Category: Uncategorized
Apple Cinnamon Bread
Helloooooooo
School has been alright so far. ODAC has been quite good as well. I have been struggling with my studies. I always thought that I don’t have time for my tutorials, but turn out I am just procrastinating. hmmmm. Studying is surprisingly quite enjoyable for me.
However, what I really enjoy is baking after all. Spending 1hr kneading the bread was more enjoyable, and therapeutic as well. There were many times when I felt like giving up because my arms were so sore but I have to continue, because if not, the bread will fail. Sounds like life right? Haha!
I really really love this bread and this is one of my favourite bread now. It has the texture of those bread which I have bought outside from those bakery. I was elated and exhilarated!
Other than making this apple cinnamon bread, with the same dough, I made mixed berries bread. Omg. That bread is insane. The whole bread was sticky with the juices that were running from the mixed berries. There were no jam but it tasted as though there was jam. It was not overly sweet because minimal amount of sugar was used to macerate the berries. It was heavenly. However, because they were too soft, I couldn’t take a picture of it, but no worries! I will update you guys soon!
Speaking about this bread, the filling was delicious (Without the apples lol). Without the apples, it was just cinammon sugar butter filling. Its simple because it was so good. I love this combination. Why without the apple? because the recipe I got tasked me to cook the apples in butter only. I guess this is the reason why the flavours of cinammon wasn’t absorbed into the apples. Hence, the apples were flat in terms of flavour.
I made some adjustments to the recipe I got. The bread is mainly 90% adapted from Christine’s tangzhong paibao! After making this bread a few times, I found the perfect ratio to obtain such soft bread.
Here’s the recipe!
For the Tangzhong:
25g bread flour
125ml milk
For the bread:
270g Bread flour
80g All purpose flour
20g Corn Flour
12g Milk Powder
5g Salt
65g Sugar
6g Yeast
120g TangZhong
110ml Milk
30g Whisked Egg
1 large egg yolk
75ml evaporated milk
28g condensed milk
35g softened unsalted butter
For the filling:
1 medium apple
25g butter
1tablespoon cinnamon
50g brown sugar
Instructions:
1. Whisk the bread flour and milk for the tangzhong. Heat it in the microwave for 40s, stir, 40s and stir again. It will be really thick, whisk vigorously to loosen the mixture a little. Leave it aside to cool.
2. Combine all the ingredients except butter for the bread together and start kneading! It took me about 45mins by hand to knead till windowpane. Bread will be quite sticky. When all the ingredients are mixed together, incorporate the butter small pieces by pieces till windowpane is reached.
3. Let it rise in a warm place for 1.5hrs or until it is doubled in size.
4. Punch down the dough and divide the dough into 4 large portions.
Make your filling: Microwave all the ingredients needed for the filling till apples are soft 🙂
5. Oil your rollling pin and your hand (for easier handling of the dough).
6. Roll out the dough until it is 0.3cm thick.
7. Spread your filling. Start rolling from the long side. Once you have a long log, divide the dough into two and start twisting it as though it is a babka.
8. Place it in the tin and let it rise again (this took me another 1hr)
9. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius and bake it for 15mins.
Okay thats it! Enjoy!
Opera Cake
Hello everyone!
I am going to share with you a recipe today! It’s one of my favourite and of course, it tastes absolutely delicious. As you all know, opera cake consists of sponge cake, chocolate ganache and buttercream. Yep, thats the component of my cake.
I got this recipe from butter and brioche’s opera cake and you can head over to her blog to take alook. Her recipe comes from ‘Layered’ cookbook, which I really want but I dont have the money to purchase one. 😦
I followed her steps pretty well just that I used walnut meal instead of almond meal and that my walnut meal was not as fine as it should be. However, it became a blessing in disguise. The bigger chunks of walnut added a whole new level of texture to the cake, providing some crunch and make the cake more enjoyable. It’s an unexpected crunch. 🙂
As for the buttercream, she used a buttercream made with egg yolks. However i lost my candy thermometer hence I couldn’t measure the temperature of my sugar syrup, which resulted in a super watery buttercream which actually tastes good. Of course, I didn’t use it and used the heavy cream+cream cheese frosting. It’s my favourite frosting and I really really love it. It’s creamy and light at the same time, and most importantly, not as sweet. It doesn’t have the oily feeling when it melts in your mouth. One word: delish.
As for the chocolate ganache, I have used 85% Lindt chocolate which made it really dark and delicious. Of course, it’s not sweet and have the hint of bitterness to it which is really really really addictive.
Overall, the whole cake is not sweet at all. If you are craving for a sweet cake, this is not really for you because the coffee flavour is well-expressed and together with the dark chocolate, it’s perfect with a cup of coffee.
