Coffee Chiffon Cake

Coffee Chiffon Cake

I love chiffon cake and this is the 7th time I have made it.  Two out of five times it was a success!  This one "Coffee Chiffon Cake" is by far is the best chiffon ever!   I found this recipe on My Food Affair and I was surprised that I didn't need any kind of milk especially coconut milk!  I was very happy with the outcome of the cake and it was so light, fluffy and very moist.  I baked it for about close to one hour (just in case) and I tested it with skewer and it came out clean for the first time!

I am so naughty, I didn't really follow the instructions (oops) but with the egg mixture part I just tipped everything in (all the dry ingredients mixed together first) and mixed it well with a whisk.   And with the egg whites folding into the egg yolk part, I mixed it through with clean hands instead of a spatula or a whisk.  I wanted to be careful that I don't lose any air and still mix the egg yolk and egg whites mixture properly.

This is how it came out like:

It came out very nice, tall, airy and fluffy.  

You can eat this cake plain but I dressed mine up by making it a 3 layer chiffon cake with layers of freshly made custard and coffee whipped cream!

 

I am still practicing decorating skills but it still tasted pretty good.  It wasn't too bitter and not very sweet.

Coffee Chiffon Cake

adapted by Just Baking from My Food Affair

Pan: 22cm stainless steel angel food/chiffon cake tin (do not use non stick - it will not work). Do not grease since you already have a sufficient amount of oil in this recipe.

A) 

4tbs of instant coffee

2/3 of hot water

6 egg yolks at room temperature 

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1cup of caster sugar

2 1/4 cups of CAKE flour (if you only have plain flour and want to make cake flour - for every 1 cup of plain flour take out 2 tbs and replace with 2tbs of corn flour)

1tbs of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

B)

1/2 cup of caster sugar

6 egg whites at room temperature

1/2tsp of cream of tarter

If you want to decorate your cake like mine:

go to custard recipe for a custard layer

or you want a coffee whipped cream you will need:

400mls of cream

4 tbs of powdered sugar

1tbs of instant coffee

Method

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 160 (fan forced)

A)
2. Dissolve coffee in the water in a cup.  Then transfer this to a bigger bowl together with oil, vanilla, egg yolk and sugar.  Mix well with a whisk.

3. Sift together baking powder, cake flour (if making cake flour incorporate the corn flour and plain flour together first) and salt.  Add to the coffee mixture and mix well with a whisk.


B)
4. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter with an electric mixture until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat until you get stiff peaks.  To check the egg meringue shouldn't slide out of the bowl if placed over your head :P.

5.  Gently fold the egg whites into the coffee mixture in three batches.  Blend thoroughly but do not over mix.  I gently fold the mixtures with either a whisk or with clean hands.

6. Transfer the batter to a chiffon cake pan.

7. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. (Do not open the oven when its baking!)

8. Remove the pan from the oven and invert it over a cooling rack onto its feet. Let the cake cool completely.  It will take about 2 to 4 hours to completely cool.

9.  When the cake is completely cool, carefully run a knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a wire rack.

Coffee Whipped Cream

1. Whip the cream, sugar, coffee until stiff.  Do not overbeat because the cream will split.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until required.  I usually whip the cream while the cake is baking.

2.  Slice the cake into 3 equal layers and spread the filling on each layer.


Decorate your cake with chocolate bits or nuts.  Whatever you feel like.

How to make fresh custard

I would have to say fresh custard is always better than the powdered custard.  I find fresh made custard is more yummy and comforting but the powdered stuff tastes like plastic!  When you will have a taste of this custard,  I don't think you will ever buy the powdered stuff ever again.  This recipe is so quick and easy.

You will need:

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup of caster sugar
2tbs of corn flour
250ml of cream
170ml of milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

In a saucepan, add egg yolks, caster sugar and corn flour.  Mix well.  Then add the cream and milk and mix til smooth.  Put the pan on medium high heat and beat til it thickens and boils.  Do not over beat cause it will curdle.  Remove from heat and add in the vanilla extract and mix.   Transfer into bowl and cover with cling wrap to prevent from skin forming.

Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies {revisited}

Thin an Crispy Oatmeal Cookies (with a hint of saltiness)

It has been since 2009 I made these delicious Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies and while I was baking the chiffon cake (previous post), I wanted to fill up the second shelf in the oven with these cookies.   I had all the ingredients I needed plus the load of butter in the fridge that was sitting there for weeks.

These cookies are great if you are into a crispy edge, crunch and a moist middle.  However, when reading the ingredients on Cooks Illustrated it says to use 14T of butter and when I converted it to grams it ended up to nearly 200grams of butter which is a bit much?  But I digress :).  I don't care cause butter sometimes makes food taste good :).

