I wasn't in the mood to make any bread recently...in fact anything that appears too complicated would be strike out from my to-do list. I sat down one morning and spent some time running through my pile of recipes before I finally decided to make a chiffon cake. Although the steps are pretty straight forward, I always find it very challenging when it comes to making a chiffon cake. I have to keep my fingers crossed all the time...from the beating and folding of the egg whites, the baking temperature and even the unmoulding. I would only heave a sigh of relieve after I cut a slice of the cake. I would never know whether I got a chiffon cake right until I have tasted it.

I adapted the recipe that was meant for a strawberry chiffon cake and turned it into a banana blueberry flavour by using my homemade banana & blueberry jam. The preparation of the cake was uneventful...as the ingredients are really very simple and the steps easy to follow. The only thing that I am still not sure was when to stop beating the egg whites!


I was lucky that my oven was under a rather stable condition...the cake rose high and mighty during baking...and even when it was close to the finishing time, it didn't deflate too much. This is indeed a rare occasion, most of the time, my chiffon would start sinking even before I removed it from the oven. I would also attribute it to the recipe, as I find that recipes from this Taiwanese author, 曾美子 are very reliable.


I allowed the cake to continue to bake for a further 5 mins beyond the recommended time as I have little faith in my oven ;) I was glad I did the right thing as the cake has got this lovely golden brown crust after I unmoulded it.


The texture of the cake was wonderful...light, cottony and very fluffy. It was an instant hit with the kids. However, I find the cake a tad too sweet, likely due to the sweet jam. I like the chunks of blueberries embedded in the cake though. I'd made a mental note that I'll have to cut down the sugar a little the next time I were to make this again.



Banana Blueberry Chiffon

Ingredient A:

3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
3 tablespoons blueberry jam (or any jam of your choice)
40ml vegetable oil
40ml fruit juice (I used cranberry juice)
70g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder


Ingredient B:
3 egg whites
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes very sticky and turn pale. (Test by lifting the whisk, once the batter is able to leave a ribbon-like trail behind, you are done. Another way to gauge: your arm should be very tired by now.)
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same for the fruit juice. Add in the jam, mix well. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.
5. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Beat in the sugar in 3 separate additions on high speed until  just before stiff peaks form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 30 ~ 35mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Recipe adapted from: 曾美子戚风cake零失败

Here's my second jar of homemade jam. This time it's jamming banana with blueberries :)

I have written quite a fair bit about the homemade jam recipes from a cookbook in my last post on jam making. Hence, I will just go straight into this recipe.

I bought some blueberries which were on sale several months back. I have since learned how to freeze them for later use by following the instructions here. The only thing I do differently is, I do not wash the blueberries before freezing them, as I guess they have already been pre-washed and packed into punnets for sale here.

I thawed the frozen berries and gave them a light rinse before crushing them lightly with a fork. With the same fork, I mashed up the banana, and mix it with the berries, sugar and some lemon juice. I like how easy it is to make this delicious jam. Not only there is little preparation required and it could be done with only a few kitchen utensils. The cooking time is also quite short, all you need is to bring the mixture to a boil and let it continue to boil for another 5 ~10 minutes.



The finished jam was only able to fill up a 1 cup empty jam jar. I thought the amount is just right for our family, since I have not formed the habit of stocking up jars of jam in my cupboards.



This homemade sweet jam tastes as good as my favourite store bought blueberry jam, minus whatever preservatives that you get from ready made ones. I like the presence of the chunks of berries, although like most jam it tasted a tad too sweet for me. Don't ask me about the banana, I think it is added mainly for its higher pectin level...which helps to thicken and set the jam, since no pectin is used in this recipe. Incidentally, pectin content in bananas is water-absorbent which helps create the necessary bulk in easing constipation;)

Besides spreading it over a plain slice of bread, this jam is so versatile that I have also thought of other delicious ways to use it. I have since made a banana blueberry chiffon cake, and I really think the jam would do good to a batch of muffins, and I hope I have time to make some Jammie Dodgers soon!



