A Birthday Cake for My Mum

Yesterday was a happy and tired day for me. Have been baking the whole night before yesterday, and frosting and decorating cakes the next morning. There were 2 birthday cakes to prepare and I'll like to do my best to make the cake look pretty. One was for my neighbour birthday girl, she has not much request on the deco anyway, but for a 4 years old girl, I think she likes something cute and colourful..heehee! I didn't load up the photo here because its the common chocolate cake I baked before and the decorations were quite simple with a pinky teddy bear on it.
The cake shown here was for my mum. Actually her birthday falls on the coming weekday but we had an early celebration for her last night. Well, it was a simple celebration which we had a cutting cake session for tea then a western dinner at a so-so restaurant nearby. By the way, there is no nice and classy restaurant found in my hometown....haha!

Walnut Mocha Cream Cake


To make it simple, I didn't bake my own sponge this time. So end up using the sponge mix I got from the bakery store. Not bad at all...:)
Recipe adapted from Kevin Chai

Recipe for the Sponge:
180g sponge mix
3 eggs
45ml fresh milk
100g walnut (chopped)
60g butter (melted)

Recipe for the Mocha Cream:
200g fresh cream (whipped)
20g mocha paste

Topping:
Some melted Valrhona Chocolate
Fresh Strawberries

Method:
~ To make the sponge, preheat oven at 180'C, line a bottom of a 7" round cake tin with greaseproof paper.
~ Beat sponge mix, eggs and milk with high speed until light and fluffy. (about 8-10 mins)
~ Fold in chopped walnuts and mix in melted butter until well blended.
~ Spread batter into prepared tin and bake for 30 mins. Remove from oven and cool completely, then sliced into 3 layers.
~ To make the mocha cream, just add in the mocha paste into the whipped cream and mix well.
~ Sandwich the sponge with the cream and coat the cake with remaining cream. Refrigerate for a while.
~ Melt some valrhona chocolate and pour over the cake. Refrigerate for a while. Then decorate with some fresh strawberries.

The texture of the cake was not those smooth ones because of the chopped walnuts added. But it tasted pretty good with the crisp of the nuts and the taste of the coffee cream. All my mum's favourite was in this cake....:) Well, except the strawberris...haha! All her grandchildren grabbed the fresh fruits instead.

Happy Birthday Mum!!

Butter Cinnamon Rolls

What's for breakfast this morning? This is the question that you'll probably ask every morning. Do you?...haha! We did!! Every morning we will crack our head for what to eat before we start our day, and if we were out late to office that day we will prabably grab some bread with butter or jam and a cup of coffee.
Well, but not today! I've baked some cinnamon rolls this morning and we did had a good breakfast before we go. You'll probably think that I have to knead and rise the dough in the middle of the night..huh...;p Nope!! This recipe is a quick and easy one and you'll get a fresh and soft cinnamon bread right away!!

I've done this long time ago, and don't ask me why I've only do it again now...haha! Too many recipes in my to-do-list! The recipe was adapted from a simple DIY book, but with some changes I made up myself..;p

Recipe:

280g Bread flour

15g Milk powder

60g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

70g water

6g instant yeast

100g fresh milk

50g butter

Method:

~ Mix all ingredients together except butter in a mixer, mix until a dough forms.

~ Add in butter and knead until you get an elastic dough.

~ Brush a deep bowl with some butter, and leave the dough to rise in it for 1 hour. (covered with cling wrap)

~ Then transfer it into the fridge and chill over night.

~ Take out the dough from the fridge and let it stand for 5 minutes, then roll flat.

~ Brush a thin layer of butter on the flat dough and sprinkle enough cinnamon powder and brown sugar as you desire.

~ Roll up like a swiss roll and cut into sections.

~ Place on a greased pan and let it double in size for 10 minutes. Brush with beaten eggs.

~ Bake in preheated oven, 190'C for 20 minutes.

See the texture here...it was unexpectedly soft!
The recipe makes 8 (slightly smaller than those selling outside).

Let me tell you how I plan my time for this recipe. I've started to make the dough at 9pm then chilled the dough at around 10pm++. This morning I started at 830am, then we had a great breakfast by 9am...:)
Its just that simple, and you get what you want..:)

Cheers!! Have a nice day...:)

Strawberry Cheesecake

This Chinese New Year was the most enjoyable and excited one for me. I have visitors come and go during the whole clebration. And not to forget about the food....I had the most yummilicious one!!..haha! Now I have to start my diet all over again...LOL..;p
Ok, this post was my last bake for this Chinese New Year. A Strawberry Cheesecake for my dear cousin brother and his wife before they leave for Australia. Never thought they love it so much, and bring home the other half..haha!

A recipe adapted from Kevin Chai but this time I did it with strawberry instead. Oh, this was my 2nd attempt...the 1st was blackberries. This time was done with 3 small 4" round pan instead on a 9" square one.
You can get the recipe here.

My daughter is a big fan of this cake. She called it an ice-cream cake instead..;p So you can imagine the texture with her comment...haha!

Maybe I'll try some other berries for this recipe next time. Blueberries or rapsberries...yummy!

I'll like to wish all of you a happy year ahead, and back to the normal routine after all the relax and eatings past few weeks...:) Btw, I'm looking forward to the next holidays already..lol!!

Cheers!!