Pineapple Brownies

Heard many good reviews about the coupling of pineapple and brownies but never got a chance to taste it as I couldn't find this mix of brownies in the market. Got to taste it to verify the good statements, so it's hands-on.

Now you know why I made the pineapple jam yesterday.






Ingredients: (18cm x 18cm square pan)
(A)
130g chocolate (I used Valrhona 66%)
100g butter

(B)
2 eggs
50g - 70g sugar
1/4 tsp salt

(C)
1 tsp rum
2 tbsp pineapple jam

(D)
50g flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

(F)
60g walnuts
pineapple jam as desired

Method:
1. Melt (A) together via double boil. Cool slightly before use.
2. Beat (B) till creamy and pale. Add in (C) and mix till well blended.
3. Add (2) to (1) and mix well.
4. Sieve in (D) and mix thoroughly to a smooth batter.
5. Stir in walnuts.
6. Put batter into a greased and floured baking pan and top with optional amount of pineapple jam.
7. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or till cooked.
8. Cool in the baking pan, then cut into serving squares.

Steamed Sweet Potato Fatt Koh

This morning K R and I were doing the Steamed Rice Cakes (Wa Ko Kueh) simultaneously, a few thousand kilometres apart though!

We were discussing about texture of the steamed rice cakes and KR told me that the texture is similar to the BSolo ones but the bottom of her cakes were a little wet. She side-tracked and told me that if I like steamed cakes then I must try the steamed sweet potato fatt koh as it is very nice and soft too! Over the phone, I jotted down the recipe and was eager to try it out.

It's really strange, these couple of days I have been doing steamed cakes! Once I get started on steamed cakes it seems that I can't stop. Pity my kids and friends who will have to eat my steamed cakes a couple of times across two to three weeks. MAD about steamed cakes???







Ingredients: (9 pieces @ 5cm)
(A)
50g plain flour
75ml water
1 tsp yeast

(B)
200g steamed sweet potato
130g coconut milk
60ml water
1 egg, lightly beaten
140g brown sugar/red sugar
pinch of salt

(C)
200g plain flour
2 tsp double action baking powder

Method:
1. Mix (A) and leave aside to proof for 30 minutes.
2. Blend (B) in a blender till smooth.
3. Put (A) a third at a time into (B) and mix till well-blended.
4. Sieve (C) into the batter a third at a time and mix till lump free.
5. Pour batter into paper cups till about 80% full and rest for 15 - 25 minutes.
6. Steam on high heat for 20 minutes.

Steamed Caramel Cake

Wrapped up and ready to be presented!


Cooking of caramel.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

Steamed Rice Cakes

Woke up early this morning in anticipation of what the Traditional Steamed Rice Cakes or "Wa Ko Kuehs" or "Huat Kuehs" will be like after waiting for 3 days and 12 hours. Yes, it takes 3 days and 12 hours before you can steam these rice cakes.

Though the process takes 3 days and 12 hours, it is actually really hassle-free. Mix and wait, then mix and wait again.

I have been asking around what is the actual name of this kueh. Is it "huat kueh" or "wa ko kueh"? Most people whom I consulted told me that it was "wa ko kueh". So it will be "wa ko kueh" then.

These steamed rice cakes are made using the traditional method of fermenting cooked cold rice with wine yeast. They smelt and tasted exactly like the ones that I used to eat in my childhood days in Singapore.

They were very soft, fluffy and light and I liked the delicate aroma from the wine yeast. Serve it with red sugar and freshly grated coconut - yummilicious!

I will definitely be doing this every week as it is one of my favourite childhood breakfast kuehs.

I used the recipe in this Y3K cookbook - my first Y3K cookbook. Tigger (JT), thank you for this book. I loved all the recipes in this book.

This is how my Wa Ko Kueh looks like!




Cold rice fermented for 3 days. This is what it looks like after 3 days. There should be a very nice and strong alcoholic aroma.


The fermented rice (see photo above)is added to rice flour and sugar syrup and left to ferment for another 12 hours. This is what it looked like after 12 hours.


The final batter with ENO and double action baking powder added will immediately turn thick and fluffy - sort of chiffon cake batter .


