Moist Chocolate Cake

                    

Hmm.... I love chocolate and what more a moist chocolate cake! My children just love this cake and whenever I make it, it's finished within 24 hours. I found out after various attempts that one should make a chocolate cake using good quality cocoa. Yes, I used Delfi cocoa powder to make this cake and it turned out delicious. As for the topping, I didn't use cream instead I used milk and butter and it turned out OK.

Ingredients:
250 gm flour
225 gm butter
  60 gm cocoa powder
250 ml  milk
150 gm castor sugar
   2 eggs 
   1 tsp (10 gm) baking powder
   1 tsp (6 gm) baking soda
   1 tsp vanilla essence
   1 tsp nescafe granules
 1/2 tsp salt

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and flour a 20 cm round cake pan.
2. Beat  butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  
3. Add egg one at a time beating well after each addition.  
4. Stir in the vanilla essence.
5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Heat up the milk until warm and stir in the cocoa powder and nescafe granules until both have dissolved. 
6. Gradually fold in the flour mixture alternatively with milk mixture.
7. Turn the batter into the cake pan and bake at 170° C  for about 40 minutes. 
8. Check whether the cake has been baked by inserting a wooden pick into the center of the cake. It should come out clean.
9. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. When cool, cover the cake with chocolate frosting. 

    
Chocolate Frosting 

Melt about 150 gm of cooking chocolate in a medium bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until it has melted. Then add in about 3 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of milk and mix it well into the melted chocolate until combined and smooth. Pour over the cake.

 
 

Rich Fruit Cake

                     Every year my mother used to bake this cake a month ahead of Christmas. After the cake is baked she will wrap it in aluminium foil and every once in  5 days she will drizzle the cake with brandy, wrap it back with the foil and keep it in the cabinet till Christmas. Well every year I too will bake my Christmas fruit cake but I will make it just a day or two before Christmas (saving on the brandy.....).  I don't like to use the mixed fruits sold  in the shops selling bakery supplies. I usually use the Nona Fruits Mix sold in boxes (325 grams) in the supermarkets because the fruits are quite dry and not sweet. I omitted the black treacle as I don't like the cake to be too dark in colour and the sugar I reduced from 225 gms to 100 gms as the mixed fruits are sweet. This recipe is taken from the back cover of the Nona Fruits Mix with slight alterations.

Ingredients:

• Fruits Mix              -   500 gm
• Superfine flour        -   250 gm
• Baking powder       -    20 gm
• All spice powder     -     3 gm
• Butter                     -  225 gm
• Brown sugar           -  100 gm
• Eggs                       -     4
• Chopped almonds  -   100 gm
• Chopped walnuts   -   100 gm
• Vanilla essence       -       5 ml
• Jam                        -     30 gm
• Brandy                   -     30 gm
• Treacle                  -     10 ml (I omitted this)
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 orange  

Method: 

1. Sprinkle fruits Mix and nuts with brandy and orange juice in a bowl, cover it and keep it overnight.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time thoroughly mixing before adding in another egg, then add in the vanilla essence and all spice powder.
4.  Fold in (do not beat with the electric mixer as the fruits and nuts will sink) the flour (which has been sieved together with the baking powder) and fruits mixture alternatively and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour this cake mixture into a 20 cm baking pan lined with grease proof paper on all sides and bake at 150°C  for about 1 1/4 hrs.

 

Vanilla Orange Cup Cakes

  Use to make butter cakes every other weekend, so I thought why not make cup cakes. So off to Wah Seng I went to get the muffin pan and paper liners to make the cup cakes. Some just fill the paper liners and set it on a tray to bake but this way doesn't hold the shape of the paper liners properly. Laying the paper liners onto a muffin pan really mantains the shape of the cup cakes. 

Ingredients:

185 gm self raising flour

  65 gm  flour

250 gm buttercup

120 gm castor sugar

    4 eggs

    1 orange (zest of 1 orange)

150 ml (juice of 1 orange + milk)

    2 tbsp almond powder

    1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Sift the flours together. Add the almond powder and mix together with the sifted flour. Mix the zest of the orange with the castor sugar until the sugar turns orangish in colour.
2. Cream butter and sugar until creamy and pale in colour.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time thoroughly mixing before adding the next egg, then add in the vanilla essence.
4. Fold in the flour into the above mixture alternatively with the orange juice + milk.
5. Spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with cup cake liners
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven 170° C.

Birthday Cakes

 

          Made this orange butter cake with buttercream icing for my youngest son's birthday last April. I learned how to bake cakes from my mother when I was schooling but icing the cake....not an expert on this. Nevertheless managed to ice the cake. The cakes we buy from our bakery usually ice the cakes with just cream icing which has a flat taste. This is why I prefer to bake and ice my own cakes.

          Well, this cake I baked for my colleague, Liza. Just thought I'll give her a surprise so I baked this butter orange almond cake with buttercream icing and celebrated her birthday in the office during lunch break. Usually when I bake cakes I less the sugar because with the icing, the cake will tend to taste sweeter.

          Transported the cake to the office using this cake carrier that has a tall lid that locks securely into it's base. I placed the cake on a cake board so that when I remove the cover, I can serve the cake on the base and when cutting the cake, the base won't get scratched.

 
Orange Almond Butter Cake

Ingredients:

• 250 gm flour (sieve the flour + baking powder 3 times)
•  250 gm buttercup
•  130 gm castor sugar
• 50 gm almond powder
• 50 gm almong nibs
• grated rind of 1 orange  
•  juice of 1 orange + UHT milk = 150 ml
• 4    eggs
• 2    tsp baking powder ( 10 gm)
• 2    tsp vanilla essence

Method:  

1. Using an electric mixer cream together butter (room temperature) and castor sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
3. (If eggs are not beaten well, the mixture will curdle & if this happens just add a bit of flour)
4. Add in the vanilla essence, rind of 1 orange, almond powder and almond nibs.
5. Add half the flour, fold to combine. Add half the combined milk mixture, fold to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into a lined cake pan an bake at about 170 ° C for 40 minutes or until a skewer into the center comes out clean.

Buttercream Icing

Cream 200 gm buttercup (room temperature) with electric mixer. Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, Gradually add icing sugar - 400 gm, beating well on medium speed. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add in about a tablespoon of milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Almond Sugee Cake

Last weekend I decided to bake an almond sugee (samolina) cake. Could not sleep, got up at about 4.30am.......took all the ingredients from my fridge and started baking, after taking a cup of nescafe at about 5.30am. This cake takes some time to make because after creaming the butter and sugar the sugee is added to this mixture and let to soak for about 1 - 11/2 hours. I really like the taste of this cake as it has it's own flavour and aroma. My children love to eat this cake, butter orange cake, moist chocolate cake and cheese cake. I try to bake at least twice a month. Sometimes I take some for my colleagues as they love to savour my cakes not to say I'm good at baking them but rather because they love to eat home-made cakes. I like to make my own cakes because I can control the amount sugar....I usually cut down my input of sugar by 25%. As for the almonds, I add in some almond powder and almond nibs. Usually the almonds nibs are not roasted but I like it roasted a little for as you bite into a piece you get that crunchy taste of the almonds. Yummy Almond Sugee Cake!!!