Rainbow Cake

Second cake as promised, the Rainbow Cake or Colourful Cake.

Usually, I use white cake mix or lemon cake mix to make rainbow cake or cupcakes. If you are feeling a bit rajin (or can't find a box of delicious mix) jom make from scratch!

Colourful Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp orange rind
• 135g yoghurt
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence
• Food colourings

Steps

1) Cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Stir in eggs one by one, add in orange juice, orange rind and vanilla. Mix well with flour and yoghurt.

2) Separate batter into as many bowls as the colours you want. Colour accordingly.

3) Pour coloured batter into cake pan and bake at 180°C for 30-40 minutes.

Save this recipe for a special weekend tea party or birthday. Frost with cream cheese or plain buttercream for that special occassion.

Ombak Rindu Cake

So I've posted some recipes for delicious cookies but nowdays, it is okay to serve raya cakes as well. I'll share two cake recipes for you to bake over the weekend :)

Frost them with buttercream if you wish but leaving them as they are is absolutely fine. You can bake smaller versions to leave as "I was here" package in case your friends/relatives are out when you come to visit.

On to the first cake, the Ombak Rindu.

Ombak Rindu Cake but no blue =P

I don't know why this cake is called Ombak Rindu. My lil bro gave me this recipe so I can bake it for him.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter

• 1 cup castor sugar

• 5 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (you can use cake flour too, just add 1/2 tsp baking powder)

• 100 ml evaporated creamer

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

• Food colouring - red, yellow & green

Optional

• Flavourings - 1 tsp each strawberry, lemon & orange or substitute orange with pandan/mint

Steps

1) Beat butter & sugar until fluffy. I recommend using electric mixer for cake batter. Add in eggs & vanilla essence.

2) Pour in 1/3 of the sifted flour, alternating with half of the evaporated creamer. Flour, creamer, flour, creamer, flour- in that order. Always start & finish with flour.

3) Once well-mixed, divide the cake batter into 3 portions and colour them accordingly. Add flavouring- strawberry into red, lemon or orange into yellow, pandan or mint or lemon (if you used orange in yellow) into green.

4) Pour red batter into cake pan unevenly to get the wave effect, then sieve thin layer of cocoa powder onto poured batter. Repeat with yellow, then green batter. You may choose to not add cocoa powder onto the green batter (top layer).

5) Bake at 160°C for 50 minutes. Let cool before frosting or cutting.

If you're frosting, use plain vanilla butter cream or lemon butter cream.

Happy baking and selamat hari raya!

Qing Fang Noodle House

Hye all!

Last chance to iftar with friends or family at some fancy restaurants~

Or maybe you are already in raya mode and not in the mood to cook.

Why not eat something delicious?

Qing Fang Noodle House is situated in Platinum Walk, KL. Very near Danau Kota. Click here to see their FB. If you want to break fast here, please call and reserve a table. Place your order as well so you don't have to wait long for your food.

Taste - #iLove

Price - Fair. They have sets and the portion is generous.

Ambiance - Comfortable. It was packed and yet I didn't feel 'suffocated'. 

Note that they'll be closed for raya. 

Got a table inside yay!

Already in kampung? It's okay. Drop by after raya for some delicious Chinese cuisines. No butter prawn, soft shell crab stuff here as their specialty is ramen BUT... their offerings are delicious.

If you come during busy period, expect some delay and mix up but please stay cool. The staff were very helpful and I could see that they were really trying their best to serve. What they lacked in experience, they made up by being accommodating and courteous.

We ordered this set as it was a full house :)

Sour plum herbal tea. Refreshing and yummy! <3<3<3

Unlimited =D

Vege Mushroom Fried Ramen

Braised Fish with Brown Sauce <3<3<3

Kung Pao Chicken <3<3

Spicy Prawn <3<3<3

I had a love-hate short relationship with the spicy prawn dish. The fries to be exact. Love the taste but they were somewhat too salty and yet I love the saltiness but... ah you gotta go taste it yourself.

