Lasting Impressions

Mum's Observation: When you make a lasting impression on Primary 4 children, it lasts at least for more than a year. This cake is the proof of this observation. Ms Tan was Bri's form teacher last year. On her birthday last year, we made a chocolate cake for her. One year later, though she no longer teaches Bri's class, but they still wanted to give her a birthday cake.

Going Bananas

Another frozen ripened fruit that is in abundance (in our freezer) is the good old banana. Tonight, two of them went into this moist banana cake. Mama got this recipe from a friend when we were staying in Melbourne. But ever since she tried this recipe, she never uses any other banana cake recipe. This has got to be the simplest, yummiest banana cake ever.

The recipe calls for an 8 inch round tin -something we don't have at home. So she baked it in this 6 inch Silicon round pan. By now, she knows she should not pour all the batter into a smaller tin. So guess, where the rest of the stuff went?





Here it is ... into one of her heart-shaped silicon pan :-)

Blueberry Strudel Muffins

Last weekend, Mama wanted to give her band a treat for being such a great bunch of musicians. So she took the Apple Strudel Muffin recipe and substituted the apples with blueberries. No particular reason for the substitute - we didn't have apples in the fridge, but we had fresh frozen blueberries in the freezer.
It looks almost like the apple strudel muffin, except for the telltale blueberry peering from the sides. But our friends who tasted this said the Blueberry Coffee Cake (aka Blueberry Slice - see photos below) tastes better.

Just One Inch Smaller

Blueberry Slice is what you get when you attempt to bake a Blueberry cake in a spring form baking pan just one inch larger than what the recipe calls for!

The Fairest of Them All

You gotta agree with me that this has got to be the prettiest looking cinnamon rolls Ma has ever made.

The one on the right is waiting to go into the oven.

You probably won't be able to make any comparisons cos she never takes photos of those that turn out in inferior shapes and forms. As it is with most things, "Practice makes perfect!" applies to making cinnamon rolls, too!

Here's a peek while they are baking inside the oven.

And here they are, fresh from the oven!

If I can do it, so can you!

Ma's been practicing making cinnamon rolls on her own lately. She used to need my father or my cousin to help her bake them. But I realised that she has been doing them single-handedly. So I figured that if she can do it, maybe ... I could? Here's my first cut at rolling out the dough.

First, you have to roll out a round piece of dough into a rectangle. It took me many many tries to get it right, but I finally did!
Then you spread some butter on it so that the cinnamon sugar mixture won't fall off when you start rolling it up.

After that layer of butter, we filled it cinnamon powder and brown sugar mix and a generous heap of chocolate chips.
Here it is now, all rolled up nicely.
And cutting them into 1 and a half inch thick cinnamon rolls. Whew! that was hard work.

Recreating Pineapple Tarts

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we went to my cousin's place. Mama brought along all the ingredients for making pineapple tarts because there was one more packet of pineapple paste that she had no plans on keeping for 2010.

A few weeks ago we had made some yummy ones and they took a long time to make because we had to decorate each one. This time, she and my cousin were looking for new ideas, and perhaps some creative"short cuts". Papa was ready to give all sorts of suggestions.

First, they snipped bits of the pineapple paste and mixed them into the pastry so that every bite of each pineapple tart would have pineapples!

I am not so sure that was such a good idea. So other than snapping a few pictures here and there, I was not at the scene of the crime. I was happily watching videos and playing games on the computer (which i only get to do during public holidays!) in my cousin's room.

Initially (at least this is what i overheard), Mama just wanted to make "shapeless" balls and put them on macaroon paper cups. But my cousin had other ideas. She wanted to make shiny round tarts. These are smooth, golden pineapple balls!


Wait, I need to show you one more thing they did: sausage- shaped pineapple tarts :-)

Just so you know, normally, this is how pretty our pineapple tarts look like ... (sorry for the poor quality of this last photo)

Assembling the 5 and 0

Here's where it all began ... yes, in a piece of paper that clearly showed Ma how to cut each slab of cake to shape. It seems complicated, but hey, look on the bright side - it's gonna be easier next year when Pa turns "51" :->
This was how it looked when ma assembled the cake (I was at golf training when she did this).


