Happy 7!

Every year, when the month of July starts, my boy will ask us, "How many more days to my birthday?". Without fail, he wakes up every morning asking the same old question. He is the baby in the family, and sometimes, I forget that he is going to be 7, and will be a student in Grade 2 (equivalent of P2 in Singapore) when school starts in Fall.

I am glad I take up card-making as a hobby. Without bento-making during the school vacation, card-making helps to keep me sane. And so, I made a card for the baby in the family. I call him "My Little Monster", and so, a monster-themed birthday card is suitable for the occasion. Instead of handing the present and card to him, we opted to go on a treasure hunt. We started with the card. Twice, the birthday boy came down to the living room empty handed. Finally, he found the card on his third attempt, came down and said to us "I saw this but didn't think that it was for me. I like it!". I had been sending cards back home and he thought it was just another card for friends back home. What a silly boy!

As usual, I had been asking him "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?". He chose a combination of strawberry and chocolate. Woo ... lovely combination! But e am one guilty mom. The photograph above was a no-bake Jelly Cheesecake! The heatwave this week made it almost impossible to cook, not to mention bake. The tiny kitchen in the apartment is one big OVEN on its own. I turned Grumpy-Mom since day 1 of the heatwave. A no-bake cheesecake was all that I could handle in the heat of 37C. Well, there was no complaints from the birthday boy, since he knew he was the star of the day, and he loved the jello on the cake!

Birthdays and presents ... they are a good pair. Time for treasure hunt! One for the birthday boy, and the other, for his brother. This has always been the tradition in the family , as we do not want the other child to feel left out.

A DIY kaleidoscope for the birthday boy, since he loved looking through the kaleidoscope at the Botanical Garden.

And a compass for his GorGor. I bought these two items from a gift shop during our visit to Boston.

The finished product. We were both perspiring profusely when we completed the project. Not that it was a strenuous one. My attempt in taking a inside-the-keleidoscope photograph.

After the celebration and just before hubby dear headed out for work, he asked the birthday boy, "过生日开心吗？" ... translated into English, it meant "Are you happy on your birthday?". To which the birthday boy answered in English, "What?! My birthday is over already?!!" in astonishment. Erh .... I'm speechless ... Seems like I have a lot of coaching to do this Summer ....

Banana Cupcakes

Another day of school closure.

Since the boys were at home, and I had some speckled bananas sitting in the pantry, I thought I would use them to bake some cupcakes for their afternoon snacks.

I was keen to use a different recipe, so I did a search on the internet, and found the recipe at AllRecipes.Com. The cupcakes were moist, and I would definitely cut down on the amount of sugar, if chocolate chips were to be included in the cupcakes.

I halved the recipe, and baked some mini cupcakes too. The boys loved the mini ones, as they could just pop one in their mouth. Hmmm, the mini ones were gone within an hour! I will the next time I bake these, I will only do the mini ones =)

The following is adapted from AllRecipes.com. I made some adjustments to the amount.

1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 tbsp Baking Soda

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter (I use salted butter and omit the salt)

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

3 Small Ripe Bananas, Mashed

1/3 cup Buttermilk (I use fresh milk)

1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts (I replace with mini Chocolate Chips)

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
• Line muffin pan with paper liners.
• I use one 6-muffin pan and one 12-mini muffin pan.
• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars till light and fluffy.
• Beat in egg, add in mashed bananas.
• Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Start and end with flour.
• Stir in chocolate chips, leaving a small amount to top the batter later.
• Pour batter into the prepared pans.
• Top the batter with a couple of mini chocolate chips.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or till done.
• The mini cakes should be baked before the bigger ones.
• Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

I didn't really measure the amount of chocolate chips I use. If you are going to use more chocolate chips, you may want to reduce the amount of sugar used. I would love to try this with some chopped walnuts or almonds the next time =)

Japanese CheeseCake!

I have to put an exclamation mark on the title. It's my 6th attempt.

The cheesecake is soft and cottony, and the chilled version is "melt in your mouth". Finally!

The first time I made this cake, the bottom of the cake had this distinct yellow, agar-agar look alike base. But the body of the cake, at least the upper half, was soft and cottony. It was a failed first attempt, despite the heavenly taste of the cake. We happily ate the upper half of the cake, and threw away the bottom half, sadly.

