surprise cupcake

I am a member of several groups in facebook.  Some are open groups and some are closed groups. 

One of the members of one of the closed groups in facebook uploaded a recipe for butter cupcake.  According to her, the recipe was obtained from a newspaper that was published before she was born.

With two Chickadees to take care of, I try to bake without the use of the electric mixer nowadays.  This is because I do my baking when Baby Chickadee is having her nap and I do not want to wake her up with the sound of the electric mixer.  However, I had a look at the butter cupcake recipe and I wanted to give it a try.

(The depression that you see above was due to the marshmallows)

So why have I named the cupcakes "surprise cupcake"?  This is because Princess Chickadee did the honours of filling the cupcake with ingredients and I gave her carte blanche to add whatever took her fancy.  As such, she added an assortment of ingredients such as raisins, M&Ms, marshmallows, cherries, etc.  You will not know what is in each cupcake because she filled the batter with ingredients at random. 

Can you make the cupcakes without the use of an electric mixer?  You can if you have a hand whisk. However, my experience is that for butter cakes and butter cupcakes, it would be preferable to use an electric mixer so that the batter will be very smooth and the cake will be very soft and moist.

We brought a batch of the cupcakes to PIL's home.  A few days later, MIL told me that FIL was very displeased with her because she offered the cupcakes to some visitors to their home the day after we went to PIL's place.  The visitors ate 2 cupcakes each on the spot and packed home 2 cupcakes each, leaving FIL with no second serving. *grin*

This is my modified version of the butter cupcake recipe.

INGREDIENTS

250g butter (softened)

210g castor sugar

5 eggs (room temperature)

225g self raising flour

filling of your choice - Princess Chickadee added marshmallows, M&Ms, raisins, cherries and cubed Laughing Cow cheese

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Line the muffin pan with paper cases.  Set aside.

3. Sift the self-raising flour in a bowl.  Set aside.

4. Whisk the butter in a bowl using an electric mixer for 5 minutes.

5. Add the sugar and whisk for 10 minutes.

6. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well with each addition.

7. Fold in the flour mixture in 3 portions, mixing well with each portion added.

8. Scoop the batter to cover 1/2 the base of the paper case, add the filling and top up with batter.

9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

cod fish and carrot porridge

Recently, I bought a Philips steamer cum blender.  I find it extremely useful.  The same kitchen equipment is used to steam your food and thereafter, blend it.  Perfect for making purees for babies, including the carrot puree that I used for this porridge.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup rice
2 cups stock
1 small piece of cod fillet
1/3 cup pureed carrots

METHOD

1. Wash the rice and soak for at least 30 minutes.

2. Cook the rice with the stock.

3. When the porridge is about done, add the fish and stir until the fish is smashed up.

4. When the porridge is done, stir in the pureed carrots before serving.

bread pudding

My cousin's wife posted in facebook a photograph of a bread and butter pudding baked by her.  Inspired, I decided to bake a bread pudding too.

The good thing about bread pudding is that you can use leftover bread that you have stored in the refrigerator.  Waste not, want not!

For this bread pudding, I baked a simple version using white sandwich bread and raisins.  Nearer to Christmas, I am thinking about baking a Christmas version using perhaps the Gardenia Fruit & Nut Loaf.

If you intend to serve the bread pudding to guests, you may want to make a pudding sauce to go with the bread pudding.  (You can find a recipe for pudding sauce in pudding sauce recipe)  For us, as the bread pudding was for own consumption, I did not make the pudding sauce.

INGREDIENTS

6 sliced white sandwich bread
2 tbsp butter (melted)
1/2 cup raisins
4 eggs (at room temperature)
2 cups low fat milk
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Grease and line a 9" square baking pan with baking paper.

3. Cut the bread into cubes and spread them out on the baking pan.

4. Drizzle the melted butter over the bread.

5. Sprinkle the raisins onto the bread.

6. Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, ground cinnamon and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl using a hand whisk.

7. Pour the wet mixture over the bread.

8. Use a fork to press down the bread until the bread is soaked with the wet mixture.

9. Bake for 45 minutes.

mango cake

When my Uncle SS was posted to Philippines a few years ago, he used to give us packets of dried mango from Philippines whenever he came back for a visit.

Uncle SS is back in Singapore but dried mangoes are easily available over here at the grocery stores as well.  In fact, I found mango flavouring at a specialty shop the other day.  I guess it is "all-things-mango" these days!

When this mango cake was baking in the oven, the lovely aroma of mango waffled throughout our entire apartment unit.  Yummy!

This is quite an easy recipe.  The only "hard work" you need to do is to cut the dried mangoes into small bite-sized pieces.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup self-raising flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
110g castor sugar
60g butter (softened)
1 egg (beaten)
1 tsp mango flavouring
80ml low fat milk
1/3 cup dried mango (cut into small pieces)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.  I use a silicon loaf pan that does not need to be lined with baking paper nor floured.

3. Sift the self-raising flour and ground cinnamon in a bowl.  Set aside.

4. Whisk the butter and castor sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

5. Add the beaten egg and mango flavouring.  Mix well.

6. Stir in the milk.

7. Add the dried mango and mix well.

8. Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula and stir until just blended.

9. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

10. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf pan comes out clean.

TIP

You can also bake this cake using an 8" round cake pan.  However, you will need to reduce the baking time to 25 to 30 minutes.  As always, do test with a skewer to see whether it comes out clean.

