One cup yoghurt cake - Raspberry Yoghurt Cake

This is rather an interesting recipe, as basically, it is just a "One-Cup" measurement recipe...

I was, as usual, searching for new recipes to try, this particular recipe caught my attention.

First of all, it is a "One-Cup" measurement, secondly, the ingredients were very little and lastly, the methods are very simplified... :-D

Raspberry Yoghurt Cake

The texture, hmm, wasn't that soft, and it could be the oil, I just use 3/4 cup instead of a full cup... Perhaps that ended up on a drier texture on the cake....:-(
Other than that, the cake is as wonderful as it was.
I had actually used a 150g marigold low-fat vanilla yoghurt cup, and I added raspberry tea syrup in it, so that it will be more fruity than a vanilla one....

Basically, the ingredients are measured according to the yoghurt cup you have used.

Here, my Mimi, she just can't wait to set her hands on the cake. She had finished a slice all by herself. She said it was yummy...!!

Ingredients:

(Recipe adapted from BestRecipes.Com.Au)

1 cup yoghurt

1 cup vegetable oil (I used 3/4 cup canola oil)

2 cups sugar (I used 1.5 cup)

3 cups self raising flour

3 eggs

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

2. Pour in a 20-22cm cake tin.

3. Bake at 160C for 1.5hrs.

Have fun:))

How about making your own beancurd??

Recently there had been a overwhelming about this 老伴豆花. And I am a beancured lover too..:-p Wanted to ask my friend buy for me as there is a shop nearby her office. But happened that my hubby came back to fetch me for work... :(

Chilled Beancurd

So my friend told me, nevermind, try making one... I was like huh... how to? She gave me a self-made recipe for Munch Ministry, using gelatine, and the ingredients and method were very easy... So why not, let me try making them...

This is the soya bean milk soaked with gelatine.

Here, the chilled beancurd after refrigerated for at least 4 hours...

"How did it taste like??", my friend asked me...

"Like soya milk jelly, almond jelly like...?", I told her...

The picture from the Munch Ministry, the beancurd was really soft, like beancurd, unlike mine... probably too much gelatine? I will try to reduce the gelatine or perhaps can try using jelly powder instead... hahaha...

Here's the recipe for those of you whom are keen.

Recipe adapted from Munch Ministry

Ingredients:
500ml soya bean milk (Yeos,Vitasoy,etc)

17g creamer powder

2.5 teaspoon gelatin

Method:
1.Soak gelatin in a small portion of soya bean milk for about 10 mins.

2.Heat up the remaining milk in a small pot.(Do not let it boil)

3.Add creamer.

4.Add gelatine (from step 1.)

5.Stir constantly to make sure all are dissolved.

6.Leave to cool in pot for about 10 mins.

7.Pour into desired containers.

8.Put into fridge after everything cools.

9.Ready to be served in abt 4 hours time.

Bake Along #21 - Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chunks

Who doesn't love strawberries??? Well, for sure, my 3 little princesses loved them so much... And unfortunately, they do not really preferred those baked fruits... :-p... Anyway, I'm here with Bake Along #21 with the Bake Along group this time with a Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips, which I used white chocolate chunks instead... hehehehe....

Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chunks

I went to the supermarket last Friday, and there happened to have strawberries on offer for the next 3 days... So kiasu me, brought 6 punnets in total... and I do have some more punnets in my fridge... Don't these strawberries look so sweet and yummy...!!! I thought it might be a wierd combination of strawberries & white chocolate, but I was absolutely wrong... The combination was simply fantastic. While the cake is baking in the oven, you can smell the sweetness of the strawberries & white chocolate... I can't wait for the cake to be baked then....!!! The cake texture is really soft and fluffy...and with the lemon zest, it did make the whole cake raher refreshing. Only one thing about my cake, was that most of my strawberries sunk below as I didn't toss the strawberries as it had mentioned in the recipe. Lena's one was great, with the strawberries mixed within the whole cake;-D
And most of all, it was really tasty!!! I really loved it very much!!! My friend and my colleagues had tried this cake, all had praises for it. A very good recipe to keep indeed!!! Perhaps you will like a little slice of this Fresh Strawberry Cake w White Chocolate Chunks..??
And not forgetting my MiMi, having 4 small little pieces of the cake, and she said the cake was yummy too:-D A very good teatime snack..;))

