Victoria Sandwich Cake

My sister wanted a cake for ... Christmas. We don't celebrate it but like all Malaysian and all the festivals in our dear country (1 Malaysia), in a way we all do.
I have never done a Christmas cake before, but there is a first time for everything, so here goes.

After deciding which cake she wanted we went on our way to buy decorations for the cake since the ingredients all memang dah ada kat rumah. Bought a ready man 'snowman' made of sugar at Bakewell.
I thought of building a Christmas tree using skittles but to my dismay when it was time to decorate the cake I bought the large ones instead. Which was way too big for my small cake.
So then we decided to just draw the outline of the cake with green icing, and use Nestle Crunch Wafer as the tree trunk. Mum suggested we used the colored sugar balls as ornaments for the tree! Thanks a lot Ma! We were already at our wits end at how else to decorate the cake.
The skittles, in the end we just ate it as it is! LOL

The cake is the Victoria Sandwich cake, I just doubled it. But for the bottom layer I added a Tbsp of cocoa powder, just for contrast instead of the cake being all white. I used Tesco Bramble Jelly for the filling, it tastes a bit tart but perfect for the cake. A dusting of icing sugar was the base of the cake before I piped icing.

Waffles

I know it is a hassle to make these and are probably easier and faster to just buy them BUT I can't stand the eggy smell from the ones at the shop.
I can smell the waffle stand way before I can see it in supermarkets or shopping malls.
Why can't they put some vanilla?
My family and I, we love waffles. In fact we have several waffle irons in the house, some are still in use while others are, well collecting dust and all the while hoping some day it will laku on Pawn Stars!!
We eat this is with honey or jam. Squeeze a bit of lime over the honey and wahh... best tau!

You will need a waffle iron to make this but it doesn't have to look like ours, the biasa squarish ones pun is just fine.

Waffles
source: from a manual of an old Japanese waffle iron later
transferred to my mum's ancient recipe book.


2 cup Self Raising Flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 eggs (separate the yolks from the whites, tricky so be careful)
2 cup milk (full cream, evaporated or low fat - semua pun boleh janji milk)
2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine (I use a microwave at Hi for about 10 seconds)
1 tsp vanilla

*Switch on your waffle machine first. A hot waffle iron makes good waffles. Make sure to brush some oil or melted butter onto the surface of the iron to avoid the waffle sticking. Usually the first ones do.

Method
Put flour, baking powder, yolks, vanilla and milk in a bowl and mix until well combined.
Add in melted butter and mix again.
In another bowl, make sure it is clean and dry whisk egg whites. You can either use a hand mixer or just whisk manually. Beware, this will take some time and effort so be patience. OR else just use the hand mixer.
Beat the egg whites until soft peaks then slowly fold into the first batter. Gently or you might lose the air you painstaking caught while whipping the whites. This will make the waffle nice and fluffy.

Next ladle just enough batter to cover the surface of the waffle iron then close the lid.
Sometimes some batter will overflow at the sides. Don't worry just let it be you can clean it up later. Just be more careful ladling the next one.
Depending on the waffle machine, and temperature, cooking time will vary. So check and see if it is brown and golden, okay it is done.

Slowly take the waffle out and put on a cooling rack or plate if you are impatient!
Eat with lots of your favorite topping!

Happy Baking.

Birthday cake

I baked a rather belated birthday for a friend.
Hoped she enjoyed it!

This time I chose the Almond Butterscotch Cake. Unlike my first attempt, I added in more butterscotch into the fresh cream and less in the middle and it tasted ... according to reliable sources delicious! LOL, definitely a case of masuk bakul sendiri!!

More Devil's Food Cupcakes!

This time the Devil's Food Cupcakes were decorated with cute ladybugs, purple flowers and some gummy chewy sweets. We chose it because it resembled the colour of the nurses' uniform at Gleneagles, (thank you so much!!) as for the bugs... just because they are cute.
At first we wanted to bake the whole cake but it would be difficult for the nurses to eat as they are always on the go, so we opted for cupcakes. Easier to handle and less messy.

Doughnuts

Not many people I know ... do not eat doughnuts! They are all sorts and almost everywhere! Easily found and available from makciks yang jual nasi lemak or pisang goreng, to bakeries, supermarkets and posh coffee cafes.
Ahh... not forgetting doughnuts shops that sells them with numerous toppings!

