Easy Apple Galette

I had a bunch of apples at home and running out of fridge space to keep them.  Ended up making this easy apple galette to get rid of some of them.   Other than the pastry that needs a recipe, the filling is simply by estimation.  

I used flan pastry for this galette because it is the easiest and less fragile.

What you need:

Flan Pastry (adapted from Michel Roux Pastry)
250g pastry flour (original using plain flour)
125g butter, diced and slightly soften
1 egg
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
40ml ice water

1. Pour flour into a big bowl and make a well
2. Put butter, egg, sugar and salt in the middle, mix and cream the ingredients with you finger tips till it become like breadcrumbs
3. Add cold water and mix it until dough begins to hold together
4. Using palm of your hand, push the dough away 4 or 5 times until it is smooth
5. Roll pastry into a ball, cling wrap it and refrigerate at least 30mins or until ready to use

Apple Filling
3 medium size apples, skin removed and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust accordingly to your liking)
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon (adjust accordingly)
some butter

1. Mix everything except butter and put it aside

What you do:

1. Roll the pastry to about 0.5cm or thinner
2. Pour the filling in the centre of the rolled pastry
3. Cut butter into small pieces and put on top of the filling
4. Fold the edges and brush it with egg whites if you want
5. Bake in the 180C preheated oven until the edges turn golden brown
6. Once slightly cool, sprinkle with confectionary sugar and serve warm on it's own or with ice-cream or cream

Skillet Smores

Small treat for the girls over the weekend with my stash of dark chocolate in the refrigerator.  Got this idea from pinterest (where else :D) and I thought it was cool to have it done for the girls.  So with my medium size skillet, good dark chocolate bars plus some leftover bittersweet chocolate chip cookies, they had a great time munching this after lunch.  I partially melt the chocolate for a bit in the oven before I arranged the marshmallows on top.  Then put it on grill in the oven till the marshmallow turns brown.  We had it with soda crackers instead as we don't have graham crackers easily available here.  The combination is wonderful!  

What you need:
2 bars or more of your favourite chocolate
1 bag marshmallow
crackers

What you do:
1. Break the chocolate and heat the skillet in the preheated oven till partially melted
2. Arrange marshmallows on top of the choc
3. Put the skillet back to the oven and let the marshmallow browned, serve with crackers

Chocolate Banana Cake

This is my other half's favourite cake and he will always, like always requests for this for his birthday without fail.  So every year, I will bake this at least once just for him.  This cake can be a bit tedious if you are not used to it because you need to first bake the chocolate sponge, prepare the filling and then the chocolate glaze.   However, it is worth all the time and do not be stingy on the bananas.  

This is another small one I did with a bit of easy decoration to hide the not so perfect bottom ^_^

The frosty whip cream powder that I used www.frostyboy.com.au

Chocolate Sponge:

( A ) 

30g cocoa powder
½ C hot water

( B )
4 yolks
65g fine sugar
130g self raising flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

( C)
4 egg whites 
100g fine sugar 

1. Dissolve cocoa powder in hot water and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl add in egg yolks, oil, sugar and whisk them till lemony in colour

3. Add all the dry ingredients and melted cocoa powder and mix till well blended
4. In another bowl beat egg whites and sugar until soft peaks
5. Add egg white into (3) in 3 parts and gently mix till you do not see any streaks
6. Bake in 9" round tin at 180 C fro 40 munutes
7. Invert the tin immediately onto a wire rack after removing from the oven

Filling for the Cake:
( A )
350g non-dairy whip cream powder (I used Frosty Whip cream powder but you use whichever powder whipping cream that you can get at the supermarket or baking supplies store)
1 C fresh/UHT milk 
1 tsp vanilla essence 

( B )
55g cocoa powder
45 g icing sugar

( C )
2T espresso

( D )
1 T gelatin
¼ C hot water
Soak gelatin in hot water and stir till dissolve.  Heat it a bit if it is not dissolving enough or well then put it aside till ready to use.

