Cheese Wallet

Can you see the cheese in the wallet?

Can see the brown edges after 7 minute cooking.

Batter looks like a pillow in the pan.

I didn't manage to make any bread for today's breakfast. So this Cheese Wallet came to my mind. Something I know my son will definitely enjoy. Because it has CHEESE! I am please to know it's got no baking powder needed to make this yummy breakfast dish. It's fluffy inside and the brown skin that's so full of lightly burnt flavor. I wouldn't say it's very simple dish to prepare, but neither it's too much work to do. Many people would feel it's a heavy thing to do once they heard hand mixer is the main tool to make this dish.

I top some raspberries and cream to go with the Cheese Wallet. It's all up to us how we want it. Strawberry jam, maple syrup...

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Ingredients:

Egg 1 Large

Sugar 30g

Plain Flour 10g

Cream Cheese wedges 2

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Method:

1. Beat egg and sugar to reach Ribbon Stage. Sieve in plain flour and use a rubber spatula to fold in nicely.

2. Heat up a none stick pan and brush with butter. Pour the batter in from the centre and let the batter spread to a circle by itself. The batter suppose to stay thick and looks like a pillow.

3. Cover the pan and let the batter cook in low flame for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, add in cheese wedges and cover the lid again for 1 minutes.

4. Flip half of the cake to make a semi circle. And let it cook for 3 minutes. (without lid)

5. Bring the cake up, and serve it with jam and fruits.

Ribbon Stage

Ribbon stage.

Volume building up...

Many sponge cake need to have eggs and sugar whisk till Ribbon Stage, that is how we can get a light and fluffy sponge with that high volume of air bubbles. Many recipes taught to start off with eggs and sugar beat (by hand) over a pot of hot water to let the sugar melt as well as getting it warm that will help to build up air bubbles at the beginning stage of it. After the sugar is melted, then we can move away from the hot water and continue to whip up the volume. When you pull the egg batter up , and the drips are able to leave 'marks and shape' it means it has reach the ribbon stage. You may even write a letter on the batter!

Mix Fruits Pound Cake

I always find Mix Fruits Pound Cake has got a very Christmas feel. May be is the colour of the mix fruits?

Baked this fruit cake last night, nothing so special about it. It's just another pound cake with some mix dried fruits, that gives the colourful finishing, as well as the taste of rum make the difference. But I think this is one of the nicer ones I ever tasted. The sponge is light and not greasy. I reduced the dried fruits a little, as my hubby not very keen with dried fruits. I used self raising flour for this cake, cause I have ran out of plain flour. I find this cake very pretty though. :)

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Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter 150g
Sugar 150g
Eggs 3
Flour 150g
Baking Powder 1tsp
Mix dried fruits (soaked in rum over night) 100g
Rum 1 tsp
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Method:

1. Cream butter with hand mixer. Add in sugar and continue to beat till it's pale and fluffy. Add in one egg at a time, and make sure everything is well incorporated. To avoid egg and butter to curd, just pour in small bit of egg while mixing.

2. Fold in flour and baking powder. Use cutting method to mix in flour.

3. Coat the fruits with flour before adding in to the batter. Mix in fruits and pour the batter in to a lined 6 inch square tin. Bake the cake for pre heat oven for 45 minutes at 180'c.

4. Cool the cake without tin on wire rack. Brush rum on top of the cake while cooling on the rack.

Decorated Hotel Bread and My Greatest Fans

I have couple of little fans who enjoy my bread. They are sooo adorable and I really feel so great when seeing them enjoying the bread I made. Yesterday I made another Hotel Bread ( in a bowl shape)and decorated it with a ribbon to have that Christmas feel. Now got to think about what to make for the coming New Year!

Matcha Azuki Roll Cake

I still need to work on my rolling skill.

I invited some friends over for simple lunch, and a last minutes idea to make a Matcha Azuki Roll. Think I am too proud with new matcha powder I bought and can't wait to share with friends. I simply enjoy the green that it gives to the cake finishing...

