Flower in A Pot Chocolate Cupcake

I should have post this article last month. But due to I was busy in handing-over my job scopes and the catching up of brand new duties at my current office, this has kept me inactive in blogging for the time being. I have been serving 4 ½ years in this chip resistors manufacturing firm, founded by the Japanese about 2 decades ago.  Due to certain factors, I feel that now is the time for me to move on and heading towards bigger challenge in my career. I accepted a new job offered and start joining the team this December 2012.

Since I am leaving, and as a tribute to all my lovely colleagues, I decided to bake some cupcakes for everyone.  These cupcakes were given the name of “Flower in A Pot Chocolate Cupcake” and they were specially design with Swiss Meringue topped with pink daisy marshmallow fondant.

I abstract the cupcake recipe from thenasilemaklover@blogspot.com and the results turns up to be perfect with Swiss Meringue and fondant. I spend nearly two hours in baking the cupcakes. The Swiss Meringue was prepared on the day before the cupcakes were given out and a billion thanks to my hubby who helps me to prepare the marshmallow fondant. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

 

Flower in A Pot Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Preparation time: 1 ½ hour

*Make 24 cupcakes (the original recipe is for yield of 6 cupcakes, therefore, I just multiply the quantity by 4 times)

 

350gm cake flour

35gm cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

270gm caster sugar

260gm butter, melted

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

150gm milk (The original recipe is only 120gm and I found the batter too dry, so I top up the milk volume)

  

Method:

1.       First, sift together cake flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.

2.       Beat caster sugar and butter lightly. You may cream it manually or by using the mixer.

3.       Add in whole eggs follow by egg yolks.

4.       Add in vanilla essence.

5.       Add in flour mixture and milk alternatively. Mix well. You may divide the flour into 3 portion and milk in 2 portions. My sequence here is flour-milk-flour-milk-flour.

6.       Preheat the oven for 10 minutes.

7.       Scoop batter into cupcake liners.

8.       Bake at 180’c for 25 minutes.

9.       Place cupcakes on the wire rack to cool down completely before the frosting.

 

The cupcakes were fully baked and my kitchen was full of chocolate cupcake aroma the whole evening. I leave the cupcakes to cool down overnight and start doing the frosting on the second day. The cupcakes can be kept for about 3-4 days in air-tight containers. After the frosting and decorating, I packed the cupcakes in individual packing by using the round cupcake dome.  

 

My First Try on Pan-fried Gyoza (Japanese Potstickers)



Pan Fried Gyoza (Japanese Potstickes)



My husband and I had come across with this Gyoza (Japanese style postickers) at a local Japanese food restaurant during a food promotion. The restaurant served 2 pieces of Gyoza with each ala-carte order. My husband like the taste so much and request me to cook for him at home.

In most Chinese restaurants, dumplings were cook in boiling water and served with noodles in hot soup. However, the Japanese way of doing it has some slight difference. Meanwhile, different kinds of vegetables and meat can be used for the dumpling filling. I abstract one recipe from About.com and give it a try this evening. The results turn to be nice and less oily due to I used lean meat instead of fat meat in the ingredients.

Recipe for Pan-fried Gyoza

Ingredients:

15 gyoza wrappes (I used dumpling wrappers 水饺皮)

For filling:

25gm chopped and boiled cabbage, drained out excess water

10gm grated carrots

1 tbsp chopped red onions

1 tbsp chopped garlic

100gm ground lean pork

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

A pinch of salt

½ tbsp soy sauce

½ tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Chinese parsley

Vegetable oil for frying (I used canola cooking oil)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well with spoon.
2. Place a spoonful of filling in a gyoza wrapper.
3. To wrap the gyoza, you need to put water along the edge of the wrapper by finger. Fold the wrapper to a semicircle, gather the front part of the wrapper and seal it.
4. Heat up the oil in a frying pan, place gyoza in the pan and fry on high heat until the bottom become brown.
5. Turn down the heat; add enough water to cover the gyoza. Cover the pan and steam boil the gyoza on low heat until the water is gone.
6. For the dipping sauce, just simply mix a 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of rice vinegar. You may add some rayu (chili oil) if you prefer some spicy taste.
7. Serve the Gyoza with sauce while warm. Taste good.

