Special Compilation On Breakfast Muffins And Cupcakes

This is a special compilation of my cupcakes or muffins. Note that I have used cupcakes and muffins interchangeably because there is only a thin line between these two. Muffin preparation are usually fast, mix and bake with much lower fats contents. On the other hand, cupcakes generally have a much higher fat contents, with more complicated method (like creaming method, egg separation method) of preparation. Since most of my recipes fall into a mixture of these two broad categorizations, I have therefore decided to use it interchangeably in this post.

Most of these muffin and cup cakes are easy to prepare and suitable for breakfast. As far as I am concerned, frosting is totally optional for Asian taste, what we need is more of some type of bakes that are easy, fast and practical.

For individual recipes just click on the title or individual recipes to go the respective posts.

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Basic Muffin Recipes  (Mix and bake)

Of course, I shall start with this basic muffin recipe. This recipe, as far as I am concerned, is the fundamental of most of my bakes. I can be rather fast in preparing these muffins because I can remember this simple recipe. I will then tailor to the ingredients that I have at home. Even more basic recipe will be one portion of sugar, eggs, self raising flour, butters or other types of fats, plus 0.5-1 portion of milk will provide you a moist cake/muffin. Don’t doubt this, it works well as this falls back to the traditional pound cake recipe. Just memorize this and you will be able to design your own recipe for cupcakes or muffins.

Peanut Butter Muffins (Mix and Bake) – Peanut butter, being a type of fat can also be used to prepare your muffins. My kids help me to prepare it and from here you will know how simple is the muffin.

Carrot Raisin Muffins (红萝卜葡萄干小松饼）(Mix and bake) 

Carrot Muffins (Mix and Bake) – Another simple carrot muffin recipe that you have to try, it can be easily transformed to carrot cake if you want .

Sweet Potatoes Cranberry Muffins (蔓梅地瓜小松饼）

Blueberry Yoghurt Muffins (炼乳酸奶蓝梅小松饼）

Simple Moist Chocolate Muffin (简易巧克力小松糕）

Ondeh Ondeh Muffins (椰子小松饼）

Coconut Muffins (Mix and Bake) – A moist muffin that I liked very much, should give it a try as a change if you like  coconut flavour bakes.

Banana Cream Cheese Muffins (香蕉奶酪小松饼）

Banana Cream Cheese Cupcake (Mix and Bake)  – The old recipe (2) the banana render the muffins very moist and make the cream cheese goes well with it.

Baby Cereal Muffins (小孩麦片小松饼）

Instant Cereal Chocolate Cupcake (Mix and Bake) – Lack of type of  ingredients at home and what what to bake, try this instant cereal muffins. You can always substitute instant cereal or instant breakfast beverages of your choice.

 

Luncheon Meat Cheddar Cheese Muffin (午餐肉芝士小松饼）

Healthy Vegetable Muffins (Mix and Bake) – This vegetable healthy muffin is prepared using olive oil. Kids don’t want to eat vegetable, why not try this?

Red Velvet Cupcake with White Chocolate Frosting  (Mix and Bake) – Going to party? Try this .. not really for breakfast but it will impress your guest with this special white chocolate frostings.

Yoghurt Marble Cupcake  (Creaming) – The use of yoghurt have enhance the texture of the cupcake  and it is a moist and finer cupcake as compared to other muffins.

Traditional Butterfly Cupcake  (Mixing) – A traditional cake using mixing method meaning put all ingredients together, mix well and bake. Creaming is optional but taste is awesome. This should be one of the faster but you must wash your mixer.

Coffee and Chocolate Cupcake with Mascarpone Chocolate Frosting (咖啡巧克力杯子蛋糕) (Mixing) – Another traditional mixing cake. The mascarpone frosting is definitely different from those normal frosting. If you do not want frosting, just transform it into normal cake.

Cupcake Sponge Cake/Kueh Bahulu (烤杯子鸡蛋糕）(Whisking) – You like kueh bahulu or baked sponge cake? You should try this. If you want full egg aroma, use cooking oil. If you want it taste like French madeleine, add butter instead. A very suitable breakfast item. 

English Muffins (Proofing) – A totally different type of muffins, English muffin. It is just like a bread and can be either be oven baked or pan fried.

Vegetarian Matcha Almond Muffins (绿茶杏仁小松饼）

Eggless, Butter less and Milk less Chocolate Cupcake (Mix and Bake) – If you want a pure vegetarian cupcake, try this cupcake which is milk less, butter less and eggless cupcake. Taste is equally good but slightly denser than most other type of cupcake.

