Panda Bread

Can you see the Panda in the loaf of bread? Yup..my panda is kinna lopsided..but you can still see the panda right? :)
I got the recipe from local blogger Florence - i'm one of her blog fans..LOL! Of course her panda is straight compared to mine. So, please visit her blog to get the recipe if you are keen to make panda bread like this..:) She translated the Japanese recipe to english on her blog..unless you can read japanese, she has the link to the Japanese site as well.

This bread taste like any ordinary bread but i find the 'green tea' part has a bit of bitter taste to it cos of the green tea i guess. But it's not that bad since you gotta eat bread with butter, jam..etc so the very very slight bitter taste is not detectable. :)

Orange Cashew Nuts Biscotti

I followed the book recipe yesterday and my biscotti came out disaster..so hard that it kinna became my dog's biscuits.....LOL!..so i thought about the recipe the whole night (yup! didn't have mood to watch cantonese drama shows even) and reworked the recipe and finally came out with my own version of the recipe..:) Orange Cashew Nuts Biscotti...and it's delicious & crunchy & yummy! :)

I'll follow up with the recipe soon...cos as usu. i gotta log off 'now'..:p

ThePioneerWoman's Coffee Cake

This coffee cake by The Pioneer Woman lives up to it's name..it's really very good! My family couldn't wait for the cake to chill for 1 hour before trying it out, so we cut the cake before it 'set' - hence it is very soft and breaks very easily, but it's just as delicious. If you are a coffee lover, this cake is for you. I'm not a coffee lover and i think like this cake already..LOL! Oh ya, i reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup - i think it's already sweet with 1/4 cup less sugar.

I didn't use her icing as i don't really like butter/powdered sugar icing cos it's way to sweet imo, i used the meringue buttercream (which is not very sweet & more buttery in texture) i already had in my fridge - add coffee paste & coffee powder and voila, coffee buttercream and it taste really good! :D

[Note]: This cake gives a coffee-aftertaste after eating. I'm not too sure if i like the aftertaste since i am not a coffee drinker and i don't drink coffee because of this reason. On the whole the cake is indeed yummy..all the coffee lovers in my office said it's very good..only people like me who's not a coffee drinker finds the aftertaste a bit strong..LOL!

Indonesia Lapis Cake (*Failure*)

My lapis (not the original version - this is the healthier sponge cake version) - does have have visible layers cos i didn't set the correct oven temperature i think. Perhaps i should have set it under the 'grill' settings to darken the top of each layer before pouring the next batter over..as i was unduly worried if i would overcook the batter. Despite failing in the looks, the cake taste great..and not overly sweet & oily. :)

Vanilla Cupcakes (Decorated - Disney)

Bought some Disney cookie cutters today and tried it out on MMF - i think my first painted Mickey is the best..hahaha..i did Mickey and Minnie first then i got tired of doing the rest and i didn't do it as well as Mickey..lol! And i forgot to paint the flower pot on Minnie's head..LOL! Weather's really hot today and i didn't turn on aircon, so i dust the MMF with lots of icing sugar/cornflour..hahaha..i think can still see flour on the cupcakes..LOL!

And the rest of the decorated cupcakes ......

Buttermilk Brownie

I wanted to bake a quick cake and found this recipe in one of my books..buttermilk brownie - with easy mixing (just use a whisk will do) and bake time only 25mins. Best of all i have a tub of ganache sitting in my fridge anyway....
Initially, i was skeptical of the recipe, but in the end it turned out really very very moist and delicious! Everyone in my family loves it..esp. delicious when you eat it still hot..it's more of a crumbly cake texture (not so much of the dense brownie type) without any nuts which i like..:P

So, here's the recipe:-

Buttermilk Brownies
(taken from The Ultimate Cookie Book)
prep: 30mins bake: 25mins oven: 350F makes: 24 brownies

Ingredients:-
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of granulated sugar (i think it is too much....i reduced the sugar by approx 100g probably 1/4 cup?)
1 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla ess
1 recipe chocolate-buttermilk ganache (i used normal chocolate ganache)

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Greased a 15x10x1-in or a 13x9x2-in baking pan, set aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar baking soda, and salt, set aside.
2) In a medium saucepan combine butter, the water & cocoa powder. Bring just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the cocoa mixture to the flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixture (i just use a hand whisk) on medium speed until combined. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat for 1 min (batter will be thin). Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3) Bake abt 25mins for the 15x10x1 inch pan, 35 mins for the 13x9x2 inch pan, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4) Pour warm Chocolate Buttermilk frosting over the warm brownies, spreading evenly. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 24 bars.

Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting
In a suacepan, combine 1/4cup butter, 3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder and 3 tbs buttermilk. Bring mixture to boiling. Remove from heat. Add 2-1/4 cups powdered sugar & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat till smooth. If desired, stir in 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans.

Bread using "Gelatinized Dough"

Just bought Chef Alex Goh's new book "Magic Bread" at Kino (members get 20% off this month..) - he introduces gelatinized dough which he mentioned is first introduced by Japanese chefs. This type of bread making technique, makes the bread soft and springy which is well-liked by Asians. Also he excluded the use of any additives such as bread improvers etc.. in his new book..

