Happy New Year !

Last bake for Year 2010

Chocolate Cupcake 'Ice creams'

I was amazed by the little cupcake ice cream when I read Jasmine's blog (from 'The Sweetylicious'). I told myself I had to try them & here they are...

Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream, sprinkled with peanuts & topped with a sweet cherry


Recipe (by Donna Hay)

Chocolate cupcakes
- 125g butter
- 125ml milk
- 165g caster sugar (I reduced to 155g)
- 100g dark chocolate, melted
- 2 eggs
- 16 storebought flat base ice-cream cones
- 190g plain flour
- 80g dark chocolate, extra, chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
3. Gradually add the eggs and beat well after each addition. Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and beat until combined. Fold through the milk and stir in the chocolate.
4. Place the ice-cream cones on a baking tray and place some white chocolate chips in the base of each cone. Spoon the cupcake mixture into the cones and bake for 20–25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
5. Allow to cool & decorate as desired.

My 2010 Birthday cake

Ho ho ho... Merry Xmas everyone! Dun be mistaken, it is not my birthday today. I just baked this cake in advance since my birthday is 3 days after Xmas. Being a fan of Doraemon, I came up with this Doraemon face cake.

See, my Doraemon has spiky hair. Kekeke.... it reminds me of a porcupine after I had finished decorating the cake. I used a 'ferrero rocher' as the bell for my doraemon. Isn't it cute? ;P

Looks are deceiving..

I am a cheesecake lover. When I saw Soufflé Cheesecake Cups in Corner Café blog, I knew I had to try baking them.

Everything went smoothly from my preparation to putting my cheesecake cups in the oven. I popped by my oven 5mins later & to my dismay, all my cheesecake cups were all blooming up nicely like 'Huat Kueh'. Kekeke, seriously, I never had the intention to make 'Huat Kueh' today, but I just could not give an explanation why it turned out this way. I sweared I had followed closely to the instructions stated in the recipe. Hey, wait a minute, could the culprit be the 20g plain flour (because I am only left 10g cornflour @ home!) which I had added??? Probably??

My cheesecake cups 'Huat Kueh peaks' deflated soon after out from then oven, leaving behind 3 lines on the surface.


Soufflé Cheesecake Cups (recipe adapted from Corner Café)

Ingredients
125g cream cheese
60ml milk
40ml canola oil
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
20ml lemon juice (I omitted)
30g cornflour, sifted (I used 20g plain flour + 10g cornflour)
3 egg whites
70g caster sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Line 15 muffin holes with paper cups (use a 12-hole muffin tray plus 3 more in a 6-hole tray, or fill the remaining batter in a remekin). Place a large tray of hot water inside the oven just below the shelf where the cheesecakes are to be baked.
2. Soften cream cheese with milk and oil in a bowl placed over simmering water, or in a double-boiler. Whisk until smooth, remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm.
3. Beat egg yolks with 40g sugar until combined, beat in lemon juice. Gradually whisk in cheese mixture to combine. Lightly whisk in sifted cornflour, mix well.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy. Then gradually beat in 70g sugar, spoonful by spoonful, until firm but just under stiff peaks stage.
5. Fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture until thoroughly mixed in. Repeat two more times with the remaining egg white mixture.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup nearly to the rim.
7. Place the muffin tray on the shelf just above the tray of hot water.
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the tops of the cheesecakes are lightly browned.

Despite their looks, they still taste heavenly~ so soft & melt in your mouth! You must definitely try these if you are a cheesecake lover.

Chawanmushi

My sister gave me a packet of seasoning yesterday. She mentioned that it is added to chawanmushi to give it a nice bonito taste. Using her recipe, I made chawanmushi today.

Ingredients for the custard

1 egg
200mls water
1/2 - 1 tsp of packet seasoning (adjust to individual preference)
1/4 tsp light soya sauce (adjust to individual preference)

Filling/topping:

Up to individual to add- but must blanch in boiling water for 1 minute

1. Bonito stock: Bring the 200mls water to a boil & add the packet seasoning & light soya sauce. Set it aside to cool down for later use.
2. Crack an egg in a bowl & mix well with the stock. Strain the mixture over a fine sieve.
3. Arrange the filling ingredient into the small chawanmushi cups & pour the custard in.
4. Steam the custard over high flame for about 3minutes. Insert a toothpick into the egg & if the liquid stay clear, its set. Remove from steamer & serve hot.

'Taa-daa'.. now you have a delicious & smooth texture chawanmushi. I love it with a dash of chili powder.

Weight loss or gain?

I bet everyone is excited about the upcoming Christmas celebrations, feast & gifts exchange etc. Well, sad to say that I am not able to enjoy this occasion because I just had four of my wisdom teeth extracted last Friday. Yup, its four teeth altogether... Ouch! That was pretty scary because the dentist had to cut open my gums to remove two of my lower wisdom teeth. Gosh, that was indeed a 'major operation' in my life spending more than 3hrs in the clinic. My whole mouth & tongue were numb from the anesthesia. That night when I came home, I was unable to ingest any food & fresh blood was flowing out like a river.

