Mooncakes (Orders 2012)

These were the Cartoon Character Snowskin mooncakes I made this year, aren't they cute? I used the same recipe I made in the past years but reduced the weightage of the snowskin from 18g to 15g and the paste from 25g to 22g. I have also used more flavoured pastes such as mango, strawberry, green tea, pandan and apple. Even included chocolate balls in the paste and it really tasted yummy! The low sugar lotus paste that I bought from KCT (near Aljunied MRT) was a better choice compared to PH's paste which was more oily.

Many thanks for the orders from my colleagues and friends. It was really a great accomplishment to make these Cartoon Characters Mooncakes.

Together with my colleagues (Liz and Oseu), we had a wonderful time making all these beautiful flower mooncakes!

Mixed Fruits Rainbow Cake

I had this strong desire to make a colorful cake and also had the craving for mixed fruits, so I came up with this Mixed Fruits Rainbow Cake. When the cake was done, I was so excited to see if the colours would turn out pretty and it really did! I felt so happy and a great accomplishment seeing my own cake creation with  the beautiful colors in it. A thumbs up for myself! 

 

Ingredients

• 250g butter
• 150g Castor sugar
• 250g self raising flour (sifted)
• 5 eggs
• 1.5 tsp vanilla essence
• Mixed fruits
• coloring (Pandan Paste & red coloring) 

Directions

1. Mix butter and Castor sugar until white.

2. Add eggs one at a time. Mix evenly. 

3. Add flour and mix using low speed.

4. Separate batter into 3 portions, add vanilla essence to 1 portion, add red coloring to 2nd and add pandan paste to the 3rd.

5. Pour each layer of batter according to your preference into cake tin (20 X 20cm).

6. Sprinkle mixed fruits on top of batter.

6. Bake at 180 degree C for 45-55 mins.

Orange Butter Cake with Almond Crust

Had this craving for orange cake and I found the recipe with almond flakes interesting, so I decided to combine them together. As I am making a loaf for a friend, I poured the balance batter into a 20cm X 20cm which came out quite shallow for a cake. However, with the almond flakes, it came out nice for a small bites.

Made some modification, I reduced the sugar from 225g to 180g and 12tbps of milk to 8tbsp milk & 4tbps orange juice (hoping to have more orange flavour but the almond toppings overwhelmed the orange flavours). As for the honey crust, I have increased  the almond flakes from 90g to 120g as I  have quite a fair bit of the honey mixture. The next time I bake this again, I will want to reduce the honey to 30g as I find it abit too sweet.

Ingredients

195g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170g unsalted butter, softened
180g sugar (reduced from225g)
1 large egg, plus one large egg yolk
1 1/2 tbsp orange zest
8 tbsp whole milk
4 tbsp orange juice (additional ingredients)

Honey Almond Crust
120g almond slices (increased from 90g)
30g honey (reduced from 50g)
30g butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius. Butter and line cake pan. (I used a 20cm X 20cm pan & a loaf pan)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
4. Beat in orange zest, then eggs.
5. Add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with milk & orange juice.
6. Beat just until batter appears uniform. The batter should look thick and creamy.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula.
8. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until it reaches a dark-gold color and an inserted cake tester comes out clean. (Cover with aluminium foil if the top brown too fast)
9. While the cake is baking, prepare honey and almond crust topping. Add butter, honey and almond slices into a shallow saucepan. Heat to melt the butter and honey, ensuring that the almond slices are well-coated with the honey-butter mixture.
10.Top with the honey almond crust mixture evenly over the cake and return the cake to the oven at 180C until the almond are roasted to a lovely golden brown, which takes approx. 8-10 mins.

11.Wait for the cake to cool down before slicing.

Mini Cheddar Cheese Cupcakes

Celine is the baker for the day and she is baking Mini Cheddar Cheese Cupcakes. Just follow this video clip and you will be able to master it with your kids. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

180g Butter

130g Sugar
3 Eggs
165 Self raising flour
100g Grated Cheddar cheese
2tbsp Full cream milk

Directions

1. Beat butter, sugar and eggs together.

2. Dump in flour, mix at low speed for a minute.
3. Add in grated cheddar cheese and milk and mix for 30 seconds.
4. Scoop batter into cupcake cases.
5. Bake at 170C for 25 mins.
6. Cool on wire rack.

