Chocolate Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcake with Cream Cheese Filling

I've been delaying my intention of trying out this popular little cakes
This month's LBT challenge is happened to be Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes, no more excuse for delay :)

 

 

Recipe is from Sonia from Nasi Lemak Lover, with some modification

 

What you need:

 

Chiffon Cake

3 egg yolks

20g sugar

35g corn oil

60g milk

65g cake flour (original: 70g)

5g cocoa powder (I added)

1tsp chocolate emulco (I added)

3 egg whites

25g sugar

 

Filling

125g cream cheese

50g butter

about 7tbsp icing sugar, sifted

200ml whipping cream, chilled

 

Icing sugar, for dusting

 

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C
2. Arrange paper liners on baking tray
3. Hand whisk egg yolk and sugar till pale in colour
4. Add in corn oil and milk, mix well
5. Sift in cake flour, stir to combine
6. Beat egg white until foamy, gradually add sugar, and continue beat till soft peak form
7. Take 1/3 of egg white and use a hand whisk to mix into egg yolk batter
8. Fold in the balance egg white with a spatula till well combine
9. Scoop batter into pre-arranged paper liners to about ¾ full
10. Bake for 20-25 mins at middle rack 

For the filling:
 

1. Beat cream cheese and butter til smooth. In another bowl (chilled), beat whipping cream with sugar till firm and stiff (over a bowl of iced water)
2. Add in cream cheese mixture into whipping cream mixture, mix well with rubber spatula 
3. Pipe filling into cupcake and dust with icing sugar. Refrigerated before consume

I love the texture of this cake, pillowy soft, with cream bursting in every bite, it's so rich and luscious, yum!

 

THB #13 - Dark Chocolate Almond Cake (Happy Call)

Two years is fast! LBT turned two on Friday, hence the challenge for this month, any bake for celebration :)
So I chose to bake this yummy chocolate cake, decorated with sugar cookies which happened to be requested by Ian :)

I baked this yummy chocolaty cake in conjunction with the 13th bake for The Home Bakers, a recipe chosen by Jocelyn from Riceball Eats, from the book  "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas
This time I baked using Happy Call pan and I was satisfied with the outcome
Soft and chocolaty, tasty too. A bit crumbly, perhaps cos I overbaked it a little
Very similar to brownies, but not the fudgy type
Very well received by my family, including the kids :)

I had only chopped almonds which I blended briefly, so I still could taste a little crunch from the almond bits :)
I used bittersweet chocolate and strong brewed coffee. I guess the coffee was a bit too strong I felt the cake was not sweet enough. Since I love the slight coffee taste in the cake, I would still use the same kind of brewed coffee and used semi sweet chocolate instead to get the right sweetness to my liking

Here for presentation I sliced the cake to bite size small squares
It's surprisingly pleasant to munch the cake together with the cookie :)

Please view Jocelyn's site to view the full recipe for the chocolate cake
As for the sugar cookies, I used the same recipe I made before from Rima

So glad I finally managed to find time to participate in The Home Bakers event this time, after I missed out the previous bake :)
This event is hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours
Please visit HERE if you're interested in joining the fun :)

And to LBT, happy 2nd birthday! So glad to be able to share baking experiences together with the ever growing number of members, many turn to best friends :)
Many more years to come. Cheers!

Japanese Rolled Cake

This was truly a challenge to be able to do this cake
It took three trials before I was pretty satisfied with the result, not the cake but more to the painting on the cake itself
The last trial I used slightly different recipe and that was a good decision to get it right
Now I know which recipe I shall use in the future
But will I make this again? I'm not sure. It took at least two hours for me to make, and it gave me a pretty high pile of dishes to wash wew.....
This cake is another example to prove that baking is indeed science
To be able to do it quite successfully does give a certain level of satisfaction and that matters :)

My first try - not too bad, but I burnt a little of the white color and it wasn't so smooth cos some parts were stuck at the baking paper that I had to peel super carefully with knife and arranged it back on the cake

I used Nutella for the filling

My second try - not too bad, either but I didn't like the christmas stocking, the red part wasn't smooth at all - even worse than the first try, and yes, some parts were still stuck at the baking paper
I used chocolate ganache for the filling

 

