Snowskin Mooncake

Today we made some bite sized snowskin mooncake! It tasted really good and we had a variety of them, we made plain snowskin with lotus or red bean filling. And we also made green tea flavoured ones. :D

Soon, me and my friends are going to sell some mooncake so keep updated. :)

White Cupcakes w Pink icing + Recipe

These are easy to make white cupcakes. That is, they only have vanilla taste but you can really do anything with the recipe. You can make a good cake :D Or you can stir in chocolate, it really doesn't matter because these cupcakes are real good.

Some of the cupcakes in the pictures are out of shape (and they're only the size of a 20 sen coin) because I was experimenting with the mini cupcake holders (used for cookies)

So yeah, to be practical and have a good shape, you must have:
1. A large enough cupcake mould/pan
2. Cupcake holders as shown above that fits the mould.

Recipe for white cupcakes:
Ingredients:
1 cup of white sugar (slightly more than a cup for brown sugar)
1/2 cup butter (3/4 the stick or 1/2 will do) - chopped, at room temp
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
Milk should be added according to texture but for formal purposes I shall say 1/2 cup milk

Procedure:

1. Line the cupcake holders in the cupcake pan
2. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder (because baking powder sometimes becomes hard and crumbly)
   
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. You would want the butter to be soft and cut up so it is much easier to mix. If not, you can just harass your mixer.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time. (I like to separate my yolks and whites and beat the whites till fluffy because it makes the cake lighter. This applies for any cake you want to make more fluffy and light). Stir in vanilla
5. Add flour a tablespoon at a time and alternate with milk. The idea is to get a texture such that when a spatula is inserted into the batter and lifted to the air, the batter falls smoothly back into the bowl.

Then, line the cupcake holders with the batter. I placed a chocolate chip below the batter for extra taste (or you can add on top)Bake in preheated oven of 175 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

For a normal size and well shaped cupcake, this is how it should look like. And there you have it! White cupcakes. But these go very well with icing! Because they're not so sweet.

Pink Icing (Warning! This recipe makes the mixing bowl very oily and may be found irritating to clean)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 to 2 cups icing sugar, depending on taste
few drops of vanilla essence
few drops of food colouring (red preferably, mine is cochineal colour)
few teaspoons of cream/milk (I prefer cream)

Procedure:

1. In mixing bowl, cream soft butter and shortening until smooth and well blended
2. Add icing sugar gradually
3. Add a few teaspoons of cream until desired texture
4. For colouring, add one drop of colouring and stir. If the colour is still bland, add another drop and stir again. Continue this process until desired colour.
   

It should looks something like this!
And the end result. :) This part is entirely up to your piping bag, and your artistic skill.

NOTE!:

• There will be a lot of icing to spare, mostly because of the amount of butter. So it would be better to make more cupcakes to finish off the icing.
• When adding icing sugar, add according to taste, make sure you taste your icing before piping it onto the cake.
• If you want to add on the icing, do not add too much sugar in your cake so that the sweetness offsets each other
• If you do not want to put the icing, adding chocolate chips into your batter could make a swell dessert as well! :D
• Sorry there are not a lot of guiding pix because I did this at night!

Icing is really fun when there are a lot of people helping out because everyone loves to customize their own icing design! Icing is also really helpful in parties, so give this a shot whenever you're making a bulk of cakes for a hungry bunch that also have a sweet tooth.

Jelly Goodness

Today was a less tiring day with jelly making! It's really easy and people enjoy eating jelly (particularly with a sweet tooth).

I'm not gonna tell any recipe because it's ridiculously easy and all the instructions are at the back of the packet. I used konyaku jelly. The only tip is to really mix the jelly powder and the sugar together well. And, don't add too much colouring. One or two drops should do the trick.

And adding in fruits and nata de coco also adds a good taste and good texture. Well, basics for jelly!

Flourless Chocolate Cake + Recipe

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the flour intolerant (like my dearest mum), introducing the flourless chocolate cake! Which I think if very good to make because it is fast and easy, and it is denser than a cake which makes it have more chocolatey goodness and is closer to a brownie than a cake.

