halloweon party

yu ze's violin teacher has a small tricks or treat for his student in yesterday's group practice. all the students are supposed in come dressed up for halloweon. i'm pretty surprised that the older kids came in dressed up too.

 

they had their usual group practice before the tricks or treats. in order for their treats, they had to answer some simple questions relating to what they learn and also simple observation of things around them. its not really a party but i think its quite nice for him to have something for the students.

 

well, i have a hard time convincing yu ze for the dressed up. luckily, andrina came along with us when we were at daiso to buy the stuff last week. she managed to convince him from nothing for dress up to 3 items from daiso. my kid listen to others more than his mommy. sigh.... anyway, i'm glad that i had prepared him for it and he seems to look forward to it after that.

 

oh yah, when its yu ze's turn for the treats, he only took 2 sweets from it. he shared one with yu xi. he even told wei han that cannot eat so much sweet, must brush teeth.  

pandan chiffon cake

i try out another pandan cake recipe from little teochew. my testers say its better than the previous one. 

 

ingredients
7 egg (separate whites and yolks)
75g coconut milk*
1 teaspoon fresh pandan extract**/bottle essence (i didn't leave it overnight to get the super concentrated one, so i add 3 teaspoon of it)
150g flour
4g baking powder (1 teaspoon)
75g + 100g sugar
3g salt
83g vegetable oil

*coconut milk
1 coconut (grated) to get the first squeezed coconut milk. do not add a lot of water to it, at most is 1 or 2 tablespoon of water to the grated coconut before you squeeze.

**used 30 fresh pandan leaves + 1/2 cup water and blend in a food processor. squeeze out the juice from the pulp and leave it in a glass overnight in the fridge. use only the green stuff that settles at the bottom of the glass (i didn't leave it overnight, so i add only 3 or 4 tablespoon water to it to blend and extract the juice)

method:

1. preheat oven to 160°C.

2. combine egg yolks, coconut milk and pandan extract in a mixing bowl. sift flour, baking powder and salt. add flour mixture and 75g sugar into the bowl. add vegetable oil and whisk everything to combine.

3. in a separate and clean bowl, beat egg whites and 100g sugar together till it forms soft peaks.

4. slowly fold egg white into egg yolk mixture in 3-4 additions.

5. pour cake mixture into an ungreased tube pan.

6. bake for 45 minutes (i think need to increase the timing a bit more).

7. flip the pan upside down against a bottle on kitchen counter and let cool for 25-30 minutes. un-mould the cake.

pandan chiffon cake

i have always wanted to bake a pandan cake. i had tried and failed a few times. i'm so glad that i have made it this time with receipe from the baking biatch. i still can't tell if its good enough but looks much better than those that i have made. anyway, the kids took 1 each after i cut it so it should be nice.

 

 

 

yu xi is very cute. she told me this is not nice cos its not green (not the usual green pandan cake colour that she eat).

 

 

ingredients:

154g cake flour

7 eggs (55 - 60 g)

84ml fresh coconut milk

84g oil 

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

15 pandan leaves

6 tablespoon water

84g + 84g castor sugar

1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
20cm base tin (i use 2 smaller tin as i don't have a 20cm one)

 

method:

1. preheat oven at 150 degree.

 

2. wash and cut the pandan leaves into small pieces. blend the small pieces of pandan leaves with the water.

 

3. strain it with a sieve and squeeze it dry.

 

4. sift the baking powder and the cake flour.

 

5. add 2 and 2/3 tablespooon of the pandan juice to the coconut milk

 

6. separate the egg yolks and egg whites.

 

7. take half of the castor sugar (84g) and add it to the egg yolks.

 

8. stir well with a spatula till light and fluffy. 

 

9. add in 1/3 of the coconut milk mixture and mix well.

 

10. add in 1/3 of the flour and mix well. repeat coconut milk mixture + flour mixture in 1/3 portions and mix well.

 

11. add the oil and the vanilla extract. set aside.

 

12. beat the egg whites and add in the other 1/2 of the castor sugar (84g) till stiff peak is form. **ensure that your tools are totally dry and free from oil etc.. else, the eggs will not become stiff. 

 

13. fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the egg yolks mixture. 

 

14. add the egg yolk mixture into the remaining 2/3 egg white mixture and fold in.

 

15. once done, pour the cake batter into the baking tin and shake/sway till batter is evenly distributed.

