Kitchen Corner

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-13T21:33:00.002+08:00

I've just made a very simple log cake with no extra frosting or any fancy decoration as time is so limited for me nowadays. As usual, I used the same swissroll recipe of 孟老师, it turn out spongy soft just as good as last year attempt of my x'mas log cake.

The log effect was made by the cocoa mixture then bake together with the sponge. With no extra frosting around the log, we don't feel so guilty of having a big slice. Lastly, wishing everyone have a wonderful Christmas and Happy 2012 !!

16 December 2011 - Make another log cake in vertical version which is quite the same as last year but with the same method of the above non-frosting method. Beside, thanks for everyone who remember me and drop by to leave your comments. Wishing you all have a wonderful Christmas and blessed 2012.

Blueberry Chiffon Cake

2011-09-30T21:14:00.002+08:00

I made this light, fluffy and moist chiffon cake couple of weeks ago and now only have some time to share. It's made by my homemade blueberry sauce and a simple touch up of fresh cream with digestive cookie crumbs. My guests love it very much and so do I. Hope you like it too! OK, I got to go now, very tired today. Cheers!

Recipe from 戚枫蛋糕秘方传授 20 ~~inches~~ cm chiffon pan

(Egg white mixture)

Egg whites 180g

Caster sugar 90g

Corn flour 10g

(Egg yolk mixture)

Egg yolk 70g

Water 20g

Vegetable oil 60g

Blueberry sauce 80g

Lemon juice 10g

plain flour 90g

Caster sugar 20g

Fresh Cream 300ml

Some digestive biscuits crumbs

Some fresh blueberries and mint leaves

Blueberry sauce was made with 125g fresh blueberries, splash of water, half of lemon juice and a tablespoon of caster sugar. Cook all the ingredients in a medium low heat until it become a not too thick consistency. Cool and ready to use.
Mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then add in sifted flour. Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be quite thick and smooth.
Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture.
Pour the well mix mixture into a 20cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160-170'C preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it.
Unmold the cake and frost with whipped cream and coat the cookies crumb at the side.

Baileys Cheesecake

2011-09-13T11:48:00.004+08:00

Oh no! This is not what I want to share about because it is not that yummy although still edible. For those who likes light and soft cheesecake, this would be great but not for me as I feel that baileys cheesecake should be in rich texture. So, I won't be sharing the recipe since it's not that nice.
I'm looking for something richer, creamier, smoother and melt in the mouth texture, so I make another experiment which is this one (shown below)!! You don't want to have a big piece of this as it's truly rich. Serve it with a cup of tea, it's heaven! Here is something you can eat very slowly, with a small dessert fork would be great especially sitting with someone for a long chit chat.

Ingredients for 7 inches square pan:

For the crust:

150g digestive biscuits
70g unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 large eggs, at room temperature

200ml sour cream
75ml baileys
Method:

To make the crust:

Lined the springform pan with baking paper and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil.
Mix the digestive biscuits crumbs with the melted butter together in a bowl. Layer the crumbs into the springform pan evenly. Place it into the fridge while you preparing the cheesecake batter.
Lowest a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 160°C and put a kettle of water on to boil.

To make the cheesecake:

Beat the cream cheese with sugar, vanilla and salt until creamier and sugar dissolve.
Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until just combine.
Mix in the sour cream and baileys. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into pan that lined with the digestive biscuits.
Put a roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the pan.
Steam bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn off the oven's heat leave the cheesecake in the oven for an hour.
Then, let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for overnight
At serving time, use a hot knife to potions the cakes. Enjoy!

Baileys Ice Cream

2011-08-13T11:00:00.000+08:00

Hello to all my baking buddies! How are you doing? I'm back here to defrost my frozen blog, otherwise it would become a huge iceberg soon, hahaha... Well, I can't stay too long here, as the little one need more of my attention.

As I don't have sufficient time to make interesting bakes, so I think ice cream would be much easier for me to make especially keep it in the freezer to serve my visitors in anytime. This Baileys ice cream was something I like to try long time ago. The unique taste of the ice cream with a bit of alcohol make me feel floated. Hahaha I must admit, I'm not that alcoholic.

Beside, the texture remain smoothly soft when it's brought out from the freezer unlike my previous attempts which has to be wait for a few minutes before I can scoop it out nicely. I read an article about adding alcohol to ice cream enhances both flavor and texture. Alcohol lowers the freezing point, so ice creams stay creamier and smoother because they do not freeze as solid and are less likely to form ice crystals. Oh yes! It's so true after my experiment. But, I was too greedy on my second experiment as I add too much Baileys in it until it became too soft. So now I've learned that too much alcohol can prevent ice cream from freezing at all. A rule of thumb is to add one and a half tablespoons of 80-proof alcohol for every quart of ice cream base. Well, I'm going to feed my baking buddies soon, hope they don't mind the texture and most importantly is, they won't get drunk, hahahaha.....

Recipe:

480ml whole milk

150g granulated sugar

4 large egg yolks

240ml heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoon Baileys
some raisin soak in rum (optional)

Pour the milk into a medium size, heavy bottomed saucepan, add approximately 100g of the sugar, place over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture register 77C on an instant-read thermometer.

In a nonreactive, medium-size bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 50g of sugar until foamy and slightly thickned. Carefully temper the egg yolks with the hot milk mixture by slowly adding about half of the hot liquid to the eggs, whisking continously. Pour the heated egg mixture into the sauce pan with the hot milk and return to the stove top. Stirring continously with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it register 85C on an instant read thermometer or is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon or spatula, taking care to make sure the mixture does not boil. Remove from the heat. Emulsify the mix, if not completely smooth, before incorporating it into the cold cream.

Pour the heavy cream into a clean, large stainless-steel or glas mixing bowl set over an ice bath. Pour the heated custard through a fine mesh sieve or strainer into the cold cream, add the vanilla extract and stir until fully incorporated. Stir occasionally about every 5 minutes until the mixture has fully cooled. This should take about 1/2 hour. Remove the mixing bowl from the ice bath, dry off the bottome of the bowl if necessary, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. Add in the Baileys and stir incorporated. When ready, pour the chilled mixture into the ice-cream maker and about 25 minutes from being done.

Remove the finished ice cream from the ice cream maker and add in the drained raisin then place in a plastic continer. Cover with plastic wrap by pressing the wrap gently against the top of the ice cream, affix lid to container, and place in the freezer to fully harden before serving.

I'm away....

2011-04-28T12:00:00.001+08:00

Hey hey... please stay with me, I'm the Kitchen Corner and you are at the right site. Sorry that I've been away without any news as my life is upside down now with my little one.
For this reason, I hardly bake anything at this stage but your comment is always welcome. Hopefully, I could be back to the kitchen soon as I really miss my oven and mixer.
So, for those bloggers who are on my list please don't be lazy when I'm not around ok, I'm still checking and reading your updates from time to time although I might not be able to give any comments :) Miss you all!!

Happy Lunar New Year!

2011-01-28T16:53:00.004+08:00

Hello there! I'll be away for some time but before that I'd like to use my very simple yet traditional new year cookies to wish all my supportive readers a very blessed Lunar New Year! Beside, I'm submitting this to ""j3ss kitch3n" who are hosting the Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011).

I know this peanut cookie might seems like nothing special to everyone but it's only what I can do for this coming Lunar New Year. I've tried out different version of peanut cookie recipes and this is the one that specially make for my mum as she particularly likes the bits of crunchiness yet the richness of peanut taste. As for me, I like all kind of peanut cookies as long as it had the finest peanut taste in it. I thought adding more grounded peanut for the cookies dough would increase the flavor but it doesn't work for my experiment last year. I found out the peanut should actually roasted to a slightly darker color in order to get a better taste. You might think the peanut may burnt but it's not actually. It helps to produce very flavorful cookies yet the proportion used is only 400 gram of roasted peanut with 600 gram of plain flour instead of 1:1 proportion. Beside, I purposely ground the peanut quite coarsely to suit my mum taste bud, and she is happy with that!

Lastly, I would like to bless everyone who are reading this have a wonderful yet healthy New Year! I will be here again to update my latest news after March 2011. BYE!!

Recipe:

400g peanut

600g plain flour

220g sugar powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

300ml peanut oil

Roast the peanut in the oven at 180C for about 15 - 20 minutes until dark brown color. Please watch it as every oven are vary.
When the roasted peanut still warm, try to skin off the peanut by using both hands to rub. Then use hair dryer to blow off the skin.
Ground the peanut coarsely to remain some bits of nuts for the crunchy texture.
In a mixing bowl, mix the grounded peanut, plain flour, sugar powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda until well combine.
Gradually add in the peanut oil and mix until well combine. You will get quite crumbly texture but will still able to roll into a ball with your hands by giving it a bit of squeeze.
I use 1 teaspoon measurement for each portions. Roll them up into balls then roast in a 175C preheated fan oven for about 13 minutes. Take them out and brush some egg yolks on top of each peanut cookies and continue to bake for another 10 - 12 minutes.
Let it completely cool on a wire rack before fill them into a cookies container. Enjoy! Happy Lunar New Year!

Christmas Log Cake

2010-12-23T18:41:00.006+08:00

Happy Christmas to all my supportive readers!

May this Christmas bring you LOVE, JOY and PEACE!

Beside, I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! Dec 2010 for Jane @ Passionate About Baking

Recipe for Christmas log cake 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

Plain sponge (size 36cm x 26cm) x 2 :

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 40g

Egg yolk 100g

Caster sugar 20g

Egg white 160g

Caster Sugar 75g

Plain flour 55g

Recipe for the the swiss meringue butter cream, please refer to Baking Library. That's very good recipe indeed!

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine. Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture.
Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful not to over bake it.
Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.
Cut sponges into 3 portions, you will get 6 portions by making 2 sheets of sponge.
Whip 400ml whipping cream with 50g nutella. Spread some the nutella cream and roll up the first sheet. Let it stand upright then spread the others sponge with nutella cream then place another sheet of sponge around the first one. Continue the process and you will get about 8 to 9 inches round cake.
Spread some meringue butter cream around the cake and decorate with snow man or Christmas trees. Happy Christmas!

Updated on 26th December 2010

This log cake was baked two days before Xmas and it served on a potluck party on 25th Dec Xmas evening. I'm so glad that the outcome is really good with plenty of positive comments from my guests. The sponge cake stayed soft, light, fluffy and moist on the 3rd day and even the 4th days from it's made. I think the recipe of separated eggs sponge recipe from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷 is a winner. Beside, the fresh cream whipped with small amount of nutella for the filling makes the cake light and tasty which you won't feel greasy at all. The edges butter meringue cream is also well accepted by all my guests as it's light and not sugary sweet. All thanks to Baking Library for sharing the butter meringue cream. This log cake had given a happy ending for everyone in the potluck party. Here is a small piece of leftover log cake for my boxing day on 26 Dec. Look forward to the year 2011 and Happy New Year to all my supportive readers! Cheers!

Layers of blessing.....

2010-12-01T12:19:00.001+08:00

Without much practice on baking recently, I find my baking skills become very lousy. When I recalled by those baking pictures that I took few years back I wonder where is my passion and skills had gone. Last week was the birthday of my hubby and I took that opportunity to practice a birthday cake.

