Mommy's Kitchen Playground

Pandan Chiffon, Muesli Honey Loaf & Chilled Mango Cheese cake

2011-04-18T17:33:00.005+08:00

Ching Ming festive started to be an event for my family - Papa, brothers, sisters, nieces & nephews to get together & proceed to the temple at Bukit Batok to pray & make offering to my mom since last year. From last yr experience, the crowds there seem like going there celebrating & having buffet with all kinds of foods spread & offering. So this year, we prepare more to offer my mom.

For me, i baked her favourite Coffee chiffon cake & sweet potatoes soup... too bad we didn't take any pictures. I used the Coffee Chiffon recipe from Small Small Baker & it turns out to be a successfull one.

The following pic i posted was Pandan Chiffon I baked using Yin Yin's to keep recipe.

Recently has been watching the Korean drama - Baker King with hubby (who actually bought the DVD due to addiction to Korean Show!!). It motivated me to bake more... haha. So I tried to make Muesli loaf but is hard to find the receipe. Instead i use Honey Whole Wheat Loaf from http://passionbaker.blogspot.com/2009/09/bread-making.html & added in mutli-grain flour & Muesli mix. Well the result was not bad at all... soft & yummy.

Next is Chilled Cheese cake which always has been a requested item from my niece. Since my nephew, Daniel, birthday is on 16 Apr (Last Sat) & i got 2 blocks of cream chees so i made this Mango Chilled Cheese cake. I use a 8" round tray & doubled the receipe from Jenny added in 2 Mangos cutted into small cubes. It had mango frangance which i find it too mild but my niece & nephews love it!

Surprise from Sweden

2011-03-24T12:14:00.004+08:00

Just yesterday when i opened my letter box to collect mails, i saw this brown color thick envelope & recognised the familiar hand writting... yes is from Sylvia all the way from Sweden. still wondering what is this for then i realised oh... is for my birthday gift ;)

So happy (^o^) to receive this pretty pouch with my name & a key chain. Thank you so much Sylvia for this suprise. Evan wanted to put the key chain on his bag as he said the present was for him .. haha... but still i keep it with the pouch for myself.

Elvis Presley Pound Cake & Cinnamon Roll

2011-03-24T11:40:00.007+08:00

Recently happen to see this fine & yummy pound caks from Table for 2 or more blog(http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2011/01/elvis-presleys-favourite-pound-cake.html) my first reaction was i want to try this!!

True enough of those reviews, this cake really taste like Sara-Lee. Since i ran out of vanilla essence, i replace it with coffee essence which gave a strong & nice coffee aroma during the bake. Only setback was i didn't baked it thoroughly that left the bottom portion a bit too damp... but still edible, frangrance & yummy.

Cinnamon roll is always my favorite sweet bun. I love the sweet aroma of the cinnamon out from the baking oven. This time i tried the 65 degree tang zhong (water-roux)method. All the while i thoght this is a really complicated method but when i tried it for the first time, i love it. Is really easy & definitly produced a much softer & fluffy buns. It was still soft when i ate it the next day morning. You can find the recipe from HHB blog (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-your-reason.html)The only different was i cream the butter (30g), brown sugar (30g) & cinnamon powder (1 tbsp) together & spread the rolled out dough. Happy trying!!

Updates Sep ~ Dec 2010 !!!

2011-01-04T16:14:00.020+08:00

I have not been updating the blog for a long long time so here i am to recollect all the happenings from Sep ~ Dec 2010.

Sep 10 - Evan's 4th yr old Birthday & Handsome Pageboy
As usual, we celebrate Evan's birthday at Changi Ah Gong house with all his cousins, Ah Gongs, NaiNai & all uncles aunties.

This yr i didn't bake his cake, i just bought him his favorite Toy Story character-Buzz Ice-cream cake from Swensen.... he likes the picture but not so much of his cake. Overall he enjoyed playing with all cousins & his favorite fire Sparkers.

18 Sept 10 was the 1st time for Evan to be pageboy/Ringbearer for his Auntie Stacy's wedding. He was excited & tense but he did well by walking down the aisle by himself. Well done my handsome prince.

Oct 10 - Sports day
This yr's Sports day was held under the void deck due to the rainny day. It was too small, hot & crowded to accomodate all the kids, parents & the space for the games. But all the kids still enjoyed all the games, cheerings & last of all receiving their medals!

Nov 10 - Papa Birthday & Evan's performance in Yr end Concert
So glad that all the childrens & grandchildrens can spent time together & celebrate my papa birthday.

On 13 Nov, I am so proud of my baby while watching him performed on the stage for the first time. Evan really did very well on stage, can remember all the steps & he was not stage fright at all. He looks like a little super star with the dressed up & make-up :D

However I didn't made it in time to show his photos to Auntie Cecilia. i have been very guilty for not being able to bring Evan visit her before she passed on & even before we can show her Evan's performance pic. Evan had been coughing since Oct so we didnt visit her for fear of passing virus to her as she was very weak after the liver transplant & complications etc. Hope she can rest in peace & i am sure she knows that Evan miss her a lot. Even yesterday when he got fever, i ask him where he wants to go when i go work, his reply is Auntie Cecilia house. I said to him jiejie Joyce & Grace need to work so nobody take care of you. but he still say "yes, auntie cecilia". This shows that he still miss her alot.

Dec 10 - Chrismas Bakes, Mom's Prayer & New Year Eve cum Anan Birthday
Dec is always a busy month for all. Busy with holidays, festive celebration & spring clean for new yr (not for me.. too busy to clean)

This yr end, we did not go for holiday but spent our X'mas here. i started busy getting all the gifts for the niece & nephews, making mashed potatoes, cheesecake & cupcakes on the eve of X'mas.

After the whole day of mashing, cutting & creaming using manual whip my both arms, hands were aching when my dearest hubby came back home with my big X'mas gift *KitchenAid Mixer*... my dream mixer that i have been considering buying after my Philips mixer died few mths back. I am so happy & started using it for my next batch of bakes on X'mas day itself.

We had the annual prayer for my mom on 26 & 27 Dec at Changi... was a blessing that these 2 days turned out to be a sunny day unlike X'mas day which was raining heavily in the afternoon. It was a down pour that even caused part of the canvas tentage torn & tons of water rashed & flooded towards the house leaving all the shoes & prayer stuffs all wet! Chinese saying "water=wealth"... but we still didn't strike 4D... haha

Thoughout the prayer on Mon, Evan behaved himself followed us walking around praying, kneeling, holding joss stick. He can be very irritating sometime for asking so same many questions again & again & again. Guess his reach the age to ask the "Thousand WHY WHY WHY" questions. All goes well with everybody's help including all my uncles & aunties, really a big thanks to them.

