Sweeter Side of Life

Random bakes

2011-12-10T01:21:00.004+08:00

Sea salt caramel swiss meringue with chocolate sponge sandwiched with hazelnut nut chocolate cream

Double chocolate hazelnut cupcake

Oreo cheesecake

Wholemeal bread

Neglected this blog for way too long! Really busy with my final year project of formulating a low glycemic index scone and bread but i did bake these few months :)

Bakes in August

2011-09-15T16:13:00.002+08:00

1. Lemon chiffon sandwiched with coconut infused lemon cream toppped with toasted coconut

2. Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

3. Cake pops

4. Meringue

5. Mini lemon cream Tart (wanted to submit to Asipring Bakers for August but had no time to post. haha)

Dark Chocolate cake

2011-08-16T19:27:00.003+08:00

Hello :D Made a "slice" of birthday cake for my church friend Leonard today. It is actually made from a basic chocolate sponge and dark chocolate frosting, dusted with cocoa powder for decorations :)

Marble cheese cake

2011-08-14T22:52:00.003+08:00

Hi everybody!!

i am back in Singapore! There is so much beauty in Singapore that i love :) The people, food, toilet, transport. I love Singapore <3 Anyway, back to the cake! I went to Fairprice and saw SCS cream cheese in a tub selling at $3.95, much cheaper than Philadelphia's cream cheese which costs $5.80 :/ It gave me an inspiration to make cheese cake, also, i wanted to test out the quality of the cream cheese.

The verdict? It didn't fail me :) It was smooth and creamy~

I was experimenting with different flavours, rum and raisin; dark chocolate with rum ; dark chocolate with cinnamon; vanilla with fresh berries. Personally i like the dark chocolate with cinnamon. Cinnamon are usually paired with apples, who knew chocolate could complement cinnamon ;D? Here is the recipe! (With modifications)

The base was made from scratch because i want a change from the usual digestive biscuit base. The amount of sweet pastry dough is more than sufficient for the amount of cream cheese filling, you can freeze the dough if there are leftovers :)

Recipe - Makes a 21cm diameter cheese cake ( Use a spring form pan/removable base pan)

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Base

125g Salted Butter, softened to room temperature

50g Sugar

1 Egg

240g plain flour, sifted

Method

*Preheat oven to 180C

1. Beat butter with sugar till white and creamy.

2. Beat in egg till full incorporated.

3. Add in sifted flour, mix till a crumbly dough is formed.

4. Knead dough to achieve a uniform dough with no dry flour.

5. Wrap with cling wrap and put in freezer for 10 minutes.*

6. Roll out dough to 1/2cm, about the size of pan. ( i simply flatten the dough directly in the pan manually)

7. Use a fork to pierce holes into the dough base in pan.

8. Blind bake the base for 18-21 minutes / till golden brown

9. Cool and set aside for use later.

Cheese filling

Ingredients

400g cream cheese, softened

200g full fat plain unsweetened yogurt/sour cream

220g whipping cream (dairy)

160g sugar

240g egg

40g cake flour, sifted

Method

*Preheat oven to 170C

1. Beat cream cheese till creamy and smooth.

2. Add in yoghurt and mix well. (Try not to beat excessively as it can create too much air cells)

3. Add in sugar gradually, beating to incorporate into batter.

4. Beat in eggs one at a time.

5. Mix in whipping cream till a smooth, fluid batter is achieved.

6. Whisk in flour into the batter.

7. Add in 2 tsp of vanilla essence into the batter.

Chocolate flavored batter

Ingredients

100g dark/semi sweet chocolate

30g cocoa powder, sifted

20g sugar

10g salted butter

8. To make chocolate batter, melt 100g of dark chocolate using microwave/ double boil method.

9. Microwave chocolate in burst of 10 seconds, checking after every internal as it can burn easily. (Stop when the chocolate has partially melted, can use the remaining heat from the bowl to melt the chocolate)

10. Add in cocoa powder, sugar and butter to the melted chocolate, stir to combine.

11. Stir chocolate mixture into 300g - 400g of batter.

Cinnamon flavored batter

12. Simply add 1 tsp of cinnamon powder to every 200g of original cream cheese batter

Rum and raisin batter

Ingredients

40g raisins

Enough rum to cover raisins

13. Simply soak raisins in rum for at least an hour.

14. Mix rum and raisins into 300g batter( more batter for a milder flavor)

15. Pour the original batter into the pan.*

16. Dollop in blobs of other flavored batter. Make beautiful swirls with a chop stick.

17. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

18. Cool cake in oven with door ajar. (rapid cooling results in ugly cracks)

19. Chill overnight before serving :D

Local steam buns and Ice porridge

2011-06-07T16:16:00.003+08:00

Hi :) posting something on local eats from china again. Steam buns are extremely common in China, people here eats steamed buns more than bread. In addition, they very extremely cheap here, about singapore 20 cents for 3 buns!! I hope i am not making you feel awful about homemade steamed buns, homemade ones are much better than mass produced buns even though they are still handmade :)

There are a wide array of choices to choose from, ranging from mini pork buns to lotus root buns, tofu, etc.. The ones showed in the pictures are cabbage, black fungus and tofu :)

I can say the locals here are very creative with the fillings here, however the tofu was a little bit too salty, perhaps could be due to their taste for heavily seasoned food.

I think all the fillings were pre-fried and cooked before steaming. I think i will try a few more other interesting buns very soon! The black sesame bun and carrot bun seems pretty good too..

Let me introduce to you ice porridge冰粥, please dont think that way, its not frozen porridge!

It is actually a summer treat, made from shaved ice, sweetened red, green beans, plum/hawthorn puree, cocktail fruits, fresh watermelon and honey dew. Sometimes there is jelly, dried tomatoes, raisins, prunes as well. Its so refreshing :D! Sells at about S$1. How do you find this treat? It might be very sellable in Singapore :) I love it!

I need to post this picture of the local watermelons here.. can you see how thin the skin is?? It's really worth every bit of your money, no refuse!

Wet Market in China and Charcoal bread

2011-06-04T20:19:00.009+08:00

Hi, today i went to the wet market in the neighbourhood where i stay to get ingredients to make dumplings. No, not 粽子 but 饺子. Both are called dumpling right? 粽子would be too tedious to make and so it was 饺子 :) The skin was bought from the market, they sell by weight and we bought 2.5kg of skin! Then we miscalculate and there was insufficient filling so we ended up slicing the skin made a noodle soup out of it.

Look at the amount of jiaozi we made! Well 11 people were eating, so its not that much actually :)

This is a picture of a stall selling pork, everything here is not chilled, the meat are all laid on the table and i heard that you cant really choose. The moment you pick up the piece of meat, it means you are buying it. I saw pig heads infront of the stall, pretty scary actually. After purchasing the minced meat, we went to buy cabbage. You see that huge wintermelon? The vegetables here are all upsized. See the tomato and red pepper? Yeap :)

The tofu here are freshly made too and some of them are flavoured with 'five spice' （五香）. It is actually the brownish beancurd you see in the picture. The next picture shows the machine where the tofu is made.

There was also a stall that sells preserved vegetables. There is an assortment of preserved vegetables, garlic, long beans, bamboo shoots..etc, the list is endless.. As compared to singapore's sweet/salty preserved vegetables, this is 小巫见大巫.

After eating the jiaozi, i went to metro, a place where there are imported goods. Remember i said that in the area where i stay，pretty much everything is locally made, China itself is capable of providing for itself. Okay back to the supermarket, i saw this black bun, i had to buy it :D

It actually contains edible charcoal powder. Very interesting eat, but i am pretty sure Singapore might already have it now.

Have you eaten any black buns before??

端午节

2011-06-03T21:35:00.004+08:00

Hey everyone, not so sure if there is still anybody reading this blog but i have decided to continue to post on this blog about my overseas internship trip in China, Jiangxi, Nanchang :)

This is my first post since i have been in china for 2 months. I miss Singapore so much~

Over in this area, it is not so developed, so there is hardly any form of imported food, almost everything is 'made in china'. The food in this part of china is really heavy on the taste buds, everything is very flavorful. I think perhaps i will introduce you to them one by one in time to come. First up, let me introduce the dumpling festival in China. Its not that different from singapore, they all eat dumplings but they also have a lot of extra time to eat it and celebrate this festival with their families. This is because they have a 3 day public holiday!! You must be hoping Singapore is like that too.

I couldnt make any dumplings myself, so i bought from the school canteen. The white dumpling is the red bean paste dumpling. The red bean paste taste like date paste, not anything like singapore's red bean paste. It is very sticky, slight tangy but still sweet. Did i mention anything about the red bean baos here? Well the red bean paste taste like date paste too..if you have ever eaten date paste.

In addition to the red bean, there's the date version(Here comes the real thing!) but nope, sadly i didnt buy date paste dumpling, but i will, soon! I want to see what's the difference between both.

I also gave the meat dumpling a try, in terms of the filling, i think Singapore's version is so much better! Maybe it is probably where i bought it, but can you see any meat there?? I didnt! (witness) I feel a bit cheated of course, if you could see that little whitish coloured thing- its pork fat.

However...after finishing the whole 'meatless' meat dumpling, there was a tiny piece of meat lurking at one of the corners! Here is it! Evidence :) I wasnt cheated!

In our area, it is legal to have road side vendors selling food, like the olden days of Singapore. The one you see below isnt a road side stall(Okay, really had no link with the previous sentence)

Anyway, it sells very lovely banana cake! Not a mashed banana cake in a cake batter, but a banana IN A CAKE. It even looks like a banana :D Looking at the amount of 'banana cakes' on the table, you can guess how popular it is. One interesting thing is that they sell by weight, actually most of the food here is sold by weight not piece. I think it is reasonable, dont you think?