Don't you think the base of this successfully baked cake look like tissue paper? The base of the first cake was no where like the one in the photo =(

Not wanting to admit defeat, I attempted to bake it a second time.

This time, it was better. However, in my hurry, I didn't fold in the flour properly, resulting in tiny lumps of batter. The taste ... still as good, though we couldn't have a full edible cake!

So I tried again, and each time, either the cheese couldn't dissolve properly, or I didn't mix the egg white batter evenly with the cream cheese batter.

Hubby dear would probably say that I'm stubborn, but this "Never Give Up" spirit finally yielded a nice yummy, uniformly baked CheeseCake! It's crazily addicitive!

Here's some points I gathered from my various failed attempts:

• Do not add the egg yolks while the cream cheese mixture is still hot. You definitely do not want the yolks to be cooked in the cream cheese mixture!

• If after stirring for the longest time, you still couldn't get the tiniest bit of cream cheese to dissolve, pour the mixture through a sieve. You will get a smooth and silky cream cheese mixture!

• Make sure the flours are mixed well into the cream cheese mixture. You don't want any lumps in your cottony baked cheesecake.

• Make sure to mix the whipped egg whites evenly with the cream cheese mixture. You do not want streaks of yellow in your cake. However, do not overmix the batters either.

• There is no need to grease the pan. Just line the pan with parchment paper, with sides at least 1.5 inches above the rim of the pan.

• The cake may look baked by the 45th minute, even though the time required is 1.5 hours. Do not take the cake out. Let it bake fully, and tent the top of the cake loosely with aluminium foil if the top of the cake starts to brown too much. Remove the foil during the last five minutes of baking.

Recipe adapted from Aunty Lily's Blog.

100 ml Heavy Whipping Cream or Full Cream Milk

50g Butter

250g Cream Cheese (I use 1 block of 8oz cream cheese, apprx 230g)

60g Al Purpose Flour

20g Corn Flour

6 Egg Yolks

6 Egg Whites

1/4 tsp Cream of TarTar

140g Sugar

• Take the block of cream cheese out to soften at room temperature.
• Separate the egg yolks and egg whites, with the egg whites in a medium mixing bowl.
• Line a 8" square pan with parchment paper, with the parchment paper extending an extra 1.5 inches above the rim of the pan.
• Double boil milk and butter on medium heat.
• When the butter has melted, lower heat and add in cream cheese.
• Remove the bowl of cream cheese mixture from the heat.
• Pour the mixture over a sieve, into a large mixing bowl, to remove the tiny lumps of undissolved cream cheese. The cream cheese mixture has to be in a large mixing bowl as you will be folding in the whisked egg whites later. If your cream cheese mixture is smooth and silky, there is no need for this step.
• Slowly add in the flours and mix well. You don't want any lumps of flours in your cream cheese batter. You should get a smooth mixture. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Set aside the large bowl of cream cheese mixture for later use. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk egg whites till foamy.
• Add the cream of tar tar and whisk on the highest speed.
• Gradually add the sugar as you whisk.
• Continue to whisk the sugar and egg whites till peaks form.
• Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites in two batches to the cream cheese mixture.
• Pour the mixture into an 8" pan lined with parchment paper.
• Steam bake in a preheated oven of 300F/150C for about 1 hour 30 minutes.
• If you are using a springform pan, wrap the pan with heavy duty aluminium foil to prevent any water from sipping into the cheesecake during baking.
• Tent the cake loosely with an aluminium foil when the top of the cake starts to brown.
• Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes.
• Turn the cake onto a plate. Remove parchment paper.
• Invert the cake back onto the cooling rack.
• Continue to cool for another hour or so.
• The cake will shrink as it cools.
• Chill the cake in the fridge after the cooling.

Like I said, it's crazily addictive. Darling sons came home from school and had two slices each, the unchilled slices. They brought the chilled slices to school as snacks. There won't many pieces left after that. Seems like I need to bake this cake again!

Banana Butter Cupcakes

I have 2 speckled bananas sitting on my kitchen top. Each time my boys walk pass them, they say .... yew, yucky!

Yes, I need to bake a banana cake. I found the recipe from Pusiva's Culinary Studio. I like that the cake uses the common baking ingredients found in our pantry. It's a no fuss cake, with no fanciful ingredients, but yet yield a fluffy cake! Instead of baking the cake in a loaf pan, I bake them into cupcakes, as it will be neater for my boys to bring to school as snacks.

