Beetroot Cake

I think Beetroot is one of those love it or hate it foods. 

I 

Love

This cake contains beets like a carrot cake. Nonetheless, it doesn't have an obvious beetroot punch..Just a warm earthiness..Kind of like what cinnamon does. It's like as if there's some kind of spice in it, but you just can't make out what it is.

The surprising thing was the cake batter, which had the most lovely Purple Dinosaur colour to it. Yet it baked out to be yellow-brownish (man, I wished for it to be purple)

I reduced the amount of sugar by half as beetroot is already quite sweet. So adding sultanas was a nice sweet fix.

I'd definitely make this again the next time I have an extra beetroot hanging around.
I don't think I'd purposely buy beets just to make this.

It's wonderfully moist and keeps me wanting more of it.. It just slides down so easily!

recipe:

300g beetroot, peeled and grated

250g butter

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cup sultanas

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 180C

Beat the butter and sugar until its light and fluffy

Beat in the eggs one at a time

Add in the sultanas and grated beetroot

Sift in the flour and baking soda

Fold the mixture well.

Pour the batter into an 8 inch round tin lined with baking paper

Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour.

Cool before slicing.

Carrot Cake

The thing about carrot cakes is that they normally turn out pretty well even for someone who doesn't bake.

It's probably the carrot's work.
I personally prefer an Oil cake to a butter one. Firstly because it's less harmful to the hips and secondly, they stay soft even when it has been in the fridge.
 There's one, and only one Carrot cake recipe that I stay loyal to. For this large cake, I doubled this recipe:

3 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 1/2 cups grated carrot
1 cup walnut meal (or any other nut meal)
 1/4 cupSultanas
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
a pinch of Nutmeg
Combine the eggs, sugar and oil.
Add in the carrots, raisins and sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
Mix everything together.
Pour into a loaf tin and bake in a 180C oven for 45 minutes.

For a healthier variation,
1. replace 1 cup of all-purpose flour with Wholemeal flour
2. add 1/4 cup of linseeds to the batter for a slight bite
3. Use light Olive oil
This is a picture of it. Well it looks pretty much the same.

Chocolate Brownies

Tonnes of brownie recipes out there, all so similar and yet they all turn out so differently

I'm not a fan of anything too fudgy. This brownie has the total YUM factor.

Cakey, slightly fudgy and crunchy-chewy on top, and making it is easy as ever.

recipe:

300g butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

a dash of vanilla extract

6 eggs

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cups crushed chocolate wafers

1 cup chocolate chunks

Heat butter, sugar and cocoa in a saucepan until everything is Just combined. Don't boil it.

Cool it slightly.

Mix in the eggs one or two at a time.

Sift in the flour and baking soda, folding it in.

Pour inro a 9cm x 13cm rectangular tin lined with greaseproof paper.

Sprinkle the crushed chocolate wafers and candy on top

Bake in 180C oven for 35 or 40 minutes when a toothpicks comes out clean and maybe with a few crumbs.

Cool completely before cutting.

Chiffons

After my umpteenth try at Chiffon, I've finally made it!

And I've learnt the hard way, why using a non-stick tin is an exception in this case.

Apparently, the cake needs a surface to "climb on to" and stick while baking..HUH???

Anyway, the "stick" tin worked magic so I won't argue..

You need to get the one with the so called "legs" so that you can invert the cake while it cools.

Man I wish I had come up with that..its Genius!!!

whoever invented it really understood gravity xP

haha anyway the recipe's pretty simple to whip up..give it a try

The cake's texture is absolutely fluffy, just like the ones in the shop : )

recipe:

150g flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

5 tablespoons corn oil

5 tablespoons water

5 egg yolks

5 egg whites

2 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C

DO NOT grease the cake tin

In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda

add in the oil, water and yolks. Mix till smooth.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites till soft peaks form

Add in the vinegar and sugar

Beat till Stiff peaks form.

Add half of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture.

Mix

Add in remaining half

Fold everything together.

Pour it into the chiffon tin.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Invert the cake in the tin and leave it to cool.

Scrape the sides with a pallete knife and remove the cake from the tin carefully.

And go ahead and try out other flavours like black sesame, chocolate, the sky's the limit!

For a Black Sesame Chiffon,

replace 2 tablespoons of corn oil for Sesame Oil

and 50g of the flour for finely ground Black sesame seeds.

Everything else is the same.

Brandied Walnut cake with Orange syrup

I get quite a number of successful recipes from my Women's Weekly recipe book. It's a great book for anyone to get started in Baking.

