Molten Lava Cake

One thing you need after a series of sleepless nite and hospitalization thing, is of course a chocolaty dessert for balancing your meals. 

Why oh why, my brain keep thinking about this dessert, which made me drooling after blogwalking and finding inspiration for a food styling. This dessert called : Molten Lava Cake. 

I used to eat this dessert in the weddings, malls, or hotels. Never once I had in mind, to try out a recipe for this. Do you wonder why? I was afraid to fail. LOL. 

It happened, though. This is not my first time making it, but the first time succeed, after trying twice. The first was last week. The second is today. Yippie..finally. Though it's not 100% succeed, but at least I still got the lava came out. The first was overbaked. Yeah rite. Waste of time. Huhuhu. 

Anyway, this recipe came from Mbak Hesti's Kitchen blog, because I thought that was the easiest recipe I could follow. 

The original name from her blog was fondant, which she got from bbcgoodfood's Gordon Ramsay. 

Ingredients 

50g melted butter, for brushing

cocoa powder, for dusting

200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

200g butter, in small pieces

200g golden caster sugar

4 eggs and 4 yolks

200g plain flour

Caramel sauce (see 'Goes well with') and vanilla ice cream or orange sorbet, to serve

Directions :

1. First get your moulds ready. Using upward strokes, heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with 1 the next mould.
2. Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.
4. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.
5. Tip the fondant batter into a jug, then evenly divide between the moulds. The fondants can now be frozen for up to a month and cooked from frozen. Chill for at least 20 mins or up to the night before. To bake from frozen, simply carry on as stated, adding 5 mins more to the cooking time.
6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 mins until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.
7. Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds. Tip each fondant slightly onto your hand so you know it has come away, then tip back into the mould ready to plate up.
8. Starting from the middle of each plate, squeeze a spiral of caramel sauce – do all the plates you need before you go on to the next stage.
9. Sit a fondant in the middle of each plate. Using a large spoon dipped in hot water, scoop a ‘quenelle’ of ice cream.
10. Carefully place the ice cream on top of the fondant, then serve immediately. Repeat with the rest of the fondants.

Trust me. If have a bad day or not-so-well-planned day, take a spoon of it, and you'll be amazed by the happy feeling inside that comes so fast! At least for a while, though. Hahaha

Ontbijkoek

My handphone has been 'sick' for about 4 days, and I was surprised to found out, I am actually okay without it. LOL

So the days I didn't get to be able to type or browse, what I did was exploring more about a cake, a dutch cake, which my mom was asked to make, once, and it happened that my hubby's friend also asked if I could make it. 

This cake is called Ontbijkoek. The dutch usually eat it during breakfast, as ontbijkoek literally means breakfast cake. 

The dutch usually serve it with a thick butter layer on top, as a replacement for bread. 

Here, in Indonesia, youngsters are very unfamiliar with the cake. The elder are the ones who usually know it, and really know how it tastes, as our country once were civilized by the dutch for 3.5 years. 

What I made, is an Indonesian ontbijkoek modifications, which usually made with sponge cake method. 

Again, I got the recipe from Mbak Ricke's blog, my all time favorite blogger. 

Ingredients

5 eggs 

1 teaspoon cake emulsifier

100 gram brown sugar/ palm sugar

50 gram granulated sugar

100 gram all purpose flour

25 gram corn flour

20 gram skim milk

2 teaspoon spekoek powder

75 gram of melted margarine/ butter

Almond slice for topping

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.
2. Line a loaf tin.
3. Beat in the eggs, granulated sugar, palm sugar, cake emulsifier in bowl with a low speed mixer until well combined. 
4. In a separate bowl, sift all purpose flour, spekoek powder, corn flour, and skim milk. 
5. Combine the sifted ingredients and eggs mixture, and fold in using a spatula. 
6. Add melted margarine/ butter until no margarine/butter left in the bottom of the bowl. 
7. Pour in the prepared loaf tin and place in the preheated oven.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
9. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then take it out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. 

If you want to experience a dutch breakfast long time ago, enjoy a slice of it in the early morning with a cup of hot tea. Yummm...

Devil Food Cake

I've never thought photography would be so hard, yet fun, to learn. I forgot exactly when I started doing basic photography. But my hubby brought me into it. And of course, with a very busy routines I had when I was still working, and babies delivery, I haven't got the chance to really explore it. 

When I started blogging, I am pushed to learn more about food photography. But really was the basic one. Blogs, articles, youtubes, craftsy, and sharing with others, are my main references in learning about it. 

About a month ago, I joined an instagram account called @uploadkompakan. It is a really good slot for any photography lovers. #52weeksfoodphotographyproject is also a good place to learn more about photography, since people will give inputs and critics about your pictures. 

I am really into it now, and developing myself more about photography. 

Anyway, in uploadkompakan, we also have a group based on where you live, and every week there will be a photo challenge for its members. Lucky me, this week's theme is CAKE, and I still have lots of chocolate bars and powders!  

