Carrot Cake

The other day kak ipar posted on her Twitter picture of carrot cupcakes. Carrot cake is in my to-bake list. In fact, i have bookmarked recipe from Quay Po's website. Never thought it was easy to bake this yummylicious cake, i don't even have to use electric mixer.. yes, just whisk. I love baking without using electric mixer, meaning less washing to do, hehehe. Mama was a bit skeptical about adding spices because she doesn't like the aroma of spices in cake.

After about 50 minutes, the cake is done and i can smell the aroma of rempah buah pala or u call it nutmeg in English. I was like, damn.. there goes my first attempt, fail! But after the cake has cool down, walla! the aroma is not so intense... the cake smells so good like the one you bought from Secret Recipe. Yes, i dare say that :) The whole family loves it and i will surely bake this cake again. Oh, i twisted the frosting recipe by adding a bit of lemon extract. I just love the sourness and freshness of lemon.

Here goes the recipe, thanks Quay Po for this wonderful recipe :

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar.

2 cups sieved all purpose flour.

1 tsp. salt.

1 tsp. Cinnamon, ½ tsp Nutmeg

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed.

1 tsp. baking powder.

1 tsp. baking soda.

3 cups finely shredded carrots

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil.

2 tsps. vanilla.

4 large eggs.

1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are good, but any nut will do).

1/2 cup raisins.

Method:

1. Grease and flour or lined with baking sheets a 8” x 3” round tall pan.

2. Stir together dry ingredients.

3. Squeeze out some of the juice from the shredded carrots

4. Now add to the dry mixture, the carrots, eggs, oil, and vanilla.

5. Beat about 2 to 3 minutes until well mixed.

6. Stir in the nuts and raisins.

7. Bake at 325 degrees for about 50 to 60 minutes.

8. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting with Sour Cream

2/3 cup icing sugar

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup sour cream

1/2 tsps. lemon extract

Seive the icing sugar and set aside.  Beat 1/2 cup sour cream and cream cheese in large bowl until well blended. Add  1 tea spoon at a time the icing sugar.  Spread frosting over cooled cake.

* Mama : "Jangan terkejut kalau kek ni habis bila Kak Yong balik kerja ye.. hehehe"

Puding Karamel

Bahan - bahan untuk puding:

6 biji telur
1 tin susu sejat
1 tin air
1/2 cawan gula pasir
1 sudu teh esen vanila

Bahan - bahan untuk sos karamel:

1/2 cawan gula pasir
sedikit air

Cara:

Panaskan gula dengan sedikit air dalam loyang sehingga gula cair dan berwarna kuning keemasan. Tutup api dan letak tepi.

Dalam bekas lain, pukul telur hingga kembang. Kemudian masukkan gula... diikuti susu sejat dan air. Masukkan adunan dalam loyang sos karamel tadi dan kukus selama 25 minit.

Bila masak, sejukkan sebentar dan simpan dalam peti sejuk. Masa ni puding masih lagi lembut dan bergoyang-goyang. Bila dah betul-betul sejuk, baru terbalikkan dari acuan dan hidang.

Bancuhan ni tak banyak.. guna la bekas yang sederhana besar jer ye.

Sedap sangat puding ni. Ayu bukan peminat puding karamel sebab tak suka bau hanyir telur, tapi resipi ni tak hanyir. Lepas keluar dari periuk kukus tu jer hanyir.. dah sejuk bau tu hilang. Cuba lah... hubs kata sedaaaap :)

Bread pudding

Dalam banyak - banyak puding, bread pudding i like the best. Served with vanilla ice cream while it is still warm. Oh la la....! Normally i used walnut bread bought from Jusco. Tapi after baca kat blog The Kitchen Guardian, rasa teringin nak try buat pakai croissant pulak.

Ingredients:

8 pieces croissants ( bought from Tesco.. 4 pieces Rm4.99.. cut into pieces)
1 tbsp butter
400 ml fresh milk
400 ml whipping cream
5 large eggs ( i used 4 only... 1 jatuh and pecah! )
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
some sultanas
and i twist a bit.. added some chocolate chip!

Method:

Prepare a cake tin. Cover the base with croissants.. sprinkle sultanas. Set aside.

Lightly whisk the eggs with sugar. Warm the milk, whipping cream and butter mixture and vanilla essence. Add sugar and eggs. Stir to mix well. Let the mixture to cool.

Pour this mixture on the croissants. Sprinkle sultanas and chocolate chips.

Bake for about 30 minutes on until the top of the pudding turned brown.

Best served with vanilla ice cream :)

Chocolate chip cookies

Mood untuk baking baru start. Since awal puasa mencari resipi biskut chocolate chip yang epic. Dalam mencari - cari, terjumpa satu resipi kat blog Bisous A Toi. Nama biskutnya pun menarik... Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chunk.


Here are the recipe:

250 g salted butter, softened
200 g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt ( i didn't add)
1/2 tsp coffee oil ( i used coffee paste... about 1/4 tsp)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cups oats
1/4 cups ground almond
1 pack chocolate chip
300 g self raising flour ( i used all purpose flour with 1/2 tsp of baking powder)


Method:

At least 2 hours before, or the night before, beat the egg with vanilla and the coffee oil to infuse.

Preheat oven to 160C.

To the softened butter, beat in the sugar and the salt to combine. Beat in the egg and stir in the processed oats, ground almond and chocolate chip. Sift the flour and fold it in. The dough will not be too stiff, not too wet either.

I did small cookies, place half tsp of the dough, spaced slightly apart in the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Sedap biskut ni.. baunya mengancam because of the coffee. Rasa biskut ni tak lah sama macam bickut famous amos kat kiosk tu, but more of the one packed over the shelf. Tapi still sedaap.

First mac attack challenge

Secrets of macarons

I just started reading these books by Jose Marechal... Secrets of Macarons. Suka sangat buku ni. This book is certainly a keeper. This book explain about stage of the process... from ingredients and equipment required. Dalam buku ni juga ada explain tentang macam mana nak create signature macarons. The best part is this book discloses all the tips and technique to make macarons... suka sangat, that's why i said this book is a keeper :)

Another book that i have in hand is this, Mad about Macarons by Jill Colonna. This book is also a keeper. I just love the colourful picture of macarons in this book.. seronok sangat dapat tengok gambar macarons yang cantik-cantik. Dalam buku ni juga ada disertakan recipe of classic macarons flavors such as rose, pistachio, chocolate, lemon and vanilla. So far i have tried chocolate, rose and lemon. Planning to make pistachio macarons.. will try soon :)

Ramadhan Al - Mubarak

I am feeling festive today. So I decorated my macarons with chocolate just like the Hari Raya's cookies. Today is the first day of fasting. August will be a busy busy month and so i did not have any plan to bake. We'll see.. I hope to see September soon. Been busy with closing account. Rushing to finish whatever urgent so that i can go back at 5pm. Someone need to take care of Baby S while her grandma perform terawikh prayer.


Anyhow, Selamat Berpuasa to all muslim. Wishing you a blessed Ramadhan :)