♡A Thorny Weekend-We are all so happy with them♡

We were in a treat of durian yesterday. Hubby and myself had bought some durians. Probably a little too much but I had plans to make a durian cake during the weekends.

Yes, it was a excellent decision with my durian mission. These durian moussr were a great hit amongst us. We loved these durian mousse so much that we can just eat them as they were...

 I was too lazy to make the sponge cake so I had use the ladyfingers and piped the durian mousse on them and stacking them up on twos.

 I would say these Durian Mousse Sticks were fantastic as it was just nice for one person. The durian mousse portion was just right, it was easier to eat, suitable for a quick dinner dessert for all the durian lovers.

 Having some balance mousse, I decided to bake a little sponge cake and stacked them up into a small little squarish durian mousse cake.

 These cake was more welcomed by my hubby and Nat as they preferred more durian mousse:))

As for me and my friend, Michelle, who came over today for her swissroll baking session, loved both versions of the durian mousse.

Sharing this great durian mousse recipe as adapted from Katherine Kwa

Ingredients:

(A)

2 egg yolks

50g sugar

2 tsp custard powder

50ml milk

Put all ingredients in a bowl. Mix them over a pot of simmering water. Mix until mixture becomes thick.

(B)

1 tbsp gelatine

60ml water

Mix ingredients and mix them over a pot of simmering water. Mix until well dissolved.

(C)

300g puree durian

Mash and sieved the durian flesh

(D)

250g whipped cream

Mix (A) + (B) + (C), mix well. Add in (D) and mix well until well blended.

You may wish to either use the ladyfingers or bake a sponge cake to go along with these fantastic durian mousse:))

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

I had previously baked a Black Sesame Chiffon Cake in year 2011, and I loved it very much... These Black Sesame Chiffon Cakes are one of my favourite too.. I love Black Sesames in any form of food...

Today I am trying a new recipe from OKASHI.

She had used black sesame paste which I was once told that by using black sesame paste will give the cake a better fragrant than using the powder. It is true indeed. However, this time round, I still did not managed to find any black sesame paste... Perhaps next time, if I ever get a chance...

This recipe turns out very well indeed. Getting a very soft, sponge-y & moist texture from the chiffon cake. You can even hear the "hissing" sound of the chiffon as you take a bite... Am I for real...??? kekekeke...

Try them and I'm sure you will like them as well..:-D

Recipe as adapted from OKASHI by Keiko Ishida

Ingredients:

(yeilds a 20-cm cake)

70g pastry flour/top flour

5 egg yolks

20g brown sugar (I used castor sugar)

20g black sesame paste (I used about 50g black sesame powder)

60g water

40g canola oil

20g black sesame seeds (optional)

90g sugar

10g rice flour/corn flour

5 egg whites

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Sift flour once.

2. Combine all egg yolks, brown sugar & black sesame paste in a bowl and mix well. Add water and canola oil and blend together. Add flour & mix well until batter becomes sticky, the fold in the black sesame seeds.

3. Make meringue. Combine sugar & rice/corn flour. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and the flour mixture and continue beating for a few minutes, then add the remaining sugar & flour mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.

4. Add 1/3 of the meringue into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely. Do not over mix as the sesame paste in the mixtur will cause the volume of the chiffon cake to decrease, thus making it heavy.

5. Pour the batter into an ungreased 20-cm chiffon cake tube pan. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. When the cake is done, remove from oven and turn the pan over. Leave cake to cool in the pan.

6. Once the cake has cooled completely, carefully run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a wire rack.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

I was browsing through my phone's gallery and I realised that I had missed out this fantastic chiffon cake.

For Earl Grey Tea Lovers, here's another great recipe.

 I have gotten this recipe from one of my new chinese baking books. And as usual, I am always picking out recipes that I fancy. Hehehe... ... 

 This Earl Grey Chiffon Cake was indeed GREAT!!!

Having a soft, fluffy texture as any other chiffon cakes would have.

With all its simple ingredients, what are you waiting for???

Ingredients:

(Yeilds a 17-cm Chiffon Cake)

35g egg yolk

25g sugar

30ml canola oil

35ml water

45g plain flour

5g earl grey tea 

(i use about 2 bags as i prefer stronger taste)

100g egg white

25g sugar

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, put in the egg yolk and sugar. Mix until the sugar is slightly dissolved. Add in the water and the oil. Mix until it is foamy. Add in the sieved flour & earl grey into the egg yolk mixture. Mix until well combined.

2. In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in the sugar and whisked until stiff peaks.

3. Take 1/3 of the egg white meringue and mix into the egg yolk mixtire. Blend well. Pour the mixture into the remaining egg white meringue. Mix well until well corporated.

4. Pour the batter into a 17-cm chiffon tin. Smooth the top of the batter and knocked out any excess air.

5. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for about 25~30 mins. Remove from oven and turn over the tin to cool. Once the cake has cooled completely, unmould the cake from the tin.

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♡

Golden Puff Pastry with Peanut ♡花生油角♡

I bought one of the cookbook recipe, and for this month, they have some Chinese New Year Goodies, and this Golden Puff Pastry with Peanut is one of them.

