Red Velvet Cupcakes

Have not been baking any cakes / cupcakes or muffins lately.  I have come to accept that I am just not good in baking them.  They turned out either cracked, or hard or .. well... not that nice.  My sis has been giving me recipe after recipe of cakes which I just didn't have the interest to look at.  That is, till someone was talking about low sugar Red Velvet cupcakes.

I had my first Red Velvet cupcakes sometime ago and although it was good, I am not in any way hooked.   It looks nice though.  Since my sis has given me a low fat red velvet cupcake recipe, I thought that I might as well give it a try.

The recipe is courtesy of Baking Cow :

Low Fat Red Velvet Cupcake


 Make : 10 – 11pcs cupcakes


125g plain flour
1/2tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp red coloring
58g butter
90g sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
120g low fat milk + ½ tsp vinegar (or 120g buttermilk)
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp vinegar

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C
2. Measure milk and mix vinegar into a bowl. Let stand for 5 – 10 mins.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder , baking powder, salt together in another bowl.
4. Beat butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
5. On low speed, add in egg and vanilla essence and mix till well combined and buttery.
6. Add in red coloring. Mix well.
7. Add sifted flour slowly at low speed, alternating with milk mixture.
8. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. This will make a fizzy sound mixture. Quickly add this into batter
9. Fill each cup to 2/3 full.
10. Bake at 170 deg C for 15 – 20 mins until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes clean.
11. Cool well before frosting.


Frosting

140g whipping cream

Method :
Whisk the whipping cream over ice bath till stiff peaks formed.


The batter was deep red in color, which I think is a bit gruesome.  I specially like the part where the mixture of vinegar and baking soda fizzles.  The recipe said to add in this to the mixture quickly.  It stressed me a little to have to move this fast.  I do not know what is the purpose of the vinegar and baking soda, but just follow what the recipe says.

The cupcakes turned out nice.   The frosting needs lots of improvement though.  This is my first attempt in frosting.  The cupcakes are really soft and moist.  Tasted sweet when I first had it.  Too sweet to my liking even.  However, after chilling them for 2 hours, the cupcakes tasted even better and the sweetness is gone.  Well, not gone.  Just that sweet cakes goes well with chilling. 



 

It surprised me that Red Velvet is actually chocolate cupcakes with the hint of red color.  Without the coloring, it is just plain chocolate cake.  Once we added in coloring, it transforms into something else which is so unique.  Just that 1 tsp of coloring makes a lot of difference.  This goes on to prove that doing just a little extra will bring us miles further from where we are.  

'Famous Amos' Cookies

My sis is my constant supplier of recipes.   From where she got all these, I have no idea. Anyway, she claimed that this recipe yields cookies which is equivalent to the 'Famous Amos'  cookies.  I remember having a similar recipe years ago but lost it.  So I am very pleased to get my hands on this again.  So here it goes:


Ingredients :

A)

Butter 230g

Brown Sugar 50g

Caster sugar 50g

Vanila extract - 1tsp

egg - one (50-55g)

 

B)

Top flour 110g (sifted)

Soda powder 1tsp

Salt - a little bit

cinamon Powder 1/s tsp 

 

C)

Semi sweet chocolate chip - 200g

Raisins  100g

Walnut (toasted) - 1 cup (grinded)

Quaker Instant Oatmeal- 250g (grinded)

 

 

Method :

 

1. Mixed well sugar, brown sugar and butter

2. Add in vanila and cinnamon powder, mix well

3. Add in B, mix well

4  Add in chocolate, oat and walnut.  Mix till well blended.

5. Bake at 180 degree C for  15-18 minutes

 

This is a super fast recipe.  I had the cookies done in no time at all.  

 

The cookies do taste like those of Famous Amos.  I personally do not like the raisins though.  Will omit it the next time I bake this again.

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Floss Bun

Have not been baking bread or buns for some time.  Have not really solved the hard crust problem.  Some mommies that I get to know through an online mommies group advised that I reduce the oven temperature during baking.  Decided to try baking chicken floss bun today as we have quite a bit of chicken floss, leftover from chinese new year.  The recipe is adapted from Alex Goh's book of Magic Bread.

