Cook: My Favourite Butter Cake Recipe (Cranberry and Walnut)

Cranberry and Walnut Butter Cake

I have tried a few butter cake recipes and this is by far my favourite. The butter cake is nice and buttery and received good feedback from those who tried. each time i make them, it is gone in less than a day :)

Adapted recipe from: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/11/walnut-butter-pound-cake.html

INGREDIENTS:

1. 120g of self raising flour, sieved
2. 2 eggs
3. 100g of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
4. 80g of castor sugar
5. 50g walnut
6. 20g of dried cranberry

METHODS:

1. Beat the butter and sugar over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in colour.
2. Whisk the eggs, stir in the egg to the butter mixture and combine well.
3. Add in the flour and combine well, do not over mix.
4. Add walnut and cranberry into the batter and pour into baking tray.
5. Bake in oven preheated at 180 degree celcius for 35-40 minutes or until it is done.
6. Enjoy!

cheeky girl with the butter cake before baking

Cook: Ribena Marble Cheesecake

Ribena Cheesecake!

I have some leftover ribena in the fridge and found this easy to make ribena cheesecake. The colour is pretty with the twirls in it so decided to give it a try.

Hubby says it taste good, but the texture is a bit jelly-ish. If i were to re-attempt it again, i should reduce the amount of gelatine.

Recipe is from this blog:
http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2009/02/yummy-delight.html?m=1

Nevertheless, it is a nice and refreshing cake...

INGREDIENTS:

Base:
1. 150g digestive biscuit
2. 60g unsalted butter

Cheesecake:
1. 100ml water
2. 2 tablespoon of gelatine
3. 250g of cream cheese, soften at room temperature
4. 75g of castor sugar
5. 250ml of natural plain yogurt
6. 75ml of Ribena blackcurrent juice ( I used the unsweetened version of Ribena)

METHODS:

1. Crush the digestive biscuit using a roller and place it into your baking tin.
2. Pour melted butter over the biscuit and mix well. Press the biscuit mixture tightly using the back of a spoon.
3. Set aside in the fridge for 2 hours for the base to set.
4. Put the gelatine into 100ml of water and allow it to swell for 10 mins. Then place the gelatine into a pot of hot water and allow the gelatine to melt, set aside for it to cool down to room temperature.
5. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
6. Add gelatine and yogurt, beat until mixture is smooth
7. Divide the mixture into two bowl and add the Ribena cordial into one of the bowl and mix well.
8. Spoon the two mixture in an alternate blobs into the chilled base. When it is done, swirl the mixture with a knife to create a marble effect.
9. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4-6 hours for the cheesecake to set.
10. Enjoy!

Eat: Cathay Restaurant at Horizon Hill, Johor

Had dinner at Cathay Restaurant Horizon Hill to celebrate my BIL's birthday.... Love the view from the restaurant as it overlooks the Horizon Hill's golf course. If you come on an afternoon, might be able to spot some golfer playing :) We went for dinner so not much people playing golf already.

This restaurant is also one of the popular spot for wedding dinner for those staying in the vicinity but there is no wedding dinner today, so the kids are playing on the stage...tsk tsk!

Playing at the stage while waiting for food

One of our favourite dish: Mongolian Chicken.. this item is not on the menu but one can just order it off the menu. Mongolian sauce is a bit peppery and goes well with white rice. We order a large portion for this...(sorry, can't remember the price as it is not on the menu, should be in the range or RM20plus to RM30plus)

Mongolion Chicken

Broccoli with black mushroom, this dish is a surprise, everyone likes it. Broccoli is fresh and crunchy and top with succulent black mushroom.

Broccoli with black mushroom, RM 24 small portion

Sambal kang kung, this  vegetable dish fare pale in comparison with the broccoli....

Sambal kang kung RM 14 for small portion

Prawn salad with fruits... deep fried prawn top with mayonnaise and cashew nut and fruits. What more can i say :)

Prawn salad RM40 small portion

Crispy fried cuttlefish with egg yolk... a dish that never goes wrong. Yum Yum!!! My cholesterol level is going haywire :((

Crispy fried cuttlefish with egg yolk RM 24 for small portion

Claypot bean curd, also not on the menu. Soft bean curd cooked with a variety of vegetable and seafood. Yum! Price in range of RM 10 plus to RM20.

Claypot bean curd 

After meal, its time for birthday cake. Love this chocolate mud cake from Moonlight Cafe, chocolate sponge and chocolate cream, top with lots of strawberries and chocolate :)

Chocolate mud cake

yum yum!

