Air-fried Chicken Pie

I always find it quite a chore to make chicken pies as you need to make the dough, cook the filling and bake it. But with the help of the puff pastry sheet and air-fryer, things seem more manageable ;) Here's a good recipe shared by Chelsia.

Ingredients
2 chicken thighs (deboned and cut into cubes)
1 onion (diced)
1 carrot (diced)
2 small potatoes (diced)
Mushrooms (optional)
2 hard-boiled eggs (remove shell and cut into half)
Light soya sauce
Pepper

Salt
Black pepper
Italian mixed dried herbs

Garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce

Plain flour
Milk

2 sheets of Pampas puff pastry (available from Phoon Huat)
Melted butter to glaze

Methods
1) Season the chicken cubes with light soya sauce and pepper.
2) In a pan/wok, saute onion and add in carrot and potatoes.Add some water to cook the vegetables followed by adding in chicken cubes and mushrooms.
3) Add in salt, black pepper, dried herbs, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce.
4) When the chicken cubes are cooked, sprinkle some plain flour and stir well. Pour in some milk and simmer for the vegetables to be soften.
5) On a non-stick baking tray (of Philips air fryer) lay 1 piece of Pampas puff pastry sheet as the pie base, use a fork to gently poke some holes.
6) Pour in the cooked filling and arrange the eggs on top.
7) Trim off the edge excess to make it neat. Use a brush to glaze the edges of the pastry with melted butter.
8) Cut the 2nd piece of puff pastry sheet to desired size enough to cover the top, I used a fork to press down the edges a little and poke some holes at the center.
9) Brush the top with melt butter and airfry at 180 degree for about 6 mins or until it form golden brown.

Schnauzer Cake

Two of my friends have adopted mini Schnauzers dogs months ago and last Saturday was my first time meeting them (the dogs) at a dog cafe. One of my friends' birthday is approaching so I have decided to bake a cake for him. Since we are all dog-lovers so naturally I wanted to design the cake with some dog elements. Quite challenging for me since it was my first trial piping a dog design. I baked a coffee sponge cake and whipped up kahlua cream as the filling and topping. Here's the Schnauzer cake for my friend.

Recipe of coffee sponge with kahlua cream could be found in my earlier recipe (http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2013/08/coffee-sponge-with-kahlua-cream.html), I used a different flour brand and added much more kahlua this round and next time I want to add rum perhaps LOL. To pipe the dog design you will need to separate your cream into 2 portions. With a much large portion uncolored for frosting and some to pipe the muzzle part. Color a small portion of cream with black food coloring to achieve grey. Transfer cream into piping bag/ ziplock bag and without the need of any piping tip just snip off the tip of the bag and you may start your pipe. I used 3 slices of strawberries for ears and tongue, 3 chocolate chips for eyes and nose and half a marshmallow as muzzle (fully covered by the white cream in the picture). As for that bone shape biscuit, it was actually a dog treat.

Cake frosted without the dog design yet, I kind of like it simple just like this. Without frosting the sides, just the filling and spreading a layer of cream on top. This frosting design is using a spatula to do dab-n-pull in circular motion from working towards the center.

Molten Lava Cake

I have been hesitating for very long before I attempted to bake this super sinfully-good dessert. Not so much as I am afraid of the extra calories but the heatiness of chocolate is deterring me. Yesterday I gave in, just want to see how difficult it is to achieve the flowing lava inside the cake and to my surprise it is very easy to make. The main idea of this chocolate cake is to make sure that it is underbake so that the center part is uncooked and flow out like hot lava. So if you fail the first time, don't let that stop you. Simply adjust the timing and you will get it.

I reduced the recipe to halve so that I could try it using my air fryer which is older model and having a small capacity. Air fryer recipe is originated from http://www.ourprincessdana.com/2013/12/cooking-with-air-healthier-choice.html. Oven recipe can check from www.noobcook.com

Ingredients (yields 2 ramekin size)

50g dark chocolate (use chocolate bar and break into pieces or compound chocolate chips from baking store like Phoon Huat)

50g unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

1 egg

25g castor sugar

10g self-raising flour

Methods

1) Melt chocolate and butter using microwave.

