Strawberry Chiffon Cake

My cousin, Sandra, birthday happened to fall on Malaysia's National Day. For couple of years, there was no birthday 'party' for her as i think the date is near/ the exam period. So the next time if anyone were to plan for a baby, timed it to holiday season so that your kid would not be 'deprived' of birthday parties! This year, however, is an exception and it was a rather last-minute decision that there'll be a celebration for my cousin. Not too sure whether my cousin would like a home-baked cake, i actually sought my aunt's permission to bake a birthday cake. I thought my cousin like cheese or chocolate, but no it wasn't; it's strawberry, perhaps this is all (little) girl's favourite??

There wasn't much time for me to search the internet for strawberry cake recipe, so i dig through my rather-thick stack of recipe print-outs that i've accumulated so far. Since my sponge cake has not been very successful, i was thinking of using other sponge cake recipes, but i eventually found one recipe that is exactly what i intend to bake - Strawberry Chiffon Cake by Little Corner of Mine. The batter is little too much for my 8' cake tin, and pour the remaining batter to a smaller cake tin. I bake these 2 cakes at the same time. I would say the small cake is a success as it did not sink after cool. But i can't say the same for the big cake, it shrink quite a fair bit and has a sunken top after cool. Weird? Why 1 is ok but the other is not, when they are being bake at the same time, same temperature, same batter, same level in the oven? Anyone can advise?

We ate the small cake for our breakfast, and i like the texture, although the next time, i will cut down on the sugar. The big cake is to be decorated as a birthday cake. I like the simple decor. The verdict from T is that there is enough fresh strawberry for the cake and too much whipped cream. In my baking journey, T and my aunt Cat has given me alot of valuable feedbacks, which i appreciate. I hope i can improve a little step at a time (^..^)

Happy Birthday, Sandra

Ingredients/ Method:

(some modifications were made as most of my measurement is in gm instead of cup)

(A)

230g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

100g sugar (to reduce sugar the next time)

(B)

1/2cup canola oil

6 egg yolks

185g strawberry puree

1 tsp strawberry paste

(C)

6 egg whites

1/2tsp cream of tartar

125g sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170 degC.
2. Sift (A), stir to mix. Add (B) and use an electric mixer till well incorporated. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in another bowl until soft peak, then gradually add in sugar. Beat until stiff peak is formed.
4. Fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture into yolk batter gently but thoroughly. Then, add 1/3 egg white and do the same until all the egg whites is used.
5. Pour batter into cake tin, and igive it a knock on the table.
6. Bake for 45-50 mins or until toothpick inserted come out clean.
7. Invert the pan and let the cake cool inside the pan. When cooled, loosen the edge and remove the cake to cool completely on wire rack.

Snowskin Mooncake

My baking experiment is getting more interesting and little bit varied. Have you ever wondered that sometimes those goodies that you thought you will never know how to do it, is actually so simple. Of course, all these cannot be accomplished without the generous sharing of good and easy to follow recipes by fellow bloggers. It's kinda weird that i can spend almost everyday blogging or simply catching up blogs of other homebakers, to T, he just lamented that "i don't understand why you want to spend so much time on this, i find it a waste of time!" I suppose you must be in it, to understand this world of blogging, and baking (~0~)

The 'craze' now is my office is making snowskin mooncakes, and everyone ('exaggerated', only the usual group bakers) seems to be trying it out, sharing different recipes found from the world-wide-web, and our baking experiences and experiments. Since this is my 'virgin' moonies, i did a fare bit of surfing to sift out the recipes, and at the same time, to 'hear' from other bloggers' experience with making mooncakes. This was narrowed to this from Held by Love, Bake from Scratch, who like me - is the first time trying out mooncake, and bought the mooncake moulds from Elyn from e's joie.

These moonies were the 1st few that i did, see the skin

is quite uneven and ugly.

