Nutella Cheesecake Bar

There's a pack of cream cheese in my fridge and I been thinking what shall I do with it. I was thinking about baking my old time favourite..the red velvet..but I know I can't finish the whole cake. So, while eating my breakfast ...a slice of bread with some spread of nutella..walla...got it. Why not I do ..nutella cheesecake bar!

So, bahan-bahan nyer;

• 2 cups of Oreo crumbs
• 1/4 cups of butter, melted
• 2 pack of cream cheese (approx. 500gm)
• 2eggs
• 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream + 1 tbsp of cream
• 1 vanilla bean pod @ 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/3 cups of Nutella

Very little ingredient yet have a big effect on the Eater! Hahha..all thanks to Nutella.

OK. First, mix the melted butter with the Oreo crumbs,making sure it stick together. Then press the mixture in a baking tray. Making sure the surface is even before putting it inside the oven. Bake for 180C for 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes, take out the base and cool if off. In a meanwhile, we will prepare the cream cheese and nutella mix. Using a food processor or hand mixer, add the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, 1/4 cups of cream and vanilla pod (vanilla extract). Once it all mix, separate 2/3 cup of the cream mixture ...

...you notice the black dot inside the mixture. It's not dirt ya..hahah..it is because I am using vanilla pod. So, if you use vanilla extract no need to worry, you won't have those black spot. 

Add Nutella to the remaining cream cheese mixture in the mixing bowl and mix well...

Once both mixture is ready, carefully spread the mixture on top of the Oreo crumbs base yang telah sejuk. Start with the cream cheese and finish it with the Nutella mixture. Spread evenly. Then bake the batter for 35 minutes in a 180C temp. The middle part will still jiggle when you take it out but don't worry as it's suppose to be that way.

Then cool off the cheesecake bar in a fridge for 3hrs before you cut it into pieces & eat it! Heheheh...

* My cream cheese layer is not that much here because I reduce the cream cheese mixture. If you follow the recipe on top, yours should be higher than mine. :)

Braided bread with sugar icing and cranberry topping

It has been a while since I last updated my baking activities here. I guess I was busy with other things that eventually make me abandon my blog. HUhuh...so sorry for that. Actually for the past 2-3 months I literally have not bake anything as I just don't feel quite well & in the mood. Waa..boleh..hahaha...Harus la baking mesti ada 'MOOD" baru la jadi kan...

OK. Today I want to update what I just baked yesterday. I have been wanting to bake braided bread..I don't know since ages. But I just don't have enough urge to drag myself to do it but yesterday the urge is ...what shall I say...extremely strong. Hahhaha...so, the next thing I know, I am making a braided bread.

Here's the ingredient:

• 4 cups of bread flour (but I just use the normal wheat flour)
• 2 tsp of active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 whole eggs + 3 eggs white (slightly beaten)
• 3 tbsp of icing sugar (for topping)
• few drops of water (for topping)
• some cranberry or any berry of your choice for the topping (you also can use chop nuts)

Right. Now the methods;

In a mixing bowl, add 2 cups of flour, yeast and sugar. Whisk to combine.

In a pot, add the water, milk and butter. Heat until lukewarm.

Pour the wet mixture into the mixing bowl containing the flour, yeast & sugar. But make sure the wet mixture is not hot because it will kill the yeast. It has to be LUKEWARM.

Stirred both mixture until combine. The dough will be sticky but don't worry. Let the sticky dough rest for 10minutes until it rise. 

After 10 minutes, add the eggs into the mixture and stirred well. 

Add the remaining 2 cup of flour and salt into the mixing bowl and knead for few minutes.

If the dough is still sticky, add little bit of flour (tbsp per tbsp) until you get the right texture. It should be elastic, soft and maybe a little sticky to the fingers.

Let the dough rest for 1hr until it double the size. When the dough is risen, divide the dough into three part. And roll each dough into a long dough (cam tali la...) and don't forget to spread flour on your counter top before you start the rolling to prevent it from sticking on the counter top. Make sure the length is equally measure. I have to used a measuring tape for this one. Hahah..because I want the braid to be as perfect as it can be.

