Black Forest Cake

Daddy's birthday was coming up and he specifically requested for Black Forest cake this time. And the search for recipe began.

A quick fact about Black Forest Cake:

Black Forest Cake or Black Forest gâteau is the English name for the German dessert Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte - "Black Forest Cherry Torte" literally.

It is made of several layers of chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherries sandwiched in between each layer. Traditionally, Kirschwasser (a clear liquor distilled from tart cherries) is added to the cake. Then the cake is usually decorated with additional whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate shavings. However, Black Forest cakes sold in Malaysia are alcohol-free.

So here we are, my first attempt on Black Forest cake and amateur-ly decorated.

This recipe from allrecipes.com is pretty good although I find the cake texture is not as light as I would have expected it to be. Nevertheless I will still give a 4 star rating for this with the thumbs-up that I've gotten. :)

Black Forest Cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)

What You'll Need:

Cake Batter

2 1/8 cups (265g) all-purpose flour

2 cups (400g) white/brown sugar

3/4 cup (88g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup (236ml) milk

1/2 cup (118ml) vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cherry Filling

2 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour morello cherries

1 cup (200g) white sugar, or as to taste 

1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch

Frosting

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups (720ml) heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup (40g) confectioners' sugar

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake for 35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.

4. Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool completely before using.

5. Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.

6. With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside. Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. 

7. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer. Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake

Note: 

1. I used about 80g sugar for the cherry filling as I was using 1 can of sour pitted cherries and 1 can of stoneless black cherries in syrup. The cherry filling is best cooked a night before assembling the cake.

Both can be found in Jaya Grocer supermarket

2. You can leave the mixing bowl and the whisk in the fridge a night before to save time.

Read More

Carrot Cake

Mom-in-law's birthday was coming up and I asked the mister on what cake to make this year. "Carrot cake," so he said.

Time for me to try new recipe as well instead of the same old cakes. Google-d a number of carrot cake recipes, and I saw this recipe featured in BBC GoodFood. By far, this recipe calls for the least number of spice. And it is fairly easy to make. Oh, did I mention that the recipe is rated 5 stars with a whopping 683 ratings?

I did make some adjustments to the recipe here and there. For the original recipe, click here.

What You'll Need:

For the Cake

• 165g light muscovado sugar
• 175ml sunflower oil
• 3 large eggs , lightly beaten
• 140g grated carrots 
• 90g raisins
• grated zest of 1 large orange
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¾ tsp ground cinnamon

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 125g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 50g icing sugar
• 250g cream cheese

How To: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square or round cake tin with baking parchment.

2. Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.

3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients - when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.

5. For the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar together until soft and then beat in the cream cheese. Chill the mixture until it's thick but spreadable. Spread a thick layer on top of the cake, making sure the side of the icing is flat and continues upwards from the side of the cake. Or you may pipe the frosting to decorate as desired.

Read More

Cornflakes with Chocolate Chips Cookies

This is another one of my favourite to-bake cookies for the Chinese New Year or even just for normal consumption - Cornflakes with Chocolate Chips Cookies.

I have been having this recipe since the schooling days, so long ago that I can't remember the source of the recipe.

Anyhow, this is a recipe that is worth sharing.

Cornflakes with Chocolate Chips Cookies

Cornflakes with Chocolate Chips Cookies

What You'll Need:

• 210g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 225g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes
• 1 cup chocolate chips

How?

1. Preheat oven to 170 C
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt
3. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy
4. Add eggs and vanilla essence. Mix well.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix well.
6. Add in cornflakes and chocolate chips.
7. Spoon dough into the cookie tray.
8. Bake in 170 C for about 15 minutes.

 

Read More

Buttery Bread Rolls

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of bread. But since the kiddos like eating them, I will just make what they like. So here I am, searching for different types of bread and bun recipes every now and then.

These buttery bread rolls are just simply awesome. Especially when they are just out fresh from the oven!The aroma is just oh-so-nice.




Buttery Bread Rolls


And the texture is soft & fluffy too. Making it living up to its 5-star rating reviews.

Buttery Bread Rolls

as seen in www.food.com

What You'll Need:

1 cup warm milk (70 to 80 degrees F.)

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups bread flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

How?

1. In bread machine pan, put all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer.
2. Select dough setting.
3. When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
4. Divide dough into 24 portions.
5. Shape dough into balls.
6. Place in a greased 13 inch by 9 inch baking pan.
7. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Read More

Chinese Walnut Cookies / Hup Toh Sow (合桃酥)

CNY is round the corner and that means I have to start thinking of what to bake besides cleaning up and decorating the house.

Last year I tasted some good Chinese Walnut Cookies from Australia Cake House in Seapark, so I've decided to bake some this year. If I couldn't get any good recipe of it, I will just have to buy from them.

After searching on the WWW,  I came across this simple recipe and decided to try it out. It took me 2 rounds of testing & tweaking before I finally get the aromatic taste and "loose" and crunchy texture that I wanted.

So, here's the recipe.