ADDRESS:

CATHAY RESTAURANT @ HORIZON HILLS

No 1, Jalan Eka,

Horizon Hills,

79100, Nusajaya,

Johor

Tel: + 607 232 8633, +6014 6188038

OPENING HOURS:

11.30am-3.30pm

5.30pm-10pm

Note: Do give them a call before going over, as there are times that the restaurant is not open due to function or wedding.

Eat: Seafood Paradise, Singapore

Had a pleasant meal at Seafood Paradise few weeks back. Their good is generally good and i particularly like their Butter Crab with some coconut on top. Its really creamy with a hint of white pepper taste... goes very well when dipped with steamed mantou.

Butter Crab with Coconut ($58.50)

Stir fry kai lan is good, freshly stir fry and top with crunchy ikan bilis.

Stir Fry Kai Lan -$12.90

Their cod fish is also fresh and love the "cai po" on top. Add crunch to the soft fish.

Steamed Cod Fillet -$24.90

First time trying fried frog, usually the dishes is cooked with ginger or in clay pot. Its quite nice when its fried too and surprisingly meaty too! I think their frog should be quite fat.. can still have so much meat after frying :p

Fried Ginger Frog (Small)-$18.90

Order the chicken wings cause my daughter order it.. nothing spectacular.

Honey Grilled Chicken Wings (Small) -$ 12.90

ADDRESS:

#03-059,

Singapore Changi Airport,

Terminal 2,

60 Airport Boulevard,

Singapore
Tel: +65 6214 9655

OPENING HOURS:

Daily 11am-11pm

Last Order 10.30pm

Play: FACE SG Photoshoot (Super love how the photos turned out!)

As promised, am sharing the photos taken during our FACE SG photoshoot :) Love how the photos turns out.. can see that the kids has lots of fun and lots of candid moments :)

En xin learning to walk

Pretty model

Two cutiess

See who reaches the finish line first!

A candid smile...

Picnic time...Have some fruits everyone!

Cuddling time

Time to study.. or daydreaming?!!

En xin's nerdy look

Headache... always ask me to study!!!

The answer is "one"

Cook: Salted Egg Yolk Pumpkin Ball, Celery and Mushroom

Difficulty: 2/5

I have always like salted egg yolk dish and will always order whenever we go out and eat. I feel that with salted egg yolk dish, one can hardly goes wrong. Of course, the only thing that could go wrong is my cholesterol level... :(

Only recently when i was browsing through recipes that i realise it is actually not hard to cook a salted egg yolk dish. Basically, you just need to fry whatever dish that u wanted, then prepare the salted egg yolk sauce and mix them together. So, gave it a try few days back and it was successful on first attempt :) 

Love how this dish turns out.. One might think that using celery is weird, but it turns out to be soft and nice without the raw celery taste after cooking. Love it!

INGREDIENTS:

1. Pumpkin, a pinch of salt and black pepper, olive oil

2. Dried mushroom, soaked and remove the stalk, pat dry

3. Celery, cut to desired size

4. One egg

5. 1/2 cup tapioca flour

6. 1/4 cup of corn flour

7. 2 salted egg yolk

8. 2 tablespoon of butter

9. Curry leaves

10. Chilli padi (optional)

METHODS:

To prepare the pumpkin ball

1. Remove the skin and seeds from pumpkin

2. Cut to small pieces

3. Add salt, black pepper and olive oil

4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree celcius for 15 minutes. 

5. Mash the pumpkin, set aside.

Deep fried the pumpkin, mushroom and celery

1. Roll the pumpkin into ball shape.

2. Mix the tapioca flour with corn flour evenly.

3. Dip the pumpkin ball, mushroom, and celery into the egg and then the flour mixture

4. Deep fry until golden. Set aside.

Prepare the salted egg yolk sauce

1. Steam the egg yolk until its cooked. about 5 minutes

Cooked egg yolk

2. On a pan, melt the butter and then add the salted egg yolk and curry leaves...stir fry until the egg yolk turns slightly watery and bubbly as shown in picture.

3. Add the deep fried pumpkin ball, celery and mushroom. Stir well to coat.

4. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Cook: Buttery Raisin and Chocolate Chips Scones (simple steps and don't need kitchen aid)

Difficulty: 3/5

Scones is one of English's favourite afternoon tea set ... It is usually serves with clotted cream and jam.... or one can also enjoys them as it is with a cup of English tea... 

I came across this scones recipe from desserts tales (http://desserttales.com/2013/12/simple-scones/) and has been thinking of making them for quite sometime, finally got down to making them :) 

I made some changes to the amount of sugar... and increase the butter. I only used half of the amount of milk/egg/vanilla extract mixture because it started to get quite wet after i pour in half of the mixture .. so will be halving the amount of the milk mixture in the recipe that i share below.

