Banana cake with cream cheese frosting

Hi everyone, sorry I've not been posting in a long time!  I've not stopped baking, just haven't had time to post.    I'll be making more cakes in the near future and promise will post lots of photos!  Anyway, here's an 8 inch moist banana cake (four layers!) with cream cheese frosting I made for a group of friends a few weeks ago.  I really like how it turned out!

If you'd like to order a cake similar to this, do email me.  I can do this with American Carrot Cake as well and  the frosting can be any colour you choose.  For birthdays or special occasions with more than 15 people attending, you may want to consider a 6-inch or 8-inch centre cake with cupcakes surrounding it.  The birthday person can take the cake home and the rest can eat the cupcakes!  Each cupcake will have a rose swirl on it.

Homemade Bak Kwa

A couple of days ago, I made bak kwa and some of you wanted to know how it's done. This is for you!

Bak Kwa (meat jerky) is usually eaten during the Chinese New Year season. Our family stays clear of the commercial bak kwa because it's really high on sugar and salt content even though we really enjoy eating it. Not only that, it's extremely expensive and can go up to over S$40 per kg! Not to mention the hours one has to queue in order to buy this delicious treat.

I decided to make my own this year and upon researching on the internet, discovered how easy it is!

Here's my tweaked recipe, with less sugar and salt but nevertheless still as delicious. Give it a try and you may want to tweak it too to suit your taste.

480 gm minced pork (you have to have some fat in it)

1/2 cup castor sugar (I used slightly less than this but 1/2 cup is still not too sweet)

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp mixed spices

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp light soy sauce

a few drops of red food colouring (I used gel)

N.B. You can also add pepper if you wish, or maybe 2 tblsp of tomyum paste, chilli powder etc. Just experiment!

Mix all the ingredients together (EXCEPT THE PORK) in a large bowl. I tasted the mixture first to make sure it was all right. It will taste a little salty and sweet but remember you are going to add a lot of meat to it.

When you are satisfied with the taste, add the minced pork, mix thoroughly and marinate for at least 4 hours in the fridge.

Pre-heat oven to 110 deg C. Line 2-3 baking trays with aluminium foil (not much cleaning after). Using the back of a spoon, spread the pork VERY thinly all across the baking tray. Use more trays if you have meat leftover.

Place the trays in the oven and bake dry the meat for about 30-40 minutes. The meat will shrink quite a bit. There will be oil and some juices in the tray but don't worry about that. Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle, cut into your desired shapes and sizes.

After that I used my toaster oven to grill the meat. Do line the bottom with aluminium foil because it will make a bit of a mess. I didn't use my oven because I didn't want the grilling to

mess it up! Keep turning the meat from time to time and don't take your eyes off it. When

the meat darkens and has those little charred spots, it's ready.

Well, there you have it! Homemade Bak Kwa!! Let me know how it goes!

Baking Begins in 2012!

Hi everyone! A blessed New Year to all! Chinese New Year is just around the corner and I'm thankful that some of you have placed your cookie orders early. This means I can start baking next week. For the others of you who are wondering what to buy for the festive season, here's what I'll be baking this year:

Heart-shaped pineapple tarts (30 in a tub) @S$18

Ginger snap cookies @S$12

Cornflake cookies @S$12

Coconut cookies @S$12

Coffee cookies @S$12

Chocolate chip cookies @S$12

Peanut cookies @S$12

Heart-shaped almond cookies @$13

I will use the best quality ingredients I can find, including French butter and Valrhona chocolate. No artificial flavourings or stabilisers are used.

Last order needs to be in by Friday 6th January 2012 4pm. Cookies will be ready for collection on Saturday 14th January 2012.