Vanilla Butter Cake

Finally I got down to making this butter cake. This recipe received a lot of compliments from those into baking. The original recipe from Mrs S K Ng.

I googled n chanced upon a video tutorial by Baking With Mi. You can refer to the video to get a good picture of how to make this cake. 

The cake is light in texture n the height is marvelous but it feels oily to the touch. Personally I would prefer a sweeter version. The butter I used is Golden Churn brand. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BxJZ3rouKpA

The link above is the video tutorial

Ingredients 

230 gm butter softened

5 eggs separated into yolks n white (video recipe says 200 gm eggs without shells)

60 ml milk divided into 2 portions

150 gm sugar for butter batter 

200 gm self raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

50 gm caster sugar for the meringue 

Method

Prepare the butter batter

 

First cream the butter and caster sugar 150g, till the butter batter becomes twice its volume using the K-spade. Scrape down the sides after finish about 4-5 minutes medium speed.

 

Add the vanilla essence 1 teaspoon and incorporate it.

 

Add in the egg yolks one at a time and beat in. I scraped after every addition of egg.

 

Add in half the self raising flour. Beat for a while. While flour can still be seen at the sides, add in 30 gm of the milk and beat till incorporated. Scrape down the sides.

 

Add in the remaining milk and incorporate.

 

Add in the rest of the flour and beat a few seconds. Then use the spatula and mix the batter by hand. Set aside.

 

Prepare the 8 inch pan by greasing all round and line the base with parchment paper.

 

Prepare the meringue

 

Beat the egg whites on medium speed till the bubbles are very fine and slowly add on the caster sugar and beat till stiff peaks.

 

When you use the beater to lift up the meringue, the meringue stays on your beater.

 

I also inverted my bowl of meringue. The meringue will stay.

 

Heat the oven to 180 deg celcius.

 

Now, add half the meringue to the butter batter. I followed the video and used the spatula to fold in some and use the beater also.

 

Then fold in the rest of the meringue.

 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180 deg for 25 minutes.

 

Then turn the temp down to 150 deg and bake for 20 minutes.

 

Open the oven door slightly and let the cake stay inside for 10 minutes.

 

Remove the cake and invert onto the wire rack with pan in place

 

After some time, when cool to touch, remove the pan and peel off the parchment paper.

 

Invert onto cake board and cut and serve slightly warm.

 

Batter with vanilla and eggs.

 

 

Batter with half the flour.

After all has been incorporated

Prepare egg white meringue 

Stiff peak meringue

Fold in the meringue into butter batter

Finish folding

8 inch pan greased all round n lined base only

Baked at 25 mins 180 deg celcius and then 20 mins at 150 deg celcius. My cake has a slight crack in the middle.

Cool upside down - with pan on - this photo taken after cooling

Cake inverted for cutting.

Lovely height!

Me n my cake!

Light textured butter cake for you!

Happy Baking!

Stir fried petola or loofah or luffa

This is a simple stir fried dish that any hawker chap chye or economical rice stall sells. 

The petola I bought from market has the skin removed. 6 pcs for $2.50. 

I used 2 pcs for the dish. It is shaped like the cucumber n spongy inside.

Ingredients

1 -2 pcs garlic minced.

Cut up the petola into pyramids.

Salt

Soy sauce

Oyster sauce

White pepper 

1 small cup of Chicken stock or water 

A dash of sesame oil

1egg beaten

Fry garlic with oil.

Add in the beaten egg n break it up in wok

Add in the petolas n stir a bit.

Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon of oyster,  drizzle some soy sauce n add in the chicken stock or water.

Give the petola a good stir to mix in the sauce properly. 

Simmer for about 2-3 minutes till the colour turns nice bright green.

Stir in a drizzle of sesame oil.

Dish up and serve with white rice.

My helper used one petola n cooked with white miso paste to make a soup which she says her family always drink.

Happy cooking!

Romancing U 2014 by Ntuc

Romancing U nite 2014

Photo taken by the organizer.

From our handphone

This event is organized by NTUC Singapore. I have attended this event in 2013 n 2014. Last year we were at the Marina Baraage. This year we attended at The Promontory at Marina.

This is the open field and the stage and pink balloons decorated the place

This year there was a Love Boat ride included too.

Sunset boat ride

The day turned dark quickly and we started to learn dancing

After which we watched a movie in the open air while enjoying our hot dogs and  our deserts.

Heart shaped lollipops for all, free flow Nescsafe coffee , free tacos n fringe activities - but we skipped the fringe activities as the queue was pretty long.

Photo momento with the flower arch

Easter at Jurong Bird Park

We went out to Jurong Bird Park and joined in the Easter egg hunt completing tasks n the children were awarded chocolate eggs for their efforts.

Busy folding up the carrier for our eggs 

Balancing an egg like the penguin

The real penguins 

Guessing the number of eggs

Standing on one leg like the flamingo 

Knowing your eggs

Balancing a book on eggs

Ducks 

In the classroom learning how to feed a chick 

A Shoebill

Completed the tasks and awarded a badge

Tiring but gained a bit of knowledge about the birds.