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This might be a shocker especially to my FIL but yayyyy today is our 8th year wedding anniversary.. Alhamdullilah.. we are still very much in love ahem ahem and we are happy with one-another.. one thing's for sure.. we are who we are.. we cant change our partners' behavior .. we learn how to accept..

Sometimes i wish we were leading a "drama-less" life but i wouldnt want to change anything.. .... we talk.. we argue.. we laugh and we cry.. we 'debate' most of the time simply bec we hv our own set of mind.. which come to think of it.. thats where Sonia got her "very opinionated" character..


To my dearest hubs.. Happy 8th wedding anniversary.. thank you for everything.. for being there whenever Hairi needs someone to talk to.. for being there when i needed a shoulder to cry on.. for being a wonderful dad to my kids.. may there be more wonderful years to come.. lap u many many ok!

So enough of the boring speech.. heres the cake that i managed to bake especially for him.. a cake that consists of chocolate honeycomb, caramel and also cream cheese.. sounds good?? hehe.. hubs loved it very much.. for the caramel topping.. i decided to use Donna Hay's caramel sauce recipe simply bec i had been looking at it since i bought her new magazine.. hubs said the caramel sauce.. the crushed chocolate honeycombs added more texture and taste to this cheesecake.



INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CRUST
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


Cream Cheese Filling:
500g Cream Cheese - Softened
1/4 cup sugar
200g Condense milk
2 1/2 large eggs
50g dairy whipping cream
1 tbsp Cake flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 cup Dulce De Leche
Enough chocolate honeycomb - cut into small cube.. abt 1 inch

Method
For the crust
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil allowing a little overhang and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes. Remove pan to a cooling rack. Do not turn your oven off.

For Cream cheese filling
- In ur food processor. whisk cream cheese and sugar till creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time making sure it's well combined before the next addition. Add in condense milk.
- Add in whipping cream, cake flour, salt and vanilla extract.
- Pour half of ur cream cheese fillings on ur crust. Drop dollops of "Dulce De Leche" on top of ur cream cheese mixture, sprinkle with some chunks of cut honeycomb.. Pour another portion of ur cream cheese filling and drop dollops of "Dulce de Leche" and chunk honeycomb again.
- Bake at 160C for about 60 mins. or till set.
- Leave to cool before slicing.



Ingredients
Caramel Sauce
50g butter
65g brown sugar
85g golden syrup
125ml pouring cream - single cream
30ml rum - didnt add

Method
Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup, cream and rum in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar us dissolve. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 to 12 mins or until thickened.. allow sauce to cool bef pouring over the cake to serve.


Ok these were the cuppies ordered by Andik.. ty and am glad to hear that ur 17 yrs old baby girl loves it.. Happy bday Afiqah!.. to Wati.. ty for the macs order.. sorry we didnt really get to properly say hi..

Hv a wonderful monday peeps.. am looking forward to this weekend where we will be flying to Bali - woot woot!!
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Friday is here once again.. hubs flying back home tonight and i cant wait! whether i wanna admit it or not.. i need my fussy dessert eater around.. hes my talking buddy at home.. we can talk till the wee hr of the night without realising the time.. ahem ahem.. u do know that our wedding anniversary is around the corner right?? :op

Yesterday was one busy day for me .. was kaput.. baked layer prune cake only to find out that i got all my dates mixed up again.. that order was actually meant for 12th of May!!.. haishh.. Rima Rima..

I also baked pandan chiffon cake and also baked two types of friand.. why two types of friand?? err my fault.. didnt check and had baked my friand using bottom heat.. duhhhh!! i decided to bake it one more time and since i ran out of fresh raspberry.. i decided to use frozen blueberry and raspberry..




Ingredients
6 egg whites
155g unsalted butter - melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
180g ground almonds
240g icing sugar - sifted
75g self raising flour
250g raspberry or whatever kind of berries
25g flaked almonds
2tsp icing sugar - extra

Method
Preheat oven 180C.. grease 8x12" rectangular pan, line base and long sides with baking paper, extending paper 5cm over sides

Place egg whites in medium bowl, whisk lightly with fork until combined. Add butter, milk, extract, ground almonds, sifted icing sugar and flour, stir until combined. Pour batter into pan, top with berries.

