Honey Lemon Poppyseed Cake

We've come to the point in the wedding planning stages where we are now counting down the DAYS! It's 7 days to go to the ceremony, and then we'll be home free to just be a married couple - no more wedding planning, no more invitation lists, seating charts, fabric samples, and endless other things. I can't wait.

In the madness of it all, I wanted - nay, needed, to get some solid baking time in. It's been almost 2 or 3 months since I actually full on made something in the kitchen that's worth sharing. 

I feel the need to point out that despite what everyone may think of me, including myself, I haven't been a Bridezilla at all throughout this whole process! I honestly thought I would be, what with all my Pinterest boards, my Disney, fairy tale wonderland personality, etc. I suppose, at the end of the day, all I really care about is being married to the man I love, and being able to spend the rest of our lives together doing completely mundane things. The thing I look forward to the most is spending Saturday mornings and afternoons with him in our own home, having a lazy brunch and cleaning the house after ignoring it all week cos we're both too busy at work. And foot massages. Yes, I look forward to being on the receiving end of those, whenever I want them. For free. 

Hehe, anyway, last weekend while we were trying to pull our invitation list into some semblance of sense to then be able to convert it into a seating chart... I was struck by the overwhelming desire to make something. I was also lucky that the recipe I chose to test is one that uses a lot of readily available ingredients. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I think this frosting might possibly my new favourite thing. 

Honey Lemon Poppyseed Cake
Recipe from the Hungry Rabbit

For the Cake

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• Smidge of fine sea salt
• 240g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 tbsp blue poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line 3 8" round cake tins with parchment paper
2. In your mixing bowl bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt until evenly spread
3. Whisk the eggs, coconut milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl before adding the mixture to the flour with the mixing paddle set on low speed
4. When all the egg mix has gone in, add the butter and increase the speed to low-medium while you mix to ensure everything combines and the butter is even
5. Stir in the poppy seeds by hand, then divide the batter into three tins, spread it out and bake for 15-20 minutes or until your kitchen smells like cake and a tester inserted into the cake at an angle comes out clean
6. Cool the cakes in their tin for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely

For the (amazing) honey lemon curd filling

• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 30g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tiny cubes
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• A few drops vanilla essence
• Pinch of fine sea salt

1. While the cakes are baking, make the curd (haha I've been watching too much GBBO and am tempted to stop here)
2. Seriously though, over a low heat and in a heavy bottomed heat resistant saucepan, heat the lemon juice until just hot but not boiling
3. Whisk the eggs and yolk in a medium heat resistant bowl, and gradually add the honey as you're doing so
4. Gently trickle in the hot lemon juice, whisking as you do, then return the mixture to the saucepan to cook over a low-medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Be careful of scrambling the eggs. 
5. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until incorporated, then stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Strain the mix through a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl, cover with cling wrap - directly onto the curd to prevent a skin from forming - and pop it into the fridge until ready to use

For the (ridiculously delicious) honey cream cheese frosting

• 114g unsalted butter, softened (but not melty and slouchy)
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 240g cream cheese, chilled but softened (trust me, warm cream cheese makes for gross looking frosting)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the sugar, cream cheese and butter with the paddle attachment until fully combined (the original recipe says to do sugar and butter first, then adding the cream cheese after, but I'm lazy) 
2. Add the cream, honey and vanilla and beat again on medium to high speed until just combined (take care not to over beat as this will result in a too runny frosting). 
3. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and refrigerate until needed

Assembly

• When the cake has cooled completely, swipe a small teaspoon of cream cheese frosting onto the bottom of the cake plate and place one piece of cake on top (I do this to prevent the cake from sliding around while I'm frosting). Spread half of the honey lemon curd on top, until about 1/2" off the sides of the cake, then top with another layer and the remaining curd. Place the top layer bottom side up and gently press down to level
• Apply a crumb coat of frosting on the top and sides of the cake and refrigerate for half an hour to set. Spread frosting on the top and sides of the cake, drizzle with honey or any remaining curd, and refrigerate to set for at least 30 minutes before serving 

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake

I have my favourite chocolate cake recipe, and despite having tried multiple other recipes since then, I still go back to it as my number one. So these days, the purpose of my trying out other chocolate cake recipes isn't to try to find a better one, it really is just to try different ones. I tried one this weekend that I quite enjoyed, and so have decided to share it with you guys.

The problem is, I wrote this recipe down over a year ago in my tattered recipe book, and can't remember where I got it from. It was when I was going through my salted caramel phase (thanks to Tat Wei and his Forty Licks ice-cream), so was definitely quite a while ago. If anyone knows where this recipe is from, please leave a message and I'll give give credit where credit is due. Cos seriously, this was a fun cake to bake. 

