Easy Peasy Nutella Brownie Muffins

Are you looking for a simple recipe for your little ones to try out at home?  I found one and this was made by my child.  She was 3 yrs 8 months when she did this.

Nutella Browne Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup Nutella
3 eggs
10 tbsp self raising flour
Some Choc Chips

Method
Preheat oven to 180degrees Celcius.

Add Nutella into a mixing bowl.  Crack in eggs.

 Still cracking...

 Whisk Nutella & eggs till well combined.

Add in flour a tablespoon at a time.  At this time, you may ask Mommy to make herself a cup of coffee or tea while waiting.  When all flour are added, whisk till smooth.

Scoop into muffin paper cups* (1/2 full) with the help of an adult.  Then sprinkle choc chips on top.  Count to ensure all muffins have equal amount of choc chips.

Ask an adult to help you bake the muffins for 20mins or till wooden skewer comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place them onto rack to cool down.

If you can't wait too long... do the following...

Blow....

*Note:
If you are using muffin tins, you will need to oil/ butter them 1st for easy removal after baking.

You can also combine choc chips into the batter instead of sprinkling them on top.

Chocolate Bottom Banana Squares

This is for you, CT.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as my family did :-)

An overdose on chocolate chips.  My kids reminded me not to use so much chocolate chips next time.

This recipe yields a very soft and moist cake.  Too moist if you ask me but it taste perfect when the cake is chilled.

Chocolate-Bottom Banana Squares
Adapted from Hearty Bakes

Ingredients
113g butter, unsalted
80g sugar, depending on banana used (sugar reduced)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omit)
3 bananas, mashed (mine was about 220g)
180g plain/cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
25g-30g cocoa powder
Chocolate chips, optional


Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Drizzle in the egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas. Beat till creamy.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together and fold in 3 separate batches. Mix well with a spatula.
4. Divide the batter into half. Add the cocoa powder to one portion of the batter.
5. Pour the chocolate batter into a greased/lined 7 inch square baking.  Using a spatula, spread the layer evenly.
6. Spread the remaining plain batter on top the cocoa batter and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for 25-30mins (I baked mine @ 180C for 20 mins, reduce temperature to 150C and bake for another 5 mins).

Fruit Cake II

Alright, I know I'm slapping my own face.  I mentioned in my earlier post I'm reluctant to try a recipe with eggs separation method.  But here I am, my 2nd fruit cake using this method :P

My initial plan was to try out Aunty A's recipe but her instruction wasn't too precise as it was via sms and everything was simplified.  She was away in Korea so I couldn't clarify my queries.  I remembered Zu sharing her recipe in a parents' forum and decided to give it a try.

Her recipe originally calls for caster sugar but I prefer dark cakes, not for taste but simply aesthetic.  I did some slight modification and replaced caster sugar with brown sugar and molasses.  I do not know how the replacement of sugars will affect the texture of the cake, thus I did not do a 100% replacement.  However, I'm not satisfied with the colour as I'll prefer it to be darker.  I'll probably use all brown sugar and molasses next time.

Glad to see that the fruits are "floating" all over the cake and not sunken at the base. However, I dislike slicing a fruit cake as the fruits tend to fall off despite having it chilled.

Can you see the cracked line in the middle of the cake?  The cake was too heavy (not the texture), definitely overloaded with fruits.

Again, another last min shopping for plastic wrappers and ribbons.  The plastic wrappers left at the shop are for cookies/cupcakes so I just double clingwrap the cakes.  There were also limited colours and sizes of ribbons.  Just make do with sky blue and pink, which can be used for any other occassions.

Fruit Cake

Recipe adapted from Zu of Quick & Easy Treats, with slight modifications

Ingredients
800g mixed fruit, wash and strain overnight (coat the fruits with some flour)**
310g self-raising flour (I used all purpose flour + baking powder + baking soda)
250g butter, softened
100g castor sugar (originally calls for 230g caster sugar but I replaced some with brown sugar and molasses)
100g brown sugar
30g molasses
6 eggs, separated
1tsp vanilla essence (I omit)
1/2 tsp salt

** I used 700g dried fruits
** I soaked the fruits in water to plump them up and strain for 2 hours instead of overnight.
** If you want to soak it with liquor, you can also do so over a few days.
** I used about 4 tbsp flour to coat the dried fruits.

