Strawberry Cupcake With Chocolate Ganache

I was thinking what else shall I bake for the tea/coffee party so I explore my refrigerator and see what else can I use. As I open the freezer, there it is...looking straight at me..frozen strawberry! Been having this in the freezer for quite a while so I thought, why not just finish it off so I can put something else in the freezer. So fikir pun fikir apa nak bake, akhirnya, sampai tu this conclusion...Strawberry Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache, since smua bahan dah ada kan.

What we need ya..hmm...of course strawberry ( actually kalau guna yang fresh better but I just want to finish off my frozen one)..heheh..then as usual the dry ingredient...

 Consist of flour, salt and baking powder. Then you need sugar..again, I used 70% of brown sugar & 30% of white sugar. No ready to mix it but simply because you can. :)

 Then you add the butter into the bowl with sugar and mix it well.

Then add egg. And finish off with alternating the milk & flour into the mixture by ending it with the flour. Lepas tu baru masukkan the strawberry..

Using a spatula, you pour the strawberry inside the cake batter. You need to slice the strawberry before pouring it into the cake batter but since my frozen one is already soft..so I just penyekkan dengan garpu. Hehheh..

Ni la hasil nya and pour 3/4 mixture into the cupcake cup..

Place inside the oven with 175C temperature for 20-25 minute. Nak tau bila cupcake masak? Simple jer...cucuk dgn toothpick kat tengah2 cupcake tu. Bila xder benda melekat kat toothpick tu, makner nyer dah masak! Cook it off before letak the chocolate ganache. 

As for the ganache, you only need baking chocolate or eating chocolate pun boleh if baking chocolate xder stok kat umah. Tapi guna dark chocolate coz milk chocolate too sweet. X sesuai gituew...

 Then chopped the chocolate bar into pieces and melted it over a low heat. When it started to melt, slowly pour the cream. Once everything is mix together, remove the chocolate ganache from the heat and let it cool down for 10-30minute. Lepas tu boleh la digunakan ...

 Macam yang di bawah ini..selesai sudah our baking..ehheh

Ingredients (making 12 pieces of cupcake):

• 1 cup of flour
• 11/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp butter (around 100-110gm)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of frozen/fresh strawberry (roughly chopped)

For the ganache:

• 3/4 cup of chopped dark baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream

That is it! 

Freshly bake small & soft bun

My husband told me that I need to make small bun for the coffee party. I was like..hmm..bun. I don't actually bake bun. In fact, I never bake one! My sister on the other hand always do it because she has 3 kids! Hahah...At first, hubby said scone not bun but he said, they like to eat the bun with some cold cut. So..I was thinking, that can't be right. Scone + cold cut????? I am not so convince that we are talking on the same kind of scone here so I asked him to show me some picture of his 'scone'.

After saw the picture..well, it's actually not the English scone that I know but a small bun. Don't ask me why he said scone. Hahaha..anyway, I did some research and found one, which I will modify accordingly. Although I mentioned that I never bake bun before but I made bread so many time. It is not so much different from a bread dough it seem.

For this bun, I need the big gun...yes, I will use my Kenwood kitchen helper/mixer..because I need to make around 24 pieces of small bun and that involved around 1 kg of flour.

To make the dough, you need flour, yeast, sugar, warm water, egg, salt & butter. And scone cutter. Well, you can mould the round shape using free hand but I just want it to have a nice round shape. :)

I am using this type of mixer, which is suitable for making bread dough...the one on the side is more suitable for making cake batter.

First, place flour, salt, sugar & butter in the mixing bowl...don't mix it yet ok..tunggu

Because you need to make sure that the yeast is ready. I am using wet yeast just because I can find it easily here.

Then you add warm water to it. Do not use hot water because you will kill the yeast and your dough will not come up. Too cold, the yeast will not work also so it has to be luke warm. Mix it together until the yeast is dissolved. You get a milky mixture like this.

In the mixing bowl tadi, you add the egg.

