Eggless Banana Cupcake-Can ya tell the diff?

While chatting with my colleague one day,she asked if I have ever tried baking cakes without eggs.."Why don't you try it?Perhaps,that can entice more health-conscious consumers to buy it."That was the suggestion she made.Well,that got me thinking"Why not?"I have always been intrigued by how cakes/muffins can be bake without the addition of essential ingredients.Eggs are supposed to provide structure and browning effect in cakes,what will happen if it is omitted?For instance,should bird flu strikes again(touchwood),can we still bake without eggs?Thus,I went browsing through the numerous recipes that I had hoarded over the years,er...I have more than 50 recipes books,which caused my bookshelf to collapse twice..haha..Eventually,i found one recipe and after tweaking it a little,I manage to bake the cupcakes as shown above.I used overly ripe bananas,reduce the sugar content,tossed in some chocolate chips, and the result is a dense cupcake which is sweet,moist but not as fluffy as normal cupcakes.In fact,a novice may not be able to tell the difference.Hehe...Hope that chubby clover will be enticed by the smell of my bakes and arrive soon,tomorrow will be my due date,yet she show no sign of emerging yet.Hmm..wonder when will my favourite cookie be ready?

Celebrity Star Chef-My two cents worth

After watching the previous eposide of the competition aired every tue at 8pm which shown a particular contestant being eliminated due to poor food handling hygiene,I cannot help but to share my view.Firstly,the contestant threw away a piece of sliced mango into the dustbin and claimed that it was intentional as he had no space to place it,and will wash it before using the mango.Secondly,he used the same chopping board for meat and strawberries without rinising the board.For all these mistakes which he commited,he was reprimanded severely by Sam Leong who did not award him with any mark and that eventually led to his downfall.I certainly agreed with Sam Leong in that despite the fact that the contestant can cook well,however,if one customer were to suffer from food poisioning,that will certainly spell the end of his career,not to mention the company reputation.Well,some pple may feel that Sam may be too harsh,but bacterial contamination can leads to diarrhoea,fever and severe vomiting which can be fatal should it happen to a young child.My friend who works in MOH has certainly seen her fair share of food posioning cases which is getting more prevalent nowadays.If only one bother to wash the chopping board after slicing meat,and before cutting veggies,that can reduce risk of bacteria transmitting from the meat to the veggies.In my house,I use two plastic chopping boards,one for meat and one for veggies,wood is not a good choice as it harbour bacteria easily.Always clean the work area ,and not being too messy can go a long way to prevent the cook from getting flustered too.As Anthony Bourdain once puts in"You wanna be a cook?Then work clean!!"My charges have this annoying habit of tasting the food with a teaspoon and after added in more seasoning or water,dipped the same spoon into the food without rinising.Goodness,that certainly drove me berserk.Haha...wonder if some viewers encounter this same problem.By being a little more cautious,we can drive the stomach flu virus away.Have u been a clean chef today?Hehe...

Celebrating my sweet victory with.........

Oreo lemony cheesecake!Hmm..the crust seems a bit crumble,perhaps it was due to insufficient pressing for the crust,whatever it was,that certainly did not hinder the taste at all.Instead of the original filling which consist of whipped cream,I modified it by using another lemon filling meant for lemon cheesecake,added in more lemon juice and some oreo chocolate cream.Verdict:It was rich,sour and oh,so sinful...This huge piece was wolfed down by my lao gong in less than 10 minutes.He used to be so ignorant about cakes,and his cake knowledge is limited to only butter cake and pandan cake.However,now not only does he loves his cake and for this cheesecake,he has been bugging me to do it since yesterday,see who's the more eager one this time?Haha....
Give it a try,your loved ones will love it too :]

Oreo Lemony Cheesecake
Biscuit Base:
150g oreo cookies (remove cream and crush finely)
40g melted butter

Cheese Filling
500g cream cheese
3 eggs
2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 lemon(squeeze to obtain juice)
2 lemons,grate to obtain rind
3 tbsp chocolate/original cream obtained from oreo cookies

Methods:
1.Prepare an 8 inch cake pan.Wrap base with aluminum foil,grease foil with butter.

