Walnut Streusel Coffee Cake

It's been a while since I last baked a streusel coffee cake. To me, a streusel coffee cake is a simple form of a basic butter cake with delight of sugar, butter and nuts mix on top. There are some days where you just don't need to eat any fancy cake with cream, style and looks. As long as there's cake, coffee or tea, you'll be satisfied. Do you think so too?

 

This streusel coffee cake was chosen by Mich of Piece of Cake. Perfect choice I would say :)

 

For us at The Home Bakers, the rule of thumb is not to post the recipe unless you chose the recipe. So for the recipe details, please go to the recipe here.

 

Like Zoe, I used only half the recipe as I don't want to overbake too much. I always feel if it's nice, you can always bake it again ;P So for the list of half the recipe of ingredients in metric measurements, you can check out Zoe's list here. For me, this yields a small loaf pan of coffee cake.

 

However, instead of using pecan nuts which is for some odd reason hard to find here, I used walnuts. That is my only variation from both Mich's and Zoe's list.

 

For some strange reason, my coffee cake looks very pale in colour and tastes rather milky in texture. It's still pretty much palatable though. I would say, eat it a day or two later together with a cup of hot coffee or tea and read a book. That would be perfect.

 

 

 

I'm submitting this post to The Home Bakers. Do check out what my other fellow THBers have made.

 

 

 

I'm also going to submit this post to Cook-Your-Books #12 organized by Joyce of kithenflavours.

 

 

 

 





Chocolate Almond Souffle Cake

I realised I haven't been on time with The Home Bakers for so long already. Nope, I've not forgotten about THB at all.

 

This time round, it's my turn to host with THB. I chose chocolate-almond souffle cake. When we were supposed to make our choices, I literally thumbed through the various recipes till I came across this recipe. Souffle is something that I've been wanting to bake for a while now. Yes, it's definitely on my to-bake list.

After reading through the recipe several times, I'm convinced that this cake is going to be soft and pillowy. It's just my kind of cake. The only downside about baking such a cake would be that you will keep eating without realising you have eaten alot. Ok, let's focus on the good points :)

This recipe is from Lou Seibert Pappas and it yields a 9 inch cake, serves 10 to 12 pax. See my comments/modifications in the notes below.

Ingredients:
 

193g silvered almonds

113g bittersweet chocolate

6 large eggs, separated

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

2 tbsp and 200g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

62.5g all purpose flour or 31.25g all purpose flour and 31.25g almond meal

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Scatter the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool.
3. Using a food processor or blender, process the chocolate until finely grated. Turn out into a bowl.
4. Process the nuts until finely ground and add to the chocolate.
5. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, add salt and cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form.
6. Add the 2 tbsp brown sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form.
7. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and pale in colour.
8. Beat in the remaining 200g brown sugar and the vanilla, almond extracts until thick and pale in colour.
9. Stir the flour into the nut and chocolate mixture and fold half of the mixture into the yolk mixture.
10. Fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture in to lighten it.
11. Fold in the remaining nut and chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
12. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the top of the cake springs back when touched lightly.
13. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
14. Remove the sides of the pan and cut the cake into slices to serve.
 

Notes:

• the temperature I used is 160 degrees celsius.
• I used an 8 inch square tin.
• To enable the egg whites to be lighter and airier, I used about half the brown sugar into the egg white foam.

 Check out my cake below.

 

 

When I was making the cake, I realised oops, I forgot to roast the nuts to enable the nutty aroma to permeate the cake. The cake turned out to be quite soft despite the melted chunks of chocolate as I blended it. However, oddly enough the cake turned out to be a tad wet at the bottom, probably due to insufficient baking time in one sitting.

 

However, the only thing I would change about this cake would be using big chocolate chips instead of grating the chocolate to integrate with the ground almonds. Nevertheless, did I even mention that I ate a slice of the cake with 1 BIG scoop of vanilla bean ice cream?? It was superb!! Yes, literally in this sweltering weather, ice cream goes with anything ;)

 

Now that you have seen my cake, go on to check out my other fellow THBers' creations here.

 

 

I'm also submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #11 organized by Joyce of baking flavours.

 

 

Peach-Almond Coffee Cake

I have many overdue bakes that I need to bake but I haven't been able to get down to baking them yet. I'll get to them as soon as I can.

Yes this bake is definitely one of them. As much as I had missed a few of the past bakes due to various reasons but I'm trying my best to fulfil and bake as on time as I can.

