Paper-lined Sponge

Roland tried a few recipes and said that the texture is not soft and spongy so here I am doing experiments. I read the recipes from Jo's Deli and St Anna Cakes Collection D.I.Y book and here's the birth of this recipe which is a marriage of Jo's, St Anna and my method.
The final product is fragrant and spongy.



The idea of baking it in paper cups was from Jo's Deli Bakery.


Cross section of the sponge.


Ingredients: (10 pieces in standard paper cups)
5 egg yolks
30g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla esssence

55g warm corn oil / melted butter
60ml warm milk

80g cake flour
20g corn starch
1/2 tsp baking powder

5 egg whites
50g castor sugar

Method:
1. Sieve flour, corn starch and baking powder together.
2. Beat egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla essence together till thick and creamy. (I beat my egg yolk by sitting the mixing bowl in a basin of hot water).
3. Stir the warm corn oil/melted butter and milk into the yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Fold in the sieved flour mixture and mix well.
5. Beat egg whites till white in colour and add in sugar by thirds and beat till egg white is stiff.
6. Fold half portion of the egg white into egg yolk and blend well.
7. Pour the yolk mixture into the remaining egg white and blend well.
8. Spoon batter into paper cups lined with baking paper up to 80% full and bake at 180C for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

Notes:
Cut baking paper into 19cm x 19cm put it on top of a paper cup then use another paper cup to push the baking paper into the cup (idea from Jo's Deli).

Be careful not to dirty the baking paper while spooning in the batter otherwise you will get dark brown patches on the baking paper and the paper-lined sponge will not be presentable.

The paper cups are tall so if you are baking in a small table top oven, for the first 10 - 12 minutes bake it in the middle rack then move it to the lower rack and bake till cooked.

White Sugar Sponge

White Sugar Sponge is actually "Pak Tong Koh", you have to read it in Cantonese. Wanted to attempt this little snack but the recipes that I read were really complicated and you have to do the fermentation for 6 - 8 hours. Phew! A long waiting time!
However, I saw this recipe from Christine in Cookery Family and hence I decided to try it today. In her recipe she cooked the rice flour, sugar and water together thus the fermentation process is greatly reduced. It took me nearly 2 hours to complete the whole process and send it for steaming.
Thank you Christine for such a swift and wonderful recipe!



Ingredients:
A) 170g sieved rice flour
130 - 150g castor sugar
360ml water
B) 3/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp warm water

Method:
1. Mix (B) and leave aside for 10 minutes for use later
2. Mix (A) together well and cook over slow heat stirring all the time till a little thicken (this process should not be more than 5 minutes otherwise the mixture will have sago pearls forming). Sieve this mixture into a big mixing bowl and cooled it in a basin of water.
3. Mix (1) and (2) together and blend well. Cover the mixture with glad wrap and prove in a warm place for 1 - 2 hours. When the mixture show signs of bubbles all over the surface then it is ready for steaming.
4. Pour the ready batter into a 19.5cm x 19.5 cm greased pan and steam on high heat for 20 -25 minutes.
5. Cut into serving pieces when cool.

Notes:
I used 130g sugar for this "koh" and it is not too sweet. However, you may want to use 150g sugar if you like it sweeter.

Steamed MahLaiKoh

This is not the traditional Mah Lai Koh that we eat during "yum cha" in the Chinese restuarant. This is the easy version which is more like steamed Chinese Sponge cup cake. A relatively easy and quick to do snack.




Ingredients:
100g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
85g sugar
20g melted butter
70ml skim milk
30ml water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Sieve flour and baking powder together. Stir in the sugar.
2. Add in milk, water, vanilla essence and 1 egg beat well using an electric egg beater before adding the other egg.
3. Add in the melted butter and beat till well combined.
4. Spoon batter into muffin tray lined with paper cups.
5. Steam on high heat for 15 - 20 minutes or till cooked.

You get about nine pieces of 6cm diameter cup cakes.
The steamed cake is soft and spongy!

Sunflower Butter Cup Cake

Karen, this is for you! It's a butter cup cake and I top it with a supposedly "sunflower". This butter cup cake recipe used less butter than the one you had - almost 50% off the butter content. The texture of this cake is soft and not as oily as the one that you baked the last time. Do try it over the weekend!



