Steamed Chocolate Cake – attempt 1 July 19, 2009

I was introduced to this recipe by Liana, my ex-schoolmate + colleague + fellow breasfeeding mom + cooking advisor +…. When she said steamed cake, images of huat kueh pops up in my mind. I just can’t believe that a western cake can be steamed and can be so good it gets wiped out within 24hrs in her household!

I just had to try it to be convinced. Except for reducing the sugar to 3/4 cup as I don’t like my cakes to be too sweet, I followed the rest of the recipe to a T. Oh! I also forgot to cover the pan with foil which could be the reason why my cake cracked. The taste and texture however were great! It was like a lighter and less sinful version of brownie. My colleagues tried it loved it.

This is how the cake looks when it's fresh out of the steamer. It shrank further upon cooling.

Some tips:

1. Serve the cake warm by steaming it in microwave.

2. I use Tudor Gold cocoa powder and it produces an unforgettable rich chocolatey taste.

3. Butter is preferred to corn oil. It produces a smoother mix and is much more fragrant which makes it taste more like a cake should be.

4. If you plan to add frosting, which is sweet, you may cut down the sugar even more to balance the overall sweetness of the cake.

Midnight magic

What are you up to at midnight?

For me, it’s probably one of the most productive period of the day. Me-time.

A time when I put my work aside, no kids or hub to bug me around. Time when my mind just runs wild overflowing with ideas (not that it doesn’t in the day time :P). It’s quality time I get to spend with myself and my kitchen 😉 A time for my creative outputs.

Naturally, I am one who’s easily distracted as I tend to put others’ needs over mine. When it comes to baking, precision is everything. It is only during the middle of the night that I can get to bake without disruptions. And so far, it’s been proven that my best creations are produced at night. Joyce’s birthday tiramisu, Wendy’s brownie birthday cake, my first and very successful new york cheesecake…

Conversely, those baked in the day always go wrong somehow.

Looks like I can’t multi-task as well as I’d like to 🙂

The sign(s) July 6, 2009

Frankly… I’m really a blog-dinosaur. In fact, I’m a little (just a little) intimidated by all the features here on this page where I’m editing my post. What’s all the funny icons I’ve never seen before? What’s Excerpt for? What’s trackback?? Kitchen Sink??? I’ve never used these functions on MS Office before… HA!

I was asked twice today to start a blog. How uncanny. I take it as “a sign” in the words of Paulo Coelho.

Liana told me that blogging is just like keeping a diary. The problem is, I don’t have a habit of keeping a diary! But since she complimented that my foodie photos are very bloggable, I shall put them to good use – to share and garner baking tips from the blogger community 🙂

Conz showed me a colleague’s diabetically-lovey-dovey-family blog and said I should start something like that. That’s not quite my style but I get the drift.