Sonia's newest hobby...

I hv not been baking for the past two days cos i injured my finger .. nothing serious but hey.. it hurts even when i am typing.. i do hope that i will be able to bake something tomorrow tho i hv to run a few errands in the morning.. so for now.. I am gonna end this month post with Sonia's photos... enjoy and hv a good weekend peeps!

Donna Hays Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie

Woooaaahhh did u hear the thunder earlier on?? the lightning... scared the s*** out of me lol... it was raining so so heavily and now it has stopped.... the blue sky is out... and the weather is absolutely wonderful now...







So anyway.. today I decided to try out Donna Hay's Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies... Brownies and cheesecake? What is there not to like? I have said bef that desserts are my downfall. I'm not a potato chip kinda girl. I dont like to snack, really (hubby says: "Sure"...)... I dont like candy. Mildly ("Sure...") interested in ice cream ... unless it's on a brownie. Cookies are fine.. but it has to be homemade. To me, the best cookies are the ones just out of the oven. Heavenly! Chocolates are ok.. but a chocolate cake? Oh gosh...the right chocolate cake can give me an orgasm.. hahahahahah I am KIDDING! But you get the drift. Basically .. I like my desserts... Cheesecakes, puddings.. you name it.







Honestly, if you are a chocolate lover, you gotta try this brownie. Seriously. You have to!! Make it for your loved ones, for Valentine's, for birthdays.. or even for ur afternoon tea... enjoy the recipe!


Ingredients
185g butter, melted (i used unsalted and added 1/4tsp of salt) 
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted (i used valrhona) 
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain flour

Cheesecake
285g cream cheese, softened and chopped
4 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
2 eggs





Method
Preheat oven to 160 degree C
Place butter, cocoa powder, sugar, eggs and flour in a bowl and mix well until smooth
Spoon into a 8" square slice tin line with baking paper
To make cheesecake, process the cream cheese, sugar and eggs in a mixer until smooth
Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake nixture on top of the chocolate mixture and swirl with a butter knife
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until set

Putri Salat aka Serimuka

Yesterday I made Putri Salat aka Serimuka for today's breakkie... eventho I hv a few trusted recipe.. the urge to try out new recipe is always there... as what Rossya says.. "Recipes may be different personally.. but trying can do no harm"


This is one of the best recipe that I've tried... hb loves it... mom loves it... dad said it tastes like kaya... i will definately be making her serimuka durian one of these days..







Ingredients
500g glutinous rice - soak for an hr with 1 tsp of alkaline water (i didnt use alkaline water)
1 tsp salt
340ml light coconut milk
screwpine/pandan leaves
1 tsp sugar (i added)


Method
1. Prepare the steamer. Combine glutinous rice, salt, sugar and coconut in a square or round cake pan. Mix well. Place the screwpine/pandan leaves on top of the rice and steam over rapidly boiling water for about 30–35 minutes or until cooked through.
2. Discard pandan leaves. Fluff up the rice, and then press rice firmly down with a banana leaf or aluminum foil until it is compact. Return it to the steamer.






Ingredients
Topping
250g sugar
6 eggs (abt 60g each)
60g flour
10g sago or corn flour
750ml thick coconut milk (i used KARA 450g and add 300ml water)
pinch of salt
1 tbsp pandan paste
a few drops of green colouring
a few drops of rose essence (i added)


Method
Stir eggs and sugar until well combined. Add the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients. Strain the batter to remove any lumps.
Cook it over low heat till slightly warm... stirring it occasionally so as to avoid any lumpy batter..
Scratch the surface of the steam rice lightly with a fork. Pour in the batter on top of the rice. Steam over medium heat for an hour or until set.
Set it aside to cool completely before cutting into serving pieces.






Note: If u wanna try out serimuka durian.. add 300g of durian flash with 100ml of coconut milk taken fm 750ml of thick coconut milk. Blend/puree and add it to the sieved topping batter.. add a few drops of yellow colouring and cook it over low fire.

Busy. Busy, Busy
Or you could say, Lazy. Lazy. Lazy.
That's what I'm feeling lately. The weather just sucks u in. Every time I want to bring Sonia out to the pool, it rains. Or it gets cloudy and starts to thunder, and we would wait and wait for it to clear up, and it never does....


Anyway here's little Sonia and her new necklace. Yesterday, when we were about to go out, she grabbed her necklace and put it over her head...too cute!!

