Real Fruits Popsicle

What's not to like about this cold icy treats?
Nothing in it but all the goodness from orange, strawberries and kiwi :)

 

 

What you need is just popsicle mould, freshly squeezed orange juice, strawberries & kiwi slices, orange segments. In fact, the fruits used are for you to choose according to your preference!

Oh, and of course, you need a freezer LOL

 

 

This post is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post

Orange, Apple & Raisins Bread Pudding & Giveaway!

One of my favourite sweet treat! One irresistible dessert! It's so irresistible that I had it for breakfast this morning! LOL

 

 

Creamy and delicious with a hint of apple and burst of orange in every bite!

 

 

 

What you need:

 

3 white bread, remove the crust

apple juice & oranges (from 2 cups of SunMoon orange fruit cups)

a handful of golden raisins

about 150ml half & half

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

some Demerara sugar, to sprinkle

a little butter to grease the baking dish

 

Method:

1. Mix vanilla extract, apple juice and half & half. Soak raisins in it. Leave it for 30 minutes
2. Grease baking dish with butter, I used 15cm round dish
3. Cut bread in cubes. Arrange 1/3 part on the dish. Sprinkle with 1/3 part of the oranges. Pour 1/3 part of the liquid mixture with the raisins
4. Top with another 1/3 part of the bread cubes. Followed by another 1/3 part of the oranges and liquid and raisins mixture
5. Then finish up with the last 1/3 part of the bread cubes, oranges and liquid and raisins mixture
6. Press gently the top with the back of a spoon and set aside for about 30 minutes
7. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar just before baking
8. Bake au bain marie in a preheated oven of 180degC for 25 minutes

 

Nom nom nom... no sugar used  (except for the Demerara sugar for the topping). Thanks to the apple juice used from SunMoon fruit cups :)

 

 

SunMoon has been so generous by sharing their products with me :)

 

 

 

The fruit crisps are rather addictive. I received two variants - strawberry banana and mango pineapple. I love both, but if I were to choose, I would choose the first one :)

 



Also, they have a selection of fruit cups - peaches, mandarin oranges and mixed fruits

All are only fresh fruits used soaked in 100% apple juice. No super sweet sugar laden syrup like what we usually find in canned fruits

These fruit cups have no sugar added, no preservatives, artificial colourings and flavourings used

This convenient on the go snack is rich in vitamin C, great for people of all ages and a healthier choice approved, too!

 

These fruit cups are great to make jelly (minus the sugar!), toss in salad, oatmeal or yoghurt. I am thinking to add in my regular morning smoothies or make overnight oats with it! Will share once I make them :)

 

They are sold for $1.90 for twin pack at Sheng Siong and NTUC Fairprice supermarkets, selected SPC & Caltex stations. Also SunMoon retail and online store (www.sunmoondirect.com)

 

For now til 9 May 2014, there is an introductory offer of Buy 2 and Get 1 FREE in all NTUC  Fairprice and Sheng Siong

Hurry get yours now! :)

 

Last but not least, there's a chance to win 5 sets of $30 worth of SunMoon products! Now, that's cool! *GRIN*

How???

 

(1) Like SunMoon Direct FB page

(2) Answer this question: Where can you get SunMoon fruit cups and which variant would you be interested to try?

Note: Please write your answer in the comment box below this post and leave your name and email address, too

 

Only participants with complete entries will be counted in!

