THB #14 Chocolate Cheese Streusel Ribboned Cake

So glad I managed to steal time to bake this wonderfully easy and tasty cake
The fourteenth bake for The Home Bakers, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, baking with a group of members from the book  "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas
Perfect with a cuppa! Not only me, but the whole family enjoyed it too :)

I love the texture of this cake, fine and moist, really delicious
I baked half recipe but I used full recipe streusel, and I sprinkled all in between the cake, I didn't add on top, hence the "thick ribbon" LOL

I didn't include cinnamon powder and almond extract since my family doesn't fancy them
For me myself, I love cinnamon but I dislike almond extract
I too love the idea of mixing in chopped nuts in the streusel, but my kids dislike nuts for now, so I replaced it with semi sweet chocolate chips and grated cheddar cheese
I didn't mix in the cheese in the streusel, though. Instead, I sprinkled on top of it before pouring the remaining batter
Also, I replaced sour cream with low fat plain yoghurt

Please visit Louanne from Louanne's Kitchen for the full recipe. Other members bake this cake too, please drop by The Home Bakers (THB) to view

Nutella Yoghurt Cake

Today is World Nutella Day
I never really made an effort to bake anything with Nutella on this particular day
Yesterday I had this thought to do so, since Nutella is one of my family favorite, too, so why not
So, I baked this Nutella yoghurt cake. I used recipe from Happy Home Baking

Anyway, yesterday was not a baking with smart time management
By the time I finished doing the mixing and the batter ready to be transported to the oven, it's time for me to pick up Abby from school
In the end, the batter waited for me to come back for close to an hour
I mixed briefly with spatula, poured into the pan and knocked a few times to get rid of the bubbles but apparently that was not good enough, cos the best was not to let the batter waiting

So, pardon me for the holes in my cake
Rest assured, this cake is soft and yummy, with minimum crumbs

I always love this sexy crack on butter cake :)

Look at those holes.. It should be fine smooth texture :(

 

But believe me, this cake is one of those worth trying :)

 

 

 

I baked half recipe using 18cm loaf pan - greased and floured, recipe below

 

What you need:

 

113g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

43g butter, soften at room temperature

1 1/2 tbsp Nutella spread (I used 2tbsp)

75g sugar (I used 60g)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I used chocolate emulco)

1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degC
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
3. Mix together yoghurt and vanilla essence
4. Beat butter and nutella for 1 min. Gradually add in sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 mins
5. Add in the eggs slowly, beat constantly for about 2 mins
6. On low speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in 1/2 of the yoghurt mixture. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour mixture. On high speed, beat in the remaining yoghurt mixture. On low speed, beat in the rest of the flour mixture
7. Pour batter into into the pan, level it
8. Bake for about 30-35 minutes (half recipe) til skewer comes out clean
9. Let cool in pan for 10 mins and transfer to cooling rack 

Bake Along #38 - Cold Oven Cream Cheese & Chocolate Pound Cake

After missing out three bakes in a row for Bake Along, finally I managed to find time to bake these little cutie pies
Thanks to the hosts of Bake Along, the time for submission now is 10 days, that means a lot to me! :)

This little cakes were very well received by my family, including the kids
It's indeed really good, I like the taste, very fine texture and moist too
I added chocolate to attract my kids and it worked :)
I wanted to make marble effect but since I used mini moulds it's not so easy to do so
I did have a little extra batter, so I did three cupcakes with marbled effect and baked using Happy Call pan :)

The mini donuts...

The mini cupcakes...

And the standard size cupcakes, the remaining batter baked using Happy Call pan...
Tasted the same, but the texture was slightly different, a little chewy and the texture was not as fine as those baked using oven

Recipe is  from the book Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman
I made half recipe, modified as follows...

