The Marriage of Citrus and Le Coconute

HAPPY BELATED BLESSED BIRTHDAY to vik's mom, Ranuka =D {08/02}
A sweet a son as he is, vik wanted his mom to have a great birthday celebration, and a delicious cake. He was also kind enough to take into consideration the fact that his gmomma was a pure vegan. Thus, he asked if I could sell him a suitable cake for the occasion. Of course, I willingly agreed.
I gave it some thought, and finally decided on an ...

EGGLESS ORANGE COCONUT CAKE^^:
•1 3/4 cups white self-raising flour*
•1/2 tsp. baking powder

•1/2 cup sugar(i used brown, for a richer taste and a healthier alternative too)

•3/4 cup butter

•1 1/4 cups milk

•1 tbs. grated orange rind/zest

•1/2 cup dessicated coconut

•4 tbs. sour cream**
 
•cashewnuts, halved or roughly chopped(enough to cover the entire surface of the cake)
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*To make your own self rising flour - for every 125g/5 oz./10tbsp of plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder. Then sift the flour several times.
**1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to fill 1 cup (240 ml) (let it stand 5-10 minutes)
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ICING:

•75ml orange juice


•3/4 tsp orange peel (grated)

•140g dried schredded coconut

•~200g icing sugar(I used fructose, for a healthier alternative. It is hovever, much more costly)
 
DIRECTIONS:
 
Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas mark 3


[I used a 8x8 pan]

Combine the coconut and milk and stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
Grease and line the loaf tin.
Cream the butter, rind and sugar in medium-sized bowl until light and fluffy; stir in the sour cream and mix well.
Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and stir in half the coconut mixture with half the sifted flour and the baking powder.
Then stir in the remaining coconut mixture and flour. Stir until smooth. Pour mixture into the prepared tin.
Sprinkle cashewnuts over then use a spatula to press in a little.
Bake for about 1 1/2 hours.

Allow to stand for ~15 minutes, before turning on to wire rack to cool.
Spread cooled cake with icing; decorate with orange wedges if desired.
[Orange Icing: Ensure that a thick but spreadable consistency is achieved.

                                                                            TADAAAAAA~

And That's How the Cookie Crumbled

AWESOME NEWS GUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I applied for Culinary & Catering Management @ Temasek Poly and guess what ....... I GOT THE PLACE !!!=D This got me having a total mixture of feelings ....of course I was delighted I got what I always wanted. At the same time however, I knew I'd miss my dearest friends to bits. Deep down in my heart, I know I can never find any replacements for those gems <3 The tears I shed held a variety of emotions. I decided to bake some goodies for my beloveds as a 'farewell' gift before I left the sch, in case I were to confirm my decision of transfering(I've decided to stay till early march at least, before poly starts, if I were to go).
I was also unsure though, whether i'd be doing the right thing by transfering. I'm still praying hard for a beam of enoightenment=)
Anyways, back to the goodies.

 I baked some apple crumble muffins for them. Here the recipe for 6:

-> 1 cup all-purpose flour


-> 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

-> 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

-> 1/4 teaspoon salt

-> 1/4 cup butter

-> 1/2 cup white sugar

-> 1 egg

-> 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

-> 3/4 cup chopped apples



-> 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

-> 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

-> 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-> 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
 
 I got this recipe from HERE. I made a few modifications though. An apple muffin without any spice in the batter itself ? That just doesn't make any sense. Hence, I added an pinch of nutmeg and a little more cinammon, to the batter. Also, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar for the batter(as always), and 1/4 cup more of apples(green apples). For the butter, I assumed that the recipe refered to the unsalted version. Thus, I omitted the 1/4 tsp of salt as I was using the usual version.
 
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 6-cup muffin pan.


2.In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3.In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

4.In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

5.Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan, then cool.
 
Just like other muffins I bake, I always set the temperature higher, then lower it. In this case, I lowered the temperature to 175degrees celsius, upon insertion into the oven, to ensure that the top turns out slightly crisp, with a light, moist and fluffy interior. P.S. 190 refers to the original recipe yield of 12 muffins.
 
 
 

I made similar muffins(above) for the picnic I just had with my new class, but used red apples instead. Everyone loved it=D