Honey Bee Sweets

Easy Valentine's Day Desert : Baked Chocolate Custard

2012-02-14T22:01:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! Hope you have a day full of love and joy today. Whether you spent the day at a fine dinning restaurant or just a quiet dinner at home with your love one, I'm sure it's a wonderful one. For people like me that is married with kids, probably have lesser chance or time to appreciate this day. But just think of it this way, so long as you and your love one enjoy the time spend together, any day can be Valentine's Day! Most importantly is to cherish one another. (^o^)

Today I would like to introduce a lovely and delicious desert that is sure to melt your love ones' heart when they get a taste of it; Baked Chocolate Custard.

I got this wonderful recipe from a cookbook from Donna Hay. Its been ages since I used it and am glad I did this time! All thanks to Zoe who has this "Cook like a Star" blog hop thing that got me digging through my cookbooks. However the event will only starts in March so I guess my post is too early for it. :P Nevertheless, I am sure this recipe will be an excellent treat to have whether its Valentine's Day or just any day! Plus it is so so easy to whip up too! Check out the recipe:

Ingredients for Baked Chocolate Custard (makes 6 x 4oz ramekins)

1 cup whole milk (I used 1/2 cup chocolate, 1/2 white)

1 cup (single or pouring) fresh cream

100g dark chocolate, chopped (I used Valrohna 70% cocoa)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

100g caster sugar (you can reduce if using milk chocolate)

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 150C. Place chopped chocolate, milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat and stir well till all the chocolate has melted and mixed in. Continue to heat till hot but not boiling. Remove from fire and set aside for use later.
Place the eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla in another mixing bowl and mix well till combined. Slowly whisk in the cream and milk mixture in to the egg mixture until all is combined.
Grease 6 x 4 oz ramekins. Pour the hot custard into the ramekins through a fine sieve / strainer. Place the filled ramekins into a baking tray and pour in enough hot water to fill about halfway up the side of the ramekins.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until just set. Serve warm or cold.

I think I took at most a little over an hour to get this done. Really so easy to whip up, I think even my 7 year old can do it, lol! I much preferred it chilled since it taste like thicken chocolate pudding / cream that is so smooth and chocolaty...heaven! Be sure to use the best quality dark chocolate you can find, it makes all the difference. (^_^)

My whole family loved it! Top with ice cream or whipped cream? You don't need any of those, because it is already so good on its own. Try it out and you will soon be scooping and scraping to the bottom of the ramekins to get to the very last bits of it. ;)

Okay everyone, that's all I have for you all today. Hope your Valentine's Day celebration was a lovely and memorable one! Cheers all!

元宵节快乐！Red Date Chiffon Cake (红枣戚风蛋糕)

2012-02-06T23:30:00.001+08:00

Time sure past real fast! Lunar New Year has finally come to an end. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful 元宵节 or also known as "Chap Goh Meh" (15th night). A nice ending to a wonderful NY celebration to all. ;)

Want to share with you all a nice chiffon recipe that I tried out recently. Its Red Date Chiffon, 红枣戚风蛋糕. I first saw it at 孟老師烘焙園地, and I knew I had to try this. ^_^ With similar idea, I modified the recipe so that I have a stronger red date scent in the cake without having to do a prolong soaking process. I made the cake twice and finally settled on a recipe that will work well and with a evident red date taste.

Notice the red date pieces on top kind of make the cake sunk down a little. But those pieces plays a big part in enhancing the red date taste. :) In my first attempt, I didn't place any sweetened red date chunks over the top and I added less red date puree, so the chiffon tasted a little more like plain vanilla. Anyway, here is the improved recipe:

Ingredients for Red Date Chiffon Cake (红枣戚风蛋糕) (fills a 20-21cm tube pan)

60g dried red dates (mine were not pitted, but if yours is, that will be great)

4 large egg yolks (~80g)
26g caster sugar
70ml vegetable oil
40g honey
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
40ml fresh milk
100g superfine cake flour (cake flour is ok too)

5 large egg whites (~180g)
40g caster sugar
10g cornflour

Method:

To prepare the red dates, score each of the date with a sharp knife. Then place the red dates along with some water just enough to cover in a heat proof saucepan. Place over the fire and let boil and then lower the heat to simmer. Let the dates simmer for at least 15 mins and keeping an eye over making sure its not dried up or burnt out.
When the dates are soft and water has reduced to a thick syrup. Remove and let cool.
When cooled, pit the dates if needed. Take about 3 tbsp worth and slices them into big chunks and place in the honey. Heat the honey mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds and let stand till needed.
For the rest of the red dates, blend them till puree and set aside for use later.
In a large mixing bow, add egg yolks 26g caster sugar, vegetable oil, honey and combine well. Then mix in the the red date puree, milk and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
Gently spoon out those date chunks in the honey and place them evenly at the base of the tube cake pan.
Finally sift in the cake flour and stir till well mixed in. Preheat the oven to 175C.
In a separate mixer bowl, beat the egg white till foamy. Then gradually add in the caster sugar and beat till soft peaks. Add in the cornflour and continue to beat till stiff peaks.
In 3 separate portions, add the white to the yolk mixture and stir in gently. Then pour the batter into the prepared tube pan and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes till tester comes out clean.

What I like about this cake is its healthy and the mildly sweet taste, totally not sinful to munch up two slices or more, heehee. Plus I received pretty good reviews from my family, so I guess it's a pretty successful attempt. :)

The cake was soft and fluffy with bits and chunks of red date in it. A wonderful treat after a meal along side with some tea. Hope you will try this out. Maybe consider serving it during CNY...well next year. :) Well red dates does feels like an auspicious ingredient right, I think. :))

I am happy to submit this recipe to Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012) which is hosted by Wen's Delight.

Okay all, have a good week ahead!

Oreo Surprise Chocolate Cupcakes

2012-02-03T11:41:00.000+08:00

After baking batches and batches of New Year cookies for the past weeks, it seems all "refreshing" to bake up some cupcakes for a change. Plus my girls have been asking for some cupcakes with buttercream lately. I guess they had enough of fatt goh and kueh lapis for now, lol! So I decided to bake some moist dark chocolate cupcakes (with an Oreo surprise) and top them off with delicious Oreo cookie Swiss Meringue buttercream. Sounds good? It is. ;)

Ehh...where's the cake? Oopsie...guess I filled the batter a bit too short, and probably worried about all that overflowing of chocolaty goodness. :P So if you does attempt this recipe, remember to be a little more generous and fill to 75% to 80% full.

Nevertheless, the taste of the cupcakes didn't disappoint, it was chocolaty and very "Oreoy", just what I was hoping for. ;) If you are wondering what and where is that "Oreo surprise" I was referring to....read on.

recipe inspired by Bakegirl plus some modifications

Ingredients for Oreo Surprise Chocolate Cupcake with Oreo SMB (Makes about 12 cupcakes)

90g dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used Valrohna)

40g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrohna cocoa powder)

3/4 cup hot coffee, preferably brewed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder
100g all purpose flour

6 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

12-15 Oreo halves with cream filling attached

Making the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 175C. Prepare about 12 to 15 cupcake liners. The place the Oreo halves with cream at the bottom of the liners with the cream facing up. (That's the hidden Oreo surprise!)

Place the chopped chocolates and sifted cocoa powder a heat proof bowl. Then heat up the coffee till very hot. Pour the coffee over the chocolate and cocoa powder and then gently mix it up till all combined and smooth. Let cool before use.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk in eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar till combined. Then add in the cooled chocolate mixture and stir in well.
Sift the plain flour, baking powder, salt and baking powder in. Then gently stir well and do not over mix. Divide the batter equally into the cupcake liners and fill up to 80% full.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or till the tester comes out clean or with soft crumbs. Let cool completely before topping with cream.
For the cream topping, I have chose to use Swiss meringue Buttercream mixed with the reserved halves of the Oreo cookies blended till crumbs. You can use sweetened whipping cream if desired too. For the SMB recipe, please refer to here.

My kids love anything with Oreo...so this is such a treat for them ...and me too! ;)

I hope these little Oreo cupcakes will be part of your sweet deserts served over this weekend (last CNY weekend!). I had fun making them, hope it will be for you too!

Have a super duper nice weekend all! Cheers!

Stuffed Golden Purses，金钱袋 (Braised Stuffed Tofu)

2012-01-30T22:37:00.000+08:00

Happy Dragon Year Everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful break and ny celebration during the past week. \(^o^)/ Although this year was kind of rush due to the short "intermission" from Christmas, but I still manage to have a nice reunion with my love ones. Plus my long break from blogging too, about 2 weeks to be exact. I bet some of my readers might have already given up hope on me, lol! Apologies! However, truth be told, it will probably be lesser posts from me from now on as I feel the need to spend more time with my kiddos. But no worries, I will still be posting, just less. ;P

Before the Lunar New Year is over, I want to post up a savory dish that I made awhile back. And I believe this dish is a presentable one to serve during new year. Its actually Stuffed Braised Tofu but I changed its name to Stuffed Golden Purses (金钱袋), to make it sound more festive, lol!

I bet many of you out there know what Yong Dao Fu (酿豆腐 ) is. This stuffed tofu is pretty similar to that, just that instead of stuffing it with the usual fish paste, I used minced pork and loads of other ingredients. My family loves any kind of tofu dishes, so this was a good one to serve up to them. If you too love tofu dishes, read on!

Ingredients for Stuffed Golden Purses (Braised stuffed tofu, makes 6)

3 squares of Dao Gua (pressed tofu)

Filling:

250g fresh ground pork (can be replaced with any meat of your choice)

100g fresh prawns, peeled, devined and dice small

3 dried mushrooms, soaked till soft and diced small

1 tbsp minced ginger

2 tbsp diced green onion

Marinate:

salt & pepper

2 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp cornflour

Seasoning:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup of water with 1 tsp cornflour mixed in)

Method:

For the pressed tofu, take one and cut diagonally into 2 triangles, repeat for the other two tofu. The using a spoon, scoop out the a cavity in the cut surface, about 1 tbsp worth, see picture. (Those scooped out tofu can be added into the filling if desired.)

