Recipe: Watermelon Bread

Hello hello! It's been quite awhile since I've posted something, thanks to the ever dreadful dissertation and me being a lazy bum, but hey I am back! Having been on hiatus from baking for a couple of weeks, I have finally decided to get back on the baking train by making the ever so adorable Watermelon bread! 

So, story time, a few weeks ago I was trying to make a tiramisu since I have a pack of mascarpone cheese sitting in the fridge for quite awhile now, and lets just say that it was so horrible that I had to stop my sister from compassionately eating the soggy pile of lady fingers before something goes wrong (sigh). I do not know what went wrong but I swear french desserts and I have a very complicated relationship (my first time making macaroons was terrifying, but more on that later). I guess I should just stick to the uncomplicated stuff for now until I get my confidence back.

Well back to the happy stuff! This time I have made a watermelon bread, and I am quite happy with how it turned out, though it could look a little prettier than this (there's first time for everything right?) Watermelon bread has been quite a phenomenon in Taiwan, made from the usual ingredient that you would find in a bread BUT only uses milk as the liquid for the dough. " But watermelon bread? what eww" Now before you go all turn off by this, no this does not literally tastes like watermelon, it just looks like one! The bread could taste like...well your normal bread but if you would like to spice it up a little, use green tea powder instead of edible colouring and viola! you have yourself a macha bread. Some people like to use some strawberry emulsion in the red colour portion to make the watermelon bread to taste like strawberry, sounds bizarre but its yummy, I promise. 

For my version of watermelon bread, I have chosen to take the healthier path and used all natural colouring to colour the bread. For the green part, I used green tea powder, the red part with beetroot powder and the black part with charcoal powder. Do not worry if you do not have any of these, just use the appropriate amount of edible colouring gel and you will get the same (prettier, even) result.

Well that's it from me, let me know how it turned out for you, and happy baking!

See recipe below!

Macha flavoured watermelon bread! 

So adorable!

Watermelon Bread

Recipe by Ashley Ooi (recipe adapted from Mic mic cooking)

Feeling hot this summer? Cool down with this macha flavored watermelon bread!

Prep time: 4 hours (including rising, assembling and cooling time)

Cook time: 30 minutes

Total time: 4 hours 30 minutes (including cooling time)

Ingredients

• 400g Bread flour (High protein flour)
• 250ml Milk
• 15g Granulated sugar
• 4g Salt
• 15g Unsalted butter
• 4g Instant yeast
• 2 Tbsps (add more if necessary) Beetroot powder
• 2 Tbsps (add more if necessary) Green tea powder
• 1 Tbsp Charcoal powder
• A few tsps Water (for mixing the colour powder)

Cooking Directions

1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast together.
2. Pour milk into the mixture, mix well until a dough is formed.
3. Knead butter into the dough until the surface of the dough is smooth and no longer sticking to your hands.
4. Put the dough into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 15 minutes.
5. After the first rise, separate the dough into 4 portions : 50g, 220g, 110g, and the remaining dough (approximately 280g).
6. Add a few drops of water to dissolve the food powder in a separate container.
7. Mix the 50g dough with charcoal powder, put in a bowl and cover with plastic cover.
8. Mix the 220g with beetroot powder (or food colouring), put into a bowl and cover with plastic cover.
9. Slightly knead the 110g dough to punch the air out and cover with plastic wrap in a bowl. (This do not have colour)
10. Mix the rest of the dough (280g) with green tea powder. Take out 60g from the green dough and add charcoal powder to get a dark green dough. Set both aside cover with plastic wrap.
11. Let the dough rise for the second time for 45 minutes.
12. Cut the black dough into small pieces and roll into small cylinder shape.
13. Roll the red dough into the size slightly shorter than your bread tin. Place the black dough on top and roll the red dough into a cylinder shape.
14. Roll the white dough flat and wrap it around the red dough.
15. Cut the dark green dough into small pieces and slightly flatten it.
16. Roll the light green dough flat, place the dark green pieces on top and flatten it together.
17. Flip the green dough over and wrap the white dough, make sure to seal all holes until the whole thing is covered with the green dough.
18. Put into the bread tin and let it rise for 1 hour with the cover closed.
19. Bake in a 180 Celsius oven for 30 minutes or until the outside is slightly golden brown. 
20. Once the bread is done, remove it from the baking tin and let it cool on a wire rack.           

