Christmas Tree Cupcake to end year 2012

Woohoo! It's the last day of 2012. Its been an eventful year, moving back to Singapore, starting a new job, reuniting with my secondary school friends, having several very good friends hitched and some preggie by now. It's also the year where I've experimented more with cakes and frosting. Christmas is the season of indulgence, in the form of gifts, wishes, goodwill, hugs and most of all, good decadent food. In the spirit of Xmas, I blatantly adapted some Christmas Tree cupcake designs from the kind contributors of the google world!

It's not too difficult. You will only need a stiff buttercream icing, a star tip, marshmallows and toppings of your choice which are rainbow sprinkles and honey stars in my case.

Steps:

1. Bake your choice of cupcakes in advance for them to be completely cool when frosting. I use my milo buttermilk cupcake recipe as these cupcakes do not dome and will save me time from leveling any domed-cakes.

2. Make the swiss meringue buttercream. My all-time favourite and reliable buttercream frosting is from Sweetapolita. I made half a batch (5 egg whites, 1 cup butter) and was able to frost around 40 cupcakes and still had 1/3 left of the frosting. This buttercream is very versatile, able to hold shapes and very importantly, is stable at room temperature and would not wilt nor turn into mush after being removed from the fridge. I will usually bake and frost, keep the frosted cupcakes in the fridge and bring to room temperature the next day when serving them. I also generally add coffee, cocoa powder or peanut butter to this frosting to tone down the slick buttery taste. In this case, a brown frosting do not match the apple green colour I'm using. It kind of just turned it muddy green. So, I added a good dose of thick vanilla essence which enhanced the flavor quite nicely as well.

3. If you are wondering where the marshmallows come in, they are used to be the pillar within the buttercream. Instead of piping ALOT of cream to create a tall cone, I cut each large marshmallow into a cone shape and adhere them to the cupcakes with a dab of buttercream. It was very useful, in reducing the amount of buttercream needed and creating a surprise white effect against the green frosting as you bit into the cake.

4. Finally, using a star tip in a large piping bag, start around the base of the marshmallows - Press and pull away. A tiny dollop of the buttercream will stick onto the marshmallow and as you pull the piping bag away, the buttercream branches are created. Just do it all around the marshmallow and end with a fatter squeeze right at the top of the cone.

5. Tada! Sprinkle with the rainbow sprinkles and top with a honey star! Bring cupcake to slightly cool or room temperature before serving them. When immediately out of the fridge, the buttercream is very stiff and will be like hard butter if you bite into it. It's much nicer and smoother after 30 minutes to an hour out from the fridge.

Go on and do this next year. It's easy, fun and looks so cute as a Xmas treat!

Gingerbread Man in da house!

Ho Ho Ho! Are you still thinking of what to give your family/friends/colleagues for christmas? How about a gingerbread man to send some festive greetings along to everyone? It's easy to make, pretty delicious and fun to create designs unlimited by imagination! 

Recipe (Source)
a. 455g Plain Flour
b. 2 tsp cinnamon
c. 2 tsp ground ginger
d. 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
e. 1 tsp sea salt
f. 1/2 tsp baking soda
g. 117g unsalted butter, room temp
h. 100g brown sugar
i. 50g fine grained white sugar
j. 150g molasses (I used dark molasses)
k. 2 small eggs, cold (or 1 very large egg, mine is 55g per egg)
l. 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine ingredients a - f and sift.
2. Using the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown & white sugar on high speed until pale & fluffy.
3. Add molasses and cream for another 2 minutes.
4. On medium speed, beat in eggs and vanilla.
5. On low speed, add flour mixture until fully combined. Dough will be soft and mallable but not sticky nor crumbly.
6. Separate dough into 2 portions, cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When ready to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 175g.
2. Roll out 1 portion of the dough onto a floured tabletop. Use only a light layer of flour on the tabletop and try not to get it on the top surface of the dough.
3. Cut out shape of your choice, peel shaped doughs from surface and place it onto a lined baking tray. (Alternatively, I rolled out random patches of dough, place entire sheet onto tray, cut the shape and remove the excess. This way, it prevents the dough from breaking (especially the heads!) and getting mishapen when removing from tabletop onto tray) See pictures:

Mishapened limbs and askew heads:

 Easier way out - cutting the excess out from tray itself

 

4. Bake for 10 minutes until it starts to brown a little. this will give a slightly soft cookie base with a almost-crispy top. I baked for up to 12 minutes to get a crisp cookie base.

