The Cooking Ninja

After a few days of rain, we finally see some sunshine in this area ...wohoo! Mr Sun, have I told you lately how much I love and miss you? But as luck would have it my way, I was struck down by gastro (gastric flu) yesterday while the sun was screaming for me to come out and play. Fortunately for me, Little One woke up late yesterday and we were able to send her to day care centre to play with other children for 4 hours while mommy had a little rest on the couch with in-between trips to the throne. I honestly don't know how I got it. Everyone in this household is 100% fit while I was the only one struck down by it - we all ate the same food quand même. Well, in a way thank goodness Little One didn't get this... no, I don't want to go down that lane now that she is totally toilet trained. Anyway, today I'm feeling slightly better and hopefully when I've fully recovered from it, Mr Sun will still be shining out there for me. Keep my fingers cross.

A week ago, my MIL asked me to make a dessert to go with our lunch that day. I couldn't decide what to make but in the end, those aging bananas on table won the day. I decided to use the banana muffins recipe to make this as a cake instead. For this, I decided to add in an extra egg - just to see how it will turn out.

Recipe taken from : banana muffins with a slight modification : 3 medium eggs and 3 medium sized bananas. Bake it in a round 20 cm diameter cake pan for 45 minutes at 190°C (350°C - gas mark 4).

The Verdict

So what's the difference between the original recipe and modified version? All I can say is that : It's more moist, soft,and full of banana flavour than the muffins. The cake seems to stick more together in texture - that's the best I can describe it. Delicious! By dinner time, only a quarter of the cake was all it left. It stayed moist and soft even the next day. I will definitely bake this again. It's simple and easy to make.

Today's post and recipe is by Pierre - my significant other

There are some people who love cooking and others who hate it. I enjoy it personally, in reasonable quantities. This is why I stay away from Asian cooking, and especially Chinese cooking: too many ingredients, too much preparation, which results in too much stuff to wash. I have had a fascination for dishes that are simple and fast to prepare yet tasty.

And that's how I came up with this version of a semolina milk pudding. Here's a simple yet tasty and healthy dessert, which doesn't take a lot of ingredients and preparation time is minimal. The only issue I have with it is that you need to bake milk in a pan: this often result in burnt milk at the bottom of the pan, which is extremely hard to clean. Thankfully there's another easier way for lazy cooks like me, thanks to this great invention that is the microwave. Bonus point: it's dirt cheap, you'd be hard-pressed to make a dessert for cheaper than that!

Microwave semolina milk pudding

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 120 g fine semolina
• 110 g sugar
• 1 litre milk
• liquid vanilla flavor or vanilla essence

Directions

1. In a big bowl, put all the ingredients together and stir.
2. Put in a microwave oven to bake at maximum power (I used 12 minutes for a 750 Watts oven).
3. Stop every 3 min to stir and make sure the semolina is not stuck at the bottom.
4. Let it cool down and store in the fridge.

Conclusion

It's not going to be nominated dessert of the year, but it taste nice, is low in fat (none at all if you use skimmed milk), and can be easily customized: you can replace the vanilla flavor with anything that catches your fancy (chocolate powder, coffee flavor, etc.). I like to cover mine with home-made strawberry jam for an extra kick, or just eat it plain for breakfast.

Notes

My version is a rather solid milk pudding, if you like it more liquid add a more milk.

We got back from Singapore more than a week ago. Autumn in Clermont Ferrand is a mix of cold and sunny weathers - a few gloomy looking days and some sunny afternoons. I love it when it is sunny and cold at the same time. Love the feel of the sun on my cold face. I hope for more sunny afternoons. Doubt that will happen since winter is just around the corner.

The months of September and October see the arrival of a few newborns of my friends and a fellow blogger. A bitter sweet event for me. I'm very happy for my friends who are enjoying and holding their baby right now. But no matter how happy I was for them, I can't help wishing I was holding my very own baby who would have been born now if I haven't lost it early this year.

How was my holidays in Singapore? Unfortunately it was a nightmare from the start. To think I was so looking forward to going back home but instead I was faced with lots of personnal problems through out my 1 1/2 month stay there. It killed any mood for cooking nor baking nor going or eating out. It was an experience that I wouldn't even want to wish it on my enemy. It is still far from over but I'll try to get some sort of a normal life back. Has it turn me off going back home? In a way yes. I don't want to revisit those moments of my stay there.

