I'm BACK!

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything on the site. The family home is being renovated for 3 months so baking has been kept at a minimum but good news, I am moving back in a couple of days and I'll be able to start with more delicious posts again.

Just an update on what has been happening on the baking front; I have decided that it is time I took concrete steps, albeit very tiny ones, towards my dream of owning my own bakery one day. Thus, the official 'The Vanille Bean' menu for home orders will be out within the month! I would say the menu is a list of comfort food packed with big flavours and wholesome ingredients. All are made to order and by hand, from scratch. so quality and freshness is assured.

Another big plan which I have will be revealed when the time is right. All the planets need to align on this one for it to come true :-)

Ok, enough said, check back the week after with pictures of the new kitchen and delicious bakes!

P.S. 'The Vanille Bean' menu will be posted on the website temporarily until I find out how to get an official site up and running.

No more bun(dt)s for now...

A couple of months ago, i went to my favourite place, Pantry Magic, at HV, with a sole purpose; to purchase a beautiful deep blue silicone bundt mold which i have had my eye on for the past year. The reason why i haven't bought it earlier is because of a previous attempt which left a deep gashing wound in my side. Ok ok i exaggerate but felt similar to that. 

Take a walk with me down memory lane to 2 years ago, i had an urge to bake a chiffon cake which is essentially a bundt cake except it is much lighter but still has its trademark hole in the middle. Anyway, i decided to make a lemon chiffon cake with a conventional chiffon tin. It was a total wipe out, catastrophic, thermonuclear FAILURE! Firstly, when i inverted the cake, the middle portion got stuck on the tube of the tin, thus causing only 3/4 of the cake to detach from the tin. One thing you need to know about me is that i am a perfectionist. I demand the look and the taste to be perfect. When this does not happen, i get extremely angry with myself, it doesn't matter if that was my first attempt. So, obviously at this point in time, this is not looking good. Fortunately, nobody was near me when this happened because i was emitting copious amount of 'steam' from my ears! Secondly, the glaze that i made to be drizzled over the cake was so sour, it ruined the entire cake!

Fast forward to the present, i finally decided to attempt to make a bundt cake, thinking that the same thing would not be repeated since it has been said NOTHING sticks to silicone. Fine, i thought, this is going to turn out great! I decided to bake a walnut and chocolate bundt cake, drizzled with a chocolate glaze. Sounds yummy doesn't it? I followed the recipe to a T. As i took the bundt mold out of the oven, due to the flexibility of the silicone mold, the cake started to look like it was going to split. I quickly place it on the table, hoping it would get structurally stronger when it cools down.

15 minutes later, placing a cooling rack over the bundt mold and inverting it, i carefully tried to get the cake out of the mold. I thought the entire cake came out fine since nothing sticks to silicone right?? WRONG!! 1/4 of the cake was stuck onto the mold thus ruining the entire shape of the cake!!

So, here i am, posting pictures of the beautiful blue silicone bundt mold instead of the bundt cake because it is absolutely too embarrassing to be seen. Please use your imagination when eating the bundt cake tomorrow and picture what it would have looked like perfect. I think i would retire my bundt mold till another time, when i feel strong enough again to attempt this. In the meantime, it will always be my Achilles heel.

Spinach, Feta & Dried Tomato Bread

You might be asking yourself why this week's bread looks exactly like the cheddar bread i baked 2 weeks ago. No, i did not bake it again this week although i am sure nobody will be complaining if i did :-) This week's bread has got lots more ingredients in it than just cheddar cheese.

I was actually doing some research online and found a recipe for spinach and feta bread. However, i wasn't too comfortable with recipe as it was a non-kneading recipe. Being a purist, i find the notion of not kneading bread rather offensive. However i did like the combination of feta and spinach so i kept these 2 main ingredients and formulated my own recipe. I had a couple of bottles of dried tomatoes knocking about in the refrigerator so i thought perhaps i'd include these as well (a special treat for those of you who have been asking me to bake my sun-dried tomato bread again). The result is a soft savoury bread jam-packed full with ingredients. I couldn't find the feta cheese anywhere tho... wonder where it went...

Cheddar Cheese Bread

Finally got down to making bread again, i know i have been slacking off for the past few weeks :-) This bread originally contained sesame seeds as well but i don't like sesame seeds so i excluded it. This cheddar cheese bread is different from the ones you can purchase outside because it comes in a loaf and there is a marbling effect in the bread so every bite you take would definitely have a bit of cheddar cheese in it! 

Cinnamon Crumb Surprise

Hi peeps, i'm finally back on blog after several weeks of rest. Actually, i baked quite a bit over the xmas holidays but unfortunately, the camera ran out of batteries so i did not get a chance to post any pictures.

Anyway, for those of you who got my 'Christmas Delights', which my darling Linz so wonderfully named it, below are the items which were in the box:

1. Peanut Butter Fudge

2. White Chocolate Raspberry Brittle

3. Butterball cookies

4. Lemon Candy

5. Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Below is a picture, courtesy of Linz as well!

For this week's bakes, i've made a Cinnamon Crumb Surprise. What's the surprise? It is tart Granny Smith apple slices in the middle of the loaf which nicely balances the sweet crumb at the top. Enjoy!

Potato Rosemary Bread

As promised, here are pictures for Potato Rosemary Bread. It is a pity you can't be in the kitchen now, the smell of freshly baked bread is just heavenly. I must say making this bread has been quite a long and tedious process. The taste i am sure will be worth all the effort. A point to self, the bread didn't quite rise as i expected it to, i must find out the reason why. On the bright side, you will have many more versions of my Potato Rosemary Bread in future!

Cookbooks Galore!

First and foremost, i would like to thank my dear colleagues for the wonderful present. You can be sure there will be more delicious bakes coming your way real soon! Also, my dear brother and friend who bought me a blow torch with a set of ramekins!! I am seeing caramel creme brulee, cheese souffles in the near future :)

Secondly, sorry for not being able to whip anything up last weekend. I almost died at the Standard Chart marathon and got meself a horrid, red, half baked burn on my shoulders and neck. For the benefit of those who don't know me, no, I DID NOT RUN in the marathon. I find the concept itself utterly ridiculous and insane. I was there doing something else just as torturous and we went without sleep for 30hours straight! I would probably not mind doing that if i were younger but at this age, it would take at least a week to recuperate and that is not even taking into account the damage to my skin!

So to make up for my week of silence, i will be dishing out 2 items from the oven. They are Potato Rosemary Bread and Rugelach. Rugelach is a cookie that is popular throughout central Europe, particularly in Russia and Austria. They look like mini croissants stuffed with pecan nuts and chocolate. This week's items will be a hit for both the savoury and sweet tooth.

Watch this spot for pictures tomorrow and Monday!