Healthy Mixed Fruits Yogurt Muffins

I was feeling like baking something healthy and I also wanted to try baking with yogurt as my first time. Yogurt is an ingredient which can help your bakes moist and add a good flavor. I never got a chance to try till this time, I found one cup of low fat strawberry yogurt in the fridge then I looked through my bible and decided to go for this recipe "Berry & Yogurt Muffins" from dailydelicious.blogspot.com

I did not follow the original recipe exactly coz I substituted berry with dried cranberries, dried apricots & raisins. The original recipe called for yogurt but I used what I had on hand. I was surprised that the strawberry yogurt really gave a good flavor to my muffins besides that how moist of these muffins also a great thing. This recipe will be my first choice next time when I'm thinking of quick & healthy bake.

Here is what I did to get my perfect healthy muffins:

Healthy Mixed Fruits Yogurt Muffins

Cake flour                               150 g.
Quick oats                                 20 g.
Baking powder                       1 1/2 tsp.
Pinch of salt        
Caster sugar                           110 g.
Strawberry low fat yogurt      110 g.
Eggs                                       2
Oil                                          60 ml.
Dried cranberries, dried apricots & raisins 120 g. (chopped into small pieces)       

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt then stir in quick oats, sugar and mixed fruits.
2. Mix eggs, yogurt, oil together and pour into the dried ingredients. Stir till incorporate but do not over mix.
3. Spoon the batter into muffin pan with paper cases and bake them in the preheat oven 200C for 20-25 mins.

Special Thanks: Khun Pook from dailydelicious.blopspot.com for sharing a good & healthy recipe.

Delicious White Chocolate Japanese Mousse Cake

Was thinking what type of cake should I make for my BD.... Due to a very hot weather here, the mousse cake came across my mind and it was a right choice coz eating something's cold will probably help your body to cool down.

If you notice my blog, it's so easy to guess what color I like :) and this was a reason why my BD cake came out with a very sweet pink color though it was white chocolate mousse cake. This cake was indeed perfect for me who loves pink and white chocolate!

I chose my favorite Japanese sponge cake recipe to be a base coz it's light texture and can be kept in the fridge well without getting harder. For white chocolate mousse, I got the recipe from Thai food forum in www.pantip.com which the original recipe is white chocolate mousse with oreo pie crust base. It looks yummy with oreo crust as well but I rather wanted something more soft texture as cake. Since my cake was 7 inches diameter size and I only needed two mousse layers so I only halved the recipe.

White Chocolate Mousse
(2 mousse layers with 7 inches diameter cake size)

Milk                         1/2 + 1/8  cups
Gelatin powder        4              g.
White chocolate       165          g.
Whipping cream      1              cup

1. Sprinkle gelatin powder into milk and set aside for 10 mins.
2. Bring milk with gelatin to boil with low heat and keep stirring all the time till the gelatin powder is dissolved then off the heat.
3. Add in white chocolate and stir till chocolate melted and incorporate with milk. Set aside to cool down.
4. Beat the whipping cream with stand mixer or hand mixer till thicken and slowly add in white chocolate mixture then fold with rubber spatula till incorporate. It's ready to pour on top of your cake.
5. Chill the mousse cake over night before cutting.

Special Thanks: Khun Lumos from www.pantip.com in the food forum section

Rich Chocolate Banana Muffins

My mother in law bought a lot of bananas from the supermarket yesterday and looking at them made me feel like baking something with banana! The original recipe is "Rich Chocolate Banana Bread" it is a quick bread type but I did not want to make it with the loaf pan so I decided to do something different and made them with cute paper cups so they will look like muffins instead!

I never made quick breads or muffins by starting to beat the butter  & sugar like making cake, most of what I bake is with a combination of dry & wet ingredients like basic quick bread or muffin recipes.
I found that my muffins turned out lighter and softer this way.

The taste is not too sweet because the bananas were not overripe. If you use overripe bananas the sweetness will increase. Alternatively, you can add more sugar (10-20 g.) more to increase the sweetness if you are sweet tooth. I have adjusted the amount of ingredients and added baking soda from the original recipe and here is my version:

Rich Chocolate Banana Muffins

All purpose flour            110 g.

Baking powder              1     tsp.

Baking soda                  1/8   tsp.

Salt                                1/8    tsp.

Cocoa powder               15     g.

Unsalted butter              100  g.

Sugar                             110  g.

