31 October 2012

Recipe - Devil's Food Orange Chocolate Cake

The latest addition to myhotstove, this is an adaptation to the original devil's food chocolate cake recipe. With a little dollop of orange emulco, the whole cake transforms into a mixture of rich n sinful chocolate cake with a distinctive tangy flavour that is just perfect for a special occasion! If it is difficult to locate for the orange emulco, you may alternatively opt for fresh orange juice, or Sunquick orange juice.

A 1.5kg devils food orange choc cake with orange cheese frosting :) Sprinkled with some chocolate rice balls to give the contrast effect to its overall figure :p My mom, who is not a true chocolate cake fan surprisingly love this cake very much. Sebab rasa oren katanya :)

It's not that easy to layer the cake with ganache first and later followed by cream cheese. You surely don't want to spoil the shining ganache layer when spreading the cream, hence i use a piping bag to pipe the cream, line by line... next to each other. Remember not to pipe a very huge and 'thick' lines else you will find it difficult to assemble the second layer cake on top of it. Takut it slips away and runtuh :p

I also use the same orange emulco for the cream cheese frosting. Just put a spoonful of it and taste the batter. Later try to adjust the orange flavour according to your liking. Jangan bubuh byk sgt...takut nnt the orange flavour overwhelm the whole cake.


there goes the first cut-out of my first devils orange cake...kasik jiran di pagi Eid in return for her nasi arab :)

Next time i wanna substitute the orange flavour with strawberry and blueberry flavour..mesti sedap!

25 October 2012

devils food chocolate orange cake

Kek raya haji ngeeee will update the recipe later till then *&%#:)


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Salam Eid Adha!

Here goes the final batch of red velvet orders for this week, and with this I will officially close the orders since I wanted to concentrate baking for the little kiddos in the house :)


This one is originally intended for kak Lin, a fren to my MMU fren Yanie. She texted me this morning saying that she got to go back to Terengganu urgently last night sebab atuk dia meninggal. Al-Fatihah to arwah atuk kak lin. She promised that she will get someone at her office to collect the cake on her behalf. Funny thing happened this morning when one of the AGMs at my place came to see me and told that her daughter came back home yesterday with a rv cake! (well the AGM actually has been eyeing for the rv cake that I made for my staff yesterday). He asked me if he wanted to order what is the delivery lead time (this is one of the commonly used terms amongst us in the Procurement team hihi). So I said give me at least 3 days advanced notice lah! Then he spotted the cake box on my table n asked ..haaa tu utk saya ke tuh? so I explained yg kek ni tak jadi diambil oleh owner nya sebab ada kes emergency. Dia pon tersenyum lebar and offered “okehh meh saya amik mmg rezeki saya nih!” then I said …betul ke haji nak nih…haji mkn ke kek yg bercheese2 nih? he replied…takperla saya tak mkn org lain bole makannnn. Isteri saya bwk balik ketupat blk kampung saya bawak blk benda lagi special!!”
tergelak besar saya pagi nih :p he really made my day teheee


and this last piece goes to a special colleague of mine, who happened to share lots of common interest with me. Hp sama, ring tone sama, suke online shopping handbag, suke dgr soundtrack lagu AH, dan sama2 giler terjebak dlm drama AH haha! Only different is that she’s one of the Aaronaters while am still not..at least not yet!  She once said that my rv is the best rv she had ever tasted..blush :p Thanx a bunch n hepi besday Kak Su! Moga sentiasa sihat dan dirahmati Allah selalu, moga bahagia dan ceria bersama Ilman selamanya. Dan paling penting, moga bertemu jodoh dgn orang sehensem abang AA hihi


Anyway im taking half day today. Will need to take care the kids in the afternoon since hubby got his lecture at 2pm. Still thinking what cake to bake for the kids. RV is a big no-no since firas does not like the red color :( He basically ordered a cake with choc chips and M&Ms on top…his usual favourite anyway..layan sajelah!

Happy Eid Adha to all my Muslim friends & readers. May u have a safe journey going back to ur hometown. We will be in Ampang, takleh blk Kedah since my eldest still hv 3 KAFA papers to go after the Eid. Can’t wait for this Sunday to come, it will be Geng Lunch’s gathering at Farra’s!

Selamat Berpuasa Sunat Hari Arafah (9 Zulhijjah) kpd semua. Jgn lupa berdoa byk2 bermula dari waktu Asar hingga sebelum Maghrib. Doa paling mustajab pd waktu ini. Jika puasa sunat, insya Allah ganjaran nya dihapuskan doa setahun yg lalu dan setahun yg akan datang. Allahuakbar!