In case you are unaware, we The Home Bakers have been baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas for a while now. If you are curious and interested in this book, you may find it in the link above or even in the local libraries. The recipes in this book are fairly easy and ingredients are easily obtainable. Most importantly, their cakes or breads are perfect with coffee or tea ;)

Without further rambling, let's get on to our 24th bake. This peach-cashew coffee cake is chosen by Chaya of Bizzy Bakes. But since I used almonds instead of cashews, hence, the title of my post.

See the ingredients listed below in metric measurements. My modifications are indicated in blue. For the full recipe, please go to here.

Ingredients:

• 113.4g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 225g 180g granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 125g all-purpose cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 3/8-inch-thick slices (I used about almost 3/4 can of canned peaches)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
• 75g roasted cashews or slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons Demerara or turbinado sugar

I didn't take any step by step pictures as it all happened too quickly. Cream, whisk, mix and fold then decorate. It was pretty easy. Psst, did I also mention that I did snitch a little on the batter? The batter tasted light and fluffy with a tinge of butter that didn't reek of oil like SCS? Yes, call me biased but although I grew up with SCS butter and I did love it with bread, I soon grew out of it with cake. I think as I baked more, I like it more when my buttered bakes smell only lightly perfumed with butter.

And did you guessed it too? This cake is a butter cake which is not overly BUTTER but yet, it brings out the nutty flavour of the toasted almonds and the sweet peach slices bring this butter cake to a whole new level with the moistness of it.

This time round, I didn't use a cake tin or any round tin. Instead I decided to make it like a tray bake and cut it into square pieces.

Simply put, I love this peach-almond coffee cake to bits!! Yes I'm a butter gal and I love my butter just this way :) Thanks Chaya for choosing this lovely cake! Mr G says Hmmmmm this is definitely the kind of cake I love. I guess he is just a simple guy who need not have fancy cakes but simple cakes like this that capture his heart. Awwwww......

Do drop by to view my fellow THBers' bakes as well.

I'm also submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #4 organized by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

Last but not least, I'm also submitting this post to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked for September 2013.

Gruyere Brioche Bread

The last time I  baked bread was eons ago. Ok it was exaggerated but definitely months ago. It could be last year. Yes, that time I kneaded and kneaded by hand. This time I'm going to try once again. Maybe by hand or maybe by bread machine if I'm feeling lazy. If you have been following me, you would realise my blog posts are mainly of cooks or bakes but not much with bread. This is going to be a challenge for me - a challenge that I need to step out of my comfort zone and do something that is not so common for me. I can do it, I'm willing to do it and I want to do it ;)

For our #22 bake with THB, we are baking gruyere brioche bread. I'm not really a cheesy person (no pun intended) so you tell me how gruyere tastes like, I'm not too sure but I'm willing to try the taste. Anyhow, our recipe from Lou Seibert Pappas is from her book 'Coffee Cakes'. So far, this book has plenty of recipes tried, tested and tasted which turn out to be really good from our past bakes.

In case you are wondering what is a brioche, it is a type of pastry that is very much like its French counterpart's highly enriched bread. It is actually bread that has a richer content like pastry due to extra addition of eggs, butter, liquid, milk and water. Hmm, I'm thinking that this brioche should turn out pretty flavourful and soft from the milk content. Let's see.

This month's selection was chosen by Alice from I Love. I Cook. I Bake. This recipe yields a large loaf that can feed 8 to 10 people so I'm only using half the recipe for 4 people. Some for us and perhaps some to give away ;)

Guess what? I tried this recipe once by using bread machine. Ok, I'm not too chummy with my bread machine and this method kinda flopped. I was bummed for a day. Then I decided that it can't be all that hard. So I tried for the 2nd time but this time, I tried it the Lou's way :) I like the sound of that - Lou's way. Yes, with the aid of my Kitchenaid (thank goodness!), I did hand kneading and yes, I think it is therapeutic to knead your dough. Honestly, this recipe doesn't need much kneading unlike others.

I like the light salty fragrance of gruyere cheese in the air when I bake. In the end, I didn't managed to braid the bread but instead I made it like a bread ring or bread wreath (whatever you call it).

I like the light saltiness of this bread caused by the cheese. It's very flavourful and yes, it is a keeper for sure. I will definitely try to bake this bread again. 