Eggs                               2

Vanilla                           1      tsp.

Mashed bananas             2

Melted dark chocolate    65 g.

Toasted almond for topping

1. Beat eggs and vanilla just to combine and put it in the fridge.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar with medium speed till light and pale color then slowly add eggs and vanilla (bring out from the fridge) and mix till incorporate.
4. Reduce to low speed and add sifted flour. Mix to combine and stop the mixer.
5. Add in mashed banana and melted chocolate then use the spatula to mix well.
6. Divide the batter into paper cups and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Bake in the preheat oven 190C for 25-30 mins.

Special Thanks: Khun Jum (Maesalim) for her "Rich Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe" as my inspiration.

Soft & Moist Chocolate Buttermilk Bundt Cake

My family members requested for some chocolate cake early this week in the same time I was thinking of baking something with my bundt pan :) Talking about bundt cake recipes, I guess this blog "Food Librarian" is the most popular coz there are so many bund cake recipes and this was the one I tried. The original recipe is Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake but for my personal I do not like cinnamon in my cake. I followed the original recipe without cinnamon and reduced the sugar amount as well. The cake cake out fabulously with the super soft and moist texture also he taste was great even without frosting.

Since I baked this cake, I told myself that I will definitely try baking more bundt cakes with the recipes from "Food Librarian" again for the next time.

Soft & Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake
Adapted from http://food librarian.blogspot.com "Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake"

Water                 1 cup
Unsalted butter  1/2 cup
Vegetable oil     1/2 cup
Cocoa powder   5 Tbsp.
All purpose flour 2 cups
Sugar                   2 cups (I used only 360 g.)
Salt                    1/2 tsp.
Buttermilk          1/2 cup
Baking soda       1  tsp.
Eggs                  2
Vanilla               1 tsp.

1. Put butter, oil, water, cocoa powder into the sauce pan and bring to boil.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt. Pour the cocoa mixture into the flour and mix until combined.
3. Add in buttermilk and baking soda then mix.
4. Combine eggs and vanilla then add into the batter. Mix till incorporated.
5. Pour the batter into the greased and floured bunt pan. Tap the pan with the counter top few times.
6. Baked in preheat oven 185C for 30-35 mins.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Baked this delicious cupcakes last week to fulfill my yearn for white chocolate taste. I bought 1 kg. of white chocolate and 1 kg. of dark chocolate "Lindt Baking Chocolate" from last trip back to visit my family in Bangkok. I love "Lindt White Chocolate" the most if compare to Valrhona or other brands else. You might think it sounds crazy just to hand carry theses 2 kg. of chocolate back to Singapore since here it's so easy to find baking chocolate in baking supplier shops but of course I could not find "Lindt". I'm using both of Valrhona cocoa powder and chocolate in my baking but these two types of chocolate will be more varieties as well.

After  I decided to bake something with white chocolate I was thinking of baking cupcakes or cookies then I was searching for interesting recipes on internet and finally found out this cupcake recipe from Baking Bites Website. There are so many interesting recipes and I always bake quick banana bread recipe which is my favorite banana bread ever from the website. Once I saw the white chocolate cupcake recipe with many good comments, I knew this was the one I was looking for.

I modified the recipe by adding dried cranberries just to give a little sweet & sour in my cupcakes also with some minor adjustments to suit my preference and I did not make white chocolate cream cheese frosting according to the original recipe but I used my leftover buttercream which I stored in the fridge for frosting. If you want to follow the original recipe, please go to http://bakingbites.com/2008/02/white-chocolate-cupcakes-with-white-chocolate-cream-cheese-frosting/
and here is my cupcake version:

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
Yield 15 cupcakes

All purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder   1 tsp.
Salt                      1/2 tsp.
White chocolate   4 oz. (melted)
Vanilla                1 tsp.
Eggs                    2
Unsalted butter   1/3 cup
Sugar                  140 g.
Milk                   1 cup + 1 Tbsp.
Dried cranberries 50 g. (chopped)

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl and add in dried cranberries. Stir well and set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar with medium high speed till light and fluffy then add in eggs one at time. Following by melted white chocolate and vanilla. Beat to combine.
3. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour and milk. (Starting with flour and ending with flour) Mix till incorporate.
4. Use ice cream scoop to divide the batter equally into paper cases in muffin pan.
5. Bake in preheat oven at 160C for 20-25 mins.
*Use any of your favorite frosting for the cupcakes