Caramel pineapple upside down cake ~ awesome-liciousss ^^

Two words ~ DECADENTLY AWESOME!!!

I had very much wanted to share this delish recipe the 1st time I made it late november last year! But the pictures.. ahhh.... never mind.

Since I knew I was going to make them again, I thought I would have better pics.. alas, the pics from the 2nd bake (a few weeks back) and the 3rd bake 2 nights ago was just as bad (oh why do I do this all the time and bake at nights????!!!!)! I give up, so please excuse my pics and get on with this fabulous recipe ^^

Caramel pineapple upside down cake (recipe adapted from simplyrecipes)
~ makes 2 8-inch round cakes
Caramel
2 scant cups brown/white sugar
1 cup / 227g unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup / 80 ml heavy/whipping cream, room temperature
1 -2 tbsp rum
3 pinches of sea salt, add to own taste

2 big tins of pineapple rings, drained

Cake
227g unsalted butter
100g sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp rum, optional
200ml sour cream
240g flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
4 egg whites
60g sugar

1. Prepare caramel. Cook sugar, butter, cream and rum on medium heat. Do not stir. Bring to a boil and stir in sea salt, and remove from heat. Divide and pour into 2 greased 8-inch round baking tins, or 1*8-inch square tin and 2*8-inch loaf tins. If you encounter this problem where the caramel looks weird ie. caramel and oil separates, or maybe crystallized sugar.. it's ok. Get rid of crystallized sugar by straining the liquid. If you want a gorgeous caramel flavor and color (like I did), cook the sugar to a nice coppery-color (be careful, not black or burnt!), then add butter, cream, rum and sea salt.. read this.

2. Arrange pineapple rings in the baking tins filled with caramel.

3. In a bowl, beat butter and 100g sugar till light and fluffy (don't overbeat!) Add egg yolks one at a time and beat till well combined. Mix in rum..

3. Sift flour+baking powder, and fold into butter mixture in 3 batches. Mix in sour cream till combined. Batter should be nice and smooth now.

4. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites till frothy, and slowly add in 60g sugar. Beat till soft peaks are formed.

5. Fold in egg whites gently into cake mixture in 2 batches. Divide and pour mixture into the cake tins.

6. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 50-55 minutes, or till the skewer comes out clean. Remove and turn out cake onto a platter to cool. I love eating it straight from the fridge ^^

I first made this cake for big pig's 1920s whodunit-party. Pineapple upside down cake was the IT cake in the 1920s. And boy, did I receive rave reviews for it! Of course, "AWESOME" was one of them! ^^

Well, I personally find this ooey-gooey cake fabu-licious too! It's the decadent caramel, I swear!

THIS REALLY IS A SERIOUSLY AWESOME CAKE! JUST MAKE IT PRONTO! ^^ ^^ ^^

ong lai cake ~ wrapped up in gold ribbon for family & friends ^^ 

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Kumquat jam ~ nastar rolls and tarts ^^

Kumquats are in season again ^^. And buoyed by kumquat lady, mel's enthusiasm, I couldn't resist and bought 2 tubs of kumquats late December. But before I knew it, they were getting over-ripe and I had to do something about it. That's how this open-faced jam tart (using shortcrust pastry + salted butter) came about.. ^^||

Of course, I also took the opportunity to perfect the kumquat jam in anticipation of a possible attempt at kumquat nastar rolls. And discovered that the jam is somewhat more balanced and yummier with the addition of cinnamon! Trust me on this ^^

Kumquat jam (adapted from melspantrykitchen)
Kumquats, halved and deseeded
Water
Sugar
Cinnamon powder, to taste

1. Weigh kumquats. Then weigh the same amount for water and half the amount for sugar. ie. kumquats:water:sugar ~ 200g:200g:100g

2. Boil kumquat halves, water and sugar till kumquats turn soft and glossy.

3. Remove and puree kumquat, drained of syrup.

4. Cook kumquat puree with a few pinches of cinnamon powder till nice and dry, or till jam doesn't stick to the sides of the pan.

5. Refrigerate overnight before use.

Well, that practise and mel's advice sure helped in getting the right texture and taste in my 2nd attempt in perfecting kumquat jam for making kumquat nastar rolls. I could actually roll it  into rounds just like with pineapple jam.

