famous fruit pastry

We made these for Teacher's Day back in September. I'm not one who remembers dates well and in addition to my ability to procrastinate, we panicked at the very last moment before we left for T's piano lesson.

I know presenting a gift to your teachers on Teacher's Day is not rule but still, it is nice to show your appreciation with something, be it big or small.

Obviously, it was too late to shop, the next best thing we could come up was something homemade. Hence, I decided to make this sweet little Fruit Pastry which I had bookmarked eons ago.

This is an easy recipe and with so many successful attempts by food bloggers, it sure is a lifesaver. I'm glad I chose this recipe and they looked really cute with the single heart shaped strawberry on it. They don't only look good but they taste fabulous too, In fact, I baked another batch for H's teachers the next day. Sar-kar...Lol.

You can hop over to HHB's blog for the recipe

It is a really wonderful tea cake.

baking frenzy

I am not abandoning this blog, its just that I do not have the time nor any interesting things to talk about. Life has been hectic and slowly things are falling into routine. I have to get use to a new lifestyle that includes waking up at 5.30am every weekday. But, it is very fulfilling, in fact, a little decadent at times.

Anyway, lunar new year is just around the corner, and since I stay at home ninety percent of the time, I decided to make my own goodies this year, instead of spending hours sampling at CNY Bazaars and spending tons of money on snacks that eventually adds on to my thick waistline.

My favourite CNY snack has to be pineapple tarts, the open top version with lots of sticky pineapples and a pastry that melts in your mouth. I have seen many recipes that promises a pastry that melts in your mouth but I am reluctant to try them out, given that most of them are recipes that yield a considerable quantity, it will be a waste of effort and resources if it did not turn out the way I hope for. Moreover, taste is subjective.

This recipe is actually taken from the morning chinese newspaper published probably more than 2 decades ago. There is seriously nothing special about this recipe, and it is quite close to many popular recipes floating around. Somehow, I just prefer this to many others and like I said, taste is subjective.

I wish I had made my own pineapple jam but time was not on my side. Next year, I promised myself.



Apart from this, I also made a small batch of coconut cookies using the dessicated coconut that I have been desperately trying to clear. I got this recipe from a Taiwanese cookie book and it turns out very well - great smells and good crunch.



I'm still trying to squeeze in some time to bake the all time favourite chocolate chip cookies, using the recipe from the same Taiwanese book. And hopefully (greedy), Edith's oatmeal raisins cookies.

It has been tiring, but extremely fulfilling.

hand mixed orange cake

I have been going on a orange cake hunt ever since I had a crazily delicious slice in Frasers Hill earlier. This recipe requires no machine and almost like any basic muffin recipes, you simply mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Ta-dah! You're done. I'm quite pleased with the results, except that I feel the crumbs can be more fine. I think next time, I will substitute the oil for butter and use creaming method instead.

Orange Cake

100g Self raising flour
50g plain flour
20g brown rice cereal (I used 170g plain flour altogether)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (I used 1 tsp each due to the above changes)
3 eggs
150g castor sugar (I used 120g)
120ml corn oil
50g yogurt
1/2 tsp orange essence
1 tsp grated orange zest
60ml orange juice

Combine the flour, baking powder and soda in a bowl.
Combine eggs, sugar, oil and the rest of the ingredients. Stir into flour mixture until well blended.
Baking in a prepared loaf pan in a preheated oven at 175C for 35-40min. Stand for 10min before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

手拌式蛋糕 - Kevin Chai

happy children's day

Finally for once, I managed to bake something for T's children's day celebration in school. After pouring through a few cookie recipes, I decided on one from Nigella's How to Be A Domestic Goddess. This is a very straightforward recipe and the dough was easy to handle too. I love the buttery flavor but I will leave it in the oven it a little longer for better crisp. I was afraid of burning it as I always do with cookies. And oh yes, I finally get to use this cute cutters which I made my sis brought back from Hong Kong. They make cute cookies but removing the stamped dough from the cutter was very tricky.

And you think the kids would love them, the container came back untouched, none was eaten, guessed the kids had to much food and preferred games instead. Oh well, all ended up in my tum..yum!

pandan kaya cake

This cake brings back lots of 'exciting' memeories, which I will fondly cherish.

