Apple Streusel Cake on the Last Day of CNY Holiday

It has been a wonderful break for me. Even though I didn't travel anywhere, I had a relaxing time at home. Managed to cook, bake and spend some quality time with Zade. Today I  made spaghetti carbonara for lunch and for afternoon tea, apple streusel cake and keropok lekor. I have been craving for the apple streusel cake for the longest time. I stumbled on the recipe from an old Better Homes and Garden magazine while I was living in Melbourne. I've never seen this cake being sold at any bakery or cafe. So kalau teringin nak makan kena buat sendiri.

Tomorrow I will go back to work, but Zade has an extra day of holiday, lucky boy. So I don't have to rush to pick him up during lunch time. Hopefully can get significant amount of work done because I don't have much time left.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I usually make butter pound cake. But once I had some cream cheese, so I went to look for a recipe online and found this at grouprecipes.com. This is a simple recipe that I've tried a few times. And each time in turned out great. It's really easy to make with only a few ingredients. One of my neighbour at Unimews gave me some bubur jagung today, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to give her some cake. Since I'm travelling tomorrow, I'm going to take some with me on the flight cause I'm sure the food is not going to be great. The cake taste as lovely as always, especially when it's fresh out of the oven.

Ingredients
125 g butter or margarine, softened.
125 g package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp.vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted self raising flour

Directions
1. Grease and flour a 10" tube pan or a 12-cup bundt pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
3. Beat butter and cream cheese together until well-blended.
4. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Blend in vanilla. Sift flour and salt together and blend into the creamed mixture.
7. Bake 1 hour 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 1" from edge comes out clean.


Hot out of the oven

Banana Cake

Zade and I eat bananas regularly. Sometimes I buy way too much and we don't eat them fast enough. This week I'm stuck with 3 ripe bananas. I'm not a big fan of banana cake so I've never tried to make one before. But I wasn't about to throw away the bananas since they are quite expensive. I went online in search of a a simple banana cake recipe. I found one with good reviews at bestrecipes.com.au. I gave it a try and added some walnuts and sultanas. It turned out lovely. Rich and moist. Banana cake is not too bad after all.

Ingredients
½ cup butter
2 eggs
3 small bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50 mL milk
½ cup caster sugar
1½ cups self-raising flour

Method
1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.
2. Add eggs separately, beating well.
3. Mash bananas and add to mixture.
4. Dissolve soda in milk and add flour and milk alternately.
5. Bake in 2 greased tins or 1 large tin 180°C for 35 minutes or until cooked.

Bread Talk II : Sultana Bread

In my second attempt at making bread, I decided to make something sweet. After cheking the pantry for ingredients, I went online to look for a recipe which I could make. I came across a sultana bread recipe which seems easy enough. Since I had all the ingredients, I went ahead and tried the recipe. It turned out quite well.


The dough was balled up and arranged in the baking tray


Hot out of the oven

Bread Talk

Zade and I usually eat two loaves of bread a week, and this doesn't include sweet bread. Each loaf is about AUD4, which means I spend AUD8 for bread a week or AUD36 a month. It could easily be more if I buy sweet breads. There are cheaper breads but they are just not worth buying. Anyway, I've been reading that breads that are sold at the supermarket are not really bread and they are unhealthy as it is full of additives. I've read on a few blogs on how easy it is to actually make your own bread, and not to mention cheaper and healthier. So, I've finally summoned up the courage give it a try.

I found a simple recipe which had only a few ingredients and seem easy enough to make. The ingredients:
1 1/4 cup water/milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
i teaspoon dry yeast
2 tablespoon butter
4 cups flour

The preparation took about 2 and a half hours which include rising time and another half an hour for baking. But the result is really amazing. The taste of the bread while it's still warm is just scrumptious. Definitely worth the effort. And not only does it taste better than the store bought bread, it cost only a fraction of the price. Yummy!


Dough left to rise in the mixing bowl


Dough left to rise in the baking tin


Ready to bake


A beautiful loaf of bread

New Oven and Cornflakes Shortbread

My new cute lil oven.


Butter n sugar.


Batter.


All in neat rows.


Zade eyeing the batter.


Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.


Golden cornflakes shortbread.

Microwave with Grill Function

I love baking cake and cookies. The problem is my apartment is not equipped with an oven, instead I've been provided with a microwave which has crisp and grill function. I tried to make a butter cake once using the microwave function. It turned out just ok, which I was not satisfied with. Since I've been craving for a cake, I'm making a second attempt. This time I tried using the grill function with the hope that the cake will turned out better. And to avoid any disappointment, I also made steam cakes just in case. So I ended having three cakes, a chocolate layer which I baked in the microwave, and haw flakes layer cake & coffee cake which I steamed.


The verdict, the chocloate layer cake turned out dry. Huhuhu. Luckily the steamed cakes were perfectly moist and tasted great. Yummy. I do need an oven desperately.