Swiss Roll

I made this roll using the leftover mousse after the cake order... and of course the few bananas sitting at the pantry, shouting to be eaten! LOL....

The skies had been hazy these few days, I wonder why.... and I'm also angry 'coz it made taking pics with natural lighting so difficult. These are what I've managed and I'm not too happy with it.

The swiss roll had been poorly rolled too! Kinda cracked at the last bit... drags, guess it's really not my day. *pout*

see the banana peeping out of the cake? hehe

Cake order

This is an order from a repeat customer. So glad that she likes my cakes! This time, she only asked for chocolate cake... up to me to inteprete it... so I used mousse as the fillings... and sandwiched bananas. It's meant as a gift to her fren. I hope they'll enjoy this cake.... I know I do love making it!

Note : This cake is available for order here.

Having some fun....

I've been wanting to try out sugar craft for some time, but I never really get going 'coz the process of making fondant at home seemed so tedious. Furthermore, the thought of drying the crafts kinda puts me off as I do not want to attract more ants into my apartment! Until one day, Elyn told me that there's ready made fondant for sale at Phoon Huat. So I went to get a pack of the fondant and tried. As for drying the crafts, I left it in my room at nite when the air-con is on and then near the kitchen windows in the day. I sat the crafts on a bowl of water so that the ants will not get to it. Well, it seems to work so far! *happy*

This is what I've done so far. and I came to realise that my fingers are not as nimble as before... sigh... but I'll keep pratisicing... until I can shape something decent-looking... hope it'll be soon! Now, I understand why many ppl tell me it's an addictive hobbie.... i think i am getting hooked too! LOL

Soft and chewy buns

I've got a pack of the japanese mochi powder sitting in my fridge. Another impluse buy, this I got from my taiwan trip.... my attempt to bake some korean buns was a failure, and since then, this pack of mochi powder had been delegated to the coldest, darkest corner of my fridge! LOL...

While blog-hopping one day, I came across a taiwanese blog. The blogger used mochi powder with bread flour and made some buns from it. And she mentioend that the resulting buns were soft and chewy! I copied the recipe down then, hoping that I'll try it one day with the mochi powder I have at home.

This morning, I woke with a headache and still decided to try the recipe. It's been some time since I last baked some bread. It's definately hightime to do it! (furthermore, I've not been eating bread for a while... or rather since the high jump in bread/flour/butter prices last mth!)

Verdict : This recipe is a keeper! Very soft and chewy indeed. Erm... got feedback from my guinea pigs much-appreciated reviewers, the crust of this bun is rather thick and hard. I wonder if there's anything I can do to make the crust softer... hm....
 
Here's the recipe:

What you need

• 320gm bread flour
• 80gm mochi powder
• 65gm sugar
• 65gm butter
• 250gm milk
• 5gm yeast
• 1gm salt

What to do

• Knead all the ingredients above, except butter until a dough forms. Knead for a further 10mins .
• Add in butter and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Pls note that this dough is rather sticky.
• Place dough into a well greased bowl for poofing till double in size.
• Then take dough out, punch down and divide dough to size as desired.(i divided it to 50gms each)
• Leave it to rest for 10 mins. Proceed to wrap fillings (i used pork floss) into the dough.
• Poof for another 45mins or so, until it doubled in size.
• Bake in oven at 180C for 20mins, until done.
• Brush on butter and leave to cool.

Cheese Bran Muffins

Many a times I buy things on impulse. Just recently, I bought a pack of cheddar cheese without planning what to do with it. All I remembered was seeing some recipes using cheddar cheese and that alone made me grab that pack of cheese!

Seeing the cheese sitting in the fridge and worrying that it'll turn mouldy soon, I decided to look up a muffin recipe for it. And I found a recipe which I thought will be good.

Here's the recipe for anyone who'll like to try.

What you need

• 1 cup natural bran
• 1 1/2 cup sour milk / buttermilk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup grated old cheddar
  

What to do

• Soak bran in sour milk/buttermilk.
• Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in egg.
• Stir together dray ingredients and add to creamed mixture althernately with the soaked bran, starting and ending with flour mixture.
• Stir in cheese.
• Fill muffin liners and bake at 180C for 20-30mins.

Lost Mojo?

I confess..... it's not that i've been busy lately, but it just seemed to me that i've lost my mojo... i still check on my blog everyday, putting up comments (if any) but other than that, i can't seem to bring myself to blog. Even baking something seemed to be a chore, tho' I still planned wad to bake but it just did not materialise. Guess I only got myself to blame, letting the lazy bug take over me.

However, I managed to push myself to bake somefin last nite. My crate of eggs had sat long enuf in the fridge and my oven was calling out for me! So i finally baked some cheddar apple muffins (recipe from edith's blog).