Pinching the top of the braid together & tuck them under to seal, and start braiding and again..pinch the end and tuck it underneath the dough to seal it. Let the dough rest again for at least 30min.(Sorry eh no pic from how I braided it coz I am alone. Xder juru photo nya. Hheheh..u can google for how to braid a bread K). 

While waiting for it to raise, place a tray with water inside the over and preheat the oven. Once the dough has rise, brush the top of the dough with egg yolk (add with a few drops of milk) and sprinkle some poppy seed. 

Then bake the dough at 190C for 30min. * After 20min, remove the tray with the water & continue on baking. The reason why I do this is to get the hard outside but soft and pillowy inside effect of the bread.

After 30min, take out the bread and cool it off. To finish it, mix icing sugar with water and spread it on top of the bread and sprinkle some cranberry. So, now you can have your braided bread. Great for breakfast..tea time or even dinner. Enjoy!!

Homestay at the heart of Borneo

Yes..it has been a while since I last wrote something. A lot has been happening and it has kept me busy. Nope..I have not fine a job yet..unfortunately, therefore, that is not why I am busy lately. I just started a new hobby...yes..gardening & landscaping. But that is not what I want to talk about here today.

What I want to share with you today is about our homestay. When I mentioned 'our' that will be my familia. Yes..finally the project is up & going. Of course, we are currently doing the pilot testing with our first customer from Australia. So far so good and customer is very satisfied. Post-mortem is done and of course, there are some improvement need to be done as well. But it's ok as that is just part and puzzle of running your own business yeah? 

Anyway, why homestay. The idea came to me few years ago. You see..I love to travel and I have been traveling to various countries all over the world. When I am traveling, I prefer to stay in a budget inn/hotel or lodging that is run by charity organization. This is because I don't really stay in my room. All I need is a safe room to leave my personal belonging while I tour the city and safe enough for me to sleep well after a long day of sight seeing. And of course, clean from any kind of unwanted night visitor such as rats..ants..cockroaches...dan yang sewaktu dengan nya. And when you stay at these places, you get to know the workers and owner as they always around..ready to mingle with their customers. Plus, mostly budget inn/homestay are pretty basic. No fancy mancy furniture/equipment/rules...and it feel more homey. It's like home away from home. Well, I do have my share of bad stay before but very seldom.

After a while the idea came to my head & I had a conversation about it with my brother. Having working in the hotel line, I guess I can used his experience to manage the 'project'. The idea just keep growing on us I guess and then my other sister also join in the discussion and walaaaa...what do you know...as per last weekend, we officially welcoming our first customer. I am super excited as I can see that it could lead to something bigger!! I could see myself running this homestay thingy together with my baking business. Ahh...what a bliss. Doing two thing I like to do most..baking & entertaining....that's what I call enjoying life.

Picture?? I will update in my next entry. Tungguuuuu....

Strawberry Lemon Torte

I have been planning to do a torte for weeks but I keep forgetting to get the lemon. So, when I finally bought the lemon, I get straight to work. I need to make the base, the mousse (main filling) and the ladyfingers (but I am not baking the ladyfinger, instead, I used the ready made one since I have some in the pantry).

First thing first, we need to do the base, which is also the same batter with the ladyfingers (that is if you're making it by yourself). To make ladyfingers batter, you need eggs, flour, baking powder, butter, vanilla and white sugar. U need to separate the yolk and white. Then beat the egg white and add 1 tsbp of the sugar. Beat it until it is stiff and shiny.

 Then beat the egg yolk in a separate mixing bowl with the remaining sugar. When mixing is pale yellow, add the whipped egg white and stirred. 

Finally add the flour and vanilla & continue on mixing for a minute or two.

Fill a pastry bag with the mixture and pipe it using a plain tip in a circle motion by moving inward to fill the circle. Make sure you grease and flour the baking sheet just after you measure the diameter ok. Bake the base for 10-15 minute in a 200C temperature.  Or until just firm on the outside but soft in the centre. So, the base will look something like this..heheh...

