Chocolate-Dipped Pistachio Shortbread (Cheat)

Guys I’m dying and my mouth is in food heaven. This shortbread oh em geee.

  

I’ll probably regret eating 4 of these decadent shortbread cookies later on when I’m having roast duck for dinner, but I couldn’t help it! There is just layer upon layer of flavor and texture and I can’t stop eating them.

When these first came out of the oven, I had to will every atom in me not to grab the whole chunk of shortbread and eat it straight away. It smelled so amazing. Then, I had to torture myself with letting the damn thing cool (not before eating a few crumbs first, of course).

Of course, I couldn’t help but eat a cookie as I was dipping the others in chocolate. The shortbread itself was soo amaaziinnggg. It was perfectly buttery and flaky and left behind a gentle saltiness that made me swoon. Not to mention, the salt brought out the undeniable flavor of pistachio. The pistachio itself offered a delicate crunch that differed in texture from the shortbread. I was blown away.

Then, I ate the shortbread dipped in chocolate, and my world changed again. The chocolate paired so beautifully with the shortbread and the pistachio and the saltiness and it was so decadent and delicious and perfect and I honestly have no words. My babbling is a lame attempt at conveying to you exactly how foodgasm these shortbread cookies are.

You’d think, “it’s just shortbread”, but no, these are the ultimate shortbread. Better than any shortbread you’ve ever had before. I can guarantee.

By the way, in the unlikely event that you were wondering why I haven’t posted anything in a month – I’ve been busy stressing out about my final IB exams in May, so I haven’t really had the chance to bake much, not to mention take photos/edit photos/write posts. Anyways, after my exams end, hopefully I’ll find the time then to bake up a storm in my kitchen to make up for all the time lost. In the meantime, wish me luck and enjoy these shortbread cookies xx

Chocolate-Dipped Pistachio Shortbread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (150g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
• 1/8 cup (25g) light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup (50g) finely chopped toasted pistachios
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped
• Pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius
2. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Beat in both sugars until smooth.
3. Gradually mix in the vanilla, salt, flour, and cornstarch until the mixture is fully combined and forms a crumbly dough
4. Mix in 2/3 of the chopped pistachios
5. Line an 8- or 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and press the dough tightly into the pan
6. Bake the shortbread for 30 minutes until lightly browned
7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the cake pan. Cut the shortbread into wedges while it’s still warm. Allow the shortbread to cool completely before dipping into chocolate.
8. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 20-second intervals, stirring in between intervals until it’s completely melted
9. Dip the shortbread into the chocolate and sprinkle with remaining pistachio and sea salt. Enjoy!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Cheat)

I’ve always been a huge fan of anything involving brown butter. Remember this brown butter banana bread recipe? AKA my faavorite banana bread recipe of all time? Ever since I stumbled upon that recipe, I’ve just loved using brown butter in baked goods. It takes the flavour to a whole new level, building so much depth in the flavours and complexion. Plus, you can’t deny that it’s kinda fun to melt all that butter down and watch it foam and go brown.

These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are just so heavenly. I made them for a bake sale and they sold out ridiculously quick! Almost every person who walked by inquired about the price of the cookies, and some of them even asked us to reserve cookies for them. One person said that he came by after seeing everyone else with the chocolate chip cookies. Not to mention, so many people came back to compliment me on how delicious the cookies were.

Needless to say, this is a recipe that I will be using for many bake sales to come. This one’s a keeper!

I honestly don’t think these photos do the cookies justice. They’re suuper rich and gooey and full of chocolate and mocha chips, not to mention the nutty, caramel-y goodness of the brown butter! If that’s not a foodgasm, I don’t know what is.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

Makes 24-26 cookies, depending on size

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (315g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups (345g) packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (25g) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup mocha chocolate chips

Method

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Make the brown butter by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. After a few minutes, the butter will begin to foam, darken to a brown color, and give off a nutty aroma. At this point, remove the saucepan from heat and transfer the brown butter into a bowl. Allow the butter to cool for 5-10 minutes, until cool to touch
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the brown butter and sugars together until well combined
4. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and greek yogurt until well combined
5. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined
6. Fold in the chocolate chips
7. Chill the dough for 2-3 hours in the fridge, or up to 12-24 hours*
8. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
9. Allow the dough to thaw for about 20 minutes before rolling into balls and placing them on a baking sheet 2 inches apart
10. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes

*Alternatively, freeze the cookie dough after you’ve rolled them into balls. When baking them, simply add a minute or two to baking time

 

 

Mini Valentine’s Chocolate Cake (Cheat)

I went through so much to get this cake to work (none of which should discourage you from making it! You’ll see…)

So Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I figured I’d find a mini chocolate cake to bake in my heart-shaped cake pan and share that with you guys!

I found the perfect recipe. I precisely measured out all my ingredients and mixed them together, only to find that the batter had turned into a thick dough instead of a silky cake batter. In my state of despair, I added in a splash of milk to thin the batter, but no luck. I was utterly confused. Everything was perfect…right?

I decided to take a look at the recipe again, reading the first ingredients and – oh. It called for 1/2 cup of flour, but because I’m so used to making full-sized cakes, my mind automatically processed it as 1 1/2 cups. uGH. Unfortunately, I had to discard that batter (after eating a bit of it, of course), and starting over. You can observe this failure here:

Also, the cake is meant for a 6-inch circle pan, but mine is heart-shaped so it’s smaller. I had a little bit of leftover cake batter, which I made into a cute little bear cake! I was planning on drawing on it’s little eyes and nose and mouth with melted white chocolate, only to find that I don’t have white chocolate at home. Since when is that a thing?? What happened to my emergency stash of 3 white chocolate bars?

And lastly, lighting was not my friend today. I must’ve tried taking photos in at least 6 different locations around the house, hence the inconsistency with backgrounds in these photos.

 

Despite all that, the cake itself turned out amazing. Look at how fluffy it rose! It’s so fluffy and has the perfect chocolate flavor to it. If you wish, a chocolate ganache would pair beautifully with it, but a dusting of icing sugar works just fine as well.

Mini Valentine’s Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Dessert for Two

Makes one 6-inch round cake

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (70g) all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons (37g) cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream or yogurt
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon warm coffee
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
• Powdered sugar or chocolate ganache (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, sour cream or yogurt, egg, vanilla extract, and coffee
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Transfer the batter into a lined and greased 6-inch round cake pan and bake for 29-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
6. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate ganache (optional)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream and Chocolate Cupcake-Toppers (Cheat)

Happy birthday, Mommy!! ❤

I made these cupcakes a couple of days ago for a bake sale, but the main reason I made cupcakes was so that I could reserve three of them for today – my mom’s birthday. I don’t like making small-batch cupcakes because making a batch of 24 cupcakes requires the same effort as making 3. (Hence, why I always make cupcakes for bake sales).

This is the first time that I’ve used chocolate cupcake toppers, but it definitely won’t be the last. They’re deceivingly easy to make, and they look gorgeous! They take the cupcakes to a whole new level, while only requiring an extra 5 minutes.

I forgot to take photos while I was making the chocolate toppers, but basically, you just melt down some dark chocolate and pipe it out on parchment paper. If you’ve melted the chocolate gently, they should harden at room temperature and peel off easily, giving you these beaautiful cupcake toppers!

There are so many things that you can pipe out using the chocolate. I stuck to some simple shapes. I used stars, hearts, flowers, the little thingy in the photo below, and random squiggles. Next time, I’d definitely try words and maybe I’ll challenge myself to piping out a puppy or something. We’ll see~

With the frosting, feel free to choose any color you wish! I like the way that the pink contrasts with the darkness of the chocolate, but I’m sure that blue would be gorgeous as well.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream and Chocolate Cupcake-Toppers

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 200g all-purpose flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 280g granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80g unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature
• 240ml  milk, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• 300g unsalted butter
• *400g-600g powdered sugar, sifted
• 15ml (1 tablespoon) whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Gel food colouring of choice

For the chocolate cupcake-toppers:

• 100g dark chocolate

*To taste

Method

1. For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius or 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and salt
3. Add in the butter and beat until the mixture has a sandy consistency
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and vanilla until combined
5. Pour half the milk mixture in with the flour and beat on high speed until smooth
6. Gently mix in the rest of the milk mixture until jut combined. Do not over mix
7. Transfer the mixture into a lined cupcake tin and bake for 20-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean
8. For the frosting, in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy
9. Beat in the powdered sugar for 5 minutes or so, before adding the whipping cream and vanilla extract and beating for another minute
10. For the chocolate cupcake-toppers, chop or break the dark chocolate into equal-sized chunks and place in a microwave-safe bowl
11. Microwave the chocolate for 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between each interval so that the chocolate heats evenly. When the chocolate has 80-90% melted, stir the chocolate until it’s fully melted
12. Transfer the melted chocolate into a piping bag or into a sandwich bag with a TINY corner cut off
13. Pipe designs of your choice onto a sheet of parchment paper. Allow to harden before carefully removing and placing on your frosted cupcakes. Enjoy!

Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Cheat)

I don’t bake with fruit much, but bananas are an exception.

Banana bread and banana cakes – I could never get enough.

I had such a difficult time letting the cake cool enough to be frosted. As soon as I took the beautifully baked cake out of my oven, the entire kitchen was filled with the aroma of banana cake. It might not sound that appealing, but trust me, it took so much mental effort to not eat the entire cake right there and then. It smelled that good. It was honestly driving me crazy, and I went on this rampage around the house, desperately trying to find something to satisfy my cravings so that I wouldn’t eat the cake before frosting it. I was so keen on eating banana cake that I didn’t even want chocolate truffles, and let me tell you – I never turn down chocolate truffles…well, until now.

Finally, I had no other choice but to eat something completely different. I microwaved a plate of homemade dumplings leftover from yesterday, covered them in vinegar (I love vinegar), and ran away from the banana-scented kitchen. At last, my taste buds had calmed down and I could focus on other things again as my banana cake cooled in the kitchen.

Soon enough, my cravings started up again and I figured it was time to frost the cake up and start eating.

