Creamy Butter Pound Cake with Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

I love butter cakes and I have been baking butter cakes since my high school days.  I have tried so many different recipes and I thought I finally found my ultimate moist butter cake recipe until I ate this cake. 

My daughter baked and decorated this cake for me all by herself for my birthday, which we celebrated last week.  This was actually her first attempt in baking a butter cake and decorating the cake  as well.  To me this was an excellent attempt and an  amazing piece of work.  She had taken so many details taken into account.   The cake looks so classy,  colors well chosen and I love the pink crumb coat that she put in.  Gives the cake a very beautiful contrast when the cake is sliced.  

Most of the recipes I have posted on my blog and recipes that I have tried are food that I love a lot or that my family loves a lot.  I know that my daughter loves me a lot because she baked a cake for her that she herself hates to eat!  I love you too babe and you are simply too AMAZING!

Candles by no means reflect my age

Beautiful pink crumb coating adding a nice contrast to 

Ingredients

3/4  cups unsalted butter
1 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 °F or 180°C.
2.  Grease and flour a 8" cake pan.  
3.  Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well
     for 5-10 minutes. 
4.  Next add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
5.  Sift flour with baking powder and salt.  
6.  Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
7.  Lastly add in the vanilla extract and continue to beat until just mixed.
8.  Pour cake batter into the greased cake pan and gently tap the cake pan on a kitchen 
      counter to remove any excess  air bubbles.
9.  Bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake is done.  When the cake is done, invert the 
      cake onto a cooling rack. 
10. Decorate the cake with lemon butter cream frosting (recipe below) when the cake is      
      completely cooled. 

Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups confectioners sugar or icing sugar, sifted
3 tablespoon lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons cream

Directions

1.  In an electric mixer,cream the butter until fluffy.
2.  Change the mixer speed to low and gently add in the confectioners sugar a little at a time 
     and cream well.
3.  If the frosting gets a little too difficult to mix, add in the cream a tablespoon at a time 
      until you reach a medium firm consistency.  

Sharkarpara

This is a nice snack to  have and is usually served during Deepavali.  This is also my mum's favorite. I made some using the recipe below and gave some to her and she thought the paras were store-bought.

Ingredients:

500g all purpose flour
100g shortening (I used 50g unsalted butter and 50g vegetable shortenening)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 cup water to make a firm dough.
vegetable oil for deep frying
For the syrup:

300g sugar
100g water

Method:

1.   Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
2.   Rub shortening into the flour.
3.   Add in water a little at a time until you have a firm  and smooth dough.
4.   Wrap dough in cling wrap and let is rest for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
5.   Roll dough out to 1/2 inch thickness and cut  paras into 1 cm squares.
6.   Heat the vegetable oil in wok or pot on medium low flame.  When the oil is hot, carefully drop in the paras into        and fry until the paras are light brown.  Make sure that you fry the paras on medium low flame otherwise the 
      paras will brown too quickly but they will still be uncooked inside.
7.   Drain on paper towels and let it cool to room temperature.
8.   Once the paras are at room temperature, prepare the syrup for the sugar coating.
9.   Heat sugar and water in a wok and keep stirring the syrup until it it reaches soft ball stage.
      Syrup dropped into a bowl of cold water should be able to hold it shape and form a soft 
      ball.
10. At this stage, switch off the flame and drop the paras into the sugar syrup and stir quickly until all the paras      
       they are well coated with syrup.  After about 1 or 2 minutes of stirring, the sugar coating will become 
       frosted.  Transfer the shakarparas to a tray to cool.
11.  Store in an air tight container.

Note:
You can take a portion of the dough and add some food coloring to the dough. Knead the dough until you get an uniform color on the dough.  I added some red cochineal to about a handful of dough.

Homemade Roasted Salted Cashew Nuts

My husband loves roasted salted cashew nuts and I made this for Deepavali this year.  The preparation is quite easy but it does take like about an hour to bake and you need some time to air dry the cashew nuts after blanching it.  These roasted cashews are naturally sweet and just slightly salty even though the quantity of salt looks like a lot.  It is definitely batter than the store bought roasted cashews

