Tag: baking

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! (:

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! (:

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!

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

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Since Peggy was going to be away for her birthday.
and she invited us over for dinner at their place.
I decided to bake a birthday cake for her.
and also a gesture to thank the both of them
cause they always invite us to join them for dinners or day adventures! hehe
so it was a must to bake her a cake.
was a bit worried. cause i decided to bake something I’ve never tried before.
seriously daring.
and maybe seriously OUT OF MY MIND. hahaha.
but yes. it turned out pretty well!
and hopefully she enjoyed it (:

it was my first three layer cake! (:
i kinda suck at baking big cakes.
more of a cupcake person.
but i think it doesnt look half bad! right? haha

i was quite happy with how it looks after we cut out a piece! (:

success! (:

im a happy girl. hehe

Recipe:
(From The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

ingredients:

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
260g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
45g cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
170g plain flour
160 ml whole milk

chocolate custard:

500g caster sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
125g cocoa powder
200g cornflour
85g unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

also need:
3 20cm cake tins, base-lined with greaseproof paper

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius (Gas 3)

2. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a handheld electric whisk)
and cream until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl
with a rubber spatula after each addition.
Turn the mixer down down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder,
baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt until well mixed.
Add half the flour, then all the milk, and finish with the remaining flour.
Mix well until everything is well combined.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins.
Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins
before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

4. For the chocolate custard: Put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml of water
into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally.

5. Mix in the cornflour with 120ml of water, then whisk into the cocoa mixture in the saucepan.
Bring back to boil , whisking constantly.
Cook until very thick, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.
Pour the custard into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until very firm.

6. When the cakes are cold, using a serrated knife, slice a thin layer off one of the cakes.
Put this layer into a food processor and process to make fine crumbs.
Put one cake on a cake stand and spread about one-quarter of the chocolate custard over it with a palette knife.
Place a second cake on top and spread another quarter of the custard over it.
Top with the last cake and spread the remaining custard over the top and sides.
Cover with the cake crumbs and chill for about 2 hours.

crazy about puffs.

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well a few weeks back I’ve tried baking durian puffs back home.
now that I’m back.
and it’s just the start of uni.
I’ve got a bit of time to do some baking!
and I’m still in this cream puff stage. haha
so i decided to make some cream puffs filled with home-made vanilla custard! (:
and they were super yum! hehe
baby enjoyed them alot. hehe
and they were super shiok when it’s chilled.

made one batch of choux pastry and initially one batch of custard.
but the choux pastry was taken from one recipe
and the custard another.
so I didn’t quite know how many puffs I would get
and how much the custard would be able to fill.
so I ended up making another 2 batches of custard. haha
yes. custard crazy!
but worth the hard work.
really enjoy making them. (:
though I think the puffs I made back home were a bit better. hehe
this one didn’t lose out much!

ps: if you have the ingredients from the baking mum website for the choux pastry
give that one a try.
the pastry is a little better in texture.
I didn’t have the different flours so I used the recipe from masterchef instead.

YUMI-NESS! (:


Ingredients :

Choux Pastry
(Adapted from Masterchef)

212g water
265g milk
10g sugar
10g salt
200g butter
265g flour
8 eggs

Pastry cream
(Adapted from Baking Mum)

720ml skim milk
15 tbsp caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 egg + 6 yolks
6 tbsp cornstarch

Steps :

For the Pastry Cream

1. Mix 180ml of milk with the cornstarch till smooth.
2. Add the beaten egg and yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
3. Boil the remaining milk with sugar and vanilla essence in a saucepan till bubbling hot.
Pour 1/3 of this hot milk into the egg cornstarch mixture. Stirring all the time.
4. Now pour the egg cornstarch mixture through a strainer into the rest of the boiling milk.
Stirring constantly till mixture thicken. Do not burn the custard.
5. Cling wrap custard with glad wrap with the wrap touching the surface of the custard
(this is to prevent a hard film forming on surface of the custard) and chill till ready to use.

For the Choux Pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 210°c convection. Lightly grease 4 oven trays and set aside. Combine
the butter with water, sugar, milk & salt in a large heavy-based saucepan and bring to the
boil. Remove from the heat and using a wooden spoon quickly beat in the flour. Return to the
heat and continue beating until the mixture comes together and leaves the side of the pan.
Cook, beating over low heat for 1-2 minutes to cook flour. Remove from heat and allow to
cool slightly.

