Mango Yoghurt Cupcakes

I was keen to try this recipe from one of the members, Ms Janice Kang from We ❤f ❤ Recipes. Steps were easy and the texture was soft and cottony. I have made some modifications to my own preference. 

1) I did 2 lots at a go as I want to give some to my neighbours (they are always my bakes supporters)

2) I have used 200g sugar but felt too sweet so will reduce to 180g instead the next time I bake.

3) I used Mango Yoghurt as I cannot find Raspberry Yoghurt.

4) I added more milk (instead of 6 tbsp as per original recipe)

5) I used the electric mixer to mix the flour and milk but I felt better to stick with Janice's method to use spatula.

Ingredients 

250g butter
180g sugar (I have reduced by 20g)
100g Premium Swiss Mango Yoghurt
6 eggs
300g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
8 tbsp fresh milk

Directions

1. Beat butter & sugar till creamy & fluffy.
2. Add in Mango yoghurt and mix well
3. Add eggs one at a time and mix till well combined.
4. Add in 1/2 qty of flour, followed by 1/2 qty of milk using mixer. Add in the balance flour and milk, mix well swiftly with rubber spatula.
5. Spoon batter into paper cup around 70% filled.
6. Bake at 180 deg C till golden brown. 

Steamed Colour Cakes

I saw this recipe from Victoria Moon Kua and love the pretty color layers. Though the steps seem easy but I find the folding part was a challenge as my cake turned out not as spongy like Victoria. I could have over mixed and thus deflated the batter. Also, the batter was too much for the baking tin I used, I only managed to do 3 color layers. Overall it tasted yummy and I even have 2 pretty models for my bakes.

Ingredients 

(A)
1 tsp baking powder
250g cake flour
25g full cream milk powder
25g corn flour

(B)
100g fresh milk
50g butter (melted)

(C)

500g egg white
250g sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp strawberry paste
1 tsp coffee paste
1 tsp pandan paste

Directions

1. Grease and line 8 inch square pan with baking paper.
2. Sift A together and set aside.
3. Mix B together.
4. Whip C till stiff peak.
5. Fold A into C in a few addition.
6. Blend in B.
7. Divide batter into 4 equal portions and add in paste into individual portions (1 layer without any paste).
8. Steam each layer for 7 mins on high heat and at last layer, steam for 10 mins at medium heat.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Buns

I was so eager to try out making my own Cranberry Cream Cheese Buns and thanks to Sifu Kenneth Goh for this step by step recipe. I have made some modifications for my own reference. 

The first lot of bakes, I did not place the additional baking tray on top so it risen like a normal shape bread (bloated). It was indeed a great idea to place the baking tray on top and it came out nice, like store bought Cranberry Cream Cheese Buns (self flattered). Texture was soft and cream cheese blends well. Felt great achievement for this bake.

Ingredients 

300g bread flour
200g top flour
20g milk powder
100g castor sugar
5g salt
1 packet of instant yeast (11g)

1 egg
250g lukewarm water
60g cranberries (soaked)

Filling

250g cream cheese
150g condensed milk

Directions

1. Put all dry ingredients in mixer and use a tablespoon to stir well. Make a well in the centre and crack the egg and pour lukewarm water in the centre. Use tablespoon to stir until a sticky dough is form and beat with mixer hook at medium speed until dough is smooth (about 5 mins). Add in butter and beat using high speed till the dough leaves the side if the mixing bowl (about 10 mins). Add in cranberry and beat till well mixed.
2. Transferred to a greased bowl and let it proof till Triple in size (about 40 mins). Cover with cling wrap and a wet towel.
3. While the dough is proofing, cream the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in condensed milk and beat until well combined. Chilled in the fridge till the dough is ready to use.
4. Once the first proofing done, take a small portion (or your desired size), dust with some flour and flatten the dough. Put 1 tbsp of cream cheese on the dough and seal the edges. Use the rolling pin to flatten the dough as flat and round. Let it proof double in size, leaving adequate space for expansion.
5. Prepare another baking tray, grease the base with butter and place base on top of dough so that the dough will be flatten during baking.
6. Baked in preheated oven at 190 Deg C for about 15 mins or until top and bottom of bread turn brown.

