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This cake was inspired by the cover of this month's Coles magazine, which actually uses an instant butter cake mix. I decided to make the cake even more festive by making a cream cheese pound cake bursting with fresh cherries, drizzled over some orange glaze icing and decorated it with more cherries! A generous dusting of icing sugar always creates a pretty snowflake effect, and to complete the Christmas wreath look, I added a sprig of mint leaves which I picked from the garden. Little Hilary insisted on "framing" the photo with Christmas decorations... This cake is perfect with a cuppa for afternoon tea, and is fantastic when  served warm with that delicious orange glaze icing. The cream cheese in the cake adds more of a "creamy" texture to the cake, and not so much of flavour. The recipe I used called for maraschino cherries, but I substituted with fresh cherries instead. I reckon you can use cranberries too if you like. I must admit, the...

The addition of milk and ricotta in this recipe makes for a light, fluffy and creamy cheesecake. Cheddar and Ricotta Cheesecake Ingredients 110g cheddar cheese slices, roughly torn 40g butter 125ml milk 70g ricotta cheese 20g plain flour 15g corn flour 2 egg yolks 3 egg whites 1/4 tsp cream of tartar 80g sugar Method Grease and line an 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper. If using springform pan, wrap the outside of the pan with 2 layers of aluminium foil as the cake will be baked in a water bath. Prepare a large roasting tin (large enough to fit the baking pan in). You can start boiling some water for the water bath. Preheat oven to 150C. Place cheddar cheese, butter and milk in a bowl and place over a pot of simmering water. Stir the ingredients until dissolved and the mixture turns smooth and creamy. Remove from heat. Then stir in the ricotta until evenly mixed. Sift the plain flour and cornflour into the mixture and fold through until smooth. Then, stir in the egg yolks. In ...

This quick and easy ice-cream dessert is great if you're serving a large crowd at a party. It's also very convenient as you only need to slice and serve - no plates, cups or utensils required! Even the pan doesn't need washing up! Honeycomb Ice-cream Sandwich Ingredients 1 packet rectangular-shaped biscuits (I used Arnotts Milk Coffee, but you can use plain, chocolate or other flavour) 1 1/4 cup thickened/heavy whipping cream 5 tbsp condensed milk 1 chocolate bar (Crunchie, Violet crumble, or Cherry Ripe if you prefer), roughly chopped Method Whisk cream and condensed milk until thick and almost stiff. Fold in the chopped chocolate bar until evenly mixed. Line an 8 inch square tin with clingwrap, leaving the sides overhanging with enough to fold over later. Arrange biscuits on the base. Pour the cream mixture over. Arrange another layer of biscuits on top. Cover with clingwrap and freeze for 8 hours or overnight. Slice into sections and serve.

This is a repost of an old favourite! This is an old favourite of mine since I was little. Typically served in chinese restaurants in BP, we would often order a plate or two of it at the end of the meal. It is a thin, flaky and crispy rectangular-shaped pancake that is usually filled with a thin layer of red bean or white lotus paste, and then cut into small rectangular bite-sized pieces. I decided to make this after browsing through a cookbook called "Dim Sum" where I came across a picture of an appetizing looking "Wo Paeng". I could just imagine the taste of it - sweet, crispy and oily. The recipe looked simple enough. However, the proportions and method of pan-frying it just didn't do it for me. I found another recipe on the web which looked like it would yield better results, and it did! Of course, it involved deep-frying the pancake to a golden crisp, just as I remembered it. I sprinkled some toasted pinenuts in the filling to add ...