 Then you mix it using medium speed. While it is still stirring, slowly add the yeast until habis. So, you akan dapat dough yang cam ni. A bit sticky though. For me, personally, I will add maybe 2-3 tbsp of flour so that it won't be so sticky. Stop the mixer & take out the dough.

Place the dough on a baking mat like this one ( bought this in Ikea), which I found very useful. Mould it using your hand & sprinkle a bit of flour once in a while on the mat so that it wont stick to it. Mould it to a round shape.

Lepas tu cover the dough using a cloth and biar the dough for 20-30 minute.

 Dough tu akan kembang sampai cam ni (supposedly la). If your dough tak kembang, meaning something is wrong with your yeast preparation.

Take a little bit of the dough, one at a time, rolled it and cut it using a scone cutter. Or you can simple mould in into a small round shape. But I like to see in a perfect round shape. Bila the dough dah abis, cover the small dough yang dah di letak kat oven tray ngan cloth like this..and biar for another 20min.

It will kembang cam kat bawah ni...this is just purfect..heheh

Then bake for 20 minute in a 200C temperature. Your bun will look brownish.. look cam keras di luar tapi when you touch it, actually it is very soft especially the inside. I am quite surprise too.

This recipe actually received a lot of complement from the guest and even I am surprise because it's my first time and it turn out much better than I expect it to be.

Eat while hot with butter and jam...mmg the BEST!

Here's the ingredient:

• 1kg of flour
• 100 gm of sugar
• 150 gram of butter
• 2 cup of luke warm water
• 100 gm of wet yeast (kalau guna dry yeast, sama jer the measurement)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 egg

Simple kan...slamat mencuba!

Pineapple upside down cake

Yes..another baking. It surely has been a busy morning for me that Sunday because I need to bake  a few different kind of cake/bun. I prefer to serve my guest with variety of serving rather than just one type. Like what my mum always said, biar lebih makanan asal jangan kurang. Nanti malu. Hehehe... so I took my 'laboratory equipment' & let us make a cake!

For this cake, you do not have to use pineapple. You can easily replace it with apple/peach/berries etc. It is up to you which fruits you want to use. As for me, pineapple it is! What do you need???

 As usual, mix all the dry ingredient in a bowl; flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together until creamy. For this cake, I am using brown sugar. My old time favorite. Furthermore, the cake will be brown so it's ok to use brown sugar. 

Then add the egg one at a time and blend well. Stir in vanilla essence. 

Lepas tu, add the dry ingredient into the wet by alternating it with buttermilk. For those who do not have buttermilk, you can replace it with normal milk but add some lemon juice (1 cup of milk + 1 tbsp of lemon juice). Since normal milk has a different texture compare to buttermilk, I will use lesser milk. Instead of 11/4 of buttermilk, I used only 1 cup of milk or even lesser. 

I normally stop adding the milk when the mixture dah cukup cair. Not too watery and not too hard. This I guess you need to learn through experience of baking. So, kekdg I tak guna smua milk pun. So,now the cake batter is ready.

But before tu, you need to melt 1/2 cup of butter. I don't think I guna 1/2 cup even. Just a few tablespoon of butter. Depend on your cake try (the diameter). The 1/2 cup measurement is for a 9-inch cake tray.

Sprinkle some brown sugar in the cake tray before you pour the melted butter on it.

Place the pineapple on top of the melted butter and brown sugar. I just used the canned pineapple. But kalau nak best lagi, do use a fresh pineapple. Memandangkan kat sine pineapple smua xder rasa/very masam so better I use canned la. Hahaha...Lepas tu pour the cake batter inside the cake tray and bake for 45-50min in a 175C temperature.

 Here it is, pineapple upside down cake! Not too sweet, just nice!

Normally, within all those whole (at the centre of the pineapple), people always place a cherry but I know, not many like so I decided not to put any cherry (fresh or not). So, here how it look like. The cake is serve with fresh whipped cream. Simple marvelous especially when you have it over a cup of hot tea/coffee on a cold winter day. :)

Ingredients;

• 11/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter, 3-5 tbsp for melting
• 13/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 bicarbonat soda
• 1/4 salt
• 3/4 - 1 cup of milk
• 7 tbsp brown sugar for the sprinkling
• 1 can of pineapple ( you won't use it all anyway)
• A few cherry (if you decide to use it. It doesn't have to be fresh cherry. You can use the one you can get at the supermarket)

Simple right...