5. Cool completely before icing it. 

Royal Icing Recipe:

2 Egg Whites

1 tsp lemon juice

3 cups icing sugar

Add lemon juice to egg white and beat slightly. With the mixer on high speed, add sugar 1 cup at a time. Beat until stiff peaks.
If texture is too grainy or stiff, add a little water to thin it. If texture is too runny, add more icing sugar and beat further.
Cover and use quickly as it will dry up if exposed to air.

Wrap in Ziploc or air tight containers, keep up to 1 week. Have fun!

Home-made Chewy Granola Bars

I've been on a quest recently, to try for healthier alternatives in meals and baking, and to incorporate more whole grains in the diet for me&hub. In my recent shopping, I've acquired seeds (quinoa, flax seed, sunflower seeds), nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews), dried fruits (cranberries, figs, dates). Sugar alternatives came in the form of honey & molasses, and butter in avocado or yogurt. With my love for carbs, I highly doubt that I can rid myself of wheat to go gluten free... so I try by at least replacing half the flour with whole wheat and rye.

With all my new ingredients, I thought it's a suitable time to start on that home-made granola bar that's been bookmarked for ages. It's what I hope to be a much healthier alternative to store-bought packages, filled with plenty nuts&seeds, fruits and with no sugar, but honey for sweetness and that beautiful aroma.

Recipe, source from here:

1 cup of chopped nuts (Cashew and Walnuts)
1/4 cup of seeds (Sunflower and Flax Seeds)
1 cup of dried fruits (cranberries, dates and sun dried tomato)
1 cup of pureed fruit (2 large bananas)
3/4 cup of honey
2.5 cups of organic rolled oats

Mix the honey and banana together, stir in the oats. Add all other dry ingredients, mix well. Line a 9-inch square/rectangular pan with baking paper, pour the mixture in and pack it tightly together.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Remove, cool completely before cutting. Refrigerate for up to 1 week. Above yields a soft chewy texture. Bake it longer if you would like to achieve a crispy bar.

Notes:
The sweet aroma of honey filled the house as it was baking. This set the fragrance for the bar so use a good quality honey that you would not stop eating!
The cashews was still not as crunchy as I would like them so it may be good to toast the cashew lightly, for say 10 minutes, before mixing into the bars. On the other hand, walnuts toast very fast so use only raw walnuts. Will try with toasted almonds in my next attempt.
The above recipe can be replicated with any ingredients of choice. Do visit http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/01/fig-date-almond-granola-bars/ for a very good and clear explanation on the mix-and-match combinations.

I could not stop pinching bits of it as I was cutting them into bars. 18 yummy snack bars for the week ahead!

No-Butter Chocolate Brownie Cookie

I was contemplating whether to bake a brownie or cookies one Sat afternoon. My last brownie bake was years ago since I'm not a big fan but recently have been seeing and tempted by recipes of salted caramel brownie, chocolate fudge brownie, marbled brownie etc. On the other hand, I wanted crisp crusts and chocolate chunks ala cookie style.

So...well, this is the result - confused brownie in a cookie shape. It is a slightly dense cookie; there's a cakey texture in the interior and the chocolate chunks did add some ooze-worthiness but what I really like is the crusty surface that gives way not to crumbs, bite nor dryness but to a surprise cake within.

However, I sub butter for avocado, in an attempt to go the slightly less sinful route! It does lack the fragrance of butter and I suspect the brownie would have a more fudgy and moist texture if it was butter. So sub away if you wish but if you are slim and healthy, do go ahead and indulge in a full butter brownie cookie!

