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My fussy hb, bless him.. is super fussy when it comes to sponge cake.. hes not a big fan of ur typical sponge cake.. i think the only time where he ever enjoyed a sponge cake-like texture cake was the Katsura aka Castella cake which we bought fm Isetan supermarket long time ago.. anyway long story short.. this cake was baked simply bec last weekend while in cold storage i bought a pack of fresh strawberries that was on quick sale.. i knew i couldnt keep it for long and hence the need to use it up immediately.. hb suggested strawberry shortcake and i reminded him that this cake uses sponge cake as base.. he said i shud just bake the american type where they use scones like cake to sandwich the strawberries.. i on the other hand felt like baking japenese strawberry shortcake after looking at this photo lol

I began to look around for the best sponge cake recipe for this strawberry shortcake.. i dont want to be baking something which my hb will not enjoy so the journey to look for the best non choking type of sponge cake began.. after hrs of looking i finally settled on cotton cake since the texture of this type of cake is known for its softness.. decided to use Ricky Indiani green tea cotton cake recipe and fuji mama stablized whipping cream recipe.. hehe my version of japenese strawberry shortcake is a fusion of an indon and caucasion lady recipe :op





Ingredients
Cotton Cake
145g low protein flour - cake flour
15g corn flour
1 egg
5 egg yolks - whisk lightly with a fork
150g unsalted butter
65g fresh milk

5 egg white
100g castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt


Method
Preheat oven 160C.. grease and line ur 7 or 8" baking pan.. wrap bottom of ur baking pan with aluminium.
Heat butter and milk till warmish.. do not let it boil ok.. switch off heat and add in sifted flour and corn flour.. mix using wooden spatula.
Transfer to a bigger bowl and add in ur eggs.. continue to mix till smooth.
In another bowl.. whisk egg white till frothy.. add in salt and add in sugar in 3 addition.. whisk till soft peak
Pour 1/3 of egg white mixture into ur egg/butter mixture.. fold in gently.. pour the rest and continue to mix gently.. (same manner as when ur baking chiffon cake.. cotton cheesecake)
Pour batter into baking pan and bake it au bain marie method for abt 45 mins.




Stabilised whipped cream
2 tsp gelatin powder
8 tsp cold water
2 cup whipping cream, cold
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Chill mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10minutes.
Put the cold water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes. Place the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon just until the gelatin dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Remove mixing bowl and beaters from freezer. In the mixing bowl, combine the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla and whip until slightly thickened. Then, while beating slowly, gradually pour the gelatin into the whipped cream mixture. Then whip the mixture at high speed until slightly stiff.

Simple sugar syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Method
In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Bring the water to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

*250g punnet of strawberries



Assembling
Reserve a handful of strawberries (the prettiest ones!) for decorating the top of the cake. Dice the remaining strawberries into small cubes. Macerate them in a little sugar and set aside.
Slice the sponge cake horizontally into three layers.
Place one sponge layer cut-side up on a cake board and lightly brush the surface with the limoncello simple syrup. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the cake layer and arrange the strawberry cubes over the surface. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the strawberries. Brush the cut-side of the second layer with the simple syrup and place it over the first layer. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Repeat with remaining third layer of cake. Spread a thin layer of cream over top of the cake and return to fridge to chill for thirty minutes.
Using the leftover cream, pipe the cream as decoration. Chill in fridge for cream to set for an hour or so. Garnish with the reserved strawberries (sliced in halves).




The cotton cake tasted superb.. the whipping cream was to die for.. u will be seeing me using the same recipe over and over again with different kind of fruits lol..

My fussy hb ate two slices of my strawberry shortcake - case closed!

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Is it just me or is everyone else is super busy too.. sometimes at the back of my mind i know i hv a little time at night to update my blog but when the time comes i never seems to be able to do that..

Its been a couple of days since the last time i slept at midnight.. i hv been sleeping at 3am every night and waking up early.. my body is tired but my mind says that i'm not..

We had a pretty relaxing weekend.. we spend the whole day outside yesterday going fm one place to another.. christmas decorations are up everywhere we go and its the time of the year where Rima will go thru some kinda hormonal change hahaha.. i will be a year older next month and am looking forward to that.. maybe this year there will be two prezzies under our tree?? hahaha.. last year if u remember i got a big one fm Mr LV which i bought while in Paris.. this year there will be no year end Paris trip but am looking forward to another one mid of January next year!! yayyy.. tickets hv been booked.. hotels hv been confirmed and guess who is coming with us this time round?? :op Hairi will get the chance to finally see some jolies filles Francaises...