Wine yeast (酒餅)

Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake

Had a gathering today and the theme was purple. Each of us had to make/buy an edible purple item. The first thing that crossed my mind was purple sweet potato because my maid cooked some sweet soup with this last week and the sweet soup was nicely purpled. Having set my mind on that purple sweet potato, I decided to stick to what I do best - chiffon cake.

After mixing and blending in the egg white, I know that my cake will not be very purple in color. The batter sort of became Mauve in color. The original purple color of the sweet potato is very intense, just like those cubes you see embedded in the cake.

Anyway, the color of the baked cake is very pretty. The cake has very subtle sweet potato taste, without those cubes of sweet potato embedded, one wouldn't even guess that it was a sweet potato chiffon cake.

I have fun doing chiffon cakes with natural ingredient that gives you natural colors. Let's think what other natural colors we can give to chiffon cakes.



Ingredients: (17cm chiffon tube pan)

100g purple sweet potato (steam and mashed)
3 tbsp milk

(A)
3 egg yolks
20g brown sugar
pinch of salt
50ml corn oil
3 tbsp water

(B)
85g cake flour

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

(D)
Diced steamed sweet potato cubes (optional)

Method:
1. Steam sweet potato, add milk to it and mashed till fine or blend it in a blender.
2. Mix all ingredients in (A) till well blended. Add in (1) and mix well. Sieve in (B) and mixed till smooth and lump-free. If batter is on the dry side, add a tablespoonful of water - some purple sweet potatoes can be quite dry.
3. Beat egg whites in (C) till stiff.
4. Add half portion of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and mix well with a spatula.
5. Pour egg yolk mixture into the remaining white and mix till well-combined. Stir in (D) - sweet potato cubes.
6. Pour batter into chiffon pan. Bang the cake pan a couple of times to release air bubbles in the batter.
7. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or till cooked.

Rose Chiffon Cake

I had lunch with DP last Thursday and she brought me a bottle of the infamous Damask Rose Petal Syrup from BonBonBon and a jar of Rose Hip Jam from Japan as gifts. Thank you, DP for always remembering me and always bringing me exotic gastronomic items.

Over the weekend I was thinking hard of what to do with the syrup. For the trial, I opted for a simple Rose Chiffon Cake just in case the whole thing turn out to be weird tasting or has a funny flavour to it.

I had two packet of dried roses, one is the dark red ones and the other is the pink ones. The pink ones has exactly the same fragrance as the syrup, so I used the pink ones to brew the rose tea. I pick out some nice pink roses from the tea and also soaked additional dark red roses and use it as a decor for the cake.

Now, the baked cake...it is moist, soft, fluffy and has a delicate fragrance of the damask rose. It doesn't taste weird or funny at all, it tasted yummy with a mild and soothing fragrance.

Another thing, rose tea has medicinal values. Read this!







This is the Damask Rose Petal Syrup and the dried pink roses that I used.
See the rose petals in the syrup!


Ingredients: (17cm chiffon pan)
(A)
3 egg yolks
pinch of salt
50ml corn oil
30g Damask Rose Syrup
10g Rose Hip Jam
2 tbsp brewed rose tea (I used 15 roses with about 75ml hot water. I drank the rest after using the 30ml for the cake. Pick out the nice complete roses and use it as the cake decor for the cake base.)

(B)
85g cake flour

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

(D)
optional amount of dried rose petals

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients in (A) till well blended. Sieve in (B) and mixed till smooth and lump-free.
2. Beat egg whites in (C) till stiff.
3. Add half portion of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and mix well with a spatula.
4. Pour egg yolk mixture into the remaining white and mix till well-combined. Stir in (D) - dried rose petals.
5. Arrange some soaked and towel-dried roses onto the base of cake pan. Pour in the batter. Bang the cake pan a couple of times to release air bubbles in the batter.
6. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or till cooked.

Recipe reference: Chiffon Cake Book - 福田淳子

Durian Crepe Cake

Two days ago, I was at North Point stocking up on Kdramas, then I pop over to the market to get some organic vegetables. The vendor had a newly arrived crate of durians for sale. She was very observant, she saw me eying the durians. She immediately asked her husband to open a fruit for me to try. Not able to resist the temptation of the King of fruits, I grapped one...imagine me eating durian on the street. The durian was so aromatic and sweet, without hesitation I bought one big Thai Golden Pillow. It cost me HK$50, not expensive at all!

