Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Think of a word to describe a chocolate cupcake.

Moist.
Fluffy.
Light.
Soft.
Chocolate-y.

This cupcake ticks all the above boxes.

 Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Hello Nom-ember.

It's the time of the year again. Where the year end feasting begins. It's the month of birthdays. And soon, Christmas and New Year's Day will come chasing too.

Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Double Chocolate Muffins

I was sick for the past few days. And boy do I really hate being sick. In fact, whenever I fall sick, it seems to be the same ol' flu bug that just wham bam smack me. It was especially bad on Wednesday night and I couldn't fall asleep because my nose was so blocked that I totally couldn't breathe. You know that feeling I'm describing right? The whole trying to breathe through your mouth motions, which totally sucks big-time cos you're sucking in loads of air, which makes you just want to burp repeatedly, which in turn hurts like mad cos your throat is quite sore. Aaargh.

Anyway. So I've been cooped up at home for the past three days not doing anything much except spam reading manga on my phone, or snooze in the afternoon because of the meds. I did actually managed to do some productive stuff though - like clear a whole ton of mail that was piling up like mad in the room, and also edit enough photos to form a couple few new posts. (Yay!)

When I am sick, it's porridge all the way for meals. Lunch and dinner. So needless to say, looking at all these food photos I edited made me a tad grouchy cos I was craving for them - in which I cannot eat them because I am sick. Bah. Especially these double chocolate muffins...

Double Chocolate Muffins

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

It's going to sound repetitive. But these were made for a friend's birthday. Ha. What can I say, a baker loves to bake, and it's just what I do especially for those whom I hold dear to me. I could say that, if I offer you a homemade goodie, you're probably someone special? ;)

 Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

One can never have too many recipes for chocolate cake. Discuss.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Chocolate Bailey's Cake

You don't really need a reason to make chocolate cake do you? Let's just leave it at that.

 Chocolate Bailey's Cake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

I baked this cake a few months ago for my Sis's big three-0.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Chocolate Rum Caramel Upside Down Pear Cake

It was a cake not meant to be. Or so I thought.

 Rum Caramel Pears

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunks Cookies

I'm flying off to Aussie tonight for a (almost) two weeks vacation! Thus, I'll prob not be updating this space for some time. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with some crumbs cookies.

Everyone loves a good cookie. Especially a chocolate cookie. One that is made with browned butter, stuffed with tons of chopped dark chocolate, and topped with a sprinkle of fine sea salt. Right? Right. Don't mind me. That's just me answering my own question here.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunks Cookies

Chocolate Waffles with Nutella Espresso Sauce

I love waffles. So it's really no surprise that I whip out my waffle machine (that I got last year) whenever possible. For my homemade breakfasts/brunches at home, one of my favourite dish to prep is either waffles or pancakes as the "carbs" dish.

Chocolate Waffles with Nutella Espresso Sauce

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake

To say that it has been a difficult week is an understatement. But to keep things mess-free for you and me, I shall not rant about it here. Let's just end it at "I'm glad the weekend is finally here.".

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake

Earl Grey Caramel Chocolate Tart

I have actually cut down a lot on baking for the past few months. I probably bake bread more often than sweet stuff (I'm in the midst of trying to come up with a successful chocolate no-knead artisan recipe - works still in progress!) and even when I do bake sweet stuff, it's probably once in a few weeks, rather than once almost every week or so which I used to do.

Even so, my backlogs are still piling as I have been checking out new cafes with friends. I think I'll not be posting on all the cafes I've visited, as in - the ones that I don't think are good, I'll probably just archive the pictures I've taken but not post anything on it. I mean, why bother spending precious time to chronicle something that isn't nice? After all, if you really think hard about it, blogging is really akin to free advertisements to these dining establishments isn't it?

 Earl Grey Caramel Chocolate Tart

Chocolate Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Oooy gooey cinnamon rolls. Add chocolate to amp up the ooze, and toasted pecan nuts to provide a crunch. Hands up, anyone?

Chocolate pecan cinnamon rolls

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Coconut Brown Butter Muffins

I've previously made these muffins before, but decided to revisit this recipe again to see if they were as yummy as I remembered.

Dark chocolate, raspberries and toasted coconut

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Bread

It might seem like I'm spamming my blog with posts recently, but really, my backlog of posts is no laughing matter. I have posts on my baking and restaurants lined up all the way to end December (and I haven't even included my travel posts!). So, pardon me while I try to clear some of it before the year is up...

I was craving chocolate bread. And stumbled upon David Lebotivz's recipe for chocolate bread, which seemed to have quite a lot of rave reviews. Fate, so be it then.

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Bread

Roasted cherries tartelettes with Oreo crust and chocolate ganache filling

Cherries were in season. I couldn't get enough of them. In all, I bought about a kilo (and more) of cherries in the last month. Whenever I happened to walk by the supermart, I'm bound to pop in to check whether cherries were available and whether they were on sale.

Roasted cherries tartelettes with Oreo crust and chocolate ganache filling

S'mores cupcakes

I made these S'mores cupcakes a while ago for my gathering with some friends (the same one where I made the crab rangoon pastry spoon shells). I had cleared out the refrigerator and used the leftover graham cracker cookie dough and was thinking of incorporating them into a dessert. Thus, the S'mores cupcakes were born.

 S'mores cupcakes

Chocolate rum truffle tart and ARIA praline chocolate tartelettes

I made two chocolate tarts a few weeks back. I decided to experiment by making two "recipes" using the same base chocolate tart pastry and two different fillings. A flavoured chocolate ganache tart and a tweaked version of the ARIA chocolate tart.

 Chocolate rum truffle tart

Chocolatey cocoa nib brownies

I was craving for brownies mid-week last week. I almost never bake during a weekday since I love to snap photos of my bakes, and I always tend to use my weekends to do so to capture my bakes in natural lighting.

I blame it on pms. Chocolate cravings are a constant part of it, and I just had to have brownies. Okay, indulge my whim I shall.

Chocolatey cocoa nib brownies

Triple chocolate praline tart

It's my birthday today!  I guess I shouldn't sound too excited as that means it is yet another year gained, and we all know what it means to a woman as we age yet another year... Sigh.

But on such a lovely day, I reckon I should write about something really delicious that I made about two weeks back. I've been meaning to bake this tart for at least a year now, and after finally getting around to doing so, I really wonder why did I procrastinate for so long. It's amazing.

Triple chocolate praline tart