Moist and Dark Fruit Cake

"Yang, sedap nya kek ni. Mak suka.."

Mom would usually SMS me once she's safely reached home. Instead, yesterday she called and told me how the cake was :)

Well, made this for mom to bring home yesterday, of course one of her favourite cake too. No more us, being her helper..then, she could easily serve this to any guest who came for Raya by next week and good thing, this cake could last up to 2 weeks, kept cool in the fridge. Initially, Mom requested for a steam fruit cake, but with that tiny steamer of mine..instead i decided to give this a try.

This is the new recipe I tried form the same book..seems the recipes were foolproof (till now) and simple to follow. Looks like, i'll be trying all the recipes in the book soon. :)

The cake looks dry on the outer, but if you touch it down it was soft! I'll probably be making another of this soon for me to taste too.

Recipe as follow;

175 g raisins

175g sultanas

175g pitted prunes

150g halved cherries

50g dried blackcurrants

50g dried cranberries

50g pitted dates

Grated zest of 1 orange

250 ml orange juice

175g pure butter, SCS

175g soft brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

200g SRF

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
A handful of toasted almond on top

- Soak all dried fruits into the orange juice over night.

- Take 1/2 of the soaked fruits and made to puree.

- Pre-heat oven at 150 Celsius and grease an 8 inch square pan.

- Beat butter & sugar till fluffy.

- Add in beaten eggs, mix well.

- Add in fruit puree and remainder soaked fruits.

- Add in vanilla. mix well.

- Pour in flour and stir well until well combined.

- Pour into pan, bake until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Before baking, I've arranged some leftover toasted whole almonds on top of the cake.

Sharing the cake page from the book. I omitted the butter cream topping.

Happy baking and let me know how'd you like it.. :)

Almost Famous Amos Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tomorrow school starts, meaning our daily routine to resume and busy like usual. What an enjoyment to be a stay home mom. The Raya, the weekends, the school holidays..everyday were incomparable to the days we used to encounter during my working days. But I guess, different people do have different opinion and variable life style in living their life. I am just as good as what I am now, smelling the best essence of life :)

I baked these cookies on Thursday night and by the time I had the chance to update this entry, only 1/3 of cookies were still available in our cookies jar. I used the same recipe  as this one as posted earlier. But this time around I added 10 gram of cocoa powder + 1/2 cup of dried blackcurrants + 1/2 cup of dried cranberries + 1/4 cup of toasted almond nibs. To my surprise, the cookies were still crunchy and worth all the effort!!

My recent visit to the Pantry Magic in Bangsar, with these cookie cutters to add to my collection! Do email zsyakirah@gmail.com to order custom-made cookies to brighten up your special day.

And here too, home made vanilla essence from Pantry Magic. Having to bake almost weekly, I've been experimenting with different type of ingredients to achieve a delicious and delectable bakes, not only i'd like but to all. Thank you too Kak Farida for sharing her experience on how much difference can a pure ingredient, affect to your bakes. Like always, I'll be using pure butter (anchor or SCS) only and now will be using pure vanilla essence in my bakes. No more All Star brand vanilla flavour. Bake it, then u'll smell and taste the huge difference. Fida Vanilla, RM30 per 100 ml, u can still see the vanilla seeds in the bottle :)

Have a great week ahead all!

Strawberry Yoghurt Cake with Vanilla Cream

My parents, sisters, brother & SIL, came for dinner yesterday. As usual, the menu would be simple but decadent to everyone. If I'd cook something complicated, at the end no one will eat or even look at as, mom's cook were incomparable. Therefore, without thinking further, BBQ (hubby's special marinate) & fried mee hoon were the menu alike usual..and of course, I'll bake something different to be the centre of attraction.

I had leftover strawberry from last's week lassi..and while flipping the old cook book i had (Delicious Baking Magazine), and decided to try the Strawberry Yoghurt cake with Vanilla Cream.

Delicious..light..moist and soft & so refreshing with the lemony twist and most important, not that sweet! Just perfect after whacking all those oily lamb, chicken and salmon.

175gram butter 

200 gram SRF

200 gram caster sugar

150 ml low fat yoghurt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Lemon zest from whole lemon

A box of strawberry, thinly sliced + a hand full of sugar to sprinkle on top

- Pre-heat oven at 160 Celsius and grease an 8 inch square pan.

- Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.

- Add egg, one at a time, mix well.

- Add vanilla & lemon zest, mix well.

- Pour in yoghurt and flour, mix well.

- Pour batter in pan and arrange strawberry accordingly on top. Sprinkle sugar on top.

- Bake till done.

Once done, serve with whipped fresh cream & vanilla as well as toasted nibbed almond. 

Scrumptious!!

