Green Bean Glass Noodles 绿豆粉丝(冬粉)

100g/pack - SGD0.70 (3 for SGD 1.95)

This is the glass noodles I always buy. I bought from Fu Hua medical hall. This type of glass noodles is more elastic (more 'Q') and not easy to become soggy after cooking.

Another Steamed Cake@ Steamed Choco Cake 蒸巧克力咖啡蛋糕

Choco is the short form of Chocolate & Coffee. Hehe.

Created this cake using the leftover chocolate topping from this cake on the next day morning.

I used one sachet of 3-in-1 coffee and estimated the amount of other ingredients myself. I'd say I was lucky to get it right. Cake was soft (not as rich as this cake), with a hint of coffee flavour and the sweetness was just nice.

Ingredients:
(A)
¾ cup chocolate topping (chocolate paste)
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup 3-in-1 coffee*
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
*Dissolve 1 sachet of 3-in-1 coffee powder in some hot water then add cold water to fill up ½ cup.
(B)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
(C)
1 cup + 1tbsp flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Method:
1) Combine (A) in mixing bowl, stir till well mixed.
2) Add (B) into (A) mixture and stir till well mixed.
3) Combine and sift (C) together, fold into egg mixture in 2 additions, mix well. (Batter should be runny).
4) Pour the batter into a greased or lined pan, cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
5) Heat up steamer (bring water to a boil), steam over medium high heat for about 40 mins.
6) Cool on wire rack before turning out.

Birthday Cake For All May Babies 给五月份宝宝的生日蛋糕

(Scroll down for recipe written in English)

这蛋糕献给五月二日生日的老友J、五月四日生日的Tee表、五月六日生日的Lice妹和Terri侄女。

五月一日劳动节那天趁大家休假我们在Lice家办了一个小小生日会兼家庭聚会。我这个蛋糕就在那时拿出来献丑。幸好大家都还蛮喜欢的。

这不是我第一做这个蛋糕，但是这是我第一次尝试涂上巧克力浆，还有第一次用食油（我用canola oil）代替溶化牛油。出来的蛋糕味道没差，所以我想以后再做的话我都会改用食油，即方便也比较健康。

我在涂巧克力浆时D跑来kacau（捣乱），D说他常常帮我涂面包，所以做这个他应该比我在行。好啰，就让他玩玩，但是涂这个和涂jam不同，越想把表面弄滑就会越涂越糟。我发现最好的方法是淋上去后让巧克力浆自己慢慢散开。

我没有装饰蛋糕的经验，所以当天一早就到Carrefour报到，买了新鲜的草莓来做装饰。

这个蛋糕非常容易做（我想失败率应该将近零吧？！），非常美味可口，即使保留到第三天还是很湿润，不会变硬变干。

另外，我还做了一个以巧克力海绵蛋糕为底的cheesecake，没拍到照片。Lice的好友们说很好吃，没两下一个8寸的蛋糕就解决掉了，多谢他们捧场。

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Topping 【湿润的】蒸巧克力蛋糕

A lot of food bloggers around have been raving about this cake. Needless to say, this is a very delicious cake and the bonus point is......this cake is super easy to make!

This is not the first time I make this cake but this is my first time trying the chocolate topping and using cooking oil instead of melted butter.

Oh, the topping is easy to make too, goes very well with the cake. The only thing is the amount stated in the recipe is probably too much. I cut down 25% but there are still a lot of leftover.

I reproduce the recipe here.

Cake
Ingredients:
(A)
1½ bar butter (250g + 125g) or 375g corn oil (I used canola oil)
2 cups sugar (I only filled up the cup about 80% full)
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1½ tsp vanilla essence
(B)

4 eggs (lightly beaten)
(C)

2 cups plain flour
1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Method:

1) Combine (A) in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, off fire and keep warm.

2) Add (B) into the slightly cold (A) mixture and stir till well mix.

3) Combine (C) and sift into a large mixing bowl, pour the egg mixture over and stir till well mixed (cake batter should be runny).

4) Heat up the steamer. Lined and greased a 9" baking pan or 2 x 9" sandwich pan.

5) Pour the batter into prepared pan and place the pans into the steamer and cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.

6) Steam over medium heat for 1½ hour (or 45mins if you halve the amount).