Put it aside and let it cool off for a few minutes.

Ingredient for the base (if you are making your own ladyfinger, you need to double this measurement ok):

• 1 tbsp butter for greasing
• 1/2cup of flour + 1tbsp for greasing
• 1 tbsp + 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2 egg, separated
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Now, it's time for the lemon mousse. We need to get the lemon zest first before we squeeze the juice. Normal measurement is 1tsp of lemon zest but I love the smell of lemon zest in my baking and I love the taste so I used a lot of it. For this mousse, I am using 1 whole lemon for the zest.

Then, get the juice. Add the lemon juice with 1/2 of the sugar & bring it to simmer.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix the egg yolks and the remaining sugar.

Mix until it is pale yellow..

I hope you keep an eye on your lemon syrup. Don't let it over boil yeah. Once it start to simmer, remove it from heat and pour into the egg mixture.

Continue on mixing the mixture for a few minutes then pour back the mixture into the pot, and heat it up until you see the first bubble start to appear. Don't forget to keep whisking it while heating.

Once the first bubble appear, remove from heat back to the mixing bowl. Whipped the mixture until cool. Then add the butter and lemon zest...

Mix it..

In another mixing bowl, whipped the cream until it is stiff and thick.

Then add the whipped cream into the egg & lemon syrup mixture in two batches..

Ingredient for lemon mousse;

• 1/4 cup of lemon juice ( equivalent to 1 large lemon)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 tsp of lemon zest or as much as you like
• 3/4 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of fresh strawberry

Next, we assemble the ladyfinger & the base. I am using a cake tray for this as I need something to support it. It look something like this..

If you want it to look perfect, you need to make sure the ladyfinger is the same height with the cake tray. But I do not want to cut too much so I just cut the bottom part of the ladyfinger just to give it stability. Next, pour half of the mousse batter and add some slices of strawberry.

Pour the other half of the mousse batter and even it up on top. 

Chill it over night. The longer the better actually. And it is ready to be serve.:)

Have fun trying!

We grieve as a nation

The announcement yesterday was devastating for all Malaysian, especially for the family of the passenger on board of MH370. Never before, we grieve so much as today although, some of us might not know anyone on board. For once, we grieve together for the lost of 239 passengers and crews on board of MH370 whether they are Malaysian or not because this is a national catastrophe. We might have known the end will not be good as it has been more than 2weeks since the flight been missing but as human, we cling to the hope that miracle do happen. But all hope was shattered with the PM official announcement yesterday.

What actually went wrong that day?? This is the main question that has been playing in everyone mind until today because no one survive the crash to tell the world their story. Our only hope to find an answer and provide explanation, not only to Malaysian in general but particularly, for the remaining family member who will forever mourn the lose of their loved one on that fateful day, is to find the black box. I do hope it won't take too long for it to be found as we all know, it might takes days, weeks, months or even years. This will end all speculation and accusation as well as giving a peace of mind to the grieving family.

Malaysian authority might be criticised for not handling the situation efficiently but I believe they have tried their very best. Despite the criticism and accusation of withholding important information, they remain calm and held their head up high when facing the throng of both local and foreign press. Trying their best to remain strong in the midst of the whole commotion, and become the front line of the nation communication to the world in regard to this tragic incident. It is easy to say they are not doing the best job because we do not walk in their shoes. We, Malaysian might have different ideology in various angle but when outsider accused our nation as murderous and has committing an 'unforgivable crime', we put aside our differences and stand behind our beloved nation. 

No one anticipated such tragedy. No one crazy enough to wish it to happen. No one is ever ready to lost their loved one in such a way. No one like to be in the position of both the passengers and the surviving family member. No one want to be the one to tell a family member that their father/mother/wife/husband/son/daughter will never walk out from the arrival gate again. As a person who believe in God, there is only one explanation that I can provide for now, that this tragedy is God's will. 

