Honeygal 1 Report post Posted April 28, 2010 Hi Honeygal, thanks! I use a Tefal 26L tabletop oven (mine is the old model w/o fan). It's been serving me very well but it can a be a bit small sometimes so lately I also purchased a Delonghi tabletop oven. I can't remember the model, but the outside is stainless steel, it usually retails for abt $599 at Best Denki. That is the biggest tabletop oven I can find. Hi Rondy, Not so kua zhang, compete with breadtalk? I'm still far from expert!I really love to bake though, and recently just feel a little more confident to take a few orders from home, but still very far from the professionals, still honing my skills. I have tried a chocolate chiffon cake, the recipe is here. It's from another blogger. The texture is nice, though I would prefer the flavour to be pandan flavour. If you try her pandan flavour one, share with us on the outcome? Would you be able to share the recipe for the banana chocolate layered cake? THanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 Would you be able to share the recipe for the banana chocolate layered cake? THanks! Hi Honeygal, the Tefal takes longer to warm up. It's heat is quite even and it has self cleaning walls. But it's getting more difficult to find baking trays that can fit into it (esp cookie trays) because of its size. Since it's small, baking sometimes take a little longer (for bigger items like whole cakes, breads). Btw, the Delonghi model is AOV842, 42L. It is good so far, but it has no self cleaning walls, do might be more greasy esp if you bake whole chicken in it. For mine, there is a "cool spot" which is not as hot, but I guess most ovens has their hot and cool spots, even the expensive ones. For cakes, I don't use fan. I've only used the fan once so far, for cookies, so I can't say much about it. Oh, and there is light inside, so you can look at your food being baked (which I like to do so ) I've also heard people comment that Rowenta is not bad. But I've not used it before. My only finding was that although capacity is bigger than the Tefal, the length of the baking area is almost the same, and I don't want finding suitable sized trays to be a hindrance, so I dropped it as an option. The $1k oven you are referring to is built-in oven? I very "gian" to have built in oven actually, so much bigger! But I din reno my kitchen when I bought my resale flat, so there goes. IMHO, there are many people who buy that and then rarely use it later on. It becomes a storage cabinet for them and it's a waste. Oh if you are not in a hurry, wait for Tangs sale where they have 10% for electricals and you will surely qualify for free delivery. When I bought at Best, there was no discount and I had to pay for delivery. I needed it urgently so no choice, but if you can wait, then no harm save some $. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 Would you be able to share the recipe for the banana chocolate layered cake? THanks! Hi! There are 3 parts to this cake (sponge cake, buttercream and choc fudge icing) + about 2-3 ripe bananas A) Chocolate Sponge Cake (the recipe I used was this, but I found it too light to support the layers, so this one below is better) (taken from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials Chocolate) 220g unsalted butter, softened 440g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 eggs 300g plain flour, sifted 60g cocoa powder, sifted 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 250ml milk 2 Tbsp instant coffee granules or powder dissolved in 1 1/2 Tbsp boiling water 1. Preheat oven to 160 degree celsius (I used 175-180 degrees) 2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for 10-12 min or until light and creamy 3. Gradually add eggs and beat well. 4. Fold in the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and milk. 5. Spoon the mixture into 2 lightly greased 8 inch round tins lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 45-50 min or until cooked when tested with a skewer 6. Stand in the tin for 10 min and then turn out to wire rack to cool. 7. Slice each cake in half horizontally and assemble the layers. B) Buttercream You can use this recipe here and add 40g melted chocolate to it. Or you can use non-dairy whipping cream + melted chocolate for a less fat option. DON"T add cocoa powder after the buttercream/non-dairy whipping cream is whipped, otherwise it will look "polka-dotted" and ugly like mine C) Chocolate Truffle Icing The recipe is here Hope you try and will like it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honeygal 1 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 Hi! There are 3 parts to this cake (sponge cake, buttercream and choc fudge icing) + about 2-3 ripe bananas A) Chocolate Sponge Cake (the recipe I used was this, but I found it too light to support the layers, so this one below is better) (taken from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials Chocolate) 220g unsalted butter, softened 440g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 eggs 300g plain flour, sifted 60g cocoa powder, sifted 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 250ml milk 2 Tbsp instant coffee granules or powder dissolved in 1 1/2 Tbsp boiling water 1. Preheat oven to 160 degree celsius (I used 175-180 degrees) 2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for 10-12 min or until light and creamy 3. Gradually add eggs and beat well. 4. Fold in the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and milk. 5. Spoon the