Since today is a holiday, I made these....

Today is Malaysia's 48th Independence Day. We call it Merdeka Day. Most importantly, it is a holiday. *grin*

Anyway, I spent most of the day in the kitchen making these. But let me warn you that they are not exactly pretty sights....

1) Chocolate Orange Swirl muffins
Made a mistake by accidentally adding an additional half cup of liquid resulting in a chewy center. Taste was gorgeous though....


2) Cappucino Huat Kueh
Erm, something went wrong here. I used a very simple and easy recipe that seems to be "too easy to be good"... I reckon I was right the first time. :(


3) Seafood Pizza
SIL wanted to learn to make pizza so I taught her. I wasn't too satisfied with the end result though although they were quite yummy. I would prefer to make the crust thinner as opposed to making a thick-crust pizza which these were.

All Dressed Up!

Cupcakes! What more can I say about cupcakes? I mean, it is almost a basic and fundamental recipe to bake for wannabe bakers. Honestly speaking, I am not a fan of cupcakes and hence, have no impulse to bake cupcakes till now. Why the sudden interest? Well, I have been visiting a few food blogs lately, and was very impressed with the often cute or gorgeous looking cupcakes. I mean, how can you not like a the look of a nicely frosted cupcakes? Anyway, after viewing one particular recipe on a member’s blog, I decided to make my first “fancy-looking” cupcakes. (Also helped by the reminder that I still have a tub of ready-made chocolate fudge frosting left in the fridge).

This recipe is a relatively healthier option in the sense that it uses less butter. The recipe is called Neopolitan (that means a combination of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry as in the ice-cream flavour, get it?) Buttermilk Cupcakes. These cupcakes are rather good. Moist and good, although the 2nd batch were slightly over-baked (I seems to have a habit of doing this!) resulting in a more chewy texture. For me the recipe yields 6 medium size cupcakes and 6 smaller ones.

In short, I have to say it was quite a joy looking at the end result of the frosted cupcakes.

Fresh out from the oven and before frosting. (Note the different colored layers)

After frosting.

The kids digging in!

Bread: Ground-breaking discovery!

You may not think this is much but for someone like me who bakes bread frequently, this is substantially a mile-stone achievement. Discovering a really soft and delicious bread recipe, akin to those sold at good bakeries! Thanks to Florence, a notably good baker, I baked the softest and yummiest bread ever! Of course, there are a load of ingredients that went into the recipe as compared to an ordinary loaf of bread that includes different kind of milk (skim milk, condensed milk, creamer), different kind of flour (bread and cake flour) and eggs (1 egg and 2 yolks to be exact).

I used the recipe to make Light Raisin Cinnamon Rolls. So good! Best when served slightly warmed.

Frozen Treats

Another sweet temptation to add to my ever-growing list....

Just found out how easy it is to make our own frozen yoghurt ice-cream and even more surprise to find that it is really good too. And to ease my sense of guilt, it is relatively low-fat (for an ice-cream)....

Vanilla & Chocolate Swirls Chocolate Chip Yoghurt Ice-Cream

See the bits at the side? I couldn't wait to dig in before taking a pic!

Desserts for A Lady and for a D****?

If there is ever such thing as the most suitable name for a lady, I would say that it is Victoria. So when there is a cake known as Victoria Sponge Cake, I couldn't help but to think it must be created for a lady. That said, I never bothered to check on the history of this cake (you can do a search on the Net to find out more, if you are so inclined) so I would just stick to my own presumptions until told and proven otherwise.

This is a rather simple cake, strawberry jam sandwiched between a basic sponge cake sliced into 2 and dusted with icing sugar (optional). However, I felt as it the sponge cake can be further improved. I am still looking for the perfect cotton-y soft sponge cake recipe.


On the other end of the scale is a cake known as Devil's Food Cake. I read somewhere that its namesake came about due to the dark colour of the cake. I sure hope so, duh...Here's my attempt at baking this cake.