Strawberry Vanilla Sponge Cake

My 'secret' ingredients..haha!

Not too bad, right? ;)

It was my hubby's birthday yesterday and he requested his all-time favourite cake. I bought 2 boxes of fresh strawberries (abt 500g each) and set to work. My munchkins savoured quite a fair bit of the cake and took all the big juicy red beauties. Even my MIL said super yummms! ;) 

Ingredients

1 pack of store-bought vanilla sponge cake 
2 boxes of fresh strawberries - sliced thinly and halves and leave some as they are
1 box of whipped cream (about 300 ml)
2 medium-sized bananas -sliced thinly
1/2 jar of ecological strawberry jam (about 200 grams)

Method

1. Prepare this cake one day in advance as the cake needs to absorb all the moist/juice from the strawberries and cream.
2. Beat the whipped cream till thick and spreadable. Start with gentle strokes then at higher speed when the cream has started to thicken. (You can refrigerate the mixing bowl and whisk for 30 minutes before beating - you want the cream to be cold)
3. Mash the strawberry jam well and spread 1 good thick layer on the bottom piece of the vanilla sponge cake.
4. Spread an abundance layer of cut strawberries. See the 1st picture.
5. Next, put a layer of cut bananas on top of the strawberries and put a layer of fresh whipped cream.
6. Top it up with the 2nd layer of vanilla sponge cake and repeat the same procedure of 3-5.
7. Finally, put the top layer of cake and spread some whipped cream on top and sides. Make sure the whipped cream covers the whole cake evenly. Remove excess cream from the cake.
8. Refrigerate the cake overnight.
9. Decorate the cake as how you like and please at 1 hour before serving and put it back into the fridge till serving time.
10. Serve the cake directly from the fridge and enjoy! 

p.s. You can sprinkle some icing sugar or chocolate flakes on the strawberries if you like or tie a nice ribbon around the cake for a nicer presentation. :)

Stir-fried Glass Noodles

Apologies for not writing. I have been rather laidback lately, doing nothing but chilling out most of the time. This was cooked for one of my lunches and I grabbed everything I could find from my fridge. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 small pack of glass noodles -soaked and drained
1 egg - lightly beaten
2 cloves of minced garlic
a handful of vegetables of your choice - I have used spinach in this dish
1 tbsp of chilli powder 
1 tbsp of chilli flakes
2 tbsps of soya sauce
2 tbsps of oil

Method:

1. Heat up oil in a frying pan.
2. Fry garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in beaten egg and fry till cooked.
4. Add in noodles and vegetables.
5. Add in chilli powder, chilli flakes and soya sauce.
6. Fry till everything is mixed and cooked. 
7. Serve warm. :)

Salted fish and minced pork patties

The word salted fish would put a cringe in my hubby's face, so imagine the smell in the house when I fried these patties. I was lucky that my neighbour didn't knock on my door and asked if there was a corpse lying around. Hahaha! These patties were really good. Thanks to my sister who gave me this recipe. :)

So yummy and smelly! 

Ingredients

500g of minced pork

1 small piece of salted fish - about 3 X 3 cm

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 minced shallots

3 tsps of corn flour

20 ml of water

1 tbsp of soya sauce

Method

1. Mince the salted fish into very small pieces.
2. Mix all the ingredients with your hands throughly.
3. Scoop them with a spoon and roll them like a ball before you flatten them.
4. Heat up 2 tbsps of oil in a wok and fry them till thoroughly cooked.
5. Enjoy with a bowl of rice! You need 2 bowls. ;)

Summer Break Trip

Apologies for the long absence. I was away for summer break with my family. Here are some pictures that I have taken in Helsinki, Finland. Hope some of you like these places and perhaps, would be enticed to visit this part of the world. :) 

National Museum

A view of the jetty, on the way to Sibelius Park

Sibelius Monument

Jean Sibelius - Finnish composer (1865-1957)

