I can't believe I have so many cake recipes on this blog but not one for an actual frosted chocolate cake! This is one of the best chocolate cakes I've made- almost as good as lana cake's- with a super moist and fluffy cake interior and delicious thick, fudgy, goey, salted dark chocolate ganache. Good quality dark chocolate is really the key here, if you want a decadent chocolatey frosting, and I recommend anything about 50/60%, or something that suits your taste! I used a really good 70% dark cocoa for this one, complete with a generous sprinkle of fleur de sel.

I have to say I always tend to crave chocolate cakes- whenever I'm feeling down or moody I always feel like having some chocolate- like a really good chocolate bar or chocolate cookies or molten lava cake or deep dark chocolate cake. Like the chocolate has to be intense you know- it's a different kind of craving from a peanut butter and banana sandwich, though that will really benefit from a sprinkling of melty dark chocolate chips. Chocolate cake is one of my soul foods- and it's something I really cannot live without! Research shows that chocolate contains endorphins that make you feel better- but honestly I'll take any excuse to have my chocolate, whether good for me or not. 

I guess my food cravings has got something to do with my state of mind recently- I'm someone who eats when I'm stressed, and I take comfort in cookies after school: speculoos cookies dunked into a jar of crunchy peanut butter and a small packet of Danish butter cookies. Perhaps I'm tired- tired of working so hard everyday doing something I'm not quite passionate about, tired of stressing up over schoolwork and tests, tired of caring about my achievements and grades, tired of trying to please and impress other people, even as I find little satisfaction and liveliness in school days. Weekends are a little more productive though- with time spent with friends, family, baking, reading, and doing meaningful things. Taking a real break and really forgetting about all the midweek problems, and enjoying my time. Sometimes I do find it really difficult to take a break during school days- while I want to rest and all, I feel so guilty about not doing all I can and putting in my best effort for everything I do. It's a little difficult to really stop myself and know when enough is enough. I guess that needs a little practice- but I know that if I push myself too much right know I will only burst in time to come. 

So I'm going to take comfort in chocolate (who cares about calories) and all those things with chocolate in it, and really take time to enjoy these little things. 

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

180g butter/ vegetable oil 

150g sugar 

200g evaporated milk 

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 eggs 

100g low protein flour 

50g cocoa powder 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

Combine butter/oil, sugar and evaporated milk in a small saucepan over low heat, till melted. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, sift in the dry ingedients. 

Steam in a 7 or 8 inch round pan that has been greased and lined with parchment at the base, tops covered with aluminium foil, for 45 min.

Salted chocolate ganache 

100g chopped dark chocolate 

100g whipping cream 

Generous pinch of fleur de sel

Heat the whipping cream in a small saucepan till it just almosts boils. Pour over the chopped chocolate, leave to sit for 5-10 min before stirring together and adding a pinch of salt. Let cool before frosting the cake. 

Super moist, steamed chocolate cake covered in rich salted dark chocolate ganache.  I can't believe I have so many cake recipes on this ...

Okay so I flunked my test that I didn't study for <---- much expected. Like failed. Terribly. But is guess it's okay. 

It's okay. We all make mistakes, we all fail. Because we are never perfect. 

And behind every decision, behind every mistake, behind every person, there is a reason. Because we are only humans and humans have our limits. We have reasons. We have weaknesses. But before we truly want to forgive other people, we need to learn to forgive ourselves.

The most important thing in life is not to be perfect, it's not to score As, it's not to be the best. 

It's to learn to pick yourself up when you're falling. It's to learn to find the helping bars around you and hold on to them tightly, it's to learn to tell yourself when your falling that: you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. 

Yes you can. You're gonna be okay and I know that deep down from my heart. 

Each soul on this planet is beautiful. So are you. 