 

This giveaway is opened for those residing in Singapore and will end on Sunday, 4 May 2014 23.59

Winners will be announced in this blog on Monday, 5 May 2014 and will be contacted via email

Good luck! :)

 

 

This post is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post

 

Orange Pancakes with Orange Spiced Syrup (Martha Stewart)

Originally was waffle, but I was in the mood of pancake so I made the recipe into pancakes instead. And no regret, it still yielded soft and fluffy ones :)

 

 

Recipe is from Martha Stewart

 

What you need:

(half recipe below with a little modification)

 

For the pancakes:

105g plain flour

1 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 medium egg

60ml buttermilk

60ml freshly squeezed orange juice

40ml low fat plain yoghurt

40g unsalted butter, melted

2 oranges, peeled, seeded and separated into segments, each segment cut into thirds

 

For the orange spiced syrup:

30g packed light brown sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 pinch of ground cinnamon

1 pinch of salt

30ml light corn syrup

90ml freshly squeezed orange juice

a drop of vanilla extract

 

Method:

 

For the pancakes:

1. In a medium bowl , whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt
2. In another bowl whisk egg, buttermilk, juice, yoghurt, butter. Stir mixture into dry ingredients. Fold in half the oranges
3. Coat non stick pan with a little oil. Spoon a ladle of batter and cook til browned both sides
4. Keep warm the pancakes til ready to serve

 

For the syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, mix brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt. Stir in corn syrup and orange juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, cool til slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Let cool and stir in vanilla
2. This syrup can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 weeks

 

Serve the warm pancakes with orange syrup and orange cuts

 

 

Soft and fluffy pancakes with sweet and yummy orange syrup. Every bite burst with orange flavour. There are orange pieces in the pancakes itself, plus the orange cuts and sauce. Yum!

 

This post is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post

 

Also This post it for Cook Like A Star 2nd Anniversary Cooking Party March & April 2014 hosted by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, Mich from Piece of Cake and Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we can cook or bake like Donna Hay, Barefoot Contessa, Jamie Oliver, Masterchef, Martha Stewart, Delia Smith, Curtis Stone, Nigella Lawson, Ree Drummond and Bill Granger

 

 

Btw, you notice the orange I used was rather darker in color. I used cara cara oranges from US, easily found nowadays in supermarkets. This is the first time I tried this kind of oranges, and I was amazed at the first cut to find the flesh was rather reddish, very similar to grapefruit, darker in color, in fact

I googled for some info about this orange and true enough, cara cara orange is a red flesh orange. Taste wise, it's really juicy and sweet. Give it a try while it's still in season :)

 

 

Source: http://adaberita.biz/cara/cara-cara-oranges.html

 

 

Italian Easter Bread

It's been more than a week I haven't posted anything
Have been feeling sick, down with flu - again! Can't believe I just had flu one month ago and now it happened again :(
Anyway, I am feeling better since yesterday, still in recovery resting at home while DH brought the kids out

Itchy hands led me in the kitchen with an excuse that it's a must to bake in all occasions, including Easter LOL
Hot cross buns was in my mind at first, but having baked them for the past two Easters, I decided to try Italian Easter bread

Contemplating whether to use the recipe from Laura Vitale or Brown Eyed Baker (BEB)
Basically both recipe are really similar, so finally I decided to try out the latter, since I saw some orange juice used. It's also possible to add on orange juice when using Laura's recipe, just replace the water with orange juice, and soak the yeast in warm milk instead - will give it a try next time :)

Please don't laugh. I failed in shaping the bread to a beautiful braided ring like what Michelle from BEB did.
Look at that! Why it's not round? Where are the lines from the braid? I wonder...
FYI, that was the fourth attempt of shaping, but still it's far from satisfactory hiks...
But not too worry, failure like this is always accepted on my side as a challenge. Will definitely give this a try everytime I bake bread!

Okay, aside from the weird braided ring bread you just saw, look below and you'll agree by just looking. This bread is soft, fluffy and yummy with a hint of orange taste
It's should be better if it's a little sweeter to my liking. But Nutella spread helped my that only complaint :)

What you need:
(I made only 1/4 recipe below, slightly modified)

320g bread flour
90ml fresh milk
25g sugar
1 medium orange, zested and juiced (about 50ml)
1 1/8 tsp dry yeast
57g butter, melted
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
a drop of anise oil (I skipped)

This recipe used glaze which I skipped (I believe this explained why I felt the bread was not sweet enough):
1/2 cup icing sugar
15ml fresh milk
colourful sprinkles (I used chocolate rice)

