Red Velvet Cupcakes

I made Red Velvet Cupcakes for someone's Birthday tomorrow. I ate some of them, very nice and moist. The recipes from Apple a day site's.

Cupcakes baked for 20 minutes, cakes baked for 25-30 minutes.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from www.saveur.com; originally from Cake Man Raven


Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 TBSP cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. buttermilk
2 TBSP (1 oz.) red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. white distilled vinegar


For the frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
12 oz. butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)


Directions:
1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8" round cake pans. (I only made a two layer cake, so some of my batter went unused.)

5. Bake cakes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25–30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, then invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely.

6. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5–7 minutes.

7. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, level off with a serrated knife, and spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top, level, and repeat frosting. Set remaining layer on top, level, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Press pecans into the sides of the cake, if desired. **Tip: after leveling cake, turn it upside down to reduce numbers of crumbs. I also did a crumb coat on the outside, let it set for ten minutes, then finished with remaining frosting.

8. Chill for 2 hours to set frosting.

Moist Chocolate Avocado CupCakes

I tried this recipe today, really good result, found this nice recipes from The Curious Baker site, I made some changes to the recipes instead of sugar , I used pure Maple syrup, and 2 mash Banana. I used spelt flour instead of teff flour.

• 1/2 cup/90g spelt flour
• 1/2 cup/75g buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp/55g ground hazelnuts
• 3 tbsps/10g cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 tbs Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/8 cup/20g/2 tbsps Olive oil
• 1/4 cup mashed avocado
• 2 ripe Bananas
• 1 cup/200ml water
• 1 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF

In a large bowl, sift the spelt flour, buckwheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together.

Add the ground hazelnuts and whisk until combined.

In another bowl, mix together the olive oil, mashed avocado, mashed Bananas,water, vinegar and vanilla extract.

Add the Maple syrup to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter into the 12 cup cake tin and bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

Chinese hot and sour soup

I found a good recipes for Chinese hot and Sour Soup from this site, Closet Cooking.
I really like this Blog, his recipes always has a good result, never disappoint me.


Servings: makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 6 dried tree ear mushrooms (also known as wood ear mushrooms)
• 6 dried black mushrooms
• 8 dried lily buds (otherwise known as golden needles)
• 1/2 cup bamboo shoots
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 4 ounces pork loin (optional), cooked and shredded
• 4 cups Asian chicken broth or regular chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1 package tofu, cut into small pieces
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1 teaspoon white pepper, ground
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons chili oil or to taste
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce or to taste
• 4 green onions sliced

Directions

1. Soak the tree ear and black mushrooms in boiling water until softened, about 20 minutes, and shred them.
2. Soak the lily buds in warm water until softened, about 20 minutes, and shred them.
3. Cover the bamboo shoots in water, bring to a boil, drain and shred.
4. Mix the vinegars, soy sauce, salt and sugar in a bowl.
5. Mix the cornstarch into the water in a bowl.
6. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
7. Add the pork, tree ear and black mushrooms, lily buds and bamboo shoots and saute for a minute.
8. Add the broth and tofu and bring to a boil.
9. Add the vinegar mixture and the cornstarch mixture and stir until it thickens.
10. Pour the eggs into the soup in a thin stream while stirring the soup.
11. Stir in the peppers, oils and chili sauce.
12. Serve garnished with green onions.

Fluffy White Cupcakes

I'm so happy this recipes turn out like the title said Fluffy, it's so amazing egg less but moist and fluffy. Found this wonderful recipes from Shmooed Food.

makes 22 cupcakes

1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 ½ scant cups plain soymilk ( I used skim milk)
2 1/8 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 1/8 cups sugar
½ cup oil
1 ¼ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. coconut extract ( I used butter essence/ flavor)

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Place the apple cider vinegar in the bottom of a liquid measuring cup and fill the cup with soymilk to equal 1 ½ cups. Stir well and set aside (the mixture will curdle).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another mixing bowl whisk together the soymilk mixture, canola oil, vanilla, and coconut extract. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth using a hand-held mixer, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fill each muffin cup with ¼ cup of batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Notes:

Fill the cupcakes tin with 1/4 cup of batter, if too full the cake will be dense.

Next time I will make the frosting , i found a good recipes from Learning to eat again,

Fat free frosting.

