Adzuki Beans Mochi Cake

http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2010/02/red-bean-mochi-loaf.html

I recall I baked this mochi cake last year at around the same time.  One year later today, I think my baking skills have finally somewhat improved.  Hence I am more comfortable taking pictures (some) of the end products.  

I intended to bake this mochi cake for the Chinese New Year.  I know it is a bit late for that now.  I really like this cake because, well, I love mochi and anything with a chewy, gooey texture.  I reduced the sugar to less than 1 cup and the sweetness is perfect to my liking.  This mochi cake even tastes great when served at room temperature. 

Crusty French Baguette

http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/567945-Williams-Sonoma-Crusty-French-Baguette

These baguettes were baked about more than 2 weeks ago but for some reason I could not locate the pictures I took.  I finally found the pictures today and am able to post on my blog.  Wouldn't want to miss this one out because the baguettes were so crusty on the outside and moist in the centre.  I did not use the egg white method as suggested by the recipe.  I simply sprayed some water on the baguette before baking.  It really does the trick.  The dough freezes really well so that's another reason for me to bake more bread and eat more bread... haha! 

Olive Oil Pound Cake

 

http://www.foodgal.com/2010/07/olive-oil-sherry-pound-cake-and-a-chance-to-win-aussie-olive-oil-samples/

I absolutely love this recipe.  This is a pound cake baked with no butter.  I can now enjoy pound cake without worrying about having too much animal fats.  The pound cake is not greasy at all.  It has a hint of the extra virgin olive oil and I love the orange zest in it.  I did not put any sherry because I never like alcohol in baked goods.  I will definitely bake this cake again.  Next time I may put fresh orange juice to enhance the flavour and also to moisten the cake a little bit.  A must try.  I love it.  

Avocado Cream Cheese Cookies

http://anncoojournal.blogspot.com/2011/01/avocado-creamcheese-cookies.html

Perfect recipe to use up the avocado which has been sitting in my fridge for a few days.  How brilliant to use avocado as a substitute for butter.  Although it does not entirely eliminate it, the butter being used in this recipe is very minimal compared to other cookie recipes.  I found these cookies not very sweet so if you have a sweet tooth, just use more icing sugar.  

Hot Dog Buns

Ingredients:

Bread Flour - 200g

Sugar - 30g

Milk Powder - 6g

Yeast - 3g

Warm Water - 100g

Unsalted Butter - 25g

Egg - 1

Salt - 1g

Weiner - 4

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2.  Mix bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk powder and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer, and slowly pour in water.  In a stand mixer, knead the dough, add butter and knead till dough is smooth and elastic.  Leave aside to prove till the dough doubles in size.

3.  Divide the dough in four equal portions.  Leave aside to rest for 15 minutes.

4.  Roll the dough into individual long rod shapes and wrap around the weiners.

5.  Leave for final proof for about 30 minutes.  Brush lightly with egg wash.

6.  Bake on parchment paper or a silicone mat for 15 to 20 minutes.

Oops... for the egg wash, I forgot to mix the egg with water... 

These buns are so soft and yummy.  You can be creative and substitute weiners to ham, cheese, tuna, etc.  Once you have baked your own bread, you will never go back to buy store-bought ones!   

Chocolate Soufflé

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/chocolate-souffle2.html

Don't let the appearance fool you.  Soufflé is surprisingly easy to make.  

This recipe yields 6 soufflés and I made only 2 so I reduced the baking time to 15 minutes. The centre of the soufflés should jiggle when they are taken out from the oven.  Mine came out perfectly.  

Poppy Seeds Grapefruit Torte

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/poppy-seed-grapefruit-torte

It's F's big 40 birthday today.  Last year on this same day was the first time I really baked a cake.  One of my major strength and later turns out to be also my weakness is that I certainly do like to think big.  "How hard can it be?" I tend to believe I can achieve it all as long as I try, and things will eventually come together.  Well, not so true in baking, I found.  So of course, the cake I baked for F's birthday last year was a disaster.  

Then I took the Baking Arts course at GB and it absolutely changed my life.  It turned me into one-who-would-give-up-the-lunch-break-and-go-home-to-bake-as-long-as-there-is-45-minutes kind of person.  It also turned me into a cake-stand and baking pan collector.  I say "collector" because, to me, the thrill is to go out and buy these things... not so much to use them. I have also become a smart coupon-clipping grocery shopper because I have to stock up on butter, sugar and whipping cream and all those wonderful things from time to time.  

I chose this recipe because well, I have all the ingredients at home.  I think the white chocolate mousse would go very well with the tanginess of the grapefruits.  My first time making chocolate mousse, I found it a bit hard to handle in terms of frosting the cake and pipping the rosettes.  I tried piping waves on top of the cake but the mousse just didn't spread that well.  The mousse tastes really good, though.  It's rich and creamy but not too sweet.  The cake layer is light and spongy, topped with the refreshing grapefruit segments and white chocolate mousse.  

Everyone agrees that this is a much better cake than the one we had last year!