Orange Chiffon Cake

Time flies indeed… so quickly… that it seems impossible… okie~ This is my 100th post! and yes, i have not been posting… cant seem to find enough time for myself, let alone bake or cook! =/ somehow i’m enjoying this buzzing around and unknowingly…. it has been 5 weeks since i started work! yea… no longer the University Undergrad with the privilege to skip or be late for lectures *cover mouth* But a responsible young working adult, that reports to work On time (i try to!) and leave NOT on time. >.<

Decided on making a chiffon cake for my 100th post, they might seem plain and simple…. and may seem boring and standard, but inside, it can be flavorful. To make a successful chiffon cake it is not that easy as well! This orange chiffon cake is a recipe shared by Florence of <Do What I Like> and Florence claims that this recipe tasted better than the ones Bengawan Solo sells!

Ingredients:
(21cm Tube pan)
115g Cake Flour
3/4 tsp Baking powder

85ml Warm orange juice
Finely grated zest of 1.5 large orange

5 egg yolks + 30g castor sugar + Salt 1/4 tsp
5 egg whites + 50g castor sugar + 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

60ml Corn oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence or 2 tsp Rum

Steps:

1. Sieve flour and baking powder.
2. Whisk egg yolk, sugar and salt until creamy and light in colour.
3. Add in corn oil, warm orange juice and rum. Mixed well.
4. Fold in Flour mixture, followed by Orange zest.
5. In another mixing bowl, Beat egg white with electric beater until big bubbles formed.
6. Add in Sugar gradually and beat till soft peak.
7. Add in cream of tartar and beat till stiff peak.
8. Fold 1/2 of the egg white mixture into egg yolk and flour mixture. Gently fold till combined.
9. Fold in the remaining egg white mixture and gently combine.
10. Bake at 175C for 45 minutes or until cooked.
11. Invert the cooked cake during cooling process.

Verdict?

Never tasted Bengawan Solo Orange chiffon cake, therefore i’m in no position to judge! but… it is indeed soft, fluffy and delicious! My mum loves it! I personally felt that is something healthier compared to pandan chiffon cake :p and yes… the whole cake was consumed in 3hrs! =X

- .: Baker Lee :.

6th Year Anniversary!

with Ling…
my close pal, buddy, sister and….
Bento Maker!

*gasp* yes, July 2008 marked the 6th year of our friendship! It was way back in July 2002 when i 1st get to know this wonderful, strong, confident, petite and sweet lady. I remember clearly that she is the very 1st person i got to know among my 2nd year’s classmates and we had our very 1st lunch together in ITAS canteen (one of Temasek Polytechnic’s canteen) *laugh* Thinking back… I spend most of my time in my 2nd and 3rd polytechnic years running to and hanging out with my 1st year buddies(Aishi, susee and JJ) and their new classmates I just love them so much i guess!

Our friendship blooms from causal friends to close buddy r/s only after graduation from polytechnic. *laugh* Ling is like a pearl to me~ started small…. from a lil grain of sand and as i get to know her over the years, i am proud and glad to be able to discover the beauty and glory of this lady. someone i can relate to, share thoughts and she will be able to understand and give unbiased and knowledgeable opinion. Check out my buddy with our yummy Dessert! –>

To “celebrate” this special day, We called for a simple dinner at Aerin’s Been eyeing on this place for sometime… Lovely, cosy, comforting dining experience by the fountain…. charming location to hang out and do some people watching Feel free to check out their bright and delicious looking <<menu>> The following are some of the items we ordered off the menu… Prawn Poppers, Chicken Cacciatore and Baked Apple and Rhubarb Pie.

Both of us enjoyed the homemade tartare sauce which comes along with the prawn poppers… yummmm and also the nice crunchy prawn poppers, which turns out really good. Clean, simple, fresh and doesn’t leave u with the “oily” taste.

