An Eggless Birthday Cake

A Cake for Kayla

Our baby girl turned one recently. Yes, time flies. We had a small party for her with grandparents, auntie, uncles and cousins. I was planning what cake to make for her much in advance, for the was a tiny problem. She had bad eczema when she was a young baby. Most of it has cleared but she and I have been avoiding eggs (I avoid them too because I'm breastfeeding). Although I do plan to introduce small amounts in her diet with the intention of desensitizing her, her first birthday wasn't the time. So I tried several recipes beforehand.

Going Eggless

I pored over Pinterest, tried the condensed milk version and a few others. There were crumbly or had less than desirable taste or texture. Finally, I decided to modify my favourite chocolate cake recipe by replacing the eggs with flaxseed. The result was perfect! The cake was moist, yummy and does not fall apart easily.

So on her birtday I made this cake and iced it with pink buttercream frosting. I had extra batter since I was using two small cake tins, so I made some cupcakes with them. Emma, our eldest daughter decorated the party bags which were to be given to cousins and neighbours.

Kayla enjoyed her first cake. We let her make a mess and cleaned her up later.

So cheers to our little girl who just took her first steps yesterday. Sweet baby is also singing and talking and we're soaking up every precious moment.

Okay, okay, here's the recipe. Easy peasy.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

It has been way too long since I last posted. Christmas has passed and Chinese New Year is approaching. While I wish I have time to post some recipes for the festive goodies, I just don't have the time, especially to shoot the photos.

So here's something I did sometime last year. I made an orange chiffon cake for after rosary snack but it turned out kind of flat, so I simply had to try again. The second time around, I used a different flavour and wasn't as timid as I was about mixing the beaten egg white with the egg yolk mixture.

Here's how it turned out:

I'm happy with the way it turned out. It was soft and spongy and held its shape at the same time.

Chiffon cakes are normally not decorated, but she just had to...

Here's the recipe. You may change the flavour to whatever you prefer. If using citrus fruits, remember to add the zest as well.

Happy baking!

A Mickey Mouse Cake for a Big Girl

We had a small party to celebrate our daughter being a big girl. Not birthday party but a weaning party. Yes. I shall elaborate on that no further. Unless, of course, other moms are interested to know more.

Anyhow, she wanted balloons, party hats, presents, party packs and a pink cake with Mickey Mouse.
It was quite fun actually, getting all these stuff ready.

As for the cake, I've always wanted to try making buttercream icing toppers. So this was a good opportunity to give it a go. I'm happy to say that it turned out quite well, though it could've been neater at the top. It was good enough for me, especially since it got a "Wow!" from Emma.

I came across the method for making buttercream icing toppers from this blog. The cake is a Orange Poppyseed Cake. I won't be posting any recipes since they can be found at the links.

 

Here are more pictures of my baby all grown up! (Hugs and tears from mummy.)

 

 

Testing out her new crayons, trying to colour the minions "pink", which is her favourite colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another close-up of the cake:

 

A Jungle Themed Birthday Party

Earlier in the year, we had already decided to celebrate our daughter's birthday in some jungle or park. This was because our apartment is too small and McDonald's is too urban. A princess theme didn't suit our girl either as she was more the Dora Explorer type. We love nature, so we thought we should have her birthday party outdoors.

 

 

Here's the cake. It's a marble cake with buttercream icing, chocolate butterflies and royal icing flowers. It's a shame that I don't have a good quality picture of it.

 

 

 

And as per Chinese customary practice, I made birthday eggs except I made them more colourful instead of just red.

 

In spite of a few annoying incidents, the event turned out great, especially for the kids.

 

There were party bags, party hats (matching theme of course) and lots of food from everyone.

 

Just to share, the items in the party bags were:

• mini jelly
• sweets
• wafer
• water gun
• bubbles
• stickers

I also painted the kids hands with henna, the girls anyway. 

 
 

 

Here's the birthday girl playing with her water gun:

 

Some of the boys and men attempted fishing. The mummies were mostly just chilling out and watching the kids.

 

Right after the birthday song and candle blowing, the kids immediately ate all the flowers and butterflies from the cake!

 

Looking back, I'd really like to thank everyone for a memorable day. We had lots of fun. Here are more snapshots...

 

Okay, I guess that's enough pictures. Here's the recipe for the cake:



All Natural Red Velvet

Although I don't understand why, there seems to be a craze over red velvet cake. I mean, it's just red colouring in a cake right? But a trend is a trend. And many, like me, can't figure it out.

Anyway, I've tried making them at home, without the red colouring, and without much success either. I'd have a nice red batter but end up with a dull brownish cake.

So it was a nice relief to find a simple, workable recipe from PlayingWithMyFood. I made some slight modifications, of course, and they still turn out great.

.

 

 

Recipe:

1 medium red beet 
About 1/2 cup water
1 tsp vinegar
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt

 

Steam beet until soft, but not too long or the colour will fade.

Cut the beet into small cubes and blend with enough water to get 1 cup puree.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk together beet puree, vinegar, sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl.

Stir in the flour mixture a little at a time.

Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes.

 

And here's how it looks like, topped with cream cheese frosting, on the hands and mouth of my little helper.

Yums!



Apple Upside-Down Cake

Tea time!

Some weekends are lovely enough just to be comfy at home, especially when there's cake  for tea.

I modified the original recipe a little, by adding Cointreau and poppy seeds in the cake. Here's the recipe:
 

Ingredients

3 apples , cored and sliced
150g butter , softened
25g light brown muscovado sugar
125g golden caster sugar
2 eggs , beaten
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
a dash Cointreau

1.       Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the apples in a large, non-stick frying pan with 25g butter , muscovado sugar,  1 tsp cinnamon and Cointreau. Cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until just tender and caramelised, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

2.       Butter and line a 20cm round, deep cake tin. Arrange the apples in the base, reserving the syrupy pan juices. Beat the remaining butter and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold in gently until combined, then spoon the mixture on top of the apples. Level the surface and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch.

3.       Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a serving plate.