So, I choose a recipe that I made few years ago, Praline Chocolate Cake, his forever favorite cake. This is the one I made four years ago for my customer (right picture) but this time I didn't manage to make each layer of sponge and cream evenly.

My hubby is kind enough and appreciate whatever outcome it is and still very enjoy the taste and texture of the cake. I remember he only allowed to eat those cake edges that I cut out but not a nice piece of cake. Although the cake was not well assemble this time, we enjoyed the lightness of the cake. I'm quite satisfy with the soft sponge. So far, this is the best sponge cake recipe I found from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷. For the praline, I use to make it with hazelnut but last week when I was making this cake in a rush and just notice that I don't have hazelnut so I replace it with almond. I must say hazelnut is still the best to go with. This might not be the perfect cake but the purpose to post this up is to share about the sponge cake recipe. It's really good indeed and why not share with everyone. Hope you like it too!

孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

Recipe for plain sponge (size 36cm x 26cm):

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 40g

Egg yolk 100g

Caster sugar 20g

Egg white 160g

Caster Sugar 75g

Plain flour 55g

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine. Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture as I need very thin sponge. It couldn't fill up the entire baking pan so I bake them in another cake tin as an assorted cake.
Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful not to over bake it.
Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

Recipe for cocoa sponge (size 36cm x 26cm):

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 25g

Egg yolks 80g

Caster sugar 25g

Cocoa powder 20g

Cold water 20g

Egg whites 120g

Caster sugar 60g

Plain flour 45g

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. Mix in cocoa powder and cold water until well combine.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam
Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine. Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
Pour into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture as I need very thin sponge. It couldn't fill up the entire baking pan so I bake them in another cake tin as an assorted cake.
Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful not to over bake it.
Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

For the praline paste:

Lightly toast 80g whole hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine 100g caster sugar and 100g water. Do not stir. The mixture will reduce. Allow to caramelize and you will see the sides start to color first. Once the sugar reduction has caramelized, remove from heat. Add the lightly toasted hazelnut to the caramel then stir briskly, this should be done very quickly as the sugar reduction will start to harden. The heat from the caramel will warm the nuts and allow the hazelnuts essence to permeate. The nut caramel is then poured onto a greased marble slab. Allow the caramel to cool. Once cool use a spatula to spread and press the nut caramel in an even layer. Flip the cooling layer over. Allow to harden. Use a rolling pin or some other weighty tool to break up the hardened nut caramel. The pieces should be small enough to fit in your food processor. Pulse the food processor until the pieces begin to smooth until a paste. Continue to process until desired smoothness. Store in an airtight container. This paste is great to jazz up your pastry cream or adding to your cream puffs.

To assemble to the cake:

Divide the plain sponge and cocoa sponge into two sheets. Now you got four sheets of sponge cake.
Whip 300ml cream with one tablespoon vanilla extract.
Whip 250ml cream with 100g praline paste
Melt 150ml cream with 50g dark chocolate and set aside.
Place a piece of cocoa sponge on a cake board, spread half of the vanilla cream on the cocoa sponge evenly. It's better to use the piping bag to pipe out the cream, that would be much evenly.
Place a plain sponge on the vanilla cream then pipe out the praline cream on top.
Place another cocoa sponge on the praline cream and pipe out the vanilla cream.You could reserve some cream for decoration.
Place another plain sponge for the last layered. Spread the chocolate cream evenly on top.
Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Cut out the edges to get a nice layer of appearance. Decorate the cake as you like. Enjoy!

Ice Cream

2010-11-16T09:56:00.001+08:00

If you've read my previous post about waffles, you would probably realized there are few ice cream recipes that I've not introduced to you which was my new discovering in ice cream making last month. So, here are three different ice cream I've made recently.

Chocolate Snickers Ice Cream

(This creamy dark chocolate ice cream, added with chocolate snickers give delicious texture and stay soft even after freezing)

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
(Unique caramelized milk added with roasted almond is a decadent extravagance)

Cream Cheese Ice Cream
(Creamy and rich of cream cheese flavor is a heaven for cheesecake lovers)

There all turn out very nice for me. I was trying to figure out which one is the best to share with everyone but hardly rate which is the best. As for me, there all had very unique flavor and good taste! Check out the recipes if you like to give it a try. Cheers!

Chocolate Snickers Ice Cream
4 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

300ml milk

150g dark chocolate

300ml whipping cream

2 Snickers bars

Put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl and whisk until thick and foamy. Pour the milk into a heavy pan, bring just to the boil, then gradually pour the milk into a heavy pan, bring just to the boil, then gradually pour the milk on to the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens and is smooth. Pour back into the bowl and stir in the chocolate until melted. Cover the custard closely, leave to cool, then chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Whip the cream until it has thicken, but is still soft enough to fall from a spoon. Fold it into the chilled custard and pour into an ice cream maker to churn for 20-25 minutes until thick.

Fold in chopped chocolate snickers transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for 5 - 6 hours until firm.

Cream Cheese Ice Cream

175ml milk

120g caster sugar

125g philadelphia cream cheese

half teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg

juice of half a lemon

350ml double cream

Heat the milk in a pan, and while it's getting warm, beat together the sugar, philadelphia, vanilla, and egg in a bowl. Still whisking, pour the bot milk into the cream cheese mixture and pour this back into the cleaned-out pan and make a custard in the regular way.

Pour into a bowl and let it cool, at which time add the lemon juice and then the double cream, lightly whipped.

Cover the custard closely, leave to cool, then chill for 6 hours or overnight. pour into an ice cream maker to churn for 20-25 minutes until thick. transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for 5 - 6 hours until firm.

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream

2 1/4 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cups dulce de leche

1/2 cup heavy cream

a splash of vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk and dulce de leche just to a boil, stirring until the duce de leche is dissolved.Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.

Cool completely at room temperature. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.

Churn the mixture in a ice cream maker for 20 - 25 minutes until thicken. Store in an airtight freezer container and freeze until harden.

Playing with my new toy!

2010-11-01T19:57:00.002+08:00

I received a x'mas present from my hubby quite early this year, a Waffle Maker! That's what I've dreamed for some times ago and every time I pass by the Mayer shop, I would stand there looking at it for a few minutes. My hubby always got headache when thinking what to buy for my x'mas present but this year he settled it quite fast haha... We can't wait to try out the waffle maker, so I quickly flipped through a Belgian waffle recipe from 西点学习大百科. This recipe highlight that original Belgian waffle normally made by yeast instead of baking powder and soda bicarbonate that I found is quite different. Since this is a Belgian waffle maker, I think this recipe would goes well with it.

I like this waffle maker because it had a deep pocket of baking plates which will make the waffle much thicker and crispy too! The result wasn't disappoint me as the waffles had a crispy texture at the outside and remain a fluffy crumbs. As this is my first attempt, I've no experience on its heating temperature, the color of the waffles is slightly dark, so I think I would turn the heat down to slightly lower next round. I served it with my homemade chocolate snicker ice cream and cream cheese ice cream, brilliant!

Recipe to make 4 pieces to fit in a Cuisinart Belgium waffle maker:

150g plain flour

3g instant dry yeast

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

150ml fresh milk

50g sour cream

1 egg

30g unsalted butter (melted)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix plain flour, yeast, sugar and salt together. Gradually add in milk, then sour cream, eggs follow by the melted butter and vanilla extract.
Combine the mixture until a smooth batter then cover with cling film. Let the batter proof for 1 hour.
After an hour, the batter will appear some bubbles on the surface and the batter is almost double up. Use a spatula to mix with a folding method until the bubbles disappear.
Preheat the waffle maker then pour in the batter until cook. (I followed the user menu instruction)
Serve it with honey, maple syrup or ice cream. Enjoy!

PS: The waffles will turn soft once it cool down. Toast it in a preheated 160C oven for 1 or 2 minutes to get back its crispiness. It can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 24 hours or keep in the freezer for 2 weeks according to the recipe. But, fresh one always the best! Cheers!

Beef Stew

2010-10-01T09:30:00.001+08:00

Since I don't have any special baking activities recently, I decided to post up my daily cooking here to keep you remember me :) I've stew quite often at home but never think of taking any pictures of it until my hubby mention to me.

As I don't have a proper casserole which can be used on the hob to the oven, my stew was cooked in a normal pan then transfer to a slow cooker for further cooking process. I love to make stew simply because it's a one dish meal as it's easy to prepare and serve. Furthermore, it could be turned into different type of pie dish, either bake it with mashed potato, sliced potato, pastry or just have it straight with rice, pasta or mash that would not make me bore about it. I find the stew always taste better after the day it's cooked, so I normally cook more to keep in the fridge or freezer. Some people like to cook stew with stout but it's not for me and my hubby. So I use homemade chicken or beef broth to replace it, we love it so much! Bon Appetit!

Recipe from Jamie Oliver. (I've slightly amended the recipe to suit our appetite)

Trim the ends off 1 big stick of celery and roughly chop • Peel and roughly chop 1 onions • Peel 1 carrots, slice lengthways and roughly chop • Put a casserole pan on a medium heat, fry 2 slices of chopped streaky bacon until slightly golden brown • Put all the vegetables, 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary and thyme and the 2 dried bay leaves into the pan with 2 lugs of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes

Add 300g beef (cut into approximately 2cm cubes) and 1 tablespoon flour • Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup diced can tomatoes • Give it a good stir, then season with some sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper • Bring to the boil, put the lid on and either simmer slowly on your hob or cook in an 180C preheated oven for 3 hours • Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering or cooking • When done, your meat should be tender and delicious • Remember to remove the bay leaves before serving, and taste it to see if it needs a bit more salt and pepper • You can eat your stew as it is with some mash potato and green peas at the side, or you can use it for pasta or even turn it into a beef pie.

Homemade Pappardelle

2010-09-13T15:30:00.000+08:00

I've been so slow for updating my blog recently and there is nothing else can help to cure my laziness. This pasta dish suppose to post on the last two weeks but I just couldn't help myself to move on uploading the pictures and click on the "new post". I still remember it's the time that Honey Bee Sweet also making homemade pasta and her spinach version is the real good one! My pasta machine had been on the sleep mode for about 3 years which I give the excuse of couldn't find any Tipo'00 flour in Singapore which I think is not true as I guess there must be somewhere selling it. It's just that I still haven't discover any places got this special flour for pasta. I insist to get this special flour otherwise I will not make it as I found it could produce a better texture.

Last month, my friend bought me a pack of Tipo'00 flour from Europe and I really appreciate it and quickly took out my pasta machine to start on this Pappardelle. I've used to Jamie Oliver recipe so I try to recall to my previous attempt and hope it will success. The reason I choose to make Pappardelle because it's slightly expensive than normal dry pasta like angel hair, spaghetti, fettuccine. or linguine and the most important is, it's always my first choice in the pasta family just because I like the texture. But my pasta machine couldn't roll out to the width of Pappardelle. So what I can do is just fold it up and cut it with a knife. I'm quite happy with the result although it's slightly rustic but I really miss the real taste of fresh homemade pasta.

I didn't make any fancy sauce to go with it but cook with the most simple and basic Italian cooking style like fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil right before serving. I like it very much and so much satisfaction on this fresh Pappardelle. It's real fun playing with the pasta machine again!

Sorry that I'm too lazy to post up the recipe but it can be easily get from Jamie Oliver's website as I followed exactly the same recipe of the fresh pasta and the classic tomato pasta. Cheers!