Chicken Cacciatore, basically contains boneless chicken with a mixture of vegetables, such as onions, asparagus, capsicums(red, green and yellow) slow-cooked in tomato based sauce… in short a stew?

Save the best for last? OHHHH YEA! Baked Apple and Rhubarb Pie *drool* this is soooooooooo good! It is definitely worth the wait. Freshly Baked upon order…. YUM! When this baby is being served, the nice buttery aroma from the puff pastry fills the air….. And check out the Vanilla ice-cream on top of the pipping hot pie… can u see those lil black spots? YUP! made with Vanilla Pod! GOSH~ creamy and delicious! The combination of crispy puff pastry crust + creamy cold ice-cream and pipping hot sourish sweet apple and rhubarb fillings is something i willingly pay 12bucks and go back for!

Aerin’s
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252, North Bridge Road
#B1-11/12 Singapore 179103
(65) 63372231

- .: Amanda :.

Coconut Orange Cake

15/06/2008

Happy Fathers’ Day
*clap* to all the fathers out there!

woke up at 6am to make this cake, managed to complete the baking and assembling process just in time for breakfast. (^^,) Spotted this <<recipe>> sometime back on Pamela’s Blog, love the idea of coconut and orange~ *drool* i’m sure it will be a hit with my parents. I immediately decided to make this on Father’s day, bookmarked the recipe and waited for the day to arrive!

Pamela shared 2 method to make this cake, i opt for the 1st method, which produced, light, moist and fluffy cake. Instead of the frosting, i replace it with coconut ganache recipe taken from The Australian woman’s weekly which i have been wanting to try. Sliced the cake into 2 layers, ganache was spread on the cake, in between the layers and top off with some fresh grated coconut.

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 eggs
125g butter (softened)
50g dried schredded coconut
250g sugar
180g self raising flour
1 tbsp orange zest
250ml milk

Coconut Ganache:
70ml Coconut Cream
180g white chocolate
1 tsp Orange zest

Grated Coconut (toppings)
Blackcurrent Preserve (optional)
Steps:

1. Separate the egg white and egg yolk.
2. Beat the egg yolk, softened butter and sugar together in a big bowl till it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Stir in the grated orange peel and the shredded coconut and then add in the flour.
4. Pour in the milk and stir till combined.
5. Beat the egg white until stiff peaks formed. Fold it into the mixture till combined.
6. Bake it for about 60 minutes until the wooden stick comes out clean.
7. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack.
8. Coconut ganache: Over a double boiler, melt and combine all the ingredients, till smooth consistency reached.
9. Once the cake is of room temperature, Spread coconut ganache and decorate as desired.

Verdict?
I reduced the sugar called for in the cake by 1/2, as i’m using the ganache which i’m sure will be pretty sweet and also replaced the dried shredded coconut called for with fresh grated coconut. My family loved the cake! But i find the ganache itself too sweet for my liking~ =X the cake was delicious~ before the spreading of the ganache, the cake itself was light and soft, after the ganache sandwich in between the layers, it kind of makes the cake wet. =( bad choice of frosting by me! But i’m sure plain undecorated version makes really good tea cake. Thanks Pamela! wonderful recipe! Kept a quarter of the cake in the fridge, due to the ganache the cake hardens quite abit in the fridge, therefore, it will be better to consume it, within the same day it is being assembled.

- .: Baker Lee :.

Cranberry Cupcakes

This recipe was kindly shared by Gina of Kitchen Capers. Lovely recipe! simple and delicious! it is kind of a cross between butter cake and sponge cake, soft and moist. The yogurt really enhances and brings out the flavor of the cranberries. Flavorful even with 1 main component! i’m surprised by how good these are!

When i removed these from the oven, i was initially worried that these might be dry, dense and too firmly packed judging from their outer appearance! But surprisingly, they are not! Check out the texture of these babies! it is really soft and moist!