Ingredients:
200g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
100g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
110g castor sugar
2 eggs
120ml warm milk

Method:
1. Cream butter, salt and sugar till it is pale in colour.
2. Add in eggs one at a time and mix well before the next addition.
3. Stir in 60ml warm milk and blend well.
4. Add in the 1/2 portion of the sieved flour and baking powder mixture. Mix well.
5. Pour in the remaining milk and mix well.
6. Stir in the remaining flour and mix well.
7. Pour batter into paper cups set in a muffin tray and bake at 170C for 20 - 25 minutes or till cooked and golden brown.
8. Serve warm. Reheat leftover cup cakes in oven the next day.

Low Fat Mango Yoghurt Pudding

Studied a few mango pudding recipes and chanced upon one with yoghurt. I thought that it was interesting and so I constructed this recipe based upon those that I have studied. To make it healthier for the family, the ingredients I used are all low fat except for the mango puree. I also control the use of sugar therefore I don't think you need to reduce the sugar any further unless your mangoes are very very sweet.
A very smooth and delicious low fat pudding which is very easy to do and best of all, a consolation to our waistlines huh... !



Ingredients:
400ml Low fat natural/mango flavoured yoghurt
500ml Hi-cal low fat milk
500g mango puree
90g castor sugar
200g cubed fresh mangoes (adjust amount according to your own preference)
100ml water
30g gelatin powder

Method:
1. Heat milk with sugar till sugar just dissolved. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
2. Stir mango puree and yoghurt into cooled milk. Strain for a smoother texture.
3. Dissolve gelatin in 100ml hot water.
4. Stir cooled gelatin solution into mango yoghurt mixture. Blend well.
5. Pour 1/2 mango yoghurt mixture into jelly mould, chill for 20 minutes, top with cubed mangoes and pour in the remaining mango yoghurt mixture.
6. Chill for 3 hours before serving.

Notes:
You can do half recipe by reducing all amounts by 50%.

CreamDeParisienne & Cream Cheese-pan

Tried out a new bread recipe from e-pan, a Japanese website. Of course, the recipes and instructions are in Japanese...so, have your transalation software ready!
The dough for this bread is very sticky and you need to flour your hands and the rolling board to shape the dough. However, the end product is very soft and the texture feels like those from Panash bakery.
A pretty interesting bread to do and bake!

Recipe of Cream De Parisienne - bun with custard filling


Recipe of Cream Cheese-pan - bun with cream cheese filling


**(I don't think I'll post the recipe here, so I have provided the link of each type of bun above.) Since my visitors couldn't understand the Japanese site, e-pan, I did a translation of the cream cheese-pan as below. Hope it is helpful to those who would like to try to make this cheese-pan. Please visit the site for details on the shaping of the cheese-pan.

Take a look at the recipes inside. They have a very interesting collection and they have pictorial presentation to teach you how to shape each type of bread. Quick! Go take a look now!


Cream cheese-pan
Ingredient:
184g bread flour
46g cake flour
3g yeast
12g castor sugar
4g salt
23g clear maltose syrup
18g egg yolk
35g butter
138ml milk

Steps:
1. Mix all ingredients to form an elastic dough and prove in a greased mixing bowl for 60 minutes.
2. Knead the dough to release the air in it and prove for 30 minutes.
3. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces of 50g each and one piece of 60g. Rest the dough for 15 minutes. The 60g dough piece is used to make the plait that encircle the cheese-pan.
4. Shape dough and wrap in the filling (refer to the e-pan net for the shaping process). Dust top of bread with some bread flour. Prove for 45 minutes.
5. Bake at 210C for 10 minutes and then 190C till golden brown.

Cream Cheese Filling:
30g castor sugar
100g cream cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
18g cake flour
100ml warm milk
1 - 2 tsp lemon juice (adjust amount according to your preference)
10g butter

Method:
1. Cream cheese and sugar till a smooth paste is formed.
2. Add in lightly beaten egg 1/3 at a time and mix well before adding the next portion.
3. Stir in the sieved flour.
4. Add in the warm milk and mix well.
5. Microwave cheese mixture for 2 minutes on HIGH and stir it. After stirring it, send it back to the microwave for 2 minutes on HIGH again. Blend well till you get a smooth paste.
6. Stir in the lemon juice and butter. Send it to chill in the refrigerator and roll slightly harden cheese paste into 35g balls to be used as filling.

Notes:
I did not add the clear maltose syrup.