my bane!

I titled this post "my bane" for a reason, yes, swiss rolls are my bane. They made me annoyed, frustrated and sleepless. The first time i embarked on my swiss roll journeys was sometime last year, before i started out this blog.

I failed countless times, from a swiss roll that became a layered cake (so can you imagine how badly it cracked? no, infact it tore apart zzz) to a swiss roll that was with cracks, to finally, a swiss roll without a crack. yay! BUT, still looks pretty ugly.

I stopped making swiss roll after my last attempt which i considered a "success" since it didn't crack because i was afraid that i just got lucky. This time, i faced my fears and tried it again.

The picture below, were the last few swiss rolls i did before this chocolate swiss roll. See how horrible they were? I tried various recipes/methods.

top left:
-sponge cake method
-rolled up perfectly
-cake was super dry. *faints*

top right:
-chiffon cake method
-rolled up like crap, with tiny cracks here and there
-tasted superb!

For a while i hoped they could combine their powers and i'd arrive at my totally perfect swiss roll. but no, it didn't happen in my dreams. Then on, i went to try a green tea flavoured one..oh my! it had a huge crack. that was it. I had enough. No more swiss rolls. till now.

I've no idea what made me conquer my fear, but somehow i did. To make things worse, I even tried rolling with fruits in it! I must be crazy. Rolling it up without a crack was bad enough, and to roll it up with fruits?!

Well, I braved my fears and went ahead. to my surprise, the cake was soft, springy and really "foldable". I guess people who failed in making swiss rolls would probably understand my agony. If you've ever come across sheet cakes that are dry like anything, they crack and give way the moment you start. And i tell ya, that's uber heart-breaking. and annoying!

This time, I did not try folding so much in the beginning for the fear it would crack and i would cry, so that explains the really ugly turn out. Also, my 1" thick cake became 1/2" thick probably cos i was over-zealous in tightening the roll like nobody's business. (wrong choice)

and of course, i stuck to the chiffon method because somehow, i just feel safer with it. I can never fold in flour into beaten eggs without having bits of flour here and there.

Although things turned out ok, i still don't know when will be my next time attempting another swiss roll. =X

And now, the recipe. I adapted it from some HK blog and made minor changes and translated it to english. for the original version, please refer here

Chocolate Swiss Roll makes one 11" x 14" cake
(Printable Version)

Ingredients:
(A):
80g egg yolks (about 5 egg yolks) **
40g caster sugar
67g corn oil
50g water
1/8 tsp salt

(B):
85g cake flour
15g cocoa powder
1g baking powder

*sift together

(C):
167g egg whites (about 5 egg whites) **
50g sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

**: depending on size of egg

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Line a 11” x 14” tin. *no need grease
3. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar (group A) till pale yellow or till sugar dissolves.
4. Add in salt and corn oil, emulsify well.
5. Add in water, stir well to mix.
6. Add in flour mixture (group B) and mix to form a smooth batter. *batter will be quite thick
7. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy, add in sugar in 3 additions and whisk till stiff peaks form.
8. Fold in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the prepared batter. Fold in the rest of the egg whites 1/3 at a time. Be careful not to deflate the batter.
9. Pour batter into tin and bake in preheated oven for 20 min.
10. Remove cake from oven when done and let it cool.
11. Unmold the cake and spread desired fillings and, using parchement as a guide, roll up.
12. Refrigerate cake at least 30 min to allow shape to set. Cut and serve =)
Here's a video showing how roll up the swiss roll with the parchment as a guide.
Good luck!
updates: the swiss roll stayed soft and moist despite leaving in the fridge uncovered for 1 night.

happy belated V'day

A very very belated V'day cake and post. Well, I really did wanna do something special on v'day, but i was caught up with tests and baking other simpler stuffs. Finally, i had some time to do much more, but as seen, didn't turn out very well. I really did at once think of not giving to D at all since it looked so horrible, but then again, it's the thought that counts, isn't it? haha~

as you can see, the cake was "sweating" while i tried my very best to snap pictures of it. the rest came out really unsatisfactory, so only 1 picture for this post =( Well, i seriously haven't been able to capture pretty pictures these days. (not that i did before, but it just seemed to get worse now =X)

