Learn2Bake September Challenge - Basic Sweet Bun Dough

Another of the Learn2Bake Challenge, and this time I have chosen 'Basic Sweet Bun Dough' for my members to do, since they have been baking cakes and cakes a lot....some of them even begged me to change to something else.......LOL , so 'kelian' (pity) ^-^

Ok, so buns and bread will be our topic for the whole of September!! Guess what, even I myself can't wait to quickly get this challenge done.....as I have told you before, I'm a bread person, and all my boys are.......even my little girl, Angel also started to like bread and buns too.....but she prefers the plain ones :)

Secondly is because I have been baking a lot of cupcakes lately since I started to go back to baking after a few weeks of absence, hehe....

I have given them a few parts to complete and choose, as most of you who are very familiar with bread baking, would know that, you only need a "basic sweet bun dough' to transform and create a varieties of other buns that are sold in local bakeries. I have selected the 'Basic Sweet Bun Dough' recipe from my cookbook collection called "BreadMagic" by Chef Alan Ooi, this is a good cookbook that you should invest  I would say.

As for the parts of the variety buns, I picked and chosed from a few cookbook......and I'm glad to announced that I completed my challenge pretty early this month and I'm so happy, as I have more time to do other baking list that I have........see ya!

Happy Basic Sweet Bun Dough Baking!!

Learn2Bake July Part 1 Challenge – Crumble Cake (Strawberry)

Yes! I'm done with my Learn2Bake July Part 1 Challenge early this time, finally! Usually I'm always fighting time to get it done before the dateline. Well, this July month is definitely a busy month for me both for work, and for my own personal things. Anyway, let's just say I'm always left with not enough time to do a lot of things that I planned to do. I still have a list of things that I wanted to do, want to bake and wanted to get it done before certain dates……..sigh, looks like I need more than 24 hours a day. Well, I don't know how many of you out there are complaining the same thing as me …………"Not enough time" for almost everything!! LOLAnyway, I'm glad I completed the challenge, as being the head of the Learn2Bake Club, I guessed it's my duty to show the members some determination in getting something bake if you have to or given the task to. To tell you the truth, I have got this item in my baking list since late June – a request from my SiL (Emily). So, since this is what we have to bake for this month's challenge, I gladly completed it and then sent it over to my SiL, whereas the other half I brought it to the office for a visitor friend from Miri (Elaine) for taste testing.

The recipe chosen for the challenge was adapted from this blog – My Kitchen Snippets and I have baked this Crumble Cake / Slice before and it was featured in my previous blogs, right here. The only changes I made this time is the filling – instead of Blueberry, I substituted it with Strawberry. You can check out the recipe from here, and as for the filling flavor, you can use any other pie filling you like. Tell you what, you must make time to bake this cake, it will become one of your favourite on the tea-time list.

Happy Crumble Cake baking!

Learn2Bake June Part 2 Challenge – Danish Butter Cookies

OK, it's the month of the FIFA Worldcup and to tell you the truth, I'm on watching all the matches I can get myself up and awake at :P Therefore, you can see that I'm lagging behind on my postings lately, hehe……I'll try to catch up as much as possible as I wouldn't want to be left with post that is too overdue and expired. The Learn2Bake club is still carrying on with the challenges and I'm not going to let the Worldcup drag slow me down, so I decided that since this weekend is 'Happy Father's Day' , I'll make it a point to bake something and also to complete my challenge that has been lining up in my "TO DO" list. So I baked my Learn2Bake June Part 2 Challenge – Danish Butter Cookies today.I did not use the recipe chosen for the challenge, as I wanted to try other 'Danish Butter Cookies' recipes that I have collected. This is an advantage for myself and the members as we get to test 2 recipes at the same time. The reason also being that I heard a few members who has already completed their challenge commented that the recipe given was a bit 'sweet' and the 'buttery' taste of the cookie is not that obvious…….hmm, I wonder this one that I'm going to use will be a bit different, as I realized that the one the members are using has 'a teaspoon of lemon juice' in it…….and mine doesn't :P
I did made a note to cut down on the sugar as I find that it's a bit ridiculous to call for 1 ½ cup of sugar (337gm)…….that was really a lot!!! I initially wanted to shaped the dough into a flower shape using the cookie piping tube, but the dough was way too soft and the shape just doesn't come out as one, it was all in a lump and to tell you the truth, it was really messy….especially when I had to clean and wash it…..gosh! So lastly, I decided to do a 'drop' cookie using 2 teaspoons……..and well, it sure safe me a lot of time and mess too. The decorating was pretty simple as I want it to be as simple as just a 'Butter Cookies' , so I used only cut glace cherries and toasted almond flakes.
Final verdict, I would say the texture was really crispy and crunchy, though I still find it a little sweet (even after cutting down the sugar to 190gm, maybe I should use only 150gm next time), but the cookie was a really buttery Danish Butter Cookie……the kids loved them. This recipe yield about 2.5 dozen (2 full cookie jars) and it was gone in 2 days…….hehe
So, this is another Danish Butter Cookie recipe that you might want to keep besides the one that was being selected for the challenge……..for me, one challenge down and one more to go (Daring Bakers)…….phew!!

