FIRST

I scheduled this post a long time ago but unfortunately these two weeks I've been busy attending to my fussy baby.


For my baby's FIRST birthday I initially decided to bake him a cake. Then I thought I would just get some edible prints and stick it on the cakes or cupcakes. Then I decided to just order a cake or an ice-cream cake for him.


Well remember my wilton caddy that I bought years ago? The one that I insisted I had and will use it? Well I never did really used it before and so hubby mentioned that I've spend so much money buying wilton stuff and that I should bake our baby a cake instead of buying one!  *stress*


I decided to make my baby a grover cake because he use to like the monster at the end of this book that hubs bought the app for the iPhone and iPad. Initially I was going to make cupcakes for him hence I even went out to the store to hunt for the tip so I can pipe the fur for grover! I finally decided that cupcakes would be too time consuming to decorate that I decided I will just bake him a cake instead!

Chocolate Cake

I was working like crazy for quite some time and have decided that it was wearing me down hence I decided that I didn't want to work so many hours anymore. Every since I've cut my hours I've had more time to spend in my kitchen to make real food for my family. I am not sure why even though I have more time to cook we still go out to eat the same amount. 

I had craving for some chocolate cake and decided I will make some since I don't fancy buying or eating cake from the store because is always too very sweet for me. 

Lime Chiffon Cake

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

Initially I was planning to make Satay for 4th of July but it's been raining like cats and dogs these past couple of days plus I had to work today so I decided that I'll do that another time. Since hubs and I was home yesterday I suggested that we get some meat to make fajitas at home.So yesterday we went to the store and bought what was needed to marinate the meat. One of the ingredients for the marinate was lime juice and I bought about 15 pieces because it was just $1!!Well since I only used 2-3 pieces to marinate the meat I've been scratching my head to think of what to do with the rest of the limes before it goes bad. Then I thought I would make lime chiffon cake because I know people make orange chiffon cake so why not try lime?

This is my 3rd time making chiffon cake and the first two times I managed to whip the egg white until stiff perk but for some reason this time I could not reach that. I also did not want to over beat the egg white. The egg white became some what stiff but when I toss it around it was sliding a little so I thought to myself as the first sign of failure!Since every thing else was already mixed together I decided I'll just go ahead. Worst comes to worst my cake will just collapse or will not rise as much as its suppose too.

My cake cracked when I took it out from the oven. I'm not sure was it because I open the over one too many times to make sure that it won't burn.

Banana Chiffon Cake

I've been wanting to try and make chiffon cake for a long time but I've read every where that it is very challenging to make one and it takes a lot of practice to try and make the perfect one. 

I have some very ripe bananas that I peeled and froze it and a few dozen of eggs in the refrigerator and decided that I want to try and venture into making a chiffon cake but I did not have a chiffon cake pan or Angel food Pan so I told the hubs that I wanted to get another pan for baking and he asked if I could use the many pans I already have at home which I told him NO because I NEED this pan :). I quickly went to Amazon and found some there but I didn't want to wait hence I went to the store last week and bought the first one that I saw. I've not had the opportunity to use it last week after I bought it because I've just been busy with work.

Finally today I had some time after I made dinner and managed to get the courage to try making it.

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients
(make one 16 ~ 18 cm cake)

3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
30ml cooking oil (I used olive oil)
85g banana puree (about 2 medium size bananas)
1/4 teaspoon banana essence (I used vanilla extract)
55g plain flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C or 340 deg F. Sieve together flour and baking soda, set aside. Mash banana, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar just dissolved. Add in salt, oil, essence and mashed banana. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
4. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till stiff peaks form.
5. Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
6. Pour batter into a 16cm or 18cm (6 inch or 7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Spread and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan gently on a work surface several times to release the air bubbles trapped in the batter.
7. Bake for 25 ~ 30mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould.

I was not too sure about the size of my pan. My pan is about 9.5 inch and I didn't want to make a full recipe so I google and found a recipe from Happy Home Baking that has already been halved. Since she said this recipe is for 6-7inch tube plan I guess I could have made a full recipe or doubled the recipe that I found because mine was pretty flat(Maybe it was suppose to rise higher but I messed it up). Since this is the first time I'm making it and it did not collapse nor looked weird I am more confident in doubling this recipe next time.