So anyway lets not get too excited abt my upcoming trip.. hows the weekend everyone?? we had a superb one especially today.. we didnt even bother to go anywhere.. stayed indoors.. it was raining non stop and we loved it! i went to get a few baking stuff yesterday and as usual i will stop by phoon huat and sun lik to replenish my baking stock.. as always at phoon huat i was greeted nicely by the ppl there.. at sun lik.. grrr the usual Mrs Wong was busy in her office and the one that was behind the counter was her rude hb.. i dont want to dwell over it but he pissed me off yesterday that finally i said something that world shouldnt hear lol.. oh well.. he deserved it!

Ok ok.. i dont want to spoil my fab mood today by thinking abt yesterday's incident.. heres the pics taken at our new chill out place with Sonia ..



Love the area.. so calm and quiet.. even the squirrel didnt notice that we were there... makes u feel as though you were not in Singapore lol.. reminds hb of his childhood days where his parents used to live for 16yrs at 309 Tanglin Road.. huhu.. i also want to stay in one of those black and white houses .. gulp.. ha!



Rochester Park.. we went to The Playhouse - they hv an indoor playground and ur kid can play in there for a fee of cos.. i think Sonia likes it there cos their play area is slightly bigger then go go Bambini.. no slides or what so ever.. just lots of toys for girls and boys..



The cafe was a little disappointing tho.. yes their indoor setting is nice tho - not as warm and welcome like PS cafe.. the scones didnt taste like scones.. more like bread lol.. the coffee and mocha tasted nice tho we much prefer our coffee in cafe Baviamo.. overall i wud probably still prefer to take Sonia to Go Go Bambini since its so closer to everything else..

There are a few restaurants around there and the one that caught my eyes was ... with an open concept kitchen.. woot woot... its da Paolo Bistro Bar in case anybody is wondering.



Pleaseeeeee pretty pleaseeeeeeeeee.. if we do move.. can i hv a kitchen that looks exactly like this.. open concept .. totally outdoor and built me a room next to it in case i'm too lazy to walk to our house muahahhaa - a woman can only dream ey :op
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Rise and shine everyone!! its the weekend and i loveeeee it.. danggg did i miss yesterday's super duper date?? honestly?? i didnt even realise till it was too late.. blahhh.. so ok... Ensaymada... do we hv any pinoy readers?? i wud love to tell a little story abt this bread.. Lisa, my helper was talking to me abt it last wed and i thought maybe its a good idea for me to prepare it the next time she comes to clean up our place.. sure enough.. yesterday right after i put Sonia to bed.. i took out my best buddy Mr BM.. talked to it nicely and voila.. after 2hrs.. both Lisa and I were munching on it with a cuppa.. both for a change werent talking while eating except u cud hear Lisa mumbling.. "I love it... love it!!" every single time she took a bite hahaha



Ensaymada is a Filipino sweet bread originally from Majorca, Spain where they are called Ensaimada. The roots of this pastry though come from the Arabic occupation of the Ibizan peninsula from 740 to 1235AD and the explorations of the Arab world by the Spanish and Portuguese. Some believe that the roots of this pastry are Castilian (South-Eastern Spain) as the word saín, is the Castilian medieval word for lard. In Spain this sweet pastry is made of Lard - so be aware! Then again the Arabic word for butter was "saim" which seems to fit better to the name as it was originally made from butter. (So confusing..)



The idea of the Castilians at that time to use lard instead of butter was the idea of the Catholic church to encourage their people to eat pork products to eradicate the arab influences in the region... sigh

By the time the recipe reached the Philippines the recipe was back to its origins by using butter. These snail-like sweet breads are dusted in sugar and popular throughout the Philippines. They are buttery, cheezy, soft, milky, and go excellent with your afternoon coffee.. we all loved it!



I had wanted to use the many Ensaymada recipes which can be found online but being javanese and all that; plus Lisa told me that i can use any sweet bread recipe..i decided to use an Indon recipe.. exclude the coconut stuffing altogether .. added butter, sugar and also cheddar cheese to my bread.. so heres the recipe which i tweaked..