24 October 2012

Roses Red Velvet Cake

Last weekend when i was doing my usual routine i.e. browsing thru the youtube i stumbled upon this one lovely cake which was covered with roses, not only few roses but with loads of roses! I was like...whoaaaa cantiknyerrrrr n kagumnyerrrrr with the rose swirly effect.From thereon i swear that i wanted to make a cake with roses deco, if i cannot have the perfect roses like the one i saw on the internet pon takper, janji ade rupa ros! wakaka. That person was using a M1 tip, but me only have the swirl 852 nozzle tip back in the kitchen. The tip is big enough to make a large swirl, but am not too sure whether it can produces a nice roses flower.

So for my new red velvet orders, the roses experiment begins.......













and this is my first output huwaaaaaaa i super like the effect! Not bad for a first timer huh (sori agak terperasan sket...actually over excited ok!)

These were made using a cream cheese. But i trust that the one made of buttercream will be much much nicer and hold its shape longer at room temperature :) Only that i don't really like buttercream but 1000x likes cream cheese frosting! Do not get fret if you cannot pipe your cream cheese nicely since dia cepat lembik kan. Just put it in a fridge for a while, take it out and quickly do the piping. Insya Allah the cream will pull thru n makes a nice swirly effect that resembles a rose flower :)

Looks better with some red love sugar sprinkles huh

another cake but with a slightly different pattern. Look almost similar but it was actually different. Can u spot the difference?

This is a small red velvet cake using half recipe. It's in a 6' pan and weighs around 770gram. PM me for the price wakaka siap ade promotion lagik tu :p

I'll post a special entry on my kitchen tools n essentials next time yer :)

23 October 2012

Hari Keusahawan SKLA

Hari Keusahawanan SKLA memang best! Macam2 ade...mmg event yg sgt best dan murid2 sgt enjoy.
jom layan gambar ye...malas nk tulis panjang2.

giant ball. my kids semua tak berani naik..hurmmm

ammar tunjuk2 ball. Alaa kalau mama letak awak guling2 dlm tu, mesti awak guling2 nangis nak kuar :p

siap ade pony ok! Ammar mula2 excited nak naik anak kuda nih (abang2 semua tak berani ish ish). Siap queue and bayar RM5 for a 2-circle ride. Tapi the moment kami letak dia atas kuda tuh...haa tgk muka dia...muka takottt!

badan dah menyenget nih ha... Akhirnya kami tumpas...terpaksa turunkan dia dari kuda tu sebab dia dah menangis dan menangis dan menangis lagik! abang kuda tu pon sure malas nak layan :p So dari 2 circle jadikla 1/2 circle jer...ish rugi RM5 abah!

Ok this is really cool n fun!  RM4 per kid. Ammar kitorang smuggle je tak bayar...sbb dia takooottt jugak..main lompat2 kejap jer :p

Firas in action

ada slides yg tinggi jugak ala2 macam kat waterpark tuh...tp kami snap video je, takde gambar


ada rabbit farm. RM3/kid. Abang Idlan takut nak masuk :p

ammar pon mula2 takut...
lama-lama baru berani. Agaknya baru dia realize rabbit tu cute macam dia teheee

baru lah berani touch2 telinga si rabbit tu :)

i like this one! band performance by abang2 askar...huish dah lama tak dgr band buat performance..mmg rasa best. firas pon excited!

Pameran askar...ade tunjuk macam2 senapang, meriam, peralatan askar like topi dia yg super berat, machine gun tu pon super berat ok dlm 3.5kg!

abah verangan tiru aksi askar

kids posing depan senapang ape ntah ni ai dah lupa

On top of above, ade pertunjukan ular, reptiles farm, jualan makanan n minuman, jualan toys (sgt bahaya), aktiviti mencanting batik, rumah hantu (yg ni mmg idlan nak sgt2 masuk tapi queue teramats panjang. tapi dia dah masuk hari jumaat tuh...siap cikgu maths dia jadi salah sorang hantu pocong bley? haha) etc. Slack hari panas, so mmg baju basah n rasa cepat penat ..dgn crowd yg ramai nye kan..ish 2 jam je kami bertahan...pastu balik rumah...sumer pakat beradu kerana keletihan :)

So syabas buat para guru dan murid SKLA! Taun depan harus buat lagi best ok!!

20 October 2012

Devils food cake again?

 Alhamdulillah, Idlan has done with his sek keb's final exam! It's over n merdeka to both him and us yeayy!!
But, his KAFA exam is due next week, starting from Tuesday, then continue on Wednesday, then off for Raya Haji n continue with another 3 more subjects right after raya hoho. Tomorrow his school will be having a Hari Keusahawanan where there are events n stalls selling lots of things. I can see that he was very intrigued n keep looking fwd for the day, especially sebab ada rumah hantu!

