Birthday Cake #2 - Moist Chocolate Cake

This is Birthday Cake #2 that I made last month. It is a no frills chocolate cake for a simple advance birthday celebration at my mum's place for my elder girl.

 

 

  

This is a really simple to bake cake that yield great flavour and super moist texture. A definite keeper. The recipe is adapted from

mariasmenu.com. I made some adjustment and also cut down the ingredient quantity to 2/3 portion for a 8-inch round cake.

Recipe for Ultra Moist Chocolate Cake

(For one 8-inch round cake)

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 80g unsalted butter + 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 150g sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degree C. Line and grease a 8-inch round baking pan.
2. Heat milk, butter, oil, coffee granules and cocoa powder till the butter melts. Let it cool to room temperature.
3. Combine flour, baking soda and sugar. Add this and the beaten egg into the cooled wet ingredients. Use a hand whisk to beat till the batter is smooth and well mixed.
4. Pour the batter into the baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a knife insert into the middle come out clear. Remove from oven and let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes. Un-mold and let it cool on the iron rack.
5. Decorate as desire. As can see from the photos here, I only did some simple dressing up to keep the cake simple.

Birthday Cake #3 - Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

This Double Chocolate Mousse Cake was the third birthday cake that I made in September. It was the second birthday cake that I made to celebrate my elder girl's 13th birthday. She loves chocolate and green tea. So, the best birthday cake for her would naturally be a chocolate-matcha cake.

 

 

 

  

I have not tried my hand on making mousse cake. When I chanced upon this triple chocolate mousse cake, I bookmarked it immediately as the steps sounded manageable for me and it will be a perfect birthday cake for my girl if I replace the bottom chocolate cake with a matcha cake!
 

 

 

I am very pleased with the end result. In fact, quite proud of it. This is the beauty of baking, when you created something that you are satisfy with and  your family/friends also enjoyed eating it, you will be at cloud nine!

 

 

 

For the Matcha Cake Base

(Adapted from this green tea swiss roll recipe. I halved the portion as below for a 8-inch round cake)

 

Ingredients:

• 13g unsalted butter, melted
• 42g egg yolk (about 3 small-medium egg yolks)
• 12g caster sugar
• 4g green tea powder
• 60g egg white (about 2 small-medium egg whites)
• 40g caster sugar
• 24g cake flour, sifted

 

Steps: 

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar over a pot of hot water till thicken and pale in color.
2. Add in the matcha powder and stir well to combine. Set aside.
3. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until foamy, gradually add in sugar and beat till glossy and soft peaks form.
4. Spoon 1/3 portion of egg whites mixture and mix with the egg yolk mixture using a hand whisk. Then gently fold in the remaining egg white using a spatula until well combined.
5. Gently fold the sifted flour into the batter. Add the melted butter into the batter and mix well.
6. Pour the batter into 8-inch round baking pan lined with baking paper. Spread evenly with a scraper. Gently knock the tray on tabletop to remove air bubbles trapped in the batter.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 175 degree C for around 10 minutes.
8. When cake is done, remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.

 

For the Chocolate Mousse

(Adapted from this Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe, also halved the portion, as listed below)
 

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

• 3/4 tsp powdered gelatin
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 oz good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 150ml whipping cream

White chocolate mousse:

• 3/4 tsp gelatin powder
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 oz good quality white chocolate
• 100 ml whipping cream

Steps:

1. Place 1 tbsp water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin power evenly over the water to let it bloom.
2. Heat the milk to a simmer in a small sauce pan.
3. Pour the hot milk gently oven the gelatin. Stir gently until it’s completely dissolved.
4. Pour this milk mixture over the finely chopped chocolate. Let it sit for 2 minutes. Then whisk to dissolve the chocolate. Let the chocolate sit over a pot of simmering water and stir if necessary to melt the chocolate completely.
5. Whip the cream to soft peak stage. Keep chill until ready to use.
6. Scoop 1/3 of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate and stir to combine so as to lighten up the chocolate. Gently fold in the other 2/3 of the cream.

Repeat the same steps to make the white chocolate mousse.

 

The above yielded 1 cup (about 250ml) of dark chocolate mousse and the same quantity of white chocolate mousse.

 

To assemble:

1. Place the matcha cake into a mold. I used a heart-shape cake ring to cut the cake. Leave the cake in the cake ring.
2. Pour the first layer of dark chocolate mousse slowly over the top of the cake base. 
3. Leave it in the freezer for 10-30 minutes to set.
4. Remove from freezer and gently cover the dark chocolate mousse with the white chocolate mousse. I used a spoon to do this so as not to "disturb" the nicely set dark chocolate layer.
5. Freeze the mousse cake in the freezer for a few hours before serving. (I left it in the freezer over night)
6. 2 hours before serving, remove the cake from the freezer and gently remove the cake ring (I used a hot towel to wrap around the ring to loosen the cake and carefully lift up the ring). Once ring is removed, leave it in the fridge to thaw.

Decorate as desire before serving.

Simple One-Dish/Plate Meals

Being a working mother, weekend is the only window of the week that allows me to cook for my family,  eventhough I do get to bake on some week nights.

