminds me of melting moments cookies.

Recipe taken from 'Small Small Baker' here.

Ingredients:

125g butter
40g icing sugar, sifted
125g potato starch
80g superfine flour

Method:

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and pale in colour.
2. Sift in potato starch and flour, mix to form a soft dough.
3. Roll into small balls (about 2cm in diameter), arrange on lined baking pan and press lightly with a fork (dip the fork in water after each press to prevent cookie dough from sticking to the fork).
4. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 15 mins.

Kuih Makmur @ Momo

2011-01-29T22:33:00.001+08:00

My Hubby came home one day with a half-empty cookie container and raved about what contained inside. Handing over the cotainer to me, he said, "You gotta try these peanut cookies, they're mmmm ... so melt-in-the-mouth, they're really good..... sorry, these are what left".
I took a closer look . Peanut cookies NOT! They're KUIH MAKMUR!

Kuih Makmur also known as Kuih Momo over here in East Malaysia, actually don't contain peanuts. The flour is pre-roasted to impart a nutty aroma & flavour and one can mistaken as ground peanuts. These delightful icing sugar coated round buttery balls crumble and dissolve into a fragrant nutty paste once popped into the mouth. I've never actually come across anyone who doesn't like these morsels which are usually found during the festive season.

East Malaysian Kuih Makmur/Momo are by no means the same as the ones in West Malaysia. Those in West Malaysia are usually shaped like leaves, not round and has ground peanuts as filling and is coated with caster sugar on the outside.

Here's a keeper recipe for Kuih Makmur/Momo taken from "Sunflower Food Galore".

Kuih Makmur/Momo

Ingredients:

250g plain flour or all purpose flour

40g icing sugar

75g full cream milk powder

150g ghee (I used QBB brand)

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

about 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar for coating

Method:

1) In a frying pan, dry fry plain flour at medium low heat for about 5 - 6 minutes. Keep stirring the flour to avoid burning till flour becomes very hot, smells lightly nutty and has turned a very light brown tinge. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
2) Using pestle and mortar, grind salt with 1 teaspoon of the dry roasted flour to a fine powder. Add this to flour.
3) Mix all the dry ingredients together, then sieve. Remove remaining gritty grains.
4) Melt ghee in microwave for about 20 - 30 sec. Beat in the egg yolk.
5) Pour ghee and yolk mixture into the dry mixture. Mix with a folk or spoon then finish by rubbing with fingers till dough is evenly mixed. The dough is crumbly but should form a lump when squeezed together.
6) Take a pinch of dough, squeeze to form a lump then lightly roll between palms into a ball about 2cm wide. Do this without exerting pressure or it will crumble.
7) Place balls on baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving some space in between balls.
8) Bake in a preheated oven at 150 deg Centigrade for about 12 - 15 minutes till light golden. Momo balls will expand slightly after baking.
9) When the Momo balls are cool enough to the touch, coat generously with icing sugar. Do this gently as they are very fragile. Leave to cool completely.

Almond Tuiles

2011-01-20T13:46:00.002+08:00

If you have lots of leftover egg whites and don't know what to do with them, do try this super thin and crisp almond tuiles to impress your family and friends (and yourself!). The recipe for the batter is a breeze to whip up with minimal ingredients, but I forewarn u first, this is a very time consuming recipe to bake!

To make these tuiles, you need to spread a thin layer of round circles about 2 inches wide on a baking paper lined tray, and then sprinkle some flaked almonds on top before sending to bake. Each process makes only a few pieces at a time and need to be repeated until you've finished your batter.

After about a couple times of spreading -baking-cooling, I got tired & bored. I mixed the flaked almond with the batter and then spreaded the batter into a big rectangle instead. Once cooled, the big rectangular piece was broken into smaller random pieces (you can see from the photos the irregular shaped ones at the bottom). Of course, the round ones definitely look a ton better but if you don't mind and you're not a perfectionist, do try the short cut way.

ALMOND TUILES
(Recipe taken from 'No Frills Recipes' here )

Ingredients
2 egg whites lightly beaten
60 gm caster sugar
2 Tbsp or 30 gm butter (melted)
50 gm plain flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
Almond flakes/Pumpkin seeds (amount as desired)

Method

Sift flour into a mixing bowl, add in sugar, mix well.
Make a well in the centre, add in the melted butter, lightly beaten egg whites and vanilla. Mix till well combined.
Let batter rest for 30 mins.
Drop 1 leavel teaspoon of batter onto a baking tray, lined with baking paper.
Using the back of the spoon, slowly spread the mixture as thinly as possible to a circle about 2 inches in diameter.
Sprinkle some almond flakes onto the centre of the batter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for about 3 mins, or till lightly brown.
Let stand for a minute and carefully lift the biscuits from tray to cool on a wire rack.
When completely cooled, store in an air-tight container or jar.
Makes 34 pieces.

