Wife Cake (Lao Por Bing)/(Lor Por Peng)

Lily gave me two to try on Edda's birthday and I guess I'm too "thiam jiak" and two was not enough and thus I decided to look into Florence's recipe (she included step-by-step pictures), which was the recipe Lily used. I realized I actually have all the necessary ingredients and thus my hands started to itch again, or my mouth being "thiam jiak". LOL! So, I made it!!


I did some modification because I don't use shortening in my household. I used spreadable butter in the water dough and filling and I used 45g canola oil in the oil dough. This recipe yields 12 small wife cakes.


A closer view. This pastry is supposed to be soft and flaky but I like it crispy and flaky like on the day it was baked. Look at all the crumbs when I cut it open in half, so crispy and flaky! This pastry turns soft the next day so if you like it crispy, finish it on the day it is baked. But, if you like the original soft pastry just keep it til the next day. However, if you like me who couldn't finish all in a day, you get to enjoy both texture. *wink*

Verdict:
I love it! Even though this is the first time I tasted this kind of filling. I think in Malaysia we made the filling differently and also called it a wife cake. Click here to view. Hey, next time I can sprinkle some black and white sesame seeds on top eh. Will certainly make this again. Florence, thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe so that those of us who live overseas will get to make and enjoy this Chinese pastry too! :)

Breakfast for Lunch

Once in a while I would cook breakfast for lunch. I called this my sinful lunch because it has one fried whole egg, a cheese, 2 slices of Canadian bacons and English muffin slab with butter and then pan fried in a pan ! So sinful right? I think I tried to make myself feel better by buying the whole grain English muffin...*wink*...Anything whole grain or whole wheat sounds so much better for us, makes it sounds healthier.

This is for Evy, drizzled with Ketcup!


This is for myself, top with Lingham chili sauce. Oh soooo good!

Butter Cream Frosting

My simple design birthday cake for Edda. I just stick to something simple because on that day itself I made a few other cakes, kuih and a lot of chopping and slicing for the next day. No energy left to decorate something fanciful.



The slice view of the cake. I love the icing for this cake so decided to share it here and for my own record. I memorized the recipe while watching the American Test Kitchen T.V. show.

Recipe from American Test Kitchen:

3 sticks of unsalted butter, soften (1 stick=113 g)

1- 16oz/1lb icing sugar a.k.a confectioner sugar/powder sugar

1 Tbsp. milk

1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Method:

Put all in a bowl and beat until soft and fluffy. Frost the cake as desired. If too soft, put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before frosting again.

Edda's Birthday Party (Part 1)

My little girl turned one year old few days ago. I had a birthday party for her because turning one is special for Chinese. So, I invited a couple of my friends to celebrate with us. Sharing some pictures of what I cooked with my readers here.

I learned a lesson from Evy's birthday. That is not to wait until the last minute to stir-fry because I was still cooking when my guests showed up and I had to finish cooking and setting the table in front of my guests. So, for this I told myself I got to get everything done before my guests arrived. So this time, I got everything cooked two hours prior and keep warm in my oven ready to bring out 5 minutes before the designated time. However, I also learned a new lesson with this arrangement, will spill in my part 2 post when I show the close up of my dishes.


The spread without the cheese pizza (still baking in the oven)


Another view of the spread


Dessert section: pandan cream cheese pound cake, strawberry butter cake, brownie (can see from the 1st. picture), kuih bingka ubi and mixed fruit konnyaku jelly.


Party table with goodies bags for the kids, red eggs for each family to take home and snack.


The red eggs gift bags for adults


Mixed fruit konnyaku jelly in assorted fish molds. My girlfriend A got this for me from M'sia, nice right? :)


The Pandan cream cheese pound cake. Recipe here, just used pandan paste instead of green tea powder. And yes, thanks for the tips from my readers, my cake turned out beautiful from the bundt pan.


Edda's birthday cake. I used this for the chocolate cake and as for the frosting, will post it in another post. Stay tuned!

Edda's Birthday Party (Part 2)

Stir-fried Udon Noodle Asian Style with Chinese Mushroom


Fried Spicy Mee Siam Malaysian Style


Delimas Chicken Curry with Potatoes. You can buy the Delimas Chicken Curry Paste here. Very easy, just add chicken, potatoes and coconut milk. Taste just like the Malaysian curry without all the work.


Claypot Beef Rendang, can also see it here. Oops! I forgot to add kaffir lime leaves. Anyway, you can buy it at MyTOA. But I think it's currently out of stock since I couldn't find it. Just check back often for new stock. For this, even easier, just add beef! I simmered this for a tad too long and some of the beef were broken into pieces. Well, at least it showed how tender the beef is.

Mixed Vegetable. I made a mistake of putting it in the oven to keep warm for 2 hours. Why? Because my broccoli turned soft instead of crunchy (the way I like it) and also it lost the vibrant green color and turned a bit yellow. Learned a lesson here, never put your veggie to keep warm in the oven. Half an hour should be fine, just not two hours. So, this is the new lesson learned.

Easy Stir-Fried Shrimps with sweet soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and black pepper. I just sprinkled some dried parsley for decoration. This dish which I whipped out while cooking, just an okay dish for my standard. I think I shouldn't add rice wine since the smell is pretty strong.

Lastly, Edda smiling for the camera before lighting the candle and singing the birthday song. Happy One Year Old my little girl! Ugh, why she got rabbit ears? :P

Strawberries Butter Cake

I bought some strawberries the other day because it was on sales. And I always wanted to try Strawberries Butter Cake. So, I reserved some strawberries for my little experiment. Hehe...

My experiment was a success! This cake turned out soft and moist with a little bite of strawberry bits. Evy loved it and ate 3 pieces for breakfast!