Ingredients:
500g high protein flour
100g of sugar
100g of butter
11g instant yeast
1/2 tsp bread improver
4 egg yolks
225ml ice water
1/2 tsp salt

For filling
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cheddar cheese = grated


Lisa was around to take pics of me preparing my bread.. she later helped me to dip it into sugar..

Method
1. Mix all dry ingredients, except salt, mix well
2. Add water and egg, mix well and knead until smooth.
3. Add butter and salt, Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are evenly distributed and a dough is formed.
4. Knead the dough until texture becomes fine.
5. Put the dough back on the mixing bowl and cover the top with cloth. Allow the dough to rise for an hr or so.
6. Put the dough on a flat surface and flatten. Punch the dough lightly to release the air inside.
7. Using a dough slicer, divide the dough into four pieces.
8. Roll each piece until shape becomes cylindrical.
9. Cut the cylindrical dough into individual serving pieces (1 serving piece should weigh at least 80 grams) - mine weigh 50g each
10. Put the sliced individual serving piece in a flat surface and flatten using a rolling pin.
11. Combine 1/4 cup melted butter with 1/4 cup white sugar. Using a brush, paint the mixture on the flattened dough. Make sure to paint only the center part of the flat dough.
12. Sprinkle some cheese over the painted area then seal the dough by folding opposite directions and rolling it until a long cylindrical shape is formed.
13. Start forming the spiral Ensaymada shape by crossing the two opposite ends of the dough. The first end should be placed under dough while the other end should be inserted in the middle. (see video for better comprehension)
14. Place the dough in a baking tray with wax paper and cover with cloth. Set aside to rise for another 45 minutes
15. Pre-heat the oven at 175 for 10 minutes. Remove cloth on top of the tray and bake the dough for 15 minutes.
16. Remove the baked Ensaymada from the oven. Brush the top of the baked ensaymada with melted butter and dipped it into a bowl of sugar (press a little ok).. sprinkle additional cheese.
17. Serve hot. Share and Enjoy!

The video below shows u how to do the spiral Ensaymada shape..




Okies.. lastly these beauties kept me busy last Thursday.. wasnt too happy with the end product tho.. will share recipe once i get the right texture that i want and oh i also baked two apple crumble pies on the same day eventho i was feeling a little off.. :o(

Hv a wonderful and fun weekend everyone.. be safe!
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I simply cant wait to share this awesome recipe.... honestly i didnt know what to expect.. i bought this book called Baking with Fruits a year ago .... thought nothing of it after i bought it.. placed it together with my other baking books and forgot all abt it.. yesterday morning i went down to our basement (thats where i place all my baking books) .. went thru a couple of books and decided to flip thru this book.



You see.. i hv been wanting to bake apple pie for the past couple of days but never got around to it.. my dearest hb wanted me to bake a "celebration" cake cos he felt that lately i hv not been baking anything "challenging" .. i figured if i didnt make use of some of my green apples by today.. come tmrw my green apples might turn into a black apples.. so what did i use it for?? hehe of cos something that i hv been craving for.. I baked an Apple Crumble Pie.. at first i had wanted to use Dorie's recipe but was literally sold after i saw the pic of an apple pie in Kevin Chai's baking book.. so right after i put Sonia to bed.. i started preparing the crust.. it was done within an hr or so and just as easy as it was preparing it.. it was an easy task for me to finish up a slice hehe..



Right after dinner.. i served hb a slice and he loved it! Hairi said it tastes delish and Sonia.. err well.. since today she had cravings for: 'princess' pasta and lontong with no gravy (yes u heard me right.. she asked for lontong and i had to cook it for her!), she ended up eating a spoonful of my apple pie...

Ingredients
Crust
190g flour
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
120g butter
1 egg yolk

Filling
5 green apples (pealed, diced ) - i sliced
2 tbsp butter
100g sugar
40g raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp plain flour

Crumble
150g plain flour
40g sugar
1/4tsp salt
75g butter



Method
1. To make crust, combine flour, sugar and salt. Rub in butter.. add in egg yolk to form dough. Refrigerate.
2. To make filling, heat up frying pan to melt butter and sugar. Add in apple dices and raisins. Stir fry until apples are tender. Add in cinnamon powder and flour, stir well and dish up. Leave to cool.
3. Roll out dough and press into pie mould. Trim off edge. Spoon in filling.
4. To make crumble, combine flour, sugar and salt. Rub in butter until resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle on top of pie.
5. Bake on preheated oven at 180C for 25 to 30 mins or until cooked.





