Traditional Butter Cake

Traditional Butter Cake

8-inch baking tin)

250g Salted Butter 

80g Margarine 

200g Caster sugar 

5 Eggs 

260g Plain flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

2 tbsp Fresh Milk 

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence 

Method:

Preheat the oven at 170 deg C for about 15 minutes. Grease the baking tin and line the bottom with a round baking paper. 

Using an wooden spatula, cream butter, margarine, caster sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time,to combine. Add half the flour. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. 

Carrot cupcakes

These carrot cupcakes are very moist, soft and yummy. The recipe was adapted from Brenda's Carrot Cake recipe. Thanks Brenda! *wink*

Carrot Cupcake

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable oil (I use 200ml Sunflower oil)
150g brown sugar
3 eggs
500g coarsely grated carrot (I use 300g)
120g coarsely chopped walnuts (I use 50g)
375g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice (I use 1 tsp cinnamon powder)

(Please take note: I would prefer to follow the original recipe, due to not enough ingredients available, I adjust a bit here and there.)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice together in a bowl.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar till thick and creamy.
4. Fold in the oil lightly. Don't worry if the oil doesn't bind into the mixture at this stage - because it won't. Therefore, you don't need to stir the mixture too long.
5. Fold in the carrot and the walnuts. Again, don't worry if the carrot and walnuts don't get mixed evenly; the mixture still won't bind well until you...
6. Add in the dry ingredients. In this case, add in a few spoonfuls at a time, until the batter is more or less even.
7. Spoon the batter into the paper cups about 2/3 full.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Let the cupcakes cool on the wire rack.

Very Yummy Brownies

Thanks Brenda for sharing her favourite brownie recipe with us. I bake this for a "house-warming" party tonight.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup melted butter
4 eggs

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour a 9x13inch baking pan.
3. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Stir to blend.
4. Mix in 3/4 cup melted butter and 4 eggs.
5. Mix thoroughly. Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven.
Cool completely in pan before cutting into 2 inch squares.

Oreo Butter Cake

Since I have some left-over Plain Yogurt in my fridge, I went to look for recipe which has Yogurt in it. Yes, I have found a few and decided to bake this Oreo Butter Cake, recipe shared by Angie. My daughter likes to eat Oreo cookies very much. So this cake will be one of her favourite cakes. The texture is very soft and moist. Yummy!


I use salted butter, and omit the salt in this recipe. As for the flour, I use Top flour (I bought it to bake Pandan Cake). I use hand power using wooden spoon, whisk and spatula to mix all the ingredients.

Oreo Butter Cake

Ingredients:
225g cake flour (or Top Flour)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
85g unsalted butter, oftened
170g castor sugar
2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
1 cup (240ml) nonfat unsweetened yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
80g Oreo cookies, roughly crushed
Whole Oreo cookies, for decorating

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C and grease or line a 8-inch round tin.
2) Sift together all the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3) Cream the softened butter and sugar until light and creamy. I use the measuring cup to pour in the beaten eggs gradually, beat for about 2 minutes.
4) Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in half portion of the yogurt. Then beat in the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining yogurt, and vanilla essence. Finally mix in the remaining flour mixture.
5) I put the Oreo cookies in a plastic bag and crush it. Pour the crushed cookies into the batter and mix lightly.
6) Pour into a lightly greased baking tin, arrange whole Oreos on top and bake for about 40 - 50 minutes, till skewer inserted comes out clean.
7) Cool in baking tin for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and cool completely.


Note: Do not open the oven door to peep when it's baking for the first 15 minutes.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Today I bake this cake again. The last time I'd tried baking this cake was 11 years ago. I remembered, there's an old friend, an old lady told me the tips of making Chiffon Cake. She told me the cake tin must be clean and dry and not oily.

This Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe is shared by Lee Lee (bakingmum), she told me it's a very good recipe. I totally agree with her, the taste is just right, it's so fragrant and the texture is soft and spongy.



Pandan Chiffon Cake
(recipe taken from Prima's website)

Batter:
4 Egg Yolks
50g Castor Sugar
50ml Corn Oil (I use 35ml)
¼ tsp Green Colouring
1 tbsp Pandan Juice (I use a tsp of pandan paste)
100ml Coconut Milk
Pinch of Salt
100g PrimaFlour Top Flour (I use cake flour)
1 tsp Baking Powder

Foam:
5 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
50 g Castor Sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 170°.
Extract pandan juice from finely pounded pandan leaves and add to coconut milk.

Add egg yolk, 50 g sugar, oil, colouring and salt to the coconut mixture. Mix well using hand whisk.

Sift PrimaFlour Top Flour and baking powder and fold into mixture. Mix until smooth. Set aside.

Beat egg whites and tartar at high speed until foamy. Add remaining 50g sugar and beat until stiff.

Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.

Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites gently.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 18cm chiffon tin (make sure the tin is dry) and bake for about 50 minutes or until cooked.

Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool before loosening cake.

Marble cupcakes

These are my children's favourite snack.

Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes

This sponge cupcake is very light. It tastes like those steamed egg cakes ~ 鸡蛋蒸糕. My 16 months old son likes to eat it.

Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
120g castor sugar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp ovalette
120g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips for toppings (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven at 170 deg C.
Use an electric mixer to beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla essence till fluffy. Follow by adding the rest of the ingredients gradually and beat till light and fluffy. Spoon the batter into papercups and bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or till done.

Birthday Cakes

Happy New Year!
This will be my first post for the year of 2008.
Last Sunday, we had a birthday celebration for my father, who is 74 years old. We ordered the cake from a bakery shop located at Sembawang Road.
The cake below is for me. My hubby bought me this cake from Bengawan Solo for my birthday celebration on 31 Dec. It's "black forest" cake, chocolate sponge cake with blue berries.

