Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I have been quite busy for the past few weeks with work and preparation for my wedding so I didn't have the time to blog about what I baked two weeks ago.

I didn't take a picture of the whole cake but here is a picture of a slice

My sister just gave birth to another baby boy and she has been craving for chocolate cake. Since Mum is too busy taking care of her (my sister's) babies she got me to bake chocolate cake for the household and particularly for my sister. 

Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe - Part 2

Mmm... I know you want that cake, cake, cake, cake ...

After Mum and I got the Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste I have been itching to try the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe which I found when I first started this blog. The recipe for the cupcake is adapted from the Cupcake Project website and is as follows:-

Bento Box

Mmm... nutritious and healthy lunch box

Before I fly off for my short vacation tomorrow I want to share a simple bento box recipe with you so that you can try it over the weekend.

The bento box will consist of rice, chicken nanban, potato salad and cabbage and spinach salad.

Dorayaki - adapted from Cooking With Dog

The finished product. Colour of the pancakes is not even but they are still edible.

 Have you come across Cooking with Dog channel on Youtube? It is a great channel for learning how to make Japanese food. Of late I have become quite interested in Japanese food. I feel very inspired from Cooking with Dog videos and the cute and healthy bento box pictures posted by users I am following on Instagram. I am thinking of making bento box lunch next but I will need to shop for bento accessories first. I shall do that today.

Adriano Zumbo Macaron Mix

Macaron by Adriano Zumbo. Honestly, I have never heard of his name before in the macaron world, maybe it is due to ignorance. Do forgive me. The only two macaron makers I know of are obviously, Laduree whose brand name is synonymous with macaron and maybe not so obvious, Sprungli (I know they are chocolatier but I love their macarons too- Luxemburgerli). If you ever visit Zurich you have to try Luxemburgerli macaron because I tell you they are the best!
 

Tasting the Strawberry Shortcake

Imagine having a slice of this light and airy shortcake with fresh strawberries and cream filling. Mmm... Yummy!

So I tried the Japanese Shortcake after dinner on Monday night. The cake was delicious and people who love light dessert would really enjoy this cake. I think strawberries and cream are the best combination ever (yes even better than chocolate, unless you have chocolate coated strawberries in Germany- They are the best. I kept eating them when I visited Berlin in the first year of my undergrad). I digress. There is however some room for improvements. Since my family and I don’t like our cake too sweet and we've followed the recipe by adding sugar to the cream, I found that the whipped cream was a bit too sweet. I will not add sugar to the cream next time or maybe reduce the sugar. Mum said we’ve to put more strawberries for the filling, two layers of it. As for the sponge, Mum’s layer was very good whereas mine was a bit hard. The cake would have been perfect with more strawberries, less or no sugar in the cream and better top layer sponge. I will try to improve baking a basic sponge and butter cake. 

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake trying out recipe from La Fuji Mama

Bird's eye view of the cake. KC said that I should have removed the strawberry stems because they make the cake look so messy and unappetizing. He suggested that I place the strawberries upside down. What do you think? La Fuji Mama and Ochikeron also don't use the stems on their cake. I just thought the stems will add more colours to the super white cake. Mum thinks so too.

I wanted to write about the Strawberry Shortcake that I was so excited about as soon as I was done making the cake. It was around 6 p.m. when I was just about to write but KC came along and dragged me off my laptop, literally, and forced me to jog with him! I really didn’t feel like exercising today but after so much coaxing I relented. Hence, the slight delay in the post scheduled for today.

Trying Out The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe by The Cupcake Project

The Ultimate Vanilla bee-stung-lips-smiley Cupcakes

There is a cupcake fever at home! Mum has been baking cupcakes for two days straight now, albeit in small quantities. On Monday, she baked her delicious carrot walnut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. She wanted me to try her cupcake and compared it with my (failed) choco coffee cupcakes. Well, the point she was making is that my cupcakes were dry and brittle as compared to her light and fluffy cakes. She thinks it is due to the way I beat the butter and sugar or that I did not beat them long enough. I still think it was because I did not take out the cupcakes from the pan to let them cool. Sorry no pictures of the carrot walnut cupcake because it is already in my stomach (or maybe out already).

Then on Tuesday night when I came home from work, Mum presented me with her blueberry cupcake in cute orange polka dot baking cups. You see, normally when Mum bakes for the household, she will use just any type of cupcake liners since she focuses more on the taste of the cake. I was pleasantly surprised with the effort she made in the presentation of the cupcake yesterday. I tasted some of the cake and as expected it was light, fluffy and delicious!

Choco Coffee Cupcakes - adapted from Kevin Chai Beautiful Cupcakes

The finished product. Thankfully Mum has this convenient cupcake holders for me to carry the cupcakes to work.

A few weeks ago, after I told Mum that I wanted to try out some basic cupcake decorating she made an impromptu purchase of a cupcake recipe book at the newspapers agent near the place she goes for facial. The book, Beautiful Cupcakes, recipes by Kevin Chai is filled with photos of gorgeous cupcakes along with their respective recipes.