Wednesday 31 August 2011

Ice Cream Sponge Fruit Flan - Farewell Sister & Brother In Law!


My Sister and brother-in-law left home today. My husband and I felt the quietness when we came home. But the summer is over and they have to get ready for work soon. See you again soon - Farewell and I will miss you both!

This recipe is my sister-in-law's speciality. I just managed to snap some photos at the beginning but at the end I got too excited to eat them that I forgotten to take a photo of the whole cake before it was snapped up in seconds. I managed to take a photo of my piece though..


Secret of this recipe is fresh fruits and patience. It is a long process but it will worth the while. It can be a perfect birthday cake. It is so beautiful!


It also takes some thinking and skills . Some stationery is required to make this cake perfect. Scissors, plastic film and tape will do the job.


 The above is the 2nd step after baking the cake.To ensure that the corners are sealed to prevent leaking.


Yes the following is my share that I managed to take a photo. So pretty!


So moist, so refreshing! Thanks sister in law! I love this cake and hope to replicate the same soon!


Ingredients:

Sponge Cake
100 g flour
75 g sugar
5 large eggs - Separate yolks and whites
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius 
1) Whisk yolks with sugar and vanilla till fluffy
2) Sieve flour and baking powder into the yolks. Mix well with baking spoon
3) Beat egg whites on high till fluffy
4) Fold in the whites into the yolk gradually in outward manner to maintain the air inside the whites
6) Place
5) Bake in 8" round baking pan for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake for an hour and set aside.

Ingredients:
Ice Cream Fruit Topping
1 cup ice vanilla flavoured ice cream - Leave it at room temperature for 5 minutes
1 cup thick cream
100 g Orange Jello - Mix well with 1 cup of boiling water in a small bowl 
100 g Peach Jello - Mix well with 1/2 cup of boiling water and 1/2 cup of cold water in a small bowl. Store in fridge
Handful of strawberries, blueberries and 1 sliced banana (or any other fruits of your choice)
Tools required
A sheet of plastic film
Scissors 
Cellophane tape

Method:
1) In a large bowl, add in ice cream, cream and Orange Jello mixture. Mix well and place in the fridge
2) Meanwhile, wrap tightly around the cooled cake with plastic film and secure with tape
3) Pour some of the ice cream mixture from the fridge at the corners and freeze cake in the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes. Or until it turns solid.
4) Fill up remaining ice cream mixture and freeze in the freezer for 5 minutes
5) Assembly the fruits on top and freeze for another 10 minutes
6) Pour in the Peach Jello mixture. Place into the fridge for an hour or overnight

Enjoy!! I really love it! Do you?


I am linking this recipe to le chateau des fleurs by fenchy


Photobucket

Sunday 28 August 2011

G's Chocolate Fudge Cake


Another great recipe courtesy of my baking partner G. True Chocolate indulgence - my greatest weakness as chocoholic. Couldn't help having it even at 1am and another piece as breakfast the next morning!


You may need two same baking pan to bake this - round or square as you like . I like it sandwiched with a layer of chocolate fudge. If you think I am overdoing it, just bake one without separating into 2 pans.


So moist and tasty with occasional crunch of almonds. The frosting just complete the cake! Will definitely making it soon!

Hope you love it too!



Ingredients:
Fudge
250 g butter - cut into small cubes
250 g plain dark chocolate - break into small pieces
4 tbsp milk
60 g dark brown sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla essence


Method:

1) Melt butter over gentle heat till completely melted
2) Add chocolate. Stir till completely melted
3) Add in sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix well till completed combined and smooth in texture.
4) Pour chocolate fudge into a medium bowl and keep in fridge for an hour




Ingredients:
Cake
175 g butter - cut into small cubes
175 g plain flour
150 g caster sugar
50 g almond - chopped
40 g cocoa powder
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp maple syrup or golden syrup
1/2 cup low fat milk

Method:
Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius 
1) Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy
2) Beat in the eggs one at a time. Till mixture is creamy smooth
3) Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Fold mixture with wooden baking spoon
4) Add in almond and maple syrup. Continue folding. Mix well
5) Mix in the milk gradually. Mix well.
6) Grease two2 8 inched baking pan and line with baking paper
7) Pour in mixture into the baking pan equally
8) Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick come out clean
9) Cool the cake for 5 minutes and remove from the baking pan. Let them cool completely.


Frosting
1) Remove the fudge from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 5 minutes
2) Spread 1/3 of the fudge on one cake. Place with the other piece of cake over.
3) Spread the rest of the fudge covering the whole cake
4) Let it cool for 1-2 hours (I couldn't resist and ate it just after 5 minutes!! haha!)


It is PERFECT!


This recipe is also been linked to  Savory Sunday hosted by The Sweet Details.