Especially when it is difficult to standardize weight and size, this is the way to go for pricing. Perhaps singaporeans can adopt this concept?

Time for healthy treats! I ate some yang mei(杨梅) after the dumplings. Its harvest locally and very cheap here and it belongs to the berry family. Its available in Singapore too but usually can be a little pricey. Its sweet and sour, with high antioxidants too :D

Cute little muffins for TPDE :)

2011-03-20T23:08:00.004+08:00

Wow.. hi :) This is so surprising! i missed blogging!! WAY TOO busy with school and dance that resulted in that long "coma" with blogging and baking. Just an update to all my friends who is actually reading my blog, i will be going China, Hangzhou for my internship. Attaching to Nanchang university for 4 months, well and i am sure most of you knows that China literally banned all social websites such as facebook, blogspot, etc. Nevertheless, not going to stop me from accessing these websites! I will find a way ;D

I really really missed my Lime Green Kitchen Aid, so i whipped it out of the box which i shoved into about 4 months ago and had just spent some quality time with it catching up ^^

While i was browsing through the other bloggers' food blog, i felt the adrenaline rush again!! Whee :)

This time i made some mini muffins for my school dance club friends since we will all be training from 9am to 10pm! They might appreciate to have something small to nibble on :)

(The vinegar + milk is actually a substitute for buttermilk) Muffins are a healthier alternative to other cakes as it has lesser fat content, at the same time they are easier to make, especially for beginners :) Life's simple pleasures are well, simple to make !!

Oh before i end this post, want to make a little advertising here.. my school is having a dance production on 1st April and 2nd April, the concert starts at 730pm to 9pm. Tickets are going at $15 each, please come and support! You will be glad to spend your evening with us :) There are modern and hip hop dance items~

Mini Muffin With Chocolate Chips

Makes 54 Mini muffins

*Preheat Oven at 190C

Ingredients

Wet Mixture

112g butter, melted

2 Eggs

250g Milk

1tsp vanilla essence

30g vinegar, i used rice vinegar

Dry Mixture

228g plain flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Baking Soda

200g semisweet chocolate chips

264g brown sugar

Method

Seive flour with baking powder and baking soda*

Stir in sugar and chocolate chips, set aside.

Whisk in eggs, followed by vanilla essence, milk and vinegar.

Using mini muffin pans, line with mini paper cups.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture till a runny batter is formed.

Pour into each paper cup.

Bake for 11-13 minutes at 190C

I love my Dance Friends~ TPDE

Cereal Raisin Cookie, Homemade goodness

2010-09-15T11:12:00.002+08:00

Heya guys! Supposed to post about my pineapple jam that i attempted to make on monday but it was a huge disaster!! The recipe called for 750g of sugar to 1 kg of pineapple and well the whole thing caramelized and i ended up with a carbon at the bottom of the pot and ultra sticky, gooey pineapple syrup! I even cut down the sugar and only used 500g, i cant imagine if i had used the amount as stated -.-

Hence i bought another pineapple, going to try out this time WITHOUT any sugar. I wanted to bake some cookies today and i am a fan of cereals so i browse through my cookbooks and found this recipe from [Little Cookies Earn Big $] by Y3K

However i didnt exactly follow the method as stated, i wasn't focusing on the cookie dough and i forgotten to add in an egg after creaming the butter with the icing sugar! I only realised the error as i was mixing the dry ingredients into the butter mixture i was wondering how come the dough is so dry and crumbly. Anyway i needed to salvage this cookie dough, so i went ahead and added an egg. well the taste was nice and fragant from the cereals, the walnut gave a nice crunch and the raisins gave an extra bite to it. It was a good cookie, satisfying : ) Next time i'll do it again as according to the method and see if there's any textural changes. HAHA

Recipe make 35 small teaspoon size cookies

Preheat Oven at 150C for 15 minutes*

Ingredients

50g Salted butter, softened
40g Icing Sugar, sieved (originally 60g)
An egg
50g Plain flour, sieved
50g Cereal
50g Raisin
25g Walnuts, chopped

Method

Mix Flour, cereal, raisin and walnuts together in a bowl, set aside
Cream butter with icing sugar till fluffy
Add in egg and mix till combined
Gradually mix in the dry mixture, doing it in two batches
Use two teaspoons and form teaspoon size cookie dough and drop them on a lined baking tray
Flatten slightly with back of the spoon.(The cookies dont really spread so i is okay to place the dough about 1.5cm away from each other)
Bake at 150C for 30 minutes, rotating the plate halfway through.
Cool thoroughly before storage.

Hello :) Back with a kaya jam!

2010-09-11T11:51:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, sorry for MIA for soooo long. i know, much things happened the last two weeks and i just couldn't bake or do any blogging at all. Well i just fnished my last exam paper on thursday, i had to struggle with a horrible gastric flu and trying to study after the closing of YOG 2010. I had high fever (about 38.5 Degrees celsius for 4 consecutive nights), costant dizziness, nausea and diarrhea for 8 days x/ All this while i had to remember to study for my exam papers, it was really bad to study with a headache! I am so so glad i made it through in one piece :)

haha so now i am actually working on a overseas community project, and i am assigned to experiment with jam making using local tropical fruits with my teammate. In the next few posts will be trials and error of the jam making process. Mr teacher in charge gave us several options like pineapple jam, papaya, mixed fruits, kaya and tamarind jam?? Any of you heard of tamarind jam?? It is a favourite food in Cambodia, yeap i'll be going to Cambodia for this project in October : D

This is my second attempt at kaya making, but the first time i'm trying out this method. My first attempt was using double boil method but this one was direct cooking over the stove. i can say this is much more dangerous! The mixture was splattering all over the place as it boils! Ouch, i got scalded many times during the cooking process, so i guess i'll stick with the double boil method :)

I made this kaya without any pandan leaves, just wanted to test the consistency.

Evaluation : Jam set and gelate after it has cooled but consistency was soft and runny. It looked grainy to me but was very spreadable on bread. It smelled just like the coconut candy sold in the market, literally! Dark brown in colour due to caramelization of sugar.

(sugar browning)

Sweetness wise, it is alright. but i've cut the sugar by half, so the original recipe will be...(haha you know what i mean)
The jam sort of separated near the bottom of the jar, there was a transparent brown layer that looked like caramel to me :x i didn't refrigerate as my teacher told me there isn't any refrigerator in homes of cambodians?? hmm, something for us to think about.

Next trial: Pineapple Jam :D

Char Siew Buo Luo Bao

2010-08-21T13:39:00.005+08:00

This was made two days ago, i didn't have the time to post about it as i was busy with my duties at the Youth Olympic Village. It is so exciting to be part of YOG 2010 !! Singapore's first ever : )

For this Char Siew Recipe, it was published on the most recent sunday times. I saw it and then decided to try out the recipe. Well maybe my skills aren't good enough because i still feel that the ones sold at crystal jade still taste better, haha :d

After baking

Before Baking

Roasting in action

Crumb mixture for pastry top

The char Siew filling was really too sweet for my taste, and i did cut down on that honey (strongly not recommended for people who can't eat sweet stuff)

The bun itself was soft on that day but became quite stale the next. I halved the recipe for the bread dough but added double the amount of butter it called for. i think that's why it only manage to 'double' in size after what seems like 2 hours instead of the stated 1 hour.

The pastry on the top of the bun had texture similar to that of a butter cookie, haha you can see how the stiff the pastry is in the picture below. haha i give myself a 6/10 for first attempt.
I won't be uploading the recipe since i am quite unusure about it : ) Hope you guys understand, haha!

Oh by the way, this is a picture of a yogurt chiffon cake i made on tuesday ;)

Sesame 5 grain animal cookies

2010-08-13T00:29:00.006+08:00

n

Rabbit

Dog

Cat

Elephant

Hen

Bear (its not a pig)

This is my number one favourite healthy cookie! It is so good that me and my mum wiped out 60 cookies in 3 days! NOTE: they are not mini size animal cookies

It is just a cookie cramped with as much goodness as possibleee. (you'll soon find out why)

You must really try this recipe if you are one of those people who likes to eat those healthy high fibre cookies sold in the supermarkets. (Those individually packed ones? I shan't mention any names, haha)

This cookie is way better!! Plus they are so cute! I like to eat off their bodies before attacking the head. lol (sound a bit sick) Oh i've calculated the calories based on USDA's food calorie database, they are approximately 30 calories each. Like i said, they are not mini sized ones, so it is a must try!!

However, got to be careful with the dough cause it is a little bit sticky. I keep my hands clean by using those plastic cutters/scrapers for bread making to flatten the dough before cutting them out. I work with small amount of dough one at a time instead of rolling them and cutting them all at one go, they tend to stck to the work surface.

The trick here is to use the scraper to scrape up the flattened dough off the work surface. (using hands to peel the dough tends to break it apart and you'll have to rework again) Before you cut the dough with the cutter.

I twice baked the cookies for extra crispness and to last longer ( but there wasn't a need to,lol)

Here's the recipe

Ingredients

100g 5 grain flour
100g Wholemeal flour
40g Ground almonds
60g Nestum cereals
12g Each of black and white sesame seeds, toasted at 150C for 10 minutes(Keep an eye on them)
1/4 Tsp baking powder
20g milk
110g Maple Syrup
50g Canola oil
pinch of salt

Preheat* 170C

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together, including sesame seeds, excluding salt
Whisk maple syrup, oil, salt and milk together to form a paste
Mix a well in the center of the dry mix
Pour in the Wet mixture
Stir gradually using a spoon
Use hand to form a dough if necessary
Flatten dough with Scraper or palm of the hand
Cut out dough and place directly on baking pan.
Preheat oven* after half the tray is filled with unbaked cookies.( My oven bakes about 30 cookies per tray)
Bake for 12 minutes at 170C
Bake second time after all cookies have cooled at 140C for 10 minutes (Bake with the underside up)
Hello Mr bear : )

Food Blogger's Meet up

2010-08-12T23:54:00.008+08:00

Hello guys! The meet up hosted by Pei lin was so awesome! I am so blessed to know these food bloggers after following their blogs for so long! They are really hippie people ;) There was so much food! All made with tender loving care, haha! Edith (http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com) opened up her house to us so we will not have to bear the embarrassment of being chased out of any particular restaurant for hogging up their seats as we chat!

