Peach Cake

It's weekend again! I always like to have a relaxing weekend without working too much in the kitchen but still able to enjoy some nice foods. I'll normally make some sweet stuffs to chill in the fridge and serve it at any time during the weekend.

Here, I've prepared some peach cakes which is a recipe from HHB. It's really a great recipe and very refreshing desserts. I made it into individual portion which I think is much easier for me to serve but definately much more works in advance. I followed the mousse recipe from HHB except the sponge cake. The texture is very good indeed!

Wholemeal Okonomiyaki

This is not the best okonomiyaki but definately something healthier as I followed this guy using wholemeal flour for the recipe. It's quite flavourful with all the vegatables added. Perhaps using plain flour would be nicer. Anyway, I've gained some extra fiber this time :P

Durian Cheesecake

Mum bought me a cheesecake recipe book 我和起士蛋糕的秘密. (I think she has been addicted on buying me recipe books recently.) I miss her cooking and till now I can't forget those delicious foods she cooked and baked. But, she said she had retired from the kitchen :( Anyway, I think I've inspired by her passion in the kitchen when I was young. She cooks three proper meals plus an afternoon tea to serve the whole family including my grandparent and aunties uncles. I like to touch the ingredients while she was preparing foods but I always got warning not to touch this and that. If you're a mother you'll understand why she warn me. But, that wasn't stop me from loving the kitchen stuffs :) Oppss... back to the cheesecake recipe book. To appreciate mum, I think I better try out one of the recipe from the book. Since I've still got some leftover durian in the freezer, I decided to try out durian cheesecake recipe. I didn't put so much hope on this recipe at first, because this is my first attempt and the recipe is not that very precise. I used a slightly bigger cake pan to make this also modify the amount of ingredients used from the recipe. Guess what! The result is absolutely fantastic! If you're a durian lover and cheesecake lover, you'll hardly to resist this. The cheesecake turn out moist, rich and smooth. You will like it to melt in my your mouth slowly and feel hard to let go! The recipe didn't mention about steam bake but I did it as I think steam bake would produce moisture cheesecake, that's what I found from my previous attempts on other cheesecake experiments. There is just one thing I didn't do it properly for drawing the net pattern on the cheesecake, it wasn't as nice as the recipe shown from the book (need more practice!) However, I must say the texture is a winner! Really yummy! Thanks mum for the recipe book! Recipe for 7 inches (I used 8 inches lose bottom pan) For the base (I used my own recipe for the base): 160g crushed chocolate marie biscuits (200g digestive biscuits) 80g melted butter (100g butter, melted) For the filling (Slightly change the amount of ingredients from the book) 450g cream cheese (500g cream cheese) 80g caster sugar 170g durian flesh (220g durian flesh) 3 eggs (medium size, total about 160g) 80ml milk (90ml milk) 1 tbsp cornstarch (1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp cornstarch) Toppings: 1 tsp cocoa powder + 2tsp water Some Oreo cookie crumbs

Method:

1. To make the base, stir all ingredients until combined. Press mixture into base. Set aside.
2. To make the filling, beat cream cheese, sugar and durian flesh until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Beat in milk and cornstarch until blended. Reserve 1 tbsp cheese mixture for topping, the rest mixture pour into tin.
4. To make the topping, mix well cocoa powder with water. Add in 1 tbsp of reserved cheese mixture, stir until well blended. Pipe on top of the surface of cheese mixture and draw net pattern with skewer.
5. Steam baked at 170C for 45 minutes (my oven 150C for 50 minutes) or until light brown.
6. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. Chill in fridge 5 hours or overnight. Decorate sides of cake with crushed Oreo cookie crumbs.

Dome Cake

Do you have any leftover sponge cake? Or, unsuccessful baked sponge cake? Give it a twist to a little treat for your guests. I don't have any leftover sponge cake so I purposely bake a plain and chocolate sponge cake to experiment the recipe. I didn't follow exactly from the recipe book but using my little baking knowledge to complete this dessert.

The texture turn out quite nice with the combination of sponge cake, custard, toasted almond, chopped dark chocolate and covered with melted chocolate for the coating. Then, let it stand nicely on top of a piece of cinnamon cookies. I didn't manage to make it as pretty as the picture from the book. I think I need more practice and patient for coating the cakes. Anyway, this is something special and definitely will make it for a party. Recipe makes 10 pieces: 180g plain sponge cake 180g chocolate sponge cake 115g homemade custard 115g chopped dark chocolate 40g toasted almond nibbed 50g raisin soaked with brandy or rum 150g melted dark chocolate for coating For the cinnamon cookies: 40g butter 36g caster sugar 12g eggs 76g plain flour 4g cinnamon powder Methods:

1. For the cinnamon cookies, beat the caster sugar with butter then add in eggs. Fold in flour and cinnamon powder until a soft dough. Cling wrap the dough and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out the dough about 5mm and use a 6cm round cutter to cut out 10 pieces.
3. Place on a baking tray with baking paper attached and bake in the 180C preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Let is sit on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool down.
5. For the cake dome, use hand to break the sponge till a bread crumbs consistency.
6. Combine the custard, chopped chocolate, almond nibbed and raisin with the remaining brandy or rum.
7. Lightly press the mixture together to make the shape. Pour some melted dark chocolate to coat the cake.
8. Place it on a piece of cinnamon cookie and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Durian Cake

I've got few boxes of durian in the freezer. Other than thinking to make some cream puff or ice cream. I would like to try out some new stuffs which I've not tried before. I ate a durian cake weeks ago bought from my neighbour, it's very delicious!