So here’s the recipe!
Citrus Mousse Cake
Hello Everyone!
It has been so long since I last blogged. School has just finished but I have been helping out at parent’s pizza shop so did not really have the time to blog. But… today, I am going to share with you this glorious citrus cake.
Be prepared. There are a few elements to this cake but it all comes together quite easily. I considered this cake to be quite easy to make. I felt really happy when i made this. The flavours combination are one of my favourite.
Passionfruit. Orange. Blueberries. Strawberries. YUM!
This whole cake is so light and refreshing and you can’t help but to take the second slice. The third slice. The fourth slice…. *Nobody knows*
The cake comprises of an orange sponge cake (oh gosh. This is so delicious). Cheesecake mousse (It is airy and super duper light, plus there is no egg yolks involved!), blueberry and strawberry compote (I just love berries) and passionfruit curd (tangy tangy baby), and an orange agar layer.
If you are looking for a sweet cake, while… This is not for you. It is not the slightest sweet, and I think it may tend a little, just a little bit to the sour-ish side because of the orange agar layer which is a tad sourish, but I think its alright. LOL
Okay. Enough of talking. Here’s the recipe!
For the orange sponge cake (makes a 6inch cake)
3 large egg yolks
35g oil
50g orange juice
45g cake flour
Pinch of salt
Zest of one orange
3 egg whites
50g sugar
Method:
1. Line the bottom an 6″ round pan. Preheat oven to 160C
2. Beat egg yolks, oil together until combined before adding orange juice and zest.
3. Stir in the flour. Ensure
5. Beat egg whites on medium speed for 2min. Continue beating while gradually adding the sugar and beat at high speed for another 2 minutes. Beat till soft to firm peaks but not stiff.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter with a hand whisk. Add another 1/3 and fold until almost combined.
7. Pour into prepared pan and bake with a water bath at 160C for 40-45 minutes (Mine took 40minutes) or until cooked. (What I did was to fill up cupcake mould with water and place the prepared pan ontop of the cupcake mould)
8. Remove from oven and let it cool down. 🙂
After you are done with the cake layers, move on to the passionfruit curd.
25g passionfruit (More if you like it to be more tangy)
18g butter
25g sugar
1 egg
method:
1. Place passionfruit and butter into a saucepan and heat it till it is bubbling.
2. Whisk the egg and the sugar together in a heatproof bowl.
3. Slowly whisk in the passionfruit and butter into the egg and sugar mixture, slowly tempering it. Whisk vigorously so as to prevent the egg from scrambling.
4. Cook the curd using bain-marie.
5. Stir it occasionally to prevent the bottom from getting too overcooked.
6. Once it starts to thicken, remove from the heat.
7. Place a clean plastic wrap over the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming.
8. Let it cool completely before using.
After the passionfruit curd is done, move on to the blueberry/ strawberry compote.
1. Puree 110g of a combination of blueberry and strawberries with 15ml of lemon juice, zest of half a lemon and 40g of honey.
2. Pour it over a saucepan and cook till its boiling
3. Meanwhile, bloom 4g of gelatin powder over 80ml of water.
4. Once the blueberry mixture if boiling, remove from heat and stir in the gelatin. Whisk till all the gelatin has melted.
5. Add 115g of blueberries to the mixture.
6. Let it cool.
Cheesecake Mousse
112g cheesecake
30g honey
Juice and zest of half a lemon
35g milk
3.5g of gelatin bloomed in 30ml of water
Method:
Whisk cheesecake and honey till it is light and fluffy.
Microwave the milk for 2 minutes till it is steamy. Whisk in the gelatin and stir till it is smooth.
All the gelatin/milk mixture into the cheesecake and honey mixture.
Stir is the juice and the zest.
Whisk till it is completely smooth.
Orange Jelly:
75g orange juice
1g agar
Whisk the orange juice and agar together.
Microwave for 3 minutes till it is nice and hot.
Strain it immediately. (it sets almost immediately!)
Assembly:
Put an acetate over the 6inch cake pan.
Divide the cake layers into 3.
Place the top layer (the layer which has abit of cracks) on the bottom.
Spread all the curd over the cake.
Pour 1/3 of the cheesecake mousse over.
Place the blueberry compote over the cheesecake mousse.
Top it up with 1/3 of the mousse.
Place the second cake layer over it.
Top it up with the remaining mousse.
Place the last cake layer over.
Place the jelly on top of the cake layer.
Enjoy 🙂
There you go! Cheesecake mousse cake. Yumz!
ODAC HANDOVER VIDEO
Glorious Sweet Potato Bread
Glorious Purple Sweet Potato Honey Bread. Full with nutrients and goodness.
