Decadent: Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Oh! For the love of chocolate.

Sometimes it pays to be a little lazy. This Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, a Tish Boyle creation, called for shredded chocolate inside the chocolate batter. Shred? Oh that sounded like too much work, particularly since I was baking this at 10pm on the eve of Deepavali, the festival of lights celebrated by Hindus the world over. Yes, I kept my baking to the very last minute and I had one day to make 6 desserts. Yes, I am silly that way.

So, shred the chocolate? I resorted to "roughly chopping" instead and ended up with uneven chunks of dark chocolate. Doesn't matter, I thought - it'd melt in the batter as it bakes anyway. Right?

Well, they didn't completely melt away in the batter which was .... PERFECT. Apart from the rich, chocolate flavour of the cake (for Tish's recipe is really solid), there are chunks (oh! thank goodness for my laziness) of chocolate within the cake. In every bite, literally, you bite into soft, almost melted chocolate that's sandwiched in the tender and moist crumb of the cake.

Oh, and I must admit: I increased the quantity of the chocolate too. :) I just couldn't help myself.

Really. You need to try being lazy. This cake turned out better than I could have hoped for. It is super, duper chocolatey. I mean, really. Super duper.

I can't take credit though.

Just like all her other cakes which I've tried (her pound cake is great too), Tish Boyle's Buttermilk Chocolate Cake is a winner. Using buttermilk almost guarantees a very soft and almost creamy texture which - to use a cliche - melts in the mouth.

Tish's recipe is for individual cakes baked in mini bundt pans. I didn't have mini bundt pans plus I really wanted to make a whole cake. I baked mine in an 8-inch round tin and had to extend the baking time by about 10 mins so that the center was cooked through.

The cake doesn't need icing. I just decorated it with some powdered sugar which I dusted through my brand new stencil - isn't it pretty? It's not a terribly sweet cake either which means you can eat more than a piece with a little less guilt :)

Daring Bakers: Apricot Frangipane Pie

Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers' host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! I was thrilled at the challenge because I've been fixated on baking pies and tarts for quite some time now and this challenge was yet another excuse to try something new. So, before I continue with the post, I have to say a big "thank you" to Rachael. 

Now Rachel gave us four different pies to choose from for the challenge - the infamous Crack Pie made famous by David Chang in his Momofuku Milk Bar; A Chocolate and Caramel Tart, a Crostata de Marmellata (an Italian-styled fruit tart) and a traditional double-crusted Apple Pie. 

I chose to make one of the four - the Crack Pie - and then make a fruit pie  of my own, an Apricot Frangipane Pie (see pic above!). 

First, I tried my hand at the Crack Pie. It was impossible not to try it, having heard and read so much about this utterly decadent (it's a whole lot of butter combined with a whole lot of sugar)  which I am told is being  sold at US$45 a pie or something to that effect. I was also encouraged, having tasted a replica of it made by my colleague and fellow Daring Baker Jane of The Wayward Oven.

Doesn't my Crack Pie look awesome in this photo?

Well, that's because it hadn't been cut yet at the time. Once I cut into it, I discovered to my horror that my filling hadn't set and was still gooey (this despite me extending the baking time substantially). Thick, rich butterscotch-y filling just oozed as I sliced and though it was delicious (and calorie laden, for sure), I was devastated. 

Let me show you a photo of the goooey mess. Be warned, it's not a pretty sight. 

Told ya! Not sure what went wrong. I will probably attempt to make it again once I am done grieving. Yes, I am a little dramatic over failed baking projects. Sigh.

I decided to shift my attention on my Apricot Pie which I was sure wouldn't not yield such a catastrophic result. It's a frangipane fruit pie, after all. 

I chose Apricots by chance. I was planning on making a mixed berry pie but on my grocery run last weekend I saw a carton of Apricots on sale and I grabbed two immediately. I tried them as soon as I got home and was pleased to find how soft and sweet they were. Score!

After eating a couple of them, I put the apricots to good use in the Apricot Frangipane Pie ... errr, even though it kinda looks like a tart. The apricots and the almonds in the frangipane went amazingly well. 

Frangipane is an almond pastry cream used in cakes, pies, pastries and tarts. It's made by simply creaming  butter and sugar together and then adding in almost paste (or ground almonds), eggs and a little flour. It acts as a custard would in holding the fruit pie/tart together. 

