Work catering #53: Baked out~

Have you ever just felt burnt out? I'm sure you have, especially when it comes to studying or working... but have you ever feel burnt out when it's your.. hobby? your passion? I  didn't think that would happen but sometimes it does! Like with baking.. I do love it and I could do it everyday (I think).. but sometime I lose motivation or inspiration. For example this week for work, I wasn't really inspired by anything so just chose these 2 random recipes to bake. I wasn't really happy with either of the final products because I think I was just baking out of "having to bake" instead of "wanting to bake"~~~ I think it was because I baked so much for the wedding (yes i know... still need to blog about that)

anyways I hope you can try out these recipes and it turns out better for you ^___^ Hope I get my baking motivation back soon!!! :D

Butterscotch Apple Blondies
Recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (150g) brown sugar
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups (300g) plain flour
2 cups apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line rectangle (20x30cm) baking pan.
2. Cream brown sugar and butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Beat in vanilla essence.
3. Mix in baking powder, salt and flour. Fold in apples and butterscotch bites.
4. Pour/press batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Cool bars completely before cutting.

In the original recipe, there was an optional caramel sauce but I didn't make it (partly because I was lazy..). I'm sure it would have been great with it!

Greek Yoghurt Lemon Poppyseed Cake
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients
2 cups  (300g) plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (200g) caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (75g) butter, melted and cooled
2 tbs fresh lemon zest
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup (300g) greek style yoghurt
1 tbs poppyseeds

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line square (23cm) cake tin.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until well-combined. Whisk in melted butter, lemon zest and almond extract.
4. Whisk in one third of flour mixture, followed by half of yoghurt and poppyseeds. Whisk another third of flour mixture then remaining yoghurt and rest of the flour. Mix just until no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 50-55minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of loaf comes out clean.

baking disaster masked by the good old cream cheese frosting XD

Optional: Ice with cream cheese frosting - the reason I did this was because my cake turned out really dense :S I think I didn't whisk enough to get air in... so to mask my failure, I smothered it with frosting. muahhaha =p Baker's secret~

Work Catering #43: Have a Chai Latte (cheesecake)

Hello all! A belated post from work catering a few weeks ago~ Work has been pretty busy this month >_<" but still have been baking! Just not as much posting~~ hopefully will get round to it soon!

I only recently discovered Chai Lattes a couple of months ago! Call me stupid... but I always thought lattes were just another type of coffee.. and I dont like coffee! Only did I realise that it was more the chai spices and milk! really yummy :D AND... my friend also introduced me to the chai tea powder!!! Apparently they use this same one in cafes so now i can just make it at home :)

makes awesome chai lattes!

I've also been experimenting with the chai tea powder in my bakes! Made these chai tea vanilla flavoured "takorons" and the recipe I'd like to share today... chai latte cheesecake!! If you have any other chai inspired recipes or suggestions, let me know :D

Chai latte cheesecake
Recipe adapted from Taste.com

Ingredients
Base
250g ginger nut biscuits
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
80g butter, melted

Filling
500g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tbs instant coffee powder
1 tbs boiling water
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 160oC/140oC fan-forced. Grease and line rectangular baking pan (20x30cm) with baking paper.
2. Process biscuits, cinnamon and ground ginger until resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter and process until combined. Press mixture over base of prepared tin. Refrigerate while making filling.
3. For filling, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between each addition. 
4. Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Stir coffee mixture into cream cheese mixture. Pour over base and smooth the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and chai tea powder. 
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until filling is just set. Allow to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight before serving.

I love the sprinkle of cinnamon/chai tea powder for the finish^^

delicious squares!

close up of cheesecake~

The ginger nut biscuits are a great match for this cheesecake and the flavour is not too sweet. It may not appeal to all taste buds... I guess only if you like chai latte?? haha and cinnamon spices ^_^

Next up... another bundt cake :) I have previously made this for a friend's birthday but never saw what the inside looked like xD now I know... a tip.. maybe chop the apples into smaller pieces :)

Apple Swirl Bundt Cake
Recipe adapted from Magnolia Days

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tart apples (Granny Smith recommended)
2 cups caster sugar + 3 tbs, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp vanilla essence

Glaze
1 tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
4 tbs milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oc. Grease a 10 or 12 cup bundt tin.
2. In medium bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. Peel and chop apples into small pieces and place in large bowl. Sprinkle with 3 tbs caster sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stir to coat apples and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, add remaining 2 cups of sugar and oil. Beat using electric mixer on high speed for 2 minutes to combine. Add eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Add orange juice and vanilla and beat to combine.
5. Add flour mixture and beat on medium speed until smooth and combined. Do not over-mix.
6. Pour a third of batter into prepared bundt pan and spread evenly. Spread one half of the apples evenly over the batter. Repeat layers. Top with remaining batter and spread to cover apples. 
7. Bake for 1 hour or until skewer inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes then remove cake from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack.
8. Prepare glaze by mixing butter with icing sugar. Add milk and mix until desired consistency they drizzle over cooled cake.