I learned this cake from a bakng class organised by Bt Batok Community Club many years back. Mdm Law, the instructor made it looked so easy and I had very little difficulty replicating it at home. Fast forward a few years later, I shared this recipe with some mommies in a parenting forum I frequent. This was my greatest 'mistake' made. Many of them attempted this recipe on a same Saturday night, my handphone rang non stop. Everyone encountered different problems, one said the kaya didn't thicken, another one reported that her cake broke into half when when she poured the kaya over. I wasn't expecting so many different outcomes and I really didn't know how to reply or solve their problems. Everyone was simultaneously reporting their results on the forum, like as if they are waiting their newborns to arrive. Funny yet stressful for me.

I'll still share the recipe here for those to want to try. I can only say, please do not pour the kaya over the cake when it (the cake) is still hot, it will break, no matter how careful you are. You may use your favourite sponge cake recipe instead.

pandan kaya cake
(this recipe is for 2 x 7" cake tin)

345g Optima flour (from Bake King)
2.1 tsp ovalette (stabilizer)
25oz water
6 eggs
2 tsp pandan paste (indonesian butterfly brand)
85g melted butter


1. Beat the flour with eggs until it thickens and pass the ribbon test.
2. Add in the ovalette and water and beat well.
3. Add in the pandan paste, make sure it is well mixed.
4. Add the melted butter and mix well.
5. Pour into 2 seven inch lined cake tin and baked at 180deg for 35 min.

Prepare the kaya after the cake is done and slightly cooled.

570ml water
200ml coconut milk
170g sugar
Half a packet of hoon kueh powder
1 tsp gelatine
1 tsp pandan paste

1. Stir all the ingredients together and boil over low heat.
2. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens.
3. Let the kaya cool slightly before icing the cake.

To assembly the cake.

Cut the cake across horizontally and sandwich the cake with a layer of kaya. Scoop some kaya into a measuring cup or any container with a beak. Slowly pour the kaya over the centre of the cake, with the back of a soup ladle, move in circular motion to spread the kaya and let it drip over the sides naturally. There will be quite a bit of wastage in order for the sides to be covered up evenly.

You can dust some dessicated coconuts on the sides to cover up any 'flaws'. I do that as my frosting skills is extremely lousy.

Let's hope nobody is seriously interested enough to try the recipe out. Some people suggested adding jelly powder into the kaya so that it will set easily. Personally, I feel, if jelly is used instead of hoon kueh powder, the bite will be very different, I don't want my kaya to taste 'hardened'.

Try at your own risk. Keke

brown banana cake

I love banana cakes and almost seldom reject any chances of trying out a new recipe. This recipe is taken from Pichet Ong's The Sweet Spot and since he claimed that this is the best banana cake ever, I have no reason not to try it.

The cake turns out to be very moist, almost limping and hard to hold in shape. I'm not really sure if it is the works of yogurt. Imagine a very light and moist banana bread.



Banana Cake

1/3 cup butter (78g)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup roughly mashed bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 large egg
1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt or sour cream

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.

2. Cream the butter, sugar, honey, cinnamon and salt until pale and fluffy.

3. Add bananas and vanilla, beat on medium speed until the mixture looks "broken" or lumpy. The bananas should be mashed, with a few small chunks remaining.

4. Beat in the egg until incorporated. Fold in the flour and stir in the yogurt until the batter has only a few remaining white streaks. Be sure to avoid overmixing.

5. Transfer batter into a grease pan and bake for 45min at 180degC.

Cream Scones

The first time I came across scones was during my Home Economics lesson. The entire class except for one girl, got a good scolding because we did not lift the flour high enough to allow air be incorporated, resulting in batches of flattened biscuits. In the end, we had to do it all over again (we didnt enjoy cooking then).

Many years later, I had my real taste of scones at Tea Room (now no longer exist) a coffee shop in the previous Westin Hotel. It was nothing unusual and definitely did not leave a deep impression. What changes my mind was after I had some really good ones at Perth, served with generous portion of clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam, it was sensational.

Fast forward, I had some real good scones during my recent visit to Bukit Frasers (scones was the last thing to expect) and that prompted me to make some at home. I sieved through all the scones recipe at home but in the end decided to try out this particular one simply because the author had put in so much thoughts and hardwork into her research!