Though durian is The King of Fruits, there is definitely a clear line of either you love it or you hate it. For those who love it, it is smooth, creamy, rich and aromatic. If you burp after you have eaten some, people from a yard away can smell you. For those who hate it, it is the smell of "cat's poo"!

Now back to my durian crepe cake! Why did I do a crepe cake instead of a baked cake? Really it was because I was shopping with DD last weekend at Sogo in Causeway Bay. While we were hanging around the street behind Sogo we were drawn by the nice aroma to a little kiosk which was selling crepes and the queue was so long, we didn't bother to queue and wait. Then this week I saw Edith's crepe, I went on to surf the net and discovered this Hokkaido Mille Crepe Cake which was so popular in Taiwan and the wait list for this cake was about a month(reported by TVBS programme). I was inspired!

Crepes are really versatile for many reasons because with one basic batter recipe you can do an array of both sweet and savory fillings. Just use your imagination and they really do wonders to the palate. Textures of crepe are really personal preferences - some like it thin and crispy, others like it soft and not too thin. For me, I did a sweet version with durian as the filling and a not so thin type of crepe.

Enjoy it or Hate it!!!





The lacy design of the crepe created naturally from the heat is so beautiful, so I used it as my top layer.




Joanna, this is how I get the crepes to be of standard size.
I used a flat base fry pan and a bottomless cake ring. Grease the ring for every crepe.
When the batter is firm, I use a cake tester to go around the cake ring to release the crepe, be careful of the heat from the cake ring.


Ingredients: (14 pieces 16cm crepes)
Crepe
200g cake flour/plain flour (I used cake flour)
3 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
400ml milk
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
70g melted butter

Filling
450g durian pulp
150g whipping cream

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients for the crepe together till you get a smooth runny batter. Strain if your batter is lumpy. Rest the batter for 45 minutes.
2. Heat up a non-stick flat based pan on medium heat and grease lightly with some butter or oil (I used corn oil). Pour in appropriate amount of batter and cooked till surface of the crepe is firm then flip over and cook for a little while more or till the crepe is of the goldening color that you liked. Repeat with the remaining batter. ** I used a 16cm cake ring as a girdle so that the size of my crepe will be uniform.
3. Remove seeds from the durian and mash durian pulp with a fork till creamy.
4. Whip whipping cream till stiff. Add in the durian pulp and blend with a spatula till well combined.
5. Put a piece of crepe on a cakeboard, add in the filling and smoothen with a flat palette knife. Make sure the filling is spread evenly, otherwise the cake will be lopsided. Alternate with a layer of crepe and a layer of filling. Chill the whole cake in the fridge.
6. Remove from the fridge and rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:
The filling I had was only enough for 11 crepes.
Number of crepes depends on the thickness that you liked. If you are making thinner crepes, you get more pieces and vice versa.

Chocolate Cheesecake

I made this especially for MC.

DD came back from school earlier this week crying with acute pain and stiffness in her right shoulder. She was moving stiffly with her head bent to an angle. I brought her to the doctor immediately and luckily it was only a neck muscle sprain.

When MC knew about this, she came to DD with her Chinese medicine and plaster from Beijing and plastered her neck shoulder area. DD and I were so touched. The same night DD felt much better.

Today DD is a happy girl, she is back to her normal self.

Thank you MC and this is for you and your family!



Recipe for this cake.

Chocolate Ganache:
95g chocolate (I used Valrhona 66% dark chocolate)
25g butter
55g skim milk

Method:
1. Warm butter and chopped chocolate over a basin of hot water and stir till a smooth chocolate paste is formed.
2. Stir in milk a third at a time.
3. Stirring the ganache constantly till it is slightly warm, smooth and runny, pour this ganache over the chilled and set cake from above. Tilt pan left and right gently to even out the ganache. Chill till set.

Raspberry Creme Patisserie

Oh! You know what? I haven't bake a cake for the past 3 months! The last cake I baked was the Christmas Fruit Cake.

I want to bake a cake but I want it to be something different, something that I have not done before or maybe use some ingredients that I have not used before ... what shall it be???

Never mind, let me just make a trip to CitySuper in Causeway Bay for some inspiration. Ended up with raspberries, black berries, wholemeal flour (I guess you know what I'm gonna do with this), Japanese rice flour, Japanese mochi flour, Japanese mugwort, canned azuki beans, cacao barry powder, a 1 kg pullman square bread tin and of course HK$500+ poorer.