Happy cooking.

A Day of Blessing Bakery

I gave a call to a local orphanage known as Hannah Home couple of days ago. The founder Carol Cheng is a warm-hearted person and she runs the home to take care of the orphans. There are 15 little children staying in this home and currently they located at Taman Kinta, somewhere near the Paragon Hotel, Ipoh, Perak.

The standard of living even in Ipoh itself is gradually increasing and some families hardly afford to raise more children. I am deeply touched by Carol’s love on the little children and Hannah Home’s expense solely depends on donations as well as church offerings. Carol told me that she runs this Home by faith and prayers.

God bless my life to be pleasure and these pleasures easy to make me lose focus of the greatness things around me. I am so blessed that I am able to worship freely in church and to serve God with the talents God gave me. God blessed me with loving family members, a loving husband, a house, a car which I can afford and my career in accountancy. And now, I wanted to bless the little children with my baking skills. Today, I am going to bake warm carrot walnut muffins for the little children.

I woke up early this morning to prepare the ingredients. It’s a little bit time-consuming in shredding the carrots and toasting the walnuts as I done it manually. The whole process took me nearly 2 hours and I was able to bake 35 pieces of warm muffins. I packed the muffins in 2 different boxes and delivered the freshly bake muffins straight to Hannah Home at noon time.  

I met this little girl named Abigail at Hannah Home. She is suffering from artery failure and Carol told me it’s a miracle for her to grow to the current age. Her parents abandoned her since she was only a baby. Due to her health, she is easily suffered from flu and cough from time to time. As Carol is planning to fetch her to the nearest clinic, I choose not to stay any longer.

I may not know the reason of the parents in abandoning their own child. But I’m so glad to know a person like Carol. Hannah Home is currently resided at No.11, Jalan Kepayang, Taman Kinta Ipoh, 31400 Perak. Do make a visit to the home and help the little children. They need the love from the society.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

 

Home-made Japanese Style Teriyaki Chicken

Last Wednesday evening, my hubby and I decided to do some shopping at Aeon Kinta City Shopping Centre right after our dinner. We are planning to stock up a little for our daily groceries for the weekend.

While we walked pass the Japanese food section, I saw this Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce with honey and soy. Without much considering, I place this bottle of sauce directly in my shopping trolley. I am planning to try out the Japanese Style Teriyaki Chicken since I have some chicken meat left in the refrigerator. I got this recipe from www.allrecipes.com and did some slight modifications to suit the Asian taste butts. The original recipe is meant for oven baking but I cook the chicken with frying pan.

Recipe for Home-made Japanese Style Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon warm water

2 tablespoons white sugar

3 tablespoons of Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce with honey and soy

1 tablespoon of rice vinegar

½ teaspoon of minced garlic

½ teaspoon of ground ginger

½ teaspoon of ground chili flakes (you can replace with ground black pepper)

4 skinless chicken breast / thighs

  

Methods: 

1. Combine the corn starch, water, sugar, sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, chili flakes into a serving bowl.
2. Stir well and pour the sauce over the chicken breast / thighs. Marinate it for at least 30 minutes. If you wanted to have a more savory taste, marinate it overnight by keeping the meat in the refrigerator.
3. Once the marinating process is completed, remove the marinated chicken meat from refrigerator and leave it in room temperature for at least half an hour.
4. Heat up about 100ml of cooking oil (I used canola oil) with the frying pan and start frying the meat in low heat. Once it cooks, stop the heat, slice the chicken and serve with steam white rice.  Garnish with some sesame seeds if you like.

The result turns up great and my hubby even ate more rice than before.

Tips: You may use the Pork meat instead of Chicken meat if you prefer some piggy taste. Happy cooking.