How did it turn out? Perfect if eaten fresh from oven, its a pity I did not have any clotted cream nor jam at home. But it has been a good boost to my confidence, at least, if I met my Home Economics teacher, Mrs Kan again, I can proudly tell her, yes, I can make scones! Lol.

low fat orange yogurt cake

During my recent visit to Bukit Fraser, we dropped by Ye Olde Smokehouse for a lazy afternoon tea, not knowing what else to do in a cold wet afternoon up in the mountains. Our tea came with a slice of homemade orange cake, a very plain slice but crazily delicious. It was buttery yet it fluffy and very light, so good that we tried to ask for the recipe but of course, they do not entertain such ridiculous request.

When I came back, I started to scout for similar orange cake recipes and I managed to see one at Happy Home Baking's blog and decided to give it a try. The recipe uses yogurt, which reminds me of Sri's Lemon Yogurt Cake, another recipe that I've bookmarked, actually both recipes are rather similar.


Tastewise, this is a little richer and denser, I suspect it is the yogurt since the amount of butter used is very little. Nevertheless I still like it because it is super moist and I think I'll try this recipe with passionfruit next. This cake is really good with a cup of Earl Grey.

cottony soft natural yeast bread

This must be one of the most delicious breads I have ever eaten. And I didnt buy it from a high end bakery, I bought it from a old provision shop off Commonwealth. I have a feeling this is how my whipping cream bread should taste like. It has the familiar greasy touch due to the large amount of whipping cream used. I take back my words, I'm going to give this whipping cream bread a try again.

In case you are wondering, this wonderful bread only cost me $1.20, which is a steal considering you often pay more at some bakeries.

whipping cream bread

Baking bread takes alot of planning and effort. A lot of planning because breads really take a long time to prepare, from the inital stage of kneading until they are ready to be sent into the oven. The timing, hence, is very important. I usually knead my dough after 10pm and let it rise overnight. For my dough to rise within an hour or two, I need external assistance, like sitting my bowl over hot water or leaving it in a warm oven.

I saw this recipe from dailydelicious and I remember one of the memebers in the parenting forum I visit, mentioned that it is super nice, so with some planning calculated, I started on the dough on Sunday night. This recipe does not require any eggs or butter but instead, 225ml of whipping cream. Being a novice breadmaker, I was surprised how oily whipping cream is! The dough felt like a chinese oil dough, my hands were covered with a film of oil. No wonder the recipe requires the dough to be kept overnight in the refrigerator.

When I shaped the dough the next morning, I can still feel the oiliness so I had to make swift movements to prevent the dough from melting. While I let the dough do its 2nd stage proofing, I made a quick trip to the airport to pick up my sister coming back from HK. However, halfway through we received news that my youngest sister, in labour then, was about to birth, we detoured to the hospital. I did not factor in this and hence, my breads were over proven.

I didnt think this bread is anything more fabulous than my 65C bread. Maybe because of the little mishap at the end. I dare say I might not attempt this recipe again because the whipping cream is way too oily and fattening.

Anyway, my sister gave birth to her second child, little Freja yesterday evening. Such a lovely little bundle. Maybe I should bake some Swedish Semlor to celebrate her arrival.

fine butter cake

I saw this on Florence's blog and since she named it Fine Butter Cake, it must be good! So how can I not give it a try then. As it turns out, it is really good, how good is good, I guess it is subjective but if my family is not rejecting it, then I'll take it as good.

As compared to the famous butter cake recipe shared by Lee Lee, this one is not as fluffy, hence more dense. Both are different in their own ways.

Fine Butter Cake

150g good quality butter (I use Golden Churn)
1 tbsp corn oil/olive oil
110g castor sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

140g cake flour
40g corn flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp whipping cream

1. Cream the butter, sugar and corn oil until white and fluffy
2. Add in salt and vanilla essense
3. Beat in the eggs, one by one
4. Sift the cake flour, corn flour and baking powder before folding in into the butter mixture
5. Stir in the whipping cream
6. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180degC for 35 min

chocolate cupcake

E made a latest entry on moist chocolate cake, when I saw the words moist and chocolate, I have this urge to bake it immediately. So I started working on it right after dinner.