Fougasse 叶形烤饼

2010-08-26T15:26:00.008+08:00

It has been quite a long time I didn't touch my mixer and oven. I do miss them and my hand do itchy but just can't help myself to get some energy to start with anything. Today, I feel a bit of strength to get into the kitchen. So, I decide to make something for breakfast and something savory that can suit my appetite. I flipped through 孟老师的100道面包 for reference and realized there is a Fougasse recipe which I haven't try before. As it's quite simple and I've all the ingredients on hand, without thinking much I quickly tuck into the kitchen and start making it.

Other than the herbs toppings recommended from the recipe, I would like to add some filling into the dough to make it much flavorful and tastier which is some fried back bacon, caramelized onion and cheddar cheese. I must say the result is so excellent! It taste really fantastic with the fragrant of herbs toppings. The crust is crisp and the fillings of back bacon, cheese and onion is a winner! This Fougasse do not need any companion as it taste good as it is. But it would be great to serve with soup, dippings or even half boil eggs for breakfast too. I will definitely bake this again. Very satisfy!

(A) 200g Bread flour / 50g plain flour / 10g caster sugar / 1/2 teaspoon salt / 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast / 150g water / 10g unsalted butter

(B) 1 red onion (finely chopped and stir fry with some salt until soften) / 2 slices back bacon (finely chopped and stir fry until crisp and golden) / 100g cheddar cheese (diced in small cubes about 1 cm)

(C) 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper / 1/4 teaspoon sea salt / 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves / 1/2 dried basil leaves / 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Mix ingredients (A) except butter with a dough hook until everything form into a dough. Add in the butter and continue the kneading process until a smooth dough.
Let it proof for 60 minutes while you prepare ingredients (B) and (C). Fry the onion until soften and the bacon until crisp and golden brown then set aside to cool. Cut the cheddar cheese in small cubes about 1cm. Mix all the prepared ingredients (B) together and divide into 7 portions. Mix ingredients (C) in another small bowl except the extra virgin olive oil.
Divide the dough into seven portions and fill each dough with mixture (B) and shape them into small ball. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out each doughs into an oval shape and cut a few strips on the flatten doughs. Brush the dough with the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle over some ingredient (C).
Proof for about 20 minutes and bake at 200C preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!

PS: The crust of Fougasse will turn soft the next day. To get a crusty crust, reheat it in the oven at about 150C for less than 5 minutes.

Homemade Hamburger

2010-08-10T12:28:00.019+08:00

I make this burger quite often so I thought it would be much easier for me to prepare some for a bloggers meet up last week. The bun and meat actually made ahead of time that sitting in the freezer until I need it. I'm so sorry to Edith as I didn't make extra for her family members. So I post up this recipe here for your reference and for any bloggers that you had tried and like it. Please feel free to make it and remember to make a big batch to freeze it so that you could have homemade hamburger in no time whenever you crave for it. Cheers!

Recipe for the patties:

250g minced pork 250g minced beef

1 big onion, peeled and finely chopped

Olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon fennel powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

some sea salt and ground black pepper

a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese

a tablespoon Djon mustard

1/2 beaten egg

80g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

Fry the onion with some olive oil in a pan for few minutes until softened. When the onion completely cool down, mix it to the meat.
Add the rest of the ingredients and half of the breadcrumbs and mix well. (if the mixture is too sticky, add a few more breadcrumbs)
Shape the meat into the size you like and place on a tray with greaseproof paper.
Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top of each burger and press down gently. Chilled in the fridge for 3-4 hours or in the freezer if not using it immediately.
Fry the burger in a little oil on medium high heat for few minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.

To assemble the burger, spread some salted butter on the buns and grill it on a griller or pan fry for a few minutes until it slightly turn crisp.

Spread some djon mustard or mayonnaise on the bottom part of the buns and then top with some lettuce. Layer with the meat then follow by cheese kraft and freshly sliced tomato and finally the top part of the buns. Enjoy!

For big burgers, make it into 8 buns and 8 slices of meat or like the party mini burger 20 buns and 20 slices of patties. Some
above pictures shown are big burger in 4 inches diameter size whereas some pictures shown are small in 2 1/2 inches diameter size just like the mini burger sit on my hand. I normally make the buns first then the patties. So that the patties had got the same size with the bun and can be fixed nicely between the buns too as I hardly estimate what size of the dough will expand after proofing.

Recipe for 8 buns (approximately 60g for each dough or make more into small little buns):
210g bread flour / 56g plain flour / 20g milk powder / 42g
caster sugar / half teaspoon of salt / 6g yeast / 30g beaten eggs / 85g water / 84g water dough / 22g unsalted butter

Recipe for the water dough "water roux":

Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until quite liquid consistency like the baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl to cool down.
Methods:
Place all the ingredients for kneading except the butter until everything come together and become a smooth dough then add in the butter a little at a time.
Let the dough slowly absorb the butter then turn to speed two if you are using kitchenaid mixer. Knead until the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl and the dough should be very smooth and elastic.
Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling warp.
Divide the dough into even size of 8 portions or any size you like it to be then let it rest for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough into smooth round shape. Prepare some water on a a clean plate and place a kitchen towel on the top. Damp the surface of each dough and run the damp surface around a bowl of sesame seeds. Place the dough on a baking tray and let the it proof for 40 minutes. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

Durian Mousse Cake

2010-07-22T11:21:00.001+08:00

It's been very long time I've not doing anything here. No baking and no blogging as I was very sick for the pass few weeks, but now I feel much better and trying to share a recipe with you - all my supporter and blog lovers. I made this last month and like the texture very much. I'm quite particular with mousse texture before too much gelatin will produce a hard jelly type which couldn't give the "melt in the mouth" and creamy texture whereas not enough gelatin would afraid the mousse will not set nicely.

This time the texture is just right to what I was looking for and really happy with the result. Airy soft, moist and creamy. For Durian lovers, you will like it. My guests enjoy it very much!

Recipe for 8 x 5cm individual cake:

For the base:

100g digestive biscuits

30g butter (melted)

For the durian mousse:

200g durian flesh (pureed)

3 pieces gelatin leaves

200ml whipping cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 egg yolks

50ml milk

40g caster sugar

To make the base, process the biscuits in a food processor to make rough crumbs and add the melted butter. Process again until it makes damp, clumping crumbs and then tips them into every chef rings. Press the biscuits crumbs into the bottom of the tin to make an even base and put into the fridge while you make the filling.
Put the gelatin leaves in cold water. In a sauce pan, warm the milk with sugar until the sugar completely dissolved. Add in the softened gelatin and mix well. In a large bowl, add in the egg yolks then gradually pour the warm milk to mix with the yolks. Mix in the lemon juice and durian flesh until well combine.
Whip the whipping cream until stiff peak. Fold it into the durian mixture and divide the mixture into every chef rings. Chill in the fridge until it set. Enjoy!

Blueberry Bakewell Tart

2010-06-22T09:31:00.004+08:00

I guess it's blueberry season now as I realized there are many bloggers had posted their bakes with blueberry which had given me lots of inspiration. I didn't think much and took two punnets of fresh blueberries when I saw it in the supermarket. At first, there are many ideas came to my mind whether to make muffins, pancake, juice or crumble etc but I don't really have the appetite to eat what is in my mind so ended up I choose to make a rustic yet with country feel of bakewell tart which will top with my fresh and juicy blueberries. I like bakewell tart because the almond bring lots of flavor with the combination of butter together with the shortcrust pasty. Normally I would like to make bakewell tart with plum or apple and here I found blueberry goes well well with it too! A piece of this nutty and buttery flavor tart for an afternoon tea, simplicity is my biggest satisfaction.

Recipe for 8 inches baking pan

For the pastry:

220g plain flour

110g unsalted butter

20g sugar powder

pinch of salt

2 egg yolks + 2 tbsp water

For the fillings:

95g ground almond

27g plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

83g unsalted butter

55g caster sugar

1 egg

some blueberry jam

Method:

For the pastry, add the cold water to the egg yolks and stir with a fork.
Place the flour into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter, sugar powder and the salt.
Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add two-thirds of the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. If the mixture is still too dry, add the remaining egg and water mixture (you may not need to use all of it). Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a smooth dough, but don't knead.
Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.
Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a clean, floured work surface, roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's slightly larger than the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the flan ring.
With your fingers, lightly press the pastry into the sides of the ring. Run a rolling pin over the top of the ring and pull away the excess pastry at the edges. Using your fingers, gently press the pastry up to slightly build up the height of the pastry at the edges. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.
For the fillings, blitz the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a food processor until light and creamy.
Add in the ground almond, plain flour and beaten eggs and whiz until completely mixed and smooth.
Place in the fridge to firm up for at least half an hour.
Spoon some blueberry jam into the pastry case then spread the almond batter over the blueberry jam.
Arrange the blueberries on the surface of the almond batter, pressing them in lightly.
Bake the tart in the 180'C preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove tarts from the oven and leave it to cool.

Milky Square Loaf

2010-06-14T10:59:00.003+08:00

I've received quite a few comments from previous bread post recently. Many of them having some problems just like I do, either the dough couldn't rise to the perfect square or the texture was not right etc. I must said I'm not a perfect baker and sometimes I do have problems with my dough too especially my first year of learning bread making, it's really a struggling. I think the problems could be the room temperature, humidity, yeast and all other ingredients that cause a failure. However, we all learn from mistakes. The more you practice and the more you could figure out the solution. I've been long time didn't bake a square loaf because I was crazy about the wholesome blacky bread recently, the texture and taste is just so good for me. This milky wholemeal bread is the one I did it quite often at my earlier bread learning journey and it become my almost daily bread. As some of the bloggers had problem making it, so I decided to give this a try again since I quite miss it too!

I'm quite happy with the result this time, it's a square loaf and the texture is soft and light. I hope people who face the failure please don't be dishearten and give up. Do it again until you get it. I'll not shame to tell you that I've feed the bin with my failure doughs many times which I couldn't remember how many. Again, thanks for everyone dropping at my blog for leaving your words! Let's face the problem and solve it. You'll get a right bread soon!

Recipe for the bread:

Bread flour 270g

Wholemeal flour 30g

Yeast 3g (this time I used 4g for a square loaf)

Sugar 6g

Salt 5g

Cold milk 240g

Unsalted butter 12g

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a kneading bowl with 240ml cool milk except butter. Knead until everything combine.
Gradually add in the butter continue the kneading process until it become smooth and elastic. (the dough might have a bit wet but not sticky, you might need longer time to knead it)
Shape it into a smooth round dough, cover with cling film and let it rest for 80 minutes. (This time I proof for 60 minutes)
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll to form 'ball' shapes.
Flatten each dough and roll out into a longish shape. Roll up the dough like a swiss-roll. Place the rolled doughs on a baking pan proof for 60 minute. (I forgot to set the time, and almost proof until 95% full of the tin about 80 minutes)
Bake approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown at 190'C preheated oven. (For a square loaf I baked at 200C about 35 minutes)

Durian Soft Cheesecake

2010-06-03T15:40:00.000+08:00

I know the weather has been extremely hot and it's not good to eat durian at this time but when I see some durian selling in the market, I just can't help myself to buy some for baking. So, here I made a light version of durian cheesecake that called for only a little amount of durian flesh which yield a light version of durian cheesecake. The texture is similar to Japanese cotton cheesecake, quite moist and soft.

