As the current situation of coronavirus gets progressively unsettling as the days goes by, I find myself often overthinking and getting too caught up worrying about what will happen in the future. Work-wise I feel I am placed in a difficult situation that makes me rethink and question about many things around me.😕 However, after some thought, I think I just need to remind myself that I have to take it a day at a time, and that there are so much brightness ahead no matter how bleak a situation may initially looks.❤️
Times like these call for some therapy baking. I love baking at the late night.🌃 It’s so quiet and I feel I am finding my inner peace again working away as I mix the cake batter.😌 Plus, the end product is delicious, since nothing really beats a banana cake (especially while it’s still warm!) 😋😋 No extravagant decorations, just a simple sponge and that’s the best thing about it.😊
Wishing all of you the best weekend, and don’t forget the hopes that rest within us!✨✨
I think of pies as something quintessentially British. The thought of a pie drenched in a rich gravy sauce is one that does make my mouth water! 🤤🤤 I do quite enjoy making pies due to my love of pastry. It was one of the first things I picked up on when I started baking a couple of years ago (which I got interested in from binge watching MasterChef US at home! 😆) Looking back now, time really did fly!
My first ever apple pie 🍎🍏Picnic basket pie filled with spiced rice, beef brisket, beetroot and cucumber The classic British pork and egg pie 🐷🥚 with addition of chicken, pistachio and apricot- made from hot water pastry Departing away from the British Isles- the American lemon meringue pie 🍋🍋
What’s your favourite kind of pies? Let me know in the comments section below! 😋😋
Hope everyone had a great Pancake Day! I was a bit late in writing this post, but surely every day is Pancake Day, right? 😉
So how do you like your pancakes? Is it drenched with syrup or smeared with Nutella? ❤️ For those of you don’t know, I am actually not so much of a ‘sweet guy’ when it comes to eating, but more of a savoury person. Hence, I went for this Italian-inspired, savoury take on a pancake with prosciutto, pesto, roasted tomatoes, lamb’s lettuce, and topped with a fried egg. 😋 It was finished with a slight drizzle of chilli sauce and covered with lots and LOTS of Parmesan. 🧀🧀 The pancake recipe I used is from BBC Good Food – super quick and simple! 👍 (Link is here 👉 https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-pancakes)
How do you like your pancakes? Why not make some more pancakes for tomorrow? (That’s if you aren’t sick of them by now lol! 😀)
For the penultimate day of our stay in Vienna, we decided to head to the neighbouring city of Salzburg – the location of ‘The Sound of Music’! 🎵🎶🎶 (Already can’t stop humming the tune! 😂) In order for us to get to Salzburg, we were up early and ready to aim for our train at 9:42. 🌅 (But not before I made my own waffle for breakfast first! ❤️)
Waffle for Breakfast! 😋First time I made my own waffle too, believe it or not! 😂
The return train ticket from Vienna to Salzburg costed just under €60 – a very reasonable price! And after we grabbed some snacks and drinks from the shop, it was all aboard and off we go! 🚈 The train journey to Salzburg lasted around 2 hours and 20 minutes – which gives me more than enough time to play games on my phone 📱 and nap 😴 in between haha! 😂
Catching the trainGlimpses of the Alps as we are approaching Salzburg
Upon arrival in Salzburg, we went immediately to the information centre to get a Salzburg card (costed €26) which allowed entry to all the major attractions here and also covering costs of buses – honestly if you want to spend a day sightseeing here you should definitely get one! 👍 👍
The Salzburg Card
Our first stop of the day was the Untersberg cable car that travels to the top of the Alps. 🚠 Despite the rainy weather, the mountain views were still breathtaking to behold! ❤️❤️ (Rather than let me waffle in words, I will let the pictures and videos do the talking haha! 😉)
The AlpsBreathtaking! ❤️Starting the cable car… 🚠View from above Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! ❄️❄️Complete whiteness at the top! 😮
The poor weather today meant that the top of the Alps was covered by a raging blizzard. 🌨🌨 (Such bad luck! 😫 I only noticed on Instagram after that, on a normal day, the view is really spectacular. Such a shame…😕) The lady in the information office informed us that one can spend up to three hours there, but we didn’t even last more than 3 minutes outside! 😂
Blizzard attack! ❄️❄️Let’s hurry back! 😂🏃♂️
After briefly trying to brave the storm, we went back inside and sat down in the restaurant to warm ourselves back up.🔥🔥 I thought the cold weather was perfect for a bowl of hot soup 🥣, and ordered Leberknödelsuppe – a beef broth served with a liver dumpling (which reminded me a bit of haggis!)
Leberknödelsuppe – doesn’t look that appetising, but it actually tasted great! 😋
After coming back down from the mountains, the awful weather continued 🌧🌧. However, we made the most of our day in Salzburg, visiting the Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg Cathedral, Mozart’s Birthplace and Mirabell Gardens.