In a mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients for the filling and marinate. Mix well and let sit for at least an hour in the fridge before use.

After an hour, fill the tofu cavity with the filling and try to stuff it full so it will look nice and packed. (Just like what you wish your wallets to be, lol!) See Pic 1.

Pat the stuffed tofu some cornflour and heat up a frying pan with about 1 cup of cooking oil. See pic 2 and 3 above.
Pan fry the tofu till golden brown, dish up and drain on paper towels. See pic 4 above.
Pour away the oil the pan and lower the heat to small. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients in seasoning and pour into the pan and let it simmer till it thickens a little. Add in the stuffed tofu and let it coat with the seasoning sauce. After 2 to 3 minutes, dish up and sprinkle some fresh chopped green onions over as garnish if desired.

This is a nice homey dish that you can serve up any time. You can even add in some chopped water chestnut into the filling to enhance the texture too! Do try it when you get the chance. ;)

I am happy to submit this Stuffed Golden Purses (Braised Stuffed Tofu) to Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012) which is hosted by Wen's Delight.

Okay folks, gonna end my post for now and be back REAL soon. Have a good evening!

Coke Cola Chicken Wings and Purple Sweet Potato Huat Goh

2012-01-18T23:47:00.000+08:00

It took me a good few minutes to know how to start off this post. It's almost alien to me on writing up a post lately since I've been neglecting it for quite sometime now. Apologies to all my readers as I have been so tight up with the Chinese New Year baking that I don't even have any other free time. But I am so glad I completed my bake order and got some "spare change" for my NY shopping, heehee. (^_^) Anyway, I baked so many NY cookies this year, I'm not quite in the mood to post one now, lol! So for a change, a simple dinner dish, "Coke Cola Chicken" and a Purple Sweet Potato Huat Goh. :)

I have actually cook this Coke Cola chicken wings countless times now. But however because I wasn't very successful in capturing good pictures with it, I kind of deferred the post. I'm not sure if other bloggers are having this same experience, but I realize that those food in brown to dark colors just aren't as "photogenic". :P However today I kind of given up hope and left the photos as is...hopefully it still look yummy. :P

I'm not a Coke drinker, but lately I have been stocking up a few cans of coke in my house just to cook this dish. It is one of the easiest and most yummy chicken dishes I've come across....finger licking good!

Ingredients for Coke Cola Chicken wings (serve 3-4 people)

6-8 chicken wings, trim the fat and cut at mid joint

Seasoning for chicken : 1/2 salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

4 slices of ginger

2 minced garlic

1 large onion, peeled and slice into thin strips

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 can of 330ml coke (I tried with Pepsi and it's equally good)

Marinate the chicken wings with the seasoning and let seat for at least 2-3 hours before use.
In a pot, heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add the minced garlic, sliced ginger and saute till fragrant. Then add in the chicken wings and cook till opaque in color.
Add in 1/2 cup of water and let boil. Then pour in the coke and let boil. Once it starts to boil, lower heat to simmer.

Cook till the liquid is reduce into a thick sauce, about 40 to 45minutes. Serve hot with steam rice.

If you are like me, always looking out for easy, delicious dishes to serve up your family, you should definitely give this one a go. It's really easy, really delicious and I guarantee that you will cook this over and over again! Try it!

The other item I'm posting up today is Purple Sweet Potato Huat Goh. It was actually inspired by Lena whom just posted hers a few days ago, heehee! Thanks Lena! Her's was definitely a much cheerful with bright golden color. But since I used purple sweet potatoes...it wasn't as fantastic as I hoped it will be. :P

Err...see what I mean? Not so festive if you know what I mean. I had to tie that nice red bow to make it more NY like, lol! But taste wise, it's really good! I did reduce the sugar slightly and doubled the recipe since I'm making for my mum too. I'm posting the recipe for easier reference in future:

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Huat Goh: (makes about 2 X 6 inches round pan)

250g purple sweet potato, peeled and steamed

2 large eggs

200g caster sugar
250ml milk
60ml vegetable oil
350g cake flour
50g rice flour
1 tbsp baking powder

In a blender, blend the sweet potatoes, eggs, sugar, milk and oil together till smooth and uniform in color.
In a large mixing bowl, sift in the cake flour, rice flour and baking powder in. Pour in the sweet potato mixture and stir in till well combined.
Prepare the steamer and keep it at a boil. Prepare the two 6" round pan (mine is 3" deep) lined with waterproof baking paper.
Pour the batter equally into the 2 prepared pan and let steam in the steamer for 30 to 40 minutes till tester comes out clean.

I love it, it was not dense at all, soft and fragrant and just the right sweetness for me. Even my mum whom is also a Huat Goh "expert", also said it's pretty good, haha!;) The mild sweet potatoes taste was nice, but I bet with pumpkin will yield a even better huat goh. If you want a get a huat goh for the CNY, forget it, just steam up one yourself! This recipe is really easy, I'm sure you can get it done in no time. ;)

Okay folks, gonna end here today. In any case I can't post up before the new year arrives, Happy Lunar New Year to All! Huat Ah!

Egg white & Cream Bread Loaf (蛋白醇奶土司)

2012-01-06T22:51:00.001+08:00

Happy 2012 everyone! Hope my wishes are not too late! :P It's only been a week since we entered into this new year and I'm already been crazy busy since then! What have I been up to? It should be no surprise as this year's Lunar New Year is just a couple weeks away, so I've been busy with Chinese New Year cookies, that's why! :P Orders came in and I just took them, not even sure I can finish baking them in time or even consider is it really worth the time?! :P So wish me luck my friends...these 2 weeks' gonna be real hectic for me.

Just didn't want to leave my blog "hanging" there for too long, I decided to take some time off to post up something I baked yesterday. It's Egg White and Cream Bread Loaf (蛋白醇奶土司). You may find this name a little unusual or even think there's some egg white cream topping on the bread. No no no, it's just that this loaf used these 2 main ingredients which made it all so good. :) See for yourself:

The main reason why I have opted to bake this bread was the usage of egg white. :) As you all know that there are usually so much left over egg whites after all them NY cookie baking, so this recipe is just of those good ways to use the whites! Plus this loaf is not only soft and has excellent texture, it has a nice creamy milky aroma to it, good to be eaten on it's on. :9

Recipe Source : 妃娟與大、小拉拉的網路日誌

Ingredients for Egg white & Cream Bread Loaf (fills a 9X5X5" loaf pan)

Set A:

300g bread flour

22g egg white

7.5g instant active yeast

90g fresh milk

120ml dairy heavy cream

Set B:

All of the above pre-dough

20g egg white

36g caster sugar

3.6g salt

1g instant active yeast

Combine everything in Set A and knead till everything is well combined and the dough slightly smooth. It is not required to knead till elastic stage. Cover and let dough proof for 2.5hrs in a warm place.
Punch out the air from the pre-fermented dough and combine everything in Set B to it. Knead well till it reaches elastic and window panel stage. It took me about 20 to 25 minutes on my KA mixer at medium speed with 2 times of 2 minutes break in between.
Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough and roll round as desired. Place in the greased loaf pan to rise till 90% full. Preheat the oven to 175C with fan.
Glaze the top of loaf with egg wash or milk and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Cover the loaf with aluminum foil if the top browns too quickly. Once done, remove from oven and remove from pan immediately, cool on rack completely before slicing.

This recipe differs from other usual bread by not using butter at all. However it's use of heavy cream still gives the necessary "fat" it needs to give the delicious texture and taste. Think I will be baking this recipe while since there's so much egg whites left over. :P

A shot of the interior. With a sledder of cold butter and it's a good enough breakfast for me! :9

I made some tuna buns for my parents too, it's their favorite. ;) This recipe is pretty versatile, good as a loaf and good with filling too. :) Do try it out. One thing to note is that I found the proofing time takes longer then normal, perhaps it's the small amount of yeast added. But again, who needs to eat so much yeast!

Okay all, have a great weekend! Cheers!

Merry Christmas All!

2011-12-23T01:13:00.000+08:00

Christmas is almost upon us! Somehow this year I have pretty strong festive feelings, not sure why. :) Perhaps is the awaiting of meeting up with my dear friends or maybe it's just the burst of eagerness to bake after my vacation. :P Either way, I am please that I got to bake some Xmas goodies this year. The last one is this Christmas log cake, inspired by my friend Grace. :)

I used plain vanilla Swiss roll recipe but encasing rich and decadent dark chocolate buttercream. ;) It was baked for a dinner gathering at my in-laws and everyone loved it. ;) It was finished off in a flash!

Since I have an early morning tomorrow, I shan't be posting up the recipe. Interested bakers can inquire after Xmas. ;) Be back before you know it!

Lastly, I just want to thank all my dear readers and fellow bloggers' constant support throughout this year. I truly and really appreciate it! I hope I can continue to do this and have you all by my side. ;) Lastly, I'm taking this opportunity to wish everyone a blissful and joyous Christmas and an amazing New Year! Cheers All!

Christmas Matcha Cookie Tree

2011-12-20T16:22:00.000+08:00

Christmas is just around the corner, and I am still stuck with so much things to do. :P Can't wait for my short break coming this weekend! As busy as I am, I am still finding time to bake in my kitchen, sort of a therapeutic get away for me. There is one thing that I have been longing to bake for Christmas for a couple years now....somehow it just didn't happen. :P A Christmas Cookie Tree! Well, this year I finally got to do it, almost sounds like a mini wish come true. (^_^) But I actually had to break up the steps to 3 days....crazy right, to think that it's actually not that hard to do at all! Anyway, here it is; my Christmas Matcha Cookie Tree.

