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 ;) 

Eggless No Baked Mango Cheesecake

Yerp..I bought more mangoes and most desserts I made recently are based on them. You name it, mango pudding, god knows how many rounds of Thai sticky rice with mango, mango pound cake, and mango custard.. If it wasn't the cough I'm having right now, I would have turned some to mango sorbet. (I'm this close (showing a small gap between my thumb and index finger) to make them) 

I'd to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake, but I do eat them once in a while, and that's why I took such a long time to make one. The last cheesecake I did was the Mahattan cheesecake, and they lasted like forever in my fridge. 

I browsed Foodgawker and stumbled on this pretty mango cheesecake in a cup by Edible Garden. The recipe is based on hers, but I made 'zebra patterns' on the middle part. Okay, barely a zebra pattern. I made one big 8' cheesecake with a nice thought of distributing some to my neighbors. Everything was smooth until I sliced the cake. The crust. It crumbled :( Cit. The thought of passing this 5/10 rated cheesecake to my neighbors has to hold.

You see, sigh.. I wanted to make a thick base, so I added more Marie biscuits. And of course I added more melted butter. Apparently the butter is not enough...hmmm I always had no luck with the base part. Sobs. It was either too hard or too crumbly. I never got it right... Yet.

Anyway, it still good and most importantly, edible..(throwing a cheesecake? are you nuts?) The top and middle layer is really really tasty...top notch. The mango flavor is very prominent and I must say anything with mango is two thumbs up! :D

Eggless No-Bake Mango Cheesecake Recipe
Based on Edible Garden's recipe

What you'll need:
Cream cheese - 1 block (250gm, Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
Cream - 170 gm (I used Nestle)
Sugar - Half a cup
Mango puree - 3/4 of a cup
Gelatine - 1 Tbsp
Hot Water - 1/4 cup
Graham cracker crumbs - 1.5 to 2 cups (Depending on how thick you want the base to be)
Unsalted butter, melted - 75 gm (about 1/3 of a cup)

Way to do it:

1. Whiz the graham crackers in a food processor. Add melted butter and whiz again until the mixture comes together. Press into the bottom of an 8" springform pan that's lined with aluminium foil or use individual glasses. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the cheesecake.

2. Mix the cream cheese, cream, and sugar in a bowl until well combined. You can do it by hand or use low speed on your Kitchenaid. An electric beater is not needed.

3. Add the gelatine to the hot water and stir till it completely dissolves. Add the mango puree and stir well. Keep half of this mixture aside and add the rest to the cream cheese mixture. Stir gently until well combined.

4. Pour on top of the graham cracker base. Return to fridge for another 10-30 mins. (RC Note: As for my case, I divided the gelatine and the cheese mixture into two. Pour half of the mango puree on one side and stir in the half gelatine. Add the rest of the gelatine into the next mixture. Alternate them to get the so called zebra pattern hihi)

5. Pour the mango mixture as the third layer. Do this gently so that the layers don't combine. If you use a springform pan, the top layer will be much thinner, as it should be.

6. Refrigerate overnight and get ready to serve a yummy dessert at your party that can be prepared well in advance!

Random Friday

Just a short update to keep this blog alive he he 

Have a nice weekend folks! 

Beef Rendang

Rendang always reminds me of home. Of my mom. She makes terrific rendang, you named it; beef rendang, duck rendang, cockle rendang with snake beans, chicken rendang with maman/pegaga (some kind of kampung herbs).. I just love all of her rendangs. My husband claims her mom's rendang is the best. I'm not going to argue about it. We all grew up with mom's cooking. :P (my mom's is still the best.. :P -Let's just pretend I never said that)

Whenever I asked my mom for a recipe, she would go on and on, telling me the list of ingredients needed without the exact measurement and way of doing it. She has everything inside her head and she just threw everything inside her stew pot. Campak-campak. I know how to cook her version of rendang. Mine-the taste is somehow different. Her way of doing it probably just the same as your mom's or like the rest of rendang recipes available on Google. The only different would be her air tangan a.k.a a magic touch. Sob. I miss her.

Frankly, I never cook rendang before I was married. I just helped my mom making them (and eat'em of course) during Eid festival. That's all I did until last year. Last year marked the first year we had to prepare everything on our own. From A to Z. Thank God for Google (TGFG). 

