Blueberry Oreo Chiffon Cake

Yippee! My first Chiffon Cake. Some people said you can't call yourself a baker unless you've baked a Chiffon Cake..Hmm..really? It seem tricky, but they aren't that bad. I seriously enjoyed the whole process of making this cake.

The cake is so soft and moist. The sweetness level is just perfect, and the blueberry taste is quite prominent. I ate few slices in one sitting and my oh my, it was so gooooood. The cake is known for its lower cholesterol and fat content, so it make me feel less guilty eating it. 

As for the guys, Adam hates blueberry, so he only had one small piece of it (He used to love berries..sigh). Husband, on the other hand, had no idea why am I so happy over a piece of fluffy cake :P He he Let him be. He won't understand the art of making a chiffon cake. He just do what he's best at, which is eating and splurging me with kitchen toys :P

The recipe is from Bisous A Toi. Thanks K Rima for sharing this recipe :) 

Oppss..too much sugar! 

Btw, today is the first day of Rejab. So "Slamat Berpuasa" to those who're fasting today. :)  


Blueberry Oreo Chiffon Cake
Source: Bisous A Toi

(I half the ingredients to suit my 17cm chiffon pan)

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
100g blueberry yogurt
150g flour - i used cake flour
4g baking powder
100g caster sugar
3g salt
100g vegetable oil - i used canola oil

6 egg whites
1g cream of tar tar
100g sugar
50g of blueberry oreo - cut into tiny bits
enough blueberry paste or purple colour

Method
1. Preheat oven 150C

2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar till pale in colour.. add in yogurt and also oil.. add in ur sifted flour, baking powder and also salt.. lastly add in purple colour- set aside
3. In another bowl.. whisk egg white with cream of tar tar till foamy.. slowly add in sugar a little at a time and whisk till soft peak.
4. Scoop 1/3 egg white meringue and add to egg yolk mixture.. fold in gently. once combined.. pour ur egg yolk mixture into meringue and continue to fold in gently and lightly.. once mixed pour half of ur mixture into a 22cm tube pan.. sprinkle half of ur oreo blueberry.. pour the rest of ur mixture and lastly throw in the rest of ur oreo blueberry. [RC Note:Tap your pan one or two times]
5. Bake it for 50mins.. once baked.. turn ur chiffon pan and once its cool.. take it out of ur pan..

Adam Bakes: Brown Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I am here to praise two things- brown butter macadamia nut cookies and that little boy's mixing skill. Great, both. I believed this is the best cookies I've baked so far. I might have said something similar before, but naah..this is it. This is the best cookies ever!

Have you guys ever browned butter? It's the best scent you'll smell. It adds nuttiness flavor in the cookies. I'll definitely bake this again for Eid. :P 

Below is Adam's cookies tray. He scooped them himself. The little guy was supposed to take his afternoon nap. But he insisted to watch some BumbleBee (the robot) videos than hitting the sack. He was watching it for almost an hour and showing no signs of giving up his iPad. Well, that's the bad side of iPad-he never wanted to stop tapping away. Once he grabs it, he doesn't want to let go of it. Sometimes, it's easier to persuade him to stop tapping and hand us the iPad. But during his bad hair days, we (me, actually) had to force him to pass it, and he eventually cries a river after that. I always feel bad for doing that. But that's the only way to terminate the iPad session. 

Yesterday was different. Instead of taking the iPad away, the brilliant side of me asked him to help me bake some cookies in the kitchen. And just like that, he jumped out of his bed, left the iPad and went straight to the kitchen. Hurray to no drama!  As for the iPad, I'm still saying YES to it. There are many good quality apps for children, we just have to choose them wisely. 

He helped me pour all the ingredients inside the bowl, except the browned butter. Then, he insisted on mixing the wet batter with the dry ingredients himself. Okay fine, mix it. He did, and he done it quite well.#confetti

So here the best part of this entry: the recipe. Beware! You'll never stop munching on it :P

Brown Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

(From Joy the Baker, adapted from Betty Crocker)

Yield: 2 dozen small cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

1 cup white chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan melt the butter, swirling and stirring the butter until nicely browned bits appear in the bottom of the pan. This may take about 5-7 minutes. Once the butter is browned, remove pan from heat and set aside to cool a bit while you measure out the dry ingredients and set them aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the brown sugar and slightly cooled butter. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add egg and beat for one minute more. Add milk and vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.

Turn the mixer off, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the dry ingredients all at once. With either the stand mixer on low, or by hand with a spatula, incorporate the dry ingredients until just mixed in. Fold in the chopped nuts and white chocolate chips.

Scoop two teaspoon sized balls onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are deliciously golden. Remove from oven and let rest of the baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Poached Pear in Cage {Bosc Pear}

Bosc Pear. I found it while I was doing my groceries shopping at Cold Storage. Bought it simply because of its beautiful russeted skin. According to Saveur.com, these pears are a favorite for poaching and baking because of its firmer texture which can retain their shape when cooked. It has a bold sweet aromatic flavor and quite a pleasure to eat.

