My cheddar Cheese loaf. This dough is pretty hard to work with. I dont have a kitchen aid. So i hand knead all my bread. I took probably more than an hour to knead this dough. I should have drizzled more melted cheddar Cheese on the top. It will look so beautiful.

Ingredients:

125g bread flour
3g flour improver
4g yeast
2.5g salt ( Go easy on salt because cheddar cheese cubes are salty too)
90g water

40g Walnuts ( I didnt add as i do not have)
1/2 Handful of Cheddar Cheese

beaten egg ( for brushing)
Grated Cheese n Melted Cheese

1. Combine the flour, flour improver yeast, salt and water. Knead to smooth and elastic. Put in a lightly oiled tray and ferment for about 45 mins

2. Take out fermented dough. Divide into teo equal portions. 225g each

3. Wrap loaf around the walnts and cheddar cheese cubes. Knead and punch to Oval shape. Put in a lightly oiled 6 inch mould. Proof until doubled ( 45mins-1hr)

4. Gently brush with egg glaze. Sprinkle with Grated Cheese. Place in a preheated 200 degrees celcius oven. Bake for about 20 mins. Remove from the oven.

*Wait for it to cool then cut. If not it"ll turn out like mine. kind of squashed*

I got this recipe from Abbygail's Kitchen.  It was supposed to be a really rich and moist cake. I had lots of expectations for this cake because it's a combination of mt two favourite flavours, Chocolate and Cheese!!! The recipe's awesome but i made several mistakes somewhere which ruined the entire cake.Please go to Abbygail's Kitchen for the original recipe. The recipe called for chocolate emulco paste. For those that do not have it at home, you can replace with 40g cocoa powder per tbsp of chocolate emulco paste. I added about 3 tbsp of rum to the cheese but i can't really taste the rum.

The multiple liquid ingredients (ie: yoghurt, milk & oil) are certainly gonna make the chocolate cake rich and moist. However, my cake turned out to be pretty hard. and... Why is that so?! Firstly, I overbaked. The recipe calls for approx 55 mins but i baked for approx 1hr10 mins because my cake wasnt evenly baked. 5/6 of my cake was alr done but 1/4 wasnt when i inserted a skewer to check the progress at the 1hr mark. I have no choice but to continue baking.

Secondly, I feel that there's insufficient cream cheese (subjective). After i mixed my batter, the volume of chocolate batter seemed to have reduced. Dont be fooled by it! Initially, I thought there wasnt enough Chocolate cake batter but hey, look at the proportion of Chocolate to Cheese cake?! I filled my bundt tin with the chocolate batter then the cheese batter. However, That was an extremely wrong move. Since the cake is going to stay in the oven for a long time( approx 1hr), the high temperature will burn the cheese and leave behind a thick crust. Can you imagine so much cheese will be waste! At the same time, the chocolate batter beneath the cheese batter will rise ( because of the baking soda.). On the other hand, my cheesecake batter is so smooth that i feel that some has seeped into the chocolate batter. Do you think if i add a small amount of baking soda into the cheesecake batter, the cheesecake will seep less into the chocolate batter?Idk if i am making sense but that's just how i concluded because i am really curious about the reason behind the pathetic amount of cheesecake in the final cake. Please correct me if i am wrong!



I guess the next time when i bake this, I will probably bake them in cupcakes than full cake so that i can better control the temperature.Nevertheless, this is a really great recipe. If you are looking for a rich and moist chocolate and cheese cake, this is def the one and dont repeat my mistakes!! If not you'll feel as heart broken as me. :/

I am so motivated to bake after looking at the pictures of apricot-pistachio-lemon cake baked by the other bakers. They are so beautiful and the cake looks so great. I don't have the book, so I can't join The Home Bakers.I had a long day at work yesterday but it def did not extinguish my excitement to bake. Oh and right now, I think Singapore is running a shortage of lemons?! Sounds insane but apparently there were no stock for lemons at all 4 ntuc branches, shopnsave and random fruit stalls in the neighbourhood. I got mine at the market. Many thanks to Cynthia for helping to get my lemons!! My cake wouldn't be awesome without you.