Recipe, adapted from here:

Ingredients:
500g dark chocolate, in small chunks (I used cadbury gold 70% cocoa and Ghirardelli 60% cocoa)
1/2 cup smashed ripe avocado (or unsalted butter)
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Fleur de Sel

Oven temp : 180C

1. Melt 300g chocolate over double boiler
2. Stir in the avocado. If using butter, melt butter together with chocolate in #1.
3. Stir eggs, vanilla, and sugar together and mix with chocolate avocado mixture
4. Fold in the flour and baking powder to combine and stir in the rest of the chocolate chunks
5. Drop tablespoons of batter onto lined baking trays and sprinkle with fleur de sel
6. Bake for 12 minutes until crisp crusts are formed but do not overbake or the brownie within will dry out.

Enjoy!

Kooka Cafe at Purvis Street

Bacon, Spinach and Mushroom Quiche $9

After a whole week of stress from work and a morning of Pivot tables, I am so glad to lounge at this laid-back cafe with hearty food and a good cuppa!

Arriving around 1pm, Kooka Cafe was pleasantly quiet and exudes a rustic charm with wooden tables & chairs, plentiful jars of cookies lining the walls, abundance of fruits laid out and a wide range of cakes & pastries displayed. The lady owner was very patient as I asked for recommendations of her bakes, taking time to introduce each item, the key ingredients, resulting texture, level of sweetness and even the way it would be served. Very warm and makes you feel like you are just visiting a friend's place.

Having had fabulous barcook bread for breakfast already, I chose a quiche as opposed to my usual preference of sandwiches. Morever, I read that all the cakes and pastries are home-baked by the owner. How she can single-handedly bake everything is a  wonder, I usually take 3 hours to bake and frost ONE cake. Totally admire her determination and efforts!

The quiche arrived with a generous serve of salad with tiny bits of garlic and juicy cherry tomatoes. Quiche was fantastic, only slightly creamy, adequately bouncy with a hearty serve of spinach and and mushrooms! The crust was winning, flaky yet sufficiently crusty, it remained crispy and the buttery fragrance shone through delightfully.



 

The cuppaccino was pretty ordinary though. It's kind of light and maybe it was my request for skim milk that resulted in the foam being slightly less than fluffy. Or.. it could also be me having had Chye Seng Huat coffee before, so it's difficult to find a good match in most other cuppas!

 

Orange Almond Cake $6

Wooo, can't leave and live without a sweet ending, the owner's first recommendation was this Orange Almond cake. It's served warmed, with cream on the side and it's extremely moist! Indeed not overly sweet as per recommended, the orange shone through and you would not tire of the cake even bite after bite after bite... TWO thumbs up!

Overall, a very delightful find on a Saturday afternoon. I will definitely return for the good-looking sandwiches and that chunky banana pecan slice I spied in the chilled display.. or that little round dish of apple crumble!

Kooka Cafe
18 Purvis Street 



Almost Puff Pastry Apple Pie

What the husband wants is what the husband gets! Though it's more of by the way since I was preparing a dish for a friend's housewarming party, it served 2 occasion in one bake!

 

I typed apple pie into Google and being an all-american favorite with many french versions as well, there were lots of recipes to choose from. Previously, I've done apple pies with a bottom crust only, mainly using a sweet almond pastry crust which is a hardy pie crust with a good bite to it. This time, I tried a flaky crispy pie crust from one of my favorites bloggers - Brown Eyed Baker. Her recipes are clear in instructions and pictures are instructional as well as inspirational.

 

Hers is a hand pie version which looks super yummy and definitely way better than my amateur attempt. For mine, I adapted it slightly and multiplied the quantity to make 1 9-inch double-layered pie and 1 8-inch latticed pie. For the filling, I used back the same recipe as in my Apple Frangipane Tart. The end result was well-liked by the hub, and me! It was indeed flaky, and crisp on the top layer, very much like a puff pastry without all the work of folding butter within the layers. I think one key trick is to really ensure all the ingredients and tools are kept cold at all times. Try to make this on e rainy day or a cold environment!

 

Due to very limited dough quantity as the greedy me was trying to make 2 pies, the crust turned out too thin. Would make it much thicker in the next attempt.

Flaky Pie Crust (Adapted from here)

Makes 1 8-inch double crust

 

2.5cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

227g unsalted butter, cubed and cold

1/3 cup plain yoghurt

4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup iced water

 

1. Place flour and salt in a bowl, keep cold in freezer for 30 minutes

2. Cube the butter and keep cold in freezer for 30 minutes

3. Mix yoghurt, lemon juice and ice water together

4. Make a well in middle of flour mixture and add the butter. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until large lumps are formed.

