20121025 Mini Marble Cupcakes

(SOURCE: BBC Good Food - Chocolate & vanilla cupcakes)

My friend came to visit last week so I wanted to make some mini cupcakes and decorate them nicely. I tried to bake cupcakes several times and am never satisfied with the result. For some reasons, I just couldn't make my cupcakes flat. I made sure all the ingredients were at room temperature, but they always had nice crowns. I know I can simply cut off the top before decorating them. But for these mini cupcakes, taking off the top will simply leave us not much cupcake left. So what the heck, I simply serve them plain without any frosting. They tasted good and went well with our morning coffee, so no complaints from my guest!

INGREDIENTS
100g butter, room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
few drops of vanilla essence

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs and flour. Divide the mix into two. Add cocoa to one half and the vanilla to the other. Combine the two batter together without mixing too much.
3. Spoon into the mini muffin tins lined with paper cases (should make about 24 mini cupcakes). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

20120302 Pound Cake

I have been craving homemade baked goods for days, but finds it difficult to find the time to bake with a 4-week-old baby demanding food every 2 to 4 hours. As the craving got stronger, I decided to make a simple pound cake today. Olivia woke up hungry shortly after I had put the cake into the oven. Thank goodness my parents are visiting, so they helped to remove the cake from the oven while I was breastfeeding. The cake was a beautiful golden brown and tasted really good.

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
3 tbsp milk (at room temperature)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
185g butter (at room temperature)

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Grease a loaf pan. Line the loaf pan with baking paper, and then spray some oil over the paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
3. In a big bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add butter and half the egg mixture, and mix with an electric mixer until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Add half of the remaining egg mixture and mix until combined. Then add the rest of the egg mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes.

20120120 Chocolate Chip Cookies

(SOURCE: A friend)

I am feeling a bit restless today and have trouble sitting still. So I looked into my cupboard to see if I can whip something yummy up. I see I still have a bag of chocolate chips and cranberries from Christmas, so why not bake some chocolate chip cookies? My friend gave me this recipe several years ago, and it is perfect because I have all the ingredients listed! And the cookies are nice and chewy - perfect for a mellow Friday evening.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
110g butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mix of chocolate chips and dried cranberries

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Grease a baking sheet.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until the mixture if smooth and creamy. Gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt into the bowl and beat until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and cranberries.
3. Drop the dough by very rounded tablespoonfuls onto the greased baking sheet, spacing the mounds about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, or until nicely browned.
4. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool for about 3 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool completely. Makes about 18 cookies.

20120116 Madeira Cake

(SOURCE: Nigella Lawson - My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake)

I woke up this morning feeling not so great because of awfully swollen fingers and feet (I know I should be grateful already as my face/hands/feet have only started swelling since last week when I hit 38-week pregnancy). The frosty and sunny morning lifted my mood a little, but I needed another dose of mood booster to kick start this week. I thought a warm slice of pound cake would do the job and was keeping my fingers crossed that I had all the ingredients I need in the cupboard. I found this Madeira cake recipe online and it looks like a pound cake, so it would do! I love it when the house is filled with the smell of baked goods. This is my first Madeira cake - it tastes just like a simple pound cake but with a twist of lemon flavor. And this cake, especially its crispy topping, really made my day!

INGREDIENTS
240g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
210g self-raising flour
90g plain flour

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 170 degree C, and grease a loaf tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest.
3. Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour for each.
4. Gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally, the lemon juice.
5. Sprinkle with caster sugar (about 2 tablespoons) as it goes into the oven, and bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester comes out clean.
6. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.

20111217 Banana Bread

I just can't ask for a nicer breakfast for a lazy Saturday morning. I am listening to Diana Krall's Christmas Songs and enjoying these warm slices of heaven, while my husband is sleeping in and snoring away. I just can't praise this recipe enough, as it takes only 15 minutes to prepare and less than an hour to bake. I am making banana bread almost twice a month, and we are never tired of it!

20111211 Banana Muffins with Poppy Seeds

In an attempt to make healthier muffins, I used bit less butter here. To make sure the muffins are moist, I used more bananas and yoghurt. The result was...erm, not that good. They still tasted alright and moist, but they were very pale. I could have left them in the oven for longer until they were golden brown, but I was afraid they would be overbaked and became all dry. It is tricky to alternate baking recipe!

