Creme caramel

I had initially wanted to make creme brulee as I wanted to utilize the egg yolks balance from making the chocolate pavlova, but since my mum had requested for creme caramel, I had changed my plan and made creme caramel instead.

I recently encounter this recipe whilst browsing through the internet and had since kept it in my 'recipes to try' folder. I'm glad I am able to try it out, despite having to tweak the recipe a little so that I can utilize the egg yolks balance.

Recipe is adapted from myresipi, original recipe can be found here.

For the caramel:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Put both in a microwavable container (I used my 9 inch pie dish) and microwave on high for about 6 minutes until part of the caramel is golden in color.

For the custard:

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

(note: original recipe calls for 4 eggs and 1 egg yolk)

3 cups of milk

3/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Whisk the eggs and egg yolks, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into the pie dish (the one with caramel) and bake into a preheated oven at 160 degree Celcius for 1 hour using bain marie / water bath method (i.e. put the pie dish containing the creme caramel mixture into a baking tray and pour hot water into the baking tray).

Love this recipe as it is very easy to make and tasted delicious too!

Marbled chocolate cake, with a hint of orange

I made marbled chocolate cake last weekend, based from a recipe found in a book belonging to my mum in law.

Recipe adapted from The Dairy Book Of British Food:

225 grams butter

225 grams caster sugar

4 eggs

225 grams cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

grated rind of 1 large orange

1 tablespoon of orange juice

75 grams of chocolate, melted

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

Grease a cake pan with butter. Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, and gradually add in the eggs, one at a time. Add in the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix throughly.

Divide the mixture into 2. Add in the orange rind and juice to one and the melted chocolate and cocoa powder to the other.

Put alternate spoonfuls of the 2 mixtures into the prepared cake pan and swirl using a knife to make the marble effect.

Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 35 to 40 minutes or until cook.

The marble effect

This recipe is easy to make. I love the taste but will definitely add in more orange rind and juice in the future (maybe double the amount).

Chocolate pavlova recipe

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I made chocolate pavlova for Faiz's birthday. I've made him cupcakes to bring to school, and we had also eaten some of the cupcakes the day I baked them. As such, to be a little different, I made chocolate pavlova for his birthday celebration.

I've made pavlova before, and I noticed that the kids enjoyed chocolate pavlova even more. I personally love the chocolate pavlova better than the ordinary pavlova. Seriously, it tasted wonderful.

The recipe that I used is adapted from Nigella Lawson's website. I've made some changes to the recipe, you can view the original recipe here.

Recipe for chocolate pavlova:

3 egg whites

150 grams caster sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

30 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper. Draw a 6-inch diameter circle on the paper and flip the parchment paper over.

Beat in the egg whites until satiny peaks form, then beat in the sugar, a little at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Then, gently fold in the cocoa powder, vinegar and dark chocolate. Mound the meringue onto the parchment paper, within the circle drawn, smoothing the sides and the top with a spatula.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, and immediately turn the temperature down to 140 degree Celcius. Cook for about 1 hour, until the edges/sides look crisp. Turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly to let the meringue cool. Don't be demotivated if the meringue crack when baking, as this is pretty normal and it won't affect the taste. Besides, you're gonna cover the top with cream and fresh fruits.

As for the topping, you will need:

250 ml of cream (I used UHT whipping cream)

1 tablespoon of icing sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Fresh fruits (I used strawberry and green grapes)

Grated dark chocolate to sprinkle on top (I used Belgian dark chocolate)

When you are ready to serve, whisk the cream till thick and add in the icing sugar and vanilla essence. Pile the cream on top of the meringue. Scatter over the fresh fruits and sprinkle over the grated chocolate.

Faiz's 6th birthday & recipe for the simplest moist chocolate cupcakes

Alhamdulillah, Faiz is now 6 years old. I made him chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing to bring to school, chocolate pavlova for us to celebrate at home, and my husband took us out to Bangsar Village for dinner and for Faiz to choose his own birthday present at Toys r Us.

I had asked him last week, whilst we were spending our evening at the kids playground, on what type of cake that he wants for his birthday. He told me that he wanted sonic the hedgehog cake. I thought of drawing the character using chocolate to place on top of the cupcakes but I didn't manage to do so. I had instead printed pictures of sonic to paste at the party favors. Come to think of it, I should had just paste it on a stick or something and place it on top of the cupcakes.. X ingat pulak nak buat camtu, bila dah petang baru teringat.

Anyway, I found a new chocolate cupcake recipe that I love, and I had used this recipe to make the cupcakes for him to bring to school. Not only that the recipe is very easy to follow, it yields moist and delicious chocolate cupcakes, definitely a keeper. Chocolate cake recipe adapted from The Farm Chicks.

Moist chocolate cupcake recipe:

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar (not packed)

1 3/4 cup cake flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 medium eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 175 degree Celsius. In a mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, brown sugar, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla essence and beat using a mixer till well combined. Add in the boiling water and mix until just blended. Pour into cupcake paper/cup (I used medium sized cupcake cups) and bake for about 16 minutes (or until cook, depending on the size of the cupcake paper/cup used).

As for the decorations, I had adapted the buttercream icing recipe from Hasue, with some modification to the recipe.

Vanilla buttercream icing recipe:

50 grams butter

450 grams krimwell

300 grams icing sugar (sifted)

1 tablespoon vanilla essence

Beat in the butter and krimwell for a few minutes, then add in the icing sugar and continue mixing. Add in the vanilla essence and beat until well incorporated.

Party favors

Okay, got to go for now, already too long a blog post. Will blog about the chocolate pavlova that I made for Faiz next. Till then, here's a sneak preview of the chocolate pavlova, yumm :-)

Agar-agar milo

Shas masih dalam mood nak buat agar-agar, lagipon anak-anak memang suka sangat makan agar-agar. Jadi, kali ni Shas buat agar-agar milo. Bahan-bahan main agak-agak je, nasib baik sedap. Anak-anak pon suka.

Kepada sesiapa yang nak cuba, ni resepi yang Shas guna:

Bahan-bahan:

1 paket serbuk agar-agar 10 gram (Shas guna jenama Swallow Globe)

900 ml air

140 gram susu pekat / krimer manis

140 gram milo

Cara-caranya:

Masak serbuk agar-agar dengan air. Apabila mendidih, campurkan susu pekat dan milo, kacau lagi sehingga mendidih. Masukkan ke dalam bekas (Shas guna loyang 7 x 7 inci). Biarkan sejuk seketika sebelum dimasukkan ke dalam peti sejuk. Enak dihidang sejuk.