Butternut Squash Raisins Bread

Ta-dah! This is the latest gadget in my kitchen: Breville Baker's Oven. A bread maker machine.

And to officiate the bread maker, I made a butternut squash raisins bread loaf, adapted from Fluene's Corner.

Butternut Squash Raisins Bread Loaf

What You'll Need:

20 g milk
30 g butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp milk powder

50 g whipping cream
60 g pumpkin puree
250 g bread flour

50 g brown sugar
1 tsp yeast
100 g raisins

How To:

1. Lift the bread pan out of the bread machine and fit the kneader blade.
2. Add the milk, butter, egg, salt, milk powder, whipping cream, and butternut squash puree in the order listed or as recommended by the bread maker.
3. Spoon in the flour, make a slight dip in the center and add the sugar and yeast.
4. Insert the pan into bread machine. Shut the lid and set to a basic white setting with preferred crust setting. Press start.
5. Add in raisins when the beeper beeps. If your bread machine is fully automated, put the raisins in the designated container.
6. At the end of the program, lift the pan out of the machine using oven gloves. Loosen the bread with a plastic spatula, turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Barney & Thomas the Train Cake

This post is way long overdue. We celebrated the kids' birthday couple of months back; K-girl hit the big ONE, while K-boy turned 3. Nothing too fancy, just an intimate celebration with the family & the cake with their favourite on it.

Initially I wanted to bake K-girl a birthday cake but I didn't have the time as it was just few days after my business trip to Europe. So we ended up with a Barney jelly cake, which we ordered from our favourite supplier in Taman Desa. The jelly cake was homemade, fresh, not overly coloured with food colouring, and it's not too sweet. And of course the little girl was really happy to see it.

As for K-boy, I promised him I will make him a Thomas the train cake. However, I didn't attempt a 3D cake for him. Just googled for some ideas and came up with a 2D design & with the help of a die-cast Thomas train. It was after this session, I understood how tedious 3D cake/figurine modelling could be as I was going dizzy with just 2D design and it took me a good 10 hours to complete the cake from baking to decorating it.

The result of 10 hours labour of love



And we have a very happy birthday boy!

The cake was a moist chocolate cake, layered with whipped vanilla frosting adapted from sweetapolita.com

Whipped Vanilla Frosting Recipe:

 

What You'll Need:

 

2-1/2 cups (5 sticks)(575 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

5-1/4 cups (600 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

4-1/2 tablespoons (70 mL) milk

1-1/2 tablespoons (23 mL) pure vanilla extract

pinch or two of salt

How To:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for about 8 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become very pale & creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low-speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Best used right away (for ideal spreading consistency), but keeps well once frosted.

A dish of tummy warming Lontong

It's been a long while since I had Lontong, then I remembered a recipe that given in a cookbook. I tried other dishes recipe from the cookbook and they turned out well so I thought I'd give this recipe a try - well, more of my house helper to try.

"Lontong is a dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. The rice rolled inside banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as staple food replacement of steamed rice. It is commonly called nasi himpit ("pressed rice") in Malaysia.

The term lontong in Malaysia usually refers a dish which consists of rice cakes in a coconut based soup such as sayur lodeh containing shrimp and vegetables like chopped cabbage, turnip and carrots. Additional condiments are added either during cooking or in individual servings. These include things such as fried tempeh, fried tofu, boiled eggs, dried cuttlefish sambal, fried spicy shredded coconut (serunding kelapa), fried chicken etc." (Source: Wikipedia)

My helper did tweak the recipe a bit especially on the condiments part, and it tastes really yummy! Here's the recipe :)

Lontong Recipe

Ingredients A:

1/3 cup coking oil
2 1/2 cups water
2 cup santan (coconut milk),
1 tsp salt or to taste
10 pieces satay ketupat / nasi himpit

Ingredients B:

1 carrot (wedged)
50g long beans (cut into 4 cm lengths)
100g brinjal (sliced)
1 packet Tempe (fermented soya bean cake, sliced)
100g cabbage (cut into squares or long strips)

