Sugar & Spice and everything nice: Homemade Gingerbread Sugar Scrub

Merry Christmas! It's has been a while since my last post. Time flies and it's Christmas again!

I know I promised more Thai Iced Tea recipes in my last post. Apologies as my dad has been sick and going in and out of hospital these past 2 months so this blog has been neglected.

This year, I am into DIY gifts. Took a class in making soy candles and made a few for close friends. I have been wanting to make the homemade sugar scrubs but haven't had the time. This morning, I had the urge to make the sugar scrub and decided to share a simple DIY Christmas gift recipe. Its not for eating but everything in the recipe is edible so do feel free to taste :) I didn't make any gingerbread cookies this year due to the hectic schedule so this will have to make do.

Homemade Gingerbread Sugar

2 cups raw sugar
3/4 cup sweet almond oil (or other carrier oil)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2tsp ground nutmeg

1) Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl

2) Slowly add in the sweet almond oil and mix well

3) Pour into a pretty glass container and tie a ribbon around the bottle for a pretty gift.

Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy your time with family and friends!

Thai Iced Tea Ice-cream (without ice-cream maker)

I have been on a Thai Iced Tea craze since my trip to Chiangmai. We had a half day off on the eve of Deepavali and I rushed to Raffles Place to have my favourite Thai Iced Tea and Shibuya Honey Thick Toast at Nam Nam's. I was sorely disappointed to be told that the Thick Toast was sold out!!

After making the Thai Iced Tea cake 2 weeks backs, I came across a You-tube video showing a Thai Iced Tea Ice-cream. It is pretty similar to the ice-cream recipe that I have shared previously. Just 2 ingredients and the addition of the flavour of your choice. I couldn't wait for the weekend to try the recipe. The additional step in this recipe is that you will need to infuse the Thai Tea into the whipping cream and let it chill overnight in the fridge before whipping the cream.

Thai Iced Tea Ice-cream 

2.5 cups whipping cream
6 tbsp Thai Iced Tea Mix
1 cup condensed milk

1) Heat the whipping cream and add in the Thai Ice Tea mix.

2) Stir well and let the cream come to a gentle boil (do watch the cream carefully as it boils over easily)

3) Turn off the fire and let the tea steep for about 5 minutes and then strain the mixture. Do not let it steep too long as the cream will thicken and make it difficult to strain. You should have about 2 cups of tea infused cream.

4) Cool the mixture and chill overnight in the fridge. Chill the condensed milk overnight too.
5)  Beat the chilled cream till soft peaks using a cake mixer.
6) Add in the condensed milk and whipped till stiff peaks.

7) Transfer the mixture into a container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

8) You may drizzle some condensed milk on the ice-cream if you like.

I love the flavour of the Thai Tea which came out rather strong in the ice-cream. The combination of Thai Iced Tea and condensed milk is a perfect match. A lovely treat on a hot day! Stay tuned as I experiment with more Thai iced tea flavoured desserts.

Thai Iced Tea Cake

The last 2 months have been hectic! I have been so busy with work and holidays that I haven't really tried new recipes. Since my last post, I have travelled to Chiangmai and my 2nd home, Shanghai. It's due to my trip to Chiangmai and also discussion with 2 colleagues that I have decided to try making Thai Ice Tea Cake for a colleague's birthday tomorrow.

It was a lovely girls' trip to Chiangmai with my mum and sis in September. We stumbled upon a nice cafe for lunch and tea. It was at this cafe that I bought my Thai Iced Tea mix. The cafe had a colonial house feel and the food had infused tea into some Thai dishes. My fish dish had a lovely tea sauce that was drizzled on it. I bought some tea leaves from the cafe to take home but didn't get a chance to try the Thai Iced Tea mix yet as some crisis came up at work and I was rushing to finish up before my Shanghai trip.

Last Friday, I was having a discussion with colleagues on what to bake for the birthday celebration tomorrow. A chocolate cake seems too common and a few colleagues don't appreciate carrot cakes. One colleague suggest Earl Grey tea as the birthday girl loves tea and I wondered if I should try making Thai Iced Tea cake since I have the mix at home. Both colleagues agreed that it's a wonderful idea since she had worked in Thailand a few years back and had fond memories of the place. I googled around for recipes and found a few links which has made use of this recipe.

