Boston Cream Pie

Another one of those I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-baking-but-I'll-try-it-anyway-especially-since-it-contains-chocolate baking attempts. The Boston Creme Pie (another Nigella recipe), is basically a sponge sandwich with a creme patissiere filling and a chocolate ganache icing.

It took a bit of work to make it, since it involved first making the sponges, then the creme patissiere,

then the ganache, then putting them together. Not being very skilled at making sponges, I made one bigger then the other, AND proceeded to put the bigger piece on top of the smaller piece, which caused it to be unbalanced and really hard to ice as the creme patissiere kept oozing out from the centre, and the top piece kept sliding around. But it was totally fun to make and absolutely delicious to eat. Something I will definitely try again.

A London Cheesecake

We've all heard of a New York Cheesecake, but what's a London Cheesecake? Turns out this is a recipe from Nigella's family. What's special about it is the layer of sour-cream icing used to finish the cake off.

Unlike the Madeira Cake which was easy peasy to make, this was rather more complicated, and involved, amongst other things, a water bath in the oven for the cake (see picture to the right). I was afraid it might turn out wrong because I didn't have a cake pan of the right size (my pan was too big).

But I needn't have worried - the result was a rich, creamy, smooth slice of heaven, with just the right touch of sourness. My husband loved it. I suppose having the right sized pan would've given me a thicker sour-cream layer at the top. Must try this again, hopefully with the right pan.

A Madeira Experiment

The great thing about baking is that I'm trying out cakes that i would otherwise never order (or even try at a party).  One example is Madeira Cake. I had no idea what it was and how it would taste when I decided to try Nigella's "My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake" (in January - have been too busy to blog about it till now)! The only hint I had was the lemons that were part of the recipe, and the only reason I made it was that it seemed to be one of the simplest recipes in the book.  So I thought I would experiment. If I didn't like it, I could always give it to my obliging brothers... 

The fragrance of the eggs and lemons wafting from the kitchen was the first sign that this adventure would be worth it. And indeed it was. I discovered a moist golden yellow eggy lemony (but not overwhelmingly) tea-time loaf cake.  Perfect for tea-time with some milk or tea. 

I read that it goes well with custard. I didn't have any. But I had some left-over sour cream chocolate icing in the fridge.  So in the spirit of risk-taking, I tried some, and it was great! 

It was a worthwhile experiment. In the end I didn't have any cake to give my brothers...

Give the baby a bottle?

According to my husband, I'm a breastfeeding fanatic. I don't think I'm extreme. I just believe that breastmilk is the best food for babies and that formula companies (and some doctors) have done many children a great disservice by trying to convince mums that formula is better than or as good as breastmilk (though nowadays they go about it much more subtly). But more on that some other time. 

My first baby was breastfed exclusively for 6 months. He has never had any formula. And had his first taste of regular cow's milk at around 18 months.  He continues to nurse and will continue to do so until he is ready to wean.  However, as I went back to work when he was about 3 months, he was fed expressed breastmilk (EBM) via the bottle while I was at work. 

My second baby is now 3 months old and is also exclusively breastfed.  I'm not returning to work for awhile, so there really hasn't been any need to introduce the bottle.  The one time we had to do it was when my hubby and I went for our first date 2 1/2 months after the baby arrived.  Baby didn't like it at all, and ingested only a tiny amount of EBM before falling asleep. 

Somehow the knowledge that my baby didn't like the bottle gives me great pleasure.  For some women, being able to give their baby a bottle represents freedom. Freedom to reclaim some part of their lives from the all consuming needs of the baby.  While I dearly miss my pilates classes, I don't feel ready to give my baby up to the artificial feeder, and to the knowledge that I can be replaced! I suppose, having experienced mommy-hood once before, I am all too aware of how quickly my baby will grow and learn to separate from me. My time with the baby now is so precious. The pilates classes can wait. The bottles can wait. 

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Sour Cream Icing

I love chocolate and I couldn't wait to finally make some proper chocolate cake. This is from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. I finally had an excuse to use my mum's Kenwood Chef! It was also my first time icing a cake. It was fun, if a little messy. Junior was most intrigued.

Didn't manage to follow the recipe exactly - couldn't get any golden icing sugar, so used regular icing sugar for the icing. I found the icing too sweet on its own but paired with the subtle taste of the cake, neither too sweet nor too chocolately, it was really really really good. In fact, it was good enough for me to give a few slices to my neighbour and family without getting too embarrassed. Also, I could've eaten the entire cake on my own, so I saved myself a couple of pounds by giving it away...

I found it was best enjoyed after spending a day in the refrigerator, though my husband preferred it fresh or at room temperature.

My next baking effort will be something lighter, though the chocolate recipes are really tempting!

Goin' Bananas!

Last Friday afternoon Junior and I baked ourselves some Banana Bread (Nigella's recipe). I did not need to use my Mum's Kenwood Chef, which was rather disappointing, but the recipe didn't really require much elbow grease. The hardest part about this recipe was trying to line the loaf tin. It's got this curvy shape so it took some effort.

