Japanese Cheesecake - not your average cheesecake ^_^

This has been on my "to-bake-list" for a while so when cream cheese was on sale, I knew exactly what I was going to bake! I love the texture of this cake.. it really is light and fluffy and not too heavy as some cheesecakes can be. So you can eat many slices and not feel sick =p

Japanese Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from Christine's recipes

Ingredients
250ml (1 cup) milk
250g cream cheese, cubed, softened at room temperature
60g butter, softened at room temperature
6 egg yolks
55g plain flour
20g corn flour
1 lemon zest 
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
130g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 150oC. Grease and line 2 rectangle pans.
2. Place large bowl over pot of simmering water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Pour in milk. Add cream cheese, stir occasionally until completely dissolved and mixture turns smooth.
3. Stir in butter till dissolved.
4. Remove from heat and let mixture cool down. Add egg yolks and combine well. Make sure the mixture isn't too hot as to cook the egg yolks.
5. Combing plain flour and corn flour. Sift flours into cream cheese mixture, a little at a time. Mix well between each addition making sure there aren't any lumps.
6. Stir in freshly grated zest and set aside (I forgot to add this!!! So I think it made the cake taste a little eggy ><)
7. Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat with electric beater for ~3 minutes. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Gradually pour in sugar and blend until very stiff peaks form (I think I may have not beaten enough and so I didn't quite get the height I was looking for).
8. Fold in egg whites into cream cheese mixture with spatula (a third at a time) until incorporated. DO NOT stir or beat.
9. Pour mixture into 2 baking pans. Place pans into larger baking tray. Add hot water in the tray up to half way. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
10. Turn off oven. Leave door ajar for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire rack. Chill in fridge for at least 3 hours.

Not too happy with the height...but LOVE the flavour =D

I really love this kind of cheesecake (well I love all kinds of cheesecake but this type especially because it just melts in your mouth =p). The texture also got a thumbs up from my food critics XD which is a big deal! haha

So give it a go!! I think I'll want to try again too :)

Mum's birthday: Pandan Chocolate Zebra chiffon cake

It was my mum's birthday earlier this month. I always find it hard to buy presents because I don't know what she wants.. and usually she doesn't like the things we buy xD and gives it back to us. So I thought the best thing would be to bake a cake =) Priceless right? haha I saw this recipe on Sweet Samsations blog (Really liking her blog atm!!) and the cake looked SOOO COOL!! so had to make it!! 

I love the zebra stripe effect of the pandan and chocolate :) and this time I used REAL pandan leaves so the flavour was more pronounced ^^" The only thing was I didn't have a smaller round chiffon cake tin so the height wasn't there.
 

Pandan Chocolate Zebra Chiffon cake

Recipe adapted from Sweet Samsations

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup pandan juice (10 pandan leaves blended withabout 6 tablespoons of water)

1 tsp pandan essence (i only used one)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
pinch of salt
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Beat egg yolks and sugar in until pale in colour and sugar has been completely dissolved.

whisking egg yolks and sugar

Pandan leaves soaking...they were thawing after being in the freezer ><

2. Mix in coconut milk, pandan juice, essence, vegetable oil, and salt.
3. Sift in plain flour and baking powder, fold until combined.


Green pandan-ness ^^

4. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites till frothy, adding a third of the sugar and all of the cream of tartar in. 
5. Continue to beat and gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.


Egg whites whisking away.. thanks Kenwood ^^

6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue to egg yolk mixture, fold till just incorporated. Repeat the same for the remaining meringue.


Fold egg white meringue into pandan mix

7. Divide the batter into half and mix in cocoa powder with one half.


the chocolate part =p

8. Add 1 tablespoon of each batter on the same spot in chiffon pan, piling them up on top of one another, until they are both used up. Bang it on tabletop twice to release air bubbles.


Green and brown mix~

9. Bake in preheated oven at 175oC for about 40 mins.
10. Invert the cake immediately once taken out from the oven. Cool completely before removing from mould.

I think the pandan flavour was stronger the next day! But really love this cake :)

Martabak Manis: an Indonesian sweet :)

Time to make some Indonesian sweets =) 

I saw these on Sweet Samsations blog and they looked so yummy that I just had to make them ^___^" so had some time last week to give it a go~

I've never tried a real Martabak Manis... So not too sure if I made it right =S but all I can say is that it was quite delicious :) It tasted like a really fluffy pancake ^^" You can be creative with the fillings - not too sure what the traditional ones have as fillings but I had cheese/brown sugar/peanut butter.

Martabak Manis
Recipe adapted from Sweet Samsations

Ingredients
1/2 tbs dried yeast
1 cup warm coconut milk
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beated
1 tsp margarine
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp water

1. Mix yeast with coconut milk in small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes until bubbles form (make sure the milk isn't too hot otherwise you will kill the yeast! ><)
2. Sift flour, sugar and salt in large bowl.
3. Add in coconut milk mixture to flour and mix. Allow to rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place (the longer you leave it, the more fluffy/the more it will rise)
4. Beat eggs with melted margarine. Add baking powder dissolved in water and mix well.
5. Combine egg mixture with coconut milk mixture, beating for about 30 seconds.
6. Preheat frying pan with low heat. Grease pan with a little margarine. Pour in batter, cover and cook until you can see bubbles starting to form. (~10 minutes).
7. Add desired fillings on top. Remove from pan and fold in half immediately. 

