Divine-Cafe

Baked Donuts

2007-12-13T02:02:00.001+08:00

These baked donuts are made during my mia period! Looks more like mushrooms huh? Heehee.... Put too much mixture in my donut tray, the mixture had overflow! Hiazzz...

This side looks more like donuts huh? Haahaa... But darker!

The donuts are made from cake flour so interior looks more like cakes than bread huh? Actually tasted more like cakes too as fluffier than fried donuts! Baked donuts are healthier than fried ones.

Back Again

2007-12-12T13:05:00.000+08:00

After missing for more than a month, I'm back to blogging again... But input will be slower due to some personal reasons! The next few posts are what I had made during the missing period... Nothing special lah, juz re-doing some bakings to brush up my skills!

X'mas is around the corner, a month for celebration! Wishing everyone a merrrrryyyyyy x'mas & a happppyyyy new year!!! 心想事成！

Orange Cake

2007-10-26T17:19:00.001+08:00

Saw this recipe on ST "Mind Your Body" so tried it out! Orange cake, one of my favourite! Heehee... This recipe is easy & do not require any butter, healthy cake huh! Top with some icing sugar to add some taste! ;)

Looks wet even the top & sides had dried up n crunchy huh! Think is my initial beating of eggs w sugar! Coz using 6 eggs with 230gm of sugar so took some time in beating the mixture to light & fluffy! Maybe is that part wrong or maybe is the folding in of flour & orange puree coz the egg mixture is too much which reaching the brim of the mixing bowl.

Comments for the cake: Overall nice after toasting but can be less sweet!

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Orange Cake Recipe (Quoted: from Straits Times)

Ingredients:
3 medium-size oranges
230g sugar
6 eggs
140g cake flour
100g ground almond
1 heaped tsp baking powder

Method:
1. Wash the oranges before boiling them whole for around 20mins. When cool, puree them in a blender, orange peel and all.
2. Beat the eggs & sugar together until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is light & fluffy.
3. Sift the flour & baking powder together and fold this inti the beaten egg mixture along with the ground almonds. Gently mix in the blended oranges.
4. Pour into a lightly greased cake tin and bake in oven for about 1 hr at a temperature of 180C.
5. Test whether the cake is cooked by inserting a knife or skewer - if wet, cake mixture clings to skewer, then bake a little longer.
6. Dust top with icing sugar & serve.

My comments on the bake:
1. I used self-raising flour to substitute w the cake flour & baking powder coz I ran out of cake flour at home. Tot the cake will raised after baking so I only pour into the tin 1/2 full. But dun understand y my cake din raised? Looks like orange shortcake instead?????!!!!!

2. Recipe calls for 6 eggs w 230g sugar so it took me quite a while to beat till light & fluffy and when done, the mixture is already at the brim of the mixing bowl! So it's quite difficult to fold in the flour, almonds & the blended oranges. Guess when I finished all the mixing & pour into the baking tins, most of the blended oranges already sink to the bottom of the mixing bowl. So think 2nd tin got more of the blended oranges.

Genting/KL/Muar Trip

2007-10-19T01:41:00.000+08:00

Had a short 2 days 1 night trip to KL on 13th Oct (Sat). Went Genting then to KL, stayed a night there & the next day did some shopping in KL & proceeded to Muar for late lunch / early dinner. Not forgetting to visit the famous "Yong Sheng Confectionery" in Muar! Read up more on the trip in my "Forever Love" blog! ;)

This was what I bot from Yong Sheng! Very nice biscuit filled with chocolate, coffee, apple or raisin & chocolate etc. A biscuit which can let you keeps munching & munching non-stop! It's only RM$3.50 per packet. Think buy 6 packets free 1 pack? Din buy so many packets coz dunno if they are that nice or not.

When we arrived at Muar on sunday (14th Oct) afternoon, a tour bus filled with aunties & uncles who were on 1-day Muar trip, juz left the shop so the items on the shelves were not replenished! Was told by the staffs that many items were out of stock! Too bad, we came at a wrong timing!

Anyway, still managed to grab a few packs of these Tatawa biscuits tho limited flavours & stocks were left then!

This is how the biscuit looks like! Very pretty hor! But only the Tiramisu Twist flavour's biscuit is that nice... the rest are juz plain round shape biscuits with fillings!

Remember the logo okie, it's TATAWA! Juz in case there are other brands of similar biscuits around!

These are some other stuffs which I bot from the confectionery. Most left is honey, followed by 罗汉果 paste & then Plum Honey Lime paste. All these are for making drinks! They made vv nice drinks leh! Try it! ;)

Address:
Yong Sheng Confectionery Sdn. Bhd.
30, Jalan Sayang,
84000 Muar, Johor, Malaysia
Tel: 606-952 1632
Fax: 606-952 7202
Email: info@yongsheng.com.my
URL: www.yongsheng.com.my

Brownie Muffins

2007-10-18T15:02:00.001+08:00

This is what I had baked after the break... Brownie Muffins!!! Got this recipe from Imperial Kitchen (IK) forum. Hiazzz... skills did not improve huh! The top is still as ugly! Haahaa... Balding Brownie! Can see the chocolate chips on top? Had added chocolate, white chocolate & coffee chips in them!

Internal looks soft & moist huh! Guess this what it is supposed to look & taste like as described in the IK forum. They tasted nice but I felt that the 3 teaspoonfuls of cocoa powder is too much...

Maybe I can't take too much cocoa coz everytime I followed the recipe to put the required amount of cocoa, I felt sick after eating...

My comments for this bake:
1) I had spent about 35mins on baking the muffins! Guess i poured slightly over 1/2 cup of mixture into each muffin cup, therefore all my muffins still wet after 20-25mins of baking! Next time cannot be so greedy!

2) My chocolate chips still stuck at the bottom of the cups after I overturned the baked muffin to it drop out. I had to "dig" the chocolate chips out after that. Suppose to be like that so there are chocolate chips at the top & bottom of the muffin?

Where have I been lately?

2007-09-22T00:55:00.001+08:00

Woah, this is a long break! I had not baked anything for nearly a month! Had been very busy lately with my personal stuffs. Can refer to my personal blog for more info (if anyone is interested lah)! Heehee..

Some readers might think that I had forsake my divine-cafe for good. Haahaa! Well, no lah. Juz that too many things had happened lately! Although I am still online everyday but not blogging lor... Like my hdd been formatted & all impt data gonez. Had spent a few weeks running here n there to look for solutions at repair shops or online. Spending more time at PPCSG forum after buying my HTC TyTN II. Spending more time at Facebook playing with Pirates game. Went for a short KL trip last weekends; having headaches & aching shoulders etc! Hiaazzzz...

Anyway I'm back! Interested readers pls check back again! :)

Durian Mooncakes

2007-09-22T00:49:00.001+08:00

Last weekends, we went Takashimaya Square to search for nice mooncakes! Dh is only interested in "Home's Favourite" durian mooncakes! Above is the 100% durian mooncake 《净榴莲冰皮大月饼》. These durian mooncakes had to be put in freezer or else it will "melt" & become very very soft. Which makes it impossible to cut! Comments for this durian mooncake was too sweet to be eaten but with our sweet tooth, it still taste as nice! Haahaa...

This is their 100% black durian mooncake 《净黑榴莲冰皮大月饼》. The snowskin is made of charcoal powder, so it's a bit bitter. But this charcoal powdered snowskin matches well with durian fillings which makes the mooncake just nice!!!

Woah look at that durian fillings!!! It's made by real thick thick durian meat!!! Yummy........ This is a must try for all durian lovers!! :)

Fried Bee Hoon

2007-09-21T17:39:00.001+08:00

This is my lunch today... Feel like having some fried bee hoon. Just a simple lunch with my little girl! Heehee... Got many packs of bee hoon from the lunar 7th mth celebration lah! These bee hoon can last me for months! Haahaa...

