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Hey peeps... so much has happened since last thursday that I dont even know where to start... first of.. if u hv been following my blog u wud hv known who Song is (works for my hubby).. he met with a terrible motorbike accident on thursday and we only got the news on friday afternoon that he was admitted to ICU.. we heard he was in bad shape! we were in shock; that it got me thinking abt Hairi who is now taking motorbike licence.. sigh... I told him to take up car licence but instead hes been taking motorbike licence behind my back (hb found lesson receipts).. I did confront him and he came back to me with his super duper answer... "I will get both licences lah mama" grrrrr


Anyway Song is now out of ICU and according to hb he can talk a little and cud reconised hb who went to visit him earlier today. (Song, extra big servings of Banana Muffins when you get out!)









Yesterday we went to the Zoo again and this time round sis Wati got all the family to go too.. we were there by half past 8 in the morning and thank goodness we were there early cos by 12pm .. the weather was starting to get scorching HOT!! yikes


Today we decided to take it easy and while hb was in NUH to visit Song.. I decided to try out another donut recipe...texture is super soft... different to ur norm donut taste.. dough was very easy to handle and most important of all.. it taste delish! hb ate lots and so did Hairi and Sonia.. and me of cos hehhe.. I decided not to use any topping this time round... only uses the good o'le icing sugar..









Well ok.. this will be my last baking entry.. I'm gonna go and start packing my luggage.. I will be blogging abt my trip fm tmrw onwards err well hopefully fm tuesday onwards since it will take me abt 18hrs to get there and our flight only leaves at night... soooo... see u guys in Vienna and Rome! Insya Allah..




Ingredients
500g bread flour
50g full cream milk powder
11g instant yeast
200g potato - steam and puree
100g sugar
75g butter - melted
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolks (i used 3 since thats all i'm left with)
100 ml cold water






Method
I "dumped" everything in my breadmaker... let it do its magic for 1:10 hr.. take it out... gv it a light punch.. roll dough.. use donut cutter to cut.. let it proof for a further half an hour or so .. deep fry donut and its ready to be serve with icing sugar or toppings..









If u wanna hv topping for the donut u can gv Vivi Liong topping recipe a try... its niceeeee!!

Milky Crunchy Topping
Ingredients
- 250g milk chocolate - cut into small pcs
- 50 ml fresh milk
- Coco crunch
- 20 gram cocoa powder

Method
Heat fresh milk and pour milk over chocolate
Glaze donut and top it up with coco crunch and cocoa powder


Source: Fatma Bahalwan - Natural Cooking Club
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Keeping it real with bolu kukus aka steam cupcakes aka steam sponge cake.. heres the deal.... few tips to get ur bolu merged like there is no tomorrow hahaha... unfortunately its in bahasa Indon.. so to those who need it in english pls do the google translate yah... in any case here is the awesome tips and step by step pic fm Ibu Lisa Basuki..







I decided to try out two of her bolu recipes using zebra cake technique... ya know just so i know which one to use for this weekend family outing.. both taste different.. the one that uses soft drinks is a little denser tho... I prefer the one that uses milk... nevertheless both taste good... so i guess i will use both recipes for this weekend..






Ingredients
2 eggs - 100g (mine weigh 110g)
250g caster sugar
1 tsp (8 g) emulsifier / SP
250g flour Key Blue or low-protein flour (cake flour)
50g corn flour
200 cc water/coconut water/milk/coconut milk (i used milk)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tbsp Chocolate Paste (i used 1tbsp)






Method
- Prepare the molds with paper cups
- Heat the steamer
- Beat the eggs, caster sugar and emulsifier until thick, if it looks heavy you may add liquid portion a little at a time.. do not use it all up tho
- Add flour and liquid alternately and continue to whisk till well blended
- Take 1/3 of batter and add chocolate paste, stir well, set aside
- Add vanilla essence to the white batter, set aside.
- Fill half of the mold with white batter... fill the rest with white and chocolate batter alternately (I use pipping bag) till its almost to the rim (7/8 full)
- Steam in a steamer over high heat for 15 minutes if ur using smaller paper cups, and 20-25 minutes for large paper cups.