I decided to use raspberries and creme patisserie for this cake as a mimic of the delicious filling of the famous Shangri-La Raspberry Mille-feuille that my dd loved so much. The end result is a mouth-watering piece of wobbly cake that is laden with refreshing juicy raspberries and creamy yummilicious creme patisserie. Grab a piece!

If you are running out of ideas for cake fillings and instead of using only whipping cream to frost the cake this creme patisserie is not a bad choice. Usually with only whipping cream as the frosting, we will always scrap away the cream and eat the cake but with this creme patisserie even the fussiest fella in my household clean it all up...finger licking good.




Click here for cake base recipe.
I bake this cake as a sheet cake. Divide cake into 3 layers according to the dimension of the loaf tin that you are using.

Ingredients: (Creme Patisserie)
200ml skim milk
55g sugar
20g corn starch
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp rum

200ml whipping cream
1 tbsp icing sugar

Method:
1. Mix 50ml of milk with the cornstarch till smooth.
2. Add the beaten yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
3. Boil the remaining milk with sugar in a saucepan till bubbling hot. Pour 1/3 of this hot milk into the egg cornstarch mixture. Stirring all the time.
4. Now pour the egg cornstarch mixture through a strainer into the rest of the boiling milk. Stirring constantly till mixture thicken. Do not burn the custard.
5. Cling wrap custard with glad wrap with the wrap touching the surface of the custard (this is to prevent a hard film forming on surface of the custard). Leave to cool for use later.
6. Whip the whipping cream with icing sugar till about 80% stiff. Stir in the cooled custard and mix well.
7. Line the loaf tray with 1 layer of cake top with creme patisserie and raspberries. Repeat with the rest of the cake layers.
8. Chill well before serving.

Buttermilk Pancakes

I had some left-over buttermilk sitting in my fridge which will expire on Christmas so I had to use it all up by today.

Pancake is a good option as it takes only a couple of minutes to whip it up and some more minutes for pan frying them. Furthermore it is an easy task which produces yummy goodies.

So I made these for afternoon tea as we will be having a late Christmas dinner tonight. Anyway....


What is buttermilk?
Buttermilk is the slightly sour, residual liquid which remains after butter is churned. In the olden days, people would churn and churn and churn the milk. The result of churning milk was butter and liquid. This liquid byproduct was buttermilk. The flavor of buttermilk is reminiscent of yogurt. It is slightly thicker in texture than regular milk but not as heavy as cream.
Nowadays, buttermilk is made by adding a lactic acid bacteria culture to skim or non-fat milk. The milk is then fermented to make modern buttermilk.

Did you know that buttermilk contains no butter and has less fats than regular milk?
Buttermilk has considerably less fat than you would think because buttermilk is milk with the butter removed. The buttermilk we have here is 90% water, 5% lactose sugar, a little live bacteria culture and just a hint of butter fat - just enough butter fat to give it that rich, tangy flavor that makes it so great to bake with.

Buttermilk is often the secret ingredient behind fluffy pancakes and lightly textured cakes and muffins. This is because when buttermilk is combined with either self-raising flour or baking soda it creates aeration resulting in great tasting, light and fluffy baking.

Credits:
mrbreakfast.com
homecooking.about.com
dairyfarmers.com.au


These are the delicious light and fluffy pancakes that I made using Dairy Farm 98% Fat Free Buttermilk.


Ingredients: (Makes 16 8-cm pancakes)
240g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
50g castor sugar
375ml buttermilk
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Sieve flour and baking soda into a large mixing bowl and add in all the rest of the ingredients.
2. Beat with a wooden spoon or handwhisk till batter is smooth.
3. Pre-heat a non-stick and oiled flat frying pan over medium-low heat.
4. Pour in desired amount of batter. Cook pancakes till bubbles appear on it. Turn the pancakes over and cook till golden.
5. Serve with fresh lemon juice or maple syrup and butter.

Christmas Fruit Cake

Here it is - the Christmas Fruit Cake that I promised you, KT!

This cake is not the traditional fruit cake which is very sweet and dense. This cake is soft, moist, light and the sweetness is just right. The softness and lightness of this cake comes from the fluffy egg whites which is beaten till stiff peaks.