Finally it's smooth and firmly attached to the cake, I was pretty pleased with this one, except for the small stain on the tree and I used non stabilized whipping cream filling for this cake - it wasn't firm enough, hence the not so round shape of this rolled cake
I used whipped cream and cut strawberries for the filling

My first and second try were using the same recipe from Mba R, this recipe was used by many fellow Indonesian bloggers
It gave me a beautiful texture and yummy cake, it's really a keeper
But somehow, I couldn't be comfortable with the recipe for the batter to do the painting, even after the second try

My third try I used recipe from Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders
I must thank her for doing the translation and sharing it in her blog, it's a great help!
I was so pleased with the recipe for the painting batter, and the cake was yummy too, but more to thinner side


The recipe for the cake:

What you need:

5 egg yolks
40g sugar
40ml canola oil
60ml water
80g plain flour

150g egg whites
40g sugar
150g corn flour
1/2 tsp salt

For the painting:
50g egg whites
10g sugar
5g corn flour

For the egg yolk batter:

1. Beat egg yolks and sugar til ribbon stage. In low speed, add in oil slowly, mix well
2. Add in water slowly, mix well
3. Add in flour and mix well til thick. Set aside

For the painting:

1. Prepare swiss roll pan, grease and line with baking paper which has drawing of picture to be painted. Place the drawing facing down
2. Beat egg whites and half of sugar til foamy, add in the remaining sugar gradually while beating in low speed til medium peak
3. Add in corn flour and mix well briefly til well mixed
4. Divide according the need of the painting, how many colors needed
5. Mix each part with each color til well mixed and put it in piping bag
6. Snip a very little hole at the tip of the piping bag and start painting starting from the outline first if there's one, otherwise start from darker color first
7. Bake in preheated oven of 170degC for 1 minute each color
8. Set aside

For the egg whites batter:

1. Beat egg whites and half of the sugar and salt til foamy
2. Add in the balance of the sugar gradually til medium peak
3. Add in corn flour, mix well

1. Scoop out 1/3 of the egg white batter into the egg yolk batter and fold in gently
2. Add in the remaining egg white batter and fold in gently (do not over fold to avoid the batter being deflated)
3. Pour the batter onto the prepared and painted pan, level
4. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes - do not overbake to avoid difficulty in rolling the cake later on
5. After it's cooked, remove the cake from pan, peel the baking paper slowly and carefully
6. When the cake is cool, flip the cake on another baking paper (now painting is facing down) Spread with filling and roll away from you using the baking paper
7. Keep in the fridge for around 1 hour in the fridge til set before opening up the baking paper

I personally love both the cake recipes, but for the painting batter I definitely will use Miss B's recipe :)


I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #26 hosted by Alan of Travelling Foodies and LBT challenge this month

Indonesian Style Potato Gratin (Pastel Tutup)

This is a typical Indonesian dish, some eat as snack, some eat as a meal
The people said it's an influence from both Chinese and Dutch food
It's not exactly the same as potato gratin, quite different, but it's the same kind of dish
The usual potato gratin uses sliced potatoes layering the top of the dish as well as the bottom, sometimes at the centre too alternating with creamy filling
This dish I made also uses potatoes but mashed til smooth, and it's only placed at the top of the dish covering a layer of hard boiled egg slices on top of the not so creamy filling

It's been a few years since the last time I had this yummy savoury dish, such a great refresher to be able to have this dish again this time, in conjunction with this month's LBT challenge : pastel tutup :)
Quite easy to prepare, but involves a lot of chopping, and the filling has to be completely cool before covered with potato layer

Recipe is from my mum
(with this recipe below I got a 20x30cm rectangle pyrex and four 5" ramekins)

What you need:

For the potato layer:
10 medium size potatoes - steam, peel and mash
3 tbsp butter
2 pinches of ground nutmeg
salt, pepper, sugar

For the filling:
1 large onion, chopped
250g chicken breast - skinless, boneless, boil til cooked and then chopped finely
carrots - chopped finely
a handful of black fungus - soak til soft, chopped finely
bean vermicelli - soak til soft, cut short
two handfuls of frozen peas
10 hard boiled eggs - peel and slice thinly
1/2 cup fresh milk
enough water - around 2L
salt, pepper, sugar, ground nutmeg, a little butter