On the home front, the renovation in our house is still not completed. However the good news is that the bathroom downstairs is finally done. Today the guy came back to install the kitchen door - not exactly what I expect. I was looking forward to a door with glass inserts but I guess I didn't communicate what I wanted correctly. Next time I know better. The other thing is that I wanted a simple glass looking through the corridor from the kitchen, instead I got a real window (with double glass). Whatever do I need that for in a kitchen?

In hope of lifting up my spirit, I forced myself to bake something as in the past, baking always perks up my spirit ... so I decided to do a Mocha Muffin but I guess when your heart is not in it, even your cakes will not turn out right.

I found this recipe online and thought these muffins sounded great as it was described by the author as moist and delicious etc. Ok I have to admit that I replaced some of the ingredients as I didn't have them in my pantry but I didn't think it would have changed much of the flavour or anything. It did smelled heavenly of mocha chocolate in the oven. I excitedly gave one to my house 'guinea pig', looking at him for a hopeful proclamation: "Where's the flavor ?" were the first words that came out of his mouth after the first bite. The muffins are moist but badly lack of flavour - one can hardly taste the chocolates or coffee in it. Oh well, guess I will try something else next time.

What a summer we had this year!

Lucky for us, it wasn't too hot in Clermont-Ferrand but down South of France like Oraison or Montpellier where we spent 2 weeks, we felt like we were being baked. We could only go out in the morning from 8 am to 10.30 am. After that, the temperature started going up to 31°C or 33°C. By noon, all of us were already withering from the heat. We were so glad to head back to the house for a siesta before going out again at 4.30 pm. Even at 4.30 pm, the heat was quite unbearable. We went for lots of walks around the town, nearby villages, to the lakes and the seaside. By the way, the drive from Clermont-Ferrand to Montpellier is extremely scenic (I wish I had my video cam) and best of all, the highway is 'FREE' (very rare in France).

Since Monday, we are busy preparing everything for our kitchen to be redone, before we leave for Singapore tomorrow. Yep, we are leaving tomorrow and our luggages aren't even packed yet. Up till this morning, we were still out shopping for our kitchen table top. Talk about stress. Do we really need to do this to ourselves before we leave tomorrow? No, but what choice do we have - the guy who is going to redo our kitchen suddenly called us up 2 weeks ago saying that he can do our kitchen in mid September. We were overjoyed of course given the fact that in France, everything moves so slow especially in the renovation business - the craftsman are hard to get. If we missed this chance, we might have to wait for another 6 months before he could fix our kitchen. Everything is done in such a mad rush. I also learned from my significant other that we had to assemble the kitchen cabinet for the guy to put it in place etc, and that we also have to dismantle our present cabinet ourselves. There I was thinking that the quote the guy gave us included everything like it does in Singapore. Well, guess that's another culture shock for me. Pierre said 'Sure, everything can be done, one just need to pay for it and the price is an exorbitant one ! In France, manual labour is very expensive, that is why everyone tries to renovate their house themselves or with the help of connections and relatives.

I have to thank my parents-in-law for helping us and guiding us in buying all the necessary stuff and my sister-in-law for house sitting for us. THANK YOU!

Before departing for Singapore, I would like to leave you a great cookie recipe that is simple and easy to make. It doesn't take very long to whip it up and bake as well.

Chocolate-Nut Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 egg yolk
• 38 g or 1/4 cup soft brown sugar
• 74 g or 1/3 cup white sugar
• 150 g butter (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 188 g or 1 1/2 cup self raising flour (sifted)
• 100 g dark and white chocolates tablets (chopped)
• some chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4).
2. In a big mixing bowl, whisk egg yolk, white & brown sugar, butter and vanilla essence together until it is light and creamy.
3. With a spoon (metal or wooden), fold in the flour, dark & white chocolates and chopped nuts into the creamy mixture until combined/
4. Take a spoonful of the dough and roll it into a ball in your hands.
5. Arrange the balls on the baking tray lined with baking paper. Make sure to space them out as they will spread during baking.
6. Bake them for 15 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Cool the cookies on tray for a minute or two before transferring them on the wire rack.

