Durian Cupcake 榴莲杯纸蛋糕

Again, my friend Eileen had given me another recipe to try. This time she say these durian cupcakes were delicious and I must try them. It was really so tempting... Durian.... Nat loves durian as well, so she was up for this recipe, and so did hubby. We had went to the market to buy some durian, but thinking the durian are made for baking, I did not buy those top quality ones. Perhaps the quality of the durian will somehow affect the taste of the durian cupcakes. I had previously baked a Durian Cake last year, this will be my 2nd attempt. This recipe came from Wokking Mum, and I made some modifications to the ingredients.

The durian cupcakes had given a very nice fragrant while they are in the midst of baking. Cupcakes rosed very well, had a nice browning top. I had added more of the durian as I will prefer a heavy taste. Texture of the cupcakes were excellent, soft & fluffy, except that I find them abit dry and too dense at the bottom, probably I hadn't mashed the durian properly:-p I will think to add some milk to soften the texture in my next attempt. Let's see how it goes.

Ingredients:

(I have used half of the recipe, using 200g durian flesh, margarine, 2 eggs, self-raising flour)

250g Mashed Durian Flesh (original was using 170g)

250g Butter

150g Castor Sugar (original was using 180g)

5 Eggs

240g Flour, sifted (Plain/All purpose)

2 teaspoon Baking Powder, sifted

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar til light fluffy.
2. Add one egg at a time and continue beating.
3. Add in durian gradually and beat for 2 1/2 minutes.
4. Add in flour and baking powder.
5. Mix well.
6. Pour batter into a greased and lined 25cm X 25cam baking tray. ( I baked in 6' rectangle tin and muffin cups)
7. Bake at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes or till cake is done (check using toothpick).

Chocolate & Coffee Cupcakes

Recently Nat had a change of taste bud... Suddenly she just like coffee flavor. Amongst my 3 gals, she is the one who has an exotic taste, like enjoying durian, coffee, enjoying even red wine & beer... Hmmm, that's pretty unusual for a little girl though...

Nevertheless, she had been quite supportive of the bakes that I had tried, and she will always be the one whom is willing to try, unlike Mimi, who used to "test" my cakes, simply just tell me these days that those cakes are not her favourite.. :-p

These Chocolate & Coffee Cupcakes were quite tempting.. Being chocolate & coffee..

But I guess I didn't fare quite well on these cupcakes.

Firstly, I felt that my chocolate flavour wasn't too much

Secondly, the coffee smell was there but not too satisfying to me

Thirdy, my cupcakes came out abit hard

... ...

But the consolation was, the coffee cream was yummy!!!!

I used my own combination of the whipped cream + instant coffee mix, and topped with chopped peanuts!
hahahahahaha.....

If I hadn't mentioned those cons, these cupcakes would look extremely fantastic isn't it???

Recipe as adapted from Kevin Chai:

Ingredients:

250g butter

180g sugar

4 eggs

200g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

150g melted chocolate

2 tbsp canola oil

30ml kahlua

Method:

1. Beat butter & sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

2. Fold in sifted flour, baking powder & soda.

3. Stir melted chocolate with canola oil, then pour into flour mixture with kahlua, mix well.

4. Spoon the mixture into the cases. Bake for 20mins in a preheated oven of 175C. Remove cupcakes & cool on a rack.

Coffee Cream:

200g butter

150g icing sugar

1 tsp instant coffee powder

100g melted chocolate

Prepare the cream by beating butter, icing sugar and coffee powder until light & smooth. Stir in melted chocolate and pipe on top of each cupcake. Decorate with chocolate.

Steamed Chocolate Cupcakes

Yes, Steam Cakes are indeed in trend this month in my home... And I am enjoying it very much. I had given alot of steamed cakes to my friend, and her hubby mentioned that I seemed to be enjoying doing so... So I told my friend, this month onwards my daughter will be starting her school vacations, plus my boss is not in SG, so taking all these time available to bake again...

I had bought this "Steamed Cakes" recipe book when I was in Penang last October, but I had never tried any of the recipes since I bought it till today.

