Wake Up and Smell the Cake

Jackfruit Cupakes - I know they don't look pretty. Made them yesterday morning for my breakfast! Once again it was a case of husband-not-at-home-to-prevent-me-from-baking scenario. Baked, cleaned all before he came back! :D I had leftover jackfruit (nangka not cempedak) and so I thought why not bake it! Was quite surprised that there are some jackfruit cake recipes out there hahaha. So I took this one from foodlovepassion. It was also my first time using my stand mixer! Yay! Ingredients 50ml butter, melted 2 eggs 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda 1/4 tsp cream of tartar 2 1/2 tbsp sugar 125ml mix of low fat milk + thick cream (clearing off leftovers) 4 pieces of jackfruit, cut into pieces (because I was lazy to blend) Baked at 170 degrees, 22 minutes. I halved the recipe and got 7 cupcakes. Though maybe could've been 8 if I didn't overfill them hurhur. Out of the oven! Urh unpretty. Hahaha Overspill of batter oops! Lo

No particular occasion, but I made pineapple tarts!! Heehee. I forgot how much salt to put, so I just made a guess and it didn't have a salty taste. Could do with a bit more salt. But better to be unsalty than salty! Yesterday was a mad dash. By the time I could start baking, it was almost 3pm. I quickly mixed the ingredients and cleaned up along the way, and started cutting out the cookie shapes. I didn't have enough pans to make all pineapple tarts at one go, had to reuse my big circular tin. That sorta delayed the process. But I was done by 6.30pm! Was amazed at my speed. And with my eagerness to fill the tarts with loads of pineapple paste, I realised halfway that there wasn't gonna be enough. Haha! Hence the last few pieces had a leveled filling only, no heap. I love my pineapple tarts. I know I know I'm not shy about it. Haha! But most importantly, Husband loves it :)

Gonna be on half day tomorrow cos I'll be expecting a delivery. And we all know what happens when I take half day! I become a superwoman housewife ! Haha! I have planned to, in those few hours: Do laundry (hopefully the sun shines brightly so my clothes can be dry) Make pineapple tarts for Husband Change bedsheets (and wash them too if possible, but highly unlikely) Pineapple tarts are gonna take me quite some time. It's been almost a year since I've made them! Hope I haven't lost touch. Husband's really looking forward to his favourite cookies. It is almost impossible to make them with Junior around. Speaking of Junior, he has been waking us up at 3am for the past two nights, and refusing to sleep back! Yesterday he was awake for one and a half hours, the night before was three whole hours!! Faints. But I am quite amazed that I'm actually not that sleepy in the day. Weird. But that doesn't mean you can do it every night, young man!!

On half day = baking opportunity! :) I've already planned to make bread pudding with the leftover French loaf. While Husband went out to get breakfast, I quickly whipped up bread pudding and by the time Husband got home, pudding was already in the oven, all utensils and bowls washed. Like it never happened :D Amazed with my speed! Haha! I wanted to try my own bread pudding recipe, and with a general idea of the ingredients from allrecipes.com , I made my own. Ingredients Half a loaf of French loaf, about 15cm long 2 tbsp butter 2 cups milk 1/2 cup brown sugar 5 tbsp condensed milk 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 small box of SunMaid raisins Tear bread into 2 inch squares and put in baking pan. I used 9 inch cos I didn't have a slightly smaller one. But I recommend using a smaller pan. Whisk butter, milk, sugar, condensed milk and vanilla essence in a bowl. I heated the bowl using double boiling method cos I wanted the butter to melt. Before adding in eggs, cool t

