Thursday, December 26, 2013

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Hello everybody~ Merry christmas! Here's another recipe made from tea! I love this recipe because I LOVE EARL GREY TEA. Okay, I think any food that has earl grey tea in it, I love it. That's it. When I came across this recipe online, I knew I had to bake it.



Recipe adapted from Lydia bakes
(Another reason that made me bake it is because of the gorgeous photos of it on Lydia's site. Hop over to see them!)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Flour
1/3 cup Caster Sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste
1 tbsp Earl Grey Tea Leaves
1 tbsp Finely grated orange zest
150g Unsalted Butter, room temperature

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Sift flour into a bowl and add sugar, vanilla paste, Earl Grey leaves and orange zest and mix in together.

3. Grate the butter into the flour mixture then mix with your hands until mixture resembles large crumbs.

4. Press the mixture together firmly on top of a sheet of baking paper on your bench or work surface.

5. Place another piece of baking paper on top and roll out mixture to about 1 cm thick. (I would suggest that you chill it for awhile so that it will be easier to cut when it is firm)

6. Cut into even sized pieces and carefully place on the baking tray.

7. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden.



Once cookies are baked, remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle extra caster sugar on top.
Leave cookies to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack to cool completely.

On Lydia's blog she drizzled the cookies with orange glaze, but in my case I omitted it because I do not want it to be too sweet. Perhaps next time I will try it out with the glaze. It makes the cookies look to enticing! :)

Before I even considered it into my CNY baking list, my mum already instructed me to bake these for Chinese New Year. Alright! Earl grey babies, we'll meet again soon! A month more to Chinese New Year!

Good luck in baking! :)

Friday, December 20, 2013

Matcha white chocolate chips cookies (version 2)



Hello people, here's the second recipe which I tried in my quest to search for the best matcha cookie. In my opinion, I prefer this version to version 1 (click here) because this has a stronger matcha taste. Anyway, both recipes make yummy cookies, it is really up to your own preference.

Recipe adapted from justonecookbook
(do visit justonecookbook for step-by-step pictures!)

Ingredients
240g all purpose flour
15g green tea powder (matcha)
150g unsalted butter, softened
130g powder sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
1/3 - 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Method
1. Sift the flour and the matcha powder.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until soft and light.

3. Add the egg yolks and beat well.

4. Gradually add the flour/matcha powder mixture.

5. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

6. Shape the dough into 2 round logs and wrap them in plastic wrap. Place your wrapped log on a bed of rice to chill to remain its cylindrical shape. Chill in refrigerator for several hours or, better yet, overnight.

Preheat oven to 150C degrees. Remove the dough from plastic wrap and cut the cookie slices to 7mm (1/4 inch) thick. It might be hard to cut due to chocolate chips, so be gentle!

Bake for 20-22 minutes then cool on a rack.


I think this is one of the most photogenic cookies that I have ever baked. Brightly green in colour, surely make a good christmas cookie as well!

I love to stack them up as high as possible! It's so fun!

These cookies serve as great gifts as well! Pack them nicely in a box and they could be the best gift one ever receives this christmas. After all, nothing's better than a box of freshly baked cookies that are made with lots of love? I would definitely love to receive a box of these lovelies.

Not only christmas, I think these are great for chinese new year as well. Hence, I am thinking of baking these for CNY to treat my relatives. Hope they will love it as much as I did.

What about you?

Try it! Good luck! :)

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Matcha white chocolate chip cookies (version 1)



Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way~

HOHOHO, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hello everyone, I am definitely getting into the christmas mood nowadays. I really can't wait for christmas! Eager to meet all my friends, and have parties with gift exchanges!