Cappuccino Cheesecake

2007-09-20T01:38:00.003+08:00

Baked this today! Spend quite a while baking it as need to prepare the cake base, the cream cheese & water bath etc. Outlook like very furry hor! Haahaa...

Anyway, this is not a perfect cake! Saw the crack on the top? My plain cream cheese cracked when baking, guess i din spread the cheese evenly. The sides got a bit of "bald" as the cream cheese din covered that part, maybe the cake base sticked to the cake tin & I din realised it!

This is the internal view of the cuppuccino cheesecake? Looks a bit messy hor!! Heehee...

Comments were the cheesecake is a bit dry but not sure izzit too much cocoa powder on top that makes the whole cake tasted dry? Always feels that the cocoa powder makes me sore throat after eating... so had to scrape off some of the powder.

Cupcakes

2007-09-17T03:45:00.001+08:00

This is what I had just baked on friday night. It's cupcakes with frosting! Had been wanting to try frosting but was lazy. So this time, I made up my mind to try it out & not wasting the piping tips which I had bought long ago. Heehee...

The orange colour frosting was my 1st try, not so nice huh. Flat & too little cream. Used a small tip so end up w such result! 2nd try was the yellow topping, which is a durian flavouring, better but think I had piped too much cream with the biggest tip! Lastly was the green toppings, which is a pandan flavouring. Piped with a medium-size tip.

Closed up view of my cupcakes.

Comments for the frostings was too sweet & still can taste the powdery icing sugar... Actually the best match was the orange flat topping as the cream was not a lot, goes well with the cupcake.

Big fat frosting... nice to see but too sweet to be eaten!!! Had to scrap off the frosting before consuming the cupcakes.

Sakae Matsu

2007-09-06T23:47:00.001+08:00

Went Comex Show on 30th Aug. As I was craving for sushi, dh decided to go Sakae Sushi for an early dinner. He ordered the Sakae Matsu! It's a party set! Woah, really had a full sushi dinner as I wanted!!!! But this set costed him $38.00, juz for the 2 of us! :p

Closed-up view of our party set! Saw the 4 salmon rolls in the center? That's my favourite, the "Hana Premium Maki"! Too bad, this set dun have "Chuka Kurage Gunkan" - the sushi topped w jellyfish.

Side Track: Lousy service we rec'd:
There wasn't any Q yet when we arrived at Sakae Sushi coz we were slightly before dinner time. A man cut in front of me & made a "quick" takeaway order! Well, let him go 1st lor... he ordered takeaway, maybe he is really rushing for time. So we Q behind him. But he took quite a while on his ordering, flipping the menu front & back.

Saw the manager walking around & din even bother to ask me what am I waiting for! I couldn't have come "WITH" that man as my dh & kids were with me (So many ppl Q-ing juz for a takeaway?)! Anyway, I "thought" that we are supposed to Q until our turn then they will served us! Nevermind, just Q lor while I lectured my kids to wait patiently for our turn!

Then a japanese couple came walking in (not Q-ing behind us) & the manager went ahead & usher them in! Wah so angry leh, somemore after usher them in, she walked around again. So my 1st impression was: "Oh Shit, 原来不用 Q up one lah! And we stupidly stand at the entrance for so long! Then what the hell is the "Queue Here" sign doing at the entrance?"

Anyway, my face was very black when the man in front finished his order & make way for us to go in! The cashier & the manager then looked at each other & give us a shocking face. Well, I really dunno if they think we came with the "takeaway" man or we were invisible or what!

When the cashier ushered us to a seat, I asked her izzit that customers no need to Q up for this restaurant? She say "Yes, need to Q!"... still giving me a shocking face, maybe she scare I will complain them? Dh say dun complain lor, THIS IS SINGAPORE CUSTOMER SERVICE! Give up lah! So I juz kept quiet & look at the menu lor.

Anyway, during the dinner, I keeps seeing the manager walking around our table but never talk to us. Just keeps walking & looking at us? Are we aliens or what?

Teacher Day Cake

2007-08-31T21:00:00.001+08:00

This is what I baked for my son's childcare Teacher's Day celebration. Nothing special, juz a 8" square banana cake!Heeeheee... Not sure how izzit coz no feedback yet. Ds cannot explained to me whether how is the cake & if the teachers & kids like it or not! Juz hope it is nice!!!

This is the closed up picture of the banana cake! Top looks good but inside is really a mystery now!

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Recipe

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
112.5g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tbsp milk

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in eggs until combined.
2. Fold in the mashed banana.
3. Fold in half the sifted dry ingredients and combine.
4. Add remaining flour and milk, stir until smooth.
5. Pour mixture into greased 20cm cake tin.
6. Bake at 160ºC for 1hr or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. (If the top layer turns brown after 15 minutes, cover it with a piece of aluminium foil.)
7. Cool cakes in the pan then remove. Slice and serve.

Fish Farm

2007-08-25T13:31:00.001+08:00

Remeber my "Braised Frogs In Brown Sauce" & "Steamed Prawns with Egg" dishes on NDP? Yup, this is the farm which dh frequent! Think sunday morning will be very crowded coz we went at late afternoon & there's still few customers!

This are the bullfrogs which we had bought! They are the smaller size ones. Bigger ones are sold off in the morning!

These are some of the fishes which the farm rears. These fishes can be cooked & eaten. Was carrying my girl, looking around the farm & taking photos. But forgot to check out the name of these fishes! Heehee...

Err... wonder these fishes are the same as those above? Heh heh..

Salmon Ikura Don

2007-08-22T14:47:00.001+08:00

Went on abt 2 weekends ago. Today then managed to post something on it! Heehee...

Above is what I had ordered. Salmon Ikura Don (fresh salmon with rice). It looked nice & tasted nice too! Dh ordered Tori Katsu Don (is a Terriyaki chicken with rice). His comments was too salty! Din managed to take a photo of it coz dh waited too long for it, he started eating once the food came!! Haa...

Had taken a few plates of sushi from the "train" too. Actually we felt the service there was not very good! We waited very long for our Ocha (japanese tea) CUPS after requesting twice! Faint!

Lam's Abalone Soup 《阿南鲍鱼汤》

2007-08-17T01:39:00.001+08:00

Dh brought me to Lam's Abalone Soup 《阿南鲍鱼汤》 at Race Course Road yesterday. Actually been there few times already, this is the 1st time that I took a photo of what I'm having! Dh gave up on commenting anything abt me taking photos of the food but the nosey one is my ds! He keeps asking: "Mummy, why are you taking photos of the food ah? Who are you going to show the photos to?" Blah blah... haaa... Made me so pai seh! ;")

Okie, this time both dh & I had the same dish. We ordered the Shark's Fin Noodle (巧手鲍翅面). As you can see that this dish really looks like shark's fin soup & it tasted like it w the extra noodles, veg & mushrooms! Saw something which looks like tou-fu on the top left hand corner? That's a small piece of ABALONE! Really dun hv enough of the abalone leh... too small leh!

This dish is called Braised Pork w Bun (中华汉包). The chinese name for it was funny! But no doubt, it's really a chinese style burger! Dh love this dish! It's a must everytime we visit this noodle house.

Secret Recipe Cakes

2007-08-15T16:58:00.001+08:00

Noticed that I had not baked anything lately? Coz I went to buy Secret Recipe's at 42% discount!! Promo was from 6/8 to 10/8. Went to the SR at Siglap branch on NDP at 12pm but all cakes were sold out. Quite disappointed so try my luck again at 9am the next day! Reached there then realised that the shop is only opened at 11am! So went for breakfast & jalan jalan till 10.50am back to the shop but there were already 10 ppl in the Q.

