Sausage and Cheese Loaf

I have tried a few times to make a simple loaf bread and I have to say all the previous attempts never reached the end. The cake was either baked at too high of a temperature or an underbaked middle and overbaked top

This time, the bread turned out pretty well, yet it was a bit on the drier side. I'm not used to making plain loaf bread so I never really assessed how the dough is suppose to be like before putting it in the oven. 

The dough was awful hard to work with. It was sticky and did not form a ball like the dough used in a steamed bun recipe. As a result I ended up adding a half cup more loaf, which I shouldn't of, so the bread ended up being a little dry. There was leftover lap cheung and asian sausage from this morning, so I threw them in the mixture along with a hot dog. We had American cheese in the fridge for a while now, so in it goes!~

For my first time baking a loaf I didn't put that much ingredients inside the loaf. I wish I had put more dough. There was only two pieces of hotdog per slice or even less! At least I know how to make plain bread now. 

After a year, the flowers are finally starting to bloom!~

Dark Chocolate Coffee Walnut Chiffon Cake

Another Coffee Cake! This time I actually brewed the coffee instead of adding it in...(since my family didn't like it..but I did though!) The coffee wasn't strong at all since there was so little liquid used compared to amount of coffee brewed. Next time I'll increase it to two TBSP of coffee instead

The dark chocolate overpowered the coffee too, so it ended up tasting like a dark chocolate walnut cake instead. The flavors didn't blend as much as I hoped (probably because I added too much dark chocolate and walnuts) 

The inside of the cake was incredible moist! It would of looked better if it was taken outside in the sunlight, but it was already night time already.. Of course it would be a waste to cook a small 7inch cake in a big oven, so it was another day of Lemon Chiffon Cake. 

     

It rose to the tippy top, but then it deflated back down :c

It was my mama's first time learning how to bake this cake. The taste was amazing as always, but the beautiful mountain peaks came back down in the end. I always have a habit of beating the egg whites until soft peaks because it is just so smooth and glossy! However, soft peaks always means having a tad deflated cake in the end...

Steamed Hot Dog Buns

This is my second attempt at making steamed hot buns and I have to say this time it turned out pretty well! Making the dough was a bit frustrating with the kitchen aid so I ended up kneading it by hand. I made two batches: One with adding baking powder in the beginning, and one afterwards.

The one with baking powder did not rise as quickly, but it puffed up more than the one without. When it came to the second poofing for 10min after the baking powder was put in, it only rose up a bit. I don't think it actually mattered in the end since they all ended up looking the same!

After steaming them they were huge! When wrapping the dough, it doesn't have to be placed so closely together because they'll end up filling up the gaps when it's steamed. My buns ended up sticking together, so when I tried to separate them some bread ended up peeling off :( 

Green Feast! Cucumber Dip, Deviled Egg, Mango Avocado Salad

With so many ripe avocados and freshly picked cucumbers and beans at home 

dinner was basically all green!

My sister came back recently so there is a lot more chances to cook with her. After being gone for such a long period of time, she brought home some new recipes for our family to taste.

Deviled Egg Boats

 It was my first time having deviled eggs and I have to say they are pretty delicious. The hit of Tabasco Sauce in the end really finishes it off! 

Mango Avocado Salad

I still have to say, my papa's salad is still the best though. It has a bit of everything! Avocado,  cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, carrots, a sprinkle of cheese, and if our pantry had them at the time bacon and croutons as well. It is delicious by itself, but some Miso Dressing to top it off adds in a punch of flavor!~

Lychee Chiffon Cake and Coffee Chiffon Cake

I bought a new baby chiffon pan yesterday and I can't wait to put it to work!~ Now that I got the perfect proportions for my cake, I can start exploring different flavors! ^ ^ Maybe later on I can even start decorating too!

Lychee Tea Cake

 This Lychee Tea was incredible moist!~ Mostly because the tea leaves had an additional 20grams of water or so... I ended up adding more tea since the leaves soaked up the water, but in the end I just threw in the tea leaves since I loved the fragrant smell of them! Well, the taste and fragrance was certainly there, but having the tea leaves in each bite wasn't that enjoyable. Next time I'll soak them for a longer time period on omit the leaves or grind them up...

Coffee Cake 

I never made coffee before, so I just threw in the whole powder...
You can see the swirls of coffee in this picture.

