Baked me own B'day cake: Double Chocolate Peppermint Sponge

have nothing better to do than baking me own birthday cake as i personally feels that store bought cake is too commercialized... blurghhh~ the thought of secret recipe's cake made me vomit in my mouth a little... i'm so sick of it no offence to the business owners their cakes are good but i'm just sick of it...(you know that i'm telling the truth when i actually had to repeat the word 'sick' twice)

anyway this time i wanted to try something different so i jazz it up with peppermint!

hey, why buy when yo u can BAKE!

besides we loved it....and you probably would too!

175g butter -

150g flour

2tbs cocoa powder

1tbsp baking powder

150g caster sugar

3eggs

1tbsp milk

40g peppermint chocolates, chopped - i use Andes after 8 chocolate mints

some chocolate spred to decorate

1. pre heat oven at 180c. grease two 20cm/8" sandwich cake tins
2. sift flour, cocoa, baking powder into a bowl set aside.
3. melt butter and chocolate chunks and set aside.
4. in a mixer fitted with a whisk beat eggs with sugar until volumed and pale.
5. lower the speed, and add in the flour mixture just until almost mixed.
6. then add in the butter mixture and gently fold in the butter until JUST mixed! (coz we don't wanna loose too much air)
7. pour into the prepared baking tins and bake for 25-30minutes or until set. DO NOT OVER BAKE THE CAKE or it'll be dry!
8. once cooked, let it cool just for a bit then turn out and finish cooling on the wire rack
9. Sandwich together the cakes with the chocolate spread, then drizzle more on top to decorate.

for the spread :

i simply melt (using double boil method) beryl's dark chocolate about 100g-150g or so, then i add in 1/4c of whipping cream, 1tbs butter, a 1.5 tsp of light corn syrup and 1/2tsp of peppermint essence. mix well and ready to spread!

p/s: beryl is a malaysian brand chocolate.

hope that you'll enjoy my wacky creation for myselfon my birthday hehehe~ (i hope that i don't sound pathetic)

Moist LEMON Sponge Cake

look at that texture...just gorgeous and its moist too!

before i start, i'd like to wish to all my christian friends and also to those whom enjoy this particular holiday *you know who you are* a very happy happy Xmas and Happy New Year!!

today i'll be posting my all time fave sponge cake recipe...i was contemplating should i share this incredible recipe or just keep to myself? then after much consideration i decided to share this lovely recipe that i hold it dear in my heart hehehehe ~

this recipe is highly recommended , extremely easy to make with no time to spare...

errr this recipe was actually individual cakes (like bake in a remikin for individual consumption) but i was lazy to make such way so i just poured the batter into a 9" baking tin which is not so advisable...but it still turned out great...

LEMON SPONGE CAKE

3 eggs

1/2c sugar

1/2c all purpose flour

1/4tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

1/4c melted unsalted butter

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1tsp lemon zest

2tsp lemon juice

1. preheat oven at 180c .grease and sugar the remikins and place a disk of parchment papers at the bottom of remikins.
   
2. beat eggs and sugar until pale and airy with whisk fitted mixer. this will be more or less 10-15minutes
   
3. mean while sift together all dry ingredients
   
4. combine butter, zest and juice and set aside.
   
5. reduce speed on mixer add dry ingredients quickly but not all at once until just almost blended.
   
6. add in the butter mixture and mix until just blended.
   
7. spoon cake mixture into individual remikins leaving 1/2" for cake expension.
   
8. bake for 20-25minutes
   
9. best serve warm

if yo uclose your eyes and eat this just for a moment you'll actually think that its cotton soft cheese cake!

BEST RESTAURANT @ BANGI

THE BEST RESTAURANT @ BANGI

1. WONG SOLO: offeres indonesian food such as their famous ayam penyet but gotta warn you that the 'sambal' is extremely HOT! dinners will have the authentic Indonesain culinary experience restaurant located behind old town kopitiam @ sec 9
   
2. BERLAUK: offers authentic Kelantan cuisine the restaurant is located in sec 7
3. YANKEES: offers great 'ikan bakar' and ala thai food...although this restaurant has a very BAD service be prepared to have a 1-2hrs delay in eating your food.

THE WORST RESTAURANT @ BANGI

1. CHICO : a chinese muslim restaurant that ironicly did not serve chinese food! went there the 1st week of their opening and it was extremely dissapointing i sincerely hope that they improve their menus.
2. YANKEES: food are great but service is minus 5
3. CHICKEN KING: the idea is there but unfortunately they had to 'cut' down their wastage and serve customer 1-2days old chicken ultimately made the chicken very dry!!

this list will be updated from time to time. i mean no harm but people have to know have the right to know and the right to enjoy their food!

birthday delima

these few weeks were horrible for me coz my family were sick. started of with my son having the viral fever then my husband he is until now not well...its so frustrating coz this weekend is my birthday and my family wanted to celebrate my birthday @ sentosa island, singapore plus that would be alot of fun for my children too..

but i guess that we're not going..what a bummer! i was looking forward for the trip...my mom asked my if i could leave my husband and just go with the kids and suggested hubby to stay at his mom's house...well that's a thought but it doesn't feel right leaving him when he's not well like that. its sad that my kids was too excited and very looking forward to the trip.......

i don't know...i somehow don't feel like going either coz..its just don't feel right celebrating my birthday without hubby although even if i stay we're not celebrating anyway in this situation no one wins!

homemade seasoning for meat and burger

today i have nothing to do and have nothing to cook from my freezer we only have our frozen home made burger patty so i decided to make burgers for dinner. its a rainy day today but lucky for me that it was sunny this morning up to 2pm or so...got my laundry done..so happy.

anyway i wanted to have a different taste to my 'original' burger so i thought i could add some seasonings on to my burgers while cooking it...my usual store bought seasoning was out (argh~ haven't been to the supermarket for the longest time) so i decided to mix my own...
and it turned out fantastic.


my MEAT and BURGER seasoning:

1tsp of :

1. mix herbs (oregano, parsley, bay leaf, rosemary...can't remember but you can buy it ready made for this one)
   
2. paprika
3. black pepper
4. ginger powder
5. sugar

and 1/2 tsp of white pepper.
3tbsp salt

blend or grind all of this until it become powdery then ready to use..keep it in an air tight container.

i don't have pictures for this one coz no point its all dark and gloomy...sorry!