1. 225g of butter
2. You will need about 125g of bittersweet cooking chocolate (half the bar)
3. 1/2 cup cocoa powder
4. 3/4 cup of sugar (I used brown sugar so its less sweet, use slightly more than 1/2 if you're using white sugar)
5. Separate egg whites and yolk.

Note! Use less sugar if the cooking chocolate you are using is sweet. If not, use more cocoa powder. Taste the mixture before u bake it so you can offset the bittersweet tastes.

You will also need a baking tin lined with baking paper or wax paper.
Procedure:

1. Using a knife and chopping board, cut chocolate into cubes or into bits.
2. Cut up butter into pieces and put both chocolate and butter into a double boiler.
3. Boil until butter is incorporated well in the chocolate (no residues)
4. In two bowls, separate the egg whites from the yolks.
5. Whip up egg whites until fluffy and set aside
6. Sift cocoa powder
7. When the chocolate and butter are fully blended, switch off the flame. Stir in sugar until well mixed. Then add the egg yolks followed by the whites and finally add in the cocoa powder, mixing in the ingredients well using a whisk.
8. When the mixture is fully incorporated (do not worry about the lumps), pour it into the lined baking tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The mixture will look dark but don't worry, its normal.


This is how the cake would approximately look like with the baking paper.

Invert twice to get the cake out. Now, I know it looks like charcoal but please relax, it tastes really good, like brownie. And with a bit of presentation, it will work out for you!

Looks a bit better here. Cut up a slice, the inside will be more soft and sticky whereas the outside will be chewy crusty.

Then, be smart! Put the slice on a separate place, place a scoop of good vanilla ice cream, (I used chocolate+vanilla ice cream) and drizzle chocolate sauce on it.

For my signature chocolate sauce:

1. Use the other half of the cooking chocolate, cut it up and put it in the double boiler.
2. Add one tablespoon of butter (do not put too much or it will be oily!)
3. Add one small box of whipping cream (or any cream) or about 6 tablespoons of cream, depending on the texture you want. More liquid, more cream and vice versa.
4. For fragrance, add a bit of coffee, but it is optional
5. No need for sugar if your cooking chocolate is sweet. If not, add sugar or condensed milk.
6. Let the mixture boil. Once all is melted into the chocolate, set aside and let it cool. Then drizzle all over on your cake!

Have fun with the recipe, it's really easy and really fun to do! :D

Chicken Pie + Recipe for Filling

With the leftover dough from yesterday to make the tarts, (yes its the same recipe for shortcrust pastry!) I decided to make chicken pie today instead! Yummy! It's really worth it :D

By using the same technique as the tarts, use small rounds of dough and roll it to a circular shape. This makes the base of the pie as well as another circle for the top of the pie. Poke holes on the "pie cover" to ensure the heat gets into the pie when baked. You can decorate it however you like. Use a proper pie...holder? Mine's a jelly holder. :P I was on budget! Once done, set it aside.




Chop up some onions and garlic. The amount is up to you, the garlics and onions are usually to get rid of the meat smell.

For the chicken, I used chicken breast (because its cheaper). You can use chicken thigh which would be more tender. Anyway, chop the chicken into cubes (the ones in the pic are still too big). Chop to small sizes and toss it with herbs (I use mixed herbs), salt and pepper.

Add a generous spoonful of butter onto the frying pan at medium heat.
1. Add the onion and garlic and fry till golden brown
2. Throw in the chicken and fry till meat turns white
3. Add in carrots, strips of bacon, leek (optional)
4. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock
5. Add 1/3 cup cream
6. Let to boil. Add cheese last.

There is a tricky bit with the filling. If you put thickened cream, it might be okay but if you put normal cream, it might be too watery. So what you need is corn starch to make the filling thick. In a cup, put two spoonfuls of corn starch and mix it with about a tablespoon of cold water. Stir until no solute left and pour into your filling.

