Chocolate Coconut Cake

I was in the mood to do some baking over the weekend. While I was flicking through my recipe book, I saw this interesting combination cake which is merged of chocolate and desiccated coconut.

Crunchy on the outside and moist and you can feel the coconut desiccated while you’re eating it… nice texture indeed.

Happy Baking!

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, chopped
250g unsalted butter, chopped
250g brown sugar
155g self-raising flour
50g desiccated coconut
2 eggs
Icing sugar, to dust (optional)
Frozen mixed berries, to garnish (optional)


What to do

(1) Preheat the oven to 160 degree. Lightly grease round cake tin.

(2) Place the chocolate, butter and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl, making sure the base does not touch the water, over a saucepan of simmering water.

(3) Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat and sit the bowl in a sink of cold water until cooled.

(4) Combine the flour, coconut and follow by the chocolate mixture in a bowl and beat until combined. Add the eggs and mix well.

(5) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degree, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.

(6) Leave the cake in the tin for 15 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

(7) If desired, dust with icing sugar and decorate with fresh berries.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I’ve baked this simple yet delicious cake for mum when she visited me a month ago.

It's pretty easy to prepare! Here you go...

Ingredients 

(A)
20g unsalted butter, melted
Some soft brown sugar
1 canned of pineapples
(B)
90g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar

(C)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract

(D)
125g self raising flour, sifted


What to do

(1) Preheat oven to 180 degree.

(2) Pour melted butter into a 20cm pan (brush both the base and sides of pan with butter) and sprinkle with brown sugar evenly.

(3) Cut pineapples into smaller pieces and place them nicely on the base of the tin.

(4) Beat the extra butter and sugar with electric beaters till light and creamy then add eggs gradually, beating well after each addition.

(5) Add the vanilla extract and beat until well combined.

(6) Fold in the flour alternatively with 70g of pineapple juice.

(7) Spoon the mixture evenly over the pineapple and bake for 40 min.

(8) Leave cake in tin for 10 min before turning out to a wire rack to cool.

Stir Fry KangKong with Shrimp Chili Paste

A vegetable is a must for me for my everyday meal. I prefer my vegetable dish to be simple by just stir fry with garlic and some oyster sauce.

Well, hubby doesn’t really fancy vegetables. Only a few type of vegetables he will go for such as broccoli, bok choi and kangkong. I reckon kangkong will be his all time favorite. =)

I’ve prepared this easy peasy stir fried kangkong this afternoon. It was a simple yet delectable vegetables dish to be served with hot rice!

Ingredients

100g of Kangkong leaves, separate the leaves from stems and cut the stems into 2-3 pieces

4 gloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 fresh red chilies, sliced

1 tsp of shrimp chili paste

Salt to taste

What to do

(1) Heat up the oil in a saucepan. Sauté garlic till fragrant.

(2) Add the chili paste and stir fry for a minute follow by the red chilies.

(3) Add the kangkong. Stir fry for 1 minute and pour in a little of water. Leave it simmering for 2 minutes.

(4) Add some salt then stir fry for few seconds and dish out

Yogurt Cake

Craving for some light cake... something soft, fluffy, not buttery is what I am looking for!

Here I present you my healthier version of cake with no butter but only a small amount of olive oil.

  Enjoy~

Ingredients

260g of yogurt

120 g of Caster sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
50g of olive oil
200g of self-raising flour


What to do

(1) Beat the eggs and Caster sugar under high speed until fluffy.

(2) Pour in the yogurt and mix well.

(3) Gently fold in the sifted flour with plastic spatula.

(4) Lastly, add the olive oil and mix well with spatula.

(5) Transfer batter to the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Fairy Flyaway Cupcakes

It was a rainy Sunday morning. I love rainy day but only on the weekend.

Why’s that? Because the best thing to do is laying on the bed for as long as I want under the warm quilt. It’s just so comfortable...

While I was half awake and half dreaming, out of sudden I had the mood for baking right away. It’s been awhile since I had an inspiration to do some baking. Hell yeah, I rushed to washing up and get busy in the kitchen with my first baking since??? (dunno how along ago)

Here you go…

Ingredients

375g self raising flour

180g butter, softened
180g castor sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1tsp vanilla extract
1-2tbsp milk
Colored sprinkles, to decorate


Buttercream
Scant 100g butter, softened
380g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract


What to do

(1) Preheat the oven to 190 degree. Put paper liners into shollow muffins pans.

(2) Sifted the flour into a large bowl and add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat well until the mixture is smooth, then stir in enough of the milk to make a pourable consistency.

(3) Divide the mixture among the paper liners. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until risen, firm and golden brown. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

(4) For the buttercream, beat together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.

(5) Use a serrated knife to cut a round from the top of each cake, then cut each round in half. Spread or pipe a little of the buttercream on top of each cake, then press the pieces of cake into it to resemble butterfly wings. decorate with the colored sprinkles.

Hot Salami Pizza

Pizza – my all time favourite. I prepared this for our lunch over the weekend which is a simple yet fulfilling lunch. Love it to bits.

Ingredients

2tbsp tomato paste

100g hot salami

6 grape tomatoes cut into half

5 button mushrooms, sliced

1 green onion, sliced

150g cheddar cheese, grated

 

What to do

Preheat oven and prepare pizza tray. Place pizza on the prepared tray and spread tomato paste over the base. Place all the ingredients evenly and top with cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

 

For pizza base, please refer here

Pineapple and White Choc Muffins

It’s been a while I didn’t bake muffins. So it’s time for me to get working now…

They look good, don't they? And of course... they taste absolutely gorgeous too! Enjoy~

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter, chopped
300g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 eggs
90g castor sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
1x432g can pineapple


What to do

(1) Preheat oven to 175 degree. Paper line the muffin cups in muffin tin.

(2) Melt the butter and chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch water).

(3) Whisk the eggs, castor sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Fold in flour. Add in the pineapple and stir to combine.

(4) Pour into prepared muffin tin. Place a piece a pineapple on top of the batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top has a firm crust.