Lemon Sponge Cake

Recipe

Ingredients
135g cake flour
1/2tsp baking powder
1/8tsp salt
1tsp milk powder
200g egg
95g sugar
3/4tsp ovalette
35g milk/ water
1/2tsp lemon essence
1/2tsp grated lemon zest
40g veg. oil

melon seeds/ almond flake

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together into a cake mixer bowl.
3. Add in milk powder, egg, sugar and milk.
4. Whisk at low speed until well blended.
5. Add in ovalette, lemon essence and lemon zest and whisk until thick and glossy.
6. Lastly fold in the oil .
7. Pipe batter into a greased mould until 80% full.
8. Sprinkle some melon seeds on the surface.
9. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20mins.
10.Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Steamed Sponge Cake

Recipe

Ingredients
3 eggs
85g caster sugar
1/4tsp salt
85g self-raising flour
10g custard powder
25g veg. oil

Steps:
1. Sift flour and custard powder together and set aside.
2. Whisk the eggs, salt and sugar together until light and fluffy.(Do the ribbon test: Use the whisk to spoon some batter, drip some into the mixing bowl. If it stay visible for a while then this is the right stage.)
3. Lightly fold in the flour into the egg batter.
4. Lastly fold in the oil.
5. Pour into a lined and greased 7inches cake pan.
6. Cover with foil and steam at high heat for 25mins.
7. Remove cake and cool on a wire rack.

Two-Tone Coconut Bread

This recipe which I tried out is by Alex Goh 'Magic Bread'. All the recipes in this book used gelatinized dough (烫种面团) to make breads. It was easy to prepare the gelatinized dough and I was amazed by the softness and springy texture of the bread. :)

Recipe

Ingredients
Gelatinized Dough(烫种面团):
100g bread flour
70g boiling water

Bread Dough:
(A)
400g bread flour
10g milk powder
25g coconut milk powder
75g sugar
7g salt
8g instant yeast

(B)
165g water
1 egg

(C)
75g butter

(D)
few drops of green food colouring
80g raisins

Steps:
Gelatinized Dough:
1. Add boiling water into the bread flour, mix until it form a soft dough.
2. Cover and set aside to cool.
3. Keep it in the fridge to rest for at least 12 hours.

Bread dough:
1. Leave the gelatinized dough aside to thaw for 10-15mins.
2. Mix (A) in a cake mixer with a dough hook attracted until well-blended.
3. Add (B) into the dry ingredients, beat at medium speed until it form a rough dough.
4. Add in the gelatinized dough and continue to beat until well-blended.
5. Lastly, add in (C) continue to beat until it form a smooth and elastic dough.
6. Take out 400g of the dough and mix in (D) until well-blended.
7. Leave the rest of the dough plain.
8. Cover both the doughs and let it prove for 45-55mins.
9. Roll both doughs into round shape, cover and rest for another 10mins.
10.Use a rolling pin and roll out both doughs into rectangular shape.
11.Place the flatten green dough on top of the plain dough and roll it up like Swiss roll.
12.Cut the dough into 9-10 pieces and arrange it onto a greased and bottom lined with greaseproof paper 9inches round tin.
13.Cover and leave to prove for 45mins until it doubled in size.
14.Preheat oven to 175C.
15.Brush surface with milk and bake in a preheated oven for 20-25mins until brown.
16.Remove buns from tin, brush surface with butter and cool on a wire rack.

Computer & Modem Down :(

Hi reader,

Sorry for the late reply on all your comments posted. As for the past few days my computer and modem are under servicing. :( Now they are both back in good shape so I can resume my blogging. :)

Medium Stiff Peak for Meringue

Some of you may wonder what is medium stiff peak for meringue and how to reach that stage. Here are the two shots which I took to show everyone what is medium stiff peak. You can see that there is a hook at the tip when the meringue is whisk until this stage and it will stay there. From the second photo, you can see that the marking left behind by the balloon whisk is very clear. In other words, the meringue is quite firm and it is close to stiff peak.

If meringue is whisked until this stage, it is best for chiffon cake. When meringue is fold in properly (meaning not over folded, bursting the pockets of air), your chiffon cake will rise evenly and less air holes on the cake.

Maybe some of you may ask, how long do I have to whisk to reach this stage and what is the speed I used for my cake mixer? For my Kenwood Cake Mixer(old model), I used medium high speed. What I can said for how long do I have to whisk to reach this stage is that you have to observe and moreover all cake mixers has difference wattage and speeds.

Hope the details can help some of you. Happy Baking. :)

Orange Chiffon Cake

Recipe here.

Chocolate Cupcake

Recipe

Ingredients
125g butter
100g caster sugar
1/4tsp salt
2 eggs
125g milk
1/2tsp chocolate paste
155g cake flour
20g cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together, set aside.
3. Cream butter, salt and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in the egg and chocolate paste until well combined.(If batter curdle add in some flour.)
5. Fold in flour alternating with milk until well combined.
6. Spoon batter into a lined muffin tin until 70% full.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30mins.
8. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool on a wire rack.