Ingredients C:

8 shallots
6 cloves garlic
1 heaped tbsp dried prawns
25g fresh tumeric (sliced)
5 stalks dried chilli

Method:

1. Using an electric blender, grind ingredients C until fine
2. Heat wok and add oil & grinded ingredients. Saute for 5-10 mins until fragrant, stirring continuously to prevent burning.
3. Add water and bring gravy too a quick boil, simmer for 2 mins
4. Add in Ingredients B, santan & bring to a quick boil again.
5. Simmer over medium heat for 5 mins or till vegetables are cooked, stirring occasionally.
6. Lastly, add in salt to taste.
7. Serve over cooked ketupat pieces or nasi himpit.

How To Get A Perfect Top Cake

All these years, I think I've only achieved an almost even flat top cake on 2 or 3 times. My cakes usually peaks and if I'm lucky enough, there would be no cracks.

I've been searching for the answers as to why the cake peaks and cracks, to which the answer are either:

• the oven temperature is too hot, causing the outside of the cake to bake and form a crust too quickly. As the mixture in the center of the cake continued to cook and rise, it burst up through the top of the cake,
• over mixing,
• too much flour,
• too little liquid, OR
• incorrect position of rack in oven.

And only recently I stumbled into this product by Wilton - Bake Even Strips. This strip is used to achieve a perfect level of cake.


Wilton's Bake Even Strips

How does this work?

Simply dampen the strips and wrap around the pan before baking. The moisture in the strips keeps the edges of the pan cooler for perfectly level cake.

Sadly to say, Wilton's products are not widely available in Malaysia. Even if it is, it's going to be very costly. Again, I googled for alternatives to the bake even strips and voila! I found this tip - using an old towel in replace of the Wilton strips will do just almost the same trick.

Now here comes the exciting part. I looked for an old hand towel which is long enough to wrap around my 8" pan. Then I cut it into half along the long edge, folded 3 times, wet it (squeeze out the excessive water), wrapped it around the pan and secure it with 2 pins. Pour in the batter and into the oven it went.



Outcome of the cake with the towel wrapped around the pan





An almost perfect flat top cake!


I did this with 2 pans, and while the first came out with an almost perfect flat top cake, the other still had a little peak. But at least this is a lot better than having to cut a lot of the cake to get a flat top cake for decorating purposes. And the best part, this tool is almost absolutely free!!

Give yourself a try today! Happy baking! :)

Vanilla Butter Cake

Ever since venturing into fondant decorating, I kept finding myself looking for excuses to bake and decorate a cake. But I can't be possibly decorating all the cakes which are meant for only normal consumption right? So I offered to bake a cake for my cousin's ROM. Not only she accepted but in return she commissioned for a cake for her friend's wedding too! I have to be frank, pressure is on. Even more so for my hubby! Hehe.. because he knows if I can't get a good recipe, then my mood swings faster than a F1 car!

The cake flavour that was requested was a vanilla cake. I googled for some recipes and decided to try out the recipe posted by Joy of Baking. Recipe was easy and I must say it's indeed yummy and moist even after 3 days! So yes, this recipe is going into the KEEP box!

Moist Vanilla Cake

Vanilla Cake
as seen and adapted from Joy of Baking

What You'll Need:

345 grams sifted all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

226 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

315 grams granulated white sugar (I have reduced the sugar by 35 grams)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

240 ml room temperature milk

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

2. In a bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, (or with a hand mixer) beat the butter until soft and creamy (about 1-2 minutes).

4. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

7. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour.

8. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.

9. Bake 27 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.

10. Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack. Remove the parchment or wax paper and re-invert cakes so that tops are right side up. Cool completely before frosting.


Oh yeah, this is the outcome of the decorated cake. And I'm glad the newly weds and their guests loved it as much as I do! :)

So, happy baking!

He's now a pre-schooler

In a blink of an eye, K-boy is already 30 months old. We've been trying to get him a spot in a playschool near my work place since early this year but we had to be in the waiting list. It's not that the school is that famous till it has a long waiting list, but it's because we weren't sure if we wanted to send him to one at all when the schools were busy with their registration of new student intake.

