No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

Chocolate and vanilla are the best of friends and they complement extremely well with each other. This is a very easy recipe and these cuppies can be done in a pretty short time.  They are soft, moist and  with the two-tone butter frosting, they are seriously yummy! Marble Cupcakes  ~  大理石纸杯蛋糕 Ingredients 150 gm butter 150 gm caster sugar 174 gm self-raising flour 3 eggs 50 ml milk 1 tsp vanilla 2.1/2 tsp cocoa/chocolate powder Frosting 80 gm butter 123 gm icing sugar Method Sift self-raising flour, set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and milk till well combined. Fold in sifted flour and beat till smooth. Divide the batter into two portions.  In one portion add vanilla and in the other sift in the cocoa powder and mix till well incorporated. Spoon 1 Tbsp of vanilla batter into each cupcake liner.  Top with a spoonful of chocolate batter, alternating with vanilla batter until all batters have been used up.  Swirl the batters

These Okinawan black sugar steamed cakes are soft, moist, fragrant and rich in flavour.  It has a toffee-like caramelised sugar flavour, slightly chewy texture and best taken piping hot from the steamer. Also great with a morning cup of hot coffee or tea.  Leftovers can be chilled and reheated before serving. Okinawan black sugar steamed cake  ~   黑糖蒸蛋糕   (Adapted from  'here' ) Ingredients 180 gm plain flour 20 gm cornflour 175 ml milk 80 gm Okinawan black sugar  2 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used canola oil) 2 tsp baking powder pinch of salt Method Sift plain flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Roughly crumble the black sugar and mix into the flour mixture. Blend milk and vegetable oil, then pour into the flour mixture.  Lightly mix with a spatula till free of lumps.  Let rest for 10 mins. Divide batter into paper lined ramekins or cups. Steam over high heat for 20 mins. Test with a skwer/toothpick till it comes ou

This Almond Choc Brownie is a cross between a fudge and cakey brownie with rich nutty chocolate flavour.   Instead of frosting I took the shortcut, topped it with a chocolate glaze and sprinkled on some goji berries for colour.  You can opt not to apply the chocolate glaze and just eat it as it is.  Either way it tastes just as good! Almond Choc Brownies ~  杏仁巧克力饼 Ingredients 113 gm butter 120 gm bitter sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 100 gm caster sugar 2 large eggs 45 gm plain flour 20 gm almond powder 50 gm almond nibs, lightly toasted 1 tsp vanilla  a pinch of salt goji berries (optional) Chocolate glaze 130 gm bitter sweet chocolate    35 gm butter/shortening            Method Melt butter and chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water.  Remove from heat. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla till sugar has dissolved and mixture is smooth and glossy. Add eggs one at a time and whisk. Stir in flour, almond powder, salt and nuts. Pour battter i

I was mesmerised by the gorgeous colour of this Purple sweet potato bread made with purple sweet potato flour from Japan.   The purple colour is very intense for I thought that there will be some reaction with the yeast, colour wise, that is.  Although the dough did rise double in size on the two stages of proofing but once I removed the cling wrap, it 'deflated' and didn't rise much during baking.  As you can see this bread is of low loaf volume, but the texture is soft and you can taste and smell the sweet potato although it's dense and filling. Served with a spread of peanut butter! Purple sweet potato bread  ~   紫色番薯面 包 Ingredients 3/4 cup lukewarm water 1.1/4 tsp dry yeast 1/4 Tbsp sugar 142 gm high protein flour or bread flour 60 gm Japanese purple sweet potato flour  14 gm softened butter 1 tsp milk Method Combine lukewarm water with dry yeast and sugar.  Mix well, set aside for 10 mins. In a mixing bowl, mix high protein flour a