14t equates to approximately 200grams.  For conversion go here

I made about 24 to about 28 cookies off the Cooking Illustrated recipe and this time my cookies are a bit more flatter than the last ones I made in 2009 which were a bit thicker.  If you want the cookies to be real thin you would have to press the dough ball down further to about 1.5cm (not 2cm) and with a fork (I find it better) and bake for a further couple of minutes.

Cookies can last for three days in an air tight container and still maintain their crispness the day after - that's if the dough ball is pressed down pretty thin before baking and baked a bit longer.

You can add raisins, choc chips or nuts if to give it a bit more variety.

Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
by Cooks Illustrated

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 14 T unsalted butter, softened, but still cool (65 degrees)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in medium bowl.

2. In standing mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugars at medium-low speed, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium low until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl again. With mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated and smooth, 10 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oats and mix until well incorporated, 20 seconds. Give dough final stir with spatula to ensure no flour pockets remain.

3. Divide dough into 24 portions, each about 2 T, then roll between palms into balls. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart, 8 dough balls per sheet. Using fingertips, gently press ball to 3/4 inch thickness.

4. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are deep golden brown, edges are crisp, and centers yield to slight pressure when touched, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack;cool cookies completely on sheet.

Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake {inspired}

My Chiffon Cake inspired by Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake Recipe

Chiffon cake.  I love this cake but every time I attempt to make it again it makes me nervous.  The reason?  Well I have had epic failures baking the chiffon cake.  How many failures?  FIVE times.   During these five times the chiffon cake either collapsed or was really wet inside.  When making this cake again today,  I thought to myself if I fail once again after five times I will really throw out that chiffon cake tin and scream my lungs out.   I was persistent to be successful this time - I measured correctly and took care with the way I folded the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture.  I really suck at baking but I felt so much victory today because of this cake! :).  Thanks to Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake" recipe I am pretty happy.

While watching the segment  I noticed that she did a couple of things quite differently from the written recipe.  She tipped her egg yolks in the flour mixture instead of the beating the egg yolk with sugar til light and fluffy (like a commenter on the board noticed).  Also when she 'folded' both egg and egg white mixture she mixed it gently with a whisk (to incorporate more air) not a spatula.  I did these two steps and my chiffon cake turned out airy and moist and did not collapse.  It did rise more than other times I baked chiffon cake!  I was a very happy girl today.

Cake wasn't high since I used a 25cm tin instead of a 22cm tin

I used a 25cm angel cake food tin that I bought from Matchbox in Brisbane for around under $30.  They didn't have any smaller so I opted for the bigger cake tin.   This is why I think my cake didn't rise to a complete height.

Finished product

Also instead of using Poh's ganache recipe (I am not a very big chocolate fan on cakes), I opted to dress up the whole cake with whipped cream, toasted desiccated coconut and used macadamia nuts instead of hazelnuts.

Cutting in three layers was quite hard.

Since my cake wasn't at full height cutting it in three layers was quite hard!  It wasn't as straight as Poh's but nevertheless it wasn't quite noticeable :).  It did give the cake extra height but I wished that I could of made more whipped cream to make the cream layers thicker! 

The verdict?  It was so yummy!  The orange citrusy flavour went well with the coconut!  It was very light and airy.  I am so going to make this again in a few more weeks and make other flavours like durian :) hehe.

Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake

 

Ingredients

Serves 8-10

• 5 egg whites (at room temperature)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, sifted
• 1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 tbs (100ml) coconut milk
• 4 tbs (80ml) vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar, extra
• 4 tbs (80ml) orange juice
• 1 tbs finely grated orange zest
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
• pinch of salt

Roasted Hazelnuts
• 150g hazelnuts

Filling
• 400ml pouring cream
• 3 tbs icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or natural vanilla extract

Ganache
• 150ml pouring cream
• 200g good quality dark chocolate chopped or broken into small pieces

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170°C (160°C fan forced).
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition until you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with extra caster sugar until thick, pale and fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, orange juice and zest, flour and baking powder, and whisk until combined. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture three batches.
4. Pour into a 22 centimetre angel cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the oven on to roast the hazelnuts.
5. When cake is out of the oven, immediately invert the tin and leave the cake in the tin to cool completely (about two hours).

Roasted Hazelnuts
1. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for seven minutes, or until the skins are splitting and flakey. Remove from the oven and pour into the middle of a clean tea towel, wrap up and gently rub the skins off. Place the nuts on a chopping board and chop to desired texture.

Filling
1. Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until stiff, be careful not to overbeat as the cream will split. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until required.
2. When the cake is cool and ready to be assembled, run a knife around the edge and base of the cake and invert to release. Slice the cake with a sharp chef's knife into three equal layers. Spread half of the filling and a third of the chopped hazelnuts on each layer.

Ganache

1. Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and well combined. Place the cake on a wire rack and, using a spatula, spread the ganache evenly over the top and side of the cake and sprinkle with the remaining chopped hazelnuts.