This recipe in particular, caught my attention. Firstly of all, I'm a big walnut fan. And secondly, it hardly contains any flour, and I was out of flour! (results of baking without keeping track)

This would be lovely with some fresh cream. But my waistline's telling me NOhh



It has a great texture..slightly crumbly, really moist and dense at the same time

recipe:

2 cups walnuts, ground finely

125g butter

zest of 1 orange

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons Brandy (i used cognac)

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Orange syrup:

juice of 1 orange

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon brandy (cognac again)

Set the oven to 160C (low)

Line an 8 inch round springform tin with butter and baking paper

Blend the walnuts till its fine. set aside

Cream the butter, zest and sugar till its light and fluffy

Beat in the egg and brandy

Sift in the flour, baking soda and ground walnuts

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, Place all the syrup ingredients Except the brandy in a small saucepot

Simmer until the sugar is just dissolved.

Turn off the heat

Add in the brandy.

When the cake is out of the oven, brush the syrup all over the top of the cake

Use as much or as little syrup as you like.

Serve warm.

Spiced Cake

Inspired by one of my favourite teas in one of my favourite restaurants, I thought it crucial to involve spice in my next bake.

I'm talking about Masala Tea. It's like Teh Tarik, without the tarik and infused with spice.

Fresh Cinnamon sticks, grounded to a lovely lovely powder..

Whole Cloves, blended to a.. err..a little too strong for my taste. Thats why I only used a teaspoon

Anyway, the cake turned out to taste exactly like Masala tea! the walnuts were an added bonus..

Now to make it even better, I served it with a Spiced Yoghurt. That's just yoghurt with some cinnamon and cloves added to it.

It really went well!

recipe:

1 cup Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

125g Cold butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Spiced Yoghurt:

1 cup natural yoghurt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves.

Preheat Oven to 180C

Line a 9 inch round springform tin with butter and baking paper

Blitz the flour, baking soda, sugar, spices and butter in a food processor until they look like breadcrumbs.

Place 1 and a half cups of the mixture into the cake tin

Press it down to form a base.

set aside

Add the egg, baking soda, milk and walnuts into the remaining flour mixture.

Mix well and por it over the pressed base.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Mix the yoghurt and spices together and serve it alongside the cake.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Happy Birthday to two very special people, 

Julian Lee all the way in Australia 

&

Stephanie Lai who lives 10 minutes away <3

This Chocolate Cupcake recipe is just Fantastic! 

why?

because they're moist and delicious and you don't need any eggs ( I always run out of eggs )

Believe me, they're delicious

It's actually a Vegan recipe. But the frosting is a Rich and Velvety chocolate buttercream.

 Having so few ingredients to mix in, these cakes can be ready in no time!

 The hardest part (for me) was sprinkling the peanuts in the pattern I wanted.

This muffin recipe makes 8 or 9 cupcakes.

(I made 3 batches)

recipe:

1 1/2 cup Flour

 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 cup Sugar

big pinch of salt

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons Instant Coffee

 dash of Vanilla

1 tablespoon white Vinegar

1/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 180C

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a big mixing bowl

Add in the salt and sugar

Mix well

In another bowl, combine the water, coffee, vanilla, vinegar and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

Mix well until smooth (a few small lumps are fine)

Spoon batter into 8 or 9 cupcake cups (3 quarter full)

Bake for 25 minutes.
They're best texture-wise when COOLED

So eat them only when they're cool.

This Frosting recipe yields enough for 30 cupcakes.

Frosting:

250g butter, softened

300g icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 or 3 tablespoons room temperature coffee

Beat the butter a little to smoothen it out

Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder

 Mix it together, gradually adding in the coffee as you go, until it's a spreadable consistency

Ice Away!

 

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

The other day I bought a beetroot thinking that I could make some healthy juice..

Obviously didn't happen.

I came across this chocolate beetroot cake instead

And it's pretty unique I must say..The beetroot gives that warm earthy flavour, it keeps the cake really moist and still quite healthy =)

The great thing is, everything goes into the food processor

The hardest part is grating the beetroot..blehh pink hands

recipe:

175g flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

50g cocoa powder

70g dark chocolate, melted

150g brown sugar

pinch of salt

handful of chopped nuts

180ml oil

2 tablespoons sour cream or yoghurt

3 eggs

dash of vanilla

300g grated beetroot

Preheat oven to 180C

Blend everything in a food processor until smooth

Pour into a greased 9 inch tin 

Bake for 60 minutes.

Upside-Down Cakes

This one's an Apple Upside-down cake.

I decided not to show you the top because I did'nt really arrange it very nicely! haha

Nonetheless, the cake still tasted great!

It holds very well and it keeps very moist even when chilled, so its perfect for making ahead.

