Bread Pudding

Another weakness during the fasting month.
Not a must have but a must eat at least once!
I was cleaning the fridge, throwing out what should have been ages ago!
I came across bread, burger buns actually. There were bought on a whim, at RM 1 per packet.
You know at the supermarkets when they mark down the prices of goods that are expiring?
Well, we kinda got carried away and bought some, then didn't quite know what to do with so much once we got home and ate half of it.

Despite being a stale and rather hard, this is when the egg mixture comes in handy, I managed to convert it into this delicious dessert.
I found an easy recipe on Mat Gebu's blog. But he did his with Butterscotch bread, now I had burger buns.
I trimmed the crusts a bit, tweaked the recipe a bit and doubled it.
Mat Gebu didn't butter his bread but I did. I think it makes it tastier.
A good dish to bring over to friend's, that is when you get invited for break fast or dinner or tea or lunch...

Butterscotch Bread Pudding
source: Dapur Tanpa Sempadan

Ingredients
5 pieces of bread (you can use whatever you want)
2 Tbsp chocolate chips
Chopped Raisin  & Cherries (I added this)
Chopped Almonds or Walnuts (I added this)
1 cup milk
1 egg (beaten)
1 Tbsp castor sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Greased an oven proof container or baking tin.
Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, milk and melted butter. Put aside.
Butter the bread. Line half of the bread in the tin. Sprinkle the chocolate chips, raisin, cherries and nuts on the bread and pour half the eggy mixture over the bread.
Now line the rest of the bread and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips, raisins, cherries and nuts.
Pour the rest of the eggy mixture. Using a spoon gently press down the pudding.
This is to ensure everything gets covered with the egg evenly.
Let the pudding rest for about 20 to 30 min in the fridge before baking.
Bake in the oven using a ban marie or simply put the baking tin with the pudding into a bigger tin filled with water.
Bake for about 30 min at 180C.

Custard
Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp castor sugar
1 Tbsp custard powder
1/2 tsp vanilla

Method
In a pot combine all the ingredients and cook over a slow fire.
Continue cooking until the custard thickens. Keep stirring to avoid custard being
lumpy or burned.


Cut the cooled bread pudding into squares or bite size and drizzle the custard over it.
Delicious!

Happy Baking!

Eggless Caramel Pudding

Eggless Caramel Pudding

Eggless Caramel Pudding

I don't know why but when Ramadan comes along, puddings are something I crave - a lot!
Ha! Ha! Maybe I just want the sugar! That won't go don't well with my waist line or cholesterol level!

But I guess once in a while is okay, kut? Well I dug up an old recipe which I tried out last year.
Surprisingly I never did it again in the months of the year. Wonder why? ^ ^
I remember liking it a lot because there were no eggs involved! Sometimes, especially in steamed or baked puddings, the eggy taste is so prominent that it turns me off the dish no matter how delicious it is.

 

The pudding is basically easy, the ingredients readily available at supermarkets.

No worries as this pudding doesn't require any steaming just pop it into the fridge to cool and set.

But you still have to do the caramel and cook the mixture over the stove for a bit.

Nothing is easy in life ~

 

I split the mixture into two because I wanted to give some to a friend.

The recipe is not that big but can't eat too much of a good thing and sharing is healthy.

I used a round and rectangle food container, the ones where food is usually t'pau in.

Making the caramel is a bit tricky as the recipe requires that the sugar is burnt in a baking tin.

The plastic container can't hold the hot sticky sugar. So what I did was burn the sugar in a pot 

let it cool slightly and then pour it into the container. 

But as you can see the effects isn't a smooth caramel top as it should be. Bit of caramel can still be seen.

But it tastes just as good. I recommend using a heat proof container like baking tin.

Once the pudding has set, it takes about 3 to 4 hours. Lightly tap the surface and if it is already hard, okay time to tip it over. Run a butter knife along the sides to loosen it and flip it over with a plate.

Caution! There will be sticky but good sugar running down as well.

I posted this recipe before and you can see it here. You can also see from the pictures my earlier pudding's caramel top is smooth.

I hope you give it a try as it is delicious and sweet.

Happy Baking.

Marble Cake

Marble Cake with and without frosting.

Cream Puffs

Cream Puff

Black Forest Cake

Black Forest Cake

Birthday Cakes!

If only the month of June was like the rest of the year...
Hah! I wish.
For this month I baked 3 birthday cakes, yep even for me that's quite a record and achievement.
I enjoyed it but wished I had more time for the Ben 10 cake. It was a rather last minute thingy... but I was told the birthday boy loved it and had a good time. He is only 7 and perhaps not quite aware of how horribly made the cake actually was!!

The first was a (another) Black Forest Cake, a birthday cake for my mum.
I made her one last year and thought that maybe this year mum wanted another cake or not at all...
She has her times when she'll just devour cake and there are times when she won't even look at one.

So another Black Forest it was and not it wasn't a surprise cake affair as we went shopping for the ingredients together! She kept saying "make it nicely" "make it properly" each time she entered the kitchen when I was baking the cake. Talk about pressure ~ but Thank God the cake came out well, in fact very well! Mum loved it so much that she ate quite a lot, more than her usual 'one small piece'.

Next was a Frozen Birthday cake for my lovely beloved niece who turned 5! Oh how time flies and she has definitely grown! The frosting was fresh cream, with a light hint of pink and edible pics of her favourite character of the Disney animation.
Yep, she enjoyed the cake I think but I believe she enjoyed eating Elsa and Anna more!!

 Ben 10 was almost similar but I used green instead and M & M for deco to go with the edible hero.
Like I said, I wished I had more time and would have decorated the cake much more.

All three cakes were chocolate sponges.
Recipe as below:

Chocolate Sponge
source : I can't remember

Ingredients
5 eggs (I reduced it to 4 as I used Gred A eggs)
170g castor sugar
1 tsp heap ovalette
100g Super Fine Flour (All purpose also can but SFF is better)
1 tsp (heap) baking powder
40g / 1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa powder
70g oil (corn or any vegetable oil also can)

Method
In a bowl using hand mixer beat eggs, sugar and ovalette until light and fluffy.
Gradually add in the flour and cocoa powder, (I did three times) and continue beating at low speed.
When just combined, drizzle in the oil, beating briefly only.
Next, using a large spatula slowly fold the mixture and carefully not to knock out the air.

Pour the batter into prepared greased and lined cake tins. For the Black Forest I used 3, 22 cm cake tins to get three layers. For the Frozen and Ben 10 I only used 2.

Bake at 160 for 15 min. or until cook. Careful not to over cook the sponges or you'll have a very dry cake.


Happy Baking.