Haha, i can seriously understand that food is the way to life! With food, we meet new people, make new friends. Through food, we show care and concern. Having GOOD food injects excitement to any party! lol alright i'll shall show you the delicious food my fellow blogger friends whipped up. (Sorry but its incomplete, i was too excited to eat, so i skipped some of it, thus no pictures, all in my stomach, haha)

Aimei brought swiss roll hand rolled with pork floss, seaweed and cucumber. Its sweeet and savoury at the same time :)

Edith's Awesome curry and Bandung

Grace's mini burger buns are to die for! i will PAY for them! Sadly she doesn't sell haha, she made Mini blueberry tarts too!

ZhuoYuan's Homemade Green Tea Truffles! He is the 1st person i've ever made who can make such wonderful confectionary with chocolate! He made rum and raisin, dark chocolate truffle too! I love the rum and raisin version : D

My sesame cookies!

There was also almond cream by jane, Peilin's chocolate cookie and durian tart(Can you believe it?? It taste really good!), Jess's mango pomelo dessert, Shirley's Special Mee Rubus, Bee Bee's wonderful soon kueh!

PS : all my favourite food : )

Presents to take home : D From Ai mei and Jane

After the meet up, i decided to explore the area, so i walked from lavender to bugis, pass raffles city to dhoby ghaut and then reached clark quay. Over there i saw a group of people with those huge DSR (or is it DSL?) camera shooting away. Haha so i "copy cat" and took out my digital camera and took some pictures

.

Blogger's meet up

2010-08-07T23:40:00.002+08:00

I am really excited about the blogger's meet up initiated by pei-lin. Thank you! It must be hardwork to arrange such an event and you deserve a round of applause for your courage and effort :)

All my fellow food bloggers will be bringing such fabulous food! I am so lucky! I will be bringing my humble whole wheat sandwiches.

Check in tmr for pictures of it :) I am going to make it tmr. haha

till then, see ya!

Lemon Yogurt Muffin

2010-06-12T21:45:00.004+08:00

y

Well i had 3 lemons seating in my fridge for a week and they are shouting at me for their attention whenever i open my fridge. Yes they've successfully persuaded me- so i made them into muffins :D

I've been searching for a good recipe and i settled for blessed homemaker's lemon yogurt cake recipe

The cake tastes much better the next day, it is more moist and softer. I got addicted to the sweet and sour lemon syrup and ended up eating 2 in the morning for breakfast! Well they are approximately 100 calories per muffin so it didn't make me feel so bad :D
Well i tried converting the 120ml of oil to grams but had an error. It was supposed to be 108g of oil but i only used 90g so the texture of my cake might deviate a bit from hers. Do follow blessed homemakers recipe if you want to have a taste of the original cake. All in all, i like my modified version of the cake : )

I assumed Blessed Homemaker used stir-style plain yogurt, those creamy ones, so when i made mine with set yogurt, i added in milk to compensate for the lower water activity content. I also decreased the sugar to suit my taste. Usually an extra large egg will weigh in at about 60g - 65g but the eggs i used was 50g each so i guess the texture of my muffin will be slightly different from blessed homemaker's. I stirred the batter with a hand held whisk and it works fine. Thank you blessed homemaker! My mother likes the cake : D

Original Recipe Here
Ingredients
(A)
180g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

(B)
170g plain set yogurt
25g milk
100g sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Grated Zest of 3 lemons ( 2 is actually enough)

(C)
90l vegetable oil

(D)
65ml freshly squeezed lemon juice(1 1/2 lemon)
40g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin pan with paper cups
Sift (A) into a bowl, set aside
Whisk egg with sugar, yogurt, milk and vanilla
Incorporate (A) into batter from step 3
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center comes out clean.
Meanwhile, cook (D) in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.It will thicken up ( Due to hygroscopicity of sugar )
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

Wholemeal Cereal Cookies (With M&Ms)

2010-06-06T22:21:00.004+08:00

The day has come to announce that i don't have to spend every second of my life(while awake) studying! Yes i do love what i do- studying but baking is the fire that keeps the fire buring passionately. I am at lost right now, which electives should i choose? In the next semester, i will be studying 5 out of the 9 electives available. Basically it is 3 components; nutrition;food science;food establishment management. Well since i plan to srt up my own bakery, of course i would choose food management, but what about the other two?? It is a really difficult decision to make. First up, there isn't a dietitian degree available in Singapore(how sad is this??) Secondly, although there is indeed a degree in food science and technology in NUS, then it is almost an imperative to take the anaylsis module which is really tough.(A LOT OF LAB SESSIONS) Oh dear, let's have some cookies to calm my brain cells down. They are shrivelling to the size of a pea(I know pea is WAY bigger than a cell)

Now this cookie is wholemeal, taste really good, the oat cereals gave a nutty flavour and lowered the calories!! They'll bulk up your cookie, so you think you are eating a lot of cookies but actually have lesser calories : D This cookie is really worth making, the recipe is simple enough and it is just so fun to eat, and make too!!

Recipe

Makes about 40 cookies

Ingredients

113g Butter, room temperature
100g Sugar(Original 200g)
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole meal flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups Cereal(Preferbly unsweetened)
1/2 cup Mini M&Ms

*Preheat oven at 180 celsius

Method

Cream Butter and sugar till fluffy
Add in egg and keep stirring till it has emulsified together to produce a creamy mixture(no water and fat separation can be seen)
Mix in flour and baking powder, stir till combined
Add in cereals and M&Ms
Drop heaped teaspoons of dough onto baking sheet lined with grease paper and flatten with back of the spoon.
Bake in oven* for 11 minutes
Cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely
(I baked mine at 180 celsius for 10 minutes and 160 celsius for 10 minutes to achieve a crispy and crunchy texture, my oven is probably faulty :/ )

Wholemeal Raisin Pullman Tin Bread

2010-05-29T00:14:00.006+08:00

I am really thankful for Vesak day to fall on friday, it gave me an additional of 24 hours to study :D okay maybe 8 hours went to sleep and 4 hours went for making this bread and a few hours to eating. This is my first attempt to make a rectangular shape bread using the pull man tin i bought a month ago.

Man my bread had sharp corners! haha, usually it was round. Perhaps it contains a lot of whole wheat flour so there was an additional fermentation step prior to mixing the main dough. The recipe was adapted from Happy Ho me Baking

Recipe makes a 7.5" x 4" x 4" bread loaf

Ingredients A
120g wholemeal flour
85g bread flour
15g wheat bran
4g (1 tsp) instant yeast
145g water( It was hot and sunny that day, and the extra wheat bran added absorbed more water, so i added 15g more water)

Ingredients B
85g bread flour
15g caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10g milk powder
45g water

Ingredients C
15g salted butter, softened

Method

Mix the dry ingredients in (A) in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add in the water. Mix by hand to form a soft dough. Place dough in a mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rise for 90 minutes . The dough will look like this after 90 minutes, you can see some tiny bubbles and holes.

Place the ingredients in (B) into the standing mixer. Knead the (B) using dough hook at spead 1 for 2 minutes and increase to spead 2 and knead till a dough forms, add in dough from step one.

After about 8 mins of kneading, add in the 15g of butter (Ingredient C). Let the mixer continue to knead the dough at speed 2 for about 30 minutes or the dough becomes elastic.(Note: the dough will not be as smooth as a white bread dough due to the wheat bran.

Cover with cling wrap and let it rise till double in volume for about 60mins.

Punch out the air and remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead. Divide into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Cover with cling wrap, let the doughs rest for 15mins.

Flatten and roll out each dough into an oval shape (20cm by 10cm). Add in the sunflower seeds and roll up swiss roll style and pinch the seams in place. Repeat again but this time adding raisins instead.

Place in a pullman tin (size, 7.5"x4"x4", well greased), seams side down. Cover the lid and let dough proof for 60mins or until the dough rise up to 90% of the height of the tin.

Bake at preheated oven at 190 degC for about 30mins.

Remove from oven and unmold immediately. Let cool completely before slicing.

Durian Cheesecake (Chilled)

2010-05-22T14:53:00.003+08:00

Hey! This cake was done last week, i didn't have time to post about it neither do i have time to bake :(

The base tasted really good!! it was crunchy and not soggy at all. Pardon me for MIA for so long, even now as i am writing this, i am half awake. Yeap, here's the recipe

Makes a 23 cm cake, I used a 21 cm spring form pan

Base

90g Butter, diced
100g Digestive biscuit
1 Tbs Brown sugar
30g Cocoa powder
50g Cornflakes(i used cheerios, unsweetened)
100g Oreo cookie without cream(i used this because i didn't have enough digestive)

Process everything except butter in the food processor until finely grounded
Melt butter in non stick pan
Turn off heat and mix in crushed cookies
Press mixture into bottom of pan and chill in fridge

Filling

125g milk
1 Tbs + 80g extra sugar
2 Tbs custard powder mixed with 2 tbs milk
2 Tbs gelatine dissolved in 120g water
500g Durian flesh,mashed
250g cream cheese, diced
300ml thickened cream (i used 200ml cream + 100ml non-fat plain yogurt)

Stir in sugar to milk in a pot till dissolved
Bring the mixture to a boil and over a small fire
Pour in custard mixture while stirring CONTINUOUSLY untill thickened and smooth.
Remove from heat and stir in gelatin, set aside
Beat cream cheese with extra sugar till smooth
Blend in cream and mix in durian flesh
Pour over crust in pan and cover with cling wrap
Chill in fridge for 6 hours or over night.

