Giant Cupcakes

Giant cupcakes spotted at Orchard Road. If only they were edible...

Confectionery from Japan

This was a gift from someone at Japan. I wonder if it tastes good. Flu bug still around so I can only stare at the boxes. There were other snacks like mochi and candies but these 2 sure look interesting.

Have a break, have a Kit Kat.

Caramel Pudding flavoured and limited edition as stated on the box.

Cake Chocolat...

I just stare at them everyday.

Banana Loaf with White Chocolate Chips

I had some leftover bananas so I decided to bake something small. I got myself those aluminum loaf pans like those for Sara Lee cakes so it was more convenient. You can purchase them at Phoon Huat. This recipe was inspired by my previous effort to make the banana cake.

Banana Loaf with White Chocolate Chips
80g butter
50g sugar
1 egg
2 ripe bananas
50g self raising flour
50g Quaker oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
handful of white chocolate chips
dash of cinnamon powder

• Preheat oven to 180 deg.
• Cream butter and sugar. Do not panic if they do not cream well.
• Add the egg to the butter and continue to blend them.
• Add the bananas, reserving about half of the banana for slicing and decorating the loaf. You can pre-mash the bananas before adding them.
• The mixture will curdle but will all come together when you add the dry ingredients.
• Add oatmeal and the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Do not overmix.
• Fold in the white chocolate chips and cinnamon powder.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pan and decorate it with the banana slices and some white chocolate chips.
• Bake them for about 15-20mins or until it has risen well.

Notes:
The banana loaf's texture is more grainy and crumbly.
I did not have enough flour this time so the oatmeal is replaceable.

Cupcakes: Peanut Buttercream & Maple Buttercream

This was totally an experiment. The texture for some of the cupcakes were slightly harder than expected but luckily for me, they were still pretty edible after dressing them with flavoured buttercream. Anyone who has good sponge cake recipes, please let me know.

Waiting to be dressed...

Sponge Cupcakes (Makes about 18 small cupcakes)
4 eggs
110g sugar
110g flour
25g melted butter

• Preheat oven to 200 deg.
• Whisk whole eggs and sugar together until thick batter consistency. The batter should be pale and creamy and coats the whisk when you lift the whisk up. About 10mins.
• Fold in the flour and ensure that all are properly mixed.
• Add the melted butter and fold in carefully.
• Spoon the batter into the cupcake casings until almost full or 2/3 full.
• Bake for 8-10mins.
• Let the cupcakes cool.

Buttercream
125g butter
80g powdered sugar
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder (Optional)

• Whip the butter until it is pale and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
• The cocoa powder was added to give the buttercream some colour. It did not make any difference to the taste of the buttercream.

Peanut Buttercream
3 tablespoons (or more) creamy peanut butter

• Add the peanut butter to HALF of the creamed mixture and continue to whip.

Assembling:
1 orange rind
1 tablespoon orange marmalade mixed with 1 tablespoon of hot water

• Brush the marmalade mixture generously on the top of the cupcake.
• Pipe the peanut buttercream on top and sprinkle orange rind as garnish.

Maple Buttercream
3 tablespoons maple syrup

• Add the maple syrup to the other HALF of the creamed mixture and continue to whip.

Assembling:
White chocolate chips
Strawberry choco flakes
Hundreds & Thousands (Rainbow sprinkles)

• Spoon the maple buttercream on top, spread and sprinkle the toppings as garnish.

Shimbashi Soba at Paragon

Decided to head down to Paragon to have some hot soupy stuff. This is my first time eating at Shimbashi Soba so I have no idea what to order.

I ordered the Yuba & Kinoko Healthy Soba. It had tau pok, tau kee and mushrooms in a warm broth which was soothing for the throat and comforting for the tummy. I find this quite healthy and if I didn't have flu, I would have opted for more interesting sounding dish or would have skipped this place altogether.

Rather average standards as I am not too sure what to look out for. The handmade soba tasted like those that you can buy and cook at home with the exception of the coarser texture which made them more springy. The beef was good. I could finish a bowl of rice with the beef. Maybe its time to head back to Yoshinoya for my beef bowl. :oP

A Wonderful Day...

Aloe Sun BB Cream from Skin Food

Pear Restaurant No. 1

Nice gesture

1hr to kill before the show

"Simple Jack" - Lol...this was hilarious.

Pear Restaurant No.2

After steak dinner, headed to Fullerton for tea.

What a wonderful day well spent. :o)

Strawberry Crumble

1st helping

I was inspired to bake something out of the strawberries because I grabbed 2 punnets at S$4.65, which was considered quite affordable. I baked 2 batches using one punnet each time and this has inspired me to consider other filling options like blueberries or apples in future.

Sliced strawberries

Strawberry Crumble:
For the crumble and base
11/4 cup of self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
125g of cold butter (salted)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder - Optional
5 teaspoons of beaten egg mixture

Strawberry filling
1 punnet of strawberry (250g)
2 teaspoon of cornflour
1/4 cup of sugar

• Preheat your oven to 180 deg.
• Slice the strawberries and mix the cornflour and sugar and leave them aside for later use.
• Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon powder and cubes of cold butter in a bowl.
• Use a fork and start mashing the butter in the flour to make it look like breadcrumbs.
• Once the mixture is like breadcrumbs, add in the egg mixture.
• Mix them until lumpy.
• Place half of the dough mixture on a baking pan (4"x8") and use your hands to press them down until the dough covers the bottom of the pan.
• Place the strawberries nicely on top.
• spread the crumble on top of the strawberries. You may wish to sprinkle some extra sugar or cinnamon.
• Bake for 20mins or until the fillings start bubbling. It will resemble like strawberry jam.
• Let cool completely before cutting them up.
• Stare your baked good in awe, pat yourself on the back and enjoy.

Notes:
The first crumble I did was too soggy because of too much egg. The second one has more crisp to it so it you like it crisp, add less egg to them.

Lining strawberries in the pan

The result!

2nd helping. Wish you could eat!