I told myself I was not going to make pineapple tarts this year. It's just too much effort and physically challenging (for someone of my age) and I figured I'd just wait for friends passing through Singapore to bring back tarts for me to eat. No thanks to Facebook, I keep seeing posts of pineapple tarts spilled across the page, made by my baker/foodie friends. I tried to resist the temptation, really (for almost a day). I admit I have a terrible weakness for pineapple tarts. I've made them every year since I moved to Sydney and had to D.I.Y. these CNY ("Chinese New Year") delicacies to satiate my cravings. After all, it's not CNY until you've had pineapple tarts (and bak kwa , but that's another story). And so, last night, I bought pineapples and made pineapple jam, so that I could roll them into balls and make the tarts this morning. By noon, the pineapple tarts were ready and mission accomplished for January 2016 (although that was not my new year...

I made ricotta cheese. Did you not know you could do that, with only 3 ingredients in less than 10 minutes! And all with curds and whey, I felt like Little Miss Muffet now waiting for a spider to pounce at me. So why make ricotta? Apparently, homemade ricotta gives the cheesecake a fluffier texture, and it did turn out to be light, fluffy and creamy, with a subtle taste of ricotta. I used a gingernut biscuit base just to add some flavour and texture, although you can omit that to make a crustless version. This is not a very sweet cake, unlike your typical New York cheesecake. It's probably closer to a Japanese cheesecake except for the fine graininess of the ricotta. If you like, you can serve it with some berry coulis to satisfy that sweet tooth. I find that the cake tastes best after it has "matured" for up to 3 days in the fridge. The flavours seem to have developed and the texture is somehow creamier too. Ricotta in the making Homemade Ricotta Adapted from Smitten Kit...

Here's a sweet and colourful coconut-flavoured treat that kids (and grown-ups) of all ages will love. Rainbow Jelly   Ingredients Part A 10 grams agar-agar powder 1 litre water 200g (scant 1 cup) sugar Food colouring   Part B 10 grams agar-agar powder 600 ml water 200g (scant 1 cup) sugar 400 ml coconut milk ½ teaspoon salt Food colouring   Method 1.        Prepare a container about at least 3 inches high, about 10” x 10” in size. 2.        Combine ingredients in Part A (except for food colouring) in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the agar powder is dissolved. Turn off heat and keep warm. 3.        At the same time, combine the agar powder, water and sugar in Part B in another pot and bring to a boil. Then add coconut milk and salt, and bring it back to a boil. Turn off the heat immediately and keep warm. 4.        Measure 200ml...

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, one of the most popular cakes would be the Red Velvet - rich, red and luxurious and all that signifies romance. Bake some red velvet cupcakes for your loved ones this Valentine's Day. I've got the perfect recipe that's easy and super delicious - just whisk, mix and bake. Some of you might take a look at the recipe and think "Hmm....no butter in a cake?". This recipe uses oil instead, which makes it ultra soft and moist. The previous version of red velvet cake that I made used butter, and although it was delicious, it was relatively richer and denser, compared to this one which was light, moist, soft and fluffy. If you have to make red velvet cake, try this recipe first. It is so melt-in-your mouth heavenly good you'd fall in love with it. Easy No-Beat Red Velvet Cupcakes Adapted from Divascancook.com Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1 teaspoon of salt ...

These are choux-pastry type churros, as opposed to the more traditional (I think?!) churros which uses flour and boiling water in making the dough. I tried the latter method a long time ago, and it didn't turn out as I had hoped. So I decided to stick to these ones instead, with a little twist by covering it in a maple syrup glaze. I also made a chocolate sauce (by melting some chocolate in hot milk) for the kids to dunk their churros into. Churros are also referred to as Spanish doughnuts, and are relatively easier and quicker to make compared to regular yeast doughnuts, simply because there's no need to proof the dough.They are also wonderfully light, fluffy and buttery, with a sweet and crunchy exterior that is accentuated by the ridges characteristic of this popular street food. Ingredients: 200ml water 80g butter  1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar  1/2 tsp salt  120g plain flour  1/2 tsp vanilla extract 3 large eggs  Oil for deep-frying 1/2 cup icing/caster suga...

