Eclairs - Fool Proof Recipe

Ian is basically not a cake person, he doesn't really have sweet tooth - unlike his sis. Having said that, there are some sweet treats which he consistently enjoys having. One of them is éclairs
So, for his 9th birthday last week, when I asked him what he wanted me to bake for him, he said no cake. I asked, éclairs? He nodded in full excitement LOL

My family and I love it too, actually, but I do not really bake it often. As far as I remember, this was only my third time and in fact my first time using different recipe. Previously I always used this recipe

This time I attempted another recipe, from Kenneth of Guai Shu Shu
Ingredients are more or less the same, the only difference is his method is using electric mixer while my usual recipe is not. Result is very similar taste and texture. Love it :)

This recipe is more fool proof as the mixing is done by the machine, which I like
I was forgotten to take pics of the pretty hollow inside of the puff as well as how it looked inside with the filling, hope I remember the next time I bake this again :P

What you need:

For the choux pastry:
4 eggs
125g butter
125g plain flour
250g water

For the filling:
I used the same recipe as I did previously. Click the link I wrote above

For the chocolate coating;
I used the easy way, I melted 200g dark chocolate over double boiler. After melting while it's still hot, add in about 1 heaped tbsp of butter. Stir well

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200degC. Grease and line 2 cookie sheets
2. In a sauce pan over medium low heat, bring to boil water and butter. Add in flour while stirring vigorously until well mixed. Keep stirring til the dough doesn't stick to the pan and start to form a ball like shape. Let cool briefly about 5mins or so
3. Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl. Beat for 30 seconds. Add in eggs, one at a time and make sure to add the next one after it's really well mixed (to be safe, add the next egg after at least 30 seconds of beating) Dough will be smooth and glossy but not runny
4. Transfer dough into a large piping bag. Snip the tip to make about 1.5cm hole (or you can use piping nozzle with round tip) Pipe dough to your preferred length, about 10cm, onto lined cookie sheet
5. Bake for 15mins and then reduce the temperature to 180degC and bake for another 20mins or so til it's golden and firm to the touch (Do not open oven door during baking especially the first 20mins to avoid puffs to deflate)
6. When it's done, remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Poke each puff at both ends with a toothpick to release trapped moisture inside
7. When the puffs are completely cooled, you can either slit lengthwise at one side to slather the filling in it, or you also may use piping bag with small tip to poke into one end of the puff and pipe the filling
8. Last step is to dip the top of each puff with melted chocolate topping. Store in an airtight container. If need to stack, layer with plastic or parchment paper in between. Keep refrigerated

For the special birthday boy, I presented the éclairs a little differently. I stacked them to make it like a pyramid and drizzled with homemade easy chocolate sauce

The birthday boy was delighted to see the éclairs pyramid! :)

 

 

 

 

Fudgy Nutella Cheese Chocolate Cake 4 My Sis Bday

I'm drooling just by reading the name of the cake. Who can resist a combination of chocolate, nutella and cream cheese? This is the chosen cake I made for my sis' bday last June - one Nutella big fan :)
Sorry sis, such a super late post, more than 2 months late LOL

Recipe is from Tidy Mom - Nutella Gooey Butter Cake
She used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix for the chocolate cake base
I wanted to bake my own chocolate cake but due to me being lazy time limit (I only had time to bake on Saturday evening), I opted for Betty Crockers Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix instead

 

 

This cake is delicious! Moist, soft, and I like how the sweetness from the cake blends with the cheesiness from the topping Very dangerous, because you just can not stop at one huge slice. You will want to have the second slice - also huge LOL

 

Well, actually mine was not so fudgy, let alone gooey

If you see the picture in Tidy Mom, it looks so different from mine. Hers is shorter, definitely looks more moist, fudgy and gooey. Looks very much like brownies. I am not sure why she named it butter cake :)

Why my cake is different? Reason being, I didn't do the cake as per instructed. I blindly followed the instruction in the cake mix box. When I was done, then I realized that the original recipe of this cake didn't do so, in purpose!

Anyway, what's done is done. I still ended up with yummy cake :)

We enjoyed it so much and so reluctantly stopped eating it LOL

 

 

Okay, here is the recipe...