Bake for 15mins, remove fm oven, sprinkle with nuts. Bake further 25mins. Stand slice in pan 10mins bef turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Dust the slice with sifted extra icing sugar bef cutting.



I love friand in any kinda shape.. round, oval, rectangle and now in squares! so easy to prepare.. non fussy and a guaranteed winner..

So bef i go.. once again lemme gv my thanks to two dearies .. to Rosnani who is fm Montreal Canada.. ty for the macs order.. was nice to be able to sit down with u and talk talk for a good 2hrs! hope u enjoyed ur day with ur girlfriends! to Siti Aisha who bought over my layer prune cake and macs.. ty dear .. see u later ok!

Source: Woman's Weekly.. Little squares and slices
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Happy midweek peeps! this morning i didnt hv to send Sonia to school.. right now shes probably in her school bus on her way to the Zoo with her school mates.. so while shes gone.. i hv started baking my first lapis legit for this week.. yesterday i was busy baking mac shells for a few orders.. two orders were nearly forgotten.. arghhh age is catching up..

Hubs is still in Singapore and will be flying off after lunch.. will send him off after Sonia is done with her field trip..



Anyway yesterday morning for whatever reason i woke up as early as 5am.. went to my kitchen and started to peel the skin of my almost expired bananas.. didnt take me long to decide which recipe to use as i had seen Izah bake these cuppies two days ago..

By 6am i was already getting ready and by 7am i was munching on these cuppies hehe (hmmm i always wonder where that 4kg comes from huhu) .. these cuppies have a texture of muffins.. not the denser type tho.. maybe if i were to bake it as cake.. it will hv a texture of a cake.. shrug.. i decided to whip up chocolate french buttercream and added melted valrhona buttons and knew by doing so.. my cuppies will instantly turn into something that hubs will like (as he is not a muffin type of guy)..


Ingredients
(A)
1 cup banana (240 g) - mashed
1 cup sugar - i used 180g
125g butter
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp fresh milk

(B)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1 tsp ovalet

Method
Cook ingredients (A) till caramelized and golden brown - set aside to cool
In another bowl.. whisk eggs and ovalet till fluffy.. add in banana caramel and continue to whisk till well incorporated..

Once done.. fold in sifted self raising flour and ur ready to scoop ur batter into cuppies
Bake cuppies for 20mins .. temp 175C

Recipe originally from: Kak Fida


Macaron Pyramid




Above are pics of my macs .. they look cute on macs pyramid! hehe

Ok peeps i better finish up layering my kek.. bef i go.. ty Sabariah for ordering macs and sorry to hv troubled u guys.. to my readers.. hv a good week peeps..

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Last wkend we were at Marketplace in Tanglin.. it was so crowded with expatriates that i decided not to stay long.. rows of all things related to Easter were gone! its like shopping for groceries during Eid lol.. the only thing that i managed to get for Sonia were peeps.. ya know marshmallows coated with sugar? i had wanted to prepare it myself but was too lazy to do it.. its cute its nice to look at but am not a big fan of marshmallows unlike hubs and Sonia.. oh .. oh.. if ur interested to do ur own peeps u can take a look at this video.. i find its useful if ur thinking of doing anything fun with ur kids..


So.. yesterday morning I managed to bake hubs these hot cross buns.. i didnt want to do the traditional thingy like last year.. i know he likes it like that but after i saw a pic of this hot cross buns in Karen's blog.. i was in awe.. her hot cross sticky buns looks so so awesomely delicious that i had to break the rule.. take a peep and u will agree with me! I decided to just stick to my instinct and bake it anyway.. the result? has a texture of cinnamon swirl.. top crunchy.. the combination of caramel and walnut somehow got me thinking of Garrets popcorns lol




Hot Cross Sticky Buns
(makes about 8 - 10 largish buns)

Ingredients
[Buns]
155ml warm milk
35g caster sugar
7g dried yeast (1 packet)
300g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsps ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
30g butter, softened and chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten

[Filling]
30g butter, melted
60g brown sugar
1/2 Tbl ground cinnamon
Raisins or sultanas

[Topping]
180g brown sugar
45g butter, chopped
45ml golden syrup
1/2 Tbl water
pinch of sea salt
3/4 cups of pecans, roughly chopped - i used walnuts



Method
Whisk the warm milk, sugar and yeast together until sugar has dissolved. Cover and leave for about 10 minutes to froth up and bubble.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and spices. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and frothy milk/yeast mixture and mix until combined.

