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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Chiffon Cake #19: Chocolate & Pandan 双色巧克力斑兰戚风蛋糕

Hihi, here's another chiffon cake that I bake recently. Sorry I have to skip my chiffon cakes series from #13 to #19 first because I want to support the Pandan theme hosted by Joceline that is going to end this month. :)



Chiffon Cake #19: Chocolate & Pandan 双色巧克力斑兰戚风蛋糕

17cm chiffon tin:

4 egg yolks
16g sugar
40g vegetable oil

Mix the above and divide batter into 2 portions.
Using homegrown pandan leaves

For pandan flavour, add:
28g concentrated pandan juice
(I blend 12 pandan leaves in some water, let the mixture stand for few hours and use the bottom layer)
32g cake flour

For chocolate flavour, add:
28g water
22g cake flour
10g cocoa powder

4 egg whites
70g sugar
8g corn flour

Whip the egg whites to stiff peak. Divide into 2 equal portions and add to the pandan and chocolate batter.

Bake 170 deg C, 35 minutes

Recipe adapted from: Okashi: sweet treats made with love


I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up September - Pandan hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake For Happy Kids and Mui Mui @ My Little Favourites DIY.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Traditional Baked Mooncakes 传统烘皮月饼

People say, the younger generation prefers snowskin mooncakes while the older generation prefers baked mooncakes. And as you grow older, you tend to switch your preference from snowskin to baked mooncakes. I still like both, so I'm somewhere in the middle, hehe!

This year I decide to try making baked mooncakes. I didn't really go and look for recipes this time. After looking at all the delicious mooncakes posted by Ann, Ann recommend me her traditional mooncake recipe and I just settle on this.

Got all my mooncake ingredients from Kwong Cheong Thye. You got to make a trip there if you haven't. They have so many different types of mooncake pastes that you will take a long time to decide. They have samples for you to try and you can buy the paste in packets of 500g. I also got all the other ingredients here.


I did a small batch first. A bit nervous before sending the mooncakes into the oven.


Luckily my first batch turned out looking good! Except for a few errors here and there, like not wrapping the dough evenly, flouring too much and didn't brush the egg yolk well. The hello kitty one cracked, there was no filling inside as I used the leftover dough.


I did a short 15 seconds instagram video during the process. A bit too fast, haha! The video sequence also got messed up by IG, so sad. :(


This was how my mooncakes looked like after waiting for 2 days for it to soften and 'return oil' (回油).


I did a second batch on another day to finish all the paste. Here are my first homebake mooncakes. I bought the black sesame paste and coffee paste. Both of them taste great! Thanks Ann for the great recipe. It is very delicious and easy to make. I don't have to buy mooncakes next time. :) I didn't make any snowskin this year. Next year, promise!


Traditional Baked Mooncakes

Ingredients:
(*self-note: I make 30 pieces of 60g mooncakes, with 210g dough left)

450g Hong Kong flour (sifted)
270g Sugar syrup/golden syrup
9g Alkaline water
113g Peanut oil (I added a bit more to 120g)

1/2kg black sesame paste
1/2kg coffee paste
4 salted egg yolks

Method:

1. Remove salted egg yolk whites and rinse under gentle running water. Place yolks on a steaming plate, add 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine and a drop of sesame oil, mix well with the yolks. Steam at high heat for 5 mins and leave yolks to cool. Divide each yolk into 4 pieces (I'm using a small mould).

2. Weigh lotus paste to 35g and wrap the steamed salted egg yolk in the center and roll into a ball.

3. Mix sugar syrup, alkaline water and peanut oil together - combine well. Sift Hong Kong flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the sugar syrup mixture. Using a rubber spatula to mix and form to a soft dough. Cover and let it rest for 20 mins (I rest for more than 1 hour).

4. Lightly dust some Hong Kong flour on table and knead dough again till smooth. Measure dough to 20g each.

5. Wrap the lotus paste with the soft dough then dust some Hong Kong flour on it and place inside the mooncake mold, flatten dough to conform to shape of mold. To dislodge the mooncake, gently push out the unbaked mooncake on the lined baking tray, about 10 pieces on one tray, not too close for even baking.

6. Baked in preheated oven 180C for 5 mins and rest to cool down (about 10 mins) before egg wash mooncake with a soft brush and bake for another 10 mins at 175C (I use 170C).

7. Remove mooncakes from oven and brush some glaze on mooncake. Leave mooncakes to cool and store in airtight container.

Kitchen note: Egg wash - one egg yolk + 1 tbsp water mix well and pass through a sieve. Add little egg yellow coloring and mix well.

Recipe from: Anncoo Journal

Wishing everyone Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
祝大家中秋节快乐!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

MSW Durian Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

How many of you are durian lover? I love durian. And I love Mao Shan Wang durian! I saved some MSW durian during the durian season and made them into the famous Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes.


The Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes were so tall when just out of the oven. But they shrank so much within seconds after out of the oven.


I went a bit over and piped in so much durian, haha! But this made in soooo good! I hardly compliment myself. :)


Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes are so popular that I can find so many different recipes online. But you may not know, one of the earliest Hokkaido cupcakes recipe was posted by 周老师 who called it 史上最软的蛋糕, which means the softest cake in history. And I found that this is really the best Hokkaido cupcake! Just look at the amount of flour, so little. That's why the cake just melts in your mouth!

Durian Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Ingredients (15 square cups)

5 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
40g vegetable oil
40g milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (I omitted)

5 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (I omitted)
105g sugar

Durian Filling: (can adjust ratio to your own liking)
100g durian
100g non-dairy whipping cream

Custard Filling:
120g dairy whipping cream
25g instant custard powder
75g cold milk

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks and salt well.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by milk and vanilla extract.
3. Sift cake flour and baking powder into egg yolk mixture. Mix until just combined. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add in sugar gradually in 3 batches 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. Fill the batter into paper cups until 90% full.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 175 deg C for 15 minutes. Leave the cakes to cool.

Durian Filling:
1. Remove the flesh from the durian.
2. Whisk whipping cream to stiff peak. Add in durian flesh and whisk until well combined.
3. Put the filling into a piping bag. Pipe filling into the cooled cupcakes.
4. Sift icing sugar on top of the cakes, chill and serve.

Custard Filling:
1. Whisk whipping cream to stiff peak.
2. Mix instant custard powder and cold milk well, and quickly add into the whipped cream. Whisk until just combined.
3. Put the filling into a piping bag. Pipe filling into the cooled cupcakes.
4. Sift icing sugar on top of the cakes, chill and serve.

Recipe from: 周老师