This will be my new go-to pie (whenever I see affordable apricots at the grocers, that is - imported fruit such as Apricots, Raspberries, Blueberries etc cost an arm and a leg here in Malaysia). 

  

Apricot Frangipane Pie

For the Crust

150g all purpose flour

25g icing sugar

90g butter, cold and cubed

3-4 tbsp cold milk

For the Filling

600g fresh apricots, pitted and halved

60g brown sugar

70g ground almond  

50g butter, room temp

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp plain flour

For the pastry, combine flour and icing sugar. Add the cold butter and rub the cubes  into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the ice cold milk in, gradually, until a soft dough forms.

Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30mins.

For the filling, beat the butter, ground almonds and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and extract and beat till all ingredients are incorporated well. Stir in the flour.

Once the dough has chilled, roll the dough and fit it inside the pie dish. Puncture holes at the base of the pastry with a fork and blind bake for 10-13 mins or until the pastry starts to brown and the base is no longer soft.

Using a spatula, fill the half-baked case with the frangipane cream. Arrange the apricots on the cream.

Bake for about 20-30 mins or till cream sets and the pastry is cooked.

Mother's Day Marble Cake

Dearest Mummy

It's mother's day today and though we never really celebrated Mother's Day with much fan fare, I  am thinking of you today. A lot.

I suddenly had a craving for your marble cake last night ... you know, the one you used to make for tea when we were children? I don't think I ever told you how much I loved that marble cake. It's a shame I never asked you for your recipe - heaven knows I've tried many different recipes from sites I've found online. Some were good (some were even really good) but none have been quite as good as the one you used to make. The marble cake that is sold at our canteen at work is pretty good, actually. But your cake, mummy, was not just pretty good. It was fabulous.

So anyway, seeing that it is Mother's Day and all, I decided to give in to my craving. I looked up the one recipe that came close to the taste and texture of the cake you made. It's from a blog called Chocolate & Zucchini, a blog I visit quite often. Yes, mum. You'd be surprised at how much I cook these days (considering you had to nag me to help you before!). I guess I've grown up somewhat!

Anyway, Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini uses melted chocolate in her recipe instead of cocoa powder like you used to. She also uses cocoa nibs in between the layers of plain and chocolate batter.  I usually mix a little bit of cocoa powder and some brewed coffee into the melted chocolate to add some kick into the chocolate batter. But I ran out of both cocoa and coffee and so I too just used melted chocolate. Yes, mum, I know you're rolling your eyes. Yes, I still don't make a list before I go shopping and find myself running back and forth to get ingredients I've forgotten. Some things, I guess, haven't changed!.

I also added sour cream to the batter instead of milk. Clotilde suggests yoghurt or buttermilk but I really love how sour cream adds so much moisture and also a very subtle flavour to cakes. I wonder if you ever tried it in your cakes ...

The cake turned up fabulous, mummy. For once, I actually allowed my cake to rest and cool down completely before cutting it and trying a piece. Usually, I can't wait to try a piece and end up cutting my cakes while they are still warm-ish causing the cake to crumble a little. Yes, yes, I am still a little impatient. OK, a lot impatient. You remember how I used to peer in the oven to see if your cookies and cakes were ready? Or how I used to linger in the kitchen when you were making my favourite dishes?

I also followed Clotilde's suggestion of drizzling a syrup on the warm cake as soon as it's out of the oven. She added a cacao liqueur/rum in her syrup. I used my favourite cream liqueur, Amarula, in my syrup. Oh, mum. You would have liked it too, I think. Remember New Year's Eve in 2004 when we had some wine that Sree brought over? You were a little tipsy, weren't you?

So, yeah, the cake was yum. I served it for breakfast and R loved it (I pitied him because he never had the chance to eat your cake! Unlucky fella!). It was a nice way to start the day mum, we spoke about you and shared some laughs (well, you were quite funny!). I couldn't share the cake with Mojo though. Too bad dogs can't eat chocolate. He would have loved the cake too seeing that he loves anything you feed him anyway. Yes, he is terribly spoilt.

I've got to head out for lunch now but before I do, Happy Mother's Day to the most wonderful mother ever. I miss you a lot. Till our next chat! xoxo.

Marble Cake
(Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini)
For the cake
100g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
4 eggs
250g sugar
120ml sour cream
220g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
120g butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Beat the eggs and sugar until incorporated. Add the sour cream and beat to mix. Add the flour and butter, alternating between the two.

