Zesty Orange Cupcakes

 Lovely citrus smell of orange filled the whole house on a Sunday morning. I never fancy cupcakes as they are usually too sweet but this is different, I love the orange fragrance and they are not too sweet. Yes that's the reason why I am recording this recipe so that I can make more.

CUPCAKE
Ingredients
150g softened unsalted butter
110g castor sugar
3 beaten eggs
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Zest from 1 big orange
2 tbsp orange juice

Methods
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a mixer.
2. Slowly add in the beaten egg and continue to mix well.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder.
4. Add in zest and orange juice and mix well.
5. Half filled the cupcake liners with batter.
6. Bake at pre-heated oven at 160 degree for 15 mins or until golden brown. Use a skewer to test for readiness.

7. Remove from the baking tray to cool on the rack.

Notes/ Tips
- Recipe was modified from Cupcakes & Muffins.
- Original recipe calls for 150g which is too sweet. I have reduced to 110g as my juice extracted was sweet too, the result tasted just nice. You might wish to adjust accordingly.
- Recipe recommends 180 degree for baking but I have reduced to 160 for my oven. I used top & bottom heat with fan mode.
- Use a zest grater to obtain zest for the orange. I have tried other graters that can't even grate the orange, simply need the right tool for this.

ICING
Ingredients
150g frosty whip powder
135g liquid (Balance cold juice from one orange + cold water)
2 tbsp orange marnier
Little orange coloring gel
Orange zest & silver/ pearl dragees (decoration)

Methods
1. Pour all ingredients into the mixer bowl and beat till texture is stiff enough for piping. When you lift up the beater, the mixture will stay on it and not dripping wet.
2. In a piping bag, cut a hole at the tip and insert Wilton nozzle 1M. Secure the nozzle and bag with a little scotch tape. You can use other nozzle as well, there are many patterns for cupcake icing.
3. I left my piping bag inside the fridge while waiting for my cupcakes to be cooled.
4. On a baking paper, start to pipe a few flora until you obtained a smooth icing flow before you start to pipe on the cakes.
5. Beware that the icing will turn too soft to pipe after sometimes, hence finish up your piping at one go.
6. Decorate the top of the icing with orange zest or dragees.
7. Keep the decorated cupcakes inside the fridge and bring them out 5-10mins before serving.

Take a look at my new toy! A bake-and-carry cupcake tray! I baked on it, piped on it and carried it around ;) Love it, great for small gathering as it allows twelves cupcakes only.  Compact and practical.

Acknowledgement
Thanks to Elaine and Molly for their patience to answer my baking questions.Muacks!

Laksa Angel Hair

Infused your Italian pasta with an Asian flavor. 

Easily whip up in 20 mins.

Ingredients
Angel Hair
10 prawns
8 small tau pok (cut into quaters)
3 garlic cloves (cut into slices)
3 tbsp cooking white wine
1/2 pack Hai's brand instant laksa paste
60ml coconut cream (I use Kara brand)
60ml water
Laksa leaves (garnish)
Black pepper

Methods
1. In a pot of boiling water, add some salt and a little olive oil. Measure angel hair for 2 portion and cook till al dente. Drain away the hot water and rinse using cold water. Set aside.
2. Heat pan, add cooking wine and garlic. Fry for a min and add 1/2 pack of instant laksa paste. The paste is good for 4 pax, hence I used 1/2 packet. Fry till fragrant.
3. Add coconut cream and water, mix well and add prawns & tau pok.
4. Once the prawns are cooked, add in the cooked angel hair and give a good mix. Off flame and serve with laksa leaves and black pepper.

Where to get the ingredients?
Hai's instant laksa paste - NTUC supermarket
Tau pok - Both wet market & supermarket
Laksa leaves - Wet market

Honey Garlic BBQ Chicken with Thyme

A simple recipe using ready sauce to marinate and added some herbs and spices to give it an extra kick.

Ingredients
2 chicken thighs
3-4 tbsp Heinz honey garlic bbq sauce
Salt & Pepper
6-8 garlic cloves (peeled)
6 cherry tomatoes
Few spigs of thyme (chopped)

Methods
1. Marinate chicken thighs with bbq sauce, thyme, salt and pepper. I used a ziplock bag and marinate over night.
2. Heat up happycall pan with little oil, place the 2 thighs with skin downwards. Using low fire to cook, bigger fire tends to burn the skin quickly.
3. After 10-15mins, flip the thighs to cook the other side and add in the slightly crushed whole garlic cloves.
4. Add in tomatoes when your chicken are almost cooked and pour in the balance marinade as well.
5. Use a skewer to insert to the thickest part of the thigh to test for readiness.

