Indonesian Cheesecake (Bolu Keju)

Got to know a fren thru some online shopping and we hit it off very well. Recently when I shared some if my bakes (thru whatsapp) and got to know that she have a sweet tooth and love pastries. Promised to bake her sometthing should we have a chance to meet up. A pity that she stay so far away if not we wld have companion for morning kopis at time. 

She told me that she missed a traditional indonesian cheesecake with a pic and I am clueless what is the name, where to find a recipe for it. 😂😂😂 But being secretive, i do not want to ask her as I thought it would be a pleasant surprise should i managed to find it thru web. So I began my search and found out that its actually called Bolu Keju. 

The recipe uses creaming method which is similar to making a spongecake. Gosh! 😱😱 My enemy when it comes to baking as I failed many times using this method. Either my cake comes out hard, middle uncooked or any other appearances that fails. So am kinda worried. And day before the meetup, I was busy with some sort so I didnt have time to bake ahead. But I jumped the gun and decided to do it the morning before we meet.

I tried and surprisingly, the sponge looks good! And i added an additional 15g coco powder as she is craving for the cake in chocolate flavour. (I couldnt find 1 in chocolate) I quickly bring out remaining ingredients to prep for the cream, and need to grate th cheddar on my own as the ntuc near me doesnt have any grated cheddar. 

Finally assembled and hopefully the buttercream taste well as I do not have any magarine at home. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 It’s my first time assembling, grating the cheese and it was quite messy. But tastewise, I personally love it! And its my first time that my sponge looks good! 😂😂

Pls try this recipe! You totally or should I say I have never seen this kind of cake being sold outside. 😋😋

Indoneisan Cheesecake aka Bolu Keju (adapted & modified slighty from maribermaindidapur)

4 Yolks

2 Eggs

50g Sugar

50g Cake Flour

15g Coco powder

10g Cornflour

50g Butter

1/2tsp Condensed Milk

1tsp Vanilla bean paste

Butter cream

75g Butter

25g Icing sugar

1tsp Vanilla bean paste

200g Grated Cheddar

1) Microwave butter, condensed milk for 20-30sec and leave aside

2) Cream yolks and egg, adding sugar gradually til multiply in volume

3) Turn to low speed, add in sifted dry ingredients 

4) Continue to beat at low speed, adding in oil mixture

5) Stop mixer and fold in gently to make sure all is mixed

6) Pour onto baking tin with baking paper and bake at 170deg for 30mins

7) Cool before slicing cake into halves

8) Using a whisk, whisk butter cream together til it turns pale whote

9) Spread buttercream on both halves of cake.

10) Grate 200g cheddar over both halves and stack 1 on top of the other.

Chocolate Chips/Cheese Castella

Last night I was searching for recipes to try then I chanced upon this Chocolate Chips recipe that someone made for her gal's P6 destress snack! So sweet of the mama to ask her P6 gal what would she like to eat, knowing that they are stressed with the upcoming exams! And such, I decided I wanna try it and destress myself from all the homework woes! 😂😂

Today I was lazy to set the Kitchenaid as I was watching my boy as I made the prep for the cake. So i manually beat my whites into peaks. And my boy was so fascinated with it. Can you see him? 😆😆

I slowly did 1 ingredients at a time and mix then up. The chocolate batter after adding in oil, was a bit effort when I mix them with milk & egg yolks. Did took me a while. (Maybe old liao, engine rusty)

The whites, gosh! The 10-15mins of beating it, almost break my right arm! But at least the whites was nicely whipped up to peaks. I quickly warm up my oven as I fold in the whites.. (As I type, I suddenly recall I wanna make some meringue cookies for my kiddos... 🤔🤔)

 

A quick idea came to mind to try using cheddar but as I wanted to let the kids bring to school, I make a half-half flavour. And to be honest, the cheese goes well with the chocolate! Slurrpppp.. Both myself and helper couldnt stop eating.. Try it!

Chocolate Chips/Cheese Castella (adapted from stephiews Blog)

5 Whites

65g Sugar

50g Vegetable Oil

25g Coco Powder

65g Cake Flour

90g Milk

5 Yolks

2 Slice of Cheddar

Some chocolate chips

1) Warm vegetable oil for 2 mins in microwave. (If you do not have microwave, you can warm slightly on stove top, til small bubbles want to form up and off heat)

2) Add coco powder and flour and mix well til no lump

3) Add milk and yolks and mix well til no lumps

4) Beat whites and add sugar gradually til soft glossy peaks

5) Add 1/3 of meringue to batter, then pour batter over to remaining meringue

6) Pour half batter on baking tin, then add cheddar slices (more if u want to have a whole cake with cheddar in between. I used 2 as I made a half-half portion). Cover with remaining batter

7) Bake at 170deg for 30-45mins til skewer comes out clean. Dont need to invert, cool in slightly ajar oven door. 