The Verdict

Surprisingly delicious and aromatic - it has a full nutty flavour, buttery taste, with delicious bites of mixed chocolates and not forgetting the presence of vanilla flavour as well - wow! Pierre and Little One couldn't stop eating them. In fact, they are fighting over who gets the biggest first. My friends said it is as good as Famous Amos cookies and that I should bake more and sell them from home.

Before this, I never quite succeeded in making chocolate chip cookies but this time around, they came out beautifully and delicious. I'm so happy.

Notes

The baking time depends on how hot is your oven. For mine, I discovered that my oven browns them pretty fast and I only baked them for 12 to 13 minutes. The more batches I made, the hotter my oven turns so either I lower my oven temperature or shorten the baking time.

As for the combination, leave it all dark or white chocolates if you like. Try different nuts or add raisins.

Yesterday afternoon I learned from my cousin that my 2^nd auntie had been admitted to the hospital in serious condition. I was quite saddened by the news and was hoping and praying that she would somehow pull through this for I looked forward to seeing her again during next Chinese New Year and also for my Little One to get to know her. Today I was shocked to learn that she has passed away at 3am this morning at age 77. Although I did not know my aunt very well, I have very fond memories of her. As she aged, she looked like a carbon copy of my grandmother. I'm so glad I got to see her during last Chinese New Year and was able to introduce to her my daughter. You see, I hadn't been back in Singapore for CNY since 2001 as all the CNY dates falls during school term. I shall miss visiting her next year.

Back to the kitchen. I had 3 very ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter for some time and decided to turn them into either cakes or muffins till I came across this delicious recipe from fellow blogger Little Corner of Mine yesterday who got the original recipe from Amanda. I have modified the version slightly to add some spices and increase the quanity. Steaming pastries, rather than baking them in a oven, is somewhat uncommon, but it's regularly done in Asia.

Steam Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe medium-size bananas (mashed)
• 3 eggs
• 150 g sugar (white or brown or a mixed of both)
• 225 g self raising flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder (approx.)
• 112 ml vegetable oil like sunflower or canola
• 2 dashes cinnamon and nutmeg powder
• a bit of vanilla essence

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Mix in the mashed banana until it is combined.
4. Gently fold in the sifted flour mixture and then fold in the oil until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the muffin pan lined with muffin cups.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
7. Serve it warm or room temperature.

The Verdict

It is truly delicious - flavourful, dense yet light, soft, fluffy and moist. The muffins look very much like Chinese steam cake or kueh but who cares if it doesn't look as good as the baked ones ! It's the taste that matters the most, right.

Frankly I love both versions - be it steamed or baked. But I have to say that the steamed version does taste slightly different than those baked ones. In what sense, I don't know.

Store the rest of the muffins in the fridge and heat them in a steamer for a couple of minutes before serving.

Notes

Some readers in Amanda's blog have replaced oil with butter and they said the results are equally delicious. But probably not as healty.

I have been sadly neglecting this blog for a month - besides being so caught up with so many things on the domestic front, my passion for cooking and baking suddenly left me - how did that happened ??? Could it be the summer heat that zapped it out of me? I just know that lately I just don't feel inspired to cook or bake anything. Sad isn't it, considering the fact that it is this passion that inspired me to start 'The Cooking Ninja'.

This blog was created right after I finished my exams of my last year at the university to be exact - about a year ago. Finally I had time to write about my passion for cooking. Back then, Little One had just turned 1 and was taking her first wobbly steps - so no worries, I still had plenty of time to cook, clean the house and blog. Boy, did I blog a lot more back then.

I think there must be something magical about the age 1 because a week or so after she turned 1, her wobbly steps became firmed and she walked her first steady '5 steps' without any aid at all on the sandy playground. What a sight and joy for both of us... we felt like some proud peacocks at that moment. Soon those 5 steps became 10 and more, then she was all over the place: climbing here and there, opening this and that. The whole house became a treasure island for her especially my nightstand drawers - she loved raiding it. Then the walking gave way to running ... it was so cute to watch her run - see her diaper backside swaying left and right like a little duckling.