Microwave Mug Cake (Mixing) – If you are game enough, do try this less than 5 minutes microwave mug cake. It is a quick and delicious cake. As contrast to a baked cake, it is moister as not much water vapour is lost.

 

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• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 28 July 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.  

• You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP  to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

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Banana Cream Cheese Cupcakes–One Number Baking Ratio Adventures No. 10

INTRODUCTION

It is fun and easy to make, you can ask your kids to help out as it is just mix and bake. It is tasty, moist and cheesy. I should have put more cream cheese in it.

The inspiration of this recipe comes  from one of the entries in the FOUR SEASONS BLOG HOP #22 – Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins. The blog owner, Ms. Christian had her version of pumpkin cream cheese muffins. In her muffins, she put one tablespoon  of cream cheese in the batter and the muffins looks extremely delish. I commented on her post that since pumpkin prices in Singapore appeared to be unaffected, I will try her recipe by substituting using carrots. She is unsure but she offered alternatives to substitute with sweet potatoes or yams! How kind is she! I wanted to take this opportunities to thank her for her kind advise.

This morning when I woke up, I looked at the whole bunch of bananas “sitting” quietly in my dining table. It was ripe and I did not foresee we were able to finish all within a day. Then it stroke my mind the above recipe. I told myself that I should try to get rid of these overly ripe bananas by making some banana cream cheese muffins/cupcakes utilizing my proposed “one number baking ratio” theory…. and I am glad that the results were very satisfactory as you can see for yourself in the picture.

One number baking ratio basically means that using equal portion of the ingredients to prepare the baked products. If you are interested to read more about my “one number baking ratio” adventures, you can refer to the following posts –Basic Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Muffins, Fruits Dates Cakes, Zebra Patterned Pound Cake, Grapefruit Cognac Pound Cake，Almond Sugee Cake and Yoghurt Marble Cupcakes.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED?

Servings: about: 12 medium muffin size cup cakes

• 250 grams of cooking oil or melted butter (I used half each because I have some melted butter left)

• 250 grams of self raising flours

• 250 grams of castor sugar or brown sugar

• 250 grams of eggs (or if you want to use actual weights of 5 eggs, any excess weights from 250grams will have to be deducted from 100 grams of milk) – see explanation below

• 150 grams of ripe bananas (or if you want to use actual weights of 3 ripe bananas, any excess weights from 100 grams will have to be deducted from 150 grams of milk) – see explanation below

• 100 grams of milk (or subject to excess volume of bananas and eggs)

• 1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon spice mix (or the spice mix for cakes)

• 1 additional banana for decoration toppings.

Cream Cheese Fillings

• 100 grams of cream cheese, soften

• 50 grams of icing sugar

CACULATION OF ACTUAL MILK VOLUMES USED

My actual eggs volumes used are =5 eggs x 53 grams per egg = 265 grams and my actual banana volumes used are 175 grams. Therefore milk volume = 100 grams – excess egg volumes (265-250) grams – excess banana volumes (175-150)grams = (100-15-25) grams = 60 grams. Therefore my actual usage today is 265 grams of eggs used, 175 grams banana used and 60 grams of milk.

Of course you can just stick to the exact volumes as stated above without performing the above calculations.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

Preparation

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius

• Line 12 medium sized muffin tins with muffin cups or slightly greased the muffin tin with butter.

• Lightly beat the cream cheese and sugar using the machine whisk or manual whisk until smooth and not lumpy. Set aside for later use.

• Mesh the bananas using a fork until it is soft and fine.

• Sift the self raising flour, baking soda, cinnamon powder (spice mix) into the big bowl. Add the sugar and make a well in the centre.

• In another bowl, mixed all the liquids ingredients (eggs, meshed bananas, milk, melted butter or cooking oil) together, stir until well mixed.

• Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use the fork or a big spoon to quickly mix the batter. It is okay if there are some lumps in it.

• Scope 2 tablespoons of batter into the muffin cups. Add in one tablespoon of beaten cream cheese. Ensure that the cream cheese does not touch the walls of the muffin cups. Fill in additional batter until it is about 80% full.  Cut 2 thin slices of bananas and placed on top of the batters.

• Baked in the oven for 15-20 minutes or when a skewer inserted the skewer comes out clean. But note that there are melted cream cheese inside the muffins, so it is best that you inserted near the muffin cups.

Note: make sure all the batters have cover the cheese and so that there is no chance for the hot cheese to leak out. Otherwise, it will resulted in an elephant muffin like this.