Introducing to you: The glorious sweet potato bread! Sweetened with honey and filled with the nutrient packed sweet potato! Not forgetting the fabulous purple hue it produces!
The bread recipe was obtained from Xiachufang and the sweet potato filling was adapted from Vintage Trinket. However, the sweet potato was not as sweet as I would like but it is also because I did not add any sugar inside, making it even healthier and wholesome. Minimum butter was add in to make it more creamy and that’s all.
A nutrition filled breakfast for everyone and for everyday! Yum! 
Recipe for Bread:
- 200g bread flour
- 50g cake flour
- 55g honey
- 2.5g salt
- 3g yeast
- 125g milk
- 35g egg
- 25g unsalted butter
- Mix all the ingredients except butter together till windowpane stage is achieved. Knead after the dough is soft and smooth. It may be really sticky at first but do not be tempted to add more flour, but rather, continue to knead the dough. Add the butter till it is incorporated.
- Let it rise till it is doubled. (Mine took 1hr)
- Punch the dough down and divide it into 10 portions.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Shape the dough and fill it up with the sweet potato filling.
- Let it rise for a second time
- Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or till it is hollow when tapped.
- Devour
Sweet Potato Filling:
- 200g mashed and cooked sweet potato
- 20g unsalted butter
- pinch of salt
- some milk
- Add the butter into the hot mashed sweet potato and mix well until the butter melts.
- If the mixture is too dry, add some milk to lighten it up.
- Set the filling aside to cool.
Enjoy 🙂
Lemony orangy Lemony Cake
Hello guys!
Presenting to you one of the loveliest cake with the best crust, that can be eaten plain on its own or use it to assemble a layer cake.
It is full with citrus flavours, and most importantly, it is not overly sweet! The crust on top, oh gosh, I can eat this all day, for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner and for supper. This cake was the main cake component for my friend’s birthday cake, and I would have to admit, this is the best part of the whole cake, because my lemon curd failed and my buttercream, failed even more badly.
However, this cake saved the whole cake. Yes, it did! ❤ It was really easy to make and the texture was just spot on! It was even better than the blueberry lemon cake layers I baked last time, and this definitely have lesser ingredients!
This cake layer is adapted by April Charter ‘Decorated’. There are so many recipes inside that I would like to try out and I hope you do as well! I am sure you will love this cake as much as I do!
Here’s the recipe (Makes 4x6inch cake layers)
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g granulated/ caster sugar (it was previously 310g sugar)
- 4 medium eggs (lightly beaten)
- 300g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 120ml milk
- Zest of 2 lemons and 2 oranges
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius. Grease 2 6inch cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment.
- Using a electric hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 3-4 mins (I beat it for 3mins) till it is light and fluffy.
- Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating after each addition, until they’re well incorporated. I like to beat slightly longer after adding the last bit of egg so that the mixture can be slightly more fluffy (Approximately 20 seconds)
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a clean bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.
- Add the milk, continuing to beat and then add the remaining flour mixture and the zest and beat until just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared cake tins. Bake in the over for 45-50 minutes (mine took 50 minutes) or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes in their tins, then turn them out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Look at the crust! Oh My Goodness!
Argh So hotttttt
Eating Tang Yuan marks the end of the 15th day of Chinese New Year. Eating Tang Yuan symbolizes 团团圆圆, which also mean a family staying close together. However, jiejie has flown back to Aussie and since the family is not 4/4, we have decided to skip eating Tang Yuan….
Till……
I suggested eating black ball. Wells, the pearls are round… The yam glutinous balls are round, sweet potato balls are round, we are still revolving around the topic of round right? Well, I have tried this many many times and I still love it. The sweet icy winter melon topped with grass jelly and aiyu jelly and other topping, oh gosh! This is way better than a $18.90 Bingsu which is bland and simply put, you are just paying for shaved milk… Both Mama, Papa and I agree that we would rather eat ice but with something that has more toppings and more flavourful and something that is more than half of the price.
The lightning makes this picture looks extremely beautiful and simply make the whole bowl of goodness shines through. Yum! Perfect for such a hot weather in Singapore!
Loving it <3<3
Working Life
10.22am, 1hr and 30 minutes more to work.
Honestly, I am pretty tired but thinking about my manager who has been working for a few years and going back home at 12plus and coming to work at 10.30am, I am sure he is even more tired.
I finally understood why parents complain that they are really tired from working (as in physically tired and not mentally tired) and I finally understood why they say that earning money is not as easy as it seems. Working now, I may be just working for myself, for my own allowance, but our parents are working for the whole family, for the house, for the car, for the utilities, for our spending.
