-! Super Duper Awesome Apple Pie Cake !- You don't even need sheet pan or acetate sheets!

My favourite recipes at the moment are those by Momofuku Milk Bar. I love their confetti birthday cake, the very cake which inspired me to come up with the Oreo Red Velvet Cake. Needless to say, when I was asked to bake a cake for my mum's birthday, I chose a recipe by Momofuku Milk Bar. 

Apple pie cake is a safe choice since everybody enjoys an apple pie once in a while. This cake incorporates apple pie filling and half-baked cheesecake as the filling to the layer cake. You won't miss out on the crunch of the pie crust as pie crumbs are used in the filling and to top the cake. It's really an apple pie converted to a cake. It's genius!

It really isn't that troublesome to bake a Momofuku Milk Bar layer cake. Although their cake recipes require things like sheet pan, acetate sheet and 6" cake ring, you really don't need to go all out to buy those things to make one of their cakes. Firstly, the filling is thick and sturdy enough not to flow down the side of the cake even if you were to just spread the filling without the cake ring and acetate sheet. Secondly, I personally don't like my cake to be too tall. With the cake so tall, you'll only need a small wedge for one serving, especially for Momofuku type of cake which you can't eat a lot because it's so rich and sweet. It becomes problematic when you want to cut a high cake into small wedges. It doesn't stand. Everything just falls out into one big mess. I find that up sizing the pans to 7" or 8" gives you the best size and height for the cake. I bake mine in round cake pans rather than in a sheet pan. 

Oreo Red Velvet Cake

I would never think of Oreo and red velvet as a good combination but some people commented on how their friends and family were raving about the red velvet cake with Oreo cream cheese frosting they've made. I shouldn't shut the door in the face of new things since experimenting with different and totally unexpected combination of flavours is necessary for creative growth. It shouldn't be so bad, after all, the experts at Kraft did produce a limited edition red velvet Oreo cookie. I think it's genius because, if you notice, red velvet doesn't have much flavour. It's basically a red cake with a little cocoa powder. So Oreo will be a breath of fresh air to plain old red velvet. 

I'm baking this red velvet because it's a special request from a friend. I've been baking so many red velvet and it's quite off putting to be baking yet another red velvet cake, but I also didn't want to give her a different cake when she was clearly looking forward to a slice of red velvet. This spruced up red velvet would be a nice halfway point. It's always nice to be baking something for someone, makes it more meaningful. 

I didn't want this red velvet to be just another red velvet with Oreo frosting. There must be something more to make it special. I'm still in my "Momofuku Milk Bar phase" so I thought why not do a Milk Bar inspired red velvet cake?

The construction of the cake involves making cookie crumbs from Oreo, buttercream frosting for the top of the cake and half-bake a cheesecake for the filling. And, just for fun, mix chocolate sprinkles in the cake batter before baking.

Pumpkin Pie

 
I have never made a pumpkin pie before. It is not something that is popular on this side of the world. We have pumpkin dishes but it's not something that people would make into a dessert here, which is strange because we use yam and sweet potato which have a similar texture to pumpkin in our local dessert, bubur cha cha. 

This pumpkin pie is super easy to make and I was surprised how delicious it turned out even though it's my first time making a pumpkin pie.

I love the creamy and sweet taste of pumpkin. It tastes great whether as a savoury dish or made into a dessert.

Though pumpkin pie is commonly eaten during Thanksgiving in North America, it would make a nice Christmas dessert as well. Don't you think  cinnamon and ginger taste very christmassy?

Super Easy Mince Pie (Merry Christmas Everyone!)

It's that time of the year. It really isn't Christmas without mince pie. I always have a mince pie or two when Christmas is near. It's something I picked up while studying in the UK and it stuck ever since. This year I decided to bake my own. Home made pies always taste great because you get to use as much butter as you want and control what goes into the pies. These mince pies are rich and buttery and filled with boozy fruits. Go ahead, tis the season to indulge.

I used store bought mixed fruits for the "mince meat" (it's called mince meat even though there's no meat in the filling -_-). If you're up for it, make your own mince meat. I think Mary Berry's or David Lebovit's recipes are good. Traditionally, suet ( pork fat) is used to make the filling. If you can't find suet, don't sweat, just use butter. These mince pies are super easy to make.

Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake

Birthdays to me are reminiscent of butter cake filled with cheap vanilla buttercream frosting. Back in the days, that was the kind of cake we got from the bakery to celebrate birthdays at home. This Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake is exactly what birthdays taste like to me. The first bite I took really brought back old memories of birthday celebrations when we were still kids. We used to have some friends over for home cooked  noodles, red eggs and chicken nuggets, and  after hours of video games, we would get bored and it was time to sing the birthday song and cut the cake. The fun filled celebration always ends with a sweet note with a slice of creamy birthday cake for everyone. 

*~* Red Velvet Mania *~*

 
My "baked main course challenge" would have to take a back seat for awhile to accommodate my current obsession with red velvet cake. Earlier, I baked a red velvet from a recipe by the man who came up with the "best ever red velvet cake", Cake Man Raven, but I found the cake to be very oily. I thought that I would not bother baking another red velvet again but I was wrong. Clearly, there is something intriguing about its taste. I tried three different recipes in order to come up with the red velvet that I like, one that is light and fluffy compared to the usual red velvet which is dense and has fine crumbs. For the third recipe, I use two different frosting and that explains the four cakes above.

Scotch Eggs (Recipe by Cooking with Dog)

If my hubby sees an interesting cooking video on youtube he will share it with me. Just the other day he showed me a video on how to make scotch eggs by Cooking With Dog. If you haven't heard already, CWD is a popular Japanese cuisine cooking show on youtube hosted by a grey talking poodle, Francis. He sits on the table next to the portable stove and narrate the cooking instructions in a funny but adorable accent. All the cooking is done by a pleasant looking Japanese lady known as Chef.

I've tried the dorayaki recipe from Cooking With Dog and it was a flop so I was a bit skeptical when it came to trying another recipe by them. But the scotch eggs look so good and I just had to have a go at it. If the recipe is good then it would be a keeper, if it's not then the eggs will end up in the bin. What's the worst that could happen, right?

Sweet Chilli Cheese Muffins

It's almost midnight, you're already in your pjs and you're craving for Doritos. You go downstairs to your kitchen to look for a snack to satisfy your cheese cravings. You open your pantry. No Doritos in sight, but you see a box of cornmeal. You knew from preparing the club sandwich this afternoon that there is leftover mature cheddar in the fridge. What do you do?

Being the little Masterchef you are, you decide to bake some cheese muffins to munch which could double as breakfast the next morning. Without further ado, you pulled out the Sweet Chilli Cheese Muffin recipe from mum's recipe box.

Strawberry White Chocolate Muffins (Excellent Recipe!)

Being a lover of white chocolate and strawberries, I wanted to come up with not just a good, but a great white chocolate and strawberry muffin recipe. I won't say I'm there yet but this muffin recipe which is adapted from Bouchon Bakery blueberry muffins is definitely a keeper.

If you have not tried making Bouchon blueberry muffins, you absolutely must try this weekend. It is the best muffin recipe. This recipe is perfect if you prefer your cake light and fluffy compared to denser fine crumbed cakes. If you want a different flavour, try my version which uses the same basic cake recipe but with strawberries and white chocolate.

Easy Fisherman's Curry Quiche

There will be a temporary shift of direction in the type of food I bake as I will be baking/cooking food to pack to work. This means you'll be seeing a lot more posts on savoury baked goods.  

If you're sick of having leftover dinner for tomorrow's lunch, I suggest you jump on the bandwagon and start preparing tasty little baked treats for lunch at work. It's fun to plan a menu and workday lunch can never be as satisfying as enjoying your own tasty creation in your office pantry. If you have other people living with you, such as family or housemates, share your creations with them. Nothing like putting a smile on their faces and reminding them of what a sweetheart you are when they open up their lunch boxes.

It will be a challenge to look for main courses to bake. The first baked main that comes to mind is quiche. So here's the curry quiche recipe I made to kick start my "baked main course challenge". 

Yam Layered Cream Cake

Lately I've been baking a lot of celebration worthy cakes from Y3k Delicious Cakes recipe book. The cakes in this book are really interesting and each time I keep going back to try the recipes there. I was in the mood for some yam cream cake, so yam cream cake is on this week's dessert menu. 

For those of you who do not eat yam, I assure you that you will like this cake. Yam in dessert tastes ten times better than yam cooked in savoury dishes. You must try it to find out.

Secret Recipe Chocolate Indulgence (no spring form pan needed)

If you have tried making mousse with whipping cream and your mousse ends up lumpy and watery, fret not as I have the solution in making easy and fail-proof mousse for cakes. 

