Honeycomb Caramel Cake

A cousin, MSAR from OZ is here for his sister's wedding + holidays. He visited my mum today and he made a special request dat he be served with Laksa .. he longed for mum's Laksa.

Knowing dat he was coming over, I decided to bake a cake. This Honeycomb Caramel Cake which was widely talked about at ResipiNet came to mind.

I only started baking at about 3-ish .. oh yah the recipe calls for the mixture to be left aside for 3 hours before baking to get the honeycomb effect. I took my chance and only left it for a mere 45 mins .. dats the only time i could afford.

When cut, the cake has got the honeycomb effect though not much and the cake turned out a nice tan (well dat was not to be .. it was supposed to be darker). Anyways, the cake was a big hit .. the whole cake was gone in hours .. need I say more!!!

My cuz who hesitated initially when I offered him the cake (k he was full from eating 2 bowls of laksa) even had 2nd helpings. His fren, T, also enjoyed it so much. T asked me "Did u bake this" .. and I jus smiled and someone else answered it for me .. hehehe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp butter (i used margarind)

To make caramel, heat sugar over a medium fire.
Once sugar hel melted, quickly put in the hot water and stir. (be careful of splattering sugar mixture)
Afterwhich add butter till it melts.

4 eggs
1 cup flour (i used self raising flour)
1 cup condensed milk
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (i did away with this)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Beat eggs till frothy.
Add in milk and mix again.
Next add in the flour and bicarb and mix well.
Lastly add in the caramel.
Leave it aside for 3 hours then bake in a preheated oven (160C) for an hour.

PS - Sorry for dat lousy picture .. grr .. i still fail using macro ..

Individual Raisin Bread Pudding

Leftover raisin bread .. wat should I to do with them. Bread pudding sounds good! Yeah Raisin Bread Pudding! That is it .. Individual Raisin Bread Pudding!

I do not have any particular recipe .. so decided to use the filling recipe for the portuguese egg tarts for the bread pudding!

Ingredients

5 pcs raisin bread, cubed
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 175C
Place cubed raisin bread in ramekins.
In a medium bowl, combine sugar, milk, whipping cream, egg yolks and vanilla essence and beat until well mixed.
Pour over bread and ensure that bread is covered and soaking up the mixture.
Leave it to soak for about 15 mins then bake in the preheated oven for about 35 mins.

My take on this pudding - i'd add more milk say about 1/4 cup more the next time round i make this dessert!

Portuguese Egg Tarts

Egg Tarts .. there are different versions of course - Hong Kong style and even Portuguese Egg Tarts just to name a couple.

I had always wanted to try Portuguese Egg Tarts but I cant find any which is halal in Singapore. Managed to find a recipe and decided to try.

The recipe calls for Puff Pastry but well I used Instant Prata instead .. ;-)

I love these tarts more that the normal egg tarts .. the pastry really make a whole lot of difference.



Ingredients

2 pcs of Instant Prata (brand like Kawan or SpringHome)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Cut instant prata into small rounds.
Press Instant prata onto mini muffin tins.
Combine sugar, milk, whipping cream, egg yolks and vanilla essence until sugar dissolves.
Pour filling into instant prata 2/3 full.
Bake at 200C for about 20 - 25 mins.
Brown the top with blow torch if you have one. I dun .. boo hoo hoo ..

Dinner @ Lily's

As planned I went to Lily's place for dinner yesterday. She had prepared Roast Chicken and Vegetables. Really simple but very very filling.

There's Fried Eggy Potatoes ..

Garlicky Shiitake Mushroom and

Roasted Chicken with Steamed Broccoli and Carrots.

Dis was my dinner ..

Oh ya .. Lily really really liked the Chocolate Cake dat I brought.

I am one happy woman .. ;-))

Dark Chocolate Cake

My sister in law, Lily is inviting me n family over to her place for dinner. I told her I would be bringing dessert. I think that is wat I am better at. I had decided on Chocolate Jelly and I also wanted to bring a cake and the cake has to be a chocolate one. After looking thru the website for ideas, I decided on Dark Chocolate Cake II. Recipe was submitted by Kelly Smith and can be found at Allrecipes.

Cake is dark and rich and best of all moist! This is my version based on ingredients I have at home.

Ingredients

1 cup self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Grease cake tin.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
Make a well in the centre and pour egg, coffee, milk and oil and mix well then pour into prepared tin. Note that batter will be thin.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 mins or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake

There are times when I just have to pick a cake mix or two to standby for lazy times whenever I go grocery shopping.

Last Sat, after we collected our "new baby" - dats the new family car, btw -, we stopped by Giant and I bought not one but two boxes of Betty Crocker's cake mix - one chocolate fudge and the other devil's food cake.

I broke my own promise to bake Cream Puffs today but went ahead to bake Betty Crocker's Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake instead.

I baked the cake in paper cases and got about 16 pieces. It'll yield 48 bars if you use a 15x10x1 inch pan.

Boy was I pleased with the mix. The cakes were really moist and chocolatey! I polished not 1 but 3 at one go! They were dat delicious! The mix is really idiot proof .. hehehe. Try it! I promise you will not be disappointed!

Ingredients

1 box super moist chocolate fudge cake mis
11/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Method

Heat oven to 180C
Whisk all ingredients till well incorporated.
Place paper cases in muffin tins and pour mixture 2/3 full.
Bake for about 25 mins or until a pick inserted comes out clean.
Turn out onto a rack to cool.

To Anonymous ..

