Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling

Pumpkin, just like potato,sweet potato, or banana in a cake making stage. It makes the cake more dense, soft and moist. That is one of the reason why I love baking with potato, banana and pumpkin. I mean who doesn't like moist cake?

And when it comes to cream cheese.....maybe not everyone enjoy creamcheese. But luckily , I do! I am a cheese-a-holic :D. My mom told me that when I was little and cute (ehm), I love to eat rice and grated cheese. And that's it. So whenever I do the GTM (Gerakan Tutup Mulut), my mom offer me a bowl of warm rice and grate lotsa cheddar cheese as the topping. Something I couldn't resist, my mom said.

When I first look at the recipe, mmmhh.... pumpkin collaborate with creamcheese, I really really think I must bake it! Especially the recipe calls for spekkoek, it is a special mix herbs with a blissful scents of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. To make it practical and simple, I use ready to use bumbu spekkoek. Actually we can make it ourself at home, but It takes time :D 

The result is super yummmmm, even when it is still inside the oven, the spekkoek scents is all over the house. You can barely taste the pumpkin puree on the bread, but it has a big contribution to the soft and moist texture. 

PUMPKIN BREAD WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

Source : Joy of Baking via Hesti's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS :

Cream Cheese Filling:

115 gr cream cheese, room temperature

35 gr granulated white sugar

half egg or 1 small egg

Pumpkin Bread:

225 gr all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

I tablespoon ground spekkoek

2 large eggs

200 gr granulated sugar

115 gr unsalted butter

210 gr pumpkin puree

60 ml water

1 tsp vanilla paste

DIRECTIONS :

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter and lightly flour 23 x 13 x 8 cm loaf pans. 

Cream Cheese Filling: With a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and egg and process just until smooth and creamy. Do not over process. Set aside.

Pumpkin Bread:

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground spekkoek

2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar and melted butter and whisk to combine.  Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, water, and vanilla extract.

3. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix as it will make the bread tough.

4.Take half of the batter and pour it to the loaf pan. Then Spread the cream cheese evenly.  Top with the remaining half of batter

5. Bake the breads for about 55  65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean (a few moist crumbs is okay). 

6. Place pans on a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing breads from pans.

Prol Tape Keju

Quick Post!

If you love fermented cassava, then you must try this! 

The recipe taken from Mba Hesti's blog.

Ingredients :

300 gr fermented cassava, remove the cord, mashed

75 gr sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

70 gr all purpose flour

100 ml plain milk

50 gr melted butter

1 egg yolk

grated cheddar cheese for sprinkle

How to :

1. Pre-heat your oven 180 degree celsius

2. Mix well mashed fermented cassava, sugar and salt. Add in egg, mix until well combined.

3. Add in the flour,mix well. Then add in the milk and melted butter,mix until everything is combined.

4. Smear your baking pan (i use 18x18 square pan) with margarine/butter, cover with baking paper and then smear some butter

5. Pour the batter to the pan, bake for 20 minutes, smear the egg yolk and sprinkle with grated cheese.

6. Baked for about 30-40 minutes

Fermented Cassava Cake

Once upon a super duper hot and sunny day, I was waiting for my little boy at school. It was a boring day, you know....nothing to do, just have a light chat with some mommies whose also waiting for their kids.

Just then I heard a seller offering his stuffs. Its fermented cassava. Oh thanks God! I have been waiting for this particular seller for some times, but never got the chance to stop or get them around my house. I don't know why I'm always late. Why bother to wait for this seller? Nothing special, I just missed fermented cassava, that is. There are so many recipes with fermented cassava that I'm planning to try.

This time, I'm making cake with fermented cassava. The recipe was taken from one of my most favorite foodblogger : Mba Vania Samperuru of  Adventurelicious.

Lets just go to the recipe :D

This cake is moist, soft, and oh so yummmyyyy....just the way I expected it! The key to make the batter thick and rise is the eggs. Its very important to make sure the eggs you use is in fresh condition.

INGREDIENTS:

300 gr fermented cassava, remove the cord

50 ml sweet condensed milk, or thick coconut milk

5 eggs

180 gr caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

150 gr butter,you can also use margarine. Melted

100 gr grated cheddar cheese

Shift :

175 gr all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

HOW TO: 

1. Smear a 20cm baking pan with butter, and spread a little flour evenly.

2. Mashed the fermented cassava with fork, add in the sweet condensed milk. Mix well. Set aside.

3. Using mixer, mix the eggs and sugar with high speed until the batter thick,rising and white. 

4. Add in the vanilla paste, mix well. And then add the fermented cassava a little at a time, mix well. 

5. Pour the melted butter, fold back with a spatula. 

6. Add in the flour and 50gr of grated cheddar. Fold with spatula.

7. Pour the batter into pan, cook for about 45 minutes in 180 degree celcius 

8. Let cool and ready to serve.

Steamed Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Ganache

Baking cake is one of my favorite thing. You know, the smells of just baked cake is intoxicating. It fullfill the whole house with it goodness. When my family eat it and enjoy it..it is a thrill to see. Makes me feel happy to the fullest.

