Two weeks ago

I've been busy.. so I haven't had a chance to post anything new.


I made chocolate orange cupcakes for M about 2 weeks ago.
Because it was a last minute confirmation, I didn't realise that I was low on butter. Oh well.. :P

Watched Iron Man 2 that day too. I thought it was quite good (though I haven't watched the first movie). I don't usually watch movies because I find it hard to stare at a gigantic screen. But a movie is generally good if I can sit through it without falling asleep or if I'm not constantly moving around in my seat. I have a short attention span if something doesn't interest me enough. Haha.

Chocolate orange cupcakes
Makes about 12

55g butter, softened
100g sugar
135g self raising flour
25g cocoa
150ml fresh orange juice
2 (60g) eggs

choc orange frosting
finely grated orange rind, dried out in the oven
grated chocolate
Lindt Orange Intense chocolate

Preheat oven to 170C.

In a large bowl, sift flour and cocoa.
In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
Add orange juice and butter mixture to flour. Gently mix until combined.

Bake for about 12-15mins or until cooked.
Allow to cool completely before applying frosting and decoration.


I made a choc orange frosting, grated some chocolate and oven dried some orange rind (which had the most lovely smell to them!) and topped off with a piece of Lindt Orange Intense dark chocolate.

Look mum! No butter, no gluten and no dairy!

If I was a mother, I'd appreciate anything that comes from the heart of my children. (With that said, I'm not thinking of becoming a mother any time soon though!). You see, I like things that come from the heart; not just purchased off the shelf at the last minute. I like genuine thoughtfulness. Kind gestures. Qualities that I wish were in every human being. I know I'm dreaming of a world that can never be. And it crushes me deep down inside..

Anyway, with Mother's Day coming up, why don't you too, make something for someone? Be it your mother, grandmother, aunty, or even someone else's mother. If the thought is there, the appreciation and gratitude is as well.

Personally (as selfish as this sounds), I was kinda craving for a flourless orange cake. So that's what I made. Haha. :P.


Of course, the first slice and taste went to mummy. :)


This was my first time making a flourless orange cake. I love how it has no added butter and oils, and is gluten and dairy-free! (Not that I have any issues with gluten or dairy. I love my gluten. Haha). The cake was a success, but my orange syrup.. well, I need to remember to use my candy thermometer next time. I ended up with an orange toffee glaze instead. Which was reasonably okay! It added a chewy/crunchy texture to the moist dense orangey cake. No big deal in the end, but I did freak out during the process of making the 'syrup' last night! -__-

Flourless orange cake with orange syrup
Makes a 20cm diameter cake, serves 10-15

505g oranges (2 large oranges), washed
150g almond meal
150g sugar
4 eggs (70g eggs), separated
1 tsp baking powder (gluten free)

For orange syrup:
1 extra orange
150g sugar

Place clean oranges in a pot of water. Boil and simmer for an hour or until soft.
Drain and leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 170C.

Chop oranges into pieces, removing any seeds/pips.
Process oranges in a blender until a smooth orange paste is formed.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Slowly add sugar and continue beating until smooth and glossy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine almond meal, baking powder, orange paste and egg yolks.
Add 1/3 of the egg mixture and combine. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Pour into a lined 22cm diameter springform baking pan. Leave to rest for 10mins.

Bake for 1hr 5mins or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Make the syrup

Finely grate orange rind. Set aside.
Juice orange and pour into a small saucepan. Add sugar and rind.
Simmer on low until syrup consistency. (Temperature should not go above 110C otherwise it will turn into toffee or brittle if higher. Use a candy thermometer.. I couldn't be bothered finding it, and I overestimated, so I ended up with a toffee.. Haha -__-)

Pour over orange cake.
Decorate with almond flakes.



Allow to cool before refrigerating overnight.


Serve with a nice cup of tea.
The cake itself is not too sweet but the toffee gives it more of the sweetness, as well as a little crunch.

ANZAC

Today is ANZAC day, a day of remembrance for the soldiers who fought in Gallipoli during World War 1.

And with ANZAC day, there's ANZAC biscuits!

Mr Kookaburra has his eyes on the target

So.. I made ANZAC biscuits. :) But with a slight twist.

Mr Wombat wants one too..

By the way, did I mention that I hate kookaburras? They are such ferocious little creatures. (Once upon a time, a kookaburra attacked us for our lamb chops. Unfortunately for us, they won that battle on one single swoop.. ) -__-

Almond and orange ANZAC biscuits
Makes about 78 small or 38 normal biscuits

165g plain flour
115g quick cooking oats
109g flaked almonds
96g dessicated coconut
15g grated orange rind
141g brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp water
93g butter

Preheat oven to 165C.

