Beary sweet potato buns

Made some buns yesterday night for brekkie.

Kosong buns for hamburgers.

Cant get this song out of my head..

.. i have a bear,

I have a bun,

Urgh..

A bear bun..

Made 4 bear buns and filled with sweet potatoes. Yum…

One cant have too many cute baking cases. I just ❤ these cute bear cases.

 

Made these buns using eggless hokkaido soft bread recipe. Link is here.

How~

1. Measure ingredients and dump into bread maker. Select dough function to knead. (1 hour). You can also knead by hand till window pane stage.
2. Remove from bread maker. Punch out gas from bread.
3. Divide into balls. I made 10 balls of 50 gm and 8 tiny balls of 5gm for bear’s ear.
4. Let them rest covered in wet cloth for approx 15 mins.
5. Roll and shape balls. Put filling of your choice. (Kaya, nutella, egg, sausages…)
6. Arrange them onto baking tray.  Use baking paper if your baking tray is not non stick.  Leave two cups of boiling water in oven to create a warm environment. Rest them for second proofing in oven for an hour.
7. Bake 170°C gor 15 to 20 minutes.

*Sweet potato filling recipe

• 100 gm mashed steam potatoes
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar

Mix until evenly combined.

I took this pic this morning. Grow baby grow!! ❤🐈

Cheers

Karen☕

Weaved basket flowers buttercream pandan sponge cake

Im still in my what seemed like a long journey to improve my buttercream flowers piping skills.

Done –

• Swiss meringue buttercream
• Sweet buttercream
• Commercial bettercreame
• Practice buttercream (using shortening)
• Royal icing

Im attending a cake decorating class weekly. We have just completed the buttercream modules. Next will be all about decorating cakes using fondant. (Excited!).

Here are a few pictures of latest work.

Notes:

1. frosting using bettercreame
2. piping using royal.icing and bettercreame
3. Piping tips/nozzles used –

• 47 – basket
• 67 – leaves
• 81 – chrysanthemum
• 97 – victorian roses
• 101, 1 –  violets
• 104 – daisies, roses

Recipes for cake and royal icing below pictures.

Ok just 2 more photos…

Pandan sponge recipe from ~

https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/jeannietay.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/pandan-sponge-cake-chiffon-recipe/amp/
Royal icing recipe ~

• Meringue powder 3 Tbsp
• Icing sugar 450 gm
• Warm water

1. Mix meringue powder and icing sugar at low speed with paddle attachment till evenly combined.
2. Add water and mix for 5 to 6 mins at low-medium speed until icing loses it sheen.
3. Cover icing with damp cloth to prevent drying.
4. If too soft, add icing sugar. If too stiff add water (by drops).

Note to self – can replace water by adding flavorings /extract / lemon juice.

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Cheers!

Karen ☕

Banana chocolate chips milo muffins

I had been biking and sewing in the last few days. It’s time for some baking therapy today!

I’ve saved 3 large bananas for a week to bake this. They were so riped to the point of almost rotten! (But not la 🙂 )

Wanted to try baking these after reading online raving about malted banana chocolate chips muffins from domestic goddess~ http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2015/03/malted-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/

Recipe adapted from the above.

• 3 large bananas
• 110 caster sugar
• 60 gm oil
• 2 large eggs (114 gm nett without shell)
• 250 plain flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 55 gm milo
• 3/4 cup of chocolate chips

1. Mix banana and sugar till combined. I used a stand mixer with paddle attachment. can mix using hand whisk too.
2. Add oil. Mix.
3. Add eggs. Mix.
4. Add dry (powdered) ingredients in 2 batches.
5. Fold in chocolate chips. Do not overfold.
6. Scoop into muffin cases. Make 12 standard muffins.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.

Smells so good…. yummy too!!

* oh i forgot to mention i’ve added a whole walnut to a few muffins. My kids dont like them.

I need my cappucino. Nothing beats homemade ya?

Haha…trying out video editing.

On another note. Kaizer the kitty is getting along with charlie the doggy. I love these moments.

😍❤❤❤🐕❤🐈

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Cheers!

