Banana Raisin Cake

I have finally worked up the new oven and baked a banana raisin cake. My new oven has been sitting in the kitchen for more than 1 year since I moved. Since I haven't baked in a long time, 2 years at least and with a new oven, I decided to try a tested recipe and baked a banana raisin cake. Here's the recipe if anyone's keen. The recipe doesn't call for raisins but it's my personal favourite so I added it in. You can add walnuts too if you like. The cake has been very well received and most said it's moist and full of banana flavour.

Hopefully this is the start of more cakes to come and getting my baking mojo back!

Recently I have embarked on a #eatclean programme. I took a 3-day juice detox/cleansing programme and have never felt better! This is my 8th day without caffeine and never feel the need to take coffee. I used to need to take my cuppa in the morning before I can start the day but now I feel energised everyday. 

This was my brekkie the weekend before I started my juice cleansing programme. I started eating clean days before I embarked on the programme and now I am still eating clean after the programme.

Have a good weekend!

Molten Chocolate Chunk Brownie

Can you believe I haven't baked in more than 1 year? My KitchenAid hasn't been used for more than 1 year. For someone who used to be so addicted to baking, this is a really longgg time! Anyway I decided to bake some brownie to bring along to S & T's house today and what better way to get back to baking than a ready-to-use Donna Hay's Molten Chocolate Chunk Brownie mix. I can't remember when was the last time I used a premix but this is definitely a keeper! Add butter and 2 eggs to the premix and mix it together then add in the separately packed chocolate chunk pieces. Spoon into a 20cm square tin and put it in the oven. Done. Yummilicious chewy, chocolatey, fudgy brownie! :)

Blessed with wonderful friends around me, below are the 2 surprise birthday cakes I received. :)

Pandan Chiffon Cake

It has been quite a while since I last baked a pandan chiffon cake. Couple of Sundays ago, I saw the article on pandan cake in The Sunday Times and decided it's time to bake one! The recipe I have calls for 6 eggs! The whisking of the egg white is a very important step in making a pandan chiffon cake or any chiffon cake. You need a electric mixer to get the "firm peak" or "whisk until stiff" mentioned in many recipes. Below are some pictures I tried taking during the process of making the cake. :)

Okie dorkie, will be back with more updates sometime this week. It has been a fruitful weekend filled with a kelong seafood lunch-dinner (ate at 3ish pm) at Bukit Indah in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and BBQ today. Time for some workouts!

Chocolate Mud Cake

It's Thursday and TGIF tomorrow! I had a craving for some sushi after badminton today and everyone had dinner plans so I got home and dragged KS to the nearest Sakae Sushi near my place and had sushi, chawamushi, fried tofu and salmon sashimi! :) Did I mention before my favourite cuisine is Japanese?

Anyway, I came across this recipe last week and oh my it looked so yummy that I had to try baking it. I went to Sun Lik and bought a block of 1kg Valrhona chocolate and some unsalted butter. I attempted to try another step-by-step guide to making the cake but was too busy trying to prevent my chocolate from burning that I completely forgot about taking photos! Oh well, one is better than nothing. ;)



Here's the finished product.




Last week I came home with a little gift (flowers not included) slipped under my door. The delivery man came when I wasn't around. Thanks Kel for the birthday present - a much needed and can't-wait-to-use-it massage!


Well, I am not exactly a World Cup widow coz I do enjoy some of the matches but the husband is bringing the house down with his screaming GOAALLLLL and sometimes shouting to me to quickly come watch the replay of this excellent goal. I think the whole neighbourhood can hear him! =| In preparation of the upcoming gatherings at my place to watch the remaining matches, he bought so much snacks and drinks.


3 things that made me smile:

1. The wonderful get-together dinner with KS and family at No Signboard Seafood at Esplanade. Thanks A for the treat. It's really nice to get together for quality family time with everyone amid our busy schedules.
2. The Polaroids taken with A's Fuji Instax Mini 25. Love the vintage feel of the photos. It has been a while since I have last taken photos with an instant camera and it's so much fun that I feel like getting one too!
3. To have the time to start my weekly baking routine again. I think I am going to make pandan cake this weekend. :)

Have a great weekend!