Ingredients: (12 cupcakes)
110g butter
200g castor sugar
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g dried cranberries
200ml plain white yoghurt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp melted margarine(for brushing on cupcake tray)

Steps:

1. Preheat Oven to 175 Degree C. Brush muffin tray with melted margarine or line with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, Mix together yogurt and cranberries. Allow it to rest for 30mins at room temperature.
   
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and pale in color.
4. Add eggs, one at a time.
5. Add in Vanilla Essence
6. Stir in yogurt and cranberries mixture.
7. Fold in sifted flour/baking powder till well combined.
8. Divide batter evenly into paper cups. Bake for 20 – 25mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Verdict?
KEEPER!! love it! am so gonna make it again and again with other dried fruits. I reduced the sugar amount called for to 120g, and it tasted just right for me. It is a personal preference, depending on your “tolerance level” for sweet stuffs the only yogurt i had in my fridge at that moment was aloe vera yogurt! but it still turns out wonderful! Instead of plain white yogurt i am sure other fruit based yogurt will work well too, but however, u will most probably get a mixture of flavors.

- .: Baker Lee :.

Mixed Rice - BiBimBap

Been very much into Korean Cuisine recently, bought a couple of Korean condiments and was pretty determined to make good use of them Let’s take a look at one of them…. yes, the hot pepper paste, commonly used in whipping up Korean cuisine.

For today’s lunch, i decided to whip up the famous and popular BiBimBap (^.^V) Both Ling and Fei made this previously and finally it is my turn to try it out!

BiBimBap literally means mixed or stirred rice, it is actually a bowl of white rice, topped with vegetables, meat, egg and hot pepper paste. All these ingredients are mixed together before eating. One can choose to add any kind of vegetables according to their liking, be it cucumber, zucchini, radish, spinach, carrots, mushrooms, sprouts…. etc. They are normally sautéed and seasoned before being plated into BiBimBap.

I decided to make a vegetarian version of this, with simple ingredients like Enoki mushrooms, carrots, sweet corn, cucumber and egg. I actually love the stone pot version of BiBimBap, known as Dolsot BiBimBap. Rice at the based on the stone pot will be lightly burnt and crispy. *drool* and when mixed together with the other ingredients it brings about a wonderful experience with those crispy bits! With no stone pot at home, the closest i could find was a claypot!

This is really one of the Super, duper, easy and fast meals! Traditionally, the vegetables are to be sautéed, but I simply just steamed the mushrooms and sweet corn, fried an egg, arrange them in the claypot, heat the claypot up, mix in hot pepper paste and TADA! Dolsot BiBimBap.

For more traditional recipes, do drop by <Maangchi> and <Kevin> ! They have wonderful recipes to share.

- .: Amanda :.

Granny Boyd’s Biscuits

While waiting for Nigella’s Sweet and Salty Peanut Biscuits to bake in the oven, i flipped through her book and spotted this!

GRANNY BOYD’S BISCUITS

The recipe for these biscuits was given to me, at mu insistent request, by my editor, Eugenie Boyd. I don’t think there is a more chic accompaniment to a tub of good vanilla ice cream: they’re sturdy - in shape and form like Bendick’s Bittermints - dark, smoky and melting.

- Nigella Lawson

Nigella’s comments on this recipe convinced me to try it out! and i am really glad that i did!

Ingredients:

300g Self-Raising Flour
30g Cocoa Powder
250g Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
125g Caster Sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
2. Sieve Flour and Cocoa Powder and set it aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and pale in color.
4. Mix in flour mixture, it might look like it needs liquid, but keep working the ingredients in and it will form a dough.
5. Roll into walnut-sized balls and arrange these on the baking sheets.
6. Flatten these balls with the back of the fork.
7. Bake for 5mins at 170 degrees C and then turn the temperature down to 150 degrees C for a further 10-15mins.
8. The biscuits should feel firm on top although not hard. Remove from the oven and transfer to cool on wire rack, before storing in air-tight container.