Got into the Q & start chit-chatting w the aunties in front & behind me (suddenly felt so auntie myself haa). Was told that SR's cheesecake are nice so it's a must buy cake! Went in then found out there are so many types of cheesecakes!! Regret that I din do any homework b4 going down!

Was limited to a few cakes for selection then so I chose 3 cakes (limited to 3 cakes per customer) at a go! The above photo was Chocolate Indulgence!

This is how the inside of the chocolate indulgence looks like!! So many layers esp the creams layers are so thick, much much thicker than the sponge! Felt that it was too rich liao!!!

Description by SR:
Creamy and rich Belgian coverture chocolate and white chocolate filling. Absolutely a luscious, luxurious, sinfully rich chocolate lover's dream.

2nd cake which I had bot is called Expresso Cheese Cake... Made a wrong choice as this cake was too hard & too sweet to be eaten! Yes, coffee smell was great but too bad..... Dh and I can't even finished 1 pc... now the cake is still lying in the fridge & untouched since the 1st pc!! :(

This is how the inside of the cake looks like! Looks more like ice-cream cake? Decided to give it 1 more chance so today I took out to try it again. I left the cut-out pc at room temperature to "de-frost". The cake tasted better when it was soft esp with the chocolate crust!

Description by SR:
A truly spectacular and interesting blend of baked cream cheese with expresso coffee. A cheese cake lover's wish for a cheese cake with strong coffee.

The last cake which I had bot is this Classic Cheesecake! As my friend did not managed to get a cake from SR during this promotion period so decided to sell her one. Since she do not take coffee so I sold her this classic cheesecake coz I had already cut out the chocolate indulgence (which she is more interested in as her dad do not take cheese).

Anyway guess she was lucky that she dun take coffee! Verdict from her was the cake is nice!!! Should be better than the Expresso Cheesecake, i think...

Description by SR:
A traditional blend of mascarpone cheese and cream cheese with chocolate sponge and finished with classic touch of lady fingers biscuit.

Steamed Prawns with Egg

2007-08-12T20:07:00.001+08:00

This is another dish on NDP! It's live prawns 《草虾》 from the same farm which dh bought the live bullfrogs! Same thing, the prawns were much smaller than those he went to buy on sunday morning! But the prawns were still very fresh!!!!

Closed-up photos of the cooked live prawns!!!! Hungry for some? Heehee....

Braised Frogs In Brown Sauce

2007-08-12T19:44:00.001+08:00

Dh made this dish for NPD dinner. It's called <红烧田鸡> on chinese! He bought about 1kg of live bullfrogs aka 《田鸡》 from a Choa Chu Kang farm, called Khai Seng! The live bullfrogs were killed & intestines removed by the staff of the farm. Enclosed XXXX - SCARY!!!

Back home, dh washed & chopped up the "processed" bullfrogs, then stir-fry them with ginger. He added some wine at the end & removed them out to "double-boil" in a big pot. Wah, the sauce smell & tasted very nice & thick!!! Too bad is, this time the bullfrogs are smaller size as we went too late (dh's last minute idea to cook this dish), normally he will wake up early on a sunday morning to buy these big big fresh live bullfrogs & prawns!

Potato Chips

2007-08-10T17:41:00.001+08:00

Bought this pack of potato chips from Candy Empire. Attracted by the Lime & Black Pepper! So decided to try it! Well, the chips was good but found it a bit too sour coz of the lime!!! But all I can say that it surely tasted different from the "normal" potato chips, we got from supermarkets!

So, TRY IT ! ;p

This is how the chips looks like! Hehe... all potato chips looks the same lah....... but these chips are really tasty!!!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2007-08-09T00:41:00.001+08:00

Baked this last week too! My new pandan chiffon cake. Haahaa... Looks nice but upside down hor.... how come the sides n center all not brown? Still wondering what went wrong? Izzit I greased the sides of the pan which I shouldn't? Hmmm......

Flipped over but "bald" at the side.... Top was brown! I guess my tube pan was too low for baking chiffon cake? The cake will rised over the edge of the pan, that's why it's impossible for me to flip over once I removed the cake from the oven... Time to get a new pan liao... $$$...

This is the cut-out piece... How izzit? Can pass or not? Heehee... I feel that the cake is still not "chiffon" enough... Haa... Not many "holes" in the cake hor! Only that it tasted really like chiffon cake!

Well, my girl need supper before bed so she won't wake up for night feeds. So, dh feed her this cake! Wah, she loves it! She can finished a piece of this size!! Kudo to her! Or to me? Haaa...

Honeydew Shake

2007-08-08T01:40:00.001+08:00

Juz made this shake... Coz dh bot a sweetless honeydew, can't be eaten directly so tot of making it into a shake! I cut the fruit out into chunks, add some yogurt, ice, sugar & honey to blend! Turn out that, it is not a vv sweet drink! The shake is nice but my blender SPOILT! So sad... dh say he really salute me, anything that comes into my hands sure got problem! Haahaa...

Chocolate Cupcake

2007-08-07T14:06:00.001+08:00

Made this chocolate cupcake last week. Looks a bit unappealing hor! Dunno why izzit like that but 1 thing can be sure is that, I FORGOT to put sugar!!! :(

Sneak Peak on the cupcake when it's still in the oven. Funny again, why got BUBBLES??? Coz of sugar again? Dun think so! I do remember that last time my cupcakes got bubbles too but I NEVER ever once forgot to put sugar (only put too much or too little)! But this time really broke the record! Hiazzz....

Ds Birthday Cake

2007-07-23T17:00:00.000+08:00

This is my ds's bd cake! Coz he love excavators & machineries, so bot him a "construction site" cake from Prima Deli! He was more interested in the toys than the cake itself! Haahaa... We enjoyed the cake, it was a really nice chocolate sponge!

Many ppl was surprised & questioned why I din baked a cake for ds but decided to buy one instead! Well, for my skills.... guess I better dun spoilt ds's mini party! Haahaa! But dh did fried bee hoon & curry chicken (his "standard" last minute menu for bd parties)! Was wondering if vevey & family had got "sick" of the food coz always the same old dishes! Haahaa...

Hmmm... wonder izzit the curry that trigger u to deliver JB the very next day, vevey? Too bad JB din get to share the same bd with ds! Anyway everybody will be unique having their own bd date! ;p

Once again, CONGRATS VEVEY & WELCOME JB TO THIS WONDERFUL WORLD!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

2007-07-20T22:13:00.000+08:00

Baked this muffin today! It has a long long name: "Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin". Hmmm.... from the name, one could easily guess that this muffin should be a coffee flavoured banana muffin filled with some chocolate chips in it! Banana mixed with coffee & chocolate! Wah heavenly huh!

Looks wise, not bad right? Personally, I dun quite like banana. So to me, i would prefer a mocha chocolate chips muffin instead! Haahaa...

This is the interior of the muffin, looks more like "mooncake" to me! But dh say it's nice! Err...

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Recipe (Quoted: All Recipes)

Ingredients
225 g margarine
250 g white sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
3 g instant coffee granules, dissolved in
15 ml water
5 ml vanilla extract
280 g all-purpose flour
2 g salt
5 g baking powder
5 g baking soda
170 g semisweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Blend butter or margarine, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla in food processor for 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda, and blend just until flour disappears. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 18 paper-lined muffin cups.
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

My comments for this bake:
1) I do not have a food processor so I used a blender instead but with so much ingredients in it, it's really vv difficult to blend!

Banana Bread

2007-07-20T21:46:00.000+08:00

Baked this bread yesterday, looked just like banana cake hor! Heehee... But it does fits what the recipe say: "Center should be soft and chewy, while the outside, crisp and crunchy."