Separate the batter into two bowls: 2/3 in one bowl and 1/3 in another.  Add the vanilla extract into the bowl with more batter. Combine the smaller batch of batter with the melted chocolate and stir to combine.

Line and grease a loaf pan. Pour in the batter: first, add 1/3 of the vanilla. Next, add half the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla (you don't really have to spread it or swirl it). Add another 1/3 of the vanilla batter and then, the rest of the chocolate. Top the cake with the remaining vanilla batter.

Bake for 50-60 mins or till a tester comes out clean.

For the syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Amarula

Heat the water and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens. Stir in the Amarula and let it cool.

Drizzle the syrup over the cake once out of the oven. Cool.

Daring Bakers: Hidden Veggies in Sweet Bakes

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers' challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results. I loved the idea of sneaking veggies into dessert - I especially like the reveal: you know, when you actually tell someone that the brownie they are savouring has actually more brinjal in it than chocolate or that the cheesecake they had two slices of has tofu (god forbid!) in it and not Mascarpone cheese. 

Yes, you guessed it. I'm a prankster. I'm one of those people who look forward to April Fool's day every year. I used to play a prank on my poor, dear mother every year. Now that she's not around any more, it is my doomed-to-be-long suffering husband has to bear my (often not well-thought out) pranks.

This month's challenge was the perfect pre-cursor to April Fool's Day (which is in five days! Can't wait!).

Ruth gave us several recipes to try out and they all looked extremely interesting but I had one recipe that I had thought up a while ago and was dying to try. I wanted to use spinach in a sweet cake. I've made a savoury spinach cheesecake before but never a sweet dessert cake. 

I must admit, the idea of spinach in a dessert cake was a little off-putting.I love spinach and I eat a helluva lot of it: but it's always seasoned with salt and pepper and never sugar. I was a little apprehensive and was prepared to think of creative ways of disposing the cake if it tasted ghastly (by creative I meant feeding it to Mojo, my dachshund who would gobble up anything!).

As it turned out, the spinach cake (an adaptation from the Turkish Ispanakli kek) turned out delicious. It tastes better once it has been chilled. The spinach is not discernible at all (unless you fail to puree the leaves properly and leave the evidence in the cake!) and most of the folks I offered the cake assumed the green colour was green tea/macha, pistachios or pandan leaves. I frosted the cake with some light cream cheese frosting which went really well with the cake.

I only revealed what the main ingredient of the cake was well after they'd had a couple of bites and expressed appreciation for the flavour and texture (for it is a very soft, moist cake) of the cake. The look on their faces though as they were eating a spinach cake was. quite frankly, priceless.
 

Would they eat it again? Most said yes. Some urged me to delude them into believing it was pistachio or green tea the next time for though they loved the flavour, they needed time to get comfortable with the idea of a spinach cake.

It was a fun challenge overall and I am amazed at the creative efforts of my fellow Daring Bakers: Chickpea White Chocolate Brownies? Edamame Whoopie Pies? Kidney Bean Chocolate Cakes? Whoa. Looks like I'll have a lot of ammunition come April Fools Day!


Spinach Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup pureed spinach (leaves only: should get this from 300g spinach or so)
3 eggs
2 tbsp lime juice
225g sugar (+ 1/4 cup more if you prefer a your cakes sweet)
250g all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup canola/vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and smooth. Add oil, lemon juice and pureed spinach and mix until everything is well incorporated.

Fold in the flour.

Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch baking pan and bake for 30-35 mins or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool cake completely before frosting (which is optional. You can get the recipe for the frosting here).

Once frosted, chill cake for at least a couple of hours before devouring. Tastes best chilled!

Lemon and Jam slices

Pucker up, honey. No, no, no, no, no ... this isn't a Valentine's Day post. In fact, when I offered R a piece of these lemon bars, he puckered, grimaced and recoiled after taking an itty-bitty bite. 

"You know I don't like these kind of lemon desserts. It's too sour," he said, amidst more grimacing, pushing the plate as far away as his spindly arms could reach.

I rushed over to his side ... to take a bite for myself.  They tasted fine last night when I baked them. (But then again, maybe I was too inebriated or too sleepy (or both) to actually discern. I grabbed the fork and cut into the slice.)

"Dude. What are you talking about?" I asked him. "It's fine. Not sour. It just tastes of lemon," I said.

"Well, I can't eat anymore," he said. "It has too much lemon in it. It's too sour."