Check out the inside of my gruyere brioche.

If you are keen to bake with us, The Home Bakers, do contact Joyce.

I'm also linking this post to Little Thumbs Up organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out since this month's event is Eggs.

           

I'm also going to submit this post to Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

Cranberry Pecan Orange Coffee Cake

It's funny how things and/or people can change so fast. For so long, I took for granted so many things - sun, sunlight, air, freedom to go wherever I want to. To be honest, I never even knew I took all these simple things for granted, simple things that can seem to be a form of necessity within days or even hours.

I shan't go into the drones of what has been said, done or not done since all these has been going through the social media of the people here. Anyway, the company was being considerate by letting us go back earlier than our usual knock off time. Jokes aside, I was pretty relieved as I could feel the lungs breathing harder than usual. I truly appreciate this gesture.

Anyhow, having gone back so early, I decided to bake something sweet to lighten up the spirits. Yes, baking does that to me. I mean, do whatever it takes to make you happy because life is short and you never know what will happen next, isn't it?

For our 20th bake, we are baking Cranberry Pecan Orange Coffee Cake from Lou Seibert Pappas' "Coffee Cakes". For the recipe, do visit Maria of Box of Stolen Socks who chose this recipe.

Below are the ingredients in metric measurements and do note that they are definitely one whole portion of the recipe. See my comments in blue.

the cake:

56.7g unsalted butter, room temperature

112.5g sugar (I used caster sugar)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla (I used vanilla extract)

125g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup thawed, undiluted orange juice concentrate (from the freezer section) (I used Sunkist orange concentrate)

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (I used dried cranberries)

36.3g finely chopped pecans

 

the streusel*:

62.5g plain flour

28.35g cold, unsalted butter

112.5g caster sugar (I used only 80g caster sugar)

109g chopped pecans

My modifications for the recipe are as follows:

1. Use muffin pans and this recipe can make about 10 muffins depending on the size of your muffin pan.
2. Bake for 5 minutes and quickly pour the streusel topping over the muffins. Continue baking for another 15 mins or until the cake tester pick turns out dry.

This is how my version turned out. To check out my fellow THBers' versions, click here.

Honestly, pardon me for the poorly lit picture of my half-cut muffin. The lighting was bad and hey, even if it was in the day, there is hardly much sunlight these days :( I miss the sun.

To know the verdict from Mr G, read the conversation below:

(I walked over and gave Mr G a muffin)

Me: So how's the muffin?
Mr G: (barely mumbled and continued eating)
Me: Is it very sweet? I mean, the streusel.
Mr G: hmm hmph (continued eating)
Me: Erm, is the muffin soft and fluffy? I can feel it is.

(When I turned around, Mr G just looked at me and smiled. With the plate that is totally wiped clean of all muffin traces and any crumbs)

Me: Remember the Masterchef Australia we saw yesterday where George, Gary and Matt were trying out that chocolate tart dessert?
Mr G: yeah...
Me: You know, I observed their expressions....so when they only take one bite and never stop putting the spoon or fork down, that means it is a definite approval of it. But if they take one bite and walk away, it usually means the food is crappy right? So using their standards, I take it it's good?
Mr G: hell yeah....needless to say right?
Me: MUAHAHAHHAHAAHAHA ok I'm so daft but I got it (at last) (rolling my eyes)

So guys, you know what is the verdict right?

(Disclaimer: I'm definitely not comparing my food standards with Masterchef. Mine are nowhere near any of those and I'm fully aware of my shortcomings ;))

I'm also submitting it to Cook-Your-Books #1 for June.

Lemon-glazed Buttermilk Bundt Cake

 This time round, it is my turn to host the twice a month bake event held by The Home Bakers. It's our 19th bake already!! 

By way of a short introduction, The Home Bakers are a group of home bakers who simply love to bake and collect cookbooks so each month, we will bake about 1 or 2 recipes from the chosen book - "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas. If you have a common interest with us, do join us by contacting Joyce from The Home Bakers.

Without further ado, let's get down to the cake we are baking this time round. I'm already getting excited about it. I chose lemon-glazed buttermilk bundt cake for the awesome lemony flavour that I thought will bring out the refreshing taste and soft texture of this bundt.

