Cranberry Yogurt Cake

Nothing as therapeutic as baking.  Whenever I had a stressful week, I look forward to a bake out weekend.  I feel a lot better after thinking of nothing but what to bake and how to bake them. 

Last week was a burnt out week for me at work and to counter that stress I ended up baking semolina shortbread, fruit cake and this cranberry yogurt cake. 

Though in the past I have tried out many different types of cakes but none leave me yearning for more as much as this cake.   I have baked this cake twice within the same week, this shows how much I love this cake.

For those of you out there who are keen to try, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

150g butter

200g castor sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1.  Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence till light and fluffy.

2.  Add in eggs, 1 at a time and beat well after each addition.

3.  Fold in yogurt, followed by sifted plain flour and baking powder.

4.  Then stir in chopped cranberries.

5.  Pour mixture into a bundt pan and bake in oven pre-heated to 180C for 30 to 35 minutes.

Choc-cheese Brownies

My pile of work is yelling out to me. I am all stressed out.  The weather is no better.  It has been raining cats and dogs for many days now.  I needed a break, I needed to bake something to distress.  The next thing that came to my mind is this superb choc-cheese brownies. 

Choc-cheese Brownies

For brownies
125g butter
125g dark chocolate
175g castor sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

For cheese topping
250g cream cheese
1 large egg
50g castor sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

1.  Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave oven or over a pot of boiling water.
2.  Leave to cool slightly and stir in sugar and vanilla essence.
3.  Then stir in eggs, one at a time until well combined.
4.  Fold in sifted flour and baking powder.
5.  Pour into an 8 inch square pan.
6.  Drop spoonful of topping onto the brownies mixture.
7.  Run a knife through the mixture to give the swirl effect.
8.  Bake at 180C for 30 to 35 mins.

Cheese Topping
Beat cream cheese, egg, castor sugar and lemon juice until smooth.

Chocolate Whisky Cake

Couple of weeks ago, on one fine Sunday afternoon hubby annouced that we have been invited for a birthday dinner.  The second part to the annoucement is, hubby has also told the organiser that we will be bring a cake for the birthday boy.  The birthday boy is non other than one of our home fellowship members, Nathaeniel. 

Though I love to bake for friends but 3 hours to dinner hardly give me any time to purchase baking ingredient let alone bake a cake.  With no time to spare for shopping, I'll just have to make do with what I have in the fridge.

Fortunately, I always stock up butter, flour and eggs.  I also found a packet of cocoa powder at a desserted corner of my fridge.  With these limited ingredients, I baked a Chocolate Whisky Cake.  But to be technically correct this cake should be called Cocoa Whisky Cake instead of Chocolate Whisky Cake. 

When baking cake, I usually used the fan force setting.  Though this function baked 2 trays of cupcakes evenly without having to swap midway of baking but it causes my large cakes to crack on the top.  I was told that for large cakes, I should use the top and bottom heating element setting instead.  If you have a secret to avoid cracked cake, please share with me.

Chocolate Whisky Cake

Ingredients
200g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
250g butter
4 eggs
180g castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp whisky

1.  Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.
2.  Add in eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.
3.  Fold in sifted plain flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
4.  Stir in whisky.
5.  Bake in an oven pre-heated to 170C for 45 minutes.

Boiled Fruit Cake

Fruit cake often reminds me of the festive celebration of Christmas; the need to plan in advance.  From buying of gifts to what cookies to bake and who to invite for Christmas dinner.  Preparation of fruit cake is the same.  The dried fruit need to be soaked in liquer for days, baked for hours and days of waiting in anticipation for the cake to mature.

But there is this fruit cake that can be prepared and baked within hours.  This is non other than boiled fruit cake.  The difference between boiled fruit cake and baked fruit cake is, instead of soaking the fruits in liquer to soften they are boiled in water.  Besides that, boiled fruit cake can be consumed immediately, no waiting time is required. 

Though boiled fruit cake doesn't keep as well baked fruit cake, there is no compromise inthe taste.  In fact, I prefer boiled fruit cake as the liquid that the fruits are boiled in further enhance the flavour of the cake.  To give the cake a kick, I added rum.  Rum and dried fruits seems to pair so well that you can tell usually tell when one is missing from the other in a fruit cake.