:D Yay i did it! They taste good when frozen too! Like durian ice cream :))

Sesame Ice Box Cookie

2010-05-11T00:00:00.003+08:00

Lots of sesames in there!

Yeap ice box! It just means you got to freeze the dough then slice it and bake it :) They have a great texture and flavour, especially if you like sesame. These little seeds are crunchy! I am really sorry everyone! This is because i lost the recipe for this cookie! I feel sad myself :( I'll try to remember and make these cookies again!

(I am really busy with school work, i am sorry!)
I miss you, baking :)

Date Coffee Cake

2010-05-10T21:19:00.009+08:00

Hi everyone, i know i went missing for a week. This is because i was too busy with my school work. I had to write an eight page report on a case study given to us by my food preservation and quality assurance lecturer. The problem was food poisoning after customers ate the food from our 'cafe'. Well the focus was on yogurt, man now i really know SO MUCH about yogurt. i know that two types of starter culture bacteria are used to make yogurt, the pH, the specifications and well, basically tons of information.

Alright, i'm sorry about all the yogurt lets move on to my bakes :) I still managed to bake 3 times last week, albeit my busy school work, will be posting the other two soon. I really really wanted to use up the dates in my fridge since bought it last year. Could you believe it? The dates did not grow any moulds or yeasts! This is probably due to the high sugar content of the dates, it decreases the water activity to the extent that any microorganisms will find it difficult to grow in.

OH DEAR, i am babbling about microorganisms again! Okay well i flavoured the cake with coffee emulco( artificial flavouring), but it still smell like good coffee :D I never liked drinking coffee but its by products are sure enticing! However i think i might have over baked the cake, cause it taste really 'crusty'. Yes this is my fault, i was trying to multitask, baking and doing an online quiz set by my lecturer on my computer. I will not be posting the recipe since it wasn't exactly a successful bake. I will try it again and then if it turns out alright then i'll post the recipe.

5 Grain Almond Maple Cookies

2010-05-01T11:12:00.007+08:00

This cookies are so light and flavourful. It's so easy to make, i'm sure you'll fall in love with this recipe. In addition, they are pretty low in fat, whole grain and not too sweet :D

You can use different cookie cutters, i just used a fluted 5 cm in diameter cutter.

Recipe

*Preheat oven to 160C

Ingredients

50g Plain flour
50g Ground Almonds
50g 5 Grain flour
1/8 Tsp Baking Powder
55g Maple Syrup
25g Canola Oil
Pinch of sea salt

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together

Mix the wet ingredients together along with the salt

Rub in dry mixture into the wet mixture to form a dough*

Roll out and cut with cutter

Bake at 160C for 15 Minutes

Bitter Sweet Chocolate Cake

2010-04-26T23:17:00.005+08:00

This cake tastes awsome! I personally liked it a lot, its so chocolatey and slightly bitter :) Not at all too sweet. The chocolate flavour was so intense but not too rich on the palate. There was a large addition of cocoa powder in comparision to the wheat flour added.

Double boil the chocolate and butter together

Mix evenly with a whisk till smooth

Sift cocoa powder and flour together and set aside.

I probably didn't do a good mix at the end because the cake was pretty fudgey in the centre but the outer part of the cake had a sponge-like texture.

The cake cracked in the middle, so i used some fresh strawberries to cover up. I think it cracked due to temperature too high, perhaps i might reduce the temperature by 5C next time round.

If i am right, the strawberries stole the limelight away from the cake. Hmm, it is too prominent :)
Berries are in season right now, grab them while they are really a bargain :D

Recipe makes an 7 inch cake, use pan with removable base, greased and coated with flour

Adapted from Keiko ishida(2009), Okashi, Pg 134, Marshall Cavendish Cuisine: Singapore, 1 New Industrial Road

Ingredients

35g Pastry flour( i used cake flour)
50g Cocoa powder
100g sweet chocolate at 55% cocoa solids ( i used van houlten cooking chocolate)
80g Unsalted butter
50g Castor sugar(i used 30g)
4 Egg yolks
50g Whipping cream

4 Egg whites
110g Castor Sugar ( i used 50g, i don't have a sweet tooth)

*Preheat oven to 170C

Methods

Melt chocolate and butter using double boil method set over a pot of simmering heat, taking care not to let any water go into your mixture.

Remove from heat, add in sugar, yolks and cream one by one and mix using a whisk

In a clean bowl, whip egg whites till frothy, gradually add in sugar till it reaches stiff peak

Take 1/3 of the meringue( egg white + sugar + whipping action) into chocolate mixture*

Fold flour mixture into chocolate mixture using spatula

Add in all of the remaining meringue and incorporate.

Pour into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes (i think 45 minutes is sufficient for me)

Oreo Cheese Cake

2010-04-25T00:18:00.004+08:00

Who doesn't like oreos??
I guess not many, so oreo cheese cake is always an crowd pleaser.
I may have over-baked slightly as the rim of the cake is on the drier side. Luckily it became more moist after chilling it in the fridge.

For some reason, my quartered oreos were 'floating' in my batter instead of being incorporated into it. As you can see from the picture, there were oreos at the surface of the cake. My friends said it might taste better if i process the oreos into the cheese batter, making a homogenous oreo cheese batter.

The recipe actually called for 336g of cream cheese, which was really a weird amount to use since the cream cheese bought in the supermarket is 250g. As a result, i substitute the remaining 86g with plain unsweetened yoghurt and omitted the lime juice since i didn't have any anyway.
Try this!

Makes an 7 inch cake, use a springform pan

*preheat oven at 175C

Ingredients

100g oreo cookies, biscuit only
20g unsalted butter
250g cream cheese, softened
195g condense milk
1/2 Tbs flour
2 small eggs
1/2 Tbs Vanilla Essence
7 oreo cookies, quartered

Method

Set a 9 inch x 9 inch cake pan with warm water upon preheating* at the bottom of the oven

Crush cookies only into crumbs and mix with butter

Press into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes at 175C and leave to cool

Cream the cheese till creany, add milk to smooth out

Add flour to combine followed by eggs gradually

Add in vanilla essence and yoghurt

Fold in quartered oreos and bake at 150C for 50-65 minutes

Cool in oven for 1-4 hours with door ajar

Run a warm knife around the edge of the cake after cooling and chill for 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Hot Dog Bun 1

2010-04-19T20:06:00.005+08:00

Just a lot of cheese :)

Add all the dry ingredients in

Add in the liquid ingredients to form a coarse dough

Add in butter to form a smooth and elastic dough
Proof to double in size by covering with cling wrap at room temperature

Wrap hot dog to form a submarine shape and cut to sections(but not all the way)
Twist the parts outwards, cut side up

Prune Almond Bun

2010-04-13T19:21:00.005+08:00

Hey people!! Thank you for all your support : D i would have never be able to sustain this blog without you guys. This is actually pretty healthy : D One could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Original recipe was actually goji or wolfberries but i replaced it with prune and raisins. It was made with prune juice hence it had a nice brownish hue.

The almond gave a really nice texture to the buns. i only halved the recipe since i have a family of four and it produce 9 fist sized buns. The dough produced was 500+/- grams. I got the recipe from Wendy Koh's Bread Code. The good thing that i appreciate about the book is that everything is in grams, makes measuring easier. It made my house smell so good with the freshly baked bread whafting through the house.

Recipe makes 9 buns

IngredientsA

30g Prunes
150g water

Ingredients B

275g of bread flour
4g instant yeast
20g milk powder
10g sugar
5g salt
25g egg(half an egg)

Ingredients c

15g butter

Ingredients D

60g chopped prunes (i used a mixture of prunes and raisins)
35g sliced almonds

some wheat bran (optional)

* Preheat oven at 190C

Method

Soak 30g prunes in the water for 30 minutes and then blend in blender or processor

Measure ingredients b and mix evenly, gradually add Prune juice to b and mix till a coarse dough is formed

Add in the butter and knead till smooth and elastic

Shape to a smooth round and allow to leaven for about an hour or till double in size in the kneading bowl covered with a damp cloth or cling wrap

Poke a finger into the dough and check that the indention stays. If indention is filled out quickly, it means leavening is incomplete. Cover and wait for another 10 minutes and then do the test again

Once doubled in size, punch the dough to remove air. Using a scraper, turn out dough on working table.
Using two fists, press gently on the dough to remove air pockets, making an elongated shape at the same time.
Make a swiss roll with the dough and divide to 9 portion, cutting with scraper.

Preheat oven for 5 minutes at lowest temperature ( mine was 60C)
Shape to small rounds again, meanwhile making sure the rounds are covered with damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.
With rolling pin, flatten the rounds to oval shape
Sprinkle Ingredients D and make roll up the dough, pinching the ends to seal.
Take the ends of the longer side and try to bring them together by pinchung slightly
To make nice rounds, cup over the dough on the working surface with your hand and move clockwise or anticlockwise till you get a nice round.
Proof for 30 mintues in the oven that is already off but still warm (keep the dough covered)

*After it has doubled in size, make 2 slits with serated knife to attain a criss cross.

Brush with remaining egg wash (from that half egg) and sprinkle with wheat bran if desired.