I used a simple butter cookie recipe and incorporated green tea powder into it. And since I worry the Matcha taste will be too strong for my kids, I didn't add too much, so my cookies aren't as green as I hoped. ;P However the taste was really good plus the cookie was buttery and crisp which I liked a lot. :9

Ingredients for Matcha Butter Cookies : (makes about 25-30 x 5cm round disc)

240g all purpose flour

12g matcha powder

150g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes

1/4 tsp salt

110g confectioner's sugar

1 large egg yolk

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream, refer here for recipe and steps

In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, matcha powder, powder sugar and salt into it. Knead the cold butter in until resembles bread crumbs.
Add in the egg yolk and knead till just combined. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
After chilling, lightly flour a cooled work surface. Then roll out the cookie dough on the surface into about 1/4" thick. If dough gets too soft and greasy, return it to the fridge for 15 minutes.
Use desired round cookie cutters which varies in diameter size, must have at least 5 different sizes. Also cut out a star shaped cookie to top off the tree. Arrange cookie on parchment paper and chill in fridge for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 175C.
Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes till the edges are slightly golden browned. Let cool completely before use.
Arrange the largest disc as the base and pipe a round ring of buttercream around the edge. top off with the second largest cookie. Repeat this till all the cookie has been stacked. Finally pipe a dollop of the cream on top and stick the star right there. Chill the whole tree in the fridge till the buttercream firms up and it'll be really for your desert centerpiece!

I think this little cookie tree will make a nice centerpiece for the desert table during Christmas, don't you think?

Since I did reduce the sugar quite a bit, the cookies does go well with the Vanilla Swiss Meringue buttercream, so no worries about having a overly sweet taste there. But do chill the cookies before serving as the cream will eventually soften the cookies. So either assemble right before or chill it prior.

I am happy to submit this to participate in the White Christmas Challenge organised by Very Good Recipes via Quay Po Cooks.

And also to this month's Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011) hosted by Hankerie.

Okay all, will try to post up another Xmas bake this week before I leave for my short get away. Hope I can squeeze out some time!! Cheers!

Chocolate Cornflake Wreath

2011-12-17T17:28:00.004+08:00

When I was out lunching with my in-laws and kids at Holland Village yesterday, we happened to pass by Da Paolo Gastronomia. In case some of you haven't heard of this place before, it's actually an eat-in or take-out one-stop store with freshly made entrees, pastry or deserts. They even have freshly made pasta for sale which according to my SIL, it's very good. :) As for myself, I have always loved their selection of deserts there. I have tried their cheesecake and brownie and already fell in love with them! So rich and decadent! (but quite sinful, lol!) We then spotted this really interesting item that was displaying at the desert section, a chocolate coated wreath made with cornflakes! It look awfully good and chocolaty. :9 So when I got home, I decided to replicate it myself....chocolate + cornflake, how hard can it be? After some this and that....look what have I got!

Not too shabby don't you think? Lol! In fact this is so easy to make, I highly recommend that you make it yourself! Get your kids to help you as a fun holiday project. ;) Make as many as you like as gifts to your family and friends. Plus you don't need an oven to do this, no baking involved. (oops, there goes my submission for Aspiring Bakers this month. :P) And since there are only 5 ingredients involve, I bet you already have them in your pantry. :)

Ingredients for Chocolate Cornflake Wreath: (Makes a 8 to 10")

140g dark quality chocolate, chopped

3 tbsp honey

60g unsalted butter

100g cornflakes

50g sweetened dried cranberries (Optional)

In a heat proof bowl, place chocolate, honey and butter in. Either melt these ingredients over the double boiler or simply just microwave it. Mix well till combined.
Lay some plastic wrap over the tube pan you will be using. (I used a 10" bundt pan)

Stir the cornflakes and dried cranberries(if using) in and make sure all are coated.

Spoon mixture into a tube pan (I used an 10" bundt pan).

Wrap the mixture up gently with the plastic wrap and chill in the fridge in the tube pan for at least an hour or freeze if you are bringing it to a dinner party.
Once the chocolate has set, remove from pan and remove plastic wrap. Decorate at will with colorful ribbons!

The initial look after it came out of the pan was just so normal. But when I "dress it up" with some simple ribbons, it looked pretty grand. :)

And if you like crunchy, chocolaty snacks, this is definitely something you will enjoy. :) And how you eat it, whether you break it with your hands or slice it up with a serrated knife, it's just as yummy. :) And kids will love them, guaranteed!

Hope you all like this simple and yummy Xmas treat. Try it out!

Okay all, have a super nice weekend!

Baked Rigatoni with Meatballs and Herb Crumbs

2011-12-14T23:25:00.002+08:00

Oh my, it's only 10 days to Christmas! Pretty exciting isn't it! ;) I am pretty stoked about it since I will be spending this holiday with my good friends. I am really looking forward to it since I've not seen them for awhile now. (^_^) I am sure many of you have great plans too for this joyous holiday too. But whether it's a small gathering or big dinner party, I bet you can't leave food out of the picture! So if you are planning to have friends over and still wondering what should you serve? Well, I have a good suggestion for you! A delicious and homey dish that's sure to warm anyone up; Baked Rigatoni with Sausage Meatballs and Herb Bread Crumbs. ;)

I have not make this pasta for years. Don't know why, probably because living in Singapore and the influences here just tend to lean towards serving Asian cuisine. Nevertheless, I decided to reminiscence this comforting meal at home again and was really glad I did. :D My family loved it and went for seconds. :9

Ingredients for Baked Rigatoni with Sausage Meatballs and Herb Bread Crumbs (Serves 6-8)

400g sweet Italian Sausage (I got mine from Cold Storage)

1 broccoli floret, cut into small chunks

1/2 yellow onion, chopped small

1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped small

1 jar tomato sauce (15 ounce)

150ml heavy fresh cream

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 slice stale bread

1 small bunch curly leaf or Italian Parsley

150g mozzarella, shredded (or more if desired)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
500g rigatoni pasta
4 slices Applewood smoked bacon, sliced into small chunks
2 cups of oil for frying meatballs

To prepare the meatballs, remove the casing and divide the sausage into small bite size portions and roll them round. Heat up the frying oil in a pan at medium heat. Fry the meatballs till it becomes golden brown. Dish up and drain them on paper towels and set aside for use later.

Using the same frying pan, remove the oil and set the fire at medium low. Put in the sliced bacons and slowly stir fry till it becomes slight crisp and most of the oil has been emitted out. Dish up and drain on paper towels and set aside for use later.

Leave about 1 tbsp of the bacon oil in the pan and add in the chopped carrots and onions. At low heat, cook till the vegetables are soft and translucent. Add in the tomato sauce and heavy cream and stir well. Cook for a good 5 minutes and add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Once the sauce starts to bubble, add in the sausage meatballs and stir in well. Cook for a couple minutes and then turn the heat off. Set aside for assemble later. Grease your baking pan with some butter. I usually save those butter wrappers for this purpose. ;) This step is gonna save you some scrubbing later!

In the meantime, boil a pot of water and add the chopped broccoli florets in. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, then drain out the vegetables. Then do the same for the rigatoni pasta. Cook in rolling boil water till al dente. Drain out and dish into the baking pan. Ladle the tomato meatball sauce over the pasta.

Add in the broccoli florets and toss everything together to mix well. Preheat the oven to 200C.
Tear up the stale bread into a blender and add in the roughly chopped parsley. Blend till it resembles fine bread crumbs.

Sprinkle the herb bread crumbs over the pasta. Then follow by sprinkling the bacon, mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese over the pasta.

Lastly, add small dollops of butter over the top, about 2 tbsp should be suffice. Bake the pasta in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes uncovered, till the top is golden crisp and the pasta is bubbly.

Bare in mind that this can be made ahead. Meaning you can prep everything up till the baking part, and chill it in the fridge up to a day or 2 prior to the event. Then an hour before serving, bake it up and it'll be nice and delicious for your guests!

In fact this can be made any time, not just for dinner parties. It has this rustic homey feel, that is pretty comforting to have at any time. :)

Hope you all will give this a try. It is truly yummy! Hope everyone has a great day! Cheers!

Melbourne trip 2011 Part One & Banana Oat Pancakes

2011-12-10T15:48:00.000+08:00

Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria in Australia. One of the places that I have eyed on for awhile to visit. My family and I finally made a trip there and it was a wonderful experience and a nice get away indeed! Mid November's weather is like Spring to Summer season, so the temperature was really nice too! In our stay, we got to experience both the colorful city life in Melbourne as well as some quiet stay in the nearby seaside cities which is only a couple hours drive away. However I realize I didn't really capture many nice pictures this time....perhaps I was too busy taking care of my kids, lol! Anyway, bare with me and hope you will still enjoy viewing them. ;)

Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban railway network of Melbourne.

(GPO) General Post Office Clock Tower, one of the prominent buildings in the CBD area.

One of the highlight in Melbourne is a visit to their famous Queen Victoria Market.

An abundance of fruits all over the market. Not only that, it sells all sorts of stuff over there too! I even heaved back a 10 inch pie dish, 4 ramekins & a 24cm cast iron roasting dish! Why? Because it was so cheap...the cast iron roasting dish only cost me AUS$24.90! Ok ok, will show you all once I cook up something with them. After I returned to the hotel then I realised that I've forgotten to take pictures of the store. It's located in the far end corner of the market. Haiz...gotten too excited about my purchases!

A showcase of Artisan breads there. Looks good isn't it, but I didn't get any since I decided to eat this instead....

How good does this look?! I realize that Aussies love their bacon and ham...I have at least one serving of bacon or ham every other day...:P Yum!

It wouldn't be right if you don't get to see a real koala when you are in Australia. In fact that is basically what my kids wanted to see most of the time while we were there. (*_*)"

It took me so long to get this shot. Some koalas simply just shy away from the cameras and it seems ages before they move an inch. :P

Since this trip was a visit to a koala conservation center, the animals are always at a safe distance from the visitors. So seeing them through my camera lens is as"close" as it gets. :P

Look at this cuddly cute baby koala bear! It's sleeping so comfortably in it's mummy's arms. (^_^)

I'm sure anyone that had been to Phillip Island before knows about the "No photography" rule on the penguins when they do their "penguin march" back to their young on land. But we were so lucky that we spotted one baby penguin the day after! Good thing it was bright day light, so no flash was used, heehee!

