Doughnut Muffins

Hi,

I have been travelling & taking a long break while looking for jobs since finishing my PhD.

The cities I have been so far are Venice, Budapest, Paris and New York.

My photos are now piled up & the worst is I’m procrastinating, I will need to be organised & get back to baking.

I made these doughnut muffins a while ago & I thought I will post the recipe here just to keep it going.

One Apple, Two Blueberry Cheesecakes & Three A Trip to Lewes

It’s my friend’s birthday and she had special request for a baked cheesecake.

So, the night before I met her, I baked, not one but two small cheesecakes.

The recipe was actually for a 8” cake but we’re going to a historical & lovely town called Lewes.

It’s not a good idea to bring a giant 8” cake around.

The little cheesecake turned out great with simple arrangement of poached apples & my friend loved it :)

I cooked some blueberry jam & simply spread over the other cheesecake which I brought to my mum the next day when we had lunch together.

Lewes was an adorable town, full of antique shops, cozy cafe & cute crafts stores.

There is also a big flea market & it's like treasure hunting :)

Floral tea cups & saucers bought from Lewes.

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse Cake

Last week, I made a chocolate mousse cake for my birthday.

I always wanted to make an earl grey chocolate mousse cake & finally got around to make it for my special day.

I wasn't happy with the decoration overall, I wanted a dome shape & the chocolate ganache wasn't smooth.

I wasn't going to post this but it did taste really nice & rich so I decided to post it anyway.

I might try to make this again sometimes & I believe decoration will become better with practice.

I tend to design the cake before getting to make it e.g. the look & the flavours.

It's not always turn out like the drawings but I find it inspiring :)

I draw more often now as I have an iPad which is great for drawing but I rarely show my works here.

Jenny also made me an apple & red wine mousse cake which was pretty & delicious.

'Surprise' Apple Loaf Cake

I'd have a lovely weekend & I'd spent most times in food & baking.

My plan for the weekend was to work as the deadline of my assignment is soon.

I was feeling lazy & it was weekend after all.

I love apples & so most of my recipes posted here are about apples, so does chocolate.

Here come another apple cake but it's no ordinary cake.

Take a first look outside, mmm... buttter cake.

Joining Online Bake Sale for Japan

I picked up some puff pastry on my way back after college.

I thought it'll be very handy if I'd like some desserts sometimes.

I baked an apple tarte tatin later in the week, it's simple yet making a great dessert that night.

Pomme d'Eve

I didn't plan to make this cake as I was planning to make a cheesecake.

However, when I scanned through the recipes I have, I decided to make this because I like the name Pomme d'Eve, meaning Eve's apple.

Beside, apple is my all time favourite.

The idea came from a famous Japanese patissier, Hidemi Sugino.

I haven't got a chance to try any of his desserts since he only has shops in Japan.

But it looks so good not to try this recipe out even though it's not his original recipe.

He's written a book called Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé, I didn't get hold of his book but I'm sure it's a great book.

I've seen several desserts made from his book from Evan's Kitchen Ramblings & Nordljus.

Belated Birthday Cake + Giveaway

I was expecting snow over the weekend when I was back to Basildon.

But I was disappointed as there was no sign of snowing even it's freezing cold.

As I usually do when I'm home, I spent sometimes in the kitchen baking.

I never mention that I've subscribed epapers from PChome which is a chinese website from Taiwan.

There's a great selection of free epapers you can subscribe, that's how I got the recipe from.

When I read the epaper, I was so tempted to try that.

It's also the perfect time now as it's the season of chestnut, plus it can be my belated birthday cake.

The recipe uses Grand Marnier to increase the depth & favours.

I didn't follow the recipe fully as I didn't have the chestnut sauce directly translated from chinese.

I think it's not the same as chestnut puree so I decided to take the caramel apple but use another recipe for the chestnut mousse.

I was absolutely satisfied with it.

Chestnut is earthy & rich but the caramel apricot & apple is fruity & tangy, so the combo gives a subtle & intense favour.

Jewellery & Muffins

I haven't been very productive recently, especially in making jewellery.

I don't know what to make & bake, sometimes simply not in the mood to.

But I keep up with making muffins as I have muffins for breakfast.

I don't always post the recipe for muffins as I use the same recipe again, with a little variations, like using different fruits, spice, tea, coffee or cocoa.

I just have to post these raspberry & apple muffins, it's soft, moist & sweet.

I got inspired by a new book I bought from WH Smith, it was on sale for only £6.

I was stunned by the price & I quickly grabbed one before it sells out.

It's a great book, packed with great photos & lots of inspirations!

I couldn't wait to try out the recipe of coffee & caramel muffins for my next week breakfast :)

Autumn & A Caramel Cheesecake

It's the end of my 2-week holiday with my family.

My brother has already moved to Swansea for his study while I'm starting my course in London very soon.

Before going back to London, I made a caramel cheesecake with sweet osmanthus poached apple.

I have used sweet osmanthus in my other recipes, it might be quite difficult to get it in London.

Jasmine or earl grey tea works fine too.

The cheesecake is lushly sweet & creamy while the apple topping is refreshingly tasty. 

Cheesecake & Update

It has been a long time since the last post.
The main reason is that I'm extremely busy with my study as I'm writing up report and finishing my project.
This is a great excuse but part of the reason is it seems like I've less & less to write about.
I'm not inspired to write nor bake recently, well I'm not a great writer after all.
However, I did bring my camera with me for a short walk, I did work on jewelry & I also baked.

Apple Chocolate Crumble Tarts

This week, I was craving for apple desserts, especially tarts.

I have some low-fat sweet short pastry left in my fridge, so I was looking for a simple recipe to fulfil my urge for apple tarts then I came across this blog post (Chinese).

The apple chocolate crumble tart is a perfect combination to me as I'm a chocoholic & I love apples.

There is no need to make custard filling, just chopping apples & chocolate.

I adapted the recipe slightly mainly because I didn't have some ingredients & I didn't want to go shopping for them.

The tarts are great, I ate two soon after it's out of the oven.

I think it's best served when it is hot, a crispy tart base coupled with a melting centre, yummy!

Osmanthus & Apple Loaf Cake

Have been thinking of using the osmanthus flowers my sister brought me from Taiwan.

I love apple, when using it in bakery, it always comes with cinnamon.

So, when I first saw the recipe of osmanthus apple cake months ago, I quickly kept it & had been excited to try it out.

I could smell the cinnamon & osmanthus, the cinnamon doesn't overtake osmanthus but blends nicely to create a subtle, delicate & floral scent.

The cake is light, soft & moist with a crispy surface.

I love it!

It will be a new addition to my breakfast menu.