7) Cold the cake in pan before turning out for further decoration.

Chocolate Topping
Ingredients:
(A)
1 can condense milk (I used ¾ can)

½ cup corn oil (I filled up 80% only)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (sifted) (I used ¼ cup + 1tbsp)

(B)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract or 1½ tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1) Combine (A) in a saucepan and stir over low heat till thicken (keep stirring all the time).

2) Add (B), off fire and mix well.

3) Cold the chocolate topping a little before spreading on the cold cake.

Note:

1) If using corn oil simply mix all ingredients up and stir till well blended.
2) This is quite a big cake, so I'd suggest you halve the recipe for small serving.

3) I find the sweetness is just nice after cutting down the sugar amount.

4) Even though I had already cut down the amount of topping, I still left with about ¾ cup of unused chocolate paste, probably because I didn't spread thick layer over the cake, next time I shall halve the amount. (So what I am going to do with the leftover chocolate paste? Stay tune for my next post.)

(Recipe reference: Aunty Yochana's blog)

Tri-Colour Cake 三色蛋糕

从旧家直接搬过来的文章，我还蛮喜欢这蛋糕的，所以就重新post在这里和大家分享。这蛋糕是去年十一月做的。


My objective:
- To clear away the leftover 90g of cream cheese and 50g of plain yogurt in my fridge.
- To try the matcha (green tea) powder which I bought recently from Phoon Huat.

So what can I do to make used of the above ingredients?

I came out with this - a tri-colour cake.

My intention is to have green, pink and brown colour. Green from matcha, brown from cocoa and how about pink?

I do not want to use any artificial colouring and in fact I do not have any at home. So what I did was to add pink dragon fruit juice to the batter. I thought this was a brilliant idea.....not until I see the baked goods.

Look at this, isn't it a beautiful colour combination?

This is how the cake looked like before baking.

To my disappointment the lovely pink 'faded' after the cake is baked. :( Can anyone tell me why? I think I should have added the fruit paste as well.

Here is my attempt.

Ingredients:

(A)

160g butter
90g cream cheese (you may replace by butter)

180g sugar (add 5-10% more if you have a sweet tooth)

(B)

4 large eggs

(C)

230g cake flour or plain flour (sifted)

1-1/2 tsp baking powder (sifted)

50g plain yogurt
50g evaporated milk (you may replace by plain yogurt)

1/2 tsp cider vinegar or lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

(E)

1 tbsp cocoa powder + 1 tsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 1-1/2 tbsp hot water

1 tsp matcha (green tea) powder dissolved in 1-1/2 tbsp hot water

1 tbsp pink dragon fruit juice

Method:

1) Beat (A) till light and fluffy.

2) Add (B) one at a time, beat till well blended.

3) Fold in (C) in 3 batches, alternate flour mixture and yogurt mixture. Start and end with flour mixture.

4) Divide batter into 3 portions.

5) Add (D) to each portion of batter (one flavour one portion) and stir well.

6) Drop alternate spoonfuls of flavoured batter into a greased & lined 8" round pan (do not try to spread or stir it after dropping).

7) Bake in preheat oven at 175C for about 45-50 mins till cooked.

8) Remove from pan and transfer to wire rack for cooling.

Note:
You can control the thickness of the swirl by adjusting the amount of each drop.

Verdict:Though I am a bit disappointed with the missing pink colour, the taste of the cake doesn't disappoint me.

This cake has light cocoa and butter taste with mild matcha flavour, both compliments each other. The texture is soft and moist (you can't go wrong with yogurt) and it is not oily.

I can't wait to cut one slice out from the cake to see the swirl effect when the cake just cool down a bit.

While I was taking photo of the cake in the living room, I didn't realize that D has cut one slice for himself. The cake was well received by him. Tee tee.

I brought some for my colleagues and everyone asked me (including D) how to achieve the swirl effect, they thought it would be something complicated. Hehe. Of cause it's my pleasure to share with them the simple step.

