I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world ^^

I didn't plan on decadence or indulgence.. or world peace.. but it happened.

It all started with leftovers. One lone egg. A tub of sour cream. Plus it's close to that time of the year, and I'm again researching cakes for a special someone's birthday. And I saw this recipe.. using sour cream, no butter (?!)! 

Seriously, I just wanted to make chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake (recipe by amanda rettke, found in delish.com)

40g cocoa powder (I forgot to half the recipe and used 80g instead ^^||)

105g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

150g caster sugar (I used 115g)

pinch of salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup or 120ml sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup coffee

1/2 cup or 100g milk chocolate, finely chopped

1. Sift cocoa powder, cake flour and baking soda in a bowl. Add sugar and salt. Mix till well blended.

2. Mix in egg, sour cream, vanilla and coffee. Mix till well combined and fold in chopped chocolates.

3. Pour into a greased 8" square tin.

4. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 30 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean.

I usually never taste the batter, but I did this time. Oh my, it was so very, very chocolatey and not sweet at all.. and that's when I realized I may have forgotten to halve the quantity of cocoa powder! Uh-oh..

So..... I set out to sweeten the cake.. with what else? More leftovers, of course! ^^

Let's see, a banana on the counter, salted caramel and "vintage" peanut butter in the fridge. And that's how DECADENCE HAPPENED.

Salted caramel

use your favorite, or see here and here

Peanut butter buttercream frosting

some peanut butter (100g)

some butter (50g)

some icing sugar (40g)

some cream (add to the consistency you like ^^)

Sometimes I feel really clever when I'm able to make use of leftovers, la-la-la days like this! Big pig once gave me a pack of pretty serviettes (which he "lugged" all the way from the US ^^), that he thinks totally says me.. "I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I can save the world"! 

Yes, that's him saying I'm somewhat delusional, haha! ^^ Hey, if I wasn't a little looney, we'd just be having chocolate cake! Instead, we're feasting on a lusciously indulgent chocolate cake laced with salted caramel, peanut butter buttercream frosting and bananas! 

And in case you missed it.. chocolate cake with salted caramel, peanut butter buttercream frosting and bananas could just be the answer to world peace ^^

Apricot yogurt ogura cake

glad i caught the sun before the skies opened up ^^

I've always been a laggard when it comes to what's in in the baking blogsphere.

Well, for someone who's just figured out chiffon cake not too long ago, and since it's well past ogura cake's popularity, I guess I'm on schedule ^^

Apricot yogurt ogura cake (adapted from kimmy-cookingpleasure)
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar (I added as I used plain yogurt and my apricot jam wasn't very sweet)
1 whole egg (I omitted)
45g neutral tasting veg oil
80-100g yogurt
1 tbsp apricot jam (best to use 40g at least!) 
65g cake flour, sifted
5 egg whites
60g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar/cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven at 180C. And put a baking tray filled with water on the lowest rack.

2. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and apricot jam till well combined. Add veg oil and yogurt till well mixed.

3. Fold in sifted flour.

4. In another bowl, beat egg whites till foamy and add cream of tartar. Then mix in sugar bit by bit. Continue beating the egg whites till meringue is stiff, about 4-5 minutes.

5. Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter till well combined. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites into the batter.

6. Line the bottom of an 8" square tin with baking paper (there's no need to line or grease the sides ^^). Pour batter into the prepared tin. Give the tin a good tap against the counter to remove air bubbles.

7. Turn oven down to 150C and place baking tin in the 2nd lowest rack and bake for 1 hour, or till top is nicely golden brown and cake looks like it's shrinking on the sides.

8. Remove from oven and give it a tap on the counter. Invert cake and leave to cool. When's cool, remove the cake by pulling the sides with hands or insert a knife to cut through.

This is a super duper easy bake. You can have your cake and eat it, in under 1.5 hours! ^^ It's just like making chiffon cake, but you bake it in a normal round or square tin.. using the steam-bake/bain-marie method.

I love tall cakes but I made the mistake of using a 9" square tin after seeing some pictures of how ill-fitting and how the cakes were "exploding" in an 8" tin. Mistake! My cake didn't rise that kind of high, and remained well behaved throughout the baking period. I guess I must've used the right oven temperature. So I'm advocating the recipe be baked in an 8" square tin. ^^

And no harm done in omitting 1 whole egg (as per original recipe) either. The cake turned out well despite the missing egg.. it's still wonderfully soft and light and fluffy!

This is a really nice treat to have for tea. ^^

** updated on 19/10/14: baked same cake again to get rid of yogurt.. this time added 40g apricot jam to 100g yogurt.. tasted even better!