I took half of the recipe to try out. It was rather simplified in fact.

Mixing all the ingredients and kneading it into a dough, and resting it for 10 mins before we roll it out.

I remembered when I was rather young, my Aunty used to make these Peanut Puff Pastry and it was delicious. And we were having fun making these puffs. Initially when I tried to make the folds, I couldn't get the rhythm, seems pretty clumsy with it.. but subsequently with the following puffs, I managed to get the folds done up nicely.

Hehehehe.... I like mine stuffed with lots of peanuts. I know those selling outside are filled with miserable amount of peanuts, so since these are homemade... so why not...??? :-D
I had used those ready-made peanut powder from the supermarket for my convenience.

Hubby & Nat loved these Puff Pastry very much... Nat had 4 at one go...

Here is the recipe for some of you whom might be keen and is a "Kok Zai" fan:-D

(using half of the ingredients, and a 5-cm round mould, yeilds about 25-30 puffs)

Ingredients:

300g plain flour

70g shortening

1/2 tsp salt

160ml water

Method:

1. Combine flour, shortening & salt, mix well. Add in water, knead to form a dough. Rest dough for about 10 mins.

2. Cover dough with cellophane paper (cling wrap) up and down, roll into thin skin, and cut skin into round shape using a mould.

3. Spoon in a little peanut filling on the skin and form into a mini puff.

4. Deep-Fry puffs in a hot oil over low heat until cooked through and golden brown. Dish out, drain well. Serve.

Peanut Fillings

150g toasted peanuts

80g sugar

Method:

Blend peanut in a food processor till fine, dish out and combine it with caster sugar, mix well.

Eggless Passionfruit Cupcakes无蛋百香果蒸蛋糕

 Actually I am having so much fun with Aspiring Bakers theme this month. This "steaming" theme had made me digged for my recipes, of which some are "fun with colors", while the rest are healthy versions.

I had bought the recipe book in JB last weekend, and this book caught my attention, Eggless Cakes & Cookies,  无蛋糕饼, by Chef Jamie Jong. I flipped through the pages and found the recipes quite interesting... So "it" came back home with me...

 Sharing this wonderful recipe I had found inside, it was actually a Green Tea Steamed Cupcake, but I do not have green tea powder at the moment. So I had subsituted with Passionfruit and added a tsp of vanilla essence to enhance the cupcakes flavor.

 These steamed Passionfruit Cupcakes were excellent. No eggs used, plus margarine, it made these cupcakes so healthy... The cupcakes texture was very soft and spongey. Some of the top "huated" part almost dropped out when I was taking them out of the steamer... hehehehe...

 If you could see the fluffiness in this picture...

We all liked it very much.. mostly importantly, it is a healthy cupcake:-D

Recipe as adapted by Jamie Jong, 无蛋糕饼.

Ingredients:

320g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder (can be omitted)

150g sugar

160ml water

130g margarine

1 passionfruit pulp, about 50g-100g

(1 tsp vanilla essence optional)

Method:

1. Combine sugar, water & margarine in a sauce pan, stir over simmering water till smooth. Set aside and let it cool.

2. Make a well in the centre of the sieved flour+baking powder, pour the liquid mixture slowly and mix till well blended.

3. Pour mixture into paper cups about 80%, steam for 12-15mins.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 – Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. 

Steamed Huat Kueh 蒸发糕

Not alot of people these days like to eat Huat Kueh. I know it will probably be the older folks whom will like this kueh. For me, I do quite like it. What about you? Well, in fact, I found out that some of my colleagues and friends actually do like this Huat Kueh as well. What a surprise...:))

I used to have an excellent recipe for Huat Kueh too, but I seemed to have misplaced it when I moved house couple of years back... So I was waiting to see if I will ever come across a similar recipe which I vividly remembered what are the ingredients that were being used. Browsing in FB in the Baking Wonderland, I finally saw this recipe, and I decided to give it a try...

Yes, this recipe was excellent. It has given the Huat Kueh a very smooth and moist texture. We all liked it very much. Homemade Huat Kueh, or rather should I say, homemades will always be the best:-D

Steamed Huat Kueh 蒸发糕
食谱来自黄薇瑜
250g 黑糖 palm sugar
400g 自发面粉 self raising flour
300ml 椰浆奶 coconut milk
100ml 水 water

Method:

1。将黑糖和面粉过筛混合 Sift the palm sugar and flour together。
2。把椰浆和水倒入混合。Mix coconut milk and water together。
3。把第2步骤加入第1步骤混合均匀。Pour coconut mixture into the flour mixture,mix until well combined。
4。把面糊倒入纸杯 80%满，切个＂X＂在面糊上，蒸15-20分钟。Pour batter into cupcake case, cut a "X" on the batter and steam for 15-20 mins。

For better fragrant, I think we can boiled the coconut milk, water & palm sugar over low heat to enhance the taste.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 – Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. 

Orange Cheesecake (Non-Baked)

I have never fancied adding orange essence into my cakes somehow as I do not like the taste of it. It seems to make me feel like as if I was taking those very bitter medicine when I was young... Hahaha... But to others, this orange essence was rather pleasant to them and in fact they do quite like it. How about you?