I have became very very sensitive with money because I realize that it is not easy to earn money. Being a part-timer, working 10 hours on a Sunday only earns me $80, which is $8 per hour. Honestly, this is not a lot but considering that this is such a flexible job, and I truly enjoyed it, $80 is worth it.
I also realize how some customers can be so cute but will set you back to the ‘what the hell’ mode. Some will ask you how does salted caramel ice cream tastes like or how does banana ice cream tastes like. I would say, it just tastes like banana and salted caramel. Taste preference, up to you actually.
Our snackbar has a place for the customers to sit down and often, there are intruders. Some will leave politely when I ask them to, some gave me the ridiculed face and you will be so offended because they didn’t even buy anything. But i guess, this society just has this kind of people. They don’t mean any harm but I guess they would have to have the common sense to not sit in other people’s territory when you didn’t even buy their products right?
Some people will ask for directions when we don’t even look like an information counter and some will ask where is the toilet when the toilet direction is just right above their head and they should have noticed when they are walking towards us. Teach me to be more aware of the surroundings so that I would not be this kind of people when I go out.
Working definitely taught me a lot of things. Some people are really desperate for money and that is why they worked. They are not as fortunate as most of us and therefore, we must be appreciative of what we have and be grateful for whatever we have in our life.
[Updated]
It has been more than a month since I last worked. It has been a pretty hectic month, working working and working. Mum and Dad didn’t plan any holiday this year because we are short of instant cash, hence we have to save up for many things. I am actually okay with it, just that I will envy some of my friends sometimes, or actually most of the time when they go overseas. But, you know, life is so long, I will still have many opportunities to go overseas.
My goal is to save up enough money and to bring my parents overseas every year. I know Mum loves travelling and I promise that I will work hard and earn enough money to bring her around the world.
Work has generally been super fun for me and I have learned many new things. I finally understood why some of my colleagues are desperate for money, some just want to earn additional pocket money, some, because they do not receive any pocket money from their parents.
Oh yea! I bought a birthday resent for my Mum with the first pay that I have received. Are you proud of me? And a diary for Jie Jie and I. I didn’t buy anything for Dad because I am not sure what he will like but I will cook when I have the time, I won’t forget that, Dad!
Fresh Blueberry Lemon Cake with a raspberry cream
I wonder where will I be in 10 years time.
Married? Kids? Or just a workaholic? I don’t know.
Am I able to have a long-lasting marriage amidst the high rates of divorce?
I am so glad that Papa and Mama marriage can last for more than 20 years. It is not easy. Despite the fact that Papa has many flaws, Mama still tolerated them. Despite the fact that Mama always say that she has married the wrong man, but they are still together right now.
Honestly, I am really scared that Mama will divorce Papa when we grow up because Mama always say that the reason to why she is still holding on to this marriage is because of Sis and I. I wonder, can we stop growing up? I don’t want to reach adulthood. Really.
However, despite those drama, Mama has requested me to bake something for her for her anniversary. Mama loves blueberries and strawberries and anything that is Jam-my. She makes her own jam (With chia seed and sweetened with honey) and she was rushing to finish off the bottle of jam which had no presevetives. There is also no extra sugar for long-lasting canning, which is why we have to finish as soon as possible. Therefore, i thought it will be absolutely fabulous to make this cake for Mama.
This cake is very simple. Its a blueberry lemon cake. I have once baked this cake 3 years ago when I first started baking and it kinda failed because the texture was really dry. My second attempt was much better (but honestly, my whole family does not like American Style Sponge-Pound cake texture which was the texture of this cake). My family prefers light and spongy cakes maybe because of our Asian Roots. We are very used to eating extremely spongey cakes (much fluffier than normal American Sponge Cakes). They don’t even like Devil Food Cake. They like Angel-cakes texture. But….. The taste was fabulous. It was bursting with lemon and it was good. But overall, it is not a cake that I will crave for.
However……
We have the raspberry buttercream which honestly, makes everything so much better. It is to die for buttercream. I always wonder why does American Buttercream has so much icing sugar. I usually use less than half of the icing sugar stated in the recipe to make my buttercream, and I get the same light and fluffy buttercream as well. I understand that the sugar makes everything thicker, so why do we have to add so much sugar to eat? Hmmm. This is a myth and will always be a myth because I am not willing to add so much icing sugar to my buttercream just to see what happens to the buttercream. But anyways, you saw those black spots on the cream? It is chia seed, therefore, you are eating some healthy food haha and makes you feel less guilty. I was literally licking every single bit of the buttercream. I usually scrape off buttercream off my cake but I was eating the buttercream. It is not overly sweet and it was just right.
Both the cake and the frosting recipe was obtained from Sallysbakingaddiction. I love her blog and her recipe. So please drop by her blog to check out more amazing recipes.
panivorousirks 