Mixed Berry Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

As you can see from most of my "bakes" I seldom do cake with frosting because my skill level of frosting is totally unbearable. I can't seems to frost a whole cake evenly with smooth finishing or at least something presentable. But after seeing Celes's mouthwatering "Blueberry Cake with Cheesecake Frosting" photo on twitter and facebook I decided to give her recipe a try.

So with a twist to her recipe, I have made a Mixed Berry Cake together with some Cupcakes frosted with fresh Raspberry Cream Cheese.

Recipe adapted from Celes @ Celestial Delish

Ingredients: (make one 7" size cake and 6 medium cupcakes)
180g Butter, soften
170g Caster Sugar
3 Large Eggs
225g Self Raising Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Vanilla essence
250g Sour Cream
200g Blueberries
125g Raspberries, reserve 1/4 for cream frosting and decoration

Mixed Berry Cupcakes made with half portion of the batter resting on the cooling rack.

Method:-

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree.

2. Cream butter and sugar for 1 minute, add in flour, baking powder and vanilla and continue to beat for another 2 minutes on low speed until thick and creamy.

3. Next beat in 4 heap tablespoons of sour cream then stir in the mixed-berry using a spatula or wooden spoon till well mixed.

4. Scoop the mixture evenly into a 7" disposal round case and the remaining batter into 6 holes muffins tray line with paper cups liner.

5. Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until skewer insert and comes out clean; OR

* Bake the 6 holes muffins tray batch at 20 minutes or till skewer insert and comes out clean.

6. Cool for cake/cupcake on the cooling rack till completely cold when touch before proceeding to the frosting.

The Original recipe calls only cream cheese, icing sugar and sour cream but in order to make the frosting more colourful and presentable. I added about 10 raspberries into the beaten cream to enhance the taste, texture as well as visual effect to the frosting.

RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients:

200g tub Philadelphia cheese
100g icing sugar
Remaining Sour Cream, leftover from the cake batter
10 Raspberry, roughly chopped

Method:-

1. Beat the soft cream cheese with the icing sugar and the remaining soured cream in a bowl until smooth and creamy.

2. Add in chopped raspberries and give it a quick stir or two till mixture is well combined.

3. Spread cheese mixture over the top of the completely cooled cake and scatter with some extra berries on top as decoration. OR

* Spoon a few tablespoons of prepared cream mixture into a pipping bag with a "Wilton 2D" pipping nozzle attached and pipe rose design starting from the middle of the cupcake in clockwise direction.

Mixed Berry Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Overall this is a very soft, light and moist cake made with fresh berries that makes you feel irresistible with its fruity flavour cream cheese topping. And according to Celes, these frosted cake can keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. But before serving, it will be best to bring it to room temperature so that the texture will be soft and moist instead of harden and dry due to storing in the fridge.

Lastly I would like to thanks Celes for sharing this wonderful recipe as well as her patience in walking through the steps and sharing of handy tips in the baking process.

Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes

Christmas is about family, friends, fun and great food. But it is often the food and gift that form the stress part of this approaching holiday season. So why not whip-up something simple and yet special from your very own kitchen, gift-wrapped it into a heart-warming and gorgeous Christmas gift for your friends and relatives..........

Usually around mid of November onwards, you will be to find all kind of Christmas Goodies on sale at most pastry shop and shopping mall. Eg. Christmas Logcake, Gingerbread man/house, Minced Pie and etc...... Since now is the festive baking season, Rey and I have come up with these quick and easy Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes. After which we gave them a make-over, packed them in gift-bags and ready to distribute out.

The Main ingredients for this Chocolate Cupcakes are Dark Chocolate, Egg, Sugar and Butter. You may also wish to get your kids to be involved in the stirring, mixing as well as the decoration of Christmas Ornaments on the end products. Since afterall, Christmas is a family festive season where everyone is encourage to be involved in the preparation. These cupcakes are so rich and simple to make that you won't hesitate to make another batch in anytime of the week.

