Lemon Curd

I tried this recipe once , way before I started writing my own blog, and I fell in love with this recipe of Lemon Curd . This makes a prefect jar of Lemon Curd which can be kept for 3 weeks . For those who loves lemon , this is definitely a keeper. This is my second attempt making it . Its so satisfying even baby Ryan can't resist it.

Look how beautifully the Lemon Curd store in the jar . Its smooth and soft texture makes this Lemon Curd really tasty and appetizing .

Ingredients 
6           Egg Yolks
1cup     Sugar
2tbsp    Grated Lemon Zest
1/3cup  Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2cup  Butter ( cut into big chunks )

Method 

• Place all ingredients into a sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. 
• Scrap the side and the bottom , while stirring continuously till it thicken and are able to coat the back of a spoon, approximately 8-10 minutes 
• Remove from heat , add in butter bit by bit, stirring continuously till all butter melted and well combine 
• Spoon into and air-tight jar and cover with a cling film pressing to the surface of the curd to prevent from forming skin. Leave to cool before storing in the fridge for further use. 
• Can be kept for 2-3 weeks

Recipe adapted from About.com, American Food with a twist 

Kit Kat Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Raining season , gosh , imagine how many accidents happen during this period of time. Keeps me real busy with work now. I really do not wanna miss baking cupcakes , especially for Aspiring Bakers #13 this month . Since its a real busy month for me , I was thinking it might be a good idea if I could just bake something simple yet delicious . And ............. Kit Kat came to my mind ... Brilliant idea eh ... I am sure you will agree with this , especially my nephew Andrew.

Check out my first DIY cupcake wrapper... gorgeous isn't it ?  Well , I have no idea what makes me wanna make my own cupcake wrapper , but it does give me a kind of satisfaction . LOL....

I twisted a bit of the original recipe which calls for chopped dark chocolate. Instead, I add in chopped Kit Kat .. heehee.. Enjoy !!

Ingredients 
280g     Self Raising Flour
180g     Butter
100g     Sugar ( original recipe calls for 120g )
1/2tsp   Salt
1large   Egg
100g    Milk or Buttermilk
1tsp     Vanilla Extract
5pckts  Kit Kat Fingers Crispy Wafer ( 35g pack)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200C . Place 1/2 strip of Kit Kat at the bottom of each cupcake liners. Chop the remainder Kit Kat wafers 
• Sift flour in a mixing bowl. Rub in butter till it resembles breadcrumbs 
• Add in sugar and salt to mix well 
• Mix wet ingredients together , and add in to the dry ingredients. Stir lightly. Do not overmix
• Add in chopped Kit Kat and light stir to combine 
• Scoop batter to fill the cupcake liner till 3/4 full
• Bake in preheated oven at 200C for 20 minutes . Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting . Enjoy your Kit Kat Cupcake ... ;) 

Recipe adapted from Aunty Yochana

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes ! ( November 2011 ) hosted by Min of Min's Blog

Coca-Cola Cupcake

I don't drink coca cola. The fact is , I can't drink coca cola, I really need to watch my waistline . :( .. But then Coca Cola cupcake seriously sound like and interesting one . Hmmmm.... I just can't resist this . So I have decided to try this recipe over the weekend since my nephew , Andrew was around visiting us over the weekend.

Anyway , this is my first time working my hands on fondant . It turn out to be pretty easy , shaping and rolling it . I kind of love the fondant rose, except that I was out of idea when I was making and shaping this fondant at 3.00 am in the morning . I ended up decorating this cupcake with a simple fondant shapes . ;)

See this , its fun and fuss free when you have your nephew helping up to take photos . LOL......Anyway , let get back to the recipe before you get bored ... heehee

Ingredients
2cups    Coca Cola ( do not use diet coke )
1cup     Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
120g     Unsalted Butter ( cut into 1inch pieces )
100g     Granulated Sugar ( Original recipe calls for 250g )
90g       Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar
240g     All Purpose Flour
1 1/4tsp  Baking Soda
1tsp       Salt
2large    Egg

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 165C . Generously spray cupcake liners with cooking spray 
2. In a small sauce pan , boil coca cola , cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until all butter melted. Add in sugar and whisk till all sugar dissolve. Remove from heat and set aside to cool
3. In a large bowl , whisk flour , baking soda and salt together 
4. In another small bowl, whisk egg until just beaten . Slowly whisk the egg into the cooled coca cola mixture            
5. Add the flour to the wet ingredients and gently fold in .Do not over mix. The batter might be a bit lumpy  by now 
6. Fill the cupcake liner with batter till 3/4 full.Bake in preheated over for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan half way through the baking time 
7. Transfer the cupcake to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting or decorating. Enjoy your yummy Coca Cola Cupcake !!!!

