Buttercream Icing

This is iced and designed by an expert - someone who ran a cake house for > 10 years. She did this in less than 20minutes. Cool. She is my Cikgu Santhi.My 1st attempt. Honestly I dont really like it coz I think it is old fashion. However I amazed with my piping skills. Truly and originally my creation. I love the color combination. This design is me :)

Sheppard's Pie

This is the easiest dish to cook. You need mashed potatoes, vegetables, meat and cream of mushroom/chicken soup. Short cut version. Instead of cooking the gravy from scratch, I used Campbell soup.

Cooked the vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower, carrots, mushroom) and meat (sausages, chicken or etc) together in the soup. Poured into a baking tin and covered with mashed potatoes. Baked for 20mins @ 175 degree.

Done.

Oreo Cheesecakes

Baked this for GL's birthday. The initial plan was to bake my normal cheesecake until I saw this recipe the other day. It turned out well. Hope she likes it.

For some of the cakes, I removed the oreo's cream fillings as I thought it would be too sweet but without the cream, the base turned out to be too dry (commented by E). So next time stick to the recipe ...hahahahhahaha.

dis is the cake

Ry helping me wit the cake decorations - topping it with sprinkles. Lovely heart for the kids tomorrow.

Well, hope the kids like it. When I told Ry that I was baking choc cake for his school's party tomorrow, he reminded me that his frens dont like anything dark coz they said it is yucky. I told him we will have colorful sprinkles on top and I am sure his frens will like it. Will see tomorrow.

Moist Chocolate Cake

There was no plan to bake today due to the weather (very hot lah). I dont know what hit me and I suddenly thought of baking choc cake around 6pm.

Baked 2 cakes with different method of toppings. Both are topped with choc ganache - 1 plain and the other with sprinkles.

Ry ate 2 pieces. I like the plain one better.

Peanut Cookies Recipe

Made peanut cookies for coming Chinese New Year. It is not CNY without this cookies.

I dont have the pictures in this laptop hence for pixs, pls refer to previous post click here

I would like to share the recipe (given by a fren - Chooi Leng). Thanks Chooi Leng for this marvelous recipe.

Peanut cookies

Ingredients:

600g fried peanuts -remove skin and grind finely

600g sifted plain flour

500g sifted icing sugar

450-500ml peanut oil (Tips: Add the oil enough only to form the dough into balls, the original recipe put 500-600ml. I used canola oil, since I do not have peanut oil at home)

1 beaten egg for glazing

Some peanuts for decoration (Tips: Optional-I did not do this but looks nicer if you have them J)

Method:

(1) mix grinded peanut, flour, icing sugar in a mixing bowl and slowly mix in peanut oil until it can be formed into a soft dough and can roll into ball without breaking. (Tips: Knead for some time as the peanut will produce some pure peanut oils itself and the cookies will smell and taste better)

(2) Form into small balls and placed on baking sheet, glazed with beaten egg. You can choose to decorate the top with half peanut

(3) Bake in pre-heat oven at 180C for about 25 mins till golden brown. Remove, leave to cool before storing.

Recipe for Pandan Chiffon Cake

I just realized that I did not post the recipe for this cake earlier because I failed and when I finally succeeded, I was so excited that I totally forgotten about posting the recipe.

I am thinking of baking one this coming Chinese New Year.

For previous post on my success click here

Here is the recipe and tips:

The recipe is from Little Corner of Mine

(A) 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 Tbp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup coconut milk

1 tsp. pandan paste

(C)

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350'F (175'C).

2. Combine (A) in a bowl. Stir well to blend. Add (B). Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. Beat (C) until moist peaks formed. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, fold to mix and then add the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently but thoroughly. Turn batter into ungreased 10" tube pan.

4. Bake for 60 mins or til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert cake and cool completely in pan. When cool, loosen the edges and shake pan to remove cake.