Finally New Year is here. We had BBQ & a cake for my niece for her belated Birthday. Apparently she has not been celebrating her birthday with us before so she was very shy when we brought out cake for her. My sis got to grab & drag her just to stand infront of her CAKE! Really hilarious. I took pics for her & realised she is very photogenic, looks very pretty.

2010 was not a good yr for me... heartbreaking for lossing my mom & Evan's dearest nanny, Auntie Cecilia, who had a long fight with her sickness from her liver failure, Evan went through his 1st dental surgery, fell sick often & still coughing now since last 2 mths. So hope 2011 will be a much better Year for us.

Evan's Surprise - HortPark

2010-09-06T18:52:00.008+08:00

Evan is always not keen in writing & coloring. Even his teacher told us that he always dreaming, slow & last to finish his work in class. Guess is because of this reason, the teacher make a THICK booklet, five lines per page with "EVAN CHING" for him to practise at home.

This really drive me crazy and i think also making him even more hated homework because everytime get him to write will ended up me screaming & him crying. Think my grey hair getting more liao.

So to encourage him i printed a reward sheets forwarded to me from my sis. Do 1 homework, color 1 star. Will get a surprise if he completed 5 stars. So his surprise was HortPark playground. Is a very big park with lots of flowers, plants, trees, big open space, playground & a mini butterfly cage.

Teachers Day Gift

2010-09-06T18:35:00.003+08:00

This is the 2nd time Evan celebrate Teachers Day. Really don't know what to get for the teachers so i bake chocolate cupcakes for them pack with a peaches.

As i was busy baking the cupcakes, Evan came & want to eat the peach. I told him later i will take the balance ones from the fridge & cut for him. After a while he ran away to play on his own. While packing the fruits which i had sorted out the nice ones, i suddely saw 1 with a "bite" :( Evan actually bit one the peache & left it there quietly. Luckily i saw it else will be so embarrassed if given to the teacher.

I am so happy with the cupcakes. This was the first time i got nice sharp cupcakes with soft & mosit texture. I realised whenever i added yogurt into my cake batter, it will turn out to be so mosit & yummy. I use the recipe from http://smallsmallbaker.blogspot.com/2008/09/devils-cupcakes-and-surprise-reward.html replacing half of the water with Meiji fruits yogurt. I will definitely bake more of this cupcakes for any gathering next time.

Shamin Princess Birthday

2010-09-06T18:11:00.003+08:00

We had celebrated Shamin be-lated birthday on 29 Aug as the kids are sick & also lots of food from the 7th mth's prayer the week before.

As usually, she brought her dress, fairy wings & make up pouch for the birthday girl make-over. This year i did not bake the cake for her... too lazy & time consuming. So she got her favourite Princesses Ice-cream cake from Swensen comes in 3 flavours - Strawberry, Vanilla & Chocolate. Yummy...

I ask my prince whether he want a ice-cream cake for his birthday, he doesn't want untill he ate the ice-cream cake (he ate chocolate only) & after i told him got "Toy Story" picture. So you will expect to see me posting that for his birhtday celebration.. hehe

Raisin Scone & Pandan Chiffon Cake

2010-07-20T18:13:00.004+08:00

Woke up 1 sunday morning, felt like baking something quick for our breakfast so thought of making scone for the 1st time (Alex Goh recipe). it turn out to be soft, fluffy & yummy to go with blueberry jam.

Baking a successfull pandan chiffon cake is always in my mind. especially after tasted Yin Yin's yummy version so I used her recipe with 1 extra egg white left over from making buns. I am so happy that it really turn out great in terms of texture & taste. Her receipe is really the best that i ever tried.

Evan's Baby Rocker

2010-07-20T18:08:00.002+08:00

2 weeks back, hubby happened to clear out some stuffs from the store room & evan happily bring this baby rocker to the bedroom. He love it so much that he uses it everyday to drink his neinei while watching his favourite shows. I am thinking how to keep it back to the store room!!

Niece's Poem on her Little Cousin - Evan

2010-07-14T10:19:00.002+08:00

我有一个小表弟
个子小小身体壮
好动调皮好可爱
喜爱歌唱打锣鼓
他有一个坏习惯
喜欢甜食不刷牙
满嘴蛀牙真逗笑

hmmm... how appropirate on how she described her favourite little cousin.

Blueberry Jam Swiss Roll

2010-07-02T09:12:00.003+08:00

I have been wanting to try baking swiss roll again since last 1 mth but just didnt manage to do it beacuse i wanted to get a proper 11" swiss roll tray. Till today still haven't get it from Phoon Huat so i just use the biggest tray i have at home.

Since Evan went shopping last evening at Toys "R" Us at Tampines Mall with the grandparents so i got the luxury time to enjoy my baking since i reach home early.

I tried the receipt from 君之 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4a5089ff0100ib0b.html and substitute the floss with blurberry jam & add in some dried cranberries & blueberries for the base.

Results:
- holes at the bottom because i forgot to bang a few times before going into oven;
- texture was fine & soft;
- taste wise i find it too eggy... so maybe next time can reduce 1 egg yolk;
- because i use the rectangular tray & rolling started from the length so it became a bit too short for a nice roll... hehe because i am too greedy, wanted to cut into more pieces

I am happy that Evan enjoy this swiss roll. He had 1.5 piece last nite & 3/4 piece again this morning :) Hope my colleagues like it as well.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Marble cake

2010-06-30T13:50:00.005+08:00

Finally got time & mood to bake a cake last fri 25 Jun after so many months. Only the i notice my cake flour already expired, no self-rising flour, no caster sugar & used up the last bit of the coco podwer for this cake. I tink is time to stock up again for my next bake.

I was on leave for 3 days last week for Evan dental treatment & i wouldn't want him to go through again. I was heartbroken to see him going through the 2 hrs process of putting him to sleep for treatment, woke up crying, groggy, lips swollen, mouth feeling numb & hand adminstered with needle.... he so scared with all these & struggling to get the needle off, dun want plaster, kept wiping his mouth etc.

finally he calm down after the numbness & groggyness subsided, he was back to normal except for slight fever & can't eat much with 1 front tooth extraction & all other fillings, nerves treatment & crowning.