Anyway, I'm not a person with all that birthday, anniversary stuffs. to put it simply, i'm pretty "boring". But this time, i actually made the effort to surprise D at his void deck! and well, i guess he was really pretty surprised with the cake. (from the look of his face) I wanted to surprise him at his office initially, but the cake was too hedious and i didn't wanna let his colleagues see my lousy caking skills. ha~

I finally decided to give him, because:
1. it has his fav strawberries in it
2. the cake layers were super good!
3. the ingredients were expensive =p

and of course, i'm sure he'd appreciate anything i make so yep! I'm pretty glad i made this belated Vday thing. I feel it's more special when you make any other odinary day 'feel' special rather than cracking your brains over the most unusual thing on vday itself. Somehow, it doesn't feel as special since you're ALREADY expecting something. That's just my opinion. plus, vday is so over-hyped in Singapore. zzz

to D:
thanks for always being there to tolerate my nonsense. I know i do behave unreasonably sometimes (as i hate to admit) but thank you for always putting up with it. I hope your patience lasts =X though somehow i feel it thinning =XXX hahaha. Well, more importantly, thanks for all the little efforts you always try to make to spend time with me (despite crazy work), bake with me, cook for me, buy things for me etc etc and the list goes on.

Lastly, I really hope we both can grow in Him and i guess nothing beats a happy relationship as long you get your priorities right =)

Happy belated V day!

p/s: i hope the cake's yummy!

Back to business. This cake is made of up 3 layers of really soft and moist chocolate cake sandwiched with 2 layers of chocolate whipped cream and strawberries and covered in a layer of ganache. Speaking of ganache, it was really watery, yes, watery! I made a mess trying to pour it over, next time, i'm gonna put it in the fridge to let it set a little more before pouring it. I had a little issues with the ganache as it didnt cover the sides nicely. It keeps exposing bits of the whipped cream. booo =( i also think the cream was slightly overwhipped? *shurgs*

I figured it'd be a really simple cake to put together. just grab chocolate cake recipes you like, whip up some chocolate cream and sandwich it with some fruits you like and pour ganache over!

So, won't be posting any recipe here, unless someone requests for it =)

Have a good day!

ribena marble cheesecake

Saw this beautiful cake by HHB and told myself i HAD to try it. My friend had lotsa cream cheese left over and she suggested that i could get them from her since she wouldn't be using them.

Got her to take a look at HHB's cake and she wanted me to make one for her. HHB omitted the jelly topping step since she thought it's gonna cover up the beautiful marble swirls and indeed it does! I actually tried making those swirls (which is now hidden below the jelly layer) and obviously it not visible anymore.

Pardon the really lousy photos. My house's lighting is terrible and it was "too bright" the swirls can't be seen properly and the jelly keeps reflecting the light big time. *roar*

After an attempt on Rei's strawberry cheesecake with the gorgeous design, i decided to do something similar, that is, to play around with the jelly topping and cheesecake using various shapes. After experimenting the other time, things went on more smoothly this time and yep! Ready for more desgins!

Sorry, no pics of innards as this was, as promised, a request for my friend, SJ. I hope you like it!



Ribena Marble Cheesecake

Ingredients

crust:
150g digestive biscuits, finely crushed
60g butter, melted
[I found the base too thick, so i'm gonna reduce it to 120g digestive biscuits with 40g melted butter]


filling:
100ml water
20g (2 tablespoons) gelatin granules/powder
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
75g caster sugar
250ml (1 cup) natural plain yogurt
75ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial


topping:
100ml water
2 teaspoons gelatin granules/powder
80ml Ribena blackcurrant juice cordial


Method:
Line the sides of a 18-20cm round pan (with a removable base) with parchment paper or clear plastic sheet (I cut out a strip of plastic sheet from a cookie bag), set aside. [i just used a 7" cake ring with a 8" cake base as i intended to give it away. if not, a 7" cake ring on a flat plate would work perfect too. that is if you don't have a springform or cake pan with a removable base]

To make the crust, combine crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter together in a mixing bowl. With the back of a spoon, press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan. Chill in the freezer compartment for at least 1 hour. (To ensure the crust is even, I used the base of a flat-bottom glass to press down the crumbs.) [i let it chill about 30min in the fridge. still worked]


Filling:
Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature. [its important to allow the granules to swell and they indeed melt much easier and faster after "swelling"]

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add in the gelatin solution and yogurt, beat till the mixture turns smooth.