Some tips:

1. make sure the egg whites are beaten really well

2. Separate the yolks from whites, make sure not even one bit is mix - else the white will not whip to stiff peaks

Orange Choc Chips Cake

i have 2kg of self raising flour and 3 oranges - so what do you do with them? of coz, bake a cake :)

the thin dark layer on top of the cake is actually choc chips. Ry loves it.

No time to bake

Yes.... no time to bake.

Choc Banana Bread Pudding

Made this last nite. Have been thinking about this ever since we had the delicious mouth watering bread pudding at EnO buffet lunch last month.

Mine was okay. I think I can improve. As usual, everything is nice for Ed.

Pandan Chiffon Cake Finally!

Just look at the pictures. I made it. My chiffon cake rose very well and did not deflate .. yippee.

I am so happy. I am going to do it again on Saturday to bring back to Prai for my mum. Heheheheh show off lah.

Well... this is my 7th attempt! ... sorry it is 8th attempt actually...

Me and my persistence :) (or stubborn?)

Oops after reading thru my previous post on chiffon cake... correction, this is my 8th attempt!

See link for previous post on my attempts at this:

http://chiak3.blogspot.com/2009/05/chiffon-cake-me.html

Star Shaped Cake

This year, Ryan asked for star shaped cake. Last year was elmo. Gosh... i went looking for all the shops in pg island for a star shaped baking pan but could not find any. So.. the engineer in the house got to cut the cake.

I wonder what he is going to ask for next year....

food fest Q3 09 aka "How to lose weight laah, you tell me??"

My dad stayed over a few weekends ago and as you usual it was food fiesta time again... How to lose weight laah you tell me?? We bought some stuff from the pasar Ramadan and Lp made some stuff as well… LP made pork ribs Seasoned with soy and slowly cooked in the claypot for 2-3 hours

Its black because of the soy sauce…. Moist, sweet and tender flesh just slipping off from the bone. We’ll definitely do a grilled version if we ever get the BBQ up.

She also made a puff pastry with tuna filling topped with cut tomatoes and chillies. Very light scrumptious and definitely a good breakfast food I was actually quite disappointed this year with the fare from the pasar ramadan. Nothing that I bought tasted nice, not even remotely mediocre… And to make matters worse, our adventure to “karrukudi “ was just such a big letdown.. the briani rice was just plain bland and wet. And I’m never going back there again.

On the bright side, I found a place that sells better briani rice. Its from a nasi kander shop called tajuddin in queen street. And where is queen street? Well, it right there next to kings street and china street.. :-) (Googlemap it laah) Its only cost $3 for the rice which is quite a huge portion and $4 for a huge piece of chicken. The rice was very fluffy and it was very nicely spiced. Overall, it was so much better than the one we had at karrikudi for this one i could taste the spices, cinnamon, onions, cardamon, star aneis...etc... Mee goreng from the stall in front of the pulau tikus “mata-keng” . my personal all time favourite.

Mee goreng was as usual quite good but my dad commented that the mee rebus was not as good anymore.. also, I never buy from the Bangkok lane stall … I actually cant remember why its on my “banned” list..

And last but not least, not forgetting bran who had his porridge… hehehe…

Milan Cookies: DB July's Challenge

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

So for this months challenge, there were 2 cookies to choose from: Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies or the Milan Cookies. I chose to make the Milan Cookies.

Ingredient wise, the recipe used butter, sugar, egg white, flour, lemon, vanilla extract and heavy cream and chocolate for the cookie filling. i already had most of the items handy.except for the heavy cream as i don't usually use that.

Method wise it was pretty straight forward as well: mix all the ingredients in a mixer until the batter is smooth. spoon into a piping bag and pipe on to the cookie tray and bake. What i did not expect was that the cookie batter would spread as much as it did. i knew it would spread but i underestimated it and my 1st batch of cookies, sort of , all stuck together. :-)

well, live and learn. The 2nd and 3rd batches turned out much better. After the cookies cooled, i spread the filling and assembled the "cookies sandwiches". And ta daaaah.. I present... Milan Cookies... Taste wise, its pretty sweet :-D Actually i found the cookie to be sweeter than the chocolate filling itself and the slight hint of lemon is quite interesting.