We celebrated Chinese New Year and were given a fantastic four-day weekend, so I had some time to try it out. Also, the siblings are all out of the country and my parents were away for a wedding... and you all know how much I love experimenting with messy, complicated recipes with multiple components when I have the house to myself. 

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake

3x8" layers

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder 
• 1 1/4 cups hot water 
• 2/3 cup sour cream 
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 180g unsalted butter, softened 
• 114g vegetable shortening 
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar 
• 1 cup light dark brown sugar 
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and prepare 3 8" round baking tins
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix the cocoa powder, hot water and sour cream, and set aside to cool
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
4. Cream the butter and vegetable shortening, then beat in the sugars and beat until light
5. Add the eggs one at a time, and the vanilla and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed
6. Add the flour and cocoa mix, alternating between the dry and wet mixes, beginning and ending with the flour
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean

Salted caramel filling

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup sour cream

1. In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sea salt flakes over a low flame
2. Meanwhile, in another larger saucepan, heat the sugar, corn syrup and water over a medium-high flame until the mixture turns amber. Take this off the heat and allow to cool for a minute, then whisk in the heated cream and sea salt
3. Whisk in the sour cream, then allow the caramel to cool to room temperature and refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake

Chocolate caramel ganache frosting

• 450g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 450g butter, cubed and chilled (but not hard)

1. Place the chopped chocolate in the bowl of your stand mixer
2. Follow the same steps as the salted caramel filling for the cream, sugar, corn syrup and water. Once the cream has been whisked in, pour the mixture over the chopped chocolate and allow it to sit for a minute before stirring to melt the chocolate
3. Let the mixture sit and cool then beat with the paddle attachment of your mixer on low-medium speed until the bowl has cooled to the touch. This will take 10-15 minutes depending on your climate
4. When it has cooled, gradually add the butter and beat at medium-high speed until incorporated. Pop the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to bring it to a spreadable texture

Assemble the cake

Place a cake layer on your cake plate, pour the salted caramel filling over the layer and let it soak, then top with the chocolate ganache, sprinkle a tsp of sea salt flakes and cover with the next layer. Repeat, then coat the cake with a crumb coat of ganache and put the cake in the fridge to solidify for around 30 minutes. Then finish coating the cake with another layer of ganache, and sprinkle the top with sea salt flakes. 

I found this cake a little TOO sweet for my liking, and I think it's the amount of sugar in the ganache. I generally don't add that much sugar to my chocolate ganache, preferring a darker and more bitter frosting. I think in future, I'll go back to a simple chocolate ganache and content myself with salted caramel filling. The cake texture is incredibly moist and dense, and I think if served with a simple coating of dark chocolate ganache and drizzle of salted caramel, would be quite perfect. 

Vanilla & Passionfruit Cake

One of my closest and dearest friends celebrated his 25th birthday last week, and I was asked to bake a seaside themed cake for him. He's a diver and loves the beach, so why not? The thing is, this turned out looking like a baby shower cake! Considering he's one of my babies, I don't see anything wrong with that. 

Dearest Leslie, hope you had a great birthday week surrounded by family and best friends. It's been a while since our last holiday together, so lets go diving in May! Or rather, you go diving with E and I'll go sit on the beach with a cheesy historical romance novel with the rest of the FFs. 

This blog post & recipe is dedicated to one of the sweetest, kindest, and most protective friends I have. I'm so glad to have you in my life. 

Vanilla Bean cake with Passionfruit filling, covered in Passionfruit Cream Cheese frosting

• 440g all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 240g butter, softened to room temperature
• 400g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• Seeds from 2 vanilla bean pods
• 1 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, line 2 8" round baking tins with butter and parchment paper
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until combined, then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Dump in the seeds from the vanilla bean pods and stir to get it mixed
4. Add half the flour mixture and beat until combined, then pour in all the milk and stir until it's incorporated in the batter, then add in the rest of the flour. Don't overmix, just ensure all the ingredients are evenly coated, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl
5. Divide the batter between the two baking tins and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean
6. Cool the cakes in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely (do this top side down to get flat, even layers)

Passionfruit cream cheese frosting

• 2 tbsp strained juice of a passionfruit
• 42g butter, softened
• 114g cream cheese, cold
• 2 1/4 cups sifted icing sugar

1. Beat the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer until thoroughly combined. Pour in the passionfruit juice and continue to beat for another minute or so
2. Add the icing sugar in one go and just beat until light and fluffy (you may need to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl), for about 5 minutes. Do not beat for too long as that will make it too runny

Assembling the cake
Place one layer top side down on a cake plate, and pipe a circle of cream cheese frosting around the edges of the cake. Fill the middle with passionfruit curd (I used about 1 cup of curd as I piped a thick layer) and place the second layer of cake on the top, bottom side down.
Apply a thin crumb coat and allow it to crust for about 15 minutes before frosting the rest of the cake. I chose to go with a simple frosting design this time around, placing the cake on a revolving cake stand and just running my offset spatula along the side, tilted at an angle while I spun the stand. I should try to make a tutorial video to show how I blended the colours... 

