My Space Odyssey - Mango Mousse Cake

Recipe for this cake is exactly the same as the Mango Mousse Cake that I posted earlier except I used Mango Chiffon Base instead of Vanilla Chiffon Base. Don't ask me for the Mango Chiffon Base as this is nothing fantastic, don't waste the mangoes. I would rather eat fresh mangoes than to use it to bake a chiffon cake.

The top decorative pieces of this cake are created by me. Trying to be an abstract artist. I used Valrhona white and 70% dark chocolate to do these pieces. Very abstract and I don't even know what they are. I only know that they are real yummy. However, I quite like the effect they had on the cake - mysterious flight to space.



This is the plastic mould I used to create My Space Odyssey Mango Mousse Cake. I bought it from a baking speciality shop and it costs me HK$26.

Roland, when will be your flight to Space? Game enough to take on this one???

Thousand apologies, Kirsten! Overall the mango chiffon tasted great with the mousse. I shall withdraw the statement I made earlier in this post.

This is my recipe for the mango chiffon cake base that I used for this cake.

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
40g castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp rum
4 tbsp corn oil
100g mango puree + 15ml lime juice + 15ml water + 1/4 tsp mango essence
120g cake flour + 3/4 tsp baking powder + 1 tbsp coconut powder

4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
45g castor sugar

The method for making this chiffon is the same as in Mango Mousse Cake dated 30th March, 2005

Black Pepper Fresh Meat Sausage

Black Pepper Fresh Meat Sausages anyone for it huh?

Saw this recipe and picture from a cookery forum and out of curiosity I posted some messages and asked about it. Net friend who started this topic about sausages was so kind to send me some hog casings otherwise I wouldn't even know what it looked like and where to get it. I received it the day after I popped the question. You are a swift angel!

I must let you know that stuffing the sausages is quite a task. Since I do not possess any tools, I had to make do with some implement before I could complete the stuffing. You want to know what it is? I'll tell you when you are in serious biz!


This is the long long hog casing that I received from net friend.


These are the uncooked sausages. The sun was not out yesterday so I wind dried it using an electric fan.


These are the fried and ready to eat sausages...yum...yum...yummy!


Finally the taste of this sausage is not as heavenly as Frankfurters but you are eating the product of your toll and toil, hence its the other side of the story.

Mango Mousse Cake

Roland, I have posted this recipe especially for you. Hope you will have as much success in this as you had with the Black Forest Cake.

This photo will show you the swirl effect that I have done with the 2 tbsp of mango puree.


This photo is the sliced version showing you how to let the mousse flow over the circumference of the cake so that you don't have to do the extra creaming.

Ingredients:
Chiffon cake base 2 pieces (2cm high each)
Whipping cream 350ml + 3 – 4 tbsp icing sugar
Mango Puree 300g (remove 2 tbsp for swirl effect)
Diced mango cubes 200g
Gelatin Sheet /powder 17g
Rum 1 tbsp

Method:
1. Dissolve gelatin in 60ml hot water. Keep warm for use later.
2. Whip cream till 70% stiff or mousse state.
3. Add gelatin solution into mango puree and mix well.
4. Add mango gelatin mixture into whipped cream and combine well.
5. Put 1 layer of cake on to cake pan and top it with mango mousse filling. Add in the mango cubes and top it with some mousse just enough to cover the mango cubes.
6. Put in the other cake layer and pour all the mousse over it.
7. To create the swirl effect on top of cake: drop teaspoon of mango puree on the cake surface and swirl the puree with a toothpick. I put 1 tsp on the middle of the cake and the rest at clock postion of 12, 2,4,6,8 and 10.
8. Chill cake for 3 hours before serving.


*** I lined the inner circumference of my springform cake pan with pectin/plastic cake tape and trim my cake to be smaller than the springform pan. This way the mousse will cover the whole cake and you don’t need to cream the cake but just pipe some rosettes or whatever with some cream and do the rest of the décor on the cake.

You can omit the swirl effect and decorate cake with sliced mangoes.