Early this month we received a call saying that there's an empty spot, and that we could bring K-boy for a 2-day trial run, If everything goes well, he could just continue on with the program instead of waiting for the next month.

We started prepping him for playschool - telling him the activities he would be doing there and all, but being a first timer, what does he know about going to school? All he could give in response was just to nod his head whenever we asked him if he would like to go to school... I guess he must be thinking that going to school is like what he had seen in Barney.

All ready and set for school

On the first day of trial, he did get some 'culture shock' with so many kids, teachers and rules to follow. He was clinging to me most of the time, until it was time to play with the slides and all. He didn't even bother to look for me, and was enjoying himself and started mingling with other kids. Then the teacher suggested that I sneak away, which I did and ended up feeling awfully terrible for doing so. As I was driving away, I could imagine how he must have felt being abandoned by me. True enough, when I returned to pick him up, he cried like the floodgate went burst! Even more guilty! So, note to self and hubby, never ever do that again although he's going to cry when we leave.

2nd day was almost similar, but slightly better. And by the third day, he started to have adjusted himself more at the playschool. So we decided to go ahead and enroll him into the school. And by the end of the week, he only gave a fake-cry when we picked him up from school.

And now, after 3 weeks down the road, he's enjoying himself at school and becoming more independent and learning a lot of new vocabs too! Seeing him getting to learn something while having fun made me feel I've done the right decision in sending him to a playschool  even before the age of 3. :)

Bananas and Constipation

All these years we’ve been told by our grandparents/parents/elders that if you have constipation, take bananas or prunes. This remained as a rule of thumb for me, until when I was told that bananas can actually cause constipation in babies / kids. So, when I shared this info with my elders, they went “Really? But we’ve never come across such situations before.”

I’ve got to admit, when I shared this info with my family, I didn’t really do much research on it myself as I’ve got this piece of info from my friends –who are a mom themselves, who does extensive research when it comes to diets for children, and also because I was lazy. So I did look a bit like a fool without much evidence or solid reasons and facts to back me up.

I did some research on my own finally since I had some leisure time yesterday, and there are some interesting information that I’ve gathered.

Let me begin with some facts of bananas.

Photo from healthmetz.com

o   Bananas are rich in minerals – potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and some other minerals in small amounts.

o   Bananas are rich in vitamins – Folate, Niacin, Vitamin K, C, B6, E and some other vitamins in small amounts.

o   One medium banana contains 1.29 grams of protein, 105 calories and 3.1 grams of dietary fiber.

o   Bananas are high in soluble fiber that helps bowel movement

o   The potassium in ripe bananas helps to alleviate diarrhea since it replaces needed electrolytes

o   Fructooligosaccharide are found in bananas; an enzyme producing compound that assists in natural digestion and hinders the fermentation of bananas once inside the intestinal tract; this helps to prevent constipation in some cases

o   The ripeness of a banana will determine whether or not it will make you constipated when it is consumed.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2664942, http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html

Ok, now it seems like banana plays both role of causing and aiding constipation.  An article in http://www.buzzle.com further explains the dual role that banana plays.

“Bananas Alleviating Constipation:

Bananas are one of the best-selling fruits across the globe. Cherished for their nutrient value these fruits are available in several sizes and colors. Loaded with ample amounts of potassium, calcium, zinc, copper and other vitamins and minerals, bananas are also high in fiber content. Dietary fiber is in the form of pectin, which increases the bulk of the bowels, so as to conduce to proper bowel movement. One banana furnishes the body with fifteen percent of the body's daily fiber requirement. Thus, consuming bananas helps furnish the body with adequate amounts of dietary fiber, thereby facilitating good bowel movement and preventing constipation issues.