Ingredients: (makes 6)
150g 70% Dark Chocolate, chop into small cubes
150g Unsalted Butter, cut into small cubes
3 Medium Size Egg
60g Caster Sugar
100g Self Raising Flour
1 Teaspoon Dutch-process Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Snow Powder/Icing Sugar, for dusting
Extra 1 Teaspoon Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder, for dusting

Method:
1. Set a medium glass bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter together(refer to the picture above, 2nd row, 1st picture), stir well till everything is completely melted then set a side to cool a little.
2. Sieves the self-raising flour and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder together and set aside.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick, fold in the flour mixture into the egg mixture till combined.
4. Next slowly add in the melted chocolate mixture and stir till well blended.
5. Preheat the oven to 160 degree, scoop the mixture into the prepared cup cases and bake for 20 minutes (depend on the size of cupcake case, baking time will range from 15 – 20 minutes which you can test by inserting a toothpick to test if it is cooked through)
6. The cupcakes will be soft and gooey in texture and appearance.
7. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes, dusted with extra cocoa powder and icing sugar to create the snow effect.
8. Lastly decorate it with some store bought Christmas Ornaments for that extra festive outlook.

Note:-
1) The cupcake case that is used in this recipe yield 150ml of mixture per case at 3/4 full.
2) If you prefer not to have that gooey texture cake, you can baked for another further 2 - 3 minutes for dryer texture.


After the baking, dusting of icing sugar, placing of Christmas decoration, it is time for gift wrapping. You can get some fancy wrapping bags and ribbons from Daiso or any leading Baking Accessories shop like Phoon Huat (Singapore) and Bake It Yourself.

I am sure anyone will feel great and heart-warming to receive such a wonderful homemade gift. So if you can bake any simple cookies or cupcakes, why not grab some nice wrapping bag and start making your very own Christmas goodies for your love one, colleagues or relatives. I believed they will be surprised and delighted by your special thoughts and bakes.

Baked Plum & Rum Cake

I had never being a fan of "Plum" before until Tracy gave me the Plum Chutney and I started to fall in love with it. I find that these little plum taste even better when baked or even made into Plum Jam. In this recipe I would like to share with you on how to make use of plum which is in season to make it into a mini plum cake that will melt in your mouth and taste sort of like Baked Japanese Cheesecake.

You can use any kind of plum that is in season either red or black. For this recipe, I happen to have these sweet red plum in the fridge so I decided to try out this recipe. The texture of the cake is very soft, fine and cotton like and guess what, most of my friends who tried it comments that it taste like baked cheesecake despite that there is isn't any cream cheese content.

Ingredients: (makes about 15 mini cakes)
80g Butter, room temperature
60g Sugar
1 Medium Size egg, lightly beaten
100g Plain Yogurt(thick creamy type)
100g Cake Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Apricot Glazing Gel, (Optional)

Methods:
1. Sift the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar till creamy and white (about 5 mins), then slowly add in the egg mixture in 2 addition after beating into the butter mixture.
3. Next add in 1 tablespoon of the RUM mixture, 1/3 of the plain yogurt and 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat well.
4. Repeat the procedure until all the mixture is used up.
5. Next spoon or pipe almost 3/4 full of the batter into the cup case and top it with one or two slices of the RUM plum.
6. Repeat for the rest of the cup till all the batter use up.
7. Baked in the preheat 170 degree oven for about 15 - 18 minutes depending on the size of the cake.
8. When the cakes are slightly warm, brush the top with some Apricot glazing to give it a shiny look.

Plum Topping:
3 Red Plum, cut into wedges
50ml RUM
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Methods:
1. Cut the plum into wedges of 6 each and mixed well with the RUM and brown sugar and set aside in the fridge to absorb the favour for at least 30 minutes.
2. Removed the plum wedges from the RUM mixture and drain well to remove any excess liquid then reserved the RUM mixture.

Note:
a) You can get either Pauls - Natural Yogurt or Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt.
b) If you do not have any Apricot Glazing Gel, you can replace it with 4 tablespoons Apricot jam that is warm up with 1/2 tablespoon for hot water in microwave up medium heat.

Christmas Goodies

Wow... this is a very back dated post which I happen to saw it today when updating the blog. I had actually made these goodies for my Church Christmas Function. The division pastor actually calls me up and arrange for some of the group member to come over my house to exchange some baking skill on cupcake making.


I am really shock when he told me to teach them meebers on how to make a simple cupcake for Christmas event. But then since I am going away for holiday during that week, I don't have much time left to go through in details with them. So that few hours section at my place was really stress........as in they had to learn the basic skill of baking and frosting cupcake.

But before, our actually baking session began. I had pre-made some sample cupcakes for them to have an idea and as well as to try. So these are my Christmas Black Cherries & Mocha Cupcakes.

