Happy 2015! Apple sauce for ham

Today marks the last day of 2014. Happy new year! May 2015 brings you good health, peace and happiness.

2014 has been a year of drama, life changes and new experiences. I thank my family and friends for being supportive of my career change and new friends who have given me opportunities to try new things. With the recent Airasia mishap, it again reminds me of how short life can be. Live each day to the fullest and cherish your love ones. Whatever you want to try, do it now and not wait till next time. There may not be a next time. I am glad I made the trips to Europe and Tokyo this year with my family even though I was not earning as much. The time spent with family is priceless.

I was wondering which recipe I should share with you today. I had some recipes which I had tried earlier but haven't had the chance to post yet. However, just as I was shopping for ingredients for dinner tonight, I saw some green apples from Holland which looked delicious. I decided to try making my own applesauce. I had some applesauce from Seasalt Carribean Deli last week with my turkey and have been wanting to try making it. Coincidentally my mum brought over some ham when I invited her for dinner.

Apple sauce
1.5kg green apples
1.5 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
1- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp rum/whisky (optional)

1.  Slice and core the apples.

2. Melt the butter in a pot, add brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Fry till fragrant
3. Add in the apple slices and 1/2 cup of water. Mix well.

4. Cook the apples over low fire till soft (about 8-10 mins)
5. Taste the apples and add more brown sugar and cinnamon if desired.

6. Remove from heat and put the cooked apples in a blender and blend till smooth.
7. Cool before serving. You may bottle the applesauce and refrigerate the applesauce for a week.

Note: You may use white sugar instead of brown sugar and reduce the cinnamon if you like a lighter colour.

You may serve the applesauce with pork chops, ham or sausages.

Merry Christmas! Simple dessert: Panna Cotta

Merry Christmas! It's a cool 27 deg C in tropical Singapore. Hope you are having a lovely Christmas with your love ones and opening all the presents :) I attended Christmas eve mass with friends whom I have met in Shanghai. It was a lovely reunion.

Sorry for missing last week's post. My sister's slipped disc was acting up and I was shuttling around to bring her to physio and doc. Thank God she is now feeling better and can at least walk about without much pain though she still can't sit for long. My laptop also decided to act up end of last week and had to see the "doc" too :) In the midst of the busy schedule, I am thankful to family and friends who helped out.

I made this lovely Panna Cotta 2 weeks ago. Never knew it was so easy. I was introduced to Panna Cotta about 10 years back at Pasta Brava. I loved it ever since but never thought about making it. It was a spur of the moment that I decided to make it at 9pm in the evening 2 weeks ago.

Panna Cotta (Makes 5 martini glass)
2 cups of thick cream
50g caster sugar
1 Vanilla bean/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp gelatin
3 tbsp cold water

1) Heat up the thick cream and caster sugar either in microwave or over the stove. Once the sugar melts, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. If using vanilla bean, let it infuse for 30 minutes and reheat the mixture.
2) Mix the gelatin with the cold water and let it stand for 5-10 minutes
3) Pour the warm cream mixture into the gelatin and mix till the gelatin has completely dissolved.
4) Divide the panna cotta into the martini glasses and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

* In the top photos, I have added 1 tbsp of Kahlua to half the mixture to make coffee flavoured Panna Cotta.

I have served the vanilla Panna Cotta with some blueberry pie filling for a refreshing taste. You may also greased some ramekins and pour the panna cotta mixture and mould them for serving.

Hope you would try making the dessert. It's a simple dessert to make for a party or gathering.

Simple dish: Corned Beef Whole Tomato Rice

We are into the last month of 2014! How did the time go by so fast? We are left with 29 days to complete our resolution for 2014. Are you ready to tick your resolution checklist?

I wanted a work-life balance when I started out 2014. I couldn't find that in the corporate world doing my old job so am glad I took the courage to do baking full-time from mid 2014. I have tried a number of new experiences this year... working in a cafe part-time, teaching baking courses and of course baking full-time. I have met new friends along the way who have kindly shared their experiences with me. It's not easy running your own business. I taught my 2nd baking class last Sunday and had good fun with the participants.

So last week was another busy week for me as I prepare for the class and the 1st birthday party for my little online bakery. My mind was full of baking and I did't really know what to cook for meals. I saw an FB post from a friend on Thursday morning on her cooking the whole Tomato rice and inspiration struck. I had watched the tutorial on whole Tomato rice a few weeks ago and knew it is the current hot favourite on the Internet in several countries but didn't get round to cooking it. It's a simple meal to prepare in your rice cooker and you can add whatever ingredients you have on hand.
I remembered I had a can of Libby's corned beef sitting in my pantry for a few months and thought it's time to cook it so I came up with this version of Corned beef Whole Tomato Rice.