The freshly grated orange and lemon zest make the aroma of this cake just perfect. For that extra kick, I've added all spice to it. Smells heavenly while the cake is being bake.

If you do not already have a Christmas Fruit Cake recipe, this one is worth trying, at least for me.

This is my fourth bake in 2 days.





Egg whites should be beaten to stiff peaks just like in this photo.


Ingredients: (8" round cake pan)
225g butter (at room temperature)
130g light muscovado sugar
4 egg yolks (at room temperature)
1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
15g orange zest
15g lemon zest
4 tbsp orange juice

300g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 - 1 tsp all spice

300g - 400g mixed dried fruits (soaked in 3 - 4 tbsp of your favorite liquer)

5 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:
1. Soak dried fruits in liquer for at least 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven at 170C. Line the bottom of baking pan with 2 layers of baking paper. Either line the sides or grease the sides.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder and spice and leave aside for use later. Remove 50g of this flour mixture and mix it into the dried fruits.
4. Cream butter till soft, add in the salt and muscovado sugar and beat till mixture is pale and fluffy.
5. Beat in the yolk one at a time. Add in the orange and lemon zest.
6. Mix in the orange juice alternating with sieved flour mixture till well combined.
7. Beat egg whites till bubbly, add in the cream of tartar and beat till it is white in color. Add in sugar by thirds and beat till stiff peaks formed.
8. Fold whites into the butter mixture gently.
9. Add in dried fruits and mix gently.
10. Pour batter into cake pan and smooth out the surface with a wet spatula, at the same time make a very shallow hallow in the middle of the batter for even rising.
11. Reduce oven temperature to 160C and bake for 90 - 100 minutes or till cooked and golden brown.
12. Drizzle cooked cake with a tablespoon of liquer and leave it to cool in its baking pan.

Notes:
I used only 300g of mixed dried fruits, so the sweetness for the cake is just right.

Sarawak Cake Seri Kaya

BK, thank you so much for bringing me those bottles of browning sauce, kaya, double action baking powder and ... !

Lucy, thank you for the prompt reply about the cake pan!

I finally manage to find time to steam this cake today and my goodness it is so delicious. The cake is very rich, soft, moist and very fragrant. This is the first time that I have ever tasted this Sarawak Cake. My family and I loved it very much!

In the process of mixing those kaya, browning sauce and ..., the mixture was already very fragrant. I cannot help but keep stealing a lick here and there while mixing them till well combined. I steamed the cake for 90 minutes exactly and it cooked beautifully.

This is the photo of my cake, I top it with a Christmas decor for the photo shoot. Will bake this again for X'mas party, 2007.

Honey Citron Chiffon Cake

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Citron is a highly fragrant fruit and it is commonly grown in China and Japan.

Citron is unlike the ordinary citrus fruit which is popular for its juicy pulp. The citron is popular for its fragrant peel.

The peel is usually candied or preserved.

This fruit has reported medicinal values, but I will not elaborate here.

For this cake, I used honey citron tea from Korea for its extra aromatic peel.

The cake is fragrant, nice and soft with a tad of tartness from the minced peel. I have reduce sugar amount because of the honey content in this tea.

Just out of the oven.



Ingredients: (20cm tube pan)
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
30g sugar
1 tbsp rum (optional)
4 tbsp corn oil
95g Honey citron tea
4 tbsp boiling water
120g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites
45g - 50g sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Cream egg yolks, sugar, salt and rum till creamy.
2. Add in the oil and mix well.
3. Add 4 tbsp boiling water to the citron tea and stir till diluted. Mince the citron peel with a pair of scissors. Add this into the yolk mixture and mix well.
4. Sieve in the flour and baking powder mixture and mix well with a hand whisk.
5 Beat egg white with electric beater until big bubbles formed. Sprinkle in cream of tartar and beat until it is white in colour. Add in 50g sugar 3 times (a little at a time) and beat until stiff perks formed. About 7 - 10 minutes for 150w egg beater.
6. Pour 1/2 egg white into flour mixture in (4) and blend well.
7. Pour flour mixture into the rest of the egg white and blend well.
8. Bake at 170 - 175C for 40 - 50 minutes or until cooked.
9. Invert the cooked cake during cooling process.