Strawberry Vs Pumpkin Cupcakes

Made these mini fruits, nuts and vegetables cupcakes for my new colleagues and family. I had always wanted to try my bakes using fresh fruits and vegetables. So for these cupcakes I had used pumpkin, pistachio nut, strawberry and promangrante.

This is the Strawberry & Pistachio Cupcake that is topped with Rose Scented Cream Cheese and arranged with fresh Strawberry and Promangrante Seeds to enhance it's colour and taste.


Freshly chopped strawberry cubes, pistachio nuts and strawberry milk are added to the batter to enhance the texture and taste of the cake.


This is the inner cut out of the cupcake where you can see the added of fresh strawberry and nuts. It's great to serve this with English Tea for either Morning or Afternoon Tea-break.

These are my special Pumpkin & Chocolate Cupcake that are topped with Pumpkin Puree Cream Cheese and arranged with extra roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Freshly grated Australia Pumpkin, with added chopped pistachio nuts and spices to the batter to enhance the texture and fragrance of the cake.

This is the inner cut out of the cupcake where you can see the shredded pumpkins and chopped pistachio nuts. For your surprised, I had added a cube of 70% Dark Chocolate at for each cupcakes to enhance the texture of the cake even more.

Oreo Cupcakes & Assorted Donuts

Oreo Cupcake With Dual Chocolate Chips and Top With Oreo Cheese Cream...... How does these sound to you? Sinful Right!!! I really loves these cupcakes as compare to the previous 2 flavours that I had made. Maybe because I am a Chocolate and Oreo lover.......


I had made these cuppies specially for my family, relatives and friend. Especially for my dear Reyon and my cousin who really loves anything that is made of Oreo. So I hope these might surprised them and be of their liking.

The texture of this cupcake is soft, light and fluffy. With the combination of the Ground Oreo & Dual Chocolate Chips it actually add some extra texture and flavour to it. And furthermore with the Oreo Cream Cheese topping, it really make it wonderful for Oreo products lovers......

Made these Assorted Baked Donuts as well..... and I had two new flavour added to my Donuts List which are the Mango and Strawberry Donuts.

Assorted Cupcakes

Cupcakes!!! Cupcakes!!! Now it's my turn to try them out too... :) Em... I find that Cupcakes are easy to consume rather than cake itself. Because it's more of a individual portion size and it's easy to handle and more challenging to design a small cake compare to a big one. Since I am still not very well verse in my cupcake skill with those sugar paste and figure I might as well keep them simple and easy to handle for beginner like me.


After posting the Mango Poppy Seeds Cupcakes Post, I had a chance to make a batch of those with mango for an order this week. Thanks Marlyn for giving me this chance :)

This Lychee Cream Cheese Cupcake idea came from my Lychee Charlotte Cheesecake. Since most of us find that cheesecake is rather heavy to consume in large quantity, we can actually make them into smaller portion which is easier to distribute and more presentable.

You can made them into different cup size according to your preference from mini, medium or large. I personally prefer mini size which is great to serve as dessert to guest after meal.

I loved the Green Tea muffins & Green Tea Auzki Bean Bread from one of the local bakery Breadtalk, so it had being always my dream to make a some bakes using Green Tea.

So This round, I had made these Green Tea & Auzki Beans Cupcakes With Green Tea Butter Cream instead of Cream Cheese. As I want to try the different taste and texture of these two cream. As for the cream I used the same Italian Butter Cream as my Macarons and it really taste great with these Green Tea Cake.

Mango Poppy Seeds Cupcakes & Macarons

Mango & Poppy Seeds Cupcake top with luxery creamy Mango Cream Cheese and serves with an Extra crunch of Mango Cheese Cream Macaron, how does this sound to you for a Tea-Break? I am sure you will want to have a bite on either one of these treat.


The cake base itself consists of Mango, Lemon and poppy seeds which makes the cake moist and fragrance and full of mango taste. This will be a good treat for Mango lover because from the cake to the cream it's all full of mango and fragrance.

Overall I love this special cupcake which I think it's great to serve during tea time or as dessert because of it's great refreshing aroma of the mango and if you prefer to serve it light, you can omit the cheesecream topping. But I still prefer to have the mango cheese topping which enhance the overall flavour of this cupcake.