Birthday Cake with Yogurt Frosting

Remember what I mentioned earlier that I hope to make a frosting birthday cake for my dear? Yes, mission accomplished! Though it didn't turned out as beautiful as those selling in bakery shop. But hey, this is my first time making a frosting cake without proper tools, so I think the result is still acceptable. :-)

The base is a chocolate cake. I make a 2 layers of it, with peach-yogurt sandwiched in between. Then, it is topped with yogurt, and decorated with peach and strawberry. This is so called my version of healthy frosting cake. About 750g of plain yogurt is prepared for the frosting purpose. After draining off the water from the yogurt, what's left is only 260g in cream cheese form.

This cake is dedicated to my dear on his special day. Happy Birthday, my dear!

Milo Banana Paratha

Instead of having cake for afternoon tea, I tweaked the menu to Milo Banana Paratha. This is something that is easy to prepare at home with minimal cost. It's suitable for breakfast or for afternoon tea.

Milo Banana Paratha

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 small banana, peeled and sliced thinly
2 frozen Paratha bread
4tbsp of Milo or Chocolate powder

Steps:

1. Heat up a pan, fry the Paratha bread. When it's done at the bottom side, over-turn it to fry the other side.

2. Arrange banana slices on top of the paratha bread. Fry it for another 1 minute. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of Milo powder and dish out. Continue the same steps for the 2nd Paratha bread.

Fried Garlic Oil

Fried garlic oil - the condiment that I can't miss in my cooking. I always store some fried garlic oil in the kitchen. I made some over the weekend so that I can use it in my cooking throughout the week. I use it to garnish boiled vegetables and soups. It makes huge difference in taste for the dishes mentioned.

Fried Garlic Oil

Ingredients:
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and choped
half cup of oil

Steps:

Heat up oil in a wok. Fry the chopped garlic under medium flame. Continue to stir it under it turn golden yellow. Remove it from wok and leave it cool in a bowl. You can see the fried garlic turns golden brown after a while. Store it in an air-tight container after it cooled down to room temperature.

Tips: 

Do not wait till the garlic turns golden brown before you off the flame. This will burn the garlic.

Cotton Cake 棉花蛋糕

I chanced upon this Cotton Cake from Sonia's blog - Nasi Lemak Lover.  The recipe was originated by Jane's Corner. I tried to bake one immediately since I have all the ingredients on hand.

Now I know why it is called cotton cake. It's soft, moist, milky but light. This is my first time baking in water-bath.  No regret of trying this recipe, and I will bake it again later. Both hubby and I love this type of moist cake.

The result compensates my frustration due to a failure in baking a vanilla sponge cake in that morning. Phew......

Cotton Cake 棉花蛋糕 (Recipe Adapted From Nasi Lemak Lover)

makes 2 x (3”x6”) Aluminum tin

Ingredients:

30g butter

40g cake flour

40g Evaporated milk

3 egg yolk (big size)

3 egg white (big size)

40g sugar

1tsp corn flour

Steps:

1. In a pot, melt butter over low flame.

2. Pour melted butter in a mixing bowl, sift in cake flour, stir well till a thick paste.

3. Lightly beaten egg yolks using a hand whisk, slowly add in milk, mix well.

4. Slowly pour egg yolk mixture (No3) into butter mixture (No2), whisk till well combined.

5. In another mixing bowl, beat egg white under high speed till foamy (about 1 min).

6. Gradually add in sugar, continue beat.

7. Add in corn flour, beat till soft peak form.

8. Take 1/3 of egg white mixture mix with egg yolk mixture (No4) using a hand whisk, stir till well combine.

9. Gentle fold in the balance egg white using a spatula, combine well, but don’t over mix.

10. Spoon batter into cake pan, smooth the top of the batter, lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.

11. Bake over water-bath at 170c for 8mins, reduce to 150c and bake another 20mins.

12. Up side down the freshly baked cake on a wire rack until it's completely cool before removing from cake pan.

Chicken Kebab In Nando's Hot Peri-Peri Sauce

Nando's Hot Peri-Peri Chicken is always my favorite. I'm inspired by the grilled chicken which is infused with the Nando's spices blended sauce. It just awesome!

Nando's sauce is available at most of the hypermarket now. So, with lower cost and little effort, I can prepare a yummy Nando's meal at home. I get the kebab roasted instead of grilling. If you are looking for kebab with a kick, this is one that you should try at home. It tastes exactly like the one served in Nando's.

Chicken Kebab

Yields for 6 -7 skewers

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast (skinned, excess fat discarded and cubed)
1 red capsicum (seeded and cubed)
1 green capsicum (seeded and cubed)
1 tsp of salt (for cleaning purpose)
1 tbsp of olive oil

Seasoning:

4 tbsp of Nando's Hot Peri-Peri sauce
1 tbsp of light soy sauce

Steps:

1. Rub the chicken breat with 1 tsp of salt. Rinse and pat dry with kitchen towel. Using the meat tenderizer, knocker the chicken cubes at both side.

2. Marinate the chicken with 3 tbsp of Nando's Hot Peri-Peri sauce and 1 tbsp of light soy sauce. Leave it over-night in fridge.

3. Half an hour before roasting, remove the chicken from fridge.

4. Prepare the skewers with the chicken cubes and capsicums. Place it on baking tray.

5. Roast the skewers under 200 deg C for 20 minutes. Remove it from oven. Sprinkle a tbsp of olive oil and a tbsp of Nando's Hot Peri-Peri sauce over the skewers. Roast for another 10 minutes.