From this book, I had selected the Steamed Chocolate Cupcakes as the ingredients were rather basic. Some of the other recipes required evaporated milk and condensed milk, which I wasn't too keen in them.

A full ingredients could actually fetch quite a number of cupcakes, depending on the size of your paper cups.

*Note: It is better to use those "paper" cupcake cases as compared to the other cupcake cases as the paper cups will "opened" up during steaming.

These steamed chocolate cupcakes were not too bad. I had modified some of the ingredients. Cutting down a huge amount of the icing sugar, using margarine instead of butter, and replacing the hot water with milk too. The cupcakes did turned out well, soft and moist, but a little not so sweet.. So perhaps I should increase a little more sugar...hehehehe...
The gals loved these cupcakes too. I was glad that they liked it. Mimi had 2 of them and she said it was yummy. My friend who tried the cupcakes said they were delicious as well.

Would you like to try one as well?

Recipe as adapted from the Steamed Cakes by Mdm Zubaidah Bte Chepa

Ingredients:

Yields about 16 medium size cups & 16 mini size cups

250g superfine flour (I use self raising flour)

1 tsp baking soda (omitted)

75g cocoa powder

350g icing sugar (I used 200g)

250g butter (I used margarine)

3 eggs

1 bowl of hot water (I used 250ml cold milk)

Method:

1. Beat butter & sugar until smooth.

2. Add in the egg one at a time, mix well at each addition.

3. Add in the flour+cocoa powder, alternating with the milk. Mix until well blended.

4. Pour batter into the paper cup cases and steam over high heat for about 10mins.

(If you are using my ingredients, you can fill the batter till full as the cupcakes will shrink a little after removing from heat)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 – Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders

Orange Cheesecake (Non-Baked)

I have never fancied adding orange essence into my cakes somehow as I do not like the taste of it. It seems to make me feel like as if I was taking those very bitter medicine when I was young... Hahaha... But to others, this orange essence was rather pleasant to them and in fact they do quite like it. How about you?

Reason of baking this cheesecake was because I have a pack of whipping cream which is due to expire soon. So I found this cheesecake using whipping cream... Hmmm but all ended up quite a mess as the whipping cream that I bought, did not whipped up as my top whipping cream...

In fact, being a non-baked cheesecake, this cheesecake is very easy to prepare and it should be ready by 15-30mins time.

I probably had exceeded the amount of whipped cream and I put in 250g of cheese instead of 200g. Thus the texture of the cheesecake was abit soft, more of like a mousse texture. Overall, it was quite yummy. My hubby had taken 2 slices of it, and my friend say it was delicious too. And she said she like the "orangey" taste of it:)

Ingredients as adapted from Kevin Chai.

Base:

140g crushed chocolate marie biscuits

70g melted Butter

Combine all ingredients. Press into a 7" square tin.

Cheese Filling:

200g cream cheese

70g sugar

2 tsp gelatine

2 tbsp water

200g fresh whipped cream

3 tbsp orange compound

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Melt gelatine with water over simmering water. Add into cheese mixture until blended.

Fold in whipped cream, add in orange compound, mix well.

Spread cheese filling into prepared tin.

Topping:

80g crushed marie biscuits

40g melted butter

Combine all ingredients and sprinkle over the top.

Wrap well and refrigerate until set.

Swan Cream Puffs / Cream Puffs

I know I am always late... late for my postings...

Seeing my fellow baking friends whom had already baked cream puffs in September for the Bake-Along theme, Lena  and Mui, both of them had also attempted on the swan puffs. When I saw their puffs, I was envy, admiring how beautifully their swan puffs had been baked.

Recently, I had also saw some FB bakers, baking these swan puffs too... So pulled up my socks and started my challenge once again!!!!

These swan puffs recipes were adapted from Kevin Chai's. His recipe had stated 3-4eggs..., so I had used only 3eggs. I guess it would have been better to use 4eggs instead, as my batter was rather thick and it did not had the smooth, sateen feel...  Ended up the cream puff texture was abit tough, but overall was quite alright... :-D

So let me try 4 eggs in future...:-D

As I couldn't buy the instant custard cream, I had use the vanilla cream that I had used for the Hokkaido Cupcakes.