Banana Blueberry Jam

Ingredient
(yields about 1 cup of jam)

100g bananas (1 large very riped), mashed
200g frozen blueberries, thaw
230g granulated sugar*
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Method:

1. Rinse and thaw frozen berries. With a fork, crush the berries so that some berries are mushed up leaving others only lightly crushed.
2. Place mashed bananas, lemon juice, sugar and blueberries in a pot or a large saucepan. Mix well.
3. On medium heat, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula or a wooden spoon, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil (where the bubbles do not stop or lessen when you stir it). Once the mixture starts to boil, skim away any excessive foams or bubbles, stirring constantly all the time.
4. Keep at a rolling boil for another 5 mins, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens, becomes clearer and transparent (no more foams). The entire cooking time should be around 10 ~ 15 mins.
5. Remove from heat. The jam will be a little runny when hot but the consistency will be just right after it has cool off.
6. Ladle hot jam into hot sterilised jars leaving a gap of about 1~2cm from the top. (Since I do not have an appropriate ladle or funnel, I poured the jam into my measuring cup before filling the jars. The sprout on the cup helps easy and clean filling.) Secure lids. Let cool. Jam will keep up to 3 months if stored in fridge or in a cool, dark cupboard. Once opened, store in fridge and best consumed within 3~ 4 weeks.
   
   Recipe source: adapted from 鲜美果酱轻松做! by Romi Igarashi

Note: *Do not reduce the sugar, as the amount is required to preserve the jam.

What do you do with a block of cream cheese, a cup of plain yogurt and a bottle of Ribena in your fridge?


With some digestive biscuits, butter, sugar and gelatin powder, you can turn these ingredients into a no-bake Ribena Marble Cheesecake :)

I happened to pick up a free Ribena recipe booklet at the supermarket many months ago. I was really amazed by the list of yummy treats that can be made with Ribena. All along I have only enjoyed it as a cold refreshing drink and the furtherest I did was to make them into ice lollies. You can actually use this blackcurrant cordial to make smoothies, slurpees, puddings, and even a purple version of the bandung drink! I've also been keeping a Ribena recipe card which came with a local magazine. Besides this marble cheesecake recipe, you can also make pancakes with Ribena apple sauce and layered Ribena with chocolate mousse.


It's not the first time I have made a no-bake cheesecake, but it is definitely my first attempt at making a marble cake or any sort. I followed the instruction and used a knife to swirl over the 'dual-tone' blobs of cheese mixture. It made me really happy to discover that it is actually very simple to make the swirls. I never knew that I would be able to create such a lovely marbling effect. I was so glad with the result that I decided to skip the mirror-layer which is meant to top off the cake.


I would consider this a rather light cheesecake since plain yogurt is used in place of thickened cream which is usually called for in a chilled cake. I could taste the Ribena flavour although its presence is not really strong. I guess the whole cake will taste more 'Ribenay' if I were to made the mirror-layer. Nevertheless, the cheesecake tasted very good. I cut a slice for my elder boy and another to take the above picture. He was eyeing at the slice when I was still not done with my 'photo-shoot'. There is no surprise that, what was supposed to be my share landed in his stomach as well.


Ribena Marble Cheesecake

Ingredients

crust:
150g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
60g butter, melted

filling:
100ml water
20g (2 tablespoons) gelatin granules/powder
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
75g caster sugar
250ml (1 cup) natural plain yogurt
75ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial

topping: (I omitted this)
100ml water
2 teaspoons gelatin granules/powder
80ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial


Method:

1. Line the sides of a 18-20cm round pan (with a removable base) with parchment paper or clear plastic sheet (I cut out a strip of plastic sheet from a cookie bag), set aside. To make the crust, combine crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter together in a mixing bowl. With the back of a spoon, press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan. Chill in the freezer compartment for at least 1 hour. (To ensure the crust is even, I used the base of a flat-bottom glass to press down the crumbs.)
2. Filling: Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add in the gelatin solution and yogurt, beat till the mixture turns smooth.
4. Divide mixture evenly into two bowls (about 1 cup each). Add 75ml of Ribena into one of the bowls and mix well with a spatula.
5. Spoon the two mixtures in alternate blobs into the chilled crust. Level top and swirl with a knife through the mixture to create a marble effect. Refrigerate until set (about 2 hours as stated in the recipe, but I left mine to set over night since I omitted the topping).
6. Topping: Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin. Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove bowl from the pot and stir in 80ml of Ribena. Set aside to cool. When completely cooled, pour mixture over the cheesecake and chill for several hours or overnight until set.

