chocolate cupcake with creme banana filling and peanut butter icing

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Chocolate cupcake ingredients :

3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals
1 tablespoon vanilla essence/extract
Regular or silver cupcake paper liners

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
In a large measuring cup, combine the oil, water, instant coffee and vanilla.Whisk it into the dry ingredients
until combined. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps.

2. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners and fill till 2/3 full.
Bake until wooden skewer comes out clean about 20-25mins.
Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

3. Remove center of the cupcake using the cone method.
Set cone aside, trim the excess tip off the cone.
Fill the cupcake with creme banana filling, replace cone.
Frost with peanut butter frosting!


Creme Banana filling ingredients :

3/4 caster sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
5 tablespoons butter
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

Directions :

1. Combine sugar, flour and milk in a saucepan; cook, stirring until smooth.
Continue cooking until mixture thickens.

2. Transfer to mixing bowl and let it chill for about 10 mins.

3. Beat butter into chilled mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Fold in mashed bananas and vanilla.


Peanut butter frosting ingredients :

2/3 cup icing sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup thickened cream

Directions :

1. Place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in a mixing bowl.
Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you work.

2. Add the cream and beat on high speed till smooth.

Enjoy! (:

Dover sole with shrimp butter sauce

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you know what is the best thing
and made me the luckiest girl in the world?
it’s when you reach home after a grueling exercise session (actually wasn’t too bad)
and smell the awesome yummy smell of dinner prepared by my baby (:
and very well know that dinner is going to be awesome!

and so it was (:

after watching so much F word (a Gordan Ramsay cook show)
we tend to try everything we could that he put up the recipes for.
so tonight. baby tried making the dover sole with shrimp butter sauce!

Ingredients :

2 medium Dover sole, gutted and prepped
100g plain flour
Knob of butter
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the shrimp butter:

30g butter
200g cooked and peeled brown shrimps
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp capers
1 lemon, juice only
Small handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Steps :

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dust the fish all over in the flour. Heat a little olive oil in a large pan, season the sole again and fry on one side until golden brown (3 – 4 minutes in total). Add a touch of butter towards the end, flip over and transfer the fish to the oven for a further 6 minutes or until its cooked.

we didn’t have dover sole.
so we just used the normal white fish.
as long as it’s a firm fish (: should work!

3. For the shrimp butter: melt the butter in hot pan and cook until it begins to brown. Add the shrimps, cayenne pepper and capers. Lightly season and add the lemon juice. Cook until the shrimps are heated through then add the flat leaf parsley and stir to combine.

baby shrimps
best if it’s fresh, but we used the ones from a can.
still as good! (:

and mixing that with butter will give you an awesome..

4. Serve the fish on warm plates, spoon the shrimp butter on top and a spoonful of nettle champ on the side.

so baby and I are really anal about presentation. haha.
so he put it together really nicely!
with crispy potatoes and beans (:
the potatoes were SUPER good.
crispy on the outside
and soft on the inside!

YUMSSSSS! (:

Thank You Baby! hehe

Apple Crumble

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Made apple crumble for the first time today. and I am really happy with how it turned out! (:
I have always been buying apple crumble from thie yoghurt stall in QV
but the price for the amount I get is actually quite little! so i decided to go look for a good recipe.
It’s not the same as the other crumbles you might have tried.
This one has rolled oats in it. so there is a bit more bite to it than usual.
and we absolutely loved it!

the crumble is nice and dry.
not soggy at all! (: hehe so I really really like it!
being a crumble fan and all.

so here is the recipe! (:
hope you all will enjoy it too!

(Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Website)

Ingredients :

For the crumble:
35g rolled oats
35g wholemeal flour (I used 55g cause my crumble felt a bit too wet)
20g caster sugar (I used brown sugar)
35g margarine or butter

For the filling:
400g cooking apples, peeled, cored and quartered (I used Granny Smith apples)
50g sugar, to sweeten (I used brown sugar)
1 tablespoon water

Steps :

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5.
Peel and core the apples, quarter and cut in to chunks.

2. Put the apples in to a pan with the sugar and water.
Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes and place in a small oven proof dish.

3. Place the flour and oats in a bowl and mix well.
Cut the margarine or butter in to small cubes and add this to the oats and flour.
Mix with your fingertips until it resembles an even crumb texture. Add the sugar and mix through.

4. Cover the fruit with the crumble mixture.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the crumble is golden and the apple hot.

