Eggless Tiramisu

 

Tiramisu birthday cake for my dearest hubby

 

Before the final touch up

 

Yummy!!

I wanted to make something different for my hubby's birthday and finally decided on making Tiramisu - something which I have never done before as I have always thought that Tiramisu is really difficult to make.

I googled for "easy Tiramisu recipe" and after reading through a few sites, ultimately decided on the following recipe, which is essentially my simplified version (I'm lazy, remember?) of a mixture of various recipes. I choose an eggless recipe as I'm not comfortable consuming raw eggs.

The preparation was easy enough, except for the soaking of the sponge fingers. The first 2 sponge fingers I soaked almost disintegrated in the bowl of coffee syrup as I had soaked them abit too long (like about 4s). I got so nervous after that that I just dip my sponge fingers in and took them out in lighting speed (I think dipping for 2s yield the best result).

The resultant Tiramisu is tasty with a nice coffee aroma and not too heavy nor creamy. The most wonderful thing is that Hubby actually said "very nice" after taking just one bit. I will increase the cheese proportion the next time as I find it not cheesy enough. Other than this, I'm very happy that I managed to hit the right recipe on my maiden attempt on Tiramisu making.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Ingredients

Coffee Syrup
3tbsp coffee powder
1 cup boiling water

Cream Filing
250g mascarpone cheese
300ml thickened cream
3tbsp icing sugar
4-5tbsp Kahlua


20-25 sponge fingers
Cocoa powder

Method

1. Dissolve coffee powder in water, set aside for later use.
2. In a bowl, whisk the mascarpone cheese with icing sugar till the mixture is smooth and creamy.
3. In another bowl, whisk the thickened cream until soft peak. Fold the thickened cream into the mascarpone mixture till well combined.
4. Line the bottom and sides of a 6" square loose bottom pan with parchment paper.
5. Dip each sponge finger into the coffee syrup and line the bottom of the pan with the sponge fingers. Spread a layer of the mascarpone cream mixture over the sponge finger and sprinkle cocoa powder over the top of the mascarpone cream mixture. Repeat the layering (sponge finger - mascarpone cream - cocoa powder) and top it off with a thick layer (personal preference, you can sprinkle a thin layer if you do not like too much cocoa powder) of cocoa powder on top.
6. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best overnight, before serving.

Mee Sua with Egg

I made this for my hubby on his birthday. A typical birthday dish which symbolise good luck and longevity.

Ayam Kunyit (Chicken in Tumeric Sauce)

Ingredients

2 pieces of boneless chicken drumstick, chop into bite size
4-8 pieces of curry leaf
1 tbsp tumeric powder
3 stalks lemongrass, pounded
5 shallots, pounded
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
Salt and sugar
1 tbsp oil

Method

1. Soak chicken in oil before cooking.
2. Fry pounded lemongrass and shallots in hot oil until fragrant. Mix tumeric powder with water and pour into pot. Add in milk and bring to a boil.
3. Add in chicken chunks and fry till soft and cooked. Add in curry leaves and fry slightly. Let chicken simmer for 5 min.
4. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

It has been a long time since I last baked muffins, decided to do this all time favourite since I still have half a bag of chocolate chips on hand.

 

 I had leftover batter and made some mini muffins. See how cute the mini muffins looks besides the normal one =)

Beef Stew

 

Stews are great one dish meals and if you're going to make stews, remember to make a big pot as they taste better the next day! Here is a basic stew recipe which makes use of simple everyday pantry items. Stews are great dish to customise, cook it your way and enjoy!

Ingredients

400g stew beef cubes (I would definitely use more next time to make a bigger pot)

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut

3 large carrots, peeled and cut

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 large onion, diced

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced (adjust to your liking)

2 cups water, mixed with 1 cube of vegetable knorr cube (you can use beef cube for deeper flavour)

Sprigs of thyme

Dried bay leaves

1 tbsp tomato paste

Method

1. Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper. Brown the beef cubes in a large casserole with olive oil. Remove browned beef cubes and set aside.
2. Add a bit more oil to the casserole. Add in garlic, onion and celery and cook them for about 3-5 min till they turn brown.
3. Add stock to the casserole and add in tomato paste. Let the stock comes to a boil and add carrots, bay leave and thyme. Let the stock simmer for about 10min. Add in browned beef cubes and simmer let it simmer for about 1.5hr, or till beef is tender. Add in potatoes at this point and let it simmer for a further 20min.
4. Add in salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve hot with rice or bread.

Double Coffee Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

4 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml oil
3tbsp instant coffee
60ml water
1 1/2tbsp kahlua
100g cake flour, sieved 2x
5 egg white
65g sugar

Method

1. Combine instant coffee, water and kahlua and mix well to form coffee mixture.
2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolk with 40g caster sugar till well combined. Add in oil to the mixture.
3. Slowly whisk in the seived flour alternating with coffee mixture till well combined.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg white and 65g sugar till stiff peak forms.
5. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches.
6. Pour the cake batter into a tube pan and bake in preheated oven at 180C for 30-40min till cake is ready.
7. Remove tube pan from oven and immediately invert the pan. Cool the cake completely before serving.

Baked Chicken Breast Sandwich

 

This is a healthy and hearty sandwich meal as chicken breast contains very low animal fat content. I used too much vegetables which resulted in the bread being squashed thin when I was holding it. If you are like me and like to put lots of vegetables into your sandwich, I would suggest using thicker bread like foccacia or cibatta as they are more sturdy and will be able to hold the thick chicken breast and vegetables together. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Butter Cake

 

The cake is a little underbaked, nontheless, the fragrant of the butter cake filled the whole house while baking and hubby says the cake taste good. I added in some chocolate chips which were expiring soon and reduced the sugar used. The resultant cake is moist and buttery, with a tint of chocolate flavour.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

135g sugar (reduced from 180g)

5 eggs

300g flour (I used cake flour)

1tsp baking powder

200g pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla extract.
3. Add in flour and baking powder in 3 additions. Add in pumpkin puree and mix to combine.
4. Pour batter into 8" round tin and bake in preheated oven at 180C for 45-50min till cake is ready.

Healthy Wholemeal Carrot Cupcake

 

Recipe from here

Okonomiyaki Again