MERRY CHRISTMAS with... fruitcake!

What's Christmas without a fruit cake? My family had a Christmas party at our place. We invited 18 people over, what a crowd! I baked my first fruitcake...on the day. Christmas fruitcakes were initially supposed to be baked 6 months ago, so the brandy in it can mature, and all the flavours come together.

But it was a last minute thing because my Mum was suddenly worried about not having enough food. With this huge turkey, not enough food?? The bird took 3 hours to roast in the oven. Such a huge bird, thank goodness we have a big oven. =P

I also made mango pudding, because its mango season!

The cake tasted great! Moist, with caramelised fruit and just a hint of brandy. The smell of mixed spices made it taste even yummier.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Cherry & Strawberry Picking

Berry and cherry seasons are here! Just one of the things to love about summer. We travelled all the way to Port Sea, and along the way stopped to pick some of these decadent jewelled fruits.

Cherries were ripe, sweet and juicy. I think I ate nearly a kilo of them while picking them, haha.

And the strawberries. Ripe and ready for picking!

Man, they were HUGE. Not as sweet as the cherries, but I definitely haven't seen a size like that in Coles or Woolworths, or anywhere for that matter. They were almost palm sized, really amazing.

Strawberry fields: there actually weren't many strawberries left. Most have already been picked. Next time we should come earlier to get the best crop.

Omu Rice

I cooked this while my brother was preparing for his exams. Something to encourage him to study harder. And I just wanted an excuse to try making Omu Rice. It wasn't hard to make, and tasted absolutely delicious! I thought I was going to screw up the first egg omelette, but thankfully I didn't =D

It's basically tomato fried rice wrapped in an egg omelette. Once you break into the egg, you can uncover and smell the fried rice wafting to your nose... My brother loved it ^^ Woot~

Green Tea Red Bean Swiss Rolls

I baked these a while back, just remembered to post them, haha. The first roll wasn't that successful, as in the sponge wasn't soft or fluffy but rather dense.

I dusted it with icing sugar.

So i tried to bake a second one, which had the nice cloud-like texture. But it just doesn't look as appealing as the first. When will I find a good recipe for my swiss rolls...? T^T

They remind me of sushi.... Preferred this one to the first roll though.

Green Tea-ramisu

I baked something for my brother's pre-Xmas party. A green tea charlotte cheese cake, but I layered it with sponge fingers and surrounded the sides so it looks like a picket fence. Looked and tasted pretty good ^0^

Didn't take any proper pictures because it was a busy time preparing for the party. Sorry!

Matcha Shortbread & Biscotti

Xmas Baking! I wanted to bake some Christmas goodies for my friends, and decided on Green Tea shortbread 'coz they liked green tea so much. But once I've done baking, I'm left with 3 egg whites left over. No idea what to do with them, and didn't want to waste it either. So I used my trusty friend Google and it gave me the recipe for Biscotti! Brilliant. Really happy with my baking products.

Rich, buttery shortbread with not-too-bitter green tea flavour and just the right sweetness.

Healthy, crisp biscotti (Because I used whole wheat flour, halved the sugar, and added the goodness of almonds plus some cranberries for the festive season ^^). These were very addicting, I couldn't stop at one. I'll definitely bake more biscotti whenever I get leftover egg whites...

My friends loved them; yay~!

Success with Pandan chiffon!

Wow! Can't believe its been more than 2 months since I last blogged my last baking escapade. I've been busy with exams, and then after exams, busy with the things I've been restricting myself from. Like my precious animes, mangas, dramas... and baking! I was supposed to post this up a month ago, but I watched 50 episodes of anime first, ahahaha ^^;;

Celebratory baking~!

NO MOAR EXAMS!! No more studying, no more restrictions, oh my gosh *0* And most of all, I can bake/cook whatever I want! So I started, with a successful Pandan Chiffon Cake:

Woooooo, did you see how tall and pretty and how it is NOT sinking? I could finally bake a chiffon cake that doesn't flop! I guess third time really is the charm! It was so exciting, I did a victory dance around the kitchen. How could I get so much joy over baking a cake, I'll never know.

This time, I used fresh Pandan leaves, so no artificial colouring with using essences. Pandan leaves are quite hard to find, and not always supplied in an asian grocery shop. Luckily, I saw it while grocery shopping with my mum. I haven't touched pandan leaves in five years! I remembered my mum used to boil it with barley, or fresh grass jelly. Oh, those days were amazing. She boiled it with barley, fresh grass jelly is pretty much impossible to find find in Australia.... So yummy! ^0^

I used the remaining leaves to blend it up with coconut milk, and used it to bake the chiffon cake. I finally have a proper chiffon cake tin! It was a birthday present from my aunt, and will definately be put to good use.

I also made Tamago Tofu or Chawanmushi: A japanese savoury egg custard. My family always orders this whenever we are in a japanese restuarant: silky, smooth custard embedded with spring onions, a must eat when dining out for japanese food. Little did I know how easy this was to make! And it tastes just like the ones from restuarants. No need to shell out big bucks for this delicious entree anymore. =D