This is a new recipe which I find it's the best so far for Matcha Roll Cake. There are plenty of roll cake recipes I am eager to try out. This recipe is simple and fast. Not to mention the result of the cake. Not the type of smooth roll cake it is, but the light texture and green tea taste is great, to go with cream and Azuki. Everyone enjoyed the cake and I am glad to share the recipe.

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Ingredients:

Eggs 3

Yolk 1

Sugar 80g

Top Flour 75g

Matcha Powder 5g

Unsalted Butter 20g (melted)

Milk 30ml

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Filling:

Whipping cream 150ml

Azuki (Boiled red bean) 30g (May add more if like)

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Method:

1. Mix melted butter and milk in a bowl and set it aside. In mixing bowl, whisk eggs and yolk with sugar over a bowl of hot water, to dissolve the sugar.

2. Away from hot water, beat egg batter using hand mixer/ stand mixer with balloon whisk till ribbon stage.

3. Sieve in flour and green tea powder, gently fold in flour to the egg and bring out 1/4 portion of cake batter to mix with butter and milk. Pour the mixture back to the cake batter and fold everything well gently, without breaking too many air bubbles.

4. Our the cake batter into a lined Swiss roll tin 29 x 29cm bake in pre heat oven at 200'c for 12 minutes.

5. Bring the cake out from the tin once it's baked, and let it cool on wire rack.

6. Spread whipping cream and Azuki over the cake and roll up to make a roll cake. Keep in the fridge for 20 minutes before slicing and serve.

Dual Colored Sweet Potato Bread

Dual colour sweet potato loaves

Purple sweet potato bread.

Few days ago, I bought a purple sweet potato from supermarket, was thinking I may wanna make sweet potato chiffon. But ended up I made a sweet potato bread instead. I mixed both the yellow and purple ones to have some colour contrast. It always looks very sweet with these two colours together. This bread has one of the softest texture most people wanted. And with a light touch of Cinnamon, it brings out that sweet sweet smell, even before you taste it. But this bread may not stay soft for more than 2 days, like Hotel Bread and Sweet Bread.

I got this recipe through one of the food websites here. Thought it's a bread machine recipe, however I did it manually. I am happy with the result!

Pandan Chiffon

A not so green Pandan Chiffon, but it's full of flavor.

I always have problem removing the cake from the tin. Look at the holes!

One of the most popular chiffon cakes would be Pandan Chiffon. It is also my very first chiffon cake I learnt to make. I didn't have a proper recipe for it since my first time baking it. I just convert the Orange Chiffon recipe to make my own Pandan Chiffon. Well, it works!

For this particular chiffon cake, I referred to one of my chiffon recipe books and fix up my own concoction, as the Japanese they don't have Pandan Chiffon in their books. The best of all, I did not use any baking powder! Which most mommies would choose not to. The cake is very moist and soft, I can't see any different from those with baking powder. I also use pure Pandan juice and never use Pandan paste from the bottle.

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Ingredients:

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Yolk 3

Sugar 70g

Veg Oil 30g

Coconut Milk 30ml

Pandan juice 50ml

Top flour 80g
Egg white 4

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Method:

1. Yolks and half of the sugar mix in a bowl, followed by oil , coconut milk and pandan juice. Make sure the sugar is melted and mix in the flour.

2. Beat egg whites with the remaining sugar and beat till stiff peak. Fold 1/3 of the white to yolk batter and fold in well, before adding the batter to the remaining white. Use folding technique to mix both batter till well blended. Be gentle during the folding, and not over mix.

3. Pour the batter to a 17cm chiffon tin, bake in pre heat oven at 180'c for 30 minutes. After the cake is baked, invert the cake tin and let the cake cool completely before getting the cake out of the mould.

Matcha Chiffon ( Disastrous Version)

The result of my Matcha Chiffon (without oil)

Few days ago, I bought a packet of Matcha powder from a baking shop at Seah street. Wondering would it give a good green to my cakes. And it did! But.....