These days, she is a real demanding little person. She does not like it whenever she sees me on the computer. She would either climb all over me like on my shoulder, or sit on my lap right in front of my laptop (like what she is doing right now ) or pull my hand away so that I'm left only with 1 hand to type or surf. She demands a lot of my time and attention as she grows older which leaves me so little time to do any surfing or posting - my last post took me more than 10 days to publish. *sigh* With just 1 kid, I find it hard to keep my house clean and in order. I do not know how some mothers with more than 1 kid manage to find time to blog everyday and sometimes have a full time work on top of it. I truly admire their ability to do that. Maybe I'm just lousy in my time management or maybe it is just the big 'P' word. Do you know what does this big 'P' stands for?

Enough of my rumblings. Today I'm going to share with you another very simple yet delicious recipe that I have came up with after eating a similar one at a French restaurant. This will also be my entry for the Pie in My Eye Adventure hosted by Joelen's Culinary Adventures.

Crispy Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 1 flaky or puff pastry
• 3 apples (cored and thinly sliced)
• sugar syrup
• sugar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 220°C (425°F - gas mark 7).
2. Lay out the flaky pastry on the baking sheet on a flat baking tray. Fork all over the pastry surface.
3. Boil a bit of water in a pot and stir in some sugar to make a syrup.
4. Using a your finger or a brush, spread the syrup all over the surface of the pastry.
5. Line the thinly sliced apples starting on the outside towards the inside center of the pie.
6. Sprinkle some sugar, cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg on top of the apple slices
7. Spread small slices or bits of butter all over the pie.
8. Bake it for about 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Serve it warm, maybe with a bit of vanilla ice cream.

The Verdict

I love it - almost like the one we had in the restaurant. Crispy or flaky, buttery, delicious taste of the apples (not overwhelming) and not too sweet. It's nice to get a successful experiment sometimes, given all the ones that fail

The next time I'll do it, I'm going to sprinkle some dry rasins and almonds flakes before putting the butter bits all over the pie. Should be interesting.

Notes

Some put a layer of home-made apple sauce (cooking diced apples with sugar and cinnamon until it is all melted) on top of the pastry before laying the apple slices while others brush a light coat of apricot jam (stir some jam with a bit of water over low heat till it becomes a syrup) on top of the pie just before serving.

It has been quite a while since we have a weekend alone sans Little One. So when my parents-in-law offered to look after her, we took it up without any hesitation. Pierre was already planning which restaurants to check out, what to do in Paris etc while I was torn between being happy to have some couplehood time alone at last and feeling like I have abandoned my little girl behind and worried about this and that (like a typical mother ). Pierre kept reassuring me that she would be fine and I should relax and enjoy this rare 'us' time alone but I was too stressed up. Needlessly to say, I hadn't slept well on the first night as I was too worried about how Little One was adapting with her grandparents and whether she was crying for us or not etc. Upon my insistence, Pierre called home the next day to check on her and was told that she passed a wonderful day out with her grandparents and enjoyed herself thoroughly and that she didn't asked for us once (to my surprise and a bit of a disappointment - Am I being selfish to want her to miss us just a little bit?). After the phone call, I thought 'tonight I can have a good night sleep.' ha! What a joke that was... We were woken up by the lady living upstairs at 4 am. As you know, many apartment in Paris have thin walls and floors so one can literally hear the neighbour next door or upstairs.

Anyway when Little One joined us finally a few days later, she didn't seems to miss us at all... I guess my little girl is growing up and no longer my little baby. We brought her sightseeing Paris and checking out the restaurants... she loves wraps and club sandwiches just as chinese dim sum. The 3,5 hour train ride home went uneventful, thank goodness. We were pretty worried that she might get bored and start to run around etc. At the end of the train ride, she made friend with a Maltese which growled at her in the beginning and she wasn't the least afraid of him. She insisted on patting and caressing him despite his hissing. *eyes rolling upwards* Then she decided to wander off from us even though I told her to stay put ... she walked away confidently waving and saying 'au revoir mommy' ... then started bawling her eyes out when a burly mustachio man smiled at her from his seat. So much for her little adventure.

Today I would like to share with you a delicious muffin recipe that I made before I left for Paris. I call it Banana Muffin Surprise because you never know what you gonna get. Hope you like it.

