Carrot cake and Dates bar

So my sister in law (erk I must get used to it) asked me to bake a carrot cake for her for raya. But I already preparing for a cheesecake so I told her I nanti. Nanti Shaleen bake.

This was the second time I bake using this recipe. The first one wasn't what I expected for. And that was 3 months ago. But I won't give up. I just though maybe I'd missed out somewhere so baked it again for the second time.

And it fails. Big time.

It was too spongy!! I don't know if that was what it should tasted like but I don't think carrot cake was supposed to be spongy macam sepan. There, sepan tau! So sila. I drew my line, just here.

And this on the other hand was my favourites. It was dense and full with nuts and dates. I know my Mom would love it and she did :)

The Bar

Adapted from Thepioneerwoman

1-½ cup Butter, Melted And Then Cooled

8 ounces, weight Pitted Dates, Chopped Coarsely (around 1 1/2 Cups

1-½ cup Walnuts, Chopped

1 cup Pecans, Chopped (optional)

2 cups All-purpose Flour

½ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Baking Powder

¾ cups Packed Brown Sugar

¾ cups White Sugar

4 whole Eggs At Room Temperature

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Take 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and brush your pan (one 9×13 pan or two 8×8 pans), making sure to grease the sides as well.

3. Set the coarsely chopped dates, walnuts and pecans (if using) aside in a bowl. (If the dates you are using are too dry, you can soak them in a little bit of liquid. Make sure you drain them before mixing them in with the nuts.)

4. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. Set aside.

5. Mix the remaining 1 1/4 cup melted butter and sugars until well incorporated.

6. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

7. Add in the vanilla.

8. Reserve ¼ cup of the flour mixture. Dredge the date and nut mixture with the reserved flour. Use more of the flour mixture if needed.

9. Mix in the rest of the flour mixture with the wet ingredients. Do this gently, by hand, until just incorporated.

10. Fold in dredged dates and nuts with the batter.

10. Pour the batter (it will be very thick) onto the buttered pan(s).

11. Bake for 30 or more minutes, until light golden brown. It can take up to 40 or so minutes to cook, so keep checking. The bars are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Baked Peach Cheesecake

On the first day of raya, I only managed to bake one cake. One. A total disapoinment. I know I could have baked more if I can managed my time efficiently. But I had a lot of cleaning ups to do. I was working half-day that day. And I really wanted to go home before iftar. Even if its mean I had to breakfasting in the car. Which I did. And Mom was the one who called me all the way from JB to tell me 'dalam TV dah azan so you can buka puasa now'.

I had few blocks of cream cheese so I thought of making a cheesecake (and left few blocks in the fridge which in a real bad condition when I get back after raya due to fridge rosak :( ). I think this recipe I copied from Kuali or something. I forgot. You can google it if you want.

Yes I know my cheesecake turned out not as beautiful as they should be. I brought back to JB rightaway, still hot and warm when I arrived. So I had to left the inner lining of baking paper on the side of the cake. Takut deformity berlaku. Hehe.

And the cake? Biasa-biasa je lah. Its either me or the recipe. I think it was me haha.

Shortcrust pastry:

200g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

125g very cold butter

3 tbsp ice-cold water

Filling:

300g cream cheese(leave at room temperature)

2 eggs, separated

75g castor sugar

1 tbsp grated orange rind

2 tbsp orange juice

1 1/2 tbsp corn flour

175g canned peaches

Method
Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Dip the whole piece of butter into the flour. Place a grater above the flour, take the butter out and grate it into the flour. Mix grated butter into the flour. Rub in using your fingertips until butter is well distributed and the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Do not overwork the mixture.

Add ice-cold water gradually, stirring the flour and butter mixture with a palette knife. When mixture starts to bind well, stop adding water.

Knead the pastry lightly for a short while until smooth. Wrap pastry with plastic food wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Roll out pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel top layer of plastic from pastry. Roll pastry round a rolling pin. Bring rolling pin over a 21 cm flan tin.ease pastry carefully into the tin. Trim edges.

