Apple Oats Truffles

Frankly speaking, Truffles are not on my baking list today. I am supposed to bake an Apple Oats Cake instead! Oh well, I trusted a wrong recipe from a website & end up with a 'not so pretty, dry & hard' cake. I am very disappointed & angry with the cake I had on hand. What am I supposed to do with it then? Throw away? No way! Doesn't it sounds wasteful especially with the flour prices increasing now? I forced myself to ingest 2 small pieces of the cake for my breakfast. Hmm.. the taste is quite good though despite the fact that it is dry & hard.

Guess what? I immediately thought of Eelin (from the batter baker) who once told me that she will always turn her not so satisfactory cakes into truffles to prevent food wastage. That's really a brilliant idea! I hopped over to her blog & searched recipe for truffles & even asked her for tips through MSN about the making of truffles.

This is my 'not so pretty, dry & hard' Apple Oats Cake before its 'makeover'

Truffles (Recipe adapted & modified from 'the batter baker' by Eelin)

Ingredients
80 white chocolate
small knob of butter
200g cake crumbs (crushed using a blender)
Cocoa powder mix with icing sugar (for coating)

Making the truffles:

1. Melt the chocolate & butter bain marie. Stir till smooth, then remove from heat.

2. Stir in cake crumbs & mix well.
3. Roll mixture into small balls & place them on a sheet of baking paper. Chill in the fridge till firm.
4. Roll the balls in cocoa powder & icing sugar.
5. Place in paper cases & chill till ready to serve.

This is my Apple Oats Truffles after its 'extreme makeover'. It tastes good, no longer dry & hard as it used to be!

I am submitting my entry to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess of Bakericious.

Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart

Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart
(Adapted & modified from Table for 2 or more by Wendy)

Ingredients
250g bread flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
120gm warm milk
1 egg
20g butter
2 apples
60g brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
whipping cream (left over from my Pandan cuppies)

Method:
1. Combine flour, sugar & instant yeast together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.

2. Mix milk & egg together and pour into the well.

3. With a spoon, try to bring the flour in gradually & form a dough.

4. When everything has come together, knead in softened butter. Continue to knead, it is very
soft and sticky at the beginning & knead it until it no longer feels sticky & a smooth dough is formed.

5. Then cover and let it proof for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare a loose bottomed 9 inch tart pan. Generously butter the pan.

6. Punch down the dough & give it a 1-2 mins knead. Let it rest for 5-10 mins before flattening it into the pan.

7. Let dough in pan proof for another 30 mins.

8. Meanwhile, peel & cut apples. When 30 mins is up, the dough looks puffy. Press the apples in & sprinkle the brown sugar & cinnamon onto the apples.

9. Preheat the oven @ 180, the tart will continue to proof until the oven is ready. Bake the tart for 10 mins.

10. Remove tart from oven and spoon the cream over the apples.

12. Return tart back to oven @ 180 degrees for 20 mins.

13. Remove from oven & transfer tart to cooling rack, remove mould & let it cool on rack.

14. Slice only when tart turned warm to touch, if not the cream filling will be runny.

Arranging my apple slices on top of the dough after 30mins of proofing. Don't you think my rounded dough on the sides resembled 'Fishballs'? ;P

Sprinkled the brown sugar & cinnamon onto the apples & continue proofing again

Out from oven cooling down! I love the greenish swirl but I guessed my oven temperature is way too hot~ Can you see my 'overcooked meatballs' ? ;P

This bread is very soft. The crunchy sweetened apples added a unqiue taste when eaten together with the bread. I simple heart this. Give it a try too, will ya?

I am submitting my entry to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess of Bakericious.

Do hop over to Wendy's blog to take a peep of her awesome tart.

Pandan Cuppies

I made some pandan cuppies this afternoon for just two reasons - I want to use up my last bit of pandan paste at home & also I got a sudden craving for pandan stuffs! These greenish little cuppies were really soft & I love the combination with the mild pandan flavoured frosting.