I thought he would be fine for next 2 days but his mouth develops ulcers which could be due to some broken tissues during the treatment. He doesn't want to brush teeth or eat because of the pain and that last for about 3 days.

Now, he is feeling much better, more cheerful & able to eat more since ysterday. Hope the cavities won't come visit him again.

Brownie Cheese cake for Daniel Birthday

2010-04-19T19:09:00.007+08:00

Last sat we had steamboat at my Papa hse & also to celebrate my nephew birthday. I baked him a brownie cheese cake with simply decoration using icing sugar & strawberry.

In order to gv him a surpirse, i did'nt tell him or the parents about making cake so they also bought him a Peach & Longan cake from Prima Deli.. haha. the more the merrier, he gets to blow & cut 2 cakes with Evan.... it looks like Evan's Bithday... haha he always sat infront of the cake even it is not his birthday!!

Kent Bridge Park - Cannon

2010-04-19T19:00:00.002+08:00

This is one of Evan's favorite place because there are a few cannon along the way & this big one at the top of the park.

See the pictures... he enjoyed himself on top of the cannon & say want to be a "Army soldier"

There is a old cable car but i didn't take a nice pic of it.

Korea Trip 24 ~ 31 Dec 2009

2010-02-01T10:55:00.005+08:00

here are some pic from my korea trip... only few from my mobile. mainly bulk still in hubby hard-disk, no time to get him to help me upload.

Bakes

2010-02-01T10:43:00.003+08:00

Busy busy & lazy lazy to blog!!!

2010-02-01T10:31:00.004+08:00

i have not been blogging for the last 2 mths. simply too busy, tired & lazy to do it.

Mom's health is not good, has been in & out of the hospital since last Oct & now in ICU at CGH due to low BP & heart attack due to depression & weak heart. I pray & hope that she can get well & everything stable down so that she can be discharge before the CNY.

She has been cranky & wanting to go hm but really impossible for her to be off those drips & facilities to monitor her closely. Yesterday she even threaten my sis that if we don't let her go hm, she will roll out from the bed...

Even if she is out, we need to be extra carefull, make her happy & try out best to make her comfortable as she don't have any strength got even flip side or get up on the bed.

Hope everything turns out fine.

Assorted Buns

2009-11-30T11:42:00.005+08:00

Assorted buns again using Basic Sweet dough from Alex Goh replacing 2/3 of cold water with whipping cream.

This time round i try the method of putting another baking tray on top of the bun to create the look of the Cream cheese bun from Barcook.... the effect was not bad... got the look but the center of the cinnamon bun was not thoroughly cook so i bake for another 5 mins which ended up the crust slightly hard.

For others like cinnamon rolls, cheese & sugar buns & Bakkwa buns, the texture was very soft when out of oven.. still soft after cooled down. But it does not stay soft the next day... need to warm up for better serving.

Fruity Birthday Cake for Mama & Papa

2009-11-30T11:07:00.008+08:00

On 20 Nov, Sat, we had a small birthday celebration for my mama & papa at changi with some yummy homecook & take away food including homecook noodles, fried rice, mix veg with tofu, satay, seacucumber duck, grilled chicken wings & some finger foods & the 1st birthday cake that i made for my parents .... wishing them 身体健康

Though my mama health is not good, i can see that she is happy to see all kids around to celebrate with her.

Evan is all excited when come to birthday cake session. .... as if is his birthday.. haha... can see from the pic that he is eyeing on this pretty birthday cake ^-^

Cranberry Muffins & Bacon Roll

2009-11-16T10:05:00.006+08:00

These are the the recents bakes from my oven.

Cranberry Muffin - receipe was from Alex Goh receipe book.

I am very happy with these muffins as they came out with a nice dome though some still with the weird "dome" towards one side. It will good if the outer crust was slightly softer. The crumb texture was soft with the light sweetness of cranberry, blur berry & raisin.

Bacon roll - Dough from Wonderful soft bread (Do what I like).

I actually over baked these buns as i didn't keep a look out when they are baking in the oven... where am i ? .... in the bedroom trying to get little prince to sleep. The crust ended up dark & hard when out of oven. luckily it turned slightly softer after cooled down. Texture was soft for the bacon but not for the porkfloss & plain buns. It could be due to the dough adsorbed the oil from the toasted bacon during the final proofing. I shall try again with reduced temperature or shorter baking time.

Carrie Birthday Party

2009-11-16T09:36:00.006+08:00

This was the 1st interesting & fun birthday party that Evan ever attended. Though he does not know the birthday gal (DH huddy daughter) & other kids, he still enjoy himself very much.

The first thing that attracted him was the Fondant Strawberry Shortcake & cupcakes. Infact, all kids are so tempted to lay their little fingers on this cake as it look so pretty & yummy.

The interesting & fun part of the party was the artwork paintingt with teachers guidance. All the childrens get to choose either a wooden box, Halloween Latern or a Face mask. They all sat down for McDonalds Kiddy meals followed by the painting & pull string for the Sunflower pinata ... all kids are jumping ard for the sweets that dropped down from the pinata.

Little prince behaved very well thoughout these activities & he constantly keep a lookout for us while eating & painting..... scare that we left him there alone. We are considering to bring him for such artclass during weekend as he like it so much.

Cream Cheese Bun

2009-10-31T23:05:00.005+08:00

Barcook's popular Raisin Cream bun has always been our favourite buy whenever we happen to be ard Fook Hai area.

I have been talking with collegues abt how did they makesuch a soft, fine & delicious Raisin cream bun. I had tried to search for the recipe online some time back but didnt manage to find one. But just this week, shirley & I found a recipe which was from the same source called e-pan baking studio.

I found this link from Do What I Like - cream cheese bun & from this e-pan site, i found another recipe which output looks exactly the same as Barcook Raisin cream Bun.

Since i can't read Japanese, i try the recipe from Do What I Like. While shirley will explore the recipe from the Japanese e-pan baking studio.

Well, maybe i am not good enough at baking buns & also didnt follow the recipe to the dot, hence the bun texture was not as soft & fine and then cream cheese filling was not smooth as i expected. I also use chicken ham for some of the bun specially for my prince & also pork floss for my DH. I shall wait for shirley's experiment on the other recipe before i give another shot on this cream cheese bun.

Milo Chiffon cake

2009-10-29T11:34:00.005+08:00

Another chiffon cake.. this round the texture is much better... no more dense & damp. Prince had 1 & half slice of this yummy Milo Chiffon ... yippe....