 

 

I think I knew how good this cake was going to be, but nevertheless, tasting it for the first time blew me away. The banana cake is everything you’d want a cake to be. It had a crumb similar to banana bread, only fluffier. The flavour of banana was definitely there, and it paired so beautifully with the cream cheese frosting. I mean, the cake itself was amazing, but the cake and the frosting go together like peanut butter and jelly. It was a perfect combination of flavours and I’m so in love.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the cake was gone within two days. It was that good.

Best Banana Cake

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed (1 and 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk, room temperature

For the frosting:

• 8 ounces (224g) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups (360g) powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. For the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt
3. In another bowl, use an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat until creamed together
4. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, before adding in the mashed bananas
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, 1/3 of a time and alternating with the buttermilk (Stir in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, stir in 1/3 of the buttermilk, and repeat with the remaining). Do not over mix
6. Spread the batter into a greased and/or lined 9×13 inch baking pan and bake for around 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting
7. For the frosting, using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt.. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes
8. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving
9. Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days

My 17th Birthday Cake (Cheat)

~5-layer midnight cake with cheesecake filling, covered with a generous layer of pink buttercream, glossy chocolate ganache, and topped with whipped cream and Oreos~

Guess who’s 17 years old!

I have a love-hate relationship with birthdays. I love everything about them, except the fact that I’m another year older. I prefer other people’s birthdays, with all the celebrations and games and cakes and gift-opening, but without me being consciously aware of my ageing.

It’s weird, isn’t it? The way that day by day, hour by hour, we age, but it’s only once a year for 24 hours that we actually acknowledge it. Then again, acknowledging our constant ageing would take some of the fun out of birthdays.

I don’t understand why people want to get older. A pessimistic way of putting is is that every year, you’re a year closer to death. You become more likely to get sick. You have more responsibilities. Then again, an optimistic way of seeing is is that every year, you are faced with new opportunities. You’ll graduate and start a new chapter of your life. You might get a job. You might meet “the one”. You might get married. You might have kids. Who knows? In the end, the best way to predict your future is to live it the way you want. Sometime’s it’s just easier to be passive to all that happens around you, so that when things go wrong, you can blame the world and carry on, but wow, that must get boring. The happiest people are those who take control of their lives and steer it the way they want to go. When things go wrong, they acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them, and when things go right, they’re living Heaven on Earth. You pick (hint: I’d go with the second one).

I always seem to get really reflective on my birthday. Is it just me?

But let’s focus on the real reason you’re here: CAKE!

Another reason why I always get excited about birthdays – cake. This year, I decided to bake myself a 5-layer midnight cake with cheesecake filling, covered with a generous layer of pink buttercream, glossy chocolate ganache, and topped with whipped cream and Oreos. Helll yes.

To be honest, the cake is pretty much just a chocolate cake with black food colouring added. I used to not like chocolate cake. I thought that it was too rich. I’d always opt for vanilla or red velvet. Chocolate cake just wasn’t my thing, but alas, times have changed. Maybe I’d been deprived of chocolate cake for too long, but this chocolate cake was the bomb. Even before I baked the cake, the cake batter was waving chocolatey scents at me, trying to get me to give in and admit that chocolate cake is one of the best kinds of cake. While I was trimming the cakes, I nibbled on some of the cake crumbs and I was in awe, trying to understand how I had ever disliked chocolate cake. This chocolate cake is velvety. It’s suuper moist and it’s perfectly sweet. It has a wonderful cocoa flavour that isn’t overwhelming, and it pairs beautifully with all the other flavours going on in this cake.

Speaking of other flavours…THE CHEESECAKE FILLING. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but cream cheese frostings are magical. Maybe that’s a biased opinion because they’re my favourite, but tbh I’ve never met anyone who dislikes cream cheese frosting. The cheesecake filling tastes pretty much just like cream cheese frosting, but there isn’t as much butter. The butter’s replaced with whipped cream, which is just folded in at the end, so that you end up with filling that’s extra fluffy and light, but definitely is not missing any flavour.

I don’t want to be writing an essay here, so I’m just going to tell you that the buttercream, chocolate ganache, whipping cream, and Oreos are perfect. Simply, utterly, perfect.

5-Layer Midnight Cake with Cheesecake Filling and Pink Buttercream

Adapted from various sources (linked below)

Ingredients

For the cake

• 2 1/4 cups (285 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 cups (450 g) superfine sugar
• 1 cup (120 g) “black” unsweetened cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder with 1 teaspoon black gel food colouring)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 cup (240 ml) hot coffee
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature

For the cheesecake filling

• 500g cream cheese, softened
• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g freshly whipped cream
• 200g icing sugar, sifted

For the pink buttercream

• 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter
• 4 cups (500g) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pink food colouring

For the chocolate ganache

• 5 ounces (150 g) best-quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt)
• 3/4 cup (90 g) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey

For the whipping cream

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar, to taste

• Oreos, for topping

Method

I’ve included generic bad-quality, unedited photos that I took while I was assembling the cake for reference. Let me know if you have any questions!

1. For the cake, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, black cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
3. In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, coffee, oil, and vanilla, and then mix in eggs
4. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide batter equally among the three lined and greased 8-inch cake pans or weigh for accuracy. Each pan should weigh about 600 grams
5. Bake the first two layers until a wooden pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, and then turn onto rack to cool completely. Repeat with the final cake layer. When ready to assemble the cake, wrap the layers in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.
6. For the cheesecake filling, use an electric mixer to whip cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream until combined
7. For the pink buttercream, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar, vanilla extract, food colouring, and 1 tablespoon of whipping cream and beat until combined
8. To assemble the cake, trim the cake layers, and then halve them so that each cake becomes two layers.
9. Place approximately 1/2 tablespoon of the cheesecake filling (or buttercream) on the center of a cake board, and place your bottom cake layer onto the cake board. Add about 1/2-3/4 cup of cheesecake filling onto the top of the cake, and using a small offset spatula, spread the filling so that it covers the top of the cake. It’s okay to let a little bit of filling go over the side. Add the next cake layer and repeat until you’ve reached your final cake layer
10. Cover the cake with a thin layer of the cheesecake filling (or buttercream), also known as crumb coating it, and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes
11. Cover the cake in pink buttercream and chill in fridge for at least 15 minutes
12. In the meantime, make the chocolate ganache. In a small bowl, melt the chocolate, butter, corn syrup and salt in the microwave, about 50 seconds, and stir until smooth. Let cool until it thickens slightly, about 15 minutes
13. For the whipping cream, use a whisk or electric hand mixer to whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Whisk in the powdered sugar. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip
14. (Assembling, continued) Remove the cake from the fridge and spoon the chocolate glaze to the edges of the cake, gently pushing some over the side and letting it dribble down. When you’ve finished putting chocolate glaze on the edges of the cake, spoon chocolate glaze into the centre until covered
15. When the chocolate has set slightly, pipe the whipped cream around the edges of the cake and top each swirl with half an Oreo
16. Serve!

Chocolate Chip Almond Ice Cream (Cheat)

Summer is coming to an end (nooo), but that doesn’t mean you have to stop eating ice cream. I have so much ice cream in my freezer, I’ll probably be eating it all the way to October.

I’m back from South Africa, and it was seriously amazing. God, I love animals. The highlights of my summer vacation were volunteering for a sea turtle conservation project in Sri Lanka and going on game drives in South Africa. Both such unforgettable experiences. I didn’t go to summer camp or write my Extended Essay (because I accidentally lost all my data oops), but nevertheless, it was a summer well spent.

I’m quite devastated that summer vacation’s coming to an end. School starts tomorrow and I’m not academically prepared to be hit with the workload sitting around the corner. I’m not physically ready either, and by that, I mean I literally had just one night to adjust to a 6-hour time difference. Waking up at 7am will be equivalent to waking up at 1am. Welp.

But of course – I’m incredibly excited to see my friends and teachers again. Hi Anna. Hi Rebecca. Hi Bill. Hi Mr. Lugt.

Back to the ice cream, though. This chocolate and almond ice cream is amazing. Based on the opinions of others, this recipe, and a recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream (yet to be posted), are the best ice creams ever. That being said, they haven’t tried all the ice creams I’ve made (sometimes I’ll finish it all before anyone else can get to it – oops), but still, I stand by their opinions. This ice cream is really damn good.

The ice cream base is a simple one – creamy and perfectly sweet. Then as the ice cream churns, you add in your chopped, aromatic almonds and the best part – the chocolate.

I used to love making nana ice cream and pouring melted chocolate over the top, watching it set. This is the same. As the ice cream churns, you pour in a thin stream of melted chocolate, which sets instantly when coming in contact with the cold ice cream. Thus, you end up with chocolate distributed throughout all the ice cream, with chocolate in every bite, pairing beautifully with the full crunch of the chopped almonds. It’s a perfect combination, really.

Note: Feel free to double the recipe if you wish. I made a smaller batch because my ice cream machine is quite small and I’d have to make the ice cream in two batches otherwise.

Chocolate Almond Ice Cream

Adapted from Lovely Little Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups whole milk
• 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
• 1/4 cup roasted, salted almonds, chopped

Method

1. Freeze your ice cream maker ahead of time (according to manufacturers instructions)
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved
3. Add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and whisk until combined
4. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers instructions
5. While the ice cream is churning, melt the chocolate in the microwave at 10-second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate has completely melted
6. When the ice cream has reached a soft consistency, pour 2/3 of the melted chocolate in a thin stream over the churning ice cream
7. Add in 2/3 of the almonds to the churning ice cream
8. When the ice cream has finished churning, transfer it into a storage container, and sprinkle on  the remaining almonds, and drizzle the last of the melted chocolate over it
9. Freeze for at least 3 hours. Allow to thaw before serving.

Blueberry Bread (Cheat)

It’s blueberry season (I think)! Have some blueberry bread~



I’m still in utter disbelief that school starts in half a month. It’s honestly so depressing to think about all that work ahead of me that I’ve been procrastinating – college apps, extended essay, IAs…

GAH ok I won’t think about that now. For now, I’m gonna focus on telling you about this blueberry bread, aight? Blueberry bread. Blueberry bread.

