Mr Panda ❤

I finally made Mr Panda. But I made too much cake. First shot at it, my red velvet mixture was too delicate, and Mr Panda #1... unfortunately.. died. :( Second batter worked, but I had too much batter so I ended up baking an extra cake too. Haha.. :/

Fatty panda :P Hehe~

Red velvet cake

250g butter
600g caster sugar
6 eggs
40g cocoa
8tsp red food colouring
4 tsp vanilla extract
550ml milk
600g self raising flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix.
Combine red dye, cocoa, vanilla and a bit of milk together to form a smooth paste.
Add to butter mixture.
Mix and add flour alternating with milk until well combined.

Pour into a greased Wilton Cuddly Bear Pan.

Bake for 50mins in a preheated 170C oven.

Remove and allow to cool before frosting. I used the new Philly frosting in chocolate and lemon. You'll need 1 tub of chocolate and 1.5 tubs of lemon.

I also made some panda chocolate using a chocolate mould I got in HK earlier this year.  Gotta love pandas!

'Sexy cookie'

Everytime I think of madeleines, I think of 'sexy cookie'. Haha. If you've watched the Kdrama 'My name is Kim Samsoon', then you'll understand where I'm coming from. :P It's one of my favourite Korean dramas. :)

Well, what are madeleines, you ask? They're basically a French shell shaped cake cookie. I've never actually eaten one before this.. :/


I've been meaning to make madeleines since the past 2 years. I've bought the madeleine pans a long time ago but have just never used them. So I finally decided to make them the other day!

Lemon madeleines
Makes about 17

4 eggs, separated
180g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
120g butter melted, cooled
100g caster sugar
zest of 1 large lemon
lemon juice, for brushing
icing, for dusting

Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks, lemon zest and 50g of sugar.

In yet another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks, then gradually add the other 50g of sugar, whisking until smooth and glossy.

Fold in one third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Then fold in half of the flour mixture.
Add another third of the egg whites.
Then fold in the remaining flour until just combined.
Finally, fold in the rest of the egg whites and when just combined, fold in the melted butter. (Careful not to overmix)

Allow to rest for 30mins.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Pipe mixture into greased madeleine pans.


Bake for 8-10mins until golden brown. Watch them growww! :D


Allow to cool slightly before removing from pans and allowing to cool on a cooling rack.


Brush with lemon juice and dust with icing sugar.


Serve immediately, or on the day.

Lemon cupcakes

I had egg yolks and ganache left over from making macarons. So I decided to make cupcakes! :D


Lemon cupcakes with white chocolate ganache
Makes 12 cupcakes and 1 mini loaf

zest of 1 large lemon
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
2/3 cup milk
62.5g butter, melted

white chocolate ganache (see macarons)

Sift flours, sugar and baking powder in a bowl.
Create a well and add lemon zest, milk, 2 egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla extract. Combine.
Add whole egg and gently fold through, being careful not to over mix.
Scoop into lined muffin pans and bake in a preheated oven at 170C for about 12mins or until cooked.
Cool completely before applying ganache and decorations.

It's been a while..

So.. I am back.

I'd been craving to bake and cook so much. It doesn't help when MasterChef is on television 6 days of the week. I didn't watch the first few episodes but I've been following it since (give or take an episode, but I can always watch it online anyway). I want to make a croquembouche. I'd love to spin sugar. And I don't care if I get burns!

They made macarons in tonight's episode. My first attempt at macarons failed miserably. I blame the cookie press that I tried to use. Stupid me. I do intend on trying it again.. soon. Poh's macaron's looked so pretty, but overbaked! Sounded a bit too crunchy.. Haha.

But. I nearly gave up at one point though. The passion I once had for baking.. seemed to fade away. I won't go into my personal issues though. Let's just say, that I'm easing back into this. It's difficult considering there's another issue. Why, I'm full of issues, aren't I? -__-

Anyway, here's what I've been doing.

Lemon and blueberry yoghurt muffins.


Semi dried apple slices. Sliced and baked in the oven for 30-40mins. No need to add anything! Just bake! Yum yum.


Mushroom risotto with tomato, spinach and capsicum.