Cream Cheese Tarts

Thanks to Ms Chan Lai San for this excellent recipe. I was contemplating if I should buy Blueberries pie filling as I knew I will not be able to finish up the whole can. Instead I used Strawberry Jam (since I have it in my fridge). The effect was equally good and I am satisfied with the swirl design. However, I had more tart shells then the cream cheese fillings, so I will add the whole block of cream cheese instead (250g) the next time I bake. I am so happy that my kids love them.

Recipe adapted from Chan Lai San

Ingredients 

Pastry
225g plain flour
100g icing sugar
100g butter
1 egg

Filling

200g cream cheese (to use 250g next time)
20g butter
40g castor sugar
1 egg
20g whipping cream
15g plain flour
Blueberries pie filling (I used strawberry jam)

Directions

1. Using a electric mixer, combine flour, butter, sugar and egg until a smooth dough is formed. Put in a plastic bag and chill in refrigerator for 30 mins.
2. When chilled, take a ball of dough and place into a floured tart mould. Press the dough up to the side of the mould and  trim off the edges. Prick the base with a fork and bake in a preheated oven at 190 Deg C for 5 mins. Allow to cool.
3.Beat cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and smooth. Add egg and mix until well blended. Mix in whipping cream and mix till combined. Lightly add in flour and mix till well incorporated.
4. Spoon the mixture onto the pre-baked tart shells. Add a little jam (I mixed a few drop of little water to the jam) and drop on top of mixture. Use a satay stick to swirl to create a marble effect.
5. Bake tarts at 200 Deg C for 10 mins. Remove from oven to cool and chilled in fridge before serving.

Lemon Blueberries Cupcakes

It was quite sometime that I did my bakes (has been busy working). Thanks to Michelle Marie Mower for this excellent recipe which I found in her Facebook post. My bakes were not as perfect compared to hers as my blueberries sank even though I dusted with flour. I actually topped more blueberries in the middle of baking in order to see part of blueberries...haha! Soft texture and yummy!

Recipe adapted from Michelle Marie Mower

Ingredients 

280g Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp salt

250g butter (room temp)
200g sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Lemon Zest
8 tsp Lemon Juice

1box blueberries
Salt

Directions

1. Wash blueberries with salt and set aside to dry. Pat with kitchen towel (completely dry) and dust with flour.
2. Sieve flour and salt, set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar till creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, lemon zest and mix well.
5. Add in 2 tsp of lemon juice at a time and mix until well combined.
6. Fill batter slightly more than 1/2 in fillers. Top with blueberries.
7. Bake at 160 Deg C for 20mins or until top turn brown.

Birthday Cake (2015)

Did this birthday cake for my girl Celine's 11th birthday party 20th June 2015. Not forgetting to bake some cupcakes as little token for her friends. Hope they love it.

Pineapple Puff & Apple Puff

 Be Happy and have some pastries! A quick snacks for supper - Pineapple Puff, Apple Puff & Almond Flakes Puff Pastries :)

Sausage Cheese Toast/ Chocolate Tast

I have alot of bread skins and did not want to throw it away, so I decided to make these Sausage Cheese Toast and Chocolate toast as breakfast. It turned out nice and yummy! Glads that my kids love it and I can made full use of the bread skins too - no wastage! 

Ingredients

Ingredients based on discretion and preference

Bread skins (cut into cubes)
Sausages or Ham (cut into cubes)
Eggs
Cheese
Salt (add to egg mix)

For Chocolate Toast
Chocolate
Sugar (add to egg mix)

Butter to grease the baking pan

Directions

1. Cut the bread skins into cubes. Diced sausages, beat 3 eggs and add a pinch of salt to egg.
2. Grease the baking pan with little butter. Put some bread skin cubes on the base, scatter some sausages  and cover with more bread skin cubes. Scatter more sausages and follow by tearing some cheddar cheese on top. Then scoop few tablespoon of beaten eggs onto the bread.
3. Bake at 150 Deg C for 15 mins or until golden brown. 

