Spoonful of Chocolate

Yummy spoons!!

Didn't realise these spoons can levitate by themselves. Must be some 'balancing' power in the chocolate mixture? ;)

This is another kid friendly party bag treat and young ones have so much fun in the process especially with the decorations - just have to make sure they end up more on the spoons rather that the tummy!!! Its envitable - one for the spoon, one for the tummy, next one for my mouth and another cos I'm being such a good helper...etc.

Its really easy to make too, just melt chocolate of your choice (dark, white or flavoured chocolate), divide into spoons and decorate with sprinkles and other bits of candy. Totally forgot the sprinkles until I was editing the photo, fortunately its quite colourful already. (Kids as you know, just love colours).

Master Prince had a spoonful to taste test and gave his thumbs up.
Wrap them up individually in a clear plastic bag with a ribbon or twist wire, store them in an air-tight container.

100% real fruit!!

If you are wondering what I'm holding up, its fruit leather. More specifically strawberry and melon vanilla fruit leather or otherwise known as fruit roll-ups. Made 100% of fruit juice and your kids will just love them, just like Master Prince. He can't get enough of them. Too bad I just made enough for his friends to celebrate his party.

Its really easy to make them.

Trust me.

Blend some any fruit of your choice (though if you are like me and chose strawberry, best to blend and sieve it separately unless you don't mind the seeds), add 1-2 tbsp of honey to taste and 1 tsp of good quality vanilla, spread out onto a good quality silicon paper and bake @ 100C degrees for 6 hours or until the fruit is dry to the touch. If your blended fruit juice (depending on what fruit is used) is very watery, cook it for 5-15 mins on the stove to thicken up a little first.

You get a really SMOOTH finish using a slipat. Wish I owned more than just one.

You can use silicon paper but be prepared for a creased finish. At least it works, had initially written off when I saw it drying out in the oven. Was all prepared to introduce to THE BIN as I thought it wouldn't lift off, sticking to the paper like glue.

Cut them up into strips with a sharp knife or scissors and wrap them in grease proof paper. All rolled up as a great gift for both young and old. You can also roll them up lengthwise but that means you need a taller/longer container; perfer to roll them shorter for easier storage.

Needless to say they do taste great and 100% natural too. Gonna make more soon as the kids have so much fun eating them. In the long term if you wish to make more of these natural sweet treats, probably best to consider investing in a food dehydrator.

Roasted Pork Bones Porridge

Some call it porridge, others congee or otherwise known locally as jook (sound likes 'joke' in cantonese).

This is one of my favourite comfort food, especially on rainy or cooler days. Unlike some people who treat this as 'sick people' food, I can have this anytime, any day of the week. I especially like plain watery porridge with some side condiments.

Anyway, been making this as a staple for Sunday lunch and my family (including my parents) love it and its much tastier than plain porridge. Its SUPER easy too.

Wash your rice and fill the pot half with water and some roasted pork bones (got them from the market) - best if there is some meat on them. Part of the treat is to nibble bits of tasty meat off bone!


Boil for over an hour. Stir occassionally, checking that you always have sufficient water in the pot otherwise you might end up with rice instead of porridge or bits of lumps at the bottom!! Serve warm.



Just a stray cat in the alley, who btw decided to self invite himself for a tour around my house one day.

Needless to say, we both got a shock. Guess I should be grateful its not a rat or some other four legged animal!

Random Shots

Been busy. But managed to divert some attention to a new toy which has left an impressionable dent to the wallet, but I'm totally satisfied with it. Just wished I had more subjects to experiment with. Since I haven't been baking or cooking much, resorted other objects of inspirations including finding things both indoors and outdoors, haha.

Pear Chocolate Cake inspired by Ina Garten

This cake is actually based on Ina's "Beatty' Chocolate Cake".

Every cake almost always comes with a story right?

DH's birthday was last week and MP insisted that we all must have cake for birthdays - that's the BIRTHDAY RULE. So even though I was really tired (had a busy & long week), somehow managed to get my act together. Was hoping for something easier like a brownie. Initially thought I was being nice by asking whether he wanted chocolate cake or brownie? The reply was "durian cake"!!! No, no no...the question was chocolate cake or brownie??? He finally reluctantly agreed to chocolate cake. Decided to pair it with pears since its his special day and likes this combination very much, not as much as durian....oh well, another time when I am not so stressed ok honey?

Ingredients for the Cake

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar (used almost 1 3/4 cups caster)


• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder


• 2 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp kosher salt


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 1/2 cup vegetable oil


• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (that's 1 tbsp instant coffee in 1 cup hot water)


• slices of pear *optional

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C degrees.


2. Grease 2 (8-inch) cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.


3. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.


4. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.


5. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.


6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Gently add slices of pears and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

7. Cool cake completely before frosting it.

Ingredients for the chocolate buttercream frosting

• 6 ounces good dark chocolate


• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted but 6 ounces good dark chocolate ter, at room temperature


• 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature (I omitted this)


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (used 1 cup)


• coffee solution of 2 tsp instant coffee powder mixed with 1 tbsp hot water

Method:

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.


2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.


3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes.


4. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy.


5. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee solution to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

This is one of the 'tallest' cake I've baked so far as I used 7 inch cake tins instead of 8 inch.

It was very yummy, soft and moist. Everyone who ate it, liked it - even the yummy chocolate butter cream!!

*sorry for the badly formated post, was driving me nuts but still couldn't fix it satisfactorily even after meddling like forever on it!!* :( sigh...better quickly post it before I seriously consider the delete button instead!