Baking Etcetera

Earlier this year, I was on a baking frenzy. I just woke up one day and said I would like to make beautiful cupcakes haha. This was before the Cohen phase.

I was so happy with this Blueberry and Raspberry Cheesecake. I got the recipe from BBC Good Food, click here. I prefer using fresh than canned fruits as they look more colorful and vibrant. Plus, fresh fruits are healthier (to balance off the sinful cheesecake haha).
Read more on "Baking Etcetera"!

Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies

Today is a happy day! :-) After 2 days and viewing 6 flats, we finally found the perfect new place! I'm not sure if I mentioned it here before but our rental contract is expiring and my cousin bought their own place so I'll be moving out with friends in less than 2 weeks. I was sort of in panic-mode already as we really only started to look 2 days ago. I'll be flying off to Australia this coming weekend then the following weekend we have to move out so I'm extremely happy we found the place just in the nick of time. AND the best of it all is that it's in Novena which is 2 mrt stations away from Orchard! :-)

So since I just stayed in tonight (it being a Saturday), I decided to make full use of the remaining days with our amazing oven and to clear the pantry. Thus, I came up with... (drum roll) Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies! Hahaha what a mouthful!
Read more on "Guittard Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Wheat Cookies"!

Buttercream-Frosted Red Velvet Cupcakes

It's a Saturday night and I was bored haha. I am definitely getting old as previously my weekends would be spent partying, clubbing, drinking or what not. Now, it's baking haha. But seriously, cooking is my therapy. It takes my mind off whatever worries I have at the moment (not that I have any major ones right now, luckily).

Read more on "Buttercream-Frosted Red Velvet Cupcakes"!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 weekends ago, I was in a baking mood (as usual haha) so I decided to finally try my own version of red velvet cupcakes. It was also my friend's bday party so more reason to do so.

I'm really so glad I have this baking book. It really comes in handy for baking all sorts of stuff. I used the recipe for Classic Chocolate Cake - though I replaced the water with 1 cup homemade buttermilk and 1/4 cup red food colouring. I always find myself modifying recipes a bit and experimenting so that I can rightfully say the finished baked product is truly my creation hehehe.

Anyway, I find it amusing how the cake batter turned from cream to chocolate brown to a deep red. The red food colouring we used was on the darker side, maybe next time I could try cherry red for a brighter red velvet cupcake.

It was quite a long process and I was really late for the birthday party. Thank god my cousin Aileen is also a baking aficionado and she was the one who prepared the buttercream icing. I was so happy to find disposable piping bags at a neighbourhood store so that came in handy.

So there you go!!! I definitely still need to perfect my piping and the icing but I'm very happy how it turned out. Not exactly perfect but decent enough to give as a gift hehe. AND modesty aside, it was a hit at the party!!! Guests were actually taking pictures of the cupcakes! :) I love how the cake itself turned out, very moist and chocolatey despite the very red color.

Read more on "Red Velvet Cupcakes"!

Dried Cranberry & Blueberry Scones

It was a Friday night and it was nearing the end of my 1-week break so I decided to do something productive. Enhancing my baking skills is definitely on top of the list so I decided to bake Dried Cranberry & Blueberry Scones!

I'm really very thankful I managed to bring to Singapore some of the baking cookbooks from my modest collection. This cookbook "New Baking Book" from Better Homes and Gardens was a gift I got from one of our annual christmas gift exchanges with my cousins, a few years back.

I remember baking scones several years ago but I can't remember which recipe I used and how I baked it so I was glad to find an assortment of scone recipes in the book. I do remember though that it was quick and swift.

Please see entire recipe and baking instructions in the picture above. You might want to save the picture and zoom on it for better reading.

I guess baking scones is artisan in a way because it involves kneading and no use of electric mixers. I did modify the recipe a bit to add more fruit and replaced the cherries, as I'm really not a fan of cherries that much. I also replaced half of the all-purpose flour with cake flour just because I felt it would make the scone more moist and cakey instead of dry and crumbly. Also, I added a tad bit more butter and replaced the sour cream with lite sour cream (haha who am I kidding). Lastly, I had to add more AP flour (maybe a cup more) during kneading as the dough was quite wet, maybe because of the added fruit and butter.


Taadddaahhh!!! Dried Cranberry & Blueberry scones!! Don't they look perfect??! hahaha. Oh and I brushed the top with beaten egg for shine and colour. You can add clotted cream as a siding or orange glaze for topping. Plus, you can use a cookie cutter to make them look more like scones. Zach said they were very good so that makes me a happy baker hehe.

Read more on "Dried Cranberry & Blueberry Scones"!