My Baking Cottage

Birthday Cake for Mummy

2011-11-09T22:56:00.002+08:00

I came to realise how time passes so fast when one gets busy. It's not just fast, it's extraordinarily fast! Before I could fulfil the tasks that I set for myself, one week, two weeks and so on just passed without having it accomplished. argg... my wedding is coming in 2 months time and just yesterday, I wrote down the list of things I have to prepare. Gosh it seems little yet so much... at least it provides some direction of what to do next.

For the whole of last month, I didn't post a single blog entry as I was just so busy. I think that's the first time I miss posting in a single month. The good thing was, I wasn't busy the entire month working and slogging... I took a break. :D It was my first trip (not to mention genting highlands in Malaysia) for this year and was really looking forward to it! I was away for a 7 days trip to Taiwan, with my mum, my best friend and her mum, and my in-laws. It was meant to be me and my best friend bringing our mothers for a trip, and ended up my in-laws joined in as they had not gone for a trip this year and their children (including my hubby) probably was unable to fit in a schedule to bring them for a tour. So well... I felt I did a great thing for my hubby! :D

No bakes for the past month, as far as I can remember, except for an awesome steam chocolate cake which I had no choice to take a picture of. This cake (below) was a birthday cake made for my mum in Aug. I adapted from the Japanese strawberry shortcake that I made for Xian, and made it into a cherry version, my using canned cherries for the layers and topped with fresh cherries and white chocolate shavings.

I wasn't pleased with the presentation, though the cake tasted quite yummy!

Two months 5 days to my wedding! My house renovation has completed and we are doing the cleaning up and awaiting the arrival of the furnitures, etc. My kitchen Aid and oven has arrived and sitting in my new kitchen! I'll update when the house is clean. ;)

Pre-wedding Photoshoot Prelude

2011-09-18T23:30:00.009+08:00

It has been a long time since I last update the progress of my wedding preparation. Well, in fact it has almost come to a halt since my ROM last year. Since the beginning of this year, way before we collected the keys to our nest, we kept ourselves busy with sourcing for renovation contractors / interior design firms, furniture / appliances shopping, etc. Most of our friends are really amazed to see that just shopping for a simple dining light could take us months to decide. The shop assistants in Balestier could even recognise us at the bus stop because my hubby went to Balestier too many times! *lol* Anyhow, we enjoy this process because those weekly hunting has become our dating affairs :) Both of us are rather picky (especially me) so we'll rather spend more time than to regret for not having browse enough. Since our schedule to our wedding has been planned well ahead, why not? :)

Our house is almost 50-60% completed, sans the carpentry which would be installed very soon. It was rather draggy though due to some hiccups in our flooring and our design concept. ;) I am looking forward to see some carpentry work done up this week and hopefully by Nov, we can start to do the final touches. Then, we'll be able to focus on our wedding held in Jan 2012. Oh gosh, just realised it's less than 4 months to our wedding. :D

Opps I digress again. I should be taking about my pre-wedding PS... :P Our PS was on 15 Sep 2011. It was a hazey week, with the island experiencing a higher than usual PSI on 12 Sep, few days before our PS due to the Sumatra fire; and heavy rain hit parts of the island the day before. NEA weather forecast showed that on the day of our PS, rain was expected in the late morning / early afternoon. It did, followed by fine, clear weather. We were so lucky! We even managed to capture blue sky in botanic garden. :D

Here are some of the shots taken not by the photographer, but my best friend aka da jie using her iphone 4. The first photo was taken in the studio. I love the white background.

This is retro doesn't it. My boss exclaimed: Oh my botanic garden time! *lol*

This was in botanic garden as well, the man-made waterfall.

Another shot in botanic garden.

Botanic garden was our first outdoor location, after which we proceeded to the shophouses along Tanjong Pagar area, and landed at our last stop at Sentosa for sun set shoot. As much as I wanted to be creative and wish to avoid the more common PS locations, we still settled for these safe, yet beautiful locations, as Singapore is really that small.

Although it was really tiring, we really enjoyed the PS (especially me!). :P In fact i had a crazy idea - to do another "post-wedding" PS during our honeymoon. *wink wink*. Well... we shall see how... We'll be able to choose the photos in a few weeks time. I'm determined not to allow myself to top up extra photos over the package of 44 that I am given. $85 for each extra photo? I would rather sign another package. :)

Mini Walnut Tarlets

2011-08-27T20:28:00.004+08:00

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I hardly bake tarts; and here, you see me posting two tarts in a row! Well, since I seldom baked tarts, I thought I'd make more tart shells at one go on the day when I baked the milky fruit tarts. I doubled the tart shell recipe that you see in my fruit tart post, and managed to make extra 12 mini and 3 medium size (those standard egg tart size) tart shells, which I stored in the fridge and baked them a few days later.

I had earlier eyed on the caramel nut tartlets by "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. It looked so tempting for a nut lover like me. The steps however, were more tedious -- involves poping the tarts into the oven twice, and making of two creams - almond and caramel cream. However after a long, tiring day at work, I decided to tweak another simpler pine nut tart recipe, and made a walnut tart instead. That's how baking has become so restricted for me because of my work. But I can't blame anyone or anything. It is my job and I'm getting paid for it while baking is still a hobby.

I didn't regret making the walnut tart because it was a really delicious tart that I couldn't help but devour the entire tart when I'd restricted myself to only eat half of it! Best of all, I get to used up all the nuts I had in my pantry and the whipping cream left from the strawberry milk tart. This is definitely worth making if you love nuts. :)

Recipe for Tart Shell (sweet shortcrust pastry) -- Please refer to the milky fruit tart recipe

All the steps remains the same, except that you've got to cut out little rounds of pastry with round pastry cutter or cut out a portion and pressed it into the tart tin. Bake for 10 minutes (instead of 20 minutes), removed from the oven, remove the weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the tart turns light brown.

Recipe for filling:

50g castor sugar
30g ground almonds
1 egg
1 egg yolk
140g double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
70g pine nuts

To assemble:

Prepare sweet shortcrust pastry (baked in advance).

Prepare filling: Mix sugar and ground almonds together. Add egg, egg yolk, cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Spread nutella over the base. Pour filling in, then spread nuts evenly on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until tart is golden brown. remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

The original recipe is a pine nut tart recipe. I replaced pine nuts with walnuts, and strawberry jam with nutella. I was lucky that this tart turned out successful, for I made a huge blunder. For a moment, I thought that I should pour in the egg-cream mixture and baked it with the shell together. So, after I almost filled up all the tiny tins with the mixture, I realised that nope, the recipe requires that the shell has to be baked in advance. Oh gosh! Worried that the tart will not bake well, and because I had pricked holes in advance on the prepared tart, I scooped off the mixture again, sent into the oven to bake for 10 minutes, removed from the oven, topped it with the egg-cream mixture and baked for another 20 minutes. Phew! everything turned out fine, much to my delight. hehe. I love it, the texture of a moist creamy centre with crunchy nuts on top!
I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink! This is the first time I am submitting two entries to Aspiring Bakers ;)

Not a cake this time but a milky fruit tart!

2011-08-09T23:30:00.004+08:00

Yes yes... it's not a cake this time round. I made a tart! If you notice from the sidebar category of my blog, you could see that I hardly bake tarts, in fact there's only three tart posts! Somehow tarts don't fall in my "to-bake" list. I still prefer cakes, whether making it or eating it. If they do appear, then very likely, it is for someone than for myself. Haa, I don't know either why I don't like tarts, probably it's the rolling of pastry dough and lining over the tart shell that appears intimidating to me. Usually when the dough gets softened, it gets so difficult to line on to the tart tin with breaking.

I made this milky fruit tart to bring to my sisters' gathering, to celebrate a belated birthday for Xian. Instead of baking a cake, I decided to bake a tart for her since I'm always worried about cake melting during the journey to our meet-up venue; and I know she love pastry tarts too. :)

Dailydelicious's strawberry milk tart caught my eye and I love the white chocolate fillings that she used. It's kind of a white chocolate ganache. I don't know about my friends, but as a personal preference, I don't really like pastry cream which tasted too sweet and "eggy" for me. For the tart shell, I chosed the sweet tart dough by "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida.

I missed out last month's Aspiring Baker's on swiss rolls though I did bake a swiss roll last month. Coincidentally this month's challenge Aspiring Baker #10 - Easy as Pies (including all tarts, quiches, etc) came just in time for me. Hence I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink!;)

Here's the recipe for the sweet short pastry:

70g unsalted butter

35g icing sugar

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

20g ground almonds

130g cake flour, sifted

Method:

Beat butter, icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until just combined.

Add eggs and mix well. Add ground almonds and mix well.

Add flour and fold through completely. Using a scraper, mix batter until a smooth dough is formed. Wrap dough with a cling film, then place in the refrigerator to rest for at least 3 hours. (i only let it rest for 1 hour, probably that's why my dough is more difficult to be rolled).

Unwrap dough and place on a non-stick baking mat . Cover surface with cling film and roll to a thickness of about 3-5mm. Remove non-stick baking mat and place dough (with cling film still intact) into the tart tin and gently press it into the tin without stretching it. Remove and discard cling film.

Roll the rolling pin over the top pf the tin to remove excess dough. Prick dough with a fork, then let dough rest for about 5 minutes in the freezer before baking.

Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Line tart tin with parchment paper. Place baking weights or rice into tart tin and bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights when pastry just begins to change colour around the edges, then continue baking until light brown, about 10 minutes more.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Makes one 20 / 22-cm tart tin with fluted edges. I used 18-cm tart tin and two additional smaller tart tin.

The pistachios not only visually enhance the lovely tart, it adds a nice nutty crunch to sweet and tarty taste. The combination is heavenly!

Made two extras for my mum and hubby. :)

The white chocolate cream filling with speckles of vanilla seeds from the vanilla extract. I thought it looks better without the speckles.

I learnt from Dailydelicious that we could make the glaze from our usual fruit jam without having to buy the gel. Please refer to her blog for the white chocolate cream and strawberry glaze recipe. :)

Do try this lovely tart! I'm sure all ladies will love this! ;)

Cranberry Scones

2011-07-17T23:20:00.001+08:00

Hi to all of those who do still pop by my blog, I know I've been missing for some time... but it doesn't mean that I've ignored this blog or my love for baking. I still do, but as some of you may know, I'm busy both in my work and my wedding/house renovation.

In the past, I may complain that I'm too busy to blog but I still do bake. Now, I don't even have the luxury to go blog hopping, let alone bake and blog. This post was put up a few weeks ago, when I sneaked in some time to post the pictures, and sneaked in some time to type out the recipe and finally here I am now, determine to finish it today, to at least post one entry for this month, and hopefully more! I made this almost 2-3 months ago. This falls in in 'quick bread' category and that was why I chosed this. I named it Scones ~ bakery aroma cos' the kitchen was full of bakery aroma that I felt this was real bakery, attributed to butter and cream. ;)

You can bake this in advance, cool and store in the refrigerator. Before serving, just pop into the oven or toaster and you get the bakery aroma again!

I shall leave the rest with the pictures and the recipes. :)

Ingredients:

220g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

80g unsalted butter

30g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

110g of egg yolk and milk mixture (1 egg yolk with enough fresh whole milk to make up the amount. I combined with leftover whipping cream and some low fat milk to make up the 110g)

40g cranberries, chopped

Method:

Prepare flour and butter a day in advance. Sift flour and baking powder together. Place butter and flour together in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator overnight. (i omitted this step).

On the day of baking, preheat oven to 200 degree celsius .

Add sugar. Rub butter into the flour until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Add cranberries together with egg yolk and milk mixture and mix until a smooth dough is formed.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly.

Rolled to a thickness of about 1.5-2cm.

Cut with a 5-cm round pastry cutter dusted with flour. Alternatively if you prefer to shape into wedges like mine, you could roll into a circular dough, and cut into wedges using a pastry cutter.

Place cut-out dough on a baking sheet brushed with milk.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until scones are golden brown.

Remove from heat and cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Some updates about myself. My renovation is going smoothly and it's really excited to see more things done every other day. It is a tiring but enjoyable process... but I really do miss baking... alot. In fact I had a few arguments with my hubby because he wanted me to spend less time on baking and reading baking blogs but to spend some time to think and surf the web for ideas on what design I wanted for our house design. *lol* I was rather stubborn at first thought of it but I do understand his intentions. Afterall, he wanted me to have our dream house and would have no regrets in the final outcome. Anyhow, I discovered he is a perfectionist when it comes to this big project of ours but I appreciate that as I could see that all he wanted was to ensure that I'm happy with the choices that we have made, in terms of colour scheme, design, layout, etc. :)

Pretty pink and white :)

2011-06-25T15:08:00.007+08:00

Pink and white, is a colour combination, I'm sure, that can't go wrong. It's either you like it or you don't. You can tell from my blog that I love this colour combination, and this is likely what you will see in my kitchen. Hehe. I'm contemplating to do a pink coloured glass backing for the backing of my kitchen countertop, to match my white kitchen concept and pink kitchen aid. ;) To digress a bit, I've finally purchased the kitchen aid that I've been dreaming. It's going at $741 now during the Great Singapore Sale at Mayer Marketing, with complimentary $50 voucher, to be used within three months without any minimu purchase. I'm not sure if this is the best deal that I can get though. Check it out at Mayer if you are interested now. :)

The contractor told me he had never done a pink glass backing before. So, it's like a risk we are taking. I'm not that adventurous yet, so I've asked my contractor to get a sample of the glass backing to have a look before deciding. Hopefully it turns out pretty. Otherwise, I'll likely go for the safer colour -- white. :P

This cake was made the day after I attended the cartoon cake workshop at Sugar Inc. I thought it's a good chance to put to good use what I attended the day earlier since it was still fresh in my memory. Why not a cartoon cake? You might be wondering. Well, somehow the chocolate could not harden and the cartoon-design chocolate transfer was a disaster. I wonder why. Till now, I am still confused over the use of the types of chocolate to be used in baking. Conveture chocolate, it seems, is not good for piping as they don't dry out that easily. Anyone can advise?

I had to make do with a simple frosted cake with simple wordings. The coating was still not to my expectation. But I'm happy that I succeeded in the making of italian meringue buttercream. It was smooth, creamy and stable, best if it needs to withstand for hours in room temperature if I'm making for my friends. :)

Practice makes perfect in perfecting a technique but I wonder when will be my next frosted buttercream cake. *lol*. Hopefully in my new kitchen soon :P

Cartoon Cake Workshop

2011-06-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

These pictures had been sitting in my edited post for more than a week.... and another 2 days of re-uploading before it finally made its way here.

I attended a cartoon cake workshop a few months back at Sugar Inc with Anna Chan. It was a weekday afternoon and I took half a day's leave just for the workshop, as a treat for me to have a break from my hectic work. Located at the ground floor of a shop unit at Jln Bukit Ho Swee (near iong Bahru MRT station), this small little unit offered more than what it seems to be able to deliver. It is fully equipped with the essential equipment and cookware, that makes my heart beat (excited) as I entered the worksop, knowing I'll be in for a learning session!

The class is limited to 8 in a class so that Anna can gave more attention to each student.

She first did a demo on the sponge cake.

followed by the frosting...

A demo showing how to make Italian meringue buttercream. This was one of my reason for attending the class.

That's Anna, showing us how to do the outline. Melting the chocolate for the outline of the cartoons (using melted chocolate to draw the picture)
And colouring the cartoon picture with melted white chocolate tinted with food colouring.

The frosting was the most difficult part of the hands-on session. No matter how many layers I frosted, I still could not get a smooth, evenly layered frosted cake. I always tend to leave some cake crumbs behind... >_<

That's Anna's work! See how smooth is her frosting.

Other classmate's works. :)And mine! :) To be honest, I thought that the technique and concept of the transfer chocolate method is rather simple. It involves the drawing of the design you like with dark melted chocolate, and "colouring" with tinted melted white chocolate. Let it set in the fridge and transfer to the cake. I thought I could apply the same method if I use gel for the filling but according to Anna, it is different. :(

But of course, there are still certain techniques that you may not know without learning hands-on, such as having to fill in the white chocolate in the outline fully without any gaps so that there will be no breaks when it hardens.

Overall, it's a fruitful session and immediately the following day, I made a buttercream cake for my best friend, by trying to apply when I've learnt. (sans the cartoon!). Will show it in my next post.

Our first Love Nest :)

2011-05-28T23:45:00.005+08:00

After almost two years of waiting, finally we are now proud owners of our first asset, where we will be setting up our home. :) Haha... this photo doesn't spell anything about our new flat, and our keys. But we are imdeed posing in the office of HDB. I realised all the photos taken reveals my new house number, so P&C. ;)

Huat ar!! (meaning increasing wealth in Hokkein)... LOL... that's the Chinese custom of rolling two pineapples before stepping into the new house, for wealth and prosperity.