Notes:
My cake is not very tall, only about 8cm in height because I used 4 medium eggs (about 58g with shell) as they were the only ones available in my fridge. To get a taller cake, please use 4 large eggs (about 70g with shell).

Matcha Yogurt Mousse Cake

YC was in Taiwan for her holidays and she bought me a big packet of matcha powder. According to her this matcha has a very strong aroma and is good for baking. True enough the mousse has a real good matcha aroma.

Matcha is increasingly popular because of its versatility and health benefits. Matcha powder is easy to work with and can be used in flavouring cheesecakes, puddings, ice cream, frosting and beverages.

To enjoy the benefit of matcha, for this cake I tried to use ingredients that are not so fattening so that I could indulge myself with slices of it. Hence you see me using skim milk and nearly fat free yogurt. The only fattening ingredient in this cake is the whipping cream which I find irreplaceable.

Enjoy!





Ingredients: (20cm)

2 pieces green tea chiffon cake - please click for recipe

200ml skim milk
60g sugar
2 tbsp matcha powder
200g 99% fat free yogurt
200ml whipping cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
12g gelatin
3 tbsp boiling water

Method:
1. Whip cream with icing sugar till 80% stiff. Fold in the yogurt till well mixed.
2. Warm milk with matcha and sugar till sugar dissolved. Strain mixture.
3. Dissolve gelatin with 3 tablespoon boiling water and stir this into the matcha milk mixture.
4. Pour matcha mixture into yogurt cream mixture and mix till well blended.
5. Line the cake pan with a cake board and put in a layer of the chiffon cake.
6. Pour half of the matcha mousse on top of the cake layer and chill for 15 - 20 minutes.
7. Top it with another layer of the cake and then all the mousse and do some tilting to even out the mousse.
8. Chill the cake for about 3 - 4 hours and garnish as desired before serving.

Notes:
If you find that the mousse mixture is a little runny, you can chill it for 15 - 20 minutes (check out the consistency after 15 minutes) before using it.

Banana Yogurt Loaf

Going bananas...no just that banana has such a rich source of vitamins, fiber and it can help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must for our daily diet. That is why I am baking or cooking something banana each week.

Read this site for more details - "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

I like this recipe very much because it uses 3 big bananas for a loaf and when it is baking in the oven it is so aromatic. However, be sure to use very ripe bananas for that extra sweetness and aroma.







Ingredients: (20cm x 11cm loaf pan)
100g butter (room temperature)
90g sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten + 1 tsp vanilla essence
320g mashed banana + 1 tbsp lemon juice
125ml plain yogurt
130g plain flour
60g cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.25 tsp ground cinnamon
Almond bits (optional)

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg mixture by thirds till well blended.
3. Beat in the mashed banana and yogurt till well blended.
4. Fold in the sieved flours, baking soda and ground cinnamon.
5. Make a cut in the middle lengthwise using a wet/greased knife. Sprinkle the almond bits on top of the batter.
5. Bake in a lined loaf pan at 175C for 60 minutes or till a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

Classic Sponge

I have always been baking chiffon cakes for my cake base. For a change I'm into making airy sponge cakes.

Basically there are two methods of making them. The classic method, Whole Eggs whisked or the second method, separating Eggs.

For this one, I used the whole eggs method.

Chocolate Cheese Cake

This chocolate cheese cake recipe was shared by Kirsten ages ago at Jo Deli's Bakery and lots of friends had baked it ages ago too! The review was so good. Apparently this recipe was from CW.

I hesitated trying to do this cake for a long long time because of the amount of butter used in the baking of this cos' I hated butter cake.

Since this is an easy to do cake and I needed a cake for my girl and her friends who are coming to our house to do their project about HK Snacks, I quickly set out to do it. Trying to be different I used 2/3 of the batter for the bottom layer and marble the 1/3 top layer with the cheese mixture. That is why my cake has no distinct cheese and chocolate layers.

Anyhow, this cake turn out tremendously delicious, fragrant and sinful. It is so rich and buttery even though I have cut down on butter and sugar. If you are in need of a yummilicious and yet easy cake, I would recommend this one (that is if you have all ingredients on hand)!



Ingredients:
(A)
250g cream cheese
50g sugar
1 egg
1.5 tsp rum

Method:
1. Beat cream cheese and sugar till light and smooth.
2. Add in the egg, rum and beat till well blended.