2) Beat sugar and egg until frosty and pale with electric whisk.

3) Pour melted chocolate and butter into batter, add flour and mix well with a spatula.

4) Grease 2 ramekins with melted butter and pour the batter. It shouldn't exceed 3/4 full to allow space for expansion. For my standard size ramekins it didn't quite fill up to 3/4.

5) Bake at 180 degree C for 7-8mins using a pre-heated air fryer.

6) Remove from air fryer and leave it to cool for 1-2mins before removing using a knife to loosen the edge.

7) Serve hot with icing sugar or ice-cream.

Such a pity that I couldn't capture the photos nicely due to the fast melting ice-cream, couldn't even see the flowing lava. Next time it shall be ;)

Mochi Cheese Puffs (Brazilian Cheese Puffs pão de queijo)

Ingredients

1 beaten egg
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup fresh milk
170g tapioca starch
50g mozzarella OR cheddar cheese (I used a mix of both cheese)
50g parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt

Methods
1. Add all ingredients into a blender and use a spoon to stir first.
2. Switch on your blender and using slow speed to blend the batter smooth.
3. Pre-heat oven at 200 degree C.
4. Grease mini muffin pan with butter and use an ice cream scoop to fill each muffin hole till brim. You can also use silicon baking ware for this. The recipe will yield about 14 puffs.
5. Bake for 20mins or until the top is slightly brown.
6. Cool a little and remove using a cutlery knife.

Modified from MummyMoo's recipe. 

Notes
- Try not to use donut tray for this as it will not puff up nicely and result in a dense and hard texture. 
- This only taste good for a day, the puffs will lose their texture and not as soft on the second day. 
- Adding more cheese is not advisable, it will result in a  heavier puffs and harder texture.

Oven View

Puffing puffing away, look at how much they puffed up?! It was about double the size, so interesting to watch the puffing process.

Air-fried Baked Rice

Michelle shared a fantastic idea to bake rice using air fryer for whatever leftover from the previous meal. So I purposely cooked additional rice and made more creamy butter sauce for the previous meal, I also kept some broccoli and carrots to be used. Here's my version of baked rice using another Philips accessory, the baking pan.

Ingredients
2 pax overnight cooked rice
1 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves (minced)
3 tbsp of broccoli florets
2 tbsp of carrot cubes
1 veal sausage (sliced)
8-10 tbsp of creamy sauce (I used the leftover from creamy butter sauce)
3 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese

Methods
1) Preheat air fryer for 3-5mins at temperature 180 degree C.
2) Melt butter inside baking pan for about 1-2mins.
3) Saute minced garlic for about 1-2mins or until fragrant.
4) Add in broccoli florets and carrot cubes to fry for 3-4mins. Add a little water will help to speed up the softening.
5) Add sausage slices and cook for 2-3mins or until they turn slightly browned.
6) Add in the rice and mix well.
7) Pour in the enough creamy sauce and mix well, level the rice with a ladle.
8) Sprinkle cheese evenly and air fry for 8-10mins. Above photo was done in 8mins.

Tips: You could use whatever ingredients you have and any store bought pasta sauce.

Sweet Hearts Cheesecake

"Oh no my block of cream cheese is expiring soon!" I exclaimed when I was checking my stuffs from the fridge. Time to make something out of it, here's a easy one from Angela Chia.

Ingredient

250g cream cheese block
65g castor sugar
1 beaten egg
6 oreo cookies
Fresh vanilla beans or essence
Red food coloring gel
Toothpick

(Recipe modified from Angela Chia's.)

