Marble Cake

Marble Cake

When I saw Zoe's blog Bake for Happy Kids and her baking pals will be

having Bake Along Theme "Marble Cake", I do not hesitate to join in because

we all Asian loves to eat Marble Cake.   This time I am not baking 

using my recipe but I am using recipe from Stephanie from Joy of Baking.  

This cake came out moist, bit of sweet, not happy with the swirls

but the taste still superb.  Next bake will reduce the sugar.

Lastly, I still prefer my recipe...hahaha (so bad of me) because

I wanted my Marble Cake to be full of butter taste and a bit dry.

Today, while preparing all those ingredients, I found myself to be

so unorganized. Told my son that maybe since today is a non working day, 

maybe my brain has been switched off to sleeping mode.

I told myself, hope the cake will come out great.

Well, at the end, it did not fail me.

 140g semisweet chocolate (chopped and melt).

295g Flour (shift together with baking powder and baking soda).

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder and 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda.

170g Butter (room temperature).

3 Eggs (room temperature).

1/3 cup (80 ml) Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt (room temperature).

1/2 cup (120 ml) Milk (room temperature).

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract.

250g Caster Sugar (will reduce to 220g).

 Beat butter until smooth and well combined.

 Add in the caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

 Add in egg one at a time and beat until well combine.

Note : In between I add in 1 tablespoon of flour to avoid the batter from curdling.

 Add in vanilla extract and sour cream and beat until well combined.

 Beat in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the milk to the 

batter and ending with the flour until well combined.

 Look like this after all the ingredients have been well combined.

 Transfer a little more than half of batter to another bowl.

Add in the melted chocolate to the lesser batter.

Mix the chocolate mixture and the lesser batter until well combined. 

With the plain batter and chocolate batter, put big spoonful of it 

into a prepared tin, alternating the two batters. 

Look like this before you use a skewer to draw swirls.

Look like this after you have drawn swirls. 

Bake for 45 minutes at 190 Degree Celsius (depends on individual oven). 

Let it cool for around 30 minutes before removing the cake. 

Since I wanted it to be dried in texture, I re-bake it.

So stubborn of me....what to do when I wanted to enjoy it with my

favourite drink green tea.

Have a Happy Weekend.

I am submitting this post, Marble Cake to Bake Along event

with theme "Marble Cake" organized by 

Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids,

Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and

Lena from Frozen Wings.

Dried Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dried Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday evening, I saw this recipe from Alvin's blog, 

www.chefandsommelier.blogspot.com

and without any delay, I make it this afternoon for 

my mother who is a vegetarian.  It is delicious, soft and buttery.

I have changed some of the ingredients since I don't have it.

Thanks to Alvin's wife for sharing this recipe.

*Red colour is my modification.

70g Dried Blueberry (Dried Cranberry)

227g Butter

250g Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

50g Powdered Sugar (Icing Sugar)

50g White Chocolate Chips (Twin Chocolate Chips)

 The Cranberry above is not that clear, so I took this photo.

 Add in the Butter and Powdered Sugar.

 Cream until soft and combined well.

 Add in the Flour and Salt.

 Mix well with spatula until smooth dough forms.

 Lastly, add in the Cranberry and Twin Chocolate Chip.

 Mix well.

It is easier to handle the dough if we chill it.

 Roll out to thickness of 10mm and cut with pastry cookies cutter.

 Bake around 15 - 20 minutes at 180 Degree Celsius.

Place into container once cool.

Simply delicious.

Do you want to bake now?

While baking, my daughter already had a few pieces.

Plain and Hazelnuts Chocolate Truffles

Plain and Hazelnuts Chocolate Truffles

 I am a Buddhist but when Christmas comes, I will bake for my

Christian friends.  Last year, I baked Fruit Cake and for this year, 

I will make Chocolate Truffles.

Something sweet and chocolatey for my friends and their families

to enjoy this delicious dessert during this festive season.

Wishing my wonderful Christian friends and all of you in this

wonderful world a "Merry Christmas".  

May the season warm your soul, bring love

to your heart and bless you with everything this life has to offer.

 550g Semi Sweet Chocolate

350ml Double Cream

2 Egg Yolks

50g Butter

Some Whole or Ground Hazelnuts 

(please click here how to ground hazelnuts)

Some Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

 From left to right :-

Double Cream / Egg Yolks / Semi Sweet Chocolate / Butter

 Bring cream to boil.  Once you see the bubble surface, turn off the fire.

 Add in the yolks and stir until combined.

 Add in the semi sweet chocolate.

And stir until well combined or until all the chocolate melted and smooth.

 Lastly, add in the butter and stir until melted and smooth.

Once done, leave it to cool.  Cover and chill for 10 hours.

 After 10 hours, use a small scoop to make into balls.

Remember to chill it again if the mixture become too soft to handle.

Drop the truffles into the cocoa powder to coat well (like the picture above)

or (like the picture below) with ground hazelnuts.

When each truffle coated well with cocoa powder or ground hazelnuts,

place it into a small paper liner.

Once done, place into a gift box and chill all the time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I am submitting this to the "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013"

event which is hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

Double Chocolate Walnut Brownies

Double Chocolate Walnut Brownies

These brownies look horrible but it's a blessing in disguise!
My whole family and lovely bunch of colleagues said this is the best
brownies that they've ever tasted and some wanted me to post this
recipe up asap.  I am just flabbergasted. The pictures don't look too appetizing.
Am I right? Well, sometimes, we cannot judge the cake by its surface!
Thanks for Annie from Annielicious Food for the recipe.
Annie's brownies are cakey and chewy.  Mine came out more of a fudgy brownies.
Haish, I wanted her kind of texture but don't know why it came out differently.
Well, I think I need to bake this again to compare...if my family and
colleagues heard this, sure they will be jumping with joy.

200g Flour / 350g Caster Sugar / 80g Cocoa Powder /

2 Eggs / 1/2 tsp Baking Soda / 120g Semi Sweet Dark Chocolate Chips /

75g + 75g Butter (melted) / 70g Semi Sweet Dark Chocolate (melted) /

50g Chopped Walnut (lightly toasted) / 120ml Boiling Water /

1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Pinch of Salt (I omitted the salt)

In a bowl, combine cocoa powder, baking soda, 75g melted butter 

and boiling water.  

Stir until mixture thickens.

Add in caster sugar, eggs, melted chocolate and remaining 75g 

melted butter.  Stir until mixture turned smooth.

Add in flour, vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

Add in 1/2 portion of chocolate chips and 1/2 portion of toasted walnuts.

And mix until well combined.

Pour the batter into a lined baking pan.

Sprinkle the balance of the chocolate chips and toasted walnuts

on top of the batter and bake at 180 degree celsius for 40 minutes

(depends on your oven).

(Notes from Annie : Bake until the brownies begin to pull away from

sides of pan.  Brownies are done when pick comes out with a few moist

crumbs still clinging.  It is okay for the pick to look moist, but if you see

wet batter, keep baking)

Once baked, cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Once brownies 

completely cooled, cut into squares and serve.

Looks horrible but taste is super delicious.

:)

I am submitting this to the Little Thumps Up "Egg" event organized by

Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted

by Yen of Baby Sumo, Eat Your Heart Out.