Pandan cupcakes

(Adapted & modified from Off the spork)

Ingredients
55g butter
70g caster sugar
1 egg
140g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
60ml whipping cream
1 tsp pandan paste

Frosting
Whipping cream
Pandan paste

*Add pandan paste into whipping cream & whipped until stiff peak. Leave in fridge for later use.


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter for several minutes with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, beating well between additions, until the mixture is pale & fluffy.

3. Add the egg slowly, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.

4. Add 1/3 of the flours to the butter mixture & beat on low speed. Add 1/3 of the whipping cream & beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour & whipping cream have been added. Add the pandan paste & until just combined.

5. Spoon the mixture into the cupcakes cases. Bake @ 180 degrees for 25 mins.

6. Remove from the oven & place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, frost with pandan flavoured cream.

胡箩卜戚风蛋糕

胡箩卜戚风蛋糕
(Recipe adapted & modified from Yvonne of Muimui25)

Ingredients A

4 Egg yolks

40ml Oil

80ml Whipping cream

50g Castor sugar

120g shredded Carrot

60g chopped peanuts

Pinch of salt

120g Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon powder

Ingredients B

5 Egg Whites

50g Castor Sugar

Methods

1. Mix A until well blended.
2. Whisk the egg whites in B until foamy. Add in the sugar & continue whisking until stiff.
3. Take 1/4 of the meringue & mix it into the egg yolk mixture from step (1) until combined. Add the remaining meringue & mix well.
4. Pour the batter into the chiffon tin. Bake at 180C for 50 mins & 10 mins to brown the surface.
5. Immediately invert it after taking out from the oven & let it cool.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe adapted & modified from Edith from Precious Moments)

Ingredients
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
125g butter
120g brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
100g instant oats
60g raisins
40g chocolate chips

Method:
1. Sift the flour, baking soda & salt.
2. Cream butter till soft & fluffy.
3. Add brown sugar & beat till smooth.
4. Add egg & vanilla & mix till combined.
5. Add in half the flour & mix & add the remaining flour untill fully incorporated.
6. Add oats, raisin & chocolate chips & mix until just combined.
7. Chill for 1 hour to relax the dough.
8. Using a tablespoon, scoop dough onto tray. Bake for 20mins @ 180 degrees.

Chicken Mushroom Buns

I guessed I had been baking too much bread loaf recently & my mum (my faithful recipient) got tired of it. She called me two days ago requesting for some curry or chicken buns instead. Knowing that she loves oats, I decided to bake oats buns with chicken mushrooms fillings for her this evening.

The recipe for Oats bread can be found here.

Chicken mushroom fillings:
500g Chicken breast meat
120g Button Mushrooms
120g Onion
1 can Campbell mushroom soup

Seasoning:
Black pepper
1 tsp maggi seasoning

Method:
1) Heat up 2 Tbsp oil in frying pan.
2) Fry onions & mushrooms till fragrant. Add in chicken breast meat & seasoning.
3) Add in mushroom soup. Fry till combined.

巧克力戚风蛋糕

Chocolate Chiffon Cake ~ 巧克力戚风蛋糕
(Recipe adapted & modified from The First Book of Baking for Beginners by Carol)

Ingredients
(A)
115g Whipping cream
30g vegetable oil
60g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
1 whole egg
5 egg yolks
20g sugar

(B)
5 egg whites
60g sugar

Method
1. In a saucepan, mix whipping cream, oil & sugar together until boil.
2. Add sifted flour & cocoa powder into (1). Stir well.
Remove the saucepan from stove when the mixture combined into a soft dough & does not stick to the pan.
3. Let the mixture (2) cool down. Add in egg & egg yolks slowly till combined.
4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites till frothy. Add sugar gradually & beat till stiff.
5. Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture till well incorporated.
6. Pour in the remaining egg whites & fold gently till well combined.
7. Pour into chiffon mould & bake @ 180 deg C for 40mins.
8. Immediately invert it after removal from oven. Leave to cool.

Peach Swiss Rolls

Peach Swiss Roll
(Recipe adapted & modified from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷)

Ingredients:
(A)
80g egg yolks
20g castor sugar
40g vegetable oil
40g whipping cream
80g plain flour

(B)
160g egg whites
80g castor sugar

some red colouring

Filling:
150g whipping cream
Sliced Peaches

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, castor sugar, vegetable oil & whipping cream until combined. Sift in flour & mix until smooth & well combined.