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Recipe (Quoted: All Recipes)

Ingredients
55 g butter, softened
200 g white sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
250 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking soda
3 g salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175C. Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and mashed bananas. Mix in flour and baking soda just until combined. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. If top begins to brown too quickly, decrease heat slightly. Center should be soft and chewy, while the outside, crisp and crunchy.

My comments for this bake:
1) I did not reduce the temperature when top becomes brown, but I covered it with aluminium foil.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2007-07-15T12:56:00.000+08:00

This is my 2nd try on pandan chiffon cake! Hiazzz sad to say, this is still a failure! It looks so hard hor! But colour wise looks better than the 1st try!

Internal looks soft & fluffy huh but in actual fact, it tasted hard! My guess is the problem lies with the pandan paste I used! Recipe calls for pandan juice (made from pandan leaves) but I used pandan paste... something was wrong, the mixture becomes vv hard! Should I add water or any liquid to the paste? Hmmm....

This is my 1st try! Soooooo green rite? Coz I pour 1 tbsp of pandan paste into the egg yolk mixture! Faint! Silly me again!

Mango Chiffon Cake

2007-07-11T22:21:00.000+08:00

Just baked this mango chiffon cake. A bit overbaked (can see the crack on top huh?) coz walked away to disclipine my kids but slightly late in coming back to check my cake... so become like that! Hiazz... Timing is really impt! ;p

Tada! Internal look of my chiffon! Yucks! Still so dense with only a few small holes! Worse, centre part looks like not fully baked! *Faint* Another failure cake!

My Birthday Cake

2007-07-10T11:58:00.000+08:00

Okie, this cake is not done by me! Couldn't be me rite? Haahaa...

Right, Dh bot this cake from Angie The Choice for me on my bd last week! Heehee... Vv simple design but is my fav cake (but not fav cake shop hor!) -- Coffee Cake !!!

Dh say he could not "find" a better design cake at the cake shop so settled with this as I love coffee cake mah...

Well, it's not the cake but the heart that counts right? Sweet sweet hor! ;p

Actually I found the cream too thick, tho with 3 layers of sponge cakes in the center! Felt a bit jerlak with so much cream... overall it's really tasted nice n "sweet" (u know wat I mean!) Heehee....

Japanese Light Cheesecake

2007-07-06T23:27:00.000+08:00

This is my 2nd try on cheesecake! The outlook is not vv nice even tho it is not "botak" like my previous try! Haahaa...

Rem my previous mistake on using a loose based baking tin but FORGOT to wrap aluminium foil below (silly me!), this time I used a covered based baking tin & line with greaseproof baking sheet so easier for me to remove the cake out! But the sides dun looks too nice liao!

Closed-up of my new try! Does it looks better than the previous cake? Haahaa...

Fluffier huh? Heh heh... See the holes? Opps, looks like chiffon or not? As compare to the previous cake, guess this cakew is slightly better a bit! Waiting for comments from dh!!! Will update again when rec'd comments!!! Haahaa!

UPDATE: Dh's comment is still SOUR! Funny leh... think his taste bud got problem leh!!!! Haahaa... Another thing, he mentioned is: It will taste better if the cake is softer! AGAIN! Hiazzz... Guess I should try again, again & again!!!

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This is what I had baked yesterday afternoon! Japanese light cheesecake or cotton cheesecake! Sorry abt the disgraceful top as I "flipped" up n down to remove the cake out from the cake tin so it became "botak" after the flip.

This is closed-up view of the cheesecake! Looks vv thick n dense huh!

Well, it certainly dun taste cottony! sob sob! Comment by dh was the cake is vv sour! Maybe added too much lemon juice? Guess I had to reduce the juice for the next try!

Sneak Peak on the cheesecake when still baking in oven:
Btw, made a "serious" mistake! I used a loose base cake tin but forgot to wrap it w aluminium foil coz need to do "water bath" when baking! LUCKY, water did not sip in... as u can see that the water is not cloudy! Phew!!! Anyway, cake still come out lousy lah!

My Lunch

2007-07-06T14:50:00.000+08:00

Made 2 dishes for my lunch this afternoon! Lemon Butter Salmon, I stole it from Muak-a-Muak! Hope u dun mind, Paw Paw! ;p

Of course, compared to hers, mine is nothing Haa! Anyway... this is really a great dish! It's easy to prepare & cook! Recipe? Hee.. check out Paw Paw's blog or click on the link above to get there asap!

2nd dish is stir-fry kailan w sliced pork! One of my favorite home-cooked dish! Just stir-fry the kailan w some oyster sauce, add in some pork & that's it! You are done w a great lunch/dinner! Oh, btw I had put a drop or 2 of "hua diao" wine before I dished it on the plate!

Orange Chiffon Cake

2007-07-05T14:54:00.000+08:00

This is a orange chiffon cake which I had baked! Dh's 1st impression was: "Wah, u baked cheesecake huh!!!" He so excited & took a bite before I can stopped him! Guess what's his comment was? "It will taste better if it's softer!" *FAINT*

It does look like cheesecake huh? Looks so soft & smooth totally different from a chiffon cake! Sob sob!! Can anyone tell me wat's wrong with my chiffon? Hiazzz....

Was told that chiffon cake was a more difficult cake to make... Maybe I was too confident! Haahaa... Anyway, it tasted nice, at least taken a bite & you will know it's an orange cake... whatever cake it is lah! Haa...

Orange Muffin

2007-07-04T18:04:00.000+08:00

After being sick for more than a week.... I'm glad that I'm back here again!! :)
During my absence, I still baking whenever I can... This is what I had baked! Orange muffins! Nothing special, dun look special nor taste special! Haizzz so sad... my muffins never come out nice! Just like the mango muffins which turned out to be like a huat kueh (rem?)

This is the internal look of the muffin! Got holes in the center huh.... Looks hard & taste hard too! Sob sob!

Mango Cake

2007-06-25T12:20:00.000+08:00

Just made this mango cake on saturday, using home-made mango puree. Err... lousy decorations on the top! :"p As dh came home, so I need to finish up my stuffs asap! He is cutting a mango to eat so I ask him help me to slice some for my cake... that is what he did! *faint* heh heh! (Can't expect much from someone who just came home from work & just wanna find something to eat!)

This is the sides of the finished cake! The cream "dripped" down to the sponge cake. Should have whipped some cream & cover it up! Haahaa... too bad no time to do that yet! The top jelly is actually apricot glazing gel. This is something which I did wrong for this cake as I should just brushed the gel on top of the fruit & not pour it over the whole surface like making jelly! Lucky, result looks good! ;)

This is the interior of the cake. Saw the sponge cake? Very soft huh! But the cream is uneven & unbalanced for the center part & top parts! Must do better for the next round!!

Verdict: Dh is the only one who get to taste this cake. His comment was, this is the best cake from what I had previously did! Haahaa... Yeah, he say overall the cake tasted vv nice, the jelly is a bit sour but goes well with the cake! What maked me happy is, he finished up the whole pc of cake! 1 pc consider very good already as he is not a cake-lover! Norm, he only took a bite & that's all! He asked for another pc the following day! Hmmm...

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Recipe (Quoted: HugBear)

Ingredients for Sponge
4 eggs
100g cake flour
100g castor sugar
12g spongecake stabliser
20ml water
90g melted butter

Method for Sponge
1. Put all the ingredients except the melted butter into a mixing bowl. Beat everything on high for about 6 mins or until fluffy & creamy. Add in butter and mix well.
2. Pour into a 9" x 9" lined square tin and bake at 200C for 10-15 mins.
3. When cake is cool, cut away top layer and then into two pieces.

