Blueberry Muffins II

Sorry for disappearing for the past few months!

I have been lazy and also got a bit tired of baking (maybe due to overbaking in Dec);

On top of that, the electricity bills had gotten really scary :(

Anyway, here are some overdue photos;

I baked made some lemon and lime cheese cupcakes- the no-bake type.

Adding lime really brings the cheesecake to a whole new level, it was so refreshing and appetising! Nice!

And  I baked some chinese walnut cookies for Chinese New Year! I like walnuts!

And recently I started to crave for some lovely homemade blueberry muffins!

I just love blueberries! *drools*



It was my 2nd time baking blueberry muffins and I used another recipe this time.

The muffins rise really beautifully and look great!

Taste-wise, the texture is the typically muffin texture, a bit spongy/chewy, in between bread and cake.

But the blueberry taste is not strong enough (think should add more blueberries); the vanilla+eggy smell overpowers the blueberry taste.

Comparing this to the other recipe, I prefer the latter coz in that recipe, the cupcakes are oozing bursting with blueberry taste (the way I like). 

Banana walnut bread/cake

(Same recipe as banana walnut muffins)

I am back!

Oh something happened at home for the past few weeks and that's why I 'disappeared'.

Now everything has gone back to normal and I am back too!

I really like the banana muffins I made last time, so this time I decided to make it into bread (although the texture turned out to be more cakey).

Using exactly the same recipe with lengthened baking time, I got these such beautiful babies!

I just used those aluminium disposable foil tins, which turned out to be just fine.

Almost done!

Looking really pretty and smelled great!

Mouthful of delicious ingredients!

The good part about making your own cake!

I baked 3 tins, 1 for my parents, 1 for my in-laws and 1 for us!

Since my mummy doesn't really like cinnamon, I halved the cinnamon and added some banana essence!

This turned out great; the smell and taste of banana, cinnamon and vanilla turned out well-balanced, unlike last time for the muffins when the cinnamon smell was overpowering.

Felt great after baking and eating my products!

Shall find time to bake more!

Apple streusel muffins (with failed crumble)

Do you have any idea which species of apples have you been eating?

I only know Fuji apples. Opps.

Because on this small tropical island country, apples are available at any time of the year and the most common is Fuji.

I have never heard or seen of applesauce until I came across this recipe!!!

Can you believe?

Well, we do not really need to preserve the apples, there's no winter here...

So definitely I cant find any applesauce in the local supermarkets and I attempted to make my own applesauce...hee Basically it's just cooking the apples till mashy and jam-like texture.

I use Royal Gala apples (and 1 Red Delicious apple coz I run out of Gala apples).

I think next time I should try using Fuji apples, just to sample the different tastes.

Tadah my apple muffins!

Please forgive my failed crumble toppings, I think the butter was too soft and there was too much butter.

Apart from the ugly crumble, the apple muffins actually tasted pretty nice, just a little bit too soft.

But I may not give this recipe another try; first applesauce is time-consuming and secondly the recipe was to make 12 muffins but it ended up with hardly 10 muffins. That's annoying =P

Banana cinnamon muffins with walnuts

After another failed attempt at baking cakes, I need some encouragement and motivation.

SO, I decided to bake some muffins!

How about my favourite banana muffins?!

This time round, I used a new recipe taken from here.

It was pretty simple; just mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ones in another bowl and then fold them together. You don't even need electric mixer, just a hand whisk will do.

Started the baking....

Rising rising....

Almost done!

Now the wonderful cinnamon aroma is filling the whole house and making me a happy person :)

Cooling on the rack.

And Ready to be Devoured!

By Me! =P

Love the muffin texture! And cinnamon smell is great with the crunchiness from the walnuts!

Just a little pity that the banana scent is not as strong as I like;

I'm the type who loves strong banana scent, maybe next time I will add some banana essence.

Pardon the half-eaten muffin, I just want to show the texture of the muffin.

This kind of texture I like.

Cheers!

A failed attempt- Marble Cake

I wasn't too satisfied with the birthday cake I baked for my hubby the previous time, so I decided to give it another try at baking cake!

And I thought of baking a marble cake since it's one of my favourites.

With a recipe in hand, I went ahead to try it out.

I tried to make some pretty patterns using the melted chocolate, but it turned out a bit hideous since it was my first time doing this.

Freshly out of the oven.

Why the chocolate didn't melt and mix?

Disappointed.

So in the end, my marble cake didn't turn out to be 'marblery', it was just coated with chocolate.

The cake texture also turned out to be slightly rubbery.

Still edible but just not as nice as expected.

I need to try again!

Vanilla bean cake with chocolate ganache

Yesterday was my Birthday :)

And Today is my Hubby's Birthday!!!

I wanted to give him a surprise; and what can be better than a Birthday Cake!

Since I have some vanilla pods which have been sitting inside my fridge for ages, I shall make a Vanilla cake!

Complete with my favourite chocolate ganache!

It is my first attempt to make a cake!

I always make cupcakes/muffins but never a cake, I am so excited.

Two 8-inch round pans squeezing in the oven!

Cakes are done! Time to dress up!

Yes, covering cake with ganache is indeed very messy and unsightly!

Until the ganache hardens and you can clear it up to make it look nicer.

 Tadah!

Words written with edible gel

Complete with packaging to give hubby a surprise!

To me, a birthday must have a cake with lit candles, so I can make wishes!

The cake looks great, both inside and outside.

But the cake is a bit too moist and dense; maybe I added too little flour.

Luckily the chocolate ganache comes to the rescue and makes the cake quite nice though.

A nice first attempt!

I will try to improve next time :)

Blueberry Muffins

Berries, berries,berries, I love them all!

Especially Blueberries!

But it's a pity that I'm living in a tropical island country, with very little access to temperate fruits like berries, peaches etc. By the time these fruits were imported here, they were not that fresh and sweet and were often very expensive.

So I must make some blueberry muffins before the season ends and they are gone.

Can you see the blueberries?!!

Rising rising! Muffins do not seem to rise as much as cupcakes, but they still rise beautifully~

Almost done! The smell coming out of the oven is heavenly!

Freshly done!

Ready to be devoured!!!

Blueberries oozing out everywhere!

The muffins (recipe) tasted great; soft like cake yet still moist but not as dense as cupcakes.

And the juices from the burst blueberries were oozing out everywhere, tasted a bit like blueberry jam but so much better. The only sad thing is the blueberries are sour (I forgot to taste them before adding).

Anyway I still fell in love with the muffins on the first bite; can't stop myself from popping them into my mouth ^o^

Just a note: I have no idea what the cup volume for blueberries in the recipe is (I use metric measurements); anyway I made 12 muffins and I used 250g of blueberries which is sufficient enough.