Method
1) Remove the cream sandwiched between the oreo cookies and place the cookies into bakable cup.
2) Cut cream cheese block into cubes and whisk together with the sugar well. Add in egg and vanilla beans till combined.
3) Scoop the mixture into 6 cups and leave a bit of the mixture for coloring. Firmly tap/knock the cups on tabletop to burst the trapped bubbles.
4) Using a piping bag, snip off the tip and pipe 7 dots on the top.
5) Use a toothpick to circle/ connect all the 7 dots forming a trail of connecting hearts.
6) Bake at pre-heated oven at 150 degree Celsius for about 20mins.
7) Cool at room temperature and fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

The fresh vanilla beans really enhanced the flavor

Gruesome Severed Fingers for Halloween

It's Halloween season again and you will start to see bakes with Halloween theme appearing on the internet. Last year I did the cute stuffs like Oreo Spiders, Frankenstein Pops and Wedding Mummy Pops. Link is here if you are interested (http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2012/10/halloween-spooky-party-snacks.html). For this year I have decided to go for something gruesome and here you are, the severed fingers with bloody nails. I dare you to eat it!!!

Chopped, baked and ready for consumption ;)

They looked even more gross before baking, show you the picture:

The unbaked, ready to pop into the oven

Ingredients
WET
95g icing sugar (3/4 cup)
170g softened unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
1 small egg
3 tsp vanilla extract

DRY
255g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

OTHERS
Almond slices
Raspberry jam or food coloring (red & brown mix to give a really closed to blood color)

Method
1) Beat the wet ingredients together.
2) Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well until it forms a dough.
3) Cover with cling wrap and fridge for 30mins.
4) Use a teaspoon to scoop a dough ball and roll it into a thin & long finger with floured palms.
5) Place the finger dough on a lined baking tray.
6) Dab an almond slice with jam or coloring and stick it into the finger dough.
7) Use a knife or anything sharp to press a few lines on the finger dough as knuckles and lines.
8) Bake at  pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for about 25-30mins depending on your oven.

Tips

The dough will expand while baking so when rolling the dough, it should be shaped into really thin fingers.

I baked twice, the first round I rolled the dough into my own finger size and they expanded resulting in sumo fat fingers...LOL. Second round I rolled the dough into thin fingers skinner than the almond slice and the result was better.

These are the fat ones, cute?

For the above recipe, I could made about 80 fingers including 45 fat & 35 OK-sized fingers. So it's your choice whether you want fat or thin fingers ;) But guarantee they are freaky gruesome.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS!

Pandan Chiffon & Rainbow Pandan Chiffon

Pandan chiffon, this is the second recipe that I have tried. The first one although is good but is a tad drier, leaving a dry aftertaste. Blame it on my fussiness, others probably couldn't tell. Got this second recipe from a friend who attended a baking class to learn to make this. I love how light, spongy yet non-drying the cake texture is. So far besides Bangawan Solo, this is the best that I had. Thanks for sharing.

Ingredient
(A)
6 egg yolks (I use 55g egg)
60g castor sugar
Pinch of salt 2g
40g corn oil
72g coconut milk/ cream
108g cake flour (sieve)
2g Pandan paste (I used more)

(B)
6 egg whites
80g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method
1) Hand whisk yolks, salt, sugar A, coconut milk, corn oil and Pandan paste and mix until smooth.
2) Machine whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, add in sugar B gradually till
peak. Stop when hook shape is achieved.
3) Add sieved cake flour into yolk batter and mix until smooth.
4) Scoop 1/2 of white meringue onto the yolk batter and fold in gently with a spatula in one direction, be careful not to deflate the whites.
5) Scoop in the balanced 1/2 meringue into the yolk batter and fold in until smooth. Do not over fold.
6) Pour the batter into a chiffon tube pan, hold the pan firmly and give few bangs onto table to remove trapped bubbles.
7) Bake at pre-heated oven at 140 degree Celsius using top & bottom with fan mode at lowest rack for 50 mins. If your oven has no fan mode, set temperature to 160.
8) Cool the chiffon pan by turning it upside down with a stand below, you could use a bowl or can or cup as long as it is stable.
9) Once the cake is completely cooled, unmould.

Have you ever thought of the shape of half a chiffon cake actually looks like a rainbow bridge? 

Look at what I have come up with half a chiffon cake?

 Mixing the 7 colors with first and last band doubled the amount of cream.

What do you think? Like a 3D rainbow?

The 7 rainbow colored cream were piped without using any piping tip, I achieved it by trimming off the tip of the piping bags.