Where to get the ingredients?

• Heinz honey garlic bbq sauce - Supermarket like NTUC
• Thyme - Cold storage sells in a pack at $1.95, use half or whole pack for this recipe.

Golf theme tiramisu cake for an avid golfer

Baking a cake for a professional baker is not easy, she is already so good and whatever I am going to bake will not be as good as her of course. The only option I have is to personalise the cake so that she can feel my sincerity and I believe she will, for every idea I had, she was in my thoughts. I started to conceptualize the design 2 weeks piror to her birthday. Did some research on internet on the types of golf bags and clubs, saving some of the photos into my phone as reference and started shopping for the ingredients. I have decided to make a tiramisu cake and complement with fondant deco. Yes I know fondant and wet cakes are No-No combination but it should be fine as long as we eat the cake quickly...hahaha. Oh yes I am quite stubborn when it comes to this area, I will insist on my way. Last Christmas I did a fresh cream cake with angry birds using fondant, had a few sleepless nights trying to think of how to maintain the dryness of the deco while keeping the cake cold. In the end I added the deco only before serving and viola! That solves the issue. But I wouldn't encourage you to do the same way as I did. It is definately safest to make a true fondant cake without the wet toppings (fresh cream/ tiramisu).

Aromatic Rosemary & Onion Focaccia

 Irresistible aroma lingerings the entire house when baking this bread,

oh I am in love with this Focaccia bread deeply infused with rosemary fragrance.

Ingredients

WET
100g Tangzhong (water roux method)
64g water

DRY

200g bread flour
20g milk powder (can be substituted by creamer) 
10g castor sugar 
4g instant dry yeast

TO BE ADDED LATER (at step 4)
20g extra virgin olive oil
3g salt

FILLINGS TO BE BLENDED INTO DOUGH (at step 5)
10g fresh rosemary costs $1.95 from Cold Storage, contains about 4-5 sprigs. Pluck the leaves and discard stem, chop the rosemary but keep 1 sprig for toppings later
1/2 red onion (chop finely)

TOPPINGS (at step 10)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil infused with rosemary leaves
Cherry tomato (optional as garnish for bread cuppies)

Methods
1. Place wet ingredients first followed by the dry ingredients. Sugar place along the sides and at the center use finger to gently dig a shallow hole (don't go all the way touching the wet ingredients) and pour yeast into the hole.

2. Choose DOUGH function on bread machine, I am using Kenwood BM250 so function 8 for dough.

3. Dough function requires 1hr30min. Start the BM and it will mix for few mins and stop.

4. After 10mins at timer indicating "1hr20mins" the BM will start to knead again, at this point add in the 20g olive oil and 3g salt.

5. Once oil has been incorporated into the dough, add chopped rosemary and onions.

6. Leave the BM alone to let it finish it's job, this includes the 1st proof. When the BM is proofing, do not open the lid.

7. After 1hr30mins, the BM will beep that job is done. On a lightly floured top and flour your hands, remove dough from BM and gently punch the dough to release air and knead a bit. Dough is very sticky but this is normal. Shape it round and cover with cling wrap, 2nd proof requires 15 mins.

8. Brush your square baking tray with olive oil. Shape the dough into square shape and place it into the baking tray and gently spread to fit the tray shape. For me I wanted to try making some bread cuppies so I used a dough cutter to trim the 2 sides. After trimming, the dough becomes a square shape that goes into the baking tray. The sides I divide into 3 parts and place them onto cupcake liners on muffin tray.

9. Cover dough with cling wrap and proof for the 3rd time, requires 50mins or double the dough size.

10. Dip your index finger into the olive oil infused with rosemary and start to poke holes on the dough. The depth is about 1/2 inch deep. Brush the dough surface with olive oil infused with rosemary and sprinkle the rosemary as topping.

11. Bake at pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 20 mins.

Notes
1. If you are making bread cuppies, the dough should be about 1/3 of the liner height. After the 3rd proof it will raise to 2/3 height and will expand further when baking.