The recipe calls for 2/3 cups of mashed bananas. I used 1.5 bananas. What do I do with the remaining 1/2 a banana? Well, I sliced it thinly, and top my cupcakes with them! Hmm, the next time I bake these cupcakes, I will try to use 2 bananas. I don't think the extra bananas will affect the texture of the cupcakes too drastically. Feel free to double the amount in the recipe, as it yields only 10 cupcakes.

1 cup Plain Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/3 cup Butter (approximately 75g)

1/3 cup Sugar

2/3 cup Mashed Bananas

1 Egg

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• Greased and lined a loaf pan.
• Alternatively, line the muffin trays with muffin liners.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
• Beat Butter and Sugar till light and fluffy.
• Add egg and beat well.
• Stir in mashed bananas.
• Fold in flour mixture.
• Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
• If using muffin tray, fill the muffin liners to 2/3 full. Top the batter with a slice of banana.
• If using a loaf pan, bake at 18oC/350F for aout 40 minutes or till a wooden pick inserted comes out clean.
• If using muffin trays, bake at 180C/350F for 10-15 minutes, till a wooden pick inserted comes out clean, and the top is a nice golden brown.
• Let cool completely on a rack before serving.

The cupcakes were very moist and fluffy.

Both boys liked the cupcakes, and the little one asked for a second helping! He's a growing boy, and a greedy one too =)

8 Birthday Cupcakes

Darling son is 8 years old! Oh, how time flies! It seemed like yesterday that I carried a 2.7kg newborn in my arms ... has it really been 8 years?

As usual, he requested for a chocolate and cream cheese cake. I was not in an adventurous mood to try out new recipes. Hence, I used the recipe for Marble Cream Cheese Cake. Instead of a large cake, I baked cupcakes! I had a total of 12 cupcakes. 8 of these cupcakes would be used for the birthday, and the other 4, for food tasting, and snacks before the birthday song singing.

The birthday boy was a little disappointed that he had only 8 small cupcakes as his birthday cake. He is used to having one big cake. And he asked "Mama, there is no frosting on my cake?". Oops. I was so busy this week, that I tried to take a few short cuts.

He was back to his cheerful self after taking a bite into the cupcake, and after receiving his presents. Sorry to disappoint you, son. I promise you that you will have frosting on your next birthday cake ... and a big cake too!

Marble Cream Cheese Cake

I knew I had to bake it when I saw it on House of Annie.

Thanks, Annie, for sharing the recipe on your blog.

My boys love the cake! So do I =)

Chocolate Cake Batter

180g Butter

170g Sugar

20g Cocoa Powder

120g Self-Raising Flour

or

120g All Purpose Flour + 1.5 tsp Baking Powder + 0.5 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

3 Eggs

• Cream butter and sugar till creamy.
• Beat in eggs one at a time.
• Fold in dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
• Divide batter into half. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Batter

250g Cream Cheese (I use one block, which is less than 250g)

60g Castor Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Egg

• Beat all ingredients and mix well.
• Pour half the Chocolate Cake Batter into a 7" round/square pan.
• Pour all the cream cheese batter on top.
• Pour the remaining Chocolate Cake Batter on top of the cream cheese batter.
• This layer is quite thin, so just try your best to cover.
• You can swirl with a chopstick to get the marble effect, or leave it as it is.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 1 hour, or till skewer comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool completely before slicing.

I am going to bake this cake again!

Summer Cake

In most food blogs, this cake is known as Fruit Pastry Cake.
To me, it is a "Summer" Cake.

I can use any kind of fruits found in Summer, to top the cake ... strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, pineapples, and many more! I like the cheerfulness of this cake! It brightens my day!

And the clever use of icing sugar to "dress up" the cake!

在炎热的夏天，带来一丝丝凉意！

Recipe adapted from Happy Home Baking.

100g/7tbsp Butter (Soften)

200g Sugar

50g Sour Cream/Yogurt

3 Eggs (Lightly Beaten)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Lemon/Orange Zest

1.5 cups All Purpose Flour

1/3 cup Wholemeal Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

500g Fruits (Tossed with 2tbsp sugar)

• Grease the sides of a 9" round pan, or 8" square pan.
• Line the base with parchment paper.
• Cream Butter and Sugar and Yogurt.
• Dribble in the eggs gradually.
• Beat till corporated.
• Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine.
• Add flours and baking powder.
• Mix till smooth.
• Pour into pan.
• Arrange fruits on top. Don't press fruits down.
• If using canned fruits, wash the fruits to remove syrup and omit the sugar. Do not use fruits which are too juicy.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for 60-70 minutes.
• Cover top with foil the last 15 mins if the top is getting burnt.
• Leave cake to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.
• Unmold and transfer to rack to let cool completely.
• Dust with icing sugar.