  Ms L threw a baby shower last week, and isn't the pink theme adorable? Loving the pink pom-poms! I offered to make mini lemon meringue tarts and Hokkaido cupcakes for the shower. I threw in some Gougères (Cheese puffs) as a bonus simply because they were pretty quick and easy to make, and just in case there weren't enough savoury options on the menu.     Ms L bought this cute cupcake stand from the party shop. Pretty isn't it? Might have gone overboard with the pink, but that's the theme!   These flaky puff pastries are spinach and ricotta pastizzis from Costco, which is a great place to shop at if you're planning a big party.     I told Ms L that with less than a month before bubba arrives, she shouldn't be exerting herself too much in the kitchen. Yet, she managed to make a batch of sausage rolls and these delicious sardine puffs (pictured above) which were one of the favourites at the table. She's quite the perfectionist, as you can te...

While most people are baking Christmas puddings, fruit cakes and gingerbread men at this time of the year, I baked a chocolate cake instead. The kids had a birthday recently and my options are usually a vanilla sponge cake, mud cake or red velvet. I've never really made chocolate cake before (really!) other than chocolate mud cake (I prefer to distinguish the two). It wasn't until I brought Miss H to her friend's birthday party that I tried the most amazing chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, that I was determined to solve the mystery of the best chocolate cake ever. Simply, the cake was so light and moist and the frosting was just awesome. For a while, it did remind me of the chocolate cream buns that I used to enjoy during my childhood days. So, I googled pictures of chocolate cake with frosting and finally found what I was looking for. Aptly, it was called The Best Chocolate Cake Ever. No joke. And indeed it was true to its name. Note that the cake uses vegetable o...

  I brought this cheesecake to my uncle's housewarming party last Saturday. My aunt took a look and said "I think I've seen this cake before, with the cow-pattern. Wasn't it on TV recently?". Yes! It was on Destination Flavour Japan on SBS. "The show with that Adam Liaw guy from Masterchef..." she says. I was thinking, gee, she must have REALLY wanted to eat that cheesecake to have remembered it so well. I guess it is a rather unique-looking cake. And it tastes absolutely heavenly. Velvety smooth and silky, not too rich, not too sweet. It's really the perfect cheesecake. It's the Choco Moo cheesecake , made popular by Farm Design Hokkaido Cheesecake. What makes this cheesecake so special is the use of Jersey milk that has high butterfat content, although you can also substitute with regular milk. The inside of the cake has little balls of chocolate ganache. The chocolate really shouldn't be oozing out like the picture above. I didn't let...

Hi everyone. Just a little announcement that I've migrated my website to a new domain name www.tofoodwithlove.com . Any previous links from the old blogger website will be automatically redirected to the new one. For those who absolutely love crème brulee (my favourite too!), here's a simple recipe that I've tried and tested, and you will never have to order crème brulee at the restaurant again :) Just make sure you have a blowtorch handy. Enjoy! Crème Brûlée Recipe Adapted from SBS Ingredients 300 ml pure cream 200 ml milk 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped 5 large egg yolks 1/4 cup caster sugar 2-3 tbsp demerara or caster sugar Method Preheat oven to 160°C.   Place the cream, milk and vanilla seeds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and remove from heat.   Whisk together the yolks and caster sugar in a large bowl until just combined. Continue whisking while pouring the hot cream mixture over the top until combi...

  So, I was telling my friend Samuel the other day that I made fish head curry three times in a row prior to posting the recipe for it last week. I explained that I couldn't get it to taste the way I wanted it to, and I couldn't possibly share a recipe for something I'm not happy with. I got it right on the third attempt though, after I figured out who the culprit was - it was the fish curry powder with the Candlenut! So I changed that, made my own curry paste and it turned out almost exactly like I wanted it to. Some dishes are a little tricky to master especially when doing a copycat dish, and you just can't place your finger on the secret ingredient. I remember cooking Korean Fried Chicken at least five times before I was happy with the results. That included experimenting with various recipes for the dipping sauce until I finally achieved the right balance. There are also those dishes that are in WIP, for example, attempting to make laksa from scratch....