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CONCLUSION

This is a bake that I will strongly recommend. Easy, fast and tasty. Be it a muffin or a cup cake is up to you to call it though there is a thin line to differentiate a muffin from a cupcake. This bake however felled in both muffins and cup cakes categories. It is a muffin because there is no creaming but a simple mix and bake. It is not a muffin because it’s fat content have reached the cake level and its flour is relatively less than what is usually used in a muffin….Sound confusing, never mind, me too. Since I have to give it a name, I have decided to call it BANANA CREAM CHEESE CUPCAKES. 

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day. For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE.

For Four Seasons Blog Hop where I am the Co-host, please join us for the party where you can get a lot of the family related posts. Please click the above logo to enter your post.

Old Man Like Old Cuisines–Traditional Butterfly Cupcakes

INTRODUCTION

Today is Children’s day, my kids are not schooling and they are sleeping now. I have the time to issue this short post which I have dragged for quite a while. The first batch of this butterfly cupcakes were made about 2 month’s ago and for the second batch of the cupcakes, I have prepared it 2 day’s ago for my girl to bring to the school to celebrate children’s day.

This is not  a new and trendy recipe. This is a rather traditional recipe and some of my friends have said that they have prepared these cupcakes about 20 years ago when they studied home economics.. That shocked me! When I posted the images in a Google plus communities, some of the members are asking me for the recipe and the same when I posted up in Facebook Groups. Apparently, traditional baked products do attract attentions too.

As contrast to the trendy cupcake where it’s soft and fluffy decorated with beautiful fondant icings or whipped cream, this cupcake is dense and taste like butter cake. In my own Facebook timeline, I have written: It looked like the baked version of Chinese steamed sponge cake, it shaped like a muffin (see note below) and it tasted like a butter cake, fully of buttery aromatic flavour. The muffin shape of the “cupcake” was my mistake. As I did not have any cupcake cup with me, I have used the muffin cups and I hoped readers can follow the recipe to use the cupcake cups. This will double the number of cupcakes baked ….

As expected, the cupcakes were quite dense, unlike current trendy cupcakes, they were neither prepared by the egg separation method nor the creaming method, it is prepared by a simple mixing (followed by whisking) method of combining all ingredients together. This is one of the easiest recipe I have ever prepared but shall I say, the taste was awesome due to its rich aromatic buttery fragrance. Some traditional schools called for the cake to go with buttercream but this recipe called for the usage of whipped cream which is in line with the current  trends of the health conscious society.

While I always think that whipped cream is part of decoration and optional, for these cupcakes, due to its dense nature, the whipped cream really compliments the taste and bring the palate to another levels of enjoyment. As the amount of sugar in this recipe is relatively less, the incorporation of strawberry jam was just right for a sweet tooth like me. In my humble opinion, it was very well thought of the recipe provider to incorporate both the whipped cream and strawberry jam in the cupcakes.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from : Butterfly Cakes from “The Essential Baking Cookbook” published by Murdoch Books in year 2000 page 40

Serving: About 24 cup cakes or 12 muffin sizes cakes

• 250 grams unsalted butter (softened)

• 320 grams granulated sugar

• 380 grams self raising flour

• 250 grams of fresh milk

• 4 eggs lightly beaten

• 4 teaspoons of vanilla essences

For decoration

• 1 cup of cream whipped to soft peaks

• Some strawberry jam

• Icing sugar to dust

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

• Line 24 cupcakes cup in a baking tray. Alternatively you can use shallow muffin tins with paper cups. (note that in this illustration, I have used the muffin cups instead of cupcakes cups. But this is not advisable as it is slightly big in its presentation.)

• In a big mixing bowl, put all ingredients marked together. Beat using electric beaters on low speed for 2 minutes and continue to beat at high speed for another 2 minutes until pale and light.

• Transfer the batter equally into cupcake cups and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the skewer inserted come out clean. Transfer to rack to let it cool completely before the next step.

• Use a sharp knife, cut shallow rounds from the top of the cupcakes. Cut the top into half. Pump some whipped creams into the whole and put back the two halves on top of the whipped creams.

• Dust with some icing sugar and put some strawberry jam on top of the whipped cream. Best serve with a cup of hot tea or coffee as a snack or party items.

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CONCLUSION

From the recipe, you will know it is a rather old schools of cupcake preparation. However, I have always treasure and respect these old schools of baking as it brings fond memories. While I have never tasted this before, but one of the members in a Facebook Group has kindly highlighted to me that there is a shop in Singapore that is selling this snack now. I am unsure where is the shop but it signifies that besides me, lots of people are fond of having traditional cuisines.

Be it muffins, cupcakes, cakes, quick breads, I am confused. What I can assure you is that it tasted nice and the simplicity in its method of preparation is really worth a try.

Have a nice day and cheers.