Method

1. Mix all sugar in a small bowl
2. Cream butter and half of the sugar till creamy and fluffy
3. Add egg yolks, one at a time till the mixture is well blended (the mixture will not curdled if it is sufficiently mixed)
4. Add flour and salt, mix it well followed by the mixed fruits
5. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites and the other half of the sugar till stiff (don't over beat it till dry).
6. Add into the butter+fruit mixture till well mixed (you will need a very BIG mixing bowl)
7. Pour batter into3- 4 mini loaf pans (3"X6"), bake in a preheated 140C oven for 1 hour 20 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Alcohol-Free Orange Fruit Cake

I'm not a fan of fruit cakes until Aunty A gave me her bakes.  I don't like fruit cake because I find it too sweet to my liking and the texture is dense and heavy.  Aunty A's cake made me change my opinion as her cake is soft and moist.  When she gave me the recipe, I knew I wouldn't bother to try out as it requires egg separation.  I dislike complicated method, always on the look out for a quick and easy recipe.  I couldn't find any and have been requesting Aunty A to bake and keep some for me :P

Never thought I'll ever attempt to bake this cake until I saw Wendy's recipe here.  No eggs separation, no mixer needed.  Bingo!  This is it!

I don't like candied peels but I was running low on stock for cranberries and currants at home.  Paid a visit to the nearest baking shop but was disappointed as some of our favourite dried fruits were out of stock.  I couldn't wait and refuse to procrastinate further, so I just grabbed a pack of 1kg dried mixed fruits and mixed in some cranberries and currants.

My kids could't wait too so we ate this on the same day it was baked.  Not too bad but I wasn't very impressed.  I gave some to Sis E and reminded her to eat it a week later.  She cured the cake with liquor (I don't know what she used) for 6 days and brought it to my Dad's birthday celebration. All tasters gave thumbs up.  Unfortunately I couldn't make any comparison because I didn't eat it (alcohol content).  Mom requested me to bake this for CNY so I suppose it must be good.

I didn't do justice to this as it was a night shot under warm-white lighting.  Still an amateur in photography :P

If you have seen Wendy's pictures, I'm sure you wouldn't disagree that glace cherries definitely make the cake look more appealing.  But the small tub of red cherries were sold out too.  Lesson learnt, do not attempt last min baking during festive seasons.

Alcohol Free Orange Fruit Cake

Adapted from Wendy of Table for 2

Ingredients

450gm dried mixed fruits

200ml orange juice
2 heaped Tbsp orange zest (I omit as my son doesn't like)
250gm butter
150gm sugar
225 gm all purpose flour
4 large eggs

Method

1. Macerate all the fruits and zest with orange juice, overnight preferably.  I macerated the fruits for only 1 hour.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition.
4. Mix in flour until well combined.
5. Fold in macerated fruits and whatever juice that is remaining.
6. Place batter into 7X7" lined/greased pan.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 140C for 1 hour 20 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Marshmallow Jelly Cake

I've not baked a layered birthday cake for a long time.  The last I made was back in April, for my birthday (oops, not posted yet :P).  2 months ago, we celebrated DS2's 6th birthday.  Feeling lazy, I decided to just make him a jelly cake.  When it comes to jelly, my children will never say no.

This recipe was shared by Baking Mum back in 2006.  With no baking experience then, this recipe caught my attention immediately and I've made it on several occassions.  I've not made this in recent years but with a pack of marshmallow (intended for fondant making) that was sitting on the shelf for the longest time, a wise decision was made to clear it off.

If I were to make this for DD3, her choice of fruit will be strawberry.  For DS2, he loves pineapples so the answer is obvious.  With only raspberry and strawberry jello at home, I was praying really hard that my trip to the local supermarket wouldn't be a wasted trip.  Thankfully not many people appreciate pineapple flavour jello hahaha...

With my previous attempt on jelly cake, I didn't wait long enough for the filling to set and ended up with a messy looking cake.  So with this cake, I told myself to be patient and waited for 3 hours before pouring in the jello.  I've not been lucky with jelly cakes but I did better this time round.  Not too messy and only 1 pineapple floated up.  There's still room for improvement ;-)

Got the girls to help prepare the cake for their dearest brother.  They were busy rolling away the biscuits with my rolling pins.  DD3 tried all methods and finally decided that hitting the biscuit is the easiest.