Hi fiber bread/ loaf

first of all i'd like to apologize on the fugly pictures its been raining and gloomy lately its no condition for picture taking so please bare with me...but i can promise you this though that this is a great healthy bread recipe and a MUST TRY. with this same recipe you can ,make variations its so wonderful!

ingredient (A)
200g bread flour (you may also use all purpose flour)
50g bran mix
25g wholemeal
10g sugar
1/2tsp salt
2tsp instant yeast (my fave brand is saf instant they never fail me)

ingredient (B)
1.5tsp honey
170ml cold water or milk

ingredient (C)
2tsp shortening (you can use butter instead it gives better taste but texture wise shortening somehow gives more fluff so its your pick)

optional ingredient (D)
35g chopped walnuts or pecans or seeds what ever tickles your fancy

bread making:

1. mix ingredient (A) then add (B) in your mixer with bread dough fitted blade (just in case; its the one that looks like a cork screw), let it knead or mix to form a dough.
2. add (C) and continue kneading until its becomes smooth and elastic dough.
3. then add (D) and mix til combined.
4. cover dough with clear film and let it rise in a warm place for 45minutes to 1 hour or until it doubles the size.
5. divide the dough into equal pieces, mold them into balls nad leave them to rest for a further 10 minutes.
6. then as you would when making white bread, flatten the dough and roll it and give it a firm roll to make sure that the seams won't break during baking and coat them with some flour and put them on to the parchment paper make sure that its seam side down.
7. let them proof for another 40 minutes. the last 10 minutes preheat oven at 200c
   
8. then use a very sharp knife to cut out leaf shape (as per photo)
9. bake at 200c for 25 minutes.

TIPS:

1. when ever making bread it is often a MUST to make sure that at the end of the kneading that the dough become elastic. its important because this is the key for a long lasting softness of your bread. if you have that moment where yor bread is only soft freshly from the oven but when cooled it turned as hard as a rock? this is why. so please its important!
2. what do i mean by elastic? to test, rub your fingers with some oil or butter and try to stretch the dough if its breaks easily then there's a whole lotta kneading to do but if its streacthable to a thin film like then that's elasctic.
3. ample proofing is also a must for a soft and fluffy bread so don't be a smart ass and reduce the proofing time.

for variations:

A) for rye bread - omit the bran mix add 50g of rye flour and the rest is the same

B) white loaf - use 250g of bread flour instead of 200g bread flour omit wholemeal and bran mix.

Best Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

I've always wondered what makes a good stew...have you? i've eaten a lot of stew in my life and i basically love them all except that if you had bland stew then that's different...

if you ask me, a good stew must have good ingredients i mean it has to be fresh...mmm well actually having leftovers and turn it into stew also makes good stew but my point is that the initial ingredient must start fresh..i know what i mean? anyway the spice must not be too overwhelming that you can't even taste the main ingredient which in this case would usually be either beef or chicken of fish or other seafood...i always have this at the back of my mind when cooking " the main 'cast' must always be in the limelight "

apart from that it has to be serve hot or at least warm and to be honest...i love having a big bowl of hot stew just on its own or with lightly toasted home baked bread with butter on a rainy day or night...i think soups and stew taste their bestes during those time or if you're in a 4 season country during winter, its warm you up on no time.

made this last night with a high fiber loaf (which i'll post my recipe later)...ohh its healthy and tasty...

since we are using slow cooker then if you're making it fo dinner then you'd need start cooking at 2pm but if you're working then you can do this before you go to work its fine.


Ingredients:
1/2 chicken
1ltr chicken stock (preferably home made if not store bought is fine)
2celery sticks cut into rough chunks
1-2 carrots cut into large cubes
3-4 potatoes but into large cubes (you can adjust teh amount to your liking)
2 large onions cut into large chunks
2clove garlic crushed

for thickening the stew:
1.5tbsp corn flour

seasonings:
salt to taste
1tsp black pepper
1/2tsp white pepper
1tsp sugar

methods:

simply dump in all the vegetables in the slow cooker then put the chicken on top. pour in the chicken stock.

if you are making this at 2pm then set the slowcooker on high and let it do its thing. around 6:30pm or so you make go and have a looksie and see if the chicken is cooked and tender. it should be very tender by now, take out the chicken and set a side to cool. then shred the chicken for easy consumption. then put the shreded chicken back in the stew.

in a small bowl, take some of the stock from the slow cooker and dissolve the corn starch to thicken the stew. stir the stew and see it thickening if the stew is too thick to you liking then you can adjust it by adding more water. then let it simmer just for a bit say for another 5 -10 minutes on low heat. don't forget to have a taste before you serve do the final 'touch ups' (adding additional seasoning to taste if necessary). then ready to serve.


p/s: if you are making this before going to work then set the slow cooker on low heat the rest is about the same.

if you have left overs which i doubt you can use it to make chicken pie or chicken pot pie all yo need is the short crust or puff pastry and some remikins...