june baking

oops, been a while since i've updated my blog, but i've been busy baking! i swear!

in june, more veggie lasagnas were made. tried out flourless, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake which mostly contained butter and chocolate, and more scones.

i also baked more vegetarian lasagna for my family as well as chocolate carrot cakes.
i love it when someone who dislikes eggplant loves my veggie lasagna and are surprised to see that they've just eaten a vegetable they despise. ha!

april baking

i must say, i did quite a lot of baking in april. happiness!

now what to bake in may...

march baking

eggless milkless chocolate cake, but i used milk and lots of chocolate buttons.
instant coffee cakes (i used kapal api cos that's what i had, but i think i need to make the coffee mixture thicker and sweeter).

Both recipes from mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com

february baking

so, january wasn't bad... made apple crumble 3-4 times, and a failed lemon lime cake.

tried to make it again in february, and managed to fail again. my friend @ditut (last-bite.blogspot.com) said it could have many causes, from mixing it too much, unstable temperature, etc. in any case, we made the best out of it, as you can see in the pics :)

one recipe that i tried out and was successful was the chocolate carrot cake from rita's blog (http://mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com/2009/08/chocolate-carrot-cake-moist-very.html) i totally love her recipes which seem doable for me, and with easy and affordable ingredients. my aunts and sisters have asked for the recipe, and the kids seem to love it too! so i ended up making this moist chocolaty cake a few times this month.

also tried to make a veggie-potato casserole thingy (don't know if it actually is baking, but it required putting it in the oven haha!), also a few instant muffin/cupcakes by betty crocker.

i will attempt to make a 4 tier chocolate cake, recipe by junior masterchef, as requested by hubby.

easy baking 101, resolution month #1 - Apple Crumble

got this easy peasy apple crumble from my bestie, shinta. see her recipe below (directly copied from her blog).

note:

i adjusted the ingredients a bit because i used whatever was in the kitchen.
apples and pears used here from the fruit baskets brought home from the hospital. because brown sugar is expensive here, i used regular sugar but used less than about 3/4 cup. happened to have blueband margarine, so i used it for the crumble and it turned out alright, really cheap compared to using butter. instead of lemon juice, a splash of orange juice was used. used 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal, then added however much flour needed for the right consistency crumble.

ingredients:
- 4-6 granny smith apples or any cooking apples. best you choose the firm/crunchy one, not those squishy red apples.

- 1 cup of sugar. you can use granulated or brown. i prefer to use brown sugar for better caramelizing.

- 100-125gr of butter. room temperature, do not melt.

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder or vanilla essence, whichever one you have in your kitchen.

- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

- 2 cups of flour. all purpose or self-raising flour, any kind will do. again, whichever you have in your kitchen.

- 1/2 cup oats/granola (optional)

directions:
1. first, peel the apples and core them. cut them in squares and put it in a pan. cover the apples with 1/2 cup of sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon powder and 1 tbsp of butter. cover and let it stew over a low heat. make sure you check and stir with wooden stick to avoid any burning. if a lot of liquid forms, take off the cover and let it caramelized and the apples soften (usually takes abt 30 minutes).

2. once the apples are soften, take off the heat and let it cool. mash the apples with your wooden stick, but not too much. you do not want a puree. once they are mashed (or if you prefer whole, you can also do that, skip the mash step), place them in the bottom of the baking dish.

3. preheat the oven 150C, then prepare the crumble. put in a large bowl the rest of the butter, sugar & flour. try to put the flour little by little then mix with fork or with your hand. you can put in the oats too. mix until the texture becomes crumble-like. if it’s still soft, you may add more flour until the right crumble is achieved.

4. place the crumble on top of the apple filling, do not press down. just distribute them equally on the baking dish. pop in the oven for about 30 minutes. let it cool and serve with vanilla ice cream or cream.

not just keychains

a few key chains made by myself and mandy to sell at a garage sale/fund raising event dedicated to a friend who recently passed away. it was a sweet moment when we realized that it was at tornado we first (and last) met tika, it was there that we learned how to make these key chains together.

*waves at @tikuyus*