The end result was fabulous! It was moist and had a wonderful aroma. I must confess I had to change the recipe slightly. It called for sultanas to be soaked in bourbon or rum. Not being a drinker, I didn't have any around, but, I had some DOM Benedictine

(a confinement staple) lying around, which I used. I don't know how the original recipe would've tasted, but this version is gorgeous. The alcohol had evaporated just leaving that really nice sweetness of the DOM. Unfortunately, Junior doesn't like it much coz he hates sultanas (and raisins and blueberries...). I had to pick the sultanas out for him one by one. Fortunately, he ate the walnuts (he normally hates nuts as well) as they had softened somewhat in the oven.

I would definitely try this again.

A much needed boost

My mom found her old Kenwood Chef mixer in the store-room and has wonderfully lent it to me to help me in my baking adventures. It must be at least 20 years old! I remember how she used to bake all kinds of bread - sour dough, brown, wholegrain - with it when I was little. Back then, my tastes were underdeveloped and so naturally I rejected them all! I guess she got discouraged coz the bread baking phase didn't last long...

It's a really heavy piece of equipment and lots of possible attachments. I only have 3 (the whisk, beater and dough hook). But there are optional attachments for a coffee grinder, liquidiser, vegetable chopper, juice extractor etc. etc. Wonder if the modern day attachments will fit on this 20 year old thing. 

The first time I tried using it, it gave off a burning smell and bits of grease leaked out. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising since it has been 20 years since it was last used. I might have to send it for servicing (if they have such a thing for mixers). 

Whoopee! No more creaming butter and sugar by hand!

Equipment

I decided that if I was going to bake more exciting things than muffins and brownies, I'd better have the right equipment. So yesterday I made my way down to Phoon Huat (this was baking heaven for me! But I'm still a novice in this area - does anyone know any other baking supplies shop in Singapore?) and bought 2 sandwich tins (for making victoria sponges and the like), 2 springform cake tins of different sizes (coz that's what Nigella uses for her recipes), a square tin (for more brownies), a regular cake tin, a baking sheet (for cookies), cookie cutters, a rolling pin and some pudding moulds. I probably still need to get more equipment, but I have the basics, I think, for the moment. 

What would you suggest as essential kitchen equipment for a baker? 

I've discovered baking!

I love cooking. But I've never been a fan of baking or making any form of dessert. Sure I was a fan of the products of baking, but not of the act itself. My previous encounters with it were at Home Econs class and a few other attempts as a secondary school student. It always seemed so fiddly. So precise. You must have 125g of flour, or 30 g of sugar, or 1 tsp of baking powder or whatever precise amount of whatever ingredient. And you couldn't just mix them all up as you wished. You must cream it together (whatever creaming it means) if it says to cream, or fold it in, or rub it. Otherwise all sorts of disasters would befall your creation.  And therefore you had to PAY ATTENTION. And to prove the point, I did have quite a few disasters (Val - remember the failed gingerbread? More like ginger melted thingy that hardened.)  Being a control freak, it was all too stressful for me.

Then one day, just before baby no. 2 was born, I was suddenly inspired to bake some scones or muffins for baby no. 1 to bring to school.  It just seemed rather shameful that he never had anything else but cheerios and goldfish and the occasional cracker in his lunchbox. I didn't know what his classmates had, but I imagined they had heavenly homemade delights. Actually, I was also feeling rather guilty that I didn't prepare a nice birthday celebration for him at school (ALL the other kids brought cake for their birthdays, but not mine...). So I thought I'd bake him something nice to show the teachers that I really wasn't such a bad mum. It was probably also a case of pre-delivery nesting instincts coming to the fore, because 12 hours after I bought all the ingredients for my first batch of muffins, I had delivered baby no. 2.

Anyway, while I didn't get to bake that time around, the interest had been piqued.  Long hours spent nursing baby no. 2 also afforded me the opportunity to be instructed by experts such as Martha Stewart and Nigella Lawson on TV.  Unlike my Home Econs classes (no offence to my Home Econs teachers, they were lovely, I was just a bad student), Martha and Nigella made it look so easy! They could even carry out a conversation, or flirt with the camera while at it (even if I find Nigella Lawson's habit of doing this rather annoying at times) AND the results weren't disastrous!   In fact, even if things went wrong, it was OK.  As Nigella Lawson notes on at least two occasions in her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess", that things go wrong in cooking even for her, but that it's not the end of the world.  

And so this has been my discovery. While my first few attempts (actually all my attempts), haven't been perfect, they've been pretty alright. In fact, some were quite nice. The best part of it is that Baby no. 1 gets to take part in the process. And I love that he enjoys the fruit of our labour (except when it contains raisins). 

So I've decided to name this blog in honour of Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess.  Which fits in perfectly with my larger ambition but more of that some other time.