The only mistake I made this time was I forgot to add the oil in when I added the mashed bananas salt etc. I added the flour in and noticed that I forgot to add the oil in and quickly added that in before I added the egg white. I am not sure if that did anything to the rising of my cake.

Overall is a yummy cake and I think I might reduce the sugar a little when I add in to mix the egg yolk as I find that my cake was a tad sweet. Hubby and Uncle R liked the cake and this will motivate me to make another one soon. Hopefully it will rise like how its suppose to be. Thanks HHB for this wonderfully and yummy recipe!

Orange Cupcakes

When I made my condensed milk pound cake Uncle Richie didn't come over that evening so I didn't give him any. He would not let me go because he didn't get any..LOL..so when hubby flew back up North to visit his family I send home some banana bread and condensed milk pound cake with him. I told him to leave it there when he comes home so that they can eat it instead. When hubby got home I asked if he left everything there which he told me he left the banana bread there but he took home the pound cake with him. I asked him why didn't he leave the pound cake there to which he replied that it was his! Although the pound cake was a little dense and was not as soft and fluffy as it was suppose to be but he still loves it to bits so he didn't want to leave it at his parents.

Anyway I told Uncle Richie that hubby refused to leave the pound cake there opss...and he kept going on and on about how he didn't get any..lol..so I quickly went to my kitchen and see what I had. I found two oranges which hubby bought and didn't eat and remembered that I saw a recipe for these cupcakes and decided to use up hubby's oranges.

Orange Cupcake recipe adapted here

Ingredients

120g softened unsalted butter
135g caster sugar
185g self raising flour
125ml orange juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

3 tbsp grated orange zest
shredded orange zest to decorate


Method
Preheat oven to 180deg C/350deg F
Put all ingredients except orange zest in a bowl with electric mxier on low speed for 2 min.
Then increase speed for another 2 min until smooth and pale.
Add orange zest. Stir briefly.
Divide mixture into muffin cups and bake for 20 min or till golden brown.
Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

To make icing, simply beat 60g of softened butter using electric beater till pale. Then add in 60g of icing sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice.

Spread over the muffin when muffins are cooled, and decorate with more zest on top if desired.

* I had some whipped cream that I whipped when I had extra heavy cream. I thaw my whipped cream and add some orange juice to it for my frosting.

The cupcakes were a little dense like my pound cake. I think I over mixed my flour again! Next time I will just use a spatula and mix it. However this recipe is a keeper and is also so simple to make. Uncle Richie gave this two thumbs up! :)

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

I don't normally use condensed milk but since I tried making Pai Pau I still had more condensed milk left although I've already made pai pau 3 times. I remember seeing recipes for condensed milk pound cake when I was blog surfing some time ago so I decided to try making it to use up most of my condensed milk that I have left.

Recipe adapted from here

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Ingredients
120g Butter (good quality butter)
55g Sugar * I used about 40 g (I accidentally use brown sugar)
1/4 Tsp Salt
1-1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 Cup Condensed Milk

120g Cake Flour
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder

*Sift together

2 Eggs

Method
1) Grease a 8 x 3-1/2 inch loaf pan and preheat oven to 170 deg.C.

2) In a bowl, using an electric whisk, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in salt, vanilla essence and condensed milk, whisk till incorporated.

3) Stop to add flour. I roughly used the whisk to mix and dampen the flour before turning back on (you don't want the flour to fluff up), whisk using low speed. Scrap down the sides and whisk till the batter is smooth and not lumpy.

4) Add in the eggs, 1 at a time, whisk well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake at 170 deg.C for 1 hour. I baked it at 325 deg F for about 45 minutes.

I am not sure if I over whisk my batter when I was adding the flour. My cake was a little dense however it tasted pretty good. It could be because I didn't add enough sugar that might be the cause of it. Hubby took a bite of it and said that it was very good. At first he asked for some strawberry glaze or something to go with the pound cake but I told him this is not Angel Food Cake deal that goes with Strawberry glaze etc. He hesitated to take a bite but quickly mentioned that it was yummy. He then requested to take some to work the next day. I am not sure is it because I didn't put enough sugar or I accidentally use brown sugar but my pound cake was not as sweet as I thought it would be. I've read a lot of comments that this is a good pound cake but is a too sweet for them. I don't eat sweet stuff too and I thought it was just nice and it could be a little less sweet but this is nice too. I will try this recipe soon using not changing anything and see the difference.