The recipe :

A   100g bread flour
       70g  boiling water

B  300g bread flour
     100g plain flour
       80g sugar
         6g salt
       20g milk powder
         9g yeast

C   175g  cold water
          1   cold egg

D    60g  butter

Chicken floss

Method :

1. Add boiling water in A to the flour.  Mix well, cover and keep refrigerated for at least 12 hours before use.

2. Mix B till well blended.  Add in C and knead to form rough dough.  Add in A and knead till well blended.

3.  Add in D and knead to form elastic dough.

4.  Let proof for 40 minutes. 

5.  Divide the dough to 60g each.  Fill in with chicken floss.  Let it rest and proof for another 40 minutes.

6.  Egg wash the surface and bake in a pre heated oven at 190 degree celcius for 15 - 18 minutes.



The recipe called for baking at 190 degree C.  However I baked the buns at 170 degree C for 16 minutes.   The baking time and temperature are just nice and the buns have nice glossy surface.  Can't resist from taking a bite while it is still fresh from the oven.  Texture is soft and taste good too.  Very pleased with the result.

 

Homemade Latte

Been addicted to Starbucks latte and their almond biscotti lately.  Having it too frequent is not doing my wallet any good so I decided to come out with my own version of 'starbuck' latte.

While getting the coffee beans is very easy, one just need to get a packet from the oh so many Starbucks outlet, preparing the warm frothy milk is a bit tricky as I do not have any milk warmer or frother.  Finally came out with a solution which is so ridiculously simple.

I first filled a microwave safe tumbler with low fat milk.  Close it tight and shake it for about 30 seconds.  The milk would have turned frothy then.  Thereafter, remove the lid of the tumbler and heat the milk in microwave oven at medium heat for 2 -3 minutes.  Next, pour the milk into the brewed coffee and scoop the froth to the top.  A home made latte is thus ready.

Milk Froth

Milk froth after microwave

Homemade Latte

German Cookies

My sister gave me the recipe for German Cookies which she claimed is super yummy.  Her son and she finished up 2 tins of this cookies in just 2 days.  Decided to give it a try. 

Recipe :

250g   butter
60g     icing sugar
250g  potato flour
200g  cake flour

Mix butter and icing sugar till well combined.  Then add in potato flour and cake flour.  Mix till well combined.  Shape into rounds and bake at 150 deg C for 20 - 25 minutes.

I found it strange that there is no water or egg used in this recipe.  Plus the 250g butter is a bit too rich.  Anyway, I gave it a try and it turned out quite well. 

German Cookies

The cookies are yummy although I find the 250g butter a bit too rich to my liking. My maids said that the cookies are very nice too.  So in the end all the cookies went into their tummies as I dare not take food that are too rich.  Still trying to get my post partum figure back to pre pregnancy state.

The Lunar New Year

The chinese believe that the lunar new year or commonly known as chinese new year (CNY) or the spring festival marks the beginning of everything.  It is considered good luck to have everything new on the day itself.  Thus, it is not surprising that there is a rush to get new outfits, especially in red, to mark the occassion.

As for myself, I have always found it difficult to get a new outfit for CNY as I am quite picky in clothes selection. The fabric texture, the cutting of the clothes, color, length, etc have to be right for me to spend money on.  I find it more difficult than ever to find clothes that suit me this year as 2012 CNY is just 6 weeks away from my delivery date.  Yes, I delivered a baby 6 weeks before CNY so how on earth could I shape up myself in this short period of time?  Hollywood stars do have personal trainers and all sort of massage, theraphy, etc to whip them back to shape.  But not me.

Having said that, it is indeed true to my thoughts that I coudn't find any clothes that suit me.  Not even one.  The pressure of looking svelte is building up.  Finally came up with an idea to sew the clothes myself.  Managed to sew myself a Zara inspired skirt at the 11th hour. 

Zara Inspired Skirt

I really like the blue color of the skirt.  Paired it up with a chilli red top and in my own opinion, I looked quite decent wearing them.  This will mark the beginning of many self tailored dresses / skirts in the future

Maternity Dress

Being pregnant means I will need to stash my closet with maternity dresses. Maternity dress does not come cheap these days.  I got myself some new ones while my sister gave me some old ones.  At 7 months pregnancy, I finally got my hands in sewing a maternity dress for myself.

Got the fabric from Kamdar, Mid Valley.  The fabric is not colorful, as opposed to my hb and MIL comments that I look radiant in sharp and colorful clothes.  But the fabric is soft and feminine and I liked it. 

The dress was completed in just one day.  This is the result :

Front

Back





I was rather pleased with the result.  Thought of wearing it to the ANC check up the very next day.  However, changed my mind at the last minute in order to let the dress being washed.  It turned out that I was hospitalised after the ANC check up and delivered my baby 4 days later.   So now, the dress is hanging in my closet, not worn even once!