Busy holiday weekend

Last weekend was another of those long weekend that simply stretches!
I personally love them but at the same time it does put a dent on daily activities like paying bills, yep I still do it the old fashion way, take a number and patiently wait my turn at the post office.
And of course the normally congested road, the infamous KL traffic is even more so.
I wonder why, after all the traffic reports on the radio say that the highways are equally congested, some several kilometers long. A few years back when ever there is a public holiday or eve of such an event its practically smooth sailing in the capital.
But now it a queue here, a traffic jam there and I'm not just talking about cars. Unfortunately the population of our dear city has grown so much, mostly with foreigners. Oh well, that's another story and I don't think this is where I ought to venture.
Back to my precious cakes!
I have NOT been updating my blog! Good grief does anyone even care? LOL
I planned on adding several more recipes for my own use of course but just haven't gotten around to it.
My other project of transferring old recipes from my battered book to a brand new one pun hasn't taken off either and all the while I keep finding and trying out new recipes and simply jotting them down in another book or pieces of paper!

Yes I did start with the weekend, and I have a fabulous one. I admit it was rather hectic and stressful but I enjoyed baking and made some money too! Now who can say no to that?
We didn't go anywhere but stayed close to home, went shopping at KWC and watched some wuxia films on TV.
Alhamdullilah for the rezeki God has bestowed onto me.

Thank you very much to dear friends who ordered and still enjoyed my baking. I sincerely hoped they had a good weekend holiday as well.

Afni, ordered a moist chocolate cake, a Victoria sandwich cake and cream puffs.
She requested that both cakes were baked in squared tins.

As decoration and a different twist from the norm, I crushed Cadbury Crunchie and sprinkling it on top of the chocolate cake's melted chocolate top. I froze the chocolate bar and smashed it with my rolling pin.

A dusting of icing sugar was enough for the Victoria Sandwich Cake but I piped a few lines of butter cream across the cake and stuck some fresh strawberries.
The cream puff well, remain as they were! The creamy custard filling justified everything else.



In addition to that there was also orders for birthday cakes!
Thanks to Suzila who wanted a marble cake with butter cream icing for her dad.

Another friend also celebrated his birthday that week, Happy Birthday Koko, many happy returns for the day! I hope he enjoyed the butter cake with chocolate cream icing.

If interested, recipes for each can be found in the blog.

Happy Baking.

Moist Chocolate Cake

Out of the blue suddenly mum wanted a chocolate cake for Raya.
So I whipped this up in a jiffy, as you can see the result is not so good but the taste it!
That is important! LOL
This time I chose an rectangular cake tin instead of the usual round one.
As it is easier to cut to smaller pieces, lagi pun most people just want "A small piece"!!

Want to try the recipe? 
The recipe for this is here

For the icing I opted for a different one, as I didn't have any cream at home.

Icing

Ingredients
4 oz of icing sugar (sieved)
1 1/2 oz  butter (at room temperature)
1 1/2 oz cocoa (sieved)
enough milk

Method
In a bowl combine all ingredients except for milk.
Mix well to form a paste, then slowly add the milk until the icing is smooth and spreadable.
Once the cake is cooled, cover the cake with the icing and decorate as you like.

Happy Baking.

Moist Chocolate Cake - again!

I just love this cake and want everyone to do so too!
Baked another one just last week, it was meant to be a thank you cake.
But somehow ended up to eaten by the masses!!
Rest assured the original intended parties did receive portions of the said cake.

This time around, for the ganache I added an entire bar of dark chocolate as to the usual cooking chocolate and I must say I was very, very happy with the result and taste. As for the chocolate rice, well I love them and thought I used the milky ones too, not a big fan of the rainbow coloured ones, too bright.

Moist Chocolate Cake

I was feeling rather hungry and I only got a small piece of the birthday cake. There were a lot of people and tak kanlah I want to eat a big piece just because I baked it!!
The next day I felt like eating cake, so after deciding on which recipe I wanted I checked and made sure I had all the ingredients at home before taking out the baking tins.
Nothing is more sad when you realize after all the excitement and hype that you don't have enough of something or that something memang tak ada at home! Nak go to the shop, malas. But I was fortunate that everything ada!

I haven't made this chocolate cake for a while and to be honest I forgot how it tasted like. I just seldom make this because the recipe is quite big and well, that just means I have to eat more - something I am desperately trying to cut down!

I left out the fudgy topping and opt for a chocolate ganache instead.

I used two 22 cm cake tins instead of one larger one.

For the cream in the middle, I used a few scoopfuls of the cooled ganache. I just whipped it with a whisk and then applied it to one layer before topping it with the other.

Then I poured the rest of the ganache over the cake.

A little messy I admit, but it taste much better than it looks!!

Moist Chocolate Cake

2 cups of flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
1 cup of cocoa powder  (I used Meriah)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar (I lessened it to 1 3/4 cup)
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup oil (I used Daisy Corn Oil)
1 1/2 cup of boiling water (optional - add 1 tsp of instant coffee)


Method
Beat eggs and sugar with a whisk until frothy and foamy.
Add milk and oil.  Mix well.
Fold in dry ingredients little by little until combined.
Lastly add in hot water.
Pour mixture into greased tins, I used two 22 cm.
Bake in oven at 175 C, for 40 min or until cooked.
Once cake cools, do the topping.

Chocolate Ganache

200ml whipping cream (I used Emborg)

300g chopped cooking chocolate (I used Meriah Dark Chocolate)

1 Tbsp butter (I didn't)

Method

Chopped the chocolate, the smaller the pieces the better and put it in a bowl.

