Nutella cheesecake (No Bake)- Cooking 101

This is a really easy recipe. As I do not have an oven at home, I always look for no bake recipes. This recipe was taken off Nigella. The original recipe has chopped toasted hazelnut but I couldn't find it in the shops near me so I decided to do without it.

All the ingredients used minus the hazelnuts

Ingredients 

- 250g of digestive biscuits

- 500g of cream cheese

- 60g icing sugar

- 75g unsalted butter

- 400g Nutella 

Method

- Break the digestive biscuits into a bowl. (small crumbs. I used my hands to do this and it took very long and I ended up with sore fingers. You can use a food processor) 

- Add butter and 15ml of nutella and mix until it becomes a damp, sandy mixture. (smells really good)

- Tip into a 23cm/9inch round springform and press into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill. (I left it for 1 hour)
- Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture, and continue beating until combined
- Take the springform out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base.
-  place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge for best results.

Before going into the fridge

Not evenly spread out

The cake layer seems alittle thin

Not evenly spread

 I think this recipe is too sweet for me. It tastes great, just too sweet. I will probably cut the amount of nutella by half! Another success! I probably will get laughed at by seasoned bakers with my horrible baking skills and cake appearance. Don't mind getting feedback to improve myself :D

KKi ケ一キ (Japanese Cake Shop) / The Little Drom Store

On Sunday, CW and I wanted to do something different. However, we are a really boring couple so we couldn't think of anything interesting :x In the end, we just went with the flow.

As CW had to drop by Clarke Quay to get something for his shoot, we wandered around the area and settled for Song Fa Bak Kut Teh for lunch. I have never tried Song Fa before so we were quite excited as we are soup lovers. I prefer the peppery soup base more than the herbal one and Song Fa's one was peppery soup!

We ordered braised pork to go along. 

The braised pork was pretty tasty! I only go for the lean meat and CW goes for the fatty meat. I love the soup. I think I always compare the soup to my grandmother's standard. This one was pretty close to that taste. CW prefers 'Sin Heng Bak Kut Teh' at Joo Chiat. The only thing that I don't like was the small bowl. Small bowl =  less soup and I had to keep refilling the soup. It was a happy lunch!

After lunch, we had another major headache thinking of where to go/ what to do. As I got a free lomography fish eye camera the previous day, I headed down to lomography shop near Ann Siang Street to get films for the camera. On the way there, CW brought me to a cake shop that he visited awhile back.

It was a Japanese Cake shop that also allows artists to hold exhibitions there. In the shop, there is also a small corner that sells vintage toys/ accessories and also polaroid cameras. Love the feel of the shop.

If I could, I would love to open a shop like this one day. 

Kki / The little Drom Store

7 Ann Siang Hill Singapore 069791

+65 62256650

www.kki-sweets.com

hello@kki-sweets.com

http://www.thelittledromstore.com

Mamee!

Shop aside, they serve unique and tasty cakes. They carry whole and slices of cake. For whole cakes, they require advanced notice. Their cakes have unique flavours such as Antoinette (white chocolate mousse with mango centre), Cafe Dumo (Chocolate coffee mousse with praline centre), Emily (Champagne mousse with wild strawberry centre), Gromage Melon (Cheese Mousse with rock melon centre), Kinabaru (Coconut mousse with passionfruit centre), Little Red Riding Hood (Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry centre), Mont Blanc (French chestnut paste with fresh cream center) and more. 

We had Mont Blanc and Royal Milk Tea Cheese Cake.

Left: Mont Blanc, Right: Royal Milk Tea Cheese Cake

Mont Blanc

Royal Milk Tea Cheese Cake

Check out the cute squarish card with their shop's name on the card. 

Alot of effort was put into the shop's concept.

If you are familiar with the bottled milk tea that you can readily find in Japan, the Royal Milk Tea Cheese Cake tastes just like that. The cheese cake has a very soft texture that is closer to mousse. 

CW really like Mont Blanc. The pastry at the bottom tastes just like the Danish butter cookies. The sweetness of the cake was just nice. Each cake costs about S$7-9.

I'll definitely drop by again sometime soon to try out the other cake flavours!

It was my first time at Ann Siang Hill and definitely not my last. The shop houses there are so pretty and is a good photoshoot location.

Bangkok for Chinese New Year 2013

9-12 February 2013

This is a very late post but still want to note down my trip to Bangkok with my family for Chinese new year this year. We flew by SQ and as usual, I loved the food onboard. For our hotel, we stayed at Ten Face. This hotel is amazing I must say. It is HUGE. Abit too big for 2 people per room. I really really loved the room!

http://www.tenfacebangkok.com/

Pardon the ugly nails

The living area

The room

Pantry

The room is good, the price is ok for the size but the location is a bit off. However because it is not near the main road or train station, they offer a free tuk tuk ride from the hotel to the train station.

The tuk tuk from the hotel

I believe that most people who have been to bangkok have tried the wanton mee at the stall that I showed below. The stall is usually filled with foreigners and not locals. The portion is pretty small to so I would suggest that big eaters should order more than 1 bowl. Their braised meat is not too bad too. This shop is located in the street between Glow Hotel and Pratunam Market (opposite Platinum mall). Talking about wanton mee, I personally find the one in JJmarket better.

Chef at the wanton mee stall

Braised meat

Wanton mee

Another place that we visited during our trip there was Mr Jones Orphanage.

Address: Ground floor, Seen Space Soi Thong Lor Soi 13, off Sukhumvit Soi 55 Rd., Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110 Thailand

This is a really nice a cozy brunch dessert place. Do note that at peak hours, the place can get pretty crowded. There are 2 levels in this cafe. For tall people, it is not recommended for them to head to the 2nd level as the ceiling of the 2nd level is very low. For people who would like to take pictures, do take the 1st level because the 2nd level has very bad lighting. Their Kitkat/M&M cake is good but might be abit too sweet for some. The red velvet cake is pretty good too.

 

Level 2

Located in the same building as Mr Jones Orphanage is Roast cafe.

This place serves good coffee and eggs Benedict. It is a good place to sit/ relax and read a book.

So we visited the usual shopping places like Platinum mall, JJmarket, Rod Fai night market, Pratunam market, Supermarket, Naraya etc. I only head to JJ market for their accessories now as the things there are not cheap. They sell really nice and unique accessories.

Quail eggs from platinum mall

walking to JJ market

Rod Fai night market is worth a visit as it has lots of vintage items around for sale. There are also alot of food available there. The atmosphere is really nice there with many pubs around.

There are still many interesting and nice places to visit in Bangkok. Till the next time!