One thing that I always worry on making soft cheesecake is the cake might crack on the surface and shrink terribly. This time the top still have a bit of crack but not too much. Perhaps I could still turn the heat slightly lower. As I know it's definitely going to be shrank, so what I do is to help it shrink nicely. Grease the side of the pan with butter and coated with bread flour. I find this method quite good. Although the weather is quite hot, this light and moist durian cheesecake quite a refreshing dessert. Just to make sure it's cool enough to serve.

Recipe from Chef Alan Kok

1 slice 7" sponge cake (I used 8")

250g cream cheese

3 egg yolks

150ml fresh milk

150g durian flesh

3 egg whites

60g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 7" round cake tin (I used 8" , serves 9) with grease proof paper and put in a slice of prepared sponge cake (I greased the side of the pan with butter and coated with bread flour)
Beat cream cheese, egg yolks at low speed until well mixed. Add fresh milk, durian flesh and mix well.
In a clean mixing bowl, whisk egg white and caster sugar at high speed until soft peak is formed. Mix in mixture (2) in 3 batches.
Pour mixture onto sponge cake.
Steam bake the cheesecake at 180C for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 140C and bake for another 1 1/2 hours.
Leave cake to cool in the oven with door ajar 1 hour. Chill in the fridge for overnight.

Ingredients for the plain sponge cake:
(Please follow the video clip)
140g plain flour / 4 eggs / 30g milk / 180g sugar / 4g salt / 30g oil

Wholesome Blacky Bread

2010-05-31T10:47:00.003+08:00

What is in your mind when you look at this bread? Yes, healthy and...... must be a solid or hard texture bread, right? At first, I thought it is but I don't care as I was thinking to get all the goodness for my body.

Somehow the outcome surprising me with a very soft texture like those milky bread and it stay soft until the third day. I deeply falling in love with this recipe because its wholesomeness and softness had encouraged me to bake this more often.

The bread consists of whole wheat flour, 黑八珍 and some walnuts. I use to drink this 黑八珍 for breakfast that contains eight kind of goodness in it. There are 黑芝麻, 黑木耳, 黑米,黑豆,黑枣,黑麦,黑糖,灵芝. all blended into powder which can be easily melted in hot water for breakfast. All these are good for ladies if you know all the ingredients. The bread taste really good, not only the softness but the crunchiness of walnut and the taste of 黑八珍, fantastic!I think the dough can be baked in a loaf tin or make it into little buns, either use it for sandwich or any favorite spread or just eat as it is. I will add some dry fruits, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for my next baked. Anyone like healthy and soft texture bread, give this a try!

Recipe for a loaf of bread: 142g bread flour / 50g 黑八珍 / 40g whole wheat flour / 5g milk powder / 10g caster sugar / 3g salt / 5g yeast / 120g fresh milk / 48g water roux / 13g unsalted butter / 75g chopped walnut / some wheat bran for coating

Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. The amount of water dough here would be more than a recipe required, you could store it in a the fridge for 2 days, if the color turn to dark grey.

Knead all the ingredients with a dough hook mixer except butter until the ingredients combine into a dough. Add in butter and continue the kneading process until the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl. It should be smooth and elastic. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap. Punch out the gas and shape into a ball shape to let it rest for 10 minutes. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin. Place the chopped walnuts around then roll up into a loaf shape.

Prepare some water on a clean plate and place a kitchen towel on the top. Damp the surface on the dough and run the damp surface with the wheat bran. Place on a baking tray and let the dough proof for 40 minutes.

Bake at 180C for 25 minutes.

Orange Roll

2010-05-26T10:11:00.002+08:00

It seems like a "rolled" month for me. You will notice there are crepe roll, peach roll and followed by this orange roll from my list. The last attempt of peach roll was using 指形蛋糕 from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷 with a method of whisking egg whites until peak stiff then add in the egg yolk. For this orange roll, again... with the recipe of 孟老师 - 分蛋式海绵蛋糕 which I found even better although it's slightly more steps but worth it! The sponge cake is very soft and easy to roll up. The orange taste is excellent as the orange strips are everywhere on the sponge surface. The fillings suppose to be can orange but I use fresh one instead. Perhaps can orange would be much tastier as my fresh orange is a bit sour :(

On my last attempt, I forgot to describe on the ingredient calculation for different sizes of baking tray. It's really important for this calculation because we all have different sizes of baking tray compare with different recipe books. You don't want to have too thick or too thin sponge but rather have the same picture from the recipe book so that it's much easier to roll up and the result come out as good as the pictures shown. Good thing about 孟老师的 recipe that she gave very detail information. Please refer to the calculation if you like to try out this recipe or from any recipe books. Hope you find it useful.

Ingredients Calculation for different baking tray

孟老师的美味蛋糕卷 (36cm x 26cm = 936)

Kitchen Corner (36cm x 36cm = 1296)

1296 ÷ 936 = 1.38 ( make it 1.4)

All ingredients from the recipes should x 1.4 to match my baking tray

My calculation of 36cm x 36cm from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

1 Orange strips (2 or more)

20g Unsalted butter (28g)

20g Orange juice (28g)

100g egg yolks (140g)

25g caster sugar (35g)

160g egg whites (224g)

75g caster sugar (105g)

55g plain flour (77g)

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Remove the orange strips from its skin and place on the tray. Melt the butter than set a side to cool then add in the orange juice.
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
Pour some mixture (3) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter and orange juice. Pour back into the mixture of (3) and mix gently until everything well combine.
Pour into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful not to over bake it.
Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down.
Gently tear out the baking paper and spread your favorite cream on the surface with fresh or can oranges and roll it up. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour before serve.

Peach Roll

2010-05-17T17:52:00.000+08:00

There are so many different type of swiss rolls. Either made with chiffon base, whole egg sponge mix or separation of egg white and yolk mixing. I like the whole egg sponge base as I find it much easier to make and the texture is quite fluffy and soft. This time, I try a new method from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷。She has five different methods of making swiss roll. Here is one that to whisk the egg whites until peak stiff then add in egg yolks. I find it quite interesting and the result was not bad. The texture is a bit different from the three methods that I've mentioned above. Not the fluffy type but soft and smooth. The good things is that the sponge can be easily roll up.

As this is my first attempt, I hardly catch the right temperature to bake it although the recipe mentioned 190C from the top and 160C from the bottom heat but every oven had different temper. I've slightly over bake the sponge so I find it a bit dry, otherwise it would be perfect. If you dare to try out this recipe, you will know what I mean. Happy Baking!

Recipe for 36cm x 36cm

170g egg whites

110g caster sugar

80g egg yolks

105g plain flour

180g whipping cream

20g caster sugar

2 to 3 pieces can peach

Beat the egg whites until bubbles appear, gradually add in caster sugar and beat at high heat until peak stiff.
Add in all the egg yolks then continue to beat until thick batter.

Gently fold in plain flour until well combine.
Pour into a baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 180C for about 15 minutes. Keep on eye so that it will not over baked.
Place the sponge on a cooling rack together with the baking paper once it come out from the oven. Gently tear out the baking paper.
Whisk the whipping cream with caster sugar then spread evenly on the sponge. Place some sliced peach on the sponge then roll it up. Roll up a layer of cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour before serve.

Crepe Rolls

2010-05-05T13:15:00.003+08:00

I've been quite slow in updating my blog recently. I wonder where is my baking and blogging spirit has gone. I wish I got back my passion after the gathering with my buddy but somehow I fine myself still like floating somewhere else. This fruit crepe was made last week and till now I've nothing to post up here. Well, at least I've got few of this pictures taken so to make you remember me :)

I normally have crepes spread with my homemade peanut butter for breakfast rather than serve as dessert. I know it suppose to be dessert not breakfast. So this time, I try to make it as a fruit dessert since I've got some banana and strawberries. I've seen many food bloggers and recipe books showing how to make this crepe rolls till now only I got a little mood to do it. It's not perfectly roll up but I find this crepe recipe I've been using for many years really a good one and simple to make.

Roll in the lemony cream cheese cream with the strawberries and banana is quite a refreshing dessert. I very much like the light texture of cream which contains little cream cheese with little sugar. Melt some dark chocolate that given by my buddy that make extra flavor to it. I think I must not only make this fruit crepes for my breakfast next time. It taste very yummy indeed but just need more practice to roll it up nicer.

For the crepes 西点学习大百科 - 法式可丽饼:

In a mixing bowl, beat two eggs with one tablespoon of caster sugar and pinch of salt until the sugar dissolve and combine. Add in 80 gram shifted flour until a thick batter. Mix in 50ml cream and 200ml fresh milk then add one teaspoon vanilla extract until everything combine and become a smooth batter. Cook a scoop of batter in a non stick pan. When the crepe edges browning and lift up, flip another side to cook. Makes about 15 pieces approximately 18cm)

For the cream cheese cream 西点学习大百科 -

Beat 100g cream cheese and 40 gram caster sugar until smooth batter then add in four tablespoon of lemon juice. Keep in the fridge while you whisk the whipping cream. In another bowl, whisk 400ml whipping cream until thicken. Add in the cream cheese batter continue to beat until well combine and the cream become harden. Transfer to a piping bag and keep in the fridge until ready to use.

To make the crepe rolls, place a piece of crepe on a plate. Squeeze some cream cheese cream at the center then place a piece of strawberry or banana on the cream. Squeeze some more cream cheese cream until it cover the fruits. Fold up from the bottom and the side then roll up the entire crepe. Keep in the fridge for 2 hours before serving. I'm not sure this is the best roll up method. Please feel free to give your opinion and ideas. Thanks!

Wholemeal Tortilla

2010-04-30T20:54:00.003+08:00

I've got some leftover roast chicken drumsticks after a big meal with my buddy. What I normally do with the leftover chicken is to tear out the meat and store in the fridge for making sandwich on the next day. Guess what!? The meat normally taste better than the day it's roasted. This time I choose tortilla bread to sandwich the chicken rather than using normal bread or French loaf. I make this wholemeal tortilla before but haven't got a chance to take any pictures. It's great that I can share something here this time. It's not 100% whole wheat tortillas but still consists 25% of wheat flour. Well, I think it's still have a bit of goodness there. Whole wheat tortilla is not very soft kind, but definitely edible when you think of its goodness. I try to roll it as thinner as I could then trim off the edges which was terribly rolled by my lousy skills.

Other than making sandwich, I like to use the leftover tortilla to make tortilla chips. Simply cut them into rectangular shapes then brush some olive oil and topped with some shredded cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese, toast them in the oven until they become harden and crispy. Either eat straight as a snack or go with some dipping. I made some pesto to go with it, simple and nice!

Tortilla Recipe 孟老师的100道面包

150g bread flour

50g whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon yeast

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

110g water

10g olive oil

Knead all the ingredient except olive oil. When the consistency appear crumbly start to add in olive oil. Continue the kneading process until it become a smooth dough.
Proof for 60 minutes at a cool dry place.
Divide the dough into 5 portion and roll them into round balls. Rest for about 10 minutes.
Roll out the dough into 20cm round disc and cook at a preheated frying pan without oil. The pan shouldn't be too hot, over cook will harden the tortilla.

