~ Mocha Monster Mass

Modified from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Fusing cocoa and leftover coffee frosting to give a big black Mocha Monster Mass!

Ingredients (7" cake):

100 g coffee frosting
100 ml water
190 g flour
45 g cocoa powder
100g sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream frosting and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time. Add the flour mixture in three equal additions.
3. Pour into 7" tin and bake in preheated oven at 160 deg for 45 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing.

Remarks:

"This is an elegant cake to make" - this is what the review touts for the exact recipe. After my awful modification (to use up my leftover coffee frosting), I got this big blob of mess! And guess what, I forgot to add the sugar and salt! Furthermore, I added water all at one go into the frosting, which is a big boo-boo! My frosting became coagulated and the mixture couldn't mix well, so I had loads of buttery precipitates floating around. To trust that I attended so many lectures on dissolution, I actually didn't put all information that I'd learned to good use! Shame shame!

Surprisingly,the cake turned out soft despite the hiccups in-between the baking process and that I sliced it before it was warm. To compensate for the low sugar content, I melted some chocolate chips and spread it in between the cake halves. The cake looked rather hideous, so I just placed two baked cashews on it and named it the Mocha Monster Mass :)

However, the cake was pretty much tasteless, and I tried to remedy it again by sprinkling icing sugar on the cake. Bad, next time I shall just use frosting as what frosting should be used for!

~ Ban Mian

Taken from:

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Description:
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Ingredients:

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Directions
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Remarks:

Bought the noodles from the coffee shop, just blanched my cauliflowers and sliced carrots to make it healthier!

~ Tomato & Lettuce Peanut Butter with Cheese Sandwich

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
The effortless way to eat a healthy and light lunch - sandwich!

Ingredients:

1 small tomato, sliced into 4
1 or 2 lettuce leaves
1 slice of cheese
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp peanut butter
2 wholemeal bread slices

Directions
1. Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread, and place the cheese on top, followed by sliced tomatoes and lettuce.
2. Butter the other slice of bread and top it over the lettuce.

Remarks:

I was trying to minimise the commotion I was making when consuming this sandwich during Microbiology class. It was really good - the cheese (calcium) was in a creamy semi-molten state, the tomatoes (lycopene and vitamins) gave the required moisture, the lettuce (vitamins, fibre) imparted crunch, the wholemeal bread (complex carbo) ensured a prolonged sugar rush, and the peanut butter (protein) rendered taste. Yummy!

Any sandwich can be altered to suit one's tastebuds. For ideas, just look up at the local sub shops and get some inspiration. Take my sub for lunch on the next day for instance:

~ Coffee Cake

Taken from:

Some book (french sponge cake)
Allrecipes (frosting)

Description:
Aromatic coffee-infused soft sponge cake, frosted with coffee cream - a dream cake for coffee lovers!

Ingredients: (4" round cake)

2 whites
50 g sugar

2 yolks
10 g white sugar
1/2 tsp coffee emulco
1/2 tsp vanilla

50 g flour
25 g oil

Ingredients: (frosting)
125 g butter
135 g icing sugar
1/2 tsp coffee emulco
60 ml strong brewed coffee

Directions (cake):
1. Whisk egg whites to soft peaks and add in 50 g sugar gradually. Whisk till stiff peaks formed.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks, 10 g sugar, coffee emulco and vanilla till creamy.
3. Fold in the beaten egg whites.
3. Sift flour in a separate bowl (can double-sift), and fold into the egg mixture.
3. Stir in the oil, and pour into a greased 25 x 32 cm tray.
4. Bake in preheated over at 180 deg for 5 min, and then bring down the temperature to 160 deg to bake for 15 min, or till cake is done. (the cake will pull away from the tin at the edges)
5. Allow to cool completely before slicing and frosting.

Directions (frosting):
1. Cream butter and whisk in the icing sugar till smooth, along with one 1/2 tsp of coffee emulco.
2. Add in the coffee and adjust to suitable consistency with more coffee/rum.
3. Frost when the cake is cool.

Remarks:
The batter was insufficient to fill the whole tray and the resulting cake was rather thin (less spongy), should have used a smaller tray for baking instead. I didn't fold in the flour properly as well, resulting in many little bumps on the tray-baked cake. The chipped off side from the image was due to pinching.

In the assembly of cake: Two circular discs of 4" was cut out from the cake and the rest was sliced into 1.5" strips. The strips were frosted and then rolled together like a swiss roll to form a 4" wide roll. It's then placed on top of one frosted circular disc and then topped with another circular disc. (sounds confusing, sorry for the poor language) The whole cake was then frosted, and I had one cup of frosting left again.

I coated the frosted cake with some chopped almonds and placed 4 halved Vanhouten's semi-sweet almond chocolates on top for decoration. Sprinkled some cocoa and shaved Vssa chocolate on top as well.

The cake is for Mum's birthday but we did not consume it on the day itself as Mum was very full from dinner. The cake was cut on the 2nd day. It was quite aromatic and the sponge literally melted in the mouth, but I found it too sweet. It could be due to the frosting. Overall, it was delectable and the serving size was just nice for four:

~ Quick Veggie Noodles

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Instant noodles the healthy veggie way (no msg)!

Ingredients:

3 dried mushrooms, diced
1 stick carrot, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 C peas
1/4 C corn kernels
1/4 cabbage head, chopped
1/2 pack instant noodles
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 litres of water
Salt and pepper to taste
Sesame oil to taste

Directions
1. Bring water to boil along with mushroom and carrots.
2. Cook the instant noodles in the broth.
3. Throw in the rest of the veggies and cover lid to hasten the cooking process.
4. Add in soysauce and adjust with salt, pepper and sesame oil.

Remarks:

The broth was clear, but it turned cloudy immediately when I added the instant noodles. It seems kinda scary, especially with rumour that wax was used to coat instant noodles. Next time around, I shall cook the instant noodles separately.