It was 2am in the morning and I was too tired to take a proper picture. Check out the original recipe from yummy bakes .
I baked half the recipe. This is my edited version:
Ingredients
115g unsalted butter at room temperature
175g sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
100g cup plain yogurt
180g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt (omitted since I used salted pistachios and salted butter)
90g chopped dried apricots
40g unsalted pistachios (roughly chopped)

1. Soak the chopped apricots in hot water to soften it and retain its moisture for 30 mine ant drain them.
2. Sieve the flour.
3.Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice and yoghurt.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the sieved flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing just until blended. Stir in the apricots and nuts. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 50-50 mins or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool in the pan 15 minutes, then unmold right side up on a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.

After reading the tips provided by fellow bakers, I refrigerate the cake before cutting. There are still pieces of apricots dropping here and there. But I believe it's less crumbly compared to cutting straight away. I am going to soak the apricots in rum the next time I bake this!! It should be v delicious!! ^^



 

I made these easy brazilian cheese pops over the weekend and they were a hit. I got this recipe from simply recipes. They are so easy to make. All you need are the basic ingredients and a whisk!! They were so good that I didn't have time to take a good pictures. Ha. I couldn't resist the temptation.




ingredients
1 egg*
1/3 cup olive oil ( I used veg oil)
2/3 cup milk
Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) tapioca flour
1/2 cup (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese, your preference) ( I used mix of mozzarella and Parmesan)
1 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)
steps
1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius
2. Grease your mini sized muffin tin**
3. Mix all ingredients together and pour them into the muffin tin until the brim. ( I sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top)
4. Send them into the oven for about 15-20 mins and they are ready when it's golden brown.

Note:
*Batter can be kept up to a week.
* Watch them rise beautifully.
* Best serve hot.

I'll def make again! Will put up a clearer picture the next time.

Pancakes pancakes. Who doesn't love pancakes! Pancakes are one of my all time favourites! We've decided on strictly pancakes for Yan's 19th! It was full house when we arrived. So we settled outdoors instead.

Maple syrup and garlic flavoured butter.



Happy birthday Yanny!




One of their most popular dish. Indeed really savoury. it's my first time eating prawns with pancakes. ^^



Stack your own pancakes. We get to choose the add ons!
However, I feel that their pancakes are a little too thick for my liking. I guess I still prefer my hot cakes from macs. Well, just personal preference. But the next time, I'll try their "sweet collection". ^^

Eric and Joanne brought me to the canopy cafe for dinner last weekend!! It was a hidden jem with the stunning scenery.



So beautiful right!! ^^
I would prefer to go at night because of scenic view. It's outdoor seating. We had their local delights. They do serve Japanese and western too but I am not sure how good they taste. Most people ordered the local delights anyway. However, their service is really slow. The waiters are not attentive and Eric got to ask strong>;thrice for an extra desert spoon. I strongly discourage you to go by public transport. You'll be perspiring, annoyed with the long waiting of the only sbs bus that passes there. What's more, the bus does not stop directly in front of the cafe. You still gotta walk a distance into marina golf club. It's pretty inconvenient to get there unless you are travelling by car or taxi.




Johore beehoon. One of my favourite. Abt $8



Mee goreng. This is really tasty. You got to try it. Abt $8.

Another must try dish is their chicken wings! I love it!!

I've been wanting to make jam drops. They look so pretty. Well, i intended to make these as christmas food gifts for my potluck last Christmas. But i realise such cookies easily become v soft ( lou feng) when they are exposed to open air for a long time. They are best kept in a tupperware as soon as they are almost cooled after taking them out from the hot oven. Nevertheless, they still taste fabulous! Give this a try!



Ingredients:
125g butter (room temperature)
100g caster sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 egg
190g self raising flour
Jam
Confectionary / powdered sugar ( topping)

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Add Vanilla essence and egg. Continue to beat until smooth.
3. sieve the flour over butter mixture until uniform consistency.
4. Roll teaspoon full of mixture into balls
5. Place on the prepared tray. gently press the centre of each ball with your fingers/ the back of a spoon to form a hole.
6. Fill these holes with Jam and pop them into the oven. They are ready when they are lighly browned.
7. sprinkle some powdered sugar on the top of the cookies.

Tip: Do not fill the Jam to the brim of the hole as it may overflow during baking. Avoid adding the watery portion of the jam onto the cookie as it may cause the cookie to turn soggy at the centre. Add the custard like portion of the jam.