Here's a small, 90 sqm public housing, with three bedrooms, in the northern part of Singapore. :)

Looking from the door entrance.... It's rather dark as we are living on the fifth floor... On the left is the household shelter, to the right is the kitchen.

Pathetic small kitchen.... We will be hacking off the left wall to make way for an open concept kitchen. Nevermind that people often advises about the grease and all, we need a bright kitchen and more spacious living hall. We will buy a strong hood!

The service yard area, where we will be putting the washer.

Looking out from the service yard area. That's the household shelter.

Our living room. :)

Stepping further in....

Looking from the living room. On the left is the kitchen, Behind the wall with the circular vent is the household shelter. Got it?

Moving to the left will be our bedrooms. Very small yea?

Our dining area. We plan to put a big mirror to enlarge the space. There, you see three bedrooms. We'll be combining two bedrooms into one as the master bedroom is so freakingly small.

Alright, that's about it... will update more again when there's more things to see instead of a bare house.

We started sourcing for contractors / Interior Designers (ID) since last year and finally, we decided to be our own ID. An interior designer helps to design your house but we find that most of the designs coming from such identical layout are similar, and as our house is small, there isn't much designs to play around with.

Hubby is the main "designer" and I'm fortunate that he's enjoying it and good at all the details. :)

Renovation permit has been approved and we'll be starting our renovation soon... *excited*I shall journal it down when things get going... ;)

** I have no idea why the moment I published the post, the paragraph spacing becomes so large. Sorry for the ugle presentation. ***

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

2011-05-20T23:23:00.001+08:00

This year, I'm celebrating birthday for Mr Fong, my dd, as a wife / Mrs Fong! There isn't much difference actually. In fact now that we are married, we tend to make things simpler, unlike during those days of courtship. How I miss those days! hehe... I often tell hubby that we have to remind each other to continue to be lovey dovey even after 10, 20 years later... hopefully! It's not that we are not now, just that as we move into different stages of life, such as planning for our home and marriage, we have to be practical, such as saving money for the neccessities. For birthdays, we would usually buy each other what we wanted, instead of buying something that is not practical and we may not like / use it. I don't mind cute stuffs which could be impractical, but not for my hubby. So, I have not bought his birthday present. I will probably pay for our short trip to genting soon then. :)

Another difference is that since we are married, it is hard not to get involved in each other's family's outings and gatherings, even though we may prefer to spend time or certain occasions together with only the two of us. No difference from previous years, I would bake hubby a birthday cake and this year, since his family are celebrating for him and his sister together (their birthday is two days apart), I made a birthday for all to celebrate together.

I decided on a strawberry mousse cake, recipe from Judy Koh's published VCD. I used my newly bought 8-inch round cake ring which was too big for the recipe I was using, hence I baked it a second round, only to realise that the mousse I prepared was not enough for two layers!I had to make do with a really short cake. I also bake the sponge fingers so that I can prevent the mousse from melting by the time we reached the restaurant.

My mother-in-law liked the cake, much to my surprise because she does not have a sweet tooth. I believe it's the tangyness of the strawberry mousse and lemon juice that made it refreshing. I was not quite happy with the texture though as I find the mousse a little too stiff for my liking.

Pretty cake boxes from Daiso. :)

Hubby mentioned he does not like mousse cakes as much and this is the first time I knew it. But still, I have to practise the making of mousse... bear with me ok.. :P

Easy Chocolate Fix - Chocolate Madeleine

2011-05-11T23:57:00.001+08:00

I was reading dailydelicious's blog the other day and awed by her beautiful dessert photos, I began to read little more. That was when I read her post on the madeleines she made and struck me that I had only used my madeleine silicon moulds once since the day I bought it. I'm sure that's not surprising to most of you... buying cute baking gadgets out of impulse and hardly use. :P For me, baking stuffs are never an impulse because I think they are really worth it even though I hardly use them. Worth the buy as they makes me happy and I will motivate myself to use it. ;) Back to these cute little seashell cakes, they are so easy to put together and is another alternative to muffins if you to have a quick chocolate fix. Unlike most madeleine recipes that calls for whisking the eggs using a mixer, this recipe works like the muffin method by combining the wet and dry batter together. I supposed this method works better for chocolate madeleines, as I don't see this method in other madeleines, probably because most people prefer a denser texture for chocolate flavours? That's my guess! :) The recipe is none other than dailydelicious mini chocolate madeleine and I've also found a similar recipe at Cuisine Paradise's blog too.

I'm using a silicon mould but I've read that for madeleine, it is better to bake it in a traditional madeleine tray as it browns better. Do remember to butter the mould generously to prevent any peeling of the cakes when you removed from the mould.

Though I received funny remarks about the hump, I thought the hump looks really cute... don't they? :P

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011). This time I shall not missed sending the email to DG. :P

Happy Chocolate Month!

Say Cheese again!

2011-04-27T23:38:00.003+08:00

This post almost didn't manage to make it here.

I didn't managed to bake a baked mango cheesecake the previous round so this time round I did it. I was looking forward to a piece of delicious, firm piece of good yummy baked mango cheesecake after returning home from shopping. When I unmoulded the cake from the pan, something wasn't right. The digestive base seemed wet than usual cheesecake, and when sliced, the cake seemed more like a custard rather than the usual firm baked cheesecake. I thought chilling in the fridge would work but it doesn't seemed to be. I began to doubt whether adding fresh mangoes in a cheesecake is a good choice because the mangoes lose the fresh mango taste and tasted eggy instead.

I was upset, that I still didn't manage to eat my mango cheesecake! But I have no one to blame but myself, for I tweaked the recipe. I found this recipe at Heidi's blog - An Appetite For All Things Good. As i had the Marigold Peach and mango yoghurt, I decided to replace it for the double cream. I thought that since it was similar to another mango cheesecake recipe using mango yoghurt, it should not do much damage?

For a second, I thought that recipe wasn't that good as what Heidi claimed but later I guess it was my wrong substitution of ingredients, because double cream should have been much more creamier, and I had really made the wrong choice by replacing with yoghurt. It was only later that I realised that the other recipe using mango yoghurt had less liquid content than this, which explains why mine was rather wet. So... it goes another learning point, never substitute ingredients frivolously.

Although this cheesecake wasn't give-worthy, I still kept it in the fridge, and had a few mouthfuls. The taste was not that bad actually. A few days later (yup, it didn't go bad, no sour taste so I suppose it's fine), when I eat it again, to my surprise, it tasted so much better. The texture was more firm and creamy. But I dare not give it away, for fear of stomach upset for some. Unfinished ones were thrown away.

Contemplating whether to submit to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! , in the end, I decided to. I believe the original recipe should not go wrong if you followed it and don't tweak so much like me. The above picture was taken the day after baked, it was firm, but a little wet. It's just another mango cheesecake recipe for you to consider, and for myself to document. :)

Updates: I just realised I'd forgotten to email Jean to participate in this month's contest. :P So eventually I didn't participate even though I mentioned I will be submitting. Sorry! :P

Pumpkin Bread

2011-04-15T22:12:00.001+08:00

I chose to bake a loaf of bread that day. It's a Saturday and I thought since I have brought my work home, i should bake something that doesn't take up too much of my time. I can leave the kneading to my breadmaker and after which I just have to proof the dough, give it a good punch, shape, proof and bake.

I chose this honey pumpkin bread recipe from Min's blog. I wanted to bake something that I have not attempted before yet I do not wish to spend too much shaping buns. I've always wanted to attempt Tangzhong bread but it was out for me on that day. I could only make do with the direct method. So finally I decided to try this pumpkin bread. At least incorporating a mashed ingredient is something new for me, and it sounds so healthy with pumpkin added. I could still eat the pumpkin if there are leftovers.

The aunties at the supermarket was kind enough to cut a portion of the pumpkin so that I do not have to buy the entire pumpkin. I cut the pumpkin into big chunks (with the skin on) and steam for about 15 minutes. Then i scooped out the flesh and mashed it with a fork.

I had been using my trusted breadmaker to knead the bread dough for a long time since I bought it. This is how the invention of machines makes people lazy. :P

As usual, I dumped everything in sequence into the breadmaker to knead the dough. Halfway through, the maker started making a squeaking sound, and it stopped. I reckon that it got stuck so I shifted the dough so that the blade was able to move again. After a while, the blade got stuck again. I believed that the mashed pumpkin made the dough too thick that the blade was unable to move smoothly. I decided to add the butter (earlier than usual) to soften the dough. However, it didn't work. In fact due to overheating, the breadmaker stopped functioning. I stopped the machine to let it cooled down for a while. From my previous encounters, it would work after cooling down. To my dismay, it was still unable to start up its "engine".

Looking at the sticky pile of dough covered with greasy butter, I had no choice but to knead it with my hands. As I mentioned, I had not been kneading bread dough since the day I bought this breadmaker (you can refer to when I bought it!). My initial plan to have a fuss-free day of baking was shattered as I washed my hands thoroughly and began with the sticky pile.... to my surprise, it wasn't as difficult as I thought. After a few kneads and turns, the butter began to incorporate into the dough and was getting smoother. I didn't wait till I passed the window pane test. I stopped after about 15-20 minutes, when the dough was smooth and slightly elastic.

The first proofing was perfect and so was the second proofing. Unlike some occasions where the proofed dough did not rise very high, this time round, it rised to almost the brim of the pullman tin, raising my hope of a perfect square. Yep a perfect square! It was a beautiful loaf with the orange hue, from fresh pumpkin with no added colouring. The texture was really soft and fluffy even though I did not knead it till 100% perfect. It tasted plain, like any white bread but knowing it contains wholesome goodness, I simply love it. If I had pumpkin seeds, I would certainty included it. I bought this bread slicer from Elyn and was was finally able to use it. With this handy tool, my bread slices were still disastrous! I think I just have to be patient, and with that, I don't need this tool at all? :P

Here's the recipe adapted from Min's blog, I had it translated. I omitted the pumpkin seeds.

Honey Pumpkin Bread Loaf

Ingredients:

150g mashed pumpkin

280g bread flour

50g egg

3/4 tsp instant yeast

1/8 tsp salt

20g honey

30g milk

30g unsalted butter

80g pumpkin seeds if using

Method:

Cut pumpkin into big chunks, remove the seeds and steam over high heat for about 15 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft (if you can insert a chopstick). Remove water and let it cool.

Remove the pumpkin skin and weigh out 150g of pumpkin flesh. Mash it with a fork. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients (except butter) together to form a dough. Then, keep kneading for about 8 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky to the hands.

But butter into cubes and knead it into the dough. At first, the dough will be sticky and your hands will be a messy lump. Just continue kneading, turning 90 degree clockwise after each knead. The dough will slowly smoothen and become elastic. It is ready when you are able to stretch the dough to a sheer thin layer without breaking.

Round the dough, and put it in a bowl, cover with cling wrap or damp cloth and let it proof until double in size, about 1 hour.

After the first proofing, punch out the air, divide into three equal portions and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

Roll the three doughs into a swiss roll style and place them in a pullman tin, with the sealed portion at the bottom. (if you are using pumpkin seeds, spray the surface of the dough with water, roll the dough over a pan of pumpkin seeds and place the dough in the tin.

Sprinkle the surface with water (I didn't do that) and let it proof again for another 60 minutes. (preheat the oven at 190 degree celsius about 30 minutes in advance)

Cover the tin with its cover, and bake in preheated oven for 35 -40 minutes.

When done, remove from the tin and let it cool.

Lovely Blog Award

2011-04-10T23:43:00.002+08:00

I received an award! Thank you Zhuoyuan (Bakertan) of Baking Library and Janice of Home Cook Baker for passing this award to me despite being rather inactive here. It serves as a motivation for me to keep this blog going and share as much as I can with all the fellow food bloggers.

Ok, as what the others have done, I have to list down the rules to follow upon receiving this award, which are:

1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award. 2. Share 7 random things about yourself. 3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs. 4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

Luckily I referred to my past postings as I'd almost wanted to share similar random facts about myself which I'd shared before. So, can see Im such a very boring person! *lol* :P

1) I love pink! I'm sure you can tell from my previous and current blog layout. :)

2) I am on my way to having my dream kitchen. It was designed by hubby and me (we did not engage interior designer for our upcoming renovation). Stay tuned. *wink wink*

3) I'm sure no one knows (except those who's on my facebook) this.. that I carry a permed hair now. Hehe... I finally pluck up the courage to perm my hair after deliberating for years.

4) I bought so many muffin cases and little cookie bags from daiso / baking supply stores but I can't bear to use them.

5) I will be attending a cake decorating class at Sugar Inc this coming weekend. :)

6) I got my driving license 4 years ago but I think I'm as good as a newbie and the number of times I drive can be counted using my five fingers. If you were to ask to drive now, I can't! :P

7) Baking ingredients/equipment and beauty products are the two shopping items I'd most willing to splurge on, rather than clothes and accessories.

Alright... I wont be passing this award as I've not been blog hopping enough to discover that many new blogs. I would just like to dedicate to all the food bloggers out there. There are so many lovely blogs, by people from all walks of life with a passion for food and baking and you guys are really awesome!

No-bake Mango Cheesecake

2011-04-02T11:57:00.001+08:00

This mango season sees the sprouting of many mango bakes in the blogsphere that I think readers are all spolit for choice on the variety that one could do with this tropical fruit.

Mango cheesecake was the first thing that came to my mind whenever I thought of baking with mangoes, for I've been eyeing this mango cheesecake recipe in one of the issue of Food & Travel Magazine. I bought a block of cream cheesecake some time back, planning to bake a birthday cake for my girlfriend but plans changed and it had been sitting in the fridge till now, waiting for me!

I set a day to bake a mango cheesecake. I told myself I had to do it before the cream cheese expire. With that, I bought everything, getting ready to make it when I got home. But but, I was too tired when I reach home that day. :( I almost wanted to give up making the cheesecake. In the end, I decided to make something simpler instead, and opted a non-bake cheesecake, which I think would be easier and less tedious.

Sometimes, I really have to salute to some bloggers out there who could make really beautiful birthday layered cakes or pastries with such patience and passion. Although I have been baking for quite a few years, baking cakes for my friends and family, I felt my standard has remained stagnant. I just wished I could have more time, more energy, more patience to be involved in my hobby. But I couldn't do that because of my work committments. But, I do see some coping well and could still bake, cook and take care of their children despite a full-time working lady. I really wonder what would happen if I were to have a child next time... :P My colleagues have been telling me that there's no way I could bake if I have kids, given our current workload.

So, well... I guess there has to be a give and take... if time is limited, you can't possibly do everything well and there's something you got to sacrifice... like how much time you are prepared to spend on your hobby, and how much committment you need to spend on your work, and how much sleep you want to and can sacrifice. It's all about time management and juggling well on your career, family, hobby... the worklife balance. Anyway, sorry for digressing so much and lamenting on all these. Thoughts just came pouring.... :P

Anyhow, I believe the work and effort that you put in will eventually reap its rewards. After receiving the promotion letter yesterday, at least I felt more comforted, that at least the time and effort I spent was worth it. ;)

Back to this no-bake cheesecake, it was not really a success. After letting it set in the fridge for about 8 hours through the entire night, the cheese custard was still rather soft and not firm enough. I believed it was due to the gelatin that was not fully dissolved when I melted it, hence forming some clumps which I discarded. I remembered I used to make a non-bake strawberry cheesecake many years back and the texture was like jelly!

mmm.... I really need to practice more on such frozen desserts like as mousse and non-bake cakes. I always seem not able to get it correct... arghh.

Although this mango cheesecake didnt set as well as it should be, the taste was great and it indeed melt in the mouth, as what Happy Homebaker advised. The sad thing was, about half of it was wasted because I tried to bring to the office for my colleagues to try but it ended up in a melted mash. :P

I'd initially wanted to submit this post to the Aspiring Baker #5: Fruity March, but on second thought, decided not to as I didn't manage to take a nice picture of it, and the unsuccessful attempt with it. But rest assured the recipe os trusted, cos' it's from Florence's Chilled Mango Cheesecake. ;)

Blueberry Chiffon Cake

2011-03-18T00:00:00.008+08:00

On a Saturday night, my hands were itching to bake something. That's the only time I had for the whole week, having to work also on a weekend to clear my work.

I wanted to bake something that can be done before 12 midnight, something i can have for my breakfast the next day, and that uses whatever ingredients still available in my fridge or pantry. Baking a bread is not possible though i wish I could. I did not have milk so muffins/cakes have to be ommitted. I decided With some blueberries in my freeezer, I decided on a blueberry chiffon cake.

I remembered some bloggers had made blueberry chiffon cakes before and I went googling for it, but realised most of the recipes called for fresh blueberries to be be folded in, and usually the blueberries would sink to the bottom. Blueberries can usually result in the cake texture to be very wet, especially those in contact with the blueberries. I was actually looking for a blueberry chiffon cake that is entirely made with blueberry flavour.

