STEAMED ALMOND LAYERED SPICE CAKE

 

I’ve been eyeing a recipe from an old recipe book I picked up for free at a supermarket a long time ago. I made this cake many years ago but can’t quite remember how it tasted. Last week, I decided to make it again, and it turned out to be a nutty and spiced cake. If you love almonds and spices, I recommend giving it a try!

Some of my family members aren’t fans of spiced cakes, but they liked this one. Perhaps it’s the almonds that won them over, and I’m not complaining! The almonds definitely made the cake better.

INGREDIENTS:

250g butter

200g fine sugar

4 tbsp honey

300g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cake spice

6 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 tbsp condensed milk

pink colouring or plain

150g sliced toasted almond for topping each layer

METHOD:

1.  Cream butter with condensed milk till creamy and add in honey. Add in egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add in vanilla essence.

2.  Sieve flour, cake spice and baking powder.  Add it to butter mixture.

3.  Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff.  Fold egg whites into mixture(2) Mix lightly.

4.  Divide mixture into 2 if want to add  colouring, if no colouring don't have to divide. Add pink to one mixture and the other mixture leave it plain.

5.  Prepare steamer.  Grease cake tin with butter.  Take 1/2 cup of  pink colour mixture and put in the greased cake tin.  Steam for 10-12 minutes.  Sprinkle sliced almond. Add another 1/2 cup of plain mixture and put on top of pink layer.  Steam for 10-12 minutes again.  Repeat process until sliced almond and cake mixture are used up.

Cool cake on wire rack.

ROTI BOY WITH MILO

MILO BUNS

 

My son's friend gave us some packets of Milo that is about to expired in 2 months time. Knowing that we may not enough it in due time, I decided to use it up quickly and so, I make cakes, cookies, agar-agar and the last one is Roti Boy Milo. A mixture of a bit of coffee gave the buns a unique milo coffee taste. I cover the whole bun(to the sides as well) with the cookie topping.

These buns are a hit in our home that day after baking. My family loves it. 

DOUGH INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup fresh milk, warmed

4 tbsp 3 in 1 instant coffee powder

11/2 tsp instant yeast

1 egg, grade b

1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup milo powder from dark chocolate milo sachet

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

COOKIE TOPPING:

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 sachets dark chocolate milo(33g x 2)

FILLING:

6 cubes butter(small)

METHOD FOR DOUGH:

Stir fresh milk and milo powder together until well mixed. Add in the instant yeast. Stir well. Let it stand for 3 minutes until bubbles formed.

Add in the sugar and egg.

Mix the all purpose flour and the dark chocolate milo together(sifted).and add in to the milk mixture.

Stir it well so that it's well mixed. then add in the unsalted butter and the salt and mixed well again.

Knead the dough with the mixer machine with dough hook until formed a dough.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth. let the dough rest for 1 hour.

Divide the dough to 6  round balls. Cover and let rest for 10 mins. Flatten each dough and fill with a cube of the butter. Seal and shape to round balls. Cover and let rest for 1 hour.

METHOD FOR COOKIE TOPPING:

In a bowl, add butter and sifted icing sugar and mix well.

Add dark chocolate milo , egg, all purpose flour and 2 tbsp hot water and mixed until well combined.

Transfer the mixture into a piping bag.

After the buns has rested for 1 hour or double in size, it's time to pipe the topping. Swirl round the buns until covers the top and sides as well.

Bake at 180°C for about 22 mins depending on your oven. Normally it took 20 minutes to bake.

STEAMED MOIST MILO CAKE

 

6 packs dark chocolate milo powder(33gx6)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 pkt 3 in 1 instant coffee powder(optional)

3/4 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

In a mixing bowl, add dry ingredients first-mixed well. Then add in wet ingredients.

Pour to baking tray, cover the top with foil and steam for about 40-50 minutes  under medium heat.

The cake can be cover with frosting preferably with milo frosting.

MILO FROSTING:

3 sachets dark chocolate milo

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

2tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsps all purpose flour

1 tbsp butter

Put sugar in pan,cocoa powder,all purpose flour, 3 packs of milo. Mix with whisk. Add milk.

Mix well. cook in low heat until thickens. Add butter. Remove from heat.

Frost the cake.

STEAMED MILO CEREAL CAKE

 

Seeing that my packets of Milo cereals is nearly expired, I use it to make this cake. I opt out the frosting as I was lazy to make and I don't love cake with frosting that very much.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup milo cereal powder(about 3 Pkts)

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp vinegar

METHOD:

Put all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mixed well. Then add in the wet ingredients and whisk well.

Pour to baking tray and steamed for 50-55 minutes using medium heat.

Cool completely before frosting.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE:

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp all purpose cream

4 tbsp cocoa powder(unsweetened)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp melted butter(unsalted)

METHOD:

In another bowl, add all of the above ingredients accordingly. Mix it well with a whisk.

transfer to a saucepan under low heat and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickens.