Here's some photo to help with the assembling instruction:

The dough after rising for the 2nd time

Roll the black dough into small cylinder 

Roll the red dough flat and place the black dough on top

Roll it together like so 

Roll the white dough flat and wrap the red dough

Roll the dark green dough and light green dough flat

Wrap the white dough and seal all holes, place into the buttered bread tin

                           

Love, 

Ashley

                           

Recipe: Japanese Strawberry shortcake

Over the past few weeks, I have been on a hunt for strawberries. Back when I was living in the UK, it used to be so easy to get my hands on some good strawberries, with reasonable price too (and I do mean easy, I could get them right across the street!). Anyhow, now that I am back home, my cravings for those lovely jewel-like berries are getting harder to satisfy. Now don't get me wrong, we do have fairly good strawberries here, mostly imported, thus sky-high price and me emptying my wallet while damping the cashier counter with my blood and tears (lol I kid).

Thankfully, with much endurance, I was able to find some fairly priced and beautiful Korean Strawberries. They were not the biggest nor the most eye-catching ones, but hey, they were good enough for me. 

Finally!

Look, so pretty.

Oh, did I mention the reason for my strawberries hunting (?) was because I wanted to make a strawberry shortcake? Yeap, strawberry shortcake! I had tons of fun making the cake and even more fun eating it. I could say that I was making it to celebrate Valentines day with my family, but I'd be lyin' if I do. We do not need a reason to bake, we just bake it. Period. Anyways, enjoy the recipe and let me know what you think!

ps: The tin that I used for the three-tiered cake is a fairly small 12cm tin. I have poured the rest of the cake batter into another square tin but do note that this recipe is suitable for one 18cm cake tin.

Find recipe after the photos.

A basic Genoise cake

Fancy for a piece?

Strawberry Shortcake

A square-shaped strawberry shortcake with some chocolate shavings, equally delicious!

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

Recipe by Ashley Ooi

Easy to bake and delicious Japanese Strawberry Shortcake.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 1/2 hours (including decorating time)

Ingredients

The Genoise cake:

• 115g Cake Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 120g Granulated sugar
• 30g Unsalted butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 45ml Milk

Syrup:

• 30g Granulated sugar
• 15g Water

Fresh Cream:

• 500ml Whipping Cream
• 50g Granulated sugar

Decorations:

• 20 Medium-sized Strawberries
• 1 tbsp Apricot jam
• 1 tsp Water

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 175°c. Line the cake tin’s base with parchment paper. 
2. Sift the cake flour and set aside.
3. In the mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar and beat with an electric hand mixer over a boiling pot of water until they are melted.
4. Remove bowl from the water and continue whisking until the admixture turns creamy-white color and has a silky texture.
5. Add sifted flour and fold into the mixture. Add butter, warm milk and vanilla extract and mix them well. 
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes until cooked. To test if the cake is well cooked, stab a toothpick or chopstick into the cake. The cake is done if it comes up dry.
7. Remove cake from the tin without peeling the baking paper off. Set aside to cool.
8. To make fresh cream, whisk whipping cream and sugar using an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
9. Slice top of the cake off. Divide it into two layers. Place the first layer on a cake stand. Brush syrup on top of the cake.
10. Spread whipped cream on top of the cake and fill the cream layer by placing the strawberry (cut into 1cm) on  top. Spread whipped cream over the strawberries again.
11. Repeat the steps for the second layer of cake.
12. Frost the whole cake with whipped cream. Decorate the cake with whole strawberries. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the cream.
13. Serve in pieces and enjoy! 

Love, 

Ashley

Recipes: Gudetama (ぐでたま) Lemon Cookies

Good news! I am now officially a person with an oven! All the bakers say "heiyo" *heiyo*. Woots woots.

In case you can't tell, I am already up in the air thinking about all of the cakes and cookies I am going to be baking in the future. There are tons, and I do mean TONS of recipes that I have been dying to try, and words can't even describe how exciting I am right now. 

So, as a 'grand opening' of my lovely oven (ps: thanks mommy and daddy who probably got me the oven purely because I was getting too annoying with my whining *wink*), I have decided to make these adorable Gudetama lemon cookies!

Before we move on to the recipe itself, here's a brief introduction on this adorable egg. Gudetama (ぐでたま) , literally translated as Lazy Egg, is a Sanrio character introduced in 2013. It is lazy, has no energy, non motivated, and thinks that there is no point of having a positive attitude as he believes that someday he is going to be eaten. I find it ultra adorable, and super snugly (we are still talking about an egg, believe me). Here's a short clip of it in action. 

Isn't he the cutest?!

Okay, without further ado, check out the recipe after the photos!

Egg yolk in the making.

Hot in the oven.

"We just want to sleep" ah ~~~

Cutest cookies ever

"Just eat us already, why bother?" ~~

Here is a short clip of us cutting the poor thing in half:

Gudetama Lemon Cookies

Recipe adapted from the ever so talented 스윗더미 . Sweet The MI (with a few personal twist)

Learn how to make the cutest and laziest cookies alive!

Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 3 hours (plus cooling and decorating time)

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Cookies

• 120g Butter (softened)
• 100g Icing sugar
• Zest of 1 whole lemon
• 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
• 1 Egg
• 1 drop Almond extract
• 300g Cake flour (soft flour)
• A few drops Yellow colouring (optional)

Egg whites and decoration

• 3 squares Dark/milk chocolate
• 1 cup White chocolate

Cooking Directions:

1. Whisk the butter in a bowl until soft.
2. Add in the sifted icing sugar, whisk until creamy
3. Add in the egg and whisk again. (save egg shell if want to make a white chocolate egg shell)
4. Add in lemon zest, lemon juice, and almond extract, mix until all well combined.
5. Add in sifted flour, use a spatula to fold the flour into the mixture. Keep folding until the mixture turns doughy.
6. Add in the yellow colouring (you can opt this step out but I used it to make the egg yolk looking extra yellow). Fold again until the colouring is well incorporated to the dough.
7. Wrap the dough with a plastic wrap, let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
9. After 30 minutes, take out the dough and start sculpting your Gudetama.
10. Place the sculpted dough on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
11. Once done, set the cookies aside and let it cool completely.
12. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate with a double boiler and pour the melted chocolate into a small piping bag.
13. Once the cookies are cooled, draw the face feature with the melted dark chocolate. Set aside for 10 minutes to dry.
14. Melt the white chocolate with a double boiler, and use a spoon to spread the white chocolate on a non-stick baking sheet to form the egg whites. (one egg white would need approximately 1 1/2 tablespoon of chocolate).
15. Place the egg yolk cookie on top of the white chocolate before it dries.
16. Once done, keep the cookies in the freezer for half an hour until the white chocolate hardens.
17. Take tons of photos and enjoy!

Extra:

If you would like to take things up a notch by making a hollow white chocolate egg shell, simply crack the top of the egg carefully, pour its content out and clean its inside, pour in melted white chocolate and swirl the chocolate around until it completely covers the surface and let it cool in the freezer for half an hour, if you want thicker shells, coat the inside again and let it cool. Once cooled, peel the egg shell carefully, and voila! you have a white chocolate egg shell!

Love, 

Ashley

Rice Cooker Cake Recipes: Pink Velvet Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!

Have you ever had that sudden urge to bake a cake in the middle of the day, and you actually made it ever so randomly? I know I have, and this cake was the perfect example of it. To be fair, I have been looking for an opportunity (or excuse, you might say) to try baking a pink velvet cake using only a rice cooker, and what occasion could be more appropriate than Valentines day itself, right? Even though I did not technically have any 'special someone' to spend the day with, I have decided to make the cake and enjoy it with the love of my life, my ever wonderful family. The cake turned out really well and I had so much fun making it. 

Pink and fluffy cake with soft and creamy lemon frosting

Since I did not have any buttermilk in hand, I had to make it myself. To make your own buttermilk, just add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into 1 cup of milk, wait for it to do its magic for 10 minutes, and voila! you have buttermilk.

This recipe was adapted from the ever lovely Abeer from cakewhiz.com, but instead of her delicious strawberry frosting, I have decided to go with my very own lemon cream cheese frosting, just as a personal twist. Also, rather than using 1 cup of butter for the cake, I have put in my own twist by cutting down the butter to 1/2 cup and replace it with 1/2 cup of coconut oil. 

Overall, I really like this recipe and I am so glad that my family loved it too. Hope you had a great Valentines day and maybe next year you can make this cake for your special someone!

Here is the recipe!

Pink Velvet Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe by Ashley Ooi (adapted from cakewhiz with a few personal twist)

Learn how to make a pink velvet cake, with a rice cooker!

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 15 minutes (including cooling and decorating time)
Ingredients

The Cake

• 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 cups Sugar
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• A few drops Rose Pink Gel Colouring

The Frosting

• 2 (8 ounce) packages Cream Cheese (softened)
• 1/2 cup Butter (softened)
• 2 cups Icing Sugar
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Lemon Zests
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cooking Directions

The Cake

1. In a bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs one by one and mix well.
3. Add in coconut oil and mix again.
4. In another bowl, add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture by batch, alternate by adding buttermilk in between. Mix well after each addition until the batter is smooth and silky.
6. Add in the colouring and adjust the shade according to your preference.
7. Slightly oil the rice cooker and pour the batter in.
8. Smooth the surface and lightly tap the pot to remove air bubbles from the batter.
9. Set the rice cooker to cake function and press the start button.
10. Once the cake is done, wait for it to cool down.
11. Carefully cut the cake into half horizontally.
12. Spread frosting on the cake and put the other layer on top. Frost the cake to your preference. Decorate with sprinkles.
13. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before eating.

