Classic Pancakes
(from Taste, Australia)
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 1/2 cups milk2 eggs
60g butter, melted, cooled

1. Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in sugar.
2. Whisk milk, eggs and butter together. Add to flour mixture. Use a wooden spon to mix until well combined. Cover and stand batter for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan and cook
4. ENJOY!

The secret to smooth pancakes is to use a non-stick pan, heat it up and pour over – without adding oil

Strawberry Swirled Cheesecake

CRUST:
250g butternut biscuits (I replaced with 80g cornflakes)
90g butter, melted

1. Blend biscuits together then add in melted butter & press onto a 20cm round pan compactly.

FILLING:
500g cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups cream, whipped
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp gelatine

SWIRL
250g fresh strawberries
50g sugar
I just used canned strawberry filling

1. Beat cream cheese until well mixed then add sugar & lemon juice. Beat till smooth.
2. Add in whipped cream
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatine over the 1/4 cup of water & microwave for 25 seconds or until dissolved.
5. Add half of the gelatine to the cream cheese mixture and blend well.
6. Pour into prepared pan.

SWIRL
1. Combine (add 1/3 cup of water if using canned strawberries) and add the remaining gelatine.
2. Randomly add the strawberry mixture in different parts all over the cake and swirl with a skewer (satay stick).

Refridgerate 4 hours or overnight.

(The trick is to save some of the cream cheese and swirl it in last as the overload of strawberries may make it a fully STRAWBERRY cake instead of a Strawberry-Swirled cake.)

Made this for a fun house warming/blessing party yesterday which coincided with our beautiful hostess’ birthday. Happy Birthday Aunty Patsy!

Here’s mine..

Watch this for the recipe, which is pretty close to the one I used. I put 1tsp of cinnamon and no almond extract or salt.

Enjoy! This is a pretty darn good cookie! Use real butter people, real butter only! The other stuff is one molecule away from plastic :)

Observe the luscious durian flesh blobs.

In my mind, the “luscious flesh of the king of fruits” sounds very romantic, amazing and quite the dream pair with the gorgeous butter cake that’s my grandmomma’s signature.

Unfortunately, in real life, cut the words “luscious” “sweet” “fleshy” and you have a very strong smell that goes up all the way to your head.

You see, I don’t really like durians…but the rest of my family do. I’m the black sheep, the outcast, the only sane one capable of rational thinking & tasting.

Or I actually may be just delusioned. Who knows? Probably my conscience.

But the strangest part is, I don’t mind the smell, I don’t mind eating durian flavoured ice cream, tarts etc BUT I can’t stand eating the fruit! My sisters were so bent on converting me they chose the premium sweetest buttery cream of the crop durian flesh for me to eat and I took a bite……

TOO STRONG! Way to strong! Just like this cake! But that’s exactly how they like it. In fact, we made two – one for gramma’s order and one for our home. I took a bite…and it was sooo strong. Too strong for me! I thought I was actually okay with durians coming into this season but OH NO. It was way too strong! However, the brother said: “Can’t taste the durian! More more more!”

He needs to get stronger tastebuds. THE DURIAN FLESH IN THAT CAKE WAS ALL OVER!!!

We got rave reviews, and I’d like to share it here…just so you know, in case you like or you don’t like durians, you’ll be able to win the hearts of many durian lovers.

Ahh, the buttery crumb.

Recipe from Lingzie (http://www.lingzie.com/2008/09/16/durian-butter-cake)

Durian Butter Cake (adapted from The Star Online)

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter
230g caster or fine granulated sugar
4 (grade A) eggs
250g durian flesh
250g self-raising flour
3-6 tbsp milk
Vanilla essence

Method

Line a square cake tin with parchment/tracing paper. Preheat oven to 180°C.Cut butter into small pieces. Place in mixing bowl with the sugar. Beat with mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs gradually, one by one.
When all the eggs have been incorporated, add the durian flesh and vanilla essence, beating well for a minute or two.
Using a large metal spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the sifted flour in three, roughly equal batches, adding one tablespoon of milk after each addition of flour.

Add more milk if the mixture is thick and hard. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin, level the top and bake in preheated oven for about 40-50mins until the top of the cake turns a nice golden brown.

Test if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer in the middle of the cake which should come out clean.

For a basic butter cake, just omit the durians!

Enjoy! Then, BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

(PS: Ravenous Durian Eaters suggest pureed durian buttercream or whipped cream will make this cake more durian-y and 982% better. Will update on that later if I get a chance! The durians keep disappearing I can’t steal enough to use to bake!)

And just two links I think would be lovely for you durian fans (and non durian fans like me can appreciate the photography and only try to understand the madness!):

Enjoy more :)