Spinach, Walnut & Garlic Pesto:

In a food processor, combine 3/4 cup toasted walnut, 1 cup fresh baby spinach, 1/2 cup fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, salt and grounded black pepper

I've a great day!

2010-04-28T18:02:00.003+08:00

My buddy took a day off to accompany me again! I really appreciate that she makes so much efforts just to visit me and brought me lots of food stuffs and also recipe books. Really enjoy the day together. Chatting, laughing, eating, blogging and so on... I just hope that the time can be stopped in that moment. Thanks buddy! You've brighten up my day! Have a restful evening!

Mint Chip Ice Cream

2010-04-20T14:43:00.000+08:00

Daddy gaves me a pot of mint leaves. I'm so glad to receive this pot of mint although it's just a little pot but I think it's enough for my usage either for decoration on a cake or cooking. This little pot of mint growing quite fast and it show that I must use it up before the old leaves go dry. I pick some for making this mint chip ice cream.

A recipe from Artisan Gelato, it's quite straight forward like the other ice cream recipes I've been using. However, I find the ice cream don't have the stronge mint effect and quite dissapointed with the pale color. I'm actually expecting a sharp green leaves color also a powerful mints flavour. Although I can feel the "cool" but not that "WOW" effect. I guess it might not enough mint leaves although I've followed exactly the recipe which ask for two cups of mint leaves. I think four cups would be great! Anyway, the ice cream is nicely done with the creamy texture and the bit of cooling effect is still nice for this hot weather. I add in some chopped dark chocolate as I think this would become a classic mint ice cream.

Mint Chip Gelato (Artisan Gelato)

480ml whole milk

150g granulated sugar (I used 100g)

2 cups fresh mints leaves

4 large egg yolks

240ml heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

90g chopped dark chocolate

Pour the milk into a medium size, heavy bottomed saucepan, add approximately 100g (70g) of the sugar, place over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture register 77C on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the heat, add the mint leaves, and stir to make sure that they're fully submerged (don't worry if they float to the top). Cover and let steep for 2 hours. (The longer the mint leaves steep, the stronger the mint flavor will be.)

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean, medium size, heavy bottomed saucepan, pressing on the mint leaves to remove as much flavor as possible. Discard the mint leaves and place the steeped mixture back on the stove top over medium heat. Warm, stirring occasionally to keep the bottom from scorching, until it registers 77C on an instant read thermometer.

In a nonreactive, medium-size bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 50g (30g) of sugar until foamy and slightly thickned. Carefully temper the eggyolks with the hot milk mixture by slowly adding about half of the hot liquid to the eggs, whisking continously. Pour the heated egg mixture into the sauce pan with the hot milk and return to the stove top. Stirring continously with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it register 85C on an instant read thermometer or is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon or spatula, taking care to make sure the mixture does not boil. Remove from the heat. Emulsify the mix, if not completely smooth, before incorporating it into the cold cream.

Pour the heavy cream into a clean, large stainless-steel or glas mixing bowl set over an ice bath. Pour the heated custard through a fine mesh sieve or strainer into the cold cream, add the vanilla extract, and stir until fully incorporated. Stir occasionally about every 5 minutes until teh mixture has fully cooled. This should take about 1/2 hour. Remove the mixing bowl from the ice bath, dry off the bottome of the bowl if necessary, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. When ready, pour the chilled mixture into the ice-cream maker and about 2 minutes from being done, slowly add the chopped chocolate. Finish processing the gelato.

Remove the finished gelato from the ice cream maker and place in a plastic continer. Cover with plastic wrap by pressing the wrap gently against the top of the gelato, affix lid to container, and place in the freezer to fully harden before serving.

Fruits Crumble

2010-04-14T08:57:00.003+08:00

I really miss the life in the UK especially my dear friends and the fascinating village. It just simply unforgettable. I remember my first time having an apple crumble in my friend's cottage few years back, that's remarkable one! Dining in a cottage with a hot crumble during the cold weather, such a typical English lifestyle. I fall in love with crumble from that day onwards. It was my first time had a hot dessert go with vanilla ice cream, custard or yogurt. I've not been making it after I moved into Singapore. It's just happened that my crumble's mood came back again last weekend although we're having such a hot and humid weather here but I can't wait to make it for our dinner dessert. This crumble recipe I had with me for many years is the best one for me especially the crumble toppings. Crumbly yet buttery rich flavor that goes so well with the bit of sourly fruits. Further more, the scoop of ice cream that slowly melting on the hot crumble that make me feel like sitting in a the English cottage again....

Preheat the oven to 200C. For the filling, you could use apple, pear, plum, figs, etc with some berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. This time, I use plum and pear. Peel, quarter and core the pear and plum into large chunks. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish. I used a small one for serving two person. Adding one orange zest and juice to the fruits. Mix together with hands. Toss over the blackberries, and scatter over some sugar (I didn't add any sugar on it as I feel the fruits is sweet enough for me). For the crumble topping, place 30g ground almond, 70g flour, 45g polenta, 70g cold butter and 55g raw sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly, it should be quite clumpy. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruits. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you have leftover crumble, store in the freezer or fridge and use it later for your crumble muffins, that's what I like to do. Turn down the heat to 180C and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes until the top is nicely browned and bubbling. If you like the fruits to stay crunchy, adjust the baking time. Otherwise bake longer to have a soft texture of fruits. Serve while it's still hot. The crumble served with my homemade raspberries ripple ice cream. You could serve with custard or yogurt. Enjoy!

Lemon Pound Cake

2010-04-07T17:21:00.002+08:00

Hello! I'm still alive! Please don't forget about me. I know I haven't been doing much baking but I'm still reading all your lovely updates. Here is the latest update of my baking, Lemon Pound Cake. It's very unusual of me baking a butter cake for my own consumption.

Well, this is my first attempt on pound cake and I choose the most easiest recipe and also my favorite lemon flavor. Another reason for choosing this recipe because the batter is small enough to fit into my Daiso pound cake pan. I'm quite happy with my first pound cake. It's nicely baked and the lemony taste gives the cake a lighter texture. I use to bake banana loaf cake to give away and now here is another good choice. I like this pound cake and hope you do.

Recipe from 点心达人，轻松学

(Pound cake pan 18 x 8 x 6.5cm)

100g plain flour

30g ground almond

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

120g unsalted butter

50g caster sugar (I used 30g)

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 lemon zest

1 drop vanilla extract

2 egg whites

50g caster sugar

Grease and line the pound cake pan with baking paper. Shift the flour, baking powder and ground almond.
In a clean bow, beat the butter then gradually add in the caster sugar until the sugar dissolved into the butter and the mixture become pale in color.
Mix in the egg yolk one at a time until just combine. Then mix in the lemon juice and zest together with the vanilla extract.
In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the bubbles appear then add 1/3 of the sugar. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites become peak foam.
Gently mix in half the egg whites into the butter lemon mixture, don't have to mix too much. Then mix in half of the flour ingredients and combine everything.
Gently fold in the remaining egg whites then add the remaining flour ingredients until well combine.
Pour the batter into the pound cake pan and bake in a 170C preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Took it out and use a knife to cut a line at the center of the batter, continue to bake for 35 to 40 minutes until and skewer insert into the cake and come out clean.
Let it cool down on a wire rack and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bolognese Pizza

2010-03-24T15:25:00.002+08:00

I like the bolognese sauce recipe from Jamie Oliver. It's very simple yet delicious! Once the bolognese sauce has cooked, it can be stored in the freezer and use at anytime especially when I feel lazy to cook, so it's good to cook extra. Simply cook some pasta then mix it with the bolognese sauce, job done for my lazy day.

Another way to do is, which I've just realized that bolognese sauce go so well with a cheesy pizza. What I did is just to spread the sauce on a pizza dough and sprinkle all kind of cheeses that I've in the fridge and bake. To add a bit of the goodness for my pizza, I make a whole wheat pizza dough to go with it. The whole wheat pizza dough really surprise me as the crust texture is very delicious and crispy. I make the bolognese sauce a bit spicy as I add in some chili at the earlier stage. So, the crusty whole wheat pizza, the spicy bolognese sauce and all the cheeses... what to say.... simply the best!
Recipe for the whole wheat pizza dough: In a mixing bowl, add 100g bread flour, 100g whole wheat flour, 10g caster sugar, half teaspoon of salt, half teaspoon of instant dry yeast and 110g water. Knead all the ingredients until they become a crumbly consistency then add in 10g olive oil. Continue to knead until smooth springy soft dough, cover it with cling film and let it rest for 1 hour. Divide the dough up into two equal portion and roll them into two of 8 inches round baking pan. Let them rest for 15 minutes. Spread the bolognese sauce onto the pizza dough then sprinkle with some freshly grated cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Continue to proof for another 15 minutes. Bake the pizza at lower rack in the oven at 220 preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.

Recipe for the bolognese sauce: Finely slice 2 rashes of smoked streaky bacon, peel and finely chop 2 medium onion, garlic, carrots, celery and a fresh chili. Place a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat. Add 2 lugs of olive oil with the sliced bacon and 2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano and cook until bacon is slightly golden. Add the chopped veg to the pan and stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly colored. Stir in 250g mince beef and 250g mince pork together with 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes. Fill both empty tins with water and add to the pan. Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper. Finely chop a small punch basil stalks and stir into the pan. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer with a lid on for about an hour, stirring every now and again to stop it catching. Remove the bolognese sauce from the heat. Finely grate 100 gram parmesan and stir half into the sauce. Tear and stir in any larger basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones for sprinkling over before serving. Mix up everything and taste and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed. At this stage you can allow it to cool, bag it up and freeze it, or eat it straight away with your pasta or pizza.

Marble Soft Cheesecake

2010-03-14T16:08:00.003+08:00

This is very much like soufflé texture and also soft like feather light kind of cheesecake. It is the softest one in my cheesecake menu. My hubby falls in love with soft cheesecake recently as he feels like eating a big piece without adding any calories into his body (which is not true, haha!), but I guess it should be less calories than the rich cheesecake, which also my favorite.

Generally, the cheesecake taste very good, just the marble effect doesn't looks good, I did not make a good job at this stage but will definitely practice again as I want to make another two more in the coming weeks for my friends. For the cake base, I used the cocoa sponge cake recipe which I feel the best in my menu as its soft and spongy texture just so match to the soft cheesecake. I cut the cocoa sponge into three layers and use a piece for the base then freeze another two for next bake.

Recipe:

160g cream cheese

50ml whippping cream

70ml milk

60g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

30g corn flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 thin slice of 8 inches cocoa sponge

Melt cream cheese, whipping cream, milk and butter over double boiler. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat.
Add in 50g of sugar, corn flour, vanilla and egg yolks then stir well.
Beat egg white and cream of tartar in another clean bowl until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add in the rest of sugar, continue beating until frothy and stiff peaks form.
Gently fold beaten egg white foam into cheese mixture until blended.
Stir 80g of cheese mixture with cocoa powder until well combined.
Place a sponge cake into a 8 inches lose bottom or spring form baking pan. Pour vanilla cheese mixture into cake tin. Drizzle some cocoa cheese mixture over the surface and draw marble pattern with skewer. Place the baking pan in a large tray.
Pour enough hot water into larger tray to come half way up sides of baking pan. Bake in preheated oven at 140C for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 120C and continue bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for overnight before serve.

