Vanilla Custard Crepe Cake

After several attempts over the week, I am finally back up posting. This post had me excited and I desperately wanted to share it with you so badly. Have you ever been excited about something that you wish you could share it in an instant? I suppose luck isn't at my side as I kept having network issue. Oh! the agony.

Moving along, this is somewhat out of my comfort zone, and certainly well worth the effort. French Crepes are pancakes too, and in a much thinner and lighter form. Lately, there has been a craze here in Asia and possibly this originate either from the French or the Japanese or maybe a fusion of both. Anyhow, where it came from now has certainly driven me to further dig up the roots as they have come up with something so brilliant, transforming these light crepes into cakes. Layers and layers of french crepe, slathered with custard cream and topped with jam, glaze, or as simple as powdered sugar makes this my new found love for cakes. To start, and to many more to come, I am starting off with the basic classic love for VANILLA CUSTARD CREPE CAKE.

Almond Cinnamon Rolls wtih Maple Glaze

HAPPY FRIDAY y'all! As the week starts to whine down, I am in the mood of something warm, satisfying and full of flavour. To start off, the smell of blooming yeast, in the fluffy dough, while waiting for it to rise and double up in volume is truly intoxicating. You just know that the end result is going to be something so comforting and delicious. Enough to satisfy any crave. Oh! I truly love the smell of freshly baked bread out of the oven. Plus the hint of cinnamon, almond and butter mixed together just makes it a little special.

To many of you, this may just be a simple recipe, and may have baked rolls over the years but honestly, every single time when I yearned for a classic treat, I always go to my ALMOND CINNAMON ROLLS with MAPLE GLAZE.

Peach & Blueberry Crumble

Over the weekend, I was busy pinning away ideas on another one of my favourite stone-fruit; PEACHES. Only on rare occasions that I get to work with them since it's so crazy expensive when sold here in our local supermarkets. Let me tell you how it all began. Growing up, I had endless fascinations over this juicy sweet golden orbs, almost like gold nuggets to me. They were always cans and cans of peaches stacked up in the pantry. The brand imprinted in my memory till this very day is by this company called S&M. If you haven't had them before, you have no idea what you're missing out on.

Anyways, moving along.. I could still remember, that the simplest pleasure was just serving this can of peach with a generous scoop of creamy smooth good old vanilla ice-cream.  Imagine, scooping a mouth full of cold ice-cream with a slice of peach .. mMMMmmm.. so..so good right? Till this very day, I still find myself swooning over this simple luxurious treat.

However this time, instead of just enjoying my simple pleasure in life, I decided that I am going to take it up a notch and make a crumble. Not just any crumble, it had to be PEACH & BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE with slight variation of course and with FRESH Peaches. Simple, light and packed with all the natural goodness!

Orange & Almond ButterCream Cake with Berry Blossom Compote

HAPPY BLOG-O-VERSARY Chic & Gorgeous Treats! My tiny blog is now THREE years old. Has it been been 3 years? Boy, how time flies. It felt like it was only yesterday, I started this blog with no direction, filled with uninteresting photos. Part of growing up process and getting better at what I enjoy doing all this while...tapping in to my creative juices. Slowly developing into a precious diary...a log book... a journal of my baking, travel & photography adventure. A self discovery where I found solace, filled with tears of sorrow and joy a midst of my hectic days.

Part of being me, is my obsession towards Berries and Citrus. Orange, Almond ButterCream, Berries & Orange Blossom Water is such a wonderful combination when put together in a classic Orange Butter cake. Just a tiny drop into berry compote makes all the difference. Honestly, just a tiny drop, because Orange Blossom Water is quite strong and goes a long way.

Here's how I plan to celebrate after a long days work. A classy rustic ORANGE & ALMOND BUTTER CREAM CAKE with BERRY BLOSSOM COMPOTE.

Summer Berry Pavlova + Rose & Raspberry Syrup and NEW VANILLE MAGAZINE is out!

Announcing the third issue of Vanille Magazine! The Spanish version is out and is filled with all lovely Spring and Summer dessert recipes. There's also a section dedicated to cold treats. As we all know, what can be more perfect to cool off a sweaty hot sunny day with a scoop of ice-cream of sorbet? That's not all. This issue also focuses on on of our all time favourite special ingredient. The Vanilla Bean. So, be sure to hop on over to check it out or try out the recipes or like what I always find joy in doing; feasting with the eyes. To celebrate this issue I baked A SUMMER BERRY PAVLOVA served with ROSE & RASPBERRY SYRUP.

