Cream Cheese Buns

For the whole month of September, our 'Learn 2 Bake' Leader, gave us a new task:  Baking Buns...When I saw the 'challenge' I was asking myself if this is the end of my baking frenzy as to me, making buns is the toughest and we need to have the 'skill' to produce a soft and fluffly bun.

After deliberating and watching 'you tube' and reading up on the making of buns, I gave myself a chance to take up the challenge. We need to make the basic sweet bun dough first before we can add some fillings and make some variety to the basic bun. Surprise, surprise! I found that making the sweet bun dough was easy. All it needed was to knead and knead..(Good hand exercise :-) We had few fillings to try out. First it was 'Kaya' then move on to chicken floss and lastly cheese bun. After few rounds of making the sweet bun dough, I find that baking bun was not so difficult at all.

I started searching for some buns recipe and I find this recipe - "Cream Cheese Bun" a little different as they use cream cheese as filling instead of the normal butter icing ("Naiyu"). This recipe is taken from the book 'Bread Magic' by Alan Ooi

Basic Sweet Bun Dough
Ingredient A: 330g high protein flour, 1/2 tsp salt,1 1/2 tbsp milk powder, 60g caster sugar
Ingredient B: 1 Egg
Ingredient C: 120ml water, 10g instant yeast (Mix together)
Ingredient D: 40g butter

1. Combine Ingredient A together. Give it a slight blend before adding in ingredient B and ingredient C.
2. Knead combined ingredient for approximately 5 mins to form a dough. Add in ingredient D and knead till dough has a smooth surface.
3. Check whether dough is fully developed by stretching a small piece of dough with your fingers. If the dough can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing, it is ready. But if it does not stretch well, knead dough further till it passes the next stretch test.
4. Leave dough in a big bowl, covered with a damp cloth. Leave bowl in a warm place to proof dough for about 30-40 mins till doubled in size.

Cream Cheese Bun
1 quantity of basic sweet bun dough (recipe above)
Cheese filling: 50g icing sugar, 200g Cream cheese (combine together)
*Mexican Topping: (A) 100g butter, 50g shortening, 120g icing sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
                                   (B) 3 eggs, 150g plain flour

* Cream ingredient A till well blended. Add in eggs and cream again. Lastly, add in flour and blend once more.


1) After dough has doubled in bulk, scale dough at 60g portion. Shape into small balls, flatten and roll out each ball of dough into a round.
2) Put in some chese filling. Seal and form into smooth ball. Leave it in a paper cup. Do the same with remaining rounds of dough. Rest them for 50 mins, to rise a second time.
3) Fill a piping bag with Mexican Topping. Pipe some mixture over buns. Place all filled paper cups on a tray.
4) Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 10-15 mins. Cool well on a wire rack.

Special Chocolate Cake

Are you a chocolate lover? If yes, this recipe will be great for you. What is so special about this Chocolate Cake you might ask...A chocolate cake is just a normal butter cake or sponge cake with cocoa powder added you might say BUT  this one has something more. What is that 'something'? Read on to find out.

The texture of this cake is moist and fluffy. It is just soooo delicious and irresistable.

Before frosting                                                      Frosting with Chocolate Butter cream

Chocolate Cake

125g Butter, room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
60g Plain Flour
40g Self Raising Flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
3/4 cup Buttermilk
115g Castor sugar (I reduced to 80g as the strawberry jam was sweet enough)
2 Eggs
60g Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup Strawberry jam (get the good quality ones)

1) Preheat oven to 180 degreeC and grease a 18 cm/7 in round cake tin.
2) In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar & vanilla extract together until thick, pale & creamy.
3) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4) Pour in the Strawberry jam and beat until smooth.
5) Add in bicarbonate soda then sift in half the flour mixture (plain and SRF) and cocoa powder. Fold in gently with half of the buttermilk.
6) Add the remaing flour and buttermilk, continue to fold well until just combined.
7) The mixture should resemble a thick chocolate mousse.
8) Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 35 mins.
9) Leave to cool in tin for 10 mins before removing.
10) Frost with chocolate buttercream or just dust top with icing sugar.

Chocolate Buttercream
300g Icing sugar
100g Butter
40g Cocoa powder, sifted
50ml Whole milk

1) Beat the icing sugar, butter & cocoa powder until combine.
2) Add milk, then whip for 5 mins.

