Banana Chocolate Muffins

Cannot wait to use my Hello Kitty baking stuff, so I baked these Banana Chocolate Muffins for my colleagues. I am so delighted that they love the Muffins as well as the Hello Kitty stuff.

Hershey Chocolate Cake

I baked this Hershey Chocolate cake for my colleague's birthday. Considering that our office fridge is too small to keep the cake, I decided to bake a cake without cream. I was glad that the decor and icing sugar turned out so beautiful and my colleague loved the cake as much as I do.

Cranberry Butter Cake

I always love butter cake and with added cranberries, it makes it so perfect! Folding meringue is also a challenge to me and I think I did well for this cake, nicely risen and a smooth brown top. Feeling motivated to bake more of this cake.

Recipe with modification

Ingredients

250g Salted Butter (room temperature)
4 egg yolks
120g caster sugar
180g self-raising flour (sifted)
Dried cranberries
60g fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 egg whites
50g caster sugar

Directions

1. In the bowl of a mixer, beat together butter and sugar until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and continue beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix.
2. Fold in the dry ingredients and milk in the sequence flour-milk-flour. Add dried cranberries and mix until just incorporated. Set this aside.
3. In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, whisking all the while until stiff peaks form.
4. Transfer 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture and mix.Gently fold in the remaining meringue in 2 batches, until no white streaks remain.
5. Pour the batter into a lined and lightly greased 8-inch round pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle some dried cranberries on top.
6. Bake at 170°C for 45 minutes.When the cake is done (insert a skewer it the cake and if it emerges cleanly it is done), let the cake rest for 5 minutes in the pan before carefully transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Mother's Day Cake

I baked this Sponge Cake and decorated it with Strawberries for my Mother-In-Law. A simple yet pretty cake for Mother's Day.

Cranberry Cookies

I was tasked to experiment on recipes with milk powder and I am lucky to chance upon this recipe from Kenneth Goh. Somehow my dough was not as pliable enough so I had a hard time getting the dough into the rectangular shape. The cookies were amazingly crunchy and tasted buttery. I guess this is the perfect recipe for the task given.

Ingredients

200g cake flour
100g butter (at room temperature)
75g icing sugar
75g diced dried cranberry(soaked)
One egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons of milk powder 

Directions

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg and beat until well combined.
2. Sift in the cake flour and milk powder, add the diced dried cranberries. Use the machine lowest speed to stir for about 1 minute until a pliable soft dough is formed
3. Transfer the dough out and place on a piece of clingy wrap. Shape it in a rectangular shape with a square face. Put the dough in the freezer and freeze until the dough is firmed enough for slicing. It took me about 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 160 Deg C.
5. Take out the frozen dough, cut the dough into small pieces with a thickness of about 5-7 mm. Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the cookies are crispy. 

Biscotti

Thanks to Miki for this recipe. I have wanted to try making Biscotti for a long time and when I saw this recipe, I was so motivated to try it. Indeed it is not too difficult to make but perhaps I have overbaked it and thus resulted with quite a tough crunch.  

Recipe adapted from Miki Mak

Ingredients

3 Egg Whites
120g All Purpose Flour (sifted)
90g Castor Sugar
120g Whole Almonds

Directions

1. In a stand mixer, whisk egg whites in medium speed till foamy. Gradually add in sugar then whisk in high speed till stiff.
2. Stir in sifted flour and almonds.
3. Pour mixture in a lightly greased dish.
4. Bake 180'C for 30 minutes till light brown.
5. Remove from oven, let it cool in the dish.
6. When it's completely cooled, remove from dish and sliced thinly.
7. Place on a lined tray, bake 130'C for 35-40 minutes till crispy and crunchy. (Baking time depends on the thickness).
8. Let it cool completely before storing in an air tight container.
9. The left over bread (before slicing), can wrap with aluminum foil and keep in the freezer for 1-2 weeks. 

Kuih Bahulu

These are my childhood favourite and many thanks to Joanne Chai for the recipe. I love the eggy flavour and with the use of only 3 ingredients. So happy to get hold of this recipe and recorded in my blog. 

Recipe adapted from Joanne Chai

Ingredients

4 eggs
120g self-raising flour
120g sugar

Directions

1) Preheat oven 120 degree.
2) Sift flour, spread flour on baking tray and dry in the oven for 3 - 4 minutes. Leave aside to cool. (For a crispy texture, if you don't like it avoid this step)
3) Heat up the oven to 220 degree.
4) In a mixer beat eggs until fluffy and slowly add in sugar. Turn speed to high beat until it become pale colour.
5)Make sure the mixture is thick not runny(drip down)
6)Add in flour 3 tbsp at a time. Mix it until combined. Repeat the same step until finished.
7)Grease the mould/pan fill in the batter. Tap the pan to get rid air bubbles.
8) Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.
9) Use the butter knife to scrape the side to take out the Kuih Bahulu..
10. Leave on the cooling rack to cool down. Once cool store in a air tight container

Pastry Fruit Cake

I was so eager to try out my new Hello Kitty baking pan and just right that I planned to bake this Pastry Fruit Cake. This is a heavy batter cake and I am happy to see the Hello Kitty imprint so visible. Glad that I bought this baking pan!

