Kek coklat untuk birthday Amirul

Amirul turned 9 recently, Alhamdulillah :)

Shas buat kek coklat untuk Amirul, dapat la jugak kek tu jadi sebahagian daripada menu iftar untuk Ramadhan pertama tahun ni. Semalam berbuka dekat rumah mama Shas dan semua adik-beradik dan anak-anak buah ada sekali. Seronok berbuka ramai-ramai cam gitu.

Happy birthday Amirul!, Semoga Amirul mendapat yang terbaik di dunia dan di akhirat, insyaAllah. Mama loves you always.

Kek coklat ni sama dengan kek yang Shas buat untuk birthday Iman tempoh hari. Senang je nak buat, tak perlu mixer segala, hanya perlu mix pakai spatula. Resepi asal dapat dari sini.

Bahan-bahan untuk kek:
1 1/4 cawan tepung
1 cawan gula
1/3 cawan serbuk koko
1 sudu kecil baking soda
1/2 sudu kecil garam
1 cawan air suam
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla
1/3 cawan minyak sayuran
1 sudu kecil cuka epal

Campurkan bahan-bahan kering, kemudian masukkan bahan-bahan basah dan kacau rata. Bakar pada suhu 175 darjah Celcius lebih kurang 25 hingga 30 minit.

Untuk topping, Shas pakai resepi topping yang Shas pernah share dulu (klik sini untuk resepi).


Salam Ramadhan buat semua yang beragama Islam.

Birthday cakes

Shas buat kek strawberi (favourite birthday boy) dan dilapis chocolate ganache untuk birthday Faiz tahun ni. Tak plan pon nak buat bentuk lego, idea tu datang the night before making the cake sebab Faiz sangat suka main Lego.

Excited Faiz tengok kek dia, tapi dia tanya juga kenapa lego warna coklat. Nak buat camne, ada cream dengan coklat untuk buat chocolate ganache je and I don't have any food color available at home at the moment.

Another 'cake' to celebrate Faiz's birthday. Buat pavlova.

And for Iman's birthday, I made chocolate cake with chocolate toppings.

Simple je birthday cake Iman, yang penting sedap :) Kids loved this chocolate cake, moist je.. resepi pon sangat simple.

Happy birthday to both of you.. Love you all so much!!

Kek pisang dengan cip coklat

Best jer cuaca hari ni, tak panas, mendung je dari pagi. Kain baju kat luar still kering walaupun cuaca tak panas, nasib sempat angkat sebelum hujan tadi.

Petang-petang camni, mesti dok pikir nak masak apa untuk minum petang. Sambil mencari-cari tupperware/pinggan/cawan untuk memenuhkan dishwasher yang masih tak berapa nak penuh (tunggu penuh sikit baru run, rugi kalau run bila rak atas je yang penuh dengan cawan), terjumpa saki-baki kek pisang dan brownie coklat yang saya buat minggu lepas kat dalam fridge. Jadi, kek pisang dan brownie la yang menjadi santapan minum petang hari ni.. Makan sambil minum kopi panas... best.

Ni saya kongsi resepi kek pisang dulu, resepi brownie coklat tu next time pulak ye. Resepi asal dari sini.

113 gram butter

1/2 cawan gula perang

1/2 cawan gula putih

2 biji telur

1 sk esen vanila

2 1/3 cawan pisang - dilenyek (lebih kurang 3 - 4 biji pisang)

2 cawan tepung

1 sk baking soda

1/4 sk garam

1 sk serbuk kayu manis

1/4 cawan cip coklat

1. Panaskan oven @ 175 degree celcius.
2. Pukul butter dengan gula putih dan gula perang.
3. Campurkan telur, esen vanila dan pisang yang telah dilenyek. 
4. Campurkan bahan-bahan yang lain dan tuang ke dalam bekas acuan kek.
5. Bakar lebih kurang 40 - 45 minit hingga masak.

*Resepi asal guna kacang walnut tapi saya ganti dengan cip coklat sebab anak-anak tak berapa suka kacang.

Suka sangat rasa kek pisang ni, dah banyak kali dah Shas buat kek ni sejak jumpa resepi via pinterest. Kalau ada pisang lebih je kat rumah mesti nak buat kek pisang ni. Simpan kek yang lebih dalam peti sejuk, lepas tu makan sejuk-sejuk untuk sarapan atau minum petang. Yum.

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).