Ingredients

8oz tub of fat-free cool whip (or any generic frozen whipped topping), thawed
1 (3.5 oz) package of instant pudding (any flavor)
1 can fat-free condensed milk
1/2 c. cold fat-free milk

Steps for Frosting:
Place pudding mix, milk and condensed milk is medium sized mixing bowl
With a fork or wire whisk, whisk all ingredients together until well blended. Allow mixture to sit for 3-5 minutes until firm (mixture will jiggle slightly when bowl is shaken gently)
Fold in thawed whipped topping
Place in fridge for 15 minutes to firm up slightly

The Versatile Blogger Award

I received a beautiful Award from Tested and Tasted .

Thanks DG, you are so sweet :)

Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes

I really like this recipe, you can find the recipe from Simply Recipes.

This cupcakes are delicious and moist.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

The coffee (and the salt) help intensify the flavor of the chocolate. If you don't have or don't want to use coffee, just skip it and use water instead. If you do use coffee, just use what would be considered regular strength coffee (or slightly weak coffee) in America, not something super concentrated like espresso. If caffeine is an issue, use decaf. If you want to make a cake instead of cupcakes, double the recipe and use two 8-inch round cake pans and cook for 35-40 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons of espresso powder or instant coffee granules)/ I used 3 in 1 instant Coffee
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) olive oil


METHOD

Cupcakes:

1 Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up).

3 In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil.

4 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy.

5 Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

6 Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. Once cool, you can eat plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or drizzle or coat with frosting.

I didn't make frosting this time, but I found a good recipes from Grin and bake it. , I will try this next time.

Low-fat Cream Cheese Icing

8 oz. light cream cheese, softened

1 c. marshmallow cream
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese, marshmallow creme, lemon juice, and vanilla until well combined. Then gradually beat in the powdered
sugar.

Makes 1 3/4 cups

NOTES : The use of marshmallow creme instead of butter in this easy frosting
recipe keeps the fat, calorie and cholesterol counts low. To simplify
clean-up, spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray before attempting to
measure out the marshmallow cream!

Cheese button

Original recipe from here

Ingredients:
- Butter 275 gram
- Gula halus 1 sdm
- Kuning telur 3 butir
- Putih telur 1 butir
- Keju edam 150 gram
- Tepung sagu 100 gram
- Tepung terigu protein rendah (kunci biru) 350-400 gram
- Keju cheddar parut secukupnya

Bahan Glazur:
- Icing sugar 275-300 gram
- Putih telur 50-60 gram
- 1/2 sdt cream of tartar (optional, boleh dipakai boleh tidak)
- Vanili, cuka atau Lemon essence secukupnya

Directions:
-Kocok butter dan gula halus hingga tercampur rata, masukkan telur, kocok rata, tambahkan keju. Aduk rata. Masukkan tepung sagu dan terakhir tepung terigu. Uleni hingga rata/kalis..
-Giling tipis 2-5 mm, potong kotak 2x2 cm.
-Olesi glazur, ratakan dan taburi keju cheddar parut
-Angkat satu persatu, tata di loyang kuker.
-Oven dengan api kecil hingga matang.

Glazur:
Kocok semua bahan hingga setengah mengembang, tambahkan lemon essence.

Note: Panggang 150 C/160 C selama 30 menit

Beri garam diadonan sedikit.

Melt in the mouth butter cookies

Original recipe from Cook.Bake.Love
This cookies really nice, soft, fragile and melt in the mouth.

Ingredients:
125g butter, soften at room temperature (I used salted butter)
40g icing sugar
125g potato starch
80g superfine flour (can be replaced by plain flour)

Method:
1) Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and lighter in colour, sift in potato starch and flour, mix to form a soft dough.
2) Roll into small ball, arrange on lined baking pan and press lightly with a fork. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 20 mins, upper rack (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

Note:
1) I measured each cookie dough with ½ tbsp measuring spoon
2) To prevent cookie dough from sticking on fork, dip the fork in water before each use.
80g superfine flour (can be replaced by plain flour)

Method:
1) Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and lighter in colour, sift in potato starch and flour, mix to form a soft dough.
2) Roll into small ball, arrange on lined baking pan and press lightly with a fork. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 20 mins, upper rack (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

Note:
1) I measured each cookie dough with ½ tbsp measuring spoon, made 62pcs. I think the size is just nice.
2) To prevent cookie dough from sticking on fork, dip the fork in water before each use