2. In another bowl, beat eggs whites until soft peaks. Add sugar slowly & continue beating until egg whites are nearly stiff (This is when the bowl is overturned, the egg whites would not budge).

3. Fold 1/3 of egg whites mixture into egg yolk mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites & fold gently to obtain a smooth batter. Remove s0me batter & add in the red colouring. Mix till it combined & pour back to the remaining batter.

4. Pour batter into a tray lined with parchment paper & bake @ 180 deg C for 12mins.




I am submitting my entry to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess of Bakericious

Panda Bread

First, I would like to thank Lena (from frozen wings) for passing these lovely awards to me *^_^*

Next, let me present you my Panda Bread! Aren't they cute?

I came across Florence blog (Do What I Like) a few years ago & saw this Panda Bread. I fell in love with it immediately. However, I am not really into bread making at that time & I do not possessed a good mixer or an oven. So, I could only envy...

Recently, I saw this Panda Bread again in Facebook (by Shinni Bakincow). Oh well, those baking bugs inside me are urging me to try out making this bread!!


Do hop over to Not Quite Nigella blog for a step by step guide on the making of Panda Bread.

Panda: Can you bear to eat me ??

Green Tea Bread Loaf

Green Tea Bread Loaf
(Recipe adapted & modified from Frozen Wings)

Ingredients:
300g Bread flour
30g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3g bread improver
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
180ml water
20g butter
1 Tbsp green tea powder

some oats for decoration

Method:
1. Combine flour, sugar , salt , yeast & water in a mixer and mix well till smooth dough is formed.
2. Add in butter till dough is smooth & shiny.
3. Divide dough into 2 portions & add in the green tea powder into one portion & mix till dough is even colour.
4. Divide each dough into 2 portions, so now altogether 2 portions of plain dough and 2 portions of green tea dough.
5. Roll dough out & shape them into rectangle
6. Stack the layers alternately, flatten the dough & roll them up tight.
7. Place in a lightly greased loaf tin & let proof for an hour.
8. Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 30 mins.

Noticed the loaf on the left is green while the loaf on right is white? Hehehe, this is because I wrapped the plain dough inside the green tea dough (left loaf) & did the opposite for the other side (right loaf).

My swirl is not so pretty due to my lack of skills in rolling of bread ;P

Lena (from frozen wings) & Min (from Min's Blog) did a good job! Do hop over their blog to have a glance at their beautiful swirl ;)

葡萄干吐司

Raisin Loaf ~葡萄干吐司
(Recipe adapted & modified from Carol 烘焙新手必备的第二本书)

Ingredient
20g caster sugar
230g bread flour
20g plain flour
6g Instant yeast
3g bread improver
120ml cold water
30g butter
100g raisins

Mozzarella cheese

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the mixer (except butter & raisins) to form a soft dough.
2. Add butter into the dough & beat until the dough becomes smooth and non-sticky.
   
3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead in the raisins. Smooth the dough into a round ball & divide into 2 equal portions.
4. Flatten & roll out each dough into an oval shape. Roll up swiss roll style. Place in a bread loaf tin (well greased), seams side down. Let dough proof for 1 hr or until the dough rise up to 90% of the height of the tin.
5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of dough.
   
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 35mins.
7. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing.

I am submitting my entry to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess of Bakericious

Osmanthus Chiffon Cake

Osmanthus Chiffon Cake ~ 桂花戚风蛋糕
(Recipe adapted & modified from Vivian Pang Kitchen)

Ingredients
(A)
50g brown sugar
2 Tbsp Osmanthus
Few pieces of wolfberries
150ml water

(B)
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
40g vegetable oil

(C)
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

(D)
5 egg whites
30g sugar

Method
1. Put all ingredients (A) into a pot. Bring to boil, off heat & let it cool for 10mins.
2. Mix all ingredients (B) in a bowl. Add in the cool syrup from (A). Stir well.
3. Fold in sifted ingredients (C). Mix till smooth.
4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites till frothy. Add sugar gradually & beat till stiff.
5. Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture till well incorporated.
6. Pour in the remaining egg whites & fold gently till well combined.
7. Pour into chiffon mould & bake @ 180 deg C for 35mins.
8. Immediately invert it after removal from oven. Leave to cool.

