Lemon Cupcake With Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Calling all lemon lovers !

I made some adjustments to the cupcakes that I did for Jeri's wedding & turn them into lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream frosting. Instead of swirling the the frosting, I tried it with another way of piping & I'm pleased with the results. The girls thought these were cool too !

Butter Cake With Lemon Butter Icing

C had these 2 cakes baked for her mum's birthday on Friday. Her mum is not well & is in the hospital. Her birthday celebration went on as both her children & grandchildren wanted to cheer her up. I'm sure she'll be so happy & cheery with all the kind thoughts from her family. This is her favourite butter cake with lemon butter icing, from her children.



This is a chocolate cake, from all the grandchildren

Sports Day

It was my girls' sports day on Friday.

On Thursday night, there was quite a heavy rain & on Friday morning, it was still drizzling.
Initially I wasn't pinning high hopes on the sports day. Somehow the events managed to go on even when still drizzling when certain events were going on.
Guess what ? On such a cool day, I got so tanned & close to sun-burnt after standing under the cool clear sky at 10.30am watching both my girls doing their long-jump & bean bag throw (the equivalent of javelin) !

I love sports day ever since I started Primary education at 7 years old. I had been an athlete, actually more of a sprinter & had even represented my school to take part in a nationwide competition. Those people were so good, it was then that I realised that I'm not the best yet, I couldn't even get into the finals ! Running has indeed given me lots of childhood memories, I think those medals that I've won in schools are still in my mum's cupboard in Singapore (most of them were golds, hahaha).

So I get excited every year during my girls' sports day. CJ has my genes, she's active & good in sports especially running but like me she's terrified of water & can't really swim yet. I only learn to swim at 12 years old & still afraid of the deep pool ! So naturally I'm confident in her. Well, I was disappointed when her teacher didn't put her in the 100m run (that was my best), instead she was in the 200m, I think quite tough for a 8 year old kid. Nevertheless, she did it ! She got the silver & I'm happy. She didn't get nay medal for the long jump & bean bag throw event but got a gold for the relay event.

As for JF, she's still a little girl in my eyes. I've never thought she'll win any medal in sports as she's so petite ! I was so very wrong this year. When she was in the 25m run, I was so surprised when I saw her 'sprinting' from the starting point, right running style, that swing & steps ! I was like OMG where did she learn that from ?? She really shocked me when she came in 2nd & so close to the winner. I must say I was so proud of her. She went on to get another silver for 50m run, a bronze for bean bag throw (must be the bread & butter from breakfast that gave her the energy) & a gold for relay.

I was shouting & screaming whrn my girls were running. It was the excitement I guess & really reminded me of myself when I was on the track years ago............

We were all exhausted after the event finished at noon time. I had a few friends coming over for dinner so after putting the girls to nap, I continued the second part of the celebration in the kitchen.

Donald Duck Cake

This cake is baked for Caiden's 1st birthday celebration . It is a butter walnut cake frosted with buttercream. Grandma has requested for a Donald Duck drawing on the cake, little Caiden must be a great fan of Donald !

I've Been Tagged !

I've been tagged by Rei of All That Matters to state 7 facts about myself. It's been a week & I'm still thinking about it. Oh My, I've known me, myself & I ever since I came into this world & probably know myself too well that I can't even think of 7 facts about me !! So I finally I managed to come out with the following :


1. I love squid ever since I was a child. Whenever I see squid/calamari on a menu I'm bound to order it. Some restaurants use frozen squid which tend to be rubbery in texture, I'm still happy to chew on it, even though hubby thinks it's horrible.

2. I must have my cup of black coffee in the morning, or else my day will be hard to get by & in the afternoon I'll rely on a can of Coke Light. I know this is not healthy but regular Coke is high on calories & I need the caffeine !

3. I must have my 8hr of sleep each day, nothing less & I sleep well because I start my work early in the morning about 6am all the way till evening, so by end of the day, I'll be drop dead tired !

4. I've got gastric problems so my mealtimes are a routine every day, 6.30am, 12pm, 6pm. Anything later, the problem comes. If there's any dinner appointment, I'll make sure I stuff my tummy with some food before that. I can never take wombok, it makes me or rather my tummy sick !

