Before I first went to Hawaii, I searched the web hoping to find an accurate recipe that I could use whilst I was there so that I could get my regular fix. Unfortunately, my many failed attempts were bad enough to require a vow of silence from my various kitchen helpers.

I thought it was a lost cause but as fate would have it, the holy grail was nearer to home than I expected. The other day whilst mulling around with Mel, she suddenly mentioned that her friend’s mother made the most awesome mango pudding. Through this unlikely connection, I managed to get this pudding recipe. it didn’t look like much, a handwritten recipe scanned into pdf form, written in the most unreadable handwriting ever that took careful deciphering, in difficult measurements that took forever with the weight scale. But the pudding was perfect.

I’ve deciphered and translated the measurements carefully into the following recipe. So if you’re like me, a Chinese in a foreign country craving some mango pudding that cannot be bought at a store, do give it a try!

Mango Pudding

Ingredients in summary
About 2 very ripe large mangos
3 tsp gelatin
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup whipping cream
Water

Evaporated milk for serving

Ingredients in proportion:
1/6 cup of water + 3 tsp of gelatin
1/4 cup sugar + 100ml (like 0.425cups, sorry I can’t convert this) of water
1 1/2 cups of small mango cubes mixed with 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
1 cup of mango puree mixed with 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
1/3 cup of whipping cream

Method
1) Sprinkle the 3 tsp of gelatin powder on the 1/6 cup of water to bloom and set aside
2) Melt 1/4 cup sugar into 100 ml of water until sugar dissolves
3) Heat the bloomed gelatin over low heat until it dissolves
4) Mix the dissolved gelatin with the sugar syrup
5) Mix in mango puree and whipping cream until incorporated
6) Stir in mango cubes
7) Divide into moulds of your choice and refrigerate
8) Serve with evaporated milk for a more authentic taste

When I explain to them the key motivation for my life changing decision… the response is inevitably one of the two: Wow, you’re insane. OR Wow, you’re so brave.

You know what? I don’t feel brave. I don’t feel smart or able or courageous or anything. I am completely and utterly terrified. I am so scared that I have trouble sleeping at night and my dreams are filled with worst case scenarios and reminders of everything that I am giving up in this pursuit for happiness.

Courage doesn’t mean the absence of fear. It means standing firm in the face of complete and utter terror.

Don’t tell me how crazy I am about my decision and how much I stand to lose if things don’t work out the way I plan. I know. I know better than any of you. I am not a naive little red riding hood, frolicking merrily in the woods. I am well aware of the emotional and physical risk that I am placing myself in. How could I not?

But I really do want this to work out and I refuse to live my life regretting what could have been if I’d not been such a wuss and succumbed to my fears. And I will have faith and believe that somehow, we will be able to overcome these odds.

Conventional wisdom has it that if everything in life was easy and happy, we would never know satisfaction because we never had to work for our success. But is that really true? I don’t see many billionaire offsprings declaring that their wealth is not bringing them satisfaction and giving it all away so that they can enjoy the “process”… In fact, they seem pretty darn happy to me.

If I could achieve success without much work, I will be equally satisfied than if I had worked my ass off. Maybe even more because it cost me less heartbreak and effort. (i’d be like, “In yo face! A+ from studying the night before!” ) I am a firm subscriber to the belief: Work smart, not hard.

Saving time gives you more time to spend on those important to you.

This lesson can be applied even in baking! When baking, I do my best to ensure that only one bowl gets into contact with any oily ingredients (eg: butter, yogurt), it makes cleaning up much easier. It also helps to lay newspapers around your mixer if you have a hand mixer that splashes merrily with each mixing. Choosing a mixing bowl that facilitates pouring also makes filling muffin cups so much easier. Planning ahead will help you measure out all the ingredients without having to rewash measurement cups because you measured out the 1/2 cup of yogurt before the sugar. I’m lazy that way.

With Easter coming up soon I really wanted to make some Easter cupcakes to commemorate the occasion. But I really didn’t have much time, and pretty cupcakes tend to be time consuming and difficult. Life becomes so much simpler when you can make pretty cupcakes within an hour, saving time on the decoration with store bought wrappers and saving time on the cupcakes with an add all together and mix recipe (no egg separation for me today). It definitely loses out on the craftmanship and intricate creative design… but it’s equally satisfying with cheery colours and a mouthful of delicious spring.