The beautiful seaside themed cake toppers you see in these pictures was made by Zurisha over at Tinytype: Propfolio, a local designer who takes orders for themed cake toppers and the like. If you're in the KL area, you can contact her at tinytype.propfolio@gmail.com to order some or check out her instagram page @TinyType to see her work. I'm definitely looking forward to getting more of these to go with some of my upcoming dessert spreads.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you find that the sun on your skin doesn't quite warm you to the core, or the rain pattering on the roof outside your bedroom window sounds a bit too much like your insides, my darlings... it's time to put on an apron, pull out the sugar jar, and bake yourself a carrot cake. With cream cheese frosting, lots of it.

Carrot cake

• 280g grated carrots
• 50g chopped pecans
• 300g soft light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 300ml sunflower oil
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 8" round pans with butter and baking paper
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside
3. In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sunflower oil
4. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined
5. Stir in the grated carrots and chopped pecans
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two baking pans and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely

Happy Holiday Cake!

Holidaaay~!

It's been a very, very long time since I've taken a good break from work; with TWO public holidays falling on Tuesday and Thursday of this week, I did what any sane person with too much annual leave left over and took the three other days off for a total of 9 days to do whatever I want to do (or not do, rather).

So in addition to all the pampering and self indulgence I've been doing, catching up with my friends and family, I have obviously been taking this opportunity to try out recipes I've shelved for a while now. This particular recipe I'm about to share with you is of the cake I made for my sister's birthday earlier this year but was unable to snap pictures of. I finally have the time to revisit this cake, for no other reason than the fact that I want to eat it and take pictures of it.
I came across this recipe in Smitten Kitchen's blog years ago when browsing for classic birthday cake recipes, and it remains one of my top 5 cakes to bake for friends and family. Or really, just days off. Let's quit pretending to have reasons for cake. 

Here we go, according to Deb (Smitten Kitchen) the best birthday cake ever:

Yellow Cake

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 225 g unsalted butter
• 2 cups caster sugar
• 2 tsp mexican vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, grease and line 2 8-inch pans with butter and parchment paper then set aside
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
3. In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter until light and creamy with paddle, then toss in the sugar and continue to beat until mixture turns white and fluffy
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Be sure to scrape down the side of the bowl to ensure the entire mixture is incorporated well
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat shortly, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, and continue adding the flour and buttermilk alternately and end with the flour
6. Divide the batter in between the two pans and bake for 35-45 minutes at 160C, until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean. Take the cakes out and cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to cool completely on a wire rack

Chocolate Sour Cream frosting

• 450g good quality dark baking chocolate
• 2 tsp instant espresso
• 2 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 tsp mexican vanilla extract

1. Melt the chocolate and espresso in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted completely, remove from heat and allow to cool til tepid (basically just slightly warmer than room temperature)
2. Whisk the sour cream, light corn syrup, and vanilla, then slowly pour in the melted chocolate while whisking to ensure the mixture is fully incorporated
3. If you need to, pop the frosting in the fridge until it solidifies enough to spreading consistency (think, Nutella)
4. To assemble cake, dollop a good 1/2 cup - 1 cup of frosting on top of one layer of cake, then smooth it out before putting the other layer on top. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting around and over the cake, then decorate as you please. I just used my spatula and went around, then dropped silver dragees around the edge of the top

Butternut Squash Muffins

Hello! 

It's my birthday week, in which I turn 22 (HAHA) on Saturday! I've been contemplating making my own birthday cake... which I have absolutely no problem with, as the baking of the cake itself is a treat for me, yet I'm not so sure others are as cool with the idea as I am. So I'm going to bake an undercover cake! 

But first, lets dive into my birthday week stories. The thing is, celebrating just the one day anniversary of my birth is never enough, and my friends and I usually like to milk these events for as long as we possibly can. So we derived BirthWeeks! 

To kick off this year's Birthweek, I went on a trip to Singapore over the long weekend to catch the Harry Potter Exhibition as well as an incredibly satisfying foodie trip. I went with two girlfriends, Alena and Diyana, who both have a heightened sense of appreciation for good food and nerdiness. We stayed at an amazing hotel (thank you, online deals!), and managed to fit in a good mix of relaxation and going out. Even if our "going out" is just more relaxing, but outdoors over food and drinks. 