So you see why this will never pass for a Valentine's dessert in my house. 

Perhaps there should be a caveat: these bars are not for non-fans of lemons. It is by no means sour (I swear men exaggerate soooo much more than women) but the taste of lemon is distinct. Eaten with the base (which is buttery like shortbread with toasted almonds to add texture) and the jammy center, it's really good. Fresh and tangy. Creamy. 

Lemon and Jam Bars

Lemon Curd

2 eggs

3 egg yolks

75g (1/3 cup) castor sugar

2 tbsp milk

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (reduce this a little if you're not fond of the tanginess of a lemon)

Zest of 1 lemon

85g butter, cold and cut into cubes

pinch of salt

For later

1/4 cup jam (I used some leftover Ligonberry jam I had but you can use strawberry, raspberry or cranberry )

In a stainless steel/glass or ceramic (non-reactive) saucepan, beat the eggs, yolks, milk, sugar and salt until just incorporated. Add the lemon zest and juice and beat to mix. Add the butter and put the saucepan on the fire (low heat) and heat the mixture, stirring constantly (or else it might curdle), until it thickens and can coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and continue whisking the curd until it cools somewhat. Cover the surface with clingfilm (so a crust doesn't form on the surface) and let it cool to room temperature.

Crust
125 g all purpose flour
50g icing sugar
pinch of salt
130 g butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup toasted, chopped almonds

Whisk together the flour, sugar, almonds and salt. Add the butter and using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it becomes like coarse breadcrumbs, clumping together here and there.

Press the buttery, crumbly mixture into a parchment-lined square or rectangular baking tray (about  15cm or 6-inch tray with a 5cm or 2-inch rim should be fine).

Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 20 mins or until the edges start to brown. Remove the crust from the oven and spread on the layers of jam and curd: jam first and then the curd.

Pop the tray back in the oven and bake for 20 min or so, until the curd has set and springs back a little when touched.

Remove and cool. The curd will still be a little soft when it comes out of the oven but will set further as it cools. Once cooled, chill for at least an hour before serving. A light dusting of icing sugar before serving is the final touch.

Punitions

Punition, in French, translates to punishment. The stort behind these sables are just too cute (and bewildering). Apparently, French baker Pierre Poliane's grandmother used to play a game with her grandchildren: they'd be out playing and she'd call them back, apparently to punish them for something or other and instead, she'd hand them a tray (or plate — the specifics are hazy) of these sables. Hence, they became known as punitions. Lucky fella, that Poliane! When we were kids, each time we'd get called in for a punishment, we'd get one. And without any cookies. 

Believe me, there are nothing punishing about these buttery cookies. They're simple, humble cookies but therein lies the beauty: crisp, light, only mildly sweet and wonderfully buttery.  

They're also really easy to put together. The cookies don't need any adornment (though they are sometimes used to sandwich a chocolate or cream filling) but I decided to play a little and try my hand at decorating them with some royal icing. 

Royal icing is quite simple to make: you can either use meringue powder or egg whites which you whisk together with icing sugar and water/lemon juice/vanilla. Then you colour the icing as you wish and pipe/spread the icing on the cookies as you wish.

I'd decided to make the icing on a whim. So I started whipping the egg whites (I didn't have meringue powder) before realising that I had barely any icing sugar left. (You need about 2 cups sugar per egg white to ice about a dozen cookies). Arrrgh. I had to make do but the result was a slightly thin icing which made piping it a nightmare. The damn thing kept running everywhere. 

Also, I am not comfortable with eating or serving raw egg whites and so I popped the iced cookies in the oven (low heat: about 150C) for about 10 mins for the icing to cook and become a kind of meringue. It was good, I must say!

Punitions


145g butter, unsalted
1/2 cup (heaped) castor sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/4 cup (scant) corn flour


Beat the butter with the paddle attachment of your mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and beat till incorporated. Don't beat it too much that it gets fluffy as you would when baking cakes. Add the egg and mix until the mixture becomes smooth and satiny. Add the flour and corn starch mix just until the dough comes together. 


Divide the dough into two, shape into discs, wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour or so. 


Preheat the oven to 180C.


Roll dough out to about 5mm thickness and cut it with your cookie cutter. Place on a line baking sheet (about 2cm apart) and bake for 8 mins or until the middle of the cookie is set but the punitions are still beautifully pale. The edges may turn golden a little if your cookies are a little on the thin side.


Cool and serve.