Anyway, here go some of the bakes that i made last night n a couple of days ago. Kebetulan, all is devils cake...from small-medium-large size hihi. What a coincidence :)

for a colleague who shares the same hard n pain when it comes to work-related thingy. Only difference is that we're doing different commodities. She texted me saying that her mum loved the cake very much, termasuklah dia skali :) TQ dear!

For an old n loyal customer of mine, who happened to be our jiran since years ago. This is a devils food cake with buttercream. No cream cheese since her husband is a not a cheese fan..ish rugi rugi :p Kak Nor wanted to pair this with Elmo cuppies like what she used to order last time, but im just too lazy to do decorative cuppies...masa tak mengizinkan la kak...perhaps next time yer bila ade mood!

M&Ms forming number 4...tapi tak berapa jadi tskkk

A large devils cake for Hasnida, who happened to be a neighbour to our MMU friend Rahimi, and who happened to be my hubby's childhood friends n neighbour back in Alor Setar yesteryears ago! After a few round of exchanging emails, we later learnt that Hasnida is also a relative to Kak Fatin, my senior in MMU and now working in the same co, and who's hubby is sitting just next to me doing the same job! haha tergelak besar bila tahu hal nih...what a small world kan :) Looks like my cake is connecting n reuniting people :p

Ok peeps, off to prepare brekkie for the family. Tak tahu nk masak apa dah. Asal weekend jer mesti repeat pancake, waffles, or cucur bilis with kucai. Nak masak heavy2 makcik agak malas erkkkk

18 October 2012

Kids and the hectic exam week

Alhamdulillah idlan is having his final papers today - sains & english. Tomorrow is Linus then merdeka for a short while until next week where he'll be having his Kafa exam on Tuesday n Wednesday. Break for Raya Haji celebration n continue again on the following week. Sounds tiring isn't it? Haha lucky we only hv 1 kid in primary else we may need to split up giving attention to each of the kid!


It was really a huge relieved when xm is over. Kids can go back to their normal routine..watching tv, playing ipad, fighting amongst them yada yadaaa. Me n hubby do not hv to sit next to our eldest accompanying him to do the revision. And me dun hv to copy the maths question again n again in the buku conteng n ask idlan to answer it over n over again. Merdeka to everyone in the house yeay!!


Oh anyway, firas threw us a maths question last few night which we ended up burst into laughter.


Biskut oreo + biskut kapten munch = ?


Go figure yer. If u're smart enough pls leave ur answer in the comment box tq!


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16 October 2012

Red Velvet Cake recipe!

As promised, here goes the red velvet recipe that i've tried over the weekend. There are quite extensive reviews over the recipe, which a number of people said the recipe sucks and their cakes did not turn out well as expected - dense, dry, flat, blablabla. However there are also many that gave positive comments which made me dare enough to give it a try. Tak rugi pun kan hehe kalau tak sedap just delete the recipes from your collection :)

Grandmother Paula's Red Velvet Cake (Source: www.foodnetwork.com)

 Ingredients for Cake:
 • 2 cups sugar – I reduce to 1 3/4 cups only
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature – 226g
• 2 eggs
 • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder – I added 3-4 tbs
• 2 ounces red food coloring – I added only 2.5tbs, don’t want it to appear too bright n striking! I Use Wilton Christmas Red gel coloring.
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour – I don’t have cake flour and used all-purpose flour. To substitute u just have to reduce 5tbs of the all purpose flour. Cake flour basically contains less protein hence will give a softer n moist texture to the cake. If u want to thicken the cake texture then just increase the all purpose flour.
 • 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk – substitute with 1tbs vinegar and pour the milk to fill the cup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vinegar – after 9 years of marriage I finally have my own vinegar in the kitchen. Not for cooking but special for rv only hihi!

 Icing:
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup melted marshmallows
 • 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans

However i don't use the above recipe. My usual cream cheese frosting goes like this:
250g cream cheese 
125g butter 
1 cup sifted icing sugar 
-Just put everything in your mixing bowl and blend them all together until creamy.

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition.
Mix cocoa and food coloring together and then add to sugar mixture; mix well.
Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture.
Pour batter into 3 (8-inch) round greased and floured pans.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting

It's my first time baking a cake using buttermilk (though not a pure buttermilk but having the vinegar as substitute) and i am really satisfied with the overall result. A softer cake texture that is still rich in contents n flavour. My RV looks tad bit darker since i added extra cocoa powder and reduce the red coloring. Some people say that their cakes were dry, which i think probably because they overbaked the cake. Or maybe they substitute the cake flour with all purpose flour using the same measurement, which is wrong coz that's gonna thicken ur cake texture due to the high protein content in the all purpose flour.