2. Transfer to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat the mixture to release any more heat.
Gradually add the eggs, one at a time. Beat well between each addition until all the eggs
have been added and the mixture is thick and glossy. Beat for a few more minutes, or until
thickened.

3. Spoon the mixture, in batches, into a piping bag fitted with a 1.25-1.5cm nozzle. Cover
remaining pastry with cling film. Pipe mixture onto trays about 3cm x 2cm high leaving room
for spreading.
Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180°c and bake for another 10 mins,
in batches, or until firm and hollow when tapped.
Transfer puffs to wire racks.

4.Put custard into a piping bag with a nozzle less than 1cm. Poke a small hole in the base of
each puff and fill with custard.

DONE! (:

Sounds like alot of work.
but I promise you the effort is worth it!
cause it’s super duper yummy! hehe

ENJOY!

Durian Puffs

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Mummy told me there were leftover durians in the fridge
which she already took the flesh out.
so I decided to make durian puffs! hehe
for the first time!
and it was a HUGE success! hehe
everyone loved it.
which made me happy. cos I dun eat durian
and I wouldn’t know how it tasted. haha
took a huge risk! (: but was a good one to take. hehe

how yummy do they look? hehe
i was super happy! hehe

everyone had a lot of creamed durian in it. haha
my grandma loved it! hehe
wheeee! (:

and cheok came over that night.
and he had to try some as well haha

hopefully that expression meant he liked it. haha.

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:
(I doubled this recipe)
85ml water
50g butter
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
50g bread flour
20g cake flour
2 eggs (lightly beaten)

Durian Fillings:
200 or 250 ml of non-diary whipping cream
equivalent amount of durian pulps
10 gm of gelatine powder
3 tbsp of hot water to dissolve gelatine powder

Steps:

Choux Pastry:
1. Cook water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan till bubbling hot. Turn the heat to low.

2. Add in the flour mixture in one go and mix with a wooden spoon till a dough is formed.

3. Still on low heat, cook the dough for 1 – 2 minutes till a thin white film is formed at the bottom of the saucepan.

4. Transfer dough to a mixing bowl and beat till it is lukewarm.

5. Add in egg by thirds and mix till well blended and smooth.

6. Place batter into piping bag and pipe it onto a lined pan in rounds of about 5cm in diameter.
Spray some water on it.

7. Bake at 200C for 25 minutes then 180C for 8 – 10 minutes or till dry and golden brown in color.
Turn off the oven and let it cool in the oven for 30 minutes.

8. For the durian filling, whip up whipping cream to a soft peak.
Add in durian pulps and melted gelatine powder and mix well.
Put fillings in a piping bag and pipe it out into the baked choux pastry.
If you like, you can just spoon the fillings into the pastry too.
Dust the top of the pastry with some snow powder and leave it in fridge to chill before serving.

YUMSSSS! (:
I’m a happy girl!
Super good to be home. hehe

Raisins and Lemon Scones

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I have been back in Singapore for the last 2 weeks.
Can’t post it public cause I had a few surprises planned (:
one failed. and one was a super good success! hehe
happiness. hehe

when i came back.
I stayed home for 5 days
just to make sure I wasn’t infected by the H1N1 nonsense. haha
so what could I do during the time back home?
BAKE OF COURSE! hehe
with my beloved mixer. hehe
oh. how i miss you so! hahaha.



in Melbourne.
all I have is a hand held mixer. haha
and I am seriously not a big fan
cause everything flies all over the place! haha
but yes. was good to be able to use my mixer again! (:

since my mummy is a HUGE fan of scones
I decided to make the scones they made during MasterClass.
and it was goood! hehe
loved it.
cos normally i make scones in weird shapes. haha
they dough tend to be a tad bit sticky
but this one. is pretty! (:

before it went into the oven

AFTER! hehe nice and golden brown hehe (:
LOVE MY OVEN! haha

the lemony taste of the scones made it kinda refreshing.
besides the usual plain or just raisins scones. hehe

Ingredients:

150ml-175ml milk
150ml cream
1 egg
3 cups self-raising flour
2 tbs caster sugar
1 cup chopped, dried dates
Finely grated rind 1 lemon
Cream & jam, to serve

Steps:

1. Preheat oven 200°C fan forced. Line large flat oven tray with baking paper.

2. Whisk 150ml milk, cream and egg together until well combined. Combine
flour, sugar, dates and lemon rind in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir
gently to a soft dough, adding remaining milk if necessary. Turn onto a lightly
floured surface and knead gently until dough comes together.