Though it was the same menu all over, but this delicious strawberry yoghurt cake had steered to perfect & sweet dinner for everyone.

Happy trying & baking. Cheers and enjoy your weekend!

At home at last..

Only today, we finally be at home and resting after days of visiting and eatings to both sides of the family. And, I still havent resume on any baking yet..rest till you can :)

Us, on the first day of Aidilfitri. It is so hard to really capture decent photos of the boys. They just cant stay still.

Below are some photos of bakes delivered on Saturday, a day before Eid. The rest of cakes (fruit, butter, orange, red velvet) were delivered without being captured..anyhow, thank you all!!! And again, Salam Aidilfitri!

Chocolate oreo cake with oreo cream & chocolate ganache.

Moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache as layer and buttercream for decorations.

Rainbow cake with buttercream.

My cookies ran out fast and so glad my family loved them and of course i'll be baking our own cookies for every Eid!. I have made another batch of the Almost Famous Amos cookies (tightly wrapped in the fridge), but havent have the time to bake them yet. 

Till then all..eat in moderation (telling my self too!) & be safe..

Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bright day all! Here is the other Raya cookie that I mentioned earlier. The best crunchy chocolate chip cookies and how true as was pro-claimed as, Almost Famous Amos! Bake it then you'll know it. It's light, crunchy and not too sweet alike Famous Amos..hence you can munch with half the guilt..hiksss

The recipe was taken from Kak Rima .

And...my favourite Raya delight..my mom's popiah gulung, with sweet peanuts fillings. My mom would make tins of these when we were small and we'd spend hours to roll these crunchy popiah. And now, when me and my sis were married, mom would still make these on her own, but just enough for us to munch. Yes, she 'll made it only for us!! Lucky hubby and kids wasn't too keen..and yes, they are all mine..hehe

People are flocking back to their kampung already..have a safe journey!

Eid Mubarak..

I am so sorry for the long silence. I've been fully occupied with the kids lately plus, all those eid preparations. Finding a boy's shirt is a headache, let alone shirts & pants..for 4 boys (including hubby), certainly drove me crazy.

My eldest son, have been fasting at his own will almost daily. And please dont imagine the request for Iftar, from the drinks to the main meal. By night, I was so exhausted and snuggling next to my baby, simply shoved me to the neverland till my morning alarm shouted aloud.

On the other note, my first year of being a stay home mom during Ramadan was really satisfying. So far, only 2 days of Iftar outside and the rest were all home cooked. And believe or not, I havent step a foot to a Ramadan Bazaar at all this year! And I missed my long queue and crowd at Restoran TTDI Jaya  for a decent Iftar meal! A good thing I've realized that..less wastage.

I managed to squeeze in some night time to bake these cookies for us. Only after all where arranged in their boxes I've realized that mostly where chocolate base..these were mainly requested by my sons.

Crunchy Almond London. Yes, this recipe is definitely to keep.

Recipe was from CMG.

Butter shortbread with chocolate. Nice!!
Recipe from Kak Wan, where i omit the cocoa for the cookie base..

Crunchy Snow Almond. Delicious!
Recipe was from Kak Azlita

Rolled pineaplle tart.
I did another version of tart using this recipe..nonetheless, I personally prefer..the previous version I did.

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I have 2 more cookies to share..but too lazy to take them out of their sealed boxes and take photos..insyaallah will do share soon.

And this cake was ordered last Sunday..sorry for such long delay to share the pic. Butter cake with chocolate chips and coated with chocolate ganache = chocolatey butter cake..perfect! We had some Maltesers in the fridge and simply arrange them on the cake.

To all, my valued customers, blog readers, friend, family and all the muslims..may His blessings are upon you & family for now and as always.

Be safe..eat in moderation..travel safe and take care. And dont forget to hug your loved ones :)

Happy Eid Ul Fitri all!!

Ramadan al-baraqah..

I've always planned but, due to circumstances everything changes and did not go as planned. I planned, yet He the Most Merciful decided. Especially in this month of Ramadan, everything seems so easy and perfectly seamless. Subhanallah and syukur.

I purposely announced early that no bakes during Ramadan as I feel I'd like to focus on family..nonetheless..request keeps coming in..my baby sleeps early now adays..once done completed my prayers..I was 'nothing' much to. One order accepted then, followed by another. Believe me, baking is very contagious. Once you've started, you'd be so eagerly to have more.

Thank you to all..again thank you!

Choc banana cake & chocolatey batik cake.

Rainbow cake with buttercream in Barbie theme.

Devil food cake in Cars theme.

Chocolate moist cake in Jake in the Neverland theme.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese with ruffle design.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese and fresh strawberry.

Thank you every one who ordered and having the trust in me :) Again thank you!