Back again to baking after a long, long break! We spent several busy months preparing for the Food and Hotel Asia 2012 as well as fulfilling the eventual orders and deliveries after the show. Now I finally have time to come back to one of my most trusty kitchen equipment - a convection oven.

So...I recently had a friend help me buy a copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes from Amazon.com. I love the book because of the specific instructions the author gives with regard to measuring flours, type of flours, mixing techniques etc. It is a GREAT book for both beginner and intermediate bakers. Most of the recipe photos look lovely and delicious but for my lack of cake-baking experience, I decided to attempt the simplest first (or rather the one that takes the least time).

The Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake by Rose Levy Beranbaum is wondrously soft, light and deeply chocolatey.

The cake turned out moist and fine-textured after merely 35 minutes of baking at 160°C in the UNOX convection oven.

If you are lazy like me, you can simply dust it with some icing sugar for basic decoration! Rose recommends making a maripan candle instead.