Puffs (profiteroles)

I made choux pastry again but in puff form today!  They are called profiteroles.  I love these! I am so addicted to them!  This time I covered the top of the buns with chocolate!  I <3 french desserts.   I love it with custard cream filling.  Mmmmmm

Choux Pastry with Custard Cream Filling

Choux pastry is so easy to make than puff pastry!  A million times easier!   Choux pastry is a basic French bun that is used to make with eclairs, profiteroles or croquembouche.  The pastry rises three times its size in the oven which creates this airy, light and crisp texture.    All you need is some basic ingredients that you can find in your pantry and fridge and its just beating the mixture up and then filling it into a piping bag and piping it out onto trays into whatever shapes you like.   Then see it rise from a small ball to 3 times the size!

I had a hard time piping the pastry dough onto the tray because I did not have a proper piping bag!  I instead used a sheet of baking paper and made it into a piping bag and cut the tip to about 1cm.   It worked but then I had to use too much baking paper so I just dropped teaspoons of balls.   This recipe makes about 10 -15 eclair shapes or balls.  Depending how much you put into the shapes.  I attempted to do eclair shapes but I instead did big buns.

Filling the pastry was the best part.  Every single bun was gone in 15 minutes!

You will need:

CHOUX PASTRY


75g of butter
180mls of water
3/4 of plain flour sifted
pinch of salt
4 eggs


CUSTARD CREAM

2tbs of custard powder
2tbs of caster sugar
1 cup of milk
300ml of thickened cream

icing sugar for dusting


Choux pastry.
Preheat over to 240C

In a saucepan, combine butter and water and cook until the butter has melted.  Don't boil.   

Immediately add the sifted flour and salt and stir vigorously until you see a smooth dough ball form.  Take off heat immediately.

Transfer into a small bowl and add 3 eggs (one at a time) and beat with mixer til smooth.  Add the last egg and this will form a nice glossy thick dough  (should be a very very very thick consistency).

Use a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle and pipe small mounds on the tray or just use 2 table spoons to shape large buns.

Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or another 5 to 10 minutes if you have bigger buns.   When cooked make a hole in each bun to release any steam.  Cause once cooled the buns will go soggy so you need steam to escape.

Cool and set aside.

Next.....

Custard Cream Filling.

Combine the custard powder and sugar into a small saucepan and add the milk on low heat.  Whisk til it goes thick.

Add the mixture into a small bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap to prevent skining.

Refrigerate for half an hour or til cool.

Then in the same bowl add the thickened cream and with a mixer, mix til it goes thick and forms peaks.

Now for the yummy part!

To serve the buns, cut in halfway and then just before serving spoon the custard cream filling and dust with icing sugar!

Choclate Cream Puffs

Hi guys! I have been away for a while!  I have been working on this huge project so I haven't had time to really cook something special until yesterday!

I love love love pastry desserts and especially these cream puffs!  They are so yummy you could finish a whole batch under 30 minutes!  You can buy these at bakeries for around $2.50 each depending on the size but I decided to make these at home.  It did take a while but the effort was pretty worth it!

I got this recipe from http://www.tasteofhome.com and it turned out great.  I did not use strawberries since I did not have any on hand but without it tastes as good too.  I am wondering if I should put custard in the puffs next time?

For the puffs I did not cut it in half and put the cream in that way.  I just inserted the cream into the puff balls instead with cream.  Turned out messy though :P.


You will need:

Chocolate Cream Puffs

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
• 3 cups coarsely chopped fresh strawberries

 

Directions

• In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Add the flour and cocoa all at once; stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth and shiny.
• Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes or until set and browned. Remove to wire racks. Immediately split puffs open; remove and discard soft dough from inside. Cool puffs completely.
• In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream and strawberries. Fill bottom halves of puffs; replace tops. Serve immediately. 

Yield: 15 servings.

Green Tea Jelly

A few days ago I made konnyaku jelly consisting of papaya and coconut milk and this time I wanted to make green tea jelly with the same konnyaku powder I have left.   This is a very good, well to me anyway since I drink green tea almost religiously.    Now for this recipe I didn't add too much sugar like all my desserts otherwise the sweetness will take over the focused flavour.

Green Tea Jelly

- 1 PKT of Konnyaku Jelly Powder (10grams).  You can get this at the Asian Market in a packets.
- 950MLS of water
- 2 green tea bags
- 100G of caster sugar

Method:

1. in a saucepan boil water and add green tea bags
2. turn off heat and leave to brew for about half an hour
3. take out the tea bags and squeeze to get the excess tea out 
4. mix sugar and konnyaku jelly powder
5. turn on heat again and add the sugar and konnyaku mix
6. mix til the consistency of the mixture goes thick
7. pour the konnyaku mix carefully into the molds and let cool
   set the jelly in the fridge
   

It is a simple jelly dessert and quite bland if you didn't use much sugar like me.  add more to make it more sweet for your taste.