Ingredients/ Method:

Snowskin

100g koh fun (commercial fried glutinous rice flour)

70g icing sugar

30g shortening

120g cold water

1. Sift koh fun and icing sugar.

2. Rub in shortening into the flour mixture.
3. Slowly add in the cold water, until soft dough forms.
4. Weigh 20g dough each, and 30g filling each, and set aside.
5. Flatten the dough and put the filling in the centre and wrap.
6. Press into mould.

*Note: I put the dough in between a plastic bag and flatten with rolling pin. The wrapping is also done using the plastic bag. This method was 'invented' as the dough keep sticking to my hand, and i don't wish to use more flour to coat the mooncake. It made handling of the mooncake very easy!

Although these mooncakes are never near perfect nor in comparison with commercial ones, personally i like it just because it is home-made with love...kekekeke. This is another 'spirit' of my baking endeavours!

Again.... muffins & mini butter cake

I'm back to baking the 'same old stuff' - muffins and butter cake. The only difference is the little frosting that i did on both the muffins and mini butter cake to freshen up the look, and baking the butter cake in muffin cups. I suppose these changes qualify this post to be put up as i don't wish to appear repeating my post. But of course, with my limited baking experiences and skills, doing things different can be quite a challenging feat.

For these last couple of months, ever since i started this blog, i seem to be addicted to - either baking or blogging, or possibly both activities! Other than honing my baking skills, i'm brushing up my english and some story-telling ability at the same time...kekeke! To fast-forward another 10, 20 years, if i'm still posting on this blog, i will be able to publish a Biography, if not, at least this is still some-kind of MY 'valuable' legacy.

Back to baking, this batch of 'goodies' were done over the weekend, where T's company had the 7th month prayers and mini buffet. Another opportunity for me to satisfy my baking craving..... The muffin is using this recipe, and mini mixed citrus butter cake this.

The chocolate muffins were frosted with more chocolate ganache, and whipped cream which was some left-over that i kept in the freezer. There is no need to thaw, and it was almost ready to use right out of the freezer. The mini mixed citrus butter cake was frosted with Taste Goblet's miracle cream cheese frosting.

Double Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients/ Method:

150g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

1.5tsp baking powder

3/4tsp baking soda

75g sugar

1.5 eggs

90g olive oil

135g milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bow, and set aside.

2. Add egg, oil and milk into the bowl, mix till just combine. Add chocolate chips.

3. Spoon into muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in preheated 170 deg C for 20 mins or till skewer comes out clean.

4. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Miracle Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients/ Method:

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mascarpone

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1. Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2. Add vanilla and cream.

3. Add in mascarpone cheese straight from the fridge and beat gently until thick, about 10-15 sec.
4. Gradually stir in the icing sugar and beat on low speed to combine for about 30 sec. (Do not overbeat.)

5. Frost immediately or store in fridge.

I love the muffins and cakes with the frosting; like all men and women, it's the clothes that maketh them; or they maketh the clothes?!

Steam Banana Cake

I was actually looking out for recipes that do not require using an oven, at the request of my friend. She mentioned that her house always got bananas on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month, which sometimes she will bring to the office and kindly 'feed' us [are we monkeys??] Managed to source one that states "Handed down traditional recipes are wonderful recipes!" from Held by Love, Baked from scratch. I love hand-down recipes like Baker Lee, cos they are almost fool-proof, usually easy and simple, but never lost it 'old flavour'....mmmm

This recipes wasn't really on my waiting list, cos I've got few other recipes that I wanted to try. But i waited for 1 full moon, but still didn't get to try out the Steam Banana Cake from my friend. Happen that we went to Sun Moon, and saw a bunch of mini banana that's going at $1. With this, I finally tried out this hand-down recipe and within half an hour, i got 10 muffin-sized steam banana cake ready for my next day breakfast, and shared with my dad, bb, aunt, T, and my 2 colleagues. Indeed it tasted very good, with no preservatives, it's healthy for everyone ;-)

Ingredients/ Method

2 eggs

100g sugar

2 ripe bananas, mashed (200g)

150g self-raising flour

1/8 tsp baking soda

75g oil

1. Sift together self-raising flour and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar till ribbon stage.

3. Mix in mashed bananas, beat till combine.

4. Gently fold in flour mixture and oil, taking care not to deflat the eggs and sugar mixture.

5. Pour batter into muffin cups.

6. Steam over high heat for 15 mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Easy doesn't it? Hey, my friend, when can i get to try your steam banana cake? I'm still waiting....

