Vegan Chocolate Cake

From the picture above it don't look like a vegan free chocolate cake right? But then, this is really a vegan chocolate cake. This cake is different than other normal vegan cake because one of the ingredient in this cake might surprise you and it's avocado. I know some of you readers might think is weird but trust me is not. At first, I was a little hesitated too, but then I know it won't be that bad since is from Joy The Baker.
Instead of the avocado buttercream frosting, I use chocolate ganache and it come out perfectly like I expected.


Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar ( Use only 1 cup)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used almond oil)
1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado
2 cups water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175C. Grease two 8 inch round pans.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients except the sugar in a bowl.
3. Mix all wet ingredients including the mashed avocado in a large bowl. Add sugar and stir well


4. Mix all the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.


5. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cook. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack till completely cool before frosting.

Chocolate ganache
250g dairy whipping cream
300g chocolate
50g butter

1. Heat dairy whipping cream till hot but not boiling.
2. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir till chocolate melt, then add in the butter
3. Stir till smooth and let it sit till spreading consistency.

Pak Li, Bukit Tinggi

Pak Li is a kopitiam subsidiary of Nyonya Kitchen. This kopitiam serve all type of Malaysian daily dishes like Nasi lemak, Mee mamak, Traditional white coffee and many more. Beside Bukit Tinggi, Pak Li is also avaible in Shah Alam Seksyen 7 and 18, Kota Damansara, and Setapak Indah. Not to forget their food is great.

On Friday, I and my sister were undecided what to eat for lunch so we just headed over to Pak Li. It has been some times since we eat there.The ambiance of the kopitiam is just like one normal typical kopitam, marble table and old stools.

Their mamak mee is serve with generous amount of chinese beancurd, vegetables and prawns. The texture of the mee was just nice, not so soft and hard.

Mee mamak = RM 4.50

The next dish was nasi lemak. The rice was so flavourful with santan smell. Moreover, the rice texture was fluffy. Not to forget their sambal because their sambal is so good. This nasi lemak is serve with rendang chicken, cucmber and fried beancurd.

Nasi Lemak = Price unavaible

For drinks we order their famous white coffee and their cendol. I will always tell them "kurang manis" because I don't like my coffee to be so sweet. I will always buy their coffee when exam is around the corner because this coffee will always make me alert :)

Okay, back to stories. We order our cendol and is serve in a small glass bowl packed with corn, red bean, green cendol and coconut. What I like about their cendol is FREE FLOW OF GULA MELAKA. You can pour as much as you want.

Cendol = RM 2.60

White coffee = Price unavaible

_______________________

Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Klang
42A-0 Lorong Batu Nilam 3A,
Bandar Bukit Tinggi , 41200 Klang
Tel : +603-3324 5608
Fax: +603-3324 5606

Opening hours:
Mon to Sun – 8.00 am to 12 midnite

www.paklikopitiam.com.my

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake or passion cake is a very common cake. The most important ingredient in this cake is grated carrot. While cooking the carrot will softens. This cake usually has a soft and dense texture. The carrot themselves will enhance the flavor and give a great colour to the cake.

This carrot cake is moist but not oily because this carrot cake is not oil based. Beside that, this carrot cake does not consist of pineapple and grated coconut. I know now you must be thinking will this carrot cake taste nice without all this? Trust me, this carrot cake still taste good without all those ingredient. This cake taste extra delicious when is topped with the cream cheese frosting but it still taste good without it.

Since I didn't want the cake to be so sweet because I will be eating it with the cream cheese I cut down the sugar to 1 cup. This recipe is a little different because it has freshly squeeze orange juice.

Cast of ingredients

Carrot Walnut Cake

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1/8 cup orange juice
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
4 cups grated carrots (frosting recipe follows cake recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10 inch round cake pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1 cup butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Stir in the eggs and add the orange juice.


4.Add the sifted dry ingredient, mix well. Finally, fold in the walnuts, raisins and carrots. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
5 .Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.


Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar

1. To make the frosting, in a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, 1/2 cup butter and confectioners sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cake. If the icing is to thick add a little milk.


* I did a little changes with the cream cheese frosting. I add a about 1/2 tbsp orange and lemon zest with their juice. I also add extra 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. The frosting turn out the way I want which is a little cirtus and tangy with a good balance of sweetness.