So, thinking to make it myself. I made a simple swiss roll sponge cake and cut them into very thin round shape to layer the cake. For the cream, I mixed 270g of durian flesh with 135g custard and folded in 200ml whipped cream. This is truly a rich and creamy durian cake. I didn't add gelatin for the mixture so it's a bit runny, however it set after sitting in the fridge for few hours.

I would like to try out a next batch with gelatin one to find out the difference. Perhaps adding some gelatin would be easier to do the decoration. For the simple one, this batch is very yummy indeed! Must do it again for some celebration party. How I made it: Ingredients for a thin sponge 28 x 35cm: 4 eggs / 80g sugar / 67g plain flour:

Place the eggs and vanilla extract into a bowl. Gradually add in sugar and whisk until pale and thickened. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold together. Pour the sponge mixture into a baking tray with baking paper and bake for 10 minutes at 200'C preheated oven. Place the cooked sponge on a wire rack and place the sponge together with the wire rack into a plastic bag for cooling down.

Ingredients for custard: 2 egg yolks / 133ml milk / 40g sugar / 13g flour / 1 tsp vanilla extract / 6g butter / 2 tsp Rum (optional):

Mix the egg yolks with two teaspoon of milk in a bowl until well combined. Then, mix in the flour and make sure there is no lumps. Place the milk in a saucepan with vanilla extract and sugar, bring to the boil. Once the sugar dissolve in the milk, gradually pour onto the eggs mixture and stir then pour back into the pan. Return to the heat and using a whisk, lightly stir the mixture to thicken, do not boil. As the egg yolks warm, it will thicken to create custard. Keep stirring until it coats the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat and keep stirring and add in the butter. When the custard slightly warm add in rum. Pour the custard into a shallow bowl and cover with cling wrap. Place it into the fridge when it completely cool down and ready to use.

To assemble, blend 270g durian flesh (you could add more if you like) and 135 custard just combine. Don't over blend the mixture. Whip 200ml of fresh cream and fold it into the durian mixture. Put the durian cream into a piping bag and refrigerate for 1 hour. Use a 6cm cake rings or round mould to cut out 21 pieces of round sponge. Place a piece of transparent cake paper around each cake rings and fit in a sponge cake then generously pipe in the durian cream. Place another layer of sponge and pipe in the cream again. Finally add the remaining durian cream on the top and let it sit in the fridge for 3 hours.

Remove the cake rings and transparent paper. Ya, look around the see anyone around and now you could lick the transparent paper. Enjoy!

Chocolate Almond Cookies

Turn it into a little gift, simple and nice!

Ingredients A

250g butter 120g icing sugar (I used 90g) 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1/2 tsp vanilla Ingredients B 300g plain flour, sifted 200g ground almond 200g toasted wholed almond, halved ** Use wholed blanch almond instead of skinned almond. I tried skin almond and it's not as good as wholed blanch almond. Decoration: 100pcs small paper cups 500g cooking chocolate, melted / semi sweet chocolate 150g toasted nibbed almond Method:

1. Cream A till well-combined. Mix in B to form soft dough. Shape into small balls and wrap up half almond. Bake at 180C till golden brown. Remove and leave to cool
2. Decoration: Place cookies into small paper cups, cover cookie with melted semi sweet chocolate and spinkle some nibbed amond on top. Chill in the fridge to set the chocolate before storing in a container.

VIP Visit

It's a wonderful afternoon! How I wish the clock could stop at that moment as the gathering was full of joy. Just wanna thank you for my VIP as she willing to visit me and brought me lots of sweet stuffs and shares some baking techniques and her quality experiences with me. Here are those lovely things she brought for me. There are all homemade by Jane especially from her heart.I find myself really lucky to have a friend like Jane. I've got nothing to return for whatever I've received but she will be in my prayer list everyday and may God bless her in His special way! Thanks for everything Jane!

Snow Skin Mooncake

My first attempt on making mooncake. Everyone recommend to me to start with snow skin as it's quite simple to make. So, just give it a try.

I cooked the lotus paste, it's hard work but at the end it's nice to know that all made by myself although it's not as tasty as the one I bought and the appearance could tell it's definately a homemade one.

I like to play with the mould more than eating the mooncake. It's fun wrapping the lotus paste with the snow skin and stuff it into the mold and pushing it out. Playing the mooncake mold is really FUN! It's a good try. I'll not share the recipe here as I feel that this batch of mooncake still not the good one. I'll try again next year or may be I shall try out the bake version next year :)