Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

It was already about 9pm last night but Mimi had asked me to make thse ice-cream cone cupcakes we saw recently. So we made them and the girls waited patiently for them till about 1130pm.

 In the end, Mimi didn't finished it, probably it was too rich for her as she had only eaten the Hershey's Chocolate Frosting. Nat on the other hand, happily finished up hers. For me, I preferred the butter cake inside the cone...

 Nevertheless, these made a pretty little treats for all the children. I'm sure all of them would fanxy one of them. You may wish to use any cake recipe and decorate as desired. 

♡♡ Have lotsa of fun with them and your kids♡♡

"Gingi" in my Pound Cake

I have a "Gingi" in my pound cake.. How about that???

Well, when I asked hubby to take a look at my cake.., I asked him, "Isn't this cute???"

So he replied me and asked me what was that? A star??? I told him, it's Gingerbread Man.. But he insisted that it looked more like a star instead of Gingerbread Man. So I decided to give "Gingi" a little makeover for photography purposes.. LOL...!!!! I gathered, I probably should have started with a heart shaped first before I became that adventurous...:-p

So this was what we need...

A chocolate pound cake. But you could do up with any flavour or colors that you preferred.

Cut them into your desired shapes using a cookie cutter.

You may wished to keep the leftover pound cake for making a cake pop???

I had spread some batter on the bottom of my baking pan, so that "Gingi" will stay in place. Once you had lined up the cutted cakes, topped the baking pan with the rest of the batter.

Here, another new loaf of pound cake with a surprise awaiting for you...

Ta-da...!!!!

"Gingi" is here!!!
As mentioned in the earlier part, hubby said it did not look much like "Gingi", so there's the makeover for it.

Looking sooo much better, wasn't it??

It was pretty much fun doing these pound cake.

But Mimi here, on the other hand, preferred only the deco sugar bits and eating ONLY the "Gingi" part...

-_-"

You may wish to use any pound cake recipe. As for me, I had used OKASHI's pound cake recipe.

Recipe as adapted from OKASHI
(yields 2 x 2"x7" rectangular loaf)
Ingredients:
150g top flour
(I used raising flour and omitted baking powder)
1/8 tsp baking powder
150g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 lemon zest

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Sift flour and baking powder together twice.
2. Beat butter, icing sugar and salt together in an electric mixer until light , fluffy and pale. Takes about 10 minutes.
3. Add flour and baking powder mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. Surface of the batter should be smooth and glossy.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for about 50 minutes.
5. When the cake is done, remove it from the loaf tin and place on a wire rack to cool. Wrap with cling film before storing.

Maple and Banana Cupcakes

For a change, let's have some Maple and Banana Cupcakes.

Recently, I bought the new Mini Cakes recipe book by Joanna Farrow from MPH. I bought it at a great deal like probably like S$6.00. I love her recipes so far as it was a "just-nice" proportion for the mini cakes. These minis were so adorable and they were bite-sizes.. yummy..^^

In fact, this is my 1st attempt trying her recipes. :-p

How would these cupcakes taste like??

Well, they were simply soft and fluffy..

I love them with much, plus with the Maple Frosting, they were absolutely fantastic.

Recipe as adapted from Mini Cakes by Joanna Farrow

Ingredients:

(Makes 12 minis)

1 small banana

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp milk

60g lightly salted butter, softened

70g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

100g self raising flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12-section mini muffin tin with 3cm mini paper cases.

2. In a small mixing bowl, mash the banana to a puree with a fork. Stir in the maple syrup and milk. Set aside.

3. Put the butter and sugar in a separate bowl and beat together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg, a little at a time, adding a teaspoon of flour if the mixture starts to separate.

4. Sift half the flour in the butter mixture, the add half the banana. Gently fold the ingredients together until only just mixed. Sift in the remaining flour, add the remaining banana mixture and fold in.

5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until risen and just firm to the touch. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Maple Frosting

150g lightly salted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

6 tbsp icing sugar

 7 tbsp maple syrup

8 pecan or walnuts, roughly chopped to decorate

Put the butter, vanilla essence, icing sugar and maple syrup in a bowl and beat with an electric beater until smooth and creamy.

Rainbow Chiffon Cake -Revisited

It had been almost 2 years ago since I attempted the Rainbow Chiffon Cake.

Then, I had "over-dosed" my Rainbow Chiffon with the overwhelming colors.. So this time, I was extremely careful with my colors, and getting the perfect colors for the chiffon cake.

And of course, these Rainbow Chiffon Cakes were the girls' favourite as well.
Once the cake was cooled and sliced, nothing was being left... They had eaten them and got these cakes packed for school as well..

And I had to bake another one the very next day..
Yummy as they should ..

You may wish to CLICK HERE for the Rainbow Chiffon Cake recipe.

