This few weeks, I just craze for pumpkin!

These are my favourites: The chubby one (left) and the notty one (right)

I made Sweet Caramel Pumpkin simply by baking the pumpkin,

200 C for 40-50 mins and separately prepared the caramel.

I like Hokkaido type the best.

But it’s so difficult to find it here. They have several types but most are for decoration

More pumpkins, I later made this pie. Incredibly easy recipe with great taste

Really really like this pie. But I would reduce the amount of the spices to half next time.

For a crunchier bottom, I used digestive biscuits + butter instead of ready made pie crust.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie Recipe serves 8

By: Allrecipe.com

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin – about 1.8 cups
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk – (I used diff. brand, 1.7 cups)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I would reduce each spice amount to half next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For the crust: 80 g digestive biscuits + 30 g melted butter) OR ready made pie crust
• *I used bread loaf baking dish for this amount of crust. Double it for bigger dish size.

1. Preheat oven to 210 C.
2. Prepare the crust: mix biscuits and melted butter. Press crumb mixture over bottom of prepared pie dish. Bake crust until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Keep aside.
3. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 170 C and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

*I prepared half of the ingredients and used bread loaf baking dish for my pie.

This weekend my little Misterchef was helping me in the kitchen preparing the breakfast. He just loved helping out whisking, pouring and finally messing up with all the stuff

We made Finnish baked ‘pannakakku’ or pancake and served warmly with a nice blueberry jam and some frozen raspberry.

Introducing, my kitchen helper for the day, little Mikael

This pancake is rich with creamy and soft texture. Believe me, you can never eat just one piece

It took me just 5-10 minutes (note that I was dealing with the little Misterchef too) to prepare this and additional 25 min to bake. I like nice saturday morning for such an easy breakfast

I got the recipe from one of the monthly free Finnish magazine at the supermarket. They normally didn’t use any sugar in the mixture but I added some as I liked it to have some more sweetness not only from the topping. Sprinkling some berries fruits is also one good idea for this recipe.

So here it is… a big tray for our breakfast today. Give it a try, you won’t regret it at all

Finnish Baked Pancake Recipe

• 500 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil
• 2 tbsp sugar (optional)
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• sugar for topping (to sprinkle)

1. Pre-heat your oven to 225 C.
2. Mix all of the ingredients except sugar for the topping in a big bowl. Mix well, manually or using electric mixer.
3. Pour the mixture into the baking tray (with baking paper). I used about 33cm x 30cm tray.
4. Sprinkle some sugar (you can also add some berries fruits) and bake for 25-30 minit.
5. Serve with jam or honey!

It was my son’s first birthday on 1st september 2010. I wanted to make something very special on his birthday and started browsing everywhere nearly one month before . I finally ended up choosing this Lightning McQueen Birthday Car Cake…  Many thanks for kitchenscrapbook for sharing this recipe/steps

I’m so glad it turned out really like a car and most importantly, the birthday boy liked it very much! He might not remember as he is so small still… But hopefully one day when he sees these, there will be a wonderful smile on his face

Ok… Back to the Piston Cup racer story… these are the things you need for the preparation: one square cake (I used eggless orange sponge cake 240 cm x 170 cm), ready made fondant in colour of your choice (i used red, yellow and white), buttercream icing (i follow this recipe HERE), stage for the car (you can use thin cardboard), knife, baking papers, roller, orange food colouring (depends on how you would like to decorate it), oreo biscuits as the wheels, and other necessary decorations.

First thing to do, cut your cake and arrange it to car shape. Don’t worry if your cake is not so flat (as mine ) or if the shape is not really promising at the beginning. You can easily correct it with buttercream icing in the next step.

Now, use your buttercream icing to shape shape shape… this cream is really thick and that makes your job pretty much easy

Then, roll the red fondant on a baking paper. When its ready, carefully lift up the baking paper and cover the car cake with the fondant. The fondant gets off quite easily from the baking paper and it is not necessary to sprinkle any powdered sugar.

The car cake is now looking like this

Using knife, cut extra fondant from every edges. Carefully slip in the end of the edges under the car cake to make it more nicer in shape.