This is my first steamed cake and i m really satisfied with it. It is very moist and Chocolatey. I've got this recipe from Peng's Kitchen. However I cant get the chocolate ganach right despite trying  twice. Both times failed because it turned out too watery. Nevertheless, this chocolate cake was good enough. It was just the right amont of sweetness. Do give it a go because it's rly good. ^^



Ingredient

• 150g unsalted butter


• 170g fine sugar


• 200ml evaporated milk


• 2 eggs, lightly beaten


• 125g plain flour


• 70g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona Brand)


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla essence and butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter has melted. Remove from heat.


2. Add the beaten eggs into the slightly cooled mixture and stir till well mixed.


3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs mixture over the flour and stir till smooth. (Batter should be runny).


4. Heat up the steamer. Lined and grease a 7" baking pan. Pour the batter into prepared pan and place into the steamer. Cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.


5. Steam over medium heat for 45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, steam for a further 5 minutes.


6. Cool the cake in pan before turning out for frosting.

 

 

Shortbread is a classic Scottish dessert that consists of three basic ingredients. Really easy to bake. A desert for any occasion. Be it Christmas or any ordinary day. Perfect for a snack in the late afternoon, accompanied by a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Of course, you could also bake them in squares or any other shapes you want. I drizzled some melted chocolate onto my shortbread and it's delicious. Alternatively, they are ideal for Apple Crumble's crust too!




Ingredients:
3/4 cup of unsalted butter.
1 ¾ cup of All Purpose Flour
¾ cup of Confectioner Sugar
½ tsp of Salt
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

1)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line an baking tin with parchment paper coming up the sides of the pan, spray with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
2)Using an electric mixer, mix together the confectionary sugar and butter until very creamy.
3) Add the flour and salt and mix for 1 minute.
4) Press the dough into the parchment paper lined pan and press it all to make sure it’s even. Using a butter knife or a bench knife, cut the dough.
5) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden. As soon as you take them out of the oven, run your knife through all the cuts and let them cool completely.

*Remove from the pan and dip them in melted chocolate if you chose or sprinkle some granulated sugar while it is still hot.

Spent my morng making some breakfast for the family and baking these cupcakes.
Got my recipe from small small baker!
I baked about 7 big cupcakes with half of the recipe. Although I used the entire orange zest and juice, I still feel that the orange flavour cld be stronger. I guess the addition of vanilla essence wld be good too.



(My edited version)
Ingredients
(A)
2 eggs
1 eggs yolk
87.5g sugar
(B)
95g cake flour
25g ground almonds
3/4 tsp baking powder
(C)
40g orange juice
1 orange zest, grated
200g butter, melted
1tbsp vanilla essence
(Garnish)
Flaked almonds

Method
1. Whip (A) until sugar dissolves and it turns thick. (Note: overwhipping (A) will cause the cake to collapse).
2. Fold in (B) and mix until well blended.
3. Stir in (C) and mix until well incorporated.
4. Spoon it into cupcake cases and sprinkle some flaked almonds on top.
5. Bake at 190C for 20 minutes. Remove and cool.
P

Those who love Avocado'll adore this dish.I think this is too strong to be a main dish itself. But it is perfect as a side dish. You can serve it at room tempt or put it into the fridge for a while before serving. It tastes pretty refreshing because of the lime. I like to have it chilled!

Ingredients:
3 Tomatoes
2 Avocados
1 red onion
1-1.5 lime juice
1 bunch/handful of cilantro leaves
Salt n Pepper
Olive Oil

Procedure
1. Prepare the dresssing: Chop the cilantro and add them to lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cut the Avocados into cubes.
3. Drizzle the dressing onto Avocado. ( The acid in the lime juice prevents Avocados from turning brown)
4. Chop tomatoes into chunks and Onions into strips.
5. Add both tomatoes and onions to Avocado.
6. Drizzle a little olive oil.
7. Serve it immediately or chilled.

* Do not add too much Olive oil as Avocado has high fat content.

I made Eggs benedict for breakfast for my sis and bro-in-law on a Sunday morng!