Forrest Gump Chocolate Tart

Forrest Gump: My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."






Happy Sunday peeps... I am not usually here on Sunday and i hv yet to prepare breakfast for everyone... so heres a quick entry on this chocolate tart...







Been wanting to bake this tart since last month but unfortunately each time i wanna bake it.. i realised that i ran out of heavy cream... so yesterday while we were out, I bought this tart pan and 2 tubs of heavy cream.. began preparing it late last night and ready to be served later after lunch... yummmmmmiessss






Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipe

Ingredients
250 g (9 oz / 2 cups) plain flour
125 g (4 1/2 oz) icing (confectioners') sugar
A pinch of salt
180 g (6 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
60 ml (2 fl oz / 1 /4 cup) ice water


Method
Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the iced water and mixed until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick, then press lightly into the rectangular tart tin and prick with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Line the chilled pastry with baking paper and add baking weights or uncooked rice. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and weights. Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Leave to cool.







Ingredients
8 ounces / 225 g dark chocolate, chopped (i used Valrhona, Manjari 64%) 
3 ounces / 75 g butter
2 cups / 450 ml heavy cream
2 egg yolks


Method
Place the chopped chocolate in the mixing bowl and add the butter.
In the small pot, bring the cream to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and butter. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add the yolks and mix well. Pour the mixture into the tart shell.
Chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours until set.







Transfer the tart to a serving platter, dust with cocoa, then gently press the chocolates into the filling. Slice and serve with coffee.


Source: Almost Bourdain

5-FIVE-KHAMSAH

I was tagged by the one and only Yat Maria :o)) Ty gf!


5 names that people call me
1. Rima
2. Kak
3. Rims
4. Wawa
5. Mama


5 Important dates in my life
16 April
24 Sept
24 December
6 March
3 November


5 things that I did yesterday
1. Woke up early so that i can get things done bef our saturday outing
2. Went to Vivo and United Square
3. Went to bakery supply shop and finally found the pie dish that i hv been wanting for the past 2 months
4. Managed to bake the pie just bef midnight
5. Hanging out with hb and Sonia while they skyped and webcam-ed with SIL


5 Ways to be happy
1. Sonia
2. Baking
3. Cooking
4. Hang out with both my sisters
5. Travelling


5 Favourite Movies
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Julie and Julia
3. My sisters keeper
4. Madu Tiga cos my grandmama and my mom are in that movie hahahaha
5. Any P Ramlee movie especially that has Tok Ngah (Yusof Latif) acting in it


5 Hobbies
1. Baking Baking Baking
2. Travelling
3. Sewing - sigh.. my sewing maching is collecting dust at the moment
4. Flower arrangement
5. Surfing for new recipe


5 Favourite People
1. Super duper hb
2. My little Sonia
3. My army boy
4. Family
5. My Concorde kakis


5 places for vacation
1. Paris - would love to go there again
2. Cape Town - would love to go there again
3. The US - particularly SF.. been there a couple of times and would love to take hb there once he stops thinking that theres nothing to see and do in the US (very typical European thinking lol)
4. Vienna - cant wait to go there! Sacher Torte here i comeeeee
5. Tuscany - once again.. next trip :o(



5 Reasons I answered the survey???
1. Because I had to hahahahhhah NO NO
2. Simply bec I appreciate Yat's gasture
3. Waiting for my pie to set - oppss an hr more to go.. :ox
4. Keeping hb company while reading newspaper
5. I cant sleep


5 Persons to be tagged by me
Hmmmmmmmmm

Oh what a wonderful day...

Yesterday hb came home with a little good news and this is what he said to me.. "It feels good when years of hard work start to pay off"... I had tears in my eyes.....

From the bottom of my heart.. I am happy... am proud of you babe... all your hard work, effort and the late nights.. paid off... u deserve it.. so now.. can we go shopping?? hahahahha







So yesterday after sending off my camera lens for service (thank god it was my lens and not my camera that needs repair) .. i whipped up my age egg whites... baked his fav desert and this morning he took some to work to share it with his working colleague...







I'm using the same recipe... did two batch.. to one batch.. i added 5g of cocoa powder to my icing sugar and almond powder.. I added 1/2 tsp of red powder colouring to the 2nd batch.. filled it with our fav chocolate ganache... of cos u can use other type of fillings like lemon or any kinda berry buttercream.. cream cheese, nutella or dulce de leche.. whatever u like.. place it in ur fridge and its ready for everyone to enjoy.. ohhh aren't they the prettiest!