Well that's baking. It is a different story if you asked me about...cake decorating. Gaaaah! I'm a bad cake decorator. I have stiffy fingers that is so difficult to cooperate with decorating tools. Give up yet? Nope . In some special occasions, I still bake cakes for my family and friends. Even my eldest said that the cake I made was always scrumptious, but decoration was ugly . I won't blame him for saying the truth, hahaha. Sooo this is what I do to cover (a little of) the cake. Just spread some sweets and chocolates and candies! Even the ganache was dreadful to see, ain't it? 

I'm using the recipe from 500 resep kue dan masakan ny. Liem. I only make 1/3 of the recipe. And its enough for 20cm round pan.

You know what, this cake is da bomb! It is a steamed cake, but it taste sooo good, sooo chocolatey. You gotta try this. Recommended. Trust me.

Emulsifier is not mandatory, even when I made the cake, I don't use emulsifier. Just make sure you use fresh eggs. If you're feeling unsure, add 2 egg yolks to the batter, as replacement of emulsifier. There you go.

I'm not gonna share the ganache recipe now, maybe some other time. Got this new ganache recipe from one of the baking class I attended. It is so rich, velvety, and chocolatey. 

Btw, the cake will look more decent if you cut it into half, and spread some buttercream or chocolate ganache. But even without that its still taste soooo good.

Ingredients I :

- 4 eggs

- 150 gr sugar

-  1 tsp cake emulsifier (optional)

- 1 tsp vanilla paste

Ingredients II: Mix and shift

- 80 gr all purpose flour

- 35 gr chocolate powder

- 1/4 sdt baking powder

Ingredients III: Melt with double boiler pan

- 125 ml canola oil/cooking oil

- 75 gr dark cooking chocolate

How to: 

1. Prepare 20cm round pan, spread with butter and flour. Set aside.

2. Melt ingredients II until well combined.

3. With stand mixer, mix ingredients I with low speed until dissolved. Then change the speed into high until the batter looks thick, white and rising.

4. Change to low speed, add on ingredients II little by little. Add in ingredients III. Mix well, not too long. I prefer using spatula on this stage. Using cut and fold to mix the batter. Becareful not to overmix the batter, it can cause the cake's not rising. 

5. Pour the batter to the pan. Tuang ke loyang, kukus 40 menit. 

Tips : use kitchen towel to wrap the steamer lid. So that the water did not fall into the cake, as it can cause your cake surface has holes.

Chocolate Almond Cake

Julia Child's recipe. Pardon me for the short and to the point post. I am so in a hectic situation lately. Will update this post once I got the chance to do it. Highly recommended! It is soft, moist, dense, chocolate-y and oh my gosh addictive!

Chocolate Almond Cake

taken from Completely Delicious

Ingredients :

For the cake:

113 grams dark cooking chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons coffee

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (132 grams) + 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

3 large eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup (35 grams) almond flour/meal

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup (57 grams) cake flour, sifted

For the icing:

113 grams dark cooking chocolate, chopped

4 tablespoons coffee

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Slivered almonds, for garnish

Instructions

To make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Butter and flour an 20cm round cake pan and line with parchment paper.

2. Combine the chopped chocolate and coffee or run in a small bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir as the chocolate melts and remove from heat as soon as it's smooth. Set aside to cool.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2/3 cup sugar until pale and creamy. Add the 3 egg yolks and beat until thick. Add the cooled melted chocolate. Stir in the almond extract and almond meal/flour and mix until just combined.

4. In a separate bowl and with a whisk attachment, whip the 3 egg whites and salt on high speed until foamy. Slowly add the tablespoon of sugar and whip to stiff peaks.

5. Add 1/4 of the whipped egg whites to the batter and fold gently until combined. Add and fold in the remaining whites in 3 additions, alternating with the sifted cake flour. Fold only until the streaks of egg whites disappear, do not overmix.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake until the edges are set but the center still jiggles when the pan is bumped, about 25 minutes.

Let cool 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to remove cake from pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For Icing :

1. Combine the chopped chocolate and coffee or run in a small bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir as the chocolate melts and remove from heat as soon as it's smooth.

Add the butter a tablespoon at a time and use a whisk to beat it into the chocolate. Whisk until smooth.

Let the icing cool to a spreadable consistency, stirring it every 5 minutes or so. It should take about 15-20 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Spoon the icing on top of the cooled cake and spread it to cover. Garnish with slivered almonds.

