Monday, April 25, 2011

Banana Walnut Sour Cream Cake




I had very ripe bananas at home that no one is eating, so I decided to bake my favourite banana butter cake. As I still have some sour cream to clear off, I replaced it with milk to see will there be any taste and texture difference. I added in some walnuts on the top of the cake to decorate but the walnuts created some obstacles during slicing of the cake.




Recipe adapted from Jthorge's Kitchen with modifications.

Ingredients: ( for one 8" x 3.5" x 3")
125g salted butter
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sour cream
3 banana, mashed (I used Malaysian pisang belangan)
110g plain flour (sift together with 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder)
some walnuts

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Add in eggs, vanilla essence / extract and sour cream and mix well.
3. Add mashed banana into the mixture and mix well.
4. Finally add in sifted flour and mix well and pour into a cake tin.
5. Sprinkle some walnut on the cake top.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for 50 to 60 mins or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If the top layer turns brown after 15 minutes, cover it with a piece of aluminum foil.
7. Cool cakes in the pan then remove.

Verdict?
The cake is moist and soft, tasted a bit sweet due to the bananas but still as delicious. I cannot detect much difference on the texture between milk and sour cream, probably need to taste both at the same time to spot the differences?
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Monday, April 18, 2011

Pandan Cotton Cake



Time flies, I have not been baking for about 3 months, luckily I have some backlogs so still can keep this blog alive :P.

I am feeling much better now but still not good enough to go back to kitchen, my family and friends have been missing my bakes hahaha.... I miss it myself too :). I am missing my days of baking, cooking and blog hopping, wish I have more engery now.... Well hope this day will arrive soon!


This cake was baked before I am unwell when dear daughter made her requested for a pandan cake. Even I wasn't in mood of baking but still have to fullfil her wish since she never ask for cake for a long period (except talking about her birthday cake). So I looked through my recipes folders trying to find one easy recipe and found this.



Recipe adapted from Jane's Corner with modification.

Ingredients : (8" x 3.5" x 3" cake pan)
30g butter
40g cake flour
40g fresh milk
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
35g caster sugar
4 pcs pandan leaves - cut into small pieces, blend and squeeze out the juice (mix well with fresh milk)

Method :
1. Melt the butter, mixed in the sifted flour while the butter still warm.
2. Beat the egg yolks lightly and add in pandan juice + fresh milk slowly, mix well.
3. Add in 1/3 of egg yolk mixture to the butter mixture and mix well, pour in the remaining egg yolk mixture and mix well.
4. Whisk egg whites until frothy, add in sugar, continue to whisk till stiff stage.
5. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture till incorporated, pour in the remaining and mix well.
6. Pour in the batter to the cake pan, lightly bang the cake pan on the table to reduce air bubbles.
7. Bake in pre-heat oven at 170C for 8 mins using water bath, reduce to 150C and continue to bake for another 20C.
8. Invert cake onto a cooling rack until completely cooled. Remove cake from pan and serve.

Verdict?
Like the name, the cake is as soft as cotton, moist and light with hint of pandan taste As what Jane had described, this cake tasted like light cheesecake without cheesy taste, you will like it if you are the fan of light cheesecake. Dear daughter happily ate 3 slices at one go, she told me the cake is very nice. The cake was finised within 2 days, mostly by her.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Oreo Dulce de Leche Mini Cheesecake




Wanted to make some cheese cupcakes for my department gals so looked through my To Bake List and decided to bake this oreo mini cheesecake. Why? Because one of the ingredient caught my attention, condensed milk, yes I can replace it with dulce de leche since I have a few cans in stock :).


Recipe modified from Table for 2 or more.

Ingredients : (for 6 big muffin casing)
250gm cream cheese
150gm sweetened condensed milk (I changed to dulce de leche)
2 eggs, separated
1 small pinch of cream of tartar
1 Tbsp sugar 18 pcs oreo cookies

*everything be at room temperature when u're ready to start.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #6 : Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by Jean of Need More Noms.