I turned to my recipe collection Kelvin Chai - Chiffon Cake is Done. I'd actually given up on the recipes from this book after a few unsuccessful attempts. The egg yolk batter was always too dry. This time, i decided to give it another try by adapting its blueberry chiffon cake recipe. The recipe uses blueberry jam while I blended fresh bueberries with 1 tbsp of water in a blender to get blueberry paste. I also added 1 tbsp of strawberry jam to enhance the taste in case the taste was too bland.

The egg yolk batter was lovely, with a light tinge of blue. The colour lightened afterit was blueberry blue (I do not know of a better way to describe the colour!) and the colour lightened after folding in the egg whites.

The result? It was good. The texture was just right, soft and moist and it had a light hint of blueberry taste but I felt it could be stronger. Generally I find chiffon cakes with raising agent tend to be softer. The downside is they tend to get deformed easily and it's not chemical-free. :)

Don't be mistaken by the little blue dots and thought the cake is mouldy. :P They are the bits of blueberry puree.

Ingredients:

3 medium egg yolks (original recipe stated 2, it could be referring to large eggs)

20 ml oil

40g fresh blueberries

1 tbsp water (to be blended with the blueberries)

20g caster sugar

40g self-raising flour

3 medium size egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

40g caster sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180.
Blend fresh blueberries and 1 tbsp of water in a blender to get a blueberry puree.
Beat egg yolks with a whisk, add in oil, blueberry puree and caster sugar and mix well.
Add in self-raising flour (sifted) into the mixture and beat lightly to form the egg yolk batter. Set aside.
Pour egg whites in a large mixing bowl. The bowl must be clean without any grease. Add cream of tartar.
Using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer, beat egg whites using high speed. Add sugar gradually and continue beating until stiff peaks is formed.
Fold egg whites in three separate additions into egg yolk mixture in light and swift movements. Mix until the egg whites and egg yolk batter is well corporated.
Pour batter into a chiffon tube pan (17-inch pan) and bake for about 30 minutes.
When done, invert the chiffon cake pan to let it cool before unmoulding from the pan.

Recipe adapted from: Kelvin Chai - Chiffon Cake is Done

I'm submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Baker#5 : Fruity March (March 2011).

Well, i know chiffon cake is nothing new but I hope this blueberry chiffon cake with little black dots can give you new inspirations. ;)

Marble Butter Cake

2011-03-09T23:32:00.001+08:00

December till March is always the time of the year I love most. It's a time of festive season, crossing over to the new year of resolution and a fresh start, then we have the Chinese New Year, followed by Valentine's day and my birthday which falls at the end of February. :) It's the time when friends and families would make it a point to get together, have a good meal, be it Christmas, Chinese New Year... and it's a time with lots of baking!! :D

It's the time of the year when I can still have the excuse to go shopping, to eat and indulge a little without feeling guilty, because once March kicks in, I know that hey, I've had all the fun and it's time to get serious and work hard (smart?). Less excuse not to work overtime (if need be), no more excuse not to exercise and keep myself in shape...

The first week of March has passed, and I've got to face the reality. It's also time for me to make an appointment with the bridal studio for gown fitting soon :) , and I've told myself that after February, I must put in effort to stay trim and fit! But... looks like I've not. Good food is too hard to resist :P Anyhow, this post is dedicated to the marble butter cake I baked for my birthday. Since last year, I have stopped asking for a sara lee pound cake from my mum. Instead I chosed to bake my own. I don't really like butter cakes but since my mum like it, I baked it as a treat for her. I've added a pink colouring to create a three tone marble cake. I think it looks pretty but from the photos it's not very obvious. These are two of the best photos I managed to take. ;)

I wanted to try a new butter cake recipe from Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida but in the end I took the recipe from Aunty Yochana's tri-colour marble cake as I wanted to use the self-raising flour which I hardly use.

The result is lovely. Soft, tight crumbs and very buttery smell.

Of course, I had my birthday cake as well, eaten three birthday cakes for my birthday! How can I keep trim? :P

A nut cracking session

2011-02-23T23:11:00.012+08:00

A nut cracking session?? Do we need a session on cracking nuts? Yes I did, for these real "extra large" mixed nuts.This large packet of nuts caught our (hubby and I) eyes when we were at NTUC Fairprice. It is a large packet, with a height as tall as 30cm, but all the nuts were huge, in their original shells. So, there weren't many actually. But unless you don't mind spending some time and effort to crack these nuts, then I won't recommend you to buy. :P

I love love nuts, all kinds of nuts, and with the fine print "guarantee fresh" i was won over. Don't they all look lovely in their original shells? :) Oh so natural! I shall now give you a lesson on the names of these nuts, if you have not seen the real thing in its shells. ;) Starting from the left, we have almonds, filbert (i googled and realised filberts are also referred to hazelnuts), brazil nut, pecan, walnut (in front of pecan), followed by almond and lastly walnut again.

After attempts to crack it with our hands, teeth and a pair of plier to no avail, hubby decided on a hammer. And... it works, almost instantaneously :)

There you go... freshly cracked atural almond.

This is pecan.

Brazil nut in its shell....

Brazil nut breaks open...

Filbert/hazelnut

Walnuts.... I have read that eating walnuts is good for the brain... and interestingly i think it does resemble a brain...?

That was our nut cracking session.... a most indigenious way of eating nuts. I enjoyed the session, hammering while we peeled open the shell and eat it straight away.

A word of caution. Do remember to place a piece of mat or thick cloth on the floor beneath a stack of newspaper. The newspaper is for easy cleaning and the mat is to protect your floor. I'm sure you wouldn't want to damage your floor tiles. :)

Cranberry Almond Butter Cake

2011-02-13T00:28:00.007+08:00

Looking at this messy cake, it may probably not attract one to want to have a try at a piece. But... i can guarantee you that you will regret if you do not try it, especially if you love nuts or anything nutty.

As the name suggest, this cake uses almond meal. I made my own almond meal by grinding whole almonds (with skin) in a blender, hence the almond meal containes traces of the skin in brown which makes the cake prettier and more rustic.

The original recipe uses candied orange but I replaced with cranberries, since I still have a packet of it. My mum don't usually like to eat dried fruit but she like this cake, to my surprise! Because it's full of almonds and cranberries, it crumbles easily and is difficult to get a perfect slice.

This is the top but I flipped it upside down to get a more even top.

There, you see all the almonds and cranberries!

Cranberry Almond Butter Cake

Ingredients:

Blanched almond slivers/chopped whole almonds

60g cranberries

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

85g ground almond (almond meal)

90g icing sugar

25g cake flour, sifted

35g melted butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C. Lightly grease cake pan with a little softened butter.
Spread almonds at the base of the pan in an even layer.
Combine eggs and egg yolk and beat lightly. In a separate bowl, combine ground almonds and icing sugar and stir lightly. Add 1/3 of egg mixture to almond mixture and beat with an electric mixer. Repeat with remaining eggs until mixture is light, fluffy and pale. Do not over-beat.
Add flour and cramberries to the egg-almond mixture and fold in well.
Add melted butter and fold in thoroughly.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan (18-cm round pan) and bake for about 40 minutes.
When done, remove cake from cake pan and cool on wire rack.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

This is a no fuss recipe and in fact you don't require a mixer. All you need is just to bear the mixture thoroughyl but not over-beat. Would you like to make your own? :)

I shall stop here as I'm taking some precious time to blog. Time to bed for me. I'm always hoping for sweet dreams of cakes, desserts, pastries.... ;)

Wedding DIY Card

2011-02-04T11:21:00.006+08:00

These four days of Chinese New Year break is really a good time for me to recharge myself and sleep late to do whatever that I like. I don't get this kind of break when I apply for vacation leave or going for holidays because work is still ongoing in the office which means I've got to clear my work before and after my vacation leave and that's a great deal of stress for me as well! I know this doesn't happen to all workplace but it does for my office culture.

While doing some housekeeping of my photos, I saw these photos of the invitation cards which I made for my wedding solemnisation at Sentosa. They were just simple invitation cards that I printed for my friends with some embellishments of flowers and ribbons. They weren't really neccessary but I made it for some fun and rememberance :)
I bought the envelopes from Popular Bookstore and made designs using a heart-shape hole puncher. The wordings were stickers from Popular Bookstore as well.

By the way, I've finally uploaded my wedding photos taken at Sentosa by my freelance photographer on Photobuket and linked its slideshow at the right hand side bar of my blog. Feel free to click on the slideshow to view the photos ;) The photographer had taken over 400 photos and I've picked about 200 of them for the slideshow. I love how the photos turned out and they were what hubby and I wished for in a beach wedding. :D

====================================================

Two days of Chinese New Year have passed. This shall be the last year that I can receive Ang Baos because according to Chinese tradition, I'm not yet married as we have not gone through the customary wedding. I will certainly miss being a young "girl" receiving ang baos :P

Happy Chinese New Year of the Rabbit!

2011-02-02T23:44:00.005+08:00

I'd wanted to continue participating in the Aspiring Bakers challenge on Chinese Year Cookies but I was too busy to submit my post by the closing date of 1 Fen 2011. :P

Chinese New Year cookies has become my yearly to-do event and of course I have my favourite new year cookie, and that is almond cookies! I've never failed to make this every year after I make my first almond cookie years back with Florence's recipe. I had tried other almond cookie recipes and by far this is still my favourite recipe. I believe using toasted almonds really enhances the taste, much more than using ground almonds alone.
This year, I made my own pineapple jam, after reading Wendy's blog which gave really clear instructions on how to make it. Her instructions and tips really helped alot as I found it less intimidating to do as I had thought. The only problem was that my jam was too wet and soft, even though I had cooked it once more the next day and chill it in the fridge. Being too soft, I had such a difficult time wrapping the pastry dough over the jam.

This year, I made kok chai again with my mum's help. I used a bigger drinking glass to mould the shape of circle for the dough, for fear of the dough shrinking but it dodn't this year. Hence my first batches of kok chai were so big that we think it looked like mini curry puffs! LOL

I finally made kueh bangkit again this year after a few years of rest. :D

My favourite almond cookie.

We have just ushered into the year of the Rabbit and I would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous year ahead!

Steam black sesame cake

2011-01-19T22:45:00.003+08:00

I was trying to find ways to finish the bottle of black sesame paste which I first bought to make a black sesame chiffon cake.

I began googling for recipes using black sesame... and that brought me Florence's blog who's also in my blog list. Black sesame steamed cupcakes-- oohh that's perfect! Just what I'm looking for, a simple recipe that can be done without much hassle. I spent much time though trying to smash the black sesame paste which had turned dry at the bottom after storing in the fridge for a months.

The cake turned out great! It was not too sweet, with a subtle black sesame taste. Somehow steam cake is a hit with older generations. Hubby's parents and my parents love it, despite the unattractive colour. I thought they would not be receptive to new flavours (their favourite would be those good'o steamed egg sponge cakes!) :) Do take note that steam sponge cakes doesn't keep well, probably due to the moisture from the steaming so it's best to finish it within two days. ;)

Have you starting your CNY cookie baking? Well, I'm planning to start this weekend. Enjoy!

Updates on our Happy Future Planning

2011-01-10T23:53:00.013+08:00

I just wished my hubby a Happy 3 months to our marriage today. :D

It has been three months since the day we solemnised and this is the first time I remember our 3rd month of marriage on the exact day. I always remembered it either a few days before the 10th or after that. Since I can't remember myself, I can't blame hubby too. But of course, come the next 10 Oct, we certainty won't forget. :)

Some people have been asking me how's marriage life but I told them I couldn't feel much difference because we are still living apart with our own parents, besides the calling of each other "laogong" and "laopo" occassionally. But I do feel a sense of a status change especially now that I know I'm no longer single, with that wedding band on my finger that I faithfully wear 24 hours a day (except when I'm baking / washing up) until it already gets scratches in just 3 months... *heart pain* LOL

For the past few months we've been busy planning for our new home renovation, sourcing for banquet locations and choosing of a date for our customary wedding. I'm so happy that we have finally fixed our customary in Jan 2012, and we have booked the banquet location at Orchard Hotel at the Wedding Fair last Saturday. It will be an 8-course Chinese sit-down lunch. Reviews from the Chinese Hua Ting Restaurant in Orchard Hotel has been good so far and hopefully they'd remain the standard and we love the ballrooms! :)

Yeah... finally one item settled and we are on our way to concentrate on our renovation planning, before the keys come in March.

Exactly one more year to go... though I can forsee it wouldn't feel that long cos' this year's gonna be a really busy year for both of us but we are enjoying every moment of it. I'm looking forward to building our nest and the bridal photoshots a few months later. :D :D Will try to update as much as I can. ;)

Rum & raisin cream swiss roll

2011-01-06T23:36:00.009+08:00

HAPPY 2011! I am sorry that this came rather late but for those who have not pop by my blog, or those who comes in later, I sincerely wish everyone good health and have had a great start for the new year.

I just wrote my resolutions a few days ago, there were like about ten of them. I would say the long-winded me has been repeating these every year. I am proud to say I have achieved something for each resolution I make, probably 30-50% of what I've resolve to do / change in 2010, so I hope I can achieve 100%, or 80% this year. ;) To resolve to do / change / have something is a slow process, so make it small, and detailed in achieveable steps, so you won't feel disappointed at the end.

I wish everyone would have a positive mindset, this rules everything. Easier said than done, but I believe it's possible. :)

I made this swiss roll just before the christmas in 2010. I was expecting a gritty buttercream frosting because that was what I got whenever I made simple buttercream frosting using butter and icing sugar. This recipe by 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷 was amazing because the end result was a smooth buttercream without the gritty, coarse texture of icing sugar at all. I did take quite some time to cream it as the recipe requires you to slowly add in milk/liquid a little at a time, while beating it buttercream mixture with an electric beater. The sponge cake recipe, using the chiffon method was very soft and bouncy and hubby could immediately tell that it was those chiffon cake texture! He is picking up some knowledge on cakes! You are great, hubby Fong! :D

I added some rum into the cream and spread some raisins on it.

Just after rolling......

More swiss roll recipes on the way, stay tuned. Meanwhile, here's the recipe which you mau like to try before the CNY baking. ;)

Simple Rum & Raisin Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:

80g unsalted butter

20g icing sugar

40g milk cooled at room temperature

10g rum

Method:

When unsalted butter has softened, add icing sugar and mix with the butter using a spoon or a spatula.
Using an electric beater, beat the mixture (starting from slow speed and progressing to high speed) until soft and fluffy. The colour should be pale white. You may have to scrape the bowl often with a spatula.
Add in milk and rum a little bit at a time, and continue beating with low speed until all the liquid is used up. (You can replace the milk with 50g of whipping cream. According to 孟老師, the flavour would be great).

Swiss Roll Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

85g egg yolks (about 4.5)

25g castor sugar

45g canola/any vegetable oil

45g milk

85g cake flour

170g egg whites (about 4.5)

85g castor sugar

Method:

Beat egg yolks and 25g of sugar with an egg whisk until sugar has melted and mixture is even.
Add in oil and mix well, followed by milk and mix everything well with the egg mixture.
Add in the flour (sifted) all at once into the mixture and mix well with the egg whisk to form an egg yolk batter. Set aside.
Make meringue. Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat until foamy. Add 85g of the castor sugar in three or four additions, and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.
Add egg whites (meringue) into the egg yolk batter in three additions, folding after each addition gentle with a spatula, until they are well incopororated.
Pour batter into prepared swiss roll pan, and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for about 12 minutes.
When done, unmould the cake and let it cool on a wire rack.
When cooled, spread buttercream on the cake and roll it gently to form a swiss roll. Chill it in the fridge for about half an hour before serving.

Recipe adapted from: 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷

Aspiring Bakers#2: Christmas! (Dec 2010) - Cranberry Shortbreads

2010-12-26T12:41:00.009+08:00

Few days before chirstmas, on 20 Dec 2010, my attempt to bake a oatmeal-cranberry cookie failed after I realised the oats had expired only after I mixed it into the butter-sugar batter. The next few days were christmas gatherings and I knew I would not have the time to do another baking. All thanks to my stubborn-ness, I told myself I must bake cookies for christmas this year, for it has not failed me all these years. :P

I wake myself extra early on one of the morning, prepared the cookie dough, and chill it in the fride in advance. After getting home that night, I made these cookies, with the dough prepared in advance, and finished it around 1am. Only then could I go to bed, satisfied. :)

This recipe was adapted from a recent cookie book I got - The Australian Women's Weekly:Cookies. It as a plain shortbread designd like a button but I added cranberries to the shortbread dough and cut out using cookie cutters. The red cranberries added gave a plain cookie a christmas-y feel. Love the colour contrast when added to the dough.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers#2: Christmas hosted by Passionate About Baking. Do hop over to her blog to see other interesting christmas baking/cooking postings!