I am also not sure if I over baked it a little. My cake didn't rise as much as other people's that's most likely because I think my pan is a wee bit bigger compared to others. I might also need to reduce my baking time the next time I'm making it so I won't over bake it. It is however a wonderful recipe and I will make it again.

Chocolate Cake

I've been having craving for some chocolate cake for the past couple of days. I've been meaning to try the steamed chocolate cake but then I didn't make that. Oh well I'll try it some other time. Instead I went online and used the recipe that I used to make very first chocolate cake almost 7 years ago. Over the years I've changed it and adapted it to suit my taste and my waist line :)

Chocolate Cake adapted from Hershey

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 apple sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water + 1/2 cup boiling milk

Method
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water+milk (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Frosting

Ingredients
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar milk-enough milk needed for the consistency
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
1. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

This recipe is very easy to put together and I'll have most of the ingredients needed. I've been meaning to try different recipes but I don't have some of the items needed for different recipes that I've been meaning to try plus I'm really lazy to drive out to the grocery store to get the items to try another cake so I just go with this recipe.

Although the cake would be more moist if I used the full amount of sugar but since we don't like our cake so sweet we would deal with it. I knew that the frosting would balanced the sweetness of the cake. Overall everyone loved the cake with no complain :)

Hubby's 2009 Birthday!!

I've been baking hubby a cake ever year for his birthday even since we started dating. I even made his a cake when hubby's bro, girlfriend at that time and us went on a vacation out west to Yellow Stone etc. Some years hubby gets two cakes but sometimes just one. Every year I've been able to leisurely make the cake during the day and wait for hubby to come home at night/when we were dating to go over to my apartment and cut the cake. This year since hub's birthday fell on a Saturday I had to make the cake on Friday and thankfully our relatives stays by the side of us hence I was able to hide the cake at their refrigerator.

This year I was a little nervous about the cake I was going to bake because I was going to bake sponge cake. At the beginning of Spring I tried making swiss roll once and it turned out to be a disaster and I knew that sponge cake would be the similar to making sponge cake but I still wanted to make sponge cake because I want a lighter cake for us especially I knew that we were going to be full after dinner anyway. I wanted to use whipped cream as frosting so that it won't be too heavy to eat after dinner compared to using butter cream frosting.

Determine to make it I went and bought the stuff I needed on Monday. I actually had to buy back up stuff in case the sponge cake didn't work out I would quickly whip up a chocolate cake:). Anyway I got up at about 8:30 am on Friday(which is pretty early for me) and started preparing and making hubs cake followed by Milo's cake. I had to start early just in case the sponge cake did not work out I would have time to make a chocolate cake before hubby gets home from work. I finished making and decorating both cakes at about 3:30pm. Most of my time was used on making hubby's cake because Milo's cake was super simple to make and decorate.

Strawberry Sponge Cake adapted from HHB

Ingredients:

4 eggs, bring to room temperature
1oog caster sugar
4g salt
140g cake flour
30g vegetable oil
30g fresh milk

filling & frosting:
300ml whipping cream
250g strawberries

Method:

1. Sift cake flour, set aside. Grease and line a 20cm round pan, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 180degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.


2. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar & salt on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like texture when the batter is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.


3. Add sifted cake flour into the batter. With a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended.


4. With a spatula, mix about 1/3 of the batter with the salad oil in a separate bowl. Fold in this mixture into the remaining batter. This method will help to ensure the oil will be fully blended and at the same time will not deflate the batter.


5. Add in fresh milk and fold in gently with spatula.


6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and cool completely.

