BakeScapes: July 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Almond Chocolate Brownies Birthday Cake

Made this large birthday cake for 3 siblings, Izzati, Izzat and Izzyanis. They wanted a large Almond Chocolate Brownies. Simple and cute deco for the birthday kids. Hope they had a wonderful day!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Chocolate Marble Cake

Baked a small tray of Chocolate Marble Cake for some friends for our trip down memory lane on Saturday...back to Paya Indah Wetlands, our former workplace. This Chocolate Marble Cake is great to serve during office events and informal get-together. It's simple yet tasty and fantastic with a cup of hot tea. A favourite of Mak Nah, our dear housekeeper, who always ask me to bake one for her for Hari Raya. Thinking of naming this cake 'Mak Nah's Marble Cake'. What do you think?

Friday, July 17, 2009

Plain Chocolate Brownies

Decadent tray of rich chocolate brownies top with choc ganache and almond nibs. Made this one for my aunt. This is more a cake-kind of brownies that has that lighter texture unlike the goey ones. From my experience, most Malaysians prefer this kind because they get more per slice. Basically, I like the chewy one because it sure sticks to your teeth.

The brownies can be ordered anytime. You can order them per tray or individually packed in plastic or paper boxes for special event. Please call or email for prices.

Chocolate Chip Muffin

Chocolate Chip Muffins are always a favourite with kids and adults alike. The recipe I'm using makes truly rich and moist muffins liberally scattered with quality dark choc chips. I made this plain ones for aunt to bring to her school. It was a hot item, obviously. Sometimes I do use choc ganache as frosting but you know what, it's delish as it is!

Anyone interested? I normally entertain orders for a minimum of 24 cupcakes to make it really worth your while. Email for the price, ok.

Steam Fruit Cake

My Mom's special Steam Fruit Cake uses quality ingredients and is steamed for a really long to ensure that it is properly amalgamated. And the longer it remains on the stove, the longer it will last. It's rich, densely filled with fruits and tastes amazing. It takes approximately 4 hours on the stove to come out delish! What I like about it is its lightness o being...unlike the baked fruit cakes that tend to be rather heavy and too rich.

Let me know if you'd like to taste but bear in mind, I do need at least 2 days for delivery. Remember the 4 hours steam-time? Anyway, it's yours for RM65.

Wholesome Wholemeal Bread

It’s always kind of difficult to find healthy food that tastes great. But I discovered that with some good detective work, perseverance and lots of creativity, I can actually eat the same good stuff and take care of my health at the same time.

So, last week, I decided to tinkle around in the kitchen and bake something for breakfast that can last me for the whole week. Voila! I got all the ingredients and decided to bake a loaf of bread. And with a bit of improvisation, in less than an hour, 2 lovely loaves of bread came out of my beautiful oven.

Wholesome Wholeameal Loaf with Dried Blackcurrant
600 gram wholemeal mix - I got from Bake with Yen
110 mg instant dry yeast
360 ml cold water
20 gram margarine or butter
Half a cup of dried blackcurrant

Mix the wholemeal mix together with the dried instant yeast and water. Mix them all until combined. Add the margarine and knead for a few minutes. Then add the dried blackcurrant and let the loaf rest for about 10 minutes. Divide it into 2 or 3 smaller loaves and wait until they double in size. Baked in a 220 degree Celsius oven for about 30 minutes.
Enjoy or keep them in the fridge for later. That’s why I always do. Just pop them in the microwave oven for a minute or two.

Cakes Galore

Just to whet your appetite! Check out this tray of delightful cakes I personally baked for my family and friends during last year's Aidilfitri celebration. They were an instant hit with my relatives who kept on asking for the recipe especially for the sinful prune and chocolate cake. Well, at least now they would be able to purchase them from me! At a discount, of course.

My favourite would be the 'Good Luck' cake which is just delicious with an infusion of rich butter, Marie cookie crumb, almonds and chocolate rice. Yummy! And of course, my Mom's special 'Steam Rich Fruit Cake' which takes hours on the stove to come to perfection. It does last a couple of months and it actually taste better with age. Just like fine wine and myself minus the alcohol. So it's definitely 'halal' for consumption by Muslims, of course. These cakes are available for order!

Easy Banana Muffins

Banana is one of my favourite fruits. It’s great as a pick-me-upper early in the morning; on its own or together with a bowl of cold milk and crunchy cornflakes. Just yummy!

Anyway, I had a few bananas that have seen better days lying in the fruit basket. They’re getting a bit mushy and weren’t that great to eat in that condition. So, after dinner last night, I quickly mashed the banana, get the other ingredients together and in 30 minutes, 12 freshly baked muffins came out of the oven, ready to be consumed by hubby and me. They smelled so wonderful and looked so tantalizing. There’s a hint of banana, cinnamon, nutmeg and the best thing about it, they’re not sugary sweet as I used less than a cup of brown sugar.

Check out the yummy Banana Muffin recipe below and try it out yourself. It’s really easy. Enjoy!

Easy Banana Muffins
2 cups all purpose flour (I just use plain flour)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas
1 egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
½ cup raisin (I use dried blackcurrant for its tangy taste)

Quickly mashed the bananas and mix it together with the egg, brown sugar and vegetable oil. Combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix the dry ingredients together with the banana mixture until just combine. Then add the raisin. Get your muffin tray and put about 2/3 full in each cup. Bake for about 20 – 25 mins.

You can get 12 muffins for this mixture.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Double Choc Cookies

This is a to-die-for cookies. Large chunks of rich dark and white chocolate oozing all kind of goodness. The Double Choc Cookies are more on the gooey side. Each piece is of a generous size (bigger than a 50 cent coin!) and it's a guaranteed hit with the kids and adults, of course. Anyone interested in a jar? I pretty much bake them on request so that they maintain their freshness. Can probably last for about a month but I won't bet on it!

Moist Chocolate Cake

Originally called 'The Devil Food Cake' for some obscure reasons. But one thing you can count on is its devilishly delicious taste! The one you seeing here is covered with Chocoloate Buttercream Icing. It just melts in the mouth. Yummy! Truly one of my favourites...always on my Hari Raya list of cakes to bake.