On our first day there, we headed over to Mandarin Gallery for brunch at Wild Honey, but forgot to factor in the fact that it would be packed on a Sunday. So we put our names down for an hour long wait, then trotted on downstairs to Antoinette, a French patisserie that Diyana has been raving about for ages! We sat down, chose our pastries (pain au chocolate and a pear danish), and decided to share an Antoinette mini cake.

It would be impossible for me to describe the myriad of emotions that went through me when I took my first bite of the pear danish. Suffice to say that it was life-altering, that I had an epiphany, that I decided then and there to be happy and just enjoy that dang pastry! It was so beautiful that I teared up (my eyes glazed over with tears, my throat tightened, and my heart felt like it would burst), which is something that I will never be able to live down to these girls. 

Then there was the actual brunch at Wild Honey, which was so flavourful and rich! We ordered the Tunisian Breakfast, and the Scandinavian breakfast to share as they seemed the most exotic on the menu. We can easily get good English, Continental, American, and Australian breakfast dishes here in town, but I don't think there's a good Scandinavian or Tunisian anywhere. It's a good thing Singapore is so close, as now I'm just going to eat sparingly for 4 weeks and make one weekend trip to eat well, just to satisfy the foodie in me. 

Of course, after the Harry Potter exhibition (which is held at the Marina Bay Art Science Museum), we made our way over to Mozza Osteria, where I had dinner with another friend, Jasmine, on a previous trip. I have been dreaming of the Francobolli Di Brasato al Pomodoro (basically braised beef rib ravioli with a tomato based sauce) since I had my first taste of it earlier this year, so for my Birthweek kick off dinner, I wanted nothing less than just that. We also ordered the truffle tortellini, roasted cauliflower, and the Fazzoleti with rabbit ragu and rosemary. Everyone had their favourites, but the Francobolli di Brasato was the big winner of the night, leaving all of us with the knowledge that there is great Italian food just next door, yet we'd never be able to find anything close to it back home. 

I suppose my best bet to have good pastries at my beck and call is to either hire a professional, or just become a professional. Pastry has always intimidated me though, no, not the cakes and cupcakes and cookies and mousses and stuff... I mean puff pastry, or bread, or the soft, light layers of pastry that would crumble on your tongue and leave you in love, sort of pastry. I've never tried it, as all recipes I've found look so damned complicated, and also because I'm afraid of failure. 

This may have to change quick. I've made up my mind to make pastries, so I suppose the smart thing to do would be to sign up for a pastry course, something I can take on weekends or on nights after work. Now to find a good one! 

For now though, let me share a recipe I've been dying to try with you guys. I found this recipe in one of my Jamie Oliver cookbooks, and have bookmarked it for over a year now. But I finally had some leftover butternut squash lying around my kitchen the other day (butternut squash soup, that's another recipe I'm going to share as soon as I get decent pictures of it) and a few extra hours on my hands, so why not? 

They didn't turn out looking as cute as Jamie's, as I didn't fill my liners high enough and most probably botched the recipe... But they turned out tasting wonderful! Especially with the added toppings :D 

Butternut Squash muffins with Mascarpone & orange zest topping

• 375g butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 300g light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 300g all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 175ml vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and line your muffin pans
2. Run the butternut squash through the food processor until thoroughly chopped, then add in the sugar and eggs and continue to whizz until mixed
3. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, walnuts, cinnamon, and olive oil until well combined
4. Pour the batter into the lined muffin pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until browned

Mascarpone topping

• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the cheeses together until fluffy and light, then slowly add the sugar until all is fully incorporated. Swirl in the vanilla extract, then once the muffins have cooled, dollop on some frosting and grate the orange zest over the top
These were quite a hit in my house this week, especially with the younger cousins. They've probably never willingly eaten pumpkin/squash before, and were all quite surprised when I informed them of the main ingredient for this (sugar, lol I joke). The orange zest added a nice refreshing touch, and the mascarpone frosting is light and flavourful while not interfering with the taste of the actual muffin. I may have to make more of these, maybe even in a cake form!

Well, I've put off writing this post for a while now (it's been in my drafts for a few days), that my birthday is actually tomorrow. I'm not too sure what's in the cards, but tonight I have plans with my friends to paint the town red, and tomorrow I think I'm just going to have a nice, Spanish dinner with my family. Can't wait!
Lots of love,
Nabs

Ladies Who Lunch: Mama Zee's Birthday

I consider myself lucky that I have an amazing mother. She is strong, smart, beautiful, intuitive, possesses far more talent in her pinky finger than I do in my entire body, and so full of love that she has shared so generously with everyone around us. My mother really is the best.