Verdict?
Another wonderful recipe added to my keepers list! (^^,) I love how simple it is to make these~ <3 Check out the ingredients called for! No Eggs! the texture of the cookies was really great as well! it has the texture of melting moments and best of all…. chocolate!

- .: Baker Lee :.

Sweet and Salty Peanut Biscuits

Decided to spend my Saturday at home, as it has been a week since i last spend time in the kitchen! *sigh* GOSH! i’m desperate to hang out in the kitchen! Draw out Nigella Lawson’s How to be a domestic goddess, flipped and landed on this recipe. O.O sweet and salty…. erm…. i seriously wonder how it tasted like! Best of all, i do have a packet of salted peanuts to play with *wink* so here it is! the 1st recipe of the week!

Ingredients: (Makes about 30)

75g Light Muscovado Sugar, plus more for dipping
100g Unsalted Butter
50g Vegetable Shortening
1 Large Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
175g Self-Raising Flour
125g Salted Peanuts

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degree C.
2. Mix together sugar, butter, shortening, egg and vanilla. Just beat it together, to combine.
3. Stir in Flour and then the peanuts.
4. Drop the dough in rounded teaspoons on baking sheets.
5. Oil the bottom of a glass , dip it on some light muscovado sugar and press gently on the biscuits to flatten them.
6. Bake for 8-10mins, Remove from oven and cool on wire rack before storing in air tight container.

Verdict?
Well, i was pretty much greedy! =X instead of teaspoon amount of the dough, i dropped tablespoon amount, resulting in huge cookies! *cover mouth* Taste wise, they tasted pretty much salty than sweet and salty. i personally felt was that these didn’t really work for me. =/

- .: Baker Lee :.

Countdown >> 1 Day to Next Chapter

01/06/2008

Enjoyed a wonderful time today with 3 of my fav girls. These girls have been with me since my 1st year in the polytechnic! and this coming July will mark the 7th year of our frenship! *grin* Time flies indeed! It has been 2 years since the 3 of them graduated from university and turned into working adults! I’m proud to say that i watch them grow and along the way, learn alot of them. Thank God for them! I’m so blessed to have them with me through these years! Meet my fav girls! Left to right : JJ, aishi and susee! (followed by me of cos!)

So what did we do today? We had an early dinner at Lerk Thai restaurant, enjoyed some thai dishes :X no pictures this time! i am too engrossed in catching up with the girls that i forgotten about snapping them! The only food-wised picture i managed to capture was JJ with her drink! Iced Roselle tea! –>

After dinner, we headed off to “sing our lungs out karaoke session”! *laugh* been a long time since i done a karaoke session! *cover mouth* was fun when u can really let loose, sing the way you want to! For you know that with people that loves you, out of tune/beat/rhythm does not apply at all. *winK* Alright, i shall stop here! i’m pretty much drained~ *crawl to bed* i shall head off to bed to get charged for the NEW chapter starting later! *grin*

- .: Amanda :.

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

One of the recipes i bookmarked sometime back, shared by Happy Home Baker. Chocolate and cheese! the thought of it makes me drool! *wipe of saliva* Made these into muffin size, so that i can easily share them (^.^v) One of the easiest cheesecake recipes i tried so far, other than those non-bake cheesecakes.

Love the fact that each of these are unique, it is rather impossible to have exactly 2 with the same swirl style which makes these pretty exciting and enjoyable to look at. The urge to slice them just to check out the swirls inside is sooooooooo strong! *smack forehead*

Ingredients:
Cream Cheese Mixture
250g cream cheese (soften at room temperature)
60g castor sugar
1 egg

Chocolate Mixture
180g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
120g self-raising flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

Steps:

1. Preheat oven at 150°C.
2. Grease and line a 20cm round cake pan.
3. Cream Cheese Mixture - beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg gradually and beat until well incorporated. Set mixture aside.
4. Chocolate Mixture - Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well incorporated into mixture. Sieve all the dried ingredients together. Fold into the egg mixture.
5. Pour half of the chocolate mixture into the cake pan.
6. Pour all the cream cheese mixture and then the remaining chocolate mixture. Gently spread the chocolate mixture to cover all the cream cheese mixture. Using a skewer or toothpick, make a few swirls.
   
