Gift from a special friend

This post has been kept as draft for 2 months! I received a gift from a special friend on the 2nd day of 2009. It is the Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, the best vanilla ingredient to make perfect vanilla cakes and desserts. Every baker dreams to own this!


Apologies! I have been baking CNY Cookies during January and busy with eating them during February that I haven't been able to bake much. I hope to look for recipes like a pure vanilla cake or pure vanilla desserts to taste the real vanilla in it. :)


Come back to these muffins. I got this Muffins Galore book from the library last week and tried this Vanilla Chocolate Chip Muffins, the very first recipe in this book. The muffins smell and taste very good! Maybe it's the Vanilla Extract :P. I'm eager to try out more recipes from this book.

To my special friend, you know who you are. I really appreciate the efforts and thoughts that come with the present. Thanks for the wonderful gift and let me understand the joy of giving and sharing. It's my best gift ever! :)

Banana Cake

Time to start baking! I bake this Banana Cake using HHB's recipe. Have to leave out the wholemeal flour and use plain flour instead cos I don't have that at home. The cake somehow looks quite different from hers. My cake splits and "explodes" at the top and doesn't remain flat and nice like hers!


I like this recipe as it uses very little sugar and the butter is not too much. As a result, the banana cake is not overly sweet and oily. I like the top crust which is slightly crunchy and sugary with the extra sugar sprinkled on top. The cake inside remains soft. The banana taste strangely isn't that strong. Maybe I use the wrong type of bananas or the bananas are not ripe enough?


I bake this cake in this newly-bought mini loaf pan from Daiso. Daiso is a heaven for cheap, small and cute baking stuffs. There are mini chiffon pans, tart pans, heart-shaped pans, etc. I'm tempted to get the mini chiffon pans. They look really cute. But the thought of washing many mini ones instead of 1 large one puts me off. I would rather not buy! :)

I saw a rainbow

Nevermind, this is not related to baking. I just can't help posting this photo up. It was taken yesterday evening when I saw the beautiful rainbow at around 6.30pm. My place has a very good geographical location. :) I saw rainbows outside the corridor several times. So whenever there is rain and sunshine, I will tell my nephew to look out for the rainbow. :)


This rainbow lasted unusually long. In fact, there was a second rainbow beside it, which is fainter. I think it's the reflection of the first rainbow (if I'm not wrong) and its colours are opposite of the first one. It was still up there after 7pm and disappeared only when the sun set. And I believe it could be seen at many parts of Singapore.


I took this rare opportunity to take a picture of my mother's newly grown roselle plant. I hope they can grow up successfully.

Before CNY ends

I'm squeezing everything in this post just before the CNY ends. :)

I made another batch of pineapple tarts to use up the remaining pineapple paste. Initially, I wanted to use HHB's recipe. But I received a few recommendations on Mandy's recipe (Fresh from the Oven) too . I compare the 2 recipes and find that they are very similar. The difference is Mandy's recipe replaced some flour with cornstarch and added some icing sugar. So in the end, I decided to use Mandy's one. Sorry HHB! The pineapple tarts taste great! It simply melts in the mouth and the fillings inside remain very soft and moist. Rolling the jam into balls with wet hands really helps (click here for more tips from HHB). So those who are interested, you can try this next year!


You see, the above recipe used up 3 egg yolks, so with the remaining 3 egg whites, I made the Angel Food Cake from Baking Fiends. It was done pretty fast cos there were only 3 ingredients. I wasn't expecting much, I had enough failures in making chiffon cakes. I just constantly repeating to myself "stiff and glossy... stiff and glossy... stiff and glossy" when beating the egg whites. Although the result wasn't perfect, I was quite relieved to see that it did not sink at the top after cooling down.


Lastly, in order to use up the toblerone chocolate that is expiring soon, I made the Toblerone Ice Cream again. Send this to bakers all over the world using my unique stamp. :)

Sentosa Flowers 2009

I went to the Sentosa Flowers 2009 on the 2nd day of Lunar New Year. Took the Sentosa Express from Vivocity and it was SUPER crowded. The queue for the tickets extended to the rooftop amphitheatre outside and we have to sit there to wait for our turn to move in.

We alighted at the Imbiah Station and this was one of the best places for photo-taking.



Walking towards the beach.


Some of the creative garden sculptures created by students.




Ended our day at the Palawan Beach. Walk across the suspension bridge, you will reach the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia (Asia's closest point to the Equator). Nice views from the top.

Pineapple Tarts

Baked these Sunny Pineapple Tarts over last weekend. Don't you think they look like little sunflowers?


It's my first time baking the pineapple tarts. As you know I have been searching for a good pineapple tarts recipe. I finally decided to use Florence's recipe. I thought baking the tarts first and adding the pineapple fillings later is a clever way of preventing the jam from becoming too hard and dry, though it takes some extra effort to change the temperature and taking the tray in and out. The dough is easy to handle but I have difficulty making really deep and clear indentations using the mold. The problem becomes worse after putting into the oven. The tarts puff up and the markings become even fader!


Although there is a bit of disappointment cos the pineapple tarts are not that nice looking, the taste didn't disappoint me. It doesn't really melt-in-the-mouth, but it is soft and crumbly when you put them in your mouth. The Bake King pineapple paste is quite good too. It is sweet but not that sweet (compared to some pineapple tarts that I tasted before). Not sour, good for me, cos I don't like sour ones. But it is a bit dry after baking.


I still have extra pineapple paste left. Shall make more pineapple tarts after the new year, trying out another new recipe, and maybe doing the wrapped types.

Wish everyone an Ox-picious Chinese New Year!

Cashew Nut Cookies

This is the cookies that I will bake year after year. It's my favourite Cashew Nut Cookies! Besides liking the buttery, crunchy and nutty flavour, it also reminds me of the times when I used to help my mother make it every Chinese New Year.


I only intend to make 2 types of cookies this year. This one and the pineapple tarts, which will be done this weekend. :) I'm pretty satisfied with this Cashew Nut Cookies, using the same recipe as last year's. I double the recipe and use exactly one 250g packet of cashew nuts. I spent about 4 hours to finish making 264 cookies, all by myself! That's excluding the time used to split the cashew nuts, picking out the good ones and leaving the rest of the cashew nuts for grounding. Is it considered fast or slow? I only have a small oven and 3 trays to bake, baking only 40+ pieces per tray, and took 6 trays to finish everything. Not too bad. :)


I will be making the pineapple tarts this week. Haven't decided on the recipe yet. Guess it will be more challenging and more time-consuming because it will be my first time making them. Update you with my next post. :)