Another variation is Banana

(I personally prefer bananas to apples) Flavours are more intense

Yeah I know it doesn't look all that appetizing, but cutting it up and serving it on a pretty plate does the trick!

Here it is

i made it quite thin, so it's more of a slice..Perfect for tea time =)

recipe:

3 tablespoons sugar

50g butter

9 bananas, halved lengthwise

200g Flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

200g butter, room temperature

150g sugar

4 eggs

6 tablespoons milk

Heat oven to 180C

Line a 13 by 9 inch cake tin with baking paper

sprinkle on the 3 tablespoons of sugar

Drop small pieces of butter randomly over the sugar

Arrange banana slices on top

Place the Rest of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy

Spread over the bananas, smoothing and leveling the batter

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Cool completely before inverting the cake.

Peel off the baking paper.

Cut into squares and serve with cream or caramel sauce!

A day with the cousins- Red Velvet Cake

My cousin and I wanted to attempt a Red Velvet cake (her ultimate fave) today

Fortunately, it was absolutely Deeevoin, and she'll be baking her own birthday cake in 2 months!

Every bite was Lovely and Moist, the White Chocolate and Cream Cheese icing ooohhh
what a sinful treat, that icing..

I shiok sendiri and had two helpings xP

Cake:
3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups oil (yes, 1 and a half)
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
dash of vanilla
red food colouring (as much as you like)

Icing:
400g room temperature cream cheese
220g white chocolate, melted
150g softened butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
seeds of 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

For the cake, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl

Beat the wet ingredients in another
Combine the dry and the wet
Add in the food colouring last,adjusting the intensity
Bake in an 8 inch round tin, in 180C for 45 minutes.
Cool completely
Slice horizontally in to 3 layers.

 Blitz the icing stuff in a food processor until its smooth and lump-free.
If the icing is too liquid, fridge it for about 10 minutes
( I don't suggest adding anymore sugar )
Layer the cake with the icing as shown in the picture
Top it all off with icing.

We used vanilla bean, which gave it a little something extra!
And plus, the icing had teenie tiny specks of black, and it looked great =)

Chocolate Cherry Cream Shortcake

It was my first time going cherry picking and it certainly won't be the last!

We went to "Chappies" on Dandenong mountain because apparently it's the best? 

Well, anyway, they had tonnes of big, juicy and pluckable cherries.

ME LIKE

And let me introduce my helpful cherry-picking companions for the day..

Lady with bucket

girl who does not pick

The lovely Mr and Mrs Hew

and umm..

yeah..

The sor chai and I picked almost 12 kilos of cherries..serious overload..

but a very delicious load

And here's a Super Special THANK YOU to the bucket lady, for baking me this Amazing Kahlua cake..

I love sitting under cherry trees

Now what to do with all these cherries?

Make cake lorr

Soft chocolate sponge soaked in cherry juice, smothered with dollops and dollops of fresh cream and Cherries...who could ask for more?  

(me)

More cake and more cream and more cherries

nyehehe

oh mama

Marbled Butter Cake

Daddy has ALWAYS been bugging me to bake a simple, untwisted cake..

So dy, here it is..

Here's what it looks like in tze middle

Quite pretty =)

Recipe:

Butter cake

100g butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, separated

4 tablespoons milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180C

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla till its light and fluffy

Beat in the egg yolks

Sift in the flour and baking soda, add in the milk

Mix well

Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form

Fold the whites into the batter

Reserve 4 tablespoons of the batter in a small separate bowl.

Pour the remainder into a lined loaf tin

Prepare chocolate batter

Chocolate batter

50g butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Repeat the same steps as the butter cake recipe.

Spread Chocolate batter on top of the butter cake mixture.

Dot the reserved butter cake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture

Using a skewer, swirl and twirl the chocolate and butter mixture to get a nice pattern.

Bake in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes (cover it with foil when it starts to get too brown)

Cool before removing from the tin.

Tree Bark Coffee Cake for the boy

Just a little something special for my brother who has just (apparently) turned old..haha!

 3 Layers of soft coffee sponge and "ipoh-whie coffee" cream, smothered with a layer of chocolate

 Not bad for the amatuer baker xP 

Now, where's Diane with the picture of the cake's layers?