Note! => When the cream boils, it will let off some crazy bubbles as shown above. Don't worry, its just cooking and boiling and evaporating. Once you add corn starch, mix it well and if the texture seems good enough to you, turn off the fire and set the filling aside.

Place the filling in the base of the pie. ( I added some egg here since I had a panic attack that I didn't have enough filling)








Then, place the "pie cover" on top of the filling. If you use a proper pie holder, you will be able to press the top of the pie with the base of the pie using a fork. I cheated, I just stamped the cover with decor. :P





Pop the whole thing into the oven at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the edges turn brown and the crust is crispy. And there you have it, a mouth watering chicken pie!

Extra note: Don't forget after cooking your filling, you must taste it! It's important that it isn't too salty. You can add anything you want in the filling, it's your pie!

Cheese Tarts Delight

Today was so amazing! I made tarts for the first time and since my mom couldn't eat much flour, I decided to make the next best thing she likes, that is cheese! Cheese tarts! They are so amazing. I got the recipe of the cheese from YC and the shortcrust pastry from another website. However I made some alterations that I think will be useful.
For the cream cheese filling, you only need some icing sugar, philadelphia cream cheese (the only brand I can find) and some blueberry jam.
For the shortcrust pastry, you need plain flour, preferably without it raising by itself, half a block of butter and some water.

You want to use small moulds if you want a cute shape. I used these because it was lying around the house.

For the shortcrust pastry:

The butter must always be half of the amount of flour used
For e.g, I used 250g of flour with 125g of butter. This makes about 40 cheese tarts I think.
1. Weigh 250g of flour using a weighing scale
2. Using a small sift, sift the flour into a mixing bowl
3. Ensure the sift is at a high enough distance from the bowl to incorporate more air into the flour.
4. Do the above in a non windy area

Ensure the butter is at room temperature and is soft enough to be indented by a knife at a touch.

1. Cut up the butter into cubes and toss into the flour.
2. Using a baking spatula or the knife, cut and blend the
butter into the flour until a good mix
3. Use your fingertips to rub the butter gently into the
flour until the batter looks crumbly (almost like biscuit)

I couldn't get any photos for this part cause my hands were put to full use. Once the batter is biscuity, add a tablespoon of cold water into the mix and try to stick the batter together with your hands. The aim is to form a dough. Repeat this process until the batter forms a good dough (neither too sticky nor crumbly). For final touches, dip your fingers with the water to dab the crumbly parts of the dough. Then, wrap up the dough in clingwrap (plastic wrap) and let it set in the fridge for 30 min or more.


Once the dough is set, take it out of the fridge and break off a small section of the dough to a suitable size according to your mould. Roll up the dough into a ball and roll it out using a rolling pin. (whoa, rolling). Make sure the rolling pin is dusted with flour as well as the surface you are doing the rolling on to prevent the dough from sticking. Then, place it into the mould, gently pressing it into shape and remove the edges.


<= Eventually, it will all look like this! Bake the bases in the preheated oven at 175 degrees for about 10 min or until the edges become light brown.









Cream Cheese Filling:

1. In a mixing bowl, cut up soft cream cheese.
2. Add icing sugar (or condensed milk) and mix the mixture. Add the sugar according to your taste. About 60g of icing sugar or 4 teaspoonfulls of condensed milk.
3. I added a dash of milk to make it smoother. But I recommend you to used 1 whole lemon juice (from a real lemon duh!) because cheese smells a bit so the lemon really takes the smell away. I had to get rid of the smell using vanilla essence, which is not a bad option.

With the baked tarts, remove them from the mould and put it onto a pretty plate. Spread blueberry jam on the bases because you want the filling at the bottom (optional)

And with a piping equipment, pipe the cream cheese on with any decoration you like and simply add some fruit on the top because it makes the tart more tasty, pretty and less rich.








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And if you're crazy you can pipe funny things on it. This is not an apology tart! This is a request from my sis and my cousin to write Sorry: song from Suju and Gee: song from SNSD. Google it! :D