Easter Apple Cupcakes 

Note: These are dense and moist cupcakes, so if you’re the fluffy spongecake kind of girl/guy, this might not be your cup of cake. 

adapted from: Just Putzing Around The Kitchen

Ingredients:
(Cupcakes)
- 1 cup and 3 tbsp  all-purpose flour

- 1 tbsp corn starch

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar

- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp table salt

- 1 stick butter softened

- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

- 2 large eggs.

- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- Half an apple, diced (pieces do not have to be equal size, as long as they’re small it’ll do.)

(Nutella Buttercream Frosting)
- 1 cup Nutella

- 1 stick butter, softened

- 1 cup powdered sugar

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line muffin tin with Easter cupcake liners.
(2) In a large bowl, whisk softened butter with a hand mixer until soft and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix (mixture will have little lumps of butter). Finally, add yogurt and beat on low until smooth (i found that the mixture splashed out of the mixing bowl, so i just used a spoon and stirred it quickly until mixed).
(3) Mix together dry ingredients and beat it into the eggy yogurty mixture. Do not over mix, stop the moment mixture is homogenized. Stir in apple cubes.
(4) Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin.
** Cups should be about 2/3 full.
(5) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cupcake tops are pale gold and springy.
(6) Remove cupcakes from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool while you make your frosting.
(7) In a medium bowl, cream together butter, Nutella and powdered sugar. You can frost with a piping bag+tip but if you’re really short on time, using a knife to spread the frosting on top the cupcake will work too.
** I used a lot of Nutella because I don’t fancy the taste of butter and sugar, but you may have to adjust it according to your own palette.

The best advice that I’ve ever been given came from an ex-boss. I was a bit younger then, and definitely a lot more immature. One day as I was sharing with her my doubts and fears, she asked me, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Nobody learns how to ride a bike by being afraid of falling. Great things would never be accomplished if people were afraid of failing. I once knew a man who was shortlisted for a prestigious job and invited for an interview. He never showed up for the interview because he was afraid of being rejected. It sounds stupid put like that, but how many of us turn down opportunities because we’re afraid of failure? It is always easier to stay in your comfort zone and not venture out to pursue your dreams. Many rationalize this fear by deciding that their dreams are not worth the risk. ‘Why should I leave this cushy job? I only think that I will be happier there, what if I’m not? What if I fail? I end up with less than I have now…’

All great things come with their risks. Great businessmen never rose to where they are by being afraid to take that critical step. Sure there are failures and sure there is always a big possibility that you will fall. But really, what is the worst that can happen?

As long as you are physically able, it is not impossible to find a job. Sure, you might have to start from the bottom, cleaning the floors or washing dishes in a restaurant. But if you have the ability and the courage to persevere, you will climb the ladder.

There is a great difference between “confidence” and “arrogance”. “Arrogance”, is the belief that you are superior to others while “confidence” is the certainty that you are not inferior. I am not arrogant because I have an opinion and am not afraid to share it. Sure, I might be wrong or you might think differently… but that is totally fine. Arrogance repels others, but confidence draws them to you.

How many dreams have you dismissed because you were afraid of failure? How much have you given up because somebody told you that you “couldn’t”?

In this world, there are three types of people, the enablers, the neutrals and the disablers. The neutrals are the ones that do not care about you and you should not be bothered by their apathy. The disablers are the ones you should be worried about. They may not do this intentionally, but they will eat at you with their fears and insecurities. If you listen to them, they will chip away at your confidence with their words and their pessimistic doubt until you are left with as much fears and insecurities as them. This is not of course to say that you should ignore all who give you negative advice, but that you should be wary of how much of this advice is realistic and how much of it is born from insecurity and paranoia. Finally, there are the enablers. If you have an enabler in your life, then you are a very lucky person. These are the people who believe in you and support you in your decisions. They do not coddle you with sweet words, in fact, many will share with you the risks involved in your decision. The big difference is that they believe that you can achieve your dreams and once you are prepared to accept the risks, they will support you in your decision.

So stop being a wimp and start pursuing your dreams. So what if you fall? What’s the worst that can happen?

I don’t mean the crazy ones that tell me that hot water from the bathroom sink is hot enough to cook instant cup noodles with (ah the joys of a dorm room). Or the violent ones that try and convince me to punch annoying people in the face for the betterment of humanity.

I mean, the bitchy ones that have a smart ass comment  for every situation. I suspect it might be because the bitchy side of me has finally found acceptance over here in Hawaii, where I can say what I think (most of the time) without being judged. But then again, there are still comments that I can’t say out loud as I think them…

To the girl walking through the CO-ED dorm dressed in her underwear: All your clothes in the wash sweetie?

