Pistachio Cupcakes November 17, 2008
When I was in New York, my favourite cupcake flavour was Pisatchio Cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. I loved it mainly because it was Pistachio-flavoured. For some strange reason, I just like Pistachio-flavoured food though not the nut itself. However I was still disappointed with the cupcakes from SSS as it was only subtle flavoured. So recently when I saw Poon Huat selling small bottles of Pistachio Composite, I was wayy too excited. Pistachio Composite is basically concentrated Pistachio paste. I wanted to bake a strong-flavoured Pistachio cupcake. Thus with my Earl Grey Cupcake recipe, I left the Earl Grey out and added in 1 tablespoon of the Pis Composite. The result? I was delighted. I was also extremely glad with how beautiful it rose. Such strong Pistachio flavour. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it although my sister took one bite and declared her dislike for Pistachio. My mum, on the other hand, enjoyed it too.
Earl Grey Cupcakes October 25, 2008
This morning I decided to bake cupcakes again. This time, Earl Grey. I wasn’t looking for something challenging but something different. I liked the smell of Earl Grey Tea and wondered what it would be like in a cupcake. I didn’t think it would go as bad as Lavender-flavoured ones. Unfortunately the only Earl Grey tea available in my house was my mother’s decaffeinated, light flavoured ones so I used them. The results turned out to be surprising.
As you may see from pictures below, I used different baking cups this time round. I had purchased these free-standing cups yesterday and was eager to try them out. No muffin trays were needed and they looked so neat and pretty. On the other hand, a major pain to eat. How does one eat using these? Seriously. I found myself using my fingers halfway through to gorge out the content. So crude and untidy. Plus I too bought an ice-cream scoop at the same time. Martha Stewart uses them. 
And the cupcakes were more evenly sized so I was extremely pleased.
On to the flavour. At first bite I could not taste the Earl Grey but it came subtly. As I chewed my first bite, I could taste faintly the Earl Grey and I liked it. I liked that the flavour wasn’t overpowering and that the flavour came out so slowly. My sister and mum said I could do with a stronger Earl Grey taste. Next time.
I also decided to top the cupcakes off with Vanilla Buttercream. I was determined to master a frosting and my buttercream turned out to be so light and delicious. I almost could not stop myself from licking up all of them in the mixing bowl. Although it was too powering for the subtle-flavoured cupcakes.
For now, enjoy the recipe after the jump.
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes October 20, 2008
Sunday morning I woke up with a vengeance. I was determined to successfully make Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. The cupcake was divided into 3 parts. The lemon curd, cupcake and meringue. Having successfully created lemon curd on Saturday morning, I proceeded with the cupcake and failed. The cupcakes failed to rise properly. So I spent the rest of Saturday wondering where I went wrong. At night I could barely sleep and lay on the bed wondering which step I had gone wrong. So on Sunday morning, with all my determination, I started the cupcake again. This time I was extra careful with the preparation and as I saw it in the oven, it rose beautifully! I was of course extremely pleased with the results. When the cupcakes were completely cooled, I pleased the lemon curd in the cupcake, put meringue on it and placed it in the oven. The cupcake was so pretty and I loved the lemon curd. Plus as the whole cupcake cooled down, the meringue became less moist and was delicious! My mother’s friends who came over for mahjong really enjoyed them.
Wasabi Tei October 8, 2008
My current favourite Japanese restaurant in Singapore is Wasabi Tei. Located on Level 5 in Far East Plaza, it is a hole in the wall that sits only 16. It is my weekly ritual and I always find an excuse to eat here. There is always a queue. When my sister first went at 5.30pm (opening time,) there were already 12 people waiting in line. The second time round, I missed the first rotation and ended up waiting for 1 hour 15 mins. Another unusual aspect about this place is that everything has to be ordered at once or get charged an extra 20%. Some may find this stressful and unnecessary but I love the food too much to bother. For one thing, the chef is so incredibly generous with the sashimi. It is thickly-sliced, large and fresh. Plus the most affordable place ever.
The best Unagi I ever had in my life. It was thick, chewy, juicy and fat. Massive satisfaction achieved.
Eating my way around Taipei: Stinky Tofu September 30, 2008
A couple of weeks back I went to Taipei with my parents. It was my first time and my mum’s second. Whilst there we did not miss Taipei’s famous Shilin Night Market. It was indeed heaven for foodies like me. The best thing was being able to try authetic Taiwanese food. One thing my parents and I were really keen on trying was Stinky Tofu. Stinky Tofu, I heard, was originated from Hong Kong but the Taiwanese know how to stink it up good. We passed by a little stall selling these beautiful but bad-smelling babies. So we bought a stick, that was stuffed with white cabbage, to share amongst the three of us and boy was it bad! We could only go as far as one bite each before binning it. Looks are most certainly deceiving. It smelled like sewage. Put in into your mouth to chew it and the sewage taste is even stronger. Swallow it and the strong smell still lingers behind. It was quite bad and I like Durians by the way.
PS Cafe September 10, 2008
PS Cafe in Dempsey Road, Singapore, is one of my sister’s favourite places to hang out and eat. The last time I visited PS Cafe, I was completely disinterested in cakes and found the food to be overpriced and the place pretencious. But lo and behold, a friend of mine from England, Alex, visited and my sister suggested PS Cafe for cakes after we had a heavy lunch. Now a dessert lover and absolutely willing to try anything, I was actually excited! There, four of us in all, had 4 different types of pie and cake.
The first, Florida Key Lime Pie.
The pie was absolutely amazing! My friend was so impressed with it. The crust did not do much for me but the filling was so refreshing! Alex and I declared it the best dessert we ever had. Better than the ones we had in England.
Making of a great Red Velvet. September 7, 2008
Extremely bored one day, I decided to make my favourite Red Velvet cupcakes but using another recipe. I was so pleased with the result, I decided not to top them with sweet cream cheese icing as I just wanted to enjoy the beautiful texture of the cupcake. Also I liked that the recipe used vegetable oil instead of butter which creates a more moist texture.
Egg-free, butter-free, milk-free Chocolate Cupcakes August 8, 2008
Recently my new oven arrived and I started baking up a storm. Cupcakes to be specific. However my father who is on a very strict diet now complained he was unable to eat my little creations as it contained butter and eggs – both of which are extremely bad for the heart. So I went online and on Martha Stewart, I found a recipe from Divvies Bakery in America. The recipe looked easy and ingredients were so easy to obtain. Just measure out, dump everything into the mixing bowl and beat it all together. The batter would be much runnier than usual because there are high quantities of water in the recipe but the cupcakes turned out to be extremely moist, spongy and delicious! My dad was so happy! I topped my cupcakes with Green Tea Cream Cheese Frostings which of course I left out for my dad’s cupcakes.
Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood Restaurant July 14, 2008
After being away from Singapore for a good 8 months to finish my last year in university, I came back and was craving for some seriously good Chilli Crabs. So last week I mentioned to a group of friends my desire and two of them started raving about this place on Causarina Road that had brilliant Chilli Crabs and out of this world Oyster Omelette. I was desperate so I happily set aside a night for them to bring me to this place. When my friend turned up to pick me from my house, I was suprised to find that this ‘gem’ was just a 5 minute drive from my house! Where have I been the last 21 years?? It was a Thursday night and when we arrived at 7pm, it was surprisingly packed. All tables were occupied and of course there was a big bowl of Chilli Crab in the middle of every table. We quickly ordered a crab, oyster omelette and shrimp-paste fried chicken.
Ten minutes later our shrimp-paste fried chicken had arrived.
It was evenly fried, not at all oily but to be honest I have tasted better.
