Carrot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I am making myself craving for some carrot cupcake just by looking and writing about them. I love me some carrot cupcake! Yes I do! Well, actually I love carrot cake. I just figured that making them in cupcakes instead of a cake would be easier if I was giving them to other people which was the reason why I made some for Christmas last year so my husband could bring them to work to share with his coworkers. Of course he'd gladly do it because his other option would be him having to eat most of them all by himself. And also listening to me asking him, "Honey, you want some cupcake?" everyday after work/dinner. Oh yes, I can be very persistent to the extend of borderline irritating to my husband. I'm very sure of that. But I know he loves me. :)

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Kek Lapis Prune (Prunes Layered Cake)

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Marble Cheese Cake

I actually made this Marble Cheesecake a couple of months ago after looking at MamaFami's blog. The moment I saw the pictures and read the ingredients and instructions, I knew I had to make some since it sounded doable and it actually is. As much I love cheesecake, I can only eat so much since I found them a bit too thick and too rich for my taste. And that is why this Marble Cheesecake is just amazing. You get to enjoy cheesecake with half the guilt. *wink* Here is the recipe copied from MamaFami's. Hope you will like it as much as I did.

Marble Cheese Cake


Ingredients :

(A)
185g butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 eggs

(B)
250g cream cheese (I used 12 oz Philadelphia cream cheese)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method :

1. Melt butter over low heat. Then add in cocoa powder. Leave to cool.
2. Add in sugar and stir. Add in eggs, one at a time. Finally add in flour and stir until well mixed.. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar till creamy. Add in the egg, vanilla essence and fresh milk.
4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cocoa mixture onto the middle of the prepared tin (line with greaseproof paper). Top it with 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Continue doing so, until all the mixture finishes.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F C for 45 minutes or until cake is done. Leave overnight before cutting.

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Kuih Bakar

I apologise for taking such a long time to put up a new post. My notebook has been in a 'workshop' and I only got it back yesterday. Now I know how much I rely on a computer. hehe.


Back to the food, Kuih Bakar is a traditional Malay kuih. There is no direct translation for the word kuih but for this context kuih means cake and bakar means bake. Well, bakar actually means burn but for this delicacy, it is best translated as 'baked cake' simply because it is baked. Back in Malaysia when I was working with a holding company, there is always meeting to be held at the office. Foods and refreshments would be served and we were always asked for suggestions. Among other must-haves would be this sweet, creamy cake, Kuih Bakar.

I have always wanted to make Kuih Bakar but never gotten around to making it myself. One day I just knew that I have to have it so I started searching for the recipe. There is quite a few out there but I when I made it, they come out tasting good but looking rather weird like crooked and all. With the help from MamFami, we tweaked the recipe until it comes out nicely. This is the easiest cake to make. There is no beating needed. You just need to put all the ingredients in the blender for a couple of minutes and pour them in a baking pan and bake. Even a 5 year old can do it. *wink*

Kuih Bakar Recipe

1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp pandan paste
1 can coconut milk (400 ml)
3 eggs
2 tbs butter
1/3 tsp salt
Toasted sesame seed

1. Preheat oven at 360F and butter a baking pan, preferably round and about 2.5in deep.

2. Put all ingredients except sesame seed in the blender and and blend for a few minutes.

3. Pour the mixture into a baking pan and sprinkle sesame seed. (make sure you fill up to 2/3 of the baking pan, lesser and you will get a thin one like mine!)

4. Bake for 1 hour.


If you like the taste and smell of pandan paste, you might also like Tepung Pelita.

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Bread and Butter Pudding (Puding Roti)

Simple is usually the best way to prepare food. Don't you agree? Like bread and butter pudding. I just love them and I expect everybody would too only to find out that Michael do not. I really have to change my mentality that not everybody enjoy food. Some people eat because they just have to.


Back to bread and butter pudding. Since I love them, I have tried a few recipes and all of them are too elaborate for my taste. I realised that I don't like 'stuff' like raisins or nuts in them. I remember one time I made it with all the ingredients that you can think of and my friends love it but I didn't. Since then I scaled down the ingredients used in my bread pudding until I am satisfied with the taste. This reminds me of Gordon Ramsey's show The F Word. On 1 episode he and another guy had a showdown on bread and butter pudding. As usual his is very fancy shmancy while the other guy's is very simple and once they are done, were served to the customers 'in the dark'. The result? Well, the other guy's bread and butter pudding won hands down and Ramsey was shocked! I thought that was funny. hehehe.

Bread and Butter Pudding

6 slices of bread
3 eggs
1 3/4 - 2 cups milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
6-7 tbs sugar
3 tbs melted butter
Chocolate chips
Cinnamon powder


1. Butter baking dish or use cooking spray

2. Cubed 4 of the bread and lay them on the baking dish. Add chocolate chips on top.

3. In a bowl, whisk the egg, add milk and vanilla extract.

4. In another bowl, add sugar with butter. Butter the other 2 slices of bread with them and sprinkle with cinnamon powder. Cut into 4 pieces each. Set aside. (This is for the topping)

6. Combine the egg mix with butter and stir well. Pour them on top of the bread in the baking dish. Let it rest on room temperature for 30min.