5. Form another well and pour half the yoghurt mixture in. Stir in with a fork. Pour in the remaining yoghurt mixture and stir to form a large ball. You should still be able to see specks of butter in the dough.

6. Divide dough into 2 and wrap each in clingwrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I left mine overnight. Dough remains slightly soft and can be easily rolled out through to the 2nd day.

 

When ready to bake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220C, with tray placed on the lower rack of the oven to heat the bottom crust (to avoid a soggy bottom layer)

2. Butter the tray and roll out one disc of dough, patting it snugly into the tray.

3. Top with apple filling and layer the 2nd piece of dough on top. Wet the perimeter of the dough and pinch to seal the 2 doughs together.

4. Brush with egg wash and spinkle with sugar. (if the top tier is a full crust, cup 4 to 6 openings on top before baking to allow steam to escape. Not applicable for lattice-topped pies)

5. Bake for 20 minutes, carefully move the tray to the middle of the oven and tent with foil to prevent a charred top. Reduce temperature to 190C and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil in the last 5 minutes to get a lovely golden brown top.

 

 

 

Tips:

- Work quickly to prevent butter from melting. If butter seems to be melting at any point, place everything back in the freezer to cool before working on it again.

- Do not use hands at all times as the butter will melt very fast in our hands.  

- For one of the pies, I cut and fold the dough once, as an experiment. Indeed the dough rose more than the others. If you have time on hand, go ahead and cut-stack-wrap-chill couple of times.

- To roll the dough out, I like to roll them between layers of clingwrap, which makes it easy to peel off the table, prevent dough from sticking to the table or rolling pin. Line the table with clingwrap, scatter flour generously and place dough onto the floured cling-wrapped table top. Cover with another layer of clingwrap and roll the dough out.

 

Overall, a very delightful apple pie. Loved the crispiness of the top though the bottom was still slightly soggy. The apples had also boiled down to a mash whichas I was hoping for a chunky apple pie filling. how can I do that since I cannot blind-bake the pie? Anyone knows how I can do that? I'm already using a mixture of Granny Smith which breaks down easily and fuji apples that usually do not.

 

Try it out!

Smitten Cafe @Robertson Quay

On a public holiday, we expected the popular stretch of cafes at Robertson Quay to be packed to the max. Thankfully, our destination, Smitten Cafe is pleasantly quiet though I'm not sure if that means good for us but weeeeell, not so good for the owners..

It's a cosy little place with 3-4 tables indoor and a larger number outside the shop but still under shade. Since we alreadg had lunch, we ordered only a cup of drip coffee. Coffee was not bad, with a strong aroma, but not particularly memorable. What stuck with me was that it was served with a delightfully pretty tray of sugars and milk. Gers just love fancy sweet looking accessories!

 

The beverage menu has a much wider selection than the food items and there's a range of cakes and cookies available in the chilled display.

 

Love the jars of iced water. Filled with orange slices in one and strawberry in the other, the light flavor and colourful trays attracted me to pour cups of water!

 

 

Some very interesting and complicated looking machines.

 

 

A thoughtful act by the owners - a good selection of magazines for customers to read as they chill out

 

 

 

Not exactly a place I would choose for lunch or dinner, but good to visit if you are within the area and everywhere else is crowded.

 

 

a Pictorial reminder of a rose swirl cupcake frosting

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of baking with good girl pals, for a joyous baby shower occasion.

 

Jam again! Apple Cranberry Jam.

It was my last day at work on Friday and I wanted to give a little bit of some home-made goodness to my lovely colleagues. Jam somehow came to my mind again. I seem to think that by slow-cooking all those fruits, it symbolises the capping (in this case, jarring) of the good times over the last few years together, and gifting it as a way to commemorate the memory of our friendships. Besides, juicy cranberries + chunky soft apple pieces nestled in a low-sugar gelatin-free jam makes for a relatively healthy spread (presumably).

