FOUR she is....

Laiqa Najma is four on the 21st March.
I did not do anything special on the day.
Mainly because, Mr AB not home. Secondly because little Munif and me are down with flu. Laiqa herself and Umar had just recovered from the flu bug.

Anyway, we (me and Umar) sang her happy birthday early in the morning. Mr Ab called to wish his princess a happy birthday.
Then she requested me to bake her 'Dora the Explorer' cupcakes. And wanted me to buy her Barbie doll and a milk bottle for Sonia (her baby doll) for her birthday present. I leave the present part to the daddy when he's back from India (what?? another trip to India?? he must be really fascinated with the place or what..).

I postponed the Dora cupcakes until Mr AB's back. Anyway, amid my fever and headache, managed to bake her some plain 'red velvet' cupcakes.



She is four now. But I still think she is such a baby. So much different when Umar was four back then. Umar is more independent, friendly, talkative, etc. He is more mature.
Laiqa is shy. She still is her father's baby girl.

Anyway, now she has two brother who love to tease her.
One is Umar of course. He would tease her from the break of dawn till bedtime.

Notice that he is drinking from a pink Dora tumbler that belongs to Laiqa. He always does that purposely, so that Laiqa would scream her heart out and cry.
And you haven't seen this boy in action in teasing her sister. He has got his own tricks too.

What a handful for Laiqa. :)

Prune Steamed Cake, Cupcakes, Hajj

My eldest brother went to perform hajj with my SIL last two weeks. I baked 'prune steam cake' and some cupcakes for their 'kenduri'.


I saw this cake in Intan's blog, and eager to try it.

After the first try, I already been making them 4 times...very nice. I adjusted the recipe a bit, to make it less sweet. I just love it, a bit different from the usual butter cake and tasty.
Just don't omit the ovalette, as it makes it really fluffy compare to the non-ovelette version.

the recipe: ( I omitted the condensed milk, used 3/4cup sugar, and did not used the 'hirisan prunes' )
KEK PRUNE KUKUS LEEN
Sumber: Arlina Umar

Bahan-bahannya
250 g butter
2 cawan tepung naik sendiri
1 cawan gula
1/4 tin besar susu pekat manis (kalau guna tin kecil 1/3 pun cukup)
20 biji prune (kisar dengan sedikit air lebih kurang 2 camca besar air, setakat boleh kisar dah cukup)
5 biji prune (hiris kasar)
5 biji telur
1 sudu teh ovallette

Cara :
1. Didihkan air dalam pengukus.
2. Putarkan butter/gula/susu sehingga sebati.
3. Masukkan telur satu per satu dan putar lagi.
4. Masukkan ovallette dan putar lagi
4. Masukkan prune yg telah dikisar dan putar lagi
5. Masukkan tepung sedikit demi sedikit dan kacau hingga sebati.
6. Akhir sekali masukkan prune yg dihiris kasar dan kacau dengan senduk sudah memadai.
7. Griskan loyang dengan butter dan alaskan dengan kertas minyak, tuang adunan ke dalam loyang dan kukus selama 1 1/2 jam.
8. Kalau nak bagi cantik, letakkan beberapa biji prune di atas adunan sebelum dikukus sebagai hiasan.


Other than that, I baked this cupcakes for them too. Using my previous recipe.


p/s- i'm not well, so I won't be updating this blog regularly.
For the 'real reason' why I didn't blog for a long time...wait for my next entry...maybe 'a few next'...:):):)

The Baking Itch is back... red velvet cupcakes...

Yup...feel like baking again...and playing with frosting...
This time it's 'RED VELVET' cupcakes. Did you notice...the cake is red...
Anyway, I forget to take the 'cake-only' picture (so u can see that it really is red).
The recipe...I'll update later...too lazy to type out recipe now...

Durian Cupcakes

I was back in Ipoh by Saturday afternoon.
What a relief to get back home. Home sweet home.
And by late afternoon, my parents arrived, bringing...more durians.