Bananas Conducing to Constipation:

So if bananas actually alleviate constipation by furnishing the body with dietary fiber, how then can it be responsible for triggering constipation? The truth here is that though ripe bananas relieve constipation, the unripe bananas spearhead constipation. Unripe or green bananas are difficult for the body's digestive system to digest. Moreover, the pieces of unripe bananas block the digestive tract, thereby leading to uneasiness along with constipation. The high starch content also contributes to the constipation. “

The article also mentioned that in order to maintain a healthy bowel movement, it is important to not have more than one to two bananas in a day. As bananas have starch contents, hence having more bananas will only bind the stools together and absorb water from the digestive tract instead which then leads to constipation.

Having that said, ripe yellow bananas with brown spots don’t stop diarrhea but enhance it instead. This is due to the high fiber content in ripe bananas. So, in the event of diarrhea, take only raw bananas as it will bind the loose stool together and replenish the lost electrolytes.

Photo from ucanr.org
1- Green: unripe, 4 - Yellow with Green Tips: partially ripe and can be used for broiling, baking or frying, 6 - All yellow: ripe and can be eaten raw. Great for pudding, cakes and pies, 7 - Yellow with brown flecks: completely ripe and perfect for salads, bread and eating raw (http://www.everydaycook.com/recipebox/tipbox/food/ripebananas.htm)

Now this has made me understand bananas’ roles better. So, does this mean we can safely feed one banana a day to our babies? Then again, the site did mention that usually doctors do not recommend giving bananas to babies if they are having constipation. Hmm...

Every adult has different reaction to food, and it’s the same with babies. I guess the best way is to start at a small scale when introducing them to babies, say a quarter of a very ripe banana? Now, this is strictly my personal guesstimate and same as other type of food to be introduced, it takes trial and error before knowing what food and amount reacts best to our little ones. Happy experimenting! :)

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

I came across this recipe from The Little Teochew, and I just couldn't resist in baking it after seeing the light and fluffy photos of the cake taken by the writer.

To be honest, this is the 2nd time that I'm baking this cake, but yet both results are not up to my expectation. This recipe calls for water bath and since my oven is a tad too small for this, hence the cake got browned before the entire cake was completely cooked. Nevertheless, the cake tastes yummy, and half the cake was gone in just 10 minutes! Perhaps the next round I'll try making this at my in-law's place since the oven is bigger. Hehe.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
(seen in The Little Teochew & Diana's Dessert)


What You'll Need:

• 140g fine granulated sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 50g butter
• 250g cream cheese
• 100ml fresh milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (I omitted this)
• 60g cake flour
• 20g corn flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

How To:

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.

2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add the egg whites to the cheese mixture and fold well. Pour into a 8-inch round springform cake pan or removable-bottom cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper). Wrap the base of your cake tin with aluminium foil, to prevent seepage.




4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degree celsius.

*Note: From my experience with water bath, it's safer to wrap the base of the cake tin with at least double layer of aluminium foil.

Happy baking! :)

Devil's Food Cake: A Moist Chocolate Cake

A search for a moist chocolate cake recipe is definitely not easy, especially when you have to bake it and test it out for yourself if the moistness claimed is as per what you are expecting it to be. What more, when hubby suggested to have chocolate cake as my mother in law's birthday cake. Pressure is on, and the frantic search began. Tried two recipes but they ended up in a disaster.

I was at the verge of giving up till I was browsing through this book, The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I was pretty impressed by the way he put the book together - writing his experiences in baking along the way and filled with detailed instructions which are hard to come by these days which is one reason why I seldom buy recipes books from the bookstore anymore. However, this book is an exceptional, and I'm so going to keep this book.

So, I was looking at other recipes initially, till this title and photo caught my eyes

Pretty isn't it? Too bad, my dressing skills are not that good yet, so I dressed it with fondant. 

And this is how my cake looks like... nowhere near the professional done-up cake. :p

Anyway, this is the recipe:

Devil's Food Cake

Makes one 9-inch (23-cm) 2-layer cake, about 12 servings

CAKE BATTER

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 ounces (75 grams) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup milk or buttermilk
• Two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans, 2 inches (5 cm) deep, buttered and the bottoms lined with disks of parchment or buttered wax paper cut to fit

Author's Note:

"This is an American classic, and this is about the best recipe I’ve ever come up with for it.