Cranberry Shortbread

Ingredients:

250g butter

75g caster sugar

35g rice flour

335g plain flour

120g cranberries, diced and chopped finely

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line oven trays with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugar with electric beater until smooth. Stir in sifted flours. Add cranberries and knead to form a smooth dough.
Divide dough into two portions and chill dough in the fridge for about 1 hour, until firm.
Roll dough to about 3mm thickness (you can use the thicker end of two chopsticks as a guide).
Cut out your desired shapes with a cookie cutter.
Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven (my cookie is about 4-5-cm, if your cookie is bigger, you have to increase the baking time. When cookie is slightly browned, it is ready).
Remove from oven to cool on a wire rack.

Adapted From: The Australian Women's Weekly: Cookies

Another Little Venture

2010-12-17T07:53:00.005+08:00

This month has really been a real busy month for me. Without realising it, it's already the last week of the month and I have not blogged a single post! I have spending my days working Overtime as usual, meeting up with friends, buying christmas presents... It is a happy festive season with lots of gathering and eating. :D

Sad to say though, I have not been baking as much as I used to during this period of time in past years. Presently, hubby and I are also busy with researching for our new home renovation ideas, design, and brands and type of appliances to use etc. It really is no easy job to have to go down to every little bit of details, fro floorings, carpentry, colours, curtains, etc. We decided to design ourselves and source for our own contractors. Engaging an ID (Interior Designer) is just way too expensive. Anyhow, after talking to a few IDs and browsing magazines, we found out that the designs that IDs come out with for a typical small 4-room flat like ours are usually the same, unless we are renovating a big house. Most importantly we need to know our lifestyle and what we want.

Although I told myself that the blog is mainly for my own baking journal, now that it has been going on for a few years and do attract visitors, I do not wish to keep it lying idle for too long. :(

This is going to be a really short post without a recipe. I have made these berry crumble muffins before and surprisingly my colleague who saw the photos on my faceook was attracted to them and requested me to make some for her because she loves berries+crumbles+muffins. :) I picked out these two recipes - blueberry crumble muffin and mixed berry muffins, not knowing which texture she prefer, and topped with the blueberry crumbles. It was a hit with our co-colleagues! I made one batch using bueberries and another using raspberries. She preferred the mixed berry muffins, and I was wondering was it because of the muffin texture (the blueberry crumble muffin recipe is the cake-like texture) or the raspberries!

Since this is such a hit, I would recommend to those who love berrry muffins. ;)

Aspiring Bakers#1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010) - Pandan Chiffon Cakes

2010-11-27T13:41:00.011+08:00

In order to meet the timeline to support Small Small Baker's first blogging event that she had initiated, I told myself I have to prioritise to put up this chiffon post ahead of other bakes. ;)

I may not have put up this because I thought pandan chiffon cake is boring? :P It is the most common chiffon cake and I believe anyone who had attempted a chiffon cake would have made it. In fact I'm always keen to try out new variations of chiffons but my mum only recognises pandan chiffon cakes and is always asking me to bake either pandan chiffon cake or butter cake. My attempts to change her tastebuds for other variations failed.

I thought since she love pandan chiffon cake so much, it may not be a bad idea that I keep doing it, so that at least I may be able to perfect a pandan chiffon cake one day, out of my own modifications. ;) So there you go, there are actually two chiffon cake recipes in this post. I made one after the other on the same day, for hubby and his parents, and not to waste the packet of coconut cream as well.

I used Judy Koh's recipes that I got from her class, using a 3 egg recipe. According to the recipe, it can make a 17-inch chiffon cake with additional 6 muffin size. I made using a 21-inch pan, so the cake was not very tall. I was feeling unrest while waiting for the chiffon cake to cool as I thought I had under beat the egg whites, and fortunately it came out beautifully. :D

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe 1

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

30g sugar

pinch of salt

20g corn oil

36g cconut milk

54g cake flour

1/4 tsp pandan paste

3 egg whites

40g sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Whisk egg yolks, salt and sugar first. Remove from the mixer (I used a hand whisk), add in corn oil, pandan paste and coconut milk. Stir well with a hand whisk before adding in the flour. Mix till smooth.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric beater, adding sugar gradually.
Fold 1/3 of the egg white batter gently into the egg yolk batter until slightly incorporated, add another 1/3, fold and finally the remaining egg whites and fold till well incorporated.
Pour mixture into chiffon cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes (for 17-inch pan) or 45 minutes (for 21-inch pan).

Recipe Source: Creative Culinaire, recipe by Judy Koh

I attempted this recipe from Food Travel magazine (May 2009 Issue). From the picture, it looks as tempting as it was described - fragrantly fluffy. There are some differences in the recipes so I thought it would be a good one to try it and compare the result side by side.

Verdict? Sure, it was very soft and fluffy but my poor moulding skills spoilt it all. :P There is just something about the 17-inch pan that always resulted in a less than perfect moulding! I hope it is an excuse but I can't figure out the reason why. :P

I believe it is the raising agent that gives it the extra fluffiness. In fact I thought it was too soft that it gets flatten easily. Taste wise, there was not much of a difference. If you were to compare the proportion of the ingredients, you'll see that this recipe has more liquid content, while Judy's recipe has lesser, hence a firmer structure. Personally I prefer Judy's recipe because of it's structure, yet equal softness. You can try out the two recipes and see which you prefer. ;)

Previously I tried the recipe posted by Aunty Yochana (It was actually from Kelvin Chai's Chiffon Cake is Done as I have that book) but I personally do not like the taste as it uses more coconut milk than oil.

Pandan Chiffon Cake (Recipe 2)

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

50g caster sugar

60g self-raising flour

40g coconut milk

32g oil

1/4 tsp salt

10ml water mixed with 1 tsp pandan paste

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

30g caster sugar

Method:

The method is the same as the one posted above. You just need to mix the 10ml of water and pandan paste evenly before adding to the egg yolk batter. Temperature and baking time remains the same.

Recipe Source: Food Travel magazine (May 2009 Issue) - Original recipe uses 7 eggs for a 25-inch pan but I scaled down the recipe and baked in a 17-inch pan. It reached the top of the pan nicely.

The one on the left is the recipe by Food & Travel. It was greener in colour because of more pandan paste used. Next time, I would experiment with pandan juice.

Basic Vanilla Pound Cake

2010-11-18T23:16:00.006+08:00

My mum always loves buttery cakes but I will try to refrain from making it or use a lighter version with lesser butter because of her cholestrol level.

This pound cake was made just before a family gathering so that I could divide and pack it for my brothers and their family individually. I think this is the first time I made a pound cake using the same ratio of flour, sugar and butter. It sounds scary when I see the ratio of butter and sugar used but I believe the key to balacing between health and indulgence is to eat in moderation. It would not do good to your health if you are eating too much of only one kind of a healthy food.

The cake did not turn out as fluffy as I'd prefer and since its the first time I'm making a pound cake, I am not sure if I got it correct, as it was rather dense, but soft nonetheless. It is plain enough for those who love just absolutely plain butter cakes like my mum. I don't think I would make this often but maybe once in a while for my mummy. :)

Vanilla Pound Cake

Ingredients:

150g pastry/cakeflour

1/8 tsp baking powder

150g unsalted butter

150g icing sugar

1/8 tsp salt

3 eggs (about 150g)

1 tsp vanilla extract (priginal recipe uses 1 lemon, grated for its zest)

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C.
Line cake pan with parchment paper. Sift flour and baking powder together twice.
Beat butter, icing sugar and salt together in an electric mixer until light, fluffy and pale. Gradually add eggs and beat well.
Add flour and baking powder mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. Surface of the batter should be glossy and smooth.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and make a lengthwise dent in the middle with a spatula. Bake for about 50 minutes.
When cake is done, remove from the baking pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Wedding DIY - personalised wedding bear

2010-11-07T13:30:00.003+08:00

I love to D-I-Y (Do It Yourself) stuffs. If baking had not become my top hobby, there'll be lots of handicrafts I'd love to do. Cross stitch (the one I'm making for my dd is still done halfway since like 1.5 years ago? :P), crochet, knitting, accessories and many more.

There were actually a list of DIY that I had planned to do for my ROM but I was too ambitious and some were actually unneccessary. dd had been asking me to have more rest instead of trying to perfect things here and there and making myself so tired nd busy, since I also have my work committments. Well, I guess those were common for excited bride-to-be like me. :P

There was one in my list which I have to do - personalise our wedding bear.

I actually prefer the wedding ring pillow given by Lee Hwa Jewellery if we purchase the wedding bands from them. However, after visiting a few stores, we settled for a pair at Soo Kee Jewellery. Instead of providing a wedding ring pillow, they gave a pair of wedding bear as a complimentary. I thought of making my own ring pillow but it is just not cost effective and with my sewing skills, it wouldn't turn out good. I decided to make do with the complimentary wedding bear but I had to let it have a "make-over" as it was too plain.

I made a set of clothing for them, added some crystals to the ring holder and some seashells to the base and tada! ... I have my own personalised wedding bear, solely my own. It became the star during my ROM as photographers were busy snapping shots of it away, no less than the groom and bride!

I am by no means a tailor who can actually made a set of clothing. What I did was I literally wrapped some ribbons and cloth on the bears and sew to seal it. For the bride, I wrapped a white silky ribbon with some patterned design over its body. Then I used a frill corsage kit (please refer to the picture below) to wrap it around its waist, that made up its skirt. The material is organza-like so it's very light and sweet. I also glued some silver sequins on it. Finally I gave the bride bear a final touch with a handmade string of pearl necklace! :)

I sewed a big ribbon to cover the untidy needle works at the back.

Making a piece of clothing for the groom bear was the challenging part. I can't simply wrapped a piece of cloth for a male. I thought of buying a pair of wedding bear and take off its clothes for my bear to wear! *lol* Very fortunately, I have my dear mum who took the trouble to help me out with it. She learnt some tailoring during her younger days and had in fact made me a cardigan and pyjamas for my brothers and I when we were kids. She said she had forgotten her skills but she still tried to do some trials and errors by cutting some scrapes of cloth. Finally she was able to cut out the shape for the bear's pants. What we did then was to wrap the black colour felt cloth over its thighs, and sew the pants tightly. The pants ended too tight for the bear so you'll find that it had difficulty sitting straight.

Instead of making it a coat, I came up with a brilliant idea of sewing a strap over it's shoulder (I do not know what this type of clothing is called). :) My mum took out her"antique" (vintage) buttons that she had kept over decades from our old clothings and I chose a matching set for its buttons.

I glued some "blings blings" on the ring holder. :D

These are my mum's collection of "antique buttons". ;)

This was supposed to be a corsage kit, from Daiso and I used it for the bride's skirt and it turned out really pretty.

Thank you mommy for helping me out. :D

Charity Breakfast, 3rd year in a row!

2010-11-02T22:11:00.000+08:00

When I received the email circular about this year's charity breakfast event, I paused for a moment, closed the email and continued with my work. As much as I would like to continue participating in this event like I did for the past two years, this period of time is extremely busy for me that for that moment when I saw the email, my first thought was "impossible to do it this year lah."

Had my work buddy (who was nominated to be the representative of our department for this year's charity breakfast event) not been persuading me to participate, I would have just gave it a miss this year.

With the support of my good buddy cum baking kaki, Huiqin, we eventually gave it a go again! Timing was bad though, as it was held on a Thursday, which means that we can't have the whole day to prepare like we did last year which was held on a Monday. We applied for half a day off the day before but we didn't have the luxury of time to make as many for sale because I had to "return" the kitchen to her by 4pm on the day of baking so that she can cook and prepare dinner.

We decided brownies as one of our items this year, as it was much easier to make and the baking time for a tray is shorter. We reckon that brownies would not be a good breakfast item, hence our alternative item was sandwiches. As there were other stalls selling sandwiches as well, Huiqin came up with this pizza bread. Althought the taste was good, it would have turned cold by the time we reached the office. A few sample tries for our colleagues indicated that it was not a very welcoming item on the menu.

As we were pondering whether to go ahead with the pizza bread item, this idea suddenly popped up in my head - using my sandwich maker to make toasted sandwich on the spot. My mum have this sandwich maker which my brother won it in a lucky draw many years back. We used it only a few times and it was the best choice for making freshly toasted sandwiches on the spot.

This year, things somehow didn't turn out smoothly as expected. The brownies were a little burnt just because we overlooked by a mere 1-2 minutes and were not in time to tent the top part of the brownie. I managed to salvage it by trimming the burnt portion and frost the top with chocolate icing. (hopefully my colleagues didn't see this!) :P Anyway, I'm not too worried cos' the taste of the brownies was still good.

Another mishap was, on the day of the charity breakfast event, the coordinator missed our stall and we were left with no stall. Anyway, eventually we still managed to share a little space with another colleague and managed to sell all our brownies and sandwiches, thanks to the support of our colleagues. ;)

One really has to put his heart and soul into doing something to make it successful. I thought over and reconciled that this year, somehow I wasn't committed enough to this event whole-heartedly, partly because I did not want to spend too much time on it because it was out of my busy schedule. Yet I still wish to participate because it's a charity event and out of my collesgue's persuasion. It has taught me that if I ever decided on doing something, I must do it WELL, especially if it's baking-related, I do not wish to tarnish my name. :P

Huiqin in action - making sandwiches

I was in charge of toasting the sandwich.

These are truly the experienced cooks and entrepreneurs. :)

Chocolate Swiss Roll

2010-10-26T23:11:00.000+08:00

I'd mentioned in my previous post that I've tried one swiss roll recipe from 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷. There you go, a soft moist swiss roll cake base that my boss commented it tasted better than P***ar. ;) But i did some cheating. :P I didn't male the cream myself. Instead I used store-bought hazelnut cream that was left from my making of praline paste. I believe the hazelnut cream played a big role too. I'd attempted to make white cocolate cream but somehow it didn't came out successful. I'm sorry I really could not recall what I'd done that resulted in my failure. That's the problem when I had backlogs and waited too long to blog. I simply couldn't remember :P

I really enjoyed making, eating and looking at this swiss roll. It makes me doubly happy when people are happy receiving a piece of chocolate cake. :D

You may find my posting getting shorter at times cos' of my work committments and other personal activities I have. I'd definitely keep my baking going as much as I can but as for blogging, I'd still try to keep this blog going to document my journey and sharing recipes whenever I can. :)

Chocolate Swiss Roll Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

30g unsalted butter

25g fresh milk

200g whole eggs, beaten (about 3.5)

20g egg yolk (about 1 egg yolk)

95g castor sugar

60g cake flour

15g cocoa powder

Method:

Sift cake flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
Melt butter with milk over a double boiler or microwave. Set aside.
Beat whole eggs, egg yolk and castor sugar with high speed until light and creamy. When the beater is lifted, it leaves a trail that does not disappear immediately. Continue beating for another 1 minute using low speed to stabilise the batter.
Fold 1/3 of the sifted flour into the batter and mix well.
Fold the remaining flour into the batter until the flour is well incorporated.
Scoop a small portion of the batter into the melted butter-milk mixture in step two and mix well briefly. Then pour the mixture back into the batter and mix well, until the butter and milk mixture and batter are well combined.
Pour into a 36cm by 26cm swiss roll pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 12 minutes. When the surface starts to turn brown, i would usually tent with an aluminium foil to prevent the surface from turning too brown, as it may crack during the rolling process. (Some swiss roll pans that comes in a square is 26cm by 26cm. You can mutiply the recipe by 0.7. For a pan of 43cm by 33cm, you can mutiply by 1.5)
Turn out baked sponge cake onto a cooling rack and allow it to cool before spreading onto the cream.

