Vanilla Cheesecake

A modified recipe for Vanilla Cheesecake made for my nephew's birthday. It had been a long time since I baked a birthday cake. I requested to make a cheesecake since fanciful decoration is not required.

Recipe for Vanilla Cheesecake

(Makes a 9″ round cheesecake)

Ingredients:
Crust:
500g Digestive biscuits, finely grind (I finished up the whole packet as I do not want to keep any)
50g Salted butter, soften

1. Mix crushed biscuit crumbs with the soften butter until it resembles the texture of wet sand.
2. Using the back of your fingers, press the mixture into the base of a springform pan until the base is firm and compact.
3. Baked in a pre-heated oven of 160C for 10mins.
4. Remove from oven and let it cool.

Filling:
750g Cream cheese, softened
130g Fine sugar
4 Eggs, room temperature

150g Honey yogurt (or plain yogurt. I used the brand - Thick & Creamy Honey)

1 Vanilla pod, scraped the seeds

Method:
1. Beat cream cheese and sugar in a mixer until it is smooth without lumps.
2. Add eggs in one at a time, beating until well combined. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly to ensure an even mixture.
3. Add in yogurt, followed by vanilla seeds. Mix well. 

4. Pour the batter into the pan. 
5. Bake in the preheated oven of 160C for 60mins on the 2nd rack (lowest 2nd).
6. Once done, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven completely. (I left it overnight.) 
7. Remove the cheesecake from its pan and chill for at least 4 hours.
8. To decorate, sprinkle snow powder. Refrigerate well.
9. Before serving, remove from the fridge and left it outside for at least half hour. Slice, serve and enjoy!

No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream

Don't we all get attracted by easy and good recipes? At least I do. No churn ice cream sounds good to me as my family loves ice cream - stick, cone or tub. We usually have some form of ice creams in our freezer to satisfy our cravings.

As my fridge ran out of ice cream recently, I decided to make some ice cream. This recipe - No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream, is really easy to prepare. However, it is very sweet even after I reduced the condensed milk. The taste, smoothness was pretty much like a real ice-cream, except it lacks some body. Such ice cream cannot crystalised like the real thing. Nothing can compared to those ice-cream made with custard, this is just a quick fix on ice cream cravings.

Recipe for No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream, adapted from Baking Bites.
(Makes a 1 litre tub)

Ingredients:
300g  Sweetened condensed milk (Milkmaid)
2 tsp Vanilla beans paste
500g Whipping cream

Method:

1. Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl until well-combined.

2. Whip cream to stiff peaks in a large bowl. Stir 1/3 of the mixture into the sweetened condensed milk to lighten it, then fold in remaining whipped cream.

3. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm, at least 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.

Homemade Vanilla Beans Paste

I confess. I'm a sucker for homemade extracts. As if making orange, lemon or vanilla extracts are not enough. Now I'm into making vanilla beans paste. (",) I kept my vanilla pods in the freezer for a long time. Sometimes, I just couldn't bear to use them. But I continue to buy them. Vanilla fetish? Heehee... So I finally decided to use up the beans in the freezer. They were Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans. I also have another type of slimmer, smaller vanilla beans. However, I thought that is better for baking rather than making paste.

I found a good simple recipe. But I made a boo-boo with this recipe. Thinking that the weight of my vanilla pods was twice as much indicated in the recipe, I upped the sugar and water. Only to realise that after scrapping out the beans, it was much lesser. O.o Should have just stick to the recipe. What was I thinking?! Anyway, I proceeded. The aroma of the vanilla that filled the room when I was boiling was really good! However, when my children came back from their tuition, they asked who drank milo? >_<" Make some yourself today!

Recipe for Homemade Vanilla Bean Paste, adapted from Foodzeit.

Ingredients:
10 Fresh vanilla pods, beans scrapped
60 g sugar
60 ml water
1 tsp Lemon juice

Method:

1. Weigh out all ingredients and place them in a pot.

2. Heat over low fire till it boils.
3. Continue cooking for a few minutes until the water is reduced and you get something like a syrup.
4. Let it cool slightly.
5. Pour them into a sterilized glass container. Scratch everything from your pot into the glass container. Cool completely before storing.