Ingredients

2 lbs or 1 kg raw cashews
3 tablespoons sea salt
1 liter of water

Method

1.  Place the raw cashew nuts in a wide pot together with the salt
2.  Bring the water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, carefully pout it all over the 
     cashew nuts. Stir to dissolve the salt and close the pot.
3.  Leave the pot closed for about 15 minutes so that the cashew nuts absorb the salt.
4.  After about 15 minutes, drain the water from the cashews and place them on a towel. 
     Leave the blanched cashews under a fan or near a window to air dry the cashews.  It took
     me about 30 minutes to air dry my cashews under a fast fan.
5.  Preheat the oven to 300°F or 150°C.
6.  Once the cashews are dry, place them in a baking sheet and level them evenly on the 
      baking sheet. 
7.  Bake the cashews for about 1 hour or so or until the cashews have turned golden brown.           Make sure to stir the cashews around in the baking sheet every 10 minutes to ensure that 
      the cashews are evenly baked. 
8.  Store in an air tight container.

Deepavali 2015 Treats - Sri Lankan Christmas Cake

I made my favorite Sri Lankan Fruit Cake for Deepavali.  I have posted this recipe before but I have made some slight changes to the recipe.

Roasted Semolina

 Caje Batter 

 After 3 hours of baking at 300 °F or 150 °C

Bisectional view of yummy semolina fruit cake

Ingredients

for the fruit marinade:
250g raisins
125g blackcurrants
125 candied orange & lemon peel
125g  red cherries
125g green cherries
1 cup chopped or halved cashew nuts
1 tbsp rose essence
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp almond essence
1/2 cup brandy or rum (I used rum)

Put all the ingredients above in a zip lock bag. Shake it well and leave it t marinate in the fridge for at least a day. I left mine in the fridge for a few days. 

for the Cake
2  1/2 + 1/2 sticks of salted butter (113g per stick)
240g  dark brown sugar
2 tbsp of golden syrup (I omitted this)
220g of semolina, used coarse semolina
80g of all purpose flour + 1 tsp of mixed spice, sifted together
5 large eggs, at room temperature (50gms each with shell)

Directions
1.  Roast semolina under medium low heat with 1/2 a stick of butter until you get a 
     nice nutty smell. Refer to the picture above.  Leave it to cool.
2.  Preheat oven to 300 °or 150 °C.
3.  Beat butter and brown sugar syrup until light and fluffy.
4.  Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5.  Beat in vanilla essence.
6.  Mix the cooled roasted semolina with the flour and spice and add it to the butter-
     egg mixture, alternating flour and the marinated fruits and nuts.
7.  Line a 9 x 9" or  cake tin with grease proof paper.
8.  Pour cake batter into a 9 x 9 " or a 7" x 12"cake tin and bake for about 2 1/2 to 3 
      hours or until a skewer inserted inside the cake 
     comes out clean.
9.  Once cake is done immediately remove cake from the oven and brush the cake 
      evenly  with 2 tablespoons of rum.
10. Cool well before refrigerating.  Cut the cake when it is at room temperature 
      otherwise cake will be crumbly.
11. Cake tastes better after a few days.

I Forgot AGAIN

The roses I got this morning for our wedding anniversary

This morning my husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses.  I thought it was for my birthday but then my birthday is not until end of the month. Before he could say another word, I said "OMG I forgot AGAIN".  Every year without fail I would forget our wedding anniversary and every year without fail he would remember our wedding anniversary and will send me flowers or buy me flowers, get me a gift and even arrange a wonderful dinner for the both of us.  The first few years of our marriage, I  used to do similar things but when I had my babies, motherhood caught up with me I guess. But then it is no excuse to forget our wedding anniversary.  Last year I made a wow to remember our anniversary and to wish him before he did. So I put a reminder on my phone and first thing in the morning, I wished him "Happy Anniversary Darling. Ha ha I beat you to it this year." He just smiled and said "It's not today honey, our anniversary is tomorrow!"  

This year since our anniversary is one day before Deepavali and I was busy with the preparations, I completely forgot all about our anniversary.   It is so sweet of him to remember our anniversary year after year.  Love you Babe........Happy Anniversary to you too.

Deepavali 2015 Treats - Pandan Melon Seed Cookies

I have started baking cookies for this year's Deepavali festival.  I made my first batch of cookies today and this is my husband's favorite cookie.  My husband has his favorite cookie, each of kids have their favorite cookies and I try to make all their favorites each year.  I will be posting each cookie recipe as I bake them for this year's celebration.