So how did I fare for these swan puffs?

Recipe as adapted from Kevin Chai's Dainty Desserts

Puff Ingredients:

200ml water

25ml fresh milk

80g butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

170g high protein flour(cake flour)

3-4 eggs

Method:

1. Combine water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Bring to boil.

2. Add in flour, use a wooden spoon, vigorously stir over medium heat until mixture leaves side of pan. Remove from heat.

3. Beat the dough in a mixer until cool completely. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and satiny.

4. Spoon dough into piping bag and pipe out a big rosette and swan's head & neck. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C(200C) for 25mins. Leave to cool.

Custard Ingredients:

100g instand custard powder

120ml fresh milk

200g fresh whipped cream

1/2tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Stir instant custard powder with milk, then combine with the whipped cream and vanilla essence until well-combined.

To assemble, cut the puff into half, trim the top layer to form wing shape and fill the bottom layer with custard.

Garnish with fruits, wings and head.

Dust with icing sugar.

Have fun:-D

Chocolate Chips Cupcakes 2

I had joined the Baking Wonderland Malaysia in Facebook, and from there, I have bookmarked lots of recipes in my phone... And I better updated those baked items into my blog before my phone is overloaded with all those recipes.

I had gotten this recipe from Michelle Heong from Baking Wonderland. These chocolate chips cupcakes were a delish! Soft texture... But 1 regret... I didn't add enough chocolate chips.. Hehehe, else it would have been heavenly delish with plenty of chocolate chips!!!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

100g Butter

80g Sugar (75g)

2 eggs

120g self raising flour (125g)

1 tsp baking powder (omiteed)

20g cocoa powder

50g chocolate chips (can use more)

Adequate chocolate chips to sprinkle on top of the batter.

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until well combined. Adding 1 egg at a time and make sure they are well-blended in each addition.

2. Add the flour into the mixture, mix well.

3. Gradually add in the milk.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Pour the batter into the cupcake cases, about 80% full, bake in a preheated oven of 150C (180C) for about 35mins.

Eggless Peach Cake ( Vegetarian)

I came across this eggless cake recipe yesterday, and I thought, this is quite interesting...

No eggs... And I thought, perhaps I can also change the butter to margarine instead. Making this cake, an eggless one, no cholestrol, and low-fat... How about that? A healthier choice for now???

I have used a 20cm cake tin to bake this cake. The texture of the cake while it was being baked, does not seems to be that pleasant. I was wondering, how would this cake turned out, since it's eggless plus using margarine...

Well, in fact, my worries are rather uncalled for, as this cake was suprisingly delicious!!!

Despite being eggless, the cake texture was quite good, you can get the crumbly cake texture, sweetness was just nice. And Mimi had a slice herself. She said it was yummy:-D

Here is the recipe as adapted from Alex Goh:

Ingredients:

(A)

200g butter

160g sugar (150g)

(B)

200g milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

(C)

240g plain flour

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Cream (A) until light.

2. Add in (B) in graduation, whip till light and smooth.

3. Add in (C), mix well until well-blend.

4. Pour it into 20cm round mould.

5. Bake at 180C for 50 mins. Set aside to cool. (I use 200C)

Decorate as desired:)

Have fun!!!

Hokkaido Cupcakes 北海道蛋糕

I had finally made my Hokkaido Cupcakes today... These Hokkaido Cupcakes had always been a to-bake list. And I saw this recipe from Baking Wonderland, one of this baker, Ann Chin, had this Hokkaido Cupcakes, and they were so pretty... So I decided I should try this recipe asap... And here we have, my freshly baked Hokkaido Cupcakes:-D

These Hokkaido Cupcakes were simply so delicious. Thumbs up!!!!

Cake texture was really excellent, soft and it melts-in-your-mouth texture.