Mixed Fruits Sponge Cake

I was curious to try out this Super Sponge Cake Mix and see if it was really that super soft as mentioned. Since I was craving for fruit cakes, I decided to add mixed fruits to the Sponge Cake Mix. Indeed the texture came out soft and spongy and received compliment by everyone. A quick and simple recipe to whip up something nice at any time.

Ingredients

250g Super Sponge Cake Mix (bought from Phoon Huat)
5 Eggs
50g Butter (melted)
50g water (I used milk)
Mixed Fruits or any toppings preferred

Directions

1. Using an electric mixer, mix Super Sponge Cake Mix , eggs and milk together. Whisk at medium speed for 3 mins and continue with high speed for another 8-10 mins till mixture is white and fluffy about double the size.
2. Fold in melted butter (I added into mixer and had a quick whisk).
3. Bake at 170 for 15-20 mins or until top golden brown and skewer comes out clean.

Sleeping Bear

Saw this in Facebook and was so eager to try it out myself and so happy 
that I really made it! 

Brownie Cubes

I baked these Chewy Brownies and turned them into Brownie Cubes. Very satisfied it was presentable as a gift for someone special - Dr Andrea Mclaughlin, Chiropractor.

Green Tea Ogura Cake

I came cross this Ogura Cake recipe from MiMi Bakery House and would like to attempt using Green Tea powder. The only mistake I did was I used 8 inch square baking pan instead of 7 inch so the cake turned out not as high as I expected. However, the texture was good and the pattern came out pretty. I would like to try with other flavours such as Milo or Coffee as in original recipe.

Modified for my easy reference

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
1 whole egg
pinch of salt
60g milk
50g canola oil
70g cake flour

5 egg white
80g sugar
1/2 tsp cornflour

4tsp of green tea powder with 20g of water

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, hand whisk egg yolk, whole egg, salt, milk and oil till well combined.
2. Fold in flour and blend well.
3. Whisk egg white till foamy, add cornflour and gradually add sugar. Use high speed beat till stiff peak.
4. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter till well combined and gently fold in the rest of the egg white into the batter till well combined.
5. Pour 2/3 of the batter into 7 inch baking pan. Add  green tea mixture to the balance 1/3 of the batter and mix well.
6. Pour green tea batter on top and use a chopstick to do some swirl around. Gently tap the baking pan to release trapped bubbles.
7. Steam bake in preheated oven at 160 Deg C for 60 mins.
8. Remove from oven and invert the cake to cool down.
9. Gently remove cake from baking pan and let it cool upside down on the cooling rack. Cut the cake after completely cool down.

Gado Gado

Made this easy pisy Gado Gado for dinner with satay paste bought from NTUC. Just add water, 2 tsp of sugar (to make it less spicy) and crushed peanuts. Yummy!

Chocolate Banana Walnut Cupcakes

Baked these Banana Walnut Cupcakes to thank the Doctors & Nurses of St Andrew's Community Hospital for taking care of my MIL during her stay there. 

Bakes on 29 March 2015

I have been craving for banana cake and suddenly I had this crazy idea of blending chocolate with banana cake (even though I am not a chocolate lover). Amazingly, it was a great combination. The sweetness from the banana cake went so well with the slight bitterness from the chocolate. Glad that I did this experiment.

Ingredients

Cake Base
200g butter
180g castor sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
2 1/2 tbsp milk
275g self-raising flour + 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
5 ripe bananas mashed
50g walnuts (crushed)
Whole Walnuts (Roasted)

Gnanche 
Converture Chocolate
A little butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180 Deg C and line paper fillers. 
2. Beat butter, vanilla essence and sugar together until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
3. Stir in milk and banana. Continue to beat for another minute.
4. Fold in sifted self-raising flour with added bicarbonate of soda. Lastly add in walnuts and stir till combined.
5. Transfer batter to the prepared paper fillers and bake for 20-30 mins or until the cake is done.
6. For the chocolate ganache, just melt converture chocolate with a little butter in microwave. Spread on top of cupcakes and top with a whole walnuts. Fill some portion of mixture in piping bag and do a swirl on top of walnuts.

