Hokkaido Milk Loaf

Although I had to bake my son's birthday cake and also decorate the house for tomorrow's party, my hands were itching to bake some bread... I browsed through Happy Home Baker's blog and saw some beautiful loaf... Decided to try Hokkaido Milk Loaf... Although I do not have whipping cream at home, I decided to substitute it with milk... I know the bread will not be as great as the original since whipping cream has a thicker consistency and since the recipe asked for it, there must be a reason... nevertheless, I went ahead to make the dough... I wanted to try my Pullman Tin that I just bought today... and since I wasn't sure if the bread would turn out well, I decided to try only half the recipe and use the small tin. I bought 2 sized tins by the way :-D I halved all the dry ingredients... and was happily pouring more than half of the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl, then it dawned on me that I had not halved the wet ingredients! I could be a "thunder" striking my head (yea abit dramatic but that was how I felt.. haha)... I had no choice but to add in the other half of the dry ingredients... and then, another boo-boo happened... I had wanted to try something "different"... I wanted the bread to looked abit coloured (you know, just like the colourful bread that ice cream vendors use to wrap mini scoops of ice cream?)... and my stupid hand poured too much purple colouring into the wet ingredients and the dough became purple-ish... duhz! I wanted to kncok my head on the kitchen top at this moment... haha... but end up, persevering to the end... Hoping that the dough will proof properly.. 2 hours later, I was ready to put the bread into the oven... Though I had used the bigger tin, the dough was too big... while in the oven, it "overflowed" out of the left side of my tin and slightly dented the cover... haiz... my poor tin... "injured" on its first use... my fault my fault...

to cut the story short, the bread was soft and fluffy in the middle... but abit dense at the sides thus making it a little tough by the time it cooled... Anyway, I will try this recipe again... making sure I use all the ingredients mentioned in the recipe...

Raisin Loaf

I had some bread flour lying around in the pantry, I had better use it before it expires... Came across this recipe from Happy Home Baker's blog and decided to try it... I am never confident of baking buns or bread coz the past few times I did, it turned out well on the day it was baked but turned tough by the next day... And bread shouldn't be like that, isn't it? I don't know what has been added to bread sold in bakeries but those bread are always so soft and fluffy... even on the next day, next next day, next next next day... etc... Sighz... I am seriously thinking of buying a bread machine to do the kneading since I have read in many blogs that they always yield nice fluffy bread... I could only depend on my stand mixer to do the kneading for me...But anyway, yea I went ahead to bake this loaf...

It turned out well... Still soft after it has cooled... but the real test is tomorrow... Will it still be soft? To be update... :-D

Chocolate Guinness Cake

I chanced upon this recipe in one of my books... And the recipe calls for Guinness Stout to be added into the batter... I found this interesting... Wondering how will the cake taste when these 2 ingredients are added together... I went to buy a can of stout... I decided to use only 160ml of stout when the recipe states 200ml... The batter was nice and smooth... despite adding lesser stout, the smell was still evident... It took an extra half hour to bake this cake... a total of 1.5hr... Hmm... It was really really dark... but soft and moist... I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and my friend tried it... She likes it...

By the next day, the cake was still soft... Yeah! Success!

Muffins... again

It's been some time since I last baked muffins... Suddenly feel like smelling the nice aroma of freshly baked banana cake/muffin... Since there were no bananas at home, I took a nice slow walk to Cold Storage and bought some groceries and of course a bunch of bananas... I made the mistake of using just-ripened bananas... Ass expected, the muffins wasn't as great as the ones I made before...

My hands were itching to bake more... Looking through my books, I saw the Honey & date muffins... I did not have dates at home... Coincidentally, I bought some raisins just now... So I decided to substitute raisins for dates... The muffins turned out nicely... But by the next day, it is abit hard... Sighz...

Profiteroles

I was thinking of baking the Earl Grey Tea Cake again coz my mum did not get to try it... But I forgot to buy lemon and it is an ingredient necessary to make this cake complete with a nice aroma... So there goes my plan... and I was NOT gonna touch the green tea powder/green tea recipes for the time being... Since I have a new tub of vanilla ice cream in the freezer, I decided to make profiteroles...

Stirring the dough was tiring... And in the recipe, it said "stir till the dough is shiny and falls off the spoon"... But the more I stir, the more sticky the dough became.. sighz... but anyway, I scooped tablespoons of it onto a baking tray and crossed my fingers while it's baking in the oven... My earliest attempt at baking choux pastry was a failure as mentioned in my earlier post... and this nightmare stuck with me till now... 20mins into baking... I saw that the choux pastries were nicely puffed up... and slowly browning... Once it reached a golden hue, I turned off the power and left the oven door open and waited for he pastry to cool...