Anyway, it didn't take me long to figure out what should I do with these pears :). I poached four pears and wrapped it with pastry while kept the other two pears for Adam's Fruity Friday class. He loves this pear more than the Forelle type. 

This is how I wrapped the pears. I wish I could do time-lapse, but I haven't got much time to explore it yet. For a while, please bare with the gif image first :P The lattice pattern can be found in this entry.

My previous post on the same recipe can be found here and here. 

Seri Muka a.k.a Putri Salat

I'm always on a lookout for good Seri Muka's recipe. This one probably the closest to perfect Seri Muka I've ever produced. My previous attempts in making one have always turned bad. Who else to blame except myself as steaming is really not my cup of tea. 

If you have troubles in making seri Muka (like myself), how about give yourself another chance with this recipe. The recipe came to me from Pick Yin of Life is Great. Unlike Pick Yin, I'd to substitute the pandan extract with pandan paste because I was out of pandan leaves. Besides, I was too eager to try it and I can't wait for tomorrow. 

Anyway, Adam is a true fan of this kuih. Husband, on the other hand, commented on how thin the bottom layer is he he. I ate one piece and I am pleased with the taste. However, what I am most content with, is the feeling of success. Finally...after many failed attempts, I can ticked this kuih off my list. Phew~

Pavlova Cupcakes

Thirty-four. That's not my age. It's the Celsius, outside. And I'm sweating like a *tuut* while typing this. argh..I hate sweaty armpits.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Along with backache and a headache. To make matter worse, I was late for Adam's so called school. He was crying as I rushed here and there, prepping him for school. He didn't want to go to school, I figured he woke up on the wrong side of the bed too. Finally, we got out of the house and while walking toward the school, I realized I forgot to change my pant. Too late. I was wearing a colorful heart patterns pant. Great.

Anyway, I got home and had my breakfast with Ellen (yes, the one on TV), took a couple of aspirins, had my shower, and then I  thought of making a Pavlova. Why not? I need to straighten my day back. Cewah. Since  Husband is miles away, that explains the hectic morning, I decided to make a cupcake version of Pavlova. The recipe is based on Nigella's. Sorry, no recipe card today.

It started in Mad Jack Cafe. We had a lunch there, and we ordered Pavlova as a dessert. It was our first Pavlova. I always intimidated to try this overly sweet dessert for the obvious reason. I didn't know what made me order one that day. But it proved me wrong. I took a bite and I was sold. It wasn't that sweet, the cream and fruits toned it down to my 'acceptance' level. I absolutely love it. That was my first,and only Pavlova and since then, I was craving for it. I decided to bake it myself, but being a bit of procrastinator myself, I keep on delaying it until today. Husband  always tell me that "later means never".

Back to my pavlova. As you know, Pavlova is supposed to be white, unless you put something inside. I didn't put anything in mine, but as you can see, my pavlovas are brown. I know who the culprit was-ME. 

You see, I've got to pick Adam at 12, so I figured I bake the pavlova at 10, and by 11, it should have been ready. Wrong. Came 11, the meringue was still soft, and I thought it would be okay to increase the temperature. Wrong again. It did make the outer part dry, but at the same time, it turned brown. This is what I read on the net, when your oven is too hot, the sugar inside the meringue will caramelized and that makes it brown. That's what happened to me. 

Other than that, everything is fine. The inside is still squishy mushy. Once cooled, I immediately take one cup and ngap! Heaven! It made my day, even though it's brown in color :P BTW, did you notice my cute teacup mould? he he 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Hainanese Chicken Rice and Thai-styled Tofu

Even though I am sick of chicken, I still find myself cooking and eating lots of them lately. I have to admit that preparing chicken meals are much easier and can be done almost instantly. Seafood, on the other hand, need lots of attention. They're slightly higher in price too. A kilo of ikan kembung (mackerel) is almost SGD8 dollar here, compared to a whole chicken which cost around SGD5. 

I cooked another encored meal today, Hainanese Chicken Rice, for two reasons. First is Adam..he's not feeling well lately, and his appetite is low. He drinks way too much milk, and refused to eat anything. A plate of chicken rice is always an exception when days like this come.

Secondly, last weekend, we bumped into a new chicken rice shop and we had this chicken rice set, which came with Thai tofu as a side dish. The meal was great. But the tofu...it was dish of the day. Sedaaaap...I never had anything like that before.

And that led me to re-create the same dish today. I really like how they turned out, especially the dressing. Here is is my version of Thai Tofu. Simple, light and refreshing. 

Thai-styled Tofu Recipe

What you'll need:

2 pieces of soft tofu, cubed

1 cucumber, shredded

1 carrot, shredded

1/2 cup of roasted peanut, coarsely pound.

2 tablespoon of Thai Chili sauce-mix it with a tablespoon of hot water.

Way of making it:

Deep fried the tofu until brown.

Place the shredded salad on the plate. 

Place the tofu on top of the salad. 

Dress them and garnish with peanuts. Serve immediately. 