The texture is what i would call "semi-spongy". The slightly more "browned" cookies were more chewy and my husband seems to like them a lot. This is definitely not your regular cookie.

now that i'm done with the July challenge, i eagerly await august.

Milan CookiesRecipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 minInactive

Prep Time: 0 min Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min Serves: about 3 dozen cookies • 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened • 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar • 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs) • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract • 2 tablespoons lemon extract • 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour • Cookie filling, recipe follows Cookie filling: • 1/2 cup heavy cream • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped • 1 orange, zested 1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar. 2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. 3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed. 4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread. 5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan. 6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. 7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. 8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools). 9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top. 10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

simple cinnamon rolls

its a been very productive weekend for me and its only Saturday. the next thing that i baked was a simple cinnamon roll. since the sweet dough buns were quite good, i decided to "experiment" with that and make cinnamon rolls.

i basically used the sweet dough bun recipe as a base but infused it with cinnamon powder. i also made a cinnamon mix out of... well, what else, but cinnamon powder and with chocolate chips and chocolate powder. i managed to make 2 rolls which i basically cut up into a total of 11 individual buns. once i got the dough rolled out into a rectangular shape, i proceeded to spread the cinnamon/choc mix evenly on the dough, then rolled it carefully into a tube. then i sliced them into 2 inch circular slices. bake for 20mins @180C i was a bit wary since i used the sweet dough bun recipe as it wasn't the original recipe for cinnamon rolls. BUT....... surprisingly the end result was actually interesting. its actually very nice. the texture of the dough still remained quite soft. the chocolate bits in between the rolls melted nicely and the cinnamon mix formed a sweet crunchy crust. by the way, there's still the scent of cinnamon in the air :-) Recipe for Sweet Dough Buns:

Ingredient A

100g all purpose flour

400g high protein flour (or use super soft bread flour)

220ml water

1tbsp instant yeast

100gm sugar (according to Lanvin yeast feasts on sugar and make the bread rise)

1 egg

Ingredient B

75gm butter

Method (hand knead)

1. Mix A till smooth and all mixed

2. Add in butter and knead till smooth

3. Leave it to rise - double the size. Remember to cover it with a piece of damp cloth.

4. Knead again

5. Leave it to rise. Then form into desired shapes.

6. Leave it to rise for about 10-15 mins, brush with egg and bake for ~ 20 mins.

Sweet Dough Buns

so the flavor of the week.. or of the past 2 weeks is sweet dough buns. its a recipe i picked up and changed many times over these past 2 weeks. its a pretty simple recipe but you need patience when you're waiting for the dough to rise. also i baked them in muffin cups and in cupcakes trays :-D rev0 and rev1 were basically just plain buns but they were quite soft and went nicely with butter.. just like dinner rolls so far, i've experimented with the fillings below: -sambal heh bi -peanut butter -minced pork /char siew -cadbury chocolate (special request from you know who laah..) i was going to do a nutella version but that meant making a trip to the supermarket and time just did not permit that. too bad, maybe next time... my favourite is still the sambal heh bi and as you can see, its overloaded with the yummy prawn fillings.

Swiss Roll Attempt # 4

Finally found the right recipe for swiss roll. The texture is nice, soft and spongy. I just need to improve on the filling. Thinking of making Macha swiss roll tomorrow.

Need to find out why the skin stick to the cloth when I rolled it.