I will post the recipe for the cream should I make it next time. You can use any creams e.g. ganache, whipping cream, whipped or butter cream, as you desired. :)

Sneak Preview on 10.10.10

2010-10-12T00:08:00.015+08:00

I am married, to Mr Fong on 10 Oct 2010 or 10.10.10, the perfect 10 ( 十全十美 which stands for perfectness) :P

Together with 118 couples or perhaps even more who didn't sign up for the event, we exchange our vows before 5pm in the beautiful Palawan Beach at Sentosa. Heaven's on our side, as the weather was really good; though hot and sunny, the sky was clear blue with beautiful clouds, perfect for beach photos. we were glad it didn't rain and everything went smoothly. Before our photographer is ready with the photos, I'd just upload a few photos taken by my dear friends to have a glimpse of my solemnisation at Sentosa. :D

I didn't take a break the next day as I'm tied down with work. But I'm taking a day off today and wanna spend a day with dd as a different status (hubby and wifey) hehe *shy*

Wedding contest

2010-10-08T20:41:00.014+08:00

Two more days, and our marital status will be different. :) I'd definitely not be used to becoming a Mrs or Mdm. so I'll still remain my salutation as a Ms. :P Friends and colleagues have been asking whether I'm excited or anxious or not... Hehe... to be frank, I'm still not too anxious yet, but I don't know what will be on that day. :P

My team of colleagues gave me a card and gift vouchers to congratulate me on my wedding. Really appreciate their thoughtfulness, especially my boss, who has been very nice and concerned about my preparations for my ROM, and even helped me find out how to apply for marriage leave and get the vouchers for newly weds from the HR department, which i wasn't aware of she had not told me. Her gestures allow me to see another side of her, a good boss who not only leads the team well, but also cares about the welfare of her subordinates. Whenever she asked me about my wedding, she would be reminiscing about the days when she got married...:D

As you know all, I'm taking part in the "I do" wedding at Sentosa and they actually came out with a contest - "The Most Celebrated Couple" Contest! Prizes include:

Champion: 3D2N stay at Resort World Sentosa & Universal Studios tickets
1st Runner-up: 2 pairs of Universal Studio tickets
2nd Runner-up: 1 pair of Universal Studio tickets

My eyes blinked when I saw the prizes. But to be the most celebrated couple that's prominent enough to stand out, we need to create an identity, through:
Team members (i.e our family or friends) need to have a cheer or jingle for us;

Create a strong couple identity with unique attire and dress code; Haha that's definitely out for us. I'm not the adventurous one and would want just to wear my traditional white wedding dress. In fact there was this option of opting to have an underwater solemnisation but we opted out of it. :D

Props such as banners or ply-cards.

Looks like we'll have to give the contest a miss because what we wanted is to have a relax, outdoor wedding with our family and close friends (although there'll be more than a hundred couples!) If only the contest is opened for voting online, I'll definitely ask all my friends, family and readers to vote for me. ;)

Roll, roll, roll away...

2010-10-03T15:46:00.000+08:00

I was on a swiss roll baking fenzy few months back after I bought this chinese book 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷 by Elyn. When I received the book from my mail box, I was so thrilled and really love the book so much that I began reading right from the beginning on the introductory and tips on swiss roll making, and flipped through the pages over and over again, just to drool at the beautiful pictures of the swiss rolls. The book wasn't light, but I did not mind bringing the book to work so that I could read it while I'm travelling to work on the train, after which I would complain that my bag was too heavy and why on earth am I bringing such heavy book to work.

The funny thing was, despite I love this book, I only tried one of its chocolate swiss roll recipe, and it was superb! However, that was not what I am blogging about for this post. I'd wanted to go according to date to blog about the earlier two swiss rolls again from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. I think this was one of a cookbook which I had attempted most of the recipes, due to the well written recipes with clear instruction and pretty pictures. I have to admit I'm very visual when it comes to cook books and food.

This was a basic sponge swiss roll. The ingredients are so simple that I doubt it would turn out anything fabulous. But I attempted this because on that day, I was tempted to bake a swiss roll, but was lazy or press of time (I couldn't remember) that I just wanted to find a simple recipe that would not require beating twice in separate bowls (if using the chiffon cake method). I contemplated for quite a while before finally decided to give it a try. I have confidence in her recipes, so I thought I should be able to churn out a swiss roll, the only thing was the texture. Without oil, butter, milk or any cornstarch but just three basic ingredients - 3 eggs, 60g castor sugar and 50g of pastry flour (sifted twice), and beating as you would for a genoise - beating eggs and sugar over a double boiler until light before folding in the flour. Wouldn't the roll turn out dry? So I believe you would now know why i hesitated.

So how did it turn out? Well, it was dry, but was quite soft and roll-friendly. Haha.. As you can see from the texture, the texture is quite coarse, due to the lack of oil/butter and milk as a tenderiser. This recipe, as used in Keiko's book, is for a banana swiss roll, where the roll is wrapped over a banana, and can be used for cake base or cake layers. In fact this recipe exist as one of the basic recipes at the front pages. So, I shouldn't have used it purely for a swiss roll. It would be better used as a base such that the sponge itself doesn't take centerstage of a piece of cake. :)

Alright the other swiss roll that I made was this dark brown sugar swiss roll with white chocolate cream. Using dark brown sugar, this swiss roll has an interesting taste that doesn't feel too sugarly sweet. The texture was soft and fine and just one bite into it, my friends' comment was nice! :) What I like about this recipe is that althought it separates the egg whites and yolks, it doesn’t require you to make the egg yolk batter and meringue separately as you would for a chiffon cake. You make the meringue, fold in beaten egg yolk, followed by the flour and melted butter, all in one bowl. This method is new to me as it is not introduced in any one of the 5 method introduced in 孟老師的美味蛋糕卷, yet the texture was really soft, moist and easily rolled without cracks even though I rolled it with the baked surface on the outside.

The sad thing was I didn’t allow the white chocolate cream to chill overnight, causing the cream to melt soon after it was out of the fridge. :(

I'd recommend this recipe for those who have been making a swiss roll but have yet to try a method like this. :)

Recipe for white chocolate cream

150g whipping cream
50g white chocolate

Recipe for sponge cake

40g pastry flour
15g rice flour
40g unsalted butter
70g dark brown sugar
4 egg whites (about 140g)
20g castor sugar
5 egg yolks (about 90g), beaten

Method

Prepare white chocolate cream one day in advance. In a saucepan, bring whipping cream to a boil. Place whie chocolate to a boil and pour hot cream over. Wait for 30 seconds, then stir the mixture with a spatula until smooth. Set aside to cool, then chill in the refrigerator to overnight.
On day of baking, preheat oven to 200°C. Line a sheet of swiss roll pan with parchment paper. Sift both flours twice.
Melt butter in a double boiler or microwave. Set aside.
Make meringue. Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat until foamy. Add castor sugar and 1/3 of the brown sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining brown sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.
Add beaten egg yolks and fold lightly. Add flour and fold gently with a spatula, then add hot melted butter and fold through.
Pour batter into a prepared pan and spread evenly with a scraper. Bake for 10-13 minutes.
When done, unmould the cake from pan and place into a plastic bag to cool. (The recipe says it can be kept in the plastic bag until the next day if you do not intend to roll it that day).
To assemble, whip white chocolate cream until light and fluffy using an electric handheld mixer. Turn cooled sponge onto a clean work surface. Peel off the parchment paper and spread the whipped cream evenly.
Gently roll up the sponge to make a swiss roll. Chill in the freezer to allow the swiss roll to set before slicing into pieces.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

2010-09-19T01:13:00.001+08:00

Baking a strawberry shortcake for one of my sisters, Kexian had been on my plan way before her birthday. When I saw the recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida, I knew that would be the one I gonna make for her. See the strawberry cake below that I'd made for her years ago before I started baking intensively. Haha I don't think anyone of you (my sisters) remember this?? I can't remember which year was that also! One thing for sure is, despite my lousy baking and decorating skills, you all were always so supportive. :)

I don't know was it a fortunate thing that I got a little helper this time - my nephew. :P I was worried that he would mess things up cos' I knew he just wanted to play and I also have to give him instructions which I thought, things would move faster with me doing it alone. ;) Nonetheless, he's a great help to me in double sifting of the flour and I could see him enjoying himself as he mixed the batter for me and weighed the ingredients. But he soon got bored after a while and I caught him pouring some remaining flour intothe bowl without sifting! Children are indeed so clever nowadays!

I used to call him "my little nephew" but he is not now. He is going to primary one next year and he is a big brother to his younger brother, who is more playful than him!

He was imitating me by also flipping through the recipe book. :)

The recipe was beautiful. I hardly had a sponge cake that came out perfect with no cracks.

...and the sponge cake texture was extremely soft and crumbly. I don't think for this recipe, you can slice the cake into three layers otherwise the layers would break apart. As stated in the recipe, I sliced into two layers. As the texture was very soft and spongy, it absorbed the syrup very well, just like an absorbant sponge. After chilling, the sponge cake taste very refreshing, and remains moist and soft.

The two layers was sandwiched with vanilla cream and fresh strawberries, frosted with freshly whipped ream.

The cake was being transported the entire night, from Demsey Hill's Dome Cafe, to Ben and Jerry's, who didnt allow us to celebrate birthdays by bring homemade cakes. It finally settled at Marina Barrage. Luckily it survived and remained chilled. ;)

This cake was a success! Birthday gal loves it. :D :D

Japanese-style Strawberry Cake

Ingredients for Sponge Cake:

115g pastry flour (I used cake flour)
170g eggs
130g castor sugar
15g glucose
30g unsalted butter
45g fresh whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for vanilla cream:

150g whipping cream
15g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4g gelatine sheets, soaked in ice water to soften
20g fresh milk

Ingredients for whipped cream:

200g fresh cream
15g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line cake pan with parchment paper. Sift flour twice.
Beat eggs with a whisk, then add sugar and glucose. Place bowl over a double boiler and mix well.
When egg mixture is warm, use an electric mixer to beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and continue beating for about 1 minute.
Place butter, milk and vanilla in a bowl and place over a double boiler until the butter has melted, stir through to mix.
Add 1/6 of egg batter to butter mixture and mix well. Then add butter mixture to remaining egg batter and fold through evenly. Sift flour into bowl and fold using a spatula until batter is glossy.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until cake has a bouncy texture at the surface. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
When cooled completely, trimmed off the top crust, and slice the cake horizontally into two layers.
Place one layer on a flat tray and brush evenly on both sides with 1/3 of the sugar syrup (to make syrup, use 25g castor sugar and 50g water). Set aside.
Make vanilla cream. Whip cream in a chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Place milk, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add softened gelatine and mix well. Let milk mixture cool to about 30°C. Add milk mixture to whipped cream and fold until just incorporated.
Slice strawberries (about 300g) lengthwise. Spread vanilla cream onto the layer that was brushed with the sugar syrup, then topped with strawberries. Place the other cake layer over and press down lightly. Chill in the fridge for a few minutes to set.
Make whipped cream. Whip cream, sugar and vanilla in a chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Cover cake with whipped cream and garnish as desired.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

ENJOY! ;)

One month Countdown

2010-09-11T01:05:00.016+08:00

In exactly one months time, dd and I will be saying our vows in the presence of the Justice of Peace and our parents as the witnesses and be declared husband and wife lawfully. :) When we met our solemnizer last week as he briefed us about what is going to happen on that day and as he mentioned the word 'husband and wife', I still can't believe this is true. These two words may sound so significant but I guess to us as a Chinese who still have to follow the Chinese traditions of going through customary rituals such as choosing an auspicious date and paying respect to our ancestor, we would feel that we are married only when we have gone through the Chinese customary wedding. I wonder whether I should introduce him as my hubby or.... I seriously don't know cos' it feels weird! Haha... I think same goes for him.. well we shall see ;)

Not sure if anyone of you had came across the above advertisement about this "I do" Wedding at Sentosa on 10.10.2010. This is an event collaborated by People's Association, Singapore Press Holdings and Sentosa whereby they organised a mass wedding solemnisation for couples on the 10 Oct 2010. Last year, they raganised a similar mass wedding event at Singapore Botanic Gardens on the 29 Sep 2009 (20092009) - "I do" garden wedding at Botanic Garden.

Yeah, we are one of the participants this year, with about 100 other couples at Sentosa! Some of you may be thinking what actually made us want to sign up for this event, to be getting married with other couples, all around Sentosa. Well for us, we felt it was special, because 10.10.10 is a perfect, memorable date for us.

It was one of our initial plans to get married on a special date like this, or we have also considered 20 Oct 2010 (20102010), but we kind of just pushed that plan aside cos' we thought it's a little to soon for us *lol* but when this advertisement came out, dd immediately called me and we discussed about it, and decided to sign up for it. I had always wanted to have an outdoor wedding, such as a garden or beach wedding, however dd and I decided to do away with this plan as we were worried about the unforseen weather conditions in Singapore. Now, I'm so happy that I'm able to fulfil my outdoor dream wedding planned for us :D Let's just keep our fingers crossed that it will be a good weather on that day. Anyhow, the event would still go ahead, be it rain or shine. :) Don't be surprised if you happened to see us on TV. *lol*

Last Sunday (5 Sep 2010), we went for a marriage preparation seminar which was included in the package. It covered basic essential elements on starting a marriage life comprising communication, fertility and financial planning. It was interesting and I'm surprised that the speakers were so forthcoming in sharing their tips and those embarrassing stories on couple intimacy and arguments with us.

After the talk, we went to shop for my heels. I finally found the pair of heels that I like. I love it so much because of the ribbons that can be tied around the ankle in two different ways. I'd wanted to buy a 3.5 inch but decided to just go for a 2.5 inch cos' I knew I would not be used to it and I wouldn't want to carry myself badly just because of a pretty looking heels that do not suit me.

This pair cost me a damage of S$88 but I think it's all worth it. :)

Yesterday (10.9.10) was a well-spent day as dd had a shirt tailor-made, ready for collection next week and we also confirmed our reservation for Ban Heng Pavillion Restaurant on 10 Oct 2010. We would be inviting our family and close friends for a dinner after our solemnisation. Although the wedding package includes a high-tea buffet, we did not opt for that as that buffet is mass catered for every couples and guests on that day and we are expecting the place to be crowded without a personal space for our guests.

Today, I'm putting off my work and doing what I've not done for ages on a Saturday - Baking Bread. I'd just give myself a long weekend break this week and work hard on Monday. :) It's the first time I'm trying out a Tangzhong method. Hope to share with all soon!

Homemade Peanut Butter

2010-09-09T21:16:00.012+08:00

Lately I'm taking like almost a few days to a week just to get a blog post up. I don't have the luxury of a good few hours to write, or maybe I'm just slow :P Well, I tend to multi-task - blog hopping, checking of emails, and surfing for information or reading forums for my wedding preparation. :D

I wanted to do a decent post on a strawberry shortcake that I baked for one of my sisters but I'm still halfway there, sorting and editing the photos.

I thought it would be interesting to post this random post of my 'innovation' in churning out peanut butter out of soon to expire ground peanuts which I do not know and / or do not feel like making any food out of it.

That was how I turned a packet of ground peanuts that was due to expire in two months time into some chunky peanut butter. I love peanut butter with bread regularly and one fine day this thought of turning the ground peanuts into my favourite peanut butter came to my mind. If you had been to Carrefour at the Plaza Singapura, they sell a small bottle of freshly ground peanut butter on the spot and it's as if you are really having fresh pure ingredients without any preservative. I bought it twice and thought it tasted good, natural without any sugar added as they used a grinder machine to grind peanuts into a paste on the spot although I'm not sure if they added any oil or sugar after the grinding. They even have three grades - smooth, chunky and super chunky.

I have no recipe here. I simply blend the peanuts and some sugar to taste into finer texture and added some canola oil to make it smooth and there, I have a new bottle of chunky peanut butter to go with my bread. :)

The downside of freshly grounded peanut is they dried up quite fast and it would be unspreadable after that. But you can still eat on its own if you want. :P

ROM Dress/Suit fitting

2010-09-01T22:56:00.010+08:00

If you notice, I had added a page on 'Happy Future Planning', with sub-pages about my wedding planning. I've decided to delete the wedding blog that I've created at www.mywedding.com because I find that it wasn't very user-friendly and reader-friendly. I was comtemplating whether to create a new wedding blog using blogspot but I do not wish to see it being a white elephant or looking so plain and empty since I know I'd be quite busy to update it. I'm So, here I am, integrating my wedding preparation to my baking cottage. I'd update my wedding preparation whenever I can so that my friends and readers can have a 'one-stop' update of what I'd been doing / baking. :D Meanwhile, I had posted my previous wedding updates in this blog and back-dated to when I'd posted it. :)

I had my ROM dress fitting on a Monday (16 Aug 2010). I was rather disappointed because there weren't many varieties. I thought I could choose one that matches a beach wedding theme, something flowy and light but most were more suited for indoor/ballroom. Some were too simple while some were more elaborate but somehow I just don't look nice wearing those cos' I'm more petite and wearing those longer dresses that falls below the knee just makes my legs appear short, haha. Finally, I shortlisted the above. It's a simple short dress in pure white. As I'm more tanned, off-white or ivory white don't suit me. I've also requested them to add a flower corsage at the waist and some sequins on the bottom of the dress. I do hope they fulfill the promise and I'm gonna check on them again. I'm a picky customer. :P

I'm not allowed to take photos so I begged them to allow me to capture a section of the dress so I could post it online! :P

Alright, I still need to shop for a pair of shoes, and perhaps some accessories, while dd needs to buy a shirt and probably pants and shoes. I'll update let in more details of my solemnisation which falls in Oct 2010 when date draw nearer... ;)

Mango Pomelo Sago Dessert

2010-08-22T14:30:00.001+08:00

After I had Jess of Bakericious's mango pomelo dessert during the food blogger's gathering, I made a mental note that I shall make it some day because that was one of the best sago dessert that I've tried. The usual honeydew sago dessert that was served at buffets were either too rich or sweet. Her mango pomelo dessert was very refreshing and makes me want to have more without feeling sinful of eating dessert. I wished i wasn't too full that day to have extra helpings of the dessert. ;)

I didn't have to wait too long to try my hands at this dessert. :) Last Saturday, my family had a barbeque at our neighbourhood to celebrate my dad and mum's birthday. Their birthday was only three days apart so every year, we would celebrate for them together. Instead of the usual family dinners at restaurants, my brother organised a bbq session this year and it has been ages since I had a BBQ, not to mention my parents. I could see that my parents were pretty excited though they did not say so. *lol*

Just when everyone was getting ready to go to the park, we were hit with a really gloomy weather that we did not know whether to proceed with the barbeque, or to have a change of plans. After a slight drizzle for a short while, the sky was still grey. We were at the park, but hesitated whether to start the fire. We waited and waited.... for another half an hour or so, eventually the rain stopped completely and the weather was cool. :) Heaven was on our side!