FURTHER TIP

All ovens have a "life" and "character" of their own.  You will need to get a "feel" of your own oven whenver you do baking.  As such, recipes are a guide but do be flexible to adapt according to the characteristics of your oven.  I recall that I once had a Moulinex oven that I used for about 10 years.  Towards the end of its life, the baking time kept getting longer and longer until it took me an hour to bake a cake whereas when the oven was newer, the baking time was only about 35 minutes.

The lighting in our dining room is not very good so you cannot really see the texture of the cake.  However, the cake was soft when I ate a slice.

Okay... one last photograph for your enjoyment.  Bon appetit!

Chocolatey Milo muffins

Princess Chickadee had her Christmas party at her enrichment class on 15 December 2012.  The week prior to that, I had selected muffins as our contribution to the party.  However, Baby Chickadee fell ill and I did not go to work on 13 and 14 December 2012.  As such, I was unable to buy any muffins for the Christmas party.

As such, I woke up earlier on 15 December 2012 to bake some muffins for Princess Chickadee to bring to her Christmas party.

I find that Milo is such a useful item to have in the larder.  Not only does it make a delicious drink, it also comes in handy in baking.

INGREDIENTS

375g self-raising flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup Milo
90g butter (softened)
220g castor sugar
90g vegetable oil
310ml low fat milk
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup Hersheys kisses

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Sift the self-raising flour, ground cinnamon and Milo in a bowl.  Set aside.

3. Cream the butter and castor sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

4. Add the oil and milk and mix well.

5. Stir in the Hersheys kisses.

6. Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula and stir until just blended.  Do not overmix.

7. Pour onto muffin pans that have been lined with muffin cases.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

TIP

I like to pour the muffin batter until almost full so that the muffin will rise above the muffin case.

simple baby porridge

With Baby Chickadee having turned 6 months of age, I am reliving the days of weaning foods.  It is quite a bit of a challenge trying to remember how to cook food for little ones who do not have any teeth yet.

After some trial and error, I have managed to cook a pot of simple baby porridge.  I used homemade stock comprising anchovies, carrots, potatoes, wolfberries and pork.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup uncooked rice - I used a mixture of white and brown rice

1 small piece of pork - let the butcher know that you want the pork to "boil soup"

3 cups homemade stock

METHOD

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes.

2. Add the rice, pork and stock to the rice/porridge cooker.

3. Select "baby porridge" on the cooker.  Leave to cook.

4. When the porridge has cooked, remove the pork, stir the porridge thoroughly and serve warm.

cod fish porridge

Here is another easy recipe for weaning your baby.  Baby Chickadee just turned 6 months of age earlier this month and she enjoyed this porridge tremendously.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup rice
2 cups stock
1 small piece of pork (whole)
1/2 carrot (whole)
1 small piece of cod fillet (cut into small pieces)

METHOD

1. Wash the rice and soak for at least 30 minutes.

2. Place the rice, stock, pork and carrot into a rice cooker.  Select "baby porridge" function.

3. When the porridge is about done, stir in the fish.

4. When the porridge is done, discard the pork.  Take out the carrot and smash it on a plate with a fork before transferring the carrot back to the rice cooker.

5. Stir the porridge thoroughly before serving.

TIP

1. I use homemade stock - I do not add salt or seasoning when I cook the stock.

2. Let the fishmonger know that you are buying the fish to cook porridge for babies.  The fishmonger will generally help you to remove all the bones but do check one more time before you add the fish to the porridge.

butter bread

There's something about the smell of butter bread baking in the oven that makes one can't wait for the bread to be baked.

This is a simple recipe and yet, the bread rises so well, as you can see from the photographs.  I normally hesitate to bake bread that uses eggs in the recipe as often, the bread becomes dense but I love this loaf!

INGREDIENTS

50 ml low fat milk
50g butter (softened)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
3 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp salt
250g bread flour
2 tsp instant yeast

METHOD

1. Ad all the ingredients to the bucket of the breadmaker in the order in which the ingredients appear in the list above.

2. Place the bucket in the breadmaker and set to dough function.  Start the breadmaker.

3. When the dough is ready, turn the dough onto a floured board.

4. Using floured hands, knead the dough a few times.

5. Place the dough in a loaf pan that has been greased and lined with baking paper.

6. Spread out the dough using your hands.

7. Cover the loaf pan with a dry cloth and leave for 1 hour to rise further.

8. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes.

orange museli muffins

I was very pleased to find one large orange when I was rummaging through our refrigerator.  Perfect for making muffins!  I would have liked to bake an orange pound cake but I did not have any cake flour at home.

I have several graters at home.  I do not know how I ended up with so many but any one of them would suffice to grate the orange peel to obtain orange zest.

Do excuse the poor lighting in my dining room.  The actual muffins do not look as anaemic as the photographs suggest.

For a little oomph, I added some mixed museli (ie. museli with raisins, etc) to the muffin batter.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup castor sugar
zest of 1 large orange
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup butter (melted)
2 eggs
1/2 cup mixed museli

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Line the muffin pans with paper cases.  Set aside.

3. Sift the self-raising flour and salt in a bowl.  Add the sugar and orange zest and mix well.

4. Stir in the orange juice, melted butter, eggs and mixed museli until just blended.  Do not overstir.

5. Pour the batter into the muffin cases until almost full.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the muffins come out clean.

7. Let the muffins cool thoroughly on a wire rack before storing.