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 …

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 …