Ingredients

250 gms salted butter, at room temperature
120 gms icing or confectioners sugar
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pandan* paste
450 gms all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup melon or kuaci seeds, roasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup red cherries (for baking), roughly chopped

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 °F 180 °C.
2.  Sift all purpose flour with baking powder and set it aside
3.  In a bowl, whisk butter and icing sugar until the butter is light and fluffy.
4.  Next add in the egg yolk and the pandan paste and beat well.
5.  Fold in the sifted flour into the butter mixture.
6.  Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
7.  Roll out the cookie dough to about 5mm thickness and cut out the cookie with your favorite
     cookie cutter.
8.  Place the cookies in a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the middle rack for
    about 20 minutes.

Note:
* You can find pandan paste at any asian grocery store

Pizookie or Giant Cookie Cake

This week we celebrated my middle child's 16th birthday.  I asked him earlier in the week what kind of birthday cake he would like.  His favorite has always been cheese cake and I made strawberry cheese cake for his 15th birthday.  So I thought he would want a cheese cake this year too.  In fact I had already bought a big block of cream cheese and it was sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be baked.  But he said he wanted a 'pizookie'.  I said 'what'!  "I never heard of such a thing before". I thought he meant some kind a gadget or something and then my daughter said "Mom, it's a pizza cookie... pizookie,...get it". I was like huh....okay so what is it actually. My daughter said "it's just a giant cookie" and my son said "that's what I said" and I replied "why didn't you say so, I'm sure I can do it".  And I did do it.  I just used Mrs. Fields Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and formed the cookie dough into a 12" round cookie.

First I lined my baking tray with parchment paper and I placed my "Kaiser Stainless Steel Adjustable Cake Ring" over the parchment paper and adjusted the cake ring to form a 12" circle.   I spread the cookie dough to cover the base of the cake ring.  The rest is as per the directions for the chocolate chip cookie recipe.   I did bake the pizookie for an extra 5 minutes than what was required in the recipe though.

Of all my years of baking and decorating birthday cakes for my kids, husband and family, this was by far most the easiest and fastest birthday cake to make!

Quinoa Tofu salad

Ingredients

1 cup cooked and cooled quinoa
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup julienned green apples
1 firm tofu, sliced thinly and deep fried
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
some finely sliced scallions or cilantro leaves

Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1.  In a large bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients together until they are well blended.
2.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and toss well.
3.  Serve with some extra toasted sesame on top and garnish with some cilantro leaves

Deep Fried Oreos

 My daughter said that she ate these wonderful deep fried Oreos during a visit to a fair near her university.  She made this for her brother on his birthday.  This was the first time I have ever tried deep fried Oreos.  I never expected that the deep fried Oreos would be so delicious.  It was like eating a soft moist chocolate cake with creamy frosting and a crunchy outer layer. These deep fried Oreos taste so much better that the moist chocolate cakes I make. Bravo Girl. You're simply amazing and birthday boy was also very touched. I think he finished the whole plate.

Ingredients

1 cup pancake mix (any brand will do)
1 cup milk
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 (18oz) package of oreo cream cookies

vegetable oil for deep frying

Directions

1.  In a bowl, add in the pancake mix, egg, milk and the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and whisk until
     the ingredients are all well combines.
2.  Heat the vegetable oil for deep frying on medium high heat until it is hot or reaches a temperature
     of 375 °F or 190 °C.
3.  Dip an Oreo cookie in the batter and deep fry it for about 2 minutes. Deep fry only 3-4 cookies at
     one time and avoid overcrowding. Overcrowding will make the deep fried cookies pretty oily and
     soggy.
4.  Drain on paper towels and repeat step no.3 for the remaining of the Oreo cookies.
5.  Dust with some confectioners sugar and serve warm.

3 Ingredients Sesame Balls or Ellu Urundai

toasted sesame seeds

I get this occasional sugar rush moments and although I try to resist it, I normally fail at almost every attempt.  Well it happened again today and since I couldn't find anything sweet to satisfy my craving, I reached out for some toasted peanuts that was sitting in the oven, some sesame seeds and jaggery (indian palm sugar).  I toasted the sesame, ground all these 3 ingredients in a food processor, made them into balls and popped them into my mouth. It felt very good indeed but it I think I grew like 1" on my waistline.  I'm guessing that I must have popped quite a few.  