Ah. My iTunes brought me to Hoobastank's From The Heart. Reminded me of those days I'd drive my dad's (ah beng) car to school and blast the speakers with my awesome Hoobastank CD. I really really love the songs on the CD! I got it because of their popular hit, The Reason. Didn't regret buying! Haha. But I'm quite disappointed with the lead singer's inability to sing their songs live. Can't reach some of the high notes. Bleah. Oh well. In baking news, I am craving for rich chocolate cake. As per my previous post I ran out of castor sugar, and so I'm contemplating on (finally) using my Optima flour since it already has sugar. But I haven't found a rich chocolate cake recipe using Optima flour. I could improvise, but I don't know if it'll work. Maybe I'll work with a small amount first. Hope to try today, unless my boys wanna sleep early. Or maybe I can try these Triple Fudge Oreo Cookies or Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies . Interesti

So yesterday night I got bakin'! I really really wanted to try my new mini loaf pan . It is perfect! I buttered the sides of the pan, and the cakes could be removed very easily! Love it! I didn't realise it was so pricey, when I was washing the pan then I saw the price tag - $28. T_T I know I know, I bought without checking the price haha. It was a good bake yesterday. I finished my cake flour, finished my sugar, and there are points for improvement. While I was preparing the ingredients, I realised I was short of sugar. The horror !! The recipe called for 1 and 3/4 cups of sugar but I only had half a cup! So I added in half cup condensed milk. And then I realised something, whenever I use condensed milk, I shouldn't have added vanilla essence. Happened before with the Condensed Milk Cheesecake . Gives an overpowering taste. I think if the vanilla was reduced, it would be perfect. Another thing I noticed,I didn't really taste the cheese! Haha! Maybe it's suppos

I have to curb my expenditure. I can go on and on with buying baking stuff. Yesterday I went to Kitchen Capers after a forced U-turn from going Bake King at Haig Road. Someone made me fuming mad and I sooo wasn't concentrating on where I was going, I missed my exit to PIE. And then I made one heck of a reroute, I ended up at Balestier Road and I went Kallang Bahru instead. No matter, cos I wanted to go to Kitchen Capers some day anyway. I got my mini loaf pan, baking paper, heart shaped springform pan, cupcake paper cups in baby blue with white polka dots! Oh and something I couldn't resist - Miffy cookie cutter yay! Can add on to my Chip & Dale cookie cutters hurhur. My Miffy cookie cutter and mini loaf pan. That's my measuring cup duckies set I bought from gmarket which I collected from the post office few days ago. Sooo cute! Actually there's still loads of things I wanna get, my list can go on and on. But these will do from now. I shall ban myself from bu

"Hi my name is Far and I'm a bakeaholic." I can't believe this. I'm having withdrawal symptoms from baking. I haven't baked in about two weeks now and I am itching to bake. I have been trawling food (particularly dessert) blogs, always looking for recipes, looking at lipsmacking cakes that just screams out EAT ME. It doesn't help that I have a new stand mixer that I have yet to try, and ingredients on standby: loads of unused Hershey's chocolates waiting to be chopped/melted, a whole pack of Optima flour in addition to other opened packs of flour, 12 eggs waiting to be cracked and whisked, two little cartons of heavy cream, two (or was it three?) packs of cream cheese, and three packs of butter! Gasp. I do have lots of ingredients hahaha. Oh and I have a box of instant brownie mix too. So to tame - yes, tame, not satisfy - my baking addiction, I decided to make sago gula melaka last Saturday night. That too, after a looonnng ponder of whether I s

Other Half got for me a stand mixer yay! ♥ Not a fancy schmancy one, no metal bowl. Just a basic mixer. One which I think if Junior were to use and spoil it, I won't mind. HAHA. I wanted to get a Philips mixer but I got Kenwood instead. Have yet to unwrap it haha. Now I can whip cream and eggs! Frosting here I come! But before that... My first experiment shall be Marble Cake using Optima Flour ! Or if I'm feeling adventurous, Chocolate Banana Cake , something which Other Half would very much prefer. Heh. Here's to many more cakes! :)

