Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Currently there seems to be a cupcake craze in Kuching. I thought I try my hand at cupcake making. Unfortunately, Mom's oven went bonkers. One batch of cupcake took us more then 2 hours to bake. I hope Dad gets her a new one soon. I gotta stop baking for a while. -__- sigghhh.

Basic Vanilla Cup Cake Recipe
Ingredients

• 5 oz (150g) Butter - softened
• 5 oz (150g) superfine (castor) sugar
• 6 oz (175g) self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350oF (180oC).
2. Line a 12 cup cake pan, with cup cake papers.
3. Crack the eggs into a cup and beat lightly with a fork.
4. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and creamy.
6. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch.
8. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
9. Allow to cool fully before icing. Notes Makes 12 cakes.

Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients

• 5 oz (150g) Butter - softened
• 8 oz (250g) confectioners (icing) sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp hot water

Method
1. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric beater.
2. Once well combined, add the vanilla and water. Beat until smooth and creamy. Notes Makes approx 12 cakes.

Homemade Pizza

I made homemade pizza for dinner on Sunday night. I manage to find an easy no-yeast pizza dough recipe online at Recipezaar. Its perfect for me cox my family loves thin crusted pizzas and I hate fussing around with yeast. For toppings I used leftover Christmas ham, mushrooms, capsicum, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. You can use anything you like. Easy-peasy.

I saved some for my friend who enjoyed his snack after his golf game. For someone who hasn't have pizza for ages, he comments were "nice, but everything is nice when you're hungry". My responds -__-... (mumble, mumble) "kanasai!"

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Methods:

1. Heat oven to 180 deg Celsius
2. Measure ingredients into a bowl.
3. Mix until mixture leaves the side of the bowl.
4. Gather dough together and press into a ball.
5. Knead dough in bowl 10 times to make smooth then divide dough in half.
6. On lightly floured surface roll each half onto a greased tray.
7. Add toppings and bake for 20-25 minutes of until it looks done.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Made this last Sunday but I didn't manage to post d recipe till now. I made this for a friend of mine which was feeling a bit down. He loves chocolate and keep reminding me of the brownies I made previously for him from a premix. This time I opt to make it from scratch since Happy Home Baking has a pretty easy recipe to try.

He loved it and he felt a bit better after the treat. I think it won't be long till he request for it again.

Ingredients:

• 150 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 120 ml sunflower oil
• 180 g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 65 g self-raising flour
• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Optional:

• 1/2 cup Chopped walnuts (I omitted this)
• 1/2 cup Chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degC. Lightly grease a shallow 19cm/7.5 inch square pan.
2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
3. Beat together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl. (I used a whisk for this)
4. Stir in the melted chocolate then beat well until evenly mixed.
5. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the batter. With a spatula, fold thoroughly until all the flour mixture incorporates into the batter.
6. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Mix well.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared square tin. Spread the mixture evenly to the edges. (The mixture is rather sticky and gooey.)
8. Bake for about 30 ~ 35 mins until the top is firm and crusty. Cool in the pan before cutting into squares.

Inspired by Happy Home Baking. Her recipe can be found here.