Chocolate Orea Cheesecake

We have been really busy again !!! Taking an opportunity to go back home visit in the late March. When we come back from holidays, my little one fall sick . We reckon the weather has an impact on her. Poor little one is learning to adapt the changes of season. I thought being a child, they will adapt easier than us. Apparently , again the same old saying every child is different, so we will not know until it happen .  Just so we thought , she is recover from the humid issue , Brisbane seem to get cold and chilled the past week. Again , she fall sick =.= |||. This time round is more serious - throat infection. I have a koala baby basically cling on to me most of the time. Thank God , that only for 2 days. She is much better now. The past few days seeing how suffered she is, make my heart pierce into pieces. I manage to lose some weight from the concern. ( I reckon is a good thing, as I am still trying to shake off the fat in my belly after the birth) . Being a mom is not easy , I guess this is just the starting of all the interesting journey of us.


April is always a busy month for us. I have a few baking to make , as Mar and April seem to have more birthday than other one. I love to bake for those who are close to me. Is to show my love and care for them and to me is a good thing that some one remember your birthday and make something for you .


There is an elderly lady in my church , whom always help us to look after my girl when the nanny is not available or when we need an extra pair of hand. She is a very gentle, loving and demure lady. Her heart is very generous in giving and she always speak words of encouragement to others. I told my husband , when I get more mature as times come I will want to be like her. That kind of gentleness and sincerity just draw people close to her.


I have choose this beautiful cake from -> Maycklaw


The lady love chocolate and cheese, so I guess this cake fit in the criteria. The deco cake in Maycklaw blog look just so stunning. It make me started to want to try out whipping cream deco compare to buttercream .


So here is the recipe : (7" round mold)


Ingredients :


Chocolate Cake


50g   Dark CoCoa Powder
60g   Dark Chocolate ( chop into pieces)
120g Hot water
120g Buttermilk ( I do not have buttermilk I used 120g +1 Tbsp Lemon Juice)
170g  Cake Flour
1tsp   Baking soda - Put the baking soda in the flour mix well
2/4tspSalt ( I omitted this)
200g  Brown Sugar ( I put 120g)
90g    Corn Oil
2        Eggs ( without shell 120g)




Method :


1. Line the loose pan cake tin with baking paper. As I am using non stick loose cake tin. I line the side of the cake tin to make sure the cake rise evenly .
2. Combine cocoa powder and chocolate bites together , pour boiling water over and whisk till it smooth and melted. Add the buttermilk and mix well.
3.Place brown sugar, corn oil and egg in a mixing bowl . Beat the mixture until light and creamy by using electric mixer.
4. Preheat over at 165C ( adjust accordingly to your oven heat , this the temperature for mine)
5. Mix in the flour mixture ,alternated with chocolate mixture till all combine well.
6. Pour the batter into 7" round cake pan and bake in the oven for 40-45min. Until a skewer inserted come out clean
7. Remove the cake from the oven , leave it to cool and cut into 2 pieces.


 Cheese Cake Layer


250g  Cream Cheese ( Soften)
2        Eggs (120g)
40g    Castor Sugar
60g    Pouring Cream
60g     Oreo Biscuit ( chop into small pieces) I have the very thin cream orea biscuit so I have the cream included in the biscuits


Method :


1. Wrap up the loose bottom cake tin with aluminium foil in few layers. To avoid water leaks into the cake while baking
2. Cream the cream cheese and sugar till creamy and smooth
3. Preheat oven till 160C
3. Add in egg and beat well after each addition of egg till creamy. Add in the cream and combine the mixture well.
4. Pour the cheese cream batter into the cake tin and steam bake the cake for 1hour or until cooked. 
5. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool and not unmould it.
6. Chilled the cake in the fridge at least 4 hours.
7. Gentle remove the cake from the tin when need assemble the cake.


