Chocolate Cupcake

It was a day off from school for the kids last Thursday. My initial plan was to take them to Disneyland but weather forecast doesnt look good showing sign of scattered thunderstorm and it was raining the morning bit. Felt sorry for the kids as later part it turn out to be such a beautiful day and it would have been lovely to spend the day outdoor. Since there was a changed in plan, I called one of their friends to invite her over but sad she has got lessons to attend. Sigh........what next?? Kids were getting restless and bored and to make it worst, I decided to cook Malay Dish for lunch that day.......hahahahaha once in a while they have to follow my taste bud as well. Of course, when I mentioned its going to be Asam Pedas Ikan (Fish in Spicy Sour Soup) they gave me that boring look...but I'm determined this time, they have to eat whats on the table... (do I sound like a step mother...hahahaha) At the end was so happy to see them enjoying the dish and they said "hmmm will have this dish again". Yes, mission accomplished...lols!!

To keep my princesses entertained, I agreed to make cupcakes for them as a treat that day for tea time and thus we got invitation to have dinner at a friend's later. It would be nice to bring something too. There we go....baking time again and all of us had fun baking together and messing up the kitchen.

Here's the recipe:-

150 gm butter
300 gm castor sugar
3 eggs
350 gm plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
340 gm cooking chocolate or chocolate chips
350 ml water
2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Sieve flour, bicarbonate soda and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
2. Using double boil method, melt butter and cooking chocolate until chocolate completely melted. (you can also put in the microwave).
3. Pour the melted mixture and add sugar. Beat until well blended.
4. Add egg one at a time.
5. Add the vanilla essence.
6. Take 1/3 of the sieved flour and fold into mixture. Repeat until finish.
7. Add 1/3 of the water into flour mixture and mix until smooth. Repeat until finish.
8. Pour mixture into cup cakes mould and bake in a preheated oven 170C for 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted comes out clean.
9. Let cool and spread with Chocolate Butter Cream Icing.




Chocolate Butter Cream Icing

Ingredients

200 gm butter
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 tablespoon milk

Method:

1. Cream butter till smooth.
2. Add icing sugar and beat well.
3. Add vanilla essence, milk and mix.
4. Add cocoa powder and beat until well blended.
5. Put in a piping bag and pipe it onto the cake or spread it with spatula and add sprinkles.

I used Valrhona Cocoa Powder this time and it does give that smooth chocolaty taste....luv it!!

Happy Baking!!

Sugee Cake

This is one of my favorite cake. I was very lucky as my ex boss's wife used to make them for me as she knows I really love them. I used to order this cake from a lady in KL or buy them from a cake shop in Bangsar. Never once I tried baking them. I dont know where this recipe came from but I believe it must be from my ex boss's wife as it was written on a piece of paper and I had them for years.

Since I have to bake a cake for my finale lesson at Wilton, i thot of giving this one a try. The original recipe makes a bigger cake and since I dont have a big mould, I have to make a smaller one and halved off all the ingredients.

Ingredients:-

(A)
125 gm butter
130 gm suji (semolina)

(B)
125 gm butter
160 gm sugar

6 egg yolks
4 egg whites
40 gm castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 gm plain flour }
1 gm baking powder } sieve together
65 gm ground almonds }

Method:

1. Line a 8 inch round cake tin with greased baking paper.
2. Beat butter (A) till light and fluffy. Add the semolina and mix well. Leave the mixture to stand for 30 minutes or longer.
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Add yolk one at a time and mix well.
5. Add the essence vanilla and add the suji mixture and mix until everything combines.
6. Beat egg whites till foamy and add sugar. Beat till stiff.
7. Fold the egg white mixture to suji mixture.
8. Add the sieved flour, baking powder and ground almonds to the suji mixture. Fold gently until combine.
9. Bake in a preheated oven 170C and bake for 55 minutes.


The verdict from a friend and my better half..........lovely!! Happy trying and leave a comment.

Raisins/Orange Peel Cake

I recently signed up to do a Fondant and Gum Paste course here. I finished my Course 1, 2 and 3 in the Land of the Rising Sun. Since this is the final course offered by Wilton, I thought I might as well do it and be done since I love spending time baking and also to perfect my decorating skills. Didnt realise that the arrangements and things provided by the school differs from each country. In Nippon we were provided with the real cakes or the dummy cakes but here we have to bring our own.
With a very short notice to prepare for my 2nd lesson which falls on the next day, I didnt want to let my disappointment dampened my learning spirits. Wanted to try making sugee cake but sad that I dont have the ingredients in my kitchen and it was too late to rush to the supermarket. Wanted to make dark chocolate cake...didnt have cocoa powder at home....sigh.
What I found in stock was some raisins and orange peel. I actually bought the dried orange peel to make my orange bread. What am I to make.....aaarghhhhhhhh. Lucky, mother taught me how to make steam mix fruit cake before. I used the same method accept no mix fruits and orange sunquick this time.

Woke up early that day and manage to make a cake. What shall I call this ..... Steam Raisins/Orange Peel Cake?? Thank God, it turned out okay considering it was made in a haste and with whatever little ingredients I had at home. Brought my cake and was only taught to lay the fondant on it and I just topped it with the 2 carnations I made the day before during my 1st lesson. Blind me...........cant tell how disappointed I was that day!! Was expecting to be able to deco the cake better but no appropriate tools was provided. But anyway.....on the bright side, yes another cake for the family and my other half just love it.


My Raisin Cake, the original look before the covering fondant, dont know why I cant rotate this picture...

Here's the recipe

Ingredients:-
300 gm caster sugar
300 gm plain flour
3 large eggs
180 gm butter
250 gm mixed dried fruits ( i used raisins and orange peel)
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup water

Method

1. Heat pan and add 150 gram sugar and let it caramelised. Once sugar turn brown add water and let it boil until the caramelised sugar become syrup. Remove from pan and let cool.
2. In a bowl, sieve flour and add the dried fruits. Put aside.
3. Beat egg white and bicarbonate soda until foamy. Add the balance of 150 gm sugar and beat till stiff. Add yolk one at a time. Mix well.
4. In another bowl, cream butter till light and add the egg mixture mixing well.
5. Add the vanilla essence.
6. Add the flour mixture and using cutting motion mix ingredients well.
7. Last, add the sugar syrup and fold in the mixture.
8. Pour in a round 8 inch mould that has already been lined with baking paper. Cover with foil and steam for 2 hours in a preheated steamer.