AMAZING YOGURT CAKE

Thinking hard what to bake this week,  am torn between baking  a cake or bread.  At the moment, I only have few cups of natural yogurt in the refrigerator.

Decided to bake this Amazing Yogurt Cake that was ultra moist and a snap to make.   The yogurt not only cut down the fat used but also moisten the cake.

In case  you don't have a  plain yogurt,  a flavored ones work just fine.   This Amazing Yogurt Cake can be customized in many ways like adding a cup of diced blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or other fruits as well.

I use canola oil for this recipe.  You can use almond oil, peanut oil or any vegetable oil or even replace oil with melted butter.

Why it is called "amazing"?  Simply because it uses staple ingredients from the kitchen and  made without a mixer but using a whisk yet it  produces a moist, tender and scrumptious treat!

BUTTERY LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

No festive season is complete without fruit cake.  There were so many different ways to make one. But I always prefer the one with less fruit like this  Light Fruit Cake.  This Buttery Light Fruit Cake will cut down the time you soak the dry fruit.  Soak the fruit in orange juice, microwave for a minute to plump them then leave to cool.

If you mix your own dry fruits, you need to add  candied red and green cherries to the batter.   It would look prettier with those.  I used store bought mixed fruit that include both cherries.

The sweetness was just right,  adding more sugar isn't necessary.   We get natural sugar from the dry fruits.

This Buttery Light Fruit Cake is so simple to make yet tastes awesome.  I used this recipe successfully to get a quick festive treat. If desired, decorate with additional candied fruits and nuts.

BEST EVER EGGLESS COCOA BROWNIES

This Best Ever  Eggless Cocoa Brownies is a quick and easy recipe to satisfy those sweet craving. Made with cocoa powder, vegetable oil, condensed milk and water.

Purposely reduce the sugar since am adding half a cup of condensed milk but you could add more if you want.  Have added the coconut oil but other vegetable oil works too.  For a richer taste, opt for melted butter instead of oil.

The process is about as easy as you can get.  Combine dry ingredients with  oil, condensed milk, water and mix.  Add  in chocolate chips, stir and spoon batter into muffin pan.

Besides baking in muffin pan, a square pan of 8 x 8 in is a great alternative but adjust the baking time accordingly.

These Best Ever Eggless Cocoa Brownies were  fantastic!  They are so good, am planning to bake another batch tomorrow.

MOIST MARBLE BANANA CAKE

Am obsessed with marble cake  or bread.  So far I have baked  Eggless Marble Banana Cake, Banana Chocolate Bread Marbled and   Marble Cake  but that does't stop me from trying another recipe.

Most  of the recipes  call for melted butter but this  Moist Marble Banana Cake uses  vegetable oil.  It has a right amount of sweetness and stay moist even after the next day.

After experiencing and baking with banana.  I must admit that using a right banana is the key to perfect cake.  The banana should be ripe but  firm and not too soft because soft banana contains more water, it tends to make your cake slightly wet.

Another point was about cocoa powder.   Adding more cocoa means you have to add more sugar to sweeten the cake.   Just add a tablespoon or two  of cocoa in the batter is more than sufficient, you still get beautiful marble effect.  So glad Moist Marble Banana Cake turned out incredible!

PERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE

I have tried various recipes of  chocolate cake and still looking for a perfect ones.  Stumbled upon this recipe on Facebook and decided to try it out one day.

At first glance, it looks complicated with a lot of ingredients, but actually another reason I love this recipe that it  uses a whisk to mix, combine both  wet and dry ingredients then you're ready to bake it.

This Perfect Chocolate Cake can be steamed but I chose to bake it.  Made slight changes by reducing the cocoa powder to 3/4 cup and increase the amount of flour to 1 1/2 cups.  Also reduce baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon.

Despite the changes I  made,  this Perfect Chocolate Cake turns out wonderful!  Perfect chocolate flavor with right amount of sweetness.When completely cool,  glaze as desired.  I don't do this since my family prefer plain good cake without any frosting.

Other cake recipes you should try:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Eggless Peach Cake

Eggless Chocolate Cake Diary Free

KUIH DADAR LABU / PUMPKIN CREPES

Most South East Asian  kuih or bite sized dessert uses natural products such as coconut, banana or tapioca.  One of my favorite kuih is Kuih Dadar or kuih ketayap, a rolled crepe stuffed with sweeten grated coconut.   It was made by 2 parts, outer cover and the filling normally made  with coconut.

