THB #38 Chocolate Angel Cake

When a cake name starts with the word "Chocolate", I don't really bother to read the rest of the name. I am already convinced that I have to give it a try. Sometimes it can be as soon as the next day, sometimes can wait for pretty long since my chocolate to do list is the longest among all LOL

So, need to say no more, I immediately baked this cake, especially knowing this has a deadline :)
This is the 38th bake for The Home Bakers, a baking event initiated by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

Angel cake, a typically soft and fluffy cake tend to have dry texture using only egg whites. Like many others, I do not really fancy dry cake, but this recipe is different. The texture of this cake is moist, chocolaty and at the same time is soft and fluffy. I really enjoyed eating this cake, so was my family :)

 

 

Ah, look at the holes. I did tapped the pan before putting it into the oven, yet I still saw many holes

Recipe was chosen by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids - great choice! :)
I made full recipe, used 420g of egg whites (I calculated 30g egg white for an egg), Valrhona cocoa powder
Unlike others who reduced the quantity of sugar, I didn't, but I used all brown sugar, and I found the sweetness was just right to my liking, not too sweet
Used ungreased 25cm chiffon tin and baked for 40minutes

My bake for The Home Bakers - bake no. 38

 

 

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (August 2014 Event: Flour) - organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe

 

 

THB #33 Holiday Cranberry Nut Rum Cake

One more late post for The Home Bakers (THB)
It's bake no.33 chosen by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe

She mentioned this cake as 'to die for'
To me, this cake resembles Christmas fruit cake which I am not a fan of
What's good is, this is the better version! I, the 'not into fruit cake in Christmas' person, did enjoy eating this cake! :)

 

 

I didn't have bourbon or whisky in stock, so I just used dark rum. And I used toasted walnuts instead of pecan. I mixed golden raisins and chopped dates, soaked them in rum before use. And for cranberries, I used frozen

 

For full original recipe, please view HERE

 

 

My bake for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours - bake no. 33

 

 

THB #32 Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake

Many thanks to Joyce from Kitchen Flavour, the host of The Home Baker
She gave me permission to link my super late bakes
It's supposed to be done in March and I did this cake somewhere early June and I just posted today! I must fight this "blogging blue" that has been dragging too long! :)

 

 

This cake was chosen by Angela from the Charmed Cupcake

Simple to make, yet so yummy. My kind of cake :)

Soft, moist, sweetness mixed with the tang from the raspberry and the bonus crunch from the almond. So perfect with a cuppa!

 

I baked half recipe with 10x20cm rectangle pan. Didn't do any change to the measurement of the ingredients this time. Just perfect :)
Please view HERE for the full recipe

My bake for The Home Bakers - bake no. 32

 

THB #37 Fresh Pineapple Cashew Nut - Upside Down Cake

I have been a lousy blogger lately. Missed out many bakes from many events. Never did any update for close to a month. School holiday. Ridiculous hot humid weather. Plus over a week away from Singapore. All equal to l.a.z.y hahaha...

Anyway, I do not want to miss this one bake today. Why? Because I have chosen it! LOL
It's for the event The Home Bakers (THB), a baking event initiated by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours - which by the way I have missed quite a few *grin*
Well, actually, I have baked #32 and #33 a few weeks ago. I will post and link it in THB's site - if allowed :)

Back to this bake...
Original recipe used macadamia nut but it suggested cashew too, so I chose the latter
I love upside down cake - always. Cake and fruits together, soft, sweet and moist - what's not to like?
This cake is no exception. Every bite burst with the juice from the fresh pineapple cuts, so sweet, soft and moist cake thanks to the syrup. Yum!
It's a cake with fine texture - love it! The crunch from the nuts is a not to be missed added bonus
An addictive sweet treats!

