Fruity Rainbow Cake

Another great opportunity for me to design a birthday cake so I had this idea to bake a fruity and colourful cake. I decided to use butter cake recipe and added 2 layers with different colours to it. Instead of using whipping cream, I replaced with cream cheese mixture to cream the whole cake. I am very happy with the overall fruit decoration though it took me quite a while to assemble them. Indeed a great accomplishment for me when I received the compliments from everyone who tasted it! 

Celine's 9th Birthday on 23 June 2013

Celebrating Celine's 9th Birthday with Mummy's special made Hello Kitty cupcakes and her special request Monkey Cake 

Cashew Chicken with Capsicum

The original recipe is for Kung Pao Chicken but since I am not a chilli person, I decided to modify this recipe to suit my taste. I replaced dried chillies with capsicums and well, it just achieved equally impressive result. Glad that my kids and MIL love this dish as much as I love it.

Ingredients

250g skinless, boneless chicken breast (diced)
1 tsp rice wine
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 pc ginger slice
1/2 yellow capsicum
1/2 green capsicum
1 handful cashew nuts
1 stalk of spring onion 

Sauce
1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp rice wine
1 tsp sugar
dashes of pepper
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cornstarch

Directions

1. Marinate chicken with rice wine and cornstarch for 10 mins.
2. Mix all ingredients for the Sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Heat oil in frying pan and add in slice of ginger stir fry till brown.
4. Add in chicken cubes and stir fry till cooked. Then add in capsicum and cashew nuts.
5. Add the sauce and stir continuously until chicken meat is nicely coated with it.
6. Sprinkle the spring onion and ready to serve.

BBQ Pork Puffs (Char Siu Soo)

Another interesting recipe from Easy Chinese Recipes by Low Bee Yinn that I am so excited to try out. Actually, if you can buy ready made Char Siu (BBQ Pork) from the market or food stall, it will save you alot of time. However, as I am not able to find ready made ones, so I baked the Char Siu myself. I got some lean meat (choose meat with a little fat will be nicer), marinated with BBQ sauce and baked it.

Before I made these puffs, I was quite curious if they could turn out exactly like those in the Cookbook. I have used this pastry to make other sweet desserts before but they were very much flaky as compared to those in the book. I went "Wow" when the puffs were out from the oven with golden brown top and nicely puffed. They were really pretty & yummy!

Ingredients

2 sheets store bought puff pastry
1 egg yolk (beaten for egg wash)
sesame seeds
some flour for dusting

Filling
250g Char Siu (BBQ pork), diced into small pieces
some chopped coriander leaves(I used spring onions)
1 tsp garlic
some olive oil

Sauce
3 tbsp honey
1.5 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp rice wine
dashes white pepper
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and then stir-fry to light brown before adding the Char Siu.
2. Add in the sauce, spring onion and cook till sauce becomes thick and sticky. Dish out the filing and let cool.
3. Cut the pastry sheets into 10cm squares.
4. Add about a heap of filing to the center of the pastry. Fold the puff pastry over to form a triangle. Do not overfill. Seal the edge tightly by pressing firmly with your fingers. Make sure there is no leakage.
5. After sealing, use a knife to cut the uneven edge to form a uniform triangle. Use the back of the fork to make a pattern around the edges. 
6. Brush the top of the puff with some egg wash. Sprinkle the white sesame seeds on the top and place the puff on a baking sheet.
7. Preheat the oven to 175 Deg C and bake the puff until they turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Light & Refreshing Orange Sponge Cake

My dear ex-colleagues knew that I do not like to do folding method cake but have given me a KPI to master folding method after I left the company. So after some searching for a simple recipe to start with, I am so happy to find this Orange Sponge Cake from Hearty Bakes which only used 3 eggs. But I didn't realise that there were 3 tricky steps of folding ie egg whites, flour and oil. With the KPI in mind, I bravely proceeded and prayed hard that all my steps were done correctly. The very moment the strong orange aroma and beautifully risen cakes came out from the oven eased off all my worries. It was awesome and the cakes were super soft and spongy. Really great satisfaction for meeting my KPI.

Ingredients

4 yolks
16g sugar
3 tbsp of fresh orange juice
Orange zest from 1 big navel orange 
100g cake flour
50g corn oil

4 whites
80g sugar

Directions

1. Whisk yolks and sugar till light. Add in the orange zest and juice, continue whisk till pale in color.
2. In another bowl, whisk whites to soft peak and add in sugar, continue to whisk until stiff.
3. Gently fold in whites mixture with the yolks mixture with hand whisk until well-blended.
4. Sieve in the flour and gently fold until batter is well-combined. 
5. Lastly, fold in the corn oil until well incorporated.
6. Spoon batter into fillers and bake at 180 Deg C for 30min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Clay Pot Tofu

Finally, I got some time to cook a nice lunch for my family. I found this recipe from a Cookbook by Low Bee Yinn (Easy Chinese Recipes) that I have borrowed from the library. I always like this kind of dish but just could not get the right taste and I am so glad that I am able to whip this up deliciously now and confirmed with all the thumbs up from everyone in my family. Whole lot of accomplishment cooking this lunch for my loved ones.

Ingredients

4 Shitake mushrooms (cut into halves)
1 block of tofu (cut into cubes)
1 slice of ginger
8pcs frozen shrimps
1/2 canned baby corns
1 bunch of chinese cabbage (cut into small pieces)
1/2 carrots (cut into small pieces)
2 tbps of olive oil

Sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
3 dashes white pepper
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in the Sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Deep fry tofu to a light golden brown. Drain off excess oil and discard oil.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a clay pot over high heat. Add ginger and stir-fry to a light brown before adding carrots, shitake mushrooms, shrimps and baby corns. Stir and add tofu, chinese cabbage until all ingredients are well combine.
4. Add sauce, lower the heat and stir until all the ingredients are well coated with the Sauce.
5. Covered the clay pot with its lid and simmer for 3 minutes. Ready to serve.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

My kids wanted to invite their friends over to our house to play, so I decided to plan a Mini High Tea for them. I spotted this Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes in one of the baking books that I borrowed and I was so excited to try it out. I made my own creation with my favorite Chocolate Cake in the cone and  frosted the top with cream cheese. Really so happy that it turned out well and yummy! The kids enjoyed themselves and the smiles on their faces were my greatest satisfaction. 

One flaw for this recipe is that the Ice Cream Cone will turn soft once placed outside for too long but still taste yummy overall.

Ingredients

2 eggs (room temperature)
1 egg yolk (room temperature)
55g sugar
a little salt

36g milk
50g self raising flour
10g cocoa powder

125g cream cheese
50g icing sugar (shifted)
3 tbps Milo

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 170 deg C.
2. Whisk eggs and egg yolk, sugar and salt till pale and ribbon stage.
3. Add milk, follow by flour and cocoa powder until just combined. Do not over beat.
4.Fill the cone 3/4 full and bake for 15mins.

Topping : Whisk cream cheese, icing sugar and milo together (place the mixture in fridge for a while). Scoop into piping bag and pipe out on top of cone. Decorate with colorful sprinkles.