Chocolate Chip Muffin

Level of difficulty: Easy

Makes 12 Muffins

1 egg

60g corn oil

50g brown sugar

130 cake flour (sieved)

1/4 tsp baking soda (sieved)

1/2 tsp baking powder (sieved)

80g chocolate chips

Beat egg with corn oil until fluffy.
Add in brown sugar.

Fold in sieved flour, baking soda and baking powder mixture.

Add in the chocolate chips.

Fill up muffin cups till 80% full.

Bake in the oven @180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Praline Cake

Pandan Kaya Layer Cake

Seafood Quiche

Pandan Chiffon Cake

23cm chiffon pan

(A) 6 Egg Yolks

100g Sugar

40g Corn Oil

120g Coconut Milk

1/2 tsp Pandan Essence

(B) 120g Hong Kong Flour

1/2 tbsp Baking powder

(C) 6 egg whites

100g sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1) Whisk egg yolks and sugar till creamy

2) Whisk in oil

3) Whisk in coconut milk and pandan essence

4) Fold in flour

5) In another bowl, beat egg whites till big bubbles formed.

6) Add in Cream of Tartar and beat till mixture turns white

7) Add in sugar and beat till stiff peak

8) Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture till well incorporated

9) Pour the mixture into chiffon pan

10) Bake at 170 deg.C for 40mins

Blueberry Crumble

Tiramisu Cuppie

Happy Fathers' Day

Nope, this cake is not bake by moi..heehee. It is bought by moi sis to celebrate Fathers' Day. We had a steamboat dinner with Dad and Mum followed by this beautiful looking cake. Honestly, I was quite sceptical at first because it is an eggless cake. How can a cake made without any egg be good?!?! To my surprise, the cake tastes better than I expected. Maybe it is time to watch our cholestrol level and switch to eggless cakes from now onwards.

Sweet Sweet Circles

This marks the beginning of my two months baking course. After a long consideration, decided to stop procrastinating and signed up for it.

For my first lesson, I was taught how to make chocolate donuts (my all-time favourite). Hurray! No more store-bought donuts for me again!

Spiritual Bank Account

Received this from a friend this morning. It couldn't come at a more perfect time. Recently, life seems to have felt that I am too boring and wants to inject some "exciting" elements into my life. Quarrels with families, problems at work, distancing friends...all seemed to come at once. Just when I thought I couldn't take it any longer, this email was received in my inbox. Renewing my hopes and fire and making me feel ready to face the world, even if just for one more day. Thank you TT. Hope you are able to read this.

I passed this Bank Account of Bountiful Love and Blessings to All That Matters (thanks for all the encouragement) and Wombat (you are a very courageous young lady and all the best to you).

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

Participated in the first bake-out organised by Sweet and Simple Bakes.

It is my first attempt at making flapjacks and I feel that the looks are not so appealing. Taste wise, a bit too sweet for me (as I don't really have a sweet tooth). SH likes it and commented that it is very chewy, akin to that of a "sinful" muesli bar. As I have never tasted how an orginial flapjack is like, so not really sure how successful I am in this bake-out.

Sawasdee

Saw this beautiful Thai snack at the Singapore Food Expo last Sunday.

I was attracted to it by its bright and shiny colours. Didn't see this in Bangkok during our recent trip there. SH was equally mystified and so we bought some to try.

This snack showed me the true meaning of the phrase "Looks are Deceiving". The first bite gave me such an electrocuting shock as I totally didn't expect it to taste like this: the skin was extremely QQ, whereas the fillings made of green bean (I suspect) and coconut was sweet, soft and melt in your mouth.

Sad to say, after devouring 2 boxes, we still do not know what is the name of this lovely Thai snack. We called it "Sawasdee" which is the restaurant's name.

Bake Me a Cream Cheese Cake

Some of you have been asking if I take orders for my Cream Cheese Cake.

1kg ~ Serves 8 to 10 pax

1.5kg ~ Serves 12 to 15 pax

2kg ~ Serves 18 to 20 pax

Flavours available: Blueberry / Strawberry / Cherry / Apple / Lemon

Free delivery to one MRT station along the North-South Line

For Enquiries: Please leave me a msg at the comment box and I will revert within 12 hours

Bangkok 17-20 May 2008

MIA recently because I was busy pigging out at Bangkok last week. Basically, I just ate and ate and....ATE! 6 meals a day!?!?!

Here are some of my conquests:

Dim Sum @ MK Restaurant

Phad Thai @ Emporium Foodcourt

Tom Yum Goong @ Emporium Foodcourt

Vietnamese Springroll @ Emporium Foodcourt

Coconut Ice-cream @ Chatuchak

Stir-Fried Vegetables @ Chinatown Gong Bao Chicken @ Chinatown

Prawns with Glass Noodles @ Chinatown

Fried Calamari Patties @ Chinatown

PS: No time to take photos of every item as I was too busy eating. ~Ciao~

Swiss Culinary Class

Attended a Swiss Culinary Class on 10 May 2008.

A total of 8 dishes was taught over a 3-hour long session. Very interesting and interactive class conducted by Swiss nationals. An eye-opening session for me indeed!

The best part: I get to eat all the fantastic dishes and was so full after the class that I completely skipped dinner that evening.

Cheese Tartlets

Polenta

Smoked Pork Sausage with Leek and Potatoes

Oven Baked Grated Potatoes with Bacon

Sliced Veal Zurich Style

Spaetzli
Zabaione

Carrot cake

Appeal for next bake idea

Strongly suspect I need my next dose of "bake" theraphy very soon.