Important!: If elderly or children are consuming konnyaku jelly please make sure you chop it up into little pieces.  This is because konnyaku jelly does not melt into the mouth like other jellies.   It will cause little ones and elderly to choke!   And can result in death.  Elderly and children have choked and died on konnyaki litchi jellies so be careful.

Steamed Ginger Egg Custard

Steamed ginger egg custard is a smooth tasty dessert eaten just alone or after a nice big dinner.   It's pretty good warm and very tasty when chilled.

It is simple to make and the secret to a smooth custard is to strain all the lumps out and the steaming process.  You do not want to over or under steam it otherwise it will go all bumpy or not softly solid in the middle.

You will need for:

STEAMED GINGER EGG CUSTARD 
 (makes 2)

• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp of ginger juice
• 1/2 tsp of corn flour or starch
• 1/2 C of water and water for steaming
• 1/3 C of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
• pinch of salt

Method

1.  Squeeze ginger juice by chopping ginger and squeezing it with your hands.  Catch the juice with a small bowl and set aside.

2.  Boil water for steaming

3.  Next step is to whip the eggs in a small bowl with a beater for only a couple of seconds til you see no more egg white.  Do not over beat!   The texture of the finished egg custard might turn out rough.

4.  In another bowl, add cornstarch with 250ml of water and mix very well.

5. On low heat saucepan, mix milk and sugar.  Do not let it boil.  Mix til the sugar dissolves and take off heat immediately.  If it is too hot you would cook the egg mixture.  Add less sugar if you don't like the dessert to be sweet.

6.  In a new bowl,  mix together the milk and sugar mixture (CHECK! need to be cool)  and egg mixture together.  Then add in the lemon juice, salt and ginger juice.  Then add the cornstarch mixture - make sure the cornflour hasn't settled....shake it well again before adding to the bowl.

7.  Stir slightly.

8.  In a strainer (very important), strain into another bowl.  Straining helps to prevent the lumps and gooey stuff from the egg.  It helps to smooth the texture of the custard.

9.  Then in 2 good sized dessert bowls add the strained mixture into each carefully.  Maybe you have enough for a 3rd bowl....or ramekin.

10.  Cover with foil and steam (in the boiled water) for 12 to 13 minutes.  This depends on what steamer you are using.  I use my Breville Electronic steamer.  Try not to over steam!

11.  When done, remove with tongs carefully and let cool and serve.  Chill if you like it cold :).

Papaya Coconut Milk Jelly

 Papaya Coconut Milk Jelly Dessert

Papaya fruit is in season so I made a JELLY!!   Papaya these days costs about $3.99 to $6.00 a kg depending where you get it from.  Instead of buying them I get for free!  My grandma grows a big papaya tree in her backyard and pick them whenever it is in season.  We already picked about 10 from the tree and it is already ripe.   I love it chilled and eaten off the skin, I love it cooked as soup with pork mince but most of all I like it as a refreshing dessert -  Papaya Coconut Milk Jelly.

Fresh Picked Papaya 

Instead of using agar agar jelly powder (asian jelly made from the seaweed from gelatin) I used konnyaku jelly powder (jelly derived from konjac corms for its starchy substance) to make the papaya coconut milk jelly.   I find it when using agar agar the consistency of the jelly is a bit more harder than konnyaku jelly.  Konnyaku jelly has a more softer and western jelly consistency if you know what I mean.

I did not follow the konnyaku jelly packet's instruction because I thought it was too much sugar and water.  At the end you are going to add the sweet papaya into the jelly.   

Konnyaku Jelly Powder.  Softer consistency than agar agar jelly when set

To make Papaya Coconut Milk Jelly you will need:

- 1 PKT of Konnyaku Jelly Powder (10grams).  You can get this at the Asian Market in a packets.
- 250MLS of coconut cream
- 700MLS of boiling water
- 100G of caster sugar
- half of papaya fruit chopped in small pieces

Method:

- mix sugar and konnyaku jelly powder
- add to saucepan with boiling water
- stir mixture til dissolved and then add the coconut milk
- mix til the consistency of the mixture goes thick
- turn off heat
- assemble chopped papaya into your molds
- pour the konnyaku mix carefully into the molds and let cool
- set the jelly in the fridge

You can add other fruits into the jelly as well like mango, passionfruit or anything that is in season

Easy Banana Bread

I love Banana Bread with cream cheese frosting on top!!!   I have used this recipe for a while and I alternate it a bit from time to time when I want something different.  This is a very easy banana bread to make.  It is very fluffy, nice and moist.  It keeps fresh for about a week in an air tight container.

I usually bake 2 loaves/tins to take room up in the oven.    Double the ingredients to make 2 lots.

