MummyJays Bakes and Makes

Bento / Baking Gadgets

2012-03-27T16:42:00.003+08:00

Hi, I have some bento / baking accessories for sale here, just drop me an email at mummyjays@gmail.com to check on availability, all ready stock! Check out this FB album for more stuffs, cheers ;-)

My Melody- RM18

Marie Cat- RM18

Mickey & Minnie- RM18

Pooh & Tigger RM18

cutters used on bread, so cute!

Chip & Dale- RM18

Doraemon & Dorami- RM18

Cinnamoroll- RM18

Miffy- RM18

Bread Mould (Smiley Face)- easy to use with handle- RM20

Bread Mould (Spiral)- easy to use with handle- RM20

Bread Mould (Sun)- easy to use with handle- RM20

3D Mickey Cookie / Toast Cutter- RM20

3D Hello Kitty Cookie / Toast Cutter- RM20

3D Pooh Cookie / Toast Cutter- RM20

Sandwich Bento Box- Sesame Street Elmo- RM20

Sandwich Bento Box- Sesame Street Elmo, comes with free elastic band to hold box together RM20

Disney Mickey Sandwich Bento Box- RM20

Disney Mickey Sandwich Bento Box, comes with free elastic band to hold box together- RM20

Silicone Mould- can be used in ovens to bake muffins/cupcakes etc.
Easy to use and clean
Comes in 3 designs- Winnie the Pooh, Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse
RM39

Orange Poppyseed Chiffon Cake

2010-05-06T00:18:00.002+08:00

I just love love love this flavour of chiffon cakes- Orange! I took it up a notch and added poppyseeds to the batter, no mistake at all, the cake was so pleasant to look at and it added a slight crunch to the spongy chiffon cake.

I like how high it rose, tall & mighty!

Got the recipe from here. Original recipe is for an Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, I tweaked it and made this orange poppyseed chiffon!

Ingredients:

(18cm cake)

Orange Poppyseed Chiffon Cake

A:
100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
75ml water

1 tsp orange paste

1 tsp poppyseeds

B:
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar

Method:

Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.

Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)

Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turn pale.

Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water. Add orange paste and poppyseeds. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.

In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.

Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 45 ~ 50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Blueberry Cake

2009-09-27T01:06:00.007+08:00

Bought a tub of fresh blueberries which were on sale. Normally I wouldn't buy them cos they are pretty expensive and would only get them for special occasions or when there's a bargain :)

Searched for a suitable recipe to use my tub of blueberries and found this blueberry cake recipe with a nice streusel topping... I've always loved to eat blueberries in muffins etc, so I thought I'd try something different! The bite into it was very comforting, it's especially nice when u eat it a little warm, it just crumbles into ur mouth! It was a welcoming change indeed, very delicious for tea, breakfast or just anytime of the day!

Blueberry Cake Recipe

from Joy of Baking

Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup (45 grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup (56 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Cake Batter:

1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (56 grams) (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup (80 ml) milk

2 cups fresh blueberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).

Butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) square pan or an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pan.

For streusel topping: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter.

Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, and beat only until combined.

Spread the batter onto the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
Evenly arrange the blueberries on top of the cake batter and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Gifts from My Oven :)

2009-09-22T01:37:00.003+08:00

Made this chocolate muesli banana bread for my friend and sis. Loved the little loaf cases I got from Daiso, so pretty to giveaway your bakes in this!

I used the same recipe here. Just substitute with mashed bananas!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2009-09-08T22:21:00.010+08:00

I've always loved to eat Pandan chiffon cake since I was little, so fluffy, so light, so airy. In other words, you don't really feel guilty eating a couple of slices haha... Before venturing into baking this chiffon cake, I've always thought it as a daunting task. Searching for recipes is one thing, but actually baking the cake is another ball game altogether!

After baking a few chiffon cakes, I've found chiffon cakes to be the most challenging bakes of all time. You have to be so gentle when making this cake, the beating of the egg whites till stiff peaks, folding the whites into the yolks mixture, taking care not to burst the bubbles you have worked so hard in beating. Whites cannot be overbeaten, the whisks and bowl that you whisk has to be clean and grease free, otherwise you will never achieve stiff peaks.

I've had my fair share of disasters in making chiffon cakes, but this one turned out perfect. James loves to eat this too, so normally when I buy a packet of coconut milk, I can make it on 2 occasions.