What you need:

1 1/2 cup cake flour (minus 1 1/2 tbsp)
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 /4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
114g unsalted butter, softened
114g cream cheese, softened
3/4 (slightly heaped) cup caster sugar (original half recipe uses 1 1/4 cup which I think is too much)
3 large eggs
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
Original half recipe uses 3/4 tbsp grated fresh ginger and 1/2 tbsp grated lemon zest but I skipped them

Method:

1. Grease and flour 1 mini donut pan and 1 mini cupcakes pan
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl
3. Combine butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and beat til fluffy about 3 minutes
4. Lower the speed to medium, add in eggs one at a time
5. Add in vanilla, ginger and lemon zest (if used - I didn't use ginger and lemon zest, only vanilla)
6. Reduce speed to low and add in the flour mixture, 1/2 cup each time
7. Mix for 30 seconds on medium speed and off the mixer
8. Take 1/3 of the batter and fold in cocoa powder
9. Put batter (both plain and chocolate) in separate piping bag, snip the tip
10. Pipe the plain batter into the pan and top with the chocolate batter
11. Place the pans in the cold oven. Turn the oven to 150degC fan forced and bake without opening the door til cake is cooked when skewer comes out clean (mine is about 25 minutes)
12. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes then invert onto a rack
13. Store in an airtight container

This is the bake for Bake Along event hosted by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, Joyce  from Kitchen Flavours and Lena, from Frozen wings

Please check out below others baked the same cake with their own brilliant modifications

Mrs Ng SK Vanilla Butter Cake

Butter cake is one of very well received cake in the house
This special recipe was really hot amongst blogger sometime back, so I gave it a try and wow! This butter cake is indeed really special! Softer than the usual butter cake, finer texture, too and really moist and taste really good!

 

 

Recipe is from Wendy's site

 

What you need:

 

230g butter

200g eggs (no shell) - separate the yolks from the whites

50g + 150g sugar

200g self raising flour, sifted

60ml milk

1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

1. Preheat oven at 180degC. Grease pan, line the base and grease the sides to help the sides rise well (I used 2 20x10cm loaf pans, you may use a 8" square pan)
2. Beat egg whites til soft peak, gradually add in 50g sugar, and beat til stiff, set aside
3. Cream butter and 150g sugar til pale and fluffy. Put in vanilla seeds and beat for awhile
4. Add in egg yolk one at a time and beat well after each addition
5. Put in half the flour and beat in low speed til well mixed. Put in milk in 2 additions and mix well. Mix in the balance of the flour
6. Put in half the egg whites and beat in low speed. Pour the balance and fold
7. Pour batter into the pans and level
8. Bake for around 30 minutes til skewer comes out clean
9. (I covered the top loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes)

 

Somehow I still got a little crack at the top of the cake. Many baked this cake and they were so amazed with the crackless butter cake they got

Not sure whether it's because of the size of the pan I used

Let me try to bake this cake again with an 8" square pan and see if I still see crack :)

 

Nutella Marbled Cake - Aurora Tiered Birthday Cake 4 Abigail

1 November was my 'lil princess 7th birthday
How time flies! I still remember what happened every single minute during the 10 hours I spent in the hospital waiting for her arrival.. and now, she's a sweet young girl celebrating her 7th birthday!

As usual, it's the special request birthday cake from the birthday girl
This time, she never specified any character she wanted on the cake. She just wanted a tiered cake, and it had to be a three tiered cake
Oopss! Something I never did before! Let alone three, I haven't even made two!
And thinking about smoothing the whole tiered cake with buttercream, it frustrated me even before I made the buttercream!
So, I decided to use fondant this time - the decision made with all my fingers and toes crossed since I, as you all know, am not good in cake decorating at all :)
But everything for my girl - I guess all mummies will agree with me :P

So, 31 October was the cake baking day, I baked Nutella cake using the recipe from Sam's site
This is the second recipe I made for Nutella cake and I definitely will stick to this recipe  This cake is really good, trust me!
It tasted better and had texture that I prefer, moist! Yes, I like moist butter cake
Well, anybody ever know somebody who likes dry butter cake? LOL
Just for reference, you may view the first recipe I made HERE
It's slightly different cos it's not marbled cake, it's plain butter cake with Nuttela mixed in the batter and then baked. It's nice, but this one is better :)