7. Bake for 45-50 min or until skewer comes out clean. Cool completely and chill in the fridge before serving.

Verdict?

I personally felt that these are pretty easy to whip up! and the swirls are fun to make~ *wink* Worth to make again! With the chocolate batter, the taste of the cheese ain’t that overpowering. Mum who doesn’t really cheesecake, help herself to 2 of these! Thanks Happy Home Baker for sharing this recipe! *curtsy*

- .: Baker Lee :.

Countdown >> 2 Days to Next Chapter

31/05/2008

Another one of my “fulfilling promise” attempts Spent the day with a few of my university pals, those close ones It was a really last minute decision, though a few of them couldn’t make it, we went ahead with the plan. We rolled out of bed early, met at Bedok Market for a simple, nice breakfast before heading to east coast park, where we commerce on our cycling trip! *grin* yes, it has been raining over the past few days, but thank God, we are blessed with wonderful, cooling weather and though it did drizzle lightly on and off during the 4hrs we spend cycling, it was only when we are heading off to the nearby mall when it starts to pour heavily. Hallelujah !

That’s us before embarking on the trip to conquer the eastern coastal lines! *laugh* all fresh and eager to start off… Initially, we started off aimlessly roaming cycling around the park, stopping at different parts of the park, enjoying the “specials” in the park. such as the the “Bicycle Multi-story carpark” according to one of my silly pals, i cant remember exactly who is the nonsensical one >.< *laugh* which in fact was just a small low level “tower” which we have to cycle up in spiral wise and it oversees the park. When i say low, I really mean LOW!

We spotted this “special” and decided to stop and snap some pictures.

Having been to Ubin previously, cycling in the park aint challenging enough for us! Therefore, we decided to venture to the next park along the coast, Changi beach park which was about 8km away~ The trip to and fro + all the cycling inside the park itself, i reckon we covered about at least 20km today. O.O

After all the exercise, it is important that we pump up on proteins! so we headed off to Fish Mart Sakuraya at Parkway Parade for some fresh sashimi! *lick lips* love this place! Master san (buddy weicyan) was the 1st to discover this gem, and brought me here a year back. And i have been telling the gang about this wonderful place for a long time! Finally we are here!

So what did we had? all time favorite, salmon and tako (octopus)! On top of these, the counter staff recommended Amberjack and Mackerel~ My 1st time venturing out of the usual salmon, tuna sashimi, and i so must tell you! I felt that they are sooooooooo good~ light and chewy~

Fish Mart Sakuraya – Parkway Parade
Parkway Parade
80, Marine Parade Road
#B1-83D Singapore 449269
(65) 63454714

- .: Amanda :.

Countdown >> 3 Days to Next Chapter

30/05/2008

3 more days to next chapter of my life~ =X i’m excited and worried at the same time! *heart pounding* Relax and chill my heart! >.<

Met up with Yani and ling too today was a great day as i managed to hang out with 2 of my fav girls(out of the many fav girls :P) and they finally got a chance to meet each other as well! I finally fulfilled the promise to bring yani to Meidi-ya Supermarket! *grin* it strikes me that i’m actively trying to fulfill all the promises i made! =X Gosh, it is not as if i’m going away to a far away place~ =/

This time i managed to practice some self control! however, 1st timer yani, suffered the same fate as me when i was there for the 1st time, happily grabbing and planning for a Japanese meal! As usual, Meidi-ya has lots of expensive imported products and yani was totally shocked by the price of the honeydew~ i love that expression! SGD$ 89 honeydew and SGD$ 130 bunch of grapes! *GASP*

Me: “I wonder who will be the silly cow to buy such an expensive fruit!”