 

What you need:

 

1 box (15.25 oz) Betty Crockers Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (this is smaller in size than Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge (18.25 oz))

1 egg

100g butter, melted (original recipe: 1/2 cup. I would need to reduce the butter amount because of the smaller size of the cake mix)

(Note: if you use Duncan Hines, please use extra large egg and 1/2 cup butter)

 

For topping:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1 cup Nutella

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups icing sugar (I reduced A LOT to 1/4 cup)

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160degC. Grease 13x9" pan
2. Using an electric mixer, combine cake mix, 1 egg and melted butter until well incorporated. Press into bottom of greased pan with fingers
3. Topping: Using an electric mixer, blend cream cheese, eggs, nutella and vanilla. Then slowly add icing sugar and beat until smooth
4. Spread filling over cake batter, and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until edges are brown. (Do not overbake, the center should be a little gooey)
5. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Spread the top with Nutella (original recipe dusted with icing sugar - you may adjust according to your liking. I don't want the sweetness to be too overwhelming I can't taste the cheese at all)

 

 

I still want to bake this cake again in the future following the correct instruction (as written above). Just to satisfy my curiosity and also my need of indulging myself sinking my teeth in the oh so gooey cake :)

Super Fudge Brownies for Ian's 7th Birthday

This is a late post. Ian's birthday was last Sunday, 20th July
It's unfortunate that he fell sick on that very day. The plan to fulfil his birthday request (aside from presents!) had to be postponed

To share his cute requests: Ian - the car maniac, has asked to ride on London cab on his birthday. And to have lunch at Watami Japanese restaurant. Yes, he's one Japanese food lover
I found the first request is really cute I can't say no LOL
Now that he's much better, we'll do the belated plan on this coming weekend - which happens to be long weekend. Yeay! :)

One thing still done was to celebrate at home with his birthday cake - as usual, design requested by the birthday boy
This year, it was Minecraft! Gosh, this ever popular game, everything square
Until now I still can't see the fun of doing all that. Whenever he commented how cute the pig is, how nice the house is - I saw the screen and I saw nothing but colourful squares jumbled up together LOL

Anyway, request for birthday boy - who can say no?
So, I searched for Minecraft design and I found one which seemed like it's not so complicated. It's by Yoyomax

She had her own cake recipe to make which she claimed to be dense, not crumbly and yet yummy. Original recipe is from HERE She said it's perfect for cake sculpting. It's a simple recipe using cake mix
I was thinking to make the cake from the scratch. So I decided not to use her recipe but making super fudgy brownies. I assume it'd be sturdy enough for sculpting, too

Somehow, this brownies turned out not so fudgy, a little too dense - even though undoubtedly delicious and chocolaty. I'm pretty sure I have over baked it. Another downside was, it's really crumbly!
At the point when I did the sculpting, I regretted I didn't use Yoyomax's recipe
But I couldn't turn back the clock, so I just went ahead. Luckily, it's still doable :)

This cake design is not so difficult to follow. The only problem is to make sure every square is the same size. I had to do a lot of 'trimming' during the process :)


For the grass blocks, recipe for super fudge brownies, originally from Martha Stewart and seen at Doris' blog from Tested & Tasted as well as Ricke from Just Ordinary Kitchen

What you need:

120g unsalted butter
225g semi sweet chocolate chips / melt (I used 70% dark chocolate)
200g castor sugar (original recipe: 280g)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
130g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
50g semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Using double boil method, melt butter and chocolate, stir til melted and well mixed
2. Add in sugar, stir for awhile and remove from fire. Set aside
3. Preheat oven to 180degC
4. Add eggs and vanilla, stir to mix
5. Add in sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips, mix until just moistened (do not overmix)
6. Transfer batter to greased or lined 20cm square pan, smooth the top
7. Bake til cooked when there are moist crumbs on the skewer (mine was baked for 45mins and I think it's still overbaked - there were only little dry crumbs on the skewer, original recipe is 50mins)
8. Let cool in the pan for 30mins before unmoulding

Just to share the recipe recommended by yoyomax for cake sculpting (this will be my reference also if the next time I decide to bake this cake)

What you need:

1 chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Food Devil's food chocolate cake mix)

1 package Jell-o chocolate pudding mix (113g - 4 serving size)

4 egg whites

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup plus two tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix using electric mixer on low until combined and then on medium/high for two minutes more.  Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl to make sure all ingredients get incorporated. Batter will be very thick
2. Pour batter into a well greased 9x13 inch pan (or whatever size pan you need to get the thickness of blocks you need)
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with only a few moist crumbs and the center springs back slightly when pressed)
4. Let cool in pan for a few minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack

The recipe for water blocks:
(I made only 1/4 recipe)

4 85g packages of jell-o (blue) and that made enough for about 8- 2x2" blocks of "water"

Don't follow package directions, only mix one cup of boiling water for each package of jell-o (instead of 2). Better to put the jell-o into a deep container (like a loaf pan) to make sure that your block are big enough

For the sand blocks, below is the recipe. Make sure you make it thick enough to get the size block you need

 

What you need:

1. 6 cups rice krispies cereal
2. 40 large marshmallows
3. 3 tbsp butter

Method:

1. Melt butter and marshmallows in a large pot on low heat
2. Once melted, add the cereal and stir until coated
3. Press mixture into a greased pan

For buttercream, I just followed her recipe but I reduced the sugar used

What you need:
(1 batch frosts a 2-layer, 13 x 9-inch cake or about 2 doz cupcakes)

