Cakes for him.....Pandan Layered Cake & Tiramisu

It was my husband's birthday 2 days ago, and we had a great celebrations on his big day. I've made 2 different birthday cakes for him...one "Pandan Layered Cake" for the family celebration in the morning and another "Tiramisu" to celebrate with his friends at night. Both cake were well received and they were gone on the day itself..:)

First, the Pandan Layered Cake. It was my first attempt and I had a good praise by my hubby. He loves the cake and took 2 big pieces right away. It was not that difficult as I thought though...^^

 The recipe:
(A)
2 egg yolks
60g cake flour
35g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pandan essence
1/2 tsp baking powder
40ml thick coconut milk
1/4 cup corn oil

(B)
2 egg whites
35g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

(C)
500g thick coconut milk
35g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 egg
50g Hun Kwee flour
1 tsp agar agar powder

~ Cook till thicken!

Method:
~ Mix ingredients (A) together with a whisk and keep aside.
~ Beat ingredients (B) till fluffy and firm.
~ Gently fold in (B) into (A). Mix well.
~ Bake in and ungreased 7" round tin at 180'C for 25-30 minutes.
~ Sliced cake into 3 to 4 layers and topping each layer with hot frosting (C)
~ Cover the whole cake with the hot frosting (C) and sprinkle with some desiccated coconut.
~ Chilled the cake before serving.

I didn't do a good job slicing the cake properly. So you can see the thickness of each cake was uneven here.
Anyway, he didn't notice that...LOL!!

Then I was told that he'll be celebrating with his friends at night too. Without any hesitation, a Tiramisu was the most simple one to bake...hehe! So the cake was completed in 2 hours time and I'm off to the hair saloon to beautify myself for the night...hahaha!!!
If you like this Tiramisu, please refer to my older post here.

Cheers!!

Special Tiramisu Cake

Yesterday was a super great day for me. We went celebrate a friend's birthday at the karaoke nearby and we sang and sang for 4 hours....LOL!! So much fun, that time passed really fast!
Actually we had an early celebration with her, which supposed today is her exact day. Hopefully she has a great time, and there are more birthdays coming soon. Oh, I can't wait for the rest to come...;p
As usual, I volunteered to bake the birthday lady a cake. As her husband suggested a tiramisu, so it solve my problem to search and think what cake to bake. So tiramisu is it!!

This friend of mine love roses so much. So at the last minute, I just made 3 small roses with fondant to deco the top. She actually ate the rose..haha! Oh dear, that was too sweet for her...;p I wanted to make this cake alittle special, so I decorated it differently where usually tiramisu dont't serve that way. See below for the arrangement for the sponge cake.

Recipe for the sponge (8" round pan):
(Chocolate)
3 egg yolks
10g sugar
40g milk
23g corn oil
50g cake flour
10g corn flour
2 tbsps cocoa powder
3 egg whites
30g sugar

(Hazelnut Sponge)

3 egg yolks

10g sugar

40g milk

23g corn oil

50g cake flour

10g corn flour

2 tbsps ground hazelnut

3 egg whites

30g sugar

Method:
~ Beat egg yolks and 10g sugar till well mix, then add in oil and milk. Stir well.
~ Add in flour mixture then cocoa powder and mix well. Set aside.
~ Whisk egg whites with 30g sugar till soft peak forms.
~ Fold into egg yolk batter slowly and pour into 7" round pan (with parchment paper).
~ Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 20 minutes or till cook.
~ Remove from pan immediately and let cool.

** Do the same for the Hazelnut sponge.
** Then cut and arranged like the above pictures.

Recipe for the cream:
1/2 cup double cream (whipped)
250g cream cheese
250g mascarpone cheese
60g sugar
2 egg yolks
2-3 tsps coffee paste
1 tbsp Rum

~ Cream both cheeses first then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well mix. Then the cream is ready to use.
~ Spread the cream on each layer of the cake.
~ Lastly spread the cheese cream all over the cake and drip some coffee paste on top of the cake and make some swirl pattern.
~ Chill the cake at least 4 hours before serving.

** For the almond Caramel, you can refer to my older post here.

Happy Birthday Friend!!!

Steamed Tiramisu

Another simple and delicious recipe adapted from the web. I've always wanted to try anything that is simple and nice. And of course most important is that recipe really works and tastes good!

I've done some changes with the original recipe which you can find here. 