Thai Iced Tea Cake (8" round cake) (recipe from here with modifications)


2 cups milk
3/4 cup condensed milk
3/4 cup Thai Iced Tea mix
3 cups cake flour
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
11/2 cup sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter
6 eggs

1) Bring the milk, condensed milk and Thai Iced Tea mix to a simmer and let it steep for at least 30 minutes. You will need 3/4 cups of this mixture for the cake

2) Pre-heat oven at 175 deg C.
3) Beat the butter and sugar together till pale and fluffy.

4) Add in the eggs one at the time and mix well

5) Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt together.
6) Alternate adding flour and tea mix into the batter and mix well.

7) Pour into 2 8" lined cake tins.

 8) Bake for about 45-50 minutes till the cake is cooked.

9) Cool the cakes before decorating

Thai Ice Tea Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup tea and milk mixture from above
500g cream cheese
250g butter
13/4 cup icing sugar (more if desired)

1) Cream the cream cheese and butter together till smooth.
2) Add the tea and milk mixture slowly and mix well
3) Add the icing sugar and mix well.
4) Decorate as desired.

recipes using leftover egg yolks: cantonese egg tarts

What to do with leftover egg yolks? This was the question on my mind since the weekend. I made meringue buttercream on Saturday and ended up with 10 egg yolks leftover.  I made lemon curd earlier this month with my leftover egg yolks (would post the recipe soon). Since my egg tart craving last week wasn't satisfied by those sold at the foodcourt, I decided to modify the recipe to substitue egg yolks for whole eggs in this recipe.

Cantonese egg tart (recipe from Christine's recipes) makes about 12 egg tarts
Tart cases:

200g plain flour
25g cake flour
125g soften butter
55g icing sugar
dash of vanilla essence
1 egg whisked (1 used 2 egg yolks)
1) Pre-heat oven at 200 deg C
2) Beat soften butter together with icing sugar till creamy
3) Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix well
4) Sieve the cake and plain flour together.
5) Add the flour in 2 batches into the beaten butter
6) Form into a dough and roll out to about 2 cm thick.

6) Cut into circles smaller than the tart mould and shape pastry on the mould.

Egg custard:
150g boiling water
70g caster sugar
2 eggs (I used 4 egg yolks)
75g evaporated milk
 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1) Add the sugar to boiling water and stir till dissolved
2) Add the evaporated milk and mix well
3) Add whisked egg and vanilla essence and mix well
4) Transfer to a jug for easy pouring into the tart cases
5) Fill the tart cases about 75% full

6) Bake the tarts at 200 deg C for 10 mins till slightly brown
7) Lower the temperature till 180 deg C and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes (watch carefully) till custard is cooked (when a toothpick can stand in the custard)

8) Cool and serve on cupcake cases

The colour of the egg custard is more vibrant using the egg yolk recipes vs the whole egg recipe. The tart cases are also more crumbly using only egg yolks. I love egg tarts and this is one recipe that I always use for egg tarts. For this post, I have used photos from both whole egg and egg yolk only recipes. Serve the egg tarts with hot tea or coffee for a lovely tea or breakfast.

Moist Jewish Honey Cake

Hello! It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Been busy as I have returned to the corporate world after a year's break. It took me a while but I finally found a job that allows me work-life balance. I am now 6 weeks into the job and still enjoying it. I have another HR colleague who is into baking and did took his sabbatical to do baking 2 years ago so we have been exchanging tips and ideas. Now I mostly experiment with recipes in the evenings and bring them to my colleagues the next day. Yay! A group of people to help finish the cakes! I still take in orders for cakes and cookies mostly over the weekends.

Back to the cake I am introducing today. This is a Jewish Honey Cake and is typically eaten during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. A Jewish colleague of mine baked a cake for us 3 years back and I loved the cake! Being a baker, I asked her what are the ingredients as the cake was moist and full of flavour! She told me there's coffee, orange juice, honey and various spices in the cake. It sounded very interesting. I had always wanted to try baking it but never got round to it. I finally tried it about 2 weeks back and fell in love with it. It was a very easy cake and wonderful for those of us who are busy. Everything gets thrown into one bowl and mixed together. I only have to wash a bowl, a measuring cup and a sieve! Greats news for people like me who hate to wash.

Moist Honey Cake (recipe from here)
31/2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
4tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
3 large eggs
1 cup warm coffee
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup whiskey (optional - replace with orange juice for non-alcoholic version)
1tsp vanilla extract

1) Pre-heat oven at 175 deg C
2)Sieve the plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, cloves together in a mixing bowl.

3) Add in the brown and caster sugar
4) Make a well in the centre and add in the rest of the ingredients.