** Steam bake is to bake the cake by placing the cake tin in a larger pan that fill with hot water . For this cake the water level is about 1/3 higher than the batter of the cake


Cream for decoration :


300g Heavy Cream
2Tbsp Lemon Curd
3Tbsp castor sugar
1Tbsp Gelatin Power
2Tbsp of water


Method :


1. Sprinkle the gelatin onto the water to bloom. Let it sit on a bed of hot water so the gelatin will melt.
2. Combine the cream and lemon curd in a mixing bowl. Whip the cream with electric mixer.
3. Add in the sugar before cream started to before stiff.
4. Slowly pour the gelatin in while still whipping the cream in a stream flow. This will prevent the gelatin become lump .
5. All this need to be done before the cream is whip till soft peak. Continue to whip the cream till soft peak and smooth


Assemble the Cake :


1. Place a chocolate layer cake on the turnaround stand. Spread some lemon curd on top of the cake follow with thin layer of whipped cream.
2. Gentle place the cheese cake layer on top of the chocolate layer cake. Spread some lemon curd on the cheese cake and follow with thin layer of whipped cream
3. Place another piece of chocolate layer cake onto of the cheesecake. Spread some lemon curd on top of the cake.
4. Spread thick layer of cream over the cake . Now we can cover the cake with cream and deco to your liking.


To add gelatin to the cream is to stablise the cream .The amount of gelatin added in should not be too much . As we still want the cream to be soft yet it will not melt or drool down when it sit outside. Of course not under hot humid weather. I have this idea from google. It works for me on this cake. I guess this is something I will do next time when I used cream to deco. I would say this is the first time I deco a cake with cream. It seem successful with this method :)

   
 

I deco the cake with strawberry and some chocolate chip I bought from store. Normally I do not have a chance to try the cake I give it to others as gift. But this time, I request a piece of the cake to taste. I was given a half of the cake back. Well I thought they do not like it, turn out half of the cake is just a nice size for the 3 of them .

The cake is rich in every way. The chocolate has rich chocolate in it and the cheese cake really go well with the chocolate as a whole. The strawberry bring forth refreshness to the taste.The acidic of the fruits balance the taste of the cake. One will not feel too full when having a piece of this cake. It goes perfectly well with a cup of tea.


Do try out , if you are chocolate lover , you will love the chocolate cake.

Cocoa Pecan Peanut Cookies

Again another overdue blog. I was hoping to find time write this post in Feb , as this is a chocolate cookies, it fit into the valentine mood. However , times just pass me too fast.  Well , is better late than never.

This is another cookies I bake for this year CNY celebration . I am not a chocolate person ,  given my  baking mode just got fire up , is good to have some varieties in baking. Chocolate is always something welcome by people. I bake this as a CNY present to bless those around me.

The recipe adapt from ->Mayck Law

 I have double the portion in this recipe. As I would like to make more that be enough to give others.

Ingredients :

110g Unsalted Butter ( room temperature)
50g Icing Sugar ( I used 40g)
100g All Purpose Flour
30g Almond Meal
20g Cocoa Powder ( I used dark cocoa powder)
80g Pecan & Peanut ( chopped and without roasted)

Powdered Sugar for coating ( I using icing sugar )

Method :

1. Cream butter with icing  sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Fold in the sifted flour, almond meal , cocoa powder , mix well . Add in chopped pecan peanut and combine well with spatula.
3. Roll the soft dough into a round bar. Cling wrap the dough and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven at 150C (according to your oven temperature , my oven tend to be hotter)
5. Divide the dough into 60 small portion ( I make more than 60 with 6g each ). Shape them into small balls and place them on baking tray. Keep some space in between , it will not expand much .
6. Bake in oven for 18 -20min
7. After remove from the oven , roll the chocolate cookies on powdered sugar while warm and again when it cool.

I have the cookies wrap nicely on a small cupcake wrapping. It help to collect the crumb when one bitting into the the cookies.

