Brandon has turned 15!

HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY, BRANDY BOY!!!

Elder ds, Brandon, turned 15 on 17th Aug this year! This year he has his cell members to celebrate with him a day earlier. His group of cell members came as early as 7.30am to give him a surprise while he was still in bed..hahaha.. he was caught in his 'urgly' pyjamas...I wanted very much to tell him to wear a proper suit but afraid that he will be suspicious as I have promised his cell leader to keep mum about their plans. The members really put in their effort by making use of the carton boxes to make into all kind of props, very CREATIVE indeed!!! We had a good laugh!

To show my appreciation, I asked them to join Ds for breakfast. Each has a set of breakfast inclusive of a Chicken Pattie, a Burger Bun, a Hash Brown, Egg Omelette, Green Salads and a glass of fresh milk.

I baked some cupcakes, piped simple frosting and added some toppers and here present you a platter of B'day Cupcakes for Ds to celebrate his B'day with his cell members.

Home-Baked Muffins by Alan Ooi (Stir & Bake Recipe)

I would like to share this simple muffin recipe by Alan Ooi, a professional baker cum instructor, and also a baking Consultant of Y3K. In this book, he shared a total of six muffin recipes. All the recipes are set out in an easy-to-follow format which make home-baking so easy.

I am sharing one of the six recipes. I have baked many many times since I bought this baking book.




BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
yields : 13 muffins

Ingredients:
(A)
290g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder


(B)
230g caster sugar

(C)
3 eggs
120ml fresh milk
200g melted butter
1tsp vanilla essence

(D)
200g blueberry pie filling

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190deg. (I set at 180deg)
2. Sieve ingred (A) into a big mixing bowl. Add in ingred (B), mix well.
3. Add in ingred (C) slowly, beat with a ballon whisk to combine ingred.
4. Spoon no. (3) into a piping bag. Pipe mixture into paper-lined tart moulds till three-quarters full. Arrange on a baking tray.
(I didn't follow. I used a measuring cup)
5. Spoon Ingred (D) into another piping bag. Pipe some filling into no. (4). Use a toothpick to create a swirling effect.
6. Bake no.(5) in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins or until Cool on wire racks.


I have used the above-recipe as the basic recipe, and just add any favourite filling of your choice. The followings are the different flavours of muffins that I have baked so far using this recipe....oh yes, I also added peach and strawberry slices as fillings too but didn't manage to take the pic.

Give it a try! I believe you can bake them well too :)



Canned Lychee

Bananas


Dried Cranberries

Kaya



Oreo Cookies

Chocolate Chips


Soft texture...

Gummy Toppers for Cupcakes

Baked some cupcakes for DS' cell group meeting on a Saturday and packed a few boxes with a mixture of cupcakes, spongecake slices and muffins for my colleagues in Malaysia.

I used some of the colorful gummy toppers which I bought from SS recently for the cupcakes.

Crumble Muffins

This recipe was adapted from all.recipes website.

I have kept this recipe for quite a while and die die I have to give it a try today because of the name: "To Die For Blueberry Muffins". It says "These muffins are extra large and yummy with the sugary-cinnamon crumb topping!" and I love anything cinnamon!

Well, I do not have blueberry so I replaced with Jade Raisins and Chocolate Chips. So I have got 4 each of the flavour.


These Jade Raisins were from Hainan Island, China. In-laws bought a big pkt during their holiday trip there in mid March.






CRUMBLE MUFFINS
*slightly modify from the original recipe "To Die For Blueberry Muffins.

Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used self-raising flour, so I omit the baking powder)
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 3/4 cup caster sugar (I used slightly lesser than that)
* 1/3 cup veg oil (I used corn oil)
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 cup fresh blueberries (I used raisins and chocolate chips)

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 180deg c. Line muffin cups with muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. .
3. Place corn oil into a 1 cup measuring cup (1 cup = 250ml); add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture, need not be smooth, batter has to be lumpy. Fold in blueberries.
4. Fill muffin cups right to the top, sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
5. Bake for about 20 - 25 mins in the preheated oven, or until done.


Crumb Toppings:-
* 1/2 cup caster sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed
* 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

To make crumb toppings:
1. Mix together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon.
2. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes

Thanks jthorge for sharing this lovely Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe. This is really soft and very light, a in between of steamed sponge cake and kueh baulu, a mix of chinese and malay hehe... Hub and the kids love it very much.




Plain ones for Hub





For the kids, I added some melted chocolate and chocolate curls



It happened to be my niece (Natalie) 3rd birthday on that day. I didn't bake a cake for her as it was so last min and these sponge cupcakes came into handy. I used some of it and this was how it looked like:)

Cupcakes for Tea-break

Normally when I start to bake, I tend to bake more to give away to neighbours and friends. These were baked yesterday after my easter cupcakes. Just plain ones without frosting.


Oreo and Chocolate Chip Brownies


Coffee Cupcakes

Happy Easter Day!

Happy Easter Day, Everyone!

I have not been blogging much and baking much as well.. haha..busy? nope! plain excuse for myself. Lazy? more likely to be..

my naked cupcakes before frosting....




Since Ds is going to his cell group gathering this evening, I managed to squeeze sometimes in the afternoon to bake some cupcakes for him to bring along to share with his cell members.

with simple frosting...

Dh's Birthday - 11th Feb 2008

Dh turning a year older on 11th Feb. Baked some B'day cuppies and a Peach Marshmallow Cake for him to celebrate with a group of friends at home.

Lemon Creamcheese Cupcakes

If I am not wrong, Peony shared this recipe in her blog. Thanks for the recipe, dear!

Baked these quite sometimes ago, the texture is really very light and soft! YUMMY!

Recent bakes

My children wouldn't get bored with all these breads and muffins ... I am still unwell but managed to bake a little with the help from my children and mum-in-law doing the tidious washing after baking.


Minced Beef with Mayo and Pasta Sauce


Chicken Sausage Buns


Honey Ham Buns


Bacon & Cheese Mayo Buns


Tuna Mayo Buns


Raisin Buns


Sugar Cheesy Buns





Assorted Muffins

My Final Christmas Bake

Finally my last bake for Christmas this year, a butter cake for my dad and a Christmas fruit cake for my father-in-law.

My dad used to bake butter cakes for us when we were young. I can still remember this was how he decorated his butter cake. Very simple, just with green and red cherries. So I did one for him on Christmas Day. Thanks Lee for her butter cake recipe, my dad love it very much.

Christmas Cupcake - Part 2

Thanks Lee Lee for sharing her Marble Butter Cake recipe. I baked them in those little cups. These were specially baked for the elderly guests or any guest who doesn't has sweet tooth. This recipe is definitely a keeper!