Looking at the recipe, preparation of this cake is relatively easy.  Aunty A taught me to arrange the fruits on the fillings before chilling to prevent the fruits from floating into the jello layer.

Although I've made this a few times, I made a big blunder.  I didn't melt the marshmallow completely as it seem to take forever to melt!  I cooked it over the stove, stood there for almost 30 mins, stirring constantly to prevent burning.  But time is running out as I need to prepare dinner.  Seeing that 70% has melted, I turned off the fire and went on to prepare the cake.  Now that explains why the filling looks lumpy.  Maybe I'll cut the marshmallow smaller before I melt it?  Or melt it over double-boiler?

Since my kids love jelly, I doubled the recipe for the jelly layer and used up a pack of jello instead of 1/2.

Not the best looking cake but my kids are happy.  Definitely going to make this again.

Marshmallow Jelly Cake

Ingredients
Base
200g digestive biscuits
80g melted butter

Marshmallow filling
150g marshmallow
280ml  UHT/full cream milk
200ml dairy whipping cream
2 tsp gelatin + 20ml milk

Jello topping
1 packet of pineapple Jello
400 ml of water
4 tsp of gelatin

Method

• Crushed digestive biscuits and mix well with melted butter. Press into a 8” tin. Arrange some cut pineapples on the biscuit base.  Refrigerate for later use.
• Bloom gelatin with 20ml milk, let it stand for 5 -  10 mins.
• Put ingredients for marshmallow fillings (including gelatin/milk mixture) into a pot. Boil over small fire until marshmallow are melted.
• Cool marshmallow filling slightly and pour into the prepared baking tin with biscuit base.
• Arrange cut pineapples on top and chill in fridge for 3 hours until slightly harden.
• In the mean time, boil jello ingredients until dissolved.  Leave to cool slightly.
• Remove cake from fridge and pour the slightly cool or cool Jello on it. Return to fridge to chill.
• Cut into small pieces to serve.

Castella Cake/Kasutera

I must thank all my readers for leaving a comment here.  And I'm glad some of you broke your silence just to share your personal experiences. 

I am doing fine, so please don't worry about me. The reason I published the SAHM post is simply because sahms are often misunderstood by many. With my personal experience sharing, I hope to give working people an insight of the life of a sahm.  We might seem like we have lots of time, with no reports to run, no meetings to attend, and no deadlines to meet.  But we have our own commitments too.  I'm not upset over my friend's remark, just irritated.  I just want to remind her that life as a sahm is not what she thinks.  She is fortunate to have her parents taking care of her kids, and at anytime she needs to go on a date with her hubby, her parents are always there for her.  To me, I don't care a damn about how she lives her life and how blessed she is.  I just live mine the way I choose it, with or without support from relatives.  I've come so far all by myself, and I don't get demoralise with her remarks.  So, yes, I'm feeling good and definitely not going to get miserable over this :-)

Back to some "serious" postings.  This Castella Cake was a hit  back in 2009.  I've always wanted to try baking it but I've read and understand that this is a very delicate cake.  Being a beginner in baking, I procrastinated and finally found my guts to make it last Dec.

The texture is soft and light, however I wasn't able to achieve the "poreless" effect despite using low power on the mixer.

Not too well done on the skin too, the "pores" were too obvious.

Feeling adventurous, I made another batch using brown sugar.  Nice!  But again, still couldn't achieve the nice appearance.  Nevertheless, they tasted great and my kids love it.

Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Spongecake)

Recipe adapted from Baking Mum

Method adapted from Just Hungry with slight modifications

Ingredients
5 large eggs
170g granulated sugar (I reduced to 140g)
200g plain flour, sifted twice
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I omit)
100ml milk, at room temperature
4 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons canola oil