Take a slice :)

swirl~~

Due to the apple pieces being so big... they fell out >< that's why there are a lot of holes..

Still have quite a few recipes to blog about ^_^" so GET BAKING!!!

Work Catering #40: Blondies vs. Brownies

Which do you like better? Blondies or Brownies? I made both for work last week~! Well technically the blondies weren't "blondies" because they didn't have any white chocolate in them... and it was a bit biased because the brownies had cream cheese and Kit Kats...so of course the brownies won XD But they were both yummy :D 

I was still in a Kit Kat phase from last work catering, so I decided to use them in a brownie!

Kit Kat Cream cheese Brownies
Recipe adapted from Bakerella

Ingredients
Brownie
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
150g unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 x 45g package Kit Kat bars

Cream cheese topping
250g cream cheese, softened at room temp
2 eggs
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and grease and line a 20x30cm baking pan.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder in medium bowl and set aside.
3. Melt butter in microwave. Stir in sugar, then eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until well combined.
4. Add dry ingredients. Stir until combined then pour into prepared pan. Gently press 16 individual Kit Kat bars on top of brownie batter.
5. To make the topping, beat cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time to mix until combined.
6. Gradually add icing sugar and then vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour on top of brownie batter.
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Place a sheet of foil on top of pan for the last 10-15 minutes to avoid over browning.
8. Remove from oven and cool completely. Chill in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight before slicing and serving - I was too impatient and I think that's why it was quite hard to slice XD was too warm and sticky! haha


Falling brownies....

The cream cheese topping wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was quite soft and pretty sweet but I think the layer was just the right thickness! Any thicker and it would have been overly sweet.

Did I tell you that some of these were stolen? :O

I put them in the work fridge overnight and the next day most of them were gone~

To balance out the sweetness we have some tart apple harvest "blondies". I like the texture of the nuts on top and also bits of cream cheese ^^

Apple Harvest Blondies
Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl

Ingredients
150g unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar (divided)
3 large eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essense
2 medium apples, peeled and chopped (I used granny smith apples for tartness)
125g cream cheese (you can freeze to make it easier to chop later)
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 170oC. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan. 
2. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of brown sugar. Mix well and add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
3. Add flour, baking powder and vanilla essence and mix well. Fold in apples.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Chop cream cheese into small bits and mix with nuts, cinnamon and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle evenly over batter.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Pretty moist and full of fruit :D

and Golden!

I wonder why they are called Apple harvest blondies... 

Winter warmer: Apple pie

Went to a BBQ last month and was in charge of bringing a dessert! It was in Autumn but you could DEFINITELY feel the winter cold in Melbourne!! I decided to bake an APPLE PIE! It's been a while since I made my last pie!! Here's what it looked like...

my first apple pie... awww.. haha

My presentation and pastry work wasn't too good bad then.... I hope I have improved ^^

Apple Pie
Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Pastry
1 3/4 cups (260g) plain flour
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
185g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs milk

Filling
4 large Granny Smith apples
Juice of 1 lemon
45g unsalted butter
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.Sift flours and pinch of salt into large mixing bowl. Add butter and rub into flour with fingertips till resembles fine breadcrumbs.

This takes a little bit of time but it's worth all the love and care :)

2. Add 1 of the eggs, lightly beaten, with 1 tbs chilled water and drizzle over flour mixture. Bring dough together by cutting liquid into dough with blunt knife and then using hands to make a smooth ball. (Add more water if needed). 
3. Divide dough into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other.Wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
4. For the filling, peel and core apples. Cut each into 8 pieces. Immediately toss with lemon juice.
5. Place butter and sugar in large frypan over medium-low heat. Add apples and cinnamon when butter has melted. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes or until apples have softened. Set aside to cool.
6. Roll pastry on a lightly floured work bench to a 30cm circle. Roll pastry around rolling pin, then unroll over pie dish. Gently press into dish allowing excess to overhang.
7. Place cooled filling in base. Roll small pastry out and cut into strips (~2cm width). Weave into pattern (over and under... over and under....). Cut excess pastry from edges and crimp edges with your fingers. Beat remaining egg with milk, brush over pastry. Refrigerate for 30 minutes - I'm pretty sure this is to prevent shrinkage of pastry.. I skipped this step and that's probably why mine shrunk a bit...>.<
8. Place pie dish on baking tray and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Best eaten warm with a scoop of vanilla icecream ;p..