Stiff peaks

Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe (18cm)

from here

Ingredients:

Batter A :

3 egg yolks

40 gm castor sugar

75 gm self raising flour, sifted

1 tbsp olive oil

100 ml coconut milk

1 tsp pandan paste

Batter B :

3 egg whites

40 gm sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method :

1. Whisk egg yolks with sugar till creamy. Then add in olive oil, coconut milk and pandan paste. Mixed well and fold in the flour. Set aside.

2. Whisk egg white with sugar and cream of tartar till stiff.

3. Fold in egg yolks batter into the egg whites batter. Mixed well and pour into a chiffon cake pan. ( I used a 18 cm pan )

4. Bake at 180 DC for 40 minutes. Invert the cake pan over a cooling rack and let it cool completely. Once cooled use a sharp knife to separate the chiffon cake from the cake pan.

Apple Chocolate Muesli Bread

2009-08-27T23:37:00.002+08:00

Was rummaging through my fridge the other day and found a pack of Chocolate Muesli which I 'abandoned' some time ago. After checking that it's not expired yet, I decided to quickly look for a recipe which I can utilise it otherwise it'll go to waste :)

I like this recipe as it uses muesli which is healthy, and uses soya milk instead of normal milk. I added rolled oats on top of the loaf, a very healthy loaf of goodness indeed!

Freshly baked loaf of bread

The chocolate melted nicely with the baked apples

Chocolate muesli which I used

Apple Chocolate Muesli Bread

from Baking Bites

Ingredients:

1 cup muesli

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup vanilla soy milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup diced apples

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F and grease and 8×4-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together muesli, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

In a small bowl, beat egg with sugar, then add in soy milk, oil and vanilla.

Add sugar mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Stir in blueberries.

Pour batter into prepared pan and top with a few tablespoons of oats or muesli.

Bake at 375F for 55-60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

Homemade Tang Yuan soup

2009-08-17T15:50:00.010+08:00

I've always loved tang yuans since young. I remembered my grandma used to make this during the festival and we always had 2 colours- white & pink, of cos the latter is my favourite :) I love the smell of the dough too when we were all rolling the balls together, those were the times, excellent memories embedded in my heart :) The chewy texture of the balls are to die for! It can be plain balls or can be filled with black sesame paste/red bean/peanuts etc. For this recipe, I made them plain, but with a variety of colours! :)

Recipe for Tang Yuan Soup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour

2 sweet potatoes, cubed

1 tblsp barley

1 pc. gula melaka (cylinder shaped)

Few slices of ginger

Food colourings- green, blue, pink (optional)

1 tsp pandan essence

Water

Method:

1. Boil sweet potatoes, ginger slices & barley in a pot of boiling water till soft

2. Add pandan essence & gula melaka and continue to simmer on low fire

3. Mix flour with enough water and use hands to form a soft dough, or till it doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. Don't add too much at once, at a little at a time
4. Divide dough into 4 portions

5. Use toothpick to dab colourings onto the dough, a little goes a long way (see picture above)

6. Mix colouring into dough till desired colours achieved.

7. In a separate pot of boiling water, roll dough into balls and drop them in.

8. Once they float up, dish them into the 1st pot with all other ingredients.

9. Let all the tang yuans simmer for a while to allow all flavours to mingle.

10. Serve hot!

This makes a lovely dessert, easy and quick to make!

Mango Oat & Orange Poppyseed Muffins

2009-08-17T00:30:00.007+08:00

Saw this basic recipe for Banana Oat Muffins and since it sounded so healthy, I ought to give it a try :) Since I had no ripen bananas in my kitchen, I did have a really ripe mango my hubby's friend gave. So in goes the mango into my muffin recipe :)

You have heard of the combo of lemon & poppyseeds or orange & poppyseeds, but have you heard of mango with poppyseeds? I honestly have not. Well, I altered the recipe accordingly to try out this new flavour! I must say that some fruits are better eaten fresh, like mango for instance. You can taste a hint of mango flavour in the muffins, but you can't taste the pungent mango flavour like you would if you ate it fresh :)

Recipe for Mango Oat & Orange Poppyseed Muffins

from Happy Home Baking

Ingredients:

(makes 12 standard sized muffins, I used bigger cups as above and got 6 muffins)

120g plain flour

94g oat bran (I used rolled oats)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 box (net wt. 42.5g) Sun.Maid raisins (I did not use raisins in this recipe)

1 egg, lightly beaten

100g sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 medium sized bananas, mashed (I used mashed mangoes for Mango oat muffins and orange paste + poppy seeds for Orange poppyseed muffins instead)

1 ripe mango

1 tblsp poppyseeds

1 tsp orange paste

Method:

1. Mix flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and raisins in a bowl.
2. Combine egg, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and mashed bananas in another bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until just blended.
4. Fill muffin cups/liners till almost full. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degC for 20 to 25 mins.