Corned Beef Whole Tomato Rice (Serves 3-4)
1/2 can Corned Beef
1/2 white onion (diced)
1 large tomato (remove the top and bottom bits)
2 cups of washed uncooked Rice
1 tbsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1) Heat up the rice cooker and add the Olive oil
2) Fry the onion till soft and transparent
3) Add the corned beef and fry till fragrant
4) Dish up the fried corned beef and set aside
5) Add the washed rice into the rice cooker and added water to the level indicated by the rice cooker.
6) Remove about 5-6 tbsp of water as the tomato contains water
7) Put tomato into the center of the pot and add salt and pepper to taste
8) Let the rice and tomato cook in the rice cooker as per norm
9) When the rice is done, stir the rice and the tomato and add in the fried corn beef.
10) Mix well and serve.

Below is the cooked rice from Friday before mixing in the fried corned beef. As my tomato was small, I added 2 tomatoes to the rice.

* Do remember to remove the water in step 6 otherwise your rice will be very soft and mushy. I made the mistake as I was in a hurry on Thursday. Cooked the dish again on Friday and remember this time to remove the water and it tastes so much better.

You can add different ingredients to the rice and try different combinations. Maybe one for each day of the week :)

Yuzu again: Yuzu Swiss Roll

I had a lovely time this afternoon baking with a friend whom I made during my work stint in Shanghai. She was interested in baking but due to health concerns, she has to reduce on butter and cream. We had lunch last week and she wanted to learn some healthier cakes. I suggested chocolate cupcakes with buttermilk and Yuzu Swiss Roll without cream as she loved the Yuzu Log Cake which I gave her.

We had so much fun chatting while baking that I almost forgot to add the vegetable oil to the Swiss roll. We added the oil after folding in the stiff white egg and luckily the Swiss roll turn out successful.

In the past, I had problems rolling swiss roll without cracking or having the swiss roll stick to the baking paper. After doing some research online, I finally managed to make a beautiful swiss roll. Today, I will be sharing with you the tips I have learnt.

Yuzu Swiss Roll (serves 8-10)
50g milk
30g vegetable cooking oil
50g caster sugar
3 large eggs (separated, ensure there is no trace of egg yolks in the egg whites)
1/4 tsp cream of Tartar
50g cake flour (sieved)
5 tbsp Yuzu tea
Some icing sugar

1. Pre-heat oven at 160 deg C
2. Heat 15g caster sugar, vegetable oil and milk in a pan. Stir till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
3. Add in the cake flour and stir till well mixed.
4. Mix in the egg yolks one at a time.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and Cream of Tartar till frothy. Add in remaining 35g of caster sugar and beat till stiff.
6. Fold in 1/3 of stiff egg white to the egg yolk mixture. Take care not to deflate the egg whites. Continue folding in the rest of the egg whites.
7. Line a 9" by 13" tray. Pour the batter into the tray.
8. Bake at 160 deg C for 20-25 mins.
9. Once the cake is baked, take out of oven immediately and drop the tray from a height for a few times (to prevent shrinkage).
10. Prepare a sheet of baking paper similar in size to the tray. Sprinkle some icing sugar on the baking paper.
11. Invert the baked cake onto the new sheet of baking paper and remove the old baking sheet.
12. Roll the cake while it's hot and leave it to cool rolled up.
13. Once the roll is cooled, unroll the cake and spread the Yuzu tea onto the cake. Roll up again and chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Optional: You can spread some whipped cream onto the cake prior to spreading the Yuzu tea and for the Christmas season, you can frost the outside with whipped cream and decorate it into a log cake.

This is the cake without the whipped cream which we made today. Pardon the poor lighting. Due to the rain, I couldn't take nice pictures. We sprinkled some icing sugar on top of the swiss roll instead of frosting the roll.

I am enjoying a slice of this soft, fluffy and Yuzu filled goodness while writing this post :)

Yuzu Chiffon Cake

Rain rain rain...... This is the 2nd week that we are experiencing rain in the afternoons. Very cooling weather though the wet weather is a damper for any outdoor activities... the poor school children who are cooped up at home during the school holidays.