Temppeliaukio Church

Also known as Church of the Rock or Rock Church

Natural History Museum

Exhibits in NHM

Exhibits in NHM

Esplanade-right in the main street of Helsinki

Scenery along the highway in Sweden

A glimpse of Lentuankoski Camping in Kuhmo (about 600 km from Helsinki), surrounded by beautiful lakes
(http://www.lentuankoski.fi)

Curry Puffs

We were going to a Midsummer party at my BIL's place and we couldn't go empty-handed, could we? So, I brought some curry puffs for their indulgence. They weren't that nice in shapes as there was something wrong with my dough. A tad too soft. I didn't know what was the cause, really. That was the first flop I had in making curry puffs. Hmmmmm.........But luckily, they were still edible. ;)

Spicy potatoes

Eggs

Roll out the dough

Fill each piece with potatoes and shape them as you want
Egg glaze before putting them into the oven

Ready to go!

Sedapppp

Ingredients

Dough

400g plain flour- sifted

1/2 tsp salt

175g butter

180ml cold water

Filling

1 onion - diced into small cubes

200g potatoes - diced into small cubes

2 tbsp meat curry powder - mixed with enough water to form a paste

1 stalk curry leaves - use leaves only

2cm cinnamon stick

1 star anise

100ml water

Salt and sugar to taste

1 cube of chicken stock

Method

Filling

1. Heat up a little oil and fry onions till soft.
2. Add curry leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise and curry powder and fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add potatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour in water and mix in salt, sugar and chicken cube.
5. Cover and cook until potatoes turn soft and filling is dry. 
6. Dish out and cool the filling thoroughly.

Dough

1. Put sifted flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 
2. Rub butter into flour with your fingertips, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Make a well in the centre and add in cold water to bind and form into a dough.
4. Turn the pastry onto a floured tabletop and roll out to 1/4cm thickness. 
5. Cut into a round with a 5cm round pastry cutter. 
6. Put a dessertspoon of filling in the centre of each pastry round. 
7. Fold pastry into half to enclose the filling. 
8. Seal by pinching the edges and you can use a fork to make the patterns or fold it with your fingers. 
9. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
10. Glaze the curry puffs with egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes or till golden brown.
11. Serve warm and let them cool slightly before serving.
12. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Swirls

My hands were itching to bake and the thought of buns came to mind. I wanted to try my hands with my best friend again and thought, why not something like cinnamon buns since my precious ones love them. But, this time, I will use nutella and chocolate. I was right. It was a hit with my munchkins. Yeahhhh!!

Growing well!

Chopped dark and milk chocolate

Time to do some hand exercises

After 1 minute

Fill it with your goodies!

Egg-glazed and ready for baking

Done!

This looks better... ;)

Ingredients

2 tsp of butter-diced and some extra for greasing the baking pan and bowl

225g of flour and a little extra for dusting

1/2 tsp of salt

7g of dried instant yeast

125ml of warm milk

1 egg - lightly beaten

Filling
6 tbsps of nutella 

150g of chopped dark and milk chocolate (mine was a little too big, you can have them in smaller bits)

Glazing
1 beated egg

Note: This recipe yields about 12-15 pieces (depending on your desired sizes) 

* I have doubled this recipe as I wanted to keep some for the weekend. 

Method

1. Lightly oil a baking sheet in a baking pan.
2. Sift flour and salt together into a warmed bowl. (I leave the bowl in the sun)
3. Stir in the yeast.
4. Rub in the butter into the flour with your fingertips till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
5. Add the warm milk and egg, mix to form a dough.
6. Shape the dough into a ball and put into a greased bowl. 
7. Cover with a clingwrap and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or till double in size. 
8. Turn out the dough on a slightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about 1 minute.
9. Roll out into a rectangle.
10. Spread nutella and sprinkle chopped chocolate on it.
11. Roll it up like a swiss roll, then cut into desired sizes. About 12-15 pieces, depending on the size you want.
12. Transfer each swirl to the prepared baking sheet and leave to rest for another 30 minutes.
13. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
14. Brush each swirl with the beaten egg. (for glazing)
15. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or till golden brown.
16. Leave to cool slightly and indulge!
17. Soooo sinful! ;)  

Salmon and Pumpkin Curry

My very first time of buying a pumpkin and using it. I remember that hubby told me that he liked a 'sauce pumpkin dish' when he was working at the branch office in KL. He couldn't say more of the dish when I probed further. So, I thought why not try curry (sauce?) as it is sweet in taste and with a combination of curry, it should be quite good. Perhaps that was something similar to what he said? The verdict.
He: I like it, quite similar but not SOO spicy. Hmm..next time, I will use only 30g of red curry paste.

