Steamed Coffee Sponge Cake Vs Almond Cheesecake With Berries

[Halloween Inspired Cake] Steamed Coffee Sponge Cake

For the month of November I have created two recipes using Bake King flavour essence and emulco to make baked almond cheesecakes and some lovely steamed coffee sponge cake for afternoon tea. If you are interested to find out more on the mentioned recipes, you can check out their recipes site at http://www.bakeking.com.sg/recipes

[Day 1] Lunch at Crystal Lotus (晶荷轩), Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland Themed Dim Sum @ Crystal Lotus (晶荷轩)

Our first meal in Hong Kong is at Crystal Lotus (晶荷轩) that is located in Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel serving award-winning Chinese cuisines with a unique Disney touch and Disney Signature Dim Sum. From what I Google through websites and reviews, the restaurant is always fully book during weekends or peak period so it will be advisable to make your reservation at least two days to a week ahead or book through the hotel when making your room reservations to avoid disappointment.

[Day 1] Weekend Getaway To Hong Kong Disneyland

[Hong Kong Disneyland - Disney's Hollywood Hotel]

Our recent trip to Hong Kong Disneyland during September school break was rather an impromptu decision but we did have a wonderful weekend there. And since it was our first visit plus free and easy trip in Hong Kong I was feeling rather insecure with things like our baggage and moving around in Hong Kong from one place to another.

But thanks God, everything went on smooth and it is much easier than what I have expected to explore Hong Kong with its efficient transport systems like Taxi, Airport Express and MTR and etc. So in my Hong Kong Travelogue posts I will share with you our itinerary to the Magical Disneyland together with transport, food and hotel details throughout the subsequent post which I hope it will help to ease your planning if you are heading there soon.

Fall Recipes Using Pumpkin For Halloween

Halloween is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries which falls on October 31. Although we don't really celebrate Halloween through the traditional trick-or-treat party but for the past three years I have being sharing some Halloween Themed Recipes during this time of the year. For this year instead of the usual savory dishes I decided to bake some sweet treats (cakes) for our afternoon tea.

And since Pumpkin is one of the most common ingredients for Fall recipes, I decided to use it to make my favourite Pumpkin Cheesecake (mini version) and Pumpkin Chia Seeds Chiffon Cake.

3 Recipes On Quinoa Salad - Part II

Morning! It's Monday and here is Part II of my quinoa dishes which I would like to share with you. And if you have missed out Part I, here is the link. These super-grains can be used to make different food like salad, pancake, bread, cakes, porridge and etc which makes a healthy replace for our usual flours or grains.

In this post, I will be sharing how to use cooked quinoa and turn them into salad, fritters and risotto to create a hearty meal for the family. But if  you have any easy recipes on quinoa do feel free to share with us your post link or ideas on the comment box below too.

MUSHROOM AND BACON QUINOA SALAD

This Mushroom And Bacon Quinoa Salad was inspired by one of my friend, AiYen when we were chatting about Quinoa on skype last week. She told me she would like to try out her first quinoa dish with bacon and mushrooms so on that afternoon I loot back some bacon from the supermarket to test out her suggestion.

To our surprise this combination taste quite good with hint of bacon flavour and it's crispy texture hidden within the quinoa salad which blends well with the overall taste. But perhaps for next round I might add in a splash of extra virgin olive oil or lemon juice to lift up the taste.

[No Churn] Coffee Ice Cream

It has being more than two years since my last Eggless Dark Chocolate Ice Cream post till now. And recently I was motivated by some of my Instagram friends homemade ice cream posts which I decide to make this super easy "No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream" from Nigella Lawson site which you can easily whipped it up at home in less than 10 minutes.

In her website there are a few no-churn ice cream recipes and I have selected our favourite Coffee Ice Cream that used espresso powder and Kahlúa liqueur (instead of espresso liqueur mentioned in the original recipe) which satisfy the craving of coffee lovers like us.

COFFEE ICE CREAM
(No Churn)

I love this recipe mainly because it is eggless plus you don't even need an ice cream maker. What you need to do is whisk up everything in a mixing bowl using electric beater and freeze it in air tight container. For my case, I used my Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender where I pour all the ingredients into the tall beaker and blend it till smooth.

[Wordless Wednesday] Baked Pork Chop With Apple And Mashed Potato

BAKED PORK CHOP WITH APPLE AND MASHED POTATO

3 Recipes On Quinoa Salad - Part I

Many of you might have heard about this super-grains known as Quinoa(Keen-wah) which is consider as the "Mother of All Grains". According to the information that I Google online, quinoa is an easily digested grains with good source of fiber and it's also gluten-free too.

For the past few months I have being including some organic "quinoa" into our daily meals for at least 2 - 3 times a week on top of our usual white/brown rice. And in this post you can also take on reference how I make used of the red and white quinoa in our dishes together with other ingredients.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN QUINOA SALAD

Moroccan seasoning has an exotic flavour and it is usually used to marinade lamb, chicken or beef which is ideal for grilling, barbecuing or pan frying. You can easily grab a bottle of this Moroccan Spice (shown in the ingredients photo below) at your local supermarkets or you can mix your own using a few spices shown below too.