This blueberry bread is everything you’d want in a loaf cake. It has just the right texture and flavor, not to mention that its full of delicious blueberries! Each slice is guaranteed a generous amount of blueberries.

I’ve never really cared much about flouring blueberries before mixing them into the batter. It prevents the blueberries from bleeding, but look the gorgeous patterns they make when they bleed! It’s so pretty! Food is art, I tell you.

Blueberry Bread

Recipe adapted from Something Swanky

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175ºC or 350ºF
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, vanilla, salt, and baking powder
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, and oil
4. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet until almost combined, with a few streaks of flour remaining
5. Fold in the blueberries
6. Transfer the mixture into a lined or greased 5×12 loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

Best Ever Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (Cheat)

HELLO FRIENDS IT’S BEEN TOO LONG.

  

 

In case you were wondering – it’s cause I was dying in exams. I’ve been gone for like a little over two weeks. One week was dedicated to studying, the other was dedicated to dying taking the finals.

 

I’ve gotten some grades back, and I’m happy to say that I didn’t do too badly on them, except for Chemistry, of course, but luckily my other Chem grades saved me from this reaaallly really bad final exam grade.

So I know that I just posted an ice cream recipe, but:

1. It’s ice cream season. C’mon – there’s no denying that. The weather is H-O-T and we all need ice cream
2. I owe a lot to ice cream for getting me through the difficult time of exams

 

Oh, side note – to anyone still struggling to get through finals, I wish you all the best (of luck) and I wish that you have ice cream to help you get through it.

Anyways, with that aside, let’s talk about this seeriously amaaazing ice cream recipe. It’s honestly one of my favorites. I literally could not stop eating the ice cream batter. I probably ate like a third of the batter before forcing myself to put it in the freezer and let it be ice cream.

It’s got this wonderful, rich, and tangy flavor of cream cheese, which pairs beautifully with the sweet blueberry sauce. Speaking of which – blueberries are in season! Yay!!

Anyways, I kid you not, this will be one of the best ice creams you’d have ever made. Please make it now and continue making it until summer is over 🙌.

Best Ever Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients

For the ice cream

• 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the blueberry sauce

• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• 1 heaping cup crumbled Graham Crackers or digestive biscuits

Method

1. For the ice cream, in a food processor, blend together the cream cheese, milk, whipping cream, brown sugar, and salt until smooth
2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions (about 30 to 45 minutes).
3. While the ice cream is churning, make the blueberry sauce. In a small saucepan, heat the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, water, salt, and lemon juice together over medium-low heat. Stir until the berries burst and the juices thicken (about 5 minutes)
4. Transfer the sauce into a small bowl and place in fridge until the ice cream finishes churning
5. When the ice cream has finished churning, spoon it into a freezer safe container and swirl in the blueberry sauce and crackers/biscuits
6. Place in freezer for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Allow to thaw before serving

Éclairs (Cheat)

Éclairs!

Éclairs are super fancy and although they’re not the “easiest” to make, they’re so worth it. To be honest, I found the process to be quite enjoyable. I love making choux pastry and pastry cream. Am I the only one? I mean, beating together a few ingredients and then watching the choux pastry cook into such a soft dough that doesn’t stick to the sides of your saucepan is almost magical. Then there’s whipping the heated cream mixture slowly into the egg yolk mixture to prevent the yolk from scrambling, before pouring the whole lot back into the saucepan and watching it thicken into a sweet, aromatic pastry cream. I sound insane. Okay, I’ll stop.

You can experiment with so many flavors when it comes to éclairs, but I decided to stick with a pretty classic pastry cream and finish it off with chocolate ganache and melted white chocolate.

…I know I said I’d stop, but don’t you love making ganache too? Letting the hot cream sit with the chocolate and letting heat energy go back and forth between the two and disrupting bonds as the chocolate melts and becomes one with the cream…ok ok, I’m done.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go make these delicious pastries for Mother’s Day!

Éclairs

Adapted from Will Cook For Smiles

Ingredients

For the pastry cream:

(This will need to be prepared a few hours ahead, or the day before you assemble the éclairs)

• 4 large egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of whole milk
• ⅓ cup flour
• ⅔ cup of heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 vanilla bean

For the Choux pastry:

• 1 cup of water
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

For the ganache:

• 110g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream

Method

1. For the pastry cream, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt until combined
2. Whisk in the flour until smooth and set aside
3. In a saucepan, gently heat the milk, heavy cream, and butter together. Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the milk mixture and add in the empty vanilla bean as well
4. Heat until simmering, and then remove the vanilla bean and slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg mixture, making sure that the egg doesn’t scramble
5. Pour all of the mixture back into the saucepan and heat while constantly stirring until thickened. This should take a few minutes
6. Pour the cream into a bowl or onto a plate and allow to cool before covering it with plastic wrap (with the plastic touching the surface of the cream) and placing it in the fridge for at least 4 hours
7. For the Choux pastry, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit
8.  In a saucepan, heat and mix the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and water together until the mixture is lightly simmering
9. Beat in the flour using a wooden spoon until combined and the mixture doesn’t stick to the sides of the saucepan
10. Transfer the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric mixer, and beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure that each egg is fully mixed before adding the next
11. Transfer the batter into a piping bag and, on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pipe thick lines of pastry about 4cm (1.5 inches) in width and 8cm (3 inches) in length. They should also be about 2cm (almost 1 inch) tall
12. Bake for 25-28 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool before filling
13. For the ganache, place the chopped chocolate into a small mixing bowl.
14. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to simmer
15. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for a few minutes before stirring together with a whisk until smooth
16. To assemble the éclairs, fill a piping bag with the cold pastry cream. Gently insert the tip into the cooled pastry and squeeze cream into it. Alternatively, cut the pastries lengthwise and fill the insides
17. Dip each filled pastry in the chocolate ganache and drizzle a bit of melted white chocolate over it, if desired. Keep refrigerated.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake (Cheat)

Think of the fluffiest cake in the world.

Just think of the fluffiest cake in the world. You’d better be thinking about this cake, cause this is as fluffy as they get.

I’ve only just posted a souffléd recipe, but here I am, doing it again. I’m obsessed. Soufflé foods are just so damn fluffy. So damn fluffy! It’s like eating a cloud, except there is that undeniable texture of cake and you get a hint of sweetness and black sesame. It all makes sense once you take a bite into a slice of this cake, trust me.

Because this cake is so fluffy, it never leaves me feeling uncomfortably full. I can eat half the cake before realizing that, oops, I ate half the cake. Then again, I’m not consumed by guilt the way I normally would, because to be honest, even though I labelled this as a “cheat” recipe, it’s pretty healthy.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just go the extra mile and turn this into a full-on clean recipe, and it’s because this recipe is already perfect, and what’s the point in perfecting perfection?

Also – this recipe is super easy to make. It comes together with just 6 main ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

Adapted from Green Cilantro

Ingredients

• 100g cake flour
• 1/3 cup + 4 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 50g ground black sesame seed powder*
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk

*Alternatively, you could simply grind up black sesame seeds in a blender/food processor until it reaches a powdery consistency. That being said – don’t over-blend the seeds or else you’ll end up with black sesame paste!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius or 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, 1/3 cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the black sesame powder and whisk until well combined
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale yellow and slowly add in the vegetable oil. Beat until the mixture is thick
4. Add the egg yolk mixture and milk into the sesame seed mixture and mix until well combined
5. Using a stand mixer or an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. With the mixer running, add in the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside
6. Gently fold the egg whites, 1/3 of the egg whites at a time, into the other batter using a spatula or a balloon whisk
7. Transfer the mixture into a bundt pan or an angel food cake pan and bake for 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. Allow to cool completely before serving

Chocolate Macarons with Silky Chocolate Ganache (Cheat)

I’ve done it.

Macarons.

The #1 thing on my Baking Bucket List, which I proudly crossed off on January 1, 2016. Yes, it takes me a long time to sort through and edit the photos for my posts, but that doesn’t really matter…right?

Point is, I was terrified by macarons – just like every other baker in this world. Then I made them, and I was like, huh. That wasn’t so bad.

All the “tips” for getting perfect macarons can be a little overwhelming. In the end, just make sure that you weigh things out and that you follow directions closely, and it’s really not difficult at all. The only struggle I went through was deciding what kind of macaron to make! If you’ve been here before (or if you know me), you should’ve been able to predict what I’d settled on: chocolate (duh).

One important thing that I learned from my first batch of macarons, is to use a silicone baking mat! I can’t say how “controlled” the two different batches are, but from what I can tell, there’s a pretty big difference. I’ll just leave these photos with you…

Yeah. I’d use a silicone baking mat.

The shells are only part you have to actually be precise with. The filling is a simple chocolate ganache, but oh my god, maybe it’s just me, but chocolate ganache is so good. I love chocolate ganache – don’t ask why, I just do.

While I was snooping around the internet for a good chocolate ganache filling for these macarons, I noticed that some of them have butter, and others don’t. So, I did some further snooping, and discovered that although the butter is optional, it does leave the ganache silkier and shinier than without, so I used a bit of butter in my ganache and I’d recommend you to do the same 🙂

Chocolate Macarons with Silky Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

Macaron shells

• 100g almond flour (almond meal)
• 170g powdered sugar (confectioner’s/icing sugar)
• 15g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 100g egg whites, room temperature*
• 35g caster or superfine sugar
• Pinch of salt

Chocolate ganache

• 120g dark chocolate (at least 60%)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon (12g) unsalted butter

*I’ve read a lot about whether or not to “age” egg whites, and I honestly haven’t determined a personal stance on this, but if you want to age your egg whites (I’d still recommend you do so), then place them in a bowl, covered in plastic, for at least a few days, or up to three days, before using

Method

1. For the macaron shells, combine the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder in a food processor and blend until well combined (about 30 seconds).
2. In a dry, clean, and oil-free bowl, use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment to beat the egg whites until foamy. Add in the caster sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
3. Sift 1/3 of almond flour mixture into the egg whites and fold together very gently until fully combined. Repeat this process with another 1/3 of the almond flour mixture, and then with the final 1/3.
4. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with a silicone baking mat. Fit a pastry bag with a round tip (about 1 cm/0.5 inch in diameter) and fill the pastry bag with the macaron batter. Pipe circles (about 4 cm/1.5 inch in diameter) onto the silicone baking mat. Gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.
5. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius, or 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and let the macarons sit at room temperature for 45 – 60 minutes. The shells should form a slightly dry shell so that they don’t feel sticky when you lightly touch them.
6. Bake the shells (one or two sheets at a time) for 10 minutes, before rotating the pan, and baking again for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
7. For the chocolate ganache, break the chocolate into pieces and place into a bowl.
8. In a small saucepan, combine the cream and butter, and heat until just boiling. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes, before stirring until completely combined. Let the ganache sit at room temperature or in the fridge until it’s thickened enough to be piped*
9. To assemble, take a macaron shell (if any of them have cracked or are less pretty, use them as the bottom shell!) spoon or pipe chocolate ganache on top of it, before covering it with the other shell. You can serve them immediately, or leave them in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge. Bring them to room temperature before serving.**

*When I first started assembling the macarons, the chocolate ganache hadn’t had any time to set, so the chocolate shell on top kept sliding around! I speak from experience guys – let your ganache set!