Lychee Almond Chiffon Cake

Lychee Almond Chiffon Cake... sounds like a weird combination??

Nah, they were delicious.

My girls were rather fussy in some ways and they do not usually like any "baked fruits" in their cake. More of the traditional and simple cakes. So very rarely that "baked fruits" cake would fancy them in anyway.

To my surprise, Nic tried this chiffon cake and she told me it was very delicious.

We all loved this Lychee Almond Chiffon Cake very much.
With its soft and fluffy texture, mmmm... yummy is the word...

Recipe as adapted from Kevin Chai

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Batter

3 egg yolks

20g caster sugar

20ml cooking oil (i use canola oil)

50g canned lychee

(i use them as chopped lychee instead of blending them with the syrup to make a fine paste)

30ml lychee syrup

70g self-raising flour

30g ground almond

20g chopped almonds (omitted)

Egg White Batter

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tar tar

60g caster sugar

Method:

1. To make egg yolk batter, blend lychee with syrup until fine. Combine with egg yolks, sugar and oil in a mixing bowl. Fold in flour, ground almond and chopped almonds until a thick batter is formed.

2. Beat egg whites and cream of tar tar in another mixing bowl, until foamy. Gradually add in the sugar, beating at high speed until stiff peak form.

3. Gently fold egg white meringue into the egg yolk batter until well blended.

4. Pour batter into ungreased 7-inch(18-cm) tube pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for about 30-40 mins or until cooked.

5. Remove from oven, invert cake onto the table until completely cooled.

Happy Sssssnake Year 2013 - Have an Orangey Muffin♡

I realised it had been almost 3 weeks since my last bake in January. Nope, I wasn't preparing for the Lunar New Year. My helper had gone back for a 2 weeks vacation and will only be back after tomorrow. So past weeks were more of a "maid" myself, along with the help of my hubby to look after the 3 little monsters and our housechores... hahaha....

How about yours? Had you been busy preparing for the Snake Year too?

 I finally found some time to bake yesterday night after I got home. I was just dying to bake something and this recipe, I had KIV for quite awhile as I did not have oranges at home then. Look at the soft, fluffy texture of these Fresh Orange Muffins. These muffins are not tobe missed!

 Using fresh orange zest, orange flesh & orange juice had made these muffins a very refreshing and delightful taste. In another words, could I just say they tasted like fresh juicy oranges too?

Using the orange flesh, orange zest and sugar, cook on a low heat, keeps the orange flesh in its moist, juicy texture. Filling the orange flesh in between the batter and placing some on top of the batter.

 There, giving me its best color, excellent taste of these no frills, easy baked Orange Muffins.

If you love oranges, I'm sure you will find great pleasures making these muffins... With the moist orange flesh & zest... It's just like eating an orange as it is...♡

 Here, I wish everyone to have a prosperous, healthy & wealthy year ahead!

Happy Happy Ssssssnake Year!!!! 

Recipe as adapted by "Easy Bake" by 梁家榕

(With some slight modifications)

Ingredients

(A)

1 orange flesh, diced into small little cubes

1 orange zest

3 tbsp sugar

Mix all ingredients, cook on low heat. Mix well. Once sugar had dissolved, turn off the heat and set aside

(B)

1 egg

60ml milk

60ml orange juice

60g melted butter (I replaced it with 60ml Canola Oil)

(C)

120g sugar (I used 100g)

175g self raising flour, sieved

Mix all (B) in a big mixing bowl. Combine well. 

Add in (C) into the mixture and blend well.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into the paper cups & fill some orange flesh. Topped up with the remaining batter, about 3/4 full & topped with some orange flesh.

Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for about 25-30mins.

For the orange glaze, using half the juice of an orange, about 25ml & 1 tbsp of sugar. Cook over low heat. Let it cool before glazing the orange muffins.

Have a orangey orangey Chinese New Year♡

Let's go vegetarian today.... Apple Raisins Cake

Let's go vegetarian today...!!!

This Apple Raisins Cake was a great treat... 

Reason being it was healthy, dairy-free & eggless...

Instead of using margarine, I had replaced it with canola oil.

Though it was eggless, no dairy, this cake turned out very well. It was so soft and crumbly. I had also reduced a small amount of the sugar and I think it was still a little sweet, probably because of the sweetness from the apples and the raisins. I had also topped the cake with some chocolate chips... Yummy!!!

This cake was getting a great responses from family and friends and they liked it as much as I did♡

♧So are you ready to go on vegetarian for this cake too?♧

Recipe as adapted from Eggless Cakes & Cookies by Jamie Jong,

Eggless Cranberry Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

(with slight modifications)

250g margarine(250ml canola oil)

180g sugar(150g)

180ml water

340g self raising flour

100g dried cranberries(150g diced apples)

100g chopped walnuts(100g raisins)

Method:

1. Cream margarine and sugar till light and creamy. Add in water gradually, beat well.

2. Fold in sieved flour, cranberries and chopped walnuts, mix well.

3. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 7" cake mould.