The method is quite different from the usual creaming of butter and sugar. This one involves melting the butter with water. And because H was helping me, I sifted the flour and cocoa powder together when I was supposed to whisk the cocoa powder into my melted butter. Anyway, other than this little mishap, everything went smoothly.

This chocolate cake is really good, super moist and soft even after overnight. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks E!

Moist Chocolate Cupcake

150g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
150ml water
35g cocoa powder

170g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
180g castor sugar (E uses 200g, I scaled down)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven @ 180degC
2. Combine butter, salt and water in a saucepan and heat it under low fire until the butter melts, almost reaching boiling point
3. Add in cocoa powder and whisk till smooth
4. Let it cool complete before adding in eggs and vanilla essence and give it a good whisk
5. Sift the flour and baking powder, stir in the sugar
6. Fold the flour/sugar into the cocoa mixture and beat till smooth
7. Pour into prepared muffin cases and bake for 20-25min or until the skewer comes out clean

hummingbird cake

The first time I bought a hummingbird cake, I had no idea what it was; I thought it was just a fanciful name for a cake-like donut. However, they turned out to be the kind of cakes I love, dense and flavorful.

I followed R's recipe and voila, it does resemble the ones I bought at Pop Doh and making them is so easy! I'm now tempted to get myself some donut trays so that I can have cute little donut shaped cakes instead of a big bundt ring now.

Hummingbird Cake

140g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp grond cinnamon

1 egg
70g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/8 tsp salt
40g corn oil

130g mashed bananas
80g crushed canned pinapples
20g pineapple syrup
50g walnuts/pecans

First you whisk the egg until it is pale and fluffy, then you add in the sugar, vanilla, salt and oil, giving it a good beat.

Add in the bananas, pineapple, syrup and nuts into the egg mixture.

Fold in the dry sifted ingredients (flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon) and baked in a preheated oven at 170deg C for 15 min or until a skewer comes out clean.

oatmeal chocolate chips cookies

I'm often attracted to E's bsking, she always bakes the stuff that I would love to bake (and eat) too. So inspirational : )

In one of her recent entries, she made oatmeal raisin cookies. I have never made anything with oatmeal so I thought this is a good chance. I always have the impression that oatmeal cookies will turn out very crispy but somehow mine is more chewy. E said that I can make them crispier by baking them longer. Overall, it is a nice cookies but next time, I'll stick to the dried fruits combi, chocolate chips are really meant for the good old chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks E for sharing such a wonderful and simple recipe.

condensed milk pound cake

Now that my baking mojo is somewhat back, I am eager to try out some recipes I've bookmarked earlier. My second sis Y, loves butter cake and since she will be making a trip back later this month, I have to prepare a good butter/pound cake for her. For me, frosted do nothing for me, I prefer those simple dense and flavoursome loaves. So when I saw this cake in E's blog, I knew I have to try.

The cake turns out to be soft, moist and smells wonderful, partly because of the condensed milk. But I felt it was a little too sweet for my liking and I will have to scale down on the sugar. However, it is a very small loaf (or should I say short), I will have to double the recipe, or probably follow R's recommendation.

Compared to the usual butter cake I bake, I like this better and Y, you are going to have this when you come back from HK this month.

Oh, this cake keeps well and taste good too when it is chilled.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Bake at 170degC for 1 hour

120g butter
45g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp vanilla essense
1/2 cup condensed milk
120g cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

Yields a 8 x 1.5" loaf

my successful loaf

I love baking breads, this stems from more than 10 years ago, where an ex-colleague brought some freshly home baked cinnamon rolls to work. I was determined to try since I remember learning bread making in Home Economics. But I havent had much success, my breads were usually hard, far from soft and totally not fluffy. I knew it had something to do with my kneading but I just didnt know how to improve until recently, I read somewhere that, in order to achieve results like the Asian fluffy soft breads and without using a high duty mixer, you have to slam the dough against your worktop for about 200 - 250 times. Sounds crazy right? But I tried, and I am pleased to confirm that it is true. I did manage to get myself some soft and chewy raisin buns, they stay soft, even after a day. (previously, my breads turned hard after 1 hour).