Besides the barbeque food items, we also prepared some potluck items such as fried bee hoon, fried noodles, curry, fruits salad, etc. I brought along the mango pomelo sago dessert. It was a rather last minute decision, as I only thought about it in the morning while I was at work. So by the time I finished with the dessert, I still need a good 3 hours (accordingly to the recipe) to chill it but I only chill it for about 1 hour and had to remove from the fridge. I put one big cube of ice, but was worried that it would make the dessert bland. The mangoes I bought was a little sourish and I almost wanted to give up the idea of making the dessert. Still I went ahead with it. Jess used mango juice in place of water in the recipe while I used mango yoghurt drink and blend in with the mango puree, hoping to make it sweeter. Luckily all family doesn't have a really sweet tooth so they felt that it was just right.

It was rather a challenge making this dessert for the first time because my mom couldn't guide me as she had never cooked sago before. The sago was so starchy and murky after cooked that I do not know whether I had cooked it correctly. I patiently drained and run the cooked sago pearls in cold running water, and hey in the end I managed to get a big bowl of clear mini sago pearls! I didn't added in the whole of sago pearls as they seemed quite alot but when added to the big pot of mango milk, it was just the right amount. Happy Birthday my dear Dad and Mum! I'm sure you had enjoyed yourselves as all of us did. ;)

Lavender & Almond Snowball Cookies

2010-08-15T11:25:00.008+08:00

Bee Bee of Honey Bee Sweets has requested for the recipe of the lavender cookies and almond shortbread that I have prepared during the food blogger's gathering because her girl loved it so much! :) Of course I'm more than happy to share the recipe, so that this happiness would be able to spread on, by both the giver (the one who bakes) and the receiver (one who receives the cookies). ;)

The lavender cookie was a recipe adapted from Angie's Recipes. I find that there are not many lavender cookie recipes around online and I can't find a single one in my recipe books. I'd wanted to give a go at Happy Homebaker's lemon lavender shortbread but when I read how she described the dough as rather unmanageable, I thought I had better err on the save side by googling for a more full proof recipe, hence eventually I settled for Angie's lavender cookies. I did not make much modifications to her recipe except that I had used butter instead of margarine, reduced the sugar slightly and I made it smaller. As I did not press the cookie flat enough, the first batch that came out was a little soft, some did not have the "crunch" you'd want in a cookie. So I had to send to the oven to bake for another 3-4 minutes.

I called my almond shortbread "almond snowball" because this was the name of the cookie as printed in "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida". The cookie looked pretty much like a snowball and is one of my favourite type of cookie because I love the melt-in-your mouth texture. It is sometimes called "russian teacakes" or "mexican wedding cakes". Unlike melting moments, which is quite similar but contains only flour and sometimes corn starch to produce this a melt-in-your-mouth texture immediately when you put it into your mouth, this recipe replaces some of the flour with almond meal that gives a more crunchy exterior and melts in your mouth only when you have bite into the interior. I actually prefer this kind of texture bcause it is not so fragile especially when you are packing it in little cookie bags, and it will not stick into your teeth that much. :)

Almond Snowball

Ingredients:

150g pastry flour (I used cake flour)
120g insalted butter
50g icing sugar + more for dusting
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g ground almonds (I did not have enough ground almonds hence I grounded some whole hazel nuts to make up to 50g)

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C. Sift flour once. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract until softened. Fold flour and ground almonds into butter mixture using a spaula. Chill dough for about 20 minutes.
Roll dough into small balls, about 8g each (I did not measure and I just roll according to my preferred size) and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 20 minutes (I used about 18 minutes as my dough was smaller), remove from heat and leave to cool on wire rack.
Once cooled, dust with icing sugar and store in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

To disagree lovingly

2010-08-15T01:04:00.002+08:00

Yesterday (14 Aug to be exact), dd and I had a little disagreement with regards to money matters. In his opinion, my way of looking at the issue was totally illogical but in my opinion, I think it was perfectly reasonable. The stubborness in me would usually not agree with him in the first instance but this time, I learnt how to disagree with him but not being too emotional that may ended up in an argument like what had happened in the past.

I thought over the matter later on and thought maybe he had a point too. However, I still believe most, if not all women will think the same way as I do. Probably men and women will never agree on things to the same level. :)

Anyhow, his perspective let me see another side of him, and that has allowed me to see things and situations in another perspective. That's why I love him, :P He is not only a partner or a fiance to me. He is also like a mentor to me, he guides me along and helps me become a better person. haha....

I'm not sure if this happens in other couples. But for us, we are willing to listen, discuss and compromise, all thanks to dd who had been very patient. :)

Tomorrow we are going to try our ROM dresses and suits. *excited*!

first food bloggers meet-up

2010-08-12T00:40:00.001+08:00

Haha... I guess I'm one of the last few to blog about this food bloggers gathering that we had last Sunday, 8 Aug 2010. Such a memorable event it was, of course I had to record in my journal.

I may not sound as excited as I may have appeared on that day, but the truth is, I was really over-whelmed and elated when I first received Pei-Lin of Dodol & Mochi's email about a month ago, asking whether I would like to attend this gathering, and I replied without much hesitation. Even though I was a little worried about this meeting "strangers" (not because they will abduct me of course!) because I was usually quiet and shy when meeting people for the first time. But i told myself: Hey life's too short to worry about so many things! Do go and pursue what you wish to. Making friends of common interest is something I'd always love do, especially after taken up this love for baking. But my shy and passive nature probably could have hindered me along the way. So, I knew if I am gonna miss this gathering, I'll regret it!

Most of us soon confirmed our attendance, and our thoughtful Pei-Lin systematically drew up an excel spreadsheet, and list all the people who will be going, and the things we would be preparing, in case there would be any overlapping.

Edith of Precious Moments was so nice to open up her sweety home for us to feast in and be comfortable. We met at 12pm and imagine we stayed until 6pm! Initially I thought it will gonna be a short one but all of us had so much to chat that time passess so fast. I believe if we had not met up at her place, we would not be able to meet up for such a long time if we had met outside.

The blur me actually got off at the wrong station because I kept associating that station I'm supposed to get off with another station. Even though Edith had given very clear instructions on the directions to her house, I still had to ask around because I was already late. :P

Here's our eleven lovely, superb, gorgeous bloggers, ;)

Pei-Lin of Dodol & Mochi
Bee Bee of Honey Bee Sweets
Grace of Kitchen Corner
Jane of Passionate about Baking
Shirley of Kokken69
You Fei of Loving Baking
Zhou Yuan (Bakertan)of Baking Library
Edith of Precious Moments
Jess of Bakericious
Yan Ee of Sweeter Side of Life
Jo of Sugar & Everything Nice

A day before the "big day", i was busy baking these lavender cookies and almond shortbreads. When my nephew knew that I would be baking, he was as excited as I am and offered to be my little helper. Heh that excitement of his soon died down and he went off to play with other things. I thought I could get another pair of hands to help me roll the cookie but he soon found that it was "not fun" after all. ;) Knew what, he exerted too much pressure that every cookie dough was too flat. When I corrected him, he thre a tantrum. Haha... :D

These lovely almond shortbreads has a crunchy texture on the outside, and melt in your mouth texture on the inside.

These special floss rolls was a recipe from Judy Koh's cookbook. It is a swiss roll with seaweed, ham, japanese cucumber and pork floss. I thought this is an interesting dish which is both sweet and savoury.

I won't be posting the photos of the other food prepared by other bloggers because I didn't get to take many photos as I'd forgotten to bring my charged battery and the original battery went flat after a few shots. Please do hop on to other's blog to see the yummy homemade dishes!

To end the note, I enjoyed every moment of the day's meet-up. You ladies (and one guy, Zhou Yuan) are really great cooks and bakers and in terms of the amount of time and patience that you have spent in the kitchen preparing for the food, I've really got lots to learn from each and everyone of you.

Hope we'll have another gathering soon! ;)

blueberry crumble muffins

2010-08-07T00:50:00.002+08:00

I shall just keep this post simple and sweet. Work has been getting too busy that I only have little time to surf the net or do anything blogging unless I sacrifice some sleep.

It's impossible to maintain the so-called "work-life balance" that my company is constantly advocating but I shall try my best to maintain it as I can. I'm not a workaholic definitely. :) I made this twice and will make it over and over again. The texture is soft without being too buttery even though its a butter cake-base that uses the creaming recipe. If you don't mind a little extra work, please do not skip the crumble toppng because this is what gives it the extra bonus! :)

blueberry crumble muffins

Ingredients for crumble topping:

20g unsalted butter, softened

20g castor sugar

20g cake flour

10g ground almonds

Ingredients for muffins:

120g pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g fresh blueberries

50g unsalted butter, softened

40g brown sugar

30g castor sugar

1 egg, about 65g

60g cold fresh milk

Method:

Make crumble topping. Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Chill in the refrigerator until use.
Preheat oven to 180°C . Sift flour and baking powder twice. Set aside 18 blueberries.
Beat butter with an elecctric mixer until soft and creamy. Add both sugars and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well-combined.
Add one-third of flour and fold in with a spatula. Add half of milk and continue to fold batter gently. Add another one-third of flour and fold in, followed by the remainig milk. Add remaining flour and fold through, but do not overmix. Add remaining blueberries and fold in gently.
Line muffin tray with muffin paper cases. Spoon batter into cases until about three-quarter full. Divide the 18 blueberries among each muffin (3 for each), then sprinkle crumble topping over.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until muffin has a springy texture when pressed gently.
Leave muffins to cool on a wire rack.

Recipe Source: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida (yields 6 regular-size muffins)

ROM photography confirmed

2010-08-02T16:06:00.002+08:00

Today we met with Henry, a freelance photographer who had been doing freelance photography services for ROM or wedding couples. He was introduced by my colleague and we have seen his works posted on flickr.

After seeing his works, we were quite happy with his style of photography and his price was quite reasonable. So we decided to engage him. :) Hopefully the photos will turn out nice at Sentosa. By the way, we have participated in the "I do" wedding at Sentosa on 10 Oct 2010 (10.10.10), if you had seen the advertisement on the papers. It's a collaboration between SPH and Sentosa. We thought it would be memorable and the timing fits in nicely within our planned date. When dd first saw the advertisement, he immediately told me about it cos' I had always wanted an outdoor wedding, but had decided to give up on the idea as we felt that planning for an outdoor wedding is not so feasible in Singapore due to the weather (too sunny or rainy will not work) condition. This event will plan the outdoor locations with the solemniser for us, we just have to get ourselves dolled up and prepared. We just pray that it won't rain on that day. :) Don't be surprised if you happen to see us on TV. *LOL* :P

Yeah so one more thing settled. We'll be chossing our ROM dress and suit this month. *excited*

We also went to Spotlight at Plaza Singapura today. I was looking for materials to make my own wedding ring pillow. To my disappointment, the silk cloth and organza material has to sold a minimum of 1 metre, which we won't need that much. If it is gonna be so cost ineffective, I guess I'll just stick to the wedding bear that Soo Kee is providing. Maybe I'll see how I can DIY to personalise the pair of wedding bears. :)

On our way home, dd and I chatted and somehow came to this topic of being happy in life. I would say I'm not a person who is optimistic person and who is always happy with life. I can be easily unhappy when things don't go the way I'd wish it would be or doesn't turn out the way I expected. dd of course knew this character of mine and often sited examples to show how a person should be contented, optimistic most importantly to let go. It doesn't mean we should be contented easily and don't work hard. Rather is to let go when certain unhappy things have already happened. Probably I am the youngest in the family, I am a little too pampered since young. But after knowing dd, I have learnt to be a better and happier person. There is of course still room for improvement. :P I am just so glad that I met him cos' he complements on my flaws, and is always there to provide a listening ear for me. I am jotting this down as I'll be able to remember what we had chatted today. :)

Tomorrow is Monday! Jia you to a busy week! :)

Happy Future Planning

2010-07-29T23:27:00.007+08:00

Those who had been reading my blog regularly or had read my recent Phuket posts would know that I am engaged.

For the past few months, my hubby-to-be (HTB) aka dd had been making small plannings for our future. It won't be so soon, cos' we intend to have our customary wedding after our house is ready next year. We'll take it one at a time so that things won't get so rushed, and most importantly is our budget.

I have just set up a wedding website where I can blog about our wedding preparations, with features for us to plan and keep track.

I don't think I'll be able to update regularly since I'm already so busy to have time for my blog. I'll keep readers here updated whenever I have more new updates in the wedding blog. ;)

Here's the webby address:

http://www.mywedding.com/weiguoandaimei/index.html :D

Bouquet of Surprise

2010-07-28T23:55:00.004+08:00

Today was dd and my 2 years 5 months anniversary. ;) We don't celebrate our monthly-versary actually.

dd however surprised me today by sending a big bouquet of 24 roses to my office! I was so surprised and touched! I love it!

Thanks my dear... you never failed to cheer me up and be there for me no matter how stubborn I can be and how an imperfect girlfriend I am. :)

energy bar

2010-07-21T22:15:00.000+08:00

If you are someone who likes to grab an energy bar on the go, this recipe is the one for you. As for me, well... I don't usually buy any granola bar or energy bar as I usually have proper meals so I don't need anything for an instant "energy".

This recipe however, is worth a try since I thought it would be better to make this than buying snacks and junk food. So far most granola bar recipes that I've come across are loaded with oil or butter but this recipe does not use any oil and there is minimal sugar as the sweetness comes from raisins and cranberries. And it's real simple to make!

I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I just used whatever nuts and dried fruits I have in my baking pantry. I do have not brown rice syrup hence I replaced with yoghurt and apple juice. The bar did turned out a bit yoghurt-y. ;P

Ingredients:

30g walnuts
70g brown rice syrup
50g sugar-free apple juice
30g pine nuts
20g pumpkin seeds
50g dried raisins
20g cranberries
60g rolled oats
60g wholemeal flour

Method:

Toast walnuts at 150°C for 15 minutes withut preheating. Leave to cool, then chop into small pieces and set aside.
Combine brown rice syrup and apple juice in a bowl and mix well. Add walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, cranberries and oats. Mix until combined. Add flour and fold in.
Transfer mixture to a freezer bag. Using a rolling pin, roll mixture out to a 13x24-cm rectangle. Place in freezer to chill and set for 1 our.
Preheat oven to 150°C. Using a scissors, cut open the freezer bag, then cut mixture into 6 bars and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake bars for about 25 minutes, remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Store bars in an airtight container.

Recipe Source: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

soya bean chiffon cake

2010-07-12T22:38:00.009+08:00

Seems that I've been MIA from the baking world? Nope I'm not! Even though my work has been getting real hectic these days, having to work (overtime)on weekday nights, I still have to bake something even if it doesn't require any mixing such as these granola. It's a great recipe and a way to make me eat my oats. I can just munch on the baked cripsy oat flakes as snacks anytime. ;)Back to this soya bean chiffon cake, it's another recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. I can't help but have to rave again how much I love this book. Her recipe usually involves some additional steps which I do believe is certainly worth it.

This soya bean chiffon uses kinako (soya bean powder). Surprisingly it tatses like ground peanut instead of soya and i simply love the smell and taste! Kinako flour is not so readily available in our usual groceries and I managed to find it at Meidi-ya at Liang Court.

The cake didn't rose as high as i expected but the texture was good. I dare not say it was perfect for a chiffon cake because it was slightly denser than your usual chiffons (not as airy) but it was soft and light nevertheless. I remembered xian leaving a comment in the soya milk chiffon post how she would love to try it. Her words gave me the inspiration that I gotto bake it for her. ;)

I chose to bake it on the day I met my dearie gals so i could pack some for them. Unfortunately dd forgot ALL about the slice I packed for him and he left it in his bag for days till it turned bad! Its your loss then. :P *LOL*

============================
soya bean chiffon cake

Ingredients:

50g pastry flour
5 egg yolks
20g brown sugar
60g water
60g canola oil
50g kinako (soya bean powder)

(Meringue)
5 egg whites (about 180g)
90g castor sugar
10g corn flour or rice flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C. Sift flour once.
Combine egg yolks and brown sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add water and canola oil and blend together. Add flour and mix until batter becomes sticky, then fold in soya bean powder.
Make meringue. Combine sugar and rice flour/corn flour. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and flour mixture and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and flour mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.
Add one-third of meringue into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add in remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely.
Pour batter into ungreased chiffon cake tube pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. When cake is done, remove from oven and turn it over, leaving it to cool.