Chinese Walnut Cookies (合桃酥)

Chinese Walnut Cookies (合桃酥)

adapted from My Kitchen Snippets and No-Frills Recipes

What You'll Need:

(edited 28 Jan 13)

140 gm butter (salted, room temperature)
2 tsp peanut oil
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
250 gm self-raising flour
80 gm caster sugar
75 gm coarsely chopped roasted walnuts
1 egg beaten + a pinch of salt, for glazing

How?

1. Sift the self-raising flour into a mixing bowl.

2. Cut in the butter; add in the sugar, peanut oil, vanilla essence and the chopped walnuts.

3. Mix thoroughly till the dough does not stick onto the hands.

4. Pinch off some dough and lightly form into a ball, make a small dent in the centre. Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet, leaving some room between each biscuit.

5. Brush them with beaten egg wash.

6. Bake in preheated oven 190 degree C or 350 degree F for about 30 to 35 minutes or till golden brown.(Mine was in bite size, so I baked for about 15 minutes to reach golden brown)

7. Cool completely before storing in cookie jar.

Read More

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

A good activity to kill time during the weekends with your toddler: Cookies making. :)

K-boy decorating the cookies to Xmas theme

The X-mas theme cookies

Vanilla Sugar Cookies (as seen in foodnetwork.com)

Yield approx 12 3-inch cookies

What You'll Need:

• 2 1/3 cups plus 2 tbsp (11 oz) All purpose flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 cup Unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (4 oz) Granulated sugar
•  1 Large egg
• 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract

 

How?

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside

 

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

 

3. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat until the dough just comes together, being careful not to over mix.

4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Place the ball of dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Keeping the dough in the parchment, transfer to a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (I put in the freezer for 15 mins instead)

6. Preheat oven to 350 F

7. Cut out the cookies in the desired shapes and place on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper or an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet, at least 1 inch apart. Transfer to the freezer and chill for at least 15 minutes or until they are stiff.

8. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown, about 10 minutes.

9. Let cookies cool completely on the sheets before decorating. (They will still be soft when they come out of the oven and may break or become misshapen if they are moved off the sheet before cool.)

Variations:
Citrus cookies : add 1 tsp of finely grated lemon or orange zest to the butter and sugar mixture in step 1

Almond cookies : replace the vanilla with 1 tsp of pure almond extract

Hot tip:
This dough can be made up to 2 weeks ahead of time. Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper, wrap in plastic and freeze. Defrost until the dough is pliable enough to cut, about 10-15 mins. Continue from step 6.

Read More

Homemade Pizza

With a bread maker at home now, I can toy with the idea of making homemade pizza.

Searched for the dough recipe online, and found a recipe in www.food.com.

 

And ta-dah! Here's my first attempt of homemade pizza with 2 flavours - salmon & mushrooms with tomato base for the kids; Beef, capsicum & mushrooms with tomato base for us adults. It's so easy to make that K-boy enjoyed helping out!

 

Salmon & Mushroom for the kids

Beef, Capsicum & Mushroom for us

 



Pizza Dough for Bread Machine

What You'll Need:

200ml water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 3/4 teaspoons dry yeast/ instant yeast

How?

1. Place ingredients in the exact order listed above into the bread machine pan. IMPORTANT - Do not mix ingredients!
 
2. Set machine to dough setting and press start. (My machine took 1.5 hrs to finish the cycle)
 
3. When bread machine has completed the cycle, roll dough on a lightly floured surface into a 25 cm round for a thick base pizza or into two x 20cm rounds for a thinner base pizza.
 
4. Place onto a lightly greased baking tray and dress with your favourite topping.
 
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/400°F/mark 6 for 12-15 minutes or until base is cooked and toppings heated through. 

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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! :)

Read More

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!

Read More

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! :)

Read More

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.

Read More

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. :)

Read More

"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! :)

Read More

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!

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

Double Chocolate Cake Loaf

This recipe was adapted from BBC Good Food, my "official" favourite recipe site (ever since I found the yummy New York Cheese Cake recipe from them) as they have loads of yummy tested recipes! Even my hubby commented that this cake is some great stuff!

Double Chocolate Cake Loaf

Now, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
* 175g softened butter , plus extra for greasing
* 155g caster sugar
* 3 eggs
* 140g self-raising flour
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 100ml milk
* 4 tbsp cocoa powder
* 50g plain chocolate chips or chunks

Method

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with a long strip of baking parchment. To make the loaf cake batter, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, flour, baking powder, milk and cocoa until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, then scrape into the tin. Bake for 45-50 mins until golden, risen and a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.

For full original recipe, click here.

Read More

Moist Butter Orange Cake

Baked a butter orange cake 2 weeks back, and this recipe is another keeper too! Hubby gave another perfect 10 for this one :)

Orange Cake Recipe by Amy Beh

* 150g butter
* 100g castor sugar
* Grated rind of 1 orange
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Sifted
*125g self-raising flour
* 1/8 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp milk powder

Method

Ingredients

1. Grease sides and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven at 170C.
2. Cream butter, sugar and orange rind until light and creamy.
3. Beat in one egg at a time, adding a little flour if the mixture begins to curdle.
4. Beat in orange juice till well combined.
5. Sift in flour mixture, half-portion at a time. Mix well on lowest speed until well combined.
6. Turn mixture out into prepared tin and level the surface with a spatula.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Leave the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Read More