The best and worst bakes of 2012

Above: Brownies, one of the last treats made in 2012!

I've never baked so much in my life before. The six months past saw me baking, baking, and baking... I never really set out to bake so much either, just that it got pretty addictive once I got started again - after having a kitchen of my own :)

And since this is the last day of 2012, I thought it would be timely to do a brief recap of some baking highlights of my little baking journey. So I present to you in this blog post - the best and worst bakes of 2012.

Good and bad news @ the veggie plot

When I first blogged about my veggie plot, my lady fingers were doing quite well, I had one resilient bak choy; and my kangkong were just 3-days old :) I also showed a photo of my tallest sunflower (out of three planted). They are doing generally well - but there were two tragedies, one survivor and one new addition to the garden.

Good news first. This - is the new addition to my garden. I bet you've not seen a lady finger flower before? This is what it looks like. Doesn't it look lovely? :)

Xmas "Baking" 3 - Raw Cashew Dreamcake

I tried making a raw cheesecake for the first time on Friday. A raw cheesecake is a no-bake cheesecake; not only that it doesn't have any cheese in it either. Because it's really a cheesecake-lookalike comprising ground almonds/ dates (for the base) and largely ground cashews, honey and coconut oil for the filling - cashew only for the bottom and blended with fresh raspberries for the top layer.

When deciding to make this (see recipe/ original food blog post), I was drawn by raw foodists' claim that eating raw food is generally healthier (being unprocessed and uncooked- uncooked defined as not heating it above 48C, raw rood retains more nutrients and natural enzymes). I mean, why ingest useless calories when your food can taste good and do good to your body?

But though this is supposedly a much healthier cake, this recipe turned out very coconuty - as the coconut oil used in the filling totally overpowered the cashew (which is pretty tasteless) and even the raspberry. So while it looks relatively appetising, this probably isn't a cake I'd make to try to convince people that healthy cakes can taste as good as the traditionally sinful ones. But I'd keep looking!

Xmas Baking 2 - Chocolate Pecan Pie

We had some friends over yesterday and today - and since it's Christmas season I decided to try out slightlier festive baked treats - one of which was chocolate pecan pie, recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. It looked pretty straightforward, aside from having to make the pie crust - I have a slight aversion towards making pie crust (the pie-crust making procedure just seems like a make or break task, and my food processor happens to be a rather basic one not that great for pulsing large quantities of butter and flour etc)

Xmas Baking 1 - Christmas cookies

Last week the same ex-colleague (Mr P) whom I sold my first cake to SMSed me to ask if I make 'classic fruit cake'. I honestly told him I've never tried - and we came to a mutual agreement that it's perhaps best not to risk it. However, Mr P seemed to be baking up a storm for his various christmas parties and continued to try his luck. Do I make cookies? Well, I've not tried making any cookie that requires the use of a cookie cutter, but decided to take up the challenge.

And since I was already making cookies for Mr P, D decided to ride on the cookie order and asked me to by the way also help make some for his staff/ bosses too. And that is how I ended up making some 120 cookies in 2 days. Pretty tiring, though it got easier for me towards the end. I think I've had enough of making cookies for a while and would probably not eat or make any of such cookies anytime soon!

Make your own nut milk!

I've been reading up a bit more on healthy living/ healthy eating, and recently discovered the benefits of drinking nut milk. Nut milk is available on the market (perhaps less easily found in Singapore though), but some claim that commercially available nut milk contain dubious additives, and so health-conscious foodies/ moms have began making their own!

Chia seed chocolate mud cake

I baked another chocolate cake yesterday, but paired it with a superfood this time round. Chia seeds. 

It's my first time trying to bake with chia seeds - interestingly, they swell up quite quickly when soaked in water, so each tiny seed becomes enveloped by a layer of gel. The recipe incorporates about half a cup of chia seeds - introducing a pretty interesting texture to the cake (but making this an expensive cake too). The gel gives the dark chocolate a nice fudgy texture, while the seeds create bits of crunchiness with every bite. 

I almost dropped the cake when taking it out of the oven and unfortunately smashed the nicely crusted top. Oh well, in the end the smashed up top crust created a great "unfinished" texture for photo-taking!

Healthier red velvet cake

I made red velvet cupcakes once a couple of years back - with red food dye. Honestly I was pretty hesitant to put all the food dye in my cupcake mix then - goodness knows how much toxins/ chemicals I would ingest! But for a first try I still went ahead with the food dye, though with a much reduced portion. My red velvet cupcakes turned out deep red, but in the end I felt a little squeamish eating too much of it. Unfortunately, most cafes/ bakeries/ cupcake places just add red food dye to their red velvet as it easily and quickly creates a nice and consistent vibrant red colour.

This time round, I attempted a healthier version of red velvet cake, dyeing them naturally using beets. Beets naturally add a bit of a veggie taste to the cake - but personally I think it's a small trade off for something friendlier to our bodies! I suppose I'm also biased as I don't mind the taste of beets that much. Nonetheless, this cake drew mixed reviews from my tasters, and so it requires a bit more work and experimentation, before I can say that I'm truly proud of this healthier version of the red velvet cake.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Chin mee chin confectionery along East Coast Road is probably one of the last authentically-old coffee shops left in Singapore. It's famous for its kaya/ kaya bread and D claims that they do the best soft-boiled eggs ever. I'm not a fan of gooey half cooked stuff so I cannot quite attest to the egg claim; but the kaya bread (which came with generous slices of butter) made for quite a simple but satisfying Sunday breakfast! 

Chocolate hazelnut buckwheat cake

I baked this gluten-free rich and nutty chocolate hazelnut cake yesterday evening - icing sugar styling my own :) Used organic buckwheat flour for this - aside from being gluten-free buckwheat is apparently a high-fibre and good source of protein!

D & I finished almost 4 slices of this for supper/ breakfast this morning - a rich but nonetheless relatively healthy start to the week!

DIY Christmas Angel

Are you looking for Christmas decor ideas that won't break the bank? Don't know what to do with old christmas baubles that you've accumulated over the years but can't bear to donate them to the karang guni? Recycle them by turning them into adorable little Christmas angels - here's how!

Moist chocolate beetroot cake

Am on the quest for a good chocolate cake recipe, and this was my first serious attempt at chocolate cake. Yes I know a chocolate beetroot cake sounds pretty dubious, but based on relatively trustworthy food bloggers who've baked this the beetroot is barely detectable and chocolate cake really good. And so I decided to give this a try :)