Little Joy Factory

A facebook friend posted a photo of her homemade Poppy Seed Bundt cake last month. I was completely sold the moment I saw it. What a beautiful cake! It looks so moist, delicious and ... romantic! A quick search on the internet, I learned that Bundt cake is simply the name used for a cake baked in a Bundt pan, and it's not generally associated with any single recipe. 

Today is Labour Day, a public holiday in Singapore.  May all the workers here, the blue or white collar, young or old, local or foreigners, happy at work and receive fair treatment. To celebrate, I baked this rich moist Lemon Cake for my family. My daughters like it so much that they would like to reserve two pieces as their breakfast tomorrow. It's an easy-to-make cake, just like the Walnut Cake , simple and yummy. With lemon zest and lemony glaze, this cake is sweet and buttery with fresh citrus taste. I got the recipe from a blog. However, I did not save the link. If you happen to see this recipe from the web, please let me know so that I can link back to the original recipe. I followed exactly the original recipe except for the glaze, which I made slight modification. LEMON CAKE For the cake - 2 cups all-purpose flour - 2 teaspoons baking powder - 1 teaspoon salt - 250g unsalted butter (softened) - 3/...

June school holiday is approaching. It's  the best time of the year to travel. Not only children need a break, parents also need a getaway from the monotonous routine: sending children to school, go to work day after day. We have decided our travel destination - my hometown. It is a small beautiful city located on the border of China and North Korea, marked by Yalu River.  Don't be surprised when I say I am from a small city with population of 2.4 million. Yes, it is considered relatively small by population in China.  Do you know Beijing has 20 million urban people and Shanghai has 23 million?  It's been two years since my last visit.  I am a bit excited when I think of this trip. The only thing worries me is the H7N9 bird flu as we need to transit from Beijing.  In addition,  hope North Korea , south Korea and U.S keep cool and reach an agreement on the nuclear weapons.  So...

上周妹妹来家里说，能不能做最简单的传统蛋糕，就是小时候常吃的槽子型（方型）鸡蛋糕。她说，现在国内的小市场上也有人在做。你只需自带面粉和鸡蛋，他们帮你加工，只收加工费，大概少过5元人民币。 做出来的鸡蛋糕又香又甜，口感绵软。很有小时候的味道。 说起鸡蛋糕，我想起小时候每次去姥姥家，姥姥都会拿出来招待我们。那时候，鸡蛋糕和沙奇马，江米条，月饼是我最最喜欢的糕点零食了，怎么吃都吃不够。长大后，来到了热带岛国，想的还是同样的糕点。除了江米条，其余的这里大多也吃得到。可是，怎么也找不回童年记忆里的那种味道。回国的时候，每次都大包小包买很多美食，可是，吃的时候，却没了从前的感觉。也许“时过境迁”，”斗转星移“，“物是人非”，写的就是这种心境吧。 不管怎样，妹妹的提议也得到妈妈的支持，我就上网查找食谱。出乎我的意料，食谱超简单。只需要鸡蛋，糖和面粉。那还等什么，我是一个兴趣来了，马上行动的人。 当天就做了一个蛋糕。用了六个鸡蛋，一点面粉和糖。结果蛋糕有点太甜，发的也不够，拿出烤箱就回缩了，更别说传统蛋糕的味道了。失败！ 昨天，我又好好琢磨了一下失败的原因，可能是鸡蛋打得不够发，烤的时间有点过。至于味道么，应该是食谱没找对，因为没有老式蛋糕的味儿。我又特意参考了一段视频，据说是某著名面包店的师傅发的。这次，我不疑有它，照着方子，用了九个鸡蛋，面粉和糖各半斤。结果呢，哈哈哈， 出炉的整个一鸡蛋饼子，实心的！好心疼那九个鸡蛋，直接进了垃圾桶。 之后又做了一次，虽然还好，不过，蛋糕组织太过细腻。不像记忆中的老蛋糕，粗粗的，软软的。原因是从头到尾都用电动机搅拌，以及用了低筋面粉。虽然可以吃，但不是我想要的。没想到这么简单的配料， 做了三次还没成型。真的很考验耐心和基本功。 今天，决定总结经验教训，从“心” 出发，又换了一个方子，这次只用了两个鸡蛋。妈妈吃了第一口，就说：“就是它！” 。终于成功啦！真是“梦里寻她千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处“ 。。。我想如果找得到方型蛋糕模具的话，烤出来一定更像老式蛋糕了。 TRADITIONAL CAKE ( 传统 蛋糕) INGREDIENTS -  2 eggs (~130g) - 130g castor sugar - 130g plain flour - 1 tabl...

I am a born lover for cheese, butter and milk, though I am a typical Chinese from northeastern part of China. That's a place where most of us love dumplings , buns ( 馒头, with no sugar, no butter)  and plain rice, of course. My mom told me she had no breastmilk for me when I was born. I was fed with milk powder as a baby. Maybe that explains? Anyway, I fell in love with cheesecake at first bite of it, and started baking when I was in U.S several years ago. It's so easy to bake a cheesecake there because you can simply grab a ready-made crust from the supermarket at the cost of less than $2?  I baked almost every week with the same recipe and shared with friends. Until now, I always keep a few packs of cream cheese in my fridge. Whenever anyone in my family misses cheesecake, I bake one within an hour. We have never been tired of it. Recently, I shared this recipe with a friend who has almost zero baking experienc...