Resepi kek kukus coklat lembab

Hari ni anak-anak semua tak sekolah, Amirul demam sejak hari Jumaat, Faiz pula memang liat sikit nak pergi sekolah kalau abang dia tak sekolah... Nasib baik Faiz masih belum masuk darjah satu, kalau tak jangan haraplah dapat ponteng..

Since anak-anak semua ada kat rumah, Shas buat kek kukus coklat untuk makan petang. Resepi asal dapat dari blog ni, tapi macam biasalah, Shas ada tukar-tukar sikit resepi tu. Shas kurangkan susu pekat, minyak sayuran, gula, tambah esen vanilla dan gantikan tepung gandum dengan tepung kek.

Shas buat 1/2 adunan je, kukus dalam loyang bulat 7 inci. Resepi kat bawah ni untuk 1/2 adunan:

50 gram serbuk koko

200 gram susu cair

110 gram susu pekat

90 gram minyak sayuran

Campurkan semua bahan-bahan di atas dan masak di atas api perlahan, kacau hingga semua koko larut (tak perlu sehingga mendidih).

2 biji telur

110 gram gula kastor

1/2 sudu teh esen vanilla

75 gram tepung kek

1/2 sudu teh baking powder

1/2 sudu teh baking soda

Satukan telur, gula kastor dan esen vanilla menggunakan mixer. Kemudian, campurkan bahan-bahan yang dipanaskan di atas api tadi (campuran serbuk koko, susu cair, susu pekat dan minyak sayuran). Setelah sebati, masukkan tepung kek, baking powder dan baking soda.

Alas loyang dengan baking paper, tuang adunan kek ke dalam loyang dan kukus pada suhu sederhana sehingga masak. Shas kukus selama 45 minit.

Resepi coklat ganache mudah:
160 gram susu pekat
3/8 cawan serbuk koko (boleh juga guna 1/2 cawan serbuk koko)
1/2 sudu butter

Satukan bahan-bahan di atas dan masak di atas api sehingga likat. Tuang ke atas kek yang telah disejukkan dan hias.

Nuha orang yang paling excited sekali tengok mama dia buat kek, especially since dia memang sangat suka makan kek.

1st attempt at making a doll cake

We celebrated our youngest child's birthday last weekend, and I made her a doll cake for her birthday party. It was my first attempt actually. I don't have any cake mold for a doll cake, so what I did was that I baked 2 layers of 6 inch chocolate cake and another 2 layer of 8 inch chocolate cake. I then put them together, with cookies and cream filling in between them.

Then, using a knife, I trimmed the cake to make it to look like a dress. I didn't freeze the cake slices prior to trimming it, hence the messy cake with lots of crumbs. I then crumb coated the cake with chocolate ganache frosting, and store it in the fridge for a while before frosting the cake again with another layer of chocolate ganache frosting.  

In then inserted the doll, and did some finishing touches with the chocolate ganache frosting and also buttercream.

I'm glad Nuha loved her doll cake. Happy birthday Nuha!!

Rainbow cake

I have always wanted to give rainbow cake a try but I just don't know why I didn't. When Amirul requested me to bake a cake last week, I said okay and that I will make a chocolate cake for him. However, he said that he wanted a rainbow cake instead. So, I gave in and made a rainbow cake last Sunday.

I used a white cake recipe for the cake, divided the batter into 6 equal quantity and add a drop or two of coloring gel to each. I then baked them, 2 at a time.

Love the colors, beautiful :)

I then made italian buttercream to go with the white cake... and frosted the cake with simple decorations.

Off white cake, with simple decorations
It might look like a normal off white cake, but wait till I show you the inside..

The kids were excited when I cut the cake and handed it to them..

Pretty isn't it

I love the cake but I think that I could do better.. Yellow cake tasted better than white cake in my opinion, as white cake are supposed to be frosted with something more delicate or when we want the frosting flavor to be predominant.

Maybe to try white cake with cream cheese frosting or a yellow cake with italian buttercream for future rainbow cake.

Moist chocolate cakes

I baked chocolate cakes last week to bring to my grandma's house when we visited her during the raya holidays, and a couple of extra cakes, 1 for us to eat at home and another to bring to my in-laws.

The cakes were moist and tasted great. However, I am not putting this cake on my menu just yet as I wanted to make another batch and try to steam it instead.

Amirul's birthday celebrations

I took half day leave on Amirul's birthday, rushed back from office and was on time to pick him up from school. His face expression when he saw me outside his school compound, was priceless. We then went to pick up both Faiz and Nuha from the babysitter's place and headed home.