One digit done, one more to go!
Done ;-)

Pa's Birthday

Today, Pa turns 50. We decided to make him a cake with the number "50". Without any idea on where to begin, we sought the help of my engineer cousin who painstakingly drew a model to help ma how to assemble a "50" cake using an 8" square, a 9" round and a 6" round Banana Cake. Here is how it eventually turned out.

Do an eye check first: Can you see where the "Happy Birthday" sign is?

Happy 10th Birthday Bri!

Bri turned 10 on 17th December. While mum baked the cake and slapped the chocolate frosting on it, Bri designed and decorated her own cake. An amazing 10 year old, don't you think?

The Making of Bri's Birthday Cake

Here's where it all began ... As you can see, her cake is made of Chocolate Brownies. We had to bake two of them. One square for the "1" and a round one for the "0". With a donut cutter and a knife, I had to create a hole in the middle of the round Chocolate Brownie cake. It wasn't easy as the chocolate chips got in the way of the cutting. There was a near landslide around the hole (if you can spot it), but as you will see later, the icing saved the day.
See how the chocolate frosting concealed the landslide?
Bri then added the pretty flowers and butterflies around the number "10" - thanks to Kai Qi ;-)
If you're wondering what those long sticks are doing in her cake, they are the birthday candles, except that they are like sparklers. Yes, they light up like sparklers. Quite exciting to watch as you sing, "happy birthday to you ..."

These are what's left of the sparkler birthday candles ;-)

The Making of Brownie Cupcakes in Photo

Melt the chopped butter and unsweetened chocolate in a metal bowl over a simmering pot of water. Stir until all are dissolved.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour into the mixture. Well, you don't have to sift it but be prepared to spend a good 20 minutes just squashing away flour lumps! speaking from experience ...
We have found that the least painful way of getting the batter into those pretty cases with the least splatter is to use a humble jug to pour them in.
Fill the cupcake cases three quarters from the base. This way, you get a bit of space on top for the frosting. Now, wasn't that simple?

Rara's Birthday (cup)Cake

Someone said you could play Boggle with these cupcakes ;-)
This was how they looked like before they were frosted with a layer of chocolate icing.

Apple Strudel with Too Much Apples

This was how the first batch of Apple Strudel Muffins turned out.
Lesson learned: when the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of chopped green apples, add 1 1/2 cups of green apples. Eat up the rest ... or else they will turn out like these....
or these ... and spend some time scraping off the "overflow" from the muffin cup to the baking tray :-(

Anyway, they tasted as great as the first batch ... and all the best to Bri's golf tournament tomorrow and Friday! p.s. drop some crumbs for the starving ants on the golf course ;-)

Gingerbread aka Orange Man

This is a yummy Orange Cake recipe that ma baked in a gingerbread man cake pan. She had to slice off the bulging tummy (see ealier post). Thanks to Mr Poh for taking the photo.

Mama's Birthday

I volunteered to stay at home alone when I was supposed to go to church today because it's mama's 44th birthday today. When I was at home I baked a cake for her. It took me quite a long time. This picture was taken after i put the icing and the candle on.
This is how it looked before i put the icing and the candle on. You do not want to see how I made it.

The Winning Orange Cake

Selamat Hari Raya, Suhaila! Thanks for the lovely photo ;-)
An overweight (see the bulge in the middle?) orange-bread man! Lesson learned here: never fill a cake pan more than 3/4 full. It looked a lot better after Ma decorated it. But she can't find the photo for nuts, and she's given the cake away ;-(

The same cake in a different pan: Orange Cake - tastes nicer than it looks. Ma got this recipe from a magazine when we were in Australia. A reader sent it in and she won an electric kettle for this recipe!

Total Faliure

First, mix oil, milk, egg and mashed banana.

Next, get another bowl for some flour.

Then, mix them altogether.

After that, pour them into a heart shape silicon mould.

This is what it looks like after it came out of the oven.

This is the only one that looks okay to be a heart.