I love the fragrance of the cookies . Nuts , butter and chocolate goes so well together. As I used high percentage of cocoa powder. The cookies is not too sweet and it does taste like dark chocolate ball. With the icing sugar coating outside of the cookie. When the cookies put in the mouth the first taste is slight sweetness and follow by light bitterness of dark chocolate. Is that kind of cookies I love.

I will make this again for snack too :) Hope you will give it a try.

Crispy Almond Butter Cookies

 

This is another cookies I was wanted to bake last year and did not manage to do so . When I fail badly making the open face Pineapple Tarts last year , I decided that is the end of my CNY cookies for the year. Is too hot , is too tire and after all I am still learning to take care of a newborn . Breastfeeding take up a lot of my time and I need to take good care of myself so my milk supply is sufficient.

This year I will not let this slip. Told you I have a plan !! When my baking mode is on , I just wanted to bake myself to the max !! Interesting enough is staying in Australia we do not do the usual thing as visiting other people house during the period. So I wonder who will help me finished all my cookies. I bet you the most happy person at this point is my husband. He told me he is happy to sacrifice and assist in any eating that is required. Well , I suppose is still a good gesture to give out what we bake to others. So there will be some home bake cookies for my friends then to let one sacrifice himself too much .

For the recipe I follow ->NasiLemakLover

Ingredients :

190g Butter ( at room temperature)
100g Icing Sugar
50g Egg White
220g Cake Flour
2Tsp Custard Powder ( I omitted this )
50g Almond Meal ( to have it more almondy I will increase the ground almond more next round)

Almond Flakes
3 Egg Yolks + 1 Tbsp of Milk as egg wash

Method :

1.Cream butter and icing sugar with hand held electric mixer till light and fluffy. It take about 3-4min.
2.Add in the egg whites and mix on medium speed for 1 min.
3.Add in the almond meal mix well with the spatula. Sifted in the cake flour and mix well till soft dough in form .
4.Spread the dough onto the tray ( 14"x14") . I used the flat scrapper to spread it evenly on the tray .
5.Preheat oven till 165C ( lower rack fan forced). Bake the cookies for 4mins until half cooked.
6.Take the tray out from the oven let it cool down for 1min. Use a pizza cutter to slice into rectangles.
7. Brush with egg yolks and place 2 pieces of almond flake .Do not brush the whole tray with egg yolk at one time , as it will dry up quickly and the almond flake will not stick on it.
8.After done putting almond flake on the cookies, return tray to oven at 165C and continue to bake for 12min until golden brown. I rotate the tray few times to have the cookies bake evenly.
9.When the baking is done, remove tray from the oven and cool on the rack. When the cookies is cool , store in air tight container.

Spreading the dough on the tray is a bit of struggle as the dough is soft and I want to make sure is evenly spread and the cookies is not too thin or too thick.

The fragrance of the cookies is more like buttery. The almond taste is mild. I love the crispiness of the cookies and I thought it can be very addictive and be consume fast , as the cookies are quite thin.

I hope you will try this out if I have time I might bake another tray of this.

I have linking this post to

This post is linked at Cook and Celebrate: Chinese New Year 2016

hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

 and Zoe from Bakeforhappykids

Pineapple Tarts - (Open Face version)

Is the month where Chinese family is busy busy with preparing the Lunar New Year that fall on next month ( Feb ) . I have so many plan in my heads for this year , as my girl grow older , I wanted to introduce to her ALL Chinese Festival . However , days and weeks seem flying faster than it used to be for me nowadays. Before I knew it , I only left 2 weekends to prepare and one weekend was down as I need to visit the folks in Sunshine Coast. My panic mode seem to switch on and the result of this , will be either no baking at all or bake in full force.


To collect myself and get it started , I need to be more efficient and plan out well . ( Ya talking about planning again !!! )  My beloved told me to be easy , he always support what I want to do but to do it out of stress or enjoyment is a thin line. After hearing his advise, yup I should back to where I am , bake with happy spirit and not stress. After all , I do not have a whole village to give or feed. So just relax and enjoy .