Reason of baking this cheesecake was because I have a pack of whipping cream which is due to expire soon. So I found this cheesecake using whipping cream... Hmmm but all ended up quite a mess as the whipping cream that I bought, did not whipped up as my top whipping cream...

In fact, being a non-baked cheesecake, this cheesecake is very easy to prepare and it should be ready by 15-30mins time.

I probably had exceeded the amount of whipped cream and I put in 250g of cheese instead of 200g. Thus the texture of the cheesecake was abit soft, more of like a mousse texture. Overall, it was quite yummy. My hubby had taken 2 slices of it, and my friend say it was delicious too. And she said she like the "orangey" taste of it:)

Ingredients as adapted from Kevin Chai.

Base:

140g crushed chocolate marie biscuits

70g melted Butter

Combine all ingredients. Press into a 7" square tin.

Cheese Filling:

200g cream cheese

70g sugar

2 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp water

200g fresh whipped cream

3 tbsp orange compound

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Melt gelatine with water over simmering water. Add into cheese mixture until blended.

Fold in whipped cream, add in orange compound, mix well.

Spread cheese filling into prepared tin.

Topping:

80g crushed marie biscuits

40g melted butter

Combine all ingredients and sprinkle over the top.

Wrap well and refrigerate until set.

Swan Cream Puffs / Cream Puffs

I know I am always late... late for my postings...

Seeing my fellow baking friends whom had already baked cream puffs in September for the Bake-Along theme, Lena  and Mui, both of them had also attempted on the swan puffs. When I saw their puffs, I was envy, admiring how beautifully their swan puffs had been baked.

Recently, I had also saw some FB bakers, baking these swan puffs too... So pulled up my socks and started my challenge once again!!!!

These swan puffs recipes were adapted from Kevin Chai's. His recipe had stated 3-4eggs..., so I had used only 3eggs. I guess it would have been better to use 4eggs instead, as my batter was rather thick and it did not had the smooth, sateen feel...  Ended up the cream puff texture was abit tough, but overall was quite alright... :-D

So let me try 4 eggs in future...:-D

As I couldn't buy the instant custard cream, I had use the vanilla cream that I had used for the Hokkaido Cupcakes.

So how did I fare for these swan puffs?

Recipe as adapted from Kevin Chai's Dainty Desserts

Puff Ingredients:

200ml water

25ml fresh milk

80g butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

170g high protein flour(cake flour)

3-4 eggs

Method:

1. Combine water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Bring to boil.

2. Add in flour, use a wooden spoon, vigorously stir over medium heat until mixture leaves side of pan. Remove from heat.

3. Beat the dough in a mixer until cool completely. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and satiny.

4. Spoon dough into piping bag and pipe out a big rosette and swan's head & neck. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C(200C) for 25mins. Leave to cool.

Custard Ingredients:

100g instand custard powder

120ml fresh milk

200g fresh whipped cream

1/2tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Stir instant custard powder with milk, then combine with the whipped cream and vanilla essence until well-combined.

To assemble, cut the puff into half, trim the top layer to form wing shape and fill the bottom layer with custard.

Garnish with fruits, wings and head.

Dust with icing sugar.

Have fun:-D

Passionfruit Chiffon Cake

I have been so lazy... I haven't been baking for probably a month... Been feeling too relaxed with my holiday to Bangkok last month, and busy waiting for my next one in November to Taipei... Gosh am I so excited!!!!

Today I suddenly got the mood... The mood to bake... hehehehe...

And here we have, a Passionfruit Chiffon Cake!!!

 I have already wanted to make one but I hadn't had much chance to buy the passionfruit till my colleague helped me bought a pack of them from the supermarket..:))

 So these passionfruits are compliments from my colleague, Carol... :-p

(pardon my passionfruits as I has left them too long in the fridge, thus the "wrinkled"skin)

And to my surprised, this passionfruit chiffon cake was awfully delicious!!!! 

The sour taste of the passionfruit had complimented well with the whole chiffon...

  And they are sooooooo soft & fluffy....

But this chiffon cake ain't my girls' favorite as there are "seeds" inside the chiffon cake... hahahaha....

Recipe as adapted from

Fruity Cakes by Alex Goh

Ingredients:

(A)

4 egg yolks

50g sugar

1/4tsp salt

50g canola oil

50g passionfruit pulp

20g water

(B)

100g cake flour

1/2tsp baking powder

(C)

4 egg whites

100g sugar

1/8tsp crream of tar tar

Method:

1. Mix (A) until well blended. Add in (B), and mixed well until well combined.

2. Whisk egg whites in (C) until soft peak forms. Add in cream of tar tar & sugar. Continue whipping until stiff.

3. Take 1/4 of the egg white meringue from Step 2 and mix with the mixture in Step 1 until well combined. Add in the remaining meringue and fold until well blended.

4. Pour the batter into a 22-cm chiffon tin and bake at 170C for about 40-45mins.

5. Immediately invert the cake tin after removing it out from the oven and let it cool completely.

Hope you will like this Passionfruit Chiffon Cake as much as I do:-D

Have fun!!!