Lemon Butter Cake

It has been a long time since I last posted, one month to be exact. Did anyone miss me? :)

After the Moist Butter Cake post, there are several encounters where wet lines are observed in my butter cakes. This time round, I halved the Lemon Butter Cake recipe, which The Little Teochew has tweaked from her Moist Butter Cake. The result is fantastic, a soft cake with a lovely citrus lemon scent! :)

Thanks to The Little Teochew for sharing the recipe. :)

Lemon Butter Cake
Adapted from: The Little Teochew

Ingredients (Makes an 18-cm round)
97.5 g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
85 g unsalted butter, softened
60 g sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest, grated
4 tbsp fresh milk

Method
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease and line an 18-cm round cake pan.
2. Sift plain flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy for about 2 minutes.
4. Add in lemon zest and egg gradually and beat until well-combined. If the mixture curdles, add 1 tbsp of flour and continue mixing. 
5. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk, beating at low speed until the flour mixture is fully incorporated in the batter.
6. Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat for 10 – 15 seconds, just until the batter appears uniform. The batter should look thick and creamy.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula.
8. Bake at 190°C for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes clean.
9. Leave the cake to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Unmold and cool on a wire rack completely.

Notes
- Omitted the Lemon Curd Cream.
- Use a smaller pan.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Apart from the slight wet lines that is seen at the bottom of the cake, the crumbs are really fine and the cake tastes great! :)

Thanks to Table for 2 or more for sharing the recipe. :)

Condensed Milk Pound Cake
Adapted from: Table for 2 or more and baking fiends unite!

Ingredients (Makes an 8-inch loaf)
120 g unsalted butter
45 g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup (125 ml) condensed milk
120 g cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs

Method
1. Sift cake flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy for about 2 minutes.
3. Add in salt and vanilla essence and beat well.
4. Add in condensed milk and beat till well-combined.
5. Using the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions. Mix till the batter is smooth.
6. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix till the batter is smooth.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 1 hour.

Dried Plum Muffins

At the back of my mind, I remembered that I have some dried figs at home. But when I was preparing the ingredients, I couldn't find it! Well, since I have already melted the butter and juice, I continued on and substituted with dried plums. Lesson learnt: To check all the ingredients before baking! :P

Thanks to Happy Home Baking for sharing the recipe. :) I made some modifications to the recipe to make Dried Plum Muffins.

Dried Plum Muffins
Adapted from: Happy Home Baking

Ingredients (Makes 5)
15 g dried plums
45 g unsalted butter
125 ml apple juice
Lemon zest, grated from 1/2 lemon
157.5g plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
50 g castor sugar
30 g brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method
1. Heat apple juice and butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted.
2. Remove from heat and add in the dried plums and lemon zest. Leave to cool until the plums are softened, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease muffin cups with butter or line with muffin liners.
4. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugars, salt and baking powder.
5. Make a well in the centre and add the cooled plum mixture, eggs and vanilla. Stir until just combined. Do not over-mix, the batter will be slightly lumpy.
6. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling to the rim of the cup.
7. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden, and the skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Transfer the muffin pan to a cooling rack and let it cool for 5 mins. Unmold the muffins and cool completely.

5 Recipes to celebrate Easter

Happy (belated) Easter. I've been invited by Cheah of No-Frills Recipes to place a menu tagging game for the Easter party. Rule of the game is to suggest 5 to 10 recipes and upload the photos with their respective links. After that, I've to tag 10 bloggers to do the same.

Since Easter is already over, I will simply join in the fun and skip the tagging part. Welcome to my Easter dessert party. :)

Here's my Easter menu from my past recipes. Click on the titles to go to the recipes.

Matcha Madeleines

Cornflake Cookies

Mango Coconut Chiffon Cake

Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Sugar Crust

Lastly, I have something for everyone to bring back home. :)

Almond Sponge Cupcakes

Do you like what I have prepared for all of you? :)

Earl Grey Tea Muffins

I have seen many interesting bakes using Earl Grey tea, which is one of my favourite tea. Hence during one of the grocery shopping months ago, I grabbed a box of Dilmah Earl Grey tea bags without hesitation. Yes, you hear me right, months ago. But as time goes by with the depleting teabags, I realise that I have not done a single Earl Grey bake at all! =.='''

At least once, I must use this box of Earl Grey tea for its original intended purpose. Muffins using my favourite traditional muffin method is the most obvious choice! Hehe... :)

I wonder did I overbake these Earl Grey Tea Muffins as the top of the muffins appear to be slightly hard and the inside though soft is kinda dry. If I remember correctly, Min of Min's Blog made a similar comment that her Earl Grey Tea Muffins are also slightly dry. Nonetheless, these muffins have a light tea fragrance, just the way I love my tea to be. :)

Thanks to Min's Blog for sharing the recipe. :)

Earl Grey Tea Muffins
Adapted from: Min's Blog and 孟老师的100道小蛋糕 by 孟兆庆

Ingredients (Makes 3)
2 satchels Earl Grey tea powder
30 g fresh milk
1 egg
40 g castor sugar
50 g vegetable oil
100 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Cut open the satchels and put the tea powder into the milk. Warm for a few minutes. Set aside to infuse for around 10 minutes.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together till pale and sugar is dissolved.
3. Add in vegetable oil and mix well.
4. Add in the milk tea and continue to mix well until thick.
5. Sift in cake flour and baking powder and fold gently with a spatula. Do not over-mix the batter. It is ok for the batter to have lumps.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till 80% full. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 25 – 30 minutes or till golden brown.

Notes
- I replaced 50 g vegetable oil with 35 g melted butter and 15 g vegetable oil.

Red Bean Muffins

It has been quite a while since I bake any muffins using the creaming method. Most of the times, I opt for muffin recipes that are using the traditional muffin method, i.e. mixing the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together. The reason is simple: To save the trouble of taking out the electric mixer and less effort to wash up afterwards. Oops, did I just reveal my plain laziness? Haha... :P

You probably have heard this from me many times: I am always baking to clear the existing ingredient inventory. If not for the sweetened red beans that I desperately want to finish up, I will not discover the wonders of the creaming method of muffins. These muffins are closer to a cake texture and the crumbs are so light and fine! :)

Red Bean Muffins
Adapted from: 君之

Ingredients (Makes 5)
60 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
60 g castor sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 ml milk
15 ml lemon juice
100 g cake flour
1/8 tsp tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
60 g sweetened red beans

Method
1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until the batter turns pale and increases in volume.
3. Add the beaten egg in 3 additions, beating well after each addition.
4. Add in milk, lemon juice and flour mixture and fold using a spatula till well-combined.
5. Fold in the red beans and mix well.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups till ⅔ full and sprinkle some red beans on top.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 185°C for around 30 minutes.

Notes
- I added lemon juice to the milk and set aside before use.
- I used 65 g sweetened red beans and mixed all the red beans into the batter. I did not sprinkle any red beans on top.

Awards (One Lovely Blog)

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Edith of pReCiouS MoMentS and Honey Boy of Cosy Bake for passing this award to me. :)

Update on 15 Apr 2011: I would also like to thanks Joelyn of 幸福の起点 and Angel of Cook.Bake.Love for passing me the award. :)

It is a lovely surprise and motivation to receive this award from these respectable ladies whose blogs are my daily sources of inspiration, even way before I started to have my little blogging space. Do find some time to hop by their lovely blogs and get inspired too!