Honeycomb Caramel Cake

A cousin, MSAR from OZ is here for his sister's wedding + holidays. He visited my mum today and he made a special request dat he be served with Laksa .. he longed for mum's Laksa.

Knowing dat he was coming over, I decided to bake a cake. This Honeycomb Caramel Cake which was widely talked about at ResipiNet came to mind.

I only started baking at about 3-ish .. oh yah the recipe calls for the mixture to be left aside for 3 hours before baking to get the honeycomb effect. I took my chance and only left it for a mere 45 mins .. dats the only time i could afford.

When cut, the cake has got the honeycomb effect though not much and the cake turned out a nice tan (well dat was not to be .. it was supposed to be darker). Anyways, the cake was a big hit .. the whole cake was gone in hours .. need I say more!!!

My cuz who hesitated initially when I offered him the cake (k he was full from eating 2 bowls of laksa) even had 2nd helpings. His fren, T, also enjoyed it so much. T asked me "Did u bake this" .. and I jus smiled and someone else answered it for me .. hehehe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp butter (i used margarind)

To make caramel, heat sugar over a medium fire.
Once sugar hel melted, quickly put in the hot water and stir. (be careful of splattering sugar mixture)
Afterwhich add butter till it melts.

4 eggs
1 cup flour (i used self raising flour)
1 cup condensed milk
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (i did away with this)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Beat eggs till frothy.
Add in milk and mix again.
Next add in the flour and bicarb and mix well.
Lastly add in the caramel.
Leave it aside for 3 hours then bake in a preheated oven (160C) for an hour.

PS - Sorry for dat lousy picture .. grr .. i still fail using macro ..

Individual Raisin Bread Pudding

Leftover raisin bread .. wat should I to do with them. Bread pudding sounds good! Yeah Raisin Bread Pudding! That is it .. Individual Raisin Bread Pudding!

I do not have any particular recipe .. so decided to use the filling recipe for the portuguese egg tarts for the bread pudding!

Ingredients

5 pcs raisin bread, cubed
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 175C
Place cubed raisin bread in ramekins.
In a medium bowl, combine sugar, milk, whipping cream, egg yolks and vanilla essence and beat until well mixed.
Pour over bread and ensure that bread is covered and soaking up the mixture.
Leave it to soak for about 15 mins then bake in the preheated oven for about 35 mins.

My take on this pudding - i'd add more milk say about 1/4 cup more the next time round i make this dessert!

Portuguese Egg Tarts

Egg Tarts .. there are different versions of course - Hong Kong style and even Portuguese Egg Tarts just to name a couple.

I had always wanted to try Portuguese Egg Tarts but I cant find any which is halal in Singapore. Managed to find a recipe and decided to try.

The recipe calls for Puff Pastry but well I used Instant Prata instead .. ;-)

I love these tarts more that the normal egg tarts .. the pastry really make a whole lot of difference.



Ingredients

2 pcs of Instant Prata (brand like Kawan or SpringHome)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Cut instant prata into small rounds.
Press Instant prata onto mini muffin tins.
Combine sugar, milk, whipping cream, egg yolks and vanilla essence until sugar dissolves.
Pour filling into instant prata 2/3 full.
Bake at 200C for about 20 - 25 mins.
Brown the top with blow torch if you have one. I dun .. boo hoo hoo ..

Dinner @ Lily's

As planned I went to Lily's place for dinner yesterday. She had prepared Roast Chicken and Vegetables. Really simple but very very filling.

There's Fried Eggy Potatoes ..

Garlicky Shiitake Mushroom and

Roasted Chicken with Steamed Broccoli and Carrots.

Dis was my dinner ..

Oh ya .. Lily really really liked the Chocolate Cake dat I brought.

I am one happy woman .. ;-))

Dark Chocolate Cake

My sister in law, Lily is inviting me n family over to her place for dinner. I told her I would be bringing dessert. I think that is wat I am better at. I had decided on Chocolate Jelly and I also wanted to bring a cake and the cake has to be a chocolate one. After looking thru the website for ideas, I decided on Dark Chocolate Cake II. Recipe was submitted by Kelly Smith and can be found at Allrecipes.

Cake is dark and rich and best of all moist! This is my version based on ingredients I have at home.

Ingredients

1 cup self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Grease cake tin.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
Make a well in the centre and pour egg, coffee, milk and oil and mix well then pour into prepared tin. Note that batter will be thin.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 mins or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake

There are times when I just have to pick a cake mix or two to standby for lazy times whenever I go grocery shopping.

Last Sat, after we collected our "new baby" - dats the new family car, btw -, we stopped by Giant and I bought not one but two boxes of Betty Crocker's cake mix - one chocolate fudge and the other devil's food cake.

I broke my own promise to bake Cream Puffs today but went ahead to bake Betty Crocker's Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake instead.

I baked the cake in paper cases and got about 16 pieces. It'll yield 48 bars if you use a 15x10x1 inch pan.

Boy was I pleased with the mix. The cakes were really moist and chocolatey! I polished not 1 but 3 at one go! They were dat delicious! The mix is really idiot proof .. hehehe. Try it! I promise you will not be disappointed!

Ingredients

1 box super moist chocolate fudge cake mis
11/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Method

Heat oven to 180C
Whisk all ingredients till well incorporated.
Place paper cases in muffin tins and pour mixture 2/3 full.
Bake for about 25 mins or until a pick inserted comes out clean.
Turn out onto a rack to cool.

To Anonymous ..

Ini adalah gambar Dadih Strawberry yang I buatkan untuk my mum smalam.

You cuba lagi ok .. jangan putus harapan.

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets

I saw Nigella making Ritzy Chicken Nuggets on Ch 16 Travel and Living last Wednesday and thot hey that is something I could make on Sunday.

So today as planned, I made my kids Ritzy Chicken Nuggets ala Nigella and baked potato chips. I cant remember what the real measurements were hence I made up my own measurements.

Nigella uses Ritz biscuits which I am totally sure can be subbed for any other savoury biscuits. I had Ritz at home so I settled for that.

Nigella also uses buttermilk but I subbed it with greek yogurt. Nigella mentioned that the use of buttermilk to marinade is to tenderise the chicken nuggets. And yes! tender these little chicky nuggets were!

Here's the recipe based on my measurements:-

Ingredients

320gm chicken fillet, sliced into nuggets sized (i got abt 20 pcs)
250gm greek yogurt
100gm ritz biscuit, crushed
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Marinate the chicken slices in greek yogurt overnight.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 200C.
Season crushed biscuits with salt and pepper.
Take each chicken fillet and coat with biscuits crumbs and lay on tray.
Bake for abt 20 - 30 mins.

I served the kids these nuggets with baked potato chips!