Note:

I baked my almond tuiles at 160 deg C for about 20 minutes. At 180 deg C, my almond tuilles were not browned evenly. They were almost burnt at the edges and the middle still pale, undercooked and chewy. Please do a small test batch to find which temperature is suitable to you.
I used baking paper and didn't need to grease. The tuilles were easily removed while they're still warm. I used a pallete knife by sliding it underneath the tuilles, then lifting up from the baking paper.
I've lightly pre-roasted the flaked almonds first for better aroma. I did this by dry-frying on a pan on the stove. Becareful not to burn!

Super thin & crisp!

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011). Details can be found here.

Chocolate Gelato

2011-01-18T11:31:00.000+08:00

I wanted to try an eggless ice ceam recipe see how it compares with the custard base one in terms of creaminess & smoothness. This eggless recipe using constarch made very creamy ice cream indeed but it had a slight 'chalky' mouthfeel. I don't know why, probably due to the use of cocoa powder or it could be due to undercooking the cornstarch. This ice cream was also a little icy and rock hard after freezing and had to be left out a while before serving, but hey, I made this without an ice cream maker! Misgivings aside, this ice cream turned out extremely chocolaty, good for die hard chocoholics! My daughter remarked, "It's like eating frozen chocolate icing!" I think so too and one spoonful was enough to satisfy my chocolate cravings for the entire day.

CHOCOLATE GELATO RECIPE
(Recipe adapted from 'Cafe Fernando' here)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar (Reduced to 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, I don't like my ice cream too sweet)
2 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Method:

Bring 2 cups of heavy cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then remove from heat.
In another bowl, combine milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder, then add to hot cream. Return to stove and cook on low to medium heat until sugar and cocoa dissolve (5-10 minutes).
Set aside to let cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Note: I don't own an ice cream maker, hence I had to process the ice cream by hand. After Step 3 above, I poured the ice cream mixture into a container and kept it in the freezer until half frozen. Then, took the ice cream out and gave it a vigorous mix to beak up the ice crystals. Put the container back into the freezer again and repeated the process of 'freezing -mixing-freezing' about 3 times.

Mix Veg Stir Fry

2011-01-16T21:27:00.000+08:00

I had eaten a very delicious simple vegetable dish in a restaurant which I tried to recreate at home and the resulting dish is this, I call it 'Mix Veg Stir Fry'. Though it didn't turn out exactly like the restaurant dish, I'm very pleased with the end result and have cooked this many times to date, and this gets thumbs up everytime from my Hubby! Sweet, crunchy and soft at the same time, this vegetable dish has claimed a permanent spot on the weekly menu for me & my family. When there are leftovers, which is quite rare, I incorporate them into an omelete dish which is equally delicious.

Mix Veg Stir Fry

Timun Jepun

Ingredients:

1 Timun Jepun (a type of dense cucumber)

1 Carrot

200g Wood Ear Mushrooms

2 Leeks
about 100g diced Luncheon Meat / Spam
1 Tbs Oyster Sauce

1 Tbs chopped Garlic
Salt to taste

Note: Luncheon Meat can be substituted with any meat of your choice. I've cooked this with diced marinated chicken and they were good.
How to cook:
1) Slice Timun Jepun, Carrot, Wood Ear Mushrooms & Leeks into thin even strips.
2) Heat up a tablespooon of oil in a pan, saute garlic and luncheon meat till fragrant (if you're using raw marinated meat, cook till meat is fully cooked). Add in the timun jepun and carrot and stir fry a while before adding in the wood ear mushrooms and leeks. Add oyster sauce and season with salt. Add a little water if it gets a little dry. Stir till cooked or until vegetables are soft to your liking. Done!

Mix Veg Omelette

Ingredients:
leftover Veg Stir Fry
2 Eggs
2 tsp Soy Sauce
a few drops Sesame Oil
a dash of white Pepper

Method:
1) Beat eggs together with soy sauce, sesame oil and a dash of white pepper.
2) Combine the the egg mixture with leftover Mix Veg Stir Fry and cook in a pan heated with 1 Tbs cooking oil. Fry both sides till cooked. Serve.