*i omitted the bean bean cream*

Phuket Trip (last day)

2010-06-28T23:30:00.001+08:00

For our last day at Phuket, we signed up another half-day package to coral island.

While driving to the jetty, our bus passed by Kata beach and Karon beach. Unlike Patong beach, Kata and Karon beach are more quiet and laid back. They are definitely less vibrant than Patong beach but if you want a more relaxed holiday, i believe its a nice beach to stay as well. The beaches are more beautiful as it was not so commercially packed with rented beach chairs.

We arrived at Coral beach. It is just another island, nothing much to do and see but the water is clear. Good for a relaxed afternoon swimming, snorkelling and sun-bathing. We were so excited cos' our package includes a para sailing but that day's weather was too windy thus they had to cancel it. :(

We had nothing much to do except snorkelling, munching on tibits and dd taking a 'beach portfolio' of mine. They were not too good to be shown here (cos' of his poor photography skills and not me!) :P

Hehe... The sand was fine and beautiful, perfect for engraving. :P

We saw this really cute boy who was stark-naked. We couldn't resist taking a photo of him and with him, with his parents' consent, of course, whom i believe will be more than happy since they have such a cute boy. ;)

Better to have the photos sensored. Opps! :P

Our dinner back at Patong beach. :D

Phuket Trip (Part 3)

2010-06-20T11:17:00.013+08:00

Part 3 of my phuket trip! I'd better keep up with my blogging of my phuket adventures in case i procrastinate further and forgotten some of the details... like the names of beaches i went. My memory is failing... like during the course of my work, I could forget what I spoke about over the phone after a day if i didn't minute it. Even when my mom asked me to do something and I can forget about it the next minute! anything food that can boost my memory?

Alright... Day 3 was another package that dd and I signed up. We went for the ATV ride, water rafting and elephant ride. They also brought us to visit a waterfall and money land. We totally enjoyed the activities. I would highly recommend going for these activities if you visit phuket. ;)

This was the first activity stop where we had our ATV ride. Look further down if you do not know what's an ATV.

This photo was taken when we finished our entire route. As usual, they would took snapshots of us and sell it at the tourist rate later on. Haha i think both of us look damn serious cos' we were driving all by ourselves for the entire 45 minute journey along their planned track, past humps and roads along with other vehicles

The ATV looks cool doesn't it? Being the lousy driver, I couldn't control the ATV at the beginning kept bumping right into the bushes while driving in the practice route. That was exactly those times when I used to play car or motor racing in arcades but it was the real thing then. The guide had to rescue me many times by pulling me out of the bushes. :P

I thought of giving up and ride on dd's ATV with him but it was too late. Before i could get down, they'd started the engine for me and I had to quickly follow the rest of the group out to the track otherwise I would be left behind. But oh i was glad I went for it cos' the real route was much smoother than the practice route. My hands were numb from having to prepare for emergency brake but I totally enjoyed the ATV! It was real fun!

After the ATV, we were up into the van where they drove us to our next activity site for water rafting.

Yeah that was water rafting. we had to wait for the water at the man-made dam to start running before we could start the activity as the flow of water depended largely on the man-made dam in order for the water to flow swiftly. There were actually many boats around so we were like playing bumper boats in the river, deliberately pushing and splashing water. haha...

This was the waterfall area. The water was real cold...

Elephant ride. It was quite scary when the guide got down the elephant and let us control the elephant by ourselves.

Monkey Land. I wasn't that fascinated with this place cos' the monkeys were snatching food and running around you. That was our last stop for the day package.

The tour guide drove us back to our respective hotel.

Then comes the proposal. :D

Had our dinner at Subway.

Followed by street snacks - grilled corn and banana crepes.

After dinner, we had a good long bath and rest before going for Thai Massage. That was my first time trying out a thai massage and it wasn't as painful as i thought it would be. I guess probably their technique is still not so traditional. Anyhow it was good man that i'd fallen asleep.

Our supper - chicken noodle soup with a stick of grilled chicken (like Singapore's satay).

Black Sesame Pudding

2010-06-14T18:31:00.002+08:00

Another Recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. If you love black sesame paste dessert, you'd love this sweet pudding. I bought this black sesame paste specially for the black sesame chiffon cake recipe in this book. I made it successfully but did not feel like posting because the pictures taken of it was awful. *lol* I was lucky to have found this in an organic store around my neighbourhood where I live. I couldn't find black sesame paste anywhere else.

The paste are rather sticky and in big clumps. I had to wear a glove to separate the clumps!

My parents and dd doesn't seem to appreciate something more extraordinary. *lol* I lke it anyway. It has the texture of a red bean pudding that I had in a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant.

Have a go at it if you like. ;)

Ingredients

300g fresh whole milk

50g store-bought black sesame paste

35g castor sugar

5g gelatine sheets, soak in ice water to soften

40g whipping cream
black sugar, chopped into bits for topping

Method:

Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add softened gelatine and whipping cream. Mix well. Pour mixture into the prepared cups and chill in the refeigerator until set.
Serve jelly topped with black sugar bits. Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Phuket Trip (Part 2)

2010-06-06T09:13:00.001+08:00

The second day of our phuket was the island hopping package. You'll have to go for this if you go Phuket, at least for the first time. The tour brings you to different island where we snorkeled and visited the beautiful islands and beaches. Had a very early breakfast at 7am and we were ready to go!

Vainpot dd wearing the sunglass he bought from
chatuchak night market

An hour to two bus ride before we arrive at the ferry terminal to board the speed boat

Phi Phi island... where we snorkeled. I kept worrying that I would float away as I couldn't swim well. :D The water was not as clear as we expected. Dead corals and murky water :(

This was maya island. Yeah the water here is much clearer.

It's really beautiful. The water was crystal clear with fine sandy beaches. The photos over here were all taken using the water landscape feature with flash.

wow.... dd helping a bikini babe to take pictures!

Next stop was heading to Krabi for lunch, included in our package

After our lunch, we board the speed boat to Khai island... Also a beautiful island...

Our tour guide preparing refreshments (water-melons and ice water). We were served an abundance of water-melons on that day that we really got sck of water-melons.

It's a really commercialised place here. Each beach chair cost 100 baht. This was where I had a Walls ice-cream cone for S$6! I didn't realised it could be that exorbitant until i took a cone, paid the money, then compute the currency in S$. :P

That was the last stop of our day trip. We were back to the hotel in the evening.

Dinner at Savoey restaurant. Serves everything from seafood to western cuisine. Nice ambience with live band.

Haa... the table spread says it all... let me recall... we ordered a shrimp salad, mixed vegetables, stir-fried chicken, tom yam soup and tiger prawns!

The most expensive part of the meal...we had a tiger prawn each.

We chanced upon this interesting facial salon concept where customers can go in and have a quick facial and you just lie down with many other customers! The salon operates in a see-through glass room! It's an interesting concept, works like a hair salon. Their skills are not tha bad considering that they managed to remove dd's blackhead/mole(?) for many years! lol... we just hope they do sterilise those picking sticks (or whatever you call) they use!

Happy Birthday to him :)

2010-05-27T23:39:00.002+08:00

I had been flipping through pages of "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida" , trying hard to decide which cake recipe should I choose to bake for his birthday. Everything was solved by just his one reply "chocolate cake". :P This narrowed down my options and I could just concentrate baking a chocolate cake for him. :)

Layer mousse cakes is still something I'm not good at but I'm still trying to perfect it. I decided on a chocolate sponge cake with mousse layers. Something new that I tried was a feuillete base! I can't resist chocolate cakes with the crunchy, chocolate-hazel-nutty feuillete base, and could never have enough of it! I bought this packet of feuillete for months and finally get to use it this time.

I almost wanted to make my own praline paste and had even bought a packet of hazel nuts. In the end, I managed to get a small tub of hazelnut cream from Phoon Huat and used that for my praline paste. Hazelnut cream, milk chocolate, feuillete mixed with a little butter and the result of the praline feuillete was simply divine....

The base is a layer of praline feuillete, followed by a brownie cake base and alternate layers of chocolate sponge and mousse. The chocolate sponge was hard and dry. I had probably over-whipped it but since i sliced it into thin layers, it wasn't that significant. The worst thing was I didn't have the time to let the mousse set long enough before pouring the ganache. Hence it got mixed with the ganache and that was what you see at the sides (below). Nevertheless it's a truly yummy, chocolatety cake. I'm just worried for our waistlines! :P

dd loves ramen so for his birthay, I will accommodate him. :) We our dinner at Marutama Ra-men at Liang Court.

One thing good about such limited menu is you don't have to flip through pages after pages deciding what to eat because there are too many choices. The menu is just in this one page.

Side dishes: Gyoza

I ordered this : Aka Ra-men (7 kinds of ground nuts mixture with chicken soup, its mild spicy)

dd ordered the Nama Karashi Ra-men (spicky chicken soup base with toppings)

Their ramen has a rich soup base which makes one really satisfying but (for us) it's easy to feel full after a while and won't feel like eating. Probably it's too rich for our liking, unless it's served in smaller portion.

Yaki Char Siu (grilled roast pork) Yummy! But it's not lean meat. ;)

Ajitsuke Tamago (half boiled seasoned egg). It's hard boiled egg but its egg yolks are half cooked. I yearning to replicate it some day. I found one recipe thats quite similar to this over at Quinn's Baking Diary. Maybe you would like to give it a try first and let me know. :D

Phuket Trip (Part 1)

2010-05-23T01:09:00.000+08:00

Our first day at Phuket was spent mainly touring around the streets, shopping malls and the night market. We reached there at about past 10 am in the morning. We could not check into the hotel so we first left our lugguage at the hotel and went in search of tour agencies to book our day tours.
Burasari Resort.

One of the main mode of transport over there is motorcycle. You can just rent a motorbike for a cheap thai baht without any official license and ride all over Phuket, provided if you dare!

I thought my dd looked good in this photo. :P

McFlurry ice-cream! :P

This is where we booked our day tours for the next two days. There were actually lots of such tour agencies all over the streets of Phuket. This Mr Mark was recommended by fellow Singaporeans so we thought it would be safer.

Lunch at Jungceylon Shopping complex. Coconut juice (dd's) and mine was water-melon juice.

dd always order ramen.

This was my set. A healthy brown rice set with grilled salmon, kimchi and side salad.

This trip wasn't a shopping trip so I don't have the mood to shop. This is the only big shopping mall so there wasn't much to shop.

Finally we checked into our hotel. I had been looking forward to this stay cos' it doesnt' really come cheap considering that the rate was USD373 for three nights. To our dismay, the rooms wasn't as nice as what we had expected. No doubt it was rather big, some of the furnishings were rather old. The services was disappointing too, that we felt we had to write a review of it when we were back. You can read more about our reviews at Tripadvisor.

After a good rest in the hotel, we went for a stroll at Patong beach. Patong is one of the busiest and most commercialised beach. As you can see, there are many beach chairs which they chargeable.

We then proceeded to their a weekend night market, known as chatuchak located at Phuket Town.

Mobile van selling donut sticks.

Lots of interesting street food ranging from sushi, sweet snacks, pastries and crabs. We only tried some of them.

Our last meal of the day. A simple bee hoon soup with pork balls. :)

I shall post more about our day tour trips. ;)

For my Mom

2010-05-16T22:35:00.011+08:00

For Mother's Day this year, I think I made a really clever decision by asking mom what would she prefer me to bake for her, instead of making creamy, sweet cakes that she might not really enjoy.

I was surprised when she said she wanted cream puffs... such a shame cos' I didn't know she actually likes cream puffs. :P I'd bought durian puffs for her but she said she found the fillings too thick and heavy that she don't enjoy the puffs. She prefers cream puffs with pastry cream that isn't too sweet. She described cream puffs as "egg tarts fillings wrapped into the pastry like a ball". How cute!

This was my first successful cream puffs that puffed up nicely with a hollow centre for piping in the pastry cream. A labourious task it was indeed, because it involved more cooking and using the stove which i wasn't that good that. The recipe for the pastry cream called for 3 egg yolks but i ended using 6 or 7 because I used small eggs! So one lesson I learnt and to be remembered always is that I must always buy large eggs for all recipes. I think I knew this but still I thought it wouldn't make much a difference.

See the flowers? I bought her a bouquet and I could see she was pleasantly surprised and happy. Hehe my first bouquet for her.

Having brought up from a traditional family, we are not used to expressing our love for each other in words or through physical actions such as hugs and kisses like we younger generations do now. Even though sometimes I may be spending not enough time for her, find her naggy or being too blunt to her in my words that I may have hurt her feelings. But deep in my heart, i love her. I knew she won't be reading my blog so it's ok. :P

An overdue post so I'd keep it short here. Recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida, a book a really like. :) If you would like the recipe, drop me a comment. :)

===================================================================

Updates:

I was lazy yesterday so I just ended my post abruptly. I thought since this is such a successful attempt after my previous failed attempts, I should share this recipe with you all. If I can do it, so can you guys!

75g water

50g whole milk

50g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

a pinch of sugar

a pinch of salt

3 egg yolks, at room temperature, lightly beaten (Please use large eggs)

75g cake flour

Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift flour once. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan, combine water, milk, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately remove from heat.
Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in the flour until combined, and mixture forms a ball. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan and a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
Transfer mixture to a clean bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon until each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Test the batter by taking a scoop of it using a spoon or spatula. When you coat the spoon with it, batter should hang and form a smooth triangular shape. If batter is not able to hang down, this means the batter is too thick and you need to add more egg yolks (that was ow I increased mine to 6).
Pour choux dough into piping bag fitted with the plain piping tip. (I just cut a small hole). Pipe out 5-cm circles onto tray and gently smoothen out the pointed peaks with moistened finger.
Bake choux puffs for about 20 minutes at 200°C, then reduce temperature to 180°C and continue baking for another 20 minutes. (this is en essential step because baking them at high temperature for the first 20 minutes allows choux paste to rise to maximun height and reducing the temperatue thereafter helps to dry them completely - adapted from the tips). That was how I got mine puffed up nicely.

Recipe for pastry cream

200g fresh whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (you may use 1/2 vanilla bean)

3 egg yolks

50g castor sugar

20g cake flour, sifted

Add milk, vanilla extract to a suacepan and bring to a boil.
In a clean bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until mixtureis pale yellow in colour (can use hand whisk). Add flour and mix well.
Add hot milk to the egg mixture and fold through. (if using vanilla bean, remove the vanilla pod from the mixture).
Return egg and milk mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until mixture becomes smooth and glossy. Remove saucepan from heat.
Transfer pastry cream to a tray, cover with cling wrap and place in the freezer to cool, but do not freeze it.
Before use, gently beat cream with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy (sound tedious isn't it? But it does give me a smooth pastry cream). ;)

Disastrous Birthday Cake :P

2010-04-29T23:27:00.017+08:00

I met my best gal friend, BK at Plaza Singapura, Tea Cosy for her belated birthday dinner. Tea Cosy is a mixed retail and dining outlet selling vintage classic furniture and ornaments. It's a nice, cosy place for high tea sessions or lunch/dinner gathering. We had dinner on that day and the food was quite average, in our opinions. Their high tea set looks more appealing so I migh be going back for their cupcakes and scones another day.

Ok...what is happening to the birthday cake that I baked for BK? Hehe.. as you can see from the photo, one side of it sank and the entire cake kinda swayed to one side, as if an earthquake had caused a landscape to be destroyed... or shall I say it's like ice caps melting? Yes I think that should be a better description... because that was exactly what happened. The Mousse cake melted.

My plan was intially to bake a chocolate layer cake. But BK told me that she had a bad cough. So I thought i had better not bake a chocolate layer cake that would most probably have made her cough even worse. Without insufficient time to get other ingredients, I decided on a green tea mousse cake.

I took this picture of the cake baking in the oven because I knew I had overbeaten the egg whites so I was monitoring whether the cake was baking well in the oven. It looked fine even until it was out of the oven but..... as with most chiffon cakes, some only sank when you overturn the cake to cool; some will not sink until you unmould the cake. I think this has got to do with the stability of the beaten egg whites. Some could still managed to "endure" without collasping in the oven but eventually they had to, while some were too weak that they couldn't hold one more minute inside the oven. I was hoping my over-beating could still sustain the stability..... So what was the result?