5. Ever since I got hooked to baking, I can't stop & still loving every moment of it. I guess it's the recognition I get from my customers. If I'm not baking for people, I'll be whipping up goodies for hubby & the girls !

6. I have a very bad habit which I still can't kick until today. When I'm nervous, bored, lack of confidence, I bite my nails !

7. I'm an observant person. I make it a point to listen to what people say, about their likes/dislikes & I remember them. Oh I remember birthdays & passwords really well !



I would like to pass this tag to the following fellow bloggers.

1. A Daily Obsession
2. Cherry on A Cake
3. The Drool Team
4. Mrs Kwok
5. Ling's Passion
6. Daily Affairs
7. Baking Fiend

Here are the rules for tagging:
Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog.
Give seven facts about yourself.
Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

1122

Chocolate Cake

Strawberry Shortcake

Cotton Cheesecake

Mango Cake

Blueberry Cake

Durian Cake

Chocolate Dark Cherry Cake


1122, November 22, is it an auspicious day today ??

When I flip through the newspaper this morning, there were quite a number of wedding announcements. On my side, a total of lucky seven celebrates his/her birthday today, what a coincidence !!

Strawberry Strawberry

Strawberry Shortcake


Strawberry Swissroll


The strawberries at Th this week are surprisingly rather juicy & some even sweet, the colour a bright red hue, as compared to what I got for the past few weeks, still very under-ripe & tart !

After having the strawberry shortcake for her daughter's birthday, Jill ordered another one today, this time it's for her sister-in-law.

Another friend who loves strawberry ordered a strawberry swissroll. She loves cakes but couldn't finish a whole cake, so every time she has a craving for it, she'll order a swissroll, different flavour each time.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

I always feel lazy at the end of the year due to the cool weather.

But I can't be lazing around the whole day doing nothing. Besides my usual baking schedule, I still spend time baking for ourselves.
But the past week, I've been making double batch of bread to last us for 2 days since I'm left with little time. Yesterday, my buns that were supposed to be for 2 days were all gone so I've to look for a simple recipe for today's breakfast. I settled on chiffon cake, a black sesame version, which does not require long hours.

Ingredients :

85g Flour
8g Cornflour
5g Baking powder
20g Sugar
60g Canola Oil
60g Milk
18g Ground black sesame
5g Roasted black sesame seeds (optional)
5 Egg yolks


5 Egg whites
95g Sugar
Pinch cream of tartar

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornflour, baking powder, sugar, canola oil, milk, ground sesame, sesame seeds (if using) & egg yolks. Stir until smooth & set aside.

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar till soft peaks form, add sugar gradually, beat until firm & glossy.
Fold half the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it. Fold the egg yolk mixture back to the egg white mixture until well combined. Pour batter into a 22 cm ungreased tube pan, bake in preheated oven of 160C for 45 mins, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Once the cake is done, invert the pan & let the cake cool. Run a spatula along the side of the pan to loosen the cake once it is cool.

* I've only used 4 eggs this time as I do not want a very tall cake. The baking time will be reduced by about 5 mins.

Bob the Builder Cake

Bob the Builder, can you fix it ? Bob the Builder, yes we can.

Yes, We did it ! This vanilla cake is for Zhe Yuan's 3rd birthday.

I'm a slow but tidy worker, it took me more than 1hr playing with my colouring, trying to get the right shade for every part of Bob, at least as close as possible. CJ noticed that instead of grey I've coloured Bob's tools red, what a pair of sharp eyes she has, can't fool a kid nowadays !!

B has given me a Bob's figurine but I did not place it on top of the cake, in case it topple while transporting so I've asked her to place it on the cake when it's time to cut it.

Hope little Zhe Yuan likes my Bob the Builder cake.

Aloe Vera Sweet Soup

It's been a long time since I made some Chinese sweet soup.

I was doing my weekly marketing yesterday & came across some aloe vera blades at one of the stalls. A sweet soup idea came to my mind right away & without hesitating I bought 2 large blades.