Banana Bread

• 1.5C of self raising flour
• pinch of baking powder
• 1 TSP of bicarb soda
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3 medium sized ripe bananas mashed
• 1/2 cup of canola/vegetable oil (use any)
• 2 eggs beaten
• handful of chopped almonds
• 1/2 TSP of vanilla essence

Method
- preheat oven at 150C
- First grease a ring tin or a loaf tin
- sift all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
- make a well in the centre and add all wet ingredients
- mix the ingredients together until smooth batter like consistency
- pour the mixture into the tin/s
- bake for 1 hour.  check if done by poking the loaf with skewer.  if it comes out clean then the cake should be done.  I usually bake for another 10 minutes just to make sure.
- cool for half an hour, cut and enjoy!!

Tip:  You can vary this  banana bread but adding your own ingredients in it like different kind of nuts or even chocolate chips, honey etc

Pandan Chiffon Cake

 Pandan Chiffon Cake is my favourite cake out of all cakes!  It's light and fluffy texture, the colour and the taste always want me going back to eat more of these!   Pandan Chiffon Cake is very popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.  My mum used to buy me a piece of pandan cake at the local Asian market every morning.  It was a treat for me a long with sticky rice and sweet fried breads.

Pandan chiffon cake originates from Malaysia (everything so good originates from Malaysia :P) and is sometimes flavoured from the juice of the pandan leaf and sometimes added with green food colouring to make the colour for vibrant.  I think more these days when pandan leaves are not available the pandan paste or essence is substituted.   That is what I have used in this recipe.

This is my THIRD attempt making pandan chiffon cake.  And this third time I haven't really failed lol.   The cake turned out okay (it broke) but since I don't have chiffon tin (or angel cake tin) so it was hard to take it out.  I have a tin that has a hole in the middle.  I have no idea what to call it but it is not a chiffon tin.  It turned out nice and fluffy!

 folding the mixes together

The first 2 attempts both cakes rised up beautifully in the oven but when it was time to take it out and invert it..............it DEFLATED terribly!  It was so disappointing.   I think it was because when I folded the egg white mix into the egg yolk mix it lost air so that could be the problem.  Or maybe I had specks on yolk in the egg whites which ruined the whole recipe altogether!

 Broke on the side but hey still turned out great!

Here is the recipe.  I used a tin with a hole in the middle but really I should be using the CHIFFON TIN

Pandan Chiffon Cake

• 100G of plain flour sifted
• 1 TSP of baking powder
• 90ML of coconut cream (don't shake use bottom milk part of coconut tin (scoop out with spoon))
• 1/2 TSP of vanilla essence
• 4 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 1 TSP of pandan essence 
• 70g of caster sugar (35g for egg yolk mixture / 35 g for egg white mixture)
• 1/2 TSP cream of tartar
• 2 TBS of vegetable oil 
• pinch of salt

METHOD

1. Pre heat oven at 175C
2. In a big bowl cream yolks, 35g of sugar, and vanilla til nice and thick
3. Add the flour, baking powder, coconut, oil and pandan.  Beat til smooth
4. In another CLEAN BOWL (has to be dry and not even damp) beat egg whites (with no spec of egg yolk), 35g of sugar and cream of tartar and pinch of salt.  Beat until STIFF PEAKS form.  Over beating is better than under beating the egg white mixture. 
5. Now carefully and gradually, 1/3 at a time ...fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and fold til combined.  Repeat this until you finished the egg white mixture.
6. Pour mixture carefully into pan (ungreased) and bake at 175C for 45 minutes or until done.  To check don't poke the cake otherwise the air will escape.  I just touch it and if it springs back properly...it is done - to me anyway. 
7. Now when it is done ...immediately invert it.  Turn it upside down on a cooling rack so it will hold its shape.  Cool for 3 hours.  Then after that loosen the cake with a knife.  It should fall out easily.  With mine....it didn't cause I only let it cool for 1 hour.  I was very impatient :P.
8. I hope your cake turns out !

update: Monday 15th February.   I tried making pandan chiffon cake again but it FAILED!! It came out all deflated and wet....????  I don't know what happened.  I think the one that I made for this post is my only ONE HIT wonder lol.

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies / 花生饼

Nearly every year for Chinese New Year (or in my case Vietnamese/Chinese New year) my family would get little gifts from yum cha tea sets, sweets (coconut strips, winter melon strips, dried fruit candy, ginger candy etc) and banh chung (traditional Vietnamese cake consisting of glutinous rice, pork, mung beans etc) and most of all we get tins of these yummy Chinese cookies.

My favourite would be the peanut cookies that has the sesame seeds on top.  It's soft but when you put it into your mouth - it crumbles and you get this sweet and salty taste at the same time.   This peanut cookie is VERY easy to make and I think most of you will find the ingredients right in your pantry!  All you need is flour, some oil, ground peanuts, a pinch of salt and baking powder!  Yes that is right!  That is all you need!  No milk and no butter!  So this is so great for vegetarians :).