Fret not, you can try out this recipe step by step and still produce a good rv cake. If yours do not turn out well, perhaps u can share with me ur experience so that we can figure what went wrong with the steps.
Or if u malas nak buat then can just place order from me wakaka. I am more than happy to bake one for u if i am free :)

till then, have a good n pleasant days ahead! Idlan is having BM paper today. Moga dpt jawab dgn cemerlang yer...cuti nanti kite pegi jalan2 ok :)

14 October 2012

Red Velvet Cake!

Red velvet cake ni sangat glamer kan setuju tak? Almost any famous bakers out there mesti akan jual kek nih. I've never like RV all this while simply becoz the 1st one that i bought from Delici*ous is absolutely fail i think! Dry & expensive..these 2 words really do not justify the price that i had to pay for a piece of rv from a famous chain. So ever since that, i remind myself not to ever buy a rv cake anywhere, or from anyone. Until i had my 2nd bite from an officemate who bought it from her home-baker friend. Rasa dia, ahhhh sgt heaven. Moist, creamy, tasty...barulah sesuai dgn nama dia...:)

And so for the past few days i've been searching n scouting for the best rv cake from the internet. Study the cake reviews, comparing the recipes, and finally decided to give it a try using Paula Deen's recipe (plus few adaptations from Southern Food recipes and few alterations n substitutes since i dont have all the ingredients called for the recipe!).

And this is the verdict. My first RV cake that is truly moist, velvety n sinful haha! 10x better than the one sold at Delic*ious :p I will share the recipe in my next post, but before that let's feast ur eyes with some pictures of my first rv. Hubby said he still prefers DFCC than this, but i think this rv is special on its own...same goes to any other cakes anyway :)

1st pan. I use 3 (8' inch) pan for the whole recipe..mmg byk! The cake is very moist, hence lots of crumbs left when i tear off the baking paper from the cake. Need to be extra careful when u assemble the cake..senang pecah sbb terlalu moist n fragile :p U can strengthen the cake lil bit by adding lil bit of flour to the mixture.

2nd pan
and finally, the 3rd tray. Letih tunggu woo..pukul 1am baru tido! I tasted the crumbs..hmmm not bad...tak sabar nk frost the cake on the next morning!

Now the frosting time!! Cream cheese as usual...penah ke rasa RV with ganache or buttercream? macam tak sesuai kan hihi

sprinkle with some 100s n 1000s. But it looks rather plain isnt it...

so i covered with some strawberries on top...comei la sket rupanya :p Now, refrigerate the cake in fridge to let it set nicely...jgn terus potong yer :)

my 2nd & 3rd layer were assembled to make another 1 whole cake. Saje taknak assemble all the 3 layers into 1 whole cake...tinggi sgt rasa cam tak best n susah nak potong. 

So from 1 batch of recipe i got for myself 2 whole cake of RV...best best! Lemak pon makin bertambah...haaa eat at ur own risk yerrrr sila ingat! I think the recipe yields about 1.5-1.6kg ++ cake...tak timbang pun. But honestly portion dia mmg besar.

Now let's peek at the inside...sgt moist ok. I don't use the exact measure of red coloring as per the recipe becoz i dont it to appear too bright..scary kalo merah sgt. Kids pon sure takut bila tgk! As such my rv version looks lil bit darker than the usual rv sold outside.

1 slice gone in few secs...then terus sambung the 2nd slice (hihi)

the 2nd cake with 2 layers n cream cheese in the middle. Sgt creamy dan menggemukkan! Next time if i bake this again i would love to make lots of roses to cover the whole cake. Baru tgk video kat youtube semlm sgt gorjes rupa dia!

my kids eating their mama's first RV! Ammar habis 1 slice. Firas obviously tak berapa suke sebab kaler merah n he said cream ni tak best la. Padahal DFCC also is using the same cream cheese recipe tapi bley plak dia suke giler kat DFCC. Idlan mmg suke sgt but whatever cakes mama buat pun mmg dia suke sebab dia tgh kuat mkn skarang nih hihi. And me? ohhh ai mmg suke! To me it's more like a chocolaty version of a red-colored cake :) But if u ask me to rank my preference, it goes like this...
DFCC-carrot walnut-red velvet-pecan butterscotch

Okla i still hv lots of ironing to settle. Esok Idlan ada periksa LINUS. Moga anak mama dpt menjawab dgn cemerlang amin.