Jelly Mooncake

Every year around August you will see all the bakery, supermarkets and sundry stores stocking up on boxes and boxes of mooncake and I never fail to fall in love with - not the mooncake but the boxes itself :-). Hubby says I have wierd hobby as I love to collect pretty tins or boxes. BUT this year, I didnt even get one as since I started to learn baking, I've been investing in cookbooks instead and furthermore my children are not into baked mooncakes and you can hardly find jelly mooncake for sale in supermarkets or bakery stores.

I attended a mooncake class in August conducted by Chef Khoo and this is one of the recipe which I find very easy to make and also the ingredients are easy to obtain. I noticed that jelly mooncake uses a lot of coloring so the first time I tried it out which was for own consumption, I did not add any colour but for the 2nd batch which is to be given to my children's tuition teacher, I added some colour to 'brighten' it up.

Pandan Sweet Corn Jelly Mooncake

Jelly Egg Yolk : 5g 'Agar agar' powder                                 
                        40g Castor sugar                                            
                        200g water
                        few drops orange colour

Bring all ingredients to a boil and pour into 'egg yolk' mould.

Filling:  (A) 2 tsp Agar-agar powder                                 (B) 100ml thick coconut milk
                  120ml thin coconut milk                                        150g cream style sweet corn
                  50g Castor sugar                                                   a drop of yellow colour
                  1/8 tsp salt (I omitted it as the corn was already salty enough)

1) Bring ingredients A to boil until agar agar dissolved.
2) Add in coconut milk of ingredient 'B'.
3) Add in the blended sweet corn and mix well.
4) Remove from heat and add a drop of yellow colour.
5) Pour into small mould (plastic cup) and put an 'egg yolk' in the middle.
6) Set aside.

Skin: (A) 3 tsp Agr-agar powder                                       (B) 100ml thick coconut milk
               1/2 tsp instant jelly                                                    100g pandan lotus paste
               500ml thin coconut milk                                            a drop of green colour
               few pcs pandan leaf
               80g Castor sugar

1) Bring all ingedients (A) to a boil until agar agar powder and jelly dissolved.
2) Add in coconut milk of ingredient (B).
3) As soon as its boiled, turn off heat and slowly pour into pandan paste. Mix well.
4) Pour mixture into mooncake mould until half. Wait for it to set a little and place the set filling.
5) Cover with remaining mixture till full.
6) Chill in fridge.

Orange Butter Cake

I made an attempt on baking butter cake again but instead of the classic butter cake, I made one using orange. I got this recipe from 'thelittleteochew' & 'mumto4angels' blog and I find the texture of this cake very soft, fluffy and the aroma of the citrus fruit very pleasant. Furthermore, it uses only the zest and not the orange juice. Do give it a try.

Orange Butter Cake


195g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170g butter, softened
225g sugar (I reduced it to 180g)
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tbsp orange zest
12 tbsp whole milk



1) Preheat oven to 190 degree C and line an 8" cake pan.
2) Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
3) Cream butter & sugar until fluffy for about 2 mins.
4) Beat in orange zest then egg and egg yolk.( If the mixture curdles, just add 1 tbsp of flour & continue mixing.)
5) On low speed, add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with milk.
6) Switch mixer to med & beat for 10-15 seconds just until batter uniform. The batter should be thick & creamy.
7) Pour into pan and bake for 40 mins or until it turns dark-gold color and cake tester comes out clean.
8) Let it rest in pan for 5 mins then remove.

Chilled Durian Pancake

Bored with the normal pancake with maple syrup? Or you have left over durians and dont feel like making Durian Butter Cake? Try this simple and delicious recipe. After making 1 batch, my children and hubby asked me to make again as they love it so much. Even hubby's nephew who was at our home "tapau" few pieces back...:-)

Batter Ingredients:
150g plain flour
10g Custard powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
150 ml milk
200 ml water
1 tbsp cooking oil
Filling Ingredients:
350g Durian Flesh, mashed
100ml whipping cream, whipped



To prepare batter:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Heat a non-stick pan with some oil & pour 2 tbsp of batter into pan. Spread the batter to cover the base thinly.
3. Flip pancake over & cook the other side for just a few seconds.
4. Set aside to cool before wrapping.

To wrap
1. Place a spoonful of mashed durian filling in the center of pancake.
2. Pipe some cream over and fold neatly like a parcel.
3. Chill & serve pancakes cold.