(Bread) Fruit Tart

It has been a while that I stayed off from blogging, but I missed it....I really did.

It's not easy to live happily without sweets for sweet, so I manage to have it but in a healthier way this time.
Do you love fruit tart? I like to eat it as well as looking at it, but when it comes to the time to handle the butter in a sunny day like this.....I hesitated. Finally, I came up with the solution to satisfy my tart craving by using left over wholewheat bread...this time I can enjoy it with guit-free.

Just use the roller to roll each slice of bread until flat and mold it inside the tart pan and bake it until golden and crispy. Use whatever baking technique that you use the same way as you usually bake your tart. Fill it with your favorite filling and decorate with your choice of fruits.

It saves tons of works in the kitchen.
It's easy, healthy and delicious.
Enjoy.

Banana Cupcake...

Simply delicious....banana cupcake.

I'm sure that most of the bakers baked banana cake once in their lives. I seldom eat fresh banana, but I like banana cakes. The aroma of fresh baked banana cake always makes my nose wrinkle.

There are thousands banana cake recipes in this world. It all depends on our own preference. Some recipes require only wooden spoon to do the job while some recipes require an electric mixer. It's so easy to make so even the kids can make it.

Banana is cheap and it's available all year round. I made my first banana cake when I was a college student. At that time, it's easier to afford a friend than to get an electric mixer. My strong friend always did the whisking job and I did the mixing and baking part.

Novice bakers shouldn't have any problem making banana cake...use whatever tools available for you...wooden spoon, hand-held electric mixer, stand mixer, or in the worst case--your boyfriend, husband or any strong friend can be very useful.

Check out your fridge to see if you have bananas with black dots on their skin. They are perfect for banana cake. I'm sure they're now crying out "eat me".

Take a break...

I've been busy with life lately, so I didn't spend much time baking as usual. I wake up early today...the weather is so nice until I can't keep confine myself in the kitchen. I'd rather go out for a walk and enjoy the beautiful day......

New season....

New leaves....

New chances.....

and.....one old dog!

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your beautiful day.

Strawberry shortcake...my style.

Strawberry shortcake.......my style..

Simple as it is....

A good friend of mine requested a "melt-in-my-mouth" cake, so I made this cake for her.

I could just simply buy a sponge cake mix to make a strawberry shortcake, but I chose to make it from scratch. I remember that I ate "melt-in-my mouth" strawberry chortcake one time in Japan. It was an urge for me to try several methods of making sponge cake. The result is really worth trying. I finally got a tender cake but low in sugar and saturated fat...exactly the texture I dreamed for .

This strawberry shortcake is always welcome and it won't last long in my family. I baked it with love and served it with smile.

Red velvet cake....my style.

Red velvet cake......I was always tempted to make this unusual bright red cake. However, I hesitated to bake it due to the amount of red food coloring adding to it.

I can't deny the fact that the bright red color which is contrast with white frosting creates a dramatic look. However,the true excitement may be the mild chocolate favour hidden inside the moist and tender crumb.

The origin of red velvet cake is unknown--some said it's from the North but some said it's from the South. One thing I know for sure is that this piece of red cake made straight from my kitchen and it contains just a pinch of food coloring. No one's recipe is better than the others, it's just the matter of preference.

I need to sacrifice having a beautiful bright red color in order to indulge it with guilt free. I used a combination of beetroot and strawberry puree as natural food coloring. Those overriped strawberries are the best. Buttermilk and acidic juice from strawberries contribute to the moist and tender crumb. Moreover, the strawberry smell can offset the strong smell of beetroot.

My friend will visit me this afternoon. I wanted to bring her out for hi-tea at some places around here, but she insisted on some "simple" homemade cake. I'm not sure her "simple" and my "simple" cake have the same meaning. Do we use the same dictionary? ....I wonder.

Finally, I decided to bake this red cake ( or red velvet cake if you allow me to call it ) for her. It is simply covered with creamcheese frosting and decorated with fresh strawberry and a piece of macaron shell.

Let's enjoy this velvety and delicately sweet piece of cake. You will be in love of it just as I do.

Best cocoa brownie.....in my kitchen.

Valentines day is just around the corner, so my chocolate mode is automatically turned on.

I'm sure that chocolate lovers have at least one brownie and one chocolate cake recipe in their minds. Brownie was the first chocolate dessert I learned how to make when I was in college. Most people love brownie, I think.

Maybe it was the simplicity of making brownie that makes it so popular. No need an electric mixer, just a whisk and spoon could make a good brownie.

When it comes to chewy brownie, I prefer using cocoa powder rather than chocolate bars. It's quick and easy. I made this brownie last night, so I can cut it nicer than every other times. However, it's not easy to resist tasting it when it just came out from the oven.

Eat it plain like this.

Or serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy it your way.

Vanilla macarons...

Time to get back to my comfort zone after a long hectic day. I'm always happy spending time in the kitchen.

Let's get back to the basic flavour...vanilla and chocolate, my comfort food.

The happiest moment is the moment when I licked the spoon of the melted chocolate. If you don't beleive me, try it yourself.

Today I added meringue powder into macaron batter. Now I like the idea of adding mernigue, I think the feet of macarons with meringue powder added look nicer than the one without. I maybe wrong, but that what I notice.

For the pattern on macaron shells, I just brushed it with leftover melted chocolate filling.

I feel much better now....that's the power of chocolate.

Enjoy.

Chocolate macarons.

The first week of year 2011 is almost gone.....pretty fast, right?
It had been a while that I let my Pinky and my oven stay calm in the kitchen. Time to get back to work!

I had some egg white,cocoa powder and some almonds left from last year. What else could I do besides making macarons.....angel food cake, meringue or pavlova. After thought back and forth, I ended up with macarons (again). I have tried making macarons in many flavours, but the chocolate flavour is still on the top list. Leaving macarons overnight makes it tastes even better.....don't you think so?

I love to tweak the recipe to experiment with this and that , but I seldom do it with macarons. Unfortuantely, I didn't have enough almonds to complete the recipe........no choice, I decided to go ahead with what I had on hand. In the worst case, I would get some sort of chocolate cookies, I guessed!

It seemed like baking luck was with me, I saw the feet came up after 5 minutes of baking. I would love to give my oven a big hug, if I could...ha ha. That's the joy of baking macarons. Why that feet are so important to us !!!!!!!

I just made my life simple today, filled it with salted caramel.

Now I have the reason to go shopping again since there is no more ingredients left for the next batch of my macarons.

Just snapped a few shots to record another flavor combinations of macarons that I did.

Enjoy your beautiful day.

2010 in review.

Another year passed by. There were many things that I was supposed to do, but I didn't . However, there were so many things that I did without planning. How's about you?

Today is a nice day...cool and breezy. I took my time looking back at my baking records.

My expereiments with macarons....I enjoyed ever single minute making each combination.

Brownie...or something made of chocolate will never fade away from my blog, it's my family favorite.

I'm glad I tried making homemade puff pastry but nothing can beat any dessert made of fresh fruits.

Not much into cakes decorating......need a lot of improvements.

It's all the joy of baking. Thanks for visiting and all your comments.

Have a wonderful year, everyone.