Otah Prata

This is really easy to prepare, and amazingly yummy. All you need is roti prata and muah otah (thawed from freezer). Simply spread the otah on the prata, roll it up, and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes.

Cognac Fruit Cake

I chanced upon this recipe in iweekly supplement 23 Dec 10 issue. The recipe was from Chef Ivan Liew, who started his baking career in 2000. Hotels and restaurants that he worked at included Les Amis, The Bakery Depot, Conrad Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, etc. Last year, he joined Mandarin Hotel as Pastry Chef. According from the quote in iweekly, "the longer you soaked the mixed fruits in liquor , the longer is the shelf life of the cake. Soak for 1 week, and the cake can last up to 1 month."

Ingredients:

• 200g butter
• 150g brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200g flour
• 300ml rum wine (I didn't have rum at home, so I replaced this with cognac)
• 300g dried fruit soaked in the rum wine for at least 1 day
• apricot glase (I skipped this step for my mini cakes)
• water (adequate)

Steps:

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a mixer.
2. Add egges and flour (sieved)
3. Add the rum mixer with dried fruits. Mix well.
4. Bake at 170 degree celsius for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Note shorter baking time for mini cakes.
5. (Optional) Boil the apricot glaze with water, portion 3:1. Once boiled, apply the apricot glaze on top of the cake, decorate with dried cherry and almond nuts.

Surprise Bundts with Frosting

This was another batch of surprise bundts that I made for a kids' Christmas party in school. This time, I added some orange flavoured and strawberry flavoured buttercream frosting. Each frostie was then sprinkled with edible pearl and gold beads to complete the Christmas look.



Freshly out of the oven, each cake had a hole in the middle.



I scrapped the bottom of each cake and used the crumbs to press into a base.



Next the frosting and the sprinkles ...

Finally, the chocolate candies and the teddy marshmallows ... done! Surprise bundts ready to delight the little princesses and princes!

Mini Birthday Cupcakes

Cupcakes for a very special little boy...

This batch of mini cuppies were requested by a friend for her son's 3rd birthday.
"Oh, no eggs, cos he's allergic to eggs."


Cupcakes and frosting without eggs?  Out goes my favourite cupcake and swiss meringue buttercream frosting. It was time to google "eggless cake recipe". But first, I made marshmallow fondant, and stamped out the letters. Then let it air dry for several days so it would firm up.

After experimenting with a couple of egg-free recipes, I settled on this one:

EGGLESS CUPPIES  ::  makes about 16 minis

220g plain flour (for choc: 200g flour, 20g cocoa powder)
160g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup (80ml) oil or melted butter
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Whisk together all the dry ingredients.  (For vanilla choc chip, add 100g choc chips.)
Separately, combine all the wet ingredients.
Pour wet into dry. Stir till just combined. Scoop into muffin cups.
Bake at 160*C for about 18-20 min or till done.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING  :: makes enough for 16 minis

100g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g icing sugar, sifted

Cream butter and vanilla extract till light and fluffy.
Gradually add icing sugar and blend till smooth.

Looks rather plain, you say?

We saved a little fun for the birthday boy...  We got him 2 boxes of dinosaur candles for him to decorate the 'spare' cuppies.  Aren't they cute?

Happy Birthday, Ethan Sam!

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

I wanted to make something special for my dad's 60th birthday. Something that I hadn't made before, so it would be a surprise.

It took me a while to find this recipe that was both appealing in taste and appearance. A flour-less mousse cake made with dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. For this cake, no expense was spared; I splurged on Valrhona chocolate.

On my dad's birthday, we treated him to a sumptuous 8-course dinner at a fancy restaurant, and ended it with a special 9th course - my Triple Choc Mousse Cake!

The restaurant was dim, so no nice pictures of the cake's inside were taken.  But I have a picture from my trial cake earlier this month. You'll see the 3 distinct layers of chocolate. 

The recipe looks tedious, but it's really quite easy once you get down to reading it. And the taste is worth the effort!  

Click HERE for the recipe.

Christmas Cupcakes

Flavour #1:  Double Chocolate Cupcakes (with green frosting)
Flavour #2:  Vanilla Fruit & Nut Cupcakes (with white frosting)
decorated with pearl dragees and marshmallow fondant stars

Chocolate Chip Cookies

More christmas baking....