1. Sift (B) and put aside

2. Whip (A) till well mix then slowly add in (1)
3. Then add (C) followed by (D) and whip till stiff and you do not see any streaks

4. Refrigerate till you are ready to use it

* Frosting:
1/3 C cocoa powder, sifted
120g cream 
45g fine sugar 
60g butter
1 T oil

Enough ripe bananas (about 10 or more depending on size) and halved them lengthwise

1. Heat cream over double boiler and then add cocoa powder, sugar and mix till sugar dissolves and mixture is well blended

2. Remove from fire and add in oil and butter, stir till both are incorporated nicely into the mixture

3. Leave it aside to let it thickened before using.  

* It is recommended that you make this earlier so that the frosting will thicken nicely and it will be easy to glaze the cake

Assembly
1. Slice cake into 3 layers

3. Sandwich each layer with filling and bananas

4. Coat the whole cake with filling and chill in the fridge to firm up the filling 

5. Once the filling is firm up, pour the frosting on top of cake and let it flow down using the spatula to smoothen it

6. Smooth the side of the cake and decorate as needed 

7.Chill it again before serving

Assembly
Slice cake into 3 layers. Sandwich each layer with filling & banana. Lastly coat the whole cake with filling & chill in the fridge to firm up the filling . Lastly pour the frosting on top of cake & let it flow down. Smooth the side of the cake.
I did not follow the exact recipe from the book. I altered it to suit my son and his friends taste. They want the cake slightly sweeter. That's why you see the alteration in the brackets

As for the ** 350 g Non-diary whip cream for the filling, you MUST use the type that have to add liquid before whipping. I use Hanan's Whip Deelite Base. The recipe book did not specify and many people end up with very watery filling. The filling should be very thick and spreadable.
It happened to me when I made the cake the second time. I din know the difference and end up with watery filling. I save the filling by adding cornflour and more gelatin and cook it over a double boiler. It will still be good but the filling will lose volume and be much darker.

Assembly
Slice cake into 3 layers. Sandwich each layer with filling & banana. Lastly coat the whole cake with filling & chill in the fridge to firm up the filling . Lastly pour the frosting on top of cake & let it flow down. Smooth the side

I did not follow the exact recipe from the book. I altered it to suit my son and his friends taste. They want the cake slightly sweeter. That's why you see the alteration in the brackets

As for the ** 350 g Non-diary whip cream for the filling, you MUST use the type that have to add liquid before whipping. I use Hanan's Whip Deelite Base. The recipe book did not specify and many people end up with very watery filling. The filling should be very thick and spreadable.
It happened to me when I made the cake the second time. I din know the difference and end up with watery filling. I save the filling by adding cornflour and more gelatin and cook it over a double boiler. It will still be good but the filling will lose volume and be much dar

Wok-baked Easy Banana Cake

I have been trying to bake easy cakes using the wok after watching a demo done by the saleslady when I purchased the wok she was selling.  You might think that it will have a steamed cake texture but surprising it doesn't.   However the top will not brown as much like the sides and bottom.  Controlling the fire is the key to get a nice bake, yes I have burnt a couple when the tried it the first few times.   So as practice is important :)

So I finally got my hands to work again using the wok.  With the balance bananas that I have in the fridge and using my food processor, this is what I got.   You can use a blender if you do not own a food processor. Very convenient and easy.

What you need:

2 cups self raising flour,sifted
1 cup sugar
4-5 medium banana
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
Vanilla essence

What you do:

1. Blend eggs and sugar till almost double in volume
2. Add banana and pulse till blended
3.Add the flour, pulse a few times till flour is incorporated into the egg mixture
4. Lastly add the oil and pulse till well blended
5. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan
6. Put it into the pre-heatead wok (preheat at high for about 15mins with cover on) lower the fire to low or low medium and let it cooked for 20-25 mins making sure you check every 10 or 15 mins7. Once the top is not sticky and skewer comes out clean, turn off the fire and leave it for about 5 mins before you take the pan out

8. You can serve it as it is or drizzle with melted chocolate or icing of your choice.

Happy trying !

Chocolate sponge with cream cake

I made this cake for my youngest daughter's 7th birthday last November as she requested for a simple cake for her birthday.  Initially she wanted to share it with her friends but changed her mind at the last minute.  Her sisters and herself got to enjoy this cake all by themselves :)

This is pretty much a versatile cake. I chose to use peaches because my kids love them.   The recipe is adapted from the book 'Dessert's Tempation, Wendy's Delights'.  I would recommend that you use a very good quality cocoa powder.


What you need:
(A)
20gm cocoa powder
60ml hot water

(B)
100g superfine flour/cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
40g caster sugar

(C)
30g melted butter/oil
4 yolks
30ml milk

(D)
4 whites
40g caster sugar
1/6 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

1 can peaches, strain and keep the syrup
150g whipping cream (more if needed), whipped till stiff

What you do:
1.Mix cocoa powder and water until mixture turns into paste like
2.Sift flour and baking powder together then add sugar, mix well
3.Pour melted butter, yolks, milk and cocoa mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a whisk
4.Beat egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
5.Add half of egg white at a time to (3), fold gently after each addition
6. Pour batter into a greased 8 inch cake tin and bake at 180C for 30-35mins

To assemble
1. Cut cake horizontally into 3 layers
2. Brush layer with the syrup
3. Spread cream on each layer and arrange peaches on top.
4. Place another layer and repeat (3) until the last layer, cover the whole cake with the balance cream
5. Decorate accordingly

Chill before serving.

