Easy eggless alcohol-free Tiramisu

My mom's 79th birthday was approaching and we were going to celebrate it at my brother's house. And this time she requested a homemade instead of store-bought cake! What a surprise, considering my mum is the most fussy food critic I have ever met. She must have been impressed by my chocolate banana cake!

Anyhow I was lazy yet I didn't want to disappoint my mum, so I thought of Tiramisu. As usual The Baking Biatch came to my rescue (or rather I went to her blog for help). Her recipe is so simple and delicious. I made some tweaks cos' I really wanted an easy way out, also made a chocolate version for the kids. Both were good.

 

 

Recipe adapted from: http://www.thebakingbiatch.com/2013/06/eggless-tiramisu.html

Makes 2 tins, each tin has 4 layers of 6 fingers/layer.

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

Coffee: 1.5 cups of coffee, I used 2 Dolce Gusto espresso and 2 Lungo capsules.

5 teaspoons sugar

 

For chocolate version, make hot chocolate:
3 slightly heaped unsweetened Hershey's cocoa powder

3 tablespoons sugar

Dash of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small scoop of milk powder (because I had no milk)

Roughly 1.25 cup water (or replace 1/3 of it with milk) 

 

Cream mixture:
500g mascarpone cheese

4 tablespoons whipping cream

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla paste

 

Others:
48 Savoiardi lady finger biscuits
Roughly 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

 

HOW:

 

1) Brew the coffee using the Dolce Gusto machine. Add sugar. Pour into plate that is big enough for dipping.

2) Put all ingredients of the cream mixture into a bowl. Mix with spatula till well combined.

3) Line your tin with cling wrap with excess on each side if you want to remove it later. If not then use a cake ring (with no base).

4) Dip a biscuit into the coffee and turn to the other side then remove swiftly to put into tin. Repeat till you complete one layer.

5) Spread one layer of cream mixture. Not too thick as this amount of cream is not sufficient for thick layers. Else settle for just 3 layers of biscuits.

6) Sift cocoa powder on top of the cream.

7) Repeat steps 4-6 three times.

8) Cover the top with cling wrap and chill in fridge for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

9) Before serving, remove by holding the cling wrap excess or remove cake ring.

 

 

Air fryer chocolate chip muffins

Ever since I brought my iPhone swimming and it didn't recover, I have lost interest in using my phone. Emotionally my iPhone is related to my baking, so no iphone made me less interested in baking.
But I was craving for something sweet, so I baked these on a Saturday afternoon with 1 hour before the boys' Heguru class.
Yummy! The chocolate rice on top makes it even better because it adds some crunch, but does not look so nice. Perhaps next time scoop the batter in a more rounded form before adding.

 

 

 

 

Recipe adapted from:http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/6865/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins

 

Makes 8-9 silicon cup small muffins

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Top up with yoghurt to 1 cup

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Sprinkle of chocolate rice (optional, if you do this you can reduce the mini chocolate chips)

HOW:

1) Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in one large bowl. Whisk well to ensure even spreading of salt and baking powder. 

2) In a separate cup, pour oil in. Then add egg. Add yoghurt till full cup. Then add vanilla extract. Whisk till combined. 

3) Add (2) to (3). Mix just till combined. Aim for less than 15 strokes, it's ok to have some flour visible.

4) Preheat air fryer at 180 degree Celsius. 

5) Fold in chocolate chips.

 

6) Fill silicon cups 3/4 full (the muffin expands only ever so slightly). If you are sprinkling chocolate rice, make top smooth first before sprinkling.

 

7) Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 10 min. If not done, add another 2 min at 160 degree Celsius.
 

 

  

Gula Melaka steamed cupcake

My friend Jesline generously shared this recipe with me about a year ago but I never got down to making it. After I wet and spoilt my handphone I had a sudden craving for it and had to ask for the recipe again. How ironic. Anyhow her recipe is really fantastic, so easy and delicious!
Texture is really like huat kueh, so don't expect cupcake texture.

  

 

Makes 7 silicon cups.

 

INGREDIENTS, so wonderfully little!:
Self-raising flour 2.5 cups
Gula Melaka 230g (can reduce to be less sweet)
Water 370ml

 

HOW:
1) Melt the gula melaka in the water over the stove. Use low heat. Remove from stove and cool.
If you have the time, let it cool completely. If not then the flour will be lumpy and not fully mixed, but seems to be no biggy from my first try...
 

2) Add (1) to flour and mix till combined. Do not overmix.
 

3) Steam over high heat (cos' you want them to huat!) for 20min.

Note: in case this thought ever crossed your mind, you CANNOT freeze huat kueh batter. It doesn't huat and you get some hard flat kueh that you don't want to eat. So if you are in a hurry and don't have time to steam your second batch, just make super big sizes in your first batch to finish up all the batter!