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Updated on 26-April-2014

Today, my friends from Kuala Lumpur insist to meet up with me In Singapore. They called at the last minute and I have only 2 hours to prepare some hand gifts for them.

Therefore, I have used this traditional recipe and prepared some blackberry cupcakes for them. I have made the decision because it is one of the easiest and fastest  cupcake recipe.

I have put a scope of tangy ready made blackberry jam in the cupcake, topped up with batter. After baking, I have put additional blackberry jam and sprinkle some chopped almonds.

Just sharing here that the recipe can be easy modified to meet our needs.

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For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 21 March 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE .  

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 1800 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

You can also join the Food Bloggers and Foodies United Group Facebook Group to see more recipes. Currently there are about 4500 members sharing various food photos . I would be more than happy if you can  post in Groups for the recipes that you tried from Guaishushu’s blog.

One Number Baking Ratio Adventure (6)– Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Muffins

UPDATED POST ON OCTOBER 1 2014

As I have some peanut butter sitting in my fridge for ages, I have decided to prepare some Peanut Butter muffins . There are no changes to recipe except :

• Use peanut butter weight as a starting point which is about 156 grams and all my ingredients used to be about 156 grams for eggs, flour, sugar .
• Did not add the caramelized chocolate chips

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ORIGINAL POSTS

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My kids made these muffins with my help. I just helped them to get some ingredients that they did not where it was stored.

I did not even look at the measurements that they took as I was busy of taking pictures of their participation. Why this was possible of course was because of the easy recipe. The recipe that followed the one number baking ratios now extending to muffins. There were many post that uses one number baking ratios in my baking and in the post “ dates fruit cakes” , you can see all my references of cakes made using one number baking ratio in that post.

After my kids revised their home work today, they were bored and I thought I might as well asked them to make the muffins since it was really easy to  prepare. In fact they were so happy when I told them that I need their participation after revising their home work. My girl who liked to procrastinate suddenly finished her homework very quickly. Initially, it was not my plan to get the boy involved, however, when the boy saw her sister enjoyed herself measuring the ingredients, he insisted that he wanted to join in ‘the game” also. I therefore concurred to let him joined in the “game”

I did not look at any recipe for this muffin. The principle of using one number baking ratio is that it should be applicable for all cakes.  As I want it to be a bit dense, I have opted not to cream the butter and egg separation method (using these two methods will definitely end up to be a cup cake). In addition, as I have been quite tiring of washing all the utensils these few days, I chose not to use an mechanical egg beater. At the end, I have used a mixed and baked method to prepare the muffins.

In addition, I have substituted butter with peanut butter and most important of all, I have used eggs as the starting weight of making these muffins. This will save sometime for the calculation of milk.

These muffins started with 2 eggs that weighed 117 g, therefore, that follows will be peanut butter 117g, sugar 117g, flour 117g and milk 117 g. With these measurements, I am sure any body without much baking experience will be able to prepare this. Easy to remember ratio with easy preparation methods.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 2 whole eggs

• Peanut Butter – same weight as eggs – melted and set aside

• Sugar – Same weight as eggs

• Milk – same weight as eggs

• Self raising flours – same weight as eggs

• Caramelized  chocolate chips – half the weight of eggs

• Mozzarella cheeses – half the weight of eggs  (optional)

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre heat oven to 180 degree Celsius

• Get ready5-6 muffin cups.

• Melt the peanut butter in a microwave oven for 1 minute.

• Transfer to a big mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar and use a hand whisk to whisk until combined.

• Add in sifted flour and milks (alternately) until all flours and milk are added.

• Add in caramelized chocolate chips and mozzarella cheeses.

• Mix well and transfer to the muffin cups.

• Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or when a skewer inserted comes out clean.

You may have noted that I have sprinkled additional cheeses and caramelized chocolate chips. However, that was not advisable because this batter is rather wet, the additional weighs will push down the muffins causing it to drip sideway. Therefore, I will advise readers to by pass this step. Just to let you have a look, this is the “elephant muffins” made by my kids. All the 5 muffins we made have these “elephant trunks” due to the addition of chocolate chips and mozzarella cheeses. Ha-ha.

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CONCLUSION

Is it not this muffin is so easy to prepare especially with one number baking ratio. If my kids can made this, who else could possibly not able to prepare this?

Hope you try it and have a nice day! Cheers.

 

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• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 28 July 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.  

• You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP  to see more recipes. Currently there are about 11,500 members sharing various food photos . I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

• If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.

FOOD PREPARATION SERIES INDEX

 

 

The following are temporary indices for all recipes issued by Guaishushu in both https://kwgls.wordpress.com and Guaishushu’s Facebook Page. The index shall be for temporary references only.