Assemble the cake

1. With an electric mixer, whip the whipping cream with two tsp of sugar and a tsp of vanilla essence until still stiff.
2. Slice the cake horizontally into 2 layers. Place one of the cake layers cut-side down on a cake plate. Spread the whipped cream over the layer.
3. Arrange rings of strawberries to cover the whole layer.
4. Fill with some more whipped cream. Top with the other cake layer, cut-side up.
5. Spread the whipped cream over the top and side of the cake. Decorate as desired.

As usual my decorating skills is not the greatest. I think I over whipped my whipped cream it because watery later or I had it out too long I'm not sure about that. My red colored whipped cream actually bled on the white whipped cream again maybe because it was melting from being out or I over whipped it.

When I took out my Wilton Caddy tool box I realized that I actually have so many tools to make a nice cake. I only take this tool box out about once a year to use some of the stuff in there so I don't remember what I have in there. Anyway I am thinking of enrolling myself for the Wilton Decorating classes that is offered. I don't have any lesson on how to decorate a cake. All the cakes I decorate is not really presentable I think. I want to be able to make a yummy cake that looks nice too.

Overall the cake was a satisfactory. When the cake turned out I was worried that it would not taste good. One worry after another. Anyway hubby loves his cake because is not too sweet and is light and fluffy I even like the cake myself. Uncle Richie didn't care for the cake because he don't care for white cake but hubby said oh well since is not his birthday :P as long as hubby likes it I guess. Maybe I can try and make a swiss roll again ;).

Happy Birthday Uncle Richie!!!

It is officially Uncle Richie's birthday today but because they were going on vacation we decided to celebrate his birthday earlier. Initially I was told that we were going to go out dinner together on Friday night therefore I quickly whipped out a cake for him but hubby said since we are going together it was difficult to take the cake with us to the restaurant without him finding out. So we thought that we would come home and have dessert BUT we were all TOO STUFFED from dinner to have dessert. So I made some plans to grill out and surprise uncle Richie with a cake on either Saturday or Sunday evening. Uncle Richie called Saturday and told us that they were at the grocery store and see if we wanted to grill out together then they can get the stuff to grill out. I hurriedly agree and we grill out on Saturday night and surprised Uncle Richie with his cake.

Cookies and Cream Cake adapted from Kaitlyn

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 cups sugar

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

For the filling:

2 cups heavy cream

1/8 cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

10 chocolate sandwich cookies, chopped (I used 30 oreos)

For the frosting:

2 sticks of butter, softened

5 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat on low speed until all sugar is incorporated; increase speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in chopped cookie pieces with a rubber spatula.

To make the frosting, mix butter, milk and vanilla until smooth. Stir in 4 cups of sugar and beat until smooth. Keep adding ½ of sugar until frosting is at the right consistency.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard cake circle. Pipe a ring of the chocolate frosting around the outside edge of the cake. Fill the area inside the ring of frosting with a thick layer of the cookies and cream mixture. Place the second cake layer on top. Frost the sides of the cake layers with chocolate frosting. Pipe a decorative border of the chocolate frosting on top of the cake. Fill the area inside this border with a thick layer of the cookies and cream mixture. Garnish with extra chocolate sandwich cookies and whipped cream if desired.

I skipped the frosting and used the filling to cover the whole cake. The results of the cake was yummylicious. The original recipe requires 2 Cups of Sugar but since we don't like too sweet of the cake I cut it down to 1cup. I figured that since I used much more oreo cookie than stated the sweetness from the oreo cookie will balance the sweetness.

Strawberry/Blueberry Cake

Strawberries season is here. For some reason this year strawberries are really cheap and sweet. It was selling for $1.50 for a punnet so I bought 4 two weeks ago. Bare in mind that I've already bought god know how many punnet before this and have already frozen them. I decided not to freezer the last two punnet that I have sitting in the fridge so I decided to bake a cake with it.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup of brown sugar (if you want a sweeter cake)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2-2cups strawberries, fresh & coarsely chopped (do NOT use frozen) or fresh blueberries
3/4 cup walnuts (optional)

Method
Chop strawberries coarsely and sprinkle powder sugar over them.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.
In small bowl, beat butter until creamy.
Gradually add sugar, beat 1 minute or until light and airy. Add brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.Stir into flour mixture only until dry ingredients are moistened.
Fold in strawberries and nuts.
Pour into a greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let stand 10 minutes in pan.
Turn out on rack to cool.