Prick the base with a fork and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Bake blind in preheated oven at 190°C for 10 minutes then remove beans and paper and bake for a further 20 minutes or until lightly browned. *cough* FYI saya pakai green beans :p

To make filling: Preheat oven to 180°C. Drain peaches well then slice thinly. Arrange slices evenly over the base of baked pastry case.

Beat cheese until light then add in sugar and continue to beat until creamy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each one is added. Stir in orange juice and rind. Sift in corn flour and blend well.

In a medium bowl, beat egg white and add a pinch of salt. Sprinkle 1 tbsp castor sugar gradually when egg white is almost firm. Go on beating until egg white turns stiff. Fold egg white mixture into creamed cheese mixture.

Carefully pour filling over the peaches. Bake in preheated oven for one to one and a quarter hours or until cake is firm. Leave cake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes with oven door ajar. Remove the pie and cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate cake overnight then turn out. Sift icing sugar over and slice into eight pieces and serve.

For the topping, I arranged the sliced peaches on top of the cake the next day, and strawberry then I pour instant jelly on top of it ;)

Banana Cake

Again, bananas left ripen on the counter so I baked banana cake! I left the bare cake for a day before I made the filling and ganache. When I sent Lana to the airport, I managed to grab one bag of Daim from the store so I decided to chop it and toss(?) it on my ganache. The filling was a different story. I had all the ingredients on hand but I had no idea which recipe to be followed. I stood there then I sat. Then I decided to make something different. Rather than using all the creams I used, CUSTARD! Yes damn freaking custard powder! I didn't know where did the idea came from but I was pretty sure I had to make it fast.

Obe loved it. So much. He said that was the best cake I ever made. Which was a lie. I know I baked some pretty good stuff before. And it were all good! Hahaha. But seriously, I think if you have all the patience and rajin, spare some time and prepare a good filling. Seriously.

And I don't know why did I choose this recipe although the original recipe was called for an upside down walnut cake. But yes, the cake was dense, moist and the best for a banana cake. Be experimental and try adding some fun to it ;)

Banana Cake

Adapted from SmittenKitchen

1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 to 3 large)
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then mashed bananas, sour cream, rum, and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients in 2 additions just until combined. Spoon batter into pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

For the filling, I don't exactly remember the measurement of all the ingredients. Its in my head naturally, abundance and engraved on one of my lobes I guess. But I won't let you down. Saya cuba.

1/2 tin susu cair IDEAL
3 full tbsp custard powder

Boil the milk together with the custard powder until dissolve on a low heat. When it starts to boil, continue stir until it thickens. Turn off the heat and spread on the cooled cake (after you cut it to layers of course ;) ).

For the ganache, erm ini memang aku tak ingat. My own recipe and techniques differ from time to time :p

Oreo Cupcakes

Oreo Cupcakes

from BeantownBaker.com

Cupcakes

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 pkg Oreo Cookies (~45 cookies)

Preheat over to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.

Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Prune Cake

I am never a big fan of prunes. I don't even know what prunes should taste like. Sweet or sour? I walked along one of the aisle at Giant and my eyes just couldn't stop looking at this.

Gold label? So whats the difference between this and the usual purple tub? My hand got itchy and I just had to buy it. And I did. I got back home and search for a recipe and found one.

So what about the taste? The prunes I mean. Hurm... Sama je kot.

The recipe is from Thepioneerwoman. If you readers thought me as your sifu now this is my sifu. Haha macam lah dia acknowledge aku kan.

But don't be like me. I don't have any cake tester and too lazy to make one (my mom taught me how to improvised by using stem) so I used a knife hence cake ku berlubang nipis macam tu hihi.

Ok. Here's the recipe:

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake
Adapted from Thepioneerwoman

Ingredients

For cake:

15 dried pitted prunes
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla essence

For icing:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 150 degrees (or somewhere no more than 170 degrees celcius).

Start by mashing all the prunes. You don't have to soaked the prunes in water but if you find it is not squishy enough then add some. Set aside.