While posting the last post, I noticed that I haven't posted any cakes or cookies recipe for some time. I have been baking quite regularly these past weeks but somehow haven't posted them. This has been a rather productive baking week for me. I was perfecting the cookie recipe for my Christmas Goodies baking class and have also managed to create a new flavour for Christmas Log Cake. I should probably name it the Baker's Favourite as the log cake was created especially for me :) I have been trying to control myself not to finish the whole cake. I have also been busy organising my very own first baking class and also a 1st birthday party for Chocs & Cheeze. How time flies!

As mentioned in previous posts, I love citrus and Yuzu is one of my favourites. I have Yuzu wine, Yuzu honey and Yuzu tea at home! My newly created log cake is Yuzu Log Cake! Been wanting to bake a Yuzu Chiffon Cake for the longest time and I glad I baked it a month ago when I had an overseas guest over at my home for dinner. It also gave me a chance to try out my new heart-shaped Chiffon pan from Tokyo. The cake is very soft and fluffy, my overseas guest gave it a thumbs-up and packed some for her colleagues and breakfast the next day!

I followed the recipe from here with some slight modifications.

Yuzu Chiffon Cake (21cm Chiffon pan)
4 large Eggs (separated)

1/4 tsp Salt

80g Caster Sugar

5 tbsp Vegetable oil

100g Yuzu tea 

 5 tbsp Hot Water

120g Cake flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1. Pre-heat the oven at 170 deg C

2. Mix the Yuzu tea with the hot water and cut the yuzu peels into small pieces.
3. Beat the egg yolks, 30g sugar and salt together till well mixed.
4. Add the Yuzu tea mixture into the beaten egg yolks and mix well.
5. Sieve the Cake flour together with the baking powder and add to the egg yolk mixture using a hand whisk.
6. Beat the egg whites and Cream of Tartar till formy and then add the 50g sugar and continue beating till peaks formed.
7. Fold 1/3 of egg white mixture at a time into the egg yolk mixture gently. Be careful not to deflat the egg whites.
8. Pour the batter into a Chiffon pan (no need to grease and line pan) and bake at 170 deg C for 45 minutes.
9. Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and invert it immediately to prevent sinking.
10. Remove the cake from mould once it's cooled.

I love this cake so much that I baked it again the next day :) The baking of the cake is not difficult but sometimes the un-moulding is a little tricky. Have a try.

Creamy pumpkin soup (without cream)

It has been raining everyday for the past few days here in Singapore and we are experiencing some of the coolest days in the year (about 24 deg C at night). No need to turn on the air-conditioner at home..Hooray! Despite the wet weather, I had a lovely week. I was busy baking away on weekdays and had a lovely catch-up with an friend on Sunday. I spent the last 2 days baking and decorating children's cakes and find them such a joy to make.

Pardon the poor lighting as I had to take them without natural sunlight due to the rain. I finally got a chance to use the teddy bear bread tin that I bought from Tokyo. 2 cake tins used, 2 more to go.....
I actually wanted to make a Rilakkuma cake for a friend who loves the bear but drew the mouth incorrectly so this is just a teddy bear cake :) Both cakes were made with 2 different flavours; chocolate and coffee. Interesting? Just received an order for an Elephant cake next week... looking forward.

Since it was rainy and cool, I wanted some hot soup for dinner tonight. Decided to make myself some creamy pumpkin soup since I have some carrots and potatoes leftover from last week's Chicken and potatoes stew. I used to dislike creamy soups as I find them too heavy and prefer the clear soups. Usually I can hardly finish half a bowl of creamy soup. However a friend, K taught me this recipe a few years back and started me cooking more western soups.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup (serves 4)

500g pumpkin
2-3 medium carrots
3 russet potatoes
1 white onion
1 tsp Italian mixed herbs
2 bay leaves (optional)
1 litre water
1 stock cube
salt and pepper

1. Wash and peel the pumpkin, carrots and potatoes.Cut them into cubes
2. Peel and chopped the onion
3. Heat up a pot and 1 tablespoon of oil.
4. Fry the chopped onion till soft. Add the mixed herbs, pepper and bay leaves and fry till fragrant.
5. Add the potatoes, carrots and pumpkin and mix well.
6. Add the water and stock cube and bring it to a boil.
7. When the soup comes to a boil, lower the fire to simmer till the potatoes are soft.
8. Use a hand-head blender or transfer the soup into a blender and blend till smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a little hot water.
9. Season with salt and pepper and served with warm bread.

You can add a little smoked paprika and cumin if you like while frying the mixed herbs. There are no hard and fast rules for the proportions of the vegetables. I find this soup which is thickened by potatoes much lighter and have made this soup numerous times. Hope you like it too.