Ingredients for Mango Fillings
300g mango puree
13g gelatine powder
1/2tsp mango essence
a few drops of yellow colouring
300g diary whipping cream whipped to a soft peak

Method for Mango Fillings
1. Boil mango puree and gelatine powder until gelatine dissoved. Leave it to cool down.
2. Mix the whipped cream into the mango puree mixture. Add in mango essence and colouring. Mix well.
3. In a cake ring, put one layer of cake in it. Pour half the filling into it and top it off with another layer of cake. Press gently on the top layer of cake and then pour in the rest of the filling.
4. Chilled in fridge for at least 2 hrs before serving.

Note:
For the Jelly part:
You can either make a clear jelly (the normal agar agar jelly) and pour over the fresh mango and leave it to harden. Or you can decorate your cake with fresh mango and fruits and boil 50g of natural glazing gel with 50ml of water and brush this gel mixture over yr fruits to give it the geelak geelak effect (shiny effect).

My comments for this bake:
1) The sponge cake part is very similar to the cup spongecake recipe. It's easy as we just "throw" all ingredients except butter and mixed till creamy & fluffy!

2) Cutting the spongecake into half needs skill! Saw my "spoilt" cake? Yeah, due to my lousy slicing skills, you can see that some parts had "dropped" off. ;"p

Assorted Breads

2007-06-24T02:23:00.000+08:00

Tried making bread again, hoping to master bread-making mah! Haahaa... Okie, this tray of breads was made last evening! Called them assorted bread as they got different fillings in them! Well actually there are only 2 types of fillings lah! The ones on the left (w parlsey) was custard breads & those on the right are hotdog buns (can see lah hor!)

This is the interior of the custard bread. Maybe the fillings are too little? Can't really taste the custard! As I do not know how to make a bread with custard fillings, I just try my luck! I followed the method given on the custard powder tin. Of coz, w these small breads, I just used a bit of the ingredients, maybe tat's y the taste & looks are not that well-done. Think they looked more like garlic bread huh? Heehee...

Well, how much did they flare? Actually quite happy with this round of result! At least dh commented that they looked nice & different from what I normally made. Okie... he always complained that I lack of creativity (Yes, indeed I am!). Lucky that he is "sometimes" there to enlighten me on my faults! Normally after a few failure bakes, he will start to "open" his golden mouth to give ideas & advice. Tho he is not an expert in baking, but he is creative enough to give the correct/relevant advice.

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How to make Custard Fillings: (Quoted: Bird's Custard)

1) Put 2 tablespoons of custard powder into a basin with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
2) Mix smoothly with 2 tablespoons of milk taken from a 570ml (1 pint) of milk. Put the rest of the milk on to heat in a saucepan.
3) When nearly boiling, pour on to the mixed custard in the basin, stirring well.
4) Return the custard to the saucepan & bring to a boil, stirring all the time.

Oysters

2007-06-24T01:44:00.000+08:00

Went shopping at Great World City this evening. Dh decided to "try" Jack's Place as that was a restaurant which I longed for... He ordered this dish, "Oyster Natural" as dessert! Woah, I had never tasted fresh uncooked oysters ever since my 1st try at Westin Hotel back in Yr 1994. Took only 1 oyster back then as I very "sua ku", everything also scare to try lor. :(

Saw that big fat oyster meat? Heehee... simply delicious! Esp dipped w chilli sauce & tosbaco sauce! Droooooool.... Well, I can't take spicy food well but dh dipped a lot of the chilli n tosbaco sauce on my oysters! My mouth & tongue was burning hot!!

(Sorry for the poor photos AGAIN, coz dh still think vv "bo liao" to take photos of what we are eating & esp in a restaurant. Lucky, the ang mo family next to us had already left else sure very pai seh! So I quickly snap a few shots & start appreciating my fresh fresh oysters!)

Dragonfruit Drink

2007-06-22T02:11:00.000+08:00

Okie, this is something extra. Not planned for this blog but just wanna credit someone for this!

This dragonfruit drink is "originated" by my DH! Haahaa... He is a dragonfruits fan! Whenever we visit Malaysia, he is sure to buy back lots of dragonfruits! Dunno why he suddenly got such a mood to make a drink out of it!

(* Sorry for the ugly pictures as Dh thinks it is "bo liao" to take photos of what he is doing! So just managed to get some snap shots!)

Dh is blending the dragonfruit!

He added some honey to the drink coz he found the original blend was not sweet enough! (Sweet tooth lah)

Recipe? No need lah! Just cut some dragonfruits, peel off the skin & throw them into the blender! Blend, blend, blend! Not sweet enough? Add honey lor! ;p

But be careful hor, dun happy happy add too much honey just to sweeten the drink! Yucky coz the drink tasted funny w the "overdozed" of honey! End up, dh had to "throw" in more dragonfruits to strengthen up the taste again!

Sugar Bread

2007-06-22T01:58:00.001+08:00

This bread just came out hot hot from the oven... How does it looks? Heh heh.... Vv happy w the result! Yeah, I'm really overjoyed! This is my 1st successful bread! Hmmm... let me count! This is the 5th attempt this week, trying out 2 recipes! Finally managed to get it just right!!

This is the side view of the bread. Looks ok, but too bad the sides were not brown! Guess, I have to try harder & harder!

Hmm... how izzit? The inside looks good huh! Just like "real" bread yeah? Yup, it did look soft & TASTE soft! Yummy!!! Dh actually TRIED the bread, this really mades me day!!! His comments was soft & nice even tho it is not sweet enough. (Well, he got an even sweeter tooth than mine!) Haahaa...

Okie enough of my "successful" bread, wanna take a look of my failed breads? Yucky huh! Sob sob....

Latest Update: This bread is still soft after 2 days, 3rd day soft & still edible. But no chance to go to 4th day lah, all eaten up already! Haaahaaa....

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Recipe (Quoted: Lee Lee)

Ingredients
(A)
480g Bread flour
120g Plain flour
110g Caster sugar (I used more sugar)
20g Milk powder
4 tsp/12.4g Dry yeast

(B)
1 Egg
300ml Cold water

(C)
60g Unsalted butter
10g Salt

Method
1. Mix (A) till well blended (just use a spoon to stir to mix well). Add (B) to form a dough. Add in (C) and knead until dough is elastic and smooth.

2. Gather dough to form a ball and cover dough with cling wrap and let it rest for abt 50-60 mins or double in size.

3. Divide dough into portions of 50g or 60g each. Shape into balls and leave it to rest for abt 10 mins. Roll out dough and wrap with desired fillings. Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60mins or until dough is double in size.

4. Egg wash dough and sprinkle some shredded cheese and dried parsley on it. Bake dough at 180-190ºC for abt 12 mins.

My comments for this bake:
1) Being "stupid/slow", I din realised that one of my failure is due to, baking a big dough so end up with this flopped bread. (All thanks to dh who had "enlightened" me! :"p)

2) The dough will be sticky on hand but dun worry as you can just "peel" them off & stick back to the dough. Heehee....

3) Beat the dough using max speed for abt 30mins, well I stopped sometimes to "scape" off some dough which sticks to the mixing bowl. Good to let the mixer "rest" for abt 5mins before continuing! ;)

4) For KA mixer, pls remember to "look after" yr mixer while mixing at max speed as the mixer will be will "jumping" and just in case it dropped off the table top!

5) Last but not least, this qn is posed by dh! Why do we need to use COLD water instead of room-temperature water? Errr..... need to find out this for him! He always say: "Must know the theory behind mah!". Well, no choice! Anyone pls help me?!

I'm back!