 

 

Desserts:
Aloe Vera	Some Aloe Vera Sweet Fruit Dessert Just Specially For You, Dear!
Barley Peanut Soup	Easy Peasy Barley Bean Curd Sheets Sweet Soup （腐竹薏米甜汤）
Black Glutinous Rice	What? Having Rice as A Dessert- The Nutritious Black Glutinous Rice Porridge
Sweet Potato Soup	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Sweet Potato Soup Dessert
Barley/Black Glutinous Rice	X4 – Black Glutinous Rice and Barley Sweet Porridge (血糯薏米甜粥）
Honey Dew Granita	C1 Honey Dew and Cantaloupe Granita  哈密瓜奇异果挫冰
Poached Bosc Pears & Dragon Fruits	X3-Chinese Style Poached Pear and Dragon Fruits Desserts (博斯克梨龙珠果炖冰糖）
Bubur Cha Cha	X5 – Bubur Cha Cha (摩摩喳喳）
Drinks:
Chrysanthemum Tea	Come and have a cup of Chrysanthemum Tea (菊花茶）
Hawthorn Ume Tea	Need A Drink To Repair Your Vocal Cord? Hawthorn Ume Is The Tea For You!
Roselle Tea	Game To Try Some “Wild Hibiscus” Tea………….?（洛神花茶）
Rhoeo Tricolor Tea	Purple is mysterious, purple is nobly and a purple drink is definitely lovely! – Rhoeo Tricolor Tea （如意兰茶，蚌兰花茶，红竹叶茶）
Hedyotis Diffusa	Snake Tongue Tea? Gosh.. I Am Going Away……白花蛇舌草罗汉果茶
Breads
Sarawak Style Butter Buns	Homesick Buns? Yes, I am homesick of Sarawak Style Butter Buns..
Roast Meat Buns	P1 – Roast Meat Bun (烧肉包）
Cakes/Muffins/Scones
Banana Cake	P2 – Banana Cake (香蕉蛋糕）
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	1 Butter + 1 Sugar + 1Egg + 1 Flour + 1 Milk = Mrs. NgSK’s Butter Cake-Guaishushu’s Version
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	Hey, My Chick Want To Eat My Zebra Pound Cake !
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	The Plights of Kuey Neng Ko…The Traditional Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake…
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	My Steamed Sponge Cake (Kuey Neng Ko) Is Full Of Gas。。。。 (汽水鸡蛋糕）
Steamed Sugar Cake	P3-Steamed Sugar Cake (白糖糕）
Microwave Mug Cake	Microwaved Mug Cakes, Another Quick Alternative to Baked and Steamed Cakes…
Sarawak Midnight Cake	Where is my cake? I Can’t See!–Famous Sarawak Midnight Cake (Cake Seri kaya Sarawak) revisited..
Grapefruit Chiffon Cake	Grapefruit Chiffon with Grapefruit Citrus Glaze,… Ever Try This?
Carrot Muffins	Simple Carrot Muffins for Your Love Ones…
Scones	Basic But Presentable, Basic But Irresistible…Basic Raisin Scones Shared…
Tapioca Cake	CCC – Cheesy Cassava Cake–A Modified Version of The Traditional Nonya Kuih Bengka Ubi
Cake Decoration Ideas	From Plain to Eye Catching…From Muffins to Elegant Celebration Cakes
Cheese Cakes
Ferraro Rocher Ice Cream	Simple, Tasty, Elegant …Chilled Ferrero Rocher Oreo Ice Cream Cheese Cake
Durian Cheese Cake	King of Fruits + Cream Cheese = Durian Cheesecakes, Game to Try?
Cookies
Pineapple Tarts	What A Golf Ball Have To Do With A Pineapple? Well, It Is The Famous South East Asian Pineapple Tarts
Puddings
Bread Puddings	Who Said Bread Puddings Must Be Prepared As Such…..Bread Puddings “Reinvented”
Cake Puddings	P4 – Cake Puddings (蛋糕布丁）
Cookie Puddings	Creative Food Series – Cookie Puddings 1
Cookie Puddings	Cookie Puddings – 2
Snacks
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part I)
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part II)
Popiah	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Popiah Sarawak Style
Kueh Pie Tee	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food -Kueh Pie Tee
Roasted Peanuts	C2 – Spiced Roasted Peanut (香脆花生）
Rice and Porridges
Chicken Rice	Why Not Cook Your Mother A Meal Of Chicken Rice This Coming Mother’s Day?
Nasi Goreng Aruk	Are you kidding? You don’t need oil to fry rice?– The authentic Sarawak Cuisine–Aruk Fried Rice
