Chocolate Sponge Cake

DH said, after seeing this product, "Another cake..." (without much of a hint of enthusiam). What to do? Leftover so much whipping cream. This time it is a chocolate sponge.

Could not see the layer of cream sandwiched in between the layers, coz I was too tired and realised that I didn't wait till the cake cooled enough before the cream was added.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day to everyone! Yes, this day should be for everyone (not only lovebirds) as everyone could celebrate it with their loved ones.

Baked a simple vanilla sponge cake on Valentine's Day and turned it into my very first cream cake! Looks amateur and simple. My elder 2 gals helped with the deco. They loved and couldn't keep their fingers off the whipped topping as it was light and slightly sweet - they even commented that the cream taste better than the cake :( . The sponge cake was sandwiched with strawberry jam and more whipped cream. The gals had a lot of suggestions on how to deco the cake, but luckily we could come to a collective decision to have hearts and more hearts on the cake.

Cupcakes and such

Here's last night's bake: Cupcakes in various flavours (vanilla, double chocolate, chocolate chips; coffee, orange)

It is still the Chinese New Year, and there are still goodies in the kitchen. This year I also made cornflake cookies, which the children loved. Even their daddy liked it (I think) coz he finished everything in one night.

This zebra cake (more marble cake) was done long time back but didn't get the chance to post it.

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.