As for the vanilla custard cream, it was really tasty too. I have used about 1.5 tsp of the vanilla essence and it gave the custard cream a very nice fragrant.

My girls, Nic wasn't keen, whereas Nat & Mimi tried the Hokkaido Cupcakes... So what were they reactions??? Nat liked the cupcake, but her favourite was the strawberry & especially the custard cream, and Mimi, she just ate the strawberry... -_-"

So here as originated from Ann Chin from Baking Wonderland:

(I have stated the English Version, not sure if they are correctly translated... hehehehe... pardon me...:-p)

北海道蛋糕食谱～Hokkaido Cupcakes Ingredients:

A = 牛奶(Milk) 135克，植物油(Canola Oil) 45克，幼糖(Sugar) 30克。
B = 低筋面粉(Cake) 135克。
C=蛋黄(Egg Yolk) 135克。
D= 蛋白(Egg White) 270克，幼糖(Sugar) 60克，塔塔粉(Cream of Tar Tar) 1/2tsp。

做法：[METHOD]1.将A煮至热（不需要滚），把低筋面粉加入拌匀，待凉后再加入蛋黄，要一边搅拌一边加入, 然后放一边待用。(Cook A in low fire(warm-do not need to be boiling stage), add in the B and mix well. After the batter has cooled, add in the egg yolks while whisking. Leave it aside for later use.)2. 把蛋白打至发泡加入半份白糖和塔塔粉，继续搅拌至蛋白呈现细腻才加入剩余白糖，
继续打至硬性发泡即可。(Beat egg white with cream of tar tar & sugar till stiff peak forms)
3. 把2/4蛋白加入蛋黄糊里搅拌均匀，再倒回剩余蛋白里，轻轻拌匀即可。(Add 2/4 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter, mix well. Pour mixed batter into the remaining meringue and mix until well combined)
4. 把面糊舀入纸杯里，7/8分满就好，然后以预先预热上下火180度的烤炉里，烤约15 分钟或至熟即可！(Pipe the batter into the cupcake cases till 7/8 full. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 15 mins)
5. 待凉后才挤入香草奶油馅和装饰，然后冷藏才好吃的！(Once cooled, pipe in the vanilla custard cream into the Hokkaido Cupcakes and decorate as desired. Dust with icing sugar for the finishing touch. Chilled the Hokkaido Cupcakes as they are best eaten chilled:-D)
分量可做19个 (Recipe can yeilds about 18-19 cupcakes) 

自制卡仕达酱（香草奶油馅）(Vanilla Custard Cream)材料A:
蛋黄(Egg yolk) 45克
幼糖(Sugar) 40克
材料B:
低筋面粉(Cake Flour)10克
玉蜀黍粉(Corn Flour) 10克
材料C:
牛奶(Milk) 250克
幼糖(Sugar) 10克
香草精(Vanilla Essence) 适量(I use about 1.5 tsp)
材料D:
牛油(Butter) 20克
材料E:
Topping cream 100克

做法：[METHOD] 1. 将材料A打至浓稠（蛋黄颜色变白 ） (Beat egg yolks & sugar until white & creamy)
2. 加入材料B拌匀，备用。 (Add in B until well combined. Keep aside)
3. 将材料C煮滚，熄火，在把一半份量倒入2里，要一边搅拌一边倒入，
然后把以上混合物筛过后倒入剩余的热牛奶里搅拌均匀 (Boil C. Pour half of the boiling milk mixture into the egg yolk batter. Mix well and pour it back into the balance milk and mix well.
4. 继续用小火把以上混合物煮至浓稠即可，熄火后趁热加入牛油拌匀。(Continue to boil the milk mixture over low fire, stir till you get a thick consistant texture. Turn off the fire and stir in the butter till melted.)
5. 用保鲜膜盖在蛋奶酱上面防止表层结皮。待凉备用。(Use a cling wrap to cover the custard cream to prevent surface from skinning. Keep aside)
6. 最后，把材料E搅拌至看见纹路（类似湿性发泡）后，把它加入蛋奶
酱里拌匀再冷藏，就变成美味的自制卡仕达酱。(Lastly, whipped the topping cream till peak forms. Mix it together with the custard cream. Keep chilled before piping it into the cupcakes)

  

 So try these Hokkaido Cupcakes now!!!!