**They actually taste better after being left (in an airtight container) in the fridge for a day or two 🙂 patience, my friends ~

Avocado Bread (Cheat)

Where do I start with this avocado bread? Well, as the original creator says, it’s “like banana bread, but with avocados”, and I agree. It’s like a loaf cake, with just the perfect sweetness and the wonderful scents and flavors of a classic loaf cake.

Granted, you can’t taste the avocado, which I suppose is a good thing, because I don’t know how sweetness and avocado go together, but nonetheless, the addition of avocado gives it a beautifully pale green crumb and a little nutritional boost.

By the way, in case you’re wondering why my avocado bread turned out looking a lot shorter and denser than the original one here, it’s because I used a pretty standard-sizes loaf tin, so it’s longer and less tall. However, trust me when I say that the crumb is still perfectly tender and light. It just happens to be shorter, but hey, short food (that’s a really weird term that I’ll probably never use again) can be beautiful, too.

Avocado Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 cup (130g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup (56g) butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup avocado purée (purée about 1 1/2-2 avocados in a food processor)
• 1 teaspoon lime juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius or 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt
3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla, before mixing in the avocado purée and lime juice
4. Add the flour mixture into the avocado mixture and fold until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick
5. Transfer the batter into a small loaf pan, greased or lined with parchment paper, and bake for 35-45 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, with no wet batter sticking to it. Allow to cool completely, before slicing and serving

Rose Meringues (Cheat)

A long time ago, I made my first ever batch of meringues. They were shaped like roses and crossed between pink and white. They were perfect.

I made them for a bake sale, actually, and let me tell you now, that they are possibly the best things you could sell at a bake sale. Input – 3 egg whites and some sugar. Output – $$$. They’re actually insanely easy and cheap to make, and you can sell each one for a decent profit.

Rose Meringues

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) fine sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pink food coloring (preferably powdered)*

*Meringues call for preferably powdered food coloring, as it keeps them dry. If you use liquid-based food colouring, as long as you keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, you should be fine. I’ve also had success using beetroot powder as colouring.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 90 degrees Celsius or 200 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until you get soft peaks. Add in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, and then turn the mixer to the highest speed and whip until meringue is stiff and glossy. This should take a few minutes. Beat in vanilla extract.
3. Divide the meringue into bowls and tint them using food coloring of your choice. Transfer into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip and pipe roses (spirals that start from the middle and circulate outwards) onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake both trays until crisp, but not browned. This can take anywhere from 1-1.5 hours depending on the size and humidity. You should be able to remove the meringues from the parchment paper without them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge

Braided Challah Bread

I know that I rarely post bread recipes, but trust me, bread is probably the one thing I make the most in this house. It might be tied in first with muffins, but like…bread.

If you don’t like bread, I’d like you to leave now. Actually, I’d like you to make this recipe, and if you still don’t like bread, then definitely leave, because you’re probably not human.

For those of you who don’t know, challah is a braided bread that’s usually eaten on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. The bread dough is quite a basic bread dough, but there’s an addition of eggs and sugar that give it a wonderful texture with a hint of sweetness. There are usually raisins kneaded into the dough and it’s usually topped with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, but those are both optional, as the bread tastes amazing with and without them!

In terms of braiding, I just braided a classic three-section braid, but if you’re fancy with this stuff, feel free to braid it in whichever way you’d like. If you don’t know how to do a classic braid, just go to google images and type in, “How to braid”, or just ask your sister.

Braided Challah Bread

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons (11g) dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup (118ml) vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs + 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon (14g) salt
• 8 to 8 1/2 cups (1000 to 1063g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (70g) raisins, soaked in hot water and drained (optional)
• Poppy seeds or sesame seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, and water and leave to dissolve for about 5 minutes
2. Whisk in the oil, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, and add in the 1/2 cup of sugar and salt
3. Gradually mix in the flour until a dough forms. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, or knead it in a stand mixer using a dough hook
4. Transfer the dough into a greased and floured bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm place for approximately 1 hour*, until doubled in size
5. Punch the dough down and let rise again, covered with a tea towel, for another 30 minutes
6. Knead in the raisins if using. Pull the dough apart into 6 balls, and roll each one into a strand about 12 inches (30cm) long and 1.5 inches (4cm) wide. Take three of the strands and pinch the tops together. Braid the dough, and pinch the ends together. Repeat this step with the other 3 strands**
7. Beat the remaining egg and brush it on the loaves. *** Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and let the dough rise for another hour
8. After rising, brush the dough with the remaining egg again and sprinkle with seeds, if using
9. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool before serving

*Any of the three risings can be done in the fridge for a few hours, for more deeply-developed flavor. Bring back to room temperature before continuing with the recipe

**Or you can braid the dough whichever way you wish!

***At this point, you can freeze the dough. I usually like to freeze one loaf and bake the other one. If freezing the dough, remove the dough from the freezer 5 hours before baking

 

Matcha Cream Puffs (Cheat)

Now, if any of you have seen my baking bucket list, you would probably call me out or being a liar or just a huge procrastinator due to all the things I’ve crossed off the list, yet with only 1 recipe of the 10 being posted (not including this one). The truth? I’m a huge procrastinator – at least when it comes to posting recipes.

Number 8 on that list (I’m not following order) are cream puffs (or profiteroles)/eclairs. Beside it says August 6, 2015. If you look at the date today, it says January 9, 2016. So yes, it’s been 5 months now, but the recipe is finally here!

The pastry cream in this recipe isn’t quite like the ones you see for traditional French eclairs or anything. Firstly, you’ll notice an absence of egg yolks, which is often used as a thickening agent. In this recipe, the thickening agents include a bit of gelatin, cornstarch, and whipped cream, resulting in a lighter cream as opposed to the denser, traditional pastry cream. Thus, I do recommend filling it as in the photo below as opposed to cutting them in half and filling them as the photo below the photo below.

I probably should’ve made a classic eclair or cream puff to start off with, but it’s always more interesting to bring in an extra flavor, no? Ironically, I made classic eclairs a couple days ago (who knows when that recipe’ll be published?), and I have to admit, this recipe is quite different from that one. Most importantly, none of the eclairs exploded like the way one of these matcha cream puffs did, but that’s just because I overfilled it. It was my first time filling cream puffs, okay? Jeez, give me a break. Anyways, these cream puffs seem to feel lighter. The pastry cream flavor isn’t as evident, allowing the faint flavor of matcha to shine through. Also, I dusted these with powdered sugar as opposed to dipping them in chocolate, which paired beautifully with the matcha. All in all – this one’s a keeper.

Matcha Cream Puffs

Ingredients

For the Choux Pastry

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 large eggs
• Egg wash: 1 yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk or cream

Matcha Pastry Cream

• 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups full-fat milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons matcha powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream

• Powdered sugar, for finishing

Method

1. *For the choux pastry, preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar over medium heat until just boiling. Add in the flour and baking powder and beat together with a wooden spoon over the heat until the mixture resembles a dough that doesn’t stick to the sides of the saucepan. This should take a 2-3 minutes.
3. Transfer the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or into a bowl using an electric mixer. Start the electric mixer and beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined. The dough should be smoother and less doughy.
4. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet, pipe mounds about 2 inches in diameter. Brush the tops with egg wash and bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Allow to cool.
5. *For the matcha pastry cream, in a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water to soften
6. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Add in the eggs and whisk until smooth.
7. In a large saucepan, heat the milk, butter, and salt until almost boiling. Whisk in matcha powder
8. Pour about 1/2 of the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly until fully combined. Add the rest of the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly until fully combined. Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and bubbling.
9. Pour the mixture onto a plate or bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold
10. When the mixture has cooled, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, and gently fold the cream into the matcha mixture. Transfer the matcha pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a round tip.
11. To assemble, pipe the matcha pastry cream into the choux pastry and dust with powdered sugar.

*You can make either the matcha pastry cream or the choux pastry first. Both of them need to be cooled, though the pastry cream may take longer to cool. Also, separately, they can be prepared a few days in advance (without the heavy cream, for the matcha pastry cream). Filled, it’s best to eat them the day of, or within 3 days. Keep refrigerated.

Chai Spice Banana Bread (Cheat)

 

Banana bread is such an amazing thing. It’s one of those things that almost every baker goes back to, no matter how many times they’ve made them. I mean, there are plenty of recipes that I’ll make once, take photos of, eat, and fall in love with, but I just won’t make them again. Banana bread? I make whenever I have loads of ripe bananas, which is pretty much every other week.

Now, if you’re not a huge banana bread person, or you want a perfect standard banana bread recipe, go check out my all-time favorite banana bread recipe. If you’re looking for a vegan, gluten-free, and healthy banana bread recipe, head over to check out this banana bread recipe.

