Black Bottom Cupcakes

Original Recipe from here.

Cream Cheese Filling:

227 g Cream cheese, room temperature (I used 250g)

65 g Caster sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes:

210 g Plain flour 210 g Light brown sugar (I used 190g)

30 g Natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed) ( I used Hershey's)

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

240 ml Water

80 ml Unflavored vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)

1 tbsp White vinegar (I used lime juice)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, 12 muffin cups.

Cream Cheese Filling:

In your food processor or electric mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth. Set aside while you make the Chocolate

Cupcake batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

First, in a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until nice and smooth. Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Then spoon a few teaspoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling is a little brown and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake will come out clean). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 - 4 days.
Makes 12 cupcakes

Note: Although grapeseed oil is supposed to be neutral, I was able to taste it and I feel that it kinda overwhelms the cocoa flavour. I tasted it while it's still warm. Shall try the chilled version.

Oats and Raisin Cookies

Eurasian Curry Puffs

Steamed Sponge Cakes

I've always wanted to make this. Reminds me of my late bro who used to gobble these down by the dozens. Recipe's extracted from here. The last 2 with cracks are those I tried sprinkling a cross with sugar..din work. I think it's the moulds I use for steaming. Should have used something with more holes to allow heat to penetrate. Maybe that's why my cakes are not 'smiling'.

Peach Muffins

The pictures from Lucy's blog looked so good I just had to give this a go. Recipe can be found here. I reduced the sugar by 20g, and it's still a tad sweet for me. Mum found it alright though. I may further reduce another 20-30g on my next attempt. The texture is soft and fragrant yumz!

Hokkaido Milk Loaf - Breadmachine

My spirits were so dampened by the previous 2 failed attempts I needed to see a successful loaf tonight. Since this recipe has such high reviews and success rate, I thought I'll give it a go.
The dough came clean from the sides and looked really promising during the kneading stage. I got very excited (pardon this 1st timer ;p) when the dough more than doubled its size during the second proofing. Amazing! :) Recipe here.

Update: The crust was thick and the bread was not as fluffy as I imagined it to be. Perhaps being left on warmer for an hr could have some extent of influence on the texture. I'll definately try this again without the breadmachine.

Breadmachine's White Loaf

Tried my first loaf of bread using the bread machine last Monday. All was looking good till proofing when there was a power trip and the bread collasped! Sigh... I baked the bread anyway to see how the texture will turn out. It was like a semi-hard plaster sigh. Not too certain if the power trip will fail the bread. Given it another shot today, will know how it turns out in 3 hrs. :) *fingers crossed*

This is the recipe.

Update: My 2nd loaf failed again. I suspect it could be the sea salt I used, or maybe the water is too warm it killed the yeast, or insufficient water. I'll try manually next time.