There are plenty of rendang variations out there. You just have to choose them wisely. Cik Mat Gebu has quite a number of rendang recipes and mine here is based on his Nyonya Rendang-slight variation on the spices. Tastewise, finger licking good! I love his rendang recipes. My taste buds kindda agree with it, it's idiot proof and it almost has the same taste as my mom's. Almost. Sob.

Someday, when he grows up, Adam will say that his mom's rendang is the best in the world. Hopefully. Err..on second thought, I don't want that to happen so quickly :p Please don't grow up so fast my little one...

Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

Nope..I didn't get the chance to watch the Academy Awards live show this morning..no live telecast whatsoever..citt.. FYi, we cut our cable tv last year, since we've got "no time" to watch the whole thing. Who watches the whole thing anyway? I only watched food and travel channels..if time was on my side. Oh I miss BBC Lifestyle channel.

I wanted to catch the live streaming show on the net at first. But naah, I'm not that Oscar freak fan who need to watch the whole show. I'll wait for the highlight show on Wednesday or try to catch it on Youtube.

As predicted, Meryl Streep won Best Actress for her role in Iron Lady. I'm so gonna watch Iron Lady again and looking forward to watch The Help, The Artist and My Week with Marilyn. Must watch..must watch. 

Anyway, I made this dessert last week. Mango seems to be on sale everywhere. $5 for six honey mangoes! Crazy! It's so hot and sunny here. A prefect weather for mango to set fruit and for us to have this dessert. We had this as dessert 2 days in a row and loved it to the max!!  Hurry! Whip this dessert up while the sweet mango season is still in town. 

The recipe is adapted from Indochine Kitchen.

And the winner is.... Pocky Chocolate Cage

Two more days left to the Academy Awards. I'm all excited. Have you watched any of the nominated films yet? I have watched The Descendants, Iron Lady and Midnight in Paris. I wanna watch My week with Marilyn but no chance.. blom sempat nak melanun..he he   

I'm not sure whether you will share the sentiment as me, but Meryl Streep deserves her long awaited Oscar this year.(Even though she has won two Oscars previously) Her role in Iron Lady is simply stunning. Michelle William should win but naah, not this year babe.. he he The Descendants should win Best Picture while my handsome man, Clooney should win Best Actor. 

I'm so gonna lepak on my old cushion sofa and watch the show this Monday morning. I know it's a boring ceremony..I can tweet while watching that. There'll be a live telecast on Channel Five and Billy Chrystal will be back as a host. Arggh..I want Eddie Murphy or Ellen! BTW, do you know that Kodak theather is no longer referred to as such..Kodak lost it naming rights due to its bankruptcy...Pity. 

Anyway..enough with the Oscar. I gain nothing..just an entertainment. Let's talk about this dessert. The original name is Milkado Cage. I used Pocky sticks, instead of Milkado, thus the name change. 

Anyone craving for chocolaty, velvety and scrumptiously sweet dessert? If so, you should whip this up. Yerp, this dessert is a bit of work, but trust me.. you'll satisfy with the end result. I halved the recipe and got 4 glasses out of it. 

The dessert consists of 3 parts; the upper banana mousse, the bottom chocolate cream and the Pocky cage. The best way to eat this dessert is by 'dipping' the Pocky sticks with both layer. Nyum! 

Beef Soup

What is the best food when you are sick and don't feel like eating? This is it. Hearty hot soup with crusty white loaf slices. I like eating it warm, garnishes with some fried shallots and chopped spring onions.

ADABI soup spices powder. Power.

No, I didn't put any of those into the pot. Swear.

That white, crusty loaf is made with my new bread maker. Yes, we finally own a bread maker. Call me a cheater, but I'm starting to fall in love with my new toy. No more kneading :P

Image from here

Adam Bakes: Blueberry Banana Muffins

Today, out of the blue, Adam asked me for a birthday cake. His birthday is apparently months away. 

"It's February, and your birthday is on July", followed with that "Month of the Year" song, hoping he would get me. He asked me to stop singing and continued asking for cake. I guess he was asking for a cake, instead of a birthday cake.