I remember my mom making these sesame ball or ellu urundai when we visited my grandmom during my elementary years.  My mom used to pound all these 3 ingredients in a stone mortar with a long stick. She would throw the stick in one hand and it would land right smack in the middle of the mortar and bounce back only to be caught by my mom with her other hand and she would throw it back and keep repeating this until all the ingredients were finely pounded.  I used to watch my mom in her rhythmic action, pounding the ingredients to make these sesame balls for us. Her version is usually very rustic and very flavorful.  Mine was a bit too soft since I used a grinder.  If I had ground these ingredients longer, I believe I would have made sesame-peanut butter!

Ingredients

1 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup jaggery, chop it up first before measuring
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

Method

1.  Roast sesame seeds on medium low heat until the sesame seeds are golden brown in      
     color.  Keep stirring the sesame seeds while roasting to get an even color and also to 
     avoid the sesame seeds from getting burnt. So this means both eyes should be on the 
     sesame seed.
2.  Once the sesame seeds are well roasted and brown in color remove it from the pan and 
      leave it to cool to room temperature.
3.  Place the sesame seeds and roasted peanuts into a grinder and pulse it for a few seconds. 
      The seeds and peanuts should be roughly chopped at this time.
4.  Add in the jaggery and cardamom powder and pulse for a few more seconds.  You need          to pulse the sesame seeds until you can form a ball with it.  Don't pulse it for too long 
     otherwise it will become a paste.  The sesame seeds and peanuts should be slightly rough 
     to maintain the texture.
5.  Form into small balls and store it in an airtight container.

Seaweed Tamagoyaki

I usually make tamagoyaki for sushi but I made this for lunch yesterday and it went pretty well with steamed rice.  I used a sushi rolling mat to roll the tamagoyaki after frying it and it made some lovely ridges on my tamagoyaki.  It's a good idea to strain the beaten eggs so that you don't get the white spots on the tamagoyaki, from the egg whites that were not beaten well. Well you can probably guess that I was in a hurry or was simply just too lazy to do that extra step.  I think the whites spots look nice on the tamagoyaki! Well it's your take on it.

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 nori or seaweed sheet
1 teaspoon cooking oil

Directions

1.  In a mixing bowl beat the eggs sugar and salt together and set it aside.
2.  Heat a frying pan on medium low and spread the cooking oil all over the frying pan.
3.  When the pan is hot pour in the beaten egg and spread the egg all over the frying pan. Quickly
     place the nori sheet on the egg before it starts to set.
4.  When the eggs are half set i.e. the bottom is getting firm but the top is still watery, fold the edges
     of the omelet over the nori sheet to follow the shape of the nori sheet.
5.  When the omelet is like almost done, start folding the omelet like a swill roll with a flat spatula f
     from the shorter edge. You should be able to make like 3-4 folds. Cook the rolled  omelet for
     about a minute or so until the omelet feels firm and there is no uncooked eggs oozing out from the
     roll.
6.  Once the omelet is done, transfer it to a sushi rolling mat and roll it firmly over the omelet. Secure
     both edges of the rolled sushi mat with a string or rubber band.
7.  Once the tamagoyaki(omelet) is cool, remove the sushi mat and slice the tamagoyaki.

Do Chua - Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon

Do Chua looking a little wimpy since it's a few days old

fresly made Do Chua - looking very fresh and firm

I made this for a vegan bahn mi that I made some weeks back when I was on a vegan diet.  These pickles are really crunchy, sweet and salty. I had some left overs so I decided to finish it off by serving it for lunch yesterday.  I got this recipe from Andrea Nguyen. Here is the link to her recipe: Pickled Do Chua. As Andrea says, the do chuas do get a  little tired after a couple of days. Mine were like 4 days old, I think.

Dakgangjeong...Korean Sweet and Crunchy Fried Chicken

 Ingredients

1 lb chicken tenders, cleaned and cubed
2-3 tablespoon potato starch or corn starch
cooking oil for deep frying

for the sauce

1 tablespoon Gochujang (Korean chilly paste)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice winegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic, about 2-3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon minced ginger, about 1" piece of ginger root

some chopped green onions and roasted sesame seeds

Directions
1.  First prepare the sauce ingredients. Mix up all the ingredients for the sauce in sauce pan and heat
     in up on medium heat until you can smell the aroma from the garlic and ginger. Turn off the heat
     and leave it to cool.
2.  Next coat the cubed chicken tenders with the potato or corn starch dust off the excess starch from
     the chicken.
3.  Heat up some cooking oil on medium heat for deep frying. When the oil is hot or reaches 350°F or      180°C, carefully drop in the coated chicken cubes and deep fry until the chicken is lightly brown
     and crispy.  Fry the chicken in batches to avoid the chicken cubes from being soggy.
4.  Drain the fried chicken cubes on a kitchen towel.
5.  When all the chicken cubes are fried, transfer them to a bowl and pour in the sauce. Mix well to
     coat each chicken cube. Finally add in the toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions and
     mix well.
6.  Garnish with some extra toasted sesame and chopped green onions and serve with hot steamed
     rice.