Sweet Potato & Taro balls with Sago II

I re-try this recipe as the previous round was a bit thick. So today I tried a 1:4 coconut milk to water proportion. It turns out better and not too thick. The flavour is better and this is really nice. Thus I want to re-share the recipe again. 

Sweet Potato & Taro Balls with Sago II

800 ml water

200ml coconut milk

250g Sweet Potato, cubed

1/2 cup Sago 

1/2 pkt of Frozen taro balls

Rock sugar to taste

1) I take a bit of water and boil sweet potato til almost soft. Drain.

2) Bring 800ml of water to boil with sago and frozen taro balls. Add rock sugar to taste.

3) Add in sweet potato cubes. Stir in coconut milk gently.

4) Cool slightly and serve warm!

Steam Egg Saga

Have been hearing my gal rave about steam egg or chawanmushi in school. She has been 加料-ing in school whenever she buy rice for recess. And the other day, my mama group sent a perfectly smooth steam egg, gosh, I need to master it. And the topic was how to perfectly steam 1..???

I google recipes and mostly recommended the ratio of 1egg:1.5water and that to sieve egg mixture to remove air bubbles, and also to cover with foil/plastic film/lids/plates. So the idea was not to let the droplets fall back while steaming. And also the heat need to be low in order to be successful.

This recipe doesnt use any salt or msg so its suitable for babies who are not allergic to eggs to consume. I used mushroom powder or ikan billis powder to season food that I give to my baby at home. Now that baby is coming to 16months, I bought this 2 types of powder which is MSG-free. Easily available at NTUC.

So i tried day 1, with the same ratio kod 1:1.5 and steam for 20-25mins but my helper go and open the lid of the pot halfway thru steaming. So i failed. Many big  air bubbles on the egg.

Day 2 lunch, i tried again. Steam for 20mins, added chopped tomatoes and baby spinach. Steamed for 20mins. Texture is better but I am thinking cld be over-steaming and thus the 'pimples'.

Day 2 Dinner, tried again. 1 with cling wrap and 1 without. Both texture is acceptable. And did i mention, I did not sieve the egg mixture at all. So i think the secret is not to over-steam them and to steam over low heat.  

Left is without covering and right is with cling wrap. Can you see the difference? And this is our yummy dinner tonite! The 3 kiddos all love it!

Steam Egg Recipe (Makes 5)

150g Eggs (approx 4, depending on the size of your egg)

225g Water

Dash of pepper

1tsp Sesame Oil

2tsp Mushroom Powder/Ikan Billis powder for taste

1) Beat egg and water well. Add in all above seasoning and mix gently

2) Pour into glass bowls 

3) Steam for 15mins, counting from water boil

Sweet Potato & Taro Balls with Sago

Recently looking for more interesting recipes with food that contains Iron. Sweet potato is 1 of them. Light snacks after school are tough too as i wanted it to be light and yet can fill them up til dinner at 6pm. I mix the varieties of snacks based on what I packed for school recess. So today I served them pizza and this sweet dessert.

I boil the sweet potato cubes in water til almost soft and added the taro balls, sago, rock sugar and coconut milk. Bring to boil and taste. Sorry that I didnt had any exact measurement and all based on a rough estimation so pls dont put in all at 1 time but rather add water, rock sugar and coconut and taste to your preference.

This is the taro balls i got! Great to add to rice dumplings soup too!!

Light and simple on a lazy afternoon. I am having it for tea break! Slurrpp...

Sweet Potato,& Taro Balls with Sago

2 Sweet Potato, cubed

1/2 pkt of Frozen Taro balls

1/3-1/4 cup of sago, uncooked (depends how much you want)

500ml water

50ml -70ml coconut milk

30g Rock sugar to taste

1) Boil 500ml of water with sweet potato cubes.

2) Once sweet potato soften, add sago, taro balls, rock sugar and stir well.

3) Add coconut bit by bit and taste. Bring to boil and cool before serving.

Banana Cake

Die also wanna do a Banana cake so quickly find a simple and easy recipe online. Wanna make some sweet potato banana cupcakes but kept on reading over and over and wondering if the kids will like it. So I ended up just baking a plain old fashion Banana Cake.