Skinny Chocolate Hazelnut and Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal Cookies 

1 cup of homemade chocolate hazelnut butter, or any other nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter etc. would work), at room temperature 

1 egg

6 tablespoons light brown sugar 

1 tsp vanilla 

2 tablespoons cocoa powder 

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt 

2/3 cup rolled oats 

1/2 cup peanut butter chips + more for decorating

In a large bowl combine but butter, egg, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir until smooth. 

Fold in cocoa powder, baking soda and rolled oats. The dough will be quite sticky.

Stir in peanut butter chips. 

Chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, or until firm enough to handle. 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Using a cookie scoop, 1/4 cup measure or tablespoon measure, shape the cookie dough into balls, leaving them at least 2cm apart from each other.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie are set and the centres still soft. 

Let cool completely before serving. 

Soft and chewy cookies, made with a homemade chocolate hazelnut butter. No butter, no oil, no flour. Packed with oatmeal and peanut butter c...

The year has been great so far- I've been taking up new roles, doing more things, and getting used to having to get home late everyday and rushing out homework and proposals. But I've also gained new friends, and a part of me feels a sense of belonging to people whom I can get along with, to a group of people that I can lean on in times of need, a group of people who will accept me for who I am and what I do. The bonds of friendship are irreplaceable and priceless, and I am thankful for that. 

But back to these cookies-- these are the best I have ever tasted. The coarsely chopped chocolate are goey and melty, and the brown butter brings a hint of toffee and butterscotch that hits the back of your tongue as you chew on the last morsel of the cookie. The salt really balances out the sweet cookie and bitter chocolate, and I love the crisp edges and chewy centres. 

Chocolate chip cookie brought to a whole new level of sophistication.  

Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

140g unsalted butter, browned 

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

1 3/4 all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder 

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 egg

200g dark chocolate, very coarsely chopped 

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, combine butter, vanilla extract and sugars. 

Stir in the egg, and sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Fold in the dark chocolate. 

Using a cookie scoop/ 1/4 cup measure/ tablespoon measure, roll the cookie dough into balls. 

Place the balls of cookie dough on the cookie sheet, and place in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight. 

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. 

Bake the cookies for 8-11 minutes. Cool completely before serving. 

Chewy cookies with crisp edges, a hint of toffee, and a sprinkle of fleur de sel.  Hey y'all! I'm really sorry I haven't posted ...

Today, there's 2 things to celebrate

A) the arrival of my phone (aka pictures!) 

B) and this marble cake!!! 

My recent trip to Beijing has been a whole lotta fun. It's been filled with fun, joy, laughter, and occasional sadness (and panic when my phone dropped into the toilet bowl). 

But I've made new friends, forged new friendships, got to know more people, saw the world, learnt new things, conquered new heights (climbed the Great Wall haha). 

I've made a new group of friends, and I'm immensely grateful for their company, their craziness, their weirdness, their cheerfulness, and all their jokes and laughter that has made this good trip a great one. I could have never wished for better groupmates and company. 

I must say after 2 weeks I'm quite tired of food there and I've quite missed baking and eating cake batter. Well, of course I needed to make some good ol' cake soon. I can't believe after these 5 days of (intense haha) baking I haven't baked a single cake. 

But this is the best cake I've eaten. And it really is so damn good. 

It's so good I can't stop talking about it (and I don't talk very often). 

I was looking for a good marble cake recipe- easy, buttery, rich, and a good balance of chocolate. I was looking for a recipe from a Singapore blogger- it had to be rich and moist, but not too heavy like a pound cake for the Asian palate. This is it. This is perfect. 

It's worth the little trouble whipping the egg whites and whipping the butter and folding the egg whites, but the results are quite phenomenal. You get a buttery, moist cake - like all other pound cakes - but the lightness of a chiffon and sponge cake. It's like a beautiful mix of both worlds- it's awesome. This cake is a reminiscent of the butter cakes I used to eat when I was a kid, the cakes you buy from the Chinese bakery downstairs and the cakes that crumble in your hands because they're so soft but they're so buttery and rich. 

I promise you will fall in love with this cake. Pinky promise. 