Method

• Cut the parchment paper so that it's large enough to fit the bottom and sides of the cake pan with a little excess. Fold it in until it completely covers the bottom and sides, leaving a it hanging over. (To make it stick to the pan, smear a little butter or shortening on the pan first.) Sprinkle a little sugar over the bottom, on top of the paper.
• Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.
• Heat up milk, add honey and mix well.  Set aside for later use.
• Break the eggs into a big mixing bowl and whisk on lowest setting on your mixer. Add the sugar gradually. Start whisking this while holding the bowl over the pan of hot water. As soon as the mixture feels lukewarm to the touch, take it off the water and continue whisking. If it cools down again, put it back on the hot water pan to warm it up.  Beat till ribbon stage (pale and extremely thick, you should be able to write your initials on the surface of the batter with your whisk, and they should stay there for a few seconds before it disappears)
• Add the flour in 3 - 4 batches and mix till there are no pockets of flour. Next add the milk/honey mixture, beat it well. Last, add the oil and make sure it is incorporated into the batter thoroughly (I used Baking Mum's method in this step).
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven of 170C for 10 mins, reduce heat to 150C and bake for another 35 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.
• In the meantime, mix together the 1 tablespoon of honey and a little hot water, to make a glaze.  As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the honey-water mixture.
• When the cake is cool enough to handle but still warm, lift it out of the pan, paper and all, and put into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put into the refrigerator, for at least several hours. This step is critical to ensure the kasutera has a moist texture. If you let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the plastic bag, it will end up a bit dry.
• To serve, use a very sharp knife to make clean cuts.

Simple Milo Cake

I saw this really simple recipe and with a tin of Milo left untouched, baking this is a must.  Some forumers tried and said the taste was mild and made suggestions to add cocoa powder in addition to Milo.  I added cocoa powder and used chocolate milk.

Topped with some cocoa powder and chocolate chips, hoping to make the cake more flavourful.

Soft and moist but slightly chewy texture.  My kids love it and I hope you will too :-)

Simple Milo Cake

Recipe seen here, adapted from here

Ingredients

1 Cup Self raising flour

1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup instead)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omit)
3 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp milo powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate milk
2 eggs

Method

• Beat all ingredients together till well mixed.
• Pour batter into  7" x 7" pan (lined with parchment paper) and bake at pre-heated oven of 180 degrees Celsius for 30mins or till skewer comes out clean.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Thanks to Aspiring Bakers by Small Small Baker, I'm digging out all my backlogs and getting them posted online :)

This Condensed Milk Pound Cake was a hit back in 2007/8.  Many bakers tried and raved about it.

The only time I buy condensed milk is to make this cake (and this easy chocolate chip cookie here) for I have no other use for it.  Instead of baking the regular pound cake, I added some cocoa powder and turned it into a chocolate cake.

Verdict:  As good as plain, if not better.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Ingredients

(A)
120g Butter, room temperature
40g Caster Sugar (I omit vanilla essence and used vanilla sugar instead)

(B)
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup or 100g Condensed Milk

(C)
100g Cake Flour
20g Cocoa Powder
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
*Sift together

(D)
2 Eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg.C
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add in salt and condensed milk, whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until no traces of flour remains.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each additions.
6. Pour the mixture into muffin cups and bake at 170 deg.C for 25 - 30 mins or till top is brown and skewer inserted comes out clean.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

Whenever I have unfinished mayonnaise, I will use it to bake this cake.  I've blogged about this before but I've done injustice to it with my lousy photographs, so I decide to make another entry.

A few months ago, SM was sharing with me about her ailing grandmother and how her mother toiled through days and nights in the hospital, keeping her grandmother company.  Upon hearing what SM's mom was going through, and I know her family likes chocolate cake, I decided to bake her mom this Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake, hoping that it will cheer her up a little.

I baked a 7" x 7" and gave 1/2 to SM.  Her kids love this and she sms-ed me to ask if I would accept her order.  I feel honoured that I've got kind folks like her asking if I sell my bakes but I feel very stressful when it comes to taking orders.  I prefer to bake and give-away, at least the commitment level is different :P  Yes, call me a coward, I don't like to take on responsibilities like this, definitely too much for me to stomach.

The texture is soft and moist.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

Adapted from My Cooking Escapades

Ingredients
110g mayonnaise
125ml buttermilk (I used 110ml milk + 15ml lemon juice, stand for  min 10 mins before using)
120g all-purpose plain flour
20g cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
110g vanilla sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more), optional

Method

1. Line a 7" square baking tin with parchment paper (no need to grease).
2. Sift flour, cocoa and bicarbonate soda together.
3. Place the sugar and sifted flour mixture into a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the mayo and buttermilk till smooth.
5. Add mayonnaise mixture to the flour and mix till the batter is smooth.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Bake at 170 deg C for 20-25 minutes or until skewer inserted to centre of cake comes out clean.
   