Most of our weekend meals at home consist of 1 meat, 1 green and  a soup to go with rice. But occasionally, I will cook a one-dish item like those below for my family of four:

 

Thai Basil Chicken with Egg on Rice

Recipe adapted from Norecipes

 

Soboro Don (Japanese Chicken and Egg Bowl)

Recipe from Justonecookbook

 

Seafood Paella

Recipe from Honestvanilla

Hand-made Mee-Hoon Kueh

Recipe from Nasilemaklover

Shanghai Noodles with XO Meat Sauce

Recipe from Noobcook

 

 

 

I am so looking forward to the weekend to cook for my loved ones!

 



Home-made Yogurt Naan with Curry Chicken

This is our Saturday's night dinner - Home-made Yogurt Naan (Indian flatbread) with curry chicken.

 

The addition of greek yogurt made these naans so soft and light that they disappeared from the serving tray within 10 minutes. And making these naans is a breeze too, as evident from the short ingredient list and simple steps listed below.

 

 



 

 

Home-made Yogurt Naan

Adapted from Inquiringchef with some adjustments

(Yield 6 Naans)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 small tub greek plain yogurt (200ml), may increase to 250ml

 

Method:

1. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Stir in yogurt and knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
3. Form the dough into a ball. Let the dough rest in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours (the dough will not rise after 2 hours). Cover with cling film to prevent drying.
4. Divide dough into 6 parts. Press each piece into a flat, round disk then use the rolling pin to flatten them into 30-cm long oval-shaped flatbread.
5. Heat the oiled frying pan over medium-high heat. Place one naan at a time to the hot pan. Cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes on each side.

 

Serve them warm with curry chicken or for a true-blue Indian meal, have them with butter chicken or chicken tikka masala.

Oven-Baked Crispy Chicken Wings

This is a very simple yet fantastic recipe to share.

These chicken wings are so crispy that you will mistaken them as coming out from the deep-fryer! Yet, they are oven-baked, not deep-fried with oil. Healthier and delicious! They will appear on my dinning table very regularly from now onwards.

The recipe is adapted from Seasaltwithfood, with slight variations to the marinating ingredients and adjustment of oven temperature/baking time to suit my oven setting.

Ingredients

• 12 Chicken Wings, tips removed
• ½ Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika Chili Powder
• 1 tbsp of Canola Oil

 

Marinate


• 2 Stalks Lemongrass, crushed and sliced
• 1 Tsp Smoked Paprika Chili Powder
• 1 Tbsp Chili Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Freshly Squeezed Kaffir Lime Juice
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil

 

Method

1. Marinate the wings with the marinating sauce for about 4 hours, or overnight.
2. An hour before baking, line a large baking pan with foil. Place a wire rack on top of the prepared pan. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a shallow dish.
3. Remove the wings from the marinate and place them individually into the flour mixture to coat them evenly with flour.
4. Arrange coated chicken wings in a single layer on top of the wire rack. Allow the chicken wings to dry out on the kitchen counter for an hour before baking.
5. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Drizzle a little oil on top of the chicken wings and bake for about 12 minutes on each side (until they appear golden and crispy).
6. Serve the crispy wings warm with a squeeze of fresh lime juice over them, and chili sauce for dipping, if desired.

Soft Pretzels with Home-made Caramel Sauce

My family likes Aunt Annie's Pretzels very much but they are not cheap. Hence, I started making pretzels at home since I started baking. So we get to enjoy the soft and chewy snacks in the comfort of our home for a fraction of the price. Bringing a smile to our faces :)

 

 

 

 

I whipped up a quick home-made caramel sauce to go with the pretzels by melting approximately 3 tablespoons of brown sugar with the left over butter that I did not use up after brushing the pretzels.

 

Below is the Pretzel recipe which is adapted from the kingarthurflour site. The steps I am sharing below is for hand-kneading. If you intent to knead using the food processor or bread machine, you can refer to KingArthur site for the detailed steps.

 

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp salt (I used only 1/2 tsp)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water (Start with adding 3/4 cup first. Add more bit by bit while you knead to get a soft and un-sticky dough)

For the Soda-Bath:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons baking soda

For the finishing:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

 

Baking Steps

1. Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and stir until combined. Knead the dough by hand  for about 5-10 minutes, until it's soft and smooth. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
2. While the dough is resting, prepare the soda bath solution by mixing the baking soda with the boiling water. Stir until the soda dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm.
3. Preheat oven to 220 degree C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces.
5. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
6. Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 30" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel.
7. Next is the soda-bath - Pour the baking soda solution into a wide shallow container, place the pretzel into the baking soda solution, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. Repeat the bathing process until all the pretzels are "bathed". This baking soda "bath" is necessary to give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.
8. Allow the pretzels to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
9. Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter over several layers to give these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm with caramel sauce.

This is for Yeastspotting.

Matcha Chiffon Cupcake

These little green monsters are so yummy and soft like cloud. They earned 2 thumb-ups from my daughters and hubby.

 

Matcha Chiffon Cupcakes

 

Yield: 10 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

 

Group A:

• 50g cake flour
• 2 tsp matcha (green tea) powder

 

Group B:

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 45g canola oil

 

Group C:

• 3 egg whites
• 45g Castor sugar
• a pinch of salt

 

Baking Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven at 150 degree C.
2. Sieve Group A together twice, set aside.
3. Beat Group B with a hand whisk. Add them into Group A and mix well.
4. Whisk the egg whites with a electric hand mixer at medium speed till frothy, add sugar and salt over 3 additions, continue beating at high speed till stiff peak.
5. Fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture over 3 additions and mix to combine well with a spatula.
6. Spoon the mixture into individual paper cups till 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 18 minutes till done.