 

It was met with pretty good reviews, though the jam was a little too much fruit and too little jam, such that it's more a chunky paste rather than a spread. Guess it could be my drastic reduction of the sugar. Yet, it was sweet enough, any more sugar and it would have been way too sweet. So perhaps, I may have to add more water and cook it down a little longer in my next attempt. Home made jam is such a easy-to-make and much healthier alternative to store purchased bottles. Just ensure there's good TV going on while you peel, core, cut your way through the fruits!



Recipe (Source):

Makes 18 small bottles, cooked in 2 huge pots.

25 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces, approx 18 cups of diced apples

750g dried cranberries

Juice from 3 lemons

3 tablespoon of cinnamon powder

1 kg fine white sugar

2 cups water

 

Place apples, cranberries, sugar and water into a pot deep enough that the mixture would not bubble over. Boil at high temperature for around 15-20 minutes until cranberries look fat and juicy, apples slightly soft.

Add lemon and cinnamon powder, simmer over medium heat until mixture reduces into a paste. This took around 45 minutes in my AMC heat-conducive pot which boils things usually much faster than other pots. 

 

Fill clean, dry, sterilised jars with jam immediately, and cool to room temperature. Store in refrigerator. Love it with crackers!





Notes:

• I used a mixture of small royal gala lady, granny smith and big fuji apples. The small roya gala apples are softer and sweeter, therefore cooks into a mushy naturally sweet paste better. I like granny smith for that hint of tartness and the fuji apples provide the chunks as the apple pieces can retains the bite as the other apples melts into the jam mixture.
• Since apples are cranberries are both naturally high in pectin, there is no need for gelatin. The jam will set nicely and bouncily!
• The jam turned out pretty chunky, would be a good accompaniment to roast turkey in Xmas times or paired with a thick slab of ham in chunk of crusty bread. Yumz!

Dulcet & Studio

Does the above explain my constant running yet expanding waistline?? The Japanese really knows their sweet tooth. I wish I could bake a mean chiffon cake like them. But guess.. that's why they are in business and I'm not. *dream dream dream*



Dulcet & Studio is under the Tampopo family, famous for their cream puffs and strawberry shortcakes. Not a fan of these 2 cakes, my choice was the C-cube!

I thought it was going to be a dense, cakey chocolate decadence kind of cake. Wow! I was pleasantly and thoroughly thrown off. It was the complete opposite, a light yet moist chiffon-style cake covered with a thin layer of chocolate glace. It was perfect as a afternoon delight.

Was wondering why the cake was leaning to the side initially but upon the first bite, we knew. The cake structure is very delicate due to the softness of the texture, check out the holey interior. I really could not stop digging into this creation.

Mont Blanc

Unwittingly, I've posted the cakes in the order of my favourites. This is another must-eat if I go back to this place. The chestnut strips are thick and so fragrant, the tart crust crisp and there's a layer of chestnut cream in the middle, 3 flavors all welding together in a complementary manner. Not overly sweet as well, this is one very satisfying dessert. 

Cheese Chiffon

This is another version of their chiffon cake, layers of cake flavored with cheese and sandwiched/covered with a cheesy whipped creamy frosting. Again, its texture is light as cotton and the cheese lends a creaminess to the cake. Nice but just.. nice. Not something for which I'll make a special trip. 

Situated at Liang Court, it is pretty empty whenever I passed by so it could be a good place to go for a quiet coffee. Decor is pretty simple, none of the cosy ambience nor random but interesting knick knacks signature of cafes these days. It may not be a fancy, girly place but the peace and easily availability of seats may warrant a afternoon trip if you want to avoid talking above the din of usual weekend tea-time noise. and. of course, the cakes are totally worth the visit!

Dulcet & Studio

117 River Valley Road

#01-41/42 Liang Court

Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah

I think I'm an oldie at heart.. I love all things nostalgic. To date, I'm still looking for a childhood favourite of mine.. The Hiro Cake.

Anyone remember this? I always remember the school canteen selling this, a sweet yellow crumbly cake coated in a light layer of chocolate. It's not a very yummy cake and I'm sure Apollo cakes would be a slightly better rendition of this kind of cakes. But.. its just so nostalgic and nowhere to be found, that it's always on my mind.