Hohensalzburg Fortress View of Salzburg from the fortress ❤️❤️ (Yes, it looks brighter than it should because I edited it! 😂)It’s snowing! ⛄️❄️Exploring the inside of the fortress 🔍The outside of Salzburg CathedralInside Salzburg Cathedral 🤫🤫The beautiful ceiling in cathedralMozart’s Birthplace (no photography or videoing allowed inside unfortunately)The entrance of Mirabell GardensMirabell GardensThe beautiful view by the river 🌊🌊
The teatime treat though was the thing I was looking forward to the most today. We visited Sacher Hotels (not the original one in Vienna but its branch) and tasted their world-famous Sachertorte. 😋😋 The 34-steps recipe of the Sachertorte is apparently a top guarded secret and kept in a safe for security! 😬 And the cake certainly did not disappoint as it was perfectly moist with a rich chocolate taste balanced with a slight tartness from the apricot jam. ❤️❤️ We also ordered two other desserts, including the classic Viennese apple strudel which was wonderfully flaky, which paired well with the light custard sauce. But the highlight for me was the pear mousse 🍐. It was light and slightly tangy with the sharpness of the pear coming through. Plus, I love the beautiful pear crisp it was served with on top. 😍💚
The signature SachertorteViennese apple strudel served with cream saucePear Mousse Cup with a beautiful pear crisp! 💚💚
After a rather long train journey back to Vienna, we headed straight back to the hotel for a quick break before finally going out for our last dinner in Vienna to conclude a jam-packed day… but the journey is not over! 😉
Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️❤️ I don’t think there is any other festival that I can feel anymore disconnected from, so here is a shout out to all the singletons like me out there! 😂 Plus, I am finally getting my week off work next week, so plenty of fun to be coming around!
However, one can’t deny that the best thing about this festival is the chocolate, and lots and lots of them at that! 🍫🍫🍫 While today may be a celebration for some, I am saying goodbye to a dear work colleague who is moving away from London and I definitely use the opportunity to make a chocolate cake that satisfied everyone during lunchtime! (It just so happened that her favourite cake is also chocolate lol.)
‘You’re always welcome home’ – and I am as ‘exasperated’ (as pointed out by somebody) as this bird on my cake 😂😂
For those of you interested, I used the same chocolate sponge recipe that I posted a while back last year. (See link here 👉 https://tangosbaking.home.blog/2019/05/27/life-is-like-a-box-of-chocolates/) But instead of making chocolate ganache, I did a ‘freestyle’ chocolate frosting that I whipped up using some melted butter, cocoa powder, milk and plenty of icing sugar! (Didn’t even bother with measurements! 😂 I was entirely going by eye for consistency.) I then topped the cake with a chocolate nest filled with mini eggs and a white fondant bird. 🐦 Nothing can beat a well-baked chocolate cake really! 😝😋
After spending some time drinking in the pub, I also took myself out for a dinner for one at my favourite Italian comfort food spot. (The mixed fish grill was so delicious! 🤤 Crispy exterior with the perfectly cooked centre 🐟🦐) Who said that single life isn’t fun? 😉
Mixed fish grill (salmon, lemon sole, sea bass and king prawn) served with a mixed salad
And also clearly I haven’t had enough cake earlier…😅
Apple cake served with a warm mango cream sauce and vanilla ice cream
And with a full stomach, it’s time to go home and lie back in my bed! 😂 🛏
A belated happy Chinese New Year from me! 🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊 Work has been very busy since the new year (leading to me neglecting the blog 😅😅) and time really flew in the past weeks. Today though, unlike most of my Asian family that were celebrating Chinese New Year, I was instead away at a friend’s birthday party and playing mini golf.🏌️♂️ Well, it turns out I definitely suck at playing golf but at least I got free complimentary drinks! 😂🍷🍸
It won’t be me without baking a birthday cake for my friend 🎂 and the cake of the choice today was a strawberry red velvet cake covered with the classic cream cheese frosting and desiccated coconut (and a pair of white chocolate wings dusted with edible gold glitters. 😉) It was my first time making red velvet cake, so I guess it wasn’t a bad first attempt (though I did wing the recipe a bit so I guess it may not be totally traditional lol! 😂)
The place didn’t allow us to eat brought in food, though we still ended up sneakily tucking it away underneath the table… 🤫 (‘What’s the worst they could do? Throw us out?’ 🤣🤣 Blame one’s poor judgement after a few drinks haha!) Hence, the awful quality of the pic below! 😛 I swear the waitresses did see us but said nothing, or maybe it was the lucky red colour? 🔴😉
Still getting used to being back to work after the long holiday. 😛 Right now the dark winter sky in the UK is really not giving me enough drive to work in the evening. 😴 (Where has all the motivation in the new year gone lol!?) Does anybody else feel the same?
