A cake made with gula melaka and coconut milk.. and butter ^^

I have been craving cakes for about a week plus or so.

Baby pig is not helping as he told me he doesn't want any homey (@ unfrosted, un-fancy ^^||) cakes! Aaaaaarrrggghhhhhhh... oh, how I miss my dumpster, Big!

So what led to this happy ending? A pack of opened, barely used coconut milk, of course! Woo-hoo! I was attempting to cook indian asam curry fish head for the 1st time last night, and the taste wasn't quite right till I added some coconut milk (as advised, but didn't quite want to heed as I don't like coconut milk in my dishes).. so I had a 3/4 pack full of coconut milk which I didn't quite know what to do with.

And then I remembered mel@melspantrykitchen's palm sugar chiffon cake. And I found palm sugar@gula melaka in the fridge.. And the rest, as they say, is history! ^^

Gula melaka and coconut milk butter cake
~ fills an 8" baking tin
250g salted butter
180g gula melaka, grated or chopped
4 egg yolks
1-2 tbsps rum
150ml coconut milk
250g cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
4 egg whites
40g sugar

1. Cream butter and gula melaka till light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Don't worry about the gula melaka bits.

2. Add egg yolks one at a time till well combined. Mix in rum.

3. Fold in sifted flours and alternate with coconut milk.

4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites till fluffy, and add in sugar bit by bit. Beat egg whites till it forms stiff peaks.

5. Fold in 1/3 egg egg whites into cake batter and mix well. Fold in the rest of the egg whites gently till well combined.

6. Pour into a greased 8" square baking tin (or any mould you like) and bake in a preheated oven of 170C for about 40-45 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean.

Whoa!!! This is one of the bestest, softest, moistest, perfect textured cake I have ever made! And it tastes amazing even fresh out of the oven! Even the picky, I-don't-want-cake Baby pig thinks it is wonderful! And went, mmmmmm... mmmmmmmm... mmmmmmmmm ^^

This OMG fragrant, nicely sweet cake is perfect eaten on its own. It goes very well with coffee and tea too, but I reckon the pairing would be even better if the cake was a touch sweeter.. since I don't put sugar in my coffee ^^.

Well, I'm really happy with how the cake turned out. This cake is so very enticing due to the gula melaka fragrance, and it's luscious as well, because of the addition of coconut milk making the texture soft-silken and moist. And I know I made the right choice using SALTED butter (my favorite salted butter, of course, Golden Churn ^^), 'cos the cake turned out really well-rounded.

I'm really happy.. oops, I said that already, haven't I? ^^ ^^ ^^

The Hedgehog Factory

Woo-hoo! The Hedgehog Factory is fully operational!

We participated in our 1st event, the home schoolers' sports day on friday! I'm so proud of Baby pig @ the littlest hedgehog @ CEO of The Hedgehog Factory!

We had a good outing. It was an eye-opener, and we gained valuable experience. Though we had a slow start, the outcome was beyond our wildest dreams. I do hope Baby remembers this season! And the learning that came with it! I, for one, will treasure all the time we spent working over the event! ^^

I have also come to realize my Baby is growing up, no longer the baby in my mind ^^. Despite never baking on his own before (only assisting sometimes), he could actually make the popcorn, brownies and choc chip cookies almost all by himself, minimum help from us. Guess, turning 13 this november does mean something. I'm not too sure if I want him growing up this fast!

Well, the loot from the bake-sale has gone into The Hedgehog Factory's coffers for Baby's college fund and his europe road trip with his kor-kor, Big. I really do hope they manage to make the trip together in 4 years time. ^^

A little side-track.. because I'm really shy and all ^^, I don't ever share/brag how very proud I am of all my piggies to my friends (I mustn't get started 'cos I wouldn't know where to stop! haha!). I can only do this here, where I'm incognito and can share some of my deepest and silliest thoughts. So here goes, Baby was placed 1st among 20 edison ttdi students in this year's poetry slam! Woo-hoo! He sure had big shoes to fill (Big was tops too a few years back!), and he worked so hard for it. And boy, was he in a class of his own! Way to go, baby! Kor-kor, Big, may be the poet, but you're the man! ^^

Well, it's been a wonderful kick-start to baby pig's entrepreneur voyage. I'm really, really happy ^^ ^^ ^^

Perfectly cracked gingernut cookies

perfectly cracked cookies! ^^ ^^ ^^

Woo-hoo, I'm back!

Not that I went anywhere ^^ just that my wifi went bonkers, and it's so inconvenient to post anything. Of course, the I'm-so-lazy bit comes into play too, haha.

I'm not a cookie person. But if there's one cookie/biscuit that gets me, it'd probably be gingernut cookies. And I don't even like ginger! Once in a blue, blue moon, I'd suddenly have this crazy urge to have some gingernut cookies. I'd buy a pack, take a bite and meh, that's it. I'd not want anymore. It's really weird.. and I really can't explain the craving. I really don't like it all that much!

So when that blue moon came, there was no way I was going to waste money on a pack of biscuits that I was only going to have a bite. So I googled, and found a most wonderful, wonderful recipe! ^^

Gingernut cookies (recipe from poiresauchocolat)
~ makes 16 cookies
105g flour
1 scant tsp baking powder
1 scant tsp baking soda
1.5 tsps ground ginger
40g brown sugar
50g unsalted butter, cold, diced
1 tbsp + 2 tsp golden syrup

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Sift flours and ground ginger together. Add in the brown sugar till combined.

3. Mix the diced butter into the dry ingredients till it resembles breadcrumbs.

4. Fold the golden syrup into the mixture, by using a knife. And form the mixture into a dough with your hands.

5. Divide the dough into 16 balls and squish them to flatten them a little, and place them on a lined baking tray.

6. Bake for 15 minutes or till cookies turn golden brown and cracked.

I really enjoyed these gingernut cookies shared by poiresauchocolat, so do check out her link! Well, I've already made them twice, and even doubled the recipe, so you can tell how much I love them. They are so crisp and crunchy, gingery good! And they taste exactly like in my blue moon cravings! And a hundred times better than the store-bought "branded" cookies. Absolutely perfect over a cup of coffee, tea or dipped in milk! ^^

And I'm finally cured from the one-bite love-hate relationship with gingernut cookies! ^^