Hazelnut Gateau Cake

This recipe is kinda overdue as I had a tough time find Hazelnut coating chocolate. I checked a few baking supplies shop and they didn't carry it. Neither did a supplier I got from Richard have it. Hence, I settled down to a modification that I did with pre-packed Hazelnut Ganache I bought from Phoon Huat. This cake has it's twist that I tried, shying away from my usual style.

1) It's a two tiered cake!

2) I did a plain sponge cake with chocolate cream to get a contrast!

This cake is just pretty even though I've got some piping skills to refine XD This cake takes about 3 -4 hours to bake for a beginner.. It took me about 2 hours to bake (: Practice makes perfect! I labelled this cake as a level 5 difficulty cake as it's two tiered. You can make it single tiered and it'll be simpler at a level 4 difficulty cake! (:

This is the other version I did previously with hazelnut coating chocolate..

Hazelnut Gateau Cake Recipe

This cake yields a 2 tiered 15cm and 13cm cake

Ingredients:

75g butter

75g plain flour

3 eggs (I used 60g Seng Choon Eggs)

75g sugar

220ml whipping cream

140g dark coverture chocolate

80g dark coverture chocolate

60g fellutine

50g hazelnut ganache

5g dark coverture chocolate

Black Forest Cake

This recipe is wayyyyyy over-due! That's what happens when I bake and cook a lot.. I tend to accumulate many recipes and not all of them make it here on this blog! XD Nevertheless, I'm proud to share this recipe I adapted from Richard Goh. 

I made 3 versions of this cake..

1) a huge Domo-Kun for Joey, my bf's bro's, for his 22nd birthday

2) A 8" one for the cell group and

3) 5 mini ones for the family as well as Richard!

This is one classic recipe and is favourited by many! I love how good the cherries taste in this cake in contrast with the chocolate sponge cake! As always, practice makes perfect.. this cake wasn't as pretty as my usual cakes cos' I placed so much focus on the Domo-Kun version instead. Nevertheless, the cake was still good.. still good.. I took about 2 hours to put this cake together. Once again, practice makes perfect.. If you're a beginner, it'll probably take you 3-4 hours, just like how my first attempt was (:

These were the mini ones that I baked too!

Black Forest Cake Recipe

This recipe yields a 9" round cake

Ingredients:

4 eggs (60g medium sized eggs)

100g fine sugar

90g plain flour

10g cocoa powder

85g melted butter

250g whipping cream

130g chocolate cream or 130g melted coverture chocolate, cooled

200g dark sweet pitted cherries

2 tsp rum

Some cocoa powder for dusting

Meringue Droplets

These Meringue Droplets were inspired by Eileen's recipe in Munch Ministry but I made some modifications to it. These take a LONGGGGG time to bake but they're pretty effortless. And since they taste so damn good, it's all worth the effort!

Meringue Droplets Recipe

Ingredients:

One egg white (I used a 60g weight which had 30g of white)

Equal amount of icing sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Pink gel food colouring (I used Wilton)

Purple gel food colouring

Puteri Ayu (Steamed mini pandan coconut cakes)

I happen to chance upon these moulds when I was in the supermarket yesterday and I recalled the Puteri Ayu recipe I saw on Nasi Lemak Lover! I decided to buy it cos it was merely a dozen for close to 2 bucks (: I modified a lil' of the recipe and enjoyed this warm snack! This took me about an hour to cook and prepare (including blending). 

Puteri Ayu Recipe

This recipe yields about 14-15 mini steamed cakes

Ingredients:

COCONUT LAYER

60g freshly grated coconut

1/6 tsp salt

1 tsp corn flour

CAKE LAYER

2 eggs

100g fine sugar

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

120ml coconut milk

6 pandan leaves

1-2 drops of green food colouring

White Wine Vongole Linguine

This White Wine Vongole Linguine  is taken from one of my favourite Youtube chefs: Laura in the Kitchen. I totally adore white clams and since this is one of my favourites when I dine in Pastamania.. I decided to give this recipe a try! (:

This takes about 30 minutes to cook and prepare but the clams should be prepared in advance through soaking.