Yani: “For praying maybe?”

Me: *stare, ponder and laugh* “You mean if u offer a more expensive fruit u will be more blessed?”

Yani: *shrugs and laugh*

We spotted a really cool fish! Check out the vibrant red coat, and the shiny bright eyes! Guess how much does this fello cost? >.< SGD$ 138

After shopping, the plan was to head to highly recommended Zam Zam restaurant for murtabak, and finally to Rich and Good cake shop for swiss rolls! well…. Things didnt really go as planned! *sigh* It started to rain heavily when we were about to make our way there~ =( Therefore there was a change of plans~ we ended up at plaza singapura around 4pm for our late lunch. Dine at secret Recipe and Yani had a nice meatball spaghetti –>

there’s a huge variety of cakes *drool* i cant help it and ordered their tea-time promotion, which consists of a slice of cake from their cake range and a cup of coffee or tea, all priced at SGD$ 5.90. *grin*

I picked a cup of white coffee with a slice of peach cake! Sponge cake sandwiched with whipped cream and peaches, the outer layer was torched to give the nice golden brown tone. In fact i was attracted by the torched outer layer on the 1st sight! YUM! i would love to come back again to try the rest of the variety soon!

Secret Recipe
Plaza Singapura Shopping Centre
68, Orchard Road
#03-18 Singapore 238839
(65) 63419909

- .: Amanda :.

Countdown >> 4 Days to Next Chapter

29/05/2008

Time flies, it has been 2 weeks since completion of my exams! One of the significant day which marks one of the major decision i made so far. >.< And a month since i last saw ling! Gosh, i am glad that she is back! Missed this girl!

We arranged for a session where ling could share her experience about Korea and the 700 beautiful pics taken there. Finally we settled with dining at Shokudo, Japanese Food Bazaar located at the basement of Raffles city shopping centre. Being my 1st time there, i was rather impressed with the range which they offered. It totally reminded me of Marche, but however this time, the Japanese’s version. Being a weekday and totally after lunch hours, there was not much of a crowd, in fact no crowd! less than 10 customers i’m sure! the ratio of staffs to customers was like 5:1 *Ponder*

Was supposed to grab my lunch there, but being me, i always had a hard time trying to convince my brain and finding the balance with my heart on what to eat! After “Touring” around the different sections twice and like 15mins of “Brainstorming” i decided to let Ling call the shots~ *cover mouth* I seriously wonder why when it comes to food, i can never easily make a decision! *roll eyes*

1st up, some yakitori to start off the meal~ quail eggs and asparagus wrapped with bacon. nothing special here, it is simply grilled and i tasted no special marinate except for the salt from the bacon. =X But however i do take a better liking for our main course, thin crust pizza~ really thin and crispy crust! though i would prefer a more generous portion of ingredients *sigh* There are only like a few bits of shrimps in there and the rest are just bonito flakes! –>

I guess the main reason why the food that i input into my system doesn’t taste good is all due to the fact that ling was sharing all those delicious looking pics of the Korean cuisine she savored there! *sulk* Desserts did bring the meal to a nice sweet closing~ This time they are pretty generous with their ingredients! erm…. ice shavings, red beans, matcha syrup?

This pile of ice cost as much as the pizza! =X and it totally reminds me of ice kachang!! LOL, instead of all the different colorful syrups, this comes in a standard flavor of matcha (green tea) and right in the centre and top of this “ice pile” generous portion of adzuki! (red Beans) The yellow bites = chestnuts and the white ones = mochi.

That’s my buddy Ling! Is that happy, shocked expression? i bet it is “i’m freezing” expression. Not much crowd = air conditioner temperature drops? After all the chit chatting, munching and scanning through the pics, we are both shivering! (-.-”) Overall, this dessert is both our favorite for the day~ *wink*

Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar
Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-44E Singapore 179103
(65) 6837 3793

- .: Amanda :.