Pumpkin Chiffon Cake 南瓜戚风蛋糕

好久没做到这么漂亮的戚风蛋糕了！

For quite some time, I had been producing failed chiffon cakes. Half of the time, they dropped out of the inverted chiffon tin during cooling. Half of the time, they didn't dropped out, but had sunken top after removed. I knew I had problem with the oven temperature. It was until I got my oven thermometer, the mystery was solved.

I think my oven is getting old. When I set the temperature at 170 deg C, it was lower than that. So now I bake my chiffon cakes at 180 deg C and extend the baking time 5 minutes longer to get the crust thicker. It works!

The rare occasion when I bake my cake and shoot my photo so early in the morning. The morning sun makes the cake so pretty! Look at the fluffy texture!

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake 南瓜戚风蛋糕

Ingredients (makes one 22cm chiffon tin, half the recipe for 16cm chiffon tin)

4 egg yolks
30g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
60g vegetable oil
60g coconut milk * (I use fresh milk)
80g pumpkin, diced, steamed and mashed
120g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
some pumpkin seeds

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

* You can replace coconut milk with milk + 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by coconut milk. Add in mashed pumpkins, mix well.
3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder until well-mixed. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add in 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. Lastly, add in pumpkin seeds.
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 40 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: Fruity Cakes 鲜果蛋糕香 by Alex Goh

Aspiring Bakers #11: Mocha Oreo Snowskin Mooncake

My third snowskin mooncake. I immediately bookmark it when I saw this recipe from the book I borrowed. There are 2 types of lotus paste wrapped within the snowskin. The inner filling is lotus paste mixed with oreo cookies and chocolate. The outer filling is lotus paste. The snowskin is coffee flavoured. Quite a nice combination. :)

From the mooncakes posts during the last 2 weeks, I notice that most of the snowskin mooncakes are made using the rub-in method. I use this method for this Mocha Oreo and Mango snowskin mooncakes. My Banana snowskin mooncakes uses another method by mixing icing sugar, shortening and water first, adding flour last. I get a better texture using the mixing method. I wonder if I overhandle the dough when using the rub-in method. So I'm not concluding anything here. I need more practice. :)

I still have some kao fen and lotus paste left, so I will be doing more mooncakes after mid-autumn. I still want to try Shanghai mooncakes. But not too soon cos our house is overloaded with other store-bought mooncakes too. My new jelly mooncakes moulds are also not used yet. Too short time this year!

Mocha Oreo Snowskin Mooncake
(original recipe, please adjust the recipe according to your mould size and batch size)
skin : filling = 1:2,
if you are using 63g mould, skin = 21g, filling = 42g
if you are making 10 mooncakes, skin = 210g, filling = 420g
adjust the recipe proportionately)

Ingredients

Snowskin:
100g kao fen (cooked glutinous rice flour) 糕粉
60g icing sugar
30g shortening
50g fresh cream
1 tsp instant coffee powder
120g water
1/2 tsp coffee emulco

Filling:
(A) 30g x 5
120g lotus paste
4 pcs Oreo cookies, cream removed and crushed cookies into powder form
20g cooking chocolate

(B) 70g x 5
350g lotus paste

Method

1. Snowskin: Sift kao fen and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub in shortening. Dissolve coffee powder in water. Gradually add this coffee mixture, cream, and coffee emulco into the flour mixture. Knead lightly till a soft dough forms. Set aside for 30 minutes. Divide the dough skin equally, roll round.

2. Filling (A): Double-boil cooking chocolate until melted, mix in cookies, then add in lotus paste and mix evenly. Divide filling (A) equally. Divide filling (B) equally. Wrap (A) with (B) - chocolate oreo inside. Roll round.

3. Flatten a piece of snowskin, wrap in filling, roll round, then pat some cooked glutinous rice flour.

4. Press it into mould, unmould and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe adapted from: Mooncake Selections 52 月饼精选 52

Wishing everyone Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

祝大家中秋节快乐！

I am submitting this Mocha Oreo Snowskin Mooncake to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011), hosted by Happy Home Baking.

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Decide the theme for Aspiring Bakers #12 here.

Aspiring Bakers #11: Mango Snowskin Mooncake

My second snowskin mooncake. Used this recipe and trying to make a mango version using just mango juice, and without adding mango essence and colouring. In the end, it turned out quite tasteless and the colour was very faint. There goes the saying 厉害就好，不要假厉害. :)

Recipe adapted from: Amanda's Blog

I am submitting this Mango Snowskin Mooncake to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011), hosted by Happy Home Baking.

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Decide the theme for Aspiring Bakers #12 here.

Aspiring Bakers #11: Banana Snowskin Mooncake

Here's my first snowskin mooncake. I have long wanted to make mooncakes, not just for Aspiring Bakers. I bought the moulds 2 years ago. This time I'm not going to procrastinate anymore.

As baked mooncakes are proved to be too challenging for me. I start with snowskin mooncakes first - Banana Snowskin Mooncake wrap with Lotus Paste.

I particularly like these 2 moulds with the words “莲蓉” and “中秋”. So I will be using them for the rest of my mooncakes. :)

I read from books that the golden ratio of skin is to filling is 1:2. Which means the weight of the skin is 1/3 of the weight of the mould size you are using.

I'm quite satisfied with this snowskin recipe. The skin is very soft even when straight out of the fridge. I tried one piece every day. It stays soft for 3 days, but starts to turn a little bit hard on 4th day onwards, storing in an airtight container.

Banana Snowskin Mooncake
(original recipe, please adjust the recipe according to your mould size and batch size)
skin : filling = 1:2,
if you are using 63g mould, skin = 21g, filling = 42g
if you are making 10 mooncakes, skin = 210g, filling = 420g
adjust the recipe proportionately)

Ingredients

Snowskin:
300g icing sugar
20g shortening
1/4 tsp banana essence
150g boiled cool water *
110g kao fen (cooked glutinous rice flour) 糕粉

* Boil 2 pieces of pandan leaf with 200g water until fragrant.
Leave to cool, take 150g for use)

Filling:
1400g lotus paste

Method

1. Snowskin: Knead icing sugar, shortening, banana essence and some water until shortening melts, then add in remaining water, knead evenly. Lastly add in all cooked glutinous rice flour and knead evenly. Set aside for 30 minutes. Divide the dough skin equally, roll round.

2. Filling: Divide the lotus paste equally, roll round.

3. Flatten a piece of snowskin, wrap in filling, roll round, then pat some cooked glutinous rice flour.

4. Press it into mould, unmould and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe adapted from: Moonlit Mid-Autumn Festival 月盈中秋 by Choong Su Yin

I am submitting this Banana Snowskin Mooncake to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011), hosted by Happy Home Baking.

***
Decide the theme for Aspiring Bakers #12 here.

You decide the theme for Aspiring Bakers #12

You have seen the 11 themes for Aspiring Bakers. We have so far covered a variety of bakes and received great response. Thanks to everyone who have submitted your entries! I know a lot of you have bookmarked the roundups because they are like a mini baking encyclopedia. :)

Is there any topic that you are hoping to see? As I will be the host for Aspiring Bakers #12 (October 2011), I sincerely invite all of you to suggest a theme for next month. I'm sure there is something you really like to learn and get more recipes and ideas.

Leave a comment below, suggesting 2 themes for Aspiring Bakers #12.
I will pick the most popular one and make it true!

Whether you are great supporter of Aspiring Bakers or have not joined us yet, or just a silent reader, it's time to voice up! All suggestions are welcome! :)

中文的博主和读者，希望大家踊跃的提出下个月的主题。请多多支持！

* You can leave your suggestions until the end of this month.