Butter Cookies

Made cookies for my kid's snack again! This time using recipe from My Culinary Journal. However, after refrigerating the dough, I still could not mould it the way I did for the Disney cookies. Hence, I used a cookie press to press out the dough to make different shapes. The cookie press is far way too easy & quick to use, within 10mins I finish pressing all the dough and they are ready to be baked.

Walnut Brownie

Failed Bread with Breadmaker!

After my recent encountance with kneading the dough for bread, my arms ached for few days. I then borrowed a 'Princess' breadmaker from a friend few weeks back since they are not using. Since we are running out of white bread, I thought it's time to put this breadmaker in use. So, ask my helper to weigh all ingredients and start to use the breadmaker. I do not know what went wrong as we put the ingredients in sequence as stated in the breadmaker. After I got home from work, I saw the 'output' from the maker.. Sign! No bread for breakfast tmr! :(

I could not believe this, and I read the instruction book again just now. Then I realised there is another instruction for another sequence in putting the ingredients into the maker! Will try again this weekend to 'supervise' what the machine is doing!

2 birthday cake order

I have an last minute order for 2 cakes to be delivered tmr, for a 4 yr old boy's birthday and I spent the whole of today's evening fullfilling it (it takes me from 7.30pm to 12.30am).

As they have no idea what cake for the school, I have suggested this 13 by 9" (2.5kg) cake. I have used the Chocolate Layer cake recipe but, multiply all ingredients by 2.

This is the simpliest & easiest design that I can come out with, covering the whole cake with the Chocolate frosting left, using whipped cream plus drops of colours on the wording. Yet, I know, I need to polish up my writing skill with the piping bag. Hope the boy will like it.

This is the 2nd cake that the mommy chose. It's Japanese cheesecake which will be use to celebrate the little man's birthday with his family, I thought, it will be too plain without any decorations. So, I drew a simple boy face since I have some chocolate frosting left over from my previous bake!

A little tip: If you use turning out method for cheesecake, you can sprinkle some icing sugar on the rack, then turn over, the top will not 'peel' off.

9" Japanese Cheesecake

I want to try different component & different texture to the original recipe. I was so delighted when the cake was about done, but, disappointment immediately overcome my joy as I notice that there is bit of water sip into the cake, so I have to quickly remove the cake from the pan and let it stand cool on the rack.

As I wanted to bring the cake to office, I need to transfer it to the cardboard, when I tried to turn it to the plate b4 transferring to the cardboard, the top stick to the plate :( Hence, you see the top is 'chipped'!

Anyway, the cake tasted very light and fluffy, not too sweet to my likings.

Makes one 24cm (9") cheesecake.

[Ingredients]

230g cream cheese

150ml thickened cream (35% milkfat)

60g (1/3 cup) cornflour

5 egg yolks

60 brown caster sugar (A)

finely grated zest from 1 lemon

2.4 tablespoons lemon juice

5 egg whites

60g brown caster sugar (B)

[Preparation]

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a 24cm(9") round cake tin and line bottom with baking paper.

2. Dissolve cream cheese with thickened cream in a bowl placed over simmering water (or in a double-boiler). Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Cool slightly.

3. Beat egg yolks with caster sugar (A), lemon zest and juice. Gradually whisk the warm cheese mixture into the yolk mixture. Fold in cornflour.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy with uniform tiny bubbles. Gradually beat in caster sugar (B), spoonful by spoonful, until firm but not to stiff peaks stage.

5. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese mixture. Repeat two more times with the rest of the meringue. 5. Pour batter into the prepared tin. Place the cake tin in a deep roasting tray and fill the tray with hot water to halfway up the sides of the cake tin.

6. Baked in water-bath for just over one hour
7. Let cool completely before turning out. If the cake is hard to turn out, assist it by placing the tin over warm water briefly. Dust the top of the cheesecake with icing sugar before serving.

Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Happy Children's Day.

This recipe call for 2 X 9" bake pan, so, u can see 2 X 1" cake baked.
This is the frosting that was not set in fridge yet.
The cake is set, packed and ready to go!

This cake is made for tea break to a small gathering in my friend's house. I had wanted to make something Chocolaty at the same time, wanted to use up the sour cream that is near expiry date, so search the website for a chocolate cake that requires that. After finishing frosting the whole cake, I still have about half the frosting left.

Finally get to taste the cake. The taste is not very sweet as I have, as usual, reduced the sugar composition asked for. The taste of the frosting is like Chocolate Ice-cream.

Below is the modified version of the recipe adopted from Diana's Recipe Book:

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

113g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tsp. espresso powder
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup sour cream

For the Chocolate Frosting:
390gm unsalted butter, room temperature
12 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Instructions:

For the Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.
2. Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a small pan stir water, chocolate and espresso powder over low heat until melted. Allow to cool slightly before beating into butter mixture.
4. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and stir into batter alternately with sour cream. divide evenly between the 2 pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool 15 minutes in the pans, then turn cakes out onto a plate to cool completely.

For the Chocolate Frosting:
1. Beat butter on high speed, scraping sides frequently, until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and mix in.
2. Add vanilla, salt and confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth.

To Assemble:
1. To frost the cake top one layer with frosting and spread. Place second cake layer on top. Frost the top of the cake and finish with the sides. Chill cake to set. Cake is best stored at room temperature once set.

Another Japanese Cheesecake

I wanted to use up the balance of my thicken cream, so decieded to make another Japanese Cheesecake. However, I made certain changes to the original recipe I have used earlier. The taste is more sour as I have put in more lemon juice. Texture wise, much softer.

Makes one 20cm cheesecake.

[Ingredients]

250g cream cheese 100ml thickened cream (35% milkfat)

50g cornflour

4 egg yolks

50g caster sugar (A)

finely grated zest from 1 lemon

50ml (2 tablespoons) lemon juice from 1 whole lemon

4 egg whites

50g caster sugar (B)

[Preparation]

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line bottom with baking paper.
2. Dissolve cream cheese with thickened cream in a bowl placed over simmering water (or in a double-boiler). Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth (forget this step!). Cool slightly.
3. Beat egg yolks with caster sugar (A), lemon zest and juice. Gradually whisk the warm cheese mixture into the yolk mixture. Fold in cornflour.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy with uniform tiny bubbles. Gradually beat in caster sugar (B), spoonful by spoonful, until firm but not to stiff peaks stage.
5. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese mixture. Repeat two more times with the rest of the meringue.
6. Pour batter into the prepared tin. Place the cake tin in a deep roasting tray and fill the tray with hot water to halfway up the sides of the cake tin and bake at 150°C for one hour
7. Let cool completely before turning out. If the cake is hard to turn out, assist it by placing the tin over warm water briefly. Dust the top of the cheesecake with icing sugar before serving.