The secret to making the mousse without having to wait for the cake to set in the spring form pan is to use whipped topping. Whipped topping is non-diary whipping cream and is sturdier and fluffier than diary whipping cream. Though many have their reservations on non-diary whipping cream, I still feel it's better to use whipped topping because it's easier to handle and getting it wrong too many times is just discouraging. 

With this recipe, you can make Secret Recipe's signature cake from your own home.

Green Tea Tiramisu (Hubby's Birthday!)

 

This year I made a green tea tiramisu for hubby's birthday. His favourite cake is tiramisu so I thought why not spice it up a bit and make a green tea version.

This green tea tiramisu is so yummy. It's also special because it is not a cake which you can get from the bakery. Again, this is a recipe from Y3K Delicious Cake recipe book. The recipe uses Mascarpone cheese but I substituted it with regular cream cheese.
 

Chocolate Blackforest Cake (My Birthday Cake)

This year I baked myself a blackforest cake. Last year my mum baked me a regular blackforest cake but this year I'm doing a chocolate version.

This is another recipe from Y3K Delicious Cake book. I think I'm hooked on the cake recipes here. They are so good for celebrations!

Mocha Walnut Torte

 

I've been making tons of birthday cakes lately because there're lots of birthdays in my family from July onwards. One in July, two in August, one in September, two in October, two in November and finally one in December.

Y3K Delicious Cakes a recipe book by Amy Heng  has pages and pages of delicious celebration cakes. I miss having mocha cream cake. Even though there wasn't a birthday coming up I thought I could make a mocha walnut cake and at the same time get some practice before the next birthday. Surprisingly, this test cake turned out really good.

Bouchon Bakery Blueberry Muffin (2nd time baking and improved!)

As I am writing this, I'm nibbling on the muffin I baked this morning. It's so so yummy. Definitely better than the ones I made the first time. The first time I baked these Bouchon Bakery muffins, I used golden syrup which wasn't a good substitute at all since golden syrup and molasses taste very different. 

Molasses tastes a lot like a combination of dark soy sauce and palm sugar. Since I was determined to make the muffins again, I got a bottle of molasses (RM12.00), Beer Rabbit brand, just to bake these muffins.

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

I was thinking of what to bake for my dad's birthday and my mum randomly pulled out this  cut out recipe from an old Ikea catalog. 

This recipe is by a chef who earned a diploma in pastry arts from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. So it must be good right?

This is the best cake to make if you don't have an oven or if you are worried about whether your cake would rise because it requires no baking at all!

Passion fruit Poppyseed Cake

There will be a lot of birthdays to celebrate every month from September onwards. Homemade cakes always taste better than store bought ones. Since we were celebrating a friend's birthday at Quivo, Pavillion, I decided to bring a cake from home.

The recipe for this cake is from a few sources. The poppy seed cake is from Rachel Allen whilst the passionfruit curd from Nasi Lemak Lover and the cream cheese frosting from Feast magazine.

Tart Aux Fraises

 

Wouldn't it be nice to be sitting at a cafe somewhere in Paris sipping black coffee and nibbling on a tart aux fraises while watching Parisians go on about their daily life. I can only dream for now.

I always wanted to make those beautiful sweet pastries you see at a French cafe. They look so chic and so delicious with their creamy filling, topped with refreshing fruit, glazed or garnished with chocolate strips and powdered sugar. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi about anything that's French.

Bouchon Bakery Blueberry Muffin

 

Have you heard of Bouchon Bakery? I haven't until I came across their recipe book when I was browsing the baking section on amazon.com. Bouchon Bakery is the brainchild of Thomas Keller who started The French Laundry, a fine dining restaurant in California.

After years of getting their supply of dinner rolls from a family-run bakery, Keller started his own bakery to cope with the increasing demands for breads from the growing number of restaurants he owns. Bouchon Bakery is headed by the ever so charming and French Sebastien Rouxel. Love his accent  especially when he pronouns "colour" in one of the youtube videos.

So happy that successful chefs like them are willing to share their knowledge and experience with us ordinary home bakers (for a fee of course - RM200, Kinokuniya / US$31, Amazon). 