This recipe is adapted from "The 250 Best Muffin Recipes, by Esther Brody".

Chocolate cake-bread (no-bake)

2009-07-26T00:47:00.005+08:00

I've always been intrigued by no-bake recipes, somehow the words 'no-bake' always attracts me. No-bake cheesecakes, cookies etc. It gives me the feeling that it's much easier than baking recipes hehe... Well, I have to say that not all of them turn out right though.

This teaches me not to just pick any random recipe from the web from unknown sources or sites which cannot be trusted, they don't give a ^%%$ about whether your bake turns out right or not! After all, you wouldn't want all your pain & sweat to go down the drain or right into the bin right!

Anyway, that is one of the reasons why I started this blog, to share recipes with friends who share the same passion as me. And all recipes that I've posted in this blog have been tried & tested by me, that is why every recipe is only posted once I've tried them out, always accompanied with a photo of the finished product. I've learned through the hard way, now I want my friends not to follow my footsteps :)

Ok back to this recipe, this chocolate cake actually makes use of bread, you can opt for white or wholemeal, it's entirely up to you. Choose a chocolate which you like to eat out of hand. So you can actually say it's more of a chocolate bread. Very interesting texture, extremely easy to make. Easy to satisfy any chocolate cravings you've been having ;)

Chocolate cake (no-bake)
Recipe from here

Ingredients:

6-8 slices of bread (shredded)
60g unsalted butter
120ml cream
3 tablespoon rum (use more if you want a stronger flavour!)
200g chocolate

*I used a loaf pan, line pan with aluminium foil, extra on the sides to lift up the cake easily later

Method:

1. Double boil butter & chocolate to melt
2. Once melted, remove from heat, stir in cream & rum
3. Add in shredded bread
4. Mix to combine (it'll be fairly thick)
5. Scoop into ready lined mould, press hard into mould
6. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
7. To remove, just lift up aluminium foil.
8. Cut & serve, enjoy! :)

Mix in cream & rum into melted chocolate + butter

Toss in bread and mix to combine

Press hard into mould

Onde-Onde

2009-07-17T01:09:00.004+08:00

Was flipping through my home economics 'bible' one day and saw a onde-onde recipe, read through the ingredient list and the steps, it looked easy to me, I told myself I must try it one day! So once I got hold of the ingredients, another friend of mine, Joanne, also made onde-onde, and her recipe was very similar to the one in my home econs bible :) Will share this with you! Thanks Joanne :)

I ended up getting more sweet potatoes and grated coconut, so I increased the ingredients in the recipe to yield more onde-onde :)

Onde-Onde Recipe

Ingredients:

400g steamed sweet potato
400g glutinous flour
6 tbsp water or more (I didn't measure how much water I used, just eyeball it, add a little at a time to form a dough)
1 tsp canola oil
chopped pieces of gula melaka (or call palm sugar)
freshly grated coconut (add salt)
1 tsp pandan essence

Directions:

1) Steam the sweet potato until soft.
2) Mash the sweet potato in a bowl, add in the glutinous flour slowly, water, oil & pandan essence.
3) Knead till a dough is formed. You can add more water if the dough is dry or add more flour if the dough is wet and sticky.
4) Chop gula melaka into bite size pieces. (avoid wet)
5) Divide dough into 20g each and wrap in the gula melaka. (I just picked up a small pc of dough to create a ball which is bite sized then fill in chopped gula melaka)
6) Put the wrapped balls into a big pot of boiling water.
7) Fish them out when the ball floats (once it's cooked, it'll automatically float up!)
8) Toss them on to a plate filled with grated coconut and coat all around the balls.
9) Serve and eat!

Yummy Easy Breakie

2009-07-15T16:45:00.003+08:00

Made this simple and easy breakfast one fine morning when I wanted something quick and yet satisfying.

