Pandan Chiffon, Muesli Honey Loaf & Chilled Mango Cheese cake

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

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

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 !!!

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

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.