One Bowl Orange Cake

One Bowl means minimum wash and at the same time is able to fulfill the cake craving.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 1 1/8 cup caster sugar
• 2 oranges - get the zest 
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 tsp orange essence (optional)
• 1 1/4 cup self raising flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

1. Pre heat oven at 180 degree and greased or line cake pan.
2. Melt butter in the double boiler and add in caster sugar. Once caster sugar incorporated well with the butter, remove the mixing bowl from double boiler.Let it cool down a little to avoid scrambling the eggs.
3. Add in egg and mix well with orange juice, orange zest and orange essence.
4. Mix in self raising flour in 2 to 3 addition and mix until just combined.
5. Pour into prepare cake pan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before move it to wire rack to cool.

Moist and Light Chocolate Cake (No electric mixer/beater needed !!!)

Who is not into chocolate cake? I am always into chocolate cake but the problem is sometimes I just want to be able to mix the ingredient up with very limited equipment used and stick it into the oven  and eat it. Cadbury kitchen recipe definitely save my day today. Thumbs up to #cadburychocolate #cadburykitchen and I did amend the recipe here and there. For original recipe please click the link above. One last thing this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water (original recipe call for 1 cup water. I used 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup milk)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/8 cups caster sugar
• 125g butter
• 1/2 cup drinking cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups self raising flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50g chocolate bits (optional)

Methods:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degree and greased or line cake pan.
2. Combine water, milk sugar, butter and cocoa in a saucepan and warm but do not boil, stirring until sugar dissolved. Then bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cool for 30 minutes. To speed up the cooling process you can stick it into fridge. 
3. Add vanilla essence, salt and chocolate bits and mix well.
4. Then add SR flour and lightly beaten eggs and mix until just combined. 
5. Pour into a greased or lined cake pan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool completely.

TIPS

• Ingredients should be at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
• Make sure the chocolate mixture is cool properly before you add in flour or eggs otherwise you will need to deal with clumped flour or scrambled eggs.

Steamed Banana Cake 1

Hi, I know I have been missing for awhile from here. Wait ! No! It's actually quite long. It's actually more than a year ago to be precise. Life has been to busy for the last year and it's going to be busy for the next 6 months.

Before I posted my last post last year Bailey's Cake (As easy as ABC), I took out Kickboxing and Muay Thai classes which then lead to Strengthening and Kettlebell Classes and also Yoga. This activities of mine plus work and social gathering took out most of my time. Although I did cook at that time but I find it difficult to find time to update my blog. Since my last post, I have also moved house, my boyfriend decided to propose and I have just recently got married legally (5 days ago) with wedding reception to follow in  December and I have to say planning for a wedding is as good as a full time job not to mention about the worries and stress.

So there's the summary of the reason that cause my absence from my blog. I would also like to this opportunity to thanks my blog viewers for your support regardless of my absence. I am truly touch.

With this let's move on to my first post for 2013 or first post as a married women :) "Steamed Banana Cake". This cake is simple and minimum tools are used.

Ingredients:-

170g Butter (I used salted butter)
170g Sugar (I used castor sugar)
4 Eggs (I like to leave the eggs to room temperature) - Beaten

300g Banana (Without skin) - Mashed

260g Self Raising flour (If you only have plain flour on hand - use 250g plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder or baking soda) - Sifted

1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Banana Essence (Optional)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence (Optional)

Methods:-

1. Melt butter and sugar in the pot big enough to accommodate the rest of the ingredients above if you are trying to minimize cleaning later on. Make sure the butter and sugar dissolves over low heat. Set aside for the mixture to cool down.

2. Meanwhile,you can grease the cake pan (I greased mine with butter. You can use vegetable oil or line it with baking paper), beat the eggs, mashed the banana and sift the mixture of self raising flour and salt. I only use fork to beat the eggs and mashed the bananas. Remember to heat up the steamer too.

3. Once the mixture cool down a little (cool enough to the extend where it does not cook the egg), add in beaten eggs and mix it well and then followed by mashed banana. Mix well.

4. Fold in mixture of sifted self raising flour and salt in 3 additions. Remember to fold only in one direction.

5.  Pour the cake batter into the greased pan. Make sure the water in the steamer is boiling before you put in the cake pan. Steam on high for 40 minutes. You may need more than 40 minutes or less that 40 minutes. To make sure test with the tester, if the comes out clean the the cake is ready. In my case I use knife. My tester is no where to be found.

6. Once the cake is done remove it from the steamer, let it cool down for awhile before turning out onto cooling rack. Let cool a little bit more before you cut it into pieces.


TIPS: 

Be careful when you remove the steamer lid so that the water on the lid does not drop on to the cake surface. I just remove it as fast as could without tilting it. I then wipe the surface (watery part) of the lid before I put it back on.
 

Baileys Cake (As easy as ABC)

When I brother came a few weeks ago, he asked me what do I want from the duty free place. So I said I want Baileys. Baileys + Ice Cream = Fantastic. However,this morning I was craving for cakes. Any cakes. So, I decided to try baking Baileys cake. Then, I went to the kitchen scrape whatever cake baking ingredient I have in the pantry and to my delight I manage to scrape enough ingredient to bake a cake. Yeay!!!!

This is a very easy and straightforward recipe and very suitable for lazy Sunday baking.

Ingredients:

125g butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Baileys
2 cup self raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder (That's all I have left in my pantry. Feel free to add more. Add some milk or more baileys if your cake mixture appears to be thick)


Methods:

1.  Preheat oven at 180 degree.

2. Melt butter in saucepan large enough to mix all ingredients.

3. Remove from heat and add sugar. Mix well and add eggs. Make sure the saucepan is cool enough before you add in the eggs because you don't want to cook the eggs.Mix to combine then stir in Baileys.

4. Sift flour and cocoa powder into mixture and fold in.

5. Line the bottom of a 20cm cake tin with baking paper and pour in the mixture.

6. Bake at 180 degree for 45 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.

7. Cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto the cooling rack.

8. Feel free to sprinkle icing sugar or butter cream or ganache or coffee cream - (1 tbsp instant coffee, 1 tbsp hot water, 2 tbsp baileys and fold in 300ml whipped cream)