(B)
150g butter
135g sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
120g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk

Method:
1. Line baking pan and grease all around the sides with butter. Preheat oven at 175C.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together, leave aside for use later.
3. Cream butter, salt, vanilla essence and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat till well blended.
5. Mix in the flour mixture using the lowest speed of your beater.
6. Stir in the milk.
7. Pour half of the chocolate batter into the baking pan. Top it with all the cheese mixture, then pour in the rest of the chocolate batter.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or till a cake tester comes out clean.

Notes:
Cover the top of cake with greaseproof paper or aluminum foil if it is too brown.

Kasutera/Castella Cake

Heard so much about this Kasutera/Castella cake or Japanese Cotton Sponge cake/Honey Cake and was really eager to try it out. Of course, before I bake it, I did a little homework by surfing the net for recipes and methods.

I found a lot of information about this cake and also found that I did not have the wooden mould to bake this cake. Anyhow to achieve the effect of the wooden mould, I fully lined the cake pan and wrapped the exterior with 3 layers of baking sheet and lined the wire rack with 5 sheets of white papers before baking.

Another thing that intrigued me was that, the Kasutera cake that I ate has got no butter taste but the most famous recipe from the net uses about 60g of melted butter. Curiosity sets in and I went to several Japanese site to check this out. True enough, there's no melted butter involved, however to give the cake enough moisture, I added in 2 tablespoons of corn oil.

What is Kasutera or Castella Cake?

Kasutera or Castella (カステラ) is a sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs, and starch syrup. It is popular at festivals and as a street food in Japan. Now a specialty of Nagasaki, the cake is thought to be originally from Spain, brought by way of Portuguese merchants in the 16th century. The name is derived from Portuguese pão de Castella, meaning "bread from Castile". Castella cake is usually sold in long boxes, with the cake inside being approximately 27cm long. It is somewhat similar to English madeira cake, also associated with Portugal.
Information extracted from: Wikipedia



Photo to show the consistency of batter before adding in the flour.


After 15 - 20 minutes in the oven, I put a baking sheet over the top of the golden brown cake and top it with a heavy pie dish to keep the cake surface flat.


Just out of the oven, see the surface of the cake is flat!


Ingredients: (17cm square pan)
100g cake flour
4 eggs
85g sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp maltose
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. Fully line cake pan and wrap a few pieces of paper around the exterior of the cake pan, secure it with a piece of cotton cord/string. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Put honey, maltose and oil in a microwave safe vessel and microwave on High for 30 seconds to dilute maltose. Keep warm.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar on high speed in a big mixing bowl immersed in warm water till thick and double in volume - about 10 minutes. Do the "8" test, that is draw out the whisk and write the number 8, it should stay for awhile before disappearing.
4. Whisk in honey mixture and milk on low speed till well combined.
5. Whisk in sieved flour by thirds. Should be all done in 30 seconds.
6. Pour batter into prepared cake pan, bang it and remove surfacing bubbles. Place cake pan on a wire rack lined with 5 sheets of white paper.
7. Bake at 180C for 1.5 minutes, remove from oven, remove all bubbles on the surface with a scraper or cake tester, spray with water and remove all surfacing bubbles with cake tester (Ytower instructed to do this step for 3 times but I did it only once).
8. Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or till top is golden brown, place a piece of baking sheet over the surface of the cake and top it with a metal pie dish (this is to ensure that you get a nice and flat cake surface).
9. Reduce temperature to about 170C and bake till cake is cook, about 15 - 20 minutes.
10. As soon as cake is out of oven, remove from cake pan and remove all papers to cool the cake.
11. Cut the cooled cake with a sharp knife, serve and enjoy with a nice hot cup of maccha.

Notes:
Ytower, a Taiwanese site has detailed illustration of this cake.

The above recipe is my concoction but you may try those recipes found in the net by doing a search using "Castella Cake" or "Kasutera Cake".

Some net friends suggested to wrap warm cake in a plastic bag so as to trap in the moisture of the cake.

Cocoa Puff Cream Cake 2

I did this cake last week but didn't have time to post the photo till now.

For this cake I did not use fruits and jelly topping instead I used chocolate ganache as the topping.

So, you see you can play around with the toppings and get different results for this cake.




Recipe of Cocoa Puff Cream Cake.

Recipe of chocolate ganache or topping.