I personally love doughnuts, my favorites are the chocolate ones or just the classic with just a sprinkling of fine sugar - YUMMY!!

Di sini ada gambar doughnuts that my mum made recently for tea.

Coconut jelly

Apple Crumble Pie

Apples, oh apples! We have more than a few lovely green apples in the fridge... At first we made juice out of it and ate some on its own or with kuah rojak. Mum even went and bought some more, I too am guilty of adding more apples when I greedily grab a bag when they were marked down at Giant. I even made apple pie but after a while the apples just sat quietly in the fridge. I was cleaning the fridge one day and decided that something has to be done about the said fruit.

I browsed through the cooking blogs to see any interesting recipes that required apples. And ta-da! I found one. I admit I have watched many apple crumbles being baked on t.v and read quite a few recipes as well but I never bothered to try it. I've never eaten apple crumble either, mainly because baked apples with just a mere top of crumbs made of butter, sugar and flour doesn't sound appealing to me.
BUT ... the apple crumble recipe I found is not exactly like that, this one has pastry at the bottom! I think it is a half a crumble and half a pie recipe hence the name!

So here I will stop my ramblings about the tart fruit and continue with the recipe of this surprisingly delicious dessert! Good on its own or with a dash of whipped cream or a scoop or two of your favorite ice cream!



Apple Crumble Pie
source: Masam Manis Cooking with love

For the pastry
240g all purpose flour I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
170g butter (cubed)
2 Tbsp icing sugar
2 Tbsp iced water


Method

In a bowl, using a fork combine the flour and butter until the mixture resemble bread crumbs.












Then add in the iced water, a table spoon at a time. 

Use the fork to mix until dough becomes smooth.

Shape the dough into a ball and cover with cling wrap and chill for 30 mins.

For the filling

5 apples (I used a variety of apples, not all are green)

2 Tbsp butter

a pinch of salt 

the rind of one lemon (I skipped this part because tak ada lemon at home)

100g brown sugar (mine turned out a bit too sweet, so next time I think I'll lessen the sugar)
2 Tbsp corn flour

Method
Peel,  remove the core and slice apples thinly. In a pot, melt the sugar and butter before adding the apples.
I forgot and plonk all the apples in the pot, I cooked the butter, sugar and apples all at one go. Add in the corn flour when the sugar has melted.

Cook until the apples turn soft, carefully not too soft or it will be mushy.

The brownish liquid is the melted butter and sugar. Stir carefully until the liquid thickens. Switch off the fire and put aside to cool.

The Crumble

75g all purpose flour (I put only half the measurement of flour and added oats)

35g butter

35g castor sugar

35g chocolate chips (I didn't put any)

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients until it resembles bread crumbs. Put aside.

To assemble the apple crumble pie.

Roll out the chilled dough, to cover a 12" pie dish. Grease the pie dish with some butter or margarine.
Trim or tuck in the excess pie dough.

Next spoon in the apple filling.

Cover the apples as evenly as possible with the crumble mixture.

Bake for 15 min at 220 C and then lower the heat to 190 C and bake for another 45 min.

** I checked the recipe twice for the baking times, and I followed it faithfully but mine was almost burnt! Those little black dots you see aren't chocolate chips, but burned flour and oats bits!! Next time I will bake for just 30 min at 160 C.

Happy Baking.

Spongy Banana Cake

I found this recipe by mistake. I was actually looking for something else, biasalah and I got 'lost' in my search and ended up with this.
I thought it was easy and since we had some bananas that no one wanted to eat anymore. Daripada the banana going mushy and to waste, this is a good way to use it. I know banana cake is a bit ordinary and vastly available at almost all shops and even KK Mart (24/7)!
But if you want something homemade that is easy to bake and doesn't have an over dose of essence or taste of soda, try this.

Spongy Banana Cake.
source: Masam Manis Cooking with Love

150g  ripe bananas (mashed)
200g  all purpose flour (I use Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
160g castor sugar
3 eggs
120ml oil (I use corn oil, but you can also use cooking oil)
1 Tbsp ovalette
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Mashed the bananas using a fork or a blender if you are in a hurry.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until mixture is very thick and fluffy.
You need to really beat the mixture for the cake to be nice and spongy.
Next pour the mixture into an 8 in greased and lined cake tin.
Bake for 45 min - 1 hour at 170 C.
I know it sounds like a long time, but I tried this recipe and it does take that long.
Rest assure, your patience will be rewarded!!