4. Baked in a preheated oven of 160C for 1 1/4 hr.

(As I had replaced with margarine with oil, I had mixed the sugar, water and oil. Mix well. Add in the sieved flour into the liquid mixture, mix well until well blended.

Sprinkle the diced apples and raisins with some flour to prevent them from sinking to tje bottom of the cake. Mix into the batter and mix well.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 60mins or until a skewer stick comes out clean.)

Have fun! Happy Vegan Day♡

Green Apple Cupcakes ○ So soft & crumbly ○

Another great bake from "Easy Bake! By 梁家榕"

I had been wanting to try this recipe for a while but I hadn't had any green apples in my fridge till today...:-p

As usual, a no-fuss recipe, yeilds about 3 standard size ramekins.

Instead of using plain flour with baking powder, I had replaced it with self-raising flour. 

I might reduced the sugar in future as I think it is a little sweet for me. 

A soft and crumbly Green Apple Cupcake is waiting for you.

I had sprinkled some cinnamon powder on top and it gave the cupcakes a very great fragrance...

Inside the cupcakes were filled with rum-soak diced apples.

And if could see the soft texture of these Green Apple Cupcakes.

Vivian, this is another recipe that you might like too:-) 

Recipe as adapted from Easy Bake! By 梁家榕

Ingredients:

(A)

1/2 Green Apple, diced

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp rum

Diced the green apples into cubes, add in the sugar and the rum. Using low heat, simmer the apples until soft. Set aside for later use.

(B)

1/2 Green Apple

Cut the apples into slices. Set aside for the topping of the cupcakes.

(C)

75g butter, softened

60g sugar (I used 50g)

1 egg

100g plain flour

(I used self-raising and omitted baking powder)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp vanilla essence ( I used 1/2 tsp)

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp milk

some  cinnamon powder (optional)

Cream butter & sugar until white & creamy. Add in the egg and beat until well combined.

Add in the sieved flour, mix until well blended. Add in the vanilla essence, lemon juice & milk. Mix well.

Coat the ramekins with butter & dust with some icing sugar. Knock out the ecvess sugar.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into each ramekins. Filled them with the diced apples and topped the remaining batter to about 80% filled. Dust with some cinnamon powder on top.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for abt 35-40 mins.

Remove from oven to cool. Remove from ramekins and best to serve warm.

Original Pound Cake in 3 different flavours

Just another day having fun with my bakes.

This Pound Cake Recipe is from one of my cookbook that I had bought from Taipei.

And I must say it is delicious...

I had baked them in 3 different flavours:

1. Original

2. Blueberry

3. Pound Cake with Passionfruit Icing

As you can see from the pictures above and below, these pound cakes had given a very great soft, crumbly texture...

Now, who will like to have a slice... yummy....

Tea-time... with a cuppa tea:)

Ingredients:

200g butter

200g sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

280g self raising flour

80ml milk

Method:

1. Cream butter, sugar & salt until soft & fluffy. Add in the egg one at a time, mix well.

2. Add in the sieved flour, mix until well combined. Gradually add in the milk and mix well.

3. Pour the batter into your desired pan, and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 30mins.

4. Unmould from pan and cool on the rack.

Melting Almond Cookies - All ready for CNY perhaps??? (Revisited)

Melting Almond Cookies.. ...

These are what we wanted isn't it...???

I had made these cookies last Chinese New Year, and now another year had gone, and it's a brand new Chinese New Year...

These Almond Cookies are not one to be missed... I loved them very much as they are very easy to make, and best part is, it is soft and it melts in your mouth... Everyone had praises for these cookies. Even my helper told me to keep some for her...

Unlike the usual almond cookies that are coated with egg coatings on the top, these almond cookies are the original as they are. Try reducing the sugar as I find them abit sweet for me:)

Otherwise, enjoy baking these cookies...:-D

BUT BEWARE....
These cookies are dangerous... You can't stop eating them. You just want to pop more one after another...
hehehehe...

Recipe as adapted from Nonya Recipe Book

Ingredients:

100g icing sugar (75g)

150g plain flour

( I used self-raising & omitted baking powder & baking soda)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

50g almond powder

150ml canola oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl, combine well.

Add the vanilla essence and oil, and knead into a dough.

Roll it out and cut into desired cookie moulds.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 15-20 mins.

Allow to cool and store in an air-tight container.

Cold-Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I hope I didn't missed this Bake-Along again.. Ever since I lost my handphone, I seemed to have lost track of my own blog:-p.. kekekeke... Anyway, I happened browsed through everyone's blog and realised it's the Bake-Along #38-Cold-Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake. Looking at some of the bakes done by the girls, this pound cake seemed to be a "Must-Try" Bake...