On a lightly floured surface knead dough until it is smooth, elastic and doesn’t stick to your hands or table (about 5 minutes if you’re a powerhouse or up to 10 minutes if you got weak ass arms like me).

Lightly grease another large bowl and plonk the dough in, turning to coat all sides with grease. Cover and leave in a warm draught-free place for 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

For the filling, mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon until combined. To make the topping, melt all the ingredients except for the nuts in a pot over low heat, bring to a simmer then remove from heat.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough into a rectangular approx. 35 x 25cm (with the longest side facing you). Brush with melted butter and sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mix over the whole surface. Sprinkle raisins in a single layer leaving an inch border on the sides and at the top.

Starting with the side closest to you, roll up the dough as tightly as you can, pinch the ends to seal and place seam side down. Using your hands, mould out the rolled dough into an even log.

With a very sharp knife, cut into 8 slices of about 4-5cm thickness. Try not to ‘press’ down but use a light see-saw motion and let the knife do the work.

Pour the topping into a large greased or non-stick pyrex or baking dish (you could also use a large pie dish or about 2 x 20cm sandwich cake tins). If the caramel has hardened a bit, warm it back up over the stove.

Scatter the pecans over the caramel and place buns, cut side down. Make sure you fit them in together so that they’re just touching.

Place on a baking paper lined tray (caramel will bubble up and might spill over) and bake for about 20 minutes or until the buns are lightly golden and it sounds hollow when you tap it.

Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes. Place a plate or serving dish on top then carefully invert onto the plate. Be careful of hot tins and molten caramel!

Serve warm and best eaten within a day or two.


Hubs loved it.. he said it tastes more like cinnamon swirl and he doesnt mind the walnut that i added to replace pecan nuts.. overall we love it! oh for ur info.. i used my BM to knead my dough.. ok i hv to go.. its gonna be another busy week for me.. hopefully i will find time to bake something bef hubs flies to Jakarta on Wed.. cheers!

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Clap clap clap.. not one but two.. oh yeahhhhh... now lets see how much insurance is gonna cover bef i decide which body to get wooohoooooooooo chicken dance!! i feel sooooo alive!!


Oh how i miss these kinda shots!

She took one bite and thats it... papa had to finish em up errr.. shes super selective when it comes to dessert! - I see the similarity to hubs...

Can u see Sentosa island?? hahaha.. lap u long time!

I am on a diet.. muahahha sureeee!

She grows up too fast!! can u believe that my little girl has grown up in front of so many sisters and aunties - and also uncle (who sleeps in the kitchen while tumbuk sambal belacan hahaha) - thru this blog??

Was one tiring day for her... took her to her fav indoor playground and she came out of there looking like this.. all sweaty and tired...

... still no matter how tired she is... she never failed to say "Oh thank you mama.. i like it".. awwww

Have a good weekend everyone and happy baking!
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Long easter break.. i like! every single year without fail hubs will tell me abt how he wud spend his easter hols in Adelaide.. went to some easter horse racing thingy in Oakbank where he lived.... sat and relaxed and had their meal on the grass.. something like that lol.. i told him.. oh easter break for us in Singapore is all abt going out to town and shop hahaha..

Anyway today the weather is simply gorgeous to ppl like us who hv no plan to do anything big.. just chill.. relax.. am thinking of baking hot cross buns this weekend.. a once a year thingy .. Sonia came back yesterday with a small bucket full of chocolate eggs.. she told me they had to run around their school compound looking for eggs.. :op

Sooo.. i baked my fav kinda cake simply bec i am a sucker for pound cake... when i saw Shirley bake Trish Boyle's marble pound cake while we were in KL.. my heart jumped.. i wished my oven and Mr Aid were with me right there and then lol.. couldnt wait and finally after a week.. i got to bake it.. am happy with the taste and texture of this pound cake.. the sugar was cut down fm 500g to 300g which i think is superb cos the last time i baked Tish Boyle's pound cake it was a little sweet.. her recipe is just so good and reliable!