Cooking the poached eggs were easier than I thought. As I don't have a double boiler (saving the trouble of making one too), I bought the pre-made hollandaise sauce from the supermarket. But I don't rly like the taste. It's a little mayonish. Prolly home made hollandaise sauce will be much btr. I'm def gna try making hollandaise sauce next time! But I guess if yr egg yolks are runny, you can go without the sauce too. I made some garlic sautéed mushrooms too and they were fantastic.
Ingredients
Servings: 3
- 3 eggs
- Bacon/ham
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- Baguette/sourdough/eng muffins/ ( any bread you want)
- Pre-made hollandaise sauce ( i feel that making yr own'll be btr)
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 pkt diced button mushrooms
- 5 cloves of garlic ( I am an avid fan of garlic!! So if you do not like it, you can go easy on the number of cloves.)
-Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking the sautéed mushrooms
1. Add the butter into the saucepan and switch on the fire.
2. Pop the chopped garlic into the saucepan.
3. Add the diced mushrooms when the butter is slightly bubbling.
4. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, herbs if you have.
5. Stirring occasionally to prevent the mushrooms from sticking onto the saucepan. It is almost done when the mushrooms have absorbed most of the water. Add salt and pepper to suit yr own taste.

Note*: do not soak the mushrooms in water for a long time when you are washing the mushrooms. Mushroom absorb water easily. Lightly rinse/wash it will do.
Poaching the eggs
1. Add vinegar and bring the water in the saucepan to boiling then turned down the fire and let it simmer.
2. Spin the water to let it cool down a little. Crack yr egg one at a time in a bowl and carefully drop yr egg into the center of the whirlpool.
3. Yr eggs take about 3-5 mins to be cooked, depending how cooked you want yr yolks to be.
Note*:
- use fresh eggs
- if you are poaching many eggs at a time, do not spin the water.
- poach an egg at a time to prevent eggs from merging tgt
-serve almost immediately
-click here to get more details about poaching eggs.
Assembling them together
1. Pan-fry your ham/bacon or you can pop them into the oven for a few mins. I used ham as it is healthier but I think bacon will be more tasty!
2. Toast your bread and lightly apply with butter.
3. Stack yr ham/ bacon followed by eggs. Top with some hollandaise sauce.
4. Serve with some sautéed mushroom.
You can use almost anything you have on hand. Tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, lettuce are good sides too!

I've been making custard bread twice and i still haven perfect it. Nevertheless, both failed attempts enabled me to learn more about baking bread! So it's not too bad after all. Got this recipe from small small baker .
1st attempt:


This was my first attempt baking custard bread. My bread was overflowing! Indeed my baking tin was too small for the dough. I bought my tin from daiso and so far, I guess daiso only has that standard small size rectangle tin. I was trying to squeeze all the dough into that rly small tin. It was alr 80% full before proofing. By the end of 2nd proofing, the dough rose a lot higher than the tin. The bread turned out to be rly soft. I rly like the softness. However, it's too compact. So, I figured that the problem lies with the size of my baking tin.
Okay now 2nd attempt.
I told myself I gotta make this right time round. Bought a bigger aluminium foiled tin from the supermarket. This time round, i hand kneaded my dough diligently for about an hour. Checked and passed both tests, I set it to ferment it in the microwave for two hours. Meanwhile, I headed to the gym n did my usual workout. I was rly excited about my custard bread that I cut short my usual routine. To my extreme horror and disappointment, the dough DID NOT rise and double in volume at all. Only then, I realised that I missed out the most important ingredient of all. The yeast. Imagine my feelings then. So much hopes and anticipation about my painfully kneaded bread and it turned out that... I couldn't bear to throw away the dough. It wasn't about the cost but the time and effort taken to knead the f-dough. I googled ways to salvage the dough. One of the ways I tried was to add 1tablespoon of instant yeast and a small amount of warm water and knead the dough again until smooth. I left it to proof for another 80 mins. It did rise. Just not as much. Oh well, btr than nothing right. So I went ahead to bake. Yes, it was still too compact. We all know where the problem lies. I guess the yeast wasn't incorporated well enough into the dough.





I m definitely gna try this again for the third time! Wish me luck!!