I saw Kitchen Corner's nice & tall chiffon pics so i follow her adding in corn flour into the egg white mixture as for my Milo Chiffon cake.

Ingredients: (6-inch chiffon tin)
2 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
1 tbsp Milo
25ml milk
20ml cooking oil
40g self-raising flour

2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
40g caster sugar
5g corn flour

Method:
1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar. Stir Milo and milk until the Milo dissolves.
2. Add the Milo mixture and oil into the egg yolk batter until will combine. Fold in the sieved flour.
3. Beat egg whites till foamy, add in cream of tartar. Gradually add in sugar slowly at soft peaks & finally add in corn flour and beat until stiff peak form.
4. Gently fold 1/3 of beaten egg white into egg yolk batter until well combine. Repeat the same for the balance egg white in 2 batches until well combine. Do not over fold to deflate the batter.
5. Pour batter into ungreased 6-inch chiffon tin. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 30mins.
6. Remove from oven and invert cake immediately until it is completely cool.

Marinated Guava

2009-10-29T11:17:00.004+08:00

I came across a recipe using orange peels to marinate the guava ..... can imagine how refreshing & tastely it will be for these 2 combination.

This is really easy to make with just 2 simple ingredients: 2 Guava & 10 pieces Orange peels.

Method:

- Peel off the Guava skin & remove the seeds.

- Cut into slices abt 0.2cm thick.

- Cut the orange peels into thin strips (advise to soak for a while as i find it too sweet even i wash & rinse the orange peels)

- Mix the guava & orange peels & chilled it in freidge for few hours.

Simple & yummy.

Recent Bakes

2009-10-20T09:48:00.006+08:00

It has been a while since i last blogged. I was busy & lazy to do it though i still bake. The followings are the 2 new receipes i had tried.

Chicken Pie

I used to get the ready made roti prata dough to make the chicken pie. But this time i made the dough from the scratch because i had tasted a home-made yummy chicken pie made by Shirley.

However, I used the another recipe from http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/chicken-pies.html instead of hers which uses the water & oil dough as i left my shortening at my mum's place. I shall try her recipe for my next chicken pie beacause i don't really like the yogurt taste for the crust.

Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

This is another bake that i had wanted to try for a long time. But i wasn't successful for the 1st time on the presentation as the cake started to crack for the 1st 15mins of waterbath. It could be the baking pan that i use. I didn't follow the instruction to use 8"x8" baking pan so i guess there is not enough space for the cake to raise.

However I am very happy with the soft & cottony texture. It's really taste yummy especially after refrigerated. My nephews wiped up the portion i brought for them..... Me & hubby finish off the balance the very nite we got home.

I adopted the recipe from http://mybakingcottage.blogspot.com/2008/01/japanese-souffle-cheesecake.html. Pls see below for recipe:

Ingredients:

125 g cream cheese

20 g butter

40 ml milk

3 egg yolks

32 g cake flour

8 g corn flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

3 egg whites

55 g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat the Oven to 160°C.
2. Melt the butter, cream cheese, and milk on a double boiler, leave to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, beat together egg yolks, salt, lemon juice, lemon rind, and cake flour together until well mixed.
4. Add cheese and milk mixture into egg yolk mixture until well mixed.
5. In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add in the sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form, and the mixture is glossy.
6. Slowly fold in the egg white batter into the egg yolk mixture, 1/3 at a time, until incorporated. Pour into an 8 inch springform tin and bake in a waterbath for 30-40 min or until cooked when inserted with a skewer.
7. Remove from the mould immediately to prevent the cake from sinking.
8. Refrigerate after cooling

Pain Crème (Whipping Cream bread)

2009-09-25T17:45:00.006+08:00

This is another recent baking adapted from http://dailydelicious.blogspot.com/2008/05/pain-crme-whipping-cream-bread.html

I read the comments & decided to give it a try since i have a small pack of whipping cream at home. So after i reach home, i quickly take out & measure all the ingredients. Used the mixer to knead the dough & let it proof for 1.5-2hr. It really worries me when i notice the dough didnt raised to its double size.. so i let it proof for a longer time, punched out the air & put into the fridge for overnite as per the recipe instruction.

The following day, after i reach home from work, i quickly take out & shape it with bakkwa, porkfloss, ham & some plain buns & final proofing for 1hr before sending into the oven for 15mins.

Wow.... these buns are sooooo soft that i can't wait for it to cool down to try a small piece. It is really a good recipe to keep. I gave 2 to my in-laws & my MIL called me just to tell me the buns are really nice & soft especially when it still warm. You must really try this recipe.

Snow Skin Mooncake

2009-09-25T17:19:00.005+08:00

This was my 1st homemade snow skin mooncake. There are so many recipes from all the blogs so i choose the one that looks & sound nice & yummy - rainbow ice-cream soda snow skin mooncake.

My sis & I brought ingredients from phoon huat & we started the project last sun at my mum's plc. It was really fun wrapping, moulding & knocking these mooncake. As the dough was still very sticky, we used lots of kou fen during the process as it makes it easier to unmould.

After we let it set in the fridge, it taste really soft & yummy. Thereafter, we happily packed & brought back home & i kept it in the fridge. As i wanted to bring it to the office to share with the folks on wed, I took out from the fridge to check on the texture on tues nite. To my horror... the snow skin already turned dry & hard.... sob.. sob :'(

Wondering what went wrong... could it be i used too much kou fen during the wrapping & moulding, or was it due to the proportion of the ingredient from the recipe?

This sat Ii shall try using the other recipe since i still got some paste in the fridge. We will not be making the baked mooncake as we have got mooncakes from nanny, plus i ordered 1 box of during mooncake.... will be too much for us to finish.

Sept Bbs Birthday Celebration

2009-09-25T17:04:00.004+08:00

Finally, the 3rd birthday celebration for Evan together with his Ah Gong, Jek Jek & Kor Kor. They are all Sep babies... so is really fun to get them celebrate together... hehehe.. and this was also the Ah Gong, Jek Jek & Kor Kor 1st & the last AEROPLANE Birthday cake (from eCreative).

We had lots of BBQ foods catered from BBQ wholesaler - chicken wings, kebarb, satays, sting rays, lamb & other dishes like porridge, beehoon, roast duck, siewmai, cream puffs.. etc.

Everyone was happy & busy eating & giving ang baos to all the birthday boys & gal....