Boiled Fruit Cake

Ingredients
(A)
500g mixed fruit
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
250g butter

(B)
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp mixed spice
3 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup rum (optional)
4 eggs

1.  Bring ingredients (A) to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and leave to cool completely.
2.  Add in rum, if using.
3.  Stir in beaten eggs.
4.  Fold in ingredient (B) that have been sifted.
5.  Pour into baking pan lined with greased proof paper.
5.  Bake in oven preheated to 180C for 45 to 55 mins or until skew comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.

Note
1.  Rum can be replaced with brandy.
2.  I used two 3.5 inch by 8 inch baking pan.
3.  The fruit can be increased to 750g if desired.

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

Last month was hubby's birthday and since sweet buttercream is not something he drool over.  I decided to make him something close to his heart; a cake make with chocolate.  

I came across this Steamed Moist Chocolate recipe some years ago when I first started serving the Internet for recipes.  I Immediately took down the recipe when I found out that this cake is steamed and not baked.  Although steam cake lack appealing in looks but it certainly make up for taste.  In the past I had tried steaming butter cake and it turn out to be delicious.   

Without any reservations on the cooking method, I proceeded to work on the cake.  Though this cake may not be as appealing in looks as other cakes that I have made but it certainly is delicious and hubby can vouch for it. 

Cake

150g unsalted butter
170g fine sugar
200ml evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125g plain flour
70g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1.  Fill steamer with enough water and bring to boil.
2.  Combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla essence and butter and cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter has melted. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3.  Stir in beaten eggs.
4.  Place sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.
5.  Stir egg mixture into flour and mix well.
6.  Pour mixture into a greased 8 inch round baking pan and loosely cover pan with a piece of aluminum foil.
7.  Steam over medium heat for 45 minutes.
8.  Check if cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake. If skewer comes out clean, it’s cooked. If not, steam for a further 5 minutes.
9.  Cool cake in pan before turning out for frosting.


Chocolate Fudge
35g cocoa powder, sifted
50gm corn flour, sifted
1 cup evaporated milk
2 egg yolks
175ml water
120g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g unsalted butter


1. Place all ingredients (except the butter) in a bowl and cook over a pan of boiling water until mixture thicken.
2. Remove fudge from heat and stir in butter.
3.  Leave fudge to cool slightly before pouring over cake.
4. Chill the cake in the fridge before serving.

Non-Bake Oreo Cheesecake

One of the cakes I love to serve on hot sunny days besides icre-cream are non-bake cheesecakes. These type of cheesecakes are chilled before serving instead of the usually baking. It has a layer of crust made usually of crush cookies/biscuits mixed with melted butter. The filling is a combination of cream cheese and whipped cream. With a tinge of lemon juice, the tartness of lemon juice balance off the richness of cream cheese and cream to make this an appertising dessert. Gelatine is usually added to keep the cake firm and holds it shape especially in our hot and humid weather. The amount of gelatin can be adjusted according to your preference. The lesser the gelatin the softer the cake will be.


The above is the Oreo Cheesecake that I made for our home fellowship meeting last Friday.

For crust

120g Oreo biscuit (without the filling), crushed

60g butter, melted

Mix crushed biscuit with butter. Press on the base of a 20cm springform baking pan. Leave to chill in fridge.

For filling
2 tbsp gelatin
1/2 cup water
250g cream cheese
300ml whipping cream, whipped
150g castor sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
4 pieces of Oreo biscuit (without filling), crushed

1. Mix gelatin with water and microwave for 1 minutes, until gelatin dissolved. Leave to cool.
2. Cream cream cheese with castor sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
3. Add in cool gelatin mixture and mix evenly.
4. Stir in crush oreo biscuit.
5. Pour filing on prepared crust.
6. Chill cake till set before serving.

Note : For a softer cake and ice-cream like texture, reduce gelatine to 1 tbsp.

Orange Butter Cake

When I baked this Orange Butter Cake yesterday, I did not intend to post it here. This cake was made in a rush in between appointments. With minimum time to spare, decorating it was never in my mind. Hence, this was served as it is this morning for our after service coffee fellowship in church.

