Chocolate Banana Cake (Low-sugar version)

Haa...been so active blogging these days, maybe it's because I have stopped blogging for a month before that :-P ~~ The post today is under 'Pastry & Confectionery' section. I have baked a cake for my buddies as a thanksgiving treat. I was inspired by cutie Joey's brilliant idea and it is also her all-time-favourite dessert --> Chocolate Banana Cake (with low sugar content). It was my very 1st time in baking a complete chocolate flavoured cake, luckily it turned out well. However, three huge banana were being mashed and combined together with the choco cake batter before baking. Therefore, you can hardly see any trace of banana...hee~


The original look of choco banana cake (crisp crust, yumm)


Ta-dah...thx JJ for her fabulous deco idea


Piece of fluffy cakie, that's small cube of banana inside, do u see that?

Alright, its 10.04am here, its still drizzling outside...its kinda cold...wish I have a cup of hot coffee to warm me up...! Till then, will be back after a week as I will be heading to Perth for winter holiday tonite! Stay tune, ok? Cheers !

Tough Decision ?!

Hoho, good morning everybody, I'm back for another new post. Saturday was a great night for me, I'd hope it's the same for all of ya, mates! It's 25th June 2007 - Monday, I'm still thinking which way I should lead to after the current study! I'm trying to get more opinions from those 'EXPERIENCED" and compare myself for the best decision of all. Hope I get to sort it out as soon as possible with no regret, that's what Kit bro was telling me yesterday night!

Its 24th June 2007 - Sunday, as usual, I woke up around 9am to get my laundry done. When I opened the laundry door (which is situated at the ground floor of the house and all the rooms are at the 1st floor!), I saw Mr.Possie (native animal - Possum) hiding behind my laundry powder...he looked like suffering in cold or hunger...poor ya,possie~


Halo, Mr Possie...

Its almost 11am, its time for JJ to get out from her comfy and warmness bed~ We have planned to have a lunch together @ Newfarm as my birthday celebration. She kept emphasized that I've reached 22nd years old...lol!! Being a great person where I used to be (**Cheh...:-P), I just smiled and laughed back at her....keke!

After 30 mins of citycat trip plus 10 mins walk from the ferry station, we reached the popular and busy Italian restaurant - Vue @ Newfarm that serves the local authentic and unique fusion of Italian & Aussie cuisines. The menu is so simple and doesn't allowed for modification of the pre-fixed menu ingredients...Cool huh!


The Italian 'Job' - Vue @ Newfarm


Starter - Potato wedges with sweet chilly sauce & sour cream


Main dish - Oregano Pizza with Rocket topping


Main dish - Penne with grilled pumpkins & sun-dried tomatoes (Yummilicious)

One word to summarize these wonder dishes - "Bravo!" The food tasted awesome with adequate spices and sauces...moreover the prices are quite reasonable...Will definitely pen down this place in my 'Food Monster - Complete Guide of Savoury Places" !! Haa...

After the lunch, we went to city for shopping while compensate with the extra weight that we put on just now :-P . Thanks again, JJ sis...Appreciate it very much...

My 22nd Birthdeii ~!!

Harlo, here's the much anticipated birthday report!! Just back from JZ's place for dinner and I have contributed a homecook dish --> Capsicumio Chicken~ Actually its just sliced chicken thighs stir fried with capsicum + carrots...haa~

Yesterday was my special day of the year - 23rd June 2007! Its my turn to be 22nd years old this time and I feel kinda different from now on...LOL! I will start this bloggie by reporting what had happened on the day before. I was waiting for 12am in M'sia time so that I would be able to give a surprise call for HuiTing and EeChau who is having the same birthday as I am. Guess what, they are even a sweet couple for few years...really cherish them from the bottom of my heart. It was 1am (Aussie time which is 2 hours ahead) here and I have started to yawn continuously! Finally its 2am, I picked up the phone and called HuiTing to convey my birthday wishes. As expected, EeChau was also beside at the same time. HuiTing switched on her speakerphone and we congratulated with each others...its such a sweet moment!!

After hanging up the phone, its my mobile to start its own working hours....haa! Gotta thanks all my dear, sweet, cute, handsome, macho and best buddies in Aussie, M'sia and even UK, for sending their wishes through messages. I'm really delighted with all these meaningful phrases, cheers to all of ya!! Miss all of ya man!! I will definitely be a good boy as what I've promised...haaa!!

On 23rd June morning, I was struggling to get myself out from the comfy bed! Arh, its winter and everyone is still hibernating~ In the afternoon, I went to city and decided to get some desserts (Rum Ruffle & Baked cheesecake) for Chian Ee and Eddy to give them some support as they still have their last final paper on the coming Monday. Surprisingly, they came out with a sweet pressie for my birthday...Yippie~


The CKIN2U - him Fragrance set (Thanks to ShunYing, Tommy, Chian Ee and Eddy)


Refreshing eau de toilette spray!!

