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 !

Italian style pizza

The hubby and kids are pizza 'monsters'.  One of the ways to get them do what I want is to make pizzas for them. We like thin crust pizzas and fortunately we are not really into American style pizzas.  The girls favourite is hawaiian and magherita and mine is anything simple especially mushroom and onion.   Having said that, i have tried numerous pizza crust recipe and found an absolute favourite by husband and wife duo, Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar from Extra Virgin show.

Here, I used tipo 00 flour meant for pizzas which you can purchase from Phoon Huat here in Singapore.  If you don't have that, use bread flour.

What you need:
2 1/4 dry active yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (about 105 to 115 degrees F)
4 cups tipo 00 flour/bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl

What you do:
1. Add yeast, lukewarm water, and 1/2 cup flour into the bowl of a stand mixer . Mix well and let sit until bubbly, about 30 minutes
2. Whisk together the remaining 3 1/2 cups bread flour and salt in another bowl so it will be evenly distributed
3. Once yeast mixture turns bubbly, add 3/4 cup cold water and olive oil. With the dough hook, turn the mixer on and add the flour in increments

4. Mix the dough for about 5 minutes, until the dough starts creeping up the dough hook and comes away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Place the dough in a large bowl lightly greased with olive oil. Turn to coat all sides of the dough with oil. 6. Cover the bowl loosely with a clean tea towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Punch dough down, and let rise another hour.
6. Divide the dough into 4 equal disks. Lightly flour a work surface. Using your fingers or heels of your hands to stretch the disks out to a 10-inch round.  Alternatively you can use the rolling pin to roll the crust.

Repeat with the remaining 3 pizza dough disks.  

Minced meat in black bean sauce

I love simple dishes that I can prepare in less than 15 mins and this is one of them.  My kids are still not used to the black bean sauce but I personally like this.  This is great to eat with either plain rice porridge or hot steaming rice.  It is high in protein because it has minced meat and tofu.  

What you need:

250-300g minced chicken

1 tube egg tofu, drained

1 medium size red chilli, chopped (if you want more heat, add 1 or 2 chilli padi)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp black bean sauce (bottled which you can purchase from supermarket)

a bunch of green onions/scallion and chinese celery, chopped

salt

pepper

a dash of sesame oil

1 tsp cornflour

1 Tbsp oil

What you do:

1. Marinade meat with salt, pepper, sesame oil and cornflour, put it aside

2. Heat wok with oil, stir fry garlic, onion, chilli and black bean sauce 

3. Once it simmers, add minced meat and stir fry till meat is cooked

4. Add tofu and break it into small pieces and mix everything together

5. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes and add salt or light soya sauce if needed

6. Add the chopped scallions and chinese celery, give it a good stir and turn fire off

7. Serve it with steamed rice or rice porridge

Steamed Tofu with Chicken Floss

Hello again !  I am sorry that have not been updating my blog for a long time.  Work and personal matters beckoned me and I was swamped with lots of things to do and left with very little time.  Anyways with 2014, I hope that I can resurrect this site again and get back my mojo to bake/cook and post more :-)

For the first post in 2014, it is a simple dish which I love for its simplicity.  My family has been requesting for more steamed food and I try to make it a point to whip them during the weekends.

This is steamed tofu with chicken floss.  There are many versions out there but I like it simple and decided to stick to the basics.  You can use the steamer or microwave for this dish.  I prefer the steamer as I don't want to accidentally overcook it.

What you need:
1 tub soft tofu
Meat floss of any kind
1 Tbsp light soya sauce
dash of sesame oil

What you do:
1. Get your steamer ready
2. Place tofu on a heat resistance plate
3. Pour the soya sauce and sesame oil over the tofu and sprinkle the floss
4. Steam the tofu for about 5mins
5. Serve it hot with steamed rice

Note:  you can also sprinkle green onions or add oyster sauce, whatever to your liking for this.

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

 

Ayam masak kicap or Chicken in soya sauce malay style ala Zu

One of my kids favourite is chicken in soya sauce gravy.  There are many version of chicken in soya sauce, some are more savoury with spices like cinnamon, cloves etc, some are very simple no spices at all and some like what my late mom used to cook is added with tomato ketchup/puree for added flavour like this one.

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:

Work Lunch #1

I have been bringing lunch to office quite often now as I am trying to eat healthy :-D  I usually share my lunch photo with my friends at FB and decided maybe I should share them in this blog.  So this post is my first lunch photo and here it is :D



This is chicken in soya sauce and steamed broccoli.  I was just too lazy to do a stir-fry this morning hence the simple steamed vege.  The soya sauce chicken is a simple malay style, I will be sharing the recipe in my next post.  Keep a lookout !

Tomato Sauce Noodles

This is actually inspired by Sarawak Kway Teow. Since my kids and husband are not a great fan of kway teow, I substitute it with udon instead. You can use any noodles that you like as the method is pretty much like hor fun.

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 :-)

Caramel Peanut topped Brownie Cake

I was in a mood to bake last weekend and was thinking of baking something 'different'.  After going through heaps of baking books, I decided to try this and was truly delighted with my choice :-D 

Fish with chinese mushroom, scallions & chinese celery

Non-fried fish was not one of my kids favourite dish until recently.  Now, having one steamed or braised/poached fish is a must especially during the weekends.

Fried Egg with Tomatoes and Chinese Chives

A really easy dish but satisfying.  This is really nice eaten with either steaming hot rice or porridge.  It's so Easy to do and very kids friendly too.  Great if you are running out of time or ideas *LOL*

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.

Cashew Chicken Vietnamese Style

I made vietnamese dishes for our sunday lunch as my second daughter and her dad were not well.  I decided to prepare something light for them so that it will not aggravate their already bad throat.  So here is one of the dish and the kids love it.  In fact they loved it soo much till there was nothing left for dinner *LOL*

Easy Cheese Fries

I made this for my 2nd girl as she loves loves cheese fries.  So I took the opportunity to make this not only to please her but also to test the Airfryer which I purchase very recently.  I have been using the fryer regularly and I love it loads.  Having it keeps my sanity intact during the morning madness preparing meals for the family before I go off to work. 

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.