2007-06-21T23:20:00.000+08:00

Woah, after being MIA for a week (except occasionally logged in to leave msg).... I'm happy to say that I'm finally back on track to continue my blog! Anyone missed me during my break? Well, this is not really a break for me! Had been more tiring since last thursday when I got this home-based job, doing "proof-reading"...

This p/t job really tired me out! Had been staying up few nights, practically every nights, going thru' THE GREEN BOOK! @_@ Arrggg.... hope my short-sightedness will not worsened after this as I had just made a pair of transitions lens! Well, it will be wasted then! Haahaa...

Anyway, during this time... I still continued to do my baking. Been making bread but was not successful! Finally, today I managed to bake a nice looking & edible bread! Will post up very soon! :)

Well, 休息是为了走更长的路! "Rested" enough & I should continued with my journey of exploring good food! Many thanks to readers, who dropped by to check for posts & esp those who had leave comments here, during those days when I MIA! Will continued to do better!

But just a remind again, you will not be seeing beautiful pictures of food here, but instead what you see here are the try-outs of my hard works & achievements (if any)! Heeheee.....

Mango Muffins

2007-06-13T13:42:00.000+08:00

Just baked some mango muffins this morning! Dh came home, saw the muffins & asked: "You made huat kueh ah?" Faint! Become huat kueh already!!! Hmm... look again, they do looked more like huat kueh than muffins leh! Sob sob..... Guess is the mango essence colour that caused the muffins to look funny!

This is a close-up look of the muffin! How? The out-look of the muffin can passed or not ah??

This is the cut-out of the muffin! It tasted a bit soft inside but outside was a bit hard coz I ate it cold? Later try to warm it up & taste again! Inside looks like huat kueh too leh! Getting a bit sad now!

Pineapple Tarts

2007-06-06T16:50:00.000+08:00

These are some pineapple tarts which I had baked this week. Was quite bz lately so only get to post it today! Pineapple tarts... 1st impression, CNY coming? Haahaa... no lah, juz want to try out 1st & learn the skill before attempting them on the next CNY!

Hmmm... due to my "limited-edition" skills, guess these tarts dun look quite mouth-watering huh? Haahaa...

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Recipe (Quoted: Yochana)

Ingredients for Fillings
1kg Pineapple
300g sugar
pinch of salt
6g cinnamon stick
1 tsp of cloves

Ingredients for Pastry
250g Butter
90g icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
380g Plain Flour
2 tbsp milk powder
a drop of egg yolk colouring

For glazing
1 egg yolk + a little water + a drop of egg yolk colour

Method for filling
1) Peel pineapples, cut into pieces and blend till fine.
2) Pour blended pineapples into a wok and fry for awhile before adding in sugar, cinnamon stick and cloves. Cook till it thickens and set aside to cool. Shape the pineapple jam into small balls.

Method for pastry
1) Cream butter and sugar then add in egg, egg yolk colour, salt and vanilla essence and blend till well combined.
2) Add in flour and milk powder and mix till a dough is formed.
3) Roll out the dough to 5 mm thick. Cut it out with a fluted round cutter.
4) Place pastry into the greased tray and place a small round ball of pineapple jam on the centre of cut out pastry.
5) Roll put small pieces of dough into thin strips and place it on top of the pineapple jam to make a cross.
6) Brush with egg glaze and bake at 170C for about 15 - 20 mins or till pastry is golden.
7) Leave pineapple tarts to cool on wire rack before storing in cookie containers.

My comments for this bake:
1) I did not fry the pineapple filling dry enough, so after baking the filling still soft even with a vv soft touch.

2) Must pick up the skill on egg glazing, some parts are baked too dark due the the poor glazing I did! Plus I din add in the egg yolk colouring lah! Haahaa...

3) Overall the pastry part was okie, except the fillings!

Malacca Tour

2007-06-05T13:39:00.000+08:00

Went Malacca recently... we visited the famous "Tan Kim Hock Product Centre" (location: No.85, 87 & 89, Jalan Bendahara, 75100, Melaka).

It was vv crowded, full of people going in & out of the shop! Maybe because it was a sunday when we visited. Everyone is pushing a trolley or 2 but interesting thing is all the trolleys are full and they are still putting more!

There are lots of items which we used to see/eat last time when we were young. Some products are dressed up with new packaging but I believed the taste is still same. Heehee, see the crowds and u will believed!

From a cool, refreshing lemon or ginger juice drink to the delicious mouth-watering dodol, durian dodol, durian cakes, pineapple pies, candies, soft cakes, CNY cakes and coconut cookies. Yup, how can I missed out all these right?

Below are some of the things which I had bought from there:

Juz bought some items which I missed eating! But sil n her family bought about RM$400 worth of products! *FAINT*

Juz found a site for online purchasing of their products... Happy shopping!!

Doughnuts

2007-06-02T15:59:00.000+08:00

These doughnuts are what I had made last night! Okie... maybe should called them "flowery" doughnuts? Heehee... 1st time making dough(nuts) so I do not really know how to handle them well. They are nicely proofed but due to my 粗手粗脚, all the doughnuts become "koyak" before they went into the frying pan!

Nevertheless, they still taste nice! Just like what doughnuts suppose to taste like! Taste best when they are hot! Saw my cut-out doughnut above?! At least the look of it still passable hor! ;)

Okie, if u think my doughnuts look yucky, how about these doughnuts? Looks good huh? Looks familiar?? Wanna have some?? Heehee....

Yuppie! You are right! These are Dunkin' Donuts!!! Now you can order them online. Say NO to queue, isn't that good? Woah, eating those colourful donuts w a cuppa! Heavenly!!

Click-A-Donut:

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Recipe (Quoted: HugBear)

Ingredients
300g bread flour
200g plain four
60g sugar
10g salt
20g milk powder
1/2 tbsp baking powder
3 1/2 tsp instant yeast (1 pkt of 11g instant yeast)
2 egg yolks
280ml cold water
50g butter or shortening

Method
1. In a bowl, put in all ingredients except butter and salt. Mix to form a dough (about 2-3 mins). Add in salt and butter and continue to knead at high speed for about 5 mins, do the stretch test to see if dough is ready.

2.Flour your tabletop with some bread flour, take dough out and round it up into a ball and cover with a plastic wrap for about 1 hour to rise.

3. After 1 hr, divide dough into small portion (abt 10g-15g per portion). Roll into a small round ball using your palm on the tabletop. For those who wants a bigger donuts instead of the mini ones, divide into bigger portion, maybe like 30g and do the same until you finish up all the dough. Cover it and leave it to prove for another 35 to 40 mins.

3. Heat some oil in a pot, fry the donuts for only a min or 2 or until golden brown. Take it out drain it and coat with castor sugar (or icing sugar).

My comments for this bake:
1) The dough is a little bit sticky so when I remove them from tabletop for frying, they become "flatten"... not as nice as when they are proofing! Hiazzz.... should have put more bread flour on the tabletop before letting them to proof for the 2nd time.

New Updates in Divine-Cafe

2007-06-01T13:56:00.000+08:00

Pls check under banana cake post for new photo & recipe! I believed that if I continue to practice, one day my banana cake will succeed so I'm bear with me for the time being if I keep repeating the same cake! ;) Haahaa...

More updates on my baked spaghetti & cup spongecakes!

Feel free to surf around my blog & leave any comments if you like! Good or bad is alright! I need improvement right? ;)

Mixer At Work!

2007-05-30T22:39:00.000+08:00

This is month end again! Always very busy during this time of the month... So pardon me for the slow postings during this timing!

Ok, managed to spare out some time this morning to test out my new mixer. 1st output from the new mixer, a simple sponge cake! Nothing fanciful coz I din hv time to do the creaming part!

Saw the mixer? So fast in mixing! Okie, a bit "suaku" over this... but really "amazed" by the power & speed which I din get to see from the old KW.