As I'm hosting this bake, the recipe is stated below.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs (150g)
200g caster sugar
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
164g canola oil
250g all purpose flour (I used cake flour instead of plain flour)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
243g buttermilk or plain yoghurt (I used 243g milk mixed with a tbsp of lemon juice and let stand for 10 minutes)
1 cup coarsely chopped cashew nuts or silvered almonds (I omitted the nuts)

Glaze:

1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9 or 10 inch bundt pan or tube pan. I used my mini bundt pans to bake and it was about total of 9 mini bundts for this recipe.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and oil with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until blended. 
   
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to blend. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk or yoghurt in 2 increments. Mix just until blended. Fold in the nuts. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. 
   
4. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. 
   
5. Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved; set aside and let cool.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmould right side up on a serving plate. Pour the syrup evenly over the warm cake. Serve at room temperature, cut into slices. 

To me, the cake is good enough to do without the lemon glaze itself. Yeah, it's THAT good, soft, moist and light. But of course, if you would like to taste this cake with its original glaze, try it, why not? Do check out what my fellow THBers have done for this bake here.

Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake THB#17

Once again, I'm late for the posting for The Home Bakers. Our fellow baker, Eileen has chosen this bake for our 17th bake together. Having said that, I won't be posting up any recipe but do check out Eileen's website for the recipe if you are keen.


We had been discussing about this recipe before we attempted it or at least those who have already attempted it would give the rest of us some tips. This time round, we were pretty amused by the fact that the whole orange needs to be blended together with the raisins which obviously excluded the seeds but the whole orange skin needs to be in. I was also particular about the pesticide that fruits or vegetables have so I gave it a good wash using the fruit/vegetable wash we had. I figured it was clean enough to go into the blender with the raisins.

Just as I was blending the orange/raisin mixture, I realised the blender was stuck so at that point of time, I figured that I should have used some hot water to soak the raisins to make them softer (oh well). The blender only just managed to blend the orange/raisin mixture to smaller pieces and then I gave up and took out the chopper. Yeah, this is what happens when you have one too many kitchen appliances that fill the whole kitchen @@

When the chopper did such a brilliant job, I was almost hitting my head as if to say, why did I not think of using the chopper in the first place?! Geez, I'm sure if I did, I wouldn't have to wash/clean both the blender and chopper arggghhh hahahaha Yes, where possible, I try to clean or wash little bowls, utensils, etc while baking. That eases the pain a little. ;P

See the finely blended/chopped orange/raisin mixture. FINALLY!!! Erm, if you are wondering why it's so 'black', it's because I simply refuse to buy golden raisins when I have raisins at home.

After creaming the butter and sugar together, I added the eggs one by one and made sure they were well creamed together before adding the orange/raisin mixture (see below).

Obviously when I came to this stage, it was hard to take pictures. Why? Imagine 3 portions of your flour mixture alternated with your buttermilk mixture with the flour flying around @@ Ok, not trying to explain but well, I thought I better mention just in case.

Psst, did I tell you how I love to use this buttermilk mixture instead of buying buttermilk? I used 3/4 cup yoghurt with 1/4 cup milk mixture as per Joy's measurement. I used to use the lemon juice mixed with milk but I thought the yoghurt/milk mixture tasted even better on cakes - making them even more moist and soft.

And then I decided to make them into easier bites like muffins. For some odd reason, I feel that baking cakes into muffins or cupcakes seem to make them more palatable. Maybe this could be because of the fact that they are cuter and also, easier to be in a one-portion size.

Before they go into the oven...

I love how they looked so pretty with the chocolate chips sprinkled all on top. Yeah, it was hard to find chocolate wafers so I thought bigger chocolate chips will do just fine.

Look at how these orange-chocolate muffin babies turn out :) I love them!

I couldn't wait till they turn cold so whilst warm, I tried them. They are soft and moist and definitely not dry. The oozing chocolate gave them a bittersweet aftertaste which is what I like for my bakes. Do check out what my other fellow bakers have done here.

Incidentally, I'm also submitting this post for April's Tea Time Treats which has been created by Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked.