I initially got this peanut cookie recipe from Bake Cook Eat but I made some alternations to suit my taste (I just added sesame seeds and added coarser peanuts).  Instead of using the small cap that she has used to shape the cookies, I used a bigger one hence the less cookies I baked.   Traditionally, you will find the cookies will have an indent in the middle and just glazed with a egg yolk wash but I liked it with the sesame seeds. I baked around 30 small cookies!  It looked good and it smelled great.  It was even better when I tasted it.   The first batch turned out very well so I guess for my second batch it is going to be bigger since I am going to share it around with my Vietnamese family and my Chinese family (my partner's side).  I hope they like it.  I feel a bit of pressure here lol.

So here is the recipe from Bake Cook Eat  with a bit of my version in it :)

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies or 花生饼
Ingredients (makes around 40ish)

• 3/4 roasted peanuts and grounded
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 3/4 cup of icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• some canola oil 
• sesame seeds
• pinch of salt 
• 1 egg yolk + dash of water (for egg wash)

Method

Firstly, roast the peanuts in a fry pan until golden and until aroma hits your nose :).  Then let cool.  Grind the peanuts in a food processor until finely grounded.  You can leave some bits coarse.
Then a big mixing bowl sift the flour, baking powder, icing sugar, salt and mix with some oil.  Blend the mixture with clean finger tips until the mixture turns into a crumbly short bread dough or like bread crumbs.  When squeezed together in your hand it should be compressed.  That is how you want it.

The consistency you want

If the mixture is too oily or too floury just add more flour or more oil until you get it right.  You do not want it too greasy or too dry.

Now to the fun part - Shaping the cookie.  I thought this was a really neat idea to shape cute cookies (thanks Bake Cook Eat for the tip!).   Just get any good sized cap for a cute cookie shape and all you have to do is place some cling wrap over inside the cap and then press the dough in tightly.  Then pull the cling wrap to release the cookie shape.  Place the cookie onto a lined baking sheet.

Now to glaze the the cookies.  Mix one egg yolk and a dash of water.  Mix and with a back of a spoon brush with egg wash.  I just used an actual brush to brush it over.  I found it more simple...well for me.

Next sprinkle some sesame seeds over each cookie dough :).

Finally bake the cookies at about to 200°C for about 16 minutes or until golden brown

Let cool.  Share and enjoy!!!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

 

Strawberry Jam Coconut Slice

Jam coconut slices are one of my favourite treats. I remember buying my first one at a local bakery and it tasted not overly too sweet and not too dry. It was perfect. I have been through a few jam coconut slice recipes and most of them are too sweet for my taste buds. I just cut down the sugar the second time making them. Most of the time the jam is already sweet so you don't need that much sugar in the first place.

I found a coconut slice recipe on taste.com.au and I cut down the sugar to about 1/2 a cup. I knew that 1 cup of caster sugar would be tooo sweet! This recipe is simple and quick and most of the family will enjoy it.....well maybe all of them!


Jam Coconut Slice Recipe
adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• *** 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 125g butter, chilled, cubed
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup strawberry jam (ANY JAM)
  
• 2 cups desiccated coconut

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 3cm deep, 24cm x 29.5cm (base) lamington pan. Process flour, 1/2 cup sugar and butter to resemble breadcrumbs. 
2. Add 1 egg and vanilla. 
3. Process to form a dough. 
4. Press dough into base of prepared pan. 
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until light golden. 
6. Spread jam over warm base. (you will find it easier to spread when the jam is warmed in the microwave for a couple of seconds)
7. Whisk remaining eggs and remaining 1/2 cup sugar together. 
8. Stir in coconut. 
9. Spread over jam. 
10. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. 
11. Cool completely in pan. 
12. Cut into pieces. Serve
    

Lamington Cakes on Australia Day

Today is Australia Day - the day when we get an excuse to have a day off, chuck seafood on the barbie and to eat as much sausage rolls, meat pies, red meat and wash it down with foster or four x beer. Chant Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi and sometimes make a fool of ourselves in front of family and friends! ... Very Bogan LOL. I don't really understand why we do that? I know I don't. It is a time to come together to reflect what is good about being Australian, what is great, how lucky we live in this land, and be proud of what we have achieved. A lot of people today will celebrate becoming an Australian Citizen. I am pretty thankful that I am Australian. I am very lucky to be here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I am not a true blue Aussie when it comes to Australian food because it is so unhealthy lol and I sometimes don't really know what is Australian food since the country is so diverse in culture and nationalities. There are so many Chinese, Indian, English, Thai, Italian and Greek restaurants here but you hardly see an Australian restaurant. I do know there are about 2 Australian restaurants in Bali - I wonder what they serve there? A fancy meat pie? lol.