Method :
1. Separate Oreos, leaving 12 pcs w/o cream intact and round. Put the rest of the biscuits together with the filling into a food processor and pulse til fine. Remember to preheat ur oven (150C) and boil water after this.
2. Line big muffin tin with paper cups. Place 1 heaped teaspoon of oreo crumbs onto paper cups and smooth out with a teaspoon, lightly press the crumbs to flatten.
3. With a mixer, beat egg whites until frothy, add in cream of tartar continue to beat until soft peaks. Add in sugar and beat til stiff (as long as egg whites don't fall when overturned, it will be fine, no need to be pointy stiff). Set aside, and quickly do the next step.
4. Cream cream cheese on low speed until smooth (a minute or 2), put in condensed milk (or DDL) and egg yolks and continue to beat on low speed for another minute until well combined. Fold in egg whites.
5. Spoon (4) into prepared paper cups. Top with an oreo biscuit or u can break it up and put it where ever u like (middle, top)
6. Bake for 20 minutes in a waterbath.
7. Leave to cool in oven, door ajar. Cool completely before chilling.
8. Best chilled for 3 hours or more before serving.

Verdict?
This cheesecake is cheesy and creamy with nice fragrant of dulce de leche, yummy. My department gals like the cheesecake a lot, they wished to have more but I only made 6 cupcakes :P.



I had received surprises recently, there are 5 bloggers shared this lovely award with me during almost the same period:). Thank you Baking Library, Cherry Potato, Cosy Bake, Muimui25 and Yummy Bakes , I am very happy and honored to receive it and your kind gesture has given me a lot of motivations and encourgements. Once agin, thank you very much!
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Friday, April 1, 2011

Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) - Round Up

Thanks to all for supporting Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March event and also Small Small Baker for giving me this wonderful opportunity to be the host of the March event. I got to know more and more talented blogger friends through this event and the entries that I had received are all so fantastic. Beside busying consolidating the entries, I was drooling when looking at all the photos, deciding which to go into my To Bake List and I was overwhelming by too many choices. In total, I received 187 entries (hope I didn't count wrongly :P) and a lot of the blogger friends are being so so supportive that submitted multiple entries, a BIG THANK YOU again to all of you! I also feel so apologetic for not being able to drop any comment in their posts to express how awesome are their bakes/dishes/desserts, thank you all for being so understanding.


Here are the entries for Aspiring Bakers #5 Fruity March, listed in the order of the date submitted. Enjoy!











Lemon Swiss Roll by Zhuo Yuan aka Baker Tan of Baking Library


































































Orange Cranberry Shortbread by Zhuo Yuan aka Baker Tan of Baking Library






































Stewed Banana & Jackfruit In Coconut Milk (Kolak Pisang) by Alice of I Love I Bake





Fruit Custard Tart by Hundred Eighty Degrees

Her blog is still under construction so I shall help her to post the recipe here :

For the base : 200g digestive biscuits 100g butter, melted


For the Base 1. Place biscuits in a zip-lock bag, roll over with a rolling pin 2. Mix the biscuit crumbs with melted butter. 3. Press it firmly with the back of a spoon onto a 8" loose-bottom tart pan. Refrigerate it for use later.


For the Custard : (recipe adapted from rhid-baked.blogspot) 2 cups whole milk 6 large egg yolks 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup corn starch (sifted) 1.5 tsp. vanilla extract 3.5 Tbs unsalted butter at room temp and cut into bits


Method:


For the Custard 1. Bring the milk to boil in a small saucepan. 2. In a heavy bottomed saucepan whisk the egg yolks together, as well as the sugar and cornstarch until it is well blended and slightly thick. 3. Still whisking stir in around 1/4 of a cup of boiling milk (do this slowly - always adding a small bit whilst you whisk). 4. Keep whisking and pour in the rest of the boiling milk. 5. Put the saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to the boil while constantly whisking. 6. Keep boiling for around 1 min, then remove from the heat. 7. Whisk in the vanilla extract. 8. Let sit for 5 min. 9. Add the butter and whisk in until it is well Incorporated (the cream should be smooth and slightly shiny).