Was so worried about the difference in procedure when using the KW! So I observed by drawing a "8" on the batter, if the "8" won't sink in but will appear visible for a while, that's the correct constitency for the batter. ;)

Okie, that's not the "8" but "lumps" instead... Keekee...

1st output:

By the time I managed to take a photo for the cake, it has already wrinkled! Sob sob... Din get to take a photo on the "hot-hot-out-from-oven" photo! Anyway, tasted the cake liao! Still very soft & nice!

My Dream Mixer

2007-05-25T01:06:00.001+08:00

Yes, finally I got this... My dream mixer, KitchenAid KPM50 mixer! All thanks to dh's support on Vit M!!! Well, I know lah, being an amateur in baking... having such a good mixer is really a bit exaggerated liao!

Anyway, since I have it now, I really need to make good use of it! ;) Now I can start learning to make bread!

Below is my pioneer "shifu". Must give some credits to it as it had accompanied me thru' out these yrs, tho initally it juz stayed in the cabinet for few yrs b4 I got my own flat which become a phoenix then!

Mango Marshmallow Cake

2007-05-24T19:39:00.000+08:00

This is what I had tried making today, mango marshmallow cake! Very nice & sweet cake, esp for people like me with a sweet tooth! Made a few mistakes on the way but lucky still taste good & edible (for me only lah!). Heehee...

Pls check below for recipe & my comments on it!

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Recipe (Quoted: Cranberry)

Ingredients
(A) Base:
200g digestive biscuits
80g melted butter

(B) Marshmallow filling:
10 pcs of marshmallow
300ml of HL milk
80 ml of diary whip cream
150 gm Mango Puree
8 pcs of gelatine leafs (or substitute w 2 tsp of gelatine powder)
80g sugar

(C) Gelatine Topping:
6 pcs of gelatine leafs
200 ml of water
4 tbsp sugar

Method
(A) Crushed digestive biscuits and mix well with melted butter. Press into a 8” or 9" square or round cake ring. Refrigerate for later use.

(B) Put all the ingredients into a pot. Double boil over small fire until gelatine leafs, marshmallow and sugar are dissolved.

(C) Boil all ingredients until dissolved.

Assembling the cake
Pour marshmallow filling (B) into the prepared baking tin with biscuit base (A). Put in freezer until slightly harden but not totally frozen. Take it out and arrange sliced fresh mangoes. Put it back to freezer to harden a little. When slightly harden take it out and pour the slightly cool Gelatine (C) on it. Put in fridge to chill. Cut and serve.

My comments for this bake:
Generally this is not a difficult recipe. Every step is vv simple but how come I can still make mistakes??? :(

1) Okie, I had decided to do a smaller cake for testing purposes so I divide the recipe into half (so all ingredients above are supposed to be 1/2). But I forgot to half the mango puree (b) & water (c)... OMG! SO I think that's y the marshmallow layer is so soft (b) & no wonder the gelatine mixture din hardened when waiting for it to cool down (c) ;(

2) The lower 2 layers (base & marshmallow) dun stick together, they fell off once cut!

3) Base is too thin, the marshmallow layer covered it... *FAINT*

A Visit to Dragonfruit Farm

2007-05-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

Since this is a food blog, I will post anything about FOOD, FRUITS etc...! Haahaa...

Just visited the dragonfruit farm recently, so tot of posting up some fruit pixs which I took there. They do not only have dragonfruits, they grow pineapples, long beans, herbs etc! A vv nice farm to visit! They sell dragonfruit drinks & jelly too! ;)

Location of farm is at 1 Lim Chu Kang Lane 4. Do check it out when free!

Next to the farm is the Singapore famous goat farm, Hay Dairies!

Chocolate Moulds

2007-05-23T20:32:00.000+08:00

Juz to show off some of my chocolates moulds. These are plastic & silicon moulds which are meant for making CHOCOLATES! (Ya lah, as the name says: chocolate moulds mah, of coz use to make chocolates right!) Heehee....

Not many moulds tho but will con't to add more to my collection. Heehee..... will try to use them soon & post some pics here!! :)

Below are new additions to my chocolate moulds collection! I had just purchased them from a spree in M4M forum!

They are 3D moulds, saw the front & back view of the mould? So these chocolates can actually stand on the cakes!

Baked Spaghetti

2007-05-21T17:02:00.000+08:00

Another photo of my baked spaghetti again... Haahaa... Getting sick already? Juz 1 more time lah! Okie?

This time I added my favourite Salmon... Saw that, Saw That!!! Drool.... Sorry I juz love salmon! Think this is best among all flavours I had tested (check below).

Previous Post:

This is my new baked spaghetti w carbonara sauce! Tasted nice too!! Just bought the Leggo's sauce from Carrefour on sat so decided to try it out asap! Added prawns, cod fish, cauliflower & button mushrooms! Slurp!

Previous Post:

Update new pic (lousy quality) on my baked spaghetti! This time, the ingredients include salmon, mutton, button mushrooms & broccoli. Top w lots of shedded cheese & baked for 15mins!

Haaa... ya maybe salmon & mutton dun really matched but since only me & Chloe (she only eats the spaghetti mah) eating, it's alright lah!

This is a dish which we (me & Chloe) had nearly every afternoon. She loves spaghetti! This is the 1st time that I baked it after cooking the spaghetti & sauce. Normally we just eat w the sauce (tho found it too watery sometimes due to my lousy cooking skills).

Tried baking it this time & it turned out better esp w the grated cheese!!!! heehee.. as we ordered pizzas regularly, there are a few packs of unused grated cheese left. So open & sprinkled on it!!! Slurp!! Guess it will be heavenly if sprinkle w shedded cheese!

Jelly Beans

2007-05-21T01:32:00.000+08:00

Guessed this item is not unfamiliar to anyone who went to Candy Empire! (We din see this anywhere, can anyone who know where else can I buy this do inform me? Thanks!)

Went Vivocity few weeks ago, that was the 1st time that we stepped into Candy Empire. Jaylen was so excited coz the shop is full of sweets & chocolates! Everything he also want to buy! Keeps saying: mummy mummy buy this, mummy mummy buy that! ** Faint **

Walked few rounds & dh decided to buy some candy for the kids while i took this jelly bean w/o his permission. Wanted to use it on my bakes if there's any need.

Before I know, dh was already eating the jelly beans on the way home. Kapo Jaylen wanted 1 too. Both of them like addicted to it, they like it so much that within days, my whole can of jelly beans is gone. (left this container only...)

Jaylen will always tell me which colour of the jelly beans he want to eat & will try to "shake" it out. This is a multi-coloured beans. And his favourite colour is YELLOW!

Dh missed his jelly beans so much that today we checked out the Candy Empire at Millenia Walk. We bought some chocolates & a bigger can of jelly beans! Dun think this new can will last for too long also! Heeheee.....

PS: Just in case, you are interested to know more... this is their webby:
http://www.jellybeanfactory.com/

Chilli Crabs

2007-05-21T00:44:00.000+08:00

Woah woah woah... this is 1 of the singaporeans favourite food! Yeap, such nice food was definitely not cooked by me! Haahaa.... Bought this for tonight's dinner! Dh had been busy with his work for last few weeks and finally got a sunday off! He decided to "celebrate" it with his favourite chilli crabs!!

Dh got his crabs while I got "nasty" service from the seafood restuarant! Maybe today is a sunday, too many customers so all the staffs busy till face black black? Even the boss also bo chap a customer standing there until leg ache liao! (Normally the boss will try to take orders when his staffs are busy...)