Kuih Dadar  uses natural food coloring by blending  pandan leaves with liquid then strain.  Pandan juice is added back to the batter. These leaves not only gives a beautiful color but also a nice fragrance.   You can simply omit pandan leaves if it is not available at your area, just add green food coloring or a tablespoon of pandan paste.

Made a substitution for the filling using mashed pumpkin instead of grated coconut.  Also prepared it using milk and not coconut milk.   This filling will keep well in a refrigerator if you cook it longer. Adjust the sweetness to your liking  by adding more sugar.

Other kuih/dessert you should check out:

Kuih Dadar with coconut filling

Bingka Pisang

Wajik (Palm Sugar Glutinous Rice Pudding)

KUIH BINGKA NANGKA RECIPE

A traditional recipe that doesn't use any leavening agent at all and butter free. Traditional kuih  or bite size dessert/snack normally are  baked, steamed or deep fried. These are made from rice flour, glutinous rice four, tapioca flour, mung bean or plain flour.

Another important ingredient was coconut.   Most old school recipes use coconut milk since we grow our own coconut near our house those days.

Kuih Bingka Nangka or Baked Jack Fruit Cake was quick and simple to make.   You can even throw everything in a blender and it is ready to be baked.

Used evaporated milk instead of coconut milk because am running short of coconut milk.  Some recipes require you to dilute the milk with water, but prefer to add undiluted in order to get creamier  taste. .

You must leave Kuih Bingka Nangka to cool for 1-2 hours before slicing to get that perfect finish. My family enjoyed it with a cup of  ginger tea.

Other traditional kuih you should try:

Abok Abok Sago

Kuih Bakar Kentang

Kuih Sago

BEST COCOA BROWNIES

My family loves brownies and have make several batches of  Eggless Coffee Brownies  and   Banana Brownies Eggless before. Both of them are cake like type.

Some brownies used dark chocolate  but I have no chocolate at the moment.   In this case, I  opt for cocoa powder instead.   The recipe below is super easy to put together and with the option to add nuts or chocolate chip for more intensified chocolate flavor.   Also added only 3/4 cup of sugar.

Best Cocoa Brownies only need a whisk to mix melted butter together with sugar and cocoa powder. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir until smooth.   It is now ready to be baked.

Baked in my 8 in round pan instead of 8 x 8 and it took 20 minutes flat to bake but this depends on individual  oven.  When completely cool, slice into 12 or 16 squares if you're using 8 x 8 in pan.

This Best Cocoa Brownies is  a soft and chewy on the inside and chocolatey.  It is also the easiest one bowl brownies you could ever hope for.   As requested,  I have planned to bake this again tomorrow.

BLUEBERRY MILK CAKE RECIPE

My husband recently purchased some fresh blueberries along with his favorites fruits during his visit to supermarket.  Frankly am not familiar using this fruit in baking,  it tastes slightly tart but that was fine with me.

Being a adventurous person, I decided to use this blueberries in baking this time. This  Blueberry Milk  Cake is quick and the simplest to make.  I believe you need to try  and learn new  things regardless whether you would succeed or not.

Did little tweaking by reducing the sugar a bit.   Didn't bother with icing,  as I didn't think it needed it.

You need to toss the fresh blueberries with flour so it doesn't sink at the bottom of the cake.  I was short on lemon zest so did not add it but still this Blueberry Milk Cake comes out really good. I wanted to devour the whole cake even my hubby who hate sweets could't resist to have a bite.

It was very tasty, moist  and dangerously moreish!

NO SUGAR BANANA CAKE RECIPE

Am curious to know how a cake without refined sugar taste like.  Some cake with sugar free recipe may contain alternative sweeteners, maple syrup or agave.  But this No Sugar Banana Cake is completely free from those.   Don't believe? .

So this week I tried my hand at sugar free cake for the very first time. Baked this in a small quantity since not sure whether my family would like the cake..

No Sugar Banana Cake uses only 7 ingredients like banana, oil and egg.  You can even omit the egg if you have allergies by replacing it with yogurt.

Surprisingly, this turned out moist and tasted  really  nice. . All that due to ripened banana that makes the cake super moist and pleasantly sweet to bite into.

Why not give it a go yourselves with this recipe that is from from refined sugar? Just because it is healthier than the average butter cake doesn't mean they are less tasty. If you like sugar free dessert, you can try this How to bake NO SUGAR Date Oatmeal Bars  or  Date Tart  as well.

RITZ BANANA CAKE RECIPE

Recently, a supplier of milk products launched a special offer drive for their brand of fresh milk  that provides a customer with a pack of Ritz cracker for purchase of their product.  Because of this exercise, I had few packs of Ritz lying on my cupboard.

To make use of those. I incorporated the crackers for making Ritz Banana Cake that was a favorite for everyone at home.

First crushed the crackers with rolling pin (this is what I use)  or use your food processor to do the job.  These  crushed cookies replace the flour for making the cake.

Intentionally reduce the sugar to half a cup instead of 1 cup because those bananas are enough to sweeten this Ritz Banana Cake.

This is perfect for someone who wants to  venture into baking with a little twist from a classic recipe that you would never dreamed to have put together.

Easiest recipe and most delicious cake!  So moist and everyone who has tried it, loves it. My aunt was amazed how easy and quick the recipe is.

EASY APPLE COBBLER RECIPE

After making Cake Fruit Yogurt Parfait,  Mini Pumpkin Tarts and Fruity Jello , am looking for a new dessert to try.  I stumbled upon a fruit cobbler recipe that is much easier to put together  since you don't need any rolling pin to shape the dough.  The dough can be flatten by hand about the size of your palm to cover the fruit.

Fruit cobbler is a very versatile dessert,  as you can vary the fruit used,  based on the availability of seasonal fruits or any fruit you have in hand.  You can use frozen fruits  as well. That's the beauty thing about cobbler.

I have never made an apple cobbler before, this was a simplest recipe to make.  Easy Apple Cobbler consists of 2 parts, the fruit and the topping.  Peel, core and slice the apple before adding lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch.

Prepare the topping by adding the flour, sugar with melted butter.  In no time, your buttery ball of dough is ready to use.

Made a mistake by closing the gaps after overlapping the dough so my  Easy Apple Cobbler turns out almost smooth  anyway the end result was divine!

EASY ROCKY ROAD CAKE

Am always attracted to rocky road desserts for their luscious topping of crunchy nuts, chunks of biscuits  and fluffy marshmallow coated in melted chocolate. ,   The topping varies from country to country,  you could learn more about this through Google.

This week, I try to include "rocky road" elements in my cake by adding chocolate chips, almonds and crushed biscuit in the batter.

What I love about this recipe was super easy to make, no creaming of butter or beating of egg required.  You need only one bowl to incorporate all the ingredients except the almond slices.  It uses as a garnish.  Most importantly, it was lighter when compared with other rocky road cake.  Easy Rocky Road Cake uses oil instead of butter  Added peanut oil but other vegetable oil works too.

Easy Rocky Road Cake  is great fun to make with all the family and the best part is you can  personalize your cake by mix and matching the ingredients with your favorite sweets and biscuits.

Made as a surprise for our guest and  it was a total hit!  Everyone loved it so much and going to try this again with different variations soon.

GINGER COFFEE CAKE

Nowadays a cake is a must for any occasion, such as for birthday, wedding or parties. This Ginger Coffee Cake is good for small gathering or just to satisfy your sweet tooth.   It is a typical cake recipe whereby you beat sugar and butter until light and thick.   In this recipe I have used only half a cup of butter,  additional coffee and  yogurt to moisten the batter.  In case you don't like coffee, you can add very strong tea instead.

We love the kick of heat the ginger brings to this Ginger Coffee Cake.  If ground ginger is not available  you can substitute it  with  3/4 in of  grated fresh ginger that would work too. In future, would  double up the ground ginger since the  ginger flavor was still quite subtle.   Love a fierce gingerly flavor in my cake so am not adding any spice, anything else is a mere distraction

Drizzle over your favorite icing on top of the cake  but I like to keep it simple.  Embrace the ginger. It can only make you feel better. And what are your other favorite ginger recipes at this time of the year?

PUMPKIN BARS

When my friend gifted me with pumpkin, am thinking what to do with it.  So far I have baked Pumpkin Galette,  Mini Pumpkin Tarts. and  Pumpkin Banana Bread, all made with pumpkin.  So decided to bake Pumpkin Bars this time.

The main ingredient for this recipe is pumpkin puree, to get this I steam the pumpkin until it turns soft. Mash the pumpkin while it  is still hot.  Now it is ready to be used.