To sprinkle:
grated cheddar cheese

For the potato layer:
Mix all ingredients while the mashed potatoes are still warm

For the filling:

1. Sautee chopped onion til soft and fragrant
2. Add in chicken, carrots, and water
3. Bring to boil and simmer til carrots turn soft, around 5 minutes
4. Add in milk, stir well
5. Add in black fungus, frozen peas, stir well til peas are cooked
6. Add in salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg, milk, stir well
7. Adjust the taste and add in bean vermicelli
8. Stir well, bring to boil and off heat

How to assemble:

1. Pour filling on the pans and let cool (it has to be completely cool)
2. Arrange egg slices on top after it's cooled and cover with potato layer (my mum just pressed by hand but I prefer to use piping bag)
3. Brush the top with mixture of egg yolk and butter
4. Put oven in grill mode (top heat only) and grill til the top is browned
5. If cheese to be sprinkled on top, please do so after brushing the top with egg wash

I had some leftover potato in the piping bag, so I piped smiling faces on the ramekins and flowers on the pyrex :)

 

 

 

Oh, yum!

Repost: Wingko Babad - Indonesian Baked Coconut Cake

Wingko babad is the theme for LBT challenge this month
I made some with the same recipe I did the last time I made it, but this time I shaped with cookir cutters and used skewers
It's much better eating this way, no sticky hand
Another intention was to attract my kids to at least give this a try, but still no avail
I should have made the chocolate version, actually - perhaps next time :)

Recipe can be found HERE
So yummy, burst with coconut flavor in every bite!

Apple Cheese Cinnamon Cornmeal Upside Down Cake

I've baked this cake before - the gluten free style, using recipe from Epicurious
You may view it HERE

This time I followed the recipe exactly from the book, Bon Appetit by Barbara Fairchild - with some additional ingredients, grated cheddar cheese and cinnamon powder - two which I always think go well together with apples
Slightly different recipe from the previous attempt I made, both do made me go hhmmmm... Really delicious dessert I couldn't stop munching on them!

The first one I made I couldn't really taste the cake itself due to the way too big pan I used also the gluten free flour mixture usage, it's almost feel like eating apple crumble, thus I enjoyed eating it with a dollop of ice cream

For this one, I split one recipe into 2 18cm square pans. It gave me short cakes which I prefer, for upside down cake :) And cos I could taste more of the cake this time, I could eat it on its own with no ice cream, it's just yummy!

The sweetness from the soft and juicy apples, the saltiness from the cheesy grated cheddar cheese, added with fragrant cinnamon in it, with soft fluffy cake with slight crunch from the cornmeal - everything mixed together in every bite, heaven!

What you need:

8 tbsps unsalted butter, room temperature
90g plus 115g caster sugar
4 apples (I used red NZ fuji) - peeled, cored and cut into wedges
110g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
50g yellow cornmeal
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (I replaced with plain Greek yoghurt)
some grated cheddar cheese
some cinnamon powder

1. Preheat oven to 175degC. Butter 9inch round pan with 1 1/2inch high sides (I used 2 18cm square pan with 4cm high sides), line and butter again
2. Melt 2 tbsps butter in non stick skillet over medium heat. Add in 90g sugar and cook til sugar dissolves and mixture turns deep golden brown, stir occasionally, about 5 minutes
3. Add apple wedges, gently shake the skillet to distribute the caramel evenly. Cover and cook til apples release juices, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook til apples are tender and caramel thickens and coat apples, stir occasionally, about 13 minutes
4. Transfer apples and syrup to prepared pans, spread evenly
5. Sieve flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt in a bowl, set aside
6. Beat butter and the remaining sugar til fluffy
7. Add in egg and vanilla. beat in flour mixture alternately with yoghurt in 2 additions each
8. Pour batter over apples in pans
9. Bake cake til golden and tester skewer comes out clean, about 40 minutes
10. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto serving plate and peel off parchment paper. Let cool, cut and serve

This post is for LBT challenge for the month of September, with theme Upside Down Cake :)