Weekend Champagne & Croissants Brunch At Ô Batignolles

To celebrate it's first year anniversary, Ô Batignolles; a French bistro located at 2 Gemmill Lane has introduced a brand new weekend brunch menu featuring a range of delicious new dishes typical of Paris. This new "Champagne And Croissants Brunch" offers a three-course (croissant, choice of bread and choice of main) menu served together with freshly squeezed orange juice, premium coffee or tea plus free flow Yveline Prat Brut Champagne at S$89++.

Alternatively for those who prefer a non-alcoholic brunch, the ‘Champagne And Croissants’ is also available without Champagne for only S$29++ or you can order other dishes from their A la Carte Menu (shown below) that suits your preference.

Baked Mini Matcha Donuts

Two weeks ago, I saw one of my blogging friend Nami (JustOneCookBook) she made some really  mouthwatering Green Tea Donuts that triggers my craving for baked donuts. So last week after getting a new bottle of Matcha (green tea) powder and digging out my mini donut tray which hidden somewhere in the storeroom. I made some matcha donuts too!

Assorted Mini Donuts (recipe) that I made 2 years ago using Blueberry Yogurt.

I still remembered a few years back when there was a donut craze in Singapore where you can find queues everywhere outside donut outlets like Donut Factory. And during that time I even followed the craze and baked donuts with assorted toppings like what shown above.

Celebrate Children's Day @ Swensen's

Last Friday, 04 October 2013 was Children's Day school holiday so I bought boy to Swensen's to have his favourite Fishy Chippy and Ice Cream. It was a fun day where we enjoy wonderful lunch and shopping trip around the malls to get some loot for ourselves. Also secondly my aim to visit Swensen's was to try out their Spanking New Dishes recommended by Singapore bloggers.

4 New Dishes recommended by Singapore Leading Bloggers

Swensen's has introduced four Spanking New Dishes across all outlets in Singapore for a limited period from 01 September to 31 October 2013. And these four dishes are recommended by Singapore Leading Bloggers such as Ladyironchef, DanielFoodDiary, Camemberu and Keropkman. After reading feedback from friends who tried these dishes over at IG (Instagram), I decided to settle my lunch with Daniel's recommended dish; "Spiced Maple Chicken Waffle" because mainly I am a waffle fans.

5 Assorted Chiffon Cakes Recipes - Part II

Good morning everyone! For those who follow my updates on Instagram and Facebook Page, you will release that I have being working on some chiffon cake recipes lately. It is such a quick and easy cake to whip up in about 10 minutes plus 40 minutes baking time in the oven (excluding cooling time) and you get to enjoy some lovely hearty homemade chiffon anytime of the day.

I had received some emails from readers regarding problems that they face while making chiffon cakes mostly because the cake sinks or did not rise as fluffy as expected. All these might due to  folding of egg whites into the yolk batter (over mixed), oven temperature or etc. But I am sure with proper guideline and hands-on once will eventually master the recipes. In this post, I will be sharing another 5 chiffon cake recipes apart from what I did in Chiffon Cake Recipes - Part I.

Tim Ho Wan (添好運) @ Toa Payoh Central

Ever since Tim Ho Wan (添好運) opens it's first outlet in Singapore (Plaza Singapura) earlier this year in April. It has definitely captured the heart of dim sum lovers in Singapore who don't mind queuing up for at least 60 - 90 minutes just to savor their signature items such as Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Steamed Egg Cake, Carrot Cake and etc.

And now with it's second outlet opens at Toa Payoh Central (ERA Centre) and a third one coming up soon in Bedok (by end of this year), hopefully the queue will be shorter when more outlets are easily access across the island.

As the queue over at Plaza Singapura is always snake long, I decided to try my luck at their new Toa Payoh outlet since it is nearer to my area. And thanks God, when mum and I arrived at around 10.35am (opens at 11.00am) the queue was not as bad as what we thought and we managed to get our seats by 11.05am.

*so the secret tips are: avoid lunch/dinner time or try to be early before it opens.*

Pandan Yogurt Pudding

In terms of the word "pudding" it can be used to describe both sweet and savory dishes like "cheese pudding", "bread and butter pudding", "Christmas pudding" and etc. For this post, I will be sharing a a low fat pudding using plain yogurt to replace the usual cream or egg found in most pudding recipes. And it can be easily whip up in less than 10 minutes, after which pop them into the fridge and serve it with your desire toppings.

PANDAN YOGURT PUDDING

In order to make it an Asian flavour I added some pandan paste to achieve a lovely green and aroma for this dessert. And for those staying overseas like United States, Australia, Japan, Europe and etc where you cannot easily access to fresh Pandan Leaves, I will suggest you can stock up a bottle or two of the Pandan Paste from your local Asian grocery stores. As these lovely paste do comes in handy when you want to make some Asian delights such as Pandan Chiffon Cake, Pandan Waffle, Nasi Lemak Rice and etc.