Steamed Soft Chocolate Cake

Recipe

Ingredients
95g unsalted butter
110g sugar
2 egg
75g cake flour
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
30g cocoa powder (sifted)
80g evaporated milk
2 1/2tbsp Horlicks
1/4tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt

Steps:
1. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together, set aside.
2. Mix evaporated milk, Horlicks and vanilla essence together, set aside.
3. Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.(If batter curdle add in some flour.)
5. Fold in flour, cocoa powder and milk mixture alternately until well combined.
6. Do not over mix.
7. Pour batter into a lined and greased 7" round tin.
8. Cover with aluminum foil.
9. Steam over high heat for 1 1/2hrs, if skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake then it done.
10. Let cake cool in the tin for 5mins before turning it out onto the wire rack.

Note : There will be some air holes on the surface of this cake, due to the used of baking soda.

Chocolate Hazelnut Macarons

This is my second attempt on Macarons and it a success.:) My first attempt on macarons, I used the wrong amount of almond flour. The recipe used 110g ungrounded almond so I thought if I going to use grounded almond that will be lesser. So I used 90g only and my macarons came out without skirting. Thanks to A.Y., helped me to test out the recipe. She told me that she used 110g grounded almond and this recipe gave the macarons a thinner skirting. Then I realised my mistake.
I adapted recipe from Tartelette Blog, made a plain macarons and dust it with some cocoa powder.
For this macarons, it has thin skirting as the recipe used normal meringue and it is much easier. I have found recipes on French Meringue Macarons and Italian Meringue Macarons, both used sugar syrup. Which I find that the sugar level is toooo high, toooo sweet. But both produced thick skirting. The recipe which I used is also sweet but it is still acceptable.
For the filling, I just mixed hazelnut spread, chocolate emulco and buttercream together.

Double Boiler Pan

I bought this Double Boiler pan from IKEA which come in very useful for me. I used it to melt chocolate, cream cheese and other ingredients. The pan base is rounded so ingredient/s can be melted evenly and you don't have to worry that some is left stick to the corner of the pan or bowl. It has a hook which hook onto the pan of simmering water. This will be more stable when stirring. :)

Swiss Meringue Cream Cheese Buttercream

There are these French Meringue Buttercream, Italian Meringue Buttercream and here I found this Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 'French' and 'Italian' used sugar syrup whereas 'Swiss', the sugar is melted with the egg white then it is whisk until meringue. This is lighter, less creamy and easier to make. Following is the recipe which I have made changes and adjustment to my own prefer.

Recipe

Ingredients
2 large egg white (about 80g)
70g caster sugar
100g margarine/butter }cut into small cubes
100g cream cheese }and chilled

Steps:
1. Pour sugar and egg white into a heatproof pan and place it over a saucepan of simmering water.
2. Whisk constantly until sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch (about 60C).
3. Pour the egg white into the mixing bowl with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks (but not dry).
4. Reduce to low speed, continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled.
5. Switch to paddle attachment, on medium-low speed slowly add in the chilled margarine/butter and cream cheese cubes few at a time.
6. Beat until well combined after each addition. (If it curdle, beat on medium-high speed until smooth. If this can't help, put the frosting in the fridge until it is slightly harden. Then add in some more chilled butter cubes and beat until smooth.)
7. Beat on low speed to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2mins.
8. Stir with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.
9. Put in an air tight container and keep in the fridge.

Orange Chiffon Cake

Recipe

Ingredients (A)
3 egg yolk
85g orange juice
55g corn oil
15g caster sugar
1/2tsp grated orange rind
1/2tsp orange essence
few drop of orange food colouring
pinch of salt

Ingredients (B)
110g cake flour
1/8tsp baking powder

Ingredients (C)
3 egg white
1/4tsp cream tartar
70g caster sugar

Steps:
1.Preheat oven at 175C.
2.Use a hand whisk and mix (A) together.
3.Sift (B) and mix into (A).
4.Stir till well combined and leave aside.
5.Use a cake mixer and whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy.
6.Gradually add in the sugar and whisk till stiff peaks form.
7.Fold in 1/4 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture until combined.
8.Then fold in the rest of the meringue lightly until well combined.
9.Pour batter into a 17cm tube pan and give a sharp bang on the table top to release air bubbles.
10.Put into a preheated oven and bake for 30-35mins.
11.Remove from oven, invert cake onto table until completely cool.
12.Remove from pan and serve.

Bika Ambon

By chance I bumped into this Malay Blog and found this recipe. I don't understand Malay so I get my sister's domestic helper to translate the recipe. However she don't really understand some of the ingredients and steps so I just agak-agak and draft out the recipe. As I didn't prove the batter long enough so my Ambon only has 3/4 of honeycomb on it and I baked it at too high temperature. This Ambon is kind of difference from those I tried. Ambon is heavy, has a strong taste of flour and egg. Whereas this is soft and has a nice scent of lime leaf and orange rind. :)

Coffee Oat Cake

This is an old recipe. It was taught by my Secondary School Home Economic teacher; Ms Wong, more than 20 years ago. It is a simple Coffee cake with a touch of health oat which give the cake a rough texture.


Recipe

Ingredients
125g butter
110g fine sugar
2 eggs
75g flour/cake flour
1tsp baking powder
60g oat
3tsp instant coffee
1/2tbsp hot water

Steps:
1. Preheat oven at 175C.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside.
3. Mix instant coffee and hot water together, set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.(If batter curdle add in some flour.)
6. Fold in flour and coffee alternately until well combined.
7. Lastly fold in the oat.
8. Pour batter into a lined and greased loaf pan.
9. Bake for 40-45mins, if skewer comes out clean when inserted into cake then it done.
10. Leave cake to cool in pan for 5mins then remove and cool on a wire rack.