 

16. bake for 70 minutes (i bake for 45 mins with 2 smaller tins) in the middle rack. (fan mode)

 

17. once baked, prop the chiffon cake tin on a higher level to allow it to cool for about 30 minutes before removal.

butter cake

 

another recipe for butter cake from manfei. it is supposed to be less oily and same softness as mrs ng's butter cake. however, this doesn't make it a winner. after baking this and tasted by my 'white mouse', they have concluded mrs ng's butter cake as the winner. though i don't eat it, i knew mrs ng's butter cake has win the race by just the look of it.

ingredients
20g + 170g sugar
250g salted butter
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
210g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

method:
1. cream 20g sugar and butter till light and fluffy.

2. add in egg yolks 1 at a time till mixture is well incorporated. Mixture should be smooth and not lumpy.

3. beat egg white till foamy and gradually add in 170g sugar

4. continue to beat the whites till it forms a stiff and shiny meringue

5. add the meringue to (2) and mix well.

6. Sift the flour and baking powder into (5) and mix well. ensure that there are no lumps.

7. bake at 180 degree for 50 minutes

nama chocolate

my first reaction when i saw this in facebook is that i want to make them. it looks like the meiji melty kiss that i always buy during year end. i asked for the recipe and here i go, going round to get the ingredients and make them. its really yummy and do taste like melty kiss too but its the dark chocolate version. next round, i shall try with milk chocolate so the kids can eat them.

it is indeed very easy to make this. however, the cutting up of this is a killer. must be 'fast hand and fast leg' in the coating or the chocolate will be melting in front of you while you try to coat them.

  
ingredients:
400g chocolate, chopped into bits (i use 55% dark chocolate)
200ml whipping cream
Cocoa powder for dusting
8" square tin (i will use a smaller tin in future so that the height of the chocolate will be higher)

 

the ratio of cream (ml) and chocolate (gram) should be 1:2.

method:
1. heat whipping cream in a saucepan. when it starts to bubble, turn off the heat. you just want to warm the milk not boil it.

2. add chopped chocolate into the whipping cream.

3. stir to melt the chocolate and incorporate it into the cream.

4. when all the chocolate has melted in the cream, it will resemble a thick chocolate ganache.

5. prepare a baking tin with baking paper in it, including the sides.

6. pour the chocolate mixture into the tin.

7. level the mixture.

8. cover with cling wrap and let it firm up in the fridge.

9. cut the hardened chocolate into blocks with a knife.

10. dust with cocoa powder.

11. return to the fridge till you are ready to eat them. 

tips:
1. if you have problems cutting the chocolate into blocks, heat your knife in hot water, dry and clean it before using it to cut the chocolate.

2. prepared another tin in the fridge lay with baking paper. dusted with cocoa powder when it's ready to be used. placed the cut up blocks of chocolate in the prepared tin. it helps to keep the temperature down so the chocolate block don't start to melt as you cut up the rest of the chocolate. the cocoa powder also helps prevent the chocolate blocks from sticking to the baking paper should they start to softened and melt.
 

3. Once the chocolate blocks have been dusted with cocoa powder, you can choose to either keep them in the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer for a few days longer.

 

thanks to justonecookbook for the recipe.

mrs ng's butter cake

i bake my very first butter cake yesterday. i'm very surprised that it actually turn out very good. received very good response from darling and colleagues and they actually ask for more. thanks for table for 2 or more for the recipe.

 

 

ingredients:

230g salted butter (i use unsalted and add another 1/4 teaspoon of salt to it) 

150g + 50g sugar

200g eggs (grade b, about 55g with shell)

200g self raising flour

60ml milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

method:

1. preheat the oven at 180g.

 

2. line and grease the 8" square baking pan

 

3. separate egg whites and egg yolks.

 

4. beat the egg whites to soft peak and slowly add in 50g sugar and beat till stiff and put aside.

 

5. cream butter and 150g sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. put in vanilla extract and beat for a while. add in the egg yolk one by one and beat well after each addition.

 

6. pour half the flour into the butter mix and beat well. add in the milk into 2 portion and mixed well. mix in the balance flour.

 

7. pour half the egg whites in and mix well in slow speed. pour the balance egg whiles and fold it in.

 

8. put the mixture into the square tin and level it.

 

9. bake for 45 minutes or till skewer comes out clean. (i lower the temperature to 150 degree in the last 15 minutes.)

lego friends

manage to find a lego friends from amazon that can be shipped to Singapore for free. was so excited about it, gather a few friends and we shipped in the lego friends café set. its almost 50% off the retail price here. delivery was pretty fast too and I received them today.

 

 

 

yu ze was so sad when I open up the box. he asked why all for mei mei and none for him. i have to quickly tell him, its not for mei mei too. its for other yi yi. never buy for mei mei. though one set belongs to yu xi, can't tell him that. wait for them to sleep then i quickly hide one set away.

next 2 sets that i'm going to buy for her is the dolphin cruiser set and the pool set.