I went into a cookie-baking for the last two weeks...the cookie baking bug only went away yesterday...after I made the last batch just before getting ready for the Chinese New Year reunion dinner ;)


The very first on the list are these delicious peanut cookies. These must be the easiest cookies to make, there is no creaming or whisking...and I don't even use any tool, I simply combine the ingredients together to form a dough. I like the crisp exterior, and yet, once you bite into it, the crumbs will start to fall apart in your mouth, leaving you a mouthful of peanut fragrance.


I have to confess...I have absolutely fallen in love with baking these pineapple tarts. This is the 3rd batch I have done...and I am really getting better at it. I have even managed to cut down the time spent making them by 50%...from 3hrs down to 1.5hrs. (btw, I have to give credit to my elder son who wrote the word "chun" which I've conveniently used as background for my bakes.)


I have also learned the right way of wrapping the close-up type of tarts, ie turning the dough as you wrap with your fingers. The first time I made them, I had a hard time trying to cover up the jam with the dough. For the latest batch, I manage to reduce the dough amount from 10ml to 7.5ml.


I have already included these cute little horlicks doggies biscuits in my regular to do list. I have a weak spot for all things that look cute...so I thoroughly enjoy the entire process of making them.


It helps that I come from a big family, I am able to give away all my cookies...I am sure many of you are like me...preferring to bake than to eat.

Besides the pineapple tarts, I have also tried making Kueh Bangkit using our old recipes. Sad to say, I didn't get the measurement right...they were hard as stones! My sister commented that they reminded her of those baby teething biscuits, lolz! I hope to give it a try again soon.


These were the latest cookies I made. I use the same recipe for making the Pooh cut-out cookies. I melted some white milk chocolates and added some red food colouring to pipe the lettering. It was not easy as the mixture was quite stiff.


In the end, I used nutella spread...I know they don't look pretty, but I enjoyed 'writing' the Chinese characters...I felt I was writing a calligraphy piece...especially with the soft nutella spread, I could even apply the basic strokes which is "起笔" and "收笔" which I have learned from my kids ;)


Here's wishing all my Chinese readers a Happy Lunar New Year!!!

Just like the past couple of years, weeks before the Chinese lunar new year, I started looking up recipes to bake for the occasion. I have in mind to make some peanut cookies, kueh bangkits and my kids' favourite horlicks doogies cookies.

Pineapple tarts are never on my to-do list. Every year, I let it pass, as the thought of making the pineapple jam from scratch really, really puts me off. I am never good at anything that has got to do with the stove...and the homemade jam will easily take 2 hours of non-stop stirring and cooking, not forgetting the effort and time spent on cutting up fresh pineapples and grating them. Phew!


Things started to change after reading Small Small Baker's post on 'Looking for Pineapple Tart Recipes'. Then, after some exchange of emails with fellow blogger pals, Elyn and Yuri, I was convinced that ready-made jams are actually not too bad. At least I could try my hands with making the pastry and if it didn't turn out well, the effort spent on making the jam would not be gone to waste. After reading up reviews on the various store-bought jams, I narrowed down my choice to this brand "Bake King". Next, it was another daunting task to look for the 'right' recipe to make the pastry. There are so many types of recipes available...they look rather similar, and yet there are little differences...be it the amount of ingredients, or the little extras such as custard powder, milk powder, etc. To make things even more confusing to me, there is this Rub-in method vs Creaming method; and whether the recipes would yield crispy tarts or melt-in-the-mouth pastry! Finally (actually this is still not the final decision), I almost settled on this stack of recipes which I have photocopied long time ago...they were taken from the Female magazine, the January 1998 issue.

Well, The story didn't just end here. Somehow, by chance, while discussing with my siblings, what are the dishes to prepare for our CNY dinner, I got hold of our very old pile of recipes. You know, those old recipes that were handwritten in old exercise books? I got hold of two of them...and one of those booklets was my personal copy. I have copied down some recipes in an old note book (the first few pages were my school notes...my 3rd year subjects on 'Dynamics of Machines'!), and the recipes were dated January 1994, I bet that was the last time I wrote anything on that note book.