Will I stop using MAS? Absolutely not. This tragedy can happen to any airline, be it MAS or KLM or Airasia because such tragedy is out of our control. Will MAS as a company survive this tragedy? I sure hope so. I have never been afraid to fly previously and I will never be afraid in the future because I refuse to let fear be in control of my life. I live my life with one and only one principle; My life is in God's hand & I know, one day He will call me HOME and until that day come, I will treat my life as a GIFT.

To all the passengers and crews of MH370, may all of you rest in peace. Good night. :(

Let's talk about RAPE

I have stop reading local newspaper for several years for a number of reason. I also has stopped watching local news, regardless whichever channel for quite a while because of several reason. But I do 'flipped' and go through online news from time to time just to get a glimpse on what is going on in the local scene. That is how this issue come into my attention and also thanks to my fellow fb friends who posted it on their wall.

It was mentioned that, the reason why the statistic of statutory rape is higher among the Malay as compared to other races is that because other races do not report the incident to the police unlike the Malay. "The Malay, unlike other races, can't accept sex with underage person, children out of wedlock and pre-marital sex"..his word..not mine. Therefore, indirectly he claimed that other race such as the Chinese, Indian, Iban, Orang Ulu, Kadazan…do accept sex with underage person, do accept children out of wedlock…do accept pre-marital sex. He also mentioned that other races but Malay, are less sensitive to issue of statutory rape. So, he is implying that other races are less sensitive to such scenario therefore when it does happen among other races, they ignore it & do not report to the authority. Are you kidding me?? Seriously???? Does that means, we (as I belong to the other races that he mentioned) keep a blind eye when our children was raped??? Or having sex when they are just 15 years old??? My word (like the Brits like to say)..what a statement..

Actually who is not being sensitive here? If he is being sensitive, he won't say such statement in the first place. Being a minister doesn't give you permission to simple say whatever you want to say. Does it ever occurred to him, that the reason why the percentage is lower is because there is nothing to report besides the one that already been reported? Does it ever cross his mind that the percentage is higher among Malay because it does happen quite frequently within the Malay community? (Don't start label me as a racist yeah, I am just stating this based on the given statistic study, written in the news.) Why? I do not have any idea nor I want to indulge into the matter because it is out of my league. What I want to highlight here is how insensitive our leaders can be when it come to sensitive issues such as this.

Are we supposed to create a statutory rape case and reported a bogus case just to show how sensitive we are toward the issue? Are we suppose to consent the thought of allowing our underage children to have sex so that we will not be in the statistic? Does it occurred to him that some of the unreported cases might be due to other reason besides being insensitive? Or does it occurred to him the reason why some does not report to the police is because they have their own 'justice system'? Or because they simply do not trust the authority and that the perpetrator will be punish? For me, statistic data mean nothing is you do not do something about it. I guess he does not expect someone to ask 'why' that he was so flabbergasted, which resulted with an insensitive answer. Still, there is no excuse for saying what he has said. 

What important in my opinion is that not only the why question, but what and how. It doesn't matter whether it higher among the Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. I think what should matter most is to investigate what contribute to the percentage regardless which race you belong to. Rape is a serious crime, not only to woman but as well as men, and especially to underage individual. It take away your dignity, your self worth and for some, it takes away their reason to live. No one deserve to go through it regardless how it happen. It is not enough to say that most of statutory rape happen due to pornography or peer influence or genetic etc. We need a solid prove, written black and white. We need to go down and get our hand dirty. Statistic mean nothing without explanation, that is what we researcher were taught from the beginning. 