The Nobbies, one of the most breathtaking spots we visited.

Caught my little one gazing out into the blue ocean. Wonder what she is thinking...

These eye catching and colorful boat sheds are at the lovely beach in Mornington, a small seaside town. I love how quiet this place is, there are only a handful of people at the beaches there on a weekend afternoon. And those 3 are my husband and kids!

We are practically the only people there. (^_^) Finding such a nice, clean, quiet beach is like finding a treasure...I love it!

We even found small starfishes near the beach sides! No worries, no sea creatures were harmed in the "making" of this post, hehehe..

On our ferry ride from Mornington to Sorrento, Queenscliff, we actually saw dolphins swimming along side the ferry! It's too bad I didn't have my camera with me. (-_-) Sorrento is yet another small quiet town with many gracious old buildings, definitely a nice place to get away from the hussle and bussle of city life.

We stop at this really nice place call The Pear Cafe for lunch. Love the ambiance there.

Warm toasty bread with steak ham and juicy tomatoes plus gooey mozzarella....a simple and satisfying lunch.

Best of all, with a cup of Mocha. Frankly speaking, I'm not a coffee person, but this cup of Mocha is super yum! It's creamy rich, fragrant and chocolaty (yes, chocolaty). Hmmmmm!

Before I keep going on with more photos of my trip, I think I should save it for my next time. Else this post will be super long! More photos will be posted next time with scenes from the Great Ocean Drive! So stay tune!
What's a food blog without any food?! So here it is; I want to share with you all a simple, delicious and healthy breakfast that you can easily whip up for you family; Banana Oat Pancakes.

I got this recipe from the special edition of "The Australian Women's Weekly Christmas Entertaining 2011" magazine. I usually love to buy the local food magazines whenever I go traveling, and Women's Weekly is definitely one of the good ones to get.

These pancakes are so so good! You would think that oats will make the pancakes heavy, but no, oh no, they are light and creamy, almost melt in your mouth! Really! I was a little worried my kids will shy away from them because of the oats, but luckily, they each had 4 pancakes...doubled what they usually have. ;) I did slight modification to the recipe, here is my version:

Ingredients for Banana Oat Pancakes: (serves 4 adults)

375ml fresh milk

80g unsalted butter, cut small

100g quick cook oats (original calls for 140g)

60g plain all purpose flour (original calls for 50g)

40g brown sugar (original calls for 1 tbsp)

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

pinch of cinnamon

2 egg,s separated

1 tbsp cater sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 small bananas, about 150g (original calls for 340g)

cooking oil or butter

butter, maple syrup and fresh fruits to serve together

Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat and stir in the oats. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl. Whisk egg yolks and vanilla extract into oats mixture; add flour mixture and stir until just combines.
Mash bananas; fold into the pancake batter. Beat the egg whites with 1 tbsp of caster sugar till stiff peaks, then fold into the oat mixture until just combined.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat; spray with cooking oil to grease. Drop 1/4 cups (60ml) of the batter onto the pan; cook for 2 minutes each side or until cooked through and browned both sides. Remove pancakes from pan; cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve while still warm.

I love oats, so these pancakes are perfect for people like me. :) I'm not exactly a health freak, but if you are...better still, you'll love it! It's that nutty, creamy taste from cooked oats that's just so good! You gotta try this out and you will know what I mean. And I am very sure these pancakes will be on my breakfast plate very often from now on. :)

Okay, hope I didn't bore you all with my super long post! Have a good weekend all and stay tune to my next post. ;) Cheers!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-12-05T21:35:00.001+08:00

It was my father's 72nd birthday last weekend. As always the whole family will gather at one of his favorite Chinese restaurant to celebrate this event. Since it's year end with school holiday still on, the whole family made it, all 17 of us. Yes, I have a big family, that 17 people (including myself) doesn't include any uncle or aunt, it's purely my parents, their kids plus grandchildren. Although technically it should be 21 of us, 4 is currently overseas which will be back this CNY. *yoohoo!!* It's not easy to gather everyone so I'm always very excited about such family events. (^_^) For my dad's birthday this year, I decided to bake something different...something that you probably can't find it in the bakery store. Black Glutinous Rice Sponge Cake with Passion Fruit Swiss Meringue Buttercream...unique enough? How cruel of me to experiment a new recipe on all 16 of my family members! Lol!

I was debating for awhile what kind of sponge cake should I bake, fruit (again)? Black Sesame? Plain? I then suddenly remember the pack of black glutinous rice flour that Doris from Tasted & Tested gave me during our last blogger's gathering. *Thanks Doris!!!* And I really like the 2 BGR cakes that she baked that day! So I went with the idea of baking a BGR sponge cake. It almost feel like I'm playing with fire....experimenting on a new recipe knowingly that I can't mess up since I need a proper cake for the event. *gulp!* I went with it anyway, lol!

Since I baked the cake the night before, I figured I will have enough time to bake another one or the least go buy one if anything goes wrong. (-_-)" Luckily I didn't mess up and everything fall into place nicely. *phew!!* Although I do think that the texture of the BGR sponge cake is slightly on the dry side, else it would have been perfect. :P Need more practice.... :P

I merely used the same recipe for chocolate sponge cake but replacing the cocoa powder with BGR flour.

Ingredients for Black Glutinous Rice Flour Sponge Cake

203g whole eggs
32g egg yolk
120g caster sugar
21g light corn syrup or glucose
1/4 tsp salt
32gs oil
21g black glutinous rice flour
106g plain flou
1/4 tsp baking soda
21g milk

Please refer to here for similar steps in baking.

Before I know it, this was what was left after everyone gets a small slice. I quickly took a snap before it was taken home by my teenage nieces whom seems to love it very much, heehee!

As you can see from the picture, the cake is gray due to the addition of the BGR flour. :)) And the combination of black glutinous rice with passion fruit is not weird at all since the black glutinous rice has only a mildly fragrant scent. In fact it was pretty nice! *thick skin...hahaha* I was actually glad I did this combination, and tried out this new recipe. When will I get a better chance to have 16 "guinea pigs" ready to try out my cake, hahaha! :)

Ok, got to go now. Hope everyone has a good week ahead! Cheers!

Root Beer Float Cupcake

2011-11-30T21:45:00.000+08:00

Hi there all! How is everyone doing? Well, if anyone have noticed, I've gone missing for 2 weeks and now I am finally back! I was far and away on a fun holiday with my little family. We went on a self-drive trip in lovely Melbourne and I have so many photos that I want to share with everyone! But that will probably be in my next post since there are much sorting and editing with those photos. :) In the meantime, I have this "unusual" yet delicious cupcake recipe to share with you all, Root Bear Float Cupcake. (^_^)

If you don't already know, I love root beer! It's probably the only soft drink that I consume. :) Last year I did a Root Beer Chocolate Chunks Chocolate Cake and it was really good too. However I find that this cupcake has a much intense root beer taste to it!

This recipe was inspired by Deb from Smitten Kitchen. When I saw it, I knew I had to give it a try. ;) I did several changes to it to match the amount of root beer in a standard can size for easier baking.

Ingredients for Root Beer Float Cupcakes (makes about 6 X 4oz cupcakes)

Cupcake

1 can or 330ml root beer (I used A&W brand, but any brand should do fine)

85g unsweetened cocoa powder

85g unsalted butter

180g Caster sugar

60g light brown sugar

170g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe follows)

Some maraschino cherry (cocktail) or fresh cherries

Method:

Preheat oven to 175°C. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined.
Fold the liquid and flour mixtures together in the large bowl. The batter will be slightly lumpy; this is okay. If you overbeat it, it will get tough.
Fill cupcake liners about 80% full and bake for about 17 to 20 minutes or till the tester comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping is Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream (makes ~4 to 5 cups)

5 oz egg whites (~140g)
5 oz caster sugar (~140g)
1/4 tsp salt
bean scrapings from 1/2 of a vanilla bean

1 tsp quality vanilla extract
500g unsalted butter, cut into 2” chunks, room temperature

Method:

Prepare a double boiler with a gentle simmer. In a heat proof bowl, combine egg whites, sugar and salt into it. Mix well but no beating is required. Place the bowl over the double boiler and placing a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature.
Stir once in awhile to prevent the egg white from curdling at sides. Aim to to have the temperature reached at least 146F / 63C for food safety reasons.
Once the temperature is reached, remove from heat and beat it till it is silky white. Add vanilla extract and mix well. If the mixture is still hot, place it over a bath of ice water to cool it down.
Add the butter chunks one piece at a time and continue to beat while doing so. Continue to beat till all the butter has been added and the buttercream is smooth and silken.
Use about 1 cup for the cupcake while you can chill the rest in the fridge for use in future.

I'm pretty sure many of you have had a root beer float before? In order to create that root beer float effect, that vanilla buttercream on top is supposingly the vanilla ice cream scoop. The cherry? Well, it does give it a more sundae look, don't you think? Although using a Maraschino cherry would be more "appropriate" but personally, I much prefer to fresh version. :))

Since I did reduce the sugar level quite a bit, so with the vanilla SMB, the sweetness is just right. And you know, after chilling it, every bite does gives you that root beer float taste! How cool, a favorite beverage recreated into cupcake form, lol! If you like root beer like me, this will knock your socks off!

I will be submitting this fun cupcake to this month's Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog. Thanks Sze Min!

Alrighty everyone! Hope you all have a good day now, cheers!

Steamed Flower Tofu and Pear Soup with ChuanBei (川贝雪梨汤)

2011-11-14T23:18:00.000+08:00

Today I'm posting 2 healthful recipes which I am sure anyone can benefit from it. As I have mentioned before, my family loves eating tofu dishes. So I am always on the look out for good recipes. And just the other day, I happened to spot this recipe from Wendy's which pretty much had me when I saw the word steam tofu, lol! Steamed Flower Tofu, as the name implies, it's pretty to look at plus its healthy because it is steamed. Not forgetting it's so easy to whip up!

