Pandan Muffin

Had initially wanted to bake a Nutella Cake when I am home in the evening but it suddenly rained in the afternoon... The gloomy and wet weather makes me kinda lazy so I decided to make something easier and settle for this Pandan Muffin. The recipe is from Kitchen Capers forum.

Ingredients:

200gm self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

100gm sugar

200ml pandan coconut milk (I added pandan paste to the coconut milk)

80ml cornoil

2 eggs

Methods:

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl.

2. Beat eggs then add in oil and pandan coconut milk.

3. Pour the eggs mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Do not overmix.

4. Fill up lined muffin pans up to 90% full.

5. Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes or until cooked.

Although this is suppose to be a muffin, it is soft and spongy, unlike those traditional muffin which is more dense and heavy. But I like this, and I think my mum will like it too...

Simple Chocolate Sponge Cake

Came back from work today and made this simple Chocolate Sponge cake. Was hoping it will rise nicely and not crack at the top. Luckily I was not disappointed although it has a slight dome in the centre. This recipe is modified from Aunty Yochana's Simple Sponge Cake as I prefer a chocolate version.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

120 gm sugar

85 gm cake flour

15 gm cocoa powder

65 gm cornoil  

Method:

(1) Whisk eggs and sugar till light and fluffy.

(2) Fold in the cake flour and cocoa powder lightly taking care not to deflate the eggs.

(3) Pour in cornoil and stir lightly.

(4) Pour into a 8" round cake tin and bake at 175C for about 40 mins or till a skewer comes out clean.

It looks fluffy just that there is a slight dome at the centre. I definitely need more practice to get an even level sponge cake.

Strawberry Shortcake and Walnut Coffee Cake

Valerie taught us the Strawberry Shortcake and Walnut Coffee Cake today. See how pretty the Strawberry Shortcake is? She said the traditional English Strawberry Shortcake is more hard, like a scone. But the modern ones uses sponge cake as the base, so it is softer. I think it is just like the muffin nowadays, some are more cake-like and not dense and heavy like those typical traditional muffins. I guess such changes is to fine-tune to people's preferences.

See the strawberries in between the soft and fluffy sponge cake? Think I will try making this soon.

Initially I was expecting the Walnut Coffee Cake to be of a butter cake texture. But turn out that this cake is of a sponge cake texture. This is something different from the usual walnut cake I ate which is heavier. I quite like this cake as it is lighter and not as oily.

Coconut Tarts and Brittany Puff Pastry Biscuits

Attended my first lesson with Richard Goh today and he taught us the Rich Chocolate Cake and Coconut Tarts. Instead of a cake tin, he uses muffin cups to bake the chocolate cake for easy distribution. Personally I did not find it very fantastic, maybe because it is supposed to be ate chilled and we ate it at room temperature.

However, the coconut tart is very tasty so I can't help it but went to get the ingredients after class and came home to bake some. Looks good right?

Been wanting to try the Brittany Puff Pastry Biscuits from Aunty Yochana's blog since I like pastry. I even borrowed some metal cookie cutters just to bake this biscuits as I did not have enough cookie cutters to bake them in. It is indeed fluffy and melts-in-the-mouth! Yummy!

But one thing to note is that this biscuits rises quite a fair bit so it is better to have a thinner dough. When I baked my first batch, I did not know this as the recipe did not state the thickness of the dough, end up the biscuits rises higher than the height of the cookie cutters. Nevertheless, it is still very tasty.

Chocolate Mousse Cake and Figs, Apricot and Orange Wholemeal Bread

Attended Patrick's class today for Figs, Apricot and Orange Wholemeal Bread and Chocolate Mousse Cake. This bread reminds me of those Hong Kong Bo Lo Bao. Ha! I personally do not fancy orange so I actually reduce the amount of orange peel in this bread. This is a crusty bread and I like the crispy texture and the taste of figs and apricot in every bite. I actually ate half the bread when I am home. Hehe... I will definitely make this bread again without the orange.

I pipe a simple design on the chocolate cake before filling with melted chocolate. It is still chilling in the fridge now, can't wait to try it tomorrow.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Initially I thought of making the Maltesers Muffins from Aunty Yochana's blog but the NTUC at my place ran out of Maltesers so there is a change of plan, I settle for the Chocolate Chips Muffins instead since I have all the ingredients at home. But I prefer it more chocolatey, so I substituted 20gm cocoa powder into the self-raising flour.

Quite pleased with the results as it cracked quite nicely at the top, and the inside is soft with bits of chocolate chips scattered evenly coz I do worry that the chocolate chips might sink to the bottom as I am not confident of my mixing skill. 

I will try to make the Maltesers Muffins again once I can get hold of some.