DELcious Restaurant

DELcious is a restaurant began a little two years ago when Abby came back from Hong Kong. Twelve weeks later, they open for business on the 17 February 2004. Their menu consist of Pasta, Sandwiches, Salads, Local Delicacies and Dessert. Today, their menu include a proper dinner menu and an-all day Breakfast menu on weekends.

Their food price is pretty reasonable. Their price would range from RM 25- RM 50 depend on what you order. Last week Tuesday was my first time eating there. The serving portion is really huge. I ordered Classic Beef Lasagna which was so delicious. The lasagna topped with generous amount of sauce and serve with simple salad serve in ramekins.

Classic Beef Lasagna = RM 19.90

My sister order their famous Carbonara Spaghetti with wild mushroom, beef bacon, oregano and cream topped with some grated cheese. The carbonara cost about RM 24+ . For dessert we order their Chocolate Brownies with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream. They are also famous for their classic chocolate cakes with vanilla ice-cream. The classic chocolate cake cost about RM 11.90

Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate sauce & vanilla ice-cream = RM 11.90

Overall their food is delicious and the serving is very huge. The total bill came up to RM 67.40 which I think is pretty reasonable.

____________________
The Delicious Group Sdn Bhd
Lot G316, Ground Floor,
1 Utama Phase 2 (New Wing), Bandar Utama.
Tel : 603-77241086
Fax : 603-77263441

http://www.delicious.com.my

Cinnamon Roll

Ahh, yes sorry for the lack of post. Have been quite busy this few days.

Today I'm going to blog about cinnamon rolls:


My sister feel like baking cinnamon roll so without hesitate I start going through the bookmark and found one recipe from http://edible-moments.blogspot.com. Once I read through the insctruction and the recipe we started baking. Yes indeed this recipe is uber simple.. but is not one of the best cinnamon roll I have made and also not the best in taste.

After tasting we wasn't that satisfied, we decide to try the regular recipe that I always use. This recipe is quite easy for me as what I think. Beside that this cinnamon roll taste so delicious and not to forget is so fluffy. We cut down the recipe since we had already had quite a lot of cinnamon roll on hand before making this.

Cinnamon Roll

1 cup milk ( prefer full fat milk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 package active dry yeast ( 1 1/8 tsp)
2 + 1/4 cup call purpose flour
1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon "scant" baking soda
1/4 heaping tablespoon of salt ( I omit this)
1 cup sugar ( I use brown sugar)
Generous amount of butter
Generous sprinkle of cinnamon powder


1) Mix the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan and heat on the stove until just before boiling. Leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in the half a package of Active Dry Yeast.Let this sit for a minute.

2) Add 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

3) Add 1/4 cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together. At this point, you can cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it. It can keep overnight to day or two later if necessary.

4) Sprinkle the surface where you going to roll your dough generously with flour. Take the dough and form a rough rectangle. The roll must be thin and maintaining a general rectangular shape. Spread a generous amount of butter. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

5) Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Pinch the seam to the roll to seal it. Spread melted butter in round, foil cake or pie pans. Make sure the bottom and sides are covered. Begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

6) Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

After proofing about 30 minutes.

Look how fluffy is the cinnamon roll.

* Best eaten with cream cheese frosting or some simple glaze.

Orange Poppy Seed Muffin

Muffin can be eaten as a breakfast, tea or just a light snack. This orange poppy seeds muffin is so moist and light with a perfect crunch from the poppy seed. The citrus flavor from the orange and lemon make this muffin so flavorful. This muffin sweetness is perfectly balance with a cup of hot coffee.

Ingredients.
175g self-raising flour, sifted
175g butter
150g castor sugar ( I cut it down to 100g since my orange juice was sweet enough)
2 eggs ( make sure the eggs are at room temperature)
100ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 tsp vanilla essence ( I change it to 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp lemon essence
1 tbsp cointreau (orange liqueur), optional
1 tbsp fonely grated orange rind
30g poppy seeds

1. Place paper cup in muffin tin and preheat oven to 180C
2. Beat butter sugar and essence until light and fluffy. Add orange rind, and eggs one at a time.

3. Continue to beat until light and fluffy. Fold in sifted ingredients, poppy seeds and enough orange juice to get a soft dropping consistency.


4. Spoon the batter into muffin tins, filling three-quarters full
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until well risen and firm to touch.


* Can use all purpose flour but remember to add baking powder and salt.