It's a really tiring day, I cooked, took care of the kids and house, baked two recipes of this cake, made buttercream, assembled the cake and crumb coated the cake and finally, the most daunting part - did the 'piling up high like mountain' dishes :-O
I was exhausted at the end of the day, my legs were so painful for long period of standing

The next day, on the day itself early morning I took out the cake from the fridge and rolled out the fondant
Big mistake of the day: I covered the cake with fondant while the cake was still cold
The next thing I knew, it started to have condensation everywhere
I could only stare in despair, for I couldn't do anything to remedy the situation
But I still went ahead to do the little deco here and there and in fact, I used the condensation as glue LOL
What worried me was the whole fondant would collapse, so I kept checking on the cake, patted here and there, tried to smoothen everywhere with my hands dusted with icing sugar wew.... Ants would love my house on that day :)
Luckily nothing major happened to the cake, I learnt my lesson and problem solved after I moved to cake into air conditioned room
But, as a price to pay for my negligence, some parts of the cake wasn't smooth at all :(

After done with everything, I was quite satisfied, despite the condensation tragedy
It's only my second fondant cake, after all (read: self consolation) LOL
Abby was thrilled and she was the one who took the initiative to choose and place Princess Aurora on top :)

 

 

The delicious cake, a must try!
I didn't manage to do the marble effect nicely, but who cares? The taste was just too awesome it didn't matter anymore :)

The excited birthday girl :)

Happy birthday my sweet little princess Abigail  XOXO :)

THB #5 Walnut Crusted Butter Cake

5th bake from The Home Bakers, from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
Butter cake - one of DH's favorite cakes, this time with nutty crust at the sides - nice!
Original recipe used almond slices, but I used sliced walnuts since that's what I had in stock :)
I baked only half recipe this time, just nice portion for the family without being over indulged :)
But the quantity of the walnuts I used was for one recipe :)
And also, I ommited amond extract and reduced sugar to 150g (half recipe)

I love the texture of this cake. It's rather dense - typical butter cake, but soft with fine texture

I added 3 tbsp of plain yoghurt (for half recipe) which I think it's a good thing :)

And the outer crust was so exciting to munch! I love this part the best :)
I used two rectangle short pans, to shorten the baking time :)

I found the fork is really cute, it's actually kids fork, those who still learn to grip

Overall, we like this cake. Probably I'll add some orange zest and orange glaze - yum! :)

For full recipe, please visit Emily's site

Please visit The Home Bakers, you'll see other members' bakes and really hope you can join in the fun too!

Mixed Fruits Slices

When I saw Ann posted Apricot Slice, I was literally salivating looking at the pictures
It's really my kind of Christmas fruit cake, I just do not fancy the usual fruit cakes people usually bake and many bakeries sell during Christmas season

So, here it is, with a little modification
I used cake flour instead, and besides chopped dried apricots, I used dried mixed fruits too

Pretty isn't it? And it's yummy too :) Perfect treat for Christmas gathering :)

I am submitting these slices to  Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011) hosted by Hankerie

My First Barbie Cake... Happy Birthday My Girl, Abigail :)

This is a special request from Abby since last July ever since she saw me making car cake for Ian's birthday :)

I don't have the pan designed to bake Barbie dress, so what I did was... I baked two recipes of cocoa butter cake (I didn't give marble effect this time, instead I poured the vanilla butter first and the cocoa batter on top) 

I used three round pans in different sizes - 6", 5" and 3" (in fact I still had some leftovers so I baked another one in 5" pan)

To make the dress...

After cooled,  I made a hole at the centre of each cake (approximately 7cm diameter), stacked the three cakes, 6" at the bottom, topped with the 5" and the last one was the 3" cake, with buttercream frost in between

Using serrated knife, I carved the cake to shape a long dress (just using my imagination)

After done, I frosted the whole cake with buttercream, smoothen it up and kept it in the fridge for around one hour

After that, I frosted the whole cake again, this time a thick one, and I decided to give swirl effect all over the cake (this is much easier to be done on a thick buttercream)

I then inserted the doll which has been wrapped tightly with clingwrap from chest down

I added some frosting to cover the hole around the waist area and do the swirls also

I piped the edge of the dress with star nozzle and put sugar pearls on each star

Also I decorated the dress with sugar stars all over so that it wouldn't look too plain

Now, for the bodice....I initially planned to pipe all over with small star nozzle, then I realized I don't have any wew...