Durian Mousse Cake

I've got an 'unofficial' cake order from my aunt, for her best friend. Once again, i used a different sponge cake recipe, and the durian fillings is also different from the earlier durian cake i made. The 'spirit' of my baking blog is to try as many recipes as possible. Usually once i found a perfect recipe, i'll keep trying to do it over and over again, though i may not post it in my blog. The other problem, which i think is difficult to overcome, is to try out recipes that you may not even like it. Like any other things in life, if you do not have the passion for it, you won't do well. So far, i've not gone into that cos there are too many recipes i like and i've yet to try out.

This time round, i use Traditional Sponge Cake recipe from Passionbaker, and Durian Mousse recipe from Aunty Yochana (again!). The latter has endless and fabulous recipes for anyone who is interested in baking and making nice goodies.

Ingredients/ Methods:-

Traditional Sponge Cake

5 eggs
150g sugar (i reduced it to 120g)
120g cake flour
80g melted butter


1. Whip eggs and gradually add into sugar, until light and fluffy.
2. Fold in cake flour and mix till well blended.
3. Stir in butter and mix until well incorporated.
4. Pour into a 8' round mould.
5. Bake at 180 deg C for 30 mins.
6. Remove cake from mould immediately when baked.


Durian Mousse
400g durian flesh
100g fresh milk
30g gelatine powder
8 tbsp water
500g non-diary whip cream


1. Cook durian flesh and milk in a pot.
2. Dissolve gelatine powder with water, and add into durian mixture.
3. Cool the durian mixture before folding it into the whipped cream.

Cut the sponge cake into 3 layers, and spread the durian mousse on each layer. Decorate as desired.

Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake

I promised my little cousin that i would make a birthday cake for her this year, since i just started my baking 'craze'. So a month before her birthday, i asked her to draw a sketch of what she wants for her birthday cake, and the flavour she likes. She gave me a simple round cake sketch, which i thought would not be difficult. The flavour she requested was chocolate - one of my favourite too! I went searching for a good and easy chocolate cake recipes, and actually found many but narrowed to one chocolate banana cake. After checking with my little cousin her favourite fruits, it wasnt banana but strawberry. Strawberry + chocolate, should be a nice combination as well! Eventually i used a combination of recipes to achieve this final cake....




The chocolate sponge cake recipe is using the same as my earlier Tri-Chocolate Sponge Cake, and the strawberry mousse is adapted from aunty yochana's Strawberry Mousse Delight.

Ingredients/Method:

Chocolate Sponge Cake


(a) Egg Yolk Mixture
3 egg yolks
50g sugar
120g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
50g olive oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

(b) Cocoa Mixture
30g cocoa powder
120g warm water

(c) Egg White Mixture
3 egg whites
1/4tsp cream of tartar
60g sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175 deg. Lined the cake tin.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Mix (a).
4. Mis (b) in another bowl, and stir till smooth.
5. Add cocoa mixture into egg yolk mixture, and stir till smooth.
6. Beat egg white with cream of tartar for 1 min, then add in sugar gradually till egg white become fluffy and reach soft peak stage.
7. Fold in egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture gently.
8. Bake for 40-45 mins.
9. Leave cake to cool.

Strawberry Mousse
220ml whipping cream
200g strawberry puree
50g sugar
1/2tsp strawberry paste
14g gelatine powder mixed with 60g water

1. Mix strawberry puree, sugar and strawberry paste into a saucepan and warm it over a stove to melt the sugar.
2. Add in gelatine mixture.
3. Leave to cool.
4. Fold in whipped cream.



My 'usual' mishaps occurs (failure seems to be quite immune by now), and the cake was only completed on the eleventh hour!

The strawberry biscuit sticks were used only to hide the really ugly (note: 'really ugly' is an understatement) finishing of the cake, and it was loop-sided!