I made some changes to the recipe, so this "flower" will actually look different from Wendy's. :) I changed the mushroom at the center to Century eggs instead and I omitted the fake crab meat as well. I used Century eggs because personally I think its texture blends more nicely to this dish instead of the dried mushroom. :) I omitted the crab meat because I didn't have any when I make this. :)

I will be posting my version of the recipe for easy reference in future. Thanks to Wendy for sharing her recipe. :)

Ingredients for Steamed Flower Tofu: (Serves 4 adults)

2 century eggs, peeled, sliced into 6 -8 wedges per egg

4 slices Ham, sliced into strips

2 beaten fried egg, cooled and sliced into strips

1 silken tofu (250g)

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Line the steam bowl with heat resistance cling wrap, get ready the steamer.
Line the century egg wedges in the center of the bowl in a circular manner.
Then line the ham and egg strips along the wall lining of the bowl as well,, alternating each ingredient.
In a bowl, mash the tofu and egg with some salt and pepper and mix till well combined.
Pour the tofu mixture right in the center of the bowl.
Fold down the sides of the cling wrap to tug in the edges of the ham and egg strips.
Place in the steamer and steam at medium high for 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before flipping out on a plate.

How easy is that?! It has already become my family favorite, I already made it twice and planning to make it again this week. :D Do try it, it's very good!

The second recipe is call Pear Soup with ChuanBei (川贝蜜枣雪梨汤). Okay, let me clarify, this is a sweet drink but a savory soup that you serve during dinner time. It's medicinal purpose mainly is to remove heat, stop coughing and clear phlegm. How I came about knowing this soup was that my husband loves to order it at Hong Kong airport whenever we transit there. He said he had it before way back at a Hong Kong restaurant in San Francisco and likes it very much. After realizing this, I was pretty determine to find out how to make this drink. Luckily, I found it in a soup recipe book call "The World of Nourishing & Fine Soups"!

Ingredients for Pear Soup with ChuanBei (川贝蜜枣雪梨汤) (makes about 2 cups)

12g chuanbei (川贝)

1 snow pear (雪梨) (mine was from Taiwan)

4 candy dates (蜜枣)

some cane sugar

300ml water ( original calls for 100ml only...too little!)

Cut pear into halves and remove core. Put all the ingredients into stewing pot, pour in water and cane sugar, stew for 2 hours. Serve when still warm. Chill is very nice too but might defeat the purpose of removing phlegm and cough. no?

This soup is actually quite pleasant to drink, whether served warm or chilled. Even my kids like it, since it's sweet and has no herbal taste at all. But do note that there are several grades of Chuanbei that you can purchase, some can be as expensive as S$24 per ounce! I bought the normal grade is S$8. :) If you are tired of drinking the usual barley or chrysanthemum drink for cooling, try this one, I'm pretty sure you'll like it.(^_^)

Okay, got to go for now. You all have a good week ahead! Cheers!

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream

2011-11-11T12:00:00.002+08:00

Have not been baking much lately. Since exam is over, I'm out with my kids most of the time. Plus the weather is getting better too, less rain and more sunshine! We went swimming, walks in parks, movies and shopping, just to break away from the books for now. :) But I didn't want to stop blogging for too long as I know it will be really hard to get back on track again if I get into the slacking "mode". :P So I decided to make some Coconut cupcakes yesterday, a recipe that I've saved for sometime. But when I saw Jane posting it a couple weeks back, I then remember about it. The original recipe comes from 鲸鱼蓝蓝小窝居 , so thanks to these ladies, I finally bake this yummy cake. :)

I have decided to dress up the coconut cupcakes by topping it with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream and some toasted coconut flakes. (^_^) Although the cupcake itself is already moist with nice coconut scent, but with the SMB, it becomes real decadent and even more delicious!

I was please that even my 2 kids whom are not fond of coconut flavor found these good. :) But I believe it has something to do with the SMB....they just LOVE Swiss Meringue Buttercream! They kept saying it taste like ice cream after it's chilled, lol!

Ingredients for Coconut Cupcakes (makes about 20 cupcakes)

200g butter, room temperature
100g caster sugar
4 eggs
6 tbsp milk
200g cake flour (I used Top flour)
2 tsp baking powder
100g coconut powder

40g desiccated coconut
80g plump raisins

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar till light and creamy. Then crack in one egg at a time and mix well after each addition.
Add in the milk and mix well.
Then sieve in the coconut powder, flour, baking powder and mix till just incorporated.
Finally, add in the desiccated coconut flakes and raisins and stir to blend in.
Scoop batter into cupcake liners till 3/4 full. Then bake them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes till the tester comes out clean.

Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

20g coconut powder (Alternatively, you can just add 15g of coconut thick cream)

100g Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I followed Bravetart's recipe, please refer to link)

In a small bowl, weigh out the coconut powder, then add in 2 - 3 tbsp of hot water, mix well till it all the powder is incorporated. Mixture should be slightly thick. Let cool before mixing into the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Once mix in, chill it till needed.

For the toasted coconut flakes, place about 1 heaping tbsp of desiccated coconut flakes on a non stick frying pan at medium low heat. Stir fry it constantly and try not to burnt it. Once it turns light golden brown, remove from fire and let cool completely before sprinkling over the cupcakes.

If you like coconut flavor and enjoy that extra texture of the flakes in the cake, you will love this one. I find that the coconut scent is slightly stronger the next day. I might try using vegetable oil in place of butter the next time so that the butter will not "steal" the lime light of the coconut scent. ;)

A look at the inside of this moist tender cake. With a cup of nice hot tea will be perfect! Try it out folks!

I am happy to submit this to this month's Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog. Thanks so much for hosting this month Min!

Take care all and have a great weekend!

Homemade Egg Tofu using Black Soy Beans Milk

2011-11-05T12:59:00.005+08:00

If you ask me if I have ever made tofu before a year ago from now, I would probably laugh it off and claim its really silly and quite a waste of time. Well I can't exactly rule out the latter completely since it does take time to make it as compared to just grabbing a ready made box in the grocer. I still remember when I first saw Wendy posting up her recipe, I was amazed. For something you can get for less then a buck...seriously? But I have to admit, somewhere inside, I was curious and eager to know how to do it...especially if I can do it myself, lol! After 2 attempts, I finally conclude that, it ain't really that silly and it was worth doing it from scratch....well sometimes, lol!

A simple healthy fried egg tofu served over some stir fried greens. In my household, we serve tofu at least twice a week, be it steamed, stewed or fried. We love tofu! In fact I will be posting up a some of the tofu dishes that I serve at home in the coming weeks.

Of course, prior to having homemade tofu, you gonna churn out some homemade soy milk! I make soy milk quite often at home, in fact I love serving it warm with you tiao or Ham Chim Peng on a weekend morning, yum! This time round, I have opted to try out black soy beans for this recipe. Taste and texture wise, no difference, just a slight grayish shade that's all.

Recipe of Homemade Egg Tofu (adapted from Wendy's)

500ml fresh unsweetened black soy milk

6 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp of corn flour mixed with 1 tbsp water

Crack all six eggs in a large bowl, add salt and beat it up lightly. Pour in the soy milk and stir gently yo blend well.
Add in the cornflour mix and stir well. Strain the whole mixture and set aside for use later.
Get ready the steamer. Line a heat proof cling wrap on your steaming container. Pour the soy milk mixture in carefully. Then cover it with another cling wrap which will prevent the steam water from dripping over the tofu.
Steam at low fire for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before removing and cutting it.

Note that the key to making a smoother tofu is the straining of the mixture and steaming it at low fire.

Well, that's about it. It is not that complicated to make it right? But please don't get the impression that I am so darn free as to make tofu whenever I need it, lol!

I reserved half of the egg tofu to make this Basil Chicken and Tofu (similar to Three Cups Chicken) the following day. I added some store bought tou gua (pressed tofu) plus the ones I made. Not trying to boast, but the homemade ones are definitely so much more tastier and flavorful!

I am glad I tried making some tofu and will probably make it again when I get the mood (plus free time).

Before I end this post, just want to share something with everyone that made me so so happy! My hubby gave me an early birthday surprise, something that I have been wanting for awhile....check it out:

Obviously, I have much to learn about this new toy. Hopefully will produce more quality photos on my blogs in future. ;) Gonna leave you all on this happy note and hope everyone has a wonderful and restful long weekend! Cheers!

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes / Cake

2011-11-02T22:54:00.000+08:00

Chocolate and banana, the perfect combination to a delicious desert. No matter how you combine them, they still taste good. (^_^) I then realize I have yet baked a cake that blends both chocolate and banana in it. Well, it's never too late right? And when I found THE recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking from my home to yours", I knew I had to try it! Since I have some ready ripen bananas around, what better excuse then to bake some right away?

This cake actually uses 1 whole cup of cocoa powder (vs 2 cup plain flour) which you can imagine how strong the chocolate aroma is. Can you see how dark the cake look...intense. :P But I do find the strong chocolate scent masking the banana taste though. :P So I went ahead and piped some Strawberry Swiss Meringue over the cakes to make it more moist. Didn't want to do big swirls of it as I worry it might just turn out too sweet. :P

Ingredients for Chocolate Banana Cupcakes (makes about 24) / Cake
2 cups (310g) all purpose flour (I used 300g cake flour)
1 cup (80g)cocoa powder
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
8 tbsp butter (113g), at room temperature
1 cup (250g) caster sugar (I used 180g)
1/4 cup (124g) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used 3/4 cup fresh milk + 3/4 tsp fresh lemon juice, stand 5 mins)
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a baking tray with some cupcake liners. Then sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
In a mixer bowl, beat the butter until softened. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.
Still on low speed, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them to about 3/4 full.
Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. or until a tester comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and coo.

Will be submitting it to this month's Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

I actually made a loaf with half of the batter and it was equally good. :) But the brown is kind of dark, it scares me a little, lol!