My proud collection of extracts and paste. ;)  
So what do you do with your vanilla pods? Leave it in the sun or just air dry it completely, then stick them in your sugar container. Then you'll get vanilla sugar. I never run out of vanilla sugars!

Vanilla Cupcakes

This post is sponsored by Liv butter.

I've been wanting to bake a nice vanilla flavoured cupcakes for a long time. Earlier this year, at my cousin's baby's first month celebration, I was asked to make chocolate cupcakes for his guests, and I did. My aunty tried the chocolate cupcake and said it was nice. However, she commented that she preferred vanilla taste. I promised her I'll try to bake a good vanilla cupcake next time for her.

Then came the opportunity. My dad invited his relatives to his place for a gathering. He usually do this once a year. I knew my aunty will be there. So I kept my promise. I tried Little Teochew's Vanilla Cupcakes. It was moist and crumbly, something that I like in a cupcake. My aunty liked it and commented that at least the butter taste wasn't prominent.

Recipe for Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes, adapted from The Little Teochew.
Makes approx. 36 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

85g Self-raising flour
70g Plain flour
113g Unsalted Liv butter, softened
130g caster sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
122g Whole milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (or vanilla bean for even more intensity)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.
6. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 18 minutes, or when the top turns golden brown.
8. Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

A Birthday Strawberry Shortcake

Actually, it's not easy not to bake at all in a week. Even though I told myself I should cut down on baking, somehow, I just had to plan some bakings over a week. Not to mention when there are birthdays in the family, I'll be happy baking away, no matter how busy I am.

In fact, baking just need some planning. Certain bakes can be made in advance. Of course, I don't dispute that everything should be baked on the day that is required, so that it'll be fresher. But when you really have no time, it's not that bad to separate them over a couple of days. Anyway, many a times, nobody can tell they were made on different days! :p

Just two weeks ago, I made a Coconut Layer Cake for my mum. Frankly speaking, how many of us has tried good coconut cakes outside? Not me. For I've actually not seen any cafes or bakeries selling coconut cakes. We know coconuts are usually used as complements to other flavours, for example pandan, or yam etc, but it was hardly the centre of attraction for most desserts or sweets.

This Coconut Layer Cake is very unique. The cake sponge is made of desiccated coconuts, so is the custard cream. With the toasted desiccated coconuts coated at the sides, you can say, it's a whole lot of coconut! However, the taste wasn't too empowering. Which was why it was truly well received by many! Even my family members, who yakked at too much coconuts, found this cake to be specially nice too!

Last weekend, it was my brother-in-law's birthday. Usually, they don't have any requests. So I just thought of  what I would like to bake. For him, I made a Strawberry Shortcake. This time, I tried a vanilla sponge cake recipe from Zu's Kitchen. It was quite dense but soft. I was glad they liked the cake. I used Korean strawberries which proved to be really sweet. The sweetness of the strawberries filled the air, prompting my sister to ask if I added any strawberry flavourings into the cream!

Recipe for Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:(A)
150g Top flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
10g Milk powder

(B)
60g Cooking oil
50g Water
4  Egg yolks
50g Castor sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract

(C)
4 Egg whites
80g Castor sugar
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar

Method:
1. Sift ingredients (A) and put it aside.
2. Whisk yolks and sugar till it turns lemon color.
3. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix till well blended.
4. Add ingredients (A) and mix it slowly till it forms a smooth batter.
5. Whisk (C) till stiff.
6. Fold in 1/3 of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and gently stir, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture and mix well gently.
7. Pour batter into a lined 9" round cake tin.
8. Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 40 mins or till it springs back when touched.
9. Once cooked, removed from oven and invert the cake on the wire rack until completed cooled.
10.Removed from mould and decorate.

Chantilly Cream
550g Whipping cream
55g Caster sugar

250g Strawberries

1. Add whipping cream and caster sugar into the mixing bowl and beat till stiff peak.
2. Frost the cake with chantilly cream and decorate with strawberries.
3. Serve and enjoy.

Madagascar Vanilla Extracts

A friend commented that my blog was getting more boring as there were fewer posts and fewer updates. Well, I might have to agree to that as
(1) I haven't been baking as often as I want to,
(2) even if I bake, they were repeated recipes,
(3) I was testing out some recipes for my workshops, therefore, it won't be appropriate to post them up here.