(Where's The) Butter Cake

About a week ago, my friend JY pointed me towards a recipe for a cake that used cream instead of butter. The whipped cream cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum uses heavy cream in lieu of butter. I was curious and I couldn't wait for the weekend to try making the cake, especially since JY tried it herself and boasted of the "wonderful flavour and tender crumb" of her cake.

I measured the ingredients, preheated the oven and got to the first step of the recipe: whipping the cold cream till it formed stiff peaks.

And then things went a little out of control. I decided to multitask. I sieved my flour, baking powder and salt while the cream was whisking. It should take about 5 minutes more, right? I had time. I made myself a cup of tea, washed the dishes and then sauntered back to check on my cream only to find a big sloshy mess in the bowl of my mixer.

Egad!

I'd let the cream be whipped too long! I was well on my way to making butter! Blast! (Yes, these exclamation marks are deliberate). So much for a no butter cake!

What had happened? The extra whipping had expelled the butter milk from the cream.

[Aside: To make butter, you need to drain the buttermilk away and whip the cream once more to expel even more buttermilk. Then you drain again and wash the butter: fill the bowl with cold running water. Let the water wash over the 'butter', gently kneading the butter to dispel any remaining buttermilk from it. Keep was water going until there is no trace of whey, until the water that drains off the clear.  For a detailed explanation read this article in The Guardian]

Back to my cake.

I turned off the oven and stared at the butter-in-progress, quite helpless. What should I do? Abandon the project and make butter instead or try to salvage the cream as best I could. I decided to keep whisking, wondering all the while what would happen.

Wouldn't you know it, miraculously, the buttermilk and cream came together once again. What just happened? Turns out, just as you can separate the buttermilk from the cream to make butter, you can whisk it all back together. Buttermilk and cream whisked together give you cream. Well, that's how I understand it. Would gladly welcome any comments or a better explanation perchance.

Alls well that ends well: I managed to reconstitute the cream and whipped it to hold peaks, watching closely this time and proceeded with the recipe.

Wasn't sure how the cake would turn out but as I watched it bake, I was hopeful that all would be well. It rose really well and though cracks appeared on the surface, it looked swell.

After 35 mins, I removed the cake and waited impatiently for it to cool before tasting it.

It ... was... lovely. Light, moist, pillowy soft with that tender crumb JY promised. It didn't quite taste like a butter cake: it was lighter and Beranbaum's recipe called for a modest amount of sugar and if anything, the next time I would add just a little more sugar to the recipe. To compensate, I slathered on some chocolate buttercream frosting which I had stored in my fridge: remnants of a cupcake project from last week. Ah, perfect! [On hindsight, or rather after eating quite a few slices, the topping wasn't necessary. Instead a light dusting of powdered sugar as Beranbaum suggests, works sufficiently].

Phew. What a morning.

Whipped Cream Cake

adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum

21/4 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

11/2 cups heavy cream, cold

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

11/4 cups sugar (the original recipe called for 1 cup + 2 tbsp)

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Gently whisk the eggs and the vanilla. Set aside.

Whisk the cold cream the your mixer until it forms firm peaks. Start on a low speed and slowly increase to medium high and then high. 

Add the egg mixture gradually to the cream until its incorporated and achieves the consistency of mayonnaise. Add the sugar and beat to incorporate.

Gently fold in half the flour with a spatula; add the remaining flour and fold in till mixed together well.

Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 mins or till a tester comes out clean. 

Vanilla Cupcakes

I have never been a cupcake sorta girl. You don't believe me? Yeah, I don't blame you judging by my recent posts which have been largely on cupcakes. 

Well, seasons change and so do people and boy, have I changed. 

You know what clued me in on this change? There were many signs but the most glaring was my behaviour on a recent trip to New York City. I usually busy myself visiting museums, window shopping, people watching and actually shopping whenever  I visit the Big Apple but this time, I didn't do much shopping at all. If that isn't atypical enough of me, get this: I actually sought out some of the city's most talked about cupcakes to sample. As in I went looking for cupcakes, bought them, ate them (and actually felt a little sick after) and then I went looking for some more. And, I even lived to write about it in Don't Call Me Chef, the monthly column I share with my colleagues Jane and Ivy in The Star. You can read all about my NYC cupcake adventure here.