Here's my maiden attempt at kumquat nastar rolls ~ not so nicely shaped, but the taste.. delish! And the kumquat jam/filling stayed nicely intact ^^ I'm sorry but I'm too lazy to re-write the wonderful kumquat nastar rolls recipe shared by mel@melspantrykitchen.. so hop over to mel's. ^^

And this is what you make with leftover jam ~ kumquat jam tart.. again, haha! ^^ Just use your favorite shortcrust pastry, and use salted butter for best match with kumquat jam! Because I love lots of buttery, flaky crust, I made a closed jam tart this time ~ just the way I like it! ^^

Btw, I'm serving those oddly-shaped nastar rolls for cny.. fingers crossed no one would notice how "uniquely" shaped it is! ^^

Delicate coconut crisps

I'm starting early.. clearing the fridge, that is. ^^

I never prepare much for CNY.. but clearing the fridge is a must. Why, to fill up with more goodies, of course, haha! ^^

And that's how some egg whites ended up as coconut crisps ^^

Coconut crisps (recipe from alan ooi "new year cookies")
~ makes about 100 pcs (or more ^^)
100g unsalted butter
120g icing sugar (reduced ~ 100g ^^)
100g egg whites
100g plain flour
20g coconut cream powder
20g dessicated coconut
extra 20g dessicated coconut, for decoration

1. Combine butter and icing sugar together, and beat till light and fluffy.

2. Add egg whites and mix till combined (don't worry if it looks curdled). 

3. Fold in flour, coconut cream powder and dessicated coconut into batter.

4. Place mixture into a piping bag and pipe small rounds onto lined baking tray/s. Use the back of a spoon to flatten the rounds by spreading them into thin cookies. Sprinkle generously with dessicated coconut.

5. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 10 minutes. Cool and store immediately in airtight container/s.

This is a pretty easy recipe, but it does require a little more effort than the usual cookies.

Lest you think 100 pcs is a lot, it's not! That's because they are so addictive! These delicate crisps are so yums! ^^

And as pretty as the sesame seeds look on the crisps, the original recipe with just dessicated coconut sprinkling tastes best! The sesame seeds kind of overpower the delicate fragrance and flavor of the coconut crisps. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the original yummy coconut crisps.. ^^||

Well, so much for my "pretty" idea.. just stick to the original recipe, ok. ^^

Updated: I did have a pix of the original coconut crisps after all ^^

Almond cookies for CNY ^^

After much drumming of how delicious these cookies are by mel, coupled by the fact I had some almond meal to get rid of.. I finally made my first batch of CNY cookies!

Just so you know, I don't "do" cookies, especially CNY cookies! So this is kind of a "first".. plus I'm early too! ^^

Almond cookies (inspired by mel@melspantrykitchen, recipe by alan ooi "new year cookies")
~ makes about 80 pieces (or more ^^)
120g almond meal
180g plain flour
120g sugar (reduced ~ 100g ^^)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
120ml neutral tasting cooking oil
1 egg yolk, beaten (for glazing)

1. Combine all the dry ingredients and oil together and mix to form a dough.

2. Divide and weigh 7g of dough, and form rounds/balls. Arrange on lined baking tray/s and brush/glaze with beaten egg yolk.

3. Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 15-20 minutes till crust turns golden brown. Cool before storing.

Yup, it's that easy! It's basically a one-bowl mix all! I like ^^

And the taste ~ DELICIOUS! Perfectly crunchy yet melt in the mouth soft! ^^ I can now understand why these cookies are your favorite, mel! ^^

Believe me, these are good! And that's coming from a not-so-big-on-cookies-person like me! Even the last person I expect to like these cookies, baby pig, loves it! I just brought a few pieces for piggies to sample, and they popped them all in a blink! And they, especially baby, were looking for more! ^^

Look no further for the best almond cookies recipe ever! ^^

A perfectly baked "steamed" fruit cake ^^

happy birthday, mel ^^ this baked-steamed fruit cake is dedicated to you

This was written a year ago, but never gottten round to posting it...

I never quite got over the yummy steamed fruit cake that burnt and left scars on my hands..

The need to "slay" this bake has been playing in my head for the longest time! But there was no way I was going anywhere near the electric steamer! Certainly not for 4 hours!

So I did some research and decided to bake the same recipe using a slow oven and bain-marie method (water bath).. ^^ for a 4-hour bake! ^^

Baked "steamed" fruit cake (recipe adapted from mel@melspantrykitchen)

A
250g butter, softened (tip from bisouatoi ~ use SALTED butter ie. golden churn! I did ^^)
80g fine sugar (I used 50g)
1 tsp ground nutmeg (I prefer to use only 3/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp orange essence (I used 3 tbsp marmalade jam ^^ ~ it's very good!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

B (combined & sifted)
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

C (combined)
300g dried mixed fruits, raisins, etc (macerate in lots and lots of rum ^^, optional)
50g walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)
20g plain flour

D (caramel)
200g sugar

1. Prepare water bath and place in oven of 140C. Tip: use a medium/big square baking tray, filled with water and place in lower most oven shelf. Heat water in the oven (at 180C, turn down to 140C when ready to bake) or use hot water if you like. There's NO NEED to place cake tin "into" the water bath ^^  

2. Combine A, except eggs. Mix with a wooden spoon.

3. Add eggs, one at a time till well combined. Do not overmix.

4. Add B and mix well.

5. Fold in C.

6. Prepare D (caramel) by placing sugar into a heavy saucepan over medium heat. As sugar melts from the sides, fold it to the center. DO NOT STIR. When sugar is completely melted and turned dark brown, remove from heat and VERY CAREFULLY and SLOWLY add to the fruit cake mixture. Caramelized sugar will harden almost immediately when folding into cake mixture.. the hardened bits can still be mixed into the cake batter. Be super-careful of burning hot liquid caramel!