To Assembly 1. Pour the custard onto the biscuit base. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula 2. Decorate with desired fruits 3. Keep refrigerated until serving time










Blueberry Cheesy Muffin by Hundred Eighty Degrees


Her blog is still under construction so I shall help her to post the recipe here :

Recipe adapted and modified from Agnes Chang “I can Bake”

Ingredients A : 250g plain flour 1 tbsp baking powder ½ tsp salt


Ingredients B : 60g castor sugar 90g cheddar cheese, grated ( I use mozzarella cheese )


Ingredients C : 1 egg, lightly beaten 250ml fresh milk 60ml corn oil


Decoration :

50g cheddar cheese, grated ( I use mozzarella cheese)

Some blueberry ( not included in original recipe )


Method : 1. Sift A into a mixing bowl and stir in B 2. Beat C in a bowl for about 1 minute till well-mixed. Pour into flour mixture and mix till just combined (do not over-mix, it should remain lumpy) 3. Spoon into muffin moulds lined with paper cups, till ¾ full. Sprinkle top with more grated cheese (mozzarella cheese) as decoration 4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degree C for about 20 minutes till cooked and golden brown 5. Remove and serve warm
































































































































































Apple Muffins by Stephanie (Musketnuss) of I Really Take The Cake






















Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies of Zhou Yuan aka Baker Tan of Baking Library


































































Chocolate Bottom Banana Cake by Chris of YummyKoh










Peach Swiss Roll by Cathy of Cathy's Joy














Mango Basil Chicken by Veronica Chia of Peng's Kitchen









1-ingredient Chocolate Ice-cream by qiting93 of Misadventures of Fat free Baking



Apple Crumble by Alice of I Love I Cook I Bake






















































































Fruity Bread by Li Ying of Happy Flour














Strawberry Ice Pop 最适合炎炎夏日的草莓冰棒 by Angel of Cook Bake Love












Fresh Fruit Tart by Happy Home Baker of Happy Home Baking































































Orange Butter Cake by SSB of Small Small Baker



咖啡可可北海道戚风蛋糕 by Esther of 我的厨房乐园



香蕉核桃蛋糕卷 by Joceline Lor of ‘爱’生活 ~ My Life












































Fruit Tarts from Alice of I Love I Cook I Bake















Mango Delight by Yvonne Lee of Muimui25




金柑甘露煮 Candied Kinkan by Alan of Travelling Foodies










Zwetschenkuchen or German Plum Flan by Lisa H. of From My Lemony Kitchen



金橘/Golden Orange Chocolate Truffles by Seok Cheng

Seok Cheng do not have any blog so I shall help her to post her modified recipe here.


Original Recipe taken from: Hand-formed chocolates [videorecording] / Culinary Institute of America ; produced by Philip E. Mill; Originally produced in 2002


Ingredients: 516ml Cream 1020g Dark Chocolate 85g Butter 4 Dried Golden Orange(金橘) [which i bought from Taiwan]


Method: 1. Boil cream together with the dried golden orange (split open into half or more). when boiled, cover and let the cream absorb the orange flavor. 2. Repeat boiling the cream with orange twice or even 3 times depending on how much you would like the chocolate to carry the orange taste. 3. Strain over the finely chopped chocolate. Cover and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes. 4. Whisk gently until cream and chocolate combine (cannot see trace of the cream) 5. Add room temperature, softened butter and whisk to combine. 6. Let the mixture cool in bowl for some time. 7. Using a small size ice-cream scope or melon baller to make small balls of chocolate truffle. 8. You can coat the chocolate balls in some cocoa powder or melt/temper some chocolate and dip the truffle balls in for a hard coating (you can use dark chocolate or milk and white chocolate for a sweeter taste, which will balance the bitterness of the truffle). allow the truffles coating to solidify (if coating with melted chocolate) before storing in air tight containers. 9. Store in cool dry place or in the refrigerator (do not freeze).















Chocolate-Bottom Banana Squares by Siew Hwei of 简单生活，随心所欲，快乐充实






Black Forest Cake by Zhou Yuan aka Baker Tan of Baking Library










































Here again, I thank you everyone for making this event so successful, please continue to support Aspiring Bakers! And for the theme of April : Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) will be hosted by Jean of Need More Noms The closing date is : 30 April 2011. All entries will be complied and posted by 1st May 2011. For more details please go over to her blog here.

p/s: If you have submitted your entry(s) but it is not shown here, do leave me a comment so that I could check it out. Thanks.
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