Most people are blessed with great mothers, but in our very close-knit circle of friends and extended family, we are exceptionally lucky in that we have a wonderful team of mothers. Best friends for most (if not all, actually) of our (the children's) lives, they have raised us as a group, poured their love on us, shared wisdom wrought from their own lives, listened to our boy troubles, endured our rants, and basically have just been there.

Today one of them celebrates a birthday, and in true Team Mama fashion, they organised a long lunch this afternoon (midweek public holiday, yay!), pooled together for an extravagant present (this year, Portmeirion is all the rage among the group), and sat over good food, laughing, sharing stories and taking every opportunity to scandalise Nisa, Kaly, her hapless boyfriend, and myself with innuendo and downright disturbing comments.

Mama Zee, being one of my six mothers, obviously deserves to get a homemade birthday cake! No bakery cake for any of my mamas, no way. I may not be able to afford to buy a Portmeirion teacup (or even a saucer), but this I can definitely do.

After my friend, Amy's hen night karaoke session last night (I know, you're thinking... where is that blog post?), I hauled myself home, washed my face and found that I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was a cake for Mama Zee! I knew there was no way in hell I'd be able to wake up early enough to do it, and I had actually planned on just baking the cake layers ahead of time, then frosting in the morning... but when I finally did crawl back into bed, the clock read 5.30am.

It was well worth it though. I decided to tackle Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the first time (3am decisions, they make sense sometimes) considering The Mothers have always harangued me for my too-sweet buttercream. It was surprisingly easier than anticipated, and wowweee at that silky-smooth texture and lack of sickening sweetness! Can't believe it took me this long to try it, and now that I have, I think I may have to stick with it...

I used my favourite white cake recipe, which I then divided into four bowls (roughly 1 1/2 cups per bowl) and coloured in increasing shades of pink (a teeeeeeeny tiny drop of Wilton Pink colouring gel in the first bowl, one drop in the second, 2 drops in the third, and 3 drops in the fourth). I baked the cakes in 6-inch round pans, all at once for 25-30 minutes, then popped them in the freezer (triple cling-wrapped) for half an hour.

With leftover blackberries from my Upside-down Blackberry Buttermilk cake, I whipped up a Blackberry Coulis for filling the layers. I've got some coulis leftovers now... watch this space to see what I do with it.

Blackberry Coulis

• 250g fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water

1. In a saucepan, bring the blackberries, sugar and water to a boil. Simmer until the fruit is mushy then stir in the vanilla
2. Remove from heat, allow it to cool then pour it all into a blender and whizz to a puree
3. Strain the puree through a sieve, then slather your cake layers with the goop

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 180g butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Whisk the egg whites and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved in a heatproof bowl over a bain-marie
2. Transfer to your mixing bowl, and with your whisk attachment, whisk the mixture at medium speed for about 4-5 minutes until soft peaks form (hello, meringue!). Add the vanilla.
3. At this point, slowly add butter into the mixture, by tablespoon-fulls. Continue until all the butter is in, and just whip until the point where when you run a spatula through it... it comes up looking beautifully smooth

If you have a stand mixer, I suggest you step away during that last step of the swiss meringue process. It looks terrifying, and you'll be tempted to "fix" it, as it seems as if the mixture is curdling. But don't you worry, darlings, it's meant to be that way. It will improve upon extended whipping. My tiny batch took roughly 5-8 minutes to finally arrive at a consistency I was happy with.

 

And what a beautiful taste the frosting produces! For the first time, my frosting has not overwhelmed the flavours of my cake, and as The Mothers enjoyed the cake quite a bit... I like to think I did it right this time. No complaints of "Nabiya! This is soooo sweet!" or "A moment on the lips..." and you know how it goes.

Anyway, happy birthday, Mama Zee, hope you enjoyed the lunch and love you loads!

xx Nabs

Christmas Tree Ruffle Cake

Ever since I saw this cake by Amanda (aka iammommy) last year, I've been obsessed with it. I've dreamt of the colours, the ruffles, the sweetness of it all... I just needed to wait another year for Christmas. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? Yes, you probably do. The only thing is that I'm not sure if I'm fond of the texture differences caused by the cake-ception like the one in this picture. So with a year to think about what I want my cake to look like when I finally do it, I think I surprised even myself with how simple it was to make it over-the-top Christmas-sy!