Divide mixture evenly into two bowls (about 1 cup each). Add 75ml of Ribena into one of the bowls and mix well with a spatula.

Spoon the two mixtures in alternate blobs into the chilled crust. Level top and swirl with a knife through the mixture to create a marble effect. Refrigerate until set. [i didn't have to level the top, it just somehow came together] see here!


Topping:
Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin. Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove bowl from the pot and stir in 80ml of Ribena. Set aside to cool.

When completely cooled, pour mixture over the cheesecake and chill for several hours or overnight until set.

*it is important to allow the cheesecake to set before pouring the jelly topping. Also, when pouring the jelly topping, do be gently. If possible, spoon the jelly mixture. This it to prevent the pressure of the jelly mixture from "eroding" your cheescake. In which, you might end up with floating bits of cheese

adapted from happyhomebaking

back log

made this banana chiffon some time ago, on valentine's day to be exact =p the bumch of over-riped banans were just beckoning me to make a banana chiffon. Was too tired/busy after baking it so didn't write a post on it.

I was really really pleased with how the cake turned out. probably one of my best chiffons ever. the cake rose high in the oven and well, still shrunk and i thought it could be taller. I'm satisfied for now as it shrank to just the height of the pan, which is by far, the highest i ever achieved. it always shrinks to below the height of the pan.

This time, Ive used a smaller chiffon tin (17cm one) and needless to say, the cake was really light and fluffy. =) My mum said the banana taste could be stronger though she really liked the texture. But i thought chiffons were supposed to be just lightly flavoured? no?

I got this recipe from happyhomebaking

Banana Chiffon

Ingredients(make one 16 ~ 18 cm cake)

3 egg yolks

25g caster sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

30ml cooking oil (I used olive oil) [i used corn oil]

85g banana puree (about 2 medium size bananas)

1/4 teaspoon banana essence (I used vanilla extract)

55g plain flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

50g caster sugar

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 170 degC. Sieve together flour and baking soda, set aside. Mash banana, set aside.
2.Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
3.Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar just dissolved. Add in salt, oil, essence and mashed banana. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
4.In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till stiff peaks form.
5.Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
6.Pour batter into a 16cm or 18cm (6 inch or 7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Spread and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan gently on a work surface several times to release the air bubbles trapped in the batter.
7.Bake for 25 ~ 30mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8.Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould.

Recipe source: adapted from Chiffon Cake is Done by Kevin Chai

ang koo kueh

A traditional must-have during a child's first month celebration, commonly know as 满月. Not too sure what it symbolises though, but red is usually used in happy occasions like in weddings and all. ang koo kueh literally means "red tortise kueh". traditionally made in a mould with the shape of a tortise shell.

I came across Amanda's blog while searching for the japanese cheesecake recipe and saw that she used her mooncake moulds to make these kueh. I found it really rather interesting and thought they looked really pretty! Since I've also got those moulds, why not try them?

Im pretty pleased with how the skin turned out and i thought it remained soft even when it was cooled and not oily like what's sold outside. (i guess that's cos i didnt brush it with oil after i steamed it) But, i guess D begged to differ and thought it had a teeny weeny of crust on the edges.. hmmm..

It was my maiden attempt at these kinda things so I just wanted to prepare a fast, easy filling. Peanut filling. Didn't turn out too well though =( not too sure if it was because i used already sweetened ground peanuts or because of the sesame..

I didn't have red colouring on hand, so i just used the closest, rose pink but added LOTS of it. It doesn't look as red as what's sold, but i guess im pretty happy with the turn out =)

Ang Koo Kueh

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Skin:

200 g sweet potatoes

300 g glutinous rice flour

2 tbsps oil160 ml water

Some red coloring (optional)

Mung Bean Filling:

200g yellow split mung beans (soaked until soft)

80g - 100 g castor sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tbsps oil

1/4 - 1/2 cup diced shallots

Water

Method:

Sweet Potato Skin:

Steam the sweet potatoes until soft.

