Café of the East
October 12, 2007
Banana Cake & Farewell
Banana Cake
It was exactly three years ago today that I started this blog. It has been fun and enjoyable sharing my ‘experiments’ with all you people out there, those who have actively supported me through the three years, and those who have done it silently, I thank you all.
After three years, I think it is time to say goodbye to my beloved ‘Café of the East’. In the three years since I started blogging, I have seen a plethora of cooking blogs appearing. I remember I have time to visit the few good cooking blogs three years ago easily most days, but now I find that I don’t have the time and also impossible to check on most blogs on the net today. As all you bloggers out there, you all know how time consuming it is to blog – taking photos, editing photos, uploading, research & write-ups, etc., then also time to answer questions as well. I think I need a rest from blogging after three years! I haven’t decided yet if I will continue to blog in the future (if I do, it will be on a brand new blog or I’ll post the recipes on my forum), however I will not been updating this blog anymore. Café of the East will however stay open so you can still access the recipes that I have posted so far, just no more new update.
As for my ‘Home Baking Club’ forum, I’m thinking of partially closing it down as well, as it has not been a success as I hope it would be. As a forum, most members have not been active in coming forward and sharing their cooking or baking experience. Only about 20 or so members have been active there, so I sincerely thank those few active members who have kept the forum going the past year or so. I really appreciate it.
So I bid you all farewell, and hope to see you soon somewhere on the net... and here I share with you one final time, one of my favourite cakes...
[Ingredients]
250g (1 cup) mashed over-ripe banana, from about 2 cavendish bananas
1 teaspoon lemon juice
150g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
200g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon bicarb. of soda (baking soda)
2 tablespoons milk powder
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the sides of a 20cm round cake tin and line base with baking paper.
2. Mash the bananas and lemon juice with a fork, set aside. Sift plain flour, baking powder, soda and milk powder together, set aside.
3. Cream butter and caster sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.
4. Add mashed banana and fold in. Add sifted flour mixture and fold in.
5. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Banana Cake
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
After three years, I think it is time to say goodbye to my beloved ‘Café of the East’. In the three years since I started blogging, I have seen a plethora of cooking blogs appearing. I remember I have time to visit the few good cooking blogs three years ago easily most days, but now I find that I don’t have the time and also impossible to check on most blogs on the net today. As all you bloggers out there, you all know how time consuming it is to blog – taking photos, editing photos, uploading, research & write-ups, etc., then also time to answer questions as well. I think I need a rest from blogging after three years! I haven’t decided yet if I will continue to blog in the future (if I do, it will be on a brand new blog or I’ll post the recipes on my forum), however I will not been updating this blog anymore. Café of the East will however stay open so you can still access the recipes that I have posted so far, just no more new update.
As for my ‘Home Baking Club’ forum, I’m thinking of partially closing it down as well, as it has not been a success as I hope it would be. As a forum, most members have not been active in coming forward and sharing their cooking or baking experience. Only about 20 or so members have been active there, so I sincerely thank those few active members who have kept the forum going the past year or so. I really appreciate it.
So I bid you all farewell, and hope to see you soon somewhere on the net... and here I share with you one final time, one of my favourite cakes...
[Ingredients]
250g (1 cup) mashed over-ripe banana, from about 2 cavendish bananas
1 teaspoon lemon juice
150g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
200g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon bicarb. of soda (baking soda)
2 tablespoons milk powder
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the sides of a 20cm round cake tin and line base with baking paper.
2. Mash the bananas and lemon juice with a fork, set aside. Sift plain flour, baking powder, soda and milk powder together, set aside.
3. Cream butter and caster sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.
4. Add mashed banana and fold in. Add sifted flour mixture and fold in.
5. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Banana Cake
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Teatime Treats
Continue Reading......
posted by SeaDragon @ 12.10.07 42 comments
October 11, 2007
Sugee Wafers
Sugee Wafers
The problem with buying special ingredient to make something is that you inadvertently have some leftover which you don’t know what to do with. So it either sits in the pantry or the refrigerator and take up space or it just quietly goes past its use-by date and turns bad then you have to throw it away.
One such ingredient for me is ghee which I only use for baking purposes. I know I could use it to cook Indian meal, but it has just never happened, yet. So over the weekend, I found myself with some 300g or so of ghee in a tin which has just gone by its best use-by date. I have kept it in the refrigerator and it still seems alright. I tasted it, no rancid taste, so it was still fine to use.
My thoughts turn to sugee (or semolina) cookies as I also have some semolina at home. I haven’t made them for a long while, so I intended to use up as much of both ingredients to make the cookies. I used my Cashew Sugee Cookies recipe I last experimented with and adjusted it. As I wanted to use up the ghee, I added in as much of it as I dare to see what would happen! Well what do you know, after baking they turned into wafer thin biscuits, and oh so crispy and buttery! I love the taste and texture of the wafers, and the faint fragrant of the almond essence is so delicate – goody, another new recipe to add to my bikkie collection.
Sugee Wafers
Wafer thin biscuits.
Sugee Wafers
Base of the cookie (bottom right).
Makes approx. 40 to 50 biscuits.
[Ingredients]
225g ghee, softened
85g icing sugar, sifted
1⁄4 teaspoon almond essence
170g plain flour, sifted
110g fine semolina (sugee)
1/8 teaspoon salt
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Cream ghee and icing sugar until pale and creamy, beat in almond essence.
2. Fold in dry ingredients. The dough will be very sticky, so chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until firm. Preheat oven to 160°C.
3. Pinch and roll into marble-sized balls (about 2cm or 1 inch in diameter), space them well apart on a cookie tray.
Sugee Wafers
Before baking.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light golden. Cool and store in airtight container.
Sugee Wafers
After baking.
[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
One such ingredient for me is ghee which I only use for baking purposes. I know I could use it to cook Indian meal, but it has just never happened, yet. So over the weekend, I found myself with some 300g or so of ghee in a tin which has just gone by its best use-by date. I have kept it in the refrigerator and it still seems alright. I tasted it, no rancid taste, so it was still fine to use.
My thoughts turn to sugee (or semolina) cookies as I also have some semolina at home. I haven’t made them for a long while, so I intended to use up as much of both ingredients to make the cookies. I used my Cashew Sugee Cookies recipe I last experimented with and adjusted it. As I wanted to use up the ghee, I added in as much of it as I dare to see what would happen! Well what do you know, after baking they turned into wafer thin biscuits, and oh so crispy and buttery! I love the taste and texture of the wafers, and the faint fragrant of the almond essence is so delicate – goody, another new recipe to add to my bikkie collection.
Sugee Wafers
Wafer thin biscuits.
Sugee Wafers
Base of the cookie (bottom right).
Makes approx. 40 to 50 biscuits.
[Ingredients]
225g ghee, softened
85g icing sugar, sifted
1⁄4 teaspoon almond essence
170g plain flour, sifted
110g fine semolina (sugee)
1/8 teaspoon salt
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Cream ghee and icing sugar until pale and creamy, beat in almond essence.
2. Fold in dry ingredients. The dough will be very sticky, so chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until firm. Preheat oven to 160°C.
3. Pinch and roll into marble-sized balls (about 2cm or 1 inch in diameter), space them well apart on a cookie tray.
Sugee Wafers
Before baking.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light golden. Cool and store in airtight container.
Sugee Wafers
After baking.
[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
Labels: Biscuits (Cookies), Teatime Treats
Continue Reading......
posted by SeaDragon @ 11.10.07 0 comments