To start of my baking , always do something that will motivate me - Pineapple Tarts. It just seem missing if we do not have Pineapple Tart during CNY. I have done the close version before ->pineapple-tarts 2014. I did an open version last year but it was fail . I did in a rush and my baby was not corporative then . The dough stick in the mould and having  a crying baby. I gave up !!

So here I am to make it success this year :)


The recipe I follow ->Table for 2 or more 


Ingredients :


200g Salted Butter ( Soften)
125g Icing Sugar ( I used Caster Sugar - my pineapple jam is not so sweet so I guess is ok )
2 Egg Yolks
2 Tbsp Milk
400g Plain Flour


Pineapple Jam ( using my old recipe . I find that is the best pineapple jam recipe ever. No hard work in stirring and the result is always satisfied !)



Method :


1. Mixed butter and sugar with hand held electric mixer till combine and creamy. Add in egg yolks mix well and add in 2 Tbsp milk incorporate well into the mixture.
2. Pour in the flour and mix with spatula and do not knead. The texture of the dough is soft but is not hard to combine the flour well into the butter.
3. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill in the fridge at least 30min.
4. Roll out the dough to 5mm thick. Press with prefer mould cookie cutter and arrange the cookies on the baking tray line with baking sheet.
5. The cookies will not spread so is ok to place it next to one another.
6. Brush with egg wash and place the round pineapple jam in the middle of the tarts.
7. Preheat Oven to 165C ( this is for my oven. So do adjust according to your oven standard) . Bake for 15min.


This time was a success for me. I reckon chilling the dough in the fridge help to get the tarts out from the mould easily . I have to on the air conditioner while cutting the dough. Australia summer is no joke and can be more heat up compare to Malaysia. What an expensive cost to bake this tarts.

The Tarts come out well from the mould and brushing some egg wash make the tarts has some color and I think it help the jam sit well on the tarts.


Am happy with the result and this is faster compare to the close version. Would prefer to make the closed version but time is really something a new mom does not quite have.


Happy baking and I am submitting this post to


This post is linked at Cook and Celebrate: Chinese New Year 2016 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids at Here.

Happy Monkey Year :)

Christmas Stained Glass Cookies

I have been baking quite few cookies the last few weeks. One Sugar Fondant Cookies for a friend babyshower, some shortbread cookies for my daughter 1st year birthday celebration and this cookies for my Church Christmas For kids events.


As mention before , my church has a C4K event yearly to bring joys and Christmas blessings to the community we are in . I did not participate in the baking last year , as I was in the confinement period ( when you being confine for giving birth reason , one shall not do anything except eat, sleep and nursing the baby). Finally this year I can spare some time to bake for this event again , I would not want to miss it , after all is more joy and blessed to give during this season then just to receive.


I come across the recipe last year , however do not have the chance to bake it . I find this cookies really bring the chrissy spirit to those who received it . So here is why I choose this as one of the baking for the events. The recipe I follow is from Beanpanda Staind Glass Cookies

Ingredients :


I have make 30 cookies by increase half the portion of the original recipe


150g Unsalted Butter
60g  Icing Sugar ( I reduce the sugar amount)
243g Cake Flour
18g  Corn Flour
1.5 Tsp Lemon Juice
1/4 Tsp of Baking Soda ( I add extra 1/2 of 1/4 tsp in )
Crystal candy with different colors  ( original recipe ask for Fox crystal candy , I can not find it in Aus , I just used any candy that is crystal and similar texture as Fox )




Method :


