Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Chips Cookies

Pardon my tardiness and procrastination in updating my blog. These cookies were baked months ago (I think before christmas last year), but I was just too busy during the christmas and chinese new year period followed by laziness to update my blog. It sure takes a little effort to take photos, upload into the blog and write (or I should say type) a little story about the food and the recipe. And here I am, finally taking the time to update my blog with these beautiful, irresistible and delicious chocolate chunk cookies.

Chocolate Banana Walnut Cake

Chocolate, banana and walnut are simple ingredients that are available most of the time in my kitchen. It was a lazy afternoon that spurred me to bake. Otherwise I would be just idling my time away. Why not bake a chocolate banana walnut cake for afternoon teabreak and breakfast?

Mocha cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting

What inspired me to bake these little cupcakes? Hmm...., after tasting the cupcakes by Plain Vanilla at Yong Siak Street in Tiong Bahru enclave, I wanted to bake cupcakes that's soft, moist and light like theirs. Furthermore, I have vanilla swiss meringue buttercream in my freezer. A very good motivation since I do not need extra effort and time to make the buttercream. Not to forget the chopped peanuts too. Better use them while still fresh and crunchy.

Pierre Herme Viennese Chocolate Sables

It's Christmas season again ..... Time to bake some cookies as gifts for friends. Let's go for one of the recipes in Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme's book - Viennese Chocolate Sables. Everyone (or I would say majority)  loves chocolate. Furthermore, I have leftover egg whites in the fridge. Don't waste them. And this recipe uses egg whites only. What a good timing .....

Chocolate Cappuccino Cake

Just in time to bake a cake for hubby's birthday after getting back from a golfing holiday in Hainan Island, China. Great golf courses, food and fun with a bunch of golfing buddies from the club. Weather this year was extremely hot, unexpected. Last year, all of us were unprepared and caught in an unusually cold weather. So we thought we'd better bring warmer clothing. But weather turned out otherwise .....

I can't remember when was the last time I baked a birthday cake for hubby, not to mention mine as our birthdays coincided with travels. I'm determined to bake one this year. Wanted to make a simple and fuss-free one - chocolate and coffee flavor. That's easy - chocolate genoise sponge cake with coffee-flavored fresh cream frosting, something I've not tried before. The closest one was coffee swiss meringue buttercream.

Devil's Food Cupcakes with assorted cream cheese frosting

 

Pardon me for my tardiness in updating my blog. I baked these cupcakes around the time of baking the Devil's Food Cake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting but did not update them into my blog. But better late than never .... Here they are - with two types of frosting - salted caramel cream cheese and strawberry cream cheese. Both frosting are deliciously good and go well with the bitter dark chocolate cupcake. The caramel frosting is sweet and salty while the strawberry frosting has a slight tartness to it and it's refreshing.

Chocolate Addiction - Devil's Food Cake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

How time flies! It seems like just not too long ago that I baked a Royal Chocolate Praline cake for my son's 13th birthday. He's 14 now. It's a chocolate cake again that he requested. Deliberating between a genoise sponge cake, chiffon sponge cake or butter cake, I finally decided upon a Devil's Food Cake by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Sinfully Chocolate 'N' Crunch

As the title implies, this cake is oozing with chocolate and crunch. It may be too rich and sinful to those who are watching their waistlines. But it's for my nephew's 16th birthday. He loves chocolate cakes. I suggested manago mousse cake because Thai honey mango is in season and I have been baking chocolate cakes for him the past few birthdays. Nope, he said. Chocolate cake still wins and it is to be filled with crunchy chocolate pearls between the 2 layers. Okay, his wish is my command.

Pierre Herme's Chocolate Eclair

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. So sorry about it. I'm without a domestic helper for some months now. That explains my tardiness in baking and updating blog. Baking has taken a backseat as I have to allocate priority for mundane household chores & preparing meals for the family. I will now most likely bake for special occasions like birthdays, gatherings and requests from family and friends. And if I really want to bake, it will be simple fuss-free types like muffins, cookies and cakes without any frosting.

Bouchon Bakery-Style Dark Chocolate Cookies

Chanced upon this recipe in one the books I borrowed from the library. This is quite a good book but I can't remember the title. Will have to go look for it again next time I visit the library. I was attracted by the word Bouchon Bakery and the author's write-up about the cookies. The cookies were sure mouthwatering and decadent. You just cannot stop at one.

