Fried Curry Puffs

One who knows how to cook (and make delicious food) doesn't mean one is willing to do it; while one who is willing to do it doesn't mean one is able to make delicious food (after all it's the thoughts that count). Hence I never fail to tell my husband it's his double-win fortune to take me as his wife after I made him yummy food that satisfy his cravings every time. Haha! And the mister has been "pestering" me to make him curry puffs for the longest time before he gave up after I turned him down every time with the consequences from deep-frying, that is the lingering smell of oil in the apartment and the oil stench that stays on the carpet and sofa. *Giggle! It may be my plain excuse for "rejecting" his request time and again since I never like deep-frying but the consequences from deep-frying were all true. Let alone the amount of grease-cleaning to be done, it took almost the entire can of air fresher spray to rid the oil stench in the entire apartment. >,<

*Oops! I hope I've not dampened your eagerness to try out this recipe at this point. Despite the post cleaning chores, I'll totally do it again if you ask me (in fact I've already made this recipe twice). If you're yearning for some traditional curry puffs made of crisp yet flaky crust similar to those bought from the local food markets sold traditionally by the Malays, this is the one or even better -- because you can wrap in as much filling as you want! *_*

Fried Curry Puffs

I'm linking this post to the event, Little Thumbs Up (July 2014: Potato) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mui Mui of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker. You may find that there are already many other curry puff versions linked to the above event, but who doesn't like to be spoilt for choices?! ^_^

And I would also like to share this post with CookBlogShare event hosted by Lucy of Supergolden Bakes because caring is sharing!

Tiramisu

"How difficult can making tiramisu be?"
I thought to myself after I was successful in baking my Homemade Ladyfingers, one of the key ingredients in the popular italian dessert. And I was all confused after I began my recipe research, the foremost step which I would spend a great amount of time before I decide on a comfortable and "reliable" recipe to work on. Amongst the search results generated, many recipes "claimed" to be that of an authentic italian tiramisu or otherwise termed by some as the classic tiramisu. In the list of ingredients specified in the recipes I've shortlisted, the biggest "headache" lies with the type of spirit used since I'm not familiar (or rather I've not worked) with alcohol in baking. Majority suggested rum or dark rum, some recommended kahlua, while few others used Masala in their recipes. That aside, the rest of the ingredients and its respective proportions differ greatly from one recipe to another which made it harder to compare. When I was finally down to three recipes - the Classic Tiramisu, Tiramisu II and Easy Tiramisu after eliminating the rest, I decided to work out my own list of ingredients and its proportions through a "mix and match" after assessing what's available in my pantry. Since this is a no-bake recipe (typically if you're using store-bought ladyfingers or have already pre-made the homemade ladyfingers), I felt the key to a delicious tiramisu lies with the overall taste and texture from the combined layers.

Tiramisu

Verdict? It just makes me crave for more! ^_^ Years of feeling intimidated by the difficulty in making tiramisu (from what I've been told by many) have been uncalled for after pulling off this experiment successfully. I totally agree with the quote of saying, "you'll never know until you try it".

And this is definitely a dessert that requires patience before you could sink your teeth in because the tiramisu has to be set in the fridge for at least 4 to 6 hours, or better if chilled overnight. So I did this at night instead, just when I was still feeling full from dinner. *Grin! Although it was already 11 p.m. by the time I put away the tiramisu in the fridge and was done clearing up the mess, the time and effort spent was totally worth it! And strangely, I find myself enjoying the tiramisu so much despite the evident taste of coffee since I'm a non-coffee drinker. *_* I hope you like it too!

Vanilla Chiffon Mango Charlotte

It's a joy to be able to do something you enjoy doing than being forced to do it. So while I find it a joy to bake, I also find it a joy to share my bake and to see people enjoying my food. Although my recent bakes have been (mostly) driven by the themes of the ongoing baking events, they were actually part of my to-bake list too. And I'm so glad to finally execute some of them (with the "force" from the interesting baking themes). So to level up the challenge (I posed to myself), I have been cracking my brain on how to put a bake idea (that fits the baking theme) into a real bake product. With so many birthdays coming up, the idea of a Mango Charlotte (cake) automatically came to my mind. I was first introduced to a Mango Charlotte (cake) when my sister was tasked to buy a birthday cake for the family, and we had charlotte cakes on so many occasions that I can't remember who in the family was the first to have a charlotte cake on birthday. So I started by searching what exactly made up the "wall" around the cake. Haha! That was pretty much how my previous post on Homemade Ladyfingers came about. too. ^_^ To fit the current Bake-Along's theme event on chiffon cake, I have decided to make a vanilla chiffon for the cake layer.

Ta-da! Here's a debut of my Vanilla Chiffon Mango Charlotte, and what a long name! Honestly, it took me a long while to decide the name for this cake. *Grin!

