Orange cake is the first citrus sweet cake I'm posting and I must say I was really excited to use my new loaf pan.

Pound cakes, yogurt cakes, bundt cakes... I'll surely give them a try since I love such treats! I enjoy how moist and slightly dense they are, and if served warm, it really taste homely.

Also, I have to rave about this recipe as the cake's texture was perfect, it had a nicely formed crust and is extremely flavourful. I was so glad that I could still taste (& even smell) the orange while the cake was baking! Plus it was my chance to clear the ONE orange in my refrigerator :D The recipe is from Technicolor Kitchen, a foodblog i recently discover. Her recipes are so unique I find myself opening several links in new tabs!

Anyway, this Orange Cake was baked past midnight after I returned home from work. I actually considered giving it a miss because I felt very tired - mainly because my eyes were dry (yes you know what I mean if you wear contact lenses). However, my older brother, whom is currently studying for his double Masters, was burning the midnight oil. He'd be taking his exam today (and like brother, like sister), we all do last minute studying. LOL. Thus I decided to bake a simple comfort cake for him :D

I prefer the cake warm and plain. It is sweet enough to go without jam, but if you like, you can always drizzle lemon glaze over them to make the cake a little more acidic :)

read more...

I declared my love for S'mores bars since my first attempt at it. It is one of the very few things that I'd bake and bake again, and also my favourite bars to prepare when I'll be traveling for a long time. I'd even bring them to my class outing, confident that my classmates are going to love it :)

& I honestly DISLIKE granola bars. Even for such a small amount of calories, I'd rather be eating something else fatter, and better. I'm quite health conscious, but I just can't appreciate it. My girl friend told me she thinks oat/muesli are bird's food LOL. I couldn't deny, cause they really look alike!

In short I don't have the best impression of ingredients like rolled oats, and if you didn't know, this is my first ever post on an OAT-containing recipe.

However, I'm still very fascinated by all the Oat bars and cookies in food galleries. It appeared to me that OATS, they do contribute a lot of baking and cooking! It took a long consideration before I finally decides to embark on my first Oat-bar.

I mean my S'mores + Granola bar.

S'mores + Granola bar topped with chicken floss. That's like an American-Asian fusion bar. LOL. Anyway this is a really good. I was thinking you might even consider it to be a S'mores + Granola + Hello Dolly bar with an Asian touch.

My ingredients can explain its name! S'mores base (graham cracker) + cashew nuts + melted marshmallows + rolled oats + raisins + chicken floss + condensed milk. Perhaps it is the most delicious yet most unhealthy granola bar LOL. (at least I warn you!)

& when so many bars so obediently sits in front of you....

you keep eating and telling yourself, "Oats are good. They are not fat, so I can eat more." *Zzz*

Anyway, I hope you try it for yourself and be impressed by the entire combination which I have truly enjoyed :) The most important ingredient here, I believe is the chicken floss. Substitute the cashew nuts with walnuts or pecans, whichever that please you but promise me the only change you'd do to the chicken floss is perhaps double it!!

& if you do make this someday, tell me =D I'd really love to know how did yours turn out, and if you liked it too!!

read more

Few weeks ago, I dropped out of college - I might just be known as the craziest student baker (I think I am.) I didn't mention it because I know it wasn't something to be proud of..

But that should be a little obvious. Any college students wouldn't be as free as me to be baking (almost) every day. They'd struggle to even do it once a week. LOL.

& On my last day of school, my civics tutor asked me what are my plans so I replied,

"I'm going to study pastry arts."

He gave a doubtful look and questioned "Have you thought about your future career?"

I said, "Yes. I'm going to be a chef", almost beaming with pride.

He ended off the conversation telling me "Well done".

There was no feelings of support, but I was not a bit discouraged. Perhaps chefs are really undervalued. But this is my dream! =)

My holidays brought me to my second pastry job at the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) Guildhouse. It's like another exciting beginning, first day of work will start today and I'm really looking forward. It has a much bigger kitchen and a lot more chefs than the previous restaurant I worked in. The craziest thing is I'd be spending at least 5 hours of traveling time to and back from work. Yes, I thought there was something really wrong with my intelligence too LOL.

But I'm desperate to learn. I would say yes to any job that is willing to take me, which is nearly none. Because I not only lack skill and experience, I'll be leaving the country in less than 2 months! Who'd want me? I just have to be thankful that the NUSS Guildhouse's restaurant is giving me a chance ^^

read more ...

