Van Houten Chocolate cake, anyone? If you are looking for a tried and tested recipe for chocolate cake, you might want to try this out. This chocolate cake recipe is actually modified from the scroll cake recipe. Medium moist, light and buttery, it makes you want to have another piece once you’ve eaten one. Van Houten Cocoa Powder is used in this recipe. If you can’t find it, you might also want to try the Tudor brand. As for butter, we use Golden Churn brand. SCS butter is also a good substitute.

To prevent sticking, ensure that the baking pan is well greased with butter followed by dusting with flour. Cool the cake over a rack before storing.

Oh, in case you were wondering, the Van Houten Chocolate Cake is on the foreground. The other pieces of cakes are the famous Sarawak Layer Cake (Kuih Lapis Sarawak). Looks good, don’t they?

But for now, let me share with you the recipe for Van Houten Chocolate Cake :-

Ingredients

• 10 oz. Butter
• 10 oz. Castor Sugar
• 7 ½ oz. Flour
• 1 oz. Cocoa Powder
• 8 Eggs (separate egg yolks from egg whites)
• 2 ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder

Method

Beat butter and sugar for 8 minutes (or until white).

Add egg yolks one by one and continue beating for another 10 minutes.

Fold in flour sifted with cocoa powder and baking powder (sifted 2 to 3 times).

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff and add it to the butter mixture.

Pour mixture onto a baking tray (8″ inch, square tin)

Bake in a 300°F (or 150°C) oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

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Van Houten Chocolate Cake

I was never really a fan of carrot cakes all these while probably because I never had any good experience eating a good carrot cake out there. Maybe the thought of eating a “vegetable” cake deterred me from wanting to try this out compared to chocolate cakes or cheese cakes. Anyway, not any longer ever since we got ourselves a Fagor oven in our new house. Carrot cake rocks! More so when it is topped with lemon cream cheese frosting and eaten slightly chilled.

My wife made this a couple of weeks back and I’m now a fan of carrot cakes. Moist and nutritious, this carrot cake is laden with freshly grated carrots, sweetened pineapples, oven-toasted walnuts and plump raisins. I think the best part that there is no mixer involved (with a little caveat that a mixer would be required to prepare the frosting). Just get yourself a big bowl and spatula and give it a good mix ala manual

What makes this carrot cake so special that I have decided to call it the Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe? Well, it’s been handed down from my mother-in-law to my wife, it tastes good as reported by many who have tasted this and most of all, one piece is never enough. Need I say more?

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 240 grammes carrots (grated)
• 120 grammes tinned pineapples (tinned, drained and chopped)
• 60 grammes raisins (lightly chopped)
• 60 grammes walnuts (toasted, cooled and chopped coarsely)
• 240 grammes self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence (add to eggs)
• 3 eggs
• 200 210 grammes castor sugar
• 180 ml cooking oil

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 30 60 grammes butter (room temperature)
• 60 230 grammes cream cheese (room temperature)
• 30 230 grammes icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (grate the skin)

Method

Sift the flour with soda and baking powder. Add castor sugar.

Beat Whisk eggs lightly until frothy in a separate bowl. Add in vanilla essence.

Pour egg mixture into the flour and stir well. Then add grated carrots followed by cooking oil. Add in the chopped pineapples and stir well.

Then add in the raisins and walnuts.

Pour mixture into a greased and floured tray and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to stand to cool before applying a thin layer of frosting.

Cake is best served chilled.

Frosting

Beat Put cream cheese and butter in the a bowl of using a hand-held or an electric mixer. Beat on low speed till blended. Gradually add icing sugar (sifted) and continue beating until smooth.

Add vanilla essence and grated lemon and allow to beat till well combined.

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The Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe

If you live in Malaysia, you know that you are very lucky where FOOD is concerned. Malaysians are known for the special relationship that they have with food which is evident from the variety of savory dishes and sweets that one can easily find at every corner. This is especially so during the many festive seasons, one of which was only recently celebrated – Deepavali.

One of the favorite Indian sweets eaten during Deepavali is Sugared Ghee Balls, which is also popularly known as “Neyyi Urundai” or “Payatham Urundai”. True, compared to the other more gloriously colored sweets found during this festival, Ghee Balls do not get full points for looks. In fact, its unstimulating colour and simple shape may even be a “put off” for some. But, for many who have tried it, this sweet has easily become a favorite.

Making it from scratch is relatively easy. The only tricky part is pouring the hot ghee into the flour mixture and molding the balls into shape. One may find that the first few balls take a longer time to make than first anticipated. Don’t let your spirits down if you find this happening to you. Persistence pays off and it won’t be too long before you start getting the hang of it.