White Wine Vongole Linguine Recipe

This recipe yields enough to serve 4-5 pax

Ingredients:

900g clams (I used white clams)

450g linguine

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, diced

1/2 cup of white wine

2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley (Optional)

2 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper

Honey Lemon Detox

Honey Lemon Detox.. something that has been highly raved by many in several sites I've been participating in and well, since I love lemon so much, I decided to give it a go! With it's raved high benefits of skin whitening, detox, weight-loss, reduction of eye bags and lighting of dark eye rings and more.. what's the harm in trying? 

When I had my first glass of this, I was blown away. I really loved how good it tastes.. heck the benefits even if they don't work.. I just love HONEY LEMON! (: However, there's a few things to note about preparing this Honey Lemon Detox.. 

1) Use glass and only glass bottle to store the mixture. 

2) Do not use a metal spoon when you're scooping the honey or the mixture.

3) Remove the rind (white part) of the lemon when preparing the mixture, else, mixture may be bitter.

4) Use pure honey.. why put anything less good than what's good?

5) The mixture should be stored in the fridge for at least 3 days before consumption for 'magic' to take place.

6) Use only cold/room temperature water to mix your drink as hot/warm water will kill all the good enzymes in the honey.

This is almost effortless so give it a try!

Honey Lemon Detox Recipe

Yields about 4 glasses of Honey Lemon Detox

Ingredients:

1 fresh lemon

133g pure honey

This is the sample batch I did.. but if you like it.. do multiply the recipe by 3 or 4 times and keep it in a large glass jar.. that's what I did! (: 

Kueh Lapis Legit

Kueh Lapis Legit.. one of my absolute favourites that has been on my to-bake list for eons! It's a tough cake to bake though as it's really time consuming and you need all 3 hours of it! Once you've started baking, you're basically camping in front of the oven watching this darling delicate kueh/cake work wonders! 

This recipe is from Richard Goh and I'm an absolute fan of his. It's just a pity that school's starting soon and I won't be able to attend his classes any time soon. In any case, this recipe takes 3 full hours (sometimes more) to bake and it yields a 25cm by 25cm Kueh Lapis Legit! (:

Kueh Lapis Legit Recipe

This recipe yields a 25cm by 25cm cake/kueh

Ingredients:

500g semi-hard butter (I used Liv salted butter)

300g condensed milk

3 tsp rum (optional but makes a whole lot of difference)

150g plain flour

1 tsp gingerbread spice

20 egg yolks

200g castor sugar

10 egg whites

50g castor sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tar tar

Breakfast Cups

These Breakfast Cups are just so awesome to eat just because it's got eggs that's semi-cooked the way I love it! I also have these for tea as they're just so good. This is one of my personal favourites for a quick meal fix! They take merely 30 mins or less to prepare and cook and tastes just too good to be true.

Breakfast Cups Recipe

This recipe yields 2 breakfast cups

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 slices of bread

5 mini cheese sausage

Some butter to butter the ramekins

Some salt

Some black pepper

**UPDATED 31 July 2012**

You can use silicon baking cups for these Breakfast Cups too! They are easier to clean up as compared to Ramekins though they are less pretty! (:

Caramel Kaya Glutinous Rice Cake (Kueh Salat)

Kueh Salat is one of those classic Nonya Kuehs that is really popular in Singapore and even in Malaysia. This is one of my mum's favourites and I decided to cook/bake/steam one for her. Am really glad that it turned out real well and this was just so well-received. (: Most importantly, she liked it! (:

The recipe was taken from a recipe book but I haven't gotten the title of whatsoever. 

Image taken from this page. 

To begin with, this is what a tradtional Kueh Salat looks like, or rather, what most people know it to be. However, I love how the glutinuous rice could be so pretty in blue, just like the way it made my nonya rice dumplings so pretty that I decided to do a mixture of blue and white glutinuous rice for this recipe.

Image taken from Malaysia Best

The blue pea flower, also known as the clitoria flower due to it's resemblance to the female anatomy is one of the best ways to get natural blue food colouring. Am thankful that Ricky gave me a dried pack of it that he has planted previously so I made good use of it (: This can be purchased in the dried form from some medical halls. Alternatively, some baking shops do carry it as well.