If you like a chocolaty cake with slight banana scent, this would be the one for you. The cake is moist and adding the chocolate chip is also key to making it great. Try it!

Okay all, have a nice day! Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:37:00.000+08:00

Halloween; A day you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else....fun. A day you can roam around the neighborhood and knock on them doors and yell "Trick or Treat!". A day you have all the excuse to stay up late. And of course a day you and your kids get to load up tons of candy and forget about cavity for once. So seriously speaking, what's not fun about Halloween?! None! I sure miss Halloween. It's never the same when I came back to Singapore....simply because its not a tradition to celebrate it here. The way the Americans celebrate this day, you will see how serious they are about it. And I simply love the enthusiasm they have!

And not wanting to loose "touch" with it completely, I made something fun today. Something that will cheer up any young or old. :) A pumpkin bread "monster". (^_^) *heehee*

It took me awhile to come up with what I wanted to make. The initial plan was to bake some decorated cupcakes like what I did a couple years back. But since I made cupcakes for my kids a few days ago, I forgo the idea. Then I thought of baking a nice decorative Swiss Roll, but again that was way too much work! Then I happen to stumble upon this Chinese blog and fell in love with the idea of baking a pumpkin shaped bread!

So I went ahead and used my 4 cup mini bundt pan for this instead of the usual 12 cup version....will be way too big if used the latter. For the recipe, I opted for the all trusty 17hr pre-fermentation method Pumpkin bread. And since I only have one mini bundt pan that is closely shaped like a pumpkin, I had to do the top and bottom baking separately. :P Good thing the color turned out the same...*phew*

As always, the bread turned out soft and delicious. And if you wonder why the bread appears much more orange in colour, that's because I added some edible orange food coloring to enhance the pumpkin look. ;)

Since with just the bread itself, it looked kind of plain...not too Halloween if you ask me. So I decided to pull out my fondant stuff and add a little creativity and fun to it, heehee! It was fun! Just like the past occasion Halloween bakes! ;) My kids were amused too and kept asking if they can eat the fondant with the bread, lol!

I'm happy to submit this to Halloween Party Event hosted by Hankerie

The night is still young guys....hope you all will get in the Halloween mood and have some "scary" fun tonight! Happy Halloween Everyone!

Pumpkin and Pandan Xi Pan (南瓜和班兰喜粄)

2011-10-27T22:51:00.000+08:00

I am sure many Singaporeans like me are not very familiar with this kueh call Xi Pan (喜粄). When I saw this Hakka Xi Ban (客家喜粄) both in Reese and Wendy's blog, I was totally intrigued. I have never tasted it before since its not so common here in Singapore. And since it is the kueh theme this month, I figured why not make some to try it out. And since I couldn't decide which recipe to go for, I adapted both Reese and Wendy's recipe, but with the same starter dough. Not wanting to make it plain, I added pumpkin and pandan to enhance the flavoring.

Since I like my kueh with more flavorings, I fill them with roasted ground peanut and sweetened coconut filling. And I am glad I did, since the Xi Pan itself is only slightly sweetened, so with the filling is definitely a nice compliment.

Ingredients for Pumpkin and Pandan Xi Pan (南瓜和班兰喜粄)

Starter Dough:

180g cake flour

150ml water

1 tsp instant active yeast

Mix all the ingredients together and let it proof for 6 to 9 hours. I placed mine in an air tight container in a fridge overnight.

Main Dough for Pumpkin Xi Pan: (makes about 6)
120g pumpkin, peeled, steamed and mashed
70g glutinous rice flour
30g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar
2 tbsp cooking oil

Peanut filling:
150g roasted ground peanuts
30g confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp cooking oil to bind
Combine everything together and set aside for use later.

Method:

Combined starter dough with sugar and baking powder and mix well.
Add in the remaining ingredients and knead till dough is smooth. Brush some oil on the surface and let proof for 3 hours, covered.
In the meantime, cut out some banana leave square and brush them with a little cooking oil.
Once proofed, punch out the air and divide dough into 50g portions. Roll them flat and place a teaspoon full of the peanut filling. Wrap and seal tightly. Roll round and press gently down on to the prepared banana leave so it is like a flat disc. Repeat till all the dough is used.
Let the shaped Xi Pan rest for another 20 minutes before steaming.
Steam them for 10 minutes at medium low heat, remove and let cool before serving.

Main Dough for Pandan Xi Pan: (makes about 6)
50g cake flour
75g glutinous rice flour
62ml water blend with 5 strips of pandan leaves, strain and reserve only the liquid
60g caster sugar

Coconut Filling:

1 tbsp brown sugar
75g gula melaka, chopped small
1 tbsp water and 1 knotted pandan leave
150g grated coconut
1 tbsp sago soaked in 2 tbsp hot water for 10 minutes

In a heat proof sauce pan, add brown sugar, gula melaka, water and pandan leave and gently boil till the mixture thickens. Add grated coconut and stir till the coconut soaks up all of the sweet syrup. Add in the sago and water and stir till mixture is thick and no visible liquid. Let cool before use.

Method:

The steps will be exactly the same as the pumpkin version. But instead of adding peanut filling, add coconut filling instead.

Not sure why, but my pandan Xi Pan turned out better then the pumpkin ones. One batch of my pumpkin ones kind of "deflated" a little after steaming....suspect its the steaming water dripped over it or something. :P Only a couple of them were decent enough for pictures. :P

As you can see from the picture, once the pumpkin kueh's been cut using a knife, it shows how gummy the texture is. But if torn like the pandan one, it still shows a little of the fluff texture. Personally not too fond of the gummy texture....much prefer the bao more then this. ;P

Part of the reason why I made this was to bring some for my mum, since she loves kueh, especially coconut filling ones. :)) She told me she hadn't seen and tasted Xi Pan before....guess it is really uncommon around here. :P Good thing she said it's pretty good...*phew*...or perhaps she just being nice, lol! Either way, I'm glad I give it a try, else I might not know how a Xi Pan taste like. ;)

I'll be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by Small Small Baker.

Have a great coming weekend! Cheers All!

Loh Mai Chi (糯米糍)

2011-10-23T21:58:00.000+08:00

In case any one of you have no idea what is Loh Mai Chi(糯米糍), it is actually slightly sweetened glutinous rice kuehs encasing sweeten roasted ground peanuts. The kueh is pretty similar to mochi texture, but its softer and probably much more sticky due to its higher ratio of water. And because of that, it is very hard, at least to me, to make this kueh. I kept telling myself as I was shaping and wrapping the peanut fillings; Why did I get myself into this "sticky situation"?! Lol! So naturally, I didn't do a good job making these...almost a quarter of them ended up badly wrapped and into my mouth!! Well at least they still taste good. ;)

As you can see, these balls are not exactly picture perfect but trust me, they are the most presentable ones I made, lol! I only made half the recipe, so it only yields about 12 balls, not a lot of room for practice if you know what I mean. :P

I got this recipe from the book "Agnes Chang's Hawkers' Delights", one of my favorite kueh / local delights cookbook. :) But I think next time I might reduce the amount of water added so that it won't be that sticky to handle. :P But again, the texture is really soft and nice....

Ingredients for Loh Mai Chi (糯米糍): (makes about 24)

250g glutinous rice flour

500ml water

80g sugar

Filling:

500g toasted peanuts, skin removed and grounded

100g toasted sesame seeds, grounded (I omitted this)

150g icing sugar, sifted

Mix everything together until well combined.

Flour for coating:

500g rice flour (I used only 200g)

The book suggested to fry the flour till very dry and then let cool. But I just microwave 3 times at high for 1 minutes.

Method:

Skin: Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Pour into a greased steaming tray and steam with medium heat for 45 minutes (I only steamed 20 minutes) until cooked.
Leave to cool and pour into the rice flour for coating. Then using a greased scissors, snip it into 25 equal portions.
Take a portion of the cooled kueh and flatted into a disc. Place a teaspoon worth of peanut filling in the center and wrap it up by sealing the ends properly.
Then coat it again with the rice flour before putting it into small paper liners.

Because the peanut filling is a like a loose pile(no oil or water added), its so hard to place it neatly and seal the dough. So when I see how nicely some of the fellow bloggers made these yummy kueh....envy envy! I guess the only way is to make them again and practice more!

I love this shot, a generous amount of peanut filling...I like! If you are a peanut lover like me, you have got to make this. It's like peanut filled mochi, nice! :D You know if you can't shape it like you want it, just snip up the kueh and roll them in the ground peanuts and eat them like Muah chi, haha! I bet it's equally good. ;)

I am happy to submit this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by Small Small Baker.

Okie dokie, got to go. Hope you all have a great week ahead! Cheers!

Purple Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Ang Gu Kueh II

2011-10-19T21:06:00.000+08:00

After seeing so many wonderful kueh posts from fellow bloggers, I felt that I have better put up my Ang Gu Kueh post before it becomes "stale", heehee. (^o^) Its funny that I was actually planning to make it way before knowing about this month's theme. Have been craving for some lately. And I know it will bring back some fond memories of the day which I first made it with my dear friend Reese back in KL. :) Thanks for such a great recipe Reese! Using that recipe, I made pumpkin kueh with mung bean filling and purple sweet potato kueh with yam filling.

Its so unlike me to pass on not making peanut filling for the kueh. But due to time constraint and not wanting to spend so much time in the kitchen rather then with my kids, I just settled with mung bean and yam filling this time. *sigh* Hopefully I will get some time after the exams to make a big batch of roasted ground peanuts!

But of course the mung bean and yam filled ones are still delicious, so no worries there. :) I have added the recipe here for my easy reference in future:

Ingredients for Pumpkin & Purple Sweet Potato Ang Gu Kueh:

Mung Bean Filling:

250g mung bean, soaked for at least 2 hours

130g caster sugar

4 to 5 tbsp vegetable oil

Drain the mung beans and discard water. Place the mung beans in steamer and steam at medium high fire for 20 to 25 minutes till soft. While still hot, add in the caster sugar and oil and mash in well. Once the sugar has melted, blend the mixture till smooth and let cool completely before use. You can make this a day ahead and chill in fridge or freeze them if you make it more then 3 days ahead.