Green Banana Roll Ice Dessert (Es Pisang Ijo) - Another Recipe

My second time making this dessert after coicidently found my beloved pisang raja
This time I used Hesti's recipe
What can be more authentic than making this dessert using recipe from somebody originally from its origin? Yes, es pisang ijo is originally from Makassar (Southern Sulawesi proveince in Indonesia) and Hesti is from there and still lives there :)
The first es pisang ijo I made almost a year ago used different recipe which tastes as nice, though. I didn't shape it nicely that time
Well, even this time was not too neat, either, but slightly better :)
And this time I didn't put enough green color it turned out to be too pale, while last time I put too much green color til it was so bright hahaha...
Anyway, we enjoyed it so much. 10 big pieces finished overnight LOL

Eaten with 'campolay syrup' from Indonesia (picture can be viewed HERE) and the thick coconut sauce, plus some crushed ice - you'll forget how many calories it is in the bowl LOL

What you need:

(with slight modification)

The banana roll:

150g plain flour

50g rice flour

400ml coconut milk (I mixed 250ml kara and 150ml water)

100ml pandan water (5 pieced of pandan leaves blended together with 100ml water and strained)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp heaped sugar

1 tbsp margarine

10 pcs very ripe pisang raja - steamed

a few drops of green coloring ( I reckon 7-10 drops will give nice color)

The sauce:

1200ml coconut milk (I mixed 700ml kara and 500ml water)

150g rice flour

1/2 tsp salt

175g sugar

2 pieces pandan leaves

How to make the banana roll:

1. Mix together plain flour, rice flour, sugar, salt, pandan water and coconut milk til smooth, strain if neccesary
2. Pour in a pan (I used 18cm square), steam til cooked, around 25 minutes
3. While still hot, pour the dough in a large mixing bowl and add margarine, knead til smooth
4. (wrap one of your hand, the one you use to knead, with a clean cloth and put in the wrapped hand in a hear proof plastic)
5. Divide dough into 10, flatten with rice cooker spoon, arrange banana on the flatten round dough, roll slowly like rolling swissroll and shape like a banana
6. Wrap each banana roll with clingwrap and steam on medium fire for approximately 15 minutes
7. Transfer the rolls on serving plate, unwrap, let cool

How to make the sauce:

1. Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil over medium fire while stirring constantly
2. Keep stirring til the sauce thickened

Serve cold with campolay syrup, crushed ice and the sauce

This refreshing dessert is a perfect companion for those break fasting :)

I submit this post to LBT Ramadhan dishes August 2012

Banana Chocolate Sprinkles Cake Pops

I was trying one of the recipe have been in my to do list for quite sometime, moist banana cake from Edith's site, when I realized there's something wrong with my oven, I guess the temperature dropped, the cake was only fully baked after an hour while Edith wrote it only took 20 minutes to bake!
As a result, the cake didn't turn out nice, it sunk, and the texture was dense and the cake was heavy. Eating the cake was no fun at all :(

So, since LBT challenge this month is cake pops, I decided to trasnform the disappointment into something for others to enjoy, in this case - the kids :)

I crushed most of the cake with my own hand to relieve my sorrow LOL
Mixed it with Martha Stewart cream cheese frosting til it's sticky enough to shape, shaped into balls
Dipped lollipop sticks in melted dark chocolate and white chocolate and poked the balls with them, immediately kept them in the fridge for an hour

The white and dark chocolate dips, pearls, stars and hearts sprinkles, gummies, and the styrofoam board

After an hour in the fridge, dip the pops into the chocolates and sprinkles as desired and put it standing upright by poking the sticks into the styrofoam board, and chilled overnight

And here is mine...

This one was just dipped plain without any sprinkles, I prefer to bite without sprinkles :P

Ok, I was feeling a little better after seeing the little pops and watching my kids happily munching on them. Sorrow turned to joy LOL

Now, gotta call the oven service centre to ask them to give it a check *sigh*

Kahlua Snaps W/ Chocolate Chips Cream (Happy Call)

LBT challenge this month, something I never know of, never eat either, brandy snaps
But since I replaced brandy with kahlua, I renamed this sweet treat accordingly :)