Jamie's Chocolate Brownie

2010-03-05T13:35:00.002+08:00

I made this chocolate brownie many times and I've been waiting for sharing this recipe long time ago but I've always got no chance to take any pictures for sharing. This time, I manage to took a few pictures on this brownie before it sent to my cousin during the CNY. This chocolate brownie is rich, gooey, dense and super chocolaty! Look, it's very simple to make and I took no time for making this but the trick is to make sure don't overcook them, unlike cakes, you don't want a skewer come out all clean. My cousin and all the family members love it.

This classic chocolate brownies have been on the London Fifteen Restaurant's menu till now which is created by the founder, Jamie Oliver, my idol chef. If you're a chocoholics, try this!

Coffee Soft Cheesecake

2010-02-04T15:40:00.002+08:00

Papa's birthday falls on the 7th day of lunar new year. I'm glad to know that he is so blessed by the people around him with so much love and joy. I managed to make a simple cake for him and accompanied him for lunch at his favorite coffee house as well as a wonderful dinner with a few lovely friends who always give lots of support and love to him. Papa loves coffee, so I made this coffee flavour kind of soft cheesecake for him. I hope he enjoys the cake and most important thing is the fellowship that we had together is unforgettable one!

About the cake, I feel that the bottom part of sponge cake was too thick whereas the cheesecake had a cottony soft texture and very flavourful. I shall make a thinner slice of sponge cake for the base next time. This piece of blessing means so much to everyone!

Recipe: Plain sponge cake for the base: (I used 3 eggs recipe for a 9 inches cake tin, I think 2 eggs recipe would be better) 3 whole eggs 90g caster sugar

80g plain flour 30g unsalted butter (melted)

Coffee cheese batter: 380g fresh milk

250g cream cheese 2 sachets of 3 in 1 instant coffee

50g cake flour (shifted)

5 egg yolk

5egg white

70g caster sugar

How I made it:

Make a plain sponge for the cake base. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the baking parchment for the bottom of a 9 inches round cake tin. Grease the side of the cake tin then coated with some bread flour.
In a clean bowl, whisk the eggs and gradually add in the caster sugar. Whisk until it double the size. The texture should be fluffy and pale in color.
Gradually shift the shifted flour into the egg mixture and use the spatula gently fold it in.
Add in the melted butter little by little and fold it in gently until well combined.
Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
For the cheese batter. Grease the side of a 9 inches spring form cake tin then coated with some bread flour. Place the sponge cake at the bottom. Wrap the base and surrounding of the tin with 2 layers of foil.
Double-boil milk, cream cheese and instant coffee until a smooth batter.
Add in flour, stir and cook until mixture has thicken. Remove from stove and set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 140C. (I preheated at 120C)
Whisk in egg yolk into the cream cheese batter until well combined.
Whisk the egg whites till frothy. Gradually add in the sugar and whisk till soft peaks form. Fold in 1/4 of the meringue into the cream cheese mixture until combined. Then fold in the rest of the meringue in 3 portions until well combined.
Pour batter into the prepared spring form pan. Steam-bake cheesecake in a preheated oven for 2 hours or 2 1/2 hours. Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for half an hour with the door ajar. Remove cake from the tin and chill in the fridge for over night. (You can also chill the whole cheesecake in the cake tin.) Cut and serve the cheesecake.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2010-02-04T15:40:00.000+08:00

Hello! Just want to wish everyone who are here always to give your support and lovely comments. May this season brings you lots of joyful and all the best on your continuous baking. I've got nothing to proud about my new year cookies because there are nothing special which I made them before. There are not the best but still edible and presentable. I hope mum will satisfy with all these goodies as well as the guests who are going to visit us very soon. I'll be away for some time, but will definitely drop by at all my lovely supporters to read your new updates. Happy Chinese New Year!

Evolution Choux Pastry

2010-02-04T09:13:00.011+08:00

I know I should post up some cookies at this time but let me do this first before the new year cookies. My dad loves cream puffs especially durian one. We are deciding to serve some cream puffs to our guests durian the CNY, so I've made some experiment on the choux and hope he will likes it.

Recently, we like to sandwich the choux with ice cream, since my freezer storing some different ice cream, that's really a good chance to experiment about it. Here, I've got papa choux which is the coffee bun topping, polo choux that is the polo bun topping and the other two topped with shredded coconut and diced almond. That's very simple, pipe out the choux then pipe out a layer of any toppings that I've mentioned above and bake. I personally like the polo choux very much, however each one of them got their own characteristic.

I made the choux slightly bigger than the normal cream puffs which is just enough to fit in a small scoop of ice cream. This is quite a fancy choux and I hope you will like it too or make something fancy to serve your guests in this CNY. Cheers!

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream

2010-01-29T20:27:00.003+08:00

I would like to store some homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer because sometimes I need it to serve with crumble or some hot desserts. Rather making a plain one, I was thinking to make the raspberry ripple so that it's also can be served straight. This is a recipe of Nigella Lawson but I've modified it a bit as I feel the custard is quite rich and thick. So, by reducing the sugar and adding some yogurt with fresh milk make a slightly light and refreshing ice cream. I like the sourly of raspberry, it served so well with hot chocolate desserts, crumble or cream puffs!

Recipe:

600g single cream (I used 300ml whipping cream & 300ml fresh milk)

6egg yolks

120g caster sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoon plain yogurt

100ml fresh milk

125g raspberries

Warm the milk, whipping cream and half of the sugar in a saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
Pour the custard through the strainer and stir in the vanilla extract. Mix it into the yogurt and fresh milk, then whisk it vigorously. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
While the ice cream freezing in the ice cream maker, put the raspberries and the remaining sugar in the processor and puree, then push through a nylon sieve to remove the pips. Then pour into a small, airtight container and stick it into the freezer to thicken but not to set hard.
When the ice cream frozen, but not solid, put one third of it into a container and then dribble over a third of the semi-frozen raspberry syrup. and repeat with another two layers of each. Take a wooden skewer and squiggle through so that the syrup ripples through the ice ream, Cover and put in the deep freeze till set. Enjoy!

My Buddy

2010-01-27T19:39:00.003+08:00

Hey guys! Familiar with these goodies? Haha.. guess what!? It's time to meet up with my buddy. I've got these lovely goodies from her. All are yummy indeed! Again, we've a fantastic day with lots of chatting, laughing, walking and shopping. She had given me a wonderful day with lots of baking experience and advises. I was truly overwhelmed by her friendship! Brilliant thanks to you, buddy!

Peanut Butter Buns

2010-01-25T11:03:00.003+08:00

I still feel that this water roux recipe is great! With the same recipe, it could makes different kind of sweet buns including this peanut butter buns. There turn out real soft! I used my homemade sugar free peanut butter so I find it not sweet enough. Please use a good peanut butter like the brand of PLANTERS (oh..I love it) or any organic 100% pure peanut butter for better texture.

Ingredients: (A) 210g bread flour / 56g plain flour / 20g milk powder / 42g sugar / 1/2 teaspoon salt / 6g instant yeast (B) 30g eggs / 85g water / 84g water roux (refer to water roux recipe) (C) 22g butter (D) some peanut butter and chopped peanut

Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125 water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left (please don't over cooked it!). If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. The amount of water roux here would be more than a recipe required, please according to the amount of the recipe required and do not add more or less.

How I made it:

Put all the ingredients (A) and (B) for kneading until it form a dough. Add the butter (C) little by little and continue the kneading process until smooth and elastic and the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl (this method for dough hook kneading mixer, if using bread machine, add all the ingredients (A)(B) and (C) together. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
Divide the dough into 9 portions. Round them into small balls and rest for 10 minutes.
Flatten the dough with your a rolling pin and roll it out in longish shape. Spread some peanut butter jam and use a sharp knife to cut 4 to 5 lines then twist it and tight them up. Place them into muffin cups and proof for 40 minutes.
Egg wash the top of the doughs and sprinkle some chopped peanuts.
Bake at a 180C preheated oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Durian Butter Cake

2010-01-20T08:09:00.004+08:00

I seldom bake recently, life without baking is just so boring and dull. I found an excuse to bake a butter cake last week that had shared with my cousin and family. Although it's just a simple cake, it makes me feel better touching the kitchen stuffs. After the first attempt on berries butter cake, I would like to give it another try on durian flavour, and also took this opportunity to use a new cake mould. I'm not sure it's called bundt mould or something else, correct me if I'm wrong. Beside berries, durian is also one of my favorite fruit. So, I came out with this durian butter cake. The taste is very flavourful indeed with the slightly moist and rich texture. I feel the bundt cake mould make it looks prettier rather than just baking in a flat baking tray. Hope you will like this recipe of Kevin Chai. His recipes is quite simple and nice. Don't forget to use the sweet and flavourful durian and you will get the result.

Recipe:

250g butter

170g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g durian flesh

230g self raising flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Grease a baking mould. Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Stir in durian flesh. Fold in sifted flour, baking powder and soda. Mix until well blended.
Spoon batter into prepared mould. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until cooked.

Pork Floss Bun

2010-01-14T10:22:00.005+08:00

I've seen many blogger make this roll up bun that looks really interesting and some of the bakery shops are selling it too! It's just happened that I've some left over pork floss, so why not give it a try from the recipe 65度汤肿面包.

The buns was topped with lots of sesame that taste really good. Not to forget the pork floss, it's absolutely a great combo with the mayo spreading on the buns. I find that rolling up the bun like a swiss roll makes it looks prettier and very appetizing! Recipe for a roll makes 5 buns: 195g bread flour / 90g plain flour / 12g milk powder / 30g caster sugar / 6g salt / 6g yeast / 60g beaten eggs / 65g water / 75g water dough / 45g unsalted butter

** some mayo, sesame and chopped spring onion Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. You will not use up all, measure 75g for the recipe.

How I make it:

Put all the dough ingredients together for kneading except butter until it become a dough. Add in butter and continue the kneading process until it become smooth and elastic and the dough no more sticky or sticking at the side of the mixing bowl. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape and place on a baking tray. Use a fork to poke some holes on the dough and let it proof for 15 minutes.
Egg wash the dough and sprinkle some sesame and chopped spring onion. Continue to proof for 15 minutes.
Bake at 180C for 15 minutes. Don't over cook it, otherwise the dough will become tough not soft.
Spread some mayo on the bread and top with the pork floss evenly. Roll it up like a swiss roll tightly. Cut out 5 portions and spread some mayo at both side of each bread. Coated the side with lots of pork floss. Enjoy!

Berries Butter Cake

2010-01-06T13:53:00.007+08:00

Mum bought me another recipe book named "I Love Butter Cake". Oppsss! that's not me, I don't really fancy about butter cake, but I've got to make it to show my appreciation to mum and of course it could be served to someone who is a big fan of butter cake. After read through the whole recipe book, I choose this Berries Butter Cake just because I love berries.

It's actually a recipe of "Apple Blueberry Butter Cake" but I feel like adding some leftover berries from my freezer. I used blueberry, raspberry and blackberry for this butter cake. For those who don't like the bit of seeds from the raspberries, better use apple and blueberry. I believe it will taste good too! For me, the soury and the bit of sweetness and juicy of the berries make the butter cake light and refreshing. Finally, I find myself quite like butter cake. Thanks Mum!