INGREDIENTS
250g self raising flour
125g packed white sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
50g butter, melted
1 1/2 ripe banana
2 eggs
5 tbsp yoghurt

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 200 degree C. Mix together the flour, sugar, and poppy seed in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mash the bananas. Mix in the melted butter, yoghurt, and eggs.
3. Add the banana mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well with a fork, then divide them into the muffin tins.
4. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

20111123 Pear and Honey Muffins

(SOURCE: Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson - Pear and Ginger Muffins)

What's best to do when you wake up at 4am? BAKE! Nothing says a good morning better than some warm breakfast muffins. I had had a flu for the last couple of days, and have been living on hot tea with honey. So this morning I wanted some warm muffins served with honey. And looking at what I have in the kitchen, I figured I could simply make pear and honey muffins. They were SO GOOD, especially when they are still a little warm. I used a very ripe pear so the muffins are very fragrant. As the muffins are very sweet already, don't smear it with any more honey - unless you have a very big sweet tooth, of course. Perfect muffins for this misty fall morning.

INGREDIENTS
250g flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
75g brown sugar, plus 1/2 tsp per muffin for sprinkling
1tsp ground ginger
142ml sour cream
125ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1 large pear (about 300g), peeled, cored, and cut into 5mm dice

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 200 degree C, and line muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, caster sugar, brown sugar, and ground ginger).
3. In a measuring jug, whisk together the sour cream, oil, honey and eggs. Then fold into the dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the diced pear, and divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases.
5. Sprinkle each one with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.

20111113 Cake decorating workshop

My sister in law always wanted to learn how to decorate a cake with marzipan and how to make roses with marzipan. So this year I decided to take her to a cake decorating workshop as her birthday present, and she LOVED IT!

I was not particularly interested in marzipan cake, but enjoyed the workshop nonetheless. It's like playing play-doh for 3.5 hours, and the best part is, I could eat what I crafted. So here is my fall cake with pumpkins and porcupines.

My sister in law did an absolutely amazing job with those marzipan roses on her oilily cake. Seriously, you can't tell that this was her very first time decorating a cake with marzipan.

Okay I am still not crazy about marzipan, but have to admit that I am tempted to decorate cupcakes with marzipan just for the fun of it. Now I just need to find the audience to eat them.

20111105 Peanut Butter Cake Bars

(SOURCE: Taste of Home - Peanut Butter Cake Bars)

For some reasons, I really wanted to bake these days but am not really up to eating loads of baked goods. As my friend loves peanut butter cookies, I looked for peanut butter baked good recipes so I can satisfy my need to bake and hopefully her stomach. I read a lot of reviews saying peanut butter cakes tend to be a little dry, but this recipe got a lot of good reviews so I gave it a go. As I could only find mixed chocolate chips here and couldn't be bothered to pick out the milk chocolate ones, I simply threw in 200g of a mix of white/milk/dark chocolate chips, instead of 300g of milk ones. The cake bars were finished by my friend and family yesterday - all family members ate 2 to 3 bars yesterday, so they bars must be okay. I wonder if I could replace the chocolate chips with Smarties or peanut M&M's next time...

INGREDIENTS
150g butter, softened
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g mixed chocolate chips

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Then gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Spread the mixture into the baking pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

20111104 Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

(SOURCE: Baking Bites - Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes)

Though I love cheesecakes, I just can't seem to make them right and they always look awful. Argh! One of the biggest challenges is to know when it is done. For muffins and cakes, you can test if they are done by inserting a toothpick in the middle. But how do you know when cheesecake is "set"? I think I have overbaked these mini cheesecakes. They still tasted alright and my husband liked them - there are Oreo cookies in them, so what not to like? But they were just not cheesecake-y enough for me, as my cheesecake craving was still there after eating two of them. One tip: make sure you have some spare Oreo cookies in case you have enough batter left to make more mini cheesecakes.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
450g cream cheese, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chopped Oreo cookies
16-20 whole Oreo cookies

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Line 16 to 20 muffin cups with paper liners, and place one Oreo in the bottom of each muffin cup.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, cream cheese, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until very smooth. Then blend in flour, and lastly stir in the chopped Oreo cookies.
3. Top each muffin cup with 1/4 cup cheesecake batter. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until cheesecakes are set. Cool in pan.
4. Chill cheesecakes for at least 2 hours before serving.