Packed my rainbow and off we go for celebration!

Coffee Sponge with Kahlua Cream

How about some caffeine and liquor to give you the extra kick? You will not get insomnia or drunk on this, only a small quantity is added for the fragrance. Kahlua is a coffee-flavored rum-based liquor and it contains vanilla beans as well, no wonder is a favorite choice for making desserts.

Coffee Sponge Cake (7")
Ingredient

150g Phoon Huat spongecake mix

3 eggs

30g unsalted melted butter

30g coffee (dissolves 1 tsp of instant coffee powder with 30g water and leave till cool)

Method

1. Whisk spongecake mix, eggs and coffee at high speed for 10mins. Reduce to medium speed and continue to whisk for 3-5mins.

2. Fold in melted butter.

3. Pour batter into a baking tin and bake on pre-heated oven at 160 degree Celsius for about 35-40 mins or until skewer come out clean.

4. Cool the cake and unmould, use a cake leveler to halve the cake.

 

Kahlua Cream

Ingredient

120g frosty whip cream powder

120g cold water

1-2 tbsp Kahlua

Methods

1. Whisk the frosty whip with cold water until stiff peak and add in the Kahlua, you could adjust the amount according to how much of Kahlua taste you prefer. You could also use fresh whip cream (water not needed) instead of frosty whip cream powder. The reason I prefer the frosty whip cream powder is I can keep the package and use only the amount I need. You could purchase it from www.bakincookin.com.

2. Spread a thin layer of the Kahlua cream as the filling.

3. Gently place the top cake layer over the Kahlua cream filling and spread the remaining cream generously over the top.

4. Decorate the cake if you wish to. I made used of some dried pineapple flowers that I did over the weekend. Here are some websites I took as reference in case you are interested:

http://www.marthastewart.com/281566/dried-pineapple-flowers

http://www.anncoojournal.com/2013/02/making-dried-pineapple-flowers.html

Polka dots swiss roll

Ingredient
(A) YOLK BATTER
3 egg yolk
35g castor sugar
60ml water
40ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
70g sieved cake flour
1 tsp corn flour

(B) MERINGUE
3 egg white
30g castor sugar

(C) PATTERN
Food coloring

(D) FILLING
Whipped cream/ jam/ cut fruits

Method
1) Hand whisk egg yolks, add 35g sugar followed by water, oil, essence and mix well.
2) Add sieved cake flour and corn flour, whisk till smooth batter.
3) Mixer whisk egg white till foamy and add sugar until firm peak achieved.
4) Fold the meringue into the yolk batter in batches of 3.
5) Color a small amount of batter with food coloring and pour into piping bags. Pipe out the design either on parchment paper/ silicon mat placed inside a baking tray.
6) Baked at pre-heated oven of 180-190 degree Celsius for up to 4 mins depend on the design.
7) Once cooled, pour the remaining batter into the baking tray.

8) Knock out any bubbles by gently tapping the tray on the table.

9) Bake for about 10mins or until the cake is springy when touched.

10) Prepare another parchment paper and cover it over the tray, invert and remove the tray. The cake should be easily removed. Peel off the parchment paper/silicon mat carefully revealing the designed layer.

11) Prepare a new parchment paper and cover the designed side, invert the cake again so that now the designed side is at the bottom.
12) Spread a layer or whipped cream or jam and add cut fruits if you like.
13) Holding the parchment paper and roll the cake. Twist both ends of the parchment paper like a candy wrapper and place into fridge.
 

Lychee Lime Yogurt Mousse Cake

 

 It was my mum's 67th birthday and I wanted to bake her a cake. Spent the whole Saturday to work on this cake since it has 3 layers and requires hours of setting before you can proceed to the next layer.

  

I adore the color combination, very refreshing and lovely. Thanks to Nasi Lemak Lover for sharing the recipe (http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.sg/2013/04/lychee-lime-yogurt-mousse-cake.html). 

I did quite a bit of modifications to the cake especially the base and the lychee quantity.