Lime & Mango Sorbet

Hoorah.. the weekend is here again! Then it came and gone with the wind. Oh! can I now freeze time and enjoy every single second? With the heat wave making my head spin, I decided to get started with "work" by sitting down here on my cool living room marbled floor pondering on what could I possibly make to cool off? It has to be something refreshing, light, quick and delicious of course. How does LIME & MANGO SORBET sound to you? I think it's perfect!

Lemon Cheesecake French Macaron

TGIF everyone! Here I am again, thinking..well lets have a classic lemon cheesecake. Instead of a cheesecake, lets find a way to put it into the macaron. Crazy right? As though an original flavoured macaron isn't delicious enough, I gave into my crave and made LEMON CHEESECAKE FRENCH MACARON. Double the flavour, double the joy, and double the satisfaction.

Cara Orange Passion Tart

This week has been a slow week for me. Gloomy sky, rainy days set upon us. No fear! There's always CARA ORANGE PASSION TART to brighten up that one dull day. As I gaze out of my kitchen window, all I see is grey clouds, a whiff of damp breeze brushes my skin sending chills down my face and the next moment, the sound of rain drops..plop..plop..plop. What a day! Somehow, days like these tempts me to snuggle up in my bed and do nothing but catch some shut eye, and be driven far away into my dreamland.
Ahh! Lazy bones, how you get me all the time, and yes my bed, why is it that you always have a way to win me over?

Baking Recipe: Strawberry Lemonade Charlotte Cakes

It's MONDAY and I thought what would be more fun to do than kick start the week off right? Lets start the week or what is perhaps the last of summer or winter days with this tangy light STRAWBERRY LEMONADE CHARLOTTE CAKES.

Baking Recipe: More STRAWBERRIES..Strawberry Muffin

Oh, I hope you don't go oh! no..strawberries again o_0? It's funny how I can't seem to steer clear away from strawberries. I can't help it, it's one of my favourite berries..LOLs.

Actually, I had some left over fresh strawberries in the fridge, and since I was planning to pack some snack to the office, what better way to treat yourself to some healthier snack. Or least I try to think they are healthy.. Yes, I wouldn't buy a muffin as I find such joy to bake myself  Strawberry Muffins. All you got to do is pop it in a microwave oven, and pre-heat it for about 15 seconds or so and voila you will have a juicy fresh home baked warm muffin. Perfect to go with tea, milk or even coffee. Oh! since this recipe isn't exactly a super uber sweet strawberry muffin [yup.. I bolded it], you get to drizzle some honey and spread cream cheese over it. It's delish.. do try it sometime. Enjoy!

P/S: Just need a mixing bowl, spatula, some measuring spoons, a heat proof bowl and weighing scale. Minimal cleaning up ;). I've also tweaked the recipe by adding extra flavouring agents like our baking best friend" The Vanilla".

Recipe- adapted from BBC's Olive magazine

yields approx. 6-8 large muffins and 1 dozen medium sized muffins

For the strawberry muffins
100g  or 1/2 cups caster sugar
1tbsp baking powder
250g or 2 1/4 cups all purporse flour
1 large egg
175ml or 2/3cups+ 1tbsp milk
75g butter or 1/3 cup butter, melted
150g or 1 cup strawberries, cut into cubes
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Turbinado sugar, to sprinkle (optional)

Note: Both salted and unsalted butter is fine. In this case, I had some unsalted butter in hand, so I used unsalted butter this time. If you do like to add some salt to the batter, 1/8 tsp of salt is sufficient.

To prepare strawberry muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 180C approx. 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners or grease them with a little butter and sprinkle some flour, if you do not have cupcake liners.

2. Sieve and combine sugar, baking powder and flour in a large bowl.

3. In a seperate mixing bowl, using a whisk lighly beat egg and milk together and stir in melted butter. With a fork or spatula, fold in siefted flour, sugar and baking powder. It does not need to be thoroughly mixed. A good muffin should have some lumps left in the batter.

4. Spoon muffin mixture into prepared muffin/cupcake pans and sprinkle some turbinado sugar (optional). Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or until the tops of muffin are golden brown in colour.

xx