And if you’re looking for a spiced banana bread recipe full of warm, comforting flavors, perfect for the season of giving, then stay right here! This banana recipe is moist, with a delicate yet firm crumb. It won’t fall apart when you slice it, but it’s so wonderfully soft and full of one of the best spices ever – chai spice. This is literally the perfect banana bread for wintertime or whenever you need a little extra flavor in your banana bread!

Chai Spice Banana bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed (approx. 1 1/2 cups mashed or 450g)
• 1/3 cup (85g) natural yoghurt
• 5 tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (105g) brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 1/4 cups (315g) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice*

*Or sub for 1 1/2 teaspoons pre-made chai spice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius of 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ripe bananas, yoghurt, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract until fully combined
3. In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk together both sugars, the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and fold until just combined. Do not over mix
5. Transfer the mixture into a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing from pan and allowing to cool completely

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Crumb Cake (Cheat)

Forget the pumpkin pies and cranberry sauces, this pumpkin chocolate crumb cake is incredible and the ultimate Thanksgiving dessert! Who needs tradition when you can go for the alternative – a soft, moist, and spiced pumpkin cake with chocolate crumbs and pockets of half-melted chocolate hidden inside, and topped off with a generous layer of chocolate crumbs and gooey chocolate!

To be honest, I’m quite annoyed at myself. As I was sprinkling the crumble mixture into the first layer of batter, I noticed that some places had more crumble than others, but I figured that I’d be lucky enough to get a crumble-filled slice when I took my photos. Boy, was I wrong. Anyways, I can guarantee that, although not proven in the photos, most of the slices had beautiful layers of heavenly crumble and chocolate wedged into the middle.

In case you haven’t been able to tell, I’m getting seriously excited about pumpkins and pumpkin purée. For the last two months, my inbox has been flooding with pumpkin recipes. I eagerly opened them all, only to be disappointed that they all required pumpkin purée. ‘What a pain’, I thought, though I willingly trudged off to the grocery store to buy some, only to discover that Chinese supermarkets don’t stock pumpkin purée. Sighhhh. Thankfully, I figured out the easiest way to make pumpkin purée at home.

Use a sharp knife to stab 5-10 holes into a pumpkin (or cut the pumpkin in half) and stick it in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius for an hour or so (depending on the size), until the flesh goes soft. Then stick it all in a food processor, blend, and voila! You’ve got yourself a good portion of pumpkin purée, which you can use for this recipe, or these healthy vegan pumpkin bars, for example.

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Crumb Cake

Adapted from Hungry Girl Por Vida

Makes 1 8-inch cake

Ingredients

For the crumble

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

For the cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. For the crumble, in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, and salt together until fully combined. Work the butter into the mixture using your fingers of a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
3. For the batter, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt together until fully combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, pumpkin purée, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Pout this mixture into the dry mixture and fold until just combined, do not over mix.
5. Spread half of the cake batter into a greased, 8-inch cake tin. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the crumble over the batter. Add the remaining batter, and sprinkle the other 2/3 of the crumble on top.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean

 

White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies (Cheat)

I need to make cookies more often.

I’ve always loved oatmeal cookies, but the addition of fresh, plump blueberries and sweet, smooth white chocolate take these cookies to a whole new level of yum.

These cookies are crispy on the edges, yet still soft and chewy in the center. I didn’t chill my cookie dough before baking it, so they turned out to be a little flat, which personally, I don’t mind. If you want them to be more puffy and cakey, then I’d recommend chilling them for an hour or two before baking.

White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Broma Bakery

Makes 14-16 large cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch (optional, omit for a crunchier cookie)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• ⅔ cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a medium mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. With the wet ingredients mixing on low speed, slowly incorporate in the dry ingredients until almost combined. Fold in oats and white chocolate chips with a spatula until fully combined, and finally carefully fold in the blueberries, making sure not to break them
4. Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto a lined baking sheet (or just roll them into balls using your hands), leaving 2 inches in between each cookie. If you want a more puffy and cakey cookie, chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 1-2 hours before baking (I didn’t)
5. Bake cookies for 19 minutes, or until just beginning to brown. Allow to cool on cooling rack before serving

Katherine Sabbath Inspired 4-Layer Meringue Birthday Cake (Cheat)

Happy birthday to me! I’m finally 16!

I’m one of the youngest in my grade, and although I liked being the only one in my classes who was 15 while others were 16, it feels pretty good to be 16. 16. 16! The sweet sixteen.

This year, my brother turned 18 (what!) and I turned 16. I’m hoping that this year will go well, overlooking the fact that my brother started his first year in university and I’m starting my first year of the IB, of course.

I wish that along with the study of chemicals and human behavior and history and language, there was a study of time. Maybe it exists somewhere out there, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s not a course in the IB. If it were, I’d be taking it as a higher level for sure.

Time is – to put it simply – absolutely amazing, and absolutely mind-f***ing.

The brain takes a fraction of a second to process information, so everything that’s happening around you is technically already in the past. And the stars that you gaze up at, including the sun. The light from those stars take seconds and minutes to travel from far away into your eyes, so you’re seeing those in the past. If a star went out, you’d still see it shining for a little while longer, because your eyes no longer view the present. Then there’s also that physics theory, where time isn’t always relevant. The theory states that if you’re next to something of an exceptionally large mass, or traveling at an exceptionally high speed, time slows down. I guess that’s a physics thing, but still.

Then again, time isn’t just about the unmatched human perception of time, it’s also about how much can change in either a millisecond, or over the course of a lifetime. Take this quote from DJ McHale: “A second is nothing. A tick on the clock. Seconds pass all the time and we never think about any one of them. But a second can be an eternity.” (I know, I already shared that quote on my last birthday cake post, but it was worth sharing again).

Tragedy happens at the same time as miracles do. I remember, a couple years back, I was on vacation in Europe. It was nighttime. Dark and rainy. My family and I didn’t have any rain protection, and we were frantically running to find our way back to our hotel. At that moment, I was absolutely miserable, and then I started to think. Someone out there in the world is having the best moment of their life. Perhaps getting married, or a couple welcoming their child into the world, yet I’m here, drenched, dripping, and shivering. Ever since then, I’ve always thought similarly at times of low, and it cheers me up to know that someone out there is having the best time of his/her life. Vice versa. When I’m happy and grateful for all the goodness around me, I take a moment to think about someone across the world who may be rushing through thunder and lightning, desperate for shelter, and although it may not help, I close my eyes and send out my condolences.

Anyways, enough about time.

I celebrated my birthday with my friends a couple of weeks before my actual birthday. It was a shared birthday party that I celebrated with my best friend, who turned 16 on August 24.

I found out that she, along with most of my friend group, hadn’t ever gone and properly done karaoke. I was stunned. We were in China, in Beijing! I’d done karaoke countless times, karaoke places are like a second home to me. During my childhood, when I lived in Beijing, I’d say that there were only 3 places people ever celebrated birthdays, child or adult: At home, laser tag, or karaoke.

Naturally, I insisted that we went and did karaoke, and then went back to my house to have dinner and cake and to chill, so that’s what we did. We truly had such an amazing time, and my friends got me the best gifts I could’ve asked for. I went to bed that night feeling loved. I was so happy to have received a dessert journal and Bobby Singer’s Journal and the Enchanted Garden coloring book and a cookie cookbook and a fountain pen and stickers and candy roses and etcetera etcetera. Plus, seeing everyone’s reaction to this cake was pretty memorable, but seeing my best friend’s reaction to finding out that she got a Polaroid? Priceless.

I won’t post any of the birthday party photos for the sake of my friends’ confidentiality, but I’ll post my “birthday in photos” here on my photography page tomorrow.

I’ve always wanted to make a Katherine Sabbath cake. A couple months ago, I started planning cakes for all my family’s birthdays this year. I made my brother a Funfetti Layer Cake, my dad a Classic Tiramisu, and I knew that I had to make a Katherine Sabbath inspired cake (mom’s birthday is still coming up!).

There was one night a few days before I started making this cake where I got so excited about the cake that I couldn’t sleep ’til 3am. Granted, I spent a few hours looking at cakes, but still, I couldn’t stop thinking about cake!

In the end, all was worth it. See how this is an 8-inch, 4-layer birthday cake? In just one night, a little group of girls consumed pretty much the entire thing. Two or three slices were taken home on paper plates, and my mom and I decided to save one slice for the next day, but the rest of it? Gone. Utterly gone.

Normally, there’s cake left over. Cake’s too sweet. They’re too full. Yada yada. None of that happened with this one. The cake layers were perfect. They weren’t dense and overwhelmingly sweet, but were fluffy, light, just the right amount of flavor. The frosting, though! I have to admit, the frosting is my favorite part of this cake. No surprise there, of course. I used the queen’s recipe. Katherine Sabbath’s, that is. I’ve always loved cream cheese frosting, but the fact that freshly whipped cream is folded into this one makes it so incredibly fluffy. It’s not diabetes-sweet and rich like most buttercreams, but is light and beautiful and tangy and has a hint of sweetness that balances perfectly with the crisp meringues.

I absolutely adore making layered cakes. If you do make this recipe, you’ll know what I mean. It took quite a bit of time, but I seriously loved making it, especially the part where I got to dribble chocolate over the cake. That was fun. My layered cakes don’t always look as beautiful as the ones from around the web, and this one surely doesn’t compare to anything by Katherine Sabbath, but I did my best.

Katherine Sabbath Inspired 4-Layer Meringue Birthday Cake

Adapted from recipes linked below

Makes 1 8-inch, 4-layer cake

Ingredients:

• You’ll need a recipe for 4 cakes: 2 chocolate and 2 vanilla. You could also bake a chocolate mud cake and a white chocolate/vanilla mud cake, and slice them in half to create 4 layers. These need to be fully cooled and preferably trimmed before assembling

For the meringues

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) superfine sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Food coloring (preferably powdered)*

For the cheesecake filling

• 500g cream cheese, softened
• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g freshly whipped cream
• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• 2-4 drops blue food coloring

For the chocolate glaze

• 5 ounces (150 g) best-quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt)
• 3/4 cup (90 g) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey

*I don’t have access to powdered food coloring, so I used water-based food coloring for the blue/green, and used beetroot powder for the pink one. The beetroot powder worked quite well. Meringues call for preferably powdered food coloring, as it keeps them dry, but as long as you keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, you should be fine.