I took out slices of bread, slabbed on a thick spread of peanut butter, layered banana slices, topped with a slice of cheese, sprinkle of raisins and a dash of cinnamon. Placed it in the oven to toast for around 10 mins, till cheese melts!

A heartwarming and comforting breakie to start my day!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Bananas & Rum dessert

2009-07-11T17:07:00.005+08:00

Here's one nice spoonful of the dessert for ya :)

Bananas & Rum Dessert

(makes 4)

Ingredients:

2 large bananas

2 tblsp of rum

1 pot of plain yoghurt

handful of raisins

4 tblsp orange juice

2tblsp sugar

dash of cinnamon powder

1 packet of sponge fingers

Method:

1. Slice bananas into medium thickness

2. Mix in rum, orange juice, sugar and raisins, soak for a while

3. Layer sponge fingers at the bottom of glass

4. Spoon bananas mixture on top

5. Layer another layer of sponge fingers, followed by bananas mixture again

6. Scoop a dollop of plain yoghurt on top and sprinkle with cinnamon powder

7. Put in fridge for 30 minutes or more to settle and let all the flavours mingle :)

8. Eat!

My new HOT babe!

2009-07-07T22:53:00.003+08:00

I am very happy to own my very 1st oven, hopefully we'll serve each other for years to come! It's an Elba 42L electric oven, managed to squeeze this buy within my budget after I redeemed Jusco vouchers :)

Have baked many stuffs with it, but I'm still familiarising myself with this oven, like 'getting to know you', orientation stuff... I used to bake in a conventional oven, it's a microwave oven too. So this electric oven has more functions to it such as top/bottom heating elements, different rack positions etc, all these will matter if your bake turns out well or not.

Anyway, I can't wait to experiment more recipes with my new HOT babe!

Strawberry Yoghurt Muffins

2009-07-01T20:41:00.006+08:00

Baked these strawberry yoghurt muffins with leftover strawberries from my Tiramisu.

It turned out really nice and moist, with strawberry chunks in every bite. The almond flakes added an extra crunch, it was nice and toasted on top.

I bought some tart moulds from Jusco the other day and was thinking of trying out muffins in these moulds since we always use paper liners or muffin trays. Since I don't have a muffin tray, I thought using these moulds will create a pretty muffin with its fluted sides.

Original recipes uses blueberries, and since I wanted to use up my strawberries, I substituted the blueberries with them.

Fresh from the oven

Nice mouthful of strawberry chunks

Experimented baking muffins with these moulds

Strawberry Yoghurt Muffins

Recipe from here (thanks Florence)

Ingredients:

(A)

145g self raising flour (sieve)

1/2 cup fresh blueberries or more (wash and dry with paper towel) I used strawberries

(B)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

55g sugar

60g melted butter

2 tbsp milk

120g plain yoghurt

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Mix (A) together.

2. Mix (B) together in a mixing bowl.

3. Pour (A) into (B) and mix everything in 5 strokes.

4. Spoon batter into muffin tray lined with paper muffin cups up to 85% full.

5. Bake at 190C for 20 minutes - 30minutes or till cooked.

Tiramisu with Love, lots of it.

2009-06-24T13:58:00.004+08:00

This was my 1st attempt at making my very own Tiramisu after having it outside at restaurants, cafes over the past few years. And for this year's Mother's Day, I decided to make it special by making my very own Tiramisu for my mum and myself, being my 1st Mother's Day :) I'm extremely pleased with the results, it tasted really good and heavenly, I couldn't stop at one slice :p

Making Tiramisu is actually pretty simple, just needed to gather the recipes and ingredients. I must say making this cake is not cheap though, a tub of Mascarpone cheese costs more than RM20. So this cake will only be served during very special occasions :)

Ingredients to making Tiramisu

It was nice and set, the layers firmed up really nicely

Ingredients:
(makes a 8" cake, I used a springform pan)
Recipe from here

Espresso Syrup:
1 tablespoons instant espresso/ strong coffee powder (I used instant coffee powder)
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) boiling water
1 tablespoon Marsala (I used rum)

Filling:
250g mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons icing sugar
2 tablespoons Marsala (I used Rum)
1 cup (250 ml) heavy whipping cream
A pack of sponge fingers

50g dark chocolate cocoa powder, to dust
dark and white chocolate shavings (optional)
strawberries for decoration (optional)

Method:

To make the Espresso Syrup:

Dissolve instant espresso coffee powder, sugar in boiling water. Leave to cool. Stir in 1 tablespoon Baileys Irish Cream. Set aside.