This recipe has caught my attention once I read the title of it....STEAMED TIRAMISU!! It's so special right? Anyway I've never done this before and it worth a try.

It only took me only about 40 minutes to complete the whole process. (including washing of course)

The texture is super soft and I'm very satisfied with the outcome. Love this tiramisu..^^

 
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
140g castor sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
150g low gluten flour (pau flour)
100ml cornoil (I used olive oil as I've forgotten to buy the cornoil..lol)
200ml coconut milk
2 in 1 coffee pack (15g) + 1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsps cocoa powder + 1 tbsp hot water
1 tsp pure vanilla essence

Method:
~ Prepare an 8" round or quare pan lined with parchment paper.
~ Prepare a wok with hot water for steaming.
~ Beat eggs and sugar till light and fluffy
~ Sift flour and baking powder together and add in slowly into the egg mixture at low speed.
~ Add in cornoil and coconut milk alternately.
~ Divide the batter into 3 equal portions.
(a) with cocoa powder
(b) with coffee
(c) with pure vanilla essence
~ Pour the cocoa powder batter into the prepared cake tin and steamed for 8 minutes at high heat.
~ Then pour in the coffee batter and steamed for another 8 minutes.
~ Lastly pour in the vanilla batter and further steam for 20 minutes.
~ Remove from the steamer when done, cool and remove the parchment paper.

Special treats

Today is a very special night for me and my friends..:) Must be wondering what is so special ha...hee hee! Well, a night out with friends (only ladies) for dinner then drinking...;p Opps! Yea.....really drinking, that we hopped into pubs..haha!
It has been quite a long time i haven't hang around with friends, i mean having fun hanging around at those pubs, have a drink or two, and some ladies chat. It's actually more than 6 years! Everything had changed, our talks are mostly our kids and husbands, rather than fashions and trends. Hmm....wonder what will we talk about in another 5-6 years ha!
Okay okay, let me upload all the photos that we took just now. Especially the food we ate... yummy!


Here's the restaurant we went,......ALEXIS @ Bangsar...


Nice and cosy place to have dinner then followed by dessert. I have been to this restaurant long long time ago, and its still look the same until today....serving the most delicious cake i love...Tiramisu...:)



Started with a refreshing juice, "Rapsberry-cranberry soda" i think...haha! Forgot about what i ordered.

SAUTED BUTTON MUSHROOMS

There are 4 of us, so we ordered 4 different dishes to share. This is "Sauted Button Mushrooms", the creamy thick sauce served with toasted garlic bread.

SARAWAK LAKSA

Then we have the Sarawak Laksa. Hmm...we like this, which the gravy is not too thick, just nice!

VIETNAMESE BEEF NOODLE

Another noodle...but this is a vietnamese style beef noodles, serve with herbs and lime. The meat was tender and soft....... and its a must try. I used to ordered this whenever i was there long time ago. Can't remember exactly how the taste was, but its delicious.

Then here goes our last dish, a western style, very fresh cod fish with baked peaches on top and mashed potatoes underneath.

CANADIAN BAKED COD

And finally our dessert.......the 'Tiramisu' cake i adored...hmmmmmmm..:)

With the crunchy caramel + almond nuts covered the cake...WAH....i'm speechless....just simply love it!

After 2 hours of dinner, we wanted to go somewhere that we can have a drink. First we chose to go to the lounge just right up the restaurant, but at last we went to another pub nearby after taking a few pictures from this lounge...hahaha! The waiter must be wondering what these 4 aunties doing there without ordering then dissapeared...wakakaka!!!

Then we walked down the street to "Finnegan's Irish Pub & Restaurant" which one of my friend recommended. Yea, its more like a pub then the one before.

Here it goes...our Magarita...

then, "Singapore Fling and Mai Tai"...Wooo.....never try these before...

I prefered the "Magarita"..;p The other two were like fruits juice to me..hee hee!