5) Whisk till everything is well mixed.

6) Pour into a oiled and floured 10" Bundt cake pan

7) Bake at 175 deg C for 60-70 mins.
8) Cool in the pan for 15-20 mins before unmoulding
9) Decorate with icing sugar if desired.

As I am typing, the smell of the baking cake is wafting in from the kitchen. I am baking it this time for a church event tomorrow. I find that spiced cakes usually takes a day for the flavours to develop so it would be good to bake the cake a day in advance. My friends loved the Honey Cake and it reminds me of Christmas! This is certainly a cake I will bake for the Christmas Holidays, easy and delicious. Lovely when served with a cup of coffee or tea.

Steamed Pumpkin Kueh

Hello! It's been almost one month since my last post. Didn't realise it's been so long. I have been busy and a little lazy :)

I have tried a few new recipes these last weeks and will try to put them up as soon as possible. Today I am sharing a recipe that is true to my Hokkien heritage...steamed pumpkin kueh. Met a friend last week and she mentioned she loves steamed pumpkin kueh so Di, this is for you. I will save some for you when you get back from your trip.

Steamed Pumpkin Kueh (makes a 8 inch round)
600g skinned pumpkin (I used butternut squash instead)
100g yunnan ham (I used turkey bacon, diced)
50g dried shrimp
6 dried chinese mushrooms (soaked and diced)
salt
pepper
11/3 cups water
1 cup rice flour

1) Grate the pumpkin and set aside
2) Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan and stir fry the dried shrimp, mushroom and ham till fragrant.

3) Add the grated pumpkin and toss to mix

4) Add the water to the rice flour and stir well. Pour the flour mixture into the pan and stir over medium heat till it thickens.

5) Oil a 8 inch baking tray and pour in the mixture into the tray. Steamed over high heat for an hour. Make sure you replenish the steamer with plenty of hot water to keep the steamer from going dry.

6) Let the pumpkin kueh cool and harden before slicing.

 7) Serve with some coriander leaves, sliced chilli and sesame seeds.

I am all ready for my brunch. Will update with a photo of the sliced kueh after I have tasted it :)

Homemade Cherry Garcia ice-cream and Yuzu ice cream (without ice-cream maker)

It's been 2 weeks since my last post. I was busy with taking care of my mum who had a knee replacement operation. She is recovering well and resting at home. Thank you to family and friends for their prayers and well wishes.

The weather in Singapore for the past few weeks has unbearably hot. Something cold and sweet is heaven on a hot day. I have always wanted to make my own ice-cream but most recipes without ice-cream makers require beating the ice-cream base 2 - 3 times. I tried that and found it too troublesome for some ice-cream. I saw the recipe by chance online which only requires 2 ingredients and thought I must give it a try.

I decided to make a Cherry Garcia version as that's a favourite since I was introduced to Ben & Jerry's a decade ago and also a Yuzu version as I can't get them from the supermakets.

Homemade Ice-cream (makes about 1.5litres)

Ice-cream base:
2 cups heavy/whipping cream
1 can of condensed milk (400g)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cherry Garcia:
1/2 cup pitted cherries (fresh/frozen)
1/2 cup good quality dark chocolate

Yuzu:
4 tsp yuzu juice
2 tbsp yuzu tea/jam

1) Refrigerate the whipping cream, condensed milk and your mixing bowl overnight to ensure that they are really cold.

2) Whip the whipping cream using a cake mixer till soft peaks and then add in the condensed milk and vanilla extract. Continue whipping to firm peaks. This is your ice-cream base.

3) Divide the ice-cream base into 2 bowls. In one, fold in the cherries and dark chocolate chunks. In the other, fold in the Yuzu juice and jam.

4) Transfer the ice-cream into containers and freeze overnight or at least 6 hours before serving.

Please pardon the poor lighting in the photos as I made the ice-cream late in the evening. I couldn't wait to try the ice-cream. Had to scoop some out to take the first photo the next day and couldn't resist licking the scoop :)

The verdict? My sis and bro-in-law loved the Cherry Garcia ice-cream (also one of their favourite flavours) but they thought I put in too much chocolate chunks. I have adjusted the chocolate quantity for the recipe above. Originally I had a cup of chocolate in there as I am a big dark chocolate lover.
My mum was wondering why 2nd ice cream is citrus in taste and I had to explain it's Yuzu.

I am looking forward to try new flavours once these 2 tubs are finished. I have left them at my mum's so that we can all share the calories :)