It wasnt a "challenging" recipe but it sure satisfied my cravings.. yumms! Bake it and u will know the difference :op

Note: I used cold cubed unsalted butter for my crust and also for my crumble.. work fast and if possible do not let ur butter melt while doing the rub in method.. as for the filling.. Do not panic if ur sugar and butter harden after u add ur diced apples.. keep on stirring till it melts again..

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Here goes...


A promise is a promise.. here are the photos taken during Eid at my mom's place.. yes i did the ever so famous Puding Kasih Bertaut.. recipe u can get fm Yat and KNor.. original recipe is fm Naz.. i cant possibly name all cos theres too many blogger that hv tried this jelly.. ty everyone! our guests loved it.. the sweetness is just right and this jello is a looker indeed! hehe



That evening we went to the SCC Rugby 7s International tournament.. eventho we only managed to catch it for the final two hrs.. Sonia had a blast.. this year hb took her to the field when the final whistle blew so that she can join the rest of the kids there.. u can see how happy she was fm all the photos below!














Except on this photo.. she looked.. err scared muahahha.... Well done Daveta (Fiji) for winning the Finals!

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I can still remember the first time i saw this cake.. it was on a new website that i found online which was called NCC .. during that time i thought this cake wud be the first one that i wud try to bake.. that didnt happened obviously .. so far i hv tried quite a number of Bu Fatma's recipes and finally after my failed attempt to bake Pak Hadi's Marmer Cake for mom.. i decided to try out this no fail Marble Butter Cheese Cake.. did it go down nicely in everyone's tummy?? well it sure did.. it tastes creamy and one bite u will know this cake contains creamcheese.. yumm! :o) As they say in ebay feedback world.: "A+++++" lol



Yesterday was one very very tiring day.... i guess everyone in my family had their fair share of a super long day.. my sis, Wati was up and running since half past 6.. my sis Lyn was already out earlier then us.. we started our day after hb and Hairi came home fm mosque.. managed to rest for a couple of hrs and went to moms around lunch time.. this year was a little different cos a few of my aunties and uncles came to my parents place first bef heading to my Nyai's place.. and that included one of our long lost uncle.. i think we hv not seen him for like agessss!! thank god there were enough goodies to go around.. err well i will post Eid pics and story morey in my next entry ok.. my camera is in my car and i am too tired to go to the basement to get it :op

We later went to my Nyai's place and right after that we had to rush home to get changed.. Its the time of the year where we are invited to watch the SCC International 7s Rugby tournament - will post pic later ok together with my Eid photos hehehe

Anyway heres a couple of pics taken the night of Hairi's and Alysha's mini bday celebration.. Happy bday guys!


The bday boy... dah besar anak mama!

..... the grin on a little girl's face on the extreme right who has a little crush on Abg Hairi hahaha.. adik .. adik.. kahkahkah

... little gremlins making funny faces hehe.. so ok guys.. heres the recipe to the super creamy Marble Butter Cheese Cake..




Ingredients
A
225g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


B
200g butter
175g cream cheese
1/2 grated lemon rind
175g caster sugar
5 egg yolks


C
5 egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:
Grease and flour 6 mini bundt cake pans. (I used my 4 in 1 bundt pan)
Whisk butter and cream cheese till pale and fluffy. Add sugar and continue whisking.
Add egg yolks and continue whisking. Lastly add grated lemon rind and whisk until well combined.
Fold in A into B with a spatula and put aside
In a clean bowl, whisk C until stiff peak and add into A and B in stages and mix until well combined.
Pour batter into pans and bake in a 180C for half an hr or till golden brown.

Note: The original recipe doesnt even hv any marble effect in it.. i added 1/2 tbsp of black forest paste into 200g of plain batter..




Alrighty peeps.. we are not planning anything big today.. thought of just lazing around for now and plan to go out to check out this new place to chill later.. will take pics and show it together in my next entry ... muahahha me and my next entry.. i think it will be a multiple story kinda entry haha.. enjoy ur day and stop eating those oily and fattening foods today.. no more Lontong.. no more yellow rice.. how abt eating salad to cleanse that body of ours hehe.. cheers!
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My tummy is happy.. mom cooked lots and i loved it! We had our iftar at moms today.. she cooked ayam masak merah, rendang, sambal sotong kering and lodeh while i was given the task to cook butter prawns..