So, with all these valid reasons, I supposed I can be excused from the long lapse of posts? :p

Anyway, this is also nothing new. I thought I just want to share that since making my own vanilla extracts, I've not looked back. And friends whom I have given them my vanilla extracts have raved about the quality of it. So with more vanilla beans on hand, since I don't know how else to make use of them,  I've decided to make more vanilla extracts! Even The Little Teochew has made her own vanilla extracts!

I bought these colourful glass bottles from a shop in JB when I was there lately. They were rather huge, and I was simply happy! It cost me only RM5.00 each! Each bottle contains about 600g of vodka, so you can imagine how much vanilla extract I'll be getting? And not forgetting my previous two smaller bottles of vanilla extracts! Gee, I think with all these bottles, it's really going to last me a lifetime supply! I'll have to be contented, wouldn't I?

Homemade Vanilla Extract 2

For the longest time, I've been wanting to make more vanilla extracts. Mainly because I don't want to waste the vanilla pods that I still have. But at the same time, I can't find a suitable bottle to make the extract. I still have the vanilla extract I made the previous time. Ever since I started using my own vanilla extract, I just can't use vanilla essence anymore! Since the last time I made the extract, I had constantly added more vodka and even vanilla beans into it when the volume grew lesser and lesser.

Finally, I found my bottle. Time to make my second bottle of vanilla extract. I got very excited when I made my second bottle. I can dream my dream away that I'll have endless supply of my vanilla extract. Isn't that wonderful?


These were the ingredients that went into my vanilla extract - 6 Madagascar Vanilla pods + Absolut Vodka. Plus two months of "standing" and "shaking".


I packed a small bottle for a dear friend, who has taught me a lot, and shared her baking experience with me unreservely. Thanks dear D! It is really a pleasure to know you!

It's a pound again!

It's got to be pound cake again! I've been trying out new recipes and baking new food now and then. Somehow, I just can't run away from baking some simple recipes again and again. There are some recipes which I just swear by! One of those had to be pound cakes and butter cakes! As my sour cream was expiring soon, I just had to use them, and try to use up all of them. So, the only cake that I can bake, is pound cakes. I baked two loaves, one for my colleagues tomorrow, and the other for my family. I baked the marbled pound cakes instead of the usual chocolate only or vanilla only. Then of course, I used my homemade vanilla extract.




I filled a small bottle of my homemade vanilla extract, and gave it to someone whom I know will appreciate it. I called it "limited edition", and it's rather precious to me. However, I'm willing to give to bakers or people who will appreciate the value of this extract. :)

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I've been waiting, waiting to put this up since two months back. But I had to hold myself back until the time is ripe, that is, about now? Since early March when my sister gave me a bunch of Madagascar Vanilla pods, I knew I had to try to "preserve" them as long as possible. I was rather careful and stingy about using them. Then I found a way to use them carefully - make vanilla extract!

Gina had taught me how to make them into vanilla extract by soaking them into Vodka. I followed her method closely from Kitchen Capers, and the extract was really good! This was the result of weeks and weeks of shaking and "standing". In one of the sites, I read that Vanilla Extracts matured over time, just like wines. That will mean that I can keep them for a long long time without them "expiring", isn't that great?

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

The bbq on Saturday was partially to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday and also to have some bbq fun. The stuff that they bought for bbq are pretty good - lamb chops, satay, chicken wings, sotong balls, sausages and MARSHMALLOWS! How can we have bbq without marshmallows? That was actually requested by my daughter.


Anyway, my brother-in-law requested for cheesecake for his birthday. He is a cheesecake person. Last year, I baked him a New York Cheesecake. This year, he asked me to surprise him. I went surf through the web, looking for "exotic" or "special" cheesecakes, but just don't know what is suitable. Finally, I found a very special cheesecake recipe - Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. It looks simple enough to follow and special enough to make as it has real vanilla seeds. However, instead of baking the sponge cake from the recipe by Mandy, I use the usual biscuits crumbs. As I crushed more crumbs, I decided to have the crumbs at the sides too. It turns out, the cheesecake was really really nice. Not too sweet, as I cut down the sugar, a mild vanilla taste, not too cheesy, and the biscuit crumbs lighten the cheese taste. Everyone said it was really really nice and special. I'm glad I made the right choice...again!