Fried Rice	N1 – Nameless Fried Rice (无名炒饭）
White Gourd Braised Rice	N2 – White Gourd Braised Rice （白莆焖饭）
Pork Porridge	N3- Pork Porridge (肉粥）
Noodles and Pasta Dishes
Kolo Beehoon	Food Preparation Series–Kolo Beehoon
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, My Laksa Secret Recipe Was Stolen!!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART I)
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, I have invented my own Sarawak Laksa Paste Recipe !!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART II)
Sarawak Laksa	Hi, Let Start Cooking the Laksa …. An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (Part III)
Singapore Prawn Noodles	Prawn noodles? Hokkien noodles?… No, it is Singapore Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles (新加玻福建炒虾面）
Tom Yam Noodles	Bachelor’s Tomyam Noodles–Quick And Nice…
Tomato Yimin Noodles	What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 13-7-2013–Tomato Yimin Noodles (茄汁伊面）
Pasta Sauce	Let’s See How An Asian Make The Tomato Pasta Sauce From Scratch and How He Baked His Pasta….
Meat and Savoury Dishes
Korma Chicken	Special – What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 22-7-2013–Korma Chicken (科尔马鸡肉）
Grilled Chicken	M1- Chinese Style Grilled Chicken (中式烤鸡）
Ginger Chicken	M2 – Ginger Chicken (姜丝鸡）
Soya Sauce Chicken	M4- Braised Chicken with Soya Sauce (酱油鸡)
Minced Pork with Taukwa	Creative Food Series–Minced Pork Belly with Taukwa
Miso Pork Belly	M3 – Miso Pork Belly （味增五花）
Meat Rolls	Hey, This is not Italian Meat Rolls, It Is Chinese Meat Rolls Called Ngoh Hiang
Vegetarian Dishes
Tempeh	Tempeh Revisited – Sweet And Spicy Tempeh And Oven Baked Honey Tempeh
Vegetable fritters	Vege Vege Vegetable Fritters–Indonesian’s Bakwan Sayuran
Vegetables	Blanching Vegetables in Chinese Cooking – 利用汆烫准备可口的中式的”菜”肴
Chinese Lettuce	V2 – Blanched Chinese Lettuce With Fermented Bean Curd Sauce (白腐乳生菜胆）- Vegetarian
Bitter Gourd & Chinese Mustard	V3- Braised Bitter Gourd With Chinese Mustard (苦瓜焖芥菜)
Shark Fin Melon Soup	S6 – Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）
Vegetable Dishes
Luffa	D1-Braised luffa/tower gourd with egg* 蛋汁炆丝瓜
Preserved Mustard	D4 – Foochow Preserved Mustard Fried With Minced Meat (福州糟菜炒肉碎）
Winged Beans	D7 – Fried Winged Beans With Minced Meat (肉碎四棱豆）
Kailan with Prawns	V1 – Blanched Kailan With Prawn (芥兰虾球）
Romaine Lettuce Miso	V4 – Blanch Romaine lettuce with miso sauce (味真酱罗明旦)
Tofu and Egg Dishes
Minced Taukwa Omelete	D2 – Minced Taukwa Omelete （豆干蛋饼）
Braised Egg & Tofu	D3 – Braised Eggs and Bean Curd (豆干卤蛋）
Bean Curd Omelete	D5-Beancurd Omelet (豆干蛋饼）
Celery Omelete	D6- Celery Omelete (西芹蛋饼）
Steamed Tofu	D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）
Salted Turnip Omelete	D9 – Salted Turnip Omelete (菜脯蛋饼）素
Devilled Eggs	Devilled Egg- Simplicity Rules…
Soup Dishes
Sweet Corn Soup	S1 – Sweet Corn Pork Rib Soup （ 玉米排骨汤)
Carrot Soup	S2 – White Carrot Pork Rib Soup (白萝卜排骨汤）
Double Mushroom Soup	S3 – Double Mushroom Chicken Soup (双菇鸡汤）
Bitter Gourd Pineapple Soup	S4-Bitter Gourd Pineapple Pork Rib Soup (苦瓜黄梨排骨汤）
Chinese Napa Soup	S5 – Chinese Cabbage (Napa) Soup ( 大白菜汤)
Salted Vegetable Duck Soup	Salted Vegetable Duck Soup (咸菜鸭）– A Quick and Easy Way to Prepare This Traditional Soup Dish
Interesting Cooking Ingredients
Chilli	Burnt, Hot, Spicy– I am running away!!!– Understanding Chilli Pepper and Making Of Chilli Sauce
Belachan	Can You Stand The Smell of Belachan (Shrimp Paste)?
Belachan	Z1 – Belachan (Shrimp Paste) – Roasting Belachan