For citrus lovers

I bought some more bakeware the other day. In fact, I have so much bakeware that they don't have a proper home at the moment. They're just sitting.. in uh.. the lounge room on the coffee table. Yeah, I know. It's good that visitors don't drop by often! :P

I got some loaf pans, assorted mini bakeware and a small springform. Oh, and a pizza base pan too! So now I can make pizza too. Haha. :)

Anyway, back to this bake. I haven't baked for a while. I kept thinking what I wanted to bake, and was deciding whether to do something with apples or citrus. And I chose citrus! I love citrus fruits. I still had 2 red grapefruits in the house so I decided to make use of them.. along with some oranges and a lemon from our backyard. Our lemon tree is quite small, and only gives us a few lemons each time. I miss our old lemon tree. It was like the centrepiece of the backyard in my childhood house. Beautiful, large and bearing many lemons. Oh, I miss that tree. I miss that house. I want to be a little kid again..


Three citrus poppyseed cake
Makes a large loaf size

the grated peel of 2 oranges
the juice and pulp of 2 oranges
the grated peel of 2 large red grapefruit
the juice and pulp of 1 large red grapefruit
(I had 1 1/2 cups juice overall)

2 cups plain flour (should use 1/2 cup more flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup poppyseeds

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup corn oil

Sift and mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and poppyseeds in a large mixing bowl.
Then add in the juices, peel, milk, egg and oil.
Use an electric mixer to mix until combined.
Pour into a lined or greased large loaf pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 52 minutes or until cooked (poke with skewer to check)

Remove and allow to cool before drizzling with glaze.


Lemon glaze

the grated peel of 1 small lemon
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice (it was all the lemon gave me)
1/2 tsp milk
4-5tbsp icing sugar

Mix together until smooth and drizzle over cake.
Sprinkle with left over lemon peel.


Allow to set before serving. It's pretty cold tonight, and the glaze has set pretty fast. Haha~
I'll see what it tastes like tomorrow. Right now, I know that it smells nice. :) Hopefully it's edible!


Well, unfortunately... it was a bit dense (higher liquid to flour ratio yet again). :( But the flavours were good! Strong citrus flavour (You probably won't like it if you don't like citrus much). Just the way I like it! :D Mmm.. yummy lemon glaze.

Overall, I'm disappointed but satisfied. :) Hopefully it will be better next time!

Lemon strawberry yoghurt muffins

This is the last thing I bake until the end of February. :( Boo. I wonder how I'll ever survive? And then uni starts again.. so I'll have even less time. The weekends shall be my baking refuge! (Unless I have to work then. Which would suck.)

But nevermind that. I'll be gone for about 2 weeks. I may or may not find the time to post anything whilst I'm overseas. I'll be taking heaps of photos in KL and Sg (of food included of course!). I'll blog about them if I find the time. Otherwise expect to see lots of photos when I get back. ;)


Lemon strawberry yoghurt muffins
Makes 12 standard muffins

2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten
7 tbsp milk
1 1/4 cup strawberry yoghurt (I used Yoplait Formé Strawberry yoghurt)
2 tsp lemon essence
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp corn oil

Preheat oven to 175C.

Sift and mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar in a large bowl.

In another bowl, mix egg, milk, yoghurt, lemon essence, vanilla extract and oil until combined.

Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Your batter should be not too thick and not to thin.


Scoop batter into greased muffin pans or line them with baking paper. (Bad idea to use cupcake cups as there is very little oil in this mixture. You'll see what happened to my muffins further down.)


Bake for 18mins. Remove from oven and onto cooling rack.

Lookie! I have muffin tops! Yay! :D

And here's my attempt at removing the paper casing..

Where'd all the strawberry pieces go? I saw a lot of them when I scooped the yoghurt out.. :(


Failed. Completely. I already knew this would happen though. I was supposed to cut baking paper instead, but I couldn't be bothered. -__-

I need to drill into my head that batters with little to no oil/butter should not use these paper casings!!


Oh well. It's fine. Again, there's not much sugar added to this so it isn't too sweet. It's a good change from the rich bakes (petit fours & coconut vanilla cookies) that I had made recently. Though.. I do wish I had some fruit to actually throw in, like blueberries.

I still like the muffins because they have a lemon flavour to them (in which I was craving for. Unfortunately, the lemons from the lemon tree in the backyard aren't ripe yet either. So I had to use lemon essence instead. Regardless of that, I still got the lemon flavour!).

Mmmm. Lemon muffins. Yummy! :)