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.