For the festive season, I'm getting into the cookie baking frenzy! Nope, not baking the conventional christmas cut out cookies with icing decorations, but specials ones like matcha flavour. In case you do not know, matcha is japanese green tea. I love the fragrance of it. (yes, currently obsessed over matcha flavoured food as well :P) I experimented with 2 different recipes that gave me 2 completely different result. In the post I will be posting version 1, which is more like the normal kind of white chocolate chip cookie with subtle matcha flavour. Version 2 (click here)is more crunchy and has a more intense matcha flavour. I gave them to a few friends to taste, but the conclusion was both versions are nice! Depends on your own preference though.

Recipe adapted from hilarymakes.com
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp matcha powder
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
6 oz good quality white chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, matcha powder, baking soda and salt

3. In another larger bowl, mix together the butter with both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs. Beat until well mixed.
Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

4. Fold in the white chocolate chunks.

5. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough on a non-stick baking sheet, or a pan lined with parchment paper. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the centre.

Makes 3 dozen


Pardon me for the lack of skills which resulted in the cookies turning out kind of ugly ): BUT, taste-wise it was really good, no joke! I stacked up my cookies into a pyramid and with my awesome photo editing skills I made a christmas tree out of it. HAHAHA. Looks decent right??

Try it yourself!

Good luck! :)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Healthy banana bread - (Oil-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free)



The festive season is coming! Are you excited about it? Think about all the gatherings with family and friends, and most importantly, the part which I love the most is FEASTING. Yumz. Can't wait to indulge in all kinds of food especially when now it's school holidays, which makes it a legit reason (in my opinion) to celebrate it with good food!!! *drools*

Alright, since we are most probably going to feast and gobble down all the fattening food and then if you have some self-conscious like me you will feel super guilty while eating, thinking to yourself that it's okay, after eating all these food I will exercise tomorrow. And the next thing you know is, TOMORROW NEVER COMES. There goes, all the fats will be stuck in your body. Congratulations, not.

I am not saying that we can't feast during this festive season, but instead we should eat in moderately. Of course, there will be meals that you really need to feast like a pig ('cos you can't resist all the awesome food) but there will definitely be some times whereby you should eat lesser, and HEALTHIER.

This healthy banana bread is a good option to start off a healthier diet!

Recipe adapted from herfelicity

Ingredients:
3 large sized ripe bananas
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Mash and blend the bananas.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder before folding into blended banana mixture.
4. Pour the batter into a lined tin.
5. Bake at 180 degree C for 30-40 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean.

For nut lovers, you can add in chopped walnuts! :) I did and the result was lovely!


AND VIOLA~ Out of the oven comes your healthy banana bread. I love how light the bread is, and super adore it for the fact that it is oil free.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Matcha (Green Tea) pound cake



Apologies for the long hiatus from blogging again! Had been busy juggling school and social life these days, I just cleared several mid term tests few days ago. Can finally take a breather, and do things that make me happy. That is... Baking! :D Since I had some time to spare today, I decided to bake a loaf cake! Very glad that I finally bought a loaf pan! Been seeing many recipes that use loaf pan to bake, and the cakes really turned out good! After contemplating for months, I finally decided to invest in one. So, cheers to more loaf cakes in future! Can't wait!

So for my maiden attempt baking a loaf, a matcha cake was baked! Matcha, also known as green tea, is an awesome product. There are tonnes of health benefits such as increasing the metabolism and anti-depressant... Go google to find out more! Benefits aside, I love the subtle aroma of green tea. It's such a delightful flavour, a good alternative to heavy flavours like chocolate and coffee. I will definitely explore more recipes with my newly bought matcha powder. Matcha cookies, matcha chiffon cake, matcha macarons.... *imagines more matcha products* Anyway, this matcha cake that I baked was delish! Only downside is probably it is not sweet enough for my sweet tooth! I altered the recipe and reduced the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup thinking that it would suit my health conscious family more. Yes, my parents accepted it well, but for the sweet tooth of mine, nope! Another thing I like about this recipe is that it is super fast and easy! Just mix everything together, and pop it into the oven. I took about 15 minutes, one of the fastest baking sessions I have ever done.