Well, I have some extra batter so I poured some in another small chiffon tin. The ones in the chiffon tin collasped badly, still eatable but as you know, it becomes moist and kueh-like. The other one in the round tin shrank a little, but still looked perfect. Although it wasn't the best texture that it should be, it still looked and tasted good. :)

I then got myself going with the green tea mousse. The recipe was taken from Florence's matcha yoghurt mousse cake. I have not had much good experience with making mousse cakes, so i do not know whether it should be the correct texture or not. The green tea flavour and colour wasn't that distinctive also because the powder could not dissolve well in the mixture. :(

My only decorating ingredients revolves around strawberries and chocolate. I know its very boring. Hehe... anyway, strawberry is a versatile ingredient isn't it? sorry my dearies, till when I'd improve my decorating skills, you'll still be seeing strawberries :P

When I reached Tea Cosy, I immediately asked for the mousse cake to be kept in their fridge as I knew the mousse cake was already melting. When we were finishing our dinner, the chef/waiter came to us telling us that the cake had melted badly because I should have told them that it was a mousse cake and it should be kept in the freezer instead. We told them that's fine and we would just like to have the cake served to us. They gave us a socking look with their eyes wide open" Are you sure? Its going to look quite bad."

So they took out the cake, placed a candle and even had it lighted up! Haha we weren't really expecting this, really. We thought we would just have a little photograph and enjoy the cake to ourselves without making a "scene" about the birthday cake. It was no wonder why they had to make sure whether we really wanna have our cake served. :P

Anyway, we do not really mind whether eyes were on the weird-looking cake. It tasted quite delicious actually. Because of the use of yoghurt, it was a rather refreshing, mousse cake rather than a creamy one. ;)

Honey Cornflakes

2010-04-24T16:02:00.007+08:00

I took an entire week of my vacation leave for my Phuket trip. Following my return back, I simply rest and relax at home, rotting, surfing the internet and of cos' baking. Life's ought to be like this. You can't be working like a machine 365 days. You'll hate your job even more (unless your work is your passion but hardly do we fulfill that, do we?). After a break, recharged, and set the engine to work hard again! Hopefully I'll be able to recharge back to full power at the soonest. ;)

One entire day was spent baking a birthday cake for my best girl friend for a belated birthday celebration for her. It was one of the worst birthday cake I've made but we had fun laughing and eating it :P (More to be shared!)

On another day, I wanted to bake something yet not too tedious. I chosed this simplest of all - honey cornflake cups. I bought a packet of cornflakes during Chinese New Year to make chocolate cornflakes and kept the leftovers as breakfast cereals but I hardly consume it as I've shifted my preference for wheat cereals instead. So I thought making this is the best way to utilise it. ;)

I didn't managed to coat all with the honey-sugar syrup so it deosn't stick well but I think that's fine. It would not be overly sweet then and you can just pick at any loose cereal flakes from the mini muffin cup case. I randomly googled for this recipe and found one that suits me! It's here. Thanks Jussaemon for this easy and good recipe. :D

Sweet proposal @ Phuket :P

2010-04-21T22:46:00.011+08:00

Updates: I've uploaded this photo cos' dd said he preferred this photo much more than the below one. ;)

I'm just back from a short trip to Phuket with my dd. It was a really relaxing trip.... beautiful beaches, pretty ladies clad in bikini and beach wears, men going topless walking along the streets of Patong Beach. It's the only place I don't have to worry about my image and can be as casual as I want. Haha... I just wish i wasn't back so early! :D

Best of all, my boyfriend, proposed to me. :P

Well, it wasn't as if i'm not expecting his proposal. Afterall, we have already make a booking for our future birdnest. *smile* Still, I can't take things for granted until he makes the first move right? Hehe...

This proposal really came as a surprise because he has been giving me the not prepared attitude. Haa, I thought that he hasn't made any preparation for our future yet. I didn't expect he would bring a ring all the way from Singapore cos' he'd always a cautious person and would never bring valuables overseas.

So, yeah, I accepted his proposal. :) I shan't go much into the details... *shy shy*..... only that after I accepted it, i remembered that my dream proposal has to come with a bouquet of flowers! :P Haha.... nevermind, dd, you promised you will make up for it. ;)

I'll share more of my phuket trip soon! I still need some time to get myself back on track... ;)

Banana Muffin - Mark this recipe!

2010-04-12T23:12:00.003+08:00

I have some very ripe bananas and..... I'm sure this has been repeated by many and I don't have to repeat myself. ;) Over-ripe bananas are definitely every baking-enthusiast's best friend. So here you are, banana muffins. This banana muffin is so good that i think I've really found a treasure. Most banana muffins never come out of the oven a failure but this recipe is just simply perfect, texture, taste, shape and appearance and level of difficulty. That's why my purpose here is to share and make a note in case I forget. Thanks Little Teochew for sharing this!

Do hop over to The Little Teochew for the recipe!

I'll end this post here because i'm so so busy nowadays! On a positive note, isn't that good because judging from my workload, I'll remain employed for at least for the next 2 years!?! :D My colleague must be amazed that I said this... haa but i think positive thinking is what we should do, and I learnt that facing difficult times and cases actually make you learn more. ;)

Why is the cake so small?

2010-03-31T23:27:00.003+08:00

"Why is the cake so small?" my nephew exclaimed when he saw the birthday cake I brought out of the fridge. :P

My eldest brother is turning one year older and since he came home for dinner this year to celebrate his birthday with us, I had the honour to bake his birthday cake again this year ;) How "fortunate" he is isn't it cos' he got a birthday cake from this dear sis of his for two consecutive years. Last year, it was a durian mousse cake ;) hahaaWell in fact It wasn't a successful cake, so i wasn't that honoured after all! :P The chocolate sponge cake somehow wasn't cooked entirely even though when I inserted a toothpick, it came out clean. I had to discard one of the layer so i ended up with only two layers instead of three, making it a really short cake.

Another hiccup arised from the whipping of diary cream. I couldn't whipped it to a peak so I left it for a while to get a bowl of ice as a cushion for the bottom of the bowl, only to get a curdled cream that got all separated miserably:( So I had to make do with only raspberry jam for the fillings between the layer. The ganache wasn't done as well as it could have been.

I actually had second thoughts giving this cake to brother but eventually I think he won't mind. :) Only thing was everyone had to admit the cake looked really small! Well, it was a 6-inch cake but because it was too short, it appeared small and of cos' one look at it you'll know its homemade. :P

I think i need to attend some cake courses, especially on cake decorating. It's always easy and fun to self-taught and learn as you experience failures but the process of learning is longer. I wanna learn how to bake beautiful cakes! Anyone wanna join me? :P

Back to Homemade Bread

2010-03-26T23:27:00.006+08:00

I'm craving to bake a loaf of bread.. soft homemade bread with no preservative, not the wholemeal version or soft buns but just simply a loaf of white bread. I craved the aroma of freshly baked loaf out from the oven. With that, I set down to bread making on a Sunday morning. I don't know why, that day I suddenly craved for white bread for next morning's breakfast. Even though I try to be as health conscious as possible and am trying to lose some weight by eating less rice and carbo now, staples like white rice and white bread is still a must for me and if i have not had rice for a few days, I would feel really awkward.

I did not have milk or milk powder on that day and from my experience, most bread recipes would have milk in its ingredients list, otherwise, the softness usually do not last for more than a day.

I fall back on this chocolate chip buns recipe . This produces bread which remained soft for at least 2 days and does not has milk. Probably the eggs in tis case adds richness to it. But be prepared to handle a rather sticky dough.

I merely omitted the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, and baked them in a loaf tin instead of shaping them into individual buns.

I realised how important It is to keep some good to-keep recipes for the same baked item (e.g. basic white bread, basic muffin or cakes) because you may just have one ingredient and not the other. That's when we can make good with whatever we have and still have your favourite baked goods without having to buy that ingredient solely for that purpose. :)

My slicing was outrageous so I dare not show you the sliced presentation. :P It was a successful attempt after a long break from bread making. I'm a happy gal that day. :)

Suji Cookies

2010-03-18T22:22:00.006+08:00

Meeting up with my girlfriends is one of the happiest moments in life. Don't you agree? :D Even though I bake frequently whenever I could, I don't think my sistas had enough of my bakes because we don't meet so often. :) During our recent gathering, I squeezed in some time in the morning to bake this easy suji cookies before meeting them at noon. They love the cookies! Especially Kexian... :) I knew it cos I know she love melting moments, though I baked this to be more on the crunchy side.

Crunchy Suji Cookies

100g ghee

120g caster sugar (i reduced to 90g)

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

150g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

egg glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with few drops of water (i omitted this)

Mix ghee, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla essence till well combined.
Sift flour, baking soda and salt and stir well.
Preheat oven at 180°C for 10 minutes. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Using a metal spoon, fold the flour mixture into the ghee mixture. Knead lightly to form a dough.
Pinch a small amount (about 1/2 tbsp) of dough and roll it into a ball. Place the cookie dough 2cm apart on the tray as they will spread during baking.
Brush with egg glaze.
Bake for 14 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a wire rack. Allow them to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Recipe from: Oi Lin's "Delicious Asian Baked Treats"

Nice, cosy cafe but with food below our expectation. Nevertheless its the company that counts. Have not post our photos for a long time. :) Shunmei, Kexian, Kailing and me!

financier, two flavours

2010-03-14T00:03:00.000+08:00

This little almond cake was a birthday treat dedicated to myself on my birthday this year. :) I can't remember when did my mum started buying me a Sara Lee pound cake for my birthday every year, in fact till last year. This year however, I decided to make my own instead.

While writing this post, I began wondering why I don't seem to remember my family celebrating birthdays every year with a creamed birthday cake and candles. So I asked my mum about it and that's when I knew that our family tradition is to have two hard-boiled eggs every year for our birthday, a tradition passed down from her parents. Anyhow, I don't seem to remember it cos' maybe for us kids, only seeing presents and cakes would leave a memorable impression on us. :P

While this doesn't seem to be anything elaborate considering it's a once a year thingy, the whole meaning behind ths simple act is worth mentioning. Still, I was considered much more fortunate as compared to my elder brothers as I did have a few "big" birthday celebrations where my mum would buy a birthday cake and prepared fried chicken wings, fishballs, bee hoon and so on and invited my cousins and close friends. I would then stand at the centre in front of the birthday cake, with my cousins around where we posed for photographs. :)

Slowly as I grow older, birthdays were spent with friends and my mum would just gave me an ang bao. Some years back, she started buying me a Sara Lee Pound cake and this continues. As far as I can remember, a Sara Lee pound cake used to cost $3.50 but today it has gone up to $4.90!

Hey I've been mentioning pound cake but why financier? My first thought was to bake a pound cake but eventually I settled for this financier because of the leftover egg whites sitting in my fridge since pre-cny. I also wanted to try more recipes from cook books which I've been buying but hardly try out the recipes.

The result of this little financier is lovely. It is a dense cake with soft crumbs. I like baked goods with ground almonds because it adds that lovely kind of texture.

I like the original flavour (vanilla) but the green tea flavour taste just as good. This is best eaten delicately with a fork because only then you can savour the texture and it is rather sweet. :D

I'm sharing this recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. Enjoy!

Almond Financier

50g cake flour

5g corn flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

130g egg whites

130g castor sugar (i reduced to 110g and stll taste sweet to me)

50g ground almonds

a pinch of salt

130g unsalted butter

10g green tea powder

Preheat oven to 220°C. Lightly grease small tins with a little butter and place them on a baking sheet. Sift all dry ingredients (except salt) twice. Add green tea flour if making green tea financier.
Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat lightly. Add sugar, ground almonds, flour mixture and salt each at a time and mix well without over-mixing. Set aside.
Brown butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking frequently until fragrant and golden brown in colour. Pour butter into a mixing bowl. Place the bowl with browned butter into a larger bowl half-filled with ice water to stop it from cooking further and burning.
Add browned butter to flour and almond mixture and mix well.
Pour better into prepared cake moulds.
Bake financier for 10-15 minutes until they are light and golden in colour.
Remove cakes from moulds and cool on wire rack before serving.

Can be kept in airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or 1 month in the freezer.

Step 3 refers to the making of clarified butter. The melted butter actually hardened after I transferred to a larger bowl. I thought the ice water is supposed to stop it from cooking further? Have I done anything wrong? :P

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

2010-02-14T00:42:00.003+08:00

Pineapple tarts! How can any chinese family miss out this traditional delicious new year goody? With a doubt this has to be on top of my priority to-bake list for cny. Last year, I made my own pineapple jam and the results was so much better than store-bought jam that I 've told my mom that this year, it has to be home-made jam again. However, work has been so busy for me this year that I was happy to have the time for pineapple tarts. I just had to make do with store-bought because it would be so much convenient for me.

I bought one packet of 1-kg pineapple jam from Phoon Huat (Redman brand) and was planning to make open tart style and the closed version, but the jam was just enough for three tubs of closed version so that was all I made this year. I attempted to measure the weight of the dough and pineapple jam so that each and every tart would be identical. I used 6g or 7g dough vs 6g or 7g jam and Im pretty satisfied with the thin crust I got this year. :)

I used to receive comments that my pineapple tart had too little jam but this year I received other comments such as they prefer more crust than jam. *lol* Well so it all boils down to personal preference. For me, even though I don't really fancy eating a lot of the pineapple jam, I think a thinner crust makes the tarts appear more 'professional looking as there has been effort put in to mould each tart into even shapes and with generous amount of filling (jam). :)

My recipe was from none other than Oi Lin's Delicious Asian Sweet Treats and the tarts were very buttery and melt-in-your mouth. Personally I have tried a couple of pineapple tart recipes before and I would say most are good in their own way. I emphasise using good quality ingredients especially butter since butter is the key ingredient in pineapple tarts.

The clock had struck midnight and it is now 大年初一﹗

祝大家在虎年里身体健康﹐心想是成﹐步步高升﹐恭喜發財﹗

Almond Cookies

2010-02-12T20:54:00.003+08:00

Among the many new year cookies, one of my favourite has to be almond cookies. I find that there are so many forms of almond cookies that I am always eager to try any types that is labelled "almond cookies" whenever I walk past shops selling new year goodies, without buying of course. :P

I have been making this almond cookie over the past few cny and even during non-chinese new year period because it is really delicious and crunchy. This year, I wanted to venture into new almond cookie recipes. I recently bought Oi Lin's recipe books on Delicious Asian Baked Treats and Delicious Asian Sweet Treats which features loads of Asian treats such as your usual pineapple tarts, egg sponge cakes, cny cookies and many more. I wanted to try most of the new year cookie recipes in her book but I only managed to try some of them his year. This is one of the almond cookie that I've tried from her book. The result is rich and crumbly and certainly worth making. This is similar to the one I've been making but it uses a mixture of almond meal and flour while the other (originated from Florence's blog) uses only flour but with lots of toasted almond nips. I actually prefer Florence's recipe because the almond nips makes the cookies extra crunchy!

The other almond cookie from Oi Lin's Asian Baked Treats is this almond cookie with nut topping. This recipe uses ghee instead of the usual butter or oil. Intially I was quite skeptical about using ghee because I always thought this is much more unhealthier, until I did a googling and understands that ghee is actually clarified butter, where the milk solids and impurities have already been removed. It is however not explicitly clear whether ghee has any difference (if any) in terms of its health benefits as compared to butter although some sites do claim that ghee is healthier than butter because of its lower fat content.

Mixing the batter of this was so easy because ghee is much softer. You literally just need to mix the ghee with sugar and salt well and fold in the other ingredients as you would usually do when making a standard cookie batter. The ghee smelt rather pungent and I was so worried that no one would dare to eat it but hey I'm wrong!

When baked, the cookie was so fragrant, once you pop a small morsel with an almond into your mouth, you just can't stop!

almond cookies with nut topping

120g untoasted whole almonds with skin
100g ground almonds
180g unsalted ghee
130g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g plain flour
Glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with a few drops of water
small paper cases

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Toast whole almonds for 10 minutes and ground almonds for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Mix ghee, sugar, salt and vanilla essence. Add cooled (must be cooled) ground almonds and mix well. Sift flour over the ghee mixture. Fold the flour into the mixture and bring all ingredients to form a dough.
Scoop one level teaspoon of dough, shape it into a ball and place n a paper case. Arrange on a baking tray. (according to Oi Lin, these cookies must be baked in small paper cases. Otherwise the cookies will spread and result in thin and hard cookies)
Bake cookies in preheated oen at 180°C for 10 minutes. Remove tray from the oven and glaze the cookies with egg yolk. Place a whole almond on every cookie. Bake for another 10 minues. (Note, you should place the almond immediately once you glaze the top. Otherwise if yu glaze all the cookies at one time, the earlier ones that you have glazed would have dried up and the almond would not stick into the cookie.
Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before storing.

Recipe from: Oi Lin's "Delicious Asian Baked Treats"