I also took a little of the scones mixture and added a tablespoon of cocoa powder in an attempt to make some mickey mouse scones, but they ended up looking more like an ugly bear.. well, its mummy's little attempt to make the kids happy... its the thought that counts right....hehe!

INGREDIENTS:

1. 2 cups of plain flour

2. 1/8 cup of brown sugar ( can use castor sugar if you wish to, i ran out of castor sugar therefore using brown sugar)

3. 1 teaspoon of baking powder

4. 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

5. 120g of cold, cube butter

6. 1/4 cup of fresh milk

7. 1/2 egg

8. 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

9. A handful of raisins and chocolate chips

METHODS

1. Sieve together plain flour, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda

2. Toss in the cold, cubed butter and rub them together with your hand until the flour mixture turns coarse (as shown in picture)

Coarse mixture

3. Add in raisins and chocolate chips or anything that you like (e.g.: dried cranberries etc), set aside.

Added raisins and chocolate chips

4. In another bowl, mix well the milk, egg and vanilla extract.

5. Pour the milk mixture bit by bit into the flour mixture, mixing well after each pour.

6. Stop pouring the milk mixture when the dough starts to get sticky.

7. Roll them into round shape and flatten them a bit.

8. Brush the top with some leftover milk mixture

9. Baked in preheated oven at 200 degree celcius for 18 minutes or until the top turns golden brown

Note: I took a small dough out and mix with a tablespoon of cocoa powder in an attempt to make a cute mickey mouse shape... turns out to be an ugly bear...

Before baking

Before baking

After baking.. my ugly bear...

Yummy scones

Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear

Cook: My maiden attempt on cream cake--Mango Longan Cream Cake

My first cream cake :)

Difficulty: 4/5

I have always wanted to attempt making cream cake but always being put off because of its lengthy steps. One have to prepare the cake sponge base first and then assemble them with the cream and then garnish... I always find it a hassle.

Recently, I joined this Spore Home Cooks Group on Facebook and there are so many good cooks there, many of them have attempted making cream cake and it looks very pretty and yummy so i decided to try one on my own :)

Made one mango cream cake for aunt's birthday... Even though the steps are tedious but I am glad that i made it. It received good feedback from those who tried and although the cake doesn't looks very pretty but for my first attempt, i am satisfied :)

Adapted the recipe from:
http://mandysbakingjourney.blogspot.sg/2013/11/hokkaido-chiffon-cupcakes-with-vanilla.html
http://www.pinaycookingcorner.com/2013/05/mango-cake-with-mango-cream-frosting.html

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Base
(A)
1. 3 egg yolk
2. 20g castor sugar
3. 35g vegetable oil
4. 65g plain flour, sieved
5. 60ml fresh milk
6. 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

(B)
1. 3 egg whites
2. 25g castor sugar
3. 1/2 teaspoon cream of tar tar

Mango cream 

Mango Puree
1. 1 medium size ripe mango, remove skin and seed
2. 2 tablespoon drinking water
3. 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Cream
1. 400ml whipping cream
2. 5 tablespoon of mango puree
3. 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
4. 2 tablespoon of castor sugar

Topping and fillings
1. mango
2. longan

METHODS:

Cake Base

1. Whisk the egg yolk with sugar until its pale and bubbly (as shown in picture)

Whisked egg yolk with sugar

2. Add oil, stir well and add fresh milk and vanilla extract. Mix well.

3. Fold in the plain flour. Set aside.

Folding in the flour mixture

Little one wanted to help with "yi po" birthday cake preparation

4. Whisk egg whites till frothy, then add in cream of tar tar.

5. Whisk until soft peak and add sugar, continue to whisk till stiff peak.

Egg whites - prior to whisking

Whisk till frothy, then add cream of tar tar

6. Fold in the mixture A into mixture B slowly.

7. Bake in preheated oven at 160 degree celcius for 18 minutes or until it is cooked.

Baking in process

Mango Puree

1. Blend mango, water and lemon juice in a blender.

2. Sieve the puree. Set aside.

Sieved Mango Puree

Mango cream

1. Whisk the whipping cream with sugar until stiff peak.

Whisk until stiff peak

2. Add in mango puree and lemon juice. Mix well

Added mango puree and lemon juice.

Assembling the cake

1. Cut the cake base into two.

2. Spread mango cream on the cake base and top with mango and longan pieces as shown.

Spread cream and top with mango pieces

3. Cover the cake with the second piece, and spread mango cream on top and at the side of the cake.

4. Garnish with fruits on top.