Cheesecake Chocolate Bundt with Fudge Frosting

Just look at this. Are you salivating like I am?

After the lovely Easy Chocolate Bundt, I was itching to bake another one of this lovely cake! Inspired by Handle The Heat, I did up this Cheesecake Chocolate Bundt with fudge.. after all, what's there not to like when it comes to chocolate, cheesecake and fudge?

After all, school has been really busy with teachers wrapping up the term with CAs, markings and what-nots. It's probably one of the busiest weeks of the term. Indeed, term 1 has just passed us by. It also marks the first term I've successfully taught a P1 class. As much as I'm Early Childhood trained, I did not fancy teaching P1s. I felt that they were way too baby and I wasn't prepared for that.

Well, a term has passed and even though some kids are still adjusting, I'm proud to say that teaching P1s isn't that bad after all. Yes, they zap my energy. Yes, they require lots of patience. I'm just glad, and thankful that they've grown. Many of them have improved so much and grown so much since Day 1. This Wednesday, it's their big day.

The kiddos' parents will be visiting our classroom, watching them perform and meet the 'chee-chers'.. I'm pretty excited to lead them in their dance.. For someone who can't dance, I think I did a pretty good job with my kiddos. I shall venture yet another cake on Wednesday if time permits!

Anyway, this cake takes about 1.5 hours to complete and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Easy Chocolate Bundt

Like a sun, this cake brightens up one's day! It's an Easy Chocolate Bundt that uses only a pan/pot and a mixing bowl.. It was pretty easy to put together and a delight to have! The recipe takes about 1.5 hours in all and I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 of 5. 

Millefeuille Nabe (Pork Belly Cabbage Pot)

Ever since seeing this recipe on Just One Cookbook, I've been itching to try this recipe! I've wanted to cook it with fresh pork slices but it's really tough getting them in Singapore. I was told that Meidi-ya sells it.. but I don't visit that supermarket that often.. 

Since I had Sunday free, I decided to cook this for the hubby and I. After all, it's something simple and quick after I spend several hours cleaning the kitchen and baking this Tri-coloured Kueh Lapis Legit. I made several modifications to this recipe.. but it still tastes really good. I've even done up a video on the layering! 

Layering the pork belly for the Mieu-feuille Nabe last night! (:

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Monday, 22 February 2016

The recipe takes only 30 minutes to put together and cook.. and it goes really well with rice. I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Tri-coloured Kueh Lapis Legit (Chocolate, Pandan and Original)

I was inspired by Mimi Bakery House's tri-coloured kek lapis and I decided to bake some too.. I adapted her recipe and made some tweaks to my liking. Somehow, I prefer her lapis XD probably cos mine has small holes/gaps between the layers despite the compacting.. Her layers were also thicker. I decided to use a larger tin and also increased the recipe.. but I should have used a slightly smaller tin. I would do so the next time I bake this (which should be soon!)

I'm weird in a way. Baking is therapeutic for me. Many dislike baking cos of the washing, the concentration level needed etc.. I like baking to unwind. This is especially so for kueh lapis legits.. I actually like the repeated baking.. It's probably a good breakaway from the rush I face every day. 

I barely have enough time to sleep.. let alone bake. Though baking takes stress away... I can barely find energy to do so of late. In fact, I did think of retiring this blog. To stop blogging altogether. BUT... this blog is too dear to me.. at least for now. 

Anyway, this recipe yields a 9 - 9.5inch square cake and takes about 2 - 3 hours in all to complete. I'd rate it a difficulty level 4 out of 5. 

Yoghurt Loaf - Strawberry

After my insane attempt to bake a loaf at 3.30am last week cos' I couldn't fall asleep, I've been trying out loaf recipes on the bread machine that the hubby got that I under-utilise.. Here's a simple recipe for a yoghurt loaf that I baked yesterday! 

I used function 1 of my Kenwood BM250. I used the recipe from Catherine of Catherine's Cooking. You'd probably need 4 hours or so to bake this loaf and since the machine does most of the work, I'd rate it a difficulty level 1 out of 5. Change the flavour of the yoghurt to get the flavour you'd like.. the options are endless! If you are using other bread machines, the recipe should work well on your basic bread function too. 

Cynthia's Yoghurt Chiffon Cake - Mango or yuzu for you?

Mango Yoghurt Chiffon Cake in a heart shaped tin

It's the beginning of a new school year! Trying to make the best out of my last day of holidays, I decided to bake 2 chiffon cakes yesterday.. both of which were yoghurt chiffon cakes. Since the flavour is determined by the drink used, I decided to combine them into 1 blog post. 

The cake is absolutely fluffy. 

Love the bounce of this fluffy Mango yoghurt chiffon cake! And I ♡ my ♡-shaped tin!

Posted by Cynthia Lim on Sunday, 3 January 2016

Yuzu Yoghurt Chiffon Cake in a regular chiffon tin

I got 2 new tins from Japan recently so I decided to bake 2 chiffons (: The heart shaped chiffon is 20cm and the round one was baked in a 17cm tin. I'll be sharing the recipe for both proportions in this entry. For variations of the recipe, just use your favourite yoghurt drink. I chose the Mango Yoghurt Smoothie drink and Yuzu Yoghurt Smoothie drink from Magnolia. (yuzu one not in photo though)

Image taken from http://www.fraserandneave.com/images/default-source/default-album/f-n-magnolia-yoghurt-smoothie.png?sfvrsn=0

The cake takes about 30 mins to prep.. 1 - 1.5 hours to bake and another 30 mins to cool (: I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5.. 

Baked Donuts

Earlier this week, I had the hubby buy me 2 mini donut trays for my belated Christmas present.. I remember seeing really adorable donuts online.. and wanted to bake them for the party we had. Boy were they difficult to frost!

1) My compound chocolate refused to melt well
2) My couverture chocolate (obviously) wouldn't set well
3) I should have bought candy melts (but they didn't have white.. only pink and blue and I didn't wanna get 2 bags of them)

Image from https://www.pinterest.com/yennymok/cute-donuts/
I wanted them to be like really really cute. 

I was pretty hopeful when I was baking them.. And I decided to try the recipe from Blessed Homemaker and did some adaptations. Maybe they were just really small so they were challenging to frost.. But I was just really annoyed with the chocolate not melting well and stuff ): 

Nevertheless, they're tasty and they do taste more cake-like than donut (fried) like.. 

I'd rate the basic donut (with simple frosting) a difficulty level 3 out of 5! It'll take you about an hour to bake and frost them (without decor). 

100 yen shop shopping in Tokyo

If you're like me.. and that you love Daiso, Tokyo has lots of 100 yen shops to offer! I had the luxury of visiting 3 Daisos and 2 other 100 yen shops this December.. I'm pleased to share with you what some of these lovely shops have to offer. 

Images are valid as of Dec 2015. Of course, stocks change etc.. I can't assure you that you'd be able to find the exact same thing when you visit. But this guide with the addresses will help you plan your holiday should you choose to visit them! 

To begin with, 100 yen was merely sgd$1.20 or so (sgd$1.30 with tax) when we visited in Dec 2015. I had lots of fun shopping! (: In general the 3 companies we visited were 1) Daiso, 2) Can-do and 3) Seria. I like all 3 100 yen shops in their own way. All of them do bill us shoppers for tax, making it 108 yen per item.. There are many other 100 yen shops but these are those that I have visited and I'm glad to share them with you!