Chocolate Velvet Cake

It has been a while since I last baked and my KitchenAid Mixer is sitting in my kitchen collecting dust. While shopping at the supermarket this afternoon, I picked up The Australian Women's Weekly Easy Baking and randomly selected a recipe to try. With the book in hand, I went to find the ingredients. I had 6 blocks of butter in my fridge before I left for UK but had none when I came back because there was power failure at my place when I was away and it had to be thrown away. :(

Anyway I saw the KitchenAid mixer in my favourite fuchsia pink in UK and it's this season's colour!! Hmm...I would have bought this colour if it was available when I got mine. :|


Anyway, here's the chocolate velvet cake which was pretty easy to do. It's nice to be baking again! :)


Have a great week ahead!

Yet another chocolate cake and tissue pouch

Last Saturday KS and I were invited over to S and M's place for a home-cooked Japanese dinner. Told by the wonderful hosts not to prepare anything, I decided to surprise them with a simple valrhona chocolate cake for dessert as well as a tube of Ben and Jerry's. I have baked this before but this time round, I added the strawberries. So much for the surprise that they have also bought some cakes so we didn't get to eat this. I hope it taste ok S?



Here's a tissue pouch that I sewed for M - a beautiful Japanese lady with excellent culinary skills that left KS and I completely satisfied after a 9-10 courses dinner!



Have a fantastic week ahead! I am counting down to Melbourne to see and carry my 'lil sweetie godson!

Basic Butter Cake

Desperate to use my KitchenAid and yet have limited time on hand, I decided to bake a basic butter cake for breakfast tomorrow. I may use this again to make a birthday cake for my dad next month.

Fudge-Frosted Chocolate Cupcakes

Fudge-Frosted Chocolate Cupcakes (prep+cook time 1 hour 10 minutes makes 24)

Ingredients:
Cupcakes
2 cups (500ml) hot water
75g cocoa powder, sifted
250g butter, softened
440g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
225g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
silver cachous

Fudge Frosting
50g butter, softened
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
25g cocoa powder
320g icing sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180degC/160degC fan-forced. Line two 12-hole (1/3 cup/80ml) muffin pans with paper cases.
2. Whisk the water and cocoa powder together in medium bowl.
3. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in half of the combined sifted flour and soda then half of the cocoa mixture; stir in remaining flour mixture and cocoa mixture until just combined.
4. Divide mixture among paper cases; bake about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 5 minutes before turning onto wire racks to cool.
5. Meanwhile, make fudge frosting. Spread frosting over cakes; decorate with cachous.

Fudge Frosting
1. Beat butter in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add milk, vanilla extract, sifted cocoa powder and half the sifted icing sugar; beat about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3. Add remaining sifted icing sugar; beat a further 5 minutes.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

This is my first attempt with my new KitchenAid® Stand Mixer. We were invited over to Robin and Faye's new place for steamboat and I decided to make a cake for dessert.



Here's the receipe from the The Australian Women's Weekly Classic Cakes:

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake (prep + cook time 1 hour 20 minutes serves 20)
Cake
125g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g caster sugar
2 eggs
200g self-raising flour
50g cocoa powder
2/3 cup (160ml) water

Chocolate Icing
90g dark eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
30g butter, softened
160g icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180degC/160degC fan-forced. Grease deep 20-cm round cake pan; line with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, extract, sugar, eggs, sifted flour and cocoa powder, and the water in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are combined. Increase speed to medium; beat about 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth and pale in colour.
3. Spread mixture into pan; bake about 1 hour. Stand cake in pan 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.
4. Meanwhile, make chocolate icing. Spread cold cake with icing.