And indeed it was... It had given a very great fragrance while baking. I hadn't had any cake flour, so I had replaced it with self-raising flour and omitted the baking powder. The pound cake rose nicely, even though it was not baked in a pre-heated oven.

Cutting down on the sugar amount, adding a little more lemon zest, this pound cake was awesome. It has a very smooth, soft velvet crumbly texture as Lauren Chattman had mentioned in her book.

The only boo-boo I made was I had overlooked on the temperature. I thought it was on a 375F so I baked it in a 190C, instead of a 325F & 160C...
Nevertheless, the pound cake came out well with its excellent texture as it should be..

Ooooh, and surprising, my girls liked this pound cake too... It was very unlikely that they will like due to the lemon zest & ginger, but Nic & Mimi told me that the cake was yummy:)
So what else can we asked for now....??? Start your bake now:-D

Ingredients as stated by the Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

(Using only 1/3 of the stated ingredients, yeilds a 15×5×5cm loaf)

3 cups cake flour (125g self raising flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder (omitted)

1 tsp salt (1/3 tsp)

1 cup(2 sticks) butter (75g)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (75g)

2 1/2 cup sugar (75g)

6 eggs, room temp. (2 eggs)

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (1/2 tbsp)

1 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger (1/2 tbsp)

1 tbsp grated lemon zest (1/2 tbsp)

 

Method:
1.Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position. Grease a 12 cup Bundt pan and dust with flour. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
2.Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
3.With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.
4.Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Then mix of 30 secs on medium speed.
5.Place the cake in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 325°F and bake, without opening the oven door, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 65 to 80 mins.
6.Cool the cake in the pan for 15 mins, then invert it onto a rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
7.Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

You may wish to join us in the Bake-Along with our 3 fantastic Hosts: Joyce, Lena & Zoe and also let's take a look at the other bakers' pieces:-D

Happy New Year!! With an ultimate Oreo Cupcake on a new begining of 2013!!!

Hello my dear friends! It had been quite awhile since my last post in December 2012. I hope everyone had an wonderful & enjoyable Christmas Season.

Well, in fact last December hadn't been a best month for me despite being a Christmas season. I had lost my handphone, a barely 7 month old iphone 4s of 32GB.... Gosh was I so upset with it as I had been relying on my phone for all my photography pictures of my bakes and my girls. Worse of all, all my contacts and personal details were all gone... The phone was in the end being tracked in Johor Bahru near KSL shopping area. There goes my iphone... Thanks to hubby who had gotten me another new phone, a Samsung S3, which I am rather alien to it. Photography wise wasn't that fantastic as compared to iPhone. But I am hanging there, still exploring on my new device...:D

It is now a new begining of year 2013. It will be a busy year ahead once again. Now with Mimi going to school as well... Looking forward to all my new challenges AGAIN in 2013.

Here, my family and I will like to wish everyone to have a wonderful and fruitful year ahead in 2013.

May all your new year resolutions and wishes will come true in every single way...:-D

HAPPY HAPPY 2013!!!

As this is a new begining of the year, I'd like to start mine by baking an ultimate Oreo Cupcakes.

These Oreo Cupcakes were not too bad, soft and moist. For those of you whom really liked Oreo, you might wanna consider adding a little bit more of the Oreo crumbs:)

And I have here, my new toy....hehehe...

My new cupcake stand that I have bought from Ikea for a mere S$16.90. Sweet isn't it???

Besides the cupcakes stand, I had also found myself a new cupcake box.

This SNAPWARE Cupcake and Cookie Keeper set is indeed very useful. It stores the cupcakes well, and stays in position. It is very convenient for "transportation", and also excellent for party use.

If you can see in the pictures below, this keeper set could fit in about 12 regular-sized cupcakes, and it has an inner removable base, fitting nicely for each cupcake. The plastic container is made of very good quality, and with the easy snap locks on the side, and a handle on top of the keeper set.

Ready to go!!!

Here are the clearer pictures of the SNAPWARE Cupcake and Cookie Keeper set.

Here is the Oreo Cupcakes Recipe as adapted from YumYum Magazine

(Recipe with slight modifications)

Ingredients:

120g butter

130g sugar

3 eggs

200g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

60ml milk

100g Oreo biscuits, crushed

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar until white and creamy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

2. Add in the flour, milk and mix well. Add in the Oreo crumbs and mix well.

3. Pour the batter into the paper cups about 80% full and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 25-30 mins or until golden brown.

Oreo Buttercream12 Oreo biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs

50g icing sugar

200g butter

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the Oreo Crumbs and mix well. Pipe as desired.

Have fun with Oreo Cupcakes!!!