So yeah. To sum it up: I am, at the moment, cupcake mad. MAD ... as in I dream of different ways to make a cupcake special all the time. Like a hound in search of its prey, I go in search of pretty cupcake liners and even prettier toppings. Hundreds and thousands? Yeah, that will soon describe the number of cupcake paraphernalia I have amassed.

Obsessive? Maybe just a bit.

My latest cupcake experiment was this Vanilla Cupcake for which the famed Hummingbird Bakery in London is best known. Having never been to the Hummingbird Bakery myself or tried their cupcakes, I was curious to give it a go. Plus I admit I was drawn by the image of the candy-coloured frosting on the cupcakes that were featured on goodtoknow.co.uk. So pretty.

And, it's always  hard to resist the promise of a delicious vanilla cupcake. And, I am relieved and delighted to report that the promise was fulfilled (although I must admit I played around a little bit with the recipe). The vanilla cupcakes were light and moist (the instruction to remove the cakes from the oven once the tester came out "almost clean" was the reason, I am supposing) and the frosting -- just a basic vanilla butter cream (with milk added) -- was perfect.

And, I had a lot of fun colouring the butter cream, slathering it on the cupcakes and adding the sprinkles and the hundreds and thousands. It was a good way to begin my Monday morning indeed.
  

Hummingbird Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes

(adapted from goodtoknow.co.uk)

Makes 10 cupcakes

For the cake

120g cake flour, sifted

120g caster sugar

11/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g butter, softened

120ml milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/4 tsp extract PLUS beans from one vanilla pod)

For the frosting

80g butter, softened

220g icing sugar, sifted

25ml milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Place the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix (on medium to high speed) until the texture of the mixture becomes sandy. Lower the speed and add half the milk and mix till incorporated. Add in the remaining milk, the egg and the extract and beat until it just comes together.

Fill the cupcake liners with the batter (only fill up to 3/4) and bake for 20 mins or until a tester comes out "almost clean". The cupcakes should springy back when pressed with your finger. 

Let the cakes cool as you make the frosting. 

Beat the butter and the icing sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy. Add the milk and extract and continue beating for about 5 mins until the frosting becomes really pale and extremely fluffy. Divide the frosting into two or three (depending on how many colours you want your frosting to have) and add a tiny drop onto each division. Make sure you don't add a big drop if you want a pastel shade.

Frost the cupcakes only when they are completely cool. Decorate the frosted cupcakes as you please with sprinkles/coloured sugar crystals or hundreds and thousands.

Eggless Lemon Cupcakes

Lemons remind me of spring.

If you love lemon desserts, this cupcake is for you. Most lemon desserts use the juice and/or the zest f a lemon. This one uses the juice, zest AND the peel. There is lemon in the cake, in the glaze and in the garnish of lemon peel, candied of course. Oh!

There's another thing that's special about this cake: it's eggless AND it can easily be adjusted to be vegan too. 

That this is an eggless cake is relevant to me because many of my family members are vegetarians who unlike me, don't eat eggs. Some are vegan too. As a result, I often can't share my cakes with them which is a darn shame. 

No need for fussy icing. Just a tangy glaze and some candied lemon jewels.

So yeah, there are no eggs, no butter and the milk and heavy cream which I used can be easily substituted with soya bean milk or almond milk if you want it strictly vegan.

There is also no need to whisk or beat; just mix with a wooden spoon.

The only extra mile you have to go is in making the candied peel for the garnish. This isn't difficult but it takes time. But, the garnish is optional of course.

Bright, tart and tangy.

Eggless Lemon Cake

11/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk/soya bean milk/almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup heavy cream (for vegans, omit this and double the soya milk/almond milk)

2/3 cup sugar (more if you prefer your cake sweet)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

Zest and my brand new grater. Love.

Lemon glaze

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup powdered/icing sugar, sifted

Candied lemon peel

Skin from 1 lemon (unzested)

1 cup water

1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

Add the apple cider to the milk and let the mixture sit for 5 mins. 

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix the oil, milk, cream, vanilla, zest, lemon juice and mix till incorporated. 

Add the flour mixture to the batter in three batches and mix till smooth. 

Line a cupcake tin with liners and spoon the batter to fill 3/4 of the liners. Bake for 15-20 mins or till a tester comes out clean.

To make the glaze, simply mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice till smooth. Once the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool a little before you pour the glaze over. Simply drop one spoonful of the glaze over the centre of each cupcake and watch it spread.

Candied peel. 