Something I learnt from previous experience, never use a wooden chopping board to cut aloe vera. The green sap will leave a deep yellowish stain on the chopping board & it seems to be permanent there. I mind the stains on my chopping board so I ended up buying a new one. So now each time I have to cut a blade of aloe vera, I'll use a tempered glass chopping board for easier clean up. And, oh yes, wear a pair of disposable gloves too.
Peel the aloe vera & wash the green away until it's no longer sticky. Cut the gel into cubes & set aside for making the sweet soup.

Ingredients :

2 Blades aloe vera, cleaned & cut into cubes
10 Pandan leaves, cleaned & tied into a knot
20 Dried red dates
2 Heads dried snow fungus
1/2 Cup dried longan
Rock sugar to taste

Soak both red dates & dried longan in hot water for 5 mins. Rinse & drain. Soak the snow fungus in a seperate bowl until they are well plumped up, tear them into small pcs & discard the harder yellow 'core', rinse several times under running water until they are clean.
Place 3L of water into a large pot, add pandan leaves, snow fungus, red dates & dried longan into it. Bring to boil, turn down heat & let it simmer for about 1hr. Discard pandan leaves, add rock sugar accordingly to taste. Turn off heat & add the aloe vera cubes into the soup, serve.

A Sweet Chocolate Cake !

A sweet & ladylike cake for a girls' night out !

This is my usual chocolate cake. It is covered with some piped decoration using pink buttercream & adorned with little flowers.

Ultraman Cake

Finally, a boyish cake for 7 year old Alvin. His mum has requested one with Ultraman face on it. This is a chocolate cake, still filled with chocolate fudge but frosted with whipped dairy cream, with a tinge of orange juice & rind, a favourite with Alvin's family !

Cempedak Muffins

I have a sudden craving for cempedak on Tuesday so was driving around KK looking for it.
I started with Tun Fuad Park after my morning run then off to Foh Sang, no luck with either place & I was told that cempedak is not in season now. I didn't give up & moved on to the Central KK Market & guess what ? I saw a lady unpacking a huge baket full of cempedak.
I chose the smallest one which weighed 2kg, paid her & happily went home.
I didn't tell hubby that I bought a cempedak so when he came home for lunch on Tuesday afternoon, he was asking me about the strong smell in the kitchen. That goes to show that I've not buy any cempedak for a long long time !

To avoid the sticky white sap on my hands, I got Tina to cut the cempedak & removed the seeds. Well, the cempedak that I got was the light yellow type, nothing compared to the gorgeous deep orange type that Terri had !

I always make my cempedak into muffins instead of loaf cake as I like having coffee with little cakes in pretty cases. This recipe was originally a durian butter cake but I've made some changes to make it into cempedak muffins.

This recipe yields 15 standard muffins
Ingredients :

180g butter
120g Caster sugar *
4 Eggs, seperated
150g Pureed cempedak flesh
50g Cempedak flesh, roughly chopped *
180g Self-raising flour
1/2 Tsp Baking powder *
2 Tbsp Milk *

Line muffin tray with paper cases & set aside. Cream butter & caster sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cempedak & beat until well blended. Fold in flour & stir in milk. Whisk egg whites in a seperate bowl until stiff. Fold into egg yolk mixture until well combined. Fill each paper lined muffin hole to 3/4 full, bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 22-25 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. I love the aroma of freshly baked cempedak muffins, couldn't resist it, popped one into my mouth shortly after they were out of the oven !

* The original recipe calls for 150g but I've reduced it to 120g. I'll always reduce the sugar content of a recipe by 20% when I bake. I've added extra 50g of roughly chopped cempedak for the bite in the muffin because you get only the smell after pureeing them. Be sure to scrap the pureed cempedak from the beater of the mixer as they get stuck to it due to the stringy nature.
I've also added 1/2 tsp of baking powder to the flour mixture for the muffins to be fluffier. From previous experiences of baking these muffins, I find that 2 Tbsp of milk is not sufficient, so I've added I think another 1-2 Tbsp of it, I didn't measure juz add until the consistency is right.

Please bear with me for the 'lousy' pics that I took as I'm not a good photographer !