I have a great night out, thank you so much Grace, Bee Bee and S'Hoong...i'll cherish our friendship..:) Looking forward for our other night out soon....;p


~FRIENDS FOREVER~

Birthday CakeS

I love birthday celebrations. Like to see the cakes people made and of course I like to bake for them if I have the chance. So this time I got the chance to bake for 2 birthday gals. Yes, 2 cakes in one go!! Anyway both were 2 small cakes, so I need only few hours to made them and further more, not much decorations to do. Then we celebrated both birthdays together last night. Oh yes, we had a great time again!!
First, there is a sweetie girl's 2nd birthday! She was one of our dear friend's daughter. A 4" chocolate cake for the little cutie decorated with fondant. Makes it looks like a mushroom and a little cute bear for her to keep..:)
Does it looks like "Papa Smurf"'s house?...LOL


There was suppose to have a small chimney on top but due to the box I have, which was not tall enough to store the cake so the idea of the chimney was out. By the way, the little girl only attracted by the candle "2" that placed on the cake...haha! My friend said she even doesn't want her present given by her daddy...haha! She's too young to know what is happening...;p

Well, simple as it is. It only took me 1 hour to bake and another hour to decorate. As you can see it was really simple but the other older kids went "Ooo & Ahh" when they see the cake. I was quite satisfied with it..:D

For the recipe of the moist chocolate cake, you can refer to my older post here. I baked it with 2x 4" round pan and a round 5" bowl for the mushroom top.

Happy Birthday dear sweetie!!

Another cake, a tiramisu. Yeah, you'll probably say "HUH...tiramisu again"!!..hehe! This was requested by the birthday gal herself. But too bad due to the limited time (but I was lazy actually...haha!) there was no almond caramel that she wish to have..."OPPS!! Sorry dear friend, but I promised to make her some caramel when I have the time..:)

I stole the idea of our dear friend Bee Bee (Honeybeesweets) on how to display the cake. Well, I just don't want the same old recipe to look so boring..;p

p/s: Bee Bee, thank you for sharing the idea but my work was far too lousy compare to yours. Somehow I took the challenge and praised myself abit for the result..haha!


Please refer here for the recipe if you like...:) See the result here, it seems rather rough but we did enjoy it. Maybe most of us love alcohol and coffee, so that the cake was half gone in few minutes..;p We had a great time and I wish there'll be more gatherings coming soon.
Happy Belated Birthday my dear friend, wishing all the best in everything and healthy always..:)

Cheers!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival / Tiramisu Cake

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival or Happy Mooncake Festival or Happy Lantern Festival......whatever, today is the day, and we had great fun..:) What about you?
Besides all the mooncakes I've made, this was the last which I made for today's celebration. Well, it was actually from my previous post "Cendol Agar-Agar". Instead of the 2 layers, this time I've transfered it into the mooncake mould. Hmm....Pretty!!



The filling inside was the gula melaka instead of those lotus paste. We had enough mooncakes with those fillings (lotus, red beans, pandan...etc. etc.) so I think some refreshing ones should be suitable for the party..:)

Once again, wishing everyone has a wonderful and memoriable time..:)

中秋节快乐

**********************************************************

Besides that, it was my dear friend's birthday too. We decided to celebrate with her at her house so the kids may have fun playing with their lanterns too. And that I've made a cake for her...Tiramisu. Inspired by the restaurant, Alexis @ The gardens. I've came out with my version..haha! Not bad leh..;p

The ingredients that you need were as below..

Ingredients for Chocolate Sponge:

250g eggs (weigh without shells)

125g fine sugar

110g Plain flour

50ml water

13g emulsifier

15g Cocoa powder

60g Melted butter

Method:

~ Whisk at high speed eggs, flour and emulsifier until light and fluffy

~ Lastly fold in the melted butter which is already mixed with cocoa powder.

~ Bake in a 9" round lined cake tin for 40-45 minutes at 180'C. (I used two 7" round pan)

~ Cool completely then sliced. ( I sliced into 3 for each 7" cake)


Ingredients & Method for the Cream:

1/2 cup Fresh Cream (Whipped)

250g Mascarpone cheese

30g sugar

~ Cream the cheese then add in sugar. Then fold in whipped cream.

Coffee-Rum Syrup:

1/2 cup hot water

2 tbsps sugar

2 tsps good quality instant coffee powder

1 tbsp rum paste

~ Mixed all together until sugar disolved. Brush onto the sliced sponge before spreading the cream.

Topping / coating:

~ Cook 2 cups sugar into caramel, and add in some chopped almonds (amount depends to individual). Spread thinly on a sheet of parchment paper and let cool.

~ Crushed into small pieces for decoration.

