A brand new year.....

The year 2008 is a year which i wish i can skip, and erase everything that has happened, including the creation of my blog. Obviously, no one can change a single thing that god has planned, and anything that has occurred, even if it happened a second ago. Hopefully, all the bad vibes in year 2008 are gone and away with the close of the year, and to welcome all the good things that await me in year 2009 and the many years to come. Count my blessings ;-)

Back to baking, i started the year with a traditional 雞蛋糕 which is meant for my grandfather's birthday. He has self-declared 1 Jan as his birthday since there isn't any record of his actual birth-date. He is 85 years old this year, and is always very encouraging in the food that i cooked or prepared. The only thing that he doesn't eat is chocolate, which he says got a 'bitter taste'.

This 雞蛋糕 is 100% preservative-free. The red 福 is used to disguise the ugly-looking top, which firstly didn't rise like it should be, and the top was 'trimmed' as it got damp when water drop onto the cake during the steaming process. Nevertheless, it still taste 'traditionally' good. There is a more traditional way of making 雞蛋糕 which i will elaborate the next time i attempt to make a (hopefully) more successful and better-looking cake.

Meanwhile, if anybody wishes to try it out, this is the recipe. You can consider adding 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder to the plain flour.

Ingredients/ Method:

300g plain flour
300g sugar
6 eggs

1. Sift the flour and set aside. Prepare wok for steaming.
2. Beat the eggs till pale white and slowly add in sugar. Continue to beat the egg mixture till ribbon-stage.
3. Fold in the flour to the egg mixture gently.
4. Pour batter into cake tin or basket lined with 'glass paper' 玻璃紙. Steam for 45 mins to 1 hour. Check for doneness when skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

(** Tried another version of steamed cake which yields better result)