The fruit platter was a big plate of red watermelon (sorry I forgot to take pic. Was already eating when the fruit platter arrived), more than enough for 6 pax. We also ordered extra drinks (totally unnecessary) and a small plate of fried lotus. We had a debate whether lotus is a vegetable or flower. I said 'flower' and tried a piece of fried lotus. It's nice but I still prefer chicken.

Fried lotus <3

Eh seriously this is a good place to eat. Boleh bawa bakal mak mentua and if she's fussy like my mom, you can tell her that this place was featured on Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan ;)

M&M Cookies

Caution: These cookies are SWEET!

I tend to reduce the sugars and the cookies were still sweet thanks to the choc chips and M&Ms. You might want to hide these sweeties from the kids and hand out as special treat.

Thanks to the vanilla pudding mix, the cookies are chewy and crunchy. Have them with milk!

Of course, sempat lagi nak bake for raya. Keep in airtight container yeah.

Play Dough Cookies

Remember the rainbow cookies?

Here's the variation I promised- the play dough cookies!

Pretty cookies for raya, also a perfect baking project with your kids. The recipe suggested lollipop-shaped cookies but shape them any way you wish. I did a little ketupat last year :p Then I got lazy, mushed everything together, rolled the dough & cut. Resulting a psychedelic-ish cookies. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 3/4 cups flour (I used red rose for cookies)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Food colourings

Steps

1) Cream butter, cream cheese & sugar. Beat in egg & vanilla until fluffy. Then add in the flour, baking powder & salt.

2) Divide the dough into as many portion as the colours you want to have, then colour them accordingly. Wrap coloured dough in plastic wraps and put in the fridge for 2 hours.

3) Take half dough from each colour, roll into a ball, then a snake. Coil the dough into lollipop shape. Place on greased baking sheet & add lollipop stick (optional). Bake at 175°C for 8 minutes.

Save me, pretty! <3

Malteser Cookies

Hello all~

Malteser has got to be one of my fav chocolate and adding them into cookies makes so much sense!

I'm not baking any (yet) this year but you can try this easy and tasty recipe. Good for raya or tea time- after the fasting month of course.

Happy baking!

Red Velvet Cookies

Yummy red <3<3<3

You've done the red velvet cake. 

Now it's time for red velvet cookies!

Cookies with a hint of chocolate. Just a little chocolate kiss on the cookies' cheeks.

Ready?

You'll need...

• 1 stick butter

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup self-raising flour

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence

• 1/2 tbsp red colouring

• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips 

• 1/3 cup chopped almond

Steps

1) Cream butter & sugar. Add egg yolk, vanilla & red colouring.

2) Pour in sifted flour & cocoa powder. Mix well, then add in the white chocolate chips, chocolate chips & chopped almond.

3) Use teaspoon to scoop dough & place onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 160°C for 18-20 minutes. Let cool.

P.s. You don't need electric mixer for cookies.

Save this recipe!

White Choc & Butterscotch Chips Walnut Cookies

#iLove butterscotch chips <3

Hello!

Just few days to raya & I know many are scrambling to bake those raya cookies. Check out a variation of the previous Choc Chips Cookies I posted!

I've substituted the milk choc chips + dark choc chips with white choc chips + butterscotch chips. For some crunch, I used walnut! No nut works too :)

Share your version!

Chocolate Chips Cookies

Chocolate Chips & Walnut Cookies

Hello! Need a basic but delicious choc chips cookies recipe? Here you go~


Ingredients 

• 125g softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Steps

1) Cream brown sugar & caster sugar until light & fluffy. Add egg & vanilla. 

2) Mix sifted flour & chocolate chips.

3) Spoon onto baking sheet. Bake at 160°C for 10-15 minutes.

Let cool before store.