Prince 3 yrs old Birthday celebration - 2

2009-09-18T09:34:00.004+08:00

15 Sep - actual Birthdate for Evan. I had long prepared to celebrate for him in the child care centre with his friends.

This round, i ordered the Bob the Builder cake from Polar & prepared the gift pack for his to distribute to his friends.

When i reached the centre, he just woke up from this afternoon nap. He was delighted when I showed him the cake & all the gifts. The teachers are busy arranging the tables & chairs after all kids woke up & tidy up their mattress, pillows, towels etc... except for 1 little boy still sleeping soundly .... & he actually slept throughout the whole celebration ;D

While all other kids were sitting at other 2 tables together, the birthday boy sat by himself at the other table... hmm.. he must be so happy & feeling so special that is his turn to sit on that "Emperor Seat"... haha.

After all the birthday songs, he kept blowing & blowing the candles but they just won't go off.... all the kids & teachers were laughing. Everyone was happy with the gift Evan distributed out & they happily eat their cake for the tea break except for 2 twin classmates because they are allergy to eggs... so i must take note to order eggless cake for his next yr Birthday.

Thereafter, we brought him to Downtown East Kids Explorer, Mini bowls, Mini Ferris Wheel ride, Train ride & he was so excited when we bumped into a Dinosaur & Elephant giving out ballons. We are happy that he enjoyed hisself on his birthday.

Prince Birthday Cake - Humpty Dumpty

2009-09-18T09:05:00.008+08:00

This was my 2nd layered birthday cake. I used the same recipe as the 1st chocolate birthday cake with Chocolate ganache Bananas as the fillings. The sponge cake & the ganache recipe was from http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2008/01/chocolate-fudge-cake.html.

The most challenging part was for me to draw the Humpty Dumpty on the cake - special request from my Prince. With all the tools & ingredients i bought such as the colorings, piping jelly, whipping cream & the decoration nozzels, i started this project on the Fri night before this Sat celebration.

The chocolate sponge cake turned out to be fine though it sank after out of oven. I prepared the ganache, leave it to cool, slice the cake into 2 layers, spread a layer of ganache, assemble the sliced bananas & topped with 2nd layer of ganache. Covered the whole cake with whipping cream & finally the most challenging & fun part of the drawings.

Well i would say it was pretty good & cute with the Humpty dumpty holding ballons instead of falling off the wall ... ^-^

Prince was so happy when he first saw his Humptt dumpty cake & shy when everybody sang him the birthday song.... The cake was soon distributed out & i almost forgot to take a pic of a slice.

Evan has got lots of presents... got baseball set, fishing toy, another fishing toy, learning latop toyset, balls, wooden clock blocks, Lego etc... wow... i am wondering how to clear his old toy & keep all these new toys. These are not the last... there are more to come for his actual day birthday & 3rd celebration at the great-grandma hse this cmg sat.

Cinnamon Roll & Assorted Buns

2009-09-10T10:01:00.006+08:00

I have not been successfull in making bread or bun recenty because the dough just wouldnt raised during proofing. I finally know who was the culprit... YEAST.

My both attempts got the same problem so i recall shirely told me about her stone bread due to the "inactive" yeast. This means that the yeast already "dead" so it doesn't proof at all. but my yeast was all the while kept in the fridge right after use unless it died during a power tripped happened abt 1-2 mths ago.

So i went to get a new instant yeast for my assorted buns.

I used Alex Goh's Sweet bun dough for Cinnamon rolls, Bak kwa/floss buns, Melon Pan & 1 suasage bun.

I was happy when i see the roll & buns raised & turn into BIG rolls & buns. This seems to be the most successfully attempt of my bun making.

Hub love the cinnamon roll & bak kwa but not for the melon pan because my top pastry was too thin & little after the buns raised almost triple its original size (once during the 2nd proofing & once during baking).

Chocolate Cream Puffs

2009-09-10T09:32:00.005+08:00

Recently my colleagues have been boorrowing recipe books from the library. wow... flip & flip through those yummy cakes & pastry makes me more into this hobby.

These recipe books were all tag with post-it by them for copying. Me too copy quite a few recipes for my reference.

This cream puff recipe was from 1 of the book. It was a sure to keep recipe beacuse there are pictures on the steps & also consider a successful attemp for the 1st time.

I use my whipped cream to mixed with coco powder for the filling, the puff was crispy when out of oven, after cooled, i piped in the chocolate cream & keep in the fridge.

These puffs were soft, yummy & well receiving from colleagues & family ^-^

Ingridents:

Puff Pastry:
125 ml. water
50 gm. Butter
pinch of salt
3 gm Castor sugar
75 gm. Cake flour
2 eggs
1 egg (for egg wash on top of the piped paste)

Chocolate cream filling:
200 ml whipping cream
flavor - 1~2 tbsp Coco powder (depends on own preference for Coco richness)

Method for Puff pastry:
(1) Boil water, butter, salt & sugar till boiling.
(2) Pour in all the flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon till paste is not sticky and leaving the side of the pan. Remove from heat and let it cool a little.
(3) Stir in eggs and mix till it becomes a smooth paste.
(4) Fill paste into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe onto a baking tray to about 2-3 cm round shape. Makes about 20 nos.
(5) Brush the paste with egg wash & bake at 180C for about 20~30 mins. or till puffed up and golden in colour.
(6) Fill Chocolate cream into a piping bag with a round tip nozzle. Make a small hole with the nozzle & pipe in the cream till full.
(7) Chilled in fridge & serve.

For filling:
(1) Use electric mixer to beat whipping cream till stiff perk.
(2) Add in the coco power & gentle mix till well blend.

Vannila Swiss Roll

2009-09-04T09:21:00.004+08:00

I kept thinking how to utilise my whipped cream in my freezer & have no idea how long can i keep it frozen. I can't possibly wait for another 2 weeks to make another layered birthday cake for Evan birthday, so searching for bakings that i can use up my whipped cream.

Swiss roll was the 1st that i can think of. So i flipped through Alex Goh receipe book & use the Fruity Swiss Roll Sponge cake recipe with my whipped cream sprinkle with chocolate rice.

I was so happy after i rolled up the cake beautifully... yippee.. i can't wait to cut a slice & try. It was nicely rolled up with but the cake tasted slightly salty & dry. Maybe next time i shall cut half of the salt portion & also reduced on the baking time. I think the dryness was due to small baking tray & also thinner batter. I shall try again with my bigger swiss roll baking tray next time.