Amirul wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday. After lunch, we made chocolate moist birthday cake together. When my husband was back from office that evening, we celebrated Amirul's birthday.

On Sunday, I made another chocolate cake for Amirul's birthday party. This time around, I made my chocolate signature cake with oreos cream filling and chocolate ganache as frosting, on Amirul's request. Amirul wanted me to write "Happy Birthday" on the cake, so I whipped a simple buttercream for decorations. He loved it, although the decorations doesn't turned up well.

Happy birthday Amirul sayang. We all love you very very much!!

* Amirul wanted a pet fish for his birthday present. Nanti kita beli ye sayang.

Baked cheesecake with blueberries

We watched Rachel Allen's show on You Tube last Tuesday and my kids had requested for me to bake them a cheesecake. They have been asking everyday since Tuesday, and I finally got around to buying the ingredients on Friday.

So, after preparing breakfast early Saturday morning, I then started baking the cheesecake, recipe taken from Rachel Allen's website.

This is in fact my first try making baked whole cheesecake. I made chilled version of a cheesecake once and oreo cheese cupcakes before but had never attempted making a whole cake. I always thought that it is hard to make baked whole cheesecake, what with the bain-marie and stuff, hence the delay in trying. But when I come across this recipe, it looks pretty simple and straightforward, and it has given me the courage to try.

I changed the recipe a little, using oreos instead of the digestive biscuits since I could not find any digestive biscuit in the shop that I went to, changed the amount of biscuit base and melted butter used since I'm using an 8 inch round cake tin, changed the amount of cream cheese used as in my country, cream cheese comes in 250g package and used 1 box of blueberries (125g) instead of the amount suggested.

Here's the recipe used for my baked cheesecake:


Ingredients:
160g of oreos biscuits
40g of melted butter
125g of fresh blueberries
500g cream cheese
150g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius, and line the cake tin with baking paper.
2. Crushed the biscuits, add in the melted butter and press down into the base of the cake tin. Spread the blueberries over and chill in the fridge while the cake is made.
3. Using a cake mixer, beat the rest of the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Pour over the top of the biscuit an blueberries base and then bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until it is pale golden and wobble very slightly when you shake the cake tin.
4. Allow to cool, then run a knife around the edge to loosen it and carefully remove the cheesecake from the cake tin. Serve and enjoy!

The kids loves the cheesecake. We ate quite a lot yesterday, and we still have about 2 slices left in the fridge.

Moist chocolate cake

It has been 2 weeks since I last baked. We spent the first 5 days of the recent school holidays by the beach in Kuala Terengganu and another 4 days in Kota Bharu.

We reached home at about 2 am last week's Monday and I had to work from Monday onwards. I had to also spent a few evenings after work doing laundry. I had only managed to complete doing so on Thursday.

So, when my brother called to inform that my mum and all my siblings plus their family will be coming over to our house last Sunday, I got all excited and decided to bake a moist chocolate cake for dessert. Hubby had requested that I cooked 'nasi lemak', so I cooked nasi lemak with fried chicken and prawn sambal as main course.

Since my nephews, Ammar and Ahmad had recently celebrated their birthdays and my son Amirul will be celebrating his birthday soon, we lighted up candles and sang birthday songs for them all.

Happy birthdays dear Ammar, Ahmad and Amirul. Love all of you so much!!

Although it was a simple chocolate cake without any decoration, everyone loves it especially my nephew, Adib who had 3 servings of the cake. 

Carrot cake

The other day, my sister-in-law ada share with me a carrot cake recipe, dulu dah pernah rasa.. sedap. So sebab ada free on weekend, mula la keluarkan semua bahan-bahan dari fridge dan buat kek ni.

Sedap, thanks Awin sebab share resipi.

Review - kelas kek hantaran at My Sugar Class

I attended another class last weekend and this time it was a cake decorating class. I love love love this class and am happy to report that I can now make beautiful buttercream roses :-) 

with my lovely classmates

Although this was the second class that I've attended this year, this was in fact the first class that I've registered. I've waited for more than one month to attend this class.

The class was fully hands-on. Each students get to decorate their own cake.

At the beginning of the class, we each received a 7" sponge cake to decorate. We then started to ice the cake, then we proceeded to make lovely roses.

I've always admired Rani's roses as they looked pretty amazing, can't believe my luck to be able to learn it from her firsthand.