Microwaved Mug Cakes, Another Quick Alternative to Baked and Steamed Cakes…

Updated Post on 16-10-2014

Last night, wife was asking what is for breakfast today? I told her I do not know and worst came to the worst, some biscuits.. Ha-ha. This morning, while I was cracking  my head what to prepare  muffins and scones that are fast and easy… It suddenly come across my mind to prepare some microwave butter cakes. It is very easy and moist and it took me about 15 minutes to prepare a 2 eggs cake- 10 minutes preparation and 5 minutes microwaving… I save my electricity, dishing, energy and time…

The texture of microwave cake is always very moist and like the preparation of muffins, I gather the wet ingredients and dry ingredients, stir until well mixed and microwave…Happy trying.

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INTRODUCTION

This is another post in my simple pastry making series, a cup cake or mug, a cake baked in a cup. It is baked in a cup or a mug cake in the microwave oven. It is fast, utilizing about 5 minutes. No electrical beaters, just mix using your choice of utensils and you will be able to get a cake like above. Scale down all the ingredients, putting in a microwavable cup, you can even prepare one for your kids breakfast. This post will share with you a one man breakfast chocolate cake, a coffee log cake and a cheesy buttery log cake.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

	Chocolate Cake (1 man serving)	Coffee Log Cake (6 inches log)	Cheesy Butter Cake (6 inches log)
Container	1 microwavable cup of about 250 ml	1 microwavable cup of 600 ml	1 microwavable cup of 600 ml
Sugar	2 tbsp	80 g	80 g
Butter (melted)	2 tbsp	80 g	80 g
Cream cheese (room temperature)			80 g
Fresh milk	2-3 tbsp	80 g	120 g
Coffee liquid		80 g
Eggs	1 egg	80 g	80 g
Self raising flours	2 tbsp	160 g	160 g
Cocoa powder	2 tbsp
Sodium Bicarbonate (optional)		1/2 tsp	1/2 tsp
Microwavable time	3 minutes	5 minutes	5 minutes

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STEPS OF PREPARTION

The steps of preparation is the same be it for a small cup or a 3 inches diameter cup. The illustration below is for a small cup one man personal chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake (serving for one)

• In a 250ml microwavable cup (one normal coffee cup), put sugar, self raising flour and slightly stir it until well mixed.

• Add fresh milk, melted butters and eggs and use a spoon stir it until well mixed or when colour is even and there are no lumps.

• This step is rather important and make sure any flour stick in the bottom will be scraped up and mixed and there are no air in the mixture. Lightly tap your cup in the table to see if there is any air trapped in the mixture.

 

• Place your cup in the microwave oven and heat it for 3 minutes under high power.

• You will start to see the cake start to rise after 1 1/2 minutes and by the sides will start to contract. If your cup is smaller, you may see the batter started to rise even higher and possibly 1-2 cm above the cup level. That is ok since the cooked batter (now becoming cakes) are able to withstand the weight any uncooked batter that subsequently rise to the top.

• Wait for 1-2 minutes before you take it out from the cup. Theoretically, it should not stick to  the sides or bottom of the cup if your batter are mixed thoroughly with no lumps of unmixed flour.

• Be careful when you handle the cakes as it can be quite hot especially the inside of the cake.

• If you can’t finish your cake and on your next serving, just heat up your cakes for 10-15 seconds and your cake will become soft again.

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For the coffee log cake and cheesy butter cake, the steps of preparation is the same except the measurements as mentioned above and the incorporation of cheese in the above batter. The follow steps will apply for both cakes.

Coffee Log Cakes and Cheesy Butter Cakes

• In a 600ml microwavable cup, put sugar, sifted self raising flour, sodium bicarbonate and slightly stir it until well mixed. You can also melt the butter in the microwave using the same cup for about 1 minute.

• For coffee log cake, have 80 g of hot water and add 2-3 table spoons of instant coffee powder until it is fully dissolved. You can also use hot milk instead. Add melted butters, coffee liquids, butters and eggs and use a spoon to sir it until well mixed or when colour is even and there are no more lumps. This is the batter of coffee log cake.

• For cheesy butter cake, after you melted the butter, put the cream cheese into the hot melted butter and stir until almost well mixed. Add fresh milks and eggs and use a spoon to stir it until well mixed or when colour is even and there are no more lumps. This the batter mixture of the cheesy butter cake.

• Again, this step is rather important and make sure to scrap any flours on the sides and bottom of the microwavable cup, mixed and ensure that there are no air in the mixture. Lightly tap your cup on the table to see if there is any air trapped in the mixture.

