Kueh Bolu - III

Another attempt on Kueh Bolu again, much raved by a fellow baking lover, Cindy thus I am so tempted to bake them. It originates from a baking lover, Soh Pin Tee from BW and Cindy added vanilla extract to make it more fragrant.

I tried the recipe as I forgot to buy bread for the kids, so it will comes in handy for them as breakfast. I did 3 versions - Plain, Chocolate Rice & Pandan. All taste equally yummy and fragrant. You should try them if you have time!

Kueh Bolu (adapted from Soh Pin Tee, modified by Cindy)

30g Plain Flour (I use Cake flour)
1 egg

25g sugar

1/4Tbsp Veg oil

1/4tsp Vanilla Extract

Some melted butter to grease the pan

1) Preheat oven at 200deg, put greased pan to heat them

2) Beat sugar & eggs til it increased in volume

3) Fold in flour, add oil & extract

4) Put batter into greased and 'preheated' pan

5) Bake for 10-12mins or til golden brown

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Saw NTUC selling blueberries at 2 for $4.95 if I remember correctly, so decided to use them for baking.. Berries is very good for us so it's good to indulge in them occasionally... Decided to use them with this recipe from Little Teochew as I saw a fellow baker post a pic of them and I fell in love and registered it in my To-Do list! 

First, the recipe asked for 150g Butter and my Elle Vire butter is 200g per block so I dun wan to have leftover, I ended using 1 and 1/3 of the recipe. And in my calculation, I accidentally added 35g more of cream cheese so I added additional 20g of flour, using a combi of plain and cake flour. =) Blur sotong rite!?

The end results, I made plain and blueberries flavour, it yummy. For someone who don't really enjoy all the pastries but only baking pleasure, I fell in love with it. It is light, moist and with a tinge of sour from the blueberries, cake is not overpowering with the butter nor cream cheese. 1 word - NICE!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake (adapted from Little Teochew) 

*i made a 4", mini heart shape, 4 mini loaf & 12 mini cuppies*

260g all purpose flour(160g plain + 100g cake)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

200g unsalted butter, room temperature

226g package cream cheese, room temperature

220g castor sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Zest of a lemon or orange (I omit tis)

1) Cream butter and cream cheese til light n fluffy. Add sugar in 3 addition

2) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. 

3) Add eggs 1 at a time, mix well. Add Vanilla essence

4) Mix in flour and pour into prepared tin

5) Bake at 170deg for 50mins

*cuppies is 20min, mini loaf is 30mins and the rest is 40-50mins*

Happy Valentine Day to all!!

Happen to chance upon this entry from Ancoojournal and it looks yummy and interesting to me. So since its CNY and we have Bak Kwa at home so why not try. And as V-day is approaching, I decided to make it in lil hearts to 'celebrate' V-Day!!

Personal opinion, I feel that it is not buttery enough, but it's not very sweet and it goes well with the chew Bak kwa. Eh, should I add a little more sugar the next round and try with another brand of butter? Erm... I am not too sure cos I am nt a fan of Bak kwa definetely and I am just baking them for the fun and also to have some lil hearts for V-Day. 

On the other hand, hubby likes it, as well as grandma. They says it was addictive and can't stop. They liked it as it wasn't too sweet and it goes well with the saltish & sweet Bak kwa. So, different people have different views about it. So, try it. For me, I don't have enough of my pineapple tarts yet and forcing hubby to deviate from his usual route to get me 1 more box tml! Yeah!!

Bak Kwa Cookies (adapt from Anncoojournal)
125g Butter, soften
35g Icing sugar
40g small Egg
1/2 Vanilla extract
200g Plain flour
65g Bak Kwa, mini diced

1) Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy

2) Add the egg and beat till well incorporate. Add Vanilla and mix

3) Add the flour and bak kwa, and mix thoroughly.

4) Put the dough in a plastic bag, roll it out evenly. Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes until firm

5) shape it accordingly

6) Bake at 180C for 16-18 minutes, or until it turned slightly brown.