Can’t get enough! (:

Cheok’s Beautiful Chaos : Tuna Tataki

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Ingredients :

4 Tuna steaks
Black peppercorns, coarsely cracked

Dipping Sauce:
1/2 cup Peanut oil
1 ounce Sesame oil
2 ounces Soy sauce
1/2 ounce Garlic—grated
1/2 ounce Ginger—grated
5 spice powder to taste

Roll tuna in cracked black pepper then sear it in a very hot cast iron pan without oil.

let cool slighly, then slice thinly. Serve with dipping sauce.

all done and ready to be sliced!
i got so excited when he was about to slice it up.
cos tataki (beef or fish) is like one of my favourite dishes ever!
and how good does this look!?

haha the two chefs! (:
one getting pointers from the other. hehe.

as Cheok slices the tuna and plates them!

Beautiful Chaos (:
that’s the name of his dish! haha

it was a huge plate of tataki. haha
can u imagine how happy i was? SUPER!

deserves another shot! (:

the dipping sauce for the tuna tataki.
SUPER SHIOK! haha.
definitely a crowd pleaser.
by crowd. i mean all 4 of us. hehe

and that’s how you eat it! (:

Enjoy!

Salmon Fillets with Lemon Hollandaise Sauce

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Ingredients :

2 salmon fillets with skin on
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Lemon Hollandaise Sauce

175g butter
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Steps :

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Skim any froth from the surface and discard.
Leave to cool. Whisk the yolks and 2 tablespoons of water in a separate saucepan for 30 seconds,
or until pale and foamy. Place the saucepan over very low heat and whisk the egg mixture for 2-3 mins,
or until frothy and the whisk leaves a trail behind it as you whisk.
Don’t let the saucepan get too hot or you will scramble the effs.
Remove from the heat.

2. Whisk the cooled butter into the eggs, a little at a time, whisking well after each addition.
Avoid using the milky butter whey from the base of the saucepan.
Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and cracked black pepper.
Set aside.

3. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and rub the fillets with the olive oil.
Heat the non-stick pan over high heat and cook the salmon fillets skin-side-down for 4 mins.
Turn over and cook for another 2 mins, or until cooked to your liking.
Serve with the sauce and vegetables of your choice.

4. Salmon fillets with lemon hollandaise sauce. DONE! (:

Tip : Hollandaise sauce should be cook in a heavy-based saucepan.
If the sauce separates or curdles, remove from the heat and whisk in an ice cube.

Creamy Prawn Bisque

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Sorry this is a bit late! (:
I know I promised the recipe a while back.
but here it is!
Hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!

this super thick and creamy soup is just so comforting on a cold winter night (: we sure slurped it all up and not leave a single drop left in the pot! haha

Ingredients :

500g raw medium prawns
60g butter
2 tablespoon plain flour
2 litres fish stock
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup cream
1/3 cup of dry sherry (I left this out)
1-2tablespoon cream, extra for searving

Steps :

1. Peel the pranws and gently pull out the dark vein from each back, starting at the head end.
Reserve the heads and shells,
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the prawn heads and shells and cook for 5 mins,
lightly crushing the heads with a wooden spoon.

2. Add the flour to the saucepan and stir until combined.
Add the fish stock and paprika and stir until the mixture boils.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, over low heat for 10mins.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve set over a bowl,
then return the liquid to the saucepan.
Discard the shells. Add the prawns to the saucepan
and cook over low heat for 2-3 mins.
Cool slightly, then process in batches in a blender until smooth.
Return to saucepan.

3. Add the cream and sherry to the pan and stir to heat through.
Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Serve topped with a swirl of cream and sprinkle paprika if desired.

4. Creamy prawn bisque DONE! (:

Enjoy!

Kenny Rogers corn muffins

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saw this recipe on Maria’s blog recently.
and really got very bad craving for the corn muffins from Kenny Rogers.
use to be one of the reasons why I dined at Kenny Rogers last time. haha.
so I decided to give it a shot! and I’m so glad I did!
cause they were very very similar to the ones in Singapore
and they were super yum! hehe

so thank you Maria for posting this recipe! (:

try it! cos it’s super easy to make
and you will be super glad with the turn out!
cos it’s super duper yummy. really awesome!

so here’s the recipe and step by step photos!

Ingredients :

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup polenta
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen yellow corn ( I used a can of corn kernels )

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees celcius).

2. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt in a large bowl.

3. Combine the polenta with the flour and baking powder until well combined.
Alternate this mixture with the milk into the creamed mixture.

4. Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn is worked in.

5. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins begin to turn brown on top.

fresh from the oven! (:
I baked it a little longer cause I wanted the sides to be crispy.
baby likes it that way and requested it to be crispy haha.
so it’s really up to you and ur loved ones how you guys like it!

it’s super duper YUM! (: hehe
give it a shot!
you won’t regret it!
especially those who are away and are craving it!

ENJOY!

Mug Cake

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I made this super easy
2 mins chocolate cake
for a quick chocolate craving fix! hehe
i know. not the conventional kind to make a cake.
but its the best i could come up with
in the shortest time! (:

it’s called Mug Cake!
and it’s exactly what it looks like.
making a cake in your mug!
and in the microwave.
I followed all the instructions. and it said on high for 3mins.
and mine came out a bit overdone.
so I would say. 2 mins and it would be nice, and almost lava cake-ish. hehe

can tell it’s pretty dry and stuff.
but it was still yummy! (: hehe
just need to shorten the time in the microwave.
and it would be perfect.
so give it a try if you need a quick choc fix! hehe

4 tablespoon of plain flour
4 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tablespoon of milk
3 tablespoon of oil
3 tablespoon of chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract

Methods :

1. Add dry ingredients into a bowl
2. Add the egg and mix well. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well again.
Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and mix again.
3. Pour mixture into your mug, and put in in the microwave for 2 mins at HIGH.

PS: the cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t worry. it will be fine! (:
Let it cool and sprinkle some icing sugar to make it look pretty!

EAT!
*slurp*

Enjoy dearies. It’s all good and easy and fun!

Three Emperor Egg

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Did a few things that was my first try today.
just felt like doing something new (:
and i did.

been looking and reading blogs.
both cooking and baking ones.
and found quite a number of things i wanna make and bake!
just gets my stress or like emotions away.
away from myself.
which is good. and therapeutic (:

SO! hehe
today i made this dish for dinner called
Three Emporer Egg. haha.
sounds profound. but it’s super easy! hehe
and it has everything my baby likes.
so i thought of giving it a try.

4 normal chicken eggs
1 century egg
1 salted egg
1/2 cup water
1 pinch of white pepper

Methods :

1. Fill a large pot of water and bring it to boil (or if you have your own methods of steaming, please use it!)
2. Beat all the chicken eggs with the water in a bowl. (water makes the egg smoother and lighter)
3. Add the century egg, salted egg and pepper and stir well.
4. Steam is for about 15 mins and shake the bowl to see if it’s ready.
If the egg is wobbly but firm, then it’s ready to be served. If not, put it in for 5 mins intervals.
5. Before serving, drizzle a bit of sesame oil and a good dash of soy sauce.
Sprinkle some fried shallots (or very fine fried ginger).

it turned out pretty good! i must say. hehe
Lester really likes it. so I am really glad (:

love from my boy

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Baby cooked dinner tonight
and it was awesome! hehe
been really long since we had Paella.
and because I saw Gordan Ramsay cooking it on the F word.
(yes, yet again)
I wanted to have it! hehe

thank you for cooking it for me (:
i love you!

how good does that look? hehe
prawns, squid, chorizo, chicken, fresh basil, saffron
all the wonderful and aromatic ingredients.
was just super yumms!

baby cooked one whole big pan of it! hehe
was super duper good! (:
i know I’ve said it many times.
but really was yummy

perfect. just perfect. (:

and just in case you guys wanna give it a go
here’s the recipe!

Ingredients :

1.25L (5 cups) of chicken stock
Pinch of saffron threads
2 chorizo sausages, thinly sliced (I only used one)
400g chicken fillets, cut into 3 cm pieces
8 green(mediums) prawns (we used 10 king prawns, and left all the shells intact)
200g of squid cut into rings
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red capsicum, deseeded, thinly sliced (we left this out)
1 tsp paprika
440g (2 cups) medium-grain rice (we used aborio rice)
2 tomatoes, finely chopped (we used 1 1/2)

Steps :

1. Place the stock, saffron and water in a large saucepan.
Cover and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.

2. Cook the chorizo in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat,
turning once, for 3 mins or until crisp. Transfer to a plate.

3. Add the chicken to the pan and cook,
turning occasionally for 5 mins or until golden.
Transfer to the plate.

4. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring often for about 4 mins.
Add the garlic, capsicum and paprika and cook,
stirring for 1 minute. Add rice and stir to coat.
Stir in tomato. Add stock mixture and bring to boil.
Reduce heat and cook for 15 mins or until liquid is almost absorbed.

5. Add the chorizo, chicken, prawns and squid.
Cook, covered, for 5-10 mins or until all the liquid is absorbed.
Serve immediately.

ENJOY!