A devil’s food cake should be very chocolatey and also very moist, two qualities that don’t often coincide in this type of cake. Using brown sugar here makes all the difference—it makes the cake super moist and also boosts the chocolate flavor."

How To: 

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well to mix.

3. Combine the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the paddle on medium speed until lightened in color and texture, 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the cooled chocolate.

5. Decrease the mixer speed to lowest and add 1⁄3 of the flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and paddle.

6. Beat in half the milk and stop and scrape the bowl and beater.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 adding half of the flour and the remaining milk. Stop and scrape. Beat in the remaining flour mixture.

8. Increase the speed to medium and beat the batter continuously for 3 minutes.

9. Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake the layers until they are well risen and feel firm when pressed in the centre with a fingertip, 25 to 30 minutes.

10. Cool in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold, turn right side up again and cool completely on racks.

Venturing into Fondant Decorating

For the number of years I've been baking (although I'm still nowhere expert), I've never dressed a cake before. In the recent 2 years, fondant cake decorating has become more and more popular and these cakes don't come cheap. I though instead of buying one, it'll be better if I take a short course on it and decorate the cake myself but I can just never seem to find time for it.

As my mom and sister's birthday are drawing near, I thought it will be nice to bake them a nicely decorated cake. So, I googled up and search tutorial videos in YouTube (thank god for technology) on decorating a cake with fondant. Kept watching videos over videos for numerous times until I feel I'm confident to start a project on my own.

While the videos look easy, but when it comes to the actual work, boy it's not as easy as it seems.

For such a simple decoration, and for a novice like me, it took close to 2 hours for me to complete it.

Last week, I did another round of baking & decorating a birthday cake and this time it was for my mother-in-law. The process was somewhat quicker I guess but I did the baking and decorating on the same day. The whole process was about 6 hours - two rounds of cake baking in a small electric oven, cooling the cake, crumb coating, and decorate. Now I know why these cakes cost a bomb - especially with the amount of work to decorate. A friend told me "You'll won't appreciate a decorated cake till you've decorated one yourself." And she was so true!!

So this is my 2nd fondant decorated cake project.

The next project will be in another few months time I guess, and hopefully I will have time to decorate a cake for K-girl's 1st birthday. :)

K-boy at 29 months

Yesterday, a small conversation between K-boy and I went like this:

K: Hmm.. iPad leh (Where's iPad?)
M: Oh.. iPad is not here boy.
K: Oh.. iPad go 'gai-gai' already (iPad went out already)
M: *almost choked on my drink* Haha... Ya, iPad go 'gai-gai' already.

His randomness never fails to amuse me as he adds more words into his vocab bank.

REVIEW: Leifheit Egg Separator

All these while, when a recipe calls for separated egg whites and yolks, I've been using my ol' trusted hands to do the work as the el-cheapo egg separator that I have at home doesn't seem to perform what it is supposed to. Before the yolk is separated, it seeped through the gaps and I get a whole egg again in the bowl. Dang.

The el-cheapo egg separator that I have

As I was scouting around at the baking supplies corner in Jaya Grocer Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya, my favourite past time when I'm out for lunch alone, I saw this awesome egg separator by Wilton which promised hassle free egg separating. It does look pretty good and one that would do it's job properly, but I was taken aback at it's price of RM50 plus! Now for that price, I had to reconsider, and I did some research online. From the reviews in Wilton's website, it seems that this product works best with cold eggs. Room temparature egg's yolk will still seep through the gap. Now that explains why the cheapo egg separator didn't perform what it's supposed to. O'well. I guess I'll just stick to using my pair of hands to separate the eggs.

Wilton Egg Separator

Few days ago, I was browsing the kitchen/baking supplies section in Parkson Subang Parade and I saw this! Leifheit Egg Separator. I was immediately drawn to it and fell in love with it at first sight. Why? Simply because this separator doesn't have any gaps and my yolks won't seep through.

So how is this thing going to separate the yolk if there is no gap you may wonder. I'll let the following pictures tell you how.