3. Press dough out to 2cm-thick. Cut scones from dough and place onto tray
flat-side up. Press dough together gently and repeat using the remaining
dough. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake 12-15
minutes until golden and well risen. Serve hot with jam and cream.

Plum Tatin with Ice cream

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Ingredients :
(from The F Word)

4 large ripe but firm plums
60g cold butter
60g caster sugar
300g puff pastry (one sheet of ready made puff pastry)
Ice cream to serve

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

2. Make sure the plums aren’t too ripe or they’ll fall apart when you try to cook them.
Halve the plums and remove the stones.
Cut into quarters and arrange, cut side down, on a tray lined with kitchen paper.
If you have time, refrigerate the plums overnight to dry them out a little
(this will help prevent the plums from releasing too much juice during cooking).

3. Cut the butter into thin slices and use to cover the base of a 21cm ovenproof pan
(or four small separate pans if you’re making individual tarts), no deeper than 6cm.
Sprinkle over the sugar evenly, then arrange the plum quarters in a circle around the pan,
cut side down, adding one or two quarters in the centre.

4. Place the pan over a medium heat and let the butter and sugar melt,
gently shaking the pan once in a while to encourage the caramel to form.
When the syrup has caramelised to a terracotta colour, after about 10 minutes, take the pan off the heat.
Set aside.

5. If you’re using your own puff pastry,
roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured board to a 24cm round
(or into four 6cm rounds if you wish to make individual tarts),
using a cake tin as a template.
if you’re using the ready made puff pastry sheet,
using a plate as a template, cut out the 24cm round.
Prick the pastry all over with a fork, then lift it up using a rolling pin and lay over the plums.
Carefully tuck the pastry edges down the side of the pan. Prick a hole in the top of the pastry.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 180˚C
and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp.

7. Leave the tart to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a large serving plate.
Slice into individual portions and serve warm with dollops of clotted cream.

before I flipped it over. nice and crisp and golden!

our individual portions (:

we were happy and so were our tummys!

sticky date pudding

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I got to make the Sticky Date pudding that was shown on Masterchef Australia a couple of weeks ago.
at long last. haha.
had the mind and heart to give it a try! hehe
and i must say.
I am super happy with how it turned out! hehe
from the pudding, to the praline to the butterscotch sauce.
absolutely loved it!

Baby holding up the whole piece of almond praline! hehe
nice colour aye? hehe
baby helped me with it. (:

the puddings coming out of the oven.
i didn’t have the metal holders.
so I just used the ramekins
and it came out nicely as well. hehe
almost like a souffle right? haha.
but really moist and spongy on the inside.

served with the butterscotch sauce and whipped cream with vanilla seeds.
AWESOME! (:
super happy hehe.

Recipe by Kirsten Jenkins – Masterchef Australia

Ingredients :
(Makes 8)

180g dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1¼ cups (310ml) water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter, softened chopped
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

Almond praline
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
¼ cup (35g) slivered almonds

Butterscotch sauce
50g butter
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C (160˚C fan-forced).
Lightly grease eight (½ cup capacity) metal dariole moulds.
(I used ramekins! turned out good too!)

2. Place dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat.
Remove from the heat.
Add bicarbonate of soda, stir until dates start to break down, set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

3. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl using a hand beater,
gradually add eggs one at a time, beat until light and fluffy.

4. Add date mixture, stir to combine.
Carefully fold through sifted flour, divide mixture evenly between the eight moulds, until 2/3 full.

5. Place moulds in a baking tray,
carefully pour water in tray until it comes up 1/3 of the side of the moulds.
Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until golden and skewer comes out clean.

6. Meanwhile, for the almond praline, combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan over medium heat
and cook caramel without stirring, swirling pan, until deep golden.
Scatter almonds onto a baking paper-lined oven tray, pour over caramel and cool until set.
Break praline into pieces.

Enjoy! (: