Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake

Chinese New Year is just over. If you still have lots of Mandarin oranges left, why not make a Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake.

I happen to be browsing through Bernice's Kitchen blog recently (still halfway only). She really bakes a lot, especially a lot of breads. If you want to look for bread recipes, you can go over if you can read Chinese.

But instead of making breads, I started with one of her chiffon cakes. It was originally an Orange Chiffon Cake, but since it was during CNY, we only had lots of Mandarin oranges, I did a Mandarin orange version.

I always love chiffon cakes for its lightness.

Mandarin Orange Chiffon Cake

Ingredients (makes one 17cm chiffon tin)

3 egg yolks
20g sugar
30g vegetable oil
40ml fresh Mandarin orange juice
zest of 1 Mandarin orange
50g cake flour

3 egg whites
50g sugar
5g corn flour

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by Mandarin orange juice and zest.
3. Sift cake flour twice and add into egg yolk mixture. Mix until just combined. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add in combined sugar and corn flour mixture gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 35 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Recipe adapted from: 戚风蛋糕&泡芙 (Bernice's Kitchen)

The Versatile Blogger Award

Thanks to Jasline, Edith, Chris, and Vivian for this Versatile Blogger Award.

看到好多人都已经领了这个奖，这里就把奖颁给一些我喜爱的中文部落格。因为通常很少在你们家留言，所以以奖来表示支持。

厨房角落
最爱的。。。。
Lucky Inn❤幸福小站❤
阿娴当家
Qi Qi in the house
Tee@Kitchen
珊言慧语
Berniceの小天地
Min's Blog
Sherleen's Kitchen Diary

还有好多好多，没法一一列出来。

Aspiring Bakers Announcement: For Fondant Theme and Some New Changes (Please READ!)

There are a few important announcement to make.

Announcement #1

For Aspiring Bakers #16: Fun with Fondant! (February 2012), hosted by Yvonne of iceamericanos this month:

1) The closing date will be extended to 6th March 2012, and the roundup will be posted on the 7th March 2012. This is because I believe many bloggers are not aware that the new theme has already started on 1 February, and since this month is also shorter, we will extend the closing date so that you have more time to play with fondant. :)

2) To encourage members to play around with fondant this month, we also accept entries that do not come with any cake/cupcake/cookie recipes. As long as there is an attempt to make and decorate with fondant, we will accept it. (This exception is only for fondant theme this month only).

Announcement #2

From this month onwards, we will reveal our Aspiring Bakers new theme 1 month in advance. So you will know March's theme now, instead of 1 March 2012. Bloggers can now have more time to come up with the bakes/dishes and write about it. At the same time, the host will not have to rush doing the roundups (assuming that bloggers post up their entries earlier). :)

The rules of joining Aspiring Bakers remain the same. Means for March's theme, you post it on your blog between 1 March 2012 and 31 March 2012, and so on for the following months.

***
To take a peep at the upcoming themes, you can refer to Aspiring Bakers Page, scroll toward the end, under Upcoming Hosts. You can also check all the previous roundups here.

Nestum Cereal Prawn/Tofu

Ever since that Salted Egg Yolk Tofu, I have been eager to try cooking cereal prawn, which also uses curry leaves. I bought a can of Nestum cereal just for making cereal prawn. Ya, I don't like drink cereal since young till now.

Tried a few times, my cereal prawn not always successful. Sometimes, I'm too stingy with the cereal, sometimes, the cereal not crispy enough, or rather the crispiness did not last long. (No choice, my family all eat dinner at different time, so cannot satisfy everyone, those who eat late, no choice lor).

The Nestum Cereal Tofu, which was cooked just last night, is one of the most successful one. Lots of cereal (though still not enough) and the cereal is crispy. Everyone is very satisfied after eating it. Children only like to eat the cereal, I think can just cook butter cereal for them, without the prawn or tofu. Hehe!

Nestum Cereal Prawn

Ingredients
16 large prawns, shelled and deveined, washed and pat dry
(you can keep the shell intact, but our family me lazy to peel mah)
salt and pepper, to taste (I will update after more trials)

1 large tbsp butter (40-50g)
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced thinly (optional)

* Cereal mixture:
8 tbsp nestum cereal
4 tsp milk powder
3 tsp sugar
Mix them altogether and set aside.

* Still fine-tuning for perfection. Will need to add more cos too good and not enough for everyone.

Method

1. Marinate the prawns with salt and pepper. Heat some oil in a frying pan (my pan too small lah) and pan-fry the prawns till cooked. Dish out and drain well.
(You can deep-fry them till golden brown and crispy but me opt for healthier lazier version.)

2. In the same frying pan, melt butter, and then add in curry leaves and chilli (if any) and stir fry until fragrant.

3. Add in cereal mixture. Stir rapidly until well mixed.

4. Off the heat, add in the prawns. Stir until the prawns are well-coated. Dish out and serve immediately.

Nestum Cereal Tofu

(same recipe as above, replacing prawns with 3 pieces firm tofu, each cut into 8 pieces)

I am submitting this Nestum Cereal Prawn to Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012), hosted by Wen's Delight.

Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (Jan 12) - Announcement

We will be extending the closing date for Aspiring Bakers #15 - Auspicious Dishes for CNY (Jan 12) to 6th February 2012 (which is the last day of CNY), with additional giveaways!! The round up will be posted on the 7th February 2012. Check out the event details 'here'.

I guess everyone is busy so hopefully this will give you more time to submit your entries. Next month's theme will still start on 1st Feb 2012. So look out for the announcement.

Keep your entries coming in!

Salted Egg Yolk Tofu

My mother got some curry leaves to plant plucked from somewhere in my neighbourhood. It was almost dying.

A day after it was re-planted and watered. It was revived!

Last time we had to pick curry leaves from our neighbour whenever we wanted to cook cereal tofu/prawn (still experimenting). Now we can have curry leaves whenever we want.

Salted Egg Yolk Tofu

Ingredients
2 pieces firm tofu, each cut into 8 pieces
some corn flour, for coating

1 knob butter
1-2 sprigs curry leaves
1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced thinly (optional)
1 cooked salted egg yolk, mashed (you can use 2 if you like more)

Method

1. Cut the tofu and pat dry on paper towel. Lightly coat the tofu with corn flour. Heat some oil in a frying pan and pan-fry the tofu on both side until light golden brown. Dish out and drain well.

2. In the same frying pan, melt butter, and then add in curry leaves and chilli (if any) and stir fry until fragrant.

3. Add in salted egg yolk. Stir rapidly until well mixed.

4. Add in the fried tofu. Stir until the tofu are well-coated. Dish out and serve warm.

You can check more Salted Egg Yolk Tofu recipes from here:
http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/2009/10/salted-egg-yolk-tofu.html
http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/03/salted-egg-tofu.html
http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2010/06/crispy-tofu-with-salted-eggs.html

I am submitting this Salted Egg Yolk Tofu to Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012), hosted by Wen's Delight.

Happy Dragon Year!

Here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous Dragon Year!

恭祝大家：龙体安康，龙马精神，龙年大吉，龙众舞！