Coconut Chocolate Butter Cake (by Nasi Lemak Lover)

First off, lest I be accused of stealing, let me make it clear that this recipe is not mine. I'm merely following a fellow blogger's recipe. If you're interested in the original material please visit Nasi Lemak Lover's blog. I've said this before and I'll say it again, her blog is super awesome! There are tons of recipes there and you'll most likely find something you like to bake or cook on her blog. She updates her blog frequently and her recipes never fail to inspire.

Today we are baking a simple coconut chocolate butter cake. Experienced bakers can literally do this with one eye closed. It's like making marble cake but the vanilla goes on top and chocolate on the bottom instead of having swirls of chocolate in the vanilla.

Merdeka Weekend Baking - Kuih Bahulu

Oh my gosh!

I don't know where to start with this Kuih Bahulu. It was a disaster getting them out of the mould. I don't know what went wrong. The moulds were heated properly and greased with loads of cooking oil but they were so stubborn!

In the end, I turned over the mould like how you would with chiffon cake to remove the cakes. The last four cakes came out fine. However, the second time I made this I turned over the mould but faced the same freaking problem.

Merdeka Weekend Baking - Spiral Curry Puff a.k.a Karipap

On the second day of the long Merdeka weekend, I made chicken curry puff. This curry puff is no ordinary curry puff because it has a flakier and crispier pastry than the normal curry puff. If you love Homi curry puff then you'll love this. It's like homemade Homi curry puff, healthier and less oily. Mind you, these are good enough reasons to make your own curry puffs and your heart will thank you for it!

I found this recipe from a Nyonya kuih cookbook by Ricky Ng but I've altered it here and there. I didn't know spiral curry puff is Peranakan cuisine. Any idea, anyone?

Merdeka Weekend Baking - Onde - Onde

For the three day long Merdeka (Independence Day) weekend I decided to make three types of Malaysian delight so we could enjoy a different taste of Malaysia each day in conjunction with the Merdeka celebration.

On the first day, I tried my hands at making my sis's and my favourite kuih, onde-onde. They use to sell onde-onde in a packet of four and I always find that there is not enough to share, not to mention the onde-onde sold outside are tiny and I always find that they don't use enough gula melaka (palm sugar) especially the crunchy bits, which I love, for the filling. Well, I guess that's just doing business, they have to lower cost by skimping on the good stuff.

Red Bean and Banana Sweet Bun

We had three huge bunches of bananas from our garden. What better way to use them than for baking. When it comes to bananas and baking, the first thing that comes to mind is banana cake. Sticking to tried and tested recipe is safe but at the same time being stuck in a rut will stifle creativity and progress. We’ve baked banana cake one to many times when it comes to finishing the bananas before they go bad. Each time we have excess bananas, it was banana cake so it’s about time we try other banana recipes.

I didn’t want to do any conventional banana dessert, so no bannofee pie or banana muffin either. After I discovered that I could churn out wonderful breads (ahem, not bragging), I wanted to do a bread recipe but absolutely not banana bread which, to me, is no different from banana cake.

This is a recipe by Agnes Chang. It’s a hybrid recipe because I’ve used her wholemeal loaf recipe to substitute the sweet bun dough for a healthier wholemeal bread. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love munching on small snacks just before starting my workout. I know it's bad but it's a good energy (and mood) booster after a long day at work. I don't believe in totally banishing junk food from my diet because the more you resist, the worse your craving gets. Just remember moderation is key.

Since I ate all the Horlicks Spring Roll crisps that my mum made (I shall make that one day and post the recipe here), I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies to munch on.

This chocolate chip cookies recipe, also known as Toll House Cookies, is a recipe which my mum learnt from a baking class by Chef Goh. I'm not too sure whether this Chef Goh is the famous Alex Goh, but I get the feeling that he's the person.

In case you're wondering why is it called Toll House cookies, the recipe was named after Toll House Inn in Massachusetts after the owner of the inn came up with the chocolate chip cookie recipe in 1936. Thanks Wikipedia!

This chocolate chip cookie recipe is downright delicious and my four year old nephew who's a big fan of chocolate chip cookies practically ate the whole bottle of cookies himself in three days. At least, I did have some over the three days and I happily took this as a compliment.

Read on for the recipe!

White Loaf (Wu Pao Chun's Champion Toast)

Remember I said that every beginner baker should start by baking a basic butter cake? The other thing that a beginner baker should learn is a basic white loaf. 