After many, many ruffle cakes over the past year (Elyza's birthday cake, Lana's engagement cake, personal pick-me-up-cos-the-week-was-so-shite cake, and many ruffled cupcakes) the ruffles just came so much easier this time around. I find that when it matters... my frosting and decorating always falls to pieces. This is definitely because I always try to do it all in one sitting, and by the time it comes to piping, I'm exhausted and my eyesight is wonky from the prolonged contact lenses to flour/sugar exposure.

Last weekend was the perfect opportunity to try this out, because a) I had no work to do, and b) mum put me on house arrest for the weekend because of my back problem. Standing and baking all day probably wasn't the best option due to point b) but I'd run out of TV shows, films and books... and wanted to bake.

I used a Wilton #103 tip for the entire cake, and about 1.5 batches of frosting, though next time I should probably use a little less for the crumb coat. There were just SO many crumbs, though, so I kind of went overboard. The housekeeper gave me a tip for that: less baking soda/powder will yield less crumbs. So next time, I'll just try putting in half of what the recipe says. I did up a classic buttercream, but not one I've posted before, so I'll share it now:

Classic Buttercream Recipe

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening, room temperature
• 3-4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp thickened whipping cream
• * Colouring gel, as desired

1. Whip the butter and shortening in a large bowl until fluffy, I find that using a hand mixer as opposed to the stand mixer produces a fluffier and smoother buttercream
2. Add vanilla, whip a bit more to incorporate
3. Gradually add the confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and beating until fully incorporated each time
4. Depending on the consistency you want to achieve, slowly add the cream. I find that 2 tbsp is perfect, but sometimes depending on other conditions, I may need more or less
5. Pipe! For ruffles, use a petal decorating tip (#104 for a slightly larger, taller cake though I used a #103) and starting at the bottom of the cake, with the bigger opening on the cake side, at almost right angles with the cake, just dash back and forth all the way up. This video might explain it better.

And when you're done, have cleaned up the kitchen and let the cake sit in the chiller for an appropriate amount of time (which basically equals to enough time for you to shower, get dressed and look presentable)... make yourself a cup of coffee (hold the sugar) and cut a slice of cake.

I don't even need an excuse to bake cakes anymore, my parents are no longer surprised, though they make "tsking" sounds whenever they find the fridge packed with desserts. Every day is cake day!

Especially red velvet cake. Look at how seasonal this cake turned out! My mum didn't see me bake this, and when I cut a slice, it was gratifying to hear her gasp. Yay Christmas!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this one, because I'm sort of still on a bit of a high. Love this one so much that I may just make a few replicas to give away...

Happy holidays!

x Nabs

Meringue-Frosted Vanilla Cake with Raspberry filling

Wow, that title is a mouthful. A good mouthful, however!

This one is over a month old, mainly because I always intended on baking it again and taking better pictures but couldn’t find the time to do so. I might later, but for the time being I don’t see it happening. In any case, my cousin celebrated her 22^nd birthday a while ago, and I wanted to bake her something special… but what?

I gave myself half an hour to decide on a recipe and just get it done, cos the dinner party was to start in 4 hours, and I hadn’t even gotten ready!

This recipe was the first to pop up when I checked Martha Stewart’s website, and it just looked and sounded so amazing that I had to give it a shot. A meringue layer instead of buttercream or ganache frosting? Really?

Why not?

I made some minor changes to the recipe and instructions, more a bastardisation of Miz Stewart's recipe than an improvement, and only because I was pressed for time. The next time I try this cake, I'll definitely try following it to the T.

Meringue-Frosted Cake with Raspberry Filling

from Martha Stewart

• 170g butter (I always find it easier to measure butter in grams)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks (reserve egg whites for meringue)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup raspberry preserve (recipe calls for raspberries too, but I didn't have any)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C, and butter the pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter that too! Dust with flour, the usual, you know?
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy and creamy
3. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, beat until combined
4. Add flour, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until just combined.
5. Divide into your prepared pans, bake side by side for 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack, remove parchment, cool completely.
7. Apply raspberry preserve on top of one layer and place the second on top
8. Meringue Frosting: Preheat oven to 230°C. With an electric hand mixer, beat reserved egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating whites until stiff. Using a spatula, frost the top and side of the cake, lifting spatula eventually to make peaks. Bake until tips of the meringue browns slightly, about 2 minutes. DON'T LET IT BURN.

Reading through the comments on Martha's website for this recipe, I found that a lot of people complained that it was dry, blablabla, but it was just perfect for me. I think it's because Martha suggests keeping it refrigerated for a day, but I just baked, frosted, took it out for dinner and cut into it, so it was beautifully moist.

I suppose this is one of those cakes you have to serve immediately and just enjoy slightly chilled.

