Year: 2018

Hummingbird cake

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A little history about Hummingbird cake. The cake is thought to originate from Jamaica. It’s called the hummingbird cake because it’s sweet enough to attract the hummingbird. This cake is one of the classic cakes in the States. I made this cake a couple of weeks ago but didn’t have the time to post. Making the hummingbird cake is very similar to making carrot cakes. It requires oil not butter and it uses the mixing method. I didn’t add any nuts to the cake this time but it goes perfectly well with pecan nuts. The key ingredients for the cake are bananas and pineapples. I used crushed pineapples from the can. I was having some issues with my cream cheese frosting – it was too melted and obviously I lacked the patience to wait for it to set before spreading it across the cake. But hey, the cake still turned out delicious! Ingredients for the cake 370g plain flour 1 tsp bicarbonate soda 1.5 tsp cinnamon powder 0.5 tsp nutmeg powder 0.5 tsp salt 4 …

Gluten-free cinnamon cookies

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I made these cookies for the first time a couple of months ago as a thank you gift to my supervisor. She’s on a wheat-free diet so I had to adapt to that. Gluten plays an important role in baking – it is a binding agent that helps give a nice chewy texture. Without gluten in cookies, the dough tends to get very hard and dry. The cookie would be very different (likely to be harder in texture) if I were to substitute the flour in my usual cookie dough recipe with gluten-free flour. So I decided to adapt my melting moment cookies recipe to make these gluten free cinnamon cookies. Making these gluten-free cookies were quite challenging. Simply because the dough was dry and crumbly which makes it difficult to roll out. When baking, the cookies remained pale in colour so to determine if they are done, just use your fingers and press down the middle. If the cookie is hard that means it is over-baked; it should be slightly soft in the middle. …

Classic chocolate mud cake

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Who knew that mud cakes were actually that easy to make? I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay and as usual, made some changes to it. When I first saw the recipe, I was shocked that it was that simple – mixing of the wet and dry ingredients together. I’ve added coffee granules into my mud cake because it gives a little punch and helps to enhance the taste of the chocolate. Warning: this mud cake is very rich, moist and absolutely delicious. If you are a huge chocolate fan and trying to be on a diet, then this cake is your kryptonite. I’ve always like to use Lindt 90% dark chocolate in my baking but Cadbury 86% dark coco works perfectly fine too. The trick to making the perfect chocolate cake lies in the quality of the chocolate used so don’t scrimp on it! I made this cake twice, the first time without Kahlua and the second time with Kahlua. Honestly, I could not taste the alcohol because the chocolate was overpowering. One thing about …

Red velvet cupcakes

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The classic red velvet cupcakes. I’ve tried so many different recipes for this cupcake and somehow none of them were to my liking. Finally I’ve adapted one of my own cupcake recipes and tweaked it to make this delicious red velvet cupcake! The essential thing for red velvet cupcakes is the buttermilk. I decided to make my own buttermilk by using 100ml of full cream milk and adding 2 tablespoons of white vinegar (alternatively, you can use lemon juice too). Let the milk rest for a while and it should start to curdle. I had a little mishap this morning and made a batch without adding oil. I didn’t realise it when much later when I was eating the cupcakes thinking there is something missing. It tasted fine but the texture was like a steamed sponge cake – so weird. When I finally realised that it was oil, I made a second batch again. Oh gully! Nutrition per cupcake Ingredients To make the cupcakes (one batch makes 12) 120g plain flour 20g cocoa powder 3/4 …