Happy Birthday my dear friend,

Hope you like this cake...^^

Last day of Kindie

Yesterday was my bad bad day. Very bad, that I lost the thing I adored so much..:( That makes me so angry and sad but I'm very fortunate that I have lots of friends to cheer me up. "Thank you" to all my wonderful friends for being so supporting and caring..:)
Well, there is one more thing that keep me looking forward..that's my daughter's last day of school in her kindie. I've promised her that I'll make something special for her friends for the final day party. Okay, I admit that they were not that special, for those were cupcakes again...haha! But with the figurines on top....they should love it..:)

Here they are.....(left) for boys and (right) for girls with their names on it...^^


A closer look on those little cuties...that took me few hours to complete all of them. The same chocolate cupcakes which I posted long time ago, but this time added dark rich melted chocolate. Guess all kids love chocolate..:)


My daughter has been telling me that she'll miss the school and can't believe that she's really leaving the school..;p And I hope she can cope with her pri1 next year.

Not to forget about the teachers in her school, They have done alot and were so caring for all these years. Here's a tiramisu for the teachers and hope they'll enjoy it..:)

A simple recipe from my sister which we did for my grandma's birthday last month. If you like, do view here for the recipe..:)

Happy Holiday!!!!

Pork & Shrimps Satay with Tamarind Glaze

Hi all, I'm back with a simple recipe which its well received by my family and friends. Last weekend we had a small gathering with friends at my house. I've prepared some grilled chicken wings with lemon grass, grilled prawns, some desserts like blueberry cheese tarts and tiramisu. Well, this satay was the most welcome dish during that day. All were gone before the gathering ends..haha! I'll make more for the next one ya...^^

The recipe only needs few ingredients:
600g minced pork
100g minced shrimps
1 tsp ginger powder
3 small pcs galangal (chopped0
15 stalks lemongrass (wash & clean)
1 gloves garlic
50g coriander leaves
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Glaze:
1 tbsp tamarind puree
1 tbsp honey
ground black pepper to taste

Method:
- Place all ingredients except lemon grass stalks, meat, shrimps and glaze in a blender and pulse until combined.
- Mix the blended ingredients with the meat and shrimps. Mix well and leave to marinate for 1 hour.
- With wet hands, mould each portion around each lemon grass stalks into shape of a sausage (about 3-4") long. (like the picture shown above)
- Prepare the glaze. Preheat and overhead grill.
-Brush satay with glaze and grill, turning every 3 minutes until well cooked / browned. Takes about 8-10 minutes to cook. Serve hot!

For outdoor cooking, grill over medium-hot coal. It may taste better with the coal grill.
This was so nice and everyone started to ask for the ingredients, so here you are my dear friends. Sorry to take such along time to post...hehe!

Cheers!!

White Wine Cheese Cake

A special cheese cake for a special friend!! This was bake a day before the celebration, and I has been cracking my head for what cake to bake for my dear friend for her early birthday celebration. Then she requested a cake with alcohol...hmm, tiramisu? No no...not again! Then when I was searching through my recipe books, this cake just came to my mind! Yes!! a wine cake!!
I've baked this cake more than a decades ago for my dear vocal teacher, which I remembered that his comment was "GOOD"!!! So I've decided to bake this for the birthday gal...:)

Got a good quality white wine from the store nearby and got some fresh rapsberries for decoration. Well, not much decoration here, and I don't think a rich wine cheese cake will go well with cream or chocolate. So, lets just made it simple!

This recipe was actually founded from the web long time ago. (really more than a decade)
Here comes the recipe....

200g digestive biscuits
100g butter (melted)

~ Wrapped the 9" round ring pan with aluminium foil.
~ Crushed the biscuits and mix well with melted butter and press it formly onto a 9" round ring pan.
~ Leave it aside while prepare the cheese fillings.

500g cream cheese
2 eggs
90g sugar
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1&1/3 cup white wine (get the best one)
2 tbsps cake flour

~ Cream the cheese and sugar till light.
~ Add in eggs one at a time. Blend well.
~ Add in yougurt and wine and mix well then fold in the flour.
~ Pour into prepared tin with the biscuits base.
~ Bake at 170'C for 60-65 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before chilling in the fridge overnight.
~ Remove from pan and decorate as desire.

The texture was really rich and if you like wine, this is the recipe you must try. Trust me, you'll love it!! So what are you waiting for, this is best to serve during X'mas gatherings after your turkey meals...hehe!

Cheers!!