... make a hearty Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate Chips out of it! :D I declare it one of my favourite recipes in this foodblog!!!

My first encounter with bread pudding was at Fullerton Hotel's chocolate buffet few years ago. (YES CHOCOLATE BUFFET LOL) I fell in love with it immediately, helping myself to portion after portion of bread pudding. I later baked one myself at home which was barely satisfying.. But there came my second baking encounter with it - the restaurant I previously worked at.

We served White chocolate bread pudding which was soooo good! BUT STILL, I liked the Fullerton's one more. The overall taste was balanced, it had the perfect amount of sweetness for me.

Today, I made my Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate chips after studying many different recipes online that claimed to be make the "Best" bread pudding. I adapted the recipe from Food&Wine's Raisin-Studded Apple Bread Pudding. I was exceptionally sure to try it because in this recipe, the yolks and whites are whipped separately to their maximum volume.

Other recipes (including the one I used in my restaurant), only require the eggs to be whisked together without incorporating maximum amount of air into it, I felt that this is likely to be the lighter version of bread pudding I was looking for! Many people may enjoy the denser bread pudding, but definetely not me. I like them firm, yet soft like how a pudding is :) If you like this kind of bread pudding, try this recipe, I am very sure that you will like it. Serving them warm with a scoop of chocolate icecream would be a bonus!

read more ...

American and the Northern food culture is one of my greatest takeaway ever since I set up my food blog & visited various food galleries. I never like peanut butter until I baked, until I saw one of those best stuffs in Tastespotting / Foodgawker contained PEANUT BUTTER!

Seriously..... don't you love peanut butter?!?! LOL.

These bars' surface were nicely formed :D My only mistake was to overbaked it! Arghs, that seems to be the problem of most cakes especially bars like brownies. It happens to me too often =\

read more ...

GOOOOOD DAY BAKERS!

I made a dessert using the recipe I bookmarked very recently, Blueberry Crumb Cake, at FoodNetwork.com! I was simply craving for something sweet and fruity but I didn't want to play with strawberries because the supermarket does not have the reddest and prettiest strawberries at this time of the year. I will be waiting for summer to arrive in the North patiently :)

Anyhow, the Blueberry Crumb Cake I baked today was really fantastic. Soft, tender cake topped with browned crumbly streusel. Exactly what I was looking for in a g-r-e-a-t crumb cake! It is so delicious, I'm sure I have to make this again :)

Now, watch me make the most satisfying Blueberry Crumb Cake, step-by-step!!

read more ...

Last night I had this sudden urge to make donuts!! So I did this afternoon using the recipe taken from 17andBaking. I had bookmarked it for a looong looong time but was simply unwilling to mess with yeast. It seemed easier than I thought though and I was certainly glad I tried.... Anyway, the writer of 17andBaking, Elissa, is a very very talented senior whom I look up to very much. Not only does she bakes well, her photography skills are also excellent!!

Being a student baker myself, nothing excites me more than knowing friends in this big family of bakers who are around my age! :) Other student bakers' blogs I visit frequently would be Wendy of My Buttery Fingers, Lauren of CeliacTeen and Karina of Pastries of a Chocoholic :)

Right, so back to my donuts, I'd think it's pretty much a failure because I dislike how thick they were! I felt like I was eating more donut bread than the filling I had topped it with :\ However, I'd definetely use this recipe again as the texture of the donuts were great. The only adjustment I'd make is rolling out a thinner donut dough (less than 1/2 inch as directed by the recipe). Also, I'm sooooo going to get a donut-cutter for my next attempt. I wish that my donuts had the small little holes in them =(

read more ...

Hello everyone!

Sorry I've abandoned my blog for more than 3weeks. I guess that's what most food bloggers'd have experienced because it really isn't easy to maintain a food blog! From the baking to the photography to the editing of pics to the posting...... Yeah, you know what I mean!

For me, it's not an issue about my passion for baking  But, the lack of diligence to carry my DSLR again! In fact, I've baked S'mores, Chocolate Cherry Pie, Peanut Butter Tart, Chocolate Souffle and Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake over the past few weeks! Oh and S'mores did live up to their name, I baked them TWICE because they were that good :D

read more ....

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(I prefer baking in grams, and I decreased the amount of sugar because I used milk chocolates instead of semisweet chocolates)

click for recipe ....

  click for recipe ...