Banana Muffin Surprise

Ingredients

• 75 g butter (melted)
• 250 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 115 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large ripe bananas or 3 medium size bananas (almost)
• 2 medium eggs
• 125 ml milk
• some nutella
• some chopped dark chocolates
• some chopped walnuts
• some chopped white chocolates
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F - Gas 5).
2. Melt the butter and allow to cool.
3. Mash the bananas well.
4. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Add caster sugar and stir though.
5. Beat the eggs with the fork for a minute before adding vanilla extract, melted butter and milk. Then add the mashed banana and stir till combined.
6. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the banana-egg mixture, stirring roughly with a fork until it is a lumpy paste. Do not over-mix.
7. Place the paper cups into the moulds, or grease the moulds well with butter.
8. Fill some of the cups with the banana mixture till almost full cup while filling a few half way to the cup, drop a few chocolate chips or nuts and cover it with the mixture until almost full. As for the nutella, fill a few cups 3/4 way up and drop a teaspoon of nutella into the centre of it and it will sink down naturally.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the muffins come away from the side of the pan when touched.
10. Rest the muffin tray on a wire rack for five minutes then remove the muffins and leave on the rack for another five minutes before serving.

The Verdict

These muffins are very flavourful, light, moist and super delicious. Everyone started checking out the muffins at microscopic range after I told them that each muffin contains different stuff inside it. ... of course everyone is battling over each other to get either the dark chocolates or nutella ones ... I tell you I have a bunch of chocoholics in my house.

My mother-in-law who was watching her lines couldn't help but ate 2 of them. My father-in-law and Pierre were happily chomping down the muffins and see who gets the most chocolate ones out of the batch.

I thought we wouldn't be able to finish all of them and that I would have to freeze some of them. To my great surprise, they were so good that only 3 were left at the end of tea time.

I have made these again just last week and I have beaten all the wet ingredients together at one go with a fork - with this method, muffins are more compact but still moist, flavourful and delicious.

Notes

In all my baking, I use only salted butter (and I usually skip the salt part in the recipe). And I used 1½ tsp baking powder instead as I didn't have any bicarbonate of soda in my cupboard.

Happy Birthday Little One !

Today we celebrated Little One's special day ... her big '2' ... my little baby is now a big girl. Hehehe ... she is still a little bit too young to understand what is a birthday all about but I think she is getting the idea more or less : delicious cake, blow-out candles and tearing those beautiful wrappers with surprises inside.

Her grand-mère dressed our little princess in her beautiful little red dress bought by her ma ma (maternal grandma) with cute little pigtails while we were busy putting up the decorations and getting everything ready before her grand entrance. However she caught us in the act. She was more attracted to the balloons on the ceiling than all the deco that we have put up for her like rose petals (compliments from our garden) sprinkled all over the table and the colourful garlands hanging from the wall to the ceiling. Then she saw those lovely petals and climbed on top of the table and started dancing. Looks like a star is born. This year she is quite spoiled on her birthday: a swing, a sandbox, 4 DVDs (all her favourite characters), a set of kitchen utensils (toy version of course), a set of mini cars (she loves cars like her dad), aquadoodle, a dress, a CD player and a Lego set. Oh... she went to visit her great great aunt this afternoon and they celebrated her birthday there again... she gets to eat more cakes and got another present. Shh... more presents are on the way from Singapore - she doesn't know that yet.

Originally I wanted to make a chocolate Teddy bear cake for her on her birthday but I had to scrap that plan as I have never done anything like this before and it was not the right the time to do an experiment. In the end, I made a simple chocolate cake and decorated it the best I can.

The chocolate cake recipe that I'm sharing with you today is one that I found on the Internet a few years back and it has since been a favourite in our family. For this special day, I made this cake with chocolate icing.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ salt
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder (non sweetened)
• ¾ cup of milk
• 113g butter (melted)
• ¾ cup flour

Chocolate Icing

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp butter (softened)
• 2 or 3 squares dark chocolate (made for dessert)
• ¼ cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 175°C (350°C - gas mark 4) and butter a round 20 cm diameter cake pan.
2. In a big bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
4. Add in the cocoa slowly.
5. Then the milk and the cooled down melted butter.
6. Stir in the flour.
7. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes. When inserted into the cake, the toothpick should not come out completely clean. The cake is supposed to be a bit moist.
8. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack to cool completely.
9. Pour or spread the cooled chocolate icing on the cake and decorate it as the way you wanted it. Refrigerate it for a while so that the icing gets set nicely.