Work catering #22: Crumble in my tummy

This week's catering has got to be one of my favourites!!! =D =D =D!!! I could just sit and scoff down the whole lot of the apple crumble cheesecake and a jarful nutella cookies, but of course I can't because then I wouldn't have anything to bring to work ><"

Anyways this cheesecake is a baked one, unlike my other no-bake cheesecakes and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Apple Crumble Cheesecake

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients
250g Nice biscuits
125g butter, melted

Filling

500g cream cheese, chopped, softened at room temperature

2/3 cup caster sugar

3 eggs
400g canned apple slices, chopped

1 tsp cinnamon
Crumble

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

50g butter, chilled, chopped

1. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan. Preheat oven to 160oC/140oC fan-forced. 
2. Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add melted butter and process until combined. Press mixture over base of baking pan. Refrigerate.
3. Make filling by beating cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. 
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold apple and cinnamon through mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Make crumble topping by placing oats, flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub in butter until combined and sprinkle over filling.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until just set (will wobble slightly in centre). Turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in oven for 3 hours with door ajar. Refrigerate overnight.

Delicious crumble on top!

Ready to be served!

Nutella Cookies
Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients
125g butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup Nutella spread
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan-forced. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and Nutella and beat until just combined.
3. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir until combined. 
4. Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls. Place on prepared tray ~3cm apart to allow room for spreading. Flatten slightly with fork. 
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden in colour. Cool on trays before tranferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Trayful of cookies! yum yum!

Ready to be served!

Can't really go wrong with this recipe hey? I mean who doesn't love Nutella and cookies!? Stay tuned for another delicious recipe using NUTELLA! :D

Work Catering #15: Not once, not twice but TRIPLE chocolate muffins

Hello all! Had a nice one week's break from work catering but I'm back to it this week :)

Finally time to bake a request from a work friend for "Dark Choc Muffins". Hope they were what you expected!!! ><" To tell the truth... I wasn't really happy with how the muffins turned out. I could tell when I was making the batter something was wrong but not too sure what it was. After baking, my sister tried one and her first comment was "This tastes weird.. something is wrong" >___<"

The ganache made it taste better

Not a good start! After tasting, the muffin was quite dense, not light and fluffy and also not very sweet. However when I brought it to work the next day, I was surprised at all the good comments and empty food tray! People commented that it had just the right sweetness and tasted chocolatey! I couldn't believe the comments so I went home and tried one again and realised they tasted much better the next day! haha! so PHEW! I can share the recipe now =p

Triple Chocolate Muffins
Recipe adapted from Baker's Corner 
(this new baking website with lots of yummy and simple recipes!^^)

Ingredients
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
100g butter, melted

Chocolate ganache
100g chocolate melts
80ml thickened cream

1. Preheat oven to 200oC. Line 36 cups of mini muffin tin with paper cases (or 12 large)
2. Sift cocoa and flour into large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and sugar.
3. Whisk together egg, milk and butter. Stir into the flour mixture. 
4. Spoon into prepared muffin cases and bake for 12-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on wire rack.
5. Make ganache by melting chocolate and cream in heat proof bowl over pot of simmering water. Allow to cool before icing muffins.

• 

  Glistening muffins

  

  Triple choc - 1) Cocoa + 2) Chocolate chips + 3) Chocolate ganache
  
  

  I also made Apple and Raspberry Crumble slice using the same recipe as the Apple and Raspberry Cake I made over the long weekend. The only difference was that it turned out to be thinner but still as tasty. 

Slice =)

Not so much cake but more slice

Close up of Apple and Raspberry Crumble Slice

Long weekend baking =)

Don't you just love the long weekend? =D You can sleep in, go out on day trips or just stay at home and bake! (which is what I did a lot of ^^). I tried to make the most of the the time I had and decided to make bread (as that needs time to rise). I baked some savoury scrolls using the Cinnamon Scroll recipe but added different fillings - sweet chilli and ham and cheese & basil pesto and cheese.

savoury scrolls! Sweet chilli, ham and cheese & Basil pesto and cheese

Also with the bread theme, I baked some savoury croissants with freshly grown chives from the backyard ^_^

Savoury croissants filled with bacon, chives and cheese

But the recipe that I would like to share today is for this delicious Apple and Raspberry Crumble Cake. The original recipe was actually for Apple and Strawberry but I used raspberries instead (still a red berry ^^).