Bake for about 13 Minutes

No Bake Post

2010-04-09T22:05:00.008+08:00

Hey all, this post isn't about my bakes although it is about baking-my passion. I am only 18 years old this year, still single and i don't have lovely children :) thus i am pretty troubled by the amount of food that is always left at home.
My father isn't all that supportive of me baking thus he doesn't eat the food that i've made, my brother is too busy with church to be bothered with eating and my poor mother is health concious, she is worried about her cholesterol. Sometimes it makes me depressed that no one appreciates the things i've made. Usually what my readers see are just the better side of the picture, the ugly parts are hidden away, tucked under my bed, never to see daylight.
By ugly i mean occasional mishaps in the kitchen like how my cake didn't rise and how bad it looked. These are too raw to be seen by others, they'll feel sad for me. Sometimes i blame myself for unable to resist the food that i've made- i overeat and it makes me feel really bad (I am still struggling to control) I'll get annoyed for the whole day, sometimes throw my temper - which is very immature. The amount of ready-to-eat food i have at home makes me eat almost every hour and that is disastrous. At times i think; where is your discipline?? You are such a failure. I have all these negative thoughts that i never ever want to bake again, it is just too disgusting.
I know exercise helps but the food in the fridge and kitchen counter seems to be calling my name, trying to get my attention. Strangely enough, i responded to them! I know i shouldn't be doing this(thats what my brain is telling me), but subconciously, my hands reach towards the food, picks it up and sends them to my mouth. Amazingly, chewing starts, i salivate and swallows the food doun my digestive tract. Ah ha! You've just added more calories, now stop or you shall regret! (thats what my brain says) Well maybe part of body broke down, it no longer responds to my brain but only to my food. The whole episode repeats, maybe a few times ( all the while i am telling myself this will be my last bite but somehow it wasn't) Untill i don't know when but i'll stop eventually, right now i am probably staring into a half emptied cake box. !!! I've ate so much! (That's the actual realisation)
Afterwards, i start counting the calories i've taken in probably another 300 or so, i get really scared by now thinking of the fats that these extra calories can become. It is really daunting since i am not that sort of really skiinny girls who can never get fat no matter how much they eat. I think my body has a problem, it is really sensitive to calories.
Respondence level is almost immediate- it makes me want to cry at times. I start blaming myself again, when will these ever stop?
I am always sadded by the fact that i can cook- my mum hardly cooks for me. I really miss the days when i was young and my mum will cook meals for the family, i can hardly feel any warmth in the family now;It seems that no one cares about eating except for me. This results in me cooking up portions that's able to feed 2 or more but ended up all me my stomach since nobody's eating. It makes me feel horrible again, i am yearning for time to reverse to the period where i was in primary school, i ate what i like and didn't feel like i was getting fatter.( i think i didn't) Now it seems that whatever i eat makes me fat, am i having some eating disorder? My mother always comment that i'm weird and it makes me feel even worse than ever. My hands and legs are not proportionate at all. Is my passion spoiling my life? It could very well be on the road of swirling into my own vortex of darkness.
I Need strength from my wonderful god who gave me my talent and the chance to bake. I pray for your help, empower me to have greater control over what i do in this life you've planned for me. I want to glorify you :D Please help me to love myself for who i am no matter how fat i can become, perhaps you've planned for it to happen to...(my future husband likes fat girls? maybe?)

Spring Onion Crisp

2010-04-08T22:38:00.004+08:00

This is a savoury snack that would probably only appeal to adults. The sight of green' is intimidating to children. In addition, these crisp contains deep fried shallots which has a unique fragrance which can be quite appalling to them as well. Made from similar ingredients as to making bread, you can actually alter the flavour by substituting grated cheese or add in toasted sesame seeds. To be able to make very thin crisp, one must make sure the gluten of the dough is fully developed.

One thing to note is that if they are too thick, they'll puff up and taste bread-like. Use a rolling pin and directly roll the dough on your baking sheet, making it as thin as possible.

These crisps taste like cousins of paper prata! I can't wait to try out cheese flavoured crisps :D

* Preheat oven to 190C
Ingredients

150g Plain Flour
5g Instant Yeast
3g Salt
1g Baking Soda
80ml Milk
30g Unsalted Butter
30g Spring Onions
SOme Fried Shallots

Methods

Mix all ingredients together except the last two.
Knead till smooth and elastic, cover with cliong wrap to relax for 20minutes
knead in the last 2 ingredients*
Using a rolling pin, roll dough thinly on baking pan and bake till golden brown
score the baked dough with a pizza cutter and break them apart to get a nice squares of crisp

note: mine took about 7 minutes to bake till golden brown

Red Bean Bun

2010-04-04T22:15:00.004+08:00

I can't believe my buns are so soft and fluffy!! The bread smelled wonderful and buttery, the red bean paste was so satisfying. It was really worth the effort to stay up till 2am the night before so i can shape the dough after the first rise.

The only thing is that there was too little bread and too much red bean paste but it was still so good.

No words can express my elation and satisfaction when the bread rose so beautifully in the oven. I failed bread making so many times! This is a boost for my confidence in bread making. THANK YOU Happy Home Baking! I used your Sweet Buns recipe :D

The thought of able to put any sort of filling is so exciting! I could put cheese, ham, chicken, tuna fillings...oh the list is endless.

Mushroom Spinach Risotto

2010-04-04T00:39:00.003+08:00

This is my first attempt at making risotto, perhaps not very authentic beacause i didn't use arborio rice but used a short grained brown rice to make this risotto but it turned out creamy! It tasted wonderful and made me feel so healthy, made with just vegetable stock, mushrooms and spinach :D

The only bad thing about this dish is that it is pretty time consuming. The stock must be added bit by bit, it must be stirred continuously to prevent burning. Despite all the effort, it was definitely worth it!

Baked Tuna Puff

2010-04-03T22:25:00.003+08:00

When people hear puffs, they think it's deep-fried. However, it is really not good for the body since all the oil is absorbed into it. In fact, this recipe was originally from marymoh's blog on spiral curry chicken puff, i adapted the recipe and baked it instead.

It was an experiment and it is my first time to make savoury puff but i am quite happy with the results, but of course her puffs will be way better than mine in terms of taste and texture. It was fun to make these puffs too :D

I didn't have chicken so i used canned tuna with added tomato paste, a bit of tabasco, a tad of ketchup and tom yum paste with chopped onions! It was pretty good!

I baked for 30 minutes in total at 200C, it is definitely more convenient to just deep fry if you are not so health concious like me

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

2010-04-02T10:45:00.004+08:00

Who says cookies have to be fattening? Italian biscotti is a low-fat treat that is almost guilt free. The chocolate flavour is intense and compliments very well with the almonds.
They go very well with a cup of your favourite drink :D They are really crunchy if baked sufficiently, the added espresso might have sprinkled some magic dust onto these cookies cause they are addictive!

The original recipe calls for hazelnuts but since i didn't have any on hand, i used almonds. I think different nuts yields a different flavour, feel free to use whatever you like and tell me about it ;)

Well the only bad thing about making this is how STICKY the dough was. You really have to dust and flour your hands thoroughly. Otherwise, the dough sticks like crazy! It is better to have a dough cutter or scraper, cleans up the bowl better(reduce wastage!)

Biscotti are not cheap if you are a starbucks fan, they are sold at about 2 dollar plus if i'm not wrong? Why not make a batch, save some for yourself and bless your friends and family members? :D

Recipe adapted from joy of baking

Makes about 30 cookies
*Preheat oven to 150C

Ingredients

1 cup Almonds
120g Bittersweet chocolate, chopped
150g light brown sugar
230g Plain flour
30g Cocoa powder
8g Instant espresso powder
1 Tsp Baking soda
1/4 Tsp salt
3 Eggs
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

Using food processor, process chocolate and sugar together till fine crumb forms
Sift flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking soda and salt together in a bowl
Using a whisk, beat eggs and vanilla in a larger bowl for about 30 seconds or till combined*
Add the dry mixture to the egg mixture gradually in batches, adding in almonds halfway through.
Line baking pan with parchment paper, lightly flour the paper and generously flour your hands
Using a scraper, divide dough into 2 portions and transfer onto the baking pan.
Mould and shape into log shape thats 10" long and 2" wide keeping the logs about 3" apart since they will spread a bit.
Bake for 35-40 minutes and cool for 10 minutes on a rack.
Slice the logs diagonally using serrated knife and place the cut side on the pan, baking an additional 15 minutes for each side.
Cool completely before keeping in airtight container.

Total Baking Time is about an hour.

Home-made Honey Granola

2010-04-01T15:09:00.006+08:00

Crunchy, nutty flavour and healthy morning food- granola. Usually, store-bought granola are laden with sugar and BHT(Butyl hydroxytoulene) One of those antioxidants that allows your breakfast cereal to stay crisp for years! I thought- why not make these manufacturers a run for their money ;) ? Let's have home made granola!

This is simple! Not much equipment needed, just make sure the ingredients that you are using are of the best quality that is available to you.

(BEWARE)I can't stop munching on them, it takes quite some will power to stop the habit of grabbing handfuls of that granola and transferring them to the mouth for digestion and absorption :D

They taste wonderful with yoghurt too. These oats have a slight hint of cinnamon flavour, i might try and experiment with cocoa powder next time :)

Really, make this and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Joy Of Baking

Yields about 5 cups

*Preheat oven at 165C

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup each of raw almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp salt
90g of water
10g of vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

boil water, oil, honey and salt on a sauce pan*
In a large bowl, mix oats with the rest of the ingredients(dry)
Pour in the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir till evenly coated with liquid

(I omitted the brown sugar in the original recipe and made adjustments to my liking, if you have tried the original recipe, let me know about it :D )

Food Tasting Session Invitation

2010-04-01T09:11:00.004+08:00

Hello readers! I recieved an invitation by Neo Group of Caterers for a food tasting session for their Orange Clove catering's new menu . They asked me if there was anyone i would like to bring along. Therefore, those who lives in Singapore or will be in singapore on 16 April 7.30pm - 9.30pm, you are welcomed to join me : D
Email me at sherry_4ever@hotmail.com by 3pm today if you are available.