Crack the egg at the edge

Egg in the separator

And this is how you separate the egg

Simple isn't it? Now I won't have to worry if the egg is in cold/room temparature and I still get to separate the eggs easily without mess. And the best part, it costs only half the price of Wilton's.

My verdict: This egg separator definitely made egg separating easy without mess! Definitely a good buy!

"Clear Water" Sponge Cake

"Clear Water" Sponge Cake. Don't ask me why the name. I have no idea myself too.

Stumbled upon this recipe in this nice little blog "The Little Teochew" while I was searching for some nice fluffy sponge cake recipe. The photos taken by the author, Ju, is so tempting, I just had to bake some myself!

 

The rising cuppies!

The cuppies are done! They 'deflated' somehow.. hmm..

The yummy cotton soft fluffy sponge cake!

 

These cuppies were cotton soft, fluffy and not forgetting yummy too! It's like another version of the steamed Chinese Sponge Cake (鸡蛋糕).  Okay, here's the recipe and they are easy to make. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

 

The Recipe
(Originally from here, seen at Cook.Bake.Love and The Little Teochew)
What You'll Need

(A)
- 3 egg yolks 蛋黄
- 1 whole egg 全蛋
- 50g corn oil 粟米油

(B)
- 50g low protein flour (cake flour) 低粉（蛋糕粉）

(C)
- 3 egg whites 蛋白

(D)
- 50g castor sugar 细砂糖
- Dash of salt 盐

How To
1) Beat (A) till well mixed with an egg beater. 用打蛋器打匀(A)。

2) Sift in (B), mix well. 筛入(B)拌匀。

3) Whisk (C) till frothy, add (D) and beat till stiff peaks. 把(C)打至粗泡加入(D)打至干性发泡。

4) Fold in the egg white mixture to egg yolk mixture in 3 additions, mix till well combined. Scoop the batter into paper cups till 60% full. 蛋白霜分3次和蛋黄糊拌匀，用小勺装进纸杯至6分满。

5) Bake in preheated oven at 150C for about 18-20mins. 烤箱预热150度，烤18-20分钟左右

Note:
* I used Superfine flour instead of normal cake flour
* I omitted the salt
* The cake will pull away from the paper cups once cooled. Probably that's why my cuppies deflated. O'well.. as long as they tasted yummy! :)

The 6th month check point!

Ok, I have to admit that I'm slacking in updating the developments of my two lil pumpkins. Having 2 kiddos is certainly a handful and makes you wonder where on earth did the hours go everyday. In a blink of an eye, my baby K-girl is already 6 months old and it also marked my successful journey on breastfeeding her exclusively too! K-girl is now weighing at a healthy weight of 8kg! *beaming with pride*

This little girl's development is considered relatively faster than K-boy as he was a premature baby. At merely 1.5 months, she is able to hold her head & pushes her upper body up for a good 5 seconds during her tummy time! At 3 months plus, she began to try to roll over but only suceeded 2-3 weeks later, probably due to her heavy bum-bum. Hehe.

And now at 6 months of age, instead of trying to sit supported steadily, she's trying to get herself ready to crawl! I think she's going to skip the whole "learn-to-sit-unsupported-first-then-crawl" part which I am looking forward to so much.

Looks like I'll have to start chasing after the little "rabbit" soon once she finds her newfound freedom.

At 1 month old

Trying to roll over at 3.5 months old

Doing her "yoga" pose at 6 months old

Oh, and did I mention she's sprouting two white pearlies and starting her semi-solids now? More on that later. Gotta clock off now. :)

Chinese Sponge Cake (鸡蛋糕)

On and off I've been missing the Chinese Sponge Cake which my late grandma used to make during Chinese New Year and Cheng Beng Festival (The Chinese' all souls' day). And somehow, the ones that I buy outside don't really taste quite the same. So when my friend shared her recipe in her blog, Alesia The Home Cook, I was jumping with joy!