再战面包@ 摩卡面包 Mocha Bun

都说做面包会上瘾了。距离第一个面包只有短短一个星期的时间我做了第二个面包。即使家里没有面包粉和牛奶我还是‘硬硬’要做，因为是即兴的。

那天做的甜面包食谱我已经记在脑海里了，但家里没有面包粉，没有牛奶，没有奶粉，该怎么办呢？

就自己乱乱来啰，哇哈哈！

我用普通面粉代替面包粉，用一包三合一咖啡加Milo代替牛奶，做出了摩卡（Mocha）口味的面包。

普通面粉属中筋（面包粉是高筋），做出来的面包非常松软，就像棉花一样。不过，面团也特别粘手，要边揉边洒粉，也需要比较长的时间才揉出筋来。

我反正闲着没事所以就揉了将近一小时，这也许是面包特别松软的另一个原因。

这面包让我想起小学的时候我很喜欢吃的一种巧克力色的葡萄面包。

面包是方形的，一包六个连在一起。妈妈几乎天天都跟骑着摩多单车挨家兜售面包的印度大兄买给我吃，我有时拿来吃爽，有时当早餐吃。

我几乎已经忘记了这个童年食物，感谢这面包让我想起这段美好的童年回忆。

爸爸妈妈和家人都说这面包很好吃，因为很柔软。我特地保留一个面包到第三天，虽然没前两天那么软，但是还是能够直接吃，不需再烤过。

Mocha Bun 摩卡面包

I adapted same recipe as this but did some modifications based on the ingredients I had on-hand.

Only plain flour is used, thus, the dough is very sticky but the verdict is good, very soft and cottony. Bread remained soft even on the third day in room temperature.

Ingredients: (make around 10 nos. of 60g portions)

300g plain flour + more for dusting
5g instant yeast
Pinch of salt
125ml mocha mixture (½ cup)**
1 egg (lightly beaten, reserve 1 tsp for glazing)
60g sugar
50g butter
Glazing (egg wash): 1 tsp of beaten egg + few drops of water

**Dissolve 1 sachet of 3-in-1 coffee and 1 tbsp of Milo (or cocoa powder) in 2 tbsp hot water and add cold water till ½ cup full.

Method:

1) Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in mocha mixture, egg and butter. Mix into a dough.

2) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten is fully developed (see tip below) and the dough is elastic and smooth.

3) Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel or cling wrap to seal in the moisture. Allow the dough to ferment (or proof) until double in bulk (about 1 hour).

4) Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.

5) Divide the dough into 60g portions. Shape and add fillings as desired. Arrange dough in a greased or lined pan. Rest for about another 45 minutes to 1 hour. Apply egg wash.

6) Bake for about 12 minutes in a preheated oven at 180C. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Tip:

To check whether the dough is fully developed, take a small piece of the dough and stretch it with your fingers. If it can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing easily, the dough is fully developed.

If the top is browning too fast, cover it loosely with aluminum foil or switch to low fire.

Steamed Chicken with Herbal & Chicken Essence 药材鸡精蒸鸡

D最近在准备考试，所以我煮了这道菜来给他补身。

这道菜很类似我们出外用餐时很喜欢点的鸡精田鸡，不过我加了药材。D说下次要买田鸡回来给我煮，我打死都不敢。

发现很多人都不敢喝鸡精因为觉得味道很腥。不用担心，鸡精煮过后只有美味和甜味，一点腥味也没有。

药材是从妈妈那里拿的。妈妈通常会到药材店要老板配好一包包的药材收在家里。这些药材可以拿来煮鸡汤，帝皇鸡（药材纸包鸡）或是加入肉骨茶包一起煮。

材料：
鸡腿一整只（切块）
药材（山药、玉竹、当归、淮山、党参、西洋参、制何首乌）各少许
枸杞子一把（泡软）
鸡精一罐

做法：
1）鸡用热水川烫一下，沥干，用一汤匙花雕酒和一汤匙酱青腌半小时以上。蒸前加入少许栗粉搅拌。
2）药材蒸几分钟至闻到香味（Angel待饭要煮熟时放入饭锅里蒸）。
3）水煮滚，蒸盘加入所有材料、一小撮糖和半茶匙盐，大火蒸约15-20分钟至熟。

小小心得/建议：
1）如果不会买药材，只要到药材店叫老板配煮鸡汤的药材就行了。
2）调味料自己斟酌，煮好后试一试味道，如果觉得不够咸，可以加入少许酱青。太咸的话就加一点点糖。

这道菜做法简单但是很美味，值得一试！