Chocolate Fudge Cake, Almond Parline and Cheese Topping & Kimchi Fried Rice

Yesterday I attended Valerie's Class on Chocolate Fudge Cake and Almond Parline and Cheese Topping. The fudge cake is sinfully delicious, even the plain sponge is soft and fluffy.

This is the Almond Parline and Cheese Topping.

In the evening, I tried making Kimchi Fried Rice based on the verbal instructions by Aunty Lucy. I personally find it rather tasty although it is a little wet. Maybe I added too much Kimchi gravy. The prawns were caught the previous day during prawning and were toasted with minced garlic and butter. Yummy! I even packed extra Kimchi Fried Rice to bring to work for lunch today. 

This Kimchi Fried Rice is my first attempt, I will definitely try again and improve on it.

Rich Moist Chocolate Cake, Ruby Marble Jelly & Black Cherry Cheese Cake

Went to Aunty's place today and she taught us how to make the Rich Moist Chocolate Cake, Ruby Marble Jelly & Black Cherry Cheese Cake.

Ain't the Ruby Marble Jelly pretty?

This is the Black Cherry Cheese Cake, you can't see the cherries as they are inside the cake.

As usual, here's Aunty's wide-spread of home made tea break for us:

Here's the Sarawak Cake Lapis as seen on her blog. Wonder how she made those pretty design...This Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake is so soft and tasty!

This is a marble cake. Sigh, when can I master the skill of making nice marbling effect like Aunty?

This is a Green Tea Mousse Cake, light and refreshing.

This is a Peach Cake.

Class today is quite short and ended within 2 hours. I think I will try making the Ruby Marble Jelly first since its been so hot lately. A cooling, nice and pretty dessert would be a good idea.

Muffins & Cupcakes Workshop

Attended a cupcake and muffin workshop by Judy Koh this afternoon. She shared many useful tips and information with us although she talks rather fast. First time bakers may be a little lost. We begin by making muffins. This is the banana muffin topped with chopped walnuts.

This is the blueberries muffin made with fresh and not canned blueberries. It is soft and moist, yummy!

We took a break before continuing with baking the cupcakes. This is a basic vanilla cupcake which we will later decorate.

Before we are on our own, Judy demostrated a few for us. These are Judy's creation:

A butterfly with wings using chocolate and body using cream cheese.

Ain't this rose sweet? It's hand-made petal by petal...

These are what I made:

It had been a tiring but satisfying day. The class ended an hour late as we can't finish our decorating on time. Tomorrow I will be attending another class, think I better rest early.

Teriyaki Chicken Wholemeal Burger

Learnt to make this delicious burger today.  The bread is soft and fragrant and it goes so well with the juicy piece of chicken.

The wholemeal bread freshly out from the oven. 

The chicken leg after cooking in teriyaki sauce, juicy and tender. Maybe I don't cook often, was quite surprised that cooking this chicken actually needs half an hour. Anyway the teriyaki sauce makes it so tasty that I don't mind making it and eat with a bowl of rice on a lazy weekend. Hehe...

Almond Cookies and Oreo Butter Cake

Yesterday night I made this super easy and yummy almond cookies while waiting for my favourite drama, CSI to show. The recipe is by Aunty Yochana and gives a melt-in-the-mouth texture which I simply love. Today when I let some of my colleagues taste it, they actually commented that it reminds them of Chinese New Year! Hehe... Yap, I am definitely making this for the coming Chinese New Year.

Came back early today and was flipping through my recipes collection to pick something easy to do. Normally I will not do anything too tedious on weekdays to tired myself out. Saw this Oreo Butter Cake which only consists of a few simply steps, and it is tasty too. It is moist and not as dense as the usual butter cake which I thought it will be.

Shitake Mushrooms and Onion Focaccia and Apple Almond Crumble Cake

Yesterday I attended a class for these 2 items. This is my first time learning from this instructor and I find his teaching very fast and definitely not suitable for beginners.  He seems to be in really bad mood too (as though his boss own his a few months salary!). Anyway, I find them not too bad, especially the Focaccia, the olive oil added a nice fragrant to it. I always find olive oil and bread is a perfect marriage.  

As for the Apple Almond Crumble Cake, I find it a little to the sour side (I admit I've got a sweet tooth).  Maybe I will change it to a mango version? Hehe...  But the crumble is very crispy and it can be used on apple pie as well.

After my two failed attempts on chiffon cake after attending Aunty Yochana's class, she is kind enough to coach me again. This is the result:

Light and fluffy... This is how a chiffon cake should be! Really happy! Hope I can still achieve this texture when I next try, purely sole. Haha!  She even gave me some banana cakes and pastry she made. She is such a sweet lady. I am looking forward to my next class with her this weekend.