Here is the recipe from http://sakura-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2009/02/yam-swiss-roll.html

Recipe

Ingredients:

A)4 Large eggs whites

35gm castor sugar

4 Large egg yolks

35 gm Castor sugar

1/2 tsp or 2 gm baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

10gm cornflour(sifted)

70gm cake flour(sifted)

1 gm salt

B) 40ml Melted butter/canola oil40gm milk

Method

1)Pre heat oven at 350F.

2)Beat egg whites cream and sugar(add gradually)till stiff.

3)Add in 30 gm sugar and continue beating till thick and glossy.

4)Beat egg yolks,ovallete and 30 gm sugar till light and creamy.

5)Lightly fold in sifted flour,corn flour,baking powder,milk and oil into the egg yolk batter.

6)Gently fold in egg whites.(Do not overfold)

7)Pour batter in shallow tin lined with waxed paper.

8)Bake for 15-18 minutes.

9)You need to roll it immediately while it's hot,then let it cool. Unwrap and fill your favourite filling and roll back up.

Swiss Roll

My first attempt at swiss roll. There is still room for plenty of improvements in terms of texture, taste and shape. Found another recipe and going to try it this weekend.

Mini Orange Cupcakes

Saw these beautiful mini cupcakes cups at Tesco last Friday and I could not resist but to buy them. Since I have bought them I need to use them, right. :)

So I end up baking these mini cupcakes on Sunday morning after I dropped Ry at Maths 4 Kidz. Teacher Jimmy is so dedicated. He gave the kids replacment class as he cancelled last Saturday's.

Back to the cupcakes. I baked some normal size ones too and he called them baby, papa & mummy cupcakes. Seriously, I dont know how he differentiate between the papa & mummy. LOL.

Bakewell Tart: DB June's Challenge

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

It is becoming a bad habit of mine to complete the challenge last minute. Today is 29th and I just completed mine. I have never heard of Bakewell Tart so I do not know what to expect other than the picture provided by Jasmine and Annemarie. It is a challenge after all.

I used ramekins and made 5 medium size tartlets. For the jam, I mixed blackberry and strawberry jam. Next time I will try it with peanut butter jam or nuttella instead. I think it will be good.

The Challenge

• Rough Durations: Please see individual recipe elements to see how much time you’ll need. You may pull it together in more time or less—it all depends upon your kitchen’s pace. You can complete the tart in an afternoon, or break it up into a couple of days by making the pastry one day in advance.

• Measurements: These recipes were developed using weight and not volume metrics, so for better results, pull out your scales. We’ve done our best with the Metric to Imperial conversions.

• A giant tart, medium tarts or little tartlettes: We’ll leave that to you

• Mandatory and Optional Elements

Mandatory element 1: Sweet Shortcrust PastryYes, it’s a pie pastry. Don’t look at us like that. It’s sweet and tender and it’s not scary…and we’re encouraging you to do it by hand and put the food processor away (but if you really want to pull out the gadget, go ahead).

Mandatory element 2: FrangipaneWe love onomatopoeia of frangipane: it’s rich, sweet and feels slightly luxurious, and can be used in several confections.

Optional element: Home made jam or curdWe know several amongst us are rather jammy with making their own jams and preserves. Go ahead get wild and creative or simply showcase whatever’s local and in season. If you haven’t jammed before and want some hints or recipes, take a look at Bernardin’s homecanning.ca. If you want to just make some jam for this challenge and not go through sterilising jars and snap lids, you can try a pan jam, similar to Jasmine’s Blackberry Pan Jam. If you do use homemade jam, please include your recipe or the link to the one you used in your post.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)

Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)

Resting time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)

Bench flour

250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability

One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)

One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:

• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.

• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.

• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.

Annemarie’s notes:

• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)

Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour

30g (1oz) sugar

2.5ml (½ tsp) salt

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)

2 (2) egg yolks

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:

• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.

• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) icing sugar

3 (3) eggs

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

125g (4.5oz) ground almonds

30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:

• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Helpful links to Bakewell Tarts:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_tart

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/scribbler/182579765/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/sazzab/305803726/