DANISH BUTTER COOKIES
(Recipe from CDKitchen.com, yields 2.5 dozen)
 Ingredients:
1¼ cup / 285gm unsalted butter, softened
1½ cup / 337gm granulated sugar (Please cut down to at least 150-160gm, as I find that 190gm is still sweet)
3 egg yolks, beaten
2¼ cup / 280gm all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1½ tsp vanilla essence / almond essence

 Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar until pale in colour and fluffy.
2. Beat egg yolks in, one at a time. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill dough for about 30 – 40 minutes. (I did not chill as I was in a rush, hehe :P)
3. Use a teaspoon to scoop a dollop of the dough, and light put on the cookies sheet lined with parchment paper. You can the back of another teaspoon to push the dough down and shape it to a round ball, then lightly flatten with the back of the spoon. Glaced with cut cherries or toasted almond flakes, or you can just leave it plain.
4. Bake at preheated oven at 170 degree Celcius for 12 – 15 minutes or until the cookies is lightly brown in gold colour. Take note that the cookie will be soft to the touch when it's still hot, but will hardened when it's cool.

1. Remove the cookie from the oven and cool on the rack for about 10 minutes, then transfer it to the rack to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.  

Happy Butter Cookies Baking !!

Learn2Bake June Challenge – Part 1 – Sponge Cake

This month there are 2 challenges again as the club is celebrating Happy Father's Day on the 20^th June. So, we are being asked to make Sponge Cake from scratch, meaning not using any Sponge Cake mix. I personally like to make Sponge Cake from scratch although sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, or when I'm feeling super lazy, then I'll opt for the Sponge Mix method. We are also being challenge to decorate the cake for an occasion, so it has to be with frosting. As most of us already knew that sponge cake can be used or….should I say compliment in a lot of other bakings too, such as using it as a base for cheesecake, using in desserts setting like trifle and many more. I have decided to make my Vanilla Sponge Cake into a heart-shaped , decorate it with Raspberry Cream Cheese frosting and topped with Chocolate shavings……and present it for all the Learn2Bake Club members who are celebrating their birthdays in June……..as I knew there are quite a number of them. I also used the leftover cut-out sponge cake to make some Mango Trifles for dessert, not wanting to waste it.
The Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe this time was taken from Creative Cake Decorating.com as you can check it out here too.

 VANILLA SPONGE CAKE

(makes a 7 inch Square tin / 8 inch Round tin)
Ingredients:
130gm Self Raising flour
¼ tsp baking powder
4 eggs, separated
¼ tsp cream of tartar
A pinch of salt
180gm castor sugar
60gm butter, melted
60ml water
1 tsp vanilla essence


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170degree Celcius.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, 2-3 times and set aside.
3. Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add in sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form.
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks, butter, water and vanilla essence. Fold into egg whites and combine well.
5. Finally fold in the dry ingredients and make sure there are no lumps in the mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared greased cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, or the cake skewer inserted to the centre, comes out clean. The cake is done when the top springs back when gently pressed.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely on the rack before decorating.

I have chosen to frost my cake with 'Raspberry Cream Cheese Buttercream' as I want the frosting in between the sandwiched cake to contrast a little colour instead of just plain cream cheese buttercream. I also shaved some bittersweet chocolate for the topping and a cherry for décor. The buttercream recipe was also taken from Creative Cake Decorating.com and I did a little adjustment by adding a teaspoon of Raspberry Jam.

