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.

 

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!

Walnut Chocolate Chips Cookies

I didn’t manage to bake a lot due to my hectic work life prior to Chinese New Year. Mum baked most the cookies at home and I’m still in the midst of perfecting my baking skills.
Here’s one of my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe and I must insist that you use good quality chocolate brand like Hershey or Van Houten. There’s no compromise to make the best chocolate chip cookies by substituting with low grade chocolate. You will know it once you have tasted it.

INGREDIENTS
125g butter, melted at room temperature
100g brown sugar
175g biscuit flour or medium protein flour
½ tsp baking soda
130 g crushed walnut, toasted
80g semi-sweet chocolate chip
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla essence

METHOD
1. Mix the flour and baking soda evenly in a medium bowl. You may sift the flour if you want a finer texture biscuits.
2. Beat the butter and sugar using a hand electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
3. Add in the vanilla essence and break the egg into the batter. Mix with low speed until combined.
4. Fold in flour slowly until it becomes soft look-alike dough.
5. Mix the walnuts and chocolate chips into the dough evenly.
6. Spoon the dough one inch apart onto baking tray lined with parchment or baking paper.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 190 Celcius for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.