I decided to make Chinese Sponge Cake cuppies as it would be easier for K-boy to hold and the lazy me don't have to cut the cakes prior to bringing them over to the babysitter's place. So, I halved the recipe for this one. For the original recipe, click here.

Recipe

What You'll Need3 eggs
130 grams  or 3/4 cup of caster sugar
150 grams or 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, sifted twice
63 ml ice cream soda

How To
1. Prepare the steamer or wok while you work on the batter.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar using a hand beater or mixer or a wire whisk until the mixture turns pale and fluffy or double in volume.
3. Divide flour into three portions and fold in the flour alternating with the soda drink, ending with the flour.
4. Pour the batter into the muffin/cake paper cups. Place the cups on a stainless steel/metal dish.
5. Steam on high for 15-20minutes.
6. Leave the cake to cool.

Note:
* I have tried replacing ice cream soda with 7-Up before but still ice cream soda wins hands down as it gives the cake a nice fragrant!

Mini Baked Orange Doughnuts

One of my favourite past time during lunch hour is to go baking-supplies-browsing / grocery shopping at Jaya Grocer which is just across my office. So while I was browsing the products at the baking supplies aisle, this cute little pan caught my attention!

 

Wilton Mini Doughnut Pan

For a moment I thought to myself, "I thought doughnuts are supposed to be fried?". I flipped the pan, and I saw a recipe provided at the back of the packaging. Baked doughnuts seemed to be a good idea and a healthier choice for my kiddo. Although the pan is rather expensive, RM60+, but I still bought it anyway.

And being me, I waited anxiously for the weekend to come so that I could try out the pan and the recipes (I googled a few more!). I found this recipe which was also adapted from Wilton, so I decided to try it out.

 

 

See how cute the doughnuts turned out to be! And the texture is soft and fluffy with a very nice orange fragrant. I decorated some of them to make them attractive for the lil kiddo, but to my surprise he loves 'em plain and had 4 pieces at one go! So, here's the recipe:

 

MINI BAKED ORANGE DOUGHNUTS

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. of vanilla

METHOD:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl combine sugar and orange zest until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in sugar mixture.
4. Add buttermilk, egg, butter, and vanilla and stir until just combined.
5. Fill each donut cup approximately half full. For easier filling, add the batter to a piping bag and pipe it into the pan.
6. Bake 4–6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched.
7. Let cool in pan for 4–5 minutes before removing. Decorate the doughnuts with glaze, sprinkles, or cinnamon sugar.

Note:
* Even though the pan is some-what like a non-stick pan, but it's best grease the pan before hand either with butter or baking spray.
* The left-over buttermilk in the carton can be freezed and kept until the next usage. Thaw entirely before using.

Chocolate Chips Pancakes

Woke up early this morning, and was thinking of whipping up a quick breakfast for the lil kiddo. Oh, I haven't been making pancakes for a long time now. So again, I searched BBC Good Food for a yummy, quick and easy recipe. Hmm.. American Blueberry Pancakes with a 5-star from 149 ratings sounds good. Dang. I didn't stock up on blueberries. O'well, I'll just replace them with Chocolate chips then.

The pancakes turned out to be so fluffy and yummy, that the lil kiddo had 3 at one go!

Chocolate Chips Pancakes

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
300ml milk
knob butter
100g chocolate chips
sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
golden or maple syrup

Method

1.Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in the chocolate chips.

2.Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup.

For original recipe, click here.

Chocolatey-Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chinese New Year is round the corner, and apart from the spring cleaning and house decorating to get into the CNY mood, baking is another good way to get myself into the CNY mood. However, now with 2 kids, I could no longer bake some varieties of cookies for the festive season. So I have decided to bake some chocolate chips cookies over the weekend, and found this yummy recipe from All Recipes.com. I've always loved the choc-orange combo, thus I've made some changes to the recipe.

Chocolatey-Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

INGREDIENTS
225 g butter, softened
270 g white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
250 g all-purpose flour
55 g cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange
335 g semisweet chocolate chips
60 g almond nibs

METHOD

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, orange zest and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and almonds. Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

For original recipe, click here.