Vanilla Cake with Greek Yogurt Chocolate Icing (Sugar Free)

A simple vanilla cake topped with luxurious greek yogurt chocolate frosting for my Mister's birthday! As my Mister is diabetic, so I incorporated substitute sugar for both the cake and frosting. The cake actually turned out fantastic! We all loved the moist and tender crumbs and the healthier low fat chocolate frosting! 

Ingredient

• 120gm butter
• 100gm XyloSweet
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125gm top flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 125ml buttermilk

Icing

• 120ml Greek yogurt
• 100gm unsweetened dark chocolate 
• 15gm butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 50gm XyloSweet

Method

1. Grease and lined a 7" cake pan. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. In another bowl, cream butter and sweetener until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Add in flour mixture, alternate with buttermilk into egg batter and beat until well incorporated.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg cel for 35 mins. or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Unmould and cool completely before frosting. 
6. To pepare icing, dissolve dark chocolate and butter over bain-marie. Combine yogurt, vanilla and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Pour in melted chocolate and stir until well blended. Chill for one hour to firm it up before spreading over cooled cake.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake Brownie

Happy 8th Birthday to my second born! A simple non-baked mixed berry cheesecake with a moist brownie as the base. Really love the chocolatey brownie and tangy creamy berry cheesecake combination. Only flaw is that I find the cream cheese layer a little too short as I've used a 8" square pan....should have used a 7" pan instead. ^0^ 

Ingredient (7" square pan)
Brownie Layer

• 75gm dark chocolate
• 75gm unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 120gm sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 100gm plain flour
• 110gm semi sweet chocolate chips

Mixed Berry Cream Cheese Layer

• 1 tbsp gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp water
• 250gm cream cheese, room temperature
• 100gm fine sugar
• 200gm mixed berry compote*
• 200ml dairy whipping cream

Mixed berry compote : Place 200gm frozen mixed berries, 50gm fine sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 mins until thickens, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 lemon zest. Remove from heat and set aside to cool before use.

Method

Dissolve dark chocolate and butter over a pot of simmering water. Cool.
Whisk eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla till well combine. Stir in butter mixture.
Sift flour and baking soda over and fold till well incorporated. 
Pour batter into a lined 7" square pan and spread out evenly. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg cel for 25mins. Cool in pan.
Prepare cream cheese layer : In a mixing bowl, whip the dairy cream until soft peak. Set aside in fridge.
Mix gelatine with 2 tbsp water. Set aside to allow the mixture to swell before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir the mixture once the gelatine melts, remove from heated pot and cool slightly before used.
1. In another clean mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar until well dissolved. Stir in gelatine mixture and mixed berry compote.
2. Fold whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture with a spatula. Pour the cream cheese mixture on the cooled brownie base. Smooth the surface and chilled until set.

Lemon Blueberry Cake with Frosty Whip

Time flies and my elder boy has turned 11th yesterday!! As usual I've baked a simple birthday cake for him everytime of this year! Lousy with decorating so I make use of edible cake image for the cake with minimal piping/decoration. ^0^ 

I thought I've used a lot of whipped cream for the layering, but it did not turn out otherwise. Anyway is a nice cake to enjoy...moist and tender crumbs packed with juicy blueberries and lemony flavour. 

Ingredient (one 8" x 8" layer cake)

• 250gm salted butter
• 200gm fine sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300gm cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 250ml homemade buttermilk
• 125ml fresh lemon juice
• 300gm frozen blueberries (coat with 2 tbsp plain flour to prevent sinking)

Frosting : 100gm frosty whip powder with 50gm chilled water & 50gm lemon juice

Method

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. 
2. Using electric whisk, cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add in lemon zest and beat to combine.
3. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat till mixture is white and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
4. Using low speed beat in flour, alternate with buttermilk and lemon juice, until just combined. Do not beat on high speed. Use a spatula and fold in blueberries. 
5. Spread the cake batter into two 8" square shallow pan.* Bake in preheated oven at 160deg cel for 30-35mins, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
6. Rest the cake in pan for 10mins. Remove cake and transfer to a wire rack to cool down completely before frosting. 

* I halved the recipe and bake the cake one by one as my oven is small. 

Marble Rainbow Cupcakes

Take a break from baking Chinese New Year cookies and bake a simple sweet cupcake for my little girl 7th birthday! With plenty of leftover egg whites after baking cookies, this white cake base recipe from Baking Taitai  comes in handy! Instead of using vibrant rainbow colours, I chosen pastel shades for this marble rainbow cupcakes. It turned out so sweet and pretty, perfect for my sweet little gal!!! ^0^

closer look....ooh loving the swirl of smooth and silky buttercream sitting on the pretty marble cupcake ^0^

Marble Rainbow Cupcakes
Ingredients (10 cupcakes)

• 150gm unsalted butter
• 200gm fine sugar
• 90gm egg whites
• 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extracts
• 280gm cake flour
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 240ml milk
• wilton food colouring gel (pink, yellow, blue, green)
• basic American buttercream for frosting
• rainbow sprinkles for decoration

Like the simple and effortless of marbling the cuppies. Just scoop in teaspoon of tinted cake batter randomly into lined cup cases. No need swirling, just gently tap the cases to remove air bubbles before popping them into the oven. 

