Just ONE bowl - chocolate cake

Everybody loves an easy, delicious recipe that doesn't use too many dishes right? (coz who loves washing up after baking >__<) so here is a really tasty CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! everything in one bowl!!! and about 10 minutes to actually make!! =D

Made this for collegues farewell :)

Ingredients:

200g self-raising flour
150g caster sugar
34g cocoa powder
2 eggs
175ml milk
125g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 160oC
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and blend on low speed to combine using an electriv mixer
3. When combined, mix on medium speed for a few minutes (for airation ^^)

MMmm i could just eat it like THAT!

4. Line a cake tin and pour mixture in. Bake for ~30 minutes
5. Make chocolate ganache and ice cooled cake :)

Chocolate ganache:
150ml cream
375g cooking chocolate

Melt cream and chocolate in a heat proof bowl placed on top of a bowl with simmering water - as the French say "bain marie"

also had leftover batter for cupcakes ^^

Pre-iced... don't worry too much about the cracks .. that's what the icing is for right? :P

Chocolate cupcakes :)

TA DA! finished product!! glistening :) :)

Recipe modified from http://i-bake-for-you.blogspot.com/2010/05/monkey-business.html

Egg TARTS :D

Hey guys!! I haven't blogged in ages!! but I have been baking a lot ^^ So hopefully will get round to posting all the recipes!! As I've been baking i've realised there are a lot of baking equipment that I want/need! haha I should write a list! One of them are egg tart cases! you know the silver ones? Coz then it would be a lot easier to bake these egg tarts!! anyways the recipe is GOOOD =D =D I've baked it twice!! but still wanna perfect it~~
Ingredients:

CRUST
225g plain flour
125g butter
55g icing sugar
1 egg, whisked
dash of vanilla extrat

CUSTARD
3 eggs
110g caster sugar
225g hot water
85ml evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream butter and sguar until smooth, fluffy and light in colour
2. Add whisked egg, half at a time and beat. Add vanilla extract.
3. Sift in flour in two batches and knead into dough *I've found that the dough is a very soft one and I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or not =S but it still has worked out*
4. Roll out dough to 1/2 cm thickness and cut out circles with cutter *because the dough is so soft you can just grab some and place it into the egg tart tins/muffin tray*. Press dough to line the tins.
5. Add sguar into hot water for custard, till dissolved.
6. Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water and mix.
7. Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell making sure not to let it overflow (coz burnt egg tart custard in the oven STINKS!!)
8. Preheat oven to 200oC. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10-15 minutes until edges lightly brown.
9. Lower heat to 180oC. Once custard puffs up, pull open oven door ~2-3 inches. Bake for anohter 10-15 minutes until custard is cooked through.

If only ours looked like http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/03/cantonese-egg-tarts-recipe.html =_= hahah more practice!!

Scones!!! - perfect for high tea =D

If you're ever planning to have HIGH TEA at home.... scones are a MUST HAVE on the menu! and this is a REALLY simple and easy recipe (with NO BUTTER!!). One of my friends who says she can't bake made these! and now she's in love with this recipe because it's so easy xD - she even made it for Mother's Day~

Ingredients:

3 cups self-raising flour
300ml thickened cream
3/4 cup lemonade (the *secret* ingredient =p)
pinch of salt

1. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl
2. Pour the in the cream, lemonade and salt and mix till combined
3. Lightly flour your hands and knead the dough lightly in bowl
4. Place on a lightly floured surface and roll dough out ~1cm thickness (remember they rise!)
5. Using cookie cutter, cute out small circles and place on baking tray. Brush with milk to get a nice golden colour.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200oC or till golden brown.

Best served warm on the day!! Especially with JAM and CREAM!!!

-tip for whipping cream: if you are too lazy.. just shake the jar of cream and it'll be whipped ^^

Would have liked a bit more colour on them =p

Nothing beats warm scones with jam and cream ;p....

MACARON MADNESS!!

And so here is the LOOONNNGG awaited blog! very sorry about the delay! (just adds to the suspense :P)

This is the famous recipe I have been using for my macarons!! I guess business will be down since you guys will know how to make it =p Everyone thinks that macarons are hard... I don't think they are THAT difficult (come on.. if I can do it so can YOU!!!) but there are a few tips and tricks that i have discovered along the way that will help you NOT to fail! 

I can't say this recipe is FAIL PROOF because.. even mine have failed!!! but it's the best recipe I've tried SO FAR!! so here it is....*drum roll*...

CHOCOLATE MACARONS~

200g pure icing sugar
100g almond meal
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar
pinch of salt
40g cocoa powder


1. Sift icing sugar and almond meal 3 times (the original recipe does not state this but I do it just to be safe and to allow more air into the mixture) into a large bowl.