Used  only ground cinnamon but you can add nutmeg and ground ginger as well.   Making these Pumpkin Bars are incredibly easy, no  mixer needed.

It turns out fabulous, super moist and beautifully sliced.   Feel free to add frosting of your choice to dress it up a bit.

VANILLA CAKE IN A JAR I HOW TO

A simple and easy way to make individual  servings of dessert that are perfectly portable  is baking in a jar,  These are super cute  and a great  way to put up my canning jars for a good use. Baking in jars give you an opportunity to present packaged baked  goods to your friends and family.   Wrap  pretty ribbon around the sealed jars complete with a special card.

You can use any basic cake recipe but I  prefer  this simple and quick ones.  There are  so many recipes that can be baked in jars.  Vanilla Cake In a Jar is baked with melted butter instead of oil and added just half a cup of sugar, this suits my taste.

This  Vanilla Cake In a Jar recipe  filled  3 jars of  18-oz, this  is  the size I had at the moment.   By using a 12-oz jar, you could get more than 3 definitely.  It is important to use wide mouth canning jars for filling the batter with ease and would slide out easily.  Make sure the use a proper jars that can withstand the heat and safe for baking..

HONEYCOMB CAKE / KEK SARANG SEMUT

Have been eyeing this cake for quite sometime and today I have a chance to try out Honeycomb Cake Kek Sarang Semut from my own kitchen. This cake got its name because it had a hole resembling that bee hive.

The method involves 2 parts.  First you need to caramelize the sugar until it turned  golden , honey like color. Do not attempt to cook beyond this otherwise your syrup would turn bitter.  Once you get this color, even sugar  did not dissolve at this point, you can add the water gradually and bring to boil until you get smooth syrup.   Be careful when adding hot water because this syrup would splutter.  At this point, you can add the butter.   Remove from heat and cool completely.

Second is combining  the rest of the ingredients to form a cake batter together with sugar syrup.  Let this sit for 2-3  hours before baking.  Next time I want to try other method that uses only  the  bottom heat.

Preheat the oven before baking and put the pan on the lowest rack , bake for 15 minutes then  place pan at middle rack and continue baking until it is done.

After the cake has cooled, invert the cake and trim the surface  as thin as possible.  Now you could see the hole resembling that honeycomb.

Am pleased the cake turned out soft, moist and insanely delicious.. . .

CARROT CAKE

A moist cake filled with grated carrot was incredibly delicious and the best part it was super easy to make.

Most probably everyone could able to bake this Carrot Cake since it does not use any special gadget. If you have an oven, you're good to go.

I used  my box grater for the carrot, unfortunately this tiny bits of carrot were not visible in the cake,   wish they have a larger setting  for  the grater.  Make sure you squeezed out the water before adding it to the cake batter.

This cake baked beautifully at 180 C for 45 minutes in my oven but your oven might differ  so check the  cake after 40 minutes.

If your prefer to ice your cake, you can do so after the cake has cooled  but  we love ours without it.

LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

Fruit Cake made their appearance during festive celebrations such as Christmas, Hari Raya  and even Chinese New Year.  There are few types of fruit cake either steamed or baked and the dry fruit used varies in quantity, some soaked in brandy/orange juice or without soaking -  the fruit is coated with flour before adding to the  butter mixture.

I always love  Fruit Cake that uses less dry fruit in the recipe.  This Light Fruit Cake require you to soak the dry fruit in  orange juice or brandy overnight.   Next day you can proceed to bake the cake.

It took more than an hour to bake mine.   In case the top  of this Light Fruit Cake  becoming too brown, cover with aluminium foil  crimped around the edges of your baking pan.

On the occasion of this lovely festival of Eid, wishing you Eid Mubarak, may the blessings of Allah be with you always!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Every time I bought a pack of chocolate chip cookies, had a guilty feeling for not trying to make my own.  Another reason for this excuse was due to my forgetfulness  to purchase the essential ingredient for this cookie, chocolate chip.

This is my first time baking this famous Chocolate Chip Cookies with much reduced sugar and without the mixer.  Use a whisk to whip up butter and sugar.

Really happy with the result,  this Chocolate Chip Cookies turned out soft and chewy.  When break open it, it was full of chocolate chip. with buttery flavor. This Chocolate Chip is the best recipe for making the incredible  cookies you'll ever eat!