When it comes to chocolate, my choice would've never been missed to something like Devil Food Cake, cake with a very strong chocolate taste. It is very chocolaty devilish (is that even a word? LOL)

I've tried so many Devil Food Cake recipes and frosting. It never gave my tongue a yummy and melting experience, expect this one, a Martha Stewart recipe. A classic one, yet so yummy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans

3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans

1/2 cup boiling water

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Butter three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment. Dust bottoms and sides of pans with cocoa powder; tap out any excess. Sift cocoa into a medium bowl, and whisk in boiling water. Set aside to cool.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on low speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides twice. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating between each addition until the batter is no longer slick, scraping down the sides twice. 

4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk milk into reserved cocoa mixture. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour and cocoa mixtures to the batter, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with flour mixture.

5. Divide batter evenly among the three prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking. Transfer layers to wire racks; let cool, 15 minutes. Turn out cakes, and return to racks, tops up, until completely cool.

6. Remove parchment from bottoms of cakes. Reserve the prettiest layer for the top. Place one cake layer on a serving platter; spread 1 1/2 cups chocolate ganache over the top. Add the second cake layer, and spread with another 1 1/2 cups ganache. Top with third cake layer. Cover cake with the rest of ganache. 

7. Serve.

Ganache

500 gr chopped dark cooking chocolate

200 gr whipped cream powder (I use wippy haan)

400 ml mineral water

100 gr butter, chopped

1. Dissolve whipped cream powder with mineral water in a sauce pan, stir well. 

2. Under low heat, bring saucepan to boil, and add dark cooking chocolate. Stir well until all chocolate melt and mixed well with cream. 

3. Add butter, stir well, remove from heat before it gets boiled. 

Telur Balado

Rene suhardono has just launched his new book : Passion without creation is nothing

Ever since I became his twitter follower, back when I was still employed, I always read his encouraged tweet. 

As an HR, sometimes you need to find a motivation for yourself, to refresh your mind, while your surroundings gives you hard times, especially when they're on the other side of the company's policy. Rene's tweet really helped me to refresh my foundation, about why I should stay. 

If I didn't work for my passion, I might've retired from HR long time ago. It's not a very comfortable area to work with, though most of the time I feel very grateful to have it as my career. I have a very big energy I felt when I was doing it, and never got bored, even when I was doing Industrial Relation side. 

Same thing applied for baking. It's not what I am good at, but I enjoy the most. That's why I called it my passion. 

Passion (from the Latin verb patere meaning to suffer) is a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion, compelling enthusiasm or desire for anything.

When my first order came through Path, It gave me a wake up call. If you really enjoy doing something, your positive energy will give you a healthy mind, spirit, and life. 

When I did my first order, it was a very tiring, non-stop day, and I have just finished baking almost midnite. But, with a companion and full support from the greatest hubby ever, I ended up that day with a very pleased feeling. 

I thought I was going to have a late monday wake up after that. But guess what, I was able to manage waking up at around 4.30 in the morning, and doing my routines after that with my precious babies. 

That day, then, I decided to cook something spicy and simple to eat, just to complete my happy mood, my choice came to telur balado ; )

Recipe:

250 grams of hard boiled eggs, shells remove

8-9 red chilli 

4 medium shallot

3 cloves garlics

1/2 tomato

Pepper, salt, and sugar to taste. 

1 cup vegetable oil and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. 

Directions:

1. Heat 1 cup vegetable oil in a frying pan, then deep fry the eggs until they turn brown. 

2. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, red chili, shallots, garlic, tomato in a food processor, then blend into paste. 

3. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat, pour the paste, pepper, salt, and sugar to taste, mix it well. 

4. Add fried eggs, then continue to stir over medium heat until all paste and eggs combined. 

5. Serve hot.

Bread Pudding

I grew up in a family where all the ladies are good in cooking and baking. 

My grandma used to make snacks, desserts, and other meals by orders from neighbourhood, as well as my moms, my aunties, and cousins. 

I actually never cook or bake, until I got married. The homesick I felt when I was away from mom and family is the one pushed me to ask mom's recipe so I still could eat home made meals. 

My first baked experience was to make a choux I love so much that it made me cry when I failed in my first attempt. 

But, I never gave up. I have a dream that someday my kids shud know how it feels to smell a freshly- baked cakes, bread, cookies, or anything at home, especially when they have just arrived home from school. And I am already doing it now! 

I still could remember good things about how my and my sister's elementary school friends remember how good my mom's cakes was. Elementary! Gosh it was like a decade ago. LOL. 

Well, sure they always will remember, if the one she baked was like a bread pudding which taste so sweet. Slurrppp

Original recipe is from my grandma: 

1 pack of bread

1 can of condensed milk

3 cans of mineral water

500 gr eggs, whisk well

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon margarine, melted

2 tablespoon of all purpose flour

Raisins 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees 

2. Break bread into small pieces to a 22x22 square baking pan. Drizzle melted margarine over bread. 

3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and softly push down with fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture. 