At this point, I will be dreaming about a tropical island 🏝 in a far land and wishing I am there instead. 😝 However, for now, a mango lover like me can survive with a mango and cream cake. At least, I can taste the tropic right now! 😋😂 I realise it has been a while since I posted a recipe, so I hope you all will enjoy this cake as much as I did! 💛
Mango and Cream Cake
Quantity: 1 cake
Ingredients:
5 eggs, separated
80g caster sugar
60g flavourless oil
70g warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g self raising flour
250ml double cream
1 mango, diced
Mango pulp
White Chocolate, tempered (optional)
Pistachio, chopped finely (optional)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.
2. Whisk the egg white with half the sugar until stiff.
3. Mix the remaining sugar, egg yolks, oil water and vanilla together until well-combined.
4. Sieve in the flour and stir until well-combined.
5. Fold in half of the whisked egg white into the flour mixture. Then, pour the mixture back into the remaining egg white and fold until evenly combined.
6. Grease the cake tin, then transfer the cake mixture into it.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
8. Let the cake cool briefly in the cake tin, then remove the cake from the tin. Leave the cake on a wire rack until completely cooled.
9. Whisk the double cream until whipped and smooth.
10. Slice the cake evenly across to create two layers. Sandwich the sponge layers with whipped cream, mangoes and mango pulp.
11. Cover the sides and the top of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Drizzle more mango pulp at the top of the cake. Decorate with more mangoes, pistachio and tempered white chocolates to finish.
Just want to say a big Happy New Year from the UK! 🎉🎉🎊🎊👏👏👏 Wishing everyone the best and may all your wishes come true in 2020!! ❤️❤️ Don’t forget to be happy 😃 and treasure every moments to come! 🤗
Meanwhile… let me tuck into my bonfire cake to welcome the new year while watching the fireworks 🎆 🎇 from my window! 😂
As I grow older, I realise more time really does fly by in a blink. 2019 has been quite a year for me in terms of getting myself out of my comfort zone (such as starting this blog and an Instagram account- something I have avoided for a while lol), and I really have learnt more about myself as a person throughout this past year. 🙂
As we are approaching to the end of another year, I always find time to try to get myself to reflect on things that have happened throughout the past year. And I always found a quiet walk helps with that process, especially being in one with nature. 🍁🍂🌾 So I took a stroll around the beautiful Arthur’s Seat, somewhere I used to come by regularly growing up in Edinburgh.
There were happy and sad times, as well as high and low moments in the past year. But I know that they are all treasured moments of a long journey and all played a part in making me better as a person. It is only the beginning now. ❤️
But I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been reading, liking and commenting on my posts here. 😊 Getting followers is one thing. I started this blog as a mean to get away from my daily life, so I could only ever dream of the supports I get here. (Honestly, I was elated even by the presence of one reader at the start lol! 😂)
Can’t wait to see what 2020 will bring! Hopefully more new ‘adventures’ on the horizon! 😀👍
(P.S. Also here are my Top 9 bakes according to my Instagram account! Plenty more to come in 2020 of course! 😆)
Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! 🎄❄️💫❤️❤️ It’s so nice to be back home in the holiday, isn’t it? (I certainly am, since I am posting this whilst setting up a bath lol! 🛀)
Hope you all are enjoying your holiday, and I am sorry if this post dampens the festive mood for you but I have thought long and hard before writing this… My break didn’t start off well when I found out three days ago that my family home was broken into. Losing valuables was one thing but I am just glad that no-one was hurt. However, I am upset by the fact that someone feels they have the rights to violate the place that holds so much happy memories to me. Here I am, a few days later, taking a picture of this cake at the exact same spot where it was broken into… I still feel a little uneasy around the house, but hopefully over time it will heal. ❤️ Though I am not going to let this stops me celebrating Christmas with a smile on my face! 😊
So happy with how this cake turns out ‘cause I’ve never done something like this before! The cake is just a simple vanilla sponge covered with a smooth whipped cream, and topped with flakes of chocolate. However, the iced biscuits are actually shortbreads as my family and I are not particularly fond of gingerbread, so I made a break away from the tradition lol. 😛 (A tip: Make sure to always rest the shaped biscuits in the fridge or freezer before baking. This is to prevent the butter from melting too fast during baking so that the biscuits don’t lose the shapes you probably spent some time painstakingly trying to cut out! 😂)
Can’t wait to be binge-watching Christmas TV all day tomorrow! Merry Christmas and best wishes to you all! 🎅🎄❄️💫🎉🎉🎊🎊👏👏👏
Tango's Baking 