Pour over the top of the milo cake.

Recipe adapted from kusina Ni Lola

BURNT KUIH SALAT

After steaming my Kuih Salat dessert, I bring to the oven to grill the custard top like the Burnt Cheescake that was popular before. It was not bad. Tasted super delicious.I did that because water got to the top when steaming. I used the top grill to dries up the water. As soon as the water dries up, I turned off the heat of the oven.

KUIH SALAT WITH NO EGGS

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup glutinous rice

21/4 cup santan

1 tsp salt

21/2 cup thick coconut milk

1/2 cup pandan juice

3/4 cup wheat flour

1 tbsp custard powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

WHITE LAYER:

1. Soak the glutinous rice overnight or at least 5 hours. Discard the water.

2. Add salt to the santan and mix well.

3. Pour the salty santan to the glutinous rice.

4. Steam the glutinous rice for 15 minutes.

5. Puffed up the rice with a fork..

6. Put to another tray that is greased or lined paper or with banana leaves. Smooth the rice either

with banana leaf or the back of a spoon.

GREEN LAYER:

1. Mix thick coconut with pandan juice,wheat flour, custard powder, sugar, and salt. Mix thoroughly

with a whisk.

2. Put to kuali and make hot and slightly thicken, then turn off the heat.

3. Add to the glutinous rice top.

4. Steam for 40 minutes until done.

5. Take the kuih salat out from the kuali and bring to grill using top heat only in the oven till the top is

browned and so called "Burnt Kuih Salat"..

ROLLED OATS GRANOLA

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup any type of oil(can be less than 1/4 cup)

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp salt

2 pkts sunflower seeds( can be replaced with almond or cashew nuts)

2 tbsps chia seeds

Dried strawberries( optional)

METHOD:

1.  In a bowl, add in oil, follow by honey, salt, rolled oats, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds.

2.  Spread on a lined baking tray.

3.  Bake at 150°C for about 55 minutes or until crisp and brown.

4.  Cut into pieces or just break with your hands.

5. After cooling, keep it in an airtight container.

NOTE: If it is too oily, can add in more rolled oats.

 

Bean Sprouts Flat Noodles, locally known as Char Kueh Tiaw and fried with only towgeh or beansprouts or can be fried with seafood, most commonly are prawns and cockles. I liked to simply cook plain with only beansprouts or towgeh, hence it is called"Towgeh Kueh Tiaw".

Every ingredients here is agak agak only(estimation). Measure according to my own taste.

Nice Char Kueh Tiaw are hard to find nowadays, so why not cook it at home?

Since Kueh Tiaw are already oily, I do not want to add in much oil .Some hawkers cooked their Kueh Tiaw too oily. Cooking at home means I can control the oil and I wanted my Kueh Tiaw to be not too oily. Ingredients:

1 packet flat noodles/kueh tiaw 1 pip garlic 1 small red onion 2 eggs 1 handful of fish cake 1 handful of towgeh/bean sprouts a handful of green leafy vegetables Sauce: (mixed together before cooking) 1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tbsp chicken granules(optional)

cooking oil

1. Add oil to the wok. When ready, add in red onions and garlics and fry till brown and fragrant.

2. Add in the fish cake, then the kueh tiaw.

3. Move the kueh tiaw to leave space to pour in the eggs. let the eggs set for a while, then keep frying.

4. Then add in the mixed sauce. Fry for a minute before adding in the towgeh and green lefy vegetables.

5. Keep frying for 3 more minutes until evenly mixed and dish it up to serve. Over cooking will make the kueh tiaw to break easily.

Note: Another method of cooking is to add in all the ingredients in first then the sauce add in last. Either

way can still get a nice delicious Char Kueh Tiaw.

CLAYPOT TOFU

CLAYPOT BEANCURD

Let's make Claypot Tofu or Beancurd at home. No eating out. No need fancy fancy restaurant or cafe. Just grab all your ingredients needed and tools to cook delicious tofu in your kitchen. Claypot Beancurd mainly consist of fried beancurd, prawns, broccolli, cauliflower, mushrooms, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and meat or without meat at all. Prepare all the ingredients and start cooking. Ingredients: Tofu 10 florets - Broccoli 8 florets - cauliflower 1 pkt enoki mushrooms 1 tin button mushrooms 6 straw mushrooms 1 carrots 2 tomatoes 200g chicken meat 8 big prawns(optional) 2 inch ginger 1 onions 1 garlics sauce: 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp cooking gourmet wine 1/2 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 cup water 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch + water These are my basic ingredients to make claypot beancurd. My recipe are just estimation only. My servings are for 3-4 persons. You can taste and adjust to your liking.,

INSTRUCTIONS TO COOK:

Cut beancurds into small equal sizes. Deep fried the beancurds in hot oil.