Combine flour, oats, coconut, almonds, orange rind and sugar in a large bowl. Mix.

Melt the butter with the golden syrup and water. Add in baking soda.
Add into oat mixture. Mix until combined.


Line baking trays with baking paper.

Spoon tablespoon fulls (if making normal sized) or half tablespoon fulls of mixture (if making small ones) into your clean palms and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2cm apart and slightly flatten each.


Bake for small ones for about 12mins or until golden brown. (Large ones for about 15mins).


Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray and transferring onto cooling rack.


Store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks consumption.


I made 60 small ones and 8 normal ones (just because I got sick of rolling out small balls of mixture.. :P)

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!

Orange poppyseed cupcakes

My sister wanted to bake something to bring to work for her birthday. So I gave her some suggestions. "Orange poppyseed cupcakes?" "Sure! Do you have a recipe?" "Umm. Hold on a second and I'll conjure one up for you.." Haha. So I made up a verbal recipe for her, and it turned out disastrous!


Orange poppyseed cupcakes
Makes about 44 cupcakes

3 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup poppyseeds
1 1/3 cup sugar (I believe this is too much sugar. I'd say only use 3/4 - 1 cup only)

1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice/pulp (I would suggest switching the amount of milk with the amount of orange juice and vice versa instead, for a more orangey taste)
grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 165C.

Sift flours, baking powder, sugar and poppyseed together.
In another mixing bowl, mix milk, orange juice, orange rind, egg yolks and oil together.

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff peaks have formed.

Mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined. Fold in the egg whites.

Scoop into greased muffin tins or cupcake lined tins, until about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked.

Remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack before serving.


They.. turned out yellow and nowhere near orange! I did tell her to add more orange juice as her liquid.. but nooo.. she couldn't be bothered juicing another orange for its juice. -__- I informed her. It's her own fault!

The texture was quite good, but I found them just a tad sweet and barely had an orange flavour. So it was quite disappointing. I'd like to make my own orange poppyseed cupcakes/muffins. I like them. I see the gigantic ones at uni for $2.50 and am tempted to buy one until I tell myself that I can make my own ones freshly (one day). Oh well. I'll bake my own one day, with the orange glaze/icing and all. :)

A little bit of sanity

I've regained a little bit of sanity from baking. :)

No weird mixtures, not a weird concoction. Just plain chocolate. Lindt dark orange chocolate, that is.


Orange Intense chocolate cupcakes
Makes about 48 baby cupcakes and a mini heart shaped cake.

100gm Lindt Excellence Orange Intense Dark Extra Fine Chocolate, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup corn flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
2/3 cup baking cocoa

2 eggs
1 2/3 cups milk
100gm butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar

Sift flours, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl.

Cream butter and sugar, then blend in the eggs and milk.

Add liquid mixture into dry flour mixture.
Add in the chopped chocolate and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Scoop into paper cases or into greased pans.

Bake at 170C in a preheated oven for ~12mins (baby cupcakes) and ~18mins (for the mini heart cake), or until cooked. (Use a toothpick or similar to poke the center of the cake. If it comes out clean then it's ready!)

Allow to cool before decorating/serving.

The cake goes great with some vanilla ice-cream, though you wouldn't eat the whole mini cake by yourself..

And even the baby cupcakes can be made into chocolate cake sandwiches. Haha.
Not my hand. Not my cupcake. Not my idea. :P

The cupcakes by themselves don't have an extreme sweetness to them, and the consistency is similar to a mud cake. You can taste the orange chocolate and can physically find them in little pieces as well. It all depends on your taste buds but I prefer not to have the buttercream icing. I need to find a good recipe for it because my buttercream likes to melt.. I just threw the buttercream icing together as I went along. Haha

Chocolate buttercream icing
Enough to spread about 40 baby cupcakes.

1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp cocoa
3 tsp milk
1 tbsp margarine

Mix all ingredients together until a smooth paste is formed.
Decorate as necessary with an icing bag/tip.


I would have decorated them further with sprinkles and such, but I really just didn't have time. :( I really wanted to make them prettier though!

Well, the cupcakes are all gone now. I had brought about 24 to uni and forced people to eat them (sorry if they didn't taste that great.. but thanks to those that helped me be rid of them! ), gave some to relatives and the rest were eaten by family.

I'll improve the recipe next time, and create a better icing also. There's always room for improvement, you know. I've yet to perfect anything.

Next up, a birthday cake. A cheesecake, I think.