Rilakkuma Pull apart bread

It's been a long time since I attempted bread making. I am a bread person and making good, tasty and fluffy bread is an art which I think is really hard to pursue and master. Even having lessons could not yield me the kind of soft fluffy breads that we get from local bakeries.

The breads that I used to baked are usually good on the day itself but they turned really heavy the next day which is something I am not looking forward to. Another reason to why I am not into bread making is because Baby Kwok #1 and Prince Charming hated breads so much that it just turns them off LOL! No idea why but I guess its because they dislike the constant chewing.

Recently, there was this huge craze over Japanese pull-apart breads where the bakers attempted to convert these breads into really cute and interesting characters. I super love the ones for Totoro and happen to come across 2 floggers who did Rilakkuma version.

I went to my usual Youtube subscriptions and tried my luck searching for a good fluffy rolls recipe. Happened to view the video by Bakingwithmi who shared her dinner rolls recipe and I decided to create my own pull-apart bread with her recipe.

Like I mentioned above, the breads were good on the day itself. I swear they were so soft and good but when I tried them the next day, they became really heavy :( Sigh.. When will I be able to get really good fluffy bread that can stay soft for 2 days at least? If you have a foolproof recipe, please share with me!

Here's my own Rilakkuma pull apart bread :)

I took the tip from Bento days by baking these rolls in a chiffon pan.

 Gracious me forgotten to greased the pan and the bread were stuck terribly :/

If you are interested to try Bakingwithmi's dinner roll recipe, please hop over to her channel in youtube :) 

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I am getting the momentum of resuming my blogging lifestyle - Something that I used to do it really often before embarking into Motherhood. As much as I would like to update my blog like how I chase after the kids, I just could not get the time properly organized. Sleep is often deprived and "myself" is no longer in the dictionary - I am sure mummies out there definitely agree with me, well maybe some.

Anyway, I have been tempting to bake a Pandan Chiffon cake because this is one of the cake that I hardly bake (For your info, once in my baking journey). I roll my eyes at the moment I learnt that it is an essential to make your own Pandan juice (Screwpine juice). The thought of dragging that bulky food processor just turns me off but for no reason (I really do not know why) - I felt really enthusiastic to make one yesterday and so yes, I dragged my big butt to the nearest Supermarket after we came back from lunch and bought a bag of Pandan leaves and you got it! I MADE MY OWN PANDAN JUICE! Wheeeeeee!

The Pandan Chiffon was really soft and fluffy!

Btw, Super adore the dining cloth that I got from Typo sale! It cost merely $3!

To make this, you will need:

• 8 Egg yolks 
• 70g Sugar
• 140g Fresh Coconut milk (I used the chilled kind)
• 110ml Oil (I used Canola)
• 2.5 Tbsp Pandan juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 pinch of Salt
• 200g Cake flour
  
  
• 8 Egg whites
• 100g Sugar

To make Pandan Juice - You will need 10 finely chopped Pandan leaves with 40ml of Coconut milk. Blend the ingredients using a food processor. With the help of a sift, sieve the mixture to extract the Pandan juice. You may opt to use your hands to squeeze the juice out from the mixture otherwise.

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C
   
2. Sift the cake flour and baking powder. Set aside
   
3. In a bowl, beat the yolks and sugars till pale yellowish. Add in the oil, vanilla extract and pandan juice. Continue to mixt till well combined.
   
4. Add in the sifted flour and salt into the mixture and mix to ensure no lumps.
   
5. In a clean dry bowl, beat your egg whites till frothy. Gradually add in sugar and continue beating till you reaches soft peak stage.
   
6. Take 1/3 of the egg white mixture and incorporate into the cake batter mixture. Pour the mixture back to the remaining egg white and fold well.
   
7. Pour your mixture into a 23cm Chiffon pan. Tap the pan against the table top to release air bubbles.
   
8. Bake for approx 35-40 mins depending on your oven temperature.

Chocolate Chiffon-Sponge cupcakes

No idea what I am talking about? You should just try this recipe! It was something that came by pure luck yet it has the texture and taste that I really like (so do Prince Charming!)

If you are looking for a cake that has a texture in between Chiffon and Sponge, this will be the right one for you :) Perfect texture for a cupcake! Not greasy - Light and spongy and fluffy :)

To make this:

95g of cake flour
75g egg yolks
70g brown sugar

60ml Oil

10g Cocoa powder (I used bittersweet kind)

4 tbsp water 

3 tbsp fresh milk

130g egg whites
80g brown sugar

1. In a mixing bowl, combine yolks, sugar, oil. Add in flour, water, milk and cocoa powder. Mix well. Ensure that the batter is not lumpy to avoid affecting the texture. If the batter appears to be too thick, you can add in more milk to get a slightly runny mixture (not too runny - Mixture should form a ribbon trail)
2. Preheat oven to 170°C
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till foamy then add in sugar gradually till peaks achieved. Note: Do not overheat egg whites. This might causes collapse of the cake
4. Add half of the egg white mixture (meringue) into the yolk-flour mixture. Fold well. Add in the remaining egg white mixture into the cake batter. Ensure that you fold well.
5. Pour your ready batter into little cupcake liners and bake for 35 mins

All natural Purple Chiffon cake

Finally managed to get some purple sweet potatoes! Was looking up and down the whole of Singapore for them and just when I was about to drop the idea, I found it at Finest Supermarket! Wheeeeee....

And so..  I baked the ALL NATURAL PURPLE CHIFFON CAKE! All natural because no added colouring! The purple colour comes from the sweet potatoes! Love the colours so much! Baby Kwok #1 enjoyed this snack and gobbled one up within minutes. I made them into small cupcakes for him and Baby Kwok #2. The little princess love them too but because she's only 10+ months old, I do not want to expose her to that much sugar (seems okay to us but a lot to infants). Anyway, it is quite a healthy snack for the adults so do give it a try!

Love the colour! 

Baby Kwok #1 enjoying his tea break :) 

He is a cake person like me!!

To make this, you'll need:

- 85g Cake flour

- 50g/ml Oil

- 3 Egg yolks

- 20g Sugar

- 3 Tbsp water

- 4 Egg whites

- 50g Sugar

- 100g mashed Purple sweet potatoes

- 3 Tbsp milk ( I replaced it with infant formula milk as I am giving as a snack to Baby Kwok #2)

- Some diced Purple sweet potatoes

1. In a bowl, mix yolks, sugar and oil. Combine well.
2. In another bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes and milk. Add this mixture into the yolk mixture in step 1
3. Add the water and cake flour into the mixture from step 2. Set aside. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till foamy. Add in the sugar gradually till you obtained a glossy meringue with peaks.
5. Take half of the meringue and fold into the cake batter from Step 3. Add the remaining meringue into the batter and fold well.
6. Pour the batter into a chiffon pan or cake pan. Tap to release air/gas trapped in the batter before baking. Bake for 30 mins.