Chicken and potato stew

Hello! Sorry to miss the posting last week. I was busy catching up with friends and preparing for a cupcake baking and decorating class which was held last Sunday. In between that I also had to plan and design 3 cakes which I have not done previously. They turned out beautifully. I will share pictures of those cakes in my next post.

This is my first time teaching a class. I had in mind a tea party where we could relax and let out creative juices flow. Thank you to friends who gave me tea and cupcake stand sets so that we could all have a nice tea party. We all had a great time including the assistants and the participants. I'm sure you have heard about expressing yourself through drawing and painting and now you can express yourself through cupcake decorating. We were amazed and blown away by the decorations done by the participants. They were beyond our expectations. You may not necessarily excel in Art but can still be fantastic in cake decorating. It's just a different type of canvas.

Here are the pictures from the class:

Amazing isn't it? Most of the participants have no prior experience in piping and decorating. This is such a wonderful way to express your love for your family and friends. The first picture shows that goodies I have baked for the participants. Quite a few of them including the owner of the kitchen we used couldn't stop munching on the Chocolate Cookie Slice.

Despite my crazy schedule, I managed to cook some meals with the help of my thermal pot.
Today I am going to share with you the recipe for a Chicken Potato Stew. Be warned to have plenty of bread or rice to serve with this stew. It's really good and you won't be able to stop at one bowl.

Chicken Potato Stew (serves 3-4)

1 medium size chicken (about 800g to 1 kg)
2-3 carrots
3-4 potatoes (I like to use russet potatoes)
1 white onion
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
4-6 dried chilli (soaked in water)
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2-3 tbsp corn syrup

1. Wash and cut the chicken into pieces. Remove the skin.
2. Wash and peel the onions, carrots and potatoes.
3 Cut the carrots and potatoes into chunks and slice the onion thinly
4. Cut the dried chilli into pieces
5. Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in the thermal inner pot. Fry the onion and dried chilli till fragrant.
6. Add the chicken pieces and fry them till light brown.
7. Add the potatoes and carrots chunks and fry them for a while.
8. Add the oyster sauce, light soya sauce, sesame oil and corn syrup and mix well.
9. Add in 400ml of water and cover the pot. Bring the stew to a boil and turn off the fire. Put the pot into the thermal outer container and leave it to cook in the thermal for about an hour.
10. Garnish with some roasted sesame seeds. Serve the stew with rice or bread.

* For those who do not have a thermal pot, you can use a non stick pot to cook the stew and let it simmer till the potatoes are soft.

This stew is good for a picnic or as a meal in itself. I made a pot of this stew for a picnic 2 months back and we almost finished the whole pot even without any rice or bread.

Garlic and Mixed Herbs Focaccia Bread

Sorry for the late post this week. A good friend has just given birth to a beautiful baby boy on Monday and another friend was warded for dengue fever so I actually been to 2 different hospitals this week! Glad both friends are now discharged and resting at home.

I was also busy this week with a big order of cupcakes for a corporate event. Appreciate their support. Here's a picture of the cupcakes I did for them.

Last Sunday evening, I had a sudden craving for homemade Focaccia bread and actually started making the dough at 1120pm. It's crazy! I decided to mix the dough and leave it overnight to proof so that I can have fresh bread the next day. Although I have tried making this recipe several times, this is the first time that I am actually letting it proof overnight. It was a good experiment so I thought I would share it with you this week.

Garlic and Mixed Herbs Foccacia Bread (makes 38cm*25cm*2.5cm bread)
1 2/3 cup warm water (not too warm or it will destroy the yeast)
7g instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
5 cups of plain flour and extra for kneading
1/4 cup olive oil and extra for oiling the baking sheet and top of the dough
3 1/2tsp seasalt
2 tbsp mixed herbs (use fresh herbs if available, other dried ones are fine)
1 tsp minced garlic (more if you like)
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (optional)

1) Heat up the olive oil and fry the minced garlic till fragrant. Let it cool.
2) Mix the warm water, yeast and sugar together in a big mixing bowl and let it stand for 5 minutes. The mixture will turn formy.
3) Add flour, minced garlic and olive oil, seasalt to the mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon till the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4) Put some flour on a cutting board. Put the dough on top of the flour and knead for a few mintues.
5) Oil the baking sheet and press the dough evenly on the pzn
6) Cover with oiled cling wrap and let it rise overnight.
7) Pre-heat the oven to 220 deg C
8) Stir the mixed herbs and 3 tbsp of olive oil in a small bowl
9) Make shallow indents all over the dough with your finger
10) Brush the dough with the olive oil and mixed herb mixture
11) Sprinkle the seasalt and parmesan cheese evenly over the dough
12) Bake for 20-25 minutes till golden brown.