2. Melt butter over stove or microwave,mix with crushed biscuit crumbs in a bowl.Biscuits can be crushed using food processor or place in plastic bag and hammer it using a rolling pin.Press crumbs firmly over base and sides and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3.Preheat oven to 160 *C.

4.To make lemon filling,beat cream cheese with electric beater till smooth.Add eggs,one at a time,beating well after each addition.Add flour,lemon juice,rind,chocolate/original cream and beat till well combined.Remove crust from fridge and pour filling over biscuit crust.

5. Bake for 45 minutes,remove,cooled and chill in the refrigerator for several hours until cold.Serve chilled.Enjoy.

Goin Nutz....

Hurray,my first baking sales can be considered a smashing hit,partly due to my promoters who helped me to pass my products around.Thanks alot.These are some samples of my bakes orders.In all,I managed to churn out 17 tubs of peanuts cookies,20 tubs of almond duckies,6 tubs of lemon butter cookies,7 boxes of chocolate cupcakes and 5 tubs of crispy moments.Phew,no mean feat for me who is lugging around with a "watermelon" at 38 weeks.Fortunately,chubby clover has been very co-operative and did not arrive early,however,as I still need my rest ,I had no choice but to cancel some orders.Really apologetic about it.Been working hard for 7 days straight now,and I must admit,I do feel like a clockwork mouse doing the same ole stuff for 2-3 days before I switch to baking other stuff,can be kinda boring.Haha...Cant wait to buy some cheese and make oreo cheesecake...Hmm...aren't I suppose to be on a diet?Haha...To heck with it...Must pamper myself first,and my lao gong who has been lamenting that I hardly give him any cookies to eat as all goes into my orders,haha...

Choc Cupcakes with ganache-nice?

Moist chocolate cupcakes with self-made ganache without cream,thus lessen the fattening factor,some prefer it with it,some prefer au natural.Whichever u prefer,I certainly hope that my consumers do enjoy it.Hope u enjoy eating it as much as I enjoy making it.Hehe...By the way,as the cakes are made without butter and only vegetable oil,hence with this ganache,it helps the cake to keep longer as long as it is kept in the fridge if not consumed straight away.

Thanks so much for your tremendous support :)

Wow,look at the massive amount of peanuts used for peanut cookies

My orders for the first week

Xie Xie,thanks so much for having the faith in me ;) Am touched by the heartwarming immediate response from my friends who rally around to order even though I am inexperienced and just starting out.The day I sent out my mass sms to inform my peers,I was bombarded by orders.Wah,it was more than I expected for,as I thought that nobody will buy.Thanks everyone for your concern as I will take care of myself and not overstrain.Rather than sit and wait for Clover's arrival,I would rather prefer to watch DVD and bake at the same time,all the while immense in the divine smell of baked products.Haha...The downside of baking??I had to test the products before packing and before I realised ,I had gobbled down more than I intend to..Hmm...Is that consider occupational hazard?Haha.....Well,no complaints so far except for my naggy and fatherly gynae who monitor my weight gain like a hawk.He will point out my weight gain or loss in grams and kg,well,if he knew what I have been eating,he will surely nag again.Sssh...Better ask my lao gong to seal his lips and not reveal..Haha...

Chewy,versatile Rice Cakes

Having dinner alone can be a lonely and boring affair,and it is so much easier to simply choose to tabao food rather than going through the trouble of cooking ,washing and cleaning up.However,being big and heavy ,I hardly venture out of the house and left with no choice,I simply rummaged through my food cupboard and found a packet of dried rice cakes.They resemble sliced fish cake without the skin.Being bland and chewy,they are great either stir-fried or boiled in soup.The rice cakes will absorb in all the flavours like a sponge and one can simply add in watever ingredients one fancy.The only downside is that the rice cakes have to be soaked for a couple of hours before they can be cooked,else it will remain hard and stick to the wok.In this dish,I simply added in watever I have available making it a healthy and economical meal.Do try the rice cakes,can be easily found in dried goods section in NTUC.A nice change from the normal rice....