P.s. Add your fav nuts after choc chips for nutty extra ;)

Rainbow Cookies

Hello!

Here's another cookie recipe for you to try.

Rainbow Cookies by Shea

Some call these colourful rainbow cookies 'lidah kucing', loosely translated as cat's tongue. Not very appetizing eh? I am sticking to rainbow cookies.

There is another colourful cookies recipe I've shared on my Facebook & Twitter last year- the play dough cookies. I'll post it here soon. Fun project to do with the kids, I promise.

Now, onto the ingredients for rainbow cookies.

Ingredients (enough to fill 2 medium cookie jar)

• 454g unsalted butter

• 2 cups white sugar

• 3 egg whites

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 2 2/3 cups flour

• 2/3 cup corn flour

• 1/2 tsp emplex

• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp lemon zest

• Salt

• Food colourings

Steps

1) Cream butter with sugar. Add in and mix well egg whites, vanilla essence, pinch of salt, lemon juice & lemon zest.

2) Add sifted flour (I like red rose flour), corn flour & emplex into mixture in 1. Separate mixture into 6 bowls.

3) Colour the separated mixture- red, orange (red + yellow), yellow, green (blue + yellow), blue & purple (red + blue). Pour into 6 piping bags.

4) Pipe onto mould or cookie sheet. Bake at 160°C for 15 minutes.

Remember your rainbow colour sequence!

Pretty! <3

For a quick reference...

Save me!

Have fun!

Johor Premium Outlets (JPO)

Hi! It's me again. Urukhai. Shea is still lazy.

Well I'm sure this place needs no introduction to the ladies. Johor Premium Outlets (JPO) is famous for genuine, off-season posh brands sold at a discounted price. Handbags, shoes, perfumes, chocolates, fashionable clothes you name it, they are here.

Come early on weekdays to avoid the crowd of mad bargain hunter

You don't see this peace on weekends or holiday

No. Not a place for your kids to take a dip

The JPO complex has the usual coffee shops like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. There are also a few restaurants and a huge cafeteria with a lot of choices of food from western to local food.

Public amenities like the restrooms and surau are above the Malaysian standard. Pretty impressive in my opinion.

Look what's opening soon!

THE place to chill after shopping or rest in between shopping

However from my observation based on my two trips there, you can get more choices at the end of the year compared to other months. Say for example the Guess store, you're more likely to find nice bags or purse in December instead of in June. I have no idea if this is only based on the store's ability to stock up their wares on time. So take my tips with a huge dose of salt. 

I don't know much about nice bags actually.

-Urukhai-

Bazar JB (Pasar Karat)

If you're in Johor Bahru please do drop by at the Pasar Karat. It is essentially a big night market around some nice hip cafes and boutique eateries run by young Johoreans. 

Pasar Karat operates roughly from 7.00pm to midnight.

Okay, what about parking arrangement? You can park by the road side wherever there are spaces and as long as your parked car don't obstruct the traffic flow obviously. The traffic police are quite lenient around Pasar Karat area. I think.

Interesting gateway to Pasar Karat.

I reckon this is the Chinatown part of JB.

Plenty of nice small boutique cafes around.

If you fancy a chai drink, this establishment is among the most popular in Pasar Karat.

A corner shop lot with intricate Chinese design.

Another hip cafe brimming with young customers.

Another boutique cafe.

A boutique eatery.

Part of the crowd

Lively scene.

You can see the Pasar Karat signage above an interesting stall selling vintage posters.

What sort of things can you purchase over here in Pasar Karat?

Well, the market caters for the young audience and the old alike. There are plenty of clothes, independent  t-shirt sellers with unique designs, henna decoration service, vintage items ranging from old vinyls, posters, books and antique paraphernalia and a lot food & beverage stalls.

You'll need at least an hour to fully cover all the market at a leisurely pace. So if you're in town, the Pasar Karat is a nice place to stop by.

-Urukhai-