Ingredients
342g Cake Flour
2tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
500g Castor sugar, divided (Please reduce this to 300g- original recipe is too sweet)

20g Natural cocao powder (I used cocoa berry)
90ml Water

340g Unsalted butter

1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract - i used toffieco vanilla paste
5 large Eggs
120ml (1/2cup) Whole milk

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 325F/ 190C. Grease the inside of a 10' bundt pan and dust with flour. (i baked mine in 6" round pan and also in a loaf pan)
2. Sift Cake flour, baking powder and salt and set it aside.
3. In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter at medium speed for 2 minutes until creamy.
4. Add sugar and continue to cream for 4 mins at medium to high speed.
5. Add vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time and mix at medium speed until well mixed.
6. Add sifted flour mixture in 3 additions and alternating it with 2 additions of milk.
7. Mix cocoa powder with water in a small bowl. Add 3 cups of the batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended. (I added my pistachio paste here instead of the cocoa mixture)
8. Spoon 1/3 of plain batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth it to an even layer. Spoon 1/3 of the chocolate (pistachio) mixture over the plain layer and smooth to even out. Repeat until all batter is used up finishing with the chocolate layer.
9. Bake at 190C for 60-75mins or until the skewer comes out clean.



I am gonna go n get ready.. hubs wants take me to look at some lens.. hmmm.. my thanks to Anastassia for ordering macs.. selamat bertunang dear.. to Suria who is fm KL.. ty for ordering lapis legit and also macs.. it was nice to see u in person .. hv a safe drive back home and see u in KL next month.. cheers!
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Show has to go on no matter how busy we are... yesterday I started as early as 6am.. we were a little late and by the time I finally got to sip on my cuppa it was almost 9am.. knew that its gonna be one long day.. got home.. cooked and started preparing my french buttercream and lemon cream for my mac fillings..



Started baking lapis legit for an order right after Asar and by the time i was done.. it was almost 8pm.. midnight came and i had one more thing that needed doing.. pipe fillings for my macs.. cant wait for the long wkend!

So ok.. i hv been wanting to do Ispahan for the longest time.. i finally baked my mac shells on Tuesday when hubs gave me the big ridge mac sheets that he had ordered 3wks ago.. yayyyy my macs came out perfect.. am really really happy with my mastrad mac sheets!

You can use just abt any mac recipe that u feel comfy with.. am using french method simply bec it works well with me.. u can of cos use the recipe that i saw here.. to each his own..

Last evening:
Hubby: .... "Do you know where Ispahan is? ...its actually spelled with an "F"... Isfahan..." ...
"huh?"....
"..its not far from Tehran in Iran"...
"aaaahhhhh..."

..so that is where the name comes from... there is even a Ispahan Rose and they produce Rosewater there... so I guess that must have been Lenotre's inspiration for this macaron....(made popular by Pierre Herme)...




Ispahan
Rose Petal Cream

Italian Meringue:
125 grams egg whites
15 grams sugar
250 grams sugar
75 grams water

Boil the sugar and water to 245F, after syrup reaches 220 F start whipping the egg whites and sugar to soft peaks. At 245F pour the sugar syrup on the meringue and let it cool on 2nd speed. Once cool, reduce speed to 1st speed until use.

English cream
180 grams Milk
140 grams egg yolk
180 grams sugar

Boil the milk. Pour half of the milk into the egg yolks and sugar mixture, stir and add this mixture back into the remaining milk. Heat while continually stirring until the mixture can coat the back of the spoon. Cool the mixture in a mixer at high speed until it becomes light and airy.

To complete the rose petal cream:
900 grams butter
8 grams rose essence
56 grams rose syrup
500 grams English cream
350 grams Italian Meringue

Cream the butter. Add the English cream and the rose essence and syrup. Mix well before folding in the Italian Meringue.


To Assemble:
Lychees, raspberries, rose macaron biscuit, rose petal cream.

Cut up the lychees into small chunks and drain for 2 days otherwise your macaron biscuit will become too soggy.