Method

1. Sift flour and salt. Set aside.
2. Using a electric whisk, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg whites gradually until well combined. Mix in vanilla extract.
4. Add in 1/3 of the flour and beat briefly, alternate with 1/3 milk. Repeat with flour and milk mixture until a smooth batter is form. Do not overmix.
5. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, approx 240gm each.
6. Add 3 drops food colouring into each bowl and mix well. 
7. Scoop tsp of each coloured batter into lined baking cups (3/4 cup full)
8. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg cel for 25 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool completely before frosting.

After baking....nicely puffed up to the rim! Looks pretty even without frosting! 

Basic American Buttercream
Ingredient

• 125gm unsalted butter, room temperature
• 250gm icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp raspberry extract (or use vanilla extract)
• 3 tbsp milk

Method

1. Using a electric whisk, beat butter till fluffy.
2. Beat in icing sugar, in batches, together with salt, raspberry extract and milk. Beat on high speed for 5 mins till mixture is pale and fluffy.
3. Use immediately or store in fridge for 2 weeks in an air-tight container. Re-whip before using.

* After frosting the cupcakes, store in fridge if not consume immediately. To serve just thaw in room temperature for about 15 mins. 

Orange Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Happy 10th Birthday! 

Nothing fanciful, just a simple and tasty orange chocolate chiffon cake! Trying to unmould the cake by hand....but flop hahaha So in the end I dusted the surface with plenty of snow powder and decorated with some canned mandarin orange. 

Top with D.I.Y decorating flags to complete the look! 

Nevermind that I could not achieve a wavy pattern look on the chiffon, the texture of the chiffon turns out well! Light and fluffy as what a chiffon should be :) 

Ingredient

• 6 egg yolks
• 25gm fine sugar
• 75ml corn oil
• 100ml orange juice
• 150gm plain flour
• 1.5 tbsp cocoa powder
• zests from 2 oranges

• 6 egg whites
• 100gm fine sugar

Method

1. Using a wire whisk, beat yolks, sugar and zests until pale. Add in oil and orange juice. Mix well.
2. Sift in plain flour into yolk mixture until smooth.
3. Divide mixture into 2 portions. Sift in cocoa powder into one of the plain batter.
4. In a clean dry bowl, beat egg whites till frothy. Add in sugar in 3 additions and beat till stiff peak forms.
5. Divide meringue into 2 equal portions. Fold each portion into the plain batter and chocolate batter respectively.
6. Scoop the plain batter into ungreased chiffon pan followed by the chocolate batter. Lightly drop the pan on a work top to remove any air bubbles.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg cel for 55mins. Invert cake immediately and cool completely before removing it from pan.

Recipe ref : anncoojournal.com

Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon

How time flies! My little girl has turned 5 years old yesterday! Seems like not long ago my little princess still rocking in my arms. Since her favourite colour is purple, I decided to bake a simple purple chiffon cake frosted with purple whipped cream ^0^ I've done a purple sweet potato chiffon before, but  the cake did not turn out quite well. The texture was fine, just that he purple tone was not as prominent as the present one I done :D Really happy with this present purple sweet potato chiffon, nice purplish pink hue without the need of adding food colouring with soft and fluffy texture! 

My first attempt to cover a 8" whole with rose swirl! I'm using a 2D wilton piping tip. The first tried was really ugly and messy that I've to scrap of the cream and re-pipe again hahaha...still look messy but glad my kids and hubby enjoyed eating the cake and 3/4 of the cake was gone last night!

Recipe ref : maameemoomoo.com
Ingredient (enough for one 7" & one 8" round pan)

• 200gm purple sweet potato, cubed
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1 lemon juice (divided into 2 portions)

Yolk Batter

• 6 egg yolks
• 40gm brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 100ml corn oil
• 6 tbsp milk
• 170gm cake flour

Meringue

• 8 egg whites, cold
• 100gm sugar

Method

1. Steam sweet potato till softened, add in milk and mashed till smooth and fine. Stir in 1 portion of lemon juice.
2. Whisk yolks with sugar till well dissolved. Beat in salt, corn oil and milk. Add in mashed sweet potato and mix well.
3. Sift in flour and mix till smooth and lump free.
4. In a clean dry bowl, beat egg whites till foamy. Add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peak formed.
5. Add 1/3 of meringue into egg yolk mixture and mix well.
6. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the balanced meringue and fold lightly till well combined. Stir in 1 portion of lemon juice.
7. Pour the batter into a ungreased 9" chiffon pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to release air bubbles.
8. Bake in preheated oven @ 180 deg cel for 40-45 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Invert cake and cool completely in tin before unmoulding.