Potato Pan Cake

2010-03-30T23:35:00.003+08:00

,

I needed to feed my brother fast today since he was in a rush to leave the house. There was no time to look at my cook books for ideas, i needed to decide-fast! I rummaged around my kitchen and found 2 plump potatoes and thought they looked fine. The potatoes thus underwent an extreme make over- washed, peeled, grated and fried till crispy golden brown. Later on, i thought they might be feeling quite lonely, so i beat and season 2 eggs to join the party on the hot pan. They were all on fire! For a savoury ending, i speckled their face with some salt and pepper.

Since potatoes aren't considered as vegetables from my point of view, i made a salsa using cherry tomatoes with a splash of basalmic vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil, spiced with some paprika.

So easy! However, russet potatoes don't work so well- waxy potatoes are better. I had to rinse the grated potatoes a few good times and really dry it before cooking to prevent it from becoming soggy. To up the fragrance level, add a tiny little tsp of salted butter to the cooking oil- HMMM :D

M&M Brownies

2010-03-28T10:28:00.003+08:00

Who can resist a good brownie?? This brownie is made with cocoa powder instead of cooking chocolate, so if you are on a tight budget ( i am) , try this recipe! The clean up work from brownies are a tad easier than other bakes since 2 bowls and a whisk and you are good to go :D

This brownie is fudgey and not cake like. If you prefer cake- like brownies then i am sorry ! This is not the one for you. The cocoa powder really tuned down the level of sweetness with a slight bitterness to it. If you are making for little children, be sure to add more of those mini M&Ms! You can play around the recipe and add mini marshmallows- it'll make the brownies sweeter :D

Recipe that makes 8"x 8" square pan - 16 pieces
*Preheat oven at 160C

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Canola oil
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Sugar ( Originally 1 Cup)
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
3/4 Plain flour
1/8 Tsp salt
1/3 Cup of Bittersweet couverteur chocolate
1/3 Cup Mini M&Ms

Method

Measure oil into smaller bowl, whisk in cocoa powder.

In another larger bowl, beat sugar and eggs together, stir in vanilla and cocoa mixture*

Sift in flour with salt and mix till JUST combine. (Over mixing will cause over development of gluten structure, making your brownies hard)

Fold in chocolate and M&Ms, reserving some as toppings

Top batter with toppings

Bake for about 30 minutes or till tooth pick inserted in comes out clean or with a LITTLE bit of crumbs is fine.

Cool completely before cutting

(By the way, sugar increases tenderness)

Baked Chicken Pasta

2010-03-22T14:19:00.003+08:00

Today my brother was at home, so i decided to have a change from cooking chinese but have baked pasta instead. It was pretty easy and most ingredients are found in a can :D
The original recipe didn't have any greens in them, so i added a floret of broccoli into the whole thing- forcing my brother to eat some good old veggie ;)

My mother doesn't like chewy and elastic cheese (aka mozzerella), so i went really easy on the amount. This is better anyway since cheese are expensive and fattening. I was really lucky today as the cheese was on sale at the fairprice near my house, probably trying to clear its stock. It was usually 7.75 singapore dollars for a mere 250g but the offer was 9.95 for 2 packets of it! (say wow!) : D

Alright i spent about 45 minutes from scratch till the end product, but it'll be much faster if you didn't have that extra broccoli in there. You could just substitute with frozen vegetables if you like, just remember to blanch it in boiling water for 2 mins.

This recipe serves 6 but i only had 3 in the house, so i made the sauce according to the recipe and froze half a portion of it for use next round. The amount of minced chicken that i used is about 200g to 250g, i didn't check the weight since it was the last packet on the shelf. I just did the grab and go thing. This whole dish can be turned into a vegetarian dish by simply substituing and chicken with canned baked beans or chickpeas or what ever legumes you have. If you don't have chicken or beans, you could use canned tuna or simply scrambling 4 beaten eggs on the pan after you have brown the onions. Enough being said, now is your turn to try :)

A Ingredients

1 can of stewed tomatoes(about 14 ounce or 4oog)
1/2 can of 6 ounce/168g tomato paste
1/4 cup tomato juice( i used water)
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Dried oregano(i used mixed herbs)
1/4 Tsp ground pepper

B Ingredients

About 225g minced chicken
1 medium white onion, chopped
about 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
150g of dried pasta
A floret of broccoli, cut to small pieces and boiled

Method

Boil and cook pasta till al dente in water containing 1 tsp of salt

Puree all of ingredient A, freezing any extras

Add a little oil to non-stick frying pan
Add in onions when pan is hot and fry for 30 seconds
Add chicken in, breaking up and browning the meat with onions.
Preheat oven to 190C
Pour pureed sauce and cover, simmering for 10 mins
Add a bit of water from the boiled broccoli if the sauce seems to dry up.
Stir in cooked pasta with broccoli and bake in casserole dish for 5 minutes
Top with cheese and bake for another 10minutes till cheese is golden brown.

Nutty and Chippy Cookie

2010-03-21T23:19:00.003+08:00

!

After CNY, there seems to be an abundance of empty plastic containers(with red lids) yearning to be filled. To bring forth happiness to these lonely empty bottles, i decided to bake a batch of simple cookies :)

I wanted my cookies to have a nice crunch so i added walnuts, bakeable chocolate chips, corn flakes and some shredded coconut.
These recipe calls for half butter and half oil which is apretty interesting combination. However, worrying was redundant because the cookies came out so crispy!

Alright, this is so easy! If you are just a beginner starting to bake, try this 99.9% no fail recipe. You can hardly go wrong ;D

*Preheat at 180 degrees celcius

A Ingredients

30g Salted Butter, soften

30g vegetable oil(Canola oil/oil without strong flavours)

40g soft brown sugar(originally was 60g)

1/2 egg

115g Cake flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

B Ingredients

50g Walnuts, chopped

30g Semi-Sweet chocolate chips

10g Shredded Dessicated Coconut

40g corn flakes, Slightly Crushed

Method

1) Beat butter till creamy and clings to bowl

2) Add in sugar, oil and egg. Stir to combine (May take a few good stirs)

3) Add in B ingredients

4) Add in sifted flour and Baking soda, stir till combined

5) Bake on pan lined with baking paper*

6) Roll dough into small balls, and place them about 1.5 cm apart since they don't really spread that much

7) Flatten and then bake! About 12-15 minutes depending on the size of your cookies :D

8) Eat and Enjoy!

Kaya Layer cake

2010-03-21T16:59:00.004+08:00

I've been baking and eating furiously lately! Haha i can't get enough of it ;)
I have to go for regular jogs from now on. I have never tried making kueh lapis before and this is my first attempt. The first layer shrunk by more than i expected! Luckily it is masked by the subsequent layers. I have to give myself some applause for the first attempt which is pretty succesfully. I have to thank Wendy for the recipe she posted on her blog.

I did modify the recipe just slightly as i didn't like my cake too sweet

makes a 9 inch x 9 inch square cake

*Preheat oven at grill mode(only upper heating element) at 220 degrees celsius and put greased pan into it to preheat as well

Ingredients

450g salted butter, soften

200g brown sugar

10 eggs

330g Kaya(Originally was 400g)

4 Tbs Milk powder

240g Cake Flour

1/2 Tsp Pandan Paste (Originally was 1 Tsp)

Method

1) Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy

2) Add eggs one by one, only adding after egg has been absorbed into the batter( It will take a long long time to finish, just too many eggs)

3) Mix in kaya

4) Add in milk powder and sift in flour*

5) When fully incorporated, divide to 2 equal portion

6) Add the pandan paste to one of it

7) Take a ladle of green batter and spread evenly, tilting the pan

8) Repeat with priginal batter, lighlty pressing out any air pockets

9)Repeat till there are no more batter

In conclusion, this cake is a bit oily after baking. Next time when i bake, i may consider reducing the butter by 50g. Flavour wise; pretty good both my parents liked it. The crumb is very tender, probably due to the oil.

Saute mushroom and asparagas sandwich

2010-03-19T14:42:00.005+08:00

Hello just another sandwich : D i had this before i worked so i wouldn't feel hungry while working. This is because i have no lunch break :( One less chance to eat. Oh well what can i do? So i decided that breakfast had to be nutritious, with fibre, protein and some good fats to increase satiety as well : D

Asparagas gives lots of soluble and insoluble fibre
Mushroom has lots of fibre, vitamins and minerals
Wholemeal bread for fibre and carbohydrates
Canned tuna for Protein
Processed cheese for protein, calcium ( and lots of sodium!)

All down with a glass of milk (not shown) and a fresh plum fruit :D

To tell you the truth, about 8 hours after i had this sandwich, i was SUPER HUNGRY. Thus i had an early dinner at 4pm :)

Apple banana muffin

2010-03-19T14:07:00.004+08:00

I was craving for bananas but thought that eating plain banana was too boring so i made this apple banana muffin : D It is exciting to eat muffin especially when you got the little bits of walnuts that so crunchy and flavourful! In this recipe there is a touch of cinnamon and i thought it really made the muffin extra special : D

In addition, its pretty healthy! about 110 calories per muffin! That is about one cup of milk's calories. You can have 2 and it's still okay ;)

Try it out! makes 8 standard size muffins

Ingredients

Salted butter, softened 70g

Brown Sugar 50g

One Fuji Apple, grated

One banana, cut to chunks as toppings

Plain flour, sifted 110g

Wheat Bran 10g ( Added for increasing fibre, optional)

Baking Powder 1Tsp

Milk 2Tbs

Egg, beaten 1

Cinnamon Powder 1/4Tsp

Walnuts, chopped 40g

Method Oven preheat at 180 degrees celsius

1) In a bowl, cream butter and sugar then gradually add in egg

2) When emulsified(combined), add in milk( not cold!)