I bake some durian cupcakes late last night, and even managed to make some simple decoration early this morning.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup durian pulp
1/4 cup fresh milk
-blend this together

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar ( I cut down the sugar to 3/4 cup since the durian is already sweet)
5 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup custard powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sodium bicarbonate
-sift dry ingredients together

#
-Cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy.
-Add eggs one by one, beat well in between.
-Add in durian paste.
-Lastly, mix in the dry ingredients.
-Mix well.
-Spoon into individual cupcake case.
-Bake in preheated oven 175 degrees Celcius for 20minutes.

A Very Sweet Cupcakes- long due

Remember I posted this same photo last month, and promised that i'll write about it someday???
Well, this cupcakes were long gone (it's one month ago...:)), but I kept postponing on writing about it.
There's not much to write about. But the gest of it- is that it was the first time someone ordered cupcakes from me.
Before this, i've been baking and giving them out. I've made cupcakes for a cousin's son weddings, cupcakes for friends, next door neighbours and my hubby's colleague.
It's just my hobby and passion for baking. And since I have only 2 small kids who are surely couldn't finished everything up, my baking products would usually end up being given away to anyone that i could think off. ( you guys should be my neighbours...hehhehe).
So, someone ordered cupcakes for a birthday party in their office. How could I say not. I was so grateful, at least i felt my work are being appreciated...hahhahah.

I did some thinking and trying to come out with something original.
At last I came out with this pattern. The cupcakes are in 3 flavours (if I am not mistaken), plain vanilla, strawberry chip and chocolate chips. The pattern- a bouquet of roses. It was my first time of making full and half roses. Hopefully the flowers look good enough ( as I haven't gone to any baking/decorating class)- all are based on trial and error.

To you that ordered -thank you very much. Hopefully the cupcakes are delicious and beautiful enough. I am so happy I could brighten up that birthday party (am I? :))



p/s Happy belated birthday to you Datin


and Ayu (eventhough I don't know both of u personally) :)

Oven - Plain Cupcakes

Yieehaa...bought myself a new oven. ( actually, it's my 'ever dearest' that bought it for me :))
This time I have a REAL oven. It's not that my last oven is not an oven, but, this time it's more real. What am I mumbling about..???
Well, may be because I am overly excited.
Let me tell you about my last oven. It's a very small convection oven, which my mother bought almost 25 years ago (my goodness...the oven is about my age ...hehhe, well may be I am a few years 'older' than it). After i got married, i kinda took the oven from her (since she always prefer to use the 'round' one). All this while, I've been doing all my baking with the oven. From cakes to cookies, breads, all kind of buns, and I even roast chicken in it. But, those who are familiar with ovens and cooking in general, would know that small oven always cause problems to its baking products, my cake always overbaked at the top, cookies were not evenly baked, etc. But I managed...
I've never asked my husband to buy things for me. Anyway, he must have thought that i need a new oven (after 6plus years of marriage :)) . He did all the 'choosing the right oven' thing. He went to lots of shops, read reviews, compared the function, etc.
To you dear..thank you very much...love you.

I haven't placed the oven inside its cabinet. Anyway, my hubby and the kids were really excited more than myself (it seems), and kept pressuring me to try baking with the new oven.
So, here's my first cupcakes. The texture really improves with the oven. So, who said baking is baking, doesn't matter what oven you are using???... It does matter.



Did you notice the texture? It's softer.
I've baked using this same recipe at least 10 times, but this times, it's the best. Well, may be it's pure luck, but I believe it's have something to do with the oven. :)

Plain Cupcake
* 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter
* 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (I used 1 cup)
* 4 eggs
* 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 174 C. Line pan with baking cups.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute.

Pour into prepared cups. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe sometimes ago. Anyway, i have been keeping it eversince, since I always prefer to bake chocolate cakes that uses cooking chocolate rather than cocoa powder.
Anyway, I forgot to buy a cooking chocolate during my last trip to the store, and I have this chocolate rush in me that can't wait, I tried this recipe instead.


INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups boiling water
* 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 1/4 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tin with baking cups.
2. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture.
4. Spoon 2/3 full in individual baking cups.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Not bad. Will make again.

Custard Cupcakes

I was told about this cake by a good friend -Ernie.
I was chatting with her at that time, and she told me she just bake a custard cake which is fluffy but yet buttery.
Anyway, she haven't given me the complete recipe. So, since I was eager to try out the recipe (and I still have my previous year stock of custard powder- not knowing what to do with it), i searched the recipe from the net.
I found one in a fotopages which I can't remember which. So, to the owner.....thanks for the recipe. If I ever found your site again, i'll thank you in person(cyberly) :)

Custard Cupcakes

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp vanilla essence

#
-beat butter and sugar until fluffy
-beat in eggs one by one.
-add dry ingredients that have been sifted together
-mix in vanilla essence
-scoop into prepared muffin tin
-bake 20-25minutes in a preheated oven 175 degrees C.

makes 12 cupcakes

A Very Sweet Cupcakes

I will write about this later.
Creative mind at rest :)

Kids Cupcakes

My talkative son kept bugging me to make him a spiderman cake(he got a batman cake for his birthday). Since there's none any special occassion for me to make a CAKE, so i baked cupcakes instead.
But, remember...i have 2 kids, which mean I have to make one for the little sister too. And her favourite character is Winnie the Pooh.
I just make the cupcakes using the basic pound cake recipe.
May be I'll post the recipe later.
The frosting is snowwhite buttercream frosting and use an edible cake deco for this one (my hands are shaky , so, no minute details deco on cakes...hehehhehe).
And the two kids are really in a 'helping mum' mood. I have to make a fast deco before both of them are covered in frosting.

Caterpillar (with jaundiced) Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last week.
My son suggested that I make ladybug and bee cupcakes, but I ran out of red icing color, so I made caterpillar instead.
But this is no ordinary caterpillar. This is caterpillar that wear sneakers and have liver disease…hahhahaha (notice the yellow discoloration of the eyes???) This caterpillar had jaundiced!

I ran out of white frosting for the eyes, so I used yellow ‘m&m’.

Cupcakes For no Reason

I tried a new cupcake recipe yesterday. An eggless recipe. Which turn out fluffy, but not to my liking, so I won't post the recipe here. I just decorate them just for fun, with my two 'helpers' helping out. I turn around once to take something, and they already poking candles on the cupcakes. 2 candles- my son said it's for her sister which is 2 years old, and I didn't make any cupcakes on her birthday...

Black Bottom Cupcakes

I made these today. I found this recipe somewhere in the internet a few months back.
It sounds delicious, plus it has hundreds of good reviews. So, why not, another one for my collection.
It took me a brief 15 minutes to prepare everything and around 25minutes to bake.
This is one of the easiest recipe that I have ever tried.
After baking, it smells wonderful.
The taste- not really my type of cake. Love the chocolate part (always love chocolate), however, the taste of chocolate together with the cheesy part, hmm...not for my tastebud. Anyway, i'm sure those who loves chocolate and cheese, will love this. (BTW, I'm not really fond of cheese, that might be the minus point for me :))

INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2/3 cup vegetable oil
* 2 cups water
* 2 tablespoons vinegar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, 1 teaspoon salt and baking soda. Stir in oil, water, vinegar and vanilla until blended. Pour mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
3. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop a heaping teaspoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each cupcake. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool.

