Boston cheesecake for Big ^^

After a dry baking spell, it feels really good to be in full swing again this weekend. And it's so therapeutic (^^) after a long week. ^^

For that I'm really grateful for the new silicone bundt moulds (zebra cake), chubby's birthday (vanilla sponge cake with blueberry filling) and big's excellent SAT results ~ all good REASONs to bake! Yay!!! ^^

But that's all done by last night. ^^

Well, you know how much I've been whining and complaining about the scorching hot weather.. guess what, the bad weather has been overtaken by a cloud of haze all over the country (and a neighbouring country ~ which have it so much worse!). Now it's not only hot and stuffy, it's also smoky and hazy ~ even indoors! And I had plans for retail therapy today ~ sigh! ^^||

So sadly, I'm stuck at home.. writing this post.

Boston cheesecake (recipe from Alex Goh, Creative Making of Cakes)
A
150ml fresh milk
20g sugar
3 egg yolks
20g cornflour
B
250g cream cheese
C
zest of 1/2 lemon (make it a whole lemon if you like a zesty lemon scent ^^)
130ml whipping cream
D
2 tbsps flour (I used only 1 tbsp, hence the crack on the surface ~ oops ^^||)
60g sultanas (add more if you like raisins ^^)
E
3 egg whites
60g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

* 1- 20mm/thin slice of 8" round vanilla sponge cake

1. Bring 100ml of fresh milk and sugar from A to a boil. Add remaining milk, egg yolks and cornflour. Whisk and continue to cook till it thickens. Leave to cool and set aside. It may look lumpy, but it's ok.

2. Beat cream cheese till light and smooth, around 8-10 minutes on medium speed. Add cooled A till well blended.

3. Add C and mix well.

4. Fold in D till well combined.

5. Whip egg whites till foamy. Add sugar and lemon juice, and whip till firm and soft peaks form. Do not overbeat.

6. Gently fold in egg whites mixture into cheese batter.

7. Place sponge cake slice on greased/lined (bottom and sides) 8-inch cake tin. Pour cake mixture over. Even out cake surface and give cake tin a good tap against the table to remove air bubbles.

8. Bake in water bath (prep beforehand) at 150C for 2 hours till centre is set and top turns golden. Remove and brush with apricot gel if preferred. Can be served immediately.. but I prefer to refrigerate and let the flavors develop overnight  ^^

I've not made big's favorite cheesecake in years because I've been too lazy to prepare sponge cake (^^||)! But since I was making a sponge cake for chubby's birthday cake, I conveniently cut off a thin slice  to make this cheesecake ^^.

And the end result ~ a soft, dreamy creamy cheesecake ^^ not as rich and dense as american cheesecakes, also not as light and fluffy as a cotton/souffle japanese cheesecake.. It's a perfect in-between ~ you can easily eat more than a slice, or two.. or three.. or all, in one sitting ^^

Anyway, this cheesecake is one of my very first bakes that turned out perfect every time I made it, which was a real booster during my early baking days! And created my all-time favorite cake fan/critic.. and a cheese monster/connoisseur in big pig! ^^

Well, time flies ~ SAT was aeons from anyone's thoughts then! Look at you now, big.. all grown up and ready to fly the nest (almost! ^^).. Not too sure if I can bear/reconcile the thought of you leaving in a year.. or two ^^||

But meantime, congrats, big! I'm always proud of you! ^^

Chubby's 11 today ^^

Time flies ~ And chubby pig's another year older and heftier ^^||! Doesn't seem that long ago when I baked him cupcakes for his last birthday ^^.

This year I decided I wanted to bake him a proper cake ~ with all the trimmings aka cream frosting! ^^ And I came up with a vanilla sponge cake with blueberry filling ~ and lots of whipped cream! Fingers crossed that this cake works and chubby likes ^^..

Vanilla sponge cake with blueberry filling (recipe adapted from mamawandiha)
1 vanilla sponge cake, cut horizontal into 3 slices (cheat with ready mix ^^)
250g blueberry pie filling
Lemon syrup (juice of 1 lemon + 30g sugar + 150ml water)
500ml whipping cream, whipped till soft peaks form

1. Place 1 slice of cake on a cake board/stand. Generously brush and wet cake surface with lemon syrup. Top with a thin layer of whipped cream.