mixture into 2 lightly greased 8 inch round tins lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 45-50 min or until cooked when tested with a skewer 6. Stand in the tin for 10 min and then turn out to wire rack to cool. 7. Slice each cake in half horizontally and assemble the layers. B) Buttercream You can use this recipe here and add 40g melted chocolate to it. Or you can use non-dairy whipping cream + melted chocolate for a less fat option. DON"T add cocoa powder after the buttercream/non-dairy whipping cream is whipped, otherwise it will look "polka-dotted" and ugly like mine C) Chocolate Truffle Icing The recipe is here Hope you try and will like it! thank you thank you for so kindly sharing the detailed recipe!! will definitely bake it once i get the new oven. my baking teacher used to recommend Baby Belling. i do not know in what way it is better than a regular oven, since it is rather small too. if you know, tell me! thanks for the oven tips too! will wait out for the Tangs sale. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted May 1, 2010 my baking teacher used to recommend Baby Belling. i do not know in what way it is better than a regular oven, since it is rather small too. if you know, tell me! thanks for the oven tips too! will wait out for the Tangs sale. I heard pple talked about Baby Belling too. I've seen an instructor used hers was a very old model and it looked bigger than the current one we see in stores. I find the current one small, and quite low (in terms of height). I think there may be some restrictions for baking high cakes, just my opinion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BunBun 5 Report post Posted May 2, 2010 Xaleysan : Pretty bakes you have, you can be a baking queen here. Shifu! Today made white chrysanthemum (Gong Ju) jellies - Its my 2nd attempt actually as the 1st attempt didn't turn out well because the yellow chrysanthemum flavour didn't taste as good and the jellies were too watery due to not enough agar agar powder. The 2nd attempt fared better after making changes to the amount of agar agar powder in the recipe I found online plus the flavour of the white chrysanthemum(Gong Ju) tasted better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted May 4, 2010 Hi BunBun, don't say that, so paiseh. I still have lots to learn. Hi Rondy, ya, you might have to shorten the baking time. What flavours are they? Are 2 of them pistachio and earl grey flavour? If yes, how was the taste? I've never tried earl grey ones. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BunBun 5 Report post Posted May 4, 2010 Rondy : you didn't use muffin tray to put the cupcakes in? They will set very nicely during baking. The colours look really appealing before being baked in particular, the orange one - looks like the flat orange bun by breadtalk. I think you should adjust the temperature of your oven too - not every oven have the same 'heat' temperature even if you follow the temperature in recipe. You could drop the temperature listed in the recipe down by 10-20 degrees. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mickey M 0 Report post Posted May 4, 2010 ya lor..experience made perfect hor.. need alot of practise... The red one is strawberries favour orange one is orange favour. brown is coco+cinnamons green is Pandan with pumpkin seed. Yeh yeh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted May 13, 2010 hello everyone! my latest bake is a carrot cake. It's a new recipe I am trying this time. I forgot to take picture of the inside, but the cake was nice and moist. I have added the recipe --> Carrot cake recipe Though quite tedious to prepare the ingredients, it is worth a try if you like yours moist like me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinktini 0 Report post Posted May 14, 2010 wow, looking at all the pictures in this thread gets me all excited abt being able to bake in my future home. just ordered myself a 101pcs cookie cutter set from amazon, hopefully will be able to post some successful baking pictures here next time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinktini 0 Report post Posted May 14, 2010 post picture and show us plsssssssssssss hehe ok, hopefully my home ready by jun and i can bake my first batch by july. here's the cookie cutter set i ordered, its plastic, so it won't rust or bend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted May 14, 2010 really tedious looking at the ingredients needed! why u need rum? raisins must be softened before you can use them for baking, so the rum is for soaking them and also to add some flavour Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xaleysan 2 Report post Posted May 15, 2010 when i mixed in the muffins i just mixed it right from the fridge lei if you don't mind your raisins not soft, it's ok la. Last time, I used to use straight from the pack too. Then I kept wondering how come the raisins not soft... Actually if your recipe uses a lot of raisins, soak longer will be even better, they'll be more flavourful with the liquor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weiwei 0 Report post Posted May 15, 2010 (edited) was busy recently n no time to bake seem more n more baking queens n kings here =) think i hav missup many nice recipes... Btw,can anyone teach me how to make nice topped cream for birthday cake? any recipe to share? thanks for helping hav a nice weekend!! regards, weiwei Edited May 15, 2010 by weiwei Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