When I first started baking, I was baking only cakes because I was so comfortable baking cakes that I could do it without thinking and I didn't want to fail at making other things like bread, pastry, kuih. Eventually I  learnt that one cannot survive on cakes. I wanted to have more simple things like bread, to have with jam or kaya or make a sandwich out of it. That was when I thought to myself, I should learn how to bake bread.

This recipe is also from Nasi Lemak Lover's blog. It's called Wu Pao Chun's Champion Toast. Wu Pao Chun is a famous chef from Taiwan who has won many awards in baking competitions so don't be afraid to try his recipe.

Japanese Condensed Milk Bread

The long weekend is upon us again! 2015 is the year of long weekends. What are your plans? For me, you know it, it's bake, bake, bake! Weekend is the time to hone my culinary skills.

I was looking for some quick inspiration for last week's baking project and I came across this interesting bread recipe from Nasi Lemak Lover's blog. She's such a good cook and baker and her recipes are awesome! I would highly recommend visiting her blog for some really good home cooking ideas.


You'll love this Japanese Condensed Milk Bread if you like sweet and milky bread. The portion of this recipe is not huge and it's good if you don't want to store bread too long in the fridge. It'll probably last a day or two for a family of four, depending on how many big eaters you have.

Chwee Kueh (Pickled Radish Rice Cakes)

Chwee Kueh is a Hokkien word and it literally means "water cake". This is a type of rice cake eaten with with stir-fried pickled radish.

I was in the mood for light and savory treat, so chwee kueh it was.

I remember whenever my mum brought my grandma to shop at Jusco, we used to buy  chwee kuehs back after shopping. I don't see them selling chwee kuehs anymore, now you see stuffs more popular with the younger crowds such as Mister Donut, takoyaki and seaweed popiah. Kuih bahulu seems to stand the test of time though since Jusco still sells them.

I don't know where you can buy chwee kueh but it's pretty easy to make.

Left: Mui Choi, Right: Chai Po

You can get packet pickled radish ("chai po") from 99 Mart. As for the preserved mustard green ("mui choi") you can get it from the market.

Mini Nutella Wholemeal Croissant

What a hot day today! I feel like I'm being baked rather than doing the baking.

Since the chicken mushroom pie was so good, I was so pumped up to bake another puff pastry treat.

Went to the supermarket but they only had this wholemeal pastry sheet. The packaging says its suitable for, among others, wraps, pizzas, and there was this picture of cute little fruit tartlets too. Should be ok to make sweet desserts with this?

Watched some videos on how to make croissants just to learn the rolling process for the mini croissant.

I was feeling a bit lazy so this easy peasy Nutella mini croissant was the perfect recipe. All you need is store bought puff pastry, or in my case, wholemeal pastry sheet and a jar of Nutella. 

I didn't take photos of the rolling process, but basically all you have to do is:

1. cut the pastry sheet into a small long triangles, 
2. add Nutella to the wider/ lower part of a triangle, 
3. brush egg wash to the sides of the triangle (to seal the ends)and 
4. roll the lower part to meet the peak of the triangle.
5. Repeat for each triangle.

You'll end up with these tiny crab-looking thing, uh, I meant mini croissants.

They were slightly on the hard and dry side. Doesn't taste so bad with the Nutella though. At least the wholemeal pastry is a good substitute if you're craving pain au chocolat whilst on a diet.

Happy baking skinny desserts! xx

Coffee Muffins with Toffee Fudge Frosting

Last weekend's baking was impromptu because I didn't have the time to plan what to bake. We work so hard but yet are becoming poorer each day. A carton of Dutch Lady UHT milk used to cost RM4.50, now it's RM6.00! Johoreans earning SGD must be laughing all the way to the bank! Tough luck for the rest of us.

I was going through our cookery books collection to look for recipes to try out. I decided to try a coffee muffin recipe from Carol Pastor Best Ever Book of Cupcakes and Muffins since we have all the ingredients required. 

I got this book from Book Axcess quite sometime ago but only tried one recipe so far, I think it's the apricot yogurt muffins.

Rum & Raisin Mousse Cake

First off, the mousse recipe which I used for this cake was not a mousse recipe for cake. It is meant to be eaten from a cup which is why the mousse looks a bit runny. The reason why I used this mousse recipe is because I wanted to finish the leftover egg whites from Ms Beranbaum's cream cheese butter cake. The mousse was kind of rough but it tastes good.