To make the candied peel, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice out. Using a sharp knife, carefully scrape out the flesh, leaving the white pith inside the skin. Cut the skin into thin strips.

Put a pan of water to boil and add the strips. When the water comes to a boil, drain the skin and repeat the process twice more.

Drain once more. 

Mix one cup water and one cup sugar in a pot and put to boil. Once the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a boil, add the skins in. Let the strips cook in the syrup until soft and transparent, about 20 mins. Remove and roll in the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. 

Place the sugared strips on a baking sheet and leave over night to dry or bake in an oven (100F) for about an hour (keeping an eye on them midway and three-quarter way through to make sure they don't burn). 

Garnish. 

Pie-crazy weekend

Pie. Just the thought of pie, sweet or savoury, makes me smile. 

A pie is like a present: you get through the lovely wrapper (which is the crust) to get to the treat (the filling). At the end of it all, you're just so happy. 

Pie makes me happy. And, I think I love making them more than I love eating them. 

So, this weekend I made two pies. The first was a Strawberry and Apple pie with a lattice crust and the second, a Buttermilk Pie with Pine Nuts. I had no qualms making two pies at one go because pies freeze extremely well. In fact, I kinda like the taste of frozen pied that have been reheated. 

The first thing to focus on is the crust. I used the same crust for both pies were the same: a basic pie crust from Martha Stewart (though most recipes are similar) that combines 11/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp sugar, 113g butter and 4 tbsp ice cold water. 

Using your hands, rub the butter into the flour (whisk in the salt and sugar into the flour first) and when it resembles coarse bread crumbs, add the water, 2 tbsp at a time and gently mix to form a dough. Shape dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour. (The dough is enough for ONE 23cm pie dish).

Now, let's move on to the filling. The Apple and Strawberry Pie, I made on a whim, without a recipe to guide me. I'd made apple pies before and I figured I could just wing it.

Apple and Strawberry Pie
2 cups chopped apples (I used Fuji reds, peel off the skin!)
2 cups roughly cut strawberries.
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/4 cup corn starch
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk, beaten (for the finish).

Keep aside 1/5 of the dough for the lattice. Roll the remainder of the dough so that its big enough to cover the base of your pie dish. Gently transfer and mould it onto the pie dish. Refrigerate it for about 30 mins. Roll the dough you kept aside and then cut about 10 strips, about 20 cm in length.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

To prepare the filling, simply mix all the ingredients together.
Once the crust is chilled, transfer the filling onto the crust. Now, lay the strips over the filling to form a lattice. Seal the edges together. Brush with the beaten yolk.

Bake for 20 mins and then remove it, cover the top with foil, reduce the temperature of the oven to 160C and bake for a further 15-25 mins.

Buttermilk Pie
From marthastewart.com

3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
11/2 cup buttermilk
113 gm unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the eggs, sugar and flour together. Add the butter and the buttermilk, alternately, in four installments. Whisk in the vanilla, lightly.

Roll the (chilled) dough till it's big enough to cover the base of your pie dish. Gently transfer and mould it onto the pie dish. Refrigerate it for about 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Pour the custard into the crust and bake for 15 mins.

Cover the pie with foil, reduce the heat to 160C and continue baking for 25-30 mins or till the custard sets.

• 
  
• 
  

Vanilla Beetroot Cupcakes

What I love about beetroot is its colour. A brilliant, deep crimson that instantly puts a smile on my face. The taste of beetroot? Well, I'm not a huge fan. Nevertheless, I make sure that I include beetroot in my diet from time to time because of its healthful properties.

So when I bought this month's quota of beetroot, I had a cake in mind. I had no recipe at hand but I was sure I could find one and improvise.

Using vegetables in cakes isn't such a radical idea. Take the most famous vegetable-based cake: the carrot cake. It is a much loved cake now but when it was first introduced in the US in the 1960s, it was very much a novelty. However because the cake is so flavourful, moist and delicious, it caught on pretty fast and is now pretty much a standard dessert fare. Carrot cake and cream cheese frosting can be found in almost every cake shop.

For some reason though, other vegetable cakes haven't quite become so popular. I can't understand why because I am a huge fan of vegetable cakes — I made a chocolate avocado cake some time ago that was just lovely and a couple of months ago I tried a zucchini and walnut cake that was also great.

This time around: a Vanilla Beetroot Cupcake. Beetroot in cake is usually paired with chocolate. Some bakers even substitute rhubarb with beetroot when making the infamous Red Velvet Cake. I didn't want to go the chocolate way and instead I chose to make a plain vanilla cake with the beets.