To be honest, none of my family members liked this when it's just cooked, hard and too sweet
But the next day after kept in the fridge overnight, it turned soft even though it's still sweet
When it's soft, I didn't mind eating it but not more than two bites, it's way too sweet for my liking
Abby quite liked it, too, but couldn't eat much either
DH and Ian didn't even want to eat after their first try
The biggest fan and kept munching on this was my mum, followed by my sis
The usage of kahlua altered the taste to coffee candies like and my mum is a big fan of coffee candy, in fact she is a candy eater
While DH and I, including my kids dislike any kind of candies, perhaps some soft chewable candies occasionally but definitely those hard candies

I made this using Happy Call Pan, original recipe used oven
It's quite a challenge initially, after at least five attempts, I finally managed to make a better shape
I used individual muffin mould, put it upside down and arrange the snaps on top
Original recipe rolled the flat snaps with wooden rolling pin

Here's the recipe, shared by my LBT friends...

What you need:

120g butter
3 tbsp maple syrup (or golden syrup / honey)
70g plain flour
100g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (original recipe used ginger powder)
2 tbsp kahlua (original recipe used brandy / rum)

1. Heat butter and maple syrup in a small pot til butter melts, off heat
2. Add in flour, sugar, vanilla extract, and kahlua, keep stirring til mixed well, set aside for 15 minutes (the batter became thick and sticky)
3. Heat pan (low heat), brush lightly with butter, scoop 1 tbsp of batter at the centre of the pan and observe
4. The batter will slowly get wider and holes formed, and color turns golden brown
5. Off heat and leave it on the pan for 30 seconds, lift up using wide spatula and transfer to the muffin mould (upside down)
6. Shape accordingly and let cool, then remove the mould

For the filling, original recipe used whipped cream
I whipped dairy whipping cream and mixed with chocolate chips. The cream somehow turned a little lumpy - perhaps I overbeat, but never mind, it still tastes good :)

Another challenge, great experience, but I don't think these snaps will be in my family favorite list...well, perhaps it will in my mum's favorite list instead :)

Japanese Melon Pan

This is LBT's challenge of the month
Not so simple as it looks, or as it sounds, hence my rather failed outcome pppffff...

But honestly, the taste is just great :)
it stayed soft til the next day -> this is the magic word for homemade bread LOL
DH who doesn't really have sweet tooth prefers the pastry layer to be thinner though, I too personally thought it should have been nicer if it's thinner

I made original with chocolate chips, chocolate and green tea (these are just the topping, the bread used was only the plain type)
I love the green tea in particular, which is the least preferred by my family

I used HHB's recipe for the bread, through Melly, and for the pastry layer, I used my LBT's friend recipe, Nina Yatomi, through my other friend, Venny Makarawo
I still tweaked the recipe a little to suit my preference

When I saw this, all the small little cracks, I knew I wouldn't make it this time....

But this one below was not too bad, even though it should have been smoother...

And true enough... I didn't make it for these two flavours hiks...

Below were my consolation, even though it's yet to be the fullest satisfaction...

This is the recipe which I have modified a little...

What you need:

For the bread:
300g bread flour
6g instant yeast
36g caster sugar
5g salt
6g milk powder
30g unsalted butter
200g fresh milk

For the pastry layer:
(this is only half recipe)
150g plain flour
2g baking powder
70g butter
65g icing sugar
30g eggs

1/2 tsp green tea powder
1/2 tsp chocolate essence
enough chocolate chips
enough caster sugar
First is to make the pastry layer first:

1. Mix butter and sugar til smooth with electric beater / whisk
2. Add in eggs, and sifted plain flour and baking powder, beat til smooth and well mixed
3. Divide into 3, one is to mix with green tea powder, one with chocolate essence
4. No need to add the last part with anything
5. Keep each with cling wrap in the fridge for one hour
6. Take out from the fridge, shape each 25g ball
7. Put one ball on lightly floured surface, cover with plastic, and flatten with thin chopping board or plate
8. Stack up with the rest of the flatten balls
9. Keep back in the fridge for 30 minutes

Now make the bread:

1. I kneaded and first proof the dough with my breadmaker
2. After done, take out from the pan, knead briefly to release all air bubbles
3. Shape into each 40g balls and proof for 20 minutes on a lined cookie sheet, give some distance in between around 10 cm, covered with damp clean cloth / plastic (no need to be doubled in size)

Time to assemble:

