Its been so long since I blog.........

Due to the wedding, I've been really busy and overlook my blog here. I am sorry that I have not been updating in here. Gosh, I'm glad that the wedding is over but then again if I could turn back the time, I was to go thru the wedding again... hehe.. very exciting... and I get to see my freinds from secondary school and my old neighbors..

After the wedding and stuff, I decided to take sometime off from baking.. Just temporary.. I also had to let Lisa and Ivonne know that I cant commit to DB for a few months.. :( Lisa was so nice and informed me that when I am ready to return, just email them to let them know..

However, as and when, I will update in here.... Thanks.. :)

DB April Challenge: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake ( No bake cheesecake).

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

As I am very busy preparing for my wedding next month, lately it has been really crazy days for me.. Since I did not participated in the last month's challenge, I had to bake this month. From the photo, I admitted that it is not oven-baked cheesecake. I hope I get no penalty because I did not actually followed the recipe that Jenny chosen. I have made a no-bake cheesecake instead. But after the wedding is over and everything else is running smoothly, I will definitely be back in the kitchen and also bake Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake. :)

Check out for the rest or DB blogs and Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake recipe in here!

I missed the baking challenges...

For this month, its bad... because I was not able to do my baking for March challenge from Daring Bakers. I wish I got some time to do the baking. This is my first time to miss a challenge since I joined the group August last year....

Even if I bake, I have no camera to take the pictures. My elder brother borrowed my Canon IXUS-65 digi camera because his son had a soccer tournament but somehow, due to his carelessness and oversight, he lost my digi camera!!!! Its a birthday gift for myself that I bought a few years ago.. i know, kinda sad.. gift for yourself but anyway... it is lost!! So frustrated and so so sad... Who ever stole my camera is really a dishonest person! But what goes around comes around. Don't you think so.....

Anyhoo, its been out for while now. Daring Bakers is called Daring Kitchen and has moved to a whole new website. :) Very impressive. Must check it out. With the new website, besides Daring Bakers born Daring Cooks. We have a choice to join Daring Cooks but for now, Im just in Daring Bakers... So many things to be done... work, taking care of my nephew and preparing for my wedding and trying to lose weight.. Phew.. seems alot of things huh ... still trying to juggle everything smoothly...

Check out Daring Kitchen and March Challenge. With all that said, I also I missed challenges at Cookie Carnival and Sweet and Simple Bakes. Feel kinda bad for not able to bake the cookie recipes emailed by Kate and also Sweet and Simple Bakes.. :(

Hopefully I am able to bake for April Challenges. Miss baking in the kitchen.... Have a good day everyone. :)

DB February 2009: Chocolate Valentino Cake

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I apologise for being late to post the February 2009 challenge. I baked the cake earlier and had my post on "Save". Unfortunately, I had a very busy schedule the past 3 days. I was not able to complete it and post on Feb 28th. My better half came to visit and we had been so busy attending the 2-day Pre-Marriage course and stuff, I was unable to post it on the date that I was suppose to..... :(

I love this Chocolate Valentino Cake and so does my better half. I also love Chef Wan. Excellent chef and quite funny in his cooking shows.. I was really excited to know that Wendy and Dharm have chosen his recipe.... :)

Anyway, I baked the cake a few hours before he arrived here. Its his belated Valentine's surprise. I had to admit that the way I baked this cake was terribly wrong. It took more than 25mins. LOL... I think about more than an hour.. I was confused. I had the temperature to the lowest setting. The cake was still wet... so I raised the temperature a little higher and this cake still didnt baked... So finally I raised it to 150c.. It looked as if it was baked, because the top part looked dry. I tested it using a toothpick, the middle was wet. I baked it once more... I think when you bake cakes, you must not open the oven door, or the cake will sink in the middle. Which is exactly what mine did. The top part cracked and the cake sunk! LOL... Although with all these mistakes I did, you wont believe it, the cake still taste really really good! So instead of using the whole heart-shaped cake, I used a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to make it looked more presentable....

Chocolate Valentino Cake
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Method:
1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Links to helpful tips:
Folding video demonstration.
Egg Whipping video demonstration.



For the ice-cream, I used David Leboitz's Vanilla Ice Cream recipe. It was very sweet but I still like it. Since I do not have a ice-cream maker, I had to do it manually and it takes about three and half hours to complete.
Here is the link to making ice cream without a machine.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean
5 egg yolks
2 cup heavy cream
A few drops of vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk.
2. Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.
3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

Thanks Wendy and Dharm for the excellent challenge...

Happy Valentine's Day

I wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.... Planning to bake something special tonight... Since my fiance is not here to celebrate this year Valentine's Day with me, I shall bake for my family... Hmm.. last year, he surprised me with flowers, teddy bear and chocolates... it was really sweet.. This year, I'll surprise him when he comes here end of the month....

Anyhoo, I'll post my bake later tonight... wait up yea.. hehe... :o)
Have a good weekends. :)