Method:

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is warm to the touch, but not hot. If you have an instant-read thermometer, the temperature of the milk should be about 45degC
2. While the heat is warming, place the sugar in a small bowl and add the orange zest. With your fingertips, rub the zest into the sugar until it is completely incorporated and the sugar is moistened
3. Once the milk reaches the correct temperature, stir in the sugar and zest mixture, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the yeast, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes
4. I used my breadmaker to do the kneading. I poured in the yeast mixture in the pan, followed by orange juice and eggs. And then pour the dry ingredients - flour and salt
5. Let it knead for 5 minutes and then add in melted butter and let it knead for 30 mins
6. Take out the dough from the pan and on floured surface knead a little more, about a minute or two (I added a bit more bread flour)
7. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Place in a draft-free area and allow to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
8. Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
9. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and divide in two. Roll two pieces of dough into about 15-inch long ropes. Loosely twist the ropes together. Transfer the braided rope to one of the prepared baking sheets and bring the ends together to form a ring, twisting and pinching the ends together to seal. Brush the tops of each with melted butter, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 45mins
10. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 180degC. Just before putting in the dough into the oven, plant one raw egg in the centre hole. Brush all over with fresh milk. Bake until golden brown on top, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely
11. Once the bread are cooled to room temperature, you can glaze them (if you desire). Whisk together the powdered sugar and the milk, adding more if necessary to reach the desired consistency. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze onto the top and sides of the bread, and decorate with sprinkles. If you have leftovers, wrap well in plastic wrap

And there you go, your Easter bread is done :)
Now, look below, see my weird looking bunny? I saw this idea from yoyomax 12, she baked a cute bunny buns. I followed by making just one using 1/3 of the dough and I got one alien-like bunny LOL

Just roll the dough into 1 long rope, cut into three parts - long, medium and short
Shape the short one to a ball and you get the tail. Shape the long one to a circle and you get the body (with small hole at the centre for the egg). Shape the medium one to something similar to bunny face and ears. Attach all three together using beaten egg
Just before baking, place a raw egg at the centre of the body, brush all over with fresh milk and bake. When it's warm, I pressed one chocolate chip for the eye, and drew eyelashes, nose and lips using edible marker. Sprinkle icing sugar on the tail
My poor bunny nose was stuck at the pan's side, hence the flat nose hahaha...
You may view the step by step HERE She has tons of ideas. One of my favourite Youtubers bakers I follow :)

This poor bunny with a fish-like body need a nose job LOL

 

Soft and delicious. Texture a little bit changed the next morning, but it's back after warming up in the microwave for 15 seconds. Just like when it's fresh from the oven! :)
Oh and the eggs? It's perfectly cooked just like any other hard boiled egg :)

And since this bread is using orange as one of the ingredient, I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post 

 

 

 

TO ALL, HAPPY EASTER!

ABC April 2014 - Whole Wheat Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Thanks to Hanaa, I still manage to participate in this month's Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC)

Cinnamon bread. I always love it. Hence my curiosity in trying this recipe from King Arthur Flour (KAF)

It used white whole wheat flour. Adding with some mashed potato flakes. Interesting
But my luck went to the drain. I couldn't find mashed potato anywhere near my place. Now how weird is that. Something so common was nowhere to be found in three supermarkets!
You know what people always says... It's always there, but when you need it, it suddenly vanished. I can't agree more
So I ended up replaced it with bread flour
The recipe used overnight starter and another unique thing - orange juice (I used freshly squeezed orange juice)
The interesting thing is, there's no orange taste in the bread at all
According to KAF, the use of orange juice is to mellow any potential bitterness in the whole wheat

So, I tried. And yes, it's good!
Definitely not the best looking yeasted bread I ever baked. Somehow mine looks like quick bread. It didn't rise high during baking as mentioned. There's no brown crust on top. I wonder whether I would have it if I didn't tent the dough during the 45 minutes baking as instructed. Perhaps I should try next time, not to tent the dough while baking. That will make this bread look much better with the brown crust dome on top :)

