Dual Oreo Chiffon Cake

Somehow this has always been on my do-bake list, but I didn't get to it until tonight!  I wanted to get a bit creative so I decided to make a dual tone :)

Ingredients:

(A)

170g cake flour

2.5tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 egg yolks (large eggs)

80g castor sugar

100ml vegetable oil

150ml milk

(B)

6 egg whites 

1/4tsp cream of tartar

80g castor sugar

200g oreo cookies - remove cream and pound finely

Method:

*Preheat oven at 150C

1.    Beat yolk with castor sugar with hand whisk until the batter turn creamy.

2.    Add oil and continue to beat until it is mixed in, then add milk. Stir well and set aside.

3.    Sieve in flour, baking powder & salt into the (A) batter and mix until well combined (I used a hand whisk to do this).

4.  Beat egg whites until foamy, then add cream of tartar. Gradually add in castor sugar (B) and continue beating until firm peaks form.  

5.    Add the meringue into (A) batter, by 3 or 4 portions.  Mixed each portion with hand whisk, and fold the last portion with a spatula.  Fold until you do not see any meringue in the batter.

6.    Divide the batter into 2 equal portions.  Mix 1 portion with 3/4 oreo and 1/4 to the other portion.  Bang both bowls of batter to release air bubbles.

7.    Spoon spontaneously of the 2 portions into the baking tin.  Bang again the batter few times on the table top to remove air bubbles.

8.    Bake 1 hour.  Once it is done, remove the cake from the oven immediately and invert to cool completely before un-moulding.

Pandan Loaf Bread

I found this recipe by chance, it promised to be foolproof.  Not sure if it really is, but it sure works for me!  And it's super easy!

The bread turns out really really soft with a light flaky crust top! :)

• Ingredients
• 225ml warm water (45 C)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1tsp pandan extract
• 4 tbsp oil
• 400g bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Put water, sugar and yeast in the pan of the bread machine. Let the yeast dissolve and foam for 10 minutes. 
2. Add pandan extract and stir well.
3. Then add oil, flour and salt.
4. Select menu 1 (Basic menu), 1kg, heavy crust.

Tiger Skin Charcoal Sponge Cake

The kids' tutor had been with us for the past 3 years, and now that she had found a full time job, she decided to stop tutoring.  I wanted to baked her something unique, as a thank-you cum farewell gift, so I came up with this cake.  This was modified from the sponge cake recipe that I used previously.

Preparing the batter was really easy, it's really the creation of the 'skin' that drained off my energy!

Ingredients

150g cake flour - sieved 

150g caster sugar

5 eggs

15g cake emulsifier

1tsp baking powder

80g butter

50ml milk

1tbsp bamboo charcoal powder 

2-3 drops of red colourings

Method

1. Grease and lined a 8" round baking tin
   
2. Preheat oven at 150C.
   
3. Beat flour, sugar, eggs, butter, emulsifier & baking powder together, at high speed, probably for 5min, until the batter becomes very smooth & creamy.
   
4. Fold the milk gradually into the batter, until well combined.
   
5. Divide the batter into 3 portions: 2 equal portions, and 1 of smaller quantity.
   
6. Mix the smaller portion of batter with the coloring.
   
7. Mix in the charcoal powder to one of the larger portion.
   
8. With a tablespoon, transfer the batter into the tin in this manner, until all batter are used up.
   a.  Pour from the centre.
   b.  2 tablespoon original batter
   c.  2 tablespoon charcoal batter
   d.  1 tablespoon pink batter
   
9. Once done, tap the tin gently to released air bubbles.
   
10. With a skewer, 'cut' across the cake top to form pattern.
    
11. Send to bake for 60min.  If a skewer come out clean, it means the cake is ready.
    
12. When done, remove the cake from the oven to cool on the cooling rack for few minutes.  Then you may invert the cake to remove the baking tin & baking sheet.  Once this is done, you can invert back the cake to cool completely.
    

*Note:  If you prefer zebra-like pattern inside the cake, the batter should be spilt in such proportions instead, preferably in irregular consistency (means, doesn't follow a strict pattern):b.  4 tablespoon original batter
c.  2.5 tablespoon charcoal batter
d.  1.5 tablespoon pink batter

All good as a gift!

Moist Chocolate Cake

My daughter has been asking for chocolate cake, and frankly speaking, except for brownies, I do not really have any very fabulous recipe for this particular cake.  So I goggled for one and came across this one.

