I ran out of titles for chocolate cakes. I was thinking… the old fashion chocolate cake? The classic chocolate cake? Or maybe just THE CHOCOLATE CAKE? If you have any ideas, feel free to share. As some of you may know, my baked goods can be purchased at Hangry Ting and this is one of my signature cakes. To me, what makes a good chocolate cake is the texture – it must be moist, light and fluffy. Once you have a good chocolate cake batter, you can pretty much use it for any occasion and with any kind of frosting. This batter is super easy to make and it goes well with cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache and even whipped chocolate cream. Ingredients for the cake  200g unsalted butter (room temperature) 150g caster sugar 3 eggs 150ml buttermilk 1 tbsp honey 220g self-raising flour 1/2 tsp salt 40g cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 punnet of strawberries (optional) 50g dark chocolate melted Ingredients for the frosting 300ml whipping cream 50g caster sugar 2 tbsp cocoa powder …

Baking has always been my therapy. I bake when I’m happy, sad, stressed or bored. Lately, I’ve been feeling out of sorts. Just didn’t feel like baking or doing anything. Even my yoga practice has gone out the window; from practicing six times a week, it became twice a week and sometimes I can’t even complete the whole primary series. To get myself out of this rut, I’ve decided that I shall make a nostalgic cake – chocolate pound cake. My earliest memory of chocolate pound cake is actually Sara Lee Chocolate Pound cake. It can be found in supermarkets. As a child, I loved that cake – I probably won’t like it as much now but back then, it was such a treat to get a slice of that cake. It was one of my favourite snacks growing up and I would always ask my parents to get it when they went to the supermarket. I usually find that the simpler the cake, the more beautiful it is. It is also a reminder to enjoy …

Mandarins are in season now and my uncle gave me a big bag of mandarins freshly picked from his tree. There were so many mandarins that there is no way I could finish them in time so I decided to make a mandarin almond cake. The amazing thing about this cake is that it is gluten and dairy free (without the cream cheese frosting). All it needs is eggs as its binding agent and it is so easy to make that it is almost fool-proof. I loved this cake so much that I made it three times (partly because I have loads of mandarin to get through) and it was such a hit amongst my friends. The cake together with the cream cheese frosting is a match-make in heaven. Ingredients for the cake  3 large mandarins (or 4 small ones) 5 large eggs 120g caster sugar 250g almond meal 1 tsp vanilla essence Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting 250g cream cheese 30g butter 40g icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla essence Directions Preparation time: 80min Baking …