I made cup cakes using a Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe for the Gilmore Park Church community kitchen Christmas potluck. We always celebrate the last meeting of the year with a potluck party. We love to share what we learn from the kitchen in this time of celebration.

I made the Cream Cheese Pound Cake in cup cake form for easy sharing in a potluck party and also it takes shorter time to bake. In addition, I do not have a 4-quart tube pan as in the original recipe.

This is indeed a very rich cake. I love the nicely balance of sweet and salty taste of the cake. I find that portion control in very crucial during the holiday season. You can still enjoy the holiday food you love but just watch the portion size.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened (no substitution)
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Cream Cheese Pound Cake"

With the left over egg whites from the Bistro Pumpkin Creme Brulee, Karen decided to make a Rich White Cake. We baked the cake in the form of cup cake which is easier to share among us.

This cup cake is very rich as we used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 cups sifted cake flour (if you want to substitute the cake flour with all purpose flour, reduce 1 tablespoon of flour for every cup)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 6 egg whites

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Rich White Cake"

While Carrot Cake can be eaten just as it is, normally it is topped with cream cheese icing. So, Karen made a Cream Cheese Frosting for her Carrot Cake. She used a peach flavour cream cheese instead of the regular one. The flavoured cream cheese is sweeter — so, you can if you want to reduce the amount of icing sugar in the recipe.

You know the consistency of the Cream Cheese Frosting is right when a spoon is sticked into the cream cheese, it stands upright without toppling.

Ingredients

• 1 package (259g) of brick cream cheese, softened (Karen used those in tub)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups icing sugar

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Cream Cheese Frosting"

Karen harvested some carrots from the farm the day before the community meal and she decided to make Carrot Cake for dessert for the Gilmore Park Church community meal the next day. Sometimes, it’s only the day before the meal that Karen will know what she’ll be preparing for the community meal as it all depend on what she’s getting from the donors.

The Carrot Cake is fragrant with spices and the cream cheese frosting adds creaminess and sweetness to it.

As we were washing and peeling the carrots, we found two unique ones which is worth to do a show and tell. These two are like two pairs of dancers legs.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups grated carrots

The above ingredients will yield 20 servings of carrot cake from a 13 x 9″ pan. When we made this for the community meal, we used the ingredients for 40 servings and made it 3 times. The ingredients to make 40 servings is simply double the above ingredients except for the salt which is increase to 3/4 teaspoon only.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Carrot Cake"

The Toll House Milk Chocolate Frosting is ultra chocolaty, rich and sweet.  This is great for occasional indulgence but not for the every day consumption.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Combine the chocolate chips, butter and salt in a medium microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave the mixture on Medium-high (70%) power for 1 minutes, stir.  The morsels may retain some of their original shape.  If necessary, microwave at additional 10-15 seconds intervals, (to prevent burning of the chocolate) stirring just until smooth.  Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate on a hot water bath.

Transfer the mixture to a large mixer bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the sugar, alternating with the milk until you get a smooth frosting.  Karen, thank you for sharing the recipes and all the baking tips.

Karen has to prepare 120 cup cakes for the Gilmore Park Church Community Meal. She used the Toll House recipe for the chocolate cup cakes which is rich and easy to prepare.

Unfortunately, I did not get a shot of the actual cup cakes. These are the mini cup cakes which Karen made for us to sample.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cups baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

The ingredients for the recipe above is for making 20 cup cakes which is perfectly fine for home baking. However, since Karen needed 120 cup cakes, we doubled the recipe above and made 3 batches of them. According to Karen, we should not multiply the recipe by too many times as it will change the chemistry of the recipe. This is especially true for baking.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Toll House Chocolate Cup Cakes"

I ran out of banana and Arkensen would like to have some cakes for snacking. With the temperature soaring to 30 degrees Celsius, I do not want to switch on the oven to bake a cake. So, I modify the recipe from the Steamed Banana Cake to make a Steamed Sour Cream Chocolate Cake instead.

The cake turned out pretty good and Arkensen enjoyed it just as much as the Steamed Banana Cake.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

The instruction is pretty much the same as the Steamed Banana Cake except that the steaming time is longer about 23 to 25 minutes.

I like to bake cakes but they are all cakes without frosting because I simply dont know how to frost a cake. One day when we were shopping a Michaels, Ben noticed that Michaels offers cake decorating class on a notice board in the store. So, I signed up for it since the course is free with the condition that you buy the student kit for the course.

