Cauliflower Soup

My kid's love soup, have tried making pumpkin soup, broccoli soup for them.  So this time round I tried making Cauliflower Soup.  What I like about this soup is that it doesn' need to use flour to thicken up but uses potatoes instead.  The kids gobble up the soup and Hubby says it tasted a little rough, not as smooth as the normal soup I made (I think it's the potatoes).

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients & Directions 

• 
  
  2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (omitted this)
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry (omitted this)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (omitted this)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in potatoes and carrots and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in cauliflower, cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Puree in batches in a blender or food processor, or in the pot using an immersion blender. Return to low heat and stir in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sherry. Heat through. Serve garnished with parsley.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

It's that time of the year again and I just have to try baking a cake for myself.  As it's my own birthday cake, I decided to indulge in something I like and make a cake of it, Chocolate.  Had wanted to make a normal chocolate cake but stumble upon this cake recipe in allrecipes.com and decided to give it a try as the review sound really good.  The cake was super simple to make, it takes me only about 15 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake.  The verdict, tasted really nice, not too reach and not too sweet...I served it with strawberries, the sourish strawberries compliment really well with the chocolate...yum yum....going to make this again, it's too easy not to make it again. Best of all it's gluten free since no flour involved and as I have cut down the sugar, it's also not as sinful as other chocolate cakes.



Flourless Chocolate Cake
(make a thin 8" cake)

Ingredients and Directions

• 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used cadbury dark chocolate instead)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar (I reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup as my chocolate is already sweet)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (I omitted this an replace it with another 2 ounce of cadbury dark chocolate)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cocoa Powder for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch round cake pan, and dust with cocoa powder.
2. In the top of a double boiler over lightly simmering water, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slices can also be reheated for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.

 Had wanted to decorate the cake with a nice Granache but I ran out of time, so I just simply decorated the cake with a dusting of cocoa powder and strawberries.

A Colourful Cake for Mother's Day

Here's a Colourful Mango Pudding Yoghurt Cake for all mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

Saw this recipe from Happy Homebaking and I thought this is just the right cake for me to bring for my Mother's Day Celebration with my mom and family.  The original recipe called for Orea Biscuit but as we are not really orea fans, I decided to replace the crust with Digestive biscuits.  I think it's a big mistake cause the biscuits base turn soggy and it doesn't compliment well with the yoghurt pudding.  The pudding tasted quite nice with the fruits topping. Will probably make this cake again but not as a cake but a yogurt pudding dessert instead.  Here's the recipe:

Mango Yogurt Pudding Cake

(makes one 7" cake)

Ingredients & Directions:
for the biscuit base:

• 110g oreo cookies (remove cream and finely crumbled) - I replaced this with Digestive Biscuits
• 40g butter, melted and cool

for the filling:

• 300g fresh mangoes (use sweet, ripped fruits)
• juice from 1 passion fruit (remove seeds)
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 200g mango flavoured yogurt (I used peach-mango flavour)
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoon gelatin powder
• 60 ml water 

some fruits for decoration

1. to make the biscuit base: Place oreo crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a spoon until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly into the base of a 7" round pan (with removable base). Use the back of the spoon, smooth out the crumbs and press firmly. You can also use a glass (with a flat base) to press down firmly. Freeze the base for at least 1 hour.
2. to make the filling: Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature. Blend mangoes, passion fruit juice, sugar, yogurt until the mixture becomes smooth. Add in the gelatin solution to the mixture, mix well. Pour mixture onto the biscuit base. Cover with cling wrap and leave to chill in the fridge over night or for at least 4-6 hours. Remove cake from fridge, unmold and decorate with fruits as desired. Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.