What we had for lunch yesterday....

Yesterday all my kids were at home since schools were closed due to the hazy conditions.  I love it when all my kids are at home so I couldn't complain much about the haze!  This also means that I get some extra days of leave in the week and I don’t have to get up early in the morning, prepare their lunches, rush them off to school and them rushing out to pick them up in the mad traffic jam.  The kids tend to wake up late in the mornings so I get a good two hours of ME time. Anyways I decided to make Korean Dakganjeong, Seaweed Tamagoyaki with Do Chua-Vietnamese pickled daikon and carrots, served with steamed short grain rice for their lunch yesterday and they loved it.  Recipe to follow soon.

Instead of Mayo

Mayo was a love and hate thing for me. While I liked the creaminess of the mayo on my sandwiches and burgers, I hated the fact that I was eating raw eggs emulsified with oils, plus a whole bunch of preservatives and additives.  While shopping at the Whole Foods Market, I discovered a vegan mayo from Hampton Creek called "Just Mayo". This was a great substitute for the regular mayo and I was just over the moon when Costco started caring Just Mayo, a large 64 oz jar for just below $5.00.  While Just Mayo was a great vegan and non-GMO mayo it was made from Canola oil.  I have been using canola oil for many years but after reading some very negative reviews about canola oil and how it is actually bad for your health (by the way I have completely switched to organic virgin coconut oil and olive oil for my cooking and sunflower oil if I need to do deep frying), I have permanently switched to this vegan, oil free spread for my burgers and sandwiches. It is so creamy and yummy and I love the green vibrant color it adds to my food.   Yes...It is an avocado spread.  The recipe is pretty similar to guacamole, minus the chopped tomatoes and onions. I prepare this like one or twice a week and one batch can last for about 2-3 days in the fridge. The color will change slightly after a day or so because the avocado tends to oxidize but the taste it still great. Best of all it simple, healthy, easy and free of additives and preservatives. 

Ingredients

1 medium sized ripe Hass Avocado, 
juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
1 green chilly (jalapeno or serano) for some heat but totally optional
1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves, chopped
about 2 - 3 tablespoon of water, can be substituted with extra virgin olive oil

Method

1.  Wash and dry the avocado.  Slice around the avocado seed and gently twist the avocado     
     to split it.
     open. Remove the seed with a spoon and remove the flesh.
2.  In a food processor, add all the ingredients except for the water.  Pulse for a few second 
     and add water or olive oil,  one tablespoon at a time until you reach a smooth and 
     spreadable consistency.
3.  Store in an airtight container and refrigerate it.  Spread it on toasted sandwiches, wraps          or burgers.

Celebrating My Daughter's Teen Birthday

We moved back to our house around mid September. So I have been pretty busy unpacking the boxes, checking for damages done to our shipment and worst of all finding places to put all our stuff away.  Our house is like 80% ready so I was able to spend a bit more time on my daughter's birthday cake.  I know that she likes her cake to be very special so I made a six layer salted caramel chocolate cake. The cake was of course a chocolate cake layered with salted caramel and chocolate frosting and topped with chocolate ganache.  I decorated the cake with fondant roses.  This was my first time making fondant roses and it wasn't really that bad. Thanks to this boy on Youtube who shared a very simple way of making fondant roses without any tools. Here is the link to his Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjyEU6fxixQ. 

Removing the fondant roses from the cake

My Youngest Turns 8

 Mav watching TV while mom was busy with the cake and party

Yes. Eight is a big number for him. Last week we celebrated my youngest's eight birthday.  He was very excited about this day and he wanted a strawberry cake with Oreo and it had to look something like the cake I had once done for my second son, about 4 or 5 years ago. I was quite surprised that he could remember something that I had made almost 5 years ago. 

When my second son was 12 (I think), I made an Arsenal edible image cake. I designed the Arsenal edible image and got it printed out from one of the cake supply store.  This time I did not have time to design or order the edible image. So I opted out for some football figurines with the goal posts that I got from Bake With Yen.   