Method:

1. For the meringues, preheat oven to 90 degrees Celsius or 200 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until you get soft peaks. Add in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, and then turn the mixer to the highest speed and whip until meringue is stiff and glossy. This should take a few minutes. Beat in vanilla extract.
3. Divide the meringue into bowls and tint them using food coloring of your choice. Transfer into a piping bag with a star or round tip of your choice and pipe onto two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake both trays until crisp, but not browned. This can take anywhere from 1-1.5 hours depending on the size and humidity. You should be able to remove the meringues from the parchment paper without them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge
5. For the cheesecake filling, use an electric mixer to whip cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, rose water and food colouring until pale and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream until combined
6. To assemble, place approximately 1/2 tablespoon of the frosting on the center of a cake board, and place your bottom cake layer onto the cake board. Add about 1/2-3/4 cup frosting onto the top of the cake, and using a small offset spatula, spread the frosting so that it covers the top of the cake. It’s okay to let a little bit of frosting go over the side. At this point, you may sprinkle on some crushed meringues if you wish (making sure to save the pretty ones for decorating!). Add the next cake layer (different flavor) and repeat until you’ve reached your final cake layer
7. Cover the cake with a thin layer of frosting, also known as crumb coating it, and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes
8. Cover the cake in a final layer of frosting, and chill in fridge for at least 15 minutes
9. For the chocolate glaze, in a small bowl, melt the chocolate, butter, corn syrup and salt in the microwave, about 50 seconds, and stir until smooth. Let cool until it thickens slightly, about 15 minutes.
10. (Assembling, continued) Remove the cake from the fridge and spoon the chocolate glaze to the edges of the cake, gently pushing some over the side and letting it dribble down. When you’ve finished putting chocolate glaze on the edges of the cake, spoon chocolate glaze into the center until covered. Decorate the cake immediately with meringues and other desirable decorations/sprinkles
11. Serve!

Brown Butter Banana Bread – The Best Ever Banana Bread (Cheat)

Photographing banana bread is frustrating. They generally all end up looking pretty similar. Usually, it’s fine, I’ll accept them, but with this recipe, I can’t stress how little justice these photos give to the insane moistness and flavor of this banana bread. This is my all-time favorite banana bread recipe.

I’ll attempt to use words to explain the perfection of this recipe, but truly, you must try this one. I’ve made countless banana breads (er…I’m still working on posting the recipes for them all), but this one has always been my favorite.

With the other ones, I’ll usually just make the recipe once or twice, photograph it, and yadee yadee. I’ve made this one so many times.

My whole family simply adores this recipe. Every time we have the right number of overripe bananas, my mom will be hint at me to make this recipe, and I’ll gladly oblige.

So what’s so special about this recipe? Well, for the most part, it’s not even a special ingredient or anything, but a special method. Instead of just softening in the butter and beating it in, you brown it. In other words, brown butter. This means that you place it into a saucepan and melt it, letting it heat until it – literally – browns. This results in a wonderful, aromatic, caramel-y yet nutty ingredient that keeps your banana bread super moist and adds flavor without any special spices or anything.

 

Brown Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body

Makes 1 8-inch loaf

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter
• 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3-4 overripe bananas (approx. 370g or 1 1/2 cup mashed)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over high heat. Once the butter is mostly or completely melted, lower the heat to medium-low and swirl the butter around the pan without stirring. Leave it over the heat, swirling occasionally, until the butter turns brown and is slightly aromatic. Remove from heat and place in fridge to cool
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
4. In another medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, and vanilla. Then, whisk in the slightly cooled butter
5. Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture, and fold until just combined. Do not over mix.
6. Transfer the batter into a greased loaf pan (approx. 8 inch) and bake for 60-70 minutes, until the top is beginning to brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean
7. Allow to cool (mostly) before serving. Store in an airtight container in fridge, and reheat when you want to eat 😉

Easy Blueberry Crumble (Cheat)

Everything tastes better with crumble. It’s just a fact.

Take this blueberry crumble – the blueberries themselves shine, with their tart yet sweet flavors with an edge of lemon, but what would a ramekin of cooked blueberries be without a gorgeous, satisfyingly crunchy, oat-y crumble to go with it? Exactly.

This recipe is so easy to throw together. Plus, it can easily be doubled, or halved, depending on what you need.

Easy Blueberry Crumble

Adapted from The Farm

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

For the blueberry filling:

• 2 1/4 cup (340g) fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons (20g) all-purpose flour
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (15-30ml) lemon juice, depending on how tart the blueberries are
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the crumble:

• 3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (40g) quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup (100g) light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, cubed and softened slightly
• Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional, but recommended)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius, or 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. For the blueberry filling, in a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with the sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt until well combined. Transfer the blueberry mixture into individual ramekins or a 9-inch pie tin
3. For the crumble, in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until combined. Add in the butter and break down with your hands, a pastry cutter, or a food processor, until well combined.
4. Crumble the topping over the blueberries in large clumps
5. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the crumble is beginning to brown and the blueberry filling is bubbling
6. Let cool slightly before serving warm with vanilla ice cream

Funfetti Layer Birthday Cake (Cheat)

Happy birthday, Jeffrey!

So today, my brother turns 18. 18! 

18, which, to me, is absolutely unbelievable.

Why?

Because he’s my older brother, yet his friends say I’m more mature than him.

Because he’s my older brother, and he loves board games and having fun.

Because he’s my older brother, and he still wakes up at 11pm on weekends, coming into my room wearing his blanket over his head and jumping onto my bed and pretending to be a ghost while I try to work.

Because I swear that yesterday we were celebrating his 8th.

Because I can’t imagine him going to college.

Because truly, time passes too quickly.

 

“A second is nothing. A tick on the clock. Seconds pass all the time and we never think about any one of them. But a second can be an eternity.” -DJ McHale, Black Water

Anyways, to celebrate the day he officially became an adult, I decided to make him a funfetti birthday cake, because sprinkles keep you young forever (scientifically proven, guys).

 

Wanna see the inside of the cake? Alright. (Warning: bad photo ahead)

Yeah, I didn’t get to photograph the cut cake under good lighting, but you get the point.

Notes: 

• As you can see, I chose to use a full butter buttercream, as opposed to using vegetable shortening, so there’s a slight yellow tint to it. If you want it the buttercream to be white, substitute about half of the butter with shortening.
• You can break up the steps and start making this a couple days in advance. I suggest dedicating three/four ‘time slots’ for the cake: 1. Baking; 2/3. Making the frosting, trimming, stacking, and crumb coating the cake; 4. Decoration and finishing touches

Funfetti Layer Birthday Cake

Adapted from Sweetapolita

Makes a 8-inch, 2-layer cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 4 (120g)  large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp (1.25ml) almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups (315g) cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (19.5g) baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon (5g) salt
• 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Frosting:

• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons (375 g) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups (400 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) pure vanilla extract

Method

Baking the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius, or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium bowl, mix 1/4 cup of the milk, egg whites, egg, vanilla and almond extract until combined
3. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined
4. Add in the butter and beat using the stand mixer, or an electric hand mixer, for about 30 seconds, before adding the remaining 3/4 cup of milk, until just combined
5. Add the egg mixture in 3 separate batches, mixing for about 20 seconds in between each addition
6. Fold in the rainbow sprinkles
7. Transfer the batter evenly among two 8-inch cake tins, lined with parchment paper and greased/buttered
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean
9. Let cool completely before triple-wrapping in cling film and placing in the fridge/freezer

Making the frosting:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter  until pale and creamy
2. Add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract and beat until light, creamy, and fluffy

Assembling the cake:

1. (optional) Trim the tops of the cakes so that they’re flat
2. Place a dollop (about 1/2 or 1 tablespoon) of frosting in the center of a cake plate or cake board, and place the bottom layer on top
3. Place 1 cup of frosting on top of the cake layer and spread evenly with a small offset palette knife
4. Gently place the second cake layer on top, and place a generous amount of frosting on top, spreading it evenly with the small offset palette knife, and spreading it to the sides of the cake, adding more frosting as necessary. This is just the crumb coat, so it should be a relatively thin layer.
5. Chill the cake until the frosting has set, at least 30 minutes
6. Use the remaining frosting and extra sprinkles to cover and decorate the cake

Egg-free Blackberry Pavlova (Cheat)

Ever since discovering how to make vegan meringues (with 2 ingredients!), I’ve been dying to try vegan-ize other meringue-based recipes. As a matter of fact, the secret ingredient can supposedly be substituted anywhere egg whites are necessary (vegan macarons and angel cakes, anyone?).

Need I remind anyone what this secret ingredient is? It’s a can of chickpeas, of course. Minus the actual chickpeas. I know, it sounds crazy, but I swear that it works.

You may ask, “How?”

How do you turn a can of chickpeas into meringue? You separate the chickpeas from the liquid in the can. Use the chickpeas to make whatever you want (I recommend making sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies), and you transfer the liquid into a stand mixer (or hand mixer). Then you simply whip it up until it resembles meringue.

You may ask, “How?”

How does this work? I have no idea, but you have my word when I say that it does. You can read about my first experience using the chickpea water, along with photos of the magical transformation here.

If you want, you could probably veganize this entire recipe by using coconut cream in place of whipped cream. I went with the cream because I was lazy.

 

Notes: If you want to make this, but need something to do with the chickpeas, make these sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies (They’re healthy!). Also, feel free to increase/decrease the sweeteners to taste.

