I want to get this off my chest first

Grabbed some muffins and a iced milk tea this morning — there were orange, cranberry, banana choc and mocha muffins.

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Last week – Dessert time at Bugis

I like Mango Sago … I always eat the chunky mangoes first followed by the sago :D

I will update again soon!

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.

He bought two tubs of his favourite Häagen-Dazs Rum & Raisin Ice cream this evening. So yeah I only ate desserts for dinner haha.

They are super fluffy, light and tasty!! I ate way too many! We had Häagen-Dazs Rum & Raisin Ice cream (his favourite) and strawberries on top. Delicious. I was also planning to add some chocolate chips to some of the batter, but I totally forgot!! I will try ricotta cheese hotcakes next time. We are keeping some hotcakes for tomorrow’s breakfast. And as I am typing this, the husband is having another hotcake. I wonder whether there will be any left by tomorrow! hehe

I felt so fresh this morning because I slept so early last night — 10 pm!

And I wasn’t in any hurry because I had already prepared today’s lunch the night before!  I’m sleeping early tonight because tomorrow morning is my running day. Waking up at 6 am.

If you need the recipe for the hotcakes here you go.

Hotcakes

Ingredients (makes about 10 hand-sized hotcakes)

* Picture above not showing all the ingredients used

• 190g (1 1/4cups) self-raising flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbs caster sugar
• 250mls (1 cup) buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 45g butter, melted, cooled
• Butter or oil spray or oil for cooking
• Vanilla essence
• Vanilla ice-cream, to serve
• 80mls (1/3 cup) golden syrup

Method

Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the caster sugar. Combine the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter in a jug. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk mixture and use a whisk to mix to a smooth batter. Pour into a jug.

Melt 1/2 tsp of the extra butter in a small non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Pour 1/4 of the batter (about 1/2 cup) into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes or until small bubbles appear on the surface. Turn over and cook for 1 minute or until golden and cooked through. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining butter and hotcake batter.

Place the hotcakes on serving Plates. Top with a scoop of ice-cream and drizzle with the golden syrup. Serve immediately.

As for the husband, he had an early dinner and by the time I came back he was hungry again, so he asked me to get him a McChicken meal and a Mcflurry (which I reluctantly bought) on my way back  …

Anyway …

As promised, here’s the recipe and video for the pear-chocolate light brownie! Please turn your speakers off. I video-taped the steps just for fun, so here it is. Might take super long to load though depending on your connection …

I  knew immediately that I had to make this brownie after seeing this awesome video on cuisine.tv (Angele told me about this website which I had bookmarked) with a recipe for Brownie léger poire-chocolat.

A closer look at the texture inside. The brownie is really light, fudgy and moist. I think the pear makes it moist. This recipe is definitely going to my favourite list. I am going to try with cocoa powder another time. The brownie can also be kept for a couple of days too.

Here’s my modified version for a light choco-pear brownie — brownie léger poire-chocolat

Ingrédients pour 4 personnes

• 80 g unsweetened dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp margarine
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• A drop of vanilla essence + 5 tbsp sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you want your brownie)
• 1 egg
• 1 ripe pear (I used peckham pears)
• 15 noisettes – nuts (you can also use almonds)

Préparation de la recette

Préchauffez le four 150-180°C. Faites dorer les noisettes dans une poêle anti-adhésive pendant 5 min, en remuant. Laissez tiédir, puis hachez-les grossièrement.

Cassez le chocolat en morceaux. Ajoutez la margarine et le sucre vanillé. Faites chauffer 1 min au micro-ondes. Mélangez à l’aide d’une spatule. Ajoutez l’œuf entier, la Maîzena®, et mélangez.

Pelez une poire, puis coupez-la en très petits dés (brunoise). Versez la brunoise dans le mélange au chocolat et mélangez. Répartissez le mélange au chocolat dans quatre moules carrés en silicone (8×8 cm). Saupoudrez la surface d’une pincée de sucre roux et de noisettes concassées. Faites cuire 15 min au four, puis laissez refroidir.

The steps in english:

Preheat oven 150 C – 180 C.

Roast the nuts for about 5 mins. Let cool before you chop them into pieces.

Melt the chocolate and the butter over a hot-water bath.

When the chocolate and butter mixture have melted, remove from heat. Add the vanilla and  sugar. Add the cornflour and mix well. Add the egg and stir. If the batter is too thick, add some water. Leave aside.

Peel one pear, dice them into small pieces, add them to the chocolate mixture and stir well until the pears are well coated.

Place in small ramekins or muffin pans, top with the chopped nuts and bake in the  pre-heated oven for 15 -30 mins. Let cool before you serve.

Here’s the recipe

Ingrédients (for 2 Persons)

• 2 tablespoon sugar (1 tbls per egg but it you want it sweeter, you can add more)
• Milk (for 2 mini bowls)
• 2 eggs (1 egg per person)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Some sugar for the caramel (about 1 cup or less)

Préparation :

Preheat oven to 176 degrees Celcius. Prepare the caramel first: Put sugar in a small pan. Add 1-2 teaspoon water and leave it to cook until it turns brown. Pour this caramel into a mold, turning around quickly to coat the sides.

In the meantime, prepare the cream: Boil the milk. Then pour the hot milk little by little over the beaten egg while stiring constantly. I use a spoon to pour the milk over little by little. Be careful not to put too much hot milk at the beginning or else you will end up with cooked eggs. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into 2 mini bowls or ramekins. Place the ramekins into a larger pan. Pour boiling water into larger pan.

Bake for 25 mins. Test with a knife to see if it is cooked. Knife will come out clean when creme caramel is done. Remove from oven to cool. Refrigerate in the mold until ready to serve.

To unmold and serve, put a plate over the top of the mold, turn upside down and remove mold.