1. Cover each ball with pastry layer, roll the top on a plate of caster sugar, put back on the sheet
2. Decorate the pastry layer by pressing them with cookies cutter as desired
3. For the original topping I just cut gently with table knife and put chocolate chips in each square
4. Further proof for 20 minutes
5. Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for 15 minutes or til golden brown

This link is very useful to find out how to assemble this bread: view HERE
I found this link in Melly's site - thks Melly :)
Perhaps I will try the recipe too the next time I do my second try, hope it'll turn out better
And after mastering the basic recipe, doing more variations for this bread would be nice, too
Wish me luck! :P

Banana Choco Cheese English Muffin

This month's LBT's 13th challenge, english muffin
Not a typical muffin in general, it's more to bread kind
I honestly doesn't really fancy this type of muffin, I find the texture is too ruberry, and not sure about my family
The kids always skip this muffin everytime we have McD breakfast, they still opt for omelette, pancake and hashbrown
So I decided to make just enough for one time consumption
Surprisingly, we like my version (ahem... LOL)
Abby loves it with nutella or strawberry jam, Ian likes it with butter and chocolate rice
I personally prefer it with jam, so does DH

The pic below, taken with my Blackberry phone since the camera is resting, is my muffin, Indonesian style LOL, really yummy
Indonesians really love the combination of banana, chocolate and cheese. Since I happened to have king banana, the sweetest banana of all which is very difficult to find here in Singapore, I made full use of it :)

Recipe is from Allrecipes.com with slight modification I made

What you need:
(below is only 1/3 of the original recipe)

80ml fresh milk
8g white sugar
2g dry yeast
80ml lukewarm water
15g melted shortening
150g all purpose flour
100g bread flour
2g salt
enough cornmeal (it can be replaced with rice flour)

1. Warm up milk til bubbles, remove from heat. Mix in sugar, stir til dissolves, let cool til lukewarm
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, til frothy approx 10mins
3. Combine milk and yeast mixture, shortening, half portion of the flour, and knead til smooth
4. Add salt and the rest of the flour, knead til elastic, place in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise
5. Punch down, roll til 1/2 inch thick, cut round with large round cookie cutter, sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal, set the rounds on this, dust the top with cornmeal too, cover and let rise for 1/2 hour
6. Heat greased griddle, cook each side til golden brown (medium heat), Keep all baked muffins in warm oven til all cooked
7. Allow to cool, place in plastic bag for storage
8. To consume, poke all around the side with fork and open it up, put in a toaster for awhile and use filling as desired

English muffin typically served with bacon/meat patties, sunny side up and melted cheese
But if you prefer sweet version, jam is used most of the time

Btw, I was totally forgotten to post the previous month of LBT #12 challenge, which was its first anniversary
Birthday cake was the challenge and I did a simple one with fondant
I can only do simple one, anyway hehehe....
Had short term memory loss, I put the fondant decorated cake in the fridge, while knowing fondant biggest enemy is refrigerator wew....
So, pardon the melting fondant on the cake :(
Cake was chocolate cotton cake I made before

Tuti Frutti Orange Tres Leches Cupcakes With Orange Choco Ganache

The cake is the same as fruity orange cupcakes from my previous posting, but for this cake, just see the name...Tres Leches Cake... yes, it's three milk cake... something new to me

Pouring each cupcake with mixture of three types of milk: sweet condensed milk, evaporated milk and thickened cream, leave it overnight in the fridge, and the next day you'll get an intensely super rich and moist cupcakes
Best to partner this kind of cake with something refreshing...what else if not fruits to balance the richness from the milk absorbed by the cake

What I used for the milk mixture: (stir well)

(this is half from the original recipe and I find it's sufficient)

You may change the type of milk as desired, example: low fat milk, soya milk, coconut milk, etc.

350ml evaporated milk

350ml sweet condensed milk

60ml thickened cream

I''ve submitted this cake to LBT event this month with the theme of Tres Leches Cake

Warning!

It's not suitable for those in diet, this cake is seriously high in calorie, you can feel it in every bite! :)

Apple Crumble Cup Bread

I hope everybody had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving today :)

Just to share bread I baked more than two weeks ago, something that I enjoyed so much, but just slipped away from my mind and never blogged it, til today when browsed through my document and I saw the picture, and I was like, oh! LOL

So, here it is...