Meatballs With Tomato Sauce

Hubby has been down with flu, cough & throat infection for the past week so our meals were either congee or soups for dinner. Most days this week, lunch were takeaways because I was busy running errands & left with no time to cook.

So today, I decided to cook hubby some meat, think he must be really deprived of it !

As usual, rummaging through my deep freezer I found some minced beef & containers of home-made tomato sauce, immediately meatballs were on my mind !
These are so easy to make & they freeze well, so I'll usually make a batch & freeze for future use, especially for the girls' lunchboxes.

I love smoky flavour in my meat dishes, especially smoked duck, grilled chicken wings or meatballs. Wright's liquid smoke seasoning is a must for me each time I make meatballs.

My meatball recipe :

700g Minced beef
1/2 Cup breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Barbecue sauce
1 Egg
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Tsp each of dried basil & oregano
1 Tsp liquid smoke (if using)
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl until they are well combined. Roll into ping pong ball size & lay them in a single layer on a foil-lined baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for 25 mins or until well-browned. Serve the meatballs with home-made tomato sauce

* I only have 700g of minced beef in my freezer this time. This portion yields 25 meatballs.
I used to fry my meatballs but I always ended up smelling greasy from top to toe as if I've just stepped out of a burger joint's kitchen. So I now I prefer to bake my meatballs instead of frying them.

Arief's 1st Birthday

It's Arief's 1st birthday today & mummy Jill ordered a chocolate cake for his birthday celebration this morning. Poor little Arief was sick but the celebration continued with the adults.

Arief's 5 year-old sister, Noreen's birthday was over but she wanted a cake too, specifically a strawberry cake with the cute Strawberry Shortcake on it, so Jill had me baked 2 cakes for them. The order only came in Friday afternoon & my poor 'designer' is sick too, down with flu & throat infection. I was like OMG, what am I going do now ??

I left Arief's chocolate cake simple, just garnished with some alphabet & number gummies. As for Noreen's cake, it's a vanilla sponge filled with whipped dairy cream & fresh strawberry slices, frosted with more whipped dairy cream. As the cake is only 8 " in diameter, the Strawberry Shortcake face can't be drawn too big. The smaller the cake is, the harder it is for me to draw on it. No matter what I've got to do it, I just need some self-confidence !! It was already late last night & the cake is due to be delivered this morning at 10am.

I asked my girls what did the image on the cake look like & both of them said Strawberry Shortcake. I was happy even though I think I didn't do a good job on this. To make the cake sweeter, I've tinted some cream pink to be piped around the edges & 2 strawberries stood on each side of the cake, secured with toothpicks.

I was really relieved when I got a message from Jill this afternoon saying that they loved the cake & I'm glad Noreen was happy with her belated birthday cake !

A Cake For Wedding Anniversary

I got an order for a chocolate cake, to be given to a couple who's celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary yesterday. Since it's for such a sweet occasion, I baked them a heart-shape cake.
The cake was simply dusted with cocoa powder & adorned with red jumbo heart quins.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

I've been drooling at Rei's Chilled Blueberry Cheesecake ever since she posted it up her blog last month. My baking schedule had been quite hectic towards the end of October then thereafter I was off for a short trip to Brunei. Finally I had the time to try out this recipe on Thursday. Rei's recipe uses a 7" pan, I made some slight modifications & made it into a 8" cake.

The recipe as follows :

180g Digestive biscuits, crushed
60g Butter, melted

150g Cream cheese, softened to room temperature
150g Yoghurt
90g Caster sugar

18g Gelatine powder
5 Tbsp boiling water

250g Frozen mixed berries, thawed
250ml Dairy cream, whipped

Combine the crushed digestive biscuits with melted butter. Mix well & press firmly onto the bottom of a 8" springform pan, set aside.

Beat cream cheese, yoghurt & caster sugar until smooth. Combine gelatine powder with boiling water, stir until the gelatine has completely dissolved. Fold the thawed berries into the whipped cream until well blended. Add this mixture into the cream cheese mixture with the gelatin mixture. Fold until well combined, pour mixture into the springform pan. Level the top of the cheesecake with a spatula, chill the cake for at least 3 hrs before serving.