1. Bring unsalted butter to room temperature, cut the butter into small cube. Mix in the sugar and used electric handheld blender , blend till the butter is plain and fluffy.
2. Put in the lemon juice, sift in all the flour - cake flour, corn flour , baking soda into the butter mixture.  Use a spatula to combine it well. Mix the biscuit dough lightly with hand and make sure all the ingredient combine well .
3. Place the biscuit dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
4. Bring the firm dough out on your flour working bench . Roll out the dough to 0.5mm thickness. Used cookies cutter to cut out different shape and place it on the tray with non stick baking paper.
5. Used a smaller cookies cutter , make a hole print in the cookies when the cookies has place on the tray . To avoid breaking the whole cookies while transferring the cookies.
6. Preheat oven to 165C , bake the cookies for 10-13min. While the cookies in the oven, break the crystal candy into small pieces. Place different color candy in different bowl . Only do this step when cookies start baking , to avoid the candy melting and stick together.
7.Bring the baked cookies out from the oven without turning the oven off. Place the candy into the print hole we have make. Carefully not to put too much candy as will cause it overflow into the cookies surface area.
8. Place the cookies back to the oven and bake another 3-5 min. Till the candy melt in the print and the cookies can be taken out from the oven . Let it cool on the rack . Once cool down the candy will be harden again and is good to take out .


Is such a pain to bake cookies during summer, the dough turn soft and is hard to maintain the shape while placing onto the baking tray. I have to keep putting the dough in the fridge to cool down. This has slow down my baking process.  I am rushing to have all cookies finished baking while my little one is asleep . Well, I  fail to do so , I then literary has a "koala' hanging on my leg while I am cutting , rolling the dough . What a challenge ! As I promise to contribute 24 cookies for the events, I persist to make extra, just in case , some did not turn out well . Thank GOD , I have some good shape looking one and some just got to leave for my beloved as his snack.


So here is my Christmas cookies and hope you will give it a try .

I am also submitting this post to -> Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2015 event. organised by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids at here.

Macha Red Bean Snowskin Mooncake

The mid autumn festival was in Sept this year,It is also known as mooncake festival. Yup any festival should tie with a food that represent it. I have this blog sitting in my post box and waiting for someone to do up my picture before I can post it . =.= ||| Finally here is it ..

I LOVE mid autumn festival . This is my favourite Asia festival ! Nope CNY is not the best for me , especially when you were single ,  CNY can be  a "hell" period for you , in becoming a "target' of a group of "caring" elderly , is a torture !!


Mid Autumn Festival, to me is family reunion ( only to your own family not with relatives) , with the romantic beautiful latterns , all sort of snacks and the "cake" -> Moon Cake. There is no explain on   why I just love moon cake that much . Thank GOD, these is one of the dessert you do not get it throughout the whole year. You can only find it during the festive season. It make it more excited and enjoyable. As it only ONCE in a year ( when you have it all year round, one tend to less appreciate it and lose the original meaning of the festival )


In Australia , we are so blessed to have ALL sort of variety mooncake from different Asia country. Is just pricy. According to my mom , mooncake is no longer reasonable price back home too. As this is an once in a year dessert , it does come with a price !


I did not make mooncake last year , as I was pregnant and I am intolerance of any sweet ( the smell , the sight of any sweet thing make me puke !) . This year I promise myself , I must do something again .


So here is my Macha Red Bean Snowskin Mooncake - adapt from -> beanpanda.ice-skin-mooncake


Red Bean paste


Ingredients :


1kg Azuki Red Bean
700 - 800ml Water
400g Brown Sugar
4-5 Tbsp cooking Oil


Method :


1. Soak azuki red bean overnight. Drain the water next day , place the bean with water in slow cooker and cook till the bean is soft.
2. Blend the red bean till fine , mix in the sugar while red bean paste is warm
3. Pour oil in a wok/pan , pour in the red bean paste. Stir fried till red bean paste dry up and can form into a ball.