Peanut butter filling ^___^"

Birthday request: Red Velvet Cake with Cream cheese frosting

I had a request to make a friend's birthday cake last month. This request was made quite some time ago (I think since last year) so I was looking forward to making it. I've always wanted to make a red velvet cake, it's one of those classic bakes. I've baked red velvet cupcakes before, but wasn't too happy with the "redness". 

This cake turned out slightly more red but still more brown :\ I think it's the food dye I used. Next time I think I'll find a red food gel instead of liquid. My FAVOURITE thing about this cake is the FROSTING! Cream cheese frosting <3 <3 <3 =D

RED VELVET CAKE 
Recipe adapted by Allrecipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup (113g) butter 
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbs cocoa powder
4 tsp red food colouring

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp white vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease and line 2 round cake tins.
2. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and beat.
3. Combine cocoa powder and red food colouring to make a paste. Add it to the creamed mixture and mix well.
4. Combine salt, vanilla and buttermilk. Add flour to buttermilk mixture. Mix well and then add to creamed mixture.
5. Mix baking soda and vinegar. Fold into the cake batter. 
6. Pour cake mixture into cake tins and bake for 30 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely before icing.

Cream cheese frosting
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

250g cream cheese
1/2 cup (113g) butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Beat cream cheese until softened. Gradually add butter and beat until smooth.
2. Sift in icing sugar and continue to beat. 
3. Add vanilla and stir to combine.

The cake is now ready to frost =D Spread 1/3 frosting on first layer then add second cake layer and frost all around :)

2 layers of cake ready for frosting!

Red - ish velvet cake =p

HAPPY BIRTHDAY J :) Hope you liked the cake~~ It was fun baking it :)

Not just your normal brownies~

I had a craving for something chocolatey and also needed it fast XD So i decided to make some brownies! They are really simple and don't take long at all~ I think the thing that takes the longest is the baking in the oven!!

You can find the recipe for my brownies here.

I just modified it by adding around 1/2 cup frozen berries ^_____^ It cuts the sweetness and is a nice surprise =p

Delicious brownies with bits of berries =D YUM!

So when you need a chocolate fix... you can make this! Enjoy ^___^

Chocolate Berry Bundt Cake

I think my new baking phase is with my bundt tin ^_^ I used it when I made Orange Poppy seed cake and I just think it makes cakes look a little more sophisticated ^^" So I decided to bake for my bosses birthday. Wasn't really sure what to bake....

I heard that she likes chocolate but I didn't want to make a rich chocolate cake so I looked up recipes for berry and chocolate bundt cake but there weren't many recipes out there. I finally found this one and added my own touch to it... so enjoy ^_^

Chocolate and Berry Bundt Cake 
Recipe adapted from Raspberry Chocolate Bundt cake - Baking Bites

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (65g) butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup buttermilk (I used plain milk)
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup frozen raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Oil 10-inch bundt pan.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
3. In separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar till pale and fluffy. Add butter, oil and vanilla and whisk. 
4. Stir in half of flour mixture, then milk. Stir in remaining flour then hot water. Mix until no streaks of flour remains.
5. Pour about half of cake batter into bundt tin, sprinkle in raspberries and top with remaining cake batter.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center comes our clean. Let cake rest in pan (~5-10 minutes) then gently loosen the cake and turn out onto wire rack.

I just drizzled over some leftover chocolate ganache that I had in my fridge :)

Don't worry about the cracks coz that will be on the bottom =p

so smoooothhh~~~

I think the berries give the cake a lovely freshness =D You get the rich taste of chocolate and then *POP* of the raspberry ^^ Hope my boss and colleagues enjoyed it~~

A healthy bake~

This post is for all the health conscious people out there who don't like to use so much butter/oil when baking. Actually I don't really like to use heaps of butter when I'm baking either =p and neither does my mum.

Very healthy and super yummy ^^"

So when I saw that this month's Aspiring Baker's theme is "Lightened up cakes" hosted by Qi Ting of A Dessert Diet .. I thought this recipe for Fruit and Nut loaf would be perfect! It uses no butter or oil and only half a cup of sugar~ Despite the lack of fat, this loaf is still delicious as the sugar from the natural dried fruit makes it sweet :) 

Fruit and Nut Loaf
(recipe from my mum :P)

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup coconut (+ extra toasted for decorating)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup sultanas
1-2 cups warm milk
1 tsp cinnamon
honey for glazing

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line a rectangle loaf tin.
2. Place flour, coconut and brown sugar in bowl and mix in large bowl.
3. Add in walnuts, apricots and dates and mix.

~ You can really add whatever dried fruit you like :)

4. Add sultanas to warm milk, pour into bowl and mix until it comes together.
5. Pour mixture into lined loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. In the last 5 minutes of baking, place some shredded coconut on baking tray and toast in the oven.
7. When loaf is ready, spread honey on top and sprinkle on toasted coconut.

Best eaten warm :)

You wont feel guilty eating this one