My sister was keen to learn to bake Matcha chiffon, so we decided to make one. I used the new Matcha powder and during the mixing process, I could see that the Matcha green is going to be the green that I have been looking for. However, I made a mistake, I forgot about the salad oil!!! Anyhow, I still went ahead to bake the cake.

The texture of cause won't be as silky soft as the usual ones with oil added. But my mom still find it soft and she felt very healthy eating the cake. Ha ha... think my mom is being very kind to me AND my sister.

I will make another Matcha chiffon with oil. And shall post it soon. :)

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Ingredients:

Egg yolk 3

Sugar 80g

Veg Oil 50g

Water 60g

Flour 80g

Matcha powder 10g

Egg White 4

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Method:

1. Sieve both flour and matcha together twice. Leave them aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, in go yolks and sugar. Mix well and add in oil, give it a good mix, followed by water.

3. Add in sifted flours and stir well till they are very well mixed.

4. Beat egg whites till stiff and mix in 1/3 of white to green tea batter. After it's well blended, pour the batter to the remaining egg white and fold them with the biggest spatula you can find. Mix both batter till well mixed and pour into a 17cm chiffon cake tin. Give the tin a tap before going into the oven. Bake the cake in pre heat oven at 180 'c for 30 minutes.

5. After the cake is baked, invert the cake tin and let it cool completely before getting the cake out of the tin.

Christmas Log Cake

I am suppose making a Christmas Log cake is all bakers would do during this holiday season. I have never made a Christmas log cake in my life. This is my first log cake, and would wish to make another one to try out different recipe and think of other way to decorate the cake.

This is not a good looking log cake I must say. The cream wasn't beat to the right consistency , though it gives a better body to ice the cake. I really miss the Japanese fresh dairy whipping cream that Meidi-ya used to sell. So far I have yet to find one that is close to that.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!

Butter Loaf

An old fashion Butter Loaf that has the crusty top, soft and moist inside. One of the most straight forward, yet beautiful bread to enjoy with your favourite choice of good quality ham and a cup of coffee or tea.

The smell of the butter after the bread's baked really irresistible for a person who likes simple breakfast bread. My son saw the loaf brought out from the kitchen, he couldn't wait but keep asking me when can he slice the bread. Keep coming to the loaf and smell the crust and said '' mommy mommy, I want french toast. '' Wonder what makes him think of french toast, by smelling the loaf ?

The slit on top give that typical Butter Loaf look is enough to make me feel the warmth of it. I find that breads do give me that cosy and comforting feeling.

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Ingredients:

Bread Flour 250g

Yeast 4g

Sugar 13g

Salt 4.5g

Warm Water 165g

Unsalted Butter 12.5g

Butter 5g (topping)

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Method:

1. Dissolve sugar and salt with 1/3 of water in a bowl.

2. Add flour to the water mixture and have a rough mixing and add in the remaining water to get a dough, followed by the yeast. Give a good knead (can be done by machine) and add in butter, into 3 separations.

3. Bring the dough on to work top and continue to knead for another 15 minutes till you get a firm and smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it have the first rise till it's double the volume.

4. After the first rise, give the dough a few more gentle knead and shape it to a ball shape, and rest for 20 minutes.

5. Roll the dough flat and roll up like a Swiss roll and put it in a bread tin for the final proofing. After it reaches 2 times the volume, slit the top of the dough and fill the slit with 5g of butter. Bake the dough in pre heat oven at 180'c for 30 minutes. When it's done, cool bread on wire rack.

6. While the bread is stil hot,. brush on butter to have a glossy finishing.

Raisin Bread

Christmas is the time where we get many bread and biscuits or even scones that made with dried fruits and nuts. So I thought I wanna follow this festive season and make something with Christmas feel. My son likes raisin bread, but he is not keen to eat the RAISIN! How strange... I have never been a nutty person , so I won't bother to add nuts in my bread neither.