In a bowl, mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. Add glutinous rice, oil and water and mix well to obtain a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave aside. You can add a little more water if the dough is too dry.

Mung Bean Filling: [I did not make this filling and used peanut filling instead]

Steam the yellow split mung beans until soft. Mash with a fork.

In a non-stick wok, fry the diced onions in oil. Leave aside to cool.

In a bowl, mix the mashed split peas, salt, fried onions, oil and enough water to form a soft dough.

Shaping the Ang Koo Kueh:

1. Brush the ang koo kueh mould with a little oil to ease removal of the kueh from the mould.

2. Take a small lump of sweet potato dough and using your palm or a rolling pin, flatten it, into a round shape with the centre thicker than the sides.

3. Spoon some pea filling into the dough, pinch the sides of the dough together, and using the palm of your hand, roll it into a ball.

4. Press the ball into the mould firmly, to obtain the design and shape of the mould. Tap the mould gently on the table to remove the ang koo kueh from the mould.

5. Place the ang koo kueh on a square piece of oiled banana leaf.

6. When all the ang koo kuehs are shaped, steam them in a wok over high fire for 3 minutes covered. After 3 minutes, remove the cover to release steam, then re-cover and steam for another 3 minutes over a medium fire, until the kuehs are cooked. [i used a electric steamer and steamed for 10 minutes]

7.Remove the kuehs from the wok and brush them with a little oil to prevent them from sticking to each other. Serve when cool. [i forgot to brush with oil and they were indeed a little sticky]

Notes:If you don't like the mung beans, you can use peanuts or red beans filling.I used about 26g pastry and 19g filling. [i followed her porptions for dough:filling. The mould i'm using is 4.6cm in diameter]

*I made using half the recipe with the same dough:filling proportions and ended up with 13 pieces.

adapted from Florence

success or failure?

I've been wanting to try out this japanese soft cotton cheesecake for the longest time as far as i can remember. I finally got to try it today and well..i'm not sure if i should classify it as a success or a failure *shrugs*

taste-wise: it was fantastice with a subtle yet distinct lemoney taste complimenting the cream cheese without being overly cheesy

appearance-wise: a total eye-sore with the almost black top =(( plus, wrinkly sides which were a result of the cake shrinking. disappointed

The recipe called for beating the egg whites till soft peaks. i read somewhere that it is important not to beat it till stiff peaks as it will cause the cake to shrink rapidly upon removal from the oven as it (egg whites) can't hold up the weight of the cream cheese mixture. That's probably exactly where i went wrong..the peaks were somewhere between a soft and stiff..so..probably the reason why it shrank.

the over-zealous me removed the cake from the pan almost immediately and the moment i removed the parchment, it shranked and "aged" (formed wrinkles). I guess i should have left it in the oven for a while, cooled it in the pan for a while before removing it from the pan =(

grumbles aside, my sister loved the cake and as i type now, 3/4 of it are gone! success or failure? you decide =p

Japanese cheescake

Ingredients:

140g sugar

6 egg whites

6 egg yolks

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g butter

250g cream cheese

100ml fresh milk

1tbsp lemon juice

60g cake flour

20g corn flour

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. melt cream cheese, milk and butter over double boiler. Cool mixture. I would recommend cutting the butter and cream cheese into small blocks so that it melts more evenly and faster. make sure the cream cheese is melted with no lumps. stir it smooth before removing to cool.

2. fold in flour, corn flour, egg yolks, salt and lemon juice. Mix well. you don't have to be too gentle here, just stir to imcorporate the items to form a smooth batter.

3. whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add in sugar and whisk till soft peaks form.

4.Add the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).

5.Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C.

6. when done, leave in oven for 10 min. Remove from oven and cool in cake tin for 10 min before unmoulding cake.

adapted from amanda

happy valentine's!

Wishing everyone a happy valentine's!