With really no plan in my mind I just went to the store and bought some Betty Crocker Strawberry cake mix, some Oreo biscuits and some cream cheese. This time though I wasn't going to cut out and save the Box Tops which were printed on the Betty Crocker cake box. 

The cake was of course a strawberry flavored cake with cream cheese frosting, topped with whipped cream and piping jelly and adorned with Oreo biscuits.  We planned a small party for him in our serviced apartment but since there was no cake mixer but just a hand whisk and an oven (thank God for that), I managed to come up with this cake for him.  My hands got the long deserved work out.

Happy 8th Birthday Mav...We love you so much.. :)

Super Moist Chocolate Cake

This is the chocolate cake that I baked for my daughter the day she left for college.  Since I packed most of for her, my second child, my son who has a sweet tooth just like mine was pretty upset that he didn't get much to eat. So today I'm baking this chocolate cake again just for him.  

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened ( I used Van Houten Cocoa Powder)

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups castor sugar or granulated sugar

1 cup full cream evaporated milk

1 cup butter or vegetable oil, melted

1 cup warm water

3 large eggs, at room temperature

some chocolate topping and chocolate rice to the topping

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 320° Fahrenheit or 160° Celsius.  Use top and bottom heating.

2.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and keep it 

     aside.  This makes the dry ingredients.

3.  In another bowl, mix the melted butter or vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, 

     warm water and mix well.  This makes the wet ingredients.

4.  Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are just 

      incorporated with the wet ingredients.

5.  Pour the cake batter into a 8 inch cake tin that has been greased and lined with 

     parchment paper.  Knock the cake tin on the counter top for a 2-3 times to remove any 

     air bubbles.

6.  Bake in  the center of the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until done.

7.  When the cake is cool, remove from the cake tin and pour some chocolate topping over 

     the cake and decorate the cake with some chocolate rice. 

Steamed Fruit Cake

Today's post is about the steamed(baked) fruit cake that I made yesterday for my youngest and of course secretly for myself.  This is actually a steamed fruit cake recipe but I don't have my steamer with me and I am lucky that my apartment has a built in oven that is at my dispense so I baked this cake in a water bath and it turned out just like the steamed fruit cake.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (I didn't have any so I used 1 teaspoon of lime juice and added it to the wet ingredients)

1 1/2 cups + 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 sticks (250gms) salted cold butter

1/4 cup hot water

300 gms mixed fruits

1/2 teaspoon rose essence

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 large eggs

Method

1.  Prepare a steamer on rolling boil.

2.  Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar and set it aside.

3.  Add the 1 1/2 cups of sugar into a pot and heat it on low heat.  Let the sugar melt. When 

     the sugar starts to turn yellow, keep a careful watch over the sugar. Let it continue to 

     caramelize until it reaches a nice amber color.  Don't  let the sugar caramelize too much 

     otherwise the caramel will become bitter.  

4.  Once the caramel has reached the nice amber color, carefully remove it from the stove 

     and add in the cold butter. Stir for a few seconds and add it in the hot water. Be careful as 

     the caramelized sugar is very hot and it will splutter when you add the butter and hot 

     water. 

5.  Continue stirring slowly for a about a minute and add the mixed fruits, 1/4 cup of sugar 
      and essences. Stir until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and leave it to cool to 
      room temperature.

6.  Use an electric mixer and beat the eggs until it becomes thick and frothy. Keep it aside.

7.  Once the caramelized sugar and mixed fruits are cool, mix in the flour in and mix until 
      just combined.

8.  Lastly fold in the beaten eggs and mix well. 

9.  Pour into an 8" cake tin lined with grease proof paper. 

10. Grease an aluminium foil and wrap it cover the cake tin with the greased side inside 

       facing the cake batter.  Seal the edges and steam for about 2 to 3 hours or until.

Note:

1.  If you don't have a steamer you can bake the cake in a water bath or bain marie. Just 

     preheat oven to or 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 Celcius and place the cake in a tray and      fill the tray with boiling water. Bake for about 21/2 to 3 hours. I used bottom heat only.

2.  If you don't have cream of tartar (which is an acidic agent), you can substitute this with 
     lime juice or even vinegar and add it to the mixed fruits. The acidity reacts with the 
     baking soda and helps the cake to rise.