The aroma of the cake baking in the oven was irresistible!

KW kept asking for more, as he liked the crispiness of the edge of the cake. The cake, however, did not taste as good when left overnight. Putting it back into the oven to bake for a little while helped in bringing out the flavor of the cake again. The next time I bake it, I will use bananas to top the cake, and add some mashed bananas into the cake. Everyone in the house love bananas, but not everyone like strawberries!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I love cream cheese, and I love eating cakes!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake ... to the rescue!

The recipe is adapted from Little Corner of Mine. Thanks for sharing the recipe! The recipe is definitely a keeper! Subtle taste of cream cheese, soft and cottony .... hmmm ....

1/2 cup (1 stick or 113g) Butter, Softened

3/4 cup Sugar

1/2 pkg (4 oz) Cream Cheese

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 Eggs (Large)

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Grease and flour a 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" loaf pan.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter till soft.

4. Add sugar and continue beating till light and fluffy.

5. Add cream cheese and continue beating, about 1 min.

6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

7. Add vanilla extract, mix well.

8. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

9. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

10. Beat until well blended.

11. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

12. Bake for about 40 minutes or till done.

13. Let stand in the loaf pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack.

14. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

15. Cut and store in an air-tight container.

This cake will be a regular on my table .... love that I just need to put everything into the mixing bowl and let the mixer do the work =)

Happy Birthday, Janice!

It's my friend, Janice's birthday, and she mentioned that she would not be baking a cake for her birthday. Like me, she's a stay-home=mom, and is always baking and cooking for her family. How can she not have a cake for her birthday?! So I told her, I would bake a cake for her and her family to enjoy!

Another recipe from the book "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. Instead of baking it into a square, I used a round pan. It's in every way, a simple cake. All I needed to do was to get ready the ingredients, mix it in minutes by hand, and 40 minutes later, I get a nice looking and tasty cake! Wonderful!

For the cake :

1 1/4 cups Sugar (I use 1 cup)

1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 cup Whole Milk

2 Large Eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

10 tbsp Unsalted Butter, Melted and cooled

Pinch of Salt

For the filling :

2 tbsp Sugar }

2 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon } Stir together

3 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp Instant Espresso Powder (I omit this)

For the frosting :

6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped

2 1/2 tbsp Unsalted Butter, cut into 4 pieces

Getting Ready :

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
• Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

Making the Cake :

• In a large bowl : Whisk together the flour, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, baking powder, salt and 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon.
• In another bowl : Whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla.
• Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and gently whisk until you have a homogenous batter.
• Using the whisk or the spatula, fold in the butter with a light touch.
• The batter should be smooth and satiny.
• Scrape half of the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
• Sprinkle the 3 oz of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate over the batter.
• Dust with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
• Cover with the rest of the batter and smooth the top again.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or till the cake is puffed and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 15 minutes before unmolding it onto another rack. Peel off paper, invert it onto the first rack, and cool to room temperature, right side up.

Making the Frosting :

• Melt the 6 oz of chocolate with the unsalted butter.
• Be careful not to overheat the mixture so much that it thins out.
• The chocolate should be smooth,very shiny and spreadable.
• Using a spoon, or a table knife, spread the frosting in generous sweeps and swirls over the top of the cake. Allow the frosting to set at room temperature, then cut the cake into 9 squares, each about 2 1/2 inches on a side.

There was some leftover frosting. I had some not-so-sweet strawberries sitting on my dinning table. I dipped the strawberries into the frosting and let the frosting set. My boys had them as their after-school snack ... my elder one who was not a fan of strawberries, actually asked for more!

I hope Janice and Family enjoys the cake as much as I enjoy baking it ... Happy Birthday, Janice!

Banana Cake

"Mama, can we have banana cake for snacks tomorrow?"

asked my little boy.

"Ok, since the bananas are over-riped." I told him.

"Yeah, we are going to have banana cake tomorrow!"

... chatted the little one, over and over again!