   

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

Pardon my disappearance.  We went away to Malacca on a short trip and prior to that, DH was on business trip.  During his absence, there were literally no time to think of him, until he sms-ed at night to tell me he won't be online for he has some other matters to attend to.  He was away for a week but we never spoke nor chat online.  Imagine how busy I was, to not remember my very own husband while he was away.

My kids love bananas especially DS2 and DD3.  The strange thing is, they will ask for bananas when they are at my inlaws but when I actually buy a bunch for them, no one eats them.  I always end up with several over-ripen bananas which I either freeze to make ice cream (I'll blog about that another day) or I turn them into cakes.

  

Using my regular banana cake recipe here (a very popular recipe by Yochana), I decided to give it a twist and added some cocoa powder and replaced whipping cream/evaporated milk/fresh milk with buttermilk.

On a side note, I simply cannot understand why some bloggers post recipes copied from somewhere, change the method slightly or reduce the recipe by 1/2 and call it theirs.  No one in particular for I've seen too many such cases.  I think the least they should do is to give credit to the originator and indicate the modifications made. Gorgeous looking pictures, great write-up but I think it is unethical, so nothing else matters.  I don't know how many people I'm going to offend here but I just need to say my piece.

Enough of my rantings, presenting to you a moist and fluffy chocolate banana cake :-)

I'm a no big fan of banana cake but I love how this turned out, moist and fluffy, minus the artificial flavours from store bought.  Sis E doesn't eat banana cakes for they are ladled with strong banana essence which is totally artificial.  I hope to get a chance to bake this for her.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 5: Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by bakericious.

Banana Cake
Ingredients
180g butter
100g fine sugar
2  large eggs - beaten lightly
240g cake flour (I used plain flour, removed 1 tablespoon and replaced with corn flour)
10g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g over-riped bananas - mashed
50g buttermilk (I used milk + 1/2 tsp lemon juice and let it stand for 15 mins)
chopped walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.
2. Pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy.
3. Add in buttermilk, mashed bananas and banana essence and mix well.
4. Add in cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and beat for a while only.
5. Pour into cupcake casings/muffin cups, and arrange chopped walnuts on top.
6. Bake at 170C for 20 - 30 mins or until cooked.



Clear Water Cake (Sponge Cake) 清水蛋糕

I've not been baking for a long time and with an itching pair of hands, I decided to try Angel's Clear Water Cake which I have bookmarked a year ago. 

But why "clear water" when there is no water used in the first place? To quote the originator, "这个蛋糕就如名字一样，外形清清澈澈简简单单，可是里面却不简单哦，超细腻的组织，超柔软的口感，入口即化".

I didn't bother to level the top of the batter and ended up with uneven looking cakes.  Also, after baking for 12 mins, the top didn't brown although the cake was cooked so I gave it another 2 minutes, hoping to get a nice brown.  Not much luck here.

Instead of using muffin cups, I used mini cupcake cases as I wanted it to be popped into the mouth, just like that, no bites = no mess.

And it's just right for my son to pop the whole cake into his mouth :)

This has a light and fluffy texture, definitely a keeper!

Clear Water Cake 清水蛋糕
(Recipe originally from here and seen here)

Ingredients
(A)
3 egg yolks 蛋黄
1 whole egg 全蛋
50g corn oil 粟米油

(B)
50g low protein flour (I used plain flour as I ran out of cake flour)

(C)
3 egg whites 蛋白

(D)
40g castor sugar 细砂糖
1g salt 盐 (I didn't weigh, just added about 1/4 tsp)

Method 做法

1. Beat (A) till well mixed with an egg beater. 用打蛋器打匀(A)。
2. Sift in (B), mix well. 筛入(B)拌匀.
3. Whisk (C) till frothy, add (D) and beat till stiff peak. 把(C)打至粗泡，加入(D)打至干性发泡。
4. Fold in the egg white mixture to egg yolk mixture in 3 additions, mix till well combined. Scope the batter into paper cups till 60% full. 蛋白霜分3次和蛋黄糊拌匀，用小勺装进纸杯至6分满。
5. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for about 18-20mins. 烤箱预热150度，烤18-20分钟左右。(I baked mine for 14 mins as my casings are really small)

Fruit Pastry

Finally found time to bake this.  This cake was a hit in year 2007 and I made this 3 times within a month.  Thanks to HHB, I was reminded I've not made this since.