 I guess since the moist texture to the cake causes the top layer to basically peel off to whatever it touches, I ended up leaving the cake "upside down" or I guess this is the right way to put it.. The coffee layer didn't swirl as much as I hoped mostly because I took 1/3rd of the batter and added it separately. I just sprinkled the walnuts on top since I'm not a big fan of them. Well the cake had a strong coffee flavor in the swirls..too fragrant that is. My family said that it was like BLACK COFFEE. I thought it was ok...even though I don't have coffee often. Next time I'll just mix the whole coffee with the hot milk and pour it in all together rather than separating the batter.

My hydroponic plant is finally growing!~ 

Strawberry "Swiss" Cake

    

The streets of SF always have a burst of flavors no matter where you go. The food always seems so appealing, but what always seizes to catch my eye are the warm fragrant bakeries. The bread there is always so moist and wonderfully put together, especially the swiss rolls. Mmmm they are so soft and moist, it was worth the long walk up the hill. However, I'm not always out in SF that often, so I decided to try to make these baby rolls.

  I didn't have a swiss roll pan, so I used a regular square tray....bad idea. It couldn't even roll! It was more like a sandwich. A pretty rectangular sandwich that is. Who would want to eat that...Well of course you can't waste food!~ I ended up making these Strawberry"Swiss cakes" They're were so moist and delicious after putting them in the refrigerator for a few hours.

These flowers are finally in bloom!~ They are so gorgeous when the sun shines on them

Just another Lemon Chiffon Day :)

It's been a few weeks ever since I started baking chiffon cakes, and oooh I love it oh so very much <3
I probably made around 10 cakes so far since my last post and they're starting to look better! I even bought a mini chiffon pan (about 18cm) so I could make more since my 26cm pan was basically destroying all those eggs in the fridge. It takes about 9 egg whites to fill up that pan! Yet, the cake is always gone within 2 days so I'll say its worth it.

Of course, I can't just eat cakes all day long, so pairing it with some sweet cookie egg tarts just made a perfect lunch. Not to mention the roses from the garden made eating the sweets so much more enjoyable

The textures of these cakes are so amazing. Its even better when there are no cracks!~ The best part of all was that when I flipped it back over non of it stuck to the plate! So unlike most of the chiffon cakes I decided to leave it "up" Er well I never quite knew which way was the right way to display it... But I think it looks perfectly fine this way :)

This one below was just amazing. No cracks at all! Plus it didn't even sink down. Too bad I never got to taste it since I ended up giving this one away :( 

Although I love the look of soft glossy peaks when beating the egg whites, I soon realized that those soft peaks was what made my cakes cave in. The stiff peaks that had a tiny bit of lumps made the cake plump up to a nice dome texture. Yet, it's not as easy to fold them into the batter as the soft peaks...

7/7/13

Ahh..finally the perfect soft pillow like Lemon Chiffon!~ The texture of this cake is amazing! It doesn't have that choking feeling when you bite into it. Its incredibly soft, airy and light. Basically like a pillow! When you press on it, it bounces right back up like a spring too :) 

It has such small holes, and it spring back and forth like that one hand wind piano instrument...

This one is definitely a keeper!

Now that I finally got the poportions for the ingredients right, it's time to explore different flavors :D

Care for a a bite?

A Fresh Start

Summer is finally here!~ 

It's time to relax and go on some fun filled adventures. However, the weather and transportation isn't quite how I would like it to be. It's pretty dreadful to go around places in this blazing hot weather without a car.  

Being stuck at home isn't fun either, but ever since I started baking it has become very enjoyable! Especially making chiffon cakes! The cakes are soft and fluffy like clouds. I'm still getting used to perfecting them, but it won't be long until I will start decorating!

Baking a chiffon cake for the first time turned out better than what I expected. The texture was really soft but I didn't quite like the taste of vanilla extract in the cake. Vanilla with eggs didn't really balance well for my taste buds. 

My first Vanilla Chiffon Cake 

I don't remember why...but I guess we ate this cake upside down. The recipe made a small cake (2-3 inches high) yet my pan size was fairly large compared to the cake. 

"Thumbprint" cookies from Joyofbaking.com

There was still a lot of time left in the day, so I made these "thumbprint" cookies. My family wanted to bring them to work, so I omitted the jam so it wouldn't stick to each other. I ended up making three different coatings: peanuts, cashews, and almonds since I was out of walnuts...

They were very soft and crumbly to the bite most likely because of the amount of butter used. It completely contrasts the texture of the garlic bread I made for the first time. The bread was crunchy and a bit chewy right out of the oven. Somewhat like croutons, but softer. One the second day, the bread was delicious. It was much softer and chewier!