Sometimes, when I have no idea what to bake, I will ask the boys what they would like to eat. So far, they have requested for chocolate cake/muffins/cookies, cheese cakes and doughnuts. The banana cake came as a surprise to me. I suppose the two over-riped bananas must have looked yucky to the little one, and to get rid of it, he requested for banana cake? He knows I dislike throwing away food, leftovers especially, and that I have been using over-riped bananas in bakes ... kids are observant, and we adults, sometimes, have to be on our best behavior too =)

Since I was at Little Corner of Mine searching for a soup recipe, I took the opportunity to search for a banana cake recipe as well. It was worth the search. The loaf of banana cake rose beautifully in the loaf pan. Although the amount of butter used was a little too much to my liking, I gave myself the excuse that I needed that little extra "fuel" to lift my rather low spirits .... eating and seeing the people around me enjoy my bakes definitely helps to lift my low spirits and bring on a smile.

7 tbsp Butter, softened

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 Big Bananas, mashed (I use 2 medium bananas)

1/8 cup Whole Milk

1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence

• In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• In another bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
• Add egg, beat till smooth.
• Add milk, vanilla essence and mashed bananas. Mix well.
• Add the flour mixture.
• Beat till combined.
• Pour into a lined 9" x 4.5" loaf pan.
• Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes, or till a pick inserted comes out clean.
• Tent the cake with a piece of aluminium foil if the top browns before the cake is baked.
• Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
• Invert and let cool on cooling rack.
• Store in an air-tight container.

The cake is really soft! It took a little longer than 30 minutes to bake, as I added two bananas instead of one. My bananas were not too sweet, so it was just the right amount of sweetness in this loaf. The crust was crispy, and the inside, soft. Hmmmm ... definitely a keeper, despite the high butter content.

Chocolate Banana Cake

Two ripened bananas, left untouched for the last couple of days, had been calling out to me. I had been ignoring them. There were cakes and cookies baked for the long Christmas weekend. Since the bakes didn't last us very long, it's time for me to acknowledge the presence of these bananas! Tired of baking the usual Banana Loaf, Banana Muffins, I googled and found a recipe combining two of my favorite ingredients ... Banana and Chocolate!

The Chocolate Banana Cake recipe is adopted from JoyofBAKING.com.

The cake posted on the website looked so moist and yummy! I couldn't wait! I had to bake immediately, after looking at the photo and recipe!

I halved the recipe given.

Chocolate Banana Cake

200g Granulated Sugar

122g All Purpose Flour

38g Cocoa Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 Large Egg

1/2 cup Mashed Banana (About 1.5 Medium Bananas)

1/2 cup Warm Water

1/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup Canola Oil (I use Olive Oil)

3/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
• Spray and grease a 8" square pan.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
• Stir till just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked for 35-40 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool on a wire rack.
• When completely cooled, frost with ganache.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

4 oz Bittersweet or Semi-sweet Chocolate, cut into small pieces

90 ml Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

• Place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof or stainless steel bowl.
• Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Bring just to a boil.
• Pour the boiling cream over the bowl of chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
• Stir until smooth.
• When the ganache has completely cooled, beat until soft and fluffy.
• Spread frosting on the cake.

I left the cake in the fridge for about half an hour, to allow the frosting to set. The cake was moist and not overly sweet even with the chocolate frosting. It remained moist even when we left in overnight in the fridge.

This cake is definitely a keeper! Hubby dear who is not a fan of cakes, chocolate cakes especially, helped himself to two servings of the cake =)

Definitely a good looking birthday cake when decorated with fruits! Darling son always asks for chocolate cake for his birthday ... I know what to bake for his birthday next year!

White Chocolate and Cream Cheese!

I love using cream cheese as my cake frosting and I love baking chocolate cakes! But how often do you bake a cake that uses white chocolate?

There were many boxes of cream cheese sitting in my fridge. They were picked up during the christmas sale. Sitting in the fridge, good neighbour to the boxes of cream cheese, was the bar of leftover white chocolate, which I bought for Santa's beard. Bake a cake using cream cheese and white chocolate? Not common. I tried my luck on google search and found the perfect recipe from BakingBites!

White Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 cup Butter, soften

3/4 cup Sugar

2 Large Eggs

4 oz White Chocolate

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 cup + 1 tbsp Milk (I use 1 cup)

• Preheat oven to 325F.
• Line muffin pans with 18 cup liners.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Melt the white chocolate in a microwave. Stir till smooth.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar till light.
• Beat in eggs one at a time.
• Beat in melted white chocolate and vanilla extract.
• Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and milk, and ending with a final addition of the flour mixture.
• Mix until just incorporated.
• Divide batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
• Bake at 325F for 20-30 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool on a wire rack.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

1/4 cup Butter, Soften

1 oz White Chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 tsp Milk or cream

2-3 cups Confectioners' Sugar (I use only 3 tbsp)

• In a large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and melted chocolate.
• Beat in milk and vanilla extract.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

The cakes tasted so good, I almost forgot to take photographs of them! I was too busy sinking my teeth into the cakes! Although white chocolate was used in the cake, the cake was not overly sweet. It was soft, and the combination of cream cheese and white chocolate was just perfect! The kids loved it so much, they had two cupcakes at one go! I packed a box of mini trees for my neighbour's kids ... Hope they like it as much as we do!

A merry white christmas, with little white trees =)

Santa Claus, Ho Ho Ho!

Dear Santa,

Christmas is just four days away.

Will you be coming to my house?

But we do not have a chimney.

How are you getting in?

The door is locked, and so are all the windows.

The only way you can get in is .... from the toilet bowl??

Hope to have you visit us ... I don't mean seeing you in the toilet bowl =)

Love, KW

=====================

December, Christmas, and Santa Claus!

I was reading the book "Jigsaw Jones Mystery : The Case of the Santa Claus Mystery" to my boys the other night. That was when I asked them how Santa Claus could enter our house ... and we concluded that the only way into our house is through the toilet bowl! Gross? Well, what do you expect when you have two boys? We had a good laugh over our answer though!

At the same time, I tried to explain to the boys, that Christmas is not just about receiving presents. We are not Christians. My interpretation of modern day Christmas ... Family bonding, being thankful of what we have, and the spirit of giving. And that kind of answered their question of "Why are these people holding bells in the shopping malls, with a tin in front of them?" whenever we see volunteers from the Salvation Army at shopping malls.

Since we had a friend coming over for dinner tonight, I took the opportunity to bake a cake, and decorated the cake as Santa Claus! He has finally made an appearance in our house ... ok, not through the toilet bowl.

I baked a carrot cake, and borrowed the idea from Happy Homebaking.

The carrot cake was not too sweet. It was not too dry when I took it out from the fridge. I wanted to use strawberries for Santa's hat, but the strawberries at the supermarket didn't look too fresh. Instead, I opted for red sugar sprinkles. The white chocolate beard was really difficult to curl! You see big and long curls in Happy Homebaker's Santa's beard ... mine are really short! It was a tough job shaving the chocolate. Hugs and *kisses* to hubby dear for helping me prepare Santa's beard!

Despite the not-so-nice appearance of Santa (on second thought, it didn't quite look like him), we all enjoyed the cake! Darling son KW even asked for a second slice! He is the one who said "No carrot cake for me!" when I told him I'm baking a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!

Cheese Brownies

I needed to make some afternoon school snacks for the kids. However, I was running short of time, and didn't want to spend too much time on gathering the ingredients for the bake. So I settled on a pack of premix instead .. Betty Crocker's Brownie Mix. It never failed to bring on a smile when the boys have it as their after school snack. I felt that the usual brownies needed a "make over", so I decided to use up the pack of cream cheese I had in the fridge, and turned them into Cheese Brownies!

It was easy preparing the Brownie mix. All I needed to do was add an egg, more water to get cake-like brownies, and some oil. As for the cream cheese, all I needed was to cream 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla with an 8oz packet of cream cheese, along with an egg yolk and 1/3 cup of sugar. Spread the cream cheese on top of the brownie batter. Use a knife or toothpick to swirl through the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 30 minutes.

The box of cheese brownies didn't last long ... just enough for an afterschool snack for the boys, and breakfast the next morning =)

Monkey's Favourite Cake

It had been snowing non-stop since morning. The snow will go on for the next 24 hours, and 12 inches of snow is predicted for tomorrow. School may be closed, we are not sure. Will have to wait till tomorrow morning to find out.

Updates from Accuweather read " Dangerous Blizzard to strike Midwest". The wind chill temperature outside in the afternoon was at 9 degree Celsius below zero. On such cold, snowy days, I love the aroma of soup simmering on the stove, or bakes from the oven! So today, the kids will be having the Monkey's Favourite Cake for their after-school snacks!

