Sour Cream - Blueberry Crumb Cake

"Sour cream and lots of butter make the cake tender and moist and offset the bold, tangy flavor of gleaming fresh, juicy blueberries. A crunchy cinnamon-infused crumb topping cloaks the cake, adding a buttery caramel flavour"

And yes, as described by Tish Boyle, these cakes had a crunchy top and they were really moist and tender. A quite unusual combination but they were quite welcomed by us... hehehehe...

I had replaced the sour cream with low fat yoghurt as my yoghurt was expiring soon, and this also explained why I had attempted this bake... Oopsie...hehehehe... I had also reduced the sugar level if you do not wish your cake to be too sweet like me.

Recipe as adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Yeilds a 9-inch square cake

Ingredients:

Crumb Topping

121g all purpose flour

50g caster sugar

80g firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, melted

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well blended. Add the melted butter and mix with the fork, stirring until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.

Sour Cream Blueberry Cake

181g all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

142g fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries

242g sour cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

142 unsalted butter, softened

200g sugar

2 large eggs

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 175C. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.

3. In another bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tbsp of flour mixture until the berries are coated; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and vanilla extract; set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl as neccessary. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream in two additions. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pand and smooth the top with a spatula.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter, breaking up any large lumps with your fingers.

5. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Place the cake in the pan on a wire rack and cool completely.

6. Cut the cake into squares and serve from the pan.

"PPPC" - Perfect Plain Pound Cake

Never would I have expected that these pound cakes were so delicious.

We were all in a big treat. I had KIV this recipe from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle and finally took it out to try.. Yes!!! Absolutely one pound cake you would love as much as we did.

 It was similar to the usual butter cake we had baked but these pound cakes had an extremely soft and moist texture... What a pleasant surprise from this bake.... Hubby had eaten 2 of them and he said it was very nice...So did the gals...

Plus, I had also bakes these pound cakes in my new pan, 12 mini square pan...

I loved my new pan too!!! The batter was just nice for these 12 minis. It made the pound cake a fuss-free plus no crumble mess... And also, a just-nice portion for each person...

Don't they looked so pretty in little squarish bites???

Well, I think I will reduce my sugar amount as I thought they were a little too sweet for me.

Otherwise, it was definitely the "PPPC"!

Recipe as adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g cake flour (I use top flour)

1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
80ml heavy cream (I use yoghurt)

Method:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine well, and set aside.
2. In another mixing bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add in the sugar and beat at medium-high speed for about 4 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl occassionally. Beat in the citrus zest and vanilla extract. Add in the flour mixture at low speed in three additions, alternating it with the heavy cream in two additions and mixing just until the flour is incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
3. Bake the cake in a preheated oven of 325F for 60-70 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Place the cake pan on a wire rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.
4. Unmould the cake and cool completely, right side up, before slicing.

Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake - THB #17

It's time to bake again with The Home Bakers

This bake, we have Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake, chosen by Eileen of Hundred Eighty Degrees.

I had baked mine in my own version and modification, reason being that I do not have any food processor to process the whole orange and the raisins. Thus, I had omitted the "processing" with the fresh oranges segments into the cake, omitted the raisins as I had ran out of them, and topped them up with lots of chocolate chips(my fav!!!)

I had baked a 8" removable cake mould and a cuppie.

I will personally prefer the one in the cuppie as the above picture as it had a nice cake texture, really really soft. Love this cake to the extreme, and with the fresh oranges inside the cuppie if you can see them clearly.

Nevertheless, the cake was fantastic as well, but being overly soft and fluffy, I will still think that baking them in a cuppie will be a wiser choice and much easier to eat them..hehehehe...

Have a slice of this cake with some low-fat yoghurt topped with orange zest and fresh fruits...Yummy!!!

So have you baked yours yet???

Try it and share with us your opinions for this lovely cake:)

For the full recipe, please visit Eileen from Hundred Eighty Degrees and to view other members' bake, drop by The Home Bakers (THB).

Deep Chocolate Pound Cake - Bake Along #42

.A chocolate cake is always a favourite for the girls. Topped with lots of chocolate chips on it plus a deep chocolate color. How would this pound cake fare with my 3 little testers???

Well, I guess it is 1 out of 3 testers, Nat, liked this deep chocolate pound cake. Perhaps it is not too sweet as Nic had commented. Mimi just took a small little bite and shoke her head... 

How like that????