Sate lilit Bali and Sambal Matah

Original recipe from here and here

Recipe Sate Lilit Bali

Ingredients:
* 250 gr shrimp – clean, deveined
* 250 gr mackerel – or any firm white flesh fillet
* 50 gr dessicated coconut
* 6 pcs kaffir lime leaves – thinly sliced
* 2 tbs sugar – can use any sugar, but coconut sugar is better
* red capsicum – tiny cubes for sprinkles
* bamboo skewers or fresh lemon grass may be used

Processed Ingredients:
* 8 pcs shallots
* 2 pcs garlic
* 2 cm galangal or blue ginger
* 2 cm kencur or lesser galangal
* 1 tsp coriander seeds
* 1 cm fresh turmeric
Mince all ingredients until they turn into a smooth paste. DO NOT FRY

Cooking Directions:
1.) Mix both fish & shrimp in food processor until smooth.
Mix in dessicated coconut. Add 3 tbs of thick coconut milk
2.) Add processed ingredients, mix well. Add salt & sugar to taste
3.) If the mixture is still too dry, you may add 1 egg white and a bit of olive oil
4.) Shape the mixture on sate sticks/lemongrass stalk, flatten slightly
5.) Charcoal grill sate until light brown and cooked through

Sambal Matah
source: Geoff's Menu

Ingredients:
15 shallots, peeled and sliced in half length-way, then finely crosswise sliced
15 bird's eye chilies, sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
5 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
1 tsp roasted dried shrimp paste, finely grated
4 stalks lemon grass, only take the white and tender part, bruised and finely sliced
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black peppercorn
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
75 ml oil

Directions:
Combine all other ingredients and mix thoroughly for a couple of minutes before serving with Be Pasih Mepanggang and Sambal Tomat.

Bakwan Sayur

I forgot where I got this recipe, but it is a nice one.

Bahan

300 gr tepung terigu

100 gr udang beku (udang kecil yang segar lebih bagus)

150 gr wortel (rajang atau potong sesuai selera)

150 gr kol (rajang halus)

1 butir telur

400 ml air



Bumbu halus

5 siung bawang putih

1 st merica

1 sm ebi (yang sudah disangrai/ dihaluskan)

1 ½ st garam

1 st gula pasir



Cara Membuat

1. Masukkan potongan wortel dan kol pada sebuah mangkok
berukuran sedang/besar dan tambahkan bumbu halus, telur, sedikit air,
dan jangan lupa ebinya (penambahan ebi akan memberikan cita rasa
tersendiri dan merupakan bumbu penyedap alami pada masakan). Aduk rata
sambil sedikit diremes-remes.

Note:

Proses 'peremesan' menyebabkan keluarnya juice atau sari dari sayuran
(wortel dan kol)

Ini mengakibatkan bercampurnya kimia bahan (sayuran) dan bumbu halus.
Bercampurnya secara "mesra" antara bumbu dan bahan merupakan salah
satu faktor penyumbang sedapnya masakan yang dihasilkan.

2. Masukkan udang, aduk rata (jangan diremes, nanti udangnya hancur)

3. Masukkan tepung sedikit demi sedikit (bergantian dengan air), aduk rata

Note:

Bakwan yang enak dan renyah dihasilkan dari adonan dengan kekentalan
yang sesuai, perhatikan adonan jangan terlalu encer atau jangan
terlalu pekat. Terlalu encer suatu adonan akan menghasilkan bakwan
yang terlalu lembek (dan akan menyerap banyak minyak), ini karena
rongga antar molekulnya di isi oleh minyak pada saat kita menggoreng,
Sedangkan bakwan yang berasal dari adonan terlalu pekat, akan
menyebabkan bakwan memiliki cita rasa seperti kurang matang saat
digoreng.

4. Ambil adonan dengan menggunakan centong sayur kecil dan
goreng dalam minyak dengan pemanasan yang sedang, hingga berwarna
kekuningan, angkat dan tiriskan.

Note:

Pemanasan merupakan faktor utama lainnya yang mempengaruhi cita rasa
masakan. Adonan yang digoreng dalam minyak terlalu panas, akan
menghasilkan bakwan dengan gosong atau matang diluar dan mentah di
dalam, sebaliknya pemanasan yang terlalu rendah akan menghasilkan
bakwan yang lembek (masuk minyak) dan tidak renyah. Jadi gunakan api
dengan pemanasan sedang.