Chiffon Cake Base recipe:

A) 4 egg yolks, 1/4 tsp salt, 40g castor sugar, 1 tbsp rum, 1/4 tsp vanilla essence, 150g cake flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 75ml corn oil, 110ml water
B) 4 egg whites, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, 40g sugar

Baking of this cake will be similar to that of the black forest cake.

Mango Marshmallow Cake

A yummy and refreshing chilled cake for the coming warm weather.

I should have done a strawberry flavoured one as the red colour will turn out prettier. However, the strawberries that I got from the supermarket were too sour so I had to opt for sweet sweet mangoes instead.

The other thing I should have done is to add diced mangoes into the marshmallow layer instead of just marshmallow by itself which is a little dull.

I used LeeLee's recipe to make this cake and am still waiting for her approval to publish her recipe in my blog.

So, till then there will be no recipe at the moment and you can only drool over it!

Hope LeeLee won't take too long to reply to my pm. (Keeping my fingers crossed!)

Wow! LeeLee was quick. She has given me the clearance to post this recipe. Thank you LeeLee!

Ingredients for Base:
200 gm digestive biscuits
80 gm melted butter

Method:
1. Crushed digestive biscuits and mix well with melted butter.
2. Press into a 8” cake pan.
3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes for use later.

Ingredients Marshmallow filling:
200g - 250g marshmallow
150ml milk
300ml whipping cream
2 tsp of gelatine powder

Method:
1. Put all the ingredients into a pot.
2. Doubleboil over small fire until gelatine is dissolved.
3. When it is a little cooled, pour it into cake base.
4. Chill it for 15 minutes, then add the shaped mango pieces. Put it back into the refrigerator to chill for another 15 minutes.

Ingredients Jello topping:
1 pkt of mango Jello (90g)
400 ml of water
2 tsp of gelatine powder

Method:
1. Boil all ingredients until dissolved.
2. Pour cooled mango jelly solution gently onto marshmallow layer by big tablespoon.
3. Chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours till jelly is set before serving.

Notes:

You can also arrange some sliced fresh mangoes on the biscuit base just before pouring in the marshmallow and also on top of the marshmallow layer. You can also add in diced mango pieces into marshmallow mixture. I shaped the mango pieces with a cookie cutter.

Have a good time making this and enjoy it during the coming warm summer days!

My Checkerboard Cookies

Puspha of Bern, Switzerland from KC was asking how to do Checkerboard Cookies. Belachan explained it and Gina thought it was so complicated and a graphical presentation was much better. I thought since I started on the Checkerboard Cakes I might as well do the Checkerboard Cookies too. I haven't done this before so why not try it and I took pictures of the process step by step. So, this is it and to Gina: picture paints a thousand words!



Ingredients:
100g butter (room temperature)
70g icing sugar / castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp rum
1 egg

Plain/Butter dough
125g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp orange zest

Chocolate dough
115g cake flour
10g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp orange zest

Method:

1. Cream butter, salt and sugar till light and fluffy. Then add in vanilla essence, rum and egg and cream till smooth and well combined.
2. Divide butter mixture into 2 equal portions.
3. Stir plain dough into 1 portion of the butter mixture and chocolate dough into the other portion.
4. Blend each dough in its mixing bowl till a dough can be formed. Put each dough into a freezer/plastic bag and pat it into a rectangular shape of about 6 - 8 mm in thickness. Chill the 2 doughs for one hour.
5. Follow the steps as in the pictures below.
6. Bake at 180 - 190C for 20 - 25 minutes or till the golden brown colour you desired.

Notes:
While manipulating the dough, if the dough is too soft, send it to the refrigerator to be chilled. Maybe you have to do it for every steps as in the picture 'cos the weather in SG is warmer.

You don't have to use my recipe for this cookie. You can use any cookie recipe that you like.


Below are the step by step guide of doing this cookie:

Mocha Coffee Cream Cake

Mon wanted me to teach her how to bake a coffee cake but I reckon a Mocha Coffee Cream cake will taste better than just plain coffee cake. So this is it - Mocha Coffee Cream Cake.
Hope she likes it, otherwise I have to manipulate the ingredients again and to bake another cake for her.