The cake is not really beautiful but it taste really good. Uncle Richie took a bite and lurved it. I think I'm going to make more of these because hubby bought more strawberries last weekend and I should use it up before it goes bad.

Double Chocolate Financier Cake

I've been meaning to try this recipe every since I saw it on Lily's website. I decided to make this cake for Aunt L's birthday which falls on the 31st of March but Hubby's grandma was here and wanted to celebrate her birthday with her so we had a get together at our place the Saturday before her real birthday and I had the opportunity to make this cake.

Ingredients:

Cake

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely ground blanched almonds (about 4 ounces)
4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped Chocolate

Ganache

6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream/unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (i used Godiva Chocolates)

Method:

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F convention or 325 f convection.

Two 9-inch round cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with parchment or waxed paper round.

Melt 3/4 cup butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until light brown, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes. Cool.

Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa, and salt into medium bowl.

Whisk egg whites in large bowl until foamy, then add sugar; whisk at medium speed. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla and continue to whisk until soft peak.

Add flour mixture; whisk just to blend.

Add ground almonds; whisk just to blend.

Using whisk, put in some of the batter above and fold in browned butter, then chopped chocolate. Add this to all the batter and fold in to blend.

Divide batter between prepared pans, smoothing tops.

Bake cakes until firm to touch and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes.

Cool cakes on rack 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off paper. Cool completely.

For chocolate ganache:

Place chocolate in small metal bowl.

Bring cream to boil in small saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate; whisk until smooth.

Add butter, 1 piece at a time, gently whisking to blend between additions, adding as little air as possible.

Transfer 2/3 cup ganache to heatproof 1-cup measure with spout.

Place bowl with remaining ganache over bowl of ice water. Stir until semi-firm and thick enough to spread. Set aside for filling.

Line rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Place rack on sheet.

Place 1 cake, flat side down, on rack.

Strain apricot jam into small skillet; bring to boil.

Spoon warm jam over cake, spreading evenly almost to edge.

Let cool 5 minutes.

Drop filling by teaspoonfuls all over cake, then spread in even layer.

Place second cake atop filling, bottom side up.

If glaze is too firm to pour, rewarm in microwave at low power in 15-second increments until pourable.

Pour over cake, allowing glaze to drip down sides and using offset spatula to spread glaze evenly over sides of cake.

Chill cake 2 hours.

Do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead.

Cover with cake dome; keep chilled.

Arrange sliced almonds/chocolates atop cake.

My cake came out really different from Lily's and I still needs to have a lot more practice to decorate the cake. I did not make three layer cake because I didn't think that I had enough dough therefor my cake is much shorter than hers. I decorated my cake with Strawberries because I thought it would be easier and that's what I had. Uncle Richie bought some Vanilla ice cream and we all had it with ice cream. It was really yummy and I would try and make it again. The only thing I'll do different is to make sure I chopped the chocolate really fine because I had a couple of big chunks in the cake which made it difficult to bite for the elder people. I was lazy and I chopped my almond and chocolate together (mistake #1). I just have to learn to follow direction more instead of just doing it my own way but no harm done at least it didn't taste bad after all.

Here I would like to wish dear Aunt L a very Happy Birthday and we are really happy that we got the opportunity to celebrate your birthday with you. Thank you for bringing joy and happiness into every one's life. We love you..xoxo (I know is late but better late than never)

Six Layer Coconut cake with Mango Filling

I was browsing through some recipes website and I stumbled upon Kaitlyn's blog and found this interesting cake recipe. I bough some mangoes last week when I did grocery and I knew that they were sweet and fresh so I figured I could make my own mango puree and make this cake. I knew that this cake was very time consuming and tedious (I like to make easy stuff) but I wanted to try it. Since yesterday was hubby and my wedding anniversary (3 years and 11 months) I used that as a reason to slave in the kitchen.

