Carrot Cake

My Mom is a true fan of carrot cake. Believe me, she lovesss carrot cake than any other cakes. Every time I go to Secret Recipe 1 slice of carrot cake is a compulsory (a cake that I-must-buy) apart from any other assorted cakes (depends on my fluctuating desire :p). Personally, I DONT like carrot cake. Seriously, I dont like it. Im not really into cakes that made from fruits (especially the fruits-rich, the FRUIT CAKE) except for banana and orange cake heee. Alright, now, back to the heading, I wanted to try to make this cake because I had this question in my head “What for if you like baking but you cant make your loved one’s favorite cake?” Teeheee.

Me: Ucu nak buat carrot cake.
Anne: Haa? Ucu suka carrot cake ke?
Me: Takk. Tapi mak suka.
Anne: Buatla chocolate cake. Chocolate cake lg sedap.
Me: Sedap. Tp mak x suka chocolate cake.
Anne: @_@.. ok.

I had this conversation with my niece a day before I made this cake. Okay, jz random.

The end result is: My Mom loved my carrot cake. And, Im sooo happy for it. yeay!

Recipe from The Cake Mistress

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs
A pinch of Salt
1/2 teaspoon Bicarb Soda
2 cups Self Raising Flour
2 cups finely grated Carrot (around 4 large carrots)
1/2 cup Walnuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Nutmeg (nutmeg is buah pala in malay:)

METHOD

Cake
1. Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Beat sugar and oil until thick, then add 1 egg at a time and keep beating for a few more minutes.
3. Add salt, bicarb soda, carrots, flour, walnuts and spices.
4. Mix with wooden spoon until all combined.
5. Put batter in well greased loaf pan or tin and bake for 35-45 minutes (cake) or 15-20 minutes (cupcakes), or until light golden and cake springs back when touched in the middle. Baking time might vary depending on your personal oven.

Cream Cheese Frosting
From Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

300g Icing sugar
125g Cream Cheese, cold
50g Unsalted Butter, room temp

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
3. Turn the mixer up to medium high. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

Egg Tarts

My family most favorite tart that I have to learn to make it.

Tart shells
from Aunty Yochana

INGREDIENTS
125 gm. Butter – chilled
60 gm. icing sugar
1/2 egg white
1 egg yolk
200 gm. plain flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence

METHOD
1. For pate sucree: beat butter and icing sugar till wellmixed.
2. Add in white and yolk and mix.
3. Add in vanilla essence and then the flour and mix into a dough. Rest for 10 mins. Press dough into small tart moulds.
4. Bake the tart shell till half-cooked. (Note from Aunty Yochana: Half baked should be around 10 mins at 175C. I didn’t put the timing cos everybody’s oven is different. Judge yourself and see that it’s like puff up slightly and turned white.)

Egg Custard Recipe
from Christine’s Recipes

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
110 gm caster sugar
225 gm hot water
85 gm evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD
1. Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
2. Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water and add in the vanilla extract. Mix well.
3. Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a tea pot. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.

Finally, preheat the oven to 200C. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown. Lower the heat to 180C. Keep an eye on them. Once you see the custard being puffed up a bit, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked through. Just insert a toothpick into the custard. If it stands on its own, it’s done.

Buttery Orange Cake

Orange cake is the simplest cake that I always would love to make and of course would loveee to eat. heehee. I remember that orange cake is the very FIRST cake that I made in my life. Only after that, I started to fall in love with baking and it was in 2008 (my first year of uni, my first year in Oz >.<)

The recipe is adapted from The Little Teochew

INGREDIENTS

195g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170g butter, softened
225g sugar (I used 200g castor sugar)
1 large egg, plus one large egg yolk
1 1/2 tbsp orange zest
12 tbsp whole milk

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius. Butter and line a 9-inch cake pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Using a mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy for about about 2 minutes.

4. Beat in orange zest, then egg and egg yolk. If the mixture curdles, just add 1 tbsp of flour and continue mixing.

5. On low speed, add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with milk.

6. Switch mixer to medium and beat for 10 to 15 seconds, just until batter appears uniform. The batter should look thick and creamy.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula or knife.

8. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until it reaches a dark-gold color and an inserted cake tester comes out clean.

9. Let to rest in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cake stand or platter. Allow cake to completely cool before slicing (Mine was slightly crumbling as I was too impatient that I cannot wait until it is completely cool before slicing it up :D)