20110808 Glazed Lemon Bread

(SOURCE: SimplyRecipes.com - Glazed Lemon Bread)

I had a really rough night and am having a very bad headache. So I felt like having some warm baked goods to make my day a little more bearable. So I made this bread at 5 in the morning, and had a big fat slice for breakfast and then another slice for afternoon tea. The combination of honey and lemon creates a very soothing and "homey" flavor. I definitely like this recipe better than this Lemon Drizzle Cake.

INGREDIENTS
110g butter, softened
1 cup minus 1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp baking powder
For the glaze -
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp honey

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Butter a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar and honey, and continue to beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well. On low speed, slowly beat the milk in. Mix in lemon zest.
3. Sift together flour, salt, cardamom, and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients, and beat until smooth.
4. Place batter in the loaf pan, and bake for an hour.
5. While the bread is baking, heat the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside.
6. Once the bread is removed from oven, poke holes all over the top, then spoon glaze over the hot bread.
7. Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan, and slice to serve.

20110506 Blondies

(SOURCE: SimplyRecipes.com - Blondies)

For my husband's birthday, I have made him some blondies! I don't really like making brownies or blondies, because their edges always rose too much so I could only get two normal-looking blondies out of one batch. Argh! And I always make the same mistake with brownie/blondie - I don't wait long enough. Everyone is saying that you should let the brownies/blondies sit for at least a few hours or even overnight. But they are soooooo tempting when they first come out of the oven. This time I waited for an hour only, so you can see in the picture that it was still a bit runny. But well, the birthday boy loved them and cleaned the pan anyways.

INGREDIENTS
110g butter, melted
1 cupe tightly packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degree C. Lightly butter and flour a 20cm X 20cm pan.
2. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together. Add the chopped walnuts.
3. Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve.

20110403 Lemon Quark Cheesecake

(SOURCE: BBC GoodFood Magazine - Lemon quark cheesecake)

I labelled this "baked goods" but this is actually a no-bake cheesecake. This weekend has been so sunny and warm, so I wanted something lemon-y and lighter. As I wanted to make more cheesecake, this lemon quark cheesecake is the perfect choice. The base is a little too thin so I may double the digestive biscuits and butter next time. Note that this cheesecake is quite sour. I may make them into separate cocktail glasses for a hot summer barbeque party!

INGREDIENTS
80g digestive biscuits
50g melted buttter
200g soft cheese
500g quark
200g icing sugar
zest of 2 lemons, juice of 3
4 gelatine sheets

METHOD
1. Crush the digestive biscuits and mix with the melted buter. Press into the base of a 20cm springform tin. Chill to firm for about 5 minutes.
2. Whisk the soft cheese with the quark and icing sugar, then fold through the lemon zest.
3. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water, then melt in the lemon juice over a low heat. Beat into the cheese mix, then spoon on top of the biscuit base. Chill until set.

20110327 Banana Bars

(SOURCE: BeautyandBedlam.com - Banana Bars)

I'm not quite sure if I got them right because they rose quite a lot. The original recipe recommended using a greased jelly roll pan, so I thought the banana bars would be pretty flat. But anyways, the banana cake/bars tasted good...and with the finger-licking cream cheese frosting, who cares if the banana bars are of the right height?

INGREDIENTS
115g softened butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
For the cream cheese frosting -
80g softened butter
190g cream cheese
2.5 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

METHOD
1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a big bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, bananas and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into two 18cm springform (square) cake tins.
2. Bake at 175 degree C for 30 to 340minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
3. For frosting, cream butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well, and set aside.
4. After the banana bars are slightly cooled, spread the frosting all over them. Cut into 1-1/2 inch small squares.

201103220 Raspberry Cheesecake

(SOURCE: Olive Magazine - Baked raspberry cheesecake)

I spent the last hours worrying as I forgot to bake the crust - lesson learned, never bake anything when you are still half asleep at 7 on a Sunday morning! This is the first time I bake cheesecake and it did not get off to a good start. I felt my heart sink when a big crack started to develop when the cheesecake was cooling down. But it tasted pretty good so that was a relief. Next time if I wanted to make cheesecake for company, I will need to find a way to make a crack-free cheesecake. Or I just need to make more sauce or a topping for the cheesecake to hide the crack.