So I decided on fondant, I cut a rectangle shape and wrap all around the top part of the doll

Press here and there to adjust the bodice to get the perfect shape

I added some sugar pearls and hearts to beautify the bodice

That's all, sounds easy but for first timer like me, especially when you know my decorating ability, it's quite a challenge :)

So glad and satisfied to see how thrilled Abby was but couldn't bear to see when it's time to cut the cake hehe...

The happy bday girl in Cinderella costume :P

As usual, I made another cake to bring to school... Also her request, Cinderella cake, since she wore the costume to school :)

With the same cake as Barbie cake, used edible image and simple deco using buttercream

So glad to hear when Abby told me that her classmates said the cake's so yummy :)

Again, happy birthday to you my beloved Abby :) Stay pretty and good girl as always, mummy and daddy are so proud of you and will always love you, as well as you little brother, Ian.. God bless u!

XOXO

Fruity Sicilian Orange Cake

This recipe has been in my to do list for ages - finally I did it :)

It's indeed seriously yummy - moist buttery yet light texture with a hint of orange taste

Recipe is from Jess' site but I used the original flour measurement which is 250g and I used 100ml of freshly squeezed orange juice

I added 7 tbsp of mixed dried fruits which has been soaked in mixture of rum and hot water for approximately 1 hour, strained and squeezed dry and then sprinkle with a little plain flour

I sprinkled on top of the batter before putting in the oven

And I also brushed glaze too on top of the cake after it's cooled

It's 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice boiled together with 1/3 cup icing sugar til thickened

Definitely a keeper! :)

Victoria Chocolate Pudding Cake

This recipe is from an Indonesian magazine years ago
My mum kept the torn pages til it's yellowish!
She baked this cake so many times, we all loved it so much!
This is my first time baking it myself - so happy it turned out well
It's not difficult, I must say :)

You see my teeth mark on the pudding? *grin*

This how it looked like before pouring the pudding (left) and after the pudding is set - ready to cut (right)

What you need:
(below is half recipe - I used 8" round pan)

For the cake:
162.5g butter
162.5g icing sugar
4 egg yolks
3.5 egg whites
162.5g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder - sieved together with the flour

Beat butter and icing sugar til thick, creamy and white color
Add in eggs one at a time while continuously beating in low speed til well mixed
Add in flour+baking powder - mix well
Pour the batter on a lightly greased and floured 8" round pan
Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for 20-25minutes (til golden brown and when skewer comes out clean)
Let cool on cooling rack - still in the pan
After it's completely cooled, using clean chopstick, make holes at the cake - depth approx 4cm, distance approx 2cm

For the pudding:
750ml fresh milk
15g agar2 powder
115g sugar
20g cocoa powder - dilute in a little water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

In a pot, heat milk and agar2 powder til boiling
Add in cocoa powder that has been diluted with water - mix well
Take the pot off the fire
Add in egg yolk - mix well
Put back the pot on low fire, stir continuously
After cooked, take the pot off the fire

Let the pudding cool a little (around 5minutes) - stir occasionally
Pour the pudding on the cake - slowly, start from the centre - it will flow to all directions
Fill in those areas which not covered yet
Wait til the pudding set before loosen the pan

Yum! One more cake loved by my kids - both of them :)

I'm submitting this pudding cake to Aspiring Bakers #7 – Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted at this LINK

Condensed Milk Pandan Chocolate Chips Pound Cake

I just realized I made this cake a few weeks ago and forgot to post :P
Not that this cake is forgettable - nope! More to cos it disappeared very fast - yes, that must be it :)