Chocolate Icing

1. Sift the icing sugar, cocoa powder and the dark chocolate pieces into a bowl.
2. Add butter and hot water and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. If the chocolate pieces do not melt, microwave them for a few seconds.
4. Let it cool to the consistency you want and then spread it on the cake.

Conclusion

No matter how many times I bake this chocolate cake, it always comes out perfect and delicious. However this is the first time I decided to put icing on it. Initially I thought a chocolate icing with a moist chocolate cake would be a bit too much... mais non... it's luscious - rich, moist and filling. And it wasn't too sweet either. Little One couldn't wait and was already helping herself with a teaspoon on the cake before we could even take a pic of the cake or even put the candle. While we were cutting the cake, she was busy scooping and eating the chocolate icing on the side. She loves it so much that she was tucking in her cake and at the same time scooping the icing off the cake. Everyone loved it.

Notes

Cake : If you bake it on a 9" round cake pan, bake it at the same temperature but the cake will be done about 30 to 35 minutes. The cake is delicious on its own without icing. Alternatively you can serve the plain chocolate cake with crème anglaise (light custard sauce) or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Chocolate Icing : The original icing recipe was a bit too liquid to my taste so I added a few dark chocolate tablets to get a thicker consistency. I have modified the above recipe accordingly. I have also used less icing sugar than what was stated above. I poured the icing on the cake when it had thickened to be just fluid enough.

Do you know that Mother's Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world? For example, Greece celebrates it on the 2^nd February while Thailand celebrates it on the 12^th August and Indonesia on 22^nd December. I have always thought everyone everywhere celebrates Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday of May (11 May 2008) like in Singapore. To my surprise, in France, Mother's Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of May. At first it was kinda strange for me to celebrate it 2 weeks later than Singapore but over the years I have gotten used to it.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day in France. The weather was a bit cloudy but that didn't stop us from doing a BBQ on our terrace. The honey marinated chicken thighs (that I have specially prepared for Little One) turned out beautifully and delicious but to my utmost disappointment, Little One wanted nothing to do with it. *sigh* Oh well, her loss, our gain. Next time, I'm going to BBQ chicken wings ...yummy.

For Mother's Day, Little One got me a nice Lafuma recliner (via her papa) that I wanted so much for the coming summer days. Pierre wanted to buy a cake for me but I said 'why waste money when I can bake one for us.' I decided to take this opportunity to do another experiment. This is what I made yesterday and is part of my contribution to this month's Sugar High Friday host by Helen of Tartelette :

Orange-Almond Cake

Ingredients

• 180 g self rising flour
• 100 g ground almonds
• 180 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 1 whole orange (peel grated)
• 80 ml orange juice
• 3 eggs (white and yolk separated)

Creamy Chocolate Icing

• 200 g butter (cut into cubes & softened)
• 150 g dark chocolate (melted)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4) and grease a round cake mold about 20 cm (diameter).
2. Separate the egg yolk and white.
3. Whip the butter and sugar in a big bowl until it is creamy and fluffy.
4. Add in the grated orange peel and egg yolk and beat till well mixed.
5. Add in the ground almonds and stir until combined.
6. Stir in the flour and orange juice on alternate turns until it is combined.
7. Whipped the egg whites till stiff peaks formed and delicately incorporate it into the mixture.
8. Bake it for about 50 minutes or until the wooden stick comes out clean.
9. Let it cool for about 10 minutes in the mold before turning it out on the wire rack.
10. Once the cake is of room temperature, delicately cut away the slightly crusty border and round edge.
11. Spread the chocolate icing all around the cake with the icing knife.
12. Cake is ready to be served.
13. The cake needs to be kept refrigerated because of the icing.

Creamy Chocolate Icing

1. Whipped the butter in a bowl with an electric beater.
2. Slowly add in the melted dark chocolate bit by bit until all is well mixed.
3. Refrigerate it for about 5 to 10 minutes before spreading it on the cake.

The Verdict

The cake itself is very aromatic - the delicious taste of orange and almond together. It is compact and just moist - not as dry as I thought it would turned out, and a bit crunchy when you hit on almonds. As for the icing, hmm ... not exactly to my taste - I find it a wee bit too creamy and buttery, however Pierre likes the contrast - slightly salty creamy icing with the sweetness of the cake. (salty because we always buy salted butter)

Ooops, I just realized that I didn't add the right quantity of dark chocolate in my icing. Perhaps that is why my icing tastes so creamy, buttery and salty.