Damn, I would love to say that out loud to her one day. Some day chun, some day.

Before you think too badly of me, let’s get back on task.

If you live in Honolulu, go and eat in Tango Market. Try their duck confit with risotto cakes, you won’t regret it. It’s about 15 bucks before taxes and tip but damn it’s worth it. Here’s the address because i’m nice that way.

1200 Ala Moana
Bldg 6 Ste 601
Honolulu, HI 96814

and a photograph of the food you can expect, because this is a food blog after all.

The duck is soft and flavorful. It falls easily away from the bones and dissolves in an explosion of taste in your mouth. It’s a tad on the salty side so please don’t eat this if you’re already pushing the heart attack borderline. The risotto cakes are soft and mushy on the insides and crunchy on the outsides. The vegetables are vegetables, don’t judge them. They’re there to keep you from getting that heart attack and to help you delude yourself that you’re eating healthy food.

It’s a great place to bring your date on a lazy Sunday morning. The place is clean and bright and hopefully she will associate you with that rather than that dark seedy club where you first met her (wait what?). The best thing? It’s casual with that slight hint of class and the prices won’t put you in the red.

Okay, maybe not ‘few’. It’s been a long 7 months.

Quick summary: Did an internship with Coke, went through a bad breakup, left Singapore to study for half a year Hawaii, mended my broken heart in Hawaii and fell in love with the place.

I’m currently in Hawaii, definitely the most beautiful place I have ever been. It’s like living in a dream. A beautiful dream that I never want to end.

The cultural shock/homesickness was pretty bad in the beginning, but it’s gone now and I just love this place.

Being so close to God’s creation, being able to actually live instead of mindlessly running the rat race… It’s definitely changed my life for the better. Money no longer seems so important when you realize how much better life on a tight budget is if you can live in a place like this.

It’s not so convenient baking in a dorm but there is an oven and I have started out again. Ingredients available here are so different from those back home and it’s honestly SUPER EXCITING to experiment.

So here’s a variation of my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s fast and efficient to make and I normally make a few batches at one go and store the dough in little ziplock bags in my fridge. So that when I need small gifts for friends or the craving for fresh cookies strikes, i can just grab one ziplock bag and get fresh cookies in half an hour. Damn straight I’m lazy.

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract until even fluffier. Add in the instant coffee powder and mix it in until dissolved.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Mix till the dough becomes sticky. Stir in the chips.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic/ dump it in ziplock bags like I do and chill for a minimum of 36 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

4. Using a tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Tweak into a circular shape. Bake for 22 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges.

This is take 2 of my yuzu cupcake series! If you haven’t seen take 1, you should definitely go and check it out!

Anyway, as I mentioned during take 1 yuzu, I wanted to experiment around with the cupcake base, this is the result of it! I think that the slightly bitter taste of the matcha powder goes better with the yuzu. It’s so exotically Japanese that I want to squeal and decorate it with sakura blossoms and stuff… *squeals*

This cupcake is not meant for people whose idea of matcha is heaven and earth jasmine green tea. That is not matcha. Matcha is more grassy(?) than that.

Pictured below: Grassy cupcake.

Okay maybe grassy was not the word for it. But it’s just different. The closest I can come to describing it is the smell of freshly cut grass, but deeper and more provocative.UGH. You just have to try it to decide for yourselves and suggest better descriptive words. I also altered the yuzu curd recipe and the cream cheese frosting recipe as well.

PS: Did you know that Matcha is actually darn good for your health? It does everything from stoping aging, preventing cancer and even makes you happy.

Matcha Yuzu Cupcakes

(Please follow my proportions, the ratio of cupcake to curd is very important.)

Matcha Cupcakes (make 10 cupcakes)

adapted from Joy of Baking 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2/3 raw sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp Matcha powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup low fat milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (i baked at 165 instead as I was using a non stick pan) and line 10 muffin cups with liners

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and matcha powder well.

Alternately add flour mixture and milk in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.

Fill muffin cups evenly and bake for 17 to 20 minutes (i took 22 mins) until set and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Hollow out a dip in the cupcakes using a spoon. Save the scraps.