To make the Filling:

In a mixing bowl, with a manual whisk, whisk mascarpone cheese with icing sugar, vanilla extract, Baileys Irish Cream and 3 tablespoons of the espresso syrup until blended. With an electric mixer whisk the whipping cream until soft peak (do not over whip). With a spatula, fold in 1/4 of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture. Fold in the remaining whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture.

To assemble the cake:

One at a time, gently dip (do not soak) sponge fingers in the espresso syrup and use them to line the base of the pan (do this quickly).

Cut the sponge fingers into shorter lengths if necessary. Use the leftover pieces to fill the gaps.

Spoon over half of the filling onto the layered spongefingers. Spread evenly. Grate the dark chocolates over the filling.

Repeat with another layer of sponge fingers and spoon over the remaining filling. Spread and smooth the top. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best left overnight.

Just before serving, unmold the cake and dust the top with cocoa powder. Decorate with dark and white chocolate shavings and strawberries (as desired). (I cut strawberries to halves and placed them onto the half-set Tiramisu, melted some chocolate and drizzled over the strawberries, and left it to set).

(*Note: If you do not have a springform pan or a pan with a removable base, you can improvise by lining a normal round pan with a large sheet of aluminium foil. Give allowance of about 1~2 inches for the foil to hang over the rim of the pan. Place a cake board inside the lined pan (this is actually optional). Follow the steps above. To unmold, simply lift up the cake from the pan by gripping the foil. Transfer the cake onto a serving plate and carefully remove the foil. )

Devilishly Moist Chocolatey Banana Cake

2009-06-17T01:02:00.006+08:00

haha... the name sounds devilish, dark and evil eh? :) This was the kind of recipe I was looking for, dark chocolate flavour, enough to satisfy any choco cravings if you have. Since I was going to make a Chocolate cake, might as well make it a really really chocolatey Chocolate cake right? :) I've always loved eating Chocolate Banana cake since I tasted my first slice from Secret Recipe. So since I'm into baking again, I decided to give this a try, my maiden attempt in making Chocolate Banana Cake! I'm very happy with this cake, everyone enjoyed it too! It was really rich, one slice was enough to last me for a while.

I made this cake for my sis as she was moving out to her new place. Sort of a farewell gift from us to her, since we won't be leaving under one roof anymore :( Glad she liked the surprise! :)

Fresh from the oven, love the dark chocolate colour

Cake cutting ceremony hehe

Made a simple heart in the centre to show her how much we all love her!

Nice twist to the pix above, you can play around from here

Banana chunks and yummy chocolate in every slice

Devilishly Moist Chocolatey Banana Cake

Recipe from Happy Home Baking

Ingredients:
(makes one 9" cake)

1 1/2 cup (161g) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (61g) natural cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt1
2/3 cups (332g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) safflower or other neutral vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk (I used low fat milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (240ml) boiling water

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degF. Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 3 inches round cake pan. Dust the pan with flour and set aside. (I lined the bottom with parchment paper.)

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in sugar and mix at low speed until blended. (I used a spatula to mix in the sugar).

Add in the oil and mix a few seconds until the dry ingredients are crumbly. (I used a spatula to mix in the oil).

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs until blended. Whisk in the milk and vanilla extract until blended. With mixer at low speed, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl necessary. (I used a manual whisk to do the mixing. The batter will be very thick at this stage).

Add in the boiling water gradually and mix just until blended and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. (The mixture will become very thin and watery.)

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 mins until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 20mins before unmoulding. Let cool completely.

Ganache recipe

from Joy of Baking

1 bar of 200g cooking chocolate

1 packet of heavy whipping cream (200ml)

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside.

Heat the cream in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth.

*I omitted the butter in the ganache as I wanted just chocolate flavour minus any buttery flavour.

To assemble this 20cm chocolate banana cake:

Slice two large bananas, lengthwise into halves. Squeeze some lemon juice over if you want to prevent browning. (I skipped this step)

Slice cooled chocolate cake into 2 layers. Use a really sharp knife, i.e. serrated knife.

Spread one layer with the chocolate ganache, arrange the sliced bananas on the cake layer to form 2 concentric rings. Cut the bananas as necessary in order to form the two rings. Layer the other cake slice on top of this.

