Chocolate Bundt Cake

I made a batch of homemade yogurt on Tuesday.
On Wednesday evening when I tasted it,
i thought it had all gone wrong.
The yogurt was very tart with a strong sour finish.
Anyway, i'll talk bout the yogurt making in another post.

So Yesterday, thinking that i have 2liters worth of yogurt sitting
in the fridge wasting away.
I flip thru my recipe collection with a lookout for something yogurt...
I didnt want to waste the 2l worth of milk..
And i didnt want to have to drink smoothie all the way with them.
Then i came across this beautiful Chocolate Bundt cake recipe,
which i can't recall where or when i took it down.
It calls for the use of a little sour cream.
The ingredient was simple and i have them all..

I recall that sour cream is somehow similiar & interchangeable with yogurt recipe.
And i have also read that straining the yogurt will gives u a thicker version,
somewhat like the geek style yogurt.
So i measured & scope out the yogurt & strain them with a coconut straining cloth,
which i bought to make marmalade.
And while scoping out the yogurt,
i decided to give them another try, see if ther's any changes after sitting for more then 24hrs.
To my suprise!!!!
It was no longer tart with a sourish finish!!
Instead, the whole bottle of yogurt have develope a yogurt-dy taste,
like those commercial store bought plain yogurt.
I was stunned for a second, before i scope out the rest of the 3 small bottles of try them all.
Seems that, all the yogurt have rested well enough,
and the tart sourish taste is no longer there! haha.. Wee....



Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredient
90g Plain Flour
28g Cake Flour
46g Valrhona Dutch Processed Cocao Powder
1 1/4tsp Baking Powder
1/4tsp salt
170g Unsalted Butter
180g Castor Sugar
2 large eggs
1tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Paste
121g Homemade Yogurt (Strain to thicken)

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 170C with low rack, grease 5" high bundt mould & set aside.
2. Shift flour, cocao powder, baking powder & salt together.
3. In another bowl, beat butter till light, around 2mins on med.
4. Add Sugar into butter & cream till light & creamy, around 4min on med-high.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down between the addition on low-med till combined.
6. While mixing, mix vanilla paste & yogurt together.
7. Mix the Flour mixture into the batter in 3 seperate addition,
the yogurt mixture in 2 addition, alternating between the flour & yogurt mixture,
scrape down as n when necessary, on low speed til combined.
8. Pour the mixture into the greased bundt mould leaving 2" on top,
smooth the top & bake for 50mins, till a skewer test comes out clean.
9. Invert the mould & cool.


Afternote:
The cake is chocolately rich yet soft & crumbly,
doesn't have the heaty chocolate after taste after gobbling a slice of it.
The taste is somehow similiar to Peggy's Rich Chocolate cake,
except that this doesnt need chocolate chips & its not moist & not so "thick".
A perfect light tea cake for daint little tea party w a scope of vanilla ice-cream!

Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oat

After searching & calling various Cold Storage,
I have finally made it back with a packet of Steel Cut Oat.

The hunt for Steel Cut Oat starts when i'm googling for "healthy breakfast".
Came across so many different variety, so many different brekkie across different culture.
I remember watching a kiddy show on Channel 8,
thats shows sg children having a taste of working farm life in NZ.
The staple breakfast there is homecook oatmeal, with a variety of condiments.
It looks appetizing enough that i wanted to try it.

Then a few weeks back, I came across a article on Simple Bites,
featuring the different types of oats availiable.
And the different ways to cook them.
In particular, i was hook on the Brown Butter Toasted Oatmeal with Roasted Pears.
It's simple shouts "delish" to me..... I knew then i HAVE to get some of that oats.
Thus, the hunt begins....

I googled briefly online "where to buy steel cut oat in singapore".
Results are fairly simple.
"Availiable only where the ang mohs like to market..."
Which means, west side, only can try Holland, Cluny, Guthrie hse..
I pick Cluny & called them,
but they told me they didnt have it, told me to try Tanglin / Great World,
cos they have a larger Bob's Mill variety there...
Called Tanglin Market Place CS & wala!!!!