Ini adalah gambar Dadih Strawberry yang I buatkan untuk my mum smalam.

You cuba lagi ok .. jangan putus harapan.

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets

I saw Nigella making Ritzy Chicken Nuggets on Ch 16 Travel and Living last Wednesday and thot hey that is something I could make on Sunday.

So today as planned, I made my kids Ritzy Chicken Nuggets ala Nigella and baked potato chips. I cant remember what the real measurements were hence I made up my own measurements.

Nigella uses Ritz biscuits which I am totally sure can be subbed for any other savoury biscuits. I had Ritz at home so I settled for that.

Nigella also uses buttermilk but I subbed it with greek yogurt. Nigella mentioned that the use of buttermilk to marinade is to tenderise the chicken nuggets. And yes! tender these little chicky nuggets were!

Here's the recipe based on my measurements:-

Ingredients

320gm chicken fillet, sliced into nuggets sized (i got abt 20 pcs)
250gm greek yogurt
100gm ritz biscuit, crushed
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Marinate the chicken slices in greek yogurt overnight.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 200C.
Season crushed biscuits with salt and pepper.
Take each chicken fillet and coat with biscuits crumbs and lay on tray.
Bake for abt 20 - 30 mins.

I served the kids these nuggets with baked potato chips!

Chocolate Milk Jelly aka Dadih Coklat

Remember the strawberry milk jelly I made last Friday. Well, I made the same thing but used chocolate milk instead.

For this Chocolate Milk Jelly aka Dadih Coklat in Malay, I reduced the amount of jelly powder. I wanted the end result to be a soft and smooth one .. just like what "dadih" is supposed to be .. really jiggly and not firm at all. I got what I really wanted .. hooray!

Ingredients

1 ltr chocolate milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 3/4 tsp jelly powder

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pot over a medium fire.
Stir well to ensure that jelly powder doest settle at the bottom of pot.
Once mixture starts to boil, switch off fire.
Pour liquid mixture in little containers.
Place in fridge for a couple of hours till jelly is set.
Serve chilled!

Egg Mayo Sandwich

Eggs though high in cholesterol are highly consumed in each household. It is really a versatile cooking ingredient. It can be soft boiled, hard boiled, sunny side up, scrambled, etc.

I made Egg Mayo Sandwich for breakfast today .. a classic one indeed.

Ingredients

5 hard boiled eggs, shelled
salt and peper, to taste
4 tbsp mayonnaise
lettuce, torn
tomato, sliced
white sandwich bread, sliced
margarine

Method

Combine eggs, salt, pepper and mayonnaise.
Spread margarine on a bread then egg mixture.
Top with lettuce and tomatoes.
Lastly top with another slice of bread.

Simple? Why dont you give it a try!

Lychee Konnyaku Jelly

My hand just itched to do something. Since there's a can of lychee and packs of Konnyaku Jelly powder in the pantry. I decided on making Lychee Konnyaku Jelly.

I used to make alot of these Konnyaku Jelly when it hit the local stores a few years back. It was kinda popular back then with stores selling these jellies at $0.80/S$1.00 a piece.

Ingredients

10 gm Konnyaku Jelly Powder
210 gm sugar
950 ml water
12 pcs canned lycees, halved

Method

Put half a lychee in each konnyaku jelly mould.
In a pot, mix the jelly powder and sugar together.
Pour in 950 ml water.
Switch on the flame, stir until the water starts to boil.
Switch off the flame and keep on stirring for about 5 min.
Pour the Konnyaku mixture into the jelly moulds.
Chill to set for about 3 hours.

Update on 11 Feb 07 -
I have submitted the pic above in participation in a blog event called Does My Blog Look Good in This (DMBLGiT) for the month of Feb. More details here.

Strawberry Milk Jello

I called my mum today and was told to fetch Tihani only tomorrow. My mum is helping me look after her during kindy days as kindy is near mum's place.

No plans on a Friday nite, I decided to make Strawberry Milk Jelly.

It is super duper easy to make coz it's like a one pot kinda thing where u dump all in a pot over heat and then chill and walla its ready to be served.

Ingredients

1 ltr strawberry milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp jelly powder

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pot over a medium fire.
Stir well to ensure that jelly powder doest settle at the bottom of pot.
Once mixture starts to boil, switch off fire.
Pour liquid mixture in little containers.
Place in fridge for a couple of hours till jelly is set.
Serve chilled!

Ahh .. such nice milky dessert .. i cant wait to try make these using chocolate or banana milk next .. yum yum ..

I would also like to share this pic .. i kinda love how the frozen blueberries look.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to one and all!

Ahhhh .. it was 1 Jan 2007 yesterday .. how time flies. Do I have any resolution for this year .. i didnt dare think of one as those past years resolutions have yet to be fulfilled!

Nevertheless, I wish this new year would bring more memorable moments and I wish for a life more wonderful and a properous one.

My family was invited to a New Year Party at Melissa's place in Sengkang. It was a simple gathering with food and drinks and prezzies for the kids too. These are what my kids brought home.

Tihani just love her playdough .. she has always wanted one!

Thanks Melissa for your generosity and kind hospitality. We enjoyed ourselves very much. Wish we could stay longer to watch soccer with the boys but the kids are getting tired.

For today's breakfast, my hubby asked to prepare Fish Burger and I did it.

Hahah .. half way thru our bfast, I mentioned, it would be nice if there was lettuce and DH nodded and said "and cheese too" ..

Dang .. I had forgotten the cheese too .. sigh ..