Rose Levy Beranbaum Cream Cheese Butter Cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream

I just had this wonderful cheese butter marble cake which my mum baked from a recipe in The Star newspaper. I was browsing for baking books on Amazon and I came across Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. They say that she's very pedantic with her recipes and you have to follow her recipes to the letter otherwise prepare to face failed cakes. 


I was browsing the free preview of her book and came across her cream cheese butter cake recipe. I thought of the yummy cheese butter cake my mum baked and wondered how Ms Beranbaum's recipe would match up.


Browsing further there's a photo of the cream cheese butter cake with lemon curd buttercream  in glorious yellow greeting you like beautiful morning sunshine.

See what I mean?


Apart from the wonderful combination of cream cheese and butter cake, I was also curious as to how cake would taste like with sour cream - which is the other reason why I was so inclined to this recipe. And lemon curd buttercream! Doesn't it sound so good, the whole combination itself, cream cheese, butter, sour cream and lemon curd buttercream. Certainly doesn't sound like just any other cake to me. 

Quick and Easy Chicken Mushroom Pie

Hearty pies make a great lunch box meal at school or work

I’ve been baking far too many cakes lately and it’s about time to bake more savoury treats that can double up as a main meal. I was thinking of something delicious that can conveniently be packed in our lunch boxes and chicken pie it was. 

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make puff pastry because we don’t know either. Nothing’s wrong with using cheat puff pastry which you can easily find in the frozen section of the supermarket. The one we got is locally made, from Kawan Food. The pastry was fresh and good and you won’t be able to tell that it’s frozen.

Chicken Floss Swiss Roll

Light and airy sponge filled with chicken floss, wasabi furikake and sesame seeds

Happy Friday all!


Today is the last day of the month and last working day of the week! Before we bid farewell to the month of July, let me share with you a popular chinese style swiss roll recipe.


I know I'm a bit out of date because the chicken floss swiss roll was all the hype 5 to 6 years ago but I wanted to bake something savoury that could be eaten for breakfast so I choose chicken floss swiss roll for the weekend's baking project.


I baked swiss roll before but it wasn't very successful. I found out later on that the cake pan we have which is 14" x 12" is too large for normal portion recipe. This time we doubled the recipe and got beautifully baked swiss roll

American Chocolate Cake (Ethan's Birthday Celebration)

I finally had the chance to bake a kid's birthday cake for my adorable nephew who turned two years old. Since I haven't baked chocolate cake in awhile, I looked up my mum's collection of recipes for chocolate cake. I came across several recipes for American Chocolate Cake. Not sure why is it called American Chocolate Cake, maybe because it is rich and sweet like how most Americans like their desserts?


On the topic of chocolate cake, I heard that Le Trianon chocolate cakes are to die for. I was at The Curve last week so I popped by their shop to buy a slice.


Le Trianon sells only two types of cakes and both are chocolate cakes - Trianon and Chocolate Heaven. I wanted to try Chocolate Heaven which looks more like cake but they only sell the whole cake so I ended up getting a slice of Trianon (a very petite and expensive slice I must say). 


Trianon has a thick layer of chocolate on top and the base is made of wafer biscuit. If you ask me, I say it tastes like Ferraro Rocher, but better with less hazelnut flavour. I don't think it's considered a cake because there's no cake in it, just chocolate and biscuit.

Spring Onion Bun

Soft and fluffy buns topped with spring onions and sesame seeds

My second bread post! This is really killing two birds with one stone.


Remember the Green Tea Milk Bun which I made? The dough recipe for this Spring Onion Bun is the same dough recipe for the Green Tea Milk Bun. I merely made two different types of bun with the same dough so that we don't get bored of eating the same bun for a week.


Since the Green Tea Milk Bun is a sweet bun, I decided to make something savoury with the other half of the dough.

No mixer or bread maker required - Green Tea Milk Bun

Pillowy soft green tea milk bun with sweet mung beans

This is my first proper bread post. I don't think I've baked bread before and a rookie baker like me obviously have not heard of the tang zhong / water roux method in bread-making. 


This method involves a starter dough whereby you've to stir bread flour and water and simmer under low heat to make the starter dough. This starter dough is then added to the wet ingredients of the bread recipe. 


All bread recipes should be made according to the tang zhong method because it retains moisture in the dough and keeps the bread pillow-soft and fluffy for a long time. Since this method is commonly used in Hokkaido Milk Bread recipe, I'm calling this Green Tea Milk Bun.

