Waffles

Today is my younger brother's birthday. Happy Birthday adik!
He may be a dad with a receding hairline, a pot belly and at times drive us all up the wall but to me he will always be adik to me.
A week ago I asked what would he liked for a birthday cake, his answer was surprisingly fast and simple. Shrugging his shoulders and making a face (that's normal for him) he replied that he didn't want one. He rather go out somewhere to eat.
Hearing his flippant answer I had mixed feelings, happy - I didn't have to bake a cake and disappointed - there were several recipes that I wanted to try out  and didn't get a chance to.
But then today, after giving him his present I got him   2 pairs of boxers - underwear are always useful and in need, ok!
I decided to make waffles as a kinda birthday brunch for him.
Had a waffle recipe that was screaming to tried, so I made a batch and everyone had a good and filling meal, needless to say we skipped lunch that day... Oh, the birthday meal we had later that same evening at a Yemeni and Arabic food restaurant, Qasar Saba.
 Tak sempat ambil gambar as everyone was busy sampling each others' plates of food. Overall it was a very good makan day!!

It is another recipe, a crispy one that has yeast!
Thank you so much to Hidayah for the recipe.
** panaskan waffle machine dulu!

Waffles
4 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I added another 2 cups)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp melted butter (I used sunflower oil)
1 tsp dried yeast

Method
Using a hand whisk mix all ingredients in a bowl. Gently mix all until forms a smooth batter.
Ladle the batter onto the waffle machine and wait for it to cook.
Some recipe call for the batter to rest for a bit, but not this one. By the way if you see frothy bubbles on the surface, don't panic. It is just the yeast tengah aktif!
Go slow on the liquid, as the batter might get too runny.
Happy Baking.

Marble Cake

Last week I was feeling really horrible, I had a bad bout of the flu and my throat felt itchy, my head felt heavy, my whole body ached and my nose was runny. Despite all that I decided to bake a cake! I know some weirdness must have taken over the rational part of my brain... and it had to be a Marble Cake, not quite sure why but I just felt like having some and besides my mum loves this cake as well.
I didn't bake using the old recipe but instead I opted for a butter cake one, and added some cocoa powder to a portion to marble it!
I must admit not the best of pics but I wasn't feeling very best either. I snapped theses after the masses gobbled up half of the loaf! 

I found the original recipe at Joy of Baking but marbled it to my taste.

Butter Cake (marble cake)
source: Joy of Baking.

250g self raising flour
230g butter
300g sugar (I used 230g)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
240ml buttermilk (measure milk and add in 1 Tbsp vinegar and let it sit for 20-30 min)

Method
Cream butter until creamy. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.
Add in one egg at a time, beat well. Add in vanilla.
Alternate flour and buttermilk.
Don't overmix.
Divide the batter into 2. 2/3 plain and 1/3 add 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder.
Spoon the batter layer by layer or pour half of the plain batter into the tin and drop several spoonfuls of the chocolate then cover with the rest of the plain batter.
Bake at 180C for 40 min.
I used a long loaf like tin but you can use a 8 in round tin too.

Happy Baking.

Oreo Cake

I doubled the recipe for this order as the customer wanted a larger cake.
I piped purple dots on top of the star points for contrast and chocolate curls on the centre.

Almond Butterscotch Cake

Last week I had lunch with my sister at Secret Recipe. Now I wouldn't normally eat lunch there, but on that particular day hehehe... just felt like it. Our usually haunts didn't appeal to us and we thought  - Secret Recipe, why not?
The last time I went there was last year, and  had a very dry and rather stale brownie. Needless to say  I vowed never to return there again but never say never ...
So we settled down and studied the given menu. To be honest we, when we do go there, only eat cake. But after browsing through the appetizing pics, the food doesn't look too bad. We ordered fish.
Pretty boring huh? But it wasn't.
I had fish and chips, I know pretty ordinary but safe.
My sister had baked fish and mozzarella cheese, I can't remember the exact name, but this pretty much describe the dish.

Fish and Chips

 

 

Baked Fish with Mozzarella Cheese

Sedaps!! My fish and chips was pipping hot went it arrived at the table. The wedge of lemon was very juicy, there was just enough tartar sauce and the salad was perfectly dressed. Not overly like some places that literally drown the poor vegetables.
My sister punya fish was delicious says she. Once more they were very generous with the portions, the cheese was cheesy! Chunks of deep fried yellow and green zucchini and potatoes accompanied the fish.
 Since mine was part of the lunch deal, it came with iced lemon tea but sister ordered hot lemon tea - ok we were both coughing at that time. It was a sedap kenyang lunch and would I go and there again? Yep, just stay away from the brownies.

Okey enough of that I had an order for a cake, Almond Butterscotch. I was busy that week but I accepted the order anyway, rezeki jangan tolak!!
I had to carefully plan when to bake the cake, as the cake requires time to assemble and set. Happy to say I did well, I have only baked this cake three times so far!! The nervous bit is making the butterscotch, ada sekali tu tak jadi and I didn't want to waste ingredients! Thank God all went well and I hoped Aishah and her family had a good time eating it. The Ben 10 was a bonus as her son loved the cartoon.
I posted the recipe here, if you're interested take a look! It's quite easy.