Lemon poppy seed muffin

Ola everyone. I did a lot of baking last weekend because we invited friends and family over for coffee time at our home. Well, hubby invited them to celebrate my birthday since my wish for my birthday this year is to spend time with him ALONE! So, he invited them the day after my birthday. And I particularly like coffee/tea time because to held lunch or dinner party is so much a hassle and too many cooking do to. But baking, I don't mind doing. 

So, today I want to share with you guys my version of lemon poppy seed muffin. Amazingly, I thought it might not be so popular among the guest but they love it so that make me very happy. :)

So, to start, the ingredients are lemon (obviously), sugar (white this time because I won't want the muffin to be brown), flour, butter, sour cream or buttermilk, eggs, vanilla essence, bicarbonat soda, baking powder, salt and icing sugar..and not forgetting, poppy seed.

 First of all, grated the lemon skin to get the zest. I have the habit to add most lemon zest the require because I love the lemony taste and smell when you bake it in the oven. Here I only one because their lemon is quite big. Lepas do the grated, take the juice and save for later.

 Add the lemon zest with the sugar. Rub it together..dalam kata lain, gaulkan la the sugar & lemon zest smp sebati.

In another bowl, mix the dry ingredient as usual; flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Then add the sugar & lemon zest into the dry ingredients.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan under a low heat. Tak payah panas sgt nanti butter tu hangus pulak. Hehhehe...In another bowl whisk the egg, 

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream/buttermilk ( I however used yogurt because I have neither. But it's ok because the function is the same and smua pun ada masam effect to the muffin), vanilla essence, melted butter and lemon juice yang di perah lps you grated the lemon zest. Mix all with a hand mixer. Lepas tu, add the poppy seed. I just used 2tbsp of poppy seed though you can add as much or as little as you like. 

 Finally, add the dry ingredient to the wet ingredient tadi and mix well. I normally use a spatula when I mix the dry into wet ingredient. Because if you used hand mixer, satu the tepung akan fly here and there, and I so don't like. Abis my kitchen..and also to avoid tepung to berketul2. If there is flour clump in the mixture, bila baking nanti, you can see the cake punya texture tak smooth...like there is some discoloration bila you potong the muffin. I hope you all faham what I am trying to say la kan pasal susah nak show. Hahah..

Then put the mixture in a muffin cup. Since it's a muffin, you can fill it penuh tapi jangan la penuh sangat kan. The mixture won't be as runny as cupcake mixture. It's a bit 'kental' but don't worry because it's a muffin. It is suppose to be a bit harder than cupcake. Asal jangan keras cam batu sudah. Then bake in a 175C temperature for 20 minutes.

 Here it is..lemon poppy seed muffin. Oh ya..I just used a simple glazing, icing sugar with lemon juice. Again, I don't have measurement for this. What you can do is that, take 3 tbsp icing sugar, then add 1tsp lemon juice. Mix it properly and pour some on top of the muffin. You can add more icing sugar if you want but I want the glaze to be too sweet. If nak the topping lebih pekat, use less lemon juice.

 The recipe that I am about to give will yield around 12 pieces of muffin.

For those yang suka, masam2 manis, this will be a good muffin for you to try. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup fine sugar
• 2 lemon ( 1 for the zest & juice for the muffin & another one, is for the frosting tp only the juice ya)
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk/sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 stick butter (approx. 125gm), melted
• 2 tbsp poppy seed
• Icing sugar (for the glaze)

Happy baking & eating!

P/s: If you want your muffin top to be 'crunchy' you can sprinkle some granulated sugar on top before putting it inside the oven. Tapi be warn that it will be very sweet.