Ingredients:
(A)4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
50g sugar
1 tbsp rum

(B)75ml corn oil

(C)120ml mocha coffee solution (1.5 tbsp instant coffee + 1 tbsp cocoa powder + 120ml boiling water)

(D)140g cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

(E)4 egg whites
50g sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Frosting:
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
1 tsp double chocolate
1/4 tsp coffee essence
3 tbsp icing sugar
400ml whipping cream

Some ground walnut powder(optional)

Method:

1. Cream (A) till lemon colour. Add in (B) and mix well. Add in (C) and mix well. Lastly stir in the sieved flour mixture.
2. Beat egg white till foamy, sprinkle in the cream of tartar and beat till the whites are white in colour. Beat sugar in over 3 times until egg white is stiff.
3. Pour 1/2 the white into yolk mixture and combine well. Pour yolk mixture into the remaining egg white and combine well.
4. Pour batter into lined cake pan and bake at 170C for 45 minutes or till cooked.
5. For frosting, combine all ingredients and beat till whipping cream is thick and sitff. Frost all over cooled cake and decorate as desired.

Notes:

I sprinkle some ground walnut powder in the middle layer of frosting as well as on the surface of the cake. Walnut powder brings out the coffee aroma very well.

Pineapple Pastry (鳳梨酥)

見到Cookery Forum D net friends 整鳳梨酥我又試吓！

貝殼模係Singapore net friend, Gina 幫我買的。一排四個貝殼好易用價錢又唔貴- HK$10。
花芯有 Pineapple Jam D pastry 係用 Marcato 曲奇槍擠出來的。好方便又怏，唔洗用傳統的Pineapple Tart cutter cut D pastry 又不會黏住Ｄcutter。Marcato 好好用呀！



玉米和 cutie 雞仔係用手揑出來的，好似小朋友玩 Play Doh 甘。 不太難又好好玩！

Ingredients:
A) 100g frozen butter
B) 150g cake flour
25g milk powder
C) 1/4 tsp salt
D) 1 egg yolk
1 tsp egg white
1 tsp cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Sieve (B) into a bowl, stir in (C) and mix well.
2. Cut in butter in the flour mixture till it is crumbly
3. Lightly beat (D) and pour it into (2). Use your hands to mix till it is a ball shaped dough. Do not overmix.
4. If using cookie cutter, chill the dough for 1 hour. Otherwise you can use the dough straight away.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

This is the first cake that I learnt. I learnt it from Sue's mum who is a Singaporean. Sue's mum is in her 60s and she is an excellent baker.



Recipe for 18cm Pandan Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
3 oz Pandan coconut milk (I use 6 pandan leaves + 5oz coconut milk to get the required amount of 3 oz)
3 oz Self raising flour
3.5 oz Castor Sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp corn oil
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
1. Egg yolk + 1/4tsp salt + 2oz sugar cream together using hand whisk.
2. Add in pandan coconut milk and mix in well.
3. Stir in self-raising flour.
4. Add in 1 tbsp corn oil and blend well
5. Egg white - use electric beater beat until big bubbles are formed. Add in the cream of tartar and beat until it is white in colour. Add in 1.5 oz sugar into egg white 3 times. Beat until the egg white is stiff enough usually between 8 - 10 minutes. (150W egg beater).
6. Pour 1/2 white into flour mixture. Blend lightly. Pour flour mixture into the rest of the egg white and blend lightly.
7. Pour batter into cake mould and bake in preheated oven at 170C - 180C for 45 - 60 minutes or until cooked. (Depending on the power of your oven). I used 175C.

Wholemeal Honey Oats Sesame Biscuits

Had a packet of Prima wholemeal flour which my sister brought me from Singapore couple of months ago. Didn't know what to do with it until I came across a recipe and thus after manipulating a little here and there I concocted this biscuits. Funnily, my girls who didn't like oats loved this biscuits and thus this is another way of feeding them fiber.



