Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen
Source: L
(Original recipe taken from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grandpops-Special-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx)

“For every delicious cake, there are 9 bad cakes”, such is the insightful comment L uttered as she passed me one of her all-time-favourite cake recipes. I have known L for almost a year and she continues to impress me every time we talk about baking. I’ve been doing pretty well though; I have managed to dig out at least 3 foolproof and extremely delicious cake recipes from L.

It was my first attempt to bake a chocolate cake and using L’s chocolate cake recipe, it turned out to be a huge success. The cake was very moist and there was a intensive chocolate flavour. Being a novice baker, I have had a lot of bad baking experience. Of course, each failed attempt was always because I used a bad cake recipe. I’m sure my poor, or plainly lack of, baking techniques bear no fault

Because I had such back luck in baking (yes, it’s always safe to blame luck), I was jumping with joy when I had a success with L’s chocolate cake recipe. I’m even happier when I realized the cake has a dense and yet very moist texture that is similar to the High Five cake at Death By Chocolate’s. This is the kind of chocolate cake that you won’t be able to stop after taking one bite.

You will need the following ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the brand Brute, a dutch-processed cocoa powder with a high concentration of cocoa)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup full fat milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup room temperature coffee
- 2 eggs warmed up to room temperature
- A dollop of room temperature butter and 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to grease and dust a 9” pan

- Heat oven to 325F.
- Shift all the dried ingredients into a large bowl.
- Pour all the wet ingredients into the bowl.
- Mix all ingredients until just combine. I always try NOT to over-mix.

Pour batter into the square pan. Shake the pan gently to let the air bubbles escape. Put the pan into the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the skewer comes out clean after inserted into the cake.

After the cake is taken out of the oven, place it on a wire rack to let it cool down to room temperature. The cake could be enjoyed as is but I decided to turn it into my own creation of a four layer “High Four”.

I iced the cake with a cream cheese icing and a dark chocolate ganache.

Cream cheese icing:
- 1 block (250 g) or cream cheese warmed up to room temperature
- 1/2 powder sugar

- In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese over high speed until it becomes fluffy (about 2 minutes).
- Add powder sugar one tablespoonful at a time.

Chocolate ganache:
- 1 cup of coarsely chopped dark chocolate (I use the Callebaut baking chocolate)
- 1/3 cup of heavy cream

- Warm heavy cream in the microwave until it gets hot but not boiling
- Mix cream into chocolate. If there are chunks of undissolved chocolate, heat the chocolate in the microwave for 20 second at a time until all chocolate has been dissolved.

Cake the cake into 4 layers:
- If you are like me who cannot cut straight, it would be easier to cut the cake vertically in half first. This is a trick that L taught me.
- If the cake has risen up during baking, trim off the raised top horizontally to make it even.
- Take each half and cut it horizontally in half.

Using a spatula, spread a good amount of cream cheese icing on the first layer. Put the second layer on top of the cream cheese and put on the ganache. Repeat with the cream cheese on the third layer. Finally put the ganache on the top layer.

Place the cake in the fridge and let it set for 5 hours before serving. Before I cut the cake, I usually let it sit at room temperature for half an hour. I find it easier to cut through the layers when the icing and ganache have become soft.

Drizzle a little amount of raspberry sauce on a plate and dessert is ready.

Location: My tiny kitchen

About a couple of months ago I made a mango cheesecake and after I posted a picture of it online, many people asked me how it was plated. I remember my reply to everyone was, “it’s easy!”. Although appears fancy, the mango cheesecake was plated with only a few simple tools using a little amount of time.

For those of you who asked me how the plating was done: read the following steps so that you’ll know I’m right about how easy it is

Before you begin, you need to take 3 package of 8 oz cream cheese (24 oz in total) and 3 eggs out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature. Do not begin baking until these ingredients are warmed up to room temperature. Having these ingredients at room temperature is important for creating a smooth cheesecake.

Turn the oven on for 300F.

You will need 4 mangoes. Slice the mangoes in half and discard the middle section containing the pit. Using a spoon, spoon out all the flesh.

Using a hand blender, blend the mango flesh into a puree.

