Chocolate n Wine 


Bundt Cake


Baked this Double Chocolate n Wine bundt cake for a double celebration;
Happy Birthday to my brother n brother in law.
The wine used is Cabernet sauvignon.

Cake cooling on the rack and before decoration

Savoury Cheese Biscuits with herbs

My friend gave me some Parmigiano- Reggiano and so I decided to make some cheese biscuits with them.
These cheese biscuits were spicy(with added paprika) and shaped free-form. I topped the biscuits with different herbs; like dried rosemary, thyme, basil and even black pepper.

These biscuits came free-form but I gave a twist to these savoury treats. I baked them in the muffin cups.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Using my homemade peanut butter, I baked these cookies and added chocolate chips too. Yum!

Quick and easy snack-
Double chocolate brownies with roasted hazelnuts

Brownies with double chocolate-Valrhona cocoa powder with Heshley chocolate chips.

Yummy! Homemade Peanut Butter

Nothing more satisfying than making your own peanut butter at home.
Just simply two main ingredients : Peanuts and oil.
Healthy and yummy.

TeaTime Muffins

Saturday afternoon TeaTime snacks-

Baked some savoury muffins as requested by my daughter.

These are black-peppered ham with cheese.

I added some smoked paprika for a little spice. 

My First Chiffon Cake-Lemon Glow

Chiffon cakes contain both baking powder and a liquid fat that is in the form of oil. It is the oil that gives the cake its wonderful moistness and tenderness .In this Lemon Glow Chiffon, the lemon zest gives a very light lemony scent.

All Blueberry Desserts

Blueberry Fleur Bundt Cake

Lemon-blueberry cake baked in this beautiful  fleur-bundt pan.(flower design)

Top and side views  of the cake.Cake is completed with dusting of confectionery sugar.

Blueberry Tart  

Tart shell filled with cream , blueberry jam and topped with lots of fresh blueberries.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Blueberry cake with crisp streusel topping.

Blueberries season is here again!

Baked this fantastic Double Blueberry Tart with cream cheese filling.

My Homemade Marmalade

I love marmalade on my morning toast with butter.

So I decided to make it on my own.

I prepared a pot of citrus; a combination of oranges and grapefruits.

The marmalade is made up of juice and lots of  julienned peels.  

I have also put some candied ginger to add a little spice to the jam.

Jam in the making:

Boiling peels and juice in the pot with a cheesecloth or muslin bag containing the seeds and membranes of the oranges. The pectin for the jam is extracted from the contents in the bag.

Molten Chocolate cake

Baked these molten chocolate cakes  for dinner desserts.     

                                                   

         

The molten chocolate flows out of the cake when cut.

Cakes turned out from ramekins and dusted with confectionery sugar.

Chocolate cakes baked in ramekins.

Savoury Puff Pastry

                                                                 

This time, again with ready made puff pastry from the supermarket, I made a savoury tart for dinner-Smoked salmon and avocado tart.

It was topped with cheese and baked to golden brown. Delicious.

Pâte A Choux

I was given some homemade durian puree by a friend and wondered how I should use it.

Incidentally, my sister also gave me some durian puffs and they tasted good so I decided to try my hand at choux pastry.

Choux puff shells just out from the oven.

Durian puree piped into the shells.

Completed Durian puffs.

It is Mango season !

Mangoes are in season now. 

With lots of juicy mangoes at hand, I prepared this mango tart with cream cheese filling.

Birthday treat from my daughter

My daughter wanted to bake me a birthday cake, so to make it simple for her, I suggested an easy Tiramisu. I gave her the instructions and she prepared the dessert with me. 

 Blueberry Butter Puffs

Bought some ready made puff pastry from the supermarket and prepared this puff tart with blueberries and lemon zest. 

The jam is made from fresh blueberries and sugar.

Quick and tasty; but make sure that the puff pastry is made with butter and not margarine.

Apple pies for a celebration

Baked 2 Apple pies for my mum's birthday party. Two pies with two different recipes.

The pies were delicious with vanilla ice cream.

This pie crust contained egg yolks and has a more golden finish.

The filling was pre-cooked before baking.

This crust was made from Martha's pate brisee.

The pie was topped with round fluted cutouts.

Madeleines

Madeleines are miniature French sponge cakes made in a special shell- shaped pans.

My first attempt was baking of  chocolate madeleines made from Valrhona cocoa powder.

These chocolate madeleines tasted good especially with vanilla ice cream.

Rose-water and Lemon Madeleines

Baked some madeleines flavoured with rose water for my mum for Mothers'Day.

She requested for a dessert that was light and not so sweet. Thus, I chose this recipe and reduced the amount of sugar stated and it still tasted good. The rose fragrance was mild but refreshing. I also baked another batch with lemon zest.We had an enjoyable afternoon tea sampling these madeleines.

Rose-water madeleines

Lemon Madeleines

Apple Pies Days

I recently tasted a very delicious apple pie at a lunch gathering and decided to try one out.

Using Granny Smith apples, I baked this.

Using a different pie dough recipe(Pierre Herme Perfect Tart Dough), I baked another apple pie and and sprinkled coarse sugar over top before baking.

It produced a shining and golden brown  finish.

My Little Nonya Macarons again!

This time, I used a more concentrated dye made from Butterpea flowers.

The turquoise batter was piped into the baking tray.

The colour of the macarons seemed to fade after baking and some even turned toasty brown.

However, the developement of the macarons on the whole was satisfactory.