These old recipes have brought back so much fond memories of those yesteryear when we would help mum with all the Chinese New Year baking...be it kueh bangkit, pineapple tarts, butter cookies, kok-chai...spending hours painstakingly making them from scratch. During that few nostalgic moments, I decided that I should make it a challenge to recreate the taste of those goodies we made in the past. The top on the list is our pineapple tart recipe.


This is my first attempt at making pineapple tarts after a very long break, it was almost two decades ago since I last made them. I have only a very vague memory what was involved. After spending three hours on these cookies, they didn't taste as good as they look. I could have over baked them, causing the jam to turn hard and dry. The pastry was also too crispy...well, they were nothing close to those we had.


Fortunately, I also made these closed type of pineapple tarts. I have never made them before, as in the past, all pineapple tarts were the open-type. Since the jam was wrapped inside the dough, it was kept moist and I have also shorten the baking time.


After consulting my baking pal, Elyn, I made the second batch yesterday. Thanks to her tips, I omitted the egg white that was called for in the original recipe. This results in a much softer dough, no wonder, it was more difficult to cut out the dough with the mould as compared to the first trial. The resulting pastry was very soft, crumbly, very fragile and really melts-in-your-mouth. Half way packing the finished cookies into a container, I accidentally knocked if off! I ended up with tarts on the floor, piles of crumbles and the tarts were beyond recognition...if you have also spent hours making these, you will know why I was almost in tears :'(

To tackle the issue of dried jam, I rolled the jam into small balls with a pair of wet hands. I then placed them on a tray which was filled with a small amount of water. The purpose was to let the jam soak up some extra moisture to prevent it from drying during baking. I also experimented with baking the tarts for 10 mins before adding the jam. After which I let them bake for another 10mins. This time, the jam remains soft after baking!


With proper planning, I could even make those signature criss-cross patterns. I am very happy with this batch of pineapple tarts. They are much much better than those from the first trial. Even for those closed type, I was able to wrap the same amount of jam with less dough. Although the taste of the ready-made jam is acceptable, I really hope I will be able to make my own homemade jam next year. Until then, this is the closest I could recreate the delightful taste from our nostalgic recipes. Thank you for spending your time to read this very much long winded post :)


Pineapple Tarts (refer here for updated recipe)

Ingredients
(portion is enough to make 55 open and 20 closed tarts)

8oz (227g) butter, soften at room temperature
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
14oz (396g) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

1. With an electric mixer, on medium speed, cream butter till the mixture turns pale. Add in the vanilla essence and whisk to combine.
2. Dribble in the egg yolks and continue to whisk the mixture till fully incorporated.
3. Sift in the flour and salt into the mixture. Mix the mixture with your hand and gather to form a rough dough. Transfer to a work surface and lightly knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth.
4. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30mins. (This will prevent the dough from spreading, and makes it easier to handle.)
5. Mean while, roll ready-made pineapple jam into small balls, about 1 teaspoon each. To measure the amount of pineapple jam, place a small sheet of cling wrap/plastic sheet over a measuring spoon (1 teaspoon), pack it with the jam to the brim and release with the cling wrap. (To prevent the ready-made jam from drying out during baking, roll the jam with wet hands. Wet your hands when they become dry after some rolling. Place the pineapple balls on a plate/tray filled with some water, just enough for the base of the balls to touch the water. This will allow the jam to soften and soak up some moisture.)
6. Remove dough from fridge. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 5~7mm thick. (To prevent dough from sticking to the rolling pin, place a plastic sheet or a sheet of parchment paper over the dough before rolling.)
7. Cut out the dough with the tart mould and transfer to baking tray, lined with parchment paper. (To get very clear imprints, place both the outer ring and the inner piece of the mould on the roll out dough. Press the outer ring into the dough then push down the inner piece with some force. Lift up the mould and carefully remove the cut out dough which is stuck to the mould. Dust the mould with flour regularly for easy release.)
8. Bake in the middle rack position, at 180 degC for 10 mins. Remove from oven and place pineapple paste on each tart base. To decorate, you can either top it with a tiny ball of dough or cut out thin strips of dough and lay over the top of the pineapple paste.
9. Return to oven and continue to bake for another 5 ~ 10mins. Leave to cool on baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack. Let cool before storing in air-tight containers.