Once cooled, pop a ball into your mouth and enjoy the taste as it slowly crumbles into a wonderful sensory delight. You won’t regret it!

This is my recipe for Sugared Ghee Balls.
Ingredients

• 2 cups roasted mung beans flour
• Additional 1/3 cup roasted moong beans flour for coating
• 1 cup icing sugar
• about 10 roasted cashew nuts
• ghee
• 1/3 teaspoon salt

Method
If you are using unroasted moong beans flour, you must first dry roast it. Do this by heating a large frying pan or wok to low-medium heat. When the pan or wok is hot enough, pour in the flour and dry roast it until fragrant. Remove from heat and let the flour cool.

Mince the roasted cashew nuts into tiny pieces (but not ground) and keep aside.

Once the flour is cooled, pour it (2 cups) into a large dry mixing bowl. Add the icing sugar, minced cashew nuts and salt. Using a wooden spoon, mix all ingredients together.

On a separate large plate, put in the rest of the roasted moong beans flour (1/3 cup) for coating and keep aside.

When ready to make the ghee balls, heat a small quantity of ghee (approximately ½ cup first) in a small pan, on low heat. Don’t overheat the ghee, but it has to be reasonably hot. (As you use up the hot ghee, add more to the pan if required.) As you make the ghee balls, the ghee pan should remain on low heat close by.

Remember to be keeping an eye on it the whole time!

To make the ghee balls, use another wide shallow bowl on which you can comfortably work on. (I like to call this the sand-pit). Pour in half the mixed ingredient and loosely spread it around the bowl with your fingers. When you are ready to make a ball, heap a little of the flour (slightly more than what is needed for one ball) into the middle. With a small spoon, make a small ‘well’ in the middle of the heaped flour. The well should only go about 1/3 down the heap and not all the way! Pour in about 1 tablespoon of hot ghee into the well. You will notice that when the hot ghee is poured, the flour will sizzle a little. Using a spoon, slightly press the heap allowing for the oil to ‘catch’ the flour. Then, carefully, pick the oiled heap into your hands and compact it into a ball shape. You may find this a little difficult at first as the oiled flour can be hot.

Once you have made a ball, roll it around on the flour kept aside earlier, to coat it lightly. Keep the coated ball aside to cool.

As you use up the flour mixture in the ‘sand pit’, add more into it and continue the process till all the flour are used up.

Note: The amount of hot ghee you use to make a ball varies with the size of the ball you want. Adjust this quantity to your own liking.

This recipe is brought to you by our Guest Chef Spillay who blogs over at A Pot of Gold. Spillay is a Malaysian who currently resides in Australia with her husband and two gorgeous boys.

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Sugared Ghee Balls

When I was in England, I enjoyed eating Shortbread cookies, which are really popular in the British Isles. After all, the most famous Shortbread cookies are probably from Scotland especially the Walker’s Shortbread Cookies brand with the red tartan-like design. I have always thought that Shortbreads are difficult to make or bake. Afterall, it tastes great and has a nice semi-crumbly texture. That was until I was introduced to the Shortbread cookies which my mother-in-law baked over Chinese New Year recently.

Being her creative self, my mother-in-law baked this cute little Shortbread cookies in horse-shoe design and they were irresistible. We brought back a tin when we came back to Kuala Lumpur. This shortbread recipe was obtained by my mother-in-law about 20 years back but she did not attempt the recipe until the recent Chinese New Year and we were all impressed. When she gave me the recipe, the first thing that ran through my mind was “Is that all there is?”. It is so simple that even a beginner should be able to bake this and impress everyone else. Once you know how to bake this, you shouldn’t be keen to buy them off the shelves anymore. So, are you ready to try and impress?

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

• 8 oz flour
• 4 oz rice flour
• 4 oz castor sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 8 oz butter

Method

Knead sugar into butter. Add salt. Fold in flour and rice flour.

Press on greaseproof paper to about half-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes and prick with pin / toothpick.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool thoroughly before storing.

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Shortbread

Chinese New Year was celebrated about 1 ½ months ago and there are two recipes for biscuits which I will be featuring here. One of the recipes is Cheese Biscuits – an all-time favourite of my wife. The Cheese Biscuits shown above were baked by my mother-in-law, one of the 10 types of biscuits she baked this year. Oh yes, my mother-in-law is good with baking.

These Cheese Biscuits have the usual cheesy taste – cheddar cheese to be exact. So, there is a little bit of saltiness and sweetness. Kids love them as well. The above Cheese Biscuits were came in a crescent moon shape. You can use any mould you want. Just be a little creative.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients

• 230 grammes of cheedar cheese (sliced)
• 1 egg
• 170 grammes butter
• 340 grammes flour
• a little soda
• a little salt

Method

Sieve flour and soda together.