Recipe ( from Cake Keepers Cakes by Lauren Chattman)
Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup sour cream ( I used 100g yogurt)
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla essence)
187g all purpose flour (I used 190g cake flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
85gm unsalted butter, softened (I used 75g)
1 cup sugar ( used 100g)
8 oz strawberries, stemmed and sliced ( I used 230g)
1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks ( used 125g)

Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan and dust with flour, knocking out any extra.
2.Combine the egg, egg yolk, sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla in a large glass and lightly beat. 3.Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
4. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until flufy, abt 3mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
5.With the mixer on low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the bowl.
6.Put the mixer on low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scarping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30seconds on medium speed.
7.Combine the strawberries and remaining 1/4 cup of flour in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Fold the flour covered strawberries along with the white chocolate chips onto the batter.
8.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until the cake is golden and a cake tester inserted in comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Let the cake cool in pan for 5 mins, invert cake and turn right side up on a rack to cool completely

Hope you will have fun baking this cake as I did...:-D

Strawberry & White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I had been food blogging and searching last week for some yoghurt recipe and I happened to see this recipe and the review about this mousse cake was fantastic. Thus I was rather tempted to try this recipe out. I managed to buy 6 boxes of Korean Strawberries from NTUC, luckily that was a promotion that day when I bought the strawberries:-D

Strawberry & White Chocolate Mousse Cake

Besides making it a cake, I decided to make some of these mousse cake in these little cups. Don't they look pretty?
But it was a pity, that these mousse didn't seem to be fantastic as the reviews had mentioned...

The recipe had asked to sieve the batter before we refrigerate the mousse cake to make it smoother. So I did sieved the batter, but the after cake, I can still taste the "roughness" of the cake. End up, it doesn't taste much like a mousse cake, as mousse is supposed to be smoother..:-(

The other challenge was the white chocolate. As I did not have a microwave oven(which I am going to get one soon:-p), I have doubled boiled the white chocolate, but it did not melt smoothly as well. Perhaps, that had also caused the "roughness" in my mousse cake???

Here is the whole cake I made.

Even my hubby and my girlfriend and her hubby did not really enjoyed it.. My boss and colleagues and my gilfriend's daughter, on the other hand, enjoyed this cake though.. My boss had said it was very delicious and she loved it soooo much... Hmmm, I guess it's up to individual preference perhaps???

Here is the recipe adapted from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

(with slight modifications)
175g digestive biscuits
75g /2½ oz butter , melted
400g white chocolate (I used 350g)
400g strawberries (I used 350g)
300g tub full-fat soft cheese (I used 250g)
200ml double cream

Method:
1. Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin to fine crumbs, add the melted butter and mix well. Tip the mix into a 20cm lined, loose-bottomed cake tin, smooth with the back of a spoon and put in the fridge for 30 mins.
2. Melt 375g of the chocolate in a microwave or glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water, then allow to cool slightly.
3. Take out 6 nice-looking strawberries and set aside. Blitz the remaining strawberries in a food processor until smooth, then add them to a bowl with the soft cheese and cream. Beat until really smooth and thick, then stir in the melted white chocolate. Pour on top of the biscuit base and smooth the top. Place in the fridge and chill overnight.
4. Halve the reserved strawberries and place on top of the cheesecake. Melt the remaining 25g chocolate and drizzle over the top, then keep chilled until ready to serve.