.... and oh yes.. I decided to use my all time fav french buttercream recipe that i got fm Lenotre.. added a few drops of rose essence/ rosewater and thats it... i must admit that i hv never tasted anything like this bef.. u taste the rose french buttercream, lychee and raspberry in one bite and its simply gorgeous...

Ispahan Rose.. Pic courtesy of Tribe

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Please bear with me.. for the next couple of weeks i will be taking pics of my bakes using instagram.. am sorry .. call me a sour grape but i am missing my camera big time .. da*n insurance!! grrr



We got home safely last Sunday.. on our way back home hubs took me to a bakery supply shop called Yummie in Bangi.. one an half hr later and RM400 poorer.. we quickly got back onto the highway only to find ourselves stuck in bad traffic.. it went all the way till JB checkpoint.. oh well.. u win some.. u loose some.. one good thing that came out of all that was hubs didnt get the chance to drive fast :op



So ok.. anyway last night out of the blue i felt like baking these cheesecake bars.. had bookmarked it a week ago and since then i hv been craving for it.. took out my cream cheese and after an hr or so.. hubs was already munching on it.. the aroma of this cheesecake is so so overwhelming that hubs managed to persuade me to slice it 10mins after its baked.. was it good?? oh my.. oh yah baby.. the slightly crunchy top of the warmish cookie dough was to die for! rich in taste and what cud be better then to hv the best of both worlds.. cookies and cheesecake... a perfect marriage made in heaven hehehe

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CRUST
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs i used digestive
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips

FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil allowing a little overhang and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes. Remove pan to a cooling rack. Do not turn your oven off.

3. While the crust is cooling, prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth and thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Mix in the flour on low speed, and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla on low speed just until incorporated. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared crust. Using your hand to form clumps. Flatten the clumps of dough in your palms to flatten them out a bit. Distribute the cookie dough onto the top of the cheesecake batter. Be sure to use all of the dough. You will cover most of the cheesecake batter.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top feels dry and firm (the cookie dough) and the entire pan looks set if given a gentle shake. Move bars to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

6. Lift the bars out by the overhang; slice into desired size and store in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature


Before I go... many thanks to all the wishes... will try to reply to all emails as soon as possible yah.. . Also, all ordered mac sheets have been sent out today!

Source: My baking addiction
Adapted fm: The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook

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It has been three yrs since I first sat down at my computer and wrote my first blog entry. My first pic.. the way i started it was a little ahem lol.. bef i decided to hv my own blog.. i had an online "journal" kinda thang when i was preggie with Sonia and since i developed this crazy habit of baking every single day while pregnant.. i decided to hv my own baking blog a year after Sonia was born..




Can u remember ur first year of blogging? back then it was much simpler.. u bake.. u take photos.. talk a little and u share recipes.. nowadays its a little different.. not only do i wanna bake something that is beyond my comfort zone.. i also fell in love with food photography.. oh yes.. food photography has changed drastically over the years and that is good..



Honestly this blog has been one of the best experiences ever. I've learned so much over the years that it's crazy! i never thought that i wud actually have followers lol.. to have a thousand odd followers is something that i never dreamt of.. the nbr isn't a crazy amount, but it's enough for me.. enough to gv me the motivation to keep on blogging..



Thank you everyone who has supported me in some way.. be it on my facebook or my page.. whether by following me in my blog or commenting on a post or even just by looking at my pictures... I really appreciate it.. without ur support i dont think Bisousatoi could last this long.. love u many many!



Bef i go.. i would love to gv my thanks to those that ordered fm me on this trip.. ty to Hawa who i met in JB.. to Mimi who i met in Ayer Keroh.. ty Suhailah who i met in Bangi.. ty to Puspa, Aidah, Yante, Yuzi, Nurazian, Munie, Reen, Chiah and Shazilah who came to the Concorde to collect ur macs and cakes.. was nice to meet u girls again..

To my dearies.. Shidah and Yani.. ty for taking the time to see me again.. it was really nice catching up with u girls.. to Asilah and Nora.. ty for taking the time to see me.. am a happy puppy whenever i come to KL cos thru this wonderful blogger world.. i get to meet lots of nice ppl.. Insyallah we will meet again in May..

Till then.. have a good Sunday everyone.. we will be heading back to Singapore today.. cant wait to bake!!
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About Me

My photo
Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..