Recipe adapted from appetiteforchina
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons green tea powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and green tea powder.
3. In another bowl, using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs. Add the sifted flour mixture and mix until well-combined.
4. Pour the batter into a buttered loaf pan (I used a 9"x5" pan). Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Jelly Hearts

Made some jelly hearts with my friend the other day, and even though it is very time consuming, but the jelly hearts are such a delight to eat! Love how the different layers complement one another! We also made a blueberry version with blackcurrant jelly, and it tasted just as good as well.




Shall not post the recipe here because StoryOfBing.com has great pictorial guide! So head over to that website to have a look! :D

Good Luck!



Friday, August 2, 2013

Blackcurrant Cheese Tarts

Hello everyone, in case you might be wondering if I made a mistake in the title, that I typed blackcurrant instead of blueberry (blueberry cheese tarts are the more commonly found ones). Nope, I did not! Reason why I tweaked this recipe from blueberry to blackcurrant is because I only have blackcurrant jam at home! :P Thus, you can do the same too if you do not have blueberry/blackcurrant jam. Just use whatever jam that you like! Hopefully it turns out as nice as mine :D


Adapted from ReeseKitchen.

(This recipe yields about 16 middle sized tarts)

Pastry:
125g butter
60g fine granulated sugar
250g all purpose flour (plain flour)
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp COLD water (may need more than that)

Method:
1. Sift flour and sugar into mixing bowl
2. Rub butter into flour until resembles coarse crumbs (rubbing method)

this method is similar to pineapple tarts!
3. Add in egg yolk, vanilla and water
4. Shape dough into ball and refrigerate (20-30 minutes) before using
** (before using, take out fr fridge, wait for awhile until dough soften)
5. Place dough onto tart shells, and poke the base with fork (this is to let the air comes out while baking)
6. Bake at 160-170'C for 10-15 minutes or until brown

Filling:
250g cream cheese
20g butter
60g fine granulated sugar
1 egg

Method:
1. Beat cheese, butter and sugar together until fluffy
2. Add in egg and beat till well mix
3. Spoon some jam on the baked tart shells then fill it up with cream cheese mixture. Use toothpick or fork to create swirl effect!
4. Bake at 170-180'C for 10 minutes


Used a diabetic-friendly jam!

The inside of my tart and look at my cute minion nails! :D :D

Additional notes:
- Of course, I reduced the amount of sugar in both tart and filling! Reduced each by about 20g.
- I extended both baking durations by 10 min (not sure if it is the problem of my oven or what)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Ji Dan Gao (Steamed Egg Cake)

Annyeong! Ji Dan Gao is an old school delight that many people fondly remember as the snack that they used to nom on when they were young. My parents and older siblings are one of them as well. For myself, I do not remember eating this when I was young... Or maybe I was too young to remember then. I made this couple of weeks ago but it failed to turn out well. Maybe it was due to the baking powder that I used, the cake did not rise up well and hence resulted in a stiff cake. I cannot let it go that I failed, hence today I tried my luck again and hurray, I SUCCEED! You know, nothing tastes better than success.

The cake turned out to be really soft and fluffy. I believe it is due to the fact that it was steamed. Steamed food just have this alluring factor. Another interesting fact is that this cake uses carbonated drinks for it's soda that makes it rises up. The most important reason why I love this cake is that IT IS TOTALLY OIL FREE!!! Not a single drop of oil is used at all. Therefore, it made washing up super duper easy!! I hate washing up oily dishes everytime after I bake. Also, the oil free factor made this cake very addictive. I had to control my hands that were constantly reaching out for more of the cake.


Hehheh, I used peach flavoured fanta! That's the only can of soft drink that I could find at home. Luckily the peach flavoured didn't turn out to be strong.