Adapted from Cook's Library, Cooking for Kids

125g Butter or Margarine

125g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

125g Self Raising Flour, sifted

2 Bananas, mashed

Icing sugar, for dusting

Filling

50g Ground Almonds

50g Icing Sugar, sifted

1 Small Banana, mashed

1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

• Line and grease two 18cm (7 inch) sandwich tins.
• Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time.
• Add a tablespoon of flour with the second egg.
• Fold in the remaining flour with the mashed bananas.
• Divide the mixture between the prepared tins.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350F (180C), for 25 minutes, or till the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
• Turn out the cakes on to a wire rack to cool.
• To make the filling, mix the ground almonds with the icing sugar.
• Add the banana and lemon juice.
• Mix to a smooth paste.
• Sandwich cakes together with the filling and dust with icing sugar.

The kids loved the taste of bananas in the cake and filling!

The cake was not too dense, and was very moist.

I grind some sliced almonds using my coffee beans grinder. I was a little too enthusiastic in my grinding, and some ground almonds "clamped" together at the end of the grinding. Only then I remembered that over-grinding will allow the oil from the almonds to help turn the almonds into almond paste. Had to discard some portion of the "clamped together" ground almond in the end. I omitted the icing sugar, as I find the sweetness of the cake with the filling just right for my taste buds. Instead of using two sandwich tins, I used a round baking tin, and halved the cake horizontally.

This cake is definitely a keeper!

There's only half a cake left in the box for tomorrow ...

Nutella Swirl Cake/Cupcakes

I used to bake these back on the tiny island called the Little Red Dot. Mini Nutella Swirl Cupcakes, to be exact. I love mini bakes ... small enough to be popped into the mouth, especially when you need a snack while working. However, I do not have any mini muffin pans with me in the woods. Since hubby dear will need to stay back late in the laboratory tomorrow evening to finish his experiments, I used my loaf pans to bake as cakes instead of cupcakes. He can share the mini-loaf with his classmates, while the boys and I have can share the bigger loaf at home!

Recipe from I heart CuppyCakes

10 tbsp (140g) Butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups (200g) All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
Nutella About 1/3 cup (I just scoop what I need)

• Preheat oven to 350F, since I am baking a cake instead of cupcakes.
• If baking cupcakes, preheat oven to 325F instead.
• Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, and cream both till light and fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time.
• Add vanilla extract.
• Stir in Flour, Salt and Baking Powder.
• Fill one third of the loaf pan with the batter and spread evenly.
• Spread a thick layer of Nutella on the batter.
• Top the Nutella with batter and fill the pan to 2/3 full.
• Top the batter with more Nutella. Swirl the Nutella with a toothpick.
• Fold a bit of the batter over the Nutella.
• Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes or till done.

This is a "Once-in-a-long-While" type of cake as the amount of butter is too much to my liking. I omit the frosting, as I find cakes with frosting a tad too sweet for my taste buds. The cake itself is sweet without the frosting, and the sides are a little crispy. The Nutella moistens the cake and it makes a good after school snack!

A Day of Baking

Mom has gone crazy .. she is very sleep-deprived.

Coffee keeps her alive, and baking herself awake!

It's so easy to fall asleep while reading to the kids on the bed, sitting down playing with them .... better to stand and keep herself busy in the kitchen. And she gets to play with her new "toys" =)

Toy #1 : 4-inch Springform Pan

Since darling son KW requested for a cheesecake, a request which I had been ignoring for days, I finally get around to doing it today, using my newly acquired 4-inch springform pan from Wilton. The colourful sprinkles and the happy smiles on darling sons' faces cheered me up at the end of a tiring day ...

Toy #2 : Dinosaurs Cookie Cutters

I prepared the wholemeal cookie dough yesterday, as I was tired of packing Fruit Crisps and store-bought Chocolate Chips cookies for darling son KW as snacks in school. I was not in the mood to bake or try out new recipes last couple of weeks. The dinosaur cookie cutters, which I bought from Amazon, together with my three other dougnut pans, had been sitting in the drawer for almost a month. It was not difficult to cut the dinosaurs out when the dough was firm and just out from the fridge. But after two rounds of rolling, the neck broke when I tried to lift the dinosaur onto the baking tray. That's why I ended up with flowers, hippopotamus and elephants. They were a lot smaller than the dinosaurs, and easier to lift onto the baking tray without breaking. I used mini M&Ms as the eyes this round, instead of chocolate rice. They did make the animals looked more alive! Of course, the boys preferred the bigger eyes to the tiny chocolate rice! They had the cookies for their afternoon snack, and finished a quarter of what was baked! Growing boys?