To ensure a smooth texture, pass the mango puree through a sieve.
Mix in 2 tbsp of lemon juice.
Taste the puree to check how sweet it is. If you find the puree too sour, add in sugar a spoonful at a time until you think it is sweet enough.

With the mango puree ready, it’s time to prepare the crust. I go for the lazy way – mix out-of-the-box graham cracker crumbs with butter.

In a bowl, put in 1 and 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs. Mix 1/4 cup of melted butter into the crumbs.

Press the crumbs firmly into a 9” springform pan. Push the crumbs 1” up the side of the pan.
Put the pan into the oven and bake the crumbs for 10 mins.
Let the pan cool down after the crumbs are done.

In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese at medium speed for 3 minutes.
Put in 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat for 5 minutes until the cream cheese is fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time. Add the next egg only when the previous one has been fully incorporated into the cream cheese.
Add in 1 cup of the mango puree. Save the rest for later use.
Add in 2 tbsp of flour.
Add in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract.
Add in 1/4 tsp of salt.

Cover the bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil. Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan. Run the batter back and forth with a knife to release air bubbles. When running the knife through the batter, be careful not to run the knife too deep into the batter and scrap the crumbs off the bottom of the pan.

Pour an inch of hot water into a huge baking pan. Place the springform pan into the baking pan.

Bake at 300F for 1.5 hour. After 1.5 hour, turn off the heat and leave the cake in the oven for 20 minutes with the oven door ajar. To check if the cake is done, gently shake the springform pan – the cake should be solid on the edge and giggling a little at the centre.

After leaving the cake in the oven with no heat for 20 minutes, take the cake out and place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Once the cake has been cooled down completely, put the cake in the fridge for 5 hours before cutting it.

Now the fun begins. To plate the cake, you will need the following:

- Raspberry sauce filled in a squeeze bottle.
- 1 chopstick
- A spoon
- The mango puree which you saved earlier
- A plate (of course!); preferably square in shape

Put 2 tbsp of mango puree in the middle of the dish. Draw a yellow circle on the dish using the bottom of the spoon.
Using the squeeze bottle, draw an inner and an outer circle on the dish.

And a secret is now revealed (drum rolling): to make the “spider” pattern, use a chopstick and make one swift and steady stroke from the centre of the yellow circle to the outside. I usually make 4 long strokes by ending the chopstick outside the yellow circle. Then I make 4 short strokes by ending the chopstick right at the edge of the yellow circle.

To add the finishing touch, I place a dot of raspberry sauce at the end of each stroke.
Put a slice of the mango cheesecake on the pattern and there you have it:

Location: My tiny kitchen

As the ultimate meat lover, I adore beef, and to me eating steaks is the best way to enjoy beef. On weekend evenings, I would cook a couple of steaks for me and ET, and we’ll open a bottle of red wine to go with them. The key to cooking good steaks is in getting the best grade of beef you can find. Once you have the good beef, then you are half way there. I like cooking my steaks in a simple way. This recipe will give you some really well seared meat in 5 minutes. Enjoy the cow!

I usually get my steaks from Safeway. I don’t go to just any Safeway, I go to the Safeways that have a butcher counter where you can get triple A beef. Their price is a little higher than other grocery stores but the quality makes up for the cost.

ET and I love ribeye steaks. Although they are not as tender as tenderloins, but their flavour is wonderful. We almost always get ribeyes. I always pick the pieces that have the most marble.

The only seasonings I put on my steaks are salt and pepper. Put in a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and salt on both sides. I’m using some Fleur de Sel here.


The second key to cooking good steaks is in timing. It’s all about the time. Heat a pan until it is very hot, which takes about 2 minutes. Put in oil. Put in the steaks.
Sear one side on high heat for 2 minutes.
Cover the pan.
Turn the heat down to medium and cook for one more minute.
Flip the steaks, sear the other side for 2 minutes over medium heat and with the pan covered during the whole time.

If you are using a gas stove, this will give you a medium rare doneness for an one inch thick steak. If you are cooking a thicker steak, such as the tenderloins, then you will need to cook each side for longer. Just like everything else in life, the best way to learn to control the doneness is by cooking more steaks.


There, my perfectly medium rare ribeyes. They were so succulent and flavourful. Yum.