There are four levels in the Wilton Cake Decorating course. Each level has four classes and the class is two hours each on a weekly basis.

The student kit for level one costs $29.99 plus tax. The kit consists of some of basic items like a spatula, seven tips, a flower nail, a tip brush, a decorator brush, a practice board set, two 10″ featherweight decorating bags, a disposable decorating bag and two standard couplers. We were given a coloured course material book too.

In the course, we were taught how to make different consistency buttercream icing. The different consistency is meant for different decorating tips. For example, thin consistency is for the base icing for the cake and printing. The medium consistency is mainly to create motives using tips while the stiff consistency is for creating larger motives like a rose. Well, I would not know all this without going to a course like this.

We also learned how to prepare a cake for decorating; from baking, leveling, torting, filling and icing the cake. Before we start to create motives with the different tips, we learned about the correct bag position with the right angle and direction. We also learned about pressure control to create different size and uniformity of the icing designs. It seems like a lot to learn but you will get the hang of it with practice.

Finally, we got to decorating our cakes. We have to prepare a cake with icing to bring to the class so that we can decorate it after we learn how to using the icing tips to create different icing motives. This the my first decorated cake with mainly star tips.

I made a chocolate cake base as my kids love chocolate cake.

My second cake had drop flowers and shell decorating. I find that the shell is very difficult to do especially when you need to get consistent shells. The shell is very common for borders.

A side view of the cake.

By the last lesson, we learnt how to make the Wilton Rose, sweet peas, bows, leaves and vines. I cant believe I made this cake.

I’m amazed that I can create a cake like this with just a few lessons. I will blogged about the other levels when I get the time to attend them. This is a great course and I would recommend those who are interested in cake decorating to join it.

It is supposed to be a cake meet day, but Polly had postphoned the cake meet because she has an appointment to bring her car for service. However, at the last minute, she got a call to inform her that the parts needed for her car service has not arrived. So, Polly decided to drop by my place for a chit-chat instead of going out because it was the hottest day of the week, temperature was up to mid twenties.

Polly brought a couple of ripen banana to show me how to make a very simple Steamed Banana Cake which is her family’s favourite. It is a very good idea to steam the cake as I do not want to heat up the whole place by using the oven, especially in a hot summer day.

The Steam Banana Cake came out just perfect and smelt so good. Arkensen likes it so much that he finished three quarters of the cake in a day.

The best part of her recipe is that she steamed the cake in the same mixing bowl she used to prepare the cake. No extra dishes to wash. For this demonstration. I had to show the ingredients in individual bowls but when you are making this at home, you just measure all the ingredients into the mixing bowl.

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 egg (can be substituted with 50ml of milk or water; I once ran out of egg and substituted with water and it worked fine)
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 100g (close to 1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins, optional

Instructions

• Place all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

• Mix the ingredients with a fork until well blended.

• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Steam the cake on a rack for 15 to 18 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

• Remove from the steamer and let the cake cool for a few minutes. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake and pop the cake out of the bowl. Here you are, a warm and fragrant cake ready in less than 25 minutes. You may add some chocolate chips if you prefer.

Polly, thank you for sharing such a simple, healthy and quick to prepare recipe. So, when you have ripe banana on hand and crave for banana cake, this is the just the right recipe for a hot summer day.

I shared this recipe in the Gilmore Park Church community kitchen and it was well received as the members loved the fact that it is steamed and not baked.

If you like steamed cake recipes, check out the following:

• Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake
• Steamed Mah Lai Ko
• Steamed Rice Cakes (Pak Thong Koh)
• Another Steamed Rice Cake
• Chinese Sponge Cake

Tanni made two desserts in the Gilmore Community Kitchen. She made a Zucchini Chocolate Cake and Loh Mei Chi. The Zucchini Chocolate Cake is best served after two or three days. A great dessert that you can prepare in advance.

What I liked of this recipe is that you can hardly detect the zucchini in the cake. It’s a great way to add vegetables into fussy kids diet without them knowing it. This will certainly be my secret weapon and I hope Arkensen and Nanzaro will not read this blog.

You may garnish the cake with a dust of icing sugar or with some cut fruits along with it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of shredded zucchini (do not substitute with cucumber)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or other flavour extract)
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

You may double the recipe but doubling all the ingredients except the vegetable oil to 3/4 cup and the egg to 3.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Zucchini Chocolate Cake"