Oreo Mini Donut

So I bought a 7-hole donut maker last year and kept it in the storeroom for a couple of months before I decided to use it recently.  This is one of the makers that I have bought and I still have another one which I have yet to open and try :-P

Anyways, since i got bitten by the baking bug BUT a tad bit lazy to use the oven, I took the opportunity to use this instead.  So this is how it looks.  I can honestly say that I really like this gadget.  Great to prepare fuss-free snack for the kids.  

I bought a mini-donut book recently 'Mini Donuts' by Jessica Seggara.  I would say the recipes are pretty good and simple to make.  The first recipe I tried was this Oreo Donut.

You can see the naked donuts and after the makeover.  The kids love them and with the fact that it is bite-size, it was easy for them to pop it into their mouth :-D.

What you need:
Donut
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 C cocoa powder (use good quality cocoa powder)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C yogurt (original uses sour cream)
1/2 C milk
1 large egg
3 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Icing
1 1/2 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
some chopped oreos

What you do:
Donut
1. Whisk egg and sugar till fluffy, add the other wet ingredients except milk and mix them till well blended
2. Sift all the dry ingredients and add into (1) alternate with milk ending with dry ingredients
3. Mix till there are no lumps
4. Preheat the donut maker and fill the indentations 3/4 full and bake according to the manufacturer's instruction

Icing
1. Mix all the ingredients till you get a thick consistency.  If mixture is too thick, add additional milk/cream 1 tsp at a time till you get the consistency to your liking
2. Dip each donut into the frosting and sprinkle some chopped oreos.  Let the frosting set before serving

Enjoy !

Rosette Cake

I can't believe we are almost towards the end of 2012 .. today is 12.12.12, what a wonderful date.  Here, many couples are getting married today just because of the number.  Sweet huh :)

 

So I have  been busy lately that I didn't have the time to update my blog.  I know it has been collecting dust and I feel soo guilty.  So today I am putting up something I did for my youngest daughter who turned 6 last November.  Initially there was no plan to bake anything as her birthday was a day after we got home from our very short vacation.  But as usual, mommy got a bit guilty and did last minute shopping for her goody bags and made this simple chocolate sponge with whipped cream cake to share with friends at the childcare centre.

 

No time for elaborate looking piece, so I decided on a simple rosette cake.  It is so girlish just like the birthday girl :)

The side view of the cake.

It is not a big cake, just a  9 inch but enough to feed about 20+ kids :)   Chocolate sponge was a recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cake, german chocolate cake.  Easy and good.  Do try it if you have her book.

 

Fresh Fruit Tart

I love anything with fresh fruits especially tarts.  I just had to make one for myself eversince I saw those tarts from Fruit Paradise.  So I finally gather my mojo and made this which was a couple of months back :-P   I have not personally tried any of the tarts yet as the branches are simply out of my way.  So after talking to my colleagues about it, checking with them the texture, the filling and surfing the net for details, I decided to make a vanilla custard filling with layers of sponge cake and fresh whipped cream.  Here is the final product which did not look like those at Fruit Paradise at all *LOL*

I choose easy fruits; peaches and kiwis.  I actually wanted to pile more fruits but I messed up the whipped cream and could not risk the fruits sliding off the tart.  Anyways, it was a very delicious and refreshing dessert.  Everyone loved it.

This is how it looks like.  You see the crust, custard filling, a layer of vanilla sponge, whipped cream and peaches, another layer of vanilla sponge, whipped cream and the fruit toppings.   It is not difficult to make but can be bit tedious.  Better to prepare the sponge and crust a day earlier so you won't get so stressed up and mess up the tart.  Let me know if you are interested in the recipe :D

 

Dark Chocolate Dessert Cake

My least creative cake that I baked for my colleagues in the office yesterday night :-D  It is a very simple recipe and is taken off the back of a cadbury dark cooking chocolate wrapper.  I would say that not only it is easy, it tastes real good too.   I used dark ghana whittakers chocolate but you can use any good quality dark chocolate for this.  However, I would recommend that you add maybe 2T of sourcream/buttermilk or yogurt for extra moist texture.  

Flour famous banana bread

I made this lovely banana bread a few weeks ago for my sister who was going back to Shanghai.  We usually have this deal, I got her to buy some stuffs for me from Shanghai and I in turn will bake for her some cakes or stuffs to bring back.  Good thing was that my dad bought some bananas which I used for this banana bread.