The first time I made this, I followed the recipe to a T (with reduced sugar though) but found the cake slightly dry. So in my 2nd attempt, I added extra yogurt with some lemon juice and I had a moist cake. In my last try, I added 1 - 2 tbsp milk and the cake turned out well too.

Oh, did I mention my weighing scale died on me?  And this recipe is great as it was originally in cup measurements, just the perfect recipe for me ;-)

The batter is supposed to be thick so the fruits can rest on it without sinking.  Remember not to press the fruits into the batter.  I didn't want to wait over an hour in an 8" pan so I baked them in 2 smaller pans to reduce the baking time.

The cake is cooked when the top is slightly browned but do test it with a skewer/toothpick before removing from the oven.

Gave Aunty A a tray and I'm glad her family enjoys this cake ^-^

Fruit Pastry
(Recipe adapted from Vi, a Romanian lady)

Ingredients
(A)
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
3/4 stick (100g) butter
3 tablespoons (75g) sour cream (I used plain yogurt + 1 TBSP lemon juice)

(B)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon or orange peel
1 1/2 cups (210g) plain flour *
1 teaspoon baking powder *
* sifted together

(C)
Some fruits**
2 tablespoon sugar
** strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, apricot, peach, grapes, pear, cherry, plums, orange, pineapple, or even canned fruits like longan, lychee

Method

1. Wash, cut and strain fruits in a strainer.  Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and set aside.  Omit sugar if using canned fruits.
2. Grease and flour the side of a baking pan (18x27 cm or 7x11 inch or 9 inch round) and line the base with parchment paper.
3. Beat butter, sour cream and sugar together till creamy (I used a wooden spoon). Add eggs one at a time.
4. Add lemon/orange zest, mix to combine.
5. Add sieved flour and baking powder and mix until everything is smooth.
6. Place batter into prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula.
7. Place fruits on top and decorate as desired, remember not to press down the fruits.
8. Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 60-70 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.
9. Leave to cool on wire rack and sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

Matcha Tiramisu

With my balance mascarpone cheese from DD3's tiramisu, I made a matcha (green tea) version to celebrate my dog's 10th birthday last week :-)

I followed HHB's version but reduced the matcha powder accordingly as my kids aint fans of matcha (this new matcha I've got is very strong).

This was what I came up with, dusted with very little matcha as I didn't want the cake to be too overwhelming.

I'm no fan of tiramisu but if I really have to choose, it'll be the alcoholic version (my kids too) over the matcha tiramisu :P

Made a small one for my great pal SL.

Matcha Tiramisu
(makes a 8" cake)

Ingredients
16 - 18 sponge fingers (I used Vicenzi)

Syrup
2 tsp matcha
1/2 tablespoon sugar
125ml boiling water

Cream
250g mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp matcha syrup
200 ml non-dairy whipping cream

matcha, to dust

Method
Roast the sponge fingers in the oven at 150°C for about 5 minutes (optional). Set aside for later use.

To make the cream

1. Dissolve matcha and sugar in boiling water. Leave to cool and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, with a manual whisk, whisk mascarpone cheese with icing sugar. Add in 2 tablespoon matcha syrup from step 1, whisk until blended.
3. With an electric mixer whisk the whipping cream until medium peak. With a spatula, fold in 1/4 of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture. Pour the mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream and beat it with an electric mixer to get the peak again. Leave the cream in the fridge.

To assemble

1. With a removable base (I used a springform pan), line the base with sponge fingers.
2. Using a teaspoon, pour the syrup over the layered sponge fingers, making sure you don't put too much in one side.
3. Pour half portion of cream on top and spread evenly on the sponge layer, all the way to the edges.  Tap the cake pan lightly on the table to ensure there are no trapped air pockets.
4. Place next layer of sponge fingers over the cream, sprinkle with syrup, and place the balance cream on top. Spread and smooth the top.
5. Leave the cake (covered) to chill in the fridge overnight.
6. Just before serving, dust the top with matcha and unmold. Decorate as desired. Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.