And this is also the first time I see a smooth and shiny dough form, from its inital sticky gluey messy stage. All the while, I doubted the books because I never seem to be able to get that shiny look on my dough.

My not so pretty looking raisin bread, I will work on my shaping later on.


The soft and fluffy inside *beaming with pride*


There's going to be more loaves to come : )

CNY bakes

No no, I didnt not attempt any cookies or whatsoever for the festive season, it was just too much work and practically impossible to spend hours in the kitchen without disturbance from the two babies.

I did, however, tried Sri's Honey Pound Cake as I am a sucker for pound cakes, especially SaraLee's. I can eat the whole bar if no one stopped me. I must admit, this comes quite close or even better than SaraLee's especially when it is chilled. However, I must remember to lower the oven temperature since I am using a nonstick bakeware, see the dark crust?



I also made a red bean nian gao for CNY. This is the second time I tried making red bean nian gao, but like my first, it was not firm enough after steaming. I'm still trying to figure why, did I not steam enough? This time, I used a different recipe that calls for glutinous flour instead of tai 太白粉 the last time.



I'll just leave the recipe here, so that any one can comment and let me know what went wrong.

Red Bean Nian Gao

200g Glutinous Flour
250g Cooked Red Beans
180ml Coconut Milk
150g Brown Sugar

Heat up the coconut milk until it bubbles, turn off the heat and stir in the sugar, and make sure it dissolves.
Leave it to cool down before stirring in the glutinous flour and finally red beans.
The mixture should be thick and gluey.
Pour the mixture into a baking tin lined with cellophane paper (optional) and steam over high heat for 1 hour.
Test for doneness but sticking in a skewer, it should come out clean.
Cool before cutting.

christmas party with ex-nobelians

...ex nobel colleagues, not nobel lians :p

We planned this about a month ago and we finally got together last Saturday. It was a boisterous afternoon. I do miss this bunch of colleagues, well, at least, they are normal people, compared to my current co-workers. What fun we had!



We had a table laden with good food and speaking of food, I mustn't forget to mention the pulot hitam logcake. You cannot imagine black glutinous rice and sponge cake coming together but I tell you, it was fabulous, best logcake I'd ever had. Shirley got it from Pine Garden (and their famous lychee martinis cake) and I'm thinking of placing an order for my family gathering next week. But I'm a bit lazy to travel all the way to AMK to pick it up. Jess' fried Mee Siam was simply ol la la too, everything was yummy!!

What is a christmas party without gift exchange. Everyone was supposed to bring foodstuff, yes, we are a bunch of foodies who prefer food to photoframes or cups. And lucky me, I got a tin of nougats from Agnes b delice, all the way from HK, thanks to Ko Heem!

Apart from the usual gift exchange, Cat and myself sponsored a mini lucky draw, we had crazy prizes ranging from shopping bags to g-string. It was hilarious to see who got what. And to top that up, one lucky winner brought home a lottery ticket, we are waiting for her to split the loot in Jan (Lian, we never forget).

It was really fun. Let's hope we will get to meet for CNY.

chocolate chips cookies

There must have been 1001 chocolate chips cookies recipes out there, all claiming to be the best, the most chewy, the most favourite but really, you have to try for yourself which works for you. So far, I have not found any, that is close to what Arnotts used to make and sell in bags at the supermarket. I could finish that entire bag in one go and that also accounted for what I am today.

Back to my chocolate chips cookies, the recipe I tried last night was extracted from this blog. How can I not give it a try when the blogowner is, obviously a chocolate chip cookies lover herself, just look at her numerous entries on chocolate chip cookies, in all format and styles (she even attempted to bake some in her car on a hot summer day).

So I went on to bake, and because the recipe is really simple, I was done within 30 minutes. My first tray didnt turn out too well, actually my fault, I stepped away from the kitchen to install a game for T, so the bottom was a little burnt. The second tray was perfect and boy, they go very well with a cup of hot tea, rather similar to the little cookie accompanying the hot cuppas at Coffee Club. Nice!

summer waldorf

This simple waldorf is made with a combination of yoghurt and mango puree, the final taste is really fresh and summery. I'm going crazy about all sorts of salads, perhaps next week, I'll attempt my BFF's Thai seafood salad.