So today was supposed to be day 3 or 29 but I overslept. Bummer. Junior has been disturbing my sleep a lot lately. He doesn't really sleep in the day, and at night, he can wake up every hour, sometimes a few times in an hour. Long gone are the days I had uninterrupted sleep. Yesterday Other Half wanted to eat lemak cili padi again after my successful lemak cili padi tenggiri attempt . Haha. But he wanted to cook it this time round, so I can attend to our little mister cranky and feed him dinner. I prepared all the ingredients, cut them nicely and put into bowls for him to cook. This time round I added more red chili cos I wanted to finish them and they weren't hot anyway so might as well. And more cili padi too!! Other Half prefers to blend everything, easy peasy. I on the other hand, prefer to tumbuk the chili using batu lesung just like my mum does it. To me the flavours kinda disappear when you blend. Hence more chili? Hahaha. So I let Other Half cook, and he wanted t

Day two, insyaAllah. This time I planned my sahur earlier and with more food and water! Muahaha. On the day I decide to fast, there's free good food. Like epok-epok my colleague brought. And new tidbits from another colleague. And sandwich and suji from the wife of yet another colleague! Drools. But I get to eat the suji at least! She brought these cookies for me yay! Hmm does that mean I have to bring something in return? Such a nice lady, I have yet to meet her! :) My eyes are dry, from the lack of sleep. Woke up at 5am and didn't sleep back. And at night Junior didn't really want to sleep. He kept waking up after like 10 minutes of sleep between midnight and 1+am, finally slept after singing to him. He's getting VERY active too! Cannot sit still! So adorable, such a handful! Husband says he's not a handful, he's two hands full. Hahahaha ♥

So the four day weekend has come and gone. Way to fast! Sadness. Day one was quite fruitful yet packed. Morning I did laundry (I think? I've done laundry waayyyy to many times over the weekend I forgot!) and entertained my chubbycheeks. Afternoon we went to fetch in-laws and had lunch at Sabar Menanti which somehow wasn't that good on that day for some reason, and then sent them somewhere. Then we went Mustafa's which was kinda crowded and then to my mum's house to rot and celebrate Brother's twenty-fifth birthday. Sister made hazelnut cake and yes! She bakes! Hahaha. Hazelnut cake with Smuckers chocolate syrup and crushed roasted hazelnuts. Yumyum. Day two was spent at FFL (YK)'s home, made opera cake and had Indian food for dinner. Husband had a meeting most of the afternoon, bummer. I didn't really take part in the baking cos I was babysitting, how to babysit and make a cake?! Actually I can, I've been doing it all along but that's at home,

So yesterday we were on half day cos Husband wasn't feeling too well. Went back, and felt like pre-Junior days. Even so, I have become so accustomed to Junior, I kept expecting to hear a baby crying. Hahaha. While Husband was resting... I baked! And did laundry. I can never resist doing laundry when I see the sun shining so brightly. Husband almost forbid me to do laundry, saying I need to rest too since I'm fasting, but in the end he gave in. Teeheehee. I tried Ultimate Chocolate Cake by Angela Nilsen from bbcgoodfood.com. I am on the hunt for awesome chocolate cake recipes! I planned to do the ganache but have yet to do so cos I ran out of chocolates haha. You can refer to the website for the original ingredients, but below is what I actually used (some measurements are different cos I don't have weighing scale and proper measuring instruments). Ingredients: 200g good quality dark chocolate = I used 2 bars of Hershey's (finally finished using them!) one 60% o

Weewoo we're going Langkawi this March!! :))) It'll be our second family holiday, and the first airplane ride for Junior. He'll be eight months by then, should be okay for him. I have to think of activities for him on the plane, and on the trip too! Unless he sleeps through the flight. Hahaha. Today is the first of twenty-nine days I have to pay back for fasting. And at 9am I was so freaking hungry my stomach keeps growling very very loudly. Oh God twenty-nine!!! *faints* The last time I fasted was like a year and a half ago? Hahaha. That is looonnggg . I hope my milk supply won't dwindle. InsyaAllah.

I have been browsing gmarket once in a while, with Shez & Juni but I have yet to buy anything from there. Until today!!! I found the cutest measuring set ! I'm on the lookout for measuring cups and spoons, and this is just too cute to resist! Cheap too! So I got for myself one set! See! Soooo cute! Hahaha. I wonder when it'll arrive though. Can't wait! :) I wanna look for bundt pans next!

