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.

Kacang Disco Super Pedas

My daughter reaching out for the kacang disco even before I can snap the picture.  Bali is one of her favorite destinations

Bali is a magical holiday destination for us. We visited Bali in 2009 and immediately fell in love with the people and place.  People there seem so nice, always ready to help without expecting anything back in return.   One thing that I really liked or in Bali was their Kacang Disco.  It is their sweet, salty and super crunchy coated peanuts.  In fact I wanted to go back to Bali just to savor their Kacang Disco again.  They usually sell this in their "Ole Ole" shops or souvenir shops and it comes in many different flavors and brands. While I can't remember which brand I liked the most but I definitely remember liking the Kacang Disco Super Pedas (really spicy and hot).  I have tried googling for this recipe for many years and finally I found one that is really close to the real thing.  I guess my next trip to Bali can wait...

Ingredients

250 g raw peanuts

200 g tapioca flour

75 g corn flour

6-10 garlic cloves, peeled

1 teaspoon coriander powder

5-10 red hot chilies or Thai birds eye chilies (chili padi), optional

2 teaspoons salt

2 egg yolks

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

125 ml water

100 ml coconut milk

cooking oil for deep frying

Method

1.  Dry roast the peanuts for about 5 minutes on medium heat and leave to cool to room 

     temperature.

2.  Blend the peeled garlic cloves and hot chilies if using with a bit of water until you get a 

      smooth paste and keep it aside.

3.  Sift the tapioca flour and corn flour into a bowl. 

4.  Beat the eggs a little and add it to the flour. Next add in the rest of the ingredients 

      including the blended garlic-chili paste except for the lightly roasted peanuts and mix 

      well. The batter should be thick

5.  Heat a wok with the cooking oil on low heat.

6.  When the oil is hot, take a handful of peanuts and add it to the batter and mix until all 

      the peanuts are coated with the batter and drop the coated peanuts into the hot oil. 

7.  Deep fry the peanuts until they are golden brown.

8.  Drain on kitchen towels and let it cool down to room temperature.  Repeat with the rest 

      of the peanuts.  

9.  Store the Kacang Disco in an airtight container.

Kueh Lompang without Alkaline Water

Today I wanted to make some tea time snacks for my kids and of course for myself as well. Yeah I know I have a sweet tooth and I'm not doing much about it although I should. Maybe tomorrow I will try to control my sweet cravings....

Since I am now living in a serviced apartment and I don't have all my pantry ingredients with me, I had to do with whatever I had in the apartment. So the only thing that came to my mind was kueh lompang. I had all the ingredients that I needed except for one, alkaline water or air abu soda. Alkaline water actually gives a nice bouncy and chewy texture to the kueh lompang but since I did not have any, I just came up with this version.  It turned out pretty good and it did not have the alkaline water smell that kueh lompangs normally have.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups rice flour 

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1 cup of dark brown sugar or gula melaka

1 1/2 cups of water, to make brown sugar syrup

1/4 teaspoon of salt

some screwpine or pandan leaves, cleaned and knotted

some freshly grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt and microwaved for about 30 seconds for serving

Directions

1.  Prepare a steamer and some rice bowls or tea cups to steam the kueh lompangs. 

2.  In a pan add the brown sugar or gula melaka, screwpine or pandan leaves and the 1 1/2 

      cups of water. Heat the sugar and water on medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. 

      Remove the pandan leaves and strain the sugar syrup into a measuring jug or measuring 

      cup.  Add more water if needed to make 2 cups of sugar syrup.

2.  Sift the rice flour, tapioca flour and salt into a bowl.  Pour in the two cups of sugar syrup 

      and mix well. Set it aside

3.  Once the water in the steamer comes to boil, place the rice bowls or tea cups in the 

      steamer and let it heat for about 5 minutes.

4.  Then gently mix and pour in the kueh lompang mixture into the hot tea cups or hot rice 

      bowls in the steamer. Cover and steam for about 30 minutes if using the small tea cups or       for about 1 hour is using the rice bowls.  

5.  Insert a wet skewer into the kueh lompangs to check if the they are cooked. If the skewer         comes out clean, then the kueh lompangs are done.

6.  Remove the kueh lompangs from the steamer and let it cool completely. Serve with the           grated coconut.

Cold Shrimp Salad Sandwich

This is yet another simple lunch box recipe for the kids.  The sweetness from the cooked shrimp, creamy mayo, crunchy celery on a toasted torta bread is just simply simple, quick and delicious.

I did not put in any lettuce in this sandwich because made this for my youngest doesn't like to eat lettuce. If he was having this sandwich at home, he would have had no choice but to eat this shrimp sandwich with some lettuce but because this was for his lunch box, I did not bother to put it in because he would just take the lettuce out and eat his sandwich!

 Ingredients,  for 1 sandwich

1 torta sandwich roll or any bread of your choice (I used La Brea Torta Rolls)
1/2 cup of frozen cooked pink shrimps, defrosted
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of finely chopped celery stalk
some freshly cracked black pepper
a bit of lime juice, around 1/2 teaspoon or less
some lettuce leaves
some butter for toasting the torta roll

Directions

1. Remove any excess moisture in the defrosted cooked pink shrimp with a kitchen towel      
    and put in a bowl.
2. Squeeze a bit of lime juice over the shrimp and mix. This helps to remove any fishly smell 
     from the shrimp and also adds a little tartness to the shrimp filling. 
3.  Add the mayonnaise, finely chopped celery, crushed black pepper to the shrimp and mix 
     well. The shrimp has some salt in it already so I did not add any salt to the shrimp.
4.  Cover the bowl with a cling wrap or transfer the shrimp to a container and refrigerate the 
      shrimp.
5.  Next cut a torta roll or any bread or roll of your choice into half.   Spread some butter on 
     the cut sides of the roll.  Toast the rolls in a skillet on medium heat with the buttered 
     sides on down. You can also toast the rolls on a non-stick pan without any butter for a 
     healthier version.
6.  Once the rolls have reached a nice golden brown color, remove from the rolls from the 
     skillet and leave it to cool for a few minutes.
7.  To assemble the sandwich, place some lettuce leave on one half of the roll and place the 
     cold shrimp filling on the lettuce leaves.  Top the cold shrimp sandwich with the other 
     half of the toasted roll and serve.

Black Glutinous Rice Sweet Porride - Bubur Pulut Hitam

We are now staying at a temporary housing while waiting to move back to our house. It is still summer holidays for the kids and today I made this sweet black glutinous rice porridge for their tea time break. This is a pretty simple recipe but it takes a bit of time to cook it.

Ingredients

1 cup Thai black glutinous rice or pulut hitam
6 cups of water
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of coconut milk
3 screw pine or pandan leaves, knotted
1/4 cup sago, washed and drained (optional)

Directions

1.  Wash the black glutinous rice thoroughly.  Heat a pot on high heat and add the water ,     
     pandan leaves and washed glutinous rice and let it come a boil. Once it comes to a boil 
     lower the heat to medium. 
2.  Keep stirring the glutinous rice occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the 
      bottom of the pot.
3.  When the rice is half cooked, you can add the sago if using. 
4.  When the black glutinous rice has turned slightly mushy and thick and the sago has 
      turned translucent, add the sugar, salt and coconut milk. 
5.  Stir the sweet porridge to combine all the ingredients.  Turn off the heat just before the 
      porridge comes to a boil or when tiny bubbles appear at the sides of the pot.
6.  Serve hot or warm with a drizzle of coconut milk.