Yam Filling:

250g yam, steamed and mashed

120g caster sugar

1 tbsp skim milk powder

3 to 4 tbsp cooking oil

Similar to above mung bean filling method.

Kueh skin using Pumpkin / Purple sweet potato:

200g steamed and mashed pumpkin / sweet potato

300g glutinous rice flour (I used 10g more for pumpkin skin)

1 tbsp rice flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp cooking oil (I used 4 tbsp for sweet potato skin)

200ml water (I used an extra tbsp for sweet potato skin this time)

In a large mixing bowl, knead all the ingredients together and gradually adding the water as per needed. The dough should be a soft pliable dough but not stinky.
Cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, rinse the banana leaf with hot water and dab dry it. Cut out oval shapes slightly bigger then the kueh size. You will need 24 for this recipe. Brush with some vegetable oil on the surface.
Divide the dough into 24 portions and roll round. Then take one portion and place about 1 heaping tbsp of filling in the middle, then wrap and seal nicely. Place in the mould which is slightly dusted with rice flour and press down with some pressure.
To unmould, knock on the side of the table and let the kueh gently fall out on to your palm. Place kueh on cut out banana leaf and into the steamer. Repeat till all the kuehs are moulded.
Steam at medium high heat for 10 minutes. Brush some cooked oil over the surface of the kuehs to prevent sticking.

I only made half recipe for each root vegetable but was enough to satisfy me, heehee. :D I love both filling! Good thing I didn't make peanut ones, else I would be eating way too much, lol!

Will be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by Small Small Baker.

Okay, got to go. Hopefully will post something up again real soon. Take it easy all. Cheers!

Happy Birthday to my little girl

2011-10-17T22:58:00.000+08:00

It has been a crazy busy week for me and it always happens when it's around my kids' birthday. Besides making a special fondant cake for the family celebration, I had to prepare cupcakes for her school celebration as well. Although it is a lot of work, but I gladly do it for them since it's my gift plus I love working with fondants! Lol! Besides, how many more years will they be thrilled over my homemade cakes? Not too many I guess. :P Anyway, this year my little one has requested for a Smurfette Cake for her birthday. At first I was kind of lost on how should I do it, but after some research and help from a couple of good friends, I manage to get this done:

I am sure many of you have come to know about Smurfs when you were young. It was again popularized recently with the phone / IPad App game and also the recent The Smurfs movie. However my girl got to love Smurffette was neither of those but was from the free toy she got from her McDonald Happy Meal. :P

I did not do a good job on the cake, so much to brush up on. I guess I did not give myself enough time for the buttercream to set before covering the cake up with fondant. So it wasn't as smooth as I hope it would be. :P Good thing its for my own girl, lol! Guess I need more practice! Comparing with last year's Tinkle Bell cake, which one do you think is better?

I took my friend's recommendation and used a chocolate bundt cake recipe plus a yellow buttermilk cake recipe from Martha Stewart. These cake are much more sturdy then the ones I used previously. But because the family has been so used to fluffy cakes, they were not too keen on these denser cakes. :P Conclusion? Its so hard to please everyone! (=_=")

For my girl's class celebration. I used just the yellow buttermilk cupcake recipe and top them off with Chocolate and Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Not forgetting to add a little fun by placing a princess or butterfly toy ring on each cupcake so the kids can keep them as a souvenir after enjoying the cupcake. :)

My daughter ended up enjoying the cupcake more then the Smurfette cake. Why? I guess she gets to have the ring to play with, whereas the smurf cake was merely for viewing and eating pleasure only. :P I too love the SM buttercream and yellow cake combo too, think I will use it again next time I'm baking for such occasions.

Her classmates love the cupcakes too! Saw them happily licking off the delicious buttercream and munching on the soft yellow cake, a satisfaction that is hard to describe. :) My little girl came to me today and gave me tender a hug and softly said. "Thank you mummy for making my birthday cakes." Priceless. :)

Another Mummy mission completed. :) Overall contented with the results, but could be better. :P Thanks folks for staying to read my post. Hopefully will get time to post up some kueh recipe soon. :) Till then, have a great week ahead! Cheers!

Kueh Talam Cendol

2011-10-09T11:35:00.000+08:00

It's been ages since I last made any kuehs in the house. It's no surprise as my kids aren't really fans of any nonya kuehs, except for kueh lapis. I came to know and taste Kueh Talam when I was in Malaysia which I had loads of fun making it together with a few of my good friends there. Although I have to admit I wasn't too crazy about kueh talam, but getting to make it sure brings back some fond and nostalgic memories of the fun days I spent with my friends in KL. I decided to make a little twist to the usual recipe and make Kueh Talam Cendol instead.

Personally I love cendol, very much. :) But because of the high sugar and coconut content, I try to minimize eating it. In fact I can't remember the last time I had a bowl! So it seems like the right timing to try out this new talam cendol to satisfy my cravings. :)

Okay, I admit, I suck at slicing the kuehs. But it's so delicate, its really no easy task! Even laying it nicely and taking the photos took me quite awhile to accomplish, not to mention to capture a decent shot. (^_^") So please close an eye when you view the photos, it'll some what look better, heehee.

Ingredients for Kueh Talam Cendol: (makes a 7"X7"X3" or 8"x8"X3" square pan)

Bottom Layer:

600ml thick coconut milk

400ml water

1 tsp salt

100g rice flour

40g green pea flour

60g caster sugar

250g cendol, drained

In a saucepan, add in all the ingredients except the cendol. Place it over the stove at medium low heat and stir constantly with a whisk.
Cook the mixture till it thickens, slightly thinner then condense milk consistency. Immediately remove from fire and pour in the drained cendol. Stir well and pour it into a greased prepared square pan. (either 7"X7"X3" for a taller version like mine or 8"X8"X3")
Place the pan into the steamer and steam at medium high heat for about 20 to 25 minutes till it sets.

Top layer:

120g rice flour

30g green pea flour

150g gula melaka, chopped into fine bits if using blocks

100g dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp alkaline water

1000ml thin coconut milk (400ml thick coconut milk + 600ml water)

In another saucepan, add in all ingredients in and heat over medium low heat.
Cook till the mixture thickens as well, slightly thinner then condensed milk consistency. Pour the mixture over the already set cendol layer.
Steam again at medium high heat till the top layer sets, about 30 minutes.
When done, remove from steamer and let cool completely before slicing. Or you can chill the whole block for 2 hours before slicing it to get nicer cuts. (Don't make the same mistake as me. :P)

Although the gula melaka scent was not as strong as I wanted it to be, it still turned out to be quite a tasty kueh with a well balanced taste. The bottom layer is slightly salty with the sweet gula-coconut scent on top. Although the top layer is a little softer then the bottom, it some how balanced it off giving it a different textured taste in the mouth. Even my"not-too-keen" on kueh kids also had a slice each. ;)

Overall quite an easy desert to whip up. And there are also quite a number of ways to incorporate different ingredients into it, like Tapioca, glutinous rice and even sweet potatoes! Do try!

I'll be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by Small Small Baker.

Okay, gonna keep this post a short one. Will be posting a little less in the coming 2 weeks as I'll be busy with my kid's birthday & exam. Hope you all had fun and thanks for staying tune!

Chocolate Macarons with Strawberry Compote Buttercream

2011-10-04T22:24:00.000+08:00

Frankly speaking, up to a week ago, I was no fan of macarons. But if you offer me those from Canelé Pâtisserie, I'll gladly gobble them up lol! But seriously, a small cookie that probably fills a third of your mouth cost around S$3? If you don't want to pay that kind of money just to have an exquisite cookie, baking it yourself will be a wise alternative. Since my "not so good" experience more then 2 years ago, I've shelved the idea of baking a macaron. But lately the "mac fever" seems to be back again and I began to feel a little envious of all those beautiful macaroons my fellow bloggers baked. Then Wendy justified that the recipe from Swee San was not overly sweet and tasted wonderful, I decided to give it a go...again. :) Good thing I did!

What you see is actually my first attempt using Italian Meringue method, not bad huh?To prevent any failures, I literally had to study the recipes way ahead and seek advice from the experts before baking it. Fortunately it turned out well. This shows that preparation work is needed, don't just plunge into it. Although my macs may not look as nice as some of the other bloggers', it still look decent enough. :) But I find the colour for the chocolate shells a bit weak, have to up some more of that cocoa powder. :P

Prior to this, I did bake a batch of Dark Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream using the French technique by David Lebovitz. It came out "feetless" and with cracks all over. I was pretty disappointed but figured its because I didn't let it rest and the oven temperature was way too hot (David's recipe stated to preheat oven to 180C ?!). But my family some how just loved those cracked macarons to bits, lol! I guess crack or no crack, feet or no feet, it still tasted good. :) But to satisfy my "needs" to get it right, I did the Italian Meringue method. (^_^)

Here is the recipe for my future reference:

(For detail pictorial steps, please refer to Swee San's post)

Ingredients for Chocolate Macarons with Strawberry Compote Swiss Buttercream

Macaron shells:

100g finely ground almond

100g confectioner's sugar

1 tbsp Valrohna cocoa powder (I will up this to 2 tbsp next time)

40g fresh egg white

pinch of salt

100g sugar

25ml water

34g aged egg white (I left it in the fridge for 2 days)

Method:

In a blender, finely ground the almond powder and confectioner's sugar together till powdery like. Then pour it into a bowl and sieve in the cocoa powder. Then mix in the egg white and salt. Stir and mix well. Mixture will be thick.
In a saucepan placed over medium fire, heat up the sugar and water. Once the sugar has all melted, place your candy thermometer in and monitor it till it reaches ~108C. Once it reaches 108C, beat the egg white at high speed till it reaches soft peaks, which by then the temperature should be close to 118C.
Slowly drizzle the sugar syrup into the egg white while the mixer is still at medium speed. Once all the syrup is in, continue to beat till the meringue is glossy. (Mine was a little "slacky" as Wendy mentioned in hers too, lol!)
Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the almond meal mixture. Since the almond mixture is thick, you'll need to stir harder to incorporate it well. Repeat the other 2 portions and fold in gently.
Scoop the batter into a piping bag with an 10mm nozzle. Pipe out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper. Let rest for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 150C with fan off.
After 10 minutes, bake the cookies in the oven for 14mins.
After baking, remove from oven and let cool completely before peeling off.