Egg-free Blackberry Pavlova

Ingredients

• 1 (400g) can of chickpeas
• 3/4 cup – 1 cup powdered sugar (adjust to taste)
• 1 cup whipping cream (or coconut cream)
• 1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar (adjust to taste)
• 10-15 fresh blackberries, crushed/chopped/squished/puréed, plus more for topping

Method

1. Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius
2. Open the can of chickpeas and drain the water into a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl
3. Add in the powdered sugar and beat with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer on the highest setting. It should begin to turn white and puffy at around 6 minutes, but beat for about 12-15 minutes, until it’s beautiful, glossy, and holds stiff peaks
4. Transfer the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, making circular discs as shown in the photos
5. Bake for 1.5-2 hours until the meringues are dry and easily removable from the parchment paper. They should still be white. Let them cool on a wire rack or in the fridge
6. Use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to beat the whipping cream/coconut cream until it forms stiff peaks. Beat in the powdered sugar, and then beat in the crushed/chopped/squished blackberries until well combined
7. Use a spatula to place a desired amount of cream onto each meringue disc, and top with fresh blackberries. Serve immediately. (Note: If you want to make these in advance, you can make the meringues and store them in an airtight container in the fridge, but once they have cream on them, it’s best not to leave them out for too long)

Mocha Chocolate Granola (Clean)

~ Aromatic mocha chocolate granola – Easy, crunchy, and healthier granola with melt-in-your mouth chocolate chips and a hint of mocha ~

Let’s say you were checking out my recipe index, and you demanded, “Pick one oat recipe to eat for the rest of your life.”

I’d point at this one without question.

By the way, excuse all the weird angles with these photos. I was playing around with angles and it wasn’t until I finished editing them all that I realized that less than half of them are straight.

Anyways, let’s talk granola. Granola is one of my favorite things to make, since I get to make up the recipe as I go. They’re so insanely diverse and customizable, and they taste so good. I always have at least two different types of granola in my kitchen. Some of them are much better than others. Those are the ones I post.

Such as this one.

It usually takes me the first bite to determine whether the granola is good or not, but I fell in love with this recipe from the moment the batch came out of the oven. It was the aroma of mocha/coffee that got me. Then I stirred in the chocolate chips when the granola was barely warm. The temperature was perfect, as the chocolate chips warmed, but didn’t melt, and then cooled down with the rest of the granola. This resulted in chocolate chips that weren’t messy and melty, they could still hold their shape, and most importantly, they literally melt in your mouth.

And obviously, alongside the chocolate, there’s the hint of unsweetened coffee, which isn’t noticeably bitter, and pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the chocolate.

I know that this is a ‘clean’ recipe, so there isn’t supposed to be any white or brown sugar. This recipe does call for brown sugar, though you could substitute a liquid sweetener of choice if you wish, so it’s not mandatory. However, I do suggest using brown sugar in this particular recipe, because it caramelizes beautifully and the flavor just works better with the mocha and chocolate and almonds.

Mocha Chocolate Granola

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or honey, though brown sugar is recommended)
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder or espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg white, whisked lightly until foamy
• 1/3-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, or 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together oats, almonds, flax seeds, brown sugar, coffee/espresso powder, and salt
3. Stir in the olive oil, vanilla extract, and egg white, until fully combined
4. Transfer the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the surface is golden brown
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool for approximately 10 minutes before stirring in chocolate chips, and then allowing to cool fully before breaking into pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Skinny Fudgy-Cakey Beetroot Brownie Bites (Cheat)

Summer vacation is my favorite time of year. If you’re not on vacation right now, I am so sorry.

What have I been doing this summer? Partying – in my kitchen. I did watch Jurassic World the other day, though. Chris Pratt is lyfe ❤

About the title – because this recipe does have butter and flour and whatnot, I couldn’t classify it as a ‘clean’ recipe, but it is a lightened-up version and each brownie is small, making it a perfect small snack that wouldn’t fatten anyone up – hence the ‘skinny’ part. Each brownie bite is less than 100 calories, too! Nutrition info is at the end of this post.

Let’s talk brownies. I’d say that most people like fudgy brownies as opposed to cakey brownies. When someone asks me, I say fudgy, but personally, I don’t think that brownies fall under two simple categories.

I used to associate “cakey brownies” with the texture of chocolate cake, which I assume a lot of people do, and I’d associate “fudgy brownies” with just the average brownie. As much as I love sweets, some brownie recipes out there make me cringe at how insanely fudgy they are, with a single bite having enough calories to last the day.

So let me try to describe these brownies. They’re soft, fluffy, moist, flavorful, and bite-sized. They are neither “fudgy” nor “cakey”, but a delicious hybrid of both.

*This recipe is vegan-ize-able. Replace the butter with Earth Balance and the egg with a chia/flax egg

**To make the beetroot purée, just stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. If you have leftovers, you can use it to naturally dye all your food pretty and pink, or use it to make my many recipes that use beetroot purée

Fudgy-Cakey Beetroot Brownie Bites

Adapted from Boards and Knives

Makes 36 bite-sized brownies

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter*
• 150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 cup beetroot purée**
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg*
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a double boiler, microwave (at intervals), or directly in a saucepan, melt the butter
3. Gently stir the chocolate pieces into the bowl/saucepan with the butter until melted
4. Remove from heat if using double boiler or saucepan, and stir in the beetroot purée, vanilla extract, sugar, and salt. When the mixture has mostly cooled, stir in the egg as well
5. Fold in the flour and baking powder until combined. Do not over-mix
6. Transfer the mixture into a greased or lined 8×8 (inch) cake tin and spread the batter so that it fills the cake tin properly
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bite-sized pieces and sifting on powdered sugar if desired

Nutrition Facts
Servings 36.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 87
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	7 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	14 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 12 mg	4 %
Sodium 145 mg	6 %
Potassium 19 mg	1 %
Total Carbohydrate 11 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g	2 %
Sugars 7 g
Protein 1 g	2 %
Vitamin A	2 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	1 %
Iron	1 %

Red Velvet Rose Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Cheat)

SCHOOL IS OVER. I’m aiming to make the most of this summer, as next year’s summer will be 80% devoted to studying :(. Anyways, the recipe I’m sharing today is one that I made approximately 8 months ago…

Yeah. I made it for my mom’s birthday, which is in November. Here I am, posting the recipe in June. You can probably tell that these photos were from a little while ago, considering the bad lighting and whatnot, but the cake tasted amazing and I didn’t know if I’d ever make the exact same cake again, so I figured that I may as well post this one.

My mom absolutely adored this cake. It’s literally 100% perfectly suited to her taste, and the rest of my family’s taste for that matter. Why? Well…

We don’t like Chinese cakes. They’re really really fluffy, which is okay, I guess, but they don’t taste like anything. They’re just fluffy cakeness, and they’re filled with tons and tons of cream that, yet again, don’t really taste like anything. My grandparents got a cake once for one of their birthdays, and it ended up being like, 80% cream and 20% cake. Then the cakes are usually topped with more cream (but in different colors) and whatnot. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Chinese bakery cakes ALL the time. I’d still eat them, but c’mon…

We don’t like American buttercream (well, I’m okay with it). They think that it’s way to sweet, and the cakes are usually quite high in sugar too. I looked at dozens of cream cheese frostings prior to this cake, and the cream cheese to sugar ratio varied drastically. Some frostings required 7 cups of powdered sugar, and some required 2, with the same amount of cream cheese! I went with one that’s less sweet, which doesn’t make you want to puke after 2 slices of cake, and lets the distinct flavor of the cream cheese remain. There’s 16oz of cream cheese to 2 cups of powdered sugar, which is a pretty decent ratio, in my opinion, with a little bit of butter. Feel free to add more sugar to taste.

If you’re wondering about piping the roses, it’s seriously so much easier than I thought. It took me about 5 minutes to pipe the roses. I’m not kidding. All you need is a 1M piping tip (I got one online for about a Euro and it’s my favorite piping tip now. I’ve used it for my funfetti cupcakes too). If you want, just watch this short video to get a better idea on how to make one.

        

Red Velvet Rose Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes a 2-layer 8-inch cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp red food coloring
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour (or all-purpose)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting:

• 16oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted (if you want a sweeter frosting, you may use up to 4 cups powdered sugar)
• Little silver candy beads (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, or 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. For the cake, using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (approx. 5 min)
3. Mix in the cocoa powder, food coloring, flour, baking soda, baking powder ,salt, vanilla, vinegar, and oil until just combined. Do not over-mix
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time
5. Mix in the buttermilk
6. Transfer the mixture into two greased 8 (or 9) inch cake pans
7. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean
8. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, before cooling completely on a wire rack
9. For the frosting, using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy
10. Beat in the butter and vanilla extract until light and fluffy
11. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until smooth. At this point, you could add a little bit of milk (1 tsp at a time) or a little more powdered sugar (1 tbsp at a time) until you reach a desired consistency
12. To assemble the cake, make sure that the cakes are completely cooled before frosting. I wrapped each cake in 3 layers of plastic wrap and froze them prior to trimming/frosting. If your cakes have domed, then trim the top of the cake off so that the tops are flat
13. Spread about 1/4-1/2 cup of frosting onto one of the layers, and place the second layer on top. Spread about 1/2 cup frosting to create a thin layer over the layered cake (this is called crumb coating. If you’re in a hurry, you could skip this step, but it’s recommended, as it will ensure that no crumbs are visible after frosting)
14. Freeze the crumb-coated cake for at least an hour (optional, but recommended). Place a 1M piping tip into a piping bag and fill with cream cheese frosting. Pipe roses around the side of the crumb-coated cake, and then pipe roses on the top of the cake. Add swirls or kisses of frosting in the places that aren’t covered by the roses. Place a little silver candy bead in the middle of each rose if you want. Enjoy x

Double Chocolate Waffles (Cheat)

~ Freezer-friendly fluffy chocolate waffles studded with little pockets of melted chocolate ~

I don’t want to think about my finals. All I care about is that they’re over at last. I can finally focus on eating properly again. My comfort food for the past three days has been cookies n’ cream ice cream, which is so insanely addicting, especially when the ice cream lacks chunks of cookies. I have to dig through the ice cream container (by eating it) to find the cookie chunks, and then eating those too.

I’ve moved on from ice cream now. Time for waffles.

There’s something so satisfying about pretty-fying waffles and finishing it with a drizzle of chocolate and that beautiful sprig of mint. It’s similar to pretty-fying crepes. You can probably see a resemblance between these fluffy, chocolate-studded waffles and these pink beetroot crepes I made previously. Look at this cool gif though:

Whether or not your exams are over, you deserve these double chocolate waffles. Trust me.