Teacher's day Gift Packs

2009-09-02T10:26:00.006+08:00

Finally, the last resort to try on the Sponge cupcake. But Thur 27 Sep was a bad day for me. I got problem with the normal eggs beating & the batter turn out to be bubbly. So i knew the cupcake will be a failure. The strawberry Jam sank right to the bottom instead of staying in the centre due to the watery batter :(

So left with the last 2 eegs, i turned to the last alternative to bake the orange cupcake that i had done before. but again the batter curdled when i added in the eggs into the creamed butter & sugar... tried adding in flour but it just won't work. i was so mad & frustrated... so just proceed on to whisk up everything & put it into the oven.

Overall still edible, both still got the nice aroma but the texture wasn't what i expected. Since i am running out of time, i just had pack it up with the Coin purse gift that prince had packed before he slept.

Vanilla Sponge Cake with Strawberry Jam

2009-09-02T10:16:00.005+08:00

This was another experiment after the pandan cupcake.... again the cupcake raised mighty high but collapsed after out of the oven.

I used Alex Goh sponge cake recipe for the Fruity roll & i added the strawberry jam as the filling. I love the taste & the texture was very soft & cottony.

Overall this recipe is great but the collapsed & the wrinkled surface that make it no so presentable.... so need to find other alternative recipe.. but time is running out!

Pandan Sponge Cupcake

2009-09-02T09:55:00.005+08:00

I was experimenting the bear shape pandan sponge cake for teacher's day gift but the result wasn't too good. Can't see the bear face at all & the cupcake collapsed significantly after out of the oven. However, the taste was yummy... & the texture was more like a chiffon cake rather then sponge cake. My prince & hub love it ... so i will try this again using plain flour instead of the Hong Kong flour.

I used Yochana's chocolate sponge cake recipe & replace the chocolate with pandan paste & water with milk.

Ingredients A:

80 gm. Plain flour (I used Superfine/Hong Kong flour - could be the reason why the texture turn out to be like chiffon cake)

1/8 tsp. Baking powder

1/8 tsp. Bicarbonate of soda

1/8 tsp. salt

30 gm. sugar

2 egg yolks

25 gm. cooking oil (any brand)

55 gm. Milk
1/8 Tsp Pandan paste

Ingridents B:

2 nos. egg white

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

40 gm. castor sugar

Method:
(1) Mix all the ingredients (A) together into a smooth batter.

(2) Preheat the oven at 170C & line the cupcake moulds.
(3) Beat egg white until foamy, add in cream of tartar, beat till soft peak & add in sugar & continue beat until stiff peak.

(4) Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg white into (A), combine well & fold in the balance egg white till well combine. (Take care not to over-mix)
(5) Pour the batter into the cupcake tin with liner and bake at 175C for about 15 mins. (I bake at 160C for micro-wave oven)

Strawberry Chocolate Birthday Cake

2009-08-24T08:35:00.006+08:00

After the contaminated Chocolate cake incident, i really fear of it happening it again. But i really wanted to make a birthday cake for my niece. So i decided to go ahead to use the chocolate cake recipe but with whipped cream topping & decoration instead of the chocolate ganache.

When i started folding in the beaten eggs white into the chocolate batter because i noticed the bottom still remains as soft perk.... i made a big mistake by attempting beating the balance eggs white again. Instead of becoming stiff perk, it became deflated :( since it was late at nite, i continue to fold into the chocolate batter hoping the cake to turn out at least the hight that i can layer into 2 slices.

after putting in the oven for 15 minutes... it raised. but was not as high as the first chocolate sponge cake i made. It collapsed further after taken out of the oven... but i still managed to slice it.

well... everyone was happy & my family was surprised that i had nicely done up the birthday cake for the princess.... well off course i did share with them the contaminated chocolate incident... but they will dare to try out my 1st home-made birthday cake.... yummy...

Chocolate Fudge Cake

2009-08-21T14:06:00.005+08:00

My niece birthday celebration is this coming sat, so i try to bake a chocolate fudge cake for her.

I used Yochana's recipe http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2008/01/chocolate-fudge-cake.html, the cake turn out to be quite a success.

I manage to bake the sponge cake tall & mosit & cut it into 3 layers for the chocolate ganache. After assembled the cake, cream the whole with ganache and decorate with the vanilla topping bought from Mediya.... this is the first time i use this topping cream.... wow... it was soooo sweet! Wondering is there any way to make it less sweet.

After the fun decoration, i put the cake into the fridge to chill a little & also to let the ganache set. My boy was happy to see this chocholate cake & wanted to have a piece. After cutting, he just refused to eat so me & hubby finished up this piece of rich chocolate cake instead.

BUT... late in the nite my tummy wasn't feeling right... & started gg toilet for a few time from 4am~6am. wow.... i thought maybe i ate too much & drink fruity lite, drink juice so was ended up diarrhoea. Then morning, hubby told me he also had diarrhoea :(

I was like oh no... must the cake. this is the only food we had together. Till now, i am still thinking what could have gone wrong. So am having a second thought of baking this chocolate Fudge cake for my niece BD.

Pooh & Piglet Butter Cookie

2009-08-21T13:49:00.005+08:00

Just bought a set of Pooh & Piglet cookier cutter & stamp from Kai Kai shop in Chinatown Point. So decided to make butter cookie using these cute cutter on Tues night as i am on leave for Wed.

I used the recipe from Happy Home baking... she also uses the same set of cutter... http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2007/04/smiles-from-100-aker-wood.html

I started the process abt 11 till 1.30am... wow i didn't expect to use so much time just baking these butter cookies. This was actually due to in-efficency of my micro-wave oven. I can only put 1 small tray each time at 15 min, so total spent of 1hr just for the baking.

After making the dough, i roll out flat & put it in the frigde hopping is easier for cutting out. But i was wrong. It breaks easily & need to be really careful & gently in handling the cut-out dough. after few cuttings, i manage to find a easier way.

Flatten the dough, cut & stamp the pooh, then push the cutter all the way so the edge & onto my hand then tsf to the tray before removing the cutter.

so after all the hard work... these are all my smiling poohs & piglets.

Chilled Blueberries Cheesecake

2009-08-17T19:00:00.003+08:00

This is another blueberries cake. Non-baked cheesecake using the balance blueberries from my blueberries muffins.

I used the recipe from Jenny, just change the flavor to blueberries & added in rebina cordial to swirl on the top layer but the attemp was not so successful. Shall try again next time.