1. 2/3 cup butter -- softened
2. 4 cups powdered sugar (mine was 2 cups and it's still a tad too sweet for me)
3. 1 tsp vanilla
4. 4 tbsp cream or milk

Method:

1. In a bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well
2. Beat in vanilla and enough cream or milk until desired spreading consistency. Beat the mixture for at least 5mins and it should lighten in colour and get very light and fluffy
3. Tint the frosting using green paste food colour

For the cake arrangement, I followed how yoyomax did
I 'glued' the grass blocks using buttercream instead of skewer
Paper figurine was done by DH, it's not easy to fold and glue those tiny papercuts
The characters chosen by Ian. It took us more than 2 hours to finish!
(and it's only put to use for less than 15 minutes LOL)

 

 

As usual, efforts is nothing but worth it when it comes to make birthday cake. The happy smile and thrilled scream heard, and it's paid off :)

 

 

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY TO MY IAN *LOTS OF LOVE, HUGS & KISSES*

(so difficult to make him smile whenever taking picture, he always likes to act cool LOL)

 

 

My Girl is 8!

1 November was Abby's 8th birthday
Another year has passed and boy has she grown up!

1 day old

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years

 

 5 years

6 years

7 years

And now, 8 years :)

 I baked a simple chocolate sheet cake decorated with edible image - pic requested by the birthday girl :) I used this recipe again - nice, chocolaty and melt in the mouth cake loved by my family

 

 

 

Super simple decoration, only crumb coated the top part with Nutella (yeah, Nutella - lazy me!), placed the edible image over it and arranged pearl all over the sides. That's it :P

 

 

 

Had a descent request to have her birthday treat at Swensen's last night :)

 

 

Happy birthday, my darling! Can't believe you have grown so fast to a young lady :)
May God always bless you, direct you in every little thing you do. Mummy will always love and support you in every possible way XOXO

No Bake Tofu Cheesecake - Happy Birthday To Me :)

Yesterday was my birthday and I was not in the mood for any cake decorating thingy, but I was for sure craving for cheesecake

I've been curious about tofu cheesecake for a long time, always wonder how the texture and taste
So here it is, my healthier kind of cheesecake, yum yum yum...
I made it a day before my birthday, for the overnight refrigeration
Thanks Ann from Anncoo Journal for the wonderful and easy recipe :)

I replaced green tea powder with cocoa powder since I don't really fancy green tea in my bakes. I mixed 1/4 of the batter with the chocolate and poured at the centre of the batter. After that I had no clue how to make nice swirls, so this is what I got. It looked like sun to me, but my kids said it's giant tick with lots of legs LOL

Cutting my first slice after waiting overnight :)

This cheesecake is so light and refreshing, taste really good, too
I just couldn't stop at one slice! It's a scary fact to eat more than one slice of cheesecake, but this one makes an exception. Less guilt attack haha....

Having said that, as much as I enjoyed this cake, I would still crave for those creamy NY style cheesecake LOL Perhaps next time *wink*

Recipe as follows...

What you need:
(for 8" round springform pan)

For the base:
100g Marie biscuits, crushed

80g melted butter

 

Combine crushed biscuits and melted butter in a bowl. Press onto the base of the pan and keep in the fridge for later use

 

For the filling:

300g pressed tofu

15g gelatine powder

70g water

2 tsp cocoa powder and 1 tsp chocolate paste mixed with 5 tbsp of hot water

250g cream cheese (room temperature)

200g plain yoghurt (I used low fat, or can use sour cream)

60g reduced sugar soya milk

100g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Method:

1. Wrap tofu in cheesecloth (I don't own one, so I used thin tea towel) and place a heavy object on top for about 15 mins to press out water from the tofu
2. Soak gelatine in water for 5 mins
3. In a food processor, blend cream cheese, tofu (I broke it apart), yoghurt, soya milk, icing sugar and vanilla til very smooth
4. Heat gelatine powder in double boiler til melted, add to cream cheese mixture and mix well
5. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan with the base, and mix the remaining 1/4 with chocolate mixture
6. Pour the chocolate batter at the centre of the plain batter in the pan and then do the swirls as desired with chopstick
7. Chill cake in the fridge, minimum of 4 hours (I did overnight)
8. Cut the cake with hot knife to get a nicely cut slice :)

 

 

I still couldn't get it so smooth like what Ann did. You see the little holes? I wonder why

 

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich from Piece of Cake at this post

 

 

 

I saw Ann did the baked version too. Looks really good! Now that's another one to be curious about :)

 

Who said only nicely decorated cake will make a birthday girl happy? I was real happy with this cake :P
Happy Birthday To Me! :)

A Simple Bday Cake - Old Fashioned Marbled Cake With SCS Butter

Time flies. Really fast. My Ian turned 6 on Saturday. Feels like yesterday when he was born...