Cream Cheese Cotton Cake

Finally I made it! After so many attempts, I successfully baked this Cream Cheese Cotton Cake, perfectly rise so high and cottony texture. Now I can better understand the meringue peak form stage and the way to fold the meringue into the batter. I guess practice make perfect, I will keep practicing it and hopefully I can make more other flavour cotton cake.

Recipe adpated from Jeannie Tay

Ingredients

6 egg yolks
50g butter
50g sugar
100g milk
50g cream cheese
75g Cake flour
20g Corn flour

6 egg whites
100g sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

1. Over low fire, heat up butter, cheese and 50g sugar until cheese has melted. Add milk and whisk until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and sift in the flours. Whisk until combined before adding the egg yolks. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.
2. Whisk egg white until frothy before adding cream of tartar then gradually add the 100g sugar and continue to beat until firm peaks.
3. Add the meringue to the yolk batter in 3 portions, making sure both batters are well blended but do not over mix.
4. Pour into prepared pan and bake with water bath at 155C for 70-75 minutes. Remove and unmould by inverting on to a plastic board or non stick pan, peel off lining and re-invert back on to a rack for cooling. If the side is still wet-ish, put into the oven to dry with the residual heat for 10-15 minutes.

Green Bean Soup

Green Bean Soup has always been my favourite dessert but I have never cooked the sago right and it turned out starchy. When I came across a tip on Facebook on how to cook sago, I was determined to give it a try and it was a success! 

Below, record for my future reference.

Directions: 
1. Do not wash the sago.
2. Cook sago in boiling water for 10 mins (you can still see small white dots in the sago ).
3. Off the flame and cover for 10 mins. (have enough hot water to cover the sago).
4. Pour sago into a pot of tap water.
5. Drain and add sago into green bean soup when about to serve.

Chocolate Cake

It was a very last minute request to make a birthday cake and immediately I thought of using the No Fail Sponge Cake recipe. I have added Hershey Chocolate powder to the cake, covered with chocolate buttercream and topped with chocolate gananche. Indeed a Chocolate Overdose Cake!

Milk Cupcakes

I was tasked to bake something using 

milk powder and when I came across this recipe, I decided to give it a try. However, I felt the texture was too heavy and it had a strong milky taste. So I topped it with chocolate ganache to blend the taste and it turned out great.

With modifications :

Ingredients

60g butter
60g sugar
100g fresh milk
2 eggs
100g milk powder
120g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

Ganache
Couverture chocolate
Butter
Decorative
  

Directions

1. Add butter, sugar and fresh milk in a bowl. Microwave and mix.
2. Add in egg and mix well.
3. Sift in milk powder, cake flour and baking powder and mix well.
4. Scoop batter into cup fillers and bake at 170 Deg C for 20 mins.
5. Topped with melted chocolate and decorative.

Nestum Cookies

Another recipe which has milk powder for my experiment. Few mistakes made, I used Corn Flour instead of Corn Starch and the cookies were under baked (even though I baked for 20mins as stated) which resulted in a chewy texture. The dough was kind of sticky which I am not sure why and so I added more flour. Also, I find the cookies  a little too sweet. I will give it a try again.

With modifications :

Ingredients

100g butter
120g sugar (reduced from 135g)
100g plain flour
50g potato starch or corn starch
50g milk powder
1 egg
1 tbsp Nestum Cereal
Some Nestum cereal (for coating)
  

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs gradually and beat until well combined.
2. Add in sifted milk powder, plain flour, potatoes starch and a tablespoon of Nestum cereal. With low speed to stir for a min until well mix to form a pliable dough. Scoop a teaspoon of dough, roughly shape round and put in a bowl of Nestum Cereal to coat the dough.
3. Put in paper cups and bake in preheated oven of 170 Deg C for 25 mins until golden brown.

Orders (2017)

It was a fulfilling exposure to have this opportunity to bake for a 21st Birthday party. All my bakes were well presented on the Desserts Table. Feeling great accomplishment and motivation!

Milo Sponge Cake

I super love this recipe (No Fail Sponge Cake) with only 5 ingredients and mix (use K beater) everything together and yield such a tall and firm cake. I have added Milo to get the additional Milo flavour and it was indeed yummy! A good recipe to keep and I will experiment with other flavours as well.