As a token of appreciation for all my supporters and readers, I will let you decide what shall be my next bake.

So please let me know what do you next wish to see and you will be doing moi a big favour!

Chiffon Cakes Frenzy

Been so stressed up with deadlines @work recently that I really need a good "bake". Hence, went on a marathon baking session and churned out chiffon cake of 3 different flavours.

Testers: MIL, SIL, Father, Mother, Sister, SH and myself

Verdict: Pandan ~ Pass with merit

Orange ~ Pass with merit

Banana ~ Distinction!!! Yaay!!!

Thanks to all my family members for being so supportive and willingly sacrifice themselves to be my guinea pigs :)

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon Cake

Banana Chiffon Cake

Blue Berry Cheesecake

Psst...tell you all a secret. Just found out that tomorrow is my staff's birthday. Shall make her favourite blue berry cheesecake and give her a surprise tomorrow. Do await this post for updates on the outcome of the cheesecake and her reaction tomorrow.

Blue Berry Cheesecake

My surprised staff and her birthday cake

Seafood Paella

Had been trying to find the opportunity to use the risotto rice and saffron bought from Spain during my honeymoon. The opportunity showed itself last evening when I finally got the chance to knock off from work on time. Because had initially thought that I need to work late, so have not been buying any groceries for the past few weeks. This dish of seafood paella was assembled based on whatever was available in my fridge: prawns, fish and mixed vegetables.

End verdict: the rice could be yellowier. Must add more saffron the next time (but the recipe says to add only a pinch of saffron what?!?!) Texture of the rice is just nice, neither too soft nor hard. Only complaint from SH is that the paella lacked the taste of shellfish, which I agreed. So when the next opportunity to prepare this dish arise, I shall make sure of the presence of mussels and clams. Run for your life my dear shell-mates the next time you see me in the supermarket!

Orange Butter Cake

Similar recipe to my marble butter cake. Replaced the cocoa powder with the zest of one large orange. Tasted even better than the marble butter cake. Sweet aroma of orange and butter plus melt-in-your mouth texture even after 2 days. SH and myself had this for our breakfast yesterday and today.

Recently, SH commented that I seemed to have put on weight since our wedding in January. Anxiously, I stepped on the weighing scales yesterday night and realised that I had indeed put on 2 kg in the past 4 months. My gosh! How to balance late night suppers of rich and sinfully delicious cakes with the forever rising weight demon? Must find a way to distribute the calories among my dear friends. Volunteers for my cakes anyone?

My Past Week Achievements

Had a real busy past week due to my office deadlines. Not much time to cook/bake. Nevertheless, these are my achievements for the last week.

One-Dish Meal of pan-fried dory fish fillet, black pepper spaghetti and mixed vegetables. A combination of the all basic food groups of carbs, protein, good fats, and hopefully what's left of vitamins. Olive oil is used to drizzle over the spaghetti. I used Cointreau as a seasoning for the dory fish fillet. SH (aka DD) commented that it tastes quite good.

Butter-Marble Cake

The recipe for this cake comes from fellow blogger Rei. Very aromatic and rich taste of butter. Simply heavenly. Thank you Rei for sharing such a fail-proofed and delicious recipe.

PS: Just found out that DD in blogging terms = Dear Daughter. Some of you have been asking me if I have a daughter. Answer is no. My current status is that of a DINK. So from today onwards, DD shall become SH .

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Baked this last night while watching Ch 8 9pm show. Used the recipe for pandan chiffon cake, but substituted the pandan coconut with 3 tbsps Hershey's cocoa powder. I used a 8-inch chiffon cake pan and baked at 170 degrees celsius for 45 mins. The cake did not rise as tall as I expected it to. I wonder what went wrong. Nevertheless, the taste is quite good with a mild cocoa fragrance. Both DD and myself had 3 slices each for breakfast this morning.

Pineapple Frenzy

DD went beserk and bought 5 pineapples on Sunday!!! In the end, we gave 3 of them to our parents. The other 2, I decided to use it for pineapple rice.

Thai Pineapple Rice

I named this dish "富贵花开" (meaning prosperity and flowers blooming)

Steamed Yam and Prawn

Tried out this new creation of mine today, a Singaporean and Western style fusion of steamed yam and prawn. Found that the taste is so-so only. Will not be making this dish in the near future.

Dinner with DD on 22 March 2008

Rainy Day today. So decided to stay-in and cook.


Cheesy Fish and Vege Pasta

Steamed Pork and Vege

Orange Chiffon Cake

Mini House-Warming with H Gang on 15 March 2008

Finally I have the chance to upload these photos. First time cooking for 10 pax (8 adults and 2 children). Kinda excited but stressed too. Woke up at 9am to start my preparations. Finished around 4pm and had a quick shower. Just managed to make it in time before the arrival of the first guest at 530pm.


Tortilla Chips

Bruschetta with Tomato and Cheese

Riojia Red Wine (from our recent honeymoon to Spain)

Vegetable Soup (Onion/Carrot/Celery/Button Mushroom)

Some other food on the menu but forgotten to take photos are:

• Grilled honey chicken thighs
• Baked fish in lemon and olive oil
• Fried rice in garlic and olive oil
• Oreo cream cheese cake
• Home-made ice-cold green tea

I hope my guests are satisfied with the food and had a great time. It's fun! Let's do it again shall we?