White, Red and Chocolate

White, red and chocolate. Interesting title? White and red refers to the strawberry shortcake and chocolate refers to the chocolate cake. Simple and direct. No fanciful name. Baked these 2 cakes for a friend's 3 yr-old niece's birthday. My friend has a big family - 7 sisters and 1 brother if I remember correctly. The strawberry shortcake is for the birthday girl and the chocolate cake is for the rest of her nieces and nephews. She's a very good aunt. She just wants to make sure everyone has enough to eat. So nice of her.

Chocolate au Royal

I can't believe I'm on a chocolate praline cake baking marathon. This is the 4th cake I've baked in 2 weeks. And this one is for my beloved sister's birthday. The first one was for my son; second one for my girlfriends; third one for my golf buddy's birthday and this last one for my sister. Why did I bake the same type of cake over and over again? First, I wanted to use up all the praline paste that I made and secondly, it's simply delicious .....

Royal Chocolate Praline

This cake is baked especially for my son's 13th birthday. Time really flies and he is a teenager now. A teenager with his own mind. If you ask me if I enjoy his entry into teenage years, my answer is NO. He's no longer the boy who will listen to your advice and spend time talking to you and doing things with you. He's in his own world surrounded by computer games, gadgets, social media and friends. Sigh ...... How I wish he were still a little boy. I really loved those times spent with him. So fun and adorable. Well, I cannot turn back the clock and just have to look forward and accept that he has grown up and finding his own ways and identity. I have to adjust my expectations ......

Chocolate in Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I do not normally use buttercream to frost a cake. I find it a little too rich and sinful - no good for the heart other than giving you the extra kilos. But there is no refrigerator to store the cake at my cell meeting venue. Out goes fresh cream frosting. I wanted a fruit-flavoured theme cake. This cake is to celebrate the birthday of April babies in my cell group - Janet and Ching Sum.

Chocolate Fruit Tart

I'm back baking again after taking a long break from the non-stop Chinese New Year baking. Chinese New Year was a busy and hectic period of cleaning, baking and eating. I'm so glad it's over. It is my mum's birthday and it's definitely a great reason to bake something for her. I wanted to do something I've never tried before - shortcrust pastry.

Yuletide season - Blackforest Log Cake

 

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Christmas is here. Season of feasting and being merry in the company of loved ones and friends. But it is also a time to remember that our saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down to earth to give us light and hope. This Christmas, we are invited by Candy and her family to her home for dinner - Taiwanese braised pork rice (卤肉饭), her specialty. There are four families here and all our hubbies were army friends. We always look forward to meeting up with each other, together with all our kids. But as our kids grow up to become teenagers, I bet our future gathering will be just the adults. As the baker, it's always my pleasure to bake a log cake to add to the atmosphere.

Petit Choc Gâteau

The year-end school holiday is here. Hooray! It's one of my favourite time of the year. Do not have to send the kids to school and no homework and exam stress. Time to relax, take it easy and enjoy the holidays. A group of parents from Ryan's class have organised a BBQ at Aloha Loyang Resort. The boys and their families and teachers will be there. It's gonna be fun. Hope the weather will brighten up. It's very dark, cloudy and thundery as I blog.

Chocolate Banana Delight

Chocolate-themed birthday cake will never go wrong. This cake is specially baked for my son, Ryan's 12th birthday. Have to settle for a quiet birthday celebration as his birthday happened to be in the midst of preparing for the most important exam in his primary school years, the dreaded Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). It's the most stressful exam not only for him, but for me too. I have to nag at him to study (believe me, no parents like to do this) and stop spending too much time on computer games. This year is a very busy and hectic time for him. Endless homework and practice papers.

Chocolate Banana Fudge

This chocolate banana fudge cake is for my nephew, Sean's 14th birthday on 28 April. I know I'm very late in updating my blog. Partly been busy and partly procastination on my part. I needed time in uploading the photos and editing the post to include the recipe. That's why ...............

Pierre Herme's Carioca

My daughter's sweet 16th birthday is around the corner. She herself is a baker too, a very passionate one. What to bake? I wanted to try something different. Different techniques, different taste. Since she's such a fan of Pierre Herme, I decided to get inspiration from his Desserts by Pierre Herme book. Chocolate is everyone's favourite and is one ingredient I use a lot in my baking. Then I saw Carioca.