With modifications :

Ingredients

320g self raising flour
280g caster sugar
280g butter
5 eggs
3 tbsp milk
2 pkts 3-in-one Milo

Directions

1. Sieve flour into a large mixing bowl, all other ingredients and mix with K beater on slow speed till well mix.
2. Increase speed to fast speed for another 2 mins, when you have a smooth batter (it will be quite thick/stiff).
3. Pour into 8" baking tin and baked in 150 Deg C for 1.5 hrs till brown or test with skewer if it comes out clean.

* Note: for waxy fillers 6cm (diameter) X 3.5cm (height), 30g each, 38pcs.

Softest Bread Ever

  

Baked on 21 March 2017

Baled on 27 Feb 2017

Another round of Bread making using The Stay At Home Chef recipe with Pork Floss and sugar buns. Will try to make more types of bread using this recipe!

I chanced upon this recipe in Facebook from The Stay At Home Chef and gave it a try. Wow, it is such a simple and easy recipe I ever came across so far, just adding all ingredients together and mix with dough hook (no hand kneading required at all). The only downside is the waiting time for it to rise ie 90 mins + 60 mins in total but worth the wait. I am falling in love with bread making, enjoy looking at them rise and bake to perfection. Great satisfaction and motivation!

I have halved the quantity for the ingredients as stated below since it is able to yield a lot already. The bread can be kept for more than 3 days and it is still soft.

With modifications :

Ingredients

250ml warm milk
1 tbsp instant dry yeast
30g sugar
1 tsp salt
45g butter (softened)
1 large egg
400g plain flour or bread flour
1 small cube butter (for brushing)

Optional
2 tsp pandan paste
2 tbsp cocoa powder  

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm milk, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs.
2. Add 3/4 of flour and using a dough hook, turn the mixer on to a low speed. Once the flour starts to incorporate into the dough, increase the speed to a medium range and add the remaining 1/4 of flour. The dough mixture should be slightly sticky and soft. Add more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (The amount of flour you add in bread making is always an approximation and you should go by feel).
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise 90 minutes.
4. Lightly grease a baking tray. Punch down the dough and form into rolls. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 180 - 190 Deg C (depending on your oven) and bake the rolls for 12 to 14 minutes, until lightly browned.
6. Remove rolls from oven and brush with melted butter.

Non Bake Jelly Cheesecake

I am honored to have my 2nd recipe done up professionally by Share Food Singapore. 

Great achievement to me!

Orange Craberry Cake

This was my recent attempt to work on my Egg White folding method by making this Orange Cranberry Cake. However, I over whisked the egg white and the cake did not rise as expected but the relieving thing was that it did not have a thick "kaya" layer at the bottom as compared to my previous bakes. The cake was quite compact like pound cake and  it was surprisingly well accepted by my kids. I guess practice makes perfect and I must continue to improve on this.

Ingredients

180g butter
60g sugar (reduced from 70g)
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
175g plain flour
75g cornflour
180g Orange juice

210g egg whites
70g sugar

Orange Zest
Dried cranberries

Directions

1. With a mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla essence and salt till mixture is fluffy and combined.
2. Sift flour and corn flour together.
3. Add flour mixture and orange juice) alternatively in 3 portions into the butter mixture until all are incorporated.
4. In a clean mixer, whisk egg white and add sugar gradually till stiff peaks, smooth and glossy form.
5. Add 1/3 egg white into the butter mixture using hand whisk to incorporate both mixtures (you can mix vigorously for the 1st batch of egg white but subsequent must be folded in with spatula very gently). Ensure that most of the white is not visible after folding.
6. Pour half the batter, sprinkle dried cranberries and orange zest, follow by pouring the rest of batter over it.
8. Bake at 180 Deg C for 40 mins until golden brown. Allow the cake to sit in the oven for another 5 mins and ajar the oven door for another 5 mins before taking out. Remove the cake and let it cool completely before cutting.

Pineapple Crumbles

I still had a small amount of pineapple fillings which were left after making CNY pineapple tarts, so I decided to experiment making something like apple crumbles but replaced apple with pineapple fillings. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a nice combination, crusty for the base and crunchy with the crumbles on top. Good to play around with ingredients and you never know the final product might be fantastic.

Ingredients

Biscuit Base (A)
180g plain flour (sifted)
125g butter (softened)
60g castor sugar

Pineapple fillings (B)
Ready made Pineapple Fillings (from Phoon Huat)

Crumble topping (C)
100g plain flour (sifted)
100g walnut (chopped)
65g butter (softened)
50g caster sugar

Directions

1.Biscuit Base : Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Mix (A) into dough and pour into a 9" square baking pan, press dough evenly. Poke with fork and bake for 20 mins.
2.Spread pineapple fillings onto baked biscuit base.
3.Crumble topping : Use finger to mix (C) till crumble and sprinkle on the top of pineapple fillings, then bake at 150 deg C for 60 mins.

Banana Walnut Cake

My neighbour given me a bag of roasted walnut and so I decided to make this Banana Walnut Cake for kids's breakfast tomorrow.