test drives

It's been quite a busy, busy week for me but I managed to squeeze some baking moments into my schedule thus far.

The first is a chocolate pudding cake which has not failed me thus far and has been immensely successful wherever I bring them to. The photo doesn't do justice to this single bowl of mix and bake and then eat from it cake, but it looks rather like some moon craters or something rather than an intense piece of chocolate goodness with gooey chocolate topping. Mmm.


Following that, I learned a new recipe from a friend for a bread/scone like pastry which has only three basic ingredients as its base. I don't know what they're really called but I think I'm going to dub them Mayo Bread. They're actually quite good plain but to spice things up a bit you can do what I did as follows.

1 cup self-raising flour + 1/2 cup milk (low-fat or no fat is fine) + 2 tbs mayonnaise


After combining the above three ingredients, you can add whatever you like into the mix. I used dried fruits and sultanas in the first one and the other one has cocoa powder mixed into it and I topped the dollops of dough with a huge marshmallow on each of them.


Since they don't have any sugar at all, the dried fruits + sultanas one turned out the better batch while the chocolate + marshmallow one didn't really have much taste to them unless you liked marshmallow. The next day the marshmallow one sort of turned quite sticky and looked quite mushy to me. I don't think I'll try that one again. Perhaps chocolate chips next time.

I just baked this little beauty today and the smell is still wafting in the apartment. Absolutely lovely and I am just in love with bananas this season. They're just too cheap to miss out at my local fresh produce market and I've been stocking up on them.


These are called Monkey Bars because they're denser than the usual banana bread or cake. A bit more like a brownie like cake but with banana and chocolate chips instead. I'm pretty pleased with this, not because of the fantastic aroma and taste though they are really good, but because these don't require too much butter as well. I substituted the butter for margarine and they came out great and also the baking soda for baking powder because I didn't have any soda. I don't think the changes I made affected the bars because they taste wonderful.


Hopefully when I bring some to tomorrow's service, my friends will think that way too about the Monkey Bars. Again, my gratitude to the lovely Baking Bites for the two recipes featured today and here's to more great recipes in future!

dough you just love it

Baking. Is there a more pleasurable way of spending time in the kitchen creating a beautiful cake or loaf or a tray full of warm cookies fresh from the oven using a handful of raw ingredients.


Damn I've only been away from the oven back home for two months now and I'm feeling it already. The bad thing is that my new place doesn't have an oven for me experiment new pastry recipes or new roast or grilling meals.


My baking adventures have been wide and varied. From the disastrous to the downright delicious and delectable.

Chocolate chip cookies are a time honoured tradition that every novice baker has to go through the rigor induction process of baking. No one can resist the tempting urge to just scarf down a few handfuls of chocolate infused crumbly or chewy morsels, more so to tantalize your taste buds with crispy and crunchy doughy goodness.There's been a few variations of cookies that I've experimented in the past including peanut butter filled chocolate cookies, butter cookies, cereal cookies, peanut butter cookies, cinnamon frozen cookies, and various others.


Muffins have a been a love-hate thing for me in the past. I could never bake muffins for nuts previously but after many persistent attempts, I finally got it right with Nutella and peanut butter self-frosting muffins. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show my effort for nuts so you'll just have to believe me when I say that they came out fragrantly peanut buttery and Nutella-rific. A bit on the sweet side but I'll tone it down the next time I make it.


Then there's the loafs. I've baked a few different loafs during the past years. Some came out pretty good while others were passable. My butter pound loaf recipe seems to be a favourite of my mom's while I prefer the banana loaf one. Loaves are easy, quick and simple no fuss quick breads to bake when you're a beginner.


Another favourite cake recipe I discovered late last year was this chocolate pudding cake recipe by Baking Bites. It's as simple as baking cakes goes. It's all mixed, baked and eaten from one pan. Absolutely sinful, chocolatey, gooey and sticky goodness. I served this up when some friends dropped by and thankfully there were seconds to go round. Didn't get a few shots of the cocoaey oozy cake back then as well.

I've tried scones and breads as well in the past which did not see the light of day as they were atrocious both in the taste department and visually fugly as well. I guess bread will just take some time for me to get used to and finally overcome my fear of them soon.

I'll be attempting to recreate some baking magic tomorrow when I go over to a friend's place to use her oven. I'm going to teach her to bake cookies or chocolate pudding cake. Yum!

And just for the record, I've been on an accidental vegetarian diet for the last two days because I've been experimenting with risotto for my dinners with limited resources like celery, cheeses, tomato, and carrots with cashew nuts thrown into the mix for snacks. Watch this space for a post on my risotto romp as I will try to perfect this simple and hearty Italian dish in due time.