Taken the recipe from Melly, but changed raisins to chocolate chips
And I divided the batter into 2 loaf pans hence the short cake - not the usual height for pound cake, just adjusting to my kids' portion and also to shorten the baking duration :P

What you need:

120g butter
120g plain flour
1/2 cup sweet condensed milk
40g icing sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp pandan paste
1/2 tsp salt
chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugar til light and fluffy
Add in vanilla essence and salt, beat til thick, add in sweet condensed milk, beat til well incorporated
In low speed, add in flour gradually, mix well
Add in eggs one at a time - around 1minute duration in between
Add in chocolate chips, mix well
Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for 30minutes

Very fragrant and yummy cake it is!!! :)

Dulche De Leche Pound Cake

Curious seeing so many other bloggers baking cakes with DDL, I tried to make both the DDL and the cake
It took me 2days since I let the can cooled off overnight

Recipe for the cake taken from Jess Kitchen, this cake - as mentioned by her too, is definitely a keeper!
Unlike pound cake generally, this cake is ultra soft, fluffy and moist, even on the third day!
(I kept in airtight container)

As for the DDL, I used the simmering method in a pot - you may watch the video from this LINK

This "milk candy" is so yummy I can eat on its own if I don't count calories :)

And this is the cake:

I divided the dough into 2 loaf pans and the other pan I added some semi sweet chocolate chips since my kids are chocolate addicts hehe...

I was concerned that it can be too sweet so I only used a little chocolate chips - which I regretted cos the cake is not too sweet so adding more chocolate chips should be just fine

What you need:

( a little modified)

240g unsalted butter, room temperature

240g top flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
80g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g Dulce De Leche (DDL)
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 160C. Butter and flour 2 loaf pans, set aside

Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add DDL and vanilla and mix until well combined

Add the flour mixture and beat until no traces of flour remains

Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the top

Bake in preheated oven for 50mins or until a skewer test comes out clean

Cool completely on wired rack before unmolding

Submitted this cake for LBT#3 March challenge - butter cakes :P

Orange Pound Cake

Another cake, it's pound cake - close to butter cake *grin*

This time is with another mission - to finish my oh so many oranges in my fridge :)

This time recipe was from Kitchen Snippets, DH could not stop eating this, and I had a terrible confession, I ate 5 slices in one day! *faint*

What you need:

226g unsalted butter - softened
4 tbsp milk
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp grated orange zest
1 tbsp vanilla

For the glaze:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 165degC. Grease two small loaves pan with some butter
Sift flour, baking powder and salt and set it aside
Beat soft butter and sugar together until light and creamy
Add in eggs one at a time until well incorporated into the butter
Add in the orange zest and vanilla
Slowly fold in the flour and milk into the mixture, mix well
Pour into the loaf pan and bake until skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean
Allow the cake to cool on pan for 10 minute before turning it into the cooling rack
For the glaze:
Combine sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved and reduce glaze by half
Brush some of the warm glaze over top of cake

Love love love the texture of this cake!

I still have some leftover of the orange glaze... Perhaps I just spread over toasted bread tomorrow morning for my breakfast :)

Cocoa Butter Cake

I always love butter cake, so does DH
This makes my eyes blink everytime I find butter cake recipe with nice pictures
Just like this one - I found this recipe at Nasi Lemak Lover
Seeing the pictures, I was like, ok, I'll try this asap!!!

Easy to make and great taste - even my fussy mum said, this is nice - give me the recipe :)

What you need:

250g butter
160g sugar
4 eggs
250g cake flour
1tsp vanilla essence
2tsp of double action baking powder
4tbsp milk
2tbsp cocoa powder and ½ tsp coffee powder mix with 3tbsp hot water

Sift cake flour and baking powder in a bowl
Beat butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy
Add in egg one at a time, add in vanilla, mixing well
Fold in flour and milk, combine well
Mix ½ portion of cake mixture with cocoa mixture
Pour cake mixture into cake tin and follow by cocoa cake mixture ( i did this but after that I swirl the cocoa cake mixture hence the marbled effect)
Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 30mins or skewer came out clean

Great for tea time! :)