~the most tedious part but once you sift it the first time the next 2 times are easy ^^~

2. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites in a nice clean and dry bowl. Using an electric beater, whisk egg whites till they just hold a stiff peak. Then gradually add the caster sugar while whisking. IMPORTANT: do not overbeat egg whites forming a meringue mixture.. and do not under beat otherwise the mix will be too wet.

3. Carefully fold in the almond mixture into the egg whites - (don't mix too hard because you want to retain as much air as possible). The mixture should be thick and glossy. Sift in cocoa and mix - (don't be tempted to add heaps of cocoa to make it more chocolately because this can ruin the texture of the macarons).

4. Pipe or spoon the mix onto pre-lined baking trays. Try to keep even sizes so you can match them up later. Tap the tray onto the bench once to release any air bubbles. Leave at room temperature for 30 min - 1 hour (IMPORTANT STEP!!!) till a shell forms - when you touch the macaron shell, it won't be sticky).

5. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170oC for 10 minutes on the middle shelf. Bake one tray at a time.

6. Sandwich a pair of macarons with chocolate ganache (150ml cream + 375g chocolate heated over a double boiler)

The best feeling is when you are crouching down looking into the oven and you see that your macaron has RISEN!! if it hasn't.. don't worry!!!! just try again =D =D



That's right! TRY AGAIN :D

Piping~~

THEY ARE RISING XD

FINAL PRODUCT!!! ENJOYYYYYYYY =D

Recipe book - old school

Hey all!!
I havent blogged in a while but now the Easter break is here ... I can do a bit of catching up^^

so I guess u wanna know what I've been up to I terms of baking.. Well gotta sAy I've been baking nearly every week!!! Haha lots of macarons to make xD trying to invent new flavours :p and keep up with orders!! And YES!! Ur wAIt will soon be over! My next blog will be the recipe for chocolate Macarons!! :D so stay tuned :)


I've decided I want to keep a copy of all my recipes ... Esp the good ones! Instead of a random display folder with random pages of recipes. So I've been hand writing them ^^ so old school hey?? But I reckon its cooler .. Kinda like a scrapbook of recipes ^^

My recipe book ^___^

I have 2 sections atm.. sweet and savoury.. guess which section is bigger XD

Peach upside down cake

I found this recipe online but modified it a little (made it a tad more healthier =p). I used FRESH peaches because we had a lot =) fresh fruit is always best!! but i'm sure you can use canned peaches for this recipe. ALSO you can substitute the peaches for any kind of fruit e.g. apples, pears, apricots, plums.. the list goes on :D

PEACH UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Ingredients

Topping
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

Base - French yoghurt cake
1 cup plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup natural yoghurt (or cream... haven't tried milk but I'm sure that would work out as well)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flavourless oil (only use if the batter seems too dry)

For the topping:
1. Place saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter and sugar.
2. Mix well, keep stirring until mixture starts bubbling and caramelises a bit
3. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cooled, pour into lined cake tin and arrange peach slices on top.

For the base:
1. Preheat oven to 175oC.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, yoghurt and vanilla extract with electric beater until well blended.
4. Still whisking, add dry ingredients bit by bit until well combined.
5. Pour oil into the batter and carefully fold in.
6. Pour cake batter on top of peach slices. Bake for ~30 minutes (depends on your oven) or until skewer comes out clean.
7. Take out of oven, cool on rack then carefully invert onto serving plate.


Make sure you arrange the peach slices neatly :)

 

The top which becomes the bottom = UPSIDE DOWN ^^

Nice moist cake (almost tastes spongy ^^) with sweet and juicy topping :) mmm MMm MMMmmmmm

Berry and banana muffins!

Another muffin recipe =) I found it online.. i'm guessing you guys probably won't be making this anytime soon as it involves Bananas (they are really expensive atm!!!) but I shall share anyways :)

BERRY and BANANA MUFFINS

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 ripe bananas, mashed

150g fresh or frozen blueberries (or you can use a variety of berries)

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup caster sugar (the original recipe didn't have this but if you are a sweet tooth like me.. you'll need some sugar in this recipe because the honey isn't enough =p)

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Add the sugar, banana and blueberries and lightly toss the fruit through the flour (you don't want the berries to break up too much otherwise your muffin mix will be blue!!!)

3. Whisk the honey, vegetable oil, egg and milk together in a small bowl. Add this to the dry ingredients and lightly combine.

4. Spoon batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked inside.

Nice and golden brown :) i used mixed frozen berries~

The inside :)