 

• Place your cup in the microwave oven and heat it for 5 minutes under high power.

• You will start to see the cake start to rise after 3 minutes and by the sides will start to contract. If your cup is smaller, you may see the batter started to rise even higher and possibly a few cm above the cup level (as in the picture). That is ok since the cooked batter (now becoming cakes) are able to withstand the weight of any uncooked batter that subsequently rise to the top.

• Wait for 1-2 minutes before you take it out from the cup. Theoretically, it should not stick to  the sides or bottom of the cup if your batter are mixed thoroughly with no lumps of unmixed flour.

  Cheesy Butter Cake

 Coffee Log Cake

Serving suggestions

• Best served when hot with glass of tea or coffee.

• Reheat in microwave for 10-15 seconds if necessary.

• Add some cream cheese or fresh cream if desired.

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CONCLUSIONS

• This post introduced the use of microwave to prepare a cake, if you do not want be your cake in the cup or mug size, you can used other microwavable kitchen utensils of your liking.  Most microwaves nowadays have a detail function for each cooking methods, select baking functions if available. Otherwise, use the high power function.

• The use of microwave in the “baking” of a cake have cut short its preparation time considerably. Making a cake within 5 minutes were unthinkable in the olden times. It is obviously a good alternative to the traditional baking and steaming of preparing a cake,

• The texture of the cake is unique as it is soft and moist. That make the cake easy to cut into any sizes desired.

• It is an good alternative as a traditional tea cake but offer advantages of quick and fast preparation as compared to traditional tea cakes.

• There are many possibility of using this simple preparation methods to “invent” cakes that you want.. Try to explore, may be banana cakes, carrot cakes, blueberry muffins…… and the list is never ending. The point to note is that you can use the traditional recipes but the batter must be well mixed and make sure no air is trapped in your batter!

 

Lastly, take a cup and a spoon, walk towards the kitchen, put in 2 tbsp of flours, chocolate powder (milo/horlicks), sugar, melted butter (cooking oil acceptable), fresh milks and 1 egg, Stir well, put it in the microwave and tell me what it look like.

Hope you LIKE it and have a nice day.

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• For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 15 October 2014)  here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts.  

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Simple Carrot Muffins for Your Love Ones…

INTRODUCTION

This is a simple carrot muffin with cream cheese frosting. It is simple and quick to do without the need to use any mechanical beaters or mixers and animal fats. Therefore it a rather healthy breakfast item or tea time item. The simple cream cheese frosting (optional) will help to smoothen the texture and enhance the taste of the muffins.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

The measurement below can make about 8-9 medium size muffins of about 120g each.

For carrot muffins

• 150 g of grated carrots
• 75 g of raisins
• 75 g of chopped walnuts or chopped almonds or any nuts (optional)
• 180 g of white caster sugar

• 125 g of cooking oil
• 3 eggs
• 320 g of self raising flours
• 2 teaspoons of mixed spice (optional)
• 2 teaspoons of grounded ginger (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate 
• 0.5 teaspoon of baking powder (optional)

For cream cheese frostings

• 125 g of cream cheese
• 50 g of icing sugar

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

Carrot Muffins

• Preheat oven to moderate 180 degree Celsius and get ready 9 medium sized muffin cups.

• In a mixing bowl, place carrots, raisins, almonds and sugar and lightly mixed it.

• In another mixing bowl, place the oil and egg together. Whisk the liquid mixture until mix.
  

• Place the dry mixtures (carrots, raisins, almonds and sugar) into the whisked liquid mixture and until well mixed.

• Add the sifted flour, sodium bicarbonate, baking powder, spices (cinnamon or spice mix (optional))  into the liquid mixture.

• Combined lightly with wooden spoon or metal spoon and well mixed.

• Scoop out the mixture into the muffin cups  about 3/4 full and baked for about 30 minutes or until skewer come out clean.

Cream Cheese Frostings

• Using electric beaters, beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy.

• Spread on top of the muffins or pump on top of the muffins if desired.

• Dust with cinnamon or color sugar crystals (optional).

• Served with addition cream cheese frosting, when necessary.

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CONCLUSION:

• This pastry can be as healthy as you want it to be. Cooking oil are generally considered as healthier alternative as compared to animal fats such as butter.

• Suggested frosting of cream cheese (which is optional if you are health conscious) will make the muffins even smoother and blend well with the taste.

• It is easy and simple to make as there is no need to use any mechanical equipment.
  

• Cost of preparing these muffins are relatively lower than other cup cakes since only very basic ingredients will be used.

Hope you like this simple muffin and simple post. Have a nice day and happy reading.