5. Hidangkan bakwan selagi panas-panas, dengan cocolan sambal
Lampung (Indfood) bagi yang menyukai rasa pedas atau sweet and sour
sauce (saus Thailand).

Okonomiyaki

Original recipe from here

I did some adjustment to the recipe, because I used whole wheat flour, I added more eggs, it seems 1 egg didn't hold the okonomiyaki.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup dashi (or water)
1 egg
1/4 of a cabbage, about 2-3 cups packed (shredded)
1 carrot, about 1/2 cup (grated)
1 small zucchini, about 1 cup (grated)
1 green onion (chopped)
3 slices bacon
okonomiyaki sauce (or Worcestershire sauce)
mayonnaise
green onion (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, dashi, egg, cabbage, carrot, zucchini and green onion in a large bowl.
2. Heat some oil in pan.
3. Pour in mixture and top with the bacon slices.
4. Cook on medium heat until golden brown on both sides, about 5-15 minutes per side.
5. Top with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and green onion and slice.

Whole Wheat Pancakes from Scratch

Original recipe from Canadian Living.
I added blackberries.

Ingredients

1-1/2 1-1/2cups cups(375 mL) (375 mL) all-purpose flour
1-1/2 1-1/2cups cups(375 mL) (375 mL) whole wheat flour
3 3tbsp tbsp(45 mL) (45 mL) granulated sugar
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) baking powder
1-1/2 1-1/2tsp tsp(7 mL) (7 mL) salt
2 2eggeggs
3 3cups cups(750 mL) (750 mL) milk
3 3tbsp tbsp(45 mL) (45 mL) vegetable oil
1-1/2 1-1/2tsp tsp(7 mL) (7 mL) vanilla

Preparation:

In large bowl, stir together all-purpose and whole wheat flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. In separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla; pour over dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Heat large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Pour in 1/4 cup (50 mL) batter for each pancake; cook until bubbles break on top but do not fill in and bottoms are golden, 1-1/2 to 2 minutes. Turn and cook until golden on bottom, 1 minute. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper and freeze in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

Durian Chiffon Cake

This is unusual I made this chiffon cake from Durian fruit for Christmas Eve , hope everyone will like it. Original recipe from here

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Batter:

6 egg yolks
150 ml. coconut milk
4 Tbsp. Corn oil
1/4 tsp. salt
150 gm. Durian Puree
1/4 tsp. durian essence
50 gm. caster sugar
140 gm. Plain flour

Egg White Foam:

6 egg white
1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
100 gm. Caster Sugar

Method:

(1) Mix all the egg yolk batter together. Stir till smooth.
(2) Whisk egg whisk till slightly forthy then gradually spoon in the sugar till finish. Whisk at high speed until forthy adn stiff peak form.
(3) Gently fold beaten egg white into egg yolk batter.
(4) Pour batter into a 22 cm. chiffon cake pan (I used 25 cm.). Bake at 175C for about 45 mins. or until cooked.
(5) Remove cake from oven and invert the pan onto a wire rack and leave it to cool completely.
(6) Remove cake from pan and serve.

**Recipe adapted from the book: "Chiffon Cake is Done" by Kevin Chai

Chocolate Spelt Crinkle Cookies

This is a healthy cookies, because using spelt flour instead regular flour, the original recipe from Angie's site

It does taste yummy, crispy at the outside and soft in the inside , the texture almost like brownies.

• 165 g Spelt flour
  
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Salt
  
• 180 g Dark chocolate mocha beans
  
• 4 tbsp Butter
  
• 2 Eggs, at room temperature
  
• 100 g Caster sugar
  
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• 40 g Icing sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 165C/330F. Line two baking trays with paper. Whisk the spelt flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Melt the Mocha chocolate beans and butter in a bowl over a small pan of simmering water until smooth. Cool slightly.
   
2. Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed and add the mocha chocolate mix and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour mixture and fold until combined. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours until firm, or up to overnight.
   
3. Put the icing sugar in a small bowl. Shape the dough into 32 balls and roll in the icing sugar. Put them on the prepared baking trays 4-cm apart and press down lightly to flatten. Bake for about 12 minutes until the edges set. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then put on a rack to cool completely.