 Here's a mini version using a muffin liner since I don't have any cake ring. Just want to try out the taste of the mini cake before I gave it out as a gift. Mini one can see the 3 layers very clearly with vanilla sponge cake as the base, lychee lime yogurt mousse at the center and pink lychee jelly as the top.

Taro Hokkaido Chiffon

Lately I have been crazy over baking chiffon cakes. It used to be a nightmare for me as I simply couldn't get it right. It was really very dishearten to see failed cakes but now is different after I mastered the techniques! Hehehe now I can try all the different flavors for the chiffon cakes. Meaning more to come ;)

Here's something new from the original Hokkaido Chiffon Cake.I used Kevin Chai's yam chiffon cake recipe to make into Hokkaido Chiffon cake with cream heavily infused with yam taste, yes with real yam ;)

Check out my DIY mini cake stand, just use a saucer and invert the cup. That is all you need! 

Isn't it lovely to see 2 sweet little Yorkshire Terriers as decoration?!

Recipe adapted from Kevin Chai

Ingredients
(A)
6 large egg yolks (I used 7 small ones)
150 g mashed yam (steam, mash/blend)
150 g coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
60 ml vegetable oil (I use corn oil)
1 tsp yam paste
50 g castor sugar
180 g cake flour (sift)
few drops of purple coloring (optional)

(B)
6 large egg whites (I used 7 small ones)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
100 g castor sugar


(C)
Whipped cream as filling (add in your favorite flavoring)
Icing sugar

Method
1. In a wide mixing bowl, mix egg yolks, mashed yam, coconut milk, salt, vegetable oil, yam paste, sugar and lastly sift in the cake flour. Mix well.
2. Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until foamy, gradually add in sugar and whisk till close to stiff peak form.
3. Gently pour in 1/2 the meringue into the yolk batter and stir until combined with a large spatula.
4. Gently scoop in the balance meringue and use FOLDING method to fold in the meringue. Do not deflate the meringue.
5. Scoop into cup liners until 3/4 full.
6. Bake in 140 degree Celsius (top & bottom heat with fan at lowest rack) for 25-30mins or until skewer comes out clean. If your oven is without fan mode, you will need to adjust the temperature to 20 degree higher.
7. Remove and cool on rack.
8. Make your favorite whipped cream and insert the piping tip into the cake and pipe the cream all the way in and decorate the top as well.
9. Sift some icing sugar at the top and serve.

Tips on chiffon
Please refer to previous chiffon post at http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2013/05/cranberry-mixed-tea-chiffon.html

 

It was fun to invite a few friends to bake the same cake over the weekend. No, we didn't get together to bake, we merely agreed on a baking theme and each of us baked the same cake but different flavors. See what we had come up with. I did the cranberry mixed tea chiffon, Cindy baked the colorful rainbow & raspberry chiffon. The meringue gets deflated very easily, really admire Cindy's skill of baking to challenge the rainbow chiffon. And we also have Molly who tried on the pineapple flavor, Rafidah on the orange flavor. Of course we didn't miss out the all time favorite pandan chiffon by Daphne. Really fun girls, hope to play another round ;)

Sakura Golden Citrus Chiffon 樱花橙香戚风

 

Ingredients
(A)
48g egg yolk (about 2 eggs)
92g castor sugar
50g veg oil
110g cake flour
1/4tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
70g orange juice (from 1 orange)
10g lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
Orange zest (from 1 orange)
Lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
1/2tsp vanilla essence

(B)
180g egg white (about 2 eggs)
1/2tsp cream of tartar
30g castor sugar

(C)
Some preserved Sakura - optional
(pre-soaked for 2 hrs to remove the salt. Pat dry, leave it to air for few hours before using)

Method
1. Pre-heat oven at 140 degree Celsius on top & bottom with fan mode.
2. Sift cake flour and baking powder, set aside.
3. Use a hand whisk to mix ingredient A in the sequence of yolks, salt, sugar, juice, zest, oil and essence.
4. Add in the sifted flour.
5. Use a mixer to whisk ingredient B: egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy.
6. Gradually add in sugar to whisk until close to stiff peak, test the meringue it should form a hook shape.
7. Mix 1/2 the meringue into the yolk batter until combined.
8. FOLD in the balanced meringue gently, do not deflate the meringue.
9.  Arrange the sakura on the tube pans. Pour the batter into 2 mini tube pans and smooth the surface with spatula.
10. Holding the tube pan firmly and lift up to bang the table to knock out the trapped bubbles.
11. Bake at lowest oven rack for about 35-40mins if using mini pans. If you are using a bigger pan, allow more time.
12. Invert the pans to cool the chiffon completely before unmould.