*This unbaked cheesecake recipe is a keeper . It is easy to prepare & low in fat as well as sugar, I love the tartness of the berries combined with cream cheese & yoghurt. Will be making it again, probably with frozen blueberries or maybe even mangoes.
Thank you Rei, for such a great recipe !!

Sweet Glazed Sausages

I know sausages are not healthy but who on earth don't like sausages ??

We love sausages but I try not to cook it often, leave it once in a blue moon treat.

I couldn't resist those sausages I saw at SupaSave, Brunei, so I brought some back to KK. I grilled the sausages using our favourite recipe, adapted from Super Food Ideas.

3/4 Cup orange marmalade
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Kicap Manis *
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
12 Sausages

Combine marmalade, olive oil, Kicap Manis & garlic in a ceramic bowl. Add sausages, turn to coat, cover & refrigerate for 2 hrs.

Heat a grill pan with some oil until hot. Remove sausages from marinate, drain. Add sausages to pan & cook till browned, turning & basting with the marinate.

* Kicap Manis is a Indonesian sweet soya sauce, easily found in supermarkets.
I've served the sausages with steamed broccoli, alongside with some sauteed button mushroom, onion & potatoes.

French Toast

I was making french toast every morning while we were in Brunei but still couldn't get enough of it, so we had it for breakfast again this morning !

Instead of the usual maple syrup, I made a mixed berry sauce to go with the toast & the girls loved it.

Ingredients :

8 slices day old bread
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp honey, warmed
1 Cup whipping cream
20g Butter

Beat eggs, honey & whipping cream till well combined.
Remove crust from bread & cut it into half diagonally. Dip bread into the egg mixture & let is soak through, remove & set aside.
Melt butter in a large frying pan, place bread slices into the pan, let it cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove from heat & serve warm with maple syrup or fruits.

I've served my french toast with berry sauce today & this is my version of it :

250g frozen mixed berries ( red currants, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
60g caster sugar

Combine the frozen berries with caster sugar in a small pan over medium heat. Let the mixture boil, turn down the heat & let the sauce simmer till slightly thickened. I didn't bother to strain the berries as I like them with seeds.

Our Brunei Trip

Slices that I got from Fleur-De-Lys Bakery in Kiarong


CJ's head on a platter !!!

CJ ready to go on a 360 degree spin ride


I have been back from Brunei for almost a week but was so busy with chores like pedicure, facial, haircut that I only have the time to blog today, haha !! Not really, these are only done this 2 days, I have a big load of laundry to clear, dirty clothes before I go & more after I came back. Then there was dinner & lunch appointment on both Tuesday & Wednesday.
Today I'm back to my baking session, durian swiss rolls to start with.....

Back to the trip, my girls were on half-term break for a week after the Deepavali holiday. My friend P mentioned one day that maybe we should bring the kids to Brunei during a long weekend so we decided on the half-term break. We didn't take a plane, instead we set off in her Hilux double cab. Initially, I was unsure if my girls & I could survive such a long drive, 6 hours according to P.
We left on Wednesday morning, 8.30am & set off towards Papar direction. It was nice driving throught the countryside, passing through paddy fields, dragonfruit plantation, cows & baffalos. After Beaufort I couldn't remember some of the town's name except for Sipitang. It was this trip that I realised that Sipitang is different from Sipatang, how ignorant I am !

The only complaint I have about driving to Brunei is the endless immigration checkpoints on the way !! Frankly, I find it silly to be exiting one state & entering another state with a new immigration card each time even though I'm still in the same country, imagine filling in 4 card each time with a almost 3 year old toddler on my lap !!

One thing that really amazed me was a public toilet at the border of Sabah & Sarawak, it was the cleanest public toilet I've ever seen in Malaysia & can you believe it, there's a rice cooker & a kettle in it, I guess the toilet cleaner must be cooking there each day ! I should really carry my little camera with me all the time so I can snap any picture anytime !

