Honey Oat Bread

I haven't baked any bread for quite some time, well it also has been a while since my last post on food obviously. I was sick a week after the birthday party, my taste bud had gone haywire, I wasn't in the mood of baking anything as my sense of smell was also affected. If you can't taste and you can't smell the food, so what's the point, right?

So, last night, I felt like I need to start gaining back my momentum in baking. Bread making seems comforting and easier so I Googled a good Honey Oat recipe, I found one from Bakingdom.com. It was delicious... just plain honey oat bread with butter...

 Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp salted butter, softened

3 cups of bread flour

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

3/4 cup rolled oat or instant oat - (i used 1/2 cup rolled oat and 1/4 cup oat bran)

2 tbsp warm honey
2 tbsp rolled or instant oat

Let's roll!:

1. Place milk, water, honey, butter, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Put the oat in the ingredient dispenser and set for Dough/Knead and press Start.
2. If using hand, follow Bakingdom's link as above, cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
3. When cycle finishes, gently deflate the dough and turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead, add more flour if needed. 
4. With floured hands, knead it for 2 minutes and roll it into a log shape. Place the dough into on a lightly greased or parchment-lined loaf pan, cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap ir clean kitchen towel, and let rise for about an hour.
5. About 15 minutes or so before baking, preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Put 2 cups of water in an empty loaf pan, place it at the bottom rack of the oven and bring it to boil. 
6. Brush the dough with warm honey and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of oat.
7. Bake it for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden. Remove it from the oven.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing it with a serrated knife.

 As no preservatives were used in this bread, it is best to be consumed within 3 days max.

By the way, Iron Man 3 starts today...tried to book a ticket at my favorite cinema, but all the good seats are fully booked until 1st May.. :(

source: Google

My April Baby

I was so sick last week and couldn't post this on her birthday but since we are still in the month of April...here it goes!

4S1N Red Velvet Birthday Cake

ooh! ooh!..the cheese is melting..

The birthday cake was adapted from Handle The Heat's version of Red Velvet, it was one easy recipe because you don't have to use the stand mixer to make the batter, just used balloon whisk, spatula and a mixing bowl. It was a little bit different from other versions that I have tried where this recipe calls for one cup of espresso or coffee in it. You can hardly notice the coffee taste but the color was great...deep red-marooned-like kind of color. I must say...the color was definitely sexy :)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour ( I used the same amount of cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons red gel food coloring, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup of prepared plain hot coffee ( I dissolved 2 tbsp instant coffee in a 1/2 cup hot water)

red themed party

Let's make the velvet:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and vegetable oil. Add in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and food coloring. Whisk in the vinegar and coffee. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until completely incorporated. The batter will be thin.
5. Divide the batter equally between the two prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Place the cake pans on cooling racks. When the pans are cool enough to touch, run a thin knife around the edges of the pans to loosen the cakes. Invert onto the cooling racks. Let cool completely. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup whipping cream
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until thick and fluffy. Do not over beat. Add in the cream cheese and the confectioners’ sugar and beat until smooth.

To assemble:

Lay one cake layer flat side-up on a cake plate. Tuck in strips of baking paper under the cake edges to keep the plate clean.

Use about 1 cup of frosting to fill the bottom cake layer then top with the other cake layer, flat side-up. Use the rest of the frosting to ice the whole cake. Serve.

what was left at the end of the day..

Oreo Cheese Cupcakes

This recipe adapted from Handle The Heat is very easy and suitable for kids party. S & M help me during the process and had so much fun time with it, plus some rewarding Oreo goes into their mouths.

Ingredients

30 pcs whole Oreo (more for decorations)
500g cream cheese
1 cup (250g) sour cream
2 large eggs
1/2 plus 2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Say O' Cheese!!!

1. Preheat oven to 130 degree Celsius
2. Line the paper cups in a muffin pan and put one Oreo biscuits at the bottom of each paper cup.
3. In a food processor or a stand mixer, combine cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon and blitz or beat until smooth.
4. Spoon the batter into each cup, filling almost to the top of the cup. Decorate with Oreo crumbles or break the biscuits into small pieces and put it on the surface of the cake.
5. Bake for 20 minutes
6. Cool for about an hour at room temperature before chilling them overnight in the refrigerator.

Happy Weekend

My first 3 kids N, S and M were born end of March and mid April hence they will always have to celebrate their birthday together as a trio. So yesterday, we had a small family gathering and celebrate their birthday together with my grandniece and brother in law. My brother in law shares the same birthday with S (errr...but excuse me...mind a huge gap between their birthday year!). 

As N has grown into a teenager stage, he wasn't as much enthusiastic as his two sisters. S & M decorated the house with balloons and distributed the party packs to their cousins and grand cousins. For kids, a birthday party doesn't mean we have to do it like very very big or grand, they will be happy enough seeing a small birthday cake, balloons and some chicken wings or nuggets.

Waiting Kak Afa with the balloons

I made a red velvet birthday cake and Oreo cheese cupcakes for desserts. Recipe follows. Thanks to Kak L for the roti jala, akak, my nephew & nieces for the lemang & rendang, tortilla, fried chicken,  nuggets, cendol and fruits.

Don't really care, busy torturing the fish

Thanks for families in N9 & KV for coming. See you in 2 weeks ..or 3...