I guess that'll have to come later..

yurp, that's edible gold leaf sheets on the sides..I got them from e-bay..I noticed that they stick to anything warm, like your fingers.. so it's much easier to use a pair of tweezers..I used Chopsticks..hehe

 The words were made out of white chocolate melts. And surprisingly easy to make..considering my bad hand-writing...

 recipe

for the sponge:

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon sugar

a dash of vanilla

a dash of coffee

4 egg whites

100g sugar

100g flour, sifted twice

50 g butter, melted

Grease and line a 9x32 inch rectangular baking tin
 In a mixer, beat yolks and 1 tablespoon of sugar on high speed until its thick and pale

Add in the vanilla and coffee essence

While its beating, whip the whites till soft peaks form

Beat in the sugar gradually. Beat until its stiff

Now, do this quickly and confidently! :

Fold in the egg yolk mixture

Fold in the flour and then the butter

Pour the mixture into the pan and spread it out evenly

Bake in a 180 C oven for 12 minutes

remove from tin when its cool enough to handle

place on a cooling rack to cool

Make this 3 times..hehe it's fun, trust me=)

coffee cream:

500g cream cheese

5 tablespoons icing sugar (or more), sifted

4 packets ipoh white coffee mix (or any other instant coffee)weight does'nt matter here

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

60ml milk

1 tablespoon powdered gelatin

5 tablespoons kahlua liquer

2 or 3 tsp coffee essence (depending on how strong you like it)

1200 ml thickened cream (that's a lot)

Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar in a food processor until it's soft

Mix both coffees, milk, gelatin and liquer in a bowl.

Microwave until the gelatin dissolves, mixing it a few times

Add this into the cream cheese and blitz until its smooth

Cool this to room temperature

Whip the cream till it form QUITE stiff peaks (it should not fall off the spoon)

Fold in the ROOM TEMPerature cream cheese mixture

Mix in the coffee essence

Add more coffee essence if you like..

I suggest using it immediately (before the gelatin sets and you get a lumpy thing)

Chocolate bark coating:

250g good dark chocolate (i used 70%)

250g butter

a dash of vanilla

Melt this in the microwave, mixing it in between intervals

make sure you dont burn it

It will look really liquidy

Leave it to cool, mix it every 5 minutes or so

in about 15 minutes, it'll become thicker, like nutella!

Assembly:

Line the 9x22 inch tin with baking paper,

place a layer of the sponge in it

top with sufficient coffee cream

cake

cream

cake

leave some cream behind for further spreading later

cover with cling, chill for 2 hours (till gelatin is set)

Place cake board over the cake tin

Invert the cake onto the board

Breathe

Coat with a thin, thin layer of cream

Chill again for 10 minutes till the outer layer has formed a protective layer over the cake

Make chocolate-butter mixture now

GET READY HAIRDRIER

When the chocolate is still a little warm and close to room temperature, start spreading

Mine started hardening while spreading, solution: hairdrier

blow it with hot air and continue spreading

This will also help to achieve a glossier look =)

whoohoo!

Coffee Crunch Swiss Roll

This is SoSO much more fun than studying..

I've never made a swiss roll before and I've always wondered how the shops get it to be so friggin soft

This one, however did turn out really soft, and the flavours were great!

I need to seriously improve on the rolling though..nyehehe

The sponge

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon sugar

a big dash of coffee essence

4 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour, sifted twice

50g butter, melted (in the microwave for 30 secs)

Oven preheated to 180 C

Line a swizz roll pan with butter and baking paper

With a mixer, beat the yolks and 1 tablespoon sugar till its pale yellow (5 minutes on High speed)

Meanwhile,

Whip the whites till soft peaks form

Add the sugar, and continue beating till its really stiff and glossy

FOLD in the egg yolks and coffee essence till it's half incorporated

Add in the flour and continue folding

Add in the butter and fold again

Spread onto your lined pan

Bake for 10 minutes

Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and peel off the baking paper gently.

Cool before spreading the filling on

The Filling

Its coffee custard with leftover cheesecake base crumbs..haha

you could fill it with anything you want, really

Then roll it up!

Errr ehehehe.. too generous maybe?

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I couldn't resist making them! 

Aren't they the cutest?

Nyehehehehehe

Making these is easier than it looks.

First you need butter cakes (makes 12 to 13)

recipe:

200g butter

3/4 cup sugar

dash of vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups flour,sifted

2 tsp baking soda, sifted

4 or 5 tablespoons milk

Place everything in a food processor and blitz away! scrape the sides down once and blitz to a smooth batter.

Otherwise, mix everything in a bowl with a hand mixer.

Fill cupcake cups with batter (3/4 full) 

Bake in 180C for 20-25 mins.

now you need eyes

I used store-bought marzipan...roll it out and cut out small circles with a bottle cap

and to attach the chocolate chips to the marzipan, I used a simple icing.

No measurements. Just get about 2 cups of icing sugar and mix in the juice of 1/2 a lemon

The blue stuff is just coconut and blue colouring gel mixed together

Dip the tops of the muffins in the icing, Drip off the excess

Dip into coconut

Stuff half a cookie in the mouth

Dip the back side of the eyes in icing and place it on the cupcake.