I baked half recipe using a 8" round pan

What you need:
(full recipe)

Fruits layer:
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar - this explained my dark looking cake LOL)
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 6 to 8 slices 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts or cashew nuts (I used cashew)

3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (I omitted)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175degC
2. To make the fruit layer: In a heavy 9" ovenproof skillet (I used non stick pan and quickly transferred the caramel onto 8" round baking pan), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and corn syrup and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and the mixture is bubbly. Cut the pineapple slices crosswise into 3-inch pieces and immediately arrange the slices in the caramel in one layer. Place the nuts in the gaps between the pineapple slices
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla, and beat well. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Stir to blend. Beat the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk in 2 additions. Spread the batter evenly over the fruit layer
4. Bake for 35 to 40mins (mine was 25mins), or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted and comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Then turn upside-down onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges

This recipe from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas is another keeper. I reckon it will be nice with other kind of fruits, too

 

 

This bread is the 37th bake for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

 

 

And since this cake used butter, I'll also submit this post to Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Jozelyn from Spice Up My Kitchen at this post. You may post anything you make using butter as one of the ingredient! :)

 

THB #31 Sunflower Pull Apart Focaccia

I have been feeling unwell since yesterday, down with runny nose and body ache. Not those very severe type, but it's pretty irritating when most of the time my nose is blocked and gotta breathe from mouth :(
Thankfully I still managed to bake this bread this afternoon :)

Okay, focaccia. All along I do not really fancy focaccia. I find its texture is just too chewy
But taste wise, I have no problem
Well, same as this bread I baked. A tasty focaccia with 'so so' texture

I baked half recipe and I made three sunflowers. Not too happy with the shape
If a sunflower could talk, it must have complained about how I 'downgraded' its beauty LOL

I did not even put anything on top, not even at the centre. I do not really fancy sunflower seed, I totally dislike olive, I did not have cherry tomatoes nor grapes. Ah never mind, I just shaped the bread

I followed the recipe, halved the amount
After reading reviews from other bakers, many mentioned about the wet sticky dough, I reduced the water to 120ml (for half recipe). But I still had sticky dough and needed to add more bread flour (I didn't measure the additional, I kept on sprinkling til the dough was no longer sticky)
I replaced all purpose flour with bread flour. Used 3/4 tsp of dried rosemary (for half recipe)
Baked at 220degC for 15 minutes

All in all, it's a fun experience :)
Regardless of the shape, and even though I do not think I'll bake this again, these not pretty sunflowers were great to eat, especially fresh from the oven. Best to dip in the soup or eat accompanied by sliced hard cheese :)
I do not think it'll taste as good tomorrow. Let's see!

This bread is for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
For full recipe, please view HERE

THB #27 Sticky Caramel Pinwheel Bread

I changed the name, sorry Mr. Pappas. To me, this is bread, not cake :)
But one thing for sure, whether you can name it cake or bread, this is one delicious munch!
Soft, fluffy bread with sticky gooey sweet topping. Served warm. Perfect!

I planned to bake this bread full recipe when I realized I ran out of bread flour. No choice, I made just half. Aarrgghh!

I followed the recipe exactly, but reduced the sugar for the dough (reduced to two third of the 1/3cup -> for half recipe) as well as the caramel topping. Oh, I also omitted the nuts!

Ready to bake... I got 11 pinwheels :)

 

 

 

 Fresh from the oven. I had no idea why the swirl at the top right turned out different LOL

It's almost dinner time when this bread out from the oven. Aarrgghh... I didn't like the idea cos I wouldn't get nice pictures at night. But it's been a baking time with lots of interruptions. Yeah... it's school holiday, so very expected LOL
Anyway, I will take more snaps tomorrow morning before I have them for breakfast. Just pray the object will still be in the container, not in somebody's belly hahaha...

Soft, fluffy, yummy, sticky sweet with full of cinnamon aroma and flavour nom nom nom... Let's see if tomorrow morning I still get the same texture :)

This bread is for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
Jasline  of Foodie Baker chose this recipe, you may hop to her wonderful blog for the full recipe

THB #26 Raisins Oatmeal Cupcakes

The 26th bake for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

I did some adjustment for this cake, just to make it to something at least one of the family member can enjoy. That one family member is usually me LOL

I baked half recipe in cupcake pan - I got 7 cupcakes. Using buttermilk as one of the option besides low fat yoghurt, omitted dark molasses, replaced vanilla extract with dark rum, replaced whole-wheat flour with plain flour, replaced cranberries with golden raisins and lastly, omitted nuts (for this, by accident. I totally forgotten about it LOL)

I must say this cake is not bad. It's tasty, and can taste the crunch from the oatmeal, pretty fluffy and moist - thanks to the rum soaked golden raisins :)
Great to eat this cupcakes as breakfast with a cuppa :)

For full recipe, please view Kit from I-Lost in Austen, whom has chosen this cake


This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Also I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up, an event initiated by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY  where the star ingredients used for this month of November is Oats, hosted by Vivian from Vivian Pang Kitchen

THB #25 Italian Cheese & Herb Pinwheels

Finally I had time to bake this bread today
I love cheesy bread I didn't want to miss this one :)

I baked half recipe and made one giant pinwheel. Or flower? It did look like flower to me instead LOL

Recipe was chosen by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. Nice bread. Soft and fluffy. I love the super cheesy filling :)

I used a mixture of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Parmesan cheese - total of 150g. Used all bread flour (1 3/4 cup) and the only herb I used for the filling was 1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp of dried yeast and a pinch of sugar sprinkled over 1/2 cup of warm water. After 10 mins - bubbly and ready, poured into breadmaker pan, with 1 1/2 egg (90g in total). Followed by all dry ingredients and let the machine do the kneading and first proofing
While waiting, prepare the filling by mixing all the three grated cheeses with half egg and herb. Mix well
Shaping part, I followed Zoe's way. Please view her step by step picture
Flatten the dough into rectangle shape and sprinkle the filling over half of the flattened dough (length side). Fold and place it on the lined pan, seam side down (sausage-like shape)
Snip the sausage to three quarter of the way through, I cut into 6 parts. Lie flat each part, arrange to make it like a pinwheel shape
After proofing til doubled in size, brushed with egg wash and sprinkled some cheddar cheese around the centre part and then baked in preheated oven of 175degC til golden brown for 45mins (I had a giant pinwheel here LOL)

Not easy to neatly eat this giant pinwheel. I would make into smaller ones the next time I make this bread again LOL

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Btw, today is Abby's 8th birthday. Happy birthday my lovely little princess XOXO

Nothing fancy, just making a simple birthday cake for her. Will share some pics tomorrow. I haven't got the chance to go through them. So tired today. Baking a birthday cake and a giant pinwheel, and at the same time taking care of the house and the kids have drained out all my energy LOL

Time to sleep now zzzzzz...

THB #24 - Peach Cashew Coffee Cake

The Home Bakers bakes recipes from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
I discovered many similar recipes from this book
Nevertheless, it's yummy, and easy to make. So, why not?
This cake is one of them :)

 Chosen by Chaya from Bizzy Bakes, this is a cake well received by my family, except Ian who doesn't like fruits haizzz...

I baked half recipe and followed the recipe, replacing granulated sugar with caster sugar, reducing by half (since I used canned peached) and omitted nutmeg (not preferred by my family)

For full recipe, please visit HERE

 

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

THB #23 Morning Glory Breakfast Cake

This cake didn't excite me I almost skipped on this one
But my curiosity won and here it is...
Chosen by Lena from Frozen Wings

This was not bad at all, I must say, especially knowing the goodness in every bite
No butter, no oil - great, isn't it? Dense, moist, flavourful, and pretty tasty
It's not something that I would make again, to be honest, but I had no regret in baking this cake :)

I planned to make only 1/3 recipe, I saw Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids did the same, hence I followed her recipe - thank you Zoe for making my life easier - it's quite a lot of ingredients used here!

The changes I made were, I replaced dark molasses with honey, walnut with cashew, wheat bran with Weet-Bix - crushed , dried cranberries with golden raisins
I used muffin pan and I got 6 standard size muffins, baked 180degC for 20 minutes

 

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours where we bake  from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

THB#21 Peach Caramel Cupcakes

This is a bit weird. I baked the 22nd bake and now I'm doing the 21st bake LOL

This cake is not bad at all. Delicious and very easy to make
As usual, I baked half recipe and I used cupcake tin. I only got 4 cupcakes! LOL

I followed the recipe exactly, only that I reduced the sugar slightly and I omitted the nutmeg. I used canned peaches - I washed and patted dry with kitchen towel before arranging them on top of batter
I used cake flour instead, after reading some mixed reviews about the texture of the cake
It actually helped, I got the texture of butter cake :)

