Lion Birthday Cake

I made this lion birthday cake for a friend's son's birthday. I used Wilton's Stand-Up Cuddly Bear Pan. To make this cake, I combined 2 recipes - a yellow pound cake recipe and a yellow butter cake recipe. It took me quite some time to make both recipes and even more time to decorate the whole cake. But I loved the end result and I'm glad the birthday boy was happy too. :)

Here's the Yellow Pound Cake recipe.

And here's the Yellow Butter Cake recipe.

Single Rose Cake

This was a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. I tried decorating it with a single rose which I piped directly onto the cake. It was my first try, so I guess I did okay. I'm glad my friend enjoyed the cake. :)

Cake Ispahan - Rose Water & Raspberry Cake

If you love baking, then you will definitely love Pierre Herme. Well, love his recipes, at least. ;) I've a list of recipes that I have yet to try and Cake Ispahan was one that I could not miss. It's a rose water and raspberry loaf cake. Separately, you wouldn't know it that when these two flavors are combined, they're amazing. And beautiful too! Your kitchen will smell so sweet ;)

Check out Pierre Herme's Cake Ispahan recipe.

Sacher Torte (minus the Kirschwasser syrup)

My sister was vacationing in Austria and since I couldn't join her, I decided to try baking the famous Austrian cake, the Sacher Torte. This is a layered chocolate cake with apricot jam coated with chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze. I'm not really a fan of apricot jam, but I love chocolate. And chocolate ganache. And chocolate glaze. How decadent! The recipe calls for some alcohol, but my version was made without it. 

Check out the Sacher Torte recipe.

Kuih Bahulu

M loves kuih bahulu. Its a Malaysian dessert similar to mini tea cakes. They're a bit crunchy on the outside, but soft and puffy on the inside. Simple yet wonderful. And the beautiful designs of the kuih bahulu pan make this 'cake' even more appealing. I had to make this a few times because M kept asking for more!

Here's the Kuih Bahulu recipe for all of you to try. Yummy-licious definitely!

Recipe: Kuih Bahulu

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons cooking oil/butter (optional)

Method:
Beat the eggs with an electric hand-mixer until frothy and then add sugar. Continue to beat until the sugar is well dissolved and the mixture becomes sticky.

Add in the vanilla essence and fold in the flour gradually and then add in the cooking oil/butter. Continue to beat the batter with the hand-mixer until well-blended. Grease the kuih bahulu moulds and fill up to the surface level.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degree Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove bahulu from the moulds and cool on wire racks. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Cook’s Note:

The traditional kuih bahulu recipe doesn’t call for cooking oil or butter, but I find them a tad too dry. Adding the cooking oil/butter makes the kuih bahulu comes off the mould easily. Also, as you can see, my kuih bahulu are over baked because I lost track of time. They should be light brown in color.

Panda Bread

Who doesn't love eating? And what better to eat than something cute? Well, I did try to make something cute and edible. Though the panda bread didn't really look as cute as it should have, it did taste great! M had requested for it when he saw pics of the panda bread my sister had made, so I had no excuse but to make one for him.

Click on the link for the Panda Bread recipe. And for the step-by-step pictorial, check this out. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3 cups Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup milk w/ 1 egg yolk (both should total 1 cup together)
• 3/4 tbsp salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp green tea (matcha) powder mixed w/ 2 tsp hot water, OR green food coloring
• 3 1/2 tsp cocoa powder mixed w/ 1 1/2 tsp hot water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Directions

1. 1In a small bowl, microwave milk and egg yolk for about 30 seconds. Set aside.
2. 2In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar and yeast.
3. 3Add in butter, salt and milk mixture, stirring on low speed with the dough hook attachment.
4. 4Increase speed to medium and knead until dough comes together and pulls away from the sides, about 5-10 minutes. If the dough is sticky, add a tbsp-ful of dough at a time until it is smooth and elastic.
5. 5Divide dough into three pieces, two about equal and one about 1/3 the size of the other two.
6. 6Place one of the large pieces in the stand mixer bowl and mix with green tea/water mixture OR green tea food coloring until desired color is reached.
7. 7Remove dough from bowl and place in a lightly greased bowl, covered, to rise until doubled.
8. 8Clean stand mixer bowl, then place smallest piece of dough in stand mixer and combine with cocoa powder/water mixture until color is blended through. Remove dough from bowl and place in a separate, lightly greased bowl, covered, to rise until doubled.
9. 9Place plain piece of dough in a separate, lightly greased bowl, covered, to rise until doubled. All pieces should double in about an hour.
10. 10Once dough is risen, on a floured surface, divide plain dough in thirds, with one piece being half the size of the other two (as you did before). Use one of the larger pieces to form the face. Divide the cocoa dough in quarters and use two quarters to form the eyes.
11. 11Quickly place the smallest piece of plain dough between the eyes to keep them in place. Stretch remaining piece of plain dough over the whole bread to lock everything in place.
12. 12Take last two quarters of cocoa dough and form the ears.
13. 13Divide green dough in two pieces, one twice the size of the other. Take the small piece to fill in the space between the ears. Take the larger piece of green dough and stretch over the whole bread to lock everything in place.
14. 14Place dough in a lightly greased loaf pan, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
15. 15Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
16. 16Once dough is risen, bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown on the outside (the inside should register 190 degrees F). Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing or serving.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

While I was transitioning between moving house, I was staying at a hotel and had to borrow a friend's oven to do some baking. This was a great recipe and I loved the swirling effect of the chocolate with the cheese. This recipe is definitely a keeper!!

Click on the link for this wonderful Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies recipe.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie Recipe
(Adapted from Donna Hay Chocolate)
Makes 16 slices

Ingredients

185 g (6 1/2 oz) butter, melted
1/4 cup (30 g / 1 oz) cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (220 g / 7 3/4 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150 g / 5 1/4 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted

Cheesecake:
285 g (10 oz) cream cheese, softened and chopped
4 1/2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Place the butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs and flour in a bowl and mix well until smooth. Spoon into a 20cm (8 in) square slice tin lined with non-stick baking paper.
2. To make the cheesecake, process the cream cheese, sugar and eggs in a food processor until smooth. Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and swirl with a butter knife. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until set. Cool in the tin. Cut into 16 slices.