Bolu Kukus Soft Drink





Ingredients
3 eggs (150 gr)
400 gr caster sugar (or regular sugar blend)
1 tsp (8 g) emulsifier / SP
1 / 2 tsp salt
450g Key Blue flour or low-protein flour (cake flour)
1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
300 cc of softdrink - Fanta or Sprite (i used soda water)
1/2 tsp banana essence (i used vanilla essence)
2 tbsp strawberry or other type of paste (i didnt use any)


Method
Same as above ... whisk sugar, eggs and emulsifier.. add salt.. add liquid and flour mixture alternately and continue to beat till thick. Add condense milk. To 1/3 batter add whatever paste u want and colour.. to the rest of the batter add whatever essence that u like.





Pic fm google.. The best type of mold for bolu kukus.. I am so gonna get this one when i go to Jakarta again heheh
20





I hv to clear a few things in my fridge bef Monday and that includes yogurt, thickened cream, double cream and also whipping cream.. I also hv like 1 big tub of egg whites in my fridge ... to throw them away means its a wastage.. to use it up to bake means I will hv to bake twice as much... and all my creams... its not that they are abt to expire... the thing is we will be away again fm Monday and hence the urgency for me to use it up by this weekend.








Anyway today I managed to use up my yogurt for my baking and cooking... one down a few more tub to go..

Carrot cake... all my life I hv never tasted it let alone bake it... baking something with carrot is something that I tried to avoid (Carrot = veggie).. well until last weekend when we were at Evita's place for brunch.. Alex (her hb) had baked a loaf of carrot cake and I decided to hv a slice and the first thing I asked him was... "Did u add mashed banana in ur carrot cake cos this cake tastes like banana cake?? he confirmed it and i got addicted.. anything with banana means good to eat lol








Sooo this recipe doesnt come fm Alex... I found this recipe in KG's blog.. she uses mashed bananas and I thought why not gv this recipe a try.. tastes almost the same as Alex's recipe.. a little denser tho.. but still I will force hb to ask Alex (hb's GM by the way) for his secret recipe :o))



Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (i added nutmeg powder too)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup walnuts - chopped
125 g butter - heated just to melt
3/4 cups dried dates - chopped finely (i used raisins)
3 ripe bananas - mashed (abt 1 1/2 cup)
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (i used plain yogurt)
2 large eggs - whisk lightly


Cream cheese frosting
200 gm cream cheese
125 gm butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice






Method
Preheat oven 175C.. grease 2 8x8 cake tin with parchment paper (i used bundt pan)
Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Stir in walnuts...set aside.
Stir dates into melted butter, spreading the dates, add the sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine the mashed bananas and carrots.
Stir in the dates mixture
Whisk in yogurt and eggs.
Add flour mixture and stir until everything is well incorporated.
Divide batter into 2 cake tins, bake for about 50 minutes.






Cream cheese frosting
Beat cream cheese and butter. Add in icing sugar. Whisk for a few minutes and add in vanilla and lemon juice.


Note: I decided not to frost my carrot cake eventho I hv 2 blocks of cream cheese... am taking it light today muahahha.. yeah right!
12





A simple banana cake recipe that has that melt in ur mouth texture... I decided on this recipe simply bec lots have tried baking it and supposedly its Mba Widya Andra Brown best seller sweet cakes.. dont ask me why but dont u think my banana cake looks like lapis lengit? hahhaha... love the texture and the taste.. love the combination of chocolate, banana and raisins.. I hope u like it too sis Wati!






Ingredients
- 200g margarine - add 1 tbsp butter ( I used 200g unsalted butter)
- 200g palm sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 egg whites - whisk till stiff peak
- 200g flour
- 2 tbsp full cream milk powder
- 1/4 tsp salt (I added)
- 100g dark cooking chocolate - chopped (I used Hershey chocolate chips)
- 3 medium-size banana (600g) - mashed (i used 350g)
- 1/4 tbsp double acting baking powder (3/4 tsp)
- 3 or 4 drops of banana essence (i used vanilla essence)
- raisins, almonds, cherries or cheese for topping






Method
Preheat oven 175C.. grease pan (i used two 30x10cm brownie pan)
Beat margarine and sugar till light and pale in colour
Add in egg yolk one at a time and continue to beat till well incorporated.
Fold in sifted flour, milk powder and double acting powder
Gently fold in stiff egg white and continue to mix till well combined
Add mashed banana and chopped chocolate - stir well
Lastly add banana essence..
Pour batter into baking pan and sprinkle with currants or cherries or almonds or just cheese according to taste
Bake for 35 minutes or till done.