Ok, time to try out some new recipes next week ....

I Love Cream Cheese!

I'm in love with cream cheese ... couldn't stop thinking about her ... especially the yummy cream cheese frosting on darling son's birthday cake two days ago =)

The body must have been starved of sugar. Is that why I'm feeling so tired?

So today, I baked a Yogurt Cake, and topped it with cream cheese frosting!

I added some lemon juice instead of Nutella this time round.

Mmmm ... Bake the Yogurt Cake using olive oil instead of butter ... less sugar added into the cake ... yogurt and eggs ... it did make me feel less guilty when eating the frosted cake =)

Cream Cheese Power!

Helps to fuel me through the week!

The Power Miners Rule!

My birthday cake! My Mama baked it for me =) Thank you Mama!

I love the red rock monster, Meltrox!

And I love the miner on the Stone Chopper!

Mama said the cake didn't look very nice, after she frosted it.

But since it was suppose to be the mining ground, she said she could be excused for her bad frosting skills. She added Nutella into the cream cheese, that's why it looked brown .. "Like mud" she said ... Ha Ha.

But I love the cake! I love cream cheese too!

I enjoyed licking the frosting off the spoon after the cake was frosted =p

The inside of the cake! Soft and light, and not too sweet.

See the thick layer of cream cheese? Yummy!

The red crystal! I finally get to own one!

Do you know, Meltrox gets very powerful when he eats the red crystals!

Go, Power Miners, go! Go get the crystals!

The Underground Mining Station! Awesome!
Thank you Waipo, Waigong, and Yi Yi, for sending me this set!

Thank you again, for sending my brother the Mine Mech and the Granite Grinder! I wonder if my brother would let me play with them ... Hmm ..

Thank you Ah Gong, for sending me the Lego Racers, and my little brother the Mail Plane.

Thank you Papa and Mama, for getting me the Coast Guard Helicopter and Life Raft, and my brother, the Coast Guard 4WD and Jet Scooter.

I had great fun playing with my LEGO today!

The Power Miners rule!

The Power Miners rock!

Nutella Butter Cake

"What kind of cake would you like for your birthday?" I asked my boy.

"Chocolate!" came the reply.

This would be his standard answer every year. He is a big chocolate fan. Anything chocolate, he will eat. His birthday falls on a Saturday, and I don't want to waste a Saturday morning baking a cake, cooling it, then frosting it. I am not a big fan of frosted cakes/cookies either. A dust of icing sugar is good enough for me. I find frosted cakes too sweet. But for a kid, a birthday cake is not a birthday cake if it turns out plain with just a candle, without the frosting. Like the one below ...

I have been looking through books and blogs, hoping to find a recipe that will yield a light and yet "not-overly-sweet" cake. In addition, the cake should taste good when left overnight, as I am planning to frost it only the next day. After looking through many recipes, I finally settled on Nutella Butter Cake, from HappyHomeBaking. Thank you, HappyHomeBaking, for sharing yet another yummy recipe from your kitchen =)

As I have no idea how sweet the cake will taste, I pour half the batter into an 8" disposable shallow round pan, and the other half, I pour it into my "GingerBread Man and Christmas Trees" pan from Wilton. This way, the kids can have the "GingerBread Man and Christmas Trees" as snacks after school, and I get to taste the sweetness of the cake as well.

The "Gingerbread Man" cake has a little crispy on the outside, maybe because I have left them in the oven for a little longer than I should have. But the cake itself is very soft! I could do with a little less sugar the next round, or maybe, a little less Nutella. As for the cake itself, I think I have underbaked it ... so I did a second cake, using half the recipe, after dinner.

Will have to wait till tomorrow, and hopefully the cake taste good with Nutella Cream Cheese frosting!

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese
4 tbsp Butter
3 tsp Icing Sugar
1-2 tbsp Nutella

• Beat the cream cheese and butter.
• Add Nutella. Mix well.
• Add icing sugar. Adjust to taste.
• Spread on cake and leave cake in the fridge to set the frosting.

Yummy! I love cream cheese!