Thursday, March 31, 2011

Changes to my hobby blog

Dear friends,

I have made some changes in the settings of my blog. I have added the option of moderating comments and also word verification. I am sorry to cause inconvenience to you when leaving comments but I have to do it to safe guard myself and you too.

Recently I have received comments in two of my beading post. The comments look very real, with relevance to my post contents too, but when I clicked on the page of that user, I was brought to a website not so suitable for children. My hubby told me that these are ways people advertise their website, or help create awareness or could be virus being loaded into the PC when the link being clicked on. I am fine with people advertising cos it is a way I get to know the world beyond my home, but virus? no way. Since everyone can click on the links, I would prefer to put a stop to those "bots" that could be putting in comments.

My hubby also mentioned that, the person could be a genuine reader but her/his PC is infected with virus that changes links after she posted. So on the safe side - I hope you all can understand and will understand.

Cheers and have a good weekend ahead.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Trying to follow HHB's baking trail - Mixed Berries Muffins

I said I will join HHB in her baking trail.. and it has been a long long while then I started ... her Mixed Berries Muffins. She explained that the usual muffin method uses less fat, so this creaming method uses more fat .. oh dear ... but it is a new thing to me, mixing berries .. so I wanna try.

Even though it is such a simple thing, I took a long long time to get it done. I can only blame it on the fact that I do not bake often. So I have to do alot of washing, before and after .. and putting them into the muffin cups proves a bit of a job . The batter I ended up having is rather thick even though my batter curdles alot in between (because I have pour in two eggs by mistake). My kids love the muffins especially my boy because blueberry is his favourite.

I did not get a high muffin because I have forgotten how high should I fill my muffin cup, I am worry about them overflowing so I just fill 3/4 full and in process of baking, the batter became half full only and rise to 3/4 full not nicely to the top. Next time if I am to bake again, I will fill the cup higher.

Here is sharing the nice blue and red tinted muffins.


Please refer to the recipe from Happy Home baking's blog. Perhaps you would like to join her in her baking trail too?

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Yellow Yellow Ugly Fellow

It is now 2.30am, Saturday morning, in the week of school holiday. I have just finish blog hopping and finally willing to write about my latest bake that I did last week.

I have been itching to bake for a long long time. My last bake is in December! However, I am really lazy and  I am still adjusting to new routine (My girl went to P1 this year) .. blah blah blah... ok so I want easy, fast .. so I went to my shelves and took the "Easy Stir n Bake Cakes" book. I remember I have the cheese (since Nov! and yet not expired and not mouldy *phew*) so I settled for "Pineapple Cheesecake". I revisited my first try, knowing how my kids had liked it, I went ahead with full confidence.

However, I had problem melting my cheese into smooth and creamy state, but luckily that did not affect the cake at all. I cannot explain why the cheese has tiny lumps thou. Beside this difference, I also must note that I did not have enough cream cheese but since slice cheese can make into lovely cheesecake, I am sure there is no harm making up the difference with a slice of sliced cheese. I did worry about the saltiness of sliced cheese, but what can I do then? :-) I also deliberately reduce the sugar (since the pineapple should be sweet coming from a can) and oil. I reduce both by 20g.

Although there wasn't much hiccups during preparation, the cake rose unevenly in the oven, so unlike the first try.

 


Was quite upset by it since it is suppose to be fail proof. However, the end result is so well received by my kids, as expected.
The cake is gone in day 2 and the boy make a big fuss as he only has two pieces in that 2 days.

I took a few photos (cos I also love photography) even though it is a simple cake so now I had problem choosing one to be place here. (Note : Please do not expect good pictures, cos loving to take doesn't means I can do it well now.)

Shall spare myself the agony of looking at those pictures (now at 3.09am) by putting only just one.

A piece that looks like coming from a perfect loaf.


















As this cake has pineapple, I would like to give my support to a challenge started by SSB and now hosted by Jess.

For the challenge and convenience, I am posting the details of recipe here.

Ingredients

180g cream cheese
120g caster sugar
90ml corn oil
3 eggs
130g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
170g canned pineapple (diced)

Method

1) Grease and line a 10cm x 20cm (4 x 8 inches) loaf pan. Preheat oven to 170dC.
2) Stir cream cheese and sugar over simmering water until soft and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in oil and eggs until well combined.
3) Combine flour, baking powder and soda. Fold into cheese mixture together with pineapple dices until well blended.
4) Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake in oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until cooked. Stand for 10 minutes and turning on to wire rack to cool.



Recipe from Kevin Chai - Easy Stir 'n Bake Cakes


I am submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Baker#5 : Fruity March (March 2011).

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