Note: Next time i will use 16x16x6cm pan to get a higher cake

Source: NCC - Banana week
9





Every cake has its story... This recipe was recommended to me by Edina of Adorable cupcakes.. she left a comment on my Donna Hay brownie cheesecake entry and told me that I shud gv this recipe a try .. well today I decided to bake it.. started out baking this cake in an 8" cake pan and while its in the oven.. I began preparing the cheese frosting and ganache..








Once baked and cooled down.. I sliced the cake into two layers.. sandwiched it with cream cheese frosting, a thin layer of ganache and slice strawberries before placing another layer of cake.. I coated the whole cake with cream cheese.. let it set for a few minutes and poured the rest of the ganache on the cake.. now so far everything went as planned.. I was pretty excited to see the outcome and knew that this cake was gonna be a big hit.. for whatever reason... without even thinking.. I decided to move my cake to another plate and while doing that my cake slid out and landed on the other plate!! I was like.... geeeshhhhh!! didnt know what to do... the bottom layer broke into two! I was close to tears.. I shud hv waited a little longer till the frosting was set bef moving it.. I shud hv handled it with more care.. I shud.. I shud... :(((








I quickly took my wide cake spatula.. moved it to my flan dish.. poured the remaining ganache to cover the whole flan (thank goodness i had like 1/4 remaining ganache).. topped it with sliced strawberries and placed it in the fridge... phewwww








Was Edi right recommending me this recipe?? was it worth all the effort?? OH YESSSS!!!.. she was right when she described this cake as pure awesomeness! this cake is simply divine.. very rich in flavor.. moist and ohhhh so so yummy .. thank you Edi... I will definately be baking this cake again and again and of cos I will handle it with much more care too hehehhe



Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (i used valrhona)
3/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/4 tsp salt (i used 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (i used light brown sugar)
65 gram butter ( i used unsalted butter)
1 large egg - size A
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk (i used fresh milk and added lemon juice)
1/2 cup warm water


Methods
Preheat oven at 170C .. greased cake tin (i used 8".. next time i will use 7")
Sieve flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda, salt, and set aside.
Beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy, add egg.
Add dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder etc) alternately with liquid ingredients (buttermilk + warm water) in three portions
Add vanilla extract and continue to mix till well blended
Bake for about 30 minutes or until just cooked


Cream Cheese Frosting
250 g cream cheese (room temp)
125 g butter (room temp)
1 cup icing sugar - sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
juice of a squeezed slice of lemon, to rid the cheese taste

Beat cream cheese and butter, just until creamy, add the icing sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.


Chocolate Ganache
200 ml double cream with at least 30% fat content (i used Millac - 38% fat)
250 g dark chocolate, chopped finely (i used valrhona - 70%)
a pinch of salt

In a double boiler, warm double cream until just at boiling point, add chopped chocolate and salt and stir, when all chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and continue stirring until all well mixed.

Cool cake completely, spread the cream cheese frosting and pour cool ganache on top.



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Finally the busy weekend has ended.. we were invited to a wedding by the pool on Saturday.. a Sunday brunch and another wedding... we did our typical errands yesterday afternoon and did our marketing right after the last wedding invitation today... got home just after Magrib and here I am .. in bed with my lappy..


We had a wonderful time last night.. wasnt ur typical wedding dinner since it was the 2nd wedding for both bride and bridegroom.. the ever so famous Abby Sheikh was there to entertain us and let me tell u .. he is hillarious! The wedding was filled with laughter... the bride even organised a sort of "lucky draw" for all her guest... she had punjabi dancers to entertain her guests... it was fun... weather was super hot and Sonia kept wanting to take a dip in the pool lol.. she was running up and down and was sweating like there was no tomorrow!!