Despite being done in a hurry and with no decoration, this cake tasted wonderfully good. The orange juice and rind gave a nice balance to the richness of the butter cake. To make this cake, I used a pound cake recipe but added in 1/3 cup of orange juice and rind from 1 orange.

Recipe for pound cake:-
250g butter
180g sugar
250g self-raising flour
4 large eggs
1/3 cup orange juice
rind from 1 orange

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs, 1 at a time and mix well after each addition.
3. Stir in orange rind.
4. Fold in flour alternate with orange juice.
5. Pour into a well greased 8 inch square pan.
6. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 30 - 45 min.

Durian Cheesecake

Durian is the king of fruits in Malaysia. Most Malaysian will claimed that this is the best fruit amongst the countless varieties available here. This fruit has a creamy texture and its fragrance lingers on long after the fruit has been digested. Good quality durians are usually sold by the roadside stalls and many Malaysian do not mind setting aside their elegance to eat durians in a squatting position at these stalls. Same goes for Hubby and Sydney. But as for me, you will never catch me at these stalls eating durians either dead or alive. I must confess that I am not a durian fan.

Sydney has been bugging me to make Durian Cheesecake after tasting one made by her friend's mother many years ago. She even boldly asked her friend's mother for the recipe. Somehow I never had the opportunity to make one or to be honest refused to even attempt since I do not like durians *selfish*.

Last week, my babysitter gave us some very good quality durians which Hubby and Sydney could not finish. After some persuasion from Sydney I decided to try out the Durian Cheesecake. I must admit that durian and cheese are like a marriage made in heaven, this combination tasted just divine. Although I may still not like durian as a fruit but I certainly don't mind having Durian Cheesecake.

This recipe that I used is by Catherine Lau and was published in Flavours Magazine (Sept - Nov 2001) but I have made some changes according to the ingredients that I have.

Base

200g digestive biscuits

50g cornflakes

20g brown sugar

125g melted butter

Filling

500g cream cheese

80g castor sugar

20g honey

10g custard powder

50g cornflour

4 large eggs

350g durian pulp

120g whipping cream

To assemble base

1. Put all ingredients except butter in a food processor and process till fine.

2. Pour the processed ingredients in a bowl and stir in butter.

3. Grease the side of a 23cm springform and line the base with aluminium foil.

4. Press mixture evenly and firmly on the base of cake pan.

5. Keep in the fridge for 30 minutes.

To prepare filling

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and process until mixture is smooth.

2. Pour onto prepared base.

3. Bake at 150C for 1 hour or until the cake is firm in the centre.

Note - I prefer using food processor for making cheesecake as less air is incorporated that will result in lesser crack on the cake.

Chocolate Marble Cake

Last Thursday and Friday were great as I was on leave and spent most part of the days lazing around doing nothing much but watching my favourite Taiwan soap opera - The Prince who turn into a frog. I am not shy to admit that at this age (neither that young or ehm....old) there is still this little girl in me who enjoys a good fairy tale story with happy ending. I hate the reality of life which is full of broken marriages and relationships.

Since I was on leave there were no excuses not to bake something. But as most of my time was spent watching the Taiwan soap opera and since the show was quite interesting, I didn't want to spent too much time in the kitchen baking. Therefore I decided on this Chocolate Marble Cake that is really fast to prepare. The entire preparation only took me about 30 minutes and when 30 minutes was up I was able to continue with the show while waiting for the cake to finish baking (cheeky grin).

Here's the recipe for Chocolate Marble Cake:-

Ingredients
250g butter
250g self-raising flour
200g castor sugar
100g semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
4 large eggs
1/4 cup milk

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in eggs, one at a time.
3. Fold in flour alternate with milk ending with flour.
4. Divide batter into 2 portions and stir melted chocolate into one of the portion.
5. Spoon plain cake batter into greased cake pan.
6. Spoon chocolate mixture over the plain cake mixture.
7. Swirl batter with a spatula to create marble effect.
8. Bake at 180 for 40 to 50 min.