I've been baking bread these days.
#Reason 1: less sinful than other deserts.
#Reason2 : my electric handmixer just Died after I tried to mix my dough using the freaking small dough hooks.
#Reason 3: I love bread.
After several attempts, I realise that baking a good bread really isn't easy. Unlike cakes n cookies, bread is more tacky to deal with. The time taken is alot longer. You need time to knead , ferment and proof. I usually take half a day to bake my bread. Prolly is because I m Pretty new to this. I hand knead my dough every occasion and it is rly tiring. Each time taking about an hour. By the end, I'll be sweating like a mad horse. Definitely a good workout. After these attempts, I feel that we've been taking bread for granted. I mean bread is easily available cheaply from bakeries everywhere. Similar to rice, it frequently appears in our diet and it's a necessity. Despite the more tedious process, bread is not as appreciated as muffins, cakes etc... Right now, I m more appreciative of bread. Behind the pretty looking buns siting comfortably in the bakeries, are actually slogging their lungs out kneading the dough. Okay, that's quite exaggerating. I know tech is advance and there's bread machines now. -__-" But hey, in the past, they dont right!! I rly salute those bakers who hand kneaded their brea in the bakeries. You have my respect man. Okay back to now, I am still far far from average. But I'll keep doing it!
My very first attempt baking bread was sweet bread dough, taken from "magic bread" by Alex Goh. It is a wonderful recipe but I ruined it. I did not knead my dough enough. It was elastic but it failed the window pane test. But I was so excited that I went ahead with the next step. Wrong move. Next, my first proofing was nicely done. But my second proofing was horrible. I just shaped the dough and left them on a plate for abt 30 mins. In fact, second proofing, also known as the final rise is v crucial to give you a light and fluffy bread. Unfortunately, I ruined it.
I tried making some Kaya buns with my grandma's homemade kaya. I didn't know
how to wrap the kaya properly and it oozed out of the buns even before sending them into the oven. The other bread was almond raisins rolls. I sliced them too thinly and the fillings were overflowing. In all, I made a mess. The buns were too compact. Best eaten when it's hot because there were like rocks when they had cooled. Nevertheless, I had a great time!! It's a good start of my bread baking journey.

Headed to Two chef's eating placetwice in a week. The food's Rly worthy for the price. To avoid the crowd, you'll probably want to consider an early dinner , prob 530pm? I rched at abt 8pm during my first visit. There were a lot of people but the waiting time was pretty short although there's a queue to be seated. Their service is fast. Food was served pretty quickly after we're seated. A 10-15 mins walk from commonwealth MRT.




Raw cockles.appetiser. I love the soya sauce.




Soupy 3 eggs veg.




Butter pork ribs! Everyone orders this!




Honey chicken. Doesn't look v appetising but it's tasty!




Toufu with golden mushrooms. One of my fav!!




Herbal chicken. A pretty popular dish among the crowd.




Coffee pork ribs.




Dull looking yam but it's absolutely yummy. I love this!!




Curry fish head. Pretty fresh but not rly to my liking.

Breakfast at rider's cafe on an early Saturday morng. we're here pretty early to avoid the brunch crowd which probably strolls in at around 11-12noon. Reservation is strongly recommended if you're thinking of cmg for brunch. Kinda inaccessible unless you've a car. Pretty nice ambience but the service is a little slow. Good place for friends to catchup over brunch!





"The usual".  we get to choose the eggs: sunny, scramble or poached. $16



Eggs Benedict. I forgot the price but i think is $15.  Yummm poached eggs.

Jcube was SOOOO crowded. There were lots of anticipation for the opening of this new mall. It was under renovation for FOUR years.It's Four long years. Of course everyone would be excited about it! But i feel that the structure is a little odd. Unlike the rectangular Jp2, there were lots of turns and roundabouts. Perhaps it's due to the crowd? I was surprised that there's no starbucks or coffee bean in the entire mall!! Jp has a starbucks and a coffeebean, Clementi Mall has a starbucks. Even West Coast Plaza has a starbucks. How can J cube not have a coffee house?? J cube reminds me of my secondary school days... JEC, the place i used to hang out with my schoolmates. Suddenly, i can rmb almost every inch of JEC and my secondary school life.

I was baking Chiffon cakes these days. I've tried Orange Chiffon and Coffee Chiffon Cake. Still experimenting around. The next cake i am going to try is Pandan Chiffon Cake. Will update this corner after my Pandan Chiffon! Meanwhile, these are the cakes i baked. I didnt have a chiffon cake tin.  So i baked in an ordinary round cake tin. I think it looked like a butter cake instead, But it tasted rly good!

2nd attempt with coffee chiffon! My first coffee chiffon failed. The second try was pretty okay except i think its a bit short for a chiffon cake?

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