Ogura Cake

Today I made my version of the Ogura cake. This cake is said to be very famous in Batu Pahat. I do not know how true this is. But I think it tasted like Chiffon cake. The original Ogura cake which is sold in Batu Pahat consists of two layers of cake sandwiched by a layer of cream in between. The one that I made is sandwiched by a layer of cream cheese and frosted with cream cheese frosting. The cake has a cottony soft texture.

Sunday Lunch

We went to Taang Shifu again last Sunday for lunch. The previous time we went over, we ordered 3 dishes; smoked duck with jelly fish, emperor chicken marinated in wine and  pan-fried eggplant with scallop in XO sauce. It was quite special. I just ate a little then as I was busy attending to fussy baby Chloe and feeding her. So, I wanted so much to try again. But this time around, the 2 dishes that I felt was special during my previous visit doesn't really entice me as much. I don't really feel that those dishes are that special after all.

Chloe and Cheryl

Daddy & Celine

Chloe, mummy & Cheryl

Smoked duck with jelly fish

Claypot beancurd with sliced dory fish and pickled olive

This particular dish is quite interesting. There are straw mushrooms, beancurds, fried dory fish, pickled olive and if I am not mistaken, curry leaves in the pot.

Emperor chicken marinated in wine

Crème Caramel

I love crème caramel. For those of you who do not know what is crème caramel, it is a soft custard-type of dessert. As opposed to crème brulee where its surface is hard, creme caramel has a delicate and soft caramel surface. Most of the time, this dessert is prepared in the oven baine-marie style but I prefer the steamed version.

Last week I made this dessert for Cheryl's birthday party. It turned out so nice and smooth. The last time I made it, it was a disaster. It was way too sweet. This round, it tasted just nice. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I got this recipe from Caramel Custard Pudding but I modified her steps.

The following is the recipe that I used:-

Ingredients:
Custard
200 ml milk
10 gm caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
30 gm caster sugar

Caramel
10 ml hot water
40 gm caster sugar

Instructions:

1. Bring the milk and sugar to a boil on low heat. Once boiled, turn off the heat and mix in vanilla essence. Put aside.

2. Whisk the eggs and sugar then put aside.

3. As for the caramel, heat the caster sugar in a saucepan till it melted and turn brown. Do not stir the sugar but just rotate and move the saucepan till all the sugar is melted. Stirring will caused the sugar to be crystallised. When the sugar start to bubble up, add in the hot water and stir till properly mixed.

4. Coat the bottom of greased ramekins/moulds/bowls/ with the caramel. It is fine if the caramel does not coat the bottom of the moulds properly as the steaming process will help to spread it evenly. Leave the remaining caramel in the saucepan.

5. Pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisk again. Once done, strained it into another bowl or pitcher. This step must be done delicately to ensure that there is no air bubble. This proces is important to get a smooth custard texture.

6. Then pour the custard mixture into the individual ramekins/moulds/bowls which has been coated with caramel.

7. I fill the custard mixture into 4 very small bowls, so the steaming time needed is only 15 minutes. Once the steaming is done, remove the ramekins/moulds/bowls from the steamer.

8. Reheat the remaining caramel in the saucepan and add in some water to thin it out. Then pour the thinned caramel on the steamed custard. Refrigerate them in the fridge for few hours before consumption without removing them from their mould.

9. To serve, pour out the thinned caramel from the moulds into the serving plate. Loosen the sides of the custards and invert it into the serving plate with the thinned caramel.

Enjoy!!

Cheryl's 7th Birthday

I am going back to my backlog posts later. Today, I am going to share my thoughts on my little Cheryl's birthday. Yesterday, 14 March 2014 was Cheryl's 7th birthday. I did not bake any cake for her this round as hubby had ordered an ice-cream cake. I fried meehoon, prepared fruit salads, some desserts and the usual red eggs that I prepared for all the birthdays in our family. 

Cheryl's birthday cake

I made matcha agar-agar with a layer of coconut milk at the bottom. I have also made some creme caramel. I will have a separate post on this creme caramel. They were just nice and not too sweet.

Creme caramel

In the fruit salads, I have apples, mandarin oranges, grapes, kiwi and raisins. I made extra effort in "taking off the clothes" of the mandarin oranges. Can you see the "naked" mandarin oranges? LOL 

Cheryl requested for a toy computer as her birthday present. We decided to buy a tablet for her instead as we don't think a toy computer is useful. The night before her birthday, she told Celine she is getting a toy computer as her birthday present. She told Celine that she is going to share with her. See how sweet and adorable she is? My wish is for her to grow up into a beautiful and successful girl with wonderful manners.