Ingredients

Cake

• 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 21/4 cups sugar (I used 2Cups but I think I could reduce it a little more)
  
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 6 egg whites

Filling

• 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2cup)
  
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup passion fruit nectar or puree (Used Mango puree)
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean—split, seeds scraped (Didn’t have any so omitted)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Topping

• 2 cups large, unsweetened dried coconut flakes (Used sweetened shredded coconut)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the bottom of three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt at low speed. Mix in the butter, coconut milk, water and vanilla until combined. Scrape down the bowl and beat at high speed until very smooth, 2 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, 2 minutes. Fold half of the egg whites into the batter until incorporated, then fold in the remaining whites until no streaks remain. Divide the batter among the cake pans. Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert them and let cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling: In a saucepan, whisk the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the passion fruit nectar, egg yolks and vanilla seeds and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until thick, 6 minutes. Remove from the heat; whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Scrape the filling into a glass bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
5. Using a serrated knife, cut each cake in half horizontally to create 6 layers. Set one layer on a cake plate. Spread with 6 tablespoons of the filling. Repeat with the remaining 5 cake layers and filling, ending with a layer of cake. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
6. Meanwhile, make the topping: Spread the coconut on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stirring once, until lightly toasted. Let cool. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream with the sugar until medium-firm peaks form.
7. Frost the top and side of the cake with the whipped cream and coat with the coconut. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

* Next time I would double the filling because I did not have enough to spread it and could barely taste the mango. Uncle Richie and Hubby thinks I should not have so many layers next time because it looks like it is going to fall. It will save me a lot of time too if I didn't have so many layers.

My cake don't look as good as Kaitlyn. It was getting late and I was getting hungry. I wanted to make dinner and finish the cake so it has time to refrigerate. I hardly refrigerate it and only managed to refrigerate the cake for about an hour after I spread the icing. The cake is not the healthiest food but we all do need to indulge once in a while right? Although this took me a lot of time but it is definitely worth the work.

Steamed Banana Cake

Every time when we buy bananas that has ripen and we've not manage to finish them I'll peel the skin and freeze the bananas in the fridge to use when I have the mood of time to make banana cake. While blog hopping I've read that many people have actually tried Chow Times steam banana cake and since I've been craving for banana cake but is too lazy to bake, have frozen bananas hence I decided to try this recipe. It is absolutely yummy and I would make it again. I am not sure if hubby would like the banana cake because sometimes when I think he would like things I make but then he doesn't and like wise. He's been surprising me lately with food that I think he would not like but absolutely love them.

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 egg (can be substituted with 50ml of milk or water; substitute egg with water works fine)
  
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 teaspoons water (I skipped this step because there was water in my bananas when I defrost mine from the freezer)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup icing sugar ( I used brown sugar)
  
• 100g (2/3 cup to close to 1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins, optional

Method

• Place all ingredients in a bowl.
  
• Mix well with a fork.
  
• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Steam the cake on a rack for 15 to 18 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the steamer and let the cake cool for a few minutes. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake and pop the cake out of the bowl. Here you are, a warm and fragrant cake ready in less than 25 minutes. You may add some chocolate chips if you prefer.

* No picture taken as you can get them from Chow time's website.

I'm glad I found a yummy and healthy banana cake. Hopefully hubby would like it so that I can keep making this yummy and simple dish.

Hershey's chocolate cake and carrot cupcakes

I've been feeling pretty tired this few days and not wanting to do anything..PMSing I'm assuming ..or maybe even because of the weather.
Since hubs birthday was on a Friday; I decided to start baking his cake on Thursday night so I can attempt to make the frosting and maybe even decorate it on Friday and leave me some time to get ready for his birthday dinner on Friday night. I made Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and instead of making a whole carrot cake I made it into carrot cupcakes. The only changes I made to the chocolate cake was instead of using 2 Cups of Sugar I used 3/4C of sugar and 2TBSP of oil mixed with apple sauce to make it enough for 1/2C because I didn't want to use 1/2C of oil as specified. The did the same for the carrot cupcakes too. I used 2 TBSP of oil and the rest I substitute it with apple sauce and also used 3/4C of sugar. I also added walnuts to the carrot cupcakes as requested by Uncle Richie. The reason why I use less that half of the amount of sugar was because I knew that the icing will balance it out and I didn't want my cake to be too sweet hence more fattening.

chocolate cake

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I was also going to write "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on the chocolate cake but I didn't do it. I guess I was unmotivated and frustrated because the icing was starting to melt because of the hot weather but I figure hubby is a big boy now he don't need any special wording on his cake anyway :P. The verdict of the chocolate cake was it was good and just sweet enough and almost taste like a dark chocolate cake. The carrot cupcakes was yummy and hubby said that its one of my best carrot cake. I'm thinking it might be because of the walnuts that makes it more chewy who knows. I'm just glad every body liked the cake because I was in no mood what so ever to decorate and make the cakes pretty/beautiful.