Fried Banana Fritters

I decided to make this Fried Banana Fritters (I love these from the Malay food stall) since I have leftover bananas from making Soft Banana Cakes. An easy recipe and I am happy that I can made these fritters myself. Yummy! 

Ingredients

400gm bananas(mashed)
125gm all purpose flour
1/3 tsp baking soda
70gm sugar (original 80gm)
Small pinch of salt
Oil for frying

Directions

1. Sift flour with baking soda. Mix with bananas, sugar and salt.
2. Drop teaspoonful of batter into hot oil.
3. Fry until brown, nicely caramelized colour.
4. Drain excess oil off fritters on kitchen towels.

Soft Banana Cupcakes

Made these cupcakes for breakfast and everyone in the family were so happy to have them fresh out from the oven. Saw this recipe and was curious if it was really that soft as described. The methods were much easier than Spongy Banana Cake which only fold in the flour. Overall texture is soft but will know if it's still soft tomorrow. 

P.S. The texture was wet the next 2 days,  I felt it tasted better when heated up in microwave before eating. 

Ingredients

80g Canola or sunflower oil

70g Castor sugar

1 Large egg, lightly beaten
125g Plain flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
4 medium-sized bananas, mashed with a fork (about 160g)
25g Evaporated milk or regular milk
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions

1.Beat egg and sugar till light and creamy.
2.Add milk, mashed bananas, oil and vanilla extract, and combine.
3.In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and baking soda, and give a quick whisk.
4.Pour flour into the wet ingredients until no traces of flour remain. (I used hand whisk to fold the flour) Do not over-mix. Stop the moment everything is incorporated.
5.Pour into a lined 6-inch round tray (I used 8 cupcake cases)
6.Bake at 175C for about 20-25 mins, or until cooked.

Fruit Tarts

I always like the egg tarts pastry crust and so when I found the recipe to make the pastry cream, I decided to use the egg tarts pastry crust to make a fruit tart. Amazingly, its a wonderful match and all came together in great combination! The pastry was crusty and the fresh fruits added a refreshing taste to the pastry cream. Everyone in my family (inclusive my hubby who usually don't eat such pastry) enjoyed it very much. 

Ingredients

Pastry Crust

100g Sugar

1 Egg

175g Butter

350g Plain flour

Pastry Cream

300ml milk

1tsp vanilla extract

3 large egg yolks

50g Castor sugar

20g plain flour

20g corn flour

Toppings
Sliced Peach (can)
Strawberries
Kiwi 

Directions

Pastry Crust

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius

2. Place sugar, egg and butter in mixer and beat until sugar is just dissolved. Add sifted plain flour and mix until dough holds together. press dough evenly to springform tart pan.
3. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20 mins, then remove and let cool.

Pastry Cream

1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together.

2. Combine flour and corn flour together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.

3. In a saucepan bring the milk to just boiling (just until milk starts to foam up.)

4. Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.

5. Then pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until thicken, whisking constantly.
6. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract and continue to whisk mixture for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes smooth consistency.

7. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool to room temperature before using. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Whisk or stir before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

To Assemble

1. Spread pastry cream evenly over cooled crust.
2. Top with fruits and glaze with peach syrup to prevent fruits from drying up.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

Wow wee...I have never thought this was an easy recipe as I always feel that it needs a lot of technique and "lucky" hand for it to rise correctly but I made it! This recipe is very simple to follow and once I opened the steamer, I can see all the muffins smiling at me beautifully. There are 2 ingredients that I modified in this recipe. I reduced the sugar from 120g to 80g and used self-raising flour instead of cake flour (cos I ran out of cake flour). The muffins turned out to be soft, fluffy and the sweetness were just right.

Ingredients

125gm steamed pumpkin flesh
1 egg
80g sugar
100g evaporated milk
30g corn oil
Sieve together:
180g cake flour/Self-raising flour
20g rice flour
1.5tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Prepare your steamer and bring the water to a boil.
2. Put steamed pumpkin flesh, egg, sugar, milk and oil and mix well.
3. Add in flour mixture and mix until well combined.
4. Spoon into lined steaming cups and steam for 15 mins. It will bloom by itself, no need to make a cross with oil.