2. Place another cake slice on top. Repeat the same steps.

3. For the last/top slice, brush with lemon syrup and spread whipped cream all over cake. Spread till even and smooth. Decorate as you like ^^.

Well, I certainly know I can do with lots of practise on frosting.. ^^|| I can't quite spread out the cream totally smooth still, lots of jagged edges everywhere.. but I'd like to think of it as character lines, haha ^^. Cake looks quite nice when I think of it that way. ^^

Now we pray.. that the cake is edible! ^^ Happy Birthday, chubby! Love you buckets! ^^

p.s  the cake does look a little adult-ish and girly, right? Oops-sie, sorry chubby ^^ this is what happens when lots of cream (and an amateur baker! ^^||) is involved! definitely no rosettes (eeks!) and maybe some coloring in the frosting next time.. ^^

Zebra bundt cake

It feels great to wake up to cake.. and coffee! And it's finally the weekend too! ^^ ^^ ^^

This is a cake I've always wanted to make ever since I caught sight of it on bakersroyale. The reason I never got round to it was not having a bundt tin. For some strange reason, I only wanted to bake this cake in a bundt tin.. a nordicware to be exact (^^).. no other mould would do! ^^||

But I've come to my senses and finally settled for a silicone bundt mould. And made my first bundt cake last night ^^

Zebra bundt butter cake (inspired by bakersroyale, recipe adapted from my best butter cake recipe)
340g salted butter
140g sugar
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
320g self-raising flour, sifted
125-150ml milk
6 egg whites
140g sugar
25g cocoa powder, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Make sure bundt tin is well greased.

2. Beat butter and 140g sugar till light and fluffy. Don't over beat. Just till it turns a shade lighter/paler and the sugar is still slightly grainy. I beat mine around 3-4 minutes on high with my electric mixer.

3. Add egg YOLKs one at time and mix in well. On slow speed. Batter should turn creamy and kinda stiff.

4. Mix in vanilla extract.

5. Quickly fold in self-raising flour in 2 batches.

6. Add in milk and combine gently. Batter should be soft now. 

7. In a clean bowl, beat egg WHITES till frothy and then add in the 140g sugar in batches/bit by bit. Beat till firm and soft peaks form. When you flip bowl over, the meringue doesn't fall over. ^^ 

8. Add egg whites mixture to butter batter in 2 batches. Fold in quickly but GENTLY. 

9. Remove between 1/3 to 1/2 cake mixture into another bowl and fold in sifted cocoa powder.

10. Using an ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops of plain batter in the bundt cake mould, flatten batter a little with the back of the scoop. Then place 1 scoop of chocolate batter on top of the plain batter. See bakersroyale step by step here. Continue doing this till batter finishes. Tap mould occasionally to even out batter. If there's extra plain batter, make mini bundt cakes ^^ 

11. Bake for 50 minutes. Leave to cool before removing from mould. ^^

I really like how easy it is to make a zebra cake. And it turned out quite pretty too ~ though not as pretty as bakersroyale's.. but good enough for amateur me ^^! Bliss ^^ 

Creamy leek, bacon and avocado mini pie

I really did not mean to go AWOL for so long.. but the weather really sucked the life out of me ^^|| Save for a pineapple cobbler, I haven't baked nor cooked(!!) nor checked on my favorite blogs (sorry ^^||) since end May!

Today, I finally felt an urge to bake. ^^ And I wanted to make good on my promise to big pig ~ a leek pie.. with avocado, one of his favorite fruit/food. I reckon they could work well together :p!