Sift together flour, cinnamon powder and baking soda. In a bigger bowl, mix together oil, sugar and eggs and beat well. Stir in the dry ingredients and add in buttermilk, vanilla essence and prunes. As what Ree said, do not overmix!

Pour into your cake pan (I used 9" square pan) and bake for 40 minutes.

5 minutes before the cake is done, start preparing the icing. Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and heat it for 5 to 7 minutes. Do not stir. It will start to bubbles then turn off the heat when the sugar has reach to almost caramel-consistency but make sure it is not too thick. Immediately pour on top of your cake.

Semolina Cake

I baked like what most of you did. I am no baking goddess. Sometimes I do forgot to put eggs on the batter. Yes I did, once :p And there were many times where I *cough* accidentally overbeat my batter and you know how my heart sinks just like how the cake sinks in? The feeling, my God nak menangis.

I am not perfect. I am still learning. But I am not that virgin with a whisker, or a spatula.

Like last week, I baked this. You know how did it turn out? Half of it were ok and half of it hampeh. I don't know what went wrong but maybe it was the temperature. Halfway through the baking, I raised the temperature a bit only then it is ok. And I ate all alone. Tsk tsk.

My temptation in baking the perfect cupcakes did not end there. The next few days I baked a simple raspberry vanilla cupcakes from one of the recipe book I have and tralalala, I threw away all of it. Don't ask why memang sangat remuk hati luluh lah.

In between of those two I baked this. Awesome powsome! I liked it! Butter cake texture with suji flavour. But I must remind you, suji flour might be too coarse for your liking. I don't mind it at all. Of course I was a bit disturbed with the sandy feeling of the cake at first but take some time to let it melts itself in your mouth *drools*.

Here just for the sake of you guys, I copied the recipe.

Semolina Cake
Adapted from A Nyonya's Kitchen

140g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (I used 1 tsp)
100g semolina
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
100ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
250g butter, at room temperature
200g sugar (I used only 170g)
2 tbsp honey

1. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in semolina and salt. Mix well.
2. Beat eggs, milk and vanilla essence together in a bowl.
3. Cream butter, sugar and honey till light and fluffy. Gradually trickle in egg mixture, beating constantly. Mix in flour mixture on low speed and stir till well combined.
4. Spoon the batter into an 8-inch cake tray lined with baking paper.
5. Bake for 45 minutes at 150 deg C or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
6. Cool cake for 15 minutes, then unmould and let cool.

Orange Almond Cake

Of course, Shaleen and baking cannot be separated even when the mixer is broken :p Last Friday I took out the last block of butter from the fridge and the last four eggs and start counting. 4 eggs, what can I bake with four? I searched for a recipe from my hard drive then I stumbled upon this one recipe, Orange Almond Cake. Great! I have some oranges left in the fridge.

When I came home from work, I start to measuring everything. But the ingredients were in fecking grams! Mana pulak aku nak carik scale nih. Then luckily, from years of baking with a lot of failures, I can just close one eye and measure everything. Haha.

Working with lack of utensils is another things. I don't even have orange squeezer. Five minutes later, with splashes of juice everywhere...

I was sweeping the house and the house filled with sweet citrus aroma and I loveeeeeeeeeee it! Brought it home to JB when it was still hot but only to realized they don't really fancy orange cake :(

But this cake never failed me. The perfect combination of orange, almond and sweetness. Perfect and moist. Sampai sekarang craving lagi. Rugi tak bawak Nilai.

Orange Almond Cake
Adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

226 grm butter (1 block)
180 grm sugar (almost 1 cup)
180 grm ground almond
150 grm flour (1 1/2 cups)
½ tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
Zest and juice of 2 oranges (I used 4 ;) )

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Grease and line a baking pan with parchment paper. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in the ground almond and set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar with high speed until creamy and smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat well until well combined.
3. Reduce the speed to low and add in the fry ingredients in 3 badges alternating with the orange juice and zest. Mix until just incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.