Now comes the very interesting part…. Decorating

It’s all depend on how you want the car cake to look like. I used baking paper tu draw the shapes of eyes, windows, lightning, numbers etc. Then use the same paper to draw again on the rolled fondant. Cut the shapes and stick it onto the red fondant (on the car cake). I did not use any cream for this purposes. The fondant seemed to stick nicely on the other fondant without any help

For the mouth, make a small cut and carefully spread the cut to make it a little more bigger. Then, insert small piece of white fondant right in the cut space. This will be the teeth of Lightning McQueen

Finally, use a decoration pen (I used black/dark coco) to draw lines to the lamps, windows and also to make the eye balls.

There you go… your Lightning McQueen is now ready for the race

We were in Washington last May for attending a conference related to my job. We had a really great time there, especially for the sightseeing and seafoods booster!

One thing you must try in Washington is the famous Red Velvet Cupcake with delicious frosting and very moist cake. And of course the luxurious seafoods too

I tried this recipe from Joyofbaking and my husband and I really really loved it! we couldn’t find any buttermilk here in Kuopio but trying to prepare the buttermilk ourself was not a bad idea at all! the cake was really moist and tender and believe me, you just couldn’t have only one slice

I’ll try not to worry so much about weight this week, or maybe until the cake finishes

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Source: Joyofbaking

2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour (I used normal flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (15 grams) cocoa powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs (I used egg replacer)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk – see recipe below

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring (I added to 4 tablespoon)

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tespoon baking powder (I added this too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two – 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Buttermilk Recipe

Add 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, or lemon juice to 1 cup (240 ml) of milk. Let this mixture stand 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Cream Cheese Frosting

250ml whipping cream

200ml cream cheese

1/2 cup confectioner sugar

Mix everything in a big bowl and whip the cream until stiff peaks formed.

Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut.

Makes one- 9 inch (23 cm) four layer cake.

Cornbread anyone?

Let the pictures tell you how fluffy the cornbread is… it’s really a nice bread with perfect sweetness and hint of corn in every bite.  My very first cornbread and for sure I’m making it again

My 10 months old son is not eating very well now. At his age, he’s preference is more to playing and maybe he’s becoming a little picky too. I was so happy when he likes this cornbread and ate pretty much too

We also made some drink to have with the cornbread….

This is called Lai Chee Kang… one of Malaysian exotic drink I would say

It’s a combination of dried fruits and nuts…. just perfect for summer hotness

Light and Fluffy Cornbread Recipe

adapted from HoneyandButter

½ cup cornmeal
1 ½ cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 ¼ cup milk

Add dry ingredients, make a well and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk into the center. Stir until just mixed (batter will be runny – don’t be alarmed!). Bake in an 8” square pan at 177 degrees C for 35 minutes. This doubles perfectly for a 9X13-inch pan.

Just wanted to get rid of my old apples in the fridge, I searched for simple recipes in Tastespotting. Of course there are huge amounts of good recipes, but I somehow fell in love with the word “MOISTEST” apple cake used by Cook-Eat-Love in her blog.

She was using cream cheese in the recipe and the cake was indeed, really really moist… believe it or not, I made 3 apple cakes in one week!!! ohohoho…. I hope this ‘apple cake fever’ will be over soon. I really have to reduce some kgs now

This is the ‘devil’ cake which could make you non-stop eating

I edited the sugar amount since it was a bit too sweet for me and replaced butter with vege oil

Moistest Apple Cake Recipe

adapted from cook-eat-love

• 1 1/4 cups sugar (DIVIDED 1 and 1/4 cups)- original recipe was 1 1/2 and 1/4 cups
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil/butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 200 gm cream cheese
• 2 large eggs (I used Egg Replacer)
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups chopped peeled apples (I used red apples)

1. preheat oven to 175 degree C and spray 9 inch spring-form pan with cooking spray (or lining with baking paper)
2. Beat 1 c sugar, oil/butter, vanilla and cream cheese until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time and beat until blended after each. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry to creamed mixture and beat on low til blended.
3. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon (to be honest you can use a little less). Combine 2TBSP of cinnamon mixture to apples and mix to coat. Stir apple mixture into batter. Pour batter (it is THICK) into a 9 inch spring form and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mix.
4. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until cake pulls away from pan at sides or a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t be afraid-it takes a long time to bake, maybe even longer than written. If it gets too brown cover it loosely with foil.
5. This is under dessert but it is the best breakfast ever. Make muffins too.

Apples