Greetings from Yellowstone National Park!

i'm here at yellowstone national park now! i've been posted to grant village to work in the housekeeping department. been about a week since i arrived and still adapting well :)

this place is beautiful :) lots of snow all over and the scenery here is simply breath-taking! so far we've been to the yellowstone lake, which is frozen at the moment. and the people are really nice and friendly to each other.

the employee dining room offers scrumptious meals for us! sigh too bad i can't upload pics to blogger...the interent connection here is bad :(:( i'll try again another time i guess.

i miss baking and my kitchen!

take care peepz :)

Saying hello to yellowstone very soon!

yesh! i'll be away for the next three months for a work and travel program to yellowstone, in the state of wyoming.

i'll be working here for two months and the remaining one month will be spent traveling in the western parts of US before heading to new york on the other end.

woohoo. so excited!

stay tuned for pictures :)

i'm gonna miss baking. haha :D

but then again, i may get a job as a kitchen crew!

looking forward to the trip. yay!

in the meantime, take care, eat well :)

Green Tea Buns

i made green tea buns with red bean and green tea paste today. i needed to use up the red bean paste i made recently since they don't keep very long. filled the remaining buns with left-over green tea paste in the fridge.

these buns are a healthy treat cos the red bean paste is oil-free. cooked entirely with water! and i made them into mini bite-sized buns with a generous amount of red beans haha ;p

i got the recipe from here. thanks to aunty yochana again :) i halved the recipe and omitted the bread improver. shaped them into smaller sized buns too.

freshly baked

red bean paste filling

green tea paste filling

and to all...

stay happy - smile always :)

Banana Leaf Glutinous Rice Roll & Green Tea Daifuku

i prepared two items for a bbq at his house yesterday. met up with friends before we leave for the US this coming monday - for three whole months! *to suqi and kah hui: thanks for coming. hope you guys enjoyed the food ;p

right now, i'm really excited for the trip. haven't started packing yet...will get started tomorrow. yupp a little last minute but i've already gotten most of the stuff i need.

since i'll be away for three long months, i've been trying to use up some of the baking stuff which can't be kept for long.

anyway, here's what i prepared for the bbq yesterday.

glutinous rice roll wrapped in banana leaves

there were three different fillings - sambal haebee hiam, pork floss and cheese with mayo. haha trying to be creative here :) i got the glutinous rice recipe from little corner of mine. for the sambal haebee hiam, i just fried some dried prawns with sambal chilli then added some sugar to it. glad i had positive feedback from those who tried it.

nicely wrapped up - ready to be barbecued!

cheese with mayo

pork floss

sorry...didn't manage to get pics of the sambal haebee hiam one!

next up, green tea daifuku; also known as mochi. the dough was really sticky. you've got to ensure your hands, table top, and utensils are well dusted with corn flour. i referred to little corner of mine and wf's pure enjoyment for this recipe. both are quite similar and wf has provided some useful tips on making the mochi.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

this is my first time baking a pandan chiffon cake. in my previous attempt in baking the green tea chiffon cake, i couldn't achieve the height which i usually see in many food blogs.

this time round, the pandan chiffon cake was a success! abeit a little ugly on the surfaces haha. nevertheless the cake was soft, spongy and very fragrant :) i love the pandan aroma when the cake was baking in the oven.

i adapted this recipe from aunty yochana. i used 5 eggs instead of 6 and made some modifications here and there.

there are many variations of this recipe as i browsed through the many food blogs. i might give them a try another time. have a look at the pandan chiffon cakes fellow food bloggers have made:

Emily's Mimosa Diary
Florence's Do What I Like
Little Corner of Mine
Hugbear's Baking Mum

i've got lots to improve on!

spot that big air bubble!

tip here: to release the air bubbles, you should bang the pan on a hard surface several times before placing it in the oven.

Pandan Chiffon Cake
Adapted from Aunty Yochana's Pandan Chiffon Cake.

Ingredients

Egg yolk mixture:

5 egg yolks
2 tbsp Pandan juice
150 gm. coconut milk
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. Corn oil
1 tsp. Pandan Paste
60 gm caster sugar **
140 gm Cake flour

Egg White Mixture:

5 egg whites
1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
65 gm caster sugar **

** I reduced the amount of sugar added by quite a bit. If you have a sweet tooth, you can increase the amount added.

Method:

1. Mix all the egg yolk ingredients together and stir till smooth.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar and gradually pour in the sugar. Whisk at high speed until frothy and stiff peak forms.
3. Gently fold egg yolk mixture with egg white mixture until blended.
4. Pour into a 9" (23 cm) tube pan. Bang on a hard surface several times. Bake at 170C for about 40 to 45 min.s or until cooked.
5. Remove from oven, invert cake onto cooling rack until completely cooled before removing from the pan.
6. Slice and serve!

Steamed Matcha Red Bean Cupcakes

i finally tried making wf's azuki bean paste. see her recipe here. i soaked the azuki beans overnight then prepared them in the morning. soaking them for a longer period of time helps to shorten the cooking process. i didn't mash the beans cos i like mine crunchy with bits of azuki beans in them.

and what did i do with these azuki beans?

haha the title says it all.


yupp another steamed cupcake. this is an adaptation of the steamed banana recipe i tried the last time. i like the matcha colour! and azuki beans goes really well with matcha.

in fact this recipe is so versatile. see amanda's latest version of steamed mango and orange cupcakes! haha there's more to experiment with ;p

the batter

fresh from the steamer

what's inside!

Steamed Matcha Red Bean Cupcakes
Adapted from Amanda's Steamed Banana Cake.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
90g sugar
170g of cooked azuki beans
1 to 1.5 tsp of matcha (green tea) powder
150g plain/AP flour
8g of baking powder
4g salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
75g of olive oil

Method:

1. Sift together plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2. Whisk together eggs and sugar till ribbon stage. See the link for what a ribbon stage looks like.

3. Mix in azuki beans and matcha powder, beat till well-combined.

4. Gently fold in flour mixture and oil, taking care not to deflate the air in the eggs and sugar mixture. (that's what helps the cake rise!)

5. Pour batter into muffin pan, lined with muffin cups.

6. Steam over high heat for 15mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean

Choc Durian Mousse Cake

hello! i'm back :p happy labour day to all!

well...exams aren't over for me yet. one final paper next monday. but my major papers are done. yay! took some time to bake this choc durian mousse cake today. he had a hand in this too haha. with that extra help from him this cake was done in about two hours plus.

i've always wanted to try baking a "spike-d" look-a-like cake which is sold at big o. it's a dome shape cake with durian mousse sandwiched in between really thin layers of sponge cake and covered with choc ganache. i've got to say it's really heavenly!

aunty yochana has tried to create her own version. i adapted her recipe but made mine into a normal round cake. i think it's gonna be really messy if i were to make them into little dome shaped cakes. haha too delicate to handle!

the verdict? yummy! but more durian puree would have been better. haha the more the better! i did my best to slice the sponge as thinly as possible and i managed 5 layers in total. will experiment more with this recipe. hopefully it'll be as good as big o's ;p

spreading the mousse

choc!

i did some simple pipings.

tada. a little uneven thou ;p

heavenly!