Cut broccoli and cauliflower into small florets. Peel carrot skin and slice small. Cut soften soaked straw mushrooms into small. Cut tomatoes to one quarter size. Cut chicken breast into small bite pieces. Deveined the prawns and unshelled. Slice the ginger thin and chop onions and garlics into small.

In a frying pan, heat oil and add in the ginger, onions and ginger and fry till fragrant. Add in the chicken meat. Stir for a while. Add all the vegetables in to stir.

PREPARE THE SAUCE:

Add all the sauce in a small bowl and mixed well. Pour the sauce into the vegetables.

Mix the cornstarch with water.

Add the previously fried beancurd into the vegetables. Lastly, add in the cornstarch water.

Pour the dish into the claypot pot and simmer with low fire for 2 seconds and off the fire.

Now it is ready to eat. Serve with rice.

Healthy Oats Cookies

When I first saw the recipe from foodmetrica.com, I was interested to make the cookies. This is the recipe that I have been looking for. Oats cookies that contain no eggs and butter and no flour The oats are turned into flour. I use olive oil instead of coconut oil as written on the recipe.

These crispy and healthy cookies are packed with fiber and nutrients that I enjoy eating 1 or 2 pieces of every morning.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup oat flour(blend the oats)

1 cup quaker oats(rolled oats)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsps low fat milk

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat and line the baking tray with parchment paper.

2.  In a large mixing bowl add milk, vanilla extract, olive oil, sugar, and salt. Mix until combined.

3. Add oat flour, quaker oats, baking powder. Mix well. The dough will be wet and sticky and that's ok.

4. Leave the dough in the fridge until the dough looks more solid.

5.  Form round balls. Flatten cookies with your hand into cookie shape.

6.  Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes till crisp. Allow to cool in the baking pan then place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

7.  Store them in an airtight container.

BREAD MACHINE NO EGG, NO BUTTER, NO MILK BREAD

 

Here's another bread machine bread that I have made that contains no egg, no butter, and no milk.

I'm so glad that sometimes I can just make bread without all the animal fat and add in some nuts or raisins or chocolate or can just be plain bread.

As usual, I liked to use my bread machine to make bread. You can choose to use the mixer or by hand as you prefer it. I'm not too keen to knead by hand for I'm easily tired. The mixer does a great job too. Knead until you reach the window pane stage.

First proofing about one hour or until it doubles in size. Second proofing about 50 minutes or until double in size. Cover with cling wrap to proof.

Bake in the oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes or according to your own oven heat.

INGREDIENTS:

180g Water

24g Sugar

6g Salt

25g Olive oil

300g Bread Flour

6g Instant Yeast

BREAD MAKER KNEADING

Liquid first, then dry ingredients.

ONE EGG CHOCOLATE CAKE

 

I hadn't eaten chocolate cake in years. Suddenly craving it, I baked a small one in a 4 1/2-inch tray. It was so good that I had two pieces, and my children finished the rest in just one day.

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup oil( I used olive oil, but veg will do)

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

35 g cocoa powder

METHOD:

1.  Beat sugar and egg till sugar is dissolved and fluffy.

2.  Add in vegetable oil and mix well.

3.  Add in milk. Mixed well.

4.  Add in vanilla extract. Continue beating till fluffy.

5.  Sieve in all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

6.  Pour into lined parchment paper or greased baking paper.

7.  Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 40-45 minutes or test with a toothpick to check if the middle comes out clean when the toothpick is inserted.

TASTY SWEET POTATO CHICKEN FLOSS BUNS

 

These sweet potato buns are light and fluffy. They are also healthier to eat with no egg, milk, and butter but just olive oil. They are perfect for afternoon tea or coffee. 

What prompted me to bake these sweet potato buns is because I've bought some sweet potatoes for a barbeque on my son's birthday, but couldn't barbeque all of it. The next few days afraid that the sweet potatoes might gone bad, I decided to make dinner rolls or buns.

As for this recipe, I boiled the sweet potatoes instead of steaming which I usually did to make it tender so that the sweet potatoes could be mashed to get the puree to add to the dough. I like to use my bread maker to do the easier kneading.

I think I've baked vegan buns.

INGREDIENTS:

2 small sweet potatoes, about 120 g, bring to boil and only take 85g out to make into puree

195g lukewarm water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

85g sweet potato puree

340g bread flour

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Peel and cut sweet potato into chunks.

2.  Boil or steam the sweet potato chunks until tender.

3.  Mash the sweet potato with a fork until smooth. Set aside for             later use.

4.  Put everything inside the bread machine for easy kneading. 

5.  Let the dough double in size.

6.  Punch down the dough.  Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.

7.  Round each piece into balls and place it on the baking tray with parchment paper lined. Cover 

     with cling wrap or put inside the warm oven to rise for 45 mins.

8.  Bake in pre heated oven 180°C for about 15-20 mins.

9.  Spread mayonaise on top of the bun and roll gently in chicken floss..The buns can also be eaten plain without the mayonaise and chicken floss.

..Let it to proof for 45 mins or until double in size.