Perhaps you will like this cake. Hope you have fun trying it:)

My March Holidays

14-16 Mar 2012

This is quite a lengthy post... As my maid is actually away for her 1-month leave back home to Philippines, my hubby and I have to take leave to look after the 3 children. So in between this period of time, we went for a short trip to Genting Highlands for 3D2N stay.

Well, seriously, I have never really been to Genting Highlands... :-p Maybe I did, but that was many many years back in my early 20s, when my friends and I drove up there, but due to exhaustion, we just slept n rested in the room.... hahahah!!!!

Ok, here we are, our nice cosy room in Genting, but of course, I booked the highest room category as I need to have a bath tub in the room for my children... They are simply fascinated with the bath tub whenever we go for holiday... They just LOVED it!!! So this World Club room I booked was huge as you can see, and the bath tub was put into great use...:-D

Here is our great mountain view from our room, the clear and the misty cloudy view. The children enjoyed the view and the "breeze" too...Not much of rides for the children as some rides had a minimim height restrictions... well, too bad, next time perhaps... Overall, Genting Highlands is just simply filled with millions of people... We might go there again in September though... We will go to the mushroom farm and strawberry farm in our next Genting trip:-D

18 Mar 2012

My eldest daughter turns 7 years old on 21st Mar, so this year, we decided to let her have a small little birthday celebrations with her friends at home. We had hired an entertainer who does balloon sculpting and games for 1.5hrs. But it was more of games, which I prefer more balloon sculpting...^-^
I had made a black forest filling cake for Nic's birthday, plus about 20 chocolate cupcakes.

Hello Kitty Cake & Cupcakes

Nic wanted to have a Hello Kitty theme, and so, a very simple black forest cake. I bought those icing templates and I just piped the cream around the icing. Cute, isn't it. I bought these icing template online and it cost me 24pcs for S$12.00.

Hope Nic likes her birthday cake & cupcakes.

I guess my friend and I were more excited in the cake than the children as they were too engrossed with the balloons and games... :-p

There, time to sing a birthday song and cut the cake....

Her birthday presents from her friends...:-D

It had been a really noisy and messy day, especially without my maid around... hahahaha... Hubby and I had to clean up, luckily my girlfriend also helped out. Lesson learnt, it's better to have a party outside the home as I don't have to clean up the mess after the party... hmmm....

19 Mar 2012

This week start, hubby and myself are on a alternate day rotation to look after the girls. I haven't had time to go marketing as we just got back from Genting last Friday. And we headed off to Johor Bahru to do our nails while hubby when for his massage... And Sunday was Nic's birthday party.... So that's what I can dig out from my fridge....

This is my 1st decent "cooked" meal since 1 year ago when my maid had also went back during the same period last year.

Steamed fish with salted bean, fried eggs with sausages and stir-fried xiao bai cai with prawns.

Not too bad, Nat & Mimi finished their fair share of dinner:-D

21 Mar 2012

So today after I send Nat to school, I wanted to make cookies using my cute cookie cutter which I had bought last year. Yet to use and tried them out. So finally, today I get a chance to put them in good use... Cute right... Mimi was very interested with these Hello Kitty and Miffy cookies. She had also poked her tiny finger on the Miffy and said, "rabbit cry cry"....

Hello Kitty, Miffy & Doremon Cookies

I was trying to get Mimi's attention in the photo shots, but I guessed she was too restless and bored as I told her to let me take a picture of her before she ate her Hello Kitty cookie... :-p But I did managed to make her laughed in the end:-D

I made some cookies for my girlfriend's kids as well, all of them were very happy and finished the cookies in no time...!!!

For cookie recipe, please click HERE.

Hehehe.... I made steamed cake too... Using the sponge mix, and the previous recipe I tried. This time I use pomengrate tea syrup I got from Korea. Hmmm, I think I should had used more of the syrup as it wasn't that fruity as I had wanted it to be... But so far the testers had said it was good though...???

Pomengrate Steamed Cake

Texture of the steamed cake was smooth and yummy though:-D

For Steamed Cake recipe, please click HERE.