Marble Cupcakes

I have this "Marble Cake" recipe for almost 20 years. Thought of baking it today since I have so much baking ingredients in my fridge. keke..

Yay!! I'm so happy! Ray Han likes to eat this cake. All my effort is not wasted. hehe...

The texture of this cake is very soft, not too sweet.
This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes


Marble Cake

Ingredients:
310g cake flour (original recipe call for self-raising flour)
2 tsp baking powder (Omit this if using self-raising flour)
250g salted butter
250g castor sugar
4 eggs (beaten)
45g baking chocolate melted with 1 tbsp milk (I use double-boil method)
1 tbsp cocoa powder (I add this to make it more chocolate flavour)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp milk

Method:
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add egg mixture gradually, beat well after each addition.
Fold in sifted flour lightly into the mixture.
Add a little milk and vanilla essence and mix well.
Divide mixture into two equal portions.
Add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to one portion.
Scoop a tablespoon of batter into the paper cup, add the chocolate batter over it, repeat the process till all the paper cups filled with 1/2 full of batter.
Use a teaspoon or sharp object to stir the batter in the paper cups lightly, but don't overmix.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170 deg C for about 25 minutes or till the test skewer comes out clean.

Sharing Session on Cupcake Making

Thanks Brenda for showing us the making of cupcake.

Brenda invited us to her place yesterday to show us "the making of Chocolate Cupcakes". She shared with us many tips (use a pouring cup to fill the muffin cups with batter) and terms about baking of cupcakes. She even showed us the steps of mixing the ingredients and explained to us in detail. I have taken some pictures of her cupcakes to show you.
Look at the colours of the buttercream. So bright and beautiful!

The flower was made of fondant (sugar paste or gum paste).
Brenda measures the ingredients...

The buttercream above looks like a flower. So beautiful!

I'm going to try her recipe myself.

If you want to try it, here's the recipe...

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/3 cups white sugar (fine sugar or castor sugar)

2 eggs (room temperature)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (can use vanilla essence)

1 cup milk (UHT milk or fresh milk)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 deg C. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at the time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.

4. Fill the muffin cups slightly more than half full.

5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a stick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

6. Frost with your favourite frosting when cool.

Soft and Moist Banana Cake

Freshly Baked Soft and Moist Banana Cake.
Ready to eat...
The texture from the cuppies...
Small cuppies...
The texture from the loaf...

I have come out with this recipe, I did an experiment, by adding a little milk and extra butter, the cake will become a little moist and soft. The rest of the ingredients are quite similar to most of the banana cake recipes. The amount of the ingredients can be changed a little to suit your taste.

Soft and Moist Banana Cake
This recipe yield 6 small cuppies and a loaf.

Ingredients:
250g salted butter
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
2 cups plain flour (sift together with 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 tsp baking powder)
Some Walnuts to sprinkle on top

Method:
Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, vanilla essence and milk and mix well.
Add mashed banana into the mixture and mix well. Finally add in sifted flour and mix well.
Pour into a loaf pan (I use Pyrex baking loaf pan).
Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the top layer turns brown after 15 minutes, cover it with a piece of aluminium foil.
Cool cakes in the pan then remove. Use a sharp knife to slice and serve.

Icing and Buttercream for Cupcakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 2/3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp water/milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
Cream butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla essence and 2 tbsp milk/water and beat until smooth and fluffy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COCOA BUTTER ICING
Ingredients:
300g butter
500g icing sugar ~ sifted
75g cocoa powder

Method:
Beat the above ingredients.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VIENNA CREAM
Ingredients:
125g / 4 oz butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar ~ sifted
2 tbsp fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Beat butter till soft.
2. Add in icing sugar
3. Add in fresh milk, ONLY IF the icing is hard

Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 cup of shortening

1 cup of creamwell - (can use cream mixture)

3 table spoon of milk

8 cups of icing sugar- sieve

1 teaspoon almond essence

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Beat shortening and creamwell until fluffy. Put in the icing sugar bit by bit. Next add the almond & vanilla essence. Pour in the milk bit by bit also (see the consistency of the mixture). Buttercream is ready to be used. You can keep the balance buttercream in the fridge and if you want to use it, just beat it again. If you want to put colouring, just use the color paste. Not advise to use the liquid type of colouring as the buttercream might become a bit watery.

Source: http://www.kitchencapers.net/phpbb/index.php
krimwell is just a special margarine for making buttercream. You can buy these kind of margarine at Ailin in Tanjung Katong Complex (Geylang) or at Lee Bee in Jurong West. Brand they sell is Kake and Marianne ...

Fondant (Sugar Paste)
8g gelatin powder mix with 50 ml water (room temperature)
50g corn syrup
450g powdered sugar
10 drops of light vegetable oil

Source: Imperial Kitchen

Cupcake

Yesterday I baked 12 cupcakes. I have given 2 cupcakes to Sue Jean's best friend, Charlene. Also 6 cupcakes for my husband to share with his colleagues this morning.

Butter Cake
Ingredients
250 gm butter
220 gm caster sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
300 gm cake flour (sifted)
2 tsp baking powder (sifted with flour)
150 ml milk

Method
Preheat the oven at 160°C.
Use electric mixer and beat the butter and caster sugar til creamy.
Crack all the eggs in a container, stir and mix roughly.
Pour the egg mixture into the batter gradually and mix well.
Pour 150ml of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla essence into the measuring cup and add it into the batter and mix well. Lastly fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder into the batter and mix well.
Scoop 2 table spoon of batter into a paper cup in the baking tray (6 paper cups).
Bake for about 30 minutes or till the cake is in golden brown.


The recipe of the cake is adapted from Lee Lee (hugbear).
Thanks Lee Lee for this wonderful recipe. I will use it again and again.