In a pot warm the cream, once the small bubbles at the side appear, tip the bowl of chocolate into the pot.

Let it be don't stir, if some of the chocolate is not submerged, tilt or move the pot around a bit. Let it rest and after a few minutes, gently stir to mix.

Allow the ganache to cool and thicken, about 2 to 3 hours. Best to make the ganache first before the cake.

For the creamy center, I agak-agak an amount just enough to cover the cake. Wait until the ganache has thickened then take out about 8 Tbsp and whisked until it turned light brown. Whisking ganache makes it creamy and not glossy. This can also be used on cupcakes or the cake itself.

Happy Baking.

The Heart

Is it too late to wish a Happy New Year to everyone?
Alright then, Happy Chinese New Year, it is the year of the horse...neigh!!

Just before the old year ended, my mum did her annual clean up. A boring and tiring job but it has to be done. We were tidying up the cupboards in the kitchen and we came across many things, some haven't seen the light of day of a while! One of the more interesting finds was a heart shaped baking tin.
Corny huh? It belongs to my mum. She bought it way back when I wasn't even interested being in the kitchen, least of all baking. Yep, that loong ago.
Anyway, it's big, about 10 in and still in good shape. Not only ingredients but especially good baking tins are expensive so I gladly welcome it. Mum said suggested I bake a cake using it. I nodded and put it aside totally forgetting about it.
About a week ago, an old friend of the family called to say that he was finally getting married. A joyous occasion deserves a cake right? I immediately volunteered to bake his wedding cake. Hmm... everyone knows what happens to decisions made in haste, kan?
For a trial run of sorts, I first baked, using the heart shaped baking tin, a simple moist chocolate cake.

Sometimes it is difficult to remove the cake when a baking tin is new or rarely used. But thank goodness it came out nicely, I was a bit worried about the part where the heart slopes and meet in the middle.

Macam mana entah, not quite sure what or who but there was a little mixed up about the actual wedding date! So I found myself rushing out to buy some of the ingredients, papan cake and box on the afternoon of the wedding day itself!!
Thank God I managed, barely, to bake and decorate the cake by 8.30 pm and my brother rushed to send it to the groom's house. I wished I had more time but its over and done. It was my very first attempt at a wedding cake and I had all sort of glorious deco planned in my muddled head and I must admit I only accomplished half of it. I wished I had done a better job, but I did my very best. I hope to do another wedding cake.

I apologize to Joe and Maythu but I also wish them all the best. Congratulations on your wedding!!

The bride and groom is merely a prop. Can't be eaten, made of plastic!

As requested the wedding cake is chocolate. I used butter cream for the icing.

Plain white with just a hint of pink roses covered the cake.

For contrast and a better effect the bride and groom are perched on a stage, a thickly cut ready made swiss roll bought from Kings.


Moist Chocolate Cake
source: Mama Fami - thank you Mama!

2 cups flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
2 cups castor sugar (I used 1 3/4 cups)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (I cup milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar, let it stand for about 5 min before using)
1 cup oil (cooking oil or corn oil can be used)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling hot water (optional : add 1 Tbsp of coffee for more flavour)


Method
Mix everything except hot water in a bowl and beat at medium speed until well mixed.
Then add hot water and beat until smooth and glossy.
Pour batter into desired tin.
Bake for 45 min to 1 hour, depending on your oven at 150 C.

* you can also make cupcakes with this batter. Use paper cups instead and bake for only 25 min.

Fudge topping
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup of condensed milk
1-2 Tbsp melted butter or oil

Method
Mix everything in a bowl to form a smooth paste. Sift the cocoa powder to avoid lumps.
Pour onto cake.
Use less milk if you want the fudge to be thicker.


For the butter cream on the wedding cake, I improvised a few recipes.

Butter cream
250g shortening
250g butter or margarine
250g icing sugar (sifted)
2 tsp strawberry or vanilla essence
a few drops of red coloring.

Beat the shortening and butter first until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the sugar until it turns pale and light.
Dribble in the essence, mix well.
I put aside about 5 Tbsp of the icing and colored it pink, the rest I left as it is.

In a pipping bag I put in the white then just a little bit of pink then topped up with white again.
When piping the flowers, hues of pink would appear here and there. I preferred this to all white or all pink roses. But you can do as you like. I used a star tipped nozzle no 84.

Happy Baking.

Another Chocolate Cake

One can never get enough of chocolate cake or collecting recipes of it.
This is another one I found but I can't remember who posted the recipe.
Many thanks to the person who did.

Moist Chocolate Cake
2 cups of flour (I used Tepung Gandum Blue Key)
1 cup of cocoa powder  (I used Meriah)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar (I lessened it to 1 3/4 cup)
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup oil (I used Daisy Corn Oil)
1 1/2 cup of boiling water


Method
Beat eggs and sugar with a whisk until frothy and foamy.
Add milk and oil.  Mix well.
Fold in dry ingredients little by little until combined.
Lastly add in hot water.

Pour mixture into greased tin, I used a 9" round tin.
Bake in oven at 175 C, for 50 min or until cooked.
Once cake cools, do the topping.


Topping
1/2 cup of condensed milk
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
2 Tbsp softened butter or oil
2 Tbsp milk

Mix all together to form a smooth paste. Spread over cake once cooled.
Decorate the cake at will!


Happy Baking.