Tips on chiffon
Please refer to previous chiffon post at http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2013/05/cranberry-mixed-tea-chiffon.html

Cranberry Mixed Tea Chiffon

Hahaha FINALLY! I did a successful chiffon cake after numerous of not up-to-standard chiffons. Chiffon should be light, soft, fluffy, airy, raise tall and pretty! This is the cake where I labelled is heavily technique-required and every little step is important to contribute to the success. And special thanks to Molly for showing me how to do it, only then I realized where I did wrong even after much reading up and watching Youtube demo cannot beat a live demo.

 

  

Recipe modified from http://munchministry.com/recipe/cranberry-mixed-tea-chiffon

Ingredients
(A)
6 egg yolks
30g caster sugar
1/2tsp salt
80g veg oil (I use corn oil)
6 bags Lipton Cranberry Raspberry & Strawberry Tea Bag
120g hot water
150g cake flour
3/4 baking powder

(B)
6 egg whites
130g caster sugar
1/2tsp cream of tartar


(C)
60-70g dried cranberries (mix with some flour and sift away excess flour)

Methods
1. Preheat oven to 140-150 degree Celsius using top & bottom heat with fan mode.
2. Sift flour and baking powder, set aside.
3. Cut the tea bags, pour tea leaf into a cup. Pour hot water into it and leave it aside to cool.
4. With a hand whisk, whisk egg yolk, salt and sugar together.
5. Add oil, tea together with the tea leaf residue and flour into the egg yolk batter.
6. Whisk until well combined.
7. Use a mixer, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy.
8. Gradually add in sugar and whisk till close to stiff peaks form.You will know when your beater attachment form a Hook shape (refer to photo below).
9. Add in 1/2 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture and gently mix until combined.
10.Then fold in the rest of the meringue in lightly until well combined.
11. Lastly fold in the cranberry.
12.Pour batter into a tube pan (I used 21cm size), smooth the surface. Lift the tube pan, hold it firmly and give 2-3 bangs on the table to release the trapped bubbles inside the batter.
13.Place pan at the lowest oven rack and bake for 55-60mins.
14.Remove from oven, invert cake onto table top and leave it cool completely.
15.Unmould cake from pan either using the press method or knife. I prefer the 1st method which will give the cake a pretty surface.

Notes

1. When separately the egg yolks and whites, have to make sure that the whites are not stained with any trace of yolks, water and oil. In the presence of any of these 3, the whites will not be able to whisk to close to stiff peak. 

2. Always use a big spatula and a wide mixing bowl when folding in the whites, it helps greatly to fold in effortlessly. When you fold, always fold in the same direction and shift the bowl a little as you go along.

3. To obtain the correct texture for the MERINGUE:

• Under-whisk the meringue will look runny. When you hold the beater attachment, the meringue will drip and not staying still. In this case, whisk further and monitor.
• Close to stiff peak form is when you use the beater attachment and scoop up a small part of meringue it will form a HOOK shape. The remaining meringue inside the mixing bowl will also form a HOOK tip. Refer to photo below. This texture will not drip, the hook stays and when you invert the bowl the meringue should stay in place. It shouldn't flow. Stop the whisking now, this is the correct texture that you want for folding.
• Over-whisk will lead the meringue to stiff peak whereby the meringue will clot to the attachment beater. At this stage, the meringue is too stiff and you will face difficulties in folding into the yolk batter. I tried this before and I took very long to fold in the stiff hard meringue, in the end the meringue was deflated till to over-folding and of course my chiffon flopped.