The cake is lovely, buttery and soft while the apple and raspberries give a good tang and to top it off, the crumble is crunchy and sweet! Just an irresistible cake! Was gone in 2 days! 

Apple and Raspberry Crumble Cake
Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients
200g butter, at room temperature
155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
150g (1 cup) plain flour
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
1 Granny smith apple, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
100g raspberries, frozen or fresh

Crumble topping
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
50g chilled butter, chopped
55g (1/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line a round 20cm springform pan.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until pale and creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
4. Fold in combined flour and milk with large metal spoon until well combined.
5. Spoon into prepared pan. Use the back of the spoon to smooth the surface. Arrange the apple and raspberries on top.

Apple and raspberries arranged on cake

6. For the crumble topping, place the flour and butter in a bowl. Using fingertips, rub butter into the flour until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
7. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the apple and raspberries. 
8. Bake in oven for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Leave in pan to cool before transferring to wire rack. 

YUMMMMYYYY! =D =D =D

Breakdown of the cake.

It's a good things I'm not on holidays everyday! Would be baking wayyyyy too much >< haha!

A apple (cake??) a day keeps the doctor away :)

Who doesn't love apples? I have one almost everyday! And i love to use them in cakes as well =) This recipe for Apple spice cake had been in my "to-bake-list" for a while. I had been looking up apple cake recipes after a colleague at work bought one from her local bakery for another collegue's birthday. It was really sweet and moist and tasted just like a grandma's apple cake!! 

I baked this cake one weekend when I was in my "cake baking" moods. Actually no... it wasn't even a weekend but a weekend XD made it for the next day's lab meeting at work! Everyone seemed to enjoy it ^^ and even asked for the recipe! So here it is!!

APPLE SPICE CAKE

adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com/351254/apple-spice-cake  

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil (I only used 1 cup and it seemed to be ok.. even though my mum said it was a little dry =_=)
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup brown sugar + 1 cup caster sugar)
• 3 eggs
• 2 large Granny Smith apples, cored and cup into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped assorted nuts (I FORGOT TO ADD THIS T_T)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I forgot this as well T_T)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3. Combine vegetable oil, sugar and eggs in bowl and beat with electric mix on high speed for 3-4 minutes until well incorporated.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the bowl while beating.
5. Add apples, nuts and vanilla and mix with wooden spoon until incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean (~60-75 minutes).
7. Invert cake onto rack and allow cake to cool before serving.

Using my new cake stand ^^ hehe...

They suggest to serve the cake with caramel sauce but I think I like it as it is. Enjoy this delicious cake ~~ mmm.. APPLES =D

Comfort food - Apple pie

I've been having cravings for apple pie recently... not sure why =S haha.. so I was looking up some recipes on the internet for pie crusts. I wanted to make some nice pastry =) 
Here's the recipe I used for the pastry:


Ingredients

1 cup Plain flour

1/2 cup Self-raising flour

1/2 cup corn flour

125 g butter, chilled, chopped

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg separated

Method

1. Sift flours and sugar into a bowl.

2. Rub butter into dry mixture till it resembles bread crumbs (or if you have a food processor which i dont == you can just process it all in there! much easier and less messy ^^)

3. Add the egg yolk and 1/4 cold water and mix to combine. Knead gently until smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate till firm (~30min - 1 hour)

4. Roll our pastry and line greased pie tin.

This is the cutest lil egg separator i've seen ^^ thanks MEI!!! <3

Just to let you know when I made this pastry.. it was really soft.. i might have added too much water.. so adjust the water to your needs.. i added more flour because it was too sticky. Maybe when i make it again i'll use a different pastry recipe.. but it turned out ok :) nice and crispy edges.. kinda tastes like biscuit! haha.. i baked it for ~10 minutes then added the filling and baked it for another 30 minutes at 180oC.

Filling

2 apples peeled, sliced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp plain flour

pinch of salt


so the finished product:

The crust looks a little messy... but tastes great =p my craving is satisfied =) Tastes best when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream!

ENJOY :)