Strawberry Compote Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

100g fresh strawberries, cut into small chunks

1 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

100g Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I followed Wendy's recipe to the dot, please refer to her post)

In a saucepan over medium low fire, add in the chopped strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Cook till the strawberries has soften and juice that oozed out has thicken slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes. Let it cool completely before mixing in the buttercream. Scoop the buttercream into piping bag a pipe on to the cooled macaron shells.

I realize I always overfill my cookies. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, in fact I find it tastier, lol! Indeed a pretty addictive cookie to bake once you attain some good results. The possibilities of flavors....mmmm! But in the meantime, I'll just stick to these chocolate / strawberry flavor since these are my kiddos favorite. My kids said "Mummy, these are the most delicious cookie in the world!" Hmmmm.....(^_^"). Although the macarons are still sweet to me, I find that with berry compote buttercream, it sort of mellow out the overall sweetness. :)

I want to thank Swee San and Eelin whom took the time to write to me to explain a thing or two about macarons. ;) Okay folks, thanks for staying and reading my post. Hope you all have a great day! Cheers!**

Beancurd Meat Rolls (腐皮肉卷 ) and Banana Cake with Oreo chunks

2011-09-28T00:05:00.001+08:00

The pressure is on....exam is coming soon, especially those that are seating for PSLE & 'O' level exams. It is hard on the kids and on the parents. Don't we already know since we went through it ourselves, but probably with much less pressure that time, lol! I do feel that it's real hard to be a student nowadays. Although my kids still have a few years to go, I am already fearing the process and "torment" my kids have to go through. :( But it's part and parcel for kids here in Singapore, so as a parent, we can only help our kids make this journey a little easier by being there for them. I sincerely wish those students especially my 2 nieces that are sitting for the Singapore-Cambridge exam all the very best! 加油！

Back to food. Today I'm introducing a dish call Beancurd Meat Rolls (腐皮肉卷 ). It may seem like the Hokkien style five spice meat rolls (五香肉卷), but it is much simpler to prepare and lesser ingredients involved. It's really quite simple to make, I bet any mommy at home knows how to whip this up. :)

I didn't do a good job frying them, looks a little uneven browning. (-_-") I suspect it's because I left the meat rolls in the fridge before frying them...made the skin a little soft. Or maybe it's the brand or type of beancurd skin? Anyway, just make sure you have ample time to wrap and fry them at one go.

Ingredients for Beancurd Meat Rolls (腐皮肉卷 ):

Meat filling:

500g minced pork (preferably with some fat to make it tender, i.e 五花肉)

100g fresh prawns, shelled and mince small

1 tbsp finely minced ginger

5 water chestnut, peeled and diced ( I omitted this time)

1 egg

2 sprigs of green onion, cut into small sections

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

1/4 tsp sesame oil

dashes of white pepper

1.5 tsp cooking wine (绍兴酒)

1 tbsp sugar

1.5 tbsp cornflour

beancurd skin, at least 60cm by 60cm

egg wash

frying oil

Method:

In a large mixing bow, add in all of the ingredients up to cornflour and mix it well.
On a counter top, open up the beancurd sheet and moisten it slightly the corner you are using with a clean damp towel a little.
Scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon worth of filling onto a corner of the moisten beancurd sheet. Then cut out the sheet enough for you to wrap one roll. Fold in the sides and roll it up like a swiss roll and brush the ends with egg wash to seal it.
Have ready a frying pan heated up with some oil and fry the meat rolls until golden crispy. Scoop up and drain on paper towels. Serve while still hot or over a bed of sauted greens.

I had mine served over some sauted bai chai (小白菜) just to make it a more well balanced dish, heehee. :D One thing to note is that you should go easy on the salt on this as the beancurd skin itself can be quite salty. So one of the reason why I moisten it was not only for easy wrapping, also to wipe away some of the saltiness on it. :) Do try this out and make it for your family, I'm sure they'll enjoy this dish very much, just like mine did. :)

Next up is desert, a simple cake that my kids love; Banana Cake with Oreo chunks. I probably have posted close to a dozen banana cake recipes in my blog now, but it always seems like a popular and easy to reach ingredient to use, don't you agree? It not only moisten but also added extra flavor and texture. And with Oreo added, what's not to love? This recipe has been adapted from the recipe in Florence's blog; Do What I Like.

This is actually a simple moist banana cake with a lot of Oreo chunks mixed into it. Some how I feel that my kids loved it mostly because of the Oreo in it, lol! :D

When I served the last slice to my younger daughter, she said "Make again tomorrow Mama!" Lol! I said "Don't you want to try other cakes?", her reply was simple "No". ^_^"

Ingredients for Banana cake with Oreo Chunks:
Set A:
135g all purpose flour (sieved)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda (original calls for 1/2 tsp)
1/4 tsp salt
30g brown sugar
34g castor sugar
1 tube of Oreo cookies, cream and all, broken into chunks

(B)
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
40g melted butter
25g corn oil
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp condensed milk
1/4 cup plain yoghurt (original calls for sour cream)
3 medium banana, mashed.

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients for Set A and mix well.
2. In another separate bowl, mix all the ingredients for Set B and mix well.
3. Pour (A) into (B) and mix everything with minimum handling.
4. Spoon batter into muffin tray lined with paper muffin cups up to 80% full.
5. Top with sliced banana and oreo pieces if desired.
6. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes for muffins and 30 minutes for loaf pan. If tester comes out clean, it's done.

The crumbs are fine and the cake is light, not dense. Remember not to overmix the batter. :) Feel free to subsitute the Oreo with Chocolate chips, but I doubt it'll be the same. :P Try it out and you will see what I mean. Happy baking!!

Okay all, have a great week ahead! Cheers!
BB

Honey Bee Sweets

Easy Valentine's Day Desert : Baked Chocolate Custard

元宵节快乐！Red Date Chiffon Cake (红枣戚风蛋糕)

Oreo Surprise Chocolate Cupcakes

Stuffed Golden Purses，金钱袋 (Braised Stuffed Tofu)

Coke Cola Chicken Wings and Purple Sweet Potato Huat Goh

Egg white & Cream Bread Loaf (蛋白醇奶土司)

Merry Christmas All!

Christmas Matcha Cookie Tree

Chocolate Cornflake Wreath

Baked Rigatoni with Meatballs and Herb Crumbs

Melbourne trip 2011 Part One & Banana Oat Pancakes

Happy Birthday Dad!

Root Beer Float Cupcake

Steamed Flower Tofu and Pear Soup with ChuanBei (川贝雪梨汤)

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

20g coconut powder (Alternatively, you can just add 15g of coconut thick cream)

100g Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I followed Bravetart's recipe, please refer to link)

In a small bowl, weigh out the coconut powder, then add in 2 - 3 tbsp of hot water, mix well till it all the powder is incorporated. Mixture should be slightly thick. Let cool before mixing into the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Once mix in, chill it till needed.

For the toasted coconut flakes, place about 1 heaping tbsp of desiccated coconut flakes on a non stick frying pan at medium low heat. Stir fry it constantly and try not to burnt it. Once it turns light golden brown, remove from fire and let cool completely before sprinkling over the cupcakes.

Homemade Egg Tofu using Black Soy Beans Milk

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes / Cake

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin and Pandan Xi Pan (南瓜和班兰喜粄)

Loh Mai Chi (糯米糍)

Purple Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Ang Gu Kueh II

Happy Birthday to my little girl

Kueh Talam Cendol

Chocolate Macarons with Strawberry Compote Buttercream

Here is the recipe for my future reference:

(For detail pictorial steps, please refer to Swee San's post)

Ingredients for Chocolate Macarons with Strawberry Compote Swiss Buttercream

Macaron shells:

100g finely ground almond

100g confectioner's sugar

1 tbsp Valrohna cocoa powder (I will up this to 2 tbsp next time)

40g fresh egg white

pinch of salt

100g sugar

25ml water

34g aged egg white (I left it in the fridge for 2 days)

Method:

In a blender, finely ground the almond powder and confectioner's sugar together till powdery like. Then pour it into a bowl and sieve in the cocoa powder. Then mix in the egg white and salt. Stir and mix well. Mixture will be thick.

Slowly drizzle the sugar syrup into the egg white while the mixer is still at medium speed. Once all the syrup is in, continue to beat till the meringue is glossy. (Mine was a little "slacky" as Wendy mentioned in hers too, lol!)

Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the almond meal mixture. Since the almond mixture is thick, you'll need to stir harder to incorporate it well. Repeat the other 2 portions and fold in gently.

Scoop the batter into a piping bag with an 10mm nozzle. Pipe out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper. Let rest for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 150C with fan off.

After 10 minutes, bake the cookies in the oven for 14mins.

After baking, remove from oven and let cool completely before peeling off.

Strawberry Compote Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

100g fresh strawberries, cut into small chunks

1 tbsp caster sugar

100g Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I followed Wendy's recipe to the dot, please refer to her post)

I want to thank Swee San and Eelin whom took the time to write to me to explain a thing or two about macarons. ;) Okay folks, thanks for staying and reading my post. Hope you all have a great day! Cheers!

Beancurd Meat Rolls (腐皮肉卷 ) and Banana Cake with Oreo chunks

I want to thank Swee San and Eelin whom took the time to write to me to explain a thing or two about macarons. ;) Okay folks, thanks for staying and reading my post. Hope you all have a great day! Cheers!**