3) Add in grated apple and mix.

4) Add in flour mixture(flour+bran+Bp+Cinnamon) in batches and combine

5) Drop spoonful into muffin pan, about 3/4 full and top with bananas.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes, checking at after 15 minutes.

Peanut Butter cookie covered in chocolate shell

2010-03-14T21:04:00.003+08:00

I was itching to try out this cookie way back and of course i jumped right in to do it upon a chance : D

First i made a chocolate cookie dough, followed by the filling.
The filling was made from creamy peanut butter + cocoa powder instead of icing sugar which the recipe called for. I decided to make the switch because i didn't want it to be too sweet.
Once the dough has chilled in the fridge till firm enough to be manipulated, i used it to wrap the peanut filling.
Peanut butter goes well with chocolate, trust me ;)
The cookie has a nice chewy cake like texture, not the crispy sort. The smell of the peanut just occupies the whole of your nasal passage and exudes out into the atmosphere. As you open your mouth to take another bite of goodness, the fragrant peanut smell sneaks its way back into your mouth to meet its buddy- chocolate.
On the whole, although it takes a bit of effort to make this cookies, it was well worth it :D

Homemade bread

2010-03-14T20:36:00.004+08:00

Finally had the time to try my hands at some bread making sessions.

The feeling of the soft bread dough under my fingers is just so therapeutic :)

Watching it rise in the oven is so thrilling!!

Although the crumb texture is still not satisfying, i am still very happy that it rose pretty well!

There are still more to learn and we all know practice makes perfect!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2010-03-07T21:37:00.003+08:00

Fluffy Fluffy cakes are my favourite : ) I was being lazy so i made them with store bought pandan paste, thus explaining the out of ordinary green. Still they tasted really nice : D
Here's the recipe!!

Requires an 8 inch chiffon pan

Ingredients

4 Large Egg yolks
30g Sugar( i used 15g)
1 Tbs Honey
Pinch of Salt

50g Vegetable Oil( i used canola)
100ml Coconut milk
1/4 Tsp Pandan Paste

100g Cake Flour, Sift
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder ( I didn't use it, I forgot! Haha)

4 Egg Whites
1/2 Tsp Cream of Tar Tar( it's okay to omit if you don't have*)
30g Sugar(i used 20g)

Methods

1) Beat yolk with sugar, honey and salt

2) Add in oil, coconut milk and pandan paste. Set aside

3) Make a well in flour, Mix in mixture from Step 2 using whisk

4) In another bowl, Sift in cream of tar tar and Whisk egg whites on high speed till frothy

5) Gradually adding sugar in two batches and continue whipping till stiff peak

6) Take a 1/3 of egg white and mix into pandan mixture to lighten the batter

7) Pour mixture into whipped egg whites and fold to mix using a spatula

8) Pour into mould and bake at 175 degrees celsius in a preheated oven for 35-45 minutes ( I baked for 35 minutes)

9) Remove and cool cake upside down, ONLY REMOVE from mould when thoroughly cooled!

* It is added due to its acidity which increases stability of whipped egg whites. It should be added before whipping.

My new baby :D

2010-03-07T17:27:00.004+08:00

I just bought a Kitchenaid mixer!!! Check her out :D

She is apple green!! She whips such beautiful egg white foams!!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie

2010-02-28T19:43:00.003+08:00

Hi its been long since my last post, was really busy with my school exam.
I am so glad to say...finally i have some time to brush up on my bread making skills!
Trust me, it is NOT easy to make bread. : / Or is it that i simply do not have enough strength to knead the dough? Alright enough about bread, though i have one baking in the oven right now as i'm writing this post. I can just smell that yeasty flavour whafting through the house! Oooh can't wait to eat it : D

Let me get back to the cookie :)
One cookie is about 200 calories!! Whoops,but hey it is sooo good, you just want to sink your teeth into this chewy gooey cookie that has got a crispy exterior! Hmmm : D
The chocolate melts! Something not unsual since it is made from cocoa butter. Well, it doesn't if it is made from vegetable oil. Ever tasted chocolate that remains unchanged even when inside your mouth? Yeap you guessed it, it is shortening!! The horror of all fats in the world. HAHA

Yes my friends! Here is your chance to eat this fabulous cookie- simply place an order to me via my email : D

Going at $1.50 for one palm size cookie !
PS: my palm size :)

Let's usher the year of tiger in!! ROAR : D

2010-02-07T20:31:00.004+08:00

Hello People!! It is a total double whammy! Why did i say that? Well, unfortunatelky for all Temasek Polytechnic students, our exams are sandwiched beween the most important festive season for chinese: LUNAR NEW YEAR!! Gong xi fa cai : DD

It is sort of like you see a gorgeous ice cream sandwiched with a thick slab of ice cream in between, only to realise that the ice cream's inedible, made from plasticine- just for taking photos with. T.T This is just meant to be, so i tried to lighten up the mood with CNY goodies : D

I made pineapple tarts and peanut cookies : )
The pineapple tarts and peanut cookies are actually for selling haha, i just decided to take a picture anyway. Let you guys salivate a bit first to prepare you guys for the upcoming season of eating! You need about 150% more salivary amylase( found in saliva in our mouth) to digest the extra amount of food you guys are going to eat during the rounds and rounds of visitation. Alright i'm kidding! Please don't take it to heart!! Remember, everything in moderation ;D just like what the Singapore Diet Pyramid says.

Pineapple tarts : $15/ box - 36 pieces (all sold out)

Peanut cookies : $11.50/box - 125 pieces +/- 3 pieces

Sponge cake

2010-01-29T20:39:00.004+08:00

Hello, this is a really simple sponge cake recipe! Simple ingredients- five i think, if you ever nee

d a sponge cake recipe, please use this!!

In fact, there are different kinds of sponge cakes that is slightly different according to how they are made. For example, some beat the egg whites and yolk separately to create a fluffier texture, this one i'm blogging about does the beating together.

It simply means- you crack the eggs, add sugar, warm to about 45 degrees celsius and using whisk mixer, beat on HIGH for about 6-8 minutes till you see the whole mixture getting thicker then you reduce to medium and continue to beat for another 5 minutes till you get a relatively stable foam.

Do a ribbon test now, lift your whisk and draw an "eight" if it remains visible for a few seconds before disappearing into the batter, you are almost done!

When it comes to incorporating flour and egg foam, it really requires some skill and practise makes perfect : D By the way, you FOLD in the flour in batches GRADUALLY. Don't just dump your flour in! The cake will have lumps of dry flour!!

Take about 2 TBS of you batter and mix into the melted butter and milk mixture. Once combined, pour it into the rest of your batter, mix thoroughly pour to your pan and bake !!

Banana Chiffon Cake

2010-01-29T20:29:00.004+08:00

See the speckles? They are the banana's DNA

HELLO!! I'm not trying to spam you guys with bananas but here's another banana cake-chiffon!

I LOVE CHIFFON CAKES. i could gobble down the whole 9 inch cake in one seating if i was planning to fast for the next 12 hours. haha! Its so soft and fluffy!!

This recipe is good- uses a lot of bananas : D HOWEVER, i think i should have used a blender to puree the banana instead of using a fork as they made the bottom of my cake quite heavy :/

i will upload the recipe after i have confirmed it works by baking it again

nontheless, it was really awsome !

Finally!!! The answer is...

2010-01-29T20:22:00.002+08:00

Its a voluptous MANGO :DD

Its high in vitamin C

Guess This!

2010-01-03T15:47:00.003+08:00

Hey guess what this is : DDD

Answer will be revealed next week. Keep checking in!

Healthy Banana Cake

2010-01-01T18:35:00.006+08:00

After that episode of artery clogging cake, i decided to compensate my body with a nutritous banana cake : DD

I substitued some of the plain flour to organic wholemeal flour and cake flour to lighten the cake. Otherwise it would be quite dense and less cake-like. Oh and walnuts!! Walnuts are high in linolenic acid ( Omega 3 ) thats provides EPA and DHA thats really good for brain development ;D

Make this cake now !! you'll need a 21 x 8 cm loaf pan

Ingredients

180g Really Ripe Banana, mashed

1 Egg

45g Canola Oil

60g Plain Unsweetened Yogurt ( Sour Cream will taste even better ! )

40g Sugar

15g Wholemeal Flour

10g Cake Flour

5g Wheat Bran

95g Plain Flour ( Use 125g plain flour if you don't posess the flour)

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

20g Walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Sieve all dry ingredients together with sugar

2. Whisk egg, gradually add in oil followed by yogurt

3. Make a well in the centre, pour in wet mixture and stir to just combined.

4. Fold in mashed banana followed by walnuts.

5. Bake at 180 degree celsius for 25- 30 minutes

Chocolate Marble Cheese Cake

2010-01-01T17:55:00.004+08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late post!

Well this is a really nice cake : D

Why did i say so? It is a marriage of chocolate and cheese!!

You would want to just dig a fork right in there : D

It is very moist and flavourful. When i brought it to school to share with my classmates yesterday, it went out in a flash!! There wasn't even any left overs at home!

Usually the cakes i make would sit in my fridge for a few days but this time they were gone this morning! Although i remembered there was like half a cake left?

Alright, enough being said, here's the recipe.

(Use 8 inch round cake tin with removable bottom's best : D)

i used 7 inch and it took a whole 70 minutes to bake instead of the stated 45 - 50 mins

This is energy wastage! Lets conserve energy by using the right size!!