Put salt, butter and egg into mixer. Beat until fluffy and light. Then, add in cheese slices and flour. Mix well.

Put dough between grease paper and flatted it with rolling pin. Cut into smaller pieces and arrange on baking tray. Brush egg yolk over them, bake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius.

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Cheese Biscuits

I finally got hold of my mother-in-law’s recipe for pineapple jam. This pineapple jam is used to make pineapple tarts. Prior to this, I have posted the recipe for the pastry for Pineapple Tart. I didn’t know that the recipe for pineapple jam is so easy…though it does take an amount of patience to stir the ingredients till the juice is reduced and the pineapple mixture becomes sticky. The good thing is that the jam can be stored in the fridge for a few months, which would allow you to make a couple of batches of pineapple tarts

This is the recipe for Pineapple Jam

Ingredients

• 2 pineapples
• 250 grammes granulated sugar
• 5 cloves
• a dash of cinnamon powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method

Skin pineapple and scrape out the flesh. Drain flesh on a sieve for 10 minutes to obtain ½ cup of juice.

Place the scraped pineapple flesh in a non-stick pan and add granulated sugar, pineapple juice, lemon juice, cloves and cinnamon. Place pan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally for about ½ hour until pineapple jam is sticky and can easily be rolled into a ball. Set aside to cool.

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Pineapple Jam for Pineapple Tarts

Kuih Lapis has got to rank probably one of my favourite cakes. Also known as Layered Cake, Kuih Lapis is said to have originated from Indonesia and it is quite a labourious cake to bake as it involves baking the cake layer by layer. The layer is usually paper thin and it can be quite fun peeling it off layer by layer to eat them. This cake is also quite sweet and it is best sliced thinly across the layers and consumed in small portions. Somehow, eating them in big slices does not give the kind of pleasure when you eat them in thin slices whilst admiring the layers.

My mother-in-law learnt this recipe from an Indonesian many years back and she bakes this cake annually. Though you might say that I am partial, I must say that her Kuih Lapis is the best I’ve eaten so far. Try out the recipe for Kuih Lapis here. It’s worth the work!

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Kuih Lapis

Ingredients

(A)

• 350 grammes butter
• ½ tin condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon full mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essense
• 2 teaspoon rum or brandy
• 1 tablespoon almond or cashew nut powder

(B)

• 18 egg yolks (cold)
• 3 egg whites (cold)
• 100 grammes flour
• 180 grammes sugar
• 1 tablespoon ovalette
• 25 ml cold water

Method

Beat (A) till light.

Beat (B) using low speed before gradually increasing speed and beat till stiff .

Fold (A) mixture into the (B) mixture and then grill layer by layer till finished. The grill must be hot and the procedure must be fast. When done, place cake into oven temperature no. 4 or 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.

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Kuih Lapis

My mother-in-law bakes awesomely delicious pineapple tarts and that is one of the highlights whenever we go back home for Chinese New Year. Pineapple tarts take up lots of hours to make as there is the cooking of pineapple jam (which can take hours) and preparation of pastry followed by baking. Usually, my mother-in-law will make the pineappple jam in advance and keep it in the fridge until needed.

Unlike some poor tasting recipes, my mother-in-law’s pineapple tarts have a nice buttery smell pastry which melts in the mouth. It does not crumble in your hands, yet it nicely disintegrates when savoured. Over here, I only managed to get the recipe for the pastry and will put up the recipe for the pineapple jam and baking time when I get my hands on her secrets. If you have been baking pineapple tarts, try this pastry recipe for a change.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Pineapple Tart Pastry

Ingredients

• 1 lb. flour
• 10 oz. butter
• 2 to 3 egg yolks
• Some cold water
• 4 teaspoon castor sugar

Method

Sift the flour and add in the castor sugar.

Using the pointed ends of a fork, rub the butter into the flour until it looked like fine bread crumbs. If necessary, use fingertips to continue rubbing lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces.

Add egg yolks and cold water at the same time and knead well lightly combine them using finger tips (rather than kneading them like bread dough) before rolling out to desired thickness between baking / greased paper. (The fork and fingertip technique is what makes the pastry special)

Use mould to shape tarts. Lightly dust the pastry and mould with flour before cutting with the mould.

Roll a small amount of jam into a ball. Press the ball of jam onto the tart pastry.

For baking, bake using Gas Mark 3 (160 degrees Celcius / 325 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes. When placing jam onto the pastry, take caution not to smear jam onto the sides as this will easily “burn” and render the sides of the pastry (the flowery design) darker.

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Pineapple Tart Pastry