Colorful Layered Agar Agar

2009-08-17T18:49:00.005+08:00

My niece's birthday is just round the corner, so my sister plan to make smthing different for her this year.... Agar-Agar Cake..... i gave her the link for Yochana's & some other blogs with the cartoons & beautiful agar agar creation for reference & we decided to go phoon huat shop for the suitable mold, agar agar powder & coloring.

She bough a candy mold with sunflower, bear, moon, star etc & a square tray for the base. we did the experiment the next day at my mum's plc. The process was fun & result was "not bad" for the 1st timer... the only setback was the layered agar agar came off easily especially for the agar agar from candy mold ... so next time we have to try scratching the top light before pouring the next layer.

Blueberries Muffin

2009-08-17T18:39:00.003+08:00

Seeing many blogs whipping up cakes, muffins with blueberries so was tempted to bake as well.

This will be the 1st time for me to use fresh berries for my baking, so i wan quite excited abt it.

As usually, i baked it on the friday nite so i can get the nieces & newphews to try.

When the baking time was up, i opened the microwave oven & saw all the blueberries burst out the blue/black juice... most of the muffin was covered with the "dark stain".... hmmmm wonder is this normal or was it due to overbake or high mircowave oven temperature.

Banana Shortbread

2009-08-09T01:10:00.003+08:00

Hubby usually go for his Sunday cycling with his friends. Since there is nothing for his breakfast, i flip through Alex Goh's World of Bread recipe book & search for something that is easy & simple to make without proofing.

Original recipe was Banana with Walnut, but i don't have it so just replace with whatever i can find in my cabinate.... Apricot & Pumkin Seed. The combination turn out to be quite good. Hope hubby will like this shortbread for this breakfast ^-^

Almond Butter Cookie 2

2009-08-09T00:46:00.004+08:00

Another baking of almond butter cookie again after all the good comments from the 1st batch.

This time, i use the colorful tiny beads to decorate instead of the almond flarks. Reasons to make it more attractive for little prince & also i ran out of almond flarks ;)

I tried using my new set of cutters but the dough was too soft to had it cut out nicely. As it was late at nite, i didnt border to keep in fridge for the dough to get harden, just wanted to get it done asap.

These cookies taste yummy, not as sweet as the 1st batch & the texture was so soft that it melts in you mouth. The nieces & nephews finished up all the cookies tdy when i brought to mum's place.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2009-08-09T00:11:00.006+08:00

After the 1st failure attemp of chiffon cake, I searched for other chiffon cake recipes & read up on the method & correct way of beating & folding of batter. Finally i decided to use this recipe from My Kitchen My Labortory http://mykitchenmylaboratory.blogspot.com/2006/01/nostalgia.html to try out on my 2nd chiffon cake.

I was so happy with the 2nd attemp of my Pandan Chiffon Cake. The texture was so soft, fluffy & moist. It still taste yummy after i replace the milk/coconut milk with evaporated milk.

With this successful baking, i am tempted to try using this recipe for Banana Chiffon Cake & i read some online recipe saying the adds on of mashed banana will not affect the out of the cake....hmmm.... will update once i try out.

Pumkin Chiffon Cake

2009-08-02T00:51:00.005+08:00

Chiffon cake is difficult to make but i am still dare to try it despite of my 1st few "not-so-successful" cake baking .. kekeke. I plan to use the chiffon mold i bought from Phoon Huat. 1 small & 2 mini size.

I adapted Taro Chiffon cake recipe from http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2007/05/taro-chiffon-cake.html replacing Yam with Pumkin.

After all the mixing, beating & folding of all ingredients, i realised the batter was too much for my 3 molds. No choice, i filled in a little more into the each chiffon mold & used a small round pan for the balance.

Afer baking for abt 15 mins, the chiffons started to crack while raising. After baking for 30 mins, the cracks look like a flower ;( i immediately inverted all the 4 tins & let it cool for abt 20 mins before removing.

To my surprise, the cracks had closed up but slightly stickly. The cake sank quite a fair bit, the texture was soft & quite compact instead of fluffy. hmm... wondering what really went wrong. Could it be my mashed Pumkin too wet?

Sausage Bun

2009-08-02T00:37:00.007+08:00

30 Jul, Thur, me & colleagues finally went for our long waited Ritz Carlton Buffet. Yummmy!!

Since i had taken half day off, i went home after the buffet planning to make the wholemeal loaf for my hubby again for him to eat on the way to Desaru on Fri.

While making the dough, i also made the sweet bun dough so that i can make sausage bun for little prince to eat as breakfast on sat. I kept the dough in the fridge till Fri night after i got back from work.

while making the bun, evan came back. he grabbed the sausage when he saw me shaping the bun.. but too bad, it cannot be eaten yet. So after i let it proofed for abt half hr & baked for 15 minutes, i let him have it after cooling for 20 minutes. He love the sausage bun & had another one on Sat morning ^-^.

Wholemeal Loaf

2009-08-02T00:03:00.004+08:00

Last sat, I made the wholemeal loaf for Hubby so that he can eat for early breakfast before he went for his morning cycling.

I followed the cottage bread recipe from Alex's Goh recipe book & replace 20% of the bread flour with wholemeal flour. To make it more tastely, i added ham & cheese for 1 loaf & rasin for another loaf.

Since I am using a mircowave oven, so the oven temperature seems to be higher & the heat was uneven .... so i used to over baked some of my bread and cake for fear of not thoroughly cooked.

These 2 wholemeal loaf taste okay just slightly dry which could be due to overbaking. But most importantly Evan love the ham & cheese loaf! I was over the moon to see him eating happily.

Sweet Potatoe Cake & Roti Prata Chicken Pie

2009-07-27T09:36:00.006+08:00

I was on leave last thursday, went to Giant after sending Evan to Child care ctr. While shopping in the Giant, i saw the Japanese sweet potatoe so got the idea to make sweet potatoe cake.

reached home, i quickly browse throught Alex Goh's Recipe book & search for this recipe. I replaced the butter with canalo oil as my mum don't eat butter. The cake turn to to be quite good. Not sweet (i reduced the amt of castor sugar), light fragrance of sweet potatoe, texture was soft but not as fine as expected & as usual, slightly dense at the bottom.

Since i got the time, i made the roti prata chicken pie again. This round, i cutted the flat dough into 3 pieces. the size of the folded pie was just nice. *-*

Almond Butter Cookies

2009-07-26T02:39:00.006+08:00

You all must be wondering why am i still blogging so late at 2.41am... reason.... baking again. So while waiting for my wholemeal loaf, i update all my bread & cakes.