Recipes:

250g butter

200g caster sugar

5 eggs

200g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 green apple (peel, cored, diced)

100g blueberry

** 1 orange zest or lemon zest

Greese and line 20cm (8inch) baking tin. Preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Fold in shifted flour and baking powder, mix well. Spread batter into prepared tin. Sprinkle apples over the batter and spoon blueberry filling over the apples. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until cooked.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:19:00.004+08:00

Happy 2010 ! My first baking of the year got nothing special to share but just a simple cookie recipe that came with some compliments from my family members and friends during the Xmas season. This is a very simple recipe which you could make the dough in advance and bake it whenever you want to refill your cookie jar. It could be shaped in any fancy patterns before frozen. I've no idea how to name this frozen cookie, please give it a good name if you can. Here are two type of flavours, plain and cocoa that go with some pecans and chocolate chips. People who had tasted love the texture and it serve well with a cup of coffee or tea. Freeze more doughs and make it as a little gift in a rush in NO TIME!!

Beat 110g butter with 50g icing sugar until lightly pale and fluffy. Add in the 150g shifted flour and 25g cocoa powder if you like to make cocoa flavour, otherwise replace the 25g with plain flour. Add some pecan, walnut or chocolate chips but not too little or too much. You want to taste the crunchiness and also easy to cut out in pieces once the dough harden from the freezer. I added 30g pecan and 30g chocolate chips into the mixture. Using a wooden spoon to mix until everything come together. Place half the cookie dough on a piece of cling film. For square shape, I used a 1 1/2 inches height baking tray to make an even square shape. Wrap the cookie dough with the cling film in a longish shape about 1 1/2 inches even size then pushing it to the side of the baking tray, press it and pushing another side again until you've got an even size of square loaf of cookie dough. Place in the freezer until harden. Cut out the cookie with your desirable thickness and bake in the oven at 170C for about 15 minutes. Keep in the cookie jar when it completely cool. Place a piece or two at the side of your coffee or tea, enjoy!

Happy Christmas!

2009-12-24T10:49:00.005+08:00

This will be my last posting of the year 2009. Year end normally would be the most busiest time for me. I really have no time to think a new log cake this year, however manage to made a log cake last night which is exactly the same log as last year. Hope you don't feel bored with this old log.

Wishing everyone have a blessed Christmas and thank you for all your comments and encouragement to help me go on with this food blog. Look forward to seeing all the lovely post on you all. Happy New Year!

Stollen

2009-12-11T13:22:00.005+08:00

Last year, I made Panettone for X'mas but did not manage to try out any Stollen recipes. So, this year I got to try a Stollen recipe first before Panettone. It's something new to me and I think the texture is something like Panettone. Again, Stollen is also one of the bread that Italian will have during the X'mas but now everywhere having it for this lovely season.

I'm not sure why Stollen had its unique shape, anyway I just followed the recipe. The texture is soft on the day it's baked and taste quite good with some dried apricot, cranberries, raisin and the crunchy pecan had given it extra texture. Not to forget, my favorite ingredients "cinnamon" make this bread taste better. My hubby and I very much prefer Stollen and Panettone instead of Fruit Cake.

The bread wasn't that soft the next day. So, I tuck it back to the oven at 200C losely wrapped with aluminium foil to warm it back, then it's turn soft again and it's nice to serve warm I feel. My first experiment told me that I should make it again to give away as a gift very soon.

Recipe from 65度汤肿面包 (make two loafs)

(A) 270g bread flour / 30g plain flour / 1 tsp cinammon powder / 30g sugar / 3g salt / 6g yeast (B) 135g milk / 30g beaten egg

(D) 130g dried fruits (apricot, raisin, cranberries) / 50g pecan nuts (toasted and chopped)

With a dough hook mixer, mix ingredients (A) and (B) at low speed unitl a crumbly consistency.
Gradually add in the unsalted butter until everything combine. Change to a medium low speed continue the kneading process until it become smooth and elastic.
Add in ingredients (D) until everything stick with the dough. Take out the dough from the machine, add in any dried fruits or nuts that didn't stick to it. Make the dough into a smooth round shape and let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
Divide the dough into two portions and shape them into smooth round dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Roll out the dough to a flat round shape, fold 2/3 of the dough from left to right. Use a rolling pin press all the way down at the other 1/3 of the dough. So here you've got three paddle stollen.
Let the doughs sit at the baking tray proof for 40 minutes cover with cling wrap.
Bake at 180C for 30 minutes until golden brown. When the bread out from the oven, immediate brush some melted butter on the dough and sprinkle over lots of sugar powder.

Scones (Savoury)

2009-12-02T12:54:00.007+08:00

I made some savory scones this morning and it took me no time to get a fresh yet delicious scones out from the oven. It's truly yummy with some cheese and back bacon added. I must say the crumbly and fluffy texture is a winner. One thing for sure it's got to be eaten warm. Anyway, it's really a simple and no much time consuming recipe that you can make it at anytime either in the morning or make it for afternoon tea. For me, it's my all time favorite snack! This great recipe came from "Do What I Like". I've slightly changed the recipe as I made it into a savoury version. The first thing I do is making the buttermilk by adding two teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 150ml of full fat milk and let it stand for 30 minutes. If you've got the commercial buttermilk and that will safe you some time. While I was waiting for the buttermilk, I chopped two slices of back bacon and fried them in a pan until it slightly golden brown. Turn off the heat and let it cool down while I continue with other stuffs. Roughly cut 30g of cheddar cheese into little cubes. It don't have to be in good shape as it will melt and stick at the scones when it bakes in the oven. Shift 200g self-raising flour into a large bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar. Give it a quick stir to combine with the flour. Roughly cut 50g of butter and quickly tuck it into the flour and rub in the butter until a crumbly consistency, it don't have to be well combined, you would rather let those tiny bits of butter stay in the flour. Just don't over combine. This took less then a minutes to combine and by this time the homemade buttermilk should be ready. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in 2/3 of the buttermilk and use chopstick to mix everything until it turn into a mess. You don't want a smooth round dough but a sticky and messy mixture. If dough is too dry, add in more buttermilk. For me, 2/3 is more than enough for the mixture.Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured working surface, add the fried bacon and cheddar cheese. Using both hand to bring everything together and pat the mixture into 2cm thickness. Cut the dough with 5.5cm floured cutter and pressed all the way down without twisting or turning the cutter. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper then glaze the surface with some leftover buttermilk. For more cheesy texture, sprinkle some shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for 15 minutes. Serve warm and no jam or cream needed. Enjoy!

Chilled Durian Cheesecake

2009-11-25T11:08:00.007+08:00

It's a big day of my other half and it's always a headache of thinking what type of birthday cake for him is the best as you might have the same feeling like me hope to give the best to our life partner, right?! Since he likes durian a lot and I still have a box of frozen durian, why not make a durian cake or durian cheesecake for him. Thinking along the way, if you did follow my blog you'll know that I've just made a durian cake and durian cheesecake not long ago. So, it's not a good idea to do the same for him which is nothing special anymore.

Time is limited, I don't really have much time to think somemore as his birthday is just around the corner. Ended up, I make durian cheesecake again, but with a Non-Baked version sandwich with plain spongy cake. I followed a sponge cake recipe from a video clip and luckily it turn out really good. If you did try my chocolate spongy cake before, you will know this lady. Again, I'm very satisfy with her recipe.

For the cheese filling, I'm very particular with chilled cheesecake, as too much gelatin will cause the cake like jelly type. I'm really looking for a soft, light and melt in-the-mouth texture but not jelly cake. So, really have to be cautious about the portion of gelatin added in.

I was quite nervous when he was taking the first bite of this durian cheesecake, guess what? It's so obviously show the satisfaction from his face. I couldn't believe it and I quickly tried the first bite too and it's really something I was looking for. It's soft, light and super tasty for us and couldn't feel the gelatin texture. As I added less gelatin in the batter, the cake couldn't stay at room temperature for too long but it set and stand nicely in the fridge. I'm really glad that the cheesecake turn out very well. When he is happy, I'm happy too!

Ingredients for the plain sponge cake: (Please follow the video clip) 140g plain flour 4 eggs 30g milk 180g sugar 4g salt 30g oil

Ingredients for durian cream cheese filling: 350g cream cheese 60g caster sugar 250g durian flesh 350 whipping cream 1 tablespoon gelatin 3 tablespoon water

For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Stir in durian flesh until well combine. Now, get ready for others ingredients. Melt gelatin powder with water over simmering water until the gelatin dissolve. Whip the cream until thicken but not over whipped. Stir in 4 teaspoon of gelatin into cheese mixture until well combine then fold in the whipped cream. Keep the remaining gelatin for the toppings. Place a slice of sponge cake into 8 inches lose bottom baking tray. Spread in half of the durian cheese mixture. Place another layer of sponge cake on top. Spread half of the remaining cheese mixture on top and chilled in the fridge. Mix together the remaining gelatin and cheese mixture and put into a piping bag. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it slightly set (the time depends on how cool the fridge is, so watch it and try to squeeze out a little to test whether it could form any pattern). Pipe out any pattern you like onto the cake and chilled in the fridge for over night. Enjoy!

Sponge Cake (Cocoa)

2009-11-12T11:53:00.013+08:00

This might not something special as I know many of you know how to make it. I did have a cocoa sponge base recipe that I used quite frequently but this is something I found which is better than my previous one.

It's quite easy to make and the result was good with a spongy, light and fluffy texture. My previous cocoa sponge was slightly dry whereas this one stay moist which you can eat it straight. Not only that, the main thing is the sponge can be used as a cake base for making all kind of celebration or party cake. Feel free to watch the video clip on how the lady chef did it as well as my final result of experiment. See how spongy it is :)

Cocoa sponge cake recipe for 8 inches round cake pan : whole eggs 203g、egg yolks 32g、caster sugar 135g、glucose 21g、 salt 1g、oil 32g、cocoa powder 21g、plain flour 106g、baking soda 1g、milk 21cc

Bumble Bee

2009-11-12T10:47:00.004+08:00

Many thanks to Baking on Cloud 9 for the method of making this bumble bee. Look! Each one of them had their own character and emotions. That's very unusual for me to make this but I feel that sometime it's quite fun playing with it. Thanks quizzine!

Cherry Crumble Cheesecake

2009-11-10T08:38:00.011+08:00

After the first attempt on durian cheesecake, I feel quite encourage to try another cheesecake from the same recipe book 我和起士蛋糕的秘密. At first, I was thinking to make an apple crumble cheesecake but at the same time I want to use the canned apple cherry given by PH. I was very curious about the taste of that apple cherry so ended up I make cherry cheesecake.

The cheesecake was not too bad but I still like the texture of durian cheesecake as it's very smooth and silky texture that melt in the mouth was great! This texture is slightly thicker that might take a few more second to melt in your mouth.

I tried to place a piece at room temperature for 15 minutes and the texture was not that thicker then. The crumble is very tasty and goes well with the cheesecake but the apple cherry wasn't that very special. It taste ok but nothing so special for me.

I've done a few study from the recipe book and found that some cheesecake had a very silky smooth texture. I remember before baking the durian cheesecake, the batter was quite liquid or should I say runny whereas this batter of cherry cheesecake was quite thick.

