Change in Lifestyle

Since my twins started their life in primary school this week, there will be a slight change in my lifestyle from now onwards. Change in my lifestyle as in baking. Usually, by the time I reached home, the kids will already be home and had taken their dinner. However, since school has started, they will reach home much later than me. Now, I go home to a quiet environment. No longer having them to greet me at the door sometimes. Somehow, I just missed their noise, their laughter and their bugging.

I guess it's just a matter of getting used to it. So instead of them greeting me previously, now, I go downstairs to wait for them to return from school. By the time they bathed and finished dinner, it was already 8pm. It was almost like an hour of "time loss" for me. Usually, my baking starts at about 6.45pm in the evening. Now, it starts an hour later. Dinner is later for me too. With the change in our daily routine, I supposed I might not bake so often in the evening now. And so, it will lead to less update in my blog too! *domino effect* :p

Last December, I went to Robinsons to buy a 9" Kaiser Bundt pan. Bundt seems to be quite the in thing now. It comes in different materials, including silicon ones. I've been dying to bake in such a pan. I found that if it's baked well, the cake can turn out to be really pretty, like this cake from Gina.


I've also wanted to bake the Walnut & Choc chips cake from Wen's Delight. It was sitting in my "To bake" file for a long time. So without hesitation, I bake this cake in my new bundt pan. Actually, the recipe was meant for a 10" pan, I baked it in my 9" pan. It sort of "overflowed". I filled the batter right to the brim, which I shouldn't have. And I greased the pan with cooking oil! Woah! After a "short break" from my baking, I seemed to have lost my checks!! Hahaha...


Anyway, the sides were slightly oily (thanks to the greasing). And I found the cake too sweet despite reducing the sugar already. If you want to try the recipe, do reduce the sugar to a total of 150g. I used a total of 200g and still find it sweet. Probably because of the chocolate rice I added. The funny thing is, when I printed the recipe, I didn't realise that steps #5 & 6 were missing from my printout! So instead of folding the egg white into egg yolk mixture, I fold in the flour first, followed by the chocolate rice and walnuts, then fold in the egg whites. That was quite a tricky part. In the end, I got myself a more airy cake, as compared to the original cake that Wen posted. I would very much preferred her texture, more dense than airy. Anyway, it's a learning experience. I still like the taste of the cake, with the walnut giving it a crunch!