Rosemary-Lemon Polenta Cake

If you have read my earlier post, you would known that I'm not going to have recipes copied here from books that I have or recipes that I found due to copyright rules but instead, I will have personal notes from what I have modified as well as what I think works for me (it may not work for you but you can always try :)) I will try my very best to let you have more visuals which means, step-by-step pictures so you have an idea how the cake will turn out in the end. Ok, no more boring 1 picture posts ;P

For our 16th bake together, my fellow THBers are going to bake the Rosemary-Lemon Polenta cake from Lou Seibert Pappas' "Coffee Cakes". This lovely cake was chosen by Angela from The Charmed Cupcake. I hope everyone will like it and hopefully, so will I :) 

I only managed to get lavender blossoms so I used them instead of rosemary. Erm, I think that would likely make my cake "Lavender-Lemon Polenta cake" @@ Anyhow, I also didn't buy buttermilk as I don't like the idea of wasting ready ingredients in my kitchen so I used a cup of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice and let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes before using.

After boiling the buttermilk with lavender blossoms, I poured them over the polenta and let it stand for 1 hour. I was wondering if I should 'speed' up the process of 1 hour but then I thought to just let it be - impatience can do one no good sometimes which I had experienced before hehee

After an hour, the buttermilk-lavender-polenta mixture looked pretty pale and I wasn't sure if the polenta has gotten all soft already so I just used a spoon to mix it up a little, just to be sure. At the top left corner of the bowl, you would noticed the dark yellow parts. It was really soft so I was good with that.

Geez, I really need to get better at this step-by-step picture thingy. Sometimes, you know you do get too engrossed with the whole process that you can just forget. Please forgive me, it'll get better I promise :) Anyhow, the next step is to cream the room temperature butter with the sugar. When it gets pale and fluffy, you know you are ready to mix in 1/3 the flour mixture and half the buttermilk-lavender-polenta mixture and lastly, end with the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. 

I remember the last time I tried to bake my cold cream cheese cake using this bundt cake pan, it looked pretty horrid as I was 'tempering' with the floured bundt pan thinking that it was 'overfloured'. This time, I left it all alone after the bake-spray and then flouring so it should be better (I hope).

Tada!! After 50 long minutes, out comes the Polenta cake!! Psst, I have never tasted polenta in my life before. Have you? Honestly, I'm quite curious to know how it tastes like though I did taste abit of the cake batter ;P

At around 12am+, the angle of the bundt cake just don't seem right whichever angle I turned. Oh well, this just have to suffice for now.

And now, my cut cake slice!!

Did you see some little bits that look a tad purple? Those are the lavender blossoms. Yeah!! Success to this cake! I didn't make the lavender-lemon syrup though as I thought it would be awesome enough even without it :):)

Orange-Frosted Sponge Cake

After a long and tiring week of work, work and nothing but work, it's back to doing something I love!! Yes, once again :)

It's the time of the month again. NOooooooooo not THAT time of the month :X I mean, it's the time of the month for our THB bakeout hehehe. And it's our 15th one so far. Kudos, my fellow THB-ers!

Anyhow, as usual we are not allowed to share the recipe except the host of the bake (which is not me). My notes on some variation I have made on the recipe is as per below. Also, I used a different type of frosting - orange cream cheese frosting for a slightly cheesy but yet refreshing taste for this light sponge cake.

Check out my undecorated cake. I used a chiffon cake tin that is 22cm.

My notes:

1. I used a total of 200g sugar instead of the actual 337g sugar. I find it too sweet for my liking.
2. I only used 50g sugar to combine with the flour, salt and baking powder.
3. I used 150g sugar to beat together with the egg whites and cream of tartar.
4. Instead of using orange juice, I used yuzu juice which also has a citrusy taste to it. Yuzu's flavour taste pretty tart which resembles that of a grapefruit but yet, it has somewhat the flavour of the mandarin orange.

If you would notice, in notes 2 and 3 above, I would have used the method for chiffon cake by using sugar to stabilise the cake batter. This method seems to work pretty well for this cake considering the fact that no oil nor butter is used at all. It should probably make a healthier cake for the health-conscious, not to mention that it is so light and fluffy.

At first I was contemplating on whether to put any frosting for the cake at all, but since I had some cream cheese frosting left over from earlier in the week, I decided to use it since it's orange cream cheese. I thought it would add on to the light citrusy flavour brought about by the yuzu juice.

Last but not least, check out the firm but yet light spongey look this cake gives. Ok nevermind the uneven frosting in the middle. Erm, by the way, Mr G already had his 3rd slice of the cake the moment I sliced the cake. That already tells a lot about his approval for the cake, isn't it? On a separate note, I loved it so much too. At first, I thought of bringing some for the colleagues at work to try but I think I'm going to keep this cake all to ourselves. Yes, ALL OF IT :):)