Recipe adapted from thelittleteochew

Recipe
- 220g eggs excluding weight of shells (about 4 large eggs)
- 210g caster sugar (I reduced it to 150g)
- 230g cake flour or top flour (sifted 2 or 3 times)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp cream soda or 7-Up or Sprite

1. Whisk the eggs till frothy, then start adding sugar a little by little, to ensure it is well-incorporated. Add vanilla extract and continue beating until the batter becomes very pale, thick and creamy. This takes time, and there is no shortcut. Meanwhile, heat up your wok, pot or steamer until you get a gentle boil. Do make sure it is large enough to fit the cake tin and has ample space for the batter to rise and the steam to circulate.

2. Fold in the flour in thirds, alternating with the soda, and ending with flour. Once there are no streaks of flour, stop.

3. To steam, either pour the mixture into a bamboo steamer lined with greaseproof paper or use a 6 or 7-inch lined baking tin. Pop it into the wok, pot or steamer - then cover - and steam on high for 30mins.

4. Once done, place the cake on a rack and allow to cool before slicing.

See the cotton-like soft and fluffy inside?

Some points to take note:
- Beat the eggs mixture until frothy, it should turn out to be creamy looking.
- Steam your mixture as soon as possible. Avoid letting it rest for too long. I separated my mixture into 2 portions and steamed one after another. The second batch turned out to be less soft. I believe it is due to the long resting time that caused the rising agent in the cake to be less effective.
- You can omit the vanilla essence if you have a stronger egg taste. I added vanilla essence but my parents commented that it tasted less egg-y as those sold outside.
- Reduce the sugar amount further if you do not have a sweet tooth. However, refrain from huge reduction as it would definitely make a difference to the texture of the cake.


Many many love for this awesome cake!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Awesome Earl Grey Tea Cake

Hihihihi, any readers out there? I'm truly apologetic for not updating this blog for so many months. Previously I was really busy with school work hence I had no time to bake. Therefore, I was on hiatus for several months. However, the long awaited summer holidays have started, and it's time to start baking again! To be honest, I had already baked several times before this post, however all of them were failures (and thus I couldn't post anything up here!) But good news, today I baked something and it turned out so wonderful that I must share it with more people.


My family say that this is the best cake that I have ever baked. Personally I do love it as well! The subtle earl grey tea fragrant that lingers in your mouth after you eat it, and the zesty lemon that complements the tea flavour. Not forgetting the dessicated coconut that adds more texture to the cake. Thumbs up for myself! I'm definitely going to bake this again!


Original recipe from anncoo journal
150g Plain flour
1/8tsp Baking powder
150g Butter, softened
130g Confectioner sugar (icing sugar)
1/2 tbsp Glucose/golden syrup or honey
3 Eggs (70g each)
1/8 tsp Salt
5g Earl grey tea dust from 2 tea bags
20g dessicated coconut
1 tbsp Fresh whole milk
Lemon zest from 1 large lemon

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line a 19 x 9 x 8cm loaf tin with parchment paper all sides up.
2. Sift flour and baking together twice, set aside.
3. Beat butter, icing sugar and glucose together until light and very fluffy. Gradually add eggs and beat well, then add salt, tea dust, dessicated coconut, lemon zest and milk. Mix well.
4. Add flour mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. Surface of batter should be glossy and smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared loaf tin and for 50 minutes or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Note that the baking time may vary according to your oven.
6. When the cake is done, unmould cake and peel away parchment paper.
7. Leave to cool completely before serving. If storing, wrap with cling wrap.

I used a square tin that makes a thinner cake, thus my baking time is about 35 min only. Original recipe uses grounded almond instead of dessicated coconut and after cake is baked lemon syrup is brushed onto it. However the health conscious me has decided to do away with the lemon syrup. If you are interested do visit anncoo journal for detailed instructions!


I'm not kidding when i say that this cake is really gorgeous.