Ban Jian Kueh (面煎糕) aka Peanut Pancakes (2)

I came across this recipe in Facebook and the steps were different from the previous recipe I tried. This is alot simpler and easy to make. The texture was also nicer as compared to the previous recipe. Give it a try and make your very own Ban Jian Kueh.

Ingredients

160g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
5g yeast
1 large egg
30g sugar
210g water

Finely crushed peanuts
Sugar

Directions 

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients until smooth batter. Pour into a container, refrigerate 5 hours or overnight.
2. Add a little butter on a non stick pan over moderate heat. When the pan is hot, pour 2 ladle of batter and using the base of the ladle to smooth out the batter evenly. Cook for about 1 min until the batter is set and form small bubbles. Sprinkle sugar evenly and cover with a lid for a minute. Sprinkle crushed peanuts on top of pancake and cook till the pancake is lightly brown. Loosen the side, fold the pancake into half and transfer to a plate. You can slice into 2 or 3 and serve warm.

Thai Cuisine

I am so glad that I have cooked these Pineapple Rice and Green Curry well with the paste I bought from NTUC supermarket. Everyone enjoyed the dinner with thumbs up!

Red Bean Soup with Orange Peel Soup

Another yummy desserts that I have whipped up for my Mother-In-Law only with 3 ingredients - Red Bean, Orange Peel and Rock Sugar.

Mini Fruit Tarts (2)

I have some leftover strawberries from making Jelly O Hearts Cheesecake and so I decided to make these mini fruit tarts. I have used my previous recipe, a refresher for me. It was not difficult to make the crust base but I took a little time to understand the steps for making the pastry cream (I have did some modification for easy reference). Good to revisit recipe at times to further enhance the steps.

Jelly O Hearts Cheesecake

I made this whole cheesecake for Kenneth & Cynthia's Wedding Anniversary. Though there were some hiccups but after some touch up and all cover up. Glad that they love it!

Super Soft Bread

I tried the modification and concluded the following:

1) Replacement of Milk with water and it did take away the strong yeast taste (not sure if this fully contribute to the reduction of yeast taste).
2) Reduced the yeast to 11g (hoping to use exactly 1 pkt). Felt the bread was still soft but not as cottony as with 16g. I guess I will use 15g for my future bakes (so can help to reduce more yeast taste).
3) Reduced the oil to 80g (I do not think have any impact).
4) I have increased the sugar to 60g as I felt the bread not that sweet by itself.
5) Happy with the various toppings (Nutella, Chocolate Rice, Almond Flakes and Pork Floss) and all tasted so yummy!

Revised Ingredients as follows:

Ingredients

280g Milk (microwave it warm)

80g canola oil

15g instant yeast

60g castor sugar

1.5 tsp salt

1 egg

475g bread flour

1st baked on 19 May 2015

I came across this recipe from MiMi Bakery House and was amazed by the easy steps and the short time required for proofing, yet able to yield such super soft texture. I am so happy to see the dough rise so much as I always wanted to see in bread making. However, there are a few points that I want to take note and modify for my next bake.

1) I felt that the bread has quite a strong taste of yeast, so I would like to replace water with milk (hope it can help to reduce the yeast taste)

2) To reduce the yeast a little to 11g (1 pkt exactly).

3) To try out with more variety of fillings or toppings.

Ingredients

280g warm water
83g canola oil
16g instant yeast
56g castor sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1 egg
475g bread flour

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, add water, oil, sugar and yeast and mix well. Allow to rest for 15 mins and the mixture will become foamy.
2. Add salt, egg and bread flour into above mixture. Knead with dough hook for 10 mins on high speed. The dough will become smooth with a little stickiness.
3. Divide dough into desired shapes and place on baking tray, cover with damp cloth to allow them to proof for about 10 mins.
4. After proofing, egg wash the dough and bake at preheated oven 220 Deg C for 10-15 mins or until bread turns golden brown.