//ft. my pretty little kitchen notebook//

Best Marble Cake Ever 

Adapted from Bakericious 

Makes one 8 inch square pan 

 230g unsalted butter, softened

4 eggs, separate

1 tsp vanilla 

50g + 125g sugar 

180g self raising flour 

1/2 tsp salt 

20g cocoa powder 

60ml milk 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. 

Whisk the 4 egg whites and 50g of sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and 125g of sugar and pale and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. 

Sift the flour and salt together. 

Alternate the dry ingredients and milk into the butter and yolk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. 

Gently fold in the egg whites in three batches. 

Scoop out 1/3 of the batter to a separate bowl and fold in the cocoa powder. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. 

This is the marble cake you were always looking for- it's buttery, moist, light - not a sponge, not a pound, but a good good marble cak...

Perfect chocoate macarons- crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with a lavender chocolate ganache. So so good!  There are days when so...

Made with Greek yogurt, whole wheat flour and dark chocolate chips, these taste even better than a chocolate chip cookie!  Before I tell you...

I made a version of this a couple of years ago for my mum's birthday. Now it's back. Only better. 

It's topped with a super-easy-to-make salted caramel sauce, then a sweet, fudgy white chocolate Blondie, followed by the best cheesecake ever, and the super-thick graham cracker crust. 

This is the ultimate cheesecake, with all my favourite flavours and of course my favourite cake, cheesecake. Who could resist this? The whole cake can be done in a few hours, though it needs some chilling time. But I promise this is worth all the effort. Each layer is simple, but put together, it is phenomenal. 

Salted Caramel White Chocolate Blondie Cheesecake 

Cheesecake Layer 

125g crushed digestive biscuits 

1/4 cup melted butter 

250g softened cream cheese 

1/3 cup sugar 

1 egg 

1 tsp vanilla 

Mix the crushed digestive biscuits with the melted butter and press into a 6-inch removable cake tin. Chill for at least ten minutes. 

Mix the softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy, then mix in the egg and vanilla. 

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 15 minutes. 

Chill for 2 hours. 

White Chocolate Blondies 

65g white chocolate 

50g butter 

130g sugar 

2 eggs 

1/2 tsp vanilla 

86g plain flour 

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the white chocolate and butter, stirring constantly. Mix in the sugar until well dissolved, followed by the eggs, on at a time. 

Stir in the vanilla and plain flour. 

Pour over the cooled cheesecake and bake at 190 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Cool to room temperature. 

Salted Caramel Sauce 

1/2 cup sugar 

30g butter 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

1/2 tsp salt 

Heat the sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms clumps and melts completely.

Stir in the butter until melted, then drizzle in the heavy cream. 

Let the caramel boil for one minute, before turning off the heat and stirring in the salt. 

Cool to room temperature before pouring over the white chocolate Blondies. 

Chill the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight before unmoulding and serving. 

The ultimate cheesecake- 4 layers of decadent layers that will leave you yearning for a glass of milk.  I made a version of this a couple of...

I've got my first orders today! Lemon Cake, 40 pieces, for a little party. Cutting up the sheet cake into little bite sized pieces with my mum :D I've never made so much cake at one go before, but my mixer makes things so much easier! I made lots of extras and stored them in the freezer to keep for later use.

If you would like to order, you can email me at brendasbakery15@gmail.com   I have another order coming up, which would be my Banana Walnut Cake.

Now back to these lovely cookies. I love chocolate shortbread cookies! I used this recipe last Christmas to make some little bears to give away, decorated with some royal icing, and they were perfect!

Now I'm using them, decorated in a beautiful rose pattern, swirled to perfection! I'm entering this photograph in the SCS Baker's Challenge, so apologies for all the pictures of butter here.

These cookies are super easy, starting by creaming cold butter and sugar, adding an egg, vanilla, followed by the cocoa powder and flour. No chilling the dough, no sticky dough, just a smooth, velvety, chocolatey dough that is a dream to work with.