At night, several mates and I went to Roselie for a simple birthday dinner to celebrate with me! The whole crew members for this occasion: KinFei, ZhiWei, HuiLeng, Sailo, HW,PW, JZ and I. The tasty fish & chip has been the limelight of the day to ease our glutton stomachs...Gotta thanks especially KinFei and ZhiWei for showing up as they just had their last paper 6 hours before.


Halo to the camera~


HW, PW, me and KinFei (tired right, cool man)


Sailo, HuiLeng, ZhiWei (tough gal, thx for being here) and me


Me, JZ and PW


Crumbed Flake with salads and chips...

Hoho, its everyone's favourite time - Dessert session! At first, we were thinking of going for ice-cream @ Freestyle but it was so crowded and needed to queue up for seats. Since that, we decided to change our plan to this newly established and catchy gelato shop - Gelateria Cremona instead. The shop is operated by a happy young couple who is originally from Italy and China respectively. Their wonder shop has even shown on various local newspapers and magazines...Thumbs up for this!


Gelateria Cremona, that's the owner of the shop (man wearing cap)


Tiramisu and Pear-flavoured gelato...YUMM!!


Yea, the complete pic of all the crew members!!

Yeap, that's a simple summary of my special day of Year 2007!! Last but not least, again, gotta thanks to all of you (Yesh, its YOU) for the wishes and things have done for me...I will definitely remember all of ya for sure...Just keep contact, and CHILL~~ See ya!!

Junction of LIFE~~

Yo mates, how's it going for everyone? Been 'disappeared' for almost a month, whoosh, kinda stressed up for the past few weeks...guess most of the people will have a tough last sem as me? Haa....Alright, here's another big cross road in part of my life, gotta make lots of considerations to make up my mind~~ Ah Shyang, grown up d, time to think for your own future...O.o ??!!

Just a day after my last paper on Thurs, I've decided to splash my cash in order to compensate my deep and huge eye bags by joining my gang over to Gold Coast and shopping! Here we go!!

**Those little gals are really crazy shopper, never underestimate on their potential especially 'SHOPPING"** LOL~

JZ and I decided to split ourselves from others and get a place to sit while waiting for those crazy shoppers to done with their shoppaholic addict!


The Coffee Club Menu...


Affogato (Shot of concentrated espresso and scope of vanilla ice-cream, YUM!)


Hee...the Aussie Nando's, kinda delicious and the portion are massive!

After 2 hours of sleepy and tiring train ride, finally got back to JZ's place...haa. They have asked me to stay on for a while and I have expected to have some surprise for my special birthday on the following day, haha!!


Happy Birthday to lil Kevin...22nd birthday....heee!!


Even got 2 reddish eggs...haaa


Thanks Penny and Jiet Yien for this lovely choc moist cake, lovely!

Altogether five people (JZ, Penny, Jiet Yien, Ken and me) celebrating my 22nd birthday at JZ's place...most of us got so tired and decided to celebrate earlier for me, appreciate it much, buddies ;-) !! Just after finishing the cake, each of us went back to their own place to 'trap' ourselves inside the nice warm quilt...so cold! (Its 12 degree celsius!! )

Finally gaining back some freedom, I have decided to borrow some cook books from Brisbane State Library to ease my cravings! I'm reading two great books at the moment, hehe.


Curtis Stone: Cooking with Curtis (a well-known Aussie chef, currently having his own cooking show called Take Home Chef, which is shown on Discovery channel, Astro every Friday nite!)


Tom O'Toole: Secrets of the Beechworth Bakery (An award-winner bakery in Victoria, Australia, yummy baking tips and pics!)

Alright, more to be updated as I will have my birthday dinner together with my great gangs tonight, stay tune folks...

CRITICAL Period~~

Harloo...I'm kinda slow in bloggin...especially during this so called "Critical Period"~ I gotta finish up my 2 remaining assignments for this sem plus the final exam's schedule had just announced...ARH, I feel the pressure...hopefully this pressure can be turned to my motivation...keke. My bakery has been shut down for long time, I will definitely start my baking hobby once everything's done...hehe...stay tune!

Took at Brisb CBD, on the way to KF's bday dinner. PeiWen, Me and JZ

After a busy week, I've decided to slack for today, I promised, only today - 19th May...:-P ! I went to Indooroopilly shopping centre together with my housemate, JJ and watched a move called Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg (That cool guy in Italian Job). Overall, double thumbs up for this awesome action movie...the explosion scenes were just too impressing...After movie, we decided to drop by at French Twist for tea...Thanks to her for treating me an aromatic Mocha plus these awesome cakes....forgot those unique name

Choco Moist Cake with smooth choc creame

Jam tart with creamy cheese

These two delicacies already recharged myself for the next few busy weeks...haa~ Just discovered a new product from Glico.... nice dark choc with strong original coco powder~

Only for MEN? Haaa...