Tiramisu

DD3 turned 2 yesterday :)  She is a leap year baby and since I was supposed to be on bed rest over the weekend, I made her this simple tiramisu cake yesterday.  It was just a simple cake cutting session for our family.

Alright, I know this is not an age appropriate cake for a 2 year old toddler since liquer was used.  I've always wanted to make a tiramisu and had plans to make a non-alcoholic version by replacing liquer with orange juice but DS2 is still having a slight cough so I had to scrape the idea.  Decided to just go ahead but will reduce the liquer used.

I have a recipe from a forum (by a Romania lady) and many who tried gave thumbs up.  However, her recipe requires 100ml of liquer for 24 sponge fingers and I thought it may be too strong to my liking.  After googling, I found HHB's tiramisu recipe here (45ml for 24 sponge fingers) and decided to give it a try.  However, I further reduced the liquer slightly as I do not favour liquer.

Generally, the way to assemble a tiramisu goes like this, sponge fingers -> syrup -> cocoa powder -> cream, continue and end with cream as final layer.  Chill cake in fridge and dust with cocoa powder just before serving.  I reckon spreading the cream on top of the cocoa powder will create a mess so I cheated by adding coffee and cocoa powder into the cream instead.  That explains my chocolate cream :P

Whipping up the cheese and whipping cream was relatively easy, just ensure that the cheese is thawed to room temperature (I set the microwave on the lowest setting and zap it for 1 minute) before whipping.  When mixing in the cheese mixture to the whipped cream, I used my electric mixer to beat to get the peak again.

Dusting cocoa powder on top was a challenge as I've laid the sponge fingers at the sides and was trying to avoid getting them stained.

Added some strawberries to cover up the flaws :P

My cake was in the fridge for 4 hours before slicing and it was quite messy when I tried to cut it.  Best to chill the cake overnight before slicing.

Tiramisu is not my cup of tea as I'm neither a fan of liquer nor coffee, but my 2 older children enjoyed themselves and kept asking for more.  As for the birthday girl, she ate only the strawberries and the sponge biscuits ;-)

I may attempt the green tea version next, definitely a much healthier option.

Tiramisu
(makes a 8" heartshape cake)

Ingredients
24 sponge fingers (I used Vicenzi)

Syrup
1 tbsp instant espresso/ strong coffee powder (I used Nescafe Gold)
1/2 tablespoon sugar
125ml boiling water
2 tsp Baileys Irish Cream (I used Mint Chocolate)

Cream
250g mascarpone cheese
2 1/2 tbsp icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream
1/2 tbsp instant espresso/ strong coffee powder
1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
200 ml non-dairy whipping cream

cocoa powder, to dust
strawberroes for decoration (optional)

Method

1. Roast the sponge fingers in the oven at 150°C for about 5 minutes (optional).  Set aside for later use.

To make the cream

1. Dissolve instant coffee powder and sugar in boiling water. Leave to cool before stirring in 2 teaspoons Baileys Irish Cream. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, with a manual whisk, whisk mascarpone cheese with icing sugar. Add in Baileys Irish Cream mixture (from step 1), whisk until blended.
3. With an electric mixer whisk the whipping cream until medium peak. With a spatula, fold in 1/4 of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture. Pour the mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream and beat it with an electric mixer to get the peak again.  Leave the cream in the fridge.

To assemble

1. Cut off one end of the sponge fingers so that each one is about 3" in length. Line the sides of a 8" heart shape pan* (with a removable base or use a springform pan) with the sponge fingers (do not get them soaked in syrup). You will need about 20 sponge fingers (depending on the type/brand). Save the leftover small pieces.
2. Place a layer of sponge fingers on the bottom of the cake pan (use the leftover to fill the gaps).
3. Using a teaspoon, pour the syrup over the layered sponge fingers, making sure you don't put too much in one side and avoid pouring syrup to the standing sponge fingers.
4. Pour 1/2 portion of cream (I used 1/3 only though) and spread evenly on the sponge layer, ensure all the gaps at the sides are filled. Tap the cake pan lightly on the table to ensure there are no trapped air pockets.
5. Place next layer of sponge fingers over the cream, sprinkle with syrup, and place the balance cream on top.  Spread and smooth the top.
6. Leave the cake (covered) to chill in the fridge overnight.
7. Just before serving, dust the top with cocoa powder and unmold.  Decorate as desired. Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.