Apple Crumble Cupcakes / Cake

I had came across Kit's blog and her Apple Crumble Cake simply caught my attention. And I knew this is one of the cake I needed to bookmark and try to bake it...

And I wasn't wrong about it. These Apple Crumbles were indeed delicious...

I had made these Apple Crumble in cupcakes and a loaf of cake.

The texture of these apple crumbles were simply excellent!!! A soft and fluffy texture was all I knew the moment when I tried them.... Yummy indeed. Mimi had shared half of a cupcake with me, while Nic whom initially refused to try, said it was delicious too. I think these apple crumble will made one of the kids favourite as well. Even my colleagues whom had tried it, said it was very soft and delicious too.

 So what are you waiting for???

 This recipe yeilds 6 normal cupcakes and a 6"x3" rectangular loaf.

 Thanks to Kit for sharing this wonderful recipe:)

Recipe as adapted from I-Lost in Austen

Ingredients:

2 apples –cored & diced

60g ground hazelnut (ground almond)

80g raisins

3 eggs

140g  salted butter (room temperature)

130g powdered sugar (I use 100g)

200g flour + 1 tbsp

1 tsp baking powder

Rectangle baking pan

For crumble:

50g flour

30g cold salted butter

40g hazelnuts (chopped blanced almonds)

30g sugar



Method:
1. Greased  baking pan or muffin tin.
2. Combine flour & baking powder. In a large bowl beat butter & sugar till creamy. Gradually add in eggs , one at a time & hazelnut with flour mixture till well combined.
3. In a bowl toss to coat  diced apples & raisins with 1 tbsp of flour . Add in batter & stir till well combined. Pour batter in baking pan.
4. Preheat oven to 160°C. For crumble: In a bowl combine butter, sugar , ground hazelnut & flour. Cut the butter in with your fingers till mixture forms crumbs. Topped crumble mixture on batter evenly & bake for 1 hour.

Chocolate Marble Cake

I must say this Chocolate Marble Cake is one of the best that I had ever baked... Unlike some, this cake is not too oily and most importantly, this cake texture is very soft and fluffy. This cake remains soft even on the next day.

If you are a butter cake lover, this one will suits you well...:)

Here is the original recipe as adapted from GoodFood Magazine (August 2012 issue)

Ingredients:

225g butter, softened

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

225g self raising flour

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C. Grease a 20-cm cake tin and line the bottom with a baking paper.

2. Beat butter & sugar, followed by the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk & vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.

3. Divide mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into one of the mixture, mix well. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate & vanilla mixes into the tin alternately. Take a skewer or knife & swirl it around the mixture to create a marbled effect.

4. Bake the cake for 45-55mins. Turn out on a cooling rack and leave to cool. Will keep in 3 days in an air-tight container.

Butter Cake 2

I totally had too many bakes yet to be posted... I had too busy with work recently and I had been baking, but with those quick & easy, simple recipes... I missed baking quite alot and I realised that I will be the host for the Aspiring Bakers for October...and I am not anyhow ready to be...:-p

My girlfriend had told me to bake this butter cake as she said it was very tasty, soft & fluffy... and most of all, she told me it was very easy to bake... Here I am, with this butter cake....:-D

This Butter Cake did came out very well. An usual butter cake that we will have them anytime of the day. However, this butter cake will not be one of my favourite. I will be posting up soon with some of the butter cakes that I will personally feel that they are extremely yummy... Do keep a look out for them.

Recipe & Ingredients as given by my friend, Eileen:

(with slight modifications)

230g butter

125g sugar

3 eggs

225g flour

2 tsp baking powder

100ml milk

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar until white & creamy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time. Alternate the sifted flour & baking powder with the milk. Mix until well-combined.

Baked in a preheated oven of 180-200C for about 30mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Hope you will like this simple Butter Cake