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. 

Baked Cinnamon Doughnuts - Recipe by Ina Garten

Cinnamon doughnuts topped with crunchy brown sugar and sweet-smelling cinnamon make a scrumptious treat for sharing

I love doughnuts. They are one of the most delicious snacks ever created but I hate the fact that they are deep fried which is why I stay away from Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme. 


I was watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina Garten made these wonderful cinnamon doughnuts. Best part is the doughnuts are baked not fried which means less oil used. What girl wouldn't want to enjoy delicious doughnuts with lesser fat content. 

Red Bean Paste Pau (Tau Sar Pau)

White fluffy paus with sweet red bean filling

I love having pau especially sweet filling pau with a cup of unsweetened tea for breakfast. Most of the time my family would get pau from chinese kopitiam (coffee shop) which are kept in large portable gas steamer but those pau are not made in house, most are mass-produced in a factory and distributed to various kopitiams in the city.


I was at the baking section of the supermarket and saw some pau flour. My mum has never made pau before even though they are a favourite in the family. Without any idea and recipe on how to make pau, I got a box of pau flour and some organic red beans home.

Lemon Glazed Chiffon Cake

Light chiffon cake drizzled with zesty lemon glaze

After baking butter and sponge cakes with no difficulty, I told my mum I want to learn to bake chiffon cake. The steps for chiffon cake is quite different from butter cake as you have to beat the egg yolks and whites separately. One golden rule in baking chiffon cake is that the egg whites mustn't be contaminated with anything, be it egg yolks or drops of water. The mixing bowl used to whisk the egg whites has to be spotless to get to the stiff peaks stage.


I find having chiffon cake alone can be quite plain so I like to add something more to it, like a glaze or fresh cream. I wanted to make a lemon chiffon cake so I can do a lemon glaze to go with it. I think the taste would be interesting.

Checkerboard Cookies

Strips of chocolate and vanilla cookie doughs are arranged alternately and cut into slices to form a checked design

Have you ever wondered how these checkerboard cookies are made? I've always wondered and finally found out when I made them myself. Surprisingly, it is not that difficult and they make a wonderful gift from the kitchen.

Red Velvet Parfait

This recipe adds a healthy twist to the much-loved red velvet cake by layering yogurt, chia seeds and crunchy muesli

Remember the Cake Man Raven red velvet which I made with the hole in the middle? I was wondering what to do with the cake crumbs for awhile and I finally made a parfait out of it. This is something you have to make if you're on a diet and want to have dessert. I know diet and dessert shouldn't exist together but if it's any comfort to you, at least you're not gorging a whole piece of red velvet cake. You may choose to share a slice of red velvet with a friend but why do that when you're getting a whole lot more and less calories in this healthy and yummy parfait.

Trying Out Cake Man Raven Red Velvet Cake

Two layers of cake coated in cream cheese frosting and topped with red velvet crumbs

The origins of red velvet cake is unknown as there are three versions of where the recipe came from; 1. It is a Southern USA recipe, 2. It is created in the kitchen of Waldorf Astoria 3. It is from the bakery of the Eaton’s department store in Canada. What we can be certain of is that  red velvet came from America.   


I haven't heard of Cake Man Raven before until recently from the internet. It seems like everybody is raving about his red velvet cake. I am out of date as the hype was back in 2009 when the only red velvet I ate is from Hummingbird, London. Since so many approved Cake Man Raven's red velvet cake as the best ever red velvet cake recipe, I decided to give it a try.   

What to do with your leftover durian? - Durian Cream Cake

Light sponge cake with layers of durian custard and cream

Durian season is here. Have you had any durian yet? Durian a.k.a king of fruits (likely due to being smelly / having thorny skin) is very popular in Southeast Asia, so much so you can find places offering cheap all-you-can-eat durian buffet. There's even a durian room package by Hotel Equatorial for guests to feast on durian and visit durian farm. If you and your family have had too many durian and want to know what you can do with the fruit apart from eating it on its own, you're in luck because here's a good durian cake recipe. 


When I first tasted this cake, I was like, Wow! Didn't know amazing things could be created with durian.