Spinach Chiffon Cake 菠菜戚风蛋糕

Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun of guessing the flavour of the chiffon cake that I have made. I'm amazed to see how creative all of you are and these are the 16 flavours that you all have guessed. I think I can open a chiffon cake shop if I can successfully make all these flavours. :)

1. Aloe vera
2. Avocado
3. Cucumber
4. Green apple
5. Green pea
6. Green tea
7. Honeydew
8. Kiwi
9. Mint
10. Pandan
11. Pistachio
12. Spinach
13. Spirulina
14. Wasabi
15. Wheat grass
16. Zucchini

Congrats to Hanushi, you guess it correctly and the answer is SPINACH!!!

I did not invent this new flavour. This recipe can be found in "Fruity Cakes" by Alex Goh (鲜果蛋糕香). If you own this book, you can quickly take a look at it.

Spinach is very rich in vitamins and minerals, esp iron. But for the elderly, they probably have a hard time eating cos sometimes the spinach is tough and hard to chew. Although you can make it softer by boiling for a longer time, the nutrition is lost, so I encourage my mum to puree the spinach.

I took some of the juice and used it to make this chiffon cake. The colour of the chiffon cake turned out very light green. I should have added more spinach juice and reduced the water. There is no taste of spinach in this cake, all that the spinach gives is the natural colouring. I like that it is soft and cottony. I even omitted the cream of tartar cos I just realized that it was expired. I'm glad that the chiffon cake stands tall and no shrinking and dropping out of the tin - my greatest fear! :)

Here is the original recipe from the book. I made mine in a 6 inch chiffon tin and my adaptation is written in brackets.

Oregano Spinach Chiffon Cake 奥勒岗菠菜戚风蛋糕 (I omitted the oregano)

Ingredients (makes 22cm chiffon tin)

(A)
4 egg yolks (2)
20g sugar (10g)
1/4 tsp salt (small pinch)
50g vegetable oil (25g)
30g spinach juice (15g)*
40g water (20g)**

*To get the spinach juice, I blanch spinach in boiling water for a few minutes, blend the spinach with some water, and then press the mixture through a metal sieve to get spinach juice.

** Since the book did not mention about how to make the spinach juice, I just do without any exact measurements. As a result, the colour of the cake turns out very light. I suggest using less water and more spinach juice to make the green colour darker and more obvious.

(B)
100g cake flour (50g)
1/2 tsp baking powder (1/4 tsp)

(C)
4 egg whites (2)
100g sugar (50g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (omitted)

(D)
2 tsp dried oregano or finely chopped fresh oregano (omitted)

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves.

2. Add in vegetable oil, spinach juice and water and stir until well-mixed.

3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder until well-mixed. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in cream of tartar, and then sugar 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. Add in oregano and lightly fold until well-mixed. (I omitted this.)

7. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 40 minutes. (I bake at 180 deg C for the first 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 20 minutes, for my 6 inch tin.)

8. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.

9. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Recipe from: Fruity Cakes by Alex Goh 鲜果蛋糕香

Note: Written above is the original recipe from the book. Any adaptation is written in brackets ().

Can you guess the flavour of this chiffon cake?

Can you guess the flavour of this chiffon cake?

Hint no. 1: Just in case I didn't capture the photo very clearly. It has a very light green colour. (Actually the colour can be darker if I make it more concentrated.)

Hint no. 2: Not pandan. :)

Drop your guess in my comment box. No prizes though, just for fun. Come back tomorrow at 10am for a new hint, if no one guesses it correctly. :)

Update


Someone has guessed the flavour of the chiffon cake correctly!
The answer shall be revealed in my next post. I will try to write and post it as soon as possible!


Thanks for joining in! I hope you all have fun!

Marble Cake 大理石蛋糕

I shall keep this post simple.

This is a simple marble cake recipe taken from 孟老师的100道小蛋糕. It is derived from the original pound cake recipe which uses 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of sugar, 1 pound of eggs, and 1 pound of flour. For healthy reasons, the sugar amount is reduced. It came out a bit dry, but tasted better on the second day. I thought the recipe should add some milk to make the cake moist. This is one recipe from 孟老师 that falls short of expectation.

Marble Cake 大理石蛋糕

Ingredients (makes 18cm x 8cm x 6cm cake loaf)

100g unsalted butter
70g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g eggs, lightly beaten
100g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
10g cocoa powder

Method

1. Line the loaf tin with baking paper and lightly grease it to prevent sticking.

2. Soften the butter at room temperature. Add in sugar and whisk until light and creamy.

3. Slowly whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until well-mixed.

4. Add in sifted flour and baking powder. Mix well with a spatula.

5. Scoop up 150g of the batter in step 4 into another mixing bowl. Sift in baking soda and cocoa powder. Mix well to make chocolate batter.

6. Pour the plain batter into the loaf tin first. Then spread the chocolate batter on top of the plain batter. Lightly swirl the batter with a spatula to make marble patterns.

7. Bake at preheated oven at 180 deg C for 30-35 minutes.

Recipe from: 孟老师的100道小蛋糕

Note: Written above is the original recipe from the book. Any adaptation is written in brackets ().

Almond and Cranberry Cupcakes 杏仁蔓越莓杯子蛋糕

I'm a very picky eater. There are a lot of food that I don't like to eat. But as I grow older, I start to try eating more variety of food, especially fruits and vegetables that are beneficial to health. Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, brinjals, which I used to hate eating, now become my favourite dishes on the table.

Cranberries has never never ever been included in the list of food I eat. Few months ago, one of my twin nieces suffered from urinary tract infection. I heard that in the past when antibiotics was not available, doctors advised parents to give babies cranberry juice to treat urinary tract infection. Besides that, cranberries has a good amount of vitamins, antioxidants and anti-cancer properties. So, I decide to buy a pack of dried cranberries to try. At first bite, I thought they taste like haw flakes (山楂饼).

I have seen cranberries been used to bake cakes, cookies, breads and scones. Flipping through 孟老师的100道小蛋糕, I decide on this cranberry cake recipe (蔓越莓蛋糕). I change the name of this cake to Almond and Cranberry Cupcakes (杏仁蔓越莓杯子蛋糕) because almond is added too and it is the almond that makes the cake to smell so nice. It is a perfect treat for teatime!

I'm just trying to be smart to include a step-by-step photo description. The place where I prepare baking is at the other end of the kitchen, furthest away from window, which makes it hard to take good and bright photos. So forgive me for the quality of the photos. :)

Almond and Cranberry Cupcakes 杏仁蔓越莓杯子蛋糕

Ingredients (makes 11 mini cupcakes)

(A)
30g sliced almonds
60g dried cranberries (I use about 45g)

(B)
80g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar, sifted (I use 50g, still a little sweet)
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp milk
50g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
10g milk powder

Method

1. Preheat oven at 150 deg C. Bake the sliced almonds for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool down. Blend the baked sliced almonds and dried cranberries with a food processor. (If you don't have a food processor, you can chop them finely with a knife.)

2. Soften the butter at room temperature. Add in icing sugar and whisk until well-mixed.

3. Add in egg yolks and milk, whisk until well-mixed.

4. Add in sifted flour, baking powder and milk powder. Mix well with a spatula.

5. Add in chopped almonds and cranberries in step 1. Mix well.

6. Fill the batter into cupcake cases until 80% filled.

7. Bake at preheated oven at 180 deg C for 20-25 minutes (I bake for 15 minutes for mini cupcakes).

Recipe from: 孟老师的100道小蛋糕

Note: Written above is the original recipe from the book. Any adaptation is written in brackets ().