Lemon sour cream cakes

If you have made a baked cheese cake and have some sour cream and cream cheese left over.

You can try using it up to make Lemon sour cream cakes.

Durian Mousse cake

 

 

Ohhhh... I love Durian, my husband loves Durian, my daughter loves it too.....I'm training my 3 year old son to like it but not sure if he is as keen as we are.

 

In the UK, fresh Durain is very hard to find. We always stock up on frozen ones we buy from the chinese supermarket so that whenever we fancy Durians, we have it at available at home.

This makes it very convenient for me when I want to make Durian cakes.

 

I have found the basic sponge cake recipe for a mousse cake is too firm and I really need something that's soft and fluffy to compliment the smooth and creamy mousse.

Like the 'melt in the mouth' feeling.

 

I came up with this sponge as an experiment and it worked a treat.

It was a soft and fluffy sponge that was a perfect match for the mousse cake.

Blood Orange sponge cupcakes

Blood Oranges are very juicy and the ones I bought tastes no difference to a normal orange.

My daughter wasn't too keen on the look of it and now refuse to eat it.

 I decide to make orange sponge cupcakes hoping the kids will still eat it in cake form haha...

And yes they did, I think I have to bake with more fruits as my son still refuse to eat any fruits.

This sponge cupcake is very soft and as the egg batter is whisked to ribbon stage, the stabilised egg batter have made this cake really spongy and springs back when I pressed it.

Here is a video of how spongy the sponge cake is.

I only have a 6 hole muffin tin so I managed to get 6 large cupcakes and 3 small square chiffon cup cases with this recipe.

If you have a 12 hole muffin tin then you can get 9 cupcakes out of it.

 

 

Baileys Cheesecake

 

Mmmmmm...... Baileys and Cheesecake both my favourite, how can I not put them together!

I thought I add some pretty zebra patterns to it just to make it look even more scrummy!

You know me by now, I always make that extra effort in presentation.

So, are you ready to make one too!

You need an 8inch spring form tin with a larger baking tray to make the water bath.

Wrap the baking tin with two layers of tin foil and a layer of baking paper.

You don't want water to get into your cheesecake!!

Line the bottom of the tin with baking paper.

Chinese chive dumplings

手造韭菜餃
I am so excited to share with you the recipe of traditional Chinese chives dumplings made by my Aunt.

She have also taught me how to roll, knead and wrap them. 
Never in my life I have ever made these before.
It's the most amazing thing I have done since baking my first cake!!

 

Her skills was incredible, my aunt told me that all the young girls in the village knew how to make these. To her it was nothing special. I guess now days not many people make their own dumplings. They are frozen & available in the supermarkets.

Valentine's Day bake off 2014

 

 

Valentine's Day, few days before this day my daughter fell ill. I really thought I won't be able to make any cakes this year. It was actually easier as she was sat in front of the tv with a hot drink and resting, so I took the time quickly baking up some cookies and muffins.

Luckily, she was back to school the next day, so I managed to squeeze in time to make a Valentine's Day cake.

 

This is my first two tiered cake, a Black forest made for my husband. His favourite cake.

Recipe is link is here for this cake.

 

Black Forest Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't usually celebrate Valentine's day as me and my husband are always busy.

This year he is busy as usual but I thought I make him his favourite Black Forest cake as a gift.

It's always difficult to think what presents to buy him, but as a cake maker I can't think of anything but simply a lovely cream cake.

 

I have found this chocolate sponge recipe from a Taiwanese cookery show on you tube,

unfortunately this video have been taken off but the link still has the recipe in Chinese, so click here for the recipe and method in Chinese.

I am surprised how light this sponge is it actually springs back when you squeeze it!

Moist chocolate cake

 

 

Chocolate.....more chocolate...

If you like chocolate then this is a sponge cake for you.

Rich, moist, and very chocolatey..

 

Rocky Road Cake

 

 

 

 

This is one of my best chocolate cakes I have made.

It's rich, moist and so chocolately, it's a cake that fits perfectly for any chocoholic.

 

I made this for my friend Claire who is celebrating her 30th!

And she still looks the same as the first day I met her.

 

Hope she has a great birthday party this weekend!

 

Happy Birthday Claire!

 

So, do you fancy making one of these?

It doesn't have to be a special occassion, you can just make one for a special treat.

Just a small treat.....

Walnut Cookies 核桃酥 (hup toh so)

Walnut Cookies, you can find these in chinese bakeries and they are huge cookies! 

I prefer them small as my kids can enjoy a couple of these cookies as treats.

 

They are called Walnut Cookies but all the recipes I have seen don't contain any walnuts! I guess they are called that as they wrinkle up during baking so it looks like a walnut after they have been baked.

I had plenty of walnuts in the cupboard so I might as well add a piece in the middle of the cookies.