Karen ☕

chawanmushi

my kids love eggs.

here’s a simple recipe that i adapted as i dont store sake and dashi stock in my kitchen.

serves 4

4 eggs
water ( x 3 of eggs volume)
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp chinese wine
1 tsp noodle sauce from daiso

mix ingredients and STRAIN before pouring into chawan mushi cups.

optional topping – mushroom, minced pork, chicken, shrimp or anything you fancy!

steam in rice cooker while cooking rice. ‘killing 2 birds with one stone’

texture is as soft aand smooth as bean curd! yum.

im back..almost!

it’s been a long long pause, almost 3 years! hello. 😊

my current ocd phase – bread. im getting lots of ideas and experimenting to make them visually kawaii and colourful the natural way.

this is a quick post, my first blog post with handphone! stay tuned. 🙂

bento 207 – sleeping panda

we went to river safari zoo last sunday to visit jia jia and kai kai (pandas).

unfortunately Kai kai was sleeping and jia jia was in her den when we were there. So disappointing. 😦

here’s kai kai fast asleep in his dreamland.

there is a panda themed restaurant next to the pandas. I ordered cappuccino because of this cute stencilled latte art.

panda themed water container and red bean pau.

and here is my version –

in the bento box – panda made from bread, taupok and vegetables.

bento gadgets I used are as picture below.

cheers!
Karen

Hello! …

hello peeps! it’s been another long long pause since my last post in apr2013.

in between then and now : i fractured my wrist, made only a few bentos, made some cute sandwiches and baked for a charity donation drive, still obsessed and buying typewriters and other vintage stuff, got interested in cafe hopping (is it wise to buy an espresso machine just to do latte/coffee art?), started a collection of owl rings and pendants just because they are so cute.

below is a quick recap of the above and more, summing it up with my favourite photos!

my right hand was in cast for 6 weeks.

baked these (before i fell and fractured my hand) for a charity donation drive.

i love hello kitty! trying out fondant for ribbons and flowers. 😉

i love my kopitiam kopi and cappuccino but i love latte art more!!

my latest typewriter acquisition, a teeny robotic lookalike typer with glass keys.

diy manicure with nail stickers. hello kitty ones are my favourite. ;P

this is the same watch that tom hank wore in the da vinci code movie (2003). i am  totally in I love this fat-boy, pie-eyed Bradley Mickey watch (vintage, made in 1970s). this one is rare because mickey has purple hands.

i’ve been bitten by the baking bug again lately – this time, chiffon cakes! i had so many failures..sigh… my love hate relationship with chiffon cakes could probably fill a few blog posts! after 20 or more attempts (yes, 20 ~blush~, so if you failed 5 times, press on!!), i have better success rates now. phew! i’ve tried a few recipes but my favourite are  from cuisine paradise and small small baker.

love the soft, light and fluffy texture, recipe is without butter so healthier too! *wink . if only we can make them cute or bake them in hello kitty moulds…that would be soooo cool. hmm…possible? have anyone tried or came across?

my chiffon cakes are not the prettiest but i am working hard on it.  i am happy as long as the cake is standing tall and not khatek (collapsed when cooled).

i bought a (another) hello kitty puncher recently, another impulse guilty splurge! i’d like the idea having a hello kitty punched seaweed wrapping my sushi. 🙂

made rocket themed bentos per a media company request. they ordered  30 lunch boxes but cancelled the order last-minute.  wasted some effort and time.  a lesson learnt is to request for a deposit first. oh well…

ok, totally random but see how my kids have grown! time really flies… hug and kiss your little ones as much as you can!!

Tgif! Have a great weekend. 🙂

Cheers,
Karen

bento 200 – bear in mud bath

200! Bentos or like prepared, photographed and eaten thereafter. 🙂

Here’s the 200th and also my first – japanese vegetables curry bento.

In the box – rice, curry, steamed carrot, quail egg, edamame and strawberries. added lettuce and honey tomatoes into curry.

I was holding the halved quail egg undecided what to do, my
son walked by and suggested feet! An ‘Aha’ moment for me because he had not shown any interest in my bento-ing before. I am so proud of his idea. 😀

Happy mid week!

My princess is 10!

In a blink, she is 10! ‘My age is double digit!’ she squealed.  

Decorated some mini cupcakes after she went to bed.  Hope this will give her a little surprise when she wakes up tomorrow.

 

Happy birthday my princess!

bento 184 – the lorax

yesterday was my firstborn 12th birthday. we looked at some old baby photographs and how time flies! fast forward 12 years, i forgot when he had his first tooth, his first walk, his first word.  i believed the most important thing is to consciously be there and ‘now’ for him.

When S was just 2-3 4 months old.

and now at 12-year old. a teen!

he wanted to watch the lorax,  so the lorax it was! it’s nice, entertaining and has an important message for the kids. so here is my express version.

lorax made with bread (crust) and cheese. here, he looks ‘angry’ tho i would prefer a cuter, happier expression.

i had trouble cutting one eye brow. here’s the ‘mess’ after many tries. tip – cut cheese with a toothpick.

lorax in the sandwich box.

cheers!