This time of the year again where I am getting wiser..heheh

Wow..how time fly eh..I am already 35 years old!! Hmm..how do I feel?? Frankly, nothing at all. I don't feel old nor young..just normal. It is just another day of the day for me. I come from a family who do not celebrate birthday so you don't actually get any special feeling on that day. I am just grateful that I am still breathing and enjoying life despite the disappointment that happen in my life.

I am also grateful that at this age I have that special someone that I can celebrate the day with. Someone who know me deeply, who accept me as who I am, understand me more than anyone else, who support me through the thick and thin, who love me unconditionally and who no doubt treat and care about me tremendously. Well, who else would do all that for me but my lovely hubby. Hehheh...I really thank God for him and the happiness he brings into my life. 

I have lots to be thankful for...I am grateful for my family who no doubt has been there for me through all these years. Despite our differences in term of our ideas & opinions doesn't change the fact that there is nothing more important than family. I am also grateful for my loyal friends who been standing on my side and supported me when I needed someone to lean on. Am also grateful that I am wiser to know the different between true and fake friends. But most important of all, I am grateful that I am still alive and well.

Nothing much I would like to wish for but pray that God keep on guiding my way through life as I know, without HIM, I am nothing. I wish that He will keep reminding me to be grateful and appreciate what I have and going to have and allow me not to forget that all things come from HIM. I wish that I be a better person or at least trying to be a better person. Andd of course I pray that HE will provide me a good career in the future, a job that suit my personality and knowledge where I could excel. AMEN!

Sight seeing on Boxing Day

Boxing Day is normally spend by inviting friends and relative to your house for lunch (well..at least here). The thing is, you can't simply appear at someone's house without being invited even though that someone is your own parent. Suddenly inviting yourself to someone's house is consider as being rude. This is normally practice by my in law where they will invite us, hubby's cousin and uncle to their home for lunch. But last year,  we decided to spend Boxing Day by showing my family some of the nearest town to our place.

Armed with 2 cars, our first destination is the Voergaard Castle, which is quite near our place. It is famous for its terrifying tales of the greedy Ingeborg Skeel (merciless Lady if the Manor), who murdered the castle's master builder by shoving him into the moat. It is believes that her soul still haunts Voergaard Slot to this day.

 Main entrance to the castle's compound. The castle is surrounded by man made lake but at this time, it was frozen. Actually, the castle do open for public but as we were there the day after Christmas, it was closed to public.

One for the memory..

 Then we're off to a town call Dronninglund and stop by at Dronninglund Castle. I wanted to show my parent and sister the castle where we had our wedding's reception. But unfortunately, we were unable to go in without having reservation. There are a few rooms inside the castle and we had our wedding in the Blue Room, which we were lucky to get because someone cancel their booking on it.

 Every castle has their own church and of course, that will mean, there will be cemetery just besides it.

 Well, I can't help but take a picture in front of the castle, almost 6 years after our wedding.

Next, we're off to Saeby, a city near the sea (well, there are many city situated just near the sea shore here and this is just one of it). And that was the first time I actually drove by myself. Feel pretty weird as here they drove on the left side of the road.

 The city was pretty deserted because it is both a public holiday and it is also very cold. Hehhe..

 During the summer, you can find lots of small boat and also medium to huge yatch park here. And they come from various country too.

 It's quite nice to be there when not much of people around.

 There are some pretty cool houses and I believe they have the perfect view of the sea. But the price of houses around this area is bloody damn expensive.

 The bridge connect you to the beach.

 Peking duck..

 The beach is very peaceful...

 And the sea is calm..

 Mom go searching for seashell

 The beach is full of seashell of all kind..

 And mom still searching for shell..hahaha

After like 40 minutes playing and walking at the beach, I guess it's time to go home.

 Oh..almost forgot. Before we went to Saeby, we make a stop over at Skagen. This city is Denmark northernmost city. It is Denmark's main fishing port and also has a thriving tourist industry.


 Here's one for the walk of fame..hehe

 Very scenic view

 I love this picture..macam kat poskad pulak

 I pun nak juga..heheh

 The day look very sunny but it was bloody cold!!!

It is a breath taking view despite the coldness and the strong wind.