I have been keeping several pancake recipes hoping that I can get myself to try making them one day...especially for my younger child who is a big fan of hotcakes. My elder child has never liked them...he would rather have roti prata or fried carrot cake for his weekend breakfast. It was no surprise when he gave me a very disappointed look when he found out that I was busy frying pancakes on a Sunday morning.

It was easy for me to decide which recipe to use. It was none other than this recipe from my favourite reference website...the JoyofBaking.com. I have all the ingredients on hand unlike some other recipes that requires buttermilk or self-raising flour. The serving size is also just right. I like the clear and concise instructions and I certainly find the description on the cooking part very useful.


Making of the batter was real easy, it took me less than 10mins to get everything done. It was the cooking part that took longer than expected. Since I have only a small frying pan, I could only cook one pancake at a time. My family members took turn to have their breakfast...as and when the pancake was ready. By the time I sat down to have my breakfast (including spending another 5 mins taking a few photos), it was already 9.30am! My breakfast became brunch!

Even though the pancake had cooled off, I thought they tasted really good! This is the best pancakes I have ever tasted. The closest match were those McGriddles (minus the bacon and sausage!) we once had in Ueno, Tokyo. No wonder the one who doesn't care for pancakes had 3 in a row! My younger boy told me they were as good as those hotcakes that he adores and has requested that I made them again soon.

After my breakfast/brunch, I went pottering around the house. I was in such a good mood that I even spent some time taking photos of my plants. Here's sharing with you my pot of African violet which is now in full bloom. What a great way to start my day.

I hope you have a beautiful Sunday morning too :)

It was a yellow sunny afternoon when I baked this loaf of wholemeal banana cake. I almost gave the recipe a miss when I was flipping through a cookbook the other day. There are so many banana cake recipes around that I couldn't help but skip the pages whenever I stumble upon yet another banana cake recipe in a book :')

I was glad that I gave this recipe a second look. I was immediately sold after I went through the ingredient list. What goes into this banana cake seems to promise a loaf loaded with wholesome goodness for our breakfast the next morning.


The amount of butter used for this loaf is relatively little compared to some other recipes which although guarantee deliciously moist and gorgeous looking banana cakes, but, they never failed to put me off with the large amount of fat and sugar that went in there. For this cake, the amount of sugar used is so little that I actually doubt that my kids would even what to take a bite. However, just one slice of this freshly baked cake cleared my doubts right away. The cake got its sweetness mainly from the bananas and the wholemeal flour added a very interesting nutty texture to it. The downside of it...it also made the cake rather crumbly. I wouldn't say the crumbs were extra moist as I suspect the wholemeal flour tends to dry things up a little. Fortunately the bananas worked wonders by providing just the right amount of moisture. Having said that, the cake still tasted delicious when left over night. It certainly was a fuss free way to add some whole grains to my kids' diet. I warmed the last slice in my oven before I enjoyed it over a cup of afternoon tea. It tasted as good as fresh out of oven. This is the kind of cake that you would never feel guilty if you couldn't help but reach out for another slice again and again!


Wholemeal Banana Cake

Ingredients

70g unsalted butter
30g brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
200g mashed banana (2 large bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90g wholemeal flour
90g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

topping:
some sliced banana
some granulated sugar
some cinnamon powder (I omitted this)

Method:

1. Grease the sides of a 3" x 7" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Sift together plain flour, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC.
3. With an electric mixer, whisk butter and sugar at low speed till the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
4. Dribble in beaten egg while whisking at low speed. (Add a little flour to the mixture if it appears to curdle.)
5. Stir in mashed banana and vanilla extract with a spatula.
6. Fold in wholemeal flour and the flour mixture and mix with spatula.
7. Spoon mixture into prepared pan, smooth surface with spatula.
8. Arrange banana slices on top and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon powder.
9. Bake for 45 mins until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Cover the top with foil if it start to get overly brown before the baking time is up.) Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes, unmold and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   Recipe adapted from: Everyday Treats, 日尝甜品