Maple Pumpkin Bread

I made a terrible mistake... I bet you had already spotted it. Yes, the pumpkin seeds! I used to throw away the pumpkin seeds until recently I was told by Jess (from Jess kitchen) that the seeds were edible! I purposely bought a pumpkin this week to bake this bread & even washed the seeds a few times to ensure they were clean before I added them to my bread dough ;P

I'm such a muddlehead ;P I only realized my mistake when I sliced my bread. I was mumbling to myself, wondering why the seeds were super hard when sliced. Opps, I should have shelled the seeds before adding to my dough earlier on! ;P

I love the colour & softness of the bread. However, sad to say that I have to slice off the sides of the bread before eating. Oh well, mistakes do happen in kitchen at times. At least I had learned my lesson today & will not repeat it in future ;P

Do hop over to Min's Blog for the recipe & take a look at her pretty bread loaf.

P/s: I had replaced honey with maple syrup.

Dulce De Leche Swiss Roll

DDL again? Yup! I am using the last bit of DDL in my fridge for this swiss roll.
I am using this recipe, except that I replaced the red bean to Dulce De Leche.

DDL Cream
150ml whipping cream, cold
80g DDL

1. Put DDL into mixing bowl & put in a bit of cream. On low speed, mix to combine, adding more gradually. When all the whipping cream has been added in, turn to high speed and beat until soft peaks.

红豆戚风卷

Red Bean Swiss Roll~ 红豆戚风卷
(Recipe adapted & modified from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷)

Ingredients:
(A)
80g egg yolks
20g castor sugar
40g vegetable oil
40g whipping cream
80g plain flour

(B)
160g egg whites
80g castor sugar
100g red bean

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, castor sugar, vegetable oil & whipping cream until combined. Sift in flour & mix until smooth & well combined.

2. In another bowl, beat eggs whites until soft peaks. Add sugar slowly & continue beating until egg whites are nearly stiff (This is when the bowl is overturned, the egg whites would not budge).

3. Fold 1/3 of egg whites mixture into egg yolk mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites & fold gently to obtain a smooth batter. Add in red beans.

4. Pour batter into a tray lined with parchment paper & bake @ 180 deg C for 12mins.


Buttercream Filling:
80g butter
20g icing sugar
50g whipping cream

Beat butter & icing sugar together until light & fluffy. Add in whipping cream slowly & whisk until combined.

绿茶磅蛋糕

Matcha Pound Cake ~绿茶磅蛋糕
(Recipe adapted & modified from 鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝)

Ingredient

100g plain flour
1 Tbsp matcha powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
65g icing sugar
1oog butter
2 eggs
30g white chocolate
60g red bean

Method:

1. Melt white chocolate using double boil method
2. Whisk butter & icing sugar together till fluffy, add in eggs slowly until combined.
3. Add in sifted flour, baking powder & matcha powder.
4. Add in melted white chocolate & lastly red beans.
5. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 35mins.
   

抹茶红豆吐司

Matcha Red Bean Loaf ~抹茶红豆吐司
(Recipe adapted & modified from Happy Home Baking)

Ingredient

50g caster sugar
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
3g bread improver
1 Tbsp Matcha powder
100ml red bean water
1 egg
38g butter
100g red bean

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the mixer (except butter) to form a soft dough.
2. Add butter into the dough & beat until the dough becomes smooth and non-sticky.
   
3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Smooth the dough into a round ball & divide into 2 equal portions.
4. Flatten & roll out each dough into an oval shape. Roll up swiss roll style. Place in a bread loaf tin (well greased), seams side down. Let dough proof for 1 hr or until the dough rise up to 90% of the height of the tin.
5. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 30mins.
6. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing.