We lunched at my sister’s place today. I made Gateau Patates (sweet potato cakes) in the morning. This was my second attempt. First attempt was a flop! They tasted better this time round. Of course I had to find ways to make mine healthier LOL. I pan fried them.

Here they are, my Gateau Patates

Recipe is at the bottom of this post. Before that, here are some eats we had for lunch

Homemade Fried Rice

Homemade Honey Glazed Chicken

Apple + Mango salad

Chatini de tomates

My brother brought some Popiah x 4 packets …

And then there was cake! A fruity mango sponge cake. Niiiiice. Loved the sliced mangoes!

A peek inside

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Gateau Patates (or sweet potato cakes)

Recipe adapted from here. This is my modified version.

Ingrédients:

• 600g sweet potatoes (I used the normal one – not the red Japanese one)
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp desiccated coconut + more for the filling (I didn’t use the extra though)
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar (to taste — add more if it’s not sweet enough)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• Oil to pan fry

Préparation

1. Wash and boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Then peel and mash. Let cool.
2. Add the desiccated coconut, vanilla essence and sugar to the mashed sweet potato. Set aside for a couple of minutes before adding the flour. Add more flour if your think the mixture is too soft. However don’t add too much, otherwise you will end up with tough sweet potato cakes.
3. Shape into balls and if  the mixture is too sticky to handle (which, in my opinion is always sticky), sprinkle it with a little bit of flour.
4. Using your palm, press each ball into small disk (the size of your palm).
5. Place some coconut in the centre and fold into half. Seal the edges using a folk — I skipped step 5.
6. Drizzle some oil in a medium hot pan.
7. Pan fry — I prefer pan frying mine.
8. Let cool before serving. They can be kept for a couple of days.

Shaping the mashed sweet potato mixture into balls

Sprinkling a little flour so that it’s easier to press into small disk without sticking to your palm

Pan frying mine

The cooking area

Gateau Patates, my version

Yum :)

Enjoy the last bit of your Sunday! I will blog about our 2-hr brisk walking soon.

An old fashioned chocolate cake actually

The birthday boy - So not going to use thin long candles next time because they wouldn’t stand straight!

The candles wouldn’t blow out because I  used magic candles :)

It’s a moist and spongy cake

This cake is SO easy to prepare! Just dump all the ingredients into a food processor and then bake!

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Old Fashioned Chocolate cake

• 100g plain flour
• 80g caster sugar (original calls for 100g but 80g was sweet enough for my taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 20g best-quality cocoa
• 50g unsalted butter + 35g applesauce (original calls for 85g soft unsalted butter)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 75ml sour cream (I used low fat)

Method

1. Take everything out of the fridge so that all the ingredients can come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C and line and butter one 12 cm spring-form pan – you can use two if you want flatter cakes.
3. Now all you have to do is put all the cake ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream – into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter.
4. Pour the batter  into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

I made a 12cm cake just for the two of us

I actually love the cracks!

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Enjoy your Sunday! I’m making some super healthy, protein-packed and nutritious soup for tonight :)

I met the girlfriends at Brewerkz for dinner last night.  The guys were watching a live soccer match and we, girls were just busy yakking with each other. It’s been two months since we last met. After dinner the group headed somewhere else for a drinking session. I gave it a pass and headed back home as I didn’t want to mess up my sleep (and my body).

L-R: Me, Eunice, Sharon and Hazel — excuse the blurry picture. I kinda like this effect.

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This morning it was raining when I woke up. I’m not too sure what they are building at that far end of that empty land.

Breakfast was this

Microwaved (three) egg whites topped with a tablespoon of nutritional yeast + mustard + ketchup. I love microwaved egg whites :)

And some very sweet watermelons

On a completely random note: Earlier on Saturday Mikey jumped up on the table. He wanted some attention (a.k.a food). I thought this was cute, so I quickly took his picture.

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On  Friday, we had a very last minute unplanned early-birthday celebration for the husband. His birthday is actually on the 10th of April (next Saturday).

Related post: 1 year ago on his 29th Birthday

Group photo: With my siblings + cousin (couple on the left).

The birthday man.

Birthday cake that sis brought. It was spongy, light and not overly sweet.

Later at night I made a light dinner … fried eggs (1 egg and 4 egg whites) and prawns

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My pen pal since high school days (from the Philippines) is visiting Singapore! She’s arriving tomorrow and will be here for 4 days. We’ve never met in person. I think it’s going to be interesting :)  Do you still keep in touch with you pen pals? Snail mail penpalling was so popular back in my high school days. I sill keep in touch with 2-3 of them (thanks to Facebook) but we don’t write letters to each other like we used to years ago.

I made these Prawn Cabbage Shroom cakes for lunch today. They are so quick and easy!

Recipe follows …

Ingredients

• 1/2 a green cabbage
• 5 prawn balls (or use fresh prawns)
• 5 shitake mushrooms
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 egg
• spring onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Cajun spice
• Dried Rosemary

Method

1. Process the cabbage, prawn balls, mushrooms and spices using a food processor.
2. Add the four, egg and spring onions. Mix well using hands or spoon.
3. Shape into balls, then with your palm press the balls into a small disc.
4. Pan fry until golden brown.
5. Serve while still hot.

Flourless Orange and Almond Cake is a classic Passover dessert drawing on the Sephardic traditions of Morocco, the Mediterranean and the Middle East (where citrus was more available) – Source

The cake was easy to make. The only turn off is preparing the orange puree…  we need to boil the whole oranges for 2 hrs until they are soft and tender. Boiling them also reduces the bitterness of the oranges. Other than that, the steps are simple and straightforward. Baking time is about 1 hour. So the total time taken was about 3 hr 30 mins. And it was all worth it I tell ya.

The taste?

The cake is light, soft, fluffly and definitely very moist! As you bite, you feel the almond pieces. The cake kinda melts in the mouth too, because it’s moist and flourless! If you are into moist cakes, you will definitely like this one!

Get the recipe for a flourless moist orange and almond cake and view more photos after the jump!

Ingredients

• 2 oranges (I use 3 Sunkist oranges)
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1 cup caster sugar (I used 3/4 cups and added 4 packets of ‘equal’ sweetener)
• 300g (3 cups) ground almond a.k.a almond meal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Icing sugar for dusting after baking
• Margarine or oil spray (for greasing the pan)

Method

Wash oranges and place unpeeled, in a pot of boiling water for 2 hours. Drain the water and allow the oranges to cool. Cut the base and remove the pith (the white stuff between the rind and the flesh) to reduce bitterness.  Blend the oranges in a blender or food processor to a smooth consistency. This can be done ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 180° C – conventional oven i.e no fan.

Beat the egg yolk and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Add the orange puree and beat. Add the baking powder and ground almond and beat at low speed until just combined.

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until firm peak forms. Add the whites to the almond batter and fold in  gently until just combined.

Grease a 20 cm spring form baking pan with margarine (or vegetable oil spray).

Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown.

Dust with icing sugar to serve. Serve with fresh oranges or a homemade orange syrup.

• Not too dense
• Not too sweet
• Definitely not oily to the touch

Turns out that the ones that I baked were just the way I like my cupcakes to be!!  I was happy they came out great even after having changed the original recipe a little. You know, sometimes when you reduce some ingredients, it doesn’t always work. I’m going to use this recipe as my basic reduced-fat cupcake recipe. Recipe is at the end of the post.

Well, I didn’t do any creamy toppings. I only used what was available at home to top my cupcakes. Let’s see … I poured some Coffee Baileys over some cupcakes and let them soak in the Baileys cream for a little while. Oh my … cupcakes + baileys = heavenly! :)

Next thing was Nutella + chocolate chips = double heavenly!! Of all the others, they were my favourite!! I am a Nutella fan. Don’t forget to pop them in the microwave for a warm cupcake!

Next? It was cupcakes topped with homemade cranberry sauce, with a blackberry on top hehe.

I made about 12 cupcakes in all. I ate one this morning before I went for my long run. After I came back home, I did some household chores and then ate two more chocolate cupcakes!!! Yeah I definitely prefer the chocolate ones.

The only thing that my cupcakes lack is COLOUR!!! The taste and texture were great, but why didn’t they turn golden brown on top and around???

Now, let me show you how to eat a chocolate cupcake haha :) First you bite. Then you bite more, until your upper lip touches the warm melting chocolate. Then you smile for the camera. Then you lick some of the left-over chocolate off your fingers!

Following is the recipe for a basic reduced-fat cupcake.

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes)

• 125g unsalted butter, softened — I used about 70g only + about 60g applesauce
• 185g (3/4 cups) caster sugar  — I used 1/2 + 1/8 cups only (I can reduce a little more too especially if the toppings are sweet)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used a  little more)
• 250g (2 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
• 125ml (1/2 cups) 98% fat-free buttermilk — I used 1 cup
• 280g (1 and 2/3 cups) white chocolate chips — I didn’t use this

Method

Preheat oven 170 Celcius

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl using electric mixer until pale and creamy

Gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition

Add the vanilla extract and beat

Fold in the flour alternately with the buttermilk, then if you are using white / dark chocolate chips fold then into the batter

Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes

These were my first batch of cupcakes.

It’s light, definitely not oily to the touch and quite tasty.

The taste? A delicious milky-flavoured cake :) I liked the simple taste of the condensed milk. Here’s what I did this morning — a raspberry layered sweetened condensed milk cake. You know what, the cake tastes better simply without adding anything onto it!

Here’s the recipe for a sweetened condensed milk cake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 120g all purpose flour, sifted
• ½ tablespoon baking powder
• 50g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Icing sugar, for dusting (I didn’t use)
• 1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk – I used 265 g low fat condensed milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; generously butter a 20cm ring cake pan.

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well – I whisked mine manually.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean (my cake took 35 minutes to bake).

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before unmolding.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

So today I baked a simple basic dark moist chocolate cake. Initially I wanted to reduce the amount of butter (and add some applesauce instead) but I thought it’s better to stick to the original recipe first. The only thing I changed is the amount of sugar. I reduced to 3/4 cups and it turned out to be just nice for my taste! Not too sweet.

The cake is really moist and nice :) I had to try a piece before making a chocolate glaze.

And after making a chocolate glaze with dark chocolate, here’s the end result!

Here’s the recipe for a basic dark moist chocolate cake.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 (140 g) cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder or granules
• 1 cup caster sugar (200 g) – I used 3/4 cups i.e 150 g because I don’t like my cake to be too sweet
• 2/3 cup butter (150g)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup water

Method

Preheat oven 175° C

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Dissolve the coffee with hot water. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well. Beat in the coffee and vanilla essence. Gently fold in the flour mixture alternating with water.

Pour the batter into a greased baking pan. I used a springform pan (removable sides and bottom).

Bake at 175° C for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the chocolate glaze, I used  unsweetened dark chocolate, cocoa powder,  some butter and and a couple of teaspoons of sugar.

It was my first time baking a cheesecake and I have to say that it was pretty dang good :)  Especially for a first timer haha.

Dinner was very international! We have Indian (curry), Japanese (sushi), Mauritian (dholl purri) and Chinese (fried rojak and otak otak) food!! YUMMY!!

However we still had space in our stomach for dessert :)