Not just that i also prepared two types of jello and baked mom a cake.. well to be honest it was moms second cake .. the first cake that i baked for her was Pak Hadi marmer cake that uses 15 eggs.. i followed his recipe to the T and after 45mins my cake was ready and looked perfect.. after it cooled down i sliced my cake only to find out that the center wasnt baked properly.. it was wet and i had to throw 1/2 of the cake.. i gave Lisa the rest of the "edible" part and couldnt even be bothered to dwell over it.. grrrr ..


This morning i woke up feeling super lazy.. baked mom her cake.. packed macs and all the cakes that were ordered.. prepared jello.. cleaned our place.. cooked my butter prawns and voila i managed to finish on time.. err well except Hairi's bday cake.. i knew i wasnt up for it and bought an ice cream cake for Hairi's mini bday celebration..


Ty Norlijah for the macs and Lapis Surabaya order... sorry i was in a hurry!.. ty Branda for the repeat Lapis Legit orders .. hv a safe drive back to KL yah.. so ok thats it for now.. i hv to get up early and get my two boys ready for Eid prayers and bef i go i wanna wish all muslims around the world a happy Eid Adha.. hv a blessed one ok..

In celebration of Eid Adha and in the lead of to xmas I have decided to again have a promo in my store. So for all the readers here, if you enter the code XMAS25 during check-out, you will get an extra 25% off - but unfortunately mac sheets are all sold out and I have to wait till at least end of December before I can get them replenished...but there are lots of other items on there so have a look!
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Oh my.. oh my.. what a week this has been and its only Friday!! urghh can u imagine how its gonna be like after today?? runnnn hahaha

Am kaput and to be honest our guest have just left an hr ago.. my uncle and family were here cos their daughter wanna order macs for her engagement party.. congrats dear cousin! Fm tmrw onwards i will be busy baking for a couple of orders and hopefully on sat i am able to bake something for mom.. Eid is just around the corner and i promised mom that i will bake for her some goodies..

My son.. Hairi celebrated his 21st bday today.. I am not gonna be long winded by making a super special wish on here.. am for real and i dont like to be superficial soooo:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON! mama hope u will achieve what ur after and stay focus ok?!..

We didnt do anyting special.. he went to school in the morning.. his dad took him out for lunch.. i cooked yellow rice and ayam masak merah (his fav!) for dinner.. he didnt want me to bake him a cake but i will still bake him one on sat and celebrate his bday at moms during our reunion dinner..

As u guys already know that we had guests fm Austria on Tuesday.. ty Othmar and Anni for visiting.. it is nice to be able to see u guys on a yearly basis! On wed we met Sue and family who flew in fm Darwin.. it was good to see them here again.. it was a nice evening and we had a blast of cos.. talking abt everything under the sun.. fm our kids to our family and of cos abt blogger world.. our kids were playing together.. mom and dad were munching and talking.. hehe u guys dont wanna know how many times we had coffee and dessert hahaha.. am blessed that Sue and I click.. we met two years ago thru blogger world and so far we have met 4 times.. once in Adelaide, once in KL and twice in S'pore.. so ok peeps.. enjoy the pics!



Halloween - Sonia has been bugging us abt it since we were in Beijing.. kids nowadays! we are not into that of cos but when other kids kept on knocking on our door.. Sonia quickly took out her Halloween hat and started giving out sweets to the kids - too cute! (Thats the neighbours rabbit)


We did Korean bbq.. the easiest way to entertain ur guest! My pavlova and macs were a big hit and nope.. i didnt even hv time to prepare creama catalana.. next time perhaps!



Eh eh... cuba teka siapa tu??!! hahah.. none other then the squeaky Maddie.. u shud see her tantrum hehehe


Sorry guys.. i had to show how lovely these flowers were.. i am so so into fresh flowers!

Awwww the lovely couple... i managed to snap a few pics of them and i just love this pic to bits! - wanita melayu terakhir gitew ahaks!

.... And adeeehhhh ... Micheal!!! focus on our faces and not something else!! hahaha - ty my dear friend.. hope to see u in KL - Insyallah...

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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..