Chocolate Lava Cupcake

I was having a chat with my classmate, May today and she was telling me how she tried making these lava cupcakes.. then the conversation slowly made me crave for 1 myself! I came home and whipped these up in about 20 minutes to satisfy my craving. :D

Oh my goodness. I am about to explode with happiness.. just like how this little cupcakes explode with rich, smooth, creamy chocolate. I tried this recipe before and you can find it in my archives. I used some of Siyun's chocolate all the way from Switzerland and I must say it made ALL the difference. I also added a hershey's kiss chocolate in each cupcake as a surprise. Ah... now you know why chocolate makes you happy?!

Swiss roll

My first attempt and it was so good! Eisen and I loved it...

Lemon & Plum Chicken

This is pretty good and easy to prepare. Try it some day!! :)



From Jo's Deli & Bakery...

Ingredients:
Serves 6
Chicken breasts of 2 chickens

Marinate:
3 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sesame oil
Dash of pepper
1 egg

Coating:
5 tbsp all purpose flour
5 tbsp breadcrumbs
Oil for deep frying

Sauce:
1 tbsp plum sauce
3½ tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch

Method:

Clean chicken breasts and dry with kitchen towels. Marinate with the marinating ingredients for overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Combine all purpose flour and breadcrumbs in a large plate. Heat oil in a wok until bubbles rise rapidly to the oil surface when a wooden spoon is immersed into the oil. Reduce heat to medium. Coat meat with coating mixture and deep fry until golden brown. Place on to double layers of kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Chop fried chicken breasts into small pieces. Arrange on a plate.

To prepare sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Heat a pan. Pour in sauce and bring to a boil. Cook sauce until it thickens. Drizzle on to the chopped chicken breasts. Serve hot with white rice.

I am a...

Which one are YOU???

If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you,which would you choose (sorry, you can only pick one!)?

Trust me....this is very accurate. Pick your dessert, and then scroll to see what Psychiatrists think about you.

Here are your choices:

1. Angel Food Cake
2. Brownies
3. Lemon Meringue
4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing
5. Strawberry Short Cake
6. Chocolate on Chocolate
7. Ice Cream
8. Carrot Cake


No, you can't change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully about what your choice will be..............


OK - Now that you've made your choice this is what the research says about you...

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1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE -- Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.

2. BROWNIES -- You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your saber. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.

3. LEMON MERINGUE -- Smooth, sexy, & articulate with your hands, you are an excellent after-dinner speaker and a good teacher. But don't try to walk And chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, but you have many friends.

4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING -- Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very decisive and motivated. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.

5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE -- Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return. Intuitively keen. Can be very emotional. Also tend to be very loyal.

6. CHOCOLATE ON CHOCOLATE -- Sexy; always ready to give and receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Will not settle for any thing average in life. Love to laugh.

7. ICE CREAM -- You like sports, whether it be baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.

8. CARROT CAKE -- You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very Warm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal Friends.

Creamy Pasta.

Giny made this dish for us a few weeks ago and it was so delicious that I decided to make it myself too. Even the sauce is made from scratch! Eisen gave it a 7/10 because he does not like parsley and had to spend close to 5 minutes picking all the parsley out. Hee.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Chopped onions

Chopped garlic

Bacon bits

Sliced mushroom

Chopped parsley or spring onions.

Stir fry the above ingredients with cooked pasta, add salt and pepper to taste.

Sauce:

Thickened cream (150ml)
2 egg yolks

2 tablespoon of milk

Mix all ingredients and drizzle over pasta just before serving!

Eisen's welcome home dinner.

I made Stir-fry brocolli with pan-fried egg tofu.

and butter chicken.

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

I initially wanted to make Tiramisu over this weekend but I found out that I was lacking in a lot of the required ingredients. So.. I made Choocolate Swirl Cheesecake!! The swirl did not turn out so well.. but overall, the taste was pretty good and the cake is moist and not too sweet. I would give it a go another time! :)

All packed and ready to go to friends!

Recipe from "Happy Home Baking"

Ingredients:
Cream Cheese Mixture
250g cream cheese (soften at room temperature)
60g castor sugar
1 egg

Chocolate Mixture
180g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
120g self-raising flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat oven at 150°C.
Grease and line a 20cm round cake pan.
Cream Cheese Mixture - beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg gradually and beat until well incorporated. Set mixture aside.
Chocolate Mixture - Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well incorporated into mixture. Sieve all the dried ingredients together. Fold into the egg mixture.
Pour half of the chocolate mixture into the cake pan.
Pour all the cream cheese mixture and then the remaining chocolate mixture. Gently spread the chocolate mixture to cover all the cream cheese mixture.
Bake for 45-50 min or until skewer comes out clean. Cool completely and chill in the fridge before serving.

P.S. I personally prefer it served warm!

Chocolate sponge with cherries and cream.

May and I made a massive cake for a girl with a massive personality and a heart of gold. Happy 21st Birthday Giny! I will post the recipe up next time!

Fried Bee Hoon

Eisen's rating: 7.75/10. He didn't like the carrots, otherwise, he would have rated it a 8/10! :) I liked it though!

Portuguese Egg Tarts & Meringue Cookies

As promised, here are the receipes requested by some of my blog readers! Enjoy~

Portuguese Egg Tarts!

Egg Tarts
Makes 14.

Ingredients for Pastry:
150g flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1 ½ tbsp icing sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 egg yolk
100g butter

Method: for pastry:
1. Sift flour, salt, icing sugar & corn flour together.
2. Rub butter lightly into sifted flour till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add egg yolk to form a dough. Chill dough in refrigerator for ½ to 1 hour.
4. Roll dough out thinly and cut to line greased patty tins.
5. Prick pastry with a fork and brush with egg white.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ºC for 20 minutes or till golden brown

For puff pastry: I used ready made puff pastry sheets. Bake in preheated oven at 180 ºC for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

Ingredients for custard:
2 eggs
1 tbsp of condensed milk
Pinch of salt
100ml of evaporated milk
200ml of water
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp of vanilla essence

Method for custard:
1. Beat eggs, condensed milk and salt lightly in a bowl.
2. Heat evaporated milk with water and sugar. Set aside to cool.
3. Pour gradually into the egg mix.
4. Add vanilla essence and strain.
5. Slowly spoon egg mixture into patty tins.
6. Bake for 10-15 mins in 180 degrees.

Chocolate Chip Meringe Cookies!!

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and set aside.
In large metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar while continuing to beat until they hold stiff peaks. Mix in the vanilla and cocoa on low speed, then fold in chocolate chips by hand. Drop small mounds of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Turn off oven, and leave the cookies in the oven for 2 more hours, or until centers are dry. Remove from pan and store in an airtight container.