Tiramisu

My cousins came over for dinner and I thought a nice dessert would end the night on a nice note... I have 2 bottles of Kahlua sitting in my storeroom and it will be such a waste to just leave it there... so i decided to make Tiramisu... It will be a long long time to go before I finish the Kahlua... But at least I am starting to use it... Isn't this a good start? Anyway, my cousins like it alot... the only comments they had were that the coffee taste was abit too bitter... I did another one for mummy's birthday... and this time round, it was better... Practice makes Perfect... Yumz...

Lotus Paste PIGGY Pau

My tasters tried the pau and radish cake today... and the feedback I received was that the pau was soft and nice... The radish cake was SAAALTY... I knew it! I knew it! haha... It's ok... i will adjust the salt amount and try again...

Since I still have 2/3 packet of lotus paste in the fridge, I shall continue with the Pau... My mum and some staff were laughing at my pau today... They said it looks ugly.. duhz... my mum suggested that I just stick to the usual round shaped pau... sans 'crease'... so "encouraging" huh... But on a positive note, I saw mummy's laughter and it made my day...

While I was weighing and cutting the dough, i suddenly remembered the piggy pau that I ate in one of the Chinese Restaurants in Ion Orchard... Like what my friend said, I just ordered it coz it looks so cute... haha... So i decided to try making some myself... It did not turn out too badly... Rather time consuming to make it though... By the time i reached the last few dough, it has turned a little dry... Anyway, after steaming it, it looks pretty cute... taste wise, it is as good as the pau I did yesterday... Seeing the smile on my darling son's face when I fed him with the pau really made all the effort worthwhile...

Radish Cake - Luo Bo Gao

I think salt is my bane... my first attempt at Radish cake resulted in a salty 'gao'... But this is really not as bad as the curry puff... It doesn't have to go into the bin... haha... I had to grate 1kg of radish for this recipe... i saw many other recipes that calls for 2 or more kg of radish... can't imagine how my arms will end up if I have to grate this obscene amount of radish... Anyway, back to my Radish Cake... after steaming, the radish and flour mixure was cooked thoroughly... I was supposed to leave it in the fridge for a few hours, allow it to set properly and thus making it easier to cut into smaller pieces... But as usual, the impatient me could not keep my hands off the poor Radish Cake... Some parts of the cake stucked to the knife... But I was lucky enough not to mess up the entire Radish Cake... I pan fried some of it... Abit too salty... But if eaten with chilli sauce, it did not turn out too bad, I should say :-D Will improvise the recipe and try again soon :-D

Lotus Paste Pau

I finally bought my new toy today! a STEAMER!!! I think my helper nearly fainted when she heard that I was going to buy a steamer as she always complained "Mummy, no more space already lah"... Well, I went ahead to buy it despite her protests... haha... I have already bought a packet of 'Super Lite Flour' to make pau... Once we got home, I wasted no time in preparing the dough from one of my baking books... It was simpler than I thought... As for the Lotus Paste, I bought the ready made one from Phoon Huat... I thought that I knew how to seal the pau... In the end, the crease went haywire... In fact, I hardly see any crease on top... When the dough proofed, the crease disappeared... haha... Oh well, it's my first try, I shall not be hard on myself... When I opened the lid, I knew i had succeeded... the colour was a nice greenish tinge... and when I peeled it open... the skin was soft and fluffy... The lotus pau was nice... overall, it was a great tea break... Char siew pau next! And I wanna try 'Sheng jian pau' too... Yummy....

Mango Peach Cake

My helper told me that her friends were gonna celebrate another helper's birthday at the void deck 2 days later... A group of them would usually bring their respective charges downstairs everyday and this was how they met each other and became friends... I have people telling me not to let my helper get too close to other helpers... lest they learn bad things... But I feel that they can encourage each other and in fact, learn good things from each other if you allow them to meet... Anyway I followed my helper on some occasions and got to know them... nice friendly girls... So when I heard that they were celebrating a birthday... I decided to make a cake for them to share... I believe this would definitely make their day...my helper's first thoughts were "mummy, I got no money to pay you for the cake lah"... i told her not to worry as I would be buying all the ingredients... They work really hard for their money just to send it back home, I wouldn't want her to pay me for the cake...

My helper invited me to join them but I did not want to follow my helper down as I was afraid they might not feel comfortable when an employer is around... After that, my helper gave me a call and told me that one of her friends wanted to see my cake album... and i also baked some pan de sal... So I went downstairs... the smile and 'thanks' that they all gave me were priceless... And I am glad I made them happy...