Almond butter cookies... a recipe from Annie's Cookies Recipe book. I used the star shape cutter to make into star in order to make my prince fancy this cookie.

True enough, he was happy to see these stars...he ate 2 bites.. then return to me. But at least he ate 1 piece that very nite.

Sis & colleagues love it. I will defintely will bake it again soon with less sugar & to decorate with chocolate chips for my Evan.

Banana & Dates Sponge cake

2009-07-26T02:18:00.005+08:00

Me, annie, yin, shirley & kui kim went to the food fest at Clark Quay on 17 Jul. We were all so satsified after stuffing in satay, roti prata, dried lasak, nonya fried rice, grilled chicken wings, durian paste.... etc.

We proceed on to Liang court for Starburks & then to Mediya where Annie & myself are aiming to go for a search of any interesting baking accessories.

I bought a packet of dried dates as i thought of using it to bake cakes & bread. the moment i reach hm & tucked in my prince, i am so eagered to try baking this Banana & dates sponge cake. Although it didn't raised well & densed at the bottom of the bake, it still taste nice & not too sweet.

My mum, family & kids love it except for my little prince.

Cinnamon Roll

2009-07-26T02:10:00.004+08:00

Cinnamon Roll is one of my favorite. This was the 2nd time i tried baking & the result handed in was good.

This round, i did the normal cinnamon roll & a small cinnamon loaf with rasin using the milk loaf recipe.

verdict.. yummy fragrance & taste good. Next time i will add in rasin for cinnamon roll as it seems to taste nicer with Raisin as per some of my colleagues.

Pork Floss Loaf & Orange Cupcake

2009-07-26T01:57:00.012+08:00

Another baking again. Hubby going to Port Dickson for Triathlon so i made this pork floss loaf for him. As i cut the loaf, the pork floss were slightly loose... maybe i didn't rolled it tight enough.

As for the orange cupcakes, i love the flavor. It raised well & texture was soft. But my little prince don't like the orange taste. He said " mommy, i don't want" just after one small bite :(

Anyway, i will continue to baking something that he will fancy.

Milk Loaf

2009-07-26T01:32:00.007+08:00

I am addicted to baking! I was always wondering how Yin Yin managed to bake her loaf bread, so i wanted to try my very own loaf bread this time.

I used the milk loaf recipe & separate the proofed dough into 3 portion. 1 for Nutella, 1 for rasin & 1 plain.

While baking, i am worried that it may turn out hard just by looking at the surface of the loaf. after baked for 30mins, i removed it from the oven & let it cool down on the rack.

To my surprise, it turned out to be soft & the texture was just the same as the normal bread. Me & my family love it so much!

Roti Prata Chicken Pie

2009-07-22T15:13:00.001+08:00

This is my first pie (Recipe from Jenny)... using flatten roti prate dough as the pastry. is interesting & easy to make. Since my hubby likes to eat savory stuffs so i decided to make for him.

Looking at the picture, there is 1 big Pie & some smaller cup-size pies. The big one simply put the fillings onto the roti prata & fold it into half. Those smaller ones are bit more messy to make. Need to cut out the dough & shape it like a cup, put the fillings then cover with another small round piece of dough & bake in the oven.

The pies taste yummy as you can use any ingredients of your preference.

After some thoughts, i think it will be easier to cut the big round flatten dough into half then fold into half with fillings to make a medium size triangular shape pie.

Coffee Condense Milk Pound cake

2009-07-22T15:05:00.000+08:00

While going thru friend's blog, came across "Condense Milk" pound cake. Immediately i got the idea of baking this because i love the smell of the condense milk especially when it goes with Coffee.

When i started preparing the ingredients, i decided to add in coffee essence & also to reduce the amount of sugar so that my mum can eat it.. & also she likes coffee flavour.

The output was quite ok. Slight crispy outside & spongy inside. I love the flavour & i will try the Chocolate Condense milk pound cake next time!

Steamed Chinese Sponge Cake (鸡蛋糕)

2009-07-21T10:37:00.000+08:00

鸡蛋糕 is my favorite cake i love to eat when i am little. So this was the next recipe that i searched from the Web.

i failed for the first attemp. It did raised a bit but the texture was little hard & the taste is not there. It could be i added the pandan essence as per the recipe.

the 2nd attemp i tried another recipe with only self-raising flour, eggs & sugar. This round the egg taste too strong & is not soft as expected.

3rd attemp, i tried another recipe which turns out to be a good one. except that it didn't raised, the taste & the texture was almost there.

here is the recipe i got it from fenyingrecipe.blogspot.com.

Ingredients A

Egg 200g

Sugar 230g

Ingredients B:

Hong Kong flour 230g

Ingredients C:

7-up 75g

Method:

Use high speed beat eggs till fluffy

Add in sugar gradually and continue beating till well- blended, turn off the power

Fold in the flour in 3 portions

Add in Ingredients C and mix well

Pour mixture into 20cm round bamboo basket lined with glass paper till 90% full

Sprinkle a handful of sugar such that it forms a cross on the surface of mixture

Steam over high heat for half an hour

Muffins

2009-07-21T10:20:00.000+08:00

Muffins can be found almost everywhere from bakery shop to cafe to hawker. It seems easy to make but i was wrong.

I use the muffin recipe from Happy Home Baking & added chocolate rice, rasin, almond flarks & melon seeds. These muffins taste yummy but not as soft & it didnt raised well as i expected. Show it to my friends suspected due to Microwave oven baking.

My First Homemade Bread

2009-07-21T09:58:00.001+08:00

See friends making homemade breads, cakes & cookies really inspired me to try it out.

Sweet Bun was the 1st that i wanted to try. I like the idea to create own preferred fillings.
As i do not have a electric mixer, i use hand to knead the dough which was really sticky & messy, it gets less sticky as i knead for abt 20mins.

After the proofing, i took out the dough & play with it to wrap my prince favorite Ham with Cheese toppings & half of the buns i just top with Almond flarks ... then goes into my Mircowave oven.

looks not so presentable but still yummy for the first timer (^-^)

Ginger Bread Man Cookies

2009-07-20T11:24:00.000+08:00

Since Evan likes to eat the Ginger Bread Man cookies, so i gotten the recipe from Yin yin & decided to make some for him as it was not the X'mas season.

the cookies are a bit dry & hard ...could be due to i flattened the dough too thin. the taste are ok & the kids enjoyed decorating their own ginger bread man & gal.