In A Quest For The Perfect Design II

I planned to make cupcakes for mother's day. However I was rather groggy as it was already way past midnight by the time I finished with the Arsenal cupcakes.
I wanted to decorate with very light pink frosting in strawberry flavour, but I end up mixing lots of the pink icing color making it 'shocking' pink. I planned to do some writing on it (eg.happy mother's day), but at the last minute, just made some swirls. And I was running out of frosting, so the pink swirl were far from perfect.
(Another note for myself..need to improve my color coordination..:))

In A Quest For The Perfect Design I

Yesterday around 5pm, my 'ever dearest' requested me to bake him some cupcakes with arsenal team themed. And he want to bring them to Kuala Lumpur around 4.30am this morning. What a short notice...
Actually I have promised him birthday cupcakes this year, but since on his birthday, which is on the 24th April, I was not home. I thought I will bake them next monday.
I have ran out of some baking and decorating goods, so we went to the bakery supply shop...and to my dissapointment, it was close!! Why most of the shops in Ipoh closes by 6pm?? Don't they know that, that is the time that we start going out (after coming back from work, etc).
So, stop by the ever convenience store-TESCO. But not much baking supply there.
I only got to bake after dinner, and after waiting for the cupcakes to cool and tucking the kids to sleep, then only I started making the frosting and decorate (which is almost midnight).
Soccer theme- what am I suppose to do. I've no idea. I'm not a fan of soccer. Thinking of asking my husband's idea, but he already fast asleep. Hmm...so..just do it.
Sorry, I couldn't come out with a better idea. And a reminder to myself...never ever do any writings on cupcakes...my writing is unreadable on paper...don't suppose it will improve on cakes...hahahahah.
(The first idea is to used fondant lettering, but could not get them-might have to make them from scratch next time).
I was supposed to write happy birthday on the cake- like what you see at the back of the jersey...but as i've told you...not good in writing. And it read 24.4.19??(thought that may be my hubby wanted to keep the year a secret...as if we don't know) ;))
At this moment, my ever dearest and the cupcakes are making their way to KL by bus :), pray to GOD it will arrive there in perfect condition...

Mocha Cupcake

Yes...found the recipe.
Hhehehe..should have a better 'filing' system :)
I followed the recipe, but after step 8, the mixture seems very runny, so I added another 1/2 cup of flour. Wished I followed the recipe as it is, so that I would know how it will turn out.

Just want to share a story:
My daughter saw me pouring the coffee mixture into the batter. And she started asking questions like 'why you put coffee in there', 'you shouldn't put coffee, coffee is bitter'. Then she went to the fridge, took out the rose cordial(air sirap), and brought one whole glass to the mixer. And thank god I was th ere to stop her. When I asked 'what are you doing?', she replied 'you should put in this in(air sirap), it's more tasty than coffe'.I told her that today i am making coffee cake, she said 'yucks, not tasty'.

Mocha Cupcakes
Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon instant coffee
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
* 1 1/2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Yield: Makes about 12 standard cupcakes.
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray muffin cups with vegetable pan spray or line with baking liners.
3. Combine instant coffee powder and water; mix well and set aside.
4. In large bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs, one at a time; mix well.
6. Add melted chocolate, vanilla and coffee mixture; mix well.
7. Combine flour, baking soda and salt.
8. Slowly add to butter mixture; mix well.
9. Spoon into prepared cups.
10. Bake 18-20 minutes or until center of cupcake springs back when lightly touched.
11. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5-8 minutes.
12. Remove from pan; cool completely.

Mocha cupcakes with Fresh Cream Frosting

I bake this for tea yesterday. I copied the recipe from a site in the internet (which I forgotten where). I wrote it on a receipt( receipt from buying a printer ink) and now I could not find the paper...hmmm...must be somewhere in the kitchen...or in the hall...or perhaps under the bed....:))
Promise will post it here when I manage to find it...hehehe
the frosting is fresh cream (non-dairy whipping cream)

In A Quest For The Best Buttercream Frosting V

I'm not really in a quest anymore. The perfect recipe is found. But I like the title...hehhee...
And one more thing, there are a few people been asking me through email@friends@etc, I am in Ipoh.

In A Quest For The Best Buttercream Frosting IV

In A Quest For The Best Buttercream Frosting III

The third attempt. And this is the best.
The recipe uses shortening, sugar and meringue powder.
I got the recipe from lynda of http://lynnhassan.fotopages.com/
Thanks a lot...:))