So tonight, i'm gng to go home, cook up a small batch to try.
I dunno if chun will like the taste of it.
And considering it needs cooking time of 20-30min.
I dun know if the lazy bird in me will wake up just to
prepare that for brekkie on weekdays!!
BUT, i do remember eating oats can help one lose weight,
if thats really true, maybe i will have the determination....

Looking forward to my batch of home made yogurt tonight when i get home!
Hopefully it'll firm up,
hopfully it'll not taste nasty due to use of Meiji Milk, that i dun drink.

Chewy Oat Cookie

Made a batch of Chewy Oat Cookies for brekkie on wednesday night.
Just nice i have an open packet of old-fashion rolled oat in the fridge from my granolar.
I have always like the macadamia nut cookie & oat cookie from Subway.
They're chewy, but a tad too sweet to my liking
to finish the entire cookie by myself.

After some quick research & flipping of my recipe book.
I used one of the recipe i had on hand.



Chewy Oat Cookie

Ingredients (A)
1. 110g walnut, toasted at 170C for 8mins & chopped
2. 170g unsalted butter
3. 150g light brown sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 1 tsp Madagascar vanilla paste
6. 250g old-fashion rolled oats
7. 1 cup any mixed berries or chocolate chips

Ingredients (B)
1. 100g all plain flour, shifted
2. 1/2 tsp baking soda
3. 1/2 tsp salt

Precedure
1. Preheat oven to 170Deg C
2. Beat butter & sugar till light & fluffy
3. Add egg & vanilla paste, beat till combined
4. Mix Ingredient B together lightly in a seperate bowl
5. Combine Ingredient B into sugar batter & beat till combined
6. Mix in the oats & berries
7. I use a tablespoon to scope out the batter & arrange on greased baking sheet 1inch apart,
flatten the dough slightly with thumb & bake in oven for 13mins,
till edges are slightly golden brown but the centre still white.
8. Cookie will be soft when removed from oven,
cool slightly on baking tray before removing to rack for further cooling.

Afternote:
The cookies are not too sweet & very chewy, gng to be a good staple recipe for brekkie.
Makes about 2 large containers of 2inch diameter cookie,
have to half the recipe next time if only baking for my own family.

Jam Drop Cookie w Home made Strawberry Conserve

Darling was on course for the last 2 nights,
so i have plenty of me time to myself.
Wednesday night was spend donning masks,
afterwhich i watch " The haunting of Conneticut".
Weird things started happening......

I was initally whatsappt-ing with Cel.
Then i went to shower so the conversation stop.
Happily putting body lotion while watching the movie on HBO.
Saw the adverts few days back, and i thought it'll be a good show.
15min into the movie, getting a bit scary liao.. the plot building up...
My phone beeped, its the whatsppt tone..
I didnt bother to check cos the part is getting exciting...
Another 2 beeps followed, so i check it out.
Didnt see any new messages on whatsppt.
So i thought to myself, "whatsappt must be having problems again"..
went back to movie.

After 5min pass, whatsapt beep again...
I check immediately, no new messages.... starting to get paranoid..
Another 5 min pass, whatsappt sounded AGAIN!!!!
Check, no new message.... Getting goosebumps..
Ard 10min later, whatsappt beep AGAIN!!!
Seriously getting scared liao,
so i sms darling see if he's coming home soon,
unfortunately, he says not so early.
Damn, so i switch channel,
watch some lame chinese show for 15min,
then go to bed with the lights on...
Miraculously or coincidently,
no more whatsappt beeping sound after i switch channel.. *spooky**

So yesterday, i decided to give movies a miss,
in case i got freak out again..
I knew that there's a spare package of strawberry lying ard,
and it needs to be use up soon..
Therefore, i went ahead to make Jam Drop Cookie,
with fresh home made strawberry jam..
I reduce the amt of sugar called for in my earlier post of Strawberry Jam.
The ingredient listing is pretty simple & easy to make.
I use the recipe here & modified it slightly.



Afternote:
Didnt really like the taste of the drop cookie.
Should have stick to my good old butter cookie recipe!!
Next try, Danish Cookie.

