French Apple Cake

Cake is fresh and warm as I’m writing this, again with the phone.
I’m excited to share this recipe with you all.

During MCO, I prepare tea time daily, because we have early lunch. And whatever that’s left from tea, the kids will eat as supper. They are growing up now and they eat a lot :-)
My kids don’t eat the same cakes. And this cake pleases my eldest, but my Second kid won’t touch it.
So, I will bake things they like on rotation. Very few of my bakes pleases every kid in the house. They just don’t have the same taste buds.

Chocolate Ombre Butter Cake (with video)

This cake was a random idea that popped in my head one fine day.....
Some weeks later, I made it, shared it on Facebook.... and made it again for my kids' children's day in school.

The layering for my latter attempt wasn't as good, maybe because I put it too low in the oven, hence, the layers curved up. So, in order for you to get a better looking cake than me, I suggest that you bake it on the middle rack instead of the lower rack.

Sticky Date Pudding with Cinnamon Butterscotch Sauce

I used to think this doesn't sound delicious.
I used to think dates in cakes sound soggy.
I used to think cake like puddings to be weird.

It was after Eid-ul Fitr and dates were on sale. Very very cheap!
Each year, muslims will consume dates during the fasting month of Ramadan and once Syawal approaches... the dates goes on clearance sale.. and it goes cheaper and cheaper as the days go by.

Victoria Sponge

Cake baked in 2014

To us Malaysians, sponge cake will be soft, cottony and airy with not much oil in the cake..but this cake will resemble to us.. a pound cake, where all measurements are equal, and it's sweet and buttery, not a bit like the sponge cakes we are used to.

Victoria Sponge is a classic English cake, is also known as Victoria Sandwich. It was named after Queen Victoria. Two layers of buttery cake sandwiching a layer of cream and jam.

Dundee Cake

Dundee cake is a traditional cake from Dundee, Scotland. Traditionally, it should contain sultanas, Seville orange peel and decorated with almonds. But as time goes by, people tend to change the ingredients to their liking. I find most modern Dundee cake recipes not much different from other fruit cake recipes, other than the almonds on top. The original Dundee cake does not contain any cherries or currants, or any mix peel, but specifically Seville orange peel for that bitter orange tinge and sultanas, just sultanas.

Passionfruit Drizzle Yogurt Cake

I had some passionfruit, harvested from my garden, frozen for a year.
They still looked and tasted fine after being mummified in my freezer for that long.
It became a cake that was well loved by my family.

I had been keeping this post drafted for very long, and since this month's Bake Along's theme is Bundt Cake, I think I better dig it out and make myself be less lazy and blog. Sadly, this will be their last theme too. I rarely participate because I can't quite keep up, not even with a month's notice. This cake was baked in a Savarin pan, not quite a bundt, as a bundt cake needs to have fluted sides.

I adapted my Orange Yogurt Muffin Cake recipe into a passionfruit one, and I used one extra egg... of which was not a good decision. My cake's side curved in a bit, but the cake was really tender.

Ants' Nest Cake ~ Kek Sarang Semut

I first had a piece of this, not too long ago, maybe 5 years back? And I was smitten by the taste and texture. My SIL baked it for the 2nd time and I asked her if she put in any cocoa powder, because it felt like I was eating a bouncy chewy chocolate cake. She said no, it’s just caramel. I was totally taken by surprise.

Then 3 years ago, I had this sudden “want” to bake this cake and eat it too, I asked my SIL for the recipe. She actually got this recipe from a fellow church friend Mrs Elaine Wong. My SIL was smitten by Elaine’s cake and that got her to request for the recipe. The love bug for this spreads....

Mrs Elaine Wong  ~~  SIL  ~~~  Me  ~~~~  Annielicious (after she ate this)

Chocolate Chip Buckwheat Banana Cake

I had 2 extra Dole bananas, after making an order of banoffee pie. They turned spotty and brown really quick in our weather. Didn't want to waste the over ripe bananas, I searched for a buckwheat banana bread or cake. Not knowing whether this existed, hahaha. But it does. So, I then adapted my own recipe with a recipe source to refer to, but I like the idea of adding chocolate chip to the cake.

I’ve only eaten one thing made from buckwheat and that is soba noodles but that is not a bake. I’ve never eaten bakes made with buckwheat, not even buckwheat pancakes. So I was pretty curious about the taste and texture.

Cherry Almond Cake

Many years ago.... say around 2002, I bought a loaf of cake, studded with cherries. Normally I don't quite enjoy eating glace cherries...but in that cake, it was quite delectable.

I didn't know that it's actually a 'type of cake', I thought, it's just a pound cake with 'dump-in-any-thing-you-like-to-pretty-it-up' sort of thing. Last year while surfing for recipes.... I found that, it's actually a type of cake, that is popular in the UK. You can get many variations of the recipe, mostly from UK recipe sites.

Orange Cream Cake - Orange #3

This recipe is from one of my cookbooks that I have to use with caution.
I like the idea of this cake and wondering how will the taste be like... with that amount of cornstarch.