This morning I woke very early to prepare another batch of cream puff but this time i used double cream (whipping cream with 38% fat) for the vanilla pastry cream.. tasted a lot creamier.. took it to Alex and Evita's place for brunch.. everyone loved it and said it was delicious.. heeheheh that put a smile on my face... all the effort paid off! We got home at 2pm and after Zohor we fetched mom and dad to go to another wedding.


Anyway long story short... I am exhausted right now and gonna go to bed early.. so Gute Nacht, sit back and enjoy the photos taken during the wedding by the pool..



Dafinah and my little Sonia..

Sis Lyn aka the mohawk woman aka the mother of Danish and Dafinah.. tsk tsk how old are u again Lyn?? kah kah kah


My super duper mom ...gaya nampak?!! hahahah

Got to love Indian spread..

My one and only...

His one and only .. ahem hehehe



You girls all grown up ey cousins...





The aunties with Abby Sheikh..

The bride.. my sis Wati did her make up..

Dancing away.. bride and bridegroom... can u see my better half dancing the night away?? hahahha



Sonia with my BIL aka "ayah"
2




My super duper hb has begged me to make cream puffs for almost two weeks, it’s one of his favorite pastries. I finally had the time to make a special one, the recipe is fm Chef Safura Atan






So after eating 4 pcs in one go.. i know.. gross .. oh heck!... I am gonna describe this super wonderful recipe in one word... AWESOME!!!!!!!


Thank you.. thank you.. thank you to KG for sharing this wonderful recipe!! the best recipe ever... the vanilla pastry cream is to die for... arggghhhhh there goes all my diet kah kah kah


Please head over to Kitchen Guardian for recipe




Milk and vanilla pod




Egg yolks, cornflour, sugar, salt and whipping cream




Milk, water, flour, eggs, salt and butter




Do not line ur baking tray with baking paper.. lightly grease it and pipe batter.. fresh out of oven..




Pipe in vanilla cream pastry.. drizzle with melted chocolate..






Let it set in the fridge.. take it out and dust with icing sugar... YUM YUM!!





All the different names and varieties that come fm Pate A Choux.. Commonly known..Cream Puff.. profiteroles and eclairs..
9





A quick update... been more than a year since I last bake black forest cake and since I hv like half a bottle of optima flour that is abt to expire .. I decided to use it on my black forest cake... to be honest.. I much prefer chocolate chiffon cake as the base.. I always find the texture of sponge cake a little dry for black forest cake... thank god for the syrup and whipping cream.. at least my cake is still moist this time round!







Ingredients
(A)
250g chocolate sponge cake mix
250g eggs
60g milk
1tbsp chocolate emulco
(B)
70g corn oil


Topping and Filling
1 tin pitted cherries (halved, keep the syrup)
450ml whipping cream
12 pcs marashino cherries (didnt use)
Chocolate rice or grated cooking chocolate (optional)
Kirsche cherry brandy (optional)

Syrup, add in
1 tbsp cornflour
1tbsp caster sugar


Method
Sponge cake
- Line and grease a 9" round baking tin. Preheat oven at 180C
- Place ingredients (A) in a mixing bowl and whisk at slow speed for one minute... Increase to high speed and whisk for another six minutes
- Add in (B) beat at low speed until well combined
(I used optima flour and added 2tbsp of cocoa powder to get chocolate sponge mix - shud hv just added the cocoa powder cos the taste of chocolate emulco was a little overpowering)
- Pour into prepared tin and bake for 35 - 40mins. Cool cake and slice into three layers horizontally.


Topping and filling
Drain out juice fm cherries and leave aside. Cut cherries into two and strain
Put juice in a pot and add in sugar and cornflour. Stir until combined and cook over low fire until slightly thickend. Stir constantly while cooking. Leave to cool
Whip the cream until stiff






To assemble:
Place a slice of cake onto cake board. Sprinkle with kirsche (i used simple syrup). Spread a layer of whipped cream and syrup then decorate with cherries. Repeat with 2nd layer of cake, kirsche, cream, syrup and cherries, ending with layer of cake. Spread whole cake with cream. Decorate sides with grated chocolate. Pipe rossette on cake and decorate with marashino cherries. Serve chilled.



Source: Delicious Cakes Y3K
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About Me

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Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..