Dinner time...

We had planned to go for dinner outside as it was Nic's actual birthday today. But it started raining so heavily and plus Nic was still napping, so I decided not to go out for dinner. Luckily I had cooked the chicken soup in the afternoon... I quickly whipped up the broccoli and the seafood with salted fish fried rice. Mimi loves the fried rice very much and she had a big bowl of it...

Mini Baked Cheese Cupcakes

If you see me baking during the weekdays, it is either that I am dying to try out a new recipe or something in my fridge is about to expire... :-p

So I was browsing through the website yesterday for a recipe using thicken cream, and these mini baked cheesecakes caught my attention...

Mini Baked Cheese Cupcakes

Ain't these little cheese cupcakes look yummy? They are so cute, and of course, easier, to eat, no mess.

Here is the cupcake cookie base.

And of course, here the baked cheese cupcakes.

These cheese cupcakes are pretty good, hubby and MiMi had ate 3 of them:-P

I took quite a few pictures as I thought they look pretty cool and yummy... It is best to be eaten warm as it is very soft & fluffy.

I had put them in the fridge the night before and when I took them out from the fridge, they are abit "hard", so either u have to thaw them a little or heat them up and they will taste as wonderful as they are straight from the oven:-D

I got the recipe from Exclusively Food:

Base150g Digestive biscuits

75g butter, melted (the amount you need may vary, depending on the type of biscuits you use)

Filling:

250g cream cheese, softened

75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)

20ml (1 tablespoon) lemon juice

100ml (5 tablespoons) thickened cream

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2.Line muffin pan (1/3 cup capacity holes) with patty/muffin cases.

3.Finely crush biscuits in a food processor or blender. If you are using a food processor, you can add the melted butter to the biscuit crumbs and process until well combined. If you are using a blender, it is probably easier to tip the biscuit crumbs into a bowl and then stir in the butter. © exclusivelyfood.com.auDivide biscuit mixture evenly among cases (about one firmly packed tablespoon of biscuit mixture per case). Firmly press mixture down with the back of a teaspoon until smooth. Set bases aside while making the filling.

4.Beat cream cheese and caster sugar in an electric mixer or food processor. Stop the machine a couple of times to scrape down the sides and base of the bowl. When the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, add egg and beat until combined.

5.Add lemon juice and cream and beat until well combined. Divide mixture evenly among cases.

6.Bake cheesecakes for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes.

7.Remove cheesecakes from pan, place in an airtight container and refrigerate. Cheesecakes are ready to serve when they are cold and set. Remove cases before serving.

Cheesecakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. They are suitable to freeze. © www.exclusivelyfood.com.au

Chinese-Style Carrot Cake

The last time when I tried making the English Carrot Cake, my hubby wasn't too keen on it and he said he will rather, preferred the Chinese style. I had actually tried making this carrot cake last Saturday, but it turns out to be a flop as I had used glutinous rice flour instead of rice flour.

Well, blurred me... I was wondering what did i went wrong, and why didn't the cake become a cake...? Until I went to browse through the recipe again and realised that I had used the wrong flour... heheheh... :-D

Chinese-Style Carrot Cake

It has been almost a year since I made the yam cake and it was delicious too. So this time, this carrot cake was no exception, I had put in too much ingredients as usual...

I had received good feedbacks from my family, friends and colleagues too:-D
Ingredients:
1 Radish, shredded
1 bowl of dried shrimps
6 dried mushrooms, sliced thinly
6 shallots. diced
some olive oil
1 bowl of rice flour (abt 200g)
2 bowls of water

Method:
1. Mix the flour with the water, make sure it is not lumpy.
2. Fry the shallots in oil, followed by the dried shrimps and mushrooms. Add in the radish and fry until it is fragrant.
3. In the the flour mixture, stir until you get a sticky and lumpy texture. Place it into a tin ans steam for about 30-45mins, or until you get a cake texture.
4. Garnish with spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.