Creamy leek, bacon and avocado mini pie (inspired by Dean Brettschneider's 5-star pie)
~ makes 6 mini pies
Best shortcrust pastry ever!!! 
280g all purpose flour
170g cold butter, diced
2-3 tbsp cold fresh milk

Filling
100g bacon, sliced thinly
1 tbsp butter
200g leek, sliced thin (use white parts only)
150-180ml low fat fresh milk (if you're not dieting, use cream ^^)
100g cooked chicken meat, diced
1 avocado, mashed
1 egg, beaten
125g cheddar cheese, grated (and some extra for topping)
salt and pepper or chili powder/paprika, to taste


Egg wash
1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp milk

1. Shortcrust pastry. Blitz or rub the flour with the cold butter till it resembles breadcrumbs. Add milk and mix till the pastry comes together. Press dough into a flat, round shape and chill for 1 hour.

2. Heat up some oil in a non-stick pan and saute bacon till browned and fragrant. Remove and set aside. Do not wash pan.

3. Using the same pan, heat up butter and cook leek for 25 minutes on low heat, stir fry often till softened. Add milk and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

4. In a bowl, mix creamy leek, bacon, chicken, mashed avocado, egg and grated cheddar cheese together. Season with salt, pepper or chili powder/paprika.

5. Roll out 2/3 dough to 3mm thick and cut out 6 big rounds to fit mini pie moulds. Fill up with filling. Roll the rest of the dough into 6 smaller rounds and place over filling. Pinch the edges together to seal. Make a few slits on the top pastry for steam to escape while baking. Brush pie generously with egg wash and top/sprinkle with grated cheddar.

6. Bake in a preheated oven of 220C for 30 minutes, or till golden. Leave to cool slightly before removing from moulds. Delicious served warm or cold.

Well, big pig loves it ~ no prizes for getting that right ^^! But I'm pleasantly surprised baby pig loves it too ~ leek and all! Guess the bacon did its job well ^^!

Me, I'm ecstatic the combination of leek, bacon and avocado worked! And of course, the perfectly buttery, flaky crust makes the perfect foil. ^^

Since I'm on a roll, I made vanilla chiffon cake too, which is baking in the oven right now.. smells real good from here ^^ I'm really looking forward to cake for breakfast tomorrow! ^^

A crazy week.. but cakes must go on ^^

It has been a roller-coaster week.. with FIL landing in hospital (while fatty hubby's away!), playing "temp-mom" to chubby pig who's staying over and baking a gazillion chocolate chip cookies for a charity sale..

I'm glad to report things are finally back to normal today! Dad's surgery went well and was discharged yesterday, chubby's back with his parents and I'm so done with cookies!!! ^^

I finally have time for me. ^^ And I want cake.

Orange chocolate chip cake (recipe from kwanster)
~ makes one 7-inch square tin cake / 1 medium loaf cake and 4 mini cakes
1 medium thin-skinned orange
200g unsalted butter
160g sugar
3 eggs, beaten
200g self-raising flour
200g chocolate chips

1. In a processor, blitz orange (skin and all) till fine. Remove finely processed orange from processor.

2. Place butter and sugar into the same processor and blitz till light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs bit by bit into butter mixture till combined.

3. Add flour and mix well. Mix in processed orange into the batter till well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Pour cake mixture into a greased/line cake tin/cupcake tins. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 50-55 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean (if using cupcake tin, bake for 25-30 minutes).

I've always wanted to make something with orange and chocolate after the omg-delicious jaffa fudge slice I had last year.. but never got round to ^^||. Well, after the successful spur-of-the-moment fantabulous super-loaded banana chocolate chip minicake I made for chubby pig last monday ^^, this was something I wanted to reward myself after a crazy week! And I like the idea of blitzing a whole orange!

I love how gorgeously bright the cake turned out! Love the aroma, taste and texture too! ^^

As I had no time to post earlier, here's two cakes I baked and enjoyed early last week ^^

Fantabulous super-loaded banana chocolate chip minicake
~ makes 8 small mini cakes
60g unsalted butter
40g muscovado or brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
60g self raising flour
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup mashed bananas
2 tbsp fresh milk
60g chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add beaten egg and mix till well combined.

2. Mix in flour and salt till combined. Add bananas and fresh milk into the batter. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 25-30 minutes.