Oh guess what.. we gonna go on a date tonight... hehehe... let me gv u some hint..

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Yep yep... gliters... ballroom... masquerade... Le Fantôme de l'Opéra for him and me?? heheheh... shud be fun!!!

Roti Sobek

I am so so addicted to indon food blogger... not only they can take really good photo .. their recipe is to die for... believe it or not when i first started reading up their blog.. i dont even know how to read their recipe properly... terigu tepung tiga lah.. terigu rendah...sedang.. bubuk.. rhum bakar... apa yah tuuu hahahha.. now bisa ajaaaaa hehehe


Another recipe fm Ningnong blog... superb.. wonderfully soft... yummmmmies... this is what they called Roti Sobek aka Roti Sisir... u can use just abt any kinda of fillings... i did red bean and chicken sausage... the one here is plain jane.. dough is super easy to handle... love it!! sooo nuwon yah mbak heheh


Ingredients:
500 gram tepung terigu protein tinggi (aku pakai 450 gr cakra + 50 gr segitiga) (bread flour)
100 gram gula pasir (castor sugar)
10 gram ragi instant (aku pakai 1 sachet isi 11 gram ragi instant merek Haan) (11g instant yeast)
5 gram bread improver (aku pakai merk baker bonus, gak pake juga gapapa)
5 gram garam halus (fine salt)
1 sdm emulsifier (t tbsp ovalette)
50 gram telor (aku pakai 2 kuning telor) (2 egg yolk)
75 gram mentega (butter - melted)
175 cc air (tergantung kelembaban tepung) (175ml water)

Bahan olesan: (i didnt use any)
1 kuning telor
3 sdm susu evaporated (aku pakai 1 sdm susu bubuk instant + 3 sdm air)



Variasi bahan isi (untuk bikin roti sobek): (fillings)
coklat meises (chocolate)
keju parut (grated cheese)
dll (etc etc)

Untuk roti sisir: olesannya butter cream


Directions:
- Aduk semua bahan kering jadi satu
- Masukkan telor & mentega, aduk sampai rata
- Tuang air perlahan-lahan, sambil adonan diaduk
- Kalau pakai mixer besar, aduk selama 6 menit sampai kalis
- Bulatkan adonan, tutup dengan plastik, diamkan 30 menit
- Setelah 30 menit, kempiskan adonan.
- Timbang sebesar 40 gram, dan bentuk bulat-bulat. Diamkan 15 menit
- Kempiskan adonan, bentuk panjang, dan isian sesuai selera (jadinya roti sobek)
- Letakkan di loyang panjang ukuran 30 * 10 yang sudah dioles margarin.
- Diamkan selama 30 menit untuk pengembangan.
- Olesi dengan bahan olesan, panggang dengan oven suhu 200 deg C selama 15 menit


Blah blah blah... i dumped everything into my bread maker... let it run for an hr.. take it out.. gv it a light punch.. weigh my dough 40g each... add whatever fillings that u desire... let it proof in a greased tray or even muffin tray for abt 75mins or so.. once double in size.. bake it in preheated oven at 175C for 15mins.. once baked.. brush buns with melted butter..








Easy peasy!! So ok i am off to the florist to get my fresh flowers.. hv lunch somewhere and will be back to bake more muahahhaa... what a life... or as what my super duper hb wud say... NO LIFE!! kah kah kah and oh oh... hes coming home tonight! yayyyy

Its a jungle out there and a Swirl Bundt Cake to go...

Had a long day.... we went to the zoo this morning... had our lunch there and got home in time for Sonia's afternoon nap... she had fun of cos.. running and playing.. pointing out and naming the animals... shes one special girl and we love her to bits! shes funny and i must say that we had a good time today... we spent like a good half an hour at the leopard area simply cos thats her favorite animal and Papa the photos below are for u .. :o)) 


Photos taken by my good ole pocket camera... after a few months lugging around a heavy camera.. it feels funny to hold and take photos using a small camera hehehe















Anyway after putting Sonia to bed, I managed to bake this cake for sis Wati... Dont ask me how it taste like cos i didnt even taste it... my guess.. a spongy butter cake since it uses lots of egg whites?? hmmm .. the recipe was very easy to follow and oh... please use a 16 cups bundt pan as it produces a huge cake.. 