Alright, will be stopping overhere, gotta keep things going!! Congrat to those who has now having freedom after exams/industry placements...Good luck to those who's rushing for thesis and myself as well! Fighting spirits~~ hee...Take care all, cheers~

Baking in the 'DARK'...

Halo...its so busy till I can't really have a deep breath...But i'm able to distress through the ever nobel action ---> EAT~ It's a long weekend and monday will be Labour Day for Queensland state in Aust... I've decided to give my stomach a treat, baked a special cake for my fren, Penny's birthday on the labour day!! Just after back from praying the exalted buddha(s) and watching wonderful fireworks celebration for Buddha Fest @ Southbank, I rushed to my fren's place and began all the baking procedures...


The tri-buddha statues...day for all the chinese around Brissy to gather along...

It was 9.30pm...arh, my brain wasn't working as well as day time!! I started to obsess to get the cake done so that we could celebrate Penny's bday in time. After arranging all the stuffs on the table [see pic below] and here we go...


Baking ingredients and the 'multi-purpose' kitchen

After finished preparing both the banana mashed and batter, I just poured all the mixtures into the baking ware and popped into the pre-heated oven...It's my first time to bake banana cake, i was wondering how long it would take to be ready as you need to consider the moistures from the banana mashed that may prolong the baking time and different temperature to be used...I just sticked to my preference temp (170 degree celsius) and let it be...



The banana mashed and the batter....ready, steady, go?

After an hour or so (gosh, so long), I inserted the single chopstick into the centre of the cake and it came out clean...yeah...its time to be ready and it was 11.30pm...I opened half of the oven lid for the cake to cool down slowly to prevent the cake from 'sunkening'...haaa! Another 15 mins for me to get the cake decorated, can't really think of a great deco...so just simply topped up with what i've brought here...Tht's it...Crispy Banana Cake...

Crispy Banana cake...'yummilious'

Slice of banana cake....anyone? Hey J, will try to make choc banana cake next time~

Yea, the cake's texture was exactly the same as what i was seeking all the time (firm, soft and fragrant), the smell of banana had been surrounding the whole house, even's my fren's housemate, who's been asleep for a while, also came out and have alook wht's going on...I have promised her to pack some for her breakkie, haaa~ Yeap, that's all about it...this will be my last baking session till final exams over...Will publish the recipe in a short while...

It was 1am when i reached my home, arh, so freaking tired, time to catch up some sleep! Alright, all the best to everyone and myself...good luck for those Uk-liers that gonna have finals...Take care~ Good nitez...

One STEP closer...

Alo...it's been a real busy week for me here, got 9 assignments (including 1 midterm and 3 presentation + debate) in hand which gotta get them completed in 1 month time...do u believe it? O.o Gosh~~ I've felt the pressure nowadays...must keep myself on track to be consistent in time arrangement....hee~

I've just made my 1st ever egg tart today, a special bday present for Chian Ee's 21st birthday today~ Despite that, I've also bought a wool scarf and bday card for her present too, keke!


Top: The ingredients needed ; Bottom: Filo pastry on the baking tray (Filo pastry sheets are so thin like piece of papers)



Yea, that's the external look of Portuguese tart a.k.a. 'Pasteis de Nata'

The texture of the tart custard was exactly the same as what we used to get outside...Yippie~ But, by following exactly the recipe I got, the tart ended up to be too sweet!! Luckily I have tasted the hot custard and stopped from adding the entire sugar, aware of diabetes arh, folks...;-) Another thing is, I've made a mistake by using filo pastry instead of puff pastry...hehe...so it can be improved in the future...not a bad try~~


New product from Pocky...Its called 'Pocky Kinako', topping made with 5 different cereals...a healthy snacks...lol

Alright, its time for me to move on...final sem = busiest sem...LOL! I'm gonna turn my blog into a food bloggie...will update it with some other issues about FOOD in the future...ok, all the best pals...Tchau, ate depois (Goodbye, see you later in portuguese)!!

Here's the recipe, just try to alter the amount of ingredients urself according to personal's taste!! ;-)

Original Recipe Submitted by: John J. Pacheco on Allrecipes.com
*amount of sugar used has been decreased*
Ingredients:
1 cup of milk (~250ml)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon of vanilla essence
100g white sugar
6 egg yolks
1 pack of frozen puff pastry

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups and line bottom and sides with puff pastry.
2. In a saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla essence. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into egg yolks. Gradually add egg yolk mixture back to the remaining milk mixture, while whisking constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from the heat, let it cool down for few minutes.
3. Fill pastry-lined muffin cups with mixture and bake in preheated oven with same temperature for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is lightly browned on top.