 Raspberry Cream Cheese Buttercream (Half Batch)
Ingredients:
180gm cream cheese, softened at room temperature
45gm butter, softened
100gm icing sugar, sifted twice
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 – 2 tsp Raspberry jam / Raspberry pie filling (add according to your own preference)
Some bittersweet cooking chocolate for shaving and decoration

 Method:

1. Beat cream cheese until softened.
2. Add in butter and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Add icing sugar a little at a time and beat well. Add vanilla essence and continue beating until mixture is smooth and creamy.
4. Add in the raspberry jam / pie filling and mix well using a spatula, and ready to frost. This buttercream can be used as a filling for sandwich cakes or to frost the sides and top of a cake.

For me, I used it as a filling for my sandwich 'heart-shaped' vanilla sponge cake. To get the heart-shaped cake, I cut the sponge cake into 2 layers, and using a heart shape cookie cutter (4 inches) to cut out the shape. Then spread the buttercream evenly on the cake and sandwich it together, mine was a 3 layer sandwich cake. Then using a cheese grater, shave some cooking chocolate to be placed on top of the cake for decoration. Voila……….ready to serve ^-^

 

Happy Sponge Cake baking !

Learn2Bake May Challenge Part 2 – Pandan Chiffon Cake, My Healthy Piece of Cake

I'm so happy that Learn2Bake Club has sailed through its 2^nd month with more new members joining the club and more members participating in the challenge. I think the objective of the club has finally has it's result…..and that it to have members participate in the baking challenge and learn something out it. Some people asked me if the challenge has any prizes or awards, well…….NO….but the fun of having other people baking with you and then sharing it over with their pictures and comments is already good enough. Of course, if I can make this club better , I would organize members who lives in the same city or town to have a get-together once every 2 months to meet and share ideas in person……and have a little 'baking potluck' at someone 's house ^-^……well, that is something that I have listed down to impose later to the club, and that is if members agree to it.
As of now……I'm very happy with the current outcome and ongoing activities as we are still very new and this is only the 2^nd month…..entering to the 3^rd month that is. So, the May Part 2 Challenge was to bake a Pandan Chiffon Cake….and I have chosen the recipe from Cooking Crave's blog. I have tried this recipe a few times already and was pretty satisfied with it. The outcome of the cake was very fluffy, light and the Pandan aroma was just great! It does not requires any frosting as this cake is best eaten plain as frosting is suppose to add calories to the cake with the amount of sugar used……..Chiffon Cake is a healthy piece of cake I would agree, as it does not uses any butter but instead …..liquid fat only such as Canola Oil. Anyway, for myself this time, I opted a different recipe for my Pandan Chiffon Cake as I wanted to try a different recipe that I got it from 'Table for 2' as she has a very unique recipe for this cake without using any 'liquid fat' ….that is why I wanted to give it a try ^-^ Well, like Wendy said in her blog……it's oil-less, not oil-free……as the coconut milk used in the recipe still contains a minimal amount of oil in it.

 Here is a recipe you might want to try and it's a keeper for me as I find that the outcome of the cake…….is just as good as the one with liquid fat in it……well, since I categorized Chiffon Cake as a healthy cake, I would definitely try to have it the least oil-less as possible, LOL…….thanks for sharing the recipe on your blog, Wendy…credits all goes to you!

OIL-LESS PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE
Ingredients:

Batter A
5 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
100gm sugar
Batter B
5 egg yolks
100gm sugar
150gm flour
180gm thick coconut milk + pinch of salt
70gm concentrated pandan juice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180~Celsius. Put your rack in the centre of the oven.
2. Mix in the coconut milk and pandan juice in a bowl. Then add in the sifted flour into it until a smooth batter is formed. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites until frothy, add in cream of tartar, whisk until egg whites are at medium peaks.
4. Add in 100gm sugar gradually and beat until stiff peaks.
5. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and 100gm sugar until thick and pale (colour of cold butter).
6. Fold egg yolks into batter.
7. Fold ¼ of egg whites into (5), and another ¼.
8. Pour (6) into remaining egg whites and fold in well.
9. Pour into a 25cm tube pan and bake for 45 minutes.(I don't have 25cm tube pan, therefore I used a 22cm and the cake rose pretty high, luckily it did not sink)
10. When the cake is done, immediately remove from oven and invert it to cool.
11. When cake has totally cooled down, remove from pan.