Recipe adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes ! ( November 2011 ) hosted by Min of Min's Blog

Zebra Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting

Ideas, ideas, ideas....... where do you find it when you need one ? LOL...... Guess 90% of us will say " internet " instead of old school method . So that was the method I used to search for some interesting cupcake recipe as I want to contribute more post to Aspiring Bakers #13. While browsing through for recipe , I stumble upon this zebra cake recipe. The look of it really makes me wanna try my hands on making this cake. So I was thinking it will be a great idea to make this into a cupcake .

Check out the beautiful look of the cupcake before even baking it in the oven. It looks to beautiful , but honestly I feel that the taste is no outstanding. Its a tasty cupcake overall, but not a crowd pleaser. I really love the look of the cupcake tho. ;) Well , try it then and share your comments here .

After some frosting , the cupcake turns into some cute little thing . When mom and my babies saw this cute little thing, they can resist reaching for one each . LOL ..............

Ingredients 
1cup     Granulated Sugar
4 large  Eggs
1cup     Milk
1cup     Vegetable Oil ( I use melted butter )
1tsp      Vanilla Extract
2cups   All Purpose Flour
2tsp     Baking Powder
1/4tsp  Salt
3tbsp   Cocoa Powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C . Spray cupcake liner generously to grease it or use foil cupcake liners 
2. In a mixer bowl, blend sugar and egg until lightened, about 2 minutes . On low speed, blend in oil, milk and vanilla 
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to remove any lumps. Add the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar batter . On medium speed , beat for 1-2 minutes till no lumps 
4. Scoop 2 cups of batter into a measuring jug. add in the cocoa powder . Mix well and sieve to remove any lumps 
5. Spoon 1 teaspoon vanilla batter into the centre of the cupcake liner . Then spoon 1 teaspoon cocoa mixture into the centre of the vanilla batter. This will cause the vanilla batter to spread out 
6. Continue to alternate batter , in bull-eye style till all batter is used
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle turns out clean.
8. Remove cupcake from the oven and let cool completely before frosting

Enjoy your Zebra Cupcake !!

Recipe adapted from Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes ! ( November 2011 ) hosted by Min of Min's Blog

Stir-fry Chinese Rice Cake

Back then , those years when I know nuts about cooking, that was 20 years back ... gheeee ... I am aging... anyway , that were those "nerdy" time of me , all in my pony tails and blue school uniform . Errrr...... that were the time when I will always looking forward for my mum to cook Stir-fry Chinese Rice Cake. In my memories , I can hardly find this rice cake selling in stores outside. It is truly a "so delicious " serving that you will never forget ... Well at least that was how I feel at that time ... heehee...

Now that is the interesting part of all. Even till now , I can still remember the taste of it , which has really push me to learn how to prepare this dish by my own. I happen to find a stall selling this dish 7 years back when I was still renting a house in USJ, Taipan area. Unfortunately , after a few months, the whole restaurant including the stall suddenly move out . I was really sad at that time ... hu hu hu hu hu .... there goes my favourite food. hu hu hu hu hu hu...... and fyi, back at that time, I was really lazy to cook since I was staying in a rented property . Heehee...

Yummy , yummy .... Well lets just cut the crap for now and get my ass back to the recipe...

Stir-fry Chinese Rice Cake 
Ingredients
1pckt    Chinese Dried Rice Cake
3 Chinese Black Mushroom ( cut into thin slices )
5tbsp    Crispy Fried Shallot
1/3cup  Dried Shrimps
2tbsp    Chopped Garlic
150g     Pork ( cut into cubes )
Corriander leaves ( keep some for garnishing )

Seasoning
3tbsp   Light Soya Sauce
3tbsp   Dark Soya Sauce
3tbsp   Oyster Sauce
2cup    Water