Curry Puff

My uncle asked if I could make curry puffs... my first thoughts were "just buy it from Old Chang Kee lah, why go through the hassle?"... But before i know it, I am home sifting through my books, looking for curry puff pastry skin... As for the fillings, I just fried some potatoes with curry powder... the result? I added too much salt... sighz... and it became an ultra salty curry puff... duz... the entire batch was thrown away... Sad... But it will be some time before I make curry puffs again... coz there are just too many new things that I wanna try... Goodbye curry puffs... till we meet again....

Egg Tart

I came back from Hong Kong with a slight regret... I did NOT eat egg tarts... there were just too many yummy stuff in Hong Kong... Our tummy were always filled to its full capacity... So hen I returned... I scoured the internet for egg tart recipes... and i saw the best looking egg tarts on this blog http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2008/04/egg-tarts.html... I was really tempted to bake it...

I was really happy with the final product... The custard was nice, silky and smooth... The crust was fragrant and crumbly... my tasters were full of praise for these tarts... The next day, I tried Soya bean tart... I just replaced milk and water with Soya Bean Milk... i bought the unsweetened one from Cold Storage as I felt it would be easier to gauge the amount of sugar to put in... I only used egg whites in the Soya Bean custard as I did not want a yellowish tinge... While it was baking, I crossed my fingers that it would turn out as nice as the traditional egg custard... It definitely did not disappoint me... YUMzzzz...

This recipe is for keeps...

Apple Tart

I finally have some time to download recent photos onto my lappie... I guess I was just being lazy... Humans are such... When you stop doing something for a while, you tend to lose momentum... And updating my blog is one of the things that I have been neglecting... I kept wondering, updating blogs was for friends and family to read? Or I am doing it for myself... I am actually using this platform to record what I have been doing... Being a borderline computer-idiot, I am afraid information in my lappie will disappear when the lappie die... what about thumbdrive then? i am afraid it will get lost and information is gone again... haha... So guess blogging is the only platform I trust... at the moment... until the day when I totally lose interest in blogging :-D 'nuff said... it's time to update on my bakes...

I love eating Apple Pie... Have tried baking it a few times... Though edible but different results each time... and I know it is not perfect yet... Sad to say, my latest try was a little worse off than the last... haha... It's been some time since I last baked an Apple Pie/Tart... I did the fillings based on what I can remember from memory... but i have to admit, my memory is failing me... I only know cinnamon goes well with apples... the quantity for all ingredients are based on estimates... Well, this is how it turned out... I left it in the oven for a little too long and the top was abit burnt... hohoho... Nevertheless, it was still edible... Definitely room for improvement...

Swiss rolls - Strawberry and Green Tea

I was itching to try swiss rolls again... and since there were beautiful strawberries sold in Cold Storage, I decided to buy a punnet for my swiss roll... It dawned on me that I have a tin of Azuki red bean sitting in my storeroom... I just have this bad habit of letting my foodstuff sitting in the storeroom and before I know it, the expiry date has lapsed and this unopened tin would be thrown into the dustbin... I do feel guilty throwing these things away... So I decided to bake a green tea swiss roll with azuki beans...

The final product was well received... But I received feedback that the green tea sponge was not as soft as the plain sponge used for the strawberry swiss roll... I will bear this in mind and make softer green tea sponge in the future... Nevertheless, I was really happy that it was rolled nicely and the fillings did not drop out when I cut it... GREAT!

Pan de sal - Filipino bread

I was given this recipe by my Filipina cousin-in-law who is currently residing in Perth... She usually buys a big bag of pandesal from a lady who bakes them to sell... and keeps them in the freezer... Anytime they wana eat it, it is taken out, defrost and warmed in the microwave... When my parents went over, they too fell in love with this little plain bun and even got the recipe for me... I have to admit that I have not seen, let alone tried this bun... So I followed the exact recipe... and I will just have to depend on my filipina helper to try it and let me know if this is what she has been eating back home :-D

When I first tried it, my first thoughts were "Nothing fantastic leh"... it's just a plain little bun... just that it is coated with bread crumbs and the bread itself is sweet only... I realised Filipinos like sweet stuff... And surprisingly, my helper said "Yeah, it's really nothing fantastic, but everyone in Philippines eat it like it's part and parcel of their lives"... People there usually eat it with butter... or plain... Lyn shared it with my little one... and it was really fun to watch them share, or rather "fight" over it... And I have to say, this bread is really addictive... Because I made it small, you just kind of continue eating it without realising that this might be your 3rd or fourth bun... I distributed some to my helper's Filipina friends downstairs... One of them brought it home and her employer (who happens to be a Filipino) took 4 at one go... Well, guess I have succeeded in baking this bread... YEAH!