I kind of like the idea of taking a photo of the baked good with the book.  It gives you an idea how the end result will look in comparison with the photo from the book.  So here it is.  Unlike most banana bread that only requires you to mix the wet & dry ingredients, this one needs you to whip the eggs and sugar till fluffy hence the texture of this bread is more cake like and light.  The recipe as follows:

Moist, Chewy, Fudgy Brownie

I am not  a great fan of brownies.  But I was looking out for a chewy , fudgy brownie for another friend and thought of giving this recipe a try.  An online friend shared this recipe a few years ago and it has always been in my to do list but it got shifted down as months passed.  Honestly I am glad that made it.  It is really that fudgy, chewy and dense, good for those who love fudgy brownies :-)

Egg White Brownie

What to do with excess egg white and dark chocolate?  Ended up making this and it was truly delicious simply because I used valrhona 85% and 70% chocolate and butter ! The last time I made this I used oil and some other brand of chocolate (can't remember though) and I thought it was just ok.  So do indulge in some good chocolates if you can or at least get a 70% chocolate :-)

Although the recipe you can get it from my previous post here, I will just type it out for you again with the ingredients that I used for this.

One-ingredient banana 'ice-cream'

This is not something new.  One of my colleague and sister were telling me about this yummy easy dessert that they make using overripe bananas (I like!)  My overripe bananas will usually end up in a cake or muffin and I was not in a mood to bake last week.  So this was the best option to do and I am glad that I did it.  It is really a treat and the girls love it.

Inspired by this entry, I chose to make it really simple.  I just added a bit of condensed milk so that the bananas will turn turn brown and also to ensure that I can blend them smoothly.  You can add peanut butter, chunky is better or choc or both !  However, you need to freeze the bananas before you whiz them in the food processor or blender in order to get that creamy texture. 

Baked Banana Pie

I have been thinking about the famous baked banana pie from the eastern part of singapore when my dad bought a bunch of local bananas for the girls.  As much as the kids love to eat bananas, it was way to much for them to consume within a few days.  So I went about searching for THE baked banana recipe that looks similar to the famous pie.  I remember vividly the flavour of banana and coconut and this particular recipe kind of hit the jackpot.  It is not difficult to make and it is delicious.   Will I make this again?  Yes I will :)

Chilled Cheesecake with oreos (update with recipe link)

Made this simple chilled cheesecake for my brother-in-law who turned 19 last month. He is into wushu and so to make it extra special, I did a silhoutte using chocolate for decoration. I had a bit of excess of the both the filling and base, so I made them into cuppies just nice for the kids :-D

I used the recipe from the nobake chocolate+banana cheesecake (CLICK HERE) I replace the biscuit with oreos instead, minus the chocolate on the base and banana.

Red Velvet Cupcake

I don't usually eat cakes that are heavily coloured, hence it took me a very long time before I decided to make these delicious cupcakes. Thanks to Chuck Hughes, after watching one episode of 'Chuck`s Day Off', I could not get this out of my mind. So I finally caved in and made these. They are very easy to make and delicious especially the mascarpone frosting. Do give it a try!

You can get the original recipe from here: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Dessert/recipe.html?dishid=11309

Cupcakes
Ingredients
2 eggs (60g each)
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C canola oil
1 C yogurt, plain
1 tsp Wilton no-taste red gel (original is 2T red food coloring)
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2C cake flour (original recipe uses plain flour)
1T cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Method
1) Preheat oven to 180 °C
2) In a food mixer/processor, mix the eggs with the sugar, oil, yoghurt, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Blend until just incorporated.
3) Place cupcake papers into a muffin pan, divide the batter in the cupcake papers, pour only halfway so batter doesn’t overflow, and bake, rotating half way through, for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let cool.


Icing
Ingredients
1 tub mascarpone (500g,original recipe uses 2C mascarpone)
1C icing sugar, sifted
1/2C cream
Zest of 1 lemon

Method
1) In a bowl, beat the mascarpone, icing sugar, cream and lemon zests together until the mixture is smooth.
2) Spoon a dollop of mascarpone cream on the cupcakes.

Chilled No-Bake Chocolate Marshmallow Dessert

I have a very bad habit of stocking stuffs which I 'think' I will need but end up being chucked for months. This is a result of it and after sifting through recipes in my collection, I decided to make this simple no-bake dessert for my mother-in-law's birthday. The wording on it was made of chocolate using a chocolate mold. The words are in malay meaning 'Happy Birthday'. BTW, this recipe is taken from a local free paper. I find the chocolate flavour is not strong enough for me even though I have increased the amount. You may want to add more bitter/semi-sweet chocolate to 100g if you prefer a stronger chocolate flavour as the marshmallow is a little on the sweet side.