Saw a few sponge cake method recipes but it deter me. I want a recipe whereby I can throw everything into a bowl and mix it up. Esp with the 3 rascals close to bedtime, I just need a simple, easy and delicious recipe. And finally i stumbled on this from Bear Naked Food!

It is soft, sweetness of the banana and yummy! Love how soft and moist the cake texture is. 

And so the 2nd king at home says he wants to trade chocolate muffins for them! 

Banana Cake (adapted from Bear Naked Food)

110g Butter

150g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste

2Tbsp Milk

3 Big Banana

160g Cake Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Cinnamon Powder

Pinch of salt

1) Mix butter and sugar til dissolved. 

2) Add eggs, vanilla paste, milk and mix well

3) Mash banana and mix to mixture

4) Sift flour over mixture and mix until no flour can be seen. Do not overmix.

5) Bake at 160deg for 50-60mins

Chocolate Muffins

Saw this easy and simple recipe from cookat and simply had to make them. Great for lunchbox treat for the 2 older kiddos. Took me barely 30mins to put them together. 

I dont know how to copy the exact link from facebook for this recipe so pls follow the link above to go to their facebook page and follow them for more interesting recipes.

I put 1 tiny teaspoon of nutella, worried about too much chocolate and heaty stuff. Tried and its yummy! When it is in the oven, kids couldnt stop asking about it. Try it!

Chocolate Muffin (Makes 11 mini muffins)

150g Butter

110g Sugar

110g Egg (approx 2 big eggs)

270g Cake Flour

40g Coco Powder

12g Baking Powder

120g Milk

1tsp vanilla paste

Nutella 

Some chocolate chips

1) I mix butter and sugar til combine

2) Add egg 1 by 1

3) Sift flour, coco powder & baking powder over mixture and mix well

4) Add milk and mix. Do not overMix

5) Scoop batter half-filled and put 1 teaspoon of nutella. Cover with batter and sprinkle chocolate chips

6) Bake at 180deg for 20-25mins

Avocado Chicken & Quinoa Salad

Did a simple and healthy salad to bring along for our picnic. Consist of chicken breast, sautee ham, tomatoes, avocadoes, quinoa, corn & fusilli.. Coupled along with a few drops of lemon juice, I added Zesty italian dressing and mix it up before bringing along with us.

A very fast recipe that barely needs 30mins to prep and assemble. Some prep work done night before and minimal work next morning.. And you have a fulfiling and healthy salad for all! Oh, did I mention, my kids love salad and us too!! 

Avocado Chicken & Quinoa Salad

4 Strips Chicken Breast 

4 Slices Ham

1/2 Cup Corn

1/2 Cup Quinoa

1 Cup Fusilli

1 Cup Cherry Tomato

2 Avocado

Zesty Italian Dressing

Few drops of lemon juice

1) I use 1 pot enough to add Fusilli, Quinoa, Corn & Chicken breast to boil. Drain

2) I cut the ham into small squares night before and bake/sautee slightly on the morning

3) Cut cherry tomato into halves. Cut avocado into cubes and add lemon juice and stir to prevent browning

4) Add all ready ingredients in container except chicken breast. Tear chicken breast directly into container

5) Add salad dressing and stir til desired taste.

Banana Chocolate Muffins

Last min decided to bake banana muffins so had to search for an easy recipe. Wanted to bring them for our picnic and since its early morning, so wanna pack simple. Bringing along a salad and some muffins, along with some titbits. We decided to grab lunch instead of prepping lunch.

Search a few blogs and decided to go with Grace's recipe. Her recipe always looks so yummy. And this recipe is very straightforward. Only 2-bowl, mix together and bake. But in my haste, coaching helper at the same time, i dump all the wet ingredients then dry on top. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Luckily it still turns out well. And I also hide 1/2 cube of Laughing Cow cheese in the muffins. I hope the kids enjoy their snack. And since I only have 2 small bananas at home, approx 90g, I halve the recipe. Yummy!! My gal super love it!

Oh and did I mention that the salad is yummy! Along with the Zesty Italian dressing, oooohhhhh!! Yum! I will share the recipe when I am free to do a short write up!

Banana Chocolate Muffins (adapted from Taglicious)

2 small bananas (90g)

25g Brown sugar

20ml Oil

15ml Milk

1tsp Vanilla paste

1 Egg

95g Cake Flour

1tsp Baking powder

1/2tsp Salt

Handful of chocolate chips

1) I put above ingredients in the above sequence and do a quick mix

2) Add chocolate chips last, according to the amount you want

3) Scoop batter and fill 1/2 of cupcake case, put 1/2 cheese and cover with batter til 80% full

4) Bake at 170deg for 20-30mins