It was bigger than I had expected... But since it's profiteroles... it is of the right size... Placing a large ball of vanilla ice cream into the pastry and pouring homemade choc sauce onto it made me wanna eat it immediately... I made 2 each for myself, hubby and helper... Finished everything in a flash...

Another recipe to keep! Great when I have guests coming over... Yeah!

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

After the successful Earl Grey Tea cake that I baked yesterday, I became more adventurous and decided to try Green Tea Chiffon Cake... I can only say 'Oh my God'... after mixing the green tea powder into the batter, I felt a little regretful trying this recipe... The smell was a tad strong for my liking... To me, green tea is for drinking, not for eating... I love a nice hot green tea... but the smell of this batter is... weird... But anyway, I specially bought the chiffon tin to try this recipe today... so I did not want it to go to waste... Put the batter into the oven eventually... the aroma coming out from the oven was acceptable... and for a while, I felt abit positive... the cake rise nicely... the top was nicely browned... after it cooled, I cut it... and tried a teeny bit... and i cringed... the green tea taste was abit overwhelming... despite the fact that I added lesser green tea powder than what was listed in the recipe... and when my helper Lyn tried it.. she cringed too.. and her expression was 'priceless'... haha... ok both of us DON'T like it... I'm not saying that the cake was inedible.. I believe there are people out there who can appreciate it... I will bring it to my tasters tomorrow... And I'm just crossing my fingers that they will eat everything... haha...

Earl Grey Tea Cake

I am suffering from flu these few days... But just could not stay in bed... Always think of baking and am always looking out for new recipes...Today, I chose a recipe (from my new baking book) that seems least 'weird' to me... I have to admit, I am not very adventurous when it comes to food/taste... So I usually bake cakes that I think I will eat... But since most of the recipes in this book are green tea and black sesame recipes... I decided to try something less "adventurous"... Earl Grey Tea cake... Found it abit weird that the recipe asked for earl grey tea dust to be mixed with the batter... But anyway, I did what the recipe called for... but my usual practice is to add lesser sugar than what was required... Lemon zest was also added to the batter... It gave the cake a nice lemony aroma...

My helper and me like it... and it goes really well with a nice hot cuppa tea... what a nice relaxing (but HUMID) afternoon... I gave the rest of the cake to my cousin Mag and she brought it to office... She and her colleagues love it... They were the only ones who could taste the earl grey... Lyn and myself could only smell and taste Lemon... haha... Is it just us or what... oh well, Glad they all like it!

Parent's Wedding Anniversary

3rd January is my parent's wedding anniversary... This year, I decided to make a nice dinner at home... and also bake them a cake... My cousin bought me a nice baking book for Christmas, I decided to try one of the recipes inside... Strawberry Shortcake... Coincidentally, strawberry is also one of my mummy's favorite fruits...

My parents were happy to see the cake... Guess this was a pleasant surprise coz they did not expect a cake... But I know deep in their hearts, what made them happiest was the fact that they had their little grandson celebrating their wedding anniversary with them... Haha...

Anyway, the cake was nice... Just that the sponge was abit tough... I would be using my own sponge recipe when making this cake in the future... The layering was nice though... With strawberries in the middle... Sweetness from the cake and moderately sour strawberries does complement each other well... Will definitely bake this cake again!

Chelsey & Cyrus' Birthday Cake

My niece Chelsey and nephew Cyrus' birthday falls on 1st and 4th January respectively... Their mother asked me to make a birthday cake for these lovely kids... And since they asked for chocolate cake... I decided to make a chocolatey cake (my husband called it chocolate overdose cake... duhz)... The basic cake was from my original recipe... the ones I usually bake for sale... as for the decoration, I placed chocolate wafers around it and top it with chocolate nuts... Hope the kids like it! :-D

Roast Chicken Dinner

December 2009 has been a tiring but happy month for me... Did many things... Baked many things... My days were meaningful... And I just wana take a little break... and bake a nice dinner for my family... I came across this recipe on 'Happy Home Baking' blog... Followed the recipe to the 'T' and it turned out really well... The chicken was still moist and tender after being in the oven for 1 1/4hr... My husband loved it!

Will definitely do this again... Yumz...

A great start to a great 2010...:-D