Enjoy, much love,

Nabiya

Reese's Peanut Buttercup Cupcakes

As we all know by now, I'm a fan of putting things in other things (lol...that's... what... she said? I don't know. There's a joke here). My brother wants me to create an Inception series, and while I like this idea, I have to brainstorm to get some inspiration for this.

I had a Reese's Peanut Buttercup for the first time recently, and I thought "... I'm sure I could make this a full sized dessert." Even then I knew that it had probably already been done, cause there's nothing original about pairing chocolate and peanut butter, but so what, eh?

My favourite cupcake shop is Bisou, in KLCC, and my favourite cupcake from there was the Love Me Tender, which is chocolate with peanut butter frosting. However, they stopped selling this a couple of months back, and I've had a void ever since.

Until the Reesepiration! No? Okay, we'll forget I ever said that word. For a moment, it sounded cool in my head.

Gaze upon my frosting, ye mighty, and despair!

The recipe is simple enough, and I admit that I cheated here! Was rushing to meet my cousins at their place for lunch, and considering I slept in, I took the easy way out and used cake mix. Whoops. Whatever.

Chocolate Cupcake

• 1 box devils food cake mix
• 3 whole eggs
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3-4 generous scoops of chocolate ice-cream, softened
• Reese's peanut buttercups (in hindsight, I should have used mini cups...)

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees
2. Combine cake mix, water and butter
3. Beat in eggs one at a time
4. Mix in ice-cream
5. Drop a Reese's peanut buttercup at the bottom of each cupcake liner, and pour batter on top. Fill to about 3/4 of the lining.
6. Bake for 10-20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy (Skippy, omnomnom) peanut butter
• 3 tbsp milk, or as needed
• 2 cups of sifted icing sugar

1. Cream butter and peanut butter until fluffy
2. Incorporate sugar in 1/2 cup at a time, beat for 2-3 minutes after each addition
3. Add milk when it starts to get thick, and stop when you have your desired consistency

I could eat ten of these!

x Nabs

Cupcake Mania

I've got to work on my self-restraint. Honestly. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.

After frosting my White Roses cake, I found myself with quite a bit of frosting still left on my hands... and I figured... why the hell not bake cupcakes to just use it up?? It would be like making mini versions of the actual cake, that I can give to people who won't be getting a slice of the actual!

Great idea, Nabs!

Only then, one thing led to another and Michelle (my cousin) and Elyza (sister) asked if they could learn how to make cupcakes. I won't even pretend that I agreed because I am a loving sister and cannot say no to those girls (whom I love and adore and would do anything for, just fyi). Nope. I agreed to show them, right then and there, because I was still on a flour high. I wanted to bake, I wanted to combine stuff, and I wanted to enjoy the feel of that mixer whirring under my hand.

HELL YEAH!

... In retrospect, I can understand now why the housekeeper thought I was behaving oddly.

But whatever! We made a batch of cupcakes to match my white cake, using the exact same ingredients only this time in a cupcake pan... And another batch of chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting. You might recall the cake I baked for Adam last weekend... and so did the girls.

Small versions of both!

I don't have a problem, right?

x Nabs

Weekend in a White Garden

What do you get when you combine a simple white cake with fluffy lemon buttercream frosting?

Cellulite.

LOL just kidding (but not really), you get a cake, silly!

During the week, I find myself inexorably drawn towards cooking sites and the cooking sections of the bookstores. I now realize that what I've been doing is storing recipes and getting ideas for what I can bake during the weekends! So this week, I decided I wanted to try a simple white cake as I've never tried one that didn't come out of a box before.

I was also so inspired by Amanda's (from iambaker) rose covered cake that I decided I wanted to give it a shot. My experience with frosting is (as previously stated) very limited, and as such I don't own much equipment for decorating cakes and the such. Fortunately, last week I stumbled upon this amazing store in town called the "International Centre of Cake Artistry". This store supplies everything and anything I could possibly think of using for baking.

This, of course includes a Wilton 1M tip. Let's just leave it at that for now, I don't really feel like telling the internet (which might include my mum) what I bought.

The best thing about having a very large extended family is the fact that there is a birthday to celebrate almost every other week. This might come as a pain if you're one of those people who buy stuff for others, but it's a godsend when you just need an excuse to BAKE. So this week's cake is for the one and only Indera, my beloved cousin who turned 23 on the 18th of May (same as my brother Adam, of last week's cake). You know I don't mean that, Ind, I love you and felt I owe you cake... even if it's not the flavours you mentioned last week.

My roses didn't turn out as beautifully as Amanda's did, of course, as she is a Goddess and I am still a novice. But I had SO much fun doing this!