The next part is what can we do about this statistic. It is not enough just to parade it around because even without doing any survey, anyone can come out with a statistic data. And that make me think, how would he know that those who reported the case are due to their sensitivity to the issue? As far as I am concern, when you making a police report on anything, there is no form that specifically ask you why you do the report. Can you imagine you going to the police station & the police ask you why you want to report a rape case? So, what are we as an individual, society and nation going to do about it. Next, the how question come in. How can we reduce the 80% to 40%, or the 4.3% to 1.3%? If you want to completely eradicate statutory rape..I will say, you are living in the fantasy land. One thing I realised about Msian politician, they love to make unrealistic target as if we all have Doremon magic box. Be realistic with the target and do it consistently and gradually. What important is the percentage is reducing every year isn't it? Then we will know what we did in our previous planning that we shouldn't do in our future planning or what we did not do previously that we should do in the future in order to achieve our target.

So, I agree when he said that he is not a racist when he mentioned that. Because he is just an ignorant individual, who couldn't be bother whether his words will hurt the public feeling or not. I found it so amazing how some people could just said unintellectual statement such as that and get offended when others highlight the wrongness of their act. How can we Malaysian trust and have confident in our leaders when they do not learn how to communicate with sensitivity..when they do not bother to 'investigate' statistic reports but quickly make assumption when asked..when they 'promoting' racial harmony and yet contradictory 'ignite' fire of racial tension…when they urging public to spend wisely when they 'throwing' money like what we witnessed in the Hindustan movie…How can we trust them to provide a safe environment for our children to live in when he himself is ignorant to know the why, what and how question in regard to statutory rape..

Ps. As a fellow Sarawakian…berik malu ajak eh...

Othello Layered Cake

Suddenly I wanted to bake something with marzipan. The first time I tried anything with marzipan, I really loathed it but slowly the taste creep on me and now I can accept it. I'm not saying I am a huge fan but at least, when I eat it I don't fill like eating a poison! Hahha..There are lots of cake/biscuit that I can bake with marzipan but when I accidentally came across a picture of this cake in one of the supermarket brochure, I knew I want to bake it.

This cake is very tedious to make and for that reason, I only bake it when I reallllllyyy want to eat it. And I need to find other people to eat it too because I only need a slice or two to satisfied my craving. Why do I said it is tedious? Well, because there are so many step to go through in order to complete the whole cake. The making of each part of the cake is pretty simple and the ingredients also not that many. But because I will not buy things I can bake/cook unless I am super duper lazy that is..so I ignore the hard part & looking forward to eat a slice!!

There are seven step in making this cake and seven different part that you need to do and assemble to get the complete cake. Now, I will show the 1-7 steps, plus the ingredient of each part so you can get rough idea of the whole process.

First, I make the marzipan base. I prefer to do this first as that is the base of the cake anyway. All you need is marzipan, white sugar and egg white.

My marzipan is yellowish in color. You can find either white or yellow marzipan..

Broke it into small pieces using your finger then add the sugar..

Add the egg white..

And mix it all using a hand mixer..

Then place it in the same tray that you will bake the layer cake later on so that it will have the same size. Place the baking sheet on the base of the baking tray & pour the marzipan base inside the baking tray. 

And bake for 20 minutes in a 200C temperature. Well, some people like to bake it on a piece of baking paper without using any baking tray. You can do that but make sure you measure the size first before piping the marzipan on top of the baking paper. Once it is bake, leave it aside to cool off while we make the layer cake. But before that, here's the ingredients for the marzipan base;

• 200gm of marzipan
• 3 eggs white
• 125gm of sugar

Secondly, we will do the vanilla cake bundt aka the layered cake. The ingredients; flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and vanilla sugar. 

Mix the flour & baking power in a mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg and sugar, then add the vanilla sugar.

Then add the dry ingredients & mix with a spatula.…

So, you will get your batter and it is ready to bake in the oven.

You need two vanilla cake, so you either bake it in one tray & separate it later or you can bake it separately in two baking tray (make sure you divide it evenly). As for me, I just used the same tray (same tray that I used for my marzipan base) & divided it into two cake later on. Bake the cake in a 200C temperature for 10 minutes. Leave it to cool off for a few minutes & take it out from the tray. Here my vanilla cake…already cut into two cakes..:)

And here the ingredients;

• 125gm of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 125gm of flour
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla sugar

Now, we move to the third part, that is the vanilla cake cream. Ok..for this one..sorry eh, no picture. It is not easy to bake & take picture at the same time especially when your hand is covered with flour! Hahah..so I just provide the end product, the method & ingredients ok. Hehhe..

