Not your next door bakery!

ann siang st

That little white cafe that you see from outside

The cake display area

Little knick knacks such as bags, lomo cams and mugs.

Introducing your not so common bakery where you can find at the hearts of ann siang hill: K ki
I happened to walk pass this little shop that looks like a little white cafe. And when you walk into this shop you'll see a display of not more than 5 cakes, coffee and the rest of the shop sells little knick knacks that may interest you.

The cafe looks really simple and clean, from display of the food to how they serve the treats and the display of those little knick knacks.

Some cakes that I have tried are Antoinette and LRRH (little red ridding hood).
"ANTOINETTE"




Antoinette, It is a white Chocolate Mousse Cake with secret Mango fillings inside. The mousse is really light and smooth especially when you have it with their gryphon tea! It is artfully sprinkled with pastachio and crystalised ginger bits. The portion was perfect.

I would rate this 4.5/5

"LRRH - Little Red Ridding Hood"


Why little red ridding hood? The lady attending me told me that it was because of the surprise raspberry jam you'll find between the chocolate mousse. This chocolate mousse texture is a little different as it is heavier. The raspberry filling blends really well with the chocolate mousse.
Cause I'm not really a fan of raspberry, I'll rate this a 3.5/5.

Address: No. 7 Ann Siang Hill

How to get there: I would recommend that you take a train to Tanjong Pagar

It is a 5-10mins walk from there.

Recipes for a Lazy Sunday

Every Sunday is a family day or simply a day to have a really wholesome home-made breakfast and just laze around.

So to kick off my Sunday, I've made plans to make 2 breakfast items out of this main ingredient, Buttermilk!

What is buttermilk?
Buttermilk is the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. They are basically fermented milk and produce this liquid thats thicker than milk with a tangy taste and smell.
Buttermilk for Baking/Cooking: Buttermilk brings a pleasant tang to cakes, breads, biscuits and more while adding very little fat. As it is a rich tasting milk with acidic content, it gives the end product a softer texture and more body.

Okay so when it comes to butter milk, I would use it for 2 recipes as the carton i bought is 600ml which is quite alot. I have decided to use it on the recipe "Buttermilk Pancakes" and "Buttermilk Biscuits"

"BUTTERMILK PANCAKES"
My mother must be really happy today as we used to always have yummy fluffy pancakes in the morning when we still have our domestic helper around. The Pancake mix that is sold in a box at any supermarkets are the ones we always use out of convenience, however today, I've decided to try to make some homemade ones.

I got my recipe from joyofbaking.com, which is also where i get most of my recipes from. The sole reason why i always go back to this website for my recipes is because the measurements they give are very localised as we singaporeans always use grams and not cups. Or maybe, its just me! I prefer doing my measurements with the weighing scale than a cup as i feel it would be more accurate.

So for the Recipe, I would add it in below the photo. Hope you enjoy making this easy recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large, lightly beaten

40 grams unsalted butter, melted

1 Cup Buttermilk

Directions:
1) Mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk (Flour, Baking powder/soda, Sugar and Salt)
2) In another bowl mix the wet ingredients till well combined (Egg, Buttermilk and Melted butter)
3) Mix these 2 bowls of Ingredients together till well combined.
4) On medium heat, cook your pancakes for 1-2 minuted on each sides till lightly browned.

Outcome of the Pancakes I made: They came out less fluffy then i expect them to be. However, taste wise it would be so much better than those store bought pancake mix. My mum loved it!

for more information on the recipe you can go to this link

"BUTTERMILK BISCUITS"

Buttermilk biscuits bring me back to the first time I've tried my first biscuit at Singapore changi airport Terminal 1's Popeye's. If you do not know, Popeyes is a fast food chain that is famous for their chicken and biscuits! My first impression of their biscuits were soft, moist and crumbly. A taste I will never forget. Thus I've decided to make buttermilk biscuits hoping it would turn out pretty much like the ones I had before.

These photos were all taken by me.




For the first biscuits that I'm making in my life, I have chosen this recipe from Recipezaar as I have compared ingredients with other recipes and I think this would turn out best:

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoon unsalted butter, very cold

3/4 cup buttermilk (approx)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 230 deg C
2) Combine dry ingredients in a bowl
3) Cut the butter into chucks and cut butter into flour till it resembles course meal
4) Add buttermilk and mix till JUST combined.
5) Gently pat out the dough on a flour board till about 1/2" thick.
6) Use a round cutter and cut the dough
7) Place them on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes till golden brown on top and bottom.
8)Brush the top of the biscuits with melted butter and honey if you like

Outcome of my biscuits: They turn out with exactly the same texture as the one i had in Popeyes! I would recommend you to reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon as it was on a saltier side. To make the blueberry jam, my mum just boiled honey and add fresh blueberries in. Hope this helps .