Method 

• Soak dried rice cake for 24 hours before using. Wash and drain. 
• Wash and pat dry dried shrimps . Heat up a non-stick pan on medium-low heat . Add in dried shrimps and stir-fry till dry before adding 2 tbsp of cooking oil . 
• Fry dried shrimps till crispy and golden brown. Dish up and leave aside to cool 
• In the same pan, stir fry mushroom over medium heat till cooked and add in 1/2 tbsp of light soya sauce . Stir-fry for furthrt 3 minutes. Remove from heat , dish up and leave aside to cool
• Heat up a non-stick wok. Add 3tbsp cooking oil , pour in the chopped garlic and fry till garlic starts to turn golden brown. 
• Add in pork , fry for another 5 minutes . Pour in drained rice cake and fry , stirring constantly . Add in seasoning except for water . Stir-fry for further 5 minutes . Add water and continuing stirring , making sure that each piece of rice cake is coated with the sauce . 
• Stirring constantly till the sauce are thicken. Add in pre-fried dried shrimps, mushroom and corriander leaves . Stir for further 5 minutes 
• Remove from heat . Dish up and garnish with crispy fried shallot and corriander leaves . Yummy !!!   Enjoy your Stir-fry Chinese Rice Cake ... 

Oreo Cupcake

OREO ........... again .... lol... at least that was that Nat says when I show her the Oreo I bought . Nat actually thought I am gonna let her bring that pack of Oreo to school as her break time snack. Heehee ...... I was so used to making Oreo muffin , now that I have to think of Oreo Cupcake instead of muffin . I really wanted to participate in Aspiring Bakers #13 Enjoy Cupcakes! ..

I was browsing thru the recipe to find the suitable cupcake for me to start with , when I came across this real easy and quick oreo cupcake recipe. I happen to have some oreos cookies in the drawer waiting for me to consume them before the expiry date . LOL...

This is really a super easy recipe . I will definitely gonna make this again and again . LOL ...... Well cut the crap and lets get back to the recipe ... heehee

Oreo Cupcake with Oreo Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients 
2cups   Self Raising Flour
1tsp      Baking Powder
1tsp      Vanilla Essence
250g    Butter
1/2cup Sugar ( I use slightly less than 1/2 cup )
4         Eggs
10      Oreos ( crushed or chop into small pieces with
          the cream )

Method 

• Preheat oven at 190C 
• Whisk butter, sugar, self raising flour, baking powder, eggs and vanilla essence for 2 minutes ( do not overbeat ) 
• Add in crushed/chopped oreo and stir to combine. 
• Scoop/ Pipe batter into cupcake mould or cases till 1/3 full
• Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes at 190C 

Recipe adapted from Rima of Bisousatoi

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes ! ( November 2011 ) hosted by Min of Min's Blog

Gyung Dan ( Korean Sweet Rice Balls )

Gyung Dan , what were you thinking when you hear this name ? LOL... I really have no idea as I really know nuts about all this foreign language.  As I was happily browsing thru some "kueh " for Aspiring Bakers #12 ( well I know its over know ) I stumble upon this recipe about Korean kitchen and all. The way the author describe the Korean Sweet Rice Balls makes me have the urgency to make it immediately there and then . Heehee.... I made this on the 28th of October , but unfortunately I was not able to post it since I was down with food poisoning . :( ... Well , no problem , even tho my Gyung Dan can't make it to Aspiring Bakers #12, I will still post it .........

Look at the yummy sesame seed . While toasting the sesame seed, I can smell the aromatic sesame seed being toasted to well......... can't say perfection here ... lol.... whatever. I better cut short my long winding and all before everyone gets bored .. heehee

Ingredients
1cup    Sweet Rice Flour / Glutinous Rice Flour
A pinch of Salt
1/3cup to 1/2cup Boiling Water
Coatings 
Black and white sesame seed ( toasted until fragrant)
Green Tea Powder ( optional )
For the Filling
Red Bean Paste



Method

•  Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add boiling water one tbsp at a time while stirring vigorously
• Adjust the amount of the water needed depending on the texture preferred. Knead to form smooth dough 
• Divide dough into 16 portion 
• Bring 8 cups of water to boil and prepare a large bowl of ice water to instantly chill the sweet rice balls and stop the cooking 
• Flatten the sweet rice ball and place 1 tsp of red bean paste in the centre . Wrap the filling and twist to seal
• Drop the rice ball into boiling water and boil till the rice ball float on the surface. Remove from boiling water and drop it into the iced water . 
• Dish up to dry on a kitchen towel for a few minutes before coating it with sesame seed or green tea powder . Serve immediately or after chill 

Recipe adapted from Apple Pie, Paties & Patê