Happy Pandan Chiffon Cake baking....;)

Learn2Bake May Challenge Part 1 – Cupcakes Well Dressed for Happy Mother’s Day

Oh yes, 'Happy Mother's Day" to you all and as Learn2Bake is celebrating Happy Mother's Day with all the members, we are having a challenge tied in to create cupcakes for this occasion. I haven't been making cupcakes lately ( I think the last cupcakes I made for this year was during CNY) and was a bit 'shaky' when piping the buttercream on the cupcakes……LOL, I hope I get them dressed up decent enough, well……..at least presentable to be posted in this blog and also to presented to a dear friend for Happy Mother's Day…..and of course for the Learn2Bake May album ^_^
There are 2 types of cupcakes flavor featured and also 2 types of buttercream to match the cupcakes…….Lemon Cupcakes & Chocolate Cupcakes and as for the frosting, we have Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream and Chocolate Buttercream. 
This year Mother's Day was a bit of a memorable and special one for me, as I have never baked and sent my cupcakes to anyone before…….this year, I made the Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream and sent them to a dear friend (AO) for Happy Mother's Day..........I have just known her through the L2B Club and I knew we have something in common and I guess we will be good friends in the future. I wish her and her family will have a very warm and Happy Mother's Day…..xoxo

This year's Happy Mother's Day was a bit busy for me, so I managed to only make one batch of the cupcakes and so the Chocolate ones I didn't get the time to do it. Here are the recipe for the Lemon Cupcakes and also the Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe that I have selected.

LEMON CUPCAKES
(recipe adapted from Cupcakes Bakeshop by Chokylit)
 
Ingredients (Yields 12 regular size cupcakes)
115gm unsalted butter, room temperature
180 – 200gmcastor sugar (please adjust to your own preference)
3 large eggs
190gm all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup milk
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Method
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Measure out the milk and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6. Mix in lemon juice.
7. Scoop the batter into the cupcake cups to 2/3 full. Tap the cupcake cups on the table to ensure the batter fills the bottom. Bake at 350~F / 180~C for 20 -25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (enough to lightly frost 12-14 cupcakes)

Ingredients
113gm unsalted butter, room temperature
170gm of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
190 – 250gm sifted icing sugar
½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ tsp grated lemon zest

Method
1. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy.
2. Add cream cheese and beat until combined.
3. Sift ½ cup of the icing sugar into the butter and cream cheese.
4. Add the lemon juice and zest. Beat until combined.
5. Add more sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like. You might not need all the icing sugar required.
6. Scoop the icing into a disposable piping bag with your selection of tip and you are ready to frost.

Tip: Always let the cupcakes cool down to room temperature before frosting.

Happy Mother’s Day to All Mothers and Happy Cupcakes baking….xoxo

Learn2Bake – April Challenge is Back to Basic Butter Cake

Yes, this would our club's first challenge, I'm so glad that we have 8 members RSVP to join in the challenge. Thank you for the support! As the Creator of the club, I definitely will have to participate in the challenge myself. I still remember my very first butter cake, which is also my very first bake. My MiL is my mentor and she told me that if I can bake a butter cake well, then I can almost everything. Wow! That sounded so challenging and without hesitation, I took it all in.....and bake my very first Butter Cake, of course with her supervision.......and (hehe) using her oven and all her utensils, as I haven't had a single equipment at home that relates to 'baking' that is.....:P
It turned out OK ........but not excellent as the bottom part of the cake still has some 'not so properly cook' part. My MiL didn't want to discourage me and told I did a good job, but well, of course I knew it exactly. I didn't give up , and in a week time, I brought my oven and mixer, and decided to give another try, this time everything on my own. The second butter cake was also more or less the same as the first one, and I desperately wanted to know why??? So I search the internet, look through books, and finally found my answers, or I would termed it as "useful tips". So, hey guys, do pick up this tips, it works for me.......it might for you too! Happy Butter Cake Baking ^-^


Tips that I Picked Up

1. Always pre-heat your oven when you start mixing your ingredients or at least 20-30 minutes. This will gives the oven an even temperature heat-up when it's time to bake.
   
2. Always invest in a good brand of butter to get a maximum satisfaction both in taste and aroma of the cake eg: Golden Churn, Anchor....
   
3. Have all ingredients in room temperature especially the butter, it must be softened, but not melting.
   
4. Egg used must be at least 55gm each weighing with the shell or Grade 'B'.
   
5. If possible, try to use the requested baking tin size for that recipe, so that your cake will have enough room to rise and expand, which will unlikely result in a 'volcano erupting' pattern in the centre :P ( unless you are very familiar with the tin size substitution)
   
6. Do not open the oven door to check during the first 20-25 minutes of baking. This will result the cake to rise unevenly.
   