We went for dinner on Friday night but it was pretty late because hubby had to work late. We went to this barbecue place by the mall (forgot the name). It was pretty good but a little expensive. No time for pictures because everyone ate their food as soon as it arrived as everyone got pretty hungry at that time.

On Saturday we went to the mall to return my jeans and to check out Iphone for my bestie in KL but surprisingly MAC store don't sell Iphone outright because they have this contract with AT&T the cell phone company here. So I'm going to have to stop by an AT&T store soon to see how much it would cost. Hubby was complaining and wanted to leave because he said that he's been to the willowbrook mall (this is only his second time!) and he wanted to go to a different mall. We passed by a Japanese restaurant by the mall and I've been telling him that I want to try this place since we arrived here so the deal was we would go to this Sports store and then go eat there. We walked around the sports store because hubby is looking for a bicycle for himself but I'm going to be using it first until mine arrives (we left mine up North because we had no room to take it with us). Then we went to eat at the Japanese restaurant. I would surely go back there again and this time I'll ask Uncle Richie and Aunt L to go with us because Uncle Richie would be more fun to eat with since hubs only eat specific food. Then Uncle Richie called to see if hubs was free to look at a Motorcycle with him that he was kind of interested. After that Uncle Richie took us to two more bicycle stores to look at them. It was about 4pm by the time we went home and I suggested that if Uncle Richie and Auntie L was home we should take Stanley to go play with their dogs since he hasn't really had any friends. It was too late to go to the Galleria anyway because I want to have a full day at the Galleria because I know it's huge and there is a lot of stores to visit..heheh..We then went over to their house (no pictures because it was just a zoo with 3 dogs [one big, one medium and small]) It was so funny seeing Stanley with them. They are also not used to Stanley and seeing a small dog. All the dogs were worn out after we left the house.
We attempted to go to the Galleria again on Sunday but we didn't because I just wanted to laze at home and do nothing. Stanley and I took naps while hubby was online doing personal and work related stuff. When I was sleeping I had a dream about ice cream cone so when I got up I made hubby go to the grocery store with me to go get some ice cream cone..hahah..and came home. We were also supposed to visit the gym Uncle and Auntie goes to but they were not going yesterday so we might visit the gym today. We want to go check and the gym and decide if we really want to join the gym which looks like we are going to but we will check it out first before we make any decision. It's pretty expensive but we are hoping that it'll be worth it health wise and we know that Uncle Richie will shame us into going the gym anyway. They have their own personal trainer there but we won't need to hire one because Uncle Richie can just show us how anyway. I'm hoping to be able to lose some weight and have some muscles when I join the gym...hahah..*finger cross*

Chocolate Cake

Ever since I came down to Houston I've been trying to bake/make goodies(or sweets) once a week because I know there are more people here that will actually appreciate or try my baking. Last week I made Apple Cake this week I had cravings for something chocolaty so I decided to make chocolate cake. My rule actually was that I don't usually use the oven during summer because it's already so hot therefore I don't want my house to actually heat up more because of the heat from the over but since Uncle Richie Rich requested baking goods one time I decided to make some and give it to him because he's been helping us with a lot of stuff ever since we moved down here. So being the lazy me I decided to make...

One Pan Fudge Cake
Ingredients

• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cups of vegetable oil
• 2/3 cups of apple sauce
  
• 1 1/2 cups water/coffee
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In an ungreased 9 x 13 pan- yes UNgreased, sift all dry ingredients.
3. Add the liquids and stir just until blended.
4. Bake for 25 minutes.
5. Frost with your favorite frosting, cake is extremely moist so care must be taken that you don't tear up the top of the cake.