Coat the top and sides of the cake surface with the remaining chocolate ganache. (I only coat the top and let it drip down to the sides. Decorate with heart sprinkles and sliced bananas on top if you wish.

Let it cool in the fridge to set. Once set, slice and serve! :)

Recipe adapted from The Cake Book, by Tish Boyle

Getting a new babe SoOn!

2009-06-16T13:15:00.003+08:00

Am planning to get a new oven soon, been waiting for my Jusco vouchers to arrive, and it arrived yesterday!!! Yipeeee... can't wait to bake in an oven with bigger capacity. Now I bake with a conventional oven :)

Looking for something at least 35L or more. Will have to go oven shopping SoON!

Cheers!

Pan-fried Red Bean Bun

2009-06-10T23:04:00.007+08:00

Pan fried red bean bun, also known as Hakka cheen loong bao is an old-fashioned traditional chinese dessert. It is usually wrapped with roasted groundnuts or red beans paste. It's actually very easy to make.

I added matcha to the dough as I thought it would be a nice complement to the red bean paste! The colour turned out well and was pleasant to the eyes and tastebuds.

Recipe from here

Filling

200g red bean paste, I used the one that I made (shape into balls)

Skin:

200g low protein flour (cake flour) (I used cake flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder(dissolved in a little water)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
15g caster sugar
30g shortening or butter, (I used butter)
100-150ml water
2 tsp matcha (green tea powder)

1. Sieve flour and set aside
2. Pour in the baking powder,instant yeast,sugar, matcha and shortening in the flour, mix well
3. Pour the water in a gentle stream
4. Slowly work to form a non-sticky soft dough.
5. Leave the dough in a clean bowl to proof for 1-2 hours
6. Scale the risen dough at 40g portions and shape into balls
7. Flatten each ball of dough and wrap the filling in and seal
8. Leave the flattened buns on a tray and wrap with a wrapping paper and proof a second time for 30 or until double in size
9. Arrange buns in a flat frying pan and pan fry it over low heat without OIL till both sides are golden brown
10. It takes about 10-15 minutes.

Makes 8

Serve hot.

Tips:Dissolve the baking powder in water to prevent the dough becomes yellowish. I didn't have to worry about this as I used matcha powder.

Both of us walloped most of it that night :p It tasted extremely good especially when the red bean paste was self-made. But nonetheless, it would taste good with ready bought red bean paste too!

Cuppycakes

2009-06-09T01:48:00.004+08:00

Made these cupcakes for my hubby's family when they came down from Singapore to spend the long weekend in Melaka.

I would love to share this recipe with you but honestly, I just can't find it...! I don't want to pick a random recipe and share here for fear that it might flop... no good lah like that!

Anyway these are very simple vanilla cupcakes made the night before we went down. Dusted with pretty stars and hearts to capture their hearts and eyes! :) It was really delicious with raisins, almonds and chocolate chips in every bite.

I am still on the hunt for lovely cupcake recipes to file in my recipe library! :)

*Tip: If you don't have muffin tray which holds individual cupcake cases in place, just use a few cupcake cases, it should be strong enough to hold its shape once batter is in and while it's baking!

Pretty Jellies

2009-06-05T01:28:00.004+08:00

Bought a packet of Konnyaku jelly, peach flavoured and made these jellies with apple for fun :) I also bought a mould from 100 yen with various shapes, it's so pretty to look at!

This jelly is more chewy than the normal agar agar or jelly. Very refreshing to bite into it on a hot day :)

Matcha Marble Pound Cake

2009-06-01T16:59:00.000+08:00

Remember the Azuki beans which I made earlier? I've decided to make a matcha pound cake with the paste. I've always loved the marriage of matcha (green tea powder) and red beans. I love green tea ice cream with a nice dollop of red bean paste on the side, I love green tea flavoured of almost anything! Biscuits, cookies, cakes, ice cream, you name it... and I never fail to have a glass of green tea everyday. For the matcha, I was searching for it high and low for a long time before I finally found it in Carrefour at Tropicana Mall. I've seen it later at Juscos as well, they are not cheap though, a small packet/tin can cost from RM15 or more. Yesterday I saw a stall at Sunway Pyramid selling matcha in a tin that cost RM58!