Glazed Strawberry Bread

Have you ever tried a strawberry bread? Well, for me, this is my first time ever! I usually bake banana bread or pumpkin bread. Not strawberry . So when I surfed my favorite recipe blogs and stumbled upon this recipe, I feel excited. You know, I love glaze! And Sally's word sounds so promising! 

When it comes to strawberry, only 3 people would eat it at my house, as my eldest doesn't like strawberry in any forms. But his little bro, he ate everything that tastes good. Haha. He loves strawberry, even when it is sooo tangy, he'll still eat it. But he usually ask for some chocolate sauce to dip in. 

After reading the review, I am soooo going to make the bread. Especially because Sally thinks that the bread is moist. Very important issue for me, I don't enjoy dry texture cake, it makes my throat itchy and makes me want to drink a gallon of water afterwards. 

This bread taste like heaven in my mouth. Burst with flavor. It is a whole different experience for me. I can't stop munching over it, until I realised I haven't take a single photo of the sliced bread . So sorry for the incomplete report. If you are using ripe and sweet strawberry, you might want to cut the sugar amount a little bit. As when you combined the bread with the glaze, it become sweeter. My strawberry is tangy, so I follow the recipe to a T, and very satisfied with it.

Glazed Strawberry Bread

Source : Sally's baking addiction

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (accurately measured)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 large egg, at room temperature

3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (50g) light or dark brown sugar (I am using palm sugar)

1 cup (240ml) buttermilk 

1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried, chopped, and tossed in 1 Tablespoon of flour

GLAZE

1/2 cup (120g) confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3-4 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. 

Make the bread: In a large bowl, toss the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until combined. Make sure there are no brown sugar lumps remaining. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until there are no more lumps. Try very hard not to overmix, which will result in a tough textured bread. Fold in the strawberries.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes to 1 hour. I cover the bread loosely with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to prevent the top from getting too brown. Poke the center of the bread with a toothpick at 45 minutes. If it comes out clean, the bread is done. If it comes out wet, bake longer. Oven times will vary. Let the bread cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and cream together until combined and creamy. Drizzle over bread immediately before serving.

French Almond Cake

Nowadays as my weight is keep "upgrading", I try to reduce my intake of sweet stuff...and that, my friends, including cake with gluten. Sigh. In case you are wondering why I've been away from this blog lately, that because I'm trying hard not to eat cake, muffin and so on. It really is tough! I'm not a big fan of sweets, but I love cakes and muffins......And my main reason to bake myself cakes and muffins is so that I can control the ingredients. I always reduce the use of sugar on every recipe I make.

Gluten....another problem here. I don't have to talk long about this. I believe we all know the bad things caused by consuming gluten continuously. Been trying to use whole wheat flour, but my family doesn't enjoy it :( . So, to cut the gluten intake, I make schedule. Silly? I don't care, I'm doing this for my family's health. So, baking with gluten stuff, only twice a week. And that is maximal. Other than that, I make other things than gluten stuffs. Mostly Indonesian traditional food using glutinous rice flour, tapioca and so on. 

And for the first time ever, I begin to make cakes with ground almond! I don't use it entirely, tho. Still mix with flour. But this one is acceptable in my family's taste bud.

What I'm going to share is the recipe I found on one of my favorite blog. French almond cake. The taste is ohhhh so scrumptious and nutty. Of course you can not compare it with the soft texture of flour. But surprisingly, I loooove this cake. And for more, this recipe is incredibly simple to make. I mean simple SIMPLE. Though the recipe call for a hand mixer, I was too lazy to use it, so I use balloon whisker instead. And it turns out successful.

FRENCH ALMOND CAKE

source : Happy Home Baking

110g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and leave to soften
120g caster sugar (If you are a sweet tooth, add the sugar to 150gr)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
90g ground almonds (almond powder)
40g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
1 tablespoon flaked almonds for sprinkling
some icing sugar for dusting

HOW TO:

1. Pre-heat oven at 160degC. Grease (with butter) and flour the sides and base of a 20cm pan, set aside.
2. Place butter, sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl, add almond powder, flour, milk, vanilla extract (optional) then beat with an electric mixer or whisk. When quite light and fluffy, 
3. Transfer to baking pan, spread evenly, then sprinkle the almond flakes.
4. Bake at 160 degC for 30-35mins, or until the sponge just springs back when pressed (mine took 40mins), or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
5. Dust with icing sugar prior to serving. 

Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake

From the title above, can you tell or imagine how good it is? 

Here is the thing, I guess some of my reader might know well that I'm into baking banana. But this one, dang! You have to try it! I mean it.