Look at the inside!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Best Pineapple Tarts

[UPDATED}


DA JIA HAO! (Hello everyone!) Chinese New Year is around the corner again~ Speaking about Chinese New Year, which part of it do you look forward to most? Is it buying new clothes, receiving red packets (definitely not giving out right?), gatherings with friends and relatives or... THE FOOD PART?? Personally, I definitely love buying new clothes for chinese new year as this is the only time that is justified for me to buy new clothes without getting nagged by parents for splurging money. However, I truly adore the food part as well! Whenever it comes to CNY there would be a table set up in my living room to store all the CNY goodies. Yes, that is the most sinful table ever. Filled with goodies like nuts, chocolates, bakgua and my absolute favourite... PINEAPPLE TARTS! I love pineapple tarts!!!!!! I love those with crust that melts in your mouth. That kind of feeling is truly bliss~

The are many types of pineapple tarts, but my favourite are those that pineapple filling are wrapped in the pastry. Pineapple tarts can be found easily in the supermarkets, bakeries and many other stores. However, I find many of them not up to my standard. Some are too sweet, some just lack the buttery taste and some simply awful. Hence, last year while I was free I went to research on pineapple tart recipes and lucky me found an awesome one. Baked according to the recipes and the outcome was a great success! :) Hence today I would like to share with all of you this wonderful recipe that gives you the best melt-in-your-mouth pineapple tarts. *thumbs up*


Recipe adopted from littleteochew

Ingredients:
400g plain flour
50g corn flour
1/4 (heaped) tsp salt
280g cold, unsalted butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
3 tsp cold/iced water
6 tsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water (for glazing)

Instructions:
1. Sift flour, icing sugar and salt. Mix well to combine.

2. Using the tip of fork, rub butter into flour until it looks like fine bread crumbs If necessary, use fingertips to continue to rub lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces.

3. Beat together egg yolks, cold water and vanilla extract. Add it int the butter flour mixture. Using fingertips, gently coax all the crumbs into one large dough ball. Do no knead. As long as all the crumbs come together, stop. Chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes, covered.
4. Use dough as desired. Glaze.
5. Bake at 160 deg cel for 20 minutes.


I'm sorry you might need to go somewhere else to look for the pineapple jam recipe if you are determined to make it yourself. I bought the ready made pineapple filling as I do not have the time nor courage to make my own. ): Would probably try doing that only when I am super free.

Trust my words, bake this recipe and make all your relatives and friends love you more (and probably get more angpows? :D)

Here are some photos of what I baked last year. Sorry my lousy old phone camera doesn't do any justice to the yumminess of the pineapple tarts.



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Rainbow cake


Who could resist a rainbow cake? I love colourful things, so I super adore my rainbow cake!! This is the first time I baked something so pretty looking, and I just cannot stop praising how beautiful it is. I really really love my rainbow cake! Totally didn't expect it to turn how so perfectly looking. However, of course the cake isn't totally perfect. This is the sweetest cake that I have ever baked. And if you noticed, I have low tolerance for sweetness. Thus, this cake is just not good for my taste buds.

Recipe adapted and modified from ladyironchef
Originated from whisk kid

Instead of using the Lemony Swiss Meringue Butter-cream from original recipe, I used vanilla buttercream recipe from mysweetandsaucy instead.

CAUTION:THIS CAKE IS VERY SWEET SO PLEASE REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF SUGAR IN BOTH CAKE & CREAM.