M&M Cookie Cake/ Jumbo Cookie

What's in this big container? It's plain cookie dough weighing 2kg+! This amount of dough which I've churned out 32 Jumbo M&M Cookies and one 10" round M&M Cookie Cake! It's time of the year again...for my son's 8th birthday! ^0^

is really huge, covering 2/3 of my palm! ^0^

All 32 Jumbo M&M Cookies wrapped up with the help of my boy :)

 10" round M&M Cookie Cake

Tadah!! It transformed after simple decoration :) 

Recipe ref : joyofbaking.com
Ingredient (15 large cookies)

• 260gm plain flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 170gm unsalted butter
• 100gm castor sugar
• 100gm light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• M&M's candies for decoration

Method

1. Combine flour, soda and salt together.
2. Using a electric whisk, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 mins.
3. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla paste.
4. Sift over flour mixture in 2-3 batches and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Cover and chill the cookie dough for 30mins until just firm.
5. Using a 1/4 cup, form batter into large balls. Alternatively, weigh each dough in 50gm each. Place the balls of dough on a lined baking sheet. (bake in batches if necessary, balanced dough to be chilled while first batch is baking). Gently flatten each ball of dough into a 6" round. Gently press candies into the surface of the dough. 
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg cel for 15-18 mins (160 deg cel for 25-30 mins for cookie cake) until they are light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cook completely before storing.

H A P P Y  8th  B I R T H D A Y !!!

Chocolate Doughnut Cake

Our sweetie pie 4th Birthday!

Helpful brother helping her to slice the cake ^0^

All kids love doughnut, don't they? But I seldom rarely indulged them in this rather unhealthy pastry :P One fine day I've just have this idea of baking a cake in doughnut shape and frost exactly like a doughnut! Thereafter I've started googling for further inspirations and discover a fantastic cream cheese frosting without adding butter and icing sugar! How good can that be! A healthier choice compare to the conventional cream cheese frosting which is loaded with butter and icing sugar :D 

This is the 7" cake pan which I used to create this doughnut cake. As I've only have a single pan, I baked the batter in two batches. No washing the pan in between! I only used a kitchen bowl to clean of fthe crumbs after unmoulding the 1st cake. Follow then I greased and floured the pan again! 

Top                                                                             Bottom

hehehe ignored the ugly appearance of the cake, it will be camouflaged by the frosting later ^0^ I've sandwiched the cake with some of the cream cheese frosting and berry jam.

 Slowly spoon the cream cheese frosting over the cake and sprinkle some confetti over...

 Tadah!….A doughnut cake is formed! Doesn't it looks like the real thing?!  

Yummylicious chocolate cake…very soft and fluffy texture along with the light tasty cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Recipe source : Tested & Tasted
Ingredient (makes two 7"round cake)

• 70gm boiling water
• 25gm cocoa powder
• 20gm sugar

• 4 egg yolks
• 15gm sugar
• 50gm oil
• 50gm cake flour

• 3 egg whites
• 50gm sugar

Method

1. Grease a 7" round hollow cake mould with butter and floured evenly with some cocoa powder. Pat the pan lightly to remove excess powder. Set aside.
2. Sift cocoa powder and sugar into a bowl. Add in boiling water and stir well. Set aside.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add in oil and cocoa mixture and mix well.
4. Fold in cake flour until combined.
5. In a clean dry bowl, whisk egg white until foamy. Add in 50gm sugar gradually and whisk until stiff peak formed.
6. Scoop 1/3 egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and mixed well, then pour this into the balanced egg white foam and mix well.
7. Pour batter into mould and tap the pan lightly on a hard surface to remove excess air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 200 deg cel for 15-18 mins.
8. Cool cake in pan for 10mins before unmoulding.
9. Cool completely before frosting.

A simple roux made with flour, sugar & milk                   Combine the prepared roux with the cream cheese and beat till well combined and ready to use!

Extra Creamy Cooked Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe source : thekitchn.com
Ingredient

• 100gm cream cheese, softened
• 15gm plain flour
• 75gm sugar
• pinch of salt
• 100ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Method

1. Whip the cream cheese until smooth and silky. Set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a small saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and slowly add in milk, whisking constantly to create a smooth paste.
3. Simmer for 1 min, then turn off heat.
4. Scrape the paste into a mixing bowl. Beat the mixture for 10mins or until light and no longer piping hot. 
5. Add in whipped cream cheese and vanilla and beat  until well combined.
6. Use it immediately for store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Whip again briefly before using.

I am submitting this post to the the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and  Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY , hosted by lice from I Love.ICook.IBake