Chocolate Walnut Cake

Sometimes I felt I'm such a lazy person when it comes to baking. I intended to bake a banana cake this weekend but ended up baking this chocolate walnut cake instead because I don't want to drive all the way to the market to just buy a few bananas. This cake still have the banana texture but with Cadbury chocolate flavors ;-) 

INGREDIENTS
PART A

150g butter

30g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 egg yolks

PART B

4 egg whites

80g castor or granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

PART C

90g cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

PART D

40g walnut, toasted and crushed

80g Cadbury chocolate grated, store in fridge to avoid melting.

 

METHOD

1. Prepare all the ingredient parts and lined a 6" round cake pan.

2. Start with part A ingredients, i.e. cream the butter, brown sugar and vanilla essence until smooth and pale using a electric hand-mixer. Add in the egg yolks and beat until combined.

3. Beat the part B ingredients i.e. egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into batter (A).

4. Sift part C ingredients and fold into the mixture slowly.

5. Finally add in part D ingredients and mix until even.

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 Celsius for 25-30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

 

Cashewnut Brownie

Brownie is always one of my favorite dessert but I haven't bake one before from scratch except those off-the-shelf pre-packed mixture. I still have one box left on my shelf though, hehe. 

Well, tempted to bake my very own, I tried out this recipe which is adapted from Kevin Chai cook book "AA Touch of Classic Baking". It turns out a bit sweet for me.

INGREDIENTS

140g cooking chocolate

50g brown sugar (to reduce to 20g  if you want a less-sweet brownie)

50g butter

1/2 tbs cocoa powder

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp baking powder

40g plain flour

15g white chocolate chips

15g semi-sweet chocolate chips

30g cashew nuts

Notes: For full recipe, double the ingredients and use a 7x7" pan.

METHOD

1. Melt butter, cooking chocolate and coco powder in a medium or large pan over low heat.

2. Stir in brown sugar until almost melted and remove from heat to cool down slightly.

3. Add in eggs and mix well.

4. Preheat your oven at 180 Celsius and lined a 7"x3" loaf pan.

5. Mix the flour and baking powder. Fold flour into the chocolate batter and do not overdo it.

6. Pour and spread the batter into the pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips and cashew nuts over the top.

7. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.

8. Serve when cool.

Baked Bread-Crumbs Chicken

Indeed this is a quick meal that I opt for when I come back from work. There are many versions and adaptation of this recipe but for me, even a dash of slat and pepper to marinate the chicken will taste nice. Here's my version of baked chicken breast bread crumb recipe, accompanied by some fresh salads.

INGREDIENTS

One chicken breast, halves

One egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp rosemary (optional)

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 cup or bowl of bread crumbs

1 tsp olive oil

For salad, 

Two leaves of iceberg lettuce

Two strawberries

One apple

Some thousand island

METHOD

1. Beat the chicken breast softly with a meat pounder.

2. Marinate the chicken with black pepper powder, soy sauce and rosemary for about 15 minutes.

3. Dip the chicken breast in the egg mixture and dredge in the bread crumbs until fully coated.

4. Place the chicken on a oven dish or a lined baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil over the chicken.

5. Bake at 190°Celsius for 20 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Happy Valentine's Day - Honey Love Muffin

What happens when you mix everything you love and bake it into a melting cup of delicacy? Well, that's love and the theme for my muffin recipe, fusion of food that I love to indulge in haha..

Honey is sweet just like love

Chocolate is delicate just like love and

You'll go nuts once you're in love..

Don't be left out if you're single out there, although valentine day is also known as S.A.D (single's awareness day). Valentine is not meant for lovers only, it is a day to celebrate love, be it your parents, your friends or whatever you love to do... You must learn to love yourself before you can love others. Here's to my love for baking, yummy...

INGREDIENTS

150g plain flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate 

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

60g salted butter

100g wild honey

125ml low fat milk

50g semi-sweet chocolate chips

50g white chocolate chips

40g almond silvers (any nuts will do) 

40g Oreo crumbs (i just can't resist to add these)

METHOD

1. Melt the honey and butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Let it cool down.

2. Add in the egg, milk and vanilla essence into the mixture and stir well.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and cocoa powder.

4. Fold in the sifted dry ingredients into the wet mixture slowly to avoid over mixing.

5. Combine the nuts, Oreo crumbs and chocolate chips into the batter and mix well.

6. Spoon the batter into some muffin cups and bake in a preheated 180 Celsius oven for 25 minutes.

7. Cool on wire racks and enjoy!