My cousin's wedding

I was so excited about my cousin's wedding & had actually planned to bake a lot more goodies for her and my aunt. But plans didn't go my way, when I something else came up unexpectedly. Nevertheless, I managed to bake a tray of Brownie Platter for my aunt & a simple gubahan (deco) of Chocolate Mousse.

Although it was a bit tiring, cos we stayed till late on Saturday & till the end of the event on Sunday, it was a joyous occasion. Especially since all the cousins were there (except @zalisthedj on Sunday).

Rainbow Cake

I couldn't recall the source of this recipe but I've had it for some time now. Never tried it before until yesterday when I discovered that I had a can of evaporated milk in the pantry, waiting to be used before the expiry date.

I didn't tell DH that I wanted to bake this cake & asked him for 3 of his favourite colours. He told me black, deep black & deeper black (that's helpful wasn't it?) So I decided to colour the batter symbolizing my 3 kids instead - blue, green & pink.

This cake has soft texture & crumbly. The only downside was the cocoa powder which was used to 'separate' the colours. Wasn't a great ingredient to use, as it so happened, because the cocoa powder I used has more of the bitter taste.

So what I would do next time is to use some of brownie batter or even cream cheese batter as the separator. I think that would work better. Otherwise, omit the cocoa powder altogether & use this recipe to bake Marble Cake. You can also use this as a base for your cupcake too ; ).

Rainbow Cake

250g unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tblsp vanilla essence
Cocoa powder
Food colouring

1) Preheat oven to 160C & grease a 8x8" pan

2) Whisk butter & sugar until fluffy.

3) Add 1 egg at a time & be sure to mix thoroughly before adding another.

4) Add vanilla essence & evaporated milk.

5) Add the sifted flour, baking powder & salt in 3 additions.

6) Divide batter into 3 portions and add colour.

7) Pour 1st portion into the greased pan. Dredge enough cocoa powder to cover the batter. Pour second portion into the greased pan & dredge another layer of cocoa powder. Then pour the last portion.

8) Tap the pan before baking it for about 40mins (depending on your oven). Transfer to cooling rack & let cool.

Goodies by dear daughter

My dear daughter made some goodies for the family this week. Last Sunday she made a Chocolate & Mandarin Pudding, which she copied the recipe from the "I Can Cook" show on the CBeeBies channel.

Then yesterday, she made breakfast for all of us - Sausage Rolls. This time, she used bread instead of scone dough to roll the sausages. 

So what's next on your menu, 'Ufairah? : )

What anxiety did to me - Custard Puffs

I received a very important call this week. Ever since then, my heart beat faster and I was so full of anxiety that I needed to do / make something.

Usually, I'd avoid doing / making something challenging before a 'big' event so I could calm myself & relax the mind. But anxiety got the better of me and I went on to make some Custard Puffs. I was craving for them a few days before; the call I received just 'pushed' me to bake the pastries.

I thought of making Chantilly Cream for the filling, something which I haven't done before, but I think I was more craving for custard than anything else. So custard filling it was.

It felt good having my craving satisfied. But I wasn't too sure the puffs drove my anxieties away ; P

Pastry (Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking")

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup whole milk

8 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1 tblsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup plain flour

4 large eggs

1) Preheat oven to 220C (425F). Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar & salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.

2) Add the flour all at once & mix it in with a wooden spoon, then keep stirring energetically until the dough comes together in a shiny mass. Turn off the heat. Cook the dough for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, then transfer the hot dough to a bowl of a stand mixer.

3) Using a paddle attachment, beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat the egg until fully incorporated before adding the next one. The dough should be thick, shiny & silky.

4) Spoon / pipe the dough onto the lined baking sheet, leaving some space apart. Bake for 10-15mins; the pastries will start to puff. Then reduce the temp to 190C (375F). Rotate the tray. Bake for another 15mins or until the pastries are brown & firm.

5) Transfer the baking sheet to a rack & let them cool completely before piping the filling in.

Custard filling

2 tblsp custard powder

2 tblsp caster sugar

570ml fresh milk

1) Using a balloon whisk, mix custard powder, caster sugar & 2 tblsp of fresh milk in a saucepan.

2) Pour the rest of the milk & put on fire. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent curdling.

3) Cook until the mixture is thick. Cover custard mixture with clingfilm & cool before using.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I knew I was looking for an entirely different recipe when I browsed the web yesterday (now I couldn't even remember what I was actually looking for in the first place), but I was fortunate to stumble upon a reliable site, which I could test the recipes.

Quite honestly, my quest for 'the' Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe had almost died (except I might try asking my old neighbour for her recipe because I almost finished the whole bottle during last Eid hee!). After several attempts of CCC recipes I could find, I wonder why I didn't give up sooner and still kept on trying failed recipes & wasted precious ingredients.

Going by a strong hunch on my latest find, I decided to try this one. Silly me I didn't think of halving the recipe, in case it didn't work out. Well too late to do anything since I'd started mixing my ingredients.

I was so relieved when I took these cookies out & they turned out crispy and not flat at all. The kids keep coming back into the kitchen for more and I couldn't stop eating them too.

So for now, I could say that these would be almost 'the' Chocolate Chip Cookies I was looking for. *big grin*

Lemon Cheesecake & Cups

I'd just bought a pack of cream cheese the other day, just in case I 'need' to use it (yeah right!). I also had a pack of digestive biscuits to use before they expire. So what else - cheesecake was in my mind.

Decided to let my son choose his "flavour of the day" cheesecake. He spontaneously said, "Lemon". So lemon it was. But after I made the Lemon Cheesecake, he didn't like the lemon rinds. - _-

Anyways, DH enjoyed them except that he mentioned these were better off with chocolate biscuit base. I thought so too.