Anyway, I found the recipe for this pound cake at Youtube, you can find it here. The guy on the video shows you the steps on how to make this pound cake, video instructions are much better and easier to follow! I find him pretty cute cos I've always liked guys that are domesticated and good in the kitchen :) I've taken the liberty to type out the recipe for you so that you won't have to scribble down when you watch the video!

Batter ready to go into the oven

Fresh from the oven, love the browning effects and the beautiful swirl marks

I love to play with my photos on this site, you can have fun with it too :)

People admiring my pound cake hehe

The chocolate flavour was stronger than the matcha flavour as I was a bit 'stingy' with the matcha, not using all of it hehe...

The red bean paste created a nice texture when you bite into the cake!

Recipe For Matcha Marble Pound Cake

(I used a 9-inch loaf pan)

Ingredients:

100g soft butter

100g sugar

100 plain flour

3g baking soda

2 eggs, beaten

50g chocolate, melted

5-10g matcha

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius, grease baking tin and sift flour and baking soda

2. Whisk butter till pale

3. Add sugar slowly till creamy and white

4. Add flour, fold into mixture gently

5. Divide batter into 2 bowls

6. For 1st portion, add matcha, 2nd portion add melted chocolate, mix well

7. Combine both mixtures alternatively in prepared tin, make a swirl to combine the batter to create a marble effect (I like this part, it's so fun!)

8. Bake for around 40-45 minutes

9. After 20 minutes, make a slit on the batter so that batter rises evenly

10. Bake till toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy! :)

Matcha Coffee

2009-06-01T16:16:00.000+08:00

Ever heard of green tea flavoured coffee??? I came across this for the 1st time in my life yesterday at Jusco! There was a promoter giving out free samples of coffee, and when I saw this packet, I couldn't believe my eyes... I just had to try it out!

For a green tea enthusiast like me, this is definitely new to me, I've tried green tea ice cream, green tea biscuits & cookies, cakes and drinking green tea itself but never coffee! You can't imagine how excited I was... after I tasted it, it was nice, very strong coffee with a subtle hint of matcha flavour... I was sent up to the skies... floated for a while then grabbed a pack and off I went to pay! :) Hubby also loved it, he said it was unusual, unique and something special!

You guys might want to try it, it was going for RM12.90 per pack for 15 sticks.

Linguine

2009-06-01T07:50:00.000+08:00

Ingredients and preparations

Linguine topped with sausages and sauce, with baked potatoes,

carrots and asparagus on the side

Ingredients for this dish wasn't measured out, was just estimated by hand :) You can see the ingredients used in first picture.

Prepare pasta:

1. Cook linguine till al-dente in boiling water with salt and a bit of olive oil.

2. Once cooked to your liking, drain and set aside on serving dish.

Prepare side accompaniments:

1. Boil potatoes till soft, remove skin and cube.

2. Peel carrots using peeler, cut asparagus and blanch in boiling water.

3. Place blanched vegetables and potatoes in a pan, season with salt, pepper and drizzle lots of olive oil. Toss to coat all.

4. Place pan in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees celcius.

5. Once potatoes start to brown, you can remove pan from oven and place vegetables on serving dish.

Prepare sauce:

1. Heat up olive oil

2. Fry sausage, onions, raisins till brown and fragrant

3. Add chopped cherry tomatoes and fry till skin starts to peel, mash it as you fry with all other ingredients

4. Add yellow mustard, seeded mustard and mix well

5. Add some water for some sauce

6. Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes.

7. Fry till mixture starts to thicken, add more water and seasoning if you prefer more sauce.

Finale...

Pour sauce over pasta on serving dish with side accompaniments, drizzle olive oil over everything and add dash of black pepper.

Serve and eat while hot! :)

Name that Utensil

2009-05-29T00:37:00.000+08:00

I found this quiz on one of my favourite cooking shows- Take Home Chef by Curtis Stone. He's really fun to watch, he makes cooking seemed so easy :) Tall, hunky, good looking, can cook well, what more can you ask for?

This is one fun quiz to test your knowledge on your way around the kitchen!

Have fun!

Happy Find

2009-05-16T23:15:00.000+08:00

Was hanging out at my friend's cafe in Kota Damansara earlier and passed by a baking supplies store! I was so excited and told hubby that I had to go there... Above is my baking supply loot hehe :) I almost went crazy in there... so much to see, so much to buy, had to control myself! Hubby complained that I took so long, almost an hour in that shop :p