I've used this basic cream cheese frosting to frost my red velvet cupcakes, red velvet whoopie pies, and even my Blackforest Cake, replacing some icing sugar with cocoa powder for the chocolate version. It's really easy and comes together in minutes!

This is a really easy frosting method, using a closed star piping tip. Position your piping bag in the centre of the cookies, and spiral outwards, applying even pressure. I realised that when you pipe, always pipe with even pressure, otherwise the frosting will come out weirdly.

Hope you try out this recipe! The chocolate dough is really easy to put together, not too sweet, and perfect with a cup of coffee!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Baking a Moment 

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 tablespoon oil (light/neutral flavour) 

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 egg 

1/4 cup cornstarch 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa poser 

1 1/4- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour 

Instructions

1. Cream the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, just until the mixture is smooth. Do not over beat, as this will incorporate air into the dough, which may lead to spreading.
2. Add the egg and mix just until incorporated.
3. Add the cornstarch, cocoa powder and flour. If you will be rolling/cutting the cookies right away, you may need a little more flour. The dough becomes drier as it sits, so if you are planning to chill and roll/cut later, be sure to use less flour.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
5. Roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch, between two sheets of parchment paper. Rolling pin rings will help you to achieve an even thickness.
6. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 9 to 12 minutes, depending upon the size of the cookie. The cookie should look dry on the surface, and be firm around the edges and soft in the middle.
7. Cool completely before decorating.

Crisp, tender chocolate cookies with a sweet and creamy vanilla cream cheese that is to die for! I've got my first orders today! Lemon...

If you are a chocoholic like me, you will love this!  Warm chocolate cookie encased in melty white and dark chocolate chips.  Super simple c...

Sometimes I like to sit by and wonder about the little things in life.  Love, family, friendships, work and school. Food. Of course. ...

I've been wanting to share this recipe with you for ages. Unfortunately, exams came and went, i started complaining about all my grades, I baked more comfort foods that I just didn't feel like posting, and I kind of forgot about this beauty. 

I think you know what I mean. 

Apologies for the lack of photos. I had exams and oh well my mind slipped off. And sorry no photos of the inside, because we finished it too quickly hehehe. 

I can't say this is a real blackforest cake. Because it doesn't look like one. Mainly because I'm not a big fan of plain whipped cream. Sorry, I'm that chocoholic gal that needs chocolate in everycake, in the cake and frosting and everything. 

I made this for Mother's Day and my mum was all oohs and aahs about the roses, but she was like "Are you sure this is a blackforest cake?".

So let's just call this a chocolate blackforest cake haha.

The cake starts off with the layers. A rich chocolate cake made with all cocoa. I love all cocoa chocolate cakes. Firstly, because it saves me the trouble of having to melt chocolate, and secondly because it's packed with much more chocolate flavour and dark chocolatey goodness that melted chocolate. 

Anyway, all you need to make this cake is a bowl and spoon. Really. It's very very easy. No mixer required! 

I filled the layers with chocolate whipped cream and canned cherries that I gently smashed with a fork. 

The frosting on top is my favourite chocolate cream cheese frosting. Super easy and not too sweet. You can adjust this frosting by adding more milk of cocoa. You need the frosting to be relatively firm to pipe the roses so they would hold their shape. You can use your favourite buttercream frosting, but I love my cream cheese frosting because it's firm, chocolatey and the best frosting ever. 

Blackforest Cake Recipe

Chocolate cake 

Ingredients 

2 cups all purpose flour 

2 cups sugar 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp espresso powder 

1 cup milk 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 cup boiling water 

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and flour 3 8-inch baking tins. 

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and soda, salt and espresso powder. 

Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the boiling water and beat for one minutes to add air into the batter. 

Divide the cake batter evenly between 3 cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave the cool and chill until ready to assemble. 

Filling 

Ingredients 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

4 tbs sugar 

2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 cup (240ml) heavy cream 

1 can of canned cherries, in heavy syrup 

Place the vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and cocoa powder in the cold bowl. 