Thought I won't repeat the same recipe as I have used for the Mix Dried Fruits Bread, which it was suppose to be a Raisin Bread recipe. So I've picked another Raisin Bread recipe to share with everyone. I used black sugar to get that brown and sweet smelling result. This is not that kind of soft and light airy bread. Yet, you'll still get the smooth touching sponge. It's great if you let it have the last proofing in the fridge and bake it the next morning, after it's come to room temperature. I won't suggest this bread to keep for more than a day , if you expect the bread to stay as soft as the some day after baking. So enjoy it while it's fresh!

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Ingredients,

Bread Flour 250g

Instant yeast 3g

Sugar 30g

Salt 5g

Skim milk 10g

Unsalted Butter 20g
Warm Water 170ml

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Method:

1. Except butter and raisin, mix everything to a rough dough, before adding the butter to get the smooth and springy dough.

2. When the dough is smooth and springy, fold in raisin , work this on your work top.

3. When the raisin is all well wrapped, shape the dough into ball. Let it Rise in worm place for one hour.

4. Bring dough out on work top, give it a soft knead and shape it again to ball and have a rest for 15-20 minutes.

5. Roll the dough flat and get the length of the bread tin. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and put in the bread tin. Let it have the last proofing for another one hour or the dough reach double the size. Bake in a pre-heat oven at 200'c for 30 minutes.

6. After baking, remove bread from tin and cool it on wire rack. You may brush the loaf with melted butter.

Butter Cake

A cake that most people grew up with and all bakers know how to bake. It's also my hubby's favourite cake. Whenever he has a trip to places that has lousy food access, this will be his saviour. He likes it's buttery taste and it's soft texture.

I actually altered the recipe from Victoria Sponge to get my version of Butter cake, which has a lighter body. Just very simple ingredients for this humble Butter Cake.

Most importantly you must have all your ingredients at room temperature. Cold and hard butter as well as cold eggs, will give you a heavy and hard Butter Cake.

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Ingredients:

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Unsalted Butter 115g

Sugar 100g

Eggs 2

Self raising Flour / All purpose Flour + 1 tsp Baking Powder 110g (sifted)

Pure Vanilla essence 1/4 tsp

Milk 2 Tbs

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Method:

1. Cream butter for 1 minutes, add in sugar and vanilla, beat it till pale and creamy.

2. Add in one egg at a time, make sure the eggs are very well blended in to the butter. If you see the curd mixture, continue to beat to incorporate them well.

3. Fold in flour using spatula and lastly add in milk. Mix them well and pour batter into a loaf tin or and 6 inch round tin. Bake the cake in pre heat oven at 175' c for 40-45 minutes.

4. When cake is baked, cool it without the tin on wire wrack.

Sweet Bread

Not so promising bread dough before going in the oven.

Think my Pooh bear is over fed.

This is really a cotton touch.

The second rise in the tin with the smooth side down.

I will have to say this is the softest bread I ever made! It even out shine the Hokkaido Milk Loaf that's many home bakers' favourite. Easy to make and fantastic result. It's especially great for mother who wanna have fresh bread in the morning which the dough can be prepared a night before. According to the recipe this is a ' Cold Rising Dough' ,Suppose I can do it the usual way.

I prepared the dough at night, and let the dough rise in the fridge till the next morning. I was very anxious to know how's the dough would turn out to be. The result I would give - FIVE STARTS!

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Recipe:

Bread Flour 200g

Cake Flour 50g

Salt 5g

Sugar 30g

Instant yeast 6g

Butter 15g

Fresh Milk 205ml

Method:

1. Melt sugar and salt together with egg. Bread flour and yeast in a mixing bowl.

2. Add egg mixture to flour and yeast, and start mixing a little bit, before adding the milk. After the milk is added and knead to get a sticky and rather runny dough.

3. Mix in the cake cake flour and continue to knead to get a firmer dough, then followed by butter. As the usual requirement, knead the dough till it's firm and smooth before the first rise.

4. Cover dough with cling film and put it in the fridge for over night rising. It will takes roughly 8-12 hours for the rise in fridge. (however, I let it rise longer than 12 hours).

5. The next morning, bring the dough out and give a gentle kneading on your work top. Portion the dough into 2 , and form it to 2 round balls for a 15 minutes rest time.

6. Roll the dough flat and use folding inwards methods to form a ball, and put the dough in the tin with the smooth side down. Do line the tin to prevent bread sticking to the tin after baking. The dough may not look good from the top. But it will give a natural finishing effect after it's baked. You may do it the smooth side up too.

7. After the second rise in the tin ( about one hour) ,bake dough in pre heat oven at 180'c for 25 minutes. Cool bread without tin on wire rack after baking.

Banana Cake

I spent my childhood living with my grandma most of the time, in a shop house. Next to our shop house is a coffee shop ( it is still there ) that makes pretty nice cakes and bread. I always like their banana cake, that carries the most banana taste and soft texture. I often think that I'd wanna learn to make one when I grow up..... Somehow, I have yet to find the right recipe for that ' Childhood Banana Cake ' I tasted.

I found this banana cake recipe from a magazine that is the closest to what I've been looking for. Shared with many of friends, and they like it too. Especially our kids. I find most kids like banana, banana cake, banana muffins...

This recipe use the sponge cake methods, that beating up eggs and sugar to high volume to get that airy sponge.... You may make it into 16 cupcakes, an 8 inch round cake tin or a loaf. Think in America, banana cake is often called Banana Bread.

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Recipe:

Eggs 3

Sugar 150g

Vanilla Essence 1/2 tsp

Plain flour 125g (sift)

Baking Powder 1tsp

Melted Unsalted Butter 100g (Use good quality butter)

Mashed Banana 130-150g

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Method:

1. Beat eggs , vanilla and sugar till light and more than double the volume or reach ribbon stage, using balloon whisk. Fold in flour and butter in alternate sequence start and end with flour. Do take care of this folding stage, use cutting method, and do not fold too hard and too quickly, as this will lose the nice air bubbles that give the soft texture to the cake later.

2. After the flour and butter are well mixed, add in mashed banana. Fold till well blended and pour batter into tin that is lined with parchment paper and bake in pre heat oven at 180' c for 45-50 minutes.

3. When the cake is baked, removed from the tin and cool on wire rack.

## You can drizzle some chocolate sauce on top of the cake for additional flavor.

Mix Dried Fruits Loaf

I wanted to bake a raisin bread last night. But realized that I only have mix dried fruits instead if raisin. So I replaced the raisins by using the mix fruits. I'm suppose it'd be nice if I throw in some nuts! Well, knowing my son and I are not quite a nutty person, so I dropped the idea.

Nothing too complicated compared to the rest of the bread I have made. A loaf that suits people who likes healthy dried fruits, this would be the bread to go for. In fact, we can add in anything we like!

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Recipe:

Bread flour 250g

Yeast 5g

Sugar 20g

Salt 4.5g

Warm Water 165g

Unsalted butter 20g

mix fruits or raisins 75g

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Method:

1. Put all dried ingredients in mixing bowl. Add in warm water and knead to get a rough dough. Knead in butter to get the smooth and springy dough.

2. Mix in dried fruits in 3 separations, using wrapping methods. Once all fruits are well mixed in, leave the dough in the bowl and cover to let it have the first rise. It'll takes about one hour to get to double the size.

3. Bring dough on to work top, and form into a big round ball shape, and cover with cloth to have a rest time of 25 minutes.

4. Roll the dough flat and into rectangular shape. Roll up from the edge to get a Swiss roll loaf. Put dough in bread tin to have the last rise. Rise till 2 times the size, bake loaf in pre heat oven at 200'c for 30 minutes.

5. While cool the bread on wire rack, brush on melted butter for the glossy look and buttery taste.