As for the chicken rice, it was beyond compare to the shop's, obviously. Click here for Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe. :)

Blueberry & Coconut Pudding

We went to KL a few weeks back. Just a short trip to settle few errands there. This trip was different from previous trips. This time, we decided to take a coach instead of driving. I'm glad we did that. That was Adam first long hour bus trip and he enjoyed himself most of the time. We loved it too, and we might do it again in the future. :) We also decided to stay in hotel instead at our place. It was more like a short escapade than our normal KL trips. We usually went there for Adam's check up and to check the house.

After three days in KL, we got home and found the whole house electrics tripped. I went straight to the kitchen, opened the fridge door, and there, the whole freezer staples were gone. *Gulp*. There were frozen paratha, homemade puff pastry, meatballs, dumplings, fish fillet, bla bla bla inside..all sticky and wet. T_T According to my FIL, there was a bad thunderstorm a day earlier and it likely caused the power trip. The smell was quite bad and I had to throw everything out. Mr.Bin was so kenyang lah that day. 

On a sunny note, I've finally converted my MY driving license to SG's. Yerp, after three years settling here. Yippee! Anyone needs a ride? :P

As for the pudding, I loved it! Anything with coconut is a winner! :) Ate half of the dish already :P 

Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread

I read so much reviews about how good the combo of banana bread and passion fruit icing before. It brought me to bookmark one recipe which I totally forgot about it afterward. As usual hee. And yesterday, I saw a box of passion fruit whilst I was doing my groceries. It quickly reminds me of the recipe. 

There's she. Isn't she lovely. Ahem, I'm talking about the book.

I wanted to try a new banana cake recipe, but those steps made me not to. I need to separate an egg, then the egg whites need to be beaten up til soft peak bla bla bla. I know the recipe will produce a good fluffy, soft cake, rather than a quick bread which a bit dense in texture. But nah, too many steps. I need a quick one so I can join Adam's main main. That's why I always stick to Ms. Dahl's Banana Bread recipe. It easy, quick and produced the same taste as bakery-bought's (for me). 

I never iced any of my banana breads before. I usually eat it plain. You can always experiment with other types of icing if you want to. (Or if you're adventurous enough to risk your cake for Mr. Bin consumption). Other icing that would go nicely with this cake are cream cheese or vanilla icing (FG). 

Poor thing, the icing is not thick enough. It's more like a syrup. I followed everything religiously and this? Isk. It looks more like sticky date pudding now, which is pretty (for me eyes :P). I love the passion fruit icing turned syrup. I bet the 'real icing' would tastes nicer. I'm going to try and make this icing again, but obviously with a different recipe. Any recommended recipe? 

Clam Chowder

Husband and I woke up at 2++ am this morning. It is a habit of him, waking up early, yerp as early as that, if he had to catch an early flight the next morning. He went to the airport at 5, and I went back to my bed, trying to catch some sleeps before the little guy wakes up. Failed. Minutes later, the little guy woke up, asking for a milk and his daddy. After pujuk and patted him, he went back to sleep.... and I couldn't bring myself to sleep after that. It was raining cats and dogs though... T_T

The soup. The soup was inspired from one of the local restaurant we've visited often. I simply adore their seafood chowder and it becoming a must have item every time we dined in. Instead of making a seafood chowder, I opted for clams. I used a recipe from I am a food blog which has lots of vege chunks apart from the clams itself. The recipe is simple and within an hour, a bowl of creamy, thick soup was served. We ate this with hard rolls, made by my husband. ;) and the breadmaker..hihi 

Best of all, the soup is really flavorful. The clam taste is mild, which is great for Adam and his dad. Both of them are not that adventurous when it comes to seafood. There are carrots, celery, potato, and onions inside and their flavors are well composed. Husband had 3 bowls, including one he had before he flew, and Adam had one big bowl for dinner. I, on the other hand, only had a small bowl since I was too content.

On a side note, those photos were captured with a new tripod Husband got me. It was a lot easier to handle compared to previous one. TQ dear for the surprise! :) 

Well, I'm super duper sleepy now :P. Please bare with my vocabs and inept grammars. Good night blogger-land! 

Psst..I forgot to snap the clam pics. My bad.

Eggless Chocolate Cake with Strawberry+Cream Filling

Believe it or not, this is an egg-less cake. No egg, no butter yet the cake is still so moist and delicious. :) The recipe is adapted from Passionate About Baking. TQ Deeba for sharing this lovely recipe!

Oh please excuse the messy look. I didn't trim the cake edges...why waste it?  Home made are supposed to look like that :P

Bought two quarts of strawberry and I used all of it for the filling. Love the strawberry compote to bits! {no pic..sorry}

To date, I believed this is the most delicious chocolate layer cake I've ever made. The strawberry filling really took this cake to the whole new level. 

 We didn't eat cake a lot, but we loved this cake so much and had two or three slices at one go. Even Adam had it twice (Read: He's not into chocolate).

 I had great time making this cake. And there's still half of it in the fridge ;)