I can name some iconic Australian foods which are: Vegemite which you spread a little bit on buttered bread (toast tastes better), meat pies, sausage rolls, Anzac biscuits, Bunderburg Rum, damper, cheezels (chips), burger rings (chips), sangas (sandwiches), chiko roll (this pastry filled roll (looks like huge springroll) - sometimes I don't know what is inside those things!) and last and not least the lamington cake which are traditional small sponge cakes covered in chocolate and then covered in coconut.


My little friends from overseas (China) helped me make some lamington cakes the other day and they were so excited. Too bad the recipe wasn't a very good one. It was too sweet for their tiny taste buds. Well at least they know how the Aussie lamington is made. It was so cute to see how they were so focused and concentrated so hard in processing these cakes.

I got this recipe from this site here (Aussie Slang) which came up first from a google search :P. Next time I will half the sugar! I probably make tiramisu with those lamingtons now.

LAMINGTON CAKES

by Aussie Slang http://www.aussieslang.com/features/australian-lamingtons-recipe.asp

sponge cake

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter
* 3/4 cup castor sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups self rising flour
* 1/2 cup milk

Method

* Grease and Line a Lamington Tin (11 x 8 x 1.5 inches)
* Cream the Butter, Castor Sugar and Vanilla until light and fluffy.
* Add the eggs one at a time beating together as you go.
* Fold in the Flour and Milk, alternating as you go.
* Pour the batter into the prepared tin, spread evenly, and bake in a Moderate Oven (375f/190c) for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
* Allow to stand for a few minutes before turning out on to a cooling rack.
* Leave to cool then store in the Fridge overnight.

Choc Icing

Ingredients

* 1 slab sponge cake (one day old)
* 4 cups icing sugar
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 - 3 cups desiccated coconut

To make the icing

* Cool the cake for at least half an hour in the Fridge or Freezer, then cut into squares or fingers
* Combine the Sugar and Cocoa in a large bowl
* Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted.
* Add to the sugar/cocoa mixture and mix to a fluid yet not runny consistency

To put it all together

* Make a production line of Sponge Fingers, Chocolate Icing mixture in a bowl, coconut in a shallow container or plate, and a cooling rack with paper underneath.
* Using a fork dip the sponge fingers into the icing, roll it in the coconut covering it well, and then place on to the rack to dry.
* Once they have dried, place in an airtight container and leave to "mature" for at least a few hours, preferably overnight, before eating.

Processing - sponge cake dipped into chocolate icing and then sprinkled with coconut! Too easy.
Honestly, I should of just bought already made lamingtons from the store hihi

Banh Tieu (Hollow Bread)

Banh Tieu / Hollow Bread

I was looking at this awesome foodie site by Ch3rri Blossom and oh my goodness she has a collection of really good Vietnamese desserts and sweets on there. I came across this sweet bread recipe called Banh Tieu or in English Hollow Bread. It is fried in oil producing puffs making the bread hollow and crunchy. When looking at her sweet bread photos it took me back a lot of childhood memories when I attended Vietnamese school on Saturday mornings. During our breaks there would be a little stall where students could buy Vietnamese breads, cakes and buns like Bánh bao or Tai Pao 大包 (steamed pork bun) but I remember the hollow bread because it was so nice and sweet.

As you can see from the photo above, Ch3rri's hollow bread is 10 times as hollow and mine only produced little puffs since I was naughty - I didn't prove it for long enough and maybe I didn't roll the dough out the right way. But anyway it did turn out good and it turned out not overly sweet and was pretty crunchy! You have to be super careful not to leave the stove because they will burn! I walked away for a couple of seconds and the first two burned. Also you have to keep on moving the dough in the frying pan constantly so the dough will produce puffs. Thanks Ch3rri for that advice! It did work. (see the micro puff in the photo above? lol).

My hollow bread below. Turned out good but not hollow like Ch3rri's *tear drop*

Easy Jam Drops

I made these jam drops way last year but never decided to post it because it was a fail lol. I pretty much went overboard with filling the jam in the dents I made. Or maybe I didn't dent it enough and flattened the dough balls out properly. At the end it was eaten anyway. It was pretty good. It wasn't crunchy but really soft to the bite.

Jam drops were always my childhood favourites. I used to get Jam Tarts which were close as jam drops in Woolworths. They only carry these in the black and white brand but hey it tasted as good and the price was pretty cheap.

Ha! I went overboard with the jam!

I got the "Jam Drop" recipe from Best Recipes Australia. The majority of the comments sounded like it was a pretty good recipe and that's why I chose this one. I didn't have cinnamon available in the pantry so I opted it out. Still tasted good.

Exploded!

