nutty chocolate chiffon cake

Love this soft spongy cake. The original recipe calls for smooth choc to be melted but I can't find any, so I crossed my fingers and used nutty choc. My concern was the cake might sink due to the nuts as chiffon cakes are light. Whew! Turned out good and one faithful tester (not my hub) told me should add more nuts! A nutty discovery! I used black sugar instead and it's able to hold the meringue well too. Healthier alternative!


A:
6 egg yolks (small)
60g oil
90g fresh milk
130g chocolate
25g cocoa powder, unsweetened
70g cake flour

B:
6 egg whites
70g sugar

Steps:
Preheat 140°c (shall try 120 as the top cracks)
Melt chocolate
mix yolks, oil, milk using whisk
add melted choc
sieve cocoa powder and cake flour
Beat whites and sugar till stiff
fold batter in
Pour batter and bake for 1hr

dual color chiffon cake

Using back my banana chiffon cake. Steps are exactly the same.

After folding the final step of the batter, pour half of it into a clean bowl
sifted the desired amount of cocoa powder and fold again till combined
pour the cocoa mix into the tin
Add the other batter in
tap to remove air bubbles
bake 140°c for an hour
remove and invert to let cool

mini oreo cheese cake

It's super easy to assemble and I'm secretly happy that all were snapped up within minutes when I brought it to church...

My version
Makes about 34-36 mini cuppies

Ingredients:
Mini oreos
1 block philidelphia cheese cake, softened
1/2cup black sugar
2 small eggs

Method:
Preheat oven @ 140°c
line cupcake papers in the wells of the muffin trays
place whole mini oreos into each lined wells
Cut softened cream cheese into big cubes
dump into blender and and add the sugar
Crack the eggs in and blitz till well mixed.
Use a spoon and scoop the batter to cover the oreos.
bang the trays to allow mixture to cover the oreos and even the top.
Place in oven and bake for 15 min or till done.
Remove and let cool.
freeze the cuppies immediately once cooled to set the cuppies.

These can be eaten right out of the freezer or let them sit in room temperature for a while. Best eaten while frozen or semi-frozen. I love these mini cuppies as I can eat them without the guilt in small quantity.

brownie cake

Wanted to use another recipe besides my previous post. Turns out alright. Modified a little again as I saw that the recipe calls for 200g sugar. Way too sweeeet for me though I have a sweet tooth. Prefer the subtle bitter cocoa taste.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/absolutely-best-brownies/?scale=12&ismetric=1

60g self raising flour
30g unsweetened organic cocoa powder
120g castor sugar
115g unsalted butter
3 small eggs
1 capful of vanilla essence
Pinch of salt


Steps:
Melted butter over double boil method
Add sugar and whisk till dissolved
Crack eggs one by one and whisk
Pour flour and cocoa powder and whisk till combined and smooth
Transfer batter into rice cooker pot and cook (15min)

matcha chiffon cake

Bought matcha powder for quite some time and was waiting for an opportunity to make a cake with this jap flavor. Finally got this done!

Followed this link given by a friend. Made some minor changes.

http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/green-tea-chiffon-cake-with-red-bean.html?m=1

I skipped the frosting part as I do not have any red bean paste and am a little lazy to make the extra step.

70g cake flour
10g matcha
(Combine and sift twice)

20g castor sugar (yolks)
90g castor sugar (whites)
10g corn starch (mix with 90g sugar)

70g milk
60g soya oil

6 small eggs, separated

Steps:
Preheat 130/140°c, 50min
Whisk yolks with 20g sugar
Add in milk, oil, whisk
Pour flour slowly and whisk

Whisk whites with sugar and corn starch till stiff peaks.
Add 1/3 meringue into wet batter and whisk till smooth.
Use spatula fold in the rest till smooth.
Pour batter in and tap few times on the table to remove air bubbles.
Pop in oven and wait.

Tasted nice. Usually I will lower the amount of sugar but I thought the plain matcha has a strong smell or retaining the amount balances out the flavours.

steamed bana cake

Got this recipe here.
http://honeybeesweets88.blogspot.sg/2010/05/steamed-banana-cake.html

Wanted to try how the taste and texture will be like in a rice cooker using a steam function instead of cake.

Steps:
3 small eggs
100g brown sugar
2 large bananas, mashed
150g self raising flour
1/8 baking soda
75g soya bean oil

Beat in eggs and sugar in stand mixer till ribbon stage and double in volume.
Scrape down sides and beat again.
Add mashed banas and hand mix.
Sift in flour and baking powder, beat in low speed.
Add the oil and hand mix.
Pour batter in rice cooker pot and press STEAM function.
Invert and let cool when done.


Crust is browned as usual for using a rice cooker. Texture was soft unlike my previous 'cake' function ones. However, I also used a different recipe so was not sure if it is the recipe or the 'steam' function.  But heck,  as long as objective is met, doesn't matter. Heh..

Pavlova

Wanted to try making homemade Kaya and found it a waste to discard the whites as only the yolks are needed. So did a Google search and a Pavlova dessert came up. Intrigued by the lovely name and not done or heard this before, I googled again.


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlova_(food)

Inspired by the history and how it tastes like marshmallow (my fav), I decided to try it.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html

This is where I did further reading and watched the tutorial. I youtube-d a few more for variations. Eventually I mixed and matched what I want to do. I like the shells to be more browned and caramelized as opposed to some chefs who did theirs white. My personal preference. I like how when I gently pulled the shell, the inside is white and I like the contrast.

Modified version:
4 egg whites
90g white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Method is the same as preparing a normal meringue. Whisk till stiff peaks together with the sugar. Fold in the extract.

Spoon the meringue on a baking tray with a baking sheet. Press down a little to form the shape. I piled it like a wall so the filling can be placed better later.

Pop into a preheated oven of 180°c for 20 min till the color is browned. Then I lowered the temp to 150°c for another 15 min so the insides are baked thoroughly.

Let the shells cool after done.

Meanwhile prepare the filling. I don't feel like doing whipped cream so I tried using mascaprone and yoghurt. The guidelines for a Pavlova dessert is to have a balance of sweetness and tartness. I figured the tartness will come from the yoghurt. No measurement. I just scooped part of mascaprone and yoghurt and whisked till smooth. I scooped a dollop and spread on one of the shells to test. Sprinkle chopped kiwi and some blueberries to decorate.

Viola! And it's gooooooooood! The inside of the Pavlova did taste like marshmallow. Objective met!