7. Preheat oven to 325F.

8. Add the topping to the baking dish and bake for 1 hour.


*** I got the idea for the topping from here.***

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Pengat Pisang

Indonesian call it Kolak Pisang while Malaysian call it Pengat Pisang. It does not matter what name you want to call it, these are just so good to have. Since you can have these Pengat Pisang hot or cold, it makes it suitable for all seasons. All year round my friends and throughout the whole day too. I would enjoy a bowl of these Pengat Pisang for breakfast, tea-time, snacking and dessert. On a different day, of course. I hope you will try this delicacies and enjoy it as much as I do.



Pengat Pisang

2 ripe plantain, sliced
3 1/2oz palm sugar
2 pandan leaves, knotted if long
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp small tapioca pearl, soaked in hot/warm water (optional)

1. Put all ingredients in a pot except the plantain and tapioca pearl. Boil on medium heat while stirring continuously.

2. Once boiled, add the plantain and tapioca pearl. Stir occasionally, taste. Add palm sugar if necessary let it simmer for 30min.

Enjoy hot or refrigerate overnight to enjoy as cold dessert.

Can't get enough of banana/plantain? Check out Pisang Palembang and Banana Fritters.

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Tepung Pelita

Tepung Pelita is like the best dessert in Malaysia and especially more so during fasting month. I could not tell you enough how much I miss having this sweet, creamy (coconout milk creamy) and a little bit salty eversince I moved here. Tepung Pelita is a must-have in my family. And that must-have is everyday for the whole of fasting month. I dont know why the cravings get crazy during fasting month since I dont really mind not having them for the rest of the 11months in the year. This craziness for Tepung Pelita doesnt just happen in my family but also by my friends/readers of my other blog as admitted by them here.

This year I am finally brave enough to make Tepung Pelita. My quest for the recipe brought me to a few sites/blogs of those who has made this before but the recipe and how-to is basically the same. 3 major differences that I found are 1) whether or not its steamed 2) with or without the sugar syrup at the bottom 3) whether or not you're using the banana leaves as the 'boat'.

The original Tepung Pelita are usually steamed, with sugar syrup at the bottom AND comes in small 'boat' made of banana leaves as seen here. This picture is taken from hanieliza.fotopages.com. This is how tepung pelita is sold in its 'original form'. I can eat between 3-4 and sometimes even more of these everyday during fasting month. *wink*

You can go here to see pictures of how its made step-by-step. Below is the recipe that I used with some modifications.

1 + 3tbsp cup rice flour
1 cup sugar
5 cups water

2 tsp pandan paste
4 cups coconut milk
4 tbs rice flour
A bit of salt

2 square Glass or ceramic bowls (9x9 or 10x10)

1. In a pot, mix 1 + 3 tbsp cup rice flour, 1 cup sugar, 5 cups water and 2 tsp pandan paste and stir well until smooth. Keep aside.

2. In a different pot, mix coconut milk, 4 tbsp rice flour and salt and stir well. Keep aside.

3. Cook no.1 on slow heat, stirring continuously until shiny.

4. Pour equally into the 2 glass bowls.

5. Now cook no.2 it thickens. You must stir all the time to avoid the flour from getting clumpy.

6. Pour onto the 1st layer.

7. Refrigerate overnight and enjoy once its chilled.

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Fluffy Cream Puff

Feast your eyes with the pictures for now. I will come back for the recipe ok?

As promised yesterday, here is the recipe taken from allrecipes.com and joyofbaking.com.

Fluffy Cream Puff

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup water

1 cup flour

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

1 box (1.34oz / 38g) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup cold milk

Preheat oven to 425F

1. Prepare the filling according to the box. Let it chilled in the fridge.

2. Boil water and butter on medium heat.

3. Stir in flour and salt until misture forms a ball.

4. Transfer to a mixing bowl and using the electric mixer, beat in eggs for 2-3 min.

5. Line baking sheet with parchment paper

6. Spoon 12 mounds of dough onto the sheet. I used a heap spoonful and place them 2in apart.

7. Bake them for 20min.

8. Take them out and using a toothpick, poke a small hole on the side to let the steam off and prevent deflation.

For the filling, you can either split and fill them with the pudding mixture or piped it in using the piping bag. As you can see from the pictures, I piped it in for easier storage and its also easier to eat. ;)

To serve, just dust some confectioners (powdered) sugar and enjoy!

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Pisang Palembang / Banana in Syrup

1 banana or plaintain (sliced)
1 egg (beaten)
oil to fry


Syrup

2/3 cup sugar
1.5cup water

Pandan/screwpine leaf (optional)


Boil the water and add sugar. Set it aside.

Heat the oil. Dip the sliced banana in the egg and fry them until golden brown.

Put the banana in the syrup.

Served chilled or hot.

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