I made the basic dough and followed half the dough recipe with his 'Butter Sugar Bread' and the remaining half of the dough, i thought i made something savory, so i added cheese instead. Of course my daughter prefers the sweet version. The bread is indeed soft and springy. I just tried it fresh out of the oven, so i don't know if it would still be soft the next day..(gotta wait and see)..

[The Next Day] : Bread still very soft without the use of any bread improver etc or the need to heat up!! I'm liking this method of bread making already! :)

Basic Sweet Dough Recipe
(taken from Magic Bread by Alex Goh)

Ingredients:-

A) 100g Bread Flour
70g boiling water

B) 300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g yeast

c) 175g cold water
60g cold eggs

D) 60g butter

1) Add boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form a dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it into fridge for at least 12 hrs.
2) Mix B until well blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead till well-blended.
3) Add in D and knead to form elastic dough
4) Let it proof for 40mins.
5) Divide the dough into required weight and mould it round. Rest it for 10mins and ready to use.

Butter Sugar Bread

Prepare the basic sweet dough as above.
Prepare adequate soft butter & sugar.

1. Divid the dough into 80g and mould it round. Let it rest for 10mins.
2. Roll the dough flat into 1cm thick. Place it onto greased pan, let it proof for 45mins
3. Egg wash the surface and use fingertip to make small indentation over the dough. Pipe some soft butter into the indentations and sprinkle the top with sugar.
4. Bake at 180C for 12mins.

Chocolate Cake (Cupcake)

Recipe from ExclusivelyFood.com and the link to their chocolate recipe is here. Instead of making cake version, i did cupcake version, so i can cut down the baking time..:p

The cake is indeed very easy to prepare and very moist and has that melt-in-your-mouth texture. Together with the chocolate ganache, it has a very chocolaty texture which I really like and yet it doesn't feel 'heavy'.

The other recipe i tried from this site which also yield great result was their pancakes..really soft and fluffy! It's a good site to check out for all sorts of recipes! :)

This chocolate cake recipe is definitely a keeper! :)

Chocolate Ganache Cake (Fondant Decorated)

Chocolate Ganache Cake. I tried to make the "one-bowl chocolate cupcake" recipe into a cake but it didn't bake very well imo. The sides became hard when the centre was just nice. So i had to trim off quite a lot of the cake. Our hot and humid weather didn't harden the ganache! The ganache is suppose to set as according to the planet cake book but apparently it didn't..so you can see my cake is slanting to one side because i think it is melting..and ganache layers moving. The MMF became sticky in our hot weather so i had to turn on the air-con while working on it. The moment i switch off the aircon, the MMF becomes sticky again and the black food gel which i made the writings (some drawings were made by my daughter) smudged and made the sides look 'dirty' :( (sad!)... I wrote the wordings "Happy Birthday" in paintbrush..quite nice isn't it? LOL! :P Because this is a rush job, i think i didn't decorate this cake very well. I really wanted to get over and done with asap..and i was quite disappointed that my cake slanted...:(

BTW, the photos of the cake were taken before the food gel smudge....i haven't check my cake in a few hours..so maybe now it is even more 'untidy' sitting in the hot living room!

Chestnut Cream Cake (Decorated)

I made 2 cakes today...yup..and i finished both of them by 4pm today. Cake suppose to be for my daughter to bring to church, but i couldn't decide which one i should make, so in the end i made 2..LOL! This chestnut cake i have made before and i like it a lot. It's sponge cake with chestnut whipped cream layers and frosted with whipped cream. I made the roses with the whipped cream and you can see it is not as smooth as buttercream and has lots of air-pockets. I piped the chocolate into heart shapes and pasted it on the side of the cake.

Sugarflower - Rose III

I made these 2 pink roses tonight and i think i am quite happy with them! *FINALLY* i think i got them right..hahaha.. :D These are just medium roses and not full-blown ones as i got tired of making them...and adding more petals means more time and i want to go Zzzzzz...since it is way pass bedtime already..*yawn*..

Sugarflower - Rose II

I have been making these roses for the past 2 days after work. I don't know what i am going to do with these roses, but i just wanted to practice making them. This time round, i use gumpaste which is so much better than what i used before (ie MMF) and the petals don't fall flat like the first time i was doing it. Even though these roses are still not perfect (i love the roses made by cake journal and i am hoping to achieve that someday :) ) , i am quite happy with them this time and i can see some improvements. :)

More Donuts

Used the donut recipe from Alex Goh's book but i don't like the 'oil' taste to it. No one is really bothered by it except me! hahahaha... I suppose everything is deep fried has an oily taste to it but since i have ultra-sensitive tastebuds and olfactory system/receptors (whatever!), i can taste & smell the oil very distinctly. I wonder if it is because of the shortening in the recipe...perhaps i should have replaced shortening with margarine instead? These donuts taste like those mini donuts that they sell during promotion in Meiyi-Da Japanese supermart..and i don't really like those either because of the deep fried oil smell. That's also the reason why i hate fried man-tou, you-tiao, butterfly fritters..etc...but with the exception of potato wedges..:P

However, the ones i made the day before with bread dough, didn't have as much oil smell as this batch. *shrugs*..

Donuts

Using my tweaked no-knead bread dough in my earlier custard bread, i did a test batch of donuts and they taste good! Quite soft and tasty, much better than the baked ones i did earlier! lol! However, i have to admit that it is not as pillow soft as the J.Co Donuts...must find the right formula! :)