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 

They really MELT in your MOUTH :D

Here is another inspired bake from MASTERCHEF! I've wanted to try these cookies out ever since I saw Julia make them on Masterchef but just didn't have the time. But last Sunday was a lazy baking day (don't you love those days? ^^) so I decided to give them a go. They are REALLY SIMPLE to make!!! All you need is an electric beater, measure and mix and you're ready to bake!

I didn't have any fresh berries to make my own jam but I think store bought jam is fine. Also the original recipe said it made FIVE biscuits... they must have been HUGE cookies!! because I made twice as many and I still thought the ones I made were quite big. So just a warning, they do expand a little once baked.

Melting Moments Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Julia http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/melting-moments-biscuits.htm

Ingredients

Biscuits

180g unsalted butter

60g icing sugar

60g custard powder (I didn't have any so I used 60g corn flour/starch with a few drops of vanilla essence)

1 tsp baking powder

180g plain flour

Vanilla buttercream

100g unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup pure icing sugar, sifted

Strawberry Jam

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line oven tray with baking paper.
2. For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer. Add icing sugar and custard powder/corn flour and mix until combined.
3. Sift in baking powder and flour and mix well.
4. Roll dough into small balls (roughly 20c piece or smaller), place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent.
5. Bake biscuits for 16-18 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Baked biscuits cooling~

6. For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste. You can either pipe this or I just spread it using a knife.
7. To assemble, place a spoonful of strawberry jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe/spread buttercream onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment.

So... ENJOY THE MOMENT!!! :P

These are just screaming out "EAT ME"

Back to Baking~

So I've had a little rest from baking the past 2 weeks. I haven't been baking because of a number of reasons.. I guess laziness, lack of motivation, "busy"-ness... but yesterday I baked for the first time in 2 weeks. 2 weeks is a long time for me not to bake actually XD I wanted to make something fresh and fruity but we only had frozen berries not fresh. I also wanted to make a whole cake but since I started baking a bit late at night I thought it would take too long so I baked them in smaller muffin tins. I used the same recipe as Fruit Pastry Cake but am calling these: MINI BERRY PASTRY CAKES ^____^

Can't go wrong with berries :D

You can find the recipe here.

Felt really good to be back baking!~ 

Rising in the oven ^____^

Looks like a face!! haha

Berries making funny shapes XD

Brought these to lab meeting =) hope u guys liked it~

EDIT: Since this post I've already made Orange poppy seed cake and also this morning I baked Cinnamon scrolls ^__^ BAKINGTRAY IS BACK BAKING :D :D :D