Chocolate Icing
Melt chocolate and butter in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water (do not allow water to touch base of bowl); gradually stir in sifted icing sugar and the water, stirring until icing is spreadable.

Softball Cake

Baked this for Judy's birthday on the day before we celebrated her birthday over dinner. It was done within a pretty short time because I only started baking the cake at 10ish in the evening after a long day at work. I used a flourless cake recipe for this and increased the portion slightly to fill up a semi-circle cake mould.

After the baking was done, I left it to cool while I caught 1 episode of Without A Trace with KS. 45 minutes later I started to roll out the Wilton ready-to-use white fondant which took lotsa arm strength to flatten. After I have flattened the fondant, I put it over the cake and trimmed off the additional fondant. I used Wilton ready-to-use red icing tube to create the stitching on the softball. Here's the finished product. =)

Japanese Cheese Cake

I found this recipe from here and have procrastinated for a few months before I finally found some time to try out this recipe. I was hoping to achieve the cottony taste of Japanese Cheese Cake I have eaten before but unfortunately it didn't seem to turn out that way though my colleagues who have tried it said it tasted ok - maybe they were just being kind. =)

Brownies

Made them for dinner on Christmas eve. A recipe I got from a good friend's mom who is a great cook! And I used Valrhona cocoa powder for this - one of the best chocolate around for baking! *yum*

Banana Raisin Cake

It has been close to 5 months since I last updated this blog..no I have not given up on baking nor this blog. It has been madness and craziness for the past few months at work. Things have slowed down a little (I hope!) and hey, it's time to get back to the kitchen and my oven.

Well a sure sign that I have not been baking for a long time - my flour, walnuts and butter among other things have expired. Sigh...off into the bin they go. =(

Here's my first bake...the banana raisin cake - my mom's all-time favourite - added with banana, not just banana flavouring. The texture is moist and soft and I have added my favourite raisins in it! ;p



Till the next entry...hopefully in the month or so...with my gingerbread man for Christmas!

Strawberry Mango Cake

8 March 2008

Mom's birthday is on Monday (10 March) but we decided to celebrate it earlier over the weekend which is good coz I can have some time to bake a birthday cake for her. Inspired by this blog, I decided to bake a strawberry mango cake for my mom's birthday. Besides durian, my family likes mango so that's the perfect choice for the cake. Took approximately 2.5 hours to bake this cake which is much easier than the Mario cake. No fondant involved, just cream and fruits.

Super Mario Cake

26 February 2008

My second attempt at working with fondant after the softball cupcakes. This was definitely 10x more challenging than the cupcakes. After baking the round sponge cake and filled with mango and cream, I had to start colouring the white fondant with Mario's colours. I started with the face (skin colour) and then the cap (red) followed by the eyes (blue and black) and lastly attaching the rest of the features such as the nose, moustache, ears and abit of hair near the ears. =p

It was pretty fun and satisfying at the end of the day and most importantly, I am glad KS loves it. =)

Christmas Ice Cream Cake

24 December 2007

Strawberry Sponge Cake

28 November 2007

Ice Cream Cake

23 September 2007

I didn't exactly bake this. This is a relatively simple cake to do when you need to whip up something quick. I got the brilliant idea from Su, the talented cake decorator. All you need is a loaf of pound cake from the supermarket, your favourite ice cream, whip cream and some strawberries (or any fruits you like). Put a piece of cling wrap on a round baking tray, layer the bottom and circumference of the tray with some pound cake, layer the ice cream (can have 2 flavours if you like), cover with a cling wrap and freeze for a couple of hours. Take it out and remove the cake from the cling wrap, add the whip cream and the strawberries and...it's done! It's as simple as that! I did this for my nephew, Jeston's baby shower. =)

Pandan Chiffon Cake

29 April 2007

It's been more than a week since I started this blog but have yet to post anything that I have experimented with lately. Here it goes...most of the pictures you see here are some of the cakes I have baked earlier this year. I will try to post the recipes whenever possible.