White Cake
226g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/3cups (426g) granulated sugar
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups (426g) all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple gel paste colouring

Vanilla Buttercream
340g unsalted butter
7.5 cups icing sugar
1.5 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons whole milk
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

for cake:
1. Preheat oven at 175 deg cel. Butter and line as many 9" round pans as possible.
2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and sat. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar on high speed using mixer until fluffy. Switch to medium-low speed and add in vanilla extract and egg whites slowly. Mix until fully incorporated. Change speed to low, using wet-dry ingredient method, add in 1/3 milk 1/3 flour. Keep alternating, ending with flour mixture. Mix well.
4. Divide the batter into 6 portions. (Can be divided equally by weighing) then add in gel colourings into each portion. Pour one portion into one pan and bake each for about 15min.

for buttercream:
1. Cream butter and salt for 30secs.
2. Add milk and half icing sugar and beat until combined.
3. Add rest of the icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat.
4. Beat on high speed for 5-6min or until fluffy.

tips/notes
As mentioned, this recipe yields a very sweet cake (See flour-sugar ratio-1vs1!!) Hence I would definitely suggest that you reduce sugar amount. For cake I reduced to about 320g of sugar while for buttercream I only used 3 cups of icing sugar and yet I still produced a super sweet cake. But again, it's according to your own liking and preference.If you have a sweet tooth, go ahead!

You would need to use GEL colourings instead of liquids ones to obtain a vibrant result. Liquid colourings would probably give your pastel coloured rainbow instead. Also, you may buy the primary colours only (red, yellow, blue) and mix them to get orange (red+yellow) and purple/violet (red+blue). I bought wilton's gel colouring that comes in a pack of 4 colours (red,orange,yellow,blue)and I had to mix the colours to get green and purple. It turned out quite well right?

This cake is actually quite plain in terms of taste (definitely not in terms of the look) hence I would suggest that you add in some decorating, like how I used biscuit crumbs for the coating. Definitely makes the cake more yummy!

I baked this cake for my friend's birthday. I love everyone's reaction when the cake was cut and the magic was revealed-RAINBOW! Everyone started to get really excited and many were busy snapping photos of this gorgeous cake.


I have awed all my friends, and now it's your turn to impress people with this magical rainbow cake!

Good luck! :D

Friday, January 4, 2013

Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

Finally back to updating this blog after such a long hiatus! This afternoon I finally got the lazy me to start baking again. Maiden attempt to bake cupcakes and they were a success, lookwise.

Came across the recipe on yankaykay's blog, was so attracted to it, it looks soooo delicious. As usual I went on to search for other versions of this recipe and I found the original recipe at joylicious. Upon reading the first sentence of the post I was totally sold and I knew that I have to try out this recipe. It goes: I always tell girlfriends who can't cook -- "Ladies, there's only 3 recipes you'll ever have to learn to win over any man's heart: the perfectly seared steak, killer mashed potatoes and these Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes."

I modified the recipe quite a bit, maybe that is the reason why mine didn't turn out really delicious (but still yummy!). This recipe yields 18 cupcakes for me.



What I need!!
Recipe (crust, batter & cream cheese)

for crust:
15 digestive crackers, crumbed (I only used 8!!)
125g (or less) butter
3 tbsp sugar (I omitted this to cut down sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.
2. Crush up the digestive crackers and mix in sugar and butter until it holds together when pressed down.
3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of it into cupcake liner and press down with finger/spoon.
4. Bake for 3-5 minutes.



For batter:
4 egg whites and 2 tbs of sugar
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp of salt
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 cup sour cream/plain yogurt
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and diced

1. Beat egg whites and 2tbs of sugar until stiff, glossy peaks appear. Be careful not to overbeat. Set aside.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, add in vanilla extract and beat on low speed. Then add half the flour mixture until incorporated then mix in the sour cream or yogurt. Add remaining flour & mix until just blended.
4. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg into the batter until combined, do not over mix the egg whites or the cake will fall flat. Add remaining egg and fold in the chopped strawberries.
5. Fill each muffin tin about 3/4 of the way and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.




For cheese cream:
250g cream cheese
125g of butter
300g (or less) of icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar slowly in small batches, beating on low speed until incorporated. Once all sugar has been added, increase the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

I omitted the cream cheese because after baking the cake I was very exhausted. Furthermore my family doesn't have much liking for cream stuffs, hence... Hahaha, coming up with too many excuses for my laziness :P