Basic White Cake

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (softened, do NOT let it get too liquidy)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, grease and flour your baking tray (overdo this bit)
2. Cream together sugar and butter
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla
4. Combine flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix well
5. Stir in milk until batter is smooth and fluffy
6. Pour batter into pan
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or 10-20 minutes for cupcakes, or until you poke a stick through the cake and it comes out clean

Lemon Buttercream frosting

• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 4 cups confectioners sugar, sift and sift again
• 1 cup butter (softened)

1. Cream the butter until it's fluffy
2. Add lemon juice and zest, beat well
3. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time and continue to beat until creamy

Decorating the cake:

Once the cake is completely cooled - seriously, don't mess with this bit, you make sure that cake is NOT letting off any more heat or your frosting will just melt right off and it's gonna look fug. I had to pop my cake in the fridge for 10 minutes before I could frost mine, cos the humidity here on the Equator does not help with the cooling process. Or the impatience.

Anyhoo, once your cake is cooled and leveled (you don't have to have a very level cake if you don't want to) apply a crumb coating and pop it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes. A crumb coating is just to ensure that any stray crumbs from the cake will be stuck down so it won't come off into your final layer of decoration later.

Attach your Wilton 1M tip, or any large open star tip that you have to your decorating bag (a 16 inch bag should be okay for a 9 inch cake, but it's fine if you don't mind refilling) and fill it with your frosting. I can't possibly describe the method of decorating without sounding like a complete dork (start in the centre and go round and round til you get a cool rose), so I'll leave that to the pro: Check out Amanda's tutorial on this cake.

As you can see, I didn't do so well on the roses on the side of the cake. My first batch of buttercream frosting (yes, I realised I needed two batches for this cake) was a little under the desired consistency (smooth, yet not runny) AND coupled with the fact that it was my first time using the 1M tip and trying to create this rose effect. So the roses are a little shoddy. Also, I didn't space them very well so there's a lot of filler "petals" in there too. Still love it though!

Now I know you're probably thinking "... wait... she didn't mention cupcakes!"

(:

xx Nabs

A post of many firsts

It's my brother's 10th birthday tomorrow, but like I was told recently "You don't need an excuse, Nabs." So I'm going to say this upfront, as much as I love this kid and love spoiling him with sweets, I baked a cake today for my own satisfaction and not really for him. Does that make me a horrible person?

Not that I baked a cake for me to eat, just to enjoy the process of turning seemingly unrelated ingredients into a proper cake. And he's totally going to eat the whole thing anyway, so win-win?
Today was my first attempt at making frosting and a layered cake. It REALLY wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be!
My favourite chocolate cake has always been my aunt Rosa's chocolate cake, and she used to bake my chocolate cakes every single year until my family moved to Gabon for dad's work. Anyhoo, I finally got the recipe for her cake and decided to give it a shot. It didn't turn out as great as hers (obviously, she's a gourmet chef!) but from snacking on the pieces that I cut off (I know, I know... that's horrible but allow me my guilty pleasures) I think it turned out pretty damn good!

As for the buttercream, who knew it would be so simple? I did get a bit worried when I realised how much sugar I kept "gradually" adding to the mix... is that really how much sugar I take in from my regular desserts? Also, I made the rookie mistake of popping my completed frosting into the fridge to preserve it while my cake baked and cooled. BAD IDEA, NABS! I panicked, and thanks to my cooling oven, I managed to get my frosting back in working order by holding the bowl in the open oven to just let it thaw.
Look at that? Doesn't that just look luscious?

Excuse my n00by frosting, like I said, frosting virgin, yadayada. Anyhoo, recipe time:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (we've always liked Van Houten)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup maple syrup (room temperature)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (as always, triple this if you want to!)
• 1 cup milk
• 8 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees Celcius, grease and lightly flour your baking pan (I used a small, 6-inch pan this time around)
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl (See the blue bowl I'm using here? I just got it today lol)
3. In a separate bowl whisk the butter and maple syrup. Then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and the milk
4. Pour the wet mixture over the flour mixture and stir until barely combined
5. Add the chocolate and stir until integrated
6. Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes (I went three times to make my three layers)

For this cake, I had to cut the top of the cakes off to level the layers and then allowed them to cool completely before laying on the frosting. For which, the recipe is as below:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam (try getting seedless jam, I couldn't today)
• 1 16oz packet of powdered sugar

1. Whisk the butter and jam together until thoroughly mixed
2. Gradually stir in the sugar until creamy
3. Finally, to get my frosting as pink as it is, I added three drops of pink colouring

If you have the time, I hope you give this a shot cos chocolate and raspberry is SO good together! OMNOMNOM.

x Nabs