And... remember the Doraemon chocolate balls that comes with a little toy? That was waaaaay before the days of Kinder Surprise! A little rectangular box with some 8-10 little choc balls but every kid wants it just for the toy!



Ha! There's really no link between a Hiro Cake, a Doreamon chocolate and Tau Sar Piah. These little bits of nostalgia was brought to mind only because Mr and Mrs Tan (that's me!) visited a really old-school shop on a hot Sunday afternoon - Loong Fatt Eating House & Confectionery!

oh man, the queue was long. Since I'm a big fan of tau sar piah, with a particular fondness for the salty ones from Malaysia and if a long queue usually means a good piah, there's really nothing much else to think about but just join in the queue.  This is indeed one traditional piah shop.

There's only 2 flavors for the tau sar piah, sweet or salty, unlike the plentiful other such shops in the same street with a myriad of flavors. I supposed it's good to focus as indeed their piah was as good as piah can be. There need not be many flavors as you can easily devour 2-3 of the these at 1 go.

The pastry was buttery and crispy; combined with the slight saltiness of the filling, there's a very satisfying sweet saltiness to the biscuit. It's kind of like the asian version of a salted caramel pastry. Go for the salty ones, which has more dimensions to the taste than the sweet ones. By the way, the filling is not the sand-like granules type of filling, it's a paste form, even for the salty ones. I was a little surprised at first but guess this is considered a point of differentiation from others!

At only 60cents per piece, everyone in the queue was ordering 30 or 50 pieces at one go. We bought 32 pieces and easily finished them amongst the family in 2 days. They also sell banana cake, butter cake, egg tarts etc..

Check out their boxes. Love the traditional yet elegant look!

PS: I had the tau sar piah hot from the oven on day 1 and microwaved slightly on day 2. Oooh la la, day 1 was uber I-wanna-lick-up all the bits and day 2 was just as good, around 90%, though I think toasting in the oven would achieve just the same yum factor as day 1.

Loong Fatt Eating House and Confectionery

639 Balestier Road

(It's very near Singapore Pools, turn in right when coming from Novena. There's a public car park just behind this stretch of shops)

Closed on Sundays

6253 4584

Tip: You can call ahead to order and skip the queue!

Tiong Bahru Bakery Raffles City

Finally! I made my way to Tiong Bahru Bakery. So glad for their new outlet at Raffles City, which is rather large, bigger than a usual cafe would be. Despite the size, we still joined the long queue, thankfully it moved fast and we were allocated a table around 20 minutes later. The system is quite efficient - you get a table number, go to the counter, order and collect your food, pay and be seated. Drinks will be served to the table. Iced/Hot water, jam/butter, cutlery and serviettes are self-serviced, on a corner counter.

The croissant was yummy! It's not uber buttery and has a rather crisp top but I love the doughy interior, which is fluffy yet very substantial, satiating the bready queen that I am.

The lemon tart was pretty normal though. I like the candied citrus peel and I think it was sandwiched with a layer of almond paste though I couldn't be sure as the fragrance did not stand out. Neither was there a very lemony taste to it. The tart base was good though, crisp and sturdy. Not something I would repeat..

The Apple Crumble is recommended! The crumble on top added a buttery touch to the layers of thinly sliced apples over a flat biscuit base. Overall, a very delightful afternoon sweet treat however, it's a touch too sweet, would be better to share rather than devour one alone as it could wear out the palate.

Ordered by a friend, it's a salted caramel pastry according to the service staff. Didn't try this but it sure looks good!

Sigh... my purpose in visiting TBB was actually to try the much-acclaimed Squid Ink Burger! It was sold out when we arrived and only re-appeared when we were already stuffed. Well, this just means I've to revisit them soon again, which is not such a bad idea.

My only gripe is that the food is not served warmed. I asked for my croissant to be warmed though and the service staff happily obliged.

The crowd thins around 5-6pm, guess most people go for dinner or are waiting for dinner then so this is a good time to go to avoid the queue. Get your dinner fix from the fanciful range of burgers available. Totally worth a visit!

Tiong Bahru Bakery

Raffles City Shopping Centre

B1-11/12

(next to Soup Spoon & Ben&Jerry's)