Carrot Cupcake

These are the very first cupcakes that I baked and it turned out very nice. These cuppies are moist and delicious, full with the flavors of carrots and ground cinnamon with the smooth and tangy taste of the cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup grated carrots (about 2 large carrots)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Before preparing, preheat oven at 350 F/180 C.

1. Peel & grate the carrots.Set aside
2. Chop the nuts. Set aside.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & cinnamon.. mix well. Set aside your flour mix.
4. Beat eggs until frothy.
5. Add sugar. Beat until it thickens.
6. Gradually add sunflower oil in a steady stream. Beat well.
7. Add vanilla extract.
8. Add the flour mix, gradually. Blend well.
9. Fold in grated carrots & nuts using a spatula/scraper.
10. In a muffin pan, place cupcake liners.
11. Fill about 3/4 of it using a spoon or laddle.
12. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Check after 20mins with a toothpick. If it comes out clean then it is done..
13. Let it cool on a wire rack.

makes about 10 pcs

Banana cake

I baked again! This time it's a banana cake with butter frosting. I still don't know how to do the piping so it looks a bit messed up :) Anyway, here's the recipe:

Cake:

125g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup milk

2 cups self raising flour

Butter frosting:

125g butter

3/4 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180C. Brush 20 cm round cake tin with oil or melted butter, line base with baking paper. Using electric beaters, beat butter and sugar in small mixing bowl until light and creamy. Add eggs gradually, beating thouroughly after each addition. Add essence and mashed banana, beat until combined.
2. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl. Dissolve soda in milk. Using a metal spoon, fold in sifted flour alternately with milk. Stir until all ingredients are just combined and the mixture is smooth. Spoon into prepared tin; smooth the surface. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into center of cake.
3. Leave cake in tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.
4. To make Frosting: Using electric beaters, beat butter, icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Spread onto cooled cake.

Tip: Very ripe bananas are best for this recipe as they have the most developed flavor.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

After baking cookies, I finally decided to try baking a cake. Being a first timer, I chose the easiest. It was a simple chocolate mousse cake recipe adapted from Food magazine. I asked my dear sister, Tin, to help me on this since she has more experience in baking. Without her help, this would surely be a disaster. Actually, while we're doing this recipe I made a "stupid mistake". On the mousse part, I prepared 1 1/2 cup of all purpose cream when the recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of the cream. Arrgh. So there were some of the ingredients that went into waste. Anyway, lesson learned. Next time, I will carefully read the ingredients and steps. Sorry for the ugly piping (cake decoration) I still don't know how to use the piping bag. I still need a lot of practice.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

For the cake:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup semi-sweet choco chips
2 tbsp Dutch processed cocoa
3 eggs, separated
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar

For the mousse:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose cream, divided, 1 cup to be chilled solid
1 1/4 cups semi-sweet choco chips
3 eggs, separated
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
3 tbsps cold water
1/3 cup sugar

For the topping: (optional)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsps powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose cream, chilled

Make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch round springform pan with non-stick baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter, choco chips and cocoa. Stir until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and cool.
3. Add egg yolks and flour to cooled mixture. Stir with a wire whisk until smooth.
4. Place egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar. Increase speed to high and continue beating until stiff but not dry.
5. With a wire whisk, gently fold in chocolate-egg mixture into whites. Pour into springform pan, tapping pan gently on the table to remove any air pockets.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Cake will shrink as it cools. Put the cake back into the pan.

Make the mousse:

1. In a small saucepan, over low heat, heat the 1/2 cup all-purpose cream that's NOT chilled. Add choco chips and stir until smooth.
2. Stir a little of the chocolate mixture into egg yolks to prevent the yolks from curdling. Pour tempered yolks back to chocolate mixture.
3. In a bowl, combine gelatin and cold water. Add to chocolate yolk mixture and heat to dissolve gelatin. Remove from heat and transfer to a medium bowl to cool until just warm.
4. Place egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff but not dry. Gently fold in chocolate-yolk mixture until uniformly blended. Set aside.
5. Place the 1 cup chilled cream in a medium bowl. With a wire whisk, mix cream until smooth, but do not whip. Add a little egg white mixture to lighten the cream.
6. Add the rest of the egg white mixture and fold until uniformly blended. Pour mixture over cake, tapping pan on the table to remove air pockets.
7. Smoothen top with a knife or angled metal spatula. Chill overnight in refrigerator.

To put topping: (if using)

1. After the cake has chilled overnight, run a wet metal spatula around sides of mousse. Release sides of springform pan.
2. Using a fine sifter, sift 1 tbsp cocoa over cake. Sift about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of the powdered sugar over cake but not entirely covering the cocoa powder.
3. Whip chilled cream with remaining powdered sugar and pipe cream around the edges of mousse cake. Transfer cake to a platter before serving.

Jenny bakes

Yes, you read it right. I officially started baking and I'm liking it! I just baked my very first oatmeal cookies last Friday. I got the recipe from http://desarapen.blogspot.com/. I’ve been browsing this blog for quite a while and it’s just now that I had the courage to try one of the recipes. I chose the one which I think is the easiest and whose ingredients are easy to find. The original recipe has nuts and apricots but I eliminated it here in my recipe since I’m not fond of those. Anyway, it still turned out good according to the people who tasted it. I'm not sure if they really meant it or they just felt obliged. Either way, I am still posting the recipe. :)

Ingredients:
250 gm [1 cup] unsalted butter - softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups porridge oats (I used organic rolled oats so Jared can also enjoy it)
1 cup coarsely chopped white or milk chocolates (or dark chocs for me)

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/gas mark 4.
2. In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cup flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda until well mixed. Set aside.
3. Beat together in a big bowl the butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla at medium speed until well combined. (around 2-3 mins)
4. Add in the flour mixture to the beaten butter mixture with a wooden spoon.
5. Stir in oats.
6. Add in the chopped chocolates. Mix well.
7. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and flatten slightly. Place them about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
8. Bake for 11 - 13 minutes or until slightly moist in the centre and browned at the edges.
9. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before carefully removing from the baking sheets onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Note: If the dough is too soft, the baked result tends to be too spread out or flat. You can put the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes before shaping them into balls. Or you can shape them into balls first then put in the fridge for the same amount of time or you can do both (chill before and after shaping into balls).