Rustic Strawberry Cake

Just for fun, I made a mini strawberry cake, and decorated it in rustic style.

What do you all think?

Pineapple Cheesecake on a peanut sesame crust

Friend K: Can you make a cheesecake with CNY flavours?

Me: Hmm... how about cheesecake with pineapple jam topping and a peanut crust?

Friend K: OK, but can you also add sesame to the crust?

So here it is... a CNY-inspired cheesecake. 

Coconut Cake Truffles

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

To all my friends, fans and readers,  may this Valentine's be a lovely one for you. 

To make about 20 truffles:
80-120g plain chocolate (according to preference)
small knob of butter
130g cake crumbs
some coconut flakes

You don't really have to be accurate with these ingredients. Just rough estimates will do. 


Making the truffles:
1 - Melt the chocolate and butter bain marie. Stir till smooth, then remove from heat.

2 - Pour over cake crumbs and mix well.

3 - Roll mixture into small balls.  If mixture is too soft, chill in the fridge for a while till it firms up.

4 - Toss the balls into coconut flakes to coat.

5 - For coloured coconut flakes, mix a few drops of colouring into some coconut and mix well. 

6 - Place in paper cases and chill till ready to serve.

For more cake truffles ideas, check out my previous posts:

  

Cornflake Cookies

Couldn't resist trying this recipe using only 1 egg white, since I had a spare egg white from a batch of pineapple tarts that I made.

At first, I thought that the cookies would not bind together and would just fall apart when you pick them up...  You see, after whisking the egg whites and adding in the cereal, the mixture was rather loose.  Thankfully, after its due time in the oven, the cookies firmed up nicely and held its shape. All you get is the crunchy goodness of your favourite cereal  :)

RECIPE for CORNFLAKE COOKIES:

1 egg white

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

dash of salt

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup of your favourite cereal (I used POST Great Grains Crunchy Pecans)

Beat egg white until stiff.

Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat for a few more seconds.

Combine raisins, oats and cereal.

Mix dry and wet ingredients.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto your baking tray.

Bake at 170*C for 10 min or till lightly browned.

Pineapple Tarts in 3 Designs

Pineapple tarts is one of my favourite Chinese New Year goodies. This was my first attempt at baking these. The initial few tarts were quite challenging, with me fumbling the tart cutters and the dough rather clumsily.

My pineapple jam was made from fresh pineapples. It was more liquid and less sweet, compared to the ready made ones.

I'll post the recipe the next time. It was from an old newspaper cutting 2 years ago.

Mini Chocolate Agar-Agar Cake

After a chance discovery of my shiraz chocolate layered cake (http://thebatterbaker.blogspot.com/2011/01/shiraz-chocolate-layered-cake.html), I decided to give it another go but this time using milk chocolate.

I made these two little cakes to thank two very sweet friends who helped to run some errands, despite their busy schedule.



Here's a closer shot of how the cake looked like.

Peanut Flower Cookies (eggless)

So much for "no more cookies till next Christmas"!
It seems I can't run away from baking cookies for Chinese New Year too.  And instead of the usual rolled-up cookie balls, I decided that I'd make good use of my cookie press and make some pretty flower cookies instead. 


I'm submitting this to show my support for Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favourite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by j3ss kitch3n.

EGGLESS PEANUT FLOWER COOKIES
Makes about 70-80 spritz cookies.
180g unsalted butter, softened
90g sugar (add more if you have a sweet tooth)
1 tbs vanilla
230g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
100g peanuts, shelled and preferably roasted for a nuttier flavour

- Combine flour, salt and peanuts, and blitz till peanuts are finely ground.  (If you blitz the peanuts without the flour, you'll get peanut butter!)
- In your mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy.
- Gradually add peanut flour and mix till you get a smooth dough.
- Fill up your cookie press, leaving as little air pockets as possible.  Then insert your favourite design plate into your cookie press and press out the cookies onto a baking tray.
- Bake 190*C for 10-13 min until the edges become firm and golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on wire rack.