Home made Strawberry Jam!!

The actual reason there's a part 2 for this post,
is actually due to my own laziness.... haha
The jam was made on Sunday night,
ready by monday morning.
But, Monday, Wed & Fri is exercise day for me & chun.
I came home happily, slightly early from work.

Chun reached home earlier then i did.
He's all ready in his exercise attire, even his socks is on!!
So the evening was spend roller-blading, followed by dinner..
By the time we finish eating, there's no sunlight to speak off.
So i have to wait for tuesday before i can take photos.....
That calls for the delay of the photos,
thus the post cant be completed on monday,
BUT i was so excited of my jam,
I can't go w/o posting my adventure.... haha...

Anyway I borrowed some books from NLB during lunch on monday.
Didnt know they have a teeny winny section on canning & food preservation.
Pop by during lunch time to grab the 3 books.
Some were books that i'm looking forward to purchasing
but havent done so, cos i still have outstanding orders which were not here yet.
Since they were availiable, decided to borrowed & read thru first.

Alot of these canning & preservation books does not
comes with many colorful pages of beautiful pictures like recipe books.
Instead, i realise they have drawing as illustration,
or even just plain description with texts.
A bit disappointed with none pictured books.
So probably will not get those.

Many canning books / even internet have said not to
reduce the sugar portion in the recipe.
As sugar is one of the main ingredient that helps to preserve food,
if we do intend to keep it for a longer shelf life.
If we're just making & using it straight away,
we dun even need to go thru the water-boiling canning method.
We can simply cook & refrigerate & use it within 3-4weeks safely.
So if that's the case, we can alter the sugar ratio more flexibly.

In singapore, with the abundance of most types of fruits / veg all yr round.
Canning & food preservation will not have a big impact on our lives.
Since we have to import all the food that we eat.
It doesnt matter really that much, food prices are already high to begin with!

Enough rumbling, I started making the strawberry jam at 10pm on Sunday night!
After a few rounds of Bingo with my family, which i lose $3 btw..
I choose a relatively easy recipe that didnt require pectin.

Home Made Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
1. 3cups sliced strawberry
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 2 tbsp lemon juice (i use freshly squeeze cos i have spare lemon lying ard,
but its advisable to get those canned / bottled lemon juice for their stability)

Instruction
1. Put the jars into a soup pot & bring to vigorious boil, covering jar with at least 2' water.
2. Put all the ingredient into a non-reactive pan.
3. Melt the sugar on low heat, once sugar melted,
switch to med-high heat, keep stirring to prevent burnt strawberries til gelling stage is reached.
4. The cooking process take approximately 18min for my 3 cups sliced berries,
cooking time will varies slightly from strawberries water content, types of pan used.
5. The strawberry mixture will bubble & foam quite alot.
6. To test for gelling stage, use either a candy thermometer maintained at 220C or,
put a few drops of the hot mixture on a frozen plate, rest it for 30sec,
if it cools down to a gel-like stage, the mixture is ready,
if the mixture is still runny like water, continue to boil down the mixture & test again.
7. For my batch, i cook them for approximately 20min before
i have success with the plate test.
8. While cooking the strawbeery mixture, my jar & lids are soak in the hot water
to sterilise.
9. When the mixture is ready, fish out jar & lids with thongs.
10. Ladle the mixture into jar, leaving 1/4' headspace from the top of jam to lid,
usually this is the bottom of the screw band of the jar.
11. Make sure that the rims of the jar are clean to ensure proper sealing later.
12. Tighten band to finger tip tightness, not excessively tight,
air needs to escape from the jam during hot water canning period.
13. Lower the jar into soup pot with hot water, ensure that the jar is covered
at least 2' from top with water. Bring to vigorious boil & start timing for 10min.
14. Remove the jar & leave to cool for 12-24hrs before checking for seal.
15. To check for seal, press the middle button, it should be convex & not move at all.
16. If it does move, it means that it is not probably sealed, but the content can still be eaten.
Just refrigerate it immediately & consume content within 3-4weeks!
17. I have made approximately 300g of strawberry jam worth with above recipe.
The 2 bottles that i go thru with the hot water canning method sealed,
1 bottle sealed just 15min after taking out from the hot water,
the other bottle, when i check out the next morning, it was sealed too.
So i have no idea what time did the button pop for bottle no. 2.