Today is my 3rd POD (post operative day), my cheeks were still slightly swollen. I can feel the tightness of the stitches inside my mouth. :( I could only take very liquid food or puree diet now. I was wondering will I lose some weight when I start work again in January 2011? But, judging on the food that I am eating now (loads of ice cream, yoghurt, porridge, mashed potatoes), I supposed I may have weight gain instead of loss? I am now looking forward to Christmas eve to have my stitches removed, but that does not mean I can have my usual diet then. It still takes time for the wound to heal & tissues to grow. Probably I need to wait for a couple of weeks?
Alright, enough of the disgusting teeth issues. (hopefully you are not eating when reading this!)

My sister came to my place to visit me this afternoon, so I specially bake a Chiffon cake for her tea time.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

(Recipe adapted & modify from Happy Home Baker)

With the remaining egg yolks, I bake a tub of cookies for the clinic staffs as my appreciation to them.

Chocolate souffle

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

I have always look forward to December since young. Why??? The reason being my birthday is three days away after Xmas! Can you imagine I have to wait for almost an entire year before I can celebrate my birthday? Kekeke.... besides that, December is also a month to relax & think about my new year resolutions.

This year, I decided to have a white Xmas logcake instead of the traditional chocolate ones. I followed Bakertan's (from Baking library) chocolate sponge cake recipe but used whipped cream instead of buttercream for frosting. I also made changes to the assembly of my cake. Here it goes,

Assembly:
1) Turn the baked sheet cake onto a piece of baking/parchment paper. Slowly peel off the attached baking/parchment paper from the cake.

2) Divide the sheet cake into 3 equal portions. Apply a layer of whipped cream over the surface of the sheet cake.

3) With the shorter side/breadth facing you, roll one portion of the cake up tightly to form a swiss roll. Continue to wrap around the first swiss roll by using the second & third portion of the cake. You should end up with a thick fat swiss roll.

4) Frost the cake with whipped cream & decorate as desired. Sprinkle some icing sugar to give a snowing effect.

This is how the cake looks like after sliced into half.

P/S: I am submitting my white Xmas logcake post to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010).

Birthday Party!

Does this bear looks familiar to you? Yup, it is identical to the bear cake which I had baked for my niece's birthday. Our birthday gal turns one officially today & celebrates this special day in a chalet.


This is the bear top which I had mentioned in my previous blog entry. It is really loose after multiple wash. My sister need to let my niece wear a dress underneath this bear top. Our birthday gal is in a happy mood today today & keep saying 'Be..ar, be..ar' when she wears this top & take pictures with my teddy bear cakes & cuppies.

My Brother in law ordered a 'Snow white & the seven dwarfs' ice cream cake as well. It consists of 2 flavours- Sticky chewy chocolate & Mango.

Take a look at our dinner food spread..

Fried Ee Fu mee

Black pepper chicken & Braised duck with sea cucumber

Assam Fish

Herbal chicken

Fried broccoli with scallops & mushrooms

Cereal oats prawns

Yam ring

Yam paste with Ginko nuts & sweet corn

A Teddy Bear Theme Birthday Party

My niece is turning 1 year old ! She loves teddy bear a lot & according to my sister, she will call out 'be..ar..' (in a cute & not so accurate pronunciation) when she sees pictures of teddy bear. So, that gives me an idea to give her a Teddy Bear Theme Birthday Party!

Guess what? I had been thinking about this 'big project' - what cake to bake for her since a few mths back. ;P Well, it may sounds foolish but afterall, that's her 1st birthday party celebration in the family! I am faced with another 'challenge' few weeks ago when my mum requested for a vanilla cake instead of a chocolate cake. I was cracking my head what should I add between the layers of sponge cake? I need something colourful so that it will turn out nice in photography when sliced into pieces. I thought of strawberries but sad to say I can't find any nice & sweet ones around. ('Giant' supermarket used to have very pretty & sweet Korean strawberries, but not anymore.. *sigh*) Anyway, to cut my story short, I have finally decided to do a peach mouse cake!

Oh yes, by the way, I got this teddy bear picture from a top I bought for my niece during my trip to Taiwan this year. I was told by my sister yesterday that the top does not fits her anymore. Not because she had outgrow her top, but rather due to multiple washings, the top became loose & big for her now. Such a pity, otherwise she can wear the top & take pictures with this cake... I even suggested to my sister perhaps to let my niece wear a fitting top underneath her loose bear top?? Hehehe... ;>


My family is very satisfied with my teddy bear cake & cuppies. Now, lets keep our fingers cross & see what the birthday gal got to 'say' tomorrow.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

Chiffon again? Yes, I just fall in love with baking Chiffon cakes ever since I bought my tube pan from Phoon Huat recently. One of my colleague came to my place for afternoon tea on Monday & brought along some Earl Grey tea bags. That gives me an idea to use the remaining tea bags to make a chiffon today!

I am using bread flour for all my chiffon cakes & they turned out to be super soft & light. If you love Earl Grey tea, I'm sure you will love this cake too. Even my mum who has never drink Earl Grey tea before loves this cake! *^_^*

 

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

(Recipe adapted & modify from Happy Home Baker)

Falling in love with Chiffon....

Berries Yoghurt Cheesecake

Hi-Tea with Disney babies