Yuzu curd and frosting:

 Yuzu curd:

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp yuzu marmalade

70  grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 tbsp sugar

Method:

Cook egg yolks and yuzu marmalade over low heat until it starts to thicken. Don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and whisk in butter until dissolved. Separate the liquid curd from the yuzu fruit bits that were present in the marmalade. Chill. (You can eat the yuzu fruit bits with the matcha scraps from above)

Fill hollow in cupcakes with smooth yuzu curd till level with cupcake top. Use up all of the curd! None should remain.

Yuzu Cream-Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:

125 grams Cream cheese

1/8 cup butter

Icing sugar to taste

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Beat cream cheese, vanilla essence, butter and icing sugar till smooth and fluffy.

Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!

Maybe it’s a self-centered point of view but it feels like we are living in a time of change. The rise of social media and the internet have helped to level the political arena. It helps too that Singaporeans are generally well educated and (hopefully) able to make logical macro type decisions that will benefit the country. (or am i just deluding myself?)

Yet, there are still my peers living around me who remain steadfastly apathetic and live with their eyes closed. They are too content with the world that surrounds them. When everything is going well in your life, it becomes easy to forget about the less fortunate who are working harder than ever just to put food on the table, or the ones who fall through the gaps and are forgotten by society.

Be it for the ruling party or the opposition, I hope everyone will vote very carefully because this is a responsibility that should not be undertaken frivolously.

In this climate of severity, the cupcakes that I made this time round feel somewhat more mature than usual. It might be the bitter tang of the yuzu fruit, or the heavy texture of the chocolate cake, but everything about it screams “adult”.

If you have a chronic sweet tooth and hate chocolate, this is the definitely not the cupcake for you.

The yuzu fruit is a somewhat confused mix of mandarin orange and grapefruit. It is both sour and sweet at the same time and leaves a slightly bitter tang in its wake. Give it a while for your palette to get used to it and fall in love with it like I did.

I managed to pick up a bottle korean yuzu marmalade from NTUC Extra at Ang Mo Kio Hub (the only place I’ve seen it so far) and decided to use it to make these cupcakes. Surprisingly, the yuzu fruit is not very commonly used in baking and I had difficulty finding a recipe to adapt to use. Lots of love to Foodess and ChocolateChilliMango for their recipes which I adapted and combined to form this.

If i made it again, I think I would try a lighter matcha cupcake base. Although many of my guinea pigs said that the chocolate and the yuzu went very well, others felt that the chocolate overpowered the yuzu flavor which is quite shame.

Yuzu Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcake base:

from Foodess

I’m quite a noob at cake making so to be honest I almost got a heart attack when I finished mixing everything together. The cake batter has the consistency of hot chocolate and I always had this impression that cake batter had to be lumpy and thick…. luckily I trusted Foodess and followed through with the recipe dutifully. It turned out awesomely moist and yummy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water, or simply 1 cup boiling water)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract; beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in hot coffee.

Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Hollow out a dip in the cupcakes using a spoon, eat the scraps and moan in ecstasy.

Yuzu curd and frosting:

adapted from ChocolateChilliMango

 Yuzu curd:

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp yuzu marmalade

70  grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Method:

Cook egg yolks and yuzu marmalade over low heat until it starts to thicken. Don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and whisk in butter until dissolved. Chill.

Fill hollow in cupcakes with yuzu curd till level with cupcake top.

Yuzu Cream-Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients: 

125 grams Cream cheese

Icing sugar to taste

Method:

Mix the surviving yuzu curd with the cream cheese and add icing sugar to taste.

Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!

What’s with the world lately? It’s just too depressing. =( The past week, I have been secretly panicking. See, there’s this frightful phenomenon known as the “MID-SEM CRISIS”. It’s a horrible thing that strikes in the middle of each semester, when deadlines pile up and things don’t appear to be going well. And it creeps up on you slowly, like an evil snake and when you’re looking the other way IT STRIKES! Another word for it is the “HELL WEEK”.

This round was quite bad. The blow to my ego was unfortunate. But anyways, there’s no looking back because it would be freaky if there was someone standing behind me right now. Wait what? Anyway, ANYWAY, things have taken a turn for the better and my prospects are looking up! I’ve actually gotten calls for internship interviews which is a great relief. (By the way, if your company is looking for an intern… and you love sweet stuff…you know who to email).

So here are some Sunflowers to take away the gloom from the day.

Feel happy yet?

Just a quick shout out to my darling boyfriend, (who never reads my blog, terrible boy) for making the week better (and driving me around, yay, see I wouldn’t add this if you actually read my blog and not just look at the pictures). And to Mel who listens to my emotional roller-coasters and bakes brownies to cheer me up (I know you want her, but she’s taken). Fantastic brownies by the way, if you’re interested (or depressed). Fantastic.