7. Always beat butter and castor sugar until they the mixture is fluffy and pale in colour
   
8. Always add eggs, one at a time, and mix it well with the mixture in every addition.
   
9. After adding the flour mixture to the butter mixture, remember do not beat it, but slowly incorporate the dry and wet ingredients together instead.
   
10. Again, all ovens varies in the temperature, so do familiarize yourself with your oven, I might bake my butter cake using 45 mins, but you might need 55-60 mins, that's totally OK, as long as the skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, which mean your cake is cooked.

I didn't use the recipe that I suggested to the club members as I would like to try out this 'Traditional Butter Cake' recipe from my "I Love Butter Cake' by Kevin Chai cookbook. I found the recipe interesting as it calls for an extra 100gm of margarine (after 250gm butter).........gosh, this cake is going to be really 'rich'. I wanted to see the difference and so I did it. On top of that I also added a 40gm of Nestum cereal to it so that the kids will not say......."Oh Mummy, butter cake again?"....hehehe, kids nowadays are hard to please, you have to be creative :P 
The end result was I have an extended baking time of 40 minutes (aside the initial 40 minutes) as the cake was quite a big one, I used a "flower shape 8.5" tin", and it has a thickness of about 10cm (height) , the texture of the cake was really buttery rich both in taste and aroma, very moist and the Nestum on top gives a very crusty topping (but the next day it will be soft already), so I would say, best consume the day it is bake ^-^

Here's the recipe :

TRADITIONAL BUTTER CAKE 
Ingredients 
250gm butter, softened at room temperature
100gm margarine
250gm castor sugar (I used only 200gm because I don't want a too sweet cake) 
¼ tsp salt (If you are using Salted Butter then you can opt this out but I used Unsalted butter) 
5 eggs
½ tsp vanilla essence
250gm plain flour
1 tsp baking powder (if you are using SRF, then you can opt this out too) 
40gm Nestum


Method

1. Grease and line a 20cm/8" baking tin. (I used a 8.5" flower-shaped tin). Pre-heat the oven to 180~C.
   
2. Beat butter, margarine, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.
   
3. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
   
4. Stir in the essence and fold in the sifted flour, baking powder and mix well until it's well blended.
   
5. Spread the batter into the prepared tin.
   
6. Sprinkle the Nestum on top of the batter, and bake in oven for 35-40 minutes (but I used an additional of 40 minutes) or until it's cooked.

LEARN2BAKE CLUB..............A learn to bake club of our own

I'm so glad to announce that I have created a club for interest sharing bakers to get together to bake every month, and share and blog about it in this club of our own. I got this idea from the "Daring Bakers Challenge" that I join and since I know that a lot of my friends out there also shares the same interest and passion for baking......though not professionally, but we are all baking for fun and as a hobby. I'm a new baker myself and yearns to learn every little thing in baking as much as I can, and I think with this club, we can get together every month, propose a challenge, and bake it from A-Z. 
Our very first challenge kick start in the month of April, 1st (April Fools Day, haha) and the theme for the month was suggested by me, as the first challenge.....and it's Back to Basic Butter Cake for a start...hehe
The reason why I pick Butter Cake is because this cake requires the most basic ingredients and whether you are a new baker or an experienced one, Butter Cake can be quite tedious in making too.........so, this would be a good start for all members, a good one for those who just started to bake not so long ago. You will learn to monitor your own oven temperature, on how to thoroughly mix the egg well with the butter and sugar batter in batch and the rest, I'll leave it to you to find out. Anyway, FYI, my very first cake was Butter Cake too ^-^
I always believe that one head is better than one, so if we bake and share our recipes, tips and any thing that we encounter during that baking process, we will learn and grow from there.......unless of course some people are very selfish to share their baking tips and recipes to others.........then that's a different story. I hope those of you who read this blog of mine, and are interested to join, please click on the link above and join us! We are not talking about showing offs, or comparing whose better here in this club........it's mainly a club of our very own, where we can talk about our baking ........nothing but baking........and topics as basic as ingredients to utensils, measuring to mixing, whisking to piping, molding to cutting, temperature to baking......anything basically!! Isn't that great? We don't have any experts here in the club.....or even if we do...we are all equal in this club......OK!! So welcome to "Learn2Bake" where you bake with no pressure........we try, we test and lastly we taste whatever we bake........;)

Let's Learn & Bake 2gether!