Ingredients:
440g Cold Egg Whites (Store in fridge before use)
3 Egg yolks
250g Sugar
40g Cold water
315g Plain flour
1 1/4tsp Baking powder
1 tbsp SP or ovalette
250g Melted butter with 3/4 tsp vanilla powder
100g Almond powder
1/2 tbsp chocolate emulco (i used melted valrhona chocolate)
1/2 tbsp chocolate paste
1/2 tbsp mocca paste or coffee oil


Method:
Whisk cold egg whites, egg yolks, cold water, sugar, SP, plain flour and baking powder at high speed till thick.
Lastly add in melted butter and mix well.
Use spatula to fold in almond powder.
Separate batter into two portions. In one portion of the batter add all paste and mix well.
Then spoon in plain and chocolate batter in cake pan alternately until you finish them.
Bake at pre-heated oven at 165C for about 1 hour. (only if ur using a bundt pan)






Source: Anncoo

Lapis Surabaya Cake

I woke up at half past 5 this morning..  kiss hb's hand.. waved and went straight back to my room.. i decided not to tag along cos he has to fly to Surabaya fm Jakarta in a few days time and i wud hv to fly back on my own.. so i figure i am better off staying home aka driving around with Sonia hehehe.. i'm thinking of taking her to the zoo one of these days.. hmmm 







Oh guess what.. just as hb was abt to go on business trip.. my internet connection went fm super best to super blaaahhhh and thats not even the most irritating part... yesterday i found out something was not right with my camera... unlike hb.. I hv always been using the auto function but for some reason my auto function wasnt working... it didnt wanna take pic when i zoom it in!! i got really agitated that in the end hb told me last night that maybe its a blessing.. that my camera wants me to learn how to use the manual function.... grrrrrrrrrrrrr... will hv to wait till hb comes back bef sending it for repair.. sighhhh... hate what happened.. its like its beyond my control... hate gadgets.. dont like to read manual.. hubbyyyyyyyyyy.... i need u here to teach meeeeee!!!  


Anyway i better not dwell over this.. yesterday bef we went to JB I managed to bake Lapis Surabaya.. I dont know how long I hv been dying to bake this cake.. every single time i wanna bake it.. i was put off by the amount of egg yolk it uses... to separate 36 eggs is no joke lol but honestly to keep on buying a slice every single time i crave for it is just not worth it cos it doesnt taste as nice as the ones i had in Jakarta...







Lapis Surabaya might not look glamorous, but it’s so delicious. It’s almost like a cross between a custard and sponge cake. The rich egg flavor is irresistible. The texture is fine and deeply moist, and it has a delicate sweetness from the thin layer of apricot jam in between. And the heavenly fragrant... my goodness!



Ingredients
(A)
350g cold butter (cut cubes)
1 tbsp rum or vanilla extract
50g condense milk
1g salt





(B)
650g egg yolks (abt 36eggs)
285g caster sugar

(C)
10g full cream milk powder
10g corn flour
120g flour (i used hongkong flour)

Bahan D:
1/2 tbsp chocolate paste (i used 2tbsp valrhona cocoa powder and 1tsp of paste)
3 22X22X4 cm cake pan (i used brownie pan)

150g apricot jam





Method
(A)
Cream cold butter for 20mins using medium speed..Add in the rest of the ingredients and continue to beat till creamy and fluffy.

(B)
In another bowl.. whisk egg yolk with sugar using speed 2 1/2 if ur using kenwood mixer or on medium low speed for 6 mins.. change to medium high speed and continue to beat for another 20mins.

Add in (B) into (A) mixture using rubber spatula and mix till well combined.. Fold in sifted flour, milk powder and corn flour to egg/butter (AB) mixture.


Pour each tray (22x22) with 420g of batter.. pour out 120g fm the rest of the batter and add chocolate paste to it. (u will get abt 1500g of batter in total.. take away 120g n add chocolate paste)

Bake on preheated oven of 175C for 25mins

Once cool.. spread apricot jam (i heat it up a little for easy spreading)in between layers.





Note:
If ur using brownie pan like mine u will get 2 cakes out of this recipe.. weigh 210g plain batter each for 4 trays.. divide the rest of chocolate batter into 2 trays

I did marble effect one one cake but my marbling didnt turned out that good.. oh well..

Since this recipe doesnt use any ovalette.. best to keep in fridge..






Awesome recipe is fm here