The Frosting

1. Cream the cream cheese with an electric mixer.
2. Add in butter and mix until soft and fluffy.
3. Add in the lemon juice and zest and mix again.
4. Add in sugar and vanilla extract, mix well.
5. Once everything are well incorporated, turn the mixer to the highest speed and mix the frosting for 10 seconds to get a light and fluffy frosting.

Love, 

Ashley

Recipe: Chinese Turnip Cake (a.k.a Lo bak gou/ 萝卜糕)

Having spent my last two Chinese New Years in the UK, to say that I've missed the CNY food would be an understatement. I miss the cookies, the cakes, bakkwa (chinese version of meat jerky), reunion dinner, mandarin and most importantly, Chinese turnip cake. Now that I have some spare time in hand, I have decided to make some for my family to get everyone into the Chinese New Year mood.

Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, I was really happy with the end product. My tip for this recipe is to put some salt on the shredded turnip to release the water so as to get rid of the bitterness of the turnip. As for frying, you could pan fry it straight without the powder, but I prefer coating it with some rice flour just to make it extra crispy.

On with the recipe!

For ingredients, you will need: 

• 400g Chinese turnip/ Daikon radish (grated)
• 300g Rice flour
• 30g Tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons Dried shrimps (soaked, dried and chopped)
• 5-6 Chinese mushrooms (soaked, and chopped)
• 1 Chinese sausage
• 7-8 Dried anchovy (ikan bilis)
• 800ml Water
• 1 tbsp Garlic (diced)
• 2 tbsp Red onion (diced)
• 3 tbsp Oil
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tsp White pepper
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil

Wash the anchovies and boil with water in low heat for 15 minutes to make a stock. Set aside to cool. Grate the Chinese turnip, mix with 1 tbsp of salt. Let it rest until liquid comes out. Remove the turnip from the liquid and lightly dry it with a paper towel.

 Dice up the mushrooms, garlic, red onion, sausage, and dried shrimps.

Mix the rice flour, tapioca flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 white pepper together. Pour in half of the stock and mix well into a batter.

Heat your pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of cooking oil, add in the garlic and red onion, stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add in mushrooms, sausage, and dried shrimps into the pan, stir fry for 5 minutes.

Add in the turnip and the other half of the stock, season with soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and sesame oil, cook for another 2 minutes.

Turn your pan to low heat, pour the batter into the pan. Keep on stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens.

Pour the mixture into a oiled loaf pan, steam over high heat for 1 hour.

Remove pan from steamer and let it cool for 30 minutes.Gently loosen the sides and turn the cake out onto a chopping board.

Cut it into even pieces, lightly coat each cake with a thin layer of rice flour.

Add 1 tbsp of oil and pan fried both side of the turnip cake in medium-low heat until golden brown.

Serve with Thai chilli sauce, sriracha or Oyster sauce.

Enjoy and Happy Chinese New Year in advance!

Turnip cake (Lo bak gou/ 萝卜糕)

Recipe by Ashley Ooi

Delicious Chinese turnip cake.

Prep time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Yield: 5 servings

Ingredients

• 400g Chinese turnip/ Daikon radish (grated)
• 300g Rice flour
• 30g Tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons Dried shrimps (soaked, dried and chopped)
• 5-6 Chinese mushrooms (soaked, and chopped)
• 1 Chinese sausage
• 7-8 Dried anchovy (ikan bilis)
• 800ml Water
• 1 tbsp Garlic (diced)
• 2 tbsp Red onion (diced)
• 3 tbsp Oil
• 2 tbsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tsp White pepper
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil

Cooking Directions

1. Wash the anchovies and boil with water in low heat for 15 minutes to make a stock. Set aside to cool.
2. Grate the Chinese turnip, mix with 1 tbsp of salt. Let it rest until liquid comes out. Remove the turnip from the liquid and lightly dry it.
3. Dice up the mushrooms, garlic, red onion, sausage, and dried shrimps.
4. Mix the rice flour, tapioca flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 white pepper together. Pour in half of the stock and mix well into a batter.
5. Heat your pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of cooking oil, add in the garlic and red onion, stir fry for 2 minutes.
6. Add in mushrooms, sausage, and dried shrimps into the pan, stir fry for 5 minutes.
7. Add in the turnip and the other half of the stock, season with soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and sesame oil, cook for another 2 minutes.
8. Turn your pan to low heat, pour the batter into the pan. Keep on stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens.
9. Pour the mixture into a oiled loaf pan, steam over high heat for 1 hour.
10. Remove pan from steamer and let it cool for 30 minutes.
11. Gently loosen the sides and turn the cake out onto a chopping board.
12. Cut it into even pieces, lightly coat each cake with a thin layer of rice flour.
13. Add 1 tbsp of oil and pan fried both side of the turnip cake in medium-low heat until golden brown.
14. Serve with Thai chilli sauce, sriracha or Oyster sauce.