Ingredients

Biscuit Base
200g chocolate marie biscuits (originally using cream crackers)
80g melted butter

Chocolate cream
40g milk
100g marshmallow
1 tbsp gelatine (mix with 20g water)
90g melted bitter chocolate (Original 80g regular chocolate)
120g whipped cream (you can use coolwhip for convenience)

Chocolate layer
130g milk
50g fine sugar
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp gelatine (mix with 15g water)

Method

1. Crush biscuits into crumbs, add melted butter and mix evenly
2. Place mixture evenly on the baking tray, press the biscuit crumb mixture to form a compact base and store in fridge for 20mins
3. For chocolate cream, melt marshmallow with milk in a water bath, mix evenly
4. Stir in gelatine and melted chocolate
5.Leave mixture to cool, add whipped cream and mix evenly
6. Pour chocolate cream mixture onto biscuit crumb base, chill in refrigerator until set
7. For chocolate layer, add fine sugar to milk, boil until all the sugar dissolves
8. Stir in cocoa powder, leave it to cool to approx. 60 degrees Celcius then add gelatine into milk mixture
9. Pour the chocolate layer onto the chocolate cream layer, chill in refrigerator until set.

Decorate it accordingly and best serve it chilled.

Happy Trying !

Eclairs

I got a small tub of whipped cream, left over from my second's daughter birthday cake which I made recently. Don't feel like wasting it and so decided to use it to make eclair fillings.

For the choux, I used the same recipe as my durian puffs http://quickneasytreats.blogspot.com/2009/07/durian-puffs-2nd-take.htmlbut I increased the eggs to 3. It is recommended that you bake the choux one tray at a time because we do not want to open the oven door during baking as it will cause the choux to flat out.

The filling is really easy because I used instant custard powder. You can make you own favourite custard if you like. Here is the recipe for the filling. For the chocolate topping, I used Alton Brown's recipe because it is very easy. However, you can use any of your favourite ganache recipe for the topping.

Ingredients
Custard filling
100g instant custard powder
150g whipped cream (whipped till stiff)
250g cold water

Chocolate topping
1/2C chocolate chips
1/2t oil

Method
Custard
1. Mix cold water and instant custard and stir till combined
2. Add whipped cream and gently fold till well combined
3. Transfer cream into a piping bag with a regular round tip/nozzle
4. Poke the side of the choux and squeeze the filling till it fills up the hole
5. Do the same for all choux and chill them

Chocolate topping
6. Add the chips and oil and double boil till chocolate melt
7. Take the chilled choux and dip the top into the melted chocolate and serve

Best to eat it chilled.

Nama chocolate wannabe (ala Royce)

With a tub of valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder to clear, I decided to make Nama chocolate made popular by Royce. This one of course is far from the original but to me it is delicious enough and true bliss especially for chocolate lovers ! It wasn't difficult to make but you have to fast with the Singapore weather, otherwise you will get a pretty messy fingers. To me this chocolate is more like a chocolate truffle, main ingredients are chocolate (good quality please) and cream .. and this is the end product !!!

Pure indulgence !!!

For those who are interested, I got the recipe from this site it's in Japanese btw. I was lucky to have found it translated at one site that I was surfing but unfortunately cannot remember which one :-( Please use good quality chocolates and for the cocoa powder, use dutch processed ones.

Ingredients:
195g dark chocolate (I used valrhona 50% cocoa but best is with 70%)
100ml fresh cream
1 Tbsp honey (if you are not using anything more than 70%, you can cut down the honey a little bit if you prefer slightly bitter taste)
enough cocoa powder to coat the chocolates later

Method:
1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces
2. Place cream and honey in a pot and heat it up. Turn off the flame the moment it boils
3. Add the chopped chocolate into the warm mixture and stir till the chocolate and cream are combined (it should look like ganache)
4. Lay baking paper on a tray (covering the sides too), then pour the mixture into it
5. Place it in the fridge for about 2 hours or until firm
6. Remove the hardened chocolate from the baking tray and chop them into cubes with a warm knife blade
7. Coat them generously with the cocoa powder and serve it chilled

Mango pudding + fruit cocktail dessert

The weather has been pretty hot humid for the last week or so. To beat the heat, I made this dessert for our dinner and it was sure heaven *LOL* The pudding was store bought as my fridge currently has no space for me to make one from scratch.

What you need is good mango pudding (cut to cubes), 1 can of fruit cocktail or whatever fruit that you like with the syrup, plenty of ice or crushed ice and enough water to dilute the syrup.

This is the mango pudding that I used for this dessert.