The recipe on the link calls for 250g sugar which I think was way too much, so I reduced the quality and also change to mixed up with brown sugar (not sure why, but I always feel brown sugar goes exceptionally well with chocolate!).  When I was done with the mixing and ready to send for baking, I got really sceptical if it'll really turn out well, because the batter was really runny!  It's only slightly thicker than water!  To my surprise, it turns out really really good!  Totally living up to it's name...super duper moist, and rich in the chocolate aroma!  It's a bit on the oily side, but after chilling in the fridge, it's all good!  I really have to said, this is the best chocolate cake that I ever made!

Ingredients
360ml milk
100g butter
60ml oil (I used canola oil)
80g cocoa powder - sieved
140g self raising flour - Sieved
1 egg + 1/2tsp vanilla essense - beat together
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda - absolutely do not omit this!  It is what that gave the rich chocolate colour!

100g brown sugar
50g castor sugar

Method

1. Greased and lined a loaf tin.
2. Preheat oven at 180C.
3. Heat milk, butter, oil & cocoa powder together, until the butter melt.  Then set aside to cooled.
4. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, with a hand whisk, mix in flour, bicarbonate of soda, portion by portion, until you see no lump of flour.
5. Then mix in sugar and egg, make sure mixture is well combined.
6. Send to baked for 45-55min.
7. Test the cake with a skewer to see if it is done (should come out clean).

Look how moist it is!!

Home Made Ice Cream

My buddy came across this video in facebook and made a successful attempt at it, so I decided to give it a try too.  Indeed, it works!  It's so so so easy!  Home-made ice cream without using ice-cream maker!  I made vanilla & chocolate mint this time, and will explore other flavours soon!

Ingredients

*yields me 2 tubs of ice creams
500g whipping cream (I used Paul's) - chilled
400-440g condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp green coloring
1/2 tsp mint extract
Some mini-chocolate chips

Method
*Vanilla Flavour 

1. Beat whipping cream till soft peaks form, then add in condensed milk and continued beating until mixture is well-combined.
2. Add in vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Pour into plastic container and cover it, keep in freezer overnight!

*Chocolate Flavour 

1. Beat whipping cream till soft peaks form, then add in condensed milk and continued beating until mixture is well-combined.
2. Add in mint extract, green coloring & chocolate chips and mix well.
3. Pour into plastic container and cover it, keep in freezer overnight!

The basic ingredients!

Beat till soft peaks formed

Add the condensed milk

All ready to send to set in the fridge!

It's all done!  Kiddos enjoying the ice-cream!

Durian Cotton Cake

Since it's the durian season, how can I not get some to satisfied my craving for the kings of fruits? :)
And I purposely set aside some for baking!

I made this cotton cake, it was soft and fluffy, the my entire house was filled with the durian aroma when it was baking!  Within 2 days, the cake was all gone! :)

Ingredients
5 egg yolks
1 whole egg
pinch of salt
120g durian meat
90g milk
65g oil (I used canola oil)
90g cake flour - sieved

5 egg whites
1/4tsp cream of tartar
80g castor sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C and lined the bottom of an 6" tin.
2. In a blender, beat egg yolks, 1 whole egg, salt, durian meat and milk till light and fluffy.  Then add in the oil, blend a little while more till the mixture is well combined.  Transfer to large mixing bowl and mix in flour until well combined.  Set aside.
3. Beat egg white till foamy, add in cream of tartar, then the sugar gradually, until egg white forms stiff peak.
4. Mix in 1/3 of the meringue to the yolk batter, then fold in the balance by 2 portions.  Making sure each portion is well-folded until you see no streaks of the meringue.
5. Once done, transfer the batter to the baking tin.  Tap on the table top few times to released the air bubbles and to level out the top.  
6. Send to bake in water-bath method, at 150C for 1hour.
7. Once baked, remove from oven and invert the cake to cool.
8. Sliced the cake once it is completely cooled/chilled.

*Note: Cake best served chilled!

Made with fresh durians! :)

Durian Pudding

I've got a handful of durians left from my durian feast, so I saved some for baking :)  After baking a durian cotton cake, I used the balance durians to made this really moist and creamy puddings!  They taste almost like those that you could get at Emicakes!

Ingredients:

*yields 6 cups

300g Durian flesh

140g Sugar (I like is less sweet but you can increase the amount if you have a sweeter tooth!)

300ml milk

450ml Hot water

2tbsp + 1.5tsp Gelatine 

Method:

1.  Blend durian into fine paste, then add in milk, continue blending till well combined.  Set aside in the blender.

2.  Heat hot water, add sugar and gelatine.  Stir until melted.

3.  With a siever over the blender, pour in the mixture to the durian milk mixture.

4.  Blend until mixture is well combined, then pour into moulds/cups.

5.  Put to chill in the refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

6.  Once chilled, you can topped up with some fruits, chocolate or even coconut milk with gula melaka!