Saturday 20 August 2011

Persian Chicken Rice Cake - TAHCHIN



This is one of my favorite Persian one pan dinner. Since my visiting sister-in-law is still around I take the opportunity to ask her to pass me the recipe and guide me in the cooking process.

It was unbelievably tasty and lovely looking! Beautifully saffron tinted rice cooked with yogurt and chicken to perfection. Even the crust is not to be missed! Total satisfaction ! MMmmmmmm




Serves 4 person

Ingredients:
For Chicken
2 kg chicken fillet - cubed
1 large onion - finely chopped
1 tsp salt (or to your taste)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to your taste)
Oil for cooking

For Rice
3 cups Rice
3 cups water
2 tbsp salt (or to your taste) 
500 g yogurt
2 large egg yolk
1 tsp ground saffron mix well with 1 tsp warm water


Method:
For Chicken
Place a large non stick deep pan with oil on medium high heat. Fry Onion for 2 minutes and add chicken, saffron, salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 5 minutes then turn down heat to low. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Drain chicken and leave the chicken stock aside.


For Rice
1) In a large non stick pot rinse rice twice. Add water and salt to boil under high heat. Let water boil for 10minutes, turn heat down to low and continue cooking with lid on for another 30 minutes or until rice is cooked. 
2) Stir in yogurt, saffron and yolks. Mix well.



Final Step
1) In a large non stick deep pan, add oil up to 1/2 cm covering the pan. Heat oil on medium high heat.
2) Once oil is hot, add half of the cooked rice and spread chicken evenly on the rice. Cover chicken with remaining cooked rice.
3)Press the rice a little to even the surface. Pour chicken stock onto the rice and cook for 30 minutes on low heat for 30 minutes with lid closed.

Flip cooked pan content carefully on a plate and serve hot.

BEFARMAEED (Enjoy in  Persian)  !

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Lazy Girl's Little Munchies


Ever since I joined my current company, time is never on my side. I have been travelling extensively and left not much of quality time in my kitchen.

If you are following, my posts have been reduced significantly since June. Less time at my kitchen but more time experiencing life in foreign city. The above is latest visit to Shanghai, China. Such vibrant city with lot's of energy. I took the photo from my hotel room.. pretty yeah?


Okay back to my recipe. This again is a recipe provided by my baking pal, G. She has been craving for something sweet and easy with minimum ingredient... the lazy girl's recipe :)


We had fun cutting the dough with a glass. Very therapeutic indeed after a hectic day. Yeah.. that's G in action!


All ready to be shallow fry. We used peanut cooking oil and frying on medium high heat.



Makes 12 small munchies
Recipe can be doubled

Ingredients:
2.5 cups flour
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tbsp superfine sugar
1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cooking oil

Method:
1) Add yeast and sugar into warm water and set aside for 30 minutes
2) In a large bowl add oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well with wooden spoon.
3) Add in the yeast mixture. Combine well with hand. Add flour or water if required to make it into a nice dough. Let it stand for 1 hour covered with a wet clean kitchen towel.
4) Roll dough with pin until it's about 1cm thick.
5) Cut dough with a small glass and leave it for another 10-15 minutes.

Shallow fry on medium high heat until both sides are golden brown. Dust with icing sugar when completely cool.

Great with a cuppa!

Thursday 11 August 2011

Easy Breezy Nutella Nescafe Cake


I am not sure about you but I am am one of those that can' t leave food untouched. If you are following, I bought a tub of Nutella almost 3 weeks ago for my recipe Super Duper 8 Nutella Lava Cookies and  have been thinking how to finish the rest of the tub up!


This is really a simple coffee cake recipe that I have used the Nutella as icing then sprinkle with some crushed walnuts. A little creativity in baking gets you a long way!


Simply divine with minimal effort and time. My kind of recipe!


Remember to grease the baking pan with butter then dust with some flour to ensure the cake can be taken out easily from the banking pan.


Try making sure the mixture is smooth and pour them into the baking pan. I used a spring baking tin for the ease of removing the cake from the pan with minimum damage... I am a clumsy and inpatient person..


Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp Nescafe instant coffee
1/2 cup milk
1 cup hot water
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup Nutella


Method:
Preheat oven 180 degree C
1) Grease the baking pan with some butter and lightly dust with flour. Set aside
2) In a large bowl mix flour, salt and sugar. Set aside
3) Combine Nescafe and water. Stir well.
4) Melt butter in a large pan then add Nescafe. Keep stirring for 2 minutes.
5) Combine milk, vanilla, baking soda and eggs. Mix well.
6) Add melted butter into the milk mixture. Combine well.
7) Add flour gradually by folding in. Mix well.

Pour mixture into baking pan and bake for 45 - 50 minutes covered with baking paper or foil. 

Nutella Icing :
Spread Nutella evenly on top of the cooled cake then sprinkle with walnuts.



Great with a cuppa!