7. Pour mixture into a lined 8" square/round baking tin. Cover baking tin with grease paper and aluminium foil. Tie with a string to keep lid in place. I did this step anyways, even though I wasn't planning to steam the cake.. I wasn't sure what to do and was worried the top might get burnt! Still, I recommend doing this anyways..         

8. Place cake tin on the second lowest shelf (or whichever shelf one usually use for baking ^^) and bake at 140C for 4 hours. After baking for 3 hours, remove lid and continue baking for another hour. Remove the tray of water as well ~ which probably would have been depleted of water by now.

* Best served after resting cake for a day or two ^^

Same recipe, different baking methods.. almost-different cakes! While the steamed fruit cake was deliciously light and airy in taste and texture, the baked version's a little different.. it's a tad bit more rich (maybe due to the use of salted butter!), perfectly moist (maybe due to the addition of marmalade and more rum soaked dried fruits!) and the crumbs a wee bit more packed than the steamed one.

dec 2012

dec 2012

I really enjoyed this baked "steamed" fruit cake (and it's not just me btw.. papa pig and aunt loves it too ^^!).. it's unusually addictive! I think the use of salted butter and addition of marmalade jam brought this cake to another level of wonderful too! This cake meets all expectations of the perfect fruit cake of my dreams ^^ dark, rich yet light and moist. ^^

Oh, yes.. I'm not sure why, but I really didn't feel that this was a 4-hour bake.. unlike the anxiety filled 4-hour steaming the last time. I totally forgot all about the cake in the oven till unbelievably wonderful smells came out from the kitchen ^^! And good news, I didn't get burnt at all this time! ^^

Well, just in case this is all a fluke, I'm planning to make this again soonest! ^^

Fast forward one year later.....

Well, "soonest" didn't quite make it till a year later, haha! But here I am, finally! ^^

And it's no fluke! It works and it's DELICIOUS! And it's not even been "rested" yet! Somebody had it the morning after the midnight bake-out. ^^

So how would I know it's delicious??? Well, if fatty hubby can finish a big chunk of cake by himself.. without leaving any for me.. you just know!!! ^^

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! ^^

Cranberry n pistachio biscotti ^^

" No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth ~ Robert Southey "

Cranberry and pistachio biscotti (adapted from susan russo@npr.org)
~ makes about 22pcs (or 2 containers for 2 good friends ^^)
2 scant tsps baking powder
2 cups flour
3/4 scant cup sugar
1 cup pistachio, toasted
1 cup dried cranberries
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 orange

* extra beaten egg, for brushing

1. Sift baking powder and flour together. Mix in sugar, toasted pistachio and dried cranberries.

2. In another bowl, whisk eggs till well mixed. Add vanilla and orange zest, and mix till blended.

3. Add the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold till well combined. 

4. Place batter on a lined baking tray. TIP: use a spoon to scoop batter onto tray and shape it like a log. Doesn't matter how long it is (or how many logs you make), just remember that it should be just 2 inches WIDE and 3/4-1 inch high! And remember to space the logs out as the batter will spread! Brush the logs all over with lightly beaten eggs.

5. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 35 - 40 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and cool for about 20 minutes before slicing into 3/4-inch thick slices, with a serrated kinfe.

7. Place slices back on baking tray and bake for 12 minutes. Turn biscotti over and bake for 8 minutes. Remove to cool.

** Biscotti tastes best after 2 days ~ it's true! ^^

It's wonderful to meet good friends again ^^. So what if we've been separated for a decade (and more! ^^).. chums will always be chums! 

Happiness is.. knowing nothing has changed.. ok, maybe the odd wrinkle or 2, haha! I missed you, friend! ^^

Congo bars.. just don't reduce the sugar??

I'm afraid I've messed up the perfectly yummy (so they say! and I believe ^^||) congo bars!

Like brownies, congo bars probably needs the HUGE amount of sugar to keep it fudgy and moist. Of course, I realize that now.. ^^ So don't make the same mistake as I did of reducing the sugar!

I wish I can say this is yummy ~ but it's really so-so for me. Visually, this has a score of ZERO in my books! I'm really disappointed.

Well, no use dwelling on this.. on to other fun stuff! ^^

p.s surprise, surprise! baby pig and fatty hubby both think the congo bars are good (??!!)! could it be just me? well, i'm still not convinced.. so i'm planning to drizzle some chocolate topping over ~ at least it'll look that bit better! ^^