There's usually never enough bananas at home to make cake.. but last week was such a busy week that we barely had time to sit, much less eat bananas.. hence some over-ripe bananas brought about this spur of the moment banana chocolate chip minicake (partially inspired by the coffee and nuts cake ratios ^^) made just for chubby pig. Over-loaded and too delicious!!! ^^

Coffee and nuts cake (inspired by melspantrykitchen and poiresauchocolat)
~ makes 1 small loaf
60g unsalted butter
50g sugar
1 egg, beaten
60g self raising flour
a pinch of sea salt
1 tsp instant coffee + 1 tsp hot water (mix together)
2 tbsp fresh milk
15g toasted walnuts, chopped
15g hazelnut meal

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add beaten egg and mix till well combined.

2. Mix in flour and salt till combined. Add coffee and fresh milk into the batter. Fold in walnuts and hazelnut meal.

3. Pour batter into greased/lined cake tin and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 40-50 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean.

I made this cake just before the madness started, and it is BEST on the day it is baked ^^. Most cakes almost always taste better after it's cooled or the next day, but the coffee and nuts cake is delish fresh from the oven. I can imagine it tasting luscious with lots of buttercream (I wish I dared, mel ^^), but it's best I eat it plain ^^!

It's crazy how sometimes things just happen all at once.. but there's always time for cake. ^^

Gâteau au yaourt ^^

Doesn't gâteau au yaourt sounds so much more exciting than plain ol' yogurt cake? ^^

Sudden cravings for yogurt-something, anything(!!!).. had me googling for "yogurt cake" on the mobile in the middle of the night! There's really no connection between yogurt and the scorching heat, is there??

Well, this recipe had my attention.. you'll see why ^^..

Gâteau au yaourt ~ Yogurt cake (recipe by chocolateandzucchini)
1 cup (250ml) yogurt, unsweetened (use your favorite ^^ i love farmers union)
2 eggs, beaten (beat till light and fluffy if you like a lighter, fluffier cake ^^)
1/3 cup neutral tasting oil (i like using grapeseed oil over corn/sunflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum (i love rum in cakes!)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour, sifted (i cheated, used self-raising flour and omitted baking powder/soda)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda, sifted
a pinch of salt

1. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together ~ sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt ~ till well combined.

2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add yogurt, beaten eggs, oil, vanilla extract and rum. Gently mix all the ingredients together till combined. DO NOT OVER MIX.

3. Pour into a greased or lined 10-inch (?) round baking tin. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 30-35 minutes, till the top is golden and the skewer comes out clean. I baked mine in 2 loaf tins at 170C for 45-50 minutes. Baking in loaf tins will usually result in domed, cracked tops.. less likely if using round/square tins.

That's it! This is one of those easy-peasy, dump everything together bake ^^. Just one reading of chocolateandzucchini's yogurt cake post, and you won't even need the recipe! That's what I thought.. and I made the mistake of using 2/3 cup of oil instead of 1/3 cup, because the mind couldn't reconcile with the use of so little oil, haha! No harm done, I think ^^.

Anyway, the ratios are easy to remember ~ 1 cup (250ml) yogurt : 1 cup sugar : 2 cups flour : 2 eggs ~ you can use the same cup (the one your yogurt came in) to measure the ingredients. Since mine came in a 200g tub, I adjusted my measurements accordingly ^^. They say this is the first cake that french kids learn to make. I believe it. ^^

You know I've always been hesitant of bakes that doesn't use butter ^^||.. and past results using vegetable oil like sunflower and corn oil have not exactly endeared me to such bakes. I always feel these supposedly light and neutral tasting oil are "heavy" and strong flavored somehow ^^|| Kitchen feels extra greasy too when I use them for cooking. Maybe it's just me?? But I'm loving the results with grapeseed oil, for baking as well as for cooking ^^.

The result ~ a light textured cake that's extremely soft, moist and fluffy with a slightly crusty top. Flavor and aroma wise ~ it's on the soft and delicate side (though I expect the flavors to develop a little more the next day ^^). As usual, I like my cakes plain. But this cake also pairs quite nicely with homemade fruit jam/sauce, or even whipped cream ^^. It'd make a very good basic cake for trifles, I think ^^. And you can tweak this easily to suit your own preference too, by adding orange or lemon zest or blueberries, almonds etc.

mulberries grown in the tropics are never sweet! organic or not!!!

