Japanese Cheese Cake

I have always been interested in learning how to do the soft and fluffy cheese cake which I often bought in a japanese cake shop near my house when I was young.  When I went to Japan, I love the soft and fluffy cheese cakes which I could find everywhere. However, back here, I don't seems to be able to find anything similiar to it even though I venture out to chinatown.

When I was in university, one of my friends (she is from Japan) gave me the recipe as a birthday present and when I made it the first time, I failed big time and I told myself that maybe I am just not good at baking. However, after graduating and started working, I finally managed to bake this delicious soft and fluffy cheese cake.  Even though it doesn't look like the store bought ones, the taste is just awesome.

Since I found some cream cheese in the fridge, I decided to make the cheese cake which I love and I kept my fingers crossed the whole time...just in case, I fail again.  After taking some photos, we couldn't help ourselves and ate it with delight.  Here's a photo of my humble japanese cheese cake.

Till next time...happy baking!!!

Mango & Peaches Creamed Sponge Cake

Spring is here and fruits are plentiful. So, I have been decorating my cakes with fruits and my customers are loving it. As my other half kept saying..... "so Asian..."

Here's another cake which I made for one of my customers. Its a sponge cake, filled with strawberry jam, creamed and decorated with fruits.  Here's a photo of my mango & peaches creamed sponge cake.

And, here's a slab cake which I made a month ago (didn't take a photo of it but my colleague who took it was kind enough to SMS me a copy).  I am really happy when my customers love my creations.

Since I am off today, I decided to make some pizzas and let my 2 precious "make" the pizzas.  Here's a photo of their creations.  I am very happy when my kids share my passion in creating magic in the kitchen.

Besides that, my little princess have been asking for raisin bread and I informed her that I will make her some during my off day. So, when I woke-up this morning, the first thing I did with her was to bake her the raisin bread. I am so happy to see her eating her first bun and finished it within a few minutes...haha! Here's a photo of the raisin bread which we made.

And right now, am going to bake a souffle cheese cake as I found some cream cheese in the fridge and its going to expire soon.  Better bake something before I have to throw the cheese into the bin.  Will take a photo later...till then...have a wonderful weekend.

Edible Chocolate Transfer - Transfer A Picture onto A Cake

Edible chocolate transfer is similiar to frozen buttercream transfer.  This is a simple way to get an image onto your cake without buying a printer with edible ink, etc, etc, etc.  When one of our customers came in and asked if we could do a "Hoot The Owl" cake for her daugther's 1st birthday, I was all for it as I would like to try my hands on doing a chocolate transfer of Hoot.

Here's the outcome of my cake and I really hope that they will like it tomorrow.

Here's some photos of the buns which I made at work. Thank goodness it turned out soft and fluffy.

That's all for now...till next time...happy baking!!!

Longan & Lor Hong Kor Drink (Asian Cooling Drink)

When I was a little girl, my Grandma will brew this delicious drink to cool our bodies down during the hot summer season. When one of us gets a sore throat or cough out yellowish phlegm, she will say that we need to cool down our bodies. So, off she will go into the kitchen and brew this delicious drink.

So, what is lor hong kor? The scientific name is siraitia grosvenori and its grown in China and it has been used by Asians centuries ago as it has medicinal properties as it helps with colds, sore throats, cough, etc. As  for longans, its quite a common fruit found in Asian markets. Its scientific name is dimocarpus longan. In SEA, longan is also known as "mata kucing".  Another ingredient which my Grandma will use in this drink is "pong tai hai" fruit. This is a magical fruit as once its soaked in water, it will expand and you will just use the flesh. This little fruit cools down the body too. To sweeten the drink, we use rock sugar. However, I have heard of others who use brown or palm sugar.

The season is changing and my precious family are all falling sick, from the oldest to the youngest. So, since western medicine is not working much, I decided to whip up this simple cooling drink. Thank goodness we always stock-up these ingredients for the "just in-case".

Here's a photo of the ingredients which I used to make the logan & lor hong kor drink.

Check out the pong tai hai....the 1st photo are the fruits. Its like dried buah kana (dried carissa carandas)

After soaking the pong tai hai in water, it expanded and the inside of the fruit is jelly-like. You only eat the inside.

Here's my cup of longan & lor hong kor drink. I prefer to have mine with ice.

Till next time....kam peh (cheers!!!)

Chee Cheong Fun (Rice Noodle Rolls)

We have been yearning for some chee cheong fun and I was searching for a way to make it as quick as possible and opted for the MV version.  I didn't have any wheat / tapioca flour...so, I used cornflour instead.  After mixing the ingredients (rice flour, cornflour, sesame oil, canola oil and salt) together, I spooned it into a MV plastic container and MV for 2 mins. I am not too sure what I did wrong but I find that the sides crust a little ( a little hard). However, beggars can't be choosers. Will it was still hot, we makan kau-kau. As for the sauce, we just used rojak paste, soya sauce, sweet sauce and sugar. Here's a photo of our MV chee cheong fun.

The MV chee cheong fun must be eaten ASAP.  If you let it sit, it will become hard.  Will try the steam version next time....

Homemade Salted Egg

I am so excited to see if my homemade salted egg worked or NOT.....
When I opened the cabinet this morning, I saw the bottle of my homemade salted eggs and realised that I can finally have a taste of my very first homemade salted eggs.  It has been 1 month since I soaked it in the brine.  My other half was so anxious that he took out the 1st egg to test...it wasn't hard boiled yet though. Its kind of like the half-boiled which we may use for mooncakes. We even made some porridge to go along with these yummy salted eggs.

Here's a photo of the half-boiled salted egg.

Here's a photo of one fully boiled salted eggs.

Time to have some Asian porridge...wohoo!!!

Busy, Busy Weekend...

It has been a very busy weekend at my workplace as there was a huge event in town. We have been so busy making cakes, pies, sausage rolls, pasties, etc. One of our regulars order his usual cake for his club and even though I know we are going to be busy, I still took the order as he is our regular customer.  Once the event is over, business will be back to normal and our regulars are the ones who will stick to us and support us. We made more than 200 pies, 200 sausage rolls, 150 pasties....etc,etc,etc.  I worked more than 11 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Besides this, had to make some slices for my boy's school fete. It has been a busy, busy week for me.

Anyway, as I was saying, I made a sponge cake with fruits for our regular customer and I was pretty happy with the results.  Here's a photo of my humble cake. Didn't even had time to display it properly..just place it into the cake box, snap a photo and pass it to the counter girls...haha!

Here's another mudcake which I made for one of our regular customers.  According to science, chocolate is a girl's best friend and it makes her smile. I am so happy to hear that the birthday girl loved the cake. That really made my day. :) Here's a photo of my humble mudcake.

Till next time...happy baking.