Happy Baking.

Almond Butterscotch Cake

Almond Butterscotch Cake

I just felt like eating something sweet and started searching various blogs for a sweet yummy cake. Butterscotch, I love it. Buttery, sweet and creamy at the same time. You can say it taste a little bit like toffee but not quite. Confused? Ha! Ha! I'm not very good at describing this sinfully, fattening confectionery!

I looked through several recipes and after many hours of drooling over other people's pictures of this scrumptious cake, I found two that I liked, and made minor adjustments to suit my taste buds.

The original recipes are from intai dapur was called Chocolate Butterscotch and Almond Cheesecake and from roses of nora was called Butterscotch Cake. Terima kasih banyak-banyak!
The one I made is combination of both, so check out their respective recipes.

**it would be better to make the butterscotch sauce first as it requires time to thicken.
A day ahead pun tak pa, as you can keep it in the fridge.


Almond Butterscotch Cake

For the sponge cake
150g cake flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
150g castor sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp ovalette
1 tsp vanilla
80ml milk (I used evaporated milk)
80ml melted butter or vegetable oil (I used corn oil)
enough toasted slivered almonds

Method
Using a stand mixer, beat the castor sugar, eggs, ovalette, flour and baking powder until fluffly. Slowly add in milk. Beat again for about 6 min or until the mixture becomes thick. Gently fold in the melted butter or oil.
Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 8 in cake tin.
Bake for 40 min at 160 C.
Once cooked, don't take the cake out of the tin. Cool it by turning the tin up side down.
When cooled, remove the cake.


For the cream.
1 cup non diary whipping cream
2 Tbsp water & 1/2 Tbsp gelatin.

Method
Measure the water into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin powder over it. Allow the gelatin to absorb the water.
After a few minutes, using a double boiler, melt the gelatin slowly. Keep stirring until it all dissolves.
Beat the cream until stiff before adding in the gelatin. Beat again to combine. Pour in about 4 Tbsp of the butterscotch sauce into the cream and mix well. Put aside.



Butterscotch Sauce
2/3 cup milk (I used evaporated milk)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp + 1/2 Tbsp butter (I used 3 Tbsp)
1 tsp vanilla

In a sauce pan, over a slow fire melt milk, butter, sugar and vanilla. Keep stirring as it burns easily.
When the mixture is combined, turn up the heat a bit and let it simmer for about 5 minute.
Remember to keep stirring. Take off the heat and let it cool for about 2 hours. The mixture will thicken.



Assemble the cake
Slice the cake into two. On one surface spread the butterscotch cream evenly. If you like you can dribble some more butterscotch sauce here too. Sprinkle some almonds over the cake before topping it with the half.
Cover the whole cake with the remaining cream and pour the rest of the butterscotch sauce over the top letting it dribbling down. The almonds can be added to the sides or top of the cake. This is me, you can do as you like!


Happy Baking.

Cheesy Brownies

This is the first time I baked brownies and my mum actually ate more than a polite-one-piece only. Ha! Ha!
My mum is a very fussy eater, mostly because she is a very good cook. She can basically guess the ingredients by just tasting the dish and recreate it too! I know everyone says their mum is the best but hey our mum is the best!
Right back to my brownies, ehem, macamlah I created the recipe myself! All credits go to Puan Azlita Aziz, one of my favorite food bloggers! I like her recipes, simply to follow.
I went to Aeon Big, saja browsing through the cook books when I came across "Siri Blogger Masakan Kek" Funny though I didn't realize who the author was until much later (after paying). Punyalah excited with the recipes...the pictures are good too.
Since I had some blueberry filling left from another horribly gone wrong recipe, I thought the first recipe I tried from this book would be - the Cheesy Brownies.

the book:

Mine doesn't quite resemble hers, but pretty close I must say! LOL


Cheesy Brownies
source: Siri Blogger Masakan Kek by Nor Azlita Abd Aziz

Brownies
250g butter (I used 1 cup of corn oil)
100g cocoa powder
250 all purpose flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 medium size eggs
350g castor sugar
350ml fresh milk (I used evaporated and low fat UHT milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Cheesy layer
250g cream cheese
180g castor sugar
1 egg
1 tsp lemon paste (available at baking goods shops, but mine made the cheese part yellowish, must find one that doesn't but it taste very lemony and nice.)
Enough blueberry filling.