"Okay, I'll bake you one if you agree to help me bake it". He screamed for joy and started running back and forth between the living hall and kitchen. So I got my phone and went through my bookmarked list.

I decided to make muffins, instead of a real cake. He doesn't know that.....yet.:P Technically, I'm still sick...and I'm not in mood to clean up a big mess. Hi hi  

I quickly gathered a punnet of blueberries, some ripe bananas, and eggs and put them on the table. Then I asked Adam to peel the banana skins and mashed it. He did, but minutes later, his focus turned to the eggs. He wanted to beat the eggs. And before he starts to repeat himself, I cracked an egg and let him beat it. He was so happy to do it.

After finish with that, I asked him to slowly pour the eggs, followed with all core ingredients onto the dry ingredients bowl.  No single spill, whatsover. :D He helped me arranged the muffin cases, and he pointed on each hole every time I pour the batter in. Yep, I did it. I couldn't stand the coughing so I had to rush things a bit he he 

Tomorrow, these muffins  will be his breakfast and packed to school as his morning snack. :D I used Leslie Durso's Blueberry and Banana Muffins's recipe. I got 6 muffins and a small loaf out of it.

Muffins are easy. Within an hour, Adam got his "cake". :)

Psst..that is his favorite bus.. He plays with it almost everyday..

Tuesday-Prince William Cake?

This is not a true cake. It is more like a chocolate crunch. Except that mine is less crunchy. I know I shouldn't replace digestive biscuits with crackers (silly), but being a lazybum myself, I did. Malas pegi kedai. It almost turned to chocolate fudge, but the mixed nuts did some excellent recovering job. 

The recipe for the cake is based on Ijan's of Blog Resipi's. This cake is also known as Hedgehog Slice (Australia), Chocolate Fridge Cake (UK) and the latest is Prince William Chocolate Biscuit Cake. Read here, here, and here if you don't know why. Here, on our side of the world, the cake is popularly known as Kek Batik, or Batik Cake. All of them share about the same recipe, egg or eggless. 

Chocolate Batik Cake Recipe
(Adapted from BlogResipi)

What you'll need:

200 gm digestive biscuits or marie
100 gm butter
250-300 gm milk chocolate
200 gm / 1/2 tin condensed milk
80 gm pistachio (or any kind of your liking)
80 gm almonds, roasted
80 gm walnut, roasted

Way to do it:
1. Using double boiling technique, melt the chocolate, butter and condensed milk. Mix well.

2. In another bowl, crash the biscuits and mix with all the ready nuts.

3.Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl with biscuits and nuts. Mix well.

4.Place a baking paper in a mould (or you can use a detachable mould as well). Pour the mixture into ready mould.

5.Keep in fridge for several hours until the chocolate sets. This will make sure the cake is gonna be easy to cut.

Check out this Kek Batik photo from Eating Asia site. It simply reminds me on why it's called Kek Batik in the first place. 

I wanted to write more, but the cough syrup I took just now is  about to kick in. Both  mommy and son are still coughing and sneezing like mad. Please pray for us. :)

Psst..He surprised me with these two books last week. *Big Grin*

Hainanese Chicken Rice

For tonight dinner I made Hainanese chicken rice. A regular dish I made almost every weekday. Even though I am a bit sick of chicken, as there have been few too many chicken over the weekend that are going nowhere fast, but I had to. 

Why chicken rice? You see I'd to cook while Adam is away for his playschool. Or I don't get to cook at all. I have so many things I want to do in that short period of time. That is the time where I get to go for a jog. That is the time where I get to leisurely browse some books in the library or trying out new recipes. And that is the only time where I get to play with my lens. 

...and that explains the chicken rice. Simple and quick. I can do several other things while boiling the chicken. Laundry, mopping, cleaning, take a shower, and even catch Ellen or Dr. OZ on TV, beside those listed things I mentioned in the previous para. It spelled E.A.S.Y even though it's chicken and I am sick of it. I'll try to subs it with fish..we'll see how. 

Above is Adam's plate. Believe it or not, he finished the whole plate. :D 

PS: I'm not sure where my writing is going as the 3 hours break is almost over.. :P 

PPS: The recipe is taken from Steamy Kitchen.