Stir in about 2 tablespoons of the cream to form a thick paste (this will dissolve the cocoa powder). 

Then add the rest of the cream and beat just until stiff peaks form. 

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 2 cups (480 ml) whipped cream.

Drain the cherries and reserve about half of the syrup. Lightly mash the cherries with a fork or potato masher. 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature 

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1-1/2 to 2 cups of icing/ confectioners sugar, sifted 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Mix the cream cheese and until smooth and fluffy gradually add the cocoa poster and icing sugar until the frosting is thick and smooth. 

Add the vanilla extract. Add 1 tsp of milk or icing suagr if mixture is too thick or thin. 

To assemble 

Place a layer of the chocolate cake on a 9-inch cake board. Brush the cake layer with the reserved cherry syrup. 

Spread a thin layer of chocolate whipped cream and generously place the drained and lightly mashed cherries on top. 

Place another cake layer on top and press lightly. Repeat with the cherry syrup, whipped cream and cherries.

Place the last cake layer on top. Crumb coat the cake with the remained chocolate whipped cream. Give it only a very thin layer of frosting just to seal in the crumbs and let the rose frosting stick to the cake. Chill for at least 1 hour, or until the whipped cream sets.

Place the chocolate cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

Placing the piping bag vertically to the surface of the cake, starting from the bottom, pipe circles from the inside spiralling outwards. Pipe a row of roses, then pipe another row on top in between the roses. 

Continue piping roses until you cover the entire surface of the cake. Let chill to set the frosting and serve. 

A stunning 3-layer cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and cherries. I've been wanting to share this recipe with you for ages. Unf...

Who says all donuts are deep fried? And who says baked donuts need a donut pan? 

I love donuts. There's something so special about that ring of cakey bready thing that fits into your hand and the drizzling chocolate and toppings all over your hand. There's something so special about that ring in the centre that makes everyone scream DONUT! when they say rings of goodness displayed all over the glass display cases. 

But donuts are just simply bread (or cake) dough in a circle form and piled with toppings. My baked donuts are exactly that. Donuts made with yeast that are baked till golden brown and dipped in chocolate or cinnamon sugar and served with a cup of hot coffee. Perfection. 

Baked donuts 

Adapted from <a href="http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/09/baked-cinnamon-sugar-doughnuts.html

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons softened butter

2 large eggs

5 cups all-purpose flour

A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and sugar. 

2. Add the butter, eggs, flour, nutmeg and salt. Beat the dough with the dough hook attachment (or with a wooden spoon and eventually your hands) for 2-3 minutes at medium speed. Adjust the dough texture by adding flour a few tablespoons at a time or more milk. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and be very soft and smooth but still slightly sticky – don’t overflour! 

3. Knead the dough for a few minutes (again, by mixer or by hand) and then transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size (the exact time will depend on the temperature of your kitchen). 

(I proved my dough in my steam oven in the prove setting at 40 degrees celsius for one hour) 

4. Punch down the dough and roll it out to about 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured counter. Using a doughnut cutter or a 2-3 inch circle cookie cutter, cut out circles in the dough. Carefully transfer the circles to a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. Be sure to make the holes large enough that as the doughnuts rise again and bake, they don’t fill in the doughnut hole with the puffiness of the dough. 

5. Cover the tray with lightly greased plastic wrap. (At this point, you can refrigerate the doughnuts overnight or proceed with the recipe.) Let the doughnuts rise for about another 45 minutes, until they are puffed and nearly doubled.

6. Bake in a 375 degree F oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Start checking the doughnuts around minute 8. They should still be pale on top, not golden and browned, and just barely baked through.

7. Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes. Dip each one in the melted butter and toss or sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar. Serve immediately.

8. For the chocolate version, simply dip the donuts in melted chocolate and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Leave in the fridge to set. 

Enjoy!

Who says all donuts are deep fried? And who says baked donuts need a donut pan?  I love donuts. There's something so special about th...