From a mere 2.85kg little baby, now he's a young boy going to Primary school next year!
Time indeed flies too fast!

Just like the previous years, he had his request for the birthday cake this year
Luckily, his request is considered "normal" :)
Inspired by Polar bakery, he requested for a cake with image on top and the sides coated with chocolate rice
And so predictable what he chose for the image. His love with vehicles, in particular cars. Among too many brands in the toys department, he's still in love with Tomica :)

I chose a simple cake that has been requested by Abby a few weeks ago, marbled cake
So happened I wanted to try this simple recipe, real popular lately among Indonesian home bakers

For this cake this time, I used SCS butter, a creamery and fragrant butter which I always love. In fact most of my bakes are using this brand if butter required
So why the mention this time?
Because the butter I used this time was a gift I received from SCS
They're kind enough to deliver personally a gift hamper for me...

 

The butter cookies and butter cake were real nice. It's gone in the same day, mainly eaten by my kids :)

A big thank you to SCS!

Back to the birthday cake...here's what I ended up with :)

Pic below: A little bit challenging to do the frosting in between the cake :)

Recipe is from a quite well known chef in Indonesia, Pak Sahak Pribadi

What you need:

8 eggs
180g caster sugar
3/4 tsp ovalette
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
23g cornflour
23g full cream milk powder
150g butter, melted
75g canola oil
2 tsp chocolate paste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Grease and flour a rectangle pan (28x15cm) (original recipe used 28cm bundt pan)
2. Sift together plain flour, cornflour, milk powder
3. Mix together butter and oil
4. Beat eggs, sugar, ovalette, vanilla, flour mixture til doubled in volume and thick (about 10 minutes high speed)
5. Add in 1/4 of the batter into the butter mixture and mix well. Pour into the remaining batter and fold in gently
6. Spoon 1/4 of the batter and mix with chocolate paste
7. Pour yellow batter into the prepared pan and spoon chocolate batter all over it
8. Make marble effect with skewer or chopstick
9. Bake for 40 minutes or til skewer comes out clean
10. Remove from oven and the pan immediately

I cut the cake into 4 same size rectangles, crumb coated them with buttercream, pasted the 4 edible images on top of each cake
Coated the sides with chocolate rice, and did some piping at the base, all over each cake
It's pretty simple, except for the piping in between the cakes, hence the not so pretty looking piping LOL

The cake is real tasty. Texture wise, it's like butter cake, pretty compact with real fine texture. The next day it somehow tasted better and turned softer, too
Overall, I was pretty pleased with the result, knowing the method is really straight forward

Ian was happy, as always full of praise, even though I know it's not as great as those he saw at Polar. That's all to make my day :)

Happy birthday my precious Ian. Many many many more cakes to make for u :)
Love love love u XOXO

Nutella Almond Cake (Nigella Lawson)

When Annie from Annielicious Food posted this cake, I knew this was the cake I would make for my sis' bday. She's a die hard fan of Nutella :)
Her bday was on June 1. Sorry sis for the late posting :P

I didn't decorate the cake, only poured the ganache on top and kept it refrigerated to set
Then the bday girl bought macarons from TWG for added kick. Yumz :P


The two pics below taken on the bday night during the singing and candle blowing :)

 

 

The rest of the pics below taken the morning after :)

 

Recipe originally adapted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess book

What you need:

The cake:
6 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella
1 tbsp dark rum
100g ground hazelnut (I used almond)
100g dark chocolate, melted

The icing:
100g whole toasted hazelnuts - for decoration (I didn't use)
125ml whipping cream
1 tbsp rum
125g dark chocolate

How to make the icing:
In a saucepan, add the cream, rum and chopped chocolate, and heat gently under low fire
Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat, leave it cool down a bit and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake

How to make the cake:

1. Melt chocolate using double boiling method. Once chocolate begins to melt, stir it gently with spatula. When almost all of the chocolate is melted, lift up the bowl from the saucepan. Stir continuously until it is shiny, smooth and completely melted. Set aside and leave it cool before use
2. Prepare a 9 inch spring form tin, greased and lined (I used 8 inch and poured some of the batter in cupcake cases)
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degree
4. In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff, but not dry
5. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add rum, egg yolk and ground almond
6. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate, followed by a large dollop of egg white, stir well and then gently folding the rest of the egg whites in a third at a time
7. Pour into the prepared tin and bake it for 40 mins or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides
8. Let the cake cool on a rack completely before you unmould them carefully. This is a damp cake, you might find it a bit difficult removing it from the tin
9. The cake will collapse a bit once it's cooled
10. Pour icing on the cake and keep it refrigerated to set
11. Decorate as wished

Not only the bday girl enjoyed this cake so much, the whole family did!