 For me, I had halved the recipe and made abt 2"×7" size pound cake. Besides that, I had also cut down quite a fair bit of sugar. As I had read from Joyce & Lena that the honey taste was too overwhelming, I had went slow with just a merely 1 tbsp of honey.

This pound cake had a very thick amd dense texture, no wonder the other 2 girls do not like them. As for hubby and myself, though the pound cake wasn't sweet, we thought it tasted quite alright and we should be a little healthier by eating a lesser sugar cake...hehehe...:))

Recipe as adapted from Bon Appetit Desserts

Ingredients:

(With slight modifications)

280gm top flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/4tsp baking soda

1/2 cup yogurt/sour cream(125g)

1/2 cup whole milk(120ml)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder(32g)

1tbsp honey

2-3 tbsp boiling water

1/2cup sugar(65g)

113 gm unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips(75g)

Method:

1. Position rack in the center of oven, preheat to 350F/175C. Lined a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. 

3. Whisk yogurt and milk in another small bowl. 

4. Sift cocoa powder in another bowl and whisk in honey and boiling water until smooth. Cool completely.

5. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 egg at a time, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl. Add cooled mixture, stir until smooth, occasionally scraping down bowl. Beat in flour mixture alternately with yogurt/sour cream mixture in 2 additions each until just blended. 

6. Stir in chocolate chips.Transfer batter to prepared pans, smooth top and bake until tester inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Do join Joyce, Lena & Zoe in this Bake Along and other bakers who had try this challenge as well:)) Have fun:))

Banana, Macadamia Nut, And Coconut CupCakes

I was browsing my blog this morning and I had saw the THB was on.. I had missed a couple of the THB bakes and I didn't want to miss this again...I had gotten ready the conversion for this bake and I had quickly prepared all the ingredients.

 For those of you whom are unaware of this THB (The Home Bakers), it is a baking club set up by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours. For Bakers whom owned a "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, and we will all be baking the same cake in each theme, sharing our experience & tips. 

If you will liked to join us along in this THB bakes, please CLICK HERE for more information.

This time round, Kit has chosen this bake, and it was really delicious...

Fresh from oven today, I had made them into cupcakes instead of cake as cupcakes are easily managed(eaten), and for my small little oven, it would be definitely better as my cupcakes will be easily "cooked" rather than cake form...:-p

 Followed all stated in the recipe, I had blended all the wet ingredients using my blender. Mixing everything in with the flour, and oh, I have used dessicated coconut instead of the flakes. Just before pouring the batter into the cupcake cases, I realised I had forgotten to add in my oil with the wet ingredients...!!! Oh my... Thank goodness, the cucpakes were still edible... hehehehe, silly me...:))

As you can see, I was still able to get a very moist nice texture of the cupcakes. The best part of the cupcakes, were of course the macadamia nuts topped with the cinnamon sugar... So crunchy & yummy:))

Would you like to have one too?

Please visit Kit from I-Lost-In-Austen for the full recipe.

To view the others members bake on this cake, do drop by The Home Bakers (THB).

Everyday Banana Yoghurt Cake

I guess I had been very very late in submitting my post to the Bake-Along #32... :(

I had kept reminding myself to submit this post before the deadline, but I guess I was still late...

Nevertheless, I will still like to share my bake with everyone even though I'm late.

I had a very ripe banana, so I had mashed it and mixed it in with my plain low-fat yoghurt.

Personally, I do not like this cake texture too well.  But they did go very well with the icing sugar and a little slice of strawberry...:-)

Everyday Yoghurt Cake

(Recipe as adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes, Lauren Chattman)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yoghurt or lowfat yoghurt

(Additional 1 ripe mashed banana)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the yoghurt, oil, eggs and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the yoghurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
2. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top of the cake is light golden and a toothpick inserted into the center is clean, about 40 minutes.
3. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar, then slice and serve.
4. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice-Cream

This stawberry yoghurt ice-cream is very easy to prepare. It taste goooooood!!!

For those of you or your kids who love yoghurt, you can try this sweet for them. It is not too sweet and it is refreshing...

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice-Cream

Ingredients:

150-200g strawberry puree

200g condensed milk

500g of yoghurt (I use greek's yoghurt)

Method:

Mix the condensed milk into the strawberry puree, mix well. Add in the yoghurt, stir until it is well combined. Freeze the mixed yoghurt in the refrigerator overnight.

You can use a baking tin to freeze the yoghurt. But for me, I use the baking cups as it is easier for my girls to eat them.