Omg omg omg I am so so excited!! You must be thinking I'm crazy to go crazy over a measuring cup, but it's no ordinary measuring cup okay! It's the kind that can measure all sorts of dry ingredients in pounds. My mum has it, but it's super duper ancient I thought they wouldn't sell these anymore. Until!!! I was browsing Bake King's website - how I came here, I'll explain in a bit - and I FOUND IT !!! Here it is, the Tala Cook's Measure! Very retro looking (totally love!) and freakin' made in England can! I am so gonna buy it!! I hope the shop has it if not I'll have to order online . I browsed the website and found lots of other things I am so tempted to buy! Heehee. Lucky thing I have loads of cabinet space that can store my baking utensils :) So back to the point where I was directed to Bake King. Yesterday at Husband's grandma's house, she made for us marble cake which I totally love! So moist and soft and airy! So I asked f

Okay I think I shall skip the outstanding posts I mentioned earlier . Getting out of date already. Haha. Suffice to say, making sugar cookies with difficult mould shapes (like Chip & Dale) is frustrating and tedious, and I haven't found the perfect icing recipe yet. That aside!! I is excited to say I've finally (yes, finally!) perfected my banana cake recipe! Heehee. I have no idea why I couldn't get my mum's recipe to work, maybe cos it's a different oven? But it's almost the same model! Oh well. This time I reduced the butter because the last time it was too oily, and the cake could use a bit more flour. I kept the banana the same cos I love having loads of banana in the cake, rather than use banana essence. Here are my lovelies I brought to work. I didn't capture any pictures while I was baking because I wanted to get it in the oven before Junior gets impatient watching me bake. This was taken with my iPhone. Ingredients : 200g butter 9 oz

I've yet to write about the sugar cookie baking session with my siblings (that was Christmas!), baby developments (two teeth!!), work, and the mandatory year-in-review and what I hope for 2012. So far 2012 started off with lots of work! -_- Hope to do so soon! And what's this buzz about Ombak Rindu. I wanna watch it! But sooo many links on YouTube have been removed. Sadness. Okay back to work! I have a ginormous target I set for myself!

Tuesday blues. Lack sleep. Junior woke me up at the most terrible times. He woke me up just after I dozed off for 15 minutes and it felt like my entire sleep was disrupted. After milk he went back to sleep, only to wake me up 15 minutes later!!! And then he slept peacefully and what seemed like five hours but it was only 1 plus when he woke me up again! Then again at 2, and again at 3, and 4 and he didn't want to sleep back until 6am. I suspect it's teething that's causing him discomfort. When he finally slept at 6, he was holding me tight and cried when I put him in his cot. So I let him sleep with me and hugged him :) Oh and starting yesterday my FFL isn't gonna be online anymore for a couple of months cos she's happily rotting at home. How I envy her. Sunday morning I attempted to make Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls . Wanted to make them for breakfast but it was ready only after 10 because Junior wanted attention as well. Key word is attempted. I couldn't rol

My stomach has been on a food fest lately that I refuse to weigh myself. Haha. Over the weekend, I baked two cakes. Butter cake at my mum's and banana cake at our own home. Even though I didn't eat much of the butter cake, I happily wiped clean the leftover batter from the mixing bowl with sheer glee and greed. It has been ages since I've eaten cake batter! I had to avoid raw eggs during pregnancy. Then on Tuesday Husband and I went to Al Majlis for dinner date. I was surprised by the ambiance! Very cosy and perfect for dates. I had sheesha kofta or something like that, and it is delicious! The previous time we were there for an office thingy, the kebab was cooked too long and it was almost burnt. This time round the lamb balls were done beautifully, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! Yums! I wanna go there again! The yesterday lunch was Arnold's Chicken. Sungguh perangai budak gemuk (fat girl attitude?!). Hahaha. I wonder what's for lunch today :