Actually I used a combination of meyer lemons and orange for this cake. The meyer lemons had been with me for a very very long time and I am soooo sorry Alan, LOL. I finally used them up in this cake. I do find meyer lemons to taste similar to a sourish orange, that's why I combined them. The original recipe used orange only.

Orange Pound Cake - Orange Week #1

This is a very old recipe that I learnt from school's home science class.
Looking back.. it's been 20 years  since I last made this.

Memory of the wonderful smell emitting from the kitchen drawing the boys to peek into our  kitchen whenever they go to pee was funny, as the male students' toilet was not far from where we were.
When we got back to class, the boys even tried to snatch some of our cakes, but we all protected them well.

Whipped Cream Cake - Bundts #3

The cake looked soooooo short!! Maybe shorter than what I expected.

I wonder where did I go wrong. My pan was a 12 cup pan, recipe called for 10 cup pan,  just that 2 cup difference, but it looked really short, haha, probably I should find myself a tall slim pan. Malaysia has a pathetic selection of bundt pans. Unless I buy those that cost me 3 digits in upmarket areas. I'm too stingy for that.

And it so happened that Lena also baked the same cake (go see hers), and today we are posting it together.
And we are both using the same pan and have the same short cake, haha!
So, I blame it on the pan.

Rainbow Bundt Cake - Bundts #2

2nd attempt

I made these cakes for my girl to bring to her class party.
I used food colouring this time. Not natural pigments as the outcome with natural pigments is not that easy to control with the long baking time

Actually it wasn't supposed to be 'cakes' but just 'cake'.
The first cake didn't dislodge very well from the pan, and hence, split to half, horizontally.  I was soooo heart broken because the rainbow was almost perfect. Determined, I made it again the next day.

Raymond Blanc’s 'bare' Gâteau au Citron - Lemons #3

I made this cake because Alan told me to. LOL.
He didn't like this cake, but it was otherwise for me.
His poison is my meat.

Mrs NgSK's Butter Cake - Butter Cake # 3

This is a side piece, not the middle, but it's sooooooo flat.

I don’t know about you. But I used to hate how short my butter cakes are.

Well, maybe I want value for money. Butter is not cheap, hence I want a BIG cake for the block of butter, LOL.
I’ve tried using methods to make a big cake w/o using more butter like adding lots of liquid, then flour, but results have always been not favourable. Cracks and huge ones. Tried egg separation method, but still not really like as big as I would like it. Actually I don’t really mind the cracks on butter cakes. But I’d just like to try making one cake, just that one cake that doesn’t crack. I only want to dispel the jinx in me. Whether it’s due to me or the recipe.

Lemon Thyme Pound Cake - Butter Cake # 2

Recipe tried in March 2011

As usual, buy first think later.

When I saw lemon thyme at Jusco, I was curious about how different it’ll taste from the usual thyme. It looked much less woody and I just threw one pack of it into my trolley. Lemon thyme is supposedly to smell like lemon when rubbed in your hands and they really do, something like lemongrass too, but less pungent. It smelled more lemony than thymey to me.

Topo Map Love Cake / Kek Alunan Kasih - Butter Cake # 1

Recipe tried in March 2011

When Roz of Home Kreation said this cake looked like a map, it reminded me of the topographic maps that we used to learn in Geo class. I remember reading the contour lines, and how to calculate the temperature difference between the lines. And how I enjoyed the first 10 questions in PMR’s Geo paper, there were all related to the topo map. Hence, I added the topo word into the name. The actual translation of the name should be "Waves of Love Cake"

Avocado Milk Pound Cake - Avocado Week # 2

Today is my last day of Child Care Leave (Cuti Jaga Anak). 3 years have passed. Time flew by. And Lyanne is now in kindergarden.

But I'm not going back to school tomorrow. I applied to finish up my quota, that is another 2 more years. So, I'll be back to work in 2014, probably, hopefully.

Plum Oatmeal Madeira Cake - Stone Fruits # 3

A cake that I can pass around making people think it's healthy. LOL. I just said, this cake has oats in it and they replied, "It's healthy, yumz" LOL.

So, if you want to make yourself 'feel' better when devouring a cake, try this out. LOL. Reasons, whether valid or not, just eat.

One regret with this cake. I shouldn't have used fortuna plums, instead go for black plums. Black plums when baked are very very pretty. It stains the cake pink, bright pink instead of being pale pink. I'll never bake with fortuna plums again.

Maria's Cherry Cake - Stone Fruits #1

This is the cake that I've been wanting to make for the longest of time.

I recieved this cookbook from Aunt Grace for Christmas when I was 15. I was totally taken by the look of the cherry cake featured in the book. During that time, fresh cherries are unheard of.  I had my first taste of fresh cherries when my friend Yoke Waie gave me some after his parents returned from a holiday in Australia. That was when I was 18. My 2nd time eating this was when I was 21, buying 100gm for RM15 at Petaling Street with my then boyfriend. Expensive right? But it's so hard to come by that I didn't care much for its price. That ex-boyfriend paid for my cherries :p