2. For Tangzhong (water roax) method, you could refer to Hearty Cranberry Cream Cheese Bun on how to do it (http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2012/10/hearty-cranberry-cream-cheese-bun.html). Amount needs to be adjusted accordingly.

3. If you do not have a BM, you can use a mixer and knead like how you did for normal bread.

4. Thanks to Jenia for sharing this wonderful recipe she found.

Herb-Infused Roast Chicken

 Hubby has been requesting to roast a chicken, so here it is herb-infused roast chicken to satisfy his craving. Verdict? Tender, juicy and irresistible aroma.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 russet potato
1/2 carrot
1 green pear (cut & soak with salt water to prevent oxidization)
Few slices of onions
8-10 cherry tomatoes

Seasoning
1 inch ginger (minced finely)
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Coarse black pepper
Italian dried mix herbs
Rosemary dried herbs (fresh will be better)
1/2 tsp black soy sauce (optional, if you want your roast chicken to have a darker shade)


Methods
1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degree for 20mins.
2. Wash whole chicken, discard head and neck. Pat dry with kitchen towel.
3. In a small bowl mix the seasoning.
4. Place chicken in a baking tray, stuff quarter of the seasoning into the cavity of the chicken. Rub the chicken skin generously with sea salt.
5. Use a brush to brush the chicken with the balanced seasoning. Sprinkle additional black pepper and herbs to your liking.

Brush brush Baby

6. Cut the vegetables and fruit, line them (except onion & tomato) at the side of the baking tray. Use the oily brush to brush the vegetables and fruit.
7. Bake for 20 mins, take out the baking tray and baste the chicken and vegetables with the chicken juice using the brush. Add in the onions. Return to oven but place the other side in for a more even roasting.
8. Bake for 15 mins, baste another time.Add in the tomatoes.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degree. Bake for 15 mins and check the chicken using a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean without bloody juice means it is ready. Otherwise bake for another 10 mins.

Notes
1. At any point if you notice that the top of the chicken is browning too quickly compared to other areas, here a tips for you. Cut a small piece of aluminum foil and place it on the part to prevent further browning. 

2. My vegetables were not soft enough, it will be better to cut them smaller. Half the size of the picture shown will be good. Or shared by my friend Veronica to parboil the vegetables briefing before entering the oven. Shall try her method the next round.

Shepherd Pie in Ramekin

My easy-to-make Shepherd Pie recipe. I love it with Mozzarella cheese, always enjoy to see the chewy cheese pulling out using a fork. After baking this, I couldn't wait to record this down as I have managed to keep this recipe to minimal but the result is so good.

Don't they look lovely in ramekins?

 Ingredients
1 russet potato (chop into small cubes)
Season with Salt & Butter

100g chicken pieces (I used thigh meat)
Season with Salt & Pepper

1/4 carrot (chop finely)
1 slice of yellow onion (chop finely)
50ml chicken stock
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Cherry tomato (optional)
Black pepper (optional)

Methods

8. Add fillings into ramekins

1. Season the chicken pieces with salt & pepper for about 15-20mins.

2. Boil the potato cubes in a pot of water until soften.

3. Drain away the water and mash the potato with a fork, season with salt and butter to taste. Set aside.

4. Heat a little oil in a pan, sauté onion till fragrant. Add in carrots and cook for a min. Next add in chicken pieces and fry till cooked.

5. Pour in the chicken stock, cover lid and simmer until vegetables soften.

6. Add the corn starch to thicken the sauce, add Worcestershire sauce.

9. Sprinkle with cheese

7. Pre-heat oven to 200 degree for 20mins.

8. Prepare 2 ramekins and split the chicken and vegetables into 2 portions.

9. Sprinkle generously with Mozzarella cheese.

10. Spread the mashed potato on top and even the surface with a spoon.

11. Decorate with cherry tomatoes (optional). Sprinkle some black pepper on top.

12. Bake for 10mins. Top with Mozzarella cheese and bake until the cheese melted and browned about 2 mins.

10. Spread mashed potato

Notes
You may add other vegetables like mushroom, celery, corn, etc. I only used carrot and onion which are what is available in my fridge ;)

Pair this Shepherd Pie with Focaccia Bread, perfect combination!