Blueberry Cheese Tart

Buttery and crumbly shortbread crust with light cream cheese filling, blueberry jam and fresh blueberries

One of my favourite desserts is blueberry cheese tart. I remember the first blueberry cheese tart I had was from Berry’s bakery which was oh-so-heavenly. Last I checked, their blueberry cheese tart was still as good and it only costs RM2.90 each (but I don’t know whether there’s a price increase after GST). Talking about GST just makes me sad, let's move on to happier things like creamy and buttery blueberry cheese tart.


I like blueberry cheese tart with a crumbly and buttery crust and creamy cheese filling with lots of blueberry jam. It's called blueberry cheese tart for a reason, so don't stinge on the jam.

Time for a healthy treat - Chia Seed Blondies

Many may have heard of brownies before but have you come across its sister, blondie? 

A brownie is a cross between a soft cookie and cake and is always chocolate flavoured whilst a blondie is the non-chocolate version of brownie. According to a source, blondie contains butterscotch and butterscotch is basically the combination of melted butter and brown sugar used in the recipe.You can tell that both brownie and blondie got their names from their colour. 

There are three textures to brownies/ blondies , fudgy, chewy and cakey. Fudgy brownie is totally moist and dense whilst cakey tends to be light and crumbly. Chewy is somewhere in between fudgy and cakey. Out of the three, I'd go for chewy. A balance in everything would be good, don't you think?

Carrot Banana Cake - Recipe from The Star

Nutty and fruity cake packed with bananas, carrots, sultanas and generous sprinkling of chopped walnuts

Happy Monday! I hope none of us are suffering from Monday blues. Well, if you are, here's a carrot banana cake recipe loaded with sunshine and happiness to cheer you up.


Since this is a recipe from The Star newspaper, I won't be regurgitating the recipe here but if you've missed this recipe, here's a snapshot of the recipe from the newspaper itself. This recipe is by Amy Beh.

The Star, 05/07/2015. Click for larger view.

Strawberry White Chocolate Cupcakes - All-time favourite

A strawberry dream of strawberry pieces, strawberry jam and decadent white chocolate swirled in yellow cake and topped with white chocolate icing and a fresh strawberry

This is the second time I'm trying out a recipe from Beautiful Cupcakes by Kevin Chai. If you're a lover of cupcakes, this is a book you ought to have. Apart from brimming with gorgeous pictures, you can tell that quite a lot of thought have been put into the book as the decorations really complements the flavour of the cupcakes. I like admiring the beautiful pictures and studying the process to see if the recipe works or not.


For me, nothing beats strawberry and white chocolate. My weakness during uni years was Sainsbury's raspberry and white chocolate giant soft cookies. Just had to get them each time I pick up some groceries. Be it raspberries or strawberries, I love the white chocolate combo with either of the red berries.

Women's Weekly Turkish Delight Cupcakes

Rose scented cupcake is a nice addition to your conventional raya goodies and lovely for romantic weddings

If you are lost as to what to bake for raya, may I suggest instead of the conventional kuih raya, try baking some rose scented turkish delight cupcakes. Even as I speak, a lot of baking and cooking are underway in thousands of kitchens in Malaysia in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri. I love it that in a multi-racial country, we are blessed with the opportunity to celebrate and experience the diversity of different cultures. 

This recipe is from Women's Weekly Cupcakes. According to the front cover, the recipes have been triple tested for guaranteed result. This turkish delight recipe is the first recipe I tried from this book. 
 

All went well until the cupcakes were in the oven. They started overflowing and when I got the cupcakes out of the oven they sank. All I got was miserable looking cupcakes not like the perfect one shown in the book. However, all is not lost. With a bit of help from my mum, we improved the recipe. I tried the recipe again the next day.

Ang Ku Kueh (Red Tortoise Cake) - A Special Recipe

Soft and chewy traditional chinese cake with sweet mung beans filling

Ang Ku Kueh which translates to red tortoise cake is a type of chinese cake that is considered an auspicious item as it symbolizes longevity and prosperity. These kuehs and red eggs are usually served at special occassions typically, full moon of newborns, important birthdays as well as prepared as offerings to deities during Chinese New Year and "bai thee kong" (prayers during the Jade Emperor's birthday which falls on the 9th day of the first lunar month). 


You don't necessarily have to wait for a celebration to have these delicious cakes. My mum used to buy ang ku kueh for us when we accompanied her to the market and I've been a big fan of ang ku kueh ever since.