Overall, the cake has a very sweet after-taste, which T analysed that it was probably due to the hershey kissables chocolate decorated on top of the cake. Anyway, this is a kid's birthday cake, shouldn't it be colourful and sweet?

I desperately need a lesson on decorating & frosting cake! Must find the time to do it, hopefully before end of the year oO.

Mixed Citrus Butter Cake

The nite before our trip to Bintan over the National Day weekend, i baked this Mixed Citrus Butter Cake using the same recipe as this. We had the first slice in the morning, and the last piece was eaten during our firefly boat ride. The cake is still fresh and soft after more than 12 hrs. This is really a very versatile recipe, and i suppose it will turn out nice and delicious for any other condiments.

Tri-Chocolate Sponge Cake

This is by far the best sponge cake I've baked. However, this cake nearly cannot make it, and almost landed into the trash.

Firstly, the beating of chocolate sponge cake batter goes quite well, until after i put the batter into the oven to bake that i realised that i have mis-read 30g cocoa powder to 20g. Think my eyes were playing tricks on me *@@*.

Next was the chocolate mousse. The recipe and steps look simple, and i almost follow to the T, except when i separate the egg white & yolk, i was too quick and everything when into the batter. The problem is, that was the last 2 eggs in my fridge. So i'm left with only 1 egg white, which apparently is too little to create a proper mousse. The mixture doesn't like mousse at all, and was very runny.

Followed by the chocolate ganache, which i use it as the top coat for the cake. The previous time i did a ganache (for cocoa puff cream cake), i mentioned to reduce the milk or butter. But after looking at a few ganache recipes, the ratio seems to be the same for all, so i tried it again. It was still very runny by the time i wanted to use it. So i 'cleverly' prepared gelatine to be added to the 2 runny mixture - mousse and ganache. It did solidify a litte bit, and i started to spread the mousse in the centre of cake. The mousse didn't stay and kept flowing to the side of the cake. Anxious to get things done because we are going out, i quickly put another layer of cake on top of the mousse, and started spreading the ganache over the cake. This time it got worse, its even more runny than the mousse. Things just flow like volcano lava. "What a heck", i just kept pouring the ganache and left it to flow in the baking tray. I told T "this is going to be another failure!", but whatever it is, i just put the cake into the fridge, hoping to save it, if possible.

I'm left with half a portion of chocolate ganache and mousse, and since i thought they are not what they are supposed to be, i threw them away.

To my surprise, after about half an hour, i check out the cake in the fridge, the chocolate ganache has solidified >*yippy*<>

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sponge Cake

(a) Egg Yolk Mixture
3 egg yolks
50g sugar
120g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
50g olive oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

(b) Cocoa Mixture
30g cocoa powder
120g warm water

(c) Egg White Mixture
3 egg whites
1/4tsp cream of tartar
60g sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175 deg. Lined the cake tin.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Mix (a).
4. Mis (b) in another bowl, and stir till smooth.
5. Add cocoa mixture into egg yolk mixture, and stir till smooth.
6. Beat egg white with cream of tartar for 1 min, then add in sugar gradually till egg white become fluffy and reach soft peak stage.
7. Fold in egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture gently.
8. Bake for 40-45 mins.
9. Leave cake to cool.

Chocolate Mousse
2 eggs, separated
50g cocoa powder
4 tbsp warm water
1 tin Nestle cream (170g)
2 tbsp sugar

1. Mix the cocoa and sugar with water to make a paste.
2. Add the egg yolks, beat mixture until creamy and then add Nestle cream.
3. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff then fold into chocolate mixture gently.
4. Cool and spread onto cake.

Chocolate Ganache
200g chocolate
100g whipped cream
10g butter

1. Cut chocolate into pieces.
2. Put all ingredients into bowl, and melt using double-boil method.
3. Cool and spread onto cake.