Okay, back to the point of this post. I needed snacks to munch, and healthy ones too! But the problem with overly healthy snacks is that they aren’t always fantastic. Be warned, this biscotti is good (my dad’s been steadily depleting my biscotti supply, my mom just came in to compliment it too!) but it’s never going to give you a food-gasm. I cut the sugar, I cut the fat… I added fruits. For the original which was pretty darned good, go to Delicious Inspiration‘s website. But this recipe is healthily full of dried blueberries and olive oil… And you can eat it without feeling guilty.

Just a side note, my decision to use blueberries was UNWISE. It would probably be better replaced with dark chocolate or raisins, or crasins… something bigger. The blueberries are too small and kept falling out of the biscotti. =(

Biscotti, every discerning bear’s beverage of choice. (Yes i know my biscotti are ugly because I suck at cutting them.. stop giving them an image issue)

Hazelnut Blueberry Biscotti

Adapted from Delicious Inspiration

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon instant expresso

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/2 cup blueberries (replace this with cranberries/raisins/chocolate chips or something)

Method
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.  In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, granulated sugar, eggs and extract.  Pour the liquid mixture into the flour and mix well, forming a stiff dough. Knead in the hazelnuts and blueberries. Divide the dough in half, then form the halves into logs as long as the baking sheet (about 12″) and flatten slightly.  Bake the logs until golden brown and firm, 25 to 30 minutes.

Let the logs cool slightly, about a half hour.  Cut the logs into 1/4″ slices (this was the most difficult part, mine kept crumbling… but then I’ve always been rather fail at cutting things. If you find a foolproof way of cutting them prettily, do let me know) and arrange them on the baking sheets and bake again for 10 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through, until they’re golden brown around the edges.

Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. As if it would survive that long, you serial snacker you…

The markets are down, my test was disgusting *@#* and people were mean.

You know it’s been a bad week when you tally the junk food count and it goes something like this.

1) Slices of cheesecake, 4

2) Chocolate consumption in weight, 300gram

3) Chocolate chip cookies eaten, 10

4) Ice cream in number of scoops, 4

5) Burger King meals eaten whilst having project meeting, 2

6) Coke drunk, 1 bottle

7) Cereal eaten at midnight, 4 bowls

The list goes on…and I was only in school for 3 days!

You must be wondering why I still can fit through my doors. Not for long I’m sure, if this keeps up. So imagine my relief when I found a cheesecake recipe that both satisfies my need for comfort food and doesn’t weigh too heavily on the tummy fats.

Japanese cheesecake is harder to find in Singapore as compared to the other kinds of cheesecake. When I was younger, we used to buy it by the entire cake from Fiesta and it was good… I’m glad to say that this cake tastes exactly like it. It has a very light and fluffily texture that collapses in your mouth. Some people call it souffle cheesecake but eh, that seems a bit too pretentious for such a simple cake.

Warning: Hardcore creamy cheesecake fans might not adapt to it’s fluffy bunny sunshine texture.

(Despicable me anyone?)

I got this recipe off A Tale of Crumbs, thanks muchly to her.

Japanese Light Cheesecake

By A Tale of Crumbs

Ingredients:
70g castor sugar
3 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
25g butter
125g cream cheese
50ml fresh milk
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
30g corn flour
15g corn starch
Pinch of salt

Method:
1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk in a heat-proof bowl over a simmering pot of water.

2. Let cool and stir in the egg yolks, but do not beat the mixture.

3. Fold in the corn flour, starch, salt and lemon juice. Mix well and set aside.

4. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy, and add the sugar slowly in 3 portions and whisk until soft peaks form. (Don’t over whisk as it would be difficult to combine if too stiff.)

5. Fold the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and combine well. (This part is important as it will determine the texture of the cake.)

6. Pour the batter into a 7-inch round cake pan lined with parchment paper. If you can get rid of the bubbles on top, your cake will turn out prettier. But I couldn’t. If you are using a springform, be sure to wrap the cake tin in aluminium foil to prevent seepage of water into the gaps.

7. Place it in a water bath (I just half-filled a large rectangular 2-inch deep aluminium tray with water) and bake at 150 degrees Celsius for 1 hour. Turn off the heat after 1 hour, and let cake cook slowly in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the cake from oven and cake tin, and let cool on a plate.

8. When completely cooled, place it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours until it is ready to be served.