Irisa is 4

With just a 2 days allowance, I had to managed my CNYorders and come up with a 3D Princess Cake + 14 cupcakes for Irisa school birthday celebration. It's a feat to me and I am glad that I managed to come up with a good and satisfying end product! It brought a huge smile on her face and that is priceless! 

I used DeQueen's Moist Choc Cupcakes this time and used MrsNgSK buttercake for the Pincess base. The cupcakes was yummy, as well as the base. And this round I used MMF to cover the base of Princess Cake as well as the decorations. I really admire those people working with fondant all the time, it really was not easy.. So a simple princess and there she goes.

Moist Chocolate Cupcake (adapted from DeQueen)

• 63g softened butter
• 70g sugar (original recipe was 80g)
• 80g plain flour
• 13g cocoa powder
• 1/4 of 1/4 teaspoon coffee paste
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 60g milk
• 6 pieces of choco mint chocolate(i am using Andes.),broken into 1/2

The Preparation:

1. Sift flour,cocoa powder,baking powder and soda.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add egg and mix well.
4. Add coffee paste and milk,mix well.
5. Stir in (1.) with a spatula,mix well.
6. Fill up 1/4 of the liners,drop the chocolate in,fill the liners with more batter to 3/4 full.

Another trial - Pineapple Tarts

Finally had time to update my blog, it was a busy busy time for me. First was my advance birthday treat - Phuket, then my gal's 4th Birthday which I promised to have a 3D Princess Cake and then all my CNY goodies orders. 

Managed to rushed out and did another trial for the tarts. Both recipes rave good reviews but I find this recipe slightly less sweet, plus hubby prefer this so I guess I will have to use this for coming years!!

This recipe is also a bit melt in the mouth, less sweet and a bit less buttery as compared to Table for 2's recipe. Maybe that's why hubby prefer this?? My opinion, both taste equally good!

Pineapple Tarts (adapted from LittleTeochew)

- 400g plain flour*

- 50g corn flour

- 1/4 (heaped) tsp salt

- 280g cold, unsalted butter (do not allow it to soften)

- 3 egg yolks, beaten

- 3 tbsp cold water (or iced water)

- 6 tbsp icing sugar**

- 1/2 tsp cognac or pure vanilla extract

- For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

1) Using rub-in method, rub butter with flour, sugar & salt

2) Add in beaten yolk, vanilla & cold water then jus scrap and mix til come together

3) Referigerate for 10mins and use 

4) I wrap 10g dough + 5g paste, bake at 180deg for 20mins, wash with beaten yolks+milk

Impromptu Bake - Cornflakes Cookies & some variations

Made a last min decision and decided to make some cornflakes cookies for trial and also tot of rolling some in crushed Oreos to see if its as yummy as rolling in crushed cornflakes. The end results was so yummy, including the cornflakes ones.. Got the recipe from TheBakingBiatch but her blog is temporarily 'blocked' due to some reasons. Therefore, I can't linked up the recipe to her blog but once it's back up, I will definetely linked it up. So, pls try this out. You definetely won't regret...

Cornflakes Cookies (adapted from TheBakingBiatch) *i halve the recipe

88g self-raising flour

1/2 egg

50g butter

50g sugar *i reduce to 40g

1) cream butter & sugar til fluffy, add in egg

2) Add in flour and mix well

3) Roll into small balls and roll over the crushed cornflakes

4) Bake at 160deg for 15-20mins

Baby Shower for Baby Chloe

My aunt asked to make some cupcakes for Baby Shower, therefore I used 2 recipes - my fav Chocolate Cupcakes & Vanilla Cupcakes. Added confetti to the vanilla cupcakes to make it more colourful. And this time, I use MMF (means Marshmallow Fondant). 

Overall, I am very pleased with the end results as almost all were gone.. Happy happy..

Trial run using ready pineapple paste

Introduced to this pineapple paste from Ailin Bakery at Tanjong Katong Complex by my friends in MFWL. Claimed to be the nicer ready-made paste as compared to those selling outside. And the only place that carry them is Ailin Bakery themselves. 