Flour Monster has its own story...

Hehe, flour monster, that's what my friends here call me...Ever since I was young, I already addicted to stuffs made of flour, including noodles, bread, cakes, tarts, brownies and many more...Kenneth has brought a huge box of doughnuts for us as a fairly generous 'souvenir'...it's freshly baked from a well-known doughnut shop called 'Krispy Kreme'. It is based in Sydney and has its own branch down in Melbourne. From what I heard, they are going to open second branch bakery in Brissy...woohooo~ Cheers to all doughnut's manias...






























The external design of Krispy Kreme box and mouth-watering doughnuts (coated with icings)

Actually, the best of all the doughnuts offered in that bakery is the original-taste doughnut (doughnut with cinnamon powder) but it was out of stock when Kenneth purchased them. But, its already million of thanks to him for bringing a such heavenly dessert to fill our hungry stomach up...These doughnuts are famous with its soft texture which came with extra fragrance...The most important part is that the doughnuts are just enough in sweetness...wow...extraordinary stuff~

In a sudden, I decided to 'reopen' my home based bakery yesterday, in conjunction with the 'celebration'of the yummy desserts that Kenneth has brought for us...Haa, funny right? I've baked kiwi muffins this time...This self-created idea was inspired by the previous muffin recipe...!





























Baking in process & centred-cut view of the Kiwi Muffin topped with cinnamon icing(Let's enjoy~)

From what I've learned from the previous post about cake baking, I have readjusted the baking temperature used to 20 degrees lower - 160 degrees! It turned out to be in good shape and yummy too...You'll feel the satisfaction when your friends praised for the great dessert...Hard works are worth, keep you motivated to move on~hee...Gonna set my target higher for next baking session ---> TIRAMISU!!

**Please contact me for the muffin recipe...hee~

Its all PASTA matters...

Today is the 'Easter Monday', another public holiday for Aussie here. I've been slacking for the past few days as Kenneth came all the way from Sydney on Sat to take his stuffs back and visitting all of us. He just started his new chapter of life, working in Deloitte firm in Sydney for 1 and half month. Its been 5 months since my last meet up with him~

He has been asking me to suggest a place for us to dine for good lunch before his trip to brissy in phone few days ago~ I just recalled that I have read an article about food from Sinchew newspapaer. It was written about an Aussie based italian franchise restaurant called 'Fasta Pasta', which is newly established at Ikano Power Centre in PJ area. Malaysia has been chosen to be its first oversea branched restaurant. Yoo, M'sians, gotta be proud oo! Then, I told him about this yummy idea and without hesitation, he agreed with that. The nearest Fasta Pasta restaurant is situated at Stones Corner, which is about 20 mins from Brisbane CBD.



Alright, let me briefly introduce this Adelaide based italian restaurant...It was established in 1980, by three local Italian chefs living in Aust for years. They decided to introduce original italian style cuisines by offering the most significant food in Italy --> Pasta for the local people here. This great idea has been working so well until they have more than 40 franchise restaurants all over the Australia land at the moment.


Yeap, arrived at the restaurant around 20 mins or so, here we rolled... They provide various choice of pasta which is made using fresh homemade ingredients. They are proudly claiming that "At Fasta Pasta, we only use 100% durum wheat pasta because it is superior quality pasta and it has lower Glycaemic Index (G.I.). A lower G.I. means ‘slow release’ of carbohydrate in to the body to give you longer-lasting energy."



The interior design of the restaurant and the pic of local brewed Ginger beer & Italian Latte.



Fettuccine Cabonara (wide noodle) & Gnocchi Teresina (potato dumplings which is so special, the texture is like pan mee dough)



Kenneth and me (with messy hair look, yuks). Regular munchies like us, always opt for good food !

To be honest, the food here were simply 'Squisito' (italian word of delicious) !! The pasta dough were exactly as fresh as what they have promised to their customers. You can definitely taste the difference from those 'instant' dry pasta. The sauce base were well-cooked with adequate amount of spices and saltiness. The ingredients used including sun-dried tomatoes, ham, cauliflower and others, had been the additional limelight for those two amazing italian creations. Gotta thanks to Kenneth for treating me this meal, appreciated it much!!

Kenneth had made a move back to Sydney today, gonna prepare for tomorrow's working day! All the best in your working life, mate~ You're always welcome to visit us again!! Oh ya, just let me know if one of ya outthere has tried the M'sia's Fasta Pasta...thx ya, hee~

For more details, please visit http://www.fastapasta.com.au or http://www.fastapasta.com.my