Method
Melt butter in a pot. When melted add in cocoa powder. Mix well.
Whisk in sugar, milk and vanilla.
Add in the flour in batches and mix well.
Sieve the mixture into a greased and lined 10 x 10 in tray.
Bake at 170C for 30-40  min.
Let it cool for a bit but don't take out of the cake tin.

In a bowl, using a hand mixture cream the cream cheese, sugar, egg and lemon paste until smooth and fluffy.
Pour it over the baked brownie. Dot the cheese surface with blueberry filling, I over did mine and it came out looking like cells under the microscope! Just one small dot and using a lidi pull at an angle to achieve small heart shapes.
Bake again for 20-30 min at 170C.
Cool and cut to serve.

Happy Baking.

Devil's Food Cupcake

Made this for a friend's birthday last week. She wanted Devil's Food Cake yang kecil and easy to eat. So I decided to use paper cups and make them into cupcakes!
The purple flowers are made of sugar and the sunny side up eggs are edible mango flavored gummy candies.

Sweet Potato Fries

I love fried food! I rejoiced when sweet potato joined the list of super foods! But I don't think they were meant to be fried like this, LOL

I ate the ones at Shihlin Taiwanese Street Snacks and loved the way it was cut!

It is a lot easier to pop into the mouth.

Here is my version but without the plum powder.

Peel the sweet potatoes, you can use either the red/orange or white/yellow ones.

Wash away the dirt and pat dry. Carefully slice the potato into long strips, like above.

The sweet potato are hard, you'll need a very sharp knife and steady surface for the chopping board.

Use any brand of Tepung Goreng Pisang you like. I used Tepung Goreng Aroma (Green packet)

In a bowl, add enough amount of the flour to fry plus for extra crunch, I add some rice flour.

I usually add about 2 to 3 Tbsp of rice flour.

Next slowly add in water enough for the batter to be smooth and not lumpy.

In a wok, heat up oil. With the heat on medium, carefully drop in the sticks of sweet potatoes

 coated with the batter.

One at a time to avoid them sticking together. Let them be in the oil, don't stir just yet. 

Or the batter might not stick to the potatoes.

After about a minute or two, using tongs or spatula gently stir and separate the ones that are stuck. 

Unfortunately this happens sometimes!

When the potatoes are brown and golden, take them out and drain excess oil using a sieve or paper towels.

Then...makan!

Victoria Sandwich Cake

Not quite sure why it is called so, but dah nama dia!

This cake is easy to make and delicious. Good for teas, when you have unexpected guests ...

Sandwiched in between the two cakes is usually jam - strawberry jamlah! But you can sapu any jam you want, mixed berries is good too.

Victoria Sandwich Cake

I tripled the recipe to fit two 8 in cake tins.

Victoria Sandwich Cake
source: my mum's ancient cook book

4 oz self raising flour (I used Blue Key)
1 tsp baking powder
3 oz castor sugar
2 medium size eggs
4 oz butter

Method:
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time, beat well.
Fold in flour in batches and mix well until batter is smooth.
Line and grease 2 baking tins.
Bake for about 25-30 min at 180 C.

Take cakes out of tins and cool on racks.
When cakes are still warm, spread jam on the surface of one cake (pick the bottom part of the cake, as it is easier to spread the jam) before topping it with the other cake.
If you like dust some icing sugar on the top.

Happy Baking.

Garlic Bread

Buying the ready made ones is of course easier and faster to eat but sometimes...homemade ones are better.
Delicious to eat with spaghetti, bbq, soups especially cream of mushroom soup or just on its own pun sedaps!
Before I list out the ingredients needed, the amount needed depends on how much garlic and butter you like on the bread and how big it is. Some bakeries tend to make their french bread very slim.

Garlic Bread.

1 loaf of french bread or baguette.
1/2 a block of butter ( or more, like I mentioned above)
2 cloves of garlic (pounded or smashed using the back of the knife) I personally like mine very garlicky!
some chopped parsley (optional)

Method
Slice bread at an angle or as you like it.
In a bowl mix the room the butter, garlic and parsley.
Make sure the butter is at room temperature and not too soft or it will be oily.
Mix well before spreading onto bread.