If you cannot get your hands on it, you can omit it and use all white glutinuous rice for this Kueh Salt. (: This took me about 3 hours to steam/cook. However, do not that you would have to soak the glutinuous rice for at least 8 hours prior to cooking it.

Caramel Kaya Glutinous Rice Cake (Kueh Salat) Recipe

This recipe yields one 6" round tin worth of Kueh Salat

Ingredients:

RICE LAYER

250g glutinuous rice (1/2 blue, 1/2 plain OR all plain)

6 pandan leaves

200ml thick coconut milk

1 handful of blue pea flower

1 tsp salt

CARAMEL KAYA LAYER

2 large eggs (60g)

200ml thick coconut milk

100ml water

100g fine sugar

50g rice flour

2 tsp pandan paste

Mango Mousse Cups

These Mango Mousse Cups are just awesome. They were made from extra ingredients from my Cubed Mango Mousse Cake. Hence, I made these Mango Mousse Cups. Dainty, refreshing, cheery.. what's there not to love? For these mango mousse cups.. they're pretty simple to prepare but the use of a food processor or blender is required.. else the mousse will not be a mousse. Other wise, it's pretty effortless and not to mention tasty as a snack, especially for summer! (: 

For mangoes, I like using Indian mangoes. They're usually sweet as compare to Thai Honey mangoes which may even be sour instead of being sweet. I like buying Indian mangoes that are slightly green with a tinge of yellow the day before I use them. That way, they are firm enough when eaten without being too soft unlike those yellow mangoes which are way too ripe! (: 

Image taken from http://spicesonline.info/indian-spices/images/kesar-mangoes.JPG

Mango Mousse Cups Recipe

Ingredients:

The recipe yields 6 mini jars

1 Indian mango

80g whipped cream

70 - 80g fresh mango puree (About 1/2 Indian mango)

4g gelatin powder (If using Bake King which is weaker, use 12g instead)

1 tbsp water

Ee Fu Noodles

Ee Fu noodles have always been my favourite noodles. It's usually served as a last dish during wedding dinner and despite being stuffed, I'll still find space in my belly for this favourite dish of mine (: This recipe was taken and modified from Pig Pig's Corner, a guest blog post written by The Little Teochew (: 

This dish is so easy to cook that I can never justify paying $12+ at Crystal Jade for it anymore.. unless I've got a major craving and I can't find time to cook it on my own. 

The key ingredient to this dish is the Yellow Chives. It's got a different taste from the usual green chives we find in the local stores and it's so much more difficult to find it as it's hardly sold by vendors due to it's ability to turn bad real quick. Yellow Chives are actually chives that have been grown without sunlight, while being covered up, so there's a lack of chlorophyll in it's growth, hence the lack of green. It's something my Ee Fu Noodles can never do without (:

I'm pretty glad that Sheng Shiong carried it one of those mornings I decided to do grocery shopping to buy stuff to whip up a storm in the kitchen. Without hesitation, I grabbed a bunch of it (:

Image taken from http://appetiteforchina.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/all/files/images/wonton-noodlesoup-5.jpg

This dish is relatively simple to prepare and cook and it took me merely 30 minutes to whip it up.

Ee Fu Noodles Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pack of Hong Kong Ee Fu Noodles (4 pieces)

2 handful of beansprouts

1 handful/bunch of chives

(I used 1 pack from Sheng Shiong)

1 can of straw mushroom

1 fish cake

1 pack of baby corn

5 cloves of garlic, diced

1 1/2 tbsp oil

BRAISING SAUCE

4 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp dark soy sauce 

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp Hua Tiao Jiu

A dash of white pepper

2 cups of water

Hong Kong 2012

I took a 12 day hiatus and joined the fav boy and his family to Hong Kong where we visited his relatives and did loads of shopping. We ate a lot and I've been itching to bake so so so so much! I've gotten loads of inspiration from this trip and also acquired loads of stuff to add on to my collection!

Sharing my loot here! (:

Hong Kong is really an amazing place to shop! (: I love the places I've been to and the inspiration I've gotten.. Can't wait to get back into the kitchen to 'play'!