Banana Cupcake with Cocoa Frosting

 Banana cake (recipe modified from Yochana's)

Ingredients
180g unsalted butter
110-130g castor sugar (if you are using very ripe/sweet banana or frosting your cake, add 110g sugar)
2 large eggs (beaten lightly)
250g cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g bananas (mashed)
50g fresh milk
1 tsp vanila essence

Method
(1) Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.
(2) Pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy.
(3) Add in whip cream, mashed bananas and banana essence and mix well.
(4) Add in cake flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and beat for a while only.
(5) Pour into cake liners till 3/4 full. I am using stiff muffin cup liners.
(6) Bake at pre-heated oven at 175 degree for about 20-25 mins or until test skewer come out clean. If you are baking a whole cake, with the same temperature and bake until browned or about 50-60 mins. 

Frosting
I am using fresh cream frosting but in order to allow my fondant stays for a couple of hours I used Frosty whip powder and lesser water than recommended. Not forgetting the unsweetened cocoa powder which I added until I get the taste and color that I want.

蔓越酶茶海绵蛋糕 Cranberry Mixed Tea Sponge Cake



蔓越酶茶香扑鼻，烘成海绵蛋糕味道绝佳

If you have read my post on the mixer saga you would have guess my next project is to bake something out of it. I did the same cake again just to test out how good is this new mixer. Using the balloon whisk I followed the instruction for the spongecake mix exactly like how I did previously. The balloon whisk managed to increase the volume fast and effortless.

Ingredient

150g Phoon Huat spongecake mix

3 eggs

30g unsalted melted butter

30g cranberry mixed tea (infused with the tea leaves of 3 Lipton mixed cranberry/strawberry/raspberry tea bags)

40g dried cranberries (sift with flour)

Method

1. Whisk spongecake mix, eggs and tea at high speed for 10mins. Reduce to medium speed and continue to whisk for 3-5mins.

2. Fold in melted butter.

3. Pour batter into a baking tin, I am using a 8x4 inch loaf tin. While doing so, sprinkle the dried cranberries into it and some to sprinkle on the top.

4. Pre-heated oven at 160 degree Celsius, bake for 30-40 mins. 

Tips

- You may infuse the teabags for as long as you want. I did it overnight before and also an instant version, frankly they don't really make much difference hahaha. The instant version took me 15mins, I infused the tea leaves with boiling hot water and covered for 5mins. Afterwhich I placed the cup with lid inside the freezer for 10mins to cool down.

- I pour in a little of the tea leaves as well to increase the level of flavour, not too much about 1 tsp.

Verdict?

The cake is softer using Kmix compared to my $29 Sharp mixer. Biased? Absolutely not, I am not deceiving myself, the cake texture is indeed softer. I am very happy with the result, enjoying the soft and fragrant sponge cake. Comparing to my previous machine, Kmix's bowl and beaters are easier to wash too ;)

Egg Drop Toasty Breakfast Cup

I woke up pretty early today, 7.30am compared to my usual timing for weekend and hubby was still in bed. That's unusual for him as his bio clock will kick him out of bed between 4-6am, nasty isn't it? Good to see him having extra snoozing hours and I decided not to laze on my bed and kick myself up to prepare breakfast. Today's menu will be a revisit to egg drop cup but an improved version.

The last round when I did the egg drop cup I used bacon but I didn't like it at all, it was way too salty. Ham will definitely be a better substitution to this.

Ingredient (2 pax portion)
2 bread slices
1 honey baked ham
2 eggs
1 cheese slice (using Kraft)
Pepper
Rosemary (optional)
Melted butter for greasing

Method
1. Cut away the bread crust (skin), make 4 slits at corner for easy fitting into ramekin bowls.
2. Grease the ramekin bowls and sit the bread in.
3. Add in cheese, 1/2 piece per ramekin.
4. Slice the ham into 8 portions and arrange 4 each nicely on top of the cheese.
5. Crack an egg into each ramekin, do not break the yolk.
6. Sprinkle some pepper and rosemary.
7. Bake at 170-180 degree Celsius for 15-20 mins or longer depends on how you prefer your egg to be.
8. Serve hot.

A beautiful Sunday to start off.