Preheat oven at 150 degrees C upon step 5 for 10 minutes

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Mixture

250g Cream Cheese, soften at room temperature

60g Sugar

1 Egg

Chocolate Mixture

180g Butter

150g Castor Sugar ( I used 100g, which was enough, i reduced 200 calories!)

3 Eggs

3 Tbs Cocoa Powder

120g Self-Raising Flour

1 Tbs Baking Powder

Directions

Grease and Line Cake pan, Seive flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together, mix with whisk, set aside

1. Cream cheese and sugar till fluffy

2. Add in egg gradually, beat till fully incorporated

3. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy ( It might still look a bit grainy, but thats okay )

4. Add one egg at time, once fully incorporated ( It may take a while to incorporate fully ~ 5 mins)

5. Fold in dry flour mixture into wet butter mixture till no dry flour seen

6.Pour half the chocolate batter into tin, followed by half cheese batter

7. Repeat step 6

8. Using spatula, make swirls in the batter

9. Bake at 150 degree celsius for 45- 50 minutes

Note: This cake is not for the faint hearted : D

Happy New Year : D

2010-01-01T17:53:00.001+08:00

2010 is going to be a great year for all
- Let there be peace
- No more global warming
- All the population in the world are AWARE of the enviromental issues

Happy new year guys!

PepperMint Brownie

2009-12-27T10:08:00.008+08:00

I made it for thanksgiving cell group on 26 december 2009. the chocolate was good : d

The sugar was bad :/

Yes it looks innocent, but it made my brownie....

TOO SWEET : (((

though its looks pretty good : D

Well lets not forget about the butter

Its not so bad if you have a sweet tooth :)

However, i'm giving it a 2/10 for being too sweet.

Sorry sugar, sometimes too much of a good thing isn't so good after all.

Caramelised Apple Ginger Upside Down Cake

2009-12-24T12:36:00.008+08:00

I just so love the smell of ginger. who knew apple and ginger make great friends??

The apple at the bottom of the pan took the beating inside the hot oven but surely you would know why our parents punish us when we were young?

It turn out upside down so well : D i couldn't help picking at the apples on the cake.

Adapted from the Cake Bible

Ingredients

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored

4 cups plain flour

4 teaspoons ground ginger ( i doubled for more ginger flavour)

225g Salted Butter, chilled and cubed

2 cups sugar (i reduced to one cup)

4 Tablespoons golden syrup(substitute with honey if golden syrup not available)

2 Teaspoons bicarbonate soda (Baking Soda)

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice (i used apple cider vinegar)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius

Lightly grease a deep 7" cake tin and line bottom with parchment paper(baking paper)

Sprinkle brown sugar onto lined tin

Cut apple to half, length wise.

With flat side facing chopping board, slice apples, each about 3-4mm thick

Arrange apple slices to cover bottom of tin (i started from the widest part of the tin, working inwards)

Sieve flour and ginger, rub in butter with fingers or process with food processor till mixture becomes crumbly(This is the time when i actually started preheating my oven, didn't want to incur unnecessary electric bills)

Add sugar, golden syrup amd bicarbonate soda already dissolved in milk

Mix well, add lemon juice

Pour mixture over apple slices and bake for 60-75 minutes

Turn cake onto plate with apples on top.

CAREFULLY remove baking paper.

Simple Tuna Peanut Butter Sandwich

2009-12-24T12:17:00.005+08:00

Well thats what i had for lunch today. It was an EARLY lunch at 1030 am. For most people, it is probably their brunch or breakfast. Well, i considered it as lunch since i already had my first meal at 5am today : D

Tuna and peanut butter complements each other so well! The peanut takes away that fishy smell of canned tuna. I used wholemeal bread for mutual supplementation* With an overwhelming amount of alfafa sprouts and organic cucumbers. If you had any idea how much pesticides are found on normal cucumbers, you would never even take a second look at them anymore from this minute onwards x/

Mutual supplementation* : Peanuts and wholegrain are incomplete source of protein from plant sources. Peanuts(legumes) are high in lysine and isoleucine while Wholegrains(wholemeal bread) are high in trypthophan and methionine. Together they complement each others lack of specific amino acids(protein) that is essential for the body. This is especially important for vegans out there who don't consume animal sources of protein. Well, one exception is soy protein which is a complete plant protein.

Peanut butter Muffin with Raisins

2009-12-23T14:17:00.003+08:00

I have a weakness for peanut butter and anything containing them. The creamy peanut butter is so tempting! So i have created this peanut butter muffin with raisins for all peanut lovers like me :DD I added raisins to give it more texture, the raisins provides a chewable texture and tints of sweetness to the slightly savoury cake. In addition, it makes the goodness last longer :)

Look at the golden dome!!

Hip hip hooray to peanut butter muffin with raisins!!

Selling at $0.40 each. Minimum order of 12
Delivery charge of $1.50 applies for all orders except orders of 36 muffins and above

Blueberries Cream Cheese Muffin

2009-12-23T13:49:00.004+08:00

Joining the mini muffin family today is blueberries cream cheese muffin!

Ta-Dah!

Studded with purple blueberries, the juice bubbles in the hot oven, giving the batter a purplish hue. You can't go wrong with blueberries and cream cheese ;D

The berries keeps the cake moist, tender and refreshing and it is difficult to ignore the tangy cream cheese that swirls within the little muffin!

Selling at $0.50 each. Minimum order of 12.
Delivery charge of $1.50 applies for orders below 36 mffins.

Mini Double Chocolate Muffin

2009-12-22T17:46:00.006+08:00

Introducing 'not meant for sharing' muffin! : D Really, you wouldn't mind gobbling it down in one huge bite but hold on! Take a DEEP breath and inhale all that chocolate flavour before you put it in your mouth. The molten chocolate chunks inside this tiny muffin will find its way around the inside of your mouth and the intense flavour literally burst through your nasal cavity! ( Nostrils)

You have to try this if you like chocolate ;)

See how happy my gingerbread man is upon seeing the mini double chocolate muffin?

They are tiny but very flavourful! Made from couverture chocolate with 55% cocao and all natural brown sugar so they are not intoxicatingly sweet till they make your teeth chatter.

Whats more, they cost only $0.40 each! They are the most ideal gift for your friends and families for all occasions. Who can resist such a cute little muffin,

Minimum order of 12 mini muffins. To order : email to sherry_4ever@hotmail.com

Collection venue negotiable.

Grease that tin!

2009-12-20T11:25:00.006+08:00

Do you always have that question mark popping out of your head when recipes say grease and flour cake tin? Well here is a simple step by step guide with pictures on how it is done

1. First drop about a teaspoon of butter/ margarine onto tin. (amount varies with cake tin size)

2. Using a plastic or grease proof paper, spread your butter/ margarine. You'll see something like this as shown below.

3. To flour tin, put a handful of flour onto tin.

4. Rotate the tin to evenly distribute the flour. Dipose any excess flour (Do not touch the inner walls of tin anymore!)

There you have it! A homemade non-stick cake tin :D

Avocado Chocolate Cake

2009-12-20T10:01:00.009+08:00

The avocado "buttercream" is suprisingly refreshing and blends well with the cake, probably due to the the added lemon juice that gave it a zesty twist.

I have added some 50% cocoa chocolate chips to it to make it more chocolatey. Chocolate lovers should add more! I have also replaced half of the liquid with low fat milk to boost the calcium level ;)

Here is the recipe with credits to joy the baker for that posting :D

I have halved the recipe since i didn't have 2 baking tins of the same size.

Prepare :

- A 7" in diameter round baking tin

- A medium size mixing bowl for wet ingredients

- A large size mixing bowl for dry ingredients

- A hand whisk

- A spatula

- Measuring Cups

- Measuring spoons

- Wire rack

Makes a 7 inch round cake

From Vegetarian in the Middle East

11/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

2/3 cups granulated sugar

1/8 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

1/4 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1/2 medium avocado (Reserve the other half for Avocado Buttercream frosting)
*A fork is works fine as a good masher

1/2 cups water

1/2 cups low fat milk

1 Tablespoons white vinegar (i used rice vinegar)

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/175 degrees Celsius.

Grease and flour 7 inch rounds. Set aside.
Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar. Set that aside too.
Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the super mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.
Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and beat with a whisk (by hand) until smooth.
Pour batter into a greased cake tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting with avocado buttercream.
Avocado Buttercream Frosting
from Alton Brown

meat of 1/2 a very ripe avocado

1 teaspoons lemon juice

30-80g powdered sugar, sifted (depending on taste)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel and pit the soft avocados.
Get the ripest you can find, they are usually brownish.
Please avoid the bright green ones unless you are baking this cake at least 3 days later.
The local supermarket fairprice carries the New Zealand ones.
Remove any brown spots found on the meat. Place the avocado meat into the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment.
Add lemon juice and whisk the avocado on medium speed, until slightly lightened in color and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
Gradually add in sifted icing sugar and adjust according to taste.
The frosting will brown the next day but that is still edible.
If you have a abundance of avocados, don't be in a hurry to use all of them for the frosting at one go.
You can always make batches of them and frost your cake as and when you are going to eat.

Calories (Kcal) 164.3
Kilojoules (KJ) 687.2
Carbohydrate (g) 29.7
Fiber (g) 1.5
Protein (g) 2.8
Total Fat (g) 4.4
Saturated Fat (SFA) 0.6
Monounsaturated (MUFA) 2.6
Polyunsaturated (PUFA) 1
Serves 10 - Low fat - Low Sugar

From me to you

2009-12-20T09:30:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! Thank you for dropping by : D I LOVE to hang out with food, they have got such great personality and humour. Together, we are the best of friends. To honour my lovely friends, i have decided to set up this blog just for them. I hope this blog can spark off your love for food. CHEERS!