MARBLE CAKE

I baked this Marble Cake made from simple butter cake with a little twist.   Turned this into marble cake by adding two striking colors, red and green. The color combination is entirely up to you, use 2 or 4 colors if you want.

Accidentally add too much green color to the cake batter so it turns out darker deep tone luckily that doesn't alter its taste.

Cube the butter right after you have removed from the refrigerator.to speed up the creaming process.

In case you have self raising flour, use it  but omit the baking powder.

HONEY OAT BARS

Honey Oat  Bars are excellent for on the go breakfast or quick snack anytime of the day.

It was super easy and pretty quick to prepare.  Use your preferred combo like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds  or cranberries if you like. In fact the combination are endless.

Honey Oat Bars are free from wheat, dairy free and vegan   so they are good for those with food allergies.

I used chopped almond,. black sesame seeds and raisin for a total of 120 g.  Add 2 tablespoon of honey   if you want it sweeter.

MANDARIN ORANGE CROSTATA

One of my favorite citrus fruits is mandarin orange.  They are so popular during Lunar New Year celebration that bring luck and wealth.  Since I have them in stock,  decided to bake  this Mandarin Orange Crostata  or free form tart.

If you find baking a tart  a little intimidating, you can check  my tips  here. .

First of all, prepare the crust  as per the recipe below. While waiting for the crust to be chilled, peel the mandarin oranges, remove the white thread on the outer segment.  Using a sharp knife, cut crosswise into 1/4 in thick slices.  Remove  the seeds, carefully transfer onto a plate, sprinkle with some sugar. Refrigerate.

After rolling and filling, you suppose to brush the mandarin orange with apricot preserves but  omit this step since I don't have it.  Alternately, just sprinkle more sugar over the mandarin orange just before baking.

You can always buy a ready made pie crust  but nothing  beats a homemade one!

FRESH APPLE CAKE

Looking for a cake with fresh fruit?   Well  I  have just baked a  moist  and no-fail Fresh Apple Cake with perfect amount of sweetness plus large chunks of apple, this adds a great flavor and texture to this cake..

This Fresh Apple Cake uses fresh apple.  Mine is made of  granny smith but other varieties  such as gala, red delicious,  McIntosh or  combination of them  should  work too.   Don't use a food processor  to chop  the apples. It should be roughly chopped into 1/2 in chunk.

Use a simple drizzled glaze or  serve  it plain.  Prefer to omit the glaze since it  it well sweetened. already. You can also dust the cake with icing sugar.

Not only  is this Fresh Apple cake really yummy but it is also very easy to prepare.  So give this recipe a try and let us know if you think  this  cake is the best!

BRAIDED NUTELLA BRIOCHE

This is my first post for the year 2015 so I have chosen to bake a yeast bread.  It is a buttery bread called  Braided  Nutella  Brioche.

The dough was so soft like a baby's cheek and bit difficult to handle. I  made mine by hand.  There is a sense of satisfaction in working the dough  by hand and crafting such an attractive bread and it certainly will impress your guests.I didn't add any flour while shaping but if needed add one or two tablespoon  to the dough.

Braided Nutella Brioche requires double proofing but it worth the effort since bread turns amazingly soft and beautiful.  When I took my first bite,  feel like am eating a cake and not a bread!

Made this bread into a braid but you could shape it according to your liking. This is the softest and butteriest  bread I  have ever baked!