Someone was satisfied lol


----------------

--- On a different note I have been fixing up the website again since some of my readers said that my previous layout wasn't fitting into the screen. I forget that everyone has different computer monitors. I now changed it back to the orignal fluid width so it will fit in everyone's screens. So I hope it fits.

Vanilla Pandan Mango Swiss Cake / Swiss Roll

Pandan cake (or anything to do with pandan) has always been my favourite at the Asian Markets. This cake is light, fluffy and flavoured with pandan juice. The light green colour is from the chlorophyll in the leaf juice. The cake is originally from Malaysia but you can find it anywhere in your local Asian markets nowadays. A slice of cake would usually cost around $2 and would be nice warm and fresh delivered on Saturday mornings. I have always wanted to try to bake pandan cake and today was the day :).

I used a basic sponge cake recipe from CHOW TIMES and followed their techniques in baking a swiss roll. I made 2 roll cake bases to make a layered swiss roll instead the actual cake. I just left one base as vanilla and added pandan flavour to the second base. I then added whipped cream, mango and toasted almonds in between. I had a hard time rolling it up because it was so fat. The bases didn't turn out thick because I used a bigger tray :(. I really should invest in smaller trays. At the end it tasted really good! Nice and fluffy, moist and not too sweet which is the way I like it!

This is my first attempt. I so didn't want to post it up cause it was a "fail" lol but hey when I rolled it there were no cracks! So I must be doing something right here.

So how many of you made pandan cakes???? Did it turn out right the first time??? I am sure all of you have since it's a pretty popular google search keyword :).

Have a good Friday! I am off out to dinner :D

Easy Custard Danishes (with Mango)

Hello to my foodie friends! Thanks to all that have followed me!

I have been doing a lot of changes to this website. Took me a couple of hours to play around with and hopefully it looks and feels a lot better. The last layout I had I felt that it was too cluttered and really messy. This one looks a bit neater and easier to navigate around.

I have been going mad with the convenience of puff pastry lately. I have been eating puff pastry with either just the custard or filling it with some sort of fruit like my previous puff pastry with apple post. This time I have made it with custard and mango. I made it as danishes :). Mmmmmm.

Check out this one I made last week!

Looks easy hey? Once again I tried to mimic my former boss's danish but didn't look right. Tastes quite as near lol.

To make 8 custard danishes (with mango) you will need:

• 2 sheets of store bought puff pastry rolled out
• butter (melted) to brush on top of pastry
• 1 ripe mango

for custard filling:

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Firstly preheat oven to about 200C. Roll out 2 pastry sheets and cut into 4 squares each and lay onto 2 trays like the one below. Put into fridge.

I re-use the baking sheets! After a few uses I chuck it away. This is the best baking paper I have used!! It's non stick :)

To make the custard:

Put the sugar and water into a saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes or until the mixture is slightly syrupy.
Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with a little of the milk. Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. Add remaining milk, vanilla and the sugar syrup. Return to the pan and stir over a low heat until the mixture thickens. Cool.
Take out prepared pastry sheets out of the fridge and carefully spoon cooled custard onto each of the pastry squares. Start spooning it from the middle of the square because the custard will flow outwards because of the consistency. And then fold from one corner of the pastry to the middle. Do the same for the opposite corner (like shown below). Brush top of pastry with melted butter.

Pop the trays into the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and puffy.

When it's done cool it for about 10 minutes.

Then with the mango cut some chunks and carefully make a slit into each end of the danishes and insert the mango pieces. It should look like the photo below.

Done!! Enjoy cause it will not last long :)

Question:

What do you eat with puff pastry???? Mine is custard! And sometimes wrapped around sausage! What is yours???

Easy Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

This is the most easiest and fastest way to whip up an apple pie with ice cream! All you need is a jaffle maker (sandwich maker), puff pastry, tinned apples, cinnamon and vanilla ice cream! The lemony taste of the apples compliments with vanilla ice cream. It takes most of the sourness of the apple away. Pretty good.

Easy Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients to make 4 portions

- under half a can of tinned apples
- pinch of cinnamon
- 1 sheet of puff pastry rolled out
- melted butter

- optional: 1 tbs raisins

appliance - a sandwich maker (should of 2 portions)

Method

• First roll your thawed (not too thawed cause it can get wet and hard to work with) puff pastry out and cut into 4 squares.
• Meanwhile add under half a can of apple into a small bowl along with a pinch of cinnamon. Mix.
• If you want to add raisins I suggest soak it into lukewarm water so it will be plump and juicy. Drain and squeeze out excess water .
• Brush the bottom of the jaffle maker with melted butter and lay 2 cut outs of the pasty on top
  
• Lay equal portions of apple on top of the first layer of pastry and sprinkle with raisins
• Then lay the 2 last pastry on top and brush with melted butter generously.
• Close up the jaffle maker and cook until pastry is crunchy and golden brown
• Then when it's done cut into small portions and add 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream for each serving.
  

Too easy!