You can serve the bread warm with a stew or soup. My friend's 4 year daughter loved the bread and finished several slices for dinner together with a chicken and potatoes stew the same evening.

Taiyaki - Japanese Fish Shape Pancake

In my last post, I mentioned that I bought a number of baking/cooking stuff from Tokyo. I couldn't wait to try them out and was surfing around for recipes to try. As last weekend was a long weekend in Singapore with the Hari Raya Haji festival, I got a chance to try out the Taiyaki pan when my friend, B dropped by on Sunday. I got the recipe from here and decided to make both red bean and cream cheese versions.

B is new at baking and cooking. Last Sunday I decided to let her try making a few recipes on her own, I only gave her some guidance by the side. We made Taiyaki, Sushi and Carrot Cake. B felt very accomplished by end of Sunday afternoon as the 3 items come out successful. Here are the pictures from our fruitful Sunday:

Taiyaki (8-10 pieces)

150g Cake flour
2/3 tbsp baking powder
1 egg (beaten)
180ml milk
40g sugar
1 can Japanese red bean (available from NTUC Finest) or Cowhead cream cheese
1 tbsp cooking oil (to grease the Taiyaki pan)

1) Sieve the cake flour and baking powder together
2) Add in the sugar and mix well
3) Add in beaten egg and milk and mix well
4) Transfer the batter into a measuring cup or jug
5) Heat the Taiyaki pan over the stove on low fire

5) Brush cooking oil over both sides of the pan
6) Fill half the mould with batter
7) Add in 1 tsp of red bean or 1/2 cream cheese wedge

8) Cover the filling and the mould with batter
9) Close the pan and cook on low heat. Flip the pan over after 2-3 minutes until both sides are golden brown.
10) Remove from Taiyaki pan with a wooden skewer

B and I like the Taiyaki very much and ate 2 each!  I brought them to my parents' place and they were well received by my father and bro-in-law. Another friend's daughter finished 3 of the Taiyaki in a day!

How do you like my pretty plates from Tokyo? When I posted photos of the Taiyaki on FB, a friend messaged me to ask how many of the plates I lugged back from Japan? I got them from a shop in Tsukiji Fish Market. Wanted to buy more but I managed to control myself :P

Roast Chicken with Tom Yum herbs

Hello! It's good to be back after 2 weeks away! I was in Tokyo for a holiday in mid September and was so busy with baking before and after my trip that I didn't get a chance to write a post.

This was my first trip to the Land of the Rising Sun and like friends predicted, I love the place! The shopping, food and culture was amazing. I had the freshest sushi for breakfast at Tsukiji Fish market, spent around 2 hours in Kappabashi looking for baking tins that are not available in Singapore, saw the beauty of Mt Fuji......... I could go on and on.... Here are some of the pictures from my trip. I would love to return to Japan in the near future.

 Today I thought I would share with you on my favourite dish to make when I am entertaining guests.  Usually when I am entertaining guests at home, I love to make roast chicken as I can make it in advance and there's not much to clean up and I can be all dressed up in time to meet my guests when they arrive. I just have to prepare a salad, bread and a dessert for the sides and I am all ready!

Roast Chicken with Tom Yum herbs

1 chicken (half kg)
2-3 stalks lemongrass
a handful of kaffer lime leaves
1 inch thick galangal
salt and pepper
3 tbsp soften butter
2-3 russet potatoes
2 carrots
1 white onions

1) Wash and cut the lemongrass and galangal into smaller pieces. Put them and lime leaves and the soften butter into a food processor or mini chopper. Mix and chop them up into a paste.

2) Rub some salt and pepper all over the chicken. Rub the paste all over the chicken, under the skin and stuff some paste into the cavity of the chicken and put the remainder on top of the chicken. Leave the chicken in the fridge for at least half hour to marinate. You can make this the night before if you like.

3) Cut the potatoes, carrots and white onions into chunks. Lay them on a baking tray. Take the chicken out of the fridge and put it on top of the vegetables. Cover with foil and pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C.

4) Roast the chicken for about 40 minutes, turn the chicken over after 20 mins. Remove the foil and baked at 220 deg C for another 20 - 30 mins so that the chicken can brown nicely. Use a skewer/chopstick to prick the chicken, if there are no pink juices , the chicken is cooked.

5) Serve with a salad and some bread for a full meal.