Rum & Raisins Walnut Butter Cake

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I've baked numerous butter cakes. Even though I like foolproof ones, which means I always use back the same recipe, I'm also adventurous to try new recipe. I tried Sonia's walnut butter cake. The top browned very fast and is very crispy. I baked it in numerous sizes to give away to my colleagues.

Recipe for Rum & Raisins Walnut Butter Cake, adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.
(Makes 8 various sizes cakes)

Ingredients:

375g LIV Unsalted butter
200g Caster sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
405g Cake flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
5 Whole eggs (large)
6 tbsp of milk

100g Raisins, soaked in Rum for at least 3days
150g Toasted chopped walnut
Some Desiccated coconut (optional)

Method:

1. Beat butter, salt and sugar till creamy
2. Add in eggs, one at a time
3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder, alternate with milk.
4. Mix in rum raisins and walnut, don't overwork it.
5. Sprinkle some desiccated coconut on top
6. Bake at pre-heat fan oven at 160c for 30mins - 35mins or until cooked (depend your type of oven and baking pan, you adjust accordingly)

Rum BARS

The fad is in? Lately, I noticed that Rum Balls seems to be rather popular? Because there were a couple of failed bakes? Heehee... Most of the (home) bakers knew that they won't throw away any (cooked) failed bakes because we can turned them into Rum Balls. Or perhaps, there are some who loved Rum Balls so much, they probably baked a cake just to make Rum Balls? Yes? No? The recent bakers who made Rum Balls are Eat and Be Happy and Baking on Cloud 9.

There are many ways to create rum balls. One of the recipes is given by Baking on Cloud 9. For my department's bbq on Friday, I did some Rum Bars. I decided balls were too much work, so I made bars.


This was what went into my Chocolate Rum Bars:
- cake sponge: vanilla & chocolate;
- unsuccessful chocolate macarons;
- baked tart crusts
- 2 tbsp Rum
- chocolate ganache
Mix them all together using a mixer, till soft and blinded together.

Then I spread them out on a 10"x10" square pan, about 1" tall. Pour melted semi-sweet chocolate on it, and sprinkled with desiccated coconuts. Put them into the fridge to harden. The following day, I cut sliced them up into bars before my event. So there you go, presenting my Chocolate Rum Bars. I must admit, my "lazy" way somehow tasted really good. All my colleagues just raved about it!


My domestic helper cooked some truly good fried bee hoon!

Birthday Cake

Last week, I asked my hubby what kind of cake he would like for his birthday, he told me-Rum & Raisins. As expected, he has always been a fan of rum & raisins, especially ice creams. Even if he did not tell me, I'll probably ended up making rum & raisins' cake for him too! I would think, rum & raisins would go well with chocolate sponge. So I tried searching for chocolate sponge cake recipes. One that will be light & fluffy.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't find one. :( So I decided to bake a chocolate sponge cake from "Delicious Cakes". I made chocolate & rum mousse to be frosted with the chocolate cake and added my 4-days-soaked-in-rum raisins. Overall, the cake did turn out quite well, except that my family weren't a fan of alcohols, and they found the rum too strong. So do I! Well, as long as my hubby is happy, and gets what he wants, that's all it matters! ;)



I also baked the Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia breads again for my family. I believe they will love it too!


I fried my carrot cake again in the morning for breakfast.


On Sunday morning, I baked the milk tarts for my kids, in particular my eldest boy as he loves tarts, and milk tarts. He has requested me to bake milk tarts for him. :)


Here is the recipe as requested.
Recipe extracted from "Delicious Cakes" by Amy Heng, Y3K.
Chocolate Chiffon:
A: 95g Corn Oil
B: 30g Cocoa powder, 150g Dark Chocolate (chopped)
C: 90ml Water
D: 60g Cake flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder
E: 6 Egg yolks
F: 225g Egg whites, 95g Caster sugar, 1/2 tsp Cream of tartar

Method:
1. Line a 9" round cake tin. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Heat oil of ingredient (A) over low fire until hot.
3. Remove from heat and add in ingredient (B), stir until chocolate has melted.
4. Add in ingredient (C), (D) and (E). Leave aside.
5. In a mixing bowl, whisk at high speed ingredient (F) until stiff and glossy.
6. Fold no. 4 into egg white mixture with a hand held whisk.
7. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 45-50minutes.
8. Invert immediately until cooled.
9. Cut into 3 layers horizontally.

Happy Father's Day!

I did two cakes for Father's day, one for Saturday and the other for Sunday.

Saturday: Rum & Raisins Chocolate Cake

Layering the cake... adding raisins that has been soaked in rum.

The different layers of the cake...including a dacquoise layer.

Wordings using white chocolate.

This is the decor of my Rum & Raisins Chocolate Cake.

See the number of layers of my cake. Centre is the dacquoise layer. Includes chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse, raisins and of course, cake layer!

Sunday: Chocolate & Rum Cake

Chocolate sponge cake.

Err...not very pro handwritting...

Design of my cake.