Notes: This recipe makes a relatively large batch of waffles, so if you end up with leftovers, store them in a freezer-friendly container, or wrap them in cling film and store in the freezer. Reheat in the toaster or microwave.

Double Chocolate Waffles

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 7 tbsp (100g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sour cream or yoghurt (I used yoghurt)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
• Toppings of choice

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, sour cream/yoghurt, vanilla extract, and milk
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir gently until fully thoroughly combined
4. Fold in the mini chocolate chips
5. Preheat and butter a waffle iron to your desired temperature
6. Spoon about 1/3 to 1/2 cup (depending on the size of your waffle maker) of the batter into the middle of the waffle mixer and cook (base the cooking time off of your waffle mixer, but it should take about 1.5-2 minutes)
7. Transfer waffles onto plates and top with your desired toppings (e.g. ice cream, berries, melted chocolate) and serve warm

 

Two-Ingredient Vegan Meringues (Cheat)

VEGAN MERINGUES! You’ll never believe it.

So traditional meringues are made by whipping egg whites with sugar and a little cream of tartar and salt, and then baking them at a low temperature for a long time, resulting in this crispy, delicate, sweet dollop of goodness. As you’ve probably already guessed, egg whites are ESSENTIAL to a meringue. They make up the entire base, which means that vegans can’t ever eat meringues…right? Wrong! There’s a way to make meringues without egg whites, and you’re never going to believe how.

You know cans of chickpeas? You know how you drain the liquid and then use the chickpeas? Well, sure, drain that liquid…or whip it up and make vegan meringues! Crazy, right? I was so shocked and I knew that I instantly had to try it out, especially since I had a recipe saved for sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies and a can of chickpeas sitting on my shelf.

To be honest, I had plenty of doubts on this. The liquid in the can is pretty much just water with some added salt and whatnot. I tossed the liquid into my beloved Kenwood stand mixer, turned it on full power, and walked away to make chickpea blondies. I came back just six minutes later (yes, I checked the timestamps on my photos), and look at the difference:

Like I said. Crazy.

You might feel like these don’t taste like meringues, but trust me, I’ve made meringues about 4 times with consistent results, and I can guarantee that these taste exactly the same.

What are you waiting for? Go buy a can of chickpeas and try it out for yourself!

Notes: If you want to make this, but need something to do with the chickpeas, make these sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies! (They’re healthy!)

Two-Ingredient Vegan Meringues

Ingredients:

• 1 (400g) can of chickpeas
• 3/4 cup – 1 cup powdered sugar (adjust to taste)
• 50g dark chocolate, melted (optional, for decoration/extra yumminess)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius
2. Open the can of chickpeas and drain the water into a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl
3. Add in the powdered sugar and beat with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer on the highest setting. It should begin to turn white and puffy at around 6 minutes, but beat for about 12-15 minutes, until it’s beautiful, glossy, and holds stiff peaks
4. Transfer the mixture into a large piping bag (you may need to re-fill the bag a few times) and pipe meringue kisses onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper
5. Bake for 1 – 1.5 hours until the kisses are dry and easily removable from the parchment paper. They should be white
6. (Optional) Dip them in chocolate, or drizzle them in chocolate, and serve to your vegan (or non-vegan) friends! (Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator)

Beetroot Vanilla Rice Pudding with Dark Chocolate (Clean/Cheat)

I love rice.

Being from a Chinese family ensures that I get to eat rice (almost) daily. When I was younger, my parents and grandparents would call me a “fan tong”, which literally translates to “rice bucket”. In other words, I mostly ate rice.

We usually eat rice prepared the traditional way – steamed. Simple. Steamed. Perfect. Sometime’s we’d have it as “zhou” or congee. At restaurants, if pineapple rice was on the menu, we would order it. No questions asked.

My point is, I’ve always loved rice, but for some reason, rice pudding wasn’t really something that I ate. In fact, I’m not really sure if I had ever eaten rice pudding before this recipe. Kinda sad, I know.

 

Whether this was my first experience with rice pudding or not, it definitely left a good impression on me. The rice was simply so creamy. The texture was unlike anything I’d really ever had before. And since I just threw a beetroot recipe at you, I may as well throw you another one.

The rice pudding itself isn’t immensely flavorful. It makes up the texture and the base, and it carries a subtle vanilla sweetness, but that’s where the chocolate comes in. It adds, well, chocolate, which pairs beautifully with the creaminess of the coconut milk and the hint of shredded coconut. I promise that the beet doesn’t affect the flavor at all. It may look like there’s a lot of beet added to make the color, but beet dyes food really easily, and you don’t need much, so you won’t be able to taste it.

Visually, beet and chocolate has got to be one of the most appealing combinations. Pink and chocolate, what’s not to love?

In case anyone was wondering, I considered this recipe to be a clean/cheat recipe, because c’mon, it makes quite a lot of rice pudding and has 1/4 cup sugar, which you could probably replace for honey if you really wanted. I wanted to stick to traditional rice pudding, so I used sugar.

Notes: Feel free to use white chocolate, or any type of chocolate of your choosing. Plus, you might want to use more chocolate, or less. Depends on what you like, 70g is just an approximation. To make the beetroot purée, just stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. It may seem like a lot of work, but you can use it to make all your food pretty and pink, or save it to make beetroot nut butter chocolate cups!

Beetroot Vanilla Rice Pudding with Dark Chocolate (Cheat)

Ingredients:

• 500ml (2 cups) coconut milk
• 250ml (1 cup) + 30ml (2 tbsp) water
• 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
• 200g (1 cup) short-grain rice
• 250g (1 1/2 cups) beetroot purée (see notes)
• 70-100g dark chocolate, melted (see notes)
• Fresh fruit, to garnish (optional)
• Shredded coconut, to garnish (optional)

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan heat the coconut milk, water, sugar, and vanilla over medium heat, until hot but not boiling. Turn off heat.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the rice and oil, and stir them together over medium-low heat
3. Add in 2 tbsp of water into the large saucepan and mix until mostly absorbed
4. Stir in a few tablespoons of the coconut milk mixture and allow the coconut milk to fully absorb before stirring in another few tablespoons, until all of the coconut milk mixture is mixed into the rice and the rice is fully cooked through. This should take 20-30 minutes
5. Stir in the beetroot purée until fully mixed, and remove from heat
6. Serve the rice pudding immediately with melted chocolate, fresh fruit, and shredded coconut

Cream Cheese Pound Cake (Cheat)

My past four recipes have been clean. What? It’s time to bring out the devil. The devil in a cake-form, obviously.

Did I mention that there’s really just 5 ingredients? Excluding salt and vanilla, which don’t count. Even with salt and vanilla, this yummy thing only needs 7 ingredients and minimal effort.

I want to talk about bundt pans. See, here’s the thing. You get a bundt pan with a beautiful design, and you bake a cake in it, planning to turn the cake upside-down after it’s finished baking so that the top has this gorgeous cake tin design on it. That was my plan, but when I pulled the cake out of the oven, I was awed at the beautiful, golden, cracked top that it had formed while the cake puffed up. I flipped it over to see how it looked like if it were upside down, and it just looked boring and…bad. So, I just left it the way it was. Am I doing something wrong?

And then you’ve got that issue of trying to get a slice of cake to stand up straight. I’m happy to say that I was successful at first, but then it fell over and I couldn’t get the stupid piece of cake to stand up straight, so I just took a few photos of it, and ate it (this kinda sums up how I deal with all my food-related problems).

Gah. So moist and buttery ❤

I would recommend having this cake with tea or coffee, and to serve it while it’s slightly warm. Keep leftovers covered in plastic so that it doesn’t dry out.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Makes 1 large cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
• 8oz (1 package) cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius, or 325 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated
4. Gently mix in the flour, salt, and vanilla extract until just combined. Do not over mix
5. Pour the mixture into a greased pan (I used a bundt pan)
6. Bake for about 90 minutes, until a toothpick/skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean

Soft Sugar Cookies (Cheat)

I haven’t posted any recipes in a while, and trust me, it’s frustrating.

It’s not that I don’t want to post recipes, or that I don’t have recipes to post. I blame China. My VPN hasn’t been working on my laptop! It still isn’t, except for when I’m at school.

I recently finished an eBook, and I’ll post that and share it with you guys as soon as I can. It’s been my main focus up until last week, and I don’t want to post any of the recipes without giving you guys the actual eBook. Anyways, just so you know, it’s called Health-ified Chocolate and it’s a cookbook about what it means to “eat clean”, and some healthy chocolate recipes. You guys are gonna love it.

In the meantime, here’s a sugar cookie recipe.

I made these a while ago for a bake sale, and oh my god they were so delicious. Ask anyone who had one.

I’m not sure why I always end up with so many cookies when making cut-out cookies. The recipe said that this would make about 3 dozen, and I ended up with 91.

I used a buttercream to outline the cookies and then filled it with an icing made out of sugar, water, and homemade corn syrup (which is pretty much just more sugar and water). The buttercream did not work. 

The royal icing recipe called for 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup corn syrup, 1lb (450g) powdered sugar, and food coloring. Whisk together until smooth. I had waayyyy too much left over. I’d use like…three tablespoons instead of 1/3 cup. It takes 2-4 hours to dry. When I make sugar cookies again, I’ll mess around with this recipe and let you guys know. 

If you want tips on how to flood cookies, they’re everywhere. There’s step-by-step photos here.

Anyways, here’s the recipe.

Soft Sugar Cookies

Adapted from The Gold Lining Girl

Makes 3-6 dozen, depending on size

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. In an electric mixer, cream the butter
2. Add the sugar and continue to mix until combined
3. Mix in the egg and vanilla, followed by the flour, baking powder, and salt
4. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to a couple of days
5. After refrigerating, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
6. Roll the cookie dough out onto a floured surface, until it’s about 1/4 inch or 0.6cm
7. Use cookie cutters and cut out shapes (after cutting them out, ball up the dough, roll it out, and cut the shapes again until you’re out of cookie dough)
8. Place the cookie dough pieces on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes. The cookies should not be brown
9. Let the cookies cool before frosting (or just eat them. They taste pretty damn good plain)