I also make new friends along the way. I had lovely time getting to know my desk partner, Roza.

Here are some of the pictures taken:

the first few roses that I've made during the class

my cake - lovely buttercream roses

our cakes, mine being the nearest to the camera

roses, up close

Will need to practice more after this (that reminds me of the class that I've attended last month, belum sempat nak praktis lagi).. 

*Note: Although the roses looks lovely, I don't actually like the buttercream used for the topping and also the roses. Will have to look for a different recipe maybe to make these lovely roses.

And since birthday Faiz dah dekat, we had Faiz's birthday pre-celebration. Suka sangat dia dapat tiup lilin..

Abang singing birthday song for Faiz, Faiz yang malu malu gitew..

Faiz tiup lilin, Nuha buat muka pelik kat situ..

Steamed chocolate cake

I bought a new steamer last month as my current steamer is too small to steam a cake. So, in order to try the new steamer, I had decided to make a chocolate cake using the steaming method. Had always wanted to try out this method, and I assumed that the cake should be more moist than the baked ones.

I googled for a steamed chocolate cake recipe and landed on this entry. Made this cake and brought it to my mum's place to share. Overall, I found the ingredients to be easy to find, and the recipe is easy to follow.

Cake was done in no time! As such, I will use this recipe again in future if I needed a cake but don't have much time to make one. Cake came out good, but not as moist as what was expected (could it be that I over cooked it?). I do love the flavor though.

Here's the recipe, credit to http://recipesforkeeps.blogspot.com. I did make slight changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients - for the cake:

1 3/4 cup cake flour*

3/4 cup cocoa powder*

1 tsp baking powder*

1 tsp baking soda*

1 cup caster sugar 

1 cup vegetable oil

200 ml of evaporated milk

3 eggs (beaten)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of boiling water

1. Sift items marked with * and add in the caster sugar. Combine well with a wooden spoon. 
2. Pour in the oil, followed by milk, eggs, vanilla extract and boiling water, making sure to stir the batter well after each addition.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tray and steam on a medium heat for about 45 minutes.

Ingredients - for the chocolate topping:

150 g of cooking chocolate

50 g butter

2 tbsp of cocoa powder

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

2 tbsp icing sugar

100 ml of evaporated milk

1. Melt the chocolate and butter using a double boiler.
2. Then, add in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour the melted topping on the cake and decorate.

Carrot cake

I ate carrot cake at my brother's house last weekend and determined to bake one since it's been years since I last baked any carrot cake.


I googled recipes from the internet and read through my cookbooks but decided on this recipe that I had previously tested.

Carrot cake recipe:
Adapted from bbcgoodfood's website but with changes here and there.


Ingredients - for the cake:
300 g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
200 g brown sugar
4 eggs
250 ml vegetable oil
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange plus juice of 1/2 orange
200 g carrots, grated (approximately about 2 medium carrots)
mix fruits and flaked almonds, approximately about 1/4 cup each


Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:
120 g butter at room temperature
50 g icing sugar
250 g cream cheese


Heat the oven to 150 C. Line a 10" x 7" rectangle cake pan. Sift the flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and baking soda and mix in the sugar. On a separate bowl, beat the eggs, oil, lemon zest and orange zest. Stir in the carrots and mix in the flour and sugar mixture. Stir in the orange juice and fold in the mix fruits and almonds. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.


To make the cream cheese frosting, beat the butter and the icing sugar until soft and beat in the cream cheese. Chill the mixture until it comes to a spreadable consistency and spread on the cake.


It's ok if the cake cracks a little as you're gonna need to trim it anyway

Visible flaked almonds and mix fruits, yummy

Spread the cream cheese frosting, cut and enjoy!

Victoria sponge cake

Made victoria sponge cake for my husband's birthday last month. However, since we were out of fresh cream, I used fresh strawberries and strawberry jam for the filling, topped with icing sugar.

Happy birthday sayang!!

Nuha's chocolate birthday cake

Can't believe how fast time flies, and Nuha is now 1.


I made my signature chocolate cake for Nuha's birthday party, upon request from Amirul and Faiz. Filling made from whipped cream and crushed oreos, and topped with chocolate ganache.  


Used hundreds and thousands to decorate the cake.

Here are some pictures from the birthday party:

Nuha suka sangat everytime orang nyanyi birthday song.. sure tersenyum lebar...Love you so much dear :)

Lagi gambar kek: