Lilian Wong's Cheesecake

I've been using Lilian Wong's Baked Cheesecake recipe for over a year now (Flavours May-June 2007 issue). It's about time I shared it with everyone. She wasn't kidding when she said "impossible to fail" :) Good Luck!

Ingredients:
450g Cream Cheese, room tempreture
115g Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract (Vanilla Essence works just the same)
200g Caster Sugar
70g Cornflour

7 Large Eggs (I used Grade A eggs)
450ml Whipping Cream
60ml Lemon Juice

Method:
1. Preheat over to 180'C. Prepare a 9inch square tin with lining & greasing the sides with butter. Wrap the outside of the tin with aluminium foil as you will be using another large pan to bake this bain marie-style.

2. Using a cake mixer, beat the Cream Cheese & Butter on medium speed until soft & smooth. Scrape done the sides.

3. Add the Vanilla Essense, Sugar & Cornflour. Mix until smooth.

4. Beat in the Eggs one at a time.

5. Lower the mixer speed & add the Whipping Cream. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides & continue mixing. This will ensure a smooth texture.

6. Add the Lemon Juice.

7. Pour the mixture into prepared tin. Place this tin into the larger pan & put both pans into the preheated oven. Pour hot water - about 3cm deep - into the larger pan.

8. Bake for 30mins & then increase the tempreture to 190'C & continue baking for another 30mins, until the top is pale golden brown.

9. Remove pans from the oven & take the smaller pan out of the larger pan. Allow to stand until cold.

10. Run a knife around the inside of the pan. Cover the cake tin with a large plate / serving tray. Flip over & the cake should slide from the tin to the plate. Refridgerate tune cake for at least 6 hrs before serving.
(I used a loose base cake tin... made it slightly easier to flip it over & into a cake board)

Chocolate Chip Brownie - Cupcake

Welcome my kawan-kawan! This recipe is adapted from "The Cookie And Biscuit Bible" by Catherine Atkinson with recipes by Joanna Farrow and Valerie Barret.

I've changed it from a "Nut & Chocolate Chip Brownie" to just Chocolate Chip Brownie - Cupcake size too ;)

Ingredients:

(A)

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Sunflower Oil

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar (or any sugar you have will also do ie. Castor White Sugar)

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

(B)

150 g Plain (Semisweet) Chocolate Chopped [Melt it in heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water OR my shortcut way, melt it in Microwave for 1 minute +/-]

(C)

2/3 Cup Selt Raising Flour

4 Tbsp Unsweetend Cocoa Power

(D)

2 Tbsp Chocolate Chips (sweet type)

2 Tbsp Chocolate Buttons (not so sweet)

[Original recipe is 4 Tbsp Chocolate Chips + 3/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts]

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180'C / 350'F.

2) Melt (B) Plain Chocolate

3) Combine all from (A) oil, sugar, eggs & vanilla essene in a bowl & mix using Mixer or with wooden ladle by hand also can.

4) Stir in the melted Plain Chocolate & beat well until evenly mixed.

5) Sift (C) Flour & Cocoa Powder into the mixture. Fold in thoroughly.

6) Stir in (D) Chocolate Chips & Buttons, then spoon the mixture into the Cupcake moulds.

7) Bake for 20 minutes & the check it with a little bamboo stick - if it's still wet, bake for another 15mins. So in total, it is to be baked for approx 35 mins + /-.

This recipe can also fit a 7inch baking pan. I used Cupcake moulds Medium size & it can make 13 Cupcakes.

Hope your's turn out as delicious & nice as mine does! Enjoy!

Moist Chocolate Cake

I've always been hunting for a reliable Moist Chocolate Cake. I've found this to be very good. I'm a subscriber of "Flavours" ~ Malaysia's premier food & lifestyle magazine and this was in their Nov-Dec 2009 issue celebrating their 15th Anniversary Issue.

This recipe is shared & contributed by Arlene Diego who teaches cake baking in Damansara Jaya. (pg. 90 nov-dec 2009 Flavours)

The 2 cakes before any icing.





1st cake is iced. Am not very good with icing yet as this is really my 1st time icing a cake.



Both cakes iced & decorated by my kids. :)

Close up of the Moist Chocolate Cake. It's really moist & light too - Yums!

Thanks Arlene Diego for sharing it with us (^_^) I hope to attend some of your classes in the near future when I sort out my & kids routine next year.

Pizza Dough

This recipe is taken from "The Australian Women's Weekly - Kids Cooking" recipe book.



I've tried this 2 times, both turned out nicely with different effects of either a thin crust or thicker crust.



Basic Pizza Dough

Makes 2 bases

Ingredients:

2 Tsp (7g) - Dried Yeast

1 Tsp - Sugar

1/2 Tsp - Salt

3/4 Cup (180ml) - Warm Water

2 1/2 Cups (375g) - Plain Flour (I used Multipurpose flour & it still works)

2 Tbsp - Olive Oil ( can replace with Corn Oil - works just as fine)



Method:

1. Combine yeast, sugar, salt and warm water in a small bowl, cover; stand in warm place for about 20 mins or until mixture is frothy.



2. Combine flour & oil in large bowl; stir in yeast mixture, mix to a soft dough. Knead dough on a floured surface for about 5mins or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover; stand in warm place for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size.



3. Meanwhile, preheat over to very hot (I put tempreture at 220'C)



4. Turn the dough onto floured surface; knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 2; using a rolling pin, flatten dough and roll each half out to a 32cm round. ( just rolled mine into a rectagular shape - the shape of my pan )



5. Carefully lift each round onto oiled pizza pan / over tray; cover each with whatever toppings you like. Bake, uncovered, in a very hot oven (I lowered my oven tempreture to 180'C) for 20mins.


Sorry the photos are having problems being uploaded since I started this recipe :p will keep trying

Bread with Breadmaking Machine ~ Attempt #2

Simply Perfect!

This is the 2nd attempt with the Breadmaking machine using the recipe from "Giant Book of Bread Machine Recipes" ~ Norman A. Garret.

It's suppose to be a Basic White Bread recipe using 3 Cups of Bread Flour... but I didn't have enough White Bread Flour at home. So I had 2.5 Cups White Bread Flour + 0.5 Cups of Wholemeal Bread Flour.

Everything else stayed the same.... the result is fantastic. Here's a 1.5 pound Light Wholemeal Bread Loaf :-)

Square California Raisin Brioche

This was from the FLAVOURS - California Raisins Baking Workshop I attended with my Taiso (elder SIL) during the last weekend of July. Chef Yukichi Matsubara from "The Loaf" ~ Tun M's bakery in Langkawi & Pavillion KL shared with us 3 recipes.This is called "Square California Raisin Brioche"

Overall the workshop was entertaining & worth attending. Plus Chef Yu is quite handsome too ;)

(makes 10)

160g High Protien (Bread) Flour
40g Plain or Cake Flour
14g Fresh Yeast or 6g Instant Dry Yeast
80ml Milk
40g Egg Yolk
34g Honey
3.6g Salt
20g Unsalted Butter (softened)
120g California Raisins, washed with hot water
40g Diced Candied Orange Peel
160g Cream Cheese, chilled



Almond Topping
40g Fine Sugar
80g Almond Powder
80g Egg White

Decoration

50g Almond Flakes

10g Icing Sugar

20g White Chocolate, melted in microwave, bain marie or double boiler

20no California Raisins

To make dough:

Sift the flours together. Stir the yeast into the milk. Place the flours, egg yolk, honey, salt and milk-and-yeast mixture in the bowl of a mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Add the butter and mix on medium-low speed for 8 minutes.

Add the California raisins and candied orange peel, and mix on low speed for another 2 minutes. Wrap the dough in cling film and set aside to prood for 1 hour at room tempreture.

To fold in the cheese:

Place the cream cheese on a piece of cling film and cover with another piece of cling film. Using a rolling pin, roll the cheese into a 12cm square sheet.

Dust the worktop with some flour and roll the bread dough into a 20cm square. Place the cream cheese in the centre of the bread dough and fold the four corners in... to cover the cheese (like a square envelope).

Roll the dough out to 40 x 20cm rectangle. Fold the top and bottom of the dough so that they overlap to form a 36 x 20cm sheet. Fold the two opposite ends of the dough so that they overlap to form a 20 x 12cm rectangle.

Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Roll it out to a 30 x 12 cm sheet. Cut the sheet in half too form two 30 x 6 cm rectangles. Cut each into five 6 cm squares to get 10 square pieces in total.

To add topping:

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the bread squares on the tray. Mix the almond topping ingredients together and spread on the dough (about 15g each). Sprinkle with the almond flakes. Set aside to proof for 45 minutes at room tempreture.

To bake :

Preheat the oven to 180'C. Bake for 15 minutes or until brioche is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on wire rack.

To decorate:

Dust brioche with icing sugar and pipe the melted white chocolate on top in diagonal lines. Place 2 California raisins in the center of each brioche.

Sweet Buns

What do you think? My 1st attempt in making soft buns - hehehe! They are still not as soft as those you get at our local bakeries unfortunately, but not too bad overall.

Sausage & Peanut Butter buns

Noticed my fancy wrap around sausage buns on the right? ;)

The basic sweet bun dough recipe was taken from Baked & Steamed Bun Recipe book #42 by One Publisher whose recipes from Daniel Chong. I think I am still lacking in something from this recipe which I suspect is the kneading process of the dough. I will share the recipe with you all once I've manage to get a more desired texture of my dough, ok?

Chocolate ChocChip Muffin

This is Muffin recipe is taken from "Makan - Cupcakes, Muffins, & Scones" by Azza Pwanchik. She called it Double Chocolate Muffins

My son in particular, requested for this flavour ;)

Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Large Egg
1 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips




Method
1. Combine Flour, Sugar, Cocoa & Baking Powder in Large Bowl.

2. Whisk Egg, Milk, & melted Butter seperately in another bowl. Then pour in liquid ingredients into the dry (flour, sugar etc).


3. Add Chocolate Chips, while stirring until all mixed. Spoon batter evenly into 12 greased 2 inch muffin pans.


4. Bake in preheated 200'C oven for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Cake Attempt #1 ~ Failure!

Looks can be deceiving... looks normal on the outside.

A closer look....

After I sliced a piece... it's texture is like alot of air bubble holes.. and very very wet in the middle though the whole outside is crispy.

A better shot of the inside. The middle is almost like a jelly which will not cook/dry up. This recipe required 250ml Milk & 250ml Hot Water which made the whole cake mixture into a hot chocolate drink texture. It was suppose to be baked at 180'C for 30-35mins only.... I ended up baking it for 1hr 45mins cause the middle was still bubbling in the oven :p

CUPCAKES! ~ Chocolate ... Happy Mother's Day!

All things CHOCOLATE, my dearest son's FAVOURITE! I also wanted to try out this new recipe book I bought at MPH for RM19.90 only called "Makan: Cupcakes, Muffins & Scones" by Azza Pawanchik.

This recipe is called Chocolate Cupcakes (pg. 23). Here is the recipe:-

Ingredients

2 CUPS ~ Boiling Water

1 1/2 CUPS ~ Unsweeten Cocoa Powder

2 3/4 CUPS ~ All Purpose Flour

2 Tsp ~ Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp ~ Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp ~ Salt

1 CUP ~ Butter at Room Tempreture

2 CUPS ~ Sugar

4 Eggs

1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract / Essense

Method

1. Preheat Oven at 180'C / 350'F. Pour boiling water over cocoa powder & mix thoroughly until smooth. Let cool.

2.Combine the Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, and Baking Powder together in seperate bowl.

3. Cream together the Sugar, Butter, and beat until light & fluffy. Beat in the eggs (one at a time) and then add the Vanilla Essense. Add the Flour and Cocoa Mixture alternatively in a dry-wet-dry method, beginning and ending with the dry.

4. Place in cupcake papers and bake for 18-22 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 CUP ~ Butter at room tempreture

8oz (250g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese at room tempreture

2 - 3 CUPS of Powdered Sugar (better known as Icing Sugar)

1 Tsp ~ Vanilla Extract / Essense

Method

1. With an electric mixer, mix the Butter & Cream Cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides & bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2. Add the Vanilla Essense and mix. Slowly add the Powdered/Icing Sugar. Keep adding until desired sweetness.

3. Spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cupcake. (Note : I didn't have a piping bag so I just spread mine witha knife & sprinkled sugar hearts over it as deco)

Brownie - Chocolate Basic

My very 1st attempt in baking... Brownies! Almost every Friday, the kids & I will head over to greenhoihoi's place for play, chit chat & tea time snack. Usually it's greenhoihoi who will provide something for tea eg. muffins, custards / bought cookies. This time I made the effort & time to bake something for us & kids to enjoy our tea time.

Can see how untidy I was while whipping everything together ;)

Taa-dah! Final product.. smells great just out of the oven

I searched high & low for my MIL's baking paper/ grease proof paper and just could not find it! So I improvised by greasing the baking tin with lots of butter. Didn't help much I guess, you can obviously see bits stuck to the tin :p

Kids & I having some fun dusting caster sugar on top & sprinkling hearts over it.

I did the Brownies from this book called "Brownies, Fudges & Toppings" family circle mini cookbooks (pg 14 & 15). It was a gift from Popes when I started my SAHM tour of duty in Jan'08. Am ashame to admit it.. but I've only just got inspired to try the recipes out (it's now Oct'08). Oh well! as the saying goes ~ 'Better late than never'

Ingredients:

150g butter ~ chopped

125g dark chocolate ~ chopped

3 eggs

1.5 cups (375g) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essense

1 cup (125g) plain flour

1/4 cup (30g) cocoa powder

icing sugar ~ to dust

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180'C (350'F/Gas 4). Brush a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with oil or melted butter. Line the base with baking paper, extending over 2 sides.

2. Melt the butter & chocolate in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of simmering water, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.

3. Use a wire whisk to beat the eggs, sugar, & vanilla essense together in a large bowl until well combined. Sift the flour & cocoa together. Whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture & stir in the sifted flour & cocoa; do not overbeat.

4. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes, until slightly risen & just firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin (it will sink back down to form a flat surface) then lift out & cut into squares when completely cold.

Dust icing sugar to serve.