Peach Hot Milk Sponge Cake

Before my dearest's birthday, i've been thinking of what type of cake to bake for him. Although i did ask him, he told me not to bake. Think he's abit against my baking hobby as i mentioned in my other posts, i always did my baking in the night, and he would in his usual tone 'nag' me to sleep early or rest more. Chocolate is his favourite, but since we are celebrating at my grandpa's place, and he doesn't eat chocolate (cos "its bitter"), so i've to do something that is not chocolate. So anything chocolate is out. Thought of more elaborate cakes, but think they are beyond my limited skills...hahaha. So i finally settled on a simple sponge cake with fruits or something like that, and also because i have a can of peaches in my cupboard.

Anyway, I've been trying to find THE sponge cake for me, and those I did so far was ok but not THE one. It's not that the recipe is no good, cos alot of other bloggers tried and it turned out very well for them but not for my case. Those recipes call for skills, which i'm lacking, unfortunately.

This is another sponge cake recipe which i've got from here. Alot of people have tried and rated 4 out of 5 stars. Since the original recipe uses 10' cake tin, and i only have a 8' cake tin, the height turns out just nice for a 3-layered cake, maybe even a 4-layered cake.

I like the way the sunlight shine upon the peaches and the

shadow casted by it

I've made the sponge cake with some modifications from the original recipe.

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
200g castor sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk (or 1/3 cup)
2tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup butter to be added when boiling milk (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. sift together the flour and baking powder.
3. Heat milk till just boil and remove from heat. Set aside.
4. Beat eggs till foamy, then add sugar. Continue beating on medium-high speed until thick and lemon-coloured. Add vanilla essence, reduce mixer speed to medium and add hot milk in a steady stream. Quickly fold in flour mixture.
5. Pour into 8 inch cake tin and bake for 40-45 mins.
6. Leave cake in tin for 5 mins. Remove and cool.

I wanted to do the usual frosting using 2 cups whipped cream, but my fridge only has slightly 1 over cup left. So i spread the cream thinly on the cake, put cubed peaches in between the layers and decorate with slices of peach on top.

Verdict: This sponge cake turns out heavy/ dense & rough, not soft and fluffy as i would like it to be. Looks like i have to continue seaching for THE sponge cake.

Oreo Butter Cake

Whilst writing this post, my oreo butter cake is still in its cooling stage - just out of the hot oven ...kekeke. It smell very nice during the baking process and especially when the oven door is open, the strong buttery smell fills the kitchen. Since i lined the cake tin, the bottom and side of cake turns out 'neat & tidy' and have a nice even brown colour.

In fact, i did 2 cakes consecutively, 1 using the original recipe and the other one i added chocolate chips. The original recipe calls for 180 deg and 40-50 mins baking, but i did mine at 170 deg and the baking time took another 15mins more for the 1st bake. In fact, i did most of my bakes at 170 deg and hence reluctant to up the temp in case it gets too hot and the top of cake brown before the inside is cooked. However, i use 180 deg and 50 mins baking for the 2nd bake. I think because of the shorter baking time, the 2nd cake turns out to be more moist.

This cake is a healthier version as compared to the usual butter cake, as this recipe uses very little butter and has non-fat unsweetened yogurt in it...hmmm. Read from some blogs that using yogurt as one of the ingredients will result in cake to be softer, more moist and fluffier.

Ingredients:
225g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
85g unsalted butter
170g sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup non-fat unsweetened yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
80g oreo cookies, roughly crushed

Whole oreo cookies for decorating (optional)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 180 deg and lined a 8 inch round tin.
2) Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3) Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Dribble the eggs slowly about 1 tbsp at a time, beating constantly for about 2 mins.
4) On LOW speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined. Beat in 1/2 of the yogurt. Then beat in 1/2 of the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining yogurt, and vanilla essence. Finally beat in the remaining flour mixture.
5)Lastly, fold in the crushed cookies.
6) Pour into prepared tin, arrange whole oreo cookies on top and bake for about 40-50 mins till skewer inserted comes out clean.
7) Cool in pan for 5 mins. Unmould and cool completely.



Enjoy!

*PS. It actually took me few days to write this post, dunno why?