Ingredients for the vanilla cake cream;

• 2 eggs
• 30gm of cornflour
• 2 tbsp of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 L of milk
• 75gm of sugar

To do the cream, you need to beat the egg in a saucepan and slowly adding the cornflour (using low heat). Then add the vanilla sugar, milk and white sugar. Keep stirring and let it boil for 1/2 to 1 minutes. Once the texture of the cream is thick & a bit sticky, removed from heat & place in a bowl & cover with cling film. Put inside the fridge until you need it later. This how it should look like..a bit sticky..thick & yellowish.

Now we need to assemble the cake..this is the four part. Placed the marzipan base on your chosen cake plate & spread some strawberry jam on the top. Making sure you cover all the top surface. Then spread some vanilla cake cream on top of the strawberry jam. Don't used all the vanilla cake cream because you still need it for the other layer. Yes..it look very messy..

…but don't worry, it will look better. :) Then stack one layer of the vanilla cake on top…

As you can see from this picture..I cut some part of the cake on the side. This is because you need to make sure that all part of the cake are equally. So..apa lagi..I potong la. Hehhe..Don't worry, It will look nice. Then spread some more of the vanilla cake cream on top of the cake. And stake another cake on top..

So, basically you have a 3 layered cake. Now..you can see right some of the jam & cream coming out from the side. What you do is, using a spatula or spread knife..even up all the cream. I used it to cover all the 'imperfection'..

There you go..heheh..

Ok. We move to the fifth part that is to do the marzipan cover. All you need is marzipan, icing sugar & liquid glucose (you can get this in a bakery shop).

Before that, you need to sprinkle some icing sugar on the counter top or rolling mat (like the one I have) so that you can rolled the marzipan easily as the liquid glucose is very sticky. For this, you need to measure the height of your cake and the measurement around your cake because you need to cover the cake with it.

Mix the liquid glucose with the marzipan & knead the marzipan dough while gradually adding the icing sugar. Then roll it according to your measurement..and it look like this (in my case)..

  Remember the cream that 'spilling' out from the cake & I told you to evenly spread it to the side….yes, the function of that cream is to act as 'glue' for the marzipan cover. Before you cover the cake with marzipan, use the last remaining cream cake and spread it on top of the cake..

Then carefully, take the marzipan cover & slowly cover the cake with it. Gently pressing the marzipan to the cake..and you get this..

You might realized that the marzipan cover is a bit higher than the cake. Yes..that is purposely done. You will know why soon! Hehhe..

Ingredient for marzipan cover;

• 150gm of marzipan
• 175gm of icing sugar (including to sprinkle on the counter top for rolling)
• 50gm of liquid glucose

So, now we move to the sixth part ( I told you doing this cake is a lengthy process!! ). We will do the frosting, which for this cake, we're using chocolate ganache. 

I just melt the chocolate button in a microwave then slowly stir it as I gradually adding the cream (only two ingredients). Nice & easy. No measurement for this ingredient..u need to know the texture u need...When you get the right texture..not too runny..not too thick..you just spread it on top of the cake..

Now you see why the marzipan cover have to be higher? Heheh..to avoid the chocolate ganache to spill over.

And the seventh and last step…phewww…by now, I am already tired and my feet is killing me!! The last one is the topping and luckily it's just whipped cream! Pour some cream into a mixing bowl & whipped until it's stiff enough. How to check whether the whipped cream is OK..well just turn the bowl upside down. If the cream do not fall off, then it is stiff enough. :) Using a piping bag…I piped the whipped cream on top of the cake..

For the topping, I only used 1/2 cup of cream.

So..there you go. Othello Layered Cake..now it's time for me to enjoy a slice..

Ps. It's sweet so 1slice is enough with lots of plain water. Hehhehe...