I like the colour

Remember to use coconut milk or cream

Looks good?

Ingredients

1 butterscotch pumpkin - cut into cubes of your desired size

2 blocks of salmon (about 200g)- cut into cubes

1 onion- cut into quarters

a handful of curry leaves and Thai basil* (I didn't have the Thai basil, so I have used the Italian type) 

150g of red curry paste (I have used Mae Ploy's brand but found it to be VERY salty AND spicy so, please do adjust accordingly and add more sugar/coconut milk if needed)

1/2 a piece of brown sugar

300 ml of coconut milk

150 ml of water

1 tsp of oil

Method

1. Heat up your oil in the pan and stir fry the onions and curry leaves till soft and fragrant.
2. Add in coconut milk and boil it briefly.
3. Add in water, red curry paste, brown sugar and stir them well. 
4. Add in pumpkin and cook till soft but not mushy. (About 15-20 mins at medium heat)
5. PLEASE adjust the taste to your liking. Add in sugar or more coconut milk if needed.
6. Add in the salmon pieces and cook for about 3 mins and switch off the heat.
7. Dish up, garnish with basil and serve warm with rice.
8. Enjoy!

My MIL's Cake

I call it my MIL's cake as it's a recipe from her (I have changed it by putting raisins and omitted the topping) and my boss loves it. He: It's simple and nice, why do you always want to make funny cakes? Yes, he calls my other bakery stuff as funny cakes. Hmmmmm......

Pretty smooth batter

My sister: Sultana cake! (sent this pic to my sis via LINE)

Fresh from the oven

Joanne Dong: Show me a picture of it when you have cut it (a request from my friend in watsapp)

Would you like  a piece?

Ingredients

100g of butter

70g sugar

2 eggs

100 ml of milk

100g of flour

2 tsps of baking powder

A handful of raisins

If you like other toppings like chocolate chips, grated coconut or dried fruits, you can use them

Method

1. Preheat your oven at 200 degrees. 
2. Grease your baking pan. You can use a rectangle pan (like mine) or a round pan-6 inch. It's not a cake that rises high up.
3. Melt butter in a pot. Set aside. 
4. Sift flour n baking powder. Set aside. 
5. Whisk sugar n eggs till mixed.
6. Pour melted butter and milk into egg mixture and whisk till combined. 
7. Whisk in sifted flour & baking powder till batter is smooth. 
8. Sprinkle raisins all over. You can coat them with a little flour, to prevent sinking too much into the bottom.
9. Pour into the baking pan.
10. Put the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 20-30mins or till golden brown or till a skewer comes out clean. 
11. If temp is too high and cake starts to crack, you have to reduce temperature or put at lower shelf. Take it out n leave to cool completely before slicing.
12. Enjoy!

A Splendid Weekend in London

I had a great weekend escapade in London, thanks to hubby. Met up with cousins and friends, ate, shopped, walked and watched Wicked. It was truly a good break after some months of burying in my books. Weather was perfect albeit a little chilly in the morning and evening but otherwise, it was a marvellous trip! Some pictures for you to drool and perhaps, it's time to send in your applications for your summer break. ;)

Slurping good ramen

I was a child again!

Liberty

SOOOOO pretty

A great view from Darwin Brasserie (level 36)

What a view! Do you agree with me?

Camden Town

I want all of them!

Liquid Nitrogen Made Ice-cream- melts my heart

You can't miss this

Indulge and get some M&M's

I was mesmerised and spellbound

Dainty and pretty

A luxurious Frenchie breakfast