Afternote:
The jam did set properly, its not excessivly runny,
i could use it to spread my bread as per conventional store bought jam.
But i feel that the jam is a tad too sweet to my liking.
For my next batch jam, i'll probably adjust the sugar ratio slightly.
Since im making it for home consumption purely,
and with the little jam that i made,
my family cld finish it within a month safely.
So unless im intending to give it as gift,
I'll continue to lower the sugar ratio and try it out.

Canning Fever~

Haven been runing with Canning fever recently after reading Simple Bites.
Didnt know that making jams/jelly can be soooo easy peasy.
The procedure are relatively easy & ingredient easy to find
except for recipe that calls for pectin.

Phoon Huat has it, but they dun call it pectin,
nor is there any instruction for it.
What they have is a small bottle and a chemical name, which i forgot what its called.
When i ask for the instruction to use, they simply told me,
"1kg fruit to 1tbsp", thats all..
I didnt know if it'll work,
i dun wanna have to waste a few punnet of strawberry with that,
considering strawberry isnt exceedingly considered cheap in Sg.

The other more headache problem is the lack of canning supplies in Sg.
Obviously, our major supermarket, NTUC doesn't sells it.
I have check a few baking supplies store,
Pantry Magic sells it, but at a very high price.
I remember getting some jars from Tom & Steffanie before.
Maybe i'm not looking at the right places yet.
But so far, i have seen a small variety only at Sheng siong.
And they are priced from $2.40 onwards for a small 200ml, Bormioli Glass jar.

I wanted to have a hands on the canning process,
hear the lovely "popping" sounds of the can when they seal. hehe
With no pectin on hand, i choose a recipe that can do w/o it.
And the easiest i thought, to start with will be a strawberry jam.

So i tag along with mummy n brother to Sheng siong supermarket.
Searching for the lovely red berries,
began to panick when i see no signs of them...
"Strawberry season over liao meh?"
I remember buying 2 boxes for $10 bucks offer just a few weeks back.
Then in one tiny corner, i saw a small carton of strawberry.
Didnt have much selection,
there was only about 20+ small boxes for me to choose from.
I consider not making them, instead try another fruit.
But then i was so desperate, i just grab 3 boxes.
They cost me close to $12 for 750g of strawberry.
Darling even commented, so expensive to make jam ar...

To be continued~~

More Bananas: Banana Cake

I have leftover bananas from last week.
And this week, the bananas have ripen even more,
to a state of back spot, nope, i should say black patches have appear on the skin.
The bananas are sooooooooo soft,
u dun have to twist it to remove it from the stem,
u just have to touch it, and it'll drop by itself... Magic....

Chun feedback to me that he doesnt really like the walnut
in my previous bake.
He comment that it feels like eating the Post cereal, "Banana Nut Crunch"
So last night, i omitted the beloved walnuts,
and go with a simple Banana Cake.
I like the bananacake that Fourleaf baked, soft, fluffy & banana-y.



Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients
1. 110g Butter
2. 150g Sugar
3. 225g Self Raising Flour
4. 2 eggs
5. 2-3 extremely riped bananas

Instruction
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mash the bananas to desire consistency.
3. Cream the butter and sugar on med speed till light n fluffy.
4. Add in eggs and mixed till combined.
5. Mix mashed bananas & batter together briefly,
add in flour & mix till well combined.
6. Pour into prepared mould and bake for 40mins,
then reduce temp to 150C & bake for another 30min.



Afternote:
I didnt follow the baking time strictly, cos i tested with a toothpick & it came out clean.
However, i realise that the cake is fluffier on the top half,
and denser on hte bottom half.
Don't know if its caused by my underbaking time.
Nonetheless, due to the ripen bananas,
the smell & sweetness of the banana is heavier
as compared to my previous Banana Walnut Muffin
even though less banana is added.
Therefore, the ripeness of the banana does make a huge difference.