4. Sprinkle with raisins. 

5. Bake for 45 minutes, and let it cool on a cooling rack. Better serve after refrigerated. 

Chocochip Cupcake

Somewhere over the rainbow

Blue birds fly

And the dreams that you dreamed of

Dreams really do come true ooh oh

Someday I'll wish upon a star

Wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

High above the chimney tops

That's where you'll find me

Awww...hearing the songs over my smartphone on this cloudy day, makes me really blue. 

The rain has been pouring our city for around a month now, since last January. It causes flood, traffic, and disease all over the part of our beloved country. 

This actually what people called 'yearly flood'. Even in the central business district like sudirman area or thamrin, the flood do not stop. It even reaches to the Presidential Residence where Joko Widodo, our 7th President stay. 

So on this rainy season which really makes me wanna sleep and cuddle all day, I need a cake, just small, not too big, to lighten up my mood. 

I stumbled upon thelittleloaf blog which makes a chocolate custard muffin, and has a very comforting comments on her blog. So I decided to bake one recipe which makes 6 servings, and I also add a whipped cream on top of it, then hurray, I've got a Chocochip Cupcake for waiting our rainbow to come out after the rain

Chocolate Custard Muffins

(makes six)

For the muffins

Ingredients:

25g cornflour

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa

50g dark soft brown sugar

110ml cold water

30g unsalted butter, cubed

65g dark chocolate, broken small

32 ml sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

65g caster sugar

65g plain flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

>> I added 100gr chocolate chip for filling 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

First make the custard: put the cornflour, cocoa, brown sugar and water into a saucepan and whisk together over a medium heat until boiling, very thick and smooth. Remove from the heat, beat in the butter and chocolate until melted and absorbed, then add the oil, vanilla and one of the eggs, and beat again until combined. Add the remaining egg and the caster sugar, and beat again until smooth and thick.

Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir together, then sift directly on to the custard and beat through until combined. 

Pour chocochip into the batter, and mix it well. 

Spoon into paper muffin cases sitting in the pockets of a muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes.

For Whipped Cream

1 cup of whipped cream powder

2 cups of cold water

Mocha pasta flavoring to taste 

Direction

Whipped the whipped cream powder and cold water until light and fluffy, then add mocha pasta as you like

Gluten Free Choco Chip Cookies - 1st Trial

We are one family who loves to eat, to cook and to bake. My older son has a very noble wish: to be a junior masterchef someday. LOL. No kidding. 

Based on his wish, currently we start to let him do such an easy cookings like scramble eggs, and other type of fryings. 

For baking, we still allow him to help, up to preparation and simple steps, such as rolling dough, etc. 

He loves to eat cookies and breads, but his most favorite food is red velvet. What a taste for a little boy! I, as his mommy of course feels very satisfied to see his fast development for his age. 

Because of him, I'd always want to try a gluten free cakes and cookies, since I always do a lot of cooking and baking trial, and he is a one of a kind loyal tester. LOL. 

From the literatures I read, gluten is kinda need to be reduced from kids meal, because its content could harm the kids digestion.

But, if you reduce gluten which is founded in wheat flour, you might lose some cakes and cookies ability to rise, structural stability, and chewiness. 

Therefore, I need to find the best GFF(Gluten Free Flour) mix and this is my first trial. 

In this recipe, I am using GFF formula based on dapur ummu sasyi suggestions, which is: 

6:2:1 of rice flour:tapioca:corn starch

For cookies, and

7:2:1 of rice flour:tapioca:corn starch

For cakes. 

And for my first trial of GFF, I chose a chocochip cookies, my son's all time favorites cookies. 

I found the recipe from minimalist baker which only uses 7 ingredients:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup + 2 Tbsp gluten free baking mix* >> I am using my own GFF+ 1/2 tsp each baking soda, baking powder and salt, and 10 more tbsp of GFF mix. 

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl.

Add egg and vanilla and beat again until well combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

Add gluten free baking mix in two batches and mix again. It won't be so thick that you can't continue mixing it, but it should appear "doughy."

Stir in chocolate chips, cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4-6 hours until thoroughly chilled. You should be able to roll the dough into balls before baking >> I refrigerated for 1 hour only. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Once chilled, scoop out rounded Tablespoon amounts of dough, roll them into balls and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to several days. Freezer for longer term storage. 

Review :

- The dough is not as dry as common cookies dough, maybe because the GFF does not absorp liquid as fast as wheat flour. 

- The result, imo, is somewhat needs to be added some sugar and dark chocolate. 

- The texture is not stable, but just as good as the mnbkr's texture, though.

Conclusion: I need another trial for getting the correct GFF mix. Wish me luck! ;)