I baked this cake this afternoon, now is evening time and all four were gone LOL

For full recipe, please visit Emily from Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours where we bake  from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

Also this post is for Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

THB #22 Cheddar Brioche Braid

Exactly! I replaced the cheese to cheddar
Somehow I do not really fancy bread with gruyere cheese, hence the change I made

A recipe I chose from the book Coffee Cakes for The Home Bakers, my second choice this time round
Why this recipe? Simply because I LOVE brioche and I LOVE cheese
Combined together? I LOVE LOVE it! :)
Another reason is when I read the method of making, it's written there that the dough is to keep chilled in the fridge overnight. I'm curious to know how it turned out :)

I am telling you, this is the perrrrrfect choice I won't regret!
Such a delicious tasty cheesy soft buttery bread with yummy crusty top I enjoyed to the max
The recipe stated that it is great to eat with ham. To me, I could eat on its own and couldn't stop!
Oh, my kids love it with Nutella - which I found quite irresistible too!
My not so easy to please mummy took a bite and immediately took out her recipe book and said, tell me the recipe, I want to write! LOL

Half recipe made short braid. Please don't judge by the look of the braid. That's the best I can do LOL

Yum yum... I added more cheese than suggested, so cheesy...I like!

What you need:
(below is full recipe, I made half recipe only)

1 package (11g) instant dry yeast
1/4 cup (60ml) warm water
pinch of sugar, plus 1 tbsp.
10 tbsp (140g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (120ml) warm milk
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour (423g) (I used 455g bread flour)
1 1/2 cups shredded gruyere cheese (I used 2 cups cheddar)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Method:

1. Pour yeast into warm water mixed with a pinch of sugar and let stand til foamy, about 10 minutes
2. Heat up milk just until warm (I don't own thermometer, I used my instinct to just lukewarm)
3. Pour warm milk, egg, and yeast mixture into breadmaker pan, followed by flour, sugar, salt
4. Let the machine knead for 5 minutes, and add in butter
5. Let the machine does the kneading job and also the proofing
6. Once out from the machine, punch the dough
7. I found it too sticky I kneaded manually for awhile, adding a little plain flour
8. Keep the dough in the fridge overnight (minimum of 2 hours)
9. Take out the chilled dough and knead for awhile and then knead in the cheese
10. Divide into 3 equal portions and roll each portion into a rope about 40cm long
11. Place the 3 ropes parallel on a buttered baking sheet (I didn't butter, but lined the baking sheet)
12. Form them into a braid and pinching the ends together to seal. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm place til doubled in volume about 1 1/2 hours
13. Preheat oven to 190degC. Brush the dough with egg milk mixture
14. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped
15. Let cool on the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer from the pan to a wire rack
16. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into slices

I'm submitting this post to The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
Our next bake will be Morning Glory Breakfast Cake, something new to me I'd love to try!
You love baking? You love experimenting new thing in the kitchen? Come join us! :)

 

I'm also submitting this post to Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post.

THB#20 Cranberry-Cashew Orange Coffee Cake

It's better late than never. I thought I would miss this bake again, after I missed the 19th bake (which I will still make cos I love lemony cake)
Fortunately I had the time to bake yesterday :)
My kind of cake, not too sweet after I adjusted the sugar used, and bursting with juicy tart cranberries, at the same time enjoying the crunchiness of the nutty streusel on top
Perfect with a cuppa. Yum!



I followed the recipe, but for sugar reduction I followed Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
Somehow, I find her preference for sweetness is more or less same as mine :)

I used 1/3 sugar for the batter (I used caster sugar). Replaced vanilla extract with orange extract and omitted nuts inside the batter. Reduced cranberries used to 1 cup only
For the streusel, I used 2 tbsps. caster sugar, and replaced pecans with cashews

For full recipe, please view Maria from Box of Stolen Socks
She has chosen to bake this wonderful cake :)


Our 20th bake for The Home Bakers, a baking group where we bake recipes from the book  "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Now, I still have time to bake the 21st bake. I'd better make the time soon :)