Tried making my order but the counter girl just ignored me & continued to do her stuffs (checking orders on her list!) So I asked loudly (twice somemore) then another staff actually called her to service me :(

Waited about 45mins, saw a box of chilli crabs came out but no one bother to pack it so I thick-skinned go & ask izzit MY CRABS (normally, I will just stand & wait till they rem & called me). The girl was surprised: "oh, there's a crab!" Aiyoh, buey tahan them!! Quickly pay $ & ciao!

Haaaa... so much complained over my crabs! Anyway just to add, we bought 2 crabs & dh let his dw ate all the claws & he took the crabby legs! ;"p

Recipes

2007-05-20T02:41:00.000+08:00

I had decided to post some recipes on my blog as requested by some readers. As some recipes are not invented by me, I will quote the person's name/nick who originated the recipe. For recipes which I have no idea who is the owner, I'm sorry if it is similar to yours!
如有类同，纯脆巧合 okie? ;p

Banana Cake

2007-05-18T16:03:00.000+08:00

Baked another banana cake again! Haahaa.... Tks for viewing!!

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Just baked this. 2nd output from my new mixer. Okie, it's banana cake again! I'm using a another recipe for this cake. I'm using half the ingredients only so the cake looks quite small.

Wonder how does it taste? Wonder Jx dare to try again? Haahaa...

Feedback from vevey: This cake is fluffier than all previous cakes! Not densed n hard... 再接再利！

This is the interior of the banana cake. Taken by vevey. (Tks vevey!)
Inside looks fluffy huh!

Recipe (Quoted: Yochana)

Ingredients
180g butter
180g fine sugar
2 extra large Eggs - beaten lightly
250g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
220g bananas - mashed
50g Dairy whip cream (can substitute with evaporated milk)
1/2 tsp Banana essence
2 bananas - slice

Method
1) Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.
2) Pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy.
3) Add in whip cream, mashed bananas and banana essence and mix well.
4) Add in cake flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and beat for a while only.
5) Pour into an 8" round tray, and arrange sliced bananas on top.
6) Bake at 175C for about 50 to 60 mins or until cooked.

My comments for this bake:
1) Very easy recipe but baking time is quite long abt 1hr. I tested the cake w a stick, some parts still a bit wet at 50mins, so i con't to bake for another 15mins.
2) This is suppose to be a drier & fluffier cake, hope it dun look wet like my previous batches. ;)

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This is the banana cake which I had baked today. Looks lousy hor. So sad... sob sob!!! Banana cake is something which I had to put in extra extra effort. This is a flop again! Will do better the next time (i hope?) heeheee...

This is the interior of the banana cake. These are my guesses for the failed cake:
1) Over-mixed the batter? (Tips from paw paw: HAND-MIX my batter!)
2) Wrong temp or did not bake long enough?
3) Too much liquid in the batter?

This is my previous batch of banana cake. Looks better huh? But taste wise... not sure if I got make any improvement. Haaahaaa....

Waiting patiently for my tasters, Vevey & Jx for comments!!! ;p

Feedback: Vevey's comment on it was good! Real or not?! Pls re-cfm!! keekee....

New updates: Since vevey say is nice, haaahaa... I will try again next time to improve on the looks of the cake!!! As I'm an idiot in decorating...

Cup Spongecakes

2007-05-17T15:00:00.000+08:00

Baked some cup spongecakes today to ease my cravings for cake! Can get a nice photo on a cupcake alone, so post this photo 1st... Will add in more photos if available! Thanks for viewing! ;)

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Just baked these cup spongecakes... tho looks far from what's selling in Crystal Jade Bread but the taste is really nice and soft! All thanks to Hugbear's recipe! My kids loved them, esp my little girl will ask for more & more.

Heehee... rem a joke by vevey! Haaahaa...
Mum: Auntie Cherie is baking some spongecakes for you!
Jx: What will happened if I eat sponge, mummy?
Mum: Then you will become SPONGEBOB lor...

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Recipe (Quoted: HugBear)

Ingredients
4 eggs
100g cake flour
100g castor sugar
12g spongecake stabliser
25ml milk
90g melted butter

Method
1. Put all the ingredients except the melted butter into a mixing bowl. Beat everything on high for at least 7 mins until ribbon stage. This means that if you use your whisk with batter to write an "8" on the batter won't sink in but will appear visible for a while. This will be the right constitency for your batter. Add in the melted butter at this point. Mix thoroughly.

2. Line some waxed papercups with baking paper. Pour batter into the lined cups abt 3/4 full and bake it in a preheated oven at 190C for about 20 mins. When done, remove the cake from the cup immediately and leave it on wire rack to cool.

Note:
To line the cup, cut out some baking paper or greased proof paper in square or rectangle shape. Roll it loosely like the kacang puteh style and push it into the cup. Adjust as necessary.

My comments for this bake:
1) Very easy to do recipe. Follow closely & you can't get it wrong! ;)

Butter Cookies

2007-05-17T01:15:00.000+08:00

Just baked these star-shaped butter cookies this afternooon. I had tried using my cookies cutters but the dough was too soft & stick to the cutters. So end up only this star cutter is able to hold the dough.

These cookies are meant for my son's good friend, Jx. Hope he is happy when got this surprise! No more tears okie?! Auntie Cherie, will bake more cookies & cakes for you okie? ;)

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As per requested by Bluebo_Bear, this is the recipe which I had used for the above star-shaped butter cookies.

Recipe (Quoted: HugBear)

Ingredients
250 gm butter
130 gm icing sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla powder/essence
400 gm plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Cream the butter and icing sugar until creamy.
2. Add in eggs and vanilla powder. Beat well.
3. Fold in flour and baking powder.
4. Put mixture in a cookies mixer and press out different designs onto greased baking tray.
5. Bake at 160c for 20-25 mins.

My comments for this bake:
1) I find that the batter (mixture) is very soft, difficult to use cookie mould on it.
* Tips: Leave in fridge (not freezer) for 1/2 hr. Remember do not add more flour to it! Kaypo added extra flour last time, the cookies came out hard n inedible (to me lah!) heehee...

My Dream Cafe

2007-05-16T19:58:00.000+08:00

This is my 1st post in this new blog! I'm so excited about my new dream cafe "Divine-cafe"! A "cafe" of my own with my favourite food, fruits, cakes, everything that I like under the sun!

Hmm... What shall I start with? Introducing myself & my bakings? Heehee...

Okie, I am just a small married lady with 2 vv cute toddlers. My dream is to open a cafe selling my own creation cakes n own blended coffee & tea.

Well, I love baking since secondary school when we were taught how to make cakes, pastries etc during our Home Economics class. Though with my passion & love in baking, I did lousy cakes back then. :( I failed my theory & practical for my Home Economics in every aspects. Cannot imagine how I'm going to survive in this world with lousy cookings, sewings & management of house. But I did survive these few years after married & moved out of my well-protected home.

Too much talkings for my 1st post huh! Haahaaa... dun mind me! I just feel like telling people who care for me, about my past (what kind of person I am), present (how I am doing now) & future (which I hope for)!

Well, I bought my Kenwood Chefette 2000 stand mixer in Yr 2000 but never get to use it till I moved in to my OWN flat in Yr 2004 when I got chance to learn & try baking. Lucky that my hubby was quite supportive (in terms of Vit M) for providing what I need in baking. Too bad, he didn't really like to be my guinea pig. So most of my bakes actually goes to the rubbish bin (well...some bakes are really yucky!). I dun have a talent in anything, not even baking. I really make effort in trying but dun have much improvement.

Anyway, I still want to show off a bit on some of my "can-see-but-dunno-can-eat-or-not" bakes. Pardon me for the lousy photo quality as I have yet to get myself a digital camera (hopefully very soon!). Currently, all pictures are taken from my lousy hp. ;p