I guess it's due to the ingredients used. Although they both used the same amount of inggredients like cream cheese, sugar and eggs. The different is batter that added with same milk or cream is smoother than the batter made with cream cheese and eggs only. The durian cheesecake was added milk whereas this is not, may be that's make the difference. Please correct me if I'm wrong but so far this is the experiment I've gone through. Anyway, people who are not very choosy like me will still love this cheesecake. It's just an ordinary one for me :P Recipe from 我和起士蛋糕的秘密 for (7 inches cake tin)

For the base:

200g digestive biscuit

100g butter

For the filling: 400g cream cheese

80g caster sugar 3 eggs

140g cherries

For the Crumble:

60g plan flour

60g caster sugar

50g ground almond

30g butter

1 tbsp cooking oil

To make the base, stir all ingredients until combine. Press mixture into base of 7 inches cake tin.
To make the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat until well blended.
Place cherries into the tin. Pour in cheese filling.
To make crumble, combine flour, sugar and ground almond, rub in butter and oil until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the top.
Steam-bake in preheated oven at 160C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Chill in fridge for 5 hours or overnight.

Cinnamon Bread Pudding

2009-11-06T10:57:00.005+08:00

I've some leftover cinnamon buns and I want to give it a twist to something else. Bread butter pudding is a very traditional English dessert that usually serve with a dollop of ice cream or custard.

I made this pudding for breakfast so we eat it without adding any toppings. The bread pudding is very tasty with the smell of cinnamon together with the raisin and walnut. I like the crusty texture on top and soft moisture texture at the bottom. It's simply the best!

How I made it:

Lightly grease an oven proof shallow dish and preheat the oven to 170C. Cut three cinnamon buns into chunky pieces and place on the dish. In a sauce pan, warm 150ml fresh milk and 150ml fresh cream (or you could use 99% fat free butter milk). Add 1 tablespoon of natural maple syrup or honey until well combine. In another bowl, lightly beat 1 egg and add in the warm mixture and whisk until well combine. Pour the mixture to the cinnamon buns and bake at 170C preheated oven for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Cinnamon Buns

2009-11-02T11:48:00.005+08:00

The smell of cinnamon is really good, it goes very well with some desserts. One study found that the smell of cinnamon gives you a clear of mind. No wonder I always feel so good with the smell :) Cinnamon roll is one of the best breakfast and afternoon tea served with a cup of coffee... urhhhh... that's the most enjoyable yet relaxing moment.

I baked these cinnamon rolls into buns shape by baking it on a muffin pan. They looks like quite happy sitting on the muffin pan! Other than adding the raw sugar with cinnamon powder, I gave it some extra texture.

The buns was added with some honey toasted walnut and raisins soaked with rum. The texture is very nice with a bit of crunchy nuts and chewy raisins. Not to forget, the smell of cinnamon with the raw sugar is a winner!

Ingredients:

(A) 210g bread flour / 56g plain flour / 20g milk powder / 42g sugar / 1/2 teaspoon salt / 6g instant yeast

(B) 30g eggs / 85g water / 84g water roux (refer to water roux recipe)

(D) 30g raw sugar / 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder / 40g raisin (soak with rum / 40g honey toasted walnuts

Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125 water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left (please don't over cooked it!). If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. The amount of water roux here would be more than a recipe required, please according to the amount of the recipe required and do not add more or less.

How I made it:

Put all the ingredients (A) and water roux that made with ingredients (B) for kneading until it form a dough. Add the butter little by little and continue the kneading process until smooth and elastic and the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl (this method for dough hook kneading mixer, if using bread machine, add all the ingredients (A), (B) amd (C) together. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
While waiting for the dough, prepare the fillings. Mix the raw sugar and cinnamon powder together untill well combine. Soak the raisin with some rum. Toast the walnut on a medium low heat of non stick pan for about 5 minutes then add the honey continue to toast it for another 5 minutes. After the walnut cool down, chopped it into small pieces.
Flatten the dough with your hand and roll it out in longish shape with a rolling pin about 25cm x 40cm. Brush some water on the surface of the dough then sprinkle over all the raw sugar cinnamon mixture evenly.
Sprinkle the chopped walnut on the dough. Drain the soak raisin and sprinkle on top of the dough as well.
Roll it up to a long sausage shape and seal it tightly. Lightly floured a sharp knife. Cut into 12 portions and place on a muffin pan lined with the casing.
Cover with a cling wrap and let it proof for 40 minutes.
Egg wash the dough before send them into the oven. Bake at a 180C preheated oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Peach Cake

2009-10-30T10:22:00.006+08:00

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

2009-10-27T11:54:00.003+08:00

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

2009-10-22T08:59:00.006+08:00

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:

To make the base, stir all ingredients until combined. Press mixture into base. Set aside.
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.
Beat in milk and cornstarch until blended. Reserve 1 tbsp cheese mixture for topping, the rest mixture pour into tin.
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.
Steam baked at 170C for 45 minutes (my oven 150C for 50 minutes) or until light brown.
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

2009-10-15T11:10:00.006+08:00

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:

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

Durian Cake

2009-10-09T12:13:00.003+08:00

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

2009-10-06T09:31:00.005+08:00

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:

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
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

2009-10-02T09:46:00.007+08:00

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

2009-10-01T10:04:00.005+08:00

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 :)

Plain White Bread

2009-09-25T10:03:00.009+08:00

Quite satisfiy with this shape of square white bread. With 90 minutes proofing sponge dough method of 孟老师的100道面包, I must say "worth it"! The crumb is soft but I've no idea how long it can stay soft as it's finished in two days.

Recipes: (A) 220g bread flour / 3g yeast / 130g water

(B) 60g bread flour / 15g sugar / 1/2 tsp salt / 10g milk /

powder / 40g water

Method:

Knead ingredients (A) together until it's well combine and become a dough ball. Let it sit in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap proof for 90 minutes at room temperature.
Mix in the ingredients (B) to (A) and knead until a smooth dough then add butter.
Continue to knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. Proof for 60 minutes.
Divide the dough in to 3 portions and rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out each doughs into a longish shape and roll up like a swiss roll. Place the doughs in a grease bread tin cover with lid and proof for 50 - 60 minutes until the dough fill up 90% of the bread tin.
Bake at 200'C for 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the bread tin and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Grissini II

2009-09-23T20:00:00.006+08:00

I baked a similar bread stick (grissini) nearly a year ago which was topped with sesame seeds that had given a super crunchy texture. This time, I try to use cheddar cheese and it smell very good when it's almost ready from the oven. There are two types of texture for grissini which is a crisp texture outside and a soft crumbs. Another texture is crisp and crunch from the outside to the crumbs. According to the recipe from 孟老师的100道面包, leaving the grissini in the oven for few minutes after the required baking period to make the entire stick much crunchier. If you don't like a crunchy crumbs, remove from it from the oven after bake. It's such a simple yet delicious craving snacks!

Mixture (A)

Bread flour 150g

Plain flour 50g

Sugar 15g

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Water 100g

Instant yeast 1/4 teaspoon (1g)

Parmesan cheese powder 20g

Mixture (B)

Unsalted butter 15g

Egg whites 20g

Shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all the mixture (A) in a mixing bowl with a dough hook at low speed then medium speed until everything well combine and become a smooth dough.
Add in unsalted butter continue kneading with a low speed until the butter mix with the dough then change to medium speed until it become a very smooth dough.
Proof it in a large bowl cover with cling wrap for 50 minutes.
Roll the dough out at 0.3 cm thick in rectangular shape. Brush egg whites on the roll out dough and generously sprinkle with cheddar cheese to cover the whole piece of dough. Use the hand to gently press the cheese to stick at the dough.
Using a roller cutter to cut longish shape at 1cm thic then twist it with your hand by holding each side of the end of the dough.
Place on a baking tray and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes at 150'C until it golden brown color. For crunchier texture, switch off the oven and let the grissini sit in the oven for 15 minutes before transfer to a wire rack to cool down. Otherwise, take it out after 15 or 20 minutes of baking to get a soft crumbs. Enjoy!

Ang Ku Kueh

2009-09-19T07:45:00.007+08:00

My first attempt on making nyonya kuih which I never think of doing it before as I could easily get a better texture kuih from Bangawan Solo. Anway, all because I've leftover some coconot fillings for the honey coconut buns, so I was struggling how to finished it until I've got the idea from some of the bloggers. At first, I would like to make Ang Ku Kueh, but I don't have the mold so I used a mooncake mold. Secondly, I found out that coconut fillings actually is use for Kueh Koh Chi. Finally, I came out with a combination with three different things. Chinese said "不三不四" or "四不像". The first glance look like snow skin mooncake, but the real skin actually is Ang Ku Kueh then the fillings is Kueh Koh Chi fillings hahaha... very confuse. Anyway, when I eat it, it's more like Ang Ku Kueh. I couldn't believe that is my first kueh making and the skin turn out so soft and stayed soft on the next day. The orange color from the sweet potato is quite pretty for me. That's nice when we could get the natural color in baking. The fillings of course go so well with the skin, it's yummy! All thanks to Florence sharing the fantastic recipe. I can't wait to make more for my friends and family.After the first attempt, I tried the second batch using plain color sweet potato with pandan juice for the green color. It's turn out as nice as the first batch. Very satisfy! Recipe for 10 small pieces (4.6cm diameter) Sweet Potato Skin: 50 g sweet potatoes /75 g glutinous rice flour / 1 tsp oil / 40 ml water Gula Melaka Coconut Fillings: 1 tbsp cooking oil / 60g raw sugar / 100g gula melaka / 100g coconut water / 2 tbsp plain flour / 4 tbsp water / 300g shredded coconut (half the portions of these ingredient to yield 10 kueh)

For the fillings. Heat the oil in a wok at low heat, add in raw sugar, coconut sugar until it nearly melted then add the coconut water to prevent sticking. Add three or four pandan leaves. Cook until everything melt then add shredded coconut. Make sure the shredded coconut coated with the melted sugar. Keep stirring to prevent it burn. Mix the water with flour then add into the coconut mixture. Keep stirring until everything well combine and you could smell the fragrant of coconut mixture. It'll start become dry and you'll know it has done. Discard the pandan leaves. Let it cool down on a plate before use.
For the skin. Steam the sweet potatoes until soft. In a bowl, mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. Add glutinous rice, oil and water and mix well to obtain a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave aside. You can add a little more water if the dough is too dry.
Brush the ang ku kueh mould with a little oil to ease removal of the kueh from the mould.
Take a small lump of sweet potato dough about 20g for my 4.6cm mold and using your palm or a rolling pin, flatten it, into a round shape with the centre thicker than the sides.
Spoon some filling approximately 20g into the dough, pinch the sides of the dough together, and using the palm of your hand, roll it into a balls.
Press the ball into the mould firmly, to obtain the design and shape of the mould. Tap the mould gently on the table to remove the ang koo kueh from the mould. Place the ang ku kueh on a square piece of oiled banana leaf.
When all the ang ku kuehs are shaped, steam them in a wok over high fire for 3 minutes covered. After 3 minutes, remove the cover to release steam, then re-cover and steam for another 3 minutes over a medium fire, until the kuehs are cooked. Remove the kuehs from the wok and brush them with a little oil to prevent them from sticking to each other. Serve when cool.