Note

I wanted to whip up 3 egg whites but I was clumsy in separating the first one so I ended up with 2 white eggs instead for my above cake.

If you want a more moist cake, perhaps you can add a bit more juice and adjust the baking time.

Little One has made an amazing progress in her vocabulary during these past few weeks. She still can't make out a phrase but she just learnt how to say her name the other day at the park (well, not exactly accurate but her name is kinda difficult for her to pronounce at her age). She can understand both languages - in French and English. I'm still working on Chinese as I seldom speak to her in Mandarin, however I take the occasion to compensate that by reading Chinese story books to her. Hope that works too.

She has also learned to shout A table (literal translation 'at the table' meaning 'dinner is served') whenever a meal is ready. And when papa is still not there yet, she would shout 'papa, à table!' 'papa, à table' till papa sit at his place. hehehe She surprised us a month or two ago when she can associate which object around the house belongs to who - e.g. muffins- papa's, tool box - pépé (grandfather), which laptops belongs to who etc. She also has been playing tea party with her toys and feeding her teddies. Sometimes she would make a cup of tea (imaginary of course ) and serve it to each of us. Too cute for words. She also loves reading her books (well, mainly look at the pictures) and for bedtime, she will chose which books she wants us to read to her.

Oh ... she has a new favourite word besides gateau (cakes): 'cartoon'. Now that the weather is warm enough to set up her baby pool in the backyard, she keeps asking for piscine (swimming pool) even at night. Unfortunately she caught a chill. Thought it was just a normal runny nose and a slight fever which lasted for 4 days. Poor kiddo, her runny nose has caused her a right ear infection. With the medication, she is getting better however it is a real hide and seek when it's time for medicine - she would quickly either hide under the table or chair or behind the curtains and sometimes in the closet. Well, it is not always like this, sometimes she takes her medication bravely without resisting for she knows it to get rid of the 'little mouse' in her right ear.

Now back to food. It has been a while since I last baked something so I decided to try out this recipe that I have found in my cooking book but I did some modifications and tried two different methods of making it.

Orange-Coconut Cake

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 125 g butter (softened)
• 50 g dried schredded coconut
• 250 g sugar
• 180 g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp orange peel (grated)
• 250 ml milk

Coconut Icing

• 60 ml or more orange juice
• ½ tsp orange peel (grated)
• 90 g dried schredded coconut
• 140 g icing sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven at 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4) and prepare a greased round 20 cm diameter (approx) cake tin.

Method 1

1. Separate the egg white and egg yolk.
2. Beat the egg yolk, softened butter and sugar together in a big bowl till it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Stir in the grated orange peel and the shredded coconut and then add in the flour.
4. Pour in the milk and stir till combined.
5. Beat the egg white until stiff peaks formed. Fold it into the mixture till combined.
6. Bake it for about 60 minutes until the wooden stick comes out clean.
7. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack.
8. Once the cake is of room temperature, spread the coconut icing on the cake.

Method 2

1. Beat the eggs, butter and sugar in a big bowl till creamy and fluffy.
2. Add in the orange peel and grated coconut.
3. Stir in the flour and milk alternatively until combined.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes until the wooden stick comes out clean.
5. Follow step 7 & 8 in Method 1.

Coconut Icing

1. Mix the icing sugar and the grated coconut together in a bowl.
2. Add the grated orange peel and stir in the juice. (Add more juice if needed.)
3. Mix it to get a consistency but smooth enough to be able to spread it.

The Verdict

Method 1:

I find it to be light, moist and fluffy. The aroma of the orange, butter and coconut icing is a delicious combination. I was initially worried that the whole cake might turn out to be too sweet because of the icing but it tastes just nice - not overly sweet. I simply love it so did the rest of the family members.

Method 2:

The cake turned out to be light but dense and we can taste the bits of shredded coconut in the cake. It is equally delicious. Everyone likes both versions, however for me, I prefer the light and fluffy version above.

Notes

For method 1 : I would reduced the milk quantity a little bit.

To make your own self rising flour - for every 125 g of plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder. Then sift the flour several times.