For some weird reason, this cake makes me think of a doughnut I had in kuromon market, osaka.. crusty exterior, soft fluffy-airy texture inside ^^ The more I think of it, even the smell and taste are alike too! Yums! ^^

This is a seriously delicious cake that uses no butter (!) and stays beautifully soft and moist (even in the fridge). You can bet I'm making this again! ^^

Erratic weather.. and an even-more erratic wifi connection!

That's how life has been these past few weeks! Weird and erratic!

Since coming back from a short holiday in taiwan.. that's all we've been experiencing.. which is so not conducive for baking nor blogging! The aftermath of a certain event over here isn't exactly a mood-lifter either.. ^^|| And all the msg-laden foods that we stuffed ourselves during our holiday, took a toll on our bodies too..

But finally today, the wifi connection seems a little more stable.. and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll remain so till I finish this. ^^ Weather's still horridly hot and suffocating though!

Anyway, this is something I made more than a month back but never posted because I was hoping to perfect and compare it with the marinated pork belly in shrimp paste (still!!!) sitting in the freezer!

Since my first taste of moo tod kapi (crispy pork with shrimp paste) in a thai restaurant, I've always wanted to re-create this dish at home. I really dig the flavor of kaffir lime leaves in this dish!

Despite googling high and low for a recipe of moo tod kapi, I just couldn't find one ^^|| So I figured I'd just do my own interpretation of this dish.. without shrimp paste (since I didn't have any at home then!).. but with lots of kaffir lime leaves! ^^

Almost-crispy pork belly with kaffir lime leaves
500g pork belly, skin removed (I'm sure other parts could be used)
1 tsp sea salt (if using shrimp paste, omit salt)
2-3 cloves of garlic, grated (can omit if using shrimp paste)
a big handful of kaffir lime leaves
a handful of curry leaves
2-3 bird's eye chilles, seeds removed
2 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed
sea salt, to season if necessary

1. Marinade pork belly with salt (or shrimp paste) and grated garlic for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. Heat a bit of oil in a non-stick pan/wok. Place pork belly on the sides and sear till golden brown. Flip to the other side and do the same. Remove pork belly and cut into smaller slices. Looking back, I'm not sure why I did this (??!) and not cut it into smaller slices and just done step 3??? ^^||

3. Remove or wipe off remaining grease/oil from the pan/wok. Put pork belly slices, kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves, chilies and lightly smashed garlic pips in and saute till meat is golden and crispy. If necessary, season with a bit more salt. Do remove the fat/oil/grease when meat starts drowning in it ^^||. 

4. Serve immediately. Tastes even better when cooled or the day after ^^

It's amazing the amount of fat that oozed out from the pork belly! So be warned!

If you can deep fry, please do so to get a crispy texture (slice to smaller pieces after it's cooked).. since I can't, this is it.. an almost-crispy pork dish. ^^

Anyway, this is a wonderfully piquant dish with soft hints of kaffir lime leaves, garlic and curry leaves ^^. And if you can bring yourself to save some for the next day, the flavors get even better! ^^

Piggies were not exactly enthusiastic at first bite.. but by the 2nd/3rd piece, they were smitten!!  It's the kaffir lime leaves, I tell you! ^^

So, shrimp paste or not.. it's still exceptionally DELICIOUS ^^!

And here's a few pictures of the places and food I really liked in taiwan.. sans msg ^^

night harbour view of keelung ~ from our hotel window

picturesque jiufen

huge caramelized peanut slabs ~ turned into shaved peanut candy topped with 2 scoops of ice cream wrapped in popiah skin ~ deliciousssnesss!!! i love this and had two servings.. and i'm not even a fan of peanuts! ^^ i like jiufen ^^

Oops.. that's all the decent food pix I have, haha! Didn't take many food pictures because I just couldn't wait to eat.. and by which time I remembered to, I was already half way through and it looked like a hurricane had struck the dishes.. sorry ^^.

Taiwan's really nice.. cool weather, beautiful scenery, exciting, lots of food/snacks, safe ^^.. but the heavy handed use of msg is not. ^^||