These choc chip cookies were made for my colleagues.  I also made 3 other flavours:
* double choc chip cookies
* raisin and white choc
* oatmeal raisin & coconut
but I was in such a rush that I didn't have time to take photos.

Recipe was adapted from Baking Library's Crunchy Choc Chip Cookies.  His recipe is a winner!

Christmas Truffles

Cake truffles, made for some very special friends.

* Glenfiddich Chocolate & Peanut
* Green Tea White Chocolate & Coconut

Recipe can be found here.
For the green tea truffles, just use green tea cake crumbs instead of chocolate, and replace choc with white choc.

Green Tea Log Cake

This month turned out to be a much busier month that I expected, but I managed to squeeze in a log cake class. It's really not as difficult as it looks - just a swiss roll covered with cream and festive decorations.  The best part is: perfection in imperfection!  No need for smooth even frosting or regular symmetrical lines. I love it!

Hidden under the 'snow' frosting (which is really just whipped cream) is a green tea swiss roll filled with soft cream cheese frosting.  Pretty yummy, and a nice change from the traditional chocolate log cakes.

Merry Christmas, my dear friends!

Rosemary Focaccia

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients.  
~ wikipedia
I chose one of my favourite herbs - rosemary.


(This post was drafted some time ago, and somehow I forgot about it till now, when I saw that it was still in draft.)
Hope some of you will give this recipe a try. The aroma of the olive oil and rosemary is just simply heart-warming. 

Ingredients for a 10x7" loaf:
1 tsp instant yeast
180ml warm water
250g bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1.5 tbs olive oil
1 tbs rosemary (use fresh if possible, otherwise dried will do fine too)

1 - Sprinkle yeast onto 120ml of warm water. Leave for 5-10 min till frothy. 

2 - In mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and rosemary. Make a well in the centre and pour in yeasted water, remaining water and oil. 

3 - Mix to form a sticky dough. When dough comes together, knead till smooth, silky and elastic (abt 10-20min).

4 - Put dough in an oiled bowl, coating dough with oil and cover. Leave to rise till double in size (abt 1 hr). 

5 - Knock back. Then let dough rest for about 10 min.

6 - Mould to desired shape. Cover with towel. Prove till double in size (abt 30 min).

7 - Press gently to form dimples 1cm deep. Brush generously with oil and sprinkle sea salt. 

8 - Bake at 200*C for 30-45 min till golden. Cool on a rack, covering bread with a towel for a softer crust.

Mini Bundt Surprises

I love surprises! And I have always dreamt of baking a cake with the additional "surprise and delight" element. These mini cakes were inspired by Kinder Surprise eggs, which do not seem to be in production anymore. They were replaced by a newer version called Kinder Joy, which are just not the same. How I missed them!

I made this batch of choc cakes for a very charming 4-year old girl.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

I finally invested in a Wilton 1M piping tip. And it was worth every single cent! Look at these gorgeous swirls!!

Okay, it's not that expensive, lah. Only $2.80. When I first saw the piping tip, I thought it would be way too huge. But it turned out perfect! (I just need to practice more to get it picture perfect.)

(A bit short on time today, so I'll be posting the recipe next time. I'll definitely be making these again. They were very well received.)

Bloggers' Gathering 27.10.2010

This is my first bloggers' gathering, and I was so excited about it.


At first, I was going to make Rosemary Focaccia with Mediterranean dips. But the potluck menu was quite full of savoury dishes, so I suggested bringing something sweet instead.


Here's a snapshot of all the wonderful treats we had. And can you believe that ALL this food was only for 9 people??

These are the lovely people I met, and I'm glad to have made new friends with the same passion for baking. Some of them have already posted details of the event, so do visit their blogs to read about it. 


Christine - Yummy Koh
Doris - Tested & Tasted
Edith - Precious Moments
Jane - Passionate About Baking
Josephine - Sugar & Everything Nice
Judy - A Busy Gran's Kitchen
Sheryl - Sweet and Happy Ending
Zhuoyuan - Baking Library
Eelin (me) - The Batter Baker

  

Looking forward to the next gathering :)