Vanilla Chiffon Mango Charlotte

And I am so pleased with the looks of the cake and extremely satisfied with the taste combination. *_* Looking at this cake feels like a dream come true! It looks just like how I'd imagined. ^_^ I guess I will be using chiffon cake as the cake layer (more than regular sponge cake) in future when making whole cakes! Yeah~

Homemade Ladyfingers (Sponge Biscuits)

Whenever I come across recipes calling for ladyfingers, the first that would appear in my mind is the image of an okra, the edible green plant, otherwise correctly known as lady's fingers. Haha! Then what exactly are ladyfingers? According to Wikipedia's explanation, "ladyfingers are light and sweet sponge cakes roughly shaped like a large finger". If you are familiar with making charlottes and tiramisu, I'm sure you'd know what they are. But honestly, I didn't know they are called ladyfingers except knowing them as sponge biscuits, or cakes maybe. *Oops! Many recipes mentioned using store-bought ladyfingers which I don't remember seeing at the supermarkets. After some recipe research, I realised that ladyfingers are actually made of few simple ingredients and I presume most people (especially those who bakes) would have in their pantry, and that's including me! So I have decided to give it a shot since it doesn't look quite complicated to bake. I bet you'll agree with me after you've tried it. ^_^

Homemade Ladyfingers (Sponge Biscuits)

Mini Lemon Cranberry Chiffon Cakes

The combined fragrance of lemon + cranberry still lingers after I baked those Lemon Cranberry Scones last month. And when I was thinking of making chiffon cake with cranberries, I was reminded immediately of the white and fluffy cranberry chiffon that I would often buy from the bakery at Bugis Junction for tea-time or breakfast (the next day) during lunch time when I was still working. Anyway, those were the days~~

Most recipes on cranberry (yogurt) chiffon cake I've found require plain yogurt which I don't normally stock in my fridge. So I've decided to transform those lingering fragrance and twist them into these Mini Lemon Cranberry Chiffon Cakes!

Mini Lemon Cranberry Chiffon Cakes

Results from a successful experiment using the recipe of a lemon chiffon cake and the technique of incorporating cranberries from recipe of a cranberry yogurt chiffon cake. Ta-da! Although these don't look white like the ones store-bought (which I'm suspecting they might be using a steam-bake method), they are still soft and fluffy!

Mini Chocolate Chiffon Cakes

The 2014 FIFA World Cup™ has finally come to an end. Have you guessed this year's champion team correctly? Anyway I was so amused by the anti-betting advertisement promoted by Singapore's NCPG which created quite a big "hooha" after Germany emerged as one of the final teams, and now that Germany has finally won. I wonder how the scriptwriter feels about it. Haha! Well back to reality, much of my time will be freed up and life shall resume back to "normal" without these football matches to catch at the regular timing of the day. And since there's a current baking event theme on chiffon cakes, I am so going to maximise the use of my mini angel food cake pan!

Mini Chocolate Chiffon Cakes

I have decided to bake a chocolate version of chiffon cake since two of my friends here have each given me a box of cocoa powder. I didn't know the difference in cocoa powder until I noticed recipes specifying "Dutch-processed" cocoa powder in their list of ingredients. As usual, a quick google search generated a whole list of information on the differences between Dutch-processed cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder, where the latter is more commonly found in supermarkets and is what I realised I have in my kitchen too. Personally, I like the post on Baking 101 tips by Joy the Baker as it provides an easy yet informative understanding on the differences between the two types of cocoa powder. Since natural cocoa powder is all I have (in abundance), I have decided to go ahead with the substitution even though this recipe I took referenced from called for Dutch-processed cocoa powder. It was one of the webpages I have bookmarked when I was trying to learn and understand the techniques of baking the "perfect" chiffon cake. I find it pretty useful as the baker gave quite a detailed explanation on the basics of baking chiffon cake and troubleshoots the common problems faced. And I'm indeed very happy with the results of the mini version of my chocolate chiffon cakes. I hope you like it too! ^_^

Mini Pandan Chiffon Cakes

It's been a long while since I last used my mini angel food cake pan for the first and only time. To satisfy my husband's craving, I've decided to transform my previous Pandan Chiffon Cupcakes recipe into the "genuine" shape of how chiffon cake looks, or rather, how chiffon cake looks traditionally. ^_^

To my surprise, the same recipe works just well for my (4-cavity) mini angel food cake pan with just the right amount of batter! These mini pandan chiffon cake just takes a couple of minutes longer to bake than those in the form of cupcake. And although they taste just as great, I somehow get more "feel" when savouring these chiffon cakes in its traditional looking shape. Haha~

Mini Pandan Chiffon Cakes

For ease of reference, I have replicated the recipe for my Pandan Chiffon Cupcakes in this post and included some of my notes when baking these mini cake rings.

I am sharing this post with Bake-Along #64: Theme - Chiffon Cake jointly organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Lena of Frozen Wings. Enjoy!

Chocolate-coated Shortbread Cookies

The talk topics lately have been surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup™. Fortunately this year, I was able to catch the matches without having to wake (or stay up) in the wee hours since we're in the Central Time zone. Though I'm not really a football fan, it's somehow the only sports tournament I enjoy (or perhaps love) watching, and that would make me sacrifice my sleep (in the past) especially since it's only held every four years.

And for the same reason, I haven't been blogging lately since there were matches almost everyday during the past weeks. *Oops! So here's a quick recipe that I've made as my snack companion for my chilled diet soda or iced tea which I haven't been able to live without since Summer kicked in. Though I would prefer such seasonal Summer heat over the almost all-year "summer" weather experienced in Singapore (because it's not just hot but humid), I'm still very much overwhelmed by the scorching July sun. And yes, it has been a chilled beverage with snack during tea-time instead of my usual hot floral or green tea. ^_^ But be it a chilled or hot beverage, these cookies are a great treat for sure as you can simply grab and bite into it without taking your eyes off the "ball" on the screen, if you know what I mean. Hee~

Chocolate-coated Shortbread Cookies

I am sharing these Chocolate-coated Shortbread Cookies, one of my Summer tea-time snack companions with Treat Petite July 2014 theme, Summer hosted by Kat of The Baking Explorer and Stuart of Cakeyboi.