Recipe is from various sources combined into one

The bread and apple filling was from HERE, with an addition of 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon for the apple filling

The crumble topping was from HERE 

And the guide on how to shape was from HERE

What you need:

For the bread:

160g bread flour

40g cake flour

6g instant yeast

40g sugar

2g salt

10g milk powder

10g unsalted butter

1 egg

80g water

Using breadmaker, put in egg and water, followed by the dry ingredients excluding butter

Set to dough and let knead for 5mins, add in butter and let the machine works (1 and 1/2 hour)

For the apple filling:

230g apples (I used 5 medium granny smith, peeled, cored and diced)

50g sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

100ml water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Boil everything then simmer on low heat til all water almost evaporated, let cool

For the crumble topping:

110g plain flour

55g butter - room temperature

25g caster sugar

Rub butter into flour, stir in sugar, mix well til forms crumbs

How to shape....

From the breadmaker, punch the dough and knead for 1minute to release the air, and cut into twelve

Shape each into ball, flatten with rolling dough and then shape in muffin pan, press the bottom and the sides just like when shaping pie crust, leave it to doubled in size

After that, spoon 2 tsp of filling onto each cup and sprinkle crumble on top

Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for approximately 12minutes (til the bread is golden brown)

Take out from the pan and brush the sides of the top part with butter

This bread is best eaten when warm, you may microwave for 15 seconds if you keep in the fridge

Yum!

I've sumbitted this bread to LBT November event with theme 'bread'

Bite Size Japanese Choux Pastry

Submitted this last minute for LBT challenge for the month of October - choux pastry
This is one snack I love but never make, even though have helped and observed many times everytime my mum made this
Wanted to make something different, I chose to try Japanese choux pastry and wanted to make it bite size - WRONG!!!

Everything was fine til the time for me to shape the topping
Cos of the tiny size, it's so difficult to do swirl on top, after a few miserable tries, I gave up and just did a dollop at the centre
I was quite hesitant to do that - concerned that the puff wouldn't expand cos of the additional weight on top
True enough, they didn't - not to the maximum :(
Another problem was when I did the filling, I wanted to pipe the filling but cos of the tiny size, and it's not expanded well, I had problem doing that
I ended up have to cut the puffs and spoon the filling into them, and these actions made the topping cracked - wew!
Despite all the hiccups, one consolation I got: it's really really yummy! :)

So, this is the end result...

The recipe taken from HERE and what a nice choux pastry she has made!

What you need:

For the choux pastry:

250ml water

150g margarine

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

For the topping:

50g plain flour

50g icing sugar

50g butter

1 tbsp water

For the custard filling:

600ml fresh milk

2 egg yolks

30g maizena

20g plain flour

5 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanillin powder

1 tbsp butter

How to make the topping...

Beat all ingredients til well mixed and put in piping bag, cut the tip to make a small hole

How to make the choux pastry...

Bring to boil water, margarine and salt

Add in plain flour while stirring constantly til smooth, off heat and let cool

When it's already cooled, add in egg one at a time and stir continuously til well mixed

Put in the piping bag and cut the tip approx 2cm

Pipe on the lightly greased cookie pan (mini size would be approx 5cm in diameter - double the size for regular size)

Pipe the topping by making swirl on top of the choux pastry batter

Bake in preheated oven of 200degC for 10minutes (mini) or 20mins (regular), til golden color

Let cool and make a hole at the bottom or side with a chopstick

How to make the filling:

Mix all ingredients except butter, mix well til smooth (can strain if necessary)

Cook til boiling, off heat and let cool

After cooled, add in butter, mix well

Put in piping bag with tip

Lastly, pipe the filling into the choux pastry - yum!

Definitely will try again to master this

Lesson learnt: not a recipe for bite size - will stick to the regular size next time :)

Strawberry Cheese Streusel Pizza

This is a must try for those who love pizza and like to try something with a twist
Perfect with a cup of hot tea!

Recipe is from Joyce's site

Soft & juicy in every bite

Yummy and crisp edges

Sweet, tangy an salty all in one - yum! Believe me, this is a must must try! :)

I've submitted this pizza for September's LBT challenge which the theme is happened to be pizza :)

Btw, this what I did with the other remaining pizza dough - mini ham and cheese pizza - yummy yummy!