You may view the full recipe HERE and step by side instruction HERE

Please do not expect soft fluffy pillowy bread like those Asian sweet bread we usually love
This is another kind. Something more artisan. But don't worry, you are not eating rock here. This is definitely soft. And yummy, too. So it's really worth trying. And in my case, second try :)

 

 

This post is for Avid Baker's Challenge April 2014, a baking event hosted by Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen

 

 

And since this bread is using orange as one of the ingredient, even though not for the taste, I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post 

 

 

Two Cakes 4 Two Occassions In A Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
Here's my cake for this special day where love is in the air everywhere you go :)

This is red velvet cupcakes using recipe from Joy Of Baking

What you need:

1 1/4 cup (125 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk

1 tbsp liquid red food coloring

1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

 

For cream cheese frosting:

227 grams cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

2/3 cup (160 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degC and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a bowl 
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in vanilla extract, beat til combined 
4. In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour
5. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter
6. Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12  muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean
7. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting
8. For cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency

 

 

 

Decoration idea is from a picture from Kidlander SG Facebook page, which I shared in my Facebook account awhile back

I added color sprinkle for the heart after spreading the frosting :)

 

 

Okay, not to forget, today is also the last day of CNY!

So, here's the cake I baked to celebrate the 15th day of Lunar New Year- orange butter cake :)

 

 

 

 

I always love any cake with orange. This cake is very moist, buttery with fine texture. Delicious!

Recipe is from Gert from Kitchen Snippets
I ever baked orange pound cake with glaze using Gert's recipe too, you may view HERE
It's also real yummy :)

 

 

What you need:

 

227g butter – room temperature

200 g sugar
220 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 large eggs
Zest of an orange
5 tbsp orange juice

 

Method:

1. Grease and line an 8” round baking pan. Preheat oven to 175degC. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt, set it aside
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the orange zest
3. Slow down the mixer and slowly add in the flour alternating with orange juice. Mix until well combined 
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer

  So, which one would you like to try? :)

THB#20 Cranberry-Cashew Orange Coffee Cake

It's better late than never. I thought I would miss this bake again, after I missed the 19th bake (which I will still make cos I love lemony cake)
Fortunately I had the time to bake yesterday :)
My kind of cake, not too sweet after I adjusted the sugar used, and bursting with juicy tart cranberries, at the same time enjoying the crunchiness of the nutty streusel on top
Perfect with a cuppa. Yum!



I followed the recipe, but for sugar reduction I followed Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
Somehow, I find her preference for sweetness is more or less same as mine :)

I used 1/3 sugar for the batter (I used caster sugar). Replaced vanilla extract with orange extract and omitted nuts inside the batter. Reduced cranberries used to 1 cup only
For the streusel, I used 2 tbsps. caster sugar, and replaced pecans with cashews

For full recipe, please view Maria from Box of Stolen Socks
She has chosen to bake this wonderful cake :)


Our 20th bake for The Home Bakers, a baking group where we bake recipes from the book  "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Now, I still have time to bake the 21st bake. I'd better make the time soon :)

2nd Anniversary Bake Along #44 & THB #17 Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cupcakes

These super moist cuppies are really delicious and loved by my family
I followed the recipe, didn't reduce the sugar quantity and I found it's a little too sweet but still tolerable
I soaked the golden raisins with rhum before processing them, too
Every bite I had was with a hint of rhum fragrance. Hhhhmmmm....

For full recipe please view Eileen of Hundred Eighty Degrees, whom has chosen this keeper recipe, very good choice!

I submit this post to:

*The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
where we bake recipes from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas and this is our 17th bake

 

 

*Bake Along, organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids where we are now celebrating 2nd anniversary :)

 

 

 

Please view below for other superb cupcakes :)

 

And for all mummies out there, hope you'll have a great time celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow

Stay tune for my bake for this special day tomorrow :)