Cinnamon, palm sugar, choco chip and almond streusel. Something wrong with that words? Yes there is, they are the ingredients for the crumbs a.k.a streusel. Not just as sprinkle on top of the cake, but also as a layer. Can you imagine that? The only wrong thing is, we cannot stop eating it. My oh my, I don't dare to look at my scale for a week after. They are soft, moist, delectable, and soooo decadent. I did make some changes to the recipe. The original recipe doesn't required almond powder and I reduced the amount of choco chips. Oh ok, enuff with my bla bla. Go to your kitchen and collect your ingredients to bake this.  

Though my pics doesn't give fair explanation about how good it is, trust me.

INGREDIENTS

source : Sallys baking addiction. Modified by me

1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

75g unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cup mashed bananas, very ripe (about 3 large bananas)

1/4 cup (60g) yogurt

STREUSEL

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup palm sugar

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup ground almond

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 C degrees.  Smear with butter an 20cm square pan.

In a medium bowl, toss the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.  Mix until well combined. Set aside.

Using a handheld, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the mashed banana and yogurt and turn the mixer on high and beat until creamy, about 1 minute. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until combined. Do not overmix.

Make the streusel by combining all of the streusel ingredients into a small bowl. Layer half of the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with half of the streusel. Repeat with the rest of the batter and streusel. Bake for 40-50 minutes, covering the cake with aluminum foil after 25 minutes to prevent the edges from browning too quickly.  Test  with a toothpick; if it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Allow to slightly cool for ten minutes before cutting and serving.

Triple chocolate layer cake

I feel so sorry that I haven't upload this cake from last month. This was my little boy 3 rd birthday cake....

You see, this is my very first time baking birthday cake! Never in my entire life have I done this before. All this time, when it comes to birthday cake, we always buy from our favorite store :D  The thing is, I dont have the tools to make pretty looking cake, nor the baking pans! I have a 20cm round pan and a 20cm square pan. Sigh....however, I decide to continue my plan to make the cake. There is always a first time for everything. I don't know what to do with the different shape's pan, but heck...lets just do it! When the cake is ready, I then cut all the square edges of my chocolate cake to be stack with the round cake. Ohhh my gosh it was disastrous. Haha! So I did everything I can to cover the mess. For more, they are not even on the same height. The round cake is thicker than the square. 

As for the taste, it rocks! So very moist, and rich and chocolatey. Just the way I  like it. And the birthday boy? he looooooves it! Yeayyyyyy. I'm planning to share the cake with my nephew and nieces who regularly visit our home on the weekend, that is why I make the cake on Friday, a day after my boy's bday. Hoping that it will still be enough cake to share on saturday. Too bad they don't get a chance to taste it :D All the cakes are gone before they came :D My two boys looove it so much they even lick the homemade buttercream. Which they never did before! Of course I'm super happy, despite the cake appearance look a bit horrible, they are fantastic!

The cake use oil, and I think its perfect. You don't need butter smells to make this cake more delicious. And for more, oil always make cake more moist than butter!

ChoCOLATE LAYER CAKE

Cake adapted from Ina garten, via Sally's baking addiction

 1 and 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour

1 and 3/4 cup (350 grams) granulated sugar (I use 300 grams of sugar)

3/4 cup (95 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk

1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil 

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) freshly brewed strong hot coffee

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1.25 cups (2.5 sticks or 290 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (I use 1 cup)

3-4 cups (360-480 grams) powdered sugar (I only have 1 and 3/4 cup powder sugar)

3/4 cup (95 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (I use 1/2 cup chocolate powder)

3-5 Tablespoons (45-75 ml) heavy cream 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Butter & flour two 20cm round cake pans, or use non-stick spray.

2.      For the cake: Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

3.      Using a handheld or stand mixer on high speed, mix the buttermilk, oil, room temperature eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low. Add the coffee. The batter will be VERY thin. This is ok.

4.      Pour the batter into prepared baking pans and bake for 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

5.      For the frosting: Cream the butter with a hand mixer on medium speed for 3-4 minutes. This will create a nice creamy base for the frosting. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. Mix on low. Add 4 Tablespoons of heavy cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. If your frosting is too thin, add up to 1 more cup of powdered sugar. If your frosting is too thick, add up to 2 more Tablespoons of heavy cream. Add at least 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Taste the frosting and add more salt if the frosting is too sweet. Add more cocoa powder if the frosting is not chocolate-y enough. _Frosting recipe is forgiving. Add more/less of each ingredient to obtain the consistency and taste you desire._

6.      Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a plate. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with anything you desired.

7.      Cake stays fresh, moist, and soft at room temperature (covered) for up to 4 days. Cake may be refrigerated (covered) for up to 7 days.

 Sorry for the horrible pictures, I promise to post better photos if I bake this cake again :)