I guess the grass is greener on the other side. The moment we entered Sarawak, I could see lots of trees everywhere & the first town, Lawas is not as dusty as KK. My friend, P, originates from Lawas. We reached Lawas at 12 pm & she brought us to a local coffeeshop for lunch. As compared to KK, the food prices are really cheap, only RM2.60 for a Kolo Mee & wild boar or deer meat can be found everywhere in Lawas. I had the fried noodle with chicken (to be safe, in case it's filled with fatty pork & I'll be too embarrassed to picking out the fats in front of P & her parents !) The portion was really big, at RM 4.00, it could easily feed 2 adults. I was hungry & greedy, so I finished the whole portion, the 'wok hei' was so so good !!
P brought us to her 'kampung' after lunch. My girls were complaining about flies & mosquitoes when they were there but after a while they 'warmed up'. This is the first time they've ever seen chicken, monkey, pigs in the wild & P's mum has a little durian plantation so we filled ourselves once again with yummy durian before we set off again.
I remembered the last town before reaching Brunei was Limbang. They have the cleanest 'kampungs' I've ever seen. Big rubbish bins can be found like every few hundred metres, along the roadside & big trees line the road too !

We finally arrived in Brunei about 6 pm. The drive itself took about 8 hours, excluding stopping for meal, immigration checkpoints & toilet stops.
I think eating out in Brunei is expensive. We had dinner in a food court near Centrepoint, Gadong. Food is bad & with 6 kids in tow, we decided it was enough so the next 2 days we were cooking at our friend's house. Jun has been kind to let us stay at her house this trip.

There's nothing much in Brunei, I mean shopping ! There's pretty cars & houses everywhere. I think the people there are really fortunate, they get to buy cheap fuel & rice.
I love their shophouse kind of shops in Kiulap & Kiarong, with cafes & retail shops. I must have checked out all the bakery shops there, a few of them have nice ambience & coffee (Lavazza) but minus the taste. The only bakery shop worth visiting is the Fleur-De-Lys Bakery, I tried some of their slices & think they're rather good so ended up buying cooler box & brough them all the way back to KK for hubby.

I love their SupaSave supermarket, it has all the imported milk, cheese, butter, fruits........
We went there I think twice a day to check out their produce, to plan our meals.
I brought back trays of Lurpak mini-dish butter, frozen berries, sausages, rose water, fruit bars for my girls & huge Thai 'jambu'. Imported goodies in Brunei are cheaper than KK but more expensive than Singapore. I was happily eating huge 'Doles' bananas everyday.

Besides visiting the supermarkets, we brought the kids to the Oil & Gas Discovery Centre in
Seria, the oil town of Brunei, about 1 1/2 hours drive away from Gadong.
The kids loved this centre, it's filled with all kinds of Science experiments & games. There's this ride that requires you to be at least 48 inches tall to be able to ride in it. Poor JF couldn't get a chane to try. The rider will be belted up & spinned around for a while (can't remember how long), the name of this ride starts with a 'c', I've forgotten the name & couldn't find it on google.
CJ tried the ride & to my surprise she liked it as she's always on the timid side !
The most interesting part of this discovery centre will be the illusions corner. Lots of stuff to trick our brains & my eyes were really blurred after trying to concentrate so much. The most interesting one will be the 'head-on-a-platter', you actually go into a box covered with glass so you'll look like as if your head is on a platter & the rest of the body invisible !

Oh, before I forget, we went to the Empire Hotel too ! The Sultan of Brunei was there too but we didn't get to meet him, only his entourage of bodyguards, policemen & of course grant, nice cars ! The kids went to watch 'High School Musical 3' at the cinema there so Jun, P & I went for tea at the lobby lounge. Well, nice ambience, with shiny WMF coffee machine, Asprey cups & saucers and cutleries, but Oh My the pastries were disappointing !! I was hoping to savour some really good pastries when I saw them being displayed on the trolley. The opera cake was dry, blueberry tart's pastry over-baked & the apple cake was damn sweet, at least the cappuccino was good !

We left Brunei on Saturday, 12pm & arrived in KK 10.30pm. We were supposed to leave in the morning but after getting all the kids ready & packing all the frozen stuff, it was already noon. Driving at night was not fun at all as everywhere was so dark. we were hoping the kids will sleep all the way home but they did not, they were bickering all the way instead !!