Macha Snowskin Mooncake


Ingredients :


120g Glutinous Rice Flour
80g Rice Flour
30g Cake Flour
20g Wheat Starch
100g Caster Sugar
500ml Milk
6Tbsp Cooking Oil
6Tbsp Condense Milk


50g Fried Glutinous Rice Flour ( for moulding and avoid dough sticking on table and hand)


Method :


1. Place all the flour ingredients in a mixing bowl, add in sugar. Pour in the milk gradually into the mixing bowl and stir constantly until well mix.
2. Continue stiring while adding in condense milk and oil . The oil will not be combine well in the mixture but is ok .
3. Sift the mixture 2-3 times to ensure no lump in the mixture.
4. Pour the sifted mixture into a cake pan for steaming.
5. Steam the mixture on high fire 30-40min. Use a toothpaste to stick in the steam mixture if come out clean the dough is cooked.
6.Let the dough cool down and ready to mix with different flavour.


The flavour I used is Pandan paste, green tea powder and mulberry mash. ( My neighbour has a mulberry tree behind my yard , the fruit just so bountifully drop , in order not to waste it , is good to make something of it)


** Weigh 30g dough and 25g red bean for smaller mould
** Weigh 70g dough and 50 g red bean for bigger mould


The measure is a guide for myself . I would say everyone has their own preferences. So measure as it suit your preference and the size of your mooncake mould.

Flaky Mung Bean Pastry - Aka Penang Tau Sar Piah

 

Being a mom and working at the same time, has taken a lot of my time. Of course there is a lot of bloggers in the same position like me. I am still learning to manage my time so to have a work , life and church balance. I thought is not that "hard" , turn out time really go pass faster than I expected. It could be 1/3 of the time is not occupying by my bbaby , it has shorten my hobby time.I still bake, cook and enjoy food . Just before I can blog is another month gone.

I have make this Tau Sar Piah awhile ago. During my maternity leaves and full time taking care of my then newborn. She is a good baby and sleep long hour, so I have the me time to do the things I like. Just one thing that I need to be mindful . She is not good at any noise , whenever she is sleeping and I want to do my baking I have to be extra careful not to make any sharp noise to wake her up. Operating mixer is fine , is a white noise to them. The sudden hit of metal mixing bowl is not a good idea at all.



For the mung bean fillings is in my -> Black-Glutinous-Ang-Ku-kuih. Yes, originally the mung bean fillings is for this 'biscuit'. The excess has been used to make the other kuih.


Indeed this is a pastry you only make when you can not buy from your area or you are too free , and feel to take up some tedious chores then do it . It is time consuming on making the pastry right and wrap it up . The  baking itself did not take long .


Here are the recipe I follow -> Nasi Lemak Lover


Ingredients :


Oil Dough


125g All Purpose  Flour
35g   Shortening
35g   Cooking Oil



Water Dough
250g All purpose flour (sifted)
1/2 Tsp Fine Sugar
65g Shortening
120 - 130ml Water


Method :


1. Prepare oil dough by mixing all the ingredients together and knead till form a soft dough.
2. Prepare water dough by combining all the ingredients and mix till it form a soft dough.
3. Cover the dough and let it rest 20 min separately.
4. Divide and shape ach dough into 34 equal portion balls.
5. Roll oil dough out to round dish and wrap water dough in it. Roll it out into long rectangle shape. Roll up the dough like swissroll. Repeat this step twice ( this is the "fun" part that you have do all for the rest of the small dough , 34 times perhaps!!)
6. Roll the pastry out into a circle and place the fillings at the center. Bring all the edges together ( like making a bun ) pinch to seal.
7. While doing all the rolling and filling , preheat the oven to 170C .
8. Egg wash all the pastry and bake for 20min or till golden brown.

You can see from the picture, some of my pastry seem to tear a bit . But it all turn out good . I share with some of the friends who I think maybe they might miss this as well. The rest?? Of course we keep for our own consumption. Is time consuming pastry so is precious each time we took one .


Will I do it again ??? Maybe when I felt the craving or miss this pastry. Else I can go without :p. I heard that is a new version coming , instead of putting mung bean as fillings, they have the sambal shrimp in it .  Maybe just maybe one day I might do that version. Perhaps I should taste it before I make it.  Yup hope to visit the family sooon.