To be honest, I was hoping the crimson from the beetroot would make me a pretty pink cake. Didn't turn out that way though: apart from the little flecks of crimson here and there, the cake was a pale yellow that is typical of a vanilla cake. (I have since researched at length to find a way of keeping the pink of the beets and have learn that roasting the beets BEFORE pureeing them into the batter may help hold the colour in. Will try this the next time).

The texture however was not disappointing. Nice and moist (but not soggy or wet), with little chewy bits here and there courtesy of the grated beets.

The frosting for the beetroot cupcake is the standard cream cheese frosting but to add a light shade of pink, I added a tablespoonful or two of beet juice.

Vanilla Beetroot Cupcakes

175g Castor sugar
175g all purpose flour
11/4 tsp baking powder
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g beetroot, pureed (you can try roasting it first: wrap in foil, bake for 30-40 mins or until soft, peel and roughly puree).
3 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks, flour, beets and vanilla and mix till well incorporated (about 2 mins). Set aside. 

Whisk the egg whites until it starts to form peaks. Using a metal spoon, fold in the egg whites into the batter. 

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and bake for about 20 mins or until the cakes are firm to the touch and a tester comes out clean.

Set aside to cool on a rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

150g cream cheese (at room temp)

75g butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar

1 tbsp beet juice

1 tsp rose water

Blend the cream cheese and butter till smooth and free of lumps. Add the sugar and mix till light and well incorporated. Add the beet juice and rose water and mix for a minute or two. Remove and refrigerate for at least 30 mins or until ready to frost.

Icing on the cake

I think I'm about ten years behind the times.

The world went crazy for cupcakes about a decade ago after Carrie (Bradshaw, of course) and her middle-aged friends from Sex in the City made cupcakes from New York's Magnolia Bakery look like the best indulgence one could ever have.

Today, I made cupcakes. It wasn't my first time; it was my third. Ever. Not for any particular reason, really. I just always preferred to make one whole hearty cake than many small, dainty ones.

You see, I'm not at all dainty. Some people call me a giant and I call myself clumsy. Now you understand, right?

So anyways.

The real star of this post is not the cupcake; it's the icing. When I saw a recipe for mascarpone-cream cheese frosting, I was floored ... slipped on my own drool and went tumbling to the floor. Ha!

I am kidding, of course... but dang, the frosting sounded divine.

Now mascarpone cheese is very pricey. Usually, the price of a 250g tub of mascarpone is about RM23. Last week however, I spotted a 250g tub for just RM11.50. Still expensive but, heck, it was a steal and I just had to buy it, even though I hadn't a recipe for it in mind. Yet.

Now if ever there was a "luxury cheese" it would be mascarpone. Italian, of course, mascarpone is cow's milk cheese that has a milk fat content of about 60 to 75%. It's buttery, creamy and very rich. Have a spoonful and I guarantee you will find it literally coats your mouth.

You most commonly find mascarpone in Tiramisu but honestly, many Italian recipes incorporate mascarpone to give a richer, creamier flavour. You can find it in risotto to lasagna and of course, cannollis. Some even add a small spoonful into their hot cocoa.

So I decided to use it in this icing. I love cream cheese icing too. But cream cheese is a little dense. Adding some mascarpone and sour cream (optional) makes the icing a lot creamier but also a lot lighter. It also made it a lot richer. (Oh! my hips!).IT isn't overwhelmingly sweet as you want the flavour cheese to stand out and not the sweetness of the sugar!

Here's the recipe for the frosting: The original cake for this icing was a brown butter cupcake but I decided to go with a simple lemon cupcake simply because I love lemons. I haven't included the recipe for the cake and  I suggest you make your cake of choice.

Mascarpone-Cream Cheese Frosting
(enuogh frosting  for 12 cupcakes).

250 gm mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 cup sour cream (optional)

125gm cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

Beat the mascarpone cheese and cream cheese (make sure they're at room temp) into the bowl of your  electric mixer (medium speed) till smooth. Add in the icing sugar.
Add the sour cream and beat until everything is well incorporated, just a minute or so. You will see  soft peaks beginning to appear and that's just the right time to turn the mixer off.

Transfer the frosting into a piping bag and  pipe on top of cupcakes or use an spatula to slather the  frosting on your cupcakes.