Put the bread pieces onto a baking dish or an oven tray. Bake at 120 C for about 20 min or until golden brown.

Happy Baking.

Lemon Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcakes.
Source: from a book my sister borrowed from someone at work. Thank you.

Lemon Cupcakes

110 g butter
225 g sugar (a bit sweet, I lessen it to 200 g)
2 eggs
150 g Self Raising Flour (I used Blue Key)
125 g all purpose flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
90 ml milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp sour cream (I used thick yogurt)
1 tsp lemon zest I didn't)

Method
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In  a jug, mix sour cream, milk and lemon juice.
Slowly pour in the mixture and alternate with both flour into the creamed butter and sugar.
Lastly add in the zest.

Spoon the batter into paper cups and bake at 170c for 25-30 min.
Depending on your oven and how many you bake at one time, the cooking time
may vary.

Happy Baking.

Chocolate Chip Apple Muffin

Chocolate Chip Apple Muffin


























This is one of my all the time make one muffin recipe.
The pictures show the before and after process.
In fact it was the very first muffin recipe that 'jadi'.
I did a few changes, but the original recipe is just as good.


Chocolate Chip Apple Muffin.
source: I can't remember which site or who, but thank you, so much.

300 g all purpose flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (I added this. Replace 2 Tbsp of flour with 2 Tbsp cocoa powder)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
190 g chopped green apples (Sometimes I use red ones too or a mixture of both)
2 Tbsp chocolate chips (I chopped medium size chunks of cooking chocolate instead, about 3 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp raisin or sultanas (soak them in hot water so that they plump up and don't burn later)
115 g butter or margarine
100 g castor sugar
100 g brown sugar (for the sugars I lessen each to 90 g)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Cream butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.
Gently fold in the flour, sodas and cocoa powder. Add the chopped apples, dried fruits and chocolate chips.
The batter will be lumpy but it is okay.

Spoon batter into paper cups and bake for about 20-30 min at 170 C. Depending on the oven and how much you bake, please keep checking. If the muffin bounces at the touch and the testing stick come out clean, it is done.
Let the muffin cool and if you like drizzle some melted chocolate over the top.

Happy Baking.

Cookies

Chocolate chips cookies! Yummy! Everyone who loves chocolates loves this. I don't mean my recipe but the cookie it self. Yep, there are over a hundred recipe for this all time favorite. Everyone has their own, with several addition of some ingredient here and there.

Mine, is a double chocolate chip. LOL 

You might like it, so why not get it a try?

Chocolate Chip Cookie

source: my mum's ancient recipe book.

This recipe is rather small, you might want to double or triple it.

4 oz butter or magarine

6 oz plain flour

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

3 oz castor sugar

3 oz chocolate chip ( add a little bit more pun tak apa)

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 oz nuts (I usually use almonds but it is up to you, you can also omit the nuts)

Method

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in vanilla and egg yolk.

Beat to combine. Add in flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cocoa powder,

chocolate chips and nuts.

Mix well to combine.

Form the dough into small nuggets or balls and bake for 25 min at 160 c.

Be careful, as the dough is dark it is difficult to tell when it browns or cooks.

So keep checking, and when the smell hits you it is probably done!

Good luck!

Cookies

Biskut Ribbon a.k.a Biskut Dahlia

For as long as I could remember my mum had always called them, biscuit Ribbon.

Nope I don't know why and she doesn't either! But as then later I discovered through magazines, cook books and friends, these delicious cookies have another name...

This recipe requires a special acuan for the flowers to come out.

You probably seen it before, it looks like a fat syringe and instead of a needle there is a patterned design at the bottom. I'm afraid I haven't a picture of it but I'll add it later.

So okay, here is the recipe:

Biskut Ribbon aka Biskut Dahlia

4 oz custard powder (I use Bird's Custard Powder )

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

6 1/2 oz butter

4 1/2 oz icing sugar (sieved)

enough chopped red or green  glazed cherries as decoration

Method

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until it becomes a smooth dough.

Form small sausage like shapes of the dough to fit into the tube and then using the slender piece press out the dough to get the cookie. Then place the cherries in the middle of the flower.

It is more easier if you pipe the cookie straight away onto the greased baking tray, transferring is tricky and you might lose some petals.

Bake at 160C fot about 20 minutes.

Happy Baking.