So this year, I did a trial with my favorite recipe from Table for 2 - Melt in the mouth Pineapple Tarts. I love the combination of cream cheese and butter that makes the pastry very fragrant. The paste itself, not too sweet but a bit sour for me. It's like sourish sweet kind, I think most ppl can accept as compared to some ready paste tt is very sweet. Try it.

Here is my trial, using milk wash as egg yolk always get burnt very fast. Pls make do with the pics as I know it doesn't justify the taste at all.. Will come back with better pics once I bake them again...

Pineapple Tarts, melt in your mouth (adapted from Table for 2)

250gm butter (I used unsalted)

75gm caster sugar

170gm cream 

50gm cream cheese
3 egg yolks
400gm cake flour
30gm corn starch

**i used milk for glazing & Pineapple paste from Ailin Bakery

1. Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese together. 
2. When it comes together, pour in cream and whip on medium speed (I used speed 2 on my hand mixer) for 10 minutes. Scrape the sides from time to time. It may look lumpy, don’t worry, later it’ll turn all creamy.
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute. 
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before you start wrapping with it. 

My 1st BIG project - Miffy

Why do I call this my 1st 'big' project though I have made many customized cakes and cupcakes before - reason cos it's the first time baking a close to 2kg Buttercream Cake on a 14" cake board! I top it up with another 14 chocolate cupcakes which everyone likes.

My niece is celebrating her 1st birthday, so my sis 'ordered' her cake thru me. A cake with the shape of number '1' and to be rabbit theme. Then her hubby says, oh Miffy Rabbit. So here I go, racking my head over Miffy. 

I goggle and see what I could find. Managed to find a short tutorial after browsing thru some links, but I have to get down to it, hands on and modify along the way. My 1st attempt - standing up. Didn't kinda like it cos the Miffy kept on 'falling' due to the heavy ears. 

My 2nd attempt, I made them sitting down, each holding an alphabets to form my niece's name. This time I like it better. I follow up with some little roses, pressie. And there it goes, after a few afternoon, I finally made all the toppers.

Then came the headache, the fondant doesn't dry up well. I use toothpicks, gum paste powder and cornflour too. Trying the best to add in little portion and hoping it dries up. Everyday, without fail, I would check on them, making sure it is getting 'drier' as the days goes. Luckily all went well.

So the big day came, baking and baking. Deco and creaming etc. Then actual morning came, deco with all the toppers and there u goes, the finale.. As for the recipe, I used my previous Chocolate Chiffon(x5) and Swiss Meringue Butterccream (x2) and it covers nicely a 14" cake and 14 cupcakes. 

My variation of Double Choc Chip Cookies

This is my 1st post for 2013 and I tot I start with something simple, and also 1 of my fav - Chocolate!!! And yes, a belated Happy 2013 ahead!

I modified the Chocolate Chip Cookies that I took from Baking Wonderland from Facebook and modified to Double Chocolate Cookie with loads of nuts and Choc chips. Added some with M&M for my kiddos who simply cheer up at the sight of M&M on their cookies. Reason why? Cos mummy seldom gives them sweet treat at home, unless required to coax them or encouragement. 

I replaced brown sugar with caster sugar completely as I ran out of brown sugar at home and I didn't wanna delay the baking cos wanna bake them for hubby to go with his cup of coffee. So here I go, end up with a result that isn't too sweet, still crunchy and yummy... It's a bit of bittersweet from the Hershey Cocoa powder and coupled with the semi-sweet Hershey mini Choc chips. Viola! I love them. 

Try it and I hope u will love them as much as I did.

Double Chocolate Chips Cookies (modified from Chocolate Chip Cookies )

250g Butter, soften

150g Caster Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Egg

320g Plain Flour

40g Cocoa Powder

1tsp Baking Powder 

2g Cinnamon powder

Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Chopped nuts

Mini M&M 

1) Cream butter and both sugar

2) Add vanilla extract and egg

3) Stir in flour til mix, add in Choc chips, nuts

4) Pour spoonful of dough, leaving space as it will spread during baking

5) Bake at 170deg for 13-15min

6) Store in airtight after cookies are cooled.