Dairy-free Chocolate Cake

a spontaneous bake of something chocolate without butter & eggs.

...with delicious plain lemon tea in my cutest mug 

Lavender & Honey Teacakes (semi wholly)

Recently I visited Department of Caffeine, a newly opened cafe @ Duxton Road.

They had these honey & lavender petite cakes that looked so good, so I bought a tiny piece to try & wow..I havent taste a cake with a lavender flavour before & it is pretty good. 

So that got me inspired to bake my own...

$5.50

Denise's Lavender & Honey Teacakes

Earl Grey Muffins

It has been so busy with mister JOB that honestly, I missed my time in the kitchen terribly much.

on this faithful Wednesday, I had the urge to bake.

so I put on my red&white-polka-dots-with-strips apron, googled for a quick Earl Grey Muffin recipe & baked away !

Happy Wednesday !

Oatsy Chips Muffins

A spontaneous bake because I wanted to use up a box of chocolate chips that has been sitting in my pantry for too long. 

This would make a hearty guilt-free light breakfast or snack, here goes..

Buns of Chelsea

Chelsea Buns are sweet English bread that are rolled with mixed fruits and spice.

It is very similar to Cinnamon Rolls.

This has always been on my to-bake list & finally, 

after hectic weeks at work..

I managed to pamper myself with a few good hours in the kitchen, 

whipping up these sweet buns!

Here is the bake of a happy Saturday:

enjoy these chelsea buns with a cup of hot tea, 

I had mine with a cup of earl grey tea infused with lemon slices..

which is by the way, delicious.

Brownie from the USA

My friend went to the USA for a holiday & when he came back, 

I was treated to a sweet box of Ghiradelli Brownie Mix !

YUM.

I decided to add some chopped pecans & walnuts + an extra dash of rum to it.

here goes...

Crunchy Oats Biscuits

i received a recipe book this February from my friend, Pea.

it is a pretty good book that spurs baking inspirations, this was one of it. 

i spun up a healthier cookie recipe by substituting butter with healthy soyabean  oil, reducing the sugar and throwing in some heart-healthy flax seeds for that extra crunch as well !

here it is....

Orangey Oats Waffles

The waffle maker is a heaven-sent gift.

Today was a productive Tuesday..

finished catching up with Grey's Anatomy & got some homework done..

after the end of those, I felt like I needed some kitchen therapy. 

so I paced in & out of the kitchen with to-bake thoughts floating in my head..

then I noticed my L'equip toy sitting on the kitchen counter,

& I decided to whip up a quick batch of waffles!

so here is an orangey oatsy twist adapted from my Earl Grey Waffles:

Green Tea BMV Biscuits

Here's a simple dimple 

Be-My-Valentine biscuit recipe.. 

for all the lovers (to-be) out there (chuckles).

Earl Grey Waffles

I officially turned older a few days ago..

& I am so thankful that one of the gift I received was a....(drum-rolls!)

waffle-maker (gasps!).

It is a Belgian Waffle Maker by L'equip, imported from Korea.

so once I got it, within hours, I searched for a waffle recipe & got my hands on this new baby!

In light of Valentine's Day which is only 4 days away....

this recipe is also for all the sweethearts out there. 

Pineapple Sun

Happy Chinese New Year !

it's the time of the year again..where people everywhere are baking pineapple tarts!

& i'm no exception..this 2013, my tiny little bakery attempted to infuse some tea flavour into the tarts!

the flavour of the tea (i used lipton's vanilla & strawberry black tea) was flat..but it added little black specks in the tarts & I love it..I think it looks cute. 

part of the tediousness of pineapple tarts would be the rolling of pineapple jam into little balls...but just keep going, the final bake would be worth it. 

 i love baking cut-out cookies best..rolling & cutting out the cookie dough could be one of the simplest & yet most fun thing-to-do. ever !

hello little suns of pineapple !

The Verdict

Earl Grey Kueh Lapis

Kueh Lapis is a traditional layered cake baked with egg yolks, butter and sugar.

It is extremely high in calories..

eating 1 thin slice (50g) of it is like swallowing 3 1/2 teaspoons of fats & you'd have to spend 30 minutes jogging off that 250 calories. 

& it is well-known for its tedious bake.

What inspired me? Last week, I had a friend who wanted to visit JB to get the famous Lavender kueh lapis. So the few of us drove to JB for the Kueh Lapis Hunt. It took us pretty long to find the bakery..& my friend bought several boxes (it's almost 2x cheaper there). 

So it was then & there I randomly decided to bake my very 1st kueh lapis. 

so here is is...with an earl grey twist:

Strawberry Madeira Cake

Madeira cakes are plain English cakes that are delicate in texture, they are named as such because they are usually served with Madeira wine.

This was an impulse bake, inspired by random thoughts of my punnet of frozen strawberries chucked in the freeze + my constant craving for tea-infused plain cakes.

a happy bake for the always-blue-Monday, ha.

Pink Poppy Chiffon Cake

this  cloud-like chiffon cake goes well with a cup of chamomile, 

perfect for a light sweet-treat-craving!

Banana & Chips Loaf

a good way to use up bananas that are too ripe..

instead of chocolate chips, you may replace it with nuts instead. 

New Foodie in Town - Breaking Fast

This is my friend, Teck Bun's blog.

It is pretty rare for a guy, especially in Singapore, to be so passionate about health & the kitchen works..but here we have one. His blog features breakfast recipes that look exquisite but are simple to whip up & surprisingly easy on your dollars! 

Check him out here @ Breaking Fast. 

Chocolate Oats Cuppycakes

it's my cousin, Lulu's birthday !

since i'm not quite up to baking anything fancy this week (experiencing the wisdom drama)...thought i'll make her a quick batch of birthday cuppycakes.

so i looked up my book collection, found a simple chocolate cupcake recipe, tweaked it to my liking...yes that means with added oats and reduced-sugar. 

adorned with vanilla buttercream & a spontaneous pretty pink piping..

here are lulu's birthday cuppycakes:

Green Tea Yogurt Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

happy birthday daddyo !

my dad used to tease me with brutal honesty: 

"denise, your cakes are alright to be eaten at home...but they can't be sold, no one would buy them".

ouch.

that was in 2010 when he said that. since then every year I have been baking him a cake anyways - you can only get better right? - & he hasn't made any similar remarks anymore, which I guess is good news.

Blue Velvet Cuppy Cakes (with an oatsy twist)

in The Vow (2012), Paige & Leo would always agree to disagree on red velvet cake.

 that was so romantic & cute that it got me baking my 1st red velvet cuppycakes. 

if roses are red,

& violets are blue.

there are red cupcakes,

then how can there not be any blue, too?

so here it is...blue velvet cuppycakes with an oatsy twist.

Granola

there was quite a handful of dried fruits from making chocolate barks for x'mas..

so I decided that we shall have a go @ our very own granola.

it is very easy to do...cheaper than you'd get from the stores & you can control how much sugar & honey you wanna add.

so why not?

make your own granola today !