* I was too lazy to make the frosting I just sprinkled some chocolate chip on it so it melts as my icing for the cake
** The reason why I didn't give any credit to the person /the site that I found this recipe was because I changed the recipe to make it low fat/low sugar.
*** This recipe is so easy to make and the ingredients is always readily available at home hence I used this recipe and tweaked it.

Uncle Richie Rich and Aunt L watches what they eat and they tend to work out a lot so I don't want to spoil their fitness plan moreover hubby has been trying to watch his weight too so that's why I decided to change it to make it healthier for them.

Stanley was pretty quiet and good when I was preparing the cake and I was wondering what he was doing so I decided to quietly sneak in to the room and found:

He is sleeping in between my bolster and laptop and is laying on my pillow...

Apple Cake

I made an apple cake two Saturdays ago because we had some apples left that I bought and never ate it. I took some to work for some nice co workers and hubby ate them all. Hubby loves it that he ate it none stop ever after I was done baking. I almost didn't have enough to take it to work for my co workers. This recipe is a good way to get ride of apples that's not fresh and getting soft.

Apple or Pear Cake

CAKE
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs , beaten
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 or more big apples or pears (if you want to be able to bite/taste the apples cube it bigger)

TOPPING

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 lb butter

Cake:.

Mix all cake ingredients by hand in order given.

Pour in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan or springform pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and remove.

Topping:.

In saucepan mix all ingredients and bring to a slow boil for 3 minutes.

Pour over cake and return to oven for 4 minutes.

No mixer or tons of dishes needed..Love yummy yet simple recipes.

White Cake with Caramel Frosting

Since I like to browse thru the recipes site that always make me have cravings for what ever I see there. Today I've been looking at cakes and I wanted to have some cake. I had a piece of cake at hubby's grandpa's funeral and it was really awesome. I was hoping that I can find a recipe like the cake I ate. It didn't come out to be like the cake I ate at the funeral but it tastes pretty good too.

White Cake

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter

1/4 oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar,oil and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Caramel Cake frosting

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
confectioners' sugar, as needed

Directions

Cook sugar and butter for two minutes.
Stir in 1/4 cup milk.
Bring to a boil; cool.
Stir in 10x (confectioner's) sugar, until thick enough to spread.
Makes enough for 2 large cake layers.

Yogurt Cupcakes

When I go to the grocery store I have a list that I try to stick to it. Hubby and me sometimes go a insane buying stuff hence we have two refrigerator and a freezer. At time when I walk pass the yogurt isle I'll tell myself I want to be healthy and eat yogurt everyday hence we will be greedy and stock up on it. We stocked up on it and do not have the cravings to eat them and it would be a waste to just throw them away.

Since we had to attend two Christmas party over the weekend I decided to make some yogurt cake and also for the very first time use my Wilton decoration kit that I bought over the summer. Sorry I should say tried to use the decoration kit.

Yogurt Cake

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar (I used 1/4 C of white and 1/4 C of brown sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt (I used 11/2C of peach yogurt)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the yogurt. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown comes out clean.

p/s: I changed this recipe because I didn't want my cupcakes to be too sweet and I was going to put icing on top because my icing was not stiff enough it didn't look pretty :(




We attended two Christmas party has weekend. Saturday was FIL's side and Sunday was MIL's side and therefore I made a batch to take over for both days because I don't want any left overs but yet we still have. We (MIL, FIL, Hubby etc) talked about not getting presents for each other this year so I am not stress about any presents at all this year *yippie* but I decided I'll just bake some stuff as a present and since BIL like the Caramel Apple Bread I told hubby that I'll make that for him as a Christmas present. I haven't decided what I'll make for the in laws. I am thinking of making a Cinnamon raisin bread but have not decided still.

Hubby's cousin..She's 4 years old and she's adorable..Elisa was wearing her jeans and sweater but when I went down the basement to look for her she was just sitting prettily on the couch wearing her snow white dress.

Cake

Brought this cake to work (when I was still working) and A's parents house once and everyone loved it including my BIL who thought it was banana cake because he would only eat certain cakes.

Wonderful Yogurt Cake

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the yogurt. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown comes out clean.