Strawberry Yogurt Cake

While the pineapple tarts dough was firming up in the fridge, I also did a strawberry yogurt cake. Not quite a success, as it was pretty dense and sticks to the teeth.

Pineapple Tarts

Chinese New Year is approaching soon, I had enlisted many treats in my to-do projects. Decided to kick those lazybones of mine, since I was home yesterday afternoon. (LS, forgone my nap :P)

This is the 2nd year I am making pineapple tarts. Usually i like to do the closed type as I do not know how to make the open type less dry. You could also insert a clove to make the tart look like a tangerine or apple (depending on which way the clove is inserted). It would smell really heavenly when the spices are baking in the oven. But my kids do not like the clove thing, so made them without it this round.

Did 2 versions, the smaller ones are the kiddo mouth-size bites. Usually I hate cleaning up after the kids. And I find that the normal tart sizes are not meant for children's mouth, leaving trails of crumbs. :P

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here's what I baked and gave my colleagues this year.
Banana quickbread for everyone. Foolproof receipe. Limited wrapping skills. Hope they like it. :)

Rum N Raisin Icecream

I was really happy when I found an ice-cream receipe that didn't require the use of an ice-cream maker - coz I don't own one :P Even more overjoyed when it was a rum n raisin one. I am a fan of anything that is slightly spiked, although I cannot bring myself to sip anything alcoholic (maybe with the exception of bailey's cream).

Receipe:

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup rum (I used Meyers)

150g icing sugar

600ml thickened cream (I used Bulla)

Soak raisins in rum overnight. Drain raisins and mix the rum liquid with the icing sugar. Add cream and allow the electric mixer to mix the stuff well till thickened. Freeze overnight.

DH thought it was a little overspiked, but I thought it still tasted fine. The cream tasted really creamy, wonder if I should replace some with milk instead next time?

Xmas Butter Cookies

What's Christmas without puddings and cookies?

Using the simple butter cookie receipe that I have in my receipe file, this was a easy mix and cut project. Again the gals were really excited in the kitchen, all wanting to decorate the christmas tree and stars. Proud to say that the cookies you see in the photos are all done by Bubbles and Blossom.

Buttercup was excited initially, but eventually she was putting more of the sprinkles into her mouth rather than on the cookie dough! Had to distract her out of the kitchen in case the sprinkes get all used up. hehehe.

Xmas Cupcake Project

The gals and I did some cutey Xmas cupcakes on Saturday. Well, I baked them and the gals iced and decorated them. It was a premix that comes with the sugar decorations, which I felt was so adorable and easy.To me they were a tad too sweet, but the gals loved the cupcakes to bits.

Project completed!

Sponge Cake

Tried a basic sponge cake yesterday. Realised at the last minute that I had run out of parchment/baking paper to line the round tin, so had to improvise and bake them in muffin cups.

Simple receipe with few ingredients:
5 eggs
90g sugar
100g plain flour
1 tbsp cornoil (i used ricebran oil)

1. Whisk eggs over high speed for around 8 min till it is creamy.
2. Add sugar in slowly, whisk till colour turns ligth and stiff
3. Add flour, mis slowly till batter is well combined.
4. Add oil, mix well slowly in one direction,careful not to overblend.
5. Pour mixture into a lined and greased 8" cake mould. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 30-35 min. ( as mine were in cuppies, it took about 20min)

The gals liked it, especially the ones which I had thrown some chocolate chips into.

This morning, added some nutella as frosting plus sprinkles and topped with a marshmellow flower and viola! it turned into a little cupcake.

Xmas Jellycups

Today, Bubbles and Buttercup will be having their Xmas party celebration at their childcare centre. Usually they have their party slightly earlier as some families are away closer to the actual day. The kids also get to exchange gifts and sing songs.

It is a potluck party. I volunteered to make jellycups for the children. Red strawberry and green lime jelly - the Xmasy colours. On each jelly topped a Xmas candy. I thought they look a pretty sight. Bubbles and Blossom woke up early to help me put on the lids on the cups and pack them in bags.

Candycane

Doesn't the snowman look 'sweet'?

I really liked this one - snowy boot.

Hope the gals have fun today! "I had fun making the jelly :) "

Family Cruise

Hi! Back from our holidays!

We went for a 4D3N cruise to Penang and Phuket over the long weekend. 11 of us in total, great fun! The powerpuff gals and their cousin enjoyed themselves with the endless food (burp!), swimming area, ice-cream party and kids' playarea. They were awed by mostly everything as it was their first time a large ship. Best of all, the adults also had their own type of fun - casino, while the kids were enjoying their party at the childcare centre.

At the stopover at Penang, DH's colleague (based in Penang) took us to the famous char kway teow stall (fried flat noodles with cockles and prawns and lots of porky lard). Taste was really fragrant, and different from those found in Singapore, a was a tad oily for us. It was a 1-hr plus wait for the noodles as the stall is really busy, hot and sweaty, plus had to hear the stall owner scolding some of the customers for chasing the order!

In Phuket, strange enough, the 2 grandmas allowed us to go on the elephant rides! It was an exciting ride, esp when the elephant was going up/down the slopes. We must be a noisy bunch to the elephants: hold tight! slipper going to fall off! elephant poo poo! (can guess that they really had a heavy meal) aiyo smelly! :P City people!!! Too urbanised to enjoy the simplicity of nature and animals... :(

Gala night dinner on board was also wonderful chance to dress up and for the gals "to act like a princess". No lah, it is not that formal - just a simple dress and some fine dining. Everyone also had a good time watching the daily night performances of dance, song, acrobatics, and even get to line dance the YMCA and Macarena.

Asked Buttercup if she would like to go on a cruise again, she replied with another question "Can we go tomorrow?"

Steamed Banana Cupcake

Had a bunch of speckled bananas again. Decided on a steamed version instead of baked cupcake. This is really a nice and moist cake, and it is really easy to do. Just beat up some of the wet ingredients and fold in the flour and voila!

Sis, here's the receipe for you:

Ingredients/ Method
2 eggs
100g sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed (200g)
150g self-raising flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
75g oil (i only had ricebran oil left, it still worked)
1. Sift together self-raising flour and baking soda. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar till ribbon stage.
3. Mix in mashed bananas, beat till combine.
4. Gently fold in flour mixture and oil, taking care not to deflat the eggs and sugar mixture.
5. Pour batter into muffin cups.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.

(Receipe courtesy of Baking on Cloud9)