INGREDIENTS
8 digestive biscuits, bashed into crumbs
50g butter, melted
300g raspberries

icing sugar

600g cream cheese
2 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs + 1 yolk
175g caster sugar
few drops of vanilla extract
140ml sour cream

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 160 degree C. Mix the melted butter and crumbs. Press into a 22cm springform tin. Bake for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, beat the last 6 ingredients until light and fluffy. Stir in half the raspberries (dusted in some flour) and pour into the tin. Bake for about 40 minutes and then check, it should be set but slightly wobbly in the center. Leave in the tin to cool.
3. Keep a few raspberries for topping. Put the rest in a pan with 1 tbsp of icing sugar. Heat until juicy and then squash with a fork. Push through a sieve. Serve the cheesecake with raspberry sauce and raspberries.

20110313 Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

(SOURCE: Simply Daily Recipes - Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies)

This dough seemed a bit dryer than the cookie dough I usually had, so I was a bit worried that I measured wrong or something. But the cookies looked fine and definitely tasted good. My husband was keen to try these cookies before they cooled completely - oh, big mistake! Be patient and let them cool completely so you can enjoy them in their freshest and gooeyest form!

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 X 100g milk chocolate bars, broken

METHOD
1. In a large bowl, beat the first five ingredients together with an electric mixer. Then stir in the last four ingredients.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto slightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Let them cool for about 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack for complete cooling.

20110305 Fudge Brownies

(SOURCE: SimpleDailyRecipes.com - Shhh. I am eating the perfect fudge brownie)

For some reasons, I always thought brownies were difficult to make and hence never made them. I saw this  recipe from Jill at SimpleDailyRecipes.com. There are detailed step by step instructions which made the recipe not that intimidating, so I decided to give it a go. The fudge brownies were not difficult to make, but they sure were difficult to cut, especially when they were still a bit warm - that's why the picture was not that pretty. But oh my goodness, one little, creamy square stopped any craving I had for chocolate today. This would be what Jill described as a "butt-widening delight"!

INGREDIENTS
For the brownies - 
113g butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
For the chocolate frosting -
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
40g butter
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 175 degree C. Lightly butter a 18cmX18cm square baking pan.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with a fork in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat in well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to sugary-egg batter, beating until well blended. Stir in the chopped pecans. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, just until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Note that the brownies will look wet and the center may have a little jiggle to it. Just let them cool.
4. While the brownies are cooling, but not completely cooled, prepare the chocolate frosting.
5. Mix the powdered sugar and cocoa in a small bowl, set aside. Heat butter and milk in a small saucepan over low heat until butter is melted. Gradually mix in cocoa mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in vanilla. If the frosting seems thick, add a little more milk until it is spreadable.
6. Spread warm frosting over the warm brownies. Be careful, the center will be gooey and may move when you try to spread on the frosting. That's why it is good to have a smooth, easy spreading frosting.
7. Let these brownies chill overnight, or at least for 2 to 3 hours.

20110226 Lemon Drizzle Cake

I wanted to have a moist and warm slice of cake today. Since I have two lemons lying around, I made lemon drizzle cake again with this recipe. But I think I was a little too generous with the lemon juice, so it was best served with some sweet whipped cream on the side.

20110213 Apple Upside Down Cake

(SOURCE: SimpleDailyRecipes.com - Apple Upside-Down Cake)

As I don't have a baking pan, I used a baking springform instead - BIG MISTAKE! The juice from the cooked apple leaked all over, so I was worried the cake would turn out to be dry. But it was yummy and still very moist - I served it slightly warm with some whipped cream. And now thinking about it, I think this cake would have been so much more moist if all the sugary-syrupy goodness was kept in the pan. Now, time to go buy a baking pan!

INGREDIENTS
For the apple topping -
57g butter
900g apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 0.6cm thick slices
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp lemon juice
For the cake -
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten well
85g butter, melted
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 175 degree C. Grease a 22cm by 5cm deep cake form.
2. To make the apple topping, heat the butter in a pan over medium high heat. Add apple slices, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar and lemon juice to the pan, continue to stir for about 1 minute or until apples are well coated. Pour apples to a greased pan, and press into an even layer. Set aside.
3. To make the cake, mix all the dry ingredients (first 5 on the list) well. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, then add all the wet ingredients. Whisk them into a smooth batter, then pour the batter over the apples.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, check the cake with a needle. Cool pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Place the serving plate upside down on top of the cake, then quickly invert the pan onto the plate. Let the cake cool on the serving plate for another 20 minutes.

20110210 Banana Bread

Made banana bread with this recipe again - but this time, one banana less. The bread was spongier and a little less moist, but yummy as usual.