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!

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!!

Teachers Day Gift

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.

Blueberry Jam Swiss Roll

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

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.

Bakes

Fruity Birthday Cake for Mama & Papa

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

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.

Milo Chiffon cake

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.

Recent Bakes

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

Snow Skin Mooncake

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.

Prince Birthday Cake - Humpty Dumpty

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.

Vannila Swiss Roll

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

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.