I would most definitely use buttermilk again in future as it give all this bake goods such a great tasting taste which is different from those normal recipes with milk. It makes your bake good professional looking!

Back to Basics

To kick start an entry for this blog I've decided to, as the title says, "Back to Basics". Which means we will be looking into the most fundamentals of baking. These includes where to source for all your ingredients and tools for baking.

I would divide this post into 3 different parts:

-Fancy Higher Price range of Baking Supplies

-Budget Economical range of Baking Supplies

-Current supplies I own personally

FANCY HIGHER PRICE RANGE OF BAKING SUPPLIES

I would personally recommend

1) Pantry Magic [Holland Village]

2) Bake it Yourself [Bukit Timah]

3) Culina [Bukit Timah and Orchard Boulevard]

Pantry Magic

They sell a wide array of everything you might need for baking, which includes baking tools such as silicon/wooden spatula, cutters, recipe books, cast iron and silicon bakeware. The Baking supplies sold there can be a little pricey, for example for a really good bottle of pure bourbon vanilla essence can cost up to S$30.

Personal experience at Pantry Magic [Holland Village]: There was a in house chef when I was there and he was extremely helpful with all the questions I have asked regarding the baking tools I intended to buy that day. The Staff attending the store was very friendly as well.

Store Display was very homely, colourful and well organised, which make it easier and more convenient for me to get exactly what I want.

Exact Address: 43 Jalan Merah Saga,

Chip Bee Gardens #01-80,

Holland Village, Singapore 278115

Bake it Yourself

For those people out there who love to decorate their bake goods with fancy fondants or beautifully printed cupcake papers. This is the place to go to get your supplies. They sell a vast selection of icing and food colours, hard to find baking and decoration work tools and edible cake decoration desserts and much more.

Everything you need to make goodies such as

(photos credits: i am baker )

you can get it from bake it yourself!

Exact Address: 182 Bukit Timah Road

Singapore 229853

Culina

Culina sells mostly imported ingredients and goods from europe. They are the best bet when you are looking for good quality ingredients!

Exact Adress: 617 Bukit Timah Road (Next to Coronation Plaza)

Singapore 269718

Budget Economical Range of Baking Supplies

Places I go for my Supplies:

1) Phoon Huat, Red Man [Holland Village, Clementi]

2) Cold Storage [Holland Village]

Phoon Huat, Red Man

Sells all baking Supplies at a reasonable price. If you're looking for baking tools, storage or ingredients you can find everything here.

Exact Address: Blk 44, Jalan Merah Saga, #01-48

Chip Bee Garden, Singapore 278116

Cold Storage [Holland Village]

I buy most of my baking ingredients from cold storage as they sell lots of imported goods as well. Cheese, Flour and Good quality vanilla essence which could not be found in any other super markets could be found here!

Current Supplies I own Personally

Some of the commonly used tools and baking supplies that would linger around my house would be Gold Medal's All Purpose Flour, Varlhona 65% Chocolate, President Unsalted butter, Tudor Gold Cocoa Powder and Virginia Dare Pure Vanilla Essence.

Some Tools would include Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons, My trusty Silicon Spatula, 12 Muffin Tins, 9"x9 Brownie Tin, Bread Tin and Cookie Racks

My collection of baking supplies is actually pretty incomplete! Someday I shall buy every essential tool and equipment for my baking. But remember to buy wisely, you don't need every size of baking pans and every food colouring! Just buy what you think you would use often. Another reminder is that good quality ingredients would produce better bake goods!

I hoped this post about where you could get all your baking supplies from is help to you.

How it all Started?

Hi there, How did my love for baking start in the first place, you must have wondered?
In this first post I will share with you more about myself and how i got my interest on baking.

Since those Primary School days, my maid and my mother would be baking almost everyweek! And the most common thing they bake would be the awesome orange cake and cheesecake! No matter how many times I have these cakes again and again, I never get sick of them. Everytime my "ka kak" (means sister in bahasa) bakes in the kitchen, I would feel bored and just stand around to watch her. This is when i realise how fun baking could be!
I would never forget that kind of feeling when you have this great aroma diffusing throughout the kitchen! Its like a sense of achievement!

However, I baking is not all joyful, the times where you have to clean up the mess could be a chore!

In my opinion, Baking any recipe is really easy. The only obstacle when i have to overcome all the time when I bake is to have patience and discipline in order to get the recipe right!
Thus, when I bake, I am learning some life issues as well!

All bakers are the same, we continue baking not only because of our passion for baking but our love ones and friends out there who are our constant supporter in our bake goods! which is one of the many motivation to continue trying new things!

Signing off~
PHOEBE