Ingredients:
(A)
60g Quaker Instant Oats (blender it)
40g Quaker Instant Oats
30g White Sesame Seeds or other nuts (optional)
150g Prima Wholemeal Flour
1 tsp baking powder

(B) 100g butter, 80g sugar, 50g honey

Method:
1. Mix everything in (A) together in a big mixing bowl.
2. Put (B) in a small saucepan and on medium-low heat cook till sugar nearly dissolve. Keep stirring otherwise you might burn the mixture.
3. Pour everything from (2) into (1) and mix well with a fork or your hands if the mixture is not too hot.
4. Clench the dough in your hand till it becomes a ball. Flatten this ball on a lined tray and use your fingers to press it into thin flat round piece. Tidy the circumference of this dough with your fingers by pushing it toward the middle.
5. Bake at 170C – 175C for 15 – 20 minutes.

Notes:

Once out of oven just leave the biscuits to cool in its original tray for 15 minutes as the biscuit is very soft and fragile. It can fall apart easily when warm. When cooled it's crunchy and just a little chewy with nice honey butter taste.

No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake

The first thing I did yesterday was to make a No-bake Oreo Cheesecake - daughter's request as she will be bringing in her school mates to eat it.

It's a pretty easy process but I have had problems because the cheese was a little frozen and lumpy. Not creamy at all, even the beating of cream cheese with milk and icing sugar wouldn't get rid of the lumps. So, another time consuming process... I had to sieve the cream cheese mixture through a tiny net sieve. This time round I didn't add grounded oreo biscuits into the cheese mixture, maybe I should call this a No-bake Cookies and Cream cheesecake as I only inserted a layer of coarsely chopped oreo biscuit in the mid layer of the cake. The final result was good and I did a five-minute quick decor on the oreo cake.

This was how it looked like.



Recipe:

Ingredient (18cm mould) :

Base:
110g digestive biscuits crumbs
40g melted butter

Filling:
(A)
250g cream cheese
45g milk
50g icing sugar
1 tbsp rum
8 oreo cookies coarsely crushed

(B)
250ml whipping cream

(C)
1 tbsp gelatine powder
10ml lemon juice
3 tbsp hot water

Method:

1. Toss biscuit crumbs into melted butter and press firmly on to base of cake pan. Chill in the fridge.
2. Whip whipping cream till about 70% stiff or mousse state.
3. Double boil (C) until gelatine powder dissolved. Keep warm.
4. Cream (A) until smooth and creamy. Blend in gelatine solution.
5. Blend in whipped cream.
6. Pour 1/2 cheese mixture onto cake base top it with oreo cookies crushed coarsely and pour the rest of the cheese mixture on top. You can also stir in the crushed oreo cookies during Step (5). Chill for 3 hours.
7. Decorate with some cream and finely crushed oreo.

Notes:
1. You can add finely ground oreo into cheese mixture but the colour of the cake will then become dark grey instead of cream coloured.
2. Better to do this cake on a pan with a removable base. I wrapped the cake pan base with aluminum foil and serve the cake on it.
3. To easily remove chilled cake, wrap a warm towel around the pan and remove cake from the bottom.

I also baked Penang Tau Sau Beng. I got the recipe from KC. Taste wise, I find that it was nice but not as nice as those from Penang. The filling is nice but not as "song" (read in Cantonese) as those commercial ones from Penang. Anyway, I am satisfied with it...helped alot with the cravings. The process of making this TS Beng is quite laborious, dough had to be divided into tiny ball portions and they had to be individually rolled, flatten, rolled again before shaping it. That was the most time consuming part of the whole process.




I would like to thank "tthksy" of KC for this delicious recipe.

First Attempt

This is my first attempt doing blog in the internet. Was inspired by net friends!

Thought if I set up this blog, I could share my cooking/baking skills and recipes with friends who have the same passion.

Didn't actually pick up the spatula till 1.5 years ago. Before that, I never step into the kitchen to prepare any food except for the simple toast and coffee or instant noodles. Lucky me or unlucky?

I have a very competent domestic helper, Gloria who is also a good cook. She is really splendid, she prepares all the meals in my house. I like her for the fact that I do not need to plan the menu for each day. She did it all by herself.

I also have to thank my good friend, Jeanne for introducing me to my new passion - baking !

The first cake I learnt to bake was with Jeanne at Sue's place - the perfect Pandan Chiffon Cake. Sue's mum who is from Singapore taught us how to bake the perfect chiffon cake. Thanks to her that I am now good in baking Chiffon cakes.